Got good and fucked up at Sofrtito's Tropical Halloween Sound-clash last Saturday. I hadn't been out to one of their parties for a while, and it turned out to be another reminder of why their nights getting that cult-ish legendary status. You just cant argue with a shit hot party.
Adding to my overall enjoyment of the night, was a whole bottle of Patron (its like tequila, but nice), NY Diesel, free spiced rum, enough Efes to submerge a medium sized child in, and the company of some people I haven't seen in a while. One of them being Ben (Nostalgia77) Lamdin. Ben keeps busy, so we bump into each-other a couple of times a year, usually in East London, and usually in the company of Nat(ural Self), who still lives in Brighton. For the moment...
Nat's actually coming to the end of a tour of the U.S. (well, more a tour of the coasts), and is hitting San Francisco right about now. I'm looking forward to hearing how he finds it, as SF is one of my favourite spots out there, and he's linking with some local heads I know. He's been blogging his way through it, so if you want to know what he's been doing, go here.
Anyway, whilst trawling through my bookmarks of stuff to look at I came across a Wax Poetics post for the Broken Keys project, which for those that don't know - is Nat and Ben, and a link to a mix they did. Its been about since earlier this year, but I must have missed it. Its called The Elbow Grease and Engine Oil mix, and its essentially a playlist of some stuff that inspired the Broken Keys sound, sort of souly/bluesy -psychadelic-funkrock.
All of my memories of people and Brighton have merged into one blurry half recollection of the past 11 years. I'm not sure whether its something to do with the people I know there, or just Brighton itself.
Probably both.
Among the the things I can vaguely recall, is meeting Nat(ural Self). Who introduced us is also falls in the fuzzy category, but I do remember being at his house and meeting Ben (Nostalgia77 and some of the boys from Museum. Possibly one of them was called Stu.
Anyway that way ages ago, and lot has happened since then... 2 solo lps, one collab lp with Nostalgia 77, a slew of singles and remixes and a new album out in October on Tru Thoughts called My Heart Beats Like a Drum.
Here's some other bits and pieces I've gathered together.
Keno1 (Aka Natural Self)- I Manifest.
The Rising feat Andreya Triana, Live somewhere in Brighton. Nice Tambourine work Nat.
And here's a mix by him to download off the Tru Thoughts site.
If you cant hold out till October, you can get a fix of Mr Self in Brighton at the Loop Festival on the afternoon of the 11th of July, where he'll be doing a full live show on the open air Victoria Gardens stage. It'll be a full live set up featuring Percussion by Will Fry, Trumpet by Scotty Baylis, Sax & Flute by Ben Hadwen, emcee support from Dylan Sage and possibly a special guest...
Not on the south coast? He'll be in London on the same night for Belleruche'sTurntable Soul Party at the Vibe Bar. Think only Dylan Sage and Will Fry will be making the trip up with him due to limited space, funds, time -etc, but with all the other shit going on, I think you'll be okay.
In other news, his website has been up since June, which you can check out here.
He's featured as a vocalist on the new DJ Food track, Illectrik Hoax
All I know is, the Sofrito warehouse events made me want to to leave the protective womb-like sanctuary of my residence to go out to and listen to loud music, surrounded by people I didn't know for the first time in about 5 years.
It sounds dramatic, but it is true. More or less.
I should however point out that, I haven't spent 5 years barricaded in my house peering suspiciously through Venetian blinds, lamenting the death of the old Blue Note 10 years on. What I meant was, there have been no nights on in London, that got me motivated enough to want to mission to where-ever they were.
That was until Hugo Mendez and a mutual friend convinced me (probably using blackmail or weed) to come to the night that was going on at a place off Kingsland Road called Passing Clouds.
I had a really good night and managed to convince a few of my peoples to come down to the next one, which I think, was at the Old Boys Hall in Stoke Newington (a strange venue that actually worked - for a while). What stood out for me was, not just the crowd, which has been consistently unassuming and very eclectic, and not just the music which I had never heard before, but that the crowd was very up for hearing the unfamiliar, which is pretty much unheard of in London (the original play-something-my-girlfriend-already-knows city).
Hugo and Frank (Frankie Francis- the other half of Sofrito machine, who also runs vinyl dubplate cutting enterprise The Carvery) call it Tropical Dance music, which I think is a pretty fair description. It touches on a lot of different stuff from all over, but as far as I can tell the ethos behind it seems to be Dance Music From Hot Countries.
Now before you start thinking Reggaeton or Soca, or Balearic Euro house, let me stop you right there to say that apart from some re-edits and a few other exceptions, most of they play is on vinyl and older than 25 years old. A large proportion of its rare as hell and, for me at least, nearly unpronounceable. It is also, as previously hinted at, nearly all for the dance floor.
The Sofrito site has a very generous selection of mixes for streaming and download, which I suggest you check out. If your feeling lazy, however, I've posted the download links of some of my favourites below.
You should have a better idea of the kind of thing were talking about now, so I will accept no excuses and will personally come round to your yard and slap you in your goddamn mouth for ever calling it "World Music". Consider this your only warning.
Anyway.
Last November, I tagged along to a Crate-Digging excursion in Dominica that Hugo had been on for 3 months. I wasn't there to do anything useful, but i can tell you now, any excuse is valid for a trip to Dominica. In fact you need very special excuse not to go. I could start a whole other blog dedicated to the island (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic, which I did till I got there), but I'm not going to. Cause you'd hate me.
What I do have for you, is a mix cherry picking Hugo's best finds while he was out there
Before I go, I'll leave you with the details of their next night which is happening on the 23rd of May. Guests include The Skeletons (brought to you by Nostalgia 77) and Karl Hector and the Malcouns (Stones Throw). See the flyer below and the Sofrito website for more details.
= WIN
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