Slaying Dancefloors at Will .Count Zer0.

Is Yoke Recordings a beatport only joke label? I was trying to find information just now on the artist known as Foo Foo, whose cut “Drummo” is one of my top 60 favorites from the first half of the year, and came up with very little via Google. One of the few results was the Beatport link above. I started looking at some of the artist names, like King of Kiev, Clapsaddle, and Nivek Tsoy, and realized that last one is Kevin Yost backwards. Huh. None of the other artists have discogs entries, so is this some sort of yoke joke? Perhaps a way for Yost to quietly try his hand at the mnml trend without blatantly selling out his deep house roots?  Not that there’s any sell-out going on, really, because there’s enough of a crossover between mnml and deep house that the transition works, the way I see it at least.

In 1996 the NE-RAVES mailing list - hosted at seminal US rave info portal Hyperreal - threw its first list party, Mosaic (link for archival info and photos). The lineup consisted entirely of list member talent, filling two rooms at Lonnie Fisher’s now historic Raza space. Though the party was a turning point in many ways, some good, some bad, it is to this day referenced as one of the most intensely positive vibes of any party in the US to date.  People shared a number of great mixtapes that night, including a fantastic D&B tape from Method One, a killer house and acid techno tape from Craig D, and many others. I’m posting one today in the spirit of sharing and because I desperately need a tracklisting. Dan Curtin’s wife Sista Spinsta (pictured above, at Mosaic) handed out her 60 minute mix The Dame on the Decks, Vol. 2. Enjoy, and please comment here with any track IDs!

I recently found a box full of tapes from ‘94-’98 and I’ll post more as I encode them.

People need to stop “dropping” “blinding” tracks/albums/etc.  I am so tired of those two expressions in music journalism.  I’ve never listened to something and thought “this music is blinding me.”  That just doesn’t make any sense, unless you’re on some serious drugs.  And I’m totally over the term “dropped” to mean “released” or “played”.  Music bloggers, please discontinue use of these throwaway words now!

This list is more for my benefit than anybody else’s really, just to have them in one place.  These eleven bring my total to 41 favorite disco tracks, including 30 I posted before..

Ralph Macdonald - Calypso Breakdown
Eloise Whitaker - Don’t Turn Your Back On Love
Don Downing - Dream World
Tata Vega - Get It Up For Love
Instant Funk - Got My Mind Made Up
The Main Ingredient - Happiness Is Just Around The Bend
Isaac Hayes - I Can’t Turn Around
Earth, Wind, And Fire - In The Stone
Double Exposure - My Love Is Free
Mr. Flagio - Take A Chance
Rockers Revenge - Walkin On Sunshine

Over the next few weeks expect more lists. I’ve compiled my top 60 tracks of January-June 2008, and I’ll be posting them in segments of ten.

I know you’re still waiting for the Juan Atkins selected DJ mix I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m working on it! I have a couple others in the works too, including a guest mix coming up over at ISM.