Tuesday 28 January 2014

Youtube Mini Mix Vol. 3: DJ Narrows, Detroit Techno & Horsepower Productions



2001 Dark 4/4 Garage, proper American fast Techno and one of the first Horsepower Productions releases that got my attention.

1. DJ Narrows- Saved Soul (Ankh 2001)
2. Gary Martin- Corners (Summer E.P.) Flux Recordings 2003
3. TGS- On tha Run (Horsepower Productions remix) Tempa 2003

Thursday 12 December 2013

Sunday Night In Vol. 1. Classic House & Garage in the Mix


Hear the mix

This is my first proper mix CD. It's virtually all 1990's House & Garage, nice and deep but with the odd bit of ruffness provided by the London garridge cuts towards the end. I'll talk you through the mix.

Edit: If you hover the mouse over the tracks mentioned in this piece, for example 'Mood II Swing' in the last paragraph, it will link to a Youtube video. I've tried to show this by underlining the words and making them red but Blogger's computer programming is shit.

1. Northbound featuring Mone- Never Gonna be the Same- Bassline 1994



It’s always nice to start off a CD with a beatless intro, and the soothing keys from this Brian Tappert track help build up a little anticipation. I’ve listened to this tune for ages on my Ipod and you’d think that Northbound must’ve been some kind of production powerhouse, but Discogs suggests their output was small. Like a few people (DJ EZ included) I spent a few years wrongly thinking this was a Masters At Work track called ‘I’ve Changed’, but as far as I know it’s definitely a UK one.



2. Johnny 'D' & Nicky P Present All Star Madness- Magic- Henry Street 1996



Like the previous record I got this off one of those white label reissue E.P’s that the likes of Uptown Records specialised in. I have to wonder why such blatant illegality was par for the course in House & Garage yet wasn’t tolerated so much in other London centric scenes such as Jungle. Whatever the reason may be as a customer it was great to be able to get hold of classic tunes cheaply- plus there was usually a good track or two on the flipside that you’ve never heard before. This is hardly the best Kenny Dope/ MAW offering from this era but the big bassline is hard to fault.



3. Guess Who?- Sweet Lurv (Smile) Ice Cream 1996



‘Sweet Lurv’ is the kind of thing I should have heard long before I bought it given that I’d been listening to UK Garage for a decade, but it was only on the recent Ice Cream Records reissue series that I discovered this. Surprisingly it’s not a RIP Productions pseudonym- apparently a (since deceased) trance producer made it.



4. Kalani Bob & Remegel- Deep Breath- Groove Yard 1995



This is sometimes known as the Cheese & Pickle EP. It’s one of those illusive records that although it rarely appears on compilations (or on vinyl for less than fifteen quid) if you listen to this era of music long enough you’ll eventually discover it and hopefully love it. Brimming with big organ breakdowns and relaxing throughout, it’s hard to believe these producers had the skills to churn out this classic and then disappear off the face of the earth. Even stranger when you consider that two of the b-sides to this track are also top, top quality.



5. R.I.P. Productions- Obsessed- Ice Cream 1996



There are few mixtapes in this genre that won’t be better with the addition of a Todd, Tuff Jam or RIP Productions track, so it’s a good look when Tim & Omar’s contribution is one of their best productions. If DJ sets are all about peaks & troughs then this is the first summit. Not got much to say about this one, if you don’t like ‘Obsessed’ then you probably have syphilis.



6. Ron Trent & Chez Damier- Hip to be Dissillusioned (Shango Dance Edit) 2006



Consciously taking things down a gear or two, I draw for this weird (almost?) techno sounding record. This was released in recent years but I suspect this was probably a dubplate floating around Chicago sometime in the 1990’s. I like my CD’s to have at least one weird track from another genre so this clearly fits the bill. Probably a bit repetitive but it gives the mix an opportunity to calm down a bit.



