To follow on from the superb Welcome Stranger track here is another dark groover but this time from Hercules & Love Affair who seem to be the darlings of the, ahem, dance media at the moment following on from their debut release and live shows that seem to have even gotten teenagers to look further than bands fronted by guys who have been shoe-horned into their skinny jeans for their musical fix. Fancy that! What they've done to musical chameleon Goldfrapp's A & E is nothing short of genius. It's a heads down late night groover that has almost afro chanting driving the electronic groove and is easily up there with the best remixes of the year. My favourite Goldfrapp story was passed onto me by a roadie friend of mine who told me that venues judge an artist's difficulty on, "a scale of one to Goldfrapp!"
All hail Thom Bullock! The man is well and truly on a roll at the moment. First there was The Laughing Light of Plenty single that seems to have capitivated all and sundry and now we have this incredible dark groover that is tailor-made for dark disco basements. Late night discoid genius from a man who most certainly can. This is the sort of record that makes you want to go out and get absolutely off your nut and dance the night away with 300 of your new best friends. Killer record!
Finland's Lil' Tony is probably best known for being a member of Nuspirit Helsinki who had a fair amount of success with releases on seminal deep house label Guidance Recordings and with Germany's Sonar Kollektiv. In recent years Lil' Tony has been forging a name for himself with his DJ sets and production work - especially those released with Kimmo Oksanen, Roberto Rodriguez and Toni Rantanen as the Future Beat Investigators - but it is with this solo release on France's Versatile Recordings that he takes that minimal yet soulful sound and takes it kicking and screaming down to the club where it can only result in one thing and that is pandemonium on the dancefloor. I really like techno records that are well made and this is most certainly a great addition to the cannon, check the bit where the piano comes in for proof.
Lil' Tony - Cosmic Afro Pan (REMOVED)
* Because this is a new release I'm only going to leave the .mp3 up until Monday morning at which point I'll take it down.
I'm listening to quite a lot of Brazilian stuff at the moment so things like Gilberto Gil, Jorge Ben and Caetano Veloso, also the Fleet Foxes album which is rather good.
3 records that changed your life. Why?
ELO - Last Train To London
This was the first record I bought when I was about 9 so I guess it must have had an influence on my tastes, the original 7" still sounds better than the edit that came out last year.
Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
Growing up in the 80s Talking Heads were a very influential band and this is without doubt my favourite of their tracks.
Fingers Inc. - Mystery of Love
I was into Electro and used to listen to Stu Allan on Piccadilly, he then started playing a few early House records from Chicago. Of all the early tracks Mystery Of Love is the most timeless in my opinion, still sounding great today.
What are you looking forward to?
I'm off to Electric Elephant in Croatia soon which should be a good.
What couldn’t you live without? Why?
Music, good friends and going out and having a laugh, although I don't seem to get enough time for that at the moment
Most memorable gig?
Probably the Def Jam tour at the Manchester Apollo in '87, it was LL Cool J, Run DMC, Eric B & Rakim and Public Enemy and it must have been good as we went back the next night.
Who/what are your influences?
My influences have tended to change on a regular basis so wouldn't like to name anyone in particular, I've always been more influenced by people who aren't scare to play something different though. Marc and Paul do deserve a special mention though, without them press-ganging me into coming on their radio show just over a year ago I would have never have started playing records outside my front room.
What is the best and worst thing about the city that you live in?
I'm probably going to say the same as most of the other Mancunians, but it's size is one of the best points; big enough that there's plenty to do but small enough that it's friendly and easy to get around. The worst thing would have to be the weather.
Given the accelerated pace of modern culture, what are we due a revival in?
Farahs and back perms.
Hero? Why?
I don't really do heroes, everybody is good at different things so the whole hero thing doesn't really work for me
Is there anything else that you feel that we should know?
