A couple of years back, Black Joy released a 12-inch single featuring a couple of Prins Thomas edit's of their single "Moustache". When it came out I really enjoyed it, as do I with most of Thomas's edits, however recently have had a new found love for the track. I played it out a couple of weeks back just figuring to change it up a bit, however half way through the song I realized how amazing this song and edit is. I love when you listen to songs you hadn't heard for a while and discover a new found enjoyment, as if you'd heard it for the first time. Anyways, it's becoming a regular weekly Wednesday night cut at Studio! and a personal all-time favorite of mine. The 12-inch single, which actually features two different Prins Thomas edits was released by the house music label NRK back in 2006. I tend to prefer the A-side 'diskomiks' over the more dubby B side, however both edits are amazing. Overall, if you don't have this record, I highly recommend picking it up. The song makes a nice bridge between disco and house music lovers.

Download Prins Thomas' Diskomiks of Black Joy's "Moustache" by visiting this site.

ITEM ONE: Beck's new record.

Modern Guilt leaked a week early, and neither of my two listen-throughs this morning have stuck. Danger Mouse's production clings to the neo-soul of Gnarls Barkley--a quality Beck doesn't pin any memorable lyrics or singing performances to. He chooses to meekly sing rather than put any level of Midnite Vultures party-rap upon the beats, and when he attempts a Cee-Lo impersonation on "Walls," his limited vocal range becomes a liability, not a unique, sensitive twist.

Only thing that stands out on this 33-minute record are the song titles. "Orphans," "Gamma Ray," "Chemtrails," "Replica," "Soul of a Man," "Volcano"... am I the only person who sees those titles and immediately thinks about Scientology?

Last time I saw Beck in concert was a few years ago, when he played a series of "surprise" club concerts on his way back to California. I got up to the fourth row or so at a Neumo's-esque club, so I was able to see a young, tiny woman stop setting up gear before the show started and hop to the front-and-center of the club floor, standing there and staring at the crowd for the whole show. Didn't seem like much in the way of security, so I did some Beck research the next day. That's when I figured out he was a Scientologist; friends of mine were convinced that girl was his personal drone. Wonder if she's also credited on the liner notes for this record as "Silent, Supportive Presence; Handclaps."

ITEM TWO: The theme song to Top Gun.

If you own Guitar Hero 3 for the Xbox 360 or PS3, you can download this song as a free add-on to your game during this Fourth of July weekend. Cuz, really, what's more patriotic than a Tom Cruise movie's instrumental rock ballad, replayed on plastic guitars? I only bring this up because it forced me to watch the song's video. Surely, this song needed the promotional power of two dudes with tall hair rocking out in an '80s airport hangar for four whole minutes:

Black-haired guy would've killed at last week's Air Guitar Championships, but blondie takes the lead with what is best described as Air Getting-A-Blowjob.

I feel like you can never go wrong when it comes to Todd Terje edits. Todd Terje, aka Tangoterje, aka Wade Nichols, aka who else knows, not only does a nice job bringing out the best elements of the songs that he chooses to re-edit, he usually selects from some of the most uncommon choices of disco, afro-latin rock, prog, cosmic, and commercial pop. There must be close to a hundred of them floating around on the web by now. Well, you can add another to your collection (assuming you don't already have the track), with Terje's edit of Dee Dee Sharp Gamble's "Easy Money". The orginal track appeared on her 1980 titled LP, Dee Dee. The edit definitely has a smooth, but somewhat sassy disco groove that I just can't seem to get enough of lately.

Download Todd Terje's edit of Dee Dee Sharp Gamble's "Easy Money" and more by visiting this website.

And if your more interested in hearing some of his more rock sounding edits, I would reccommend checking out his new re-edit 12", Rvng Of The Nrds Vol. 5, under the Wade Nichols identity. On this release, Terje takes on some interesting radio rock classics, including America's "Horse With No Name" and Canned Heat "On The Road Again".

Regardless, of the genre Mr. Terje decides to tangle with, he always seems to be on the cutting edge of the growing world of twelve inch re-edits.

Download Todd Terje's edit of America's "Horse With No Name" and more by visiting this website.

On Doveman's website, their cover of the Footloose soundtrack album is available for free. It actually reminded me how good the Footloose soundtrack is: the epic highs, the tragic lows; the antic uptempo and the dramatic, hormonal ballads.

I'm usually pretty fond of quiet rock, and of Doveman's stuff, but I'm not really crazy about this cover album at all. I dislike, especially, the sad, plodding cover of the title track. When you slow down a song like "Footlose," you've only got one thing in mind: you're mocking it. And, as anyone who has sung "Footlose" at karaoke knows, it's a great, fast song.

I generally dislike these slow, mocking covers of popular music, like Alanis Morissette's even-more atrocious cover of the already-atrocious song "My Humps." But Doveman's cover of "Almost Paradise" is really, really good. It brings out the rawness and longing of the original song. I recommend downloading that one.

A track that has quickly found it's way into every STUDIO! set-list since it's repressing has been Five Letters' italo disco classic "The Kee Tha Tha". Featured on Strut's new italo compilation Disco Italia: Essential Italo Disco Classics - 1977-1985 (which Terry reviewed a few weeks back), this track was originally released in 1980 off of Five Letters' amazing Yellow Nights LP. Five Letters, which included disco producers Claude Vallois and Denis Desrouvres had a nice run of releases during the late 70's and early 80's releasing records off of the legendary French disco labels Malligator and Crocos Records. The originals can cost a pretty penny, however, the good people over at Strut have made it cost effect to at least own one of their classic tracks.

Download Five Letter's 1980 classic cut of "The Kee Tha Tha" by visiting the new STUDIO! Disco Blog.

South Africa's HOT R.S. (aka House Of The Rising Sun) could be credited for just about everyone's favorite slow-tempo disco song with 1977's "Slow Blow". This track which has been edited by both Phantom Slasher and Prins Thomas (under the name Major Swellings) originally appeared on HOT R.S.'s debut self-titled record that featured a dark-italo cover version of The Animals' popular classic, "House Of The Rising Sun", which by the way, seems to have been covered by every disco group during the 70's. This project was anchored by l egendary South African clarinetist Dan Hill and producer/percussionist Kevin Kruger, mind behind the disco project Disco Rock Machine of the late 1970's. From what I know, HOT R.S. only released one more record in Forbidden Fruit in 1978, however their 1977 classic cut of "Slow Blow" still seems to be a favorite among many disco enthusiasts and producers.

I also came across a slightly different version of "Slow Blow" by the Bongo Disco System, which was renamed "Slow Disco". I haven't been able to find out anything about Bongo Disco System or the actual release. Does anybody have any information on this record?

Download HOT R.S.'s "Slow Blow" and "House of the Rising Sun". as well as Bongo Disco System's "Slow Disco" and more by visiting this site.

During this past week's Studio!, when Terry and I were playing just about every 70's afro-latin disco-rock song that we owned, I realized how much I loved the Traks 1982 cover version of The Doobie Brothers 1973 classic "Long Train Running". This version takes the funky gritty classic, and gives it a bit of a cosmic vibe by adding a slight spacey feel, especially when it comes to the songs lead vocals as well as including some nice afro-latin flavored percussion work. I've heard a few different versions of the song, obviously The Doobie Brothers, as well as a Prins Thomas' edit of Panama II's version which is also really good, however, I have to say that I tend to enjoy Traks version the best. Overall, it's a tough song to not do well, that being said there probably is some aweful Doobie Brother cover band out there that could probably challenge that theory. Regardless, Traks isn't one of them. Enjoy!

Download Traks' 1982 version of "Long Train Running" by visiting the new Studio Disco Blog.

Norman Connors has always been one of those artists that I've always wanted to get into, however until very recently have never heard a song that really moved me. This all changed when I picked up a copy of his 1977 Romantic Journey LP which featured of the best songs that I have heard in quite sometime with "Once I've Been There". This cut, which is the album's single, is definitely more upbeat and danceable then many of his more, should I say, "baby-making" love themed cuts. After enjoying this track, I became very interested in hearing more records by Connors, and with this newly found interest, I also picked up the This Is Your Life LP which seemed to come out shortly after the Romantic Journey record. With one listen, I immediately fell in love with the more laid back "Love-boat" grooving opener in "Stella". Even though it's still not really dancefloor friendly, I find that it's just the kind of song I would love to hear on a hot Sunday afternoon. Regardless, I was finally won over by Mr. Connors and his Starship Orchestra with these two cuts.

Download Mp3's of both Norman Connors' "Once I've Been There" and "Stella" tracks and more by visiting here.

Also, here disco classics like these and many more all night long tonight at Havana.

