DHS 10 - Part 18 (D)

Alright already ! What is with all this 'short and sweet as I can make it' and 'I really did try and keep this short' nonsense ?! You two need to revel in the written word I feel. Sometimes some extra perspective or a bit of a preamble make for a better read I always find, although whether that is the case here I'll let you be the judge of. I do like a word or two as we know, and as the propensity for me to ramble on could hit at any time I'd better leave some room for that later and get a crack on with the job at hand for the final time in DHS 10...

Sully:

MacArthur Park - is this a piss-take ? The lyrics are just non-sensical, and you say Diana Ross covered it... surely a jest, there is literally no way I can imagine her singing those words. Is this really in your top ten or is this entire selection a piss-take ? You strange, strange man....
If You Could Read My Mind - Disco has to be very good to get me interested im afraid and this just isnt, some of the strings and the piano are ok, but the rest just leaves me fairly cold.
Helplessly - Now this is much much better, definitely a good disco record - great arrangement, especially the vocals - the bridge is top-notch and there is plenty of variation. Great voice too. Good shit.
May I - Hmmm, can see why its never really made it onto your lists, there isnt really much to it is there ? I know you like stuff like this, but I dont really get why. There's nothing wrong with it, but it just doesnt register with me at all.
Spake Katzle - This is easily your best selection this time for me, straight on my list and many listens it has had too. Totally agree with all your comments and I would play this no problem - top tune.

Hodge:

Here Comes the Sun - wow this is pretty deep deep house isnt it ? Like it, has a real atmosphere to it and in the right circumstance would really work well.
Sweet Lies - I have to admit Hodge, your desire to deconstruct things and understand how / why they work loses me at times - you do it a lot with films as well as music. Its just a difference of course, but I never concern myself with the why, just whether or not it does. This is ok for me, I would lose the vocal and that riff gets annoying after a while. Nice strings though. And as for all that other mullarkey, well I'll take your word for it fella...
A Very Different World - This has got Funk D'Void stamped all over it in big letters hasnt it ? Good tune that really comes into its own in the final third, especially with the drop after the break, which is pretty ace in itself.
Opus - Well I certainly cant improve on your description Hodge old boy. The best of your bunch for me (I do enjoy a good string) and it certainly has a moment or two in it. Epic and beautiful.
1000 Lords - Ridiculously huge. Ridiculously. Devastation on any dancefloor if played at the right time - I seem to recall this had people dancing on the tables at Inigo didnt it Kev ? Immense.

A special doff of the cap for a special homage to our creator and founder Ron L... (sorry, wrong meeting) Guru Kev. Very nice and sealed the deal on something very similar I am now going to do, beginning and ending with tracks from the man like Sully:

Immortal Technique 'Dance with the Devil'
I was round at Sully's place and he was playing some hip hop tunes and Ashleigh was knocking about, then told me he had a tune to play me but had to wait until Ash went out - I asked why as there were plenty of f-bombs coming out from the stereo to Ash's ears as it was. Then he played this. Could well be the darkest record ever cut. Lovely use of the tune and some great story-telling, and some decent rhymes. The bit at the end with the reprise is nonsense though. Seminal otherwise.
Guy J 'Lost & Found (Sahar Z& Guy Mantzur remix)'
Finally I can get into this dude, needed a remix to do it though. Much better than the original to these ears, the main part from around 4:40 being the money shot as it were. Its on TOTO2 and is a great builder for a certain kind of mood, with more oomph than the original.
Michael Jackson 'Speed Demon (Nero Remix)'
This is a really good remix of a tune I never thought much of, and neither can I find much by Nero I like either. I'd imagine you really need to know the original to get it, and still might not like it anyway but I really do and its a top bit of a production for my money. Totally marmite.
Emily Sande 'Read All About It, Pt III'
Oh my, what a voice, and this is where it is best used, in a ballad with some amazing lyrics. The piano reminds me of Timbaland's 'Apologize' which is very good, but this is much better. This girl has something special I reckon.
Sigur Ros 'Untitled #3'
Not enough Sigur Ros you say Kev, well best I end with the first Sigur record you ever played me, as part of your 5 track mix for the bedrock board way back when - that had Jenny Miller (Newland) saying it had made her cry on the tube. There is something so simple and so pure about this record. I must have heard this 100+ times easily and like DHS it never diminishes.

