Ok folks, here is a new mix for your enjoyment, it was put together by Frank Mitchell, Frank played for us last year at Sunday Times alongside his brother Meschi. The lads were on a bit of an Irish tour and kindly stopped by our party bringing with them synths, drum machines and lots of vinyl, all the ingredients  of a good party and that it was.

The brothers Mitchell are a bit of a force to be reckoned with, as well as Dj’ing and playing live aboot the place they co-run a great blog with a little help from their friends called This is our House, check it out for record reviews, mixes and general chat.

Meschi, the younger of the Mitchell bros, has numerous releases under his belt at this stage with the latest being on Lux Records. For those of you not familiar with Meschi’s records  you can catch 2 of his tracks in this here mix alongside a great selection of records put together by Frank .  Check out Meschi’s other releases on labels such as Lunar Disko and on Abstract Acid under the moniker “Jackee”.

Hopefully we will see the lads over this end of the country again at some stage this year, for now, enjoy the music.

http://soundcloud.com/meschi/frank-mitchell-light-wave-theory-mix

Last Sunday we put on a party that we never thought we would have been capable of a few summers ago. Getting people out to a venue these days is hard work, as anyone who dabbles in such things knows. If you took a look at the dancefloor of the Bru Bar on McCurtain Street at 11.30 last Sunday night you would say we were joking. In June 2009 we decided we wanted to get people together on Sunday afternoons. We would get our friends round to share records, we would all have a natter, and maybe a bit of a boogie if you were that way inclined. We did that and more. All we did was let people know it was going on, and for that reason, we want to thank all you folks for getting up, and getting down for that matter, and making it a memorable series of parties.

As everyone knows now, the long standing home of our Sunday get together, An Realt Dearg, has shut its doors. We would be unwise to say indefinitely as who knows, maybe someone else will take up the reigns up on Barrack Street, but as far as it being our home, full of folks that have been there since the start, its a bit of an end of to an era. We would like to thank all involved up there over the time we have been annoying them from lunchtime on Sunday. I think they had as much fun as we did putting on these parties! The venue will be quite a loss to the City as whatever your interest, it had become a very important part of the Cork music scene. It’s rare you get a venue that is more interested in music than money these days and the Realt was one of those places. Apart from amazing memories from the place, we can both safely say we have made a few lifelong friends from doing our parties up there, big ups!

Thanks to all the record collectors, artists and producers we have had up there since the beginning. Jus-me, John Barry, Flukey, The Yew-Tree, Tokishiko, Colm Kennefick, Elaine Dowling, Stevie G, John Daly, Eoin Walsh, Dr. Herringbone Dread, Boo, Alan Devitt, Patrick Cross, Greg Dowling, Kenny Hanlon, Leopoldo Rosa, Jimmy Horgan, MyNameIsJohn, Tr-One, Dean Feeney, Eddie Reynolds, Conor Lynch, Conor Dunne, Automatic Tasty, Andy Doyle, Barry O Donovan, Ger Regan, Paraic O Connor, Paul Meschi, Frank Mitchell, and two who never got to a party at the Realt (we tried!) but ended the first incarnation of Sunday Times last weekend at the Bru Bar, Steffi Doms and Achim Brandendurg.The travelling hobo records crates, Cruibin food, Uncle Petes pizza and web guy Paul get honourable mentions too!

Something to be proud of is that we never built anything around big names that would charge exorbitant fees for a lacklustre show. It was mainly local or Irish acts that would be happy to play for a pint if needs be, and would wipe the floor with any international act in any case. We’re not sure of uncle Petes origin, maybe he was the second Italian involved.

So, again thanks to all of you, whether you were dragging vintage synths, guitar cases or breaking your backs up Barrack Street with far too many records, you all made the party what it was.

Would also like to thank all our regulars and anyone who trundled up the hill on a Sunday afternoon. We found it hard enough to make it some Sundays so we were blown away month after month when happy, friendly faces would slowly appear bit by bit and turn the evening from a Sunday afternoon gathering into a party, last weekend in the Bru Bar was for our regulars.

