Category: Quadzilla’s Playlists

Looking up expressions using the word “move,” I found, give or take a few, 150 different idioms either using move or implying its various meanings, with many of these relaying how and it what context the word is being used. For example, the expression “faith will move mountains,” implying a belief in oneself, which is sometimes read as a belief in God, in other words a figurative meaning of the word. Or something like “get a move on,” a literal meaning of the word. Of course, there are also directional usages such as: move on, out, about, along, down, forward, and over. And then there is the ever versatile bust a move with no less than six different usages, such as departing, evading, seducing, evading, and to flatulate (yeah, that’s a new one for me as well!), and lastly, the meaning relevant to this playlist – DANCE. I will be honest and tell you that the last time I “busted a move” on a dance floor, Reagan was President, so yeah, it’s been awhile. Of course, how one “moves” on a dance floor depends on a wide variety of factors, the most important being the beat and tempo of the music. The following playlist provides 24 tracks that are all over the “move” map with one entry from the 20^th C and ¾ of them from 2019. Here are some “deets” on several tracks.

Otto Jettman (1989), better known by his stage name, Otto Knows, is a Swedish DJ, producer, and remixer, with a number of hits in Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He has collaborated with a range of artists, including Britney Spears, Avicii, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Alessa. His breakthrough came in 2010 on the electronic scene with a remix of “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap. He has had a number of chart successes, including the single, “iTrack,” credited to Tim Berg vs Oliver Ingrosso & Otto Knows, as well as with his remix of Dada Life’s “Kick Out the Epic Motherf**ker.” His biggest hit is his 2012 European single, “Million Voices,” my featured track.

Dirty Vegas are an English house music group initially made up of Ben Harris and Paul Harris (no relation) on instruments and production and Steve Smith on vocals. The group formed in 2001, breaking up in 2005 before reforming in 2008 to record new material. They are best known for their international hit single, “Days Go By,” the featured track, which gained mainstream popularity in a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse television commercial, and for remixing songs created by other artists. This is particularly fitting, as the track on the playlist, is in fact, a remix by another English group, CamelPhat, who are a DJ and production duo, consisting of Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala. Their remix of the 2003 track was done in 2019.

Richard Dinsdale, known as Weiss (stylized WEISS), is a UK-based music producer and DJ. His primary style is house. His influences include Motown, Metallica, and Phil Collins. Earlier in his career, he apprenticed for Massive Attack’s musical engineer, James Day. He had his first successful single in 2018 with, “Feel My Needs,” which enabled him to sign a record deal with Island Records in the UK, following up with “I Could Get Used to This” (2019), a collaboration with Becky Hill, which went on to become gold certified. That same year, he released “Let Me Love You,” the featured track.

Phantoms are a Los Angeles-based electronic dance music duo. The group consists of former teenage actors, Kyle Kaplan and Vinnie Pergola. Their eponymous debut album was released in 2017 with eleven tracks including the featured “Someone To Talk About,” with Grace Mitchel handling the vocals. They began producing electronic music in 2007.

Cut Snake is Australian DJ Leigh “Sedz” Sedley. Although Cut Snake originally started as a duo, which included Paul “Fish” Fisher, by mid 2018 Fisher had started to release music under his own alias that, according to Sedley, “went huge so fast it was going to be too hard for him to juggle both projects.” Together the two chose the name based on the Australian expression “mad as a cut snake” which, not surprisingly, means crazy. The two got involved in dance music while they were touring world surf contests and quickly grew passionate about the underground scenes from each country they visited. Their music has been described as “deep tech tunes at odds with their sun-soaked backgrounds,” and they have become famous for their massive personalities and infectious live shows. The playlist track, “Set Me Free,” is from the eponymous 2019 EP, a solo project from Sedley.

Aydin Hasirci (ATFC) was born to Anglo-Turkish parents who gave him his name, which is Ottoman Turkish for “he who blends two records skillfully, is a purveyor of slammin’ yet soulful house music whilst simultaneously being a master at whipping up a delicious Spaghetti Carbonara.” A rather longwinded and aspirational meaning to his moniker, and perhaps a bit of a burden to lay on a newborn baby, however, as it turned out, the young Aydin blossomed into exactly what is parents had prophesized and now occupies a unique position within the rich and often beautiful world of dance music. Early on in his career, he decided he needed a more instantly recognizable moniker aligned to his embracing the 4/4 beat and that was “Aydin the Funki Chile,” and ATFC was born. After many singles and with many adoring fans, ATFC has established himself as one of those rare talents within the dance music community: “an established, successful name the mention of which doesn’t have haters screaming ‘Sell Out!’ from the rooftops or start to maliciously plot his downfall.” The featured track is a 2018 single that has five edited versions; a radio edit, and two each by Dario D’attis and Tube & Berger.

Back to “busting a move.” There is another idiom associated with dancing/moving, in this case, “nimbly” or “lightly,” and that is to “trip the light fantastic.” That is exactly what German dancer and YouTube sensation Sven Otten (as JustSomeMotion) is doing in the video below to the last selection on the playlist, Caravan Palace’s “Brotherswing.” There is “moving,” then there is MOVING!

