Thursday, April 30, 2009

Truth Is Light - Limited Edition Edits




Jason Lev is coming on strong! After working hard on these edits, getting tests presses made, playing them in the clubs, tweaking and perfecting every detail, he finally pressed them up for the public. These bad boys are super limited edition, so get them while you have the chance. I had the pleasure of DJ'ing with Jason when I hosted the NYC Sound Of Gold party at APT a few months back, and these edits sizzled on the dance floor! I've been bugging him about them since, especially that "stop on by" edit which slayed everyone!

Check the clips, and remember, you snooze you lose

Listen to 003
Listen to 004 side 1
Listen to 004 Side 2
Listen to 005
Listen to 006 Side 1
Listen to 006 side 2

They are all limited to only 300 copies, and you can ONLY get them here: http://earcave.bigcartel.com/

Now I can only hope the mailman is fast on his feet so I can drop some of these at PUDDIN' next week!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Latin Disco Fusion



Joe Bataan is the man, and he just doesn't stop working. I feel like people have been sleeping on this LP. There are probably still copies available in some shops, and probably on the web. There is soul, funk, boogaloo, disco, etc all over this thing. It's a really well rounded LP, and very impressive for something recorded in the 2000s.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Basic Black & Pearl "There'll Come A Time, There'll Come A Day"



Proper soul for the dancers.

Finally got myself a copy, so there is no doubt this will get air time at Puddin', but don't worry disco heads, I'll play the 4:10 disco version :)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Space Walk Space Talk



Classic stuff right here with Asha's silky voice, deep keyboards, deadly bass line and sexy tempo. An all time fave of mine. I have a a great memory of dropping it on my birthday some years ago at an illegal loft party, and this tune proceeded to do some serious damage.

Friday, April 10, 2009

The Return of Red Greg!



Red Greg is back again with more mixes than your boogie butt can handle. He has just uploaded Gospel Mixes, an Ebonite Disco Mix, a tribute to the infamous Guinness Record Label, and the long awaited Unmixed Soul Mix (Part II). The Unmixed Soul Mix is most likely my favorite DJ mix of 2008, and the follow up certainly delivers in full Soul Disco glory.

DOWNLOAD UNMIXED SOUL MIX (PART II)

NOW GO TO RED GREG'S MIX PAGE TO LISTEN TO ALL OF HIS MIXES

And if you live in the UK, do yourself a favor and make it out to THIS PARTY.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

La Rom "The Bomb" Baker - Tom from Lotus Land talks about the upcoming La Rom Baker 7" series






Originally released as a one sided 7" single, possibly pressed in a quantity of as little as 50 copies, back in 1978. To the few who know, "You're The Best" is regarded as one of the crown jewels of rare soul. The song today sounds fresh as ever, and the previously unreleased "Love Will Make It Better" is an amazing stepper, perfect for today's scene.

As excited as I am about finally being able to have a copy of "You're The Best", it's the unreleased "Love Will Make It Better" tune that has been doing it for me. This record has not left the turntable since it arrived in my mailbox several days ago. Here we have Tom from Lotus Land talking about the history behind these tunes, in his own words. Enjoy!

LISTEN TO SOUND CLIPS OF LA ROM BAKER
----------------------------------------------------------------------
La Rom "the bomb" Baker
Tom from Lotus Land talks about the upcoming La Rom Baker 7" series

La Rom currently resides in sunny Highland Park, CA, thousands of miles from his hometown of Philly. When La Rom first arrived in LA in late 70's, he had already been established as a rising talent. In LA he quickly fell in with a set of young, talented R&B related musicians. He was called into the studio one day by a frustrated Art Gibbons, who had believed that La Rom could solve the problem he was having finishing a session with Art's band, Sizzle. La Rom still to this day recalls the scattered state "love is all around" was in before he walked in the studio. He stepped up, dropped some vocals, and did what he could to fix what they had already done in the mix

Steve Angelica, founder of the record company, witnessed La Rom in action, and immediately drafted him into the Record Company's stable. It was with Steve that La Rom had a wide access to not only recording facilities, but session players as well. Here he started working on a demo, consisting of "You're The Best" and a couple other songs. Moved by the demo, Steve hastily pressed up promo copies of the tune on 7" and mailed to all contacts he had in an attempt to land a deal with a major. We're guessing this was a small run, perhaps 50 copies or less were printed, and thus the legend of La Rom Baker's "youre the best" was born.

