Promotional mix by FA celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Wax Poetics!

Track List

Prince and the Revolution “Erotic City (Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive)” (Warner Bros.)
The Time “777-9311 (propsEdit)”
Blood Orange “Champagne Coast (Krystal Klear Remix)” (Domino)
Jesse Johnson “Be Your Man (Specially Remixed Version)” (A&M)
Andre Cymone “Kelly’s Eyes” (CBS)
Larry Graham “There’s Something About You” (Warner Bros.)
94 East “If You Feel Like Dancin’” (Hot Pink)
Toro y Moi “Saturday Love” (Carpark)
Madhouse “Fifteen” (Warner Bros.)
The Family “Screams of Passion (Extended Version)” (Warner Bros.)
DJ Quik “Do Today (featuring Jon B. and BlaKKazz K.K.)” (Mad Science)
?uestlove, The Foreign Exchange, Zo!, and Carlitta Durand “Purple Flip”
Prince “Wouldn’t You Love to Love Me”
Frank Ocean “Songs for Women”
Prince and the Revolution “I Would Die 4 U/Baby I’m A Star (Live, Landover, MD, 1984)”
Frank Ocean “Voodoo”

Miami producer-cum-singer Induce has always been drawn to the sounds of soul and R&B. Stories of him as a five-year-old singing (loudly) Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” in his local department store—his mother half-amused, half-horrified in tow—trace his interests back to the likes of Motown, and soon enough, Michael Jackson. As the ’90s slid on, Induce later became hooked on new jack swing, Jodeci, and Boyz II Men, still traveling along this same path and expanding it into a different era.

While it’s only been in the last few years that he’s started incorporating his own vocals into songs in order to create his own take on his first love, Induce’s single “Pretty,” a boogie groove with obvious nods to Prince, taps into his years of listening experience and gets it right.

In celebration of Issue 50, Induce pays homage to his hometown via a mix for Wax Poetics comprised of Miami boogie gems.

Track List

1. Omari “After Loving You” (Bound Sound) 1983
2. The Blue Denim Band “Spunk in the Funk” (Rose)
3. Komputer Kid “Video Jones” (Jones) 1983
4. Vernon Burch “Do It to Me” (Spector) 1981
5. Klockwurk “Get Up Outcha Seat” (Red Rooster) 1981
6. King Tut “Comin Out” (TK Disco) 1980
7. Unit 3 “Let’s Boogie (Tonight)” (Bound Sound) 1982
8. Hokis Pokis “Can’t Wait for Love” (Shield) 1975
9. Michael Sterling “Desperate” (Success) 1983
10. Mirror “Give It Up” (Get Off) 1979
11. Starr’s Computer Band “Computer Rock Control” (Survivor) 1983
12. Fall-Out “Der – Mer” (Tshamba) 1983
13. Osé “Party Beat” (Treasure) 1984
14. Extra Funk Factory “Final Mix” (Konduko) 1984

Inspired by Wax Poetics Issue 50, Citinite has created the “Minneapolis Special” mix of Prince & Co., originally broadcast on NTS Radio.

Track List

Prince “Rebirth of the Flesh” (unreleased) 1986
Prince “Baby Go-Go” (unreleased) 1986
Mazarati “100 MPH (version)” (unreleased) 1984
Wendy & Lisa “Honeymoon Express (Honeymoon instrumental)” (Columbia) 1988
André Cymone “The Dance Electric” (CBS) 1985
Alexander O’Neal “Fake (extended version)” (Tabu) 1987
Change “Change of Heart” (WEA) 1984
The Family “Mutiny” (Paisley Park) 1985
Jesse Johnson’s Revue “Just Too Much” (A&M) 1985
The Time “I Don’t Wanna Leave You” (Warner Bros.) 1982
Bill Blow “Drop Funkin’” (Wide Angle) 1984
Ta Mara & the Seen “You Turn Me Up” (Hot Tracks) 1986
Mazarati “Champagne Saturday” (Paisley Park) 1986
The Girls “S-E-S-E-X (instrumental)” (Columbia) 1984
Sheila E. “A Love Bizarre (Parts I & II)” (Paisley Park) 1985
Prince & the Revolution “All My Dreams” (unreleased) 1985
Apollonia 6 “Sex Shooter (extended version)” (Warner Bros.) 1984
Prince “All Day, All Night” (unreleased) 1984
Prince & the Revolution “Computer Blue (long version)” (unreleased) 1983
Prince & the Revolution “Possessed” (unreleased) 1983
Dez Dickerson “Modernaire” (Citinite) 2008
Sheila E. “Too Sexy” (Warner Bros.) 1984

For the Wax Poetics ten-year anniversary and Issue 50 (Prince Issue), DāM-FunK (Stones Throw) creates an exclusive Prince DJ mix, including a new DāM-FunK track!

Purchase the Prince-inspired DāM-FunK T-shirt designed by Wax Poetics art director Freddy Anzures!

