MK, born Marc Kinchen, is one of our heroes. Born in Detroit, but later embracing elements of the New York garage sound, he’s one of the true innovators of the dub dance mix, a style made most famous on his “Dub Of Doom” mix of Nightcrawlers’ “Push The Feeling”.  Fast forward to the present and with the near death of major label pop remixes the true dub mix has become a lost art. So, what better time for a return of the King Of The Dub and what better place than at Detroit Electronic Music Festival (Movement 2009) where he will be premiering his new 4 turntable plus sampler set with his brother Scotti Deep. I had the honor of catching up with the man himself from his L.A. digs as he prepares for his upcoming return to dance music.

How’d you get involved with techno?
Basically, I started in Detroit when I was 16. I had started doing music when I was in 8th grade and then I met a guy named Terrence Parker through a friend of mine and he did techno music. I didn’t know about techno music then, but he saw I had gear and he’s like “you wanna make a record together”. So we made our first release as Separate Minds and it came out on a little independent label called Express Records and got a pretty good buzz. When that came out Kevin Saunderson heard it and got in touch with me to license the song for [his label] KMS.

That’s so funny, I just got a copy of that compilation the other day.
Yeah, that was big for us, but most important, that’s when I met Kevin and from that point I became Kevin’s protégé.

What did you use to make those legendary basslines?
I always sequenced on computers. I think I was using an Atari ST. Then I had a 909 and a sampler and for synths I would just use what Kevin had. He had like every synth in his studio, but always I tried to stay simple, I just winged it with like one or two synth parts. But, alot of my bass sounds were samples. I would sample a bass sound that then assign it to a keyboard. I’ve never really been like stuck to one type of synth or a couple types of synths. Other then bass, sampling was really just for vocals, but I probably used the same bass sample for about 5 years.

For me your dubs are the most influential, but you also had a bunch of hit vocal tracks, what differs in your approach to a vocal vs. a dub?
I’ve always thought I had a good ear for vocals, but sometimes on some of the dance stuff the vocals were hard to work with. Most of the time if I had a vocal track that I didn’t like the vocals too, that’s when I would do a dub. As far as when I’m doing [original] vocals, it depends on the type of sound I’m looking for. The MK with Alana stuff like Burning was more a strategic approach. Now, vocally, when I approach something I go on a vibe, but now a days I use better singers.

What’s the dude saying on the Nightcrawlers jam?
Uh-and-a-night-again-uh-and-a-night-so-pull-it. But seriously, I got commissioned to do a mix [of that song], I did the mix, and they didn’t like it. I was living in New York and my manger called me and said they didn’t like it, but I was about to go catch a flight to Detroit. At that time one of my speakers was blown and my [mixing] board was on the floor, not even set up. My studio was a mess. I was kinda mad that they didn’t like it, so I did [a new] one real quick, in like 30 minutes. I didn’t like the vocals so I just cut it up. Everything I did was a first pass, from the horns to the keys to the sample. Plus, I was working out of only one speaker. I just did the mix sent it to my manager and I was out. I get back to New York a week later and I listened to the mix and I got goose bumps. Then I played it for my brother [Scotti Deep] and he was like damn.

Wow, 30 minutes, for one of the biggest dance songs of all time? Crazy!
I try to take that approach when I do dance stuff. I don’t put alot of thought in to my dance stuff. It’s more just a feeling, so I just go for it and hopefully it ends up working for whatever reason.

Why’d you step away from dance music?
I was doing a mix a week for like 15-20 grand so money wasn’t the issue. The issue became, am I just gunna remix my whole life? Cause at the time remixing was a relatively new thing and so was producing, I didn’t know about the longevity, so I was like I need to do original production. You hear about producers and artist that are living off of royalties later on in life. I kinda just stopped doing remixes and I went into production. I hooked up with Quincy Jones and that led to working with 702, Snoop, SWV, Jay-Z, E-40 and everybody else.

So why the return to dance music?
That was fine and [dance music] was in the beginning stages of dying down anyway. [Today] with the way the industry is right now, it’s not good right now. I feel like if your gunna do it now, just do it for the art. So it felt like a good time to get back into it. What I’m doing is trying to do some stuff a little different, I’m going to put out a new MK record vinyl only, no digital.

When’s it coming out? What does it sound like?
It will be done before Detroit and will probably be out in June. One of the tracks is called “Dance With Me”. [The sound] is kind of a return to before. I’ve been doing stuff over the last year to see what style works for me. My old sound still works, with a little harder drums but still the dub stuff. I like the dub sound of vocal pieces. I’m also gunna be DJing more over the next year or two. My brother [Scotti Deep] and I are gunna start touring around.

You’re gunna be playing with Scotti at Movement. What’s that gunna sound like? Is this the world premier?
Well, it’s a 4 turntable thing plus a sampler so I can do like dubs on the fly kinda thing. Almost like a live meets DJ thing. We DJed together like tag-team in London a couple months back, but Detroit is the permier of the keyboard and 4 deck thing.

What other new sounds are you into?
It’s the same as it’s always been for me. I never listen to anything by name. Maybe, just Masters At Work and Todd [Terry] back in the day. I wont even ask the name of it, I just listen and “yeah its dope”. I’ve also always really liked Mike Dunn.

Any last words?
See you in 2009. Ha!

For more on Movement 2009 check out their myspace and blog.

In anticipation of Abe Duque’s performance at Midweektechno tomorrow, Wed 2/18, we’ve asked “Mr Techno” himself Pat Fontes to dig into this artist who has inspired so many.  Let us not forget that we will be celebrating Pat’s birthday tomorrow, and while we dont think Abe Duque will be popping out of a cake, we do think that he will punishing the Pheonix Landing sound system with exclusive nastiness.

We let Pat Fontes take it from here…

So Underground It Hurts is more than just Abe Duque’s motto, its literally his signature etched into all of the vinyl releases on his limited edition imprint Abe Duque Records.  He’s also done away with your everyday paper artsy labels, opting instead for more pronounced etching where a label might have been.  Sometimes he even avoids track titles all together.  Im guessing he does this to let the music speak for itself, but i gotta tell you that it’s something I truly admire and have the upmost respect for!  Here are a few of Abe Duques tracks that I’ve ripped so you can hear his sound.

Abe Duque – Untitled A1 [Abe Duque Records 005 - Besame Mucho! - 2003]
DOWNLOAD / BUY VINYL
The first track of choice and all time favorite released in 2003 is a lil jacking freaky breaky number that is a proven party rocker with snip samples of some dude repeating “feel that…..ah… feel that funk !”   Hearing all the crackles and pops you can probably tell that I have worn this record out like a pair of running shoes in a marathon.  You can find this tune entitled Besame Mucho on Abe Duque Records #5

Abe Duque – What You Gonna Do? vs Disco Lights
DOWNLOAD
The second track is actually a mix of two tracks that marries Abe Duques somewhat Detroit style to his more edgy NY/Berlin flavor.  Defined as house to some and techno to others, both tracks combine well.  The opening track includes a cameo from non-other than Blake Baxter, which on the flip of this record has the big 2004 hit “What Happened” (a question some of us still ask ourselves once the sun is up)  The other record does the same asking ” What you gonna do ?” so yea what you gonna do ? Disco Lights … Club Nights … definitely!

Thank you Pat .  Based out of NYC, Abe Duque is well known as a founding member of the Rancho Relaxo Allstars along with Dietrich Schoenemann and John Selway.  He has also worked closely with DJ Hell co-producing many of his records.  Abe Duque has released original music and remixed since 1993 on labels including Tresor, Tension, International Deejay Gigolo’s and many others.  As a DJ Abe has travelled far and wide to play his music, from his once club residency Limelight in NYC to many stops around the globe.  See some fun videos here.

For me, Aquarius Recordings was never just about the music, but rather a very clear aesthetic that went beyond just looking back to dance music’s roots in sound and style, but also in visual design. As you can see from the artwork pictured above (which is on the 3 records we explore later), Aquarius was looking to the past in imagery as well as layout and font, which were the same on every Aquarius record I have ever seen. The music on each Aquarius vinyl (and I can only speak for the ‘96-’99 heyday) follows the same themes as the artwork: simple, sample based and dripping with disco, soul, jazz or funk. Each track pays tribute to the narrative of American dance music, while still looking forward and pushing new boundaries in sound and technique that would lay an important piece of the foundations for the disco house explosion of the late 90’s.

Paul Jacobs – Untitled (A1) [DISCO 01 - Soul Grabber Pt. 1 - 1996]
DOWNLOAD MP3 / BUY VINYL
I just checked Paul Jacobs‘ Myspace page and the latest comment is from none other than former Roots&Future interviewee Hollis P Monroe, who shouts out Jacobs for his remix of Dreams In Digital killing it at Fabric back in 2001. I’ve never heard that remix, but I have heard enough from Jacobs to know how important he was to the disco house movement. Following in the footsteps of Chicago house artists like Gene Farris, Paul Johnson, Boo Williams and Glenn Underground, Jacobs’ Soul Grabber releases (of which this was the first) defined the harder edge of the disco house sound made so popular by Daft Punk and DJ Sneak. And while Sneak and the Frenchmen may have more staying power, from 1996-1999 Jacobs was as important as anyone in disco house.

George Thomson – Untitled (B1) [DISCO 09 - Goin' Home EP - 1997]
DOWNLOAD MP3 / BUY VINYL
Congratulations! You’ve just been let in on a secret Soul Clap dancefloor bomb. This looped out disco house monster is by George Thomson aka The Plastic Avengers of NRK fame and who also had a release on Crosstown Rebels in 2005 called Laid Back Snack Attack.

Back Door Revelations – Untitled (B1) [DISCO 13 - 1998]
DOWNLOAD MP3 / BUY VINYL
While I’m not quite sure about the name of this EP, it was the only release under that name by  Jason Hodges , Matt Dimaria , Shams Thirani, who were better known as Jinxx. While Thirani seems to have disapeered, Hodges and Dimaria are two of Toronto’s most prolific and longstanding house producers, with releases on a laundry list of top labels. This actually isn’t our favorite track on the EP, that would be the B2 cut, but we do have to keep some of our weapons secret

I’ve been a big fan of Terry Francis since I got the Architecture mix he did for Pagan Records in 1998. To me this mix represents the peak of the UK tech house sound that Francis played a huge role in molding and is one of my favorite mixes of all time. But since the early ’00s I haven’t been a huge fan of the direction Francis and the rest of the UK tech sound has gone. Until now, well sort of. While I love this mix Francis did for the GTC Podcast in October, I feel like it’s a whole new world from previous mixes I had heard. Maybe it’s just because I have been out of touch with his music, but for this one Francis blends his signature tech sound with jacking house funk to create a perfect mix for your headphones and your butt. As for GTC (Get The Curse), they first caught my attention with the D’Julz episode of their podcast back in June and basically have been going from strength to strength ever since so do yourself a favor and subscribe.
Get The Curse Podcast 041 – Terry Francis

More mixes from around the interwebs this week:
I:Cube Mix = Opertation Hynosis from Versatile Records Blog
Andomat 3000 from LWE
Marko Fürstenberg Live @ Panorama Bar 9/27/08 from Playkula

It’s not often that we review new music here on the Soul Clap blog, but it’s also not often that a label/party/”music community” as important as Wolf + Lamb drops their first vinyl release, which is what they’re doing this month in the form of Lee Curtiss‘ “Sexy Dancer EP”. We went to our first Wolf + Lamb party during minitek, and let me tell you, if you haven’t been to one of their underground events at the Marcy Hotel you’re missing out. Besides throwing some of the best parties in NYC, Wolf + Lamb founders Zev Eisenberg and Gadi Mizrahi have been running a digital label since 2004, which features over 50 releases from many of US techno’s rising stars like Seth Troxler, Ryan Crosson, Shaun Reeves and of course Lee Curtiss who clearly has been carefully selected to launch Wolf + Lamb Records in grand fashion.

