Feel my Bicep

Finally our plastic homage to Detroit has hit the shelves. BUY BUY BUY. Have a listen, we hope you like it. Instead of describe the track for you we thought it may be better to give you an insight into the production.

Bicep – 313

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‘313’ was basically a melody I recorded of my laptop, my neighbour was getting his Jazz on, so I stuck the mic up to the wall and clicked record. **Note: he will have no credits on the sleeve- His dog shits all over my steps**. We knew the claps were a fundamental part of the track so to add some realism, we set off to Dalston market- inspired by stories of Marshall Jefferson hiring 15 people for the claps on his tunes when he played live. Instead of forming an alliance with the common people we stocked up on meat and what a fine selection there was on offer. On returning to the studio we took turns recording and slapping each other with various types of beef and fish- finally we layered these sounds to give this ‘Real‘ meat thing in action. The chatting you can hear around the start was recorded of my phone while in the waiting room of a very lively brothel, all I can say is that the recording got a little messy towards the end.

Bicep – Winter

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‘Winter’ was just a demo song on our DAW, cant believe people didn’t pick up on this one ;)

Hope this gave you a brief insight into the lengths we take in the strive for perfection! And perfection it is.

Buy the vinyl over at Phonica

HERE

Buy it digitally at Traxsource.com

HERE

To this day I think ‘Silent introduction’ is up definitely one of my most cherished albums. Much like Omar-s’ Fabric CD,  it contained music previously released on underground labels- then introduced to the masses years later on an albeit slightly less underground label. Mostly this is a KDJ, the early years collection. Add the blunted rants, musings and wisdom of Mr Dixon as in between banter and you’re left with a beautiful collection of deepest house that you wish you could play at work but are really scared to, because of these syrupy voiced proclamations. M-Traxx is a modern day masterpiece, the vinyl is so deep, dig it out if you can- pure bliss.

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Continue reading ‘Moodymann – M-Traxx’

Keeping things deep I’ve got two cracking beautiful soulful house reworks from Motor City Drum Ensemble, who time and time again hit the nail on the head with his signature old school drum patterns and thoughtful pastiche keys.

Over the past few years MCDE has really soared from their humble beginnings to leading the pack with their (previously posted) Raw Cut’s serious getting by absolutely everyone!

Jazzanova feat Phonte – Look what you’re doing to me (MCDE remix)

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Nu Frequency Feat Ben Onono – Fallen Hero (MCDE remix)

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This classic detroit cut reminds us that utter simplicity can often be just as effective as the tightest production! Omar has sampled the 1980’s track of the same name – Midway’s ‘Set it Out’ over rich warm ethereal keys and a very simple drum machine pattern – It works. The E.P ”002” has just received a repress before Christmas and with Set it out being the closing, (and for me the stand out track after Flying Gorgars) I thought it deserved a spot on here. Enjoy (But you’ll have to buy the E.P)

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One of the standout tunes of his fabric CD, which is quite the statement! Released in 2004 it has become an underground anthem in Detroit.

“A simple house beat and bassline rolls on and on while a short looped sample of the Supremes’ “Come See About Me” rises and falls hipnotically in the mix. Super simple sample based Detroit house in the vein of Agent X’s “In The Morning”, this will blow up dancefloors for sure.” – from Discogs

Omar-S – Day

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The Supremes – Come See About me

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Continue reading ‘Omar-S – Day’

Classic 1990’s techno, this kid was 14 when he produced this track! Trent’s father was a disco DJ. He recorded the track “Altered States” while still a high schooler, releasing it on Armando’s Warehouse Records in 1990. The track became a huge club hit among devotees of techno, despite Trent’s grounding in the Chicago house scene.  This classic detroit sound has had an influence on uk labels, especially lots of the earlier  Soma releases etc. Enjoy

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Continue reading ‘Ron Trent – Altered States’

Huge piano house remix of Kevin Saunderson’s ‘The Reese Project’  by underground resistance back in 1992, this helped propel them into the forefront of house and techno music.

Underground Resistance is probably the most militantly political outcropping of modern urban American techno. Combining a grubby, four-track aesthetic, an almost strictly DIY business philosophy, and an oppositional, militaristic ethos similar to Public Enemy without the drama (or the familiarity; the members refuse to be photographed without bandanas obscuring their identities), UR have redirected their portion of the Detroit techno legacy to social activist ends, trading mainstream popularity and financial success for independence and self-determination. Begun in the early ’90s by Detroit second-wave trinity Mike Banks,Robert Hood & Jeff Mills, UR adapted the flavor and kick of early Detroit techno to the complex social, political, and economic circumstances in the wake of Reagan-era accelerated inner-city decline, and was formed as an outlet for uncompromising music geared toward awareness and change.

