mixtape - In The Spirit (finally!)

dj omni - "in the spirit (finally!)"

Continuing the challenge to make a mix a month, I just pushed play and recorded myself playing around. This “quick-one-before-I-go” mix, is called “In the Spirit (finally!)”. And the spirit in question is the Christmas Spirit.

Listening to Benji B and J Rocc goof around and enjoy the cheesiest of x-mas music on Deviation really started this joyous season for me (as well as getting out of the office for the rest of the year!).

I was also inspired by the magic of DJ Questlove at his newly annual Holiday party at S.O.B.’s. The man was sampling, pitch-shifting, and recreating classics on the fly for the people. Amazing show!

Now back to this mix. We start with a little DIY Dwele magic. An ode to a cheap microphone and the support of friends moves into the first Dwele track I ever heard, “Jimmy stay down” an obvious ode to Stevie Wonder who also closes this mix. There are some Christmas songs mixed in. That chipmunk funk is a pseudo auto-tuned Lou Rawls, who has made some of the funkiest holiday sounds ever in this “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas”. Followed close behind by a rare Christmas cover of “Little Baby” called “Purple Snowflakes” (for some reason) by the always-amazing Marvin Gaye. Other highlights include “Do 4 U” by super-group Hawthorne Headhunters featuring PPP favorite Coultrain. Admittedly, I should’ve let this song go longer. Also included is some J Dilla and James Brown business followed by a project that I am REALLY looking forward to from Mochilla: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s orchestral concert for the Dilla-gentleman, “Suite for Ma Dukes”. Mos Def makes a couple appearances in this mix mainly because my song of the moment is his “24-Hour Karate School”! Which I imagine he came up with while walking in SOHO flipping through the Village Voice, seeing an ad and imagining a whole story behind it. Add an erratic beat created by Ski Beatz and the Apple Juice Kid (according to okayplayer) and this song is a bit of mad genius. There’s a Roots song before this that I pray will be on the next album, and a remix of Biggie’s first single by two white boys from Brooklyn that don’t get the credit they deserve for the infectious music they make. And finally we close with a master, not too far from where we began. I hope you enjoy. Happy Holidaze.

Sob Story.

I made a trek back to my old stomping grounds in the suburbs the other night to spin at a friend's party. Proper club, big sound system, so on. I was worried I'd be asked to DJ first - groggy from the train ride and not many people in the spot doesn't make for an energetic or enjoyable set. Instead, I was told my slot was late/last - around 3, "so people will stay until the end." This, however, was presuming that lots of kids wanted to hear me spin. Versus get home on the last train and make it to work the next day. No problem; I was happier to talk to old friends who were able to come through early on.
But, of course, 3 turns to 3:30 and the crowd starts to thin. The organizer is gone somewhere, and the rest of my DJ friends are congregating outside somewhere. I'm recovering from a cold, so I give up and lay down on a sofa in the back "VIP" room. Get woken up at 4, "Do you want to DJ? Everyone's pretty much gone." I make a go of it for about twenty minutes, but shut down when I realize that we can all leave whenever. Anyway, here's what I was thinking of spinning. Have a listen. By the way, it starts at about twenty seconds in, so hang in there. It'll give you time to close all of the pop-ups.