The horror, the horror!

By the way, if you fancy a wangdoodle of a boogie this Halloween, come to this little hoedown.

It's at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London, on Saturday 31st October. And somewhere down the bottom of the list you'll see me! Yes, I will be DJing from 0030-0200, and hopefully winding the proceedings to a sweaty and debauched climax of fake blood, faux terror, and real spandex. You will almost certainly be hearing the Unabombers edit of Stand On The Word (see last post), as well as a number of other new acquisitions and tried and tested off-kilter party jams.

Early bird tickets for a tenner run out today so be fleet of finger, and get yourself and your mates some. Here's all you need to know from the wonderful people at Winterwell:

Winterwell couldn’t take itself seriously if a little spattering of fancy dress wasn’t on the agenda, and the theme for our Halloween special is ‘80’s Horror show’. Admittedly the 80’s were a bit of a horror show, so do the math and you got it- anything goes!

Top Cats – (Natty Bo’s 10-piece ska, rocksteady band)
The Monster Club
The Clean Boys – (4 dec trickery, one effects unit)
Count Sizzle
Mr and Mrs
Konal
The Jinks (80's party set)
Lou Young
The Milky Bar Kid

Visit our website to find out more... http://winterwell.co.uk/halloween and get your Early Bird Tickets (£10, Limited Availability).

Doors 8pm till 2am

Stand On The Word

Sorry for the hiatus. I've been dicking about in foreign climes, and starting a new job, so posting music took a back seat for a bit. But I'm returning with two treatments of some Holy goodness.

I grew up in a totally godless house, so my exposure to religious music really only goes as far as a few dirgey hymns sung at school. Maybe if a bit more gospel had been thrown my way I'd have more of the spirit in me than I currently do. Sadly the plodding melodies and tempi of most Anglican musical worship was not ever going to inspire faith in this hoary heart.

So, the recounted history of Stand On The Word goes as follows. It was recorded in a church in Crown Heights, NYC, back in 1982 - but only for distribution among the congregation. A copy got into the hands of super producer (and born-again Christian) Walter Gibbons, who started playing it at his nearby record shop. This was where many of New York's finest DJs went to hang out and get their music, and soon it was being hammered in the Paradise Garage, Zanzibar, and the Loft. Thus an unlikely underground club classic was born.

Here's two versions for you; Larry Levan's early 80s disco remix, and a much newer edit from Manchester's the Unabombers. Both are fantastic, and get this otherwise committed heathen wondering if there are any benefits in putting cold rationality in the dustbin - and just believing.

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The Indian Summer Mix

Right you 'orrible lot. Here's the promised contraband. Would I welch on a deal? Of course not! There's only so long I could get away with fobbing you off with stale gear. So here is the Milky Bar Kid's Indian Summer Mix. It's fresh off the press - and I think it's a corker.

First of all, apologies and thanks to Mr Jonathan Moore from the awesome Leftside Wobble. He might be looking through this tracklisting thinking 'Erm, dude. Hands off my tunes.' He, and his Dub Disco Deli series have introduced me to many great songs, some of which I've shamelessly appropriated for this set. We share very similar tastes, and you know, imitation... flattery... etc.

I'm looking forward to busting this puppy out lying next to a pool in Spain. It's the kind of mix you need some slightly too tight swimming trunks, and a bottle of coconut oil for. Whip out your Jeffrey Archer novel, bask in the sun, and get swooney.

I've waffed on about it before, but I really think the Villa edit of Agnetha Fältskog's Wrap Your Arms Around Me is a thing of wonder. Yes, yes, I know she was in Abba, but this is the real deal. Big, lush, and emotional. Bobby Rush gets the treatment from Mark Very Disco, and boy is it a barnstorming slab of funk. There's also the ever-so-slightly-cheesy bouncy acid of Crazy P, and some darker, techier house towards the end. To finish things off you get the always lovely Sally Shapiro with a sumptuous bit of electro-pop.

