Fenster’s Funky Sevens

Taking the tune "Song For Shelter" by Fatboy Slim featuring Roland Clark (also known as "I Get Deep") from 2000 as a focal point. I go back and trace the development of the style of vocal delivery used in Spoken Word House Music; moving through churches, publishing houses and civil rights rallies to the mid 80s House Music and Poetry Slam scenes of Chicago and beyond.

I, also, make the case that Spoken Word House Music is its own unique form of artistic expression and should be held in the same regard of Rap/Hip Hop and other spoken word forms.

Special Thanks to Marlon Billups (Joe De Presser), Reg E Gaines and Micah Salkind

Check out Micah's book on House Music

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Micah-Salkind/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AMicah%2BSalkind

Roland Clark's Bandcamp

https://djrolandclark.bandcamp.com/music

Maurice Joshua's "everything house music and more" podcast

https://theblackpodcastapp.com/rss/podcasts/everything-house-music-and-more/

Dublin City in Ireland is currently experiencing one of the worst housing crises in the world, Property prices have increased so much that only a handful of working people can afford to buy a home. The rental market is in chaos too, with very few places for rent and the accommodation that is available is often very expensive and low quality. 1000s of people are being made homeless every year.

In this episode, I try to tell the history of housing in Dublin and the causes of the current housing crisis through seven Irish songs, ranging from folk to pop to hip hop, with lots of clips from musicians, politicians, historians, analysts and of course, the people of the great city of Dublin.

If your Instagram algorithm is tuned to serve you wholesome musical moments, you might have seen a video recently of an Alaskan bluegrass band (The Heists with Josh Fortenbery) playing the song "East Virginia Blues" with vocals from a Mongolian throat singer (Bataa Jambaldorj of Nomads). It's a joyous meeting of musical styles and cultures.

This episode tells the story of how that wonderfully serendipitous moment came to be.

The video

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYw9SRYRN3j/?igsh=MWJzZGd6OHQyaXp0dA==

Bataa's instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bataajambaldorj?igsh=ZTh2eGVodWU1Y252

Nomad's bandcamp

https://nomadsdublin.bandcamp.com/

Bataa playing in class

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA36MolMmyM/?igsh=OWt0bmN1dzhvaWFs

Hansel/Billy

https://www.instagram.com/_hansel_s?igsh=YjhyMnlja3Zwbzd4

The Heists

https://www.the-heists.com/

https://www.instagram.com/the_heists?igsh=NTk2dDcwdGxnZ2ts

Josh Fortenbery

https://www.instagram.com/josh.fortenbery?igsh=MWRsZjB0czljcmV0cg==

Taylor Vidic

https://www.instagram.com/taylordallasvidic?igsh=Z291aW16ZTh0cHhu

Deni Hurtado

https://www.instagram.com/deni_hurtado?igsh=bnJnMm1vYTExZHluY

Lisa/Twitcher

https://www.instagram.com/twitcher_music?igsh=Yjg0NW9weXowd3cx

Cormac/Big Monster Love

https://bigmonsterlove.bandcamp.com/album/game-over

In the last episode, I inadvertently took a turn into the realm of true crime podcasting, and while I'm not intentionally planning this, it seems this episode could be filed under the heading of self help.
Back in the 80s, I heard a song, Dignity by Deacon Blue, which explored themes I hadn't come across in a song before. It's about finding meaning in the drudgery of manual labour and how the right attitude can become inspirational and filled with joy and hope. Subconsciously, over the years. I've been drawn to other songs that dealt with similar themes and now I've collected these songs into a sort of mental health journey.
The modern world can lead people to act in a way that might cause them to lose their dignity, maybe the messages in these songs could help someone regain it. If that's not too lofty a claim.

Ronan Hession/Mumblin' Deaf Ro's music

https://mumblindeafro.bandcamp.com/music

I'm not exactly sure what this episode is, I guess it's a kind of audio essay based on seven "ghost songs" (songs with the word ghost in the title) and how they relate to some moments from my life. Maybe it's something of a personal memoir through song,;as pretension as that sounds.

The last 30, or so minutes are more of a documentary about a very sad and tragic event in Dublin's history, so be prepared for that if you are of a sensitive nature.

So please have a listen and enjoy these Ghost Memories

Aoife's Sing Along Social

https://www.singalongsocial.com/

Gary's music

https://gazlerock.bandcamp.com

Trapped Inside: The Stardust Nightclub Fire Disaster Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deHNbwW6B6U

About a year ago, an Instagram account called the Jazz Dispensary shared a photo titled "Miles Davis in his New York apartment 1986". The picture was taken from a book called No Picture by Japanese photographer Shigeru Uchiyama.

It shows Miles reaching behind his bed to adjust his sound system. On the floor around the bed there are two rows of records, some CDs, a selection of belts, magazines and various other items.

And while the photo gives us a candid snapshot into the life of one of the most important musicians of the 20th century, it can also tell us a whole lot about where Miles Davis's music career was at that moment of time.

Check out the photo here
https://ibb.co/Jw6Qp74b

And the mystery CD
https://ibb.co/rRVDv5ZT

A history of the remix; from the avant garde tape loop experiments of the 50s, to the creative expansion of the standard three minute song in the late 60s. And the innovations in DJing and dancefloor dynamics of the 70s, through to the current situation when a remix is now more a statement of the remixer's musical expression that a reinterpretation of the original producer's work.

Featuring interviews with many of the key characters like Tom Moulton, Mel Cheren and Walter Gibbons, plus lots of the pivotal tracks that shaped the sound of dance music today.

