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Cookie-Dough Guest Mix 16 - Sol Power All-Stars www.cookiedoughmusic.com

Cookie-Dough Guest Mix 16 with Sol Power All-Stars

Welcome to the Cookie-Dough Guest mix where we invite some of favourite DJ / Producers to answer a few questions and dig deep into their collections and put together a mix of their favourite records.

For this episode we have invited Meistro and DJ Stylus from Washington DJ and production collective The Sol Power All-Stars to spin some of the records that have influenced them over the years.

Their remix of A La Memoria Del Muerto has had us grooving at Cookie-Dough HQ!

Nice one chaps!

Ste & Terser

MEISTRO

01…Johnny Osbourne…Give a Little Love
This tune has all of my favorite reggae things on one track– Johnny Osbourne, backed by the Roots Radics, produced by Henry Junjo Lawes, engineered by Scientist, and recorded at Channel 1 Studios.

02…Frankie Paul…Worries in the Dance
Frankie Paul on vocals, but otherwise it’s the same lineup as the previous track. I didn’t put a straight Scientist dub on this mix, but his engineering and production / sound design style is a huge influence on my production. One of the best ever.

03…Toyan…Spar with Me
Another with the same Junjo Lawes, Roots Radics, Scientist line up. This time with the criminally underrated Toyan.

04…DJ Nut Nut…Special Dedication
I was a big jungle head in my late teenage years. I was especially into earlyish ragga and jump-up tunes with hip hop samples.

05…Remarc…In Da Hood
This tune was on Diesel Boy’s mix CD, Drum and Bass Selection U.S.A., which I listened to soooo much back in the day. Perhaps the greatest Drum and Bass mix of all time?

06…No I.D. (featuring Dug Infinite)…The Real Weight
No I.D.’s LP “Accept Yourself and Be Your Own” is an overlooked classic.

07…Bahamadia (featuring K-Swift and Mecca Star)…Three the Hard Way
Bahamadia and DJ Premier. A super tough banger from her amazing 1996 album “Kollage.” This was in heavy rotation in my high school days.

08…De La Soul…Intro
De La comes out the gate swinging with some straight-up East Coast raps on this intro to the Stakes is High LP. It’s a very “un-De La Soul,” tune, but doing the unexpected is what makes them so great (for nearly 30 years now holy shit).

09…DJ Krush featuring Black Thought and Malik B…Meiso
DJ Krush’s smokey, blunted jazz production still sounds fresh 20 years later. And Black Thought is just one of the illest ever on the mic. Another one from my highschool vaults.

10…Kenny Dope…Get on Down
Kenny Dope has been a HUGE influence on me. He’s one of the very few that can rock so many styles with total authority — funk, reggae, house, disco, hip hop, he can really do it all really really well. A true legend.

11…Mary Clark…Take Me I’m Yours
I’ve held down a 10-year residency at the Wonderland Ballroom in DC and this is always a go-to tune to get the room going. Affirmation that it should have been a hit.

12…Younger Generation…We Rap More Mellow (Joey Negro remix)
At the right moment, this song just cooks a dancefloor. Joey Negro’s subtle touch adds so much but the original character of the track remains completely intact.

13…Shina Williams and His African Percussionists…Agboju Logun
Such a tight, fonky groove. Someday I’ll find this elusive 12 inch.

14…Tony Allen with Afrobeat 2000…N.E.P.A. (Dance Dub)
I can’t think of another afrobeat tune with such a pure 80s dance-production sound. Dub effects seal the deal.

15…Quantic & His Combo Barbaro…Un Canto a Mi Tierra
This is one of the all-time Sol Power sure shots that we always play at our parties. Quantic is so unbelievably prolific and combines the traditional with the modern better than anyone.

16…Fruko y Sus Tesos…Descarga Espectacular
The best Salsa comes from Colombia and the best Colombian Salsero is Fruko.

17…Four Tet…Love Cry
Four Tet’s twisted production, knocking drums, and sense of composition is always inspiring.

