Kon, best known if you put his name together with that of one Amir, has his own blog. On that he shares a few thoughts about Southport where he played. If his ride to the airport was a bit bumpy he can partly blame us for that because we spent the Friday night at the bar with his driver. Haha. There’s an ace mix for those loving the Kon & Amir sound (and I know a few who check this blog regularly) for grabs. Tasty one.

Phlash & Friends - Deep Electronic Sounds Album (Archive)
MFOR - Bowline (Reincarnation)
Theo Parrish, Vito Money, Andreya Triana & others – Chemistry (Sound Signature)
Madlib – Beat Konducta: Dill Withers Suite (Stones Throw)
88 Keys feat. Bilal – MILF (Decon)
Cro-Magnon – Mellow Out & Acoustic EP1 (Jazzy Sport)
Motor City Drum Ensemble – Sunsequence (Four Roses)
Physical Sound Sport – Nigeria Game (Jazzy Sport)
Moxie – Feel So Good (Moxie)
The Revenge – Nightflight (Jisco)
Zed Bias feat. Jenna G – Let Me Change Your Mind (Development)
Elmore Judd – Bass Bully (Honest Jons)
Pat Gonzales - Ortille (Infinitskills)

Got a promo copy of the Phlash and Friends album "Deep Electronic Sounds". Rarely heard such a strong House album. All killers no fillers. And we’re on the cover. Which is made up out of pictures of Phlash with "friends". It’s a picture taken when we visited his Inspiration Information night last year. Always knew we had more talent as models than as dj’s. Haha.

A real big up to everyone present at Go Bang! last night. You all made it a classic. Maybe it was far from a full house but the vibe was amazing. Seeing the entire room line-dancing was one of the many mighty fine moments. That crazy Fuse One jazz tune was another. Major thanks to Phil Asher for the fantastic set and the great company. Enjoyed every minute of it. Best dj-set on one of our parties ever. And we’ve had more than a few superb ones. Extra special thanks to Lieve and Sarah for the excellent food.

And gotta say I’m more than a bit disappointed in a lot of people. Saying we’re doing a great job, promising to pass by and then not showing up is lame. The only way to support us is by being there when it’s on. If I ever hear you fools complain about the quality of the nightlife in Brussels/Belgium you’re in for a treat. Best thing is to just leave me alone for while if you recognise yourself in these words.

We got to let this all sink in for a while. And deal with the aftermath of the party. Then we’ll decide how to continue. All the nice words expressed by the people on our dance floor and our guests make our conviction we need to keep on stronger. But you can’t keep organising parties just on that. The reality is you need money too. And for that you need people showing up.

This somewhat archaic Dutch expression as a title, to express (euhmm …) our gratitude to some people who helped us a great deal in the promo campaign of our Go Bang! party happening tomorrow. People spreading the word through their blog, by handing out flyers, spamming going out agenda’s and forums, suggesting promo actions or just by talking to others. Jenna, Joanna, Lieve, Kathelijn, Dieter, Thierry, Kwak, Lefto, Alex, Phil, … we love your work a lot. Thanks.

Having our own little community, that’s important. Which reminds me I need to finish that Blaze interview where they share some deep thoughts about that.

Oh, and the shout out I’ve talked about in one of the previous posts is finally up. Myspace was acting somewhat strange.

This one arrived with the mail yesterday. What a killer House track. Solidifying Theo Parrish’s status as an utter genius. After “Love Triumphant” and “Going Downstairs”, this one is another mid tempo bomb. The result of Theo’s work with some Red Bull Music Academy participants and lecturers. Members of the stellar team of people working on this gem are Vito Money, Andreya Triana, Ommas from Sa-Ra, Sofie L., Aia Dick and Steve Spacek. Resulting in a beauty of a song. This is the definition of Deep, Raw Soulful House. Essential. Nothing less.

Needless to say the b-side is dope too.

I’ve uploaded a killer shout out on our Myspace. By the best football / soccer player Belgium ever had. A true legend. He even played in that silly movie where Sly Stalone is a goal keeper. Big up for Paul Van Himst. Sporting Champion.

