Sean Swanky - Sticky Floor / Orion's Belt (Uniting Souls Music)

Seattle’s Uniting Souls Music welcomes 2017 with a banging release from Sean Swanky, the veteran party crew’s youngest member. Falling in love with house music and the Pacific Northwest’s flourishing scene at the age of 17, Sean steadily rose as a DJ and producer, joining the Uniting Souls Music family at 21 and releasing two well-received singles for the label. Now Sean delivers a strong double A-side single that’s ready-made for funky peak time club play. “Sticky Floor” launches the release with a punchy four-on-the-floor beat, accented by a big, bouncy bass line, ominous pads, and rhythmic percussion hits. It’ll get the walls properly shaking. “Orion’s Belt” follows, catching a more mysterious but still danceable vibe. Distant and strange vocal hits give texture as another hefty bass line drives the tune, mirrored by a reassuring synth melody. Claps and percussion confidently lead the way to the dance floor. It’s not hard to see how these cuts got the Uniting Souls seal of approval.

Chris Fortier (Fade / Mindwarp) – “Nice funky groove.”
Jason Hodges (Sampled Recordings) – “Orion’s Belt is dope!”
Alinep (Asia Music) – “Funky! I will play these for sure.”
Joey Silvero (Distant People) - “Full of atmosphere and retro throw back, which works for me.”
Tyree Cooper (Chicago Vinyl Records) – “Really nice jack track.”
Hippie Torrales (Cyberjamz Radio) – “Nice deep grooves.”
Larry Tee (Carnage Music) – “Love it!”
Snooba (Radio Panik) – “Yeah! Explosive fun.”
Christy Love (House of Stank) – “Hard to choose between these two. Great release!”
Luke McKeehan (Nordic Trax) – “Dig it. Orion’s Belt with the proper late night vibes. Northwest represent!”

Available Now From: Beatport, Traxsource, iTunes, And Spotify.

Exclusive: Danced Til Midnight In The Mix

Formed in London by producer and DJ Andy Anderson, Danced Til Midnight joyfully transmit electronic sun-drenched grooves with clear undertones of eras gone past; an uplifting blend of old and new school funk and disco that's been getting loads of attention. The combo's latest single – "She Can't Love You" – is due out soon on the Thylacine Sounds and features a crucial remix by none other than Egyptian Lover.

To warm us up for the new release, Andy delivered a fantastic DJ mix that runs the gamut of sounds that inspire the Danced Til Midnight project, and includes a sneak peek at "She Can't Love You" and its remix. Here's what Andy told us about this mix:

his mix features selections that have become staples in my record bag over the 12 months, as well as a couple of new test pressings from the Danced Til Midnight camp. It is a mostly four-to-the-floor collection, but it does contain enough of the funk I'm known for (a regular DJ'ing tag team partner of mine heard a radio show I did recently and didn't think it could possibly be me as it was mostly house! My turntabling partner knew me as a funkateer, I guess I moonlight in different genres!). The flow of this mix I feel is rooted in my formative experiences of DJ'ing in bars and clubs for an entire evening. DJ'ing throughout the course of a whole night necessitates a number of dynamic shifts as an evening progresses and this philosophy is now hard-wired into my DJ sets. I always feel the need to build the dynamics of the music progressively rather than do a quick cut into another style, so that the flow of music becomes a journey – musically, emotively, and in terms of energy. There is quite a lot of disco in this mix and I find it takes up a sizable part of my record box when DJ'ing at the moment. I find it to be a good bridge between playing funk and house and when playing shorter sets disco is such immediate music; whether people recognize samples in the original records from modern house tracks or simply find it good for getting a party started.


Check out this fantastic mix:

Track list:

  1. Nightlife Unlimited – Do Me Tonight
  2. The Revenge – Cadillac
  3. People's Choice – Do It Any Way You Wanna
  4. BT Express – Express
  5. Danced Til Midnight – More Of Love (Faze Action Remix)
  6. Sharon Brown – I Specialise In Love
  7. Cleo & Patra - Pharaoh Love
  8. Minnie Riperton and Jose Feliciano – Light My Fire
  9. Lyn Collins – Rock Me Again and Again
  10. Labelle – Messin With my Mind
  11. Fuselage - Afro Disco Boogie Remix
  12. JV – Edit Channel XXX
  13. NAD - Join The Fookin Party!
  14. Jimmy Bo Horne – Spank (Instrumental)
  15. Dynamix II – Just Give The DJ A Break
  16. Danced Til Midnight – She Can't Love You (Egyptian Lover Remix)
  17. Egyptian Lover – Egypt, Egypt
  18. Ralphi Rosario - You Used To Hold Me (Kenny's Mix)
  19. Danced Til Midnight – She Can't Love You (Original Version)
  20. Jerry Ropero and Denis The Menace - Fuck U
  21. Inner City - Good Life (Jaques Da Booty Remix)
  22. Les Visiteurs - Snoops Acid Drop
  23. The Chemical Brothers - Life Is Sweet (Daft Punk Remix)
  24. Banana Kru – Automatic
  25. My Cousin Roy– Make It Yourself
  26. Phreek – Weekend
  27. Taana Gardner - Work That Body
  28. Dinosaur L – Go Bang! #5 (FRANCOIS K. MIX)
  29. Nightlife Unlimited – Peaches and Prunes
  30. Roy Ayers - Get On Up Get On Down (Joey Negro Revibe)
  31. Danced Til Midnight – Sun Bleach


