SDHC 39 – King of Hearts

If I lived in West Palm Beach, I’d go to Monarchy every weekend, and I would even try to land a DJ residency there.  Why?  Because after my experience visiting the club last night for the Robbie Rivera event, I can unequivocally tell you that Monarchy is one of the best things to happen to Florida’s House Music scene.  When the service, people, music, and dancing come together the way they did last night, you know you’ve found a special spot.

First, there was the friendly, attentive, and professional staff—doormen who answered my questions, bartenders who quickly delivered stiff drinks (and with a smile), and an owner who personally checked in to see if I was having a good time throughout the night.  For a club with all the flash and glitz to match South Florida’s nightclub conglomerate, Monarchy sure stood out with a customer service I’d not seen since my days at my favorite club out West.

People make the party

If there’s one thing that can make or break a House Music venue, it’s the people, and in this regard, Monarchy really impressed. It was a trendy, sexy crowd, to be sure, with your usual staple of well-dressed guys and pretty girls in chic couture, but there was a surprising friendliness to the place and it was obvious that most people came for the dance floor, a point I’ll return to in a minute.  There was Stephanie from Chicago and her friend from Detroit; Anthony the jet-setting businessman with fun stories about New Orleans, and his girlfriend Tiffany; Amanda who chatted about music and how the club’s been on a roll since Tony took the helm; strangers high-fiving one another throughout the night; and the random dude who somehow ID’d me through the dance fog and mentioned that my House Dance videos on Youtube impacted his outlook on dancing.  A few girls here and there stiffened up or put up the predictable blocks, but the amount of it was so little that it felt more like an intimate neighborhood bar than a mega-club.  Just happy people having a good time without the pretentious veneer so typical of similar places.

The music was good, though less daring (and less Tribal) than I’d hoped for.  I’m a sucker for underground House, and even when I spin Big Room tunes, they trend more towards Defected than Dutch vocal house; last night’s music trended in the Dutch direction, but that’s really less of a flaw than a to-be-expected consequence of what worked for the crowd given how the night was programmed.  As an opener, Noel Sanger delighted the audience and kept up the energy with pounding vocal Tech and Electro House, and people were dancing well in advance of Robbie Rivera’s ‘Dance Or Die‘ set.  By the time Robbie started playing, the dance floor was already packed; Sanger had done his job.

Dancer’s delight

Frankly, I came to hear ‘Tribal Sax‘, a Robbie tune I’ve featured in several DJ sets in the past, and about an hour into his set, Robbie delivered.  As I heard the familiar saxophones cut into the mix, an unexpected thing (and best moment of the night) happened: a large circle formed, the phone cameras came out, and people started showing off their best moves to the Tribal House beat.  A few B-boys jumped into the fray, windmills and all, and one of them tried to battle; I opted for the carefree freedom of House Dance and took it easy on the spins (too many napkins on the floor).  Moments later, several girls rushed in to reclaim the dance space; you could tell they were having fun and came to dance.  You couldn’t even walk more than a few feet in any direction without seeing someone completely lost in the music, and that’s what every club night should aspire to.

Worthy of its crown

So this really gets to the heart of why Monarchy matters: a club’s worth is measured in the unique synergy of service, people, music, and dancing that it can deliver.  Music may change from night to another, or from one headliner to the next, but when those other elements are strong—when you walk away feeling like you had a great experience and connected meaningfully to others and to the dance floor—that’s what keeps you coming back for more.  That’s what house music is and always should be about, regardless of the genre.  Monarchy represents exactly that: a club, among the palms, worthy of its crown.

-Danny Dance

Follow my DJ sets and music production on Soundcloud, or my shenanigans on Twitter.  Follow Monarchy on Twitter, or buy tickets to upcoming shows.  

The first day of a new year is as great a time as any to take a good look in the mirror, peer through the eyes of your inner destiny, and take stock of your dreams.  As productive as 2011 was for me personally, professionally, and musically, I feel that one of the biggest lessons of last year was how important it is to bridge your actions to your ambitions.  As the song goes, “heaven is only one step away,” and however you define your own heaven during your time here on Earth (a time I call ‘This One and Only Chance to Live and Dance‘), taking that one first step is critical.

