March Mix of the Month: Beane’s Proper Notts House Party

Right then Notts, it’s time to bask in the city’s deep-rooted talent for making party tracks. 

Local wax addict and Soul Buggin’ team member Beane Noodler dug deep into his collection to put together this mixtape, with every bleep, beat and boogie linked to a Nottingham artist over the past 27 years. The two-hour selection cruises through tunes both released on homegrown labels as well as respected national outputs, spanning feel good vocals, dubbed out disco and hands-in-the-air madman tunes.

As we celebrate a revived energy for nightlife here, it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase the fact that history is repeating itself and there’s been something in the Midlands air for quite some time; to go alongside the history themed March issue of Leftlion, we present to you an archive of proper Notts house bangers.

Once Beane cooled off from it all, here explained what you can expect when pressing play: 

Putting together a mix to represent the house scene in Nottingham was harder than trying to take the eggs out of a baked cake but I decided to invite fire and fury and pick out some personal favourites from the last 25+ years or so.

I haven’t gone right back to the start of house music’s explosion in Nottingham but chose the heady year of 1993 as the jumping off point with Nail’s 'Cassiopeia' which still sounds mind-bogglingly fresh some 27 years later. The 90s theme continues with the bumpty bump of Mindchime and the wonky Waxploitation crew via ex-Nottingham head Tim ‘Love’ Lee’s label ‘Tummy Touch’.

The DiY crew come correct with Digs, Woosh and Derby stalwart Atjazz representing on ‘DiY Discs’ and sister label ‘Diyersions’. 90s Nottingham bands Schmoov!, Neon Heights, Crazy P and Bent simply had to be included or my head would’ve been on a spike in Market Square with kids throwing cabbages at it. Super producers Bob Sadler, Shrinkwrap and Charles Webster also get a nod with the latter getting two mentions (with the sublime Shara Nelson and also ex-Selectadisc warrior Paul Wain and Gary Marsden)

It’s not all about the old school though. Red Rack’em, Lone, Ex-Friendly, Coyote and Cyclonix are all producers who are shining bright in the 21st century. Pete Woosh’s wonderful ‘Spirit Wrestlers’ label also gets a tip of the hat via a beatless trip to some far away exotic place in PJ Principle’s head.

I could wang on for ages about all the people involved in these records but I’ll shut up now, apologise to all who I left out and slink back to the dark hole that is my record room. Enjoy the music x

Tracklist:

1. Ex-Friendly - New day coming // CDR
2. Ronda - Folana // Bear Funk
3. Crazy P - Never gonna reach me (Hot Toddy remix) // 2020 Vision
4. Cyclonix - Soar above // Disconnected
5. Shrinkwrap - Outhouse (Sunrise) // U Star
6. Bent - Exercise 5 // Open
7. Nail - Cassiopeia // Strictly 4 Groovers / Warp
8. Ron Basejam feat. Holly Backler - Voices (Hot Coins remix) // Coins
9. Digs, Woosh & Atjazz - Jaywalkin’ // Diyersions
10. Schmoov! - Playground // DiY Discs
11. Goshawk feat Erik Rico - Get up to get down // Hudd Traxx
12. Waxploitation - A tab of disco // Tummy Touch
13. Coyote - I’m just moving (Still moving remix) // International Feel
14. Presence feat. Shara Nelson - Sense of danger // Pagan
15. PJ Principle - The road to Al-Mu'tasim (Desert mix) // Spirit Wrestlers
16. Neon Heights Featuring Zoe Johnston ‎- Are We Thru? (Are we Bent? remix)
17. Hot Toddy - Stratocoaster // Paper [2000]
18. Mindchime - Feel like giving love (Sanza deep house dub) // Hard Times
19. Red Rack’em - Housey // Bergerac
20. Hot Lizard - The theme (Love From San Francisco Mix) // Pacific Records
21. Hugh Pascall - Varia Falls // Disconnected
22. Lone - Once in a while // Werk Discs

Soul Buggin’ presents Homoelectric, with Luke Unabomber and Gina Breeze at The Cell on Friday 3 April. 

Info and tickets