various artists - Mojo Presents: Africa Rising (Essential Mindblowing Summer Grooves)

It's been a month away, moving about 20 miles closer to the Canadian border, concurrent with my country taking a sprint right into fascism, and the best most anyone near me can offer is "it is what it is." Were it a drinking game, I'd be dead or pickled.

But I cannot lose hope, because thre[s still worlds of music to uncover, and uncover it, I shall.

My mom came in from the East Coast to lend a hand on the unpack, and I played this for her as we headed north from the airport. She liked the Farka Tourés, felt ambivalent about the rest of it, but said it was nice to hear something she'd never heard before. "You have such interesting taste in music," said the woman who played me Smokey Robinson, Juice Newton, and Pink Floyd as a kid.

My point is, it doesn't have to be what it is. Spring is coming, and we will be renewed.

Discogs

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Binky Griptite's GhettoFunkPowerHour

Uggh. It's been a tough week to sit down and write. An eff ton of admin will really dampen your desire to hop on a computer. But here I am; sitting up in the middle of the night, ready to kick you some jams.

"Binky Griptite's GhettoFunkPowerHour" made its way to me via my copy of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings' "100 Days, 100 Nights". I wasn't expecting an extra dose of soul, but far be it for me to turn down 58 minutes and 2 seconds of mixtape goodness taken from the Daptone Records catalog. Slapped together by Dap-King/Antibalas/Amy Winehouse guitarist Binky Griptite, this is the sort of thing that I'll always welcome as a bonus. Or, hell, just post one up once a year on Bandcamp or something.

Discogs

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Ghostface Killah x Max Tannone - Ghostfunk

I've been fighting a sore shoulder and an ongoing headache for the past two days, which, oddly enough, makes it difficult to put ideas to pixels and talk about music. Forgiveness, please.

This is the chocolate and peanut butter of mash-ups for me. "Ghostfunk" is Ghostface Killah acapellas over afrobeat/highlife music. This shit works because of course it does. I'ma tell you right now that "Dear Psychedelic Woman" is a go-to mixtape track for me. It's a can't miss banger. I've only ever had this as MP3s, although it appears that there have been a few pressings on vinyl over the past nine years. If anyone wants to send me a copy for my upcoming birthday, I wouldn't say "no".

Here's where I point out that you can get "Ghostfunk" as a pay-what-you-want from Max Tannone's Bandcamp, and, reasonably, you should. I'm a big believer in actually paying for music, especially since there are platforms like Bandcamp which allow you to directly buy from the artist, thus ensuring they receive the greatest return on their work. Max's latest release came out in March, benefitting Food Bank for New York City. If you're into mash-ups, particularly remixes of 80s lover's rock, you'll totally be into "Trading WAV Sound System".

Discogs

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