A music blog filled with new discoveries, edits, mash-ups and general musical inspirations by DJ Glamjack, an artist and enthusiast of dance, disco, house and left field music based in Brooklyn, NY.
I'm fascinated by bridges metaphorically and literally. Here is mash-up featuring Arthur Russell's "Soon To Be Innocent" and his cello on top of some hard ass Master C&J loops slightly slowed from their emblematic house classic "Face It". Enjoy!
Here is different take on Arthur Russell's "This Is How We Walk On the Moon" where I took a section and elongated adding some strings and bells and mixed with Sandy Mercer's "You Are My Love" for to glorious disco proportions. If the disco version is not your cup of tea, I'm including the first part which is slightly different and shorter. The cover art is '60s Mod Model Peggy Muffitt. Enjoy
Happy Saturday. Here is the mid-summer mix 2018. Featuring:Ceybil, Arthur Russell, Fela Kuti, Big Mama Thornton, Drake, Michael Jackson, Begyndelsen På En Ny Begyndelse, Mothafunk, K.T. Brooks Enjoy
Here is are some re-edited takes put together over some proto house beats. All the versions of Go Bang are one of my most fabulously weird dance song ever. There is so much texture and beautiful layers just like the art work here. Conceived by Arthur Russell under the Dinosaur L alias Go Bang became a Loft classic. The story goes that when Russell went up to Mancuso to play it. At first it cleared the dance floor. He then proceeded to play it again an hour later and every hour and by midnight the whole dance floor went nuts specially during the Lola Blank's part ....Bang go-bang-bang go-bang-go, Go bang bang bang go-bang it back”So here is my homage to it. Totally broken down taking only the Julius Eastman section with Lola Blanks. I'm pretty happy with it specially it's rawness and I mean it in a good way. I also remixed Francois K epic treatment with ok results. Enjoy!
This is awesome! Thank you Tim Lawrence for posting this! "Let's Go Swimming" by the great Arthur Russell and mixed with love by Walter Gibbons from 1986. Indeed this was one the most interesting of dance songs ever made. This sounds so fresh still! Enjoy
This clip always gives me chills. Amazing time capsule of pure genius and great times!
This is a re-edited excerpt from the documentary by Matt Wolf: Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell. Love this part of the movie. David Mancuso's legendary Loft parties and the night he dropped Go Bang! (Francois K edit). So good.
Recently released, this amazing compilation celebrating the legacy and work of one of the greats of dance, experimental, classical and folk, Arthur Russell delivered by the Red Hot Organization, a not for profit international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. This offering titled Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell is a very nice hefty catalogue consisting of 26 well crafted re-interpretations, interludes and covers ranging from Hot Chip, Robyn, Sufjan Stevens, Scissor Sisters and Davendra Banhart to name a few showcasing the genius, depth and prolific nature of his music which is still clearly showing some rippling effects in today's music. Standouts are Jose Gonzale's interpretation of "This is How We Walk The Moon" and Blood Orange's seamless mash-up of "It's All Over Your Face and Tower Of Meaning". Honorable mention goes to Hot Chip's cover of dance classic"Go Bang" which manages to capture the fun and weirdness of the original. There are a few near misses but for the most part is well edited with some interesting takes making this a must have for fans of Arthur Russell. Enjoy!
Happy July! I have to say that it took me half way in the year to realize hands down the best album of 2012 so far is World, You Need A Change Of Mind by Kindness. Every song in this LP is brilliant bliss. Stylishly produced by French house guru Philippe Zdar of Cassius fame, this beautiful and airy LP deliver the goods with amazing vocals by Adam Bainbridge sounding very much like the late Arthur Russell. The album has been widely received with mixed reviews and what I hear loudly is that this album is lacking in grit and ambition. Some critics are missing the point of here, are we so inmune to expect now days that every new release has to be in your face and loudly screaming hear me out? Obviously this is not the case here and we have to change our minds about this nicely put together album with a nice blend of R&B, electro pop infused with '80s synth heaven that reminds me of the sound of mid '80s band The Blue Nile. I'm struck by the genuine inventiveness of this offering and so far that is what I'm gravitating this year. So here is "House" which is one of my many favorite from Kindness. Enjoy!
