This thursday live in Paradiso, Amsterdam: Raphael Saadiq. Mister Saadiq is the kind of artist that seems missing in action for a while, but then suddenly pops up with strictly quality music. While I still enjoy some songs from Instant Vintage, his latest solo project The Way I See It is all about the retro soul sound that seems very popular lately. Think vintage Motown and Stax, some horns, handclaps and even doo wop…soul with a rough edge that also influenced Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson.

There’s something about it that makes me itch, why copy a style so much instead of creating something completely new? But then again, Raphael mastered it - listen to 100 Yard Dash and watch him wear his slim fitted suit with swagger.

Stones Throw also jumps on the soul bandwagon, with a new artist that reminded me vaguely of Smokey Robinson: Mayer Hawtorne. The biography of this 29th year old singer and producer from Ann Arbor actually mentions the question about new/old soul music: “It’s not just throwback music anymore – this revival is all about progression.”

Mayer Hawtorne just released his first single Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out (on a beautiful limited edition heartshaped 45!), so decide for yourself and listen:

Yes, Amsterdam Dance Event that is. Every year around this time dance related labels, promoters and artists hook up in Amsterdam for some networking and talent scouting, but for most of us ADE is mainly about 3 days of parties. While a lot of the line-up is not exactly my cup of tea, there is always some interesting stuff going on. Since last year the Bimhuis (usually the authority on jazz in the Netherlands and abroad) is also part of ADE. On friday the 24th, for the second time Beatdimensions will take over the Bim. After the legendary edition with Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke, now Dimlite, Mike Slott and Take are invited by Juha and Cinnaman to play their futuristic beats & beyond. For more info on the Bimhuis line up, visit audioculture.org, where our friend Juha also did an interview with Daedelus, who’s performing this tuesday at Smart Project Space.

As fans of his longtime running radioshow might already know; Gilles Peterson is also in town. In London he just started again with his weekly monday night in Bar Rumba (I remember going to the last one a few years ago), in Amsterdam he will be playing at KSpace and Bar Struik on the 23rd, together with Brownswood affiliates thBpm and Lefto. With Melodee hosting an Appletree night at Bitterzoet, 1.1 / Mamiko playing in Studio K, DROP inviting fresh producers at OneFourOne for a beatbattle and Tom Trago and San Proper doing another Le Pop at Canvas, it’s hard to choose. What are you going to do?

To get your dancing shoes on, here’s a set Tom Trago did recently at Dekmantel (thanks to Rush Hour):

And here’s a mix + interview with local 8 Bit hero Hayzee, who plays at DROP (thanks to Little D Soundlab):

When I was still living in Utrecht and listening mainly to hiphopmusic, I heard about the Disco3000 parties but never went there. Luckily, Disco3000 is back, launching again this friday at Paradiso with Antal, San Proper, and Trus’ Me (Manchester) playing upstairs. Expect ‘deep disco, deeply rooted house & future musics’ the invitation says. After the fun we had last friday at the (excellent) James Pants concert, I’m sure this will be another great night to start your weekend with - the boogie is back.

To get in the mood, go to the Disco3000hyve or check some mixes online, at the RushHour website I found for example Antal’s deep disco mix:

And here’s a nice podcast Trus’ Me did a while ago:

Door opens at 00.00, the next Disco3000 will be the 5th of december 2008. See you there!

James Pants, Stones Throw’s latest heavyweight, is performing a very special live show this friday down at the Paradiso in Amsterdam! After a mesmerizing performance at the first Cafe Pig edition James Pants is returning with his band the Royal Zodiac to Amsterdam, to performe a crazy livesession !
So a lot of you already know who James Pants is and what he plays / creates… For those who don’t here is a brief introduction: James Pants is living in Spokane (USA) where the rent is very cheap so he can give in to his addiction of buying records. He started out as a drummer and got in to the art of turntablism later on, eventually ending up producing music. Recently James P released his sick album Welcome on Stones Throw which many of you might have already heard during the Future Vintage Show or have already bought ! (if not please do so, it’s a sureshot).
This is not all, there are also a couple of dope mixtapes floathing around here and there. One of them is the sort off new-age / futuristic ambient mix called Ice Castles and the other one is a straight up party tape containing the magic that happends when Pants lays his fingers on the decks: The Electric Finger. This is more than a party mix, it also gives you an insight of James Pants his overall music taste and the influences for the music he creates.

