Roberto Carlos Lange — Way

from Vesicle Pisces (2011)

Here’s a quiet, thrilling piece of drone from Robert Carlos Lange, aka Helado Negro. A sort of rumbling electro-acoustic odyssey, glued together with pipe organ, a subtle pleasure for your ears. It’s also free for the taking at his bandcamp.

Roberto performs this Friday 12/23 at The Stone in NYC, as part of the dublab/Luaka Bop night of programming.

Hatsumi Shibata — Singer Lady (1975)

70s glamour at its finest — Japanese diva Hatsumi Shibata sings disco.

Thanks to Hashim B. for hooking me up with this track. I’ve been having a terrible time finding any albums by Shibata online… if you can help please let me know!

Suzanne Kraft — Turning

from Green Flash EP (2011)

As promised, here’s a track from Green Flash, the new Running Back Records EP from Los Angeleno Suzanne Kraft, aka Diego Herrera. You need to wait about a minute for this Kraft track to ignite… it’s made for spinning on vinyl, with plenty of bare beats to work with. But I’ve listened to this track enough to start drooling once those metallic snare hits drop around 1:05. Because then the sexy sounds of Kashif are about to wash all over you. (sample is Kashif’s ‘I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)’)

That’s another thing I love about Kraft—he’s always turning me on to synth-bass FM dance hits from the 80s. Kashif & Change are two recent examples.

Go buy the Green Flash LP or the mp3s. Check out more beats Suzanne might be working on at his tumblr. And you know you like it on Facebook.

frosty — “Celsius Drop” Cocktail Hour

Allow me to recommend the soundtrack to your next martini-sipping session—this jet-setting mix from dublab’s frosty.

These selections have been shaken and stirred to provide the perfect audio accompaniment for your next social gathering. Whether you’re dancing on moon beams or beyond these are hi-fi cuts to float you higher. Please pour yourself a stiff drink, hit the play button and swim in these sounds.

I also have to give frosty huge accolades for including Edoardo Vianello’s ‘Guarda Come Dondolo,’ a classic of Italian kitsch. Of course he did. Stay tuned for a classic video…

Suzanne Kraft — Chng

Absolutely kicking track from my favorite disco kid, Suzanne Kraft aka Diego Herrera. So impossibly funky it makes me wish I was doing aerobics. A potential liability if you’re listening in a locale that doesn’t permit dancing. To which I say—get thee to a dancefloor.

Of this track, Diego says: “it’s a re-edit I did well over a year ago that Running Back wanted to put out but I messed up the Ableton set and couldn’t get it sounding how I wanted it to.”

Sounds pretty much how I want it to though… and speaking of Running Back, it’s a Berlin-based label that’s just put out Kraft’s Green Flash LP… a Voyager-worthy record (ok it’s not golden) of slowly evolving, slightly hypnotic disco boogie beats. I’ll post a track from that soon. If you can’t wait, go run back over there to check out the LP, the mp3s, or the Running Back tumblr. Oh yeah, and the original posting of ‘Chng’ o’er at the mighty dublab mp3 blog.

Yumi Arai — Juuni-gatsu no ame

from Misslim (1974)

I’ve been nerding out on a ton of Japanese discoveries lately, spurred on by the (I’ll say it again) superb sampler of the islands’ bounty, curated by dublab’s Hashim B.

One of the tracks on that compilation is Yumi Arai’s funky groove ‘Anata Dake No Mono,’ which was spicy enough to encourage me to hunt down the 1974 album it appeared on, Misslim. The album has excellent arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya, Arai’s soon-to-be hubby, and keyboardist for the session group Tin Pan Alley (of which exotica/electronica star Haroumi Hosono was also a member).

This particular number has a great breezy feel, Laurel Canyon sounds for the Tokyo set. The harmonies will make you swoon—at least they have that effect on me. And if you know Puffy AmiYumi they won’t sound unfamiliar—Yumi Arai laid the foundations for J-Pop in the mid 70s with tracks like 1975’s ‘Rouge no Dengon’ (Lipstick Message).

Haruomi Hosono — Chattanooga Choo Choo

from Tropical Dandy (1975)

All aboard you tropical dandies! Grab your vinyl Samsonite… throw on your Panama hat… undo a few buttons on your floral shirt. Haruomi Hosono is most famous as a founding member, along with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, of the pioneering Japanese electronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra.

But this album catches Hosono between his stints as psych rocker and electronic dial-twister, moonlighting instead as a tropical jetsetter, playing his ultra-cheesy brand of ‘exotica‘—wanna-be tropical music with wave sounds, flutes, vibraphones and the like, played by someone with a sock tan. Pair this with a piña colada and you’re in business.

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you check out dublab’s fu-ku-kai mix, where I first heard this track.

