Ball Blazer

So it's been a while since I updated this here BLOG, but I really can't keep my mouth shut about the new Division By Zero (aka Justus Köhncke) 12" out on Eskimo.







Boulderdash is a funked out page from the book of Manuel Göttsching (or Carl Craig, depending on who you talk to), but the flip-side's "Ball Blazer" is a cool burst of clairvoyant Mancunian nostalgia that for all I know, is lighting up clubs all over Berlin. "Ball Blazer" actually sounds like something I heard Thomas Schumacher drop at the 5 Years of Get Physical Night at Barcelona's Loft back in June. That guy brought the house down.



Justus is a pretty big name nowadays, with releases on all the majors of minimal techno (Kompakt, Get Physical, Compost, Poker Flat, the list goes on) and his recent split with Prins Thomas was a minor sensation and one that brought him to the attention of me and probably many others. Still, it's only recently that he's been sounding so much like New Order, which is probably a sign of him crossing over from cult status to heavy hitter.

Oh no, Nonstop Funky Tracks is back! Exclusive mixes and more deep funk coming very soon!

Seabird

So I was thinking of ways to continue this BLOG when the thought of hosting mixes occured to me. Even though it's just a puffed up way of getting people to listen to what I've been listening to lately, I've always been into making mixtapes for people. Below is a compilation I put together to someone, which I thought might advance a discussion of the mixtape* idiom.

If you haven't taken a look at it, the Turston Moore edited Mix Tape: Art of Cassette Culture, is an homage to the medium. It attempts to capture the visual impact of mixtapes (e.g. the book is shaped like a freakin' mixtape) and includes photos of mixtapes cherished by Mr. Moore's coolest musician friends. Essentially a flipbook of giant sized mixtape cassette inserts from the past 20 or so years, what bothers me about it (besides its almost complete focus on rock/punk) is the slightly discomforting nature of its presentation. The hi-res scans of the tapes and inserts are so eerily reminiscent of the real thing that you want pick them up off the page and in the end I really think a project of this nature comes off as way too much of a fetish and possibly even a weird form of voyuerism. The whole innocence of a lovingly compiled and personalized mixtape seems somehow trivialized by a term as hokey as "american folk art" and really, a mixtape makes no sense presented without any music. This should definitely come with a CD or something. Reading tracklistings isn't really that interesting unless you understand why they were chosen so you find youself just staring at artwork, which ranges from triumphantly cheap to weirdo way to serious experimental art. Let's just say, my friends make better and more sincere looking mixtapes. And sure, I guess you could say that, "Mix tapes mark the moment of consumer culture in which listeners attained conrol over what they heard, in what order and at cost", but that really needs to be the subject of an essay and not a picture book.

Alright, maybe it's not a lot of bologna, but here's a tasty selection of songs that are mostly funky and spacey in nature. Not a seriously-minded mixtape, mind you, just a batch of songs I put together for a friend that I think are interesting and fun. Some minimal house, space disco, forgotten 80s pop, etc. I also threw a couple Arthur Russell tracks from the World of Echo album I gushed about in an earlier post. Trust me, I'll be mentioning that album again.

Seabird Mixtape (Megauploud)

Tracklisting:

1) Delia Gonzalex & Gavin Russom - Revelee (Carl Craig Remix)
2) Señor Coconut - Electrolatino (Ricardo Villalobos' 'Lecktro Carino Mix)
3) Phantom/Ghost - Perfect Lovers (Unperfect Love Mix - Tobias Thomas & Superpitcher)
4) Lindstrøm - There Is a Drink In My Bedroom & I Need a Hot Lady (Prins Thomas Remix)
5) Margheuritas - Margeherita (Hot Edit)
6) Marcos Valle - Velhos Surfistas Querando Voar
7) Richard Schneider Jr. - Hello Beach Girls
8) Alessi Brothers - Seabird
9) Arthur Russell - Wax The Van
10) Arthur Russell - Place I Know / Kid Like You



*Here and for the entirety of this post I use mixtape to refer to both the fantastical plastical audio cassette (my prefered mixtape format) and the more generally employed "mix CD" of which for the purposes of this BLOG, I employ. These however, are two very different formats. A traditional mixtape takes at least 60-90 minutes to record since it's done in real time whereas a mix CD made from mp3s can be sequenced and recorded usually in under 10. While a mixtape is definitely way cooler in an aesthetic sense since it takes so long to make and looks badass, making a mix CD is way easier, and facilitates the sharing of a shitload of music.

