Podcast #3: Viva San Miguel

For lovers of all things clave...

We had a heat wave a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. It was up in the mid-90s, which I know most of you east coasters or southerners consider child's play. But it made the mission district feel more like Panama City. Anyway, the heat combined with some chilaquiles I had for breakfast and whatever beer I was drinking at the time got me inspired to record a bunch of Latin music. I opened up the bedroom windows and cranked it a bit, this is the result.

The name comes from the Mexican city -- a friend of ours is currently living down there working on her writing, and I was flipping through some photos she sent. It was in my head while I was doing this mix, so this one goes out to her.

The cornerstone of this mix is the Colombia! comp from Sound Way Records, one of my favorite records from last year. I used a few tracks from that and pulled in Joe Bataan and Ray Barretto. You'll hear some Arsenio Rodriguez, plus stuff from Peru, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Nueva York. The name makes no sense, because absolutely none of this music is Mexican. But there you have it, enjoy.

Veggie Burritos Podcast #3: Viva San Miguel

Jaco Needs More Cowbell

I've always thought that if there was one thing the prog/jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius really needed to give his music that extra something, it was more cowbell. And maybe a little Walken. So I made a remix. Listen to mine below, and make your own at MoreCowbell.dj.

	Make your own at MoreCowbell.dj

Podcast #2: Africa Everwhere

I've been really into African-influenced music and afrobeat lately, and it's been creeping its way into my DJ sets more and more often. Here's an example, a chunk of a set I recorded last month that starts out with some relatively straight British funk, goes into some reggae-ish territory, then spends the rest of the time exploring a bunch of different cuts with afrobeat horns and polyrhythms. Funny thing is, there's only one song in this podcast recorded in Africa by real Africans. The rest are from NY, LA, Texas, Finland and points in between.

Veggie Burritos Podcast#2: Africa Everywhere

Enjoy, and please report any problems in the comments.