Thursday, November 19, 2009

Argentinian Fire From Egle Martin

I picked up this rare 7" single in Curitiba, Brazil back in 2004 at a record store run by a very nice dude named Julio. I was buying a fair bit of stuff so he just sorta threw it in as a bonus and because it was a Uruguayan (turns out its an Argentinian record - I could be wrong again but it would appear that Egle's from Argentina, but the band is from Uruguay - correct me if you know differently) record he wasn't even sure what it was worth. It's since become a favorite of mine and a few friends I've shared it with.

But then last night I dropped it in my set at Dalva (word up, Toph One) and it became the clear runaway hit of the night. I'll be scanning the cover and uploading for all to see, but here are the two tracks, both great, but the intro to the first one is so dramatic and jazzy . . . then the smokin' latin beat drops!

Egle Martin - Dombe BariloEgle Martin - El Dombe

There's an Argentine pressing here on eBay.
This is what that eBay seller had to say about the record:
Egle Martin (a.k.a. La Negra) was sorta like La Lupe from the south of the southern hemisphere. She was deeply involved into the Afro-Latin American culture, and especially the underground Uruguayan and Brazilian scene (experiencing the Bossa and Candomble, often with her Brazilian friends, Maysa and Luiz Eca, among others, and skilled Uruguayan musicians). The Dombe was a rhythm inspired by the afro-Uruguayan Candomble, of her own creation, which also mixes American Funk, Boogaloo and Latin Jazz. Dombe Barilo is a KILLER track in its own right, with those fantastic bongo drums, brass sections, horn arrangements, funky bass-n-drums, plus Egle's vibrant manner of singing, with some lush and intense scat vocal in parts. El Dombe, is the track which gives its name to the rhythm, and is equally good. Both tracks have cool lyrics, and they mainly refer to the dance, and this rhythm.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Intergalactic Space Funk: Phase I: Launch

The Ambassador - Intergalactic Space Funk: Phase I: Launch
As promised a few months ago, here's the newest installment of the SPACE FUNK. This is part one of several future chapters of Space Funk. To be honest, I messed up the mix shortly after this section was completed and that seemed like a good enough reason to break these up into sections and thematically it works too. This first "Phase" is about leaving earth and journeying into space. The mix starts off with some general funkiness with plenty of spacy keyboards and then slowly builds until you are blasting off into space. The next phase will find our intrepid space funkateers on the Moon and beyond.

This mix was re-inspired by my Friday night activities at San Francisco's "Ghetto Futuristic Psychedelic Funkadelic Electronic Erotic Dance Party happening" aka "Future Shock". Big ups to Freddy, Marky, Jason & Stefan for throwing a great party and inspiring me to complete phase I and beyond . . .