Implicit vs Suneel – Juno Funky House Podcast – Episode 3

Suneel — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:49:58 +0000

Episode 3 of the Interactive Podcast series between FunkyHouseMusic.com & Junodownload.com is now live and available for download.

The track list and sequencing was designed for the home/headphone listening experience focusing on a wide range of funky house sub-genres. Implicit & Suneel weave through layers of lush funk to uplifting French house all the while integrating an endless array of organic instrumentation and vocal styles. Check out what Junodownload.com had to say about the mix:

US selectors Implicit & Suneel from FunkyHouseMusic.com explore the realms of funky house in the third installment of their Juno podcast series. The recording features a diverse range of high quality 4/4 flavors with an overlay of addictive, feel-good funk.

The podcast includes tracks and mixes from across the funky house genre including deeper elements from Chuck Love, Ralf Gum, Dubtribe Sound System, Dennis Ferrer, and Rasmus Faber before taking off with stompers from Michael Gray, Alex Kenji, Jay-J, Fred Falke, and The Groovelab.

Implicit & Suneel – Juno Funky House Podcast 03 Track List

Suneel — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:30:31 +0000

The track list is now available for Episode 3 of the Juno Funky House Podcast series and explores new realms of the genre by U.S. selectors Implicit & Suneel from FunkyHouseMusic.com.

01. Ralf Gum – All This Love For You (Original Mix) [Gogo Music]
02. Chuck Love feat. Colette – UR Everything (Main Mix) [Love Network]
03. Rasmus Faber – Give It To Me (Extended 12″ Mix) [Farplane]
04. The Jinks – What Happened To Us [Jinks Inc]
05. Dubtribe Sound System – Do It Now (Knee Deep Club Mix) [Defected]
06. Stephanie Cooke – Rain (Dennis Ferrer Rainforest Mix) [King Street Sounds]
07. Rasmus Faber – Are You Ready (RF Club Mix) [Farplane]
08. Ministers de La Funk – I Feel Love (Michael Gray & Danism Remix) [Subliminal]
09. Milk & Sugar feat. Ayak – You Got Me Burnin’ (Alex Kenji Remix) [Milk & Sugar]
10. Jay J feat. Latrice Barnett – Keep On Risin’ (Jay-J’s Shifted Up Mix) [Bargrooves]
11. The Groovelab – Uncut Funk (Part 6) [San Trincha]
12. City Life feat. DD – San Francisco (Fred Falke Remix) [Wasted Youth]

Implicit & Suneel – Juno Funky House Podcast 03 Track List

Exclusive Interview: Dubtribe Sound System

Suneel — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:07:03 +0000

Dubtribe Sound System is a San Francisco based electronic musical group who produced and performed live world wide between 1991 and 2005. Dubtribe consisted of singers Sunshine Jones and Moonbeam Jones, but also included many sit in and “on tour” musicians over the years.

Originally born in a rent party, Dubtribe Sound System distinguished themselves as performers by performing live for many hours, rather than replaying their recordings from dat tapes or portable computers, and touring without stopping, often bringing their own sound, lights, and traveling family with them. But unlike their few counterparts in North America, Dubtribe would depart from the warehouse movement and establish themselves in the mid 1990′s as a grass roots tour de force, refusing help, press, or money from any outside interests.

They arrived at a time when the world was in turmoil, the rave was a new idea which empowered people to gather and dance. Few followed the example set by Dubtribe, but many people were inspired to find their own road.

Dubtribe Sound System performed their supposed final live concert at Cielo, in New York City on December 1st 2005. Many friends and family were in attendance, it was the perfect ending to a wonderfully indepenent, situationist, and punk rock road far too few people choose to travel with the passion and love that Sunshine and Moonbeam have. However, they reunited on September 5, 2009 to play at the “Buzz Reunion 101″ event at Ibiza Nightclub in Washington, D.C. and have since announced their comeback…

When we discovered that Dubtribe was back, FunkyHouseMusic.com had to immediately leap to the opportunity to share some dialogue with the duo, and learn more. After witnessing a fantastic live performance at Cielo – NYC in January, we finally got their attention and we hope you enjoy this rare interview with Sunshine & Moonbeam.

