Monday, 30 November 2009
FREESTYLIN SUNDAY DECEMBER 6TH 5PM TILL MIDNIGHT @ THE MARK ADDY MANCHESTER
Thursday, 26 November 2009
December Gig Guide Recommendations !
Saturday December 5th
Soulful Dance @ Christmas
The Langdales
318-328 Clifton Drive North
St Annes
FY8 2PB
Admission £5.00 OTD
8:00 pm 'til 1:30 am
DJs PETE HAIGH - STEVE NAYLOR - ANDY LETT
"Sound" - THE PROFESSOR
"Wherever we lay our rig....................................that's our home!!!!"
Top notch venue with our own private room - seperate entrance - great wooden dance floor.
For those who may want to stop over you will have the full use of the superb leisure facilities which include a heated indoor swimming pool & gymnasium. We are currently working on a special bed & breakfast room rate with the hotel management. You will have to book direct with the hotel via telephone & mention "Soul Night" when booking. Website & info below.
http://www.langdaleshotel.co.uk/
On the music side of things we will, as always, be playing all the tunes on the Soulful, Jazzy House vibe you have come to expect from us along with our own "Lytham" exclusives & favourites.
Annual Christmas CD giveaway for the first 30 through the door. Tunes carefully selected by the 3 of us.
I think I need to get on board with promo' ing this now as its a very big party for us .
Havent got our flyers ready just yet but the Uber side of the event is sorted so we need to get the details out there because given the line up and feedback already it looks like it may be a sellout so we are having to do advanced tickets.
We have succeeded in getting a license extension which will probably go on even later if its as busy as we expect. There will also be a ticket only VIP party prior to the event with a champagne reception and outside caterers being hired to provide food ..I'll get details for that as soon as they are sorted.
The Uber boys are really pushing the boat out for this and we'd like to congratulate them on their 5th Birthday unbelievably advance tickets are only £ 5 ..here's their info on the night :
"Join us as we celebrate our biggest event of the year and the biggest event in our history......it's five years of memorable parties, underground music, open minded crowds and five years of dedicated DJ’s & friends. For this special occassion we bring together more amazing world renowned DJ’s, close friends, a live P.A, a Vocal Booth Weekender Reunion & much more for what is shaping up to be our biggest event to date!
The headliners need little introduction, Phil Asher is a House music legend, Andy Ward is a pioneer of the scene both locally and internationally. Shea Soul is the voice behind some of House music's most loved tracks. What more could anyone ask for?
As always we have our amazing bar hosts ‘Soul Underground’ on hand to make our event even more eclectic and unique. Expect a celebration of Deep Soulful House, Soul, Nu Jazz and more.
And as our fifth year comes to a close we look forward to 2010 where we’ll be bringing more of the worlds best DJ’s to Birmingham. We’ve already given you Karizma, Franck Roger, Frankie Feliciano, Halo, Atjazz, Jimpster and more.... just imagine what’s in store for our 6th year!"
Paul Goldsmith
Mark Jordan
Lasse ( Sweden)
Glenn Worthington
9pm - 5am.
Click here to buy £5 tickets:
tickets
The Rainbow. 160 Digbeth High Street. Birmingham. B12 0LD
Info: 07815 944 605 / info@club-uber.com
Join the Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6792256644
This will be a really vibrant Christmas party showcasing the whole range of contemporary modern soul and house in all its glory hope you can come along and make it even more special .
Back in 1987 (when I was 12 years old) I discovered Yo! MTV raps (when MTV still was a music video channel) and the music that they played there just hit me like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t like the other bland stuff that you heard on Swedish radio (apart from the hugely inspirational Mats Nileskar and his Soul Corner show) and that’s really when my love for music started. I don’t have any older brothers or sisters so I had to do the exploring all by myself, but I do have a mother with a great taste in music though, but more on that later.
In ´88 Public Enemy released their masterpiece ‘It takes a nation of millions to hold us back’ and that is, along with Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’, the albums that shaped my musical taste the most. While I was listening to my Public Enemy, Run D.M.C, N.W.A and Stetsasonic albums, my mother was busy listening to Barry White and Motown and suddenly I heard something on her records that I had heard earlier, on my stereo. That’s when I found out about sampling and I naturally started going backwards and my love for love music began.
The above mentioned Barry White, as well as the Motown artists, was what I started listening to next. They where right there in my mother’s record collection (but now these records are mine, of course). For some reason, during all this, I also discovered Sade and fell in love with her music and sound, like a warm blanket on a cold December night. Then, a couple of years later, Dr Dre released ‘The Chronic’ and I found out about the whole P-funk thing and it just continued on from there.
I met a guy (a proper mod) who was into Northern Soul (but we’re still friends ha ha) and he started playing all his 7” and it sounded amazing. I went to my first all nighter in around ‘95 (I remember because that’s when D’Angelo dropped ‘Brown Sugar’) in Copenhagen’s ‘Spinning Cat Soul Club’ and thought it was great with all this uptempo stuff. And then, at about four o’clock in the morning, my friend played Benny Troy and the massive ‘I wanna give you tomorrow’ and that’s when my love for 70’s soul, Disco and Philly started.
A couple of years later I heard my first “soulful” (in lack of a better word) house record and I immediately saw/heard the connection with disco. A lot of the mods going to the all nighters down here didn’t want anything to do with the new house and hip hop stuff. But I felt that this is what mods really should be listening to: upfront, new and urban black music - pretty much just like the mods did in the sixties, but now they just want to listen to the same, thirty year old records. So I kept moving and continued to explore good music, old or new.
I remember when D’Angelo released his first album and that was another inspirational album for me. That’s great, great soul music and just another example of something new and urban that was laughed at by the mods.
Anyway, in the early 2000’s I pretty much only listened to 70’s soul, Disco and Hip Hop. I didn’t really find new soul stuff that I liked. There was of course stuff from Dave Hollister, R. Kelly and Joe that I enjoyed, you know, big artists with record label backup. But I couldn’t find the more independent stuff that I knew was out there and even though there obviously was the internet but I didn’t know where to start looking. I then met a guy, Joppe, that started to give me some recommendations and he also ran, and still runs, a very successful club here in Malmo called Function together with Sebastian, Helena and Jonte and I finally heard the newer stuff that I had been wanting to hear for years. They invited Micke Balkefors to guest DJ once (a friend and fellow soul fanatic I’ve known for a long time, but after he moved to Gothenburg we didn’t see each other for over five years) and the stuff he played that night was a real eye opener. He told me of a place called The Essential Modern Soul Forum and after a one year think (!) I decided to join, in March 2008 and the rest is, as they say, history, if 18 months ago is considered history…
And here’s my top 20 list from the past, albums as well as individual tracks, in no order what so ever.
• Dr. Dre: The Chronic (album)
• Sade: Love Deluxe (album)
• Jaheim: Ghetto Love (album)
• Benny Troy: I wanna give you tomorrow (track)
• O’Jays: I love music (track), (isn’t that what it’s all about really)
• Sam Dees: The show must go on (album)
• Roy Davis Jr.: Gabrielle (track)
• NuYorican Soul: S/T (album)
• Leroy Hutson: Lucky fellow (track)
• Al Wilson: Show and tell (track)
• D’Angelo: Brown sugar (album)
• Bridge: Baby, don’t hold your love back (track)
• Silvetti: Spring rain (track)
• Luther Vandross: Are u using me (track) (MAW mix)
• Dave Hollister: It’s alright (bonus hymn) (track)
• Logg: S/T (album)
• Stevie Wonder: I can’t really pick a track or an album so I won’t.
• Lenny Williams: Gotta lotta luv (House mix) (track)
• Mark Capanni: I believe in miracles (track)
That’s it, but if you ask me tomorrow I’ll have a different 20.
Friday, 20 November 2009
INTERVIEW WITH SOLAR RADIO DJ RAJ SELLI
I have admired this guys work from afar for quite a few years now.I first came across him on his Sunday afternoon Solar Radio slot.Raj is his own man and his presentation style and content are unique.He is able to select tunes that would otherwise be missed and his taste is such thathe will have you scurrying to dig out albums and 12" singles that you havein your own collection but either missed the track or didn't fully appreciateon earlier listens.On top of this he shares my affliction for football and willalways help you out on those tracks he didn't back announce if you drop him an e-mail :)His current show "Soulfully Yours" goes out on a Tuesday night between 22.00pm and 0.00 midnight.If you like your house a bit jazzy your soul with a twist and all round quality black music then I suggest you give him a listen.I caught up with him a few days ago and this is what we got up to :-
Where were you born ?
What were your musical influences as you grew up
Radio etc ? I have always loved music from a very young age.When I was around 10, I was into punk/newave and influenced by the rock against racism movement at the time!I was into bands like sham 69,the ruts,public image,and the boom town rats.As I entered secondary school I was into popular groups at the time like the police and also into the ska movement with bands like the specials, madness ,the beat and bad manners.It was as I started doing my o levels that I discovered soul and jazz funk.A friend of mine introduded me to INVICTA 92.4 FM which broadcast on Sunday afternoons at the time.That was it!It was partially the music and the fascination with pirate radio.This led onto listening to stations like JFM Horizon And Solar.Since 1982 I have never looked back!I used to love soul spectrum on capital radio with the legend that is Greg Edwards and his best disco in town show on Friday nights live from the lyceum in the strand was radio at its very best and unmissable for me in those days.
It
WhwWhich clubs in and around London influenced you ?Clubs which influenced me were
WH When did you start doing radio and club djing ?
Whilst at university I did a couple of shows on University of London Radio and dj’d at a few bars with friends just for the fun and nothing too serious.When I started working I started doing the odd club night around the south bank in London which is where is used to work.I never really took it seriously but instead loved to go out to the great clubs in London and listening to the music.There was never any opportunity to get involved in radio as all the stations were pirates and I would lose my job and degree if I got caught doing a show on these!
List your current top 10 ?
How many years have you been doing your Radio show ?I have been on solar since may 2000 – starting off on Sundays at midnight then Sunday afternoons at 4pm and now on Tuesdays at 10pm.the show has always been called soulfully yours the name has always stuck!
