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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There really should be a band called The Jive Turkeys. And there is, there is! And any band using that moniker should show a gr8 love for The Meters, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, and other long running funky rhythm sections who jazz it up with pop sensibilities and a certain mod flair. And they do, they do! These darlings are from Oxford, Ohio, they release their music on 7″ vinyl, they think you should “cop” their records, and well, I do too. Truly a labor of love, down to the Steve Cropper-esque guitar niblets, Leslie speaker churned organ riffs, Zigaboo inspired drumming and one of those bass players who just lives in the kick drum. Their music is available digitally too, in case your vintage Fisher-Price record player is on the fritz.

The Jive Turkeys
“B.A.” (mp3)
from “B.A. – Single”
(Colemine Records)

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I dub out on Sundays often. Well I dub out whenever possible, but Sunday’s Dubday, Charley Brown, especially. The Dub Nomads come from the jazzy modern side of dub here on “Dub One Out” from their “Brooklyn Sessions” album. Warm, lazy chord voicings on softly distorted analog keyboard sounds slither behind a lead muted horn that wails out with the requisite seething and expanding tape delay that we love in our dubby dub dub. Sublime, soothing, and musically deep, like any self respecting track in this lovely genre should be.

Dub Nomads
“Dub One Out” (mp3)
from “Brooklyn Sessions”
(Concent Productions, Inc.)

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Count Von Count. Performing “Daddy Bong Legs.” Totally buggin. There’s a demented vocal in there somewhere, processed to hell and back, to go with the sick guitar rape and drum buggery. This is the sort of artist the PMRC (remember them?) was formed in vain to thwart. The little “parental advisory” stickers quickly became effective sales tools for perverted and deranged material. I trust Count Von Count will duly earn their warning sticker. Fun stuff.

Count Von Count
“Daddy Bong Legs” (mp3)
from “Heyasshole”
(Punk Rock Payroll)

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Time to get our weekend ‘lectronica on, peeps. As my top source for DJ music, Subverse, explained, Los Angeles innovator 6Blocc has roots in hip-hop and showed the scene “how to play drum n’ bass records like a battle DJ.” This track is a rich tapestry of digital audio, molded by the hands of a master craftsman. “The End” could be the beginning of a gr8 party. Download it and bust it on yr guests 2nite. They’ll hear the bass from 6 blocks away.

6Blocc
“The End” (mp3)
from “Foulplaydubstep Elite Forces”
(FOULPLAY RECORDS INC)

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This track is a GR8 collision of various dub and electronica styles.  An exciting composition built from anything DJ Slip wanted plus the kitchen sink. Raiders of the Lost Dubplates, indeed. As contemporary as next week, and too slippery to classify.

DJ Slip
“Phoenix” (mp3)
from “Raiders of the Lost Dubplates Vol.1″
(Vinyl Syndicate)

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Want to hear something really beautiful? Then wrap your ears around this gorgeous heart string plucker by Albert Assayag. Unabashedly romantic, “Tango Des Fleurs” is an accordion and piano driven instrumental tapestry of love.  Cinematic and softly glorious. I may go smell some roses now. And frolic. In a wildly ornate sun hat. Ciao.

Albert Assayag
“Tango Des Fleurs” (mp3)
from “Accordion Dances: Tango Waltz Paso”
(Lovecat Music)

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Electronic club music has gone through countless changes and spawned a world of sub-genres since the word “rave” was first coined, and the “dubstep” genre is the undisputed rage in 2009. The unearthly undulating square waves and filters in this track evoke images of trying to dance on a floor that wont stay put. It lurches up and lifts you skyward, only to liquefy and down you go over the side of a giant neon wave. Fun stuff from Nasha, outta Denmark.

Nasha
“Muzzle” (mp3)
from “Manners & Respect”
(Powacut Productions)

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DJ Subverse made me a “miztape” for the holidaze and I’m loving it. It opens with this funky post-disco trip from Spaceflight Orchestra, and it’s just the thing to help one depart for a minute from any form of seasonal stress. Purely chill, “Truer Than True (Drop Logik Refreak)” lives up to its oh so ‘lectronica title! Très Magnifique.