Finally, just to say a few words about last Sunday, it was really one of the best Sunday parties we have witnessed. The most obvious being the people we had selecting records for us, not much needs to be said, there is a reason they are in such high demand and they proved that last Sunday, great records played by two warm friendly people, kind of fit the bill perfectly in the end.

What also excited us a lot was seeing how our party would be in a new venue. We are never going to try to re-enact the Realt days, but while it was a totally different venue there was still that lovely atmosphere that was always present (!) at our parties so far and that is down to the people, it was re-assuring to know that this would stay intact no matter where we move.  Another thing we got was a resounding sense of community with the gig last Sunday, we have a lot to be proud of with our scene here in Ireland, there are so many great things going on.

Looking around last week we saw the Lunar Disko crew who drove our guests down from Dublin that day, one half of Tr-One who walked into the room for the first time precisely as Prosumer played his record, a record that was released on Apartment records, another friends venture. Then you had the younger crew, Shane Linehan whose releases are going down extremely well at the moment and rightly so, Enda from Waterford who puts on great gigs down his end of the country, the Galway crew, responsible for many a party in their day and if you looked to the front of the room there was two old hands having a natter and a dance in the form of Greg and Padraic, people who have no doubt inspired many over the years. An altogether satisfying day out.

A big thank you to those who made last Sunday possible too, you know who you are sound engineer, door hardmen, equipment owners and save the day Bar owner. Whilst a straight up house night with two of the most in demand deejays around maybe was not in the plans at the beginning, it was definately worth it in the end. Stress and all, it was worth it!

To those who could not make it to the Bru due to not getting a ticket etc. We would just like to say it was not ran in a word of mouth manner as an elitist exercise rather we were working with what we had which was a venue that held 120 people. There was no point advertising to thousands when a little over a hundred can go. We wanted to get all our regulars in and after that it was just leaving it seep out there. Anyone that was there will agree that it definitely worked.

So for the time being we are homeless and contemplating where to next. We have some ideas in the pipeline and are not ready to call it off just yet. When it isn’t enjoyable for us, and anyone who attends, then we will have a second look. Running these parties has been such a good experience and definitely the most positive experience either of us have had in regards putting gigs together and getting on with things.We just wanted to say cheers for supporting this night for so long and keep those eyes peeled, promise the next party won’t be secret!



JohnH DiscoFunkSoul pt.3

Tammy Terrell - All I Do
Wendy Rene - After Laughter
Bill Withers - Who is He
Ike Turner - Getting Nasty
Kitty Daisy & Lewis - Say you'll be mine
Frank De Rosa & His D Men - Irish Rock
Elsie Wheat - Tippin
Marie Knight & Teacho Wiltshire Orchestra - I thought....
Lonesome Lee - Lonely Travellin
The Premiers - Farmer John
The Strangeloves - Night Time
The Amboy Dukes - Baby Please
Marc Mac - Apache
Peoples Choice - Here we go again
Rufus Thomas - Jump Back
Otis Redding - Love man
Peoples Choice - Do it any way ya wanna
Fern Kinney - Groove me
Empress - Dyin to be dancin
Cosmic Boogie - The users
Inner Life - Caught up
Mtume - So you wanna be a star
Midnight Star - Midas touch
Elektric Dragon - Davourite
Tom Tom Club - Wordy rapping hood
Maurice Starr - Spacey Lady
Charlie - Spacer woman
Lime - On the grid
Macho - Im a man
First Choice - Great Expectations
T-Connection - At Midnight
Mass Production - Welcome to our world
Billy Nichols - Give your body up to the music
Hot Streak - Body Work
Gwen Mcrae -Keep the fire burnin
T-Connection - Do what you wanna do
Hi-Gloss - You'll never know

We’ve played records that are classics, records that are now our classics (well we think so anyways) and we’ve had some eh…classic nights I suppose, last Easter weekend’s shenanigans being a pretty crazy example of what goes on when it goes right. We’ve had some of our friends being in their records to play for you and we’ve hauled our records up that b*starding hill to the Realt Dearg twenty odd times. We’ve gone on the road to Galway and Dublin and recently screened a movie with our pals down at Plugd (hey goys), but all this comes back to our end of the month Sunday get down. Join us on Sunday the 26th for our second birthday (seriously?) and another party to remember. Last year we had food provided by the lads down at the Cruibin and enough balloons for a lifesize version of UP. This year the food decision will be weather dependent as we utilise the new garden at the back of the Realt. We’ll keep ya’ll posted on what’s going on there. We may even bring the party outside until the sun goes in depending on what the day throws at us.

