Monday, 28 October 2013

Romance


Here's one for a Sunday morning pillow spooning session. Or a lover spooning session if you're a real lucky duck. Something a bit personal which I'm very happy with. This is a romantics only zone: if you're a dirty love-hater then you can just go back to listening to Megadeth or whatever hair-swinging chain-thrashing nonsense it is that you steroid pumping creeps enjoy. For the rest of you lovely softies, this musical transmission is all yours.



No tracklisting for this mix, at least not yet. Not because I'm trying to keep any hidden gems under wraps, there's plenty of well-known stuff and certainly no real rarities, but it's just nicer to go in blind.

Stay sweet!

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

CLUB DANCE BEAT PARTY BRIGADE


TOOT TOOT LOOK OUT IT'S THE CLUB DANCE BEAT PARTY BRIGADE COMING TO ENFORCE THE VIBEY DANCE TIMES

Moving on from an all-jazz unmixed playlist, here's a recording of me pretending to remember I DJ past dinner time occasionally. There's some Melbourne-via-Detroit sort of cosy deep house that eventually bleeds into some more open-aired atmossy stuff. I'm quite fond of this one. Hope you enjoy!



1. Pablo Valentino - Old New Swing
2. Francis Inferno Orchestra - Amber Express
3. Kenny Dixon Jr. - Midnights
4. The Florian Muller Project - Unlimited01
5. Real Cool - Reality Begins
6. Max Graef & Muff Deep - Am Fenster
7. Simba - Three Kays
8. Jazzie Joint - Real Happy (Sax Reprise)
9. Motor City Drum Ensemble - SP11
10. Jimpster - Dangly Panther
11. Roman IV - Lucy
12. Rick Wade - Mysterio
13. Shakarchi & Straneus - Iraq
14. Pepe Bradock - CU @ Minna & Layfette

Planning to organise another Disco Delicious all night doofski somewhere in Sydney this summer, just trying to find a good venue for it. Anyone with a bright idea, feel free to get in touch! Lotsa love.

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Delishcast 014


Ho hum. So after setting out to do a jazz-centric Delishcast with #12 and failing dismally thanks to a few drinks and a pitifully short attention span, I've set out to right the wrongs of the past and do this good and proper. Jazz was a really big part of my mid-to-late-to-post-puberty life - I was an aspiring jazz drummer who never had any chance of actually making it because practice is for pussies - and it's still a big passion of mine even if I don't really get to share it. I was going to get all radio-show-host on this one and babble over the tracks but figured that if that didn't ruin the listening experience the first time around it would definitely make repeat visits pretty miserable. So I'll scribble some commentary here instead and spare you all. Not that anybody still reads this blog anyway. Not that this blog still really exists. Please excuse me, I haven't had a drink in four weeks.

SO, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HERE IT IS. A THRILLING ONE-OFF BOLD NEW BLOG POST FORMAT FOR YOU, MY DEAR DWINDLING FANS AND FRIENDS.

Delishcast 014 / Subscribe in iTunes / RSS Feed

1. Bugge Wesseltoft - Skog

Bugge has been one of my favourite artists on the planet for about a decade and his music has been something I've listened to consistently and constantly over the years while my tastes have jolted left and right. This opening track to the album Film'ing is really beautiful, Bugge really gets deep into atmospheric percussive stuff on the record and the overall quality of the recording and engineering is just amazing.

2. Soulstance - Lead The Way

This is a real nice Brazilian-flavoured cut from an Italian group released in 2006. A super slick mild-salsa groove which finds a great balance between old and nu. I especially dig the drummer, the ride really drives the song and gives off lots of good energy.

3. George Kawaguchi - Cantaloupe Island

I've always been very fond of this album of Herbie Hancock covers that Japanese drummer and bandleader George Kawaguchi did. Even though it's not the hottest playing or anything, his version of Cantaloupe Island is brimming with enthusiasm and positivity. I picture him playing this with a huge grin on his big round face.

4. Al Betts Sextet - Get Set

Sorry for the revolting quality of this rip but it's the best I could dig up of this funky library rarity from 1973. Please someone buy me this record.

5. Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue

Blue Note was definitely the label that influenced me the most in the jazz world and there are plenty of famous examples of why they were so awesome. Cool as you like, this Kenny Burrell hit was the first time I properly loved the guitar in jazz music.

6. Ahmad Jamal Trio - Poinciana

The drum groove in this 1958 live recording is just the fucking raddest thing on the planet. So gentle and understated and so fucking hip. Owwwwwwwwww YEP.

7. Art Pepper - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

This record Art Pepper did with Miles Davis' iconic rhythm section of the late '50s is just mental. Apparently he'd been on some epic heroin bender and had forgotten about the session until the day, then rocked up and somehow this came out. Philly Joe has always been one of my favourite drummers and as usual he's ridiculous on this.

8. Horace Silver - Song For My Father

Another Blue Note classic. Great melody, great players, a great session and just great music. Something I've always loved about jazz is that, generally speaking, the most well known artists and most popular records reached that level of popularity because they were simply the best, not because of marketing or trends or financial investment. This track was a hit because it totally rules.

9. Ino Hidefumi feat. Shigeru Suzuki - Cry Me A River

A really endearing Japanese version of the standard which is just really fun I guess.

10. Mario Biondi - This Is What You Are

I bought this record for the Opolopo remix on the flip, but turns out the original is where the real heat is. A catchy modern crooner with some nice solos - I'm a total sucker for trombones.

11. Willow Neilson Quartet - Oz Snooze

This was the band that my first, and most excellent, drums teacher Craig Simon was in and I always loved it. Willow's mixture of sweet and harsh timbres on the sax, and his tendency for dissonance (I'm not harmonically educated enough to know what's going on here) always interested me. Real tight group and, for me, very nostalgic.

12. Ben Webster - Soulville

Oh my god, get the fuck to a fireplace with a glass of port and listen to this immediately. The tone of Webster's sax is just leg-melting. So syrupy sweet and exquisitely controlled, this is an absolute masterpiece of laid back groovery.

13. Bugge Wesseltoft - Feel Good

More Bugge. From probably my all time favourite album, New Conception Of Jazz Live. Ahh it's beautiful.

14. Kidzen - Um Ah!

A very early release on Future Classic, this album is really killer future jazz crammed with choppy beats and samples from the Sydney talent. No idea if he's still around but I've always fantasised about seeing this stuff played live.

15. Quasimode - Last Nine Days

One of the more dramatic moments on this Neujazz CD compiled by Jazzanova a while back. A beautifully contoured piece which ends up being quite a journey.

16. Matthew Herbert - The Audience

The last cut from Bodily Functions, I just love this track and the way that, when the grand piano comes in, the whole thing blooms into this joyful presentation of colour after the cold and shadowy start.

17. Keith Jarrett Trio - Rider

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette are the best modern jazz trio in the world, even if Keith is a grumpy douche. End of story.


Direct link to mp3


There we go. Hope this hasn't been too dull. Love ya!

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

HEADLINES: Mysterious Mix + Birthday Party!


Alright then my little buttercups. As far as bigness goes, this bigness is relatively big. After six years of dicking around and never following through on the idea, at long last it's time to have a Disco Delicious party. Next Saturday night in Sydney, I'll be drenching everybody in my self-indulgence at this killer abandoned club space on William St, spinning DD favourites all night long. Click this masterpiece of a flyer for all the details.


NEXT NEWS ITEM: so this pile of old CDRs has been sitting next to my turntables for months and months, including these unmarked discs which I assumed were just five of the millions of burnt CDs I've never managed to throw out over the years. Last week I decided to listen to them, expecting some mad bangers from 07 or something, and instead they're crammed full of all this glorious music I've never heard before - folk, psychedelic, jazz-funk, all sorts of good shit. I haven't got the faintest idea how I got them or who made them, but whoever's responsible is really rather brilliant.

Naturally I got all excited and felt the burning desire to share this bonerising music. So, here's this mix-not-mix to showcase a bunch of my favourite cuts from the discs. I really wish I could take credit for this, but the glory is due entirely to this mysterious digger who either graciously gave me this music without me remembering, or was the unlucky victim of some sort of drunken CD heist which I managed to pull off without remembering, or some other scenario which I can't imagine and obviously don't remember. If you are/know this masked psychedelic king or queen, please make yourself known so I can apologise for my hysterically bad memory and shower you with praises.

