SuiteMusique

In the first installment of Suite Grooves we stay local, and feature the debut album by Sydney based DJ Mark Walton and his outfit Fretless.

It’s been 2 years since I last did a radio show on JJJ. By sheer coincidence my last Groove Train was on December 22nd 2006 and I posted the first Suite Grooves on December 23rd 2008. I’d been wanting a break from radio for a while. I’d spent 11 years at triple j and 14 years before that at a number of other radio stations. That’s 25 years all up. Yes, I started very young. I even thought that I’d stop all together soon after I left the J’s. I knew deep down that wouldn’t happen. I didn’t start DJing as a career move. I did it because I couldn’t stop listening to new music, and then I wanted to tell everyone about what I found. That’s what being a DJ is all about. You are a music nerd. With radio stations being more and more playlisted than before (some commercial stations are 100% playlisted!) I think the internet is providing the service that radio stations in the past did. Except this time it’s global.

When I was a teenager I had a short wave radio which was my prized possession. I had grown up in Sydney and knew where to get my music. When my parents sent me to Egypt to learn Arabic and become familiar with my heritage and family culture I felt disconnected from everything that I was familiar with. Music being the most important. Ironically, it was this short wave radio that my parents had bought in Australia, trying to pick up Egyptian radio stations that was my saviour. We lived in Alexandria on the Medditerrainean and on a good day I could pick up a lot of European stations. I spent most of my time surfing the waves looking for new stations and new music. Now the internet makes that so easy. The problem here is the number of stations or sources available. But then again that’s part of the fun, searching and finding that which other people haven’t found yet.

Now to our first program. As it’s been 2 years I’ll be going through some of the music I’ve come across in that time. I’ll also slip in some older tunes that I still like. The week I posted the first show I started work at a new venue here in Perth called Breakwater. That’s why I hadn’t posted another one for a while. I’ve been busy going through my collection and formulating a music policy for the venue. In the process I’ve re-discovered so many old favourites. I feel like I need to share them with everyone again. So even though I’ll be playing loads of new music expect to hear old tracks thrown into the mix.

As I decided to call my new program Suite Grooves, combining Suite from my label and Groove from my old radio show, it felt apt to start with “Find Your Groove” by “Randa K & The Soul Kingdom”. Randa had originally released a 4 track EP, which included this one, as “Lysistrata”. The recording wasn’t the best, so this time around she enlisted the help of the guys from “Cookin’ On 3 Burners” as her band <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.suitemusique.com/sitebuilder/static/scripts/tinymce/3.0.6.2/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js"></script>and this is the result<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.suitemusique.com/sitebuilder/static/scripts/tinymce/3.0.6.2/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js"></script>. Randa also is part of my outfit “Moula Bux” which you can find out a bit more about here on the website, and expect some new music from us soon.

The next track is a work in progress. I thought Swami & Huey wouldn’t mind me sharing it with everyone. They both live in South Western Australia in beautiful Yallingup where they’ve set a nice studio. We plan to release “Moustache” on Suite Musique so we’d like to hear your thoughts on it.

“Settle The Score” is from the debut album “Baked, Broiled & Fried” by “Cookin’ On 3 Burners” disguised earlier on as The Soul Kingdom with Randa K. As the name suggests there are 3 members in this outfit; Lance Ferguson on Guitar who is also the band leader of Australian Funk/Soul band “The Bamboos” and then there’s Ivan Khatchoyan on Drums and Jake Mason on Organ. If you like the Bamboos you’ll love these guys. To continue with this theme we go to a Bamboos remix of “Club Shakers” by Sydney Hip Hop outfit 2UP.

Now to our feature album “Fretless”. It’s the debut release from Mark Walton, one of Australia’s most respected DJ’s. This album has been a long time coming. I’ve included 2 tracks from the album “Cosita” and “Cocaine” which is a re-work of the old Eric Clapton classic. I also included a remix of one the album tracks done by L.A. outfit “The Qdup Foundation” and a track that Mark did with DJ Regal a couple of years ago which was the B-side on the Funk Weapons release “Shock Ya Mind”.

On this program you’ll hear a couple of tracks from other veterans of the dance music scene, one from Burdy who originally started in the UK but now lives in Oz on the Sunshine Coast, and Rephrase who hails from the same spot but quite a bit further south in Byron Bay. Rephrase released a compilation called “Swaps” a few months ago. It’s remixes he’s done for others plus remixes others have done for him, which are usually done as swaps, hence the name.

Rubber Johnson is a band from the Gold Coast trying to keep the funk alive in Australia and Philly Blunt is a DJ in Perth, WA. Expect to hear a lot more from the two of them.

Please feel free to send me an email with what you think of the music, the program or anything else you have in mind at sharif@suitemusique.com

I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Peace.

Sharif