New podcast episode posted: Deep House mix

I did a new mix while the power was out over most of the Boston area this last weekend. (Judy & I were fortunate to only lose power for 5 hours, so I had a lazy Sunday.) You can get it by subscribing to my podcasts on iTunes. I hope you in enjoy it.

(UPDATE 2016 March 3: I've switched to using both dogglounge.com and Mixcloud.com to host my podcasts, because I'm spinning regularly now at the former, and find the latter more helpful for tracklists.)

This one is a mix of Deep House tunes. It's actually where my heart is happiest. Progressive House (in the podcast posted earlier this year) is useful when you're on the bike, or dancing, etc., and I did that podcast during indoor spring cycling - earlier this year, when it was useful. While I love Progressive, it doesn't just bring happiness to my heart the way Deep House does.

And I did my first podcast mix very early this year in the Gospel House sub-genre, but mostly to show somebody what that sub-genre sounded like.  Again, while I love it (and it reflects my spiritual side), I have much less Gospel House in my music crate than I do Deep House.

So why I didn't lead with my favorite sub-genre is just random chance. But here's my first - but not my last - Deep podcast.

For you music lovers, there's a couple of nice things to listen for:

• Michael Jackson in full maturity. The first track is a remix of Michael Jackson's Remember the time. Listen carefully from 3-3:45 minutes into the mix/track.  You'll hear the singing of a gifted artist in his prime.  Near the end of this section, the remixer layers in the vocal from Telepopmusic's famous and airy "Breathe" on top.  Between Michael's voice in full passion & voice and the ethereal female overlay, I think this is a masterful remix.  I must admit a tear or two has welled up as I've listened to the artistry of this combination.
• The lyrics of the track that starts around 11:00 in are fun; a fringe anti-government radical railing against the machine.
• At the 30 minute mark, I pull in a tune that remixes Martin Luther King's famous I have a dream speech. I don't think I've ever heard as much of this speech before as this track pulls in.  It's worth paying attention to the speech inside the music.  It's shameful that a) I haven't listened to more of the speech before - I'm now more proud that a man like that was part of our national history - and b) that our country was actually in that situation of prejudice. Sure, world history set that up, but still.
• Right after the MLK remix, the track We Danced is in frequent rotation in my iTunes these days. Why? It has more musical subtlety than lots of House/Deep house tracks. There is a song story arc, some very interesting chord voicings in the B3 organ, a nice solo vocal (and even though the lyrics are simple & repetitive, it evokes nice memories), and interesting rhythmic vocal samplings. (Thanks for making me aware of it, Odogg!)</li>
• A later called track New Day blends my historic love of authentic jazz by remixing one of the great jazz vocalists of all time - Nina Simone.
• The final track brings in my one of my favorite artists of all time - Tracey Thorne. Under the name of Everything but the Girl, Tracey and her husband Ben Watt together made two of my favorite albums - Walking Wounded and Temperamental. Tracey's voice is truly unique. She has a narrow pitch range, but she can be more passionate and evoking within that range than thousands of other singers. Since winding down EBTG, Ben has launched into Deep House deeply, and his Buzzin Fly label puts out some of the best deep house around, both from Ben himself as well as the up and coming artists he is great at mentoring.

I hope you enjoy this mix.

Oh, yeah - one note for the other DJs (and my friends at my favorite tunes source - dogglounge internet radio) reading this: The reverse-vinyl-spindown at the end of the 2nd tune wasn't covering a beat mismatch; it just felt like the thing to do at the moment. In retrospect, I don't much care for having put it there.  Oh well; it's done. And I also gave myself a fun task: Start this with a 114bpm track, and finish at 126bpm, and make it seem natural. Fun with track selection & artful pitch fader timing.