Five tracks vol. 1

Ahoy mates, it's bloggy time. Before the music, can I just say that I tried this Kenji Lopez-Alt at-home al pastor recipe and it was SUPER good. Highly recommend if you have plenty of time for a food project and don't care that groceries are fucking expensive now. OK, on we go. 

Computer - Nobody Loves A Computer Because A Computer Does Not Dance

A looong time favourite that I don't think I ever shared on DD. This overly-indulgent French disco gem is a) over 14 minutes long for some reason, b) about a computer who wants to be in love or something, and c) uses all the right disco clichés while managing to be totally off-the-wall unique. 1977 is the absolute sweet spot for me when it comes to disco, and it's because of tracks like this. Stupid and brilliant. 

Alphonse Mouzon - By All Means

Then we get to 1981 where, for my ears, a lot starts to go wrong. Not so here with this spectacular joint where the great Alphonse Mouzon is joined by Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard for a total shredfest. Nobody holds back, Herbie especially, and even though the cheese is spread on thick, three of the all-time greats (and two other players who I'll admit I just dunno, sorri) blasting their chops steer it right. 'Do I Have To', a slower jam on this record, is also A+++. 

Dunkelziffer - This Is How You Came

Full credit to Hugh B's stellar Skylab Radio show Mornings From The Gonsch and guest Big Gus AKA James i.V for putting me onto this one. Semi-weirdo German funk rock that got a reissue on Emotional Rescue in 2013, this is one I've gone back to again and again over the past few months. Listen to Hubo's show each Friday for plenty of calming oddness. 

Joe Bataan - Ordinary Guy

Joe Bataan is best known on dance floors for Latin Lover, a RIPPER zesty Salsoul classic, but this melancholy, ballady groove is my favourite moment in his catalogue. It's sweet and sad and beautiful, but it's still rich with trickling jazz guitar, Afro-salsa feel and a gently berserk keys solo which I think Bataan played himself. Really good music. 

John Carroll Kirby - P64 By My Side

JCK's Septet album was easily one of my most listened records of last year, and this is the track that drew me in. Partly because I'm a huge sucker for vibraphone. It's got this deep, drunken sway that feels kinda nautical. I dunno, this is just a fucking good record of modern, electronic-touched jazz that gives me flavours of all the old music I really like. 

Thanks, love ya xo

What the world needs now is blogs blogs blogs

The eight-year hiatus is over. Daddy's home. 

Felt a bit dispassionate from working in music full time for so long but I've got that tingling to share some tunes again. This is probably a really dumb place for it, if anyone has a bright idea for where to post music these days (aside from an online radio show, cbf) feel free to weigh in. 

Got a cool decade's worth of stuff I've been sitting on, so let's start rummaging through the archives hey?

Renzo Fraiese - 12 Engle Street (Red Greg's Full Length Kamagra Edit)

Okie doke, no mucking about, this one's a big treat. I think I first heard this played by Red Greg at a You're A Melody party in Sydney back in 2017 and it was the perfect example of that kind of high-octane soul that Floaty P and co. can be really devastating with. Nothing too tricky about this edit, it mostly just extends a track that really needs extending because it's so fucking good. 

Candle Family - Love Theme From Two Hearts

Dunno who the fuck Candle Family is but woah mama this is a burner. A bit like Tom Noble's fine effort via House of Spirits, this track is a magical, authentic conception of disco in the 2010s that feels new rather than 'nu'. Chunky, muscular bass, horn and piano stabs, sensual deep vocals saying some vaguely sexual shit - it's everything you want in a slow and funky floor-heater. 

*** DOUBLE FEATURE ALERT ***

Kimiko Kasai - We Can Fall In Love
Kimiko Kasai - Love Celebration

Kimiko Kasai fuckin rules. I discovered from a YouTube comment that she's actually Maya Rudolph's stepmum, AND that Maya Rudolph's mum is Minnie Ripperton. Hectic. Anyway, these are two of my favourites from her catalogue. We Can Fall in Love is light and breezy disco with some sick jazz guitar certified by Mark Grusane (I think) and Love Celebration is a slow and slunky bass-led groove that was given a nice Cali adaptation by Vex Ruffin on Mabuhay Boy. 

Made In U.S.A. - Melodies

This one's a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing. It begins with some obnoxious lyrics like "tra la la" and "twiddly-dee" — the kind of frolicking, sickly-sweet cutesyness that tarnishes the lamer side of disco — but don't be misled, it bares its teeth if you stick with it. In Flagranti fans might recognise the dark and dramatic second half as the source for the hats and vocals for Low Dose Virility.

 

Håkan Lidbo - Delhi's Delight

I know the kids like their 'electronic beats' so here's another modern one (ie. released this century) to appease the youth. Haven't got a clue where I came across this one, but it's sludgy and punchy and percussive and has this kind of groovy urgency about it. Something about the tense energy makes me quite like it. Sorry if this is tech housey or something, I dunno what's what anymore. 

OK thanks. Talk to me, tell me if this is a dumb idea, tell me if you have a smarter idea, tell me if I've lost my edge. Seems fun though. 

Hey Guys How U Doin'?

Oopsies sorry pals I kinda left you hanging there for a bit hehe. It occurred to me that I should probs clear a few things up. For starters, I am alive and I have an Internet connection. I am also very time-poor and lazy-rich, plus have been feeling pretty uninspired on the music front for the past 18 months or so, hence no bloggy. It was perhaps rude to vanish so abruptly (like a spooky ghost ooooo) but this is my simple and boring explanation.

Do people still read blogs? What do people do? I don't know what it is that I do, I work and sleep and rotate between a variety of different sized Facebook-displaying devices, sometimes it's the weekend but usually not, occasionally I send an email to find out where my SuperStereo mixer is 30 months after I ordered it (it's "coming"), I think that's about it.

If you still want music, I'm gonna try to use my Facey page a bit more and hopefully record some mixes which will be up on my Soundy.

Here's something I just uploaded which I actually did back in October 2013, a bunch of fun disco-funky stuff for my friend Adi's radio show, I think it's pretty fun:



Also I did a podcast for my Astral People buddies ahead of their Moodymann gig that I was lucky enough to play. Just some summer house sorta vibes, hands on beers not on chins.



Hmm I still feel kinda bad, maybe I should give you some tunes as well. I'm sure as heck not gonna text about them, you'll just have to imagine I've added some asinine written commentary as was the DD way. I love all of 'em so just click and if you aren't into them, it's probably your own fault.

Eddie Russ - Zaius

G U & Cei-Bei - House Music Will Never Die (Mark Grant's Paramount Room Mix)

Lord Echo - Put It In My Head

Archie Bell & The Drells - Strategy

Velvet Season & The Hearts of Gold - Truth Machine For Lovers

Saine - Donny

Leon Haywood - Don't Push It Don't Force It

Bugge Wesseltoft & Henrik Schwarz - Leave My Head Alone Brain

Parlour - Sark Powers

Tyree Cooper - Acid Over (Acid Over Again Mix)

Oh also I co-host a radio show on Sydney's FBi Click, usually cover that every couple of weeks, so if you really want to hear me ruining a nice musical time with dreadfully amateur radio chatter, feel free.

Ok cya in 2017 xx

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!

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.

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!

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