It’s an immense pleasure to welcome on this section not only one of the most friendly faces of the NY scene, but also one of the most subtle men both in terms of production and DJing. So rather than providing you with the usual comment/review that comes as an introduction to a mix, I thought it would be better leavin’ our guest tellin’ us everything ‘bout it… With my best regards to A true gentleman, MFSB

Since I have been locked into the studio for the last 3-4 months, I thought it would be a good idea, to do a mix that features most of the tracks I have been working on. So here it is, 80 minutes of what's been happening at PDP Studios, Brooklyn, NY, with the exception of 4 tracks, that have been in my box and rocking the dance floor, whenever I actually get a chance to go out and play…

As for the overall mix, I was not really familiar with Ledisi's work, but blown away by her voice! This mix started off the whole craziness of this summer’s work load. After doing a remix for Jody Watley's "Love Hangover" which is a straight up Reggae jam, with Dub to boot, followed by an Ultra Nate remix, the agency that hired me to do the work, somehow liked what I was doing and hooked me up with a mix of Ledisi's "Alright", which happened to be the single of the month on itunes. Ledisi' management also represents Destiny's Child Kelly Rowland,so a remix for her new single "Ghetto", featuring Snoop Dog was next and the rest is history... The Peven Everett joint is something I heard when I was in Bali (Of all places). My friend was playing a mix he'd recieved from Ian Rocks radio show. It was Kervin Mark's mix and we kept rewinding and rewinding. I think it's off the chain!!! Angie Stone is somebody, I have been listening to at home a lot. I love her music, and to get a chance to work with her, and this in a collaboration with non other than "Mr's Big Stuff's" Betty Wright gave me the chills! Ledisi and Angie ended up being a challenge, as both originals were at almost ballad tempo. I had to pull some tricks out of my sleeve to make it work. Wanting to move it up a notch, slowly, I decided to use the dub of Angie's "Baby", which has a real funk flavor to it and worked quiet nice with Peven's soul feel. The next three tracks have been my biggest records in the clubs lately. Starting with Physics' "All Good", which in my opinion turned out to be a perfect marriage of soul and tech. The track had the kind of feel to it, that I liked so much about "Cure And Cause" (Fish Go Deep), so that's the direction it took in the studio. Some of the sounds I used were so powerful, I decided to do a dub, that was based around those elements. Every time I drop it, people seem to go nutts, so I played’em back to back with the vocal, which gave me a nice lead into the Chaka PDP mix. I had originally done a more down tempo funk mix for Chaka, which is off the hook, and has been getting great reviews, but between Chaka and Mary J. the vocals just screamed energy, so I took it peak time for the clubs as well. Jill Scott was another challenge; the song again was super slow in it's original form, and also had this very simple and monotone chord progression, which worked great in the original, but really didn't lend itself to a soulful mix, which would be the first thing to come to mind, if you are thinking about Jill Scott's body of work. That angle simply didn't work here, so I was somewhat forced to go more into a electro, tech direction, which turned out to be the way to go. I think it really works, especially, as the lyrics are pretty dark and angry. This seems to be Jill's reflection onto her recent breakup from her long time husband, lol...Hate On Me, hater! At this point on a club night, after having people hyped up, I like to take it into the more minimal techy.

Working on Stevie Nicks was a trip! I was sent 4 DVD's worth of parts, from the original session. As it turned out, somebody had made a mistake, and given me 4 of the same DVD's Lucky for me, the CD included the vocals and percussion, which are the only parts I ended up using. The vocals were recorded in the same room as the whole band, so there was so much background noise, it was hard to filter and gate it out. After putting some effects on the voices, the little bleed through's of sound actually created a very interesting vibe, which kind of lead me to going kind of corky/ spooky, with a touch of Detroit. Perfect transition to what comes next with Ame's remix of Gregory's "Elle", both spooky and Detroit influenced. Both artists have been a big inspiration for me and the whole DJ culture, I think, and a collaboration of them is a prefect match! I was originally going to stop the mix around 60 minutes, as it was supposed to be a simple radio mix, and radio jocks normally ask to keep it around that time. If this is the case here, no need to read any further...

Two reasons I kept going: I can't take it to end a 60 minute mix on an 80 minute CD, lol, and if I wanted it to be a reflection of what I like to do in a club, I had to bring it back to the soul. Frankie's mix of The Ananda Project has that darker touch, while still keeping it soulful, we've been hearing in Quentin Harris and Dennis Ferrer's work of late. I actually love the vocal version, but the dub just fit better into this mix. Alix Alvarez mix of "Tears Dry In Their Own" is pure soul, and one of my favorite mixes, when you don't have to pump it up anymore, and you are left with the true heads on the floor. Amy Winehouse and house music, asides from the name coincidence don't seem to have much in common, so even more reason to give props to Alix Alvarez, for making this one work! I thought it was time to go back to some Matty productions, as after all this was supposed to highlight what I have been doing in the studio this summer, and go out with a newsletter, talking about just that. Monique Bingham has been a big part of my musical history, starting with the remix I did for Abstract Truth's "We Had A Thing" on Wave, and on to many collaborations following, ie. "Go Getter" on Papa Records and "Now What" on Dave Lee's Z Records imprint. Actually, we have been working on music non stop for the last 4 - 5 years, if not more. Some stuff is album material, and won't be out for a while, but the song here is geared to be our next release. I have since done a more soulful mix of "Something", which probably would have fit better, but it wasn't finished yet. Rounding it off is my second mix of Ultra Nate. I worked on two of her upcoming singles this year. The other song called "Getaway" features Chicago underground legend, Dajae, but since this will be the next release, I decided on using it here. I think it really has anthem potential, and I felt it was the perfect message to the end of the mix.."Give it all you got!"

Peace and Love, Matthias Heilbronn/Pata De Perro Music