things and time will tell.

Louie Vega & Elements Of Life Christmas Package 2008 - 2023 A not-so-secret secret about me: I like Christmas music. Okay, not all of it, but there are always more quality (not to mention weird and interesting) Xmas records around than you think.  I've never shared any here, so let's fix that.  I kicked off the year with a Masters At Work post , so I'll close it out that way too with some upbeat holiday house from Little Louie Vega. The legendary NYC dance producer is one half of MAW and has been sliding out the occasional Christmas record for years now. Mostly just digital releases, sometimes under his own name and some with Elements Of Life, his band brings more of his love for Latin and jazz to the party.  Jazz bass, Latin percussion, and some great vocalists feature on soul house productions that will guarantee a sunny Christmas day when  you play them. (How come I've never gotten to DJ a Christmas party?) Vega and his EOL team hit some Christmas classics th...

Masters At Work – Our Time Is Coming Cutting Edge – CTCR-14186/B 2xCD, Album, Japan, 2002 info I took too long to post as always, once again missing my chance to post some favorite Christmas records... Next year, I guess. I hope any of you seeing this got some peace over the holidays. It's almost the new year, so if you have an urgent need for some party music or a way to help ring it in on a positive note, this album might do it for you. Our Time Is Coming  was the second full length album by Kenny Dope and Louie Vega as Masters At Work, released in 2001. Once again, I won't pretend to be any kind of expert on house music, but I'll go out on a limb here and say that anyone who writes this record off as too "mainstream" or "predictable" is either: A. a snob; or B. not paying attention. MAW produced an album that I can put on to convince myself the sun is coming out, even at a late night party or in the Chicago winter.  On the predictable charge: Look, th...

Sun Ra - Mike Huckaby Bonus Beats! Mike Huckaby - Sun Ra Reel To Reel Session - Live at Amoeba Records, LA - July 13, 2017 & Sun Ra - "The Lady With The Golden Stockings" (Mike Huckaby edit) A  quick post: A few days ago I shared a couple 12"s of Sun Ra edits by Mike Huckaby . If you were feeling those all, here are a couple bonuses to keep that vibe going. I love this stuff.  The excellent UK label Strut Records has been releasing Sun Ra compilations and albums over the last ten years or so, sometimes partnered with Art Yard (who, along with the Kindred Spirits label, issued those Huckaby edit 12s back in 2011). I seems like they had been planning at some point to promote one of those compilations by reviving this idea and releasing some more "Mike Huckaby reel-to-reel edits." As far as I know, the only other track that ever made it's way into the world for us all to hear was  this edit of The Lady With The Golden Stockings  that the label posted to So...

Sun Ra – The Mike Huckaby Reel-To-Reel Edits Vol. 1 Kindred Spirits, Art Yard – KSAY-MH01 Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Netherlands, May 2011 info Sun Ra – The Mike Huckaby Reel-To-Reel Edits Vol. 2 Kindred Spirits, Art Yard – KSAY-MH02 Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, 45 RPM, Netherlands, Sep 27, 2011 info Before I had ever bumped into the word afrofuturism  (and long before I saw it  turning up in pop culture commentary ), I had gained Sun Ra in my musical vocabulary. And while it had never been my scene at the time, Detroit techno was there playing in the background, too.  I won't give a long speech, but let me say this: Neither Sun Ra nor Mike Huckaby's music proclaims itself as "political." Their records don't immediately or overtly identify themselves as reflecting the radical imagination that movements need (and that Black leaders, artists and organizers have so often provided). I'm no expert on jazz and even less so on techno. I really don't know Sun Ra or Hu...

Jill Scott – Slowly Surely (Theo Parrish Remix) Label: Not On Label (Theo Parrish) – JSTP 1 Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Single Sided, Unofficial Release, UK, 2002 info Slowly Surely is hands down my favorite song by Jill Scott, remixed here by one of Detroit's most important house producers, Theo Parrish. I already loved the original track off her first album when I heard this single-sided bootleg 12" a couple years later (2002?). Parrish made something magic here, working with an already beautiful song and building it into a deep house epic. Jittering, clicking beats give way to bass over looping sounds from the original track. (How great is that sample- Anyone know where it comes from?) Percussion, echoing handclaps, and other mysterious sounds and beats flow in and out of the mix, topped by layer upon layer of Jill's voice until a mellow soul cut becomes some kind of dense, psychedelic, dancefloor ecstacy. My wife and I saw her live years ago. I remember us talking,...

Al Green – Don't Look Back BMG, RCA – 74321 16310 2 CD, Album, Europe, 1993 info Today is my wife's birthday. She's turning one of those ages that people notice, that might provoke you to do a little assessing of where you're at in life... or make you a little self conscious about whether you've become "old." I've never been an expert at keeping her from worrying, but, for whatever it's worth, here's my reflection. She has become happier, healthier and stronger over the last 10 years. She is at once both infinitely more mature than then me and far more full of life, taking on new challenges and adventures adventures at both home and work (when she could have slowing down and sinking into easier routines at either).  She can be shy and hates being embarrassed more than anything in the world… but focusing on that can make it easy to miss that she's also become damn near fearless.  One of the few joys I've found hidden behind all the tensi...

Nuyorican Soul featuring Jocelyn Brown & Roy Ayers – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun / Sweet Tears Talkin' Loud – TLXX 26, Giant Step Records – 574 969-1 Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Single, UK, Oct 13, 1997 info Look, I'm often a mess. That's just par for the course and whatever is stressing me out on any particular day probably isn't dramatically changing my playlist. Sure, there are songs that mostly get a spin when I've got some anger to work out and others that come out when the clouds break and I'm in a lighter mood . But when life actually feels  broken , when things are clearly impossible and I just can't will myself into seeing how progress is possible, there are two or three songs that I go back to over and over again. I'm definitely not the most religious person that you know, but I think I'd say those songs give me hope on some kind of spiritual level. Faith? Maybe. It's not completely rational and I gave up trying to self-analyze on ...