Lil SoSo and the Sol Power Allstars are back at Dahlak with live percussion from the one and only Kiran Ghandi (Eighteenth Street Lounge)!
Come sweat to the rhythms of Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico & West Africa.
…Samba Whistles, Shekeres & Cowbells welcome!
Free before 11, just $5 after, and all beers are just $4 all night (including the fancy ones)!
Saturday, August 7
10 pm – 3 am
Dahlak
1771 U Street NW
Washington, DC
After 23 sessions since October of 2009, we’re retooling the Refuge concept and putting it on ice for a while. Stay tuned to this site for information on the next Refuge incarnation.
Thanks to everyone who came through to have a drink with friends, spend some quality time with progressive music, and occasionally party like it was your job. Shouts out to all of our special guests: Brett from Boundless, Zo!, Tamara Wellons, Erik Rico, Nicholas Ryan Gant and Stef Renee. We also had evenings devoted to exclusive presentations of projects by Anthony Velez, Silhouette Brown, Sade and Sergio Mendes.
I can’t leave you without another round of Refuge highlights from my last set. These are dedicated to everyone who loves what they hear enough to come up to me and ask for track titles. I appreciate that more than you know.
Suntzu Sound presents 1Luv – “Black Daylight” (Blakai remix)
You might recognize the Slope remix as the anthem for our beloved Daylight DC. Shouts to the Suntzu Sound famalam out in Seattle. Blakai (one of the INNUMEROUS Bugz in the Attic permutations) first wowed me on “Afrospace”. I dig their bruk’ed take on this.
This raw, jazzy instrumental workout is a cornerstone of Odd Spring, Oddisee’s final installment of his four EP seasonal series. Dude can really do no wrong in my eyes, on the boards or on the mic.
Ty – “Little Star” (feat. Wreh-asha)
Yes, I’m always talking about how dope Ty is. That’s because Ty is dope as hell. No, that isn’t circular reasoning. The progression from Awkward to Upwards to Closer and now Special Kind of Fool has been very rewarding to follow with ’nuff bangers along the way. Ty’s been a Refuge pick before but I really can rock every joint from the last album consistently in sets.
Till Brönner – “No Fusion Generation” (Mark de Clive-Lowe remix feat. Ovasoul7)
Well before the Serato era, I was obsessed with collecting everything that Mark de Clive-Lowe put out. I ordered a couple of cd’s from his native New Zealand because that was the only way to cop them. And when I tracked down a new copy of this 12-inch, I felt like I won a prize. This was a Vibe Conductor staple for a long time. This tune ended up on a compilation of MdCL collabs, remixes and loosies so it’s not as hard to find as it once was.
It’s time for June’s Refuge and we’ve got a double dose of freshness to share.
After half a century of blessing the world with the sounds of Brazil, jazz treasure Sérgio Mendes is releasing his 37th studio album and we’ll have it in hand for a listening session.
Bom Tempo showcases songs from the crème de la crème of Brazilian songwriters (including Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Joao Donato, Carlinhos Brown, Jorge Benjor, Milton Nascimento and Moacir Santos) and a song from his old friend Stevie Wonder, written especially for Mendes in 1977, the simmering “The Real Thing” (first recorded on Sergio Mendes and the New Brasil ‘77 album). While many of Mendes’ friends and long time collaborators are present on the album (including drummers Mike Shapiro and Vinnie Colaiuta, bassists Nathan Watts and Alphonso Johnson, guitarists Paul Jackson Jr. and Kleber Jorge, percussionist Gibi, vocalist Gracinha Leporace—the bandleader’s wife—and songwriter-arranger-vocalist Carlinhos Brown, who was integral to the success of the Brasileiro album), newcomers are also in the mix.
Next we’ll be graced by some live vocals from dear friend, arts maven and all around fly girl Stef Renée. After serving as a pillar of the Philadelphia arts scene, she’s back in her native Washington and I’d like to welcome her home properly.
Wednesday, June 2
Sérgio Mendes listening session and Stef Renée feature
Tabaq Bistro (basement)
1336 U St NW, WDC
9pm – until
21+, no cover
So yeah, I kind of left you all hanging after Nicholas laced us last month. I only did that to give you more time to cop everything in the archives. (err… right.)
