Thursday HALL & OATES

My girlfriend recently turned 30. To celebrate, last weekend we had a bunch of people over, ate carnitas tacos, hung out with lots of great folks and danced. While we had one professional DJ in the house to spin late period disco and electro, there was also our friend Morgan and me spinning dirty south hip-hop and completely random shit, respectively. The best moment of my set, next to a pretty flawless and, in yacht rock terminology, "smooth" transition from Bowie's "Golden Years" to Hall & Oates' "I can't go for that (no can do)," was definitely when I played the classic tune below. If you DJ and really want to rock a crowd, this is just one of those jams you should strongly consider throwing on. At least if you occasionally roll with the type of crowd I do. And if you do, I apologize....

FELA!

Now the subject of a Broadway musical backed by Jay-Z, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Fela Kuti was one of the most important and influential musical talents in the latter portion of the 20th century, and a true original. Hope you enjoy this long clip of Fela performing.

Governor Brown Redux?

With our mayor's dropout from the CA gubernatorial race, it's looking like a potential return to another era. While I never really got into the Dead Kennedys, I guess I'll have to wait and see about Mr. J. Moonbeam Brown. I've heard some stories, but did not really follow California politics in the 80's.

JACKIE!

Hip-Hop Friday takes its occasional reggae diversion today, with a classic jam from the keyboard king of Studio One, Jackie Mittoo. So much soul. In my mind Mittoo is right up there with Jimmy Smith, as far as the unforgettable melodies and tones he'd coax out of that Hammond B3. Not nearly as mind blowingly technically proficient, but still a nasty player, stylist and master arranger/ session organizer.

Souls of Mischief - Medication

Hip-Hop friday returns with a special late night edition from the mighty Souls of Mischief. This is one of those put you into a trance type classic beats. Hypnotic and highly addictive. Mmm hmm...

Non-Phixion - Rock Stars

Fun video. Dope group. Ill Bill. Many hip-hop cameos. Enjoy this one.

Organized Konfusion

A co-worker and I were talking about Pharaoh Monche a few days ago, and it dawned on me that I've yet to post any Organized Konfusion. Well, the situation has just been corrected. A distinctive and tasty throwback, this.

'Mr. Dodd': The Father of Reggae on Father's Day

One of the fathers, at any rate. Clement Seymour 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd, RIP.

Enjoy the Sunday Studio One special:

Music is the Key, by Weldon Irvine

A true (fender) Rhodes scholar...Weldon Irvine.

Dennis Bovell, DUB MASTER

For all the late night lurkers, the midnight ravers, blog trollers, and dub seekers, listen....

Brand Nubian - 'Slow Down'

Obvious classic here, going way back to 1990. Brand Nubian in their prime, with the terrific, chopped up Edie Brickell sample providing an ideal backdrop for Sadat X, Lord Jamar and Grand Puba (in that order) to rip it. CLASSIC.

Group Home - Supa Star

A classic mix show staple, not to mention a great instrumental track to freestyle over. Thanks to David D for reminding me about this one earlier today.

AWARD TOUR

It's Friday I'm feeling pretty good, so why not run some ATCQ?

New to OWOS: ALBUM REVIEWS!

I'm just pleased as punch announce that I will soon be writing album reviews on this site. In keeping with the general theme and aesthetic of Old World Old School, most of these reviews will be for classic records with at least twenty years of age. A notable exception would be hip-hop records, which will likely include reviews of classics from 10 years and older.

It's about time that the music component to this site go beyond re-posting other people's youtube videos. Besides, the old adage that everyone's a critic doesn't just apply to wine, now, does it?

The idea is to post one review a week. Hope that you enjoy them and as always, I encourage you to weigh in with your opinions. Also, feel free to spread the word to any of your music geek friends.

As the inaugural review will be for one of my favorite records of all time, here's one of the tracks off this LP to whet the appetite.

Late Sunday Breakfast, with toast and...The Jam

'Super Brooklyn,' or 'The Mario Bros Beat'

What's up former (and current?) original Nintendo players?

Is BROOKLYN in the house?

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE - MY GIRLS

Well, Animal Collective's latest album, named after the Frank Gehry designed concert venue Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, has been out for a few weeks now. I look forward to finally downloading a copy, and also to seeing the band perform in May at the newly renovated Fox Theater in Oakland.

Chances are that some of you are into this band and have already seen this video for the song 'My Girls.' But for everyone else, check out the cosmic, sample based, beautifully harmonized sounds of Animal Collective, set to a pretty cool video.

Can you smell Onenasty, power of the Onenasty

Allow me to provide a little background on this homemade curiosity, the creative progeny of two dudes from Athens, Georgia. Apparently Sean Rawls (of SF based Still Flyin'fame) and his fantasy football teammate 'Ice' (don't know his real name) produced this song and video to celebrate a victory over some of their friends in the fantasy football season. I've never participated in fantasy football and hardly follow the NFL, but can definitely get down with this goofy, but well-produced song and video.

This is a modern day classic in DIY straight to youtube music video production.

Oh yeah...despite what I just said earlier about not caring much about the NFL, I can't help but be excited for Sunday's showdown between the Steelers and Ravens.

GO RAVENS!

Carry on, My Wayward Son

I don't know why, but this Kansas song was in my head all afternoon yesterday. It is from the rockin' 1976 vintage, year of my brother's birth as well as that of another tried and true arena rocking band.

Anyone care to guess which band?

Return of The Doobies, this time with the crew from...WHAT'S HAPPENING!

I apologize to those of you to whom the thought of listening to any Michael McDonald is somewhat repulsive - but this one was too good to pass up. Doobies, Re-run, Rog, Dee, Shirley. Are you kidding me? If you follow the clip after the Doobies' performance, you will see that the plot thickens.

Enjoy.