Under Me
The Major Enemy
I’m On Fire
The Things You Do To Me
Ha Ha
Mud Up
Trackin’
Tobago
The Living Groove
You Want
Near You
Prayer
Prayer (Remix)
Real
Real (Dubwize)
Euro-Disney Pt. 1 & 2
Goin’ Thru Changes
Feel The Fire (Nature Boy Dubwiezer Dub)
Whatchusay (Dubwize)
Whatchusay (Demo Mix)
On Your Side
Philly Bound
Relax Man!
Love is the message special, in originals, edits and samples
Ellis D – Just Like A Queen (Share The Throne Mix)
The House Crew Feat. Bonz – Dance To The House (Smooth Dub)
Sax Machine – Love Is The Message (The Love Workout Mix)
MFM Orchestra – Love Is The Message (Bass In Ya Face Mix)
Nancy Martin – Can’t Believe (Instrumental)
Trammps – What Happened To The Music (Dub Mix)
Nature Boy – You Want…
David Ian Extrvaganza – Elements Of Reprise (Johnny Dynell Mix)
Jose & Luis – Queen’s English (Royal Club Mix)
Malcolm McLaren And The Bootzilla Orchestra – Deep In Vogue (Banjie Realness)
The Salsoul Orchestra – Love Break (Remix)
Ellis D – Dub Break (Long Version)
FRS – Love Is The Message
MFSB – Love Is The Message
Over the 80s and 90s I spent a lot of time per week digging through a tiny store called Plattenkiste in my hometown of Kiel, up North in Germany. The store was rammed with stacks of records, filthy paperbacks, VHS tapes and video games. It was all completely unsorted, and whenever they did their regular flea market stints, they just rearranged it all back randomly and you had to start all over again. The store was operated by a family business, a couple and their daughter, and neither of whom had even a vague interest in what they were selling, nor any knowledge. The only music playing was an oldie radio station, constantly. They bought record collections from local DJs, Danish libraries and any private person in need of money. Every record in the store then cost 2 Deutschmarks, regardless of format, and later 2 Euros. It was a total goldmine, where I found a good deal of my record collection, and even if it now has dried up compared to its former glory days, I still find bargains there whenever I go back to visit family and old friends.
One of the finds with the most impact on me has to be “Ruff Disco Volume One” by Nature Boy, which was released on NYC based Black Label in 1992, and which I discovered in the store a year later, probably left there by some local DJ in search of some funky House tunes for the rather commercial clubs of the town. Given that purpose, this particular record was really bound to fail. Apart from myself I never hear it played in clubs for years to come. Disco actually was the theme throughout, and its samples mainly shared the same heritage used in the freestyle based releases of early 90’s New York House labels. But that was it completely in terms of similarities. These tracks deconstructed Disco thoroughly, down to a primitive core that was just incredibly rugged and dark. It kicked determinedly, but all the glitz of its sample references were twisted to a muffled mess, and you were rather thrown out into the back alley through the back door than swayed through the velvet rope on the other side of the building. The record was and is totally visionary, and it preceded what the mid 90’s Chicago trackstyle or Detroit House producers would make of Disco, albeit arguably not this radical and daring.
This was pre-internet, so it took me some more years to find out the producer behind it was DJ Milo from Bristol‘s legendary Wild Bunch sound system, and then I loved it even more. You could snatch up copies of it for little money for a really long time, but last I checked that changed dramatically, and these few words probably won’t help. Then again, it might help to get it reissued. Else, dig and you shall find.
(photo by Tom Lawton, very early morning @ Summer Sound System, Glasgow, 2005)
These days the Discogs Marketplace seems to outweigh the website’s initial purpose of building a research database and there is a lot of talk about the value of certain releases, and less talk about what said releases actually sound like. So I decided to compile this playlist by organizing my collection at Discogs for the highest median prices fetched at the Discogs Marketplace, and then selected items from the first pages that in my opinion justify demand by classic status. If this is what is wanted by so many Discogs users, you can thus have an impression of how the records sound in action, and decide for yourself if they are worth the effort. Items sought after due to recent hype and speculation efforts by producers, labels and sellers of any kind were decidedly neglected.
