I went to A1 today randomly and I confess it still is my favorite record store in the city. Where else could I buy this stuff?
Simple Minds ~ I Travel
Simple Minds is one of those bands that keep impressing me the more I find out about their early output. Aside from cashing the gigantic novelty check that came with doing the Breakfast Club song (which is due any day for an appearance on a Kodak commercial or something), I'm into their experimental/mostly instrumental white disco rock from the late 70s/early 80s. Reminds me a lot of Spandau Ballet, who went a more punk route (but also ended up doing their own corn anthem which is actually totally awesome as well).
Patrick Cowley ~ Get A Little (Extended Mix)
This dude's entire output is always epic and super italo. Although Menergy comes a close second for gayest song of all time (#1 is inarguably Life at the Outpost), Get A Little comes in first place for the sheer degrees of fire-itude it generates. This and Sea Hunt pretty much do it for me all the time. Add him now!
C+C Music Factory ~ Keep It Comin (Dance Till You Can't Get No More)
Apparently this track is from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack. Do It Properly totally started me off on a Clivilles and Cole jocking. They have so many frigging 10 minute epic cut and paste house tracks, it totally makes me wish I was in the gayest gay house party where everyone is losing their gay minds to these tracks at deafening volumes (no homo). Shit is uplifting!
Ok I am going to jump on the Laidback Luke bandwagon for 5 seconds.....just for this post. He's not usually my thing and I am kind sick of hearing about him. Oh and while we're on the subject Can we talk about the whole play-big-room-house-at-hipster-bars thing? Nothing like the DJ blasting Be while everyone is standing around staring at each other and drinking beer (yes this does happen). Personally If I am going to go "big room" I would much rather be listening to the Bassbin Twins or some other ridiculous old breakbeat hardcore. Anyways, the whole point of this mini rant is that I am not really into Laidback Luke, but I can't get over how good this song is. It's a ravers dream song. I was never into Chromeo either, but I think that the whole world knows the words to Fancy Footwork whether they like it or not. Like Whoa!
For the weekend, here's the original studio version of the first NERD album "In Search Of," the one where the Neptunes play their own instruments instead of getting shitty funk douches Spymob to play the backgrounds. Very weird, simultaneously polished and unpolished, very good, and probably the last time you'll hear Pharrell rapping about being broke:
NERD ~ In Search Of CD (OG Studio Version)
*via Square Dancing In A Round Hole
*bonus: Chad is totally a nerd.
I may be going out on a limb here but this is my favorite Larry Levan production. It's super 80s'd out, but not in a corny way, plus lyrically Gwen Guthrie is singing something about being a gold digger. But for me it's all the instrumental, the tugging bassline and the hi-hat stutters are pretty much one of my favorite grooves ever.
Gwen Guthrie ~ Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent (Larry Levan Mix)
Big ups to Induce and Sven AKA Casual Sax for their epic video "Baby I'm Black (From The Waist Down)"... it's got mad hits on YouTube thanks to Perez Hilton and its own innate awesomeness:
Buy the MP3 on iTunes!
Player ~ Baby Come Back
Ralph Falcon ~ Every Now And Then
Ralph Falcon put this out on Miami Soul in 1992, and it presages a lot of the Murk stuff he would put out later. Similar to the Coral Way Chiefs track "Release Myself," both have that steady bass bump, minimal atmospherics, and give a lot of space for the vocals to breathe. "You're a whore, you're a whore, you're a whooooorrreee!" Sexy, mate!
Club Ice ~ Manhassett (Larry Heard Mix)
Burned this from the Chicago Boogie reissues, which have a lot of obvious tracks but also ones I've never heard like this super mellow cut (also from 1992). I never heard any of the other mixes, but this Larry Heard one is PURE (mellow) FIRE!
Dionne ~ Come Get My Lovin
I don't know anything about this record, other than the fact that it's super good.
*bonus
Nick Hook's 40 minute mix "Hook Meets Taste" is also super good, featured on Iheartcomix here.
First house track that made want to hear more house:
Mr Fingers "Can You Feel It"
Mr Fingers ~ Amnesia CD
*via Boards of Electronica
Don't really know much about this Brit R&B group aside from whatever was on Wikipedia and MY OWN EARS but I've always liked Loose Ends. They have an effortless classiness to their tracks, very smooth 80s but not boring.
Here's a dope dub version of "Emergency" I burned... I don't have the album version but I really like this record. This is from the double 12 with "Tell Me What You Want" and "Magic Touch" on it, it's one of those singles where every track is good (like the Boy With A Thorn... 12).
Loose Ends ~ Emergency (Dial 999) Dub
I was going through my records figuring out what I should sell on eBay/was missing from my computer and I realized in a moment of endless shame/horror that I didn't have ANY Gravediggaz on Serato. Criminal! So of course I immediately downloaded my favorite Gravediggaz song and was taken back to how ridiculously amazing it is. Some questions that briefly fluttered while I was listening to it and my mind was being blown in real time:
1. "Why is a slowed down Ferris Bueler in it?" (answer: to serve as a counterpoint to the slowed down KRS-1 sample)
2. "How ill is the Booker T sample?"
3. Whither thou goest, horrorcore?
4. Why did they release this as a double 12"? (the answer being of course, due to its awesomeness)
5. How amazing is this? etc
Fuck you, Rolling Stone!
Gravediggaz ~ 1-800-Suicide
But you hate lasagna and the pizza man!!! Obviously the Gravediggaz are neither Garfield nor the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
*bonus!
For no reason whatsoever, the best Geto Boys song ever.