Enough guff.

Sunday Times Second Birthday
Sunday 26th June
An Realt Dearg
Barrack Street
John and Barry from start to finish.
Banter mandatory.
Jazzfunkdubdiscohouse.

Mike Huckaby has been through it all, from the days of KMS and the emergence of labels such as Metroplex, to the second wave and the establishment of Detroit as the hotbed of ‘real’ dance music, through Kenny Dixon Jnr or Carl Craig. He has not forgotten the importance of that that scene either as he now pours his time into the youthville project in his hometown, with his ableton and reactor workshops also taking him across the globe.

Due to lack of foresight and bad planning I missed out on what I gathered was a once off special event in Berlin last October by just one day. Mike Huckaby was to drop the reigns on his precise techno and deep house master classes, and celebrate one of his heroes, the late great Sun Ra in an intimate setting in Kreuzberg. Mikes own interpretations were to be manipulated through his spliced reel to reel tapes. Unnanounced (well, as of the time) hithertho Italian performances saw him joined by Ra.H who improvised on various machines twisting it all up into a further trippy state. Not for the faint of heart, but a true tribute to the free jazz nature of Sun Ra and the Arkestra. Mike is due to return to that venue in Kreuzberg for part two this Thursday. Little did I think I would get involved in this in any way other than a spectator!

The Mntothat collective have secured quite a coup then, as this coming Friday (20th) they have Mike performing his Sun Ra reel to reel set at the Grand Social and then rolling onto the Ormonde wine bar on the Saturday for a more familiar Huckaby set of warm house and techno. This could be bigger than the Queens visit. Whilst missing out on that Berlin gig I did manage to catch him playing a techno set a few days later and his years worth of experience all contribute to his skills as a crowd mover.

Not only will Mike be celebrating Sun Ra’s birthday, a screening of ‘Space is The Place’ will also take place on the night setting the mood for the rest of the proceedings. Joining in on these proceedings are Infinitestatemachines Gmos, and myself. Since we are celebrating the music of a genius, I plan on playing a lot of music by people I also believe have contributed to music in important ways. Kick off 11.00pm Friday.

Not to stop there, our own Sunday Times party is on a little break this month as I’m off on holidays and John is knee deep in computer programming. Instead (and perhaps in future going hand in hand) we are screening a wonderful documentary on the life of one of my musical heroes, Arthur Russell in the newly re-opened and new permanent home of Plugd records this coming Saturday. Arthur Russell would be 60 years old on this very Saturday night so given the fact we’ve been wanting to show this film its only fitting it happens on this date. Afterwards downstairs in the tasty Gulpd Café (geddit?) a couple of us will be playing a few records  that have been touched by Arthur Russell or fit in with what he represented. Do join, its all free. Details here for those of the book of faces persuasion or here for those who rather keep there face anonymous Hop on Down.

Anyways! Heads up on a busy weekend for us (and you hopefully). The French Film festival is in full swing at various venues around the city and county (well the Gate and Ballymaloe this far) but will land firmly in the Pavilion this weekend with some pretty special events lined up Friday through Sunday.  Friday nights sees the re-soundtracking of Germain Dulacs ‘The Seashell and the Clergyman‘ and a number of his shorts by Katie Kim, and Donal Dineen and Newel Tsumbu respectively. The latter pair will then be performing tracks from their upcoming Parish project which promises to be something quite special.

Saturday sees Planet Mu’s Irish discovery of last year ‘Solar Bears’ performing tracks from their damn good debut album ‘She Was Coloured In’, fresh off suporting ‘Twin Shadow’ last February its actually a pretty rare live outing. I’m in.

The closing party on Sunday is headlined by one half of Zombie Zombie and all round synth wizard Etienne Jaumet.  Good show old chap! All the essential deets can be found over at the Film Festival site, get into the pav for 9 each nigt and you can’t go too far wrong!

