Cerebral

The Cerebral mix has been online for a while now. I was just too damn lazy to post it here. So some of you may already have sucked it in through forums or facial books, but for those who missed it (shame on you), here’s the link:
www.mowar.be/francocangelli_Cerebral.mp3

After turning my head inside out and playing golf on the hilly surface of my brain, pondering about the possibility of me being able to overcome my laziness to come up with a decent tracklist for this mix… well… yeah, so I came up with one. Here it is:

Kassen – Coaster – Crème Organization (2003)
Ectomorph – Only in Shadows – Interdimensional Transmissions (1999)
Radbound Mens – Number One – Vinylogica (2004)
Thomas Brinkmann – Clara 2 – Ernst (1998)
Planetary Assault Systems – Tap Dance – Peacfrog (1997)
Jeff Mills – To Protect and Obey – Axis (2009)
Christian Morgenstern – Night Of The Living Deaf – Forte (1998)
Unknown – B – Horizontal Ground 01 (2009)
Dj Slip – Sketches Vol.1 B – Missile (1996)
Exos – Begin – Force Inc (2001)
James Ruskin – The Outsider (Luke Slater’s ME remix) – Blueprint (2009)
Obtane – Waterstorm – Sonic Groove (2009)
Aubrey – Dark (Mike Parker remix) – Mowar (2010)
Unknown – B – Bauhaus (2009)
L.A. Williams – Dirty Drums – Peacefrog (1999)
L.A. Williams – Little “Old School” Track – Kumba (1996)
Safety Scissors – Parrot Farm – Context (1999)
Mike Parker – Melencolia (Acid mix) – Geophone (2000)
Mika – Numbers – HiPass (1999)
I-F – Spiegelbeeld (Hidden Camera remix) – Disko B (1998)
Anthony Rother – Art is Technology – Stahl Industries (2005)

One more thing, the picture is from Mike Parker’s website, www.mike-parker.net, where you’ll discover that Mike does more than just techno. His charcoal and pastel drawings are very interesting!

Hakim Murphy dj-set and interview

Chicago’s Hakim Murphy may not be on everybody’s lips but he’s been slowly but firmly making a name for himself as an exciting upcoming house producer. He recently released the Black Robots Having Sex EP on Dan Curtin’s imprint Metamorphic, preceded by the Wiggles EP on the same label. Other than that you might want to check out his past releases on his own imprint Synapsis and Detroit label Planet Detroit. He also released a cd-only album in 2008. Throughout his releases you can clearly spot a strong influence from the city of Jack.

He will also release a single he produced with Inbum Cho called ‘Nothing’ on Nowar, the sister label of Mowar, with a Dubbyman remix on the flipside. But I’m sure you will hear about that soon enough, probably somewhere in February. Hakim was kind enough to record a dj-set for you boys and girls which you can find at the bottom of the page.

First up a short interview with the man himself.

You’re living in Chicago, which is regarded as the birthplace of house music. How has this heritage influenced you? Did you hear stories of the infamous Music Box or were you rather influenced by more recent Chicago house names like Glenn Underground or Green Velvet? How did you come in touch with house music?

Well being a Chicago transplant from New Jersey, I got to Chicago in the late 80’s really to young to know about the Music Box. However I started dancing to what is now called juke, mostly Dance Mania stuff. Later in 1991, a classmate in high school passed me a banging mix tape with some Cajmere, Larry Heard, and Robert Armani cuts; both techno and house blended together. I really started to dig the music, began clubbing when I turned 16 and djing when I turned 18.

Your music shows a wider influence than just house music. There are clearly influences in there that seem to stem from Jazz or R& B. Is this something you grew up with as a child or is this more like a recent thing?

As a child I would listen to Dougie Fresh, Slick Rick, Run DMC, J.J. Fad, M.C. Lyte, Stevie Wonder, Lipps Inc., and George Clinton. While also watching music videos, so my taste became wide open… When I got to Chicago, I became of aware and started to love dance music while continuing to listen to R&B artists like Bell Biv DeVoe. I then started going to school for music and began listening and playing all this classical and jazz music on the piano. My favorite composers at this moment are Claude Debussy and Thelonious Monk. Maybe I am preconditioned to love composers whose main instrument is the piano.

When people hear the words ‘house’ and Chicago, names like Marshall Jefferson, Tyree, Cajmere or Glenn Underground spring to mind. Who are the new kids on the block in Chicago? Any new upcoming producers from the Chicago area we need to look out for in your opinion?

I have giving this question much though and I have found that there aren’t any Chicago cats from a younger generation that are representing the true ethos of Chicago house. Staying true to the entire culture of Chicago and moving it forward, however these are some heads that I like a lot: Steven Tang, Specter, Mauser, G. Marcell, and Amir Alexander.

You took piano classes right? How does this influence the way you produce?

The piano classes help me to quickly remember melodies and chord progressions. Also if I get stuck at a point I can try some composition techniques, like invert a chord or adding a tone to an existing chord to create slight sound variations. Also I studied lots of rhythms on the piano which helps with my drum programming. Basically the piano has helped me to bring out the music that I hear in my head and feel in my heart.

Apart from music you’re still studying and writing papers for school. What exactly are you up to. I know you have something to do with libraries…

I am a newly minted librarian, graduated in December of 2009 and I work at a public and academic library. Being a librarian is a fun gig; I get to keep up on current events, learn about the world, and help people. Currently I’m classifying music cd’s into genres and evaluating collections for accuracy, currency, and patron use.

And you work for Groove Distribution.

Yep, I have been working there for the past 3 years and I have had the chance to listen to music from around the world. I have collected a good number of vinyl and cd’s from Clone, Word and Sound, Groove Attack, Rub a Dub, Rush Hour, Cyber, Discograph, Vinyl France, Juno, Jisco, and Claremont 56; just to name a few of the places I find most of my records. Plus Groove produces and distributes Mathematics, Muzique, Prescription, Future Vision, and Shoes vinyl records. Also my favorite work time there is to file away records into sections as I have found lots of interesting cuts this way. Unfortunately my time at Groove is quickly coming to an end. Due to my librarian career, I will be working at Groove at a super part-time basis. Groove will have retail hours in 2010 and I will continue to work one Saturday a month, gotta get my record fix on!

So you’re making music, studying, working for Groove… do you have any leisure time? Do you have any weird hobbies apart from that? You don’t seem the type to be collecting stamps right?

I like to watch and read Japanese anime. I have always been a cartoon type of dude. I am also interested in studying foreign languages like Spanish, French, and Japanese.

Anyway, back to music, you’re also running a label called Synapsis on which you recently released a Various EP. How did the label come about and what else do you have in store for the label that people should know about?

One day, Inbum Cho aka Avondale Music Society and I decided that we should do a record since I had a solid distribution connection. We picked out some tracks and researched how to do everything and about 2 months later the record was out in stores. Basically the concept of the label is to showcase Chicago tracks from the deepest depths of the city. There are so many artists that never get any kind of props so we decided to look for other Chicago cats that make grooving beats. There will be three or four releases for this year. Look for release from Avondale Music Society, myself, and Mauser.

Let’s wrap this up now and make place for your dj-set. Thanks for the interview.

Word, thanks, and peace!

Grab Hakim’s mix here.
http://fairtilizer.com/tracks/73814/download

Tracklist for the trainspotters among us:

