Doc Martin is one of the most revered DJ’s in the American house music scene. His career goes back to the earliest days of rave culture, and he has toured the world many times over and held numerous residencies at top dance clubs. His many recorded mixes are collected in a number of places around the web: Rave Archive, Ezeskankin, and MPiii to name a few. This particular one is a favorite of mine, collecting many of my favorite house and deep house anthems in one epic journey. This recording combines all four parts of the Visions of Paradise set into one long mix, which was originally spread across two cassettes. I don’t know the year it was recorded, but given the track selections, I would say it was sometime in the late 1990’s.
Greg Wilson has been a pioneer in electronic music ever since the early 1980s. Specializing in jazz-funk and disco, Wilson is known for being the first DJ to ever mix live on British television, as well as the teacher of a young Fatboy Slim. Yet perhaps the British producer is most famous for his DJ sets, in which he scratches and mixes using two reel to reel tape machines. I’ve posted about him before, specifically his awesome BBC Radio Essential Mix and later an except from his essay on the roots of electro.
His set in May 2012 at the Movement festival in Detroit was a tour-de-force of disco dancing and seamless remixing. Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Garbage, and many others get a disco rework that’s both surprisingly funky and faithful to the originals. I’ve been listening to it constantly since May and have to share it here:
This mix bounces a number of different musical styles off each other, building up steam into high energy dance party. I was inspired by some fascinating interpretations of the blues by Kenny Larkin (in his Dark Comedy alter ego) and an Akufen track from the Blu Tibunl remix project. Then after a short detour into the “heroin house” style, I got down to business with some jackin’ house and then electro from Riton, Beck, and a medley of classic Prince tunes.
Where do you go from there? Ghetto house, Bmore breaks, and some straight up dance rock from folks like Blues Explosion, LCD Soundsystem, Blur, The Libertines, DJ Mujhava, and much more. I did lots of edits throughout this mix and even threw in a remix of Juney Boomdata’s “Cookies” I did myself.
The latest edition of the Meow Mix takes you to the beach! In keeping with the Meow Mix tradition, it features lots of uplifting, melodic tunes with some Latin spice and a couple classic anthems. It kicks off with a rare live jam by BT & Danny Tenaglia called “Blue Skies,” a longtime favorite of mine. Other highlights include funky workouts by Herbie Hancock and War, Aly-Us’s unforgettable “Follow Me,” Pete Heller’s “Big Love” and a little Daft Punk. Bob Sinclair, Basement Jaxx, and DJ Gregory are all in the mix, too.
***Update*** I added six more songs to this mix on December 26th, 2010. See tracklist for update.
Kinosport’s live DJ set at Helsinki’s Rytmikaravaani event is one of the most delicious deep house / minimal techno sets I’ve ever heard. I’ve been playing it for over a year now, and it always gets enthusiastic compliments. It’s a slow-burner that gets chunky and funky about ten minutes in and keeps it going. It’s got tracks from some of my favorite artists of the genre, including Atomly, Max Mohr, and Moodymann. Check it out below, and make sure to also visit Kino’s blog for more mixes and some great photography as well.
I remember the first time I heard “two-step” a.k.a. UK Garage. Having recently arrived in London in 1998 to go to school at Westminster, I followed the scent of ganja in my dorm floor and made some new friends. The stereo in their small, smoky dorm room was tuned to a pirate radio station and it was playing a new kind of dance music that I hadn’t heard before. I asked what it was and one of the guys replied, “garridge.”
At the time, I thought they meant “garage” as in disco and house made famous by New York’s Paradise Garage. They were quick to correct me: no, this was a completely different kind of music, the next evolutionary step from mid-90’s Speed Garage, and the predecessor to the Dubstep and Grime genres that rose to prominence in the early 2000’s. Two-step’s popularity only lasted a few short years, and inspired both strong loyalty from its fans and scathing hate from those who preferred harder bass lines and rougher, more aggressive sounds.
Nowadays it can be pretty hard to find a good, let alone definitive mix of this music. This mix captures all the top singles from the Locked On label, a sub-label of Pure Groove and home to some of the most famous two-step artists and singles. If you’re searching for a great two-step mix to reminisce on, this is it. Originally packaged with Muzik Magazine’s November 2000 issue, this is a flawless mix showcasing the distinctive clipped rhythms and sugar-sweet R&B vocals of two-step, which retain their funky soulful vibe a decade later.
Infinite Grey is a one-man deep house machine. He’s been performing at raves and clubs since 2000, playing his gorgeous brand of house live from an impressive collection of hardware. Here is a great quote from his bio that sums up the Infinite Grey experience:
When you see Infinite Grey play live, you are guaranteed to see a live musical performance – not a guy huddled over a laptop. John can be seen turning on and off parts, mixing instruments, shuffling beats, manipulating effects, and playing keyboards live. He plays his tracks using pre-synced looping patterns, which are loaded and mixed together as they play.
This live set of his, from a rave in 2003, has always been a favorite of mine. At a little under an hour, it has a sparkling “blue sky” quality to it while staying funky and totally house. Check out his website for more free sets and tracks.
