List Envy

A bonus episode, brought to you by pod.fan/listenvy.

Technology writer and drone expert Adam Juniper joins Mark to discuss machines that go bleep.

Mark speaks down-the-line with product designer, Simon Heap, as the two share their top five world-changing products, and gently collide over what can be construed a “product”.

Mark takes flight with speaker, author and “the entrepreneur’s godmother” Alison Edgar, to build a list of the best places it takes too long to fly to.

Prepare to have your face melted clean off as you enter a whole new world of mouth noise, with guest Tani Levitt. And remember, if you’re sitting in the plash zone, you will get spittle all over you.

Tani presents SpeshFX, a narrative podcast that dives deep into the fascinating world of competitive beatboxing. If you’re familiar with the rap battle scene, it’s like that but nicer, and where people make their O face when being hit by several megatons of sick beats (just helping ease you in with the lingo).

Tani got into the scene via his brother, and started charting not only the beatbox battle scene, but also his own education, through SpeshFX. If you want a primer, start with his Beatboxing Basics YouTube playlist.

The world of the beatbox battle

Beatbox battles are judged equally on musicality, technicality, originality and stage presence. Both Tani’s and Mark’s picks have these qualities in spades, and especially for Tani who’s well-versed in this world, it can be difficult to rank performers when they’re at such a high level. So, mad props to all those spittin’ bars. (Is that a thing?)

Honourable mentions

Kaila Mullady

Beardyman

Nathan “Flutebox” Lee is probably the beatboxing flautist Mark is thinking of

Reeps One

Colaps

Zekka

Elisii

B-Art

Tani’s picks

In order of discussion:

Alem

This French master is Tani’s first pick for his technicality. He’s a multi-award-winner, having taken trophies home throughout the decade. Tani says his battle spirit and technicality are unparalleled.

Alexinho

Tani believes this Frenchman has the best singular set in beatbox history, and cites his 2017 battle against Two.H as “a masterstroke of technicality” and “90 seconds of non-stop power”. Check out the linked video, and watch for the tennis ball drop.

Hiss

This super-young and confoundingly-talented South Korean beat NaPoM to the finals in 2017. Tani describes him as a human metronome with a wide range of sounds. His studio album /Voiss/, released this year is available now.

Gene Shinozaki

This Boston beatboxer, originally from California is Tani’s favourite, for his pure musical talent. Ha made his stamp on the beatbox world in 2015 with his set entitled Jigsaw, for the Grand Beatbox Battle.

Mark’s picks

In order of discussion:

NaPoM

Hailing from the US, Neil Patrick Meadows (NaPoM) is Mark’s first pick as an entertainment powerhouse. He learned much of his technique from Tani’s #1 pick Alem, and Mark’s guest says he “redefined, with his lip roll, what it meant to be a cultured beatboxer”.

Codfish

Mark’s second pick caught him by surprise, which is why he placed perhaps higher than the other battler he was up against the first time Mark saw him. Mark enjoys the Aussie’s swagger and his ability to lift the energy of a room, and as of two weeks before this episode was recorded, his YouTube channel passed a million followers.

D-Low

Mark appreciates this Brit’s stage presence, entertainment value and sense of humour, and his ability to drop out of a beat, make a goof and unfailingly return. He won the Under-18 UK Beatbox Battle in 2014, and made it to the 2015 World Championships on the back of his wildcard video submission. Tani appreciated his moves in his battle against Colaps in this year’s Grand Beatbox Battle.

MB14

Frenchman Mohamed Belkhir, better known as MB14, is Mark’s final pick for his “amazing mouth gymnastics”, but he’s not been a solo battler for more than 15 months, having come up as part of Berywam. You can also check out his loop station album.

Where to go next

If this has got you ready for more, you can follow the scene

on YouTube

via SwissBeatbox, the host of the Grand Beatbox Battle, or Beatbox Battle who host the World Championships every two years,

and on Instagram

via Alem, Hiss, and Madox for the shoutouts, or Swish Beatbox for the goofs.

SpeshFX

You should subscribe to SpeshFX (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts), to learn infinitely more about the beatbox scene than you will here.

This week, Mark embarks on a journey of musical discovery, with Oliver Wang, co-host of the Heat Rocks podcast. If you’re not familiar with latin boogaloo, it’s time to get acquainted.

