A classic trip hop track from the one man DJ team that goes by RJD2.  This track comes from RJD2′s first album, Deadringer, which is my favorite by far.  He released while with Def Jux records.

RJD2 began partially grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and began his DJing career there as well.  He now lives in Philly, so you can probably catch his live shows pretty easily if you live on the East Coast.  He doesn’t come out west nearly enough.

Alt Dance Superstars The Presets

Cut Copy loves remixing all their buddies’ songs from Modular Records.  This remix is one of my favorites.  The original Presets song Girl and the Sea is great too.

Cut Copy is playing a show in San Francisco in March, but don’t expect many remixes. They got plenty of original material to perform.

With the recent release of their new album, Sound the Alarm, Thievery Corporation continues its domination of ambient dub. This is the third track from that album.

Thievery Corporation is a Washington DC based DJ duo of Eric Hilton and Rob Garza. They are co-owners of the 18th Street Lounge in DC, where Thievery got its start back in 1995 over strong drinks and while listening to a mix of jazz and world records.

See them in concert, and you’ll be talking about it for days. They travel the world with a full orchestra, two drummers, horns, plus other instruments, and they feature a revolving door of singers and MCs, so there’s constantly someone new with a mic amping up the crowd. Eric and Rob stand in the back, mixing it all together.

I’m not convinced that they do anything back there, but the resulting sound is perfect, so whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it right.

Thievery Corporation is bringing their traveling orchestra to San Francisco on New Years.

Many people consider Fela Kuti the Godfather of Afrobeat music, which fuses Jazz, Funk, and African style rhythms.

He was one of the first to do this.

Born in 1938 in Nigeria, Fela grew up in a middle class family, where his mom was a feminist and his dad was a minister and school principal. His parents sent him to London in 1958 to study music, but instead he enrolled in Trinity College of Music and while there, started the band Koola Lobitos. This marked the beginning of Fela’s long and politically motivated musical career. Here’s the synopsis:

Man writes song that suggests Nigerian soldiers are Zombies. Nigerian soldiers attack Fela’s commune. Fela’s life is spared by army commander. Fela writes more music referring to attacks. Fela creates his own political party. Fela marries 28 women in one year. Fela is jailed on wrongful charges. Fela performs at Amnesty International Concert in Giants stadium with Bono and Carlos Santana. Fela dies in 1997, probably due to illness. One million people attend his funeral.

And you thought your life could be influential…

For any current soul, lounge, disco, or funk artist, chances are, Fela Kuti had a noticeable influence on their styles, either direct or indirect.

Norway has quite the music scene. We’ve got Datarock bringing the electro rock ruckus, Madcon bringing the dance hip hop ruckus, and now we’ve got Royksopp bringing the ambient techno alternative to ruckus.

Royksopp also recorded a song for a Geico commercial

This song sounds like a cross between Mylo’s Otto’s Journey and The Knife’s Like a Pen

Extremely relaxing track that encompasses their minimalist sound. Some folks even classify their sound as dark, dreamy, and noirish.

Morphine was big in the 90s, especially amongst college students and college radio stations. They were also a hit with movie producers and directors, playing notable tracks from movies such as ‘Wild Things,’ ‘Spanking the Monkey,’ ‘Nothing to Lose,’ and ‘Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead.’

I think this is the perfect late, late night jam, following a night of listening to songs by Cut Copy, MSTRKRFT, and The Hold Steady.