Track List

1. Prince & the Revolution – 17 Days (original version)
2. DāM-FunK – 17 Days (D-F Re-Freak)
3. Prince – Irresistible Bitch (Props Re-Edit)
4. Prince (featuring Andre Cymone & Pepe Willie) – One Man Jam
5. Prince – Wet Dream Cousin
6. Prince – Dirty Mind (1981 Live Version)
7. Prince – Soft & Wet (original version)
8. Prince – Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (D-F Extended Re-Edit)
9. Prince – Sticky Like Glue (Props Re-Edit)
10. Prince & the Revolution – All My Dreams

Fremdtunes invited Swedish DJ Devastate (BBE Records) to do a mix for Wax Poetics and to celebrate the release OptiMace’s “The Future Is Not What It Used to Be – Part 1,” a brand new 7-inch out on November 24 2011 with remixes by Big Mister Doom, KRSUR, and Illy Symphony.

Mellow Madness, Vol. 2 is a mix full of laid back music inspired by the Fremdtunes sound. The mix is compiled and mixed by DJ Devastate. Devastate is a producer/DJ from South Sweden. His jazzy instrumental debut album Movement/Silence was released on BBE recordings early 2010. Devastate also released a track on label sampler Fremdtunes – The Series 2 and is currently working on a brand new instrumental solo album and a production album with his crew Elite Fleet.

Fremdtunes is a Dutch independent recordlabel/collective, mainly focussing on (instrumental) producer-based music and worked/works with artists like DJ Optimus, Kelpe, Coco Bryce, Kid Sundance, Mister Adam, Soosh, Mister Critical, Boulaone, Jameszoo, El da Sensei, Erwin Vann, Pierce Warnecke, Superelectric, Prince Po, Klaas Verplancke, Solo Moderna, DJ Grazzhoppa, Gumshoe, and many others.

Photo by Tone

Mentored by the great J Dilla, Waajeed (“Jeedo”) made a name for himself in Detroit when he produced Dwele’s Rize, and as an original Slum Village member, and, of course, as a founder of Platinum Pied Pipers. In 2001, he established his own imprint, the Bling47 Group, on which he is releasing the Electric Street Orchestra mix.

“I’ve had dreams about this mix for the last couple years,” says Jeedo. “When 101 Apparel reached out to me about the collab between Bling47 and 101 Apparel, it was perfect timing. I was in the middle of working on my newest project called Electric Street Orchestra (ESO). I wanted this mix to follow the same principals as the project, mixing my Detroit techno heritage with beats from a multitude of genres. To find a way to make rock, pop, and hip-hop sync with ghetto tech. After making over seventy edits and two months of intense labor, I achieved my goal. Now dance your ass off!”

Check out a snippet of the mix here, as well as the Wax Poetics exclusive snippet above.

And be sure to check out the full Summer Collection at 101 Apparel.

Mo Kolours, the half-Mauritian percussionist and vocalist celebrated by the likes of Gilles Peterson, has released a new EP entitled Drum Talking on One-Handed Music. Based on drums, this project includes a variety of songs that all focus on percussion. Clearly audible throughout are the influences of soul, dub, and sega music.

The tracklist does not include songs, but lists the drummers and percussionists to each track instead:

1. Nilija
2. Math Samba, Luc Assa, Alpha Konate, Prosper N’Kouri
3. Unknown
4. Hermeto Pascoal
5. Roy Haynes
6. Buddy Miles
7. P. Lapouble
8. Ray King, Mike Rose, Pablo Gonsales, Sam Kelly, Joey Dee
9. Carlton “Santa” Davis
10. Bernard Purdie
11. Easy Santa
12. Sol Amarfio
13. Stomu Yamash’ta
14. Ed Green, Gary Coleman
15. Gregg Gregg
16. Nilija, Pudim, Ben Hassan
17. Adama Drame, Siaka Bamoro
18. Eddie Knowles, Charlie Saunders, David Barnes

Paying tribute to the giants of Afro-Cuban jazz like Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and Machito, the Rhythmagic Orchestra is a collaboration on Impossible Ark Records between jazz producer Ben Lamdin, aka Nostalgia 77, and Hugo Mendez of tropical music collective Sofrito.

Mendez spins their influences into a stellar mix called Rhythmagic Partout, heard here.

Tracklist:

Vincent Casino – Mambo de Paris
Joey Lewis Orchestra – Tema del Papelon
Arthur Sterling & Pucho – Darin’s Mambo
Elmo Garcia Orchestra – Brooklyn Mambo
Guapacha – El Retoson
Luis Grinan y su Orquesta – Cosas Bonita
Orchestre Esperanza – Pas Bel
Cachao y su Orquesta – Descarga Mexicana
Orchestre O.K. Jazz – Cha Cha del Zombo
Chiquita Serrano – Marijuana
Los Caraibes – Cuando Llegare
Amara Touré – Lamento Cubano
Duo Los Ahijados – El Hombre Misterioso

Ben Lamdin (aka Nostalgia 77) has a nice mix of tunes from some of the prominent artists in the underground London jazz scene; it’s a timely mix for our Jazz Issue. Relics features tracks from his own label, Impossible Ark, as well as Babel, Loop, Grundle, and Ninja Tune, providing an cross section of the sounds of contemporary jazz in London including a couple unreleased gems such as “Dandelions” by Kaz Simmons and “Elephants” by the Skeletons.

