basilika

So it’s been awhile.

The basilika update wasn’t meant to take quite so long, but sometimes you’ve got to leave things for time to give you a chance to realize their worth. Basilika started as a blog to accompany a night-three dudes playing great music in a rubbish bar in Angel. But time moves on, things change and basilika seemed to lose it’s way a little, posting became less and less frequent and it became harder to see where things were headed and, more importantly, why we were going there in the first place.

So it took some time but we found the why again.

All this music we track down and hoard for ourselves, the secret unreleased tracks on nerdy obsessive forums, the music we cutup, edit and make our own.

This is where we share it with you.

We’ll try to keep it all as original as possible and not to get too precious with it.

(but you know how these things go)

Kicking things off-as London (and me) go mildly Prince crazy-is a week dedicated to rare and unreleased music from the minneapolis maestro. We’ll try to ignore all the devious ticket manipulations (and the last 8 albums) and concentrate on what makes the dude so worth all the praise in the first place. The music.

For me it’s a journey back to the place where I first got so passionate about music as well as the start (or re-start) of something brand new.

So thanks for coming back and we hope you enjoy the show.

Prince-Feel U Up(unreleased version-Ulysses 82 edit)

I was fortunate enough to see Theo Parrish at Plastic People last night.

Suffice to say it was an incredible night; quite simply one of the world’s best djs at the top of his game playing on the best soundsystem in London. Musically it spanned a massive variety of black musical forms from disco-through jazz, hiphop funk and acid. But it’s not like those kind of lazy musical tags really apply to someone like theo, with different styles effortlessly brought together to create a richer, greater whole.

This combination of the fantastic soundsystem and the otherworldly-ness of his crazy, intense, sometimes 20 minute + productions, made it feel like we were witness to the deejay, not as superstar, but artist; at once uncompromisingly new yet direct descendant to a black musical heritage increasingly under attack from a culture that wants to steal it and twist it for it’s own commercial ends.

One man diggin deeper, sticking to his own distinct vision and providing powerful inspiration to those willing to take the time.

Next time you get the chance, you should really try and check him out. In the meantime thanks to the power of the internets and to a new found friend, here is a excerpt from last night. It’s a bit rough and ready but you can kind of get an idea of the seriousness of the vibe. I’m guessing it’s some new theo edits (sounds like a marvin gaye sample in there somewhere)-either way it’s damn heavy.

Enjoy.

Theo Parrish-Unknown edits (Live at Plastic People 18/02)

Hustles of Culture-Flipjack

This track could also be a 3rd floor classic-it’s got the heavy drums, the upbeat jazzy break, the early 90’s vintage.It reminds me of a time when I could listen to tracks without instantly trying to pigeonhole them (probably because it didn’t know enough about music to be able to). We used check out a night called ‘funkin pussy’, when we were just getting into clubbing-they played all the classic funk stuff and would occasionally drop in tracks like this-it was a little on the obvious side, but nights would always really kick off. Soul2Soul used to play it as well as some of the more edgier house deejays and all the jazzheads finally had a jazzdance track for people who couldn’t dance to records in weird time signatures!.

I pulled it out the crates for last saturday’s basilika which turned out to be an a) an absolute stormer b)a bit of a kelly -classic selection (my bro and some mates were in the house, so it all got a little self indulgent)

I am learning that the less I deejay the more I enjoy it, especially if it means being able to regularly drop tunes this heavy.

Have a great weekend.

I love 4-hero.
Not only do they make incredible music but the sheer scope of what they produce is evidence of a deep love of the rich, broad spectrum of black music. Anyone hearing ‘Mr Kirk’s nightmare’,back in ‘91 could be forgiven for thinking that 4hero were in the business of making novelty records but 15 years (!!) of making killer music has put pay to that particular theory, their latest release being no exception.

Whereas ‘Two Pages’ and to a lesser degree ‘Creating Patterns’ sometimes fell victim to the overbearing ambition of it’s creators, ‘Playing with the Changes‘, somehow manages to find enough room to squeeze in all these influences, without sacrificing their own distinctive voice. A good example this is the track, ‘Morning Child’, which, whilst positively haunted by the ghost Charles Stepney still manages to retain that unique (ex-)dollis hill, future soul vibe.

People go crazy about the production skills of the late, great jdilla. But for all his undeniable talent he was working within the relatively conservitive fields of hiphop and rnb. These guys hit up jazz, broken beat, detroit techno, soul, funk ,house and a load of styles that don’t really have names yet and somehow manage to represent in all of them.

Sometimes it’s easier to rain down love on artists based in detroit or nyc than the ones who are just around the corner.

Here’s to London’s finest.

4hero-Morning Child

[audio:morningchild.mp3]

After finishing his epic 2006 mix trilogy, east london music lover Disco Jesus comes back strong for 07 with his first mix of the new year entitled “Winter Movements”.
“..this mix explores mid-80s underground sounds with a distinctive Chicago club flavour touching on vintage house, soulful electro and nu-wave funk. With a few very rare, early house gems up its sleeve, this is definitely one for lovers of the proto-house melting pot.”

If you understand what that means, you’re in for a treat- if you’re a little confused-give it a try he might well convert you.

Disco Jesus-Winter Movements

ps for some reason the built in audio player likes the mix so much it plays it super fast-please download and appreciate on your own system-unless you really like that +8 vibe.

