Tracklist
Red Rack’em – How I Program
Sigha – Rawww
Wireman – Armour
Joy Orbison – Ladywell
Art Department – Without You
Bottin presents Tinpong – New Religion (Marcus Marr mix)
Cottam – Untitled 4
Four Tet – Sing (extended mix)
Zev – Don’t Break It (Kenny Glasgow &amp; Jonny White remix)
Midland and Furiku – Leitmotif (Midland remix)
Lone – Aquamarine

About the music……..

Red Rack’em’s fairly recent release is sitting on the border of the recent acid resurgence and some deep house steez. It’s a great track that would work at any point in a set. I love the extra oomph that he drop’s part way through the track, with the kick drum being notched up a wee bit. It’s a belter of a track, and sets things up nicely for Sigha’s bleeps and bass. Sigha is yet another south London producer showing that he’s got an ear for all things electronica. Dub-step, deep house and techno are all done with style and grace. This track is raw in name and nature.

On to Wireman and ‘Armour’. This is a track I’ve wanted to get into a mix since I picked it up about 18 months ago. Absolutely sensational deep, dub, techno vibes. Wireman hails from Paisley, near Glasgow (I think!) and hasn’t put much out, but what is out there is brilliant deep, dark house/techno music. The kick is hard, but after the break, it comes back in even tougher, in a similar vein to ‘How I Program. Unfortunately it’s lost a bit in this mix as Raaaw is only mixed out at the first drop in ‘Armour’. He has another EP coming out this month (March 2011) which I’ve been anticipating for a long time.

Is there any point in saying how good Joy Orbison is at making music? No, I didn’t think so. He and Sigha share a lot in common: both south London boys, and both producing great electronic music that spans more than one genre. ‘Ladywell’ is one of the most soulful deep house tunes I’ve heard for a long time. Even through the sparseness of the music, there is a real depth to it. This is the second release on his own label, and is already a highly sought after 12”.

Skipping Art Department (for no other reason than I feel I might be in danger of boring you!), the Marcus Marr remix of Bottin is my favourite pick up of the last six months. I’m pissed off I didn’t quite get the mix right though: the start of this track needs time on it’s own. It’s got a real hand clapper of an intro which begs the dancers in the room to get up, and when the chords signal the drop, you know party time is just round the bend. But never mind parties, Cottam could start life on the moon with his music. I can’t go on any more about how much I love this guy’s music or there will be injunctions being taken out. In the loosest sense of the term, this is a re-edit, but it’s so far removed from the essence of the original that, once again, he’s changed the whole vibe of the track and made it his own. If you don’t own any Cottam, I hope the Mayans were right about 2012. But only for you.

Four Tet’s a funny onion, in’t he? For me, he can go fromsugar to shite in the short space of one track. To be able to span the ‘like’ scale to such a breadth means that he must be brilliant and I’m just not getting some of it, right? ‘Sing’ is something I absolutely get though. Ever since I got it, I’ve tried to fit it into a mix, but it always seemed too jaggy, too angular even, with awkward elbows sticking out and the track falling all over the place like a drunk uncle at a wedding. But, gladly, it seemed to find a home here. As Cottam was playing through, he seemed to be saying ‘go on, I can take anything you’ll throw at me’. And he was right. Four Tet’s bleeps and off-kilter percussion worked seamlessly and off we went into la la land. One of the tracks of last year, if I can be so bold.
Briefly touching on KennyGlasgow and Jonny White: they are Art Department. Music for house music scenesters? Maybe. Possibly even more so when they pop up on Wolf + Lamb. As a label, Wolf + Lamb are striding high just now, and anyone who’s anyone right now seems to have put a record out with them. They’ve done a DK Kicks mix which should be sought out without hesitation.

Finishing off the mix are two artists who are welded together in my mind. I first heard of both Midland and Lone when the former remixed the latter’s ‘Once In A While’. They seem to be born from the same egg, so close in essence is their music. Lone’s album is possibly the best value record of the last 12 months. At a tenner, and with nod’s to all things warehouse, it’s a steal. As for Midland, the guy can’t stop putting out great music. His FACT mix from last year is one of my favourite mixes of all time, starting off with some Boards of Canada, onto some nice slo-mo re-edit funq, and upping the tempo to finish you off with a boom. Anyway, that’s enough plugging someone else’s mix. Now go and listen to mine.

Hope you enjoy.
PS……..

