Archive for June, 2008

N.A.S.A. record

Monday, June 30th, 2008

 

Following up on KnewJack’s fresh space music post, I figured I should let y’all know something about my upcoming N.A.S.A. Record. Check it out>www.myspace.com/northamericasouthamerica.
This is the record closest to my heart that I have ever created> I have been making this record, along with my partner DJ Zegon from Sao Paulo (along with most of my music heroes and people that have inspired me), for over 5 years! N.A.S.A stands for North America South America, me being from NY and LA, and Zegon being from Brazil. The record is really an extension of that: people coming together from different worlds>> Every track has different combinations of crazy ass people that you would never expect on a track together, like Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Ol’ Dirty Bastard or Tom Waits and Kool Keith.
Other contributors are Kanye West, David Byrne (Talking Heads), RZA, George Clinton, Method Man, Cee-Lo, M.I.A., Chuck D, E40, KRS-One, Sizzla, Lovefoxx (CSS), Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Fatlip (Pharcyde), Slim Kid Tre (Pharcyde), Money Mark, Chali 2na (Jurassic 5), John Frusciante, Nina Persson (Cardigans), De La Soul, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Spank Rock, Sean Lennon, DJ AM, The Cool Kids, Seu Jorge, Kool Keith, Ghostface Killah, Scarface, and more.
Ze and I met at a mutual friend’s studio who was making a record in LA at the time (DVNO from Ed Banger) and started talking about how much we loved Brazilian funk from the 60′s and 70′s. The next day, we started the first track on the N.A.S.A record>> We quickly became great friends and saw how music had the power to bring people from such different worlds together, and decided to make a record about just that>> Unity>>
Check out this megamix we did about halfway into the project.

N.A.S.A. Megamix tracklisting:
1. People Tree (feat. David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift of Gab, & Z-Trip)
2. Strange Enough (feat. Karen O, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, & Fatlip)
3. NASA Music (feat. Method Man, E-40, & DJ Swamp)
4. Money (feat. David Byrne, Chuck D, Seu Jorge, Ras Congo, & Z-Trip)
5. There’s A Party (feat. George Clinton)
6. Way Down (feat. RZA, John Frusciante, & Barbie Hatch)

Also, head over to the Squeak E. Clean store to pick up your very own N.A.S.A. shirt>>

Spaced OoouuuuuuttttT

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Caught In The Act
Caught In The Act

What’s Up, What’s Up?! KnewJack here, your friendly neighborhood blog wizard. As this is my first cherry poppin’ post on the Squeak E. Clean blog, I thought I’d kick things off with a well deserved nod to N.A.S.A. and all of their creative funk juices. Here are a few super galactic space nuggets for you to zone out to this summer…

Lift Off
Lift Off
First and foremost I gotta kick things off with the mammal, the myth, the legend Galt MacDermot. He’s the man behind the man behind the man on the musical “Hair” who’s inspired countless jazz n’ funk nerds galaxy wide. He’s got that head nod shit that’ll break yo’ neck…
Galt MacDermot – Space
Next up is a killer chronic fueled collaboration b/w King Britt & Quasimoto & Madlib from the waayyyyy underrated/overlooked album “Adventures In Lo-Fi” King Britt put out back in ’03. King Britt started off as Digable Planets DJ back in the day and has since gone solo as a much sought after DJ/remixer. This track with Quasimoto/Madlib is as tripped out and zany as one would hope…
King Britt – Spaces feat. Quasimoto & Madlib
You can’t go wrong with “Space Fortress” You got the word “Space” and you got the word “Fortress”, what more could you ask for??? Any song with either of those words is guaranteed to be at least half decent but when you got both it’s a grown man’s wet dream…
Altair Nouveau – Space Fortress
This post would not be complete without some silky syrup disco type Space Funk, now would it? The bass bumps and the groove just don’t quit! This is something you just gotta ride to…
Cadillac Funky Muzik
Cadillac Funky Muzik
Manzel – Space Funk (Extended Version)
What can I say about this next track? Well, for one, I think we all know that Spank Rock catches wreck with whatever they do and this lil’ gem is no exception. But the star of this here show is DJ Kentaro and his mad hatted geniusness. He won the DMC turntablist champeenship at the ripe old age of 20 back in 2002. Kentaro’s a living legend in Japan and I was fortunate to catch him live last spring at a club in Tokyo. He blew my mo’fo’in’ mind and he might do the same to you if you’re not careful…
DJ Kentaro – Space Jungle feat. Spank Rock
To close up shop and ease on out of this post we get some help from the lads of Lemon Jelly. Oh those brits! The track has a great extended astronaut featured intro then builds and grooves over the entire 7 minutes quite nicely. Beautiful Indeed…
Lemon Jelly – Space Walk
“I’m beginning to drift away…”