For me, personal paradise consists of achieving an iteration of myself that I know exists in there somewhere, one that answers, “What am I capable of when I push myself to my personal and creative limits?”  It’s an important question, and if I was placed here at the caprice of a random universe, as the cosmically improbable consequence of atoms coming together just so at precisely the right time in the right place, then I want my life to be an opportunity to make up my own right reason for being here.  I intend to spend 2012 laying the groundwork for just that.

But what does it take to do that?  How can we structure our days this year to create an atmosphere that builds on all we’ve learned and turns those lessons into successes?  How can I use my passion for House Music to fuel my financial self-sufficiency and create a sense of real accomplishment?  Can the inherent limitations of time—after all, everything takes time: businesses take time to build, plans take time to unravel, and even patience takes time to yield its virtue—be reduced so that I reach my goals sooner?  I don’t have the answers to these questions yet, but on my quest to become a world-class sample-based House Music producer and build a successful music business through my new Dance Is A Feeling LLC, I’ve come to understand that there are key factors I can’t compromise if I’m going to ‘get there’:

1. The goals to guide my path
2. The habits to guide my goals
3. The discipline to guide my habits
4. The health to guide my discipline
5. The choices to guide my health

Without goals, we are little more than leaves in the protean wind of time, plotting an inconsistent path rather than a reliable arc towards our destinations.  I need to make goals that fully support where I’m trying to go; these goals can be simple and even general, but their effects are deeply felt when seen through.  Something as basic as “improve as a music producer“ guides my path towards an end that I can work my way to, and setting these kinds of goals is the first of the important pieces of a plan.

The second piece is equally crucial: when people make resolutions or set goals but do not reach them, it’s often as a result of not making solid habits.  A habit must be written down and tracked regularly; it has to relate directly to your goals in a direct and persistent way.  Examples of habits that guide my goal of becoming a better producer are to read an hour of books like ‘The Producer’s Manual‘ each day and to create two new songs daily.  These actions—habits—feed the goal in an iterative way.

Thirdly, and necessarily, I need to develop the discipline to stick with my habits through thick and thin, every single day of the year; the destabilizing pillars of normal life, be they sleepless party nights, day job-induced tiredness, and emotional hangovers of romance, can’t become fodder for slacking on the habits that support my goals.  This is probably the easiest link to break in the chain, but also the one of most consequence.  As a friend mentioned earlier on my Facebook wall, “No one is on all the time”, which is true—but we have to try.

If you’re wondering what it takes to stay sane when adhering so strongly to your vision, the answer lies in your health.  If you are sound of mind, sound of body, and sound of spirit, you’ll be more likely to be sound of—in my case, one of the things I strive for—sound of music.  I recently challenged myself to a 99-day fitness duel made up of four simple things I can work on: walk daily, do push-ups and sit-ups on alternating days, and stretch regularly.  Though I’ve dealt with debilitating lower back pain for years, lateral lumbar scoliosis be damned, I’m committed to managing the pain and mitigating its impact on me this year.  And health need not be just physical—the more things you do that make you happy, from spending time with friends & family and allowing romance into your life to watching the latest Louis C.K. comedy special and dancing outdoors like nobody cares—the healthier you’ll be in support of your discipline.

Finally, I can’t control the universe or even all the things in my little slice of it, but I can control the choices that I make, and these choices impact everything from my health on up.  Things like choosing to let the right people in and the wrong people go; choosing how I spend my time or who gets to spend it with me; choosing to tackle my daily habits before turning on Words With Friends (I’m a hopeless addict); and choosing experiences that ultimately support my goals rather than slow me down will help me stay beholden to my health and answerable to my vision.

So plans are wide amalgams of goals, habits, discipline, health, and the choices you make; if you have the foresight to envision what you want, and the courage to bridge your actions to your ambitions, steadfastly moving towards your goals, you will someday answer all your inner questions, you’ll move a step closer to your heaven, and you’ll make the very best of This One and Only Chance to Live and Dance.