7. George Morel- I Don't Know What it is- Strictly Rhythm 1992



If the last record was a bit po-faced then this one restarts the upward trajectory. This E.P. was something I got for a pound or two in Soul & Dance Exchange, half expecting it to be the more famous ‘Morel’s Groove’. Turns out there were a whole series of them so better luck next time. My one fault with this riddim is that it ends abruptly, which is why there’s a post-recording sound effect added in to cover the unexpected silence from Deck 1 as ‘I Don’t Know What it is’ peters out unexpectedly.



8. MK featuring Alana- Always- Charisma 1992



This is one of Mark Kinchen’s early, pre Nighcrawlers tunes. I got this on one of those white label EP’s about five years ago and it was new to me then, having been more familiar with his famous remixes like Jodeci or Celine Dion.



9. Shawn Christopher- Make My Love (Kerri Chandler remix) BTB 1993



This wasn’t the first Kerri Chandler record I heard- not by a handful of tunes/ years. But it was the first one I heard that made me realise that Kerri was a very, very talented producer. If anything this tune is underrated. I heard it first on a BBC 1Xtra show in 2004 which was billed as a Todd Edwards special, only they cheekily neglected to mention the fact that they hadn’t actually bought plane tickets for ‘the God’ to fly to the west London studios and perform himself and that it was just going to be Jay da Flex playing from his record collection (which of course was no bad thing). After an hour Jay got bored of playing strictly the work of one producer and decided to draw for the standard mid 90’s US Garage/ House classics. Now although by this stage I’d clocked up dozens of Garage compos and was starting to build up a good collection of ‘97 era twelves, in a single hour this show educated me to the fact that there was more to Old Skool Garage than the more obvious Tuff Jam, Grant Nelson et al. Locked On recordings famously started out by re-licensing popular (often American) tracks from the Sunday Scene era, but it took me a while to twig that that was just the tip of the iceberg. On this one off show at 5 in the morning Jay Da Flex dusted off previously unheard (by me at least) classics like UBP’s ‘Your Heaven’, Smokin Beats’ Look Who’s Loving Me’ and DJ Disciple’s ‘Keep On Moving’- the kind of stuff that gets played on London pirates probably every week of the year but, like early two-step, was largely passed by when it came to commercially released CD compilations. Over the years I would learn that Jay’s selection was almost a standard Top Ten of ‘Back to 95’ type material. I know this sort of stuff better now but at the time it made me dig deeper for earlier records, the era before Garage became it’s own self-contained scene. And that’s really what I’ve done with my record buying habits since and effectively what I’m trying to achieve with this CD.



10. Alex Agore- Nothing I Wouldn't Do- Development Music 2011



If I’m doing a CD of old skool stuff I aim to cover three decades (the 90’s/ 00’s & 10’s) if I can. I didn’t quite achieve it with this one as the high tempo of 2001-3 Garage is usually tricky to mix with much slower American stuff from the early 90’s. With this decade it’s much easier to slip in a current Deep House tune. Alex Agore uses an obnoxiously loud kickdrum similar to Kerri Chandler’s one so it’s no surprise that I found myself cueing this up in my headphones. He has got a busy vinyl release schedule that could rival the work rate of producers who were making music when people actually still used Technics in clubs. He’s not a buy on sight producer but at his best he is brilliant, and this track from a solid E.P. that came out Christmas two years ago is perhaps him at the top of his game.



11. Kerri Chandler- Atmosphere E.P. Track 1- Shelter 1993



I was slow to get into this; it’s not as obviously catchy as something like 'Bar a Thym'. But it’s often touted as one of Kerri’s best. Eventually I got bitten by the bug too.



12. 24 Hour Experience- Together- Nice 'n' Rype 1994



Arguably the first UK Garage record, everyone’s heard this a million times by now but hopefully they still like it. I’ve had this for around ten years and it was pretty cheap when I picked it up. Most of the Nice N’ Ripe stuff has been reissued on mp3 but this on vinyl seems to have shot up in price for some reason.



