Sex Drugs and Thumbnails

I apologies for the recent hiatus, I have been feeding my addiction of procrastination a habit in dire need of absolution.

With that said and done, in my time of hiatus I have had the pleasure of discovering a few things. The somehow beautiful yet shallow relationship with house music and its affliction with ‘naughty’ women in a sexually inviting position. It seems as if all music posted on sharing platforms follow this trend. It bares the question, do most people listen to house music because of its inviting, seductive thumbnail or for the love of house.

I had started to grow bored of these thumbnails, began to find them a bit lame and unoriginal. Then one lukewarm summer evening, while downing a few drinks and talking music with a good friend of mine – I came across a certain mix which changed all of my previous misconceptions. Turkish DJ Ahmet KILIC released a deep house set accompanied with a video in 2013. Yes I’m slow but still, there is a certain hypnosis and pureness within this mix, if you ever imagined how a deep house mix would look in motion this is it. It hasn’t looked more beautiful, although there are parts in which you may as well give those thumbnails steroids and call it a day – skip to 23:00 for an experience –  but if all house mixes were like this, I believe we would be a step closer to world peace. For the love of house.

Grooves

Blonde – Higher Ground (feat. Charli Taft)

Love Vinyl – The Resurrection

 

London saw the birth of a new Vinyl record store this weekend as the grandfather of CDs makes a return to the shelves and pays homage to the past. The plastic disc that saw DJs hit the decks to create some smooth spinning sounds seemed to have reached the end of its lifecycle in the 90s. But while most people drifted in to a digital frenzy a selected few still remembered the softer sounds vinyl records offered to the audiophile and decided to open ‘Love Vinyl’.

Situated in the cultural centre for London’s hipsters, Love Vinyl can be found on Pearson Street in Shoreditch. As I commuted there from City Thameslink, I jumped on the 242 bus and perched myself in the top deck of the bus. In doing so I came to the realisation that the location could not have been better. Yes, vinyl may only be appreciated by a niche audience, and has and still is a dying platform for music listeners; if it were to make a resurrection Shoreditch would be the nest in which the phoenix would rise again.

Stuart Patterson (East Village), James Manero (Another Party), Zafar Chowdry (Reckless Records) and Jake Holloway (Village Vinyl) are the heads behind Love Vinyl and boy do they have a catalogue to admire. With years of experience between themselves the group aims to add fire to the flame by offering both new records to select from Patrice Scott, Omar S and Theo Parrish to classics such as Donna Mcghee and Fast Eddie.

As a 90s baby I have an obscured view of vinyl records and personally I believe record shops such as Love Vinyl can only be viewed as a positive step for the culture. Now whether I see it succeeding or not is another story, but when I speak to the old school generation about buying music I see a vision of pure ecstasy as they describe the joys of saving their lunch money just to queue up come Friday to buy the freshest vinyl releases of that week. Those days are over, but man would I love to be able to experience what they did. To truly appreciate the body of art within these records, to live through the event of propping up with your brothers in arms and to place that record on a deck and let it spin. I hope it’s here to stay.

 

Wolves feat. Youngblood Hawke (Riton Remix)

This TRACK OF THE WEEK comes from the German electro duo Digitalism. Their new single ‘Wolves’ featuring awesome vocals from Youngblood Hawke has been remixed by UK’s very own Riton. The track has an orchestrated feel to it; the high chime develops the beat into a constant funky groove. One for the pool parties.

Felix Jaehn – Shine (feat. Freddy Verano & Linying)

Let There Be House

While browsing the net in an attempt to increase my music library (as you do) I came across a Podcast on SoundCloud called ‘Let There Be House’ now as a follower, lover and advocate of House music I decided to give it a listen to, and to this day the weekly Podcast by HedKendi resident Glen Horsborough does not fail to disappoint. My love for this Podcast has enticed me to urge all house music lovers to give it a listen to because it really is that good.

Every Podcast begins with the sound bite from Chuck Roberts ‘My House’ – the one with ‘In the beginning there was Jack’ which really introduces and sets the tone of the entire Podcast and quite frankly the culture of House music, in that the love of this genre and style with so many different variations and sounds brings so many cultures and people of different walks of life together.

The Podcast has been running on a weekly basis and one of the reasons I enjoy listening to it so much is due to the fact that it remains current and fresh, delivering new songs as soon as they are released while still appreciating and paying homage to the classics, making them known to the new audience and sudden surge of house music lovers.

It really is a good Podcast and I can’t rave on about it enough, check out the recent post and I’m sure you will agree with me.

LMF025 – Artenvielfalt – The World Today

A recollection of Solo Danza – 15 March 14

A few months back I travelled to London Bridge’s Crucifix Lane to enjoy the vibes of Solo Danza, their opening party for this year’s series of events. Known for their precise ticket selling where you must inbox the host’s to request a ticket, in which they review your social networking standing to guarantee that only the real house heads and underground regulars can enter. No ticket, no entry; and it pays off, the energy in the club is one of true bliss.

As you arrive at London Bridge station and enter the arches of Crucifix Lane, the buzz sets in and you immediately know this is going to be one of those down and dirty nights to remember. With a capacity of 650 people, the venue emulates a warehouse vibe to it but still offers an intimate relationship that ravers can implore with the DJ.

We started getting into it, the night continued and the Nova line array system kept us in motion steaming through a selection of deep, edgy tech house tracks supplemented with an eerie overcasting of dubbed out bass lines which had the room rocking. You begin to understand the logistics behind the ticket selling process. Everyone has been to one of those events where although the music is right and the venue is good the energy in the club isn’t up to par, and you end up calling it. The difference with Solo Danza is the resilient positive atmosphere that surrounds you, you remain afloat and due to this, the show must go on.

Solo Danza’s resident DJ Joseph Williams set it all off producing some unfamiliar deep harmonies, laced with a dark bass line that beckoned the room and had the crowd going.

It was a night for Dennis Christopher, kicking off his set with some truly unique sounding deep tracks carrying an array of jungle sounds.  He continues to develop the pace creating a sensation of deep tech tremors, reverberating through the archways of Crucifix Lane. Vibes.

For the main event Danza had the Romanian duo Livio & Roby spinning the decks. At this point the club had grown in numbers, more underground deep-tech lovers had made their way in and just in time. The club was bouncing. Livio & Roby filled the room with funk filled dubbed out house, blending in with a mixture of grooved out edgy beats. We were rocking.

Unfortunately Nastia couldn’t join us in London due to the turmoil Ukraine is currently experiencing, she wrote on her Facebook page:

“Just landed in Kiev and realized that today I supposed to play in London for Called Solo Danza and I couldn’t come because of this mess in Ukraine we have now and UK visa center. I AM VERY SORRY LONDON!”

Best wishes from Nastia.

Since its launch in 2011, Solo Danza has become one of London’s fasted growing underground events. It assembles an environment that boasts flavour combined with the electrifying sounds of naughty deep tech house, slap a venue that can accommodate such a combination and you’re there. It was my first event but it is definitely not my last.