Well I hate to say it… it is unfortunate… but the fact of the matter is that every podcaster comes to a point where he has a creative block. Moments become hours, hours become days, days become weeks… etc, etc, etc.

As an avid podcast subscriber, I have always hated when a DJ misses a show… don’t they know that we are waiting, patiently waiting, to listen to what they will bring us next? I hate when they do that… oh wait, I am guilty of just that! I am indeed sorry.

I did not post a podcast in January, the very month that the Chill with the Chola podcast turned two years old. I will try to make up for that throughout the year, posting an extra episode here or there if possible, or even better, finding more guest DJ’s to produce mid month episodes.

I finally found my muse after booking a trip to Chicago this coming weekend… I cannot wait! I am headed up to Chicago to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the girl that I love. To be in one of my favorite cities with my favorite person excites me to no end. A city full of romance, UNBELIEVABLE food, scenery, jazz/ blues, etc… I just cannot wait!

This month I have decided to revisit a classic “Chill with the Chola” idea… the Urban Cocktail Hour, inspired by the trip that I am about to make to one of this nation’s finest cities. The Urban Cocktail Hour is about celebrating the music inspired by the big city… jazz, funk, lounge, downtempo, jazzy hip hop… it is all here. If this set does not get your head bobbin,’ I am not sure what will. I hope that you will enjoy this month’s podcast with your favorite libations.

I would like to dedicate one of the most interesting, unconventional, and beautiful pieces of music in this month’s set (Jazzanova’s “Little Bird”) to my own little bird. XO.

Here is this month’s tracklist…

01. Funk Off- Magic Touch
02. Katalyst- All You’ve Got (Ft. Hau, Ru C.L., Yungun)
03. Fort Knox Five- Sao Funky (Parts 1 & 2)
04. Mario Biondi- This Is What You Are (Dim’s Hipster Jazz)
05. Khromozomes & Kristin Mainhart- Another Girl
06. Kero One- In All The Wrong Places
07. Roberto Roena- Take Five (Nicola Conte Remix)
08. The Apples- Killing (45 Mix)
09. Nitin Sawhney- Days of Fire (Ft. Natty)
10. Jazzanova- Little Bird (ft. Jose James)
11. The Stance Brothers- Capricorn
12. The Bird And The Bee- Polite Dance Song
13. Kenichiro Nishihara- From Time To Time (ft. Gregg Green)

And by the way… a big phat tuba bassline with a tenor sax solo just makes me want to get down!1 minute 46 seconds… that sh!t gets the f@ck down! I just thought that you should know that

This Podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License to support the interests of the original featured artists.

Take some smoothed out lounge music, add a splash of hip hop, and stir in a little jazz for mixer and you have got an “Urban Cocktail Hour!” If you like your cocktail hours loungy and your hip hop jazzy, you’ll love this mix!

For this month’s mix, I found myself inspired to play music with a little more acid jazz and hip hop influence. I marked it “Explicit” because there are a few random curse words but it is far from offensive. There are plenty of sultry melodies, great vocals and smooth rapping to fill out this sexy hour long episode. I really think the live acts I saw this month influenced my choices in grooves. I saw The Roots and Solillaquists of Sound perform live this month and had a great time. Next week I am going to see Kid Beyond and cannot wait!

On a personal note, I submitted a remix of Vieux Farka Toure’s “Ana” to CCMixter.org’s remix contest. To listen to my remix CLICK HERE. I also built a new PC for music production that is so fast it makes my head spin!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this month’s episode,
The Chola

Here is the tracklist…

1. Black Mighty Orchestra- Ocean Beach (Cybophonia Cinematic Remix)
2. Pete Phunk- The Sunny Streets of New York
3. Johan Brunkvist- Downtempo Lounge (Acid Jazz Remix)
4. Joe Bataan- Chevere Que Chevere (Ursula 1000 Remix)
5. Guardner- All right
6. Jurassic 5- If you only knew
7. Harvey Lindo- Rugged Individuals ft Count Bass D
8. J Boogies Dubtronic Science- Try Me ft Goapele and Capitol A
9. J. Lang- Hip Hop for Dummies ft KCentric (Sucker Free mix)
10. Blue Monk- Doin’ Ma Thang
11. Revolution Void- Weekend Amnesia
12. Meloman and Patrick Petruchelli- Sy
13. Jimpster- Left and Right
14. Envelop- Hear my Answer
15. Soulstice- Fall in to You.