Tight, groovy, and funky as the day is long, this 1978 number by Venus Gang is pure fun. No politics or controversy here, just a phat, raw beat, and sexy female vocals about stars making love and loving to fly. Imagination takes care of the rest. Disco keyboard and rhythm section work a’la Quincy Jones, meets a dubby clubby vibe that anticipates more contemporary nightclub music, and gives some of today’s producers a bit of schooling, I’d have to say. Delicious track.

Venus Gang
“Love to Fly” (mp3)
from “Galactic Soul”
(Mucho Gusto Records)

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DJ Subverse made me a “miztape” for the holidaze and I’m loving it. It opens with this funky post-disco trip from Spaceflight Orchestra, and it’s just the thing to help one depart for a minute from any form of seasonal stress. Purely chill, “Truer Than True (Drop Logik Refreak)” lives up to its oh so ‘lectronica title! Très Magnifique.

Spaceflight Orchestra
“Truer Than True (Drop Logik Refreak)” (mp3)
from “An Orchestra of Remixes, Volume One”
(Black Bridge)

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San Francisco DJ and producer Egadz! has bent beats and busted boundaries for about a decade, and he’s calling it.. quits? Sort of, his l8est release, “Egadz is Dead” is a farewell to his current moniker, with a promise of new projects to come. Why do I care? Well, because his music is brilliant and I’ll be fascinated to see where it goes next. Gaining the kind of peer respect that Egadz! has done already is no easy feat in the fast moving and highly critical world of electronic music. I think the essential reason for his success is the compositions themselves. Check out “Going Home” for example. Almost classical in its tonal language, there’s a care and love put into every detail of the beats, melodies, sounds, and overall production that you don’t always hear in this genre. Frankly, a lot of electronic producers can be perfectly lazy, setting their filter sweeps and beats and walking away and going “Wheee! I made music!” Not so with more the dedicated and cre8ive practitioners. Egadz is Dead. Long live Egadz!

Egadz!
“Going Home” (mp3)
from “Egadz is Dead”
(Kid Without Radio)

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This track is a GR8 collision of various dub and electronica styles. An exciting composition built from anything DJ Slip wanted plus the kitchen sink. Raiders of the Lost Dubplates, indeed. As contemporary as next week, and too slippery to classify.

DJ Slip
“Phoenix” (mp3)
from “Raiders of the Lost Dubplates Vol.1″
(Vinyl Syndicate)

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There’s a certain mojo that can happen with filtered bass synths, rather like the sensation of psychedelics settling in your tummy with just a hint of what’s to come. Now, I usually don’t get all Vice Magazine on you, after all this is a family blog (you should see my family) but, this is drug music. Sultry, sexy, mysterious, after hours, slithering velvet goodness. Cinematic dubstep garage fun from Chicago’s J Courage.

J Courage
“Too Deep” (mp3)
from “Too Deep (Juju Remix)”
(Trenchant Dubs)

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