Theo Parrish might be best known for his classic techno productions that he has been releasing for years through his label, Sound Signature Sounds, however some of us disco enthusiasts, like myself, might be more familiar with a different side of the Michigan native. Throughout the past decade, Parrish has been the mind behind the white-label project known as Ugly Edits, which is a 12" series of his soul, funk, and disco re-edits. During the last few years he has edited classics like Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "The Love I Lost", Willie Hutch's "Slick", Brainstorm's "Journey To The Light", Etta James' "In The Basement", Sylvester's "Dance (Disco Heat)" and many many more. I haven't heard all of the edits, however, from the many that I have been able to listen to my personal favorite would be his edit of GQ's 1980 album cut "Lies". On this edit, Parrish takes the finest moments of the five and a half orginal and creates an eight minute-plus boogie, removing the original's weaker reoccurring chorus and re-focusing the song on the tracks funky back beat groove and verse vocals. I find that these 12" Ugly Edits are at times hard-to-find and could cost you a pretty penny compared to many other disco re-edit 12" singles, however, that being said, Theo Parrish puts together some of the most interesting and unique disco edits out there.

Download Theo Parrish's edit of GQ's 1980 cut "Lies" and much more by visiting here.

A record that I find my self enjoying again lately after not listening to it for a while is Musique's Keep on Jumpin' LP. This 1978 classic disco release was written by legendary producer and song writer Patrick Adams, which isn't suprising specially it seems like everything he touches turns into a classic release. The record also features the popular disco diva Jocelyn Brown and Class Action, Phreek, and Poussez! vocalist Christine Wiltshire. Even though the Keep on Jumpin' LP only consists of four tracks, the approximately thirty minute record is a definite classic with track like "Keep on Jumpin' and "In The Bush" leading the way. This is one of those records that could be considered a staple with disco enthusiasts.

Not only have I been really into Musique's debut Keep on Jumpin', I've also, as of late, really been getting into their second album appropriately titled "Musique II". This record still sees Patrick Adams behind the production controls, however having Wiltshire take over for Brown on the albums lead vocals. This record didn't gain as much attention as the previous Keep on Jumpin' LP, however in my opinion, is just as solid with classic cuts like "Love Massage" and "Good And Plenty Lover". That being said, the record might start to see a little more attention with "Love Massage" being highlighted on the recently released Dimitri From Paris Return To The Playboy Mansion mix compilation.

Overall it's nice to re-discover some amazing records that had probably sitting on the shelves for a while.

Download Mp3's from both of Musique's two LP's Keep On Jumpin' and Musique II and more by visiting here.

One of the best finds that I picked while I was in Paris a couple weeks back was Rod McKuen's 1977 disco classic Amor, Amor Slide... Easy In. This record became huge in Europe with the chart topping single "Amor". The record also became popular within the Gay community with tracks like "Don’t Drink The Orange Juice", which was directed towards Anita Bryant, who was carrying on a heated campaign against Gay Rights in Florida while being that state’s Orange Juice spokesperson. My favorite cut on the record is the erotic disco cut "Easy In", which is basically a male moaning over a uptempo disco groove. The album also became an attraction due to the record's cover shot which featured iron icon Bruno's mighty fist full of Crisco coming out of a renamed Disco can. This hard-to-find record has been commonly known as "The Crisco Disco Album", and has become a major collectors item within the states. On vacation some people buy souvenirs like magnets, t-shirts, and postcards, I feel like I walked away with something much much better.

Download a couple of tracks off of Rod McKuen's 1977 classic erotic disco LP Amor, Amor Slide... Easy In and more by visiting here.

NOTE: Need some 70's erotic disco?!?! Find some tonight at Havana.

One of my all-time favorite records is Bamboo's 1979 self-titled LP. This is album was produced, mixed, and written by Kurt Hauenstein who is the brilliant mind behind the all of those amazing Supermax releases during the late 70's and early 80's. I find that this very rare album has gained more and more attention since Bamboo's amazing album cut "Spaceship Crashing" was included on the cosmic disco compilation Disco Obscura Presente Cosmic Dancer : Voyage One a few years back. Outside of the "Spaceship Crashing" track, I was unsure, if the whole record would hold up to the same brilliance. And even though I've currently been unsuccessful in hunting down a copy of the actual record, I have been able to get my hands on a digital version of the album. I have to say that just after one listen, I came to the conclusion that this record is amazing, really bridging the gap between early to mid 70's disco and 80's italo with a touch of that cosmic-prog sound that was mastered so well on all of those Supermax records. My favorite cuts on the record include afro-percussion heavy "Hey, Hey, Hey", the cosmic minded "Take What You Want" and the more laid back gem "Hustlers Of Life Never Survive". Overall, this record is an instant classic as well as one of the hardest LP's to find. If your lucky enough to get your hands on one, I highly recommend swiping it up.

