Master the Robot

Nowadays a night out isn't a night out without doing the robot on the dancefloor. So you can master it like me, get the tips from the master, the one, the only, the hardest working man in showbusiness, Mr Peeeeeeeeeeeter Crouch. Aka James Brown.

Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics

Been really getting into this album recently. The best of the Strut Inspiration Information series I've heard so far. If you like the Éthiopiques series, you'll like this too. If you're in London be a good night at the club night too. Mulatu Ashtake was at Glastonbury which must have been pretty cool I reckon. Struggling to find coverage on the BBC past Lady Gaga's outfits. Not overly complaining. Incidentally, don't know if the name of the series is supposed to relate to the super chilled Shuggie Otis album of the same name, which is an all time favourite of mine. Anyway, here's a video of them live recently in London, enjoy.

All Star Bonkers Champion Lee Scratch Perry

Jools Holland interviews the madly prolific Lee Scratch Perry from 1985. Got to love his toaster on the railings. Been playing The Upsetters version of Leaving On a Jet Plane and Melting Pot and they always go down well. Wonder what on earth his sound engineer thinks about during his day at work? Not sure if Paul Young is singing about revolution though.

The Late Great Marvin Gaye

In a week where another great from the Motown cannon left us, here's a video of the late great genius of Marvin Gaye in full flow. Check out the highly influential James Jamerson on bass.

Bit of a spurt to get the blog going, some good links for you today. In the meantime, I better find out what's going on with Hugh's laptop I promised to fix ages ago, salut!

Some gigs like this in the South West please...

Tito Puente - Free Concert in The Bronx
Tito Puente and Charlie Palmieri are off their nuts! Great stuff.

Fela Kuti greets Ginger Baker in his duds

Great clip from the Ginger Baker In Africa film. Some top dancing from Fela and the girls, much like me at the Christmas party.

Analog Africa Free Mixes

Analog Africa are definately one of my favourite labels in the reissuing game at the moment. plus they are nice folk as they have some free album length mixes on their website. Check them out here and here.

Here's a video that went with their African Scream Contest compilation, these guys got style.



And more pure joy here. Puppet love.

Soundway Releases Panama! 2 (plus free mix)

Soundway Records have released the follow up to their excellent Panama! compilation. It's another brilliant selection of Panamanian music from the 60s and 70s and I can't recommend it enough. You can get a free mp3 mix here.