Happy May bank holiday!

The latest Electro Swing Roundup will be here exactly one week from today on the 7th of May. Boo hiss… Yes what with preparing my Silver Screen Soundsystem VJ set for Swingamajig (only the biggest electro-swing festival around) and having a very important wedding as part of my day job at Vintage Wedding DJ, it’s had to be delayed. In the meantime simply have a listen to the C@ In The H@’s Swingamajig mix and come join us in Birmingham this weekend!

Electro Swing Roundup – Supplementary

Electro Swing Roundup – October / November 2014

First off better apologise for last month… starting your own business means that time suddenly becomes very precious and unfortunately last month didn’t make the cut. Still just means that this month is better than ever.

If I was you lot I’d ask for your money back…

Darkside of the Electro Swing Ball Since I’ve been starting to get on top of my work at Vintage Wedding DJ, I thought it was time to get back into another project and so it has to be time to run another event. We’ve been promising to get the scandalous scamps of electro swing up to Shropshire for a while and so we’re delighted to be welcoming Dutty Moonshine up to join us for our next Electro Swing Ball. We’re going in deeper and darker for this one (definitely would suit the readers of this blog well) so if you live anywhere near the West Midlands come join us for one all mighty shakedown. Getting dressed up is de rigueur for our events and we’ve got another cracking lineup which also features Free Breaks Blog’s head honcho Bertie Dastard, ghetto funkster Supabad (who was very appropriately christened James Brown by his parents – how cool???), hosted as ever by the Delightful Mrs Rickard, Liberty Pink as jazz singer extraordinaire and compère, award winning burlesque from Verity Grey, and myself..? Well I’m doing the premiere of my new VJ set called DJR presents Swing The Silver Screen. It’s gonna be stunning.

Slamboree & Caravan Palace @ Electric Brixton, Nov 15th

Also forthcoming is very impressive lineup on the 15th of November down in London-town. The Electric Brixton parties have been building up a great reputation and they return with the new show by festival legends Slamboree topping the bill, (this is one collective that everyone should experience at least once) along with electro swing legends Caravan Palace providing a DJ set, and also plenty of FBB favorites in the shape of Featurecast, Father Funk, Rumpsteppers, DJ Pony Montana, Dr. Malaka and DJ Chris Tofu.  For those haven’t been to the Electric Brixton  – it’s a stunning 1700 capacity period style venue which lends itself to this style of hoedown perfectly and it has been sold out for all of its events recently. I’m going to be down there to experience it all first hand so I’ll be reporting back next month on the biggest shakedown in the swing world.

See you on the dancefloor.

Free Music Let’s kick off with a strong start… The Flatcap boys have been adding some squelch to Get Up Stand Up. Good shit.

Kaptin and his Big Swing Soundsystem have turned a tidy bootleg in here:

Copycat getting funky again:

This is good. Quality swing & balkan vibes with Nikola Vujicic on the remix:

The grime sound of Dizzee Rascal has been matched up with some funky balkan beats on this tidy freebie from Smokey Joe & The Kid. Download.

Liking this, nice deep groove from the debut EP by Mortisville.

I might be pretty godless, but this makes me want to go to church. Yes yes electro-gospel goodness!

FOR THE REST OF THIS POST CLICK READ MORE!!!

There’s not been that many Frank Sinatra remixes done yet, but this ain’t bad from Phylo. Available from his  facebook.

Grant Lazlo going in deep…

Very housey this but it does have a nice little swing style break in the middle:

Not heard of Finger Tanzen before but this is quite interesting.

Tomahawk back on the electro blues tip:

More Tomahawk:

Okay it’s not strictly swing or vintage but I could see this sneaking in amongst your ghetto swing tracks:

Smoother jazzy styling here from Extra Medium:

Dr Hooka here tweaking Basschimps vintage, bass & hip hop:

There’s a whole mix of style going on with this from very new to very old. You decide.