Download Mp3's of both Bamboo's "Hey, Hey, Hey" and "Hustlers Of Life Never Survive" and more by visiting here .

This past Wednesday at Studio! I played Tangoterje's re-edit of Titanic's 1973 cut of "Macumba", for the first time in quite some time. A few minutes into the track, I remembered how good the track is and thought I would share it with everyone whom hasn't heard this latin-prog-disco classic. This edit definitely has a bit of a chessy side with the "Aerosmith like" guitar intro, however the song follows with a more 70's latin funky rock sound very similar to the latin sounding group Barrabas. Overall, it's a nice extended edit from Todd Terje that could challenge all the heavy rock heads to get out and dance.

Download Tangoterje's re-edit of Titanic's 1973 cut of "Macumba" and more by visiting here. I will also be spinning this track plus many many more cosmic disco at the Solo Bar tonight for your listening pleasure.

^{Photo by Anna Knowlden}

Get a glimpse of the Feral Children's upcoming full-length Second to the Last Frontier (produced by Scott Colburn, out July 8th)--four tracks from the album are available as a free download at Sarathan.com.

The Feral Children will play the Capitol Hill Block Party Saturday, July 26.

Another great record that I found during my trip to Paris was Chocolat's 1977 LP, Les Fabuleux Chocolat's. I found this record while hunting through stacks at Croco Disc (My favorite new record store), which had a numerous amount of 70's French disco rarities among other great genres. If I was anywhere near that place, location wise, I would definitely need to get another job just to support how many records that I would buy from that shop. Anyways, Chocolat's is a French disco group produced by Jean Vanloo that released many amazing disco records during the 70's including Les Fabuleux Chocolat's, The Kings of Clubs, Rythmo Tropical, African Choco among others. There most known effort came in 1977 when Salsoul Records released the The Kings of Clubs LP which features a fourteen plus Tom Moulton mix of the self-titled track. Here we have, Baby Let's Do It The French Way which was the single off the Les Fabuleux Chocolat's LP, which even though not as popular as the classic "The Kings of Clubs" cut, could be considered one of Chocolat's finest tracks. If you love French disco, I highly recommend checking out anything and everything from the Chocolat's.

Download Chocolat's "Baby Let's Do It The French Way" and much more by visiting here.

^{Photo by Ryan Russell}

Listen to "Great White Bull" from the upcoming album Jersey Shores.

I'm back from my amazing trip from London and Paris. This was my first trip out of the country and it was interesting to see the difference in what people are listening to and purchasing. I found that even though vinyl is still a dying breed, even in Europe, it still thrives in comparison to the states, at least in the two areas I visited. I became immediately excited by how much people were into dance music and disco/italo in particular. Every record store, big or small, seem to have a disco section, seperate from funk and soul, full of classics and rarities. It was nice to see an area that really embraces the music I love and promote so much. Out of all the record stores, that successfully broke my wallet, my favorite spots were Vinyl Junkies in London and Croco Discs in Paris. Both had stacks and stacks of amazing records including House, Techno, Funk, Soul, Disco, and as well as some of the best world music selections that I've ever seen.

One of my favorite purchases on my trip was Motown Sounds 1978 LP Space Dance. I've always been a huge fan of the album cut, "Bad Mouthin", however after listening to the whole record, I realized that this is more than a "one-hit wonder" disco record. With solid funky cosmic disco cuts like "Space Dance", "Groove Time", and "Rich Love, Poor Love", Space Dance is a solid record. This record is also very different than what you would normally find on most Motown Records releases with the record having a very space or cosmic disco feel to it. Overall, it was a nice find in a disco goldmine that was my London and Paris trip.

Motown Sounds - Bad Mouthin'

Here you will hear a recent techno mix generated by the great Claude Young. Vienna (the wine city) is the setting for the mix, and it runs for over two hours. I listened to most of it last night and found it to have several dazzling moments, several enigmatic moments, and several deep moments.

Months ago Ari posted about a new local band Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. They offered no music, only cryptic pictures of curtains and videos starring their tweenage drummer Marshall.

Here it is again, if you forgot:

And the latest:

Commenters weren't sure what to make of the vauge offerings. Some bought it, some didn't:

When are bands going to realize that this moribund, bored look in every promo pic is so outdone and ridiculous? REM on the cover of Spin comes to mind as well. So done w/ rock n roll media. The music is all we can depend on.

Posted by duplicitous | March 28, 2008 8:29 AM

The music better be as pretentious as all this hype or i'm gonna lead myself over to the toilet again and cry friend cry... owe!

Posted by Mildred Duff | March 28, 2008 12:38 PM

dude... I dig the curtains... and as far as the music goes i'm excited... i have no expectations yet i am completely intrigued so far. i just sense a lot of creative energy and to me that's enough to get excited about.

Posted by Jesse Irish | March 28, 2008 1:34 PM

Best my space promo of all time?

Posted by Biggie J | March 28, 2008 2:24 PM

Now you can finally hear them; the Walrus has posted an MP3 from the band called "Who's Asking."

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
"Who's Asking"

And let me drop some more knowledge: All the guys in the band (minus drummer Marshall, top right corner in the above promo shot) are ex-members of the defunct In Praise of Folly. Their first live show will be July 31st at Neumo's with BOAT and "Awesome."

And now you know.

With this being my last Line Out post for about a week, with me visiting London & Paris, I definitely wanted to leave everybody with some good italo while I'm gone. Here are two amazing italo classics by one of italo's greatest artists, Capricorn. The first, being one of my personal favorites, "Pow Pow Pow", which you can almost always hear every Wednesday at Studio!, while the second is a solid instrumental version of the song "Capricorn". Both were released in 1980 off of Emergency Records and produced by Claudio Simonetti & Giancarlo Meo, whom also where the minds behind the legendary italo group Easy Going. Good stuff!

Capricorn - Pow Pow Pow
Capricorn - Capricorn (Instrumental)

See you when I get back!

When it comes to latin influenced disco, Joe Bataan, is definitely one of the early pioneers. That being said, it took me personally a while to get into some of his music, probably because I think I got off to the wrong foot by first being introduced to one of his popular singles, "Rap-O Clap-O", which didn't really do it for me. However as I've been listing to more and more of his releases, I'm actually finding that as a whole, Bataan's music is pretty amazing, especially when he moved to Salsoul Records during the mid to late 1970's. One of the tracks that I cam across recently was his cover version of Isaac Hayes' 1972 instrumental cut "Theme From The Men", which served as the B-Side track to his heavily popular Theme From "Shaft" single. Bataan, like most of his tracks, puts a nice latin flavored groove to the epic original. Overall, a solid effort from the man who really helped define the sound of latin influenced disco and dance music during the 1970's.

Download Joe Bataan's cover of Isaac Hayes' 1972 track, Theme From The Men by going here.

One of my favorite cuts of all-time has to be the very hard-to-find erotic disco gem "Mucho Macho" by Macho. Not only is this track hard to find physically, however finding information on this track might even be harder to locate. I haven't been able to hunt down an original copy of the track, however, the song has been released recently as part of BGP Records' Living In The Streets 2 compilation as well as being re-edited by prins Thomas's amazing Major Swelling record. However, one thing is for sure, if it was produced by Macho's Mauro Malavasi then you understand why the track is so great.

Keep in mind as some great soundtrack music for your upcoming HUMP video submissions!

Macho - Mucho Macho

The Hold Steady have posted a new single on MySpace. It's called "Sequestered in Memphis" and it is, as it always seems to be, about drinking and dancing and making out in a bathroom--"In bar light, she looked alright/In daylight she looked desperate."

Nothing really new to the sound, it's in the same vein as Boys and Girls in America, but I like it. Lots of sing-a-long parts, handclapping, it'll make for a good dance party when they play the Block Party Saturday July 26.

The new album, Stay Positive, will be out July 15.

Click here to listen to it.

Stream Beck's new single, "Chemtrails," at www.beck.com.

Last Friday, I went and checked out local Seattle deejay, DJ Riz, at his weekly Friday night gig at the Re-bar. He really blew me away a couple of weeks ago at Studio! where he played a special rare set of disco and funk cuts. I was excited to see him at his usual residency, which consisted of more deep house and funk grooves. I found the set to be as equally brilliant as a few weeks back. That being said, he ended his set with Edwin Starr's 1978 disco classic "Contact" and I haven't been able to get it out of my head ever since. This track, which was released on the Clean LP, can be described as Starr's re-emergence into the club and disco scene of the late 1970's. The track has some solid percussion work, and does a nice job blending the lines between his move into the disco realm and his earlier soul roots. It's safe to say Edwin Starr had a very accomplished musical career with many solid releases during the late 60's and 70's, however there might not be another song in his collection that can move a floor like "Contact".

