Lebz

Monday, 7 November 2011

Black Eyed Peas - Magic

A tune from the BEPs, from back when they knew a thing or two about music. This tune reminds me of being young and hopeful. Good days.

Sunday, 25 September 2011

I've decided to keep it brief this time. So much has happened in the last few weeks, kinda hard to put it all in perspective. I've managed to put together my next instalment of HD Music and it's a banger, if I do say so myself. Starting off with some great jazz from the likes of Kurt Elling, The Colman Brothers and Betty Carter. There's a great track on it called 'Obtaining' by Soia, an excellent first offering from her, Hip-Hop from Ron Basejam, Mecca 83 and moving all the way to the deeper, housey electronica stuff with new music from Toddla T, Joey Negro, Ben Westbeech, The Muthafunkaz, Afronaught, Kerri Chandler and so many others. Very sorry for such a brief write-up but I've still got a killer hangover from a warehouse party I went to TWO DAYS AGO!!! Will definitely do a bigger one later but for now, HD Music 4:

HD Music 4

1) Intro no. 2 - DJ Loki

2) Steppin' Out - Kurt Elling

3) The Chief - The Colman Brothers

4) Tight - Betty Carter

5) Interlude - DJ Loki

6) B4 The Weeknd Is Thru - Jesse Boykins III & The Weeknd

7) I'm Sorry (JakeOne Mix) - G-Side

8) What I'm Here For - Rasheed Chappell

9) Mattered Much (feat. Olivier Daysoul) - Oddisee

10) Sanfranjam - Ron Basejam

11) Yesterday Was Hard On All Of Us - Fink

12) You Need Me, I Don't Need You: Ed Sheeran

13) Watch Me Dance feat. Roots Manuva (Andrew Wetherall Mix) - Toddla T

14) Falling Out (Tiger & Woods Mix) - Body Language

15) Do For Love (Bopstar's Broken Beat Re-Touch Mix) - Vick Lavender feat R.J. Green

16) Rise - Lanu feat. Abbey Joyce & Simon Grey

17) Interlude - DJ Loki

18) Can't Get Enough - (Robin Porter Mix) - Roman Fleischer

19) Can't Get Enough - (Soulphiction Mix) - Roman Rauch

20) Held On To Me (Club Mix) - Afronaught & AfroDisiax feat. Sabrina Chyld

21) Ugly Part Of Me (Terry Hunter BANG)

22) Every Day Of The Week (Joey Negro Club Mix): The Muthafunkaz

23) Better Things To Come (Joey Negro Club Mix): Mistura

24) Something For The Weekend (Joey Negro Z Mix) - Ben Westbeech

25) Something For The Weekend (The Revenge Keep Up Dub) - Ben Westbeech

26) Untitled (Kerri Chandler's Bigga Mix) - Black Joy

27) In It Together - (The Shapeshifters Mix) - Human Life

28) Where We Are At (Version 1) - Henrik Schwarz, Ame & Dixon

29) On My Way - Kerri Chandler

30) In Time pt. 2 (Tom Moutlon Mix) - Richard Earnshaw feat. Erik Dillard & Roy Ayers

31)Morning Sunrise - Weldon Irvine

Till next time folks,

Lebz xx

Monday, 1 August 2011

HD Music 2

OK, so it's been a busy, crazy productive day. Lots of blog posts, video uploads, mixtape uploads…feels good, first time I've really pushed the boat out in a while. I hate to say it, but my my mac has been a huge help. The more I learn to do on it, the quicker everything becomes.

So, HD Music then? What the hell is that? Well, it's an idea... one that has been growing over the past 12 months…maybe. Now, it seems I have given that idea a soundtrack.

Sometimes, it's possible to hear a song or piece of modern music that stirs feelings deep within the spirit. Whether the feelings held for this piece of music are of a positive nature or otherwise, one cannot help but be moved, if only a little. It's rare that you find this kind of music crossing over to the popular charts (With the exception of the time I saw a DJ Krush record on the Network Chart Show!). I wouldn't expect to find it there. If it were that easy, everyone would be a DJ. Me and my dudes have been doing this for a long time and we're pretty good at it. So I needed a record of what I have been doing. Dave & Frank have their slamming radio show, Cengiz has his excellent podcast series, I needed my own thing, something for myself.

HD Music is my attempt to put people in touch with that good, thought-provoking music.

The concept of 'HD' being so much of an improvement on what went before suited what I was attempting to capture perfectly. HD Music. Make no mistake, this is the BEST mix I've done in years. It's describes displays what I do and what I'm into.

I suppose the HD tag lends itself pretty well to the fact that this ain't strictly a mixtape, it's more of a podcast. When you download it and put it on your ipod, you will find all the necessary info contained therein (track titles, artist names and even the little picture that pops up in the bottom right-hand corner of your iTunes window! nifty, eh?). Don't worry though, no clever editing suite tricks here, it was recorded in one take and you're listening to the only version. That's just how I do.

There's some really great music on here. Starting at the top, Edu Lobo, Tamba Trio, The excellent 'Ramon's Desire' by Francisco Aguabella, I'm also very pleased to have finally done a mix featuring my BIG THREE bets for the future: Ayah (w/ Jazzy Jeff on the boards), Jesse Boykins III and my latest Facebook pal, Peter Hadar (Hello mate!). Reggie B gets a keyboard injection from Dre'Synth, there's a couple of jams from the excellent forthcoming BBE compilation, 'The Real Sound of Chicago & Beyond'. A track from Nicola Conte's beautiful LP of reworks, 'Love & Revolution' is on here as well. I swear, every other mix I do has one of his tracks on it. I'm a BIG subscriber to his way of making music...

