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Samplitude no. 3: Mood II Swing - All night long

Ploughing down musical memory lane this time around its.....

Samplitude no. 3: Mood II Swing - All night long
words: Eoin Callanan

Hailing from New York, Lem Springsteen & Jon Ciafone(aka Mood II Swing) were one of the most widely respected and prolific house music producers of the 90s. Inspired by people like Masters At Work and the thriving new york house and garage scene of the early 90s, they released their debut single 'Wall Of Sound; on Eightball records in 1992 and went on to to produce some of the decades best underground music.  From their own deep dancefloor-oriented productions like Wall Of Sound and to more soulful collaborations with singers such as Carol Sylvan and Fonda Rae on legendary new york labels like Eightball, Nervous, Strictly Rhythm, King Street and Wave Music, they were also highly sought after as remixes, with several high profile remixes for artists like BT, India and the huge chart hit 'Free' by Ultra Nate.

All Night Long was released in 1996 on Groove On records and contains one of the cleverest uses of a sample I've ever heard. So clever in fact, that it actually had to be pointed out to me almost 8 years after I first heard the record! The sample comes from Michael Jacksons 'Rock With You' and uses a very tiny loop from towards the end of the song to form the basis of the track along with a grooving bassline, some nice chords and great little vocal loop. 

There's not a whole lot you can say about Rock With You. Its probably the best track from Michael Jacksons debut(and best) solo album, Off The Wall. Pure soulful disco at its very best, complete with cheesy video!

Download Mood II Swing - All night long [Groove On]

Download Michael Jackson - Rock with you [Epic]

By Conor L Tagged: , , , , , , ,

The Residents #2: Simon Resoul

Next up in our new series of Stereotonic resident DJ's profiles & mixes, its........

SIMON RESOUL

Roscommon man Simon Resoul has been DJing almost a decade and been a pivotal member of the Stereotonic crew for at least half that both alone and in the decks and drums outfit Resoul, whos members consist of Simon, his brother Brian, Liam Kelly and Palette Recordings artist  Dave Hughes. Simon recently released the excellent 'Simon Says EP' on Stereotonic Recordings featuring the tracks 'A Safe Place', 'Easy Company', 'Night Pack', and his collaboration with Scribble Records artist Kormac.

To download the Simon Says EP, click HERE

DJing since:
2001


Top 5 DJs/Producers:
Trentemoller
Charles Webster
Ame
John Tejada
Justin Martin


Best set you have ever seen:
Fish go deep in the shelter back in 2002 was definitely the most inspirational. I happened to stumble across the night not knowing who they were. I was djing deep house in my bedroom at 115bpm for years
after that.


First record bought:
Nick Holder Underground Alternatives.


First gig you played:
Started Resoul with Liam Kelly in 2001 our first gig was the famous Jekyll and Hyde pub in Ros town.


Skeleton in the closet(An embarrassing record you bought):
Kormac Good Lord EP.


Biggest howler you've made at a gig:
Tick all the boxes here. Resoul back in there heyday had a great knack for blowing sound systems. Tripping over leads with multiple mixer set ups. Breaking drum sticks and having to resort to high heals. All the regular stuff like lifting up the needle on the record thats playing. We had a strict drink as much whiskey as you can policy.


Favourite non-dance act/album:
Listen to a wide range of music, impossible to pick one act or album but just got Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid, best album i've heard in quite a while.


Random interesting fact about you:
I can on occasion reproduce the sound of a click track in my sleep.


Download Stereotonic April 09, mixed by Simon Resoul, HERE

By Conor L Tagged: , , , ,

Samplitude no. 2: Braxton Holmes & Mark Grant - The revival

Next up in our regular Samplitude feature is.....

Samplitude no. 2: Braxton Holmes & Mark Grant - The Revival
words: Conor L

Braxton Holmes and Mark Grant are 2 of a plethora of Chicago based House producers who formed the second wave of DJs and producers to come out of the Windy City in the mid 90s. Along with their better known compatriots like Derrick Carter, Mark Farina and Cajmere among others, they produced numerous ground breaking tracks which were in turn to influence tons of House heads worldwide, including the likes of Daft Punk among dozens of others. They in turn were inspired by the Chicago House boom which happened in the mid 80s at clubs like Frankie Knuckles' Powerplant (Where he moved to after the Warehouse) and Ron Hardy's Music Box (What the Warehouse became after its initial closure in 1982), to the point that one of the tracks on Braxton and Marks 1997 EP on Cajual 'The Revival' was named after the aforementioned Hardy. On the flip of said EP was the title track, which sampled a small snippet from the slightly odd 1973 War track 'City, Country, City'.

A cult hit at The Loft in New York in the early 70's, the 13 minute long 'City, Country, City' was an album track from War's fourth album in 1972 'The World is a Ghetto'. Clocking in at 13 odd minutes, its a record which, as its title suggests, captures the mood of the transition between city -> country -> city. Full of crescendos and lulls as it reverts between said states, its never a dull record and due to its quirkyness and Loft influence, it was also a big record at The Paradise Garage in New York, where to this day it is still revered by old Garage and Loft heads. It was one of the tracks featured on this cd , exposing it to a whole new audience.

Similarly as with the first Samplitude, this is a great example of adept sampling and is a real 'blink and you'll miss it' case. Download both tracks below........

Download Braxton Holmes & Mark Grant - The Revival [Cajual](1997)

Download War - City, Country, City [United Artists](1972)

 

By Conor L Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Residents - #1: Eoin Callanan

Here is the first in our new series of Stereotonic resident DJ's profiles. First up, its........

EOIN CALLANAN


Originally hailing from Shannon, and one of the longest serving members of the Bodytonic crew, Eoin discovered House music after regular trips to the legendary Sweat night in Sir Henrys in the late 90s inspired him to buy a set of decks. After moving to Dublin in 2001 he managed to secure a brief residency in Switch in early 2003 before making his Bodytonic debut in march of that year in the Legal Eagle. Since then he's been a resident at Stereotonic at Wax, Rogue, POD and now the Twisted Pepper while also playing clubs in Minneapolis, Cork, Limerick and Waterford as well as the Electric Picnic festival.Eoin also co-hosts the Delicious Mix Sessions weekly on Power FM with fellow Stereotonic resident Mike Black.

DJing since:
1999

Top 5 DJs/Producers/Influences:
1. Fish Go Deep
2. Charles Webster
3. DJ Deep
4. Kerri Chandler
5. Dixon

Best set you have ever seen:

Hard to pick just one. The first time I saw Greg and Shane way back in 1998 was a huge eye opener for me, but I can't really remember a lot of the details, its all just a blur!

Joe Claussell at Homelands 2000 in Mosney completely blew me away, it was my first time ever hearing non-house music mixed in a house set. Dan Hartman - Relight My Fire and Bob Marley - You Could Be Loved sung back to him by the whole crowd. It was pretty special.

The first time Dixon played in wax for Stereotonic was amazing as well, it was right when that whole Innervisions 'sound' was about to blow up and even though I didn't recognise one tune he played, it was mind-blowing!

First record bought:
First record I remember owning was the theme tune to Fraggle Rock, bought for me by my parents when I was a kid. I was a huge fan of the tv show. First record I bought myself was Powerslave by Iron Maiden when I was around 10 or 11. My tastes have changed somewhat since then thankfully!! First dance music record I bought was Presence - Sense Of Danger with my first set of omnitronic belt drive turntables.

First gig you played:
Was in South in Tramore at the Waterford Institute of Technology Freshers ball in 2002. My friend Ian was involved in running it so got me the opening slot in the room upstairs. My abiding memory of the gig is a lot of wexford people asking for Mauro Picotto tunes!

Skeleton in the closet:
ATB - Til I Come, bought not long after I got my first set of decks, its still at home in my attic somewhere gathering dust.

