Things have been quiet around these parts lately, mainly due to a busy summer and writing for Little White Earbuds. But that’s all about to change. I’ve got some pieces looming on the horizon and mixes in the pipeline that are bursting to be heard. So without further ado, first mix is up on Sound Cloud. Full tracklist below, plenty of newer house and techno and a few classics slipped in there that really end up shinning bright.
Demetrio Giannice – Whatididwithmikeswavetoneno5 – Third Ear Mix
Theo Parrish – Space Station
Patrice Scott – Nuonce
Kai Alce – Ooohhh! – Dubbyman Remix
John Daly – Freak Out or Get Out
The Mole People – Break Night
Mike Dehnart – Umlaut 2 – Levon Vincent NY Basement Mix
Marcus Mixx – Without Makeup – Ron Hardy Mix
L’il Louis – I Called U (The Story Continues)
Kingpin Cartel – Float
Ican – Make It Hot
Dan Curtin – Give
Titonton Duvante – Reverse Cowboy Part 1
DJ Q – Cheat
Chez Damier – Can U Feel It – MK Dub
Shed – Well Done – 033472 Edit
Amid the oppressive heat wave and probably when temperatures hit their peak here in Seattle, I got inspired to throw down a slow burn mix to match the weather’s onslaught. It’s hardly my best technical effort but if you felt how hot (103 F) it was in my dj room you might have some compassion for the bumps found within. What you will find is some classic and newer jazzfunk, disco, house, mid-tempo whathaveu that sounds mighty nice for a summer evening soundtrack.
Tracklisting:
Roy Ayers – Everybody Loves
The Sunshine Sunburst Band – Everyday
Frankie Valentine – Zumbi (Isoul8 mix)
Sunshine Jones – Anywhere You Are
Tamiko Jones – Can’t Live Without Your Love
Mach – On and On
Bombers – Don’t Stop the Music
Gaz Nevada – Secret Agent Man (Morgan Geist Sleeping on the Moon edit)
Logic System – Clash Brian Briggs – Aeo (pts 1 & 2)
Walter Jones – I’ll Keep on loving you
Ame – Tonight dub version
Scott Ferguson – I’m in luv with you feat. Phillip J. Hale
IMPS – Almost Live But Definitely Plugged (Move D remix)
Tony Lionni – Protection
This Friday, June 26th, marks my first official DJ gig in quite some time. I will be tag teaming with the Made Like A Tree DJs, D’Jeronimo and Struggle, at the SEAC Clubhouse. If you are in the Seattle area and looking for some quality house, techno and funky electonic sounds please come on down. I know it’s a little late for this post but better late then never.
Without much fanfare Belgium-based Franco Cangelli has been pumping out great techno and house via his own productions and with the many labels he has been running (Mowar, Nowar and the former Aesthetik imprint he started with DJ Aki) over the past few years. But if you assume that Cangelli is limited to his strengths, think again. He is careful about not getting pigeonholed within a genre and uses his Hybridize series of DJ mixes to prove the point that not all good music comes in neat, easy to use packages, nor should it be re-packaged for consumption that way. The below mix is a strong example of that axiom, flowing from early disco and boogie to Chicago and New York house with aplomb. This, my friends, is what you might call a history lesson. Study up, because class is in session.