Brandee Younger, a harp player who sings and came up with the track that graces this mix, 'So Alive'. There are two Sean McCabe-related tracks here, 'I' and 'Reach Inside' by Donae'o and Bah Samba respectively. The man is an excellent producer, relatively new on the scene but if you've heard me play this over the last 12 months, you know I'm down. 'Reach Inside' is definitely dedicated to my man Wiley, a die-hard house lover. Also, check out 'The Promise' by Nathan G feat. Alexander East. Deep house grooves fa' sho!

There's a new rub of the massive 'Outta Love' by Reel People feat. Omar off the 'Messages Vol. 3' compilation on Papa Records (Shout to Oli Lazarus!) and a track off the new Macinedrum LP, Room(S) as well.

Right, enough chat, I humbly present for your listening pleasure, HD Music 2.

HD Music 2

1) Intro no. 2: DJ Loki
2) Reza: Edu Lobo & Tamba Trio
3) Francisco Aguabella: Ramon's Desire

4) Love From The Sun: Nicola Conte
5) Tables Turn: DJ Jazzy Jeff & Ayah
6) My Sunshine (Dre'Synth Mix): Reggie B
7) It Ain't Easy: Crystal Wind
8) Get Up & Dance: Nedra
9) So Alive: Brandee Younger
10) I Can't Stay: Jesse Boykins III
11) Dancin: Peter Hadar
12) Days Like Heaven (Justin's Cheeky Edit): CDR
13) The Promise (Luvbug Vocal Mix): Nathan G feat Alexander East
14) I (Sean McCabe Mix): Donae'o
15) Reach Inside (Sean McCabe Vocal Mix) Bah Samba
16) Outta Love (Souled Out Bootleg): Reel People feat. Omar
17) Be Your Freak (Kenny Dope O'Gutta Mix): Kenny Dope feat. Josh Milan
18) Search For The Sun: Xantone Blacq
19) Silhouette: George Fitzgerald)

20)U Don't Survive: Machinedrum
21) All The Kisses (feat. Paris & Amber Strother of KING): The Foreign Exchange

Before I forget, big thanks to Garageband, djay and Serato Scratch Live for making my life (and this mix!) a little easier.

ATB folks,

Legion.

P.S. At this precise moment in time, I'm writing this postscript and preparing tracks for HD Music 3 whilst sitting on a tube train just outside Baker Street station on the Metropolitan Line...Monday evening…yay productivity.

Sunday, 31 July 2011

OK, so the other day...

We went back to the Boiler Room. Now for those of you who have been living in the Outer Hebrides for the last year, The Boiler Room is an internet radio station with a difference. It is broadcast live from a recording studio which is attended by 100 or so invited guests (and yours truly) and is streamed live over the internet for folks to watch, as well as listen. I was first hipped to it by Mr. BPM bask in May last year, and went along, the results of which you can check here. It's pretty cutting edge, as far as clubbing goes. Excellent DJs, secret location, definitely strikes high on the cool-o-meter.

So it used to be in the ceiling partition of an old warehouse up in deepest darkest Hoodville (aka Hackney), y'know, the kind of place where you out-of-towners hope never to find yourselves. It totally leant itself to the edginess of the night, I loved it. I also knew that by it's nature and location, it could last in that space. So when I heard it had moved this year, I was interested to see how it had moved on from the early, scene-heavy days.

So now, it's in South London. I must admit, and I'm sure Beeps will kill me for this, but when I first heard that they'd moved it to South, I thought it was hilarious. From the way all them cats were givin' it last time I went up there, you'd have thought that Hackney was the centre of the known bloody universe. Going down to one of London's few remaining bonafide 'hoods' will teach some of them sceney tossers a lesson!

Performing this time were the Boglewaltz crew (that's them in the above picture). Not sure which part of town they're from but their main gig seems to be at the Dex club in Brixton. They also had D'Ablo and Shea Soul backing them up on vocals. The band Little Dragon had preceded them (no photos, sorry:( but check out their live set here). The act that Cengiz and I were there to see however, was Soundspecies, the group fronted by our good friend Henry Keen. Another group also performed, Velvet Stream (again, no pics, not bad from what I remember).

To be honest, I was a little disappointed. Firstly, The Boiler Room concept has expanded massively. It's a company now, with employees and offices sponsors. The guys behind it have done extremely well, broadcasting their unique show from gigs as far as The USA, France and Spain the level of DJs they can attract has also gone up (Karizma, Photek, Goldie, . The question is, have they lost a little something in translation?

I couldn't take any booze in, instead they had a 'Boiler Room Bar' that was marginally cheaper than your average West-End clip joint/nightclub (seriously? I thought this was supposed to be underground?). Aside from the 'hipster' massive in there, it was pretty much all dudes. Worst of all? Bouncers. No trees. :(

Shea Soul performing her track off the compilation, check the video in the upcoming link. She's a very talented young lady with a bright future ahead of her.

Here's the thing. The Boglewaltz guys didn't really do much actual DJing, They just seemed content to drop tunes off their latest compilation, and other bits that haven't been released yet. They're all talented obviously, but why the need for an extended album plug? I'll tell you what, how 'bout you decide? Check it all out here.

I was quite looking forward to seeing some serious skills...oh well, I'll just have to go back at a later date!

Unfortunately, I missed thet Sounspecies set becuase of last tube issues, but it was excellent, and can be listened back to here, watched here, or dowloaded to podcast here. Don't say I don't do anything for ya!

So anyway, enough said, here are some more pics of the night...and a few from my last gig with Cengiz @ Soul Solution South @ Living Bar...strange times in South London indeed! I've never played at a venue that had a one-armed man, or a midget. Dressed like a stripper. Weird central...!