Forcefed Fistfuls - Globesquatter Radio

So... we're drawing near to the close of the year popularly known as 2008, and into the unknown of 2009.
Big f'n deal.

To recap over what has been an immense upheaval of 12 months, and to celebrate whatever it is you particularly celebrate, Mr Cloak and Dagger aka Suckafish P Jones gives you this mix, The Straight Tropical - a happy everything present to everyone around the world. Wow. What a populist.
A mix of tropical bass, voodoo drums and booty-obsessed electronics, this should be your perfect before-you-head-out-to-destroy-yourself soundtrack for early new year's eve, or for the long car ride you're going to make to the beach, or the snow if you're so geographically inclined. This goes out to especially to all my homies across the world that i've been missing, or have met while travelling.
This year I've been globesquatting my way through Japan, Europe, Central and North America - i've seen and heard a lot - so on the cusp of my return to Australia in January 2009, I give you this mix, and my top ten Everything list for the year that was 2008. (To listen, scroll below the rant for the play button)

Suckafish's HAPPY EVERYTHING TOP TEN for 2009
(includes music, politics, vida loca and all points between):

1. The Global Financial Crisis - has produced so much pant wetting and dumbfounded hysteria, which is surprising considering the warning signs have been explicit for the last eight years. I'm optimistic = I think we're gonna see a lot of genuinely great creativity come out of this period - people are gonna have to start thinkin' again!

2. Bass - Has come back in waves and waves. Its been tremoring for a long time but popular dance music everywhere has re-adopted our low end cousin with a newfound fetishism. Dubstep, Lazer Bass, Miami Bass, Baltimore House, Baile Funk, Bassline House, Kuduru, Cumbia, Reggae, Hip Hop - all of these styles old and newly created have come to the forefront of musical consciousness, all with a perverted obsession with those frequencies below 100hz.

3. Hip Hop letting go - So lil' wayne is now apparently the greatest rapper alive. And yep, he's good (not that good). And commercial as fuck. So what do you do? You go and reinvent hip hop. You rap over techno beats. You rap in different languages. You ditch the rappers and go flying lotus over production obsessed wonky beats. You don't rap, you talk or sing. Hip Hop well and truly started its re-emergence from the conservative prisons that have been building up around it for the last eight years, and MORE people are starting to interesting shit, crossing high and low brow with mainstream and underground to the point that it doesn't even matter anymore. We may just find ourselves back in that golden mindset of hip hop where every song was about upping the game rather than showing how similar you are to your musical grand dads.

4. What the fuck did you say? - Finally the western, enlgish speaking world (at least the 'hip' world if not yet the mainstream) has let go of needing to understand every sneaker reference in a song and is looking beyond the dinosaurs of America and the UK to other parts of the world for musical innovation. Brazil gives us Baile Funk, eeking thru the blogosphere and DJ sets of the world like a virus, Cumbia is exploding out of South America to dancefloors worldwide, African techno like Kuduru shits all over minimal techno and dudes like El Guincho sing tropicallisimo songs in Spanish that make people dance like they never learned to speak.

5. Spanish, Chinese and French - The World is so full of languages, regional dialects, communal tongues... its an amazing landscape. Unfortunately a lot of languages die every day, as new ones are created on the internet. I know we're coming to some sort of future language combining all the widely spoken languages with the typos of the internet... but for now Spanish, Chinese and French are doing it for me. As America and the UK contort in on themselves from the economic disaster of their own doing, its becoming clear that previously considered '3rd world' regions like China, Africa and South America are going to come to the forefront. So, it makes sense to learn these languages, being some of the most widely spoken aside from English. And they're also the nicest to hear. I'm learning spanish at the moment - pero, yo necessito mas palabras en espanol antes puerdo escribir blogs en espanol.

