Guestation

Guest post!
Josh here, a good friend of Rob's, especially in the musical arena. As he's mentioned in past posts, we've had a music swappage ritual that's been going on for quite some time. In fact, shortly after Rob and I barely started hanging out (it must be 10 years ago now) we headed out to a party weekend at a friend's spot a couple hours north of Toronto and he presented me with a mix he'd put together for me based on what bits he'd gleaned from my taste in choons.  Pretty spot on with the added bonus of many new sounds I hadn't yet been introduced to.  So I returned the favour...and so it began. It's moved from CDs and memory sticks to Dropbox and Rob's music blog...the medium for sharing keeps changing but in this instance the medium isn't the message, the music is.

So clearly I'm a fan of Rob's blog and happy he can share the gems he finds with anyone else who arrives at this corner of the net.  But since this has become his de facto method of continuing to share music with me I can get a little impatient when it's not regularly updated.  And so was the case a couple months ago upon which I sent him a friendly reminder that it was due time to post some something new.  He's a busy bee and doesn't always have the time to organize his plentiful new music and words into a post.  I get it - but it pissed me off and it prompted me to tell him 'if you don't, I'll post it for you dammit'.  Well, Roberto thought this sounded superb and so the idea of a moonboots guest post was born.

It's taken a while for this idea to turn into a post...a while to make the time and let a few tracks and ideas gestate into Moonboots' first guest post, but here it is.


Secret Places - El Mundo & Satori
This track makes me realize how closely tied together music and memories are...very similar to smell.  Songs and albums can transport us to a very specific time in our lives and reference an emotion.  Secret Places reminds me of not one, but three distinct moments...the first being my initial listen in the middle of an Audiofly podcast while I was out on a cross-city walk with my camera. It's deep, pitched-down march-like rhythm paired with an echoed layer of brass (trombone, I say) was pretty unique... it was the soundtrack to my urban exploration that day.  Second: playing it for Rob while driving down St. Clair Avenue with Rob a few days later to a similar reaction.  And third: at a party hosted by our friend Cameron a couple years later when we were searching for a good early morning track and all Rob could muster was "oh, I know, the track you played...from a set...with some horns...you know how it goes: bah, bah, bah..." Funny enough, I immediately knew exactly which one he meant but neither Sahzam nor Soundhound were able to find the name of it. So that morning I tried to figure out what set it was in the middle of in the depth of my iTunes and finally, proudly, found it.  I stumbled upon that same set a couple weeks ago and Shazam was finally able to tag it. I was happy.
Movin' On - Mario Basanov feat. Monica Liu
I've been a fan of Mario Basanov's ever since I stumbled his double album 'Changed' over a year ago produced with regular collaborator Vidis.  This Lithuanian duo have since been putting out some of the best in electronic music.  They have a knack for maintaining a strong electronic sensibility in the backing track and choosing a great melody and vocalist that often pulls the whole product a different direction which makes it more interesting and song-like.  They also collaborate with a huge variety of amazing guest vocalists, all of which have their own very distinct style.  I love that I never know what to expect from these releases... like Movin' On's nice stripped down base of sounds with Monica Liu's sharp vocal.

Graveyard Tan (Version Two) - Konrad Black, Art Department
I first heard this track on the dancefloor at Stereol this past spring.  It's a dark and twisted stomper that Tiga also played at Footwork a few weeks back as well.  It's a good bridge track, able to move a party from one vibe to another.  I was nice to hear it on both occasions.

Restless

Things happen when you get older.... like you throw your back out so bad you can't really move for three days doing really nothing at all.  The upside of which means I get to clear out my gmail inbox from the past 5 days, and get on the hunt for some new tunes since the only thing that feels normal is sitting in my computer chair.

I'm always a sucker for a good sample from a classic oldie and two of these have just that. and the other is from a fun new Stereo Productions sampler via DJ Chus called Ibiza Syrup - 100% Balearic Jam.  

A nice sunny day jam with a lil Simon & Garfunkel to keep things honest

Samu.l - Restless Dreams (Original Mix)

The excellent Umami return to the blog..

Umami - Sunny (Original Mix)

Stereo Productions chief selecta' DJ Chus has a new label comp and this one jumped out at me.

Marcelo Castelli - Check Out Guitar George (Original Mix)

love me like a clown

Thank you Annie Mac, for introducing me to this lil beauty from the adorable Ben Pearce. Ya apparently he's also pretty darn cute on top of being a great producer... BONUS! This is an edit of an old Quincy Jones track "Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me", only renamed with a much more entertaining title. It should help warm things up on this absolutely CHILLY Monday in Toronto... I thought things were supposed to be getting hotter on this planet, seems like they're just getting weirder!

Ben Pearce - Patticakes(edit)

and why not keep it English today?  We all know how I feel (and you should too) about Matthew Dear.. well I came across this remix of one of the tracks off his last album by Birmingham's own, the fantastic Mark E.

Matthew Dear - Little People (Black City) (Mark E Remix)

joker to thief.

Today feels officially like summer in Toronto. Thank fuck for that cuz If I get one more chilly rainy breezy day I'm going to freak out.
This song has ALWAYS been a favourite of mine... and its been covered about a thousand times. None of those came anywhere close to the original Jimi Hendrix song. That was until I came across this lil ditty this morning. She's on repeat!

Barbara Keith - All Along The Watch Tower (Rayko Edit)

Its been a while since I mentioned some of the stuff I get on the mixes my buddy Josh does for me... well this one came on a birthday mix a few months back.  Jamie Jones, Ali Love and whoever else makes up Hot Natured  really can DO NO WRONG. See?

Hot Natured feat. Ali Love - Benediction

dropping the boom

I heard this song... and I had no idea how to categorize it other than awesome. Its got a little bit of an old school house vibe with this super funky hard bass line. So I did a little diggin'. Turns out the fella that churned this puppy out used to be into all manner of Hard Dance stuff, then UK Garage, and now (for the past 10 years) House. Its pretty fun tracing someones musical lineage and then actually really hearing it in their productions... or maybe I'm a geek. 

Hope you hear what I hear!

Huxley - Bellywedge

Get Lost

Stumbled upon this pretty eclectic album selected by Acid Pauli called Get Lost V. The whole thing is pretty cool and really really long.. theres 40 some tracks, including a continuous Dj mix by Pauli.  I should really get on with checking out I through IV too I guess.... 

I'm a sucker for interesting reinterpretations of a song you know so well, that when you hear it done differently you aren't even exactly sure what it is but you're there singing along. These are both those kinda songs.

Sitting on the streetcar on my way to a hockey game this song comes on and I'm going through the lyrics in my head but for some reason can't place what it is until I pull my phone out of my pocket to see.. D'UH! Radiohead's Idioteque.

Calico Horse - Idioteque

And then this one. I was thinking it was Genesis, or Phil Collins... well close enough... Mike & The Mechanics.  If you weren't around when this song was the first time.. or want to see a weird ass 80s video: go check this out . Alternatively, you could boogie to the one I was listening to... I recommend BOTH!

Amirali - Hear Me

Now go get those Easter eggs!

these boots were made for postin'

Maybe its the beautiful Spring day outside. Maybe its the Kombucha I just drank. Maybe even its the poking from a few select friends about not posting anything. I'm just going to skip the mumbo jumbo and get to some choons.

The Players Union are a collective of guys in Manchester that I seriously recommend checking out! They have all kinds of cool productions and a fantastic mix on their soundcloud titled "Gold". Pretty damn appropriate, too. Cuz its a deep soulful disco set that is pretty much Solid Gold. Here's what introduced me to them.  You really can't go wrong paying respect to Bill Withers.  And what better way to do so than in song.

The Players Union - Respect To Bill (Vocal Mix)

You know those tracks where theres just an endless lists of the who's who being listed as inspirations. Daft Punk and ummm some other French act who skips my mind are the most notable ones I can think of. Anyway it happens in this track, so if that bugs you I appologize. Usually it bothers me but I just love the crackling of the vinyl at the beginning of this track and the fun jazzy riffs through the whole thing. Reminds me of the old days in Halifax, with some Mark Farina playin' on the Hi-Fi on South Park St...

 Jacob Korn & Kelli Hand - Dance Away (Original Mix)

On a recent musical pilgrimage on the old tinternet I found a bunch of artists I didn't know about.  And these guys are my favourite "new to me" find. They're fantastic! I love the sound, the energy and everything I've heard from them so far.  This track likely being my favourite, asks some very good questions that I'm sure we all know the answer to (and choose to ignore most of the time, thankfully). Umami in Space or Umami for short are a duo from Germany that've been producing together for a couple years. I highly recommend checking out their 2 Year Anniversary mix on soundcloud where they feature a selection of their original productions and remixes they've done over that time into one pretty dope set.

Umami - Not To (Original Mix)