Video: Live in London

i love it when some video turns up online of an improv show i have absolutely no recollection of, and the vibe's kinda iLL.... this is one of those gems - most likely from a show at the jazz refreshed night at west london's mau mau (heads up for the return to that spot december 14!)

Skid Row Sessions... SA-RA, Pharoahe Monch n mo'

crazy things going on in LA... funny what happens when i pop round to ommas' house after drinks at the grammys spot, he cooks up a BANGING pasta and says, "we're going to a jam. and you're coming!"... the follow up to the love supreme madness of a few months back.... big big ups to dru and the art don't sleep fam.

Miguel Atwood Ferguson – Viola
Gene Coye – drums
Ommas Keith of Sa-Ra – drums and keys
Stephen “thundercat” Bruner – bass
Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra – keys, ambient
Alla Koi – percussion
AinJoy – Sax
Brook D’leau (J*Davey) – keys
Mark de Clive-Lowe - rhodes
Special Guest – Pharoahe Monch
Special thanks – Blu

ArtDontSleep: Skid Row Sessions w/ Pharoahe Monch, Shafiq Husayn, Om'Mas Keith, and more.... from Plug Research on Vimeo.

The October Wrap Up!

what a great month it's been - studio, shows, travel, chilling, good people, great food... these are the ingredients for a quality month and they were all in place :)

october started in studio at home in LA with nicholas payton - i've been producing his new album, doing a few days now and then over the month, and the project's coming together great. payton is one of the illest trumpeter's alive - he's played with elvin jones, herbie, wayne, and every heavy cat there is, as well as recording a number of top quality acoustic and electric albums. he came to a live show of mine in norway a few months back and that's led him to getting me to work on the new project. i had no idea what to expect until i heard the demos and all i can say for now, is that if you know nicholas payton's work, then he's flipping it completely 180 degrees. if you don't know of him, then get ready to hear some really fresh ish. it's been a lot of fun for me seeing him rocking my MPC3000, rhodes and synths, and refreshing to be able to focus just on the sound sculpting and production and help him to realize his vision for this album. i'm really excited to see the project come to completion - we've got a bit more work to do, but expect it to drop sometime in the first half of next year.

payton rocking the MPC... hahaha on 12seconds.tv

after our first few sessions, i got on the plane to australia for the spirit of soul festival in sydney. i've got to big up fani and all the crew running that festival - it's an independently-run very young festival and they're really building something with it :) firstly tho, 14.5 hours in economy class on united airlines is NOT THE ONE. 14.5 in economy on any airline isn't ideal, but mannnn... !! anyway, i got to sydney - eventually - and hit the ground running with the live show at the festival that night. atlanta singer anthony david happened to be in sydney at the same time, about to start his own 3 week tour there, so i invited him to feature on my live set along with australian bass player don, cameron undy. anthony and i had met briefly at london's jazz cafe one time but had never heard each other perform. he caught my live show in atlanta in september so knew the vibe and when i say this man KILLED it with me, he really did. like some bill withers meets mos def meets gil scott heron but totally on his own tip, it was a really dope show and a pleasure to jam out on stage with anthony <<<< video to come :) we're definitely planning on some studio collaborations in the not too distant, so keep an ear out for that.

anthony david on the mic...


then it was on to a couple of nights DJing in sydney and melbourne. the melbourne party at the croft institute was something else - i walked into an empty club, and by the time i dropped the needle on the record, the place was bumping and bouncing as if it had been cooking all night long already. easily the most fun sound system i've played on in a while too. heavy, heavy, heavy bottom end :) that will always please me! after a whirlwind 5 days in australia, fun shows, a lot of really great food and catching up with good friends, it was time to get back on the 14.5 hour flight back to cali. once again tho... united ?? not a good look on that route, sorry fam.

live @ the spirit of soul festival...


wiped from the week away, i missed out on supporting the UK crew who descended on LA that weekend - domu, benji b, simbad, and also philly's rich medina. i know those parties would have great, but after that trip to aus, i needed the rest and recouperation!

back in studio with nicholas payton for a few days knocking out more of his album and then it was back on a plane, this time to head to montreal for a couple of very special events. i'd played montreal a couple of times before, but this time got to check out more the city and soak it up all the more. i'm digging that place a lot - the european vibe, the metro-bohemia of it all... vibes! the first show was the montreal drum festival where i was guesting with lil john roberts.

soundcheck with lil john...


i arrived at the venue to find dennis chambers warming up on his kit in the backstage room - the man is a drum god for so many reasons, but even just his feel and fills on the seminal don blackman album alone, that's reason enough. he's also done his time with parliament funkadelic and plenty others. hearing jeff hamilton do a solo set in the theater was sublime - one of the most deep-feel old school jazz drummers there are. santana's percussionists did a set of straight up take-no-prisoners salsa burn out. meeting ndugu - i mean... NDUGU!!!! so much good vibe music in a huge theater packed full of drummers all checking out the greats.

with dennis chambers and lil john roberts....


i felt blessed and honored to share the stage with so many incredible musicians, including of course, lil john roberts who i was there to perform with. the setting was masterclass-style, so john broke down his history and ways he likes to play, then we jammed out. as we do. we had a lot of fun, the audience dug it, and it was great to walk off stage and there's jazz drum legend jeff hamilton right there in the wings, "that was heavy - you guys sounded fantastic". props from a man who's done it all. thanks jeff :)

that night i hit the decks at la sala rossa for the goods 7th anniversary party. talk about a banging party - full capacity venue and everyone up for a good night out. was nice to pull out some of the west london classics as well as plenty of new cuts. definitely planning on getting back to montreal sooner than later to share the music and soak up some more of that place. thanks to andy, scott and all the goods crew for making that party happen and hosting us so warmly... meal of the trip was definitely the pre-party dinner with all the goods crew. thinking about it has me salivating already. lol

the month wrapped up this week with some more payton sessions - i'm enjoying hearing that body of work come together, and happy to be able to help facilitate nicholas' vision and creative expression; as well as the obligatory halloween celebrations (i'm in america now, so... hey!) - from ompaloompas in the candy room at a crazy hollywood hills costume party to pumpkin carving with kids, it's all fun n games.

november's looking to be another great month as 2009 winds down - i'm thankful for such a great year so far and looking forward with anticipation. arizona fam heads up - i'm playing a live set at the sail inn in tempe for the soulflite party featuring a great singer on mic - joy jones. you've been warned! ;)

plenty more to come....

