Articles

As anyone who might have been around for a while now will understand, I have been (and will continue) to use Serato as my preferred method of DJ’ing. I get asked all sorts of sttupid questions about it when I use it, mostly by vinyl purists (because of course, I never buy vinyl)…and I have to admit sometimes it grates a little. I dont see how it makes me a worse or better DJ whatever method I use. DJ’ing is about the selection of tracks – not the format, and I am happy to use vinyl, CD or Digital. But thats only my opinion. Some people care passionately that you can only really play properly from original vinyl – and who am I to say they are wrong.

Cosmic Boogie isn’t always about dubby percussion, having disco drinks in the park, or me spouting bollocks. No sir, one of the things that still brings many people to the site are the tutorials I wrote a while ago about how to use Serato and so on. I need to update these, as all my [...]

Like most people I imagine, my understanding of disco went as far as Saturday Night Fever. I wanted to write down, as best as I could, the things that helped me to discover that Disco far from sucks. Call it a starting place to discover more about dance music if you will, something to help a newcomer (not an experienced old cynic) what direction they might have to take.

In 2004, during Suss’d tenure of the classic Salsoul label, Ian Dewhirst approached me about the possibility of putting together a Salsoul ‘Flavas’ compilation, reflecting the more electronic side of the labels output during the early 80’s – the type of stuff I would have been playing on the black scene during theElectro-Funk era.

 Full Compilation: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is the second part to an article I started last week on tracks that changed my life. I wrote a load of blurb at the start of that one so I wont bang on here, ill just dive right in. Remember, these tracks are in no particular order (least of all chronological).

Its really difficult to write a list of favourites. What is your favourite house track? What is your favourite film? They change all the time for me. Some days I might say Donnie Brasco is my favourite film, other days it might be The Panic in Needle Park. Some days it could be Voodoo Ray, another day it might be Strings of Life. I guess it depends what kind of mood I am in. Today, for example, its The Panic in Needle Park. Until I get home, then its more than likely Blazing Saddles. You see my point.

Its impossible to explain how to mix a genre of music really. I mean, its all in the ear of the beholder isn’t it? And does music need mixing together? David Mancuso doesn’t think so, neither do I when I listen to an album. I’m writing this because I want to share my experience of waking up on the record decks, learning how to mix in different ways, and how you can crossover genres and BPM’s without it sounding awful. I’m no master at this craft yet, I’m still a novice really…but that doesn’t really matter. I learned a lot over the last 12 months, some the hard way naturally, but some by listening to other people (how they mix AND what they say). So if you have just woken up to the fact that you want to mix up a bit of everything together, and not just be 130bpm hard house all the way, then keep reading.

Make sure you have your Serato MP3 library and crates backed up, as often as possible. Its pretty obvious, but as this relatively stupid DJ found out – its not compulsory, and people often forget. When people forget to do such obvious things, sods law will dictate that said persons will come a cropper. Especially if these people are not only stupid, but also, pretty unlucky. (Yes, I forgot).

There’s something about Southport. On paper, it looks great. 5,000 friendly people and tickets that sell out months in advance. Live acts that push the boundaries of soul, jazz, funk, Latin and house. DJs who are at the forefront of every evolutionary branch of Black music.

Soul Science, the debut album from Justin Adams, Juldeh Camara and Salah Dawson Miller was recently nominated for the Culture Crossing category of the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. On March 19, the trio brought their Anglo-African blues to Liverpool with an intimate gig at the Bluecoat. After the show, Gavin Kendrick met up with Justin to find out more about his latest project.

Greg Wilson discusses editing in an interview Alexis Le-Tan (TRAX / FRANCE) in November, 2007.

About a month ago, I wrote an article on how to organise your MP3s for DJing. It would seem from the amount that have read it, it was found to be pretty useful. I thought that maybe following it up with a number of other Serato tutorials would be a good idea… so here is [...]

I have seen countless people asking on forums how you organise, store, sort and play mp3′s for dj’ing. I was, until not long ago, one of the people asking (thanks to THP and Baggy at Cosmic Disco for being the answerer of many a question) . Its only been the last 6 months that I have changed over from being a “vinyl only” man to using MP3′s as well.

Back in mid-80’s London, the term Boogie was used to describe a style of dance music, mainly from the early 80’s, but also the late 70’s, that was popular on the black scene. Many of these tracks had originally featured at the time of their release at specialist club nights in venues like Crackers and the Electric Ballroom, but had subsequently been revived during the Rare Groove era.

Electro-Funk is undoubtedly the most misunderstood of all UK Dance genres, yet probably the most vital with regards to its overall influence. Central to the confusion is the term itself, which during 82/83 (before it was shortened to Electro) was specific to the UK. From a US perspective this music would come under a variety of headings (including Hip-Hop, Dance, Disco, Electric Boogie and Freestyle)…