Summertime

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

I had a really fun weekend. It’s going to be a good summer. Thursday and Friday I went on a surf trip around lots of different San Diego and Orange County surf spots, which was a good relaxing adventure for my soul. I got back Friday night to prepare a DJ set for this party downtown at the Edison celebrating the release of these Mark Romanek directed Ford Flex commercials that I just did Santo Gold remixes for>> I went downtown to soundcheck @ 5pm and then went to my friend Wendy Yao’s rad taste store Ooga Booga (www.oogaboogastore.com) in Chinatown to hang with her and talk about artists she’s into, music, and whether it’s ok to hate on things just because everyone else is into them. She’s fucking awesome and I had fun talking to her. It turned out that our friend Brendan Fowler was having an art show and performance a few blocks away, so we walked over and hung with him for awhile which is always fun>> Brendan is the most positive person on the planet, and I heard him say something negative for the first time in my life… A momentous occasion. I don’t remember exactly what he said but it had something to do with fuck all the haters let them die.

The party downtown was rad>> All the homies were there. I played with the beautiful Raveonettes. Santo Gold was supposed to perform but couldn’t because she had laryngitis. 

Sunday was super mellow>> I went to my brother’s house where he was having a birthday party for Max, the 9 year old boy who is starring in his upcoming movie “Where the Wild Things Are.” Lots of my family was there and there were tons of kids running around. At one point, we dipped into his little music room and recorded him playing this summertime guitar riff on his delay pedal>> This music sums up how I’ve been feeling the past 5 or 6 days.

SUDS SF

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

This Friday kicks off the first of three SUDS parties this summer! First up, the crew will be heading to San Francisco for our June 27th party at Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, SF 94103). Sponsored by Toyota Matrix and göt2b, the party features performances by Squeak E. Clean, Low B (M.I.A.), Devlin and Darko (Spank Rock), and special guests. There will also be free booze provided by Dewars, a skating exhibition by the Girl Skateboard team, art installations by Aaron Rose, a mobile hair salon, live screen printing, bubbles and more. The party runs from 10 pm until 2 am and is free with RSVP atwww.squeakeclean.com/SUDS. Must be 21 or older. Keep your eyes open for info on Squeak E. Clean’s other SUDS parties, coming to Los Angeles and Costa Mesa soon! 

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Vampire Movie

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

My crazy ass brother Spike sent me this vampire movie he made.

Tokyo KAWAYI!!!!!!!!

Monday, June 16th, 2008

I just got back from Tokyo last week and I had a great trip>> I played a couple shows with Money Mark which were super fun>> One of which we had a crazy space out jam session at Le Baron. I dj’d at a cool photo exhibit set up by my friends Rajan from Surface to Air and Griffin, and also a set at Le Baron>> I also met some great new Tokyo friends Paul James and his bandmates Manuela the Party Starter and Eiko, and they took me to a Tokyo Kawayi (Tokyo Cute) party which was FUCKING AMAZING and the BEST PEOPLE WATCHING EVER!! It was all girls with blue and green hair and bows in their hair and glitter and barbie dresses and crazy shit and they talked in high pitched manga animation character voices.. It was like an army of care bear barbie dolls>> There were two bands… One had heart shaped instruments (guitar bass etc.) and sounded like the jeopardy theme song with super kawayi vocals and in between songs they would count “one, two, three, KAWAYIIIIII!!!!!!!!” and all of the care bears would scream kawayi with them. The second band was wearing Yo Gabba type fuzzy dinosaur outfits with their heads coming out of the mouths and giant eyes on each side. Aside from the the crazily clad female teens, there was your random stray gay dude dressed even crazier than the girls. This treasure troll was wearing my good homie Jeremy Scott’s junk food pants and top, so I had to get Manuela to take a polaroid>