BEHOLD:



Andy and the Phantom Digger Predicament

1. Bloodstone - You Know We've Learned
2. Coke Escovedo - Love Letters
3. Mint - The Mint
4. _______ - Amore
5. Locomotiv GT - Ulok A Jardan
6. Coke Escovedo - Rebirth
7. Floyd Lawson & The Heart of Stone - What's Come Over Me?
9. Coke Escovedo - Why Can't We Be Lovers
10. Kathy Gregory - Myself
11. _______ - Arm of Honour
12. Mid Day Rain - Welcome to the Rain
12. Dave Mattson - Sail me Away
13. James Vincent - Space Traveler
14. Jerry Glenn Brown - Movin' In
15. Jack Adkins - Sunset Beach
16. David Stearman - It's Not A Hurry Kind of Day
17. Jack Adkins - American Sunset

I've filled in as many of the gaps in the tracklisting as I can but there are still a few I can't pin down. Any help would be appreciated. And yeah I went a bit overboard on the Coke Escovedo tracks - too bad.

Also realised I never mentioned our latest Death Strobe release on the blog - finally the 7" of hubbabubbaklubb's Mopedbart was unleashed unto the world, and it's now been repressed so you can still grab a copy from Juno or wherever.



Enjoy that mix and come dance next Saturday night! xx

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Delishcast 013 - DD Turns Six!


It was six years ago, to this very day, that I set out to change the world. With my brand spanking new Blogger account I was going to take a stand against all the wrongdoings across the globe and fight for what I knew in my heart was right. Starving children would be fed, polar ice caps would stop shrinking, our Earth would be led those noble and true and Web 2.0 savvy. Such was the power of The Banger. With every speaker in every club in every country pumping in unison at 130bpm, singing the siren song of murdered fax machines and chainsaws molesting modems, together with our fluorescent orange torch we could make a difference.

So more than half a decade later, what have we learned? Have the sweet pingers of promise left a bitter taste in our mouths?

As Connecticut nobodies MGMT once proclaimed in a mighty Soulwax remix, "a family of trees wanted to be haunted." I don't think anybody ever gave a shit what that wimpy rubbish meant because 15 seconds later the real poetry began in the form of a bassline so perilously serrated it could saw through the eardrums of thousands of 19 year old ravers in an instant - or the equivalent of about 8 or 9 minutes for those in a K-hole. Today, admittedly, I prefer my audio a little less gory. Rather than asking "Does It Offend You, Yeah?" instead I find myself pondering "Was Dog A Doughnut?" When I overhear the mention of Justice, I quickly jump on Google to find out if we're any closer to catching that scumbag Kony. When I watch Electroma, I no longer play Human After All and tell myself it definitely syncs up. But I'll always have a soft spot for the bangers, blog house, Busy P and the Baltimore days.

By pure coincidence, today I stumbled across a mix I recorded in 2009 (titled Sillie Summer Assortment) which I haven't heard in yonks, probably because it was filed under DJ Doorknob which isn't a regular iTunes search for me, and I thought I'd post it up as the next Delishcast to celebrate this li'l occasion. It's completely and utterly stupid - I remember just hitting the record button and laughing like a mad scientist as I sifted through all sorts of dumb shit to play - but, in my ears, heaps of fun. Leo Zero's sublime Prefab Sprout edit, a sensationally cheesy Hotbath record, the piss-take awesomeness of Soft Tigers, some naughty Harry Nilsson and plenty more classic, weird or inappropriate cuts. I love DJing like this. So I hope you enjoy this expired turd of a birthday cake as much as I did.