-Danny Dance

The latest from OFF Recordings:

Check our new podcast episode mixed by Deepgroove (Incl. OFFSPIN009 “Kings & Queens EP” produced by Deepgroove themselves & Thieve OUT NOW):
http://www.off-recordings.com/podcasts/episode-53

you can also download the mix directly from our server including a picture,and artist information:

http://www.off-recordings.com/mixes/OFF_Recordings_Podcast_Episode53_by_Deepgroove.zip

 

Intruder (A Murk Production) feat Jei ‘Amame’

From Defected:

Now and again a track emerges that is effortlessly cool as well as being an out and out show stopper.  It happened this year in Ibiza with Intruder ‘Amame’, each time it was played there was a constant enquiry of ‘What’s this tune’ and ‘how can I get hold of it?’

Amame has been floating around a very select DJ circle on limited vinyl pressing for some months. This is a Murk production from Oscar G and Ralph Falcon under the guise of Intruder, a guise that has re-emerged after some 20 years after it was first conceived.

Any Murk production is a rare thing, and a record of this quality and breadth of appeal is perhaps even rarer.  Straddling the often tricky to navigate border between house and techno without difficulty, it features one of the most hypnotically memorable vocals of the year courtesy of Miami vocalist Jei.

It was early tracks like ‘Reach for Me’, ‘Liberty City’, ‘Some Lovin’’ and ‘If You Really Love Someone’, that gave Murk their first major lift upon release in 1993.  Later came ‘Fired Up!’(‘96) with its powerful signature vocal under their Funky Green Dogs guise which became their biggest hit and turned them into big stars of the early 90′s.

Now 20 years down the line Intruder ‘Amame’ is being championed by the likes of Kerri Chandler, Dennis Ferrer, Seth Troxler, The Martinez Brothers and even Ricardo Villalobos, ensuring that all those loitering around the booths of DC10’s closing party and Fabric’s birthday were enquiring of its story. Now the story can begin to be told…

Listen to it here:

Intruder (A Murk Production) featuring Jei by Defected Records

Danny Dance – Just A Crush (Original Mix) (Single)

Genre: House
Release Date: November 14, 2011 (Exclusively on BEATPORT)
Label: 1200 Traxx
Catalog: THT1242

01. Just A Crush (Original Mix)

Promo Video

Press Release

After his recent debut EP, Here For The Dancefloor, Danny Dance returns with another banger packed with that feeling: ‘Just A Crush’, a funky, bassline-driven single with his signature feel and dance floor storytelling. The track has generated passionate word-of-mouth among friends of Danny’s music, and is sure to uplift and bring back memories of a long-lost crush as you dance.

Purchase on Beatport:
http://www.beatport.com/release/just-a-crush/831610

KEEP DANCING!

On my way to the airport last week, I stopped near the FLL airport to do a little dancing for the episode, and related how dancing to Merengue can help teach rhythm, which can then influence House Dance movement. The song in the vid is “Las Mujeres Caliente“, a merengue classic by Los Hermanos Rosario.

From the label, 1200 Traxx:

EXCLUSIVELY ON BEATPORT 11.14.11
After his recent debut EP, Here For The Dancefloor, Danny Dance returns with another banger packed with that feeling: ‘Just A Crush’, a funky, bassline-driven single with his signature feel and dance floor storytelling. The track has generated passionate word-of-mouth among friends of Danny’s music, and is sure to uplift and bring back memories of a long-lost crush as you dance.

SDHC 23 – Ain’t No Love by Danny Dance

DOWNLOAD | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | MP3 | Hulkshare | Podcast

Sometimes, you can’t do it for the love—you have to do it because you love it.  This goes out to every Dreamer out there.

SDHC 23 – Ain’t No Love by Danny Dance

EVERY TUESDAY means SDHC! Check back here every single Tuesday for a new, free, downloadable song produced by me.  Or follow me on Twitter for the download link each week!

About: SDHC is a year-long side project by Danny Dance.  It represents House Music you can dance to, live to, study to, work to, love to, play to, or do anything else to.  A new song is released EVERY TUESDAY, one for each of the 52 playing cards in a deck of cards.  Collect the full set at http://soundcloud.com/dannydance/sets/sdhc

Nikki Beach, which is right in my back yard here in Miami, is one of those sexy, trendy, ‘see-and-be-seen’ kinds of places that House Music can’t help but be drawn to.  Make of that what you may—because it really can go both ways (good and bad)—but at least it’s a classy venue frequented by respectable artists like DJ Meme, Julius the Mad Thinker, and ATFC.

