Back from our one-week vacation. Couldn’t post anything in the meantime but never stopped to think about our fellow readers while basking in the hot sun and selected some tunes that should accompany you on your future trips to the beach.

I was going to go all balearic, chillout etc. on you, but thought that would be too easy; so only tracks that seemed to fit in 100% with my mood at that time made it to the muxtape, be it walking back to the hotel under 35C (Vibracathedral Orchestra) or lying in the beach without movement (Sawako). Mostly just enjoying summer though!

undomondo.muxtape.com

Muxtape now scrobbles what you listen on last.fm, but the 12 song limitation sucks!

Hallelujah Chicken Run Band – Alikulila
Vampire Weekend – Bryn
Sawako – Wind Shower Particle
Gaylads – Portland Rock Love in Action
Roland Alphonso – Born To Be Loved
Nino Nardini & Roger Roger – Expectation
Eels – Susan’s House
Vibracathedral Orchestra – Transvestite Electrics
Piero Umiliani – Mahe’
Lalo Schifrin – The Wave
Le London All Star – Coming Home Babe
Cal Tjader – Nao Diga Nada

Blog favourite German from Chile, Señor Coconut aka Uwe Schmidt and his orchestra has the latest installment to their series of latin pop covers.

I know the excitement fades after 3 albums and BBC even wonders if it’s time for Coconut to retire, the idea is barely new but it’s terribly infectious and successful plus you can’t be critical when it’s summer and it’s over 30C when all you wanna do is to hear some good spirited tunes and singalong.

We see the orchestra in top shape once again as Coconut veteran Argenis Brito sings on most of the tunes while Louie Austen sings on two. We even see a duet on Prince’s Kiss. Tunes like Telex’ Moscow Discow, Les Baxter’s Voodoo Dreams which kickstarted the series as well. There was a comment about Baxter not getting enough reference so it’s a welcoming occassion. Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams, and the 80s German hit “Da Da Da” gets covered (with Stephan Remmler on the vocals)

What I picked for you is Replicant Rumba Rockers‘ “La Vida es Llena de Cables” (which I assume is Schmidt and fellow musician Bernd Friedman which also make up Flanger) and the merenguified version of “White Horse”. Not as good as the “Yellow Fever” album but that’s simply because songs like “Yellow Magic” and “Rydeen” can’t be matched.

Señor Coconut – Around the world (Interlude)
Señor Coconut – White horse
Señor Coconut – La Vida es llena de cables

Icy Demons from Chicago has their 3rd album out on the Japanese Easel label. Man Man’s Christopher Powell & Bablicon’s Griffin Rodriguez seem to be the main men of this band, assisted by other Chicago musicians with such silly names as Ali Hawkbar and Ta-Freek-Ya!.

Just check out the video to hear those influences on “Miami Ice” : dreamy childlike Canterbury pop, lovely percussive rhythms, 70’s electronic weirdness, Caribbean sounds, brasses. The warm exotica of “Summer Samba” and the wacky Herbert-like “Crittin’ Down To Baba’s” show the range that these guys go through. Only downside of this one is that it’s a Japan only import release, so you either have to shell 35 grand, or scourge the net.

Hey kids, we’re back from our short one week vacation fresh as a daisy. It’s been a musicless week with a few exceptions like today’s post which feature the 3 tunes which been the highlights of last week for us.

The first tune would easily get to be the tune of this summer if you take my word for it. You should remember Wahoo from last years “Make ‘em Shake It” which was similarly one of the most powerful contenders for the best summer tune. It’s not a surprise since the duo is formed by Dixon from Jazzanova and Georg Levin from Sonar Kollektiv fame, two of the coolest Berliners to be found. The record’s going to be out on UK’s Fine Records in August.

Another contester is a deep vocal house tune called April from Osunlade’s latest album Elements Beyond on Strictly Rhythm. A quick check through hype machine shows that most if not all of Osunlade features has been done by us, which demonstrates that the mp3blog scene needs some more bloggers who cover soulful & funky dance music. BTW I’ve shot a few videos of Osunlade’s Yoruba Soul Orchestra gig from Radar Live but I haven’t edited and put it online yet.

Last but not least is a piano version of Mambo Inn, the timeless Jazz guitar song by Grant Green by the legendary Puerto Rican pianist Hilton Ruiz who passed away last year at the age of 54.

WAHOO – Don’t Take it Personal (Georg Levin’s Edit)
Osunlade – April
Hilton Ruiz – Mambo Inn

Such a joy to have found this.
I’ve been listening to this one for more than a month when i realized that I should get off my ass and share this definitive summer hit! (albeit in small circles)

This is a cover (Hey, it’s not a cheap commercial remix/bootleg to make money off an old hit, like most of the music industry does nowadays!)of Jacko’s “Can’t help it”, and such a good one it is!. (produced by Stevie Wonder for him, cool!)

Well MJ’s singing was perfect in this era, the song was a hit, and the 70s disco strings and latin percussions added make this song shine.

BTW Tangoterje is Todd Terje.
and you would really regret it, if you pass this one. :)

Download Tangoterje – I can’t help it
Buy the 12″ here

And also, i fucked up the Tiburon mp3 and posted an incomplete one. It’s OK now, so you can safely download it below..