Music, style, and life. We are mGrooves. We are 4groovers…

How appropriate (or not) on this first of February during a leap year.  I can’t count how many times I wanted to throw my hands up in protest over some of the crazy-stupid things that occur.  Alas, this is not an options always open to us.  However, what I’m really referring to is the party by this name in Baltimore and one of the front men, Tim Galligan.

We are gonna get dirty...

I was introduce to Tim some years ago through his brother.  And it wasn’t directly either.  What do I mean?  Well, I have cousins that live in the Denver Colorado area and on a trip to visit with them, I was introduced to this cat named ‘Jimmy G’.  Jimmy G (James Galligan) is Tim’s brother.

So while we traded fun music stuff, he told me about his brother that would be out Baltimore way.  Some weeks later, Tim (the brother) shows up at one of my Lust4Life shows which at the time was being hosted at Shorty’s.  After a few times visiting and conversation, I also had him come in to lay down some music.  This cat comes in and rolls with a killer all-vinyl set.  After that he did not have to convince me anymore.

Tim’s range is wide.  He can lay down a killer deep house set and just as well bring out some ‘hands in the air’ electro-house, techno, or indie electronic music with flair and style.  Check out this sample mix:

Join Lust4Life as Tim joins forces with us–yes this is the ‘justice league’, hahaha–as we lay down some kick ass dance music.

Lust4Life (L4L) is Friday Feb 3 at Dionysus.

It’s our first Lust4Life of the 2012 year and we are kickin’ it off with some down-home b-more flavor.  Craig Nasteef has been a maestro for some time.  He is throwing down with B-Side and I this Friday and he is bringing an all-vinyl set.

Yep,  all vinyl!!!

In the mean time, above is an sample of some Acid and Minimal House from him.

An all vinyl DJ set...

I’ll be slipping in a few new original sexy-cool pieces that I have co-produced with Toronto based DJ and producer, Melanie Sutherland.  B-Side also will be laying down some beats, Elly D Funk helps me host, and Ange has the perfect pour.

So, don your dancing shoes.  Bring your girl friends and your guy friends.   We are gonna have a House Party, L4L style….

***

Added for future L4L line-ups:

March – Mark  Castley (Blue Gritt Records)

April – DJ Kochi (ScandalDC, iNK House)

We have to find a way to live, laugh, love...

Contining on the previous post “Life Has No Guarantees“, I have personally observed the number of people with complaints has seemed to increase. There are complaints against him, her, this and that. Others whine about the environmentalist, the captains of industry, and everyone in between. The 1% and the 99% all have gripes. I just read a blog where some dude in a Jaguar ride complained about a bike rider in an urban environment!!  Seriously?!

I’m not suggesting these complaints aren’t legit–many are.  As Rich Medina in a collaboration with King Britt stated in “Planetary Analysis” opined,  the world  is  ”…full of complainers.  The have-nots being chased down by the haves, turned into a whole bunch of bullshit.  Complaint is nothing but a notion to be filed and forgotten.  The problems it that most people here have no cabinets.  So they pile their complaints in their living room  and live with them like furniture you can’t sit on, like ashes in an undumped tray, just sitting there waiting to be thrown away…”  Why don’t we throw them away?  Why, after rightfully venting, do we not move on?

I ask this not in complaint, but to draw attention to an obvious link that many believe to be missing.  The obvious aspect in life that we have little control over most  of what happens in life except our reaction to it.  Why don’t we then find a way to work around it, work through it, work with it?  Why don’t we find a way to live, laugh, love?

This doesn’t mean we are only serious or serious minded.  This does not mean that we ignore our obligations.  This does not mean we don’t have people and things that we do not fight for–just the opposite actually.  It does mean that move through the ether of this universe aware as possible.  As the so-called Serenity Prayer states:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.”

That last line being probably the most important.

