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18Jun2010
Mix of the Day: Purple Music Podcast with Alfred Azzetto
 I've been writing about (and we've been playing music from) Purple Music a lot lately. Jamie Lewis and Manuela don't just have good music on catalog, but are releasing some of the dopest cuts at a pace that approaches a frenzy. By time time I get one review for a hot track in print, a second is already climbing the charts. It's sort of humbling when your ears can't keep up with a label's quality releases.
They're also doing a few things that other labels should keep an eye on. For instance, their one year "promo club" membership - receiving advance promos for really the cost of about one release a month, from a label that's dropping good tunes damn near every week - is an interesting proposition for a label that has many hardcore fans. I have no idea if these things are monetarily successful but they certainly bear interest for labels struggling to survive in today's market (which is, really, just about everyone).
They're also releasing podcasts - again, pretty close to weekly - featuring not just Jamie but also some of the frequent flyers on the Purple family of labels. The latter fact is, I think, the key point here, as by promoting artists that present the "Purple Music sound", they've been spreading like wildfire (and leveraging Purple's considerable PR talents doesn't hurt for the artist either. Witness this article.) This one from Alfred Azzetto hit me in just the right spot. Lego actually tipped me off about this guy something like a year ago, and everything I've heard from him since then confirms the confidence he had.
It's not embeddable so I'm sticking it below; you can listen here or listen and get the playlist is on Purple Music's podcast page (and I think you're gonna want to get the names of a few of these tunes). Enjoy.
Listen after the jump ⇢
17Jun2010
Bernard Jones: Late Night Vibes
I don't know about the flip (warning: extensive use of auto-tune ahead!) but this... this is sweet. Bernard Jones has been doing his thing for a long time now, and few are able to flip through the many styles of House Music the way he does. "Your Smile" is one of his deeper numbers, a smooth edit of an old standard:
Listen after the jump ⇢
16Jun2010
Sonar is Coming to Chicago. This is Not Necessarily a Good Thing
I'm supposed to be posting a mix right now, but I'm still reeling from this news.
Mark Caro, reporter for the Tribune, broke the story today that Sonar, the electronic music festival in Barcelona, Spain, will be "setting up shop in Chicago Sept 9 through 11":
"There's really no proper electronic music festival in Chicago," said Keigher (from the City of Chicago's Dept of Cultural Affairs - Ed.), who helped coordinate the house-oriented deejay series at Chicago's SummerDance festival in the mid-2000s. "(Sonar) is kind of the brand name of electronic music festivals in Europe. I'm not sure the first year out of the box it's going to be the big destination festival, but we're hoping so. We're now really just getting this moving and getting things locked in."
That first sentence, my friends, is what you call a slap in the face. What you're reading now is what you call a slap back.
Let's get to the real point here: bringing an event like Sonar to Chicago is like opening a Red Lobster in Cape Cod. It's a tacky and cheesy waste of city resources when there's a vibrant music scene right here suffering from complete and utter official neglect.
The powers that be in Chicago have never cared much for House Music. If you look at what they trumpet in glossy pamphlets about Chicago's musical legacy, they'll mention the Blues, Jazz, even folk, but never House Music. They didn't care when it was the biggest thing under the sun and they'd be floored if they realized the influence Chicago producers and DJs have on the world today.
There are a great number of outstanding summer festivals with House Music represented. Let's start with the biggest: The Chosen Few Picnic. This event is privately funded and existed for 19 years by passing the hat. If you're worried about credibility: the founder of the Chosen Few, Wayne Williams, is merely moonlighting from his day job as the Senior Vice President for A&R at Jive Records - a gig he's held for more than 20 years. Alan King is one of Barack Obama's basketball buddies. You can't get more plugged in than that.
Another example? The Silver Room Block Party. I'm not sure of the inspiration for the event but it is an undeniable fact that without Eric Williams, owner of the Silver Room, this thing would never happen.
Should the city get behind a music festival in Chicago - the birthplace of House - that's merely a franchise of a European festival that barely features House Music at all? Is this really what we're all about?
These events are already great: imagine what they could be if the City of Chicago would help out to make them even better. People already travel from around the country and around the world to attend the Picnic - yet the city seems completely oblivious to it. It's never listed in any of the city-promoted summer event guides and frankly the whole thing - thousands of folks listening to loud music on the Southside of Chicago - seems to scare them.