You have a unique taste in all aspects of house and soul ?Unique taste- I don’t catergorise music and this attitude is reflected on my show.i feel genre is irrelevant as long as its soul.If I feel it I play it.I cant understand people who just play just one format-eg –only so called soul music and no house for all those boring political reasons!!
Which producers artists and arrangers do you admire ?I admire Lonnie liston smith/roy ayres/Donald byrd/Leroy burgess/masters at work who took soulful house to a different level/tony Humphries/ron trent/Anthony Nicholson and more recently Jihad Muhammad .
Have you been to Shelter or Body and Soul or even Paradise Garage back in the day ?Whilst living in the usa in the mid 90’s I was fortunate enough to attend body and soul and shelter but the most memorable club for me was underground network at the sound factory bar on Wednesday nights.Mr vega used to walk in with warm dub plates direct from the studio-those days were unreal and the vibe incredible.
Where do you feel internet radio is currently for the exposure of our music ?There are numerous internet radio stations playing soul/jazz/house-the majority independently run and owned.Although they have a non playlist broadcast policy,the advertising revenue is minimal so from a financial perspective the situation isn’t that great.Even the biggest station of them all solar struggle with revenue and all shows have a sponsor.I have to ‘sponsor’ my own show otherwise I would not be on air today.
You do live broadcasts with Solar at Southport will there be one this year ?Paul and I teamed up at southport by sheer accident!I was passing by the studio as he was broadcasting his show live and he asked me to sit in for a few minutes with him and I ended up staying the whole show.Ever since that first joint broadcast at southport 37 our joint shows from southport became the most listener responsive show on solar with over 50 texts per show!!We just couldn’t keep up with them!
Your vinyl specials with Paul Phillips are very popular talk about these a little and the reaction you get ?Once the live broadcasts from southport stopped(due to a variety of reasons) I suggested a vinyl special at xmas and paul agreed!after the first one we decided on a show on bank holiday weekends and so far they have proved to be really popular,not just for the soulful house heads but a cross section of listeners who just appreciate the soulful sound.To date there has been hundreds of hits and dowloads for each show and our next one is planned for the new year.I better start digging those crates now I think!
Talk a little about your other passion Football ? JI have been a QPR fan longer than I have been into our music. I have been following them since the age of 10 as they were my local team as im from west London.I have been going to matches for nearly 30 years and am a season ticket holder for the last decade and go to all home games and some away ones too. Im also a big
Talk about the importance of your record collection and the transition via mp3 and wav’s to sites like Traxsource today and your opinions of the low percentage that reach vinyl nowadays?Personally I have always preferred the vinyl format and always will.however I can honestly say that I have only purchased a handful of vinyl 12s this year.Mp3 are now the way forward,its convenient and cheap.It will never replace the buzz of going to a record shop to pick up those new releases though!Lets hope everything goes full circle and vinyl and those record shops make a huge comeback!
What about the future Raj for youself ?Being a family man with two young gorgeous daughters and having a full time job,musically my commitment is my radio show which I enjoy every week and get a really good response.Who knows what the future holds though as the soulfully yours message is spread to the world via the web on a weekly basis……….
COLIN CURTIS GIGS FOR DECEMBER 2009
NOVEMBER 28TH SATURDAY
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
FREESTYLIN' IN MANCHESTER @ THE MARK ADDY
Featuring a music mix that takes the best of the Frodisia sessions from The Hilton Luxury Soul Weekender Sessions
crossed with the unique soul selections from the Soulsorts Radio show on Solar Radio of Roger Williams.All sewn together with reflections from the original Manchester "Berlin" sessions and new jazz/soul dancefloor winners by Colin Curtis.
The Mark Addy is only 500 yards from the original entrance to Berlin.Situated right by the River Irwell.
Great food,great views onto the river at night coupled with some of todays best jazzy soulful vibes this is the place to spend your sunday on December 6th.
Car parking right outside the bar and major car parking within a few hundred yards.
Come down give it a try vive le difference !!!
Thursday, 5 November 2009
MARCH PRESTATYN WEEKENDER 2010
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
COLIN CURTIS GIGS FOR JANUARY 2010
January 2010
8th 9th 10th
Friday Saturday Sunday
It's going to be absolutely amazing....weekend passes from Ticketline on 0161 832 1111
January 23rd
Saturday
http://www.soulfusion-soulnites.co.uk/
Soulfusion Gloucester
January 31st
Saturday
King Georges Hall
MARSHALL BADGER P.U.S.H.
New Marshall Badger cd available now.
by Thierry Boulanger |
I'm totally BLOWN AWAY by the quality of this Gospel album. For me it's THE gospel album of the year. Tracks like "My God", "Heaven", "I'm free", "He did it all for you" and others are simply stunning. Sublime vocals, some jazz overtones on some tracks and a feelgood spirit through the whole album make it an essential purchase. Highly recommended ! |
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
PAUL PHILLIPS & RAJ SELLI VINYL SPECIAL
Two of the Uk's unsung heroes on the exposure of quality house music
Raj's Show"Soulfully Yours" is evey Tuesday night between 10pm and Midnight.