DJ Excel - "Raven Stomp (The Underdog Mix)" (mp3)
I first heard this track back in January, but now that football season's in full swing again it seems like a good time to jam DJ Excel's Baltimore club Ravens anthem. I like this, really cool synths and aggressive percussion.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bmore Original Records, DJ Excel, mp3

DJ Excel - Singles & Remixes (Bmore Original Records)

Since last year's Friday Night Bounce LP, which I was a big fan of, DJ Excel has put up a couple kind of smaller stopgap releases up on the Bmore Original site in the past few months. This one, Singles & Remixes, is just a compilation of some of his recent singles and remixes, so obviously the title is self-explanatory. I wasn't really sure what to expect from it, since the only song I was previously familiar with was "Pop That Kitty," which, I'll be honest, I really hated and thought sounded like a bad knockoff of all the "crank that" songs that came out in the wake of Soulja Boy. But fortunately the rest of this album covers a pretty wide gamut of all the different stuff Excel does, including straight up Baltimore club and some kind of retro house and a lot of other little bits of other genres that pop up in the samples. I dig the remix of "Love Lockdown," and I don't even like that song generally. Michael Byrne also reviewed the album in the City Paper last month.

DJ Excel - "Bmore A.D.D." (mp3)
This one's a real doozy, 11 minutes long and kind of runs through several different sections. One of the early parts in the song has some samples of Bossman's voice.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bmore Original Records, Bossman, DJ Excel, mixtape/album review, mp3

Labels: battle, Bmore Original Records, Deep Flow, Kane, Mania Music Group, Mobtown Studios, Ogun, Sonar, The Unstoppable Nuklehidz

DJ Excel - The Friday Nite Bounce LP (Bmore Original Records)

I've written a couple things about DJ Excel this year, first a Club Beat column about him a few months ago, and then featuring him in my Big Music Issue piece in the City Paper about Baltimore-based internet radio. And I've had this album since around the time he put it up for sale on the Bmore Original mp3 store back in like February and kept meaning to post about it here, but just never got around to it for the longest time, I think because I was waiting to hear from him about whether it was coming out on vinyl too. Right now the album is being sold on the site chopped up into 4 parts and is kind of priced more toward DJs, but maybe that's a good way for people to test out bits of it before copping the whole thing. I'd reccomend part 1 or part 3 first, but the whole thing is solid, really a different approach to Baltimore club than what most producers are doing right now, just focusing on the classic breaks and getting some more offbeat sample ideas in there, unmixed so it all just hangs together pretty well as an album. There's also a version of that "Push Ya Top Back" track with Bossman on here with Blaq Starr added to it.

DJ Excel f/ Emmy - "ALLNITELONG" (mp3)
I really like this, it's rare that I hear a Baltimore club track that I can really feel mellow and zone out to, but this and the Booman track I posted recently both have that elusive vibe that I really love. It really reminds me of early early Baltimore club with the Euro house influence in the synths plus the breakbeats and those rough vocal samples popping in and out, like Excel really seriously studied that era and came up with his own flip on it. There are 2 versions of this on the album, too, this one and an instrumental, and they're in a row so you can just chill to this track for 7 minutes straight.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bmore Original Records, Bossman, DJ Excel, mixtape/album review, mp3

The City Paper's annual Big Music Issue is out this week, and it features No Static At All, my story about the rise of streaming internet radio in the Baltimore hip hop and club scenes, alongside lots more interesting articles (including an oral history of Baltimore clubs like Paradox and Choices by Michael Byrne, a piece on the Latin music scene by Robbie Whelan, and an article by Raven Baker that parallels the DIY scenes of Baltimore and D.C.).

I spoke to DJ Excel, Amotion, DJ Diamond K, Dirty Nation Entertainment and Shaka Pitts for my article, and listed a few website addresses for Baltimore-based internet radio stations in it. But there are a lot of other people with shows and stations right now, and I wanted to compile a list in this post of all the ones I know of, just as an easy guide for anyone who reads it and wants to check out any of this stuff, and hear underground Baltimore music on their computer any time of any day of the week:

Baltimore Klub Krank Radio @ DirtyNationEntertainment.com
Bmore Original Radio
Buck Jones Presents Baltimore Talent
Deep Flow Radio
The Diamond K Show
DJ Chris J Live Baltimore Club Mix Show
DMV's Blogtalk w/ G Major
Real Talk w/ Spitts McMan
Revolt Radio @ Wordsmithmusic.com
Unruly Radio
X-Rated w/ 1st Family

Honorable mention to DJ Technics, who had a radio stream on Baltimoreclubtracks.com for a number of years that doesn't appear to exist anymore.

(Cover illustration by Kevin Sherry)

Labels: 1st Family, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Bmore Original Records, Deep Flow, DJ Excel, Paradox, Unruly Records

On his site for Bmore Original Records, DJ Excel is streaming his new track "Push Ya Top Back" featuring Bossman and Dollars from NEK, and he's got them spitting over a Baltimore club version of T.I.'s "Top Back." Also check out the rest of the site for more streamed music and club tracks you can pay to download (including the "Push Ya Top Back" instrumental.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bmore Original Records, Bossman, DJ Excel

Labels: Bmore Original Records, flyer, Season The Microphone Monday, Turntable Club