Hypno House

This is seriously a dollar bin 12". Most of the mixes aren't good, but then the Deep Dub's awesome keyboards & killer breaks come to the rescue. It has a more interesting structure than most other old house tracks too.

Nitro Deluxe - Hypno House (Deep Dub) | ZShare | YSI | 320 kbps

Let The Music Play

One day, I should write an entry devoted to jazz artists who purposely or inadvertently created disco heat. For the most part, we can thank David Mancuso for originally breaking a lot of these records back at the time of their release.

Appropriately, today's featured Dollar Bin Jam was/is a big Loft record. On his stormer "Let The Music Play", Charles Earland beats the crap out of the dancefloor with nothing short of fierce saxophone and organ work. A certified classic that was only issued as a 12" single in the UK in 1978. Enjoy.

Charles Earland - Let The Music Play (12" Version)
ZShare | YSI | 320 kbps

R-9

I found this a few years ago at True Vine in Baltimore. Every time I listen to it, I'm surprised it isn't a more popular Electro or Techno classic.

Cybotron - R-9 (Instrumental) | ZShare | YSI | 320 kbps

Robotism

Here is a nice slab of incredibly rare cosmic disco provided by the obscure Krautrock unit, Methusalem. As far as I can tell, the band released one album called Journey Into The Unknown and a couple of singles. Of those, "Robotism" was their only 12" release. Good luck finding an OG copy of either.

I am always blown away by the 1970's view of the future and/or outer space. For the most part, Dexter Wansel had that shit on lock. But don't sleep on Methusalem's Dali-inspired airbrushed vision of robot insanity:



If you absolutely must have this track on vinyl (which is obviously the case), it was reissued on the excellent third volume of the Disco Galaxia compilation series and was also on the tenth installment of the Automan Edit 12"es.

Methusalem - Robotism | DivShare | YSI | 320 kbps

Speaking of robots, Mike Tee and I return to the Medusa Lounge turntables tonight for the June edition of Robotique. It's the first day of summer, so come sweat with us.

Break it up break it up break it up

Been a minute, I know. So I figured I'd come back with rips of the two most important and canonical works of Western Music. Well, not really, but they both have great breaks, and both are certified "Dollar Bin Jams." You will find both of these records out there for a dollar as long as you don't shop at those bullshit stores where they seem think that "ubiquitous record" futures are tied to the oil markets. Tell your friends not to fuck with stores that gouge you on Sharon Redd records, such stores are the enemies of freedom.



One of the great classics from Prelude, and one of the Monster Jams of Modern Soul (yes, Modern Soul has Monster Jams, but not like truck rallies). Sharon Redd's also got some good advice for all of us in this shitty economy- Beat the Street, because Stagflation -> Reaganomics -> Crack Epidemic was crap, but at least they didn't have a war on. Hustle people, hustle!



Sharon Redd - Beat the Street
Divshare | YSI | 320 kbps



Can You Get It is a song about a jawn named Suzy Caesar whose name not only rhymes with "teaser," but not coincidentally, she is a teaser herself. Dudes in Mandrill are tryin to hit that, but they wear fucking Mandrill masks, which creeps girls out real bad. I'd let them in on the news, but I think they've sorted this out since 1977.

Either way, dudes know how to throw together a conga/tambourine/handclap break.



Mandrill - Can You Get It
Divshare | YSI | 320 kbps

Oh, and while I have your attention, all you Philadelphia-area Dollar Bin Jammers gotta get your asses to the Riverdeck to see the king of the classics, Cosmo Baker come through the Block Party this Wednesday:

Began Cekic

Began Cekic had two prominent disco projects, Brooklyn Express and Common Sense, both of which excelled at cover songs. Common Sense are best remembered for their version of The Police's "Voices Inside My Head", which can be found on the first "Disco Not Disco" compilation. While Brooklyn Express' "Sixty-Nine" and "Change Position" are clearly based on Jimmy Bo Horne's "Spank", I'm not sure if "Back In Time" is a cover or an original. With the above covers though, I prefer Began's versions over the originals.

While Googling Mr. Cekic, I came across the following interview on a Geocities page:

Daniel Wang: "Who was Began Cekic? And what was the deal with those grungy little One Way Records that you mixed? He made that version of Love Is the Message where he seems to be playing the keyboards himself...."

Tee Scott:" Began Cekic was a real case. He was a Yugoslavian guy with this little record company - One Way was a subsidiary of his main label, B.C. Recards, which he eventually changed to One Way. He was the king of the copiers. He got a hold of me, and he treated me to all kinds of baubles (laughter); he bought me two huge 1500's, or 1520 tapedecks, the model they used in the studio with a "Store" feature and the extra sections for your tone generators, which were built-in; it cost about $4000. And then he bought me the 1506, which was a 4-track recorder. These were all gifts for doing those records for him."

Daniel Wang:So he was the original bootlegger, so to say? Did he make money?

Tee Scott:"He made a lot of money on those! He did Love Is the Message, Sixty-Nine (Spank), Eighty-Eight, Beyond the Clouds, Relight My Fire (Let's Get Horny), Computer Games, all of those... He took me to Florida, too. Of course he did cover records, really because he didn't sample anybody else's records - it wasn`t possible then,-- he just did things that sounded close to them. And after a while, he started getting involved in stuff that I felt I should back out of. He started getting really ridiculous and stepping over the line with a lot of stuff. I lost touch with him after a while."


