I love music that plays somewhere in that glitterball-lit realm between disco, house, dub, funk, rock 'n roll, and pop. This site will host mixes I've made and songs I like that dance across the genres. Let me know what you think. And if you've got a party or night you'd like moving to this sound, drop me a line on rorychallands (at) gmail (dot) com.

Cometh the hour, Cometh the man

Well that's a big fat phew! I was starting to get a bit sulky and petulant about my next post. Sometimes I go for a what seems like a worryingly long time without hearing anything to get really excited about. One starts to doubt one's faith... start cruising for other highs... contemplate foraging in bins. But then, WHAMMO! It all comes good. Cometh the hour, cometh these chaps.

Hot Chip's new album is out soon, and if it's all of the beauty displayed on Alley Cats, I'm going to be one happy punter. Alexis and Joe's voices blend perfectly as they so often do. Soothing keys, Arthur Russell-esque electric cello, and African sounding guitars combine in a deceptively simple composition. The lyrics are all about stroking stray cats, or something, and it's bittersweet and sublime.

It's been a long time since a new house track has excited me as much as Coma Cat has. Tensnake is a guy from Germany who channels the energy and enthusiasm of mid 80s Chicago, and fuses it with the best of Paradise Garage style disco and boogie. Not dancing to this is impossible. It's a wonderful testament to the durability of house that classic tracks like this are still being conjured up. I'm making this listen-only I'm afraid. Magicians like Tensnake deserve your money, so if you like it... buy it. It's out in the next few days.

Finally, everyone likes a bit of gay rape don't they? Well the Skatt Bros came up with a gay rape anthem. Recorded in 1980, I imagine Walk The Night was a bit of a hit in the sort of clubs where black leather dominates, and you don't want to look too closely at what's going on in the corners. The song's about a night prowler who'll do all sorts of unspeakable things to his prey. It's seedy, sinister, and very, very funky.



PLAY ONLY> Tensnake - Coma Cat


Golden Afrique

To welcome in the new year, here's the opposite of snow. Don't get me wrong, I like snow. It's nice seeing London all covered in white, and there's much satisfaction to be had in the journalistic creativity put into such unexpected headlines as 'Snow Causes Travel Chaos'. But these are small pleasures.

Sunshine. Ah, sweet hot sunshine. Think of cycling in a t-shirt... cold beers in the park... the smell of barbeques... bronzed skin... the sound of crickets... lying with your eyes closed on the beach. Let's face it, if sunshine is round the corner, snow better pull up those shorts and jog on.

The bitch is though, sunshine ain't round the corner. It's about 4 months away, punks. So if you need a little sunshine advance these tunes might help. They're off an album that I listen to an astounding amount considering I barely understand a damn word being sung. Golden Afrique is a totally joyful compilation of west African pop from 1971-1983. The guitars chirrup, the trumpets swing, the syncopated rhythms shuffle and hop, and the voices soar. In short, it's like tipping your head to one side, raising an arm, and pouring a large jug of high-proof sunshine into that lug-hole of yours.

I know very little about these two artists. Bébé Manga is a Cameroonian singer, and Ernesto Djédjé was an Ivorian who pioneered a musical style rather wonderfully called 'ziglibithy'... and that's about as much as I can tell you. 2010 should really be the year that I crack into African music, because from the little I've heard there's some absolutely magical stuff to be discovered.

DOWNLOAD MP3>


DOWNLOAD MP3>


You can buy Golden Afrique Vol. 1 from Amazon