tour: Janka Nabay Goes to SXSW, Sabanoh tape

Bubu King!

If you search Bubu Music in Google, the first eight links are all about Janka Nabay. The ninth is the Wikipedia article on the traditional music of the Temne people from Sierra Leone, made with “old keyboards and by blowing on carburetor pipes and bamboo shoots,” and of which Janka Nabah is universally considered the King. Not only that, Janka was also the first to record Bubu music in Sierra Leone, and his music proved to unite war torn Sierra Leone over ebullient dance music, whose goal was to use the music to promote “peace, good governance and the empowerment of women.”

Janka has been in New York City, regularly playing all over the Manhattan and Brooklyn with a tour de force known as the Bubu Gang, which features members of Highlife, Skeletons, and a plethora of other Brooklyn based musicians helping to re-create Janka’s vision of Bubu with live instruments. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Janka play on more than a few occasions in Brooklyn and each time I leave with my feet sore, but my mind strong. (Bubu proves to be both cathartic and healthy workout.)

Yesterday I posted the A Side to a tape Janka recorded in Sierra Leonne on the Kickstarter blog. To follow up, here's the B-side to Sabanoh. Pledge to Janka's project on Kickstarter.

Download Janka Nabay- Sabanoh B-Side
Download the A-Side to Sabanoh here.

new: Arches Wide Awake LP

Comin' Back Again

No stranger to these pages, Arches have been making some of the most thoroughly enjoyable subtle guitar pop for a bit now, and now the Philly-based group is readying their debut record, Wide Awake. They've been upping songs to their Bandcamp at a steady stream and are now, um, streaming(!) the entire record. While digi is all-well and good, the boys have taken to Kickstarter to fund the vinyl release of the record. Nearly half way there after just a few days. Some great incentives, too! Be sure to catch them this coming weekend at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, then chip in to fund their vinyl release. Download (or stream) two new tracks below

new: Ducktails Killing the Vibe 12" w/ Panda Bear

Duck

Ducktails is taking to Kickstarter to make put "Killin the Vibe" with Panda Bear on wax. In addition the 12" features two new tracks from the duck, as well as another rendition of "Killin the Vibe" featuring Spectrals, whom Matt has befriended along his travels. They even recently served as his backing band in the UK.

Pledge to Ducktails Killin the Vibe 12" here.
Ducktails - Killin' The Vibe (Feat. Panda Bear) by weallwantsome1

new: THE REPORT V.II / Dolphins into the Future video

Ke Ala Ke Kua

One of the hopes for The Report V.II was to get Christian "Megazord" Oldham to work with Dolphins Into the Future (aka Lieven Martens). Both 'Zord and Lieven have been experimenting in similar dimensions, which, though very different, seem to coalesce in some bizarre, 4th level venn diagram. The result of their collaboration is the video for "Ke Ala Ke Kua," a seemingly simplistic rendering of the ideas that may come when you think about Dolphins into the Future or Megazord; new age bliss, oceanic field recordings, digital tomfoolery. It's all here. In fact, it's the aesthetic motivation for The Report V.II.

The Report V.II is now completely finalized, yet I'm unable to figure out how many copies to order. With that in mind, I started a Kickstarter project to get readers/viewers to choose how large the pressing of The Report V.II is. Find out about the compilation, DVD, and book here.

Back the project through Kickstarter!

radio: Sunday Brunch 9/19/2010

Sunday

Heavy sun and positive light set the tone for yesterday's Sunday Brunch broadcast, though the true inspiration was the Based God's preposterous, and unfettered, natural wonder, which pretty much set the tone for the afternoon. Grab the 2 hour set below, which features lots of new and fucked wonkery, including an unheard Megazord screw (the bonus track from Throw Myself into the Mediafire) and a bunch of other weird stuff, like Clit Talk's screw of Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair."

Sunday Brunch 9/19/2010
Terry Riley- 4/18/72 Los Angeles pt.1 (live)
Lil B- We Are the World
Dent May- Eastover Wives (Screwed)
Cascaders- Time Test
Candy Claws- Snow White in the Forest
Lil B & Andy Milonakis- Goin Iberico Ham (YouTube)
Airbird- Nothing Compares
Larry Young- Hellow Your Quietness (Islands)
Cluster & Eno- The Belldog
La Big Vic- Bobka Jam
Laurel Halo- Something I Never Had
Pimp C- I'sa Playa
Big Moe- Purple Stuff Remix
R. Kelly- Bump N Grind
Danny Brown- The Hybrid
Rick Ross- Super High Remix (w/ Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y)
Tjutjuna- Mosquito Hawk
Zonotope ™- inserting the Galactic Disc
Slowdive- Stars that Shine Demo
Gem Trails- Old Kid
Megazord Dont Cry Tonight (Screw)
d'eon- Waiting room
Radio People- Exhale
Willow Smith- Whip My Hair (Clit Talk screw)
SFranchiotti- Heart of Glass (fuck)
Chuck Persons- Night Saxophone
Rodd Keith- Do the Turkey

Download Sunday Brunch 9/19/2010


In other Newtown Radio news, the homeys are presenting a dope concert series at the Tortilla Factory on Starr St, aka one of the best spots in all of Brooklyn. The series, which kicks off this Friday with Blank Dogs, includes our friends in Eternal Summers, as well as a special Bobka curated birthday show for yours truly. Be sure to contribute to the series (and be rewarded with some ill swag) at Kickstarter. Going to be a great series, do not miss this!

radio: Sunday Brunch Ep???

