Highlife

Friday October 5th

October is shaping up to be a huge month for Philly nightlife. There are a bunch of heavyweight events in the line up for the next few weeks. Some of the biggest and best djs from around the world are gearing up for tour dates in our city. The local promoters and djs are pulling out all the stops to take their parties to the next level.

A little while back I wrote about one of my favorite hiphop groups who go by the name Little Brother. I talked about the MCs in the group, but I didn't mention the former third member of the group, 9th Wonder. 9th Wonder was the man behind the music of Little Brother. His soul drenched beats can be heard on the majority of their earlier work.

You have a case of the Mondays! Weekends are just too short. Nothing is worse then hanging out all night during the weekend and then all of a sudden having to get up at 6am to make the commute to work. That transition is just too drastic and the dull work day that follows only makes it worse. If your plan for the night is to just go home and watch the latest episode of "Heroes", then you are in for a rough week. You need to get out the house and do something! Here are a few options.

The afrobeat sound never dies! Afrobeat is the musical mixture of Yoruba rhythms and African highlife mashed together with James Brown-style funk. Heavy drums, catchy guitar riffs, giant horn lines, and call & response lyrics are the ingredients to the afrobeat sound. It was created in the late 60s/early 70s by the legendary Nigeria band leader Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who used the music as a tool for revolution and political expression. His songs were untraditionally long arrangements (some lasting 15-20 minutes) with a highly danceable groove, various solos, and commanding vocals. Amazing stuff!

Lots of "golden age" hiphop icons have been coming through Philly lately. This Friday, we are lucky enough to have Large Professor in Philly to dj along with DJ Ultraviolet for this month's Living Legends party at Fluid Nightclub. If you are a long time hiphop fan, this is the place to be.

I think it's safe to say that most music lovers who went to college during the 90's know who Portishead is. Your roommate or some guy down the hall was playing it and you had to find out what it was. It was like a right of passage... everyone's first journey into the far left side of the music spectrum. Portishead was one of the leaders in the trip-hop sound that was coming out of the UK during those years. Eerie vocals and film score sampling beats are the elements that made up their unique sound.

Sonar Kollectiv is 10 years old. The Berlin-based record label has been pushing the boundaries of modern music for a decade and has no plans of stopping anytime soon. Sonar Kollectiv was formed back in 1998 by the dj/producer team known as Jazzanova. The music they released has blurred the lines between soul, techno, hiphop, jazz, broken beat, and yes ...even folk music.

This week has been very busy with some big names stopping into town. But, things are just getting warmed up. Here are some big events worth checking out.

Booo!!!

Halloween is here. Here are a few places for the grown-ups to go trick or treating: