There have been soooo soooo many wonderful tracks over the course of this year, I don't have the time to write about them all. So I have chosen a few that sprung to mind... Trust me when I say this wasn't the half of them...
Phil Asher and Kai Alce - Someone (feat. Kayenne)
This has to be one of my fav tracks this year, a new classic in my opinion. It has all the right ingredients to make your dancefloor move, no matter where you are or what kind of audience you have and for the connoisseur it has production elements that keep coming out from nowhere every time you listen. All in all this tune captivates and is a must have.
Kay Suzuki - Opening EP (Incl. Atjazz & Ezel Mixes)
Absolutely loved the whole ep from start to finnish with some stand out mixes from Atjazz & Ezel, superb quality productions and such a great way to start Kay's new label off. I'm really looking forward to hearing all the stuff coming from Round in Motion, as i'm sure its going to be mind blowing.
Now on this E.P. strangely..... It wasn't the Lovebirds doing it for me!! It was Kink, who if you ask me has been firing them out the last two years. Here Kink comes with that gritty original "Buzz" sound of his which has earned him international acclaim over the years. This and the rachel E.P. are favs of mine..
The sound generated by different noises is interpreted differently by everyone but if you claim to like house music and don't like MCDE (please exit left) or catch up!!! Because this whole album is full of good deep/soul for your heart.
Ezel feat. Tamara Wellons - In My Lifetime (Incl. Osunlade, Deetron & Atjazz Mixes)
Where do I start with a package like this, that captivated thousands... This record was an intense ball of loving pressure which not only soothed your soul but got your dancing shoes working in overdrive.
A.C. Layne - Addicted / Lets Go (feat. Selina Campbell)
If you don't get many pleasures in life, listening to this track on full volume should be one of them!! From the moment I heard that rough edged hi-hat, I knew something special was going to happen and happen it did. My ears were blessed by the sounds of A.C. and vocals of Selina to give me a marriage made in heaven on this track. A great collaboration on great imprint restless soul music
This track right here did naughty things to my ears and mind, the Atjazz astro dub was in my car, iPhone, macbook, cd player and in my mixes. This track just has something warm and special about it, I couldn't tell you a specific thing because in fact its everything and nothing that makes this track.
Greymatter - Mind Over Matter Remixes (Incl. TRG, Fanatix, Karizma, Illum Sphere, Souled, Ceramic, Klic)
A powerful package with dope mixes from everyone on it, absolute dancefloor stompers from The Fanatix, Karizma & Souled. The karizma mix is the stand out for me though..
SOULFOUNDATIONS @ 143 BAR WATFORD, Saturday 28th. Catch me down at Soulfoundations, spinning the finest in deep/soulful/afrocentric house.
Line Up
At One
Blue Boy
Time:8:00 pm - 1:00 am Venue: 143 The Parade, High Street, Watford, Hertfordshire Cost: ??? (not much)
restless soul @ East Village, Saturday 28th.
Line Up
Danny Krivit Noel Watson Aaron Ross Alex Bradley Dominic Jacobson Phil Asher
Time: 9:00 pm - 3:30 am Venue: East Village, 89 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, London, EC2 Cost: £10
More About Music Presents...The Notting Hill Carnival Jam 2010 (Part 1) @ Fat Badger, Sunday 29th. Line Up
ROOM 1
JERRY DAMMERS (The Specials / The Spatial AKA Orchestra) RED RACK'EM (smugglers inn) SOULED (fresh minute music) NICK V (Mona/Paris) NICK REES (Adela St) MISS D LOVE (Reading Rooms, Dundee)
ROOM 2
MATTHEW BANDY (Limestone Rec) DEMARKUS LEWIS (Grin Music) WBEEZA (Third Ear) ROMAN RAUCH (Tjumy/Austria) DAVE HARDY (Jus'House) DAN J (DWB)
Time: 4pm-11pm Venue: Fat Badger Pub 310 Portobello Road/Goldborne road, London, United Kingdom Cost: Advance tickets available from the fat badger pub on 0208 969 4500, Tickets £7
More About Music Presents...The Notting Hill Carnival Jam 2010 (Part 2) @ Fat Badger, Monday 30th. Line Up
ROOM 1 Hosted by restless soul
Phil Asher Aaron Ross Jose Carretas Dominic Jacobson Bopstar Luke McCarty & Craig Whitfield (HHA) Live Pa's from Selina Campbell & Guests
ROOM 2
Special Guest Altered Natives (Eye4Eye/MoreAboutMusic) Simbad Donn T (live Pa/moreaboutmusic) Ceramic (Eye4Eye/MoreAboutMusic) Ladybugz
Time: 4pm-11pm Venue: Fat Badger Pub 310 Portobello Road/Goldborne road, London, United Kingdom Cost: Advance tickets available from the fat badger pub on 0208 969 4500, Tickets £7
Phil will be playing all spectrums of Music, as long as its House "He Say's", but we know restless soul, never happy in one place musically. Expect lots of good music, Prototype & Vintage. Guest mixes and Interviews are planned for the Future, This weeks Guest mix is from Boddhi Satva, who is also guesting at restless soul this saturday at East Village.
