1. Intro
2. The People Tree (feat. David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip)
3. Money (feat. David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip)
4. N.A.S.A. Music (feat. Method Man, E-40 & DJ Swamp)
5. Way Down (feat. RZA, Barbie Hatch & John Frusciante)
6. Hip Hop (feat. KRS-One, Fatlip & Slim Kid Tre)
7. Four Rooms, Earth View
8. Strange Enough (feat. Karen O, Ol¿ Dirty Bastard & Fatlip)
9. Spacious Thoughts (feat. Tom Waits & Kool Keith)
10. Gifted (feat. Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li)
11. A Volta (feat. Sizzla, Amanda Blank & Lovefoxxx)
12. There's A Party (feat. George Clinton & Chali 2na)
13. Whachadoin? (feat. Spank Rock, M.I.A., Santogold & Nick Zinner)
14. O Pato (feat. Kool Kojak & DJ Babão)
15. Samba Soul (feat. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & DJ Qbert)
16. The Mayor (feat. The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, Scarface & DJ AM)
17. N.A.S.A. Anthem
NASA (an acronym for North America / South America) is the duo of Squeak E. Clean (Sam Spiegel) and DJ Zegon (Ze Gonzales), who share a love of Brazilian funk and soul records. This release pairs artists as diverse as David Byrne and Chuck D, Karen O. (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Ol' Dirty Bastard, Kanye West and Santogold, and Tom Waits and Kool Keith on various tracks, all within the backdrop of Brazilian funk.
N.A.S.A is an ongoing creative collaboration between two lifelong music aficionados, Squeak E. Clean ad DJ Zegon, and their friends, friends of friends and musical heroes. While N.A.S.A. stands for North America/South America and contains a number of superstar artists from both coasts of the US, it is about as far from a tension-building geographical showdown as a record can get. Rather, their Anti debut The Spirit of Apollo was born with the righteous goal of bringing people together through music and art, and that is exactly what masterminds Sam Spiegel (Squeak E. Clean) and Ze Gonzales (DJ Zegon) have done. Brazilian funk provides the roots of the songs and binds them together into a cohesive whole, but from there, the imagination behind The Spirit of Apollo ranges far and wide. Unexpected collaborations abound on the eighteen track release. Tom Waits growls over Kool Keith, Karen O taunts while Ol' Dirty Bastard gives shout-outs to Wu Tang and N.A.S.A from the grave, and David Byrne, Chuck D and others expound on the evils of "Money." In spite of the range of performers, the pairings seem organic, inspired and make perfect sense on the first listen, never coming off as ironic or impulsive.
I honestly expected this to be awful. With a guest list that huge, I expected it to sound/feel horribly cluttered but this album works amazingly well. No one really steals the spotlight, it's all so well balanced. It's extremely refreshing and just a joy to listen to. I don't know this forum's policy on posting download links, but if anyone wants I can post a megaupload link for it.