FORTHCOMING COMPILATION OF INDONESIAN PSYCH PROG FUNK ROCK ON NOW AGAIN

Now-Again, in conjunction with Canadian producer Jason "Moss" Connoy and Indonesian rock legend Benny Soebardja, will release an anthology that represents an extensive survey into the Indonesian psychedelic and progressive rock scene that flowered in Jakarta in the early 1970s. The release is planned for early 2010.

Researcher Chandra Drews, an Indonesian-national who is assisting in assembling the liner notes for the compilation, recently interviewed Soebardja in Holland. His story gives a brief glimpse into what is to come with this compilation...

Visit Stones Throw's subsidiary funk label http://www.nowagainrecords.com/forthcoming-compilation-of-indonesian-psych-prog-funk-rock-on-now-again for the full review.

Thanks go out to Egon and MoSS

Tinggi - the mixtape

http://rapidshare.com/files/287804417/Mixtape_Tinggi.mp3.html

A tiny toke of Zappa, a large dose of Japan’s Flower Travellin’ Band, a nice roll of Bandung’s very own Shark Move, a good measure of Funkadelic with a healthy amount of African fuzz, West Papuan psych funk and Turkish psychedelia on the side. Top it all off with Harry Roesli’s posse & tripped out hip-hop and hopefully you’ve got yourself a good listen.

The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet - Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention
En Melody - Serge Gainsbourg
Evil War – Shark Move
Meydan Sizindir - Selda Bagcan
They Are Among Us - Part 2 - The Heliocentrics
Ezuku Buzo - Bola Johnson & His Easy Life Top Beats
Se Na Min - El Rego Et Ses Commandos
Huembello – Black Brothers
Allah Wakbarr - Ofo The Black Company
Satori Part II – Flower Travellin’ Band
The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica) - Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band
A Visit to the Gynecologyst - Dr. Octagon
I See Colours – Edan
Wars of Armageddon – Funkadelic
Peacock Dog - The Gang of Harry Roesli
Who Do U Worship? - De La Soul

De La Soul-18 September 2009 Melkweg, Amsterdam

I tend to avoid concerts involving old fogies playing their ‘best of’ catalogue with an infuriating half-arsed attitude, going through the motions without showing much/any interest and milking the proverbial cash cow for all its worth. But De La Soul have slipped through my fingers enough times for me to miss this gig in Amsterdam’s Melkweg. The fact that this current gig coincides with the rap trio’s 20-year anniversary of their massively influential debut, 3 Feet High & Rising only added my eagerness to take the risk and attend.

You see De La played a huge role in my introduction to and subsequent love for hip-hop music and culture. 3 Feet High & Rising alongside Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back were the first full hip-hop LPs that woke me up to the beauties of creative sampling and imaginative rhyming at a time when experimental rock records (or Bob Dylan) dominated my record player. De La’s debut with its barrage of jaw dropping sampling courtesy to Prince Paul (along with Madlib, one of the true geniuses of quirky hip-hop production) and hilariously imaginative socially conscious peace loving rhymes got me pining for more. Annoyingly every time I had the opportunity to catch them live, something trivial would inevitably come up (travel to Indonesia, University exams, work engagements, etc.) forcing me to be content with stories from friends telling me how extraordinarily fun the whole event was and how I shouldn’t miss their next show for love nor money.

With 2 opening acts supporting De La Soul, it was quite a while before the Long Island trio took the stage. Dutch rap outfit Zwarte Licht opened the set with their mix of American sample based hip-hop and the synth heavy UK Grime with a quite entertaining performance despite my perceived unsuitability of the Dutch language to the rap genre. Harlem native Billy Ray was next to enter the fold with Maseo of De La manning the turntables with Ray hyping up the crowd and belittling the state of modern commercial hip-hop only for Trugoy the Dove and Posdnuos to bum rush the stage a few minutes afterwards.








While hip-hop shows at its worst can involve poor sound quality, stagnant production and a half-hearted MC laying corny rhymes, De La Soul today showcased almost all the positive aspects of a live rap performance. And despite not being a full re-enactment of their 1989 classic 3 Feet High & Rising, a medley of tracks from the aforementioned album, the underrated De La Soul Is Dead, 1993’s Buhloone Mindstate and their fourth album: Stakes Is High was extremely well executed as their constant interaction with the crowd by dividing the room into two competing factions to scream, clap and cheer was refreshing and inexplicably fun. Furthermore, halfway through the performance the MCs started quizzing the crowd on their favourite genres of popular music (blues, rock, country, soul/funk) with the crowd (myself included) booing when country music was announced (perhaps oblivious to the fact that 3 Feet High & Rising was named after a Johnny Cash song: Five Feet High and Rising) and cheering into a frenzy when soul/funk and the name James Brown were belted by Trugoy and the gig momentarily turned into a hard funk and The Godfather of Soul tribute. Brilliant usage of the Seven Minutes of Funk sample by Tyrone Thomas and The Whole Darn Family (also previously used by Jay-Z, EPMD and Gravediggaz) in three separate tracks was also a highlight of the show as were Trugoy, Mase and Posdnuos taking turns manning the turntables at various points during the gig.