Not sure how to describe this either. Worth a listen though:

New Releases Sound Nomaden – Madame It’s great to see that Sound Nomaden has finally released his debut album. With a whole range of different instruments used and combining influences as diverse as swing, jazz, folk, ska and even classical there’s lots to check out on here.

Mouthful o’ Jam, Vol. 2 – Selected by DJ Swing Maniac DJ Swing Maniac has been doing great work reminding us all where this music called swing originated on this his second volume of Mouthful o’ Jam. It’s released on Green Queen and is perfect for those 1920’s parties where you want to play some of the original goodness that got it all going. Available from itunes.

DJ Dunya – Xyloswing Good to see DJ Dunya getting a good EP out on none other than Freshly Squeezed Records. Get your good swingy stuff from Juno.

Swingrowers – Midnight Swingrowers have a new single out on Freshly Squeezed – this uplifting and joyous slice of live swing sounds great to me. Get it from juno.

Peps Show Boys / Louis Armstrong / Sebastian Roeser – Electroswing Show Here’s a strong release to check out on Chinchin Germany. Good uplifting and funky stuff. Available from Juno.

Kid Kasino – Trick or Treat EP You may miss Halloween now, but certainly don’t miss checking this out from Kid Kasino. Particularly like Headless Horseman which I’m sure would always fit into a set at any time of year.

Phil Mac – Be There Too Congratulations to Phil Mac for his first release on his own Spare Room Records. Good luck – you deserve to be really successful because your records have always been great. Available from beatport

Frizzo – Betty Swing EP Glasgows Frizzo has a new two track EP out on Billybong. Available from Juno.

Gentlemen Callers of LA – The Harlem Renaissance Forthcoming on Green Queen Music is the this tasty little number. Mixing a solid deep beat with some jazzy licks this record will go down a storm. Remix action is done by none other than Bart & Baker. Available from Juno from the 18th of November.

DJ Mixes With a number of Halloween flavored swing releases out at the moment such as the Kid Kasino one above, there seem to be quite a few Halloween mixes around too. Here’s Cab Canavaral’s offering:

And another solid offering from the prolific Doctor Hooka:

That’s it. See you in a month! If you’ve got anything you’d like included in future roundups hit me up on soundcloud.

Electro Swing Roundup – October/November 2014

Hello! First up, I’ve got to give some apologies. I’ve been trying to get this roundup into a regular pattern however outside work pressures have been making it hard (I’ve been juggling launching a new vintage DJ business (Vintage Wedding DJ if you’re interested) with holding down a normal job and gigging at the same time and it’s all got a bit hard to manage. As such for the next few months I’m going to do each Electro Swing Roundup on the first of every month so that everyone knows exactly when to expect it.

Right plenty to catch up on so let’s get into it!

Swingamajig 2014 It’s only a few days to Swingamajig and there’s a really good buzz about the festival going on. I know that it’s almost sold out and once again there will be the cream of the electro swing scene meeting up in Birmingham. If you come down make sure you say hi – look for me on the main stage between all the headliners. To get you in the mood check out The C@ In The H@’s rather smashing mixtape:

Free Music Top of the class goes to this deep disco groover from The Swing Bot and Johnny Lectro:

Here’s the first of two remixes messing with Parov Stelar. First up the Swing Bot again:

And Phibes adding some definite glitch n bass:

Pugzilla is celebrating getting an impressive 75000 plays on soundcloud by this unusual swinger:

Butler Reeves has been nicely retouching this vintage swing original:

This has a nice swing feel mixed with a 60′s style sample which grooves rather nicely:

This may split a few people when it drops, but I have to say that the build always puts a massive smile on my face. I might wait until after midnight at Swingamajig and see if it’s the right time to drop it in.

FOR THE REST OF THIS POST CLICK READ MORE!!!

I rather like Tomahawks excursions into the 50′s style sound and this one works well:

In preparation for their new album (see below) Kitten & the Hip have been remixed than none other than Bart and Baker for this lighthearted dittie:

I nearly forgot to put this in. Lucky escape because this is another strong remix from JPOD.

Mr Manifold has been adding world flavours to the Quantic Soul Orchestras classic Pushin On:

And Jamie Berry bringing the wobble to the Puppini Sisters vintage take on Kate Bush:

Mista Trick seems to be doing some interesting things with that classic mix of vintage samples and bass.

New Releases Big news of the week is that Dutty Moonshine have finally got their LP ready to go, it’s not released quite yet…. so I’ll review it next month but suffice to say it’s sounding hot and contains lots of bass.

Molotov Jukebox – Carnival Flower Here’s a band who seem to be gaining lots of momentum at the moment. They’ve got a new album out and lots of festival appearances lined up. Definitely one to watch. Get the album from Amazon.

Parov Stelar – Clap Your Hands EP It’s always big news when Parov Stelar releases something new. Here’s the preview for their next EP which is out on May 9th:

Scoured Cream – Vol.4 Spinforth seems to have been guiding his Scoured Cream releases ever more in the swing direction and there’s a number of strong tracks on this release which slide beteen the ghetto funk and swing scenes. In particular check out the Minoru track and Father Funk / Howla track.

Kitten & The Hip – Hello Kitten Kitten & the Hip also seem to be gathering momentum at the moment (I heard their Shut Up & Dance track soundtracking a TV advert yesterday) and so it’s good timing for their debut album to be released. Mixing Ashley Slaters skills on production (remember Freak Power?) with the Kittens vocal and stage presence seems to be working well and this album is a good mix of swing, dance and pop.

Howla – Jivin’ Howla has a new version of Jivin available from his bandcamp in high quality for only £1.10.

ShazaLaKazoo – Monobrow If you like the balkan sound then dive on into the new ShazaLaKazoo album – loads of good things going on here! Available from itunes.

Foxy Cheex – Lick The Spoon Cheeky video of the month goes to Jem Stone who has reinvented himself in kinky cartoon form – definitely worth a watch! Track available from Juno.

Mundial Beats If you like your balkan and world flavours then you should check out the new compilation on Bombastic Jam. There’s loads of good stuff on here, although a few I’ve seen before. It’s available from Juno and here’s the balkan jam that made my ears prick up:

Gypsy Hill – Bekin Cocek (Agreement Mix) And another phat balkan throwdown from Gypsy Hill. On Juno from 30 April.

Fresh Dixie Project – Ipso Facto Remixes Ragtime Records seem to be busy at the moment and they’ve come through with a 4 track EP remixing their new signing Fresh Dixie Project. Personally I’d head straight for the C@ In The H@’s remix of Flowers & Cigarettes.

Sound Nomaden – Warm Lights EP If you like the chilled end of house with just a hint of the swing feel check out this slick EP of gentle groovers:

DJ Mixes I’m getting excited about this years Boomtown which has an absolutely killer lineup of swing acts. To get you in the mood the Big Swing Soundsystem have put together a mix of some of the live acts and DJ’s. Here’s the tracklist – check it!

Kid Kasino feat. Shea Soul – Mink Schmink
Formidable Vegetable Sound System – Yield
Jamie Berry Feat Rosie Harte – Peeping Tom
Smokey Joe & The Kid – Schön
The Chicken Brothers – The Big Apple Turnover
C@ in the H@ – Sneaky Bizniz
Dutty Moonshine & JFB – Move Ya
AlgoRythmiK – Muppet Chaud
Fresh Dixie Project – Pay My Way
Gabby Young & Other Animals – In Your Head
The Electric Swing Circus – Penniless Optimnist
Tape Five – The Flappers Delight
Klischée – Tin Tin
Hypeman Sage – SwingTing
Cab Calloway – Minnie The Moocher (Castro Remix)
[dunkelbunt] – Cinnamon Girl

DJ Sensible has been in touch. He does a radio show every week on Casafonda Radio and seems to enjoy mashing up all sorts of things from swing to folk, blues and funk. It’s quite a ride:

Last up is this balkan flavoured mix from Clan Dextine:

That’s it. See you in a month! If you’ve got anything you’d like included in future roundups hit me up on soundcloud.

Electro Swing Roundup – May 2014