Here on the Soul Clap blog we usually focus on music, but with Dixon closing with Adamski's 90's rave classic "Killer" (which had an amazing video) last night, one of the best viral videos campaigns we've ever seen taking place today and our participation in a massive audio/visual event this Friday night, we thought it would be fun to close out the day with some video pressure for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy :) Adamsky ft. Seal - Killer [youtube 7XBcT41ImSI] Sosolimited reConstitution Trailer

[youtube iKKONgfNONU] At Middlesex - 315 Massachusetts Ave. - Cambridge - NO COVER - 21+ - Here's a map

Yoyoyo, July 15th, our 2+ year running 90's Jam moves to one of our favorite venues, Middlesex! It's also the only place you can get your hands on the first official YOYOYO 90'S JAM Mixtape called "Party At Screech's", cause we're giving copies away at the party and nowhere else. And like all that wasn't enough we got Adidas to give away 2 gift certificates to the best 90's outfitted dude and dudette. Plus we got VJ eKa$h with the 90's visuals. WOAH! [youtube X_PDns23RWY] At Middlesex - 315 Massachusetts Ave. - Cambridge - NO COVER - 21+ - Here's a map

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.

[audio:nuyoricansoul-runaway.mp3] 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.

[audio:maw-laindiaconlavoe.mp3] 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.

[audio:kenlou-gimmegroove.mp3] 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.

M.A.W. in Muzik Mag in 1997

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.

[audio:wishingonastar-magicsessionsvocaldub.mp3] 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. [audio:thehadance-kenloumix.mp3] 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? [audio:hiphop-mastersatworkdub.mp3] 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.

1, 2, ready, go, 1, 2, ready, go! Come on, it's party time. Another month, another Yoyoyo 90's Jam at Redline. And this one is special cause we're helping some friends who work for goodness (YAVA) celebrate their 2 year anniversary by making our dance party extra super turbo charged good. So everybody dance now and don't let the things that make you go hmmm get you down. Ya heard?! [youtube XjO6gPnsMnM] Here are pictures from past 90's Jams. Here are old 90's Jam Flyers. RSVP to get in free and make sure to goto your mom's house and dig out your 90's gear. The 90's Dance Jam is the 1st Thursday of every month at Redline. The 90's Dance Jam is 21+ and there is NO COVER if you RSVP. Redline is at 59 JFK Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, USA, Earth. Here is a map. Always wear 90's gear.

Green Velvet in UK's now defunct Muzik Mag in 1997 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. [audio:thelightspart2.mp3] 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! [audio:smokenindo.mp3] 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. [audio:explorer.mp3] 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!

[youtube Msybc49v1dk] 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... [audio:talkingwithmyself.mp3] 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. [audio:thecreditcard.mp3] 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. [audio:getup.mp3] 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. [audio:becauseofyou-roysmix.mp3] 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.

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. [audio:professionalwidow.mp3] 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. [audio:runaway.mp3] 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. [audio:spinspinsugar.mp3] 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. [audio:http://www.soulclap.us/audio/nitelife-retailmix.mp3] 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! [audio:http://www.soulclap.us/audio/nrongoramorongo.mp3] 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! [audio:http://www.soulclap.us/audio/breaknight.mp3] 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!