DJ Stylus – The Vibe Conductor

Been inserted into the Marvin week day rotation a few times lately, and since I’ve been getting lounge crowds more suited to hanging out than raving, I’ve been playing Refuge style sets… and enjoying it. Hope you dig it too. There are a few more of these on the hard drive that I’ll share in coming weeks.

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Tuesday night at Marvin: a Refuge special (pt. 1)

The Roots – Spain (ft. Chick Corea)
Matt Hudson – Trippin’ On Your Love
Kaidi Tatham – On A Vibe
Nicky Thomas – Soul Power
James Brown – Lowdown Popcorn
Randolph – Golden Days
The Memphis Horns – Soul Bowl
Monty Alexander - Love And Happiness
Tony Allen – Pariwo
Omar – Ghana Emotion
Amel Larrieux – Nadie Mas (CASAMENA Kitchen RMX)
Oddisee – Viva Brasil
Dorothy Ashby – Canto de Ossanha
Herbie Hancock – Trust Me
Jill Scott – High Post Brotha feat. Common
Oddisee – All Because She’s Gone feat. Phonte (clean)
King – The Story
Frank Ocean – songs for women
Kev Brown – What Ruling Means (feat. Grap Luva)
Dwele – Too Fly
DJ Day – Sunday
A Tribe Called Quest – 1nce Again feat. Tammy Lucas
Nas ft. AZ – Life’s a Bitch/Doonit
The ARE – Lyrics To Stay
Donwill – I See You ft Ragen Fykes

I was recently asked when Refuge was coming back. I’ve got no helpful details on that at present but I can re-up one of the few recordings I saved.

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New Sector Movements – Para
Stevie Wonder – As If You Read My Mind
Root Soul feat. Vanessa Freeman & Mike Patto – Spirit of Love (Phil Asher’s Restless Soul Boogie Mix)
Eddie Kendricks – Date With The Rain
OK-Ma – Bwoygal (Lanu Remix)
Atlantic Starr – Circles
Jamiroquai – Soul Education
Ne-Yo – Nobody
Ty – Wait A Minute (Dwele Remix)
Little Dragon – Constant Surprises
Kaidi Tatham – I’m High
Reel People – Ordinary
Quantic – Mishaps Happening (Quantic Beat Mix)

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.

It’s time for June’s Refuge and we’ve got a double dose of freshness to share.

After half a century of blessing the world with the sounds of Brazil, jazz treasure Sérgio Mendes is releasing his 37th studio album and we’ll have it in hand for a listening session.

Bom Tempo showcases songs from the crème de la crème of Brazilian songwriters (including Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Joao Donato, Carlinhos Brown, Jorge Benjor, Milton Nascimento and Moacir Santos) and a song from his old friend Stevie Wonder, written especially for Mendes in 1977, the simmering “The Real Thing” (first recorded on Sergio Mendes and the New Brasil ’77 album). While many of Mendes’ friends and long time collaborators are present on the album (including drummers Mike Shapiro and Vinnie Colaiuta, bassists Nathan Watts and Alphonso Johnson, guitarists Paul Jackson Jr. and Kleber Jorge, percussionist Gibi, vocalist Gracinha Leporace—the bandleader’s wife—and songwriter-arranger-vocalist Carlinhos Brown, who was integral to the success of the Brasileiro album), newcomers are also in the mix.

Next we’ll be graced by some live vocals from dear friend, arts maven and all around fly girl Stef Renée. After serving as a pillar of the Philadelphia arts scene, she’s back in her native Washington and I’d like to welcome her home properly.

Wednesday, June 2
Sérgio Mendes listening session and Stef Renée feature
Tabaq Bistro (basement)
1336 U St NW, WDC
9pm – until
21+, no cover

So yeah, I kind of left you all hanging after Nicholas laced us last month. I only did that to give you more time to cop everything in the archives. (err… right.)

The brother brought a packed room full of admirers and sang his face off to tracks from Border Breaker, Hittin’ Switches and a few surprises.

And here are some highlights from my set.

Slakah The Beatchild – “The Answer” (Feat. Melanie Durrant)

The T-Dot beatmaker is already responsible for what has been a Refuge anthem since week 1. This samba is so sexy that I actually had to play it twice. Expect “The Answer” to become a staple.

