Dasboy - Cherish The Day

Always a sucker for a Sade sample, I've just got to share this vibey joint that appeared in my feed today. Fresh from Seattle's Dasboy, "Cherish The Day" makes use of the track of the same name from the 1992 album Love Deluxe. Equally lush and chill, Dasboy's new bed is far more full than the almost ambient backing track of the original. This new direction is no great departure nor ill-suited sound for Sade as Dasboy delivers a psychedelic, trip-hop house beat rife with organic feeling instrumentation. Of particular note are the organ-like chords and cool keys that set the track aloft. While the sparse production on the original leaves plenty of room for Sade's heavenly vocals, that's not really the impetus behind this track. Dasboy's "Cherish The Day" taps into the nostalgia and familiarity of the immortal Adu while repositioning her vocals into his new multicoloured mist, allowing listeners to drift off into its divine distortion. And this is where we find my only gripe, I could use another three or four minutes of this to really allow for a fulsome descent into the daydream that is Dasboy's "Cherish The Day." Stream it now below and if you dig it, be sure to check out more of Dasboy's back catalogue here.

Dasboy · CHERISH THE DAY

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Bump In The Hump Sneak Peek: Sade - Kiss Of Life (Kaytranada Edit)

Yesterday the genius that is Kevin Celestin, Kaytranada or KKAAYYTTRRAA, opened up his library offering 4 new releases. Two of these 'new' releases are clearly just WIPs (works in progress) or dead projects, but the others are classic Kaytranda edits taking on legends A Tribe Called Quest and, the subject of this sneak peek, Sade. A perfect pairing, Kaytra and the sublime Sade combine in uber cool fashion, setting your senses ablaze and laying you down in the lap of luxury. This is the kind of musical magic I live for, therefore you can expect to hear it tonight, and grab the WAV now free here.Joining Sade there's also several other legendary names like Cher, Nero, Kiesza and more in the mix. Bump In The Hump is not all just old school love fest though, there's several new names which bring the bass like never before. There's killer KaTT, badass Bishu, egregious Excision, terrifying TenGraphs and noxious NXSTY all in the Fire Finale. On the other end of the spectrum we open with locals Jerome Robins, Frustra, and Wizard Of. Don't miss an all new two hours live from 7-9 PM EDT on Radio Humber or cataloged after the fact on Mixcloud.

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Sunday Disco Delights

Yada yada yada, I love disco. Disco, disco, disco. There's nothing that I go to more frequently or enjoy so unabashedly as much as disco. Whether it's the strings and things, funky bass, gooey grooves, loving lyrics or just the anything goes ethos, I just cannot get enough of disco old and new. It's just the perfect mixture of live elements with repetitive electronic grooves. Today I've decided that I ought to showcase a small sampling of some of my favourites of the moment, from some of my most trusted sources. There's the ever awesome and expanding library of Funkingham (specifically Pimpin Willie) remixing the sublime Sade, the preeminent Dimitri From Paris, and supreme being SanFranDisko. The other two tracks are just as juicy and jam worthy; Cordycep I found through Greg Wilson and the "Everybody Dance" edit comes courtesy Dimitri From Paris, who referred to it as his all-time favourite. I leave you now to enjoy these disco delights and hope they give you strength this Sunday.Note that every other track is available for free download. Don't sleep!

Thool w/ Marieke - Je Sors (Cover of Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out)

The world of music is an endless, magical escape; it often leads me down rabbit holes from one track to another, via one artist, label or mix. In my previous post, I mentioned Boy 8-Bit's Beatport chart, which included an artist I was unfamiliar with, Bullion and his track "Blue Pedro." I've since been unable to escape the clutches of "Blue Pedro" and figured I better check out more of Bullion's back catalog. That's what lead me to his label DEEK Recordings, and their latest release, a compilation of covers entitled Covered In Gloria. And while it was already premiered over on Stamp The Wax, I couldn't help but shine further light on Thool and Marieke's cover of Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out."

The original 1982 version remains one of my favourite tracks, with its stunningly simple yet strong piano hooks, and unrelenting rhythm. There's a majesty in its metropolitan atmosphere, and an incredible pride in the bounding strides of the groove accented by bright, sparkling bells and an almost twinkling piano presence. It holds within it both the elements of Night And Day, there's something very personal and down to earth about "Steppin' Out," while there's no questioning the message's universal appeal and instrumental's ascending, uplifting aura. And that's where I begin with this cover.

Thool and Marieke's version starts in the stars with alien atmosphere coming out the wazoo. While the new synths wobbles may not be as immediately gripping as the original, they lay the foundation for a more restrained, yet equally revealing, expression of the emotions inherent in "Steppin' Out." Even Marieke's vocals, while never more than subtle, seem to ooze over the whole song, covering it with an ethereal sheen. The whole delivery seems better suited to a jazz club than before, showcasing smooth musicianship and smart production sense. While the bones of Joe Jackson's original remain intact, the surrounding tissue has been remodeled, but still in the same depiction of the human form. Find "Je Sors" as part of Covered In Gloria, and if that turns your crank I'll make one more suggestion: Raf Rundell (half of The 2 Bears) and his take on Sade's "By Your Side" via Extraordinary Renditions.

