Tuesday 30 November 2010

Mr Frankie Knuckles



Knuckles began his DJ 'cadetship' alongside legendary DJ Larry Levan at the Continental Baths in New York City where they lived and played until Knuckles moved to Chicago to take the reigns of a new club called the Warehouse.

Along with Ron Hardy at the Music Box and others, Knuckles started mixing this new sound of raw drum machine-based edits that were being created by a fresh-faced bunch of budding producers who relished the 'Punk' music ethos of DIY. Knuckles would mix in this sound with a crateful of Disco, Funk, RNB and anything that moved the crowd which included people like Derrick May who would travel from Detroit to be part of the action.

He then began his production career when a young Jamie Principle approached him with some of his own tracks. The result, amongst others, was a cut called 'Your Love' which some people refer to as possible the greatest House track in the music's rich history.

Knuckles went on to score a huge dancefloor anthem in the 90s with 'The Whistle Song' along with remixing stars like Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, Lisa Stansfield, The Pet Shop Boys, Diana Ross and more. He also has a street named after him.

He's an inductee in the Dance Music Hall Of Fame and recently returned in a big way with his remix of Hercules And Love Affair's 'Blind', although he really had never gone away.

Mark Murphy Interviews Frankie Knuckles by Spankrecords

Monday 29 November 2010

What are you thankful for in music??

(This is a sourced article)

In no particular order, here are some of the ones in my mind in the days of 2010.


1. MIDI: MIDI gets kicked around a bit – it’s not a perfect protocol, commonly-used messages are low resolution, and the parts most people use really haven’t changed since the mid-80s. But don’t discount why we use it so much: it’s ubiquitous, cheap, and lightweight. Want something simple that works over WiFi and Bluetooth? Want to connect something from 1986 you found on eBay to your iPad and then use on a DIY synth with a $3 microcontroller? Want to connect an Xbox keytar without any hacking? MIDI may not be the right tool for every job, but as a lingua franca, it sure is darned useful. midi.org

2. Linux: Linux can still sometimes exhibit a punishing learning curve, and proprietary drivers for devices like video cards can cause issues. But in a world of wildly diverse hardware and painfully-quick obsolescence, Linux is a lifesaver. It can resurrect old machines, make netbooks usable, and the Linux kernel is fast becoming the solution for embedded gear from Android-powered devices to DIY projects. For music, that means an OS that can run on anything, and quickly wind up making noise with tools from Pd and Csound to Renoise and DJ app Mixxx. Suddenly, anything that runs on electricity and has a processor looks like fair game. linuxaudio.org

3. Music notation: Fun toys aside, what’s the real killer app in 2010? It might be the score. It’s still the fastest way to communicate a musical idea to someone else, or quickly play the Billy Joel tune your cousin wanted to sing along with. (Best karaoke machine in the world: your brain.) And this year, we saw improved ways to enter those scores, from ever-more-mature commercial packages to free tools like Lilypad. An iPad can be a fake book full of lead sheets; a browser can turn some quickly-typed notes into notation. All this using something that wouldn’t look entirely unfamiliar to someone who stepped through a wormhole from a few centuries ago.

4. Reaper: We face a challenge in music technology: we’ve actually got too many great options. So it’s a good thing that there’s at least one DAW that’s easy to recommend that you know people can afford, with pricing ranging from £30-120. Reaper runs on Mac, Windows, and (with WINE) Linux. It’s not bloated with features, has no DRM, is heavily extensible (with both custom plug-ins and scriptable MIDI). And if you’re trying to get a friend to try a DAW without (cough) pirating it, you can point them to Reaper’s free trial version. Add to that the fact that you can author Rock Band songs for the game platform – including full keyboard and guitar transcriptions in the near future with Rock Band 3 – and Reaper is a DAW worth keeping around. reaper.fm

5. Four-lettered Synth Makers That Remember the Past: Not one but two famous names from synths yesteryear, MOOG and KORG, have been on fire in 2010. Moog celebrated its Minimoog anniversary with an enormous XL edition. Practical? Not terribly. Something boys and girls could pin up to their walls? Yes. And Moog also had a bigger-than-ever Moogfest, proving its synths and effects weren’t just the domain of electronic music geeks, plus an affordable iPhone/iPod touch app that turns those handhelds into portable machines capable of recording anything and adding far-out effects. KORG, for their part, proves a big music tech name can remember their past, too, with the soul of their MS-20 appearing in iPad apps, wonderful, stocking stuffer-friendly hardware (Monotron), new bundles of software emulation (for those who prefer “real computers” to iPads), and, heck, even retro t-shirts. What these two companies have in common: understanding that their legacy matters to people, and finding ways to get that legacy in front of as large an audience as possible. Those are both ideas I hope catch on. korg.com, moogmusic.com

