Music Monday: “Knas” by Steve Angelo

Oh the controversy! For those of you who don’t know what I meant by that, allow me to explain. Knas is the name of this instrumental house track, as released in 2010. The beat BANGS as far as I’m concerned, but as the story goes, Steve Angelo’s only contribution to this song was the drums, hi hats, and white noise after the drop.

In the industry of dance music production, there are “sample packs” constantly released by companies who create loops, drums, and other stock sounds that producers can buy and use to create their own original works using those pieces. The loop used for Knas is originally called “VFH2 128BPM CAPONE MELODY 1”, as released by a company called Vengeance in late 2009. While it isn’t uncommon for producers to use these packs, the intention is that the samples be used as a starting point, and manipulated to create an original work in the style of the producer. The reality is that Steve Angelo used this sample almost completely unchanged and released the song which skyrocketed to the top of the Beatport music charts for quite some time. This created quite a stir among house music producers and fans when it became common knowledge, but I still love this beat because it KNOCKS, so nice drums Steve, and lesson learned!

As a bonus, here is a video tutorial on how he created this beat:

http://youtu.be/PuAxnEWQWDw

Music Monday: “Azumba” by Gregor Salto

I honestly don’t know what it is about this song, but I love it. Gregor Salto released it in 2012, and since then there have been countless remixes and tons of edits. The one thing they all have in common is the drum line sounding snare drums and the chimpanzee screaming. This sound is starting to be identified as “tribal house” by some, but regardless of what you call it, I’m still playing this on the merit of the chimp.

Music Monday: “Act Too” by The Roots

This is one of those songs that really connects with people when they first hear it. Act Too, by title is another interlude on the 1999 album “Things Fall Apart”, but in reality is a full length song and a soulful homage to hip-hop. It’s no secret or surprise to many that Black Thought takes a cue from Common’s illustration of hip-hop as a woman as previously done in his 1994 single “I Used to Love H.E.R” from his album Resurrection. Common does the second verse to bring things back full circle, and then the song breaks down into the most beautiful bridge I’ve ever heard in a hip-hop song to date. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and IMHO captures the beauty of the “Soulquarians” studio sessions, in which The Roots, Common, J. Dillah, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, and many others regularly came together and collaborated on so many music projects like this album.

Music Monday “It’s Just Another Groove” by The Mighty Dub Katz

The “Lookback remix” of this house classic showed on Beatport in December of 2012. That remix brought it to many DJs who play at primarily big room and bottle service venues around the world, and may not be as familiar with older disco house. This is the original song as it was released in 1996 by The Mighty Dub Katz (founded by Fatboy Slim before he adopted the solo moniker), and later remixed, remastered and re-released time and again.

Music Monday: “It’s Alright , I Feel It” by Nuyorican Soul

This house single was released in 1997 by Masters at Work, before they began using that name exclusively. M.A.W. was releasing music for many years under different names, including “Nuyorican Soul”, before choosing to commit to the current moniker. This version of the song is available only on the 12” and CD single and is titled the “M.A.W. 12” Mix”. The vocals on this song are from Jocelyn Brown, of Salsoul Orchestra who is featured in way too many songs for me to keep track of. As for this single, I love the tight blend of breakbeat percussion and the soulful house vibe.

Music Monday: “Love either grows or goes” by Scandal featuring Lee Genesis

This one seemed appropriate for this week. This song was released in 1980 in the UK on Creole Records, as the B-side of the single “I Wanna Do It”, a disco song that seems to be riding on the success of Kool & The Gang’s “Ladies night”. This soulful groove features the vocals of Lee Genesis, presently known for his soulful house records.

Music Monday: “Beggin’” by Madcon

This song is a remake of a 1967 song by The Four Seasons. This version, released in 2007, has become very popular with B-boys and B-girls because the drums are more pronounced in Madcon’s version, thus making it much better for cyphers or battles. This particular video features one of my all time favorite B-boys, Free from the Soulshifters/Circle of Fire crew.

Just uploaded my set from last night’s madness at The Get Down!

Music Monday: “Day Job (Alister Johnson Remix)” by Sunshine State

The first time I heard this song was about a year ago, when another DJ I know had it as the first song in a mix that he released. I listened to it and was immediately taken back to a few years ago when I was working “traditional jobs”.

I worked insane hours while I was a college student, and even left my graduation ceremony to go straight to work. It felt like that’s what I was “supposed to do” to be successful. There was about a year where I was often working 120+ hour weeks (Yep… I didn’t think it was possible either), for a big corporate company, doing a job that I had a degree in, still couldn’t pay all my bills on time, and barely had time to practice DJing. I. WAS. MISERABLE. Then one day I got fed up, burnt out, and had an opportunity to jump ship and put all my energy into music, production, and DJing… the single best decision I’ve ever made in my life…

…so this song is for all of the talented artists, musicians, and thinkers that are still feeling stuck in the 9-5 work world out of necessity. You can play all the corporate politics that are required of you, to keep being tied to a job that kills you everyday… or you can follow your passion. Don’t loose sight of what you love. The harest thing to do is take a blind dive into this odd world of self employment through creativity. Man, I can’t begin to describe how much better my life is now, and I honestly believe moments like that are all it takes to put things into perspective. So this is for you, sitting there at your desk, wishing for something bigger and better. You can do it too!!! :)

This is “Skating in Bmore”, a Bmore club remix of “Skating” by Vince Guaraldi! In my world, it’s not the holidays until you watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”