This instrumental track from The Uptones “Live!! 924 Gilman” CD is a hi-energy ska punk jazz opus. The album influenced a lot of great bands that followed, and it’s a joy to listen to. This was my Sunday morning dance in the kitchen wake up record for a year! Superfan sez pick it up.

The Uptones
“East of a Western Bay” (mp3)
from “The Uptones Live!!”
(Fun Fun Fun Recordings)
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Tight, groovy, and funky as the day is long, this 1978 number by Venus Gang is pure fun. No politics or controversy here,  just a phat, raw beat, and sexy female vocals about stars making love and loving to fly. Imagination takes care of the rest. Disco keyboard and rhythm section work a’la Quincy Jones, meets a dubby clubby vibe that anticipates more contemporary nightclub music, and gives some of today’s producers a bit of schooling, I’d have to say. Delicious track.

Venus Gang
“Love to Fly” (mp3)
from “Galactic Soul”
(Mucho Gusto Records)

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Shall I post some of the most famous holiday music ever? Sure, I’m feeling it, and after all, there’s a reason this piece is so universally loved. So here is the Overture to Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite,” as performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the lively baton of famed Russian conductor Yuri Simonov. The sound quality is glorious, the music as magical as a childhood dream. Click the handy “Need more!” link below, if overwhelmed with spirit, you require the entire piece to fill your home with holiday wonder and cheer. I can think of no better plan.

Yuri Simonov
“The Nutcracker Suite” (mp3)
from “Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite & Swan Lake Suite”
(Russian Music Society)

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SuperFan goin’ all ‘lectronicoid on ya again, with some pure electronic dance music. I was intrigued by the title and stark album artwork here – this is one of those random discoveries, and I’m glad I stopped to check it out, it’s fun stuff. As is often the case in this genre, one must be patient at first. “Piotun” starts with a mere skeleton, and you think, hey, I could do this on a laptop in my sleep, why is this a record? But the piece soon reveals itself, with a magnificent primal synth bass part that could compel a brick to boogie, before atmospheric cinematic gongs and blips complete the trance inducing picture. This kind of thing works so well in a nightclub setting. Or, you know, at home, with friends, pretending your pad is a nightclub. I do it all the time. Why not? Ravers, rave on.

Information Ghetto
“Piotun” (mp3)
from “Secrets – EP”
(3rd Wave Music)

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Charlie Hunter‘s “Home For The Holidays” show at Yoshi’s has become quite the tradition for me in my hometown of Oaksterdam. The event has always been a great success, and this year they’re celebrating its tenth year with a four day run, Dec 18-Dec 20, 2009, featuring special guest Doug Wamble. So to warm up for this fantabulous occasion, I’m posting this bubbly rockin’ jazzy funk track for you’re listening plizeasure. Note the absence of any bass guitar proper, as Charlie manages the top, middle, and bottom of an 8 string slanted fret guitar that was designed for him by fellow Oaklander Ralph Novak. When Hunter gets cooking on that thing, you’ll find yourself looking around the stage asking, where are the rest of the players? A musician, a magician and a mensch, Charlie just keeps getting better with time.

Charlie Hunter
“High Pockets and a Fanny Pack” (mp3)
from “Gentlemen, I Neglected To Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid”
(reapandsow, Inc.)

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What’s this? A blatantly New Age mp3 on yours truly SuperFan’s own site? But yes! We’re coming together, converging if you will, harmonically, mystically, cosmically, on the astral plane for a flying dream and heavenly feast. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or Indigenous People’s Day or lament the Turkey-opalypse, here’s some soothing meandering flutes and gamelan bell sounding plunky plunks that pussyfoot around in circles before flopping contentedly in front of the fire for a purr. And remember, if anyone asks you who won Yoga, it was a tie.

Conni St. Pierre
“Midheaven at Midwinter” (mp3)
from “Beyond The Sky: Legends Of The Starry Night”
(Smasheasy)

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There’s a certain mojo that can happen with filtered bass synths, rather like the sensation of psychedelics settling in your tummy with just a hint of what’s to come. Now, I usually don’t get all Vice Magazine on you, after all this is a family blog (you should see my family) but, this is drug music. Sultry, sexy, mysterious, after hours, slithering velvet goodness. Cinematic dubstep garage fun from Chicago’s J Courage.

J Courage
“Too Deep” (mp3)
from “Too Deep (Juju Remix)”
(Trenchant Dubs)

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San Francisco DJ and producer Egadz! has bent beats and busted boundaries for about a decade, and he’s calling it.. quits? Sort of, his l8est release, “Egadz is Dead” is a farewell to his current moniker, with a promise of new projects to come. Why do I care? Well, because his music is brilliant and I’ll be fascinated to see where it goes next. Gaining the kind of peer respect that Egadz! has done already is no easy feat in the fast moving and highly critical world of electronic music. I think the essential reason for his success is the compositions themselves. Check out “Going Home” for example. Almost classical in its tonal language, there’s a care and love put into every detail of the beats, melodies, sounds, and overall production that you don’t always hear in this genre. Frankly, a lot of electronic producers can be perfectly lazy, setting their filter sweeps and beats and walking away and going “Wheee! I made music!” Not so with more the dedicated and cre8ive practitioners. Egadz is Dead. Long live Egadz!

Egadz!
“Going Home” (mp3)
from “Egadz is Dead”
(Kid Without Radio)

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Jazz, baby. Soul soothing samba jazz. J. T. Meirelles composed, recorded and performed music in this sweet, sexy genre from the early 1960′s til his passing in 2008. Through the inevitable myriad ups and downs of the fickle music industry, the combo he founded in ’63 left a gr8 legacy, which you can discover on this brilliant new collection out on the Dubas Musica label. Timeless, joyous, sophisticated music. Enjoy!

Meirelles e Os Copa 5
“Sudeste” (mp3)
from “Samba Jazz !!”
(Dubas Musica)

Ah, the Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy, it had to eventually come to this. Bassoons loom whilst chimes jingle and drums bump in Berlin Symphony Orchestra’s adventurous take on the Tchaikovsky classic. Fraught with mystery and intrigue, this gem from the “Christmas Remixed 2” comp capers with a mischievous glee that honors the composition, even as it treads into new forests of sound and wonder.

Berlin Symphony Orchestra
“Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy” (mp3)
from “Christmas Remixed 2″
(Christmas Chill)

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