FlipSwitch - Past

	Systema Solar, Systema Solar (OneRPM), Welcome aboard Colombia’s Systema Solar, the funkiest Technocolor hip-hop and DJ crew/Latin sound system ever to be pulled by donkey or graced with slammin’ beats. Uniting Afro-Colombian roots with rap, scratching with Afro-Latin percussion, and unstoppable dance grooves with a live video mix, Systema Solar has landed on the world stage with Systema Solar (ONErpm.com; release date), the perfect intro to Latin America’s coolest musical-visual collective. 07/12/10 >> more
	Lo'Jo, New York Concerts, This angelic French tribe has been roving the world with its heterogeneous and eclectic musical luggage for twenty-five years. Not a band, rather a caravan, a collective of incorrigible backpackers/tightrope walkers/globe-trotters, open to every experience and every encounter. Along a dozen of records, Lo’Jo’s gang, coming from the punk, the jazz, the rock, has explored as many musical lines as continents. As Denis Péan, singer and songwriter, says, “our music is an anarchic garden we try to cultivate so as to make it both beautiful and wild. We are like farmers: we play with time.” 05/24/10 >> more
	Josef Koumbas, Waiting (Tumi Music), Born of an Irish mother and a Greek Cypriot father in London in 1944, Josef Koumbas formed his first band at the tender age of 12. He went on to spend 3 years in Australia, fascinated by the art and music of the aborigines. He visited Cuba in 1990, arriving with a Ronnie Scotts group from London UK, for what was to be one of Cuba's best loved International Jazz Festival. During that visit he met many of Cubans top Jazz musicians including Chucho Valdes and Bobby Carcasses. 05/17/10 >> more
	Pablo Sanchez, Release Da Freak (Wonderwheel Recordings), "Release Da Freak" Pablo Sanchez Featuring Colonel Red Colonel Red is a UK vocalist who has been featured on many of the East London Broken beat scenes most inventive tunes! His collaboration with Pablo Sanchez on the broken dancefloor tunes "Release da Freak" and "Glory Stories," got a new Funky House remix treatment by Simbad as well as an Electro Boogie twist by Recloose. The down tempo soulful "Faith" rounds out the EP with some more soulful vocals with a positive message! 05/05/10 >> more
	Feufollet, En Couleurs (Feufollet Records), Welcome to the world of Feufollet, a band both deeply rooted in the francophone soil of Louisiana and pushing boldly into unexplored yet utterly natural varieties of Cajun experience. Though famous for their renditions of heartbreaking songs and rollicking tunes, the quintet breaks new ground on En Couleurs (Feufollet Records; June 1, 2010) featuring originals that draw on deep roots tempered by a cutting edge of contemporary life. 04/21/10 >> more
	Various Artists, Dalai Lama Renaissance Soundtrack (White Swan), Tyabji set out to accomplish the impossible: the creation of a score and soundtrack for a feature-length film worthy of the subject matter, without a budget. Yet this very hindrance proved to be the project’s strength. “The most affirming thing about this project was that it attracted certain types of people,” Tyabji notes, recalling how artists came out of the cyberspace woodwork wanting to advance the Dalai Lama’s message. “No one had any money but we didn’t have a firm schedule, either. We had time.” 04/08/10 >> more
	Egypt Noir, Various Artists (Piranha Musik), Driven from their homeland when the Aswan dam flooded a great stretch of the upper Nile that once was the kingdom of Nubia, these musical refugees hit Egypt's big time starting in the 1960s as they fled to its cities. Just as their ancient forbears contributed in untold ways to the flowering of Ancient Egypt, these modern Nubians discovered new niches in Cairo, absorbing the vibrant cosmopolitan possibilities of everything from Cuban beats to James Brown. Their sonic roots in village festivities, pentatonic scales and unique rhythms were transformed by western instruments and urban weddings. 04/06/10 >> more