All Night

Here's an exclusive edit of last night's edition of Atmosphere Strutt, the hottest radio show in town. Lots of great funk for the kids, including an ultra-deep Shep Pettibone remix of First Choice's loft classic, "Doctor Love", completely reworking the bawdy charm of the original into a faux-italo luster of epic proportions. And the Masters At Work track has me itching to do a feature on this formerly huge, lately forgotten NY duo...Hypnotic house remixes of sophisticated 70s disco and ritzy 80s electro? Yeah, that's funky.

1) Gayle Adams - Stretch In Out
2) Masters At Work - All Night (I Can Do It Right)
3) Brooklyn Express - Change Position
4) First Choice feat. Rochelle Fleming - Doctor Love (Mega Dub Remix)
5) Yazoo - Situation (Dub Version)
6) Sun La Shan - Catch (Dub Version)

Body Music

After a long hiatus, Atmosphere Strut is back with another cosmic mix of dubbed out disco. This week's playlist focuses on club remixes with a particular emphasis on outlandish instrumental b-sides. If I ever heard any of these spacey dubs at a club, I'd probably be wondering what was in my drink. Show starts at the 6 minute mark. Sweet fades all over.

Go Bang

Every week or so I get reminded of how pumped I am for the upcoming Arthur Russell documentary. Arthur is one of those rare musicians that never seems to disappoint (with the possible exception of the dated lounge-soul instrumentals of the First Thought Best Thought 2xCD), and whose reputation as one of NY's most luminous art-funk angels has been a major selling point for everyone from epicurean club boppers to thesis-toting disco scholars. And while most famous for underground disco hits of the early '80s like "Is It All Over My Face" and the Francois K re-mixed "Go Bang", Father Russell left behind a vast terrain of experimental recordings that are being slowly harvested by the meticulous folks over at Audika Records. Their diehard releases cover both out of print and unreleased material, and contain frequently illuminating liner notes and photographs. They're also behind the aforementioned documentary to be released sometime in 2008.

Probably the best starting point is the World of Arthur Russell compilation released on Soul Jazz a few years ago, which contains pretty much all the disco smashes, plus some of his langourous music for voice and cello. If it turns out you really like the tranquil side of Arthur Russell, definitely check out World of Echo, one of my favorite albums and sure to be the subject of its own post in the near future. It's a sprawling love-space of wandering cello and abstract prose, and comes with my highest recommendation.

Oh, and do yourself a favor and pick up the Springfield EP. Not only is all of its jittery proto-house downright essential, but it contains a club-killing remix of the title track by the DFA. Plus this dreamy slice of funk:

Arthur Russell - Corn #3 from the Springfield EP

Note: If you're having trouble opening these mp3s, try right-clicking and saving them first.

Spaced Out

It seems that in between those moments when you discover a really great record, listen to it a thousand times, and memorize every stop, start, break, and cut it has to offer you there's those days when you're at a loss for something to listen to. You might wander into Kim's Mediapolis looking for something to jump out and powerslam you by the ears or you might even *gasp* tune into Hot 97 or some other corporate megamonster radio station to give you the 411 on the latest Timbaland creation or whatever northside/southside hyphy-crunk collabo is topping the charts these days. And sometimes it's really great, honest. Throw Some D's is definitely more fun than anything I've heard coming from Lil' Jon's camp in like, a year, and whatever old NES games Timbo has being playing while blazed (though if you believe the dude at this forum, he steals his tracks from C64 nerds) must be pretty obscure because they're sure not in my collection.

So you end up spending your downtime in between great records trying to find the next great record, but it seems that the harder you look, the lamer the records get. For example, last week after hearing a great spacey italo track by the name of "Spacer Woman" I decided to devote a little extra time to finding some nice lost italo. Unfortunately after hours of intense research I came up with barely a dozen tracks that were worth mentioning, and even fewer worth tracking down the original. So now you're not only frustrated that you're not spinning the sickest most unbelieve slab of vinyl, but now you think it's hopeless and there's no more awesome records left to find. From now on it's just Ying Yang Twins and 4th-wave indie pop. It's like the sequel to 1984 only it's called 2007 and instead of Big Brother it's fucking shitty music.

But then finally that record comes around at 2am on a cold night and you're feelin' it so hard that you start a BLOG with the intention of sharing that record. Other records too but mainly that one that made you want to start a BLOG in the first place.

To wit, the 1976 space-disco masterpiece, Atmosphere Strut (zip file). This one is arranged, fronted, and produced by Patrick Adams under the name Cloud One and features some of the most blissed out Moog solos every committed to vinyl. Add to that P&P's trademark funkiness (see first post) and lush yet understated vocal arrangements and you've got the stuff of disco legend.