A Tribe Called Quest – “Go Ahead In The Rain”

Shout-out to all the beckies who come up to the DJ booth asking if I’ll play some Tribe while I’m spinning something from People’s Instinctive Travels… This doesn’t happen at Refuge of course, but at other gigs.

Long a favorite around these parts and identified early as someone to watch, Nicholas Ryan Gant and his soaring tenor are popping up on many more intriguing bits of nu-soul, from these shores all the way to Japan. Catch him delivering an exclusive intimate set at Refuge backed by Slimkat 78.

Wednesday, May 5
Refuge featuring Nicholas Ryan Gant
Tabaq Bistro (basement)
1336 U St NW, WDC
9pm – until
21+, no cover

***A reminder: Refuge is on a monthly schedule. 1st Wednesdays of the month.***

Erik Rico came through and did the damn thing last week armed with Ableton Live, a mean Moog plug-in, BHE‘s MIDI controller and gang of new and old material.

[credit: Marq Few]

Of course there were a few warm up tunes before the live set.

Emmanuel – “Getaway” feat. Celetia Martin

SoulCulture hipped me and now I’m hipping you. I’m getting a faint but nice bit of Loose Ends vibes mixed with some Patrice Rushen on this tune. You know those are always good things in my world.

Johnny “Guitar” Watson – “In The World”

The bass line is EVERYTHING.

See you May 5? It’s like having your music collection come to life in your living room before having a house party. Next month we’ll have someone equally dope.

Kicking off the new monthly Refuge schedule of featured guests is one of my favorite modern soul artists as well as an international ambassador for all things funky and futuristic.

Rico has continued to evolve as a producer and artist and now fuses elements of live music and electronic music into a style of music that can best be described as “electrosoul”. “I see our generation as the last ones to bridge the gap between the organic human feel of live musicians and the computer generation.” Rico’s philosophy is that having the best of both worlds to extract from makes it easy to truly explore all the limitless options that art has to offer.

Wednesday, April 7
Refuge featuring Erik Rico
Tabaq Bistro (basement)
1336 U St NW, WDC
9pm – until
21+, no cover

Scoot over to Lifenotes Music if you’re tardy on the releases. And if you’re broke, cop this free download of his album of classic covers.

Erik will be rocking the joints you know as well as exclusive joints, like these right ‘chere.

For real, you should come through.

I’m back from WMC. I’ve got a lot of tunes. Did you miss me? Let’s hang out, but not in the basement lounge this week. I’ll be in the Red Room at Tabaq, which is the dining space off of the main entrance.

Also, it’s been a while since Refuge has hosted a special guest so Erik Rico will be coming through to hit you with all new material next week, April 7.

And finally, after the Erik Rico session, Refuge will no longer be weekly. Check for it on the first Wednesday of every month.

No Refuge this week. I’m flying south to that thing I go to every year in order to do some things.

These highlights from last week’s set will freshen your library until we resume.

Al Green – “Love Ritual”

Reverend Al did afrobeat in 1975? Word? Now you know.

The Pharcyde – “Drop” (Da Beatminerz Remix)

This version always went hard. I’ve got a good amount of cue burn on my 12″ doubles.

Moodymann – “Black Mahogani”

I was getting in the proper focus for this week. Moodymann is a wild dude. You should explore more of his twisted genius in his RBMA lecture. ‘Sup, Detroit.

N’Dambi – “The World Is Beat” (Applejac’s Bruk-Up mix)

Applejac recently dropped this crucial EP so his presence at WMC would be felt although he won’t be able to make it this year. While others are on that Lalah Hathaway and that Reel People, my heater of choice is this gotdayum N’Dambi joint. Stank you very much for this project my ATLien friend.

See you next week.

Here are a couple joints from my set last week that you should welcome into your lives. Think of them as appetizers in case you’ve been missing Refuge. I’m getting ready for WMC so I may feel particularly moved to throw down this week.

Mark Ronson – “She’s Got Me” (feat. Daniel Merriweather)

The Mos Def, M.O.P. and Ghostface joints were always my sure-shots on Here Comes The Fuzz but I dug this one out and was reminded of how much I slept on it.

Mishal Moore – “Oh Lord” (Kenny Dope Remix)

I don’t know what happened to the album that Kenny was supposed to do with her but in the meantime you can watch a lot of fun videos on her YouTube channel. You can keep up with Mishal on Twitter too.