	Just a Band, 82 (Akwaaba Music), Akwaaba is proud to have in its catalogue the 2nd release by one of Kenya’s most talented collectives, Just A Band. “82” is an album that should stand the test of time. Often, when creative minds come together, something brilliant tends to happen. Just A Band, being a brotherhood of 3 talented artistic minds, has brought to life a unique musical experience in the shape of “82”. 04/05/10 >> more
	Footsteps in Africa, Nomadic Remix (KiahKeya Productions), This sound lies behind filmmaker, producer, and former VJ Kathi von Koerber’s three-part exploration of the life, worldview, and creativity of the nomadic Tuareg peoples of the Sahara. Envisioned from the start as a feature-length documentary film, & soundtrack, Footsteps in Africa (KiahKeya Productions; June 1, 2009) reveals the vibrant cultural life of the world’s most forbidding climate and is coming to select festivals across North America and the world in 2010. 03/30/10 >> more
	Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda, 2010 Tour, Featured on national music scene as the group which has most traveled throughout Brazil last year (about 80 concerts in 2008) and which is notably increasing its ever-growing audience, Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda, already owns a remarkable career in the history of music in Pernambuco. 03/24/10 >> more
	Gianmaria Testa, Solo Dal Vivo (Produzioni Fuorivia), “If songs do not live and move listeners on their own, played simply on guitar,” Italian singer-songwriter Gianmaria Testa remarks, “then no arrangement or gimmick can save them.” Testa’s songs live out the lost loves, huddled immigrant masses, and quirky characters that flit across the station platform. They are soft-spoken scenes captured by Testa’s astute observation as a former train station manager, backed with a bite of subtle insight. 02/23/10 >> more
	Lokesh, Utopia (Moonrise Records), “Music without boundaries in a world without borders,” instructs Lokesh, the master. “That is Utopia.” The tracks on Utopia range across the electronic field with no regard for fences or “Keep Out” signs. From the laid-back Latin-rock “Quantum Chant Machine,” a “world music ballad,” to the shehnai-driven drum and bass of “Oscillations,” led by an subcontinental reed pipe, Lokesh’s music infuses Indian and world sounds into his own journey of open beats and melodies. 02/18/10 >> more
	Jorge Strunz, Neotropical Nocturnes (Selva), Genre-defying guitarist Jorge Strunz, one half of the acclaimed global guitar duo Strunz & Farah, evokes this luxuriant and haunting world, taking his virtuosity in a new and subtle direction on his solo album, Neotropical Nocturnes (Selva Records; March 16, 2010). A meditation on his Costa Rican roots and transnational travels with his diplomat family, these instrumental pieces reflect the multitude of voices that resonate in the guitar when played by a master, and that speak to the heart of the Americas. 02/18/10 >> more
	Sweet Electra, When We Abandoned Earth (Sweet Electra), In 2005, Giovanni relocated to Mexico City to join in on that enormous metropolitan's exciting art and music scene. When he was auditioning young women to fill the role of Sweet Electra's new singer, someone urged him to call a student at the city's prestigious Fermata conservatory named Nardiz Cooke. As soon as she opened her mouth to sing for him, Giovanni knew he wanted to collaborate with her. They immediately recorded the group's second album, CAMA. 02/04/10 >> more
	My Name is Khan, Soundtrack (SIN/Sony India), My name is Rizwan Khan. I might seem a little different to you. That is because I have Aspergers Syndrome. It is named after Dr. Hans Asperger who first noticed the traits in children. Having Aspergers does not mean I am stupid. I am very intelligent, but I don't understand people. I don't know why people say things they don't mean. For example, they say come to my house any time, and when I go to their house they say why have you come at this time? Sometimes people think I am rude. I don't mean to be rude, being rude is not good. My mother said there are only good people and bad people in the world and I am a good person 01/18/10 >> more