When this came out in the late-90's I used to end each and every set of mine with this serotonin tingler. In those days I was playing mostly instrumental records, so this was my idea of a big vocal reach for the sky record and to be honest I still do think it is. I don't think I've bought anything by Spiritualized or the Chems since then although I think the wife has and I remember Deep Dish - back when they were any good - starting off one of their Yoshiesque compilations with this beauty. I particularly like the way how it winds down at the end, a proper 'moment' record.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a thing about Steely Dan as they've never really been on the radar. I know they're favourites with just about every bearded wonder out there but I've just never had the desire to pick up and album for some reason. I've seen Aja in bargain bins and always thumbed past it as I seem to have some ingrained irrational anti-Steely Dan tendencies from where I couldn't tell you. Maybe it is time that I put the effort in and ponied up for an album or two but I wouldn't really know where to start, so any tips would be greatly appreciated but bear in mind that if this is the cream of the crop then I'll probably just leave it here, I'm kind of silly that way sometimes. Anyway this re-edit is absolutely ace and I have no idea if it is true to the original or not but it does seem like the type of thing that would make people go absolutely radio rental on a dancefloor near you. I quite like it actually.
This is the last one for today as it'll probably take you a while to work through the others that I have posted during this frenzy. This record absolutely compliments everything else that I have put up tonight and is from an album that you can file right next to your Quiet Village album quite easily, the impeccable Keep It Slow. This is a record that didn't grab me immediately but since then after numerous repeat listens I have been all over this like jam on toast. I have no idea who they are, and I'm assuming that they're Belgian but that's just a guess, but if they continue to put out music as incredible as this then I'm pretty much guaranteed to buy their albums for years to come. There is something incredibly psychedelic (which seems to be the theme for the evening) about this cut and the drums in particular are programmed expertly - not too much, just enough - to drive the track through its initial stages into the part where the other big elements come in. It is a masterclass in arrangement and a record that I truly do love and one that if played at the right time on the right dancefloor could lead to a real moment. BUY THE ALBUM, IT IS ACE!! There I said it.
Beyond The Wizards Sleeve consist of Richard Norris who was in The Grid and Psychic TV and Erol Alkan who is absolutely massive on the Trash-inspired scene and who I must admit I went to go and listen to one night at Bugged Out! more out of curiosity than anything else and he played loads of techno, house and absolutely ace psychedelic stuff mixed to absolute perfection and he made me go a bit mental on the dancefloor with a few angular-haired students who made me their pet project for the night introducing me to all and sundry. My only regret that night is that I could've got a free haircut out of my new mates...oh well.
This has to be an edit of something but just what I don't know. This was included on their Spring EP that cost the better side of $20 to acquire and it is probably the best thing that they have ever done. I don't know about you but I find it absolutely euphoric and they've worked the chorus/refrain absolutely expertly and I can guarantee that you'll be singing it for the rest of the day. This is just the sort of record that I love to hear in and amongst an abrasive techno set that would make the entire place have a much needed collective wobble. I could definitely see someone like Weatherall incorporating it to devastating effect. What a record.
This is absolutely brilliant. I've been getting into the Martin Denny Exotica sound for a while now and apparently in record stores they call it Surfrock, well they did in San Francisco at least, but I find most of the records need severe editing as there are usually some bits that are absolute rubbish nestled in and amongst the gorgeous arrangements. This record however is perfect and clocks in at a brisk two minutes and three seconds and from the first sounds of the shore and the inclement weather augmented by the absolutely brilliant horn section driving it along I'm sure that you'll agree that this record is absolutely killer. Not sure where you'd play it but it would definitely stand out during a day time balearic set with the sun lapping down and a decent sized cocktail in hand. It's not every day that I say that a record is too short but this one could definitely do with some lengthening. Now I know absolutely nothing about the artist but I definitely want to hear more. If anyone has any idea where I can find more tracks by a group that quite clearly ticks all the right boxes then please let me know. Just incredible stuff.
