Smylonylon 2

I haven't posted any Smylonylons for a while.  This is one of the earlier tapes that features more 60s pop and lounge exotica.  Some might immediately think of elevators.  But I was actually really enjoying listening to this, especially side 2.  I think maybe it's a nice contrast from all the darkness that I'm listening to right now, all the heavy acid house and 80s Belgian synth pop.  No one wants to eat the same food all the time.

I don't have much to comment about the artists as most of them are well known but these tracks are less commonly played, at least not in my circles.  Enjoy.

Side 1

Not sure about most of the tracklisting on side 1 but it does feature  near the beginning the track Journey to the East by Bill Plummer/The Cosmic Brotherhood.

Side 2


Track listing that I could identify on side 2 - some individual download links.

Bridget Bardot - Contact

Harangozó Teréz - Sose fájjon a fejed

Michel Legrand - Brule Pas Tes Doigts

Bo Didley - Bo's Bounce

Tom Jones - If I Promise

Esquivel and his orchestra - Frenesi

Anonymous amusing German tracks at end of Side 2

Lektyr - Sommar Hits

I bought this tape in a Saturday flea market in downtown Oslo.  My friend Anders told me Lektyr was a porn mag in the 80s.  Anyway, most of these songs are forgettable but the Rain and Tokyo tracks are pretty good.  What it looks like has been done here is that the real artist names have been replaced with made up names.  So the I'm the Lady track is Linda Williams, the Marigot Bay is Arabesque and the Rain is Goombay Dance Band.  If you want to let me know who did the Tokyo track that would be great.

Side A
Morning Train - Baby Girls
In Your Arms - Company of Friends
Marigot Bay - Baby Singers  (Arabesque)
All Those Years Ago - Revolutions
I'm the Lady (Eurovision song Netherlands) - Baby Singers (Linda Williams)
Seven Tears - Disco Rollers

Side B
Rain - Revolutions (Goombay Dance Band)
Tokyo - Janne Lucas
Flash - School Boys
Sukiyaki - Flash Backs
Take Me Home - Freestyle
Cinderella Jones - Kerstin Dahlberg

Zarcop Oddcast III

Alaska y Los Pegamoides

Faley from Late of the Pier has posted a mix of tunes which I selected for him in the sort of early 80s minimal no wave, german-ish vein.  Hope you enjoy.

Oddcast on Mixcloud

Tracklist / Chapters


1 Superdome 80 - Auto Gegen Pfütze

2 Xeno And Oaklander - Sentinelle

3 Alaska - Bote De Colon

4 Klan X - Alarma General

5 International Music System - An English

6 Human Puppets - In The Nights

7 Rob Hubbard - Immortal

8 White Ring - Ixc999

9 Edwyn Collins - Never Known A Girl Like You Before

I've been getting more and more into early more simple hard sounds from Detroit and Chicago - and on that vein here is another tape from the collection I got from Chris Low. It's a particularly good run through the acid house scene.  The standout track here that I don't remember hearing before, mostly because of the robotic girly voice in it, is Confusion's Revenge by Armando.

Enjoy.  Chris volunteered the following tracklisting but I haven't checked it through.

part 1: - download

1) the acid life - farley jackmaster funk (house)
...2) confusion's revenge - armando (jack trax)   [DOWNLOAD]
3) land of confusion - armando (westbrook)
3) this is acid - maurice joshua (trax)
4) hot hands - hula (trax)
5) as acid turns - liddell townsell (trax)
6) born to freak - steve poindexter (muzique)
7) computer madness - steve poindexter (muzique)
8) machines - laurent x (house nation)
9) fingers - the juice - or may be "Ecstacy" (hot mix 5)
10) dj #1 - acid houz (dance mania)
11) The M rules - MD connection (musique)
12) some white label
13) Hous Mon - Acid warp (underground house)
14) can't for the life of me remember what this track is!
15) cool & dry - jack frost (trax)
16) downfall - armando (warehouse)
17) can't for the life of me remember what this track is!

