In the mix with Phil Hewson

October 22 2006

Category: Mixsets

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I found this mix from Phil Hewson by accident, but what a pleasing accident it was. Phil Hewson is producing an ongoing series of Funky House sets, which he describes as the “Funky sound of London”. This description is perfect. The tracks in this mix are a good representation of the funky vocal house sound that has been rising in popularity since the late 1990s. Funky vocal house can be categorized as containing catchy baselines, lots of melodic vocals (mainly female), and a heavy use of acoustic samples. The choppy piano chords are often featured in this genre of house, which I must admit is my preferred house sound.

Phil posts his mixes on his site:
funkylondon.podomatic.com. From there you can also find your way to his page on myspace.

I highly recommend this uplifting Funky Vocal House mix. Here is Phil’s description of the set:

“The eagerly awaited follow up to the Afterhours Mix is here! I’ve had some great feedback after the last posting, so here is more of the same!

We start out with a funky mix by the Freemasons, and with three great mixes by the hottest producers and my current favourites ‘Spencer & Hill’. We move onto the fantasticly funky Leg Soup - Wonderland, plus some older favourites of mine mixed in to boot! I hope you enjoy this mix as much as I enjoyed making it.”

Enjoy…

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Brent “Maestro B” and DJ TumTum

October 20 2006

Category: Mixsets

We have just finished extracting the Audio from the High Calibre event. This is the hour long set that I did with Tom (DJ TumTum). We played back to back, which I really enjoyed.

We have a complete video footage of the night, which I’ll post here as soon as its been compiled. You can also hear the other sets (breaks, drum and bass, trance, hard-dance) and view photos at our Audiodreams site. In the meantime, enjoy this House set recorded Live at High Calibre on September 23rd, 2006 in Christchurch City New Zealand.

Brent Silby (2006)

“High Calibre” - Brent “Maestro B” and DJ TumTum
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In the mix with DJ Manureva

October 13 2006

Category: Mixsets

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DJ Manureva brings us Fruitysoul Sessions No 41. Enjoy this nice blend of groovy, sexy house tracks. The mix progresses nicely, and even incorporates a slight “electro” sound (Pray for Love–track 7) before returning to the more soulful house sound. This fits in very well and contributes to the overall evolution of the set. The thing I like about mixsets is that when they are looked at as a complete unit, they take you on a musical journey. A mixset is like a suite of music which follows a similar structure to an individual song–but it lasts a lot longer than a song.

Thanks for the link Manureva. And congratulations on your new baby.

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In the mix with Naj

October 8 2006

Category: Mixsets

NaJ has released another mix in his “Powerful House” series. Check out this October release. It is hosted at a different site than his past releases.

This is another example of the diversity of House music. We find with NaJ a selection of deep house tracks that have a soulful feel, with an emphathis on vocals. With deep house you often find a predominance towards male vocals, and this mix shows the truth of this statement. Nice groovy baselines, and meaningful vocals all the way.

Thanks for the link NaJ:

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In the mix with Brent “Maestro B”

October 5 2006

Category: Mixsets

Well, High Calibre has been and gone. It was a great success and proved again that alcohol free events work really well. All the tickets were sold and including doorsales we had about 320 people through on the night. I’m putting images up on our Audio Dreams website as the come through.

One of the cool things is that we got a video of the entire night. Raw footage was recorded with 3 cameras, and the complete audio from all DJs was also recorded. We are assembling this footage into a movie, which will also be available on the Audio Dreams site.

Our next alcohol free event will occur some time near the end of November. In the meantime, I’m trying to set up a series of House nights in a small club here in Christchurch. It will be nice to have a night dedicated to House, and get some of the local House DJs to play.

Anyway, on to this mix…
I’ve been playing around with some new and old tracks and recorded this mix, which will go to 88.7 PulzarFM here in Christchurch. There’s a bit of an electro sound to this set. Electro house is getting really popular here, and while its not my usual style I have managed to get a few good tracks into my collection.

Brent Silby (2006)

“Dare to Rise” - Brent “Maestro B” (running time 57 minutes)
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