FHMDC: As respective followers of your timeless sound since the 90’s, it is with great pleasure that you both have accepted our invitation for an interview. We clearly recall our first experiences witnessing your live performance style from legendary events such as Buzz @ The Capital Ballroom/Nation and M3’s Music Makes Magic @ The Edge in Washington DC and have continued to appreciate your sound ever since. We know the readers of FunkyHouseMusic.com will truly enjoy this shared dialogue. So without further delay, let’s get started!

Please describe how it all began – your love for music, instruments, and performance. What was it about house music that originally drew you to it? If it’s possible, provide the readers of FunkyHouseMusic.com who aren’t as familiar with your history with a short synopsis of how you became the multi-talented artists you represent today.

Sunshine: We began by playing in our living room. We were going out to a lot of parties and really digging the music. We made a lot of tapes and handed them out to people – promoters, dj’s and dancers. People loved the tapes – which were really just stream of consciousness performances – but there was absolutely no interest in bands or live performances. So we started something we just called “The Dubtribe Party.”

We handed out a little 2” x 2” card with our logo on it, and a phone number to call for an info line. 415 764-2903. The party was at our flat, and people started to come. It was a lot of fun, but quickly got out of hand. So we tried to move it to a club, or some other place, but people didn’t want to come to a club back then, they wanted to come to our flat where they were free to do whatever they wanted. We did play a few times in various places, but it was the Dubtribe Party which really went off.

Henrik and Geive from Spundae were just beginning and were also having trouble getting people to come to their party in the basement of DV8, and they asked us to help them. So we started having the Dubtribe Party in the basement of their event. The basement was packed, and we played for hours. That was where we were really born. Soon we were playing at all kinds of events, parties and clubs. Urb magazine wrote about us about the same time Onionz had gotten his hands on one of our tapes. Between Urb’s article and Onionz telling everyone on the east coast about us, we booked a little tour of the east coast. We quit our jobs, Moonbeam bought a van, and we were off. We never really looked back from there.

For a few years we were just a live band. We didn’t record, or really know how to record. ‘Sound System’ and ‘Selene Songs’ – actually recorded the same year – were really just live to tape albums. We had no idea what we were doing. It was Jonah Sharp from Spacetime Continuum who parked me one day and said that if I spent half the time in the studio that I spent touring we would actually make really good recordings. I really took that to heart, and we got a computer, and a dat machine and started learning to produce in the studio.

Moonbeam: It all began in a closet on Bryant Street with a Korg M1 and an EMAX II sampler. There was a bunch of us rehearsing every week hoping to get some gigs. House parties had taken a strong hold on the clubs in San Francisco. We went out a lot!! We abandoned the band we had begun and formed something totally different. We got MMT-8 sequencers and Dubtribe was born. The whole thing came as a complete surprise to me. I didn’t know much about house music and club culture and much less about the former underground rave movement. But once I “got it” it was infectious. Nowhere in popular music culture was anything so unique and creative happening. I would say that is true even today. To have been a part of the explosion of rave and house culture was a gift. I loved it. Never felt so much community before nor since. So to get in a van and play our version of house music to people in every little dive and dirty warehouse across North America was a mind-expanding experience. I miss it and love it still.

FHMDC: Dubtribe Sound System ended a 14-year run in performance in 2005. For 4 years we thought we would never enjoy the Dubtribe experience ever again. Then in 2009, the duo reunited on September 5, 2009 to play at the “Buzz Reunion 101″ event at Ibiza Nightclub in Washington, D.C. Furthermore, Dubtribe has a very busy schedule emerging for 2010 and beyond. What was the motivation to return to performance as a group?

Sunshine: I never stopped making music or performing live. After Dubtribe ended, I undertook DJ-ing seriously, and began to produce on my own. Most of the work was an obvious counterpoint to what DSS had done. I sang, and I spoke, and I re edited on the fly, but the sound was decidedly less percussive, and less “inspirational.” I wanted to express something else, and find my own way.