Only right to make some promo on this blog for the next release of our guest at our upcoming party. The 3 separate 12”s already available of the Phlash and Friends project have all had their shine here already. But now it’s time to let you know the album is about to drop. “Deep Electronic Sound” on the Italian Archive label will be in stores very soon. No doubt you’ll hear Phil Asher (aka Phlash and thus the main main behind this all) drop some of the songs on it in his set or on our radio show next week.

The friends participating in this project are Karizma, Dego (4 Hero), Zed Bias, Mark de Clive Lowe, Orin Walters (BITA), Sa-Ra’s Ommas, Rich Medina, Zansika, Alma Horton and others.

All of the tunes already out are bangers but the album cuts take it up a notch. Like those with Rich Medina or Sandra Nkake (which are both on the vinyls as instrumental but the vocal versions really rip it).

Don’t think about it and buy this one if you see it. Or pre-order it at Rush hour (who are doing the distribution too so you’ll find all the info you could wish for here).

Essential one if you like raw, soulful music. 

For those of you still in need of a party on a Sunday evening we advise you Sub Scape this weekend with Carl Craig happening at Cafe Capital in Antwerp. Dan Curtin next week is also well recommended.

Tonight a new bar in the Brussels city centre is opening. Called Cafe Merlo. Our friend Waldo, who many Brusseleirs might know from his days behind the counter at the Roskam, is one of the people behind this. You can find it at De Vismet (actual address is Baksteenkaai 80), these days the epicentrum of that awful christmas market. Anyway, all the best to the crew. We’re happy to add another bar to our list of premier choices. The Onda Sonora crew will be there tonight.

This week we bring you a batch of fresh releases with the occasional forgotten classic mixed in. Very uptempo with some killer dubstep from Mala and Martyn, new bangers from Wireman, Pépé Bradock, Karizma and Robert Koch and we prepare you a little for our Go Bang! party with a couple of Phil Asher productions and free tickets.

Check it tonight for 10 to 11pm on 98.8fm or on the fm brussel website all week long. Enjoy.

Track List:
Little Stevie & Jay Smith – Uptight (Jamaican Airlines)  
Mala - In Luv (White)
Martyn - JW On A Good Night (Revolve:R)
Wireman – Armour (Prime Numbers)
Pepe Bradock – Mandragore (Atavism)
Man Friday - Jump / Larry Levan Mix (Vinyl Mania)
Charles Mingus vs Robert Koch - Moanin’ (White)
Black Joy ft Sandra Nkake - Metalbossa / Restless Soul Vocal Mix (Project)
Nathan Haines ft Verna Francis - Earth Is the Place / FK edit (Wave)
Karizma - It’s What I Am / Simbad Remix (R2)              
Herb LF - Miles / Soulphiction Remix (Farside)  
DJ Spinna & Ovasoul7 - You Should Be Loving Me (Wonderwax)

Don’t forget. This Saturday our GO BANG! with special guest Phil Asher is happening. Going to be a big one. Listen to fm brussel this week for free tickets. Both in our show and Chantal’s on Friday evening. And if all goes well we have another big guest lined up for you for the next one.

On Firday you can catch us at the Live Music Cafe on the boulevard Anspach (city center, near de beurs / la bourse on the main boulevard). We play after the concert and are joined by some friends (Soul Rebel for example). Entrance is free there. Come and say hello. 

A bit late. But here it is. Really enjoyed our set at Cafe Belga. Even though most people don’t really listen it’s fun to play there. And the few that did focus on our music, appreciated it. We don’t need more.

Saturday was a blast too. Lots of people at Brussels Soul. Not too many faces I recognised. Always a good sign. The music was fine. In hindsight would have loved to play earlier on. 2 o’clock was a bit late. Had way too much time to get into the party and a lot of people had already left by the time we started. But that’s only a personal and maybe selfish thought. The dance floor was packed most of the time. Big up to Thierry, Atze and Yves. It was a good one.

Benji B started putting live broadcasts form his Deviation nights online. With Dam-Funk’s 1 year anniversary session as the first. If you like Boogie this one’s a must. Keep a eye on the site for more.

