aï aï aï there she Comes 🤩🔥⚡⚡⚡

What a masterclass this mix is! Gracias, Eris (heart)

Pure magic… healing! 🏳️‍⚧️💖

This mix is all music from 1984. It is a special live vinyl mix that I recorded on July 19, 2011 as a promotion for the A.D. (After Disco) series of parties here in Chicago.  The mix has been hosted for a few years on the Loves Podcast and I decided to upload it here to my Soundcloud for the first time.  Here’s a few words I wrote to go with the mix:  

1984 is an amazing year in music. At the time, "house" was still a colloquialism for the music played by Frankie Knuckles at the Warehouse. House was not yet a music form in its own right. "Fresh," on Vince Vince Lawrence’s fledgling label Precision, is the only house-qua-house track on the mix. The other tunes are properly considered proto-house -- the music which formed the milieu of dance music which we now describe (rather clumsily) as:

*Electro (e.g., Solo – “Girls, Girls” produced by John Robbie; JellyBean – “The Mexican”); 
*Garage (e.g., Circuit - "Release the Tension" a Timmy Regisford production; Colonel Abrams – “Music Is The Answer”); 
*Italo (e.g., Stop – “Wake Up”; Pancho Ballet – “Dancing Shoes”); 
*Synth and industrial dance (e.g., 52nd Street – “Can’t Afford” produced by New Order’s Stephen Morris; Palais Schaumburg – “The Beat Of Two” produced by Gareth Jones who also produced Depeche/Nitzer Ebb); and 
*Post-disco (e.g., Stephanie Mills – “Medicine Song”).

This music from 1984 is ‘proto’ in the sense that it was establishing the necessary elements of house – e.g., use of certain instruments (drum machines, synths, samplers) – but there are some stark differences.

Although much of the music in 1984 was released on small independents and remained quite underground, there were major successes for dance music at the time and investment in dance music by major labels. There was A&R structure at all record labels and radio play. "Trapped" (1985) by Colonel Abrams sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Earon’s “Land of Hunger” hit the top 40 on the soul singles chart. John “JellyBean” Benitez placed nine songs in the Top Ten of the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

The democratizing force that would be house music had not been fully realized. It was still expensive to make dance music. For example, most of the tracks on the mix feature vocalists, session players or a full band. Although the epic ensembles of the disco era had long passed in fashion and economic viability, dance records were still recorded in professional studios and engineered by individuals like Bob Blank and Herb Powers. The E-max Sampler hit the market in 1984, but the studio standard were samplers like the Fairlight and Synclavier (which had more than $100,000 price tags), each of which were prohibitively expensive for use by most musician/producers.

By 1984 the relatively inexpensive Roland gear was just finding its way into the hands of Chicago, Detroit and New York’s new roots musicians. A year before, Larry Sherman acquired Musical Product’s pressing plant, the only one in Chicago. Ron Hardy was playing "Penthouse and Pavement" by Heaven 17 and "DumDum" at the Music Box. Dance music was about to fall off the edge, for better and for worse.

1984 Track List:

1. Citispeak Featuring Jeanne Harris – I Don't Need Your Handouts (Inst.) – Partytime Records 
2. Pancho Ballet – Dancing Shoes (Instrumental) – Best Record 
3. Jellybean – The Mexican (Funhouse Mix) – EMI America 
4. Nuance Featuring Vikki Love - Take A Chance (Dubapella) - 4th & Broadway  
4. Samson & Delilah – I Can Feel Your Love Slippin' Away (Long Mix & Inst) – Saturn Records 
5. Hugh Masekela – Don't Go Lose It, Baby (Stretch Mix) – Jive Afrika 
6. Colonel Abrams – Music Is The Answer (Dub Version) – Streetwise 
7. The Earons – Land Of Hunger (Extended Version) – Island Records 
8. Wet – That's The Game (Instrumental) – Bellaphon 
9. Circuit – Release The Tension (Dub) – 4th & Broadway 
10. Stephanie Mills – The Medicine Song (Dub Version) – Casablanca Records 
11. Anne Clark – Our Darkness (Remix) – Ink Records 
12. Solo – Girls, Girls (Ah-Ah-Hi) - Next Plateau Records Inc. 
13. 52nd Street – Can't Afford – Profile (on license from Factory) 
14. The Bridge – Love Dance (Industrial Mix) - Second Vision 
15. Stop – Wake Up – Damabi International 
16. Fresh – Dum Dum – Precision 
17. Palais Schaumburg – The Beat Of Two (Extended Version) – Mercury


1984 After Disco (A.D.)

This is Part 2 of my Mystery of the Motherbeat series of DJ mixes. I’ve wanted to record this mix for a long time as a follow-up to my 2018 mix by the same name. Both are a fusion of styles used to build a psychedelic hypnotic soundscape for deep listening and personal synchronization with the heart of Motherbeat. No big hands in the air moments to speak of here, just deep mixing and some of the most beautiful records in my collection. My Journal of the Motherbeat Substack explores the selections and intentions behind this 2 hour and 19 minute mix: https://journalofthemotherbeat.substack.com/p/notes-on-a-dj-mix. The track list is below.