If I could sum-up the definitive ‘third floor classic’ sound, in two words, those words would be ‘jazzy breaks’. Of course there was a broad spectrum of styles that rocked our world back then, but it was that house tempo/ break driven sound that we really made our own.

The excellent ‘Another night on Earth‘ posted ‘Blacker‘ by the (Eccentric Afros vs) Ballistic Brothers, earlier this week, which is a good example of the style I’m talking about. (might have to put the marden hill version up here later in the series). It’s got that soulful, break influenced sound of hiphop but it’s tweaked upbeat for extra dancefloor pressure.
This track is a tune called ‘Le Voyage’ by Mighty Bop-it’s from the second of their eps (the green one) and was recommended by pete and simon , when they worked in the basement of the mighty ‘rockin sarah’ in soho and were primary taste makers for my nascient record collecting.

It’s quite a simple tune really-spacey keys, a jazzy vocal sample, nice breakdowns, all underpinned with this enormous drum break (and lets face it that’s key ingredient). It’s one of those records that sort of defies easy labeling and maybe that’s why we love it so much-it just sounds golden.

Mighty Bop-Le Voyage

In a few years Elephant & Castle will probably be like Angel. Billions of pounds of regeneration money to create a chi-chi make-over for the most stubbornly ‘earthy’ parts of zone 1.

It’s therefore quite possible that future generations will have no idea about the significance of Roots Manuva giving his record the moniker ‘Walworth Rd Dub’. The character of the place will be lost behind a facade of alfresco dining and all makeover money can buy.

It’s not all bad-god knows the place could do with a lick of paint (and a demolition or ten)-but for now lets  love the place for what it is; a multicultural mixing pot, a hundred different nationalities all doing their own thing, hustling and bustling trying to make an honest (or otherwise) living on the unforgiving streets.

It’s one of those tracks that is an anthem for rudebwoys and city bankers alike-anyone who wants to lay their claim to a piece of authentic south london attitude. It’s almost too big a tune to play, so I’ve added an extra layer of classic to give it that basilika style edge.

walworthbelieve-roots manuva/biggie(jaksoul edit)

If things seem a little quieter than usual here at basilika, it’s because we are in another one of our ‘transitional modes’. If it isn’t fresh and new every 3-6 months we get a bit twitchy and bored. As ever there are a good few things bubbling under and changes that we want to make-all of which will be come apparent after it happens.

In the meantime tonight is a two-floor frisky fingers/crispy teackes/’the magic’ jackson triple bill at the winny, essex rd and we will be ‘annoucing’ one, maybe two, new residencies to start in feb/march.

Me and alfredo ‘the jazz‘ teacockles are heading down to the worldwide all winners awards at cargo on Saturday and will report back monday.

My track of the year was the maurice fulton mix of Alice Smith’s Love Endevour and in the spirit of such amazing manchester based soul music here is another fulton production which is also supafreakin dope.

Kathy Diamond-All Woman(vocalmix).mp3*

*Damn, should have done my research before posting this little gem-turns out the ever excellent dilated choonz boys also posted this baby recently-so in an effort to keep it fresh here’s the dub instead-which is equally as good.

Kathy Diamond-All Woman (dub)

Have a good weekend.

When I got to art college I was lucky enough to fall in with some like minded muso dudes. ‘Stevie B’ Bruno, Joe ‘Baron Samedi’ Lashbrook, Farooq ‘Faz’ Khan and I formed a heavy beats and smokes ‘collective named ‘Voodoo’, spending days and weeks planning our schemes for world domination. Cut off from the entire cultural world in leafy surrey we obsessed endlessly over gilles & norman’s radio shows and over music mags like Straight no Chaser, rigorously compiling epic ‘want’ lists. Such was the power of our nascent musical fervour that we would literally be running to Universal Sounds/Mr Bongos/the basement of Daddy Kool on our monthly record buying visits.Of course none of the records we wanted were available- all floating seductively out of reach in the ether of exclusive promoes and cdrs.

One of these unreachable tracks was the by a guy called dj shadow. Leaking from the jazz pages, hype about a track called influx had started to penetrate more traditional music press. It was nowhere to be found (of course) but this track was. Predating the influx 12″ by a few months and trickling to London on import I picked it up in blackmarket or somewhere similarly off the beaten path for mowax beat junkies.
Coming back home to the Third Floor in the holidays I would be armed with stacks of vinyl goodness (and eventually my own 1210s), like this. Of course I had no idea that DJ shadow would eventually be a big deal. Listening to it with my bro. all we could muster by way of critical appraisal was ‘damn those drums sound amazing !’DJ Shadow and the Groove Robbers-Entropy (parts C/D/E).mp3

This one is a bit of a basilika classic.

Hubtone-hot muffin(gerd’s 4lux edit) is a dirty slab of p-funk inspired mayhem almost garanteed to get one or both of us pulling out the air bass and giving it a work out.
As is often the case, genuine dancefloor pressure doesn’t really need to be too clever and this track is pretty much just a filtered loop with a bit of synth on top.

It just so happens the loop in question is an absoulute monster.

Teacakes, or ‘Peregrine Hipflask’ as he insists on being called at the moment, has his own version. (with added kelis/grace jones)-It’s live in the mix from saturday night (which was enourmous btw) so it’s a bit rough round the edges and there seems to be a little problem with the recording as it is picking up sound from both channels rather than just the live one, but screw it -it still sounds heavy.

teacakes-grace jones/kelis/hot muffin blend.

holla!!!!