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Sunday, March 28, 2010

shaanti-disco warrior



just did a lil mix over the weekend and put this track on there...man, forgot how dope this cut really is!! and the video, kilin it!

heres the mix

its all WORLD music (Transnational Sounds mix) by dj avatar

edit---also check the fantastic hatnhoodie blog where this mix was also featured

Friday, March 26, 2010

Astral Travelin and the Indigenous Spirit



~uploaded this one to Fairtilizer a while back...not gettin too many plays...hmmm? Is it the oddly worded title or the Zapata pic? Dunno, maybe a combo of both...anyhow, here it is...

I made this song after a slew of fairly weird dreams; weird is probably an understatement.....the "Indigenous Spirit" comes from my time spent in Chiapas, Mexico, more specifically Palenque, the incredible Mayan temples and the Food of the Gods (see Terrence McKenna)...this track was originally title "DreamingofMyToad," I figured I'd change the name to one that doesnt cause such confusion...FAIL.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Salsa Breaks

~i missed the record show this weekend; its a good thing really---I still have records I bought from the show last year that I havent listened to...I love the days when I can just kick back and throw on some jazz, soul, or, if I'm in the mood, some funky salsa....

love this track---listen carefully now....shhhhh!!! dont tell on me ;)


quality...


youtube killin it...


cant leave out Fruko....this one just kills me every time....


as far as the whole sxsw thing, let me just say this...Evil D is a beast on the decks, 'KidCapri-ing' dudes for trying to request a song---WE DONT TAKE REQUESTS!!!---sayin...

J-Rocc murdered the Apache break, Cut Chemist dropped Major Lazr and some ill Brazilian Geto Tek bizness, Jazzy Jeff kilt it, and Mos Def did his damn thing...and yes, I missed Bomba Estereo again...I blame VSOP dammit....

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Rethinking Eurocentrism







~I picked up this book several years ago, having found it while wandering around the bookstore. Its a serious book that delves into the ways the media encourages viewers/readers/ listeners to accept a Eurocentric perspective--to be quite honest, this book influenced me to create the MasCultura banner through which I make music and propagate the rhythms of so-called Third World nations. Heres a brief excerpt from the book:

"Unthinking Eurocentrism focusses on Eurocentrism and multiculturalism in popular culture. It is written in the passionate belief that an awareness of the intellectually debilitating effects of the Eurocentric legacy is indispensable for comprehending not only contemporary media representations but even contemporary subjectivities. Endemic in present day thought and education, Eurocentrism is naturalized as "common sense." Philosophy and literature are assumed to be European philosophy and literature. History is assumed to be European history..."

The authors go on to add that Europe is placed at the center of the world--when we refer to the Middle East or the Far East, we unconsciously place Europe as the central focus point...the "arbiter of spatial evaluation," as the authors state.

All this is not to say the Europe/Europeans are bad or wrong---no, rather the authors are simply making us aware of a Eurocentric discourse that permeates much of popular culture across the globe. Think Indiana Jones, James Bond, or the nightly news that, when referring to some post-colonial nation consisting of dark-skinned people, must show them screaming and hollering at the camera, most of the time setting fire to an American flag or some other symbol of our nation.

As someone greatly interested in what corporate music marketing stategists have blandly labeled "World Music," I am curious to see what the future holds as the rhythms of post-colonial nations in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East blast loudly out of speakers in cities across the US and Europe. The youth of today are sweating on the dancefloor to cumbia, kuduro, baile funk (which is rooted in Miami Bass with some Brazilian influence), balkan beat, etc....How is this fact going to alter the Eurocentric discourse that has dominated popular culture for the last century or so?

El Hilwa Di (coucou)

Fela--Viva Afrika!!

Cumbia Internacional_Avatar by dj avatar

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Terry Lynn

I first got wind of Terry Lynn a lil over a year ago when she dropped her somewhat graphic, yet symbolically appropriate "System" video--shes definitely a talented mc with the potential to bring some more heavy tunes to the bass-hungry massive...heres a few youtube vidz worth peepin....


-a lil mashup


some quasi-dubstep rmx


the 'system' video---I swore off pork years ago, cant say I miss it--some brutal imagery up in here...


Jamaican Girls

"JAMAICAN GIRLS" TERRY LYNN & JOHAN HUGO of RADIOCLIT from phred on Vimeo.



Terry Lynn--Jamaican Girls-Radioclit