I haven’t abandoned WDPK, don’t worry guys! Here’s another awesomely overlooked French House album by Drexxel, who I’ve posted about here on WDPK before, with his awesome single “A Man Called Drexxel”. That song came from his full-length LP True Romance, which was released on Grand Prix, another label run by Fab G. (How many labels does this guy own?!) and it’s some great stuff. Heavy funky synth with a lot of sweet, sweet basslines. The album overall is pretty varied, some songs are straight up French House-choons, others go into a more techno sound, and still others have a bit of a slower pace that’s very nice. The whole album is so undeniably groovy that you can’t help but move your feet! Great synth work all-around, and if you enjoyed Nicolas Vallee’s – The Natural album from my last post, you should definitely check out this one!
Tracklisting:
1. Ouverture
2. Rendez-Vouz
3. Videogamer
4. A Man Called Drexxel
5. 36.15
7. Rise of the Machines
8. Wild Wild Aix
9. True Romance
10. Simple Plaisir
11. Superstar
12. Hustle
13. Paradise Island
14. Playing By Myself
15. Expectation
For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while now, you probably have seen my posts about little-known house artist Nicolas Vallee, who’s done but a couple of EPs and ONE album on French House mogul Fab G., known for owning quite a few labels back in the day. And here on Vallee’s solo album we’ve got a combination of one-part French House, with two-parts ambient house, and you have quite a unique album. And while not every track is a winner, Nicolas Vallee develops here a very unique sound that’s heavy on basslines and deep house-like synths with just a touch of sampling thrown in that makes for an overall winner. If you’re a fan of Etienne De Crecy and Motorbass, you’ll surely get enjoyment out of “The Natural”. Some of the winners on the album include Intro The Club/New New York, which is very sample-heavy and pretty traditional for French House of the time period. Then there’s Smoking Roots, which contains some ambient synths and a very heavy bassline that will get you moving for sure! And my personal favorite is Land of the Free, with it’s high-pitched synths, super hot bassline, hand claps, and flute solos that make it sound like it was imported straight from a Nintendo 64 game. Overall, Nicolas Vallee had quite some talent, especially as a bass player, and it’s a shame he didn’t make more music.
Hey Gang, here’s a little treat for you today! A stand-alone track from Sedat the Turkish Avenger! I’m not exactly sure how this one was spread around, but I think it may have been a promo for a blog. In this tune, Sedat uses his summery synths to portray a smooth feeling with a light house beat on this one. According to the Work It Baby website Sedat is going to release an EP on their label, but unfortunately I haven’t heard anything more about it in a long time, and an e-mail to the label just told me to wait. So as we wait for an EP that probably never will come out (House music fans, we are eternal pessimists when it comes to new material being released!) here’s a little bonus track to hold you over. Keep on Housin’!
Hey everyone! In case you hadn’t heard, Fred Falke is coming out with a new compilation album this December on Kris Menace’s label Work It Baby! 12 tracks, three of which are new. Having heard all of the tracks I must say they are all excellent and if you haven’t gotten into all of Fred Falke’s solo work, this is pretty much the best way to get into it! Features all of the tracks from his previous EP save “Sanctuary” (Which is a crime to exclude because of his collaboration track Electricity with Kris Menace!) as well as three new tracks “Bare Knuckle” (Formerly called Ampkiller), Aurora, and Memories! Memories is my favorite of the three new tracks, a calm moody piece that’s inspired directly by Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack and shows Fred’s excellent music ability. Perhaps he’ll decide to do a Movie Soundtrack in the future? That would be just fantastic!
Also linked here is an interview conducted by my friend Ahmar Rez of KXSC Radio Los Angeles who was able to ask Fred some questions after a gig he did in the Sunshine state! Fred talks about his history of playing music, his Alan Braxe collaborations, Part IV, and many more things! So enjoy guys, and be sure to pick up the new Fred Falke album when it is released, support the artist!
Tracklisting:
01. 8:08pm At the Beach
02. Back to Stay
03. Last Wave
04. Electricity
05. Omega Man
06. Bare Knuckle
07. Aurora
08. Chicago
09. Wait For Love
10. Look Into Your Eyes
11. Love Theme
12. Memories
Hey gang, sorry I haven’t been posting too much! With summer winding down and vacations and all kinds of different shit to do, I’ve been ignoring WDPK a little bit But here I am with another new rare track from Moulinex (Now Moullinex) and Xinobi, leaders of the D.I.S.C.O Texas label and awesome french house producers! This track was originally made for a remix contest, and according to Xinobi’s Facebook page it was never supposed to be released/leaked in it’s original form, in fact he didn’t even have a copy of an MP3 himself, nor did he know how it ended up on the web! Very interesting stuff! This track is an awesome one, starts off with a vocodered voice saying “Discotexas” and a chopped up horn loop that turns into an awesome hook halfway through the song, what a fantastic track! Shame it didn’t get a proper release, as I really like it! Enjoy guys!