Seven Hours in Funkingham

Last weekend I came across London's Pied Piper, becoming inspired to write about his remix of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" (read it here). I enjoyed it so much that I decided to follow him on Twitter, which behind Soundcloud is my top music discovery platform. He hasn't really tweeted anything aside from links to music, I'm actually alright with that, because it led me down a wormhole of wonderful remixes. Just as I was about to start putting together my playlist for this week's Bump In The Hump, I saw his tweet showcasing his remix of Yaz(oo)'s classic track "Situation." Of course I had to listen, and one thing lead to another and boom, I'd downloaded over a dozen remixes, and added another 35 more to the playlist below.

I knew I had a lot of digging to do because the many pages associated with Pied Piper are absolutely overflowing with tracks, but I set off into Funkingham (the most populated page), and compiled as many of my favourite remixes as I could find. We already know about the Tears For Fears remix, but there's takes on Rick James, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Gloria Gaynor, New Order, Sade, Boney M, and even Pink Floyd, Ghostbusters and Star Wars that will leave your head spinning and have you dancing for days. Seriously some of the coolest stuff I've ever come across, so be sure to give a good scroll through the playlist, pick up some of the free downloads, and follow Pied Piper for more magic.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a selection of my favorite remixes. I can only imagine his originals are just as fun and funky as his remixes, however nothing beats the familiarity of this fantastic list of remixes. Press play and get lost in the magic of Funkingham.

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aywy - Broken Promises

There's no denying the supreme elegance of Sade, as her beauty is basically unparalleled, and while her entire discography is truly inspired, it's hard to argue that Promise isn't her greatest output. With sublime singles like "Is It A Crime," "Never As Good As The First Time" and "The Sweetest Taboo," alongside deep cut "Jezebel" (perhaps my favourite of the bunch), it's no wonder it achieved so many accolades. From a pure production perspective it stands as one of the best LPs of the uber-inspired 80s. But have you ever wanted to let your mind wander while the carefully cultivated production of Promise washes over you as one epic journey through sound? If the answer is yes, then you're in luck.

Australian producer aywy has compiled a set of edits/remixes utilizing samples from Promise, and put them to work in a beautiful 22 minute mix, ingeniously entitled "Broken Promises." Interspersed with vocal clips, the mix winds along tying the LP together like never before. There's so many bits to like: from the roaring groove that kicks in at 2:10, the heart-palpitating piano at 6:02, the magical mixture of seemingly all elements of "Broken Promises" at 8:35 and the ethereal kick "Never As Good As The First Time" at 13:44. aywy has found the essence of each track, boiled it down to the core, and imbued it with a brand new life. My only complaint is that because I want to listen to certain sections on repeat I'm forced to scroll back through the mix. My fingers are crossed that each new edit gets released individually, but until then I'll have to be satisfied with the free download of the entire mix, here.

UPDATE: The EP has been released as 8 individual tracks, get them free from Bandcamp, here. FOLLOW AYWY: FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER

Summæry Steel Drum Special - Now Downloadable

With winter on the horizon and the temperature dropping steadily I quickly found myself gobbling up tracks with a more summery feel. Originally, this gave me the urge to simply create a playlist compiling those types of tracks that I most yearned for. This, in itself, was quite the task and I ended up with upwards of 200 tracks, totalling nearly 15 hours of music; a hugely daunting playlist now sat in my library begging to be cut down to an appropriate and manageable size. I then set out to find a more clear sound and theme for this playlist that was quickly becoming more and more important to my daily music consumption, and therefore my happiness quota. I found myself unable to cut the playlist further than to 120 tracks and nearly 9 hours of music; still more than one could possibly jam into a two hour mixtape.

Luckily, I had been inspired by the rapid-fire DJing skills shown off this year's Red Bull Thre3Style DJ World Championships held right here in Toronto. The amazing talent and mixing made me believe that anything was possible in terms of what genres and styles of music could be jam packed into a small span of time (check out my favourite act of the finals Trentino among others). Following the inspiration taken from the RB3Style DJ World Championships and armed with the warm feeling from some of my favourite instruments (the steel drum, chimes, bells and so forth), I slowly began creating what is now called the "Summæry Steel Drum Special" invoking both the summer I most desired and the idea of a summary (year in review) mix.

As is the case with a free Soundcloud account, 2 hours is always my target length for a mixtape. As was also the case with RB3Style there were often audio clips strewn together so as to fashion an introduction as well as conclusion, and with all the great clips available from the infamous Rob Ford, mayor of this great city, I would have been remiss were I not to include and take advantage of our most beloved crack-smoker.