Listen up listen up! Another installment of the Recess’s (international best selling) radio show “One Hundred Below” on DeepFrequency.com – YAAAAHHHHHHH… stream it, download it or check out our archives.

This month’s delivery is an all vinyl show, full of warmth and crackles for your festive pleasure… it includes a dose of snuffles from John, some unearthed mic hum, atmospheric pop and hiss from the needles and the odd 33/45 selector mistake thrown in for good measure. We keep it real people. As well as splicing up classic and nu disco, re-edits, electro house, 80s lost pop and all in the way of groove based music, we also have a treat in store for the guest mix!

Some say, that he never leaves his home and that all he eats is grits n greens. Some, that his monolith speaker system and pristine collection of vinyl recordings, only ever saw the light of day when they were delivered to his nuclear-proof soundshack. All we know is, he’s called The Monk… and he’s put together a fine selection of soul and disco rarities and classics just for us (and you).

There’s a real mix here… from the classic 1969 ‘I’m Just a Prisoner’ album we get “I’d Rather Be An Old Man’s Sweetheart” by Candi Staton; produced by music legend Rick Hall this is a perfect slice of southern (muscle shoals) soul. We hear Edwin Starr’s  highly underrated “Way Over There” from the 1969 ‘Soul Master’ album and Felice Taylor’s “I Can Feel Your Love”, a once super rare classic from 1968, along with other gems from the soul era… it’s a lovely departure for us and our usual musical adventures and gives plenty to stretch your imagination – hope you enjoy…

Rich

Part 1

1. Bottin – Cosmic Pizza – Bear Funk
2. Lindstrom & Soale – Lets Practise (Wade Nichols dub) – Feedelity
3. Horse Meat Disco – Eyeko Syco – Horse Meat Disco
4. Evelyn Thomas – High Energy (Extended Dub) – Record Shack
5. David Bowie – Dancing with the big boys (Extended dub mix) – EMI USA
6. Larry Levan – I Got My Mind Made Up – Salsoul

Part 2 – The Monk Mix

7. The Isleys – Work To Do – Motor Music
8. Candi Staton – I’d Rather Be An Old Man’s Sweetheart
9. Stevie Wonder – Music Talk
10. The Supremes & The Four Tops – If I Could Build My Whole World Around You
11. Edwin Starr – Way Over There
12.  Felice Taylor – I Can Feel Your Love
13. The Jackson 5 – I Am Love (Parts 1 & 2)
14. Shalamar – Right In The Socket
15. Colonel Abrams – Trapped
16. Diana Ross – No One Gets The Prize (Re-Edited Jimmy Simpson Remix)

Part 3

17. Rainer Weichold vs Dandi & Ugo – Infinite Template – Great Stuff Recordings
18. Harry Thumann – Underwater – Decca
19. Bottin – Disco For The Devil – Bear Funk
20. Linkwood – Who La La – Firecracker Recordings
21. Mr Bloe – Groovin With Mr Bloe (GW Credit To The Edit) – TIRK

In which The Gay Recluse applauds the news of uptown development.

Curbed has reported that the city’s plan to rezone 125th Street — a plan we fully endorse — has passed the important hurdle of the Planning Commission, and will now move to City Council for final approval. Curbed also links to local coverage of the event — notably in The Daily News and The Post — which no suprise trots out increasingly outdated racial stereotypes that are a disservice to those (of all ethnicities) who actually live uptown and crave the type of higher-end development our downtown (and Brooklyn) neighbors take for granted. (By higher-end, we mean something besides KFC and its downmarket equivalents across the retail and commercial sectors.) The Post, for example, interviews Shihulu Shange, 66, owner of the Record Shack, “a Harlem institution for 46 years….’The black community is devastated,’ he said. ‘The plan doesn’t count black people. Soon it will all be millionaires and the native people won’t be able to live in their homes. This city is run by a billionaire who is insensitive to people’s suffering. Soon there won’t be any black-owned businesses.’”

Look, we feel bad that the Record Shack is having business troubles — as The Times has also reported — but is it really a question of racial prejudice, or does it have more to do with the fact that sales of records and CDs have basically been eviscerated by the internet? (Tower Records went out of business, too.) We’re not trying to deny that racism exists — any more than we would deny the existence of homophobia — but the truth of the situation is that class is beginning to trump race in Harlem, which — say what you want about asshole millionaires — strikes us as more progressive than the reverse. In the end, it’s good news if you have money and bad news if you don’t. (Welcome to the U.S.A.)

The Record Shack: Voice of the “black community” or site of an internet massacre (in the most commercial sense of the word)?

Settepani: Why was this “black-owned” small business ignored by The Post and Daily News? (Answer: it doesn’t fit the stereotype.)