From: clg1@Ra.MsState.Edu (Chris "deephouse" Gray)
Subject: Re: The Mystery of Todd Terry and Other Rave Anecdotes
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 03:29:05 GMT

lovegod@wam.umd.edu (Lovegod) writes:

>Has anyone realised that "No Way" by Countdown (Todd Terry) is basically the  
>same song as the "Magic Todd Dub" of Shawn Christopher's "Don't Lose The  
>Magic?"  Oh well, I've mixed the B-side with the Atlanta Techno remix of "Jam"  
Where have you been all my house life? *laugh*

Didn't know that Countdown was TT.  Have you ever seen what TT looks like?
He looks like he could be the down-to-earth twin of Donnie Simpson on
BETs Video Soul.

Hey love, i have The History of the House Sound of Chicago..all 15
cds! *laughs*  Anyway, it has Todd's picture in it, along with the likes
of Fingers, Inc., JM Silk, Farley "jackmaster" Funk, etc.

BTW, I love that dub of "Don't Lose the Magic".  Toddy almost never
lets me down.  You should go out and get this cut he rehoused by
Ann Marie on Sleeping Bag records called "Just Waiting for You"
Its about 121 BPM is wild.  Old Todd Terry.

Did you know that Todd was a part of Swan Lake? yep


>Anyone ever heard of a song called "Chit Chat" by Cajmere (K. Hula and Mr.  
>Fingers)?  It's really allright, but what is really-how shall I say  
>this-experimental is "Coffee Pot" on the B-side!  "It's time for the  
>Perculator!"

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? I didn't know those two comprised
Cajmere! More over, have you heard the new Fingers cd.  I hear its
too much.  Just like other Fingers material.  BTW, I'll call my friend
who knows Hula to give him the 411 on the projekt.  

BTW, if you see me on VooDoo records in the future, don't be suprised.


>I'm looking for some good new house-techno-rave-acid-ambient ...

I will append an article you mind find *quite* useful..

>Remember, I don't like bullshit like 2 Unlimited and Church of Ecstasy and I  
>almost am completely sick of Moby!  Innovation please!

I know what you want..deeeeep shit.


>P.S.  You know, I would like to see Dee-lite do a cover of A Taste of Honey's  
>"Boogie Oogie Oogie" just for old time's sake!  By the way, where is RuPaul?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Leave it alone!!!

Here's the posting:


This was submitted to the BPM mailing list by Xjammer:

Blackwood	"I Feel You"	BGM
A:	N.Y. Mix
	Instrumental
B:	Underground Mix

What can I say, this track is one big house cliche. Sample "Can you feel
me?/I feel you", add piano, add house beat, throw in some transform type
effects. I don't really hate it, but it ain't no classic. Useful for mix
fodder.

Todd Terry	"Sound Design"	TNT
A:	"Found Romance"
	"Year of the Rock"
B:	"Hard As Hell"
	"Logan's Running"
	"Love You More, Dark Mix"

Okay, you know the routine now. Bass heavy kickdrum or tom. Ancient high
hat. Standard snare. Either you know and love Todd Terry by now, or you
can't stand him (Although the "Dreams of Santa Anna '92" mix was kick ass
for everybody). Well this is nothing more than the Todd Terry Project
continued. I'm sort of ambivalent. Each track is good for about 1 minute
then you get sick of em. Makes for real good DJ fodder though. "Found
Romance" swipes from the Emotions and adds a little scat. "Year Of the
Rock" starts out with this really goofy live concert sample, breaks out a
nasty guitar sample, and then starts looping on that old "Acid Crash" sound
and Run going "king of rock". "Hard as Hell" is a  hip-hop style breakbeat
cut while "Logans Running", the best track, is a spacey high speed NY style
synth track. "Love You More..." is Todd at his worst, boring as hell.

Scarlett	"Look No More"		Clubhouse
A:	Jazzy Vocal
	Instrumental
	New Dub
	Re-Drum
B:	House Remix
	Remix Dub
	Underground Mix

This is another Cajmere production, which I usually tend to like. This one
is only middling shooting for middle of the road diva type house. Echoing
the current trends at Clubhouse records most of the mixes feature real
heavy bass strings and that mutant sax that Steve "Silk" Hurley originated.
Don't kill yourself to get this but it might be worthwile for some.