The man behind an onslaught of Big Room House tunes I can actually enjoy, ATFC has been at this game for a long time—so long, in fact, that despite his youthful spirit and the intensity of his productions, the man has a catalogue of musical inspiration longer than I’ve been alive.  From this, he’s conjured up an upcoming mix for sale, packed with an hour’s worth of songs that inspired him over the decades:

On that note, be sure to hit “Play” on this mix and let it ride for an hour, as you read through his commentary on his track selection:

From Defected:

In advance of the release of his Nikki Beach In The House compilation, ATFC has put together an hour mix comprising no less than 23 records that have inspired him over the course of his life.

Ranging from Herbie Hancock to Public Enemy, this is a highly eclectic journey through the musical mind of ATFC… enjoy!

http://soundcloud.com/defectedrecords/atfcs-nikki-beach-inspirations

1. Funkadelic – Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
This seemed the perfect sentiment with which to kick off the mix and comes from a totally ‘out there’ album, apparently recorded within 24hrs while the band were completely off their nut. Not an unusual occurrence in those days but ‘Free Your Mind…’ took funk into another, heavier dimension.

2. Frankie Valli – Grease
From 1978 and one of my first musical memories. It’s been so overplayed and hijacked by the tacky Saturday night Karaoke brigade one forgets how good the music actually is. Fantastically warm production which conjures up many good memories and a few desperate ones of my futile search for a fly leather jacket and Yale cardigan.

3. Michael Jackson – PYT
I recently dug this out to play at Cafe Mambo Ibiza and felt the atmosphere lift immediately as soon as it dropped. The groove is sooo tight and clean with Michael nailing the vocal to within an inch of its life and it’s an often overlooked cut from the album. Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones….what’s there not to be inspired by?

4. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Live @ Union Square
I listened to this over and over with my head in my hands thinking ‘how the hell did Jazzy Jeff do that?’ From then on I collected all the Ultimate Breaks & Beats albums and began practicing…hard. I got some way with scratching and early turntablism and this set a benchmark (which I never reached I’m sorry to say!)

5. Herbie Hancock – Rockit
Before the scratching came the body-popping and breakdancing. I was fairly useless and this record was the soundtrack to many lost battles in my ‘hood’.

6. Colonel Abrahms – Trapped
I once DJ’d at a gig where Colonel Abrahms was singing. My girlfriend at the time decided to keep him company while I was playing and at the end of the night she told me what a nice guy Colin was. I still ended up marrying her.

7. Aleem – Get Loose
Along with Release Yourself this is an absolute standout cut from Aleem who apparently shared an apartment with Jimi Hendrix. With Leroy Burgess on vocals it combined electro production with soulful overtones perfectly and was another excuse to buss’ out the lino.

8. Bob James – Nautilus + Linda Clifford – Ride The Storm
A lot of Bob James’ stuff can sound a little hotel lobbyish for me but this deep, dark jazz-funk groove is so atmospheric and menacing, if you close your eyes you’ll literally feel 20,000 leagues under the sea.

9. Stevie Wonder – Living For The City
‘New York, just like I pictured it. Skyscrapers and evrythang!’ I waited many years to be able to say that but when I did, I blew an air kiss to Stevie on Madison Avenue. If I had to pick, he’s probably my artist of all time.

10. Roy Ayers & Ubiquity – Life Is Just A Moment Pt. 2
This man is responsible for many of my £’s spent on records and entrances to Ronnie Scotts. I once interviewed him at the back of his tour bus and remember being speechlessly star-struck. A disastrous 10 minutes that ended my career in journalism. This is one of my favourite lesser known tracks and while Part 1 is pretty decent, I imagine this came after a step out of the studio, a quick fag and back in to lay down this heavy alternative take.

11. James Brown & The JB’s – Mind Power
What inspirations list wouldn’t include a bit of JB? Whenever I think of James Brown, for some reason I think of this…

12. The Fatback Band – I Found Lovin’
One of those tunes that got a roar as soon as the first bar cut through the system. So recognisable, and one that re-united the guys and the girls on the dance floor after the breakdance competition had climaxed. Brought back into blokey territory on a re-release by Steve Walsh and his ‘You What? You What?’ call to arms – I never understood that version….

