Euro Disco

Another cassette from a friend - Matthew Wowow (Stone) - and I have a particularly soft spot for this kind of mid 80s Euro Disco right now. I assume part of the reason for this is that I have a fairly strong knowledge of late 70s early 80s disco that came out of the US, but pretty much missed completely this mid 80s european stuff. Not all of these are excellent, but the 'Cause You are Young by C.C. Catch is great as is Japanese Girl by Max Him.

I must admit I did not actually record this cassette because it was not good enough quality - but I liked it enough to track down the songs elsewhere. I will put up all the tracks by this evening.

Side A

1 - Brother Louie - Modern Talking
2 - Cold Dresses - Al Corley
3 - Touch in the Night - Silent Circle
4 - Touch by Touch - Joy
5 - Dial My Number - The Back Bag
6 - Cause You Are Young - C.C. Catch

Side B

1 - Tonight - Ken Laszlo (Extended mix)
2 - Japanese Girl - Max Him
3 - Pretty Young Girl - Bad Boy Blues
4 - Another Boy in Town - Two Girls
5 - Fire and Rain - Dresden China
6 - Where Do I Gebin - Eruption

Here are some of the vids for these tracks:

Japanese Girl - Max Him


'Cuase You Are Young - C.C. Catch


I WILL BE LIVE ON THE RADIO

I am participating in a radio show Tuesday 27 May from 8-10 pm British Standard Time on 87.7 fm. It's part of the Diesel U Music temporary radio station. I did a session last week and they invited me back to do a set of the new african dance music I have been djing lately. You can listen on the link below.

http://dum.diesel.com/radio

Diesel U Music radio show in London

I am participating in a radio show tonight with Matthew Wowow from 6-8 pm British Standard Time on 87.7 fm. It's part of the Diesel U Music temporary radio station. You can listen on the link below. It is our intention to explore the area of very synthy trance/rave music from the early-mid 90s which is almost cathedral in nature . . . and also very naff in some people's minds. Check it out.

http://dum.diesel.com/radio

Live at the Brain 2 - rare early techno

I went round to a friend's house recently in Whitechapel and he had a stack of tapes on his windowsill. I scanned through them and pounced on a few which he was kind enough to lend me. This one is excellent stuff and I think my taste is moving in this direction. This came out on CD and vinyl and almost all the tracks are from quite obscure artists with most of the tracks only appearing here. You can see polaroids here taken from the Brain club back when this was recorded.

You may recognize Sheep on Drugs, but this track was not on any of their other releases. Hi-Rise and Purple Room are artists who ONLY appear on this compilation according to Discogs. Nexus 21 is also on a similar Biorhythm 2 compilation I posted here but I prefer this cassette for some reason, it is more synthy and colorful to me than the more american stuff on the Biorhythm 2. I feel like this music falls in the space between italo, house and techno. My favorite track here is Kersnipp by Doi-Oing. If anyone has any of their other releases let me know - would love to hear them. (FYI - I did not record the Techno Sleeps side of the cassette as it didn't grab me.)


1 Nexus 21 Container
2 Sheep On Drugs Out Come The Freaks
3 Hi-Rise JP 233
4 Man Machine Robotu Okoku
5 Ultramarine British Summertime
6 The Purple Room Triangle
7 Lunarci Sbassed
8 Doi-Oing Kersnipp

Oh and, as it turns out, at least in america, most young bloggers are actually girls. Who knew?!!


WARNING: BLATANT SELF PROMOTION BELOW

Check my new blog Der Fresh Creamy - it's a record of what I think is party hot, but with a difference - I only put links to other blogs. So it's not just what I have to post, it really is what I think is hot. And listen to my Durrr party podcast here.

LES CHOEURS DE L'ARMEE SOVIETIQUE

I don't have much to say about this other than I really like this soviet army choir singing these military themes. Hope you enjoy. Weird that it's from Turkey? I wish this cassette had this alternate cover which I found on the nets.

LES CHOEURS DE L'ARMEE SOVIETIQUE
DIRECTION: BORIS ALEXANDROV

SIDE A

1 KALINKA
2 CHANT DE LA LIBERATION (Chant des Partisans francais) (A. Marly-J. Kessel-M. Druon)
3 LA CHANSON DU BOULEAU
4 PLAINE, MA PLAINE (L. Knipper-V. Goussev)
5 LA VARSOVIENN
6 LES BATELIERS DE LA VOLGA (arr. B. Alexandrov)
7 EN ROUTE (M. Doudine-V. Soloviev-Sedoi)

8 EPITAPHE (Mikis Theodorakis-Yannis Ritsos)

SIDE B

9 BELLA CIAO
10 LES PARTISANS (T. Atourov-S. Alimov-A. Alexandrov)
11 SOIRS DE MOSCOU "LE TEMPS DU MUGUET" (M. Matousovski-V. Soloviev-Sedoi)
12 VENCEREMOS
13 LE GLAS DE BUCHENWALD (V. Mouradeli)
14 SOULIKO (arr. A. Alexandrov)
15 CHOEUR DES SOLDATS DE FAUST "Gloire immortelle de nos aieux" (Charles Gounod)
16 LE CHANT DU DEPART (M. J. Chenier-E. Mehul)
17 LA MARSEILLAISE (Rouget de Lisle)
18 HYMNE SOVIETIQUE (A. Alexandrov)

Also, head over to the Durrr party site to download a new podcast I did in early April for the party. I really like this one, featuring lots of the tracks which I dj currently, as well as some unusual ones like the elevator music track Wives and Lovers at the start, the track from the new Chap album and Ata Kak african track which is hypnotic and hilarious.