The brother brought a packed room full of admirers and sang his face off to tracks from Border Breaker, Hittin’ Switches and a few surprises.
And here are some highlights from my set.
Slakah The Beatchild – “The Answer” (Feat. Melanie Durrant)
The T-Dot beatmaker is already responsible for what has been a Refuge anthem since week 1. This samba is so sexy that I actually had to play it twice. Expect “The Answer” to become a staple.
A Tribe Called Quest – “Go Ahead In The Rain”
Shout-out to all the beckies who come up to the DJ booth asking if I’ll play some Tribe while I’m spinning something from People’s Instinctive Travels… This doesn’t happen at Refuge of course, but at other gigs.
Long a favorite around these parts and identified early as someone to watch, Nicholas Ryan Gant and his soaring tenor are popping up on many more intriguing bits of nu-soul, from these shores all the way to Japan. Catch him delivering an exclusive intimate set at Refuge backed by Slimkat 78.
Wednesday, May 5
Refuge featuring Nicholas Ryan Gant
Tabaq Bistro (basement)
1336 U St NW, WDC
9pm – until
21+, no cover
***A reminder: Refuge is on a monthly schedule. 1st Wednesdays of the month.***
Erik Rico came through and did the damn thing last week armed with Ableton Live, a mean Moog plug-in, BHE’s MIDI controller and gang of new and old material.
[credit: Marq Few]
Of course there were a few warm up tunes before the live set.
Emmanuel – “Getaway” feat. Celetia Martin
SoulCulture hipped me and now I’m hipping you. I’m getting a faint but nice bit of Loose Ends vibes mixed with some Patrice Rushen on this tune. You know those are always good things in my world.
Johnny “Guitar” Watson – “In The World”
The bass line is EVERYTHING.
See you May 5? It’s like having your music collection come to life in your living room before having a house party. Next month we’ll have someone equally dope.
This year the family reunion vibe trumped the hustle, and I’ve come to appreciate that a lot more. I don’t know how much of it is the economy, a shift in the industry or a waning interest in WMC but attendance was noticeably lower. Last year I noted a recession effect and this year my mans John Crooms accurately quipped how South Beach was trying to get us all to pay for it. The gouging was ill this year.
[credit: John Crooms]
Even at a low point in the cycle, I was able to get great performances from the names I trust to always bring it, and also those moments of discovery when you get to experience artists and DJs you’ve heard about but never seen live before.
I didn’t make it to any Louis Vega associated parties or anything that had to do with South Africans. This was a huge FAIL on my part. Black Coffee and a bunch of his South African compatriots are making a big splash in the deep house world and they had some hot events at WMC this year. I’m really happy to see them blowing up. “Superman” is a big record now and we’ve been banging “Even Though” over here for the longest.
I’m pleased that Jahsonic and I were able to get our dynamic duo on and grateful to the folks who let us grace their sets. Afrique Electrique was a fun way to get the week started with a nice intimate room of appreciative dancers. Shouts to Salah Ananse and the whole ATL massive. Playing in memory of James Brown at Godfather IV was a deep honor. And our set at The G++dness was us showing everyone how we get down back home in DC. Much thanks to Daz-I-Kue for both of those.
[credit: Shelley Nicole]
Despite not hitting as many events as I usually would, here are a few highlights.
Favorite Party: The Do-Over
The perfect end to the week had me dancing on a backyard patio for 8 hours, eating burgers, drinking cold Mexican brews and experiencing some inspired, ridiculous displays of mixing records. Experiences like that will always allow me to be a fan, especially when you see how the big dogs in the game are all fans too. I love it. Still haven’t been to the Do-Over in L.A. but I now know what’s up.
Maceo of De La Soul was on when we arrived and I was a teen fanboy again. At first I was surprised by how he was as equally versed in broken beat, UK Funky and electro as he was with hip-hop, soul and funk. Then I remembered that he’s been doing this for 20-some years and rocking parties all over the world and I felt dumb. Jeremy Sole followed Mase, more on that later. Vikter Duplaix broke down to jazz after Jeremy and built back up through neo-soul, raw hip-hop and reggae before bringing the tempo up. Masterful. Rich Medina followed him with an all 45 set that made me feel like I knew nothing after collecting records for 20 years. Cosmo Baker was up next and he was one of the dudes I was most looking forward to hearing for the first time. After a whole day of monstrous sets, Cosmo stepped up and spanked it. Boogie, deep funk, disco, breaks, all handled with a party-rocker’s expertise. All on original vinyl. And his dashiki was cleeeeean.
