ooowee!!

As the only honcho of these here pixels and megabytes, I quiet often fall behind on getting things to you timeously. Sometimes even, rarely though, I will forget entirely about a track I wanted to post, the thought and track slip through the cracks into dusty remote areas where they wait (as if waiting was actually doing something) to be rediscovered. today's track is one of those...

DJ & digger 45 Badger (of Shoreditch UK) send me a CD of edits over a year ago, I play it often, so often that I've now damaged it. Anyway, more than a couple of the edits are pretty exceptional and one of them I have been secretly wishing would come out on vinyl ever since i first heard it. Another is a real favourite, it's an edit of 'Brother Louie' which is by Hot Chocolate (originally by Stories), though 45 tells me most of the vocal was stripped away... Monster track alert! Much thanks to the Badger!

45 Badger - Ooowee!

wind on horseback

I've been digging a lot just lately, in dusty crates and boxes in dirty concrete basements and I've had some extra ordinary luck finding pockets of gold, in between mountains of Phil Collins and Dan Hill albums. You will certainly benefit too from these excursions to forgotten spaces, as this insatiable blog demands more lost, found, new and old grooves of distinction.

I've recently found copies of two Mandrill album's, both are in relatively good nick, both are delicious Afro jungle Soul Funk sides, but for tonight I really wanted you to check out the brilliant 'Wind On Horseback' from their 1975 album 'Solid' which came out on United Artists. It's epic, rich groove, thick with instrumentation, spirals upward into an endless peak of soul haunting. Solid!!

Mandrill - Wind On Horseback

hibernation

British based, furry Disco friends Bear Funk have gone into hibernation... in the middle of their summer. In an inverted world this would deceptively mean that they've flipped the switch into overdrive. In fact it's quiet simple; Bear Funk just put out the compilation of the year (so far) and called it 'Hibernation Vol1'. They modestly describe it as 'a few greatest hits of the previous months, the future smashes and some exclusives unavailable elsewhere' and in every sense it is just that; a collection of recent and unheard items from their ever growing catalog. It's truck loads more if you're a slave to the Bear Funk, if your perversion is an insatiable taste for brilliant wobbly, leftfield, dubby Disco, if, like me, you dream of friendly Bears who jack to sweaty beats in sweaty underground nightclubs just off the coast of Cassiopeia.

This new Disco thing (Nu Disco or whatever) has developed far and beyond it's mid to late 90's 'Return to Disco' manifesto; on 'Hibernation Vol1' there are no emulating voyeurs and there are no replicas whacked over a 4/4 club beat. Instead these fine producer's search across the spectrum of Soul, Funk, Electronica, Afro, Cosmic, No Wave, House and more, and by taking tip's and trip's from the past they head deep into the heart of darkness in search of a future Disco lovin' time.

Perhaps I should just tell you who's on it... Social Disco Club get's on with a lush midtempo beauty which features Maia and an edit by Greg Wilson, Max Essa's premium new project Jan Ken Po appears, as does the brilliant scientist of sound Altz (twice), Blackjoy hands in an excellent remix of The Diaphanoids hit 'Mermaids of Lunaris', Sleazy Mcqueen, Wierdo Police, King DJ and Ronda all drop excellent tracks and Free Disco's 'The Kelp Man' wigs out on psychedelic Rock beard action. Elsewhere you'll find the superb 'Terror Island' remixed by Enzo Ponzio as well as Innervisions & Nature Records' Roberto Auser doing a fantastic hybrid cosmic warehouse excursion. It's DJ friendly, it's a party in a box and 'Hibernation Vol1.' is surely on your must grab list. I've said it already, the compilation is class!

As a taster, you get the deep 'n delicious Afro builder 'Daybreak' from Kotey Extra Band, it might be my favorite on the collection with it's spaced out Santana vibes and Soul Funk roots... Superb!!

Kotey Extra Band - Daybreak

What a sad day for music. The king is dead. Long live the king!! I cannot count the amount of times, while driving, or dancing, or hanging out with friends of all kinds, since I was about 10 that I have felt the power of MJ. From the Jackson 5 to The Jacksons to MJ on his own, that kid had all the best tunes and once collaborating with Quincy, he was unstoppable! No one else has come close!

playing catch up

Interesting week; bombed my email and lost over a years worth of communication, got flu, played a pretty crap set last Friday night, but we all know good things come from bad and good music will always lift you up.

If you haven't been over to Leftside Wobble for his latest edit, well then you're sleeping, it's really bloody marvelous, if you haven't been checking out the fresh batch of exclusive Blackjoy edits on his site, then you should cos they're also marvelous, plus you get to hear his latest productions and lastly If you haven't been checking Loudman Quietman, then get over there pronto to fetch a hot new exclusive mix by Beat Broker..

Tonight's track comes from Barrabas' 1974 album 'Hi Jack', it's my favorite on the b-side of the record and is a melty psychedelic slo mo ramble of quality! It's a bit Balearic, a bit BBQ and rather beautiful...

Barrabas - Fly Away

Press Play#25 - Pavel Plastikk

For those of you who are lucky enough to be enjoying the heat of summer and are in search of a top notch sound - track for heady ways and lazy days, look no further. Pavel Plastikk has created a mix of distinction for a.n.o.e.'s Press Play series, it's full to the gills with laid back, Psychedelic, dubbed-out and oceanic head food of quality. I'm pretty fussy when it comes to 'chill-out' tapes, but Pavel's mix is steps ahead with a careful balance of light and dark tones, antique sounds mixed up with modern Balearic (or balearic) beats, and more than a few moments of future/retro bliss.

