Eternia

Eternia is one of the few recording artists I would have made room for every week on The Suite Delight radio show. I’ve made do with whatever music of hers I could find.



My initial goal was to play her every week on the show for every individual track of hers I had. In that regard, I’ve come pretty close to achieving my goal.

 I was relieved to learn she teamed with MoSS and finally released new material. When I add that vinyl or CD to my collection, I will utter the title of her 2011 Polaris Prize long list nominated album.

Years ago, I was amazed to learn that Eternia was going to speak on a Pop Montreal panel and perform in Montreal on the same night. My mind was made up that night that I was going to be there.

Eternia delivered what I predicted was going to be a powerful and energetic performance. The only disappointment of the set was that my favorite single Evidence was not performed in its entirety.

At the end of the show, the majority of the performers were available to interact with the crowd. Thankfully for me, Pop Montreal and the intimate crowd allowed me congratulate, chat and take photos with the two lovely and lively headliners. This was a special night. I got to meet Canadian hip hop legend Michie Mee and newly favorite female rapper Eternia during my first Pop Montreal experience.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

http://suitedelight.podomatic.com

Below are some podcasts to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download them and more.

The Suite Delight 2014-02-04 Playlist:

1.       Onyx - Throw Ya Gunz

2.       LL Cool J - Rock The Bells

3.       Ludacris - Southern Hospitality

4.       EPMD - Brothers From Brentwood, Long Island

5.       Anonymous Twist feat. Roc 'C' – Suckas Still Trying To Front

6.       Eternia & MoSS ft. Joell Ortiz - Its Funny

7.       DMX - Ruff Ryders' Anthem

8.       Big Daddy Kane - Get Down

9.       King Jus & Fresh Kils - Cold World

10.   Ghettosocks - I Invented Everything feat. Jabba the Cutt

11.   Relic - Loud Enuff Ft. Moka Only

12.   Hezekiah - Fired Up ft. Talib Kweli & Bahamadia

13.   Master Ace - Music Man (Mic Master Mix)

14.   Mos Def - Revelations

15.   Cee & Dr. MaD - Another Day ft. Notion & Nox

Booker T. & The MG's

 

 

 

At a recent record convention visit, I found a Best of Booker T. & The MGs album and bought it even though I had all of the songs already. 



The Booker T. Set vinyl crossed my path and I paid plenty pretty pennies for it.

 

It seemed that the roads were leading me to remember Donald "Duck" Dunn. 

I was informed that Donald Dunn was ill weeks before his death in May 2012. All of those purchases were pre-cursors to the unfortunate news we learned of Donald Dunn’s passing.  In 2025, Steve Cropper passed away.

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I guess I got those Booker T. & the MGs records and the Light in the Attic box set with him on my mind.

RIP Donald "Duck" Dunn & Steve Cropper and thank you for your grooves.

The time slot was Tuesday morning 1-2am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.

Please make yourself familiar with the link below for more.

Below is the 1st Anniversary CKUT playlist to bring you up to speed.

Click here to download archived episodes.

The Suite Delight 1st Anniversary CKUT Playlist:

1. The Monkees – Mary, Mary
2. Harmonica Paul – Motherless Child
3. Eddie Kendricks – Date With The Rain
4. Yellow Sunshine – Yellow Sunshine
5. Magic Disco Machine – Scratchin’
6. The Incredible Bongo Band – Bongolia
7. Lack of Afro – P.A.R.T.Y. (Instrumental)
8. The Jimmy Castor Bunch – Troglodyte
9. Booker T. & The M.G.s – Lady Madonna
10. GZA & Ras Kass – Lyrical Swords
11. RZA & MF Doom – Biochemical Equation
12. Camp Lo – Luchini
13. Digable Planets – 9th Wonder (Blackitolism)
14. Danger Mouse & Jemini – Ghetto Pop Life
15. Hi-Tek – The Sun God
16. K-os – The Love Song

Stevie Wonder

My love for Stevie Wonder and his music began when I was a boy.

I once dressed up as a young 1960s Stevie Wonder for Halloween. 



The only thing missing from my costume was a harmonica which Mommy Dearest got for me. 

Like most Motown singles I saw as a child, Stevie Wonder’s name was on many. 

His Innervisions album is one of my Desert Island albums. 