6. Portable Recorders: Then: Marantz, Nagra, Tascam Portastudio. Today: go-anywhere field recorders from Tascam, Zoom, Roland, Korg, and many others. The ability to go out and actually record stuff remains one of the most essential needs in music tech. Today’s devices add nifty extras like pitch-independent tempo adjustment and built-in metronomes, making them as much a friend to musicians as they are sound designers. Odds are, if you’re reading this, some portable audio recorder is one of your most valuable possessions. Tascam DR-03 @ CDM

7. Pd: Pure Data, the open-source offspring of Max/MSP creator Miller Puckette and contributors around the world, is a free graphical patching tool that runs everywhere. You can use it on ancient iPods, or – via libpd – on bleeding-edge Android and iOS handhelds, in addition to (of course) desktop computers. It’s been incorporated in free and open source projects, and commercial and proprietary projects alike. Thanks to terrific free documentation and sample patches, you can also use it as a window into learning, with the aid of being able to see signal flow visually. (Even Max gurus can pick up tips for that environment with some of the online help.) The beauty of Pd – as with a number of tools – is that sometimes just making what you need is easier than making something someone else made do what you need. puredata.info, pd-everywhere @ noisepages

8. Bandcamp: The Web is littered with services catering to artists – not least being the chaotic mess that is the remains of MySpace. Bandcamp, in contrast, is simple, efficient, and functional, and for many of us has been a place to acquire music direct from artists as well as to publish it – no complicated jukebox/storefront middlemen needed. Some of my favorite listening this year came from Bandcamp. bandcamp.com

9. Contact mics: A few dollars in parts and a soldering iron will make you a perfectly-functional device you can use to explore sound. Or, you can splurge on high-end devices. Either way, the surest antidote to endless choice in software synthesis or enormous sample banks is to go out and get a little closer to sonic vibrations. brokenpants DIY contact mic tutorial

10. The Internet: Distraction. Time suck. Scourge to privacy. A funny thing happened on the way to the Internet: you may have found a group of people who inspired you to make more, and share more, helped you solve problems and get back to music.


What are you thankful for? Let me know in comments.

Friday 26 November 2010

The Best Of Soul Underground 1987-91

SOME RARE SHIZZLE HERE MY PEOPLE PLEASE DONT SAY I DONT TREAT YOU.......

Peace an Blessins have a good weekend....

A unique time capsule of the early years of hip hop and house, pulled from the super-collectible fanzine. 440 pages of fresh writing on dance music and clubbing in London Manchester and New York, with fantastic articles on everyone from KRS-1 to Bobby Konders. The Sound Factory, warehouse parties, the first raves, the birth of acid jazz, not to mention about 200 brilliant charts.

Download FREE 40-page sampler pdf (10MB)

Thursday 25 November 2010

A little bit about Britt

King by name, King by nature; King Britt is a truly pioneering musician who is widely recognized a member of the royal elite of the Dance Music world. Based in Philadelphia, King Britt has been breaking the traditional boundaries and forging a unique path as a producer, musician, DJ, label boss and media revolutionary for over 20 years.

Taking influence from a wide spectrum of musical genres, as well a number of seminal producers such as Trevor Horn, Quincy Jones and Arif Marden, King has always found a way to escape the strictures of any single category of music by working across genres such deep house, hip-hop, broken beat, nu-jazz, funk and afro-tech. Releasing his first record (E-Culture – ‘Tribal Confusion’) through Strictly Rhythm in 1990, King went onto tour worldwide with Digable Planets – the Grammy award winning hip-hop fusion band – whilst continuing to develop his love of Dance Music culture and laying the foundations for his prodigal solo career.

In 1994, alongside Josh Wink he launched Ovum Recordings and also formed Sylk130 – a collective of Philadelphia’s finest musical talent including Lady Alma, Alison Crockette and Ursula Rucker. He produced Sylk130′s first album (‘When The Funk Hits The Fan’) and licensed it to Sony through his own Ovum label. ‘When The Funk Hits The Fan’ went onto sell over 500,000 copies and essentially provided the blueprint for the Philly Neo-Soul resurgence. King also produced Sylk130 second album (‘Re-Members Only’) – which featured the likes of Alison Moyet (Yazoo), Martin Fry (ABC), Grover Washington Jr., De La Soul and Kathy Sledge – and also the ‘Lets Make A Record’ LP for Sister Gertrude Morgan.

