I’ve got a bunch of really good records recently that I haven’t had much time to write about until now. This is covering from when I came back from vacation and on, I think!
On the new tip, the only things I’ve picked up recently were the newest Omar-S and Luke Hess 12″s on Fxhe. The Luke Hess is even better than his first EP on Fxhe, which is saying a lot as it was hammered by many deejays last year. I wouldn’t even call it “dubby” despite the title, it is just quality minimal melodic techno. Of course Alex’s new one is ridiculous, in the same epic vein as “Psychotic Photosynthesis”. I will say that as much as I love the clean end of his production (including the Oasis records for the most part), a return to the nasty jacking trax like 006 would be nice to see!
I have some catching up to do on newies as well, as soon as my bank account gets a little refresher I will be buying a bunch of stuff to talk about on here.
On the disco tip, Barbara Mason has been killing it for me. I have had her classic “Another Man” for years, the super lush synths on there remind me of Ron Trent’s production but with an electro disco backbeat. But it was the discovery of the even better “Don’t I Ever Cross Your Mind” (also on West End) on a mix by my man Eric Justin that sent me hunting through the dusty crates for her material. I managed to come across that one just this past weekend (which made me very happy) but not before finding her other 12″ on WYMOT the week before entitled “Let Me Give You Love”. I’m hugely into the downbeat soulful disco boogie shit anyway, but what separates Ms. Mason’s music from others is how deep and synthetic her tracks are while she maintains a very organic R&B vocal style that makes the synthesizer parts in her songs sound that much more heartbreaking. Also on the West End tip I picked up a Sparque 12″ that I didn’t have before, “Music Turns Me On”. The mix is by Tee Scott and it is another smoking soulful boogie joint. He is right up there with Larry Levan, Timmy Regisford & Boyd Jarvis, and Shep Pettibone as one of my favorite of the electronic disco mixers/producers.
In more shameless jacking of my man Eric’s selections on that mix (which can be DLed here), I also grabbed Richard Rogers’ “Can’t Stop Loving You”. Marshall Jefferson produced it in 1990, it’s got his trademark elegant deep stylings that make me wonder why this cut is not more well loved.
Another of my wants list got crossed off on Saturday when I came across a nice copy of Jon Lucien’s album “Rashida” which I had been looking for since Aidano used it on a mix a while back. I really needed to have this album earlier in the summer when I was fiending for tropical sounding soul music, this has to be one of the most atmospheric records I’ve heard in a long time.
That’s not everything I picked up, some things need to be kept secret, you know! Now on to other news:
For you jazz fans out there, an unknown Pittsburgh crew is starting to make t-shirts for various labels. First up is the great Inner City Records:
These are currently available at 720 Records (walk in only, they’re not online as of yet) or on Ebay. There will be more coming in other genres as well, though the next one will be for the classic jazz label Prestige (in the label art’s color scheme no less!)
According to an email they sent out, it seems as though Third Ear had a fun time licensing out one of the Beatdown comp tracks to Sascha Dive for his label:
In 2007 Sascha Dive contacted Third Ear Recordings requesting a non-exclusive license for the track Exodus by Norm Talley (Beatdown Brothers remix) for the In The Streets compilation on the label Deep Vibes.
The terms were acceptable to us except we requested a small advance fee. Sascha Dive told us that he couldn’t pay an advance as he was planning a pressing of only 200 copies of the album. Hardly worth it we thought but he told us it was a very limited release. He told us how he really wanted to license the track. We agreed to license the track.
When the sample copies of the record, which was called ‘In The Streets’ arrived on 9th April 2008, there was no mention anywhere on the record or the sleeve that Exodus by Norm Talley (Beatdown Brothers remix) was licensed from Third Ear Recordings. We were quite specific in our terms and conditions what the label credits were and where they should appear on the record. We wrote to Sascha Dive immediately reminding him that it was wrong not to make explicit the owner of a licensed recording and that it must be corrected on the next pressing, especially when we had made it clear what the credits should be. He did not reply. We wrote again. He did not reply. We wrote a third time. Sascha Dive then replied and told us that the credits were not on the record due to a mistake. He said that the record was going to be repressed as all copies had sold out and the credits would be on the second pressing of the record. This was 18 April 2008. At our request, we received the artwork for the second pressing, which was all white not all black like the first pressing. The credits were now on the artwork. We approved the artwork and requested sample copies again. In June we asked if the record had been repressed. He said it had sold out again but it would be repressed again and he would send copies. In August, having not received any copies, we wrote to Sascha Dive again asking if the record had been repressed. We received no reply. In September, we checked the Word and Sound website to see if the In The Streets compilation was listed. It was available. In black. The feedback from djs and artists and magazines was all there saying what a great record it is. And then there is the info on the record by the label, Deep Vibes, which says that all the tracks are ‘exclusive and previously unreleased’. This is from the press release.