And launch the label Curtiss does… If by launch you mean to dive deep into the throbbing womb of a dark afterhours dancefloor. With “Sexy Dancer EP” Curtiss has truly captured that afterhours sound of 2008 in one tight package. The uneasily repetitive floating vocal snippets, the raw dark-funk bassline, the chopped up jitterly swung house beats, the winding and seemingly structureless sequencing and all delivered in a slow shuffled sway. However, while all these elements run through the entire four track EP, each cut still manages to distinguish itself with a distinct flavor all it’s own. Take our favorite for example: for “And Counting” Curtiss combines a mysterious Ghost In The Shell-esque vocal, with swinging garage beats and warm house chords to create a deep throbbing late-night masterpiece. The title track, “Sexy Dancer”, relies less on vocals (while still managing to include incompreshensible snippets) and more on 80’s influences, with Princian funk stabs running from begining to end and a dark ripping bassline combing to create a heavy dancefloor workout. Closing out the EP is Curtiss’ remix of Wolf + Lamb staple Smirk’s “Start A Fire”, which goes even darker than the previous cuts with an evil, repetitive bassline and more unnervingly chopped male vocals driving the track forward with a true sense of emptiness and despair that could only only be inspired by the sweat covered walls and contorted bodies crammed into the impossibly small Marcy Hotel dancefloor at another Wolf + Lamb party.

To help promote the release the W+L guys have been kind enough to giveaway some teaser material from the digital label for a limited time

Zev – Feelin’ DOWNLOAD

Zev – Blade Runner Blues (Remix of Vangelis) DOWNLOAD

So, completely unrelated to anything, last night I found myself unveiling a web of nerdo music information that had me rather astonished.  It all started thanks to Paul Foley’s “Groove To Dis Biatch” ghetto ass mix cd from ages ago I found knocking around the car.  The mix starts out with Kraftwerk’s “The Man Machine” which alone is incredibly dope, however, my journey begins a few tracks later into the mix.

Toto’s EPIC sensitive anthem “Georgy Porgy” is where I totally lost it.  This song is so amazing, I mean its one of those jams where you’re can’t even help singing along (not backup either, just like belting shit out while crying hysterically inside).  PLUS, what a tune to get so down to on the dance floor, ultimate swagger.  Ridiculous harmony, the syncopation between the vocal and the piano, that disco shuffle and Cheryll Lynn (her myspace page is myspace.com/butterflygong1, I kid you NOT) + wood block on the chorus! I dunno, maybe its just me, but it brings out everything that’s ever gone right or wrong in a relationship.  Believe, if you’re still sensitive in 2008, you know what I’m talking about.  This is truely the work of a tortured man.  Like damn bro, shoulda told the girl you were a player, its the LOVE that leaves you exposed like a sandcastle at high tide.  Oh, honorable mention to Eric Benet & Faith Evans for the R&B cover, but they clearly come in second place to the O.G.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Toto feat. Cheryl Lynn – Georgy Porgy DOWNLOAD

OK, so here’s where it gets interesting tho… So I’m like, who the hell are TOTO really?  Right, like of course they blesed the rains down in Africa, but like, who are these dudes, so WHITE and like why name the band Toto?  And I dont know the answer, BUT I do know after some DISCOGS research that they are a group of STUDIO MUSICIANS that together really made it happen.  The amazing thing here is that individually these dudes are SO PROLIFIC.  Especially the synthesizer players Steve Porcaro (thats homeboy at the top), Greg Phillinganes and David Paich.  Ok, so clearly from the size of the synth Pocaro’s patching on the top, he’s is absolutely ridiculous.  He’s got the late 70’s / early 80’s thing down, big ass hair, track pants (why not) and that hint of old school sleaze, not like greasy but like innate and powerful.  Phillinganes and Paich, I couldn’t find many pics from back in the day, but I’m sure they’re amazing.  BUT, its not the looks that peaked my interest, just ATTEMPT to fathom the volume of records, these guys have appeared on as a studio musicians, they are MASTER synthesizer men.  Here are some of the highlights:

• The Hues Corporation – Love Corporation (1975) – Keys by Paich
• Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life (1976) – Phillinganes on “Contusion”, “Isnt She Lovely”, “Joy Inside My Tears” and “Saturn“
• Boz Scaggs – Lowdown (1976) – Arrangement by Paich. (Credited on King Britts remake from Ovum Recordings)
• Michael Jackson – Blame It On The Boogie (1978) – Keyboard arrangement by Phillinganes
• Donald Byrd – Thank You… For F.U.M.L. (Funking Up My Life) (1978) Phillinganes on piano
• Cheryl Lynn – Got To Be Real (1978) – Written by Paich
• Michael Jackson – Off The Wall (1979) - Porcaro programming synths, Phillinganes playing on every tune.  Also “Dont Stop Til You Get Enough” written by Phillinganes.
• Adrian Gurvitz – The Way I Feel (1979) – String arrangement by Porcaro and Paich.  Get Physical Records stole this album cover to make their logo!
• The Brothers Johnson – LIght Up The Night (1980) – Porcaro programming synths, Phillinganes plays on “Stomp!”.
• Herb Albert – Magic Man (1981) – Porcaro on synths
• Donna Summer – Donna Summer (1982) – Porcaro and Paich synth arrangement and programming, Phillinganes on almost every tune
• Michael Jackson – Thriller (1982) – “Human Nature” WRITTEN by Porcaro, apperances by Paich
• Chaka Khan – I Feel For You LP – Porcaro makes appearence on “Hold Her”

SORRY, JUST A SIDE NOTE.  Chaka Khan “I Feel For You” was actually written by Prince, with raps by Grandmaster Melle Mel and Stevie Wonder on Harmonica!  Ultimate.

• The Jacksons – Victory (1984) – Produced by Paich and Porcaro
• Lionel Richie – Dancing On The Ceiling (1986) – Phillinganes on five out of nine tunes.
• Michael Jackson – Bad (1987) – Porcaro synth programming and Paich synth performance on “Liberian Girl” and “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”. Phillinganes on “Bad”, “Speed Demon”, “Just Good Friends” and “Smooth Criminal”
• Michael Jackson – Heal The World (1991) – Porcaro and Paich play synths
• Kenny Loggins – Return to Pooh Corner (1994) – Phillinganes on “Rainbow Connection” BWAAAHHAHA, i’m sure it paid
• Quincy Jones – Q’s Juke Joint (1995) – Brief appearances by Porcaro, Phillinganes on almost every tune.

This list goes on and on, including Pointer Sisters, Earth Wind & Fire, Jefferson Airplane, George Benson, Dolly Parton, Earl Klugh, Eric Clapton, Olivia Newton John, Anita Baker, Bette Midler, Paul Simon, Christina Aguilera.

Whew, ok enough for now.  Go do some research of your own.  Take any major album or song from your past and get digging, it’ll blow your MIND.  Shout out to Koochievision.

UPDATE 9/17: Official minitek apology.

There’s no need for us to post a review of the minitek festival, which on the Soul Clap blog will forever be known as minirek. If you really want to know what went down, check out the Resident Advisor or Rhythmism forums, or for a more positive review check out Daily Session, who we have to thank for recording and posting all the live sets from the festival (unfortunately even this didn’t go smoothly). It’s not that we didn’t have a great time partying outside Saturday & Sunday at Coney Island or late night at Wolf + Lamb & Cheap Sunglasses @ Cielo, it’s just that our homie Henry from AirDrop was (I think) the only full-time staff that the minimoo crew hired to help with the festival, before disappearing/hiding/? for the whole weekend, and after all the stress and responsibility ended up on his shoulders and nearly gave him a nervous breakdown, it’s pretty hard for me look at the festival in a positive light. Either way, there were some great moments, but the best by far for me was Francois K’s set to close out the festival on Sunday. After 2 days of top international talent taking center stage, one of New York’s long-time innovators took the decks (and mic) and proudly reminded the crowd that while “everyone is talking about Berlin, let’s not forget Detroit!” Francois then proceeded to take us on a life-changing journey, capped off with storm sound efx that literally ushered in a cool breeze, and a modern twist on the classic MLK, I Have A Dream sample that replaced Dr. King’s voice with Obama’s and had everyone’s hands way in the air. Now all you loyal readers are lucky enough to get the highlight of minirek without paying top dollar and dealing with all the bullshit. Enjoy!

Francois K. – Live at minitek Sunday 9/14/08 DOWNLOAD

For more minirek mixes (pending approval) go here.

What do the best afterhours parties at WMC & Detroit Techno Fest and this weekend’s minitek festival have in common? Well, besides the obvious, the answer is Cheap Sunglasses and Temporary Tattoos aka the series of parties that our friends at Blk|Market Membership and Udder Maddness have been throwing at this year’s top US techno festivals. The theme for the minitek edition of Cheap Sunglasses is “Call In Sick To Work”, which is what we all will no doubt be doing after caping the weekend off with exclusive sets by Baby Ford and Mathias Tanzmann on one of NYC’s best sound systems (the Funktion One monster) at the heavenly Cielo. These parties are renowned for top quality music, great people, silly props and utter debaucherousness so make sure to get your pre-sale tickets (before they sell out like they have for the last 2) and come join the fun this Sunday.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot… here’s a little treat from Detroit’s Temporary Tattoo party to get you in the mood. I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile and this was the perfect opportunity

Martin Landsky Live @ Temporary Tattoos – 5/25/08 Oslo, Detroit DOWNLOAD

Clearly the Italoboyz are becoming borderline superheroes.  Hats off gentlemen, you’ve conquered Techno’s two greatest challenges:  DJing in front of a crowd of 1,000,000+ at this years Love Parade and stepping into the ring to face off with the Power Rangers, no holds barred, at Tokyo’s Wire Festival.

This live set is only 5 DAYS OLD, so enjoy!  Boyz, hope to have you back in Boston soon.

Italoboyz @ Wire Festival 2008, Yokohama Arena, Tokyo 8/30/08 Listen/Download

Today, after months of neglect we finally got down to organizing the record library. When that happens it usually means we listen to alot of music that’s been buried for awhile and pull forgotten favorites for upcoming gigs and now for Soul Clap Radio. One of the tunes we pulled this time around is this old white label that we never really knew the identity of. It’s this UK garage style cut-up R&B vocal over a bassy beat that we had just written “Gar’N'B?” on, because we could never find it on Discogs. Well if you haven’t noticed already we’re crazy about knowing everything about all the music we hear and it drives me nuts when I don’t know what something is. Thank god for Google! After re-examining the vinyl I confirmed that the catalog number was “Subfunk 7″, I punched that into Google and found this old page. Now I knew that the label was called Subfunk, the artist was Wesley Jay and the record was “Da Gasoline”, but when I searched on Discogs I still couldn’t find the release. Subfunk was there, but all the catalog numbers were in a different format and Wesley Jay was spelled Wesley J. Well after more Google searching I found this shop that has the same vinyl with an audio sample that confirmed that yes our record is indeed the same Subfunk 7, “Da Gasoline” by Wesley Jay. So I headed back to Discogs and added the release and ripped the vinyl so I could share the story with you. Oh I forgot to mention the best part, look at the picture of this dude. Where fore arte thou Sir Wesley J? And what is that mirror? WTF?  Just a little lesson in vinyl research from Soul Clap to you, because it’s just how we do everyday.

Wesley Jay – Da Gasoline (Side A) [Subfunk 7 - 2001] DOWNLOAD

After Cnyce revisited that mental DJ Three mix yesterday I figured it would only be fair to make sure Adultnapper gets some shine too. Those of you that follow techno in Boston probably witnessed Mr. Napper’s masterful set at Phoenix Landing on Wednesday, February 20th, but may not have gotten a chance to check out the recording of the mix. Well it’s been up on the Midweek Techno blog for awhile now, but here it is again for you. I also had the chance to do an email interview before the event, sure maybe it’s not as in depth as this one, but there’s alot of good info in there. See you at Radioland.

Adultnapper @ Phoenix Landing 2/20/08 Listen/Download

So in anticipation of DJ THREE’s performance alongside fellow NYC Techno megalith ADULTNAPPER at RADIOLAND, this Friday 8/15/08 @ The Estate, we dug deep into the iTunes library to pull out this programing GEM. If only we could have been at NYC’s Guggenheim back in September of 2006 to see Three and Miles Maeda perform DJ magic. I never heard Maeda’s portion of the night, but DJ Three’s stayed secured in my iPod for almost a year. He starts off with ambience and builds upwards, perhaps in homage to the museums endlessly spiraling interior? Oh, yeah if anyone can ID the tune played about 43 minutes in I would deeply appreciate it!

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

I tried to find a video of this party, but couldn’t. I did however, find a nice one of Three rocking on some rooftop in L.A. Check it!

If you want to get on the reduced list to see THREE, ADULTNAPPER, Sergio “the Portuguese Prince” Santos and Booster this Friday @ Estate, just click the link! Also, AirDrop presents Fresh Fruit after-hours will take place @ Rise with Sergio and Jay Prouty upstairs and yours truly SOUL CLAP in the lounge, 2-6:30a!

