ARTIST DRIVEN: MIX IT UP

RYAN MONRO (THE CAT EMPIRE)

Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Power of Equality”
You can't really beat this for a track one. As a band we generally agree that this is a pretty unbeatable album. We often have lengthy arguments over whether it could have been one track shorter, whether “Soul to Squeeze” or “Sikamicanico” should have been on there, etc. I remember my cousin taped this for me when I was eleven, and I thought it was a really crap sounding tape, but then four bars later, "Woah! There it is!"

Sly and the Family Stone - “Stand”
We all got really obsessed with Sly a few years ago, and I guess “Stand” is the track we repeatedly listened to the most. The whole song is pretty cool, but the payoff is in that outro section. When people hear it for the first time they usually ask, "Why isn't the rest of the song like the outro!! That rules!" The band is divided on whether the hi hats are played with one or two hands in the outro. I really hope it's two though. A lot of drummers have said, "You can't get two hands to sound that even, but damn it's fast!"

Brooklyn Funk Essentials - “Mambo Con Dancehall”
I got this album around the time the band was just getting together, listened to the whole thing probably once, and it's pretty cool, but have listened to this track about 2,000 times since. It is just totally badass, and exactly as the title suggests. Mambo with dancehall. The kind of song I wish could just play wherever I go.

Ozomatli - “Cut Chemist Suite”
This was the track that I remember made everyone go, "Holy shit, Ozomatli!! Yeah!!" It got plenty of plays back when we were starting to get the band together.

Seeed - “Papa Noah”
Not many people seem to know much about Seeed outside Germany. Somehow one of their albums made its way to us back in 2002, and it instantly became everybody's favourite album. We just couldn't play it enough. We only had one copy to pass around, and didn't know how to get more. It was hard to decide which car would get to play it on road trips. They are an amazing reggae/dancehall/hip hop kind of band, with about 14 members, all totally badass players. We got hooked on a live DVD of theirs recently too.

Salmonella Dub - “Slide”
Salmonella Dub, from New Zealand, from 2003's One Drop East. This is another one I can remember playing a hell of a lot on road trips a few years back. It's gotta be the 7-minute-plus album version. It's such a journey.

Fela Kuti - “Zombie”
Fela was an inspiring individual and unstoppable creative machine. He would play 10 hour gigs every night. This is a killer afro funk track, and the horn line comes at you like an undead sax machine of the night.

James Brown - “Give it Up or Turn it a Loose”
Not to be confused with "Give it Up or Turn it Loose." The money shot is in the breakdown in the middle, when James yells "Clyde!" and drummer Clyde Stubblefield answers with the clappin'-est stompin'-est break ever.

Donny Hathaway - “The Ghetto” (live)
From Donny's amazing live album from 1972, featuring the most onto-it audience in the history of live recordings. Check out how tight their soul clap is at the start. It's like they are all part of the band. They even get louder than the band in the call-and-response bit later on. Killer conga solo too.

Bob Marley and the Wailers - “Could You Be Loved”
It's hard to pick just one Bob track, but this one gets the party started.

Herbie Hancock - “Chameleon”
From the stoner jazz epic 1974 album Headhunters. This song is a bit of a cliché because of how often it gets pulled out at shabby jam sessions, but the playing on this recording is unbeatable.

Avalanches - “Electricity”
From - dare I say it - the greatest Australian album of the last 10 years: Since I Left You. It's a killer. We're all still hanging to see what the hell they come up with next.

KC and the Sunshine Band - “That's the Way (I Like It)”
Another track from the "one or two hands on the hi-hats?" debate.