It would take me almost 30 years to have an even deeper connection with the album. 



Songs In The Key of Life is easily the album I own the most copies of because it deserves to be owned in as pristine condition as possible.  I was fortunate to have come across numerous copies over the years.  

Had it not been for Innervisions, Songs In The Key of Life would have the secure spot on my Desert Island albums list.  What Innervisions did was make me realize how special Stevie Wonder and his music are.  

I’ve always been in awe of Stevie Wonder and most likely always will.

Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key of Life Tour reaches Montreal on September 30, 2015. 

DJ Pogo Presents The Breaks

I thank Harmless & DJ Pogo for adding Chuck Brown & The Soul Serachers' Ashley Roachclip to their The Breaks compilation.

A compilation like The Breaks was easily a one-stop-shop for classic breaks, soul and funk that was sampled in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
I forget how I came across my copy of The Breaks but I sure have been to keep it close at hand for DJ sets whenever the need arises.
Compilers like Kenny Dope, DJ Spinna, DJ Jazzy Jeff have a special place in my heart and music collection,

Look for text about the early days of hip hip, funk, soul breaks compilations.
link to artists on compilaitons to blog posts
When I was moving away from hip hop musically, I went to its source. Specifically, I went looking for the music, artists, albums of
to waht created that hip hop music I have been listening to for most of my life.

Little Richard

When I think about it, the song and artist deserve the shine. Little Richard, along with other Rock & Roll legends like Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry & Fats Domino, deserve all the respect in the world. I've played their music on my radio show when I can but I want to go a bit further in my acknowledgment.



A while back, I was headed to my home-away-from-home Nice Music and was sitting at a bus stop. A minivan pulled up to the intersection and I could hear Little Richard's vocals through the rolled up windows. When I heard the melody, I knew the song was Long Tall Sally. I'll tell you this. I didn't hide my appreciation for the song. I moved and grooved on the bus stop bench and suddenly, the rear window cracked open and the sounds rang loud and clear for all to hear. I smiled and gave the driver a thumbs up.

As he pulled off, I realized Long Tall Sally was a better song that I gave it credit for. I love his tracks nearly equally, especially the bigger hits, but there's something about Sally. If I could put my finger on it, it would be the urgency of the delivery and melody.

I respond to that. Like James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Dyke & The Blazers and even John Fogerty, wild vocals appeal to me some reason. If you match that with a driving beat, you get me like The Roots. I'm old enough to know Little Richard's contributions to music even if others aren't. A blog entry and link to the video is the least I can do to show my appreciation until or unless I get to thank him in person.

Les Colocs - Dehors Novembre (1998)

The song Tassez Vous De D’La reached me and I liked it tremendously.

I never rushed out to the store to bring home the album but enjoyed the song anytime I heard it on the radio.  I paid little attention to the lyrics because I was too caught up in the grooves and energy of the vocals. 

Within the last two years or so, I was browsing blogs and to my surprise found the song listed. I had not heard or thought of the song since the last time I heard it. Seeing the group name and song on the blog was a welcome reminder of how much I loved the song.  I was given the chance to hear the song whenever I wanted and pay more attention to the lyrics. 

As much as the song is groovy, the theme is depressing and I immediately started wondering if the rest of the group’s music was as bleak. I also wondered about the state of mind of the group's lead singer if those are the lyrics and themes he chose to explore. The video provides subtitles and the words proving my instincts were on alert.

I am not conscious of any other song by Les Colocs but I am willing to bet Tassez Vous De D’La is their signature single. I heard audio of a live performance of the song and it is electrifying.

I was saddened to hear that the Les Colocs lead singer Dédé Fortin, committed suicide.  On the strength of Tassez Vous De D’La, I could have been a big fan of the group.  I could have wanted to hear more of their music but after of his death, my interest in the group disappeared. 

Chromeo

 

Chromeo is the band of the two local Montreal boys that made good.

I remember seeing Chromeo perform at Montreal's Cabaret Juste Pour Rire long before I heard Tenderoni, the track that got me open to them.

I used to run into P-Thugg at any given moment back in the days and have since had music of his to play on my show and chart when I was a music director.



Don't Turn The Lights On could have been my song of 2010 but the Business Casual album making my Top 10 Album list more than made up for that.