The Laughing Light of Plenty is a new project fronted by the incredibly talented Thom Bullock of Map of Africa, Rub 'n Tug, Otterman Empire and A.R.E. Weapons infamy, and he's partnered by LA-based artist Edward Ruscha who produces music that is from the very left of leftfield. He's a man who uses stacks of analogue equipment and performs productions through live experimentation for a truly unique sound to go with his approach. He has released work through Tom Chasteen's Exist Dance label under his Dada Munchamonkey moniker. Our hero is also a member of Future Pigeon who take their influences from everything from dub to psychedelic rock, basically they're ace and I'll stick a track or two by them up in the following week. This track, which to me is a perfect accompaniment to the Dogs of War track a few posts down, is the very best of both the psychedelic rock, punk and dance worlds and is probably my favourite record of the year thus far. As this record will be out on the notoriously limited Whatever We Want Records very soon I'll only have this .mp3 available for the rest of the week at which point I'll take it down. This tune is absolutely ace and I've listened to it at least 30 times today and each time I play it louder. I'm not very far from having a bit of a pogo around my front room...ace!
The Laughing Light of Plenty - The Rose (Removed as it is now available at Piccadilly Records)
Q. Lazzarus is a mysterious singer who is best known for this song, which was famously featured in the tuck your little fella away scene in Silence of The Lambs back at the beginning of the 90s. Apparently not much is known about her or her band so I'll diverge a bit and tell you a bit about one of my favourite producers, Krikor. Our hero is a French recording artist who doesn't release a lot of records but pretty much everything that he has released is an absolute winner in my book. If leftfield wonky yet funk as fuck records are your game then he's the man for you especially with tracks like Burt Reynolds, Whisky Boy and Rock Hard In A Funky Place, which are all absolute essentials in my book. There is something very special about artists who don't stick to the blueprint but take chances in their programming and ultimately make records that leap out on the dancefloor and make people go absolutely barmy. Great producer. When you play this one for the love of God please don't try and recreate the scene from the flick...you'll just feel silly.
The Fleet Foxes are a five piece Seattle-based band who have been making waves with everyone from folkies to bearded balearica aficionados. This track White Winter Hymnal is off their self-titled debut album that all of you should really own and Aeroplane those bastions of nu-disco trance-lite grooves recently included this track on their mix for Resident Advisor which gives you some idea of the appeal of the track. It is just the sort of thing that I like to listen to early in the morning before things go a bit mental. Dive in.
I've been losing sight of solid dancefloor records here on the blog recently and with this superb italo-influenced slice of techno from Tensnake I am rectifying all of that. This came out last year and is one of those records that wasn't as instantaneous as some others released around the same time but like most great records they may not hit you immediately but they're definitely records that you'll pull out of your bag in years to come when the other bigger records will be collecting dust on your shelves. He's just recently released a record on the Kompakt-funded Endless Flight label that has been garnering support from the likes of Tony Tobias and James Kumo. Tensnake is definitely on the ball. Play this one loud.
This is a super-rare album that fetches upwards of $300 and apparently is an album that greatly influenced bands like Map of Africa et al. This cut is from their self-titled album and the only one by them that I've been able to find and I gather that it has recently been re-issued which should save most of you some serious wedge. The album is full of camp electronic disco with funk, rock and disco touches with loads of ace percussive breakdowns that are ripe for sampling. If anyone knows anything else about Dogs of War then please let me know but until then enjoy this superb grooving slice of aceness.
Joakim Bouaziz is a Parisian techno producer who isn't afraid to dip his toes in other genres and does so impeccably with everything from balearica to disco covered. Under his Jimi Bazzouka monker he released that Wings edit last year that everyone played and when I say everyone I mean EVERYONE! Recently he's been working with his band The Ectoplasmics and delivering his unique and compelling take on indie-dance music that he hinted at on his brilliant album Monsters & Silly Songs which if you haven't bought already you really should. This track Lonely Hearts was one of my favourite records of 2007 and I must have played it every week for six months both in haunts in the UK and on the radioshow. It has one of those catchy hooks that you catch yourself singing constantly for days. I love this record and I hope that you do as well.
