Stuck On The Thud Mix

New mix – the usual mixed bag.

Sure fire dance music.

Stuck On The Thud mixed by Noel Mas

right click to download

Tracklist

1. Sunset In The East (Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts Remix) – Catz N Dogz
2. Mambo Jumbo (Guy Gerber’s Hemlock Remix)  – Dop
3. Congaloid – Solo
4. 81 (Renaissance Man Remix) – Harvard Bass
5. Bingo Bongo Strut – Dj Sneak
6. Midgets In Bricklane – Solo
7. Ic 19 (James Talk Mix) – Buraka Som Sistema
8. Do My Dance (Sidney Samson Remix) – Afrojack
9. Dis – Dj T.
10. Sweep The Floor – Joris Voorn
11. La Moustique – Sebastien Leger
12. Can’t Forget (Dj Sneak’s Redub) – Jay Haze
13. My Angelic Demons – Justin Martin
14. Let The Sun Shine Out (Jerome Sydenham’s Vocal Dub) – Flora Cruze

Nozey business

At a disco somewhere last weekend a dull Italian girl asked me why people were all jumping around doing some strange cross between a gyspy waltz and the fandango. We are in Berlin after all, aren’t people meant to be dancing nonchalantly on the same spot for thirty-six hours looking very concentrated and perhaps a bit unhappy?

As it happens the DJ was playing a record by Noze called “You Have To Dance” that got some pretty heavy rotation last year. Noze and their compatriots Dop both represents the best in a strain of house music that has been on the ascent in recent months. Call it what you will gyspy-house, booty-folk, bumbatron, bass-cake-magic-rave I don’t care it’s lovely and hopefully here to stay. It gives us dance addicts some relief from the sea of over-processed, over-compressed, all too perfect sounds of the machine that will probably one day turn my heart in to a shimmering piece of metal. Perhaps it was Samim’s “Heater” that made us all realize we could listen to genuine extended instrumentation on dance records again. Of course some people have been kicking this for a long time, Cobblestone Jazz come to mind, but it seems Noze and Dop have both upped the stakes by throwing in a little bit of humour, using bald recordings with their human imperfections and tending towards a folky sound. Unlike Samim who sampled that incessant accordion riff on “Heater” (download the original here – Alberto Pacheco) the boys from Dop are real musicians, who previously were in a jazz band, before they saw that real a captive musical audience lay inside large European clubs where people were on drugs.

Dop tend to play more straightforwardly for a house crowd, sometimes going a little deep, whilst Noze have a couple of ballads and such – but make no mistake about it when these lot go for the jugular on the floor these tunes are gonna have you stomping your feet and looking like an over-excited idiot in no time. And did I mention they sing over their tracks in English with thick French accents? Big, big, big… and so here is the goodie bag (right click the songs to download)…

http://www.myspace.com/dopdopdop
http://www.myspace.com/nozecircus

Remember Love – Noze
L’innconnu Du Placard – Noze
You Have To Dance – Noze
Little Bug – Noze
Mambo Jumbo – Dop
Romeo feat Noze – Dop

And if you like that stuff you’ll like this too…

Swing Bop – Der Dritte Raum

So lang man lebt, sei man lebendig

_

Two mixes / collections of tracks. One from me which is a mix of some mellower stuff that I’ve been enjoying lately, the second is a label mix from Simon Allez-Allez and was first aired last year.

Simon’s mix takes us on a journey of This Is Not An Exit releases moving through a variety of long low-slung spaced out instrumental grooves until we end up in a place somewhat more frenetic and funky. This mix is a real treat and definitely worth a download.

PAJAMA MUSIC

click above to download or stream

I Couldn’t Say It To Your Face – Arthur Russell
Purple Haze – Dion
It Ain’t Easy – Supermax
Lonely Hearts – Joakim
Precious Little Diamond – Fox The Fox
Beasley Street – John Cooper Clark
Big Julie – Jarvis
This Room – Fat Freddy’s Drop
Baltimore – The Tamlins
Desire (Moodyman Remix) – Jose James
He Does It Better – Marva Josie
Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore – Rose Royce

THIS IS NOT AN EXIT MIX

right click above to download

professor genius – a jean giraud 1
professor genius – a jean giraud 1 (brennan green remix)
hatchback – white diamond (prins thomas miks del 1 & 2)
they came from the stars – the HOT inc. (moscoW dub remix)
club sliencio – felix
hatchback – jetlag (faze action remix)
they came from the stars – signals (emperor machine dub remix)
detachments – fear no fear (naum gabo remix)
they came from the stars – it’s time (an optimo espacio dub remix)
the dark esquire – lexicons
sculpture – SCRAM
professor genius – a jean giraud 5

Death & The City

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Industrial Vestiges – East Germany & Detroit

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“We’re All Gonna Die – 100m of Existence” – Warschauer Bridge, Berlin, Summer 2007

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God’s Dog MMMix

Download/stream here

1. Romeo feat. Noze – dOP
2. Pimp Jackson Is Talkin’ Now!! (Luci Gets Loco Remix) – Loco Dice
3. Kuhle Fliege (Hugo Remix) – Matt Star
4. Do The Tartelet – Tomski & Fredboy
5. Torcida Cumbia – Chris James & Lee Dearn
6. Bad Girl (Solid Groove Mix) – Nick Holder
7. Kalimba – Steve Lawler
8. Put That Record Back On (Peace Division Mix) – DJ Dan
9. Spic and Span – Jeff Samuel
10. Hijacked (Audiojack Remix) – Johnny Fiasco
11. Laid Back – Marc & Oliver Hain
12. Touch My Horn – Jesse Rose
13. Out With A Bang – Einzelkind
14. I Was On My Way To Hell – Guillaume & The Cotu Dumonts
15. Caspian Man (Paul Woolford Remix) – Darius Syrossian & Mundyke

mixed by Noel Mas, art by Leila

Larry Levan

“Bird of Paradise Garage” by Leila

So the new thing is disco. Which I’m quite pleased about, and the bandwagon ride is proving fairly pleasant. Fortunately unlike minimal or new-rave it seems that disco does actually exist. Thankfully this means that we can spend more time appreciating the records than shooting the breeze about what this thing called disco might actually be.

At a party the Sunday before last someone span a fantastic Larry Levan record (I never managed to track it down but I think it was called “Sun Shower” originally by Nami Simada). Anyway, this sparked a journey of discovery that began and ended at the relevant Wikipedia article, and the corresponding Beatport page. Sorry.

Levan was at the heart of the 1970s New York Disco boom – becoming primary resident at The Paradise Garage club (the birth place of US Garage). He cut his teeth alongside DJs such as Frankie Knuckles and Francois Kevorkian (Francois K). Levan’s sets infused British synth pop, Chicago house and the emerging sounds of hip hop. He was also a prolific producer and one of the first “remixers” – taking instrumental versions of songs, extending them with DJ friendly intros and phattening up the sounds for the club environment.

The final decade of Levan’s life was extremely tumultuous in which he battled with heroin dependency and watched many of those close to him die of AIDS. Written off as old-hat in New York, he did still find appreciation in Europe in the late 80s and early 90s where there was a resurgent interest in early disco and funk. He designed the sound system for London’s Ministry of Sound club and he died in 1992 of drug related health problems. Since then he has been widely recognized as being one of the founding fathers of dance music.

I’m new to Larry Levan’s sound so the following tracks are perhaps obvious choices, but they are all absolutely brilliant and seem not to have faded with the time. Check them out, right click and “Save Link As..” to download

Stand On The Word – Celestial Choir (Larry Levan Remix)

Let’s Go Dancing – Sparque (Larry Levan Club Mix)

Work That Body – Taana Gardner (Larry Levan Club Mix)

Body Music – The Strikers (Francois Kevorkian & Larry Levan Remix)

*NEW ADDITION* A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a brilliant documentary streamable on Youtube about the Paradise Garage, Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles. This is a must watch for anyone interested in early dance music culture and disco – First Part of “Maestro” on Youtube

Dirty Work – The Cheatin’ Charts

Illustration by Leila

Right-click and “Save Link As…” to download

1. Telephone Ting – Kiprich

2. If Lovin’ You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right) – Bobby “Blue” Bland

3. Need You Tonight – Tanya Stephens

4. Dirty Work – Steely Dan

5. It’s A Pity – Tanya Stephens

6. Jolene – Dolly Parton

7. Chain Of Fools – Aretha Franklin

8. The Beautiful Ones – Prince

9. It’s A Shame – Alton Ellis

We really need a number 10. Suggestions appreciated. Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” has already been considered.

Aged & Mellow

Drawing by Rachel Poli (she’s on Facebook – befriend her)

So whilst preparing some other business for some other day, a couple of songs came up on my Itunes that I hadn’t heard for a while but forgot how brilliant they were, and I figured they’d be worth sharing in the typically illegal way of making them available to download. Of course if you like them, buy them.

Aged & Mellow Blues – Little Esther

Contains the lyrics:

“Junior might be young and stronger,
But I’ll take grandpa ‘cos he’s had it longer”

Fortune cookies anyone?!