Do you think Sascha Dive made a mistake in forgetting to credit Exodus by Norm Talley (Beatdown Brothers remix) as licensed from Third Ear Recordings? Do you think Sascha Dive intends to pay royalties for the track Exodus by Norm Talley (Beatdown Brothers remix)?
We don’t. So we won’t be working with Sascha Dive in the future.
Will you? Make your own mind up. But we’d advise you against it.
Guy McCreery
Third Ear Recordings.
It’s too bad that such nonsense has to occur over such a good track. Norm is a good guy and a good deejay, I hate to see him or his label getting the shaft.
Also, I just want to give a big old “go fuck yourself” to our main man Ronan Fitzgerald. He thinks it is cute to mock me in a post on his blog (in which he continues to show stunning ignorance of what should be known to just about any house and techno fan, much less someone who gets paid to write about it!!!!), and then go on to review Theo Parrish, Morgan Geist, and Carl Craig tracks like he’s the man. Hey Ronan-come-lately, get off our jock. Or at least don’t be such a pussy that you ban me from commenting on your blog when you decide to pull bitch moves like this. Punk.
Interesting info my friend. I did music for Deep Vibes and Third Ear. [I just sent a new EP to Sascha for a possible second release on Deep Vibes.] I can say this about Sascha, he has paid me for at least part of are agreement. I have never received anything official from Deep Vibes about sales, only a small amount of money. Which makes sense since records sell very little at this particular moment in time. Although seeing official sales of the EP both on vinyl and digital, would be nice.
As far as Third Ear goes, I never received anything official from them either. I got my advance on the Alton Miller remix but after the advance never saw another dime on record sales, CD sales, and that mixed CD sales. Once again its understandable. These labels are small potatoes being fried in a slow market.
I know personally, I do not always send official updates of sales to Artists on FPR. I have gotten much better as of late. This due to going digital only. Now Beatport serves as my accountant. It’s much easier but of course this also means no vinyl.
Underground dance music is a tiny operation, I wouldn’t expect most labels to be running really official like.
I’m just happy to get my music to nice folks who enjoy it.
On another note, I can only say this about ‘house is a feeling’… It’s unfortunate you were banned, I always love your comments because you have such passion for music and debate. I also can say that I did a HOUSE DJ mix for ‘house is a feeling’ and it was rejected for being to different. ISM has never turned down one of my mixes [even none dance music mixes] and I have a good feeling they never will. Cheers to ISM for allowing comments and mixes that are sometimes well, different!
Scott
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pipecock reply on September 17th, 2008 8:22 am:
it seems to me that Third Ear’s problem is with the lack of credit, not money as they agreed to do it for nothing it seems. that doesn’t seem like too much to ask, especially after being lied to about it. i know money isn’t exactly plentiful these days in the record business, but the proper credits on the label seems like the easiest thing in the world to do.
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midnite reply on September 25th, 2008 7:57 pm:
Scott,
your walden ponds ep has sold very, very well in many shops I know in germany. I would really try to get some exact information about the quantities and I would be distrustful in this case…
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Sorry everyone,
I wrote “[even none dance music mixes]” but meant “[even non-dance music mixes]“.
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Regarding third ear/ sacha dive…..well…hmm….* biting my tongue
I don’t know sacha dive but I do have experience with the other party, and all I will say is that G.M is not an innocent businessman.
It was quite infuriating seeing the mail-out he had the audacity to send out to his label’s fans, after experiencing first hand his wrong dealings.
I’m really biting my tongue right now….arggg
All I can say is that Karma is a beeyatch and I would’nt take G.M’s word on this matter without a grain of salt.
Sad.
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hmm... reply on September 17th, 2008 5:20 am:
and yeah…I know it’s kind of a bitch-ass move on my part to post anonymously – but I don’t need any drama.