Offcourse we shouldn’t forget his first LP he did on Stones Throw’s Rhythm Trax series featuring some classic tracks, the new Crystal Lite 12″ featuring a new version of KA$H and the other 12″s of KA$H (video) and Were Trough (video). Oh yeah and there is also a killer 7″ with the non-album track She’s Out Of My Life On It….. That pretty much sums up the James Pants stuff out there except for some remixes and the track on the Bad Santa compilation. Enough stuff to keep you busy for at least a week !

So if you want to hear some proper music on your friday night, make sure you hit the Paradiso. And for all you house heads, Kerri Chandler is playing in the mainroom…

UPDATE: Win 2 x 2 tickets for the concert. Question: The last time James Pants performed in Amsterdam he invited the audience to do some..

A. Laughing meditation

B. Yoga moves

C. Spanish Pilates

..with him. Please send your correct answer to info@futurevintage.net and we’ll email you before Friday 15.00 if you’re a winner. Hint: listen to the interview Radna did with James Pants near the Amsterdam canals in July.

Hope to see you all there!

This post is actually one day too late. I planned to announce the show of Benny Sings at OCCII yesterday, but ran out of time. Still Benny is worth mentioning, since he’s working on an interesting project. After releasing 3 albums he’s now working on his fourth he describes as ‘disco to cry to’. A few weeks ago he already performed some of these new songs at Rednose’s Living Legends party, and yesterday at Cafe Pig (which is a new night at OCCII by Aardvarck and the-anonymous-selector-with-great-taste) Benny Sings performed just three songs that were all impressive. Accompanied by a simple keyboard he basicly sung about lost love, while his new productions have indeed a disco feel. Is this what we call popmusic? Please take a listen for yourself at Benny’s myspace, the fourth song on the player will contain music from the new project.

Also listen to this Cafe Pig sampler, and make sure to be there next time:

Maybe this post is actually four days too late because there were more interesting things happening in Amsterdam last weekend. Friday I was somewhere between Via Brasil and Sonic Warfare, where amongst others Rustie combined futuristic beats with some dubstep, Lil Wayne and even Laffy Taffy - like they always do in Glasgow, at least that’s wat Fox Gut Daata told me. At the same time the B-oost festival kicked off, with on saturday the Metropole Orchestra who did 2 concerts: a J Dilla tribute in collaboration with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (Build An Ark) and a show with Jimi Tenor. It was quite amazing to hear interpretations of Dilla productions played by a large ochestra, in a totally different context. The first tones of Stakes Is High, the lovely melody of Nag Champa - the only thing lacking were the drums, that came out a bit weak. Both concerts will be broadcasted on Radio 6 in the next weeks. So tune in online: 8th and 15th of October at 22.00 on In Concert Beyond at Radio 6. And..Kindred Spirits is working on a proper release of the orchestral tribute to J Dilla as well.

Pure Jazz Festival in The Hague is over… We’ve recorded 2 crazy new shows for you which are being edited and mixed as we speak. Yesterday it was a Future Vintage Radio classic with the original cast: Radna, Tom Trago and Melodee, a true sureshot with crazy records. San Proper decided to drop by for a authentic Proper’s burning tunes toko.. after which the cats from MTC played a 30 min live set combining beats, korgs, moogs and more…
1.1 took over and went off with obscure jazz, stomping beats and some downtempo brazil.

I totally missed out on Jose James, since I had to pick up San Proper from the station, but I was present during the Liquid Spirits show. A very nice show combining a brass ensemble, 4 leadsingers and top musicians to create pure soul music for the heart. Hopefully I can get my hands on the video and audio recording made during this show so I can share this with you.

