Artist Spotlight - Space Ranger

The summer is indeed coming to an end but the dance parties continue onward with a brand-spanking-new mix from one of our favorites, Space Ranger.

The German trio spends most of their time abroad but their deep, melodic, sample-based tracks have found their way all over the world and drawn heavy support from the likes of Aeroplane, The Revenge, James Curd, Hot Toddy, Mylo, Vampire Weekend, Pete Herbert and Jacques Renault.

Their combination of sophisticated production skills and years of experience working dance floors have proved useful and beneficial in establishing a cult-like fanbase that follows their every move. Through incorporation of samples taken from their massive collection of old-school dance, disco and soul records, Space Ranger has honed a unique and distinctive blend of deep house & disco that has become their trademark.

After the jump...

The Round Up, Vol. 2

In this week's Round Up: Romania, Noir Music, throwing things, drippings  and more Diynamic! Yay!

David August - Diynamic Neon Promo Mix

Surprise! Diynamic being featured again. You guys better get used to it, because I don’t think they’re going anywhere. Hailing from Berlin, David August is another example of Diynamic’s knack for scooping up young, insanely talented producers and giving them a platform to shine from. It’s always fun for me (and I hope for ya’ll) to listen to a mix that truly expresses an artist’s musical voice and character. The inside of David August’s head is a stormy place, and this mix is unequivocally David August. Unlike the majority of promo mixes, this one is borderline meditative – August has no problem slowing down the tempo and letting his tracks fully breathe. There’s a haunting, almost remorseful, edge to a good deal of his selections. Even some of the more upbeat tracks are underpinned with a melancholy bassline or vocal track. One gets the sense that every single one was picked with a purpose in mind, and August’s ability to convey that through his mixing is a testament to the youngster’s skill. Draw the blinds for this one.

Continued after the jump...

Space Ranger - January Mix

It was tough deciding what to write about for my post today. January has been kicked off with an abundance of heaters and this week especially has seen all sorts or jam ridden mixes. Maybe there will be a mixtape grab bag this weekend to make sure you all are caught up...

Anyway, I always seem to forget the “Chronicles” part of this whole DPC thing, and usually just dive straight into to whatever mix has me in dance party mode. But I’m a little giddy today because later this evening, at our usual spot, the lovely Ms. Maya Jane Coles (“Ms.” for now; we’re soon to wed, though she may not know it yet) will be letting loose some deep house flavor on the District. The event is all courtesy of Blisspop, and features Blisspop selectors and DPC friends: Chris Nitti & Lxsx Frxnk. This one has deep and sexy written all over it! The trick will be to get enough liquid courage (a.k.a whiskey) in me summon the balls to propose to Ms.Coles; and hopefully not get kicked out the venue. If you are in the area, be sure to come check it out (Free before 11 p.m.!), buy me a drink, have a dance, and prevent me from making a fool of myself!

Enough with the inane rantings of a hopeless dance floor romantic…Let’s jump into mix. As I mentioned before, there were exactly too many to choose from. So I decided to go with was one that I felt didn’t get as much love/plays as it very well deserves. I’m thinking it just got lost in the wave of mixes that were released early on this week. This one just so happens to come from one of my absolute favorites, the Germany based trio:

This came from their press kit...I had to use it!

Today’s offering is self labeled as “Deep Hypno Disko”. Yup, it is indeed deep and entrancing. Flavors vary from House, NuDisco, and Disco-House; all smooth and sexy. I was about to list a few of the jammers I particularly enjoyed, but realized it encompassed most of the damn mix. Let’s just say Pete herbert & Golden fleece - The Bells of Hackney immediately grabbed my attention, and the mix didn't let up till its conclusion. (Oh, and Calor & Mike Gill - Carte Blanche is pretty dirty too!) I was hoping to hear some their stuff in the mix, but there’s no love lost as this it had me in the zone throughout. I commented about looking forward to some new stuff from Space Ranger and apparently they “were quite busy, had a release on Greenskeepers Music, did a couple of remixes and have another release on lovemonk coming up next month”. Well alright...I can live with that!

Enjoy!

