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.
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:
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]
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 aguyIwriteaboutalot. 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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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":
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:
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):
A throwaway line at the end of 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":
Back in 5 Mag's November issue, New Zealand soul/house phenomenon Mark de Clive-Lowe told me about a single he had coming out with R&B diva Jody Watley. Usually these things are released even before I get an interview posted from print to the web. But in this case, the fruit of their collaboration - "Tonight's the Night" - has been picked up by Strictly Rhythm and is moving in the usual slow and majestic cycle toward an eventual release.
I've put off writing this for awhile, much like I put off writing the original Spencer Kincy article 5 Magazine published last April. It's not a happy subject. But with renewed interest in this as well as wild speculation and rumor circulating in place of fact, it's probably about time for an update as well as to ask one of the philosophical questions posed by Spencer's disappearance from the scene seven or eight years ago. I also have some good news for fans of Spencer's music about a new re-issue by one of his original labels.
The Filing Frenzy
But first, let's start with brass tacks. Spencer Kincy is not dead. He's living around Chicago but has done more or less everything in his power to remain far, far away from the music scene.
I haven't seen him and I don't know exactly where in Chicago he is. My proof is that Spencer Kincy, on a single day last August, filed 3 lawsuits against various United States government bodies and individuals in Federal Court seeking a grand total of $29,997,000 in personal injury and other damages. The parties being sued in these lawsuits are:
US Department of Defense
The FBI
FBI Director Robert Mueller
FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Grant
FBI Agent Mitchell Marrone
Office of General Counsel
Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
Thomas Walsh
Gillian Ferguson
Cathleen Martwick
(It's not 100% certain, but I believe the three names listed after Fitzgerald are all either lawyers or prosecutors here in Illinois.)
The filings in these three cases are available to anyone that wishes to pay per-page fees via the US Federal Courts' PACER system.
I do not. There is a slight chance that this is a case of mistake identity, but the odds against there being two Spencer Kincys in the city of Chicago (with unusual spelling and all) are very low indeed. You can see pretty clearly what's going on here, and answer any questions you may have about Spencer, without worrying too much about jumping to conclusions. It's sad, but it is what it is...
Doc Link is a cat that's been around Chicago for more than two decades. He just does what he does and woe unto you if you don't notice, because he makes beats that send the mega-hyped Agency DJs back to crate-diggin' in the ghetto flea markets. Probably his best known cut was a remix of Roy Davis Jr and Malik's "Back 2 Chicago" (officially, Infinity featuring Malik) - a release that has in about 7 years has become quite a rarity until it resurfaced again last year on Osunlade's installment in King Street's Mix the Vibe series.
Is there ever a bad time for Hammertime? If you're listening to the Rescue + Uriah West Remix of Chemars' Feelin' Good EP on Hub City, the answer is hell yes there fucking is. This is a perfectly good remix, pushing the original into grimey loft nirvana and with otherwise terrific vocal samples and a sparse but effective '90s suicide keyboard riff. I love 99% of this: it sounds like something Sneak could write when he was a little buzzed on a chill Sunday afternoon.
But that 1%, that bit that just screws the pooch - that 1% is a sample of MC Hammer's hook from "U Can't Touch This", something that the mind instinctively associates with gigantic silk pants and the rise of radio-friendly Hip-Hop that reigned until the Wu put a bag over its head and beat it with a bat. I could live about 900 years and never hear MC Hammer tell me what the fuck I can touch again and die a very satisfied man. Unfortunately, the remixers think differently and dropped this poison pill into what's seriously a really nice mix - over and over and over again.
There are very few tracks I'd hype without hearing more than a snippet. Anything produced by Ralf GUM (discography, myspace, facebook) is right at the top of the list.
Launching tomorrow (September 30, 2009) is "Little W. 12th St.", Ralf Gum's follow-up with Monique Bingham to last year's smash "Kissing Strangers" on his own GOGO Music label. (You can read my interview with Ralf from May 2009 here.)
"Little W. 12th St." features remixes by Benny Pecoralo and none other than DJ Spinna. The vinyl and worldwide download will be available on October 26th, with the promo download on Traxsource tomorrow, September 30th. (Update: the link is already up here!)
This is probably one of the most anticipated long-players of the year. Jay-J has been working seemingly forever on this 14 track artist album and the results are well worth the wait. Leaks that emerged from the sessions for the album Love Alive were tantalizing and the final product showcases vocalists Big "Brooklyn" Red, Michelle Shaprow, Charlene Moore, BAM, Judy Albanese, Fabian Leo and showcases the musicianship of the multi-talented Scott Wozniak.
And oh lookie, someone made a kick-ass promo video!
Some months ago, a web publication that shall remain nameless (eh, nevermind) did one of those kooky "Where Are They Now?" features, focusing exclusively on Chicago House Music producers from the first and second wave. While pondering the fate of Robert Armani (he's doing fine, by the way, as anyone relying on more than 5 seconds of Googling could tell you), they also threw in a jab at Ralphi Rosario. They knew where he was, of course - Ralphi has been a fixture in this seedy lil town for more than 20 years - bu threw a hip-check at his current predilection for the more progressive aspects of House and asked instead "where it had all gone wrong".
First of all, a link back. Back in March, I wrote in "Death of the Mixtape" that:
As a music fan, I can tell you that I've spent exactly 1 second worrying about how the DJ playing that slammin' track got ahold of it. I expect labels and producers worry about that all the time, but the only thing the dancefloor worries about is whether or not the tune is good - not if someone downloaded it off RapidShare or got it from his buddy.
I'm quoting that here because I have hell all idea where the hell DJ Sneak's The Lost DAT Tapes Vol 1 came from. It's purportedly the first and only release on "Lost Dats US", which could be a clever name Sneak came up with to, well, sneak this one up on you. It could also be the alias of someone releasing these without his consent, knowledge or permission.
It might be a bootleg. It might be something shoved under the door. I know it can be seen as not polite to ask some established recording artists about edits so I won't... But in the hoopla that's sure to surround Sneak's brand new artist album The House of House, we can't lose track of this awesome little EP of beat tracks and simple sample jackin' House that's snaking through the underground.
I'm going to work against type here and throw aside the curmudgeonly bit and say that I'm enjoying the renaissance of Michael Jackson tunes that popped up in House Music of late. There were a lot of remixes hiding in the back of people's crates that I may have heard once or twice and never again (a legacy of that lovely habit of the dance music industry in the 1990s of remixing popular songs and making sure no more than four DJs ever played it).
But if I were to act all curmudgeonly, I'd say that I'm a little disappointed that we're just hearing older edits, and that nobody's really doing anything new with the material MJ, Quincy Jones and the rest of his production teams over the years left behind.
But, then, there's Mark de Clive-Lowe, who is hotter than molten lava right now, has posted up this cover of "I Can't Help It" with himself at the console and Lady Alma on vocals. It was recorded "awhile back" but was released this week and sent to us by MdCL with an invitation to share it. Enjoy!
Okay, it's another article, but it's been stressed repeatedly here that the lack of quality control inherent in a download-driven music industry is pushing the value of new music down to zero. But there is a bright side to the ease with which one can drop a track on a download site and have it distributed instantly around the world, and that's the opportunity to hear new sounds, by people you've never heard before, from half-way across the world, and have your world grow just a little larger.
That's the case with what the liner notes bill as the "Australian superstar DJ and producer" DJ Jorj - a cat that I've never heard of - on the French label Stalwart's newest single "Back 2 Me". He's teamed here with two of the best vocalists in the business in Byron Stingily and Michelle Weeks, and this track delivers:
Here's your Track of Today - one of the two b-sides on the new Fred Everything and Olivier Desmet EP Retro Visions Vol 1. True to the collection's title, there's a bit of a retro flair to this one, though by "retro" I'm thinking more "Sound Factory Bar" than "Sauers".
