PREMIERE: Mariachi El Bronx - Revolution Girls (Super Guachin Remix)
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If you’ve ever wondered what a remix of a mariachi tune sounds like, well, we can help you out. Argentine cumbia collective ZZK has reimagined “Revolution Girls” – a track from Mariachi El Bronx’s 2011 self-titled effort, which came out via ATO last fall. The remix is hypnotic and strange, chopping the track down to its primal essence. In other words, this isn’t a typical club number... unless you frequently dance south of the border.
DOWNLOAD: Seun Kuti - Slave Masters (Jacques Renault Remix)
2012, The Year Dub Returned, continues to heat-up, and here's a great new addition to the canon with Jacques Renault's hypnotic, delay-addled remix of Seun Kuti's single "Slave Masters." Percussion rolls at a steady, locked-in clip while horn samples drop all smeared and echoing across the track and eventually tangled drones hold it all together. Summer!
MIXTAPE DOWNLOAD: Zuzuka Poderosa - Carioca Bass
Brooklyn party monster Zuzuka Poderosa recently released her Carioca Bass mixtape – a thick, 40-minute bootylicious ride put together by Kush Arora. Rooted in bass-heavy baile funk, the tape bangs through global ghetto sounds, from bhangra to soca crunk. Plus, there are bunda-shaking appearances from Los Rakas, Spoek Mathambo, Sany Pitbull and many more. Carioca Bass is definitely what Poderosa calls an "interracial music baby." What does that mean? That it's time to learn Portuspanglish. Rumor has it there's more to come on Poderosa's Carioca Bass EP, which is expected sometime this spring.
DOWNLOAD: Cleoma & Joe Falcon - Aimer et Perdre
The always-excellent Tompkins Square is back with a new compilation entitled Aimer et Perdre: To Love & To Lose Songs, 1917-1934. Here's the 'title track' from Cleoma & Joe Falcon as a sample. The whole thing comes on two impeccably-packaged discs with R Crumb cover art (!) and a 60-page booklet with unpublished images and comprehensive lyrical translation. Basically, no one does the reissue game like this.
DOWNLOAD: Spoek Mathambo - Let Them Talk
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(Photo: Sean Metelerkamp)
Knotty guitars and a jumpy organic beat make more than enough room for South African rapper Spoek Mathambo to do his thing on "Let Them Talk." The track is a preview for his sophomore LP, Father Creeper, which comes March 13 on Sub Pop. Queue it up and spin around a little.
DOWNLOAD: Elephant & Castle - En Memoria (feat. Tune-Yards)
Elephant & Castle, aka David Vincent Reep, is something of a wanderer, which bodes well for his sonic cameleon sensibilities. Take this one, "En Memoria," which features Merrill Garbus (Tune-Yards) on vocals and seems to pluck natural sound from all over the globe with an intensely spiritual focus. Atmospheric, lush and dreamy, flutes flicker while hands pound away on the rawhide of drums and keys hang in the wind – a great introduction to what will go down on Elephant & Castle's debut, Transitions, which comes March 13 via Plug Research.
DOWNLOAD: Stepan & Haigaz - Hop Pala
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While much music released these days is closer to a fashion accessory than cultural identity, things used to be different. "Hop Pala," a haunting cut off a new three-disc set of music from the Ottoman-American diaspora between 1916-1929 curated by Ian Nagoski and released by curatorial masters Tompkins Square, is the soundtrack of immigration. We hear this music and think of places and times both strange and foreign, yet the compilation is called To What Strange Place because that place for these musicians was New York City. Artists like Stepan & Haigaz populated small pockets of major Manhattan neighborhoods and eventually Astoria, Queens. This was their folk music, a way to keep their unique culture alive in a strange new world, yet it's still resonant today.
PREMIERE: Angelo Spencer - Tanger, Tanger
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Angelo Spencer seems to embody worldly in every sense of the word. The French native moved to the Pacific Northwest about five years back, and his influences span from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to Serge Gainsbourg to African and Indian music. The wide range is reflected in his work with Les Hauts Sommets, making for the lively and inventive nature of tracks like "Tanger, Tanger." Whether it's the French lyrics, the fact that they're autotuned or the plucky electric spine holding the whole thing together, it's hard to keep from moving. World Garage is out today on K, and catch the band on its West Coast tour with Earth.
Angelo Spencer - Tanger, Tanger
