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. Heis 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!
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
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.
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.
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.
The music on this blog is put up to promote the artists who have created it and the music scene in general. If you dig the music and want to hear more of it, you have to support the artists and buy the stuff. If you are the copyright holder of any of this music and would like us to take it down send an email and we will get right on it.
