Lee Scratch Perry, the original superape, will be on tour in the western U.S. over the next couple of weeks. For all y'all in the Bay Area, he'll be playing two shows at the Independent next weekend! Perry will be accompanied by the NYC based band Dub Is a Weapon! More info online at upsetter.net.

Tour dates:
11/05 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
11/06 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
11/07 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
11/08 - San Diego, CA - 4th & 8th
11/09 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst
11/11 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
11/12 - Vancouver, BC - Richards On Richards
11/13 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
11/15 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
11/16 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre

Every now and then, one stumbles across an artist whose vision is so focused and incisive (read his artist statement), whose sense of aesthetics so unique that it just blows your mind and makes you happy to be around to experience it. This is what I felt last week, when while looking for good sorties, I stumbled across a listing of Walter Kitundu playing with the Kronos Quartet at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, the previous evening!! D'oh!? I kicked myself soundly for missing the show!!

Kitundu constructs unique electro-acoustic instruments called Stylophones and Phonoharps. They are one part turntable, one part string instrument. The string instrument components range from standard harps and guitars to traditional Malian instruments like the Kora.

It is engrossing to see the kind of beautiful constructions and hear the amazing hybrid sounds that these instruments produce, yet wonderfully humbling to realise that when I look at a turntable that I do not naturally see these things.

I think part of my fascination with his work comes perhaps from a similar African background, (Walter grew up in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) and of course strong instrument building tendencies. Mine though are much less physical or tangible and are more algorithmic. Nevertheless, he's doing some amazing work and is definitely expanding the minds of folks and the perception of what constitutes a musical instrument. Big up!!

Check out other groovy images below and sounds on his site.

Check out this excellent photo essay (includes audio narration as you click through the images!!) on the plight of youth coming up in London's impoverished public housing developments.

The author, Simon Wheatley, gives us the real deal from an angle that doesn't water down the details nor sugarcoat the reality. It is honest and sympathetic. It is also interesting to see how he ties in what he observes with the development of the London sound that folks call grime.

Magnum photos has a host of other current, pertinent and political material in the form of essays and podcasts up on their site! Rrrrrrrrespect!!

Our catalogue in now entirely available, with high quality clips on beatport!! Tracks have been available up on the iTunes Music Store since mid-summer.

Distribution paperwork is sorted for Kompakt-MP3, Audiolunchbox and Dance Tracks Digital, tracks should be up and available in the next month or so!

Things have been a bit busy here lately. I just added a new review section with press clippings, reviews and sounds from various sources over the past 18 months.

DCP005 is out in another month and some new artists and collaborations are on the horizon for early 2007. Stay tuned!

In the meantime check out the following links for material currently in the listening rotation:

• Claude Von Stroke Promo mix - Similar material to the absolutely sick DJset he performed at Decibel Festival in Seattle!
• Grimelock - Doggy Style - Cheezy intro but good selections in the mix.
• Oh My Gosh! - MP3 weblog with lots of new material daily. Have found several gems here that made me go Oh my gosh!! haha!!