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Musicians & Bands
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Charlie Hunter starts out my list of jam bands. He's incredible live, you just can't believe that both the nice phat grooving bass and the chords are coming from his 10 fingers... |
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Particle is another great jam band. Live drum'n'bass that isn't stupid. |
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Garaj Mahal ... once you get beyond the dumb name, they rock. Kai Eckhardt lays down a phat groove, but he doesn't solo enough, in my opinion... |
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Grandfather Ridiculous is the greatest live d'n'b that I've heard in person. (Note that I haven't actually heard Particle live.) With just drums, bass (upright???), Fender-Rhodes, and an MC/sampler, these guys fill out the whole sound universe. |
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London's Asian Dub Foundation played at Central Park's Summerstage on 8/5/01 and rocked me with their highly energetic stage show. They had a punk-rock attitude without the thrashing drummer, they had protest-song mentality without the boring voice-and-acoustic-guitar lineup, and they had the energy of an evangelical preacher. What a show!!
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DJ Rekha's Basement Bhangra & Mutiny crewes continue to spin and they've got to be one of NYC's longest-running parties, never mind the desi slant. Drum'n'bass, techno, and hip-hop grooves layered with Indian film songs, tabla, dholki, and bhangra samples, and classical Indian and pop vocals, there's a reason that the lines at their shows stretches all the way around the block! |
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Another taste of the "Asian Underground." Talvin Singh doesn't just do the filmi-bhangra
thing. His mix of live tablas (an instrument he developed - the "tablatronic") and other traditional Indian instruments in a very jazzy yet highly electronica-based feel is insane. Fuck it, just check out his music.
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Satish has joined two funk bands as a member of their respective horn sections .... Milo Z. is a vocal-fronted, tight-as-nails band that's a real chop-buster for Satish. And they play all the time, sometimes up to 4 times a week. Satish is not on all of the gigs yet, but hopefully he will be soon, and hopefuly it won't conflict with Indofunk.
Confunktion Junction is another vocal-fronted band, but is heavier on the funk covers and is a lot less stressful on Satish's poor chops. Check out this band if you want to hear all your favorite 70's songs mixed with some nice originals. And also really good solos. |
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Check out the "competition!" Funkadesi ... this band from Chicago mixes bhangra with reggae -
a match made in heaven (think "goin' up on the downbeat"*)! I saw them at S.O.B.'s in October and they funkadesi-ed the house down!! |
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Karyshma is a band that does not play together nearly as much as they should, perhaps because the members are distributed across the US. They have a really nice, fresh sound that blends American soft pop and singer-songwriter protest-song type music with North Indian classical and light classical styles. Not nearly as loud and raucous as Indofunk or Funkadesi, this band
is great to chill out with and just enjoy the music. |
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Nitin Sawhney is another British artist, but he's heavier on the jazz tip. A little experimental, a little drum 'n' bass, and he's also a remixer. Very fresh sounds. |
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I finally found his website! Prasanna, another one-name man (like Satish), is a virtuoso on the guitar. He plays South
Indian (Karnatik) music like a prodigy, and also plays jazz/rock/funk/fusion like your annoying next door neighbor (I mean that in a good way...). Be sure to check the RealAudio clips on his site. |
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Digital Village is very proud to be a permanent fixture in DJ Skizum's mega-parties. This man, and the movement he has created, is amazing, multitalented, and invincible. His parties are at the cutting edge of modern dance-oriented events, including not only DJs and visuals, but also live musicians, painters, performance artists, fire-eaters, and dominitrices. In addition to the promotional machine, Skizum enterprises features funky interior design work, furniture-building, website designing, and photography. Truly a Rennaisance man. |
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Hot new drum 'n' bass/dance music out of Mumbai, India. Hear what they're doing back in the homeland! |
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When I was in Madison, Wisconsin, I was in a New Orleans-style brass band. These guys have gone on to become a very hot item, not only in the Midwest but also in the home of the second line, New Orleans itself, where they're a big hit with the locals. Not bad for a bunch of white guys. Word up to Mama Digdown's Brass Junction!! |
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Another Madison connection - a real tight, P-Funk, Tower of Power-type, horn section-driven funk band called Phat Phunktion that I had the pleasure of playing with before they
made it big. Now they play all around the upper Midwest, so if you're too far away to see Indofunk live, check these guys out! |
Musical Resources
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This is the best resource I've found for Karnatic and Hindustani music (South and North Indian classical music, respectively). Ravi
has compiled, from various internet sources, everything from primers on Indian music to lists of raagas and taalas (I used this info to make a list of the raagas used in Indofunk's songs!). A very comprehensive site.
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Not to worry, I found another great source of information on Karnatik music! Carnatica.com features information, concert listings (in Madras), fun Karnatik games, and lots of other stuff I haven't even checked out yet (because I just found the site an hour ago). Be sure to check out the Karnatik crossword puzzle under "Brain Stimulators"! (OK, I know it sounds corny, but I assume these are Indians programming the site, give 'em a break...) |
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The Guide to Indian Classical/Jazz Fusion. Need I say any more?
Allen Lutins has made this a very comprehensive compendium of past and
present artists fusing Indian music with jazz and other Western styles. And I don't like it just because Indofunk is listed  |
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Indofunk's keyboard player, Walter Fishbacher, runs a CD mastering, printing and duplication business called Lofish Productions. Their rates are excellent for low-volume CDR duplication, include full-color booklets and on-CD printing, and they just completed construction of their recording studio, too. Indofunk's second CD, The Indofunk Jam Sessions, is being mixed and mastered there as we speak, and will be duplicated there in early 2002. |
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My roommate, Peter Kohl, is a bandleader, songwriter, and recording engineer. He recently upgraded his studio to an all-digital, ProTools-heavy powerhouse! (Indofunk's first and second CDs were recorded in his studio - if you like them, you know he's a good engineer!) Click here for his label's official site. |
Non-musical/Other Links
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A friend of mine has set up a very nice site featuring some of his pictures and articles, all related to "Alternative Asian Voices". Lots of great links, and photos of some of the musicians mentioned here as influences on Indofunk's music. |
The rating system...
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You must check out this site. |
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Check out this site on your free time. |
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Check out this site if the description grabs you. (but if it made it on this list, you know it's gotta be cool!) |
Suggestions for links you'd like to see here?
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