Pablo Valentino - Old New Swing (@faces-records)
Francis Inferno Orchestra - Amber Express (@fio)
Kenny Dixon Jr. - Midnights
The Florian Muller Project - Unlimited01 (@florian-muller)
Real Cool - Reality Begins (@brejksochloopar)
Max Graef & Muff Deep - Am Fenster (@max-graef)
Simba - Three Kays (@simbaselecta)
Jazzie Joint - Real Happy (Sax Reprise)
Motor City Drum Ensemble - SP11 (@mcde-recordings)
Jimpster - Dangly Panther (@jimpster)
Roman IV - Lucy (@roman-fluegel)
Rick Wade - Mysterio (@rick-wade)
Shakarchi & Straneus - Iraq (@shakarchistraneus)
Pepe Bradock - CU @ Minna & Layfette
In celebration, we get to meet Andy Webb, the man behind this week's featured blog, Disco Delicious & one half of the team at the up and coming Sydney-based label Death Strobe.
Andy was kind enough to take a bit of time out of his busy weekend to answer some questions for me, and I'm very excited to be starting out on such a high note with what should become a regular stream of interviews & guest mixes from some my favorite music bloggers.
Check out the interview below & scroll to the end to download the episode!
Give us a quick bio -- Who are you, where are you from, where do you currently reside & what you do when you're not blogging?
Born and bred in Sydney, lived here for all of my 24 years. I do very little outside of music... I love beer, wine and food, but who doesn’t?
Explain the blog a bit .. How and when was Disco Delicious born? What did you hope to accomplish thru blogging?
I was really into reading blogs around 2006 and I’d always be sending tracks to friends. After a while I just decided to put them up on a Blogspot page so I could just link them to that instead of rant to each of them. I never really had any intention of it being read by other people, but more than 5 years on it’s still in existence which is cool.
What's your personal background in music -- Do you DJ yourself? How'd you get into the 'scene'? What's your process for exploring / discovering music & choosing what goes on the blog?
I’ve always been really into music. I was a drummer for a number of years and loved jazz, funk and soul as a teenager. After I finished school I got into DJing and between that and the blog I’ve kind of gone deeper and deeper into the scene, to the point where it’s about all I do now. I’ve been working for Resident Advisor looking after things in Australia since late last year which has been great for integrating myself a bit more into the wide world of electronic music. I haven’t really been reading blogs or anything for a few years, nearly all the music I find is from record shopping. Anything I love immediately gets shared.
Besides keeping up the blog & a nice little mix series, Delishcast, you also run a record label, Death Strobe .. How'd that come about & what projects are you most excited about of late? What are some benefits / drawbacks to running an independent label today?
The label is something that me and my mate Ash started up a couple of years ago after a really drunk conversation. It’s just an outlet for us to press up music by young artists we really dig. If anyone is thinking about starting up a record label to make money, you’re better off doing something less suicidal like bank robbing. It’s a stupidly difficult market to make big profits from, but that’s not the point. For us it’s more of a hobby than anything else, just something we love to do. Up next we’ve got another Midnight Savari EP, a great 7” from Norwegian band Hubbabubbaklubb, an album from Sydney experimental duo Domeyko/Gonzalez and a few other cool things.
Some of my favorite blogs come out of Australia (Waves at Night, Rose Quartz, & of course D.D.) -- so what's it like down there in Sydney? Is there a strong underground community for music? Good record stores? Favorite places to get down on the dance floor? Why are aussies so hip to the new&cool stuff?
The past year or so has been an improvement in Sydney from some kinda dull times. The biggest problem we have here is a lack of cool venues. I work for Picnic, a local touring and events company, and we put on monthly warehouse parties partly because so few clubs are appealing to us. But like I said, it’s getting better. There’s heaps of great DJ and production talent here and enough passionate dancers to support the scene, so we get by.
What's in the future? For you, the blog, music, the Internet? It seems virtual and 'real life' communities, at least music communities, are becoming more and more integrated, and necessarily so .. Thoughts in general on the present state of music industry and where it's headed?
The future of music is something I think about often, and from the perspective of a blogger, DJ, label owner, promoter and punter, it’s kinda scary from every angle! I’m just going to keep buying my records, enjoy what I’m enjoying and keep doing my thing.
Small Pyramids is the West Coast’ answer to Mark E. Think mid-tempo, slow burning, unforgettable jams… played in hypnotic sweatboxes in London to sunrise cafes in Ibiza. Anywhere where the music is less in your face, and more in your soul, Small Pyramids will move you.
His debut ep "Another Way To Feel" was released free on the net last year. It was blogged by the likes of Disco Delicious, Nightdrive & Too Many Sebastians and its stand-out track, the sparkling Bangalter-esque "I Want Blood" found its way into the playlists of Bxentric and Radio 1's Jaymo.
For this re-release on Glasgow Underground, "I Want Blood" has been given a fresh mixdown by Kevin McKay and features remixes from Throne Of Blood's hot producers Cosmic Kids and Binary Entertainment's Goldroom.
Cosmic Kids deliver a deep-as-you-like underground house jam complete with Nugroove style organ stabs and bouncing Mr Fingers bass whilst Goldroom take us on an open-topped LA car ride through the city’s sun-kissed house sound. File beside Poolside, Fabian & Keenhouse.
Read more about Small Pyramids here:
http://www.jockeyclub.tv/small-pyramids
http://smallpyramids.tumblr.com
Another introduction of a staple in my Commuter Hits rotation-- Andy Webb of Disco Delicious has a great mix series, the Delishcast. While featured on my facebook page a few times, I felt it was time to give him room on the main stage-- that said, enjoy this "lazy mixed bag" of tracks; some of which are favorites I haven't heard in years and all of which work incredibly well together:
TRACKLISTING
01 Dimitri From Paris - Prologue
02 Smith & Mudd - Elsewhere
03 Pompeya - Cheenese (Lipelis Remix)
04 Luke Vibert - Negresco
05 Chet Faker - Love and Feeling (Sleep D Remix)
06 Johnwaynes - Funky Sensation
07 Bop Singlayer - Flirt
08 Jerry Williams - Call To Arms (Kane Rework)
09 Ruf Dug - Dirty (Leo Zero Remix)
10 Beastie Boys - In 3's <3
11 Kid Creole & The Coconuts - I Do Believe (40 Thieves Remix) <33
12 Orm - Tropic
13 Mudd & Pollard - Scaffold
14 Jamiroquai - Corner of the Earth <3
15 Black Cow - Be Mine
16 Bullion - Don't Talk
17 Sukebe Loop Udon - Is It Called Playgirl?
