Ever thought after listening to one of those remix CD by one of your favorite artists, "Damn, I could have done a better remix than that!" Well, here is your chance.









Manu Chao has a new website, www.PolitiKills.com. On it, you can preview his new remix EP, Politik Kills and watch the new video. According to a press release by Nacional Records, the site will also include include "commentary from social leaders, writers, artists and more; all in the name of reflecting on the misuse and abuse of power plaguing the world."

Besides the commentaries, there is a link that allows you to download the parts of the song Politik Kills and create your own remix. Then once you are finished with it, you can upload it back on the site for everyone to hear. Hear your remix along the ones created for the E.P. by such artists as Linton Kwesi Johnson, Dennis Bovell and The Nortec Collective. Even the ol' vampire himself, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell has a remix as well.

I love this idea and I hope other artists in the future will let people download wave files from their recording sessions so that we can all have a chance to remix our favorite artists. So far, most of remixes I've heard are of the Reggae variety. I think I'll go a whole other route with mine. How about Freestyle Manu Chao???

Caifanes-
La Negra Tomasa









Manu Chao -
Radio Bemba Sound System

Manu Chao’s catalog sells well enough in the Latin Rock & Pop section of Amoeba Music Hollywood that it’s usually in our Top 20 World Music chart every month. In fact, Clandestino, Manu Chao’s first solo album, has been out since 1998 and is usually in our Top Ten every month. Imagine my surprise to find out that three of the four Manu Chao releases, (Clandestino, Proxima Estacion: Esperanza and Radio Bembo Sound System) are currently out of print. It’s a little odd, I must say. It’s like having a Reggae section without Bob Marley or the Rock Section suddenly without Pink Floyd.

Not to fear. Our head buyer, Roxanne, told me that she expects all those titles will be back in print in the future in some form or another. But in the meantime, if you head to the Latin section to find those titles and can’t find them, it’s not on us. Maybe it’s a good time to venture out and find some thing new music, eh? The new Café Tacvba, “Si No” will be out Tuesday, October 9th. Molotov’s supposed last album before they call it quits, “Eternamiente” will be out the following Tuesday (10/16).

We also have plenty of Fania Reissues, Hip-Hop & Reggae En Español, 60’s and 70’s Psychedelia from South America, Cumbia, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Reggaeton and Norteños. We have deep catalog of many Latin Rock classics from Soda Stereo, Heroes Del Silencio, Mana, Aterciopelados and Mano Negra.

..  And of course, we have plenty of the latest Manu Chao release, “La Radiolina” in case you still haven’t bought your copy yet.

I have never liked the idea of listening parties just because most of the listening parties I’ve been involved with have come off as being insincere marketing ploys by record labels. So, when it was suggested that Nativo, the club that I spin at, was to host the Manu Chao listening party I was optomistic about the turn out. First off, this is Manu Chao’s first album in six years and fans have been waiting for this for a while. Manu Chao’s fans are generally open-minded and like a diverse variety of music. So, I hoped that we didn’t have one of those listening parties where you play the album and everyone sits around and gets some cheap label promotional item.

Myself, Mexican Dubweiser and Mando Fever took turns deejaying that night, playing Cumbia mash-ups, Latin Alternative remixes and some Brazilian House. After the crowd had a few drinks in them the dance floor started to come alive. Around 11:30 we decided to play Manu’s new album, La Radiolina. I watched with a shared excitement,  the Manu fans hearing the CD for the first time. It’s been a while since I have been so into an artist where I was excited about hearing a new album for the first time. The Manu fans were dancing as if they were at one of his concerts.

Nacional Records & Amoeba who were sponsering the listening party, gave us some dope giveaways, including a $50 gift certificate for Amoeba Records that we raffled off during a slight intermission while playing the album. That gift certificate was a big hit! After the album was done playing, I expected most people to leave but people stayed until the end. Mexican Dubweiser played a straight-up Cumbia set and I finished the night with some Baile Funk. I enjoyed playing that stuff at the end of the night because people were so wasted by then that they started to dance pretty crazy.