Jorge Cuellar
Web: http://www.google.com/profiles/jorgecuellar
Twitter: @jecuellar
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Salvadoran-born LA-raised hip-hop connoisseur and DJ on KCSB 91.9 FM in Santa Barbara. He is also a fan of the board game Settlers of Catan.
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Creating a complete and engaging live musical experience is a tough feat. Having only about forty minutes of material to draw from greatly complicates the situation. “Would it be wrong?” Not for Broken Bells. For Broken Bells, also known as Brian Burton (typically known by his alias Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (lead singer of The Shins), this was effortless. Broken Bells have built upon their musical efforts on their self-titled Broken Bells at the Troubadour in Los Angeles this past Sunday 3/14 with a lively, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable performance. As their final show on their mini-tour which included London, Paris, and New York (next they’re headed to SXSW), Broken Bells have put on a moving and memorable performance that highlights the creative possibilities of this so-called supergroup formed during the collaborative work by Burton and David Lynch (which …
DJ Babu
The Beat Tape, Vol. 2
Released by Dilated Junkie
DJ Babu, of the world famous Beat Junkies and turntablist-mastermind behind the Dilated Peoples’ headnodding work, is at it again in a follow-up to his 2007 instrumental The Beat Tape Vol. 1 with the aptly named record: The Beat Tape Vol. 2. With his already impressive discography and genre-defining work on Super Duck Breaks (1996), Super Duper Duck Breaks (2000), and the Duck Season series, DJ Babu is no newcomer to the beatmaking game. A pioneer in his own right, DJ Babu has been a prominent name in hip-hop since his introduction to the culture and has contributed vast amounts of innovation through his innovative and creative musical efforts. The Beat Tape Vol. 2, like its predecessor, is an album of short one-to-three-minute instrumental beats that showcase the versatility of DJ Babu’s abilities on the wheels of steel. His work has continually evolved, providing the soundscapes to the ever-changing world of hip-hop music. On The Beat Tape Vol. 2, DJ Babu comes correct with a dark and ominous flavor, a textured, layered, and intricately composed selection of satisfying compositions. Installments such as “Manferd,” and “What R U Doing,” are two of the tracks that reveal a subterranean coolness rarely found in hip-hop these days.
Various Artists
Black Man's Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti
Released by Now-Again Records
To begin describing the epic importance of Fela Kuti is to write a doctoral thesis on the history of African music from before his birth to the present day. To understand the impact the music of a person such as Fela is to consider the history of struggle, prejudice, racism, and political disenfranchisement as an understandable whole. In the music of Fela Kuti, we see these positive undercurrents of political awakening, consciousness, activism, empowerment and liberation. These values are what make the messages embedded in the work of Fela ...
Bomb The Bass
Back To Light
Released by !K7
My first experience with the music of Bomb the Bass (also known as Tim Simenon) was through Kruder & Dorfmeister’s masterful compilation, The K&D Sessions (1998), on a dub version of the track “Bug Powder Dust” with Justin Warfield (originally released on the magnificent and genre-defining 1995 album Clear). The work on Clear has a quality reminiscent of the musique concrète stylings of Pierre Schaeffer, which made it a remarkable and highly noteworthy album. His subsequent albums have always represented an evolution and departure from the preceding work, as if done by a completely different artists, and this explains how Simenon’s work has always found a superb depth through his varied musical interests--it’s probably because he spends a lot of time actually thinking through the music. Currently we find ourselves with the new Bomb the Bass project, Back to Light, a quick follow-up installment to his 2008 release Future Chaos. From the get-go the album announces itself through insidious emotive aural effects, which through a blistering barrage of time-travel sounds, encompass the listener in a feeling that although intense, evaporates rather instantly.
The Whitefield Brothers
Earthology
Released by Now-Again Records
Boasting an illustrious roster of artists ranging from Edan, Quantic, MED & Percee P (on the very fitting “Reverse”), The Whitefield Brothers (previously known as the Poets of Rhythm) have engineered a masterpiece of mutated psychedelic funk through their sophomore effort Earthology.
RJD2
The Colossus
Released by RJ's Electrical Connections
What can we say about RJD2? We can begin by mentioning that he’s one of the most innovative producers and beatsmiths of recent memory. Or maybe we can say that he effectively bridged the gap from mainstream hip-hoppers who continually overlooked the underground through his work while on Definitive Jux. RJ has been a presence in hip-hop and music altogether for quite some time. Working hard since the turn of the millennium, RJD2 has emerged as a prominent voice in the game—his style is pragmatic, intelligent and as such, ...
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