Abstract Index Playlist - January 16/08

Ophir Kutiel aka Kutiman could be this year's Jimi Tenor. From a similarly unlikely geographical location - not Helsinki but Tel Aviv (also the home of Boom Pam) Kutiman proves once again ain't where you are it's where you're at. He's endorsed by Straight No Chaser, Gilles Peterson and the good folks at Dusty Groove so you know there'll be all sorts of funky experimentation. As his name suggests, Afrobeat figures into the mix, but his drumming is grittier and less jazzy, like the deep funk of the Bamboos. He's also got a jones for progressive rock, which leads to some unexpected rhythmic structures. Just when you've settled into a Fred Wesley kind of groove, the arrangements will get into some funky hiccups - but he never loses sight of the one.

Incredibly, he knew nothing of groove music until five years ago. Somehow he has come up with a fresh combination of familiar elements of groove music from swinging jazz to West African influences to stuttery hip hop beats. If Tel Aviv can do that to a man in five years, that sounds like a hell of a music scene.

Hour 1 podcast
Hour 2 podcast

escape route - kutiman (melting pot)
sound of the ghost - clutchy hopkins (ubiquity)
bad fairy - eddy meets yannah (compost)
piger - brew moore (ricky tick)
makaya & the rain - tommy meier (intakt)
walking the curve - adam rudolph (justin time)
see for yourself - ima ensemble (eema)
fill the arena with sand - nifty (blocksblocksblocks)
step out of my dream - the strangers (salsoul)
the way we live - raw soul express (compost)
jolgorio/guaranguito - peru negro (times square)
fiesta de tambores - tipica 73 with los papines (declic)
rumba judia - david buchbinder (tzadik)
daxaar - steve reid (domino)
ladilikan - djigui rmx. by natty bass sound system (frikyiwa)
nightmare - bim sherman (on-u sound)
poor jason white - abyssinians (heartbeat)
song that my enemy sings - joe higgs (pressure sounds)
awakening - earth roots and water (light in the attic)
dub boom - ranking dread (greensleeves)
better shade of dub - santic all stars (pressure sounds)