So, we try really hard not to pick favorites in Soulclap land. You know its a lot like middle school where the teachers tell you not bring candy because someone always gets left out or upset or hung up on the wedgie hook. Well, we’re making an exception with DJ and re-edit king Kon, so here it goes: DJ Kon is the best Disco/Funk/Soul/Boogie DJ in the world, yeah I said it. Yes of course, I know. You’re probably saying “but but but, what about DJ BLAH BLAH”! Well, Kon will not only mix circles around whoever you’re thinking about but then at then end of the night he’ll go home and sleep in Dorchester. Being from Boston is 10 extra points.

Saturday July 12th, DJ Kon will be performing from 8-10p at Dancing On The Charles. We are very lucky to have him and are extra excited to hear the man throw down. In case you’re not up to speed on the Kon & Amir compilations like The Kings of Diggin (released 2006 on Rapster Records, sub-label of Studio !K7) or the more recent Off-Track compilation series on BBE, you should get hip. To give you a taste we’ve got a perfect summertime mix to get you in the mood that Kon did a few years. Check for more goodies on his blog Playin4Keeps.

Tracklist:
1. Chuck Chillout Kool Chip acca/ Taanya Gardener – No Fills Blend
2. Tski Valley – Catch The Beat
3. Jazzy 5 MCs – Jazzy Sensation
4. Pieces of a Dream – Mt. Airy Groove
5. Sequence – Funk You Up
6. Freedom – Get Up And Dance
7. Sugarhill Gang – 8th Wonder
8. Run DMC – Sucker Mcs (Dubbed Out)
9. Rose Royce – Do Your Dance Live Edits
10. Fatback Band – Goin To See My Baby
11. Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Bang / Greedy G (Blend)
12. Rolling Stones – Miss You (Quick Mix)
13. Ray Parker Jr. – For Those Who Like To Groove
14. The Time – Get It Up
15. Prince – I Wanna Be Your Love (Live Edit)
16. Lisa Lisa – I Wonder If I Take You Home
17. Ollie And Jerry – Ain’t Not Stoppin Us
18. Lenny White – Peanut Butter
19. Tom Brown – Thighs High
20 Skyy – Heres To You 12″
21. The Jones’ – Summer Groove 12″
22. Maxx Traxx – Dont Touch It
23. Startpoint – Get Ready Get Down 12″
24. Greyship Daviz – This Groove Is On The Loose 12″
25. Piece Brothers – Party Person (The Drunk Edit)
26. Sesame Street Them Song Outro

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

Tonight at our Midweek Techno residency at Phoenix Landing we welcome good friend and one of the main people responsible for New York City’s techno resurgence, Taimur from Blk|Market Membership. With his partner Fahad they throw parties on boats, at awesome spots in NYC, like Bar13 and Love, and also were responsible for the Cheap Sunglasses Afterhours at WMC and Temporary Tattos party at Detroit Techno Fest. He’s opened for everyone from Jamie Jones to Italoboyz to Martin Landsky to Craig Richards and has been pushing all our music. This Wednesday we have the honor of a headline slot from him at the Phonix, so come join us!

Taimur & Fahad opening for Craig Richards at Love NYC on 5/10/08
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

Sure seems like we’ve been getting a ton of great recordings of our sets and super guest mixes recently. In fact we’ve event had too many to include just on The Podcast so they’ve been getting posted in other places. So now, just in time for a beautiful weekend we give you some beautiful new Soulclap DJ sets, live in the clubs. Let us know if you like them.

Soulclap @ AirDrop QuackParty (Bar13) 5/30/08 – DOWNLOAD
Originally posted as AirPod Nº8 on AirDrop.com, this was the only set that survived the nite after our recorder over-heated and we actually lost the last 30 minutes which is when it got really crazy. But it’s still a very exciting mix of techno/house/garage for our “die Ente” release party in NYC.

Elyte/Soulclap Bday Set @ Midweek Techno (Phoenix Landing) 6/11/08 – DOWNLOAD
Originally posted on the Midweek Techno Podcast, this was my set warming up for Italoboyz a couple weeks back. One of the CDJs was busted so I ended up playing mostly vinyl. Italoboyz set coming to the Soulclap Podcast next week…

For the latest edition of Roots & Future, we turn to Boston based DJ/Producer, former Satellite Records (closed) owner and total Techno brainiac, Pat Fontes. He chose three tunes from his enormous collection (which is partially the back catalogue from the store) that seemed to jump out and say “oooh Pattttt”.

Ian Pooley – Untitled (B2) [Force Inc Music Works - 1995] DOWNLOAD / BUY

In his words… “K, first the Iam Pooley Jam … [I chose this] one cause i was randomly digging thru crates, and the fact that it was one of my earliest records I ever came to own in the borderline house and techno spectrum. I use to wear that track out, probably played it at every gig from 1996 to 1998.”

Dave Angel – Tokyo Stealth Fighers (Slam Disfigurated Mix) [Forth & Broadway - 1997] DOWNLOAD / BUY

“The Dave Angel joint was just another addition to piles, I think I brought all his records home from Satellite [Records] just on the fact that it was Dave Angel, at the point that record was released he was a household name in underground [world of] funky house and techno.

Island (Forth and Broadway is a subsidiary of Island U.K.) Records was a big label to be on and he saw many releases back then and gained a great rep with us connoisseurs. [This track is] funky dirty grooving goodness on wax.”

Paul Mac – Influenced One (Side A) [Influenced - 2004] DOWNLOAD / BUY

“Paul Mac’s, Influenced One is a limited edition 10 inch that is basically his interpetation of his Influences [but] one track … Side A… is like heaven to me. The start with the bassline hitting this pattern that I just feel in love with the 1st time, and believe i could hear it looped forever, yet he puts his signature touch of dirty grinding hi hats and shuffle all over it and adds a preacher in the song that actually states many things of interest or things many don’t think of… that state of our society and religion, etc…”

We thank Pat Fontes for his dope contribution, deep knowledge, and efforts to keep dance music alive in Boston. Pat Fontes only plays vinyl (still!) and you can see him whip out his 12 inches at Rise this Friday with us, Tanner Ross and Matty Dimond from 2a-7a… wa wa wee wa…

If you’re still sleeping on Trus’me, its time to wake up! The man has been called “The most interesting and promising producer in the [UK] right now” by BBC radio’s Giles Peterson and with a mind-blowing catalogue of music released on labels like Prime Numbers (his own), Stilove4music, Fat City and shortly on dance music major Defected, its no surprise why. Trus’me is an amalgam of disco, funk and deep house and in a time when electronic and techy sounds seem to set the trend, Trus’me’s music fills in a much needed soulful void. How soulful is Trus’me? How about an almost entirely analog production studio… Check It! Or how about rumored collaboration projects with Amp Fiddler, Kissy Asplund and Boston’s own King Of Digging, DJ Kon! Now thats SOUL!

Ok, enough of us blabbing… here is a LIVE DJ SET recorded by Redbull Music Academy of Trus’me at home in Manchester, UK as well as an awesome video interview courtesy of On-Point TV.

If you like what you hear (of course you do) Trus’me will be performing for us this Saturday, June 14th from 12-2a @ Redline, 59 JFK St Cambridge, MA. This will be his debut Boston performance. Cover is $5 all night, doors @ 9p, 21+

Hot damn, I can’t believe we haven’t done a mixTAPE Time since last year. But hey, we’re finally back and boy do we have a treat for you. If you ask anyone who was there they’ll tell you that the Cheap Sunglasses afterhours at PS-14 was the highlight of WMC ‘08 (shout out to The BLK|Market Membership and Udder Madness). I mean how can you go wrong when you have two rooms of underground beats, well actually one room and one super chill sunlit back patio, in a super intimate venue with only real music-heads (not the Space/Nocturnal meat-heads) from 8am-10pm. Basically you can’t, and to top it all off Italoboyz absolutely killed it with a old-school New York influenced minimal/house/garage set in the sunshine, and now we have a recording of it for you!

Italoboyz @ Cheap Sunglasses (PS-14) WMC ‘08 DOWNLOAD

Continuing from where we left off, it’s the crack of the 90s, and Little Louie Vega and Kenny Dope Gonzalez are well on their way to building their reputation as Masters at Work. 1993 saw them release their first album, The Album. A combination of singles released up to that point as well as some new production, it includes some early classics, like Blood Vibes. As remixers, MAW found themselves working with artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Ce Ce Peninston, and Donna Summer, but the best was still yet to come.

Nuyorican Soul – Runaway [Talkin' Loud - 1997] BUY
Once upon a time, way back when DJs were gathering underground popularity by extending and remixing the pop stars of the time, DJ of DJs Larry Levan had a unique concept. He dreamed of creating a studio album in which the DJ is the maestro. This album would consist of DJ-produced tracks featuring the voices and elements of that DJ’s favorite singers and musicians. In the 1997 album titled Nuyorican Soul by Masters at Work fulfilled that dream. On Nuyorican Soul, MAW celebrate both their Puerto Rican and disco roots and summon the talents of musicians George Benson, Vince Montana, Jocelyn Brown, Roy Ayers, and Tito Puente to create an album that pays tribute to the artists they love. Looking back more than 10 years later it’s more clear than ever that rather than sagging with the overburdening stink of excess stardom, Nuyorican Soul has established itself as one of the greatest dance albums of all time.

This track is a redux of the disco classic of the same name by the Salsoul Orchestra and Lolleata Holloway, Runaway is one of the four singles off of the Nuyorican Soul album. With Louie Vega’s ex-wife La India providing the vocals, they do soulful justice to the original. It was the first single to receive the remix treatment, retouched by 90s greats Armand Van Helden and Mousse T. Armand’s mix (Mogoloids in Space) bumps, and Mousse T provides a more direct dancefloor translation.

Masters at Work – La India Con La Voe (Viva Puerto Rico) (MAW Tribin’) [MAW Records - 1997] BUY
In case the parentheses aren’t obvious enough, this tribal tune is an ode to the island of Puerto Rico. Featuring samples of a cheering concert crowd, nationalist & spiritual cries, and La India’s sweet voice all over a set of lively drums, this track has Spanish Harlem Block Party written all over it.

Kenlou – Gimme Groove [MAW Records - 1995] BUY
Gimme Groove is the B-side buddy to Kenlou’s classic The Bounce (which happens to be amongst Cnyce’s favorite tracks- too treasured to post!). Whereas The Bounce is more lively, Gimme Groove is a deeper, nine-minute mood-setter of a track that can really set the tone for a good night out. Definitely maintains the sexy.

]]> http://blog.soulclap.us/2008/04/15/masters-at-work-pt-2-tn-010/feed/ 3 http://blog.soulclap.us/2008/04/02/house-is-back-jack-rf-016/ http://blog.soulclap.us/2008/04/02/house-is-back-jack-rf-016/#comments Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:29:34 +0000 cnyce http://www.soulclap.us/?p=269

Finally its happening, after 2 years of being washed up by a wave of minimal, techno and electro, HOUSE music begins its triumphant return. Ah yes, a return to the organic drums, organ hits, garage shuffle, jacking Chicago and maybe even (gasp) a vocal or two! How amazing is dance music in 2008? SO amazing.

One of the signs that really caught my attention was back in July 2007 when Spectral Sound’s Ryan Elliot performed in Cambridge @ the Phoenix Landing. He brought the dopest flavors to his mix. It was like this bouncy techno sound that was littered with House music and Garage accents. Like, one minute he’s playing a brand new release and the next he’s mixing Master’s At Work “The Bounce”, or K.O.T’s “Simon Says Bounce” (wait thats weird, they both have bounce in title… go figure). The point is, in context suddenly these old tunes sounded like they could be new releases.

In 2008 house music was all over WMC. At the underground parties and the after-hours, house didnt dominate like the sounds of tech and minimal (how could it when the headliners are Magda, Anja Schneider and Konrad Black) but at all the right moments, it poked its head out as if to say “hi, remember me, I’m house music, and I’m so damn refreshing right now its not even funny”.

So who’s playing what and what did we hear?

Junior Vasquez – Get Your Hands Off My Man (Sound Factory Mix) [Tribal America - 1994] BUY
The Italoboyz (Mothership, Get Physical) really brought the garage and Chicago sound alive in their DJ set at The Cheap Sunglasses After-hours at PS14. They got on the decks around 11:00am and played with tremendous feeling and originality. Of course they dropped a grip of their own tunes, including the jacking new Mothership release that samples John Coltrane called “Bahia”, but it was an edit of Junior Vasquez’s “Get Your Hands Of My Man” that brought us all back, way back, for an “oh shit” moment.

