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MIX NOTES

A bunch of deep house and a little disco and a smattering of techno and a classic or two – all of which have been getting me moving as of late.

Love To The World (Kon’s Lots of Love remix) – Hailing from Greensboro, North Carolina, LTD (Love, Tenderness & Devotion) was formed in 1968 by 4 members of Sam & Dave’s backing band, “The Fantastic Soul Men Orchestra”. They spent two years in NYC, picking up Jeffrey Osbourne on vocals in Rhode Island, before relocating to Los Angeles and getting signed to A&M in 1974. This rather apocalyptic funk track was written and produced by the Mizell Brothers, who are largely known for their 70s Jazz Fusion work at Blue Note, with legends like Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, & Bobby Humphrey, to name a few. This mix begins with the intro breakdown from Joey Negro’s remix, then switches into Kon’s remix when the beat drops.

Shaft In Africa – A funky and faithful cover of the title track to Johnny Pate’s 1973 soundtrack, a classic breakbeat from the early days of Hip Hop. Marc Mac’s studio band The Visioneers made some great music indeed during their short-lived existence in the early 2000s.

Good Feeling (Atjazz dub) – Montreal songstress Dominque Fils-Aimé gets a proper and irresistible house remix here from Atjazz, but the real magic lies in her music as originally presented on her second album, “Stay Tuned”, released in February 2019. It’s got strains of Nina Simone and Sade and Etta James and its absolutely beautiful.

Bangin’ – One of my favorite Peven Everett tracks, from his highly underrated Easy Livin’ LP from 2012. This was a huge hit at Club Shelter in those days, and every DJ in the 5 boroughs was clamoring for a copy at the time. Peven’s production, while consistently very… Peven…, can be a little sonically understated for a nightclub soundsystem. So I added some drums underneath this to fatten things up a bit. BTW, if you’ve never seen this Chicago underground legend live, I highly suggest you do yourself a favor and do that.

Blessed Are The Meek – Speaking of underground cats from the Chi, Amir Alexander is really in his own lane with hard tracks like these that evoke a bit of a Detroit / Robert Hood / Techno Gospel sound, but still remain firmly rooted on the Chicago side of things. Amir also makes tracks with G. Marcell and Hakim Murphy, and sometimes records under the name Guerrilla Soul.

It’s Time (Edwin Oosterwal Dub) – Drifting a bit further into Techno, Poker Flat’s Steve Bug made this record in 2018 with Clemens Kahlcke aka Cle. Dutch DJ Edwin Oosterwal tech’d-out this dub and gave his synth stabs some room to breathe. More of this, please.

Sixth Sense (Louie Vega Remix) – Since our man Louie has kinda spent the last 10 or 15 years focused on very organic Afro-Latin house sounds with his Elements of Life band, it’s easy to forget just how adept he is at making stripped-down, hard-hitting, techy tracks. But make no mistake, Louie Vega is one of the greats. Having Josh Wink & Ursula Rucker in the mix probably doesn’t hurt, either.

Cobra 2 – More greatness from Martin Iveson aka Atjazz. I probably put at least one song of his on every house mix I do these days. For me, he’s on a short list of masters of dubby deep house – along with dudes like Kerri Chandler, Jerome Syndenham & Vince Watson. I’ve probably type almost that exact same sentence before in a previous mix. No matter. When the bassline comes in, I scrunch my whole face up like GAT DAMN!

Time Marches On (KenLou Trib MixX) – A respectful 2016 re-touch of this Jungle Wonz certified classic. Jungle Wonz, as I understand it, was a 1987 collaboration between Marshall Jefferson and Harry Dennis. Piano-heavy records like these were my first introduction to house music, back in college dorm room parties in 1988. KenLou is, of course, another pseudonym for Masters At Work aka Louie Vega and Kenny Dope. I’ve never been clear on how they decide which name they’ll use on which record, but who cares. If they’re involved, it’s gonna be good. Here, there simply brightened up the original sounds, and added in some Nina Simone drums to throw you off in the beginning. I put the outdo vocals of the original version over the very end, as the next track mixes in.

Ananedoo – Just a chunky Afro-House track to break things up from Venezuelan DJ / Producer Manybeat. This came out in July of 2019 on Anane’s label NuLu Records. There was a moment when Anane first started DJing in NY and more than a few peeps were like “Quit trying to make Anane happen! It’s not gonna happen!”. How wrong they all were LOL>

I Know Someone (Ricanstruction vocal) – I was pretty light on vocals as I was compiling tracks for this mix, so I had to dig back to 2016 to find this overlooked slice of sweetness from Bristol producer Sean McCabe. First time I heard this, I really thought it was either Erro or Valvin Roane aka V singing, but it turns out it was Mike City, a Philly cat best known for producing Carl Thomas and Brandy. NYC OG Frankie Feliciano did the remix and he always delivers the goods.

I Found Inside (DJ Spinna Galactic Soul Remix) – The very same Peven Everett is very much still at it, making a very dope track with Steal Vybe and getting Brooklyn’s own DJ Spinna to really stretch out his synth sounds on the remix. Steal Vybe are Chris Forman and Damon Bennett aka Cee Rule and Mr. Dizzy Fingers – two Philly cats practiced in the art of the East Coast Deep House sound.

I Am Here – German Techno producer Florian Kruse teamed up with Seattle vocalist Tesla Nix in 2018 for this simple, instructional track – that prepares us for the wind down of the mix.

Feels Good Yeah! (Kelly G. Little Louie Party Mix) – Terry Hunter brought Kelly G out of hibernation for this very Moodymann-esque meandering party jam. Terry made great use of Aretha Franklin’s legendary, epic rendition of “Dr. Feelgood” from her Live at The Filmore West recording from 1971. Tower of Power opened up, and King Curtis sat in with her regular touring band that included Cornell Dupree, Bernard Purdie, and Billy Preston. There’s a live album and even a video, which you owe it to yourself to watch right this very second!  The live album is widely considered to be one of the greatest live soul performances ever put on tape.

Purpose – Some nice vibey, mellow deep house from Philly producer Particle Ray, who has a bunch of nice bootleg remixes on his Soundcloud. I can’t find much info on this dude, but this came out in July and it’s been getting me through some Prospect Park bike rides ever since. If anyone can ID the righteous man giving the speech, holla at me. My money is on the NOI, but hard to say.

Can’t Live Without Your Love – I thought it might be nice to bookend this mix with a few classics, to finish things just right. Tamiko Jones was a part Japanese, part British, and part Cherokee Jazz singer who started releasing records in the mid-60s. She had moderate success and was even engaged to Solomon Burke at one time. This is written and arranged by Randy Muller of Brass Construction, which explains how she made such a great disco record that perfectly melds Salsoul realness with Giorgio Moroder synth baselines. Play this at any club full of NY house heads and the floor is guaranteed to fill.

Together Forever – One last disco classic from Exodus, a one-hit wonder studio band fronted by Dancehall Reggae singer Neville “Tinga” Stewart. It was released in 1982 on a tiny NYC label, Charlotte Amardie Records. The song was later made world famous when it was sampled by Eddie Amador in 1997 for his game changing track, “House Music”. Tinga’s foray into disco was brief, and he is probably best known for his 1988 classic, “Cover Me” with Ninjaman, which any dancehall DJ worth his weight in dub plates has doubles of (on 45 and 12″!). Thanks for listening.