Brooklyn Express - Sixty-Nine
Mediafire | YSI won't upload the file, probably because they think it's porn | 320 kbps

Brooklyn Express - Change Position (88)
Mediafire | YSI | 320 kbps

Brooklyn Express - Back In Time
Mediafire | YSI | 192 kbps

Bonus:

Common Sense - Voices Inside My Head
Mediafire | YSI | 320 kbps

Do It, Fluid

Nice sleazy slow burner here from funk legends The Blackbyrds ... right in time for Philly's oppressive 100-degree heatwave.

The Blackbyrds - Do It, Fluid | DivShare | YSI | 320 kbps

From what I gather, everyone is much happier when the Dominatrix sleeps.

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Dominant Mix)
Mediafire | YSI | 320 kbps

Synergy

XO f/ Cee-Cee - Grind Baby | Divshare | YSI | 320 kbps

It's not really that exciting or notable than XO, of Paper Route Recordz flipped Weezer's "Say It Ain't So." Had it happened in 1996, it would have been a cross-cultural oddity and a smash hit, but now that rock bands are looking for assists from Timbaland and our next president very well may be black, "Grind Baby" is just another really solid track about working hard from the mind-bogglingly good scene down in Huntsville, Alabama.

What is notable is how well the lick from "Say It Ain't So" fits under a country rap tune like this one. Producers have been building tracks over their own Skynyrd-inspired riffs for a minute down south. Reworking the other guitar lick as an auxiliary synth line sounds perfectly natural. Someone who didn't spend middle school moping and playing drums in suburbia like me could miss the sample entirely. So rather than reflecting on racial harmony in America, I am just reminded that there is absolutely nothing new under the sun ever anywhere period. Rivers Cuomo probably came up listening to arena rock just like Texas rap production legend Mike Dean, who gets his guitar on in a bunch of his tracks for the Geto Boys and Devin the Dude.

In conclusion, there is no such thing as original idea. The only way to get ahead in this world is to steal something first.

Knife Slits Water

A Certain Ratio - Kether Hot Knives
Mediafire | 320 kbps

A Certain Ratio - Knife Slits Water
Mediafire | 320 kbps

Rock Beats Scissors...

Strictly Marvelous

While waiting for a taping of The Colbert Report to start at the Annenberg Center a couple weeks ago, I wandered over to The Marvelous and cleaned them out of all the Strictly Rhythm I could find, at two bucks apiece. Here's the one I got from Physique, aka Ogi B, a "Serbian composer, keyboardist and house DJ living in London," according to Discogs.

There's just one mix of the first side (which Shawn Ryan is already threatening to edit in order to cut out the vocals), and I only included the superior version from the flip.




Physique - Superman (Space Disco mix) | DivShare | YSI | 320 kbps




Physique - Such a Joy (Deep Joy Sex Ride) | DivShare | YSI | 320 kbps

Trip To Your Mind

Mancuso played this at The Loft on Sunday and it's been stuck in my head ever since. An underrated and scarce classic.

Hudson People - Trip To Your Mind | DivShare | YSI | 192 kbps

Technicolor

It's funny to think that cable tv was futuristic in 1986.

Channel One - Technicolor (Long Version)
Mediafire | YSI | 320 kbps

South Philly Beach

I finally recorded a mix. For a while now I've had at least three unfinished ones sitting in limbo, but none of them could ever hold my interest long enough for me to buckle down and just be done with them. I think the problem was that I was too concerned with trying to do everything, to turn out some kind of monster mix that summed up in 45 minutes or so exactly what I was all about as a DJ, from start to finish. Maybe that's still possible, but last Saturday afternoon I let go of the compulsiveness and cranked this out in one Brooklyn Lager-fueled take. One or two transitions I'm not entirely proud of, but as a whole I'm satisfied enough to put my name on it.

The bulk of the sequencing was taken from a set I played during my guest spot at Bang Bang last month, but since there wasn't really anyone there (j/k Dominic and Andrew, love you guys!) I figured it would still be fresh enough to transform into a mix. As for the name, it's a not-too-clever play on South Philly (my soon-to-be home) and South Beach, in honor of my inspiring experience at the Winter Music Conference this March.

In any event, here it is. Enjoy!

Dave Tat - South Philly Beach

Big thanks to Peter Dragontail for doing the amazing cover art you see above. If you want to get your hands on a limited edition physical copy of this baby, come check out Restless Leg Syndrome tonight at the M-Room, where Ryan Nation, The Outlander and I will all be giving away our respective mixes.

Under the Radar Mix from Rogue State Records

A new mix of underground hip-hop, jazz and electronica from Rogue State Records featuring Stainless Steele and DJ Image!

Under The Radar (RSR002) | Direct Link
Under The Radar MP3
Under The Radar AAC (Includes track information and markers.)

www.myspace.com/roguestaterecords
www.myspace.com/steeleandimage
www.myspace.com/headpiecetrio