Tracklisting:

1) Spaced Out
2) Charleston Hopscotch
3) Dust To Dust
4) Atmosphere Strut
5) Disco Juice
6) Doin' It All Night Long

Now as a note to anybody who might be interested in purchasing a copy, this is actually tricky to find in almost any format. While original Cloud One 12"s sell for well into the hundred dollar range, just finding a reissue can be problematic. There's a barebones CD release without any bonus material which is starting to get scarce and there are a few vinyl reissues available for DJs on a budget. Probably the most desirable is an expanded 2CD compilation called The Very Best of Cloud One which includes the Atmosphere Strut LP, the 1978 follow-up Funky Tracks Of Cloud One LP, and a second CD of P&P productions including a rare remix of "Atmosphere Strut" from 1979 and the hypnotic "Patty Duke" which is Cloud One at its most carnivalesque. Sadly it's out of print but you might poke around ebay or your local record shop. I found mine in a Kim's used bin about a year ago. It's definitely worth tracking down, but you're probably better off just asking me for a copy.

Be Happy!

Here's a mix I found while scouring the net for info on underground disco classics. It's a nice spacey electro funk mix posted on mixoftheweek.com from a guy who goes by the name Kekäle1: Be Happy Mix.mp3

A lot of great stuff 80s stuff on this mix which ranges from the obvious (Grace Jones, duh) to the obscure (Engian? Clappa Club??). It even includes the best electro-funk track I've heard all week, Northend's "Tee's Happy", which if you can't get down to, you certainly don't have a funky bone in your whole body. Here's a link to the original post that has a track listing but I'll post it below for your convenience:

1) Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper
2) Orange Krush - Action
3) Clappa Club - A Dub Break
4) Lady D - You Got Me Runnin' (dub)
5) Pamela Nivens - It's You I Love (So In Love)
6) Joy - I Need Your Love
7) BLT - Tighten It Up
8) Lipstick - I'm In Love
9) Shamwell - Do It On The One (instru)
10) Northend - Tee's Happy
11) Engian - Secret Hearts
12) Plush - Free And Easy
13) Night Bandit - Like A Thief In The Night
14) Laurice Hudson - Feel My Love
15) Executive - Celebrate Your Love

Disco Juggernaut

This one goes out to all the ladies. Some Harlem disco to get the juices flowin':

Johnson Products - Johnson Jumping
Clyde Alexander - Got To Get Your Love
Chain Reaction - Dance Freak
Scott Davis - New York Applejack

Pretty weird, right? For those who like their music auteur, that is, brimming with an almost deranged levels of personality, P&P takes the disco cake. A label founded by Harlemites Patrick Adams and Peter Brown and packed to the gills with similarly minded producers, P&P was no slouch when it came to laying down the thickest grooves, nastiest percussion, and dreamiest keyboard lines. And while no stranger to hits (Musique and Inner Life come to mind right away), P&P has lately become more the talk of dysfunctional record collectors and music geeks rather than the popular music critico web sect. Being witness to the explosion of creativity in the international house scene which seems to have grown staggeringly experimental of late (software is so cheap these days; it seems like everybody is an avant-garde house producer) I see lots of parallels between the underground dance music of the 70s and today. While it may not seem like it to you, consider how far from pop music this stuff is. These tracks average 10 minutes a pop and they sample the gamut: moogs, xylophones (or ice cubes clinking in a mixed drink?), train conductors, etc. And all this is mixed it seems with very little regard to tiny radio speakers: the details can only really be revealed on a proper stereo or even better, one of those newfangled disco soundsystems that started popping up in the early 70s.

So if you want to start getting your hands on this stuff, the most recent related release is a compilation of Patrick Adams productions,The Master of the Masterpiece. I haven't picked up a copy yet, but the tracklist looks pretty money.

Those that want to get extra nerdy about it can head down to Gimme Gimme Records on the lower east side, 325 E 5th St. The guy who runs it is named Dan. Tell him Dan sent you. He won't have any idea who you're talking about but he'll probably laugh anyways. So he stocks a lot of great records, one of them which I believe Dan put out himself. This is something that my friend Dan, told me. Dan, Dan, Dan...must be something with the name... Anyway, it's called Uptown Disco Juggernaut and is a pain in the ass to find anywhere but Gimme Gimme Records. Any why is this a big deal? Because one of the tracks ends with the sound of an atomic bomb exploding and a baby crying. Let's just say I posted some of P&P's more accessible tracks...Patrick's website says "Patrick Adams is nominated as a record producer for induction into THE DANCE MUSIC HALL OF FAME 2005 but looks like it hasn't been updated in at least a decade. I'm sure in his own funky world he's the ultimate rockstar. Here's a couple good ones to finish off with:

Golden Flamingo Orchestra - The Guardian Angel Is Watching You
Margie Lomax - Gods Greatest Gift To Man Is Woman

Oh and all these tracks I'm posting? Got them from a compilation called Danny Krivit Introduces P & P Records. That's probably the package you really want. UK import though.