Winterly

Kinda sad for Christmas season, but also winterly, mellow and so sooth.



I'd check out Soul Kix's stuff if I were you.


track's info
Soul Kix - Winter is coming
2017

Marley gift

Damian, the youngest son of Bob Marley in a homely, motivating tune.

track's info
Damian Marley - Living it up
Stony Hill
Republic Records 2017

Back 2 house

Good ol' cheery house beats in new context.



Always need that.

track's info
Junktion - Friends & Strangers
Make Believe Disco No.2
Make Believe Disco 2017

Sick cheer

When you're sick, you need something to cheer you up. An that's not dirty dishes. Unless we're talking about this.



Brand new stuff, love the guitar tune, great to listen to before I die out of sore throat.

track's info
Eben Rees - Dirty Dishes
Club Flamingo EP
Honey Butter Records 2017

Torture of the year

The worst, the most boring and torturing chore of the year is cleaning the closets to pack summer clothing and put winter clothes in their place (and reversly -same shit).

This 4/4 beat mix made it a little bit better this year.

 When you add dancing to it, it gets better. You might actually enjoy the torture.

Info
Dj Steve Adams-Summer Soulful Mix June 2017

Propose

Bad lyrics, awesome music.

B. B. King and Eric Clapton? I wonder what the hell happened to that guitar after this.

Info
B.B. King feat. Eric Clapton - Marry you
Riding with the King
Reprise Records 2000

Youth

Piano can be the coolest instrument. 

Plus, this is one of the popular tunes from my youth, I will love till I die.

track's info
Underworld - Born Slippy (Nuxx version)
Logic Records 1996

When all else fails...

...music is always there.

track's info
Brand New Heavies - People Giving Love
Brother Sister
FFRR 1994

Better late than never

I could have enjoyed this tune all my life and I fucking didn't know about it.

Better late than never.

track's info
Leon Ware - What's Your World
Leon Ware
United Artists Records 1972

Softie

I'm just gonna leave this cutie here and press repeat.

Similar feeling to this.

track's info
Foxygen - Follow the leader
Hang
Jagjaguwar 2017

Imagine that

This is what happens when you have strong Imagination.



There. That's it if you didn't get it.

track's info
CSLSX - Keep on shining
2011

(sample) Imagination - So good so right
Body Talk
R&B Records 1981

Non childish

Cool stuff by Donald McKinley Glover, the man under the stage name Childish Gambino.

Check out the whole album here.

track's info
Childish Gambino - Redbone
Awaken, My Love!
Glassnote 2016

Helen love

Always.

track's info:
Edward Vanzet - Sleeping like normal
2016

On fire

Shit. I need vacation.

But this can help.

track's info
Gwen McCrae - Keep the fire burning
Atlantic 1982

Sweet '80s

Dutch producers, Bernard Oattes and Rob van Schaik, (aka The Limit), released a full-length album in 1984, titled The Limit. Hit song right below.

Sweet.

track's info
The Limit- Say Yeah
The Limit
Portrait 1984

BD

I can dedicate something to myself, can't I?



track's info:
HONNE - Woman
2016

Gradual

The other day I caught this one on internet radio.

And remembered this one.

And ended up listening to this one.

Cool stuff.

tracks' info
-Quincy Jones feat. Patti Austin - Razzamatazz
The Dude
A&M Records 1981

-M.F.O. - I know
Subliminal 1999

-Culture Club - Miss me blind
Colour by Numbers
Virgin 1983

Groovy pikrodafni

Truth is I'm not into traditional Greek music. I may like some pieces here and there, especially some polyphonic ones from Epirus, but I don't really have a special interest in this kind of music. "Pikrodafni", though, is one of those tunes, which I must say I loved when listening to it from a jazzy point of view by a kickass Greek group, Mode Plagal.

Up till yesterday, that was my favorite version. Until I got my hands (ears) on this groovy piece of music by another freaking talented Greek ensemble, On The Road.

Whatever shit we're into in this country, these are stuff to be proud of.

track's info:
Στης πικροδάφνης τον ανθό (traditional Greek song)
1. Mode Plagal version
2. On The Road version

No soul in work

For the past few weeks, I've been listening to soulradio while working, a Dutch online radio station playing, soul, rnb, disco and all these wonderful stuff from mostly past decades. Stuff like these:

Turns out, can't work.

tracks'info:
 Shalamar - Make that move
Three For Love
RCA Victor 1980

Maxwell - Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)
Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
Columbia 1995

Aaron Neville - I wanna love you
Apache
Tell It Records 2016

Aretha Franklin - Soul Serenade
I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You
 Atlantic 1967

Low Res High Quality

Just heard it yesterday and found out it's from an experimental London-based producer, Low Res, pretty young at age and pretty full of inspiration.