All I am saying is that even though third ear has released some great music that I am grateful for and helped the careers of musicians I respect etc.. people shouldn’t necessarily believe what their head honcho is saying without a little doubt.
And even if everything he says is true, it’s kind-of pathetic to try to tear down the little slice of the pie that Sachsa Dive does occupy in this small and dying scene.
The end.
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pipecock reply on September 17th, 2008 8:23 am:
air it out!
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on a lighter note:
thanks for the info on the tshirts. Gonna try and pick some up.
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It wasn’t directed at you Tom, actually just a general joke I had with a friend of mine.
I think everyone is happier if we don’t have a big raging argument and I think you not commenting on HIAF is probably good for you and good for me, even if you mightn’t like to admit it.
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pipecock reply on September 17th, 2008 8:26 am:
yeah, a general joke about people who say “cats” or “jams” or have a blog with a subheader that says “blow up the spot”. eat my dick, buddy.
is everyone happier that we dont have a big raging argument? i don’t think they are. banning me from commenting on your blog is a bitch move no matter what. grow a pair. but to then mock me while not allowing me to comment? you’re such a fucking pussy, guy.
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Well I’m sorry if it upset you but it genuinely was just a general joke, even if I did cite “blow up the spot”, I didn’t think my dumb jokes (and the responses were pretty funny I thought, again, not attacking you)
I don’t know why you’re so aggressive, this is the main reason I banned you. Cos I dislike having to have these conversations on my blog, that aren’t about music.
Why not just lose the insults? I’ll happily unban you if you feel like talking civilly to me and others on the blog even when you disagree, or recommending music and treating people with respect.
And I mean that genuinely, 100% olive branch (at least until the next time it descends into slanging)
But until then I can’t really see why I should unban you, just to start a flamewar.
There are plenty places, as you’ve shown, for you to tell people who’ll listen what you think of my site, feel free to use them.
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wow, well, if underground dance music is small potatoes, why is it difficult to get the credits correct on a record your putting out? CAn’t be so hollywood that you just have SO MANY things going on that you couldn’t look after the small minor details involved with your music. I don’t know the other side so i won’t blast him, but that seems shad E.
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Hey Pipecock,
I agree about the credits and I also agree with JJ [anonymous]. (My money babble was referencing DV not paying royalties to Norm.) I was just making the point that its funny to me that someone would post an email knocking a label for acting like they do. Its slightly hypocritical:)
I also wanted to say in Ronan’s defense that although I disagree with banning TC, I also understand that my DJ mix was rejected because it did not fit into the HIAF format. If your livelihood depends on your writing and your writing and image are directly connected to how you represent yourself on your blog it is absolutely understandable that you would want to stick to a format that best suits your readers. [With this said Ronan should understand that Tom's comments represent who he is.] No hard feelings from me towards Ronan. This battle is between Tom and Ronan, I like them both and choose not to take sides.
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Anon reply on September 18th, 2008 2:39 am:
We can all agree that while Ronan likes some dodgy music he can be forgiven because he writes well and that while Pipecock behaves like an ass online he has passion and interesting taste and therefore can also be forgiven…
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“wow, well, if underground dance music is small potatoes, why is it difficult to get the credits correct on a record your putting out? CAn’t be so hollywood that you just have SO MANY things going on that you couldn’t look after the small minor details involved with your music. I don’t know the other side so i won’t blast him, but that seems shad E.”
I agree. I’m trying to say that it is, as of right now, a one-sided story. Maybe Dive wasn’t professional about Norm’s credits but I would wait for Norm to chime-in as well as Dive before drawing any conclusions. I was also making a point that Third Ear has been responsible for some errors while running their label as well as I made the point that I have been unprofessional at times with my label too. [and this was before I moved to Hollywood] I don’t know if you know but Gigolo had major difficulties when EFA folded and Classic Music Company filed for bankruptcy the same year. I know this because both companies opted out of paying me royalties. Some might call not paying artists royalties missing ‘minor details’ but when you look at the big picture Classic was a small potatoes company that didn’t have the capital anymore to keep things running how they wanted. If they were big potatoes they would of sold the company to Bank of America for 1 Billion dollars and it would still be alive today. Dance music is still very small and very unregulated. I can say this because one; I operate two small dance music labels and two, I have released records for over 10 labels and its almost always the same. [I don't mean this to be cynical, I'm just pushing my point]
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“We can all agree that while Ronan likes some dodgy music he can be forgiven because he writes well and that while Pipecock behaves like an ass online he has passion and interesting taste and therefore can also be forgiven…”
I read this and realized that this is pretty much exactly what I’m saying in my comment even though I didn’t really mean it that way.
