I love this Blackbyrds track! It’s got that great summer groove perfect for these hot summer days.
The Blackbyrds were an American rhythm and blues and jazz-funk fusion group, formed in Washington, D.C. in 1973, and were led by trumpeter Donald Byrd. Their jazz-funk classic, “Rock Creek park” is probably their most widely know track, from the “City Life” album. It has been sampled numerous times by groups such as De La Soul, Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, NWA, Massive Attack, Ice Cube, Heavy D, Nas and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.
Anyone who’s been following the disco/edit scene over the last couple years undoubtedly will have heard of Glaswegian producer/label owner The Revenge, aka Graeme Clark.
Graeme Clark aka "The Revenge"
Graeme began producing in his early teenage years, making a skewed blend of electronic music using a couple of his dad’s old drum machines and a sampler. Influenced by his parents collection of rock, soul and funk aswell as eighties daytime radio and the burgeoning rave scene, he began the process of dissecting and re-imagining the music.
Productions for his own labels Instruments Of Rapture, Five20East and his DJ edits for L.E.S.S. Productions have had across-the-board support from scene heavyweights including Danny Krivit, Jimpster, Radio Slave, Prins Thomas, Fabrice Lig, Todd Terje, The Unabombers, Karizma, SWAG, Dan Ghenacia, Gilles Peterson, Ashley Beedle, Domu, Kissy Sellout, Joe Claussell, Stuart Patterson, Atjazz, Bill Brewster, Phil Asher, Tim Sweeney and more.
DJ work over the years has included spots with Jimpster, Joe Claussell, Domu, Mark E, Mad Mats, Seiji, Yousef, Jeff Mills, Jazzy Jeff, MAW, Sinden, James Lavelle and more.
Graeme has also provided his engineering experience to several projects over the past few years and has recently mastered Harri & Domenic’s 20 Years Underground / Sub Club mix for Soma aswell as new material for Mark E, Jisco, Under The Shade and Fine Art Recordings. His other collaborative projects currently include Deportivo Street Team, OOFT!, Cronk Family Enterprises, 6th Borough Project and The Hong Kong Micros.
I love Mock & Toof! They’ve got some great remixes out there, and they produce some pretty spiffy music as well. Here’s a writeup from Resident Advisor about them and their upcoming new album:
Mock & Toof have revealed details of their forthcoming full-length, which goes by the name of Tuning Echoes.
Comprised of Duncan Stump (Mock) and Nick Woolfson (Toof), the English production outfit have steadily built up a reputation for quirky and melodic disco-fueled house productions, being picked up by both DFA and Mule Musiq for 12-inch singles. However, Stump has been managing his own Tiny Sticks imprint since 2005, releasing tracks and remixes from the likes of Michoacan, Shit Robot, Escort and Telespazio, and it’s through his own label that Tuning Echoes will be issued.
While fans may associate them with the electronic disco scene that has become popular during the last decade, Stump is eager to distance themselves from being pigeonholed into the genre. “We’ve never been about ‘nu-disco’, whatever that means anyway,” he explains. “Anyone who knows our music will know that we’re a bit all over the place as producers. If we like an idea we run with it, and we’re much more comfortable being eclectic and not pigeonholed. Hopefully the album will help us in our quest for non-categorisation!”
The album may certainly be a shock to those expecting a full-length of instrumental club tracks, as Tuning Echoes is a largely vocal affair, with previous collaborator Gavin Gordon and Munich-based singer-songwriter Pollyester providing the record’s respective male and female voices. The murky, low-slung disco-pop of DFA single “Underwater” is the only previously released track, with the rest of the record encompassing bleepy boogie (“Day Ken Died,” “Shoeshine Boogie”), twinkling electro-pop (“From Kashima”), vocoder-aided disco-punk (“The Key”) and even some slo-mo beatless arpeggiation (“P2160″).
Tracklist
01. Farewell to Wendo
02. Move Along
03. Day Ken Died
04. From Kashima
05. Shoeshine Boogie
06. The Key
07. Underwater
08. Mr Frown
09. Norman’s Eyes
10. Suppress Your Feelings
11. Lovehearts
12. P2160
13. Take Me Home
Tiny Sticks will release Tuning Echoes on May 24th, 2010.
Here is a link to a soundcloud mini sampler mix of their live material they are touring with, including tracks from the upcoming album:
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