	Kartick & Gotam, Business Class Refugees (EarthSync), The world is a swirling arrangement of sand and water, elements that sing and crash. From the deserts of the Sinai to the drowned islands of Indonesia, these fluid forces of life and destruction guide the emergence of a new post-cataclysm harmony of people and music, serenity from out of the deluge. Kartick and Gotam pull the threads of this microcosm and weave them into a new tapestry as a gift to the world on their latest creation, Business Class Refugees (U.S. Release: March 9, 2010), from Chennai-based EarthSync. 01/06/10 >> more
	Tito Gonzalez, Al Doblar la Esquina (www.titoysusondecuba.com/), Tito Gonzales possesses the sweet, confident eyes of an amorous gentleman of a certain age. Accordingly, Tito’s lyrical poetry embraces love and the lack thereof. Al doblar la esquina opens with “Buscar a alguien,” a cheer-up song that Tito wrote for his lovesick pianist, whom he found one evening, saddened for his lack of a companion. This upbeat hello to the sound of the son, featuring Tito’s frank poetic voice, is unworried and upbeat, like “Cuando tu te fuistes,” another song for a comrade in heartache. This one is for the young man who painted the album’s perky cover art, a landscape of Havana in rich Caribbean colors. Somewhere in that tangle of golden alleyways, Tito waits to meet you, just around the next corner. 12/21/09 >> more
	Jerry Leake, Cubist (Rhombus Publishing), It is no coincidence that the music in Cubist reinvigorates the concepts presented by the Cubist movement in the early 20th century. Like Picasso, Leake set out to represent each musical object—each theme, instrument, and influence—from all sides, in relation to the listener. As a result, a more profound musical awareness and aesthetic evolved with sounds that intertwine human experience with global music experience. 11/23/09 >> more
	Joyful Noise (I Grade Records), The urgency of the messages on Joyful Noise is plain to see. Each artist delves into their chosen topics with intense passion and skill. From spiritual anthems like “Everlasting” by the Nazarenes to sufferers anthems like Duane Stephensons “Hard Times”, this album is chock-full of songs that the earth needs hear – songs that will make you tune in and take notice as these sixteen different artists make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord 11/17/09 >> more
	EarthRise SoundSystem, The Yoga Sessions (Yoga Organix/White Swan), When EarthRise SoundSystem’s Derek Beres and David “Duke Mushroom” Schommer first joined together to remix a song by popular mantra singer Deva Premal, they set out to create a new paradigm as to what ‘yoga music’ meant. The result was a percussively rich, organically spacious and dubby soundscape. This approach laid the foundation for their full length album, The Yoga Sessions (Yoga Organix: January 1, 2010), a collection of 21st century electronically inspired yet organically grown original music that will redefine one’s notions of “yoga music.” 10/26/09 >> more
	WOMEXIMIZER 10/14/09 >> go there
	The Spy from Cairo, Secretly Famous (WONDERWHEEL) 10/07/09 >> go there
	Mahala Rai Banda, Ghetto Blasters (Asphalt Tango Records) 10/06/09 >> go there
	Mr. Something Something, U.S. Tour 09/16/09 >> go there
	BalkanBeats, A Night in Berlin (Piranha Musik) 09/09/09 >> go there
	Les Triaboliques, rivermudtwilight (World Village) 09/02/09 >> go there
	Christine Vaindirlis, Dance Mama! (Ubuntu World Music) 08/31/09 >> go there
	Slide to Freedom II, Doug Cox and Salil Bhatt (NorthernBlues Music) 08/19/09 >> go there
	Indian Ocean, US Tour 08/17/09 >> go there
	Boban i Marko Markovic, Devla (Piranha Musik) 08/17/09 >> go there
	Salsa Celtica, U.S. Tour (Discos León) 07/29/09 >> go there
	Khaled, Liberté (Wrasse Records) 07/01/09 >> go there
	Amadou & Mariam, The Magic Couple (Wrasse Records) 06/30/09 >> go there
	[dunkelbunt], Raindrops and Elephants (Piranha Musik) 06/18/09 >> go there
	Aphrodesia, Precious Commodity (Shackrobeat Records) 06/17/09 >> go there
	Selaelo Selota, Lapeng Laka (SIN/Sony South Africa) 06/12/09 >> go there
	Sister Fa, Sarabah: Tales from the Flipside of Paradise (Piranha Musik) 05/20/09 >> go there
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