It may sound somewhat familiar, perhaps even dated now, but in 1994 there was very little frame of reference for music such as was heard on Portishead’s debut album. From the opening strains of the kick-off track, “Mysterons” with its turntable scratches, B-movie Theremin and down-tempo break beat, Dummy was [...]
DJ Clifton aka Soft Touch is a resident selector at Funky Soul, a righteous get-down that packs them in every Saturday night at the Echo on L.A.’s eastside. During the week Clifton can also be heard around town at spots like the Beauty Bar and Club Underground spinning everything [...]
Trip-hop was an atmospheric but soulful, downtempo genre of electronic music that sprang from the English port city of Bristol and went on to enjoy major UK chart success in the mid-90s. A handful of the more prominent trip-hop acts even made waves in America, after being carried over by [...]
RCA Cable Problems RCA cable problems are relatively common with Technics SL-1200 turntables. Despite being the first name in DJ turntables for more than a quarter century, 1200s are renown for having shoddy factory RCA cables. Problems with the plug ends and shorts along the cable’s length occur [...]
French duo Air’s Moon Safari is a downtempo retro space age masterpiece that was greeted as something of an instant classic even when it first came out in January 1998. Although the album was released on Astralwerks records and was technically an electronica album, Moon Safari had in fact almost [...]
Last week the music world welcomed the news that seminal British rock group the Stone Roses would be reuniting next year for a pair of dates in their native Manchester, to be followed by a world tour. The long-awaited reunion follows 15 years of inactivity since the band [...]
Dancehall is undoubtedly the most danceable subgenre reggae ever produced. It initially emerged in the late ‘70s as a leaner, bouncier version of the roots reggae sound that was popular at the time. But dancehall really came into its own in the early ‘80s when it went digital. It’s dancehall’s [...]
Beatport rolled out a new version of itself last May and in the process may have succeeded in creating one of the most diverse and user-friendly Mp3 download resources for DJs on the Web. Beatport has always offered greater musical diversity than sites like Stompy, that specialize exclusively in House [...]