Disco Volante - One For All

MP3: Disco Volante - All For One (Right-Click-Save-As)

Ok true hip-hop fans, because you demanded it, here is old school mix number two, featuring Brand Nubian!

In the early '90's, MC's Grand Puba Maxwell, Lord Jamar, Derek (Sadat) X and DJ Alamo were New Rochele New York's finest hip-hop crew, Brand Nubian, known for their deep jazz samples and rhymes infused with the philosophies of the Five Percent Nation of Islam. I have to say, when I was in high shool and picked up their debut album, One For All, it was a revelation, and remains to this day one of my all time favorite rap albums. All For One is the first track off that record and the first on this week's playlist. Enjoy!

Oh, and check out Roxanne Shante's 'Live On Stage' at the end, remember that one? I had to look all over for it! For some reason, it's one of my favorites. Peace!

1. Brand Nubian - All For One (Explicit LP Version) (4:54)2. Diamond D - Sally Got A One Track Mind (3:43)3. Black Sheep - Flavor Of The Month (4:19)4. Leaders of the New School - Sobb Story (4:39)5. Das EFX - Jussumen (Pete Rock Remix) (4:45)6. Main Source - Live at the Barbecue feat. Nas, Fatal & Akinyele (4:34)7. Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Creator (Slide To The Side Rmx) (3:42)8. Chubb Rock & Howie Tee - Caught Up [Remix] (6:14)9. De La Soul - Buddy-Remix feat. A Tribe Called Quest-Jungle Brothers-Queen Latifah-Monie Love (7:14)10. Tuff Crew - My Part of Town (4:34)11. Afrika Bambaata - Looking For The Perfect Beat (6:51)12. Roxanne Shante - Live On Stage (Original Mix) (3:56)

Disco Volante - 9th Wonder

MP3: Disco Volante - 9th Wonder (Right-Click-Save-As)

Insectoid MC's Butterfly, Ladybug Mecca and Doodle Bug along with DJ Silkworm, collectively known as the Digible Planets, produced two of the best albums of hip-hop's Golden Age, the Grammy Award winning Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) and the vastly under-appreciated (and in my opinion, superior) 1994 Blowout Comb. It's great music. This week's lead-in was the standout track from that album and features legendary NYC radio dj Jazzy Joyce on shout outs.

This week's show is an old school mix for a friend of mine who's just getting into the rap music. Next week I'll fast-forward a little bit with some of today's more current hip-hop.

Enjoy!

1. Digable Planets - 9th Wonder (Blackitolism) (4:27)2. Kool G Rap and DJ Polo - Road to The (5:05)3. Eric B. & Rakim - I Know You Got Soul (4:50)4. Special Ed - Think About It (4:25)5. EPMD - You Gots to Chill (4:27)6. MC Lyte - Paper Thin (Audio 2 Remix) (2:47)7. A Tribe Called Quest - Steve Biko (Stir It Up) (3:11)8. Gang Starr - Dwyck ['Royalty'] (4:03)9. Biz Markie - Vapors (4:33)10. Big Daddy Kane - Ain't No Half-Steppin' (5:24)11. Boogie Down Productions - My Philosophy (5:40)12. Ultramagnetic MC's - Ego trippin' (4:58)13. Slick Rick - Lick the Balls (3:55)

Disco Volante - World Sick

MP3: Disco Volante - World Sick (Right-Click-Save-As)

The great nation of Canada has much to offer the world -- masterful hockey players, hilarious transvestite sketch comedy and wonderful but underappreciated rock bands, like Tegan and Sara, national champions The Tragically Hip, and the Juno Award winning Broken Social Scene.

World Sick is a teaser track from their highly anticipated (at least by me,) John McIntire (Tortoise) produced fourth record "Forgiveness Rock Record," and if it's any indication, along with "All To All" from last week's playlist, it's going to be another winner.

1. Broken Social Scene - World Sick (6:47)2. Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay (3:12)3. Sufjan Stevens - All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace! (4:33)4. The Zombies - 03 Tell Her No (2:06)5. Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (3:09)6. kid koala - i like my beats (3:54)7. Miles Davis - Rated X (5:06)8. PJ Harvey - The Garden (4:12)9. Gonjasufi - Sheep (4:03)10. Arthur Verocai - Na boca do sol (2:54)11. Parliament - I Just Got Back From The Fantasy, Ahead Of Our Time In The Four Lands Of Ellet (4:30)12. Masters of Illusion - Let Me Talk to You (9:19)13. Sun Ra - We Travel The Spaceways (3:24)

Disco Volante - Brother Sport

MP3: Disco Volante – Brother Sport (Right-Click-Save-As)

The best live show I saw last summer, hands down, was Animal Collective at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It was a steamy, tropical affair, a strange confluence of perfect weather and set design as late afternoon showers subsided just as the band took to a stage decorated like the Hawaiian Tiki stage of Super Mario Bros., complete with candy colored Easter Island heads, swaying cardboard cut-out waves and even a giant cartoon shark that leaped from the “water” and dove back in over and again like a star Sea World performer. As the sun set, we noticed tiny pink paper lanterns glowing on wires above our heads. I smoked a joint with some hippie kids.

The irresistible Brother Sport (fantastic video!), this week's title track, was arguably the highlight of the show, with its childlike faux-tribal chanting and hypnotizing electric bounce that had us bobbing up and down like idiots. Here's hoping this summer brings similar delights!