Against The Sky – Vashti Bunyan

One of those female folk singers whose voice seems to be constantly trembling but never actually trembles. Certainly treads a fine line between sublime and grating – but I reckon sublimity wins out in the end. Vashti Bunyan’s work has resurfaced again, having lain neglected for quite a while, after her song “Another Diamond Day” appeared on what else but a mobile phone advert, T-Mobile to be precise.

The Dark End Of The Street – James Carr & Aretha Franklin

Did I say a couple? Sorry. Apparently written by Dan Penn and Chips Moman in under thirty minutes whilst on a break from cheating in a game of cards. Prior to writting this song Penn and Moman said they had wanted to come up, “the best cheatin’ song. Ever.” (Wiki article) Anyone got a better one? There have been so many covers of this track, but the original with Aretha Franklin on backing vocals is still the best.

Desire (Moodyman Remix) – Jose James

We had to have some house didn’t we? New on Giles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings label.

Desire – Carl Craig

From 1994. Carl Craig was even then, well, a lot better than everyone else.

Noel Mas & Murkules

Please check out our new mix for our favored Tuesday night haunt – Ping Pong Bar X-Berg or whatever it´s actually called.

It´s a mix of a lot of different stuff we wouldn’t otherwise get to play. We really like it.

The We Don’t Play Ping Pong Mix by Murkules and Noel Mas

Tracklist

You Have To Dance – Noze

Bulgarian Chicks – Balkan Beat Box

A Little Piece of Leather – Donnie Elbert

Will You, Willyum – Janis Martin

Ring My Bell – Blood Sisters

I Need You Tonight – Punkin’ Machine

Mona Lisa – Slick Rick

Peaches en Regalia – Frank Zappa

I Wish You Were Gone – Joakim

Spasticus Autisticus (Version) – Ian Drury & The Seven Sea Players

Yor Love Gotta Hold On Me – Dennis Brown

Is This The Future – Fatback

No G.D.M – Gina X Performance

Tell Me Now – Marcia Griffiths

Sing What You Want (Rusko’s Skwee Remix) – Kotchy

Martyn

Birds by Leila (who now has a page with all her other lovely stuff on here)

I’ve always liked dubstep’s raw energy. I admire the modesty of its scene and also the willingness of many of its artist to adapt, take in other musical influences and innovate the genre so that it remains as captivating, alive and as fresh as ever. Having said that I’ve never been quite convinced that on it’s own it can quite supply sufficient variation to keep a crowd on it’s toes wanting more for a whole night. Perhaps that, and other drug related factors, is why the 4am crowd at FWD @ The End was always disappointingly sparse. Dubsteppers, for all their merits, have never been known for their staying power. Dubstep has rarely seemed able to usher in the morning in the same deviant but joyful fashion that quality techno and house sets can.

It seems, however, that one man in particular has ripped up the script on this front. Martyn, who hails from Holland, has been making inspring techno-infused dubstep for some time now. As a DJ he has been playing some the most electrifying cross genre mixes I’ve ever heard. Though a good crossover scene between techno and dubstep is now well established with labels like Skull Disco and Hessle Audio getting international recognition it seems, to me at least, that only Martyn has achieved a blend that really hold its own of the dancefloor. Martyn, as an artist who is only really on the periphery of the dubstep “scene”, seems able to disregard any fetishization of the “deep” that often mars dubstep sets and at all times keeps it funky, appealing to both and the head the hips. Soaring spine-tingling synths, infectious high-end rhythms, the occasional hypnotic acidized riff and some serious low-end bounce provide the core of the sound as Martyn effortlessly switches between four-to-the-flour fist shakers and steppy garage-stlye numbers.

He played for one and half hours at Sub:stance, Berghain last night and set the bar high for DJ sets in 2009 whilst re-affirming that dubstep is no fad. Cobblestone Jazz’s modern classic “Dump Truck” got rubbed up against the ubiquitous, but still deeply likable “Township Funk“. His massive remix of TRG’s “Broken Heart” got an early outing in his set plus a whole host of other fantastic tracks from his forthcoming album entitled “Great Lengths”.

Martyn’s blog

Martyn’s Myspace

Martyn plays…

jan 22 – Deviate, Newcastle, UK
jan 23 – Detonate, Nottingham, UK
jan 25 – Disco3000, Manchester, UK
jan 27 – Ruffage @ The Wire, Leeds, UK
jan 30 – Numbers vs Fortified @ Stereo, Glasgow, UK
feb 8 – “Great Lengths” Album Launch Party #1 London
feb 11 – “Great Lengths” Album Launch Party #2 Berlin
feb 13 – Fabric, London, UK