TRACK:
Claudja Barry ~ Dance, Dance, Dance (12" Mix)
IN ONE SENTENCE:
The ultimate disco slow-burner, moving at hip-hop speed with the horns strutting around and one of the most uplifting choruses not sung by a choir of gay dudes.
ANYTHING ELSE?
Apparently Harvey made an edit of this on his Black Cock label a little while ago, which if anyone has should holler!
Last installment of the WMC comic series, wherein we look back at some of the colorful characters of the Miami party scene...
Part 1
Part 2
Tonite I discovered the most amazing thing ever. My roommates and I were waiting for our take out and there was an Oriental Trading magazine on the table, so naturally I started looking through it because there is nothing I love more than stupid useless shit. I am totally obsessed with these rubber duckies. HOW GREAT ARE THESE????. They really didn't leave anything out. My personal favorites are these
Then I got home and started looking them up online and obsessing over who I can order a shipment of ducks for and send them to their house. This lead to me thinking about Chris Duckenfield, and how he doesn't get the credit he deserves. Everyone needs more Duckbeats in their life, more than they need these rubber duckies. I was going to post a Chris Duckenfield song but instead I decided to just link you to his site, where you can dig through his tunes and experience his awesomeness. Don't sleep on the ducks.
I've been super into this track recently...
Hercules & Love Affair ~ Blind (Frankie Knuckles RMX)
*Comic by Brad Neely
What can I say about WMC this year except Jesus Christ Almighty.
Favorite party #3 was the DJ orgy at Suite, where the booth was packed with DJs going song for song. Here's Eli after Mike B challenged him to "play a song that's not one of your remixes."
Cosmo, if he were a small, gleeful Korean child:
This party somehow ended with Lloyd playing the realest hip-hop set of all time, where this Royal Flush song suddenly and inexplicably achieved Song Of The Night status.
TTL was promoting with water uzis, they were everywhere... This is me with all my wristbands still on, I was trying to accumulate them over the whole week but then abruptly I realized I looked like an idiot candy raver and tore them off.
Party #2 was the Lab VS Mad Decent party, where Cosmo put down one of my favorite sets of the week.
Tall VS Short = ALWAYS SIDESPLITTINGLY HILARIOUS
Party #1 was the Pop Life party... here's a shot of the bros bro-ing out right after Induce dropped New Order and 2x Morrissey songs. After 72 hours of interminable DOOF DOOF DOOF it was like the freshest thing I'd ever heard. 
Jemz Belushi and Jake Jefferson:
The last night at Purdy was mellow, with Blaqstarr playing another great set, DJ Doormouse announcing "I'M CONFERENCING SO HARD RIGHT NOW!!!" and Juiceboxx shitting on everyone's minds in an Awesome Orgy:
Something else that was noteworthy was this guy who produces with Tommie Sunshine, playing a 202, 303, 707 and 909 live (Michna shot this video, which may explain what happens 20 seconds in).
Shouts to Mike B, Lloyd, Roc, Rok, Xavier, Jake, Induce, Eli, Cosmo, Goggins, Michna, Sabo, Contra, Ross, Mike Deuce, Blaqstarr, Nick, Blu "I owe Woody $20" Jemz, Willy, Josh, Ayres, Matt Cash, Jess, Susan, Valissa, Benton, Lax, Ayres, and basically everyone I hung out with while there...
*More pics here, including DJ TESTO, beach vanity shots, gold turntables and more!
*Last comic coming soon!
Introducing Jess! Unless you're some kind of fun-hater, you should download the awesome mix we made. Jess has an innate ability to find preposterously good youtube videos and is now the newest member of the 21 Gun Salute. She also likes new music so that means this blog will no longer be an old stick in the mud grumbling about how good old music is/bad new music is and pining for the days when the Zombies were still together.
This means more music/fun for everyone!
This seemed appropriate:
Anything Box ~ Jubilation
ps- I still have a bunch of WMC stuff to post... It just took me awhile b/c I just moved places and want to get a bunch of pics and 2 more comics up... Patience!
MICHNA VS DIDDY!
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GIVE MICHNA YOUR CAMERA, JUST FOR ONE SECOND!
MICHNA VS SHITTY ELECTRO!
MICHNA VS FREE SCION SUSHI!
HOW DO YOU NOT LOVE MICHNA?!
BAD BECAUSE:
1. The album is called "I Created Disco." SRSLY?!
2. They're Scottish.
3. When they "play live" they're actually just miming away and bashing away at their props while the song plays from a CD at deafening volumes. Watching them reminded me of the Alvin & the Chipmunks episode where they put up cardboard cutouts of them playing their instruments to a record to distract the cops, while they snuck out to solve a crime.
4. "Drug taking!" Who actually explicitly says "I do drugs" in a song?
GOOD BECAUSE:
1. This guy hearts them:
*more of this amazing human being here. I like how the comment says "Sounds like a new track for the Harris!" It's a Jamiroquai cover you dolt.
2. Calvin Harris ~ Acceptable In The 80s
Hey everyone, I got back from WMC yesterday and have been detoxing steadily for the last 12 hours (eating a steak dinner, sleeping early, vowing to never drink/smoke again, etc). I'm moving apartments today so longer WMC posts are coming later... in the meantime, feast your eyes on the decline of Western Civilization!
CONCLUSION
People in South Beach are either
A) Drinking, smoking watchers of the asses of fine Ho's
B) Crime Scene Investigators
C) Police officers who will fuck you
D) Parents-obeying assholes
E) Drunks
F) Alcoholics
G) Security guards
H) Alcoholic drunks
I) or Police officers who will fuck you (doggystyle)
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