Les sons oubliés #19

Sunshine Tracks

Brownswood and Gilles Peterson are proud to stream the first track from our latest project with Havana Club, Havana Cultura Mix - The Soundclash! 

In 2009, there was ‘Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura’ followed by a remix album. After that ‘The Search Continues’ (2011) and then ‘Mala In Cuba’ (2012). Now we have ‘Havana Cultura Soundclash’, a compilation of collaborations between Cuban vocalists/musicians and unsigned artists from around the world.

All projects have brought musical exchanges to Cuba — with its illustrious yet traditional music scene — a nation where rhythms (salsa, rumba) exist as the lifeblood of its people; where access to new music is limited, barely any broadband internet service and decent home studio technology is rarely affordable. Despite this, Havana boasts a solid homegrown hip-hop scene and vibrant nightlife ruled by reggaeton, with house, techno, EDM, dubstep, trap and moombahton breaking through.

Besides, cultural exchanges are the essence of electronic music. Cuban rhythms (especially Afro-Cubano) trace back to the heart of dance music — from disco through to Chicago house and beyond — cross-pollination is what keeps it moving forward, so what's wrong with bringing electronic music to a nation that in a way helped birth it?

This is what ‘Havana Cultura Mix - The Soundclash’ is all about. After sifting through hundreds of entries to a remix competition, 10 artists from all over the world (UK, Germany, Hungary, Holland, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Chile and Cuba) were selected by Gilles and his Brownswood production partner Simbad to travel to Cuba to work in the studio with hand-picked singers, rappers, percussionists, brass and key players to put together an album.

“Yemaya" is Gilles Peterson's favourite track from the new album. Chillum Trio is the solo project of Hungarian producer Géza Szekeres. Drawing from a wide range of influences—soul, jazz, afro beat, hip hop, bossa, dub and electronica—, Géza’s vision is to marry Afro and Latin beats with the dusty sound of the 60s and 70s’s while adding a touch of modern electronic vibes. 

In Cuba, Géza collaborated with Yeni and Coki from the rumba group Aguiri-Yo. “My devotion to West African music led me on a search for Cuba’s African roots,” he explains. “When Coki and Yeni came to the studio, they sang an amazing song dedicated to Yemaya— the Yoruba goddess of the sea. Yeni’s awareness of Coki’s presence just blew me away and their vocals matched my music seamlessly.” 

https://www.facebook.com/HavanaCultura
http://www.havana-cultura.com/
https://twitter.com/_HavanaCultura_
https://havanacultura.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/chillum-trio

itunes

Chillum Trio Feat. Coki & Yeni - Yemaya (Havana Cultura Mix)

Young Galaxy - We Have Everything (Unknown Mortal Orchestra Remix)

In the middle of 2014, with all roads leading to Brazil, DJ, tastemaker and cultural curator Gilles Peterson embarked on the project of a lifetime, his most ambitious to date: setting up camp in a recording studio in Rio to record a sort of love letter to the nation under the artist name “Sonzeira” (meaning a joyful / killer sound). The resulting album “Brasil Bam Bam Bam” was a deeply personal work, bringing together the many authentic sounds and traditions but always through the eyes of an enthusiast inspired by 30 years of DJIng and record collecting. As Gilles said at the time: ‘Brazil’s music culture is massive..There’s the North – Bahia, Recife, the afro-brazilian sound. There’s batucada, the heavy sambas. Then bossa nova - Tom Jobim and all that history. There’s baile funk. There’s Tropicalia and the more soulful, funky scene championed by groups like Banda Black Rio, Trio Mocoto and icons like Gilberto Gil. Such a huge amount of stuff to fit in. I wanted to try and cover it all – to make a kind of Buena Vista meets club culture, but to keep it sonically very modern.’ The album included star turns from Brazilian superstars young and old, including ‘City of God’ actor and singer Seu Jorge, the grande dame of samba, 76-year-old powerhouse Elza Soares, and world-renowned percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. Of course, this was a Gilles Peterson record and so there was also many left turns -  who else would come up with Emanuelle Araujo’s bossa nova take on the 80s UK jazz-funk hit Southern Freeez, or draft in Seun Kuti (youngest son of Fela) to join the dots between modern day Brazil and the slave ships that bought poly-rhythms from Africa 400 years ago.

Of course, with roots so deep in the interesting edges of club culture it was natural for Gilles to continue this journey into new sonic territories. As such he has spent the last 6 months curating this new album “Brasil Bam Bam Bass” drafting in some of his favourite producers, friends, and associates to reimagine tracks from the album, with all the taste and good judgement you would expect. Much like the original record this is a very personal curation, a considered work that saw Gilles hand pick producers to re-imagine the album track by track - these include At Jazz, FaltyDL, DJ Oil, Kyodai, Max Graef and many more. Also included on this double CD are some wonderful outtakes (including the sublime reworking of Yusef lateef’s Plum Blossom previously only on the vinyl box set of the album), and dubbed out alternative versions of several tracks by Gilles’ Sonzeira co-producer Dillip Harris.          

If the original record was about examining Gilles own history and love for every quarter of Brasil’s sound, this provides a further glimpse into Gilles’ creative mind, ever serching for connections between rhythms; exciting, imaginative and original productions. Most of all this is a record where respect for the source material continues to shine through. 

Que sonzeira! 

Gilles Peterson presents Sonzeira Brasil Bam Bam Bass - The Out Takes and Remakes: Curated with Love will be released on double CD on Brownswood Recordings on the 9th February.


Sonzeira - America Latina (FaltyDL Remix)

Track 3 of Jet Trash's debut EP

Jet Trash is: Paul Kemp (Vocals, Guitar) / Marshall Fassino (Vocals, Bass) / Keith Shughrou (Lead Guitar, Vocals) / Robby Justesen (Drums)

Recorded and Mixed by Andy Freeman @ Coast Recorders (San Francisco, CA)

Assisted by Jesse Scarborough

Mastered by Alex Lowe @ Red Tuxedo Mastering (Atlanta, GA)

Produced by Andy Freeman and Jet Trash

www.jettrashband.com/
www.facebook.com/sfjettrash
jettrashband.bandcamp.com/
instagram.com/jettrashband/
twitter.com/jettrashband

Blood Moon

Demo of a solo song that I haven't figured out how to play solo yet.

They've Always Known Your Name

The 7th track off of the 9 track debut album "Muslim Cartography", out August 15th on Hellur Records.

They've Always Known Your Name

Scott Yoder