This blog post is a little different from the others, as unfortunately I’m not offering anything to download today. However I am giving you the opportunity to branch out your horizons to some awesome, more unknown new names on the scenes! These are some of the newest Disco House/Synth acts that I’ve been listening to as of late, trying to make a career out of the awesome music they make. Give it a listen, and if you like them, support!
First up we’ve got Starsmith, who’s been newly signed to Alan Braxe’s ever-famous label, Vulture Music! With his newly released Lesson One/Champion EP and remixes for Robyn, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Marina and the Diamonds, and Lady Gaga under his belt, Starsmith is sure to be a new star in the awesome rising house scene as of late. Be sure to follow him on Soundcloud and Facebook to keep up to date with his newest projects! And without futher ado, a little preview of his newest EP, definitely give it a listen. My favorite track is the B-Side Champion, with it’s cool hand-claps and soft summery synths. The A-Side Lesson One is great too, reminiscent of a Daft Punk love song, surely a wonderful EP!
Next up we’ve got a little act called Oliver. I heard their tune All Night in a minimix by Alan Braxe for the Fear of Tigers podcast and I had to know what the track was and who it was by! Oliver is made up of Oliver “Oligee” Goldstein and Vaughn “U-Tern” Oliver, a duo that’s bringing you some of the best disco house tracks I’ve heard in a while, all for the price of zero dollars to boot! They recently released a track called “I Need You” and set a goal to make it a free download after it hit 10,000 views. Needless to say that they passed that goal easily and from the time of this post, 27 days later they’ve hit 33,000 views! I really want to see these guys get a little more recognition as I love their work. Listen and appreciate, and be sure to follow them, as that’s all it takes to support these guys! Here’s a little preview of their track “All Night”. Their Soundcloud and Facebook are also the places to be for new updates!
Next up, newly signed to Work It Baby! records is the French House duo from Wales, Vanguard! These boys are throwing it down Louis La Roche-style, with awesome sampled hooks and riffs and great melodies. Their EP “Oysters in the Half-Shell” was just released on June 27th and it is awesome! My favorite track is Long Beach, but Loving Someone Else and Olympic are choons as well! If you like the previews, grab it over on Beatport or iTunes and support some great music! Also be sure to check them out on Facebook, and Twitter for current updates! If you’re having trouble finding them, just such for LeVanguardFunk!
And I close it out with a more obscure act called StardonE! Another great synthy Disco-House artist going for the retro sound. This guy is signed Top Billin Records and his first EP just came out in May, called the Space Romance EP! Don’t know much else about this guy, but hopefully we’ll hear a bit more from him at least! I must say his Space Romance EP is one of the most well-rounded EPs I’ve heard in a while, it’s hard to say when you truly like all of the tracks on an EP! You can buy his music on iTunes, Amazon, and the like as well, so head on over there if you enjoy what you’re listening to.
Well, that’s my coverage of recent artists I’ve been listening to and enjoying! I’ll be sure to make another post like this sometime in the future to keep track on new talent in the ever-growing French Disco House scene. You stay classy listeners, and I commend you for your awesome taste! Keep the scene alive, and keep on listening! Thanks for your readership.
Hey guys, here’s a set from my good friend ViewFromNowhere who recorded this off of Scion Vice Radio a few years back when Fred Falke was on tour with Treasure Fingers and Frankie Chan hosted by Scion House A/V in the States. It starts off with a live set recorded from one of the stops on the tour, an excellent mix! Then there’s an interview with Todd Edwards and a set by him as well, which includes some great unreleased cuts from him including a great vocal remix of DVNO by Justice! Then there’s a set by DJ Pico Pico Pico. And finally the set ends with an interview from Fred Falke held at the Viper Room in LA (Note: That’s NOT where the set broadcasted was recorded). Enjoy two more great mixes guys!