Donna Summer – Spring Affair – Basart Records (1976)
Carol Williams – Can’t Get Away (From Your Love) – Vanguard (1981)
Sharon Redd – Beat The Street – Prelude (1982)
Rare Essence – Body Moves – Fantasy (1982)
Ron Richardson – Ooh Wee Baby – TCI Productions (1984)
Royalle Delite – I’ll Be a Freak For You – Skyview Records (1984)
Fatback – Is This The Future – Polygram (1983)
Kevin Toney – Red Tape – Fantasy (1982)
Rockers Revenge feat. Donnie Calvin – Walking On Sunshine – Streetwise (1982)
Jungle Wonz – the Jungle – Trax (1986)
Robert Owens – I’m Strong – Alleviated Records (1987)
Jungle Wonz – Time Marches On – Trax (1987)
House To House feat. Kim Mazelle – Taste My Love – Lower Level Records (1988)
Raze – Break 4 Love – Grove Street Records (1987)
Mike Dearborn – Sexual X-Perience (X-Perience The Dub Mix) – Muzique Records (1990)
Li’l Louis – How I Feel – Dance Mania (1987)
Paul Rutherford – Get Real (Happy House Mix) – Island Records (1988)
MD III – Set me Free – Underground (1988)
Jamie Principle – Baby Wants to Ride – FFRR (1988)
Bam Boo – It’s All In Your Mind – Fourth Floor Records (1987)
Adonis – No Way Back – Trax (1986)
Rodney Bakerr – Crazy track – Rockin’ House Music (1993)
Blake Baxter – Sexuality – Incognito Records (1988)
Ron Trent – Altered States – Djax-Up Beats (1990)
Bobby Konders – Poem – Nu Groove Records (1990)
About 6-8 months ago I turned in a mix for Cez’s JustGoodMusic site. The site he ran featured a monthly mix of a wide spectrum of dance/electronic music varietals, usually from himself, but not without a guest mix now and then. I just happened to get a spot in there and in return I requested a mix from him for Energy Flash. 6-8 months later, Cez has transitioned JustGoodMusic to Pop Your Funk, a new blog style site that retained those on-going mix sessions but also added music writing/reviews, and finally gotten me that mix he promised. Well, what a cracking mix it is. House classics blended smoothly into newer epic tech-house and then back to raw jack tracks. Too many good tunes to pick favorites here, as Cez can always be relied upon to spread the quality music sermon. Definitely worth the wait.
As a follow up to Scott’s recent Flashwerk mix, I returned the favor and recorded a new mix that just went up over at the Trackwerk site. It’s a blend of some newer purchases, a couple promos and some older tracks that ends up in solid techno territory. Another very cool item of note is that it got posted alongside a mix from Nebraska aka Alistair Gibb. If you haven’t checked out Nebraska’s recent releases on Down Low and Rush Hour, please do so immediately: funky music across the board that comes in many shapes and sizes.
Energy Flash is pleased to present a DJ mix from Scott, the prolific and dedicated co-creator of the Trackwerk blog. Scott (along with Carl and Sean) has been holding it down over there for quite some time now and is never in short supply for new deep house and techno mixes that seems to pop up with stunningly consistent regularity (he just dropped 2 mixes on 3/19!). He is known for constantly searching out that perfect beat and is always on the lookout for quality new music. Enjoy this guest mix and check out Trackwerk for plenty more mixes from Scott and his co-horts. To find out more about Scott you can hit up this interview with him here.
There are those clubs that loom in the imagination of music devotees and depending on where your allegiances lie they may differ drastically. But for anyone claiming the slightest interest in techno’s history they should recognize the seminal Detroit club from 1988 to 1990 that was the Music Institute. For those that never attended, the stories handed down by word of mouth seem like mythical legends. Where those times as good as what our minds hope them to be? With DJ sets coming from residents D Wynn, Kevin Saunderson, Chez Damier, Alton Miller every weekend; Derrick May testing out fresh tracks straight from his two-track Vestax recorder; Juan Atkins dropping in for guest spots; Detroit techno and house being shared at basically its infancy, I should think so. (There is a great little write-up of MI by Alan Oldham on Kai Alce’s blog here.)