Booking Sunshine as a solo artist was not the same as booking Dubtribe. I did play some of the most amazing shows of my life in that time – Deep Space with FK was hands down my ultimate DJ gig. I could have retired forever after that show, I knew at the time, and have continued to believe that it just doesn’t get any better than that.

During that time I did a one-year residency at Love in New York City. I brought my weekly show Sunday Soul to love once a month. Sunday Soul is a themed Internet transmission where I pick a theme each week, and apply myself to it. One week at Love the theme was VOICE. I invited Jenifa Mayanja, Monique Bingham and Moonbeam to please come and talk at the forum – a session before the party – and to sing with me while I played. To my surprise Moonbeam agreed. Unfortunately she couldn’t make it in the end, but it opened a dialog between us about the possibility of working together. Since we work so well together, the rest just kind of came from there.

Moonbeam: The re-emergence of Dubtribe was inevitable, in my mind. Sunshine and I lost our way for a while and had to part. Dubtribe was always bigger than the two of us, but, personally, I had nothing left to give. I needed to find my reason again. A lot of time has passed and a lot of healing has gone on for me spiritually, emotionally, mentally….you name it. And I think Sunshine and mine relationship as friends have come full circle. That was critical. In addition, I think performing together again solidifies and crystallizes the fact that Sunshine and I will always be united through our music and our history. We are family. So, Sunshine and I were talking last August and I was like “Do you want play a Dubtribe show again?” And he was like “Sure. Do you think anyone will book us?” And I said, I would ask a few people and let’s see what happens. We truly were not sure if anyone really cared anymore. It is wonderful to see that they really do. ☺

FHMDC: There is a very distinct element to most of your original productions, which is the unbelievable energy that blooms and romances dance floors. It is an undeniable injection of positive vibes when Dubtribe performs live that we believe is a timeless quality rarely seen in the ever-trendy electronic dance music world. Is it possible to describe what artistic influences have impacted you both to write music the way you do?

Sunshine: Thank you. That’s truly a compliment. My influences are pretty broad, and don’t have a lot to do with house or techno. What influenced us from the start was really the party. San Francisco in the late 80’s and early 90’s was not known for it’s production, or it’s DJ’s. We were a city and a community who really knew how to throw a party. We were dancing on beaches, in filthy little warehouses, and literally anywhere and everywhere you could fit a sound system. Those parties were so inspirational, and so amazing that what I wanted to do was bring that feeling everywhere we went. It sprang more from wanting to celebrate how wonderful it made me feel, and my desire to participate in it beyond just being a dancer. I never really keyed into the egoism of the DJ as a superstar thing, I’ve always thought that was lacking. What I really loved was the ‘feeling’ in the room, that sense of unity, and the experience of being completely anonymous and totally connected at the same time. Nothing else really creates that feeling like being in a crowd of people dancing to house music at 4 am. So perhaps my biggest personal influence was just the blur of music being mixed, and the smudge of myself that we left behind on those beaches and warehouses.

Moonbeam: Artistic influences? Everything from the music in my formative years like the Bee Gees, Carly Simon, Carole King, Tina Turner, Everything Disco!!, to New Wave, Soul, Brian Eno, Sade, Miles Davis, Nina Simone…..all that and more. And life – life experience weighs heavily into what I write and what I say. Now I just hear music in my head. Words I want to say….melodies I want to hear — and the vehicle for that is house music.

FHMDC: We noticed at your January 2010 performance at Cielo (New York City) that your live stage set-up has altered as compared to the past. As innovative technology continues to evolve, how do you see your performance style being impacted? Do you plan to embrace the innovation?

Sunshine: It’s true. I’m using a Mac. It’s a whole lot better than an MMT-8. We used a pair of the Alesis MMT-8’s as our primary sequencers for many years. They crash, the buttons stick, and cause endless trouble. Switching to a mac has been both liberating, and challenging. I’ve got a copy of Ableton Live, and a copy of Traktor Pro as well. I really don’t use Live that much because it’s more of a tool, which locks me into a tempo, and asks me to figure things out ahead of time. Traktor is more like mixing, and allows me to do whatever I want.

