cubikmusik

i got caught in your whirlpool of love...

picked up a hearing of this over on dilated choonz and music like dirt (no.99) or headphonesex has the version here. the extended pilooski edit of edwin starr's get up whirlpool

Download Get Up Whirlpool (Extended)

night pack

fresh release from stereotonic recordings here in dublin (them of bodytonic fame). i have a lot of time for these guys, not just musically but with regard to their approach to it all.

tonight we have simon resoul. originally from roscommon and a member of kormac's live band. the tune i am posting is 'night pack'. i am lovng the whole ep, 'simon says', with a similar feel across two of the other tracks but with a richer sound and a softer production on this one. the first song, entre, with kormac is a great opener bringing you into their world with jammin' reggae piano and a deep bass that lobs around perfectly. need to get the translation of whats being sung!

to celebrate the launch of steretonic recordings and 'simon says' there is a party at twisted pepper on saturday night with simon resoul and others such as conor (cheers mate) dj'ing throughout the night. i'm gonna check it out as i have been in this venue yet and what better night to do so!
details here.

Download NIght Pack [Stereotonic Recordings]

buy: digital-tunes (download)

missy does a pill

i cannot find this tune, or a reference to it anywhere.
a massively fun missy elliot play that's pure party.
shout out to pacosgrove for turning me onto this one.
i think we'll be hearing more from his collection in time.

Download 04 missy done a pill

civil music

three amazing tunes from civil music (site/ blog) out of london and one, the original of a tune covered here.  civil music is , with all things considered, a label with an amazing roster of artists producing some of the finest tunes around right now with one of them 'drums of death' tipped to be a name to watch out for in '09.
first up though is another one to lend an ear to. heard it today on a nice little mix by LeFtO, over on the brownswood blog. kotchy, with labelmate, rusko's (skwee) remix of 'sing what you want'.
just lovely stuff all round.
Download Sing What You Want (Rusko's Skwee Remix)

next up is javelin, with 'flutey flakes', a slo-disco boogie of the finest order with just a hint of some latin feel.
Download 01 Flutey Flakes

next up is 'drums of death' with the too massive refix of escort's 'starlight' see below). a wondrous track that seems to span a range of genres building to a knock out tune.
Download Dodfucksupanescorttune

Download 03 Starlight (Darshan Jesrani Parks Dept. Dub)

buy:

sing what you want: juno, iTunes, civil music
flutey flakes: civil music
dodfucksupanescorttune: iTunes, juno, civil music
starlight: iTunes

a day in the life

 

Update (Sept. 8th): Venue has changed due to flooding at Luggala. Moved to Royal Hospital in Kilmainham.

Next weekend sees another top night of fine tunes. 'A Day In The Life Festival' takes place in the beautiful setting of Luggala featuring Kraftwerk, DJ Mehdi, Busy P, D1 DJs, Soulwax, The Jimmy Cake, Comtron, Boxcutter and Dark Room Notes.
As the originators of dance/electronic music Kraftwerk are sure to wow the limited audience of 4,999 people. I had the absolute delight to see them play when I was 17 in the Humingbird, Birmingham with my brother. It is easily one of the best shows I've been to. Will be interesting to see if this tops it.

Download 102_lucky_boy_outlines_remix.mp3

Download rooty_tooty_rainbow_man.mp3 (from Dilated Choonz back in May-cheers lads)

Download 03_its_more_fun_to_compute_busy_p_remix.mp3

Buy: Lucky Boy

sorted

watched some excellent documentaries as part of Manchester night on BBC 4, Rock Family Tree and Factory: Manchester from Joy Division...to Happy Mondays. Great insights into the musical history of Manchester as well as the massive influences that Tony Wilson's Factory Records had on the musical landscape of the 80's and into the 90's. Part of the second documentary talked about the Hacienda that was one of the primary clubs to foster the birth of dance music outside of London that gave rise to The Happy Mondays and was, from my take on the story, funded primarily by New Order. Plagued by financial mismanagement and an increase in gang presence, gun culture, intimidation, etc. (as was seen in many clubs throughout the UK and Ireland at the time) the club was forced to close in 1997.

So, nothing from the Happy Mondays, or even Factory today but rather its Pulp's amazing tune 'Sorted For E's & Wizz' from 1995 that captures so much of all that happened during the heady days that followed.

"Oh is this the way they say the future's meant to feel?

Or just twenty thousand people standing in a field?

