K!K! Latin Essentials, part 2: Aprieta!!!

The second part of the K!K! Latin Essentials is a comp of classic tunes that in different ways are influenced by Latin music - blending the spirit of salsa and all them Carribean rhythms with soul, funk, disco, rock & house... Gózalo! (Sorry, but I had to leave some of the longer tracks here in their full length versions - due to their absolute greatness.)

The Chakachas - Jungle Fever

Joe Bataan - Young, Gifted and Brown
Al Escobar - Tighten Up

Santana - Let The Children Play

Nino Gomez - La Lupita

Ray Barretto - Pastime Paradise

Francisco Aguabella - Ramon's Desire

Chico Mann - Dilo Como Yo

Charanga 76 - No Nos Pararan (Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now)

Two Man Sound - Que Tal America

Little Louie Vega feat. Blaze - Elements Of Life (Dance Ritual Mix)

More Rumble in the Jungle this summer!

Yes, it's the f****ng FUNKOMENTARY of the year, decade and century! For sure. If you were astounded, impressed and moved by the documentary "When We Were Kings", about Muhammed Ali's heavyweight fight against George Foreman in Zaire 1974, be sure to not for anything in the world miss this funkomentary: SOUL POWER. It's a new produced film that uses much more of the same live music material that didn't get the time it deserved in "When We Were Kings". So this movie gives an insight of the music festival that was organized along with the fight: massive live acts + interviews with the artists. We're talking dope realness material with James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, Fania All Stars, among others. And it hopefully will come to a home theatre near you this summer...

K!K! Latin Essentials, part 1: Azúcar!!!

The other day I remembered a classic Christmas party that me and my El Colectivo-roomies threw many years ago. It was a blast, a goddamn monster party we never will forget! We didn't have any Dj - this was the Stone Age - so I made a couple of mixtapes (cassettes) that worked really well. And one of them, the Latin cassette, was THE banger! ...which then, 17 years later, inspired me to put together un Especial de Latin en dos partes covering various latin essentials, according to me (nothing new for all you Latin music heads out there, but hell, estos son la esencia hermano!). So here is chapter one with some hot cookin' descargas, guaguancos, salsas, boogaloos, rumbas, jazzy moods y todo ese maldito sabor! In fact, some of them right on from that old mixtape...

Art Blakey - Cubano Chant
Joe Cuba - El Pito
Jimmy Sabater - Yroco
Alegre All Stars - El Manisero
Frankie Nieves - Mondongo
Ocho - Guaguanco Margarito
Orquestra Esencia - Carnival
Los Mozambique - Descarga Mozambique
La Lupe - Fever
Nancy Ames - Carcara
Pete Rodriguez - I Like It Like That

Telepathe - what the fuzz was all about

Actually, we still love what they're doing and Andy Milonakis, genius, knows the exact explanation why.



For those of you unfamiliar with Andy you should really check him out. Here's a shot with him from the recording of Major Lazer's "Zumbi" with Diplo and Switch in the studio.

Sirius

The K!K!-family keeps on growing. Mighty M is our latest member and this is his first amazing blend of simply beautiful songs. Pretty danceable mix, well, just pure genious stuff here, eeeey! Stunning Mighty M! ...and welcome home partner!

Junior Boys - Work

Scritti Politti - Absolute

Max Tundra - Which Song

Reverso 68 - Piece Together (Part !)

Röyksopp - Happy Up Here (Breakbot Remix)

Kish Mauve - Lose Control (Fred Falke Remix)

Air - Mer Du Japon

Mugwump - Boutade (Miseridub)

Empire Of The Sun - We Are The People

Phoenix - Girlfriend

PNAU - Dancing On The Water

Jon Brion with With Deanna Storey - Little Person

Dj Jazzberry's Springsoul

We're happy to welcome a man that was responsible for many intense and sweaty club nights back in the days in our home town Uppsala, Sweden. Niklas Wessén aka Dj Jazzberry enters the K!K!-crew with a smooth springsoul-mix. As the man himself introduces it: "A spontaneous mix of soul straight from the record shelves, 25 original 45's, 2 LP's + a dj Jazzberry edit of Lil Major Williams' "Girl don't leave me"! Mostly stuff from the 60's/70's with Donnell Brown, La Dellics, Talmadge Armstrong, etc + a few recent ones by Mayer Hawthorne, Jazzanova, etc. Enjoy!"

Kompis! Kompis! crate findings in Santiago de Chile, part 10

This is a pretty nice catch: The Sylvers' first album, not so easy to find (as far as I understand). Many good tunes here and my choice for this post is one that didn't make it in the charts like some of the other songs in the album - Only One Can Win, a strong number with great vocals and neat soulful production. A group composed by brothers and sisters, all teenagers in the beginning of the 70's, that didn't became a worldwide phenomenon like the main soul family adolescent band The Jackson 5. Maybe because of its sound, closer to the real deal soul than to catchy pop music. Well...I truly love Michael and his brothers' work during the 70's, but here and now I want to recommend some more beautiful soul pearls made by The Sylvers - just listen to: We Can Make It If We Try, Cry of a Dreamer, Wish That I Could Talk To You, Misdemeanor (solo cut by Foster Sylvers, written by older brother Leon).

Wanna party like this?!

Arrgh! Friday night and I wish I could attend to a party like this...! [The Kompis! Kompis!-crew will have to make some plans to replicate something like this in the near future.]

Struggle Day mix

Here are some random picked struggle anthems to celebrate all those people who not only today, but everyday, struggles for a more equal world...

Shahid Quintet - Invitation to black power (part one)
Billy Paul - Let the dollar circulate
Spiritual Concept - Where are the cares for tomorrow
Fela Kuti/Rhythm Controll & Chuck Roberts - Water no get enemy/My House
Fingers Inc. - Can you feel it (Barack H. Obama mix)
Guilty Simpson - Man's world
M.I.A. - Paper planes (Blaqstarr remix)
Isley Brothers - Work to do
Phyllis Dillon - Woman of the ghetto
Gil Scott-Heron - We almost lost Detroit