FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1999. All Rights Reserved

Beatz Me by Red Eye With its steady groove, smooth bass lines and soul-soothing melodies, some people would say that the best soundtrack for sunshine is deep house. Those that do should seek out Necessary Pieces on Vancouver’s Nordic Trax label. Since Canadians see less summertime, we need to squeeze in all the sun we can and that’s exactly what seminal West Coast DJ Tyler "T-Bone" Stadius has done on this mixed CD. Showcasing tracks by producers from north of the 49th Parallel, there’s plenty here to do a nation proud. Toronto’s Dino and Terry (aka Rum Runners) drop their trance-inducing type of house and Peter Hecher (you’d probably recognize him better as pH Groove, his DJ pseudonym when he used to live right here in Cowtown) puts out some sweet jazz disco styles, with the highlight his hacking of Candido’s Salsoul classic, "Thousand Finger Man." On the whole, a deliciously deep disc. Deep house disciples know they won’t be disappointed by a track with the name Joaquin "Joe" Clausell attached to it, and the new single "Heaven" by Glenn Scott (Giant Steps/Sony) is no different. Latin percussion, flamenco flourishes on acoustic guitars, soaring strings and waves of keyboards all carry the trademark of the man who brought the Spiritual Life Music label into the world. The vocal version is OK, but the dub is a primitive paradise of cascading flutes and call-and-response percussion that could calm any savage beast. Even better is the fact that this EP comes with a couple of abstract future funk mixes from those marvelous musical mutations, 4 Hero. Freaky French kid I:Cube finds himself squarely in the future funk field with his Scratch Robotniks EP (Versatile). Less of the deep and pumpin’ jazz-drenched dancefloor ditties like the recent Mingus In My Pocket single or "Disco Cubizm," and more like his track "Power Sandwich" or most of his debut, Picnic Attack, the four songs here have a halting, polyrhythmic pulse married to haute fromage keyboards. It kind of convinces you that had this university kid been around, Kubrick would’ve asked him to score the scenes for the Korova Milk Bar in A Clockwork Orange. More fun than a four litre jug o’ Moloko plus! There’s lots of places to find some fun right here in Stampede city this week, starting Thursday, May 13th, with the world famous DJ Q-Bert spinning a set of steel wheel wizardry on DJ’s Melo-D and Cereo’s night, Evolution. Held at Gotham every Thursday, this week you can expect maximum madness as Q shows off his skills and, hopefully, gives us a taste of his new Wave Twister LP. There’s also going to be some sets spun by Pump, Cereo and Turn, as well as a B-Boy battle, with fresh gear goin’ to the best of the breakdancers. If you haven’t seen the man who put turntablism on the lips of millions of people around the world then there’s no excuse for you to miss this performance. House heads won’t want to miss Steve Loria at the Republik on Friday night. Comin’ from Cali, he’s one of the West Coast’s most respected house DJ’s and spins at Myth on Friday, May 14th along with Michael "Pasta" Eremita, one of Calgary’s original house codgers. Loria lays it down hard and funky, and he’s yet to let down the Calgary crowd when he has been in town. If you haven’t heard his brand of house before, check out The Stress Compilation (Moonshine) or Bang The Drum (V-Wax) for some seriously feet movin’ four-to-the-floor. All this and DJ Rice next door! There’s some more serious funkiness goin’ on Saturday night when good ol’ DJ Czech comes rollin’ into town on May 15th. Another left coaster from Vancouver, our man of the big beat, bad ass bass and bumpin’ trax in general will be playing his ruff style of stereophonic funkitude at The Embassy, a room he’s worked more than once before. As in worked over. Czech’s a crowd pleaser and when he’s in the right frame of mind he can pull out some pranks from his bag of tricks and rock a party like a few rounds of tequila shots. Hey, it is Saturday night after all!

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