Continue reading after the jump ⇢
15Jun2010
Disco Makes You Blind, Deaf and Ugly
Won't someone please think of the children?
This is a 100% authentic story I found in Billboard from 1979 while doing research tonight, warning of the harmful health effects of disco. Lasers cause blindness! Speakers make you deaf! Cocaine rots your nose! And worst of all, platform shoes and stilettos will break your feets!
Discuss this on our Facebook page.
11Jun2010
Latest Chosen Few Picnic Info
The latest news for this year's Chosen Few Picnic - this is the largest House Music gathering in North America, with somewhere around 20k people in attendance last year - is that the organizers are partnering with Jam Productions to help with the logistical nightmare that the event has become. What started 20 years ago as a party in a chilly wintertime loft has evolved into something that people travel from as far away from Europe for.
Lotsa rumors going around and people ask us quite often what the story is so here is the latest verified information:
Deets after the jump ⇢
10Jun2010
This Industry Treats Fans Like Shit and Other Observations
Is there a genre of music that treats their fans shittier than electronic music? I'm going to say "no", and that carries over from DJs with a God Complex down to labels that view fans as walking credit cards and basically anyone at a festival with the pitiful power of a laminated pass. I know several big name DJs who obscure all their contact info online because, as one told me, they "don't want everyone to send me their music". Srsly. Pipecock has written up his depressing account of this year's Festival Formerly Known as DEMF, and the undertone reflects just the pitiful lack of respect shown across this genre. You could write a book on it, and I think that'd book get rave reviews from everyone except the trogs at the top of the foodchain. [Infinite State Machine]
Rebirth is now on an iPhone app/toy, which is probably the best use for it. The interesting angle here is the repackaging of an older technology rather than abandoning it. [CNet]
See? People always bitched about the scene. [DJ History]
A fairly detailed homage to the 303. [No Dough Music]
Josh Wink's Ovum has reissued Aaron Carl's 2000 My House EP from the back catalog. Great track and a landmark in Aaron Carl's career.
His latest cut is on Quentin Harris' new album Sacrifice; here's a clip:
Listen after the jump ⇢
09Jun2010
Second Spin: Mike Dunn's The Congregation EPs
This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.
You can read more about classic House tracks than new ones - it's an old genre now and one that's probably more obsessed with its own history than any this side of Jazz and the Blues.
But what about that area between what's new and what's classic? You know what I'm talking about: tracks that are a little long in the tooth but ain't so old that your mamma knows 'em by heart. You can call this a tribute of sorts, but more than praise I want to talk about some good music that might have passed someone by in the daily deluge of largely mediocre tracks that flood the market.
So without further ado, this is my first second spin, and it's probably gonna be long because I want to talk about 3 EPs released over the course of a year that I don't think got their proper due: Mike Dunn's The Congregation EPs Volumes 1, 2 and 3.
Mike Dunn told me back in January 2008 that he had 3 EPs slated for Defected, under the official moniker Mike Dunn presents The MD X-Spress. At this point, all we had heard from him for awhile was his voice - deeper than you remember from Phreaky Muthafuka - on a mix Terry Hunter did for our (now defunct) CD series. (That track, "This Here is House Muzik", was released about 6 to 8 months later on The Congregation EP Vol 1.)
This was right about the time that some of the old guard labels began adapting to the new reality of the recording industry. A fairly prolific label used to release maybe one or two tracks a month. These days, Defected is releasing a new single every week (more if you count their sister labels, which now includes Strictly Rhythm). This is a natural and probably even wise response to the changing marketplace, but it has two nasty side-effects: it makes it impossible for any one person to keep track of even a small portion of new releases, and the rush to shove product out the door makes the music increasingly disposable.
I could have written this about any of the three Congregation EPs individually, but I think the 3 really need to be handled at the same time. These are way, way up on my list of the best releases of 2008 and 2009 and together I think they have a kind of raw power and - increasingly rare for underground House - they're fucking FUN.
Mike had been away from House Music for some years prior to their release. He told me (not in confidence - this was all published in interviews) that he felt a sense of betrayal when he took a stand for his crowd at one of his Chicago residencies, and his crowd turned their backs and returned to the club that was treating them like dirt. Like Tyree and Terry Hunter, he'd always had a foot in Hip-Hop, going a couple of decades. That club experience left a bad taste in his mouth - so he took that other foot out of House.
