To keep going on the deep electronic vibe of last few posts. Another driving quality piece of stomping music is Arto Mwambé’s latest production called “Une Seule Nuit / Mix de Danse”  on Brontosaurus. Tasty, trancy old school House banger. Like most of his work. Love playing this in my sets. It’s deep, got Soul and it doesn’t scare Belgian clubbers, used to Techno and Electro, off the dance floor.  

It’s actually Belgium’s premier Hiphop dj Lefto who hooked me up with this man’s music a couple of releases ago. Been a fan ever since.

Mule Musiq is a label that should already have sparked your interest if your are into deep electronics or if you like all things Japanese. It is mainly centred around Kuniyuki who you might know from his work with Henrik Schwarz. Let me add that the Theo Parrish remix of his “All This Things” song is a must have if you are a fan of that deep Detroit sound. All this namedropping should be enough to situate it and get you interested. If not, this is probably not your type of music.

Another piece of music from this label (well actually the Mule Electronic subsidiary) that you need is the Ame remix of Koss’ “Earth”. Ame, another name that’s got quality deepness written all over it and Koss being one of Kuniyuki’s aliases. It’s got that instantly recognisable driving bass and endless building up to a climax Ame is known for combined with the freaky noises typical for Kuniyuki. This is bound to become a classic. Love the way the Germans manage to have a sound of their own without repeating themselves. Quality release.

Be sure to dig up the other releases on this label or by Kuniyuki. Guaranteed niceness. Check the links for sounds.

Don’t know much about this guy apart that he’s from Berlin and releases banging House / Techno records. Last night his “Live goes on” was one of the top records on our dance floor.  Lovely looped Disco samples with a stomping beat underneath clearly influenced by the Detroit and Chicago pioneers but with a definite Berlin touch. If looped Disco makes you panic a little, popping up memories of French blokes filtering the hell out of everything, than we can set you at ease. This is proper and exciting rawness made with love for the originals and the sweaty dancers.

He releases music both under the monikers Soundhack and Soundstream. The latter being a bit more Disco than the other. Not that difficult to find by the way.

Thanks to everyone who came out to dance last night at Go Bang!. Yet again the vibe was wonderful and I’m pretty pleased with the set we played. Hope you liked it too. Still, there could have been more people and it started kinda slow. Makes you realise that there’s still a lot of pioneering work to do. In Brussels / Belgium a lot of people seem to be oblivious about the fact that there’s something between Deep Funk / vintage Soul / Hiphop and Electro / Techno / cheesy House. Soulful Disco, House and Broken beat is a big blank in their dance floor vocabulary. We’re educating but it takes time. Don’t really mind as long as we got a responsive and enthusiastic crowd like yesterday (and we don’t lose too much money).  Always nice to have people congratulating you after the party. Gives one confidence to keep on doing it.

And slowly but surely the family is growing. Good to see some faces I hadn’t seen in a very long time.

Big up to everyone helping, everyone supporting and certainly everyone dancing.

Todd Terje & Prins Thomas. When they wander off too far into Disco-nerd territories they lose me a bit. But on the other hand, sometimes they strike all the right chords. Like with their genius take on Cloud One’s “Don’t let this rainbow pass me by”. In my book anything by Patrick Adams is classic and should be handled with great precaution when reworking it. But with “Reinbagen” the duo from Norway did a wonderful job. Kept the keys (melodica) off centre and gave it a melancholic twist. Absolutely stunning version. You can find it on the “Computer incarnations for world peace volume II” on Sonar Kollektiv. That label is on fire, by the way. Although the rest of the compilation kinda gets lost in the territories I described before. This track’s on a seperate 12” so you don’t have to buy the entire album if it’s not your cup of tea.

Clubs are slowly but surely starting with the new season. Stereo Sushi keeps on organising the Soul Heaven parties once a month, a fact we can only be happy about. Mainly because it’s the only Soulful House party with international dj’s in Belgium. First 2 dates are with DJ Spinna (11/10) and Karizma (15/11). Quality no doubt. Hope our friends from Diephuis are asked to do the warming up.

To keep yourself on point with the Soulful nightlfe in Belgium only 1 address; Take A Step In The Right Direction.

