24-year-old hip hop word smith Michael ’Mixy’ Riccardi has risen to prominence in recent years as quite possibly the saviour of Peterborough’s otherwise marginalised and secretive scene, uniting the younger beat hungry clubbers with the older literary aficionados of the poetry circles by becoming the youngest person and first ever MC to be awarded the coveted Peterborough Poet Laureate title, as well as releasing one of the best local mixtapes to be heard (last year’s MMIX Mixture Mixtape). His succes has made him just as likely to be seen at a poetry workshop as rocking the mic in a sweaty dancehall and has even taken him as far as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with fellow scribes Keely Mills and Mark Grist (both ex Laureates and the latter forming the other half of Mixy's well lauded duo Dead Poets.) His second full length mixtape, entitled MMX (which for anyone unfamiliar with Roman numerals means 2010) was released earlier this summer and continues what he and producer Gareth ‘Big G’ Smith started in 2009. Calling it a mixtape is almost belittling to it’s unique quality, even though of course the word mixtape can in hip-hop terms mean a lot more than just a glorified compilation with guest rappers, it is still more like a complete album in its own right, lacking the peiced together shuffling plot line of some mixes you might hear. In true hip-hop style the wealth of samples used, and the ingenuity with which they are implemented, is diverse and clever, deftly moving between obscure 70s Colombian salsa, Cretan folk music, luscious classical orchestration and famous popular songs such as Beverly Craven’s ‘Promise Me’. Still, the samples would be nothing without the production skills of producer Big G, who handles everything from classic hip-hop rhythms to dubstep and drum and bass with bombastic flare. Even the presence of my pet hate, sped up chipmunk vocals, on penultimate track My Love can’t detract from the great beat work that makes up the track itself; a genre sprawling floor filler with heartfelt vocal performance from Mixy. Speaking of whom, Mixy is of course the star of this show and I haven’t even mentioned his output yet. So, has the Laureate title gone to his head? Does he still have the wry and clever charm that gave him the edge in the first place? The answer is a resounding yes, and indeed he is even better than when he first emerged, having gained confidence and scope, covering everything from his personal reflections on relationships to the well publicised struggle for interracial community cohesion in his native city. His ability as a poet shines through in the tracks, all of which tell stories, some of them funny, some of them shocking but all with the same skill and ability that first elevated him above the jump-up-jump-up banality of so many other MCs. His sensibility is intelligent and tends away from too much of the exclusive lingo that may alienate some people from the genre. Sometimes he may even be guilty of going into too much lyrical detail, spinning out on tangents of minute observations and aspects of the situations he is rapping about, but further listening enables everything to fall in to place, his verbosity simply too much to digest in one listen (which isn't a bad thing, as immediacy is not always a virtue). Not just a great achievement on Peterborough’s scene, but good enough to impress hip-hop listeners up and down the country. In summary then, Mixy and Big G are, to use their own words, merkin it! To get it for a meagre £3 check out his website here...
And as a sneak preview grab one of the tracks, Peterbronx, here for free!
So here it is at last, finally! I have been sitting on this for ages and have not given my self the oomph to get round to uploading it until now but after several months it is yours to keep. As with volume one this is a rollercoaster ride around the globe and through time with no care for genres! 'World' music is such a tired old phrase, let's mix it up!
Day-Glow-Radio presents Around the World in 80 Minutes Vol.2
First off we are in Algeria and who better to show us around than the almighty Khaled, the biggest name in the Rai genre. Didi is his massive hit from 1992 which made him a name around the world and not just Arab speaking countries, resulting in nearly 50 million album sales round the world!
Next up we move down through Africa to Benin, home the Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo, a voodoo funk band who have recently seen a revival thanks to a series of reissues by the likes of Soundway and Analog Africa. Fela Kuti and the like dominates most people's image of 70s African funk but Poly-Rhythmo were a force to be reckoned with and I cannot recommend their Kings Of Beninalbum highly enough.
Now when you think of Bolivian music most people picture native dress and panpipes, not screeching psych-rock. But the makers of the Psicofásicos De Bolivia - Go-Gó A 4000 Metros compilation obviously knew different and dug out some rare finds up in the Andes, they must have felt like Indiana Jones in a record store!
Next up we are in China courtesy of the beautiful Koo Mei. Known at the height of her career as The Little Skylark, she started out as an actress and moved in recording jazz songs, which can now be heard on Pathe 100's series of reissues (Vol.14). Her beautiful voice and the classy arrangements bring to mind the high life of Shanghai Jazz clubs, you can almost smell the opium!
