Mixes - A Running Melody

**Tracklist**
Rene & Angela - Secret Rendezvous
Willie Hutch - Easy Does It
The Controllers - Stay
Change - Let’s Go Together
Byron - Too Much
Kleer - Tonight
Intrique - Fly Girl 
Oliver Cheatham - Just To Be With You
The SOS Band - High Hopes
Ca$hflow - Party Freak
Cameo - Back & Forth
Wham! - Everything She Wants
Thelma Houston - You Used To Hold Me Tight
Bobby Nunn - Private Party
The RAH Band - Messages From The Stars
Level 42 - Starchild
Luther Vandross - You’re The Sweetest One

The first episode of A Running Melody comes from London based label, WOLF Music.  WOLF was started back in 2009 by Matt Neale and Stu Clark, two house and disco fanatics who were looking for a creative outlet.  They've had amazing releases from the likes of Bicep, Session victim, and Francis Inferno Orchestra, along with a steady stream of music from their core roster of Medlar, Greymatter & KRL.  

After meeting Matt & Stu at The Garden Festival in Croatia several years back I've seen them play sets around the world.  They're real selectors who appreciate the history of house & disco.  

When I told them about the concept of the series and asked for a mix, Stu said "Get ready for Mid-80's Funk Overload!"   And that's exactly what we got.

A Running Melody 001 - WOLF Music Part 1 (Stu)

Up next for A Running Melody is the talented John Malcolm Moore, one half of London's Sisterhood and an all around good bloke.  With a couple of really strong releases on TIEF, remixes for Let's Play House and top notch DJ sets, Sisterhood's been pumping out quality tunes for a few years now.  On top of the synthy productions and DJ sets, John's a true music lover and someone I was super excited to have as part of the series.  Some words below from the man himself on what to expect...

"This mix is a collection of records I wouldn’t usually play out when I DJ as Sisterhood. I set out to make something I would want to listen to whilst working my day job animating. Its a mixture of ambient, krautrock, disco, italo, electronica and just records I really love but don’t get to play often. Hope you enjoy it."

A Running Melody 002 - John Malcolm Moore (Sisterhood / TIEF)

Episode 003 from the man, Kris Guilty.  Super excited to have Kris throw together this gem for us.  He's a dope DJ and real selector who blew me away when I saw him for the first time up in Montreal at Le Bleury-bar à Vinyle.  Give it a go.

A Running Melody 003 - Kris Guilty

Some words from @blackfan on the mix:

A Running Melody, a pleasure to be asked to contribute to a mix series with a refreshingly different concept.

My initial response was great, a chance to do a disco Boogie mix for a change, then that thought quickly morphed into doing something that goes all over the place, but is set in a certain period of club culture development in the UK, 87-91, and represents the many styles and sounds that were prevalent throughout that period.
A period that in personal terms saw me go from an enthusiastic teenager cobbling together all the cash I could to buy 'import' records to fumble around with on two second hand belt-drive turntables (only one with pitch control) through a Tandy (Radio Shack) mixer in my bedroom, to professional DJ on the Rave and club scene in the UK, sharing the music I loved with a passion, to like minded people who week in week out would often travel miles to let loose and dance all night.

As I started to dig, it seemed there was a sound that had fallen out of favour in European clubs today.
Through the multiple genres of club music that had made their mark over that time, Hip Hop, House, first wave Detroit, Acid, Italo House, Belgium Techno, Balearic to Hardcore, there was one sound standing out as forgotten.
"We used to call it Garage"

New generations have retrospectively explored Disco, Chicago House, Acid, and 90's House even became a thing, but that beautiful sound we called Garage is for most part left on a well played mix tape in a box in someones attic, some records down the charity shop, or a youtube channel of a nostalgic 40 something ex raver like myself, though I'm pleased to say still retaining the moral high-ground over Hip-House for most.
Perhaps it's the sometimes dated, dare I say in some cases 'cheesy' lyrics, perhaps the more traditional arrangements and song structure, or perhaps just the legacy of a washed-out Soulful House scene that overstayed it's welcome, and left one too many people "waiting anticipating", whilst someone took something "like a thief in the night" again, that doesn't resinate with todays generation so much.

OK, so the genre title is arguably a puzzling anomaly given that it pretty much came to the fore the year The Garage closed, and although very much a progression of the later years of The Garage, in reality if you wanted to pin 'that sound' to any one club, it would have to be The Zanzibar.
However name debate aside, for a small, and about to explode underground UK club scene that had embraced Hip Hop, and Chicago House, that distinctive vocal heavy, usually string/piano laden, up-beat sound struck a chord for sure.
Songs of unity, songs of hope, anthems for an army of music hungry dedicated club music fans, a disaffected, disconnected youth growing up in a class divided country, a country watching it's industrial cities get decimated, and communities destroyed
The 88/89 summers of love, the big Raves of 90, 91, the seminal underground clubs, this sound was a key part of the rich musical tapestry that made all that happen.
We had our music, we had our community, all we wanted to do is dance all night, and we did!

So soap box over, and onto the mix.
From a short list of about 60 records there are plenty that unfortunately have been left out.
No Kym Mazzelle, no Shay Jones, and not as much Blaze as I anticipated.
...

A Running Melody 004 - Black Fan's We Used to Call it Garage 87-91

Episode 005 comes from a super talented DJ and Producer hailing from Leipzig, Germany - Martin Hayes.  Martin runs his own Rose Records and has had a couple of great releases on Razor N Tape in the last year.  I knew right when I asked him to participate in the series that he would throw something special together, and he did.  It fits the vibe of the series perfectly and from start to finish exposed us to tracks we'd never heard before.  

