Fat Planet – Year Two Mixtape

To celebrate the second anniversary of the Fat Planet radio show on FBi 94.5FM, this mixtape – published in December 2005 – ripped together a number of downloads that featured on fatplanet.com.au during the preceding twelve months. From baile funk to euro-crunk (ahh, remember that?), from Japanese post-punk to Bollywood breakcore, this CD-length compilation celebrates “all that was great about international music in 2005”.
DOWNLOAD: FAT PLANET YEAR TWO MIXTAPE
Tracklisting & Liner Notes:
Notes taken from posts during in 2005 on fatplanet.com.au
1. MC VANESSINHA [BRAZIL] danca de peteca
“an interview with dj marlboro on hyperdub:”In a famous quote, Chuck D refers to rap as the black CNN. In many respects Rio or baile funk could be referred to as favela CNN. That is, it’s used as a medium to convey how the people who live in the Brazilian favelas really feel using their own language, idioms and slang. baile funk is basically a strain of Miami Bass breakbeat, but much cruder and ruffer in it’s production. There is a healthy anything-goes and fuck-fashion attitude to using samples… It’s prole-like unpretentiousness and complete lack of “cool” makes it a scene apart from the rave and club scene dominated by São Paulo and the fashion conscious Paulistas. But ironically, baile Funk is the original Brazilian electronic dance music stemming from the incredibly popular Rio sound-systems of the 70’s.”
2. STACS OF STAMINA [SWEDEN] donne moi un poisson (ft. ttc)
“let me just clear one thing up right now – stacs of stamina’s album ‘tivoli’ is one of the best albums of 2005. easy. and with it comes a hilarious new genre classification – ‘euro-crunk’… it proves just how dramatic crunk can be when we take some of the less agile MCs out of the equation – at once both deliciously deft and deleriously blunt, ‘tivoli’ sets an impossible standard against which future challengers will be judged.”
3. ENDUSER [US:OHIO] not so distant drums
“never before has bollywood sounded so mind-altering than in this breakcore / broken beat widescreen presentation courtesy of ohio’s enduser, aka solo producer lynn standafer. both bhangra and breakcore can be found filed away in my cd library, i just never assumed i would ever find them together in the same temple. and now that i have, their marriage seems absolutely right and absolutely essential.”
4. NETTLE [SPAIN] myanmar (timeblind remix)
“a one time classical saxophonist, timeblind has made his way through a multiplicity of genres to get to where he is today – from free jazz, industrial, acid house, techno to broken beat, breakcore and dub… this was originally released on nettle’s ‘firecamp stories remixed’ series – nettle being another psuedonym for the talented dj and producer dj rupture.”
5. DJ BC vs M.I.A. [U.S. / SRI LANKA] quem vai encontrar a festa da maconha?
“a sweet bootleg from dj bc, mixing m.i.a.’s ‘galang’, a 1962 bossa track called ‘quem quiser encontar o amor’, plus gloria gaynor, dj paris and some dialogue from an anti-drug movie.”
6. SLAM REVOLUTION [SENEGAL] wax degg
“more african hip-hop thanks to our friends at nomadic wax. both tracks are taken from their new release “african underground vol. 1 hip-hop senegal” which aims to provide a contemporary snap-shot from what is arguably africa’s home of hip hop. unlike many compilations claiming to be the ‘real deal’, this is actually the genuine article – recorded on location in dakar, calling on artists that you’re unlikely to hear anywhere else any time soon.”
7. VISIONARY UNDERGROUND [ENGLAND] 100 vibes
“a four piece from london, their remarkable fusion of contemporary breaks with a clear asian influence takes asian dub foundation’s template and moves it further towards the dancefloor.”
8. SHUKAR COLLECTIVE [ROMANIA] blooz gypsy
” the core trio play what is known as ‘ursari’, a style of music traditionally created by men in order to encourage their (tamed) pet bears to dance for their amusement… it’s traditionally played using spoons, barrels and other wooden percussion and, in this album, there’s also a tom waits-esque gutteral vocal that gives the music a rich, rough hue. add to this tradition a succession of breaks, a few rounds of turntablism and some avant-garde electronica and you’re served with a genuinely unique and original sound.”
9. KONONO NO.1 [CONGO] ditshe tshiekutala
“konono no.1 are one of the most original groups operating in africa today, mainly due to their use of the electrified / amplified traditional instruments – a style known in congo as ‘tradi-modern’. boiled down, it’s old school analogue electronic music – thumb pianos, megaphones, pots & pans, old car parts etc, all amplified to the point of almost absurd distortion. if any modern euro-electro pioneer was making this, we’d be hailing them a genius – yet, konono no.1 have being doing their own DIY thing for nearly 25 years.”
10. MUGISON [ICELAND] sad as a truck
“iceland’s mugison is a wonderful contradiction of styles – from his abstract soundtrack album’ niceland’, to the downtempo folktronica of his excellent debut ‘lonely mountain’ and finally to the beat-heavy, fuzzrock mp3 ‘sad as a truck’ from his second album ‘mugimama is this onkey music?’ (sounds like something beck should be making if you drew a more leftfield graph from ‘loser’).”
11. WE ACEDIASTS [JAPAN] ibasho
“the four piece (three from japan, one from new jersey) recorded two tracks with dfa, both of which can be found on their release ‘pre acediasts’, along with six other tracks recorded in tokyo. this mp3 is a rare opportunity to hear the producers stripped right back, a minimal marriage of trademark post-punk 4-4, krautrock, psych and post-rock. ”
12. BALUN [PUERTO RICO] the glass bicycle
“balun are a three-piece from puerto rico… i’m getting the feeling that central and south american electronica is growing in favour and it’s certainly finding some public attention beyond appaearing on the now-standard ‘neuvo latino’ compilations.”
13. THE TINY [SWEDEN] closer
“a three piece from stockholm, the tiny digest all that is bold and beautiful about smoky, torch-song jazz and refract it through a lens that’s been sitting in the pockets of bjork or kate bush. vocalist / pianist and writer, ellekari, onces more takes a seemingly familiar skewed vocal technique into new territories, and essentially proves what we always suspected – incredible though such vocals are, they are best displayed to their advantage in the jazz field.”
14. HUUN HUR TU [TUVA] kongurei
“this band from tuva, the country that holds the distinction of being the most ‘land-locked’ in the world, i.e. furthest away from any ocean. their combination of throat-singing and traditional local instruments makes for a rare and unique slice of music.”