part 2: - download

1) 20 below - dj pierre (jack trax)
2) phuture jacks - phuture (trax)
3) think this is either jack frost or the porch monkeys, pretty sure it's on Trax or Housetime Records anyway
4) this sounds like a Larry heard track, maybe something off the Hot Mix 'Acid LP' might be called 'hot coals'?
5) magic fingers - 3-2-6 (dance mania)
6) box energy - dj pierre (trax)
7) 'art of acid' maybe?? - otherwise not sure.
8) 151 - armando (warehouse)
9) 151 (remix) - armando (warehouse)
10) climax - black trax (niteclub)
11) acid trax - phuture (trax)
12) slam - phuture (trax)
13) pfantasy girl - pfantasy club (SRO)
14) the creator - pfantasy club (jack trax)See more
2 seconds ago · LikeUnlike

Fundi Konde - Marahaba

This is another of those tapes I bought in Tanzania in January 2009 which I have not gotten around to posting.  Fundi Konde was one of the oldest and best known of Kenyan musicians.  According to Wikipedia he entertained East African troops in World War II when they were working in Asia.  This recording must have been made a long time ago cause it sounds like it's almost from the 50s.  The quality of this recording is not amazing but it's lovely to hear the Swahili lyrics.

You can listen to more of the tapes I bought in Tanzania here.

Side A:

1. Ajali Haikingiki

2. Ndoto

3. Majengo Siendi Tena

4. Dumalangu

5. Gari La Punda

6. Bwaha Majifuno

7. Wachawi

Side B:

1. Nanguruma Simba

2. Kifo Cha Baba

3. Chama - Ngamuam

4. Kaloleni

5. Tuheshimu Mahib pt. 1 and 2
6. Mwanangu Libe

SALSOUL 1 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - KISS RECORDS

The Salsoul sound is well known and has been endlessly sampled, including most recently in the big hit You're Nasty by Duck Sauce (Arman van Helden and A-trak) which, like many big house tunes, is mostly great because of the original disco hook.  I was surprised when listening to this tape that it has a number of really good Salsoul tracks that are actually quite rare.  The Double Exposure and Surface tracks are lovely and fairly well known.  Anyway, ain't no groove like a D-Train groove if you know what I mean.  This is like apple juice in the morning when you're hung over . . . .  sweeeeeeet.

Side A:

1. Jimmy Williams - All Of My Lovin

2. Arru - Are You Single

3. Loleatta Holloway - All About The Papers

4. Instant Funk - Can You See Where Im Coming From

Side B:

1. Double Exposure: Ten Per Cent

2. The Salsoul Orchestra - Take Some Time For Love

3. The Strangers - Step Out Of My Dreams

4. Surface - Falling In Love

Personal pleasures - the driving podcast

People often ask me what I really like to listen to at home. Truth of the matter is that I really love pop and dance and weird stuff, which is exactly what I dj.  That's kind of what I'm known for.  Recently I got asked by How The Other Half Lives blog to do a collection of tunes I've liked for a long time that maybe I don't get to dj that I might listen to when I'm working at home or driving on a trip.  Many of these tracks wouldn't really fit into a dj set of mine but in each case they have some kind of quality which allows them to hook me in and just go on and on and on - great for background listening.

This is a mix of sort of pop techno, trance-ish world music, great african soukous and classic instrumental disco.

The Micronauts - The Jag
Charanjit Singh - Raga Todi
Ongaku - Mihon 3
Elasticoculture - Container Dreams
Tomas Andersson - The Other Day
Rita Indiana - Platanitos
Samba Mapangala - Adija
M'Bilia Bel - Faux Pas
El Coco - Cocomotion
Love Unlimited Orchestra - Forever in Love

Listen and download on How The Other Half Lives blog.

Smylonylon 30 (the last one ever) + In Flagranti + Fabric

So here it is. The last Smylonylon mixtape ever made. This doesn't mean I won't post any more earlier ones, but this is a very special one. As I've said before, Smylonylon tapes were a series of special tapes made of rare 60s-80s pop, moog music, italo, disco, etc. They are a real special experience and a great place to discover lots of rare old stuff. I've posted previous cassettes here, as well as explained the link between Alex (half of In Flagranti) and the tapes.