Track Assassin – Gimmie Da Drumz [Catalyst Records - 2001] BUY
Sebo K (Mobilee, Get Physical) was the other DJ who just absolutely brought the classic sounds to the party. We saw him twice, first at the Mobilee party on the rooftop of the Townhouse Hotel where he was just killing the old school. He dropped Eddie Amador’s anthem “House Music” on Yoshitoshi, another jam that was so familiar it made us forget, and this DJ Sneak banger, “Gimmie Tha Drumz” under his Track Assassin moniker on Dust Traxx sister label Catalyst Records

Josh One – Contemplation (King Britt’s Funke Mix) [Electromatrix - 2001] BUY
As if one performance from the Sebonator wasn’t enough, the man was back in the spotlight (or should we say sunlight) at Sunday School For Degenerates at Pawn Shop. Sandwiched between a tag team set from Joel Mull & Adam Beyer and then Steve Bug, Sebo brought back the house music bounce, dropping “Gimmie Da Drumz” again as well as an edit of King Britt’s remix of “Contemplation” by Josh One, a personal favorite that I haven’t heard in ages.

Thank the gods its all coming back!

If Daft Punk can be called supreme rulers of the Kingdom of French Touch, DJ Falcon (of “So Much Love to Give” fame) would be their wise wizard and his cousin, Alan Braxe, would be their solitary knight. Nicknamed after the French region of his upbringing, Brax, Alain Quême has earned himself a place amongst the filter house elite. His discography starts in 1997 with “Vertigo”, which was released under Thomas Bangalter’s Roulé label. A year later, Bangalter, Braxe and French crooner Benjamin Diamond made house history with a little song called “Music Sounds Better With You”, under the moniker Stardust.

At the dawn of the new millennium, Alan Braxe and co-pilot Fred Falke open up the record label Vulture Music and together dropped another French house classic, “Intro”. From here, Alan Braxe along with Fred Falke (and on the occasion Kris Menace) craft their own brand of 80s synth-drenched tracks like “Most Wanted” and “Rubicon”, even as the French house scene deflated in the early 00s.

The last few years have seen Braxe and Falke build their name as remixers, synthing-up & funking-out artists from a range of genres, including Death From Above 1979, Jamiroquai, Kelis, and Justice. As of late, Alan Braxe has been producing a gutter-grime electro tune here and there, exploring a different sound. One of such tracks, “Addicted”, has found itself on French indie label Kitsuné Music’s Kitsuné Maison Compilation 5, which was released earlier this month.

Alan Braxe – Vertigo [Roulé - 1997] BUY
And so begins Braxe’s transformation from a bumbling musician in Paris to a French touch deity. A track with syncopated percussion and a swirly sequencing, it was then converted into a filtered, high-powered hit by Bangalter himself. Bangalter’s Virgo edit eventually found shine time on some of the BBC Essential Selection Compilations, but Braxe’s original withstands the test of time better.

B.O.C. Productions – Fall in Love (Alan Braxe Remix) [Chez - 1999] BUY
This pre-Vulture era track is more French touch groove than 80s synth, as evident in the bassline. Essentially a dub of the original mix interspersed with vocal stabs, one can get a sense of the deeper side of French touch popular at the time.

Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – Most Wanted [Vulture - 2000] BUY VINYL | BUY DIGITAL
“Most Wanted” was Intro’s b-side buddy on the Running EP, Vulture Music’s first release. The track samples from “Don’t Stop” by disco-era songwriter, producer, and Guitarist Geoff Barstow. under his K.I.D. project. Braxe and Falke pump a mellow bassline into the sample, filter it, and voila, you’ve got an italo-disco influenced jam for the year 2000.

So the first time I heard “Walking Down The Street (The N Song)” (the song from the video below) was when Mr. Carroll himself dropped it poolside at last year’s WMC. After that, I basically obsessively searched for it for like 6 months and could not find it anywhere, so at some point late last year I gave up/forgot about it all together. Then boom, all of a sudden I noticed a Count & Sinden remix charted on these guys myspace page (which you can listen to on this blog) and was reminded of how psyched I had been when I heard first heard that signature line and couldn’t get it out of my head. A little interweb research later and bang, you’re looking at the official video.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

But the story doesn’t end here (and you know that we would never just post a video on Soul Clap without at least a little context for it). More surprising to me than finding the track was who had charted it. J.O.T.S. make and play “electro” music (the international misnomer for hipster’s current dance party music of choice) and Ron Carroll has made his name in the world of soulful Chicago house music. In fact, RC is one of my favorite house vocalists and a solid producer and songwriter to boot. So before this track blows up (which it will, because it’s already been licensed to 3 labels (including international cheesy disco house rulers Hed Kandi and Sinden & The Count played their version on Essential Mix last month) I think it’s important to give all the kids a little history lesson, Soul Clap style.

Ron Carroll – My Prayer (H&F Underground Dub) [Af-Ryth-Mix Sounds 0001 - 1993]
BUY VINYL
This was the first release on Chicago’s Af-Ryth-Mix Sounds, which was one of many labels M&Ded by 90’s Chicago house stalwart Clubhouse Entertainment. Af-Ryth-Mix only had twelve release and all of them were at least partially produced or remixed by Hula (except ARM-0007) who was also one of the members of The Outhere Brothers of ’90s dance hit “Boom Boom Boom” fame. This particular record happens to be Ron Carroll’s first and with six mixes to choose from it covers a wide range of early ’90s house styles. From the Original Mix’s uplifting Gospel workout, to the NYC vibed King Street Mix (can’t figure out who did this, maybe something to do with the label of the same name), to Ron Trent’s chopped up Detroit house sounding Hymn Mix and finally to this here dub version. H&F would be none other than Hula & K. Fingers, who along with future grammy winner Maurice Joshua and fellow Outhere Brother Martell formed acid house supergroup Da Posse in the late ’80s. The two also had a grip of house remixes for Jive from ‘90-’94 and Fingers aka Craig Simpkins was a member of successful deep house team Blak Beat Niks. I know, I’ve been babbling, and call me a nerd, but all these connections are what make up the roots of the music we hear today.

Ron Carroll – Natural (RC Grooves Big Room Dub) [Music 101 005 - 2002]
BUY VINYL | BUY DIGITAL
Let’s keep this one simple. This track is a weird stompy, drummy workout that RC produced, but didn’t do the vocals on. It’s def not his most famous work, but we hammered it when it was released and even put it on a mix. Another remix on the record is by the aforementioned Blak Beat Niks, but I don’t like that one as much.

Hardsoul ft. Ron Carroll – Back Together (Classic Main Mix) [Soulfuric 0021 - 2003]
BUY DIGITAL
This is one of my absolute favorite house tracks of the early ’00s and Dutch brother team Hardsoul are some of the best producers of this style So emotional, so powerful, so dancefloor. Before the soulful sound starting coming back this year, I would put this track on to pull me out of the dark place that techno can leave me sometimes. If you like this style of “funky” house and you have never heard of Soulfuric, do yourself a favor and go check there depth of dopeness over at Traxsource. Pure class.

Editor’s Note: this is the first post from our intern Chinua. He’s a big fan of French touch, but we’re trying to teach him all about the history of house and techno too. To start him on the right path we gave him an assignment to learn all about M.A.W. and tell you what he learned. So please give a warm Soul Clap blog welcome to our young gun, ChinChin.

In the late eighties, Carl Kenneth Gonzalez and Luis Fernando Vager, better known as Kenny “Dope” and “Little” Louie Vega, but best known as Masters At Work, first met through mutual friend Todd Terry after Vega took interest in Gonzalez’s “A Touch of Salsa”. The turn of the decade saw the start of a solid repertoire of dance-floor essentials under a number of monikers, starting with their single “Blood Vibes”. Masters At Work’s influences include latin, jazz, hip-hop, disco, soul, Larry Levan, David Mancuso, Red Alert, Chuck Chillout, Tony Humphries and even The Clash— in essence, the sounds of the eclectic New York City they knew.

Born in Brooklyn in 1970, Dope took to the emerging hip-hop sound, following radio DJs like Marley Marl, Teddy Ted and Awesome Two. As a teen he worked in a record store and DJ-ed on the side. It wasn’t long before Dope founded a DJ crew called— you guessed it— Masters At Work, doing up block-parties left and right. Nor was it long before Gonzalez crossed paths with Todd Terry. Here’s the deal: Terry borrowed the Masters At Work name for releasing tracks (Alright, Alright & Dum Dum Cry), and in exchange Dope got to play with Terry’s production equipment.

Whereas Kenny Dope provided Masters at work with the hip-hop style beats and disco grooves, Louie Vega brought in the latin and soul. Bronx-native Vega was born into a latin music-driven family (his uncle is Hector Lavoe), clearly setting the tone for his music career. Vega’s big sisters exposed the young teenager to clubland, and half a decade later he found himself spinning at the Studio 54, making and breaking latin freestyle records. By this time, Vega and Todd Terry were on vinyl-sharing terms, which explains how Vega hooked up with Dope.

The Cover Girls – Wishing On A Star (Magic Sessions Vocal Dub) [Epic - 1992]
DOWNLOAD | BUY
The Cover Girls, one of the first Latin freestyle acts to make it big on the charts in the early nineties, released their version of the much-covered “Wishing On A Star” in ’92. The single went on to place ninth on the Billboard Top 10, making it kind of a big deal back then. It was around this time that Masters At Work started churning out remixes of pop artists, converting radio music into minimal, dubby, dance floor beats.

Masters At Work – The Ha Dance (Ken/Lou Mixx) [Cutting Records - 1991]
DOWNLOAD | BUY
Cutting Records, which has fallen off in recent years, was once an integral part of the electro (that is, real electro), house and and freestyle scene in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. They are responsible for putting out the electro classic, “Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)” by Hashim. Cutting Records also released many of Masters At Work’s early tracks, including their debut single, Blood Vibes, as well as their debut album, titled The Album. The Ha Dance (Ken/Lou Mixx) accompanied their Blood Vibes release, and includes a sample from this classic comedy. Can you find it?

Chris Cuevas – Hip Hop (Masters At Work Dub) [Atlantic - 1991]
DOWNLOAD | BUY
Who the heck is Chris Cuevas? I don’t know either, but the stripped down skippy beats and chopped up piano synths on this track embody the early M.A.W. sound to a t and helped lay the foundation for the whole Strictly Rhythm NYC thing and later the UK garage thing. So listen, understand, download, and play for dancefloor destruction, even today.

So we should have had this post up this morning, but we had a busy day reflecting. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazingly important man to the history of the U.S. and without his massive contributions to the country’s civil rights movement there would probably be no such thing as disco/funk/house/techno/any underground dance music that we listen to, blog about, make and play. Furthermore, Dr. King’s speeches were sampled on tons of house and techno tracks in the 80’s & 90’s, partly because of the importance of his words to the early producers in Chicago and Detroit and partly because his messages of unity and inclusiveness fit so perfectly with the idealism of the early rave movement. The most famous of these tracks is Fingers Inc.’s “Can You Feel It,” which had a spoken word version that sampled Dr. King’s famous I have a dream speech (this track has already been posted all over the place if you want it). If you were around in the rave days then you probably remember throwing up your hands and feeling like everything was amazing as you heard the words of Dr. King fill the room, it was a powerful experience and we hope you feel what we’re talking about when you hear these tracks today.

Reese & Santonio – Truth Of Self Evidence [KMS 1988]
DOWNLOAD | BUY
No one can do it quite like Kevin “Master Reese” Saunderson, who along with Derrick “Rhythm is Rhythm” May and “Magic” Juan Atkins is one of the creators of techno music. The one they call Reese started his KMS imprint in 1987 and released this early underground techno anthem on KMS 017 just before his first release as Inner City, the all-time classic “Big Fun” (which will get posted here, along with more on the godfathers eventually).