Dedicated to all the people who created the monster, and to those who do not abuse it. I salute you.
Andthoney & M. Kinchen – The Feeling (Prescription)
Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid (Deep Water Mix) (Power Move)
Vil-N-X- What Cha Gonna Do (Vil-N-X Stra Mental Mix) (Island Noyze)
DJ Sprinkles – Bassline.89.1 (Comatonse)
Nature Boy – Unda Me (Ruff Disco Records)
Unknown Artist – Untitled (Magnet Sounds)
Jovonn – Back 2 The House (Goldtone)
Shake – 5% Solution (KMS)
Unknown Artist – Untitled (Chicago Underground)
Kikrokos – Life’s A Jungle (Ron’s Edits)
K. Alexi Shelby – My Medusa (Transmat)
The Prince And The Wizard – The Music Is Kickin’ (City Limits)
Gherkin Jerks – Parameters (Alleviated)
Ace & The Sandman – Let Your Body Talk (Saber)
Schatrax – Restless Nights (Schatrax)
The System – You’re In My System (Atmospheric Dub) (Ibadan)
Unknown Artist – Untitled (Other Side)
Boo Williams – Make Some Noise (Relief)
Circulation – Emotions Unknown (++Force Mix) (Balance)
Freaks – 2 Please U (Surreal Visits Dub) (Playhouse)
Moodymann – I Feel Joy (KDJ)
MD – Cold Cuts (United States Of Mars)
Octave One – Nicolette (430 West)
Vincent Floyd – I Dream Of You (Dance Mania)
Low Key – Lovemagic (Serious Grooves)
John Beltran Feat. Open House – Earth & Nightfall (Sinewave)
Claude Young – Dream Of Another Time (Utensil)
Fingers Inc. – A Love Of My Own (Extended Club Mix) (Alleviated)
B.F.C. – Please Stand By (Retroactive)
Mix first contributions for mnml ssgs, which really was an excellent blog.
Two mixes recorded for mnml ssgs
Rydims – Rydim#2 (Version) (Nu Groove)
Mike Shannon Feat. Fadila – Under The Radar (Ricardo Villalobos Mix) (Cynosure)
Soylent Green – Low Pt. 1 (Playhouse)
The Prince Of Dance Music – E-3, E-6, Roll On (City Limits)
Badawi – Dstry<All>Prfts (Shackleton Remix) (Cargo Records)
Hertsi – Oodi Sähkölle (Sähkö)
Da Sampla – The Rider (Moods & Grooves)
Wax – 30003 B (Wax)
DJ Duke – Escape From New York B2 (Power Music)
Never On Sunday – Urban Rains (430 West)
Laurent X – Drowning In A Sea Of House (House Nation)
Keith Tucker – It’s A Mood (Seventh Sign)
Dettmann – Vertigo (Vincent Kunth Remix) (Ostgut Ton)
Nature Boy – The Major Enemy (Black Label)
4th Measure Men – The Need (Henry Street Dreams Mix) (Multiply)
Foremost Poets – Reasons To Be Dismal? (Instrumental Version) (Not On Label)
Buzzin Cuzzins Feat. Romanthony – Let Me Show You Love (Approach To Temple) (Azuli)
Raudive – Sienna (Macro)
Instra:mental – Let’s Talk (Naked Lunch)
Check here for background information
FCL – Let’s Go Seven (We Play House)
Ramadanman – Glut (Hemlock)
Scuba – You Got Me (Hotflush)
To Rococco Rot – Fridays (Shackleton’s West Green Rd Remix) (Domino)
Monolake – Alaska (Substance Remix II) (Monolake / Imbalance Computer Music)
Low Res – Amuck (Sublime)
Oni Ayhun – OAR004A (Oni Ayhun)
Julia Decay – Untoward (Scandinavia)
Rhythim Is Rhythim – Kaos (Juice Bar Mix) (Transmat)
DJ Bone – No Sleep (True To Da Roots) (Sect)
Mr. G – Life (One Dark Late Saturday) (Moods & Grooves)
The Oliverwho Factory – Rain 5th Wave (Madd Chaise Inc.)