 

There were a number of songs from Business Casual that could have made their way on the Best Singles list. That is the test of an album’s strength. With Night by Night, Don’t Turn the Lights On & I Can’t Tell You Why, how can that Chromeo release not be a best album contender?

History is set to repeat itself with the latest Chromeo album called White Women and the lead single Jealous (I Ain't With It).
 

Chuck Brown (1936 – 2012)

I had learned of Chuck Brown's pneumonia for weeks prior to his death and hoped he would pull through. Unfortunately his death occurred in the midst of a number of musicians passing away in May.

The Blow Your Whistle CD, released by Vampisoul, compiles the best tracks from We The People & Salt of the Earth. 

I thank Chuck Brown for his many years of music. 
R.I.P.

Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers - Bustin' Loose

Rhino Records put Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers' Bustin' Loose (Part 1) on their In Yo Face! compilation at a time when I really needed for them to have done so.

I was new to learning funk music and its history in the late 1990s/early 2000s and a song like Bustin' Loose was vital to have at that time.  



I would only own the 12" near the end of 2011.  

That was too long for me to have finally met a copy to purchase but I at least had the song in my repertoire.

Gang Starr - Daily Operation (1992)

Gang Starr was one of my most important groups in hip hop.  



They were responsible for classic material and recorded one of my top 5 favorite hip hop albums of all time.

One of the most memorable things about The Arsenio Hall Show was the historic hip hop final salute when his show came to an end.  I had a teenage tantrum when I learned the footage of Gang Starr performing Mass Appeal was recorded over.  I was made to learn whose house I was in when I returned home from school that day.  

I was an even bigger Gang Starr fan after I finally realized how good Daily Operation was. I remembered Words I Manifest and Jazz Thing when they first got on the scene and admired them for doing something different with hip hop. Step in the Arena was a fantastic album to me and could have been on the Desert Island Hip Hop Albums List had it not been for Daily Operation.

What appears to be a common thread among some of the albums and artists I treasure now is my not liking them until I change my mind. When I heard Daily Operation after the few first listens, I didn't like it. The production was dirtier than Gang Starr's past work. I talked to a schoolmate that liked Gang Starr as much as I and he gave me the following instructions.



He told me get a comfortable chair, turn off the lights and listen to the album. I thought he was being ridiculous. I was going to sit in the dark and listen to THAT album again?  The again was not necessarily placed for effect.  I very well could have never listened to the album again. He reiterated his instructions and I decided I should give it a shot.

I got the chance to listen to it in the dark and what do you know! I'm writing a blog about the album some twenty years later. Songs like Take It Personal, Hardcore Composer, B.Y.S. and Much 2 Much are indeed much too much. That sound I didn't like was the foundation for Primo's legend. They never did an album this good until they released Moment Of Truth. Even then, I go with Daily Operation any day. As a matter of fact, I went with Daily Operation in my MP3 player for almost a month one summer.



I was not happy to learn of Guru's death. That put an end to any chance of Gang Starr reuniting. It looks like I will reunite listeners with Gang Starr music when the time permits.
I heard Guru's situation was critical weeks before he died and in the back of my mind hoped he'd recover completely. A text message received that April confirmed the worst.



Not too long after his death, Frank BLVD, the only person I know that likes Gang Starr more than me, and I were heading home from a record convention and talking about Guru. We both agreed that no tribute mix or radio show would come from either of us because of our histories with Gang Starr. Frank asked how much more of a tribute can he give Guru when he owns nearly everything he recorded? I asked how much more tribute could I have given Guru when in 2007 I did a tribute using only rare tracks and remixes not appearing on any Guru or Gang Starr album?

He was part of one of the most important groups in hip hop, responsible for classic material but didn't get the full credit he deserved. He got more recognition dead than alive like most other deceased artists before him. I had mixed emotions at the time of his death. I watched the media and social media outlets do to Guru what they do with many celebrities. People ran with whatever drama surfaced until they had enough. My distance from hip hop should be evident from my posts. Seeing that I don’t have as personal a stake in hip hop as I used to, I was more of an observer rather than participant.



I'm surprised it took me this long to write about Guru's death. I wanted to write with as clear a head as possible. One half of one of my favorite hip hop groups is gone. Our chances of hearing another Gang Starr recording are gone. Realizing and writing about that fact is nothing I would rush to do but it's done now.

