Finn Johannsen – Live At Phonographe 6 ans, La Rotonde, Paris, November 10th 2016
Posted: December 8th, 2016 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Mixes | Tags: La Rotonde, Paris, Phonographe Corp | No Comments »
@ Phonographe Corp 6 ans
Posted: November 7th, 2016 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Gigs | Tags: Another Pixel, Batu, La Rotonde, Paris, Phonographe Corp, Saint-James | No Comments »
Finn Johannsen – Kotti Hill Carnival Vibes
Posted: August 26th, 2016 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Mixes | Tags: Bomb The Bass, Carlton, Coldcut, Eric B & Rakim, Groove, Lewis Taylor, Marc Almond, Neneh Cherry, Paris, Pet Shop Boys, Radio, Talk Talk, The Clash, The Orb, The Style Council | No Comments »A set of mixes with some downtempo favourites.
Massive Attack – Safe From Harm (12“ Version)
Sade – Feel No Pain (Nellee Hooper Remix)
Billy Mackenzie – Free
The Fatima Mansions – Everything I Do (I Do It For You You)
Alyson Williams – I Need Your Lovin’ (Extended Remix)
La Rue – Wish I Could Find Another (12“ Jeep Mix)
Lewis Taylor – Bittersweet
The Cure – Pictures Of You (Extended Remix)
Golden – Don’t Destroy Me
The Style Council – Long Hot Summer (Tom Mix)
Everis – Love Has Arrived
Carlton – Come On Back (Mad Professor Remix)
Neneh Cherry – Manchild (The Old School Mix)
Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians – What I Am (Soul II Soul Remix)
Double Trouble – Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (Back To Bassics Mix)
Oleta Adams – Rhythm Of Life (Full Length Version)
Emma Haywoode – Don’t Poison Me
Mica Paris – If I Love U 2 Nite (Nellee’s Club U 2 Nite Mix)
Towa Tei – Technova (Smith & Mighty Flavour No. 2)
Bomb The Bass – Love So True (Depth Charge Remix)
Candy Flip – Strawberry Fields Forever
Sugar Daddy – Sweet Soca Music (Remix Instrumental)
Bomb The Bass – Winter In July (Brighton Daze Mix)
Less Stress – Don’t Dream It’s Over
The Wiseguys – The Real Vibes
—
Dream Warriors & Gang Starr – I Lost My Ignorance (Tim Bran Remix)
Ruthless Rap Assassins – Just Mellow (Amazon Mix)
Chapter & The Verse – Keep On It (Towerblock Rock Mix)
Saint Etienne – Avenue (Venusian Mix)
Mark Stewart – Stranger Than Love
Movement 98 – Joy And Heartbreak (The Raid Mix)
Smith & Mighty – Anyone (Remix)
Fresh 4 – Wishing On A Star
The Wild Bunch – The Look Of Love
The Cure – Close to Me (Closer Mix)
Talk Talk – Life’s What You Make It (Fluke Remix)
Soul II Soul – Keep On Movin’ (Club Mix)
Coldcut – Autumn Leaves (Nellee Hooper Vocal Mix)
McKoy – Family (Radio Mix)
Smith & Mighty – Walk On Remix
Carlton – Love And Pain (Drum & Bass Mix)
Bomb The Bass – Say A Little Prayer
Robert Palmer – Every Kinda People (Reproduction Extended)
Chapter & The Verse – Bloodless Coup (Surf’s Up Slight Return)
Robyn – Searching
Charlene Smith – Feel The Good Times (Old School Mix)
M People – Search For The Hero (Smith & Mighty Dub)
Pet Shop Boys – Hey Headmaster
—
B.E.F. Feat. Green Gartside – I Don’t Know Why I Love You (But I Love You)
Saint Etienne – Spring
Leta Davis – You’ll Never Get To Heaven
Propaganda – Heaven Give Me Words (The Beat)
Beats International – In The Ghetto (Version Three)
Azizi – Midnight Lover (Full Moon Mix)
Sybil – Don’t Make Me Over
Maureen – Thinking Of You (Rock Steady Mix)
Beats International – Dub Be Good To Me
Carlton – Cool Nature (Massive Sounds Remix)
Marc Almond – My Hand Over My Heart (Grit And Glitter Mix)
Pleasure – Please (Future Mix)
The Bygraves – Set Me Free (Alexander Park Mix)
Tammy Payne – Free
Smith & Mighty – Same
Reborn – Right To Be (Epic Mix)
Massive Attack – Daydreaming (Brixton Bass Mix)
—
Martine Girault – Revival
Loose Ends – Don’t Be A Fool (Extended Version)
Soul Family Sensation – I Don’t Even Know If I Should Call You Baby
Lalomie Washburn – Try My Love (Radio Mix Extended Vinyl Version)
The Clash – Return To Brixton
Banderas – This Is Your Life (Easy Life Mix)
Azizi – Don’t Say It’s Over
Ruth Joy – Soul Power (Soul Mix)