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Continue reading ‘The Reese Project – The colour of love (Underground Resistance remix)’

Spent this morning recording some old vinyls and sorting through a tonne of old vinyl rips. A lot of the old Traxx ones sound pretty bad, probably because of the 2nd hand vinyl they were pressed on. Here is a heavy track from Marshall Jefferson, signature chords and piano loops. So deep it hurts. H. Dennis on the vocals on this one increases the soul factor.

“Nothing stays the same…..there’s always change……time marches on!”

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Continue reading ‘Jungle Wonz – Time Marches On’

Tunes like this made me want to dj, really simple but effective. I could think of nothing better than to absolutly thump this out to a massive crowd through a function one. Repetitive grooving but unlike the masses of dire ‘minimal techno’ this is full of live…lifting up and down with the 909 hats and slamming straight down with an 808 kick, worming its way on a 303 groove- this is a roland masterpiece!

DBX is one of the first wave of ‘Detroit techno’ artists famous for early minimal sound combining elements of detroit with a stripped down and jacky sound more popular in Chicago at that time. Incredible crossover appeal on party tracks and stripped down minimal bleep techno, with crisp grainy claps that have made his sound and use of the RZ-1 drumbox unmistakable. Had huge underground hit with “Losing Control” on UK’s Peacefrog records in the mid-90’s, later reissued with remixes from Robert Hood, Carl Craig and Richie Hawtin, the 3 biggest names in Detroit techno during that time. Continues to produce and DJ worldwide, his work is available now on dozens of labels and compilations.

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Continue reading ‘DBX – Live Wire’

Ok, so we’ve got the original of the track that appeared to be so uber popular when we posted it a few months back. The King of Kong remix was an absolute monster, the original is for very late on (next day), or very early. It’s super spacey and more chilled but still got a groove with some unbelievable percussion. All those beautiful synths make me feel less angry. Its due release this month on Record Makers, who have the mighty zombie boy Kavinsky and much more talent on their list. Due to this imminent release, its on preview kids.x

record makers

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J.ust A.nother N.igga – Stunning deep ‘n’ grooving sample laden detroit house. We’ve come to expect no less. Originally only 200 pressed, this is pure gold from the mann.

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Continue reading ‘Moodymann – J.A.N’

Nice new jacker courtesy of Marcello Napoletano, real old school Detroit vibe- keeping it real with groove, chilling strings and plenty of open 909s . Think Stimming meets Derrick May, for a rough idea! The full EP features 5 tracks each bringing something new to the equation, pretty essential selection for the record bag.

Marcello Napoletano – A prescription of love

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Continue reading ‘Marcello Napoletano – A prescription of love’

Yo, been really loving this sound so thought we’d throw together a mix of some tracks that have really flexxed their muscle on the floor. Lots of sample based house with slices of soul, a cupboard full of funky groove and a nod to our love of Detroit and Chicago.

1. General Motors – King of Kong
2. Jersey Devil Social Club – Homage at 121BPM
3. Herbert – Deeper
4. Aleem – Filtri Organi
5. Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts 3
6. Makam – New York Hustler
7. Sebo K and Metro – Saxtrack (Reboot Twisted Fist Remix)
8. Tj Kong & Nuno Dos Santos – Dropout
9. Chris Carrier – Wheels of Fire
10. Cajmere feat. Dajae – Brighter Days [Underground Goodie]
11. Lauhaus – Hamka

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Continue reading ‘Biceps Muscle House Mix’

Here’s a few tasty old detroit techno tracks. We thought it nice to give a little taster of bicep’s rougher, tougher edge. This is the type of shit I listen to running home from the gym.  All these tracks rock in their own right and some are very special indeed and with age aside (they range from 1995 to 2004), all have got that detroit goodness, from deep house to straight up dirty techno.

3 Chairs – System Sauce

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Paperclip People – Country Boy Goes Dub

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Rhythm Is Rhythm – The Dance

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Xtrak – Backdoor

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Paperclip People – The Climax

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Continue reading ‘Biceps Detroit Day’

The prodigal child from Detroit kicked off his DJ career at the age of 15, DJing with his fellow Detroit legends. This track from his 2006 album released on Warp, identified as one of the highlights, is best described as a “Pac Man-esque melody set against classic haunting strings plucked straight from Motor City.” Jerky Goodness!

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Continue reading ‘Jimmy Edgar – Semierotic’