If you are in NYC, go see Pharoahe Monch tomorrow, FOR FREE!

[…] Another thing I wish I was in NYC for. Cinematic Orchestra RAMP El Michels Affair Kevin Michael DJ Spinna Saturday, July 07, 2007 From 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM Central Park SummerStage Presented in collaboration with Giant Step Jason Swinscoe is a British DJ and instrumentalist with an extreme fondness for jazz, movie music and the sample aesthetic of electronica. Cinematic Orchestra is his attempt to blend these obsessions together. The group’s new album, Ma Fleur, is described by its creators as “the soundtrack to a specially commissioned screenplay for an imagined film (which may or may not yet be made).” Britain’s Mojo magazine called it “a raw and overwhelming surge of soul,” while Q magazine praised the group for achieving “a rare kind of poise, hovering between jazz, soul and orchestral soundtrack.” In concert, Cinematic Orchestra creates a beat-driven yet subtle sound as the musicians improvise to samples of bass lines, percussion and airy strings. Cincinnati band RAMP is one of the great lost stories of the ’70s. The band released one Roy Ayers-produced album, Come Into Knowledge, in 1977, then disappeared. That would have been the end of the story, but RAMP’s music started to circulate among the rare groove and hip-hop undergrounds, its appeal enhanced by the mystery that surrounded the band. In 1989, hip-hoppers A Tribe Called Quest sampled the song “Daylight” for their breakthrough single “Bonita Applebaum” and RAMP’s sound was introduced to a whole new generation. Newly reformed with its original line-up intact, RAMP is back to preach the true gospel of groove. Brooklyn drummer and organist Leon Michels is in love with the “rare groove” albums of the late ’60s and early ’70s. But rather than just sample those irresistible beats, Michels put together the El Michels Affair to create them the old fashioned way, live on stage. The group’s debut Sounding Out The City doesn’t feel “retro:” it feels “vintage,” like it was actually recorded back when John Lindsay was Mayor. Not that Michels and co. are stuck in the past – they’ve covered songs by hip-hop’s Wu Tang Clan, and worked with Clan rapper Raekwon. Soul prodigy Kevin Michael is a confident young man, but he has the talent to back it up. The 22-year-old Philadelphia-based singer has already worked with folks like The Roots and Wyclef Jean, and his Sly Stone / Michael Jackson-influenced single “We All Want The Same Thing” features hip-hop star Lupe Fiasco. Michael is known for his live shows: stripped-down sets in which he is accompanied only by rapper Akil Dasan on acoustic guitar and beat-box. […]