Chocolette	"Get Your Act Together"		B.O.P.
A:	B.O.P. Til You Drop Mix
	B.O.P. Stru Mental
B:	B.O.P. Jump Mix
	B.O.P. Radio Joint

I can't say much about the other mixes but the B.O.P. Til You Drop mix
grabs me. Yet another diva track but not of the screaming kind. This track
has a very "casual" feel. Nothing overwrought and some long drawn out soft
"heyeyeahs". The huge intro on the 'Til You... mix makes for great mixing.

DH Pinhas	"Babaji"	JackPot
A:	Club Mix
B:	Dub Mix

Straight from Italy comes a deepish italo-house track. Up there on the BPM
scale (for house at least) but deep due to the cross between Ralphi
Rosario's "You Used to Hold Me" and DSK's "What Would We Do". Not so
concidentally, DSK gets a production credit. Screaming divas, lots of
piano, only good for deep house knuckleheads like me.

Intruder	"U Got Me"	???
A:	Vocal
B:	Dub

Not much bang for the buck but still a worthwile find. This is essentially
the second coming of Coco Steel and Lovebomb's "Feel It". "U Got Me" has
that same sleazy, late night beat. On top are lots of Paula Brion "Power"
samples and Loleata's "You got me burnin' up". The artists look like some
kind of basement operation from the label so be forewarned that the
pressing may not be the greatest in the world.

Chez Damier	"Can U Feel It"		KMS UK
A:	Radio-Active Mix
	Club Mix
	Low & Sleazy Mix
B:	Club Vocal
	Dubly Dub
	NY Dub

Well, I managed to listen to all six of these mixes in one sitting. Most of
the mixes are variations on the Radio-Active Mix, a garage style house cut
full of piano, string, snare, and smooth male vocals. It's actually pretty
good stuff in the deep house vein. But he killer mix is the NY Dub. It
sounds exactly like something Masters at Work would do. It's sweet and
mellow with eerie strings and a scat like vocal loop. For the Masters at
Work fans, this is a must buy.

The Toy Factory	"Thinking About You b/w Like, Like"	Random Access
A: 	Like, Like
B:	Thinking About You

Wait, I've been timewarped back to 1988. It's the acid house (chicago
style) craze revisted. "Like, Like" sounds exactly like something that
Phuture, Lidell Townsell, or any of those other Trax vets would have done.
Five minutes of high hat, big beat, snares and loop of "Li,li,like,like".
"Thinking About You" is quite similar but the basics of the beat and snare
are closer to Todd Terry. The sample is swiped from Stevie Wonder (would
that be "All I Do"??) and they got enough of Stevland's accompaniement to
mellow out the track and make it solid.

Politix of Dancing	"I Know b/w Swirls"	Strictly Rhythm
	"I Know"
A:	Digitex Mix
	Groove Me Baby Mix
	P.O.D. Bonus Mix

	"Swirls"
B:	Original Mix
	EFX Wild Pitch Mix
	Extrahump Bonus Mix

I think this is Northern California's first attempt to really break into
the deep underground sound. The producers, DJ Digit of BPM Music Factory
Fame, and DJ EFX, are stalwarts of the Bay Area underground. Not a fabulous
entree, but pasasble.

"Swirls", DJ EFX's contribution is ambient in the NuGroove sense of
ambient. Extrememly mellow to the point of boredom. All mixes feature neat
swirling synthesizer sounds over standard house beats. The Wild Pitch mix
is the most interesting to me.

"I Know" is much more interesting to me, due to the "Groove Me Baby Mix".
Think of the sound from "Stella" shortened and run in rapid fire
progressions. Toss in a heavy snare and a few electric organ sounds. Add
beat. It works. It's a total dance floor track though, not really for home
listening. The other mixes are ok, but this one made it a worthwile buy for
me. 

Madd Noise	"The Pinnacle EP"		Strictly Rhythm
	Hot Chocalate
A:	With Marsh Mellows
	Just Add Water
B:	Blow The Horn
	Whatta Day
	Listen for the Chant

Deep, deep, deep. Did I say deep? "Hot Chocolate With Marsh Mellows" starts
out nice and mellow and then melts you with a great male vocal loop. Then
later on when it's just about to get boring kicks in with the "I Need You,
I Wantcha, I Got to have you" loop as well. Then there's the saxophone,
real playing I believe, over top of all to bring it together. Not
revolutionary, but will make you melt. Deep, very deep. This one track
makes the whole wax worth it.

"Blow the Horn" is a similar mellow track but relies on the saxophone more
to less success. It's a little faster paced as well. "Whatta Day" is
basically a hip-hop break beat. "Listen For the Chant" is standard house
with African chanting samples and cool horns to boot. Decent if not fabulous.


The Cover Girls	"Wishing On A Star"	Epic
A:	12" Mix
	Magic Sessions & Vocal Dub
B:	Jeep 12"
	LP Version

A question: can the combined talents of Cover Girls hope to match the
singing ability in Rose Royce's pinky? The rest is left as an exercise to
the reader.

However, ignore the fact that Rose Royce actually recorded the same song
and amazingly enough, with a lot of production, the LP version stands on
it's own. The Jeep 12" is a rather uninteresting hip-hop style version. The
12" mix is overproduced but might be useful on the dance floor.

Oh, I forgot to mention some of the producing credits: Todd Terry, "Little"
Louie Vega, Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez, and Tony Humphrys. So of course the Dub
is the best track on here. I don't know who contributed what but I bet Todd
did the killer synth sound, the MaW did much of the layering and Tony
contributed the sappy ending. But this track is the *shit* for deep house
types like me. 5 minutes or so of beautifully layered progressions. Must
buy.

Spooky	"Don't Panic"	Guerilla Records
A: 	Weird and Spooky Mix
B: 	Hoojie Mix
	Piano Mix

This one took a while to hit me. It's closer to a techno cut than deep
house but the Piano Mix is definitely deep. Somehow it grabbed me in the
store but when I first got it home I was regretting it. Now, I think this
is the best of this bunch I'm reviewing. All three mixes are solid. The
Weird and Spooky mix is standard deep house, but the Hoojie Mix kicks. It's
sort of spacy in its use of synth but it has a wicked cold block beat
combined with samples from Illusion's "Illusion". Then there's this weird
goofy high speed vocal sample that I cannot make out or describe. But trust
me it's the shit.

2 cents reviews

The Neville Brothers -- "Fly Like An Eagle"
Tito Puente -- "Para Los Rumberos"
More MaW dub. More smooth and mellow excellence.

The Latin Kings -- "I Want To Know (Quiero Saber)"
Rare Arts featuring R.I.C -- "Yeah (I Got You Movin)"
Two solid hip-house tracks with dj useful instrumentals

The Daou -- "Surrender Yourself"
11 minutes of slammin spookiness.

Orange Lemon -- "Dreams of Santa Ana '92 Remix"
Slammin'. Todd Terry comes up with yet another killer sound.

Rhithm is Rhithim -- "Strings of Life '92"
Pure unadulterated ambience. How can just a high hat, electric piano, and
wood block sound so beautiful?

Jam & Spoon -- "Stella Remixes"
Nothing is as good as the original.

Ralphi Rosario -- "An Instrumental Need b/w Falco Ritmo"
Deep instrumental dub type stuff reminiscent of the St. Etienne remixes.

Quadrophonia -- "Schizophrenia"
A really dumb techno track, but I'm having fun with it.

New Atlantic -- "I Know"
Those flutes had you fooled but the the techno mix is a totally different
song with a great groove.

Lil Louis -- "Club Lonely"
Where does Lil Louis come up with those wacky women? 
"Miss Thang (snap) there is no djs list toniiight!"

Last words, I checked out Club Evolution in SF two weekends ago. "Little"
Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. There were three really cool things
about the shift they did:
I. The DJ "booth" was set up right at one end of the floor and was open
air. Thus you could watch the Masters at Work do their thing from about a
yard away.
II. Despite this fact, I saw *noone* even approach and bug the djs. I knew
I was home then.
III. They used 4 turntables simultaneously.

Of course the music was fabulous.

Later dayz doodz.

xjam@cork.Berkeley.EDU  	Fiiiive Thousand Boomin Watts...... -The JBeez

They can't come on and play me in prime time, 	    | Free Millipede coin op
Cause I know the time, cause I'm gettin' mine.	    | and House music at my
I get on the mix late in the night... -Public Enemy | place! Drop by sometime.


--
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Mr. Christopher L. Gray   * Blak Kings and Queens 
clg1@ra.MsState.edu       *     Come Forth! 
BLAKNESS*BLAKNESS*BLAKNESS*BLAKNESS*BLAKNESS*BLAKNESS