Monday, March 28, 2011

RIP Loleatta Holloway - Dreaming



The Tribute continues...

RIP Loleatta Holloway - Runaway



The Tribute continues...

RIP Loleatta Holloway - "My Loleatta" Bootleg live PA



Check out this legendary live performance by Loleatta, who incidentally did not approve this recording to get pressed to wax, and apparently chased DJ Bruce Forrest down the street with her handbag when she saw him after handing out this very tape!

RIP Loleatta Holloway - Catch Me On The Rebound (Walter Gibbons 12''Mix)



The tribute continues...

Sunday, March 27, 2011

R.I.P. Loleatta Holloway - "I may be old fashioned and a country girl, but when it comes to loving you..."



"I may be old fashioned and a country girl, but when it comes to loving you..." - R.I.P. Loleatta Holloway

I just got back from vacation, and the news of Loleatta Holloway's death was the first text message I received when turning my phone back on. I sat there in shock for a moment at the airport, waiting for my connecting flight back to NYC, when some of my fondest memories of her started flooding into my mind.

I was lucky enough to see Loleatta Holloway perform live at The Shelter in the early 90s, and she commanded the stage that night like no other diva I've ever seen. She was already a living legend in the dance music/r&b scene at that point, and she was absolutely untouchable. The vibe in The Shelter was impenetrable that night, as well as the dense crowd. We were crushed in there like sardines, and the collective anticipation of her arriving on stage felt thicker than the humidity in NYC on a hot August day. When Loleatta hit the stage, she worked that mic and the room with some banter, making us laugh, getting us a little worked up before throttling into some of her baddest tunes, each one better, and more passionate than the last. "I'm gonna diss you right now..." The whole crowd just lost their shit as she worked that room. Sweat, hands in the air, an entire crowd moving in unison, transfixed by the enigma that stood before us on that stage. A real dance music riot of epic proportions broke out that night, and it will always stand out as one of the top 3 nights I've ever spent in a nightclub. Goosebumps right now thinking about it, goosebumps...

Thanks for the awesome memories you gave us, as well as the spirit you brought to places before my time like the Paradise Garage, and thankfully all the parties that were spawned from that very same spirit. It's that same spirit the scene possesses only at it's finest moments, that you essentially make tangible with the unmistakable electricity you bring to the room. When your passion oozes from those sound systems, bumping through the night and into the AM, the feeling you have given us is nearly indescribable. You may be gone now, but the records you blessed with your pitch perfect delivery and attitude will last till the end of time. Thanks again for sharing such incredible moments of your life for us.

Check out this legendary live performance by Loleatta, who incidentally did not approve this recording to get pressed to wax, and apparently chased DJ Bruce Forrest down the street with her handbag when she saw him after handing out this very tape!



R.I.P. the realest Disco Queen of all time, Loleatta Holloway

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Cassette Love 011: DJ Scratch Famous of Deadly Dragon Sound B/W Benefit For JAPAN!

I've been listening to a lot of Reggae mixes recently from the Deadly Dragon Sound Podcast lately, and it's pretty awesome that Scratch Famous from the Deadly Dragon Sound Record shop sent me these Reggae heaters!






Check out Scratch Famous and the Deadly Draogon Soundsystem every Thursday at Top Ranking in NYC:



*******************This Thursday in particular is going to be a benefit for the still unfolding crisis in Japan.

Deadly Dragon Sound and Friends present a night called: Operation Tomodachi inna Downtown Top Ranking Style...

Join us as we honor and pay tribute to all those affected by the tragedy in Tohoku Japan with special guests KING JAM SOUND, YARD BEAT SOUND, KITANO CREATION and UNI-T (Human Crest Sound) plus live performances by JOHNNY OSBOURNE, RANKING JOE, SCREECHY DAN, WILLOW WILSON, MIKEY JARRETT and more.

$10 suggested donation at the door -- 100% of money raised at the door and Bar will be donated to JAPAN RED CROSS

At Happy Ending - 302 Broome St. 10pm to 4am. Thursday, March 17th

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Cassette Love 010: Oneman of NYC Trust/Greenwood Rhythm Coalition Fame!