1. Animal Collective - Brother Sport (5:59)2. Broken Social Scene - All to All (4:49)3. Talking Heads - Making Flippy Floppy (4:40)4. Audio Two - I Don't Care (3:54)5. Wagon Christ - Thick Stew (7:47)6. The Amorphous Androgynous - David Holmes - What R We Stealing (3:12)7. Devo - Mongoloid (3:43)8. Liars - Tumbling Wall Buried Me In The Debris With Esg (4:05)9. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - T.A.T.B. (For The Saints And Sinners Remix) (7:29)10. The Jesus Lizard - Nub (2:58)11. The Fall - Hit The North Part 1 (4:00)12. Komeda - A Simple Formality (5:28)

Disco Volante - Oh, MJ!

MP3: Disco Volante - Oh, MJ! (Right-Click-Save-As)

The Little Ones are a great little band. With a charmingly naive sound just North of twee, this Los Angeles indie pop-quintet are a whole lot of fun, both on their 2006 EP Sing Song, and their 2008 full length debut Morning Tide. Their sound is a little bit Zombies, a little bit Cibo Matto, a little bit Yo-Gaba-Gaba-Hey, but never, in my opinion, too cute for its own good.

I'm not sure if "Oh MJ!" is about Michael Jackson (I sorta think so for some reason,) but it sure is infectious. This particular version of the song comes from the excellent Daytrotter Studio Sessions, who record many of your favorite pop bands to tremendous effect. Check 'em out!

1. The Little Ones - Oh, MJ! (Daytrotter Sessions) (5:17)2. +/- - Bow To The Middle (The Rosebuds) (2:47)3. Little Dragon - Never Never (3:37)4. White Hinterland - Moon Jam (4:19)5. DOOM - Absolutely (2:43)6. Shafiq Husayn - Dust & Kisses Ft. Noni Limar (4:10)7. The Bird And The Bee - One On One (3:40)8. Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Sunshower ['Check The Rhime'] (4:08)9. Brazilian Girls - Corner Store (4:13)10. Dorothy Ashby - By The Time I Get To Phoenix (3:31)11. Beauty Pill - Goodnight For Real (4:49)12. The Smiths - Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (3:14)13. Grandaddy - Where I'm Anymore (6:05)14. Microdisney - Hello Rascals (2:46)15. Maureen Owen - When You're Down and Under (1:03)

DISCO VOLANTE - Lover Of Mine

MP3: Disco Volante - Lover of Mine (Right-Click-Save-As)

Whenever I see Beach House vocalist/keyboardist Victoria Legrand perform , I just can't get over the contrast between her well-scrubbed, babyfaced looks and the smokey, bourbon-soaked vocals that spill out of her. It's a nice surprise. Togetho\er with bandmate, Alex Scally, this Baltimore duo form the core of Beach House, a band whose moody, etheric sound evokes both 1970's AM-Gold and today's cutting edge psychedelia. 'Lover of Mine', a track off their fantastic new record Teen Dream, has a timeless, dream-like quality, as soothing as it is challenging, and it's the first song on today's playlist...

1. Beach House - Lover Of Mine (5:06) 2. Dam-Funk - Mirrors (3:19) 3. The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble - Mystic Voyage (For Roy Ayers) (4:25) 4. Vicki Anderson - Home Is Where the Hatred Is (5:31) 5. The Association - Along Comes Mary (2:48) 6. Paul Weller - All The Pictures On The Wall (3:57) 7. Broken Social Scene - Looks Just Like The Sun (4:23) 8. Stereolab - Allures (3:29) 9. Special Ed - Ya Wish Ya Could (3:48) 10. Rza - daily routine (4:23) 11. Public Image Ltd. - Careering (4:32) 12. The Slits - I Heard it Through the Grapevine (4:00) 13. Talking Heads - The Book I Read (demo) (2:55)

DISCO VOLANTE - 2009 Devastator Jr. Awards!

Stuff these in your stocking!

To be honest, 2009 was such a great year for new music, I couldn't possibly choose just ten albums for a 'Best Of' list. So instead, this year I did something a little different. I made a mix featuring songs from some of my favorite albums, not necessarily in top ten order, only kinda sorta that way. So ultimately, YOU get to decide. Isn't that neat?

There's a lot of great stuff I had to leave out, like Raekwon's Only Built For Cuban Linx II, Dark Was The Night, and Shafiq En'a Free's Ka, and on and on, apologies to all, but I only have so much time to fool around making arbitrary lists.

To find out which albums these songs come from and see the whole durned list in all its glory, with album artwork and more goofy comments, jump to the 2009 Devastator Jr. Awards at Rate Your Music and go hog wild.

Happy New Year!

MP3: Disco Volante - The 2009 Devastator Jr. Awards (Right-Click-Save-As)

1. Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Bears - Sugarfoot (3:18)2. The Flaming Lips - Silver Trembling Hands (3:58)3. Dam-Funk - Brookside Park (9:49)4. Animal Collective - No More Runnin (4:23)5. St. Vincent - Dig A Pony (The Beatles) (4:09)6. Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve (2:35)7. Camera Obscura - French Navy (3:19)8. Fever Ray - Triangle Walks (4:23)9. DOOM - Gazzillion Ear (4:11)10. The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away (2:27)11. Broadcast - Creation Day The Travel Flute Way (0:33)