A quick mix...

Have been slacking lately on the blog front as it has just been so manic. The party season is in full festive swing and bookings are coming in thick and fast. As of next year I will be playing at a quarterly event called Custard Nights . Here is a quick mix that I did for them, includes a few of the tracks that I have been playing a lot recently.

Hwen Rascale-Custard Nights Demo Mix 1
Nas, Luda & Doug E. Fresh-Virgo (Paul Nice Remix)
Neneh Cherry-Buddy X (Falcon Fabian Remix Feat. Notorious B.I.G)
Fatback Band-Act Like You Know
William D. Vaughn-Be Thankful For What You've Got (DJ Day Disco Re-Edit)
Pointer Sisters-Automatic
Chromeo-Bonafide Lovin' (Eli Remix Feat. Pase Rock)
Justice-D.A.N.C.E (Eli & Diplo Remix/Benny Blanco Mix Feat. Mos Def & Spank Rock)

More on this night soon!!

A Recommendation

Continuing with the something new trend. My man DJ Dstar has a just relaunched his site and has a new blog to go along with it.

As one of his first posts he has put up an MP3 of T2 'Heartbroken'. Currently number 2 in the UK charts, this signals a return to a more 4x4 sound for the garage community. Be sure to check it and his blog out!

DJ DStar on T2-Heartbroken (Extended Mix)

Something new...

Bit of a change for me here. I thought it was about time I posted some new stuff that I was feeling. This is a song from Groove Armada's latest effort 'Soundboy Rock'. It features Rhymefest on vocals and as I am a sucker for a good 303 bass, I was sold from the off. I am pretty sure they plan on using it as their next single...so play and enjoy it now before it gets used in a car advert! Groove Armada Feat. Rhymefest-The Girls Say

Glow Of Love

This is a classic mid-tempo disco tune that nicely bridges the gap between 80's soul and true hands in the air disco. It was also sampled for Janet Jackson's 'All For You' (which I seem to remember Dimitri From Paris always mixing into...). Here is the Full 12" version for you:Change-Glow Of Love

Do You Believe....?

Now if like many people of my generation you only know Cher through some terrible vocoder work and an even worse movie that was only notable for having Winona Ryder in (admit it...she's hot); you need to check this out.
Cher-Take Me Home

Credit To The Edit

While I like to think of myself as a budding producer, there are those who have been doing it for ages and have learnt a few tricks along the way. Here are some picks from a compilation of re-edits by Greg Wilson. The linear notes make for some inspired reading...how many of us guys have tried to do a full re-edit on a reel to reel? Come to think of it, how many of my re-edits in acid/ableton etc sound as good as them?? (Mental note to self: Get better!). Anyway here are 3 particularly useful ones.Raw DMX-Do It To The Funk (Greg Wilson Re-Edit)

Brenda Taylor-You Can't Have Your Cake & Eat It Too (Greg Wilson Re-Edit)

Chaka Khan-I Feel For You (Greg Wilson Re-Edit)

Nuggets For The Needy

A while ago a friend of mine passed a track onto me. It was a bizarre mash of Erykah Badu and Outkast simply labeled 'Rollin' Stone'. Unfortunately it had at least 3 Giles Peterson jingles playing over the top. After a bit of digging I found out that it was one 'Red Astaire' (also known as Freddie Cruger) and he was a bit of a master at these sorts of edits. I had however missed the boat on the vinyl release but it seems that a retrospective of his work has since been released on CD. I present to you here 3 of the stand out tracks including that 'Rollin' Stone' tune:
Red Astaire-Follow Me

Red Astaire-Rollin' Stone

Red Astaire-I Wish (D&B Mix)

I Don't Know Why I Love You

I have always liked the Brand New Heavies, though recently I have taken to thinking of their stuff as being a bit too 'safe', almost verging on lounge music. As if to prove me wrong I received their latest single in the post. The Tom Moulton mixes take them back to a more soulful 70's esque sound, a perfect slice of modern disco funk. Here is the Main Mix and Instrumental for you: Brand New Heavies-I Don't Know Why I Love You (Tom Moulton Main Mix)

Brand New Heavies-I Don't Know Why I Love You (Tom Moulton Instrumental)

Soul Heaven

The nature of my Friday night gig means I am playing a lot more house these days than I normally would. So I have been dutifully ripping all my old favourites for use in Serato. Here is one that I definitely plan on playing tonight:Goodfella's-Soul Heaevn (Pasta Boys Mix)

A Little Bit Chilled...