Danced Til Midnight's "She Can't Love You" is out on February 10 via Thylacine Sounds. Here's a SoundCloud preview:

Rave-enka - Friksjon (Beatservice Records)

Ravi Brunsvik is one of the young forces in the current house-scene in Oslo, Norway. He is half of the duo De Fantastiske To, who have released fantastic EPs on Paper Recordings, Trunkfunk Records, Omena, and Ism Recordings. Ravi’s solo project, Rave-enka, has issued a couple of house releases on Paper Recordings, along with a more techno-ish EP on Nein Records. Now Rave-enka joins Beatservice Records for Friksjon – a jam-packed release featuring two glitzy club-ready stompers and stellar remix work from Manchester DJ Chris Massey (Paper, Sprechen) and familiar Tromsø-artist Kohib.

“Friksjon” started out as a remix commissioned for Beatservice, but eventually evolved into a track of its own. It’s a frenzied four-on-the-floor club cut with hints of Detroit and an early ’90s sound run through 2017’s rave filter. This is followed by the hypnotic “Diskomiddel” which features robotic arpeggiations, an insistent bass line, and a totally mental build-up that ideally would be accompanied by blazing strobe lights. On the remix tip, Chris Massey tackles “Friksjon” with confidence, delivering a version that gives the retro-flavored original a modern late-night house music sheen. Kohib then works his magic on “Diskomiddel”, somehow making the track more intense and dramatic with a pulsing drive that will send gravitational waves spiraling all over the dance floor.

Claude Young (Different World Productions, Tokyo) – “Friksjon is a really hot floor mover! Nice!”
Larry Tee (Carnage Music) – “I’m loving this!”
Onionz (Electrik Soul) – “Nice One!”
Tronik Youth (Nein Records) – “I love the Kohib remix.”
Dean Facer (Resident Advisor / Our House Magazine) – “Amazing release … I really love this vibe!”
Snooba (Radio Panik) – “Infectious Dance Floor Trax!”
Sumsuch (Colour and Pitch) – “Amazing work again from Rave-enka. I’m a fan!”
David Cronin (RTE 2FM Radio) – “Lovely 4 tracker here. Will play.”
Osvaldo Panero (DJW Magazine – Argentina) – “Bueno!”
Jamie Topham (Summer Soulstice) – “Another fine release on the Beatservice imprint. The Rave-enka original of Friksjon is my pick, it takes you back to the halcyon days of house music.”

Available Now From: Bandcamp, Traxsource, iTunes, And Spotify.

DJ Mix: The Launch of the Occult Rituals Podcast

The sonically esoteric Occultists label has just launched its Occult Rituals Podcast series, aiming to highlight releases and interests of the label and its artists, as well as broadcasting an ever-changing and compelling storyline. Here's how Occultists describes the series and the inaugural episode:

We've decided to start this podcast series to give our artists, remixers, and industry friends a platform to share their musical ritual with us. This gives the artist the freedom to tell their story without genre constraints. The only requirement is that the mix must tell a story of their ritual.

For the first edition Occultists founder James Demon provides his musical ritual featuring tracks from the Dugong - Dead Man Rising EP and his current favorites. Telling a story that ranges from downtempo, house, and techno James wanted to tell a story that was fully true to himself. Always being attracted to the darkness even in his youth, as he began to grow older and recognize his spiritual self he began to toy with the idea of finding the balance between the light and the dark. This is how the concept of Occultists was born, we all must embrace the darkness to find the light. Don't fear it because fear only holds us back. We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share and comment.

Track List:

  1. Dead Can Dance - The Host of Seraphim
  2. Dugong & Xenoscapes - Weak & Powerless
  3. Likeatree & Dugong - The Evil Magician (Mrs. Jekyll Reconstruct Remix)
  4. Kat Channel - Hangover Days
  5. Marcel Fengler - Jaz
  6. Oshana - Anything Is Possible
  7. Vex - Vex-1
  8. F.eht - Unday Roove (Tasi & Chriss Baker Remix)
  9. Adra - Kaitain
  10. Prince Of Denmark - OR6145
  11. Evigt Mörker - Drömsyn
  12. Prince Of Denmark - GS
  13. Ness - Hybrid Discovery
  14. Luigi Tozzi - Mefite (The Gods Planet Remix)
  15. Konstantin Sibold - Mutter
  16. Aes Dana - Low Tide Explorations
  17. Lifetree & Dugong - The Evil Magician


Three of the tracks found in this mix are taken from the latest Occultists release, Dugong's Dead Man Rising EP. It's available now from Beatport and other digital shops. Listen to a preview: