Some Recent Digging and Some New Things, Too

I haven’t been giving very consistent reports on my local digging, not for any good reason either. This past weekend though, I had a really nice selection of records so here goes a little round up of those as well as some new things doing the rounds:

Instant House “Awade” – This one is great for many reasons. First off, it is a deep, jazzy house classic that is hard to find, and the copy I found was in mint condition. It looks unplayed! If you can see the white sticker, you can also see that I paid a grand total of $3 for it which always makes me happy. But of even more interest to me is the red sticker up in the corner. This sticker is from the BPM Record Pool, which is Pittsburgh’s house music record pool from way back started and I believe still maintained by Terry Kicks, an old biker cat who is also one of the few old school disco deejays who is still around. The sticker is from 11/92, I wanna know who it was who got this, never played it, and then recently sold it on so I can thank them 😉

Agape’ Sounds “Your Love Never Fails” – The name Richie Weeks caught my eye as he is one of my favorite disco producers. All of his stuff as Weeks & Co. and The Jammers is excellent, check it out if you don’t know about it (especially “If You’re Looking For Fun”, the dub of which is on my Summer Dance Party mix from last summer). Richie’s vocals are nice, but it is all about the Crazy Frenchman mix which is exactly the kind of early 90’s electronic deep NYC vibes that I am all about. I did a little mix the other night that kicked off with this, I really wish I had recorded it as it turned out quite well.

Jive Scratch Trax – Completing the collection along with Jive Rhythm Trax 1 & 2, this isn’t as good as the other two but features a couple standouts, most importantly “B.P.M. 117” (the one on the A side).

A Tribe Called Quest “Find A Way” – The best track off of the wildly underrated The Love Movement album, Dilla’s fingerprints are all over this one despite the production credit going to The Ummah. A perfect summertime hiphop joint.

Dâm-Funk “Burgundy City”/”Galactic Fun” – I became interested in this cat after reading about him in one of the recent issues of Wax Poetics. He was talking about 80’s R&B and disco boogie, reccomending some of my favorite joints like Starshine’s “All I Need Is You” as well as bigging up Larry Heard. We got this on promo at the shop, and it was exactly my kind of thing. “Burgundy City” is a downtempo 808 driven R&B instrumental, while “Galactic Fun” is a synth heavy dance cut. Both owe a lot to the 80’s, but “Galactic Fun” especially adds some freshness to the equation. It’s good to see Stone’s Throw supporting this kind of thing. The James Pants LP sounds pretty nice too, though I didn’t pick it up yet.

Flying Lotus Los Angeles – After the Reset EP he did late last year, this was a buy-on-sight type deal. And he came through! A little less Dilla-esque than Reset and all the better for it, the album format sees him mining even less structured territory. While there is nothing quite as immediate as “Tea Leaf Dancers”, if you like abstract dark beats this will be right up your alley.

I also ordered a bunch of things: new Syclops LP (entitled “I’ve Got My Eye On You”, hilarious!), the new Sistrum 12″, the new Soul People Music 12″, and the new Kelley Polar 12″. I still need to get that second Kelley Polar album on CD as well. Also also, I discogs’ed a copy of the Newworldromantic 12″ that I have been after for a hot minute, I can’t wait to get that one in too.

On the out-now or out-soon but I-still-don’t-have-the-wax tip:

John Roberts “Hesitate EP” – This is quite an odd pairing as it is going to be the 42nd release on Dial, home of Lawrence and others. The reason it is odd is because John’s music reminds me far more of the sample based house music you would find on Real Soon or Yore! I found John’s tracks last year on his myspace page, and I was immediately impressed. He cranks out the slow, abstract lo-fi house music, best exemplified on this release on “Sweat Me”. The other tunes are a little more uptempo and minimal, but still dirty for the dancefloor. Word on the street is that he will have some more things on Dial in the future, as well as something for John Daly’s Feel Music as well. Mr. Roberts is definitely one to keep an eye on…..

Franco Cangelli “Wee Funk” – Obviously, any label that gets Russ Gabriel and Lerosa to remix their first 12″ is going to get some attention here. The remixes are dope, Russ brings out the lushness in the original and adds a little more swing to it while Lerosa strips down the flipside into a percussive subbass workout. The original tracks are very nice as well, quirky melodic techno at a slow pace. I had not previously been aware of Franco’s music, but if his label keeps this kind of thing up he will establish himself as one of the cats in Europe who brings the proper funky melodic techno.