Thursday, January 29, 2009

House trilogy

(Apologies for the lack of posting lately. I've been sick with the flu, and hurt my back shoveling snow. The next day im walking to work and hurt my knees on the dreadful black ice not the best week im having i know. )

Never knew much about house, still don't claim to know much about house but i find myself being more and more engulfed in it's mighty power to make you want to dance! DJ Lokee provides the goods from a live recording submitted in 3 parts so your getting a little over 3 hours of nothing but classics,rarities,smooth edits, and clean blends. While it would take way to long to cover all the material in the mixes i will write about my favorite segment of mix which was part 1 although parts 2, and 3 were very close behind. I probably chose part in in all honesty because i was familiar with more of the music on it and liked how they were incorporated into the mix.

The blending on part 1 is butter, and almost feels like one whole song if you don't listen closely. Even then it's still hard to pick up on lokees mixing during segments at times, the musical build up is insane. Me and my boy were literally in the car listening to this mix and kept saying "oh shit, oh shittt" as each song came up getting us more hype. A perfect example of this "oh shit" extravaganza is when "lisa lisa-let the beat hit em" came on and then blended into "black science orchestras-new jersey deep" we nearly lost our marbles . By the time "Block Parties-africanism" hit with "Bohannons-lets start the dance" i forgot i was grooving for the past 55 minutes. All the mixes are very consistent though and high recommended. Lokee was kind enough as well to provide the playlist for those interested i posted them below with the download links enjoy!!

p.s. (to lokee im still upset the track with the lyrics "deep inside of me" didn't make the cut that night or make it to any other mixes lol.)
======================================
Pt 1
Black Ivory- Mainline
Chris Cuevas- Hip Hop
Lisa Lisa- Let The Beat Hit Em
Black Science Orchestra- New Jersey Deep
Johnny Hammond- Los Conquistadors Chocolates
Lil Louis- Club Lonely
Atmosfear- Motivation
Bobby Konders- Nervous Acid
Danny Teneglia- Bottom Heavy
Junior Vasquez- X
Tyree- Acid Crash
Maw/Tito- Ran Kan Kan
New Hippie Movement- The Rhythm
Jasper St Co.- God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
Africanism- Block Party
Bohannon- Lets Start The Dance
House Society- Feel Me
Cassanova's Revenge- Banji Dance
Black Traxx- My Mind is Crazy
Sandy B- Make The World Go Round
River Ocean- Love & Happiness
http://www.zshare.net/audio/55024675d2ebabcf/

Pt 2
Joe Roberts- Back In My Life
South St Player- Who Keeps Changing Your Mind
Afro-Cube- Muevete Mama
Fiasco- Las Mujeres
Benji Candelario- C-Room
Joey Negro- What Happened To The Music
Peech Boys- Stay With Me
45 King- Mary
Trey Lorenz- Photograph of Mary
Mike Dunn-
Liberty City- Some Lovin
Funky Green Dogs- Reach For Me
Pal Joey- Runaway
M&M- So Deep So Good
Uncanny Alliance- I Got My Education
Body 2 Body- Lets Get Intimate
45 King- Dance Dance Dance
Black Riot- A Day In The Life
Taken- Over You
First Choice- Let No Man Put Asunder
Earth People- Reach Up To Mars
Mariah Carey- Anytime You Need a Friend
Stories in Dub- Melody & Harmony
Roxy- Love To Do It
http://www.zshare.net/audio/550250386d88f29b/

pt3.
LNR- Work It To The Bone
Might Dub Katz- Magic Carpet Ride
Eddie Amador- House Music
Bjork- Violently Happy
Nomad- Devotion
Sylvester- On and On
Jasper Street Co.- A Feeling
Earth People- Dance
doubplussgood- conga te
night crawllers- push the feeling
sagat- fuk dat
cajmere & Dajae- brighter days

Loleatta Holloway- Love Sensation
Joey Negro- Love Hangover
Jamie Foxx- I Don't Need It
Barbara Tucker- I Get Lifted
Sounds of Blackness- I Believe
Vernessa Mitchell- Higher
M People- Movin' On Up


http://www.zshare.net/audio/54617656b2a9283e/

Thursday, January 22, 2009

mental relaxation of jah!







Was sitting in crib with my boy and he brought up how he wanted to get into spinning more reggae and spent half the night bumping what i had in my stash which isn't deep enough as it should be. I remember at one point not being into reggae because only person i knew of was Bob Marley and the Wailers haha.

