The easiest way to create a mix in Bossa is to just pick a couple of your favorite genres and let Bossa create a mix for you. The thing about genres is that a lot of times they are based on personal preference. If you download mp3's or purchase an album online you typically get whatever genre was already predetermined for you. Even if you import a cd into iTunes and have CDDB pull all the ID3 info for the music, it can can bring up a genre that you don't associate with your music.

Here I'll show you quickly how to change the genre for a whole album. I just downloaded the latest Fort Knox Five release 'Radio Free DC' and the genre came up as 'Soul'. I don't really want FK5 to be in the 'Soul' genre, so I'm going to change it to 'Breaks' which is the genre that I created for this type of music.

Select and highlight the tracks that you want to change.

Right click (double click Mac) and go to 'Info' Change the genre to whatever genre you want in the pop out menu or type in your own genre if it doesn't exist in your database yet.

You can trick iTunes by creating your own genres and grouping them to play in your mix or with the Automator. For example, you can change the genre of songs to AM and another group to PM which makes it easy to select when programming your automation; songs that only play in the morning and songs that play in the PM. iTunes gives you a lot of possibilities, you're only limited by your imagination!

Posted by Mike at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thievery Corporation are back after the 'Cosmic Game' with their highly anticipated fifth independent studio album Radio Retaliation. Along with longtime microphone co-conspirators like Sleepy Wonder, Lou Lou, and Notch, the “outernational” DJ and production duo are joined this time by a new cast of musical collaborators including Nigeria’s afro-beat heir Femi Kuti, Brazilian star vocalist and guitarist Seu Jorge, Indian sitar virtuoso Anushka Shankar, Slovakian chanteuse and violinist Jana Andevska, and Washington DC’s own godfather of go-go Chuck Brown. The album has an uncompromising socio-political agenda and richly layered production touching upon the eclectic sounds of Jamaica, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

"Radio Retaliation is definitely a more overt political statement," says Garza. "There's no excuse for not speaking out at this point, with the suspension of habeas corpus, outsourced torture, illegal wars of aggression, fuel, food, and economic crises. It's hard to close your eyes and sleep while the world is burning around you. If you are an artist, this is the most essential time to speak up." Naturally, the duo decided to raise their voice.
With Radio Retaliation, recorded entirely in their Washington DC-based studio, Thievery Corporation have managed to blossom in the heart of a city they often refer to as "Babylon;" a poignant reference to the traditional Rastafarian distaste and distrust of a corrupt and unjust modern system. Although the city is best known as the seat of an aggressive American Empire, paradoxically Washington DC has long been the home of a music subculture legendary for fierce independence, a staunch do-it-yourself work ethic, and conscientious social activism exemplified by genre-defining pioneers like godfather of go-go Chuck Brown and indie punk rockers Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and Fugazi.

Posted by Mike at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With Future Chaos, Bomb the Bass', Tim Simenon, revamps his long-running project to produce a record that's fresher than anyone might have expected from an outfit that got its start in the '80s. Tickling tweeters and pushing the limits of low-end, the album hovers confidently on the cusp between futurism and vintage. Simenon calls it "electronic music with soul," but that barely begins to describe it. At once lush and chilly, intimate and alien, Future Chaos is a synth-rich album boasting guest vocals from Jon Spencer, Mark Lanegan, Fujiya & Miyagi's David Best, Toob and Paul Conboy.

It's been 21 years since Bomb the Bass' "Beat Dis" helped usher in the era of sampling, acid house and DJ culture. It's easy to forget how monumental the single was. Going straight to number two in the UK charts, the song's success quickly propelled Simenon from underground DJ to in-demand knobsman.

On Future Chaos, Simenon's guest vocalists are as inspired as ever. David Best, of Fujiya & Miyagi, spreads his trademark free-association whispers all over "Butter Fingers." Toob, the duo of Jakeone (Jake Williams) and Red Snapper's Richard Thair, lend a nervous, sultry touch to "Burn the Bunker." Jon Spencer—yes, he of Blues Explosion fame—infuses "Fuzzbox" with the distant purr of robot phone sex. But the most striking appearance here might be Mark Lanegan's. Formerly of the Screaming Trees, a onetime member of Queens of the Stone Age and collaborator with PJ Harvey, Lanegan has a voice like no other; on "Black River," his smokes-and-whiskey drawl proves the perfect complement to Bomb the Bass' rich sonics.

Posted by Mike at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Electronic songstress Natalie Walker returns with her sophomore album the titled 'With You.' It's a diverse and dynamic album rooted in classic pop and New Wave soundscapes. The release comes on the heels of last year's 'Urban Angel,' Walker's debut that has become an indie favorite among electronic fans. 'Urban Angel' garnered critical acclaim and saw heavy rotation at KCRW. Director Sofia Coppola also heard a Thievery Corporation remix of Walker's single "Quicksand," fell in love with it and included it in the trailer for her film Marie Antoinette.

Armed with a voice that softly swirls and induces chills just the same, the release finds Walker reuniting with the Brooklyn-based production duo Stuhr (Mya, Nicole Atkins) who oversaw production on her debut. As a result, 'With You' doesn't so much depart from her debut as build on its strengths. It also reflects Walker's increasingly varied influences from the upbeat to sublime and serious. From tracks like "Monarch," "By and By" and the first single, "Over and Under," 'With You' firmly establishes Natalie Walker as one of the electronic genre's brightest new stars.

Posted by Mike at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the course of two previous studio albums and countless all-nighters at their East Village clubhouse, Nublu, Brazilian Girls has established a reputation as New York’s premier international party band. To attend a Brazilian Girls show is to experience something like time travel: No one else is quite as capable of making a few hours fly by like a few minutes.

For the Girls’ third full-length—the follow-up to 2006’s Talk to La Bomb, singer Sabina Sciubba says she, keyboardist Didi Gutman and drummer Aaron Johnston (bassist Jesse Murphy is on hiatus from the group) wanted to slow down their process. The result of nearly eight months’ worth of work on their own and with producer Hector Castillo, the boldly titled New York City is Brazilian Girls’ most sophisticated, dynamic effort yet. To be sure, the album contains its fair share of uptempo party-starters: “We just want to have a good time all the time,” Sciubba admits gleefully over an infectious hand-clap beat in the aptly named “Good Time,” while “Losing Myself” rides a go-go organ groove.

Yet New York City also reveals a deeper, more contemplative side of Brazilian Girls’ sound, one that Johnston says reflects the band’s desire to “actually sit down and write rather than just jam at the club.” They certainly succeed on that count. “Strangeboy” is a spooky avant-cabaret number in which Sciubba’s echo-chamber vocals float uneasily over forbidding haunted-house horns. “Ricardo” has a sly spy-movie throb. “I Want Out” features gorgeous choral vocals that call to mind Björk’s work on Vespertine. “Mano De Dios” could be the soundtrack to your next yoga session. For “Internacional,” a sleek future-lounge throwdown, Brazilian Girls were joined in the studio by Senegalese superstar Baba Maal, a happy byproduct of Sciubba and Gutman’s work on Maal’s own forthcoming album.

The members of the band are sure that the wide variety of fans who make up Brazilian Girls’ diverse audience will respond to their latest explorations. “Rather than something cool or hip, I think people are looking for something that touches them,” says Sciubba. “Everyone needs a little love right now.” And they’ll certainly find it—prepare to be shaken!

Posted by Mike at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)