IN PARADISE

I'm cutting class this afternoon so I have no excuse not to throw up some fire. But I've been suffering recent blogger delusions, most notably struggling with the question "What is a rock that pops?" Is the answer a banger, because my 4x4 catalogue has already been seriously tapped in the past few months, and I've loved doing it with you, and its not like I'm running out, but I do bounce out to other stuff too. I also think about the good headz over at 20 jazz funk (eternal props), and some of Drugula's best droppings, or the cats I love that are down with our fury (big ups to CC, Catchdubs, T&B, and all the others), and I get that energy back, you know, its just sometimes things can switch up a little and still be poppin. That's all. So lets get funky, ok? These are rocks which pop, Surrender swears it.

Lately, I've been wishing IA were NYC and it were 1983 and I was black and maybe gay, too. Larry Levan's sets from the Paradise Garage are another level, seriously, his mixtapes are one thing, and god bless West End for them, but listen to whole hour completely mixed by Levan and you're in for an ASCENCION, it seems impossible to have spun sets that essentially amount to proto-ambient house without records of that variety; Levan created the sound as a tapestry out of patches of hella cranked-down disco, soul, and funk and sampler bass bass bass. Anyway, these next couple tunes bear Levan's dusty, seemingly insurpassable legacy.

Change - Paradise (Larry Levan's Journey Into Paradise Remix)
Shalamar - Right in the Socket (Larry Levan Mix)

More Paradise Garage love, this is my favorite Frankie Knuckles track, its soaring whisper house, a love poem for NYC disco robots.

Frankie Knuckles - Your Love

Not such a tangent: Don't ever reduce Factory Records to something it wasn't. Don't underestimate how disco FACT 65, I'd Like to See You Again, in fact is, or more generally how funky ACR could be (I may not be the first person to tell you this).
A Certain Ratio - Touch

I'd go further (like, the distance) but it will be more productive to work on tomorrow's Pussy Wallpaper mix instead, esp considering my present bandwidth. So if you're down with these jamz, hold your ears until then.