13. Todd Edwards- Dancing for Heaven- Bean 1995



One of my favourite Todd tracks, and in a career dominated by remixes this one under his own name stands out. Pre i! Records days.



14. Dawn Tallman- New York City Girls (Tuff Jam's Caution dub) Unda-Vybe 1998



From here onwards I’ve decided to take things in a harder direction, bringing in strictly London stuff like Tuff Jam. This era of UK Garage is the foundation of what I play. I got into the garage when it was mostly 2-step (which I still love) but it was the slightly older stuff that was always battered to death alongside the contemporary dark bits (Bingo Beats, Ammunition, etc) that I liked just that little bit more, and the reverence the scene had for it’s four to the floor past made it near impossible not to build up a knowledge of people like Tuff Jam. A lot of genres waste the four to the floor rhythm by making it too monotonous, but the tracks on this CD and Garage  in general (and the best House music) have that swing in the percussion that distracts your ears from the bass kicks.



15. New Horizons- Find the Path (In Your Mind) 500 Rekords 1997



Another well-known Garage track, you have to wonder what happened to New Horizons- because their records round about 1997 were good. The b-side, 'Inspiration' used to be a Heartless Crew favourite.



16. State of Mind- Take Control (MJ Cole Vocal mix) Ministry of Sound 1998



MJ Cole when he produced 4/4 records was probably his best era. If anything this is one of his less accomplished tracks from that time, but then his release schedule was choc a bloc with memorable records. This segues nicely from ‘In Your Mind’.



17. Moreso featuring Damon Trueitt- Take My Hand (Filthy Rich's Deep Part 1 mix) i! Records 1998



This is Filthy Rich Crisco, a mate of Todd Edwards from New Jersey. Best known for Somore’s I Refuse (What You Want), this also features Damon Trueitt on vocal duties. Probably better known for the (admittedly good) Dem 2 two-step mix, I love the deepness of the original.



18. Smokin Beats- Do you Know About Love- Smokin Beats 2000



'Do You know about love' is like Luton’s answer to Mood II Swing's 'All Night Long'. I only found out about this recently. I’m assuming it was overlooked a bit because it was an album track rather than a standalone single, and the 2000 release date implies that it was too late in the game for the Garage audience to still be paying attention to songs like this. Smokin Beats ended up producing 2-step under the Zoom & DBX alias. But this is arguably the best thing they ever did, and a good swan song for Sunday Night In Volume 1.

Thursday 21 November 2013

Youtube Mini mix Vol. 2: Current London House Vs Oldskool Garage



This is my slightly late in the year mix of tracks that were released around summertime, with a chart bothering cut from Rudimental, one of Dusky's better productions, and a track that should be in anyone's top 5 list of Tuff Jam tunes. Most of the stuff I play is Old Skool Garage so it's nice to get some new 'London' house tunes on vinyl that can supplement my largely retro collection. Someone on the Dissensus Forum has referred to this kind of stuff as house & bass though I'm not sure if anyone else has accepted this as a sub-genre title.

Like a lot of people I bought the Rudimental 12" for it's brilliant Skream remix of 'Hell Can Freeze' (one of the year's best tunes in my book). The A-side was an irritating commercial tune in the vein of Pendulum so I had Rudimental wrongly pegged as a crap D&B act. But when I got round to listening to that side of the record I came across the first tune of this mix- it's nice summertime sing-along music. Track 2 is one of Karl & Matt's classic dub mixes, if you haven't heard this by now you'll be in for a treat. The last tune is by Dusky, who I don't know a lot about. This is on the Naked Naked label who put out the excellent 'Somewhere' by Breach & Midland late last year. I don't know if Capital T has any recognisable elements from Garage or any other London based scene but it's got a nice smooth, maybe American vibe to it.


1. Rudimental ft Sinead Harnett- Baby (Asylum records 2013)
2. Tuff Jam- Key Dub (i! records 1997)
3. Dusky- Truth Capital T (Naked Naked 2013)

Sunday 3 November 2013

DJ Owen Griffiths On Some Other Thing Vol. 1. Side A






Hear the mix

When I agreed to do this tape I had come up with the idea for side B pretty early on. Side A took a little longer. It had to be something different from what I usually play, which is Old Skool House & Garage. I ended up going down a more laid back and soulful direction. Apart from the first two tracks it was fairly improvised. Without the need to beat match I had more time to think about what the next record should be, decide what would compliment the one currently playing.

1. Lone Catalysts- Lone Catalysts Instrumental- B.U.K.A. Entertainment 1999

I have very few hip hop records in my collection. This was something I bought in the Virgin Megastore in Belfast, probably around 2002- before I had decks. It took me a while to realise that to get the listening posts to work you had to bring your own needles, I was worried that I would break my 1980's record player trying to remove the headshell. I ended up buying a lot of tunes back then playing lucky dip in HMV & Virgin, with a surprising success rate it has to be said. A lot of Drum & Bass and House music, what little Garage they had for sale I was more familiar with so I knew what I was buying. The funny thing was that Belfast's proper underground store, Mixmaster, had proper listening posts and a tidy selection of classic Locked On promos that no shop outside the M25 had the right to have. I neglected this shop a bit because I knew those records would always be there- as proof I had the fact that they were around three years old by the time I was flicking through them- HMV & Virgin on the other hand had a higher turnover of stuff and if you didn't catch stuff early it would get shipped off to some sister store. The problem is that those great Garage tunes that I assumed 'would always be in Mixmaster' started to thin out when Mixmaster took the disastrous step of expanding into the adjacent unit (a foolish business move a bare year or two before decks would be made redundant by CDJ's!), then dying a slow death over a year or three, then turning into a bloody bong shop. By this stage I had embraced the record shops of Soho & London so it wasn't so much of a loss to me.

But I digress. While I should have been buying my favourite genre of music in the city's only independent dance shop I was buying other stuff in the chain stores. By this time I had sussed out how to bring your own needle, and knowing Lone Catalysts had a great D&B remix I decided to hear this one out. Great instrumental, loving that kind of hip hop production. Virgin gave up on vinyl a year or two before HMV, pretty much the same thing happened in the much larger Oxford Street branches where it was clear they were mothballing the format.
 
2. Imagination- Body Talk- R & B 1981Leee John was known to me through his one Garage track with Steve Gurley, and it wasn't long before I found out how good 'Body Talk' was. I think it was on a Trevor Nelson documentary on TV where he listed this (and Loose Ends) as the Brits who could beat the Americans at their own game. Whoever produced this track is seriously talented, almost on a level to Quincy Jones' work for Jacko. In any case mixing this kind of stuff- with it's varying tempos and lack of 4 to the floor kicks- is a bit out of my comfort zone, so it's all edge rollers from now on.

 
3. And Why Not?- The Face- Island 1990Another English group devaluing the Stateside concept of this cassette. This wasn't the first record I ever bought, but it was the first single I ever asked to be bought for me, when I was 6. I suspect they were one hit wonders. My original 45 got snapped in half, as the cheap & nasty 7" format has a habit of doing. I eventually got this on LP around 2000 in Terry Hooley's Good Vibrations shop, which funnily enough is where I bought my first piece of vinyl the year before- a Goldie album. Going with the general mood of this tape up till now I would have probably drew for the Junior Giscombe and Loose Ends hit singles but I only have them on MP3, no use on my vinyl only set up.

 
4. Stardust- Blazin'- Republic 1989So with R&B not being much of an option I thought I'd take things into a 1980's House direction, and this tune from New Jersey's Blaze fits the bill and was a recent purchase so it was literally staring me in the face. They did some great deep house tunes in later years but frankly one adjective you don't associate with that genre is the word humour. Not so with this, the craziness of the vocals reminds me of the puppets in David Bowie's Labyrinth movie.