The group came back for an encore after about an hour into the show and finished the set with a couple of their best known tracks: Me Myself and I and Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) and paying a special homage to Amsterdam (apparently the first city they visited outside the US way back in ’89) to a hyped up crowed before hanging outside the venue for a t-shirt signing session. I hope Prince Paul will be involved the next time De La come as I was completely sold by the group’s energy, exuberance and creativity in a live gig even when in their 40s.

Madlib, J Rocc, Lefto & Thunderhesit @ Petrol Antwerp

Deciding to head off to Antwerp on a long weekend for some city sightseeing but primarily to try and catch Madlib, J Rocc and Egon from Los Angeles’ Stones Throw perform on the Saturday was a bit of a risk as the Petrol club who were hosting the Belgian leg of Madlib, J Rocc & Egon’s European tour didn’t sell any tickets prior to the evening of the event. However, being familiar with Madlib as an eclectic musical mad scientist and having seen him live twice before with contrastingly different yet equally brilliant sets made me decide to splash my Euros anyway and head down south the border.

The Petrol Club is also a place worth mentioning with its location right in the middle of the Antwerp docklands, a good mile’s walk from the last tram stop from the city centre. We were lucky that some other out-of-towners (Parisians, Londoners, Brusselites, you name it) were also looking for the same venue as trying to walk to the damn place without ever having been there was confusing to say the least. Rows and rows of industrial containers would have to suffice as scenery for the seemingly never ending walk too. Yet get there we did and once we got there the location of the club suddenly all made sense. It was a proper underground club with a semi open air concert hall with asphalt as the dance floor and two screens on either side of the room displaying either cheesy 1980s action movies or vintage 1950s porn. Smoking in enclosed spaces had become illegal in Belgium since last year yet Petrol might as well have been in Amsterdam, Kingston or California with ganja smoke filling up the joint. To anyone familiar with Madlib’s THC soaked takes of hip-hop, jazz, funk and reggae this lax attitude to the ‘erb was quite appropriate.

We did have to wait a bit for the main acts to come out with Belgium’s very own DJ Lefto opening the set, providing all the hip-hop heads with their fix of rap classics, funk cuts and club bangers for an hour or so before Canadian acts Thunderheist took over with a whole heartily fun set as MC Isis and her sound-smith Grahm Zilla truly rocked the crowd with their interactive set. As entertaining as the two opening sets were, the crowd went bonkers when J Rocc and Madlib entered the DJ booth with J Rocc starting the show proper at 2am with a turntable purist pleasing 10 minute cutting and mixing of the classic 1973 break Apache (by Michael Viner’s Incredible Bongo Band) followed by entries from James Brown, J Dilla and countless rare and funky rap 45s before Madlib got on the turntable decks.

Now to get an idea of how versatile Madlib (or Quasimoto, Yesterday's New Quinter, DJ Rels, or his many other pseudonyms depending on what musical mood he's in) is, I’ve seen Madlib dee-jay some jazz cuts over live drum playing, Madlib manning the drums in a spaced out jazz break down, Madlib on the microphone dropping rhymes and Madlib providing ridiculous funky samples for a team of virtuoso drummers on the Brasilintime tour so this performance made me anxious with anticipation. This Antwerp excursion had him deck the turntables with the experimental mask with both him & J Rocc working on the 4 turntables between them with some mind mending avant garde scratching and cutting play which will endear and entice some but perhaps alienate others (that’s the whole point of being avant garde). And just when you think things might go really weird and challenging the duo would drop some Jackson 5 or other familiar heart warming samples mixed with some highly off-kilter beats. He also went political with a superbly timed vocal sample of "Ask not what you can do for your country, but ask what the f**k has it ever done for you" added into the mix. To top things off, the crowd was treated to some exclusive unreleased tracks from the highly anticipated Madvillain 2 album (the original 2004 Madvillain album pitted Madlib ‘s production over MF DOOM’s rapping and had music critics falling over each other in praise of Madvillainy). And for someone often branded with the ‘genius’ mantle, Madlib is one humble and fun guy to talk to when I met up with him briefly in Antwep’s The Record Collector vinyl shop and backstage after the show. And that sentiment goes for J Rocc and Stones Throw general manager Egon too.


















To read Egon’s blog of the European Tour on Stones Throw click HERE and enjoy some YouTube clips of the gig below:

Children's Books

Various Illustrations from Parrot Heads
Hazel Phillips has written a book on trials and travails of three parrots who end up in a shelter. This heartwarming book takes us through the enlightenment of the parrots as they interact and learn about other shelter animals. Illustrated by DHdesignsonline
http://www.dobermanresq.com/rescue/adpc/parrot.php








Various Illustrations from Sister Water and Misses Wind

Kirk Waller's first children's book, is a delightful and comforting story that begins in a peaceful age before there were storms in the earth. Illustrated by DHdesignsonline.
http://www.kirkwaller.com/products.html