Mike did a couple of House releases that he described to me as "getting warmed up". The Congregation EPs were the fucking blast off. The track he released on our Miami 2008 sampler, "The Boy Beats on His Drum", is the countdown as far as I'm concerned, and introduces everything to come. The next Mike Dunn Greatest Hits' album needs to start with this. Here's the intro:
Listen after the jump ⇢
08Jun2010
Mark de Clive-Lowe Owns the Internet (and Gives Away More Free Stuff)
Look dude, I understand that the music industry sucks. I understand that what used to sell a 10,000 units now might sell 500 and the market for what used to be an even tinier niche is downright non-existent. I understand that the House Music corner of the recording industry is now somewhere around little old ladies selling arts and crafts on the side of the road in terms of purchasing power. Hell, while I understand the reasons why people share music, I'll even tell the people doing it to fuck right off because I see its effect every day on this thing that I love, the people that inspire me, even if it doesn't affect me personally.
Nevertheless I continue to believe that those (for some) good ole days ain't never comin' back, the genie isn't gonna be put back in the bottle and the best that most people can hope for is simply for things not to get even worse.
Bummed you out yet? Probably. So here's an example of something that does work. Mark de Clive-Lowe is a guy I write about a lot. Largely, it's because this one guy - he doesn't have a huge team behind him that I'm aware of - has broken down a lot of doors simply by putting himself out there.
A mothballed production that seems unlikely to be released? Sure, he could start "MashiTunes, Inc.", drop it on Beatport and make - what, a couple hundred dollars? Instead, he pushes it out the door, lots of people play it, people like me link to it and before you know it the guy is at the center of your online universe.
Back catalog release that's out of print and doesn't seem like it's heading for re-issue anytime soon? Again, he could squeeze a couple of kopeks out of it if he really wanted to, but instead Mashi drops it on sendspace and it goes viral.
You check back because you don't know what might pop up next. It's a brilliant marketing strategy and it's worked for him, as that monster line of links above should illustrate.
Note two things about this:
One: These are quality recordings. This isn't some sort of DJ tool or edit that wasn't good enough to ship. These are things that people can and do play.
Two: He's not sending these to his DJ buddies (and he's got a lot of those) and asking them to play it. That's the old way. He puts it up where anyone - a bedroom DJ, a superstar Ibiza shlockmeister or someone who's not a DJ at all - can get it. Sometimes you might have to surrender your email address but that's a small price to pay for getting, say, an unreleased Bembe Segue track, as he did a few months ago.
How's that working out for him? I'd say that Mark de Clive-Lowe has one of the most loyal followings in the business, in genres (Nu-Soul and Deep House) that don't get a lot of pub from the mainstream.
So this is today's offering from Mashi: the Better Days/Chocolate Sundae split originally released on People Records (UK):
rewind the clock 10 years back to my first release after the SIX DEGREES album on universal jazz. this 12" dropped on seminal west london label PEOPLE RECORDS. it was a time when i was starting to explore different ideas, rhythms and vibes after finishing the album. i'd done a lot of playing with KIM PATERSON growing up in NZ - he's a great trumpeter in the miles/eddie henderson mould and was something of a mentor to me as a younger jazz musician coming thru. it's nice to look back and listen to these releases - it would be a couple of years before i found the sound that started with RELAX...UNWIND and the RETURN TO PARADISE remix for verve remixed, these tracks were the start of that search.
That these are big, meaty wav files, not low quality MP3s. Grab them here or from MdCL's facebook page or blog.
Discuss this and more on our Facebook page.
07Jun2010
Another Example of Electro-House Creativity
We have an interview with Groove Junkies in this month's 5 Magazine, with some chat about the split between Evan Landes and Parrish Wintersmith (amicable and drama-free it would appear), the debut Groove Junkies' album and the MoreHouse radio show.
Evan and I talk from time to time - he's an interesting guy, and as a label owner and recording artist is doing everything he can to keep the torch burning for House Music in LA, in the United States and in the world.
Imagine my surprise when the label for these two guys making some kind of secret Euro gang signs informs me that Groove Junkeez are releasing their first album not in July, but in August; and not on home label MoreHouse but on a label called "Diamond Production":
No, you read that right. These are "Tha Groove Junkeez", not "Groove Junkies". Their music is just the worst kind of by-the-numbers Electro-shlock you can imagine.
Really the entire package that is "Tha Groove Junkeez" is summed up by that photo.