Massivo Feat. Tracy – Loving You (Summer Breeze Mix)
Sade – Paradise (Remix)
Soul II Soul – Back To Life (12“ Mix)
Nomad Soul – Candy Mountain (Nellee Hooper Remix)
Soul II Soul – Get A Life (Club Mix)
Eric B & Rakim – Paid In Full (Coldcut Remix)
Bassomatic – Fascinating Rhythm (Lisa Loud Mix)
P.M. Dawn – Set A Drift On Memory Bliss (Ultimix)
Coco, Steel And Lovebomb – T.S.O.E. Part 1
William Orbit – Water From A Vine Leaf (Radio Edit)
Massive Attack – Any Love (2)
Saint Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart
World Of Twist – Sweets (Barratt 200 Mix)
Joanna Law – First Time Ever (Mellow Groove)
The Sindecut – Slow Down (Part 2)
—
Intime – Second Sight
The Family Stand – Ghetto Heaven (Remix)
Shades Of Black – Blurton Road (A Chance In Life)
Mary Pearce – Legacy
Saint Etienne – Kiss And Make Up
The Orb – Perpetual Dawn (Solar Flare Extended Mix)
Fresh 4 – Take Control
Kirsty MacColl – Walking Down Madison (Urban Mix)
Maureen – It’s My Life (Boilerhouse Remix)
Kiss The Sky – Livin’ For You
Neneh Cherry – I’ve Got You Under My Skin (Extended)
The Sindecut – Tell Me Why (Part 2)
Mantronix – Got To Have Your Love
Bomb The Bass – The Air You Breathe (Disco Mix)
Pressure Drop – You’re Mine (Club Mix)
Electronic – Get The Message (12“ Mix)
Detroit Spinners – Ghetto Child (7“ Boilerhouse Remix)
Stereo MCs – Two Horse Town
Fine Young Cannibals – I’m Not The Man I Used To Be (7“ Version)
Mica Paris – Young Soul Rebels (Remix)
Lisa M – People (Nellee’s Rave Mix)
Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy (Nellee Hooper Instrumental Mix)
Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
Rewind: Trusme on “Forevernevermore”
Posted: July 4th, 2016 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Interviews English | Tags: Daft Punk, Electronic Beats, Front, Paris, Radio, Rewind, Theo Parrish, Trus'me | No Comments »
In discussion with Trusme on “Forevernevermore” by Moodymann (2000).
I doubt that „Forevernevermore“ was your first encounter with Moodymann. Did you eagerly await his third album, and how did it grab you?
100% I didn’t know who Kenny was till I found a copy of “Forevernevermore” in my friend’s record bag. He had left his records at my house and I was doing the usual noseying though the records when I found this CD. I was completely into Slum Village, MadLib and Jaydee collecting the samples from Jazz to Disco. When I first played this CD, everything just became clear in my mind. This is the sound I was looking for, from Hip Hop, House, Jazz, Soul and Disco all rolled into one. I became obsessed, wanting to understand the production techniques and went on to discover the whole world of Detroit right after this. Three years on, Moodymann was playing my first LP launch in a pub on Oldham street, home to where I had been buying his records for the past few years. KDJ and Theo were just No.1 at that time in Manchester and I couldn’t help but be influenced by the whole sound.
It seems that Moodymann matured up to the release „Forevernevermore“ in terms of the album format. „Silent Introduction“ felt like an anthology of 12“ material, even though it worked as an album. But with „Mahogany Brown“ he already aimed at a listening experience more true to the format. Would you say he topped this with „Forevernevermore“?
Yes, for sure. The whole LP worked as a cohesive hour of music yet there was something at every turn that was unique and compelling to me as a listener. I related to this LP in more ways than one, due to it’s almost Hip Hop nature with intros and outros connecting the tracks and glueing the whole piece together. There are so many seminal tracks on the LP that are still played out in the clubs today, yet they are tracks that remain LP cuts and for home listening only. This ideology is what I have embraced in all four LPs that I have produced over the last 8-9 years, with something for the dancefloor, something for the car and wherever else that one listens to LPs these days.