 
5. Mr Fingers- Washing Machine- Trax 1986A lot of this classic Chicago stuff was getting repressed by Simply 12 in the early 2000's, so any mug who showed up at HMV on a weekly basis could pick up a tonne of dance music's most popular tunes with little effort. I seem to remember in Sixth form missing one morning school class almost every week for a 'doctors appointment', but really I would hit the record shops and smuggle the twelves into school about five minutes prior to breaktime. Incidentally the Trax records originals are the most miserly thinnest pieces of vinyl ever, with run out grooves so big they could've easily have put it on a ten inch. If you don't know about 'Washing Machine' by know- get to know.

 
6. Warren Harris/ Hanna- Afternoon In Paris (N.Y. Mix)- Sound Signature 2005Heard this once on Benji B's Deviation show and I quickly forgot about it. Instead he battered another track on this E.P., 'Healing'. I eventually bought this record for that track alone, which was no mean feat because there's confusion over whether it was released under his own name or his Hanna alias (the sleeve says one thing and the record another). Suffice to say before discogs was there to put things straight, typing the wrong name into an online record shop's search box didn't come up with the right answers. This is probably one of my most played tracks so if I turn it onto anyone else (along with the IG Culture track on tape Side B as well) then it's a job well done. There's few things
more satisfying in record collecting than buying a tune for a specific track, only to take it home and find the B-side is five times better (or one you've always wanted to have ID'd and never thought you would).
 
7. Producers From Another State- Play 4 Today (Vibes Mix)- Goldtone 1992I heard this on Omar S's excellent FYA 3 CDR, where he plays a classic house set with sometimes lackadaisical mixing- the selection is so good it doesn't matter and like Burial's fake vinyl crackle it adds character. This is perhaps the stand out track on that CD, a deep deep deep Jovonn production- haunting almost. It was a few years before I found out what it was called or who it was buy. Scandalously, It's also much better than the three other mixes of it that are on Youtube, so it needs exposed.

 
8. Phortune- Unity- Jack Trax 1989This was something I heard in a Soundcloud mix recently. Turns out it's by Phuture of Acid Trax fame. Took a quick look on Discogs but the 15-30 pound prices put me off. Then barely a fortnight later it turns up as I'm digging through the crates of Head Music, which is like the current Belfast incarnation of Virgin Megastores after countless management buyouts, long periods of closure, and moving to much more modest premises. They had this for the princely sum of £3. Surely this was God's way of telling me that this needs to be bought now. And it doesn't end there. They had another Jack Trax compilation for sale at the same price- the next track in the mix here. Assuming it to be of similar resale value I biught it as well despite not knowing any of the tunes on it- and generally being averse to early dance music releases that squeeze loads of quiet tracks onto a single side.

 
9. Ragtyme- I Can't Stay- Jack Trax 1989


And it turns out it's everything you could fucking want in an 1980's House track. I wasn't expecting this whatsoever. Marshall Jefferson, Frankie Knuckles & Byron Stingily on a forgettable pseudonym. I'm surprised a song of this calibre isn't as well known as things like 'Can You feel it', or Frankie Knuckles other hits. It's an ideal climax to side A of this tape. Well mastered too
 
10. Jay Dee/ Jay Dilla- Airworks 2006


But of course it's hard to measure how much time you've got left on a tape, and I didn't want to have it end in silence. So I deliberately picked something really short and really eccentric. So the best cut off the late Jay Dilla's 'Donuts' album is the perfect bookend. 25 years of black & dance music over the course of 25 minutes.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

DJ Owen Griffiths on Some Other Thing Vol 1. Side B



Hear the mix

This was a tape I did for Ferrite Love Connection, where people from the Dissensus Music Forum swap mixtapes with each other.
This is side B of mine, focussing on underrated tunes and B-sides of the Hardcore Continuum. Largely unmixed, it's just a selection of tracks that span three decades and (mostly) come from London. 

Do you remember when magazines gave away free CD's they would have the DJ talk through the set track by track? I always thought that was more interesting than the actual reviews sections so I'm going to revive the tradition here.

1. Julian Jonah- Jealousy & Lies- Cooltempo 1988

This was a recent purchase so it was staring out at me when I was trying my hardest to think of a 1980's track that would kick off the London/ Hardcore Continuum vibe. Jealousy & Lies continues the 80's 'deep' House theme of Side A (I'll upload that as soon as I work out how to deal with Soundcloud's disobedience). Julian Jonah is probably best known for making up one half of (alongside Danny Harrison) Garage powerhouse 187 Lockdown/ Gant/ Nu Birth, etc. I never knew he was a singer until I spotted this record for a quid in Belfast's local flea market earlier on in the year. Music production hardware must be painstakingly hard to learn at the best of times, so it's weird to think that by 1988 Julian Jonah and the likes of Mark Moore were skilled enough to be releasing professional sounding tracks that aimed- and sometimes actually managed- to the bother the charts. Even more impressive when you consider A Guy Called Gerald produced Voodoo Ray two years before this was released. Where did these people even get the money for all those expensive 303's, 808's etc? Honestly- I suspect Julian's background as a vocalist meant he had access to label studios (and maybe even a manager & marketing budget) that a lot of people wouldn't have had back then.

2. Mount Rushmore- The Vybe (That's Flowing) (Kevin Yost's Jungle Jim Jam) i! Records 1997


This tape is meant to get a lot more London sounding as it progresses, but I use this American track as a nice bridge between Julian Jonah's sing-along House and the more rough sounds of Jungle & Garage. Most people reading this will recognise it as the b-side to a Todd Edwards release, but every so often some of the other remixers for 'the God' stand out. Kevin Yost pioneered a style of Deep House that I don't particularly like, but this laid back take on ambient Jungle/ D&B from the wrong side of the Atlantic is one I've reminisced about over the last decade of owning it. Here's one of the rare occasions I've actually dusted it off.
 
3. Blame & Justice- Anthemia (Heaven) Moving Shadow 1994


I wouldn't have been old enough to remember Moving Shadow in the 2 Bad Mice era but they've done a better job than most of repressing classic stuff when I was of a 12" single buying age. I would've never heard of this if it wasn't on the same slab as one of their more popular re-releases, like Foul Play or Ray Keith's Terrorist. I really didn't think a ruffneck Ragga jungle track would fit right on this tape, and given that that's what makes up my small collection of old Jungle, that limited my choices to something that as far away as possible from  the Dead Dred bassline. Is this a B-side, maybe not. But it is underrated.

4. Kahil El'Zabar- Our Time is now (IG Culture Mix)- Deeper Soul 2005


And you can't get more underrated than this- and from a largely forgotten genre too. I heard this once on Benji B's show roundabout 2004/5. Thought it was good then completely forgot about it. Then months later in Jean Claude's If Music shop off Brewer Street (the most boutique record shop in Soho, if not the world) this was one of about a thousand records he gave me to listen to. And all of a sudden I realised this was that track I'd completely forgotten about and it's only one of the best bloody broken beat tunes ever. IG Culture and the scat singing vocalist deserve a years salary for collaborating on this, trust me.

5. DJ Dee Kline & Pixie- Crimestoppers/ Darren- Rat Records 1999 


Like Timo Mass with Doom's Night, Mr Oizo was one of those Europeans who although they'd never heard a Garage record before they somehow managed to make a tune that fit perfectly into the 2-step scene. But it came full circle when proper Garridge producers Deekline & Donna Dee did a blatant rip off of Flat Beat with added comedy value. Never has snitching on your mates been so humorous. "That's right, flat five".