Colonel Red is a singer, song-writer and performer with a clear understanding of his roots and the heritage of his ancestors on both sides of the Atlantic that result in a spiritual and learned take on modern soul music. His debut album “Blue Eye Blak” was released on People back in 2005 and since then while a lot of contemporaries have fallen away due to the close of Goya he has continued to rise above the presipice and release music that has found favour with tastemakers as renowned as Gilles Peterson who included a track of his on a Brownswood Bubblers compilation. His work fuses an original interplay between soul, acoustic and percussion all in a way that leads me to believe that Colonel Red is the real deal and someone who we will be hearing a lot more of in the years to come.
Both of these tracks are taken from the album Tip of The Tongue State of which Mule Musiq has already culled tracks like Bad Pulse and Delusion Habitfrom to rapturous responses on dancefloors last year but nothing else seems to have come from an album that is all killer and no filler, so I decided to share a few with you.
The album was a Japan-only release, which is incredibly criminal in my book as it definitely deserved to be heard by more ears. These two tracks are very different but share those qualities that made those other tracks so wonderful.
First up is 模範囚 which is veering towards the cod-reggae side of things but they reign it in just in time to make it a perfect slice of sunshine balearica that sounds incredible in the sunshine. Monster Smoke is a track that sounds very 'live' which isn't a surprise given that Sly Mongoose are indeed a live band who use very little post-production on their work - what you hear on record is very close to what you get when you hear them live and they're ripe for the festival circuit and it is a shame that bands like them, Cro-Magnon and Double Famous haven't followed in the frankly barmy footsteps of Soil & "Pimp" Sessions but anyway Monster Smoke is a psychedelic take on the disco/balearic sound that so many acts seem to be trying to do at the moment and failing miserably. It is one of those records that once you get into it, you're hooked. Superb stuff I'm sure all of you will agree.
This track is a little hidden gem on an 6 tracker that isn't really that much cop beyond this Willie Hutch cut-up. Cobra Krames uses I Choose You by our man and loops it to within an inch of its life and granted it does get a bit silly towards the end but bear with me. Picture the scenario, it is 4am the house lights have come on and you've been told by the Johnny Roid Rage that you have one more and you better make it a short one, so you reach into your bag and pull out this corker and it'll have the hands in the air with smiles aplenty guaranteed. Probably would go down like a lead balloon at any other time but in the right place at the right time it'll have the punters eating out of your hands. Might be a bit of a marmite tune but it is a bit of fun in a sea of seriousness. Give it a bash.
This is a real gem from the one of the original members of the Norwegian dancefloor alliance that shook up the deep house scene in the mid-90s. God Kveld is off his criminally overlooked album Feil Knapp that originally was going to be CD-only but eventually a few copies were pressed up on black crack and I've almost worn the grooves off my copy. There are some many contrived nu-disco records floating about and unfortunately the smash and grab edits and sound-the-same tunes mean that truly great tracks like this one go criminally unnoticed and tragically unplayed. This is a track that I could see a great warm-up DJ using in house clubs to devastating effect. Superb stuff.
Brighton's Soft Rocks have created easily the most psychedelic record of 2008 with this offering. I think it samples Stevie Knicks but I'm not entirely sure and it is especially appropriate after I have just spent 2 and a half days negotiating San Francisco to celebrate Jeni's and my one year wedding anniversary, and lets face it San Francisco is the home of all things psychedelia. The wife and I especially enjoyed going into City Lights bookstore, home of the whole beatnik thing and seeing their wonderfully humorous posters on the walls one of which read - The redlight district will be closed on June 26th because the ladies will be attending the Policeman's ball. They also had great sections with entertaining names like Muckraking etc. We easily walked 10 miles each day and our weary legs were rewarded with great food, awesome sights and some really great music being played in all the stores we went into. Soul, jazz and funk were the order of the day and I caught myself asking various kids in stores what the names of the songs were to mostly befuddled looks.
Their record stores however come well-stocked but at a price, every album was greatly inflated and you could easily get them for far cheaper on Discogs or GEMM but there is something to be said about getting dusty in a record emporium manned by someone who has given up their souls to the groove of which there are plenty in San Francisco. Anyway I'm diverging a bit here, basically this is a great addition to the Soft Rocks cannon and one that if it came on in a club I would go absolutely radio rental...man.