What I should of said is these two guys have very different taste in music, views on matters, writing, ways of commenting, and different ideas about what it means to have a blog. That even though I don’t always agree with people on all matters I realize that they must believe their way is the correct way or best way for them, and I try to respect that. Mostly I feel I should not have commented on it at all. So with at said, I’m done.
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wait …someone did a cover of “New Day”??? WTF?
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why did you bring this shit up tom ?
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pipecock reply on September 19th, 2008 9:52 am:
which shit? the Third Ear/Sascha Dive thing? they sent out a mass email which i received and yet i hadn’t heard anyone else talking about it. so i figured it would be good to get it out there and discussed. notice i didnt even really comment on it much.
either which way, i get to discuss whatever i want on here. its the amazing part about having a blog ;P
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sorry i meant the ronan thing, i guess there’s really only one mature way to settle this, a mix-off !
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“i guess there’s really only one mature way to settle this, a mix-off !” that’s fuckin’ genius!
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thanks scott, funny ronan rejected you’re mix, i’m pretty sure i suggested to him that you do one ! i don’t think it’s such a bad thing though, after these few mixes, i would like to see you try you’re hand at something more constricting, only emotional deep house ?, i reckon it’d be good !
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Dean reply on September 20th, 2008 8:04 pm:
why would you *want* to constrict a clearly talented and diverse dj to your vision of what you would *like* to hear?
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I got this release in the sommer. It was the black cover with a tiny sticker on it: Licensed from Third Ear etc. I thought it’s a bit curious but OK.
I just tought about to buy it only for the Exodus track which is a masterpiece! I listened to the compilation over and over again but all the other tracks were so bad that I couldn’t buy it…
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I mean this: http://www.discogs.com/release/1303081
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“why would you *want* to constrict a clearly talented and diverse dj to your vision of what you would *like* to hear?”
yeah, maybe itsa bad idea, do whatever you want to do, i thought we were here for house music though. my favourite mixes do come from that vein though, i just have this idea that s.f. could pull off a really good one. his video really struck a chord with me. i can’t agree that ronan likes “dodgy” music, i’m sorry. i have more to say but there doesn’t seem to be a point to me.
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I just wanted to say in no way did I mean Ronan has bad taste in music. I truly was not trying to insult anyone. I was just stating that Tom and Ronan run their blogs differently. My wording was horrible and I do apologize for that. I was actually more interested in the Dive/Third Ear thing but let my yap run a little to much. I’ll be sending more electronic mixes soon. #4 is a tribute to WJLB in Detroit. Its full of classic house and Booty. I really wanted to do a eclectic mix then a electronic. Every other. Also there are a lot of other Deejays on this blog doing excellent House and Techno mixes.
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ronan apoligizes, tom is silent, he talks about soul, music is like religion, but i have trouble making the connection. “eat my dick” ?
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pipecock reply on September 22nd, 2008 8:35 am:
ronan “apologises”? no, what he did was give conditions on what i am allowed to say on his slice of the web. good for him, that shit isn’t gonna happen. i decided not to reply at all to him because what i had to say at that moment was pretty vile. plus, i had much better shit to do this weekend than fuck around with you or him.
did i say music is like religion? i guess if you are a simpleton.
as for a “mix off”, you must be joking. when ronan can approach the depth and breadth of what i do, maybe it would be worthwhile. i wont be holding my breath until then.
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“i thought we were here for house music though.”
no we’re here for the good shit, whatever genre that falls into
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Jitterbug reply on September 22nd, 2008 9:47 am:
“the real shit for those who know”
and if you don’t know, you better acks somebody! (or fuck off to another site which covers lame minimal records)
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Dean reply on September 22nd, 2008 3:28 pm:
Damn right, and by god there’s enough of em
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todd reply on September 24th, 2008 1:20 am:
and by god, the nerds have spoken, it really is hard not to have the last laugh, after your next one, i’ll stop, promise.
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gmos reply on September 24th, 2008 5:25 am:
what’s nerdy about wanting to cover a broad range of music, from jazz to house, new or old?
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todd reply on September 24th, 2008 2:18 pm:
i was referring to the comments, i like what you guys do here, i’ve learned alot.
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