I like this mix a lot. I hope you do too. Let me know what you think!

Tracklisting:
Black Sabbath: Planet Caravan (DJ Steef edit), Agnetha Fältskog: Wrap Your Arms Around Me (Villa edit), Noir Desir: Le Vent Nous Portera (Rubber Room rerub), Bobby Rush: Do The Do (MVD Swamp Funk edit), Shriekback: My Spine Is The Bassline, Jazzy Dee: Get On Up (Situation edit), Dorothy's Fortress: The Revenger Of El Santoro, General Motors: King Of Kong, Crazy P: Stop Space Return, Azari & III: Reckless With Your Love, Shit Robot: Simple Things (Serge Santiago remix), TBD: What Is This?, Sally Shapiro: Moonlight Dance

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Seeing The Light Mix

I'm working on a new mix at the moment. But in the meantime, here's my oldest disco influenced mix. I made it in the spring/summer of 2005 - a stomper of a year for me. This was the first thing I gave my wonderful new girlfriend, and it was also what I took as gifts on my first trip to the Burning Man festival in America. I burned about 50 copies of it and brought about 42 back with me, so I'm obviously not as giving as I thought I was.

I was very into Arthur Russell at the time (and still am), so there are several of his tracks in various different guises. I kicked it off with his wondrous In The Light Of A Miracle. It's a gently ecstatic epic of a track that always manages to transport me and my head somewhere beautiful. I also used his totally uplifting Tell You Today, and the smuttily titled Is It All Over My Face? It's not all Arthur though. There's boogie, Italo, dub, and some mash-up filth to keep the censors busy.

Tracklisting:
Arthur Russell: In The Light Of A Miracle, Sinnamon: Thanks To You, Midnight Star: Midas Touch, Loose Joints: Tell You Today, Charlie: Spacer Woman, Colourbox: Looks Like We're Shy One Horse, Colder: To The Music, The KBC: Poisonous Emblem, Dopplebanger: Pussylicker, Kerrier District: Let's Dance & Freak, Loose Joints: Is It All Over My Face?, Freeez: I.O.U., Alexander Robotnik: Problems D'Amour

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If you're interested in the Arthur Russell stuff there's plenty available on Amazon and iTunes. I recommend starting with the Soul Jazz compilation, The World of Arthur Russell. Links below:
Amazon.co.uk


Here's a little plug for something else. Henry's Yuppy Disco Podcast is a facebook music page linking to some great mixes. I'm listening to the African Pop mix at the moment and I'm struggling with not leaping up to dance around the room. Sod it, I'm going to.

If There Is Something

I'm back from Berlin and still in love with the place. It manages to conjure so much style from such basic resources. Case in point: Dr Pong. A bare concrete space of a bar, bottles of beer for sale in one corner, DJ in another, and dominating the space in the middle a table tennis table with 40 or so people playing game after epic game of Round-the-Table. What's not to like? Anyway, during one particularly gruelling match, If There Is Something by Roxy Music came on, and I decided to post it when I got back.

Roxy Music fans tend to fall into two camps. There are those who think the band turned belly up after Brian Eno left, and there are those who think he was too weird and stopped Bryan Ferry writing the great pop songs he was free to do once Eno walked out the door. For my sins, I'm probably more in the Ferry camp.

But this song has their two minds working perfectly together, and it's a reminder Bryan Ferry could be a pretty weird fish too. It's off their self titled first album, and I think it's a work of genius. The song moves through three distinct movements. A jaunty hillbilly rock'n'roll style kicks things off - but a couple of minutes in things take a turn for the melancholy. The middle section strips down to a lonesome drum beat, a walking bass guitar, and a wailing saxaphone solo. But it's the end that really gives me the goosebumps. Ferry's voice really soars, as the song builds to an anthemic climax of strings, fuzzy guitar, backing vocals, and piano.

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Roxy Music - If There Is Something by milkybarkid79

Amazon