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SHED BOOGIE TUNES OF THE WEEK (10) ::::: Funky In The Middle - Nickodemus ::::: Jugoe - The Rust Belt EP
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Funky In The Middle / Crazy Stranger
Nickodemus featuring Jay Rodriguez, Harel Shachal,
Ticklah, and a remix by Haaksman + Haaksman
WONDER-08 | 12" VINYL
*** Funky in the Middle is a midtempo "Fela in the LES" groove that features Jay Rogriguez of the Groove Collective on sax & Victor Axelrod of Antibalas on clavinet. The remix by Haaksman & Haaksman drops into a steady reggae stepper groove & deepens it a notch. On the flipside, the critic's choice cut on the album, "Crazy Stranger," takes us on a 125 BPM trip from the Blakans to Jerusalem and beyond. Featured musician, Harel Shachal of the group Anistar brings in textures of Turkish flute, sax & melodica while Tortured Soul's Ethan White on the keys locks into the heavy rhythms.
Jugoe - The Rust Belt EP
BJ-008 - 12" Vinyl
Bastard Jazz Recordings is very proud to present our latest EP, coming from long-standing artist Jude Goergen (aka Jugoe), hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. The Rust Belt EP is a musical tribute to a gritty, industrial stretch of land in the North-Central and Northeast United States once known for its heavy industry and manufacturing plants. It's a part of the country that stretches from Detroit to Buffalo, and an area which is rapidly shrinking and rusting over with the advent of free trade and a global economy – it's an area that Jugoe knows best.
Despite the despondency and starkness of this area, it's still a part of the country where the sun still shines and culture still thrives – and Jugoe manages to capture, and combine both the grit and the humanity of this area on The Rust Belt EP.
Kicking off the EP is "Ohio City", named after the urban neighborhood Jugoe lives in. The joint starts off with deep dub vibes, breathy cut'n'paste flutes and a dense breakbeat at 103BPM, before exploding straight into huge Latin percussion and horns, and then skillfully weaves the dub and Latin sounds into one another. Next is "Devil Woman", a snug instrumental hip-hop joint, with chopped up guitar and vocal bits circa 1960's Americana AM radio.
Onto the flip side, "90 West" is a hard-hitting track with an infectious bassline, organic chops + cuts skittering endlessly in the background, and a mid-song changeup to a mellow, Rhodes driven 4/4 sound. The "90 West Detour Beats" is strictly bonus breaks for DJs, taking the original in a bouncier, infectious direction.
As always, Bastard Jazz brings the heat with the remixes. Wonderwheel Recordings & Turntables on the Hudson honcho Nickodemus teams up with our good friend Zeb of Organic Grooves/Irma Records to flip Jugoe's "Gooseme" (original forthcoming on Bastard Jazz) into a dubby, part-broken, part-afrobeat track that's a perfect DJ transition track from downtempo-into-broken-beat, and back again. UK artist Beatphreak, from Jack to Phono Records, brings "90 West" into strictly jazz bidness broken beat, with live keys and a live bassline – one for discerning dancefloors.
