WE NEVER LEAVE THE CLUB: Quarterly Baltimore Club Music Update

Whether you like it or not, this guy had the best year in Baltimore club music. By a long shot.

As 2010 draws to a close, Baltimore club music is in an unusual place. On one hand, the music is more mainstream accessible than ever. Blaqstarr is positioned to become and underground pop icon and everything that was either directly or indirectly attached to the hipster movement from Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to Diplo is achieving a place in the mainstream. Usher’s “OMG,” a Baltimore club track disguised as a pop song was voted by MTV as the channel’s favorite pop tune of the year. Baltimore club tracks are now a staple of mainstream R & B and dance releases for the time being as well, as acts ranging from the expected Black Eyed Peas to the unexpected newcomer Miguel incorporating the sound. On one level, between that and internationally popular DJs like Trouble and Bass’ Drop the Lime and Zombies for Money, along with kuduro club smasher Munchi making waves in club music the dream has been realized. Club music is global, in a major way, and shows no apparent signs of slowing down. However, as rapper Redman once entitled an album, “Dare Iz a Darkside.”

 We No Speak Bmoreo by James Nasty

On the veteran front, Unruly’s Say Wut had another terrific year, releasing an album length mix, and with King Tutt promising a 2011 release that will venture deeper into the electro side of club music, Unruly has transferred quietly from being a leader in club music to being the genre’s most respected brand. Hearing Scottie B drop bombs at the Baltimore Bass Connection Xmas Party at Sonar wasn’t the life altering experience it normally is, instead it was met as the expectation of the DJ and the music he plays. In having harnessed the titanic strength of club music for so long, and being the brand that carried it into the mainstream, Unruly no longer needs to be a leader, but it rather can be the steward, the respected folks at the top of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/v/IK4BSndto8Y?fs=1&hl=en_US

It is important to also note that the Baltimore game has changed. When the city was widely regarded as the predominant world underground leader, club music was swept into that. Now, as Baltimore has faded back into being a weird, yet still vibrant musical enclave, still local Baltimore club needs to be, well, back in the clubs. The growth that occurred in the sound between “Watch Out for the Big Girl” and “I’m the Shit” needs to be replicated yet again. There needs to be an emphasis on not just producing, but the actual art of DJing the music. Mainstream success is always just around the corner for club music. It reflects popular culture and features intensely catchy dance breaks. Jonny Blaze is an urban legend and Benny Stixx may not be a household name, but they are DJs adept at  producing and spinning the sound and getting people moving. Philly’s DJ Sega is a prodigy and everyone is aware of that. KW Griff and DJ Booman are holding down breaking songs on the radio. Between those names and a plethora more, there needs to be work done amongst DJs who still want to advance club music. While names like Usher are toying with the sound, enormous mainstream exposure isn’t exactly possible. However, working hard in the lab and concocting where the sound can be headed in the shadows of these giants is of ultra importance.

In final, club music truly became pop music in 2010. Of course, as when anything underground goes pop, it immediately causes tension in the underground, a sea of angry emotions, hurt feelings and rash decisions borne of confusion. All of these things happened in club music this year. However, with a quick change of gears, club music can survive, and actually get stronger for the next major boom. As the King James Version states in Ecclesiastes 9:11, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

EP REVIEW: Benny Stixx – Can’t Be Stopped

Imagine being a college All-American with incredible hype and talent in the starting five with the Miami Thrice trio of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. All three of the names mentioned are bona fide superstars, and you, while talented, are unfortunately tasked with attempting to find yourself and figure out how to be a star as a part of this team. Benny Stixx is a perfectly acceptable and actually rather talented Baltimore Club DJ. However, he’s on Bmore Original Records, an imprint that includes the Dew Doo Kidz combination of DJ Booman, KW Griff and Jimmy Jones, a trio with more hits than years Benny has lived on Earth. On his latest EP available asa digital download from Bmore Original Records, Benny Stixx: Cant Be Stopped, the DJ continues to put together the pieces to establish himself  out of the shadows as a top name on a label of legends.

On record opener “B-M-O-R-E-C-L-U-B,” Stixx, a parent of a young child, clearly lets that set an example, as he takes the “Think” break, some synthy handclaps and the voice from Speak and Spell to create one of the more unique club bangers of the year. A Cutty Ranks’ sample from “A Who Seh Me Dun (Wake De Man)” made famous by Snoop Dogg as the intro to “Serial Killa” advising that you had “six million ways to die, choose one” is the vocal sample of “Sixx Million Ways OG,” a bouncy club breaker with reggae horns that sounds clearly influenced by DJ Booman, as much in production style as by the fact that it makes you want to hit the club and invite a call to arms, as Booman is absolutely a mentoring influence on the young DJ. On the album’s title track, Mulyman is featured with a looped hook and the “Think” break, but the fact that Mully has already gone in over similarly upbeat sounding club banger of the year candidate “Step Aside” produced by Booman, Jimmy Jones and KW Griff, creates a lead track for Benny, but feels like a B-side comparative to “Step Aside.” Technically solid, but less than effective in execution.

“Club Rock” and “Hambonez” are not as solid as the rest of the EP, as they represent Stixx’s desire as a club DJ to examine the electro and especially house roots of the sound, something he’s clearly not yet as adept at as coming correct with hard hitters like “Gangstaz and Punkz” and his refix of Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade,” “Sour Lemons,” which are likely the two best tracks on the release. Stixx is a wizard when it comes to minimal and more technical work on club tracks, as his refix of Twista’s “Wetter” is easily his best work ever to date in this journalist’s eyes and “Gangstaz and Punkz” and “Sour Lemons,” in having that same minimal but potent style are champion sounds.