00:00//Ron & Chez D//Never(Extended Version)//Not on a Label(SPDA000)
04:18//Actress//Ghosts Have A Heaven//Prime Numbers(PN06)
08:33//Omar S//Psychotic Photosynthesis//FXHE(AOS432)
11:42//Tevo Howard//60660//Beautiful Grandville(BGR6)
15:15//Cobblestone Jazz//The Goods(Edit)//It IS What It IS(IIWII013)
18:16//Moody//Freeki Mutha F cker//KDJ Records(KDJ37)
22:56//2AM/FM//The Path//Creme Jak(Creme Jak X03)
25:45//Morgan Geist//Ewawen//Environ(ENV004)
28:45//Cobblestone Jazz//Wishes(Outro)//It Is What It Is(IIWII013)
31:32//I:Cube//Supernovac//Versatile(VER062)
35:57//Orgue Electronic//Stairway to the Ocean(JTC Remix)//Creme(Creme12-19)
40:23//Mauser//Leger De Main//Synapsis(Synapsis004)
43:59//Hakim Murphy//April Bang//Planet Detroit(pd04)
46:56//Karen Ramirez//Troubled Girl(DMC Only Remix)//Classic(CMCLP108)
50:51//Chez Damier/Ron Trent//Foot Therapy//P&D(PND03)
54:44//Hakim Murphy//Transitions//Planet Detroit(pd04)
59:01//Mr. Fingers//Distant Planet//Trax(TX410)
62:02//Hakim Murphy//Wiggles//Metamorphic//MET022
64:48//Moody//Det.riot//KDJ Records(KDJ37)
66:15//G. Marcell//Yeah Dat Tu//Synapsis(Synapsis004)
69:40//J.T.C.//My Muddy Melody//Udek Music(Udek02)

Tracklist Purging the Soul

So finally after some digging and listening, here comes the tracklist:

Titonton Duvante – The Pleasure – Residual (2002)
Benjamin Wild – Kronberg – Kompakt (1999)
John Tejada – Music for Doubles (Daniel Bell rmx) – Palette (2002)
Dj Abstract – Just a Dream – Palette (2001)
Arne Weinberg – Day of Repentance – Down Low (2002)
Dan Curtin – Spliffed – Peacefrog (1994)
Duplex – Meta – Clone (2000)
Deanne Day – Honk – Emissions (1995)
Shiver – Oiled Love – Shiver Records (1994)
Convextion – Spice Tea – Down Low (2002)
Cristian Vogel – Going the Distance – Mille Plateaux (1994)
Smyglyssna – White Walls – Background (2001)
Rhythm Maker – Push the Panic Button – Background (2001)
Rhythm is Rhythm – Icon – Transmat (1996)

Older stuff  mixed with… well… less older stuff.  But I don’t really care about release dates, it’s all between the ears!

Go here for the mix.

Purging the Soul

I came across an old dj-set of mine, dating back to 2005. I had completely forgotten about it frankly, and I’m not even sure if it even made online. I had a quick listen and decided it ain’t that bad actually and has a quite interesting selection and structure. All in all a nice listen for people who are into the deeper side of techno.
The first track of this mix already had me digging through my crates again… old habits die hard I guess.

Anyway, nuff talk, let the records do the talking.

Purging The Soul by Franco Cangelli

Direct link here.

No tracklist yet… I’ll post it as soon as possible.
Meanwhile have a listen.

Angel Molina

Angel Molina doesn’t need much introduction. As one of Spain’s most important and most skillful dj’s he stands for quality deep techno and house in all its forms. His sets can vary from deeper minimal dubbed out to harder edged technoid sounds. Apart from being a successful dj with a career spanning over almost 20 years, he’s also… well… a nice guy who’s suprisingly musically open-minded. He even gave me the chance to play at the infamous Moog club in Barcelona a few years ago! Still one of my best gigs I’ve done so far. Anyway, he recently recorded a dj-set for Spanish online mag Playground and online sets of Angel aren’t that frequent so you’d better get this quickly. You can find the tracklist here. You’ll find in action among others tracks of Xhin, James Ruskin, Cio D’Or, Aubrey’s Dark on my imprint Mowar and Belgium’s very own Eavesdropper.

You can stream it or download directly here.

Lerosa mixing up Lerosa

It’s been a while since I posted something. Too many things keeping me from saying something that’s worthwhile saying really. Anyway, here’s something…

If you’ve never heard of Lerosa, you either spent the last 5 years on a deserted island or in a mental hospital. The latter doesn’t sound half bad given the nice meds you get. But yeah, Lerosa has caused quite a stir these past few years. So if you’re into house music, you probably felt that stir too (if not, get your head checked). To get a full picture of his discography it wouldn’t hurt to give a quick glance here. A few recent releases worthwhile checking are his Night Radio ep on Uzuri and the wonderful collaboration he did with Donato Dozzy on Apnea, the ‘Snakes At Number 2’ ep. Go get it! Seriously!

