[Most of what we post on this site are new releases, but our tastes are all over the map. This weekly feature is a snapshot of what the Stranger Dance staff can't get out of their collective head each week. On any given week, we might be digging a new local act, an old jazz chestnut, the newest Japanese electro-folk or whatever else we've got on the turntable/iPod that week.]

This week’s picks are a little on the funkier side for us, with a legitimate house track, a thick slab of Afrobeat funk and some electro-funk of M.I.A. In case you weren’t feeling funky today, we’ve also got a decidedly unfunky favorite of yesteryear to round out our list this week.

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Vague Panther: Smith N Hack - “Strength and Inspiration”

I recently discovered Fader Magazine (does that make me out of the loop?) and am really impressed by editor Matthew Schnipper’s weekly Tuesday picks of under-appreciated releases. This week’s feature was Smith N Hack’s “Strength and Inspiration” from the album Tribute (alas, it is only on vinyl). I think I listened to this DJ food about 100 times this week so I caved and decided to pass it along.

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The Stranger: Tony Allen - “No Discrimination”

I’m knee-deep in a serious Nigerian music kick. I’ve consumed at least an hour of Afrobeat, Highlife and Jùjú every day for the past two weeks. There’s a huge wealth of music to dig through in Nigerian music, but there are two towering figures: Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. The two invented Afrobeat in the early ’70s, and continued to re-write the book for the next two decades.

From a 1979 Allen solo album, this nugget is pure afrobeat genius. It’s so slinky and beautifully layered with horns crashing over a mellow groove. It’s the contradictions that make Afrobeat so compelling to me; the same song is often both mellow and aggressive, repetitive yet mercurial, angry yet calm, complex yet understated. I could listen to this forever.

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Uncle Corey: M.I.A. - “Big Branch”

I love this song – it’s been an everyday listen for the last three weeks since I found it. It’s a bonus track on the Japanese version of Kala and it’s genius. Bouncy, off-kilter production from Diplo (who’s fast becoming my producer of choice), M.I.A.’s twisted take on female empowerment – this song works.

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Scooter: The Merry-Go-Round - “Live”

The Merry-Go-Round was a short-lived LA band that made a name for itself with this hit record during the Summer of Love (1967). Like many of the great songs from the era, its message focuses on the social/political climate of the day but still manages to be timeless and continuously relevant.

As for the music, the song could easily fit alongside anything on Rubber Soul or Revolver … and that’s saying a lot. Driving, angular guitar riffs, chiming melodies, and four-part harmonies are all present here. If you love the Byrds, middle-period Beatles, or ’80s jangle-pop like REM and the Stone Roses, you’re sure to dig this. Enjoy.

In which your intrepid blogger attempts to teach you about music he actually knows almost nothing about (Shhhh, don’t tell anyone).

Blender Magazine wrote about Baile Funk back in 2005 and the headline really says all you need to know about the music: “Coke. Guns. Booty. Beats.”

You may have heard about Baile Funk during the last year or two from a number of places, though most like through Diplo, the Philly DJ/Producer/Arbiter Of What’s Cool responsible for beats on both M.I.A. albums (including the stellar “Paper Planes” on Kala), as well as her mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1.

As an art form, well, it’s not much of one – as a scene, cultural expression and party music, however, it’s a king hell throw down. Born in the favelas – or shanty towns – that line the hillsides above Rio De Janeiro, Baile Funk is simple and to the point. It’s generally nothing more than a sample of an old 808 drum-heavy Miami Bass (DJ Magic Mike, Gucci Crew II, 2 Live Crew) sometimes combined with a local drum or horn line and a Brazilian MC rapping, oftentimes screaming, over it in Portuguese. There’s little musicality to it, virtually no melody and it can be a bit grating if you’re not in the right mood, but that shit moves you.

The music also has a fascinating story behind it, detailed in the Blender story above. It started – as most ghetto-born music does – with people making due with what they had: turntables, records and four-track mixers. Sample a break off a record, add something familiar and make like the folks on the records they listened to do, and start rapping. The drug lords that controlled the favelas basically took the music to the masses by throwing huge parties to blow off steam, so the lyrics were often about drugs, violence and guns – Southern Hemisphere gangsta rap.

When Baile Funk made its way to the U.S. – largely thanks to Diplo – it had an immediate impact, influencing the Philly and Baltimore hip-hop scenes, particularly the new wave of Baltimore Club and Diplo’s Hollertronix crew: Spank Rock, Blaqstarr, Amanda Blank and others.

I don’t know much more about Baile Funk than what’s in the Blender story and a few interviews with Diplo, but I love musical cross-pollination – one style influencing another, one city shaping a sound for another – especially when it happens from thousands of miles away. Take a listen.

(Also, catch Diplo live in San Francisco Thursday, March 27.)

mp3s:

Bonde Do Role – Bondallica
Bonde Do Role – Solta O Frango
De Falla – Popozuda Rock ‘n Roll