Many of you will already know this Ukraine DJ from his multiple appearances around Europe over the last few years, most notably he featured at o8's Electric Chair organized Electric Elephant festival in Croatia (and he'll be back this year too), he's also played alongside Cosmo Vitelli, Pilooski, Lindstrom and a bunch of other very groovy individuals. Pavel is pushing forward this year with a load of interesting production and remix projects, again with some seriously good establishments like This Is Not An Exit and Cosmic Disco UK. Keep your eyes peeled for his upcoming gigs which take in Oslo, the Halloween Lowlife Party and Discobox in London. While Press Play #25 is very much a downtempo journey, you can expect Pavel to spin anything from Midtempo Disco to Psyche Rock to Acid House and Broken Beats, you can also expect whatever genre he takes in that you'll hear exceptional and original sounds. Check his myspace for more info about his successful night LOW, his past and hopefully, in the near future, listen to some of those tunes we've been hearing about.

So here it is, as always you can get it on the sidebar or here.

Press Play #25 - Pavel Plastikk - Adriatica

Tracklist

01 Ollano - La Couleur
02 Uriel - You Who Are Reading Me Now (Kid Loco's Love Experience mix)
03 Forest Hill - Gymnopedie (90's Summer Boogie Hiphop Mix)
04 Break Reform - And I (Yam Who? Rework)
05 Beanfield feat. Ernesto - Chosen
06 Fug - Ready For Us
07 Santana - Mantra
08 Eri Nobuchika - Kutuwonarasou
09 Jan Hammer - Flashback (Instrumental)
10 Maas - Look At Me Now, Falling (Maas 'Zoyd & Prairie Mix')
11 Earthbound - The Awakening
12 Athome Project - Summertime (Non-vocal-dub)
13 Jerome Badini - Trindade
14 Alex Kid - I Think (Dorfmeister & Alexkid Remix)
15 Stuff - And Here You Are

NB Also this weekend, I have another brilliant Press Play going up from Canadian Steve Yanko...

looking for answers

SirBilly is amongst my favorite re-constructors of older gems, partly because of his taste for 80's New Wave, Goth and Electro, partly because I know he is linked to another of my favorite, slightly more obscurist editors and partly because he is undoubtedly a master of the groove. Here is this Italian DJ & Producer's recent update of Eberhard Schoener's 1984 Italo Pop track 'Why Don't You Answer', it's a leftfield monster which features Sting on some vocal's - check it!!

Eberhard Schoener - Why Don't You Answer (SirBilly Extended Edit)

red light ladies

There is probably an excellent reason why British songbird Linda Lewis is so popular in Japan, there will also be reasons why her 1973 Reprise album 'Fathoms Deep' did not sell well in her home country, in spite of some apparent critical acclaim. The album is just amazing, Lewis is a beautiful combination of Minnie Ripperton & very early Phoebe Snow but with a slightly 'oddball' or even 'softball' bent. Linda went on to do a number of other albums, and is still working in the industry today (an interesting story if u decide to look it up). For the minute however, check out this magic Soul Folk gem about the girls who work the windows down in Amsterdam, one of many good tracks from the album. Bliss!

Linda Lewis - Red Light Ladies

Once again I've managed to fall behind on proceedings here; two killer Press Play set's are going up in a minute and a bunch of other things... hang ten.

friends

This track was brought to my attention by my good friend in Germany, Coffee Garner, it's a superb live Rock Disco Fusion jam from the band Atlantis. This particular version is off their 1975 'Live' album, which I don't know yet, but is worth getting for this track alone (I have one on it's way to me). Discogs has a near mint copy going for 20 Euro, if you like it as much as I do... beardy festival action...

Atlantis - Friends (Live)

messages from outta space... again

Sort of in a Boogie vein with added dreamy Pop'ness, Rah Band's 'Messages From The Stars' is even better, in my mind, than the classic 'Cloud's Across The Moon', maybe. Actually there are a few great tunes from British born Richard Hewson's band, dig around their catalogue if you haven't already. This spacey number is the original 12" A side 'Long Wave' mix; it has a similar vibe to some of the Freeez' trax, or shares a similar English take on Electro Funk, back in the early 80's. I haven't had all that much time to put up the growing stack of things I have for you, in the meantime, possibly for the fisrt time on a.n.o.e., a Pop track...kinda!

Rah Band - Messages From The Stars (Long Wave)

Bottin's Horror Disco

The thing about Bear Funk these days (in the past too, but somehow more than ever now) is their uncompromising search for and subsequent releasing of new and innovative Space Disco, it's why we love em so much and just lately there have been some sensational future classics put onto wax by the Bears (only recently I mentioned the Max Essa & Steve Kotey release, which i dare say includes two of my favorite trax of the year so far)...

Bottins 4 track 'Horror Disco' album sampler for Bear Funk is a superb slice of Italian (or Italo even) originality born out of an obsession for cosmic Soundtrack's and from the experience gained from working for such diverse institutions as Richard Dorfmeister, Centro Internazionale d'Arte e Cultura Palazzo Te di Mantova, Bangorfilms & many other intriguing individuals. But you know William Bottin's work already; this years 'No Static' release on Italians Do It Better is seminal, his 'Fondamente Nove' on Eskimo's 'Cosmic Balearic Beats Volume 1' from last year was also a standout track. I've yet to hear the Italo Disco soundtrack for 'The Boy With The Sun In His Eyes' which he composed, but i've heard only good things about it.

The 'Horror Disco' sampler on Bear Funk isn't disturbing at all; 'Disco For The Devil', a fantastic Morroderesque thriller, does have absurd and amusing 'horror Pop' lyrics. For the most part this EP is all about European panache (read as 'eccentric kitsch'), retro technology, cosmology, abstract creepyness and in the case of 'Bianca', leggy power babes in Porsche 928 s' taking in the Italian coastline while listening to Dave Grusin... or something along those lines... looking forward to the album.

Bottin - Bianca