Finally, if there is anything that I am all about, it's showing the other side of something we know well. Looking at hidden layers forgotten and showing how the past not only endlessly repeats itself, but also forgets nuances that are really fantastic. That's sort of the manifesto for the blog actually. And in that spirit, I picked up this tape on ebay from Princess Julia who has been glitterati of the demimonde in London for years. She is now (with the lovely Hanna Hanra) behind the very well connected and informed The P.I.X. magazine which is your ultimate source for all that is really new and hot in music. I don't know much about Milky Lunch, or the tracklisting for this, but it's bouncy progressive housey stuff from 1994. Enjoy.

Princess Julia at Milky Lunch

Side A (alternative zshare link)

Side B

Smylonylon 18 - Diskolos mixtape

I don't want this blog to become a Smylonylon posting spot so I will put up a new cassette in the next few days. But this Smylonylon tape is too amazing to leave to my friends only. This IS the definition of spaced out disco. Lots of people are chasing this sound but this cassette gets it so right. I've posted previous Smylonylon stuff here, but this is probably the most amazing for being equally obscure and yet very enjoyable. I think Magnifique on the first side is a standout track (you can sample it on my other blog here) and the end of side B covers that amazing Black Devil album that has been floating around the web, with some tracks to sample on the Yermam blog here.

Smylonylon 18 - Side A

Smylonylon 18 - Side B

Some lost east african gems

Our african party Manifesto has been doing surprisingly well. I really think the music we play is amazing, but I was surprised that every tuesday we would get more and more people to come out. Last night was so packed we had to turn away people, and on a rainy night.  Its every Tuesday at the Burlington Club, 12 New Burlington Street off Regent Street in Mayfair, if you are in London.  We even have a sort of live house band :)  Pics at the bottom of the post.

Anyway, my partner Alberto had managed to get hold of 2 seven inches which I heard him play at some point and asked him to let me borrow and blog. I can't find any info about either of these on the web, but they are east african congo style tracks. The standout track is Bolingo pt. 2 in my opinion.

Bolingo Pt. 1 - Mukala wa Mulumba - Orchestra Mbuta Mbuta

Bolingo Pt. 2 - Mukala wa Mulumba - Orchestra Mbuta Mbuta

Mama Sango - Chako ni Chako II - Special Baruti International

Hawa Vumilia - Chako ni Chako II - Special Baruti International

NME 002 - Jive Wire

I had a real fantastic haul at the Dalston Oxfam Shop this last week. FYI the Oxjam events are starting today and going on through April. Go support cause it's a fantastic shop and organization and they've given me so much.

But back to me . . . I picked up 3 of the early NME cassettes including this one, NME 004 and NME 005. So if you look at all the NME cassettes listed here, if you add those with the 2 others I've posted on this blog already, the Mad Mix II NME 008 and the Ace Case NME 009, I have a lot of the early cassettes. Looks like the really famous C81 was followed up by a NME 001 in the same year. Weird.

In terms of tracks there are some really unusual and odd things here. On Side A my favorite track is probably the Leisure Process track - it's like twice as long as other versions I've seen on the web. But the track from Buzzz for example is apparently only on this cassette and I can't find any more info about it. I look forward to comments from those more enlightened.

Side B has some really great stuff too. The Altered Images version of Happy Birthday may be the coolest Happy Birthday song ever, and the Pablo track Madaleina is fantastic vintage african pop.

Side A

A1 Thompson Twins - In The Name Of Love (3:45)
A2 David Gamson - No Turn On Red (6:12)
A3 Leisure Process - Love Cascade (6:19)

A4 Buzzz - Tonight's Alright (3:31)
A5 Pigbag - A Live Orangutango (6:04)
A6 Aswad - Ghetto In The Sky (6:25)
A7 Scritti Politti - Asylums In Jerusalem (3:10)
A8 The Beat - Get A Job / Stand Down Margaret (7:02)
A9 Gil Scott-Heron - B-Movie (5:19)

Side B

B1 Suicide - Dream Baby Dream (3:16)

Producer - Ric Ocasek (from the Cars)
B2 Kraftwerk - Das Model (3:39)
B3 Altered Images - Happy Birthday (3:15)

Producer - Martin Rushent
B4 Theatre of Hate - Dreams Of Poppies (3:45)
B5 The Gun Club - Ghost On The Highway (2:43)
B6 Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Ms. Froggy (2:30)
B7 Black Uhuru - Happiness (4:30)
B8 Defunkt - Illusions (7:00)
B9 Rip Rig & Panic - Billy Eckstein's Shirt Collar (3:15)
B10 Carmel - Storm (4:07)
B11 Vic Godard & Subway Sect - Just In Time (2:35)
B12 Pablo Lubadika Porthos - Madaleina (4:00)

B13 - hidden track - Sugar Hill gang style hip hop ad for NME (pretty funny)

We are also relaunching our african party Manifesto tonight, 1 April in London off Regent Street at the Burlington club. It will be downstairs in the chic club space with djs and a few live musicians (but no band) and then once a month we will do as before with the full venue being used for the party with top live african bands, etc. It's easy to get in and not super expensive and still the best african party in London cause it's new AND old - and I'm djing :)