Erik and I have just finished working on a promo mix for our new night at SOM. We packed with some of our favorite balearic house and disco, new and old, all vinyl and meant to rave you right all through the night. The night will continue in August as we’ve had some planning difficulties over the past month, but rest assured we will return with fog and lasers so we can TANGO IN THE NIGHT many more times. The mix is below, for playing or downloading, follow me on Soundcloud as I am readying my first round of edits/original material that will be posted in the next few months! Don’t be afraid, get it while it’s hawt.
Tonight is July’s edition of Beards of a Feather. If you didn’t hear about it last time we were crashed by LCD Soundsystem. Gavin Russom played some records while Pat Mahoney and James Murphy invited their friends and partied with us til closing. I can’t promise any international dance superstars this time, but I couldn’t really promise you that last time and look what happened!
What I do have planned for the evening, however, is one of the raddest dudes San Francisco has to offer. He is BT Magnum, he is one half of Beat Electric, and he is responsible for some of the best parties the city has to offer. The Mezzanine regularly features artists he has booked and his most recent project is the Beat Electric Dance Show, which is a modern dance manifestation inspired by the legendary Detroit TV show The Scene. Here is the FB info, so dress the part and come to dance, the music will be curated by the best boogie DJs in SF, the Beat Electric crew.
Now for something in an entirely different direction. Higamos Hogamos are Londoners Steve Webster and Toby Jenkins, brits with an affinity for heavy krauty psychedelia. They already have several releases on DC Recordings and their new mini album Sorcery (available on a limited CD pressing complete with pentagram printed on the disc) comes packed with this jam. Drums that sound like they came straight from a CR8000 and rolling synthesizers churn to create the perfect dark neon soundscape meant for cruising zombie ridden deserts in your Knight Rider.
Then a little piece of Prins Thomas’ latest work on his label Full Pupp following his amazing self-titled album from earlier this year. Lengthy drum workouts with wonky instrumentals these are further proof that PT is the king of cosmic dance. How I wish he would take these jams on the road with a band… one can dream. Enjoy this for now.
Erik and I are ecstatic to bring you the first in a series of warm summer nights at SOM that will transport you to the centre of your own tropical dance paradise. Immerse yourself in a scene of vivid colours, beautiful people, and the finest selections of underground house and balearic party sounds meant to extend your weekend into the wee morning hours. Sunday is the new Friday so help us kick things off right and be among the first to TANGO IN THE NIGHT. Party starts at sunset at SOM Bar in the Mission (between Capp and South Van Ness on 16th). It’s $3 OR FREE with RSVP at rsvp(at)discohorror(dot)com, just send us your name and we will put you on the list. Also, FB event here. Come get tropical.
For some tunes, I want to share with you some tracks that are anything BUT tropical, confusing I know. Me and Erik are working on a promo mix that will blow your mindz, but we’re waiting to get the recording just right so you’re gonna have to wait a bit. First, new stuff from da Swedes. Parlour, who I know nothing about other than that they’re Swedish and dropped a 7″ (No 1) tand a quite essential mix on INF a couple years back have followed up with an EP. It is rad, simple as that. Somewhere between Buckingham Nicks, Can and Supermax, Parlour’s new EP (No 2) stands with other contemporary favorites of mine like Map of Africa, A Mountain of One, and Studio.
Next comes something far less obscure. If you haven’t heard This Is Happening, I know a simple way to improve your quality of life, listen to it. It is good, one of the best albums of the year in my humble opinion. Having now seen the band twice in the past two months, on their current tour, I must say I’m a major fan. It was also cool meeting James Murphy and Pat Mahoney when they stopped by Beards of a Feather last month. Oh and Gavin Russom came and played records too. No big deal. (!!!) Anyway, this is off the Drunk Girls 7″ and is a cover version of the song that everybody wants to hate, but is actually a pretty rad tune with a severely warped music video. The cover is done by SF band Wood Shjips and is “edgier” for you kids who like think “edgier” things are “hipper”. Sarcasm aside, it’s great, enjoy!