Here is this amazing new discovery that put a smile on my face recently simply because this is Arthur Russell re-incarnated! Seriously. Same voice and sound it's and I couldn't be more thrilled with this "kindness" from the Cosmos. Kindness is the elusive name of a London based disco producer that is clearly experimenting with '80s new wave, disco and all things Arthur Russell in a fresh way. All of my favorite genres in dance music! So far, they have released a song called "Swinging Party" that it's also quite beautiful and another one called "Gee Up". Both fabulous songs with a grainy synthesizer feel and gorgeous disco melodies. I believe that Kindness will go very far! This track will be officially released October 25th on Terrible Records and it's produced by Phillipe Zdar. Check out the video below...I can tell some of it was shot in my neighborhood. Enjoy!
This a great new release by Strut Records that I have been devouring lately. A group of musicians composed of Arthur Russell's close friends and collaborators have decided to get together and release a record in order to pay tribute to his genius and continuing on his legacy who rightly call themselves Arthur's Landing. Members include Ernie Brooks, Mustafa Ahmed, Joyce Bowden, Steven Hall, Eloide Lauten, Bill Ruyle, John Scherman and Peter Zummon. This is one the best tributes that focuses on the wide spectrum of Arthur's music. "I Want To Change My Life" is a stand out here and easily one of my favorites. I never heard this gorgeous song before and was informed by Steven Hall himself that he used to sing it with Arthur when they were a duo called The Sailboats. Other songs covered here have slightly altered titles such as "Miracle 2" which is actually a new take on "In The Light Of the Miracle" and "Love Dancing" featured here which is a new version of his Loose Joint's "Is It All Over My Face". This version is much slower paced yet still captures the brilliance of the original with Hercules Love Affair's singer Nomi on vocals delivering a more sultry seductive and nostalgic take on the original. The whole album captures Arthur's complexities as an artist yet delivers a seamless sound that is truly Arhur's own and proves right that his music will always be timeless. Congratulations Arthur's Landing and thank you for continuing on with his beautiful legacy! This record is a must have for 2011!
A gorgeous day today. The sky was beautiful and I thought what a perfect day to post a song by one of my favorite musician/composer of all times, Arthur Russell. I first heard of him from the now defunct Nuphonic label compilation that featured a song called "That's Us Wild Combination" during the late 90's, this song was pure bliss and I fell in love with his voice and unique orchestrations. I couldn't get enough of his music and to my shock discovered he was the same man behind some of my favorite dance songs of all time such as "Go Bang! #5", "Is It All Over My Face" and "Kiss Me Again" by calling himself under different alias such as Dinosaur L, Loose Joints or Dinosaur. This past December I read Tim Lawrence's fascinating biography "Hold On To Your Dreams" and was in total awe of his genius. He was one of the most important and seminal but least known contributors to New York's downtown music scene during the 1970's and 1980's. He broke ground in experimental music, instrumental, new wave, disco, quirky rock, twisted folk, voice-cello dub and hip pop-inflected pop. He made the cello sing and and took it to new levels. Since 2004, there has been several posthumous releases that has brought new attention to this prolific artist and a documentary film called Wild Combination has been released to critical acclaim. I find great inspiration in Arthur and I could easily go on and on about him since there are so many layers to peel about him and his music. Today, I am featuring one my many favorites songs from him called "See-through" from his LPWorld Of Echo. In 2007, I remixed this song by simply overlaying it with a couple of back beats in order to take this song to a new plateau and yet keeping the integrity of such a masterpiece with it's sublime simplicity and purity. Enjoy
