Honey Dijon today releases a brand-new track featuring multi-faceted musician and vocalist Ben Westbeech.
“Finding My Way” is included as an exclusive new cut as part of the 19-track DJ-Kicks mix available now both digitally as well as physically on CD and on special gatefold vinyl LP.
Honey Dijon’s curation and mix of the latest edition of the DJ-Kicks series, features tracks by Blackjoy, Art of Tones, Shaboom, Kiko Navarro represents her very first commercially available mix.
Fashion icon, catwalker, curator, historian, commentator, activist, Grammy winner and – damn right – DJ, there ain’t much these days that Ms. Honey Dijon doesn’t do with aplomb.
Most of her achievements thus far came via her passion for clubbing and the art of DJing, from those early Chicago parties to her role as a de facto ambassador for world dancefloors.
Honey’s early years in her native Chicago were spent hanging out with buddies Derrick Carter and Mark Farina; desperate to start DJing, she was so broke she had to go to friends’ houses to record mixes. Moves to DC and New York took her nearer to her goal. Getting breaks via early supporters Tedd Patterson (whose recent remix of Kiko Navarro appears here) and Danny Tenaglia, taking any gig she could get, ‘I DJed weddings, I DJed opening restaurants, I DJed fashion events, I DJed anything, just learning how to be a DJ.’
When it comes to records, labels, releases, Honey Dijon is a house music nerd, having been schooled by some of the Windy City’s masters and is as adept at bringing the past into the future as anyone else in the business.
The DJ-Kicks compilation is a testament to someone whose knowledge of the underground labels of yore is encyclopedic and Ms. Dijon has dredged the recesses of her clubbing memories.
’I’m a huge fan of research. So putting this compilation together was basically going into my dancefloor experience and finding gems I wanted to present to people that they may not have been familiar with or that they didn’t even know existed.’ Thus we have Psychedelic Research Lab’s anthemic NY banger ‘Keep On Climbing’, which came out on producer Scott Richmond’s own store label, Satellite, or Sir Lord Comixx’s London vibes on the aptly-named ‘Soul House’ which, says Honey, ‘I heard Danny play it at 7am in Twilo and it was so fuckin’ weird’. Kingsley O, the London boy marooned in Connecticut, contributes the Jersey vibes on Maydie Myles’ brilliant debut single, ‘Keep On Luvin’, reinforced by Blaze associate Cassio The Cassmaster’s ‘Gettin Hot’.
The compilation is a pan-global, multi-era waltz through house music’s storied past.
Repping Chicago, there’s Dance Mania’s Dance Kings, Blackjoy and Art Of Tones carrying the flag for Paris and even Shaboom’s Blackpool gets a nod. Some of these are forgotten classics, some are dollar bin finds, and there’s also a brand-new Dijon track, sprinkled with her usual mustard-hot flourishes and lightly seasoned with some more recent efforts by Waajeed and Kiko Navarro. This can be consumed on a dancefloor, in the back of a cab or relaxing at home with a glass of something cold (or, if you must, hot).
‘The dancefloor to me is a sacred space,’ she explains. ‘I feel like I’m a facilitator of spirit through sound. Dancefloors are healing spaces, they’re sexual spaces, they’re joyful spaces, they’re liberating spaces. They’re places for people to discover who they are, they’re places to leave behind your worries, they’re places to celebrate with your friends, to dance, to get laid, to have fun. The dancefloor is a reflection of life and I take it very seriously.’ Says Honey Dijon.
Honey Dijon follows in a long line of expert selectors who have contributed mixes, with previous releases coming from artists such as DJ Koze, Four Tet, Maya Jane Coles, Kerri Chandler, Peggy Gou, Theo Parrish, Kode9, James Holden, Nina Kraviz , HAAi, Disclosure, Jayda G and most recently DJ BORING earlier this year.
Continuous Mix/CD Tracklist
01 – Honey Dijon – Intro
02 – Chestnut – Pot Of Gold
03 – Charly Brown – Freaked Out
04 – Stereo MC’s – Good Feeling (Mr. G’s Turn On Dub)
05 – Johnny Dangerous – Dear Father In Heaven (Mr. Marvin House Of Dreams Mix)
06 – Psychedelic Research Lab – Keep On Climbin’ (Mix 2)
07 – Blow Out Express – You’re Mine (Sound Factory Bar Mix)
08 – The Dance Kings – Climb The Walls
09 – Buika x Kiko Navarro – Mama Calling (Tedd Patterson Remix)
10 – Cassio The Cassmaster – Getting Hot (Broad Market Street Mix)
11 – Maydie Myles – Keep On Luvin (West Tribe Beats)
12 – Michi Lange – Brothers And Sisters (Radio Mix)
13 – Shaboom – Bessie
14 – D:Ream – U R The Best Thing (Def Club Mix)
15 – Sir Lord Comixx – Soul House
16 – Honey Dijon – Finding My Way (DJ-Kicks) ft. Ben Westbeech
17 – Art Of Tones – Praise
18 – Waajeed – Right Now
19 – Black Joy – Untitled (Solid Groove Remix)
LP Tracklist
A1 Honey Dijon – Finding My Way (DJ-Kicks) ft. Ben Westbeech
A2 Buika x Kiko Navarro – Mama Calling (Tedd Patterson Remix)
A3 Shaboom – Bessie
B1 D:Ream – U R The Best Thing (Def Club Mix)
B2 Stereo MC’s – Good Feeling (Mr G’s Turn On Dub)
B3 Black Joy – Untitled (Solid Groove Remix)
C1 Scott Richmond & John Selway present Psychedelic Research Lab – Keep On Climbin’ (Mix 2)
C2 Charly Brown – Freaked Out
D1 Maydie Myles – Keep On Luvin’ (West Tribe Beats)
D2 Johnny Dangerous – Dear Father In Heaven (Mr. Marvin’s House of Dreams Mix)
DJ-Kicks: Honey Dijon is out now via !K7
