The Songs on this week's playlist

Well now, guess getting to the point here is a breakdown of this week's playlist, who are the artists and why is it so funky? or spacey or what ever.

First up is Jorge ben, or Jorge Ben Jor, as he was later AK.He is one of the most soulful artrists to come out of Brasil in the 60's. Starting young as a performer in school and church performances, Jorge Duilio Lima Menezes, started gigging at parties with a guitar given to him by his mother. While playing a party and singing "Mas Que Nada", a record exec from Philips heard Jorge, and a week later he had a record deal from which many funky samba bossa nova rock sounds were created. One of them was released in 1976, called "África Brasil" which contained the song you are, hearing, "Xica da Silva" Why is it funky, well his blending of styles between funk, rock, samba rock, and bossa nova brought a new sound to the Brasilian music scene.

Milwaukee's WMSE 91.7FM and The Fantatsic Planet

WMSE 91.7FM Frontier Radio

The Fantastic Planet show was first aired in January 2004 on Milwaukee's world famous independent radio station 91.7 FM WMSE. I hosted the show with Marcus Doucette aka Marcus Garvey. After returning from 5 years in London, I had a wealth of musical exploration to share with the midwest. It was a bit of a slowdown for me. I had spent years bathed in music discovery in all genre's while living in London and now it was time to give back. Taking all that I learned from working with great artists in East London's Miloco Studios and nights listening to Gilles Peterson's worldwide show on BBC Radio 1, I was mixing all styles and genres together. If it had a beat I could mix it. Marcus and myself met through friends and our similiarities in styles found us working well together. We both brought something new to the table, something that would surprise the other. Of course I applied several times for a spot on WMSE, but it wasn't until the station manager heard us playing in a bar that we were able to get a chance at a show on the air. For the first few months we were just called global beats or something stupid and cliched like that, when I told people I mixed world music they would repond "whats that" or "you mean like hippie music" and partially like what has happened to Jazz, world music had become a genre dead in the water, no one had interest in it except academia and musicians, the mass public was not interested in Fela Kuti or A.C. Jobim. After a few months of training we got our own show and had to come up with a name that defined our style, The Fantastic Planet came first. It was a great opportunity, because unlike spinning in a bar or a club we weren't restricted to music that was designed to move. We could wake people up with Indian Sitar music or Tuvan throat singing and keep them going with Samba or Salsa and African drumming or Ghana funk. It was here that the Fantastic Planet developed into a mature show with a heavy listener base. These days WMSE continues a sa listener supported radio station with but a few rules, no swearing and no drug references. It is an oasis in the world of corporate dominated radio were a computer picks the songs you listen to. check them out, unfortunately the fantastic planet is no more at WMSE, but all the DJ's there are worth hearing in any genre.

Weekly Show at Lili in TianMu Taipei, Taiwan
http://lili-arts.com/index.htm
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The Fantastic Planet

The Fantastic Planet(La Planète sauvage,René Laloux,1973) has always been a source of inspiration for me, a reminder to look for the different in everything. Thats what this blog is about, finding that different thing in this ocean of sound before us to consume. I first connected with the film in Osaka around 1995 at a friends house. I was blown away by everything about it, the music, the story, the animation style. The soundtrack and sound effects inspired me the most. I suggest anyone who hasn't seen the film to check it at once, and if you can get your hands on one of the funkiest progressive soundtracks ever made. Alain Goraguer composed the music, a noted arranger of Serge Gainsbourg, among others. The music and the effects during the movie draw on sources of all instruments and styles. It is dynamic and combines several moods. Through my travels I have always tried to draw music together, musics from different geopgraphies, genres, ages. My weekly residence has always been Sagittarius Rising, to represent the spontinaity and restlessness of music styles, the need to see new horizons. In the digital download age, music becomes timeless, old skool and nu skool meet and create no school, no genre, no boundries.