Hey! Party Dad here with the first installment in my series of musical history lessons here on the EF blog. This week I want to talk about one of my favorite forgotten soul singers, the great Esther Phillips.
I first discovered Esther last year on one of my frequent trips to the dollar bin at 52.5 Records, and since then I’ve become a little bit obsessed with her. I’ve done fair amount of internet research on her, and the more I find out, the more amazed I am that she isn’t worshipped as a goddess by soul aficionados worldwide. I mean, she recorded 21 albums over a 30-plus-year career, and ten of the over two dozen singles she released cracked the U.S. R&B Top Ten, including four Number Ones! Perhaps the problem was that she was too versatile for her own good, and record companies never knew how to properly promote her.
The track I’m sharing today, 1976’s “Boy, I Really Tied One On,” is probably my favorite. It’s a tale of morning-after regret that’s both sad and funny, like a lot of the best Esther Phillips tracks. Priceless lines like “allow me the pleasure/of taking your measure/though I’m sure you ain’t nobody’s treasure” (keep in mind she’s saying this to someone she just woke up next to!) are set over a backdrop of eerie synths and chilling guitar harmonics, a killer clavinet bassline, plenty of strings and horns (this is a disco track) and a beat that would almost sound at home on a Bmore club track. It’s my personal hangover anthem, and I hope you like it as much as I do.
So the Polish Ambassador definitely came to Torch last night. Special thanks to John Coleman for hosting him. I’m sad we missed both his sets in Charleston, but I doubt you’ll ever see us at Johnson’s, particularly on a Tuesday night. I actually discovered The Polish Ambassador on Pandora a couple of years ago. I was listening to Digitalism and his name kept coming up, so I bought his album, Diplomatic Immunity. Great stuff. His new tracks are certainly different, but equally good: Check him out! He’s still got shows coming up in Greensboro, NC (July 2) and Chapel Hill, NC (July 3) before he heads home to Cali. Here’s a ridiculous set he put together combining TPA with his alternate persona, Ample Mammal. The result is some fun ass party rock music. Follow the link to download the mix for free. Polish Ambassador Vs. Ample Mammal Rd. 1 by Ample Mammal
Great that he showed up at Torch for some of our set, I hope we were on point! We tried to buy him a drink, but apparently he doesn’t do booze
Good to get back to the States and see how Mondays are blowing up. We have our friend, Johnny Love (aka Deathface, formerly of Guns N’ Bombs), coming July 12th. I’m excited/a little scared! Gonna be awesome…Stay tuned for details.
We’ve been working so hard on the goddam website I feel like I’m going crazy. CMNDer has definitely done some amazing work here, so props to him for coming back from Paris, battling jet lag, and making it rain.
The Electric Daisy Carnival looked bananas. I found this on the Dim Mak blog and nearly shit myself. Definitely wait for the rainbows to start firing (1:20) before you jump to any conclusions about this video:
I djed a bikini contest yesterday. How do these things always turn into popularity contests? Shouldn’t there be an objective way to judge a goddam bikini contest? By objectifying the contestants, for example? I mean, I get the economics of it: they’re rewarding the girl who brings the most friends because their main concern is selling drinks, but come on! I’m more concerned with fairness and science, man. Don’t give me that “we’re judging it by round of applause” bullshit! Let’s judge it by the “roundness of that boo-tay!” I mean, seriously: I just don’t think the chain smoking skinny girl (far right) should have won best in show.
Alright alright, not our year: even if you rubbed Landon Donovan’s abs for good luck. Altidore was sleeping the entire game, and for some reason we took Findley out in the first half. Watch out in 2014, if the world’s still around. On the upside, at least the US vs Ghana game set some records. Apparently 19.4 million people tuned in to see us get our asses beat, crushing the previous record of 14.8 mil. So we win even when we lose, suck it Africa. On the real, props to Ghana, they deserved it.
New Chromeo to ease the pain. This is that steeze you throw on the decks in the wee hours of the night after all the partying has been had and you’re settling down, hopefully with that girl from the show. Don’t turn the lights on, cause tonight I wanna see you in the dark. Buttery smooth.
CMNDer aka Matthew Bowers’ triumphant return to the states called for a blowout of epic proportions. We’d worked hard all week to get flyers up and let people know the deal, and Charleston didn’t disappoint. Tasty Thai, the venue for the event isn’t really a place where people would normally go, but now with a weekly Friday night we’re hoping to change things. Live video mixing by Benny helped heat the place up on one of the ghettoest (but best functioning) rigs of all time. Photos courtesy of our boy Jasper and the lovely Ms. Kelly K.
Towards the end the camera couldn’t really take the heat, so faces began to melt. Our bad folks. Friday is now a regular thing, we’re hoping to make Fix Up! an event to be at.
And ah, yes. Pictures documenting the aforementioned shitshow of a Monday night @ Torch. Shit was packed out! Be on the lookout boys and girls, it’s going down on the regular. Fuck work, come rage!
First off, I just want to say thank you, Lord, for the best US soccer team in about 80 years. And thank you especially for Landon Donovan. Dude is like a Delta Force era Chuck Norris. He’s what you would get if Rocky and the Russian had a baby. Dude is an unfadable scoring machine, and our team would be shit without him. He’s the reason Lee Greenwood is proud to be an American.
CMNDer finally gets back from Paris tonight, and we’re playing our first Electric Friends show since May this Friday at Tasty Thai in Charleston @ Chopsticks weekly installment: Fix Up! I hope we have that place packed like sardines.
Last week’s Fix Up was nutty. I was supposed to be guest dj, but I was exhausted from carrying people’s goddam bags all day at work. Luckily, the turnout was one of the best I’ve seen there, so naturally we all got fired up and threw down like it was the last party ever. Brandon (the kid in the flannel shirt below) basically lit the dance floor up like a Weber grill. Photos courtesy of Jasper, our personal (and favorite) paparazzi.
Monday night at Torch was also a shit show for Beach Boddin’. JeffET and I had the place packed to capacity from midnight to close. Tonight we’re headed to Charlotte to play for our homie, Buckmaster’s, birthday. His remixes on Myspace are pretty tight. Check him out.
Okay, it’s time to dip and see what’s up with these Group D World Cup games then work on some tracks en route to Charlotte. Call me crazy, but I kind of want Germany out of this thing. That would make our game this Saturday much easier! Go Ghana! Go Australia! Go me!
CMNDer: purveyor of beats, art, and web.
MACHETE: eclectic dj mess/team driver and father figure.
JeffET: crate digging recluse and vinylphiliac.
The three founders of Electric Friends first met at Blume Art/Music Festival, spinning sets individually and realizing a mutual love of music with common goals regarding dj-ing and production.
One fateful night in 2009, the three formed like Voltron during a show with King Britt, and faces melted inexplicably all over town. Joe Riley, Charleston's mayor, is still receiving treatment because of that night in November.
When the three unite, they play a unique style of Electro, Disco, and B-more Club where all three DJs mix their individual styles simultaneously to create unified sonic bliss and dance floor heat.
Recently, producer Benny C joined the label. His French Electro-influenced production style is a beautiful fit to the label, and his video mixing has been causing dance-related seizures for three months straight. Look for his first mixtape coming soon!
INFLUENCES
JeffET: Bird Flu, Daft Punk, Alan Braxe.
MACHETE: Daft Punk, Justice, Diplo.
CMNDer: Richie Hawtin, James Holden, Digitalism
