Groove La Chord copied?

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a myspace blog posting from Aril Brikha claiming that Shlomi Aber had copied/sampled/stole from his “Groove La Chord (Shuffle Mix)” to create Aber’s recent track, “Efrat.” After a lengthy diatribe explaining Brikha’s disappointment with this occurrence a flurry of comments and kudos flowed through this post-at last count over 50 within one day. I own a copy of the Art of Vengence EP that featured “Groove La Chord” and have cherished it since I got it, it’s pretty much a new-school Detroit-techno classic, and is a record that has seen it’s fair share of play from DJs across the board, techno or not. I actually remember hearing that François K used to play it pitched down at the Body & Soul nights, the Idjuts Boys featured it on their Saturday Nite Live mix CD and Jesse Rose closes his Body Language Vol. 3 mix with it.

Anyway, it’s a great track and the sheer thought of someone potentially copying it has yielded an emotional response far and wide. Whether it’s true or not is for the listener to decide because judging by the actual responses from Aber and Brikha on blog post, they are in disagreement over the factual details of how these songs were created. Brikha asserts that “Efrat” uses the “same chord, same key…played the same way with filter sweeps,” for the melody. Brikha also states that his was programmed on an Ensoniq while Aber readily admits that he used a preset on his Access Virus Ti. And while I have listened to both they bear more than a passing similiarity but at the same time it’s very possible that the a synthesizer was initially created with a preset synth sound modelled off the one used in “Groove La Chord.” Brikha also says the clap sounds very similar?! I don’t know about you but I hear claps in all kinds of songs that sound exactly the same; seems like Brikha’s getting a bit nitpicky with that remark. Regardless, it shouldn’t really matter since there’s no way that you can beat the original and as long as Brikha realizes that and is confident in his own creation he shouldn’t be bothered by Aber’s derivative track.  Becasuse as far I can tell why would you buy something that pales to the comparison especially when you still get the real deal?

Deep Space - François K all night

So after spending 5 nights in New York and missing Andy Vaz and then also My My playing live I finally managed to get out to a night of music. I’d checked on what was going on my free nights, Monday being one of them, and found out that François K was spinning all night at his Deep Space night at Cielo. Kind of a crap club atmosphere-wise, typical for Manhattan meat district I’m assuming, but sound system was spot on and even better was FK’s selections. Showed up durning the warm up and got treated to some African inspired house, drum & bass and dubstep, before he upped the ante with some classic early house from Bang The Party “Bang Bang You’re Mine” to techno funkiness from Deetron’s “I Cling.” From there it was a roller coaster of tempo and genre jumps that sometimes seemed odd but always seemed to end up in a place just as funky albeit from a new perspective. Kind of that idea that great DJs are constantly mixing up the flow of a night and are taking chances that often work magnificently. This is the workshop that FK inhabited last night.

Additonally, he took the titular idea of the night, “Deep Space,” and created spatial dub elements throughout most of the set; working echo and reverb at many points he expanded the sound of the songs that worked well with this idea and reconfigured them to fit his idea of the night, a massive expanse of sound migrating to more conventional club material both slow and fast. Anyone who can flow from Quadrant to Erykah Badu and Mantronix deserves maximum respect. 

passEnger - Black Radiance EP

 

 
For the first review for Energy Flash blog I wanted to focus on an artist that although not well known and with just a few releases under his belt was someone whose music and direction I admired. And although his artist name may not be original (there are at least 10 artists named Passenger on discogs - his stands out by capitalizing the E midway) his music more than makes up for it. passEnger’s current release, the Black Radiance EP, continues his investigation of the deep techno slated waters that make up the divide between his home in Turin, Italy and the Detroit 313 landscape. “Black Variance” is a compelling techno jaunt with its melodic strings alternating between moody and uplifting tonal shifts,  while “Tau City Interlude” offers a warm but albiet brief ambient motif. For me this EP really shines on “When.” Its shuffling semi-electro rhythm and humming bassline get lifted as the song’s opalescent melody unfurls. (Check it out below.) Best of all the fine folks at Radiance Collective offer this as a gratis download as a part of their netlabel catalog.  Also keep an eye out for passEnger’s upcoming 12″ vinyl release, The Funk/The Fall, on Eclipse-mastered by none other than Detroit producer/artist Aaron Carl.

passEnger - When

9th St and Ave A Mix

This is the inagural mix for the my blog. I threw this together a couple weeks ago without much forethought, save maybe just solid songs/tracks. It may come off as a little disjointed in terms of genre transitioning but the overall selection I feel is strong and sometimes that’s all I really want in a listening experience. Too often I get bogged down in perfection for programming and mixing that the resulting mix sounds too homogenous after 3-4 listens.

Additionally I am planning a trip back to NYC next month and had been thinking about my late Aunt, Carol/Carsin, who clung ever so tight to her rent-controlled lower east side apartment (on Ave A to be exact) and realized how much I missed her. Therefore I wanted to dedicate this mix to her, a little bit discombobulated herself but all the better for it. She always supported the arts and was a strong believer in my djing/music direction from way back, always trying to connect me to likeminded people when I came to visit her.

I’ll never forget a dance production she took me in 1995 to that profiled the history of breakdance/hip-hop culture through movement. A live DJ on stage spun the songs and the choreographed routines where more expressive than anyhing I had seen before (and as teenager in the ’80s I had been mad into breakin’ and hip-hop). Now I was seeing this from a new perspective, matured and beginning to see the interconnectedness of what artists where achieving from different vantage points. The moment that blew me away was a segment of pop-locking style movements performed in slow-motion to the Art of Noise’s “Moments in Love.” I had heard the song before when I was younger but this was something new altogether. The context, the emotion, the juxtaposition of fierce breakers finding solace and funk in something so delicate and melodic, as if they were doing a futuristic waltz. I left that show with some new feeling, an experience that I owe to my aunt’s unwavering embrace of cool artistry no matter what form. This mix goes out to you Carol…R.I.P.

01-9th-st-and-ave-a-mix

Tracklisting:

1. Art Bleek - Euphorized (Connaiseur)
2. Mr. De’ - Please Believe It (Submerge)
3. Juju & Jordash - Used to Hate Fusion (Rope-a-Dope)
4. Dublee - Body Talk (Mule Electronic)
5. Scott Ferguson - Gate To My Soul (Deep Vibes)
6. The Black Dog - Virtual (Soma)
7. NY Housin Authority - Fort Greene House (NuGroove)
8. Daniel Mehlhart - Der Tonkopfreiniger (Karmarouge)
9. Motor City Drum Ensemble - Raw Cuts #2 (Faces)
10. Eddie Flashin Fowlkes - One Dance (Global Cuts)
11. Virgo Four - In A Vision (Trax)
12. Donald Byrd and 125th Street NYC - Love Has Come Around (Elektra)
13. Kirk Degiorgio - 4D Harmony (New Religion)
14. Gene Hunt - Living In A Land (Clearwater)
15. Frivolous - Forget The Funk (Background)
16. Hauke Freer - My Beat (Real Soon)
17. Model 500 - The Passage (Metroplex)
18. Passenger - Broken Drive (Sula Muse)

Hello world!

I just decided to enter the world of blogging. Looking forward to writing about music that may not be getting as much attention or just plain digging up old records that are still meaningful to me. Keep your eye out for upcoming posts in the near future.