You told me that you wanted to talk about the CD version of „Forevernevermore“, which has lots of interludes and skits, and hidden tracks. Do they form an alliance with the music that almost works like a radio play? What is the special appeal of it?
When I think of an LP, I think of A Tribe Called Quest, Marvin Gaye or The Verve even. All these LPs are constructed to be a continuous piece of music, in which the listener is taken on a journey from the beginning to the end. With the CD format, there is extra playtime in which intros and outros can give a context to the background and making of the LP. On the “Forevernevermore” CD you are taken into the home of KDJ, as he sits playing with ideas on the piano with his child, to the studio discussions and even to listening to his local radio for inspiration. Hidden right at the end of the CD is a live recording of three hard-to-find cuts from the KDJ label, mixed together after 2 mins of silence. In many ways the CD provides the platform for further expression as an artist in the format of an LP.
I think the sound of „Forevernevermore“ was a step forward in terms of his distinctive sound. It was still dense and immersive, but also more refined. Do you think Moodymann’s sound evolved on „Forevernevermore“ in comparison to earlier works? And was it for the better?
This was for sure in an LP sense his best work. It is what most people say as their favourite work, when talking about Moodymann. He carved a sound out all for himself and also derived a unique long player format that until then was not seen in the dance scene. Most underground dance LPs were merely a collection of 12” tracks but this felt more like a well thought-out process, something like Daft Punk would execute. I believe Peacefrog Records also helped in this process and pushed KDJ, as they did all their artists to reach even further. In many ways, earlier LPs were a collection of his previous works but “Forevernevermore” was an LP made from beginning to end with a single LP idea and it feels very much that way.
Tracks like the Disco led „Don’t You Want My Love“ display a confidence to transcend mere club credentials for traditional songwriting, a path he followed ever since. Is there a side to Moodymann the producer you prefer to others, or is it not necessary to differentiate his persona as an artist?
The marriage between your typical MPC studio production and live instrumentation was what set out Kenny on his own. Working with local artists like the percussionist Andres, bass with Paul Randolph and keyboards by Amp Fiddler, on top of that raw production sound was just so unique. The juxtaposition of quantised groove and loose musicianship created a genre of its own and is still being replicated today. This LP was the beginning of that sound and Kenny is still using this formula very much in his productions today.
How do you rate the albums Moodymann released since „Forevernevermore“? Were they up to par with your expectations?
“Black Mahogani” is on par for me if not more refined than “Forevernevermore” but maybe it’s the rawness of the LP that better relates to me. With the following LPs I have enjoyed the productions but felt slightly less connection to the music I listen to and make today. Not that it’s not great music, but I started to feel that the tracks in the EP releases didn’t have that Peacefrog touch of which I’m such an admirer. The LP process began to evolve towards the creation of a new sound where he begins to sing and perform more as an artist and less in the background as a producer. Read the rest of this entry »
Finn Johannsen – Vocals Matter 03 (1988)
Posted: April 8th, 2016 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Mixes | Tags: Chicago, Inner City, Paris, Radio, Razormaid, The Blow Monkeys, Valentino, Vocals | No Comments »
Finn Johannsen – Vocals Matter Part 03 (1988) by Finn Johannsen on hearthis.at
Fingers Inc. – Can You Feel It (Vocal Version)
Turntable Orchestra – You’re Gonna Miss Me
Raze – Break 4 Love (English Version)
Kym Mazelle – Useless (Moody Mix)
Keith, Kat, & Blondie – Gotta Get Some Money (Ladies & Gents Vocal)
Sha-Lor – I’m In Love (Caught Up Version)
Adeva – Respect (12“ Extended Version)
Hanson & Davis – Can’t Stop (Vocal Dub)
Red Flag – Russian Radio (Razormaid Club Mix)
The Blow Monkeys – This Is Your Life (Long)
Will Downing – A Love Supreme (Psycho Supreme Remix)
Myoshi Morris – Muzik (Co-Ed Entertainment Mix)
Bigger Than Life! – World Of Make Believe (Vocal Mix)
Sterling Void – Runaway Girl (Pimp Dub)
Julian Jumpin’ Perez Feat. Valentino – Stand By Me (House Mix)
Rickster – Night Moves (Night House Mix)
Victor Romeo – Love Will Find A Way (Radio)
Inner City – Good Life (Mike Hitman Wilson’s Chicago Mix)
Fred Fowler – Times Are Changin’ (Extended Mix)
Masquerade – Real Love (Extended)
Fingers Inc- Never No More Lonely
Joe Smooth – I Try
Joe Smooth – Promised Land (Club Mix)
Paris – Learn To Love (Extended Mix)
Christian Alexander – Body & Spirit