Save the Creek

No idea what episode number this is, but that doesn't matter much. Rick Ross tweeted that there were purple clouds over NYC today as I was headed to Newtown Radio. Seemed appropriate for the heavy mix of deep psych and lush explorations I had planned for Sunday Brunch. The storm hit sometime in the middle of our broadcast, which probably shifted the direction of the show. (Subconsciously, of course, as Newtown's nuclear bunker has no direct access to the outside world.)

Newtown Radio is also in the midst of preparing a very special live concert series and they need your help. The station, which has played host to wonderful radio programs from Arthur Radio to the Visitation Rites & Underwater Peoples shows, as well as the post-punk hour from Negative Pleasure and a host of other prime shows making Newtown one of the premier little radio outlets in New York. They will be hosting a new live concert series at Los Hermanos Tortilleria, which you may remember was an excellent location for the Pure Ecstasy/Twin Sister show earlier this year. Better yet, a portion of the proceeds will also help fund the Newtown Creek Alliance, whose job it is to make sure Greenpoint's waterways are cleaner for future generations. The shows will also benefit Newtown Radio, nurturing the up-and-coming station into young adulthood. Check it all out at Kickstarter, and be sure to contribute whatever you can. It's a good cause.

Sunday Brunch Radio Ep??

Jean Claude Vaneer- le garde volent au secours du roi
Hot Seduction Scene in Bitter Moon (YouTube)
Cocteau Twins- Cherry Coloured Funk
SURVIVE- Glass Knives (33rpm)
Stellar OM Source- Red Green Blue
Kendra Smith- Stars Are In Your Eyes
Woodsman- Smells Like Purple
Species trailer (YouTube)
Russell Morris- Part 3 into Paper Walls
Magic Lantern- Moon Lagoon Platoon
Slowdive- AB (w/ Brian Eno) (Souvlaki Demo)
Family Portrait- Dark Roast
Mohammad Nouri- Biya Bar-e Safar Bandim
Omar Khorshid- Solenzara
Velvet Davenport- Tangerine
Tracey Trance- Side B of Mummy Fingers (excerpt)
The Sandwitches- Baby Mine
Beat Happening- Noise
The Close Lobsters- Pimps
Silent Diane- Riverside
How I Quit Crack- Gone Away
Sleep Over- La Rose
St. Christopher- Even the Sky Seems Blue
Cocteau Twins- Aikea- Guinea (live)

Download Sunday Brunch Ep?? (8/22/2010)

new: The Report

"Playboy Tunnels"
(Collage Art by Madalyn Merkey. Her work appears in the Report.)
It's been a few months since the silly thought of starting a bi-annual cultural compendium crept into the forefront of my brain. I was going out to dinner and was sorta pissed the tavern ran out of Fish & Chips. (Bummer.) Since then, my half baked idea evolved into the Report, a home for warped ideas germinating in the caves of our contributors craniums for god knows how long. In many respects, the Report is a home for stuff that doesn't have a home, a quasi orphanage for random thoughts, mind collages, one-off jams and nights that need remembering.

The Report started a Kickstarter project to help bring our ideas to life. In a shockingly short period of time the Report raised its goal of $1000. Shit, y'all were so supportive we exceeded our goal. In all honesty, its remarkable. Scott the Intern and I are working our asses off in the Bobka/Report HQ in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and we hope to have the Report packaged and ready to go in early February. Don't want to give too much away, because surprises are always nice, but I will disclose that the Report is a music, culture and art journal bundled with a DVD of live concert footage shot by Ray Concepcion and C. Axel Poekel (Chocolate Bobka's chief videographer) and a cassette compilation featuring new songs (and LOTS of exclusives) from Real Estate, Pure Ecstasy, Twin Sister, Mountain Man, Sharon Van Etten, Alex Bleeker, Holiday Shores and many, many more. The Report will be lovingly packaged for each individual order. This means no inventory, as we will only print as many as ordered. No more, no less, no excess. Pre-orders will be available in the next week or so, however, you can pre-order the Report by contributing to the Kickstarter project, which has lots of cool incentives, like, uh, the shirt off my back. Seriously. Really psyched for everyone to see what we've got cooking.

Donate to the Report Kickstarter.