Mr Elephants Journey Round The World

1. The mighty Thievery Corporation start us off. A Washington DC-based production and DJ duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton and their supporting artists. Their music can be characterized as downtempo/electronica with influences of dub, acid jazz, indian classical and brazilian styles fused together with a lounge aesthetic, and they really know how to produce bass!

2. Then it’s to my home city of Birmingham with the inspiring Friendly Fire Crew, reggae collective, featuring the talented Paradox on the vocals and Robin Giorni on the production, with this proper track called “Web Of Deceit”

3. Down into the the south of Spain we find the beautiful voice of Yolando Rayo, with an equisite traditonal salsa track “Salsa Con Sabor”

4. Then its to the bright lights and big show tunes of Broadway, with Catherine Zeta Jones blasting out her rendition of “All That Jazz” from the musical Chicago (reedited for full dancefloor effect by me)

5. Thrown onto the streets of London with this dirty classic track from Noonsday Underground

6. Going Deeper into the capital for the inspired fusion of Tricky (with great vocals from Martine), with their seminal track “Black Steel” from the album Maxinquaye.

7. India speaks with the amazing vocal talent of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, taken from my favourite soundtrack of the 90’s - Natural Born Killers

8. Staying East we get treated to the combined musical skills of Shankar and the Epidemics.

9. Then lush African Marimba sounds from Batanai Marimba with a track called Shangara.

10. To the streets of Barcelona is where we find the Minimal Acoustic Band, and their track “Saraha”. Mainly using traditional didgeridoos from Nepal, and steel pans from Jamaica their fusion is/was a highlight from the Catalunyan streets.

11. Then its a quick trip back to the U.K to catch the hugely talented fusion that is Nitin Sawhney, with this title track from his Beyond Skin Album.

12. Then were off all the way across the globe to New Zealand with a brief stopover in Australia and a classic track from Crowded House

13. Over to now Europe for two short vists. One is to France to see the excellent French Hip Hop Sounds of Nuttea

14. And then over to Germany to check out a light hearted Dauerfisch

15. A business trip to Japan allows us to let our hair down and catch the pure funk of Major Force, with this wicked track taken from Thievery Corporation’s “Outernational Sound Mix Album”

16. Then its over to the west coast with a little bit of deck skills from Dj Shadow with this bit of Walkie Talkie,

17. and then NWA give us a slice of Compton life with the classic “Fuck Da Police”

18. Manu Chao is a Latin folk singer of Galician origin, fusing all sorts of …well you probably heard of him too.

19. Over to the continent of Africa to visit Mozambique for a Maputo based multi generational collective. Mabulu are one of a number of nu-generation African bands balancing dance music, traditional roots sounds, and the verbal acrobatics and conscious social lyrics of rap and hip-hop. This track is called Aids.

20. Then of course, The Pink Panther from North American composer Henry Mancini

21. And to bring us back home, we haved the inspirational soundtrack esque Barry Adamson, with the very cool “Jazz Devil”

One love

Mr E x