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Showing posts from May, 2014

Soul Covered Part 8 Electrojazzylatinfunk Edition

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The beautiful cover of John Legend's 'All of me' by Nikki Oosterwijk on my latest cloudcast inspired me to create this eighth part of ' It's soul covered up '. Having just released her 'Lullabies for lost girls' EP, up-and-coming Montreal-based pop singer/songwriter and performance artist Callia Bara is already gearing up to release her new EP, 'Sex bomb'. Ahead of its release, Callia has just unveiled the EP's second single entitled 'BTS' (Behind The Scenes), which once again sees her collaborating with Brazilian producer Ftureable . He also produced the EP's first single 'Summa That' (source: Wonky Sensitive ). Mr President (picture) brings the soul and disco sound from the mid-seventies (MFSB, Roy Ayers, Love Unlimited Orchestra) into 2014 with his new album 'Hips shaking', just like Dr Who did with his Tardis! The track from Mongo Santamaria can be found on ' World’s funkiest covers ' that ca

Smooth Sailing: Sunny Skies & Soulful Sounds

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Picture: joansmalls on Instagram Enjoy this new episode of Smooth Sailing ! Again a mixture of yacht pop, soft rock, easy listening, blue-eyed-soul and slow disco. Nikki Oosterwijk is a very talented Dutch singer who already sang on national Dutch television as a child, twelve years ago. Listen to her interpretation of the John Legend song that will surely give you goose bumps! Another stand-out track is 'Rotation' by one of the founders of A&M records, Herb Alpert. "The song is introduced by hand percussion, bells and shakers. It is a soulful groover with a killer, soft-spoken keyboard line that's lite funk and hypnotic. A looped synth line enters in place of a bassline. Handclaps, fingersnaps, and Alpert's trumpet from the distance play a melody. Effects, washes, reverb, and mild distortion create a futuristic backdrop to this otherwise beautifully melodic tune. Alpert plays his in the pocket soul-drenched melody lines over the top and one of the first

Smooth Sailing: Love Making & Disco Dancing

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Picture Joan Smalls Vogue April 2013 Enjoy this new episode of Smooth Sailing ! Let’s take a look at Cineplexx (that’s the Argentinian Sebastian Litmanovich, now living in London) who for his eleventh album 'Florianopolis' decided on a unique version of tropical cosmic disco. His influences range everything from electronica to bossa, and the track on this cloudcast also proves his love for funk. 'Te Quiero' is a slow disco jam for the beach, laced with funky guitars and graced by Litmanovich’s tender voice (source: Mercedes-Benz Mixed Tape ). I'm looking forward to the new Dimitri From Paris compilation album, 'Dimitri From Paris In The House of Disco' that will be out on June, 15. On the Defected page he says: “This new compilation is a testament to how Disco and House are intertwined three decades after their inception. Rather than focusing solely on classic original recordings, I wanted to show how those sounds were made contemporary without losi

Eddy's 80s Grooves Part 10 (Best Of 1986)

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Picture: Joanne Catherall (Human League) In 1986 traditional disco and soul had turned into mainstream pop music. For instance, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson sang pop songs rather than R&B songs. Old school soul and disco did not exist anymore. House and hip hop took over in clubs, but not in the charts yet. The most successful R&B/pop producers were Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. They wrote and produced not only hit songs for Janet Jackson, but for The SOS Band and The Human League as well. They were the forerunners of what later would become swingbeat (or new jack swing) and modern R&B. "First Circle were among the one-album wonders of '80s R&B; 1987's Boys' Night Out was their first album as well as their last. But had it not been for an unavoidable name change, it's quite possible that First Circle would have become much better known."  (Quote: Allmusic.com ) Enjoy this new episode of Eddy's 80s Grooves !

Smooth Sailing: Funky Fishing & Blue Eyed Soul

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Picture Joan Smalls: Chanel (Karl Lagerfeld) "One of Philadelphia's finest groups, the Futures made good music, but Lady Luck refused to work her magic on them." (Quote: Andrew Hamilton ) The funny song by Bret McKenzie is from the movie ' Muppets Most Wanted ' and the song by Ned Doheny (covered by Tata Vega on Motown in 1978) is on a new compilation album, called 'Too Slow To Disco volume 1'. It's the first part of a series of high quality Westcoast yacht rock ('music you can almost dance to'), compiled by German DJ Supermarkt. Check out an interview with him on AOR Disco .  Enjoy this new episode of Smooth Sailing !  Thanks to Jazzface for bringing some of his magic to this mix. Tracklist: Love Unlimited Orchestra – Welcome Aboard [Tonbe Edit] (1981) Daryl Hall & John Oates – I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) (1981) Steely Dan — Peg (1977) Boz Scaggs — Lowdown (1976) Level 42 — Turn It On (1981) Caroline Peyton – Party Line (