DJ Marvelette (aka Janet Hurt)

Current top 5 tracks:

Shailendra Singh, "Calzachen Suck" (from Konkani Songs – Music from Goa, Made in Bombay, Trikent, 2009).
"Goa has a tumultuous history (colonized by Portugal in the 1500s); the music here is a mash up of Indian, Latin American, and European instruments and styles. Track #17 (c. 1976) just slays me. I’ve never heard a güiro sound so menacing, like a blade being drawn across a leather strap. Plus the soaring mariachi trumpets, the organ, the guitar, the build and release..."

Eydie Gormé with Trio Los Panchos, "Mas Amor" (from More Amor, CBS, 1965).
"Eydie Gormé had a long and very successful career in the US (“Blame It on the Bossa Nova”), and in Latin America after recording in Spanish with Trio Los Panchos in the mid '60s. Her albums aren’t too hard to find; my copy of More Amor was originally my dad’s. Love this song—sometimes a luscious, romantic bolero is just what’s needed."

Grazia, "Soyle Bene" (Fortuna reissue)
"Grazia was 16 years old when she recorded this album for Kaliphone Records in Jaffa, Israel, in 1978. Undying gratitude to the brilliant, hard-working labels everywhere that reissue amazing recordings."

Jimmy Ford, "Don’t Hang Around Me Any More" (Stylo)
"This (originally) obscure 1959 single has been included in a dozen rockabilly/vintage-R&R comps since the '70s (Buffalo Bop, etc.). I knew nothing of all that when I first heard it on the radio when I was 16… What is this?! I immediately hit the ‘record’ button on my radio/cassette deck and caught a snippet, which I played back ad nauseam. It was the first rockabilly song I ever heard, though it doesn’t have a very typical rockabilly beat; it’s unique, hence its popularity on comp reissues."

Paul Beaver & Bernard L. Krause, "Multiple Repeat" (The Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music, Nonesuch)
"This is what you play when it’s time to shut down and send everyone home to dream psychedelic dreams. A teaching guide recorded in the early '60s with one of the first Moog Model 3 synthesizers, complete with a weighty pamphlet explaining the theory and science of electronic-music composition. In the September 2014 issue of Sun magazine, there’s an interview with Bernie Krause, co-creator of the album—a pioneer in soundscape ecology, he went on to study bioacoustics, releasing 50 albums of natural soundscapes and publishing four books on the subject."

[The individual track isn't available for streaming, so you get the whole album.]

Styles played: "Global, psych, garage, Latin, rockabilly, mod, funk, new wave, etc."

Crew/label affiliation: "Huge thank yous to Café Racer (past and present), the former Redwood (Lisa and Matt), the Floating Tomb gang at Fuse Box, Brian Foss, DJ Vodka Twist, DJ Eye/Aubrey Nehring, Lady Krishna, DJs Trick Bag, Emmanuelle, Mamma Casserole, and every event/venue that’s given me the opportunity to spin."

Format: "Records (although there is a lot of great stuff on CDs that you can’t get on vinyl!)."

Worst request: "I mostly get people asking me what I’m playing."

DJing philosophy: "I don’t have any brilliant philosophy or strategy—I have my own taste and listening to go off of, and I’m always learning more; there’s always more to discover, which of course is one reason I love music so much. That, and sharing it with others. I love it when people turn me on to things I’ve never heard before, or remind me of things I really like. If I can do the same for others, that makes me happy."

Upcoming events: "April 21; Café Racer's inaugural Bloody Mary Bar Pajama Party Brunch
April 25 at Cha Cha Lounge
April 26 at Café Racer: Drinks, Drawing and DJs (continuing Racer’s great tradition of fostering creativity of all kinds)
May 5 at Carlile Room."