Oneman and I have been running parallel lives on some One-man degree of separation shit for quite some time, but for some reason we never crossed paths until relatively recently. I was spinning Love Fixation one crowded night during the weekend of the WFMU record fair, and tons of heads were in town and stopped by the jam, and it was awesome. I was having a go on the decks, when I noticed some dude was looming over me, and shouting some shit in my face. I had no clue who the guy was, and couldn't tell if he wanted to punch me or compliment me. After one more series of undecipherable words were slung at me, in fear that some drunk random customer may attack me, I asked McBoingBoing if anyone knew who that guy was. He was laughing like, "Dude that's Oneman! You don't know Oneman??? He's awesome!" After chatting him up that night and bumping into him a few more times around town, as well as watching him do his thang on the turntables, I must agree, ONEMAN over at Names You Can Trust is pretty awesome!

Besides being a talented DJ/Musician, he is a pretty entertaining guy, so I asked him to snap some photos of his "thang" and write up some juicy tales of cassette porn for us. Time to dim those lights diggers, let's get to talkin' dirty:

"NYCTrust really started with Mix Tapes on cassette. First off, I used to take recording of the Underground Railroad radio show back to the west coast where E's E and I would study Monk-One's artistry after he took the reigns from DJ Spinna. That really started us DJing and fueled the search for breaks and junk.

After college, I moved back to NYC and started diggin while E took off for slanted and enchanted adventures in the Far East. I couldn't send him cheese; but I sent him a series of mixes entitled "All American Breaks" over his two year stint. The name says it all - think World of Beats / On Track.





The Look & Listen tape was my last unsuccessful attempt at being noticed. I think Jared from TSL almost liked it and allowed me to leave some on the curb outside the store for the taking. It was a good idea and flexed my knowledge of sample-lore; but a failed format of back and forth btwn beat and original.

My next mix got me noticed and on the radio (URR - 99.5fm) and a few years later my who-sampled-it-based mix would lead to a phone call from Dr. Dre and Eminem searching for sources (also through Jared's good graces.)


I have dozens of tapes from the Underground Railroad and some of them are absolute gems. My favorite was DJ Jock Max who really blew my mind with his 45 collection. Monk-One's puerto rican day parade new york salsa showcase was a huge hit. It was bumpin in the car all summer long and pretty much planted the seed for the Greenwood Rhythm Coalition. Obviously all of Emskee's mixes were class-in-session. (Did you know he also did Rap Drops for the Wendy Williams Show?... And grew up a few blocks from me?) And Tomcat only made a few appearances just to let everyone know who's our daddy.



There's one in there called live@swim. That was our first regular gig in NYC on Orchard Street. We were horrible as DJs but amazing at smoking blunts in the staircase behind the turntables."





"Mixed Bag"

BTW You can hear Oneman every third Thursday at Sycamore in BK doing his thang with his homies.

Thanks ONEMAN!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Cassette Love 009: Love On The Run = Me!

"Allow myself, to introduce... myself"

It seems like the format of this series begins with giving some background info. Well I've been DJing and promoting parties in NYC since the early 90s. Over the years I've worked in record stores, as a sales man at a couple of record distribution companies, and was responsible for sales and promotions at a prominent dance record label during the 90s. I currently play around with some remixing or editing of Disco (people liked my Paper Dolls edit on Eskimo records a lot), make mixtapes sometimes (rarely actually), still play gigs around New York very regularly, got to play a couple of gigs in Moscow this NYE, am heading to Norway and maybe Helsinki this Spring for some more gigs, try to record shop as often as possible, go digging when I can, and I run this crazy little blog. I am a music obssesive!

I dug around and unfortunately many of my tapes have been stolen, or lent out and never returned, or ended up in the big clean out I did a few years ago. I'm missing awesome mixtapes like a Kenny Dope/Little Louie Vega mix I used to have. Where are you??? I used to also tape so many radio shows, Evil Dee, Stretch & Bobbito, Enuff, Flex, Tony Humphries etc etc etc. Many times I would record over the same tapes, and eventually wear them out so bad I tossed them.