When Alex gave me Smylonylon 1 he was surprised to find that I had a copy of Smylonylon 30, the last one. Then he told me the story - apparently about 6000 Smylonylon tapes were made and sold through the Centre for the Dull store in NYC in the 90s. Then in the fall of '99 he was in a restaurant in NY and someone was playing what sounded like a Smylonyon tape. But when he asked about it, the tape was labelled with someone else's name. With copycats in the wings, he decided it was time to get out of the Smylonylon business and start a band, which became In Flagranti. But he made one last tape, limited to 20 copies only, without a tracklisting so people couldn't copy. What makes this tape special even more than usual is that Alex speeds up a lot of the tracks considerably, or slows them down, and fiddles around lots with filters/eqs. So it becomes a very different mix than if you just listened to the original tracks.

I've managed to figure out and hunt down a few of the tracks on the tape. The first side is virtually impossible for me to identify cause it's mostly instrumentals. But the Android Sisters track is loopy (as in weird) and amazing. I had more luck with Side B and discovered a lot of tracks I'd never heard of. I never knew, for example, that there was a female french version of an early Fab Five Freddie (who Blondie raps about) track. And weirdly enough, I'd never heard of The Mood. Munich Machine is also an amazing track of theirs. I want to particularly thank the always amazing Saltyka blog where I found a bunch of these tracks.

I'm also posting this now cause In Flagranti are playing as part of a Durrr party at Fabric this Friday. So you can see the man who made these tapes play live on a fab sound system. And coincidentally I will be djing earlier in the night playing a lot of similar tracks. So come down and say hi - give me your nerdy tips for similar tracks you've discovered.

Also, check out youtube of the latest of In Flagranti's project Sounds Superb 5.

Side A (direct download)

Tracklisting
?
?
Visage - Visa-Age
The Android Sisters - Robots are Coming
?
?

Side B (direct download)

Tracklisting
The Mood - Don't Stop
Anne Clark - Our Darkness (12 inch version) (or Razormaid mix)
Kim Larsen & Jungledreams - Time Bomb
Buggles - On TV
John Cooper Clarke - Teenage Werewolf
? (instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (B-Side) - Change the Beat (female french version)
? (instrumental)
Rational Youth - Le Mailleur Des Mondes
Charles De Goal - Radio On
Altered Images - I Could Be Happy
Tone Band - Tokyo Twist
The Flirts - Surf's Up
? (something german)

Trance 3 Various Artists

This is not really like the trance I normally think - or at least not like commercial stuff such as ATB's 9PM (Til I Come) which was a huge scene when I first moved to the UK in 1999.  This is more like early progressive dance and is part of a series of tapes which include the seminal techno compilation Technovisions which I featured way back when I started the blog. 

Like many tapes I've posted on this blog, my reason for posting is that it's a genre of dance music which falls between the classics that are well known and the current dance scene.  These era is currently the most difficult to find but its sound is so fresh again.  This tape features the Stealth Sonic Soul track which was produced by Apollo 440 (if you remember them) and also the Dust Brothers track Song to the Siren, which was one of the very first Chemical Brothers releases in 1992.  The only previous release is something done by Rowlands called Ariel - Rollercoaster / Mustn't Grumble in 1991.  It also has remix work by Andrew Weatherall and in general it's one of the best tracks on this comp.  I also really like the Van Basten - Lizard King remix but no idea who these guys are and even though their name appears on discogs - they seem lost to history.

Side 1:

1. Soul Odyssey - Rapture
2. Blood Runs Dry - All Of Your Mind
3. The Dust Brothers - Song To The Siren (Sabres Of Paradise Mix)
4. Stealth Sonic Soul - Stealth Sonic Soul
5. Van Basten - Lizard King (Amsterjam Mix)
6. Mad - Hollow


Side 2:

7. Shi-Take - Perfect Virtue (Full Moon Over Maduri Club Mix)
8. Otaku - Percussion Obsession (Back To Basics Trucker Mix)
9. Morgan King - I Am Free (Soma Mix)
10. The Pressure - Amor
11. Tom Tom - 480 Degrees
12. Jagga - Na-Na-Na (Acido Latino Mix)

Total Shite Vol 1

Although generally it must be agreed that I post perhaps the most critically acclaimed music you could find, from seminal rare techno to forgotten essential congolese soukous, now and then I feel it is necessary to expose oddities which may not be quite critically acclaimed.   Whoever made this tape must have worked for EMI - looks like maybe a compilation of stuff that either they had received as submissions or else just some random stuff they found.  Either way, it's pretty special stuff.  Tracks like Jessica are actually a decent quality recording.  But most of these are in a league of personal expression of their own.  Which makes you wonder if the Internet and everyone being able to easily make their own music is actually a good or bad thing.


Total Shite side
1. America
2. Do i want you
3. If love can win
4. So long ago
5. Its Christmas for Jesus
6. Norwegian Wood
7. Girl of my dreams
8.Rude Skanker
9. We would have problems
10. This old heart of mine
11. Raindrops keep falling on my head
12. Why
13. ??!????
14. Get back
15. Where does Santa go in Summer
16. All that love you gave me
17. Killing me Softly
18. ?????
19. Close to you
20. Conversation in Surburbia


Worst Flatulence side
Underworld avenue / America - J.Spencely
Do I want you - M.Lett
Diamond of your mind - R.Kray
If love can win - J.Hudson
So Long ago - R.Corbett
Jean - R.Beard
Let him damce - R.Beard
Jessica - R.Kray

TANGA

I found this a few other tapes in a street cart in Modica, Sicily, one of those kind of carts that normally sell burgers at car boot sales.  It is special because it falls into the eurodance/italo category, but after the classic italo period and moving into 1986 when the Stock Aitken Waterman sound and Sabrina's Boys Boys Boys style were becoming de rigeur.  And it appears a bunch of the tracks are quite rare in that they only appeared on a single and this comp, including the tracks from Ka-Zan, The Winners, Marilytz and Animal Heat. Unfortunately, the original tape was not in great recording quality even though it was new when I bought it.

These are all direct links so you can click and listen immediately.

Side A:


1. KA-ZAN – Give Me Your Heart
2. THE WINNERS – Freedom
3. BRIAN ICE – Tokyo
4. CARRARA – S.O.S. Bandido
5. MECCANO –Activate My Heart
6. CIAO FELLINI –Nocha A Bahia
7. JESSITA – Maybe This Night
8. MARILYTZ – She’s A Bad Girl


Side B

1. REGGIE –On The Park
2. MARIANA – Talk About Love
3. ANIMAL HEAT – Honey Words
4. PAUL SHARADA - Boxers
5. MARK MC DEAN – Italian Girl
6. EUGENE – Free Your Life
7. HOT COLD – I Can Hear Your Voice
8. MAX COVERI – One More Time

Our Husband - new band

I just got an e-mail from this new Australian oufit Our Husband.  I don't like most of the stuff I get sent but somehow I liked this.  Maybe a bit twee but lovely.

Our Husband - Villages

Djing at new Bar Strelka in Moscow

I am going to Moscow this weekend to dj on Saturday night, the 29th of May, at the new Bar Strelka at the new Strelka institute. I am delighted with the chance to dj on the opening weekend of this bar and the ongoing relationships I have with the great people at lookatme.ru.

This Strelka Institute is set up in the former Red October chocolate factory and features a curriculum that combines different creative disciplines that was developed in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas.  Should be a fun weekend.

ZAZA live gig!

I'm djing for this party and the new New York band ZAZA are playing live.  It's Wednesday, the 18th of May.  It's in a great unused warehouse in Dalston and I really like the band's ethereal sound as a contrast to all of the hard driving stuff I've been hearing lately.  And there's free drinks.  Come down.

Zaza on myspace

Street Sounds '87-3

This is another tape I bought in the Dalston Oxfam Shop.  Lots of urban dance stuff from 1987.  It features three artists that only had like one track out ever, which is on this tape - E'leesa, The Ebony Dukes and Ex-Sample.

Before I go on, let me just say that this is the website for the actual Dalston Oxfam shop.  Check it out.

My favorite tracks are the E'Leesa track Where Did Your Love Go? and the Ex-Sample track And So It Goes.  Both are really early house tracks and feature those simple deep analog beats with some disco samples so you can see the migration from disco to house.  The E'Leesa track was from Bassment records and was written by Barry Zeger and Craig Bevan who apparently wrote a number of early house songs but there is almost no information about them on the web.

The Ebony Dukes are also a band that only did this one track. It was produced by Jazzy Jay, a seminal king of hip hop who did the very first release by Def Jam with T La Rock.  I just discovered today that he is actually from a Gullah family.  The Gullahs are Americans who originated in Africa and have retained some african words and characteristics in their language.

I also just discovered that Jingo, which I know as a famous disco track done by Candido (also of Thousand Finger Man fame), was originally done by Santana.

Tracklist

A1	Mirage  -	Jack Mix IV
A2	E'leesa Weldon  -	Where Did Your Love Go?
A3	Ex-Sample  -	And So It Goes
A4	Eleanor Goodman  -	Sneak Preview
B1	The Whispers  -	No Pain, No Gain
B2	Point 3 FM  -	So Delicious
B3	Hashim  -	I Don't Need Your Love
B4	The Ebony Dukes  -	Girls
B5	Candido  -	Jingo

Eydie Gorme y El Trio Los Panchos

Another great tape actually bought from the Oxfam Shop.  Eydie Gorme is an American singer who did a lot of amazing 50s-70s style ballads, love songs etc.  In the mid 60s she did a series of albums with a very famous Mexican trio called Los Panchos that is apparently still famous in Latin America and who also appeared in many Mexican films.   This is beautiful sweet music and I love it.  Her most famous song from this album is supposed to be Sabor A Mi, but I also really like Noche de Ronda. The harmonies are amazing.

Anyway, Eydie has some incredible vids that are from a time that's gone. Check this out.




Side A

 

A1		Nosotros
A2		Piel Canela
A3		Y...
A4		Sabor A Mi
A5		Noche De Ronda
A6		Caminito

Side B

B1		Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado
B2		Di Que No Es Verdad
B3		La Ultima Noche
B4		Historia De Un Amor
B5		Media Vuelta
B6		Amor

"O" - O'rgasm - 1991 EBM

I don't know much about this group "O" but it's one of the many projects of Martin Damm.  His aliases include (and I have to say I've not heard of a single one) -

909 Disco Babes, Alfred Chicken, Anodyne (4), Bad Blood, Badass, Bio Phobith, Biobreaks, Braindub, Chicks With Dicks, Creepozoids, Cyberchrist, Cyclo S9, DammBreaks, DJ Fistfuck, Dryfish, Earlenbeach Terror Squad, G/O, Headhunter, The (3), Headware, Insecticide, Kinky Bros., M.C.P., MAD (4), Manipulator, The (2), Martin Damm, Moldiver, Necronomicon (2), Null, Phase IV, Play Dead, Prince Of Pot, The, Q-Boy, R.I.C., Raindance, Red Bullfighter, S.C.U.M., Search & Destroy, Shapeshifter, The, Speed Freak, The, Spin, Steel, Subsonic 808, Synchroton, Trance Wonder, Violator, Wendy Milan, Y-Decibel.  Note that one of his projects started in 1997 is S.C.U.M., not to be confused with S.C.U.M. which is a hot band playing round London right now.

Play it loud.

Side A

O'rgasm (hetero-version)

Side B

Panic! (blackout version)

O'rgasm (S/M version)

Gangpol und Mit - Sylvain's mix

Sylvain Quément is the inimitable musical half of Gangpol und Mit.  I've liked them and dj'd their stuff for a few years now so I was delighted to see they were playing London recently for the first time.  The vid above is an example of some of their stuff I like best.  The show was fab and so I thought I might ask Sylvain to dj with me.  He sent me this mix that blew my mind - seriously!!  So many tracks I've not clue about and yet it's really poppy and fun at the same time.

Then he came down to dj with me at Catch 22 and it was exactly the same.  So he is my new favorite dj and he just moved to London.  So hopefully I can see him around shaking things up a bit.  I also am giving you a download link to a few of the individual tracks.  I especially recommend you check out Finnish band Aavikko.

Sylvain is also a contributor to the Cartilage Consortium blog which is really full of amazing finds such as this asian ethno pop, this fab Cameroon disco, and this mega mega Madrid band Retrato Robot.


V/A PLAONG selected
Fish lightnings for milk riots

DOWNLOAD LINK

Tracklist:

KANNO YOKO - CM works
ES ISLAND - Teku Teku Mummy
POLYSICS - I My Me Mine               (download)
PLUS-TECH SQUEEZE BOX - F(ake)
TOSHIYUKI YASUDA - Adeus
NORMAN BAMBI - Psychotic interstellar catastrophe
AAVIKO - Syntaksis                     (download)
THIAZ ITCH - Mingmiling Mahou
GASORMASS - Defenestration old friend
JUN TOGAWA - Angel Baby
A&E - Allo
SECRET CHIEFS 3 - Jãbalquã & Jãbarsã (my edit)
CANDIE HANK - Booty bank
PLASTICS - Copy, BUBBLE B remix
LES TUEURS DE LA LUNE DE MIEL - Nationale 7        (download)
E PAK SA feat. MAYWA DENKI - Fantasy
CAPTAIN AHAB - Punch Yourself in the Crotch
SONIC COASTER POP - Summer In The Pool
FELIX KUBIN - There is a garden
KUWABARA YUKIKO - love story theme

Oriantal Disco - Egyptian

I was loaned a batch of amazing african records by my friends Polly and Antony under the condition that I put some of them on the blog.  Unfortunately I have been slack at posting them.  But I finally went through and found an amazing 12" of Shakara with Fela Kuti and a fantastic LP from Yaka Lokito which I can't further identify.  I will put these up soon.  But firstly I was drawn to this great cover of Egyptian pop-ish  music from 1983.  It's not really western disco at all.  But I know nothing about this album or the artist.   The arabic on the cover translates as "rakasat" which means "dances" and "disco al sharq" which means means "disco of the orient".

Side 2

Ya Mealem

Oriantal Disco

Gozy 

Koot Hoomi is not a band sound that I would normally write about.  But anyone who claims to write a covers album of Hall & Oates performed with Sitars in a sort of eastern influenced folk style has got to have a little attention.  A few of their other tracks are on Hypem.com, so I'm posting others here.

Apparently this is the image of Koot Hoomi who was some theosophical master of some sort.  I seek to bring you a higher level of knowledge than just casual band info.








Say It Isn't So (ysi)

Maneater (reprise) (ysi)



I just also want to add quickly that I saw New Yoga perform recently and they were very good.  Hounds of Hate and their crew are really pushing the edge in the parties they are putting together and the crowds are getting better and better.  The music is quite experimental if you actually go down and listen.  It's not obvious or banging, it's layered synth fabrics.

Techno Technically - 1995 Nick Watts mixtape

This is a tape given to me by Yasmina Dexter of Pandora's Jukebox dj and blog fame.  It is put together by part of the musical group Dubolition, Nick Watts.  It is a collection of very hard to find sort of techno/trance/acid from the mid 90s.  I can't say much about it other than that Nick was very kind to offer me a playlist of side 2 with as many tracks as he could remember.  I managed to identify a track from side 1 as well.  So there are a few individual tracks in low quality to download and then the full mixtapes.  I really like side 2.

Side 1 (direct link)

    Exit 9 - Insync vs. Mysteron (download 128k)  (buy full quality from itunes)

Side 2 (direct link)

Side 2 tracklisting:

    1 ?
    2 Thee J Johanz
    3 Berkana sowelu-solid fuel
    4 Hardkiss
    5 Dubolition Gizmo
    6 ?
    7 ?
    8 Claude Young- concentration factor  (download 128k)  (buy full quality from djdownload)
    9 ?

Luxury Living

My friend Mario used to be in a band called Captain back in like 2005.  We used to see each around a lot, djing, maxin', relaxin', and generally trying to show our love of music.  Then he started doing the Pearl Flash synth disco concept party with this dope dude called Ben who I first heard dj at a great warehouse party in Shoreditch in like . . . 2005.  He was very serious, but had some arpeggiating synth knowledge for sure.  Anyway, Pearl Flash went on from from joy to joy and I dj'd with them now and then and I could see it was growing like a nasty poisonous mushroom under the floorboards into a full blown magnificent wonder angel of parties.