18…Ben Westbeech…Hang Around (Karizma’s Deepah 1ne Remix)
I love me some Ben Westbeech, but I really picked this tune because of Karizma. I HAD to put at least one Baltimore house producer on the mix. Baltimore is often overlooked as a big house music town, but for such a small city, it’s DEEP with unbelievable talent, has a very distinct sound, and has inspired many (including me)…Karizma, Spen, Teddy Douglas, Crystal Waters, Ultra Naté…so many legends.

19…Michel Cleis…Mir a Nero
His drums man…If mine ever sound half as good, I’ll be happy.

20…Kenlou…The Bounce
There’s already a Kenny Dope track on here, but I just had to include a Masters At Work tune. Greatest house producers ever and their tunes still sound so fresh so many years later.

STYLUS

01…Poor Righteous Teachers…Easy Star
This is one of my fave jams that I never get to play from one of the most underrated golden era hip-hop groups. PRT has hits like “Shakiyla” and “Rock Dis Funky Joint” but the real treats are in their album cuts. R.I.P. Tony D.

02…Steely Dan…The Fez
If I had to make a holy trinity of my favorite bands of all time, Steely Dan is either Jesus or The Holy Ghost.

03…Michael Jackson…Dancing Machine (Daniel Crawford remix)
Because there’s Jackson DNA in almost everything I do as a DJ. And D. Crawford is a beast.

04…Os Tincoãs…Deiza A Gira Girá
My first Brazil trip was a bucket list experience for me and the highlight was visiting Cachoeira in Bahia, discovering this vocal group from that town and tracking down their music. They’re long overdue for some Sol Power edits.

05…A Bossa Elétrica…Sob A Luz Do Sol
Staying in Brazil with a sexy Roy Ayers cover. This one pretty much has a permanent slot in my Sol Power warm-up sets.

06…Gilles Peterson’s Havana Cultura Band…Think Twice (4hero Remix)
Great remix of a great cover. And we’re still in Brazil.

07…Donald Byrd…Think Twice
Because you gotta throw the o.g. in there. R.I.P. Fonce Mizell.

08…De La Soul…Simply / Simply Havin’
This mix clearly didn’t have enough De La Soul. Meistro and I share that level of fandom.

09…A Tribe Called Quest…Footprints
De La and Tribe like peanut butter and chocolate.

10…De La Soul…Breakadawn (Altered Tapes Rework)
This rework tackles an already perfect tune and matches its original brilliance.

11…Erykah Badu…The Cell
The toughest Badu joint that seemingly no one acknowledges. McNasty filth for the b-boys and b-girls. I’m toprocking while writing this.

12…Trouble Funk…So Early in the Morning
As a native of Washington, DC, go-go music was the earliest and most enduring musical influence on me outside of what I heard in my home. My heart still essentially beats to a go-go pocket.

13…Rare Essence…Body Moves
Trouble and Essence were the direct inheritors of the go-go legacy that Chuck Brown created. “Body Moves” is from the boogie funk era of the music. Shoutout to everyone that ever rollerskated to this.

14…Jungle Brothers…Feelin’ Alright
Completing a Native Tongues trifecta with a selection from my fave hip-hop album of all time, the J-Beez sophomore effort Done By The Forces Of Nature.

15…Wilson Das Neves…Tema Para Elizeth
Snuck back to Brazil. Because horns.

16…The Jackson 5…The Mirrors of My Mind
Another for the breakers.

17…Herbie Hancock…Chameleon
This album is on the shortlist of those that changed my life.

18…Ruben Blades…Plastico 2007 (Nauts Borica Vox)
Using a Panamanian salsa (and Sol Power) classic to transition into a mini-tribute to one of my favorite production crews and eras of electronic music of all time. Big ups to Afronaught and Bugz In The Attic.

19…Bugz In The Attic…Intro
When that West London sound broke and really got popping, you couldn’t tell me it wasn’t the funkiest, most innovative thing happening in dance music. I still feel that way when I go back to their stuff.

20…Dego and Kaidi Tatham…Dealt A Bad Hand
I borrowed this record from a friend and played it over and over until the sun rose. Took me years to track down my own copy. I miss Co-Op.