Tonight... I just want to DANCE!

Bonus! Even more funk for your soul!

More love for those of you reading more past the FB/G+ posts. You're my reason to share music rather than just enjoy it myself... so here's a thanks for subscribing!

Kinny - Back Street Lust (ft. Diesler)


Blockhead - Coloring Book


Flevans - Small Room Syndrome


Quantic - Mishaps Happening


Jon Kennedy - We Milk Life, But Dress Smooth


The New Mastersounds - Idiris


US3 - You can't hold me down (video is somewhat NSFW, btw)


Flow Dynamics - At The Speakeasy


Mr. Scruff - Blackpool Roll

Taking it back to Retro...

Sometimes the sun comes out on a chilly winter afternoon, and you really badly need a touch of funk and soul to take the bite out of the air and put some spring back in your step.

So as an early cosmas present for ya'll: have some brightness for your winter. Apologies for a few re/x/posts on these, elsewhere, but - Here's some awesomely retro tracks you should have in your holy-shit-it's-cold-out playlist to add some kick-step in your snow-shuffle:

Kylie Auldist - No Use


Kylie Auldist - Community Service Announcement


The Bamboos (with Kylie Auldist) - On The Sly


Belleruche - The Itch


Plan B - She Said


Plan B - Praying


Quantic Soul Orchestra - Melodious Wayfarer


Jon Kennedy (ft. Aime Corridan) - Spellbound


Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra - When You Are Through


This is obviously a cover, and the original version of the cover (this) was recorded in 1968, BUT it's been recently dug up, and Spanky Wilson has been performing it again with Quantic Soul Orchestra, so... soak in the awesome:
Spanky Wilson - Sunshine Of Your Love


Mr. Scruff - Music Takes Me Up (ft. Alice Russell)


Deadly Avenger - We Took Vegas


The Heavy - Sixteen (Repost to this blog, but it's awesome and belongs in this playlist, so stuff it)


And OK, so this is also a cover, and doesn't have the funk of the above tracks, but DEFINITELY the soul... love the pipes on Alice Russell (most of her greatest tracks aren't available on youtube, so, sorry), and here is her version of Crazy:


There - that aughta keep you all entertained for a bit. Have a funky, soulful holiday!

Hakkuh! Hakkuh! Hakkuh!

Some pretty great footwork here.

One of those tracks that really needs proper headphones... It might not seem terribly unique, until you experience some of the sounds in your head on a good set of cans. Some really fun sounds to make the music breathe on this one...

Paul Basic

Swishy synth washes of warm head-noddy goodness.



This comes out like RIGHT NOW. AND OH, FREE DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.prettylightsmusic.com/therecordlabel ... and while you're at it download the rest of 'em.

Zebbler Encanti Experience

Some of the more exciting/interesting/awesome music being created here in the boston area. Caught the release party for this EP, was pretty intense.

Fair warning; this video is pretty extremely mental... bad trip like whoa.

The Final Sign (Music video by Zebbler Encanti Experience) from Zebbler on Vimeo.

Gramophonedzie

Don't say I never told you nothin', electroswing fans:

FREE Gramophonedzie show in Boston, Sept 1.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=128354997260801

RSVP, like NOW. Splash is a small venue... very. Very. Small.

For reference, that's this guy:

Ill-ectro

Found this guy today off LastFM while exploring. Pretty sick electro, very much up my alley.

Give this one a minute to get better... starts out kinda meh, but gets so, so goddamned good after the first 1:30 or so:


This one's just straight dope:

All Alone on the Edge of Seventeen

Came here to post this, just to kinda remind myself of a great tune;




But found this, and thought, wtf, no way. And you know what? It's not half bad - scratchy smoker's throat for the win:



...though if you listen really close, you can clearly hear the vocal edits. Oops. ;)

Facebook as a music delivery vehicle

Ok, so before you all leave Facebook for Google+... there's two things you should go [like]:

First, go find "Old Skool Community", and like the shit out of it if you like the shit outta old school rave, like this:



I'm pretty sure it's actually kept up by members of Altern-8 (!!), and they've been posting prolifically with tons and tons of oldschool rave anthems. Great fun!

