Boogie Wonderland: The Genius of Earth, Wind and Fire
Editor's Note: Originally published in October 2012, we pulled this out of the archives in honor of the late Maurice White. RIP.
They produced the first album I ever bought (Cameo's "Rigor Mortis" was my...
FOUNDATIONS: The Essential WAR Playlist
Straight out of South Central Los Angeles, WAR fused genres and delivered pointed messages about race, poverty and conflict over an uplifting groove.
DEL selects 14 essentially tracks from WAR's storied career for the Essential...
Joey Negro: What The Future Looks Like
EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT ME that guessing the future of anything is pretty much impossible; at best you might get it half right. If you'd asked me in 2005 where dance music would be in...
For Frankie: Inside the Frankie Knuckles Foundation
What is the Frankie Knuckles Foundation and what does it do? We find out with Executive Director Frederick Dunson about preserving Frankie Knuckles' legacy and real House Music.
Straight Outta South Central LA: It’s a WAR
Conflict is loved by few, disliked by most, and needed at times. Musically, conflict can be defined as a fusion of genres, a cacophony of sounds, key or tempo changes, and even actual conflict...
I-Robots & Donna McGhee’s New Dirty Talk Mixes
Let's cover a classic: the Klein + MBO cover of Dirty Talk by I-Robots, NOIA's Alessandro and Davide Piatto and legendary vocalist Donna McGhee gets an extra pack of mixes.
If dance music were a...
From Hell With Love: 5 Years of Lumberjacks in Hell
The grand experiment known as Lumberjacks in Hell has been a smashing success. In five years’ time, label owner Marcel Vogel has managed the delicate balancing act of attracting some of the most prominent...
FREAK OUT: Music Inspired by Chic, by Joey Negro
My Foundations column in 5 Magazine is all about the roots of the modern dance floor. One of the torchbearers of threading the foundations of music into the sounds of today is Dave Lee....
Foundations: 14 Essential Disco Mixers
DEL combs though his collection to bring us 14 of the best of these curious, often anonymous and sometimes unloved Disco mixer records.
Previously:
Big Apple 2
('91) ('82-'83) - Post-disco "Prelude-era" with some of my favorite...
Dave Allison: A 5 Mag Mix vol 14
Dave Allison mixes volume #14 of A 5 Mag Mix, 5 Magazine's flagship mix and interview series.
Being named Mark Farina's favorite producer on Soundcloud is no small feat. Montreal's Dave Alison has amassed quite...
Foundations’ Essential Guide to Disco Mixers
DEL's Foundations on the rise and fall of the quintessential vehicle for '70s dance music - the disco mixer.
Theaster Gates’ New Art Space to Host Frankie Knuckles’ Record Collection
We heard about this earlier this year but the cat is out of the bag. ArtNews posted a story about Chicago artist Theaster Gates, who we'd been informed discretely was working with the late...
Dayton: The Sound Of Music (Jon Iler & John Simmons Mix)
An edit from Chicago's Jon Iler and John Simmons brings long lost funk band Dayton back into the spotlight.
Dayton - The Sound Of Music (Jon Iler & John Simmons' Sound Of Chicago Mix)
Not On...
Mega Rare Italo Track by Happen DJ Gets a Reissue
How much would you pay for a "rare" record? I guess we've asked that question once in this issue already (see our piece on MK's "Strider" acetate), but it's a question being asked more...
What It Takes: The Chosen Few Picnic Turns 25
It was 25 years ago this July that someone got the idea of adding turntables to a family reunion and the Chosen Few Picnic was born.
From those humble beginnings in a field behind the...
Ten Years Ago This Website Saved My Life
If you didn't live it, you read about it, heard about and learned about it. Or you're lying about it.
These are facts: the amount of people who claim today that they were "at the...
Johnny D: A 5 Mag Mix Vol ++008
Johnny D, a giant in the music industry in general and founder of the legendary Henry Street Music takes us on a journey through the disco records and influences that helped shape the aesthetic...
This is the Disco Documentary We’ve Been Waiting For
For the public at large, it's all about KC. For people who really love music, it's Gino Soccio, it's T-Connection, it's Boris Midney and Queen Samantha and more.
Behind these artists was TK Disco, and...
Heatwave: The Band That Wouldn’t Die
A Stabbing, a Car Accident, Paralysis, a Coma: Nothing Could Stop the Heatwave - the Pre-Eminent Multi-Ethnic Band of the Funk, Boogie and Disco Era.
While noodling about this issue's subject, it occurred to me...
Mr. Mendel: A 5 Mag Mix Vol ++005
Mr. Mendel takes over A 5 Mag Mix, 5 Magazine's signature mix and interview series.
"I know in Chicago it’s like cussing in the church," Mr. Mendel says, "but I sometimes tell beginning DJs that...
MUST READ!
Library of Congress adds Jamie Principle’s “Your Love” to National Recording Registry
The classic of classic Chicago house tracks was selected for preservation as one of "the defining sounds of history and culture." Here's how it was made.