Tracklist:

1. death on the balcony - them 3 words/
2. pete herbert & golden fleece - the bells of hackney
3. cera alba - runaway/
4. marc vexar - burlesque
5. martin dawson - think about it
6. maxxi sound system - there's no love
7. wildkats - perpetrating/
8. calor & mike gill - carte blanche
9. maceo plex - under the sheet
10. viadira - better ( atro mwambe mix)
11. dirty channels - give it to me
12. catz n' dogz - no days
13. the phantom - ockhams razor

Mid-Day Disco Dance Party, Round IX

The whirlwind of events have shifted my body into recovery mode. This past weekend was full of dance parties and good times. I was ecstatic when my friend, Meghan (a total food nerd as well and bakes/cooks delicious things!!), came to visit. On Saturday we met up with all our friends to see Metro Area, which to be completely honest was fun... but not as fun as I had expected. Maybe I just really hyped it up in my head... not sure, but it was a dance party in itself, it just took awhile to warm up - if that makes any sense.

Rashad was not in attendance so when Morgan Geist's mix of "Tonight" came on (I think... or an equally epic song) I took out my phone to take a quick 30-second video. I totally know you're not supposed to take videos, but I really wanted to send the video to Rashad, so I did it anyway.

Needless to say I was reprimanded and playing dumb (which I obviously couldn't do, I'm there like every week) was not an option. I erased the video, apologized and all was OK - I guess? Then I felt really bad and proceeded to find my friend who works there and apologize before one of the security guards talked about the stupid drunk Asian girl running around attempting to take videos. Moral of the story? If you want to take a video, or take pictures, don't.

On Sunday morning, we went (along with our friend Whitney) to the DC Convention Center for The Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show where went to a 1-hour cooking demo for Giada DeLaurentis (*swoon* she's gorgeous!). It was awesome and we walked around eating tons of cheese (so.much.cheese.), baked goods, and other delicious things. If that doesn't sound like fun, I don't know what does. Maybe almost buying a $9.00 packet of habanero sugar is the definition of fun. It was foodie heaven, and I loved. every. second. of. it.

Which is exactly why it's taken me a week to muster up any sort of post. Well, that and because I suck. I've been attending shows, cooking, baking, and well, stepping away from le blog for some decompressing time. It's hard to write if you have nothing to say (duh), and to completely sugar coat something, make myself write, or write about something that doesn't interest me isn't something I want to do. And let's be real: you'd totally see through the facade as well, think I'm a total fake, and then we'd lose like all 6 of our readers at DPC.

So yea. About this mid-day dance party. It's by the German Trio, Space Ranger... I love their December mix (I have the mix on a cd that is constantly playing in my car because my iPod thing doesn't work in it - so sometimes you'll come into my car and my iPhone is playing music instead of the stereo... #ghettocarproblems) and House of Disco Guestmix. You should probably listen to the HOD Guestmix after this because you'll probably be on a Space Ranger binge. There's also a nice written up interview to go along with the mix that's super informational. #winning

Rashad has a secret crush on them, and maybe I do too. And!!!! Now that you've eaten lunch and want to take a nap, but can't - I suggest you put on some headphones and get lost in this disco-house podcast by Space Ranger.

(source)

Podcast for www.freakin.co.uk by Space Ranger

01. Edwin Van CLEEF - Triton (Pharao Black Magic remix)
02. Borderline - Stay
03. Cut Copy - Blink And Youll Miss A Revolution (Tory y Moy Remix)
04. Space Ranger - Chunky Guitar (forthcoming on Greenskeepers Music)
05. Pharao Black Magic - Mambo Marimba (Original)
06. The Units - More Alike (Sare Havlicek mix)
07. Trickski & Soul Clap - Members Of The Clap (Original Mix)
08. Wolfram - A Thing Called Love
09. Lou Teti - Elisco Space Ranger (forthcoming on Deep&Disco)
10. Space Ranger - Nothing's Wrong (Barbena Mix, forthcoming on Lovemonk rec.)
11. Pete Gooding & Chris Coco - Believe (Pharao Black Magic Mix)


Other installments of Mid-Day DDPs:
Round I (U-Tern Mid Week Mix on Modular People)
Round II (Slow Hands - Diesel Japan Mix Aug 2011)
Round III (Kiwi - Summer Mix)
Round IV (Cooper Saver - Exclusive Mix for Pollo Erotico)
Round V (Social Disco Club - Disco Deviance Pulse Radio Show)
Round VI (Gigamesh - Check Yo PonyTail Mixtape)
Round VII (aRod - Gotta Dance Dirty)
Round VIII (Mr. Mendel - Discology)