The party was going into overtime with Daz-I-Kue, Jeremy Ellis and John Arnold among others next on deck. I could barely walk at that point and was obsessed with getting some delicious Tap Tap.
Runner-up: TRIBE Records with Peven Everett, Nathan Adams, Ian Friday & more
I caught the tail-end of the TRIBE jam since we were rocking at Godfather at the same time. When I got there, Peven Everett was in full holy ghost mode in the last couple of tunes of his show, working himself into a pentacostal trance. Ian Friday got on and damn near had folks coming out of their clothes out on the sand and under the palm trees. But that’s how he always do.
Favorite DJ set: Jeremy Sole at The Do-Over
I try to stay up on my research. I knew about Jeremy Sole’s Afro-Funké party in L.A. I knew about his band Musaics. What I didn’t know was that he was going to stomp a funkhole into the Do-Over amid a band of heavy hitters dropping bombs of their own.
Is that cumbia? Plena? Is that an original edit? What break is that? Jeremy’s set sparked tons of mental notes and even more furious dancing. It was a well paced, seamless, ridiculously funky tour through classic and modern beats of the latin diaspora. I still won’t rest until I get every record in his set list. It’s that serious.
Runner-up: Ezel at The G++dness
Young master Ezel put on a clinic on the 2nd floor of Jazid at The G++dness. I think he caught Shango. His house set was very aggressive but well paced. He reminded me of Karizma in that way. It’s scary to think about how much iller he’s going to be in years to come on the decks and behind the boards.
Records you should be checking for:
At least the ones that I can mention… my trainspotting had me blowing up records on Twitter that aren’t out yet!
Aloe Blacc – “I Need a Dollar”
Ezel feat. Tamara Wellons – “In My Lifetime”
The Goodness EP
Kicking off the new monthly Refuge schedule of featured guests is one of my favorite modern soul artists as well as an international ambassador for all things funky and futuristic.
Rico has continued to evolve as a producer and artist and now fuses elements of live music and electronic music into a style of music that can best be described as “electrosoul”. “I see our generation as the last ones to bridge the gap between the organic human feel of live musicians and the computer generation.” Rico’s philosophy is that having the best of both worlds to extract from makes it easy to truly explore all the limitless options that art has to offer.
Wednesday, April 7
Refuge featuring Erik Rico
Tabaq Bistro (basement)
1336 U St NW, WDC
9pm – until
21+, no cover
Scoot over to Lifenotes Music if you’re tardy on the releases. And if you’re broke, cop this free download of his album of classic covers.
Erik will be rocking the joints you know as well as exclusive joints, like these right ‘chere.
For real, you should come through.
Samba whistles, shekeres and cowbells welcome. Sweat to the rhythms of Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico & West Africa.
With DJs Stylus, Meistro and Deep Sang.
Forecast for Saturday:
Abundant sunshine. 85 degrees (!)
Now that’s some Sol Power. Last month was crankin’ like a Lagos disco inferno.
Meistro, Stylus, and Deep Sang Live @ SOL POWER (3.2010) Part 1 by Meistro
Meistro, Deep Sang, and DJ Stylus SOL POWER (3.2010) Part 2 by Meistro
ALL beers are $4 (including Leffe & Redstripe)
Saturday, April 3
10pm
Dahlak
1771 U St, NW (18th & U)
21 and Over
NO COVER (that means FREE)
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I’m back from WMC. I’ve got a lot of tunes. Did you miss me? Let’s hang out, but not in the basement lounge this week. I’ll be in the Red Room at Tabaq, which is the dining space off of the main entrance.
Also, it’s been a while since Refuge has hosted a special guest so Erik Rico will be coming through to hit you with all new material next week, April 7.
And finally, after the Erik Rico session, Refuge will no longer be weekly. Check for it on the first Wednesday of every month.
