When I was younger you couldn't find funky, soulful or psychedelic Afro music at all in France. Then I stumbled upon a used Fela CD and with the arrival of the 21st century I discovered Antibalas. Both rocked my musical world and changed my life forever. Flash forward to 2012 and I now run the Paris DJs music agency, producing with label partner Grant Phabao the same kind of Afro music I fell in love with years ago. Thanks to the site's network of musical friends, we've managed to gather in our studios and productions musicians from Fela's Afrika 70 and Egypt 80, Antibalas, Brownout/Grupo Fantasma, Massak, Souljazz Orchestra, Tarace Boulba, Les Frères Smith, Psyco, Ebo Taylor's Afrobeat Academy, etc. Those tracks will form the core of a Paris DJs Soundsystem Afrofunk/Tropical/Reggae/Funk/Soul compilation album to be released in september and we are looking out for this project for other artists who represent what Paris DJs has been about for nearly 7 years. So if you have some unreleased tropical grooves to submit to us don't wait any longer! Meanwhile, here's the 3rd volume of our Spectacular selections of new cool afro grooves from the scene, with a brand new exclusive track from Franck Biyong's new project with The Diamane Bantu Messengers produced at Paris DJs' studios, the first extract from the upcoming new Antibalas album, friendly vibes from Akalé Wubé, The Liberators, Chico Mann, Shogun Orchestra, Beta Hector, Ebo Taylor (one of the two tracks from the new album on which Grant Phabao did a bit of his magic), Jungle By Night, Amayo (adding vocals on a Melvin Gibbs track featuring John Medeski!) or Seun Kuti… and more friendly vibes sent to us by our label collegues from Electric Cowbell, Agogo, Record Kicks, Ubiquity, Truth & Soul, Honest Jon's or Jazz & Milk… plus some digging finds such as Dereb The Ambassador, The Macrotones, Bixiga 70, Topaz or Papa Chango… and with a surprising closing track from the Classica Orchestra Afrobeat, some crazy Italian guys re-arranging Fela for classical music! As usual this new 21st Century Afro 25-tracks selection gathers modern Afrobeat, Afrofunk, Afrolatin and Ethio grooves from all over the world, selected by myself (Djouls), mixed and fully mastered by Grant Phabao. [Check also the Extravaganza monster mix, and the Spectacular Vol.1 and Vol.2]

Chicha Libre - Canibalismo
(CD/Digital) Barbès Records / Crammed Discs CRAW82, 2012-05-28

Chicha Libre is a Brooklyn collective made up of French, American, Venezuelan and Mexican musicians who play a mixture of latin rhythms, surf and psychedelia. Canibalismo is their second album after the superb Sonido Amazonico from 2009. Their bandleader Olivier Conan has also produced the ground-breaking Roots of Chicha compilations, which we urge you to give a listen if you haven't already. Chicha is a Peruvian psychedelic surf-rock derivative of Cumbia from the late sixties, and Chicha Libre are bringing a 'modern' production treatment to the style, to the amazement of all (open) ears. We played the overly fun Wagner cover of The Ride of The Valkyries in our recent mix for the Friday Night Session radio show in California, and haven't forgotten about our podcast subscribers, since we asked Mr Conan to cook for Paris DJs a mix of Cumbia covers for our Molesting Laura series. We'll publish this one soon, along with an exclusive interview… Stay connected!