Of the few I have left, only a handful are visually appealing on some level, or I still have some type of connection with. So here we go...


This Ambassador tape is the center of MUCH controversy! It was stolen so many times and went through so many hands, and I don't even have a clue as to the origin of this tape. I'm pretty sure I got it in 92, and it's even been stolen from me twice, and I got it back both times! From what I eventually heard, this guy is a DJ from Rhode Island, and mostly spins dub/reggae, although this mix is all breaks and funky stuff. There are tons of early edits on here too, like Danny Krivit's Funky Drummer chop up, the History of Hip-Hop Lessons by Double Dee and Steinski etc. This tape has also been repaired more than once! This tape has seens so much drama and action, I only thought it appropriate to give it some shine.


I could be wrong, but I feel like these are the later half of the 90s. Slick production! I've got Kenny Dope's "Favorite Grooves" in there, and two killer mixes by Rob Swift, as well as a live mix from Buck 4(RIP) Rocksteady Crew. These tapes got a lot of action in the cassette decks, and I just couldn't bring myself to toss these during the great clean outs. Killer soul and breaks tapes for the b-boys!

Some LIVE mixes here! Again, I don't even know how I got two of them. One of them is Joeski of the old school House music crew The Chocolate Factory, which were a gang of DJs that would play a great mix of Deep House, with some leftfield stuff thrown in for good measure. Joeski always had a tasteful balance, incredible technical skill, and this mix in particular shines through. It was recorded in 1993 at an illegal underground dance party called B.U.G. (Big Underground Groove) in a former dance studio, and has Robert Owens "I'll be Your Friend" on it. This cassette has been repaired several times as well. Joeski is active as ever working on tribal, latin, and edgey House sounds with his consistently unique style, and runs his Maya record label.

Joe Clausell live is distorted and shitty. It is interesting that it somehow ended up i my hands. I don't listen to that tape, and will toss it after this post.

The kicker is a live set from 2000 (we were still using tapes???) of myself and old buddy Brennan Green, at the world famous creepy club, The Limelight. That was a weird gig to play, but we had fun playing in the side room and going deep on them. Brennan eventually released records on Danny Wang's Balihu, runs Chinatown record label, and produces music for current hipster star group Arthur's Landing. Fuck that guy!


Jeno is a British ex-pat that moved to California post UK rave explosion. This mix was a heady mix of deep and trippy House music from the Wicked man himself. He still has a radio show that I recently discovered doing tons of great leftfield dance music, mixed with post punk-dance sort of stuff, rare new wave type of stuff etc. I think the kids call it Cosmic these days, but we just called it House music. This tape in particular had a lot of heads bugging in the dance scene back then. Now if I could only find his tape called "Inspiration" that I used to love, which was a mix of early dance/House records that inspired him on the wheels of steel.

Don't fret, the cheesy shout outs were totally a joke for Nick pepe. The man, the myth, the legend. Some of you may know Nick Pepe, but some of you may not. Nick was always a great DJ from the LI area. I heard him for the first time in 1993 in some Long Island club playing soul/breaks/hip-hop etc. He was and still is always super smooth on the decks. I didn't get a chance to know Nick personally until the mid 90s when I approached him after watching him cut up two copies of 7 Minutes of Funk like butter dripping from his finger tips. We've been cool as hell ever since. There used to be a lot more tapes by Nick floating around, and I remember listening to them in car rides to parties with friends etc, but this is the only one I have in my possession, and it's a killer. A perfect blend of samples, with little sections like DJ Premier sections, Pete Rock sections, Tribe Called Quest etc. Most deeper heads I know in the game have come across Nick somehow, and it's always positive things. He's been around for a long time save for the occasional hiatus, and he is now out and about working with Red Bull and playing parties as Deejay Freqnik.

Well I can only dream of those tapes that I once owned that are now long lost, like that killer Cash Money tape, or the Acid House/Italo/New Wave tape from Derrick Carter....

I hope you had fun reading this,
Love On The Run

Cassette Love 008: Al Kent of Million Dollar Disco/Bad Mouthin'/BBE Fame!