The difference is really that regardless of what we’re playing it needs to already be recorded, and available on the fly. To that end, I really preferred the MMT-8 experience. Using the endless pile of virtual instruments, effects, and sequencers available now I suppose I could re create that experience using Live, and perhaps I will, but these are really interesting times in terms of technology. I wrote our only new song “Who’s the bad ass?” on my iPhone using TechnoBox – a silly 303/909 app – and we played it for the fist time in DC. So anything can happen, and anything is possible.

In terms of impact on style and performance, I think that what we are doing right now is reviewing. We’re looking at the music we’ve written and performing it again. We are testing the waters to see if we want to do this again, and if anyone wants to come see it. So we’re not worried about being purists right now, we’re mostly interested in dancers, and our own hearts. Is this inspirational? Are we taking something positive and productive away from the experience? If we decided to continue, and write a new album, we’ll absolutely find the best way to produce the new and old music on the fly in our performances.

Moonbeam: Gotta move with the times I guess. There’s SO much innovation and technology to create music today. It’s mind blowing. There are limitations as well as incredible leaps of progress you make with it. So, yeah, evolution is necessary. Also, the complications of modern transportation is challenging for all of us. Being compact makes it easier to get from point a to point b.

FHMDC: There is a rumor that Dubtribe is beginning to work on new production material. Is this true? If it is, is it possible to describe your production workflow and what your methodologies are to approaching a new original song?

Sunshine: That’s something we’re talking about, yes. How we’ll do it – being bi-coastal – is still to be determined. For the time being, this year, we’re just seeing if there’s really any interest in us doing a new album. Times have changed, and there are no major labels beating down our door with recording budgets for us. So whatever we do it will probably be something we have to work out on our own.

Moonbeam: Yes. I believe new music is on our horizons. Methodologies are sure to be challenging as they have always been. The creative process is a mysterious one. The joining of two creative streams from two different people is usually a very intense experience. I am not really sure how we’ll do it. But I believe we will.

FHMDC: Considering your musical careers, we assume you both have had very interesting experiences along the way. Would you be willing to share an unforgettable story that you fondly recall that has made performance such an important piece of the Dubtribe experience?

Sunshine: The best moments really just kind of happened magically. It’s really much too easy to remember the absurd, and the supremely difficult things that happen. For me the most memorable moments are ones like the Starscape Festival in Baltimore where everyone just gathered and drummed, and danced and really celebrated the moment. I wish I could explain it better than that…

There was this huge Drum and Bass area, and a pretty small House area. Drum and Bass had been talking a lot about replacing house, and the kids were really into it. It felt bad. Like bad neighbors moving in to try and take your back yard away. I was personally really threatened at the time. But when we started to play, literally everyone gathered into the little house area and picked up a drum. The sun was rising, and everyone was smiling, and dancing and really giving him or herself to the moment. It was a life changing moment in time.

Another similar event was the Alachua County Music Harvest. Our friend Simon Semrani set up this festival in the Florida forest, under a full moon. We played and something mystical happened. We just totally broke free, and the whole festival came unhinged. There was this police officer sitting on the edge of the stage with her arms folded and a scowl on her face. I focused on her, and aimed my words at her stonewall energy. A couple of times she turned around and looked at me like “What?” but by the end of the 3-4 hour set, she was dancing on the stage. Literally everyone in that forest was wide-awake and present. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced in my life.

It’s a lot like our music. You really had to be there to really understand what I’m saying. Thee are dozens of those amazing moments in my heart from over the years. The tent at the World Electronic Music Festival was incredible; those Detroit and Toronto boys in baseball hats with their arms folded in defiance were hatless and screaming at the end of our set. A corn field in Kansas, an illegal beach party in Florida, a tiny warehouse in Manhattan, places which you might never even expect to go which were just packed with people who were ready to open their hearts, and dance, and join us in the moment. Unforgettable, and truly life-changing moments for me not only as an artist, or a performer, but also as a human being.

