Mon, 12 Dec 2011  /  Post a comment
TRACKLIST

Alex M – It Works – Final Cut

Kurt Harman Project* – Comin’ Back – Prescription

KDJ – Untitled – Moods & Grooves

Groove Committee – I Want You To Know – Nu Groove

Gary`s Gang – Let`s Lovedance Tonight Edit – CD-R

Chicago Connection, The – Dancin’ (M Grant Mix) – Cajual

Sound Sampler – B1 – Sound Stream

The Other People Place – Let Me Be Me – Warp

Gerd – Palm Leafes (Dub) – Clone

The Deep – Love Your Brother – Basenotic

Kerri Chandler – Thing For Linda B2 – Downtown 161

Lil Louis – Conversation Moton Edit – Moton

Loose Joints – Is It All Over My Face – West End

Syreeta – Cant Shake Your Love – Motown

Fri, 07 Oct 2011  /  Post a comment

Tue, 30 Aug 2011  /  Post a comment

Tue, 26 Jul 2011  /  106 Comments

Tue, 19 Jul 2011  /  Post a comment
As a producer he immediately showed an obsessive attention to every single sound produced exclusively with analogue instruments, result of hard work and sacrifices. He is still surprised for his success during his gigs and for all the positive feedbacks of his fans, showing an incredible humility. The same humility when he talks about his Germany, his Raw Cuts series, his DJ Kicks mix and forthcoming releases of his own label.

Wed, 22 Jun 2011  /  Post a comment

Mon, 20 Jun 2011  /  74 Comments

Tue, 14 Jun 2011  /  Post a comment
It’s refreshing to hear that one of clubland’s oldest traditions is still alive and well in these ever-changing digital times. One wonders just how many dusty, treasure trove record stores are actually left today. “Sales are really strong in Cologne right now,” Plessow opens. “Kompakt [globally renowned store and, in turn, label and distributor] is booming; they’re hiring another seller. When I’m travelling I’m seeing this elsewhere too. There are some countries where the economics don’t add up and for which MP3s are the perfect format, but elsewhere vinyl really is alive and well. The stores are somewhere you can hold the music, share knowledge and learn. I don’t think vinyl will ever die.”


It’s hard to see how Motor City Drum Ensemble’s reputation will either. Plessow, 26, started producing, incredibly, some 15 years ago. By the age of 16 he had released his first record and a year or so later cult broken beat house cut Slow Swing as alter-ego Inverse Cinematics (alongside Joachim Tobias). That tune earned the attentions of one Ricardo Villalobos and catalysed a string of Inverse EPs picked up by major leftfielders including Gilles Peterson and Benji B.

Motor City Drum Ensemble materialised relatively recently, in 2008, after a move to Stuggart and various solo nu-jazz and hip-hop-edged projects. Plessow’s Raw Cuts EPs, recorded under the new alias, combined old school Chicago and Detroit with innovative, deep ‘n’ dirty grooves to huge underground acclaim. His growing status prompted an invitation from Resident Advisor to record a deep house podcast and the rest was history. Kind of…. -- http://www.defected.com/news-reviews/word/Motoring+On/1523

Sun, 05 Jun 2011  /  Post a comment
Text Redaktion , Foto Stefan Braunbarth
Motor City Drum Ensemble

Für diese Ausgabe der DJ-Charts haben wir Danilo Plessow aka Motor City Drum Ensemble ins Boot geholt. Der Stuttgarter DJ ist unter House-Jüngern für die Raw Cuts 12-Inch Serie bekannt und hat bereits für die nächste Compilation der legendären DJ-Kicks Serie eine breit gefächerte Auswahl seiner Einflüsse zusammen gestellt. Plessow geht für uns tief auf Tauchstation durch seine musikalische Galerie von Soul, Jazz, Boogie, Afrobeat bis hin zu Techno. In reichhaltiger Vielfalt, fast eklektisch anmutend, streckt sich das Spektrum der Auswahl von Charles Mingus über Marion Brown bis Vakula. Dabei sind die ersten fünf Tracks »for dancing« und die letzten fünf »for romancing« wie der Stuttgarter noch zu Protokoll gibt.

Vakula's Picture Of You 12inch 1 – Picture Of You by Vakula
taken from the 12inch Picture Of You, Dekmantel 2011
Find it at hhv.de: EP
Sehr, sehr gute Veröffentlichung von meinen Kumpels aus Amsterdam. Vakula macht hier wirklich alles richtig und das, obwohl ich eigentlich Rave-Pianos nicht ausstehen kann. Würde mich schwer wundern, wenn das nicht einer der Top Tracks des Jahres wird.

