Simian

Type Simian into Google and the summary of their website describes them as an "electronically enhanced psychedelic folk band from England". A better description of them you will not find. I stumbled across this track on a listening post in Virgin back in my Stirling University days and was totally hooked by the dreamy start and, once it kicks in, beautifully crisp beats.

Their first album Chemistry is what we are offers more highlights in Drop and Roll and Mr. Crow the former being the first song I've heard that starts off what sounds like one of those instruments that has a keyboard and a pipe that you blow into the name of which currently escapes me. I was lucky enough to see them play live at a festival a few years back and was really surprised how well their sound translated onto the live stage.

More recently the current album We are your friends has been plundered for a Peugoet advert and two of the band members seem to be working on a side project called Simian Mobile Disco which focuses more on the dancier side of their music. Whether this means the end of Simian or not who knows?

Simian - The Wisp

Amazon link

Making Me Feel So Sure

So, the irritating Robbie Williams is covering Lewis Taylor 'Lovelight' and is releasing it as his next single. Somewhat surprisingly Robbie doesn't ruin it - it doesn't have that soul that the original has, instead invoking a disco party feel. Mark Ronson is on production but in all honesty he adds little to the proceedings.

I felt it only right to post the original.

Lewis Taylor - Lovelight

Lewis Taylor was one of the UK’s soul scene great hopes for almost a decade. He is also unique in the fact that he is the complete package. Lewis is the singer/songwriter/instrumentalist/producer on most (if not all) of his albums. Always pegged for greater things, the breakout to commercial success never came.

Lewis Taylor - Stoned Pt. 1
Lewis Taylor - Positively Beautiful

As of 2006 he is no longer involved the music industry and, apparently, is now writing comedy for the Chuckle Brothers (?!!). Such a shame - unless of course, you love the Chuckle Brothers.

All tracks posted are taken from the 2002 album, "Stoned, Pt. 1" which can be bought from Amazon

Masters at Work

Nobody does this type of soulful house better as far as I'm concerned. This track was featured on their 2002 album Our Time Is Coming, although it was a very short edit. I have a limited edition white vinyl single, backed with the excellent 'To Be In Love' and signed by the boys (not personally unfortunately). Here the track is layed out in its full glory, and sounding much better for it in my opinion. I love the bubbling bassline and the sweet rhodes piano. Almost worth the £11 I paid for it! More information on James Ingram can be found here.

James Ingram - Lean On Me

Dr Who Dat?

I make a point to buy everything released on Lex Records, not only because the music is routinely great but also as the CD packaging is always gorgeous - embossed sleeves, foldout inlays and not a jewelcase in sight.

Their latest release, Beat Journey by Dr Who Dat? (aka Philly MC/Producer Jneiro Jarel) is no exception on either front. Musically it reminds me of Madlib at his most hazy and loose, taking in influences from hiphop, jazz and soul to make an layered dreamlike instrumental record you can just blissfully drift off to on a sunny afternoon. As the title suggests, it works best as a complete album and other than a couple of harsher-sounding tracks which feel a little out of place, flows extremely well throughout.

Dr Who Dat? – Braziliant Thought

There's some more tracks to listen to over at Myspace and you can buy the strictly limited edition 2CD Version over at Play.

Namie Amuro

I like finding oddities of tunes in unlikely places. This is one such example. Namie Amuro is one of J-Pop's biggest selling artists with total sales of 27 million and was possibly the most well recognised name on the scene in the 90's. The music is typically hi-octane DDR Pop. More recently she has moved into a more Americanised R&B sound, working with the likes of Dallas Austin, and proclaiming herself 'The Queen of Hip-Pop'.

'Storm' doesn't fit with any of this. It's a smokey Jazz bar type of tune, with a modern squelchy beat. It reminds me quite a bit of Christina Aguilera's current 30's/40's fixation, but with a lot less diva attached.

Namie Amuro - Storm

If you are feeling adventurous you can find 'Storm' on the 1997 album 'Concentration 20', which you can buy from here.

The House Spectrum

I recorded a new mix today. It features many different styles of house music, from deep to bleep to funky - hence the name 'The House Spectrum'. Nothing fancy, just 2 decks, a mixer and a bunch of (old) records. Turned out alright, couple of iffy mixes but nothing awful. Tracklisting:

01. Derrick L. Carter - The Hollow Clash of Marionettes
02. Ibex - Macamba
03. Natural Rhythm - Jammin'
04. DJ Buck - Don't Take the Weight
05. Dimitri from Paris - Dirty Larry (Idjut Boys Classical Jazz Mix)
06. Torso - El Toro (Can 7 Fruitcake Mix)
07. Halo, Penn & Chus present 'Music for Playgrounds' - Vuelve a Casa
08. Derrick L. Carter - People (Alternate Mix)
09. Rev - Au
10. Drumprints One (Bug Dub)
11. Todd Bodine - The Lost Girl from Mexico
12. Freaks - Washing Machine (Sneak's Supa-Clean Mix)
13. The Drug Punks - Drug (Eric Morillo Dub)
14. Pepe Bradock - Deep Burnt

[Download]

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Tortured Soul

Tortured Soul are drummer and vocalist John-Christian Urich, keyboardist Ethan White, and bassist JKriv and are currently spearheading one of dance music's most exciting scenes, totally live soulful house.

You may remember lead singer, Ulrich by his other alias Cooly's Hotbox who had much success with I Never Knew with Roger Sanchez, and What a Surprise which included a remix by house music heavyweight, Frankie Feliciano.