Spaceflight Orchestra
“Truer Than True (Drop Logik Refreak)” (mp3)
from “An Orchestra of Remixes, Volume One”
(Black Bridge)

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I love the 808 acid sound. I thought that about a year ago we were going to see a revival of the old techno favorite. But, alas, dubstep’s large presence on the urban dancefloors of the world left no room for that. Baobinga & I.D.’s “Jersey St.” has the total party in the park on a Saturday afternoon vibe. And that’s exactly how I like my techno to rock. Props to Subverse for turning me on to this GR8 stuff.

Baobinga & I.D.
“Jersey St.” (mp3)
from “Big Monster”
(Fat Records)

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Acid Girls, though you might like to think of them as girls on acid, are in fact, boys in a recording lab. I say “lab” because the old image of a recording “studio” doesn’t apply here. You know, the suited men with their cigarettes, poring over a score between takes in an acoustically engineered giant sauna looking room of fine hardwoods and huge double-paned windows. No, this is as post-modern a record as you can want – purely digital in every way, even the title is digital. And it kicks dance floor boo-tay. My feeling is, if you’re gonna sit around and play with bleeps and bops in the dark, you might as well go the distance and make a work as interesting and fun as this! Happy Friday all.

Acid Girls
“The Numbers Song” (mp3)
from “The Numbers Song/ Lightworks”
(iheartcomix)

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Ah, the unmistakable strains of jazz guitar genius, Django Reinhardt. The story of this legendary player’s life is as remarkable as his output – the wiki entry is a good read – but to really understand the man, you have to listen to his music. The group he ran with violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Quintette du Hot Club de France, had a seismic influence on the evolution of jazz. That one of the key innovators of the quintessentially American musical form would happen to be a Gypsy from Belgium, just speaks to the nature of music as universal language. Listen to this cut, and if it moves you, do yourself a favor and pick up the rest of the record. The positivity and playful curiosity of these recordings cuts right through the decades, and it’s hard to imagine post war music in any popular genre, absent this GR8 body of work.

Django Reinhardt et le Hot club de France
“Intro” (mp3)
from “Echos de France”
(Barajazz)

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Here’s a sweet bossanova jazz instrumental that shows what a gorgeous sound just two guitars and a drummer can produce in the hands of superb players. I’m sure at least one Kathleen is loving it! Unpolluted musical joy.

TerzaRima
“Dance for Kathleen” (mp3)
from “Moonlight Express”
(Tea Room Records)

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Starting my morning with this sweet instrumental modern jazz dub. Intelligent and reflective, the sort of music that seems to carry a message sans words.

The Nomad
“Alright” (mp3)
from “Quinessence”
(LOOP)

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Dayumb. These cats can PLAY! Wicked roadhouse shakin’ blues rock jammin’ at a high level. Enjoy w/ BBQ and a fine lager.

Nick Moss & The Flip Tops
“Spare Ribs & Chopsticks” (mp3)
from “Live At Chan’s – Combo Platter No. 2″
(Blue Bella Records)

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K, if you know me a little ya know I MUST have my dub. Toronto’s Dubmatix have become a favorite of yours truly, because they have the old school dubby-dub moves down and pay tribute, but also, in the adventurous spirit of Lee Perry and King Tubby, they move the music forward with new ideas and tasty new production tricks. This one is massive and sweet.

Dubmatix
“Killing Dub” (mp3)
from “Dread & Gold – Dub from the Smoke Factory”
(7 Arts Entertainment)

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K, I have to say I was there when! Saw Charlie Hunter play in his first breakthrough trio, and knew right away he was a major talent. Charlie takes jazz guitar out of the realm of dusty old clichés, and marches it through territories better known to heavy metal or rockabilly players. His creative curiosity and musical ambition make Hunter’s compositions and improv’s practically indistiguishable from each other, yet solidly original. These traits are as far from the museum mentality so common in the genre today, as they are distinctly jazz. Or to put it simply, this is heavy!

Charlie Hunter
“Baboon Strength” (mp3)
from “Baboon Strength”
(reapandsow, Inc.)

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If you’re going to have a band called Honky I hope you will have the decency to play overblown balls-out whiskey drenched cowtipping roadhouse brawling instrumental idiot rock in silly giant cowboy hats. Will you? Oh good. This rocks and it’s funny as sh!t.

