Crunkstrumentals vol 1.

Crunkstrumentals vol 1.
Originally uploaded by fiilinc.

We're keeping it busy... New stuff on Kriton Radio - again! For mayday 2006 we're bringing you the goods: to let you know what we diggin on while crafting the Kriton sound we'll give you a bunch of hot instrumentals - the CRUNKSTRUMENTALS vol 1. All modern style production, no dusty backpacker drums up in this mofo.

1st - The madness that is Rick Ross' Hustlin' (also known as Hustler's Anthem). All cinematic organs and big southern drums. You gotta love this one.

2nd Trick Daddy, Twista & Lil Jon teaming up for Let's Go. Doing the Crazy Train on crunk juice thing with the Ozzy screams as a cherry on top. Note how sloppy that dude plays the guitar riff! Obviously a big influence on our guys Wheelspinnas and their Suicyde Doorz.

3rd Da Muzicianz and Mr. Collipark doing their Miami Bass 2006 thing on Camera Phone. At the same time very pompous and melodic but still kinda summer-club-anthemic. I'd have no problem hearing this on the score of the new Miami Vice flick or something.

4th Bone Crusher's Never Scared OF-FRIGGIN-COURSE! This is a monster-fest of a beat, and if you don't recognize that you might as well stop reading now and log on here.

5th Lil Jon, Ciara and Petey Pablo's nouveau classic Goodies is as good instumental as it is with vocals. Especially we are diggin the garage rock style guitar, that fades in every now and then. Minimalist avant garde crunk ruled the charts in 2004 dude!

6th the first big hit for both David Banner and Lil Flip continues our voyage into minimalist crunk beats. This is a truly hypnotic instrumental from da Banner-man. In fact you could probably loop it for two hours and not get bored with it. But still, don't try that. That would just be too nerdy.

7th The Trackboyz beat for J-Kwon's Tipsy is maybe the most unfuckwithable beat in a couple years (along with some others...). It's just friggin INSANE. How some people manage to not go crazy with this thing playin in the club amazes me. The bass line alone is more interesting than Eminem's whole career. The "We Will Rock You" of teen hiphop.

8th Okay, this is not really crunk whatsoever, but I didn't promise all of it to be either. And anyway, UGK (not UGK) is on the original version so, why the hell not then. "Big Pimpin" is a crazy-ass Timbaland beat, and you'll recognize it in your sleep. It's old as hell, too (1999). Jay-Z laces the beat with some usual Hova hotness and Bun B & Pimp C do their thing first time nationwide. Yeah, and forget the fuckin Linkin Park version already, you make me ewwwwwwww.....

9th Video game madness!!! Lil Flip's HUUUGE "Game Over" blend hot-as-fuck south beats, video game sounds plus a monter-ass bassline into a hella crunk anthemic track. Say no more, hope the new Flipperachi album has anything even half this hot.

10th Welllll, you need some Neptunes beats every now and then don't ya. Many people already forgot about them, but they're still hot. And if you forgot about the first N.E.R.D. album, let me remind you - SHIT IS HOTT! Especially the stuff without the boring live band. This version of Lapdance is all Pharrell & Chad making stuff with the usual farting clavs, smooth keys and punchy drums. It's old (2001), it's a classic, and you gotta love it still.


So log on to that RADIO now people!

Weeded wednesday

jamaican style
Originally uploaded by fiilinc.

Aye Rasta! This week's weird wednesday became weeded wednesday, since spring came suddenly Helsinki (see Hennessy's post below). So this time it's only 5 tunes, nut i promise to give ya'll some new stuff (with a different theme) in a day or two.

So eeritiiz, two brand new Vybz tracks (selected by Hennessy, ya'll should know "Gun session" by now from the blend with Jeezy & Akon's Soul Survivor), two new Beenie tracks (that are pure MUURRRDAHH) and a very anthemic bad man-tune by Ding Dong. IRIE?!

Spring Breaks

Spring Break is not a tradition where I'm from, but I sure hope it someday will be. With or without the brake, spring has finally come here, yippee. To celebrate the summer to come, I usually start listening to even more reggae than I usually do (which is quite lot to begin with). To find out what's new, hot and popular, I recommend these sites below:

Reggae Source charts, from Kingston to NYC

Reggae Vibes TOP-50 albums

Richie B's Jamtop 20

And always check out the Kriton Radio, we also put the best reggae there from times to times. And for Spring Break holidays, you should check out Margaretaville J.A.

Oscar Peterson on Acid.

This is such a nice picture that I don't really care if it's done with Photohop or not. In the picture there is the legendary jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson rockin' with some classic Roland products; 'the sound of acid' TB-303, TR-606 drum machine and the maybe-not-quite-so-legendary HS-60 organ. This is how it should be done. I would so much like to hear what it would sound like if the pic was for real. And he looks so happy with the modern wonders of Japanese engineership.

The pic is stolen from the great Music Thing blog, which has a whole discussion going on about Peterson, analog synths and the classic electro of Shannon's "Let The Music Play". Much respect to them.

J’aime Radio Nova Paris

My Stereo
Originally uploaded by Kriton Visuals.

Lists are good. Everyone loves (making) lists. Here is a list of 18 + 1 really-really-really good classic tracks (in no particular order) that I have collected during the last month while listening to Radio Nova Paris in my office. It is simply a trés excellent radio channel with a very special Paris vibe, not least because of the imbécile french radio commercials running there. I love all the songs on the list, and if I wasn’t so lazy/busy I could probably try to collect them and set them up somewhere for you to download. Or fix them up as a play list in Kriton Radio. Maybe.

Baby Huey: Hard Times
Context: If I had a Band
Otis Redding: Security
Sugar Ray: Hold Your Eyes
Cymande: Genevieve
Spanky Wilson: Sunshine People
Greenhornes: There Is An End
Rebirth: Evil Vibrations (Full Length Version)
Fingers Inc.: Can You Feel It?
Gwen McCrae - All This Love I'm Giving
Wendy René: After Laughter (Comes Tears)
The Zombies: Time of the Season
Max Romeo & The Upsetters: Chase the Devil
Gloria Jones: Tainted Love
Ini Kamoze: World-a-Music
Tom Browne: Funkin’ For Jamaica
Willie Hutch: Brothers’ Gonna Work It Out
Smith & Mighty: Same (Edit)
Galt MacDermot: Coffee Cold

Weird s**t wednesday

Weird s**t wednesday
Originally uploaded by fiilinc.

That Huxtable post by Hennessy was way cool. I don't wanna shadow that so I'll keep this one Too $hort and Too Funky.

I came up with this incredible idea for Kriton radio. It's called weird s**t wednesdays. And it means that i uploaded a lot of stuff (11 tracks, actually) to the Kriton radio, that are kind of out of what we usually have. Not they're not friggin free jazz or uruguayan mouth-pipe-music, but they're not your club bangahs either. This time they're actually 80's pop, electro, funk and soul. And The Duplo (impossible to describe it in an easy way). But next time it could be something different. And we're taking these out sooner than other stuff on the radio, too.

So now i challenge Hennessy and Jzzi to come up with some new shit next week and the week after that. Bite that, suckers!

Whoa dude, this is like making proper radio shows, fi godssake!

Cute in a Theo Huxtable kinda way

Arribody knows the Cosby Show, and most of kids today know Curtis Jackson, aka 50 cent. But what suprised me, was the indisputable resemblance between the Cosby actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Fifty. Last night I watched 50's film "Get Rich Or Die Trying" and couldn't just stop wondering if these two could actually be the same person. Could they? Why not? Let's think about it: the meek and shy smile, the quiet voice, those bedroom eyes, way they pose to the camera... There is no doubt, mon!

Ok, Malcolm-Jamal (cool name there btw) must be a bit older than Curtis, but you know what they can do with make-up and modern computer technology. What you see in the cinema is a representation of life, not life itself. Don't be fooled and misled by the mass media, children!

This is a cool career move for Theo/Jamal, who was commonly considerer as the nice guy, not a gangsta. For those who still have doubts: have you actually seen Jamal in like 15 years? Maybe he's nowadays really covered in ink, pumped up and been shot and stabbed few times. I mean not to diss 50, he's proved that he has made it, but we must recognize the true talent of Jamal!

Creative parking

In all major cities it is often challenging to find a parking space, when you need one. The best places to dump your vehicle are usually plain illegal or then too tight for your comfy SUV. At least in Helsinki most parking spaces were designed for these smaller rides , very popular from 50's post war -era to 70's oil crisis. So life is not always easy for the urban middle class, yuh know.

Yesterday I bumbed into this interesting and creative solution. This innovative driver had finally found a place where no one else would park. I am still curious to know whether the driver was:

a) a coke snorting, motorhead car thief in need, who thought he was driving a hovercraft

b) a local wino / drunk driver , who could not just see that humongous gap in the road

c) just a lousy sunday driver, with severe difficulties reading common symbols (such as red poles surrounding the hole or the metal fence designed to stop people from falling into places like this)

It would be great the faces of the workers coming to work on those gas pipes on monday morning.

Domestic Drama: SH101 VS. Vacuum Cleaner

Friday evening. I was cleaning the house when something happened. A domestic drama of some sorts. You know, if you were born in the 1970s, like all of us associated with Kriton Music, and if you are not living in a squatted house or otherwise in a 100% rock'n'roll lifestyle, you gotta clean the house every once in a while to keep everything nice and tidy.

Ok. I was vacuuming the house, and I noticed that my most beloved monophonic analog synth, my Roland SH-101, was a bit dusty. I dediced to give it a quick once over with vacuum cleaner and then it happened: WHUP! Before I could do anything, the vacuum cleaner had sucked the Volume knob in. Just like that! First I freaked out but then I adjusted myself into a total McGyver-mode, took out the dust container bag and dug the knob out. Everything was good again. What did I learn about this? I dunno...

The Spirit Of Kriton Radio!

The Spirit Of Kriton Radio!
Originally uploaded by fiilinc.

Finally. A LOT of new ish uploaded to Kriton Radio as well as old tunes taken off. This is how we do it at Kriton HQ's, we keep it movin, dude! New stuff new stuff new stuff.

a) The new new T.I. is just unfuckwithable. There just ain't no frontin on the KING. Number one album in the US, 500 000 sold on first week, number three movie with "ATL". That's why, we got "Front Back", T.I.'s hot new version of the UGK classic. Which leads us to...

b) Pimp C. Yeah, the mayne's been out for a couple months now and new UGK material is on the way. But now we're looking back to his solo album "The Sweet James Jones Stories" from 2004. Good album, even if it's made with spare rhymes from UGK sessions. The beats still sound hot as heck! And when Z-Ro does his Vandross thing in the chorus, it's just too friggin' cool.

c) That new Bubba Sparxxx album sounds also damn good. Now under Big Boi's supervision and only one Timbo beat (as far as i hear, no beat credits on the advance cd). Plus: new dude Scar sounds almost exactly like Raphael Saadiq on this one, which is always good...

d) That new Ghostface shit is already a classic. This time we got Tony Sparks messing with an old Stylistics track.

e) You can never go wrong with Misfits. NEVER!

f) That new Luda/Field Mob blend from the latest Kriton promo cd. You already know what it iiiiiis.

g) And finally, Ambrosia. Anyone got a cold one and a burrito to spare?

ps. those new reggae joints are uploaded by Hennessy-mayne. So i'll let him do the explaining. Just enjoy!

Back to the Best Gay Sauna in Finland

A while I ago I wrote about the gay Vogue Sauna here in my hood, Vallila. Then a bit later it turned out that a friend, who shall remain nameless, who lives in London but spent some time here in Helsinki last autumn, had in fact already sampled the flavors available there. This is what he wrote to me today:

"PS: being the kind of “Helsinki insider wannabe” that I am, I took the liberty of checking Vogue/ Con hombres before I left. It was all pretty harmless during my visit(s)- looking at the interior design, making sure if they complied with the health standards and fire safety regulations, that kind of thing."

And another thing; our man Alppila has been updating the playlist on the Kriton Radio Blog with some hot new 'ish. Anyhow, even if Rick Ross "Hustlin'" is super hot, my favorite track there is still the very excellent T.O.K. "Top Shotta".

One more thing; our Super Secret Interweb Intelligence Department has found out that we had people from Italy, Portugal, Israel, Germany, USA and Canada among other countries reading the Kriton Blog yesterday. Nice, the Kriton Boys salute you, strangers!

Sigue Sigue Sputnik Mania!

This message has reached me from the infinite cyberspace that is the interweb:



A Helsinki CD-R label 267 lattajjaa
( http://www.saunalahti.fi/~hhaahti/267lattajjaa/ )
is seeking for contributors to a Sigue Sigue Sputnik
tribute album, to create a cover version of their legendary
1986 hit 'Love Missile F1-11'. Any musical style OK.

If interested, contact: hhaahti(AT)dlc.fi

More info about Sigue Sigue Sputnik:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigue_Sigue_Sputnik
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigue_Sigue_Sputnik

"Sigue Sigue released their first single, the classic 'Love Missile F1-11' in 1986. It climbed to number two in the British charts. 'Love Missile F1-11' was number one in 15 countries for at least one week. The single, as well as the album that followed, was produced by Giorgio Moroder. The band auctioned advertising spaces between the tracks on their first album 'Flaunt It' (released in 1986)."

Now, how cool is that?! that Sigue Sigue Sputnik were like the coolest band in a world for a moment and I still have their second 7" single "21st Century Digital Boy" which I bought from the music department of the Stockman department store in Tapiola, Espoo, when it came out in -86, obviously I was quite young at the time... But I loved it and I am not ashamed to admit that. Sure, they looked weird, even weirder, but at the same time also super dope, just look at that synth guitar!!! The music is kinda crap but still, if you are ready to go all out like they did, you just gotta respect that.

Anyway, some of us Kriton Boys and our friends are going to do our very best and to contribute a version of F1-11 for the tribute album. Watch this space!

UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!!

If yo'all wanna hear some peek previews of what's gonna be on the comp, go to our friend Mr. Sandal Flamenberg's MySpace and listen to his 'stoner-pop' rendition of the F1-11 Love Missile in his MySpace-player thingy. It like totally rRRRocks, dude!

K-FED the future of (baile) funk

K-FED the future of (baile) funk
Originally uploaded by fiilinc.

Here's the thing. That brazilian baile funk madness has been circultaing around the dj / connoisseur / hipster / nerdy fool -set for almost two years now, yet there has been no signs of mainstream acceptance for this musical mayhem. Hell, even the Kriton peoples have alreay signed the baile-friendly Spazz Out (although they refuse to call it that - instead they call it Bailu Funk - the finnish way), waiting for the big baile bucks to roll into their swizz bank accounts.

But things are about to change. The dude who got the second (or fourth) hottest chick in the game wearing his chain, the leader of the weededed, the king of the trailers, K-FED, otherwise known as Britney's hubby Kevin Federline is now doing some carioca funk influenced booty music. The track is produced by the formerly known as mr. ghetto tech (now also known for discovering Nina Sky and producing for Fiddy Cent), the one and only Disco D. And his brazilian fiancee sings the chorus.

And if that isn't shocking enough, the weedmeister (k-fed, that is) is repping bay area rap (and other good music) in the latest issue of XXL. He claims to have listened to Dru Down, Mac Dre, Mac Mall, e-40, NWA, 2 Live Crew, Digital Underground, Kool Moe Dee etc throughout his youth. His next single is gonna be "strictly for people in the south". Now how you gonna take that, all you backpackers, hipsters and fellow rap nerds?

Anyway, why am i ranting here? Go to the Kriton radio and check out K-Fed's PopoZao. BTW PopoZao means "Big Ass" in portugese. Huge surprise there!

Fat Cap Fever

I went through my old stuff yesterday and found an old stack of papers from my highschool days. It was actually nothing more than some old report cards and such, but the folder I found them in was more interesting. Supposedly I had spent those boring math classes practising my tags to near perfection (!)

Yes, I guess was a writer, not a painter in the 80's. It was a very a short period in my life, but I have felt the rush and excitement of the empty train yard at night, and the howling cop sirens... It all obviously started with a certain Twisted Sister -album art, made by Vulcan (http://www.vulcandesigns.net/). However I never got caught and I was wise enough to stop before I did. But I still strongly support graffiti art in its all forms. Reclaim the walls!

And do notice the cool Florida sticker as well. I guess Miami Vice was also a big thing in 1988.