It's been awhile since we picked a track of today. At the risk of sounding like the music snob that I'm really not, good new releases have been few and far between of late. A number of music superstars have apparently abandoned even the pretense of writing new tunes, seemingly happy to mix and remix and squeeze a few more quid out of the same classics. We know them, we love them, and we're going to take a hostage if we have to hear it yet again.
And then it comes. You hear something new and wonder if you've heard it before. No, not quite: it's just a song that seems to hit you at just the right time, a blast of fresh air that seems to cleanse your surroundings as well as yourself.
This is just the cutest thing. Lady D's D'lectable Music has released the video for the first solo release by Nick Maurer (of Greenskeepers fame), titled "Beautiful Person". It has that whole Thomas Dolby/1980s low wave/Friday Night Videos vibe; it helps that it's a catchy song that works on that level, too.
Okay, for all of the bitching about House Music moguls running their digital empires from free myspace pages and who saturate the market with utterly disposable releases, it's time to give props to someone doing it right.
The Track of Today for May 6 is Yameen ft. Lady Alma's "Light of Love". This is a good ole' fashioned single - no fluff, no filler, just two killer remixes by UK groove guru Mark De Clive-Lowe, one vocal and one instrumental. This is in preparation for the full-length album from Yameen called Never Knows More.
Over at ParteHardy.com (flash site, requires considerable clicking around), Bill Hardy has released the fourth installment of cult tracks from the late, great Musik Box maestro Ron Hardy.
"Are you Ready For This" by Revelation is definately one of them songs Ron introduced to his patrons and it grew on them fast. And this particular edit of his has an outpour of skill to it. Ron took bits and pieces of refrains, chours' and breakdowns to warrant one of the most sought after records of the era and turned it into a masterpiece only to call it his own.
And the flip side is just as great. Although its not a Ron Hardy its one of them track. "Don't You Know" is another homegrown track by one of the youngest producers of the era, Mr K Alexi. Come on now, this track is crazy and offers a sample from Ron's first press to wax production on Trax Records "Sensation".
Photo: Ron Hardy at the Music Box. Copyright Robert Williams, used with permission.
About a year or so ago, my friend Kevin Starke of KStarke Records shop told me about K.Joy, this underground singer from House Music's early years. Quite a few of her tracks were made famous as "Ron Hardy originals" - original, unreleased tracks that Chicago's then-unknown producers were giving to Ron Hardy at the Music Box on reel-to-reel or even cassette tape. Some were re-recorded by other vocalists for commercial release, but her name - at least among the old school - was pretty well-known.
By now, K.Joy's been back on the scene for awhile and released a number of tracks for Cyberjamz Radio's Cyberjamz imprint (and a blast from the past was released in the package of remixes for her track "Like This" released on Cyberjamz a year ago, which features Chip E's original 1985 mix).
Here's today's featured track by Chicago's own dynamic duo, Stacy Kidd and Fast Eddie, called simply "House Music". You get the best of both worlds from this one - that Hip-House sound that Fast Eddie is going down with and Stacy Kidd's signature sweet jackin' beats.
This is a pretty amazing package of remixes, featuring one of the guys from Hed Kandi (Steve Haines), Jordan Rivera -- altogether 9 remixes. This is out on "Metrogroove Records" - a label I admit I've never heard of, and which has no website (c'mon people...) but a myspace page here and some kind of label description here. Have you heard me rant about House labels that don't have actual webpages and rely on the quixotic nature of free websites like MySpace, SoundCloud and Facebook? No? Remind me to get to that one later.
We'll be featuring one of what we think is the best new track we've come across each day. It doesn't mean it was released that day or even that week, but with the unprecedented barrage of 4/4 beats being blown out on the public, we'll do our best to keep it somewhat up-to-date.
Dimitri from Paris is a pretty busy guy. I mean, really busy. Besides touring the world on the back of his commercially-sold mixed CDs (probably the only ones that sell with any consistency these days outside of the OM Records franchises), he's got a slew of new releases in the starting blocks and has lent his name to a number of other projects. This isn't especially rare nowadays, but when every other artist is jamming tracks that never would have seen the light of day when vinyl production costs were involved down the maw of the public, Dimitri is pushing stuff that's both way outside of the box and a vacation from the norm, as well as the sound you've come to expect from the modern disco giant.
I glanced through my organizer today and realized that, wow, I've got about 5 different folders of new music with Dimitri's name in it.
Quietly - as fits his persona - Phil Asher has emerged as a one-man hit factory in the last 12 months. In his latest package - a WMC "bundle" - Phlash offers up eight previously unreleased remixes of some of his recent bits of vinyl mastery from his recent homebase, Italy's Archive Records.
Brand new on T's Box - Terry Hunter's label, which has released consistently hot music encompassing all of Terry's genre-dipping talents - is this club shaker featuring "RC Groove" (read: Ron Carroll), vocalist Pam and Terry himself on a couple of remixes. It's released under the moniker "Blackstory" - not sure what that means but this is well worth your dwindling recessionista dollars.
Here's something brand new for you to sink your teeth into. Aaron-Carl has been doing some interesting things up in Detroit, which is quickly becoming (shudder to think) a House Music town. I was a big fan of one of his previous releases in particular - "Use Me" with one of the great up-and-coming vocalists of recent years, Veronique. This isn't a great quality video but you can catch some of the power in this short vid from last year's Detroit Electronic Music Festival:
New cuts from Cajmere/Green Velvet are rare enough these days (two in all of 2008, I think) that each new release is something of a news story. "The Case (of the Lost Jackers)" is brand new (not even on the Cajual/Relief website yet) but available for purchase as of about an hour ago on Beatport.
We just wrapped production on the April 2009 issue of 5 Magazine, featuring a Blue Note Records-inspired treatment of Detroit Producer Terrence Parker. Most people think of the harder stuff when it comes to Detroit, but there's actually a vibrant House Music scene there, with folks like Aaron Carl (of Wallshaker Music), the vocalist Veronique, and Terrence. Though this is a pretty weak cliché, the only way I can describe Terrence's production-style is "silky smooth".
Up until about a week ago, I had no clue who AphroDisiax were. One of my favorite people in this industry, Marcia Clark (the mix she did for 5 Mag's New Mix Monday is here) sent me a promo of their latest cut, the Unfinished Business EP on Jus House Records.
After a few months in deep freeze, New York/New Jersey legend Tony Humphries' label Tony Records is hitting the charts again. As part of the annual WMC rush, Tony has released "Free to Be Free" by the Blak Beat Niks in a package of five mixes, including two by Humphries' acclaimed "Italian Connection", Tony Loreto and Jacko.
This marks a bit of a comeback for Chicago producer Big Ed as well. Now one half of the Blak Beat Niks (the other being Sean McCabe from Cardiff, Wales), Big Ed (aka H.E. Matthews) is one of those guys that keep coming up in other conversations. Mike Dunn, Ron Carroll and other Chicago House friends and family mention him often in connection with events in the 1990s (his best known track is probably 1996's "Do Me a Favor" featuring Dana on Cajual). He doesn't disappoint with this track. Spoken word takes the forefront over a layered background chorus with hot and swinging disco grooves. The Minimal Dub is another highlight, with a wicked, bouncy bassline and deeper than deep vocals.
You can hear samples, buy and support at Tony Records' newly remodelled website here
When Keith Richards first visited Chicago's legendary Chess Records in the early 1960s, he was greeted by a shocking sight. The Blues, which was the rage among British youth, was all but forgotten in the United States, and Muddy Waters was making ends meet by doing odd jobs around the Chess studios. "There was the King of the Blues, and he was painting the ceiling."
Kerri Chandler's "Track 1" has long been considered a masterpiece of old school instrumental tracks. Originally released on 1993's Atmosphere EP (Shelter Records), Kerri's dusted off this modern classic with a new release on Max Trax records, "Track 1 Revisited".
It's been a little more than a year since Mike Dunn [myspace] made his way back after a brief foray producing exclusively hip-hop tracks. The Chicago born-and-raised Dunn has been making up for lost time ever since with an amazing array of tracks without the slightest trace of rust.
The Congregation EP Vol. 3 is his third release on Defected. Like Volumes 1 and 2, it's centered around one truly great track - in this case, "Get Cho House On (Children)". Few producers have their own sound in the same way Mike does, and "Get Cho House On" fits pretty squarely with "God Made Me Phunky", "Freaky Muthafucka" and last year's "This Here is House Music" in the treasury of classic MD tunes. The other tracks ("Deep Down" and "Let The Groove (Drive Yo Phunky Soul)" are good enough to stand on their own as singles, too.
Check out the preview for yourself at defected.com.
Photo: Mike Dunn with Jive Records' Wayne Williams, Chicago 2008.
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.
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 
album on 
As mentioned in 
A throwaway line at the end of 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".
series.
Is there ever a bad time for 
Some months ago, a web publication that shall remain nameless (eh, 
First of all, a link back. 
Here's your Track of Today - one of the two b-sides on the new Fred Everything and Olivier Desmet EP Retro Visions Vol 1. True to the collection's title, there's a bit of a retro flair to this one, though by "retro" I'm thinking more "Sound Factory Bar" than "Sauers".
It's been awhile since we picked a track of today. At the risk of sounding like the music snob that I'm really not, good new releases have been few and far between of late. A number of music superstars have apparently abandoned even the pretense of writing new tunes, seemingly happy to mix and remix and squeeze a few more quid out of the same classics. We know them, we love them, and we're going to take a hostage if we have to hear it yet again.
Okay, for all of the bitching about House Music moguls running their digital empires from free myspace pages and who saturate the market with utterly disposable releases, it's time to give props to someone doing it right.
Over at 
Here's today's featured track by Chicago's own dynamic duo, Stacy Kidd and Fast Eddie, called simply "House Music". You get the best of both worlds from this one - that Hip-House sound that Fast Eddie is going down with and Stacy Kidd's signature sweet jackin' beats.
We'll be featuring one of what we think is the best new track we've come across each day. It doesn't mean it was released that day or even that week, but with the unprecedented barrage of 4/4 beats being blown out on the public, we'll do our best to keep it somewhat up-to-date.
Dimitri from Paris is a pretty busy guy. I mean, really busy. Besides touring the world on the back of his commercially-sold mixed CDs (probably the only ones that sell with any consistency these days outside of the OM Records franchises), he's got a slew of new releases in the starting blocks and has lent his name to a number of other projects. This isn't especially rare nowadays, but when every other artist is jamming tracks that never would have seen the light of day when vinyl production costs were involved down the maw of the public, Dimitri is pushing stuff that's both way outside of the box and a vacation from the norm, as well as the sound you've come to expect from the modern disco giant.
Quietly - as fits his persona - Phil Asher has emerged as a one-man hit factory in the last 12 months. In his latest package - a WMC "bundle" - Phlash offers up eight previously unreleased remixes of some of his recent bits of vinyl mastery from his recent homebase, Italy's Archive Records.
Brand new on 
New cuts from Cajmere/Green Velvet are rare enough these days (two in all of 2008, I think) that each new release is something of a news story. "The Case (of the Lost Jackers)" is brand new (not even on the 
We just wrapped production on the April 2009 issue of 
Up until about a week ago, I had no clue who AphroDisiax were. One of my favorite people in this industry, 
When Keith Richards first visited Chicago's legendary Chess Records in the early 1960s, he was greeted by a shocking sight. The Blues, which was the rage among British youth, was all but forgotten in the United States, and Muddy Waters was making ends meet by doing odd jobs around the Chess studios. "There was the King of the Blues, and he was painting the ceiling."
Kerri Chandler's "Track 1" has long been considered a masterpiece of old school instrumental tracks. Originally released on 1993's 
It's been a little more than a year since 