I don't know an awful lot about this track beyond that it samples Van Morrison and came out on a mysterious white label back in 2002. Judging by the amount of mixes that it has appeared on and the reactions that it gets in the clubs that it has been well and truly well received by the bearded guardians of balearica. If anyone knows anything else about this record then don't hesitate to let me know.
To coincide with the launch of the brand new Stones Throw online store Egon, PBW and the rest of the set have put together what is in an incredible Madvillain package that will only be available through the website. I thought it would be best to use their copy as it says it best. Oh yeah, and get your hands on those Parra t-shirts as with the way how that man's career is going at the moment they could be worth something in a few years. I've also chosen Pearls off the album for all of you to listen as it is by far and away my favourite cut off the album. Enjoy.
Madvillainy 2: The Box
Some might say its sacrilege to revisit a classic album like Madvillainy. You know, like George Lucas messing around with Star Wars and digitally inserting Jabba The Hut rapping with Han Solo. But Madlib’s never been one to respect convention - and he made this one for headphone listening while on a ten-hour plane ride to Tokyo. But this reworking (we hate to say remix) was so good that, after we sat with it for a while, we decided that we had to make it available.
Yeah, we’re waiting for the new Madvillain too. Every once in a while we hear from DOOM, and he tells us he’s getting closer. Madlib still sends him beat CDs. DOOM always remembers our birthdays. But, we don’t have the sequel, and we know every nuance of Madvillainy. So we’ve been bumping this album while we’re patiently waiting. And it’s been good. Like visiting with a friend who you haven’t seen in years and remembering why you were friends to begin with.
So now you get a chance to get in on it too.
This album will only be available through our website - we just launched our own store. You know, cut out the middleman, fuck the establishment.... That type of vibe. So here we are, saying: “We’ve got something special. And we’re going to sell it to you in a big ass box full of cool ass shit that you won’t be able to get anywhere else.”
We’re manufacturing based on pre-orders. If you order it, you’re guaranteed to get one. If you decide to wait, well, you might not. These things are difficult and expensive to make. That’s why we’re selling them for a lot of money. And you’ve noticed the ship date right? They’re going to take a while to manufacture. So you’ll have to wait a little while. We’ll do everything we can to beat that ship date, but that’s a guaranteed date. If we don’t ship on September 15th, Peanut Butter Wolf will DJ at your house for you. Any day except Tuesday.
Madvillainy “2” The Box $125 plus shipping Pre-order: until August 15th Ship date: September 15th
THE BOX: 12x13x3 inches. Wrapped in silver like a mask.
7-INCH: “One Beer (Drunk Version)” Madlib's original 2004 version, lost until recently on the floor of his Bomb Shelter studio. If you saw the studio you'd understand.
CASSETTE: The Madvillainy Demo Tape. 12 tracks, 36 minutes. This is the first and only official release of the infamous Madvillain demo that “leaked into cyberspace,” while the album was still in progress, as DOOM alludes to in the lyrics of “Rhinestone Cowboy.”
COMIC BOOK: Meanwhile... the continuation of the All Caps video, included with the CD.
T-SHIRT: Nominated. Best Rolled L's. Madvillain shirt.
Quetzal is one of my favourite records, made by keyboard master Gerald Mitchell and DJ Rolando this uplifting but never cheesey techno epic has been always at the front of the box since it came out in 2002. It is one of those records that is fairly simple but the arrangement and melody make this stand above the rest of the run-of-the-mill techno plodders out there. This record is proof along with tracks like Jaguar that when it comes to techno then you should really be looking towards Detroit for the tunes that don't date after two weeks. I'll be playing this one in ten years.
This track samples I Feel Your Love Comin' On by CHIC who are of course the incredible production partnership of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers and what 22 year old Norwegian Morten Sorenson has done is taken it kicking and screaming into the 21st century with a big room spacey sound that makes for a record that Paul and I would've been caning on the radio and in the venues if I was still playing Left Deck over in Manchester. It's big, it's loud and a sure-fire dancefloor destroyer. Play it and watch the place go off.
