ALBOE.2

Time once again to channel your inner Lovin’ Spoonful…You know, “Did You ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?” And it will be painfully obvious from this playlist’s tracks that sometimes I have a problem with that exercise! Sixteen tracks from a decidedly eclectic array of artists with the earliest from 1968 and the latest from 2023. As has become the custom with these playlists, below you will find some info on four of the featured artists.

Tristan Casara (1987), known by his stage name, The Avener, is a French deep house and electro DJ and music producer from Nice. The word “avener” – from the Latin “avēra,” oats – is a historical title for an officer who provided oats to stabled horses. “The Avener” also contains the word “heaven” as a substring, as highlighted on the album art of his second album, Heaven.

In 2014, The Avener released his debut single, “Fade Out Lines,” a deep house rework of “The Fade Out Lines,” a song by Phoebe Killdeer & The Short Straws. It was a huge hit all over the world, including Austria, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Switzerland! His debut studio album, The Wanderings of the Avener, came in 2015. The track on the playlist is, “We Go Home” (2015), featuring vocals by Adam Cohen, is an EDX Paris at Night Remix.

Although Bart&Baker come from very different musical backgrounds (Jo Baker, Jazz & Classics, and Bart Sampson, Pop & House Music), “together they build a bridge between the acoustic tradition of ‘feel good’ tunes, and the custom reinvention of electronic beats.” They are not limited by genre or style, and their music can be best described as “House Music with a smile and a style,” featuring ElectroSwing, Deep & Funky House, and Nudisco, to name a few. They began as a DJ Pair in Paris cocktail speakeasies and the iconic club scene, dressed in their “idiosyncratic Tuxedos & Top Hats.

In 2010 they, started currating the music collection for Wagram Music, a major European independent  label. They have produced 11 CD collections, collaborated on more than 50 other musical projects, and sold over 200,000 CDs worldwide. Because of their early involvement in the elctro swing scene through radio shows, parties and live events, they are known as “the godfathers of electro swing.” Today, the Bart&Baker catalogue comprises more than 130 tracks and remixes, both sample-based and original tunes. They perform mostly at festivals and corporate events throughout France, Europe, and the U.S., presenting performances of a unique mix of beats, videos, and vocals. They broadcast a weekly two hour show called Swing Party on National Jazz Radio, heard in over 100 French cities. There are two tracks of theirs on this playlist: “Bee Zoo” (Radio Edit), featuring Sweet Tooth, from the album, Introducing, Bart&Baker (2013, and the single “Love Me, Love Me Now” (Club Version, 2023) with Ashley Slater.

The Brand New Heavies are an English band formed in 1985, consisting of Simon Bartholomew, Andrew Levy, and Jan Kincaid. In 1990, after the addition of N’Dea Davenport, the group experienced mainstream success and pioneered a new genre called acid jazz. They released their debut self-titled album in 1990, and then re-issued it in 1991 with newly recorded vocals by an American singer-songrwriter, the above mentioned N’Dea Davenport. Their breakthrough success came with the release of their third album, Brother Sister, in 1994, eventually becoming certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BOI). Davenport left the group and was replaced by American singer-songwriter Sideah Garrett, after which they released their fourth album, Shelter in 1997. They would go through another singer-songwriter before Davenport’s return to the fold, releasing the album, Get Used To it in 2006. The Brand New Heavies have sold over 2.5 million recors worldwide and are regarded as one of the leading acid jazz bands.

Baltra (a.k.a. Michael Baltra) is origanally from Philadelphia, discovering his love of dance music in New York City. When I read the following description of him I was certainly intrigued to say the least: “Baltra’s sound is like stumbling into a dream at 3am – it’s hazy, pulsating and dripping with emotion. He’s been honing it ever since breaking out into the lo-fi house explosion of the mid 2010s.” Yeah, that got to me for some reason! The raves he attended in the Meatpacking District in NYC led him towards DJing, then production, ultimately becoming fascinated by the emotion he could evoke in the listener. Debuting with ‘The Vision’ in 2014, “his dusty drums and ‘80s-era vocals quickly brought him a wide fanbase. Although he became “boxed-in” within the genres of lo-fi and filter house, he managed to shrug off that kind of pigeonholing and  continued to produce using other genres such as dubstep, jungle, electro, ambient, and beyond.

Enjoy!

Los Angeles 2025