Oliver loves this fusion of more traditional latin melodies — with complex chords and meandering melodies — and the growing soul music movement, prevalent in 1960s New York, not just because of its inherently physical nature — this stuff just makes you wanna move — but because of what it teaches us about the culture at the time.

Just as a previous generation of immigrants embarked on a cultural exchange with the US and established themselves as the kings and queens of mambo and cha-cha-cha, so a new wave of second-generation American-raised Puerto Ricans, Cubans and Dominicans (to name a few) brought their musical heritage and mashed it up with the popular doo-wop and early R&B styles of the day.

Latin boogaloo wasn’t a lauded genre by purists, who saw it as a bit of a debasement of the complex and intricate style they were used to. It’s a story as old as time.

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Honourable mentions

Subway Joe — Joe Bataan

In Line — George Guzman

El Malo — Willie Colón

Orchestra Harlow Presenta a Ismael Miranda

Soul Sauce — Cal Tjader

Dig My Feeling — Willie Bobo (single)

Oliver’s picks

In order of discussion:

Gypsy Woman — Joe Bataan

Joe Bataan grew up in Spanish Harlem and was at one time a Puerto Rican gang leader, but he avoided trouble by forming a band with some boys from the neighbourhood, which he took to Fania Records. Oliver appreciates Bataan’s vocals as well as the latin music chops of the band, which is what makes it his #1 pick.

I Like it Like That — Pete Rodríguez

Fans of Cardi B will recognise the chorus of this album’s hit single, as it opens I Like It, and is heavily sampled throughout.

Wanted Dead or Alive — Joe Cuba

Bang! Bang!, this album’s first track, was the first giant latin boogaloo hit. Mark believes it both slaps and bangs. Like Pete Rodriguez, Joe Cuba got his start a little earlier, so was ready to capitalise on the genre’s, albeit short-lived, boom.

Acid — Ray Barretto

Released on Fania, this is a good representation of how an older musician adapted to the latin soul music movement, and is what Oliver considers one of the best exemplars of the genre.

My Latin Soul — Bobby Matos and the Combo Conquistadores

In an interview he did with Oliver, Matos revealed how dissatisfied he was with this debut effort, insisting his later work was much more sophisticated and less musically naive, but Olives loves the raw feel of this album.

Mark’s picks

In order of discussion:

Ali Baba — Louie Ramirez

Mark enjoyed the variety of music on offer with this album: the playfulness, sometimes downright silliness, the catchiness of the melodies, and the satisfying sound of brass recorded and played back from vinyl. And for Oliver’s part, you can’t talk about Louie Ramirez without bringing up his production partner Bobby Marin.

Watermelon Man! — Mongo Santamaria

Mark is always a sucker for a cover of Herbie Hancock’s /Watermelon Man/. He felt this album was perhaps a little more sophisticated or stylish than some of the other offerings, but Oliver thinks of this as more of a porto-boogaloo album than a boogaloo album proper. Given that, perhaps more attention should be paid to Mongo’s son Monguito, who had a great career in the genre. If you want to hear what that sounds like, Oliver recommends /Hey Sister/.

Laberinto de Pasiones — La Lupe

Mark likes the sexiness of this album, and particularly the cover of Fever, which is, to use his words, “dripping with raunch”. Minus 10 points. La Lupe was one of the few notable latin boogaloo artists around at the time, so plus 10 points.

At the Party — Hector Rivera

While the title track is fun and energetic, Mark appreciated the smoother stylings and melody of Pra Vas Wilma. Oliver says that this album, like perhaps dozens of others at the era, were able to catch lightning in a bottle, even if we won’t remember them in decades to come.

More of Oliver Wang

As we recorded, Heat Rocks, the podcast he hosts with music supervisor Morgan Rhodes, was celebrating their 100th episode. You can, and absolutely should, check it out. You can follow Oliver on Twitter and on Instagram, and read his long-running music blog. All of his links can also be found on his website.

Musician, writer and improv comedian Tom Clabon joins Mark to fight about which of Birmingham’s bands are best, and possibly what the word “definitive” means.

Musician and podcaster Brendan Hutchins joins Mark to discuss guitar music from the early 21st century.

Writer and Internet raconteur Jon Bounds joins Mark to build a list close to his heart.

Mark talks to podcaster and “unapologetic Anglophile” Jen Tierney about the foods eaten and loved by “a nation of shopkeepers”.