Moodymann – Analog:Live (KDJ)
Grand High Priest – Mary Mary (We-Ze Records)
Shake – Psychotic Tango (Frictional)
Spencer Kincy – Don’t Stop (Cajual)
The Closer – Strong Meets The Weak (KMS)
Bim Marx – Stronger (Stilove4music)
Seit jeher gibt es diese Typen, die einen untrüglichen Riecher für wichtige Entwicklungen haben. Typen, die in irgendeiner Funktion den Wagen in Bewegung setzen, und dann längst abgesprungen sind, wenn die Mehrheit später einsteigt. Milo Johnson fing 1979 mit Auflegen an und war Teil des legendären Soundsystems The Wild Bunch aus Bristol, dessen andere Mitglieder später groß Karriere machten: Nellee Hooper ging zu Soul II Soul und der Rest wurde Massive Attack. Milo Johnson hingegen machte ebenso erfolgreich und metropolenübergreifend in Mode und Design und wurde sporadischer DJ und Produzent auf hohem Level, der seinem eigenen Erbe 2002 mit einer schönen Mix-CD auf Strut ein schönes Denkmal setzte. Von 1992 bis 1993 produzierte Milo eine Reihe äußerst merkwürdiger House-Platten, deren stilistischer Hintergrund sicherlich bei den Disco-, Electro-, und Dub-Klassikern seiner DJ-Laufbahn auszumachen ist. Zu jener Zeit war House mit Disco-Samples nichts Bahnbrechendes, Legionen von Latino-New-Yorkern hatten eigentlich schon alles ausgereizt was man mit Vocal- und Arrangementschnipseln aus dem Backkatalog der Traditionslabels von Salsoul bis West End und darüber hinaus anstellen konnte, und die große dekonstruktivistische CutUp-Offensive aus Chicago war auch schon in Vorbereitung. Was das Projekt Nature Boy dennoch einzigartig macht, ist die Art und Weise, wie mit den historischen Referenzen umgegangen wird. Durchgehend gibt es eine total kaputte Grundstimmung, die zum einen an Mülleimer-Beats und bis zur Verzerrung aufgedrehtem Bässen liegt, zum anderen daran, dass die Samples teilweise komplett losgelöst vom Originalkontext zu etwas zusammengesetzt werden, dass mit den ursprünglichen Verheißungen von Disco nicht mehr viel zu tun hat. Dieser Eskapismus wird nicht von Edelschampus befeuert, sondern vom billigsten Fusel. Die Samples sind nicht mehr als hinterhältige Lockvögel, Verkehrsschilder die verdreht wurden und einen Weg weisen, den man lieber folgen sollte, denn dort leuchtet nichts mehr und kaum jemand kam je zurück. Ruff Disco in der Tat, im ugliest Edit.
Nature Boy – Ruff Disco Volume One (Black Label, 1992)
Welcome to another Druffmix edition. The Druffalo Hit Squad is dedicating this one to the old school chapter of the International Disco Deconstructivist Conspiracy. Venceremos!
Johnny D & Nicky P – Like Morning
Agent X – In The Morning
Sensory Productions- Houseluck
House 101 – I Got The Music
Glenn Underground – I Need GU
Jellybean – Twilight Dome Pt. 2
Freestyle Orchestra – Twi-Lite
Glenn Underground – Functions
Mada – Good Stuff
Raw Grooves – Three
Markus Nikolai – Rood
Audiomatrix – Miss You
Level One – Give It Up
Nature Boy – Tobago
Travis Nelson – Breakin’ Rocks
Mike Dixon – Love Is…
Nail – Dancin’
Netto – Kula
DJ Spen – Tedd’s Beat Goes On
Johnny Dangerous – Kill For A Day
Daniel Wang – Not Feeling It
Whirlpool Productions – It Happened Last Night
Sound Stream – Motion
Stacy Kidd – Take It Easy
Paul Johnson – Hear The Music
Ghetto Godfathers – Love Junkie
Brother Of Soul – Eyes Of Love
Bim Marx – Stronger
Eddie Kendricks – Thank You For The Memories (Dam Edit)
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