6. New American President - Unfortunately the whole world has to follow what happens in US politics, because unfortunately it affects all of us too. Unfortunately, the rest of the world can't vote, only Americans can. Which is why it was great to actually see AMERICA VOTE this time. In a country where most people don't, this time we saw all sorts of people who never have voted appear to cast their ballot for someone who only a week before was being called a Socialist by the mainstream media. The world sighed with relief that we didnt get ANOTHER old white man from the South. Instead the new American president we'll see everyday is a young man from Chicago who may indeed be as progressive as he seemed in the days leading up to the election. This reminds everyone why we used to think ( so long ago ) that America was a cool place (for reasons other than twinkies, crunk and reese's peanut butter cups).

7. Dubstep turns into something else: As a fetishist of Bass myself, I have always been into Dubstep, but at the same time immensely wary of getting too involved. In 07/08 we saw Skream (bless the talented motherfucker), Rusko and Coki go and overdo things, making Dubstep start to look scarily formulaic - in the way that Drum and Bass became the same. But then out of leftfield appears new comers and old-hands-turning new tricks Joker, Drop The Lime, Zomby, Dexplicit, Rustie, Buraka Som Sistema, Shackleton, The Bug and so many more who show us that 130-140 bpms and bass can be a formula that births so much innovation, hype and manic sweaty sexy dancing - basically, gettin guys AND girls on the dancefloor without the tuffboy posing.

8. Barcelona - I spent a lot of time this year in Barcelona and I love it. In fact all of Spain - Madrid, Zaragoza, Seville - had me under its spell. In a world so panicked about money and jobs, its great to know that in some parts of the world a lot of people still value good food, dancing, music, friends and a quality of life over material gain. Spain's proximity to Europa Major, the Meditteranean and Africa also make it a culturally rich and unpredictable place, with great weather and beauuuutiful chicas to boot.

9. Mexico - Mexico is an unpredictable place impossible to pin down. From the south to the north this is a country of amazingly diverse climates, languages and people. AND FOOD. I can't say enough about mexico because, although I travelled there for three weeks, I don't know enough about it. But eating a delicious cows face in hard tortilla overflowing with avocado while drinking corn milk and listening to the endless cumbia's destroying the souped up sound systems of old Volkswagen bugs as they drive by is only one of the amazing memories that floods back to me. Mexico's full of creativity, and its one stock that's booming - so my hot tip is to watch this part of the world and even further south through Latin America for some amazing things in 09.

10. Goodbye Irony, Hello My Love - this is my one hot tip for the next year. 08 was injected with so much irony the shit has seriously even made a sarcastic motherfucker like me bored shitless. I think we're gonna see a lot more SINCERITY. I mean, things with real heart and soul. That sounds cheesy but i think it's actually gonna be a lot cooler than you think. In music, in art, and in life. Sincerity is the new black - people are gonna wear their hearts on their sleeves (and in a totally non-emo endorsed way). Don't understand? Keep listening, watching and talking, you'll see what i mean.

Mr Cloak and Dagger
The Straight Tropical Tracklist
1. Flying Lotus / Super Mama Djombo - Melt!/Dissan Nambera
2. Richard Martin - White Liva
3. Tego Calderon - Ni Fu Ni Fa
4. Dj Negro - Anres Landero vs The Rookie
5. Dead Prez - Politrikkks
6. Etoile De Dakar / Burial -
7. Buraka Som Sistema (DIPLO rmx) - Inna Di Ghetto
8. DJ Bombon - Asesino
9. Cauto - Bona Vida
10. 77 Klash - Mad Again
11. Zomby (Rustie rmx) - Spliff Dub
12. Buraka Som Sistema - Wegue Weguee
13. Dexplicit - What about what I need?
14. Radioclit - Secousse
15. Drop The Lime - I Luv New York
16. Senor Coconut - Homecomputer (merengue)
17. Stenchman - Lemongrass Shitbiscuit
18. Jahdan and Matt Shadetek- Nice Green
19. Dexplicit - Bulla Cake
20. Dj Ayres and Tittsworth - Bitch Bend Over
21. DJ Blaqstarr - Check me Out Like
22. Ghislain Poirier w/ Face T - Blazin'