Biggest howler you've made at a gig:
Nothing too embarassing, I once try to put a record on the turntable that was already playing causing a big screech over the sound system! Thankfully, not too many people noticed and I just carried on.


Favourite non-dance act/album:
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon. 40 minutes of pure perfection, there isn't a bad note on the entire album. Managed to see Roger Waters playing the whole thing life a couple of years back, it was the best gig I've ever been to.

Random interesting fact about you:
I've been on every continent except Antarctica


Download 'Something for myself', mixed by Eoin Callanan, HERE

Tracklist:
Jazzanova - Belle Et Fou(Danny Krivit Re-Edit) [Sonar Kollektiv]
Unus Emre - 1999 [Booth Trax]
Guy Robin & DJ Leo - American Boy [Raw House]
Aaron Ross - Butterfly (Raw Mix) [Max Trax]
Blackjoy - La Stache [NRK]
Agoria - Dust(Oxia Remix) [Different]
Delano Smith - Something For Myself [Third Ear]
Kerri Chandler - Pong (Ben Klock Strings & Bones Remix) [Deeply Rooted House]
Flora Cruz - Let The Sunshine Out (Jerome Sydenham Dubstrumental) [Ibadan]
Ashford & Simpson - Bourgie Bourgie (Joe Claussell Classic Remix) [Warner Bros]

By Conor L Tagged: , , ,

Samplitude no. 1: Daft Punk - Indo silver club

For the first in a few new features we will be running on the Stereotonic blog, Samplitude will be bringing you a few of our House and Stereotonic favourites from over the years and the samples from where they came. This will be a bi-weekly feature and you can download the mp3s yourself and hear for yourself after reading through our blabbering. Anyway, without further ado, we will take it away with.......

Samplitude no. 1: Daft Punk - Indo Silver Club
words: Conor L

One of the seminal dance music albums of my generation, Homework was released by Daft Punk in 1997, after 3 years in the making, and became critically acclaimed by media and head alike with its filtered loopy disco influenced tracks making a big impact in the world of House and Techno, with DJs like Roger Sanchez and DJ Sneak hammering some of the albums tracks in their sets. Their striking music videos for the singles 'Da funk' and 'Around the world' (Directed by Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry respectively), resulted in them scaling the pop charts also, but aside from any commercial success with the aforementioned tracks (and other singles 'Revolution 909' and 'Burnin'), there were also a few sleeper hits on the album which struck a chord in the underground House scene. One such track was the monster 'Indo Silver Club'. Clocking in at only 4 and a half minutes long, it wasnt your standard House record with a DJ friendly intro and outro, but its warped filtered funky melody which was looped and chopped up over a thumping kick drum, had a real Chicago house feel and wasnt long before the likes of Carter, Sneak, Sanchez et al were playing it regularly. Its also a big favourite of mine which Ive played a fair bit over the years in Stereotonic so I thought an apt place to begin with this feature.

Where the looped melody originated, wouldnt have been inherently obvious to most, but it came from a small snippet of a long forgotten disco record on West End from 1978, 'Hot Shot' by Karen Young. At the time, West End was a fledgling disco label based out of New York, who's joint owner, Mel Cheren, had a financial interest in The Paradise Garage and his ear in the New York disco scene and all the best clubs. When Philadelphia producers Andy Kahn and Kurt Borusiewicz turned up to his office with 'Hot Shot', he knew he had a hit. Not before long, Paradise Garage resident DJ Larry Levan, was hammering it regularly in the club and it hit number 1 on the Billboard dance chart shortly thereafter. Young recorded again for West End, but never hit the same heights of 'Hot Shot' and died sadly in 1991 from a stomach ulcer.

Personally I think this example showcases how to be clever and skilful with sampling records and Daft Punk have really created something entirely new and different from a small snippet of someone elses work, which is at its best, what sampling is about. Enough talk, here are the tracks......


