Zhino
Let’s shift our attention to the oh so glorious italo disco genre for a second. Mexico’s Zhino has a real appreciation for this stuff and comes out with the best of italo edits. He’s been involved with several side projects such as not-so famous and DiscoRollers. His soundcloud features a bunch of “fractured edits” which are reinterpretations of italo jams many of us global mutts grew up listening to.
Bio:
He’s been Djing since 1996, constantly looking for new sounds of electronic music. In his mixes tries to take a flow between the Deep House, Tech-House, Obscure Space & Cosmic Disco and Techno music. During his career has performed in many parties, nightclubs and electronic music festivals, also in FM, AM and web radio stations.
Now he is working as one of the hosts of “The Underexposed: Resolution” Radio Show from Proton Radio and chasing new sounds for the label “Raccoon Records”.
Alaska & Los Pegamoides – Bailando (Edit de DiscoRollers)
Azoto – Anytime Or Place (Fractured Edit)
Metro Area
For all of you, like myself, who are way too dependent on digital technology, the boys of proto nu-disco revolutionaries Metro Area have re-released their ”5″ and “6″ EPs for our downloading pleasure. These were EPs that were released back in 2004 and 2005 respectively in vinyl format only. Now these gems are no longer for the turntable-weilding elite, but for the unwashed cyber-masses as well. I knew those discoheads were a bunch of commies… Listen to them here but head over to Environ and drop a few bones for our buddies Morgan and Darshan. There’s also a tidbit of news that Storm Queen (Geist) will be releasing his next single Let’s Make Mistakes.
Classics:
Finnebassen
Finnebassen (Finn Peder Wang) is, in his own words, “a 24-year-old guy who makes house music.” Modest as he may be, the young Norweigan’s productions have garnered significant attention in a very short period of time, most recently having been featured in Aeroplane’s April chart mix. That track, a deep take on Aaliyah’s If Your Girl Only Knew, marks his first commercial release via Electronique, and with a follow-up due soon on The House of Disco, it’s safe to say that the buzz around Finnebassen is only going to multiply as the year goes on.
Grab If You Only Knew here and watch out for more amazing stuff from this guy.
Guest Post by Luciano Medori
Sumsun
Local goodness from North of the Miami-Dade county line. I first saw Sumsun at the Mount Kimbie show at The Electric Pickle where lots of audience members actually confused them for the headlining act – yes they were that good. Their new EP is pretty impressive. Can’t wait to see what else these guys come up with.
Cajmere
Let’s face it guys, despite its many faults the United States of America is the most important country in history, musically speaking at least. Through the struggles of inner-city youth and disenfranchised African-Americans came the roots of Blues, R&B, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Funk, Disco, Hardcore, Punk, Hip-Hop, and last but not least Techno and House, whose dichotomic influence over the last quarter century of music and western culture cannot be overstated. Let’s take it back to 1991 to talk about Chicago-native Cajmere, AKA Green Velvet, AKA Curtis Allen Jones, considered to be part of the second vanguard of DJs to come out of Chicago after demi-gods Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Frankie Knuckles, and Steve “Silk” Hurley.
Jones was a chemical engineering graduate student at UC-Berkley when he decided halfway through to say “Fuck it” and pursue his dream of becoming a house producer. Through trials and tribulations his dream came true in 1992 with his infectious club hit “Coffee Pot (Time for the Percolator)”. Since then he has consistently been releasing music under Cajmere, his more instrumental leaning moniker Green Velvet, or the numerous collaborations he’s done with the likes of Jaime Jones, Walter Philips, and Russoul. Beyond his impressive caché of tracks he has stayed true to his Chicago roots: an infectious meddling of disco, drum machines and catchy R&B vocals. This formula will never go bad, ever.
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Cajmere and Gene Farris – Coconuts
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By Laurence ‘Pucho’ Henriquez
I’m From Barcelona
I passionately love this band, named after a character in a Spanish show that inaccurately yells out “I’m From Barcelona” whenever placed in an uncomfortable situation. Their debut album, Let Me Introduce You To My Friends, presents to the listener a 27 member band of Swedes, one of whom acts as dancing bear during live shows, with that name, and produces songs with remarkably simple structures, catchy hooks, and legitimate musical ability. It is an absolute treat.
At little over 35 minutes, the album breezes by, starting off with one of my favorite songs “Oversleeping.” Mimicking the panicked feeling when the realization of a tardy wakeup creeps into one’s mind at an exponential rate, the song begins with rustling, followed by the all too dreaded sound of an alarm clock going off. Then drums kick in, echoing loudly through the hungover brain before lead singer jumps in bemoaning his faith: “Damnnnnnn oversleeping again, Damnnnnnn I can’t believe I did it once again!” So begins a delightful trek through the most random, less horrible than you remember, and at times uplifting song themes I have ever heard.
Following Oversleeping, 11 other tracks guide the listener through such topics as stamp collecting, chicken pox, and tree houses to name just a few. Each song follows the most basic of structures, starting with a verse, chorus, most often the same verse repeated, chorus, bridge, chorus. Typically I find these types of songs somewhat dull. But my god I just cannot get over how wonderful these tunes sound, each one forcing you as a listener to think back to those random childhood hobbies and friends. These songs also deal with the pain of childhood, forcing us to confront those less than idyllic times that we have glossed over in our over-romanticized memories of childhood, like getting sick or being scared. But as Alex warmly cajoles us on Ola Kala, “Don’t be Afraid, Cause Everything Is Going to Turn to Be Ok.” But that’s not what I tend to take away from this album; those are merely images I conjure up while listening to the album.
The end of oversleeping dissolves into a jumble of voices, each cajoling the others to “forget that it’s Monday, and pretend that it’s Sunday.” I tend to run 4-7 minutes behind the rest of the world, and as such am in constant rush. I always ensure that this song gets put in the rotation as I scramble to make a deadline somewhere. On the many days I can merely wish that it was Sunday, hearing just a tidbit of this album keeps me going through the day. I think it’s because deep down I know that the character in the song decides to turn the alarm off and go back to whatever’s important to them, whether it’s sleep and a day of relaxation, or to cuddle back up with someone they spent their entire childhood searching for.
DOWNLOAD:
Guest Post by Sid Mitra (TT)
Like this:
Shit Hot Soundsystem
I love soundsystems: Maxxi, Sneaky, and Shit Hot. I wasn’t sure what what my post was going to be about today but after clicking through my iTunes library for a good 3 hours all roads led to this guy:
Over the several years he’s been DJing, SHSoundSystem has had residencies at several different clubs and has played to packed crowds at the internationally known Ministry Of Sound in London and Chelmsford’s Club NME and played on the same bill as well known acts such as dance superstar Laidback Luke, and underground heroes Drums of Death, Gold Panda and Future Disco.