Octave One – Blackwater (TP’s Spirit Of Detroit Mix) [Concept Music 2002]
DOWNLOAD | BUY
Originally released on their own long-running Detroit imprint 430 West in 2000 to widespread acclaim, Blackwater became one of the songs of 2001 after Concept picked it up for distribution. But it wasn’t until Detroit 2nd waver and early 430 West releaser Terrence Parker did this remix in 2002 that Dr. King’s voice turned this already powerfully positive track into an even more uplifting party shaker. Both Octave One and TP are hugely important figures in the history of Detroit dance music so expect pieces on both soon…

Bobby Womack – American Dream [Motown 1981]
DOWNLOAD | BUY
Even though it’s not electronic dance music, an old school soul track seems like it fits here. I’d never heard this track until we started our research on tracks that sample MLK so this is actually an exciting find, first because it’s such powerful song, but also because it’s gotta be a one of the very first tracks to use sampling (if anyone knows more about the history of sampling please let us know)!

Awhile back we posted one of our favorite tracks ever on Relief Records. It was DJ Sneak’s banging remix Green Velvet’s most famous song Flash and it was thrown in as a footnote to our report on DOTC4 & U.B.H/T.W. because it totally re-captured the energy of that party/week (aka the energy of mid 90’s rave parties). Looking back now I realize that that track and the amazing label it’s on can never really be a footnote to anything and seeing as December’s O.P.P. edition of 90’s Jam is tonight and we haven’t done a proper post in months, it’s probably as good a time as any to begin our series on Curtis Jones’ (aka Green Velvet aka Cajmere) legendary Chicago house/techno stable.

While some of the releases on Mr. Jones’ first label Cajual Records (which launched in 1992 with seminal house classic “Brighter Days” featuring Dajae) were bigger house hits, it was Relief (launched in 1993 with “Preacher Man”) that fostered Chicago’s second wave of young producers and took the tracky Chicago house sound in down new and distinctly techno influenced path that is still being explored today. This split make sense if you’re familiar with the 2 sides of Mr. Jones himself, as Cajmere he releases his vocal and housey productions on Cajual, while as Green Velvet, he drops tripped out techno creepers on Relief. As you can see I can go on about these labels forever and that’s why we’re doing a multi-part series on each label starting with Relief, because even though Cajual came first, we’ve been ripping and playing a ton of old Relief tunes lately. Enjoy.

DJ Sneak – The Lights part II (RR707 – 1994) DOWNLOAD
Let me start our reviews wit a disclaimer: unfortunately, we don’t have every release on Relief Records. We wish we did, but given that we didn’t start buying records until after Relief was born it’s damn near impossible to find alot of the early stuff, we may never actually complete the collection. Second most important fact: RR701, Green Velvet’s “Preacher Man” is necessary listening for sure, and you’ve probably heard the track with the evangelist preaching to his congregation about the dangers of “playing house” before, but if you haven’t, go buy it here. So back to this release. It’s one of DJ Sneak’s really early ones and is totally insane looped out techno music. By 1995 Sneak had gone much more in the disco house direction so it’s a pleasure to here his early experimentations. To hear “The Lights part I” goto Corporate Bloggin’s great Sneak post from a couple months back and read it too if you can read french!

GU – Smok’en Indo (RR714 – 1994) DOWNLOAD
Here’s another early track from a producer that became very important. GU aka Glenn Underground is often credited for carrying Larry Heard’s torch through the 90’s with his new brand of disco and soul sample laden deep house, which would be the blueprint for Chicago’s sound in the late 90’s on labels like Guidance and Large. But, back up for a second, because like “The Lights”, “Smok’en Indo” is a crazy techno monkey that makes you do wierd dances and illustrates how important Relief was in the early development of these young producers.

Green Velvet – Explorer (RR730 – 1995) DOWNLOAD
Alright so this is on the Portamento Tracks EP which also included the more known “Flash” and “I Want To Leave My Body” so it’s pretty much overlooked, which is a HUGE mistake. While the beat is similar to “Flash” Velvet laces explorer with much more aggressive synths that rip open your ears while he talks about the king of the jungle. Wierd, but true.

Oh yeah and if you didn’t know: after a brief hiatus from ‘98-’00, Relief is still alive and kicking. You can check ‘em on myspace and also purchase many releases on their website. So make sure to support the roots and the future of our dance music!

Ok, so we’re a little behind on this one, but it’s still essential listening. A little over a week ago Mr. Dirty Bird himself, Claude Von Stroke dropped 38 tracks of pure techno/house/bounce/future mayhem on Pete Tong’s legendary Essential Mix program on BBC Radio 1. Now there have been more than a few legendary essential mixes since the show began in 1993, but this one is especially important on the Soulclap! Mothership because of another mothership entirely, °° mothership music and an artist on the label called Voodeux who actually is our dude Tanner Ross and partner in crime Kilowatts. °° mothership is VonStroke’s newer label has been making some serious noise in general with the first 2 releases, Italoboyz’ “Viktor Cassanova” and Monty Luke & Tasho’s “Paranoid”, getting serious plays from all the right people. MSHIP003, Vooduex’s “The Curse” and “The Spell” continue the labels trajectory into deep dark tripped out techno land and we love it. It’s not out yet, but you can get the first 2 °° mothership releases at your local record shop or on Beatport. Support underground music dammit!

Essential Mix Nov 10th 2007 – Claude VonStroke
DOWNLOAD

Tracklist
1. Public Enemy ‘Countdown To Armageddon’ (Def Jam)
2. Akira Ifukube ‘Godzilla Theme’ (La La Land Records)
3. Justin Martin & Sammy D ‘Yum’ (Cadang / Dirtybird Re-Issue)
4. Frederic Galliano ‘Woualai (Soul Designer Remix) ‘F-Communications)
5. Italoboyz ‘Unknown’ (White Label)
6. John Coltrane ‘Bahia’ (Prestige)
7. DJ Deeon ‘Da Hoez’ (Freak Mode)
8. Sagat ‘Fuk Dat’ (Maxi Records)
9. Mike Dunn ‘So Let It Be House’ (Westbrook Records)
10. Detroit Grand Pubahs ‘Sandwiches’ (Throw)
11. Claude Vonstroke ‘Who’s Afraid Of Detroit (Claude Vonstroke Underground Dub)’ (Dirtybird)
12. Duoteque ‘Logo’
13. DJ Koze Vs. Sid Lerock ‘Naked (DJ Koze Remix)’ (Cereal Killers)
14. Robag Whrume ‘Pelagia’ (Musik Krause)
15. Kevin Rocks ‘Maravillosso’ (Rocks Playground)
16. Marshall Jefferson ‘Mushrooms (Justin Martin Remix)’ (Airtight)
17. Ptoile ‘Tigre Della Stella’ (Channel Records)
18. Todd Bodine ‘Secret Edge’ (Mothership)
19. Martin Eyerer & Anthony Collins Present Starsniff ‘Manifestation’ (Le Bien Et Le Mal)
20. Voodeux ‘The Curse’ (Mothership)
21. Frankie ‘Mash (Donk Boyz House Remix) (Frankie Rec.)
22. Khia ‘My Neck (Acapella)’ (Direction)
23. Manic Minds ‘Trans (Fafa Monteco Remix)’ (Brique Rouge)
24. Ranier Weicheld ‘Bamboo’ (Great Stuff)
25. The Martin Brothers ‘Full Moon’ (Dirtybird)
26. Style Of Eye ‘The Big Kazoo’ (Dirtybird)
27. The Pack ‘Vans’ (Zomba US)
28. Mr Rogers Clip
29. Claude Vonstroke ‘The Killer’ (Dirtybird)
30. Michal Ho Feat. Lil Dirty ‘Break Free’ (Moon Harbour
31. Needles ‘Revox’
32. Style Of Eye ‘Hide’ (Dirtybird)
33. John Tejada ‘Timebomb’ (7th City)
34. Italoboyz ‘Zinga’ (Mothership)
35. Henrik Schwarz ‘Robert & Dornroosje’ (Not On Label) (contains sample From Robert Hood’s Track “Minus” From The Album “Internal Empire” (Tresor 27).
36. The Detroit Experiment ‘Think Twice (CVS Re-Edit)’ (Ropeadope Records
37. Reverend Tickle Clip
38. Burnto Bertolucci ‘Bake Me Dome Tonight (Claude V Unofficial Smiths Remix) (White Label)

Top 5 songs for November
1. Nightrhymes – Chicago (Club Mix) – Reelgroove
2. Kem – Heaven (Marlon D & Groove Assassins Remix) – Jellybean Soul
3. Simon Grey feat. Kylie Auldist – One (Simon Grey 2007 Version) – Double Shock
4. Soularis ft. Norman Anderson – Fellin Love (Earnshaw’s Classic Vocal Mix) – Sun Soaked
5. Soul of Switzerland – Home Away From Home (Jamie Lewis Dub) – Purple Music

Top 5 songs all-time
1. Confunkshun – Got To Be Enough
2. Masters At Work Ft. India- I Can’t Get No Sleep
3. Brand New Heavies – Mindtrips (BNH Remix)
4. Roy Ayers – Sunshine (Demo)
5. Sade – I Couldn’t Ever Love You More / Cherish The Day

Anybody care to hear Get Physical Records’ superstar tag team M.A.N.D.Y. ruff up the place LIVE for 3 hours at Fabric nightclub in London?

Got this link sent to us courtesy of Patsi at WILDE Bookings. As if the duo hasn’t done enough dance floor damage these days, it appears as though they’re up for another world tour, and what better time to gig as they have just finished up the lastest Fabric mix cd compilation due out January 14th 2008 (we get our mail ordered … You can too!).

Here is the mix (and interview) courtesy of Proton Radio… Ya, i know its a pain, you gotta sign up, BUT its pretty wicked so do it: CLICK ME

ALSO… if you live in this place (US) Boston, MA… A little birdy told me that on Wednesday, December 5th, M.A.N.D.Y. will come see us too!

This story goes all the way back to the middle of Boston’s unofficial Techno week (last Thursday), on September 20th. It was a very special day for a few reasons, namely because my girlfriend finally turned 18, so we could actually have sex legally and secondly and most importantly, it marked the day that I, Professor Chazshabaz Nizzle III saw Stevie Wonder LIVE in concert. The process by which I came upon these tickets is a combination of a heated last minute bidding war on Ebay and yours truely on his hands and knees begging Mom and Dad. I know, its low, but whatever I saw the man, and who knows, it could be the LAST TIME (gulp!!!).

The Boston show at Bank of America Pavillion (formally Harbor Lights) marked the end of Stevie “A Wonder Summer’s Night” tour. For a while there it seemed like Stevie was done with life on the road, but after his mom passed away last year, it seemed like a tour to commemorate her life and life in general was a good thing to do. Well, it WAS a good thing, in fact probably the BEST concert I have ever seen EVER, even better than SVEN AND RICHIE. Even a few hundred feet away, being in Stevies presence immediately brought tears to my eyes and once he starting to sing, man… FUCKING STEVIE WONDER!

I didnt know how to share the experience with all of you, so I figured the best thing to do would be to copy the set list since DJ’s tend to go gaga over lists of songs anyways… Oh, some of the tunes i didnt recognize, so I just wrote down some lyrics, if anyone wants to comment and fill in the blanks, please do so.

Here it goes:
1. Loves In Need of Love Today
2. Too High
3. Vision In My Mind
4. Living For The City
5. Jammin’ (Master Blaster)
6. cover of P-Funks Mothership Connection performed with a Talk Box
7. Higher Ground
8. Golden Lady
9. Ribbon In The Sky (Duet with his daughter)
10. Overjoyed
11. All Is Fair In Love And War
12. Lately (ya, like the one Jodeci stole)
13. ??? (I think it was What The Fuss, but not sure)
14. ??? “true love forever mine”
15. ridiculously dope percussion break, so funk, so Africa, so Techno
16. Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing
17. Sign Sealed Delivered (the Stevie pretended to do it a country westen jam… such a comedian)
18. My Cherie Amour
19. For Once In My Life
20. ??? “time and time again”
21. All I Do
22. Boogie On Reggae Woman
23. Sir Duke
24. I Wish
25. Isn’t She Lovely
26. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
27. Superstition
28. Until

WHEW!!! What a show.. so, how does this translate to Soul Clap? Well, here’s some fresh remixes/adaptations that shaped us and one attempt we made to shape Stevie!

Roy Davis Jr – All I Do DOWNLOAD
Absolute classic release from 1996 on Force Inc Records US. This one took FOREVER for me to find. First heard it on Roy Davis Jr’s “Future Experience” mixtape that I bought at Gramaphone Records while passing thru Chicago on my way to College in Los Angeles. Finally found a copy in Dallas, TX at Bill’s Records, what a crazy place that was…

Stevie Wonder – Too High (Bootleg Remix) DOWNLOAD
DJ Heather played this record sometime a million years ago at a Tropical party back when I was living in L.A. Thought it was the jam then, and I’d still play it under the right circumstances now. Dope, funky and best of all totally Stevie! I can’t figure out who’s mix this is, but the record is a white label with “S W” in red stamp.

