Spicy California Roll

The true geniuses that set most of us on this path of discovery (pun intended) of all things that shake   rattle. The interview goes over their best work, the Discovery EP. The true treat is the whole album    is aired after the interview! The way it was intended to be heard

Well for me hip hop has waned but I will always have a soft spot for some of legends like Dr. Dre, 2pac, Biggie, KRS-One (to name a few). Some of the newer guys such as Kanye, Common and even Lupe Fiasco have made their mark but at the expense of moving hip hop in a different direction with a different vibe.

This Christmas collaboration is phat. Great story telling wrapped up in some solid hip hop beats. Funny music video to boot. Damn big businesses and their catchy marketing ploys.

That is all you need to know about Michael Morales aka DJ Kue. He is absolutely crushing it, bringing a new dynamic to the original songs he has remixed. He really does make them his own. Actually like some of the DJ's out there, DJ Kue is transitioning to remixing/producing his own tracks. Of course this is after 15 years of experience on the 1s and 2s. So you know, and we all know... he knows just a little bit on how to piece together some music.

Two recent tracks that caught my eye were Tracey in my room and Always. With these tracks he successfully brings funky melodies and catchy kicks back to his local stomping grounds throughout Cali. But he is not afraid to mix genres such as rock or hip hop. Actually he has recently started applying his mixing knowledge to mellow vocal tracks. You have no idea if you want to dance or sit back, bob your head and just appreciate life. It is a good thing DJ Kue switches it up and lets you do both in the songs.

Check out this video


It is no surprise big name DJ's across the world are starting to throw Kue's work into their own sets. DJ AM and Bloody Beetroots to name a few!

Here are some treats

At Spicy Cali we are going to start posting some hot tunes on Friday mornings for the DJ's that need to fill out the rest of their set. I will actually try to post them on Thursday morning the idea just dawned on me this morning before work.

So to kick things off I wanted to fill our your library with Christmas heavy tracks. With the season fast approaching you will need some dance worthy Christmas tracks. Mariah's Christmas CD just won't cut as far
as I'm concerned.


Bth - Last Christmas (Flexy Remix) 
A solid bass line, good way to bring in your christmas set as it has a DJ friendly intro. The vocals of Last Christmas pop out at 2:30ish, the crowd will go nuts!

George Michael - Last Christmas (Remix)
Shorter version with the vocals dropping in right away, maybe stutter it in as the vocals from the previous track are quite similar. Some vocal drops of "Let me See those Hands" near the end.

Mariah Carey (lol) - All I want for Christmas (Low Sunday Remix)
I laugh at myself for bashing Mariah but this remixed dance worthy track is a must. DJ Friendly intro. The melody is light obviously showcasing Mariah Carey's beautiful singing voice. A good way to slow the set down. Maybe get the girls on the floor if it's early in the night.

DJ Danny Digz - Little Drummer Boy (Quick Hitter)
Solid Baltimore club beat lays the foundation to this track. So much potential with the vocals on this track. They could easily be laid on top of an epic track like Wolfgang Gartner - 5th Symphony.

Benny Stixx - JingleBellz (Mix)
Such a good track. It transitions so well from Little Drummer Boy as they both use similar kicks and claps

Jay Valer - Jingle Bells Transition (Bmore Mix)
This is your exit strategy out of the Christmas tracks. This was done by the guys over at baltimore-club and it transitions from a nice soothing Jingle Bells track into a Baltimore Club Banger.

My feature article is on the artist Pogo. Let me give you a rundown of one of his most successful works to date. He took the movie Alice in Wonderland. Chopped it up and took a number of samples and turned it into a 3 minute melodic song. I seriously can not determine how many samples, wouldn't be surprised if it topped a 100. I have to stress this work is not thrown together in some hap-hazardous way.

You won't think to yourself "Oh this is cool and I respect the creativity but this is not something I enjoy listening to."