In March this year Tortured Soul saw the global release of their debut album, Introducing Tortured Soul on R2 Recordings. This includes possibly their best known release so far, the Osulade remix of I Might Do Something Wrong, a wonderfully heartfelt tune about missing your special gal. Other notable tracks include the DJ Spinna take on Always in Heaven, the unsuprisingly epic, Epic and the Alix Alvarez version of How's Your Life.

As Radio 1's Gilles Peterson proclaims, "they are the future of house music". Hopefully he's right.

Below is a link to what these boys do best, flowing sets of live house and broken beats. This is recorded at the Detroit Electronic Music festival.

Enjoy.

Tortured Soul Live at the DEMF 2006

Todd Terje

Todd Olsen/Todd Terje/Tangoterje tweaks other peoples records. He has re-edited tracks by Chaka Khan, Daft Punk, Santana, Wham! and other lesser known artists. He has also put out a few tracks under his own name which were very good, but for today I'll stick with the re-edits.

Juno finally got some more copies of his wonderful re-edit of 'I Can't Help It' last week so I quickly grabbed a copy. It extends Michael Jackson's original (possibly my favourite MJ track) to over nine minutes in length, adding some subtle, shuffling percussion, while remaining true to the smooth production that Quincy Jones created to begin with. I'm not gonna post up an mp3 of it though, if you know the original and think this sounds good - just buy the 12" - you won't be dissapointed.

What I will post up though is one of the tracks on the b-side called 'Let Love Enter'. Discogs tells me that it was originally by Michael Henderson. I can't tell you much about the artist or the track, but it has a Latin-ish vibe and is really happy and swinging. Just one of those songs with a great beat and the ability to make you smile. If anybody knows the original I'd be interested to hear what's different.

Tangoterje - Let Love Enter

Dap Dippin' With...

Listening to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' music without any prior knowledge, you'd probably think that it's a lost slab of classic funk from one of James Brown's Funky Divas. But as with much of the music on funk revivalists Daptone Records, it's 100% contemporary.

This track of theirs is a bit of a barnstormer; transforming Janet Jackson's What Have You Done For Me Lately? into a near unrecognisable sass-fuelled funk bomb, the original's beat turned into a supertight guitar riff. Along with Daptones Records habit of making their album's art and packaging look as authentic as the music within (check their 2002 debut album cover above), they even cheekily suggested that the Janet Jackson song was a cover of an obscure Sharon Jones soul hit from the 60s.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Much of the rest of their debut album is of similar quality, taking the original blueprint and keeping the octane high. Despite the authentic sound (the production is perfect, completely sheen-free) it doesn't come across as a work of lazy nostalgia - the Dap Kings keep the music raw and tight, with Sharon Jones belting out like a true soul sister.

Buy at Amazon

Bembe

Bembe Segue is a bit of a force in the Broken Beat scene. She is most well known for lending vocals on the Bugz In The Attic breakout hit 'Booty La La' but she has worked with most in the field - the likes of Two Banks of Four, Mark De Clive-Lowe, Alex Attias & Kyoto Jazz Massive. I tend to fall in love with pretty much anything she is involved with.

Released only on 12", 'Afrospace' provides a typical workout for our girl. Switching styles effortlessly and building up layers of hypnotic vocals against a beautiful bed of percussion.

'Heaven' is taken from last years Tide's Arising by Mark De Clive-Lowe. As one of the few downtempo tracks on the album it's distinctive. Such a lovely piano-led soul track with a light groove to keep things ticking.

Bembe is currently busy working with Mark De Clive, again, on the collaborative project The Politik. Her MySpace page is also worth checking out, although details on a solo album are still not forthcoming.

Blakai Ft. Bembe Segue - Afrospace
Mark De Clive-Lowe - Heaven

Hybrid

Hybrid consists of Mike Truman and Chris Healings who hail from Swansea. These guys along with various guests seem to have sewn up the market in mixing breakbeat with orchestral strings creating a truly epic sound. The first album Wide angle had some truly amazing highlights my favourite being the track Dreaming your dreams.

It's hard not to argue that with their third album that they aren't retreading the same ground but the title track provided here has the usually well recorded strings along with an excellent section after about 3 minutes that breaks the track up beautifully.

Hybrid - I Choose Noise

Album link

The Beauty Room

I've had a copy of the album 'Beyond An Infinite' for quite a while now and it's got to the point where even the weaker tracks have grown on me, making this a very solid album. Listening to it whilst walking around in the sunshine today reminded me how smooth and relaxing it is - perfect for those lazy Sunday afternoons. It's now on general release and you can buy it at Amazon.

The Beauty Room - Burn My Bridges

You can find out more information and listen to other tracks at the groups MySpace page.

Welcome

Do you have the groove in you? I hope so, for your sake. But if not then we want to help you find it. Expect future posts to cover a wide range of music both old and new and from genres including House, Soul, Funk, Disco, Techno, Electronic, Hip-Hop, Pop, Jazz and beyond.

I'll start off by posting the track that inspired the name for the blog. Harvey Mason's Groovin' You was released in 1979 on the Arista label. It was sampled heavily by Gusto for his 1995 house anthem 'Disco's Revenge'. My copy boasts that it was remastered by disco legend Tom Moulton! There was a 2001 remix by Joeski, who added some heavy drums and latin percussion to the groove as well as introducing a breakdown to the track. A nice alternative to the bouncey original.

Harvey Mason - Groovin' You
Gusto - Disco's Revenge (Mole Hole Dirty Mix - Original Remastered)
Gusto - Disco's Revenge (Joeski's Sleazy Mix)