Stevie Wonder – Love Light In Flight (Gator Boots’ Fuel Injected Dub)
Lastly an edit we did a few months back. Love Light In Flight is such a dope jam. First heard this when Bomshot sampled it for his Bomb Johnson project. It was my home girl Booty Balls Bounce that pointed out that this jam was off the Woman in Red soundtrack which was written and produced entirely by Stevie himself. Still have yet to see this movie and I suppose so has Stevie (I know, I know, I love you Stevie more than life!)

When asked how they describe “Imagine” the new album just released on Cocoon records, Mallorca based Pig & Dan (aka Dan Duncan & Igor “Pig” Tchkotoua) explain that “it covers all grounds from Minimal Techno to Acid Techno“… so basically, from Techno to Techno? We like that a lot, and thats why we felt these two are not only perfect candidates for a Boston performance, set for Wednesday September 19th @ The Phoenix Landing, but for this Roots&Future 9.

The story behind the duo stretches back way before their airplane ride introduction in 1999. Time travel back almost 20 years ago and we find Dan and Igor independently soaking up knowledge in professional recording studios and making tea for the “big boys”. Now jump to 1990, at this time Dan was in London where D&B was the future sound. Along with bandmates Beau Thomas & Simon Vispi, Dan was part of the D&B group “Intense” signed to LTJ Bukem’s Good Lookin Records. The group released steadily from the early 90’s all the way up until 2002 when perhaps the excitement of the Pig & Dan project called for a musical career change.

2003 marked the first release (Anthem 12″) from self owned Submission Records. Then, after twenty successful releases launched Sonic Society in 2005 which seemed to grab the attention of the contemporary techno movement including Sven Vath, Loco Dice and Mandy. Sven was feeling it and by 2006 Pig & Dan were cocoon club regulars, ah the glory!

Pig & Dan – Cured DOWNLOAD
Cant tell if this tune samples the Cure directly or not, but it definitely captures the spirit. Cured boasts a beautiful melodic guitar riff that floats on top of a shuffling minimal beat and signature washes. Im not sure if this one was ever released, so heres a hard to find treat.

Pig & Dan – Bansky DOWNLOAD
Monster tune from 2006 Pickadoll release called “I Want Your Mind”. Definitely on the “Horizon” tip. Minimal beats with dope panning and a understated acid line that grow and grow as the entire tune is enveloped by a screaming wash of noise and messed up vocal sample. So scary, can see this thing doing serious brain damage to vulnerable and unsuspecting party monsters! Support and buy your vinyl copy here

Pig & Dan – Digital Life DOWNLOAD
Another solid solid tune from 2006 released on German Weave Music. Very deep, very dark. Listen midway thru the track to the arpegiator that sneaks in almost out-of time. This one was a must and made both the SoulClap and Sergio Santos podcasts. Support and buy the vinyl here

“Imagine”, the new album on Cocoon Records dropped on August 31st. You can pick it up on vinyl here, or come check they boys beat it up in person tomorrow night and BEG for a copy

Ok so it’s been a minute since our last 90s post, but tonite is YOYOYO 90s JAM so it’s a good time to bring it back. First of all that video up there is I’m Gunna Get You by Bizzare Inc featuring the oh so early 90s vocalist Angie Brown (more on her below). What you might not know is that before dropping this massive cheese dance hit Bizarre Inc had some serious rave anthems, especially 1991’s Playing With Knives (this is the best youtube video I’ve ever seen), which you’re just gunna have to go buy yourself, because that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is that I got some serious slept on 90’s classics in Chi a couple weeks ago and they need to be shared/dug out. This is the first post of gems, it’s focused on the house and garage side of things, soo all you techno lovers hold tight a few days…

Electribe 101 – Talking With Myself (Jazzy Piano Mix) DOWNLOAD
I’m not gunna get into the history of Electribe 101 cause you can read that here. This track isn’t quite house, it’s kinda cheesy (but not as cheesy as Frankie Knuckles’ Extended Remix) and it originally came out 1988. But this vinyl dropped in 1990, when there were also a ton of other remixes released too and has this mix which is like the deepest early 90s dance track I’ve ever heard PLUS Larry Heard’s Jazzy Piano Mix which is even deeper and super dope, but you’ll have to buy the vinyl off me if you want that.

Dean Street Crew ft. Sweet Pussy Pauline – The Credit Card (The Buddah-Aim Mix) DOWNLOAD
This one came out 1995 on Cutting Traxx and features everyones favorite drag queen turned house vocalist (spoken word not singing) Sweet Pussy Pauline. This is the Danny Buddah Morales mix and the way the vocals are chopped sounds like a new Switch or Sinden track so if someone wants to do an edit and send it to us that would be dope cause we don’t have time to do it right now.

Bobby & Steve present Zoo Tribe – Get Up DOWNLOAD
I know you recognize the horn sample from one of the biggest house tracks of all time, but guess what, this one came out in 1993 on Zoo Klub, one year before Kenny Dope’s dancefloor Bomb! Less known, but just as powerful and it’s the O.G! Oh and if you like house music, but don’t know about Bobby & Steve / Zoo then you best read up on that shit.

BONUS: Yasang – Because Of You (Roy’s “Nothin’ But Love” Mix) DOWNLOAD
There’s 2 reasons I had to put a 4th track on this post. First: Yasang was a group that had one release ever and guess who was in the group? That’s right Angie Brown! The original of the track was released in 1997 and was produced by longtime dope dealers Bugz In The Attic. Second: speaking of Chicago, this mix was from the second release of this track in 1998 on Catch Records (one of my favorite UK garage labels) and is by none other than second generation Chitown don Roy Davis Jr. who I saw throw it down twice while I was in Chi and you may remember from our recent Roule Records post. There’s another mix of this track that’s more on the bumpy UK garage tip that you can check over on The Bamboozla Blog.

There’s an amazing spotlight on Detroit techno/electro legends Drexciya over on The ill-ec-tro-nic in honor of the 5 year anniversary of member James Stinson’s untimely death. The ill-ec-tro-nic dudes have been on it for awhile now, but this post takes the cake with a grip of classic (hard to find) tracks plus a link to an old interview. Go there now!

Speedy J live at Plus 8 Rave in Rome in 1991. That’s Richie on the mic. CRAZZZZZ! Thanks to R.A. for the link (they also have one of the best podcasts around so check it).

I know. We’re probably 2 weeks late on Daft Punk posts, given that they’re already done with their way to short north America tour, but we had to bring it back for the kids that just got on the bandwagon.

Imagine it’s 1995 and Daft Punk hasn’t even released Homework yet. The boys + Laurent Brancowitz had a release as Darlin’ on a compilation that came out on Duophonic and the duo had 2 releases on Soma Quality, but their signature filtered funk had not yet exploded. So Thomas Bangalter started his own label to release his dirty disco tracks (Guy-Man wouldn’t get around to starting his til ‘97 so more on that later). That label was called Roule and while each release was huge the amazing thing is that in the almost 10 years that they released tracks they put out only 10 record, but they’re ALL quality and innovative!

Thomas Bangalter – On Da Rocks DOWNLOAD
The best track from the EP that started it all in 1995. A funked out, slowed down, disco floor stomper, like only this man can create.

Roy Davis Jr. – Rock Shock DOWNLOAD
This was Roule 4. It came out in 1998. It’s probably my favorite disco house track of all time. I used to listen to this mix that Roy did when I was driving to raves.

Romanthony – Hold On DOWNLOAD
This one didn’t make it onto the Romanthoy post, just cause he had so many more recognizable jams, but WOW. The vocal on this is just some seriously uplifting Jersey garage music. I guess it originally came out in 1994 on Roman’s own Black Male Records, but I didn’t get it til it dropped as Roule 7 in 1999. Bruno actually just brought it back when he dropped it at the last Utopia at Boston Rocks last month. Hands in the air for real!

Romanthony is a a house music rarity, a prolific vocalist and prolific producer. His smooth Jersey garage sound with a dirty Chicago twist transcended the splintering house scene and was featured on a ton of early Azuli records and helped spread soulful house throughout the UK and Europe. If your not up on your dance classics then you may think you’ve never heard dude before, but you definitely have…he did the vocals on Daft Punk’s biggest of all their big tunes. But regardless of all that, Romanthony this mystery man with roots in Jersey has produced and sang on more house hits than you can count on your hands. You can tell he’s had a major influence on us and here are some of our favorite stone cold Romanthony classics.

Buzzin Cuzzins – Let Me Show You Love DOWNLOAD
The first time I heard this was on a Derrick Carter tape I got in the mid-90’s. It also had a ton of other dirty garage house classics (like the Morales mix of Black Sheep – Stobelight). I’ll rip that tape soon, cause it’s ridic, but for now you can enjoy this swinging monster that was released on Azuli in 1994 and will still be rinsed heavily forever.

Romanthony Presents Lifestyles – Trust (Wah Trust Mix) DOWNLOAD
It’s all about the Ghost Mix for stripped down bumpy floor rocking, but the the full filtered dopeness of this mix showcases Romanthony’s amazing musicianship. It was released in ‘96 on Downtown161 a longtime distributor and label out of NYC and you can buy one of our copies of the vinyl if you really want to beat it up properly.

Romanthony Presents Nyree – Good Tymz DOWNLOAD
Cnyce searched for this tune for at least five years. I’m not gunna waste your time with info. JUST LISTEN.

Not much of Romanthony’s material is available digitally so goto your neighborhood record store and cop some classics or you can buy his albums on CD here.

If you’ve never heard J-Boogie rock before, take a close listen. He is one of these DJ rarities that possess the ability to bridge the gap between genres narrowing a musical spectrum into a condensed laser beam of dopeness that causes an undeniable shaking effect in the booties of all young ladies on the dance floor. Its like how sharks smell blood in water, they just go crazy… Now, for those of you that joined us in this most intimate of performances last April at the Goodlife, you’ll remember we werent exactly sold out, eerrp, however, what a friggin night! Boogs had the place going off till well past closing… Live it again people, live it and be about it!

Oh yeah… FYI, this is NOT the real J-Boogie

LIVE AT GOODLIFE PART1 DOWNLOAD
This is the end of Soul Clap set then J-Boogie party rock style

LIVE AT GOODLIFE PART 2 DOWNLOAD
All J-Boogie, nice Deep House and some dub

Ok. So it’s not exactly a mixtape, but the Christian McBride Band’s live set recorded recently at The Kennedy Center in DC is probably what techno sounds like when it’s played by jazz musicians in outer space. It’s also a live so it plays continuously and kind of feels like a mixtape (as long as you ignore/ffwd through that annoying woman from NPR). This is some serious future jazz so enjoy it.

And speaking of Jazz. (1) Check out our new amigo DJ Durutti’s top jazz albums of the 90’s list that he put us on too after checking our Jazz…We Got mixtape. (2) Techno heads need to hear this live pa by Matthew Johnson’s super-group, Cobblestone Jazz recorded at some club in Amsterdam (thanks Sergio).

Christian McBride Band at the Kennedy Center
Sorry it’s not the usual mp3 links, but NPR uses Real Player and you gotta goto their site to launch it. So click and then you can listen. Blame NPR not us.

We probably shout our dude Kon out way too much, but whatever, he’s a Boston don and he has a blog now that needs to be checked if you love disco dopeness. Just in time for the weekend he posted this mix he did awhile back. Here’s what he said about it.

“Heres another mix I did a while back, I brought a few of these on cd to Europe..sold some, gave some away. Joints from groups like, Visions of Tomorrow, Grandmaster Lover, Thunderbolt, Hi Fidelity, an exclusive mix of Family of Eves I wanna be loved by you..direct from the masters ! Check it out, plenty of treats on this one. The pic was from Bus Palladium in Paris, I didnt play any Disco (the Disco ball is in full e.f.f.e.c.t. tho!)…I ran alllloooot of hip hop that night, Amir played some funk but heads were not to open off that… As you can see from the pic I still turned it out.”

konsdiscoboogiemix! DOWNLOAD

Armand Van Helden – I Want Your Soul

But, the song it sampled has an even better video. Shit is from 1985 and was on the soundtrack to Fast Forward so the dance moves are crazzz. The chick Siedah Garrett is seriously/prolific dope too. She wrote a grip of Michael Jackson songs and other hits, was in The Brand New Heavies and most importantly wrote and featured on Dennis Edwards‘ seminal garage classic “Don’t Look Any Further”. But the best part? This one is produced and mixed by the one and only Jellybean Benitez. Yowza!