The title of this mix was inspired when, the other day, I was listening to tracks on Youtube and lazily reading the comments. Generally, one after one, people were praising the music in some way or another. Then someone came on with a rant (internet funster at work…) about how everybody else that had commented on the track was up their own arse and that they thought they were listening to ‘intelligent’ music (I think it was a Soulphiction track, or maybe something from Intrusion, if that makes any difference...). I got thinking. First of all, what is ‘intelligent’ music? Does it fix your toaster? Scan the papers and give you a summary of the days news? Enter itself as the whole four-person team on University Challenge?

Intelligent is a common enough phrase that get’s applied to music nowadays, but why? IDM and IDB are fairly well known, but who applied these labels and why? Surely this is pigeon holing disappearing up the pigeons hole.

I’ve been accused of musical snobbery in the past and at times it’s probably been undeniable. But, this comment made me think: why should I (or anyone) look down my nose at someone who listens to something that is just not acceptable to my ears? There’s a whole universe of reasons not to buy into the pop charts nowadays, but over the years I’ve met enough people that tell me they’re ‘not into music’ for me to now think that even if your bag is Westlife, The Kings of Leon, JLS, or anything else that seems to be permanently in the charts, surely this is better than not liking music at all? Music is something that is mood-changing. It has the ability to alter emotions. It all depends on the listener. I’d argue that this means all music can be deemed ‘intelligent’, if it has this type of power.

But I’m going further now than I intended to: my initial thought was “What an accusation that is; calling someone out for being intelligent.” Hardly the sign of intelligence. Anyway, Bamber would have lapped this shit up. Big up the Gascoigne.


Tribute to Bamber

Recorded for my Shiiine 2015 appearance. Tracklist below.

Little Beaver - Party Down
Carole Kaye - Bass Catch
Letta Mbulu - What's Wrong With Groovin'
Wayne Carter - Wahoo Wahoo Wahoo
Trevor Dandy - Is There Any Love
Southside Movement - I've Been Watching You
Sergio Mendes - For What It's Worth
Road Runners - Every Man For Himself
Betty Wright - Baby Sitter
Syl Johnson - Anyone But You
Ann Sexton - You're Losing Me
Gladys Knight & The Pips - You Need Love Like I Do Don't You
The Propositions - Sweet Lucy
The Deacons - Sock It To Me
Otis Redding - Too Hard To Handle
Paul Mills & The DT6 - The Scotston Shuffle
Margo Thunder - Expressway To Your Heart 
Brenda George - I Can't Stand It
Wayne Carter - Mad Mouth Woman
Soul Vibrations - The Dump
Dyke & The Blazers - Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man
Lee Fields - You Don't Know What You Mean To A Lover Like Me
Just Brothers - Sliced Tomatoes
Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - If This Ain't Love
Joey Irving - What's The Use
Tony Drake - Suddenly
Eddie & Ernie - Bullets Don't Have Eyes
Freda Payne - Unhooked Generation
The Meters - Look-Ka Py Py
James Brown - Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothin'
Myron & E with The Soul Investigators - Cold Game
Nina Simone - Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter
Mark Capanni - I Believe In Miracles
The Supremes - Stoned Love

Shiiine Soul & Funk Set

Over 20 years deep (as of 2010) in buying and playing records, and there seems to be no end in sight. I've put on my own nights in various bars, pubs and clubs in Ayrshire (Scotland) and London, varying from hip hop (late 80's and 90's independent), house (deep, melodic, bass heavy sounds), funk, soul, and even indie nights.

After a 10+ year hiatus from house music, I've found that it has come full circle and there are people like Linkwood (and the whole Prime Numbers and Firecracker Recordings crews), Cottam, 6th Borough Project, and Efdemin, amongst others that are putting heart and soul into making proper house music again. Special mentions must go to Eddie C, Intrusion, Wireman, Acos Coolkas and Sigha, who are all producing special things.

As far as hip hop goes, it's always been about DITC, Godfather Don, Gangstarr, Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, Beatminerz, ATCQ and all those kinda cats, and more recently the late, great, oft-copied-never-matched, Jay Dee aka J Dilla.

For me, soul music cannot be bettered if it invloves, Marvin, Stevie, Curtis or Al. Other special people include Syl Johnson, Roberta Flack, and Marlena Shaw. Lesser known artists that have hardly put a foot wrong in their whole career include Harry Whitaker, and 24 Carat Black.

All the people mentioned, and the artists that they influenced, play a part in the ever expanding shelves of flat black plastic that take up a couple of rooms in the house.

If I'm not listening to any of the above, I've probably got Belle &amp; Sebastian coming through the speakers!

Always available for bookings in London, Manchester, Glasgow or any of the surrounding areas. Please send a message through Soundcloud.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the mixes, and if it's got an ounce of soul, I hope you'll hear it in the sounds I post here.

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