New York's Martin Denny is the king of Exotica whose sound takes in everything from smooth jazz to polynesian indigenous instrumentation to all sorts of other influences garnered from his trips everywhere from Hawaii to Burma. This track, which is a cover of Les Baxter's cut of the same name, is reputedly who Matt Edwards and Joel Martin named themselves after when they came up with their Quiet Village moniker. What I like about this record, and the album itself for that matter, is that it sounds like absolutely nothing else in my collection and I mean that in a good way. It's a record that instantly plants your feet firmly on sandy beaches with the waves lapping at the shore, cocktail in one hand surrounded by dancing women on some forgotten island. Basically what I'm trying to say is that this record is filled with sunshine and it feeds my overactive imagination, which is a awesome all round really. Another great thing about this record is that it is a cheapie, don't pay more than $7 for a copy. Unfortunately Martin passed away in late-2005 having spent the majority of his life living in Hawaii, which is the perfect place to listen to his music. Who is up for testing the theory?
I Love You More is a stone-cold classic and one that still gets people rushing up to the booth to ask what it is. Ian Pooley sampled it on the massive 900 Degrees that was the weapon of choice for many a deep house DJ in he 90s and more recently Low Motion Disco basically stole it hook, line and sinker on Love, Love, Love which is as blatant a rip-off as anything you're ever likely to hear but like all great records you can have imitators but inevitably it is the original that will be getting the most plays. In a year nobody will give a shit about the Low Motion Disco version but when those opening bars of the original come in there'll be hands in the air and smiles aplenty. A superb record that never fails to put me in a good mood.
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)
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!
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?
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!!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Probably the coolest man named Rupert alive, Photek has been at the forefront of dance music production since the halcyon days of drum 'n bass in the mid-90s when every production he put out was lapped up by enthusiasts the world over. His educated ear has helped everyone from Roni Size to the producers of the feature film Dreamland realize their musical vision for their projects and in addition to this Rupert had the balls to make a house album at a time when drum 'n bass was engulfed with a rent-an-amen-break tracks that made the scene so dull for a while. This cut featuring the voice of house music, Robert Owens, is off Solaris that proved what an incredible talent Photek is. It is a record that oozes quality, soul and progresses perfectly through the groove aided by Robert's superb delivery. Truly one of the great house records of all time. Let your ears drink it up.
Who are the Panthers? Well I don't have a clue as their website unbelievably doesn't have a bio on it, which is a rookie error if ever there was one, so all I have is the track to go by and that isn't a bad thing in all truth. New York's Holy Ghost! take the track to that 3am late-night vibe that'll make dancefloors erupt, especially with it's repetitive vocal refrain that will have the arms in the air and the hips shaking. This is one of those records that makes perfect sense in a loud nightclub on a thumping system and seeing as it was released the other day it should be doing that this weekend at various clubs the world over. Great tune.
This is the sort of record that I would generally sneak into the first hour of my radioshow when I would usually play records that were a little more left of the disco/house blueprint and this was easily one of the cuts that I loved to play. It was released on Rock Action Records home to bands like noise terrorists Mogwai and I'm not even sure how I found out about them, possibly my wife had something to do with it seeing as she is a fairly avid seeker of indie records - I'm sure she'll confirm later. Errors are a Glaswegian band whose atmospheric leftfield sound has been compared to the likes of Mogwai but they definitely have their own sound, one that traverses a glitchy, loop-driven groove that utilizes melody in an extremely fresh way. They also get extra points for calling their album How Clean Is Your Acid House?