Check out the whole debut EP called Outside, download for free and enjoy.

track's info
Low Res - Wild Things
Outside
Calico 2014

Safe place

Yesterday I returned to the place I used to have drinks and fun in my college years, probably the darkest (literally) and at the same time the purest reggae joint in Athens, Red Sea. After 17 years, the gang was different, the feeling was kinda weird, but the music was top-notch. Still authentic and awesome.

Reggae is my safe, happy place. It will always be.

track's info
Wackies - African Roots Act 2 Dub
Various - African Roots Act 2
Wackie's 2002

The '90s have super powers

Just listened to it yesterday and it was a nice surprise from a Greek cover group, known for their 90s revival parties here in Greece, where they perform '90s party mash-ups -they surely can't miss in the 30-40 age groups.


                                               Wedding Singers - My Super Power


Simple, sweet and cozy. Can't help but love it.

Check out their fb page here to see what they're all about.  

track's info
Wedding Singers - My Super Power
Minos-EMI SA 2017
 

Too little too late

I was a little late to get my hands on this album, as it was released in 2015 and I don't even know why, cause Joss Stone was one of my favorites, whom I've also got the chance to enjoy live in 2009. But you know what they say, better late than never. I'm still enjoying its soulful, reggae, dubbish, rnb tunes and the beautiful voice of Joss Stone, who was just 17 when she released her first album and was one of my first album reviews as a music critic back then.

These are my two favorites: a loving reggae, summerish tune and a more fierce, dubby one.

tracks' info:
 Joss Stone - Love me
Joss Stone - Cut the Line
Water for your soul 
Stone'd Records 2015

Dance bet

I'm feelin' really ecstatic about this sound right now.



Perfect beat, groovy bass, funky guitar, all put together in the best possible way by Rare Cuts, from the original by George and Glen Miller.

It takes this much to get you off the chair, doesn't it?

track's info:
Rare Cuts - It's time to dance
FKR Records 2016

Back in 5

When I was about 5, I had my first really profound musical experience -at least the first one I can remember of. An aunt of mine (I think) had bought me and my brother and sister a cassette with kids songs about animals, some of them Greek. In this collection there were tracks like Ska' Chou Chou, Da Da Da and other italodisco hits, while among them, there was a synth-pop track with no words (apart from some animal sounds) by Harry Thumann.

It may sound ridiculous at the dog barking part (which I didn’t like even then), but if you listen carefully throughout, it’s quite good. This, my friends, was the first time ever in my life, at that sensitive age of 5, when I had my first musical heartbeat, when I had the chills for a melody, when I’d secretly take my bro’s walkman and play it back and forth, rewinding and playing it again, until the batteries would leave me listening to it slo-mo and my brother would chase me around the house for leaving it battery-less.

At the age of 6 we moved to another house and sadly this cassette never appeared again.

When we reached the google and downloading times, I tried several times to search for that track, but I couldn’t remember neither the title of the compilation nor the title of the track. I could only vaguely remember the melody in the parts that I liked.

Yesterday, 32 years later, a friend of mine posted on facebook a pic with the covers of his first and ugliest albums. There was it. As soon as I googled it and saw the tracklist, I instantly reckognised the title -which kinda surprised me cause at the age of 5 I’m pretty sure I didn’t speak, read or write any English apart from "hello" and "Michael Knight" (major crush). Five seconds later, that first favorite melody of mine was unwinding through my speakers.

Can’t quite describe the feeling, but if I could have my 5-year-old self in front of me, I’d give me a big and tight hug for letting myself appreciate music and feel it with all my heart at such a young age, with so few stimulus back then.

Harry Thumann  isn’t with us anymore as of 2001 and I didn’t even know him till yesterday, but from now on he’ll be in my heart forever. *Woof woof*

Classy classic

Classic disco norms in a beautiful edit from Tony Loreto on The Night the Lights Went Out by the Trammps.



Tony Loreto seems to have been uploading some cool stuff on his soundcloud page. Check 'em out!

track's info
The Trammps - The Night the Lights Went Out (Tony Loreto edit)
2016