Phorilla.com

A couple things worth reading that I've come across in the last while: the new issues of Wax Poetics and Complex magazines. Wax Poetics continues to cover the bases on soul and funk over the years. This issue has pieces on Cut Chemist et al's trip do Brasil for Keepintime, original funky drummers John "Jabo" Starks and Clyde Stubblefield, early 80s hip hop flyers and much much more. Sometimes it strikes me as too academic in tone (this is music to fuck to, after all) but then that's the niche they're trying to fill.

Complex, on the other hand, is strictly a guilty pleasure: it's mostly just pictures of tight clothing, etc. that's overpriced, not necessary and mad dope. The Mos Def/David Bowie cover interview doesn't live up to its potential, but Kanye West's fashion tips are as funny as anything Vice's Dos and Don'ts ever did.

Also, I keep hearing about Kodwo Eshun's book on black music, More Brilliant Than the Sun. Got to get my hands on that one.

Lots going on these days, including this Video Remix thing I'm playing this Friday at SAW gallery alongside Linus. We (Uprising Fam and Palm Squad) are putting some niceness together for the future as well, more on that soon. Don't sleep.

Respect to everyone who came by Disorganised on Friday. It's gonna be tough to top that one! Linus may have started a dangerous new Disorganised trend of sartorial oneupmanship with his customized "Everybody Wants to Be a DJ" t-shirt:

(thanks Cenedra for pic)

Worth a listen is Nu Wave Radio Notting Hill Carnival special. In Marc Mac's 4Hero set, Roy Ayers has the sickest radio drop ever. Wish Roy Ayers would do a drop for me! The Dancehall special is good too - Diwali riddim is still rulin'!

Do not forget that Disorganised is tonight (a week early this month). Looking forward to dropping some new stuff. Here's the full blurb from Chameleonic:

Organised Sound & the Uprising Fam present:
DISORGANISED
the last Friday of every month (except this one, which is the second-last Friday of the month)

featuring DJs:
Linus Booth (Organised Sound, New Balance)
Chameleonic (Uprising Fam, Cleerance.co, Norml Clothing, Lunchables)
Pho (Uprising Fam, Palm Squad, Lifestyles)

paint splatters:
Ru (aka Alex Padolsky)

"visuals":
Juan Carlos Noria

$2 at the door
9:30pm-2am

Playing: funk, hip hop, rock, drum'n'bass, broken beat, reggae, soul

It's on.....again.

Think New York City, circa 1981. We're gonna party up, celebrate, breakdance, fall in love, and have our ears molested by some of the greatest tunes to ever be layed on tape and pressed on wax. The beautiful Camarillo Brillo is our venue, with full-fledged bar and lots of seating; as well as a spacious dancefloor (this time with some nice linoleum laid out for you body tweakers).

As all of you who attended our last party know, we do not discriminate in musical genres...between the three of us, we jam anything from funk to punk, future jazz to rock, hip hop to electro, old and new, and all in between. Expect to hear lots of our own brand spankin' new original tunes being dropped as well.

Taken a step further, we will always include special guests, be it DJ's, MC's, poets, or visual artists. This time around we'll be featuring the extremely talented Alex Padolsky, otherwise known to the public as RU, on the canvas; and our unofficial 4th Disorganised team member Juan Carlos Noria will be providing visuals to please your eyeballs.

So come join us - celebrate whatever you want, kick back, hop on the floor and shake your groove thang.

Erm...ahem...I should also mention that this will be my...*cough*...official 23rd birthday party.

See you all there!

- Cham

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DISORGANISED takes place once a month at the Camarillo Brillo, located upstairs from Zibibbo restaurant @ 495 Somerset W. Admission is only 2 dollars and capacity is very limited (about 40-50 people), so get there early!

Saw the movie Dirty Pretty Things last week. It's not your conventional thrill-a-minute thriller, but something different and nice. The peek at the heavy-duty ins and outs of the immigration system was an eye-opener for me. Most of all, Chiwetel Ejiofor is a name to watch out for - dude has charisma out the ying-yang, I'd go see something in the future just to catch him.

Tune of the moment is definitely Outkast's Ghetto Musick. 'Kast brings another one that makes you go "what the fuck?", slowly grows on you, then becomes a harbinger of the future of the human race.

Just a heads-up that the Palm Squad CD release show on Thursday at Zibbibo is cancellated. Couldn't get the CDs in hand in time because of the blackout, so the release party is postponed until a later date. More info soon.