I've said it before and will say it again. I was born at a right time. Thank you Guru for your contributions to hip hop, introducing us to jazz, Daily Operation and signing my Jazzmatazz CD when I thought you wouldn't. I'll never forget you or your music.




Check out the single by Marco Polo, Talib Kweli & DJ Premier paying tribute to the late hip hop legend.

Click play below to hear this show and here to download.



Playlist:

1. Bonobo – Kong
2. DJ Unwind – Natalia’s Groove
3. Bilal – Cake & Eat It Too
4. N.E.R.D. – Maybe
5. Ikebe Shakedown – Tujunga
6. Depeche Mode – World In My Eyes
7. Nate Wize – Rock The Casbah feat. Ammoye
8. Naughty By Nature – It’s On (Beatnuts Remix)
9. Q-Tip – Gettin’ Up
10. Mark Ronson – Oh My God (The Super Busdown Remix) feat. Lily Allen & Busta Rhymes
11. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth – It’s Not A Game
12. Gang Starr – Gotta Get Over (Taking Loot) (Remix)
13. Planet Asia – Pyramids (Remix) feat. Jasiri X & Brother J
14. The Roots – Proceed II feat. Roy Ayers

8tracks

8tracks mixes allowed people to enjoy selections that hopefully shed some light and even enlighten.

They graced your ears and made for interesting and entertaining listening if you were so inclined.

Below was the one-stop-shop for my 8tracks mixes.  

Rest assured that there are no more mixes on the way because the site ceased to exist a few years ago.

DJ Solespin - Seconds In Sound (DCV) from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

This 8tracks mix features the songs DJ Solespin played during the epic 3-hour Seconds in Sound Session Mix at Montreal's Death of Vinyl record store.

Get Thy Bearings from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

As I was compiling these songs spun during the winter 2014, I realized I had a theme on my hands and in my ears.

The Caffeinated Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

In July 2013, I was invited to guest DJ alongside Chris Paré at Montreal's Kafein, one of Montreal's finest downtown cafes and bars.  This mix consists of some of the tracks I played that night.

The Montreal Train Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

Here is a little mix inspired by some children that were hard at play in a nearby park and to happier times.

Lady Macbeth Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.


The Lady Macbeth Mix is the first 8-tracks mix I ever created.

The Claire Voyant Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

It was an honor to be the guest DJ at Kim Bingham's Café Cléopatra Halloween Party.

DJ Solespin Under Pressure 2012 Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

To commemorate my participation in the 17^th edition of Under Pressure, I made an 8-tracks mix of my DJ set that Saturday afternoon.

No Sleep Til Bedtime Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

I chose songs that had a youthful, dancing, jubilant and defiant spirit.

Three Blind Mice Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

Three Blind Mice Mix was inspired by those that are senseless.  I refer to those people that are deaf, dumb and blind.

The Hodge Podge Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

This is a mix of some songs I played at the record release party of Montreal hip hop artist.

The Sparse City Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

The Sparse City Mix consists of the songs I played that night at Royal Phoenix.

Left To My Own Few Vices Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

Left To My Own Few Vices is a mix of tracks I spun at Death of Vinyl record store one night.

Live At The Hive Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

The memories of that night of me DJing at Concordia University's The Hive is immortalized now on 8tracks.

The Turquoise Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

Enjoy this collection of cool and calm tracks.

Freedom Writer Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

To free or not to free is the question.  Ponder on the question for a few minutes with this mix.

Zero To One In Twelve Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

I still can't understand why this is the most popular of my 8tracks mixes but I will not fight the feeling or listens. 

Record Store Day 2013 Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

The 8tracks mix above was inspired by my Record Store Day 2013 DJ set at Death of Vinyl. 

 I compiled this mix with Magneto and Michael Fassbender's performance in mind.

The Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique (1989)

I may have mentioned it before but Paul’s Boutique went over my head.

I didn’t like or get what they were doing with Hey Ladies or Shake Your Rump.



It would take me nearly 20 years to understand the magnitude of that album.

I guess there was only room for one landmark album to shape my life and 3 Feet High & Rising more than took care of that for me.

The Soul Searchers - Salt of the Earth (1974)

I thank Harmless & DJ Pogo for adding Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers' Ashley Roachclip to their The Breaks compilation.



It helped answer a few questions I've had for over 20 years.  Hopefully this helps clear up a few things for others as well.