Owiny Sigoma Band's Wires 12inch 2 – Wires (Theo Parrish Remix) by Owiny Sigoma Band
taken from the 12inch Wires, Brownswood 2011
Mr Parrish scheint in letzter Zeit wieder sehr rege zu releasen; dieser Remix gefällt mir von den neuen Stücken definitiv am besten. Das Original ist aber auch wie geschaffen für einen Remix von ihm: Afrobeats und Chants hört man auch regelmässig in seinen DJ-Sets.

Gesloten Cirkel's Moustache Techno Series 001 3 – In July Focus by Gesloten Cirkel
taken from the 12inch Moustache Techno Series 001, Moustache Techno 2010
Find it at hhv.de: 12inch
Dahinter steckt wohl I-F, Rotterdamer Techno-Urgestein der ersten Stunde. Die erste Gesloten Circle wandert schon für ziemlich hohe Beträge über den (virtuellen) Tresen und auch diese 12inch hat das Potential dazu. Besonders die B-Seite, die nicht ganz so brachial austeilt, hat es mir angetan. Die Sounds klingen enorm erfrischend und gleichzeitig aber klassisch genug, um nicht bald schon wieder passé zu wirken.

G Marcell & Keith Worthy's The Rise of the Dijital Teknobot 12inch 4 – Groove With Me by Keith Worthy
taken from the 12inch The Rise of the Dijital Teknobots, Brownswood 2011
Die neue Keith Worthy ist ein schöner Builder, perfekt entweder sehr früh oder sehr spät. Ein vielseitiges Paket, kann man auch entspannt zu Hause bei einem Glas Wein genießen.

The Oliverwho Factory's Galactic Transit 5 – Galactic Transit by The Oliverwho Factory
taken from the 12inch Galactic Transit, Rush Hour 2011
Find it at hhv.de: 12inch
Ein Brett vor dem Herrn, wie man so schön sagt. Rush Hour machen ja in letzter Zeit erstaunlich oft alles richtig, aber bei der Nummer hat es mir wirklich erstmal die Schuhe ausgezogen. Einziges Problem: Den passenden Track danach zu finden, der diesem Druck standhält. Bitte mehr!

Marion Brown's Vista 6 – Visions by Marion Brown
taken from the LP Vista, Impulse 1975
Ein wunderschönes, sehr fragiles Cover von diesem Stevie-Wonder-Klassiker. Marion Browns Saxophon und Allen Murphys Gesang ergänzen einander perfekt. Es überrascht mich immer wieder, wie viel gute Musik eigentlich auf Impulse bis in die späten Siebziger erschienen ist.

The Antilles' The Antilles 7 – Got to have you by The Antilles
taken from the LP The Antilles, JugoDisk 1982
Ich versuche immer noch, bei jedem Gig mit vielversprechenden Plattenläden in der Nähe, ein paar Stunden zu diggen. Und manchmal hat man auch sensationelles Glück wie bei dieser wirklich verdammt raren Boogie Platte. Eine englische Band, deren einziges Album aber nur in Ex-Jugoslawien erschienen ist, gefunden natürlich direkt an der Quelle in Belgrad. Und für ein Disco Album auch auf einem erstaunlich konstant hohen Niveau.

Exile One's You Have Lost The Battle 8 – You Have Lost The Battle by Exile One
taken from the LP Beaucoup D’Gaz A Bo (Lotsa Music Onboard), Disques Debs International 1975
Bei vielen Freunden, die ähnlich verbissen nach Platten suchen, sind Exile One nach wie vor ein Rotes Tuch. Eine französisch-dominikanische Island-Calypso-Band aus den Siebzigern, die aber immer mal wieder auch Richtung Amerika (und dann vorzugsweise gen early Kool & The Gang) geschielt haben. Als ich kürzlich die Platte Rainer Trüby vorgespielt habe, konnte er es nicht so recht glauben – ein sweet Soulstück von Exile One und verdammt gut noch dazu!

Plain White Record Sleeve 9 – The Only Black Man in the Ku-Klux-Klan by Keith Husbands
taken from the LP A Grateful Man, Foolish Virgin Records 1975
Und noch so eine Obskurität, diesmal aus Genf mitgebracht. Ähnlich wie Exile One eigentlich eine Island-Funk Platte, nur dass sie irgendwie verdammt nach Jon Lucien in den Ferien auf Hawaii klingt. Und über den Titel brauchen wir uns ja nicht unterhalten, zusammen mit dem Cover einfach unschlagbar schräg.