1. LaTour - Blue (XX Records, 1992)
2. @geotaguchi - Deep Blue  (Coymix, 2023) 
3. Caldera - 30 Friends (Freude Am Tanzen, 2022)
4. Y.M.C. - Subway (Yoshitoshi Recordings, 1998) 
5. Brian Tanseau - Relativity (Carl Craig Urban Affair Dub, 1993)
6. @satoshi_tomiie - Un Peu (Abstract Architecture, 2023)
7. @edmondsonandon - On & On (Lissoms, 2023) 
8. Cris. P - Lemon (Psy Section, 2021)
9. @dreamcycleuk - All the Things (Idle Hands, 2021) 
10. Yaw Evans - Only Spirit (GD4YA, 2022) 
11. Todd Edwards - Winter Behavior (i Records, 1995)
12. Toka Project - One Day (Filter Flow, 1999)
13. Brian Eno - Fractal Zoom  (Mary’s Birthday Mix) (Opal Records, 1992)
14. Thurlow Joyce - Varial (NAFF, 2023)
15. Hoodwink  - Trip From The Hip (Mute, 1997)
16. The Heavyweight Kru  =  The Drea-mm (Not On Label, 1999)
17. @perkopair - Prang (Numbers, 2023)
18. Way Out West - The Gift (album version) (Deconstruction, 1997)
19. Anunaku @gu_tsvi - Celeste (WHYT, 2023)
20. Head High - Break Away (Power House, 2023)
21. Kenny Dope - Tom Beat (Dopewax, 2005)
22. S.R. - Dosemeter (Ruffset Records, 2022)
23. Knopha - Corundrum (Mood Hut, 2023)
24. Molen - Molecular Machine (Flight Mode, 2023)
25. Satoshi Tomiie - Proody-106 (Phonogramme, 2023)
26. DJ Tonka - Radical Noise (Force Inc., 1995)
27. Ruffneck Revival - My Knight VI (Not on Label, 1999)
28. Ruffneck Revival - My Knight VII (Not on Label, 1999)
29. Transformer 2  - Fruit of Love (Profile, 1992)
30. American Freedom Train - Cab Ride (Soundbird, 1975)
31. Way Out West  - Earth (Deconstruction, 1997)

Eris Drew’s Mystery of the Motherbeat Part 2

Kennedy at Le Soleil Rouge, Horst Arts & Music Festival 2024

@kennedyams

Kennedy at Le Soleil Rouge

Alex Kassian is a perfect DJ to have at the Sunrise Session with us as he knows howe to bridge the club and the blissed out. A fine set with Djum Djum sounding super good and an 'E2-E4' ending... You can follow Alex HERE on Instagram for more on what he is up to. Tidy.

TP530 Alex Kassian (Love International Sunrise Sessions)

Rinse FM Podcast

Tim Garcia presents 100% Moodymann special - 16 December 2024

HUNEE live from Giant Steps at GALA'22. 

A precious recording lifted from our archives ahead of Ten Years of GALA.

HUNEE live from GALA'22

Rhythm Section Radio was founded in 2009 and moved to NTS in 2012, and has since pulled out the stops breaking new music, promoting independent labels and paying homage to the greatest music from the past, through a perhaps unhealthy obsession with record digging. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/rhythmsection/episodes/rhythmsection-28th-may-2025

Rhythm Section Radio - Bradley Zero b2b Erol Alkan Live at Peckham Audio 280525

For RA.1000, we take it back to the source with two never-before-heard tapes from Frankie Knuckles's private collection

There is no house music without Frankie Knuckles, literally or figuratively. The queer icon's luxurious DJ sets at Chicago's Warehouse gave a rising movement its name. From there, countless offshoots splintered and travelled the globe. But what did the genesis and growth of the sound really feel like?

The Godfather of House left behind not only timeless records, but personalised cassettes with hand-drawn liner notes handed out to friends and family. Two of those, dated to 1989 and 1996, have been digitised especially for RA.1000. (Thank you to the Frankie Knuckles Foundation.)

To put that in context: the first tape predates not only many of today's active clubbers, but the entire existence of jungle, drum & bass, UK garage, French touch, Jersey club, Afrobeats, IDM, baile funk, hardcore, footwork, dubstep, dub techno, tech house, breaks, minimal, maximal, gqom, gabber, grime and hyperpop.

In short… that's a very, very long time ago. The world of dance music was much smaller. DJ culture was functionally unrecognisable from the one we see in 2025. 

And yet, to some degree, what you'll hear on RA.1000 hasn't changed at all. It's a capture of not only what made Frankie Knuckles one of the beloved pioneers of first-generation dance music, but what draws people to club culture in the first place.

The mood on these Frankie Knuckles sets outlasts even its creator: a spirit of optimism that floods the world's best dance floors and keeps dance music pulsing on into the future, nearly 40 years later, in spite of it all. We end our 1000th mix celebrations here because it all starts there.

Find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1018. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Frankie Knuckles

Ek Taki Gatha Extended - Headonit x Eren Akyol

Buy on bandcamp

Simon Sim's & David Coroner  - U wanna do (Short Play)

recording from the Warm and Electric Minds party at BeCool barcelona in june

barcelona

High Priestess of the Motherbeat. Vinyl slinging since 1994. Dissolve boundaries and models. Unlock your body. Find each other.
alex@biota.agency (Alex, Worldwide)
michelle@thebunkerny.com (USA / Canada)
chanel@dawncreative.agency (Press)

1984 After Disco (A.D.)

Eris Drew

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