From that time came great music, tried and tested classics, most of which has been shared with the world and is known. Or at least that was what was thought. Luckily , Kai Alce has unearthed tracks that were shelved, gathering dust in closets, on reel-to-reel tape for all these years and brought them into the light. Part 1 in what is planned to be a 3 part series of 12″s features tracks that extend through some readily apparent origins and some not so recognizable. The most obvious is the A1 track by Derrick May that sounds like it came out of the “Sinister” production era; syncopated 909 drum programming with a rolling DX bassline, and a discharge of dramatic rough hewn strings reminiscent of a nascent “Strings of Life” melody. A2 with its more spare and straightforward approach to techno falls somewhere between Octave One’s trackier efforts and say Mills’s “Late Night.” The B-side draws focus in on the house side of what most likely would have been played on the Saturday night by residents Chez and Alton. B1 is a soulful house outing featuring understated but expressive female vocals over a funky 303 bassline with ad-libbed piano work . This song stands out in terms of providing a real hook and song structure, and then changing up with a strong jazz flow 2/3 of the way in as the piano melody gets fleshed out and the lyrics turn into a scat. The last track retains the housey leanings but instead keeps the vocals limited to just a looped sample and places the target firmly on the groove. The first half features a lilting organ line before changing gears and bringing in a massive funk bassline ensconced in a dirty keyboard sample. It’s a track that would not be out of place on an early KDJ release but I have a feeling this is the work of Alton Miller. Any takers?
Keep your eyes out for Part 2. Who knows what it will bring but more goodies from the vault. One thing is for sure, they are never to be repressed so get your hands on a copy.
I have been resting at home this week, recovering from eye surgery (not Lasik, so still have the glasses). I did manage to cobble together a mix, bearing through squinting eyes and double vision but still holding onto the music coming off these well worn records. It’s a hodge podge collection of tunes but with a definite thread tying them all together, whether it be a relative commonality among most artists or maybe just the fact this was my first vinyl only mix in some time. I was glad to be able to pull out some older tracks I haven’t played in years and some that I had recently bought but not yet played. As you ‘ll be able to tell from the tracklisting, Dan Curtin is back on my radar again. Not so much for recent work but for how fresh his earlier tracks really were. To any of you that missed those tracks, you can find a lot of the Peacefrog releases digitally as well as Delsin having just released a Planetary 12″ last year. I always found Curtin’s tracks so difficult to mix due to how much they change their melodic themes within the space of one track, but it was also a trait that should be admired in terms of taking a brave approach to production and refusing to pump out more cookie-cutter tracks. Unfortunately it’s not an approach he has continued with over the more recent releases. Dan when you coming back with the funk? We miss ya.
Gwen Guthrie – 7th Heaven (Larry Levan mix) (Island)
Gaz Nevada – I.C. Love Affair (ZYX)
Dopplereffekt – Infophysix (Dataphysix Engineering)
Original Rockers – Sexy Selector (Different Drummer)
Kenny Larkin – Northern Light (Buzz/Rush Hour)
7th Plain – Lost (GPR)
The Rahasaan Society – Sunseeker (Solar Complexed 1 Movements) (Skunk)
Dan Curtin – Inner-View (Metamorphic)
D’Kawa – Kurokin (Kodaira)
Dauwd – Sa Ba Ka (Travelling Sounds)
Kai Alcé – Corner Manuvers (Real Soon)
I:Cube – Disco Cubizm (Daft Punk mix) (Versatile)
Norma Jean Bell – Do You Wanna Party? (KDJ mix) (F.C.R.)
The Dells – No Way Back re-edit (white)
Purveyors of Fine Funk – Summer Funk (Peacefrog)
PS. Anyone know anything about this Wesley Rahsaan cat behind the “Sunseeker” record? Label says recorded at Asprilla Studio, Detroit, USA. Never heard another peep from him. Alias of someone else? Dodgy label I know but maybe.
Omar S wasn’t joking, the complete FXHE catalog is now available at Beatport. This is great news for all us lazy good for nothing digital wanksters to get our hands on some of his sweat, teared and toiled over music without having to fork over $ for s&h or get a papercut. I now may just have to go over to his site and purchase all of this in physical inventory. Shit, looking at the prices it’s a much better deal to go with the hard copies anyhow. I wonder if I can get one of those blue Ford markers (mentioned in the RA intereview) thrown in.
Posted by Kuri 
Posted by Kuri 
Posted by Kuri 
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