Meanwhile in 2009 Mario started to chat me up about his new band Luxury Living and I was generally like, smile, smile, pretend like it will be good.  I kept telling him to tell me when it was going.  So finally this last Saturday I went to see them play.  And it turns out I was LATE.  They had already been playing around town and lots of other people already loved them a lot.  And they were REALLY good.  Even my girlfriend loved them and she doesn't even really drink.  They only really have demos so far but this will give you an idea.  I personally prefer this epic disco stuff than the stuff that is probably more mainstream to the pop world right now like Everything Will be Amazing.  What they're good at is phrasing - songs have to go somewhere, up and down, etc., in the right places at the right time to keep you hooked.  Have a listen.

And I am djing for a new party called Fancy done by the Pearl Flash kids for the first time at Bungalow 8 next week, the 17th of March.

Kimberley (demo) - Luxury Living

Defao - Amour Scolaire soukous

I haven't put up an african tape for a while so here is another one I bought in Tanzania last year.  You can find more of them here.

I don't know really anything about Defao but you can read about him here.  Unfortunately this tape is not great quality but it's still rare and it sounds very raw and nice having been converted by my new RME Fireface analog to digital hardware.  It's another example of Congolese soukous music and features the following tracks:

Amour Scolaire
Santu Maria

Delly Pangola
Chakito Bakou

Side 1

Side 2

Dj Chip Dilla - Carbootie - ghetto house from 1997

Sorry I have not posted for a few weeks. I was in transition on my hardware and also travelling.  But the tapes will sound MUCH better now cause I'm working with this fantastic analog to digital unit - RME Fireface 800.

Anyway, this is another of those tapes from Chris Low I've written about previously.  This came out in 1997, about the same time as Daft Punk's first album, and it's mixed VERY well, with lots of DIY vocal improv.  It's a lot like this live radio show from 1999 I previously posted by Spin Doctor Kim James.  Once again, lovely little misogynistic lyrics ranging from the track "Let Dem Hoes Fight . . . " (side 1) to "If you Ride in my Truck, B*tch You Gonna F*ck" (side 2 - 12:40) to "The Girl, The Girl, The Girl is on fire - We Don't Need No Water Let The F*cking Girl Burn!" (side 2 - 9:50) (a play, of course on the 1985 track Roof is on Fire by Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three). 

This tape is slicker and has more of a house sound like the Daft Punk and DJ Sneak stuff from around that time (96-98) - whereas the Spin Doctor Kim James track is more pure booty and hip hop.  I've extracted a few tracks that are mashups of sorts with known house/disco house loops of that time.  One in particular is Ghost Town DJs "My Boo" mashed with Rollin' and Scratchin' by Daft Punk.  Trivia point for you - DJ Sneak did a collab with our own current london darling dj Princess Julia.

Side 1

Side 2

Snippet from side 1 (Ghost Town DJs "My Boo" mashed with Rollin' and Scratchin' by Daft Punk)

Snippet from Side 2

Gum Takes Tooth

I went to a gallery's anniversary party at MKII in Clapton last weekend and ended up moshing to this band - Gum Takes Tooth.  I don't write about many new bands but these guys are AWESOME and tight.  Again, two drummers (like Maria & the Mirrors) and some guy on synths.  One of the drummers is from Agaskadoo Teliverek which has that amazing Gay Hussar track.  All local folks.  Anyway, live gig is way better even than the tracks.  But here are a few.

Bottom line. If you can make 30 somethings mosh in a gallery . . . you got something going on.

Gum Takes Tooth - Strychnine Motive

Gum Takes Tooth - Tannkjøtt

In terms of great pop writing I haven't come across anything in London recently that I like as much as French Horn Rebellion which is out of the US.  Ok, maybe there's some really big well  known stuff but PR has sent me these tracks and they're not even showing in Hype machine yet.  Soooo good.  Make sure to look for the Twelves remix of Beaches and Friends (classic classic clasic chic style US disco) and also their remix of Tiger City - Ancient Lover - all on HYPEM.com.