A bit of a change of pace here. I ripped this last night with full knowledge that I will probably never get to play it out...but if you ever find yourself doing an 'all back to mine' type set this one is straight fire.

Zero 7 make great chill out music and even better remixes of other peoples tunes. This one is a classic: N.E.R.D-Provider (Zero 7 Remix)

I Can't Go Frontin' For That

VS

Another blend/mash up for you. I have been doing this one out live with the acapella and instrumental for a while now and have finally got around to laying it down properly in Acid. Works with all crowds. Enjoy!

H&O Vs P&J-I Can't Go Frontin' For That (Hwen's Special Blend)

Booty House: Part 2

Last time I focused on the label Peaches. This time round, I have taken a few tracks from the Igloo imprint.
A more diverse set of covers here. We have Talking Heads-Psycho Killer, a Missy Elliot tune and my personal favourite of the bunch an amazing cover of The Cure's Love Cats. I love to play this tune and watch everyone scratch their heads, sure that they recognise the bassline before it finally drops and they go mental.

Igloo-Psyco

Igloo-Ms E Loves Jass

Igloo-Black Cats

Booty House: Part 1

A recent post on the Holler Board has got me thinking about all the old bootleg house records I have. Now I am not talking about some Booty Love terrible cover of Lucy Pearl (side note: how could they butcher this so badly?? Mood II Swing had already made the definitive house version!). I am talking about some grimey, boompety boomp house. The sound championed by Derrick Carter, Honey Dijon and the like.
I will do a couple of posts on this as it was my preferred brand of house for a while.
Enjoy!

Ol Yello
I Am Music (No Assembly Required Mix)
Mona Lisa (Reverend Bloo Mix)

Grime Time

So, I have a love/hate relationship with grime. It varies wildly between groundbreaking artists (your Dizzee's, Kano's, Sway's etc) and what can only be described as kids from my local estate shouting about their 'ends'. However in the middle of these two sides there is a wealth of good tracks. I recently picked up this compilation put out by Channel U and thought I would share some of the highlights with you. Enjoy!

The Frontlinerz-Down

Tinie Tempah-Hood Economics

NDubz VS Naa-NDubs VS Naa

Roll Deep-Celebrate

Wong-Not A Hater

Don't Forget To Get Funky

VS

Finally got this to a pretty much finished state last night...
Hwen Rascale - Don't Forget to Get Funky
a mash up/blend/bootleg (whatever you want to call it) of Patrice Rushen's Forget Me Nots with C & C Music Factory's Do You Want To Get funky.

Enjoy!

It's So Easy.....Liking House?

Maybe it's the recent trend of good weather....(it's about time!)...maybe it's that this is a great tune...(it is)...but the combination of both has me really feeling house music at the moment.

I used this track in my latest mix (see my last post ), if only all house music was this good!

DJ Spen & The Muthafunkaz Feat. Ann Nesby-It's So Easy

Promo Mix

Here is a promo mix that I put together for a bar/club. As the picture shows they also have people eating there so they were adamant that there be no hip-hop or thug music on there and definitely none of that scratchy business! (The sacrifices us working DJ's make are many)...Anyway, I thought it turned out OK in the end...nothing fancy just a mix in 3 parts to demonstrate some of the different styles that I could play for them. So here it is for you all to enjoy, no tricks just simple mixing to let the tunes speak for themselves:

Promo Mix-Part 1
Lucy Pearl-Don't Mess With My Man
Hall & Oates Vs Pharell-I Can't Go Frontin' For That (Hwen's Special Blend)
Nu Shooz-I Can't Wait
Timex Social Club-Rumors

Promo Mix-Part 2
Endgames-Ecstacy
Roy Ayres-Hot (Rascale's Extended Mix)
Kelis-80's Joint
Tweet-Boogie Tonight (Mr K Re-Edit)
De La Soul-Keepin The Faith (Straight Pass Mix)

Promo Mix-Part 3
Gladys Knight-Bourgie Bourgie
Unlimited Touch-I Hear Music In The Streets (Rascale's Mixable Re-Edit)
DJ Gregory-Don't Know Malendro
DJ Spen Feat. Ann Nesby-It's So Easy
The Braxtons-The Boss (Kenlou Mix)

I Hear An Edit In The Streets...

