dc house grooves

after a lot of requests for a track list for once upon a time in london, i’ve finally got round to pulling out all the records and putting one together. not an easy task given that many of the tracks are dodgy white labels with no info. for those tracks with no artist or track name i’ve given the track position and catalogue number, so you’ll be able to find them on discogs.

i’ve not been too active on the decks recently, but i’ve got a new mix in the works….this time it will be more recent tracks that i’ve picked up over the last month or so. watch this space.

andy grant – once upon a time in london

r.i.p. productions – untitled (track b2 flake 002) (ice cream records)
ricky suarez – deep vibes (nice ‘n’ripe)
unknown artist – untitled (track a2 meccano vol. 1 (white)
rhythm construction co. – disco daze (nice’n’ripe)
kim english – nite life (retail mix) (nervous)
r.i.p. productions – untitled (track a1 flake 004) (ice cream records)
+ acappella: key to life feat. kathleen murphy – find our way (breakaway) (acappella) (sub urban)
unknown artist – untitled (track b2 meccano vol. 1 (white)
joey musaphia – untitled (track a1 cover ups vol. 1) (white)
nu-birth – anytime (original mix) (nu jak recordings)
unknown artist – untitled (track a1 meccano vol. 2 (white)
smokin’ beats – jazz house (dope mix) (smokin’ beats)
george morel – let’s groove (strictly rhythm)
+ acappella: livin’ large feat. colonel abrams – love is what we need (acappella) (nice’n’ripe)
grant nelson – in my soul (dubbed out mix) (nice’n’ripe)
grant nelson & richard purser – sensation two (nice’n’ripe)
the banned project – back 2 the future (nice’n’ripe)
chubby chunks – testament one (cleveland city)
g.o.d. – untitled (track a chilly 001) (g.o.d)
smokin’ beats feat. conroy – times are a changin’ (smokin’ beats)
24 hour experience – together (nice’n’ripe)
blak’n’spanish – kik da bucket (mouse trap)
unknown artist – untitled (track a2 meccano vol. 2 (white)
joey musaphia – untitled (track b1 cover ups vol. 1) (white)
ricky suarez – tonite (nice’n’ripe)
vybatronix – this feeling (nice’n’ripe)
g.o.d. – watch ya bass bins (track b1 chilly 004) (g.o.d)

you can still download the mix here:

andy grant – once upon a time in london (249 mb / 108 mins / 320kbps)

london, mid ’90s…..the warm glow of the second summer of love has long since faded and repetitive beats have been banished from the fields once and for all, retreating to dark, moody clubs in the city’s back streets. the sounds of bad boy pirate radio stations ring out from boom boxes across town; the dial is locked to girls fm, with legendary shows from the likes of kenny hawkes, princess julia and the wonderfully named dj fellatio. house dj’s across the city look to the usa for inspiration, but the post-rave house crowd’s feet are tapping to a chemical beat, needing more than the 120bpms of the classic strictlys, emotives and nu grooves…..back in chicago the pitch may have been wild, but in london it’s firmly on +8. a new genre is born – speed garage. it’s not long before bedroom producers armed with affordable new technology start sampling, looping, slicing & dicing us house classics of old, pitching ‘em up and beefing up the beats. we’ve got an acapella and we’re gonna use it. every week at records stores across the city the moody geezers show up with unmarked white labels tucked under their jackets…sell ‘em for 3 quid, retail for 5…the latest mashup of a house classic on speed, pressing plant id meticulously scratched out of the runout groove.  the new uk tracks sell like hot cakes; why pay import prices when you can buy domestic? soon labels are springing up across the city,  putting out the new home-spun garage sound: nice’n'ripe, deep trouble, ice cream , G.O.D., each week a new label with a new release. dj’s and crowds are lapping them up, ‘avin it in clubs, railway arches and warehouses across the city. soon enough the sound evolves; increasingly influenced by r & b, drum and bass and  hardcore, it moves away from its us house roots, mashing up genres to become firmly rooted as the sound of urban london.

this mix is my trip back to that time in london, before armand time stretched tori; before kelly g two-stepped tina; before rosie got closer than close; before “UK garage”….and in keeping with the pirate radio mix tapes of the day, there ain’t no tracklist for this one

download:

andy grant – once upon a time in london (249 mb / 108 mins / 320kbps)

as promised last week, the new mix is now available for download. named “back in the saddle”, as i genuinely hope to get my act together and start getting some regular output on to the revised dchousegrooves site. i really enjoyed putting this mix together – the tracks really flowed together, and there really wan’t much effort involved. as any of you who are dj’s will know, you should not have to try to do a mix….if you’re having to work on it, then it ain’t going to work out. the best mixes just flow, as if they were meant to be!

