Sunday's Sound Travels was a blast! Not just the live part, that follows the on-air portion; that part is always a jam. The mixtape that preceded it was an interestingly eclectic mix of music (sort of my trademark I guess) and featured a mix of reggae, Middle Eastern, Latin and South African musics that works despite the differences. I love mixes that are all over the place, but flow sloothly from track to track, from place to place till your sense of location is blissfully removed and anticipation of the inevitable surprise comes from the next mix.
The mix was built around the desire to play a few different and new songs, not the least of which is the excellent new release from Alsarah & The Nubatones, Silt. Alsarah's roots are in the Soudan though her music, she professes, comes from a love of vintage East African pop. Silt is excellent, as is the latest from Quantic, a tune with Angolan singer Pongo Love called "Duvido" that has me drooling for the full release. Luaka Bop's William Onyeabor revival is long overdue as this African synth-pop-meets-afrobeat master is genius, and the remixes spawned from the project are pretty noice too. Throw in the latest from house-head John Talabot's new album Fin, just cause you know, I can; and you've got the bones of what became this week's mixtape.
If you missed it, here it is again...
02-23-14 SOUND TRAVELS - TROPICAL SANDS MIXTAPE by Marcusdoucette on Mixcloud