Siedah Garrett – Do You Want It Right Now

Shout outs to Ligz for the heads up on the O.G. video!

Welcome to the new and improved ROOTS & FUTURE! The new style is to get artists we love to talk to us about what they’re about and what they got coming up and give us some dope tracks to post for a week. For the first edition I had the honor of catching up with longtime house and breaks producer Hollis P. Monroe aka DJ Decent for an IM interview. Dude has been doin it doin it since the mid 90’s and has some serious tunes under his belt, including funky breaks monster “Reflex Speed” & absolute deep house classic “I’m Lonely” (which was licensed on 30+ compilations). So here’s the interview and 2 classic tracks plus dude’s latest are at the bottom.

djelyte: quick intro question. whats the dif between hollis p and dj decent?
djdecent: dj decent is for breaks. hollis p monroe is house

djelyte: i want to start with the quesiton about hip-hop. how do you see hip-hop’s connection to electonic music from back in the day vs now
djdecent: as far as the connection to hip hop i would think it would be pretty evident to anyone who was around in the 80s. i mean, the music was made using alot of the same tools and when i used to breakdance, we used to do it to techno and electro basically. take “planet rock” for instance that song is just as much electronic as it is, hip hop.
djelyte: right, so it was really that electro breaks influence that led you to house and techno?
djdecent: well, kinda. i mean, i think some where along the line we all forgot how close the genres used to be. listen to some early hip hop albums you’ll find a couple house tracks mixed in.
djelyte: like?
djdecent: queen latifah, jungle brothers are the first that come to mind immediately. also there’s a song that “we” called “it’s time” that i would hear all the time at hip hop parties and it’s definitely a straight up detroit techno record i’m looking for the actual name of it right now….found it! Hashim’s “Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)”
djelyte: oh man thats the joint
djdecent: yeah, that’s what i mean. EVERY hip hop dj, back then used to rock two copies of that record
djelyte: did you ever spin hip-hop?
djdecent: yup. that’s how i started out, little house parties, in my preteens, early 80s, in philly! and i used to rap too! and breakdance. all that.
djelyte: so straight up b-boy
djdecent: absolutely
djelyte: did you chill with jazzy jeff? or king britt?
djdecent: well, i met king much later, but i remember going to parties on upenn’s campus and he would be rockin’! but i didn’t know them personally or anything like that back in the day. by the way, i remember this dj, master vic from back then as well…you might know him as vikter duplaix. and hey played and made hip hop.
djelyte: yeah it must have been dope growing up in a city with so much great music
djdecent: indeed. it was a great time musically, everything was so young and untouched in a way. good times.

djelyte: so what made you start producing electronic music?
djdecent: well, it was college basically. i started going to raves and parties and such. hip hop wasn’t really happening for me and the gangsta thing started getting big and i just kinda stopped liking it. so once i was exposed to rave culture, i started messing around with the music. i had already had the equipment from what i was doing with hip hop
djelyte: where were u in college
djdecent: drexel university. still in philly. i remember seeing josh wink in my cafeteria all the time he used to dj at the radio station even though he went to temple. not sure how that happened. he was just getting going at that point, this was before” higher states” or anything like that.
djelyte: do u remember a moment when you knew you realized you were going to make electronic music
djdecent: i do believe i just kinda started without thinking. the guys that were taking me to raves kinda just led me in that direction. we had a little group and all that. i will say this though, the moment that i decided to make music differently in general was when a friend came to my house with with two songs from the prince album “sign o the times”. that’s when i realized that i want to do a little more than the kind of hip hop i was doing at the time, but i had no idea that it would eventually lead me to electronica/house

djelyte: one thing that impresses me about you (and probably all producers i like) is the diversity of music you make. do you sit down with the intention of making a certain kind of track or just let the sounds guide you?
djdecent: first of all, thank you very much! actually, to be honest, i have no rhyme or reason to how i work. mainly i just start with an idea and by the time, i’m done, many times that original idea isn’t even there. but i would say that i do kinda have in mind that i’m trying to stay within the realm of house because that’s kinda what i’m known for and what people are kind of looking for from me
how’d you end up with one of the biggest breaks tracks then?
djdecent: ha ha ha ha. which track is that?
djelyte: reflex sped
djdecent: well, that came before i was really into house. i was still going to raves then. it’s weird that you would say it was a big record. because it didn’t really feel that way. i mean, it sold well but i never really heard it played out anywhere, but then again, breaks weren’t really that big in philly.
djelyte: all the funky breaks dudes were playing it: justin johnson, icey, dj dan. and then icey put it on his compliation.
djdecent: shout out to icey!

djelyte: so how’d u find house then?
djdecent: house found me! i mean, the very next record i did after reflex speed was i’m lonely and i wasn’t thinking i was making a house record it just came out of me. it kinda overshadowed reflex speed and since i already wasn’t hearing many breaks i just kinda stayed on the house path. i’m realizing there are alot of fluke occurrences in my career!

djelyte: you originally put that out on Renaissance Infinity?
djdecent: yes, both of those. well, i’m lonely had the logo but it was essentially a bootleg but yeah, i put them out.
djelyte: how many copies did you press of each?
djdecent: man, i couldn’t even tell you there were lots of reorders so i may have started with 1000 of each but they were gone very very quickly. i don’t know exact totals of how much they sold.
djelyte: how’d you distribute them?
djdecent: we were grinding! we did alot of direct to store sales but i mean, we used to the usual suspects as well.
djelyte: any in boston?
djdecent: yeah boston beat and there was another store or two that i cant remember now. wait, i cannot for to mention siren distribution out of jersey! they did alot for me and my label!

djelyte: Stickman records took i’m lonely to the next level. they we’re a pretty huge label at the time, how did they get to you?
djdecent: stickman contacted me through nigel richards. at first, i didn’t think it made any sense to work with them but they saw a much larger potential for “i’m lonely” and to just say “they were right” would be understatement of the year!
djelyte: how many comps was that licensed on?
djdecent: man, i don’t have an exact figure but i would say no less than 30 and i’m being quite conservative

djelyte: universal agents was big for you to huh?
djdecent: oh yeah
djelyte: and i just realized it was you and g-pal
djdecent: yes, indeed. we did that project over one weekend. 6 songs in about 3 days. g-pal is a super cool dude.

djelyte: back to the vinyl thing. do you still press vinyl of R.I. releases? Do you still play vinyl?
djdecent: no, i don’t press any more vinyl at this point, but i do prefer to play it. i play records and use serato. totally skipped over cds

djelyte: where do you think technology will bring djing in 5 years?
djdecent: that’s a tough question. it depends on how it’s utilized. i mean, beat matching may become a lost skill but it will allow us to concentrate on other things. i don’t know. it’s not looking too good. i mean, ableton makes it so basically anyone can be a dj. technology is kinda killing the industry overall in a way.
djelyte: how so?
djdecent: the cd burning/downloading are obvious culprits but the ease by which, people are able to put tracks together, helped saturate the market and don’t get me wrong there are people making great music but it seems like there’s a huge focus on production techniques and not much attention to actual songwriting skills. no depth just a ton of “cool” sounding tracks.

djelyte: are you djing alot these days?
djdecent: not really. i’m 90% producer. 10% dj. but i would like to change that. i’ve never toured or anything like that.

djelyte: i know you said you think the music is diluted but how do you feel about the overall state of dance music today? what sounds are you feeeling. producers, labels etc…
djdecent: i mean, speaking as a consumer it’s great! but as an artist it kinda sucks. like there’s not a whole hell of a lot of ways to support yourself doing it. as far as producers go: peven everett, quentin harris, chris brann
djelyte: any top current or all time tracks?
djdecent: here’s my all-time top 20 in no particular order. if you want the long list of my favs it can be found here.

And here’s the music!

DJ Decent – Reflex Speed DOWNLOAD
This was on the Stupid Def EP, which was the 3rd release on Hollis P.’s label, Renaisance Infinity in 1996. It blew up with all funky breaks DJs and I remember hearing it at raves all the time. It went on to appear on DJ Icey’s seminal compliation “The Funky Breaks”. You can BUY the whole Stupid Def EP and a few other choice DJ Decent cuts HERE.

Hollis P. Monroe vs. Etta James- This Is Goodbye (Deeper Mix) DOWNLOAD
We picked up the original bootleg vinyl of this Etta James remix when it came out in 2004 and put it on our “Torch Bearers” mix cause it was so dope. Now you can BUY it and the equally dope remix on the flipside HERE.

Hollis P. Monroe – I Want To Thank You DOWNLOAD
This is some new fire that just dropped on Worship Records. Deep, dub, funk, house just the way we like it! BUY the full release HERE.

flowers – armand van heldon feat. roland clark [I first heard Josh Wink play this at Fluid in Philly and it brought me to the verge of tears.]
i can’t believe i loved her – peven everett [Peven is the producer i wish i was. This is the song i wish i wrote.]
nobody else – ce ce peniston [Ce Ce Peniston and Steve Hurley are definitely going to heaven for this. Gospel house at it's finest and funkiest.]
around the world – daft punk [I purposely never play this song so that it's there when i REALLY need it. Instant mood swing.]
dominator (joey beltram mix) – human resource [Hardcore fun. What else can be said.]
music sounds better – stardust [Yeah, i said it and i wish somebody would try to call me on it.]
gabrielle – roy davis jr featuring pevin everett [If this song doesn't touch you somewhere deep down inside, you and I can't be friends.]
cascades of color – ananda project [I remember Deep C and Udoh running two copies of this the first time i heard it.� They just kept playing the a cappella part over and over for about five minutes. When they finally let the beat drop in, i felt chills. One of these days i'm gonna work with Gaielle. i'm not ready yet.]
the horns of jerico – the prodigy [the experience album was basically the soundtrack of my raver days]
a stronger man – ben watt featuring sananda maitreya (terence trent d’arby) [This is the best use of a terrance trent d'arby sample... next to you know what. : )]
i’m lonely – hollis p monroe [This song is special to me because it seems to touch some people in a way beyond just making them want to dance. It seems to trigger memories and emotions and I'm constantly amazed at the effect it's had on certain people. For everyone else, it's just damn good track.]
this is goodbye (deeper mix) – hollis p monroe [Although I made the deep (original) mix about three or four years before it's actual release, i made this deeper mix at the last minute instead of just putting some "throw-away" track on the other side as i had originally planned. it was one of my better decisions.]
don’t stop – brazilian girls [i don't know why. i just love this song.]
sure thing – st. germain [This song comes on, my hands go up.]
all that you give – cinematic orchestra [Come on, now.... Pure soul]
let this – ayro [Another one i can't pinpoint why. I think it's because it sounds so dry and raw. It's just very pleasing to my ears.]
destination – ananda project [This song convinces me that Chris Brann and I are soul brothers]
worlds – passion dance orchestra [I first heard this on my friend Mello D's mix cd and i forced my mother to listen to it over and over again, almost the entire way to New York.]
brand new day – little louie vega featuring blaze [I was fortunate enough to be at the Keep Hope Alive recording session and I'm still kicking myself for not getting in that picture with all those legends. It's all good though, because during a break, Josh Milan from Blaze got on the grand piano and performed this song for just for me. literally, just for me...]
just about any song written by – prince [There are TONS of tracks I could have added to this list and I had planned to stick to all electronic stuff but to not include Prince would just be wrong. I think his musical influence on me is quite evident when you listen to my stuff and if I don't acknowledge him... well, it would just be wrong.]

I’m smashing it today, right? Pics from DOTC2 and a new podcast live from Monaco so far and now something totally different.

So I went to high-school with Ross The Boss (F.K.A. DJ Rook) who is a seriously dope bedroom hip-hop DJ and has a headie podcast that you can check here. Dude is a also a talented jazz piano player and we used to rock together when I played saxophone. We also DJed together alot and in 1999 decided to hook our people up with with a Xmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza mixtape for the ages. It’s all jazz music and all mixed in weird and crazy ways with some dope scratch interludes from R.T.B. I dug out the tape a few months back and Ross ripped it, hosted it and posted each side on his podcast and now I’m reposting here. You can also check his take on things and some nice jazz pics and liner notes on his page. Please excuse the sound quality, it’s a tape. These are still some of my favorite jazz tunes and I hope you enjoy it!

