After hours grooving…
It is my belief that all music is relative. It all comes from the same place. That’s why you can take Indian music and fuse it with the gritty raw drum sounds of urban hip hop and get a record like Missy Elliot’s ” Get Your Freak On”! Or taking elements of Soul, Latin, Funk and Jazz and mix it up to get Disco. Music IS the universal language – period. I have made records where I do not understand a single word that is being sung, but I feel it, and it speaks to me in a way that moves me. So when I was asked to submit a Back To Mine Top Ten, I thought about what I listen to everyday. Usually after I finish a night in a club setting, I will listen to various styles and genres of music, some which I may have wished to play in the club but for what ever reason I didn’t. This list of ten songs are a small window into my crazy mind…
Quentin Harris
1. Sade ‘Pearls’
If there is any song in the world that I cry every time I hear it, this is the one. I love story telling in song writing and this story touches and moves me in a strong way.
2. J-Davey ‘Dirty Love’
I love all things dirty and funky. I discovered this track while shopping in i-Tunes. It sounds like something George Clinton and J-Dilla would have created if they got into the studio together.
3. Foster The People ‘Call It What You Want’
This is a really up beat feel good song with a message that I can truly relate to and get on my soap box about! To me there are so many genres or sub genres in dance music that it makes my head spin. “What kind of music is that?” – I don’t know? CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT!
4. George Benson ‘Nature Boy’
I have always loved this Nat King Cole penned song. George Benson takes it into a whole different atmosphere! The musicality is just profound.
5. Howlin’ Wolf ‘Spoonful’
People might not know that I am a huge fan of Blues and Roots music. When I was 13 I was playing keys in my aunt’s blues band The Delta Children. My grandfather, grandmother and my father LOVED and LIVED the blues. Howlin Wolf’s voice is so gritty. He sings a tale of the many – good or bad temptations that people have.
6. Madonna ‘Nothing Really Matters’
I love when Madonna is saying something in her music. This was one, if not my favourite songs from the Ray Of Light album. I also love that she is using background vocalist on the song it gives it so much more depth.
7. David Oliver ‘Ms’.
I first discovered this song at a very young age My Mother had this 45 and played it constantly! I love a male singer who has a good falsetto. David Oliver’s Ms. tells the tale of a very independent woman (maybe this was the time of women’s lib movement). In this track she is so strong, but he feels she still needs a male for support.
8. Roisin Murphy ‘Simulation’
OK Roisin Murphy is such an amazing talent. I would kill to work with her – it’s a dream of mine. She can do no wrong in my book. This is such a sleazy, slinky, hypnotic song.
9. Angel Haze ‘Working Girls’
Hip Hop was my first passion as a producer, and it is never out of the picture. I kinda gave hip hop a back burner for a while. There wasn’t anything that was moving me. The enter Angel Haze (from my home town Detroit), he is a beast on the mic, and just kills it here.
10. Quentin Harris ‘Moist Groove’
This is the one song that I have created, I just cannot believe that all of the sounds came out of me. In the dance music world sometimes I don’t feel that I can really showcase my full musical ability all the time. I still can’t believe that I made this, inspired by the great Carlos Santana.
Quentin Harris headlines East VIllage’s 5th Birthday on Saturday 2nd February with a Def Mix 4 hour set. Tickets can be purchased from Resident Advisor
http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?438101
http://www.eastvillageclub.co.uk/
