The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Yes, yes I did. OK, you know the drill - it's a DJ set so it's going to have good bits and less good bits and not all of it is going to appeal to everyone. But these are the things that make up the soundtrack to my workdays, so here you go...

https://soundcloud.com/thefunkhunters/2018-shambhala-mix
2018 was the 20th anniversary of the Shambhala festival and this Funk Hunters set has a lot of "best of" feel. The tracks are a nice mix of the Hunters' stuff with other similar artists. I particularly like the "Hands Up" -> "Get Involved" -> "Hands Up remix" segment. But you know that. I also like the way they use bits and pieces of tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/jackedradio/afrojack-presents-jacked-radio-397
I could recommend pretty much any episode of Jacked Radio because I think they're all good. This one in particular caught my ear with the weird and slightly disturbing "Tequila" (by Dastic) opener. His repertoire, as you can hear here, includes a number of more vocal/lyrical and gentle tracks. But everything is still dance music. I particularly like the (uncredited) Bronski Beat remix in this set.

https://soundcloud.com/djroymiller/roy-miller-live-at-unicorn-131018
This is the Roy Miller set that I referenced a couple weeks ago (https://drwex.dreamwidth.org/1023532.html) when I blogged the first track "If You Leave Tonight". The track still haunts me and I love hearing it. The set is listed as "downtempo" but it's still got an energy. Unfortunately there's no tracklist for this set, which is preventing me from looking up more of the interesting pieces, including one that sounds like it's in Turkish or Arabic, which makes lyric searching (how I found 'If You Leave...') pretty damned impossible.

Arisia coming up, also snowstorm. But we're staying 'till Monday anyway so eight inches of snow followed by rain followed by a hard freeze won't be AAAANY problem, right? Dear gods. Anyway, I'm not likely to post (or even read) between Friday and Tuesday so if I don't do this now it ain't gonna happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyNwWTnCaEA
Caro Emerald's "Tangled Up" showed up on my Pandora modern swing station and I was like, "Oh!" In this clever Lokee remix you can hear the signature tenor line from "We No Speak Americano" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9Ed9DUQoQ) which was my introduction to the entire genre of modern swing lo these many years ago. It's neat to hear it again, even if it has taken me five years to find this particular track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhNirmwCTfQ
This one came out of a Sander Van Doorn set that I'll probably blog at some point because the whole set is pretty good. I particularly liked this Marco V track "Muraco's Godd", which I first blogged about almost exactly two years ago. The original is from like 2005 but this extended mix appears to be from just last year. It's still pretty hardcore and it gets me dancing.

https://soundcloud.com/guyhaliva/set-techno-afro-house-by-guy-haliva-2019
"Afro" sound tends to mean different things in different parts of the world. In America it often refers to various styles of African-American music, from hip-hop to reggae, and we call sounds from Africa "world" music. Elsewhere - like in Guy Haliva's native Israel - Afro music means music made with sounds and influences from the continent of Africa. Sometimes with native instruments or vocals and sometimes (as here) with electronica and samples built from those continental sounds. I like both, but "Afro" music in this sense has become more rare lately. So this set pleased me greatly.

https://soundcloud.com/thefunkhunters/sets/westwood-radio-006-by-the-funk
The question wasn't whether I would close out this entry with some funk. The question was which one to select. I've got four or five sets in open tabs. This hour-long entry from The Funk Hunters wins in part because it opens with Chali 2na and it's hard to go wrong with him. And it name-checks Satoishi Nakamoto so that's a thing. I'm really sad that the Funk Hunters' current tour won't bring them anywhere near where I live; I'll have to console myself with dancing at my desk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVtTNHkviGw&feature=youtu.be

"Get Involved", which I mentioned a couple weeks back, but I really like the video too (don't miss the prominent middle finger to Trump) and I'm thinking "you gotta get involved" may just need to be my new mantra. "And you are not alone."

People who would rather not have their ears filled with politics, gather 'round. DrWex has some other options for you. Herewith long sets you can play when you want the good stuff.

https://soundcloud.com/thefunkhunters/daft-funk-live-from-camp-ego-trip-burning-man-2016
A number of Burning Man performers have been posting their sets; I'll likely blog more. Right now, though I want to call attention to this one, which is The Funk Hunters "doing" Daft Punk. By "doing" I mean apparently they appeared on stage as Daft Punk, with the costuming and lights and all. Then they proceeded to do 45 minutes of funky interpretations of Daft Punk and Punk-style music. Worth noting is that despite having the heavy electro/synth of Daft Punk to work with they still brought a live saxophone player (GRiZ) on stage with them. As you'd expect, liking this set is going to depend on whether you like Daft Punk's music to begin with. I found the set extremely fun, danceable, and a great interpretation of the original.

