Josh Martinez has a new album out. You dark members of his cult following, be aware. OK, got it? Cool. Open it, skip the first track and go straight to #2…

Cheers…

Yea man, cheers, you’ve arrived to a cool tune so don’t blame me if you suddenly feel the urge to –like myself- mellow out in your backyard on some comfy lounge chair with your favorite brew and listen to a dark voice speak about this guy who ‘just does what he wants to do… he just exists, he’s not inhabited by all this bullshit you know, he’s pretty much real but yet, there’s this side of him that’s so cut off, that’s been damaged and yet, he’s still free and…’

“…I woke up today feeling everything’s strange
Next day same thing there were no change…”

… says Cheers’ opening lyrics by Josh Martinez but that's as far as I can make out since I can’t keep up with Josh’s rapid fire rap style… No matter, Samix’ beats got my back… as I recline in my chair and adjust the earphones, Josh Martinez voice blends cool with the sexy-trance beat behind it.

Oh man, someone has to know this: Trance has infiltrated Rap and that cool cat known as Samix is probably to blame…

What a combo: the raspy, child-like style of canadian rapper Josh Martinez and the oh so smooth cool cat tunes produced by Samix, a San Diego resident with deep eyes and a bunch of tricks up his turntable sleeve… Watch out Moby… better yet Moby… are you looking for a rad opening act? Samix, please email Moby, I think he’s interested…

How couldn’t he?

Moby, I mean, go straight to Midriff Music' track #4 (Tranzar) and you’ll find the next great tune for underground or public radio. Play it. How does it feel… uh? Say it: This is Radio Planet, live from Southern California, Amsterdam, Congo or Ibiza. Oh, a Spanish guitar mixed with a middle eastern (French… Portuguese?) chant makes this tune irresistible. I could go to sleep on it… I could strip acoustic parts of it inside my mind and be in Brazil’s carnivals, in a smokey café in Tarifa, Spain, waiting to board the ship that will take me across the Gibraltar strait to land me in Morocco… I can already smell the filigree and tiny interwoven mirrors hand-crafted in tables and chairs, the deep scent of dark coffee and hash… but then, Tranzar ends…

What else to keep an eye for?

Other notable tunes in this rad summer album are: Come and Gone (5) and Time Alone (7). This last one, is another clear instrumental example of the fine-tuned instincts of that wizard known as Samix… layers of marked beats are softened by a gorgeously and wickedly slow piano piece that gradually gives way to a mellow electronica groove… and before you know it, you’re moving your head in a chilled-up-and-down ecstasy kind of way…

Also keep track of song #8. Josh’s off-beat rap style is here at its best. Landing his beat notes just slightly off, this track sneaks under your skin. The ambiance voices behind it make the story quite light… it’s about boys and girls… apparently.

Track #9 could be a big dance floor favorite. Just listening to the preamble music makes me imagine rotating mirror balls, smoke and sweat-pearled-bodies in the semi lit corners of some exotically named club. This is the song Moby will ask you to play when you open up for him Samix… Probably he’ll ask Paco de Lucia to do a live version of the acoustic guitar that brings this song to its climax…

Lastly, track #10 would make Tom Waits or Nick Cave proud… at least the intro section where the voice of a rugged old man sounds as if he’s speaking from the Pentecostal Church Podium during Holy Ghost Hour. Well, no, the whole track rules… Damn, that’s about 5 top tracks out of 11. Not bad at all.

If you’re one of those severely behind in music or world news, here’s the latest: Rap is here to stay… Rap is well and kicking…

Why can we accept that we’ll have to get used to rap? Why can’t we see that many of the most creative experiments in music are being perpetrated in that corner of the music world? I mean, look at all these new kids sprouting out in Hip Hop hubs across the US and elsewhere. Look at the work of labels like Anticon and countless others putting out home processed beats with tons of innovation behind it. Rap, especially this unique brand of it, could easily be “the soundtrack of awkward teenage mating”…. to quote Josh’s CD booklet warning. Teenage angst, anyone?

I insist. This is worth sharing with the world: Rap has become the busiest intersection for the Fusion of world sounds. Thank beat masters like Samix (the producer of ten of the 11 tracks in Josh Martinez’ Midriff Music) and the availability of digital equipment readily accessible to anyone with the interest, creativity and time to experiment with it.

Fusion, in case people haven’t noticed, is the new gospel of modern music. Finally, the global village is getting closer to having its own local chant. Don’t be surprised the least bit, if worldwide, it turns out to be some metaphysical kind of Rap.

Samix is half the equation of Sayre as well as a member of the lost and found generation (www.lostandfoundgeneration.com). Josh Martinez needs little presentation, you can see his touring schedule and other releases at www.joshmartinez.ca or at www.camobear.ca . And for the skeptical or cynic... no, Josh and I aren't cousins, bro...

For those of you who read all they way to the bottom, here's a prize for you:

Links for several songs in this kick-ass album:

Cheers: http://www.lostandfoundgeneration.com/midriff_audio/josh_cheers.rm

Come And Gone: http://www.lostandfoundgeneration.com/midriff_audio/josh_comeandgone.rm