So in the customary end-of-the-year spirit, where everyone and their dog is slapping up, recapping, toptenning, listing, etc ... I pause the hectic-ness to present the sounds that moved and grooved me in 2003.

Quality older vinyl finds:

• Fela Anikulapo Kuti Box Set 2 (Barclay)
  
• Sunny Ade, The Master Guitarist Vol. 4 (Serengeti Records UK)
  
• Henri Guédon, Retour (Harmonia Mundi)
  
• Alhaji Chief Kollington Ayinla & his African Fuji '78 Organization, Kolawole O Ku (Olumo Records)
  

Pleasant surprises I'd have otherwise missed:

• Carla Bruni, Quelqu'Un M'a Dit (fave track: Le Toi du Moi)
  
• Manutension, dub attacks the tech vol.1 (fave track: Nadia in dub)
  

Top albums/compilations acquired:

• Murcof, Martes (Leaf)
  
• Lowfish, maintain the tension (Suction)
  
• Marlui Miranda, Todos Os Sons (Blue Jackel)
  
• Luomo, The Present Lover LP (Force Tracks)
  
• Studio One Rockers LP (Soul Jazz)
  
• FabricLive.12 Bugz in the Attic (Fabric)
  

Top sonic morsels jammed out to this year, whether or not they were actually new (in no particular order)

• Jeff Samuel, “Knomb” (Trapez)
  
• Styro 2000, “Pelati”
  
• Son.sine, “Upekah”
  
• Round Four, “Found A Way”
  
• Black Eyed Peas, “Shutup”
  
• Outkast, “Heya!”
  
• Wiley, “Ground Zero”
  
• Dizzee Rascal, “Jezebel”
  
• Lady Saw, “Baddest Girl”
  
• Bran Van 3000, “Shopping”
  
• Metro Area, “Caught Up”
  
• DJ Krush, “Danger of Love”
  
• Plastikman, “Helikopter”
  
• Prefuse 73, “Love you bring”
  
• Sash!, “Ganbareh”
  
• Eddy Grant, “Living on the Frontline”
  
• Jamiroquai, “Space Cowboy (David Morales Club Mix)”
  
• Oliver Mtukudzi, “Wasakara”
  
• Lost Tribes of Ibadan Part 2, “Avareh”
  
• Harry the Bastard (Club H.), “Azymuth”
  
• Cesaria Evora, “Angola” (any remix)
  
• Röyksopp, “please stay” (and couple others off that album)
  
• Lowfish, “FatBlex“ (hahahaha “i'm just the right size for my bike and my chair” !!!)
  
• Roy Davis Jr., “Watch Them Come”
  
• M83 and Benoit Villeneuve, “Run Into Flowers (Jackson Remix)”
  

Top things I never want to hear again:

• anything with Sean Paul going on about “Sean-a-Paul”, “Dutty Rock”, “Baby Boy” or “The Light”
  
• Anything by Blaze or mid-set energy sapping MAW tracks like “Elements of Life”. no thanks!!
  

I don't remember exactly how I stumbled on Danceteria, but I love it all.

Wanna get all nostalgic? Check out the motherload, from whence the pilfered image above.

In the january edition of Esquire magazine, Muhammad Ali says

“What you are thinking about, you are becoming.”

So it is looking auspicious then, as long as I don't sweat the small stuff and keep away from pondering the inane.

I just got back from a screening of the Two Towers. I suppose I succumbed to the hype of the impending Return of the King, and decided that I better catch up on the 2nd episode before the next installment arrives. Fortunately, there are cinemas in the city playing Fellowship and Two Towers in anticipation of the Return.

When I stepped into the cinema about 5pm, blowing snow had just started up. 3.5 hours later, something like 4 inches had accumulated and there were ploughs everywhere and cars crawling along honking and generally making a fuss. Right outside the Paramount, there were several cars in a row that were waving what turned out to be Iraqi flags, there was honking, screaming, chanting ... all this in a blizzard that was just mercilessly dumping snow, reducing visibility to near zero.

I was pleasantly surprised by the news of Saddam's capture this morning, but was skeptical of the reported joyous reactions by Iraqis. From reading actual baghdadi blogs, those kind of reports make “good” news for Western media, but don't always reflect the sentiment on the street. So it was doubly surreal and encouraging to witness the joyous ripples of Saddam's capture this far away, in the most unlikely setting ...

In this circa 2000 article from the New Scientist, under AI hot topics, there is an interesting discussion of an application called the HPDJ, which is very similar to the kind of work going on at Umixx. I love the way the article pits “man against machine”, and actually conducts “blind” listening tests to see if the “machine” can fool listeners with its seamless mixes. This is intended to be some kind of predictor of whether DJs will soon be out of their jobs. I dunno, something about this musical version of “The Rise of the DJ-ing machines” grates me the wrong way. Is there really a need to create a perceived threat here?

Even if the software turned out really smooth and musical blends, wouldn't it just fall in line with the 1000s of other human DJs out there, each with their specific style or flavour? To think for a moment that this could be all things to all musical people is just naive and for an article reporting on science (albeit popular), I find the slant alarmist and irresponsible.

I see this kind of application complementing DJs rather than replacing them. For one, automating some of the more mechanical aspects of mixing can free up “human resources” to focus on other non-mechanical sides of blending. In a similar vein, imagine how this application would work well in an iPod, especially if seamless mixes are right up your aesthetic alley.

Back in October, at the insistence of the manager of one of my favourite record stores, I checked out a Soul Jazz reissue of some classic Studio One tracks. Nothing was really hitting home until I put on side 4, and was hit by the intro. to Prince Jazzbo's “Crabwalking” where he chants, in patois inflected english:

“Calling all dancers, let's put on our dancing shoe and boogaloo and de ba'beque, real churus, good for you!”  [listen to a snippet]

Well, this was exciting!! It is one of my favourite intros, one that I'd dissected from a collection of mp3s/accappellas, a while back, for use in future sets. However, the dissection was so out of context to finally find the “original” was thrilling!!

Needless to say this 2001 reissue is solid. It is a 2 record set, with photos of the boys, and a very long interview with Clement Dodd, the founder of Studio One. It is so long that it spans the four sides of both discs' inner sleeves, in fine print. And it is quite the history lesson. At one point the interviewer asks Dodd if Don Drummond was a rastafarian, I burst out laughing because if you've ever seen pictures of Don Drummond (founder of the Skatalites) or know anything about him, you can't get much further from a rasta than that.

I found the interview so intriguing that I searched online for transcriptions of it to post, but alas found nothing. So I buckled down and transcribed it myself. So with no futher ado: An interview with Clement Dodd from Studio One Rockers!