Ace find by Jeffo, I was lucky enough to live in the city and meet a fair amount of these characters. Amazing city, brilliant people. (Click on the picture for a larger picture)
Here is an absolute treat for those of you proud members of the sub-100bpm club. Los Angeles' Cole Medina has take a pair of scissors to the Bee Gees' Love You Inside Out and done nothing more than elongate the intro turning into into a slo-mo slow-burner that should find favour with the BBQ set on these warm balmy summer days. This is one of those records that you can leave on loop for half an hour or so and be perfectly happy as it sunkissed groove inevitably makes your day shine. Superb stuff and one that should appeal to everyone from the soul set to the discoid dumpers.
Cole Medina - Love You Inside Out (The Pinches mix) (Removed)
Harry Whitaker is a piano player, producer and arranger who on Martin Luther King day in 1976, at the age of 26, recorded Black Renaissance Body, Mind, and Spirit, a holy grail amongst collectors of soul-jazz and rare groove. So rare, it's virtually a myth to many collectors and music aficionados, and one that a few people I know have spent a fair amount of money on including myself. It is one of those records that isn't only aided in the legendary status by its rarity but also by the supreme musicianship on offer by all the players. To add to that the album was basically bootlegged by a Japanese label called Baystate, who never bothered to inform Whitaker as to its release. When Baystate folded, copies virtually vanished, leaving Whitaker with no distribution, no money, and no way to hear the actual LP. To make matters worse, the master tapes of the recording were destroyed in a fire. Thankfully Ubiquity Records somehow managed to acquire the rights to the album and re-released it a few years ago much to the chagrin of those of us who had dropped $350+ on a copy. This is a record that is compulsory for any record collection - superb stuff.
I was listening to an old mix from the mid-90s that a friend of mine and I did, and this tune immediately jumped out and I couldn't decide if sentiment was making me all excited about it or if it really is a decent tune. I'm in two minds truth be told but back in the 90s when this tune reared its head and was appropriated by lotions as their anthem of choice it was a barnstormer that was played by everyone from Sasha to Danny Rampling and followed me around for a few months at seemingly every party that I went to over that time. I'm sure the vast majority of you groaned when you saw it on here but for those of us who lapped up just about everything that was thrown at us in the mid-90s from Goldie to this, it was an absolute anthem but ultimately we all got sick of it but it still puts a smile on my face. This one is for you, Graham.
Razzy Bailey is a purveyor of blue-eyed country and soul and this cut taken off the album also titled I Hate Hate is probably his best work, well to these ears at least. There is something incredibly beautiful about the lyrics and the organ melody all delivered with aplomb by our hero who it seems had a lot of trouble in the music industry constantly dropping out of it whenever record sales went bad. He did have remarkable success in the late 70s and early 80s where he had thirteen number one tracks, none of which I have ever heard of. I'm quite happy having this as the only Razzy track in my collection and to be honest it doesn't get any better than this.
This track exemplifies all that is fresh in the world of music at the moment to me. There is something beautiful about the way how Flying Lotus has added Dolly's exquisite vocals to a fairly bleek beat landscape and his ability to make an almost transluscent synergy of the two is the stuff of genius. This is off his new album Los Angeles and for anyone who even has a passing interest in the beat world then this is a great entry point. Gilles Peterson's recent show has an indepth and strong look at the scene and you can download the show from here - heavy cut after heavy cut. Superb stuff.
I know very little about Pepe California beyond this track that featured on his mini album Yes I Do, which you can buy from here. I haven't really been able to find anything in English on him but he seems to be Japanese and obviously a lover of psychedelia and balearic goodness which is reinforced by this track that is beautiful from start to finish. I would love a copy of this on 12" but so far I haven't had any luck but I've enlisted help from friends of mine in Tokyo, so hopefully one will turn up sooner rather than later. If anyone knows anything about our hero get in touch. A record for the bears, I think.
I'm a Cape Town boy who has been around the world and back and still hasn't found a place that I truly want to settle. I've written for numerous publications about all sorts of elements of popular culture. I'm a recordhound constantly on the search for "the perfect beat" and have come close a few times. I have far too many pairs of shoes and not enough pairs of pants unfortunately.
If you own any of these tracks and want me to remove them or you just want to get in contact for whatever reason then e-mail me at marc.kets[at]kumo-music.com.
