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MIX NOTES

Think About It – These Sault records, that have been seemingly propagating like rabbits in the past two years, often contain several short, almost skit-like tracks that don’t really hold up as stand-alone songs, but I’m finding them useful as intros and bridges in my mixes. This tune never really gets out of the gate, but rather stays in a JB’s-esque breakdown vamp that provides a background groove for the lead singer to preach over. Since it sounded like an intro, I used it as an intro. But as I mentioned in another one of these mix write-ups, you owe it to yourself to check out these Sault LPs, as they are really doing something unique, and more importantly, desperately needed in these trying times.

Thought Experiment – Helsinki resident Roberto Rodriguez always delivers very solid deep house that is equal parts Chicago and Helsinki and Berlin. This joint has a slight Mr Fingers meets Henrik Schwarz vibe that seemed like a good way to get back into a house groove after all these months. This came out in July on the Spanish imprint Poetry In Motion.

Get A Way – This track is being used here as a bit of a transitional element, getting us from A to B. I just discovered this dude Ivaylo. He came up in the Bulgarian Drum N Bass scene before settling in Oslo, Norway, where he holds down a residency at Oslo’s Jaeger Club, and runs his own label, Bogota. This came out in September of this year.

I looped the intro bars of the next track as a backdrop for some devastatingly powerful words from feminist and BLM activist Tamika Mallory, recorded in May at a rally in Minneapolis, a few days after the death of George Floyd. This is an edit of the longer speech that every American, including you,  should hear.

Blackbird – John Holiday aka Johnny Dangerous aka The Foremost Poets has come a long way since his seminal “I Beat That Bitch With A Bat” days in the early 90s. Here, he constructs a Jazzy backdrop for LA vocalist Lady Blackbird aka Marley Munroe to do a pretty solid version of Nina Simone’s dark and profoundly powerful “Blackbird”, which first appeared on her “Nina Simone With Strings” LP in 1966.

Ay – A techy and somewhat minimal track from Gregor Sütterlin aka Rampa, A Berlin DJ & producer who co-founded the dope Keinemusik label.

Ruffcut – The influence of Moodymann on the evolution of house music cannot be overstated, and this track from Glasgow DJ Tiptoes is a prime example of near perfect mimicry. Some people might call this “boompty house”, a rather silly term that Derrick Carter coined way back when. Just call it “Moodymann-type-shit” and move on.

Saved My Life (down under mix) – In full disclosure, I went back and re-recorded this mix 3 times, because it just wasn’t quite doing it for me yet. On the last round, I decided what it needed was some classic 90s and early 2000s tracks, just to round it out. I had never put this Lil Louis classic from 1992 on a mix, so voila! Walk into any house club in NY in 1992 and the DJ was playing this, or something very much like it.

Can You Feel It (New York dub) – And by something very much like it, I mean this other classic from Chez Damier from the very same year, which immediately makes me think of the Nell’s basement on 14th street. How about you?

Culture – More techy, synthy smoothess with a distinct British vibe, thanks to a heavy-accented vocal snippet and the concerted efforts of DJ/Producer Breach aka Bristol’s Ben Westbeech. You may remember Ben from his classic vocal track “I feel So Good Today”, which is 14 years old, if you can believe it. You can peep that on my mix REACH UP which I guess must be 14 years old too. Holy shit.

Mod – More minimalist freakiness from Berlin’s Rampa.

Lovery (Yoruba Soul remix) – Some vocal loveliness from Tuccillo & Kiko Navarro feat. Amor. This came out in 2012 on King Street, and you can hear the slower, Latin vibes version of this on THIS MIX

Photon (dub) – Swiss DJ/Producer Deetron never disappoints, creating stripped-down techy beats that blend Deep House and Detroit Techno in the same seamless way Vince Watson does. This came out in 2014 on his Theory of Light EP and has some long, ravey build-ups that any dancefloor can appreciate..

Gold – The longer I am away from nightclubs (due to Covid), the harder it is for me to connect with house vocals. I can browse DJ sites all day and come up with nothing. But this joint from Daniel Rateuke & French/Senegalese singer Awen stood out above the fray. Catchy, driving, piano-driven and thoroughly house. What’s not to like.

Imithwalo (FNX Omar dub) – King Street Sounds sister label Nitegrooves has really flown the flag for the Afro-house genre going all the way back to their Abstract Afro Lounge series that launched in 1998. I copped this track on the recently released Abstract Afro Vibes Vol 6, which is chock full of bangers, new and old.