Check out what he had to say about the next episode, then sit back and listen a few times because it's fantastic!


OK, so the idea of A Running Melody is to encourage one to re-think the art of mixtape and to dig out records and record one hour far beyond the usual podcast mass, i thought it would be a good idea to come up with a mostly soundtrack based podcast.  So, here we are with funk, disco and library sleaze from obscure films with added snippets from 70/80s adult film galore to maximize the climax.   

A Running Melody 005 - Martin Hayes (Rose Records)

Up next in the series is a special mix of unreleased (and yet to be heard!) edits from our good friend and LPH boss man, Jacques Renault.  Jacques has pumped out tons of amazing edits/remixes through the years, an impressive LP recently on his own Let's Play House imprint, and with his collection of thousands of disco, house and techno records he has become one of our favorite DJs to see.  We hosted him for a rooftop party in Brooklyn this summer that was super vibey!

No tracklist/ID's on this one, just 80 mins of jamssss.  

A Running Melody 006 - Jacques Renault

Up next, we have FOTO Recordings head honcho, @aliooft OOFT!.  Ali has had a hand in labels such as L.E.S.S. Productions alongside The Revenge and DJ 2Three, has released on labels like Delusions of Grandeur, WOLF Music, and Instruments of Rapture, and has held residencies at places you may have heard of named Sub Club.  He's got deep roots in the Glasgow music scene and his productions & DJ sets have a ton of breadth musically, so we were really excited to have him as part of the series.

Some words from the man himself...

"So, after being asked to contribute to the mix series and come up with something interesting my first thought was - head straight to the 80s boogie/soul section for a smooth but popping mix. However on checking the previous episodes in the series I noticed Stu from Wolf Music had already rinsed that idea! Next my thoughts turned to selecting some nice pitch-down / slo-mo records that usually sit as track B2 on an EP and perhaps don't get as much love as they should. I'm a real sucker for slowed-down house sounds so had plenty to choose from. That being the case I decided to keep it pretty current in terms of releases, and popped in a few OOFT! jams for good measure too. I've spent the last couple of years slowly working on the debut OOFT! LP so have plenty of demos in various states of completion, and have managed to fit in 3 tracks that may (or may not) appear on the finished album. There's also an unheard OOFT! Edit in there too. The mix itself was recorded in my favourite way - at home in one take with my trusty DJR-400 mixer and a Space Echo delay pedal for extra dub-outs."

A Running Melody 007 - OOFT!

We took a little break for the holidays but we're back at it!  Up next, two boys from Dublin who caught our eye (or ear?) recently with a really impressive EP on @kyokurecords, @longislandsoundeire.  The standout track of the EP for us has to be Delusions, sampling Shelda by Smoke, it has enough legs to hold it's own in the club or if you're just chilling on the couch Sunday afternoon.  

We really enjoyed their vibe and listened to some of their slower, hip-hop inspired house DJ sets, so we asked them to throw down a mix for us.  Some words from them below...

"So we were super hyped to be asked to contribute a mix to the series and to be in there amongst some DJ's and producers that we really admire. For this mix, we tried to fit in a whole bunch of different styles that we're into, but still not be too all-over-the-place. Sampling is something we're hugely interested in, so we threw in lots of hip hop, and also some more recent house beats that were inspired by hip hop stuff. We kinda wanted to put out a mixtape that suits morning/afternoon listening but also include some tracks that we play in da club! Hope you enjoy!"

A Running Melody 008 - Long Island Sound

Up next, an old mate from the neighborhood here in Brooklyn, Mr. @evvnmichael .  Evan's been a close friend for years and has been heavily involved in the music scene here in NYC, from Cameo Gallery (RIP) & Brooklyn Bass, to more recently his releases on the likes of Cascine and the newly launched Kaviar Disco Club imprint (check it out here!).  His productions are inspired by everything from disco, to techno, to house and boogie, so we asked him to throw together a mix for the series to see what he came up with.  

Some words (and a mix) from the man himself...

A big part of my production work flow centers around searching high and low for breaks, especially ones residing in Funk and Boogie LPs of the late 70s and early 80s. For this mixtape, I wanted to showcase a variety of what I'm usually listening to in second hand record stores, on youtube, and in the studio. Some of these songs I discovered a long time ago, others more recently. I'm also inspired by producers who've edited these elements and come out with something a bit more Techno in the process. There's a lot of organic bits in these sampling gems, like airy claps and reverb'd vocals and I enjoy all of it. I hope you do too.

A Running Melody 009 - Evan Michael

We're super excited to have Jon Sable as the next (and 10th!) guest for the series.  He's a killer producer and DJ who we've been following for a while now.  He's based in London now but with his roots in New Zealand.  He co-runs the label In Dust We Trust and has put out a couple of killer releases via our friends TIEF, shout to Bagsy! 

Colourless, released back in late 2015, is still on regular rotation for us.  He also just put out Dolphin Hotel, TIEF's 11th release, with a couple of really smooth, vibey house tracks and a nice remix from his label mates, Chaos in the CBD.  

We were excited to see what he threw together for the series.  Quick intro below and onto the mix!

"This mix was recorded at my good pal Matt Hesselworth's (of Tief Music) flat on a rainy night in London. It is a mix of recent purchases and a bunch of unreleased material - both from myself and forthcoming material on "In Dust We Trust". I wanted to showcase the music that I draw a lot of my inspiration from - classic, timeless tracks that are old and new. I hope you enjoy!"

A Running Melody 010 - Jon Sable (In Dust We Trust)

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Andrew@arunningmelody.com