I shall be playing some recoreds before, in between and after the acts (possibly) on all three nights, things likes Stellar Om Source, Stars of the Lid, Sylvain Chaveau, Holger Czukay, Expo 70, Oneohtrixpoint never, Arp, Emeralds, all that wash-ey synth action that I love but only get to listen to really at home or in my ears as I wander the streets.

Thats not all, also in the pavilion John will be found after Saturdays events playing ‘ouse and techno with other John, John Barry. The lads are getting regular now and rumour has it they hold hands under the turntables. All variations of house going down. Thats Saturday around 11pm. Weekend sorted.

I asked Dean to contribute a mix to our series here on this blog and he didn’t just deliver a mix he also provided us with the idea behind it and some overly kind words for our Sunday gathering. Instead of my inane ramblings I’ll leave Dean do the talking…Take it away Dean.

“The initial idea behind this mix was to take the style of mixing (ie not mixing!) which David Mancuso used to employ back in those halcyon days of The Loft. This was loosely applied here and allowed me to accommodate what is a collection of some of my absolute favourite jams of all time into one mix. Of course, as the mix progressed I simply couldn’t resist some mixing but hey what are you (yes you) going to do about it! I had intended in going off on a spiel about how influential a club the Loft was and about the passion and reverence I observed whenever I heard anyone mention their experiences there but that got me thinking about the whole “back in the day argument” and how no matter how amazing, influential or seminal a club night was, the fact that we can now only view it with the slanting effect of hindsight sort of hinders any possibility of there ever being a night comparable to these monolithic creatures.

Anyway, sometime last year we got the opportunity to come and play at a night called Sunday Times and I feel I need to say that everything (EVERYTHING) that I read about what the Loft was, I felt that day/night and it was so very reassuring. Now I’m not saying that Sunday Times is ever gonna be as influential as the loft was (I mean, y’all mix records ffs (and where was the spiked punch??)) but my point is simply that whilst it’s great that we all realize and acknowledge the importance of these nights, it’s also important to realize that we have progressed and continue to progress and must show support to those who are doing it right.
Anyway, this right here is a collection of some of my favourite tracks, compiled and mixed (on occasion) for one of my favourite club nights in the country. Vibes is right…..”

Get this mix in your ears quickly as it is superb, going from the Ramsey Lewis Trio, to my favourite Arthur Russell track, the godfather of house Larry Heard and if you thought that Astrud Gilberto just made bossa nova, be prepared for an absolute disco classic. Thanks to Dean, Broken Audio Movement and Tr – One.

Broken Audio Movement – Guest Mix

Tracklisting:

Ramsey Lewis Trio – Wanderin’ Rose (Cadet)
Tim Maia – Let’s Have A Ball Tonight (Seroma)
Charles Earland – Leaving This Planet (Prestige)
Tim Maia – Brother, Father, Sister and Mother (Polydor)
Jay Dilla – Last Donut of the Night (Stones Throw)
Onra – Sitting Back (All City)
The It – Brazilian Love Dance (Black Market International)
Arthur Russell – Arm Around You (Audika)
Unknown – Calypso Path (Sofrito Specials)
Arthur Russell – In The Light Of A Miracle (White)
Metro Area – Caught Up (Environ)
Reggie Dokes – The Skin I’m In (Third Ear)
Donnacha Costello – Untitled (Colour series – Orange)
Larry Heard – Guidance (Calm) (Guidance Recordings)
Pitch Black City feat. Roberta Sweed – Runaway (Mahogani)
Recloose – Kapiti Dream (Planet E)
Andres – Love Hurts (Mahogani)
Mtume – So You Wanna Be A Star (Epic)
Astrud Gilberto – All I’ve Got (Image)
Tim Maia – Over Again (Polydor)

A superb mix from the ‘Endless House Foundation’ popped up on FACT mag at the beginning of this week. The mix was put together to promote the release of the Endless House Cd compiled by the Endless House Foundation on Dramatic Records. Mix aside, it was the associated back story and imagery that grabbed my attention.