One of the stand out cuts in the mix is Midnight Express’ “Danger zone”. A killer tune. Check the video above this post and agree. As you can expect this one is rather rare. If you want the original. Because it’s out on re-issue 12″. Check your favourite record dealer for one. A certain shop 2,5h north of Brussels might have some copies left.

Funny to see them all in this video. Hope this song gets the props it deserves. Big up to the We Play House crew.

Those crazy Japanese dudes are trying to get me broke. Releasing essential vinyl like there’s no tomorrow. The Cro-Magnon album and EP’s (with the killer “live” takes on Moodymann and others) for instance. And the Nubian Lady and Physical Sound Sport EP’s, which are all the way my cup of tea. Both proper African Disco not Disco / Deep Detroit House releases. Check ’em out.

And then I’m not talking about Eric Rico, Gaggle and other top releases I have skipped for now.

Eric Rico is in Antwerp tonight. At De Cinema. Thanks to the guys from A Cut Above.

Tonight we play at Cafe Belga. From 10pm till it closes. Feel free to come and say hello.

About the future. Everything’s a bit misty. A lot of “maybe’s” and “if all goes well’s”. Even when it’s about what we organise ourselves. If the Phil Asher party goes well, we’ll be ambitious again. Otherwise we’ll have to keep it low for a while. Some other high-profile gigs in the pipeline. But nothing fully confirmed. We’ll see. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating you can’t go all out. How I would love to organise something like Deviation of Disco 3000 with a fancy guest each and every edition. But we live in Brussels / Belgium and that makes things a bit more complicated. It feels like pioneering, doing what we do.And that’s fun too.

Anyway, next 2 weekends are the way they should be most of the times. Plenty of gigs and some exciting guests to host. Thanks for all the positive feedback we’ve got lately. Feel free to say hello when you are at one of the parties we’re at. Would love to meet you all in person instead of the impersonal net.

I’ve bought quite a lot of albums which you can consider Hiphop lately. Here’s the list:

Black Milk - Tronic (Fat Beats)
I’m a big Black Milk fan. I’m a big Detroit music fan. So this I would have bought this even if it was half as good as it is. But it’s a banger. With The Matrix as my absolute favourite on it. The Pharoahe Monch / Black Milk combo is golden. Be sure to check his precious releases too. All quality.

Q-Tip – The Renaissance (Universal)
Probably my all time favourite rapper. Tribe is and will always be my favourite group (notice I don’t mention any genre). I’ll always cherish the moments listening through my headphones to Low End Theory when I was still in high school. Wasn’t too impressed by Amplified, his first solo album, waited endlessly for the follow up (which I have on vinyl and which is solid but never got an official release). This new one isn’t blowing me away like ATCQ did but it’s high quality nonetheless from start to finish. You’ll here me play a lot from it in my sets.

Madblib – WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip (BBE)
Beat Konducta -  Volume 5, The Dil Withers Suite (Stones Throw)
The first is a solid Hiphop album but nothing more, the second is how I like my Madlib beats best. Volume 1 & 2 are classics, not too fond of his Indian experiments on 3 & 4 but this one’s on point again. Still one of the freshest beatmakers out there. Essential one for the headz.

People Under The Stairs – Fun DMC (Gold Dust)
One of the most underrated groups. Always funky and banging like Hiphop should be. You need everything by these cats. Including this new album.

Shafiq - Presents Jack Random vs Earl Leonne - The Frequency Cla$h (Poobah)
Solo outfit of one of the Sa-Ra Creative Partners. Producers for, among others, Erykah Badu and Fonzworth Bentley. If you like the Beat Konducta, you need this. Heavy beats for the lovers of it. And go buy all releases you find with the Sa-Ra stamp on it. Beginning with the Jazzy Sport EP’s.

This one is a killer. Why didn’t anyone come up with this before. A female response to the classic Eddie Kendricks song “girl You Need A Change Of Mind”. Nice one. Out on the “Sound of Love EP” on Development.