Next, THIS is worth every like you can give it. Because you wanna go bounce to tracks like this with me -

Then you might know me...

Just some deliciously luscious triphop for your morning. It really kind of deserves a rainy day and a car window to gaze longingly out of, but... today it's a sunny-day special.

Forgive Me...

Heard Bill Crook drop this one a few weeks back at elements, it utterly tore me up... definitely more aggressive than a lot of you prefer, but goddamn, it sounded mind-numbing. Unfortunately the bass is quite thin on this recording... so just imagine that bassline going through you, and maybe you'll understand.




...actually, yeah, I doubt this is gonna be loved by many, but meh.

Let Us Play With Your Brain

Been seeking new triphop lately, and came across Doctor Flake -

Recently discovered Blue Sky Black Death... It's not my usual fare, a bit more to the ambient side of triphop - but just incredibly beautiful stuff, especially to fall asleep to after a long day.

The Post-Apocamix

Top ten evil & apocalypse-themed for the Judgement Day parties (links below):

(ok, so there's some LOOSE interpretations here... it's metaphoric, deal.)

10. Onyx ft. Biohazard - Judgement Night [horrorcore]
9. Dr. Dre / Ice Cube - Natural Born Killaz [horrorcore]
8. Gravediggaz - Diary of a Madman [horrorcore]
7. Lupe Fiasco - Streets are on Fire [Hiphop]
6. Distortionz - Terrorise Your City [Nuskool]
5. Concord Dawn - Raining Blood [drumnbass]
4. Pendulum - The Other Side [drumnbass]
3. Statemachine - Music from the End of the World [ebm]
2. Blotnik Brothers - Robot Kingdom [electro]

And of course -
1. Altern-8 - Armageddon [oldschool] (LIKE YOU HAD DOUBTS)



(ok, honorable mention: Gary Numan, Down in the Park)

Listen:

1. Altern-8 - Armageddon


2. Blotnik Brothers - Robot Kingdom


3. Statemachine - Music for the End of the World
EBM-Statemachine-Music from th by THERAPY

4. Pendulum - The Other Side (sorry, no embedding...)
http://youtu.be/zENtEumtyBI

5. Concord Dawn - Raining Blood


6. Distortionz - Terrorise Your City


7. Lupe Fiasco - Streets are on Fire


8. Gravediggaz - Diary of a Madman


9. Dr. Dre / Ice Cube - Natural Born Killaz


10. Onyx ft. Biohazard - Judgement Night



xxx: Gary Numan - Down in the Park

Don't be cruel, because I would never be that cruel to you...

This is so sick... so minimal and so perfect. Spine tingly goodness.



Try not to listen to it for the next five hours straight.

Caught Shpongle last night.

Simon Postford's work has always been among my favorites; his album "The Lone Deranger" as Hallucinogen is an absurdly brilliant and essential psytrance album. His immense, deep breadth of influences and unbelievably complete knowledge of music theory and world music experiences oozes all over this album, as he deftly merges psychedelic and trance elements with musical influences including latin, african, asian, european, native american... definitely a treat for someone like me who appreciates musicians who push the envelopes and transcend genre. As Hallucinogen, he also explores intricate, gradual time changes (listen to the beat changes in Jiggle of the Sphinx from about 4:10-5:30...) which have this incredible psychedelic effect on even a sober mind - it's really quite cool.

As Shpongle, his tracks definitely lean more towards the world music influences than perhaps the hard psytrance elements that I adore in the Hallucinogen project - much to my dismay, actually. I respect, but don't necessarily always love his Shpongle output. I've caught his dj sets as Shpongle or simply Simon Postford before, and was impressed... but this show was just far more intense, and leaned much more towards the hard, dark, pulsing edges of psytrance that I truly love to experience. Essentially, this was more to the Hallucinogen tilt than Shpongle, which was exactly what I was hoping for. The crowd danced, rapt as he guided us on a real, tangible journey; some certainly less enhanced than others in the crowd, but everyone along for the ride.

And, well, he had the new "Shpongletron" video setup seen here -

...this was much cooler in real life; this beast is Zebbler's (of Boston's Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare fame) creation, and it was quite the centerpiece.

All in all, quite the show.