The Endless House

The sleeve notes of the release go onto explain that the Endless House was the ‘outlandish brainchild of wealthy audiophile/maniac Jiri Kantor’ . This Endless House being an actual venue constructed in the ancient forest of Bialowieska in Poland, in which its ‘creator’ Jiri Kantor wanted to start ‘a new European sonic community’ not too dissimilar to the actual communes that had been formed in Germany throughout the late 60’s by experimental musicians and anarchists alike. The fact article goes into a full on interview with Kantor himself, explaining the ideology of the project and its swift demise. I think to make sense of this you had better read the article it self, here.

You have to appreciate the effort and originality that has gone into such a project, and the compilation is top quality too (which always helps). Whoever is behind this dupe over at dramatic records (truth be told it could be just one producer) even goes as far as pulling up some archival footage and another interview with another of the Endless House residents ‘Walter Schnaffs’

I’m siding with the elaborate imagination story and that dramatic records really DO do dramatic quite well, some other blogs and sites don’t seem to have made up their minds yet though! See Electronic beats, Clash Magazine (which includes more words from Jiri Kantor) and Visitation rites (who have another lengthy interview). The more I read these the more I start to believe in it!

Another of the imaginative persuasion is one Danny Wolfers, AKA Legowelt AKA Smackos. He had me fooled (well for about 10 minutes) when I picked up the first Ep from his Nacho Patrol project back in 2009. Wolfers penchant for vintage soundtracks and atmospheric electronics is known to most but it was my first experience with a ‘total’ package as it were. Have a read of the sleeve notes to see how he had created this temporary illusion.

‘This obscure lost soundtrack for an even more obscure (and also lost and never finished) ”Italia violenta” cop movie was recently discovered when I bought the dusty reel tapes from a restaurant owner in Fiumicino, a seaside town near Rome. ”Panter 777” aka ”Il Labirinto di Roma Violenta” aka ”The Maze of Violence”, he told me, was directed by Gervasio Giardano in 1981 and was considered too (politically) explicit by the movie production company who dropped the project after the first screening. Apparently heavily influenced by the cult poliziesco “La Polizia Sta a Guardare “ (Ransom; Police is Watching) it tells the story about a corrupt cop who plans to kidnap some big industrial boss as an act of revenge after cops daughter dies in a chemical waste accident. He discovers the involvement of the Catholic Church and the government and gets entangled in a maze of corruptness and violence’

‘The soundtrack, an explosion of wahwah funk riffs and juicy analog synthesizers, was composed by an obscure band called Nacho Patrol. The restaurant owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, was one of the band members and composed most of the tracks. (Danny Wolfers)’

He has gone onto release another two Eps worth of Nacho Patrol material and has an album on the way this year. If you can get your mitts on the Africa Jet Band Ep I suggest you do. The back story did’nt extend past the first Ep but considering I have picked up all three Eps its intriguing ideas hit me in the right place (the music is damn good too). Check Caravalle from that Africa Jet Band Ep (and if you have the time I suggest watching ‘The White Diamond’ where this footage was culled from).

Wolfers takes it in another direction with his Smackos project, the ‘Pacific Northwest Sasquatch Research’ being my favourite. Clones press release alluding to the illusion of some lone film maker wadering the wilds in search of the Sasquatch.

‘On this new album from smackos we join professor Malbador and his international team of cryptozoologists on their expedition to find the sasquatch (AKA Bigfoot) in the forests of the american pacific northwest. With a barrage of synthesizers Smackos brings us juicy analog 70s style electronic soundtracks, recorded on warm and wooly vintage reel-tape. Also contains real fieldrecordings of the sasquatch made by smackos during his own expedition in the wildernis of America earlier this year.’

Give some Time to his Franz Falckenhaus project too (if you can track down copies), you won’t be disapointed.

Of course there are cases where an actual discovery of a lost project does happen, as far as I know it’s a bit rarer than our original friends up above though. A vicarious discovery through someone unearthing some dusty ole tapes and re-committed them to vinyl (or Cd! In the following case) gives the listener the privelaged position of hearing something that could have easily have been confined to the dustbin. The 2008 ‘discovery’ of a lost project from Patrick Cowley being a notable example. The resulting album ‘Catholic – Patrick Cowley and Jorge Soccorras’ finding its way to many of the end of year charts that year.

