DJ Stylus – The Vibe Conductor

Please get acquainted with our special guest for this Saturday. He’s an old friend, great selector and resident at Philly’s Basement Soul, which is a cousin to Sol Power.

Listen to Lil’ Dave at work!

Live at Basement Soul by lildave

His first solo release also makes babies do a combination of rumba and samba. I think this dance is called ’sumba’, which should be the name of his second solo release.

Afro.Latin.Brazilian.House.Disco.Funk
With your favorite Sol Power All-stars:
Stylus, Meistro, Deep Sang and special guest:

…Philly’s Lil’ Dave (illVibe Collective)

Come sweat to the rhythms of Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico & West Africa.
…Samba Whistles, Shekeres & Cowbells welcome!

Free before 11, just $5 after, and all beers are just $4 all night.

Saturday, Sept. 4
10 pm – 3 am
Dahlak
1771 U Street NW
Washington, DC

Yup. Back at it. And it’s Ed’s birthday too. Even got a new podcast for you from the last time we were there.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[download | right-click (PC) or CTRL-click (Mac) > 'Save As']
[subscribe in iTunes]

Wednesday, Sept. 1
10pm
U Street Music Hall
1115 U Street NW, WDC
<<< FREE ALL NIGHT, 18+ >>>

A bourgie around-the-way girl intellectual friend who retains a taste for the ‘hood and overthinks music as much as I do passed on an essay deconstructing the popularity of Rick Ross’ “B.M.F. (Blowing Money Fast)” among those who should know better. “But it’s just good, ignorant Negroidian fun,” my friend countered. I can relate, as I’m prone to enjoy a brilliant robbery anthem from time to time, even though I’m no fan of actual robberies. Then I came across an amusing B.M.F. YouTube spoof.

The only thing the original and the parody have in common is they underscored how puzzled I am about the song’s huge appeal.

Yes, I know that you know that I’m no Rozay fan. But in order to slow my descent into fogey-dom, I did give Teflon Don a thorough listen after patently ignoring Rawse’s entire ascent to the top of the rap game. And you know what? There are actually some certified joints. B.M.F. just isn’t one of them.

“Super High” is textbook drop-top music that sounds like DJ Quik at the top of his powers with Dr. Dre’s Chronic era session personnel. “No. 1″ is what club bangers used to be before the term was rendered toothless by snap music’s anemic spawn. “Maybach Music 3″ is sweepingly cinematic and “Free Mason” displays some conceptual flair. There is occasional decent rapping to be found in all of these songs.

But B.M.F? A tedious dirge at best. The cheesy orchestral synth patch and 808 combo is little more than a tortured droning, but the trend shows no sign of stopping. The verses bore after one rotation. And frankly, after 20 years of rappers adopting the names of every gangster and despot from Pablo Escobar to The Taliban and even Al Qaeda, I think the super criminal nickname swag can be laid to rest.

And the tempo? Can hip-hop get any slower in the 21st century? We’ll have to start measuring it not in BPM’s (beats per minute) but in SPB’s (syllables per bar). I think B.M.F. may average a good 12 SPB at most. Bamma might as well just be doing spoken word. More importantly, how the fuck do you dance to this shit? Would dougie-ing be appropriate?

Maybe I’m just old and don’t understand modern conspicuous consumption, fantasy rap. The simplest explanation is usually the most likely, even though I still love me some conspicuous consumption, fantasy rap.

I forgot this existed until I dug up some old cd’s while cleaning up the studio. Synergy was like Refuge, except it was a long, long time ago, back in the solely vinyl days.

This still sounds really good, especially for a live recording. And the style is also a fitting compliment to Gaia this Sunday.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[download | right-click (PC) or CTRL-click (Mac) > 'Save As' ]
[subscribe in iTunes]

Beanfield – Corso
Vikter Duplaix – Manhood
John Coltrane – Naima (4hero mix)
Chick Corea – The Slide
Angie Stone – Wish I Didn’t Miss You
Seek – Surrender
Gwen Guthrie – Ain’t Nothing Going On But the Rent (dub mix)
Lucy Pearl – Don’t Mess With My Man
Earth, Wind & Fire – Evil
Minnie Riperton – Gettin’ Ready For Your Love
Petal Pusher – Rely On Me
Tortured Soul – How’s Your Life? Part One
Abstract Truth – Get Another Plan
Seek – The Story Of Us
Meikbar – Sunshine
Kaskade – Brighter Day
Banda Favela – Samba 1250 (Alex Phountzi rmx.)
Shaun Escoffery – Let It Go
Nuspirit Helsinki – Get Over

This weekend is your last chance to experience Gaia’s run at The Fridge.

Saturday is Hip-Hop and Soul night. Sundays are days of rest, so my set will comprise chillout selections and gentle grooves.

Also, it’s my birthday.

Gaia at The Fridge
Sunday, August 22
4 – 8pm
Rear Alley, 516 8th St SE WDC
$10 at the door, or buy in advance

Yoko K and Aphrodizia (organic electronic music)
dj Stylus (classics and downtempo)
Dblend (video – animation)
Enoch Chan (light design)
Kim Reyes (body painting and body art on demand)
Kolai (flute, tenor sax)
Tom Pipkin (percussions)

When we first started Sol Power, the name itself was a commitment to eventually doing this party outdoors. We envisioned a multi-generational experience of people coming together to dance in the sunshine.