It's time to perpetrate, to perpetuate, to penetrate

I've been holding out on you. Mostly because I've been considering throwin' my hat in the ring, spinning in the swing scene (like it ain't no ting)... but it's time I'm realistic about that; there's several technical details about doing so that doesn't jive well with my continuous flow (and dope but not always swing-friendly attraction to tracks).

So, it's time to start making this blog out to what it was meant to be; a real showcase for the awesome tracks that I might spin at a gig; even if that potentially burns some tracks out for me if some of my more-DJ-inclined readers happen to pick up and share what they find here; but as I firmly believe music is to be shared and not hoarded... maybe it's time I start sharing a bit more of the A-game and admit that I'm probably not going to actively attempt a coup of the local swing DJ scene.

Here's one of my pocket aces; I bring you... Chinese Man. Enjoy... they're absolutely madness, I tell you... MADNESS.

10 artichaut by zallegorie


05 washington square by Wam

We gotta be exploited by somebody

RIP Poly Styrene, perhaps one of the most influential women in music... and certainly one of my favorites. If you don't own "Germ Free Adolescents"... take some time to buy, download, or otherwise stream it to your wetware; it's one of the more complete and perfect albums ever written.

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life...

I know I started this blog with the intents to chronicle my experiences exploring the swing scene... but the past year (heavily due to those who introduced and guided me through swing, and also my awesome roommates who love music like I do) has just been a huge epiphany for me to reset and restore my expectations from life, and swing has been just a mere fraction of the reminders that music takes me up...

A year ago today I was confronted with the single greatest challenge I've ever had to overcome - mental, emotional, financial, even physical. It was at once terrifying and life-changing, corrupting all my successes, corroding my world-view, and damaging every single aspect of my life. What that event was isn't really important; to speak its name is to give it power, and I cannot afford to grant it more opportunity to destroy.

However, I have never been one to wallow in self-pity, and even though it took some time to dust myself off, I stand before you as evidence that I did. I found myself a new home, a new life among people that I knew from an old life that had always supported me in times of need; the music scene.

It has amazed me this past year on the dating circuit; I've been dating almost exclusively online and it seems like everyone there constantly repeats the same mantra - "I'm here because meeting people in bars and clubs sucks". I take issue with that sentiment. I look around my life full of people I am truly blessed to have at my side, and categorizing each of them with where or how I met them, the theme is overwhelming - I met most of them through clubs, raves, bars, parties. Despite those who claim good people exist only outside these realms, it was these people stood by me in times of need. They accepted me when others wouldn't. They meet me with a smile and put a drink in my hand and pull me out to the dancefloor, where we raise our hands together in praise to the only god that has ever brought me true happiness, the almighty beat.

Moving in with the like-minded misfits that I now call home, and meeting dancers in swing and other scenes (through a dancer I met online, even), their addiction to the dancefloor pushed me this year to reevaluate the priorities that I had been setting in my life. What good, really, is the white picket fence 'normal' life without the passion that music has brought me? What sad substitute is a life of filling the downtime between the American Idol seasons with So You Think You Can Dance?

I kept hearing from her - "You're too old for this. Are you going to hang out in _bars_ for the rest of your life?" And you know, I agreed. In ways, it made sense - and I can't fault her for the belief. I too bought into the notion that "adult life" means spending your nights on the couch at home stifling the enraged urge to change the channel off some godawful reality TV show that you hate but she loves, but you have to watch because that space between you on the couch is the only quality time you share anymore. I tried to make it better; I spent thousands on a home theater just to dull the pain, stupidly hoping that hearing every excruciating audio detail of What Not To Wear in reference-class 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround would somehow satiate the burning need to experience music the way I once had.

I, like so many others, went from loving every moment of life searching dancefloor to dancefloor, to waiting to die on leather couches in my own living room over barely passable 'entertainment' packaged for consumption by other passionless Americans in their final care stage of what they call life.

It took an atomic bomb of an event to break me free from that... and from those ashes was reborn - and you bear witness to the new evolution - the me I truly loved. The me who knew HOW to truly love. That love, that passion, has always come from music. The eternal beat that flows through my life, the beat I step to, the melody I dream to, the harmony that I love to.

