Posted by: Cor

Hey there, Beatery faithful! It’s sure been awhile, hasn’t it? You’re looking good; glad to see you’ve been taking care of yourselves. Well, enough chit-chat, I know why you’re here. We’re long overdue for a new podcast.

It’s taken me eight damn months from the time I promised I’d have a podcast of electro swing “soon” to finally deliver this one. No excuses for the delay, I’ll just say that since the genre is still relatively young, and the pool of tracks relatively small, it was pretty hard to for me find a nice eclectic mix of tracks that work together. But lo and behold, I have finally prevailed.*

*And somehow I managed to do so with nary a track from electro swing’s #1 man, Parov Stelar.

Anyhow, consider this an electro swing introduction course. A sample platter. We’ve got some trip-hop, some breaks, a few wobbly baselines for the kids, and of course, good ol’ house… all of it swing-style. Dig in! I hope you enjoy yourselves, and I’ll try not to let as much time pass before the next one. No promises though.

THE SWING MACHINE (right-click to download)

Track list after the break.
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Posted by: Cor

Perhaps some of the more astute Beatery listeners may have noticed I haven’t posted my usual mix of funky dance music in quite a while. Well, for those waiting… I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait a bit longer. Over the last six months or so, as my work life has gotten much busier, and as I prepare for significant changes on the home front, the heavy beats have taken a backseat and I’ve found myself drawn more and more towards the calm.

So, in line with my tastes of the moment, I bring you this mix of soothing ambient pieces. These are some of my favorites over the last few years. I’m aware this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea*, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend listening while driving or operating heavy machinery; but for anyone looking for some music to study to, meditate to, or simply fall asleep to, this just might be your thing.

And as a side note, I want to welcome our new contributor Flicker by saying that I don’t think we’ve ever had as stark a musical contrast between two posts as Wednesday’s and today’s. It’s great to see the Beatery expanding to cover the entire wide spectrum of electronic music. This stuff can truly take you anywhere, and it’s wonderful to see the variety reflected in our little blog here.

The Calm (right click to download)

Tracklist:
1. Air - Night Sight
2. Global Communication - 14:31
3. Benn Jordan - Looking Upwards
4. Helios - Halving the Compass
5. Jon Hopkins - Campfire
6. Benn Jordan - Looking to the Past
7. Jon Hopkins - Cold Out There

* And even if it isn’t your cup of tea, at least listen to the Helios track that starts at about 21:00. That song is so beautiful I want it playing at the end of my life.

Posted by: Cor

Today we have one of the few remaining DJ mixes from the DJ Cor vault. It was over a decade ago, but I do believe this was the mix I recorded after Bump, which makes it the first demo I ever laid down on CD. Apparently I had yet to get used to this strange new medium, as I still recorded two separate short sets like we did in the cassette days. Old habits die hard, I guess. Anyhow, the first “side” is good old fashion funky house, and the second is slightly more chill funky house. What range! There’s some classic tracks on here: Burnin’ by Daft Punk, Sing It Back by Moloko, Go Insane by… damn, I can’t remember. Don’t count on a tracklist for this one. Ten years was a long time ago, but the music still holds up. Let’s take a trip back…

7&7 - Part I (right click to download)

7&7 - Part II (right click to download)

Posted by: Cor

Here’s another one from the vault. As the name of the party suggests, Japancake was a mashup of a Pancake Playhouse fundraiser and bon voyage party for Jay, who was off to study in the land of the rising sun. I had planned a lot of this set beforehand, and I’m still a fan of many of these mixes, which is probably why I’ve kept the mix around despite some obvious flaws with the recording. Chief among these flaws was the fact that the needle on one of the turntables that fateful night decided it wasn’t a fan of treble, which made every other song a muddy mess that sounded like it was being played through a pillow. This in turn made half of the mixes pretty jarring when suddenly the high frequencies we’d been missing for three minutes came busting back in. All in all, not a great listening experience. So, ever the history revisionist, I’ve gone back through the set and attempted to remaster the original recording. I’ve boosted the treble where appropriate, tweaked the volumes, added some compression and the result is… well okay, it still sounds pretty rough. But it’s better than it’s ever been, and that’ll have to do. Special thanks to Jay for digging up the original wav file, and Marc Fong for still hosting his photo gallery from the party after all these years.

DJ Cor - Live @ Japancake (right-click to download)
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Posted by: Cor

Ah, February. The month when we finally stop writing last year on our checks and really start getting into the swing of things. For us here on the Beatery, it’s back to a regular schedule, back to the popular Five on Friday podcasts and of course, back to the absurd food metaphors. So, if you’ll indulge me…

On today’s prix fixe menu we have a delectable blend of new sounds sprinkled in with a couple of older yet under-appreciated gems. We start off with a classic remix from Beatery favorite Fukkk Offf, presenting a softer, smoother texture than expected. We follow this with a duo of progressive breaks entrees; note the contrasting funky and trancy flavor profiles. For dessert we’re featuring a pairing of nuskool breaks and electro house numbers, both bold and assertive to send you home satisfied. Bon appetite!

DJ Cor - Prix Fixe (right-click to download)

Expand for full menu.
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