Slept on this one a bit. Been following Foreign Exchange since their first releases. Like it but I’m never blown away by their music. So downloaded this one a bit out of habbit and didn’t really give it a proper listen. Until a day or two ago. On the bus to the radio studio. Since then I’m hooked. "Daykeeper" is a winner. Reminds me a bit of Radiohead. But with more Soul. With Muhsinah as guest. Looks like she can’t do a thing wrong. Will give the album a decent check when it comes out.

Get "Daykeeper" for free here. Nicely designed site by the way.

I’m moody the first hour after I wake up. Very moody. Tried to work on it but had to accept it as a fact of life. Most people who know me know this. Every now and then somebody thinks to be funny waking me up suddenly. Usually the do this only once in their life. Mainly because it always nearly ends shortly after that. I’m that bad tempered when I’m not fully awake.  

Anyway, I think I’ve found a sort of cure for it. Been getting up early this week for work. Which means I’m extra moody. But I’ve also uploaded the new Jazzanova single on my iPod and playing that completely brightens me up. Never had that this intensely with a song. It makes me smile. It makes me wish I had somebody to share it with. Making me a bit sad that way too but I don’t mind. It gets me through the day with the iPod always within reach for emergencies.

This to say that “Let me show ya” is of the highest quality. Just like you expect from a group like Jazzanova. It’s very orchestrated Soul with Paul Randolph - bass player / singer you might know from his work with Moodymann and Amp Fiddler or his own releases on Still Music - on vocal duties. There’s a Henrik Schwarz remix on the 12” too which I haven’t bothered to listen to yet. Can’t get past the original.

If the rest of their album will be as good we’re up for a stone cold classic.

San Soda - 20070505 / Red D & Lady Linn Vocal Remix (We Play House Recordings)
Koss – Earth / Ame Remix (Mule)
Roots Manuva – Let The Spirit (Big Dada)
Q-Tip – Lightworks (Universal)
Flying Lotus - Shadows (White)
J. Rawls – Another Tribute To Dilla (Polar)
Soundstream - “Live” Goes On (Soundstream)
ManMadeScience – They Like To Watch You / Me And You (Philpot)
Arto Mwambe -  Une Seule Nuit / Mix De Danse(Brontosaurus)
Various – Detroit Beatdown Vol. 2 EP 3 (Third Ear)
The Revenge – Unfinished Edits Are Out Of My Hands (OOFT)
Made In Japan – City At Night (Citywurl)
Emanative & Ahu – Turn Your Lights On (Brownswood)
Los Hermanos – Central Nervous System (Submerge)
Jazzanova – Let Me Show Ya (Verve)
Black Milk – Purple Track 7 (CDR)
Foreign Exchange Feat Musinah – Daykeeper (CDR)
Bennson – Let The Love & other tracks from the album (Raw Fusion)
Bakura – Mistaken (Especial)
Melo – What Have We Got To Lose (Raw Fusion)
Trus’me – WAR Dub (Prime Numbers)
Paul White – For You & For Me (One-Handed Music)

I agree a lot with Kevin Hedge on the Obama point he makes in the interview we aired yesterday (and which is still available through the FM Brussel streaming). The positive aspect of his “change” rhetoric is the most important. I may not agree with everything he stands for – I’m way more progressive - but I think he might be the catalyst in making this world a bit more pleasant to live in for everyone. A world where we don’t blame others for our shortcomings and do something about it ourselves. In a positive way. Might sound hippie but I don’t care. I think the world lacks warmth and understanding. And I hope Obama’s election is a spark towards more of that. The fact alone that he gives me hope is already half of the struggle.

Dustin Ross, one of the most interesting photographers I know, and which I discovered through his “musical” work with a lot of the artists I like, made a nice “behind the scenes” reportage of the Democratic convention in Denver. Check out his blog for some pictures.

This week it’s all about Blaze, as we bring you our interview with Kevin Hedge and Josh Milan. We took it before they played at a private party later that day. It was a very interesting and inspiring talk for us with 2 of our musical heroes. With Rainer Trüby joining in the conversation every now and then. Between and underneath the talking we play some of our favourite tracks of the duo.

If you want to know more about them here are some links:

Allmusic
Discogs
2MyBeat

Because we got only a one hour show we couldn’t bring you the entire interview. We’ll bring you that in a seperate Podcast. For so long enjoy it through the streaming on FM Brussel.

Phase II – Reachin’ / Brotherhood Mix (Movin’)      
Blaze - So special / Instrumental (Motown)
Blaze - Lovelee Dae (Slip ‘n Slide)
Blaze Productions pres. James Toney Jr. Project - Lovely Ones / Lovely Shelter Dub Mix (Life Line)
Blaze - Wishing You Were Here (Slip ‘n Slide)
Little Louie’ Vega Featuring Blaze - Brand New Day / Dance Ritual Mix (MAW Records)
Blaze -    Elevation (Life Line)
Blaze feat. Alexander Hope - How Deep Is Your Love (Shelter Records)
Ananda Project feat. Terrence Downs - Falling for You / Blaze Dub Mix (Nitegrooves)
Blaze -    Found Love / Fanatix Vocal Mix (West End Records)
Alexander Hope - Saturdays (Azuli)

Had read some reviews beforehand, heard good stuff about it from people who saw him in Rotterdam or London but it still took me a bit by surprise. Didn’t expect it to be so good. I know the man has got an endless reservoir of classics to compose his setlist out but there are so many traps to avoid. Minor quality backing, little motivation, incorporating too much cheese, making it an oldies revue, … . None of that though. Tight band, Stevie clearly had fun on stage and enjoyed every minute of it, little cheese (only “I Just Called” and “My Cherie Amour”) and although he played lots of classics he played some less evident ones too.  He got the entire concert hall up dancing (it was a seated concert) more than a few times. Really glad I experienced this.

Really weird mix of people though. All nicely dressed 40+ Germans. Where were the youngsters ? I know it wasn’t a cheap concert but this is required for anyone who digs Soul music. Still, nice to see them all lose it to the music.

In a world that would baffle me a lot less than this one does, one with less stupidity and more common sense, in that world DJ Nuts would be a superstar. This Brazilian DJ is relatively well-known among the in crowd of crate diggers and connoisseurs of the finer dj’s worldwide but outside of that small circle you’ll only see puzzled faces when mentioning his name. A shame. Mainly because today dj’s are more renowned by their productions instead of their skills behind decks before a crowd.

But it’s never too late to try and model the world a bit more like you want it to be. As a first action towards that I’ll hook you up with a great source of mixtapes by dj Nuts. If you like Brazilian music, funk, incredible mixing skills and mixes that ooze pure fun than this is a must check. And spread the word.

More on the German / Köln tip. Through DJ EFF one of our mixes ended up on Soulsender radio. Disco Dalglish’s 80’s R ’N B Mix will be “aired” this Friday from 21h on. Ideal to get you in the mood for the Go Bang! party that night. Check it out here.

Big up to Falk and the people at Soulsender.

Made it a slow weekend. With little action and lots of sleep. Still felt extremely tired yesterday. Weird. Anyway, my main goal was to be in good shape today so I wouldn’t miss the Stevie Wonder gig in Köln tonight. In which I succeeded. Paid quite some money for the tickets. More than I usually spend on a concert. But it’s a legend who’s still on top of his game and he doesn’t tour that much. Heard lots of good things about the show. So a bit hyped.

I’ve seen some crazy MPC action by Jeremy Ellis / Ayro but this beats it all (pun not intended). Discovered it through the great DJ Day blog. They invented the words “Mad skills” for things like this.

People Under The Stairs are about to drop a new album called FUN DMC. Always something to look out for. One of the most underrated Hiphop acts I think. Love Thes One’s beats. Always so funky. Double K always comes hard. Together you got one of tightest teams you could wish for.

To announce their next release they give away this mixtape. Love the oldskool vibe of it. 

And while we’re at it. Can’t believe I forgot to put this under your attention. Moovmnt.com. If you like ‘Deviation Style’ Hiphop and Soul this is the source for new stuff.

But mind. This should only be the first step to actually buying the music you like.

More dope free music here. To prepare you for the PPP gig in Ghent, their upcoming album and more. For those who missed Wajeed’s hint on Deviation.

Black Milk certainly is one of my favourite producers of the moment. This Detroit based beat maker is mostly known for his work with Slum Village, Elzhi, Phat Kat and other Motown based Mc’s. He delivered some proper solo work too. What I like so much about his music is that it’s banging like Hiphop should be, it’s got tons of Soul and it’s raw. He’s the link between Dilla en Theo Parrish for me. Not that he made any House tunes as far as I know. Just feels that way.

In attendance of his Tronic album he drops some free beats for us all. Some cheeky chopping of a well-known artist’s music. Really love track 7. The closest he’s been to House music. Check it out here, here or here.

The New Jazzbreak season will start again next week. In good tradition promo is a bit late but that shouldn’t keep you from going. At first glance only the Appletree nights looks really promising but that’s only because I don’t know most of the groups. And Ugo has proven to unearth some treasures way before they get big (remember The Rebirth). The venue, the fact it is crazy cheap for such quality and the resident dj’s are extra motivations to go. Opening night will be with, among other things, a dj-set by the bPm (who played on GP’s Worldwide festival in Sète like Lefto). Wednesday 24/9 at Le Tavernier y’all.

Don’t forget Dynomite’s kick off in Ghent this Saturday. I’m not going to make it myself. Still not entirely well, plus I got other obligations and I don’t want to overdo it. Wouldn’t want to miss the Stevie Wonder gig next Monday.

Don’t forget to check Take A Step In The Right Direction to be kept on point with all Soulful events going on in Belgium. All the info you need.

Been fighting illness since a few days and I’m clearly not winning. Still got some positive news to tell. We’ve been booked for 2 gigs in Café Belga. On the 31st of October and the 21st of November. First one is a day after my birthday so will treat my friends on some free booze then. It won’t be pure party gigs. Bit curious about it. Exploring other sides of playing records for people. Usually not too much a fan of this kind of dj’ing because I feel, most of the times, playing a CD would make more sense. But this offer we couldn’t refuse. Playing in one of the biggest, hippest bars of our hometown. It would be stupid not to use this big chance to introduce our name in the minds of so much people. Certainly not because the timing is extra fine for our November Go Bang! party. That and the tons of unbelievably beautiful ladies that seem to live around Flagey and more particularly in that bar. Stuns me every time we go record our radio show (the FM Brussel studios are in the same building as the Belga – the former national broadcasting company HQ).

After 2 weeks of specials with guests we are back with a regular show. Lots of exciting new music. From down tempo (Emanative, Mitsu the Beats, Paul White) to more up tempo (Bakura, the Revenge, Kerri Chandler). Also a little teaser for the big Blaze special of next week. Elements of Life was my personal favourite in the set they performed at the party after the interview.

Tonight from 10 to 11PM on 98.8FM or (all week long) through the site.

Emanative feat. Ahu - Turn Your Lights On (Brownswood)
DJ Mitsu the Beats - After Midnight (Show Tiku Bai Premium)
Paul White - For You & For Me (One-handed)
Flying Lotus - Stunts (White)
Michael Jackson – Heartbreak Hotel / Sasso Re-edit (KAT)
Stephanie Mills feat. Teddy Pendergrass - Two Hearts (20th Century Fox)
The Revenge - Night Flight (OOFT)
The Revenge - Unfinished Edits are out of My Hands (OOFT)
Johnny Hammond – Fantasy / Marc Mac presents The Visionairs Version (Juno)
Bakura - Mistaken (Especial)
Jihad Muhammad feat. Tamara Wellons - Right Now (Downtown 161)
Little Louie Vega feat. Blaze - Elements Of Life (MAW records)
Kerri Chandler - Tsiy (White)

Blaze’s Kevin Hedge isn’t somebody to limit himself to making music only. He’s a DJ, label owner, party organiser and much more. You’ll hear about it in the interview we did with them. But as we take our time to bring you the result of our chat with Blaze in the best possible way, you’ll have to wait a little while for that. But it will be worth the wait.

In the meantime you can keep yourself more than busy with this. One of Kevin Hedge’s projects is the 2MyBeat.com site. This aims to promote Soulful music in all its forms (or Global Soul as he calls it). You’ll find on the site mixes, downloads, videos, links and more. A nice way to discover tons of information and music. With the possibility to buy what you like through Traxsource.

Check it out.