Norman Whitfield playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bRq6ju63svO3C7eSBTW4Q?si=aT-KAms3RYuw9m-1ObNs8Q&pi=sXT7KBhdSdGDO

An update of episodes 24 and 26, where I introduced the genre of Dude Hop, mid 90s alternative rock infused hip hop made by white dudes with hangovers, with some more dude hop songs I've discovered over the last year or so

The Dude Hop Timeline playlist on Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dNXabIDPDFwQ00UwK06Gr?si=TKt2fWXTQmOkkGSgdsHo3A&pi=idkD9sKhTGeYH

The Dude Hop sub Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/DudeHop

A selection of sometimes cringe, sometimes cool comedy rap tunes from the early to mid 80s, featuring tunes from England, Scotland, Ireland and The Netherlands

The Grove was a teenage disco in the Northside of Dublin, Ireland that ran for 30 years, from 1967 to 1997. and thanks to Cecil Nolan, who was the DJ for that entire time, and the music he played, The Grove became an essential part of the formative years of the tens of thousands of young Northsiders who attended.

In this episode, many of those who were lucky enough to have gone to the Grove share their stories and the music they heard there.

Links

Joe Kearns - What is the Grove?

https://thegrove-jk.blogspot.com/p/memories-of-grove-1973-to-1975-from-2025.html?m=1

The Grove Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4512479386/?ref=share

The Grove radio show on NearFM

https://nearfm.ie/the-grove-show/

Eamonn McCormack's "Kindred Spirits" album

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7IYQbgnmiFhHdnp5WESEQV?si=hYYbsEFpTuWxxMuCwaFtiw

"More Than A Feeling" - RTE documentary on the Grove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccATMMFBtM

32a - Irish Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPA8aUK3q80

Just in time for Halloween, I cover a dark subject in this episode; the stories of seven plane crashes and the famous musicians who lost their lives in them.

Seven songs thar feature spelling in the lyrics

From Motown to Boystown: A History of HI-NRG (1957-1989)

In this episode I look at the genre of electronic dance music known as Hi-NRG, and how innovators like Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Bobby Orlando, Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench took this form of electronic disco from the dancefloors of gay nightclubs to the pop charts around the world.

We also trace the origins of this sound back to Hitsville. USA, the home of Motown Records.

Featuring tonnes of music and interviews with the main characters.

Jamaican Sound System Culture and its influence on British Music 1950 - 1991

Using Soul II Soul's massive 1989 hit Back to Life as a starting point we trace how Sound System Culture has played a fundamental part in shaping British Music; taking in early Jamaican Sound Systems and the American RnB t hey preferred, through Ska. Reggae, Roots. Dub, Lover's Rock, and Dancehall. Northern Soul, Jazz Funk, early Electro, Rare Groove, Acid House, Street Soul, acid Jazz and Trip Hop

Contained lots of great music and interviews with the Musicians, DJs, Producers. DJs, promoters and Soundmen involved.

The story of how dubstep developed; from US Garage to UK Garage, through speed garage, two step, break step and on into grime and dark garage until the underground dubstep sound went overground around 2005 and how it continued to develop into the 2010s.

The podcast features tonnes of music, and interviews with the people who created the sound .

In this episode we explore the origins of disco music in the early 1970s, in the gay dance clubs of Boston; The Other Side and the 1270.

The episode features excerpts from a series of interviews with first generation disco DJs conducted by Brian Halligan of Boston LGBTQ organisation, the History Project.

In particular I focus on one DJ, Jimmy Stuard, I feel Jimmy's contributions to the craft of DJing have been overlooked.

The History Project YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFZZB_pNhTXOlRAt0i_2Tg

Brian Halligan on Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/briandhalligan.bsky.social

The Other Side Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/share/1FiCasptnX/

1270 Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/803649106339832/?ref=share

Steven Burke's Podcast

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/djstevenburke

Carol Mitro's podcast

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/carilmitro

Bobby Busnach's Mixcloud

https://www.mixcloud.com/bobbybusnach/

Wendy Hunt's Mixcloud

https://www.mixcloud.com/djwh8/

Jimmy Stuard - Live at 12 West - New Year's Eve 1976 (6 hour set)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6bCL0VB_G8

Danae Jacovidis - At Midnight Melody 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wItGs9Dzdxk

What we're gonna do here is go back... back to first evidence of human artistic expression, back to the dawn of civilisation and back to the enduring human need to be, both physically and spiritually. free.

As we voyage across the millennia, Let's uphold the fundamental right of all the peoples of this earth to write their own histories.

And never forget to embrace that unquenchable desire, found in every man, woman and child, to dance together under the stars to some funky ass tunes.

Seven songs about the Ancient World

Fenster's Funky Sevens- Ep 28 - A History of House Music

Covering the time period between two UK pop chart entries; George McCrae's number one "Rock Your Baby" in June 1974, and Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk "Love Can't Turn Around" in August 1986; the first disco hit and the first house music hit.

I look at how Disco developed over the 70s until its "death" in 1979. Then how, with Funk and Post-Disco and European influences, Disco was reborn on the dancefloors of Chicago as House Music.

We also take in the stories of the first House Music records and young ambitious (and sometimes unscrupulous) characters involved in their creation.

An update to episode 19 - Irish Hip Hop - 1979 to 1999

Some exciting revelations about Ireland's first ever rap record and an overlooked vibes man supreme

A continuation of Ep 24, where I retroactively created a genre called Dude Hop. Dude Hop is a particular type of indie rock influenced hop hip that was made by white dudes with hangovers in the mid 90s,

In this episode I talk a little about the mid to late 90s US punk and ska scenes and show the connections between these scenes and how the sound of Dude Hop evol also introduce a cousin of Dude Hop; Haze Hop.

Dude hop timeline playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dNXabIDPDFwQ00UwK06Gr?si=t5odFGTDSL6jwHBoMgsPcg&pi=DEGJhS-ZQx6aZ