SwankExpress

gravatar
Member Since: 12/3/2006
Total Mixes: 11
Total Feedback: 37

Other Mixes By SwankExpress

CD | Theme - Romantic
CD | Theme - Romantic
CD | Theme - Romantic

"Those of us who live a life enjoy ourselves." (2 CDs)

Side A
Artist Song
The Staple Singers  I'll Take You There 
Curtis Mayfield  Move on Up 
Harmonettes  Can't Go Halfway 
Os Mutantes  Bat Macumba [Technicolor] 
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim  The Girl from Ipanema 
Bob Marley & the Wailers  Lively up Yourself [Natty Dread] 
The Beat  Ackee 1-2-3 
Dream Warriors  Ludi 
Marsha Gee  Peanut Duck 
Harry Belafonte  Jump in the Line 
Paul Simon  Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard 
Buena Vista Social Club  De Camino a la Vereda 
Dinah Washington  Our Love is Here to Stay [fast version] 
Billie Holiday  Autumn in New York 
The Miles Davis Quintet  My Funny Valentine 
Thelonious Monk  Well You Needn't [Blue Note version] 
The Maytals  Sweet and Dandy 
Jimmy Reed  The Moon is Rising 
James Brown  I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open up the Door I'll Get It Myself) 
Wayne McGhee & the Sounds of Joy  Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye 
Side B
ArtistSongBuy
Aretha Franklin  Rock Steady 
Sly & the Family Stone  You Can Make It If You Try 
Van Morrison  Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile) 
Marvin Gaye  Right On [original Detroit mix] 
Super Eagles  Love's a Real Thing 
War  Summer 
Orchestra Baobab  Autorail 
Ali Farka TourT  Bandalabourou 
Holger Czukay  Persian Love 
Taj Mahal  Queen Bee 
Sister Rosetta Tharpe  Rock Me 
Ray Charles  Mess Around 
The Jackson 5  I Want You Back 
Tito Puente  Oye Como Va 
Jimmy Cliff  The Harder They Come 
Eric Bibb  Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down 
Muddy Waters  Honey Bee 
Nina Simone  Trouble in Mind 

Comment:

An introduction by Rob Conroy: Here's the latest collaboration--one that germinated for more than two months--between SwankQueen and myself. For the reasons/purpose explained below by the 'Queen, we wanted to compile a mix that was uplifting in every conceivable way and had a bit of a Caribbean feel. (If piano was the dominant sound of our winter mix and theremin was the dominant sound of our funky freakout mix, the dominant sound throughout this mix is Latin percussion.) As proud as we are of our previous collaborations, it's probably fair to say that this one is the most eminently listenable and all-around enjoyable--we were intentionally attempting to include the most sweetly accessible musical picks that we could find. As with our other mixes, this isn't an "alt-DJ" mix in the traditional sense but was a truly organic collaboration where every song and every sequencing choice was wholeheartedly approved by both of us. Title by Mr. Gaye.

A word from SwankQueen: I wanted to make a sunny little mix for Shauntae's Apparel (formerly Shauntae's Hats & Crafts), an independently-owned Afrocentric millinery/clothing boutique on Main St. in Niagara Falls, NY, because I love hats (though I don't wear them so much as have them hanging around my apartment to admire or break out for small parties when people feel like wearing funny hats) and I was a regular customer when her store first opened. I've admired Ore Lean, the creative force behind the business, for making a living doing what she loves. It makes me happy to think of the place, one of the very few private businesses to survive on Main St., which looks like a bomb hit it. (Niagara Falls has steadily declined since I was a kid, when it was a thriving and tight-knit community.) For that, I salute the place, and also because the owner gave me a pimp hat at a substantial discount when I only had enough scratch for 3 hats and couldn't decide which of the 4 that I wanted would have be put back. Her handmade garments are cheerful & colorful, some of them made with kente cloth, etc., and it reminds me of the Sunday morning finery at my all-time favorite church, the True Deliverance Temple, which had a great band back when I frequented such places -- so I wanted the mix to have a bit of African music, and to rhythmically connect the diasporic dots while being a soulful celebration of truth, beauty, and the hard road to professional autonomy in a financially depressed area.

Feedback:

gravatar
Muzag
Date: 4/1/2007
Looks superb, every track is a gem.
gravatar
anthony lombardi
Date: 4/1/2007
no wonder it takes you two so long to put mixes together, because they always come out so goddamn good. this is overwhelming in its excellence -- the opening four on disc two really kill. when i say top job, i mean over the top & back again. sheesh...
gravatar
p the swede
Date: 4/1/2007
superb stuff
gravatar
deja_vu_all_over_again
Date: 4/1/2007
This looks fab - so many personal favourites on here (for various reasons 'Jump in the Line' is my current theme song) - now bring on those links so I can hear it in all it's glory
gravatar
hemizen
Date: 4/1/2007
This is great!
gravatar
ofthaltned
Date: 4/1/2007
Ha - the thought that the two of you might have been up to something like this crossed my mind last night when I wrote something about getting derailed from alt-DJ mixes to you (as in you, Rob) last night, but I didn't want to dwell on the thought because I figured it would have been too good to be true. And too good to be true it is. Looking forward to hearing this!
gravatar
bufo alvarius
Date: 4/1/2007
Really amazing stuff, guys. Can't wait to hear this. Really dig it when the two of you put your collective mixing powers together. Unstoppable!
gravatar
The Misfit
Date: 4/1/2007
Brilliant!
gravatar
Mark Petruccelli
Date: 4/1/2007
Absolutely brilliant! So mant highlights but the Belafonte -> Monk run is just amazing.
gravatar
alma cogan
Date: 4/1/2007
Right on
gravatar
sammyg123
Date: 4/1/2007
Just amazing. Wow..
gravatar
G-Sphere
Date: 4/1/2007
Absolutely full of classics.
gravatar
sport !
Date: 4/1/2007
I LOVE this mix! Excellent work as usual...
gravatar
Curtis_Burns
Date: 4/1/2007
Most excellent. Love the War through Jackson 5 stretch especially.
gravatar
2old2matter
Date: 4/1/2007
Look in the dictionary under "listenable" and you will find this mix. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you. Can't imagine this won't improve your friend's sales.
gravatar
Sidney P
Date: 4/2/2007
What can a music fan say to something so thoughtfully put together? Damn!!
gravatar
musicgnome
Date: 4/2/2007
Pretty gosh-darn-dang impression. Highly impressive flow. MoTW candidate
gravatar
Pop Kulcher
Date: 4/2/2007
Looks like the sort of thing that would sound fine right about now, as we enjoy an early Spring here in San Francisco.
gravatar
SAG
Date: 4/2/2007
This is just a beauty! Definitely MOTW worthy! 5 Stars!
gravatar
Salman1
Date: 4/2/2007
This looks pretty damn amazing.
gravatar
lo-fi jr.
Date: 4/3/2007
Everywhere at once, just the way I like it. Love those Brother James and Czukay picks and hearing the Dream Warriors again was most welcome.
gravatar
tornadoZ
Date: 4/12/2007
it seems that the pie graph indicating great music being played in public at any given time in various medium-to-large US cities is going to have a big slice of Buffalo/Niagara Falls metro area thanks to the two of you. Loved the English Beat -> Marsha Gee bit (is Peanut Duck one of the menu items at Betty's?) and that Billie Holiday song made me feel warm. disc two favorites are Orchestra Baobab and Holger Czukay and those final three. Great work on this, as usual.