Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Various - Beatz & Carrots #15 (October 2014)


01 - luiz henrique - a trip to brazil
02 - slow motion replay - tropical forest
03 - johnny 'guitar' watson - i'll remember april
04 - the bas lexter ensample - los hermanos (remix)
05 - players - whats your problem (martin brew mix instrumental)
06 - dena deadly - 1608
07 - captain planet - enter the esperanto
08 - amadou & mariam - ce n'est pas bon (jd twitch edit)
09 - kasso - walkman (extended version)
10 - chico mann - dilo como yo (te estan llamand)
11 - bachman-turner overdrive - easy groove
12 - dedy dread & dj rebel - trip to brasil (remix)
13 - little kirk - ghetto people broke version
14 - fingers inc. - mystery of love (instrumental)
15 - ali love - pussy
16 - captain rapp - bad times (instrumental edit)
17 - anthony red rose - electric chair version
18 - vangelis katsoulis - the eternal return

After 19 Beatz & Carrots compilations on this blog - here finally is #20. And it might as well be the last one (but not the end of this blog. I probably just want to give things a slightly different/new direction). I started compiling these Beatz & Carrots compilations as a way to organize some of my monthly discoveries and favourites. Some of my friends liked them - and so I got the idea to start this blog. Just as I write this I realize it is more or less exactly three years ago that I began writing on this blog - to be precise October 31st 2011. What a coincidence. In the future, beside posting compilations of exciting music, I also hope to blog more about recent producers, djs, musicians and labels who produce, release and re-release amazing and fresh sounding music. Today there are so many talented people out there who deserve to be exposed to a wider public - and the wider public also has the right, once in a while, to be exposed to all the exciting, different and manifold music that exist beneath mainstream boredom & twerking...