Hashim B — Fu-Ka-Kai Mix Vol. 1 / ハシムB 「フ・カ・カイ」Mix Vol. 1

from DUBLAB “FIELD REPORTS” JAPAN (2011)

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the mixes over at dublab. But lately their country-specific mixes have been blowing my mind. First Frosty’s German film extravaganza ‘Funky Film Freaks,’ mined from the archives of the Goethe-Institut in Los Angeles.

Now this Japan-centric mix from Hashim B, which may blow your mind with the sheer number of Japanese breakbeats it contains. Not only that but anime, no wave, disco, electro, 90s rap, experimental electric violin… and two Yer Darling Daily favorites, Takehisa Kosugi and Sachiko Kanenobu!

If you’re a student of 日本語, or just curious to discover more music from the Great Country of Many Islands, this mix is a must. Full tracklisting at dublab!

(or, if you prefer Thailand… or Vietnam… Cambodia?)

Frosty — Funky Film Freaks: A German Sound Exploration Set (2011)

Groovin’ on this mix of German language film music culled from the music library of the Goethe-Institut in Los Angeles, by dublab’s own dj Frosty. Technicolor sounds for the sun-tanned jet set… music to shake martinis by… or at least don’t miss the ‘Molotow Cocktail Party,’ thrown by Danish actress Vivi Bach & Austrian actor Dietmar Schönherr.

For a full setlist, swing by the dublab page.

Suzanne Kraft — Vistas (2010)

If you liked the Patrick Vian track yesterday you’d do well to check out this mix by one of my favorite labrats, Suzanne Kraft aka Diego Herrera. Dreamy grooves for seaside drives, the pulse of California as the last waves of the 1970s lapped 80s shores. Music for the strictly smooth at heart.

Aside from my joy that he featured music from the Doors’ post-Morrison porno-jazz opus ‘An American Prayer,’ these treasures are many: Marcos Valle’s auditory hallucination ‘Democustico,’, thinking man’s disco (from 1986!) from Michael Shrieve, and a sexy elevator jam from Japan’s Seaside Lovers. Don’t miss it. Full tracklist & download link @ dublab.

I emailed Diego yesterday to see if he’ll be out in NYC any time soon. He says:

I’m actually planning on being in NYC the first week of June and am looking to play/DJ a show or two before heading up to Canada for dublab’s Tonalism. If you have any connections that would aid in setting up something please let me know.

Anyone? Please PM me if you can help make this happen… let’s bring this music to New York!

Chris Abrahams — There He Reclined

from Play Scar (2010)

I’ve been waiting for a good night to post this. It’s best listened to under cover of darkness, lying on your back, zeroing in on each note… starry sky optional. The organ swells, the keys chirp like electronic crickets… the piano speaks the cut up language of keyboard crossed with motherboard.

I came across this blissed-out track on Jimmy’s Dying Songs Best of 2010, over at dublab. Check it out. Lots more wonderful music there…

Magia MC — Niche

Still mining dublab’s “Timeless Gems Mix”… here’s another track I’ve had in heavy rotation. Cuban hip hop from Magia MC, of the group Obsesion. Listen to an interview at radioproject.org.

Cappoano Brothers — ??

from dublab’s Timeless Gems Mix

I’ve finally been able to sift through the massive Timeless Gems Mix, an assortment of 80-some songs compiled by the dublab djs for donors during the last proton drive. And some gems indeed. Every track gets you digging deeper. (or in this case, trying to)

This untitled song caught me at first listen with its street-minstrel singing, walking bass and slamming drumbeat. So I set out to find out more about these Cappoano Brothers, but I came up empty on both the English & Italian google sites.

The only lead I came up with were two brothers named Mario and Giosy Capuano, who produced some popular records in the 70s, along with oddities like a disco mix of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind theme. Couldn’t find this song though.

So I sent an S.O.S. to my Italian buddies to see if any of them had heard this. They said the last bit of the song, where they sing in gibberish, is a famosissima song by Adriano Celentano, ‘Prisencolinensinainciusol.’ Indeed it is, and the horns and heartbeat drums throughout the song are lifted from Prisencolinensinainciusol as well.

The story ends here. I still don’t know who’s responsible for this excellent remix/sampling. (but clearly, if YOU know, please do share!)

LA LOVE, the mix playing on dublab right now, is blowing my mind. It’s a totally scatterbrained mix — jazz shuffles, odes to LA (“city of the angels…town without a halo…LA”) soul jams, post punk, Cuban love songs, and a very cool jet-setter take on Brubeck’s ‘Take 5,’ sung in French. So, no theme there…but it’s all so damn good.

It’s a ‘secret formula,’ which I loathe, because it stops would-be music historians (like me) in their tracks. But I do have to give labrat Danny Holloway props for creating these 48 dubtastic minutes. ::: DOWNLOAD IT :::

…that’s Studio City.

Sublime set of music by Nick Rosen on dublab.com right now… listen in!

His album Into the Sky is worth picking up.