The first installment, 481-500, of a list of my 500 favorite original soul 45s from the NY Night Train Soul Clap and Dance-Off party (since 2007) in DJ mix/podcast format. While I assembled each set envisioning a mixtape for a friend, I hope this also feels like one of my live sets and makes ya wanna dance!

The tracklist, details about the songs and artists, and rips of each uncut record can be found on my site: https://www.newyorknighttrain.com/2021/03/14/ny-night-train-soul-clap-dance-off-top-500-first-installment-481-500/ ... My goal here isn't merely to give you something to listen to, but to provide inspiration to start a journey into the lives and music of these often unsung or merely deserving heroes - some of whom are still alive and active and others whose legacy needs to grow. 

Since COVID I've been trying to make some order out of my vinyl, and because one Quixotic project deserves another, I've also digitized thousands of my records and organized them into categories and lists as both an intellectual exercise and a way to locate titles in this mess. I assembled the Soul Clap 500 as twenty-five self-contained entities of twenty tracks. I've only included the original 45s (with a couple of second label pressings from the same year) not only for the distinctive original sound and character but also because I view vinyl DJs as museums of culture and want to present the authentic beautiful artifacts every time and not imitations or substandard bootlegs. I'll try to keep these coming once or twice a week until we achieve the complete list.

Since its been over a year since I've worked, and I assume its gonna be a while before there are dance parties again, I also hope this gives ya something to cut a rug to in the meantime... 

thank you for your kind indulgence, 
jt

NY Night Train Soul Clap & Dance-Off Top 500: 481-500

Everyone's a liar in this mean old world,
But not you, you're sweet.
When I am uninspired by this cruel, cruel world,
I turn to you, 'cause you're sweet.
When you hold me in your arms
I know you'd never let no harm come to me.
Not you, you're sweet, you're sweet.

Folks who think they know me try to tell me
That you're no good for me.
But who are they to judge you in their busy lives?
They've no time to look and see.
But I hold your hand in mine
Because you've always got the time time for me.
Oh you, you're so sweet, you're sweet.

Doesn't matter what anybody says.
How do they know what love really is?

Sometimes I get so angry I can't stand myself
And you smile patiently.
There's a devil inside me and it don't need no one's help,
But you still wait for me.
When I'm the meanest thing in the world
You just kiss my lips and tell me I'm your good girl.
Oh you, you're sweet. You're so sweet.
You're sweet.

You're Sweet

I Dont Want To Wait (to go home)(Rough)

Recorded live at Namaste HIghland Park, Los Angeles, CA in collaboration with Sondra Sun-Odeon's restorative yoga program.  
Juno 60, Six Trak, Micro Modular played by Ian Paige
Full album available for free d/l at https://ianpaige.bandcamp.com/

I (from the album YIN 1)

Enter The Speed Freak

Jerry Garcia-esque guitar interlude with drums from Ben Busk

Space Interlude

Mark Carter - Vocals, Guitars
Mario Viele - Guitars
Chad - Drums

A Little Bit of Jesus (Son Of A Bitch)

Sounds Like You're in the Room

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Bliss Point is proud to introduce Eleou, a DJ hailing from New York and based in Athens, Greece.

Before the show, Eleou and I met at a donut shop around the corner from the studio. We’d met only once before, during one of my sets at Public Records, when she’d introduced herself and said she enjoyed what I was playing. We shared contact info, and only later did I discover that she was a DJ herself. Impressed by her work, I invited her on.

For the duration of my raspberry donut, Ele and I talked about what we’d each been into of late. She runs a party in Athens called Alozi, and has been on tour with Galaxian for a few months now, making her way to gigs in Asia and taking 5 day treks up volcanoes in Polynesia. It all sounded very exciting. More travel would be nice, I thought, although I’m so attached to certain soils. 

On the walk to the studio, Eleou told me about her use of binaural frequencies for inspiration and to regulate her mood. She accesses them through an app on her iPhone. This sparked a memory of some research I’d been interested in lately: self-induced cognitive trance, in which one is put into a trance-state by listening to a recording created by researchers for this purpose. Musicologists had isolated the most powerful elements of traditional trance-inducing sounds, like Tibetan drumming, and enhanced them to great effect.

Such traditional musics have the ability to induce a trance experience in only a small segment of the population. These people are often considered shamans. The recording recently created by researchers has something like an 80-85% success rate in inducing this liminal state, which means it’s likely you and I could enter this same space. Trance is now being induced in therapeutic workshops in the US and Europe and the effects of this work are still being uncovered. There seems to be a whole world of power still unlocked in sound that we’re only now scratching the edges of. 

We all know music is a place. It's a place we can go, it’s a place we can welcome others into. That’s one of the things I love about this project: every other week I'm brought into a new world by the DJs that are kind enough to contribute. 

Eleou’s contribution to Bliss Point is one of my favorite in the series; she seems to have been here before. It’s where I’ll be living in for a while in any case.

Enjoy,
Max

@eleou_music

Space Interlude

Tim Garrigan