There’s still a month to go but since this weekend I’m officially all hyped up for the Southport Weekender. Booked everything needed to get there. I will spend a few days before it in London. Visiting some museums, pubs and record shops. And finally going to a Deviation session. Kinda felt bad that they celebrated their first birthday and I hadn’t been there once. A few days off. I really need that.

I’ve got a month to shape up a bit. Don’t want to miss the late night sessions anymore at Southport. And I want to do it the Onda Sonora way. Strictly on Red Stripe, chocolate milk, instant coffee, soup & meals and pub food. Like Jacky Moore sang “This Time Baby”. Or something like that.

And we play at the Fuse club on Monday (more about that soon). If you want to see two exhausted but euphoric dj’s being confronted with a Belgian public after spending days with likeminded soulful-music-mad people, you need to be there. Could be something surreal. But being from Belgium we love that.

After the first We Play House Recordings release it’s nice to see that Red D and San Soda keep the good stuff coming. WPH001 (the previous one was WPH000) is coming out at the end of this month and, believe us, it is very good. 4 quality pieces of 4 to the floor. We’ve played the superb remix of “2007 05 05” with Lady Linn on vocals on our show and at our party last week. But more about that when it is about to drop.

Reason to bring this up already is the We Play House party of next Friday. A sort of early release party. With Detroit cats Scott Ferguson and Keith Kemp next to the WPH-crew San Soda, Red D and Telepaticos (doing a live) on the bill. Like all Red D organised parties firmly recommended.

And I think you’ll be able to score the vinyl there too.

This Friday at Decadance in Ghent.

Attentive readers of this blog may have noticed that I like One-Handed Music a lot. Although this label and its artists are only starting, and have far from an extensive catalogue, I’ve bigged it all up here. Because they deliver fresh, quality beats that manage to stay away from the bleepy bandwagon full of J Dilla / Flying Lotus clones. Bullion and Paul White search their own path and it’s one that takes me to places I forgot (the dense Bomb Squad productions of the golden Public Enemy age I liked so much) and lets me see beautiful new sights.

So it’s a bit of a shame I didn’t mention they’ve released a new Paul White 7”. Not because I don’t like it but simply because I forgot. I received the promo a few weeks ago and wanted to wait until it was in the shops before putting it on this blog. But even buying it at Rush Hour didn’t make me realise that moment was due. Sometimes I’m a bit thick.  

Anyway, it’s still available and again it’s top notch. We’ve played it in our radio show and we will keep on doing if they keep making them this nice. Like I said it’s got a dark, dense Bomb Squad feel about it. Wouldn’t mind some more of that coming back. Very underrated producers.

Matthew Herbert is someone who should have sparked your interest by now if you are any bit into quality music, left of the centre but with Soul. You might have heard him as Herbert, with his big band or as a producer for Roisin Murphy to name the most obvious ones. But he’s much more than that. Digging deeper into that could fill an entire blog in itself so I’m not going to do it. Just going to point out you a few doors to his world.

As a producer, sampling wizard, label boss and so much more he’s somebody who pushes limits. He’s avant-garde, if you wish, but not in the artsy meaningless way. He’s an innovator. One of the kind that makes you wonder why you haven’t done the things he does yourself. One who opens doors and possibilities for you and others. A genius although that word is used so many times it doesn’t do him enough honour anymore. But Matthew Herbert is more than about making edgy but beautiful music. He’s an artist with a strong opinion. Something rare these days. Read about it on his site.

But the reason to serve you this on a Friday afternoon when you’re getting ready to start the weekend is “ The Story”. A new song by the Matthew Herbert Big Band currently being plugged by the better radio hosts worldwide. With Eska on vocals (everything she sings on is gold lately). Bloody good song, with a message and simply sounding brilliant. One of my favourite songs of the year. And there have been a few already to claim that title. This song announces his new album called ‘There’s Me And There’s You’ out at the end of October on K7! / Accidental. Check it out. And check out the album’s mini site with a free demo edit mp3 of “The Story”.

A selected Matthew Herbert discography:

Herbert – Bodily Functions (!K7)
Herbert – Around The House (Phonography / !K7)
Roisin Murphy – Ruby Blue (Echo)
Dani Siciliano – Likes … (!K7)
Doctor Rockit – Indoor Fireworks (Lifelike)
Matthew Herbert Big Band – Goodbye Swingtime (Accidental)

Some personal favourites:

Doctor Rockit – Café De Flor (Lifelike)
Herbert – The Audience (!K7)
Matthew Herbert Big Band feat. Eska – The Show (Accidental)
Cassio Ware – Fantasy / Herbert’s Reality Dub (Playhouse)
Moloko – Sing It Back / Herbert’s Tasteful (F-111)
Recloose – Can’t Take It / Herbert’s Some Dumb Dub (Planet E)

If you want to know more there’s always Discogs off course.

Dieter said something about it on our radio show; the Ancienne Belgique, Belgium’s premier live venue, has renewed its website. From a simple informative site to something very web 2.0. With blogs, a community, videos and everything. They got, for example, entire concerts online for you to watch. Check it out.

It might have caught your attention while listening to the promo mixtape "Funner Than Leather" for P.U.T.S. their upcoming FUN-DMC album, as it is one of the stand out tracks. And now you can get it for free. I’m talking about DJ Day’s remix of the "Step Bacc" track. So funky my fingers dance over my keyboard.

We’ve given you the chance to witness Mad Mats’ impressive skills behind the wheels of steel both in our radio show and at our party. But because we are such fans of the man we don’t like to miss an opportunity to convince the world he’s a great dj and seen that he has uploaded a new mix on the Raw Fusion website we like to post about him again. Check it out.

This week a normal show again. Filled with dope new music. Fresh releases from Jazzanova, Q-tip, Prins Thomas & Todd Terje, The Revenge, Koss and San Soda. We play something from the upcoming release on Red D’s We Play House label with the lovely Lady Linn on vocals. Plus we got some dusted off goodies from the past mixed in for good measure. Enjoy.

All week available through the fm Brussel streaming.

Jazzanova feat Paul Randolph - Let Me Show Ya (Sonar Kollektiv)
Sylvia Striplin - You Can’t Turn Me Back (Uno Melodic)
Q-tip - Gettin’ Up (Universal)
Cloud One - Patty Duke / Instrumental (Sound of New York)
Prins Thomas & Todd Terje - Reinbagan (Sonar Kollektiv)
Billy Paul - False Faces (Philadelphia International)
ManMadeScience - Me & You (Philpot)
State Of Grace - That’s When we’ll Be Free (Profile Records)
Sister Sledge - Lost In Music / The Revenge Edit (OOFT)
Mission Control - Gotta Release (Murk Records)
San Soda - 2007 05 05 / Red D & Lady Linn Remix (We Play House Recordings)
Teddy Douglas - Whatcha Gonna Do / Vox mix (Code Red)
Koss - Earth / Ame Remix (Mule Electronic)

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.