LIQUID SPIRITS - STEPNEY:

Off course the answer to the question regarding the broadcast of the show remains. Just stay tuned and by the end of the upcoming week you’ll have the first episode of Future Vintage Radio at Pure Jazz Festival 2008! To already get you a little bit in the mood, here’s a sick latin break edit of Joe Bataan’s Call My Name:

JOE BATAAN - CALL MY NAME

Since Future Vintage Radio is in it’s transition period between stations, other ways have to be found in order to keep the show alive. Pure Jazz Festival 2008 saw the potential of the show and booked it to, 2 days in a row, to broadcast the classics of tomorrow live from it’s festival terrain in the city centre of The Hague.
It’s just a couple of hours ago that Radna, Melodee, DJ Lefto and Kc the Funkaholic finished the recording of the new show. This show will be online very soon, here on FutureVintage.net featuring DJ Lefto on the decks, Radna & Melodee bringing you the latest on the best music out there, KC The Funkaholic playing a toko filled with the musical foundation of his Kindred Spirits Ensemble and De Javaanse Jongens in an interview + 15 mins banging live set.

Special thanks to Lefto, KC the Funkaholic and De Javaanse Jongens for dropping by and sharing the good stuff!

Lefto’s pick: Nas - Queens Get The Money

Tomorrow it’s Jose James, Liquid Spirits and episode 2 of Future Vintage Radio live at Pure Jazz Festival !

A couple of hours ago Pure Jazz Festival in The Hague kicked off with a crazy show by the Kindred Spirits Ensemble. The ensemble is a project initiated by KC the Funkaholic, a regular guest of the Future Vintage show, containing the best musicians NL has to offer. Performing rarely, due to it’s size (over 20 musicians!), the ensemble plays an ode to the legacy of Coltrane. This legacy is also known as Spiritual Jazz and does not always necessarily sounds like that typical ‘jazz sound’. The musical approach which is found within Spiritual Jazz can also be recognized in, for instance, Mos Def or Theo Parrish… To define Spiritual Jazz it’s best to look at Coltrane’s way of thinking in the positive sense: “I believe music is an instrument, it can create the initial thought patterns that can change the thinking of people”. The Kindred Spirits Ensemble plays a broad range of Spiritual Jazz music, embracing new arrangements of Mos Def, Pharaoh Sanders and off course Coltrane himself !

Tomorrow it’s Future Vintage Radio at Pure Jazz Festival, for tonight I’ll leave you with this special video of the Kindred Spirits Ensemble at Paradiso, and of course the pictures of the beautiful perfomance earlier tonight of the Kindred Spirits Ensemble featuring Pete Philly….

After a little break we’ll record our next shows not in a studio, but live at the Pure Jazz Festival in The Hague.

For two days, the Future Vintage crew invites you to drop by at the Spize location, a cozy bar where we’ll have performances, interviews, a documentary, DJ-sets and the recording of the radioshow - the perfect place to relax a bit and get together during the Pure Jazz Festival with stages on different locations in The Hague.

Other artists on the line up include Jose James, afrobeat guitarist Oghene Kologbo and on thursday the Kindred Spirits Ensemble will perform with Pete Philly. This will be our programme:

Friday 12 September

20.00 DJ Lefto (Appletree Records)

20.30 Documentary: Rednose in Cuba

21.00 DJ Lefto

22.30 Recording Future Vintage Radioshow part 1 with Melodee, Radna & Tom Trago DJ Lefto. Bring your iPod in advance, and we’ll play your special requests. KC the Funkaholic drops by to play some of his favourite jazz ensembles.

23.30 Recording Future Vintage Radioshow part 2 with live performance by Javaanse Jongens (Nod Navigators).

DJ Lefto until 01.00

Saturday 13 September

20.00 DJ Tom Trago

21.00 Recording Future Vintage Radioshow part 1 with Melodee, Radna & Tom Trago. Guests: Liquid Spirits, San Proper.

22.00 Recording Future Vintage Radioshow part 2 with live performance by MTC (Rotterdam).

23.15 DJ 1.1 aka MamikO’ Motto until 01.00

Be sure to have a drink with us and enjoy the music and performances that all our different guests will serve you this weekend. If you don’t have a ticket for the festival, simply send an e-mail to info@futurevintage.net so we can put you on our guestlist! (first come first served). See you in The Hague!

To get in the mood, also watch the concert of the Kindred Spirits Ensemble two years ago in Paradiso on Fabchannel.