There's one problem: the real Groove Junkies have been releasing music under that moniker since 1997 - on Virgin Underground, no less. From the looks of it, Die Douchemongers were about 5 years old then.
The offer of a promo from the head of their label prompted this interesting exchange:
From: Terry Matthew
To: Geraldine Feruglio-Allemann
Subject: Re: Tha Groove Junkeez feat. Al Walser
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:30:35 -0500
Why an act would call themselves "Tha Groove Junkeez" when there's a very well known act known as "Groove Junkies" already?
From: Geraldine Feruglio-Allemann
To: Terry Matthew
Subject: Re: Tha Groove Junkeez feat. Al Walser
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:47:01 +0200
Hi,
Our Tha Groove Junkeez exists since 2003 and did not want to change their name since then. ( http://www.myspace.com/thagroovejunkeez) - Back then they did not know the Groove junkies existed.
My Music Label & Distribution took them under contract last year, they have published two hits since and will publish their first album this August 2010.
I am staying at your disposal for any additional question
Wish you a great day :-)
Gery
From: Terry Matthew
To: Geraldine Feruglio-Allemann
Subject: Re: Tha Groove Junkeez feat. Al Walser
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:57:36 -0500
I'm sorry, I know this is not your purview but Groove Junkies' debut single came out in 1997.
I don't think anyone is going to confuse soulful house with the generic electro they're playing but dance music is not such a big world that a record-buying consumer would understand the difference between "Groove Junkies" and "Tha Groove Junkeez" -- no more than if I created a band called "Thee Rolling Stoons".
That's ridiculous and not something I support.
It's probably pretty clear to you by now that I despise Electro (actually, not true: just the silly and non-creative kind. Unfortunately, that wipes out about 95% of it.) The absurd "Ready For Ibiza" poses of these clowns isn't really the issue either (though it doesn't help).
Really, it's just this simple: Evan Landes spent 13 years building the Groove Junkies name, only to have two Swiss kids come along, throw together a couple of cheesy productions and capitalize on it.
This is really the best example I've come across to show just how painfully bankrupt Electro is. You can see why wearing a cartoon mousehead represents the apex of Electro's creativity now, can't you? Anyone can do this: just fudge the name a little and you too can start a rewarding career with a skimpy resume under the name "Frankie Nookles", "Davido Morelas" or "Kenneth Dupe Gonzalo".
04Jun2010
Mix of the Day: Kenny Dope Soul Trippin'
Kenny Dope has discovered SoundCloud and SoundCloud will never be the same. There was an old account there (soundcloud.com/kennydope) which greeted would-be Ableton Masturbators with this note:
Don't send me electrohouse & minimal shit!!!))) This kind of stuff is dead now and was always ass stuff! And please don't share with me your dj set's or i will stop follow you.
Only 320kbp mp3 or better wav or aiff. If i can't download then don't wait for my feedback. You think i have time check 1000 tracks each day?
I have no idea if that was an imposter or what, but the account no longer works and the notice is gone from this new account, soundcloud.com/kenny-dope. Whoever wrote it, man do I sympathize...
Anyway! Kenny Dope has been uploading short (less than 1 hour) mixes, each with a certain theme, and if you're up for an Ice Cube drop at the top, this soul-infused classic set, "Soul Trippin'" is hard to beat. Download arrow on the right:
Listen/Download after the jump ⇢
03June2010
Anane Invokes Siouxsie Sioux with Plastic People
It was pretty clear when I interviewed Anane and Louie Vega back in February that they're determined to do things differently. Producers and labels hate to admit this, but dance music has always seemed somewhat disposable - get the hot track of the moment, play the crap out of it and move on to the next one, because there's no insult worse than being "late".
Louie's made it his credo to produce timeless music - a song good enough to stand on its own, whether it's being played in 1000 clubs in 100 countries or 1 bedroom somewhere in the Bronx.
And Anane is following suit with the latest release from her Ananesworld album on Nervous. She promised the record was diverse and "Plastic People" certainly backs that up. This is closer to Siouxsie and the Banshees (actually, really close to that classic early-1980s Siouxsie sound - with a halting vocal style like Christine) than anything that's charting on beatport at the moment.
