where the hell have i been all this time...?

i've hardly been down to the basement for months now. there are two reasons for this... ironically enough, the first is that i thought after having done a podcast for over two years i should at least own an ipod, so i bought myself an ipod touch. and, guess what, i've discovered that it is great being able to listen to music everywhere: in the car, in the gym, even in the swimming pool! i've actually started to buy digital music instead of vinyl... is this the end of an era?

more significantly, i've taken up running. i've even got my playlists organized to be at exactly the right tempo for my steps... i recently ran in the madrid half marathon and managed to raise some money for voces: you can see for yourself here. of course all this training takes away time when i could be doing podcasts.

keep bugging me and i will get on to do another podcast real soon now, i promise!

osaka monaurail in madrid!

this saturday we have a rare chance to see the best in japanese funk, brought over especially from japan by javi bayo (http://www.danzz.es/, http://www.club-expansions.com/). i'll definitely be there so drop me a line if you are thinking of going.

saturday 15 of december, 21:30, sala caracol

tickets on sale in ama records (mercado de fuencarral, calle fuencarral, 45) or upbeat records (calle espíritu santo, 6)

12 euros in advance, 15 euros on the door

the tickets include entry to the post concert party in sala tempo (calle duque de osuna, 8) from 00:30 onwards, with sessions from dj pari, dj harry callahan and of course jesús bombín and javi bayo

check out the videos.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACmzHiwUp80

voces (voices)

i was lucky enough to go to a very exciting event last night, the first concert organised by "voces", a new NGO based in spain, whose aims are to raise awareness (and money) for worthy causes (check http://www.voces.org.es/). they've managed to get support from the most famous and most promising musicians and actors that spain has to offer so its no surprise that the concert was completely sold out (12,000 people!). the musicians seemed to be enjoying it as much as the audience. drop me an email if you are interested in more details.

check out some videos here: http://es.youtube.com/AsociacionVoces

podcast #17 - tribute to jon lucien (RIP)

sadly, jon lucien, the owner of one of the most beautiful voices to ever grace this
planet, passed away recently. so i wanted to dedicate this podcast to his memory; may he rest in peace. thanks for the great music jon.

here is the tracklisting:

serge gainsbourg - ah! melody (philips)
astor piazzola - el viaje (4 hero remix) (chicooligan)
beat konducta - movie finale (stones throw)
beatconductor - marrakech (gamm)
jon lucien - would you believe in me (rca)
land of afro - spooky (freestyle)
boris gardner happening - melting pot (trojan)
wille and the mighty magnificents - funky 8 corners (all platinum)
herbie hancock - wiggle waggle (warner bros)
nono morales - soana (jazzman)
west/rock/woods - love cats (mukatsuku)
? - mirrors of my mind (moton records inc)
QSO vs MR - pushin ronson (rebtuz)
MJ vs Q tip - breathe and stop 2002 (ariston)
dubben - karameller (gamm)
aquarian dream - you're a star (elektra)

http://media.libsyn.com/media/radiomadrid/heavyusker13.mp3

podcast #16 - another new old podcast

i'm afraid i'm having to dig into the archives of old mixes (but still good ones!) because i just don't have time to do a new podcast right now... another tour of north, central and south america is looming. this mix i did for "brokenbeat radio" and "department deluxe" over three years ago but i was listening to it today in the gym while sweating my head off on the treadmill and its not bad, even if i say so myself. when i get back from my travels i'll do another podcast, i promise!

Excerpt From Kojak / A Question Of Honor / Peter Pan Records
Christian Zimmermann / Diary Of A Lost Girl / BBE
Solid Groove / Flookin / Loungin Records
Paolo Fedreghini / Please Don't Leave / Schema
Antonio Ocasio / Amazonia, Corazon De Brasil / Tribal Winds
Russ Gabriel / Jelba / S.M.A.L.L
Studio Uno Band / Di Bi Di / White
The Mighty Bop Feat. Duncan Roy / I Go Crazy / Yellow
Greens Keepers / Bang In Your Face? / Classic
Terri Walker / Ching Ching / Mercury Records
Mafikizolo / Loot / MAW Records
Terry Hall + Mushtaq / They Gotta Quit Kicking My Dog Around / Honest Jons
Erkin Koray / Estarabim / Dogan

http://media.libsyn.com/media/radiomadrid/deluxe.mp3

the full montenegro

so montenegro was great! in no small part this was due to a musical oasis in the old part of budva, called casper (where i was deejaying, of course!) but what really made it was our fantastic host and owner of casper, marko. he made me feel like i was the only one deejaying there out of the 10 or so deejays on the lineup, such was his attention to every detail. i'd also like to give a big thanks to nebojsa (who organised the whole thing) and his lovely wife jelena. i was also lucky enough to meet up with another good serbian friend, zjelko (from cosmic sounds) who was in belgrade when we were there. the only disappointing aspect was that quantic cancelled at the last minute (and i had the honour of filling in for him, as you can see it was sweaty work!). the three sessions i did have all been recorded - i will send a copy to the first ten people to email me asking for one!