He recently recorded a nice dj-set of a selection of his own work and remixes, all tightly mixed and prepped for your listening pleasure. It does give you a nice view on what Lerosa is about musically, deep house where the word “deep” actually means what it’s supposed to.

Get the mix here:
http://fairtilizer.com/track/61764/download

Tracklist:

Russell – Real Soon
Franco Cangelli – Innocence In A Jar (Lerosa Remix) – Mowar
Regret – D1
Clique – Real Soon
Seeker – Enclave
Circadia – Millions of Moments
Lovers bleed – Millions of Moments
Plesso – Ostgut
Dark Knight – A Touch of Class
One Year Friends – Enclave
Much Later – Uzuri
Triage – Quintessentials
Abby – Uzuri
Buddy system – Quintessentials
Andy Vaz – Hurry, Hurry Remix (Lerosa Mix) – Yore
Pussy – Enclave

tracklisting of the last Hybridize

Finally managed to write the tracklist of the Hybridize Five mix. Blame it on the day job.
I’m pretty satisfied with this one actually…

Brersoul – Flow (Z-Wave) – ESP (1992)
Ron Trent – Indigenous Beat Box – Future Vision (2009)
Bo – Les Paradis Artificiels – Labo Music (2006)
John Daly – Space Walk – Mule Musiq (2009)
Donnacha Costello – Pleite Reissue – Look Long (2009)
Kuba – Message From Earth – Matrix (2009)
Morgan Geist – Linking Tunnel – Clear (1997)
The Good Men – Sticky Fingers – Pssst Music (1995)
Levon Vincent – Woman Is The devil – Deconstruct (2008)
Dark Matrix – Untitled – Losonofono (2002)
Shawn Rudiman – Direct Box – Matrix (2009)
I:Cube – Mingus In My Pocket – Versatile (1997)
Mark Thibideau – In The Moment – Third Ear (2006)
Kirk Degiorgio – Traject – Abstract Forms (2009)
Franco Cangelli – Denizen – Persistencebit (2009)
Mathew Jonson – Typerope – Itiswhatitis (2003)
Mauser – Leger De Main – Synapsis (2009)
Chicago Skyway – Heavens & Angels – MOS (2009)
Jeroen Search – Region 1 – Figure SPC (2009)
Tony Lionni – Free Your Mind – Aesthetic Audio (2008)
Rydell – Careless – Fachwerk (2009)
Aubrey – D1 – Dark (2001)
Mark Broom – White – Native (2001)
Russ Gabriel – Three Fifty One – Pariter (2008)
Peter Van Hoesen – Strikethrough – Morse (2009)
Alexander Kowalski – Oxygen – Kanzleramt (2001)
Duplex – Elevated Mood – Clone (2006)
Fabrice Lig – Closed (Phil Latio mix) – Residual (1999)
Shawn Rudiman – Dirty – Sound Architecture (2005)
65d Mavericks – Whispers of my Beloved – Surface (2009)

Hybridize Five, the last one…

I know it’s been kind of quite here. I don’t always have the time to update it and to be honest, I didn’t have a lot to say. Having a day job tends to steal away a lot of your free time. Nevertheless, here’s another post…

I recently did some serious cleaning up in my record collection, throwing many things on discogs for sale, rearranging lost records and to my pleasant surprize rediscovering forgotten gems. So that’s when ideas started to fall together for a new mix. A 2-hour journey into deep and sexy technoid shades of electronic music. I have to admit that I’ve always had a weak spot for the emotional side of techno. So the fifth and last installment of the Hybrize Series is one with sweet melancholic deepness and erotic electronic grooves. Something to listen to with your eyes closed, something that lets your mind drift away to your personal imaginary island, far away from all the daily worries and the evil crap we have to deal with… And yes this is the last installment, because I think ‘5′ is a nice way to end. Life can be that simple sometimes.

Oh yeah… it’s unnecessary to mention, but I’ll do it anyway, the set is recorded with vinyl straight from the heart, warts and all. No computer mixing can replace what you feel inside. Sometimes beauty can be found in flaws and imperfection. Nuff said, get the mix here below.

Hybridize Five

I don’t have a tracklist yet. Gimme some time…

The Parkwalker rises again!

About 7, 8 years ago I was carrying deep house around in my record case (yeah back then there was also a thing called deep house) and among my babies there were these records on the now defunct label Funknose, which was a sublabel of Swag Records. Little did I know then that I was playing Affie Yusuf’s music. Under his Parkwalker moniker he released three beautiful ep’s on Funknose of which my favourite would be ‘Shades of Soul’. I used to play the title track way too many times back then! It had this sweet deep sounds with a gently uplifting bassline and throughout the track this guy talking about different kinds of Blues. Definitely a must-have record! Very easy to find on discogs, unfortunately for very little money… Some people are really clueless! http://www.discogs.com/Parkwalker-Shades-Of-Soul/release/80710

You can find a lot more music by Affie under various monikers, various labels and various shades of house and techno. Check his disco here: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Affie+Yusuf

Fastforward to today, having started the new label Nowar with my partner in crime Dj Akî, we’re closing the circle. Our first release on Nowar comes by none other than The Parkwalker himself. The story is a simple one… I shot him a message on this marvelous thing we love to hate called Myspace and some time later, demo tracks arrived. Selecting the tracks went pretty fast. Both me and my partner were instantly drawn to the tracks ‘Opendance’ and ‘Degeneration’.

Opendance is slightly more on the tech-house 90’s trip, but without all the bullshit dancefloor fanfare. It’s a deep hypnotic trip with a simple and very effective bassline pulling you in on a funky rhythm base. Halfway the track tribal-like voices kick in, bringing the music on a whole other level. ‘Degeneration’ has a rather organic feel with a raw unpolished edge. Personally I wouldn’t want this track to sound any other way. I guess the dirtyness of the sound enhances the blues feel. I’m not sure if there’s thing called blues house, but if there was, this track would definitely come very close to that feeling. If John Lee Hooker was making house music now, I’m sure he wouldn’t sound very differently. You can check Nowar’s myspace to have a listen: www.myspace.com/nowarhousemusic

Anyway, I think The Parkwalker was the perfect way to start this new label. It sets the mood and the musical direction we’re looking for perfectly.

Tessera compilation on Sushitech

It doesn’t happen that often when you can say “shit, this is a brilliant record” or “one of the best releases this year if you ask me!”, but Sushitech’s last release, the Tessera compilation would be one of those moments. I heard Yossi talk about this compilation for like an eternity. A lot of work went into this, listening, re-listening, selecting, basically making sure this compilation isn’t just a random selection of a couple of house tracks. The track selection is beautifully coherent and makes the entire compilation, four twelve inches in total, a captivating trip in the elegance and sexiness of deep house with a sweet 90’s touch. You can find oldskool producers such as Nick Holder, Russ Gabriel, Steve O’Sullivan as well as recent names such as Serafin, Lauhaus, E. Bridge or Anonym. It’s hard to pick a favourite because all tracks are timeless quality house gems, but if I have to highlight a few of them I’d go for Steve O’Sullivan’s Soft Scoop Memories, Russ Gabriel’s Change, Anonym’s Go Deeper, Leonel Castillo’s Stone Beach and Nick Holder’s Feeling Sad.
Still the whole thing just breathes uncompromising quality for which the Sushitech imprint has up to now always stood for. Mad props to Matt Du Jardin and Yossi Amoyal to make this happen!

I asked Yossi Amoyal to add a few words of his own about this project:

“It took me and the artist a very long time to work on this project as it’s very hard to build up a nice and consistent story on a 12” combining different artists who live in different places in the world and take inspiration from different environments. But as we all know, music is an international language and track after track we all teamed up to write this nice musical journey to the compilation that marks the 10th release on each of our labels. We started with the original productions of the main label producers and then we mixed it with some fine classics and favorite guests to complete the listening journey of this compilation.
In total the process of producing this record took us all more then 8 months and it’s so nice to get all the warm words and nice feedback after the hard work we did. It’s nice to see that quality people can listen and understand exactly what we were trying to bring.”

If you haven’t already, make sure you get a listen to this compilation. Go to Sushitech’s website http://www.sushitech.com and check the clips. You can also find more information about past and upcoming releases.