In addition to these achievements, King is one of the world’s most respected remixers. He has added his unique touch to hugely diverse range of artists such from Miles Davis, The O’Jays and Curtis Mayfield through to Macy Gray, Solange, Femi Kuti and Everything But The Girl. King Britt’s remix of ‘Contemplation’ (Josh One) was nominated for the Dancestar Remix Of The Year Award and maintains its killer status upon the most discerning dance floors. King has also scored and underscored music for films, TV series and commercials (Miami Vice, Rolex, Mini, and True Blood) while in 2007 he became the first DJ to be awarded The Pew Fellowship – one of the most prestigious grants for creative arts in U.S. King is also a Creative Cultural Ambassador for his hometown of Philadelphia.

As a DJ, King Britt is hugely versatile – a chameleon behind the decks. Taking inspirations from the likes of David Mancuso, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales and Francois K, King plays right across a broad range of genres, using his experience and creativity to fit the demands of any dance floor. He has toured extensively across throughout Europe, the U.S. and the Far East as well as rocking premier night spots throughout the world.

Most recently King Britt has released the ‘Intricate Beauty’ LP – a solo artist album for Nervous Records – and is also collaborating with Rucyl Mills on the Saturn Never Sleeps project which incorporates, primarily, a unique live show fusing audio and visuals into a thought provoking world of sight and sound, and is also an independent record label. Britt has also recently produced the new Bedouin Soundclash LP, a track for the new King Sunny Ade album and a number of remixes for the likes of Preservation Hall Jazz Ensemble feat. Mos Def, Glitch Mobb, Jay Haze and Dilouya.

Wednesday 24 November 2010

This Weekends Activities

Body Drummin' & Nyumba Deep present Trinidadian Deep @ Apothecary, Friday 26th.


Line Up
Trinidadian Deep
Rap Saunders
Jamesey
Jay Russell
Sheyi on Percussion

Time: 10pm - 5am
Venue: Apothecary/ Egg, Vale Royal, off York Way. London. N7 9AP
Cost: £10 / £8 concs




Phil Asher @ William IV Pub, Saturday 27th.

Line Up

Phil Asher
Collin Patterson


Time: 21:00 - 02:00
Venue: William IV Pub, 786 Harrow Road, London, NW10 5JX
Cost: FREE B4 10PM £5 DOOR/£3 CONC. after 10pm


Infrasonics Rave @ Apiary Studios, Saturday 27th.

Line Up

ALTERED NATIVES
SPATIAL B2B XXXY
JAMIE GRIND
GON
WIFEY DJs


Time: 10pm - 5am
Venue: 458 Hackney Road, London, United Kingdom
Cost: £8 door, £5 concs/adv

Monday 22 November 2010

Opolopo new Voltage Control

Stockholm-based artist Peter Major, AKA Opolopo, the cut and paste edit king, has completed a new album called Voltage Controlled Feelings for Tokyo Dawn Records.

Major has been making synth-heavy disco tunes for years, but until now he's mostly flown under the radar, putting out records on labels like Swedish Brandy and Especial in Osaka. Sharp-eyed cosmic disco fans may remember him from Prins Thomas's Live at Robert Johnson CD, which included a remix of Major's track "I Do." Voltage Controlled Feelings shows the Swedish artist doing what he does best: crafting neon-colored funk and disco tracks with a slightly campy sci-fi feel. A crew of guest vocalists appear on the album, including fellow Stockholmer Amalia Miz Fuze Townsend and California-based artist Erik Rico, who also appeared on the first album by deep house artist Aybee, East Oakland Space Program. Hard copies of Voltage Controlled Feelings don't hit stores until December, but you can download it right now on Tokyo Dawn's offical website.

Tracklist
01. Glide
02. Kobayashi Maru
03. Our World feat. Erik Rico
04. Reversed feat. Blacktop & Amalia
05. Voltage Controlled Feelings
06. The Singularity
07. Take It Slow feat. Sacha Williamson
08. Step Into The Light
09. Bonafide feat. Amalia
10. Waiting feat. Farah
11. The Wow Signal
12. Tweak My Knobs
13. Ballad For Amalia

Tokyo Dawn Records will release Voltage Controlled Feelings on December 3rd, 2010.

Voltage Controlled Feelings by opolopo

Thursday 18 November 2010

Ableton & Serato's The Bridge: Win the prize pack

After the post the other day on the bridge.... here a chance for you to win it!!!

Below is the content from RA and links to the prize page:

Two packs comprising of state-of-the-art music composition and performance tools from Ableton, Akai, Novation, Rane & Serato are up for grabs.