Honky
“Plugs, Mugs, Jugs” (mp3)
from “Treatin’ ‘Em Right Since ‘69 – A Tribute To Handsome Joel Svatek”
(Arclight Records)

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I confess, when I saw the title Freedom Jazz Dance, I half expected an ironic indie rock send up, or perhaps a sloppy jam band abomination. What we have instead is, well, a freedom jazz dance! And it’s funky. This has a great, low swing to it and some tasty, lovingly executed leads on tenor sax and muted trumpet.

Dodge
“Freedom Jazz Dance” (mp3)
from “Javabubbaboogaloo”
(Jazzhead)

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Reggae and jazz fans must check out this exquisite reading of Satta Massaganna – the Jamaican classic made famous by The Abyssinians. This instrumental version, with virtuouso lead guitar and piano featured prominently, is completely true to the original in rhythm and vibes. Magnificent work.

Ernie Ranglin
“Satta Massaganna (feat.Monty Alexander)” (mp3)
from “Order of Distinction”
(Milk River Music)

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Shwweeeet up-tempo instrumental ska from E.S.T. baybee. Man, these guys can REALLY play! Ska music has become a very wide genre umbrella, ranging from punky 3rd wave stuff all the way to jazzy ska like this outstanding track.

Eastern Standard Time
“Tick Tock” (mp3)
from “Second Hand”
(Beatville Records)

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What qualifies as “feel good music?” Why, music that makes you feel good! And this, my dear readers, is feel good music du jour on the Superfan 2009 blog. Joyous midtempo flamenco with a modern twist. Crackling rhythms and inspired solos weave a veritable tapestry of carefree fun. Enjoy, you deserve it.

Eric Fernandez
“Entre Dos Aguas” (mp3)
from “Verdine Tempo”
(Sounds)

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Trance time! When you need to depart this plane of reality and step into a realm of decadent audio bliss, let the trance deejays take over. This bright and airy track from Russian sound sculptors PooNyk & Oxide is fine designer medicine for your mind, heart and bootay. Great in a club of course, but through the wonders of the Interweb, you can enjoy this at home, dancing in the kitchen or frollicking in the boudoir.  Summer party season approaches and we will need some blissed out electronica! Do yourself and your guests a favor and pick up this whole comp.

PooNyk & Oxide
“It Lasts Eternally” (mp3)
from “Emotive Trance Vibes”
(Emotive Vibes)

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How much do I love this record cover? How much do I love this record? Old school ska sounds of Brixton come through loud and clear on this tasty instrumental. The Ministry Of Ska, taking care of important business.

Ministry Of Ska
“Skaty” (mp3)
from “Rarin to Go”
(Future Legend Records)

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You been a’hoodoo’d. Blip-o-tronic space goo spreads over the dance floor rendering partygoers wiggly with silly grins. Excellent sounds, very musical composition. Electronica for the smart of booty.

Voodeux
“The Paranormal” (mp3)
from “The Paranormal (Promo Version)”
(Mothership)

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Does Superfan love dub? Guilty as charged. Mikey Dread is one of the best. This music cures cancer.

Mikey Dread
“Theme from Solidarity” (mp3)
from “Dub Merchants”
(Dread at the Controls)

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Trippy, minimal groove and novel sounds make for a refreshing and original sonic hors doeuvre. Have a nibble.

Inko Neido
“Samedi & Grooving” (mp3)
from “Afrobeat Café – Afro Sphere Vol. 8″
(Afrikool Entertainment GmbH)

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Andreas Haefliger’s performance of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 – or “Appassionata” as it is known colloquially, is a stellar record in every regard. Composed in first few years of the 19th century, a period which yielded some of the greatest works for grand piano the world has known, this Sonata is a personal favorite of mine that I am delighted to share now that I found it online. What, you thought I only listened to 20th and 21st century music? Pull emergency cord, get clue! Chuckle. Enjoy. This music is quite heavenly, and Haefliger renders it beautifully and effortlessly.

Andreas Haefliger
“Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 – “Appassionata”" (mp3)
from “Perspectives 3″
(AVIE Records)

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I found this interesting note on the piece, in wikipedia:

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, writer-director of the 2006 film The Lives of Others, has said that his movie was inspired by the anecdote that Lenin loved the “Appassionata” but refused to listen to it because it deterred him from the Communist revolution. (The film tells the story of a Stasi agent who has a moral awakening when coming into contact with music and art.) The characters in the movie even discuss the Appassionata/Lenin story.