Last night the crew bounced to Heartthrob at the Middlesex Lounge, and danced among loving friends who want to share these experiences. It, like many other nights among my people in the clubs, was awesome. Uplifting. Soul replenishing. Passion restoring. Life giving. Tonight there's many possible options for more, Thursday is Dara @ Elements, Friday is Switch @ RISE, Saturday is a NinjaTune showcase... my mornings may hurt, but I'm not too old to still make the most of my evenings.

I'm not sure what "settling down" is settling -for-, if it means that music, dance, is out of my life or is relegated to something I must do in private.

I think it's finally clear - for me, that ain't living.

I need to find a way to work saturdays instead of fridays so I can live at elements without having my friday mornings feel like such shit.



...because god, DnB is getting so damned good the past few years. This comp sounds awesome, too. (thanks to Roman for the link...)

Zed's Dead - White Satin

There really is some good dubstep out there... just gotta look;

Promotion 101

Because it came up, here's -


How to Throw a Successful Event - the MINIMUMS:

The goals:
- Make everyone feel like everyone *else* is going.
- Make everyone feel like everyone else *went*.
- Make everyone who is going like they want to bring their friends.
- Make everyone who went feel like they want to come next time.

The Basics:

1. FILL A NEED. If there's a million [genre] nights already, don't bother. Don't throw an event for the sake of throwing an event!
2. VENUE, VENUE, VENUE. If your venue is amateurish, your crowd will feel the same about your night. If your sound system sucks, you do not have a product. Venue is part of your creative vision, and it MATTERS.
3. DON'T COMPETE. If there's a [genre] night on that night, don't bother. Even if you can out-do them quickly enough, it's bad business.
4. It's 2011 - PROMOTION IS ONLINE. If you have a flyer design, you have a website. GoDaddy is cheap. HTML is taught in highschool. Figure it out.

How to promote:
1. Set up email account for the night.
2. Collect a spam list. Rape, pillage, and plunder your own inbox if you must. See spam suggestions, below.
3. Set up a google calendar for the event, and promote/share the hell out of it.
4. Spam the hell out of your website on online venues - Facebook, and to a lesser degree Myspace are a prerequisite. Have a page for the night AND file calendar events for EACH night.
5. Make friends with other event coordinators & promoters. Allow them to promote to your audience THROUGH YOU (ie, don't give away your spam list, but promote for them in exchange for their promotions to their audience.
6. Seriously, if you can't put a facebook event up, don't bother.
7. PUBLICLY THANK PEOPLE FOR MAKING YOUR FIRST NIGHT A SUCCESS (even if it was an utter failure...)

How to (properly) spam-promote:
1. DO NOT CC: YOUR SPAM LIST - BCC: ONLY. (Basic promotional spam rule #1).
2. Get 3x the number of legitimate email addresses than you hope to have show up for the opening night. If you don't have this, you better have an amazing street team.
3. Include all relevant details. (Seems common sense, right?)
4. Genre and suggested dress code are BOTH relevant details.
5. It's 2011 - link location to google maps.
6. It's 2011 - link to your DJs websites and SoundCloud pages.
7. Allow - and respect! - unsubscribe requests.


Street Team:
1. Street promoters work best with incentives. Have a small bit of whitespace on each flyer. Tell each promoter to write their promoter number (you assign) on each flyer. Give a significant discount to people who bring the flyer in. Count flyers from each promoter - and incentivize your top promoters (free drinks, give them a guest list, etc.).
2. Pound into their heads: WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST. Women bring their boyfriends. Men don't bring their girlfriends. College kids bring their entire clique. BOOBIES SELL.
3. (advanced) Include a promoter ID value on website links to the event. Monitor hit counts to that ID.

The Wub-Wub Monster Eats Rebecca Black

If we do this enough to the shit we're being forcefully spoonfed by die musik wehrmacht... well, it won't be the egyptian revolution, but at least we'll have made our disgusted message clear.

Words I Never Said

Goddamn, Lupe Fiasco's album may just have been worth the forever wait:

Oh no, I know a dirty word...

Another in the "I really, really wouldn't have thought..." pile for dubstep remixes -

Where is my mind?

If you'd have told me, Pixies, dubstep... I would have responded with an emphatic NO, JUST... NO.

But still, there is this: