I’m posting this pretty sheepishly as Darren Judge did one of thess podcasts for us a full 2 MONTHS ago. He left it to me to add the jingles and I moved house/studio and am still picking up the pieces. There are still no jingles for reasons i’d better not go into, but what there is, is two HEAVY mixes put together by the man currently garnering support from the likes of Solid Steel for his CLUBB ROCK project. #19 is everything you’d expect from a British born Jamaican. Tuff Hip Hop, raw breaks and some serious Kingston town leanings. #20 sees the Judge come over all smooth & soulful….in a ghetto style. Guess you can’t be raw all the time. He promises us there are more in the pipeline but for now, wrap your ears around these.

HH PODCAST #19:

As We Enter//Nas & Damian Marley
Yegelle Tezeta//Mulatu Astatke
Struggla//Skitz ft Rodney P, Kardinal Offishal & Skibadee
Born Inna System//Skitz ft Buggsy
Kill Em With The Flow (Remix)//Skandal ft Klashnekoff & P Money
Shutterbug//Big Boi
EMC (What It Stands For)//EMC
Twilite Speedball//Mos Def
Orange Murderer//Clubb Rock
Lit Up//Flying Lotus & Declaime
Geek Down//J Dilla
914//Pete Rock ft Styles P & Sheek Louch
My Aggin (Inst)//OhNo

Download

HH PODCAST #20: Ghetto Love Mix

Download

I first met Dan Bean via a mutual friend with whom he shared the Iality HiFi soundsystem. As you can probably guess from its name, Iality was a predomoinantly Reggae affair, and so I assumed incorrectly that Dan was just another white-boy with a penchant for the sound of Jamaica. When I bumped into him in Fabric’s Room 3, which was being commandeered by the Detroit Beatdown DJs (Norm Talley, Delano Smith and Mike Clark), questions began to form in my mind about his musical affiliations.  Over time, pre-conceptions were replaced with truth. The truth is that Dan’s taste (both musically and otherwise) is impeccable and diverse. Add to that his numerous trips to Detroit to hang out with Techno’s A-List and dig for long deleted vinyl prizes and you can probably see where we’re heading.

While I was round at his for an excellent meal and shameless audio geek-out a few weeks back, his floor to ceiling vinyl collection spanning everything from synthed-out Sunny Ade to Madlib’s DJ Rels broken-beat project prompted me to ask him to do a podcast for Heads High. It just so happens, that Dan is part of the Bleep 43 organisation who take great pride in inviting House/Techno’s finest to our fair city for marathon sets of real music. Derrick May is coming to Bleep very soon and that provides the inspiration for this very special audio excursion. I’ll let Dan explain:

“While preparing for the arrival of Derrick May to play a six hour set for us on the 21st May, I couldn’t help pausing to think about his work. It’s fair to say that he hasn’t exactly been prolific in terms of releases. On the other hand almost everything he’s released has been game changing in some way or other. This is partly to do with the innovative drum programming that Detroit is quite rightly renowned for, especially on the Roland TR-909. You might even say that the sounds from that peculiar little box define techno but that’s only half the story.

Listening to Derrick’s tracks, it seems clear that it’s the power of the melody that somehow connects most deeply. The instruments for this must have seemed like an uninspiring selection of cheap keyboards at the time, the only tools available to broke musicians. However in true ‘dubwise’ fashion they were put to use in ways that their designers probably never anticipated. The result was a sound or feeling that has since become ubiquitous worldwide, sadly almost to the point where it’s become totally devalued.

Rather than compiling a series of Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks in a mix, it seemed like a better idea to review at least some of the history of synthesiser music. It’s by no means a comprehensive review (please don’t write in…) but I’ve tried to pick out a reasonably varied selection including some tracks that might have influenced Derrick and his colleagues. For instance, ‘Shine A Light’ was a favourite of The Electrifyin Mojo, a revolutionary Detroit radio DJ who melded an almost ludicrous range of boundary busting records on his show and must take at least some credit for the Detroit sound.

I’ve also looked back to some early attempts to harness the power of synthesis by pioneers such as Raymond Scott and the unfortunately named Dick Hyman, not to mention sterling efforts from persistent innovators such as Ike Turner and Eddie Harris. Add to that Germany’s own take in the form of Popol Vuh alongside their inheritors Stereolab and with some luck I may have illuminated some less frequented corners of the synthesiser universe. To round the picture out I’ve also included tracks from European masters such as Giorgio Moroder (Beat The Clock) and Jean-Claude Petit and some apparently accidental house music from Roy Ayers, as well as a contribution from Detroit’s prodigal son (and devout synthophile) Omar S.”

Bleep43 with Derrick May is taking place on Friday 21st May at the wonderful Corsica Studios in Elephant and Castle. It’s £15 on the door (£9 NUS) or £12 in advance. Derrick will be playing for six hours from 1am. Hope you can join us. More info here.

Download Dan’s Synthetic Mix

Tracklisting

John Carpenter//Main Theme from Escape From New York
Jean-Claude Petit//Stones Of Law
Omar S//Hot Ones Echo Through The Ghetto
Rhythim Is Rhythim//Beyond The Dance
Sparks//Beat The Clock (Alternative Mix)
Jimmy Ross//Fall Into A Trance
The Graingers//Shine A Light
Roy Ayers//Chicago
Cloud One//Atmosphere Strut
Cat Stevens//Was Dog A Doughnut
Fern Kinney//Groove Me
Ike Turner//Thinking Black
Dick Hyman//Give It Up Turn It Loose
Raymond Scott//The Happy Whistler
Stereolab//Refractions In The Plastic Pulse
Popol Vuh//Aguirre I
Yusef Lateef//Technological Homosapiens
Eddie Harris//Carnival

Easter weekend. Four days off and very few excuses not to record a podcast so here it is. Heavily inspired by the ritual bank holiday dig through the collection, a selection taking in rootikal dubwise, golden age pirate radio anthems, fresh boom-bap and forthcoming 130 BPM sub bass excursions…..enjoy:

Download Duke Etienne Podcast #17

The Observers//Organ Satta
Big Youth//Love Jah Jah Children
Horace Andy//Lets Live In Love
Jah Bunny & Ras Elroy meet Dougie Conscious//Dub 2
King Tubby//Antique Dub
ELUCID//Laser Days
SBTRKT//Inamillion
Blackpocket//U’re a Star (Martyn Remix)
Hem ft. Terrible Shock//On a Mission (Shortstuff Remix)
Ragga Twins//18″ Speaker
Pursuit Grooves//Whisper
U.N.I. ft. H.O.P.E & Shawn Jackson//Cali Soul
Ski Beatz ft. Mos Def//24 Hour Karate School
Bullion//Don’t Talk
Madlib//Floating Soul
Dabrye//Magic Says
Chico Mann//Levanta
Pursuit Grooves//Cosy
Portformat ft. Blaktroniks//It’s On (Swede:art Remix)
Erykah Badu//Turn Me Away (Get MUNNY)
Georgia Ann Muldrow//So Far
Ski Beatz ft. Mos Def & Whosane//Taxi

She’s been lurking (and working) in the shadows for some time now and she’s decided it’s her time to shine. We’re happy! She’s got ridiculously good taste in music, and she pleases herself before making any concessions for you or I….our kind of girl….check for yourselves. This is her first podcast mind so go easy on her. We were all first-timers on the mic once:

Tracklisting

Strong Arm Steady feat Talib Kweli// Get Started
Medina Green feat Mos Def// Party Done
DTMD// Fantastic
Jneiro Jarel// N.A.S.A
Olivier Daysoul// The Walls
Pollyn// Still Love (Debruit Remix)
Will Powers// Adventures in Success (dub)
Mulatu Astatake// Esketa Dance
Shafiq Husayn// Nirvana
Bei Bei and Shawn Lee// Into the wind
Robert Glasper// The Robert Glasper Experiment
Gill Scott Heron// Me and the Devil
P.O.S// Goodbye
Atmosphere// Shoulda Known
Dabrye feat Doom// Air
Janelle Monae feat Big Boi// Tightrope
Big Boi// Royal Flush (Clean)
Juggaknots// Settle Down
Cunninlynguists// Mic Like a Memory
Mos Def feat Talib Kweli// History
Doom// Ballskin
Oddisee feat Tranquil// It’s Over

After an inexcusably long hiatus, the Duke drops some fresh gems on y’all. Detroit House, Hip Hop, Raw Roots music from Africa to the Caribbean? It’s all here:

Duke Etienne Podcast #15

Tracklisting

John Roberts//White
Chez-N-Trent//All about You
Bookworms//African Rhythms
Donaeo//Riot Music (Shy FX Mix)
Marcé//Ca Ca Ye (Frankie Francis Edit)
Georgia Ann Muldrow//Jina Langu Ni Afrika (my Name Is Afrika)
Brittany Bosco//Black Keys
Will – I – Am//Money
Pal Joey//Breakin’ Necks
House Shoes//The Makings
Georgia & Dudley//Shine On
Dabrye//I’m Missing You
Reggie B//Spoken Lenny
Flying Lotus//Quakes
Jay Electronica//Exhibit A (Transformations)
Fatima//Higher
Black Joy Edits//Edit 10
Red Earth Collective ft. Manasseh//Hard Times Dub
Vincent Taylor//Living A Lie
Connie Bell//Vampires
Midnite//Enter
Nneka//Africans
Baloji//Karibou Ye Bintou

Yeah I know, this should have been posted last Friday but it’s been hectic times at Heads High HQ. I could have done it yesterday but I promised myself I’d take one whole day off the LCD and actually interact with real people ALL day. It was nice. I’ll do it again someday….

Anyway, here’s the missing selection. One of those ones that I wasn’t too happy with when I recorded it but listened back and was pleasantly surprised…A little rags in places but the rawness is the realness. Enjoy….

Duke Etienne Podcast #14

Tracklisting

Dark Knight  // Mutant Funk
Bookworms // African Rhythms
Zomby // One Foot Ahead Of The Other
Silkie // Spark
Red // I Should Tell Your Mama On Ya
Baatin // Marvelous
Jimmy Castor Bunch // It’s Just Begun (Larry Levan Mix)
Holzer & Kamura // Pure Love
Players Association // Let Your Body Go
Don Armandos Second Avenue Rhumba Band // Deputy Of Love
Fallout // The Morning After
Martyn // For Lost Relatives
F // Epilogue (Ramadanman Mix)
Kode 9 & The Space Ape // Do You See What I See
Elemental // Talk

We’re gradually getting back on top of things in here. Decent content, regular podcasts, we’re loving you the right way. Here’s a selection from the Duke to make you feel nice. He lost his voice half-way through but it’s all good, the music speaks for itself…

DOWNLOAD DUKE ETIENNE 20/08/09 PODCAST

Tracklisting

Lizzy Mercier Decloux // Hard Boiled
Pearson Sounds // WAD
Sole Fusion // Bass Tone
John Robertson // Blame
Reggie Dokes //Walk In Deepness
New World Aquarium // Tresspassers
Block 16 // Morning Sun (Pepe Bradock Refix)
Lightening Heads // Message Beats
Nanyo Addo // Wo ba wo ba shue
Jimi Tenor & the Kabu Kabu // Fast Legs
Silkie // Purple Love
Elemental // Braindrops
James Blake // Air and Lack Thereof’
Build an Ark Remix (Unknown – Help us out!)
Amede & The Soundsmith // Tip Toe ft. Shanazz Dorsett
Sa Ra Creative Partners // Soul’s Brother

Direct from the Sirian Mothership Duke Etienne delivers another session of selective vibration for you aural delectation….word is reborn…

Heads-High-Radio-16.07.09-Duke-Etienne

Tracklisting

Poem – Bobby Konders ft. Mutabaruka
Arigato – Bodycode
Fall – Blue Daisy
J&W Beat – Floating Points
Dancing On Holiday – Souled
Galaxy – Visions of Tomorrow
Adventures In Success (Dub Copy) – Will Powers
Revelations – Mos Def
Get Dollars – The Beat Konducta
Nirvana – Shafiq Husayn
The Underground Reprise – Amede the Soundsmith
Sole Sweat (Reso Remix) – Debruit
551 Blues – ????????
Sweat – Untold
Emora – The Clonious
Sagittarius Black – Timothy McNealty
Musical Revolution – Carlton Coffie & the Natural Elements
I’m a Levi – Ijahman Levi
Fort Augustus – Junior Delgado
Roots Upon Yuh Corner – Yami Bolo
Oil Ting (Version) – Coco T
Ride Pon De Riddim – Mikey Murka
You Too Good – General Trees
Jah Station – Johnny Lover
Private Life – Grace Jones
Queen Dub – Ticklah ft Rob Simeon
Marcus Garvey – Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
When The Sun Breaks Through – Karl Hector & The Malcouns
Addis Black Widow – Mulatu & The Heliocentrics
Jazz Note – Dj Krust
I Wanna Be There (Waxdoctor Remix) – Model 500
Solar Feelings (J Majik Remix) – Jacobs Optical Stairway
Consciosness – Photek