Charles Mingus' Mingus Grooves 10 – Mingus Moves LP by Charles Mingus
taken from the LP Mingus Moves, Atlantic 1974
Diese Platte lief erstaunlich oft zu Hause in letzter Zeit. Eventuell liegt es auch an meiner Freundin, die nicht mehr die Finger davon lassen konnte. Die Besetzung mit Doug Hammond (vom Detroiter Tribe-Kollektiv), George Adams und Don Pullen allein ist schon ein Traum, und die ganze Platte bleibt durch und durch subtil und ausgesprochen hörbar.
Die DJ Kicks von Motor City Drum Ensemble findest du bei hhv.de als LP und CD. Zum Release wird es auch eine DJ Kicks EP geben, die bei hhv.de als 12inch zu finden ist.
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!K7 Records House

Tue, 26 Apr 2011  /  Post a comment
“When did I fall in love?” Danilo Plessow, known to the world of dance music as Motor City Drum Ensemble, echoes the question. Wearing the kind of smile that indicates true love, first love, the kind of love that will never leave you, he gazes upon a city park. A bunch of kids are playing catch. He was their age when he fell in love for the first time: with the beat. So he started playing the drums. That beat is his companion to this day. Having morphed through all kinds of forms its recent incarnation is delivered to the public on his amazing, genre blending DJ-Kicks mix; a mix more than worthy of the series’ history of ruthless experimentation with, and re-definition of, the Mix CD medium.

Danilo was always incredibly young with things. He started producing at the age of eleven—“way too early” as he jokes—having his first release out just five years later: Inverse Cinematics’ “Slow Swing”, released in Pulver Records in 2002, found its way into Ricardo Villalobos’ record bag as well as onto one of the first Fabric mix CDs. An album under the same name and a string of EPs followed. “It was really important how young I was, not just how and where I was raised. That naivety when it comes to things, like, ‘does it sound good?’ or ‘are you even allowed to do it like this?’ Those things never concerned me and in large part that was due to my age. It was good having that kind of light heartedness! Also, in those years, you are like a sponge and just so enthusiastic! That can absolutely lead the way.” Hip Hop led the way and around the same age he started producing he kept crawling into the back of his hometown record shop. Specialised in heavy metal, it was in the farthest corners where the owner had stashed away the kinds of records Danilo’s idols Native Tongues, Pete Rock, Premier and Dilla were sampling: Jazz, Funk and Soul records. His formative years as listener and record collector took place in that handful of crates. “It was really healthy being in my own cosmos. I mean, the internet is great of course but if you grow up in circumstances like me, where there’s not an infinite amount of unheard music available at all times and you’re forced to work with what’s available, that’s a whole different kind of inspiration than when you’re browsing sites on the web, you know.”

Those years of deep listening and self-schooling certainly paid off and it’s not surprising that, after moving to Germany’s de facto “Motor City” Stuttgart, he should become famous for a string of sample-based records: Motor City Drum Ensemble’s Raw Cuts series. The house music world responded strongly to these charmingly fresh and dirty sounding tracks, all mixed down in spontaneous two-hour sessions. Danilo has also released on top labels ranging from 20:20 Vision to Rush Hour as well as his own MCDE and Four Roses imprints, produced for Ben Westbeech and Rainer Trüby and never ceased to amaze with his challenging remix work for artists like Caribou, Jazzanova, DJ Sprinkles and Zero 7.

His understanding of how the parts of a track can work has never been more apparent than on his DJ-Kicks mix. In 10 years, playing 80+ gigs a year, including such temples as Berghain, Fabric London, Rex and MOS, he’s absorbed dance history through hard and disciplined work behind the decks. Look at the opening selections of his DJ-Kicks mix to get a glimpse of his amazing ability to fuse totally disparate sound aesthetics into a coherent whole. He sets the scene and opens the party with the uplifting and inviting chants of Sun Ra’s “Door To The Cosmos”, then drops a groove of contempo Soul via NZ youngsters Scratch 22’s Remix of Electric Wire Hustle’s “Again”, which then just melts perfectly with Rhythm & Sounds’ machine dub of “Mango Drive”. Be prepared because this is just the beginning! Before you know it the guitars of Tony Allen’s “Ariya” tickle their way into the mix, its combination of collective chant and afro beat leading the listener into a joyful bliss. As you tap your foot the set dives into a tribute to one of the most influential urban centres of club culture: the Windy City. Between the driving soul of Peven Everett’s ode to love “Stuck” and the joined forces of Tevo and “Poppa” Rick Howard’s “Can Your Love Find Its Way” you find the master of Chicago house music: Mr. Fingers. It’s a beautiful homage to one of the main chapters in dance music history with the only “foreign” track ironically being an edit of Germany’s Bad Jazz Troupe.

