The Eccentric Grooves of Logan 5

We're at the end of a 3-part journey into the land of pirate treasure. And as we open the treasure chest full of bounce, we find the three more important cities in modern booty: Detroit, Baltimore, and Rio de Janeiro. Three cities connected by economic circumstance, long musical traditions, urban decay, love of a good party, and violent pedigree, leaving their indelible marks upon sweaty asses from Amsterdam to Capetown: Download this svelte, 7MB threesie right  here . Malha Funk - Nova Dança Buy Vinyl The ghettos of Rio have the best views; built upon hillsides too step for roads, these homemade- blah, blah blah, you've seen City of God and Bus 174 and Black Orpheus and you're down with Nacao Zumbi. This is the sound of the favela parties, the "funk balls" (isn't that uncomfortable?). By the way, they pronounce words ending in "k" a little differently, so it's really called baile fonkee. It can be repetetive, low-fi, completely resampled, an...

It's no secret that American music in all its forms (except Native American music, for some reason) has been hugely popular the world 'round. Our soul inspired reggae. Our funk inspired techno-pop. And our responses to techno-pop such as electro, detroit techno and chicago booty house have been heartily embraced the world over, including one little low-lying hotspot: Holland. Yes, windmills and dikes and clogs are what you learn growing up about the Lowlands. Then you get older, start collecting records and now your impression of The Netherlands is: legal drugs at reasonable prices, sad imported prostitutes (at reasonable prices), and awesome electronic music scenes. In 2003, the dutch electro scene saved us all: when it seemed like trashy, transparent electroclash was going to edge out the burgeoning resurgence of true electro and electrodisco appareciation, Bunker/Creme unleashed an incredible blast of deeply informed and lovingly crafted music that has certainly outla...

This is more like 3 songs with a whole bunch of extra electro shake thrown in the bag for good measure (ahem). Kicking off pirate treasure week on Disco Ex Machina, it's 12 minutes of mid-80's electro/rap: Get your linoleum, jimmy hats and a towel: download threesie #5 right  here . Alex Murphy - How Far Can You Go?  Buy Vinyl I promised we'd start with west coast electro, but is this really from Beverly Hills? Who cares. The point is that when I was a kid, there were two main inspirations for my love of electro. This was one of them, but I bet you've never heard the rap before, just like you're not falling for the banana in the tailpipe. Uncle Jamm's Army - Yes, Yes, Yes  Buy Vinyl And this was the other: in my suburban hometown of San Jose, CA we had a hawaiian-themed roller rink whose weekend DJ seemed to play nothing but the finest in electro and freestyle. They had these gigantic sinister tiki masks on the walls from which emanated rays of colored ligh...

Clearly the month of January has been busy, evidenced by the fact that I haven't written anything since last week. Coming soon, though, I'll have help from a guest contributor or two and Disco Ex will warm up with the weather. And speaking of the frost that encased my house his morning, here are three tracks that I like to think of as "morning techno" - crystalline melodies, deep hypnotic grooves and an emotional flourish that just seems like the perfect way to wake up. Download Threesie #4  here  (15MB MP3). Datach'i - Animals Coming Home Are Excited One copy left @ GEMM.com The music of New Yorker Datach'i took a little while to grow on me; I had this EP for over a year before I really absorbed it, or perhaps before I listened to it with a serious speaker system - though MP3 quality seems to have turned the low end of this track into mush. Many of Datach'i's tracks are quite a bit more complex and hyperactive than "Animals Coming Home Are Ex...

Can I get a 3z for 2006? The wait is over…. Sound the Klakson as we Get Physical with this Missive!!! Download Threesie #3 from Discoex.com  here  (11MB MP3). Pauli Jylhankangas - Lie Low Buy it @ Forced Exposure I bought this record without hearing for two reasons: (a)  A very smart robot  once told me that everything Dexter and his label Klakson put out were worth buying, always. (b) Enlarge the cover photo.  Pauli Jylhankangas  is half of the dutch electro outfit  Putch '79 (the other half is Bangkok Impact). Putch '79 has gotten some good remix gigs lately including their awesome rework of  the Juan Maclean 's "Give Me Every Little Thing" for NYC tastemaker label DFA as well as a remix for Get Physical (see the next record in this 3Z). But Pauli's only got this one release out there under his own name. For the sake of all trippy melodic electrofunk fans everywhere, let's hope it's not the last. DJ T - Time Out (Random Factor mix) Hard to f...

Download my New Year's set, played live at the Velour Lounge:  67 MB MP3 Well, that was a fantastic evening - I want to thank everyone who came out (and on time!!) to the Velour Lounge; a full dancefloor, great friends, overhead heaters and excellent sets from the other DJ's made it a memorable time and a proper welcome to the new year. I've heard that the parties in the bay went off as well; sorry we couldn't all be together this year but weather and geography sometimes beat even a full house. I was going to post the Salsoul Orchestra's New Year's Disco Medley in honor of the day, but franky its cheese content is so high that I simply don't have the stomach for it, after last night's electronic stylings. Plus, I think we've heard enough disco on here for now. The next threesie of music from Disco Ex is around the corner, so stay tuned. Here's my setlist, spanning 33 years of future-funk. Audio might be forthcoming too. Undisputed Truth...

a NEW YEARS EVE DANCE PARTY @ THE VELOUR LOUNGE EDIT: Logan 5 added to the lineup - get there at 9pm for a set of the juiciest electro, breaks, funk and tech-house! PANAMAS BAR & CAFE - 177 E. 2ND STREET. CHICO CA DJ's: SONNY D AIREON 51 SYMBIO VS NEMO MANIC ONE LOGAN 5 PARTY STARTS @ 9PM (You can check out Symbio and Nemo's sets from last month's Future/Now from the  530techno.org  audio page).