It has incredible melodies and the vocal samples are cut so short and melded together that they are treated like instruments rather than catch phrases. It is just so good. You can find yourself getting lost trying to link up the vocals to portions of the movie.

His most popular piece "Alice" does not have the traditional breakdowns and build ups in his track, but Pogo gives us 3 minutes so we don't lose any interest. I also suspect he could care less about more variation in his tracks. He puts in hundreds of hours more than the next artist in just the sampling, cutting and chopping process.

Pogo has since produced tracks from films ‘Mary Poppins’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘The Sword In The Stone’, ‘Hook’, and ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’.

Check out the video below. It has topped over 4 million hits. 

Now for treats

Oh the connections keep being made. So I was rummaging through various DrumAttic Twins tracks and found a sick Bass Kleph Remix of Feelin Kinda Strange'. It actually turned out to be a collabo remix with Nick Thayer. So I dug deeper and realized Nick Thayer is not a one hit wonder, he is legit! Nick is a badass DJ hailing from Australia. How badass? Put it this way, he decided to register the domain http://www.nickthayer.com/ and have nothing on it but his name spray painted on the page. Screw promoting yourself.

Now check out the work Nick and his partner in crime Seven Milligram are putting out within the club scene. I know a lot of friends that have traveled to Australia and I know others who have it on their list of places to see/things to do. When you go to Australia, make sure you see Nick Thayer. He is releasing a new album very soon titled "Just Let It Go" links for downloading will be available on his myspace page of course.


BIG NOTE: This video is a mash-up of his work, he normally doesn't 'girl-talk' all over the tracks like this. It is neat and all but most of the tracks I've peeped are not like this. This is just a sick DJ/VJ collaboration.


Now for treats

I have just discovered Drumattic Twins on the new Ministry of Sound Anthems II album. "Feelin Kinda Strange" is an incredible track. I know, I said I just discovered them. I'm still learning the history and these guys are an integral part. I just slept on them. This track is killer. The vocals just stuck out to me, they were well done here.

The whole anthems album is a great purchase. Most DJ's spinning this kind of music will have these songs already. Anyone new or still amassing a library will make a great purchase here. So here is a sample of what can be found on the album.

your treat as per usual...

Hailing from a post-apocalyptic information age, DATA/DEBT was sent back to our time in a temporal imprisonment program from the year 2031, his sentence for stealing the classified experimental software he uses to make beats. He has a fondness for pulse width-modulated square waves and fine bourbon.

His fondness for pulse width modulated square waves has only increased my appreciation for them as well. We already have fine bourbon in common. With that said you should visit Vancouver to educate us on these futuristic beats. (Modern or Venue maybe)

Once again my new favorite website FRΞNCH ΞXPRΞSS provided the official update. I'm merely cascading this out to my little cult followers. (Yes even if that includes me, my dad and the old lady down the street whose computer I fixed only to set her homepage to this site)


Additional homework. Great little 20 minute mini-mix by Data/Debt
Meltdown Minimix by datadebt

Last night I sat back I sorted through a lot of electro songs and realized I've been listening to the same damn bass line with the same repetitive kick drums, endlessly.. setup in the same format with the same breakdowns and corny one liners. I think to myself, how did I ever get into this? WHY am I still feeling the new scene of electro, fidget and house music?

Chromeo's hit "Night by Night" reminded me! Check out the new video released on Green Label Sound. If you don't feel revitalized. If you don't feel like dancing. If you don't feel like taking your shirt off running around screaming at the top of your lungs, then no amount of music is going to cheer you up.

I got fam in town and I'm rocking out hard in Victoria Tomm night so I decided to be smart (what a stupid move), and stay home tonight. To make the best of it I threw together a little something something.

My God what a treat to my ears. Check out how Eumig & Chinon throws down. I'm probably very excited because I'm listening to him as I write this but their single KASCHOW had the makings of just another Daft Punk remixesque song and then it just exploded into such an audio treat.