Finn Johannsen – Vocals Matter Part 02 (1987)
Posted: April 8th, 2016 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Mixes | Tags: Ce Ce Rogers, Liz Torres, New Order, Paris, Paris Brightledge, Vocals | No Comments »
Finn Johannsen – Vocals Matter Part 02 (1987) by Finn Johannsen on hearthis.at
ABC – The Night You Murdered Love
Park Avenue – Don’t Turn Your Love (Dangerous Mix)
Jine – Take It To The House (12“ Extended)
Joe Church – Don’t You Wanna Be Mine (Club Mix)
E.S.P. – It’s You (Vocal)
Liz Torres – What You Make Me Feel (Fierce Mix)
Jomanda – I’ll Give It To You (Seduction Mix)
Blaze – Whatcha Gonna Do (Vocal)
Raze – Let The Music Move U
New Order – True Faith Remix
C.T. Satin – I Found A Friend (Club Version)
Ten City – Devotion (Club Mix)
Blaze – If You Should Need A Friend (Friendship Mix)
Jeff Young – My Night Time
Frankie Hollywood And The Heat – Feel The Fire (House Mix)
House Master Baldwin Feat. Paris Grey – Don’t Lead Me (Medusa’s House Mix)
Ragtyme – I Can’t Stay Away (Power Pella)
House To House Feat. Kym Mazelle – Taste My Love
Ce Ce Rogers – Someday
The Night Writers – Let Music Use You (Club Mix)
Sterling Void & Paris Brightledge – It’s All Right (House Mix)
Fingers Inc. – A Love Of My Own (Extended Club Mix)
David Bowie – Blackstar
Posted: January 19th, 2016 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Reviews, Texts English | Tags: Anthems, Berlin, David Bowie, Electronic Beats, Interview, Paris, Radio | No Comments »
I loved a lot of David Bowie songs throughout my life. His landmark albums from the early 70s were still a staple of the radio shows I recorded to cassettes from the mid 70s on. Glam anthems, way ahead to my ears then what became of it in the charts around that time. Glam outfits that were equally way ahead. David Bowie was already somewhere else, of course, anticipating the Disco phenomenon I would soon so love, with Philly’s finest. Then following that up with the Berlin trilogy that would inspire legions to create something great, and look great while doing it, too. Then, when I ran around in 60s clothes in my early 80s coastal smalltown youth, I discovered that he already had been there in the best way imaginable, and his early Pye singles were exactly the attitude and sound I was looking for. He was the definite face. He made no mistakes. He even descended to the kids he created with „Ashes To Ashes“, and he blessed them, as they worshipped him. He was a terrific actor on screen as well, making good use of his ever magnetic charisma and sexually confusing identities there, too. Whatever he did, you watched him very closely, else you could have missed out on crucial developments.
When „Let’s Dance“ was announced as being produced by Nile Rodgers, another inerrable hero of mine, I had the highest expectations, but then could not help feeling let down. There were moments, but not enough of them. And in the period of the mid 80s shortly after, pop’s most successful stars could earn a fortune without even the slightest vision (let alone sound), and David Bowie simply became one of them. As soon as he was dancing in the street with Mick I was just embarrassed. Even his outfits were embarrassing. I was really surprised that this could happen. Enter the years of hit and miss. For every glimpse of his former cool self resurfacing, „Absolute Beginners“ or „Hallo Spaceboy“ for example, he took decisions that were unforgiveably below his par, think Tin Machine, among others. Given, you cannot be visionary forever, however visionary you once were. And David Bowie was more constantly visionary than anybody else, for a long time. But the visions at one point were had by others. Not surprisingly he displayed a clever instinct for picking the right ones to utilize for his purposes, but still they were attached. I did not mind, he was performing the elder statesmanship with grace, and as so many artists were still working ideas he already had before, there was nothing left to prove, only if he wanted to. So screw the stock bonds. I sincerely felt happy for him and his family. He deserved it. Then he kind of disappeared.
When he reappeared in 2013, it felt like out of the blue. „Where Are We Now?“ was the first song of his in years I listened to repeatedly. It was beautiful and it felt good to have him back. I was slightly surprised by its sadness, but I thought it was quite a statement to base its sentiment about the most lauded creative period of your career. It challenges comparisons, and I was sure he was still creatively ambitious enough to try and deal with them, no matter what he achieved before. „The Next Day“ was a good album, too. He did not try to reinvent himself, he looked back on what he invented. I visited the Bowie exhibition that was doing the same in Berlin, just in time before it closed, and I enjoyed it very much. It all came back, rather predictably. His stage outfits on display proved he was a small man, but he surely did not have a small mind.