Fast forward 2 years ahead..... to when the offices of The Record Company receive a call from Curtom studios in Chicago. Allegedly a janitor had found this record in a closet he was cleaning out when an A&R from Curtom had spotted the record and gave it a listen. Stunned by the tune, Curtom had called La Rom's management to begin talks of signing La Rom to Curtom for a single. They wanted an up to date (1981) version of "you're the best" a more disco sound. So back into the studios La Rom went, taking with him Chaka Khan's background band at the time with him. The result, just an amazing dance tune with all the soul of the original, spruced up with hot rhythms and club percussion and a pinch of synth.

Unfortunately, though the recording was top notch, La Rom's management wasn't. Steve Angelica had managed to mess up any dealing with Curtom. Before any deals were done, the Curtom budget had dried up, or the interest was lost. Either way, the tapes for the updated Curtom version remained on the shelf.

Too bad for us (the world), we've gathered the master tapes either ended up at Curtom, buried away, auctioned off, or stolen by another janitor perhaps! Or they could have been in possession of Steve Angelica, who did serious time all throughout the 90's for a diamond smuggling operation he was involved in. In such a case many personal and business related articles are seized by the state.

All we have left is the daily mixes that were doled out by the engineer day of recording. On Cassette. Yet though stereo re-imaging, and the help of some serious analog lovers at History Of Recorded Sound, we've managed to transfer the goods and have professionally re-mastered.

We will release 4 songs total from La Rom. Starting with "you're the best" original 1979 version, backed with "love will make it better". Both tunes are modern soul of the highest order. "you're the best" being the uptempo dancer and the B side a soothing soulful stepper which grows on you more with each listen!

Up next will see the first ever release of the 1981 Curtom version of "you're the best". Backed with a hot mid tempo burner called "all in the mind". Due out in stores, hopefully by June.

-Thanks Tom :)

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

KON at PUDDIN', May 7th - New NYC Party Alert!!!



Puddin' is finally almost here! Puddin' is Secret Rendezvous' labor of love, our disco baby that we are going to nurture this year. To quote Belle Farm Estates, "Puddin' is my true love, and Puddin' is my whole life!"

Puddin' is all about selectively booking special guest DJs with truly advanced knowledge and skill in the areas of disco, boogie and soul, to provide the highest quality evening of entertainment, for the most discerning of listening ears and dancing feet.

Also equally important, after organizing many underground parties at small venues with compromised amenities, Puddin' is finally about using a venue with a world class sound system, in the basement of APT, where we will never lose the cozy feeling you can only get with a smaller, more intimate venue.

After this first night pops off, we look to book someone special once a month, doing our best to make this a another summer for fans of deep vintage dance and soul music to remember.

You can bet that Kon and I are going to do our best this May 7th to make sure no one can kick this feeling when it hits, with deep records from our vaults, as well as edits being spliced exclusively for this jam!



And of course I have to mention Puddin' one of my favorite home made indie disco productions ever made, which essentially encapsulates the vibe of our party PUDDIN'! Enjoy our theme song from our friends at Belle Farm Estates in Baltimore!



P.S. Special Thanks to Al Kent from Million Dollar Disco for the great flyer!

P.P.S. Copies of the Puddin' record are available out there in the real world, but if you don't want to pay the market price for an OG (which is pretty reasonable these days), Kenny Dope did a re-issue on his label with his own special edits of the tune, check out Kay Dee Records.

Friday, April 3, 2009

New Party Alert, changes r coming, and NYC disco is gonna be looking up this summer!!

Stay tuned for future posts with guest DJ confirmations, posters and official announcements, cause things are going to be HOT this spring & summer for disco heads in NYC!

In the meantime, here is a belter of a tune to get you excited about the changes coming to NYC nightlife: