Samantha Emanuel

Samantha Emanuel (nee Hasthorpe) is for my books the best of the new Bellydance Superstars. I'm probably biased cos she's a friend, but her improvisations are really well thought out and above all, in tune with the music. Anyway this was filmed during her workshop weekend in Chagford, Devon, in the Summer 2009 and music is by Dan Cantrell and Amon Tobin.

You can even spot me to the left hand side (if you look hard enough) doing my DJ thing...

Caravan Palace

This great French band mix twenties swing sounds with Berlin-style cabaret and other mashed up kitsch electro sounds. As you can see they're a great live band.

We really wanted to have this track on Waltzes, Glitches & Brass, but alas the label wanted loads of dosh so it wasn't to be. But if you're a label with a lot of money to spend on licensing, these could be a decent bet...

Kitten Pig vintage cut

I have no idea whether this is an official video. I suspect not. Anyway this is a classic cut from Pentaphobe. He's probably never bettered it in terms of vaudeville sounds. The video fits perfectly.

Chancery Blame & The Gadjo Club

Unzer is probably the most popular tune on 'Waltzes, Glitches & Brass: The New Sounds Of Vaudeville'. This is a new(ish) tune from Chancery Blame & the boys. A shakey video but you can hear the musicianship at work. I hope for very big things for this London based, classically trained collective...

Analogik

Another band that appears on Waltzes, Glitches & Brass. From Denmark, these analogue electronic dudes, led by Asger, produce some of the most interesting balkan/swing/retro electronica you're like to hear ...

Unkle Ho

Another artist that appears on 'Waltzes, Glitches & Brass'. Unkle Ho is the alter ego of Australian producer Kaho Cheung. All his music is worth getting. He also plays with highly rated Aussie hip hop collective The Herd.

This video rocks. We nearly chose this track but Slavgnostik won through in the end.

The Irrepressibles

This fantastic Baroque indie band are based in London. I'm a huge fan of their work and this song (and accompanying video) is simply gorgeous.

Mr Kite

This is a song I'd have LOVED to have put on the vaudeville compilation, but there was no way we could license a song featuring Eddie Izzard from the soundtrack to a pretty major film, 'Across The Universe' (not a bad film btw, even though I usually hate musicals).

Anyway the original is, of course, a Beatles psychedelic classic.

Circus Contraption

Do NOT watch if you don't like clowns! Music by Circus Contraption, and the second track Carousel also appears on 'Waltzes, Glitches & Brass: The New Sounds Of Vaudeville'. The first track is Stilt Faeries.

I love this video. Massive kudos to whoever put it together ...

Vagabond Opera

This excellent track also appears on 'Waltzes, Glitches & Brass: The New Sounds Of Vaudeville' (http://www.empcds.com/comp-vaudeville.html). Vagabond Opera are a ridiculously talented vaudeville band from Portland, Oregon.

Kormac

This genius DJ/producer hails from Dublin, Ireland. I believe he now plays out with a full swing-style band. Check his last few EPs. Fantastic stuff.

The Destroyers

Out of Birmingham, this 15-piece Balkan brass beatnik collective go down a storm everywhere they play.

We were lucky enough to have them on 'Waltzes, Glitches & Brass: The New Sounds Of Vaudeville' which I produced for Eventide Music Productions in California. The label is best known in belly dance fusion circles for being the home of Solace (the brainchild of label boss Jeremiah Soto).

Anyway, this excellent video features the band's enigmatic singer and wordsmith Paul Murphy.

Wax Tailor

One of my favourite French producers. Not sure how he'd describe himself but maybe he'd use the words "instrumental hip hop" somewhere. However his love of old sounds and samples is obvious. This is a classy tune and a very strange video!

Chinese Man

This DJ collective from France make all manner of strange swing, funk, and soul tunes. Artichaut is a great tune to play out. Always gets the party swinging ...

Firewater

Just my FAVOURITE band at the moment. Led by the enigmatic Tod A and featuring Tamir Muskat from Balkan Beat Box (in later incarnations anyway). They've recorded six albums in total. This is taken from their latest album The Golden Hour which Tod A recorded after a three year trip, roaming around the world for inspiration and picking up even more influences than before. He said in an interview that he'd grown tired and embarrassed of being an American under the Bush administration and wanted to see the places they were bombing. Unfortunately he only made it to the borders of Afghanistan but pretty much covered everywhere else.

Anyway this is just a superb performance of one of the stand-out tracks from The Golden Hour.

Golem - Hot Gypsy Klezmer Punk Band From New York

These guys are a relatively new discovery for me. Well, I've known about them for a while but haven't checked their music in any detail. Anyway they're excellent. On the wonderful JDub imprint (Jewish beats and cross-cultural beat styles) which bought you early Gogol Bordello and Balkan Beat Box collabs. This track appeared on their latest album 'Citizen Boris'.

New York gypsy punks at their very best!

Nicolas Repac

Nicolas is a French-based electronic producer who dabbles in jazz, swing, and found sounds from the early 1900s. His recommended album is 'Swing-Swing' which was a couple of years ago now. I'm not sure what he's up to these days, or even if he's making music anymore, but the above was one of the stand-out tracks from the album. The video is pure vaudeville. Eerie but classy.