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MIX NOTES

I.G.Y. (what a wonderful world) – A classic song from Mr Fagen’s perfect 1982 “Nightfly”LP. It’s deceptively positive on the surface. However, if you listen close, it’s actually about how absurdly naive the futurists of the 1950s were in their predictions of a bright shining world to come. Food for thought. Music for ears. Towards the end I mixed in a 2014 bootleg edit of the same track, from Hamburg’s Sebastian Doring. This came out on the Brooklyn Razor-N-Tape imprint.

Advance Beat – a simple Jazz groove from Digitalunderbit aka Marco Ferrini from the Italian island of Sardinia. Not a bad place to sit around and dream up sounds like this.

When We Get By (DJ Tipz smooth edit) – DJ Tipz from Essex put just the slightest bit of umph underneath the already perfect track from D’angelo’s first album. What’s not to like? Also, can you believe this song is over 20 years old?

Music In The Air – The Apples are a 9-piece funk outfit from Tel Aviv. In 2010 they collaborated with everyone’s funk hero Fred Wesley to make this solid number. In a related story, if you haven’t yet seen the James Brown bio pic “Get On Up“, you need to get on that.

Get Satisfied (part 2, part 1) – The Eliminators formed in Winston Salem NC in 1972. They released only one album on Brunswick in 1974, the much-sought-after “Loving Explosion” LP. They have a nice Meters meets the JBs meets Muscle Shoals thing going on.

Arrow Through Me – The second single from Wings’ 1979 “Back To The Egg” LP. I added the Honeydrippers drums just to give it a bit more head nod. Random fact: this was also the theme music for the Chevy Chase / Jane Seymour movie “Oh Heavenly Dog”, where Chevy is a dead P.I. stuck in purgatory who comes back to earth in Benji-form to solve a case. You’d think a movie this stupid would have bombed, but they made a sequel, so I guess not LOL. Don’t believe me? Watch the trailer.

I Wanna Play Summthin For You – An easy loop from Tall Black Guy’s 2011 beat tape “Hollyweird 2.0”, which he released for free like everything else he does. The sample is from Duke and Coltrane’s 1962 “In A Sentimental Mood”. Play either one at the end of a long day, sipping a stiff drink, and you’ll be just that much cooler than you already are. I promise.

Coeur D’artichaut – Yes this song is called “Artichoke Heart” LOL. Polo & Pan are two DJs and crate diggers from Paris who hold down residencies at Le Baron. I’m a sucker for slow house music that clocks in at around 100bpm. This came out in September of 2014 on Ekleroshock.

Mystic Brew – a solid cover of Ronnie Foster’s classic tune, which appeared on his 1972 Blue Note LP, “The Two Headed Freap”. “Relax yourself girl please settle down”. Or was it “peace head plan”? Or was it “Peace is at hand”? Buy me a slice and we can debate this.

Sofia feat Joe Beats – Stereo 77 is Alejandro Ramirez, a Florida producer and DJ who makes what he calls “lo-fi latin funk”. It’s also rather spacey and dub-influenced. Where would electronica be without dub reggae? Thankfully, we will never know. I found this on a compilation from Quinty Jointz called “Lime Sorbet V”.

Soleil Au Reveil – These guys hail from Paris and make jump-up music they call “Afropéan”. This is from their 2014 “T’es Qui?” LP on the Hot Casa label. I can dig the broken carnival riddim and the positive message. Something about waking up with the sun? Fuck if I know. I took French in 2nd grade and all I remember is the teacher was fresh off the boat from Viet Nam and we ran circles around her.

Smokey Joe – More Jazzy grooves from Digitalunderbit. Listeners of my mix tapes will know I’m a sucker for women speaking a language I don’t understand over a nice beat. Why there’s so much French on this mix I have no idea… too much cheese perhaps.

Love Rescue – Joey Negro remastered this for his “Soul of Disco Vol 3” compilation and thank god, because the vinyl is elusive and this revamped version sounds GREAT. I haven’t been able to find any info about the composers or producers, which is weird. Came out in 1981 on Italy’s Jezebel Records.

Kill Frenzy – A simple 2015 party mover from The Netherlands’ own Daniel Leseman, who speaks deep house with the best of us.

If These Walls Could Talk – Not to be confused with the kendrick Lamar banger of the same name, this a smooth Hip Hop joint from the debut LP from Portland’s own Vursatyl on BBE. He’s been down with the Blackalicious peeps for 20 years or so. And the brother sings his own chorus. Check the LP HERE

The Sign of Four – Last night the GF walked in on me blasting this song with a bourbon in one hand, a big wooden spoon in the other, and 3 pots cooking on the stove. It was a rather chaotic scene, just like this track. I’m just lucky the smoke detector didn’t go off. This madness is from the mind of Miles Newbold. It sounds a bit like somebody gave Money Mark from the Beastie Boys too much acid. Check more of his weirdness HERE

Never Catch Me – I have a bit of a love/hate thing with Flying Lotus. I’m all for pushing the boundaries of beat making, but often times his cluttered concoctions kinda lose me. This track, however, rides that line perfectly, and Kendrick fucking kills it, of course. We really haven’t heard this kind of thing since Andre 3000 - and god knows we probably need more of it.

Benny’s Gone Missing – While this mix was deep into it’s weird left-field phase, I figured why not double down and drop this brief but absolutely insane jungle/drum-n-bass solo. This London cat DgoHn (pronounced simply “John” LOL) makes VERY aggressive DnB that tends to punch you in the balls. The best kind, really.

Betray My Heart – I’ve seen D’angelo live several times over the span of his career. Solo and with Prince. The show I saw last Sunday at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens was one of the best live sets I’ve ever heard, period. The man is truly back on top of his game. If you can see him on this current tour, DO NOT SLEEP. Bring all your best trees and go nuts. A night you won’t soon forget.

Big Schlepp – Classic Jazz Funk from the vibraphone master’s first LP for the German label MPS in 1971 after relocating to Europe. Dave came up under the mentorship of cats like Herbie Mann, so you know he knows his Jazz-Funk. Crate diggers may remember him from his late 60s psychedelic raga track, “Mathar”. It was a favorite of my boy DJ Jules Gayton when we played together. Leave it to Jules to keep a Hip Hop dance floor moving with shit like this. What can I say? I learned from the best.