I’ll forgo the apologies for neglectful posting, they are becoming routine, but don’t you worry, good things are in the mix and will be coming soon. As for now, the latest off of RVNG is a new release by Allez-Allez, one of the only labels whose releases wake me from my lethargic state of apathy. No, not the incredible 80s group responsible for African Queen, but rather the dudes who run one of my favorite blogs on the internet who are merely referencing that group, duh. Either way, this is churning sci-fi inspired synthetic disco meant for warping Friday evenings into the cosmic realm and it comes with a bizarrely amusing video that I absolutely love. The entire EP, titled Hideous Racket, is real quality so buy it HERE if you dig “Weird Science”.
Coachella is this weekend and it is finally starting to hit me. I head down to LA tomorrow and then it’s off to the desert Thursday night. I can’t tell you how excited I am because I’ve happened to hear the new LCD Soundsystem album and I am going to have a royal freak out when I hear “Dance Yrself Clean”, “I Can Change”, and “Pow Pow Pow” live. I figured I’d share some tunes before I leave though. There’s a “theme” to this post, see if you can follow.
Let’s start slow. Claremont 56 has been releasing limited 10″s for the past half year and I’ve been lucky enough to snag a couple of them. This one is my favorite, meant for the strung-out sunset drive with the top down along the desert highway to LA, the horizon glowing with the city’s lights as you crawl closer.
Then there’s this 12″ I was lucky enough to snag off this dude off craigslist, along with a crate of disco 12″s that I will be posting when I get less lazy. War’s “Galaxy” is easily one of my favorite tracks of all time and this I must say is a close second. I don’t think it’s well-known, but these dudes seriously funked. An effortless groove meant for cruising the summer streets in the southern California sunshine.
This last one is a rad edit by current L.A. resident and long time staple of the house scene, Cole Medina. His rework of the Bee Gees “Love You Inside Out” showed up on Mark E’s podcast from a ways back and this is completely different. Imagine a spaced out sample of Ronnie Hudson & The Street People’s “West Coast Poplock” with more than reverb than you find in a Tangoterje dub, aggressively propelled by shaker, cowbell and snare fitting of a Maurice Fulton remix, all tied together with Cole’s house sensibility. Enjoy.
Hey hey! So I wanted to get a quick post out to remind anyone in the area that Beards of a Feather is TONIGHT! That’s right, the first Tuesday of April is here so it’s time for weekday debauchery at Laszlo. This month, I am joined by one of my favorite DJs in the city, Conor. The dude has some of the raddest records in San Francisco, in my opinion, and I’m constantly buying stuff off of him on discogs, so be sure to come by tomorrow night and get it from the source.
As a little taste of some of the beardy cosmic jams I have in store for tomorrow evening, here is a limited 7″ by The Singin’ Fools originally released in 1977 that was just repressed or rereleased or something. Either way, the b-side on it is an incredibly funky jam washed with the heavy vocals of a soul choir. This is meant for starting the night out right and sending into the truly cosmic realm. See you tomorrow!
THIS Friday I am starting a monthly happy hour on fourth fridays at 222 Hyde called AEROPLANE OF LOVE. It will be a more balearic start to the evening, but as usual I will be playing a lot of my new records, spanning the universe of italo, cosmic, krautrock and whatever else I want to play. It’s FREE and it’s 6-9 and there are pizza and beer deals, so come by and there is a Neon Indian/Nite Jewel show later in the night so you should start your night out with me and then head over to the Mezzanine cuz that show is sure to be rad.
Haus music tonight. Fresh fresh, hopefully you enjoy.
First up, the epic house track that starts the amazing Arto Mwambé RA Podcast from last October. I’m still a sucker for a great tech house bassline and this comes straight from some kind of Zulu rave deep within an African jungle, but the dudes are really from Berlin. Off the Brontosaurus label with the most interesting artist name I’ve heard to date, enjoy.
