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

What’s this? A new post on the Beatery? Yes, dear readers, despite that fact that we’ve all been epically busy of late, I simply couldn’t let this week’s Caravan Palace release go by without giving it some love on the ol’ blog here.

Caravan Palace has long been one of the few heavy-hitters of electro swing. Their self-titled 2008 album stands as one of the defining works in the still-young subgenre. The new album, Panic, raises the bar by incorporating their distinct gypsy-swing sound into a variety of different electronic genres, from electro house to downtempo, with top-notch production the whole way through. It’s been on repeat in my headphones for the last two days, which is already more than I’ve listened to any single album in the last year.

Enjoy a few highlights and then grab the album from your online mp3 purveyor of choice…

Maniac

Clash

Dramaphone

PLAY ALL

Get it! iTunes | Juno

UPDATE: Oh, also check out the awesome video after the jump. Aliens and robots, what’s not to love?
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Posted by: Cor

For the last couple years I’ve been quite keen on a subgenre of electronic music that gets it character by incorporating samples of old 30s-era swing music. The genre’s still too small to have an official name, but I’ll go ahead and dub it electro-swing. Just recently I discovered that several of the tracks in my electro-swing collection all sample the same 1939 Billie Holliday song “Swing Brother Swing.” It’s pretty cool to hear how different artists have chopped up and repurposed the same source material. Have a listen to the original recording in the youtube clip above, and then check out how it was sampled below.

Bonobo - Sugar Rhyme
This isn’t the first time I’ve posted this sexy downtempo classic. It’s the first Bonobo track to ever grace my ears and it’s still one of my favorites. Not much sampled from the original other than Billie’s voice.

Parov Stelar - Wanna Get
The undisputed king of electro-swing ignored the original vocal and instead grabbed bits of the saxophone and piano instrumentation as the basis of this chill house number.

Dirty Dubsters - Swing It Brother
And lastly we have a much more straight-forward breaks remix of the track form the Dirty Dubsters. They take the original track and layer on the requisite thick bass and breakbeats.

What do you think of electro-swing? I’ve been laying low on the DJing for a while now, but you’ll be hearing more of this stuff from me, as I attempt to carve out a new sound for myself. I’ll get a podcast of electro-swing out soon.

Posted by: Cor

Everyone’s favorite jazz-house producer (okay, mine) has a brand new single out. There are a few different versions of The Phantom, but the one below is by far the most danceable.* Check it out below, and because I’m a nice guy, have a bonus Parov track on the house. Go on, you deserve it.

The Phantom (1930 Version)

Ragtime Cat

*You can check out the original version and buy the track over at Beatport.

Posted by: Cor

It’s about damn time I put a few Parov Stelar tracks up here for you guys; I’ve been a fan for years and I still haven’t given him his due propers. Like Gramatik, he combines old jazz samples with beats and breaks to great effect, though Parov keeps his beats more uptempo, giving house and breakbeat tracks an infectious 1930s swing vibe. Check out some sample tracks below, and if you find yourself wanting to bust out the ol’ Charleston, then shuffle on over to Amazon for a wide selection of his work.

Kisskiss

Get Up On Your Feet

Libella Swing

PLAY ALL

And lastly, if you’ve been digging the jazzy stuff I’ve been posting here recently, don’t miss this Tuesday night, when I’ll be spinning once again at the SF Green Drinks monthly gathering at 111 Minna (at the corner of Minna and 2nd street, as if you didn’t know that.) I’ll be on the decks from 7-9 pm, providing a soundtrack of sustainable nu jazz and downtempo in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Word on the street is I’ll even be joined by a special guest star from the Beatery crew. Hmmmm… who could it be? I guess you’ll have to show up to find out. See you there!