SUNDAY SESSION - DOUBLE-HEADER!

As explained last week, the Sunday Session is intended as a platform for DJ's (at any level) to showcase the music they like to play out. By hosting these mixes, I hope to gain a wider understanding of the various scenes within this thing we call Dance Culture. The mixes might not necessarily reflect my own listening habits/tastes but that's a good thing, as they're intended to bring some balance to this blog. I hope readers will share my enthusiasm for this idea and join me in exploring various regional/aesthetic twists on the Dance blueprint.

Peverlist's Jungle mix got things off to a flying start and I was pleased to observe that a lot of people downloaded that file. The intention was to only feature one mix each week but couldn't resist pitting these latest two against each other, as they're coming from such different angles (and locations!) but with the same intention - to move your ass! It's Party Time at Gutterbreakz and so without further ado...

David Twentyfive is a clubber, a DJ and a contributor to www.gurn.net. He started out producing mix CDs for car journeys to clubs across the country and has progressed to creating live laptop mixes for Gurn both online and venues from Swansea to Sheffield.

The principle behind his music (and his blog) is 'serious party music for jaded cynics' and he's constantly striving to add new twists to old ways of doing things. As a result his mixes cross a range of modern genres including breakbeat, house, techno and electro. He utilises his trusty laptop to re-edit, mash-up and mix live making each set a unique and very different experience from the traditional two decks and a mixer.

When he's not mixing David is writing his blog, doing features and reviews for gurn.net and helping out with the day to day running of the site. This includes a new radio show in the pipeline. He is also kept on his toes by his hyperactive 3 year old son.

After David wrote some interesting comments in response to the disparaging remarks I made about Nu Breaks, my immediate response was to commission him to put together a mix of some of the most innovative sounds from the Electro-Breaks scene that might appeal to the Gutterheadz. Compared to his usual sets, David considers this to be a 'Hardcore Extreme' mix and I was pleased that he had a lot of fun putting it together. From my perspective, it's still fairly commercial-sounding and certainly as close to the mainstream as I'd ever dare go, but it does have a certain amount of imperative that marks it apart from the sanitised, formuleric structures that I normally associate with mass-market clubbing fodder, and there's some pretty lush synth-slime textures in there. I'm not saying I'm converted, but...well, check it out yourself. I'll be interested to see if this generates any stimulating discourse in the comments box. If so I'll probably pitch-in with a few more observations there.

Download David Twentyfive's "Don't Fade Away" Mix(45.6 Mb)(dead link)

Tracklist:

Keen K & Dorian E - Euphoria (Beautycase)
DJ Hal & Joe B - Sound Muscle (Original Mix) (10 Kilo)
Jeremy Sylvester - Be-bop (Original Mix) (Azuli)
Stanton Warriors - Da Antidote (Original Mix) (New State Entertainment)
Plump DJs - The Soul Vibrates (Finger Lickin')
Booty Bouncers - Get Dirty Baby (Friendly Remix) (Rat)
Taishan - Black Mamba Funk (Resin)
Lee Coombs & Andy Garcia - Obessional Rhythm (Lee Coombs Mix) (Finger Lickin')
Chef - Being Chef (Touché Remix) (Fine)
Vector Lovers - Suicide Android (Soma)

Moving on, it's my pleasure to introduce you to DJ Kowalsky from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He's been DJing for almost 10 years, mostly in local clubs. He's a compulsive record buyer/music listener - always into ALL kinds of music. When he's mixing, Kowalsky tries to blend different styles so they can match in a new and fresh context. Old skool electro with grime, jungle with hip-hop, dancehall with drum 'n' bass, breakbeat with 60s rock n' roll...but then sometimes he also likes to explore one specific style' to the bone naked'.

This particular mix is, like David Twentyfive's, ostensibly coming from an 'electro-breaks' angle, fusing elements of hip-hop, electro and pounding disco throb yet sounding completely different. This is partly due to the grungey, crackly live turntable conditions under which it was produced, but also the contents of his crate, which are very much on a retro tip. Interestingly, although there's some grainy 8-bit Fairlight beats suggesting an '80s vibe, Kowalsky's mostly sifting through the past fifteen years and finding inspiration in some unlikely places. For instance, two tracks culled from DJ Mike Dred's somewhat overlooked Rephlex album "Laptop Dancing" from 2000, another culled from UR's "Interstellar Fugitives" (which I gave props to in my 'Detroit' post last week) and, amazingly, some genuine '80s electrofunk in the form of Salt 'n Pepa's 1988 hit "Push It" which, in Kowalsky's capable hands, makes perfect sense in this context. Like a Brazilian Ed DMX, Kowalsky loves to dig deep into areas that might not be considered fashionable today, resuscitating seemingly lifeless vinyl corpses and putting them back to work on the dancefloor. If I ever happen to be in Belo Horizonte, I hope he'll be playing there somewhere.

Download DJ Kowalsky's "Princesa do Asfalto" Mix (43.1 Mb) (dead link)

Tracklist:

Kosmik Kommando - Big Up Yourself (Rephlex)
Mr. Nex - Double D.F. (TCR)
The Deacon - Soulsaver (UR)
Thomas Bangalter - Spinal Scratch (Roulé)
Kosmik Kommando - 98k Platinum (Rephlex)
Salt n' Pepa - Push It (Stiletto)
Sir Mix-a-lot - Baby Got Back instrumental (American Recordings)
Michael Forshaw - Time For a Break (Chan n' Mikes)
Big Time - Check It Out (Som Livre)

If I sound a bit more enthusiastic about Kowalsky's mix, that's probably because he's coming from an angle that I can immediately identify with - ie, old skool, eclectic, raw, gutter - generally catering more to my own tastes. But what do I know about anything?

GOT A MIX?

It doesn't matter whether you're a gigging DJ or some nobody mucking-about in your bedroom. If you want your mix hosted in a future Sunday Session, get in touch. You can either send me an MP3 file via Yousendit (20-30 mins at 192kbps preferred but I'll consider longer mixes too, although if it's over 40 mins better rip it at 128kbps) or post a cd-r (e-mail me for the address) along with any relevant biogs, jpegs and web links. All areas of electronic/dance music are welcome and if I'm feeling the mix it'll be used, and if I'm not, I'll tell you why I'm not. Can't say fairer than that.