This weekend it will finally happen.

Lil SoSo Productions & 88 with support from Scion are proud to present:

THE SOL POWER BLOCK PARTY
SATURDAY AUGUST 14TH – 1PM-6PM – FREE!
Marie H Reed Recreation Center (Adams Morgan)
2200 Chaplain St NW DC (Enter from 18th St between Kalorama & Wyoming)

Afro.Latin.Brazilian.House.Disco.Funk

Featuring SOL POWER All-Stars: DJ STYLUS & MEISTRO
Plus Special Guests: JUAN ZAPATA & JOE L

Live percussion, mural painting and food vendors on site.
SOL POWER is a family friendly ALL AGES event.
Sweat to the rhythms of Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico & West Africa.
Samba whistles, shekeres & cowbells welcome!

Listen, download and share DJ Meistro’s Sol Power Block Party Promo Mix

Sol Power Block Party Promo by Meistro

Another entry in an ongoing series about the realities, challenges and tactics of spinning records in public for pay.

Inspired by a recent check-in on the folks over at Can You Play That One Song, I’ve finally decided to share a few of the missives that patrons have handed to me that didn’t end up jettisoned back at their foreheads in a wadded up ball.

As far as irksome behaviors go, letter writing is far less problematic then singing at me, yelling out track numbers or waving a cell phone in my face. It still exposes some curious thought patterns that we can begin exploring in this space. There are so many layered assumptions and entitlement issues. Let us begin.

Is this chronological or priority order? I guess they were doing me a favor by giving me some options to choose from and opening with a polite salutation. I could have made their heads explode if I played a mash-up of all of these. I’m sure one exists.

A humble approach and a quality pick? Rare indeed so take heed on how NOT to make me hate you.

I’m clearly not hip enough to know what this is. This person was clearly pleased with themselves.

I have no idea what this even means. I’m going to assume the emoticon represents sarcasm.

This must have had no other purpose than to elicit a chuckle. Well played.

I saved the best for last. I love the exaggerated greeting that attempts to mitigate the retardery of what follows. I don’t know who’s going around telling folks that DJs really care about your birthday but you might want to let that one go, unless you’re cutting checks. And there will never be Drake’s “Fancy” at an underground classics party that I’M playing. Not even if a tiddy pops out of your leopard print.

Stay tuned for more of these to come…

Lil SoSo and the Sol Power Allstars are back at Dahlak with live percussion from the one and only Kiran Ghandi (Eighteenth Street Lounge)!

Come sweat to the rhythms of Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico & West Africa.
…Samba Whistles, Shekeres & Cowbells welcome!

Free before 11, just $5 after, and all beers are just $4 all night (including the fancy ones)!

Saturday, August 7
10 pm – 3 am
Dahlak
1771 U Street NW
Washington, DC

Classic Soul, Hip Hop, Funk, Disco, House

Wednesday, July 28
10pm
U Street Music Hall
1115 U Street NW, WDC
<<< FREE ALL NIGHT, 18+ >>>

After 23 sessions since October of 2009, we’re retooling the Refuge concept and putting it on ice for a while. Stay tuned to this site for information on the next Refuge incarnation.

Thanks to everyone who came through to have a drink with friends, spend some quality time with progressive music, and occasionally party like it was your job. Shouts out to all of our special guests: Brett from Boundless, Zo!, Tamara Wellons, Erik Rico, Nicholas Ryan Gant and Stef Renee. We also had evenings devoted to exclusive presentations of projects by Anthony Velez, Silhouette Brown, Sade and Sergio Mendes.

I can’t leave you without another round of Refuge highlights from my last set. These are dedicated to everyone who loves what they hear enough to come up to me and ask for track titles. I appreciate that more than you know.

Suntzu Sound presents 1Luv – “Black Daylight” (Blakai remix)

You might recognize the Slope remix as the anthem for our beloved Daylight DC. Shouts to the Suntzu Sound famalam out in Seattle. Blakai (one of the INNUMEROUS Bugz in the Attic permutations) first wowed me on “Afrospace”. I dig their bruk’ed take on this.

Oddisee – “Juba May”

This raw, jazzy instrumental workout is a cornerstone of Odd Spring, Oddisee’s final installment of his four EP seasonal series. Dude can really do no wrong in my eyes, on the boards or on the mic.

Ty – “Little Star” (feat. Wreh-asha)

Yes, I’m always talking about how dope Ty is. That’s because Ty is dope as hell. No, that isn’t circular reasoning. The progression from Awkward to Upwards to Closer and now Special Kind of Fool has been very rewarding to follow with ’nuff bangers along the way. Ty’s been a Refuge pick before but I really can rock every joint from the last album consistently in sets.

Till Brönner – “No Fusion Generation” (Mark de Clive-Lowe remix feat. Ovasoul7)

Well before the Serato era, I was obsessed with collecting everything that Mark de Clive-Lowe put out. I ordered a couple of cd’s from his native New Zealand because that was the only way to cop them. And when I tracked down a new copy of this 12-inch, I felt like I won a prize. This was a Vibe Conductor staple for a long time. This tune ended up on a compilation of MdCL collabs, remixes and loosies so it’s not as hard to find as it once was.