Life, music, tech and other fun stuff from Prague, Czech Republic
This week it was all about the new Red Hot + Rio compilation. A serious monster of a record, and a really good cause at the same time.
I also got my virtual hands on the title track of Little Dragon’s upcoming “Ritual Union,” which will finally hit the shelves on 26 July. Yeah!
The Weeknd’s new “Rolling Stone” track is also great:
As always, the setlist is here as a Google Spreadsheet.
I love this time of year, not only because the days are so long, but also because so much new music comes out. This week’s show had quite a few new tracks, including material from the excellent new compilation “Americana: Rock Your Soul Blue Eyed Soul & Sounds From The Land Of The Free.”
Also worth noting this week is the new Nicola Conte album, “Love and Revolution,” which has a wonderfully organic feel to it:
Benji Boko’s “Beats, Treats and All Things Unique,” with its single “Where My Heart Is (feat. Maxi Jazz)”
The Soundway compilation “Colombia! The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes”
Isaac Aesili’s “With You In My Bed:”
Cypress Hill’s “Armada Latina:
and Raphael Saadiq’s “Movin’ Down the Line:”
Probably the hottest candidate for Song of the Summer 2011 is this one, at least for me:
As usual, the whole setlist is here as a Google Docs spreadsheet.
This week was a real bonanza for new music. Not only did I get my hands on new material from Prommer and Barck, but I got hold of a few choice compilations, including “Seven Heven – Perfect Little Slices Of Soul, Funk And Funky,” and Gilles Peterson’s “Brownswood Bubblers 4.”
But by far the coolest thing I got hold of this week came from Yvonne Sanchez: A live recording of “Once I Loved.” She’s playing here in Prague on 13-14 July at the Jazz Dock, so definitely go check that out.
I don’t have a video for “Once I Loved,” but here’s a clip of “Roses” live:
Here’s the entire setlist, as always, as a Google Spreadsheet. Now you can also write your own comments in the setlist too, btw. 
This week I traded places with Radio 1′s other Saturday morning DJ, Jarda Dušek, and maybe it was the nice weather or the different slot, but I played a lot less Latin music than usual this week. It also helps that there’s so much good music being made these days
Standout tracks this week came from Parov Stelar, whose “La Fete” is a real stomper:
Raphael Saadiq’s “Stone Rollin’” is also great, and I loved the track featuring Little Dragon, “Just Don’t:”
Speaking of Little Dragon, while we wait for the release of their new album, Ritual Union, I played this track, “Wildfire” by SBTRKT featuring Little Dragon and then remixed by Drake:
I also reached into the archives to find the Mary Jane Girls:
But by far the coolest track and coolest video this week comes from Curitiba, Brazil. The group is called “A Banda Mais Bonita Da Cidade” and the track is “Oração:”
This week’s show had a lot of new music – I think there were only a few tracks I’ve played before out of a 3-hour show.
The standout tracks came from completely different worlds and parts of the world. One track that absolutely _killed_ me was from Cleveland Jones, “Sensitive:”
Another excellent track is Tracey Thorn’s “You Are A Lover” with the remix by Clock Opera:
Finally, there was the completely outstanding OMG GET THIS DISC NOW! compilation called (deep breath): Cartagena!
Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962 – 1972.
Check out these tracks:
As usual, the setlist is here
as a Google Spreadsheet.
This week’s show was really diverse even by my own standards, with music from West Africa taking a large part of the spotlight (I was in Senegal for two weeks at the end of March/beginning of April).
I can’t recommend highly enough the Sofrito: Tropical Discotheque compilation, which I also played a lot of this week.
Plus there was this outstanding track from 1969/70 from a group called Soft Soul Transition:
This week’s show had a lot of very new music, owing to the South by Southwest Festival underway in Austin, Texas, plus the upcoming Sperm Festival here in Prague.
One of the bands to watch for 2011 is Brandt Brauer Frick, who will be playing at the Sperm Festival. Here’s their newest clip, Caffeine:
Because tomorrow is the Vernal Equinox, I also played a few songs about spring, including this one from Saint Etienne:
Anyway, the entire setlist is here as a Google Spreadsheet.
This week’s show had two main themes, the start of Carnival in Rio and songs about coffee (and one about tea).
There were some new tracks in there, including the brand-new Aeroplane remix of the Human League’s “Never Let Me Go:”
and this new Brazilian singer, Tulipa Ruiz, and her song, “Do Amor:”
but there were two mini-sets this week, including one of sambas from Carnival:
and this mini-set featuring songs about coffee, including Squeeze’s outstanding “Black Coffee in Bed:”
This week’s show marked a couple of big anniversaries: Radio 1 is celebrating 20 years on the air this week and next with a series of retro broadcasts, where each day is devoted to the music of a year. Because I play on the weekends, I got to play the years 1991-93, and it was a lot of fun to put together.
The other anniversary is a personal milestone: It’s been 19 years since I came to Prague. And stayed
One of my favorite songs from that period is Jesus Jones’ “Right Here Right Now,” which has special relevance not only because of the Radio 1′s anniversary, but also because of what’s going on Cairo and elsewhere in the Middle East.
This week’s show was, even by my own standards, really international. I just returned from participating in Berlin’s Transmediale Festival, and one of the concerts I got to check out was with Vienna’s Dorian Concept. The acoustics in Berlin’s Festhalle Kreuzberg, an old dance hall made of wood, really resonated with the heavy bass that Dorian Concept laid down.
Another killer track this week was Cypress Hill’s “Armada Latina,” which is pure ear candy.
A standout video from Devendra Banhart is here:
The whole setlist is here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Akv6Emv2Lo0EdEVscUx6ZHM1TGpuQmZKWUVDXzNkUEE&hl=en&pli=1#gid=0
