The Groove Thief

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars begin Radio Salone with a short dub interlude, before diving into the afrobeat rhythms of “Gbara Case.” Throughout this finely-crafted album the band moves between genres effortlessly, letting the global influences on modern African music shine through. Surely producer Ticklah deserves some of the credit for assembling such an eclectic and impressive collection of tunes: freebie “Mother In Law” opens with powerful funky horns, “Reggae Sounds The Message” and “Work It Brighter” sound straight out of Jamaica, “Kali” is playful and upbeat, and “Man Muyu” straddles the gap between the afrobeat and psych-funk traditions. Great stuff throughout, brought to you by the Cumbancha record label:

Elephant Revival play acoustic neo-folk, blissfully beautiful multi-layered music that is often completely chilled-out, yet thankfully for ears like mine they are not afraid of uptempo dancier tunes either.  Hailing from Nederland, Colorado, they represent my home-state well, and truly thrive in the live environment.  Given that, here are some recent live performances of theirs, including a spectacular full concert via DittyTV and a radio show courtesy of KBUT Community Radio.  As a bonus, there’s a nice remix from Emancipator cleverly called “Elephant Survival.”  This is intimate bluegrass played by master musicians, amongst the best of the current crop of future-forward new-grass:

Watch a full live show on DittyTV

South Africa’s 7FT Soundsystem take the digital-dub ethos and meld it into something truly magical.  Their mantra of “reggae for robots + dub for droids” doesn’t quite do justice to their excellent blend of well-crafted riddims, dubplates, and remixes - though this would tear it up in C3PO & RJD2’s favorite cantina.  A prime example is their most recent mix, Live on the High Grade Show, which features only their riddims in a smooth-and-sublimely crafted upbeat jaunt through all facets of the digital dancehall.  Seriously, this is some impressive stuff - and I listen to a fair bit of dub/reggae as you might have noticed by now if you are a regular reader.  Some other fresh 7FT goodies are included as well: an excellent U-Roy refix and another mixtape.

Sinden throws together a frantic and varied mini-mix for the Annie Mac show on BBC Radio 1.  From disco to electro to house to hip-hop to funk to … whew - all that and more in this 5-minute mix.  This is how to cover a lot of musical territory in a little time.  Is every mix perfect?  Perhaps not, but this vibe works well, and rather than resorting to mashups to fit in so many styles, Sinden wisely picks tracks that flow together well regardless of genre.  Good stuff, and a lot of classic sounds packed in here, stream or d/l:

Jay Robinson assembled a thoroughly enjoyable and diverse bass mix for BBC Radio 1 (Jen Long show).  A personal and reasonably insightful interview precedes the mix - he actually sounds like a decent and humble guy.  The mix itself is full of bleeps, bumping bass, quick vocal samples, and everything else that keeps an electro party moving.  This is 15 minutes of upbeat booty-shaking floor-funk, seamless and relentless.  This is tough to sit still to, current without feeling like it has a date stamped on it, and a perfect upbeat throbbing mix that’s not afraid to give you a momentary breather before slamming the beat on full-force again.

Tracklisting available via the BBC, download available via Mediafire.