In final, Benny Stixx has the potential to be a mainstream club music champion for the bottle service crowd if he continues to refix mainstream records. He’s probably one of the most underrated producers in the world to do it. However, the desire to grow past that and evolve into a full and complete professional with top skills at all facets of DJng and producing club music appears to be Stixx’s aim, and this record clearly stands as the slow progression with a syncopated rhythm, towards that goal.

We Never Leave the Club! – TGRI’s Quarterly Club Music Update…

Welcome to the first of many quarterly club music updates. Read, click links, but do enjoy the vast diversity that is Baltimore Club music.

The first quarter of 2010 has proven already to be very active in the club music world.

The Philly and Jersey based Brick Bandits crew have in the mind of this journalist produced the most intriguing and voluminous body of work this quarter. DJ’s Tameil (check the No Floors and Left Field mixes for some mind bending club excitement), Tim Dolla, Sega, and newcomer Nadus have spread the interests of the harder than hard bass loving crew to the absurdist limits of club music. Lady Gaga, Major Lazer, Toddla T, the Beastie Boys, and so on, and so forth, and the music just keeps on coming. Yes, they’re favoring an electro and house bent as well as of late, but to be a fan of club music in 2010 is like going back to the early days of Baltimore as well, where the vibrant house scene spawned so many legends who extended the sound in so many intriguing directions. The sheer volume of the work coming from this posse is quite outstanding and deserves commendation.

Hot off of the success of producing the remixes of Beyonce’s “Video Phone,” Unruly Records has laid forth their aggressive new plan to truly expand past having an influence just in the sphere of club music. King Tutt’s “Takeover,” which samples The Doors’ “Five to One” sample used in Jay-Z’s The Blueprint’s massive battle track against Nas has the bass that typifies club music, but as is the feel now for most of the city, warping electro trending synths dominate the landscape upon which the track is made. The involvement of electro in club music is certainly a nod to the dominance of the David Guetta and Dr. Luke productions dominating the pop charts, as club producers attempt to cash in on the mainstream’s turn to the underground for support.
Unruly’s DJ Class may be one of the more interesting cases as of late, as the “I’m the Shit” and “Dance Like a Freak” producer still with an unreleased Alameda and Coldspring album is favored by the likes of bottle service destroyer Clinton Sparks and having those sort of Vegas aspirations seemed to lend themselves to his refix of ODB’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” one of the few Bmore club influenced tracks with elements of electro, dub and numerous disparate influences. Moreso than electro, the hard bass and massive sounds of that rising genre being indoctrinated into club music really makes for an interesting take on the sound.

Scottie B is busy too, but in a most interesting way, having opened a Facebook Fan Page and having not one, but two old school Bmore club mixes available for download. The legend and cornerstone figure of the genre spins weekly at the party he curates with TaxLo DJ Cullen Stalin, and while he rarely errs to the club side, his opening of the party house mixes at the party are truly worth a weekly visit to the free event.

The most important party in the city at the moment may be the hipster dominated, Radell Kane organized, young Moustache Crew DJed Moustache Party. The key to this party is that outside of the young spinners, it is the weekly residency of the classic club, no frills, low electro influence James Nasty, the most hyped DJ in club’s underground. He has an EP forthcoming, but with tracks featuring Ninjasonik, Maggie Horn, Menya and DC’s Roll Wit Us All-Stars and possibilities of some grand slam names from club music lore forthcoming, he may be the retro link to the early days of club music’s rediscovery by the underground. The maintenance of that link is firmly in his hands every Friday night at the Ottobar’s upstairs, and in viewing the party, you see that he sees it as a positive advancement of his career, sharpening his skills as a live DJ buoyed by his excellent productions.

Classic party starter Jonny Blaze is back, too, now claiming a religious overtone to his club productions after some unusual life occurrences. His new track “Here We Go” features Blaze on the mic and has a Charleston bounce and religious themes. The invocation of religion and club music is a positive move, and outside of his own creations, possibly grabbing some Mary Mary acapellas could lead to some really fantastic tracks, as they, alongside Kirk Franklin in the genre are the most musically forward thinking to benefit from the club treatment. Blaze has an EP dropping soon as well, and fully expect an interview with the legend to drop here soon at TGRIOnline.com

Youth has been served as well, as DJ Pierre and Murder Mark both have done mixes as of late for this site, and continue to hold down the 18+ scene. Mark, along with his “Yo Boyz” cronies have an album dropping later this year with Aaron Lacrate’s Mikcrate Records which is vital sounding and entertaining at first listen and puts the young producer in a good situation for career growth. He’s also decided to possibly release a new track a day for the month of March. If any of them are as hot as “Cherry Hill and Down Ya Block,” the buzz will be high. As well, he’s recorded with TT the Artist, who, if you like Rye Rye (who’s back in the studio by the way) is absolutely one to watch as TT has recorded with DC’s Will Eastman amongst many others. Pierre is in the lab as well working on the eighth volume of his mix series as well as new tracks, his rapidly developing smooth as silk mixing style blends well with his minimalist, groove centered productions.

DJ Excel’s Bmore Original label, home to Benny Stixx and DJ Booman amongst others still stays adamant along the Top 40 path, Excel’s refix of Ludacris’ “How Low” another in a long line of top 40 edits some that hit, and hit hard, others that sound like ClearChannel radio aimed remixes. Neither is a bad look, as from “That’s What A Pimp Does” to Benny Stixx’s refix of Twista’s “Wetter,” there are giant jams that the style can produce.

If you have tracks or events that you would like to see profiled on the Quarterly Bmore Club Update, email dowling.marcus.k AT gmail.com for more information.