To you both my sincere musical respect. Three years, four months and nine hundred records later. That really is quite something and every new update is always among the best emails I ever get.

One Love

DHS 10 - Part 17 (H)

 I really did try and keep this short believe it or not...apologies... Buckle up and get stuck in:-

D:

Mt.Eden – Big fan of this in the car turned up loud, worthy addition.

Clint Mansell – Not seen the film, it comes highly recommended but with a health warning:- Don’t watch with even the slightest or remote feeling of depression... Anyway, the music: beautiful arrangement, quite powerful yet melancholic, great stuff.

Felix Da Housecat – I’ve never been able to get into this record, I’m afraid... the best thing I’ve heard with it was someone ripping the vocal and dropping it over a very deep acid number.  Just can’t get into the original.

Dream Academy – Never heard this before; love it; great addition.  Good old Dario G nicking that vocal chant J

Rose Royce – Classic tune, timeless vocals.

S:
Richard Harris  - not sure why anyone would leave a cake out in the rain to be honest, what a waste.  I’m a bit suspicious of these lyrics.

Viola Wills & Moment Of Truth – nice to have a classy bit of D.I.S.C.O on here.  I think in a way there is no more joyous form of music and I don’t care how camp that comment sounds or how camp the music sounds, for that matter.

Jamie Lloyd – can’t get into this as a stand-alone track sadly..I find it just a bit too boring - could definitely see it working in a mix very well though.

Motorcity Soul (Jerome Sydenham Remix) – smashing tune, have played it a lot, it’s repetitive but in contrast to previous tune from a very early stage it gets its “anticipation” hooks into you and builds on that and keeps pushing.  Very hypnotic, addictive groove – one I can keep going back to and has been added to my Masterlist.

Right – I’m sure this will be considered very cheesy (but I hope not a kop out just because we all have them), but even if so...frankly, my dears, I don’t give a damn.

The next five tracks are a musical homage/‘Thank you’ to a good mate who’s introduced me to a sh!t-tonne of music which has played a MASSIVE part of my life across recent years, and no more fitting time to do it than as my last selection of our collaborative 10^th List.  This was by no means an easy process AT ALL.  It wasn’t until I seriously started looking at what had and hadn’t been included in the lists thus far... then I kept adding stuff and thought about trying to add tunes that represent the last four/five years (one from each year type scenario) but in the end I’ve just settled with those that have totally poisoned my brain (in a very, very good, infectious way); that are now just part of my being; the ones which won’t leave me alone - that I hum without realising I’m humming; that I jump around to whilst having a crafty snout outside at midnight to – In short; the tracks I know I can always rely on.

So without further ado/waffling... S; Thanks for the music.....

The Timewriter (Stryke remix) – in reality this could have been any of the modern DMTH stuff we’ve grown to love across the last 6 years or so, but nothing gives me the same tingle as the stretched moody melodic synth section like this – it’s warmer than a hot bath on a summers day and god only knows how it would make you feel if you were on one.  3:34mins.... big waves....vocal.... bass....I’m melting.

Booka – Sweet Lies (PB mix).  Good grief.  I distinctly remember sitting on a long, slow train home from Victoria, half cut, wolfing down chicken with one hand and wrestling with a hard drive which had just been newly furnished with 8gb of new tunes linked to my laptop in the other, then playing this over and over, pissing people off cos my headphones were far too loud.... couldn’t have given less of a fuck about anybody around me in my entire life – totally engrossed... 3:36 things start to get tense....build to that emotive vocal.... just stunning.  I think this was probably the most cleverly programmed track that came out that year.  The beat/s and the ability to interpret/hear that tricky melody in two different ways falling on/off-each side of the beat....then the melody stretch, quickly tightened back up only to stretch back out and fade.... beautifully trippy.  Would love to hear this played out on a decent system.

Vince Watson – Funk D’Void rmx – the ‘3-in-1 record’, as I call it ...no better example of a modern tech house track taking you on a journey than this in my opinion. I stand by my comment a few years ago that those strings could somehow be manipulated into making a record all of their own.... Don’t even get me started on the bassline... the crisp production and the melodies...A true masterclass with dancefloor killing capabilities.

Davis – Opus.  Something in this incredibly simple yet stunning melody pattern just takes me away from wherever I am and transports me – I’m not even sure where I go but I don’t exist on earth for 9 minutes, I know that much.  5:40mins “please just never let the following sounds end”.  It is a rarity in that I would love to hear it banged out mid-set and get lost in it (Can’t imagine how good that would feel), yet I also play it quietly before going to sleep because the melody is just too lush to miss out on before drifting off.  Splendidly hypnotic, uplifting magnificence.

Butch – ZB rmx.  UNRELENTING PEAK TIME AURAL HEROIN : KILL ME NOW PLEASE.

*Most honourable mentions MUST go to – DeadMau5 - Faxing Berlin, a proper modern classic (Arguru was shortlisted also); Masseyeff – Mugen (the sort of record I would love to use if I played out...an early eve, deep and twisted groove but one which has a kind of signal “right; here we go then”); Thalstroem – Springtide (could SO easily have been in, perhaps I’ve been mean to it cos it’s relatively new, but hey, it made the cut); Pedro Cali – Misty (Rdrgz Jnr mix), absolutely LUSH*

K.O.K.O

H

DHS 10 - Part 16 (S)

Short and as sweet as I can make it...

Alicia Keys - will still be played on the radio in ten years time
Hackman - slaughters the slightly saccharine original but, unfortunately, won't be getting radio play in ten years time.  Loads of good 'UK Bass' music coming out like this.
Clash - classic, end of story.
MIA - real earworm when it was out - nice to hear it again after a decent break
Isley Brothers - right up my alley.  Lovely.

Mt.Eden - it's fine but there are similar tracks that I prefer
Clint Mansell - very, very familiar without having seen the film.  Nice.
Felix Da Housecat - Nope.  I've tried, really I have. But no.
Dream Academy - only real surprise is that it took so long for Sunchyme to use the riff.  Liked this 27 years ago and still do.
Rose Royce - an absolute classic but, strangely, not my favourite version - those 70's electronic drum pad sounds irritate me after a while - indisputable song though


Richard Harris - MacArthur Park - some of the most surreal lyrics ever penned, sung by one last century's  classic hellraising actors (who couldn't really sing very well) and backed by an orchestral arrangement that is beyond epic.  The older I get the higher up my list of favourite ever (EVER) songs this climbs - it's just about into the top ten now.  If it hadn't been complete overkill I would also have included the 18 minute Diana Ross cover version which is also magnificent.

Viola Wills - If You Could Read My Mind - we don't have anywhere near enough disco on DHS and I will address that from hereon.  Nice, poignant, lyric, wonderful voice and sumptuous arrangement.  Very nearly went for the 12 minute version - the arrangement is even better - so check it if you like this.

Moment Of Truth - Helplessly - continuing to address the disco imbalance... Produced by Tom Moulton who, given the amount of influence he had over modern music and the sheer number of classic records he was involved with, should be far more of a household name than he unfortunately is.  Listening to stuff like this it is SO easy to see the progression into house music.  Check the tightness of the drums with the bassline and the sheer sumptuousness of the strings.  And all done in the 1975 with real people playing real instruments and not a computer in sight.  Beautiful record.

Jamie Lloyd - May I (Quarion Remix) - included here 'cos I feel sorry for it - it's been on my possibles list for very nearly 18 months and has been sixth choice any number of times.  Deep, techy house. 

Motorcity Soul - Space Katzle (Jerome Sydenham Remix) - been a favourite of mine for five or six years now - played it out loads of times and it's never failed - was also on the recent TOTO I think...  Just a fabulous, fabulous build to it.  Slightly mournful feel and yet also very uplifting.  AND an absolute dream to mix in with and out over.

That's me done.  See you in The Best Of...