In its own quirky way the Southport Weekender took place at Minehead in May. If you missed it then the team’s next event is in July in Croatia. The Weekender website will provide details of that and all future events. If you didn’t make it to Minehead or can’t afford an Easy Jet jaunt to Croatia, then there’s always the annual Weekender CD and this new ‘un (the tenth in the series, by the way) has been picked and mixed by a top team – Miguel Migs and Atjazz.
Mig’s DJ lineage goes back to the 90s when he dabbled in things electronic before graduating to deeper, more soulful sounds with the legendary Naked label and his 19 tune selection here reflects that part of his heritage. He includes a couple of his own efforts – you’d expect that, wouldn’t you? They are the pacey ‘Heartbeat’ with a hushed but sadly limited vocal from Lisa Shaw and the more gimmicky ‘Create A Mood’ which is a Migs’ collaboration with Shades Of Gray. His set also includes three exclusive remixes – Kyodal and Gabriela Smith’s ‘Can You Hear The Beat’, Tortured Soul’s ‘Can’t Keep Rhythm From A Dancer’ and Zoo with Amy Lyon’s ‘Over Me’… quality all the way.
The Atjazz disc is maybe a bit more interesting for soul folk. Though Atjazz (Martin Iveson) has a background in computer games his work in the underground music scene has always had a soulful pull and here he includes tunes from Leon Ware and Incognito. The Ware tunes are ‘The Light’ and ‘On The Beach’ and Atjazz is savvy enough to retain all Ware’s inherent sensuality –especially on the former. The Incognito tune by the way is the jaunty ‘Freedom To Love’ and our man gives it a loose, jazzy makeover. Listen up to LOGG’S ‘Dancing Into The Stars’ too – almost as good as John Morales’ recent mix of the disco classic.
The digital release of the collection, by the way, comes with five bonus cuts – including The Muthafunkaz’ Oh I Miss You’ and Kerri Chandler’s ‘Rain’.
(BB) 3/5