Hey guys, sorry I’ve been getting a little wrapped up in life lately and haven’t been able to blog too much, but I’ve just recently got in some REALLY good stuff to put up here on WDPK in the next few days, starting with this great EP from Portugese Disco House extraordinaire Xinobi! Bruno Carduso, as he goes by in the real world, started off making tracks around 2008 and since then has worked with partner in crime Moullinex (Formerly “Moulinex” with one L) in founding the Discotexas label and finding new talent such as Rockets, Justin Faust, and Lazy Tigers to produce some awesome stuff for the newly minted Disco House label. He also has put out a few releases on the magnificent Work It Baby! records run by Kris Menace, including one of my favorite house tunes, “The Best Of Me” feat. Josh Jakq which just recently came out in the fall of last year. This EP was his first release and also the first from the Discotexas label, but as I stated in my previous blog post about The Phantom’s Revenge Late EP, the first few Discotexas releases were released and soon after whisked away to the depths of the internet where the Nu-Disco artists send their early work off to die a death of forgotten-ness, something Thony Ritz and Poka are also known to do. Trivialities aside, this EP is pretty darn good. In BMX Xinobi takes a sample from Break Machine’s Street Dance from 1983 and turns it into a synthy house tune with a kickass bassline that sounds similar to Kavinsky and Jan Hammer with an awesome 80s vibe to it. Car Chase is another similar tune and while not as powerful, still sounds pretty decent. Car Chase takes a couple samples from the bridge of Rockwell’s “Somebody Watching Me” and chops them up. Good stuff! And then we’ve got Moullinex’s remix of BMX, which sounds a bit like Digitalism with it’s groaning bassline and extra synths added in. Overall a nice EP that shouldn’t be ignored by the sands of time! Enjoy guys, and there’s more great stuff to come from both Xinobi and Moullinex so stay tuned!
Another DJ Falcon set recorded at the Zentra Nightclub in Chicago, thanks to MightyM for giving it to me! I’ve been chasing this one for a very long time! Used to have part of it but then lost it in a computer crash, one of my favorite DJ Falcon sets actually. He mashes up a ton of tunes in his usual fashion, both old and new. I especially like the intro where he mashes up Sexyback by Justin Timberlake with Signatune, Feeling For You, and New Order. Great stuff! How many songs can you identify? Enjoy guys!
Thony Ritz is another one of those Nu-Disco artists that have taken their rise in the last few years or so, with contemporaries like Louis La Roche, The Phantom’s Revenge, Poka, Starsmith, VanGuard, and others. He started off on a few mickey mouse record labels like White Weed and Montana Records, releasing some REALLY funky EPs. Then he was signed to Warner Music and produced the High Future EP with Darling Record contemporaries Axel Le Baron and Julien Kourbatoff, who also produced his 2010 album Night City. Unfortunately High Future and Night City, strayed away from the original EPs he used to put out, instead giving the tunes a more poppy sound and doing away with the sampling of old, as the record label claimed it didn’t fit with the sound they wanted for the album. Oh well. In this EP from 2006, The Funky Appetizer EP, Thony Ritz gives us 3 sample-heavy tracks that really helped usher in the new sound of Nu-Disco/French House in recent years. The first track You takes a large vocal sample from Mac Band’s “Roses Are Red” and loops it continuously in a sort of round, as well as putting some extreme filters on it, extremely catchy. Then the second track Rockin’ Feeling takes a sped-up sample from Kool and the Gang’s “Misled” and loops that with some nice chops and effects. The G-Thor Reeboot Remix makes Rockin’ Feeling a little more club-friendly by touching up the track with some better effects and build-ups/breakdowns. Today, Thony Ritz is doing a regular hour long podcast mix called “Thony Ritz – It’s Just Music” every so often, distributing them through iTunes as well as releasing a few of his older tunes as free bonuses on Soundcloud. Unfortunately Thony Ritz doesn’t have the touch that he used to, and most of his older EPs have been lost to the ages as the samples probably were never cleared for sale in the first place. He also keeps releasing the same few tracks over and over again, so the chances of ever seeing them again is probably slim. In hopes one day he’ll go back to his old was, for now all we can do is enjoy The Funky Appetizer EP!
But here I am with another new rare track from Moulinex (Now Moullinex) and Xinobi, leaders of the D.I.S.C.O Texas label and awesome french house producers! This track was originally made for a remix contest, and according to Xinobi’s Facebook page it was never supposed to be released/leaked in it’s original form, in fact he didn’t even have a copy of an MP3 himself, nor did he know how it ended up on the web! Very interesting stuff! This track is an awesome one, starts off with a vocodered voice saying “Discotexas” and a chopped up horn loop that turns into an awesome hook halfway through the song, what a fantastic track! Shame it didn’t get a proper release, as I really like it! Enjoy guys!