https://soundcloud.com/dirtwire/dirtwire-burning-man-2016-mix
Next up in the Burning Man set review is this DJ Mix from Dirtwire. I thought I'd blogged them before but apparently not; they're a CA-based trio of remix/original artists who I found because David Satori is 1/3 of them and also 1/3 of Beats Antique. This set has a mellow and almost country-style twang sound combined with some of the complex rhythm patterns that you hear in some of B. A.'s better tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/allgoodrecs/all-good-radio-epi-06-the-geek-x-vrv
Returning to GRiZ, here he is hosting "All Good Radio", an hour mostly consisting of soulful, funky, danceable sounds from The Geek x Vrv. It really feels like this music should be coming out the open door of a smoky red-lit basement club somewhere very cool. Two sounds you'll hear in this set that I wanted to call out: first, GRiZ's own "Smash the Funk" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsSzq5h2-tc). I've heard this sampled approximately everywhere and it's worth pointing back to this version. Then there's Jenaux's remix of "I'll Take You" (https://soundcloud.com/jenaux/sets/mstr-rogers-ill-take-you). The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duTPsznmSlU) is not bad, but I don't like the way the high vocals are mixed in. In the remix you get the vocals moved to the background and made less aggressive and the front has a strong beat. IMO a really good example of how a remixer can take a track to the next level.

I have more Funk Hunters marked to share but I think I'll close out this post with a pair of remakes of old favorites instead:

https://soundcloud.com/jairthunderlight123/rock-the-phenomenal-queen-mashupjairb
Who doesn't love a "We Will Rock You" mash? Here someone calling themselves Jairb has mashed it with a WWE wrestling theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj9ala8nZ7U) - who knew wrestlers had theme music?

https://soundcloud.com/free-download-friday/dorade-wonkers-funky-cold-medina-remix-free-download
And for those old enough to remember and have some nostalgia for Tone Loc here I give you Dorade & Wonkers' take on "Funky Cold Medina". It's a little bit more disco than I'd like but the original was also a bit silly in its day so that's just in keeping with the theme.

Raise your hands if you're surprised. I blame a lack of good selections, plus listening to a lot of long-form items. The set of tabs I have for you today spans a vast set of styles.

https://soundcloud.com/migrant-beat-foundation/01-lo-end-dub-stop-the-war
Let's start off with a very chill dub mix from Lo End Dub via Migrant Beat Foundation, a collective put together to make music raising awareness and money for refugees, particularly those fleeing the Syrian civil war. If you like you can check out (and buy) the entire collection. I picked out this track because I think it's one of the best - I actually gave up about halfway through the collection because it went into areas I just didn't like. This is Lo End Dub (http://lo-enddub.bandcamp.com/) putting a sense of urgency into music that's normally very laid-back and mellow. I'm reminded of my first experiences listening to reggae and how those artists did a similar trick.

https://soundcloud.com/thefunkhunters/chali-2na-guns-up-the-funk-hunters-remix
Speaking of reggae, here's a really intense funky remix by The Funk Hunters (Nick Middleton & Peter Bowles) of Chali 2na's "Guns Up", which he recorded with Damian and Stephen Marley - yes THAT Marley family. The track has strong jungle influences, more than a little d&b, and even some electro-dub stylings mixed in. I'm not sure that the high BPM really fits with the reggae style, but it's good to see people trying things outside the familiar patterns and the remix is very respectful of the original vocals.

https://soundcloud.com/sirupmusic/barkley-know-me-original-mix
Dropping down into house/electro-house ranges, here's "Know Me" from Barkley. Apparently this is his debut but I keep thinking I've heard this before. The vocals on the track are night-music soulful and give me hope that this will be a name to watch.

http://www.vevo.com/watch/dada-life/tic-tic-tic/SE22J1500038
I can't believe I've been listening to Dada Life off and on for nearly a decade and yet never seem to have blogged them. They're Swedish and generally classed as electro-house, which this track definitely fits. The track is fronted by Lzzy Hale, who's generally known for metal but who shows up everywhere (like playing with Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Lindsey Stirling). I love the combination of house and metal aesthetics - my sole complaint is that the track is too short.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS8LN1HHSVo
And finally, here is Husman "Atmosphere", fronted by vocalist Kelly Sweet. I heard an extended mix of this in an Ummet Ozcan set list and went looking for the original, which I like much better. It's lovely vocal trance material that makes me really want to hear with less auto-tuning. Sweet has potential but the production almost overwhelms what she's doing.