Other relevant takes on that song:

IG Culture on his Badizm album
Paul Lewis in ’79 on Sunshine Sound Disco

Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts # 3 (Raw Cuts)
Theo Parrish – Downstairs pts 1& 2 (Sound Signature)
Jazzanova – Off All The Things LP (Verve)
Carl Craig & Moritz Von Oswald – Recomposed (Deutsche Grammophon)
Pepe Bradock – Mandragore (Atavism)
Madlib – WLIB AM: King Of The Wigflip LP (BBE)
Mala – In Love (White)
Benga – Loose Synths (Tempa)
Martyn – JW On A Good Night (After Seven)
Q-Tip – The Renaissance LP (Universal)
Mayer Hawthorne & The County – Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out (Stones Throw)
Hudson Mo – Star Crackout (All City)
DJ Mujava – Township Funk (Warp)
Homerun – the City That Never Sleeps (CDR)
Emanative – When On Earth (Futuristica)
Robert Koch vs Charles Mingus – Moanin’ (CDR)

Not too inspired lately. I have to think about what to write while it usually comes naturally. Really looking forward to play some records for a dancing crowd. I want to do that more than anything else.

Been selecting for Saturday and rediscovered some hot tracks to play. Sometimes I really like to play more focused than the usual crossover we’re known for. Although Soul from the 70’s to now is still a very broad spectrum. But I like the challenge. Mainly because a lot of people share the opinion that there is little interesting Soul music after the golden age of Motown, Stax and alike. Which is utter crap, off course. Some great tunes made since then and still are made.

To throw a first stone at the glass house protecting the glorification of 60’s “pure” Soul (I’ll pass with my bulldozer on Saturday) or to guide those suffering less from elitism but searching for some directions, I’ll give you some tips. Writing you a proper guide would take way too much of my time but I can give you some names of labels and artists so you can begin digging deeper. It might be pretty obvious for some but keep in mind I’m not sharing my secrets that easy. I’m still a dj. Gotta keep some to baffle you when I’m playing.

Philadelphia International
Should be common knowledge but anyway. I discovered them through their more Disco releases but most of their output is first class Soul music. Founded by Gamble and Huff (consider this another tip) responsible for the very orchestrated Philly Soul and a seamlessly endless stream of top vinyl from through the 70’s to the early 80’s. With artists like Teddy Pendergrass, Dexter Wansel, the Jones Girls, Jean Carn and the Futures to name just some personal favourites.

LeRoy Hutson
Worked with Donny Hathaway and replaced Curtis Mayfield in The Impressions but that’s merely anecdotes compared to what he’s responsible for as a solo artist (“Lucky Fellow” and “Love The Feeling” are Onda Sonora classics) or producer (Linda Clifford and that fantastic Arnold Blair tune) on the mighty Curtom label.

Incognito
Legendary band that surfaced in full Acid Jazz hype but since have proven they are much more than that. They’ve released some classics but stand out more by their consistency than anything else. Their albums are always of high quality. Their latest one published this year. Haven’t got it myself yet but according to Thierry Boulanger again a very fine one.

Raphael Saadiq
One of my personal favourites making fresh Soul music now. I’ve bigged up his latest release already on this blog. But he’s much more than that. From his early work with Tony! Toni! Tone! through the “supergroups” Lucy Pearl and PPP, as a producer for D’Angelo, Macy Gray and others or his solo work, he’s been responsible for a fare share of my collection.

Marvin Gaye
Because you never should forget the most obvious classics. Dig deep into the man’s oeuvre. Check who he has worked with and discover new territories. And he’s living proof for me that there’s Soul after 60’s. The man made his best work post 1970.

This week we have Thierry Boulanger, the man behind the Brussels Soul parties, in the studio for an interesting chat and some quality music. See the flyer above this post for more info about the upcoming edition where we are one of the guests.

This episode will air on Tuesday from 10 to 11pm (98.8fm in the Brussels area) or is available through the streaming on the fm brussel website. Enjoy.