Now another Berliner and a name I’m sure we will hear more about in the coming year or two as the disco scene is slowly swallowed by a house and garage revival. Coming off of the Permanent Vacation comp put out in December, Hunee will be churning up dance floors with his meat grinder of soulful vocals, piano stabs, and percussion. He also has a release out on Internasjonal that is worth tracking down. This is just the start, so remember the name.
Friday rolls around and I feel like posting what I had planned on posting a few weeks ago, so today’s the day. I’ve been feeling particularly tropical lately, listening to a ton of Herb Alpert and Tullio de Piscopo and dressing like Dr. Jacoby from Twin Peaks. Also, my monthly night at Laszlo is drawing near (next Tuesday) and I will be DJing with none other than Dan Judd aka Sorcerer, master of analog tropical vibes. Dan will be sharing the best of his beach boogie collection as well as some of the footage he has scoured countless thrift shop VHS bins for that you commonly see in his most radical self-made music videos. So come by cause it’s FREE and the best thing I know of to do on a Tuesday night!
The video to Sorcerer’s “Push to Freeze”.
I picked up the Versus EP a month or two ago because of the Stallions (Lovefingers and Lee Douglas) track on it, but was pleasantly surprised to find this B-side jam that I have been playing out nonstop. It’s a Findlay Brown (indie/folk rocker who I know nothing about) track produced by Lynchmob (this dude Brendan Lynch who has been around forevskis but about whom I know nothing). But it jams man, and takes me back in time and space to a cabana in the Caribbean circa 1978.
Then there’s this dude that Erik found on DJ History and turned me onto Zarrylade. This dude channels Sting without sounding like a gimmick and brings me back to the days when I first heard the Police. Seriously amazing jam that I have been playing on repeat. The release also features a fleshed out remix by Leo Zero. A tropical electronic dance session in order.
Changing pace a bit I have been listening to Quiet Village’s remix of Jonathan Jeremiah’s “Happiness” quite a bit lately. RCRDLBL posted this track last year and it was a jaw-dropper in my opinion. A tribute to the lush string ballad production of days past, truly the sound of paradise. It sounds to me like the soundtrack to the most beautiful sunrise. One of the best things Quiet Village have done in my opinion, and that’s saying a lot. Enjoy happiness.
I just couldn’t wait any longer to drop this mix on you. The story goes like this:
Me and Erik were chillaxin on the DiscoHorror yacht a few months back smoking peyote when the heavens broke loose with a torrential thunderstorm that broke the yacht to pieces and left us washed up on an island beach somewhere in the Mediterranean. But it was then that the clouds parted and the mighty dance god Thunderbeard appeared to us and he spoke in vocoded brilliance: YOU SHALL MAKE ME A MIX WORTHY OF THE BEARDS. We quickly jotted the message down on our iPads and began to craft our raft by which to return to our records and begin crafting our mix for the gods.
And so we set to do as Thunderbeard requested and this is what came of it.
Lately and less lately I’ve picked up and been given some awesome dance tunes that exist in the etherial realm of dark disco psychedelia. These are the songs I wish to share with you today.
First comes a long overdue posting of a track off of Pink Skull’s wonderful album Endless Bummer released by our best of friends at RVNG, released late last year. RVNG was kind enough to share the album with us. It’s a warped descent into experimental dance madness, a storm of synths, horns, and guitar over galloping drums that unravel into bizarre ambient psychedelic breakdowns. The album begs for second and third listens. I really, really dig this album and to my surprise it’s still available for sale on RVNG’s site! So pick that shit up already if you missed the boat! Here’s a taste but go go go get it if ya dig.
Next comes a pounding beast from Precious System, a dude about whom I know jack. He has an assortment of aliases on discogs, but nothing I’ve heard of before. Either way, his latest release on Gerd Janson’s Running Back, the label that brought you the best 12″ of 2009, Tensnake’s “In The End (I Want You To Cry)”, brings you a haunting masterpiece of percussive dungeon house heralding the arrival of extraterrestrial agents from planet LOVE. Personally, this track takes me away to a rave in a deserted island prison in French Polynesia during the arrival of the creepiest-sounding but best-intentioned cosmic invaders from planet LOVE.