The Bridge represents the clearest link yet between the realms of DJing and production. Ableton and Serato's unique software offering brings together their respective flagship platforms: Ableton's wildly popular Live and Serato's similarly well-loved digital DJing system Scratch Live. DJs can now capture their Scratch Live performances as multitrack Ableton sessions for further editing, refinement or remixing, or alternatively pull up Live’s sessions view within Scratch Live to seamlessly integrate their studio productions into their DJ sets. The upshot of all this is that The Bridge opens up an entirely new world of possibilities in which the boundaries between DJing and live performance are indelibly blurred.

In order to provide one fortunate reader with the ultimate Bridge experience, we've brought together a truly complementary prize package that will fully utilize its fascinating capabilities. Sixty-Eight mixer is their top-of-the-range club solution and comes with in-built functionality for Scratch Live. The Akai APC40, meanwhile, is one of the most expressive and best-suited means of controlling Ableton Live. We have Live's latest version as well—Suite 8—and as the cherry on top, you also get Novation's Dicers—the tactile loop and cue point controllers designed for use with Scratch Live.

And the second prize isn't too shabby either. You get the Rane SL3 audio interface for Scratch Live, Ableton Suite 8, Novation's Launchpad controller for Ableton Live and a pair of Dicers.

Prizes

One grand prize winner will receive:
- Rane 68
- Ableton Suite 8
- Akai APC40
- Novation Dicers

One runner up will receive:
- Rane SL3
- Ableton Suite 8
- Novation Launchpad
- Novation Dicers


To Enter Just go to:

http://www.residentadvisor.net/competition-enter.aspx?id=682

Wednesday 17 November 2010

This Weekends Activities

TRIBE 'Midnight' Party @ ON THE ROCKS REHERSAL STUDIOS, Friday 20th.

Line Up

BLACK COFFEE (SOULISTIC MUSIC, SOUTH AFRICA)
ZEPHERIN SAINT (TRIBE RECORDS, UK)
MATT L-S + KRISTEL MORIN (TRIBE RECORDS, UK)

Free pre-party from 8pm-1am at The Corner Shop, 123, Shoreditch High Street, London E1


Time: 12pm-7am
Venue: On The Rocks Rehersal Studios, 48, Kingsland Road, London E2
Cost: Limited advanced early bird tickets: £10, £15 on door.




Mistakes Music @ Ministry Of Sound, Saturday 20th.

Line Up

Box:
Sebastien Leger
Kaiserdisco
Ramon Tapia

103: Vikings
Joe & Will Ask?
Matt Walsh (Turbo)
Harry James (O’Children/Snap Crackle & Pop)

Loft: Bootleg Social
Tobie Allen
Ricky Meakin
So Called Scumbags
Jia&Jevs
Schalk and Jurgens
Kirk Kane

Baby Box: Gifted
James Murray
Sons of Audio
Dave Lee
Dirty English
Dom Chevez
George Smeddles

Time: 23:00 - 07:00
Venue: Ministry Of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, Elephant & Castle, London, SE1 6DP
Cost: £15 Advance // £6 from 4am // Students £10 All Night

R2 Records presents Shakedown @ Marketplace, Saturday 20th.

Line Up

DJ Kyri R2

Time: 20:00 - 01:00
Venue: 11-13 Marketplace, London
Cost: FREE

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Tenement Yard could be best of British

THATS A BRIT OF ALRIGHT!

DJ MAG is holding a "BEST OF BRITISH POLL 2010" and in which our dutty/bruk/tenement/jah-foot friend has been nominated for best album...... So were gonna need to get our voting hats on, some say this is more important that the electoral ballot!!


Dj Mag say:It's time to vote for your favourite British DJs, producers, clubs and much more, as we throw open the doors of our esteemed Best Of British Poll 2010! DJmag have compiled a list of all the people, tracks and things that have been rocking our world this year. Make your choices below. Voting closes 6th December. The winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony at a location to be confirmed, later in November. Stay tuned to DJmag and DJmag.com for further details! And don't miss our Best Of British special issue, due 25th November.

Danny Native said: "I HAVE BEEN NOMINATED FOR BEST ALBUM IN DJ MAGAZINES BEST OF BRITISH AWARDS 2010. ALONGSIDE ME IN THE NOMINATIONS FOR BEST ALBUM ARE MASSIVE ATTACK, FOUR TET, BREAKAGE & BONOBO. IF YOU BELIEVE I AM WORTHY OF THIS NOMINATION GET YOUR VOTE ON. THANKS."

TO VOTE GO TO: http://www.djmag.com/bestofbritish/

Monday 15 November 2010

Ableton & Serato - The Bridge

Saw this an thought y'all might be interested in this one........

