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The latest from soular grooves
9…on that sound…
11 Jan2013
i packed my vinyl on monday and when i started my set i played a number of the songs below…they belong to an era, mostly around the early 80s…for me..and for the music industry in general, pivotal years: transition from the disco years…as in every decade of my life, many trips to nyc exposed me to these cuts that were in rotation on wbls…there is no specific genre associated with it- not that i’m advocating that, either…
for me it was that sound…
10…is brought to you by: mom (happy birthday!)
11 Jan2013
i spent the day with mom, celebrating her birthday…none of this would be possible without her, of course!
11…on quincy banks….
9 Jan2013
quincy miles banks…with that name (yes! they are homages to jones & davis) he was destined to do music and be involved in the music scene, so when the opportunity came up to intern with me, quincy jumped in and has put forth great energy in doing so…
in introducing him to others, i refer to him as “the future” only i say it like jazzie b said it in “jazzie’s groove” at the end of the song: “the future huh huh…the future for soul ii soul: a happy face, a thumpin’ bass, for a lovin’ race…peace!” (at about 2:40 in the video below)…
truth be told: he does not need a nickname, a nom de guerre…
13…on sunday shining…
7 Jan2013
-taken sunday afternoon at the rothko chapel…
i like finley quaye’s music…always have…finley has never really picked up much steam here and apparently has made some un-wise decisions in his life…neither her nor there for me…when you tackle bob’s “sun is shining” (one of my fave bob songs) and you put a completely new spin on it: props!
it goes beyond that though: “maverick a strike” released in 1997 was for me a solid-play-it-often-over-and-over kind of album…it had “even after all,” “love gets sweeter…,” and the sultry “falling” (see below)…”maverick” became a soundtrack in 1997 and i’ve gone back to it during certain times typified by the sunshine pic above…
15…on fania all-stars…
6 Jan2013
don’t leave till tomorrow
what can be done today
’cause if you don’t do it now
make way molina cuz i’m coming now
because i am who i am
get aside, so I can take your place, get aside
these are the lyrics delivered by cheo feliciano in “quitate tu pa ponerme yo” (“get aside so i can take your place”)…he’s the second one to take the mic in the video below…
(continued below)
16…on illmatic…
4 Jan2013
nas’ “illmatic” needs no introduction here…
i still listen to it often, play it in sets, and have used it as inspiration…i wanted to explore further so last year i purchased “born to use mics” a compilation of dissertations on “illmatic”… “born…” is edited by michael eric dyson and features chapters by writers like greg tate, imani perry, mark anthony neal, offering various takes, be it socio-political, historical…all great insights in their own right…
23…video episode 9- soular grooves radio…
28 Dec2012
24…holiday recalibration- on jb…
27 Dec2012
after the holidays we recalibrate and discover: 24 days til “one hundred”…
we just threw down a set at boondocks for the annual james brown tribute (dj melodic, soulone, and i)…it was a load of fun once again…it happens every dec 25th- it’s brett koshkin’s party, but this year i was the caretaker as he had some family matters to tend to…
my first exposure to james brown was through radio in suriname- the track “hustle” was a big hit there when i started my critical listening, so to speak…there were another two more obscure cuts that made impressions “hot (i need to be loved)” which had “superbad superslick”…
listening to “hustle” today and matching it up to the entire catalog: it has a very distinctly different feel- the guitar work sounds different…i’m assuming he’s referring to the disco dance craze among one of which was the hustle (sent all over the globe, courtesy of van mccoy), but this track is still more funk than disco…
“hot” was a curious track at the time and without the advantage of the web (where you can wikipedia the actual song) and other future accounts of how the song came about, we wrongly assumed that david bowie had ripped off james brown…it happened the other way around…
jb played an important role in my early listening experiences before hip hop came about…and then: a pleasant resurgence during the late 80s/early 90s when hip hop sampled a ton of james brown, jbs, and jb-produced material…that tribute we do every year- that’s what its mostly about for me: james brown’s contribution to the development of hip hop…
31…on karina nistal…
22 Dec2012
it’s the holidays… folks who have left town come back to visit family & friends…karina nistal re-visited a ritual of sorts when she dropped in at onion creek on wednesday to witness myself & the are put together my weekly all 45 set…karina has relocated to los angeles to further pursue music…karina is a tireless, generous talent, performing countless shows in houston before she left and completing an album with the rebel crew (“nistalgia”)…
i’m infinitely grateful for her contributions to one of the first songs i released, “hello feat jawwaad & karina nistal”…karina nailed her verse with great delivery of some real poignant lyrics, complementing jawwaad’s opening part after initially enhancing with a vocalizing melody which sets up the song nicely…it’s one of the more fun projects i’ve done to date- working with two guest vocalists with contrasting styles…
as with jawwaad, i hope to once again collaborate with karina on a future project… (btw, if you can somehow find “dependency”, a song produced by dj still wil and released as a b-side on “gooddbye” a 12″ on the extensive research imprint, that is one of my fave karina nistal songs…)
32…on isaac hayes…
22 Dec2012
as a 10-year old for a drawing class assignment, i rendered an image of isaac hayes, albeit a really bad one- illustration has never been my strong suit…it was a headshot, i aimed to draw “bad” looking bald dude…you see the image of isaac hayes i had at the time came from a blaxploitation flick called “three tough guys”…
sometime beyond that, during my teenage years i did hear his takes on “the look of love” and “walk on by” (bacharach & david compositions), but the greatest impact isaac hayes had came during the first years of my dj career, when the musical landscape i was into was littered with songs containing samples from hayes’ catalog: tricky, portishead, hooverphonic, mono, biggie…
33…on the kalimba…
20 Dec2012
i first heard this on “evil” by earth, wind, & fire- hands down one of my favorite songs of all time!…
i had to one day acquire it and play with it…
i did…
(they are not super-expensive, btw)
35…on dj melodic…
20 Dec2012
when i first became acquainted with paco aka dj melodic it was during the many encounters i had while visiting toa irie, a boutique owned by our mutual friend, chas…melodic was employed there- he was (is!) an amazing tastemaker and i discovered later on that he did most of the procuring of garments (most 2nd hand/thrift store sourced) that were sold there…he had a great eye for it…turns out one of his other senses, his hearing, would serve him incredibly well in discovering and dj-ing great sounds, as well…
36…on the citroen…
20 Dec2012
i am the furthest thing from a car enthusiast…when you’re a young child in the netherlands and encounter futuristic looking cars that are so far removed from the “norm,” they make an indelible impression…that was the citroen ds for me (turns out it was listed as #3 on a prestigious car of the century list…
it is an iconic car, to say the least… when i was looking for symbolic (read iconic) items to illustrate the cover of my debut 5-song the citroen took a prominent spot…to me its just a really classy look- a retro feel with (even for today’s standards) a futuristic look…
37…on flying lotus’ los angeles…
19 Dec2012
this setting takes me to 2008 in san francisco…upon an invitation from j boogie, i made a few trips to sf…walked the streets alot…the soundtrack to my journey, exploring the city by foot: fly-lo’s “los angeles”…somewhat ironic of a title, considering the place i was in…
these new sounds and production styles seeped into my being with every step i took on the sf streets…slick rick mastered “the art of storytelling”…fly-lo does it sonically with limited lyrical content…