And the video? This is how it's done:
Watch after the jump ⇢
28May2010
Mix of the Day: Ultra Nate
Should be pretty clear to you by now that I love Ultra Nate. She's certainly on anyone's shortlist of great House Music divas. She's been through the mainstream wringer and the underground too. As an artist, her career ought to be taught in those Discovery Center management classes as a blueprint - nobody, ever, has done it better (and is and is still doing it, in fields like promotions in that many artists of her stature deign as not worth their time). She's worked with some of the greatest production teams in House Music history and her body of work is second to none. And I can say as an editor, she gives great interview.
And she's also become a fantastic DJ. Her mix for 5 Magazine is one of the most popular we've ever done - partly, no doubt, from people with a skeptical eye checking out her chops but also because it's really fucking good. People have a right to be jaded, too - there have been more "celebrities" sullying the name of DJing than ever, but the proof is in the mix.
Ultra maintains a podcast at podomatic.com - their players are ugly and that site is seriously a mess, so let's see if we can't spread the love over here. This is episode 6 - you can download the MP3 over there.
Listen after the jump ⇢
28May2010
Wasted Chicago Youth: Dustbin Boogie Woogie
If this were 1985 and not 2010, Justin Long and Mazi (aka Audio Soul Project) would be the subject of a strange, cult-like following in Europe as these two shadowy guys from Chicago that craft the most incredible beats, pulling the strangest sounds out of the atmosphere and fusing them into bytes and acetate.
Dustbin Boogie Woogie on Mazi's Fresh Meat Records puts their freakish audio creations on full display as a kind of modern day homage to the jacktrack.
If you think you need soaring diva vocals to make something that speaks to your soul, you're sorely mistaken: there's nothing but a couple of sparse samples here and they're beaten down into the rhythm as another piece of percussion in their arsenal. No better example of this than in the snaking groove of this 3 track EP, "One Eye Open":
Listen after the jump ⇢
27May2010
Mix of the Day: Fish Go Deep
Here's today's mix o'the day by Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson, aka Fish Go Deep. You probably remember them from the massive 2006/2007 "The Cure and the Cause" (the wonky fan-posted youtube video has more than 1.3 million views) and a ton of hot remixes, quite a few of them for Kerri Chandler.
I assume this mix was for their weekly radio show, as it features proper intros, bumpers and DJ chatter. It's posted up at their podcast page - you can head over there to download the MP3. As there's no embed code I've knocked it together so you can listen either over there or below (it's just over 2 hours, so give it a sec to load if it doesn't right away!)
Listen after the jump ⇢
27May2010
Jamie Lewis Retrospective & "Flashback" Tour
As mentioned in my interview back in January, Jamie Lewis was prepping a gargantuan 3 CD/2x12" vinyl retrospective of his career. That album Flashback, has dropped in sampler format on traxsource and will shortly be available in full format everywhere. In true KTel style, here are the hits by the original artists: Jamie Lewis & Cynthia Manley ("Give"), Jamie Lewis & Michelle Weeks ("The Light"), Jamie Lewis ft. Michael Watford ("For You"), DJ Meme Orchestra ft. Rachel Claudio ("Any Love"), Bob Sinclar's "Champs Elysées Theme" and many more, remixed and produced by Jamie Lewis (full track listing here).
The tour started this month but kicks into high gear in June with dates in Australia, Italy and further on into Albania, Portugal and Brazil. Here's the video for "Give" with Cynthia Manley ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough") recorded at WMC:
Listen after the jump ⇢
26May2010
Alton, Amp, Phlash and Mashi: When the Morning Comes
Defected and Strictly Rhythm (which, newsflash from 3 years ago, is owned by Defected) currently occupy the first four slots in Traxsource's top 10, and that's probably gonna remain the case for awhile as the the next batch of remix packages from Quentin Harris' new album Sacrifice (released yesterday) drop.
This is probably my favorite of their current hits (I love the original, but the remixes of Dennis Ferrer's "Hey Hey" just leave me cold). "When the Morning Comes" is an all-star collaboration that you have to read the liner notes to appreciate. First you've got Amp Fiddler with Alton Miller - I haven't a clue how that came about but I'm glad it did. Then, on the Restless Soul remixes, you've got a Phlash and Friends reunion as Mark de Clive-Lowe on keys joins Phil Asher on drums.