Track list:

>>> Begin Thierry Boulanger Selection <<<

Rance Allen Group - Everybody’s Talking / Let The Music Get Down In Your Soul
Tomorrow’s Edition - A Song For Everyone
Funk Factor - Give It Watcha Got
Jacksons - Living Together
Erykah Badu - Honey 
The Sunburst Band - Everything’s Gonna Be OK!
Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
Incognito - Step Aside
Bobby Womack - How Could You Break My Heart
Phyllis Hyman - Forever With You

>>> End Thierry Boulanger Selection <<<

Instant Funk - Get Down With The Philly Jump (Philadelphia Intl)
Donell Jones - U Know What’s Up (La Face)
Jazzanova feat. Ben Westbeech - I Can See (Verve)
Mayer Hawthorne & The County - Just Ain’t Workin’ Out (Stones Throw)

Looking forward to some busy weekends. We play two times on Friday and Saturday. Lovely. First up is our gig at Café Belga. From 22h on we play a range of soulful eclectic music in one of the nicest looking bars around. In the old broadcasting building at place Flagey, in Ixelles, Brussels. The day after that it’s Brussels Soul. But more about that later this week.

The week after we’ll play at the Live Music Café. After the concert. I need to gather some more information about this one. You’ll get that once we got the details. To close off this series of dates we have our own GO BANG! party, off course. The big one with Phil Asher.

After that it’s very quiet. Apart from some projects of our own not too much bookings lined up. Not that we’re panicking, but we wouldn’t mind having some more quality spots to play at. So don’t hesitate to get in contact with us.

The Afro Heat party was very good. Nice venue, heard nothing but good music and it was a full house. A welcome and interesting new player on our nightlife scene. Keep up the good work dj Reedoo and friends. Nice one. Left quite early aiming to be home at a reasonable hour. Failed miserably. Thanks to the guys at Henri. Haha. Always nice to meet them though. Ended up at the nice Bonnefooi bar and got home much later than I hoped. Had a good time nevertheless.

The dinner and music lesson I got served earlier that evening was a superb start of the night. Thanks N’Dae and Didier.

 And recording the radio show on Friday was a lot of fun too. We had Thierry Boulanger from Brussels Soul in the studio for, what I think is, a great interview. And some 24 carat Soul music, off course.

And we’ll play at the Live Music Cafe on Friday the 28th if I understood everything well. And somebody very special from Toulon might come over that weekend for some serious partying. Nothing but goodness. I don’t even mind that my vacation is over.

A bit on the euphoria of Southport Weekender / our set at Fuse I recorded a mix a bit like what you can expect in the Powerhouse main room there / what we played in our set on Monday night. Not the usual deepness nor rawness. Nope, some hands in the air polished vocal House. Actually the stuff we used to play when we started more than 8 years ago. Not that is a mix full of oldies. Nope, some new(ish) releases in it too.

I recorded this also because I need to school some friends of mine a little more. The ones that keep asking to play more “classics”. Or keep asking me to play “Days Like This’ or “Jaguar”. Not that I don’t like these tunes but I’m tired of playing them. I think / hope they mean I need to play some more accessible music from time to time. A remark I can live with. Although I’ll never stop pushing those deep & dirty sounds, I don’t mind incorporating some main room House in my sets (and I was glad to hear Rick Wilhite has that same philosophy). If it’s good music I’ll play it.  And as a dj you need to play for the dancers so I’ll keep those comments in mind when playing in the future.

And because I’m rearranging my collection I rediscovered some beauties. Some are in this mix, some you can expect in my sets.

I want to dedicate the mix to Karl. To cheer him up. A first class bastard crashed into his parked car and fled. That’s low. Hope this will get his mind off things a bit.

Track List:
Luther Vandross – Are You Using Me? (EMI)
Mark Grant Feat. Russoul – Guessing Again (SubUrban)
Ron Hall & The Muthafunkaz feat. Mark Evans – The Way You Love Me / Dim’s T.S.O.P. Version (Defected)
Puzique – Nice-N-Tight (Soulfuric)
Deep Sensation – Togetherness (Deep Jazz)
Karizma feat. DJ Spen – 4 The Love (Code Red)
Teddy Douglas feat. Margaret Grace – Watcha Gonna Do / Muthafunkaz 12” Remix (Code Red)
Koffee Brown – Where Da Party At? / Bootleg Remix (White)
Kerri Chandler / Roy Ayers – Good Vibrations / Kerri’s Mad Mix (Mad House)
P.B. & Company feat. Yvonne Brown – I’m In Love / Pound Boys Jazzin’ Dub (SubUrban)
Michael Procter – Love Don’t Live / U.B.P. Classic Club Mix (Soulfuric)