DEBUT SHOW: Friday 23rd April at 6pm (gmt) - Spread the word! Restless Soul - brain child of Phil Asher & Luke McCarthy.
The restless soul members include: Aaron Ross, Bopstar, Felix Hopkins, Jose Carretas, Luke McCarty, Dominic Jacobson, Craig whitfield ,Taxi Driver, Phil Asher.
Heres a little video I found on Pirate Radio unfortunately it wont embed properly so your gonna have to visit the site but its worth a watch, 'London Pirate Frequencies'.
A little sneaky preview of something forthcoming from myself..... You know soul? by At One
Aaron Ross' WMC Report
Defected and Strictly Rhythm A&R man and voice of Defected Radio Aaron Ross spent last week in Miami for the Winter Music Conference. This is how he saw it...
Touched down in south beach at around 9.30 pm on Monday night. Even though I was knackered I got unpacked, jumped in the shower and headed straight out to the Underground Collective party which is always the first party of the WMC – they do it the day before the conference actually starts – just to be underground! Caught DJ Yass, Tedd Patterson and Master Kev spinning some fresh tunes and was happy to already have heard something new from Tedd Patterson that I wanna sign for Strictly Rhythm…watch this space.
Tuesday saw me hit a couple of daytime parties including Bobby & Steve’s Soul on the Beach party that has become the stuff of legend over the years. Caught John Julius Knight and the Groove Junkies down there @ The Clevelander Hotel then went on to the Mi Casa Su Casa party @ South Seas… a great party with Master Kev and Keith Evan Spinning amongst others. Met Brendan and some of the crew from Afrodesia in South Africa who were doing live audio/video streaming of the party. The evening was dinner with the Defected crew – Spen & Karizma, Eddie Thoneick, Ben Westbeech, Nick Navaro and Layla. Went to a nice Italian restaurant on Espanola Way. Straight after dinner it was over the road to Cameo to get the Strictly Defected party underway and I was playing the opening set in Room 2.
The night was pretty amazing, a great crowd paired with some awesome DJ’s – the highlight for me has to be Spen & Karizma’s Deepah Ones showdown – pretty damn incredible both visually and musically. Also Quentin Harris in the main room dropping ‘Hey Hey’ with the Gypsy Woman chords running over it – a magic moment for sure!
Wednesday afternoon was all about the DJ Magazine party at the Shelbourne, Dennis Ferrer absolutely ripped it up! From old school gems like ‘Brighter Days’ to new stuff I’d never even heard yet! Then Sharam from Deep Dish came on and send the poolside crowd into an absolute frenzy! From there I went to meet Quentin Harris and his manager Lloyd for dinner on Lincoln road at the Nexxt café – one of my favourite places to eat in south beach. Discussed the strategy for Quentin’s new album ‘Sacrifice’, so you’ll have to wait and see how that one pans out.
Wednesday night started off by catching Quentin play some classics at the Paradise Garage party @ Score, then onto the United Records party at The Clevelander to catch Jamie Lewis do the disco house thing, then over to DJ Chus and Ceballos’ party to catch David Penn rock the house. Finally, ended up at Jellybean’s party at the Aerolounge to hear Kenny Dope throw down the beats to perfection.
The first stop on Thursday afternoon was at the City Deep party at the Beach Plaza hotel, Black Coffee from South Africa played an amazing set – and also debuted their mix of the record that was clearly THE Miami record – Dennis Ferrer’s ‘Hey Hey’. Then headed over to the National Hotel, which is always a good spot for a few meetings, plus there was also a great party going on out the back too! Tribe Records were showcasing the new Timmy Regisford produced Peven Everett album; really nice to hear Peven live and some seriously hot records to watch out for on that album – ‘Inspiration’ is my pick!
After leaving the national it was time to head to the IMDA Awards; great to see Dennis Ferrer pick up the award for Best Underground Dance track for ‘Hey Hey’! – yet another sign that the record is continuing to gain some serious momentum. Unfortunately Defected didn’t win best global label, the awards was cool…but I gotta say a couple of the performances (naming no names) were embarrassingly shocking!! Thursday night had to be all about the Objektivity party, definitely one of the highlights of the week, with Dennis and The Martinez Brothers proving why they’re a truly sound representation of what underground house is all about.
Friday afternoon’s first stop was Pete Tong’s pool party at the Surfcomber – Pete dropped Riva Starr’s mix of 'Hey Hey' as well as his mix of Reboot' 'Enjoy Music'! Also caught a great set from Chuckie before flying by the Beatport beach party to catch the Bingo Players. Then met up with Dennis Ferrer at the South African house party @ The South Seas – I gotta say the South African house crew were truly representing at this year's WMC! Culeo de Song, Black Coffee, Christos and the Afrodesia crew – showing the world what the S.A house scene is all about...I can’t wait to go over there and see for myself!
After a nice dinner, Friday night started with Halo and Jamie Thinnes at The Shore Club for an Aquabooty party. Nicodemus was dropping some eclectic sounds outside on the terrace while inside Anane and Louie Vega were spinning alongside Halo and Jamie. After that we headed to Klutch (formerly the opium lounge) to check out the MN2S party. Caught DJ Meme dropping some nice disco house flavours and Funkerman bringing his blend of peak time action.
Saturday afternoon grabbed lunch at Big Pinks diner and then managed to catch an hour on the beach. I think the last 2 WMCs I didn’t even make it there! We couldn’t have timed our entrance to the Shelbourne’s Pacha Classics Party; as soon as we walked in we heard on the mic “Now give it up for the magnificent DJ Jazzy Jeff !” He delivered an awesome set which sent the crowd into a frenzy with a mix of killer party classics. Caught up with Kenny Dope, Todd Terry and David Morales who were all there hanging out...should have had a camera I know..! Then onto Louie Vega’s Sunset party again with the South African crew. The location was at a beautiful hotel on West St and Louie had brought in his own system so it sounded pretty damn amazing! And that was as far it went on Saturday night, but what a great way to finish a great WMC.
All in all it was a crazy, non-stop week that left me completely knackered, but well worth it..! Roll on 2011!
Wow, where do i start!! I'm knackered......... But I have had an amazing time and feel like we need more Soul Heaven in our lives lol!!
So I decided to take my camera on saturday up to Soul Heaven but upon reflection I regret to inform I'm not the best photographer despite being allowed in the Dj booths. I'm gonna put it down to having to much jokes and in general having a wicked time soaking up some wicked music!
Brief Soul Heaven Review
Ok so i pitch up with Sy Sez and associates (Dan, Damian & Leon + others) get inside Ministry and my journey begins, first off with Sy Sez playing a wicked opening set full of soulful uplifting grooves, playing the best in new and old house music really opening up the dance floor to get people going. Then along came guest Dj/Producer Sean McCabe who's set in my personal opinion wasn't amazing but had some nice tracks flowing throughout, not to take away from his wicked production skills. (Pictured Below Sean McCabe left & Sy Sez right)
After Sean along comes Neil Pierce, now if you don't already know or haven't already heard Neil is an amazing dj who almost instantaneously had the crowd eating at his fingertips playing the best soulful house and really working the dance floor over. Alongside Neil there was a live Pa with Adeola Ranson performing Tracks like her forthcoming release with the AphroDisiax 'Little Bird' which went down a storm with the Soul Heaven crowd (Pictured below we have Adeola Ranson, Adeola Ranson & Neil Pierce, Sy Sez & Niel Pierce).
Whilst all this was going on in the bar Phil Asher selection king was warming up for Louie Vega, now Phil had a blinding set and as always was an absolute pleasure to watch. Phil played some classic tracks and some new pressure tearing through the dance floor with ease, Im sure Phil was built to DJ lol. After Phil came Louie Vega, now Louie played some serious dancefloor heat with all the usual MAW & Louie bits and the usual big dancefloor tracks, as per usual Louie did kill it with the disco edits till 7:30 am. I personally become more & more impressed with Phil and his selection the more i see him, as for Louie i was impressed but not in awe (Pictured below Phil Asher & Louie Vega).
Whilst Louie was in the main room, Aaron Ross came on in the bar for Neil and blasted out some hard tracks not quite your usual Soul Heaven tracks but the crowd were going nuts for it, playing the most amount of exclusive edits you will ever here lol. After Aaron, Sy finished off the bar playing some deep/soulful grooves.
All in all a good night was had by all, enough said lol.
Brief Hati Fundraiser Review
The Hati fundraiser was good fun and alot of money was raised due to the generosity of all the people their. There were notable performances from Phil Asher, Dj Crookid and the live Pa of 'Circles' from Nathan Adams also Don E's performance of his track with Aaron Ross created a nice vibe inside, for a very good cause. A fitting end to a good weekend of house music.
Unfortunately i didn't take the old camera with me as I was forgetful due to lack of sleep!!
Right Im Knackered off to bed for me, excuse all spelling and grammar issues lol!!
