001 Kukumbas - Respect
002 The Bamboos - King Of The Rodeo
003 Lord Newborn & The Magic Skulls - She’s My Melody
004 Cass McCombs - Jonesy Boy
005 Be Good Tanyas - For The Turnstiles
006 Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle - Go-Go’s Theme
007 Mayer Hawthorne - Make Her Mine
008 Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy - Orujo
009 Iron & Wine - Bird Stealing Bread
010 Cookin’ On 3 Burners - This Girl
011 Champion Jack Dupree - Junker’s Blues
012 Junior Wells - It’s A Man Down There
013 Irma Thomas - Ruler Of My Heart
014 Byron Lee & The Dragonaires - Express Yourself
015 Law Of The Least Effort - Ringing Bell
016 Kings Of Convenience - Peacetime Resistance
017 Nostalgia 77 & The Fiction Band - My Name Is
018 Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Skinz
019 The Fiction Trio - What Is Life

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Have to admit, I have not been keeping up with what might be played at Festival 8.  Was a time when I would have scoured the message boards to handicap the event but, truth is, I haven’t even been dropping in on the list on the band’s website.  My sentimental hope is for a Dylan cover album.  I figure they’ve done The Beatles, The Who, The Talking Heads, Pink Floyd & The Velvet Underground.  All classics…so where’s the Dylan?  Just a gut feel.

As for this mix…it’s certainly no booty shaker.  A little blues, a little folk and a tad bit of jazz.

Just a couple of words on some noteworthy tracks.

TruThoughts has a compilation out of their artists doing just covers.  Fantastic.  The tracks by The Bamboos and Nostalgia 77 represent that awesomeness here.

Neil Young’s ‘On The Beach’ is certainly my favorite album of his.  Rarely do covers do the original any justice but the Be Good Tanya’s take on “For The Turnstiles” actually improves on the original.

If you take the original version of Iron and Wine’s ‘Bird Stealing Bread’ and put it next to the live take here, it’s like night and day.  This comes from a Record Store Day limited run and it’s perhaps the best Iron & Wine release to date.  Full sounds.  Seek it out.

Two soul tracks - Mayer Hawthorne and Cookin’ On 3 Burners.  They sound really cheesy but they grew on me real quick.

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A booty shaker for you bonnaboobers when your sitting on the plane on the way to the show.

Me - I’m hitting the Big Apple BBQ.

001 Lilys - Dimes Make Dollars
002 Keith Mansfield - Morning Broadway
003 Ernie K Doe - Here Come The Girls
004 Bugsy - Rush Hour
005 Home - Juicy Ass
006 Elszhi - The Transitional Joint
007 The Natural Yogurt Band - Better Days To Come
008 Dr John & The Lower 911 - We Gettin’ There
009 The Fantastics - Don’t Follow Leaders
010 Shawn Lee - Playboy Bunny
011 The Zutons - Valerie
012 The Funky Muchachos - Boogie On Reggae Woman
013 Myron & E with The Soul Investigators - Cold Game
014 Reach - How To Fish
015 Donovan Carless - Be Thankful
016 Dizzy Gilespie - Closer
017 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Inspiration Information
018 The Wood Brothers - Get Out My Life Woman
019 Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers - Devil’s Night Auction
020 Willis Jackson - Reggae Holiday

The shots below were taken from last night’s show at Santos’ Party House and footage taken during the show will be coming out on DVD “soon” according to the band.

Another getaway mix for your head.

I could add notes to this post..but perhaps later. Too much to do, so little time. Rest assured this is the goods.

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Oh snap, Saturday was the REAL first day of spring ’round these parts. Flawless weather that had me thinking about kicking out some of the FUNK I got sittin’ ’round this here trunk. What follows is a special ‘house of royale’ - a pure springtime THROWDOWN of some of that HEAVY shit copped from ALL corners of these wonderful interwebs.

A couple of notes on some of these tracks.

- The Shadows ‘Scotch On The Socks’ is some of the rawest rock/funk these ears have ever heard. Listening to this it’s almost impossible to believe this was recorded in 1966!

- Eric Lindell’s new album ‘Low on Cash, Rich in Love’ is sweet. Not sure I would put him in that ‘blue eyed soul’ category that the press tries to corner him in. This album is solid from the get and a little more raw and roots-y than his contemporaries.

- Had no idea that Al Green is going to release an album at the end of May produced by Questlove. Here’s a track from the forthcoming release ‘Lay It Down’. Very promising stuff.

- Hypnotic Brass Band have the structure of a typical New Orleans Brass Band but with a definitive northern sensibility. They are playing what is shaping up to be one of THE shows to see this year when Damon Albarn rolls through Avery Fisher with an incredible lineup for a one off show in July.

- Kutiman’s track on this mix is NOT a respectable example of this Israeli’s rich FUNK sound from his new album. This album has all sorts of different twists on the basic funk thing and different than the typical ‘old-is-new’ deep funk bands that are popping up all over the place these days.

- Really dig this track from Zeep. Folky, bluesy, funky and just the right mix. Breezy vocals. You might think it’s cheesey, but I can’t stop listening to this.

- The Explosions’s ‘Garden of Four Trees’. I’ve listened to every damn funk comp you can imagine. But Soul Jazz Records has the DEFINITVE New Orleans funk comp. Sure, you’ve heard some of these tracks already, but I guarentee you that you haven’t heard more than half of these and ALL these tracks are on par with anything The Meters did. This is one of the few MUST HAVE funk comps out there.

- The Bongolians new effort ‘Outer Bongolia’ is just a tad too synth-y for my tastes but this track ‘The Champion’ is a nice update of the classic Apache sound to me.

- The Happy Dog track doesn’t really fit on this mix, it’s just too good though to leave off. It’s almost funk. Snatched this from the what freeleach and have been listening to it for the last week nonstop. A fresh knock-off of the jamband sound?

- Dig the Freddie Hubbard cop from Jose James’ ‘Park Bench People’. Food for thought to shut this volume down.

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001 Karate - The Roots And The Ruins
002 Led Zeppelin - Hots On For Nowhere
003 King Khan & The Shrines - Welfare Bread
004 Jason Collett - Out Of Time
005 Thao Nguyen & The Get Down Stay Down - Big Kid Table
006 Anders Osborne - Back On Dumaine
007 Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
008 Kings Of Convenience - Love Is No Big Truth

going to stay on this semi-rock track for now with the mixes. fits the season.

karate is no stranger to the house of royale series, though disbanded these guys had one of the most unique sounds. jazz chops with rock-like song arrangements. there’s something jamband-y about them but better. like the lyrics here:

look out for guns.
look out for girls,
just a little something
that could tear apart our world.

lead singer, geoff farina, has moved on to start a new band, glorytellers, which is interesting in itself.

can’t say i’m that into led zeppelin at all, which i guess explains why i would dig a song that is reviled amongst the hardcore zeppelin fans. i heard this track in the awesome documentary ‘dogtown and z boys’ and couldn’t place it. i could have sworn it was a jane’s addiction song. the start/stop intro to this song is bananas.

king khan and the shrines remind me of a more punky version of the bees. this track has that old, analog sound to it. the horns are just right.

i can’t get into ‘broken social scene’ but one of its members side projects, jason collett’s ‘here’s to being here’ is a great album. stripped down roots rock thats had the press comparing it to some of bob dylan and the band’s work.

thao nguyen & the get down stay down’s ‘we brave bee stings and all’ is so far the album of the year for me. you will not find more sugary, sweetly polished pop songs out there. the influences are are easily identified but this is still great stuff.

vampire weekend is the new ‘it’ band and the album is good. this is the stand out track to me. talking heads + paul simon. pretty. contrasts nicely with the kings of convenience track to close, which also has a similar african vibe to it.

sugary, stringy, pop goodness from all over the place for some sunday afternoon house cleaning. a little departure from the funk and thangs.

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001 Seu Jorge - Tive Razao
002 Loney, Dear - I Am John
003 Ivy League - London Bridges
004 Michael Hurley - Hog Of The Forsaken
005 Art Baron - Creole Love Call
006 Smokey & Miho - Bocoche
007 Jorge Ben - O Namorado da Viuva
008 Medeski, Martin & Wood - We’re All Connected

i caught ‘city of god’, featuring seu jorge, one night way past my bedtime and it was a pretty decent movie. scooped up one of his albums and surprise - he’s a pretty decent song writer too.

loney, dear and ivy league are both super sugary pop bands that have been in my player for a long time but never found a place in the house of royale series.

i found out about michael hurley when ‘hog of the forsaken’ was featured on the ending credits to one of the episodes from deadwood. i really like the vocal here that goes down well with the violin. come to find out his catalog has many similar gems worth digging around for.

art baron’s take on duke ellington’s ‘creole love call’ is quite possibly the most sublime piece of blues i’ve heard. short and sweet - just right. this track comes from ‘red, hot & indigo’, which is top notch stuff and not your typical tribute album.

the smokey & miho is for swampfunk - i can up the whole album for you if you don’t already have it and i think the jorge ben track compliment each other nicely.

the last track from mmw’s new ‘kids’ album joins other tracks in their oeuvre like ‘moti mo’ and ‘toy dancing’ that are both gentle and groovey at the same time. don’t be fooled by the ‘kids’ tag - the new album is one of their finest efforts yet.