DJ's Old-Time Granny and Dyn-O-Mite spin old school soul, funk, and disco jams! The show airs on special occasions on WCOM radio, 103.5 FM in Carrboro, NC, and streams online worldwide. www.resoul.org
Today's history lesson comes courtesy of Professor Kurtis Blow:
Kurtis was totally breaking it down with this powerful pro-peace, pro-unity, anti-war statement. Little wonder I never saw this video on MTV back in the day, circa when it dropped in 1985. (Editor's note: Another entry in the coincidence or cosmic convergence category - this is the 85th post to appear on Soul'ed Out, UnLtd. The universal funk elders must be lookin' out for the SOUL train!)
Pretty sure I found this 12" at the recent clearance sale that the former Stock Exchange owners were holding in the old American Tourister factory in Warren, along with a fat stack of other classic hip hop joints that had somehow escaped crate-digging notice.
Right on schedule for first day of Summer '12, we got the newest and freshest JOTD yet pimped here...from an album that's not even officially released for another three days. I heard this track tonite on WUMD (big ups to DJ Elio, regular host of Nightly Jams), which broadcasts at 89.3 FM in the Southern New England area, the same frequency as WXYC. But it's crankin' at 9600 watts, or nearly 10 times XYC's power (1100 watts). And since you can pick up XYC to Raleigh and back, it's no wonder WUMD comes in loud and clear all across Rhode Island.
So, Apollo Cobra. Self-proclaimed providers of "HUGE beats and MASSIVE dance parties across a small part of the globe." Legendary among at least the couple of thousand folks who have so far seen the fun video for their dancefloor anthem from last fall, Let's Dance To This:
Panda disco, baby! Straight outta St. Paul, MN. New album Motherland about to drop. And this track is not even on YouTube. So we're embedding it from Bandcamp.
All My Friends reminded me of Depeche Mode when I heard it, or maybe that was just b/c I saw a CD copy of Violater at the Newport Sally's today. Which I didn't buy. Becuz I premonitioned that a close encounter with Apollo Cobra was just around the corner. Or maybe I wuz just picking up mental vibrations from this afternoon when my friend Kennae told me about the mermaids she's hoping to catch sight of on some show about river dwelling creatures she likes on Animal Planet.
Visiting Rhode Island, I've been jonesing for fresh music and overlooked dusty grooves. Which has led me to haunt every thrift store within a three-state radius, and become pals again with every college and low-power station on the FM dial. So I was especially psyched when out of the blue, dance party aficionado and musicologist Hannah13 turned me on to some amazing sounds today.
Totally rad. At first I thought this track was brand new, then realized it's from the 80s. Which is really shocking, Les Rita Mitsouko were ahead of their time for sure. These funky French cats were too cool. Now I've gotta find their LP's. Andy was the first single from their second album, The No Comprendo, produced by longtime Bowie producer Tony Visconti. One half of the duo, guitarist and keyboardist Fred Chichin died of cancer in 2007, RIP.
There's many contenders for today's joint o the day, but the frontrunner is clear. Comin' courtesy of Mastermind - an obscure 10-piece funk outfit from New York who dropped a self-titled debut LP, and broke up after it didn't sell. Probably b/c it was released on Prelude Records, which at the time was busy churning out classic disco 12-inchers, and anyway, not a big enough label to effectively distribute a disco-funk LP that leaned more heavily towards the funky side. Just my guess.
Or maybe the more well-known jazz/funk drummer Lenny White didn't appreciate the fact that there was anotha cat named Lenny White in this band tryin' to steal his thunder, so he pulled some strings and the album disappeared from stores overnight. That's what's called a funky conspiracy theory.