6. Re-Animator- Return to E (Horsepower Productions mix) Vertical Drop 2001


I think this was the first Horsepower track I ever heard, on Flashback FM no less. I bought their first album when it came out but up until then the few times I had been in Black Market (with either a very young Youngsta or his very attractive female predecessor behind the counter) there were no Tempa singles to be had, nor were there any in Big Apple Records the one time I bothered to travel as far South as Croydon (Hatcha was jumping around like an over-excited chav). This is a good refix of the hardcore original, one of the few tunes of the rave era (like Who's the Badman) that Garage DJ's regularly kept/ keep in their record box.

7. Es-G- Get Dirty- Shelf Life 2001 


This tape wasn't meant to have any mixing but spontaneously I decided to draw for this, 'the best El-B tune that wasn't produced by El-B- ever'. I wouldn't be surprised if I heard this once when it came out but I can't be sure. All I know is I went to FWD at Plastic People for the first (and only) time in February 2007 and Benny ill was playing warm up dub reggae to an audience of twelve people- I wasn't getting it at all. Then he turned the volume up and played this 2001 release pitched down. It was the moment when I realised that when people said that Plastic People had London's best sound system (or even that the quality of a sound system actually mattered), it was true. So naturally I spent the next year or two wondering what the fuck is that haunting El-B track. Turns out it's his label mate Es-G. If only this C90 did it as much justice as the Plastic People speakers did.

8. Wizzbit/ Geeneus- Jam Hot (played at 33)- Dumpvalve 2003


I loved what Dumpvalve were doing back then, they really pushed things forward especialy with stuff like What. Jam Hot is one of Geeneus's best productions but it also works surprisingly well played at the wrong speed.

9. Lone Catalysts- Let it Soak (Instrumental)- B.U.K.A. Entertainment 1999 


By this stage of the cassette I knew I was running out of time and probably didn't have enough room to fit in another UK track. I thought if I play another Lone Catalysts beat it would bookend nicely with the start to Side A. In any case it looked like there was still some room left on the tape so I moved onto...

10. Theo Parrish- Dreamers Blues- Sound Signature 2005


This was the era of me listening to Benji B, Gilles Peterson & Patrick Forge on my DAB radio. I probably wouldn't have heard learned about Theo Parrish, the fact that R&B could be 'good', or a lot of deep house producers if it wasn't for these shows. In a years time Dubstep would blow up and I wouldn't have the spare time to listen to this sort of stuff. This might not be the best Parrish track of the year (Capritarious #7 fits the bill) but it's a relaxed tune fort the fag end of the mixtape.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Youtube Mini mix Volume 1: Early 2000's Deep House


I know we're approaching Winter but this one's got a Summertime feel to it,cheerful vibes from San Francisco to Toronto by way of France. The first track is played at plus 8 but still sounds good which is an achievement in itself.

1. Star Stern & DJ Ra-Soul- Reality (SoulFood Dub Mix) Soulfood 002
2. Franck Roger- Jeware. Real Tone 006
3. Nick Holder- Summer Daze. NRK Sound Division 055

Monday 30 September 2013

Welcome

As you can tell my name is Owen. I'm a bedroom DJ from a rainy city (Belfast) who just happens to have a great collection of twelves, mostly spanning the whole London/ Hardcore Continuum era of music. Loads of UK Garage, the Dubstep & Grime offshoots, and the more traditional New York/ Jersey house sound that inspired the London garridge lot to do their own thing in the first place.

I've been buying tunes since 2000 and have owned Technics for around ten years. I've yet to be bitten by the CDJ/ Laptop bug so it's strictly vinyl when I'm in the mix. I'm looking to get a proper soundcloud page before Christmas to upload my own sets- mostly Old Skool Garage and the odd current House/ Garage revival track that I can find on plastic. Until then you can check out some of the classic cassette recordings I've uploaded onto the Lost Tapes From The Attic soundcloud. I'm also getting into uploading some of the great tunes that have yet to be put onto Youtube. There are links to both these sites on this blog at the top of the screen.

This page isn't really a blog- just a convenient hub to link up the various music projects I'm juggling at the moment. It's all up there on the task bar just below the top of the screen.