It’s very warm in Los Angeles these days. Every year I pray for a mild summer, but Summer ‘07 just hasn’t been very obliging. Something about this weather just isn’t conducive to my usual, melancholy musical favorites. In the interest of embracing the summertime vibe, here’s some fun stuff for you:
Why is Brazil so damned sexy? Just the mention of its name brings images to my mind of drums, sweat, and booties shaking. From a soft Gilberto samba to the dancy goodness of CSS, Brazil is eternally one big sexy party. If you don’t believe me, give a listen to the funk carioca of Bonde do Role. Their new album With Lasers on Domino Records is a solid good time.
The Nextmen are a duo of hip-hop producers out of Cambridge, England. Although Cambridge also gave us Stephen Hawking, who is one funky dude, The Nextmen are funkier. They’ve got a new record out on Antidote called This Was Supposed to Be the Future with various guest musicians featured on pretty much every track. The record’s a little hit & miss since the boys like to explore all their various influences (funk, soul, r&b, hip-hop, reggae, etc). But the jams are jams.
A long time ago (in the nineties), I met a punk band called the Yah-Mo’s. I hung out with them during the day at a festival they were playing. While all the other bands playing the show that night were into their leather jackets and acting as punk rock as possible, the Yah-Mo’s were more interested in listening to James Brown and laughing at the other bands. They’re still laughing, because now they’re !!!, and all those other bands probably don’t exist anymore. Their most recent album Myth Takes was designed specifically for summer enhancement. It will increase the size of your summertime fun by at least 30 percet, or your money back.
If you ever wished that the funk & soul of yesterday was still being made today, then you need to know about Daptone Records. They’ve released some of the most genuine, gritty funk you’ve heard in a long time. Look for releases from Sharon Jones, The Sugarman 3., and most recently The Budos Band. The Budos Band II is a funk meisterwerke. Driving around with this as your soundtrack will make you sprout a moustache and feel like you’re hot on the trail of some double-crossing pimp.
I like to think that some bands could only be from Los Angeles. Dios (Malos) is such a band. They began life as Dios, but Ronnie James Dio had something to say about it, so now they go by the parenthetically augmented moniker of Dios (Malos). Like the Beach Boys before them, they hail from Hawthorne, CA. And like the Beach Boys before them, they make music evocative of warm days, suntanned girls, and the kind of heartbreak that can only come with the backdrop of palm trees and majestic sunsets. Their cover of “Wild Horses” is one of my all-time summer favorites. Go find a sunset like the one above and put it on. It’ll make you glad you live in Los Angeles… or make you wish that you did.
Stay sweet and have a rad summer… K.I.T.
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If you enjoy these tunes, tune into my radio show on kxlu 88.9fm 10a-2p every monday. we’re also streaming live at www.kxlu.com.