Assembling the mix was a true journey for Danilo, painstakingly going through his collection, combining tracks, making edits—a quest in search of those “magic moments”, as he puts it. In this mix one prime example of these “magic moments” surely lies in that split second when the pads of Fred P.’s “On this Vibe” drop into the gorgeous Stone’s “Girl I Like The Way That You Move”. Moving on, Pablo Valentino, Danilo’s label colleague at MCDE with an equal disregard for genre boundaries, and his Creative Swing Alliance leads the listener into the proto-Afrobeat of Geraldo Pino’s “Black Woman Experience” followed by an absolutely mind-blowing edit of Philip Sarde’s “Le Cortège et Course”, a track that in the hands of Motor City Drum Ensemble sounds more like a techno classic than what it is: a piece from a 1972 movie soundtrack, César et Rosalie, starring Romy Schneider and Yves Montand. You want another “magic moment”? There it is beaming you right into the Minimal Nation of Robert Hood’s “The Pace”!

Hood’s track, besides being another great selection, is part one of a subdivision in this mix that, like the Chicago homage before it, works as a bow before the fathers. One after the other, the names making up the chapter this time are: Hood, Arthur Russell, Walter Gibbons and Aphex Twin, with Motor City Drum Ensemble’s aptly titled “L.O.V.E.”—Danilo’s beautifully seductive version of nocturnal soul music—sitting right there in company. In the hands of less talented compilers such lining-up of total heroes could result in a superficial “favourites mixtape” fiasco but thanks to Danilo’s impeccable intuition and architectural sensibility every choice he makes creates a natural link, no matter how huge the genre, era and geography gap he is crossing.

So, after the Selected Ambient Work “Actium” gives way to the wonderland that is Isolées remix of Recloose’s “Cardiology” we are slowly approaching the end of Motor City Drum Ensemble’s DJ-Kicks. Latecomer, a Moscow based multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer that was discovered by MCDE last year, induces a last moment of tranced concentration before the “African Chant” by contemporary Scando Jazzer Timo Lassy provides the listener with another plateau of musical high.

This personal and spiritual journey is then bookended by one of the high points in cosmic disco history: John Mason’s “Sweet Power, Your Embrace”—a track oh-so wonderfully representative of Danilo’s intentions and inspirations. It’s always a good sign when your hero gives you a call to express his enthusiasm about your choice—as Mr. Mason did in this case. It’s that moment when both sides are feeling honoured: father and son, joined through the love of the music.

And so Motor City Drum Ensemble’s DJ-Kicks ends. The listener has gained yet another glimpse into the cosmos of Danilo Plessow’s inner world and the DJ-Kicks series has been the stage for yet another beautiful dance. With the next months holding an extensive tour schedule for Danilo, dancers around the world will be able to experience his gift as a selector first hand. That is, before he gets back into the studio to start working on his first album as Motor City Drum Ensemble as well as a live act. All this will prove, just as his DJ-Kicks is doing now, that there is no such thing as stagnation in the ever-evolving cosmos of Danilo Plessow!

K7285CD TRACKLIST:

1. Sun Ra - Door To The Cosmos

2. Electric Wire Hustle - Again (Scratch 22 Remix)

3. Rhythm & Sound - Mango Drive

4. Tony Allen - Ariya

5. Peven Everett - Stuck (Original)

6. Bad Jazz Troupe - Breakdown Treat - Dusty Rework (MCDE Edit)

7. Mr. Fingers - The Juice

8. Rick "Poppa" Howard - Can Your Love Find It's Way (Club Vocal)

9. Stone - Girl I Like The Way That You Move (Dub)

10. Fred P - On This Vibe

11. Creative Swing Alliance - Don't Forget Your Keyz

12. Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats - Black Woman Experience

13. Philippe Sarde - Le Cortège Et Course

14. Robert Hood - The Pace

15. Loose Joints - Pop Your Funk (Vocal Version)

16. Arts & Crafts - I've Been Searching (Walter Gibbons 12'' Mix)

17. Motor City Drum Ensemble - L.O.V.E. (DJ-Kicks)

18. Aphex Twin - Actium

19. Recloose - Cardiology (Isolée Mix)

20. Latecomer - Cosmic Cart

21. Timo Lassy - African Rumble

22. James Mason - Sweet Power, Your Embrace

Mon, 11 Apr 2011  /  74 Comments

Sat, 18 Dec 2010  /  Post a comment
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