Relics Tracklist

1. “Elephants,” The Skeletons (Koka / Universal)
2. “Awake Like This,” Fringe Magnetic (Loop)
3. “The Magnetic Peacock,” Riaan Vosloo (Impossible Ark)
4. “We Are Two,” Ma (Grundle)
5. “Lost Where I Belong” Andrea Triana (Ninja Tune)
6. “Bleak Sylvette,” Outhouse (Babel)
7. “Beatrice,” Allsopp, Vosloo, Stanley, Giles (Impossible Ark)
8. “Dandelions” Kaz Simmons
9. “Empathy,” The Rhythmagic Orchestra (Impossible Ark)

Gam Boujemaa. Photos by Sam Hopkins.

The young Moroccan at the music stand didn’t get that I was looking for vinyl. I’ve searched for records all around the world, and been shot the same puzzled looks and second-guesses many times before. “CD?” he asked in accented English. “No, the old ones,” I countered, approximating twelve inches with my hands. “You know: big, black.”

He uttered a groan and tossed his head, returning his attention to a rack of small discs with photocopied covers that apparently deserved a careful rearranging.

“Everyone threw those away,” he said with his back to me. “Bullshit,” I thought.

Wherever I dig, I refuse to think that these stubborn digitalists don’t know at least one old neighborhood jazz cat or a parent or grandparent who held onto their clunky plastic music platters.

In Casablanca earlier this year, my persistence got me vague directions out of the port city’s ancient medina and onto its ’60s-era boulevards, then eventually to its last remaining record store. “Walk out through the gate, turn to the left, and ask someone there,” the kid finally told me as he popped in a VCD to watch.

Passing a few stalls on the main boulevard leading back to my hotel, I zeroed in on a guy who seemed about fifty years old. “Je cherche des anciens disques,” I said.

He got up without a word, took a last drag from his cigarette, put it out with his shoe, and left his wares to be minded by the guys next door. He asked in French where I was from, and when I answered we switched to English. It turned out that this Moroccan named Hassan had lived in Wisconsin in the ’80s. An old family friend of his owns a record store just a few blocks away, he told me, and after a few Froggerish street crossings we were at Disques Gam.

Gam Boujemaa sold newspapers on the street until he turned twenty. By that time, it was 1964, and he had heard enough jazz and seen enough Marlon Brando movies to know he wanted to own a leather jacket and sell the day’s best music to a cosmopolitan clientele.

The city was, and still is, a world away from Fez and Marrakech, the ancient trading hubs of the Moroccan interior where the smells of mint, olives, and live animals pervade all commerce. Casablanca had an Atlantic orientation that brought the Beatles and Otis Redding to Gam’s attention, and to his record store’s shelves years before his countrymen in the Atlas Mountains could know that rock and roll or R&B even existed.

In Disques Gam, the Beatles compete for wall and rack space with Egyptian singing legends Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez. Paintings of those Arab giants preside over the shop today, reminding you where you are even though the Fab Four also look down from a promo poster Gam got when he first opened the store.

Gam and I spoke mostly through Hassan, who translated the Berber-tinged Moroccan Arabic dialect, Darija. Gam told me how people say he looks like Harry Belafonte and sometimes Ray Charles, pausing to remind me that Morocco was the first country to recognize the newly independent United States. His rundown of the musical history North Africa and North America share reaches back to Estevanico the Moor, a Black Moroccan who arrived with Spanish explorers in the New World in 1527, and traveled from the Caribbean as far west as modern-day New Mexico.

With between thirty and forty thousand records lining the shelves of his store on Boulevard de Paris, Gam isn’t the explorer he used to be. Some locals bring him their old collections, but his main business is selling to foreigners. French, British, Dutch, and Turkish collectors dominate his clientele nowadays, but the store recalls the time just after Moroccan independence from France when Gam’s excitement brought the newest sounds from overseas to his shop.

For example, between 1966 and 1970, Gam added thousands of Bollywood film 45s to his stock. Then, in 1970, he turned the store’s name into its own music label. He released records by popular singer Naima Samih, and drafted the folk-influenced troupe Jil Jilala to his imprint.

In 1976, Jil Jilala, who took their name from a Sufi Muslim brotherhood, released their most important record, “Laayoun Aïnya,” on Disques Gam. The pressing of “Laayoun Aïnya” coincided with a government-backed march of Moroccans toward the Spanish territory of Sahara. The jacket is green—the color of the march and Islam—and it shows some of the 350,000 Moroccans who were estimated to have taken part in the mass movement to end the Spanish presence on their southern border. Decades later, Morocco controls most of what is now called Western Sahara.