Moonbeam: Performance has always been critical to me in terms of the Dubtribe experience. In the early days, I would scribble down some lyrics to music we worked on in the studio for our “new live set” that we would take on the road and check it out. So much of my inspiration for where a song would go came from the live experience. What worked in the room. Songs were always evolving….growing….changing.

In the beginning, I hid behind the equipment and people really didn’t even know I was singing. They thought it was a sample. I have to say that I can’t really recall one specific moment – it was for me an ongoing evolution of finding my place and my voice in what we were doing. The experience of being on the spot in live performance shaped me profoundly and directed my voice and style to where it is today.

FHMDC: What is your collective opinion on the current state of the electronic dance music, its associated scene, and fans? Now that we are past the days of vinyl and CDs, has the digitalization age impacted how you view people digest and enjoy EDM?

Sunshine: Personally I really love that we have exhaled as a movement. These are deeply inspirational times. I love what’s happening in Europe right now, slower tempos, and real challenges to the dance floor. Artists like LSB, Prins Thomas, Lindstrom, Low Motion Disco, Aeroplane, and the like have knocked my socks off as a DJ and as a dancer. I also really admire what Spun has been doing with Rong.

I’m even proud of Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, and other large-scale artists who have really just been taking things over the top, but not losing the essence of what’s important about getting together. Daft Punk because they are so beautifully forward and out front for a pair of French guys who won’t show their faces, and LCD Soundsystem because they’ve paired the obvious punk rock ethics of house and techno with really groovy music and the truth about how we talk to each other. Their cynicism is actually really refreshing to me. I think it’s really healthy that the “club” idea is just about extinct. I’m ready to be inspired by something a lot more creative than background music.

Moonbeam: I don’t’ know. I don’t really know what’s going on anymore. : ) It feels like it did when we first began. I club culture with lots of people getting dressed up and going out for a night of partying and dancing. There’s nothing wrong with that. I think that electronic music has a more mainstream crowd than ever, which is a good thing. I don’t believe there is any kind of “movement” like we grew up in. There is no focus. I’m not sure there should be, but I know I’m always looking for more in terms of content. And so if I can’t find it, I would like to create it.

FHMDC: What are Dubtribe’s goals for the future?

Sunshine: I’m really just taking it a day at a time. What’s next is next, and that’s where I’ll be. I’d love to make more music, and reach more people, but I think that if I’m looking for a community to express that in then I’m probably making the same old mistakes I have already learned from. I’m looking to take inspiration from the things that actually inspire me, and let the rest go. I’ve spent much too much time in the past in opposition to things, which simply don’t inspire me. Seems like a colossal waste of my time to me. So in terms of goals, I think I’d just like to carry on.

Moonbeam: We’re going to play some more shows. Then we’ll see what happens next.

FHMDC: When it comes to producing house music, do you have any recommendations on who we should be checking out in 2010?

Sunshine: Right now anything goes. I’m really inspired by DJ’s who are roaring off into their own spaces and challenging people. Jenö is a hero, as are Doc Martin, and Spun. But look to Woolfy. Look toward David Bumpstead and the Disco Not Disco crew in London. Look to Chateau Flight, Shit Robot, Padded Cell, Mud, The Revenge, Jim Rivers, Crazy P, Ytre Rymden Dansskola, Phonique, Bogdan Irkük, Lindstrom, Lake Heartbeat, and everyone who is defying boundaries and breaking all the rules for inspiration right now. Look there because they are amazing. Look there because they are blowing my mind.

Moonbeam: I love Woolfy! I still listen to a lot of ambient – Loscil is a current favorite of mine.

FHMDC: Thank you for taking the time to accept our interview, and for supporting the Funkyhousemusic.com mission. We truly appreciate your effort, and wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors.

Interview By: Suneel

Funky House Music | FHMDC » Dubtribe Sound System

Implicit vs Suneel – Juno Funky House Podcast – Episode 3

Implicit & Suneel – Juno Funky House Podcast 03 Track List

Exclusive Interview: Dubtribe Sound System

DJ Mix: Dubtribe Sound System – Live At Fever [5/20/1994] – Side B

DJ Mix: Dubtribe Sound System – Live At Fever [5/20/1994] – Side A