The Bridge: it's a big, bold name, especially for what amounts to a free interface between two existing pieces of software. When those pieces happen to be heavyweights like Ableton Live and Serato Scratch Live, however, such boldness may be more than wishful thinking. Announced with considerable fanfare last January, The Bridge promises close integration of Serato Scratch Live and Ableton Live, and with it new possibilities for intersections between the worlds of DJing and production. Now that The Bridge has made its way to the public, it's clear that for the most part these promises are delivered upon, albeit with some strings attached.

The Bridge is essentially like Rewire on steroids—its core is a proprietary sync spec that allows full transport between the two programs as well as functions like recording audio and the use of external plug-ins. As it's a communication protocol there's nothing to buy, assuming you're already a registered user of both Ableton and Serato, simply open up the latest version of each program at the same time and installation of The Bridge is free and almost automatic. Ableton has put a strong cap on usage of the interface, however—it's strictly limited to Ableton Live and Suite 8.2 or higher, ruling out others like Live Lite or the Professional APC edition that comes bundled with Akai's family of Ableton APC controllers.

Like its municipal namesake, The Bridge allows for two-way traffic: Serato can now be played directly into Ableton and vice versa. In the first case, Serato DJs will find much to work with when using Ableton as a mixtape recorder. This set-up doesn't require Ableton to be open, actually: while working in Serato you simply need to choose .als as the output for your recording and the data recorded during your mixing session is converted into an Ableton Live Set. Afterwards, open up Ableton to find your mix laid out—here Ableton functions as a post-production platform, allowing you the chance to add effects or mastering plug-ins, adjust timing and generally fine-tune things.

It's a great way of alleviating the anxiety associated with mid-mix slip-ups. In this scenario, however, it's a bit ironic that both programs are called Live, as you're essentially using The Bridge as a means of interfering with the very "liveness" of a DJ mix. Exactly what data gets recorded, however, is entirely determined by what Rane hardware you're using. Those operating one of the more modest SL units won't be able to record any sort of fader or knob-twiddling data to the Ableton set—this possibility is reserved for those using one of the more-formidable Rane mixers, like the TTM-57 or 68.

Now if you open both Ableton and Serato at the same time, you get the opposite flow of traffic across The Bridge: Ableton now becomes playable through Serato. This may not initially seem like that much of a breakthrough—after all, if you wanted to mix raw track material alongside the audio file of a different track you could just load the track into Ableton's Session view and rock out from there. Players who have already carved themselves out a solid set in Ableton may wish to do precisely that rather than adjust to incorporating Serato's interface into their performance. For anyone equally versed in the two programs, however, the Ableton-in-Serato setup offers enough smooth functionality and no-brainer ease-of-use that it pulls off exactly what innovative design is supposed to: make you forget what life was like without it.

Loading Ableton into one of Serato's decks allows access to Live's Session view. This is the part of Live geared toward performance rather than track composition, where clips, devices and FX can be deployed on the fly. A limited window below the decks shows Ableton's channels, track controls, effects controls and two sends. Anything you can do with Live normally you can do with Ableton opened in Serato: trigger MIDI, use internal Ableton instruments and run third-party plug-in instruments and effects.

This is a lot to play with alongside working the decks. Chances are that poking at all of these things with a laptop mouse will grow tiresome fairly quickly. At the moment there isn't a Serato controller that is equipped to trigger Ableton clips from within Serato, so your best bet is most likely a MIDI controller for Ableton like the Akai APC. I mention the APC here not only because it's an excellent Ableton controller in general but because its close adherence to Ableton's interface is extremely useful when operating Ableton as an element within Serato.

The main idea behind integrating Ableton within a Serato performance is the possibility of controlling Ableton's output on a Serato deck. Should you not feel swayed to sacrifice an entire deck, however, you do have the possibility of "syncing" Ableton with one of the decks, essentially allowing it to piggyback on a track you're already mixing. One standout advantage of loading Ableton on a deck is the use of on-the-fly looping while in Serato's Relative mode: you can loop Ableton's entire output and then, in a new twist for Ableton users, exit the loop right back on the downbeat.

One limitation with Ableton on a Serato deck is that you don't get a nice fat waveform to look at while you're beatmatching—instead you follow a much sparser bars and beats grid that still works fairly well. Furthermore, Serato gets the tempo information from the tempo listed for the Ableton set, so if your Ableton set contains material with varying tempos, make sure you've adjusted accordingly. Overall the deck control of Ableton is effective and reliable—you cannot, however, do anything like scratch or reverse Ableton's audio.

The primary concern that can arise in this "performance" mode of The Bridge is that deploying Ableton and Serato at the same time can hog a great deal of computer memory. I tested out The Bridge on a fairly sturdy Sony VAIO and yet some minor twitches and control issues were still detectable; most notably in the sensitivity of Ableton's response to extreme tempo changes via Serato's control vinyl. Controlling transport via the pitch fader worked fine, as did manual deck control (tapping, nudging, etc.) as long as it was gradual enough: whenever the decks were halted too abruptly, Ableton's audio would simply shut off rather than speed down accordingly. The additional usage of plug-ins or other VST instruments may be a further memory drain that can lead to crashes or freeze-ups. It's enough to serve as a reminder to test your gear thoroughly and make sure your computer is up to the challenge: electronic music is not the sort of endeavor best undertaken by charging untested into the field of battle.

In general you could argue that The Bridge is ultimately more of a boon to the Serato-centric, serving as a nuanced DJ-mix recorder and an expansion of live-mixing possibilities. And while this isn't stressed so much in the PR material for The Bridge, the Ableton-Serato performance possibility seems well-suited for a tag-team effort, with two hands on decks and two more on an Ableton MIDI controller. In any case, the success of The Bridge indicates that the more the two "Lives" can play together, the less it's clear any longer what "playing live" really means, as acts like mixing, looping and controlling continue to productively cross-pollinate.

Friday 12 November 2010

Kerri Chandler Interview.........


Kerri was interview by MUAK ahead of his 10 hour gig this saturday, heres what he had to say...

Q: Hey Kerri, good to have you back. 10 hours then, do you enjoy these longer sets and how will you play it?

A: I will Play it all by heart and ear, I have a lot of friends coming down and also a film crew, to film a documentary of the night. It's one of my favourite places to play, I love just meeting new people, vibing with my friends, and Hanging out with Zaki(also an Amazing DJ and great friend)

Q: We have achieved a massive milestone with 7 years but you have been pushing the music we all love for so much longer. Do you feel like you have deservedly claimed status as a pinnacle figure in house music and becoming such a global phenomena or does it seem part of your of your life and just flow?

A: It seems to be a part of my life. Allot of my ideas are based on what is currently happening in my life so majority of the time it just flows. I appreciate all of the support from lovers of house music worldwide.

Q: This must have been asked a few times but how do you become exposed to house music and how did you take it further from there?

A: I was influenced by my dad when I was a pre-teen. He was and still is a DJ in New Jersey. After DJ several sets as a preteen and into my teenage years I met up with Mel Madale, he taught me the business aspect of the music industry and my career took off from there.

Q: How do you think things have developed recently with house? Times are obviously changing and things are ever evolving, but what have you personally noticed that are moving things in different angles?

A: When I DJ at different venues the majority of the crowd is of a younger generation. Many young people actually come to me and ask me to play a record that I produced in the 90s.

Q: Do you enjoy producing music away from house? Any plans for future projects, or indeed, if not, and the world was your oyster, what would you be making?

A: I'm interested in producing a jazz album

Q: Are you still loving the house music as it is today? There is still soul in there but clearly saturation has hit the market. Do you still go vinyl shopping?

A: Yes, I still love house music as it is today. When I'm travelling I search for record shops but my favourite is downtown 161 in New York. I still shop for vinyl records as often as possible.

Q: Who has influenced your career the most in the past and now in the present? Is there someone still very much connected in your life that shapes you?

A: My best influence has been God and everything and everyone around me.

Q: With travelling around a lot and the availability of CD’s and digital derivatives, what format becomes the basis of a Kerri set?

A: If its playing I'm playing it. I mix whatever I can get my hands on.

Q: How many records do you own in total? Oh… and this is physical.

A: I own 50,000 records and counting.

Q: When making beats are you still keeping it raw or have you moved into new technological avenues?

A: Yes, I still make raw beats, Not afraid to experiment and place my signature on new projects.

Q: Has Fela Kuti influenced your upbringing into music?

A: Yes, he is a part of my interest in house-soul music however, I have many influences.

Q: Do you ever foresee yourself moving away from America and on a political angle how are things there?

A: Right now my schedule consists of frequent worldwide travel. I don't get heavily involved in politics.

Q: You create a lot of units for the studio yourself. Is this always conceptual or do you follow through on engineering etc? Also, you must obviously be a forward thinker, so with the gear you create it must be from concept through to completion. Therefore it must be missing, any chance of you becoming a project manager later on and developing new technologies for a brand?

A:I have worked on existing brand technologies and look forward to future opportunities.