Comics – Some South African vibes courtesy of DJ/Producer Ed-Ward, who has been putting in work in Sasolburg since the early 2010s. This track is pretty consistent with a lot of the house music coming out of South Africa these days: techy, under120bpm, and with long droney synths over the whole track.

The Horn Ride (Underground Sound of Lisbon remix) – Another 90s tune I dig up the 3rd time I re-recorded this mix. I would argue at least some of the DNA of the current South African house sound can be detected in 90s American Tribal records like this. DJs like Danny Tenaglia really put this genre on the map. By the early 2000s, most of the Tribal stuff sounded way too formulaic for me, but in these earlier, mid-90s days, most house DJs I know were buying E-N records alongside the more soulful, vocal house coming out of NYC.

Rollox – I have a weird soft spot for these kind of big roomy, tech house records. Most likely because of my love for dudes like Ame and Dixon, who had infiltrated the crates of a lot of us NY DJs somewhere around 2006 or so. Tracks like this Adriatique tune rarely “go anywhere”, but they really fill out a sound system nicely, and make good backdrops for SFX and vocal overdubs – like the classic Loleatta recording I ran over the top of this, recorded live at Better Days in 1985 by NY legend Bruce Forest.

Emergency on Planet Earth (Jamiropella) – Just a taste of this old Jamiroquai acapella, from their 1993 debut album of the same name. Like The Brand New heavies, I always preferred their live band recordings to their remixes, but i;’s working here, if I do say so my damn self.

Workout – A 2009 Groove Assassin organ banger that may or may not have been a direct attempt at replicating the energy of K-Scope’s “Latin Blues”.

Rise (Mark Francis Re-Edit) – My mans Sam Hyde dropped this gem on me out of nowhere and it was a perfect vocal compliment to break up all this afro house and tech house in this mix. This came out in 2017, with Daveyton, South Africa vocalist Dimakatso Rosinah Mashiane aka Dindy doing a lovely (and somewhat Jill Scott-ish) lilt on the track.

Travelling – A Shelter staple I hadn’t heard in way too long, from my man Quentin Harris and Cordell McClary. I got to play a few BKNY parties with Quentin and he always brings the ruckus, as we used to say in the 80s.

I Ain’t (The Kenny Dope remix instr) – A really bouncy beatdown of a Francis Overcast track from NYC legend Kenny Dope. It has a weird distortion thing going on with the bass that is clearly intentional. Either way, it keeps the party moving.

Idris – I don’t even know what to call this. Left field funk? Weirdo House? Whatever it is, I dig it. Dauwd is a US-born, UK-based producer that released his debut album, Theory of Colors, last year on the Technicolour label. It reminds me a bit of some of that random Pepe Braddock stuff that used to come out in the early 2000s.

Gwei Lo – Moving onward from straight house, this Black Loops track from 2019 mixes 2-step dum patterns with 90s house sonics and the result is groovy af.

On My Mind – Spekaing of 2-Step, British R&B songstress Jorja Smith released this banger in 2017 and I’ve been meaning to work it into a mix for quite some time. Love her schmoove 90s phrasing and her laid back, high-grade energy.

Metamorphosis – Some dope, techy house from our man in Glasgow, Vince Watson. As always, he rules. But you knew this, man.

Momma’s Groove (Jimpster slipped disc Mix) – I think I put this on another mix or two about 10 years ago, but this is Jimpster doing what Jimpster does best: A minima, hypnotic track that just hums along and gets out of the way of whatever sparse vocals come in and out.

House Music (Robosonic Remix) – By now you will have likely noticed that I’d been teasing this remix throughout this entire mix. It’s just a slightly beefier version of the Eddie Amador original, with a slightly different chop of the spoken word. And if you didn’t know the original Exodus track, get yourself edu-ma-cated.

He’s So Crazy – A quick throwback, loopy vibe from Peckham youngblood, Wbeeza aka Warren Brown. This came out in 2009 tho, so maybe he’s not quite so young anymore, but who’s counting?

See Line Woman (V’s Black Dress edit) – Kerri Chandler was the first DJ to slap a house beat under this Nina Simone classic, back in 1997. This latest remix puts more percussion and some kalimba in the mix, to great results.

This Is For You – Detroit OG Theo Parrish released this wonderful song in the Fall of 2019. I love the message and I love the way the song slowly deconstructs and reconstructs with this weird, push-and-pull energy, while still maintaining a pretty singular loop throughout. Nothing quite like it. R&B nerds may know vocalist Maurissa Rose from her duet with Kem on the LP version of his “If It’s Love” in 2010. She does her thing all over this track.

It’s been 10 months since I made a mix, but in the immortal words of John Wick, yeah… I’m thinking I’m back. Thanks for listening.