Disco Obsessive Al Kent needs no introduction around these parts. Al has been putting out records since the 90s, editing and splicing and spinning obscure Disco from sub-marine levels of deepness, and has even put together a band of live musicians called The Million Dollar Orchestra to create an authentic Disco LP full of serious Disco tunes. His most recent 12" edit series on Million Dollar Disco have been igniting my dancefloors, with some seriously wild splice jobs. He also been running nights in Scotland and the UK with deep Disco guests like Dimitri From Paris, Rahaan, Sadar Bahar and more, when he isn't running his world famous website Million Dollar Disco Records & TAPES. Hardcore, you know the score.

So it should come as no surprise to anyone at this point that Al is a Disco and Soul digger of the highest order, and is perfect for this series as he has already been posting up old cassette recodings on his website here of live sets from legendary Soul & Disco jocks, and even re-released albums of previously unreleased vintage Disco acetate and tape edits on his private label for today's discerning DJs. Preview and/or purchase the wild tape edits by PAJ here.

Check out some of the cassette gold he sent me with live mixes at the Limelight, and live sets from some Northern Soul legends. Look at these closely:



"Robert Ouimet live at Limeight", and "Closing Night At Wigan Casino".... like whoah!

What's also really awesome is that Al will actually be releasing some cassette tapes on his label very soon. Here is a photo of the format past and future. Get your hands on them as they will be pretty limited. One of these could be yours:



Al will be spinning his next Warehouse Party on March 26th with Detroit DJ/Producer Rick Wilhite of 3 Chairs. I'm flying out for this one!

Thanks Al!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Cassette Love 007: Xerxes aka X from El Ay Si!

Xerxes is my homey who has been a serious music lover for as long as I've known him, and you can only imagine how hyped I am that he just got himself some decks, and started buying records. He hates digital. Good for you homey!

Going through Xerxes collection of mixtapes in his car during one of our recent digging trips is what inspired me to start documenting mixtape collections for this blog. Before X started collecting records, he was a long time collector of mixtapes. Unfortunately his car was recently broken into by some desperate crackhead who stole a bunch of his mixes. Luckily he still has some heat at home. Check out what he posted up:



Most definitely heavy on the battle DJs format! I see 5th platoon in there, and the awesomely named "DJ Spictacular"! Thanks for the contribution X.

Beyond his taste for good music, it's his taste for good food that really stands out as he is the proprietor of a comfort food restaurant in LIC Queens, aptly named El Ay Si. When I'm not stuffing my face with mac & cheese there, I'm spinning records there on Thursday nights, with the range of musical styles running the gamut. You can also catch Xerxes spinning Saturday and Sunday brunch. If you are in the area, check us out at El Ay Si.

Cassette Love 006: Ron Like Hell of Curious Yellow infamy!

Ron is a staple DJ in NYC's underground dance music scene. I first met Ron in the mid 90s when I helped his get a job at a record store, just to pay off his massive hold bag of records at Satellite records on the Bowery! He came out to a gig of mine the first day he met me, and we bonded over our love of the newly formed Nuyorican Soul Project. He became my manager at Satellite Records really quickly, and we've been friends since.

Ron is one of those guys that is always in the game, running indie record labels, DJ'ing gigs and running record shops since as long as I've known him. Whether you met him at Satellite, Whatever We Want or The Thing, he has always been an ambassador of taste, and never one to shy away from forward thinking music. Never one to be contained by musical boundaries, Ron has always been indiginous to a scene of all his own. Here is the box, check the variety:

You gotta love the Prince box!

Mmmm, I wanna hear that Ashley Beedle tape.



I then thought it would be fun to surprise Ron with a photo of some of the mixtapes he made for me over the years. Still got 'em Ron, those tapes got a lot of burn, thanks!



When not spinning gigs in BK and Manhattan, or at his residency at ROCKET, he can currently can be found at Permanent Records in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, pointing out the secret goodies to his loyal clientele. Check out his website HERE or his FB page HERE to stay on top of his gigs.