this one was the first mix i’ve done on my zoom h2 handy recorder – where has this thing been all my life? so simple to use – no messing about with pc’s or laptops…just record direct to the device and you’ve got your mix in a wav file on an sd card. when i started in this game i was recording to c90 casettes; things have come a long way since then! the only problem i ran into was that i was using an 4gb sdhc card, and my pc card reader clearly can’t read sdhc cards, so I had to transfer over usb cable from the zoom h2. never mind – we got there in the end!

so on to the mix itself; mostly new tracks picked up on a recent trip to dj hut, starting off on a deep kerri chandler tip with a track off his saucy dick dickler ep on max trax, then seguing into his latest relelease Kong on deeply rooted house. from there into a bit of standard west coast deep house from tango and grayhound, until things start getting interesting with jimpster – a hold on your soul and kimouts’ down to earth on buzzin’ fly. Then things get noisy with the drama society remix of tiefschwarz – original. We then journey into some melodic euro deepness from jay shepeard, kimouts (again) and trentemøller before starting to bang up the drummy shit for a few tracks. the eclectic contribution to the proceedings comes courtesy of ray charles and quentin harris, before we go all aciied for the finishers.

i haven’t give this one a full listen back yet, but I certainly had a good time putting it together, so i’m sure it’s be worthwhile. highlights for me are the tiefschwarz > jay shepheard transition and the trentemøller track. I hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed mixing it, and i hope there are plenty more to come from dc house grooves, back in the saddle again.

andy grant – back in the saddle (320kbps / 80 mins / 196mb)

track list (click the links to view the discogs release page):

kerri chandler – the drive (max trax)
kerri chandler – kong (deeply rooted house)
dj rasoul – candlelight affair (greyhound)
kinky movement – safe house (tango)
jimpster – a hold on your soul (freerange)
kimouts – down to earth (mymy monterrey wash remix 1) (buzzin’ fly)
tiefschwarz – original (drama society remix) (souvenir)
jay shepheard – 4nc (compost blacklabel)
kimouts – down to earth (original) (buzzin’ fly)
trentemøller – miss you (trentemøller remix)
soul clap – the giraffe (original mix) (airdrop)
jerome syndenham, texu, romantic couch – ebian (samual l session remix) (ibadan)
jon cutler & matthias heilbronn – 651 (original mix) (distant music)
ray charles – eleanor rigby (quentin harris remix)
jay shepheard – …the party’s upstairs (compost blacklabel)
kurd maverick – the rub (instrumental mix) (cr2 records)

another day, another repost……i’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of the dchousegrooves mix back-catalog being surfaced here over the coming weeks until I can pull my finger out and get a new mix together. i’ve got my brand new zoom h2 handy recorder ready to go, but a business trip to the uk next week stands in the way. next weekend i will do a new mix. promise. got a stack of fantastic new records from dj-hut standing by and ready to go.

anyway, i digress. here’s another mix to keep things ticking over – lack of focus. this was done over 2 years ago, but many plays later i feel it has stood the test of time. particular highlights on this one are jori hulkonnen’s “the moment” (a true timeless classic) and alonzo savoy’s “life drifts”, although in calling them out i don’t want to downplay the rest.

download:

lack of focus

tracklist:

Loco Dice – Jacuzzi Games (Ovum)
Random Noise Generation – Rock My Soul (Octave One Mix) (430 West)
Jori Hulkkonen – The Moment (F Communications)
Underground Artists United For Life – Most Precious Love (Franck Roger Beats) (King Street Sounds)
32 Project – Rule Of Humanity (Bonus Beats) (Ibadan)
Loco Dice – Menina Brasileira (Ovum)
M.o.D. Moonshine (Acapella) Soulfuric Deep
Urban Soul – Whatever Makes You Happy (Tomo’s Sincere Remix) (King Street Sounds)
Many Velasquez Feat. Clifton King – Family Prayer (Boyd’s Alternate Mix) (Deepa Grooves)
Alonzo Savoy – Life Drifts (Bridge Music)
Mark Farina – Dream Machine (Brett’s Dreaming Dub) (Om Records)
Andy Caldwell – Brand New Day (Peak Time Mix) (Swank Recordings)
Greenskeepers – Man In The House (Land Shark’s Man 2 Man Mix) (Om Records)
Johnny Fiasco Feat. Jackie – All Right (Original Mix) (Tonic Recordings)
Married Men – I’ve Got Hos (Guess Who?)
Hakim Murphy – Circle (Katrinka Records)
Heaven & Earth – Prescription Every Night (Prescription)