ANDYCAPP'S JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2010 FAVOURITES

VARIOUS ARTISTS - THE REAL SOUND OF CHICAGO (BBE)

Chicago, A place known for its talent of musicians across many genres of music. Soul, Funk, Rock, Jazz, Blues, etc. In modern times, Chicago’s dance floors have a worldwide reputation for House Music. It’s a sound that has pretty much reached to areas all across the globe. In the Early developmental stages of the Chicago dance era (mid-late 1970’s to early 1980’s), there were scores of musicians recording dance music hoping to be the next mainstream success story. Well, for the artists on this compilation it didn’t quit turn out that way. Instead, budget problems, politics, being told, “I don’t like it”, or simply having the door slammed in their face, is what many of these artists were faced with instead. Nevertheless, the musicianship those artists possessed by far equaled or defined infinite status of what today’s market call “Good Music”. We’ve been distributing rare dance gems across the globe together now for a little over a decade. Being the music enthusiasts, that we are, 4 years ago, we opted to bring the art of record collecting to a higher level. So, while walking down the street, we decided to open a record store. Mr. Peabody Records was the name we decided on. Now, The name doesn’t quite fit 2 black guys from the South side of Chicago but according to our math, it worked, which it did. We’ve spent many years traveling various destinations, home and abroad in an effort to snare every possible unique vinyl gem we came across. We supported our massive record collecting habit by selling a wide genre of collectible vinyl globally to people of the same passion. As far as us being dance floor DJ’s, our selections gravitates towards rare and unplaced dance material from the past, with of course a few modern day exceptions. We are pretty strict in our programming so expect nothing but the best. Since the opening of our store, we’ve acquired so much more. So much so, we decided to do a specialized compilation for BBE. The first of its kind, highlighting dance floor material exclusively from the Chicago area, mid 70’s to early 80’s. This compilation is a musical insight to the black underground dance material made in Chicago before house music kicked in. We call it, The Real Sound Of Chicago....

http://slinkymusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=6&products_id=8118

DIXON - TEMPORARY SECRETARY (INNERVISIONS)

Although Temporary Secretary is the official follow-up to Dixon's defining 2007 Body Language mix, it quickly becomes apparent that the recent Innervisions-via-BBE project, Grandfather Paradox, may have left more than a little residue with the Innervisions head, musically and conceptually. Once again, Dixon has an overriding theme to the mix. This time it's a reaction to the disposability of the mix CD, the modest aim being a reclamation of the value that the legal and official DJ mix once had before blog freebies, throwaway digital bundle bonuses and anonymous YouSendIt files.

Such a lofty concept can't help but cast a serious pall of joylessness over the proceedings, and that's precisely what it does here. Grandfather Paradox was equally as high-brow, but it stitched together minimal music's greatest hits into a greater whole. Here, Dixon stumbles on two accounts: Most trainspotters won't immediately appreciate the meticulous splicing that has gone on, and in focusing so heavily on the nuts and bolts, Dixon sometimes loses the big picture.

The mixes between individual tracks are often stunning, however. Fever Ray's dirge-like "If I Had a Heart" is pitched up but no less menacing, setting a brittle and mechanical tone that permeates the rest of the compilation, and is followed by the haunting combination of Roland Bocquet's percussive space oddity "Exotique," with Ame's "Tube Beat." In Dixon's hands, the soul-drenched vocals and strings-a-plenty groove of Henrik Schwarz remix of Jazzanova's "Let Me Show Ya" is fused with the juddering synths of Daniel Paul's "Something About You," for a bit of mechanical soul. Similarly, the harmoniously nightmarish union of the underwater synths and tech-funk of Ben Klock's "In a While" with Precious System's "Voice from Planet Love," far exceeds both original versions.

Elsewhere Dixon balances out the mix with a selection that maintains a delicate balance of warm beats and chilly synthetic melodies: The Fuse's melodramatic "The Machine" recalls Gregorian Chant infomercials, tracks like Kalabrese's micro-house remix of "Inferno Jack" and Ewan Pearson's remix of Junior Boys' "Hazel," keep things beguiling, but at arm's length.

http://slinkymusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=6&products_id=8117

MADLIB - MEDICINE SHOW VOL.1 : Before The Verdict (STONES THROW)

It goes without saying that Madlib is one of the most creative minds in hip-hop, and with each new album you never know what new tricks he has up his sleeve. This sort of unexpected turn in Madlib’s music is both a gift and a curse (although generally much more of a gift). For

Medicine Show 1: Before The Verdict

Madlib digs through his archives to pull up some of his own remixes as well as new material. Some of the older material will likely be familiar to listeners; “Ode To The Ghetto” uses that eerie sample from Deltron 3030’s “Virus”, while “Life Goes By” recycles the beat from Madvillain’s “All Caps”. The problem with this type of compilation is that it comes off sounding like a hastily assembled mixtape, rather than a proper album. It also doesn’t help that the entire project operates on definite lo-fi levels. Intentional or not, the scrambled collection of assorted beats with a layer of fuzz obstructing the sound just doesn’t work in the album’s favor.