Rob van de Wouw: Tunnelvision Release Tour

the album i produced for dutch trumpeter ROB VAN DE WOUW ... 'TUNNELVISION' drops in holland at the end of october on embrace recordings. rob's doing some exclusive shows throughout holland for the release. i know he's got his band who are all heard on the album + some technology up in the mix courtesy of ableton. really wish i could be there for the shows, if you reach any, let me know how much you dig it!




Tunnelvision Album preview by mashibeats

Recent shows, back in the studio + heading 2 Oz!

first up, big thanks to everyone involved with the SF and LA shows 2 weeks ago with karizma - laurnea joined my live set in SF at mighty with karizma spinning, and then lil john roberts joined us as well for the LA hit the next night at a very dope warehouse venue... more of that to come soon hopefully!



last weekend in atlanta was a great fun experience... gotta shout out to everyone who was there, helped facilitate and new friends too. especially thanks to dj kemit and aishah who hosted us at their spread love clubnite...









i dropped the live set there with lil john roberts on drums and lady alma on vocals. it's funny... lil john and i have played some really great gigs together, alma and i have also played a lot and had a lot of fun playing together, john and alma have played together.. but never the 3 of us. so that was really something special :) raheem devaun got up and joined us for jam, vikter duplaix did the same, dionne farris up in the spot... some video to come from that show for sure. spread love in the ATL is such a great vibe and energy party - if you're there and like your quality and forward-thinking club music, check it out for sure: www.experiencespreadlove.com







over the two international soul summit conference days i sat on 3 panels for DJ culture, house music and producers. that was all good and fun to share the panels with vikter duplaix, stetasonic's daddy-o, dj kemit, organized noize's rico wade and others. there was a whole lot of collective experience and knowledge on those panels, it was a pleasure to be part of it.

the second night's show was a clubnite at django's where i was spinning alongside vikter duplaix and dj nimbus. ron trent was billed to headline the night but due to circumstances beyond his control, he wasnt able to make it. for me, that was one of my favorite DJ sets i've dropped in a while. i think the vibe and energy of the whole weekend contributed to that second night - i was definitely still buzzing from the previous night's live show at spread love :)



my last day was spend eating and chilling with friends and crew - thank you ATL for the hospitality and experiences. i'm really looking forward to getting back and all going well, that's going to be this side of december.... word as and when!



btw... some HEAVYWEIGHT tag-teaming to come.... LJR vs MdCL... we're hitting the montreal drum festival next!



back in LA and it was time to kick off a couple of days with nicholas payton. he's one of the baddest jazz trumpeters on the planet having released a lot of albums and been a grammy winner. he happened by my gig at the sildajazz festival in norway a month or so ago - in fact i see him chilling in the audience in the youtube vid :) - and after the show we had a brief chat and parted with "let's get up and do some work". two days later the ball was rolling for his next album project, and now a month later we're in the studio at my spot making it happen. it's a really different process to my usual and i'm excited to see and hear the project unfold as time goes on. anyone who knows anything about him as an artist is going to be wildly suprised with a whole different direction and concept on his new record ;)

the rest of this week, there's some more studio with nicholas and friday night i'm spinning at air conditioned in santa monica for wax on's 2nd birthday party. always fun to share some tunes and i'm looking forward to getting back to this properly nice westside hang this week.



then come next week, it's time to head to australia for sydney's spirit of soul festival where i'm doing a live set one night with surprise guest and a DJ set the next night at melt. a couple of days to catch up with friends and fam there and i'll be heading straight back to LA (sorry NZ, i know i'm going to be SO close by, but it's not able to happen this trip!).... keep it moving!

Spirit of Soul Festival - Sydney, Australia

i'm heading to australia in a couple of weeks for the spirit of soul festival in sydney - two shows over two nights:

THURSDAY OCTOBER 8th 7pm-2am ($28 plus bf through MOSHTIX)
SPIRIT OF SOUL MUSIC NIGHT at The Red Rattler - 6 Faversham St, Marrickville
featuring MdCL Live with very special guest - ANTHONY DAVID

FRIDAY October 9th 8pm-3am
FroDAY at MELT BAR- 12 Kellett St, Kings Cross
featuring MdCL DJ set

it's always a great vibe playing in australia, and this is no exception :) the festival's not only about showcasing some great music, but also a platform to raise awareness for mental health - read more on their site and follow the fest on twitter: twitter.com/soulfamily

heads up MELBOURNE! last minute addition... i'll be dropping an exclusive DJ set at the croft institute on saturday 10 october :)

MdCL remixing Shafiq Husayn's Nirvana (Plug Research)

out now on Plug Research Records 12" (yes, VINYL), the MdCL remix for Shafiq Husayn's NIRVANA... had a lot of fun flipping this one into a dancefloor afro-tech workout.

buy the mp3 now from juno.co.uk

Nirvana (MdCL remix) - Shafiq Husayn by mashibeats


Shafiq's myspace

Plug Research