To my mind global beats are the future. At the moment it’s like the Wild West. Nothing is mapped out for you. It’s true rebel music. Half the time you can’t read about it, and 99% of the time you can’t hear it on the radio. But I guarantee that if you start to dabble in international club/leftfield/electronic/hip hop/urban roots sounds then you will be hooked

It’s the ultimate crate diggers delight — a never-ending quest for highly original tunes that can take you on a crazy cultural journey outside of the predictable, and far away from the music industries misguided perception of what we SHOULD like. In fact it’s what the Internet was invented for

Most publications seem to be doing yearly round-ups at this time of the year. So just to be really awkward I’m not going to fall into that trap. Instead I’ll tell you about the latest great albums, and/or tunes that I’ve heard, and some labels you really should check out.

First up there’s been a flurry of activity in the Mr. Bongo camp in recent times. Although they’re known more as a Latin imprint, there are a couple of recent releases that have shown a slight change in direction. First up is probably one of the best Afro-Peruvian groove records I’ve ever heard. OK, admittedly I haven’t heard THAT many Afro-Peruvian records aside from Susana Baca and that great Luaka Bop release The Soul Of Black Peru, but if I had I’m sure this would still be a great record. So what do I like about Afro Novalima? Firstly I love the insistently funky percussion that permeates seductively throughout the 59mins33secs. Secondly, the singer Milagros Guerro has a deep, sexy voice that could melt butter. I also like the retro synth touches, and the fact that there are real songs involved instead of elongated jam sessions. For me the best track is ‘Bandolero’ with its downtempo Smoke City (think Nina Miranda) flavour, and catchy vocal hook. The album has more of a bar/lounge/start-of-the-night sound in terms of DJing, but it’s certainly reignited my dwindling passion for Latin beats.

There are a number of great French hip hop acts such as IAM, 113, and MC Solaar, but the act that seems to be cutting most edges at the moment is Saïan Supa Crew. They have a new album out on Virgin France called Hold-Up and it really joins all the dots and crosses the T’s in terms of experimentation, catchiness, vocal flow, and rocking beats

On a very similar tip (but possibly even more psychedelic) is Apollo Nove’s Res Inexplicata Volans on the wonderful Ziriguiboom imprint. The producer Apollo 9 cites “Stockhausen, Hawaiian, ’70s synth wizard Walter Carlos, and Easy Rider” amongst his influences, so you know it’s going to be an interesting (and wonderful) trip.

Back to Mr. Bongo, and we also have a pretty eccentric album by French producer Frédérick Landier (AKA Rubin Steiner). It’s always interesting to look at influences, and he cites the Dead Kennedys, The Pixies, Stereolab, and Fugazi. With this in mind you’d expect Drum Major! to sound like second-generation punk, but it doesn’t. Perhaps the idea of experimentation is what he takes from the aforementioned acts, because this wilfully skips across musical boundaries from jazz to funk to hip hop, to bossa and beyond, without any serious punk chords to be seen.

Instead it’s classic scratch and paste affair in the style of DJ Shadow, but possibly with a little more humour. For example, the opener ‘Could You Spell it?’ just lists a variety of names overlaid by retro jazz-funk beats, whilst the next track has a kind of rocked out hip hop sound, with a funky electro beat which helps it bounce along at a decent pace. I’m not sure if I’m completely sold on the whole album, but tracks such as ‘Your Life Is Like A Tony Conrad Concert’ are worth a punt and certainly worthy of more radio attention. Apparently, he’s got a live band together, so check him out if he turns up in your neighbourhood. Oh, he has a track called ‘Put Your Horn In Your Ass And Pull Off’, which is nice…

I’ve long held a passion for international hip hop, especially if it encompasses the culture that it’s made in. In other words I like hip hop with roots as opposed to American soundalikes. With this in mind, there are two countries outside of the US who seem to carry this off in fine style. These are Senegal and France. The two are connected because Senegal was a French colony, so much of the wordplays are rapped (and occasionally sung) in French, and for some reason quick fire raps seem to sound very smooth in the French language.

There are a number of great French hip hop acts such as IAM, 113, and MC Solaar, but the act that seems to be cutting most edges at the moment is Saïan Supa Crew. They have a new album out on Virgin France called Hold-Up and it really joins all the dots and crosses the T’s in terms of experimentation, catchiness, vocal flow, and rocking beats. The new single ‘La Patte’ has about as catchy a hook-line as you can get, and even though non-French speakers will lose out on the clever word plays, it’s got the same kind of appeal as The Pharcyde, or even The Roots. I’m going to have to give myself a plug here and tell you that I put together a compilation called Global hip hop last year on Manteca, and it’s a great place to start if you want to check out various international hip hop sounds.

I’m a huge fan of Arabic fusion. By fusion I mean traditional sounds mixed up with beats, whether they be done by western producers or home grown acts. Some people have started calling it Arabesque, which is probably no bad thing because it is a ‘style’ of Arabic music which hints at its original roots. It’s the kind of thing I love to play-out because it gets such a fantastic response.

Gilles Peterson once told me that he likes to play tunes for the ladeez, and Arabic beats certainly fall into that category. If the girls dance then the lads tend to get off their arses and give it a go, and so not only are you playing to rocking tunes, you’re also adding to a little momentary harmony amongst the sexes!

My favourite Arabesque label of the moment is Barbarity —a label based in Switzerland and run by studio head Pat Jabbar. For all-intents-and purposes it’s a Moroccan fusion label, and Jabbar has brought to the world the likes of Aisha Kandisha’s Jarring Effects, Dar Beida, Azzdine, and Amira Saqati. The latter has a new album out entitled Destination Halal and is probably one of Barbarity’s best-realised albums to date. It’s the brainchild of Jabbar and Youssef El Mejjad and is a fusion of various Arabic styles including Shabi, Raï, and Gnawa, mixed with electro, trance, dub, and trip-hop. Standout tracks include ‘Marrakech X-Press’ and ‘Hel Aeynik’. A more rocking global beats album you couldn’t wish to hope for. Watch out next for the harder edged Moroccan psy-trance of Dar Beida …

Lastly for this issue, is new French label No Fridge. The brainchild of French producer DJ ClicK, it’s the home of dub-Moroccan collective Gnawa NJoum Experience, whose self-titled album is a rootsy melange of eclectic influences that seem to make a lot of sense. DJ ClicK also has a “half compilation-half album” called Labesse conceived as a “passport to adventure” and taking in sounds from Paris, Cairo, Marrakech, and London. He’s also been working with gypsy singer Rona Hartner on a very interesting gypsy-beats hybrid project.

That’s it for now. Check back with you soon, and in the meantime any feedback, promos, or queries are gratefully accepted and appreciated.

SALAAM

Links:
Mr Bongo - www.mrbongo.com
Barbarity - www.maroc.net/barraka
No Fridge Records - www.nofridge.com
Global Hip Hop
Ziriguiboom - www.ziriguiboom.com
Saïan Supa Crew - www.saiansupacrew.com