Enjoy the music, enjoy the dancing!

JustSomeMotion (JSM). Sven Orten dancing to “Brotherswing” 2013.

Los Angeles 2025

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

My first post to start things rolling on Quadzilla’s Playlists page was Funkaliciuos.1 (Jan.8, 2025), so I decided it was time for a “funk” follow-up! The second reason for this follow-up is because of an amazing documentary I watched the other night on PBS: “We Want the Funk” by Independent Films (April 8, 2025). The company’s promo had this to say: “’We Want the Funk’ is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots to its rise into public consciousness.” It does all that and more, focusing on many of the funk legends like James Brown, George Clinton, and Sly and the Family Stone, just to name a few. While I have been a huge fan of this type of music for quite some time, what I learned from watching this show was that there is a specific label for the unique beat/progression that is embedded into just about every funk tune I have ever heard: “The One.” No, I am not referring to Neo from The Matrix; this has to do with the four count of a funk song that always goes: ONE, two, three, four. When I heard the narrator say this, it was as if a light bulb went off in my head. Right after watching the documentary, I re-listened to the following playlist, and, sure enough, that distinctive four count was in just about every track! Just think back to “Thank You” by Sly and the Family Stone (1970), and that thumping bass note by bassist Larry Graham Jr. who, not surprisingly, is credited with the invention of the “slapping” technique on the electric bass guitar. Since then, bassists all around the globe have been “thumbs” up!

The 14 tracks by 12 different bands/artists that make up this playlist are all from the 21^st century – 2003-2024, to be exact, with Franc Moody and BMD having two tracks each. The labelled genres include dance, R&B/soul, jazz, electronic and, of course, funk, although there are only two cuts labelled that way! Below you will find profiles on four of the artists on the playlist – BMD, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Candy Dulfer, and Dr. Rubberfunk. Make sure you keep scrolling after the playlist for a special “funk” surprise!

BMD (a.k.a. BluntMaster Dred) is a Polish DJ and producer. He has been involved in many different musical projects, working with different musicians and experimenting with his voice as an MC. As a DJ, his style ranges from nu funk, funky breaks, and big beats, through funky/vocal/disco house to nu school breaks. The featured track, “Funk Soul Summer,” has that slapping bass mentioned above front and center.

I have been following and enjoying the music collective, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, ever since they released their debut album, Cool Steady and Easy in 1995. They are known for their mixing of jazz, funk, and hip hop, featuring musicians and poets from different cultures. The band was conceived in 1993 by producer Arthur Baker and bassist and musical director, Lati Kronlund. In the mid-1990s, the group was a staple of the New York club scene. Their first release, mentioned above, scored a hit with their rendition of Pharoah Sanders,” “The Creator Has a Master Plan.” Their follow-up album, In The Buzz Bag (1998), included Turkish folk music rhythms and instruments, which were recorded in consortium with the Turkish clarinetist, Hüsnü Senlendirici.  Their latest release, Intuition is from 2023.

Candy Dulfer (1969), a mostly self-taught multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and band leader, is from Amsterdam, Netherlands. She began playing the drums at age five. As a six-year-old, she started to play the soprano saxophone, switching to alto saxophone at age seven, and later began playing in a local concert band, Jeugd Doet (“Youth Brings Life”) in Zuiderwoude. She played her first solo on stage with her father’s band, De Perikels (“The Perils”), and at eleven she made her first recordings for her father’s 1981 album, I Don’t Ask. When she was twelve years old, she played as a member of Rosa King’s Ladies horn section at the North Sea Jazz Festival, and it was King who encouraged Dulfer to become a bandleader, which she did at age fourteen (1984), starting the band Funky Stuff. Her band played throughout the Netherlands in the 80s and, in 1987, they were the opening act for two of Madonna’s European concerts. In 1988, Prince invited Dulfer on stage to play an improvised solo during one of his European shows. Dulfer performed session work with the Eurythmics guitarist and producer, Dave Stewart, dueting with him on the worldwide hit single, “Lily Was Here,” contributing to the soundtrack of the same name. There were also stints with Pink Floyd, Van Morrison, and Alan Parsons. All of this on top of the 13 albums she has released between 1990 and 2022. The featured track here offers a great sax solo by Dulfer.

Simon Ward began DJing as Dr. Ruberfunk in 1992 and released his debut 12” single in 2001. He recorded several albums after this initial release, and produced Izo FitzRoy’s debut album, “Skyline.” In 2008, Dr. Ruberfunk joined the Jalapeño Records family and brought his live drumming, funk breaking, irrepressible good time vibe to the j-funk party. He is a lynchpin of a growing group of DJs and producers pushing an eclectic brand of funky music – at the moment named only be the label that pulls them all together – “Jalapeño” Funk. Dr. Ruberfunk performs regularly at Jalapeño Sound System nights as well as his various London DJ residencies and guest slots around the globe.

The “surprise” I mentioned at the outset is a German guitarist that I recently discovered, Joscho Stephan (1979). I have to admit to having a soft spot for guitarists, especially ones that simply make the instrument “sing” in ways that I did not think were possible, which is saying something considering the amount of guitarists I have listened to and admired over the years. He is from Mönchengladbach, West Germany, a jazz guitarist who is known for his interpretation of classical, jazz, and pop standards in the style of Gypsy jazz, made famous by none other than Django Reinhardt. And speaking of Reinhardt, he and Stephan will appear again this month in a DUTC. Stay tuned! The video below the playlist is of the Joscho Stephan Trio performing over six minutes of acoustic funk. Be ready to be wowed!

Enjoy!

Funk 22. Joscho Stephan Trio, featuring Sven Jungbeck (guitar/percussion) and Volker Kamp (double bass), March 2024.

And just for the hell of it, Sly and the Family Stone with “Thank You.”

PS: My favorite comment on the Sly video goes like this: “The 70’s: When sugar was what sweetened soda, drinking age was 18, Mom and Dad had no idea where you were most of the time, and THIS was on the radio. I would love to go back for just one night.”

Los Angeles 2025

I am fairly certain that many of you will have an idea, or perhaps more than one, as to what “get down” means and what it is referring to. There is the literal meaning, to simply lower oneself, and then it takes off from there. The informal/slang meanings are plentiful – relax, have a good time, being “hip” to something, or simply just to start “doing” something, to name a few. Then there is its association with dancing, as in “getting down” on the dance floor – just think Saturday Night Fever! And, I suppose, the sexual nature of the phrase followed soon after. If you’re old like me, you might even remember the first time you not only heard the idiom used this way, but also with the sexual connotation. For me it was in 1975 when I first heard K.C. & Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight,” with the lines: “Do a little dance, make a little love,’/Get Down tonight.” If you were not a big fan of that song, as I was/am not, don’t worry, it’s not on the playlist! My favorite usage of the phrase, however, comes from urban dictionary quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger: “GET DOWN, there’s a snipah on ze roof!” But I digress.

So, what was going through my head when I came up with the “moniker” for this playlist? Well, other than the “anti-genre” kick that I seem to be on these days, I was really thinking about the many different kinds of music there are that might initiate that “get down” feeling in whatever way the listener interprets the music. Cop-out? Maybe, but who’s counting?

Before you start “getting down,” here’s the scoop on some of the artists you’ll be listening to. There are sixteen songs on the list (1.4 hrs.) spanning 40 years (1984-2024) and ranging from pop to rap, and everything in between. First up are Bronski Beat, who were a British synth-pop band formed in London, England in 1983. The initial lineup, which recorded the majority of their hits, consisted of Scottish musicians Jimmy Somerville (vocals) and Steve Bronski (keyboards, percussion), and English musician Larry Steinbachek (keyboards, percussion). Simon Davolls contributed backing vocals to many songs, Throughout the band’s career, Bronski was the only member to appear in every lineup. The band achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 single, “Smalltown Boy,” (the featured song) from their debut album, The Age of Consent. All the members of the band were openly gay, and their songs reflected this, often containing political commentary on gay issues at that time.

Basement Jaxx’s song, “Right Here’s the Spot,” is from their 2003 album, Kish Kash. They are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Burton (1973) and Simon Ratcliffe (1972). The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene of the mid-1990s but would go on to find international chart success and win Best Dance Act at both the 2002 and 2004 BRIT Awards. They often feature vocalists on their tracks, and this one is no exception. For this track the featured artist is Meshell Ndegeocello (born Marshall Lynn Johnson), and American singer/songwriter and bassist who has been wowing us with her vocal prowess and amazing bass lines since 1993. Her latest release is No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin (2024).

Ini Kamoze (Cecil Campbell 1957)) is a Jamaican reggae artist who began her career in the early 1980s and rose to prominence in 1994 with her signature song, “Here Comes the Hotstepper,” from his 1994 album, Stir it Up. When I first stumbled on this song awhile back, I did not recognize the name, but the memories came flooding back after the first few notes and chanting! His self-titled debut album was released in 1984 as a six-track mini-LP. In the liner notes (remember those?) he describes himself as a “pencil-thin…disentangled…six-foot vegetarian.” The featured version of this hit song is a Heartical Mix, one of at least 20, possibly more, mixes of this song! In fact, it is difficult to find an original non-mix of this song. However, YouTube came to the rescue yet again, so it’s at the end of the post.

Blackstreet (often stylized as BLACKstreet) is an American R&B group founded in 1991 by record producers Chauncey “Black” Hannibal and Teddy Riley. They released four albums between 1994 and 2003. They achieved relative commercial success leading up to their 1996 single, “No Diggity,” which featured Dr. Dre and Queen Pen, my featured song. Their debut album, Blackstreet, featured the singles “Booti Call,” “Before I Let You Go,” and “Joy.” In 1996, they released their second album, Another Level. This was a breakthrough success due to the aforementioned single, “No Diggity.” In 1998, Blackstreet won the Grammy Awardfor Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

And now for some music!

Ini Kamoze. “Here Comes the Hotstepper” 1994.

Los Angeles 2025