Disorganised is still on as hell though, I think this one will be especially bangin'. I've got some fun mash-ups, Cham has a couple things to drop on CD-R. It's Cham's birthday too so the "party to remember" vibe will be in effect. Full info at left - come early to get in.

Whattup all - hope those of you in northeastern North America are taking advantage of the situation by doing some blackout babymaking. Here in Ottawa, my neighbourhood (Hunt Club) just got power back after we lost it for a while there. . .

I hear from Demus that the Brass Munk show is most likely off, so be warned. I can't imagine most of the indoor clubs opening tonight, there's no way five-o wants to deal with that if the power goes off again.

Back later, I'm just enjoying the summer right now. . .

More musical goodness is coming down the pipe: Alicia Keys feat. Nas and Rakim (!) "NY State of Mind Part III". Alicia Keys is showing some things, she works the chorus alright on what could have been another crummy hip hop/R&B remake. But what makes it is God's father Ra over the NY State of Mind riddim. God willing, we will hear rough drums on the radio with this one.

On a completely different tip, Cinematic Orchestra are dropping a souled-out broken mix of The Dining Rooms "Fluxus". . . can't wait to pick this one up.

The new Erykah Badu is "Danger". . . the synth beat is a new direction. . .

?uestlove from the Roots is lovin' this Seattle band Maktub who are makin a little noise these days.

Previews of the new Mos Def album! This page is an interview with Gilles Peterson where Mos shares clips of the new album in parts 2,3 and 4. Nice interview bits too - another Mos and MOP collaboration is in store :-)

So there you have the new look for Phorilla.com. It looks a little funny in Internet Explorer right now - that needs fixing. I'll be tweaking it a little in the weeks to come and adding new sections as well, but for now this is it. I'm off to do better things than spend 2 hours straight in front of a computer. . .

The site is going to look a little messy for the next couple hours while I give it a not-so-extreme makeover. Please bear with.

Picked up this new one in T.O.: Zimpala's "Breeze is Black" remixes, featuring re-rubs by Moonstarr and Bobby Hughes Experience. Listen to both, in that order. Also got doubles of Brassmunk's Grassroots-produced slice of hotness "Big", which FINALLY came out on wax. Play De Record is still killin it, no place better to shop in T.O. . . big up Jason De Palma too. . .

I hear the jam on Parliament Hill came off tight. Big up b-girls.

Caribana? Not as massive as in past years - I think SARS really did dampen enthusiasm a bit. But still off the hook. I caught Beenie Man, Mighty Sparrow, Kardinal et al on the Saturday. Does Kardi know how to rock a crowd? Yes. Dane had this insight afterwards: perhaps Beenie hasn't blown up mainstream like Seanie Paul because of his conservative views. Beenie conservative? Just consider his views on homosexuality, sexual positions, and the role of women. . . you've got a point there Dane.

The next day, after some record shopping, we went to basement of Milano's for the drum'n'bass Sunday there. Cot damn, that was sicknuss! That was the first time I've gotten down to drum'n'bass like that in ages, heavy on the ragga tip, all the anthems and everybody in the jammed spot was up for it. We all soaked through our clothes and spilled out into the foggy street ridiculously soaked. Truly, it felt like London '94 ;-) Recommended, especially when everyone has Monday off.

At the station, waiting to board for the trip home, I spotted a young man with a yellow/red/green wristband and a copy of the Economist in his back pocket. That's the future right there.

Big tunes of the weekend? Beyonce and Jigga together, the "Pon the River, Pon the Bank" tune, and . . . when I am 80 years old, I will still have the hand claps from Lumidee's "Never Leave You" tattooed into my brain. . . uh oh. . .

Thanks to Dane and Christine for being the ill hosts all weekend, I couldn't have asked for a better place to stay. Big up Roncesvalles!

Right now, I'm listening to the live version of Summertime on Kool and the Gang's "Love and Understanding". Just about the perfect piece for me right now, relaxed and DEEP. I'm turning in, easy.

I'm off to the T-dot for Caribana far too early tomorrow AM, be sure to do your weekend right too.

In the meantime, here's some reading material for you: Madlib vs. Prefuse 73 interview. Also well worth discovering: Jaylib's long-awaited "Champion Sound" LP will drop on Oct. 7.

Incidentally, does any label have a better website than Stone's Throw right now? Clean design, mad content without all kinds of useless graphics, every page is linkable, it's in XHTML. . . rulin.

If you're in Ottawa for the weekend, the Canadian Floormasters anniversary on Saturday and the Summer Jam on Parliament Hill on Sunday.