Side A Tracklist
Bosstro
Words from Rahsaan
Dexter Gordan- A Night in Tunisia
Eric Jackson- A Tribute to Miles
Miles Davis- Round Midnight
Sonny Rollins- St. Thomas
John Coltrane- In A Sentimental Mood
Brown & Roach- Take the A Train
Thelonius Monk- Well You Neednt
Nat Adderley- Work Song
Charlie Parker- Ornithology
Carmen McRae- I Didnt Know
Side B Tracklist
Intro- Jazz We Got
Dave Brubeck- Take Five
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman- My One and Only Love
Modern Jazz Quartet- Bags Groove
Eric Dolphy- Epistrophy
Clifford Brown and Max Roach- Doxy
John Coltrane- A Love Supreme (Acknowledgement)
Milt Jackson and Wes Montgomery- Deliliah
Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie- Honeysuckle Rose
Thank You

Rook and Elyte – Jazz…We Got (1999) – Side A DOWNLOAD

Rook and Elyte – Jazz…We Got (1999) – Side B DOWNLOAD

Make sure to subscribe to Ross The Boss Radio if you love jazzy and underground hip-hop. Dude has done crazy episodes like Oukast vs. Madlib and the all female MCs mix. Plus he also posts his old mixes from the 90’s which are nuts.

Here’s Charlie’s play-by-play.
Click the links to see the videos. Here (Frequency 7 who played BANGING techno at like 9am) and here (Derrick May who beats it like no other) are 2 highlights that Charlie didn’t mention. You can also see my pics here.

Chazshabaz: <ding>
Sergio Santos: Rave!!!
Sergio Santos: You must be psyched
Chazshabaz: There playin deetron, dominic euylberg in 15. I’m gonna give you the play by play
Chazshabaz: Its too early for this shit. Maybe minimal.

Chazshabaz: Funk 1
Sergio Santos: Ak 47
Sergio Santos: Dominic will be ill
Sergio Santos: What’s funk 1 and what’s that pic of
Chazshabaz: Funkyion one big sound. Dom is nize got =) 5 euro!
Sergio Santos: word!
Sergio Santos: =D
Sergio Santos: Saw all the pics looks amazing

Chazshabaz: Ken ishii, got more and some funny stuff :p
Sergio Santos: <ding>
Chazshabaz: Geiser, got chocolate
Sergio Santos: Just sent you lineup for the whole night in every tent
Sergio Santos: Yeah I would stay there @ ishii and listen to dave Clarke after
Sergio Santos: ?
Sergio Santos: You get my email
Chazshabaz: Going to model 500
Chazshabaz: <ding>
Sergio Santos: Dave Clarke man!
Chazshabaz: Found yellow =) on ground

Sergio Santos: Nize
Sergio Santos: They don’t know how to mix though
Chazshabaz: Ha! Its tru
Chazshabaz: Met Molly
Sergio Santos: Its on now
Chazshabaz: Ha wee!
Chazshabaz: Snoop is late
Sergio Santos: Ha!
Sergio Santos: Of course he stoned
Chazshabaz: Dave Clarke, 140 bpm
Sergio Santos: Oh yeah
Sergio Santos: Bangin techno!
Chazshabaz: Troy prierce!

Chazshabaz: Life soundtrack
Sergio Santos: Jorvis live! Nize
Chazshabaz: Hell yeah
Sergio Santos: I can’t believe the party your @ right now
Chazshabaz: I can’t either bro
Chazshabaz: Its a circus

Chazshabaz: The orb



Sergio Santos: What!
Sergio Santos: Nize!!! =D
Chazshabaz: <ding>
Chazshabaz: Oops
Chazshabaz: Sven!
Sergio Santos: What!
Sergio Santos: Nize

Chazshabaz: Yes, of course
Chazshabaz: Sven oh sven
Chazshabaz: Derrick Carter is playing sexy back, my official worst DJ
Sergio Santos: Get outa threr
Sergio Santos: Wtf
Sergio Santos: Wack
Sergio Santos: What’s it almost 4 hawtin about to go on then hell in a bit
Chazshabaz: Autechure
Chazshabaz: Yup,
Sergio Santos: You skould are the website for that party next level partying
Sergio Santos: Yeah man there’s a bunch of stuff there I’ve never heard of that’s prob really cool
Chazshabaz: Time for Richie
Sergio Santos: Oh yeah
Sergio Santos: That will be amazing!
Sergio Santos: He’s the fucking man
Chazshabaz: Wha wa we wa!

Chazshabaz: Slam live it’s out of control!
Sergio Santos: Fuckin A!
Chazshabaz: Oh my god, my entire body is in so much pain
Sergio Santos: What up mushie!
Sergio Santos: <ding>
Chazshabaz: Ha
Chazshabaz: I think I’m a monster

Sergio Santos: Nice
Chazshabaz: The inside of my nose and ears are dark black from the desert dirt
Sergio Santos: What time did you leave
Chazshabaz: Right when Stacey pullen started 1030 am
Chazshabaz: I must purify myself in the waters of lake minitawnka
Sergio Santos: Did you are ino and Johnny fed
Chazshabaz: Missed it, I’d rather not talk about it
Sergio Santos: See ino and def?
Sergio Santos: Ha!
Chazshabaz: Its an 8 hour drive,
Sergio Santos: Jesus who’s drivin, ouch!
Chazshabaz: I feel like the dirties pair of socks you have waiting for laundry but forgotten about

Here are our top 3 tracks we heard at Monegros (that we have)

Phil Kieran – I Think I’m A Monster DOWNLOAD
As played by Sven Vath of course. It’s on his label, Cocoon Recording’s new compilation that you can get here.

Aardvark – Cult Copy (2000 And One Mix) DOWNLOAD
As played by the one and only Derrick May at 8am.

Deetron ft. DJ Bone – Life Soundtrack (Radio Slave Remix) DOWNLOAD
As played by DJ Hell. Deetron is on fire right now so buy his music here.

DJ Bruno is one of the originators of house music in Boston and it’s time to pay your respect. As resident at the legendary Loft Bruno and Armand Van Helden shaped the sound of our city, but even before that he was a pioneer and he continues to be one of the most exciting DJs in the city today. This Sunday celebrate his 20th DJ anniversary at Utopia (Bruno’s weekly Sunday that always has great vibes and music and lively dancefloor and is def worth checking any week, especially with upcoming guests like Karizma & Martinez Bros) expect tons of deep dopeness, both classic and brand spankin new. We love you Bruno.

You can check some of Bruno’s mixes here.

It’s been too long since we did mixTape Time and also we finally started ripping tapes from the old collection. I think I got this in 1998 and it’s one of my favorite funky breaks mixes of all time for sure. The speed garage basslines on a few of these tracks are so where I was at at the time. Serious rave action.

Justin Johnson – Fractured Breaks – Side A DOWNLOAD

Justin Johnson – Fractured Breaks – Side B DOWNLOAD

Had to post it. Gotta love how he whips out the harmonica from his jacket and kills it. Then comes little Michael. What happened dude?

Ok, it’s time to jump forward 2 years. As I said in Part 2, the swinging beats and vocal stabs on Mr. Van Helden’s mid 90’s productions defined the new garage house sound of NYC and ultimately shaped UK’s “Sunday Scene”, but it was in ‘96 that he really kicked it into high gear by speeding up the tracks, adding jungle/d&b style basslines, huge breakdowns and chopped and stretched vocals to the mix. The UK DJs had basically been playing the NYC style pitched up and with the bass jacked up, so Armand’s new work just packaged it, made it better and blew it up. There’s no denying that 1997 was the year of speed garage and here are 3 of the tracks that made it possible.

Tori Amos – Professional Widow (Armand’s Star Trunk Funkin’ Mix) DOWNLOAD
This was the first of Armand’s bass heavy remixes in ‘96 and set the tone for what was to come. It hit number one on the UK single chart and the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the U.S. by utilizing a live funk bass and the vocal hook of Tori Amos saying “it’s gotta be big” to massive effect. An absolute classic that still does it today.

Nuyorican Soul – Runaway (Mongoloids In Space) DOWNLOAD
First of all you should know that Nuyorican Soul was Masters at Work’s acid jazz/latin side project that featured a slew of a amazing musicians and vocals and is to this day my ultimate summertime album, that you should buy here. Second of all, this is my favorite of Armand’s speed garage remixes. The energy is through the roof and the time stretched vocals do serious damage. Serious bounce.

Sneaker Pimps – Spin Spin Sugar (Armand’s Dark Garage Mix) DOWNLOAD
On this late ‘96 remix Armand took his sound into the darkness by adding a ripping drum&bass style bassline, that helped take the sound in completely different directions.

This is the final post (for now) in the Armand series so if you want to hear new music from the dude then MAKE SURE TO BUY THE NEW ALBUM ON CD HERE OR DIGITAL HERE!

Ok, just woke up from a week long blog coma. Sorry to keep all the Armand fanatics at bay. So next up we’ve got Armand’s first releases on Strictly Rhythm and Nervous Recs, both of which ironically are back in buisness. For those that didn’t know, Strictly partnered with Defected UK for a 2007 relaunch with new mixes of Wink’s Higher State of Conciousness and a new single from Todd Terry.

Anyways, back to AVH, who’s so rediculously diverse that we’re giving you a taste of deep, tribal and garage from ‘94-’95.

Kim English – Nite Life (Retail Mix) DOWNLOAD
Ok first up, hot fire from 1994. Armands pass at Kim English’s classic vocal anthem, which went even so far as to get picked up on Polydor UK. This tune is epic, rave stabs, resonating b-line and New Jersey garage shuffle. After Nervous Records closed down, Kenny Dope remixed and put out a version on Dopewax in 2006 as Nitelife(Encore), but this one’s the O.G!

Armand Van Helden – Nrongo Ra Morongo DOWNLOAD
Do you want to dance and be happy? Hell yeah, 1994 Strictly Rhythm Nrongo Ra Morongo is the tribal banana boat. I don’t know what language this is, but I know that Armand was feeling samples from Indonesia and Africa. It sounds like they’re saying Namaste which would be from India, i dunno fer sure. Anyways, if you peep the breakdown you might notice that its the same sample he used for 1994’s Zulu (Change Mix) under the Circle Children alias. This track totally flips into some naked percussion. So F*cking DOPE, plus there’s crickets homie, crickets!

The Mole People – Break Night DOWNLOAD
The Mole People, I definitely relate since Soul Clap has been living in the studio with no windows. I can’t really put my finger on exactly this sound but its deep, dubby, tribal and so freshly phasered out. Released on Strictly in 1995, can’t tell if its sampled or original, but anyone that knows get at us and set the record straight!

So I was gunna do all Armand’s ‘94 house works in one post, but there are too many tunes and the 4 labels he was on are too long to fit in one line of the post title. So I’m breaking into 2 parts, but here’s a little info that applies to this post and the one coming tomorrow. 1994 was the year that Armand broke out and defined the hard edged new garage sound that carried him and NYC’s house labels through the mid ’90s and ultimately played a huge role in the creation of the entire UK garage movement (actually wikipedia’s entry has a ton of errors so maybe someday I’ll have time to update it).

Tonja Dantzler – In And Out Of My Life (AV8 Mix) DOWNLOAD
This remix was actually released in 1993 on ‘tique Records a sub-label of Woburn, MA based Critique Records, which also released albums from early ’90s acts 2 Unlimited and Digital Underground! The chopped up vocals and tough swing beats on Armand’s mix laid out the framework for his ‘94 releases and the new garage house sound.

Armand & The Banana Spliffs – Crusty The Caveman (Land Of The Lost Mix) DOWNLOAD
This EP came out on Cutting Records Traxx in ‘94 and has 2 all-time Soul Clap secret weapons on it so I gotta post my least favorite on it. If you are dieing to get your hands on 2 of the best ska/dancehall/house tracks ever then you will buy my second copy of this vinyl.

Old School Junkies – Heh Baby – DOWNLOAD
Armand’s first Old Skool Junkies EP came out in 1994 on Henry Street and has 3 top choice party cuts PLUS beat tools for all of ‘em. All 3 tracks are necessary, but this one is often overlooked in favor of voguing anthem Work Me! (Gadamit). It’s disco house looper that samples Tata Vega’s “Get It Up For Love” (edited to perfection by Dimitri From Paris in 2002).

Once again…if you like this music then you will LOVE the new album so…MAKE SURE TO BUY THE NEW ALBUM ON CD HERE OR DIGITAL HERE!