Download Daft Punk - Indo Silver Club [Virgin] (1997)

Download Karen Young - Hot Shot [West End] (1978)

By Conor L Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Reel me in...



Ahead of his appearance at POGO this Saturday, we decided its time to revisit one of Gregs finer moments playing here in Dublin from the past. Down in cosy confines of the Rogue basement in 2006, Greg played a blinder for us down at our Discotonic night there, working the B77 Reel to Reel with many of his famous edits. We have it all recorded and decided to dig it out ahead of Saturdays talk in The Twisted Pepper and the gig after

Download Greg Wilson, Live at Discotonic @ Rogue, 2006 HERE

 

By Conor L Tagged: , , ,

Everything must go......



On Sunday March 8th, we are having the first 12 Record Fair down in the warm confines of the Bernard Shaw. Kicking off at 2pm, a variety of big names on the Dublin scene, including Mark Murphy from Choice Cuts, Beatfinder Records (Formerly Big Brother), Mark Allton, Stereotonics John Mahon, POGOs Eoin Cregan, Power FMs Da Wiseguy & 12s own Tom Beary among others, will be dusting off and selling some of their treasured old 12" records. For eager vinyl vultures it will be a good opportunity to pick up some nice rare bits and pieces and there will also be some free snacks and refreshments available on the day.

After the trading ends, some of the aforementioned heads will be DJing at 12 until close alongside 12 residents Tayor, Conor L, John Mahon & Tom Beary, so expect plenty of shenanigans after. As usual this will be broadcast live on 12Radio , which goes out live every Sunday from the Bodytonic website.

If you are interested in selling vinyl at this event, contact conor@bodytonicmusic.com

Some photos from February 15th at 12, can be found HERE

By Conor L Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stereotonic 001 - Simon Says EP

Oh yes, its that time at last! The Simon Says EP by Stereotonic's own Simon Resoul is released on February 16th on Stereotonic Recordings. It features the tracks A Safe Place, Easy Company, Night Pack, & his collaboration with Scribble Records' Kormac, EntreThis is the first release from both Simon and ourselves and is a 4 track EP of quality House music with a little bit of variety in there. It will be available on all good download stores from this Monday. The release party is this Saturday down at The Twisted Pepper basement with Simon Resoul himself, supported by Tayor, Conor L & Dazboy with Bullion playing upstairs on The Stage.

To buy the Simon Says EP, click HERE

And now, most importantly, the music itself........

 

By Conor L Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Oh Danny boy.... part III

For todays entry, I have gone for one of Dannys first visits to Dublin, waaaaay back in August 2004 to play for Downtown Sounds in Crawdaddy. The sound quality and mixing is rough in parts, but there are some equally inspired moments and for that it is one of my favourite mixes. Its in 2 parts and you can download them here:

Daniel Wang, Live at Downtown Sounds, August 20th 2004, Part 1

Daniel Wang, Live at Downtown Sounds, August 20th 2004, Part 2

For todays competition, Im gonna go with an easy one. As before all answers to conor@bodytonicmusic.com , and the first successful answer gets a double pass.

Daniel Wang famously has released on Morgan Geists reknowned Environ label, but which label did he set up himself in 1993 to release his own music:

a/ Malibu
b/ Balihu
c/ Ballyer

By Conor L Tagged: , , , , ,

Oh Danny boy.... part II

For todays entry in this weeks Wang mixes, I have gone for a recording from his appearance at the infamous Dirty Talk clubnight from Melbourne in November 2005. Dirty Talk is of course run by Jason Martin, who runs the excellent Sueno Martino blog aswell. You can download it HERE

For todays competition, another double pass can be won by answering the following question:

Which one of the following was is a well known record by Daniel Wang

a/ Like some dream I cant stop dreaming
b/ Like some fart I cant stop farting
c/ 24k

First person to mail a correct answer to conor@bodytonicmusic.com, wins a double pass for Saturdays gig

By Conor L Tagged: , , , , ,