Delishcast 013 / Subscribe in iTunes / RSS Feed

1. Osibisa - Survival
2. The Clash - Should I Say Or Should I Go? (Leo Zero Re-work)
3. Led Zeppelin - Trampled Underfoot (John Daly Edit)
4. The Who - Eminence Front (The Love Supreme Edit)
5. Ruf Dug - Dirty (Unabombers Remix)
6. Black Cock - Luna Party
7. Leo Zero - Bon Bon
8. Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
9. Hotbath - Midoff
10. Little Carlos - Shake Your Body Down (Reggae Version)
11. Soft Tigers - Mr. Ice Cream
12. Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
13. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada - Benediction Moon
14. Blue Velvet - Summertime
15. Geoff Love and His Orchestra - Also Sprach Zarathustra
16. Harry Nilsson - You're Breaking My Heart
17. A Mountain of One - Bones (Thomas' Way of the Ancients Remix)
18. America - Horse With No Shame (Todd Terje Edit)
19. Enoch Light & The Light Brigade - Ob-la-di
20. Isaac Hayes - Groove-A-Thon (Part 1)
21. Harry Nilsson - Coconut
22. Pink Floyd - Any Colour You Like
23. Pipilloti Rist - I'm A Victim of This Song (Wicked Game)
24. Nobukazu Takemura - Untitled

Direct link to mp3

Six years is ages! That's like 400 millennia in blog time. Still crawling along, thanks for looking :)

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

No Country For Cold Men


Sydney is killing it at the moment! Nearly a full month through autumn and we're still cracking the 30 degree days. Makes me a happy fella.

The latest Stripped & Chewed 12 has this really awesome cut by Simba. A Chicago locomotive that rolls along in dusty sepia, it's a bumping jazzy collage made up of keyboard trills, a mish-mash of hazy percussion snips, various guitar twangs, a tight bass loop and some cut up soulful man-vocals. All four tunes on the record are worth checking out, but this is the highlight for sure.

Simba - Three Kays [buy]

Geography Records fucking rule the shit out of house, even if their release rate is about rapid as ours is with Death Strobe. This latest Shakarchi & Straneus record is just stunning. Simple and fun and lovely - the A1 is just straight up feel good synthy house that nobody can argue with, and this song, the A2, is a beautiful paddy dream capsule which somehow feels really melodic despite having the most bare of piano melodies lightly tinkering away, almost lost in a sea of reverb. Real Cool - U Know, U Know was one of my favourite records of last year, and Geography have really hit the mark again early on in 2013.

Shakarchi & Straneus - Tammerfors [buy]

Christoph El Truento is still a bloody dreamboat. He released this fantastic free album back in Feb, which apparently was finished years earlier, and it's been the soundtrack to many a recline-on-my-bed-with-breeze-blowing-through-the-window-sometimes-drinking-a-coconut moment. He keeps hassling people on his FB about voting for him in a Kiwi competition that will make him lots of money or something, just go here and click vote and make that dude rich.

Christoph El Truento - G a l a x y

A stone cold classic from 10 or 15 years back by DJ Nature under the name DJ Spearchucker. Can't actually remember where I first heard this edit but I've always been extremely fond of it. It's really gentle and warm, just grooving away over the same understated, perfect loop with emotional vocals and strings weaving in and out. There's no real origin or destination, just a beautiful limbo that keeps chugging away. Not an easy record to find, so if anyone sees it pop up on Discogs' marketplace, fuck off and just let me buy it k? Ta.

DJ Spearchucker - Hooked

Shit, hey if anybody knows of any small and awesome Sydney venues that are under the radar, would love to know about em. Struggling to lock in a date for this DD party at the moment. Booooooooooo.

Friday, 22 March 2013

Dat Content


Shit alright I've got 18 months worth of stuff that needs posting so I'd better start getting through some of it for you chumpies. There's no freshness in this lot, but this is after all a Blogger page and freshness has no place on Blogger. Let's begin the Bloody Beetroots Greatest Hits Top 1000 Countdown shall we?

That guy Jimpster. He is definitely no joke. Remember that time he had that label, Delusions of Grandeur? That was cool. How about Freerange? Decent. Who here remembers the time he made cheekily made music as Franc Spangler and had me going all like "who is this dude wtffff" and then it was like "ahh it's old mate Jimpo" and the mystery was solved? Yes, we've established that he's been one of the koolest producers around for about 600 years now, and this remix he did for Patchworks way back in the 2005s is still a hot little potato. Super smooth gliding loungey grooves with poppy percussion and slick bass slides all over the shop. Hot tip.

Patchworks Ginger X Press - Brothers on the Slide (Jimpster Remix)

This is what it sounds like when a woman is being powerful and you put a microphone in front of her and she tramples your testicles with her sweet funky song. Got a real thing for this track - great chorus, killer horns section, ripping vocals. Onya Viola Willis.

Viola Willis - I've Got News For You

I've been working on a chiptune feature over the past few weeks and Omri Suleiman is definitely one of the coolest, most original cats I've come across. That this was created with a Commodore Amiga is massively impressive. Driving wobbing bass, amazing complex rhythms chaotically clattering all over the place, with brief lofty interludes offering a momentary break from the mayhem. Go have a listen to his album, 'Music For A 15 Year Old Me' at this rad purpose-built website, the dude is obviously crazy talented, I'm super eager to hear what he follows this up with.

Omri Suleiman - Empire

I've been salivating over Germany's Max Graef for months now. He's been doing stuff with Melbourne Deepcast dawg Andy Hart, amongst other people, and he fits beautifully into the Melbs family. This is my favourite cut of his, released on the über-awesome Box Aus Holz - to me it's got a real Raw Cuts vibe to it with great samples, stripped back arrangement, insanely hip beat complete with finger clicks (which in my mind are terribly underutilised in dance music) all wrapped up in a neat Detroit flavoured package. This dude is doing some seriously good shit at the moment, get on it!

Labuzinski & Gilbert Graef - It's Not Over [buy]

Been listening to a lot of Galapagoose in the past 12 months, since his debut LP came out on Daedalus' Magical Properties imprint almost exactly a year ago. Another Melbourne studio whiz, he makes fantastic weird beats with plenty of diversity. Some floaty melodic stuff, some dark weighty stuff, some playful poppy stuff, some really textural paddy stuff, always so well produced. Here are a couple of my faves: the first track of the album, which shows off the more sprightly side of his music, and a track off his earlier Parquet EP which is a bit moodier.

Galapagoose - Don't Break the Spell [buy]

Galapagoose - Milkwood (with Panorama) [buy]

You can't spell 'jizz' without 'j'. Have a wonderful weekend erryone.

Monday, 18 March 2013

Delishcast 012


Heysuuuuuup.

How's everyone doing? Happy new year I guess. Just a pinch of news for Sydney folks - will be putting on a Disco Delicious night some time in May after a solid four years of procrastination. I don't have a date yet, so just keep the entire month free. Birthdays, weddings, whatever: make sure they're all priority number two.

So it's been a little while, sorry about that. For ages and ages I've been planning to put together a jazz-focused Delishcast but never got around to properly preparing it. Had a few drinks one night and started recording this mix with the intention of drafting up something jazzy, but that lasted all of two songs. Instead, this turned out to be pretty much an approximation of all my club sets over the past 18 months - it's not well mixed or put together, but it's very me. Every one of these records is in my bag permanently, I'll never get tired of any of them. Hope ya dig!

Delishcast 012 / Subscribe in iTunes / RSS Feed

1. Freddie Hubbard - Lonely Town [CTI]
2. Ramsey Lewis - Sun Goddess [Columbia]
3. DJ Nature - Tacky Stuff [Golf Channel]
4. Kitano - Republic [Undertones]
5. Paskal & Urban Absolutes - Still In Love [Foul & Sunk]
6. James Johnston - Slow Dance and Romance [4 Lux]
7. Katzuma - Music Is Made For Love [Kinjo Music]
8. Los Charly's Orchestra - Music For the Soul [Imagenes]
9. Moodymann - People [Peacefrog]
10. Anthony Naples - Mad Disrespect [Mister Saturday Night]
11. Franc Spangler - Forever and a Day [Delusions of Grandeur]
12. Pepe Bradock - Burning Hot [Kif Recordings]
13. DJ Steaw - Morning Light [Traxx Underground]
14. Anthony Nicholson - Hot Sauce & Drama [Circular Motion]
15. Morgan Geist - Super [Environ]
16. Patchworks - Cornbread [Kolour Ltd]
17. Andres - Jazz Dance [La Vida]
18. Gregory Porter - 1960 What? (Opolopo Kick & Bass Rerub) [Expansion]
19. Justin Vandervolgen - EditChannel XXX [EditChannel]
20. Gloria Ann Taylor - Love Is A Hurting Thing [Selector Sound]

Direct link to mp3

Lotsa love! Got so many records to share, hopefully I'll pop some up here soon.