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defining freethinking James Poole recommendations reflection

13 minutes of genius, from Gil Scott-Heron

My mum brought the album home from work. A friend of hers knew that me and my brothers were into our music, so he thought he would work on expanding our knowledge. I want to shake him by the hand. For, the album which I put my hands on, I am guessing as a 14 […]

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defining freethinking James Poole recommendations

“Play Sumthing Fast”

2010 has been quite the year for music. Everything Everything emerged from nowhere to knock out an album which more accomplished bands would struggle to match. Badly Drawn Boy returned, and produced his best work in a decade. Supergrass departed stage left, but left behind the unadulterated joy of The Hotrats. And, after a silence […]

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defining freethinking DJ Prestige freethinking nyc James Poole recommendations

I love Motown. There. I said it.

I was raised in a house filled with Motown. Rarely was there a Saturday morning where the sounds of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Smoky Robinson were not ringing out. The ‘Motown Chartbusters’ albums became some of the first LPs that I was truly familiar with. Right down to the detail of their […]

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defining freethinking James Poole mixes

movement 3: James Poole, October 2010

Our intention with the movements is to share an authentic taste for freethinking nyc. This is the music we play, mixed live, with no edits applied after the fact. The first couple of mixes showed that this is really about good music. It’s eclectic. It’s not governed by ‘what’s cool’, or what genre ‘works’. It’s […]

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defining freethinking freethinking nyc James Poole recommendations

Earl Zinger: freethinking legend

Let me tie a few threads together. I’ve written about covers before – if you didn’t check out John Martyn’s version of ‘Glory Box’, then you’ve missed out. I’ve also written about a tune which has appeared at many, many freethinking nyc nights: ‘Shaft In Africa’ by Johnny Pate. Finally, a recent post extolled the […]

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defining freethinking freethinking nyc James Poole

The Holy Trinity

Can it be nearly five months since we started this? freethinking nyc, volume 1 took place in May. We’ve seen the summer through, and are about to kick into the full splendour of Autumn in New York. We’ve had some great nights, and the blog posts have been well received. We’ve brought you unheard tracks […]

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defining freethinking freethinking nyc James Poole

People *like* good music

Given the chance, people like good music. I’ll stand by this, and defend it to the death. Well, maybe not that far, but I’d have a good stab at it. My issue with mainstream media is simple: the general public is fed what is popular. Just because it’s popular doesn’t mean that this is the […]

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defining freethinking James Poole

And the winner is… an album which deserves it

Maybe it’s the curse of the support act. Maybe they had just been blown up out of proportion to my ears. I’ve used this blog as a way of explaining (admitting, confessing) that I made a snap judgment about bands before – a judgment that was just wrong. Well, it seems like an appropriate time […]

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defining freethinking James Poole mixes

movement 1: James Poole, September 2010

A few people have been asking for mixes, so here we go… A lot of this music you’ll know. Some of it you won’t. Our goal is simple. Good music rules. It’s not just about playing music which you won’t have heard before – it’s about bringing it all together, and hopefully giving you a […]

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defining freethinking James Poole recommendations

Spiritualized blowing up Radio City

Radio City Music Hall. A balmy Friday night. The promise of something special. Sprititualized delivered. It’s been a good week for concerts. The Black Keys knocked the crap out of Central Park Summerstage on Tuesday. Last night, however, belonged to Spiritualized. To put into context, Radio City Music Hall is big. In every way, it’s […]

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defining freethinking freethinking nyc James Poole recommendations

A theme tune for freethinking?

So that’ll be volume 6 done, then. We’ve had nights which, without necessarily planning it out in advance, have had very different vibes. At times heavier on house, at other times with a reggae undercurrent – part of the beauty of the freethinking movement is the notion of being able to blur genres, and to […]

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defining freethinking freethinking nyc James Poole recommendations

I love a good cover

I love a good cover. People tend to have strong views on covers. I used to fall into the camp of the ‘a cover has to add something’ people. Now I don’t. A good cover can be just that: an artist playing someone else’s song, but doing a good job of it. Fine, this can […]