Miss Doctor was one of the biggest hits this year in Ghana. Appietus’ tight production has been booming throughout the entire country since last spring, so six months later it’s a special treat to see the vocals land in the hands of an army of young producers throughout the globe. On this EP we present some of our favorite submissions to the Miss Doctor remix contest. As usual choices were difficult and most likely quite imperfect. But we hope this small sample helps to propel 4X4 into new club stratospheres, and helps to turn new heads onto Ghanaian beats. A quick round up of the lucky few featured here:
Dance Kill Move – Sweden/Colombia: we instantly loved this cumbia/reggaeton/dancehall rework by this young Swedish duo. Funny how it came about: last summer Ricardo – the beatmaker in this duo – spent a few weeks in Colombia, where his family is from, soaking up the cumbia, vallenato, porros, champeta and reggaeton. Then upon his return, stumbled upon the remix contest. Luckily for us, his summertime love affair brought Miss Doctor that much closer to the Colombian coast. Escucha fuerte!
Sabbo – Israel: This is not the first time we dig Sabbo’s remix, and certainly not the last! What can we say, we just love how he turns songs into dancehall/kuduro-tinted club bangers. Sabbo’s sound is well established with all tropical / global bass bloggers and DJs. The cool thing here is, he was already playing the original Miss Doctor in his sets, so when he heard about the contest, he knew he had to remix it!
Paul Marmota – Chile/Mexico: Paul is a native of Santiago de Chile, where he started producing and getting involved with the local music scene. But in a quest to broaden his horizon, he relocated to booming Mexico City, where he has been working alongside artists such as Zombie Discos Squad, Erick Rincón or Waya Waya. His remix is a good example of his heavily percussive sound, which we feel matches well with 4X4’s fast delivery.
artfx! – Germany: another returning favorite, this Berliner is deep-rooted in the German dancehall scene. Over the past 12 years, he has built a name for himself releasing dub plates as part of the Bandulero Sound! collective, Yet his musical horizons are far broader, as demonstrated in his clubby take on Miss Doctor.
This here is a 2 hour roundup of some of our favorite sounds coming from Africa. With a definite emphasis on sounds to make your hips move, and also definitely not an exhaustive line-up of genres – we are heavily biased towards Ghana, Angola, the Congo Kinshasa and Ivory Coast… what can you do!
BBRAVE put this mix together for This Is Africa and Nairobi-based Ghetto Radio who will air the mix… shortly. In the meantime, cop it here, and make sure to check out the full playlist below. And make sure to play loud and warm up the tip of your half-frozen feet!!
Monalisa – Ruff-N-Smooth Site | Buy
Simple – Bradez Buy
She De Bee feat. Guru – Old Sodja
So Cold – DaSoul
Ratata feat. K. Switch – R2Bees Buy
Extra – Just A Band Site | Buy
No Time feat. P Square – Bracket Buy
Swagger feat Stay Jay – Ruff-N-Smooth Site | Buy
Dome Na Mendowo feat. Castro – Appietus Site | Buy
Pipi – Marlaw
Fall In Love – D’Banj Buy
Yori Yori- Bracket Buy
Essabel feat. Mike & Old Sodja- Appietus Site | Buy
Boom Back Remix feat. Jose Chameleone – Bebe Kool
No One Like You – P-Square Buy
? – Les Garagistes Buy
Coeur Blanc – Les Patrons Buy
Do As i Do – Bracket Buy
Ma Alomo feat. KK Fosu & Reggie Zippy – Appietus Site | Buy
Eha Ye De (Bebia Awo) feat. SK Blinks – Nana Boroo Buy
Femme Africaine Lutchiana 100%
Elegom Bounsa feat. Maskarado (Radio Mix) – DJ Djeff Site | Buy
Relela – Skeat Site | Buy
Miss Doctor feat. 4X4 – Appietus Site | Buy
Kiss Ur Hand feat. Wande Coal- R2Bees Buy
Usinibore – Just A Band Site | Buy
DJ’s Mortel (2) – Polio – Kiloko
Sentiment Moka – ?
Wengeze – Eazzy
Windek – Cabo Snoop
Tchouchou Tchoucou – Kedjevara Site | Buy
Coupe de Tête de Zidane – DJ Menza Site | Buy
Asta Di – Aurlus Mabele Buy
Django – DJ Bonano Site | Buy
Som Do Zoca – Zoca Zoca Site | Buy
Tabouret Baoulé – Pat Sexy
Celimania Remix – Gadji Celi Buy
Sukuma – Killamu Site | Buy
Tiramakossa – Noite e Día Site | Buy
Number One – Fofandó & Saborosa Site | Buy
Aladin Mix – DJ Znobia
Kassumuna – Game Walla
Many,. many, MANY thanks to Ryan Lash for coping with the lack of structure, the heat, the at times dubious food and the heavy sweat-inducing “small walks” across Lomé and Accra!!! And tahnks to Tim aka Videomit for piecing this video together, at last we are excited to share this glimpse into Arc Djébé’s world with you. Full album available from us via Bandcamp, or in iTunes.
Brussels rockers Darcyr and Leblanc of Tupolev Sound Crash just hit us up with this pretty impeccable set of South African house, simply called Mzansi – SA slang for… SA! As the Tupolev cats put it, this mix is not of the deep, mellow, or minimal strain that is perhaps more common. Instead they went for a funky, tribal and dark approach. We like. Get schooled on that side of music in about one hour (beats driving school), full tracklist on soundcloud page. We should also mention that Leblanc was the one dood who came up to BBRAVE after his recent set at Recyclart in Brussels, admitting he actually heard a few kuduro cuts he’d never heard! Good to know Akwaaba can impress even the most musically knowledgeable nerds ;-p
Oh and while we’re at it, peep this mix they did about a year ago, freshly re-uploaded for your downloading pleasure: 100% COUPE DECALE!!!!
A documentary about Ghana’s popular music scene and the struggle between indigenous identity and mainstream music culture. The documentary is framed by a search for “the spiderweb”– or the thin, vibrating fibers that African musicians once attached to their mbiras and xylophones to, allegedly, create a buzzing sound that would invoke their ancestors. Via the Eavesdrop.earth blog.