Download Edwin Starr's classic disco boogie cut "Contact" by going here.

I would also recommend checking out DJ Riz every Friday night at the Re-bar (1114 Howell Street) for some great mixing of deep house and funk.

One of the more "sexy themed" disco compilations to come out is thefifth volume in the The Mood Mosaic series entitled, Supervixens. This compilation that was released by Discomagic Records in the mid 1990's brings together some of disco's more erotic rarities. The record also tends to standout a bit more from the others in the The Mood Mosaic series, which tend to lend themselves more for cocktail lounge hour rather than a disco floor. This very rare album consists of some real disco gems including Marta Acuna's "Dance, Dance, Dance", Roundtree "Get On Up", Black Devil's "Follow Me", Chain Reaction's "Dance Freak" and Sylvia's sexy disco classic "The Lollipop Man" among others. Overall this is a great themed disco compilation that puts some disco's more harder-to-find classics all in one place.

Download Sylvia's "The Lollipop Man" and Roundtree's "Get On Up by going here.

Recently, I've been getting into Brazilian conductor Sérgio Mendes' late 70's material. I came across Mendes' records here and there however, didn't really know much about the artist until recently. Even though I definitely can't vouch for all of his music, I can say that I'm a pretty big fan of both Sérgio Mendes & The New Brasil '77's 1977 self-titled LP and Sergio Mendes & Brasil '88 1979 Magic Lady LP. Both albums, which I've picked up recently, are somewhat departures from Mendes earlier work with his Brasil '66. The New Brasil '77 record has a laid back, however funky latin-disco sound to it with standout tracks like "The Real Thing", "Why", and "Mozambique". Magic Lady, on the other hand, contains one of Mendes most high energy dance cuts with "I'll Tell You", as well as other funky disco numbers like "Lonely Woman" and "Let It Go". Overall, Sérgio Mendes is one of those complicated artist to get into because he touches so many musical genres with many of his releases being very unique to themselves, however for people who enjoy the more funky disco era stuff, like myself, I highly recommend checking out both The New Brasil '77 and Magic Lady albums.

Dowload both Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '88's "I'll Tell You" and Sérgio Mendes & The New Brasil '77's "The Real Thing" by going here.

A few weeks ago I found a copy of Five Special's "Why Leave Us Alone" while diggin through crates of records. I had previously never heard of this track, so I didn't know what to expect, however with one listen I knew I found a soul flavored disco gem. I wondered why I'd never of heard this track until recently, specially after doing some research and finding that this single broke the top ten of the R & B charts back in 1979 and was also a favorite of Paradise Garage's Larry Levan. This detroit based group only lasted for a few years during the late 70's with little success, however, not before putting out a solid dancefloor classic in "Why Leave Us Alone".

Download Five Special's 1979 funky soul classic "Why Leave Us Alone" by visiting this site.

It's safe to say that I just fell in love with Ray Martinez and every single track that he produced in the 1970's. From Amant's "If There's Love" to Passion's classic "Don't Bring Back Memories", from George McCrae's "Kiss Me (The Way I Like It)" to his solo cut of "The Natives Are Restless", Martinez made a name for himself as a break through disco producer and musician during the 1970's. Helping solidify the "Miami Sound" of the late 70's, this Cuban native went onto create Miami based Paris International Records where he released records by Amant, Celi Bee, and others. Overall, Martinez is a dance music icon that helped influence disco and dance music forever.

Click Here to download a couple of Ray Martinez's produced songs, including Passion's classic "Don't Bring Back Memories" and Amant's "If There's Love".

You have to love a great gospel song, and one of my favorite's is Larry Levan's unreleased edit of the The Joubert Singers' 1985 classic "Stand On The Word". This edit came out on the bootlegged record label, Larry, which is a label dedicated to putting out rare unreleased white label edits and mixes by Larry Levan. You might not think a track like this, that has a heavy gospel influence, can work a dancefloor, however give it a couple of listens and you'll definitely find yourself moving to the groove as the track is very addicting. On this rare warm day in Seattle, what could be more fitting.

