Is Google Hiring...?

Because if they are, that looks like a helluva way to spend a lunch hour! I guess this took place at Google's London office and included two of the UK's premier beatboxers (/fluteboxers) doing a little exhibition for the employees. It's 18 minutes long and the whole thing is worth watching if you enjoy the first part, but if you just want the highlights, I thought it starts around minute 14 when they start performing together. Pretty cool stuff. Pretty creative compared to a lot of the beatboxing videos on the net... Although I wonder how the "fluteboxer" got the idea to dive into this kind of stuff. I imagine it went something like, "I really want to be cool, but I also want to play the flute!" Hope you enjoy...

JC8: Maceo Parker

Here's a Maceo Parker video found on YouTube. Like I said in my past post, I'll be putting up a lot of past and new Jam Cruise artists and this is the first from that series. Not sure when this video was shot, but it appears to be a little older, but plenty funky. I'm interested to learn if he'll be on the boat with a band or as more of an artist-at-large. We're lacking a few of the horns we had last year, but the brass on the lineup so far is all top notch-- Maceo, Trombone Shorty & New Orleans Avenue, Karl Denson, Skerik, Cheme, Ben Ellman, JBB horns, etc. Hope to see all of them making the rounds and sitting in everywhere possible!

Here's some Maceo-- Shake Everything You've Got!

Jam Cruise 8!!

Ahhh... It can't come soon enough. The salty smell of the Atlantic, wind in my hair and sun on my face as we depart Ft. Lauderdale for 5 days of complete ridiculousness on a cruise ship with 2900 of my favorite people and 30+ bands to keep the boat rocking regardless of the waves. They announced the lineup yesterday for next years cruise... AMAZING! Without further ado... Jam Cruise 8!!

Jam Cruise 8 sets sail January 3-8, 2010 on the beautiful Italian ship: MSC Poesia. We will leave from Ft Lauderdale’s Port Everglades and head to Ocho Rios, Jamaica & George Town, Cayman Islands.

We are HONORED to present our line-up:

STS9
The Word feat John Medeski, North Mississippi Allstars, Robert Randolph
Zappa plays Zappa
Galactic
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
Maceo Parker!!!!!!!!
Dark Star Orchestra
JJ Grey & Mofro
Railroad Earth
Steve Kimock's Crazy Engine
Lotus
Fantastic 4 feat. Robert Walter, Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno & Cheme Gastelum)
Toubab Krewe
Eric Krasno & Chapter 2
The Motet plays the Talking Heads
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Hot Buttered Rum
John Brown's Body
Kyle Hollingsworth & Friends
Mike Dillon's Go Go Jungle
The Mother Hips
Break Science feat. Adam Deitch
Dragon Smoke feat. Robert Mecurio, Ivan Neviile, Stanton Moore & Eric Lindell
Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes
George Porter Jr's Super Jam
DJ Logic
Pretty Lights (CO Represent!!)
Special Guests:
Col Bruce Hampton
Skerik
Will Bernard


SICK SICK SICK!!! Man oh man is this going to be another fun musical adventure. Last night at the Fox, people were talking... ran into a few cruzers that were ecstatic about the lineup. Talked to a couple guys from the motet that were playing, and they're stoked to be back on the boat this year! Haven't gotten my room finalized yet, but there's plenty of people looking to jump aboard, so all in due time I hope...

To get stoked about it, I decided to link you guys to my favorite set from last years cruise, filmed in HD with some killer angles in the glorious Covent Theater on the MSC Orchestra. Tracks 5 and 6 are a couple of my favorites, but this whole show RAGES! I honestly felt bad for all those who missed this set. Most who were there agreed this was the set of the week. For me, it was one of the best shows I have EVER witnessed. Man, Galactic with some killer horns and the classy Wolfman Washington never ceased to amaze me.

Enjoy the video, courtesy of iClips.

Galactic - iClips - Jan. 6, 2009 - Jam Cruise 7

Track 5 was my favorite 7:48 minutes on the boat (debatable, but believe me, this is pretty unreal playing). Watch Galactic bring the storm with two of the hottest brass players in New Orleans, Trombone Shorty and Big Sam. Their duel toward the end of the track had the theater rocking and the waves had us bumping into all our neighbors, but everyone was dancing so hard I don't think anyone noticed. We had a real nice spot in the middle left of the theater, dancing in the aisle which was uncrowded (another reason I love JC!)

At 3:40-5:23 in Track 6, you can really see Trombone Shorty's INSANE circular breathing skills where he doesn't let the note drop for nearly TWO MINUTES!! It was a blast having him on the ship. Super nice guy and amazing musician.

Check out track 16 too... Recognized it as a cover immediately, but none of us could place what it was. Ran into Shorty on the elevator later that night (or morning, or afternoon, who really knows?!?) and asked him... Herbie Hancock - Rocket.

Hope you like. Look forward to more Jam Cruise related posts for the next 7 months. Only 247 more days till we set sail!

The Black Seeds

After hearing Fat Freddy's Drop for the first time recently, I was curious what other treats NZ had to offer in terms of good music. It didn't take me long to find these guys, The Black Seeds. Vintage reggae under a fusion of dub, soul, funk and some afrobeat. So far, I've been really impressed with all I have heard. I'll throw an album or two up later, but I wanted to introduce this band through their song, Good People.

So here it is...

The Black Seeds- Good People

Spaced out bongo rhythms and Latin funk.

"Hipper, groovier and funkier than ever before! Imagine Booker T & The MGs, The Duke Of Burlington, and Alan Hawkshaw taking a trip to the stars together." Dusty Groove






The Champion


The Horn


The Bongo Mambo


The Bongolian - Outer Bongolia (Download Link!)

Pacha Massive

The duo--Dominican-born Nova (keys/guitar) and Colombian-born Maya (bass)-- create an interesting mix of cumbia, reggae, and dancehall. Not so much a funk selection this time around, but a great find and definitely worth a listen. A couple samples and the album are below.




Don't Let Go


Drive


ALBUM - PACHA MASSIVE : ALL GOOD THINGS (Download Link)

The Message

By request, I've got some more Cymande for you. This double-disc set, 'The Message', includes all songs from all three Cymande albums. A sample of 'Brothers on the Slide' was shared previously, so this time you get to hear the song 'Bra'.

Cymande- Bra


CYMANDE - THE MESSAGE (Download Link!)

This originally had no track titles associated with the files. I tried to change that, but I'm not sure if it worked or not. If it did not, I apologize.