The Souljazz Orchestra: Mamaya
From: Rising Sun [2010, Strut]
It’s been an exciting year or so for African music at Strut. In addition to releases from one of my musical heroes (Mulatu Astatke) and the Nigeria 70 series, there’s the Jimi Tenor / Tony Allen Inspiration Information album, and this March will see a reissue of [...]

Jaga Jazzist- One Armed Bandit
From: One Armed Bandit [Ninja Tune, 2010]
I’m pretty sure that even if John McEntire weren’t listed in the totally awesome liner notes for the new Jaga Jazzist album One Armed Bandit, listeners would be able to make the Tortoise connection for themselves. So if that association is something turns you [...]

Blockhead: Which One Of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer
From: The Music Scene [Ninja Tune, 2010]
Blockhead: Night Light (Instrumental)
From: Music By Cavelight (Bonus Disc) [Ninja Tune, 2004]
Blockhead: Dough
From: Broke Beats [Mush, 2001]
While I don’t return to it as often as I could, there was a time when I felt that Aesop Rock’s Labor Days was [...]

Show Review: New Master Sounds in NYC 7/8/09
As B posted a couple weeks ago, the New Mastersounds recently swung through NYC for a one-off show on the way to hit the festival circuit. I had really liked their debut album Keb Darge Presents…, but honestly hadn’t heard much other than a couple 7″s from [...]

DJ Still Life: Eddie Bo Tribute Set From: Pain In My Heart on East Village Radio
Following up on Chuckdafonk’s post on the sad passing of a New Orleans blues, soul, and funk legend Eddie Bo last week, I put together a tribute to the man on my weekly show Pain In My Heart on East [...]

Keelay and Zaire: The Times feat. Blu, Fortilive & Nino MoschellaFrom: Ridin’ High [March 10th]
Keelay & Zaire have an album coming up next week (the name of which is derived from the Fazo-O classic that has seen some love on the Fuzz) with a guest-list that’s pretty insane (Phonte, Saafir, Darrien Brockington, Blu, Nino Moschella [...]

Mulatu Astatke: NetsanetFrom: Ethiopiques Vol. 4 (Buda, 1998)
Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics: Video interviewFrom: Inspiration Information (Strut, 2009)
Could I be more geeked about this? Unlikely. Mulatu Astatke’s music is something that scratches a unique itch in a wide variety of people. I got put up on it by East Coast hip-hop [...]

Yo La Tengo: “Big Day Coming (version 1)” & “Big Day Coming (version 2)”From Painful (Matador, 1993)
I was just down at the laundromat on the corner of all places, and even there you could feel the anticipation of something big happening. Every TV set was tuned to a different channel covering some aspect of [...]

DJ Still Life: The Raw and the Crooked 006 & 007From Sleeping Giant Podcast (2008)
It’s snowing up a storm here in NYC. A nor’easter they tell me. And while it does make it a pain to try to get around, I’ve got to say the idea of slowing down, keeping indoors for a [...]

Pee Pee Dynamite- Groovy Christmas and New Year (DJ Still Life Edit)
I grabbed this track last year when Frank posted it at his fantastic Voodoo Funk blog. In order to throw it in some wintertime sets, I did a quick edit for easy mixability. Use it to spread some holiday cheer!