By DJ Urban KobbbNo Sad Goodbyes by Swayzak (playing now). Click the  button to hear I Love the Rain by The Real Tuesday Weld. |
This is a great opportunity that created a problem. How do I choose from hundreds of tracks to pick the dozen or so that will fit into an hour time slot?
Well, you helped me. I used feedback that I've received from this column and live gigs to come up with a sort of DJUK sampler.
Let’s take a look at the playlist:
- Sure Thing by St. Germain. St. Germain was the first artist I reviewed way back at the inception of iList Paducah. This is no less than the very essence of acid jazz.
- A Forest by Nouvelle Vague. I reviewed this in June. Nouvelle Vague breathes new life into new wave standards.
Bebela by Les Nubians. If you read last week’s column, you know how much I love Les Nubians. I can’t wait for Western Kentucky to get a load of this duo. - Mon Pote Kia by Iwaki. Japan does French, and quite well. This is a standard in my crate that makes its way into every gig.
- Divers by Boozoo Bajou (above right). Boozoo Bajou is a downtemp essential. If you think that the Germans are uptight, this duo will blast through that stereotype.
Epie by Röyksopp. I reviewed this group last year. Röyksopp is Norway’s contribution to downtempo. The only thing wrong with these guys is that they need to record more music.
- I Love the Rain by The Real Tuesday Weld (right). Can you believe these guys haven’t had their pants sued off? Maybe it’s because they give Tuesday Weld such a good name.
- Warm Sound by Zero 7. You cannot have a legitimate downtempo collection without Zero 7. They are as close to ubiquitous as a downtempo artist gets.
No Sad Goodbyes by Swayzak (right). Any band that takes its name from Patrick Swayze deserves some attention. Swayzak might be the hidden gem of this playlist.
- Lagos Communique by Thievery Corporation. It would be impossible for me to build a playlist of any size without Thievery. My challenge is usually to avoid playing them too often.
- Slow Hot Wind by Blockk 16 (below right). This group is totally under radar coverage. iTunes does not refer to them, they don’t have a Wikipedia page or a Web site — and their MySpace page only has 4,800 views. But we have them here.
All My Life by DJ Harry. DJ Harry started out by remixing The String Cheese Incident songs — now The String Cheese Incident produces his original work. That has me thinking….
