Even in the dead of winter you can always count on us Californians to be able to conjure up the essence of the beach and summer, mainly because it’s such an important part of our culture, but also that we can still go to the beach when it’s 75 degrees in January. Los Angeles natives and disco masterminds Classixx have released this week a new track called “A Fax From The Beach.” A smooth Caribbean beat with soothing synths, very relaxing like listening to waves hitting the shore. The photograph above is one I shot in the Pacific Palisades a few weeks ago which could easily be a sunset from mid summer or mid winter. Very serendipitous to capture a seagull in the frame at that exact moment.
It is kind of hard to explain exactly what the Seaquence Music Generator is without opening the site a playing with it yourself. In a sense it’s a program that creates a variety of musical organisms that live in a petri-dish like composition that is all completely customizable by the user. Each organism can be adjusted to produce sound at a high or low frequency, and then further manipulated to play a grid of notes at various BPM (beats per minute.) Go check out Seaquence and start making your own masterpiece today.
The January of installment of the monthly Doppelganger Mix spans odd ends of the music spectrum, but comes together nicely as a whole. We start with some funky love songs from italian nu-disco masters Tiger & Woods to an old school jam by Kylmaxx. Next moving to the heavier deep house track Reginald’s groove and closing out with Mark E’s slammin’ disco-house jam R&B Drunkie which takes samples from a Janet Jackson. Whether heavy or mellow, I like to think the progression of tracks in this mix attain a continuous funky groove and open your ears to some very talented artists contributing to the new disco/funk scene.
Tiger & Woods – T&W Lab File #01
Chris Carrier – I’m In Love Today
Klymaxx – Love Bandit
Cosmic Kids – Reginald’s Groove (Classixx Remix)
Cool Million Feat. Leroy Burgess – Cool To Make A Million (Ilija Rudman Dub Mix)
Telonius – Discotec (Moullinex Remix)
Midnight Savari – Rimshots
Mark E – R&B Drunkie
I just came across this nu-disco jam while searching around for some new tracks this weekend, and holy moly is it groovin’! “Cool Million” is German Danish DJ/Producer tandem making some amazing soul, house and disco tracks, with this track featuring 70′s soul singer Leroy Burgess. Cool To Make A Million has the full the slate of classic disco keyboards guitars and percussion on top of a super funky bass line. I’m always blown away hearing new productions such as this that sound like they are straight out of the disco era.
Living in the East Village of New York City and working in the music industry, Charles Pates over the years has been exposed to all sorts of music. A long time ago he began to compile any records or tapes he could get his hands into carefully crafted cassette mix tapes. Now, he is sharing his bountiful collection on the internet for all the world to hear. Organized into categories of his creation, the stream of music works exactly as a proper cassette tape would. You can pause and play the music, but you can’t skip between tracks, making you listen to the songs exactly in the order Charles had intended. They are amazing though, so I doubt you will want to skip any.
The other day I had the random desire to search for some Christmas songs done by famous Hip Hop artists, and I happen stumbled upon this awesome collection. Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, Snoop Dogg and Digital Underground are some of the highlights, good enough that I had to share this with everyone. Enjoy!
Doppelganger December 11 Mix, a continuing exploration into the relationship between new school disco/funk/house tracks and the old school tracks that have inspired them. Click the above link to listen and download.
Burnt Island Casuals – Scotch Hop
Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock – It Takes Two
Human League – Sky (Plastic Plates Remix)
Yacht – Dystopia (Whatever Whatever Remix)
The Whispers – Keep On Lovin’ Me
Stevie Wonder – Do I Do (U-Tern Disco Edit)
Cassian – I Like What You’re Doing (Isaac Tichauer Remix)
De La Soul – Me, Myself And I
Crazy P – The Hit
Unique – What I Got Is What You Need
Lewie Day – That’s The Thing
More often than not, listening to a DJ set of a popular musician is a fascinating experience. When they are able to break free from songs they always play at concerts and spin tracks they really want to hear, one becomes better acquainted with their true musical style and tastes. Jamie Smith, brainchild of the british electronic indie band the XX, is known for his unique beats that create the bed for the bands deep soulful electronic sound. Listen above to his BBC Essential Mix to take a step into the world of a musical mastermind. [TheFoxIsBlack]
I heard this song “North Side Gal” by JD McPherson as the bumper music to a sports talk radio show yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised to find out its not some old singer from the 1950′s but actually new music from 2011. It’s got that oldies American sound with classic stand up bass, saxophone and rock n’ roll guitare. Here is a quote a very well written synopsis that I feel explains everything:
“Sometimes the most American of settings can reveal the deepest artistic talents the world has ever known. Johnny Cash on the farms of Arkansas, Mike Ness on the mean streets of Los Angeles, and a skinny kid from the ghettos of Tupelo named Elvis who happened to be brimming with soul. JD Mcpherson is one of those talents cut from that same artistic cloth. Growing up in southern Oklahoma, Mcpherson, the progeny of an ex-military, farming father and “good word” preaching mother, Mcpherson had an intriguing childhood and those influences shine blissfully through his music. His sound is raw it feels old, like the hum of a 50’s convertible cruising the back roads of the Mississippi delta,but it’s new and innovative.”
Daft Punk’s lesser known slow jam from their legendary Discovery album, Something About Us, is a very soulful song with heartfelt lyrics and a smooth bass line. French electronic artists Cherokee have done a very tasteful remix of this classic track, giving it more depth and some solid house beat. Usually I subscribe to the idea “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but this is really well done. Listen to the original track, and then the remix to get the whole picture.
Italian disco duo Tiger and Woods has been lighting the underground disco house scene on fire with their sick edits of classic disco tracks. Just recently they released a free 15 track album of their favorite edits from their live shows entitled “Wiki & Leaks.” Above, I have posted my two favorite tracks, #9 and #11, right on time to get your weekend off to a groovy start. Click the album cover above for a link to the entire album.
Revealing the other face of Doppelganger, I present to you the November 11 Mix. Having become well acquainted with up-tempo house and electro, I found it vital to return to the roots of today’s music by exploring the world of Old School Hip Hop and Funk. To my delight, I found that these jammin’ tracks from 20 years ago relate and mix so well with the down-tempo new disco and funk tracks of today. From Biggie and MF Doom, to new artists Poolside and Tensnake, and then back to the original funk masters Zapp and Roger, this mix is a patchwork of groovin’ tunes.
6th Borough Project – Do It To The Max
Notorious BIG – I Love The Dough
MF Doom – Contact Blitt
Black Sheep – The Choice Is Yours
Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance
Poolside – Do You Believe
MF Doom – Who Me
Stetasonic – Talkin’ All That Jazz
Neighbour vs Spiltmilk – Get With This
Gypsy And The Cat – Jona Vark (Plastic Plates Remix)
Tensnake – Need Your Lovin (Dub Mix)
Zapp and Roger – So Ruf So Tuf