And I just don't understand quite what this feeling is

That's okay cos we're all sorted out for E's and Whizz

And tell me when the spaceship lands

Cos all this has just got to mean something


In the middle of the night

It feels alright but then tomorrow morning

Ohh ohh when you come down


Oh yeah the pirate radio told us what was going down

Got the tickets from some fucked up bloke in Camden Town

And no one seems to know exactly where it is

But that's okay, cos we're all sorted out for E's and Whizz

At four o'clock the normal world seems very very very far away

Hey hey

In the middle of the night

It feels alright but then tomorrow morning

Ohh ohh when you come down


Just keep on moving

Everybody asks your name they say we're all the same

And now it's, Nice One, Geezer - that's as far as the conversation went

I lost my friends I dance alone, it's 6 o'clock, I wanna go home

But it's no way not today, makes you wonder what it meant

And this hollow feeling grows and grows and grows and grows

And you wanna call your mother and say, "Mother,

I can never come home again because I seem to have left

an important part of my brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire. Alright


In the middle of the night

It feels alright but then tomorrow morning

Oohh Oohh when you come down

Oohh Oohh when you come down

Ooh what if you never come down?"

Download 08_sorted_for_es_wizz_1.mp3

buy: CD (US), (UK), iTunes

Tonight on BBC 4 is Hey Mr.DJ: The Rise and Rise of the Disc Jockey. Should be good.

fresh

quick post before bed with this bass heavy groover as I dip into JC's Vinyl Room that I've just rediscovered. just slightly cheesy but oh so sweet. always a great 4am tune.

freddy fresh has been knocking around for ages now and produced some of the tightest party tunes around. Check out his bio. Interesting guy who lived a normal life by day but wondered the nights away with his music.

Download give_you_love.mp3

remember me

oh how i missed thee 'remember me'. an absolute classic tune from 1996 that will no doubt get the old school clubbers out there all nostalgic for those early morning dances surrounded by mates with the sun rising across the rooftops.
i have this tune on various tapes/cassettes (remember those?) that I put on every now and again. its the one song that always gets me and I could never get it together to call my mate JC to play it for him trying to find out what it is. low and behold I was sitting in JC's living room last night, along with San, and the tune came on the TV, being used in a advert of some kind of another. Both myself and San got all excited as we love the tune and JC had the answer for me straight away. Ah...success.

From epitonic:
"When you hear Blue Boy's music you wouldn't in a million years imagine that it had been produced in Glasgow, Scotland. "Remember Me" in particular is honey-dipped in the voodoo-house vocals of America's Deep South, and sun-drenched in the tribal funk of Central and South America.

His most celebrated release to date, "Remember Me," is the centerpiece of the Mushroom Jazz compilation, mixed by Mark Farina. It is an intoxicating blend of cut-up soul and loose disco grooves based on "Woman Of The Ghetto," from '70s Blue Note recording artist Marlena Shaw. "Remember Me" is soul on wax, pure and simple."

This is long version of the tune so enjoy each and every soulful minute.

(July 26th-file removed at the request of the label. Video posted instead)

Buy: CD (from OM Records), Vinyl (OM Records), Digital (OM Records)

bodytonic @ electric picnic

this is where i'll be spending a lot of my time at this year's Electric Picnic.

The Bodytonic Village has an assortment of fine tuneage from around the world with the highlights for me being Diplo (saw him around 3 times at SXSW and had a blast every time), Kerri Chandler (have never managed to see this legend so this is a treat), The Count and Sinden, Modeselector, Roni Size/ Reprazent (hopefully covering some 'New Form's material), DJ Spinna, Stee Downes (label manager for Bodytonic label,Scribble, see below), Stereotonic DJs, Bodytonic Soundsystem, Christian Pommer/Drum Lesson and pretty much 90% of the lineup.

After being in Texas for 4 years or so I've been starved of a good dose of dance music so this should hit the spot. Nice one to the Bodytonic crew for putting this together. Top fun.

For some Scribble magic see here and here.

P.S. I'll be the grinning fool to the left of the speakers! :)

12th floor

Well, this isn't just an outright massive tune?
The Trickski remix of 12th Floor's Salsa 313 with absolutely stunning beats, jacking grooves, warm synths, congas, killer piano and a swirling buildup and take-up that leads you astray. 
For my mate Dunk-congrats. Looking forward to loungin' it with you soon enough. ;)

Interesting background for 12th Floor/ Mikael Nordgren from Raw Fusion:
"The talented producer and multi instrumentalist Mikael Nordgren is a living proof of how global the whole dance music phenomena has become since it all started back in the days. Raised not in some urban capital area, but in a small village in the midst of rural Sweden, Mikael had to search harder than most people to find the music that eventually would have him release cutting edge dance music. From the tender age of 10 Mikael started this journey by learning to play a variety of instruments including bass, guitar, drums and piano. Heavily fascinated and triggered by the house music boom that eventually had reached Sweden in the late 80s, his first steps as a song writer were heavily inspired by the sounds of Inner City and S´Express. At the same time he also discovered the funky soul and jazz sounds of the 60s and 70s and these are all influences that still can be heard in his eclectic approach on dance music - inspired as much by Albert Ayler and Roy Ayers as Derrick May or Underground Resistance."

Download 01_salsa_313_trickski_remix.mp3  

Buy:
Download-  Juno (UK),  iTunes (US), Bagpak and Dancetracksdigital
Vinyl- DjHut (US)

blazed

So the word ethereal just naturally springs to mind when you hear this song. Heavenly. Celestial. Spiritual even? According to Webster's all of the above imply the same feeling and I am pretty sure that I feel all of the above when listening to this beautiful piece of work.
Is it the smooth basslines? Perhaps the floating synth work? Or the steel drums bouncing around my ears like raindrops falling on a lake as the sun shines, glistening?
Who cares? Just wrap all that up and you just get naturally blazed with Project Sandro on Sentrall.

(Update 03/21: Track removed at the request of the label. Streaming instead)


Buy:
Download @ Dance Tracks Digital (US), Clickgroove (UK), Juno (UK)
CD @ Sonar Kollectiv

thousand

yesterday I was wearing a t-shirt made by the brand 10,000 bpm (who I cannot find a website for) and it got a good few comments (thanks all). One guy who commented asked me about the 10,000 bpm thing and I told him about this Moby tune that had the world record for most bpms. I was somewhat drunk at the time so I may have told him it was 10,000 bpms and he (perhaps?) rightly pointed out that it wasn't possible.

Well, this is for him.
Moby's 'thousand' in all its excessive bpmness.

Download 10_thousand.mp3

Love To Hate You

I so rarely go out to hear/see live music, despite the fact that I live in the Live Music Capital of the World (allegedly).
I don't know what it is about live music that just doesn't get me going. I guess maybe because I think it is hard to recreate good music well on stage. Or maybe I am just closed minded and don't want to change?

Anyways, maybe I will change my mind. After last weekend I am consciously going to try and go out and see live shows more. I got tickets for the LCD Soundsystem ACL aftershow that was going on at Red7 on Friday and so we wandered down around 10.30pm. I was excited to check out LCD Soundsystem and actually hadn't checked out who else was playing.
After the DJ on the outside stage finished up I was somewhat surprised to see two girls to get on stage in front of a laptop and some keyboards. Now, I'm not being sexist here but the reality (in my mind) is that it is rare to see females make electronic music. In my experience over the last 15 years or so I really don't recall seeing a female act or DJ.
When I say surprised I mean pleasantly surprised as it is great to see people going against the norm as it were. I would like to point out that really Austin has a very small electronic scene considering its size and musical inclinations and to so to hear good electronic that is home produced is a thrill. Now picture this, this act is not from Austin, but Wimberley, which has a population of (don't quote me on this) well below 10,000. In Texas. Not exactly renowned for electronic music. :-)

They are Lady Pterodactyl and they have kindly provided a tune to check out. Lady Pterodactyl have only been around since Feb. 2007 but have developed a style that is uniquely theirs to own but with some nice room to grow still. I had such a cool time listening to watching them play as their sounds are simplistically beautiful while being energetic with the show filled with genuine fun and passion.

So-thanks to Faiith and Sydnie for letting me post about them today.  hope you check them out, let them know on theirspace (or with comments here) if you are into their sounds.
I sure am.

Download love_to_hate_you.mp3

Cheers

Sir Henry's Cork

I've mentioned Sir Henry's in passing before but today is the day when I go into some detail.

Old reliable JC passed this onto me this morning and I've been grabbing tunes like mad, full of nostalgia. For anyone who was at Sir Henry's in the 90's, or wanted to be there or just likes dance music from that time go check out what the guys from CorkDJs have come up with.

Sir Henry's (and Cork in general) always had the best nights out with a crowd that was always up for a full on party. I met some great people in those times- from standing in line to get the weekend started up to leaving and being invited to great partys ( a special shout out to Colm and Andrea at radio Friendly who broadcasted the after party at JC's stag!).

First off there is a nostalgia section with flyers from Sweat, the weekenders (see flyer below) and some pics (I may be in one of them! :-)

Then we have a trailer for a documentary about Sir Henrys. I really hope to see the full version of this as it tells a great story.                

"Sir Henrys needs no introduction: its walls saw some of the greatest DJs and club nights in Europe dwarfing any pretenders in other Irish towns and cities. Its demise and eventual demolition brought a tear to Cork hearts but the memories live on. Vinyl Films has embarked on what can only be described as a final and most fitting tribute. In this feature length documentary significantly titled “120 bpm” – a nod to the more relaxed pace of Henrys tunes – we are taken on a journey back in time with interviews from Greg and Shane, Stevie G, Jim X Comet, Henry’s manager Seán O’Neill, Mike Pickering, Radio Friendly head honcho Colm Moore, Graeme Park and New York producer Kerri Chandler."

A great story from this trailer comes from Jim X Comet when he talks about Laurent Garnier playing one Saturday night at the weekenders. I remember what he talks about (which is pretty amazing)-this was my birthday weekend and was a top night. Laurent Garnier was playing at 2am and mixed in Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' and as the chorus came in he hit the strobes and as Jim says it was like the roof was gonna come off the building!

And last but certainly not least-the cherry on the cake! The CorkDJs have gone and posted about 60 tunes that sum up Sir Henrys between 1987 and 1996!

Here are some of my favourites from back in the day.

Slam: Positive Education. One of the all time classic tunes-produced to perfection.
Download Slam.mp3

Sven Vath: Barbarella. From one of the masters of trance comes the hypnotizing Barbarella.
Download SvenVath.mp3

Jam & Spoon: The Age of Love. I just don't know what to say about this track. I never knew the name of it yet always loved it to bits. Beautiful.
Download JamAndSpoon.mp3

Ok-now we are getting towards the end of the night at Sir Henry's and gearing up for the after parties!

Rising High Collective: Fever Called Love. "You send me up, up, up to the highest peak."
Download RisingHighCollective.mp3

South Street Player: Who Keeps Changing Your Mind. Last tune of the night-in the courtyard of Sir Henrys, rain drizzling down but everyone dancing with all the soul in the world.
Download who_keeps_changing_your_mind.mp3

Then the after party!
4th Measure Men: 4You. JC's top choice always at his gaff. :-)
Download 4You.mp3

Thanks to everyone who organized, played and danced at those weekends-great memories.
I can't wait to go back for the reunion. ;-)

Cheers,
Cubik

My Love For You

Artist: ESG
Tune: My Love For You

I first came across ESG through Soul Jazz Records a few years ago and kind of forgot about them until driving to work this morning when a local radio station played this tune.
ESG were formed around the early 80's in NY and were kind of at the musical crossroads of punk, dance and hip-hop......an interesting mix for sure.
This track is just under 3 minutes-my perfect length for a song. It is snappy and to the point.
A kicking bassline, punky drumming and minimal funk production.
Not to mention minimal lyrics:
"My love for you baby,  is like a roller coaster
It goes up, down..anyway you want it baby.
Up. Down. Round.Up. Down."
Download 07_my_love_for_you.mp3

Such a catchy track.
Buy their 'South Bronx Story' here.

Cheers,

Cubik

Gold Fool

Artist: Stone Roses
Tune: Fools gold

Originally I owned this as an 11-12 minute long extended version on gold 12" vinyl (sweeeet). I presented it to a great friend and music fan, JC, for his 21st b'day and I know that he still enjoys it 10 years later (he better or I want it back!)
This tune is one that definitely has a place in my all time top ten tracks.
Kicking off with a bad ass beat filled with bongos and kick drum, joined by some simple and sweet guitar from John Squire and a mean bassline from Mani (now with Primal Scream). Ian Brown's lyrics are just amazing as he guides the song along with his poetic words,  rhymes and rhythms.
The beat and lyrics continue to lead and drive us to the amazing guitar solo around 6 minutes into the tune. Please turn your stereo/ipod/whatever up for this one- it will drive you crazy.
And then....its over!
Buy the album 'The Stone Roses'

Download 09_fools_gold.mp3 .