13. Public Enemy – Bring The Noise
These guys were my ‘Sex Pistols’ I suppose, and as a white kid from the suburbs they should have meant nothing to me, but their angry, rebellious rawness appealed during my teenage years. Perhaps I was angry I had nothing to be angry about??

14. A Tribe Called Quest – Oh My God
Probably my favourite Hip Hop act and I was truly sad when they split. Q Tips flow and the simple but untouchable, lazy MPC beats of Ali Shaheed together with Phife’s childlike pitch took The Native Tongues to another level. Although De La Soul and The Jungle Brothers were close contenders, Tribe win it for me in this inspirations mix.

15. Soul II Soul – Fairplay
When these guys arrived their sound was totally fresh and very much ‘a London Thing’. I was lucky to see them at their club nights at The Africa Centre and The Fridge and bought the T-Shirt too. There has never been a more appropriately named album than ‘Club Classics’.

16. John Coltrane – Acknowledgement
The album ‘A Love Supreme’ is made up of only 3 parts, is fairly heavy going in some parts but very spiritual and was on constant rotation in my room during my studies at University – a coming of age, ‘grown-up’ record.

17. MARRS – Pump Up The Volume
This had the same effect on me as ‘Live @ Union Square’, except in a production context. Years before I stepped into a recording studio I’d begun to wonder how these sounds were made and think it was possible I could do the same. In 1987 I would never have believed that 20 years later I’d be sat next to CJ Mackintosh, 37000 ft in the air, talking about how the record influenced me.

18. Jaydee – Plastic Dreams
It’s a little difficult to classify this record and the proof of which is that it was my house hating friends that first put me onto it. At the very least, I don’t think there are many DJs of any kind of dance genre who haven’t played this record.

19. Barbara Tucker – Beautiful People
Although I’d bought a few ‘House’ records previously, this one helped change the way I saw it. One night I found myself standing on a speaker stack, pumping my arms in the air to the sound played by a dj from New York. I woke up the next day, threw a mix tape I’d been given the previous night into the cassette player and on came ‘Beautiful People’. The ‘feeling’ came flooding back and I can honestly say that’s the day ‘House’ music truly made sense to me. I got on the next train to London, straight to Release The Groove Records, and spent my student allowance on the latest shipload of US House and Garage.

20. Constipated Monkeys – Cro-Magnon
One of the last times I can say I was truly inspired on a production level was when Eric Morillo launched Subliminal records. It spawned a new era of funky but main-room House Music that I’ve tried to adhere to in the studio since then. Bridging the gaps between prog, tech, funky and deep house, Subliminal fired out a number of classics in their first 2 years and was a no questions asked must buy label. Cro-Magnon had me and Warren Clarke looking up at Harry & Jose as Deities for a long time after that.

21. Lil Louis – French Kiss
Another record that you’d hear all over the club scene regardless of style. One that on paper should be restricted to specialist techno dark rooms but thanks to its provoking breakdown and innovative ‘slow-down’ gained fans right out to the holiday resorts of Turkey and beyond, where I first heard it. I stupidly sold my original copy to the local dj in return for free drinks the next night…..

22. Nuyorican Soul – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun (4 Hero Mix)
A major influence and possibly my favourite Dance producers were Masters At Work. I could have included a number of their productions in this mix but I chose, instead, to feature them as artists being remixed. The original by Rotary Connection is a desert island record for me and Nuyorican Soul covered it impeccably. This genius bit of A&Ring by Gilles Peterson gave rise to a Drum & Bass gem (a genre I’ve not been a huge fan of) and possibly one of my all-time choice remixes.

23. The James Gang – Ashes, Rain & I
I end with a track that contains the string sample (wait till the very end!!) upon which my professional career is hugely indebted to. I can’t take the credit for unearthing it but when researching Norman Cook’s inspiration brought me to this, it proved to me that there is an absolute validity in sampling as an art. Inspiration can come at any time and from anything and while this list could have included music and songs that are more worthy and would, indeed, be higher in my iTunes ranking, these are the ones that came at a certain time and a certain place, and the ones which, like it or not, inspired me.

Nikki Beach In The House mixed by ATFC is out 31st October

Pre-order this at iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/preorder/nikki-beach-in-house-mixed/id475388235.