This LP landed on my turntable after I pulled it outta my stacks b/c they looked super fly posing for the cover shot, and it didn't disappoint. Sounds a lot like Brass Construction. And Mass Production. Produced by Danny Weiss, who as one commentor at discomusic.com helpfully pointed out, "usually worked on stuff that came out on the Vanguard label such as Players Association, The Ring, & Roni Griffith, so he must've been moonlighting on this early Prelude project." Hustle Bus Stop was the single released from this LP. Other nice tracks include Free And Wild, and Disco Party In The Street. Apparently, before this album, they also self-released a single distributed by Brooklyn-based Sun Records called Happy Music w/ Uncle Sam on the flip.
Now that the summer's over, we're takin' the SOUL flava that got stirred to a boil at Club Taqueria UNDERGROUND! Come party with us beneath the streets @ Chapel Hill's oldest nightspot, the Cave! It's an Underground Disco Party, on Saturday night, Oct. 15, from 10 pm – 2 am. The Cave is located at 452 ½ West Franklin Street, down the flight of stairs next door to the West End Wine Bar. Featuring the get-down sounds of disco DJ maniacs Dyn-O-Mite and Leafy Greens!
Here's your chance to test drive the funky 70s outfit you've been planning to rock this Halloween! The Cave has recently upgraded their sound system and added killer dancefloor lights. And it goes without saying that the music's gonna be off the chain. Leafy Greens is packing mind boggling disco re-edits that will have you wondering which decade you're in! Plus we've got some surprises planned for the funky faithful. This night will be mad fun!
With over 180 live acts at 25 different locations popping off in Carrboro this Sunday the 25th, the time is ripe for the unofficial Carrboro Music Festival old school DANCE PARTY! At Club Taqueria, where else. If we have to tell you where that is, you haven't been reading this blog enuf! Come boogie down with us from 9 pm – 12 midnight.
Featuring Leafy Greens and Dyn-O-Mite, and maybe Old-Time Granny if she's not too tired out after co-hosting the first annual Carr Street block party the nite before. New surprises for the Wall of Sight and Sound! And we're sitting on lots of hot jams that didn't get spun when Boogie Salsa got rained out, so the music's gonna be all the way live, guaranteed to put some boogie in your taco!
WTF was up with that Canadian cold front? Starting Thursday night, it descended like The Mist outta the Stephen King story, dropped the temperature like, 30 degrees, and left everything cold and drizzly for a two-day stretch. F-ing up what would have been a super-fun Boogie Salsa party in the process!
But YOU CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC! So instead we broadcast a legendary set of boogie disco funk over the airwaves on WCOM, streaming live worldwide. Podcast and setlist coming soon. Featuring the night's special guest DJ, Leafy Greens, who busted out many of the rump-shaking, party-startin' old school and re-edited jams he's known for. Plus your regular hosts with the most, Dyn-O-Mite and Old-Time Granny. And also a guest appearance by our man with the funky plan, DJ Tongue! With full strength boogie power provided by our in-studio guest dancers for the night, Hillary Bounce & Terri Lynn Glamour! The Reverend was on the scene, and Amanda, who scored a special love song dedication from Leafy Greens, and Brandon the Wandering Soul (in search of a good bowl of pasta), with last-minute cameos by Club T regulars Rachael Rollergirl and Candace the Disco Queen! And a special shout-out to our pal DJ Exnishus, who helped us maximize the SOUL flava when he came on the scene to get the Ex-Files underway.
For being a Soggy Salsa session, it was still a boogie-ful fun time!
And we will be back with a makeup outdoor showing of TGIF at some point in the future. Until then, in the immortal words of Marv Gomez, "Dancing! Everything else is bullshit!"
Where ya gonna be next Friday nite? If you're ready to get funked up, it's anotha party at the taco truck - Club Taqueria 5: Boogie Salsa! Come boogie down at Carrboro's most slammin' FREE old school street party on Friday nite, Sept 16, from 10 pm - 3 am. Location, of course, is Taqueria Jalisco (the taco truck by the Cat's Cradle).
(Super FunkaDelicious Poster by Leafy Greens.)
Our funky guest this time around is Leafy Greens, the smooth DJ cat taking disco-funk into the 21st century! Spinning a seamless blend of old and new school, the funkiest disco-house you'll ever hear.
Plus the night's special outdoor movie, presented in full: Thank God It's Friday! The greatest ever disco flick, straight outta 1978!
Movie starts at 10 pm, DJ's at midnight. Prepare to be mesmerized by the wall of sight and sound! Movie concession stand by the Bikescream crew, with popcorn and yummy, all-organic, locally-produced ice cream sandwiches! RSVP on Facebook and invite some pals to come get down, 'cuz it's gonna be a boogie-ful good time!
Since my friend DJ Babs aka Berrytone assures me I'm on staff at Barry's Video Dance Club, I've been trying to dig up some rare disco video artifacts. Which is how I came across a 1975 audio recording from a 45 record featuring DJ Tee Scott advertising a night at legendary NYC nitespot Better Days, where "your mind will be your flight path," and a late 70s public access commercial for Plato's Retreat, the swingers' club that opened in the space formerly occupied by the Continental Baths, where Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles got their start DJ'ing.
And some vintage video footage from French TV circa 1978 of Studio 54, where the track playing happened to be Let's All Chant, by the Michael Zager Band. Which was one of the tracks that stood out when I recently came across A Night At Studio 54 at the thrift sto'. A continuously mixed two-record set released on Casablanca Records in 1979, it threw together the totally commercial disco hits of the moment like Y.M.C.A, Le Freak, and Shake Your Groove Thing with lesser-known Studio 54 classics like Souvenirs by Voyage and Musique's In The Bush, produced by Patrick Adams. But my favorite overlooked gem was Let's All Chant. So I was totally psyched to find there was an original video, and it's a killer.
Hung out with Leafy Greens this afternoon before heading to Raleigh for First Friday and a couple of great art shows, like Plugged In @ Lump, feat. video installations by Neill Prewitt aka DJ Tongue and Seoen Sung, plus recent works by Ashley Florence, Lee Delegard, and Jason Osborne, among others. And This Wild Desire at The Morning Times, a solo show of amazing new paintings by the next Robert Rauschenberg, aka Lincoln Hancock.
Before that all went down, LG re-acquainted me to some of the goodies he was playing for us the night before outside the Open Eye. Like Moon Jocks & Prog Rocks by Mungolian Jetset (the Todd Terje re-edit). And Fait Le Chat (Do The Cat), by El Coco. The competition for today's JOTD was fierce. I would have to go with John Ozila's Funky Boogie, circa 1979.
This cut is an afro-salsa funk monster from France that I'd never heard before, but is apparently well known in Europe because it was used in recent years in a friggin' Lipton Ice Tea commercial starring Hugh Jackman, WTF. Very little info is out there on the interwebs about John Ozila, so he rates a more in-depth SOUL investigation in the future. Regardless, the track is seriously off the chain and hopefully LG will bust it out when he appears as our special guest DJ at the next Club T. That's Club Taqueria 5: Boogie Salsa, coming up Friday, September 16! The music is gonna be super duper bumpin', so be there!
Brainstorming about future Club Taquerias and other live events, I sat down with newcomer to the SOUL fold Leafy Greens this evening outside the Open Eye in beautiful downtown Carrboro. I wish we'd had a proper sound system to connect to his laptop, b/c he was playing some truly funky shit for us. People were walking by and jamming to the beat, even though it was just the two of us huddled around the screen, straining to hear. And wish I could remember all of the re-edits he turned me on to, but I definitely remember this one, a re-imagining of Hot Chocolate's Heaven Is In The Back Seat Of My Cadillac.
Originally off their 3rd LP, Man to Man, released in 1976, which was largely overlooked in the U.S., peaking at #172 on the Billboard 200. As opposed to 1975's Hot Chocolate (feat. You Sexy Thing), which hit #41, and Every 1's A Winner from 1978, which charted at #31 thanks to the strength of the title track. Anyway, this edit from The Revenge brings the funk.