I've given you a track here which is more mellow but very clever.

The Quatrain - French Horn Rebellion

A Bitch Called Johanna - I'm A Bitch vinyl

I have just purchased a collection of 800 new beat, house, etc., records from my friend Chris Low, old school dj, and guy who loaned me a collection of amazing tapes.  This is one of the first ones I have recorded.

According to discogs vocals in this track from 1990 were from Wendy Wild who was a NY 80s downtown fixture and did work with John Sex, though it looks like the Bitch Named Johanna may have been Johanna Jimenez. 

Some great early 90s house sounds here, and I'm sure the acapella could be used for a lot of great remixing.  I actually like best the Bitch to Bitch on the clean side for the trigger looping of the phrase "I'm a Bitch".  Check out her in a vid below from 91 in the legendary Pyramid Club in NY.  Looks like there was also a related track done by Johanna Jimenez.  And I almost prefer this later 1994 version by Olga.




Also some hilarious Wendy Wild vid here with John Sex.



"Fellas?  I don't wanna know what you DO.  I wanna know who you ARE!!"

TRACKS

X Bitch

Bitch Moaning

X ' Capella

Bitch to Bitch

article on music and money for lookatme.ru

I have started writing a column of sorts for Russian website lookatme.ru.  More and more I have felt a growing concern and frustration from seeing so many friends struggling as they try to survive and make money while trying to be artists - particularly in the music industry - and especially as the industry is changing so much.  So I tried to summarize my thoughts:

– originally written for Lookatme.ru (link)

12 Jan. 2009 

Many of my friends are musicians, artists or fashion designers.  But most of them don’t make much money.   In this article I’m going to discuss various reasons why I think this is the case and what it may take to make money.  I’m not proposing to have done any real research on the topic and I may be wrong – I’m just giving an overview of the way I see it.

The way to  make money in the arts (music, fashion, art, etc.) is to provide something that people really want or need that they can only get from you or which they can't get cheaper or easier elsewhere.  A really good live show is an example.  People may be able to easily find someone's music on the Internet for free. But they can only experience a live show by going to the show.  A great art piece is the same way.  Making it may take the same time as a great album, but the experience can't be put onto a little disc and shared with everyone for free. . . . continue reading

Exsanguination Blues comedy record

This is a little odd treat from my dad.  It's a comedy record recorded by an actual medical doctor in the 50s and put out by Colonial Records, which had a lot of success with comedy records from that time (the most notable to me being from Andy Griffith).  This one is pretty obscure but I remember my dad playing it to me when I was a kid.  I think the singer Doug Harrell was an actual doctor and probably did this side project and then never recorded anything else.

My dad asked me to record it to mp3 for him when I was in California over Christmas.   The music has kind of a southern folky flavor to it, and it's kind of entertaining, but mostly it's about the story and the humor - the kind your dad would probably like.  Enjoy.

Exsanguination Blues - Doug Harrell


Hospitality Blues - Doug Harrell

Warm Leatherette (Matthew Stone mix)

My friend Matthew Stone sent me a random  mix of Warm Leatherette by The Normal that was so good I decided to post it. I made the artwork to go with it cause he's too busy of an artist to make it himself :)

Matthew is a very special person.  In the years I've known him we have often dj'd together and I can say without question that when I do it is usually for some party so underground that there are sound system problems and no license or bar, and no one there that would see me play to hire me for real money - yet still somehow the very most fun I have ever have djing.  I think part of the reason for this is that we have similar taste and I enjoy playing stuff to try to impress  him and vice versa.   Matthew is also a rising art star - you can check out his ventures here.

He told me these are 2 of his favorite tracks right now.

Trentemoller & Margeir Bootleg – Kasper Bjorke vs. Jimi Tenor

And Chris Flatline's re-edit of Yazoo - Situation.  Youtube below.





Coincidentally, Warm Leatherette was on the only release ever put out by Daniel Miller [Edit: as the Normal] who founded Mute Records, and it's still one of the most amazing tracks ever.  I've always been looking for similar stuff without much luck - maybe a little early Human League but that's about it.

Enjoy.

Warm Leatherette (Matthew Stone mix) - The Normal