El G + Andrea Balency

Fantastic cover of El Guincho's Lycra Mistral from Andrea Balency. You may also notice a cameo from Torreblanca on backing vocals.

It takes two...

Picked up this gem whilst in BA, unfortunately I didn't see or dance as much tango as I'd have liked but this CD takes me back every listen. The instrumentals are some of the best renditions of these classics that I've heard and  the sound quality is great, no old crackly vinyl rips (however I don't mind that at all). 

I believe there are also compilations by the same people of Cantados for those who love the tango cantadors, either way you'll wanna drop everything, grab a lady and dance.

Jovenes y sexys vs Javiera Mena

Dormida escuchando tu voz, mirarte hasta el amanecer. - Sleeping whilst listening to your voice, looking at the dawn.

Ayobaness: The Sounds of Township Funk

So in typical fashion everything I said I'd review first takes a back seat to a compilation of South African house I recently acquired. If you've got any interest in house music globally, you've probably heard South African DJ Mujava's Kwaito track 'Township Funk', which was released on Warp back in 2008, and got a bit of exposure from Gilles Peterson, amongst others. It got the remix treatment from Skream & Sinden, among others.

original mix



Skream remix

(probably needs a little more bass tbh)

Aesthetically it's not mindblowing. Like Major Lazer's 'Pon de Floor', it's got a basic drum intro, akin to marching-band rolls, but very rhythmic. The marriage of those hypnotic synths over the top is what makes it what it is, ie. a great track to dance to, and ultimately a great step forward for the genre, and its exposure to a broader audience.

A relatively new genre, Kwaito is essentially South Africa's take on house music, with minor influences from disco, hip-hop, and local tribal dance. Slightly slower and often resembling hip-hop, it takes the American house sound of the early to mid 90s and fuses it with African rhythms, chants, and basslines/synth stabs reminiscent of 80s electro. The word comes from the Afrikaans slang kwai, meaning 'hot', or 'kickin'; as in, 'this new shit is fresh' type thang. The emergence of Kwaito is hardly surprising, given the South Africans liberated way of life following apartheid. It represents those freedoms as much as it does the ghetto townships; an increasingly competitive and developing blend of distinctly African dance grooves. Out Here Records, a label focusing on compilations of popular music styles in Africa, brought out this great collection in May of last year: Ayobaness! - The Sound of South African House. It features one track from DJ Mujava, among a dozen other nuggets of S.A. bliss. I've posted a few of my favourites below.







If you're still into paying money for music and listening to it on a proper sound system, you can pick up these jams right here.

Emilio Jose

Its taken me quite a while but I can finally say that I enjoy/somewhat understand Emilio Jose as a legitimate artist after not only listening to Chorando Aprendese on repeat but also exploring the mind space and lets be honest, getting a bit crazy on the weekends.

At face value, many of Emilio's songs seem to be quickly thrown together to look complicated/sophisticated affairs, however look a bit deeper and realise things on a grander scale and his music evokes vivid memories and feelings of time and space. Much like the avant-garde Soviet film makers who create meaning and story through montage, juxtaposition and a dialectic mindset are Emilio's tools of choice in the creation of Chorando Aprendese. This is most apparent in tracks like Ti Deixachesme. I could also go on about Emilio's master of language not in the sense of lyrical genius in one particular language, but jumping between his native Portugese to Spanish, English and even Catalan, however if you can't understand most to any of it, it doesn't really matter.

Get yourself a copy of this latin american masterpiece, not folk or alternative as you'd expect in the current musical climate, but music for the mind.

Fabric 52

Residents of the legendary, discontinued Scottish club night Optimo Espacio are hot property. What some would describe as a product of the club's strict music policy, the duo of JD Twitch and JG Wilkes boast an amazing taste in music ranging from all corners of the globe, often being touted as one of the best DJ duos around. Its like when someone asks you 'Hey man, what sort of music do you listen to?' and of course the only response that your trendy bike-riding clique would approve of is 'Duh...everything!'. Well in this case its a cliche yet incredibly valid answer.

Their latest release mix Fabric 52 is just as energetic and dance-worthy as their strong following of crazy Scots would have you believe. Truth be told its a tad more techno/dance friendly than previous mixes (that I've had the privilege of hearing off the internetz, sadly I've never got to witness one of their club nights), however its still trademark Optimo when you hear disco/cumbia in Roska and Cumbia Moderna de Soledad intricately woven into house and techno beats. This being indicative of the sort of stuff you'd be likely to hear if you were to catch the Scottish boys at fabric or sub-club, with their only intentions being to make you move. 


Fabric 52 is a great mix for those hot summer nights, from the pre-drinks to your sloshed and messy self well and truly throwing shapes on the dance floor. Initially it seems like your decent Saturday night mix, featuring early house/italo tracks, but to Optimo's credit, they know how to keep it fresh by effortlessly mixing styles that would get the better of most other DJ's out there. If you're looking to get away from your main stream club bangers for a night of exploration, I strongly suggest you give Fabric 52 or in fact any of Optimo's mixes the once over.


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