Peace Out Google

While I never received any DMCA notices due to this blog being pretty off the radar, I imagine they would come soon. I lean more towards the side of anti-copyright and don't feel like getting into any legal issues with huge corporations whatsoever. While I don't think all blogs follow this pattern, (and we have all stolen plenty of music from the ones that upload full albums, discographies, ect) my intentions have always been to spread music and discuss it with like-minded heads and to link up, trade, and take over the world. Most of what I've posted is out of print, hard to find, or from the artists/labels. There are plenty of others who have the same intentions and this is the healthiest thing that could happen to music in the age of the internet. Unfortunately Google doesn't realize this, and it's time to move on. I thank all of my readers and listeners, and hope that you will still continue to follow this blog at another location.

Please update your links, RSS feeds, and bookmarks to the new location http://davequam.wordpress.com/

Still working on making it look better, although this site was never pretty. All posts and mp3s have been moved over to Wordpress and I hope to get all of my links moved over and functioning by the end of the weekend. Sorry for the inconvenience, but expect big things in the very new future!

-DAVE QUAM

Bubbling Cause Trouble

Cola Y Su Grupo Di Tambu - Mi Moreno (from Musica Crioyo di Corsow)

The first Afro-Curacaoan song and dance is of as much importance to bubbling's creation as turntables and raggamuffin. DJs such as Moortje cite tambu as the backbone of the rhythm, though it differs from reggaeton's Dem Bow. The music can be both secular or religious, and went on to become a huge part of the island's culture after the abolition of Dutch slavery. Much like the fuss going on in the Netherlands in the 90s, its sound was influenced by other Caribbean music and there are actually other forms of tambu elsewhere in places where "Marooned" communities existed (or still exist). I have documents from Jamaica, Trinidad, and the other ABC Islands that prove this, but your are most likely to still hear tambu to this day at celebrations in Willemstad. I didn't immediately hear the connection between the two, but upon matching the tempos you can clearly tell how embedded it is. Unfortunately the recording industry isn't really pressed to document this stuff, and there isn't even much in the grant money pimpin' libraries of Smithsonian Folkways, Ocora ect. Luckily there are some nice record collectors out there that like to share their finds with us, one of which was nice enough to rip these amazing Cola y Su Grupo tracks. There is actually a fair amount of videos on Youtube as well.

A very in depth article on tambu can be found here, with all the information you might ever need.

In This Bitch

De Schuurman ft Jandro - Nu Ga je Danse

Trance bubbling in under three minutes from one of my favorite underage DJs in the Netherlands. I'm gonna go ahead and side with this stuff over most "Dutch house". What can I say, I love these drums, and this is still as ravey as Moombah but way scarier.

320 for all you DJ dorks too.

Father of Footwork

RP Boo - The Isleys

RP Boo was basically the godfather of footwork as a genre of music, taking juke from a 4-on-the-floor house pattern to the bent bass that not only changed the sound forever, but I'm sure changed dancing as well. One of his pivotal moments was when he butchered the pitch of a now deceased Wu Tang member's voice into an even more staggering utterance on Baby Come On and invented what most people think is a Nateism. Truth is Nate was in like kindergarten at the time and due to pre-Youtube era most people outside of Chicago don't know much, if anything about RP. He was also part of House - O - Matics along with several other DJs back in the mid 90s, one of the OG footwork crews. Never really receiving the credit he is due, it is essential that he be included on this blog.

Battle Groundz

I'm psyched to see that these videos are making their rounds on the interwebs. Battle Groundz is a great community of footworkers, DJs, and friends that do the damn thing regardless of struggle for a permanent space. Some of the best dancers in the city can be found "there", media coverage or not, and the spirit of competition meshing with kids just hanging out defines what goes on. Luckily my homie Neema tapes these on the regular, and has thrown a bunch of mind blowing videos up on youtube which you can see here. If you think this culture is dead in Chicago it's most likely because your showing up at Smart Bar expecting NOT to hear the same mixes people make for the internet. You can chalk some of that that up to the extraordinary segregation that on takes place in this city, but your still kind of lazy.

Special Dance

Young Ace ft Lon Don - Juke N Pimp 2005

There's a certain single that's popular with the Kid Cudi crowd right now that may or may not have taken a few hints from this popular street single from five years ago. Maybe the group I'm talking about never even heard this, but as hard as they rep Chicago it would be questionable if they hadn't. Make judgments of authenticity on your own time, but simply put I would much rather listen to this on any given day. I'm not really a purist but the process of making juke "accessible" hasn't really worked out so well to these ears. Baltimore club's range of popularity makes sense because of its tempo, but why is it that whenever somebody tries to make an "internet hit" out of this stuff it results in something that sounds completely sucked dry of the energy that permeates the local phenomenon? Can we at least get a Watagatapitusberry? I sense the force in plenty of European records, but a few miles from it's birthplace it completely misses the point. The genre is by no means dead locally or elsewhere (rather the opposite), but a lot of the wrong people are at the forefront of it's success, and seem interchangeable with any other localized "ghetto genre". If it were D.C. you likely hear them talking about go go and so on. I guess kids just can't seem to shake backpack rap for whatever reason.

Trying hard not to call anybody out...just saying.

Before There Were Whores

Farley Jackmaster Funk - Jack The Dick (S.M.M.F.D.) (from Jack The Bass 12" 1985)

There are definitely records on Trax that I would rather listen to, but for historical purposes here is the first ghetto house track ever. Well sort of, the first house track I know of that curses at least, predating Whores in This House and such by almost 10 years. While a lot of DJs cite early records like this as an inspiration to express naughty language, guys aren't so excited about being able to say "bitch" on tracks anymore. One individual even mentioned subconsciously stopping this practice to some degree. I think that's enough proof that it's not just "mindless club music" as I've seen it referred to, and the strong experimental nature involved is a lot more risky in the booth than bedroom genres often labeled "conscious".

Juke This

DOWNLOAD

Shanty Tech Ceremonies

Samo Sound Boy - The Bandit (from The Bandit EP 2010)

Begging for a late pass on this monster, and what the fuck is in the water out in L.A. these days? Or rather, what the fuck are they blowing on out there? I think the California supply got tainted by an error in the space program because the smoke clouds are ultraviolet. This brings together the three elements of successful music to me. Weird, banging, and beautiful and it can't make up it's own damn mind. Like a shortwave recording of all the best stations at once. The Bandit EP brings precision splicing on the world heat club DNA: gold teeth picking up the signal on some vacant, glassed-in mesa, sound systems spilling drinks, gargling sirens, tentacle couture. I fully agree.