Interview Pt.2

Interview Pt.3

Reality isnt half as much fun.

EDIT: Heres another mix from the mystery that is Jiri Kantor!

Here!

I was reminded of  Sun Ra’s  ‘Moonship Journey’ yesterday and subsequently broke out the reproduction issue of ‘Tribe’ magazine that was part of the Tribe re-issue on Soul Jazz last year. I meant to get some more of Sun Ra’s writings, whether I would be able to make any sense of them being another thing altogether, but the profile of Sun Ra from that Tribe issue has some great quotes from the man himself.  Sometimes I can’t wrap my head around his music at all, I suppose you could say I don’t get it, but by easing myself in to his works by starting off with the more accessable, I’m starting to enjoy more and more of his back catalogue. Just recently I picked up two of the Kindred Spirits labels endevours to spread the word of Ra, the Paris Live tapes has been really seeping in and the 10′ has some amazing unreleased edits (from Mike Huckaby I think).  Unfortunately the vinyl edition of the Paris Tapes fails to include the masterful version of Love in outer Space that the CD does (that link aint it by the way!), but…..whatchagonnado.

Some of those quotes…

“Musicians have offered so much to the world you can’t even calculate it. You can never really pay a musician for his works because sometimes a musician can write a song that will last forever. That’s a treasure that which is beyond compare when other things have deteriorated and the melody that a musician composes is still here.”

“A simple song can cause a nation to survive; win a war. America won a lot of wars with songs. Even in the First World War, a song called “Over There” inspired people into action. Therefore they needed a band to inspire them.”

“There should be a white house band too. It would be more conducive to the leaders and rulers of countries to start their day with music and be harmonized and feel the meaning of harmony. The musician is the only artist in the business of harmonizing.”

“In all fields of art and science one should recognize a master. On his planet there are key masters in every race. They can look into the future and tell musicians what to do and how to adjust himself, what’s going to happen economically, and what the people need to hear musically.”

“Today’s artist has to be multi-dimensional in his approach to music and life in general in order to continue creating new avenues of thought for the society of which he’s a part of. Today’s musicians must understand the relationships between art and culture and take the total vibration, positive and negative, and serve as amplifiers or speaker systems through the arts.”

“A musician has an attribute added to him that other men don’t have and the more he’s over into music the more he’s apart and different from other men; yet he’s needed by the man who doesn’t have this talent”

“Music is the healing force of the universe”

I first heard Moonship Journey a few years back in a mix on ISM by the current purveyeurs of tripped out sounds Juju and Jordash. I was just about to write ‘tripped out house and techno’ but pidgeonholing their sound is not quite as easy as that. They seem to operate outside the sphere that can be easily tagged as house or techno. They are as much rooted in house and techno as they are in say, jazz, dub and early electonica. Take two Jazz tinged producions of theirs…the Duke Ellington inspired African Flower…(Dukes Fleurette Africaine is here)

And Silencio…or the dub heavy Fjar Dub from the 2007 ‘Time Slip‘ ep.

You are doing yourself a disservice if you hav’nt tuned into their frequent transmission from the lab over at www.deepfrequency.com, (to make it easy heres the direct link to their page), just tune in once and I gurantee you will finish up with some sort of lead to an artist you want to investigate or a track that you cant get out of your head. The last episode (27th Jan) is all sorts of trippy. Oh and get your mitts on their latest release for the absolutely huge Ra.H remix of  Quasi Quasi.

Why all this speak of Juju and Jordash? Well they are hitting Cork this weekend for their Irish ‘Dj’ debut, playing some records down at ye olde Plugd, or Plugd M.3.  Maybe a live set in the future? Who knows. Everyones favourite record shop/hangout/freezerbox is relocating to a new permanent home back at the Triskel Art Centres original home and there is reason to be very excited. Shop, cafe, gallery spaces and with the Christchurch renovations close to completion   (what I imagine is going to be one of the best venues this side of Dublin and that side of Dublin for that matter), a very real cultural hub, something that this city has been waiting for and a great prospect for the whole city, is really taking shape.  Now you can recieve abuse from albert with a slice of tasty cake and a warm coffee.

‘Jouney on the moooonship’