The Joubert Singers - Stand on the Word (Larry Levan Edit)

"Don't judge a book by it's cover". Well that's a great statement when describing the Glitter Band's 1976 disco hit "Makes You Blind". After this previously soft rock glam band cut ties with their old sound and founder Gary Glitter, the group "went disco" like many others at the time, with this mostly instrumental funky disco classic. This track became an instant hit with in the underground disco community and promoted the group to release other dance oriented cuts like a cover of The Bee Gees "Gotta Get A Message To You" in 1977. This band, that might of made their early name on soft rock glam jams, might be remember by many for this amazing disco gem.

Download The Glitter Band's 1976 disco classic "Make You Blind" by going here

One of the highlights of the past few Wednesday night's, at the Havana, have been the night's closing track, which has been a Dimitri From Paris extended edit of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes's 1975 soul classic "Don't Leave Me this Way". Every week I play it and I constantly get people asking me what the track is and how much they love it. This amazing re-edit is the final track on Dimitri From Paris' 2002 mix compilation After The Playboy Mansion, as well as being included in the vinyl-only release After The Playboy Mansion (Uplifting Selection) LP which consists of some of the compilations highlights unmixed. And because it's Wednesday, I thought it would be apropriate in sharing. Enjoy!

Download Dimitri From Paris' re-edit of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' 1975 soul classic "Don't Leave Me this Way" by visiting here

The band Free Kitten, featuring Kim Gordon, Yoshimi, and Julie Cafritz, will release their Inherit on Ecstatic Peace next month. This song, "Seasick," will be on it.

Free Kitten - "Seasick"

(Thanks to Ari for finding the photo above.)

Sub Pop just posted a new CSS song from their upcoming album Donkey (to be released June 22).

CSS - "Rat is Dead (Rage)"

Here is two edits that I recieved from "recently located Seattle resident" Pat les Stache. This time around, Mr. Les Stache, put his touch on John Tropea's 1979 cosmic classic "Livin' In The Jungle" and Gepy & Gepy's 1979 disco gem "African Love Song". Both edits, I hear, will probably be included on a new re-edit 12-inch, Pat Les Stache Presents: Cabana Music Vol.01, which should be coming out later this Spring. The record will also include an edit of Black Ivory's 1974 funky soul classic "What Goes Around (Comes Around)". All in all, just some more disco edits to make the world go round!

Pat Les Stache - African Love Song
Pat Les Stache - Lovin' In The Jungle

Jump in my ride.......It's Friday Night!

Bell & James - Livin' It Up (Friday Night) (1978)

Every generation has its way to dispose of old, unwanted albums. Vinyl: fill a crate and drag it to a garage sale. Cassettes: get some Scotch tape out and record your new faves on the old tapes (NKOTB transforms into Alice in Chains' Dirt). CDs: cover a wall with their flipsides, breaking a few on occasion to make the dorm room look "tough" (or, as an engineer pal taught me so many years ago, sit in a passenger's seat while a friend drives really slowly, then hold CDs against the moving pavement until they melt).

Nowadays, the delete key isn't nearly as dramatic a farewell to the music we eventually tire of, but the disposability of MP3s has its own quirks. I'm not sure how everyone else here downloads music, but I tend to hit MP3 and torrent sites like I've just won a Toys 'R Us Shopping Spree from the '80s, only my cart isn't weighed down by oversized My Pet Monsters. I'll download stuff from sites' "most active" lists just for the hell of it, then pile on all matter of other recommended tunes, to the point where half of what I grab, I don't listen to more than once. I'll occasionally clear out obvious junk from my "recent downloads" catalog, but this week, I've been doing some deep cleaning. Everybody has their fair share of outdated or embarrassing albums, though I guess it's interesting what piles up when everything is free--Keane, Jonathan Fireeater, a really bad J Dilla/Pet Sounds mashup, that Redman/Method Man album, the William Shatner record from a few years ago, the most recent Foo Fighters records ... When these musical whims and crapshoots collect dust, they become sad mirror images of your darker musical side, as if you owned a ragged puppy that you didn't feed or bathe on a regular basis.

