Some Stormin' Sets

Despite cancellations by Shonaman, Kraker, and Deuce because of the impending storm, Sunday night turned into a real treat for the ears. Everybody, including me if I may be so bold, was in tip-top form. Nexus6ix and Bolivia both put on mixing clinics, with Bolivia pulling off the fastest track drop I have ever seen. EVER. It's a pity only a few people were there to hear it. Due to the sickness of Farmer Shawn there is no recording, so they're the only ones who will, too.

Don't miss out again. Make sure you stagger down this Sunday, 2pm-8pm.

Surf City Sunday Club Revisited

We've had three successful Open Turntables @ Element and I think I can safely say that this Sunday is shaping up to be the best yet.

2:00 - 2:45 Bogey Lowensteen - Electro-house new-comer.
2:45 - 3:30 Chef Napalm - That's me!
3:30 - 4:15 Mr. Ricardo - Funky house partner-in-crime.
4:15 - 5:00 DJ Bolivia - Progressive house legend.
5:00 - 5:45 Shonaman - Back for another round after a jaw-dropping set on Febuary 1st.
5:45 - 6:30 DJ Kraker - An Element electro favourite.
6:30 - 8:00 Deuce - New to me, but I've heard great things.

Make sure you make it uptown on Sunday.

...memories...all alone in the strobe light...

Not so successful show at A Khord. We had maybe a dozen people through the door to hear Kardinal Syn open. I went on at midnight as planned. I was two records deep, looked up and everybody was gone. WTF??? Apparently, they all left with the Kardinal. Almost a year after my last engagement at A Khord, I repeated my performance by playing for the barstaff.

It's times like this when you really start second guessing what you did. I don't think I played enough records to have driven people out, but there's always that nigling bit of doubt, that nasty little person at the back of your head screaming themselves hoarse that you played the wrong records or that nobody showed up because they already know you suck. Most of the time I can tell that vindictive motherfucker to shut his mouth. After watching people walk out on your set, however, it's tough to ignore those very real possibilities. By the time I'd arrived home, I'd almost decided to drop off all my records at the Salvation Army and sell my turntables for scrap. That may sound like the petulance of a child, but you have to appreciate that I've been DJing in one form or another since 1999. That's ten (10!) years, for anybody who's counting. If I'm not good enough now, I have to think that I probably never will be and that is about as sobering a thought as anyone will ever have.

As with many things, the light of day lends a clarity to the situation. I dragged my ass from bed on the low side of the morning and stumbled to my "studio" with every intention of packing up the whole works. But, I couldn't do it. As it turns out, I love it too much to quit. If I never play another show in public, that's OK with me, as long as can still make my monthly record order and play for the freezer and the water heater in my "studio". If the music that I love still has a place in my life, then all is right with the world.

Quick & Dirty

A last minute booking at A Khord tonight with Kardinal Syn! If you're reading, the dirty beats drop at 10pm with the Kardinal. I go on at midnight. Drop by, tell me you read about it on Kitchen Heat and I'll by you a drink.

Surf City Sunday Club

After six months (6!) without a show I'll be appearing at the freshly minted Open Turntables @ Element. In case you're the only person I know without Facebook, the sickness kicks off at 2pm and runs until 8pm. Or until you stop buying drinks. Whichever comes first.

See you there!

à la Carte

As promised, a new mix is available for download. This mix comes from one of the all-vinyl, turntable workouts I referred to earlier in the week.

Favourites From 2008

With the demise of a number of big distributors, there are those who will undoubtedly refer to 2008 as the year vinyl died. I prefer to think of it as separating the wheat from the chaff. In the future if the track isn’t absolutely top quality, it’s simply not going to see a proper record release, and I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. As it was, there were an awful lot of top-notch tracks that dropped last year. These are ten of my favourites.


Steven Lee & Gaby Dershin – Exit Row (Pirupa & Ruggero Remix) (C2)
Buy it now here or here.
C2 consistently put out quality records from the likes of Danny Howells, DJ Pierre, Eric Prydz, and Steve Angelo. This year, they have two in my top ten and two more that just missed the cut. This collaboration by veteran collaborators (Steven Lee is half of Lee-Cabrera, while Dershin is half of duo Astro & Glyde) features plucked strings over a chugging bassline. The original is good, but the remix is better. By adding another, percussive bassline underneath the original bassline and dispensing with the super-long breakdown, relative unknowns Pirupa & Ruggero make the track that much more propulsive. Whenever my mix needed to gather a bit of steam, this is the record I reached for.


Shed – Warped Mind (Ostgut Ton)
Buy it now here or here.
2008 will also be known as the year when minimal techno really came out. Labels like liebe*detail, Get Physical, and Areal all made big splashes this year, but the tsunami came from Berlin producer Shed. With a penchant for odd time signatures and unique track structures, “Warped Mind” is probably his most accessible track in recent memory. In keeping with the auditory aesthetic of minimal techno, “Warped Mind” is an elegant track, consisting of little more than a filtered synth line over skittery percussion. And yet, as with most of the genre, there is something about it that moves the hips and nods the head.


Kaskade & Deadmau5 – Move For Me (Deal)
Buy it now here or here.
I’ve written about this track before and, thankfully, it’s lost none of its immediacy. Even though it is the only Deadmau5 production I’ve enjoyed all year, it’s still a great track and the ‘mau5 is in my top ten for the second year in a row.


Renato Cohen – Magica (Sino)
Buy it now here or here.
Every now and then, Brazilian techno star Renato Cohen drops a couple of brilliant techno stormers into the laps of Hong Kong label Sino. He did it in 2003 and again in 2005. This year he dropped off one driving techno classic (b-side “Power”) and one tech-house masterpiece (a-side ”Magica”). Both tracks are elegantly simple, with the latter being a slightly better track than the former. “Magica” marries a looped vocal sample with an acid bassline and a high-low, pitch-bent electro-bass. The loop extols the listener to “Save my Life!” which, when combined with the pitch-bent bass, creates the kind of adrenaline-inducing vibe most often heard in jock jams like Gary Glitter’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll (Part 2)”. “Magica” works best as what I think of as a transition track; one that transitions from a lower to a higher state of floor energy. In that context, it simply can’t be beat.


My Federation – Don’t Wanna Die (Eye Industries)
Buy it now here.
There aren’t very many so-called Indy-rock bands that incorporate the house/techno sound palette into their songs with any grace or consistency. These types of bands tend to display a great deal of distain for all things electronic, despite the fact that punk bands these ingrates tend to idolize owe just as much to dub reggae and disco as they do to 50s rock. My Federation would appear to be the exception rather than the rule. The title single from their excellent album “Don’t Wanna Die” sets the tone for the whole album. It’s punk with an acid bassline. The icing on the cake is the glorious 3-part harmony on the chorus. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then for god sake pick up this slice of 7” gold. If those are all gone, then go get the CD.


Murk Presents Liberty City – If You Really Love Someone (Paul Woolford’s 11 Minutes of Magic) (C2)
Buy it now here or here.
Miami-based duo Murk has been in the game a long time. They’ve been making house since the early 90s under a plethora of pseudonyms. You might know them from classics by the likes of Funky Green Dogs or Mission Control or Interlude or Interceptor or Deep South or Coral Way Chief or, indeed, Liberty City. “If You Really Love Someone” was originally released was originally released in 1994 under Twisted Records sub-label TRIBAL and is considered a classic. The real story here is not Murk; it’s Paul Woolford. Ordinarily, I have avoided putting remixes and redoes of classic tracks in the round-up because they tend to be luke-warm versions of the original; a Malibu Stacy with a new hat. Just occasionally, however, an accomplished producer can take a classic and make it their own. “If You Really Love Someone” is a pretty menacing track to start with. The hissy percussion cuts through the three-note bassline like a knife, while Shauna Solomon’s layered vocals wails over top of it all. Woolford dispenses with everything but the vocal, adds a growling, pulsing bassline over some 909 drum sounds and manages to simultaneously make the track more propulsive and more ominous. Even its extended length (11 minutes!) isn’t an issue as Paul changes things up just enough to keep things rolling and stop the listener from tuning out. Woolford’s output has been spotty at best in the last few years, but this remix places him firmly back in the pantheon of great producers.


Oliver Koletzki vs. Parker Frisby – The Is So Fuckin’ Oldschool (Stil Vor Talent)
Buy it now here or here.
Don’t let the title fool you: Oliver Koletzki wrote and produced all four of these gems. Even though the track list credits A-side tracks “Since You Are Gone” and ”This Is So Fuckin’ Oldschool” to Koletzki and B-side tracks ”Street Life” and ”Brain Against Heart” to Parker Frisby, it’s obvious to the listener that they’re all the same guy. The title is accurate in one regard; these tracks would fit nicely in sets from both 2008 and 1998. ”Street Life”, for example, sounds like a Samplitude-era Olav Basoski track. What ties the EP together is the percussion. The same drum palette is used in all four productions with varying degrees of success. Of the four, I slightly favour “Since You Are Gone”, closely followed by ”Brain Against Heart” simply for the interaction between the chosen drum sounds and clean piano/keyboard melodies. In terms of bang-for-your-buck, you can’t go wrong with this EP.


Wagon Cookin – Mallorca (Sasse Remix) (Compost)
Buy it now here or here.
Apart from the time-signature, I’m not even sure there’s anything left of the original in Sasse’s remix of “Mallorca”. Regardless, I have been digging that bassline since this record dropped in February. The filtering applied is just perfect for head-nodding and hip-shaking. My only complaint is that that the track ends…oddly. After the break, that awesome bassline just drops completely out and you’re left with only the drums and the synth chords. If you’re not paying attention, it’s a real letdown, but if you’ve got another bassline waiting it the wings, it’s gold.


Andomat 3000 – BND2 (Four:Twenty)
Buy it now here or here.
Andomat 3000, a.k.a. Andreas Wiegand, has been recording as DJ Mahatma since the turn of the millennium. I can understand why he came up with the new moniker because his previous output consists almost entirely of hardcore techno/Schranz; certainly nothing like this minimal jewel. The combination of the shuffle percussion and stand-up bass loop provides “BND2”s groove, while the occasional trumpet call and ululating yell evokes the image of outlaws huddled around a campfire in a Tex-Mex desert. Even the title is a clever contraction of the word “bandito”. Even Kiki’s utterly pointless remix serves to underline the genius of original. Out of all the artists listed in this round-up, Andomat 3000 is the one to watch.


The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) (Modular)
Buy it now here or here.
I wrote about “Golden Cage” 5 months ago in The Lost Post (Summer Ingredients) and it’s still golden. Fred Falke doesn’t put a foot wrong on this remix. The sparkling melody, the pulsing bassline, the pitch-bent synths, I love it all and it is far and away my favourite record of the year.

Anyway, keep watching this space. I’ve got a bunch of things in the works, including some upcoming shows and record reviews. Not to mention a new mix that may include a few of the tracks listed above. All set to drop in the next couple of weeks. Until then, keep buying records.

The Lost Post

For some unknown reason, the August 10th post intitled "Summer Ingredients" has disappeared from the blog. Is it a blogger issue? Did I delete it by accident? It's a mystery. Thankfully, the Google Cache has saved my bacon and I'm able to repost it below.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Summer Ingredients

We moved. Again. Same city, just down the road in fact, but it was still quite an undertaking. Not the least of which is all those little jobs a new house requires. Like mowing the lawn. I haven't had to mow a lawn since moving from Nova Scotia, and now I have to mow twice a week just to keep up with the growth brought on by all this rain. And I'm here to tell you, nothing makes you appreciate new music like mowing a lawn. Especially vocal tracks with a bit of hands-in-the-air whooshy-ness. Here are a few of my current favourites.


The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) (Modular)
Buy it now here or here.
A gloriously sparkly remix by frenchman Fred Falke. I always kind of assumed that Alan Braxe was the real genius behind past Braxe & Falke remixes, but it's clear I was very much mistaken. Sorry about that Freddie; you certainly hold your own. Back to the track: I'm not sure if it's the pitch bent keys in the melody or the minor chords of the rhythm line, but FF's remix makes me want to tilt my smiling face into the sun. He takes what is otherwise po-faced guitar song about being trapped and turns it into a kind of bitter-sweat anthem to summer flings. You cannot lose with this one, sunrise, midday, or sunset.


The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Lifelike Remix) (Modular)
Buy it now here.
Another Modular record! I've been watching the Presets since their Blow Up EP five (5!) years ago and I have to say these guys are doing it right. The original track is genius all on its own. The tenor/bass verses and falsetto chorus make for the kind of ear-candy that has me singing along even when the song's not playing. Lifelike (another frenchman and Vulture Falke-alike) injects a bit of bounce to the somewhat dire original. The over-compressed chorus along with the wonderfully squelchy melody combine for maximum whoosh!


Kaskade & Deadmau5 - Move For Me (Deal)
Buy it now here or here.
Written by San Franciscan Kaskade and produced by Canada's own Deadmau5, it's hard for me to judge the separation of duties. It sounds more like a Deadmau5 track, except for the exceptional vocals (performed by one Haley Gibby). Regardless, the track feels more like a lament than the typical techo/trance stormer we've come to expect from both Kaskade & the 'mau5. I've been feeling a bit blah about Deadmau5's stuff lately; too much bombast and not enough soul. Not the case here. The lyrical couplets "Move for me/I'll move for you," and "Another night out/Another dance floor," sound like the groan of a DJ who's been on the road for too long or the cry of the rave casualty so jaded that they're begging the DJ to bring back the rush of the early days/years. That their weariness can be expressed so succinctly is what makes the track great. In fact, the raw emotions expressed elegantly is what makes each of these three records great and is, I think, what's been missing from the current trend towards the minimal. There's just too much tech out there, and not enough soul.

In the Ear of the Beholder

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

I know, I know; I have got to better than one post every two months. In my defence, it has been an extremely hectic six months. We moved into a new house and the room designated as my den/”studio” was an unfinished basement room with concrete floor and bare studs. So, after wiring outlets, installing sheetrock, crack-filling, painting, and carpeting my new space, I decided I needed some new monitors to complete the picture. Of course, the monitors I wanted (Read: could afford) were back-ordered and I waited another six (6) weeks for them to show up. This is on top of all the other little chores that go along with home-ownership. Chores that I have been able to avoid for the last two years of ass-swelling, rental bliss. Chores like mowing the lawn, which I had to do twice a week through the summer months because of all the rain. I guess this is my long-winded way of saying that after almost six months of no deck-time I am very rusty and it’s take a couple of weeks of regular steel wheel workouts to knock myself back into shape. Fear not, though, a fresh mix is on the way, so keep an eye out for it.

The other thing to put a crimp in my spin sessions was the demise of my headphones. I bought my Beyerdynamic DJX-1s a little over a year ago after breaking what I swore would be my last pair of Sony V700s.



Not only did they sound great, as you would expect from a high-end manufacturer like Beyerdynamic, but they fit very nicely also. Very comfortable headphones. My only complaint at the time was that they were constructed entirely of plastic. My experience with plastic headphones has not been good. At various times I have cracked, snapped, or otherwise destroyed a set of Sony MDR-V500s, a set of Sony MDR-7605s, and two pairs of MDR-700s. Given the reputation of Beyerdynamic as a purveyor of quality headphones, I pushed those doubts aside and proceeded with enjoying my new cans. That is, until the simple act of removing them from my head after some practice time broke the band just above the swivel joint almost in half.

After contacting Beyerdynamic directly about a possible replacement under warranty, I was directed to the fine folks at Martech, Beyerdynamic’s reps here in Canada. Martech were extremely helpful, informing me that the broken portion of my DJX1s was covered by a five (5!) year warranty against breakage. “Send them to us,” they said, “and we’ll send them back, good as new.” So, off they went to Beyerdynamic's repair/replacement facility in Ontario. I am still awaiting their return.

In the interim, I played at a friend’s Christmas party using the only other closed headphones I own: JVC Marshmallows! And they were GREAT!! I know, I know; I asked myself the same question: How can this be? How can $20 earbuds function as well, if not better, than my $200 full-sized circumaurals? The answer, in short: isolation. The Marshmallows are like little foam earplugs with drivers (speakers) in them. According to headphonereviews.org, they’re able to block a whopping 26dB, two-and-a-half times that of the DJX1s. The big advantages to such a set-up are, 1) the improved isolation allowed me to turn down the monitors because I wasn’t using them anyway, and 2) I didn’t wake up the next morning with ears ringing. The latter has been of real concern lately. It used to be that I could play a show and go home with ringing ears, but wake up feeling right as rain. The last couple of events, however, I’ve woken up ringing and it has lasted through to the afternoon. This points to a disturbing trend of auditory deterioration, one that many be at least delayed simply by switching from full-sized headphones to In-Ear Monitors (IEMs for short).

For those unfamiliar with the term, the In-Ear Monitor is defined by the fine people of headfi.org, the definitive resource for all things headphonish, as:

In-Ear-Monitor (IEM), also known as canalphone, ear-canalphone, or ear-canal headphone, is a type of Inter Aural headphone that is designed to be used where the user’s ear canal is sealed by the ‘phone. The seal generally serves two functions: 1) blocks noise and 2) forms a sealed acoustic chamber to achieve a fuller sound. To create such as a seal, the earphone’s nozzle along with its tip (or sleeve) is inserted into the front part of the ear canal. Many high end IEMs are custom molded for comfort and perfect seal.

The custom molded IEMs referred to in the definition are those favored by live musicians nowadays. They sort of look like hearing aids and are credited with saving the hearing of rock bands world-wide.

Funnily enough, there aren’t any DJs who have jumped onto the IEM bandwagon. At least, there aren’t any who are talking about it. I did stumble across an article in Remix magazine talking about how the industry should adopt these auditory extending devices sooner rather than later, but that seems to be the sum-total of DJ scene coverage. Regardless of whether I’m breaking ground or not, a pair of custom IEMs are definitely in my future. In the meantime, my trusty Marshmallows will have to carry me. It will be very interesting to hear how they make out on February 1st.

Pinkpenny Promo

Earlier this month I passed an important milestone (well, important to me at least): I received my first slice promotional music.

Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I didn’t start this blog, or DJing for that matter, to get free music. I started DJing because I wanted to listen to good music at the parties/clubs I attended. I wish I could say that at all charitable, that it was about sharing great music and giving my friends and fellow party-goers a good time, but no, it is entirely selfish – I quite simply could not stand what was being played and decided that if I wanted to hear anything else, I was the one who was going to have to play it. One can only listen to so much Great Big Sea before one yearns for fiddle-free music. I started this blog as simply a vehicle for my mixes. I wanted people to listen to what I was doing and so set up this site as a place to host online links to my mix archive and announce any live gigs that I might be doing. Since I started it, it’s taken on a bit of a life of its own with editorial content largely consisting of record reviews. Records I bought myself, I might add. It does what it was intended to do, I suppose; it lets those who care know what’s happening with my DJ “career” (a term I use ever-so loosely), but it has never lead to any paying gigs or promotional swag. That is until now.

Pinkpenny records is a net label based in Devon, UK. They sent me, and presumably others, links to two mixes of “You Know Where Your Going” [sic] by TC, a remix by Mr.Vinyl and the original mix. The original is a downbeat track best described as “chilled”. It consists largely of a synthesized saxophone over a warbling synth, melodic washes and a nice stand-up bassline. The original is good; I’ve played it for a few people and it got their heads nodding to the groove. Definitely worth a download.

The Mr. Vinyl remix is an up-tempo version of the original. Mr. Vinyl has dispensed with the saxo-synth, augmented a staccato piano riff, thrown in a gated copy of the synth wash for drama and replaced the stand-up bass with a typical, bouncing, progressive bassline to give the track a bit of thump. As in the case of the original, this mix is effective; good but not great. Competent is actually the word that leaps to mind.

Overall, I think the original works marginally better as a track that the remix, but I’d certainly play both if only they were on vinyl. If only. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, though. Digital promos are better than no promos at all.

The Last Bastion of Analogue

Can someone explain to me why it is so important to signal the death knell of the vinyl record, the terminus of the turntable? What do these early laptop-adopters have invested in software and file formats that necessitates constantly crowing of "the end of vinyl"? What satisfaction do they derive from it? And why when you challenge that assertion are you immediately labeled a "hater" with a "hard-on for vinyl"? Anybody?

NiteLite Snack

Yup, good times at NiteLite last weekend. Although, as I said, the levels on the recording were very hot, and it’s not worth posting. But, I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit: the party, the records, the vibe.

I’m on vacation for the next week or so while our house closes and I had a couple of hours to spare on Friday. My record bag was still packed from last weekend, so all the tracks in the mix were either ones I played or planned to play. The tough part about playing a tag-team set is not clashing too much with your counter-part’s style. My partner-in-crime Mr.Ricardo has a more progressive edge to his selections, so the records I picked out also tended towards the progressive. This is also my first mix using a CDJ, which I’m still getting used to.

Anyway, without further ado, I give you Chef Napalm’s NiteLite Snack

Stage One (Pariah’s Banjo Mix) – Space Manoeuvres
Voltage – Matthias Meyer
Do ‘un Goodur’ (Tom Middleton’s Cosmos Mix) – Crazy Penis
Risingson (Underworld Mix) – Massive Attack
Dubb Me Some’tin Fresh – Halo, Hipp-e, & Tony
Warped Mind – Shed
Mallorca (Sasse Remix) – Wagon Cookin’
Magica – Renato Cohen
BND2 – Andomat 3000
Electrikiss – Eric Kupper feat. K-Scope
Can You Relate – Samuel L. Session
Exit Row (Pirupa & Ruggero Remix) – Steven Lee & Gaby Dershin
Charlotte (Remix) – Booka Shade
Harder Better Faster Stronger (Deadmau5 Edit) – Daft Punk
Shiver (Ewan Pearson’s Bari Girl Remix) – Silver City
Don’t Wanna Die – My Federation

After the nitelites come on...

A bit of a disappointing end to a great night: for no reason I can fathom, the levels on the recording are very distorted. After some testing, I narrowed it down to the mixer; a crap-assed Pioneer! Since there's no adjustment of the levels for the rec-out apart from the individual channel gains and since we kept said gains out of the red, there is no reason for the hot recording other than some internal fault. I've thought for a long time that Pioneer mixers were of questionable quality at an inflated price, and this lends even more credence to that belief. Why people continue to buy/insist on them I'll never understand.

Solstine Anticipation

For those of you who don’t know, the venue for NITELITE has been changed to the Gothic Arches in Saint John. Go check out the Facebook event for more details on that. Personally, I’d just as soon it was on home turf anyway. I think you’ll all agree that travel is nice, but the best sleep comes from one’s own bed.

My partner-in-crime, Richard “Mr. Ricardo” Carhart, is feeling the pre-show butterflies acutely. Strangely, I am not. Despite this being the biggest event I’ve played to date, and for probably the first time, I’m not experiencing any of the paralyzing apprehension I’ve encountered prior to previous shows. All I feel is a sureness, a rightness, a confidence in my skills. That’s not macho swagger or arrogance talking either. I certainly don’t think my (our) set will be the highlight of the event, although I will say we’ve got a trick or two up our sleeves that may make it something special and unique. No, it’s like being prepared for a big exam; I know exactly what will be asked of me and I am ready to face the challenge.

A brief word on our set: the poster says “Progressive/House”; I’m not at all sure that’s particularly accurate. There will be some house, and maybe even some progressive house, but I’d say the majority of what we’ve been playing is closer to melodic, minimal techno, if that makes sense at all. I’m recording, so watch for that coming soon.

If you’re attending, watch out for our sweet new T’s. Saint John DJ Farm in full effect.

Keep the nite-lites burning.

As you can see, I'm doing a tag-team set with my good friend Richard "Mr.Ricardo" Carhart. It's just an opening set, but this is a really big show. Here's hoping it pays off in some more regular gigs.

It'll likely be a very (although I hesitate to use the word) minimal set, although maybe "deep" would be a better way to describe it. Underground sounds, for sure. We are opening, after all. In all likelyhood I'll record it, so watch for that.

A new addition to the cheese tray

I was recently solicited to come up with a "Rave" mix, as opposed to a club mix. When I think of "rave" music I think of trippy, loopy tracks, with short stab-like vocal samples running at around ~130bpm. Ordinarily, I prefer to operate around 120bpm and I like vocal mixes, so compiling something along those lines became a bit of a challenge. The other challenging part about the excercise was not repeating myself by using records I'd high-lighted in mixes before. Here's what I came up with.

Easy Peasy Ravey Cheesey

Easy (Niekisch & Hermann Dub) - Trick & Kubic
Show Me Your Monkey (Punkers Cheetah Remix) - Percy Filth
Your Wildest Dreams (Joey Negro Medusa Mix) - Akabu
Penetration (Olav Basoski Remix) - Alex Romano
Booth Test - Dee Magic
Control Freaq - Felix & Junior
At Night (Alan Braxe Remix) - Shakedown
Star Catching Girl (Sander Kleinenberg's Dub) - Brother Brown
Needy Girl (Boy 8-Bit's Talk Box Dub) - Chromeo
Runaway - Thomas Cajal
Run On (Sharam Jey's Always On The Run Remix) - Moby
Golden Sun (Haji & Emanuel Remix) - Asle
Psycho - Romain Curtis & Ceeryl
Reddie (Paranoid Jack Remix) - Isaac S
Discoteca (Full Length Baby Doc Mix) - Pet Shop Boys
Drumspeak - Paranoid Jack

Beware the Ides of March...almost.

It is a sad thing to be present for the end of something you thought was good and pure. Last night at A Khord I played three hours worth of delicious vinyl for...the barstaff. That's right; not a single patron walked through the doors from 10:30pm until we shut it down at 1:30am. The novelty has apparently worn off and now the fickle audiences of Saint John have moved on to other, lesser events. I'm told that the engagement at A Khord ends on March 27th and there will not be a renewal. I for one will be very sorry to see a club night in such a spectacular space come to a crashing halt.

No recording, I'm afraid. The left-hand turntable had a short in the audio cable and it was causing some dire distortion. It wasn't a total loss, though, as it kept me entertained trying to choose records that could handle a bit of additional distortion. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

Another last minute booking!

I'm filling in for DJ Nexus6ix tomorrow night. My three (3!) hour set will feature lots of the music listed below. Come on down and check out some lush wax in context. For all those of you overseas, I'll likely be recording at least some of it, so stay tuned.

Gotta go pick out some records...

Tender Cuts - February 2008

As I noted in my round-up a couple of months ago, there were some serious contenders left off of my top ten. After spending a bit more time with these records, I feel they are deserving of more recognition than a mere mention.


Tracey Thorn - Grand Canyon (Ada's 1st Dub) (Virgin)
Buy it now here or here.
I was surprisingly underwelmed by Tracey Thorn's recent album Out Of The Woods, considering that most of it was produced by remix genius Ewan Pearson. In fact the only tracks on the album that raised my blood at all were produced by Martin Wheeler ("Easy") and Alex Santos ("Grand Canyon"). On the strength of those tracks, and because I love the sound of Tracey's voice, I kept an eye out for the singles. It's All True yielded a decent disco-inflected effort by Martin Buttrich that, I swear, is on every minimal mix I came across at the end of last year. The real gem, though, showed up on the second 12" for "Grand Canyon". Areal Records regular Ada turned in both a softly pulsing remix and a dub. The backing track is essentially the same for both, but the dub dispenses with all but the most soulful sections of vocal and, for my money, is the sweeter of the two.


Tone-Loc - Wild Thing (Peaches RMX) (Delicious Vinyl)
Buy it now here.
And now for something completely different. It's hard the imagine how one could improve on Tone Loc's 1989 pop-smash "Wild Thing", but I guess Peaches thought she could. To my shock, she hits it just right. As anybody who has heard the song knows, "Wild Thing" is a catalogue of encounters with sexually aggressive women. Written entirely from the male perspective on these fantastical events, Peaches shrewdly realized that she was in the perfect position to fill the other side of the equation: that of the sexually aggressive female. She adds a couple of explicit verses, subtly tweaks the sample to give it that electro-house sound and "Wild Thing" is born again. Track it down, you can thank me later


Eric Kupper - Electrikiss (Nite Grooves)
Buy it now here.
Eric Kupper's career spans the last 20 years of dance music and beyond. Starting as a keyboardist for the likes of David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, and Arthur Baker in the early 80s, Eric has been doing mostly remix work for the last 15 years. Checking his remix credits reads like a who's who of electronic music. All that aside, Mr. Kupper’s most recent effort, the “Faith Healer / Electrikiss” double A-side, is exactly the kind of keyboard work-out you’d expect from someone with chops like Eric’s. The one-note bassline pulses away underneath melodic pads while the melody sparkles on the top. The whole track puts me in mind of practically any scene from Blade Runner, and in fact would fit very nicely next to any the pieces from Vangelis’ score. That’s probably why it appeals to me so much; the track has that atmospheric quality that transports the listener to another place and time.

Bolivia in Saint John

I wasn't able to make it out to A Khord for Ultrasound Collective DJs Soundsyster and Flyzzard, but I was able to drop in last night for local nudger Nexus6ix and scene veteran DJ Bolivia.

Arguably the most internationally known DJ from Atlantic Canada, Bolivia has been spinning records for almost 15 years. Even though started playing the university bar at little ole Mount Allison, he's built himself quite a reputation and now plays all over the globe.

Bolivia turned in a solid set of progressive, tribal house; his signature style. Ordinarily, not my cup of tea, but I must admit he made it sound fantastic. In fact, if you go to his website it might even be there for download.

I had to leave shortly after Fred (Nexus6ix) went on, so I didn't get to hear him play. However, he has a new demo available here loaded with honest-to-god classics.