Cassette Love 005: Henry Maldonado of House 2 House/Play it Loud/Speak Records/Son of Sound Fame!

"BOOMBOX FOOD!"

Henry Maldonado is a New York based DJ and Producer who has been putting out dance records since the early 90s, and has some real Deep House classics under his belt on the Strictly Rhythm label under the moniker House 2 House, with his then partners Rudy Straker and David Carter. He's been keeping busy as ever running his own Speak record label, and both producing and releasing what turns out to be some awesomely raw and underground dance music, which is a fusion of inspired classic sounds while maintaining a very modern twist. All the while he's also running a bad ass party "Play It Loud" in BK with his DJ partners Doug Gomez (Drrrty Haze) and Darshan Desrani (Metro Area). Check out this awesome interview with him when you have a minute. It's definitely worth the read.

Henry had nothing but his usual positive energy and excitement when I told him about this blog series, and he turned up the heat when he turned up this shoe box full of awesome tapes! Check it:

"This cherished little shoe box includes various 98.7 kiss mastermix shows from the 80s - including the rare Latin Rascals sets, a stutterer-edit reel-to-reel remix I did of Princess' Say I'm Your Number One and a Kenny Dope mix tape he left in my car while out all day digging for records in the summer of '91. Ah..long live NY Hot Tracks and Carlos DeJesus!"




"This little habit literally kicked it all off for me man. Thank you dude! It's about time somebody recognized the significance of cassette tapes in this whole underground / Dancefloor culture thing. Boombox food right here!"

Thanks for coming through with the pics and comments Henry! You know the more I think about it, the more I realize how vital cassettes were to the communication in the underground. This shit was pre-internet, and there weren't a wall full of cds at Tower Records for suburban kids to buy shitty House music released on the major labels yet. Those tapes right there were the ONLY truth!

You can keep up with Henry's Music HERE.

Cassette Love 004: Chairman Mao of ego trip/Red Bull Music Academy/Bumpshop Fame!

I'm obsessed with this tape cover:



Jeff aka Chairman Mao is co-partner of our favorite Hip-Hop empire ego trip, responsible for the seminal ego trip Magazine as well as publishing amazing books ego trip's Book of Rap Lists, ego trip's Big Book of Racism!, and the show they did for Vh1, ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show. Besides that, he was also a columnist & senior writer for XXL magazine & was a resident DJ at APT for nine years, and when he's not playing gigs he currently works on the egotripland.com blog site which is frrreeeeesssshhhh. True Playa foreal! Knowing Jeff's history in the Hip-Hop and rare groove scene, I knew he would be an awesome person to tap for some mixtape imagery.

The Chairman immediately sent me two tape covers in particular that really set this thing off for me. These two beautiful specimens are so inspiring I may ask him to re-issue a small run of cassette reissues so we can hear the sounds on these beauties. If you are lucky enough, you may have purchased these cassettes the first time around at the infamous LES (Lower East Side for the non New Yorkers) retail shop X-Large, owned by non other than iconic Hip-Hop stars the Beastie Boys, during the 90s.



We also talked about the old store in the LES called "HOUSE", a shop dedicated to selling underground mixtapes. The store literally had walls of Cassette mixtapes that you could browse through, and preview on twin Cassette Deck Listening Stations! Here is what Jeff ha to say about those days:

"Thinking back to those days I just remember the giddiness that permeated every new experience - the itch to learn & discover all the stuff you didn't know about, to hear new music from all different genres b/c everything felt so new & exciting, and just wanting to be a part of it. You really had to go around & try to figure it all out yourself. Shit wasn't just handed to you on a Google platter. But that was what made it fun."-Jeff

At some point we'll need to talk more in depth about the importance of the mix cassette to "the underground" long before the days of the internet.

He also sent me some pics of his impressive cassette collection, and he says this is just some of what he has. Who knows what else he can dig up. 90s Hip-Hop Cassette Heat:



Fear not, those rare groove sounds you love are not lost forever, people like Jeff and many others including myself are still dedicated and passionate about unearthing rare funky stuff for funky people to listen to. One of my favorite mixes that has been getting a lot of digital tape burn from me is Chairman Mao's Mix of Soul & Disco live on A Downtown Affair.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HIS LIVE MIX ON A DOWNTOWN AFFAIR RADIO SHOW

Friday, March 4, 2011

Cassette Love 003: Jens Rocker!