On the first track Luiz Henrique is taking us on A Trip To Brazil, a joyous and mellow 'bossa moderna' song from his 1964 debut album A Bossa Moderna de Luiz Henrique. Unfortunately I can't find too much info on Luiz Henrique's first album. Not even a discogs entry. But I do love this song! On track #13 we have Dedy Dred and DJ Rebel subtly and respectfully rebooting Luiz Enriques' original: ''Tweaking the beat enough to elicit a shimmy from the modern latin breaks fan.'' (via Monkey Boxing). On track #3 - still feeling like in sunny and warm Brazil - we have a slammin' fast & bouncing bossa piano version of I'll Remember April by Johnny Guitar Watson. From his 1963 album The Blues Soul of Johnny Guitar Watson. This one needs to be re-released - if not only for the fantastic picture of him on the cover. Nice Johnny "Guitar" Watson album, and one that features him playing no guitar at all! Instead, he plays piano, and with a nice bluesy style that sounds great. He plays mostly standards, but in a fantastic way that twists them inside out, and that gives them all these great soulful edges. Check out my Beatz & Carrots #14 post for some more info on the ''Gangster Of Love''. On track #09 we have an extended version of Kasso's Walkman from 1984. Next to 1986's One More Round it is probably one of the most well known songs by Kasso, a project of prolific Italian producer Claudio Simonetti. Simonetti is known as member of Goblin, a 70s dark disco outfit that scored many George Romero horror movies, and for his involvements with the acts Vivien Vee, Easy Going, Capricorn and Kasso. Be sure to give Frankie Knuckles '86 house mix of ''One More Round'' a listen. Sweet sweet sweet! That's how I like my house! Track #11, Easy Groove, is a ''beautiful and slightly awkward disco tune'' by Bachman-Turner Overdrive from 1977. Thanks to Contain Yr Brain for introducing me to this be beauty. Be sure to check out his blog - full of rare and under-the-radar beauties... On track #13 we have the b-side/version of Little Kirk's Ghetto People Broke. You can find the original on Little Kirk's '85 album Ghetto People Broke - as well as on a not so recent anymore French repress of this impossible to find digi showcase LP. Killer! Little Kirk, the older Brother of Beenie Man, released a whole heap of amazing digital tunes in the mid- to late 80ies before becoming a soulful almost R&B styled crooner singing Gospel. I am feeling those 80ies early 90ies b-side and ''instrumental'' cuts - the synths, the minimalism or even ambientness, the insistent pulse of drum and bass, scattered and shuffling percussion, the sparness, a certain rawness and sometimes shards of vocals - and all the time being uncompromisingly electronic. And these riddims have swing & bump. Some Detroit Techno/House & or even Acid House tunes spring to mind. I am working on a compilation of some of my favourite Riddim ''versions'' and b-sides. More soon! Track #14 gives us the instrumental version of Fingers Inc.'s Mystery Of Love. Let me quote Jon Savage, who wrote an entire article about the ''vocal'' version of this track for The Guardian in 2010: A deep and hypnotic 7:12 minute long ride ''beginning with a syncopated bass figure, before a four-on-the-floor kick drum comes in, fast and clean (...) The rest of the track is an ebb and flow of Heard's melodies, beautiful laminar keys, hi-hat cymbal patterns, and echoed hand-claps over a deep groove. Much like his other work under the Fingers alias, Mystery of Love has a strong ambient vibe and evokes a sense of dreaminess and hypnotism. Way ahead of its time.'' My late night house record! I love my b-sides and instrumentals - more on track #16, where we have an instrumental version of Captain Rapp's Bad Times (''this song didn't need a rap the beat got it all by itself ''). Check out this rare original footage from Detroit's own ''version'' of the Soul Train (like this comment on the Soul Train video: ''How can we move from dancing like this to some girl swinging off a demolition ball naked, and call it progress?'' ). Lots of nice people having fun, dancing and making some crazy moves to Captain Rapp's ''Bad Times''. More rare digital ammunition on track #17: The b-side/version of Anthony Red Rose's Electric Chair. A ruthless digi-stepper. Thanks to Mark Ernestus and Honest Jon's-curated Dug Out label this utterly effective piece of Digi-weaponry is being repressed on 7inch vinyl. ''Jolting stab syncopations and throbbing futurist basslines''! Listen to the vocal version here: Anthony Red Rose, famous for his seminal Tempo vocal on the rhythm of same name, grills soundboys on the electric chair as he delivers his speech in fine style over this chillingly cool and ruthlessly effective digi riddim produced by Dennis Star in 1989. I am fading out this compilation/mix with some breathy flutes and swampy percussion on Vangelis Katsoulis' The Eternal Return. Taken from the official compilation Vangelis Katsoulis - The Sleeping Beauties: A Collection of Early and Unreleased Works, which was released on Into The Light Records this year. Beautiful stuff - and for me definitely on of the Top 10 albums from 2014.

Enjoy! DubMe

This compilation fits perfectly on one CD - just click "NO PAUSE BETWEEN TRACKS" when you burn it - and the CD will be exactly just under 80:00 minutes long...

15 comments:

  1. Utter happiness until I read it will probably be the last comp. I sincerely hope not. I've learned so much with your comps and I've enjoyed every single one of them. I have a "beatz & carrots" playlist on Traktor that I always reach for when I'm clueless on what to play next.

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    1. Señor El Dorado! Thanks for your comment... Maybe if I feel like it - I will still try to post a "Beatz & Carrots" comp once in a while... For the moment there are so many other mixes/comps I want to share if I only find the time... One project in the pipeline could be something to your liking: "Various - Brazil, Boogie, Sunshine" - lush grooves for after-hour cocktails...

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    2. That sounds like something I will definitely love!!

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  2. Oh no... sad to hear that this series stops.
    However, I like your new approach as well. And I hope you're fine.. ^__^.

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  3. This looks amazing!! I'm an idiot though- I can't see how to listen!? ahhhhh

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    1. Hi! Check DubMe's first comment... The FINAL link is "hidden" in there...

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    2. thank you so so much!!! You are the best!!

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  4. hossa, almost missed this one! I 2nd el's comments and remain patiently awaiting whats next. thank you fiete.

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  5. shame the link is down, compilation looks fab!

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    1. Hi! Yeah - it seems like I just had a link meltdown on my blog. Can't even access my own adrive account anymore. I will try to re-up this beatz & carrots + all the others as soon as possible. Give me a few weeks. I am currently living in China - and Internet behind the Great 'Fire' Wall these days is pretty slow... DubMe

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