To be fair, some of the beats are tremendously enjoyable, and can more than hold their own as singles. The aforementioned beats from 3030 and Madvillainy are pleasant, but special attention is owed to the delicate keys and bells on “I Must Love You”, and the ironically inspirational, Rocky-inspired production of “American Dream & Future”. The majority of the tracks feature wordsmith Guilty Simpson, who is certainly a welcome addition to the album. He brings a grit that is a perfect complement to the loose construction of the album. Guilty comes with his expected hard-hitters such as “you better learn the game and know the ledge, the dudes around here put holes in heads,” on “Yikes”.

The collaboration of Madlib and Guilty on Medicine Show 1 is supposed to be a sort of a prelude to their upcoming project, OJ Simpson. Medicine Show 1 is also the first in a once-a-month, twelve-CD, six-LP series. In theory, all these albums should be strengthening Madlib’s reputation as a beat-maker, and they do because many of the beats are enticing pieces of music. However the sloppy compilation and lack of overall continuity impedes this album from becoming the success it could be

MARK E - WORKS 2005-2009 SELECTED TRACKS & EDITS (MERC)

Wicked new abum from Mark E collecting together some of his most sought after edits of the last 5 years.

 'Sun Shadow' is a deep endless groove of sun kissed soulful house which has received serious spins from Gilles Petterson to Mr.Scruff to the massive & still very much in demand epic boogie house cut complete with a killer Janet Jackson vocal on 'RnB Drunkie'.  'Works' also includes previously unreleased edits of Diana Ross and the sublime 'Plastic People' rework which was previously only available on Mark E's Resident Advisor mix!  The album ranges from deep druggy Theo Parrish esque techno, soulful house and party boogie stompers! Fans of Linstrom and Trus' Me will love this!

http://slinkymusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=6&products_id=8095

KEB DARGE & PAUL - LOST & FOUND : Real RnB and Soul (BBE)

The legendary out-spoken Scotsman has been around the Northern soul & funk scene since the start and began his career as a dancer. As soon as he had enough money together he started collecting and buying Northern Soul in the UK, during regular trips to the US and was starting to play around the Wigan area at the heyday of The Casino. By 1981 he had gained a respectful reputation as a DJ.

He moved to London at the age of 22 and decided to start living a normal life and quit DJ'ing, but was quickly playing Northern-soul again due to heavy demand by old Wigan promoters. He brought the scene to London and drew the Northern punters that had moved to London after the Wigan scene dissolved. After a few years, the Northern scene faded, Keb sold his music collection but he still had a loft filled with 'junk' music (according to himself) that he had picked up in the states that was to-be classified as "Deep Funk" later on.

So in 1989 house music arrived in the UK, and Keb decided to play the funk grooves after a trip to Japan. He managed to get a regular night at an acid-jazz club called 'The Wagclub' and he finished there after a period. And around 1992/93 he met fellow collector Snowboy on the first funk-only night in London called 'Deep Funk', named by Keb (that he later used as a name to describe the sound) but arranged by the owners of the club (Club Ormonds). After a while Snowboy and Keb wanted to push the funk sound further and they decided to start their own night in an old restaurant. The nights failed due to the domination of house and shut down after a few months.

Not so long afterwards Keb got a tip for a new location that was a strip-club in Soho called Madame Jojo’s. The location was perfect and he managed to arrange a weekly night to start with. The nights took off fast and are today it is the leading funk night in London. Later on the strip nights closed and the venue became a full time music club.

In 1996 BBE and Keb Darge teamed up to start releasing the now infamous Deep Funk and Funk Spectrum series that spawned a whole host of imitators.

Today he holds two weekly spots at the club (Legendary Deep Funk –Fridays / Lost & Found –Saturdays, where he focuses on his current passion – underground 50’s music), traveling around the world DJ'ing, and running the label Kay Dee Records with Kenny Dope.

He has achieved legendary status by far with a 40's to 70's musical knowledge second to none that is perfectly reflected on his BBE compilations.

Your browser may not support display of this image. Paul Weller is an acclaimed Rock star and Soul music collector.

Starting out with the very successful punk-rock band The Jam (1976-1982), Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council (1983-1989). In 1991 he re-established himself as a successful solo artist, and continues to remain a respected singer, lyricist and guitarist, a fact reaffirmed by his recent awarding of the 2009 Brit Award for 'Best Male Solo Artist'. He is also the principal figure of the 1970’s Mod revival and is often referred to as the Modfather. Weller has stated a wide range of influences throughout his musical career, frequently listing The Small Faces, The Beatles and The Who, as well as 1960s and 1970s soul music.