When I started hitting up my friends for contributions to this series, the home girl Jens Rocker sent me a link to her own blog where she posted up some of her favorite classics. Jen and I go waaaaay back, and we actually have a looong running joke about the mixtapes we used to trade with each other! She claims my boy Pete and I never gave back her fave tape, and he swears he did, and that she never gave back some of our mixtapes tapes etc etc etc.

"Yo Pete, you STILL have my DJ Matty MIXTAPE" hahahahahaha, that one never gets old to me! "Jen, where is my Ambassador tape???" "I gave that back to you a long time ago!"

Here is a quality post Jen made about home made cassette mixtapes. Click on the pics to see them in a LARGER size.

There was always a certain fantastic quality to the mixtapes females made that I love. It reminds me of that special touch that Sofia Coppola has when it comes to filmaking, that touch that only the females possess. Long live the ladies in our lives!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"I USED TO MAKE THE BEST MIX TAPES. EVER. everyone says that of course but i at one point made tapes that sampled simpsons clips and this was long before mp3s were involved. I had my tv/vcr rigged to my stereo and would stop/start on VHS to make those bad boys appear in between songs. I would spend entire days off devoted to making the perfect mix: tracks to tape to covers. a bit mad scientist of me, i admit, but yet so much fun to make. being young & creative with lots of free time to devote to being creative… ah the 90′s.

i have over 30 mix tapes i made or people made for me. not counting 97-98 stretch & bobbito shows i would start/stop tape on sunday nites on hot97. those are being imported onto mp3s currently. will share when i have. gems.





the good as gold mix tape, july 1997.

gold paint pen, pilot precise v. point black ink pen, burned out edging by a lighter, scotch magic tape.

I made this one for Emily Malone & Niks back in the best summer ever. 1997 in new york, ask anyone, was one of the best ever. i made one for myself the tape was so good. and it’s identical to this one. no track list though. lost that.





pisces mix, january 20th, 1998.

black sharpie, pisces 1997 astro book, and pink scotch tape.

made this one for me & niks. the dates & pisces logos were cut out of this daily astrology book that i’d write down everything we’d done that year in. the cover is boring .. just the cover of the book. no track listing either. i think i only made track listings for the person i was giving the mix to. i hate getting a mix with no track listing.





16th birthday mix from Jen Walker, march 9th, 1993.

This one is great, the cover has a billion inside jokes that you only have with people you know well. Jen Walker and i spent a summer driving around in her saab convertible, blaring blondie, and hanging out at malls & punk shows looking for skater boys to make out with. This was also the summer i became vegetarian, hence the quote on the far right of the cover. I haven’t had a hamburger since 1992. crazy. half my life. and i still have the mix tape from then… crazy."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for coming through Jen!

While Jen is off living on an island on her own, she would be EXTREMELY stoked if anyone sent her some mixes!

Send your fave mixes to
Jen O'Donnell
6200 estate smith bay #3-397
St. Thomas, VI 00802

Cassette Love 002: MONK ONE of BK's Names You Can Trust/Underground Railroad/Wax Poetics/Fania Records Consultant etc etc etc!

Not only did Monk One come through with pics of some of my favorite looks, like the home made hand drawn mixtapes, but he also came through with a photo of some CASSINGLES that he managed to hold on to through the years! He's got a great variety too, like Fishbone, Gangstarr and a cassingle from Prince's BLACK ALBUM!?!?!?!




This one is a gem: "Are You Currently Living...?", "How Do You Feel About Brain Death?", and my personal favorite: "How Do You Feel About Men Who Put Soy Sauce On Everything?" Beautiful to see specimens like these!


I'm down with any mixtape inspired by KING-FU flicks! ***Note the cramped artwork squeezed onto the small sticker space. I can't tell you how many times I've done that!