To the Democratic Republic of the Congo next, and the sounds of soukous are made for moving! Koffi Olomide is one of the big stars of the scene and even named his own personal style of the genre (Tcha Tcho). He was recently reported dead but made a tearful television appearance claiming he had not died in a car crash, much to his fans relief! This track features so many beautiful guitar riffs and clattering beats, it's impossible not to feel like dancing.
The next track comes from Yalla! Hitlist Egypt, a 1990 album of Egyptian urban pop music that can be found here for those wanting to hear more
More music from the golden era of African guitar music now, and we are in Guinea, straight after they became independent from France in 1958. The 60s and 70s saw alot of hardship in post colonial times but as a result a huge west African movement of musical freedom and expression that lead to such a rich and varied musical heritage, preserved in Guinea mostly by the legendary Syliphone label, responsible for recording all the major bands in the country.
From African heat to Nordic blues now, Iceland specifically. Taken from the 1990 album Gling Glo this cover of the Drifter's marked Icelandic punk singer Bjork's first experimentation away from guitar-based rock music. Guðmundur Ingólfsson was a great and famous piano player in Iceland and he remembered Bjork as a 16 year old girl who, obsessed with jazz, would hang around his recording sessions. The album was a huge hit in Iceland and since Bjork's success worldwide has become even more popular. Sadly Guðmundur died not long afterwards and the band disbanded.
Mohammed Rafi sings to us now, from India. His four-decade career as one of the greatest bollywood playback singers can not be argued with, having recorded an estimated 26,000 songs in this time! This track (Today The Weather Plays Tricks On Me) can be seen in the film "Loafer"
Iran next, to southern Iran and some Janub music. Iran has an incredible musical heritage that fascinates me and this is another example of how much cool music it has to offer. This is a little different from the usual you think of when you think of Persian music, but the banging rhythms and choirs have a really big hypnotic sound.
The Tamlins provide our next track, the 1979 hit Baltimore, which was also covered by Nina Simone in the same year. The Tamlins were very famous in the 70s and this is one of their classic songs. You can hear this and much more soulful reggae on the compilation Darker Than Blue; Soul from Jamdown.
Okinawa pop is up next, from the Hoptones. There is a great amount of rock'n'roll, rhythm'n'blues and jazzy pop from the pacific Asia during the 50s and 60s and it has achieved a very cool cult following. Labels like Sublime Frequencies release almost nothing else. This is a brilliant song from Ryukyu Rare Groove: Shimauta Pops in 60's-70's 琉球レアグルーヴ
One of the greatest Oud players in the world can be heard in the next song; the legendary Rabih Abou-Khalil. He has released scores of incredible jazz-fusion albums, mixing the middle east's traditional music with western jazz and classical. This is from his album Yara.
Nigeria is famous for it's funk and here from the Nigeria 70 series is a classic example of what makes the country so famous for just that! Pakistan next, and the renowned Sufi singer, easily the most famous of them all (in the west at least), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Allah Hoo is one of his most famous recordings and is a great example of devotional music.
More low-fi rock from the Andes now, except this time from Peru specifically. This track has a really funky feel to it and again, like the Bolivian track earlier, shows that Peru is not all about panpipes. Telegraph Avenue were a popular underground band in the 60s and often sang in english, being inspired by the American rock music of that era. Some hip-hop brings us to Senegal next, home of Abass Abass. This a great track that shows the depth and beauty of African hip-hop, which really is where it's at! There's alot of exciting hip-hop and ghetto music coming out of africa and always has been.
Speaking of African ghetto music, Kwaito is a form of house music from South Africa's townships, coming in many forms, from full on techy house (see DJ Mujava's huge 2007 tune Township Funk) to more pop sounding, like Brenda Fassie's classic song Vuli Ndlela. Brenda Fassie was one of the huge 90s stars of the electronic pop movement in South Africa and her song about Nelson Mandela (Black President) was a huge hit.
Another artist who mixes traditional with electronic beats is Omar Souleyman, Syrian music's wild card, this man has recorded over 500 albums and attained mythic cult status in the west thanks to the Sublime Frequencies label who started releasing hhis albums a few years ago.
And then finally, the Lion of Zimbabwe sings us out, Thomas Mapfumo. With his band The Blacks Unlimited, he became a massive icon of African music, just as much for his outspoken political views as for his music(of which Bob Marley was a fan), a trait which got his music banned numerous times and resulted in him having to flee to America. He still lives there, in Oregon to be exact and still tours the world.
............And there you have it, I hope you all enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed putting it together. *GEEK*