Over the months thanks to friends I've developed a new appreciation for dub,Rocksteady, and smooth reggae mainly. The following uploads are songs you can just sit back to and groove to in your room with your lady(if you got one ha!) or alone on a chilled out day.

I heard the Tamlins Version of "Baltimore" (originally done by Nina Simone and sampled by Ant on brother ali's song "Freedom Ain't Free")on a compilation called Darker Than Blue, the group itself consist of 3 singers Junior Moore, Derrick Lara, and Carlton Hines. The reggae version of the song is very harmonic with a twist of blues in the vocals. Who knows why they chose Baltimore to remake non the less it came out a fresh single 2 years after Ninas version was made.

Alton Elis's "Im still in love with you" is one of my favorites from the godfather of rocksteady. The all around feel is more soulish from the way Alton hits his notes but still carries a reggae vibe that doesn't completely take away from it's element. Almost every song Alton has is bump worthy and capable of honorable mention along with his remake of "Ain't no Music" unfortunately he passed away this past October but there are several good findings if you look around for more of his work.

Freddie Mcgregor makes some great Lovers Rock, but very versatile in the styles he gives out since he's dabbled in a little bit of everything. Having a steady career, i love how Freddie can bring that soulful vibe consistently, and the man has been singing since the 60's at the age of 7 so you know he's got that longevity. Alot of his songs are Rastafari influenced and he is a member of the Twelve Tribes . "Natural Collie" is so addictive for me, it's just mad mellow and the bass line rides perfectly with Freddies chanting.

Not alot to for me to go by with Otis Gayle, he's a hard find though but his remake of Bobby Caldwells "what you won't do for love" is off the chain. The beat is just knockin throughout the whole song from the solid procussions. My only downfall with the song is how short it is but it's a sweet 2:32.

Tamlins-Baltimore
Alton Ellis-Im Still In love with you
Freddie Mcgregor-Natural Collie
Otis Gayle-What you wont do for love

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Stones throw attacks from the heart


Stones throw has always been one of my favorite indie labels, there consistent with dropping releases and have a variety of artist with diffrent styles. I was surprised to see the collaboration with Omar Rodriguez Lopez from the Mars Volta. But on the other side of the table there new artist Mayer Hawthorne really is hitting the buzz with his soulful releases.

Having caught the eye of Mark Ronson, and being selected in Giles Peterson's best of 2008, whats more impressive to me about Hawthornes releases is that he He wrote, played, recorded and sang his own songs. When I first listened to the tracks i thought there were old soul cuts from the late 60's just re-edited by a producer but later found out they were a refreshing sound of fresh new soul. While "Just ain't gonna work out" is the main single that is being bumped i prefer his other single more "When I said Goodbye". The vibe to the song is just more emotionally grabbing to me when i listen to it, and there is almost a influential vibe i get of smokey robinson, and Leroy Hutson. I'm curious to see what lies ahead in a full album if you purchased the limited 1,000 copies of the 7 inch it actually is in the shape of a heart pretty cool huh ?

Mayer Hawthorne & The County-Just Aint Gonna Work Out

Mayer Hawthorne & The County-When I said Goodbye

Tuesday, January 20, 2009


To those of you that woke up at 3am approx. the same time i wake up to get ready for work to go to DC today, you're all very insane but i applaud you all for taking the hectic haul for the inauguration. Today did feel special though, still crazy to think what all has happened and how far things have progressed with time.

I'm proud i got to witness history today and it does make me feel proud being an African American and seeing what not only blacks are capable of but minorities as a whole and being able to see people connect together as one without getting carried away.

When listening to Curtis Mayfields track i think it's a good representation of today and shows how powerful his lyrics reign on a memorable moment like the one we got all experience. Jay-Z's remix also gets a honorable spot as he rips it like always (thanks lok) .

" My president is black/in fact hes half white/So even in a racist mind hes half right/So if you got a racist mind its alright/ My president is black but his house is all white/Rosa Park sat so Martin Luther can walk/Martin Luther walked so Barrack Obama can run/Barrack Obama ran so all the children can fly/so imma spread my wings YOU CAN MEET IN THE SKY/"

WORD!!!
Jay Z-My President is Black
Curtis Mayfield-We the People who are Darker than Blue