Hoya:Hoya

Ryan and Jonny have decided to tread the murky waters of blogging by focusing on their genre-bending night Hoya:Hoya. This blog has loads of potential, as does the night, because the sheer musical knowledge and enthusiasm of the pair is second to none and I, for one, will be checking the blog daily. You can bookmark the site by visiting them here.

As an added bonus I've decided to repost Ryan's excellent Hoya:Hoya Vol. 1 mix for all of you to enjoy. As you can tell from the tracklisting Ryan charts all waters from soul to dubstep to afrobeat gluing the mix together in only a way a selector as talented as he could do. Download the mix from here. I've played it over a hundred times according to my iTunes counter and I still get gooseflesh when he mixes out of the Mala into the Tunde Williams.

Ryan Hunn presents Hoya:Hoya- Volume 1

1. Stan Lelowski- The Moon (Poljazz)
2. Joe Bataan- I Wish You Love (Part 2) (Fania)
3. Doug Hammond- Wake Up Brothers (Tribe)
4. King Tubby, Scientist, Prince Jammy and The Aggrovators- Harder Dub (Fatman)
5. Lloyd Coxsone- East Of The Rockfort Rock (Tribes Man)
6. King Tubby- Puppy Dub (Fatman)
7. 2562- Kameleon (Tectonic)
8. Skream!- 2-D (Tempa)
9. Mundo- Big Up (Dub Assembly)
10. Mr Scruff- Chipmunk (Ninja Tune)
11. Mala- Left Leg Out (DMZ)
12. Tunde Williams & The Afrika 70- Mr Big Mouth (Afrodesia)
13. Le Simandou De Beyla- Festival (Syliphone)
14. Dego & Kaidi Tatham- Got Me Puzzled (2000Black)
15. Daedelus- Sawtooth EKG (Ryan Hunn Edit) (Mush)
16. Scienz Culture- Ginsu (Son of Scientist Mix) (Sunshine)
17. James T. Cotton & Rodger Devine- ARAK (CD-R)
18. Luther Davis Group- You Can Be A Star (Soul Cal)
19. The Players Association- I Like It (Vanguard)

Feist - I Feel It All - Escort remix

We've all had Feist's album shoved down our throats every time we've stepped foot in a shop as there seems to be some unwritten law that her album has to be played all the time! When I first heard the album I thought it was great but I've gone off it a bit in recent weeks due to overexposure but this popped up in my inbox today and my first reaction was to have a little groan but after listening to the loose drum work, the handclaps and the great afro-inspired horns I was smitten. New York's Escort have been releasing disco for a while now and having a full band can't have made touring easy but they've stuck with it and with cuts like Karawane, A Bright New Life, Starlight and their version of Tracey Thorne's It's All True have made them favourites on both sides of the Atlantic. No samplers, no gimmicks, just a tight band playing disco licks...hallelujah!

Feist - I Feel It All - Escort remix

Swag remix competition

Swag have uploaded the parts to their tragically overlooked wonky disco outing Musicbox and want people to remix it for a possible future release. I'm going to have a go and you can download the parts from here. When you're done e-mail the results to djhistory[at]gmail.com.

We bowled England out for 203. Who said our attack is toothless?

Truth & Beauty

If this blog grinds to a halt for the next few days it is because I have decided to ruin my sleeping pattern by waking up at 3am to watch South Africa play England in the test match at Headingly. Being a cricket fan in the US is a lonely existence as proven last night after our rounders game when I was trying to explain the game to a few of the locals, I pretty much gave up when they said that baseball players play more shots that cricketers do.

England are 70-3 at the moment and they have their last two recognized batsmen at the crease...BOKKE!!!

Deodato - Skyscrapers

Eumir Deodato is a Brazilian Grammy award winning producer who has worked with everyone from Johnny Tropea to, erm, K.D. Lang, and to whom he has lent his undeniable musical charm and wonderful ear for melody and arrangement that have earned him plaudits the world over. His albums are absolute masterpieces that are best enjoyed with a nice bottle of red surrounded by nature. Having said that his records can be absolute dynamite on the dancefloor as well and this track, Skyscrapers, is the tune that I drop when I try to get a sense of who the steppers in the house are. I even played this at DRY201 in Manchester once and was immediately asked to stop playing the 'jazzy shite' which I took as a very good sign that it was going to be a good night ahead as they all were in that pit on Oldham Road. This track is by no means Deodato's finest but it is one that has seen a lot of deck time around here and one that is best enjoyed very, very loud.

Deodato - Skyscrapers

Plaid - Ralome

Ralome is off of Plaid's standout electronica albumRest Proof Clockwork that totally blew my mind when it was unleashed in 1999. Plaid initially were a side project for Black Dog Productions but obviously as WARP took on the project and once everyone was drawn to tracks like Ralome and Rakimou the little brother soon became the main man. This track is as balearic as anything I have ever heard, if you're a fan of Tortoise, Voice of The Seven Woods, Broadcast and the like then you'll love this superb slice of sunshine electronica. Charles Webster recently included it on his compilation for 'Defecated' and it is just the sort of record that I'd given the chance play early doors on at 'Nado or at my new night Shaved Guevara (more on that later) but my only complaint is the frankly awful Kid Acne artwork that dated the moment it went to the printers. Dive in, the water is great.

Plaid - Ralome

John Ozila - Funky Boogie

Here is a real record collectors' gem, one of those records that defines the afro sound favoured by Beppe Loda and pals at Typhoon in Italy during the late 70s. I don't know a thing about John Ozila, and believe me I've been searching for information for a good hour now, but what I do know is that this record that I found in a dollar bin is actually worth in excess of $100 and gets everyone from Laurent Garnier to Gerd's knickers in a twist as it is one of those records that will make a dancefloor explode. If all of the new disco/cosmic producers would take a leaf out of John Ozila's book then we may not be wallowing in the sub-prog bollocks that seems to be littering the scene at the moment of which I see Aeroplane as the biggest culprits with their bog standard cosmic fodder that doesn't sound a mile away from records favoured by Sasha et al at the tail-end of the 90s. Funky Boogie could've been released last week and it would've started a revolution, somebody reissue it please because if people are going to ape a sound then make it John Ozila's for the love of good records.

John Ozila - Funky Boogie

Shout Out Louds - Impossible - Possible Version by Studio

South Out Louds are a Swedish Band who are one of a litany of bands from the shoegaze scene who seem to be making music that is catching my ears at the moment - I blame the wife. For this track they've employed everyone's favourite Scandinavian maestros to rejig their new single Impossible and to my ears they've made it sound like the best track that The Cure never wrote. It's all here, great production, swooning melancholy lyrics and the most balearic guitar work this side of Sant Francesc. A record for a sunrise if ever I have heard one - superb stuff.

Shout Out Louds - Impossible - Possible Version by Studio

Some records I'm digging...

It's been a trying week waking up at 3am to watch the test side grind out a draw against the Poms at the home of cricket and I'm spent, so I'm just going to link the videos to these records that I seem to be playing constantly at the moment. I'll stick the mp3s up later in the week once I've gotten some sleep. All of these records are easy to pick up and cheap as chips.



Hot R.S. - Slow Blow



Silver Convention - Fly Robin Fly

(I'm posting this one mostly because the lead singer is easy on the eye, track isn't bad and is a cheapie - don't pay more than $2 for it)



Sheila & B. Devotion - Spacer



Barry White - Its Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me



Gilberto Gil - Toda Menina Baiana