But what really struck me were the number of decent-sounding records that I am never, ever, ever going to listen to in their entirety. Even after deleting the most obvious stuff, I'm still sitting on 130 GB of music--and there is no sensible reason to have this much on here, on top of the CDs and records I already have. Who's to say I'm ever going to listen to these three Califone albums on repeat when their folder is just five away from Buffalo Tom's Let Me Come Over? I see the latter, get a rush of My So-Called Life nostalgia, and bust out "Taillights Fade" like a damn fool. Do I really need the second Dead Boys album--as if I don't ignore Young Loud and Snotty enough? I've never gotten through Disintegration Loops I and felt immediately eager to put parts II, III and IV on the stereo. I no longer give a shit about the Russian Futurists. I never actually play these Bloc Party songs. And so on and so forth, until I run into... Ryan Adams? Maybe I should delete everything with the words "Ryan" and "Adams" today.

It hasn't all been shame and crap--Gorky's Zygotic Mynci is currently reminding me how they long to feel that summer in their heart. After that album cheered me up, I started queuing up some other dusty gems--the bedroom pop of Suburban Kids with Household Names, an old Morphine bootleg, the dark-wave of Memphis' Lost Sounds--but then my dumb ass had to go and do a daily torrent site check. Whoop! The Tim & Eric comedy CD is out! And this band name, The Child Readers, that sounds pretty cool, so I'm gonna grab that, too.

It begins...

My friend: "Megan, have you heard the Beautiful Clarks?"

Me: "I've heard the name, I think I've heard a couple songs. I can't remember..."

My friend: "You should check them out. At the last couple shows the singer wore a dress and army helmet onstage. He's kind of crazy. But they're good."

Me: "What do they sound like? And why was he wearing a dress?"

My friend: "I dunno, I think he just wanted too. But they're like... alt country/folk stuff maybe?"

Me: "And why the dress?"

My friend: "I have no idea."

Here's the Beautiful Clarks' Billy Hatcher in that dress and army hat:

And here are some of their songs, that are good, but still don't explain where the dress and/or army helmet come in:

"Sweet Gravel"

"What Kinda Fool"

"Laid Up"

Did you ever want to know what a 'Flute Salad' tasted like? Well maybe not. Regardless, here is the rare funky jazz classic by Ju-Par Universal Orchestra. "Flute Salade" is just one of the many classic cuts off the groups remarkable Moods And Grooves LP which was released back in 1976. Moods And Grooves is definitely one of my favorite jazz records, with it's heavy afro-funky and soul influenced grooves. It's a great record to put on during that late night lounge hour. I recently saw this LP in a local record store going for eighty dollars and I kinda wished I would of splurged. Oh well, maybe next time.

Download an MP3 of Ju-Par Universal Orchestra's "Flute Salad" and more by clicking here.

This week there was been some great new cosmic/disco releases. Here are a few that I highly recommend checking out:

Dimitri From Paris - Return To The Playboy Mansion
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Dimitri From Paris returns with his highly successful 'Playboy Mansion' compilation series with some more classic and rare disco, house, soul, and dance gems. This very diverse mix compilation touches all the bases with dance cuts ranging from newer tracks like Jamiroquai's "Cosmic Girl" and The Brand New Heavies's "Never Stop" to 1970's disco rarities like Don Ray's "Got To Have Your Loving" and Gary's Gang "Let's Love Dance Tonight". The compilation also includes some solid new re-edits from the French deejay, including Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and Goldie Alexander's "Show You My Love". Another great addition to Dimitri's growing series of 'Playboy Mansion' themed releases.

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough(DFP re edit)(Mp3 sample)
Buy Record Here

The Popular People's Front - Limited Series Vol.02 12"
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The Popular People's Front return with their second in the best selling labels Limited Series, with a new white label re-edit 12". With this record, PPF puts their spin on some rare disco and dance cuts including a solid edit of Candi Staton's cover of "Listen to the Music". Their first 'limited series' 12" sold out very quickly, so I would recommend picking up a copy while they still last.

Candi Staton - Listen to the Music(Allenby Chilton edit)(Mp3 sample)
Buy Record Here

Various - Deep Disco Culture Vol Two: Album Sampler 12"
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The good folks over at Salsoul/Suss'd records have just released the second 12-inch album sampler to the widely acclaimed disco compilation Deep Disco Culture Vol Two: Underground Disco Rarities & Future Club Classic for all of the disco and vinyl enthusiasts. They couldn't have choosen three better cuts from the CD-only compilation to include on this sampler with the Rhythm Makers's "Zone, Sparkle's "Disco Madness", and Patrick Cowley classic mix of Tantra's "Hills Of Katmandu". A great record for disco collector's that don't want to go broke trying to hunt down the high priced and rare 12-inch originals.

Sparkle - Disco Madness(Mp3 sample)
Buy Record Here