I met Charlie Bethel aka Chuck Wild aka Captain Planet through his brother Wil (aka DJ Murphy’s Law), my old DJing partner at the Short Stop. At the time, Chuck was living out in Brooklyn, but last fall, he picked up and moved West, landing out here in L.A.
As Captain Planet, he’s been responsible for three Afro-Latin flavored EPs on Bastard Jazz thus far: Gumbo Funk (2005), Speakin’ Nuyorican (2009) and the just-released Ningané. He’s also at work on his first full-length, Cookin’ Gumbo, due out later this fall, also on Bastard Jazz.
Chuck also contributes to the group blog, Mixtape Riot, where he and Wil recently released a killer mix of global funky sounds, International Thief Thief.
In our podcast, we talk about the new EP, the differences in the music scenes in NY and LA and why it’s good to have panned vocals on old records.
*The official Los Angeles release party for Ningané is going down this Thursday at the El Cid. 1
The Sidebar #10: Captain Planet
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Music in the podcast:
- Captain Planet: On Yer Feet (from Speakin’ Nuyorican, 2009)
- Captain Planet: Fumando (from Speakin’ Nuyorican, 2009)
- Thomas Mapfumo & Blacks Unlimited: Nyarara Mukadzi Wangu (from Ndangariro, 1991)
- Captain Planet: Ningané (from Ningané, 2011)
- Captain Planet: Macumba (from Ningané, 2011)
- P18: La Verdolaga (from Urban Cuban, 1999)
- Miami Horror: Holidays (from Illumination, 2010)
- Captain Planet: Dame Agua (from Ningané, 2011)
Notes:
- Yours truly will be in the mix, my first public gig in a minute. It’ll be all soul n’ funk from around the world; I’m really looking forward to putting my set together. ↩