I was working on a new mix this weekend and really wanted to include Unlimited Touch-'I Hear Music In The Streets'. Unfortunately the intro/outro was driving me mad and just not working with the mix. So I set myself down and made this quick re-edit: 8bar intro before the vocals kick in and a 16 bar outro with a fade out.
Unlimited Touch-I Hear Music In The Streets (Rascale's Mixable Re-Edit)

I will be posting the finished mix soon!

To Be In Love Part 3

And finally in all it's 12 minute glory...we have the original 12'' full length mix. A more perfect slice of vocal house you will not find. Enjoy!
MAW-To Be In Love (12'' Full Mix)

To Be In Love Part 2

As promised, here is another mix of Masters At Work 'To Be In Love'. This time MJ Cole takes it on a 2-step journey. Again it's the dub version that provides the best mix here with another superb bassline. MAW-To Be In Love (MJ Cole Dub)

To Be In Love Part 1

'To Be In Love' is one of my all time favourite house tunes. I will forever associate it with summer time and Steve Jackson's old breakfast show on Kiss FM. In fact I will go so far as to say that it is impossible to ruin this song. I own tons of remixes, extended versions and bonus beats of this tune and with the good weather upon us, I thought it was about time I shared some of them.
First up is this 11 minute masterpiece of a rework by Black Science Orchestra. Mr Beedle comes correct on this one; utilising only the vocals and providing a whole new but still equally funky backing track that just keeps building.
Enjoy and check back for more mixes coming soon.MAW-To Be In Love (The Black Science Swingtime Mastadub)

Sesame Treat

Continuing in the vein of Monday's post here are some other disco songs inspired by popular television characters. This EP was released by Ninja Tune and contains the Larry Levan and Roy Thode remixes of the Cookie Monster's favourite saying: 'C Is For Cookie'. Personally there is only one thing that makes me eat that many cookies...but then i always did wonder about the guys behind Sesame Street/The Muppets/Fraggle Rock...

The real gem on the EP though is the playable version of The Pointer Sister's 'Pinball Countdown'. Apparently this was never made available and DJ Food had to reconstruct it himself from other recordings. Fine work I say and it thoroughly deserves more play..altogether now: '1,2,3,4,5...6,7,8,9,10...11,12!'

Cookie Monster & The Girls-C Is For Cookie (Larry Levan Sweet Version)

Cookie Monster & The Girls-C Is For Cookie (Roy Thode Funky Version)

The Pointer Sisters-Pinball Countdown (DJ Food Re-edit: Special Extension By Strcitly Kev)

Doctor Who?

Now I hate to admit it...but I am a bit of a Sci-Fi geek. I grew up watching Doctor Who on TV and have clear memories of wanting a T.A.R.D.I.S. So in honor of the recent series finishing this weekend, I thought I would post this rare gem. A crazy disco version of the beloved theme tune...sure to raise a smile if you are brave enough to play it anywhere!

Mankind-Doctor Who

Land Of The Living

Bit of a change from the normal posts of Disco type stuff here.

Way back when I used to play more house music in my sets there was a pirate station called Girls FM. Dedicated solely to US House and Garage, it shaped many of my early buying habits. Came across some old tapes (remember those??!?) of sets on there recently and was reminded how much I loved this tune. The way it starts like some old Jazz tune then breaks with that monster bass....love it!!
Kristine W-Land Of The Living (Deep Dish Land Of The Lost Remix)

Roy Ayres....A Hot Extension

I grew up on Roy Ayres, with my Dad who is a massive Jazz fan taking me to see him. I even went to see him for my 26th birthday. This has always been a favourite track of mine, it is less downtempo than 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine' and not as well known as 'Running Away'. Having recently rediscovered it I knocked up this quick re-edit of it making it more mix friendly.

8 bar drum intro followed by 8 bar's of the main hook before the vocals kick in.

Enjoy!

Roy Ayres-Hot (Rascale's Extended Mix)

Holiday is over...

Apologies to everyone...but I have been on extended holiday in Thailand

This has meant no blogging for me.

Unfortunatly I am now back in rainy London...

However I have a new residency and tons of new records to share with you all so stay tuned...I'm back!

Reggae Disco Pt. 2

As I am still away enjoying the easter break, this will be a quick update.

A couple more tracks from the Reggae Disco comp...enjoy!

Family Choice-Reggae Beat Goes On
Xanadu & Sweet Lady-Rapper's Delight

Reggae Disco

On a completely different tip from the stuff I have been posting so far, last night I got round to ripping these gems. Taken from the album Hustle! Reggae Disco, they do exactly that: reggae versions of disco (and to be honest funk,pop and hip hop) tunes. Here are 2 of the standouts.
Blood Sisters-Ring My Bell
Derrick Laro & Trinity-Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

Go Find A Request

Apologies, for I am going to have to deviate from my 320/vinyl rip policy for this one. I have had a request for Go by Common. A great track which saw Common return to form after what I personally found to be a disappointing album in 'Electric Circus' (albeit one with a couple of stand out tracks).

Common-Go

Also here is a mixtape track by Goapele that uses the same instrumental, so you can look like the great DJ easily mixing between the two!

Goapele-Go Find A Way

Keepin The Faith

I have always loved this De La Soul track, in particular the way it used major bits of 'Over Like A Fat Rat'. So I saved up my hard earned and bought a copy....only to find it was not the version I was looking for...'What is this Bob Marley/Slave sample they are using?' I said to myself. So I bought a copy of 'The Best Of De La Soul'...surely this will have one of their stand out tracks on it? BUT NO! Same wrong version again. Finally though I have tracked it down and I now share it with you:
De La Soul-Keepin The Faith (Straight Pass)

The Greatest Hit

Apologies for the quick post today, will be getting more up as the week goes on.

'The Greatest Hit' is a tune that sounds like it should have been made by Larry Levan or some other old disco guy, however it only came out in 2000. Perhaps its the cheeky Madonna sample but I can always find room for this in my disco sets. Here is the extended disco mix, dub and acapella so all you DJ's have no excuse but to do something great with it!

Annie-The Greatest Hit (Extended Disco Mix)

Annie-The Greatest Dub

Annie-The Greatest Hit (Acapella)

George Extended

'Give me the night' is a party/club/warmup staple that has pretty much never left my box. Here is a quick re-edit that I did to make it that bit easier to mix in and out of. George Benson-Give Me The Night (Rascale Extended Mix)

Where did they get that from?

House music has a long established tradition of sampling disco tunes. Anyone that knows me knows that I love old disco, so here are some choice cuts that have been sampled to great effect.

First up is this tune, which provided the memorable bass line (and therefor the whole tune) to Gusto's 'Disco's Revenge'

Harvey Mason-Groovin' You

Next a tune that saw Duane Harden (that dude that sang on that Armand Van Heldon track) telling someone he'd got what they had been looking for

Thelma Houston-I'm Here Again

Finally, Kid Creme used this tune to great effect for 'Austin's Groove'. All together now: 'We have the technology...we can rebuild him...stronger...better...faster....'

Sparkle-Handsome Man (Larry Levan Mix)

Hip-Hop was the element missing...

So that short lived movement known as 'Hip-House' is apparently back...and a good thing I say!!

First a classic. Perhaps THE Hip-House anthem:

Doug Lazy-Let The Rhythm Pump (Extended Vocal Mix)

Next up a more modern entry into this category. French wonders the Troublemen take on the Beatnuts classic 'Watch Out Now' (also knows as the beat J-Lo jacked for 'Jenny From The Block')




The Beatnuts-Watch Out Now (Troublemen Remix)

Finally a more novelty take on the Hip-House thing, but still guaranteed to fill a dancefloor at a party, definitely a guilty pleasure!

Double Trouble Feat. The Rebel MC-Street Tuff (12" Mix)

Big things start small...

So after a long time enjoying other peoples blogs, I thought it was about time i got my own going. So many people ask me to reccomend some music for them that I figured it would be easier if I could just tell them to go to one place. I will be posting some hot new tunes, many classics, remixes that I have done and the odd mix: The title at the top says it all really...

So to kick things off, here is one of my favourite jams in recent times. This tune works at all times, with all crowds. It is a great example of a remix taking a good tune, adding those extra touches and making it a classic! Enjoy!

When She Smiles(4 Hero Mix)