I did not expect that he would follow that retrospective phase so soon, if at all. And I absolutely did not expect that he would follow it up with an album like „Blackstar“. As before, David Bowie chose to remain silent, relying on producer Tony Visconti to reveal the news of its release. I read his trusted cohort doing that in an interview while travelling. He spoke of references like Kendrick Lamar, Death Grips and Boards Of Canada, and that rock and roll was to be avoided. David Bowie recruited a potent jazz quartet from a New York bar for the recordings. It was all rather promising. When I got asked to write these lines I initially wished I could have listened to the entire album when he was still alive, as I was already overwhelmed to the point of numbness by the reactions to his sudden demise. But when I then listened to it, it became obvious very quickly that he was fully aware that he would have passed away once the public would be fully exposed to it. And that it is pivotal to picture the dying artist for the whole experience. The songs are brilliant. Complex and dense, or just stunning, indeed avoiding rock and roll stereotypes, even if the jazz only adds to the picture instead of dominating it. The mood is intense, but it is not entirely dark. Thinking of the motivation behind this album, David Bowie sounds astonishingly swinging, his beloved voice delivering clever lyrics ranging between the horror of his own decay and the feeling of arriving there content, at ease with himself, with truths simultaneously personal and universal. The video to „Lazarus“ is frightening to watch, but comically absurd as well. The last photographs of him taken show him in a sharp suit, lauging. The way he orchestrated his own requiem is incredible, exactly as he wanted to, and as only he could. Being David Bowie, setting lasting examples yet again. Superior, even in death.
Finn Johannsen – Live @ Digger’s Delight, Underclub, Paris, September 4th 2015
Posted: September 7th, 2015 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Gigs | Tags: Paris, Underclub | No Comments »@ Digger’s Delight
Posted: August 31st, 2015 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Gigs | Tags: Another Pixel, Kondo Mane, Paris, Underclub | No Comments »
Rewind: Call Super on “My Answer”
Posted: June 4th, 2015 | Author: Finn | Filed under: Interviews English | Tags: Abacus, Call Super, Charley's Vault, Chicago, Derrick Carter, Electronic Beats, Glasgow, London, Luke Solomon, Paris, Rewind | No Comments »
In discussion with Call Super on “My Answer” by Charley’s Vault (2000).
How did you come across „My Answer“? Was it in a record store, or in a club?
A club. The End in London.
Why does this record mean so much to you? Is this a time capsule of a certain kind? What is its appeal?
It very much is. Although it is of its time in certain ways I don’t really feel it has dated. It was a record that I heard quite a few times before I had any idea who it was. I was usually too shy to ask DJs back then and there were lots of tracks that you would hear and just know because you’d heard them before and maybe one day you’d actually turn it up in a store, or meet someone in the club who could tell you, or it got used on a mix. Which is how I found out what this one was.
The thing I love so much about it is it creates a mood that is perfect at any time of the night or morning. It has the exact balance of menace, tension, joy and release that the perfect DJ tool needs. The mixdown is really nicely done, the way it ebbs, flows and kicks at certain points. I have a distinction between what often gets called ‘tools’ which to my ear are usually just drum tracks with a stab or a pad or something and the really useful stuff which usually has a fair bit more going on and can always take you up, down, reset, roll out, maintain… anything that you ask of it. This is one of those tracks.
I guess most people stay true to their formative years in the clubs of their youth. What made The End so special?
It was a club that was very well designed. Loosely based upon The Tunnel in New York but with a crucial difference of placing the booth in the middle of the floor so the DJ was cocooned by the crowd, who were in turn were cocooned by the sound system. The fact that this set up existed in a tunnel created two opportunities. The first was that it was very easy to lose yourself at the back by the system without feeling any disconnection from the place. The second was that this architecture created a particular atmosphere that I think must have meant certain DJs would have fun in a way that more disconnected settings don’t encourage. Its obviously a truism to say that good DJs play to the setting they are in, whilst bad DJs do the same thing no matter where they are. Well, this was a space that I feel coaxed the best from people.
I went maybe twice a month on average for about two years, then less frequently for the next few years because I had relocated to Glasgow, but in that time almost every night held surprises at what had been played, or how it had been played. The video of Mills covers a little of that ground. You cannot understate the importance of having these experiences to draw on when you end up doing this for a living, your own constellation of places and people that inspired you. That’s what gives you your distinct voice and I feel massively grateful to have had that club incubating me. Read the rest of this entry »
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