–

Find A Way (the mix–the link is at the bottom of this article) features some hot music that contrasts some of the emotions touched on above.  I will be performing some original versions of some of those songs this Friday night at Lust4Life featuring Josh Vidal.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:46 — 146.0MB)

“It’s the same and different.”  This was the refrain of someone at one of my shows as they described my music.  I had to think about it for a minute and yet it makes since.

Work that mixer!

I might start using that statement when I get the question, “How would you describe your music?”  The fact of the matter House Music is almost everyone’s music whether they know it or not–all this from humble beginnings in Chicago, Detroit, and NYC.  So I will tell you how I describe my music by telling what I do during a typical music set.

Contrary to what most people think DJs do, I do not JUST push a button and play someone else’s music–that is what a radio DJ does where as I am more of the performance variety. I actively take music, alter it, layer it with 1, 2, 3, or more other pieces of music, alter it some more, and then does it come out over the speakers to the dance floor.  I borrow heavily from Hip-Hop, Jazz, Funk, Rock, R&B, Latin, Afro-Latin, Afro, and whatever to mix with.  Some of the songs will have lyrics and hooks you recognize however not in the same form or over the same rhythm you are used to hearing.  Some will just have the bassline, drums, or other instruments as I continue to de-construct and re-construct on the fly.  (Subscribe to Stylo’s mixes and see Stylo’s Soundcloud page for examples.)

Performance DJs also tend to shop for rare records and songs.  Part of this stems from a desire to introduce people to new music, as a way to say, ‘hey, so-and-so isn’t the only person with talent’.  Also, increasingly the rarer tunes are a way to collaborate with other emerging artists, thereby increasing the visibility of all involved.  There is also this crazy overbearing nonsense major record label’s and distributor’s lobby has done to copyright–however, that is a different discussion altogether.

And about requests to a performance DJ (as if it was a radio call-in show), would you walk into a restaurant and tell the chef how to cook?

So relax. Bring your friends and settle into the mood of the night.  If you open your mind, your body will follow, leading you to the dance floor.  Likely you will find yourself leaving the club or bar at the end of the night with your friends, or with a new friend, smile on your face, legs tired for dancing a little too much, and saying in conversation, ‘hell yeah, that music was cool!  It was the same and different!”

–

Now for you BSB and what you’ll likely to hear in the mix with Stylo…  There is a lot more music, but I didn’t buy it, therefore not BSB.  However you can bet you are going to hear it.  :)

Andre Harris – 10 Things Not To Say To a DJ

V/A – Disco Baby Disco EP

Rescue – Saints & Sinners EP

Cape Funk Cartel – The Ride EP

–

Where you can find Stylo.

Thursday, November 3 @ Gazuza Lounge, Washington DC

Saturday, November 5th @ Gazuza Lounge, Washington DC

Friday, November 11 @ Dionysus Restaurant and Bar, Baltimore, MD

Remember, packing 200 people into a small room and sweating out the night? Remember the smallish corner bar that seem to always have the hottest music around? Remember saying to people that you never know who you were going to run into or what would happened at Lust4Life??

We have re-launched that intimate feeling, this time at Dionysus. The same party that had the luck to host such House music legends like John “Julius” Knight and the sublime like DC’s Jackie O–who by the way is returning to Lust4Life October 9–is regular again and stands poised to bring the same type of excitement, plus some, to the Mt Vernon area of Baltimore.

One of the other reasons why we are excited about Dionysus (8 E Preston St) is that it is so close to everywhere because of access to transit options. If you are already in Baltimore, there is the Downtown Circulator FREE bus service that can get you there from most of the inner-city neighborhoods, the light rail for those who might be farther out, and for those who are traveling from DC, Philly, or NYC, Penn Station. Never before has Lust4Life been so accessible.

And finally the top reasons is the music people we will be bringing through. We are aiming to top the talent we brought in before, yet, not forgetting our hometown peeps. In this vein the first show will be an all-Baltimore affair with guest DJ Calvin Garner.

See you Friday night, Sept 9 at Dionysus!

***
And here is a little bit of a L4L throwback…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:29:04 — 478.6MB)