Q: Can you tell those that do not know about your mini mixer?

A: It is a 2 channel rotary portable mixer that is the size of your palm. The DJR400 is the bigger brother of the mini mixer.

Q: What going on with yourself in the next few months? Any big plans?

A: New Madhouse record releases in 2011

Q: What has been your greatest memory over the last 7 year?

A: My greatest memory over the last 7 years has been the reel to reel set at Southport weekender - Virtual Holograms performances.

Q: Lovely to catch up with you and literally cannot wait till November 13th.

A: Love, Respect and Admiration, I'm counting the days! 10 hours still doesn't seem long enough at Egg, I love i!

Wednesday 10 November 2010

This Weekends Activities

Muak: 7th Year Birthday Party @ Egg, Saturday 13th.

Line Up

Kerri Chandler
Kollektiv Turmstrasse
Zaki
Jay Hannan
Manish
Jimi Mistry
Soy Mustafa
Kelly Sylvia
People Like Us
Eightbitrate
Plastic Pippo
Toni C



Time: 10pm - 6am
Venue: Egg: 200 York Way, Kings Cross. London. N1. England
Cost: £13.50, £15


Beyond The Clouds feat Lil Louis and Pepe Bradock @ Corsica Studios, Saturday 13th.

Line Up

Lil Louis
Pépé Bradock
Lakuti
Joe Hart
Rik Moran
Charlie & Dave TTB.



Time : 10.00pm - 6.00 am
Venue: Corsica Studios/ 5 Elephant Road. London SE17 1LB
Cost: £8 / £10 / £MOTD

Tuesday 9 November 2010

The Mouth by Native Instruments

This performance instrument and sound processor designed by electronic artist and musical innovator Tim Exile is based on powerful Reaktor technology, allowing it to generate intriguing melodies and harmonies from any audio signal on the fly, easily turning vocals, drum loops and other sources into rich electronic textures and highly original sonic mayhem.

The Mouth is the second instrument collaboration between Native Instruments and Tim Exile, following the keyboard-controlled effects processor The finger, and originating from the same custom Reaktor-based live setup that is at the center of Exile's stage performances. Equipped with automatic pitch detection and harmonizing controls, The Mouth provides an unlimited array of expressive and inspirational synthesizer, vocoder and talk box–style sounds and effects with a distinctive electronic character.

The Mouth offers separate Pitch and Beats modes for tonal processing of all kinds of audio material, enabling anything from auto-tuning effects to unexpected chord structures and arpeggiated melodies. For flexible harmonization, musical scales can be either pre-selected or triggered in real time from a MIDI keyboard. The input signal can be mixed and replaced with the output from separate Synth, Bass and Vocoder sections, complemented by an additional FX path. Each generator section offers a preset matrix with additional editing options, while eight global performance controls make it easy to tweak the overall sound in a spontaneous and intuitive way.

The Mouth is based on the latest Reaktor platform, and can be used with the free Reaktor Player and in the full Reaktor 5.5 software, both as a stand-alone processor and as a plug-within a DAW or music sequencer.



Friday 5 November 2010

Suges'Jam remixed by At One

Suges' Jam (Incl. Martino, Gene King, Blakstar, At One Mixes)

01 Original (5:54)
02 Gene King Shines Remix (5:01)
03 Martino Remix (6:13)
04 Blakstar Edit (7:09)
05 At One Remix (7:47)

Listen & Purchase:
Suges - Suges' Jam (Incl. Martino, Gene King, Blakstar, At One Mixes) - Traxsource.com - the best House Music WAV and MP3 downloads

Check out the original in the making......
Suges' Jam - Suges (At One Remix) by At One



Suges puts the funk back into house with remixes by Gene King, Martino, Blakstar, and At One.

There are so many dance genres these days with the word funk in them, but truth say, we're not hearing the funk. At Soulstream we think it's time to remind you what real funk sounds like, and who better to do so than one of the O.G.'s of fusing funk and house together (Quadrasonic & Sexy Lady back in 2000), and one of the best talk box players in the world.

Thus and therefore we bring you Suges' Jam, another in the ongoing series of Sugestramentals. Suges offers up a lush, funky party track rife with analog synths, wah guitars, violins, a harmonium, and layer upon layer of talk box action.

Remixers include Mr. Gene King with an incredibly grooving reconstruction and Martino and his jazzy organ and synths from outer space. Also onboard we'd like to introduce you to our new friends from the UK: James Blakstar John and his thumpy edit creatively spliced together from outtakes, and At One of Yoruba fame serves up chunky beats and dubbed-out vocals.

Thursday 4 November 2010

Alton Miller is set to be "Light Years Away"

Deep house artist Alton Miller will release a new album called Light Years Away later this month.

In terms of sound as well as history, Miller is a direct product of Detroit's house scene in the '80s and '90s. Over the years he's put out nearly 40 records on some of house and techno's most respected labels, including Peacefrog, Transmat and Planet E, while collaborating with the likes of Chez Damier and George Baker along the way. Aside from iconic DJs like Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles, he cites Motown and Parliament Funkadelic as primary influences, and its these sounds that shine through on Light Years Away. The album is a deeply warm and soulful affair on which nearly every track features a guest vocalist, including an appearance from former Funkadelic member Amp Fiddler. It will see release via Mixed Signals Music, a Canadian label that pushes underground jazz, funk and disco.

Tracklist
01. Ever Wonder feat. Abacus
02. Beautiful
03. Interlude: Together
04. Light Years Away feat. Amp Fiddler
05. Come On Over
06. Stars In Your Eyes feat. Stephane Vera & Angelique
07. Interlude: I Can Feel You All Around
08. Give It Up
09. Together
10. Inner 5 Next Phase
11. Late Night Fantasy
12. Next Time
13. Twilight Moments feat. Lotus
14. I Can Feel You All Around feat. Angela Tarrant

Mixed Signals Music will release Light Years Away on November 15th, 2010.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

This Weekends Activities

Warm with Carl Craig @ Plastic People, Friday 5th November.

Line Up

Carl Craig (all night)






Time: 10:00pm - 4:00am
Venue: Plastic People, 147-149 Curtain Road, EC2A 3QE
Cost: £12 in Advance / £15 on the door




Simmer present Kink & Kris Wadsworth @ The City Arts & Music Project, Saturday 6th November.


Line Up

KiNK (Ovum / Liebe*Detail)

Kris Wadsworth (Get Physical, Poker Flat)

Richard Adam (Simmer)


Time: 10:00pm - 4:00am
Venue: The City Arts & Music Project (CAMP)/ 70-74 City Road, Shoreditch, London, UK
Cost: £10



Papa Records presents Messages with Andre Lodemann, Reel People @ Drop East, Saturday 6th November.


Line Up

Andre Lodemann
Reel People Soundsystem
The Layabouts
Matthew Bandy
Leena Masi

Live PA's from London Soulful vocalists :-

Shea Soul
Renn

Time: 10:00pm - 6.00am
Venue: Drop East/ 54 Commercial Street
Cost: £10 / £7 b4 Midnight

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Tuesdays Track Reviews...

I thought I'd pick out some tracks that Im feeling.....

Now we all know theres talent in South Africa but what about the unsung heroes, well AtJazz gave them a floor. Earlier this year a competion was set in SA for a remix package, with the winners ending up on the release.... All I'm gonna say is hot stuff.... I'm really feeling the G.Family vibes.....

Atjazz feat. Robert Owens - Love Someone (The South Africa Remixes)

1 Mpeshnyk Remix (8:31)
2 G.Family Remix (7:35)
3 Lemon and Herb Uplifting Remix (8:08)

Purchase Link:

Atjazz feat. Robert Owens - Love Someone (The South Africa Remixes) - Traxsource.com - the best House Music WAV and MP3 downloads



Here we have a no-brainer, Spen & Karizma AKA Deepah Ones showing us how to groove in epic proportions, with some serious flavours to set the floor on fire... I personally love Epic Proportions.....

Deepah Ones - A Deepah Dubbin Thang

1 A Deepah Dubbin Thang (Main Mix) (8:38)
2 A Deepah Dubbin Thang (Original Version) (8:38)
3 Epic Proportions (8:36)
4 Epic Proportions (Da Bang Banga) (5:04)
5 A Deepah Dubbin Thang (Traxsource Exclusive Mix) (8:38)

Deepah Ones - A Deepah Dubbin Thang - Traxsource.com - the best House Music WAV and MP3 downloads



An Finally we have a new piece from Jon which is an all rounder with a dope package to boot... My favourite is Marlon's Mix..

Jon Cutler feat. Blackfoot U-Ahk - Elevate

1 Jon Cutler's Album Version (5:56)
2 Victor Casimir's Boom Tune Mix (7:13)
3 Marlon D's Underground Collective Mix (6:17)
4 Doc Link's Liberate Mix (6:26)

Purchase Link:

Jon Cutler feat. Blackfoot U-Ahk - Elevate (Incl. Marlon D, Victor Casimir, Doc Link Mixes) - Traxsource.com - the best House Music WAV and MP3 downloads