 

Pay close attention to how they change it up when you LEAST expect it. Most house and electro music is so formulaic these days I figured the solid beats would be enough for me to dig this track but they spontaneously take away the bass line or a kick and bring it all back when you least expect it. Oh it just gets better, lots of layered FX, vocals and panning.. done right btw.. so you never get bored with the same repetitive beat. Here is a single, unsure if I'm allowed to post this without their consent. (hit me up if you see this) That said visit their myspace and cop a feel of their other singles. Unsure if an album is coming soon. SUPPORT

You ever remember the mad dance-offs you would see in 80s hip hop videos or even in some pop videos? Well I figured this was normal, boy was I in for a surprise. I guess it's not socially acceptable to throw down. You can catch me showing my moves off anytime I'm out. I leave you with the following music video that was the mother of all dance-off videos.

A lot of people don't know who Major Lazer is. Well Major Lazer is a Jamaican commando who fought and lost his arm in a secret zombie war in 1984. The US military rescued him and retrofitted him with an experimental lazer for his lost arm. Major Lazer has been a hired renegade soldier operating for M5 and the CIA. His cover, which is still top secret is that of a dancehall night club owner from Trinidad. To maintain this cover he has decided to release his first LP with the help of long time friends Diplo and Switch.

At this point we don't know if he has wavered from his mission, his songs have gone viral. His initial mission was "to protect the world from the dark forces of evil that live just under the surface of a civilized society." He primarily fights vampires and various monsters, parties hard, and has been spotted on a rocket powered skateboard.


Sneak peek into what the man looks like with his retrofitted lazer>>

A lot of DJ's have switched over to Serato on their Technics or even CDJs. I could never get into vinyls due to how expensive and heavy it would become. This artwork only makes me feel 10x better for not getting into vinyls!! Haha the rest of his art from the crate digging theme are attached below. If you like it visit him here

Rest of Stefan Glerums Images are attached here --

Set the tone and kick off the evening right by coping the following track. Without any worry you could even bring the crowd down for a minute with this chill track at the climax of your routine. Yea It is just that good.


you know how this works by now >>

New mixtape mashup by Mr. Nice Guy.

Since I have yet to become stubborn in my dj'ing ways I'm still open to learn new techniques. See I'm always looking for better flowing mixing. I dissect away like a grade 10 science student dissecting a frog. Now that I found a great mash-up/frog I'm off to work.

Besides great song selection Morningstar did some great editing work of tracks. His transitions are that that extra bit crispy. He layers on some great samples and expands them out into their full blown tracks at the last second. The first 10 minutes need to be heard to appreciate what I be rambling on about.

You gots to click me to cop the real ish >>

For funny bidness venture within >>

Chip Tha Ripper - The Cleveland Show (trailer) from Dj E-V on Vimeo.

Without a doubt my favorite DJ's consistently for the last 5 years have been Mick Boogie & Terry Urban. They kept me into Hip Hop even after Nas told me it died. When their tapes drop, everybody seems to hear about it.

New single from DJ QuickSilva off of Unruly Records. The premiere label in baltimore club. If you don't know what Baltimore Club even means I feel bad for you. Because your curiosity is going to get the better. Before you read on peep this link to hear one of the bmore anthems

Now for some advanced material; bmore dj takes on rap >>>

Now click the big arrow, it will lead to a link to download the whole album. The link itself is an image that is labeled "Download Now" (Step 1). The next page will have you wait 40 seconds then a link will appear (Step 2). I'm sorry there is no way around this wait time until I can afford to host all this on my own server.

Links:
I realized I should spend some time on some of my hobbies. I have enjoyed DJing quietly for about a year. I will from time to time put up my mixes on here, YouTube, iLike and Facebook.

I threw together a couple mixes of newer music. The mixing is sub-par as I'm still learning but because the content is all new you shouldn't be bored in any way! Hope you like it. It's mostly electronic and house music purely for getting your boogie on.