Here's a clip from the Restless Soul Mix (1 of 3 remixes, with a Restless Soul Dub and another by Seed's Boddhi Satva rounding out the package):
Listen after the jump ⇢
25May2010
LawnChair Generals Spring Fling Mix
Little known bit o'trivia for you: LawnChair Generals were the headliners at the release party for the very first issue of 5 Magazine back in late July 2005. Embedded is their new mix for Spring of 2010 (well, it's technically still spring for another 27 days), Spring Fling. We have a review of their latest remix for Olivier Desment's Amenti Music in the upcoming June 2010 issue of 5 Mag - it's actually the 5th track on this mix. The boys are also offering up a full download for your iPod at their site, lawnchairgenerals.com.
Listen after the jump ⇢
25May2010
Miguel Migs & Sonny Mason: Burnin' Up
A throwaway line at the end of the 1-sheet for this Salted Music cut calls it "disco tech". Much as I hate these instalabels (seriously, throw in a banjo and we'd have some idiot in London hailing "The Rise of Cowboy Disco"), it seems like a pretty accurate tag for Miguel Migs and Sonny J. Mason's "Burnin' Up".
Miguel and Sonny have collaborated before on the late 2008/2009 "Life is Music":
Listen after the jump ⇢
06May2010
Pirate Bay Founder Wishes It Would Die
For five years, I've been interviewing people who wished that the file sharing genie could be poured back into its bottle and the whole thing would go back to the way it used to be. Most of their wrath is aimed at a BitTorrent tracker named The Pirate Bay - scourge of music industry types everywhere and at one time the center of the file sharing universe.
If they ever dreamed of seeing this site 404 and vanish from the face of the earth, well, they're not alone.
In a remarkable interview with snarky Brit IT site The Register, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi - one of four men who created The Pirate Bay back in 2003 - says he wished the zombie site (which hasn't really been updated in several years now) would just keel over and die already:
I think it would be better if The Pirate Bay died. The thing is is that it has been so big for six or seven years now. It's unique in the internet's history when it comes to file sharing and peer-to-peer. So I think it's time for something else.
Nothing has happened to the site in five years. Someone reboots a server when it crashes. The idea was for it to be a central hub and eventually letting it slowly die.
The problem is it's still growing and at the same time everyone who was behind it has left it so it has its own life, it's become this HAL entity that kinda runs itself. If it dies a bit more than perhaps people will go to the more decentralised systems.
Well, you didn't think he'd feel sorry about the whole thing, did you?
The interview ends on a rather startling note:
I went to Sony BMG and proposed we work together on another site. The guy from Sony said: 'I feel that you raped me and raped my kids and you raped everybody I know and you're speaking to my face like you enjoyed it.'
06May2010
Pimpin' Ain't Easy and Neither is Running a Festival
A pretty amazing discussion is taking place (or was - it's just about over now) on the Infinite State Machine about the set up of this year's Detroit Electronic Music Festival (sorry, "Movement") and the segregation of local artists in some cavernous dungeon known as the "Made in Detroit" stage.
The salient point that's brought up right away is this: The Festival Officially Known As Movement (TFOKAM) is no longer Detroit's electronic music festival, but an electronic music festival that happens to be in Detroit.
That isn't 100% accurate of course, but there's no doubt that the current festival organizers have put a lot more emphasis on Big In Europe acts likely to attract out-of-town ticket buyers than on Detroit's homegrown product.
The example of TFOKAM has been brought up quite a bit in the context of Chicago's Chosen Few Picnic. Unlike TFOKAM, the Picnic is free. There's also no "Vitamin Water Stage", no "Red Bull Stage", no "Movement Torino Stage". The Chosen Few Picnic isn't going to be Powered By Ford Fiesta. The Chosen Few Picnic is paid for by pre- and post-parties and passing the hat (or, actually, the bucket!) and the overruns - of which I assume there have been several over the years - are taken care of by the promoters themselves.
This obviously isn't an ideal situation - it actually sounds pretty close to what Derrick May went through when he was organizing the Detroit event, back when TFOKAM was still Officially Known as DEMF - but on the other hand there's absolutely no way Chicago artists will ever be sidelined in their own town.
So there's a choice, and expecting the promoters of TFOKAM to scale things back and place Detroit's artists more fully in the limelight ain't gonna happen. But the Chosen Few manages to attract more than 10,000 on Chicago's Southside, with minimal promotion and a budget you can charitably call "shoestring". It's a fuck of a lot of work and I'm glad I'm not the one putting it together, but the option's there in every city where there's a musical following for this kind of music.
Oh, and since I'm getting a lot of questions about it: The Chosen Few Picnic is set to go off on July 10, 2010 - location and line-up still TBA.
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