This Easter weekend will be your last chance to get your FFTANG! on for a while as we’re taking an extended hiatus after three packed years of tropical mashup fiestas. We’ve got the Amersham Arms in New Cross locked and loaded for our blow-out party. Check out the Facebook event here.

After that? Who knows? There’ll be one more set from Huskiii this year at Camino on April 20 and we’re not ruling out the possibility of the occasional one-off throwdown but chances are that that’s it for 2012.

Thanks to everybody who’s partied and played with us over the last three years, from the 93 Feet East midweek jams to the heaving Big Chill House takeover and all the bars/clubs/warehouses/houseparties in between. We’ll be back – watch this space.

The second act we’ve got lined up for Friday is the high octane Gypsy Hill. This band fuse together balkan, surf-rock, massive bass-lines, Mediterranean guitars and a whole heap of electronics, scratching and beats. Keep your eyes peeled for their debut album which is set to drop this year.

Poznash (Äl Jawala vs Gypsy Hill) – Remix by Gypsy Hill

Balaka by Gypsy Hill

The headline act at our upcoming Big Chill House party comes in the form of the scorching Yaaba Funk.

Combining fat analogue basslines, blazing horns and gritty rock guitars this floor-filling ten piece play a red hot mix of Ghanian hi-life, afrobeat and low down dirty funk. Pure fire. Here’s them performing at the capital’s recent Seun Kuti gig.

Their album “Afrobeast” is out now on Yaabaphone and their follow up is set to drop this year.

We got a massive party coming up in Jan. FFTANG! FFTANG! take over The Big Chill House in Kings Cross on Friday 13th and we’ve got a hell of a line-up, including a scorching headline performance from the amazing Yaaba Funk and live electronics, scratching and balkan surf-rock from Gypsy Hill. All for the price of nada, nothing, Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Info HERE
Facebook listing HERE

Next Thursday (10th) we go Westwards to our favouritest London venue: Ginglik.

We’ve been wanting to throw a party in this ex Edwardian loo since our very first night and it’s finally here. Huskiii, Subculture Sounds and Obee bring the tropical bass for these long November nights, whilst Paolo’s and Captain Trumpet’s live drums and brass turn it into a live carnival mash-up knees up. With live visuals from Sheik l’Afrique.

Come see why we’re one of Time Out‘s best tropical clubnights.

Ginglik 7pm – 1am
£4 entry (or £3 facebook guestlist)
Free before 8pm

Come to the Big Chill House on Friday to hear a FFTANG! set from Huskiii, as well as a live interview with The Mohawks, and DJ sets from Mark Rae, Chris Read & the BBE boys.

Event info

Otherwise engaged? Feel free to bump round the living room to our promo mix instead…

Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Konono N°1 and Kasai Allstars sound like a fortuitous run on an iPod shuffle. The fact that all four acts are playing at the Barbican tomorrow has got me hyper hyped! And the fact that they’ve formed voltron-style into a 19 member super-group has me chewing off my hand in anticipation. I’m seven shades of WTF? It’s like one of those games you play when you create a super-group out of your favourite bands. Experimental / World edition.

The connection between these wildly disparate performers is last year’s Tradi-Mods vs Rockers albums on Crammed Discs which feature collaborations from them all, although I understand the live show is going to be a very different beast altogether. More of a group jam session than a remix fest.

Juana Molina vs. Kasai Allstars – Hoy supe que viajas (from “Tradi-Mods vs Rockers”) by Crammed Discs

Deerhoof vs. Kasai Allstars – Travel Broadens The Mind (from “Tradi-Mods vs Rockers”) by Crammed Discs

Ahhhhh Deerhoof. I never thought I’d be writing about the experimental San Fran art-rockers on these pages. Despite having mad love for this band and raving about them at the merest mention, I can’t ever remember wanting to put on one of their albums. Maybe I love the fact that they actually exist more than I love the music… or maybe no-one ever feels in the mood to play Deerhoof and the only way to listen is to be blindsided by a surprise lurch out of a randomized playlist. It’s music designed to loom from the leftfield, screw with your head, then return you to your regularly scheduled listening leaving you dishevelled, with a slight sense that your universe has just shifted 5cm off centre and is now all the better for it.

If you need an introduction to Juana Molina I’d start with her Un Día album and work backwards. Specifically the title track above and the immense Los Hongos de Marosa – a track which I featured in my Cloud Monsters mix a couple of years ago after hearing it mashed up with some Benga dubstep on Villa Diamante‘s excellent Dubsteperismo compilation. Intricate melodies and gorgeous harmonics that drift through your headspace like a morphine cloud. Sublime.

Konono N°1 – Ugundi Wele Wele (from “Congotronics”) by Crammed Discs

Konono N°1 have been going for over 30 years but became widely known through Crammed Discs’ 2005 ‘Congotronics’ release. Since then their traditional-meets-avant-garde sound incorporating junkyard percussion and homemade amplification has led to grammy nominations and Björk collaborations. Always exhilarating, yet at times muggy and pregnant like a punk rock stormcloud you get the feeling the real electricity is unleashed through the live show.

Kasai Allstars lend some of their 25 members (spanning six bands and five tribes) to the ensemble. Their wonderfully titled album ‘In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic’ (volume three in the Congotronics series) is a must-buy album of buzzing distorted electrics and polyrhythmic rawness. Their track Kafuulu Balu makes me melt.

Also in the ensemble are Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Skeleton’s Matt Mehlan… two acts that I’m less familiar with but whose experimental leanings whet the appetite even further. Tickets have almost sold out so get in there quick. The rest of their tour is as follows…

14/07 Benicassim – Fib
17/07 Carhaix – Festival Les Vieilles Charrues
21/07 Nyon – Paleo Festival
23/07 Sines – Festival Musicas do Mundo
30/07 Yuzawa-machi – Fuji Rock Festival
01/08 Tokyo –Club Quattro

If you tried to nail down Peyoti For President‘s sound using musical genres then Flamenco and Punk are going to feature highly. This is why we couldn’t resist coming up with a cheeky Spanish homage to The Clash for this weekend’s Live Sunday flyer.

Come down to Camino on July 10 to see three of their members play a free live gig with support from the FFTANG! Soundsistema.

Making a rare UK appearance tonight (Favela Chic) and tomorrow (Notting Hill Arts Club) is Brooklyn DJ Uproot Andy. Been wanting to catch this guy in action for years… If you’re unaware of the man’s output school yourself below.

Peyoti For President’s politically enfused lyrics invite obvious comparisons to Manu Chao and their world fusion punk does at times remind you of Gogol Bordello, but their influences cut way deeper than that. This is first and foremost dance music. From the samba-driven hip hop of ‘We The People’ to the flamenco rock of ‘Drifting’ they never sacrifice groovability for lyrical might.

Check out their music below and see them play a free gig at FFTANG! FFTANG!’s Live Sunday at Camino on 10 July.