Keep up with Monk's music HERE or his moves on FB

Thanks for coming through Monk!

Cassette Love 001: Andrew Morgan of People's Potential Unlimited / Earcave Records



For the first installment of the cassette love series, I thought it would only be appropriate to post up Andrew Morgan of PPU/Earcave Records contribution from the Tri-Fire Cassette series he had recently re-issued, complete with audio OUTAKES! This will not only give us a chance to hear some unreleased Boogie rarities, but also remind us of the shitty things that can happen to our cassette tapes!

This project must have been a labor of love for Andrew, as he applied all the modern day science available at his disposal to try and restore those old cassettes and make them available on vinyl for the funk-fiending Boogie DJs! Aaahhh, the memories of repairing cassettes, or finally abandoning the ones that were beyond repair. Here are the two outakes that were beyond repair, and never made it to the series. Listen to the audio and enjoy those crusty memories!

"Here are some unreleased out-takes from the tri-fire cassette series. Unfortunately they were recorded on low bias tape, the ones you used to be able to buy at the dollar store 3 for $1.00.
They just don't hold up over the years as you will hear!" - Andrew Morgan

DANCE WITH ME:


TRI-CITY CONNECTION 2

Whoah, some serious warping on that one!

*********Now if you want to HEAR the Boogie tunes from some old cassettes that were actually saved and deemed worthy of a vinyl pressing, check out the re-issue HERE

Thanks Andrew for coming through!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Cassette Love!


Above Mixtape Image Courtesy of Chairman Mao of Ego Trip/Bumpshop/Spine Radio fame

I'm embarking on a new project for this site, and that is collecting images of people's private mix tape collections. When I say mixtape, I don't mean soundcloud, divshare, yousend, mp3 files, or CDs. I mean mixTAPEs, as in cassettes! Most of us (including myself) have come to grips with the fact that we can't hold on to all of our shit forever, and as time and technology march on, most of us have dumped our old cassette collections in the trash, or lent them out to someone in the 90s and never got them back. However, even I still can't let go of the few, the proud, the surviving cassettes. Either for reasons of nostalgia, or the music is that good, mixed with the fact that I can't be bothered to figure out how to transfer this thing digitally, they still survive in some stashed away box. Whatever the reason, there are many of us out there with a shoe box, or maybe even several massive cardboard boxes filled with old mixtapes, and I want to see what some of us are still holding on to.

I've been lucky enough to get sent some great photos of the mixtape shoeboxes some of you still have, and can't wait to start posting them up. If you haven't sent me anything yet, please do. Send images to djloveontherun@gmail.com

AND anyone can join up for this one! Please send me your pics! I don't care if it is glossy, or 1 of a kind hand drawn (my favorite!). There are no rules, and I am not particularly focusing on any one style of music. This is a celebration of the Dj (and the preferred musical format of an era past), whether the cassette looks professional, or some sort of home made amateur tape deck DJs, and the love we put into our craft, whether it was for the general public to enjoy, or just made for that special somebody in our lives. This is a salute to the few, the proud, the survivors.

PS mega props to for these images sent to me already! More to come! Let the games begin...


Above "Inspired By Kung-Fu Films" Homemade Mixtape Imagery Courtesy of Monk One of Wax Poetics/Names You Can Trust/Underground Railroad Fame

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Monk One Cumbia Mix and new releases on Names You Can Trust!



DOWNLOAD MIX HERE

Monk One is one of the baddest DJs around, and here he is repping again with some seriously deep Colombian sounds, via Brooklyn. Brooklyn has always been a hotbed of musical activity, and it comes as no surprise that it is the home of Names You Can Trust (NYCTrust) record label, where Monk and friends One-Man, Easy etc work on hot little records to make your dancefloors bounce. Peep one of the newies:




Puerto Rico by Names You Can Trust

You can cop this and more NYC Trust releases locally at Big City Records on 12th Street between Avenue A & B (support your local record shops!), or if you live way out of town and only shop online, cop them directly from the label at http://www.nyctrust.com/

Keep Your Vinyl Love Alive!