Wednesday, May 25, 2011

HHSOPB: A Tad Grime-y

Originally aired in November 2010 on CJSR 88.5 Fm in Edmonton. We be gettin' dirty with a UK Hip Hop and Grime scene showcase! With a trifecta of bad fake British accents provided by TamTam, Ranking B and special guest T-Dawg. So grab yaself a tea an' crumpet an' injoi, wot?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Pan-African Hour: Star Trek (April 20 and 27, 2011)

The end of an era! As Sassafrass prepares to leave to Alberta we have two radio shows left prior to his departure, so we execute a long spoken of desire to do a live radio play spoofing Star Trek! Enlisting Alberta Bertha from Eat My Country to help with the voice acting, we cobbled together two episodes worth of script and music...almost. Both scripts actually fell short of filling up a full hour, so we improvise at the end of both episodes. Sasparilla does both soundeffects and voice acting, leading to a few awkward pauses here and there. Overall, not the most polished radio play you'll ever here, but definitely funny in it's amateur production and ridiculous plot.

Pan-African Hour: New African Music (April 13, 2011)

On this episode we decided to showcase some of the new music that is coming out of Africa, since we tend to play a lot of old stuff, though we also play some new compilations of old music. Most exciting here is the reflection of a new market for African music that has opened up in the West. The original World Music market was made up of baby boomers that got into modified African music with cheesy pop production. But record labels like Strut, Soundway, Souljazz, Analog Africa and others are showing the existence of a new market that is more into African music from the 60s and 70s, music by Africans for Africans, without any of that cross-over production style! And this has allowed old acts such as Ebo Taylor and T.P. Orchester Poly-Rythmo to come back and access the international market for the first time. This episode showcases these new efforts from old legends, and some new comps from record labels that have helped create the new market. Also featured is Afrocubism, who reflect the late 90s trend to move away from pop production and go toward a more acoustic sound, a trend that appeals to the both the old and new markets.
Jovens Do Prenda - Farra Na Madrugada
Orchestre Polyrhythmo de cotonou - Pardon
Ebo Taylor - Mizin
Afrocubism - Al Vaiven De Mi Carreta
Rosendo Y Su Banda - Me Voy Pa'La Costa
Elis Regina - Roda
Mahmoud Ahmed - Feqer Bezebezegen
Orchestre Polyrhythmo de cotonou - C'est Lui Ou C'est Moi
Ebo Taylor - Obra
Clodomiro Montes Y El Super Combo Curro - Puerto Rico Zumbando
Afrocubism - Nima Diyala

Pan-African Hour: Desert Guitars (April 6th, 2011)

Sublime Frequencies has been releasing some killer albums of electric guitar music from groups based out of the Saharan desert, such as Group Inerane, Group Doueh and Group Bombino. It all started when Tinariwen, a group of Tuareg musicians, decided to go electric guitar styles instead of their regular acoustic instruments. Since then a distinctive style of Saharan rock has been developing, which was also party anticipated by the work of Ali Farka Toure. Also included here is Moudou Ould Mattala, whose style is closely related. This is one of the most interesting developments that we know of coming from Africa these days and is a must check out. The style is an incredible blend of West Africa meets North Africa.
Group Doueh - Cheyla Ya Haiuune
Moudou Ould Mattalla - Improvisation
Ali Farka Toure - Inchana Massina
Tinariwen - Chatma
Group Inerane - Kuni Majagani
Group Bombino - Issitchilane
Group Doueh - Wazzan Abyad Kar
Moudou Ould Mattalla - La Dedicace de L'annee
Ali Farka Toure - Baliky Lalo
Tinariwen - Imidiwan Winakalin
Group Inerane - Alemin
Group Bombino - Imuhar