Despite the rather romantic name — it’s pretty similar to being called Morning Stroll or Twilight Drive — Dawn Safari actually makes some pretty good beats. “You Don’t Know” is a prime example of this, laying down an idiosyncratic wave of percussion, slightly wonky lead synths and off-kilter vocal samples. Combined it offers a pleasing listen, kind of like what you’d hear on a morning saunter round your favourite lake…if that lake had a resident DJ that liked playing decent tunes at such an early hour (and was allowed because, you know, restrictions put in place by the council etc. It’s a complicated business).

Back to the name though, I’ve actually been on a dawn safari and I can tell you that it sounded more like the occasional monkey screech interrupted by my African guide saying whatever “Get the fuck out of here you furry shit” is in Swahili before we roared off in a jeep to look at some better animals. It was fun though.

“You Don’t Know” is out now as part of the Mask EP on French label Soigne Tes Oreilles.

Dawn Safari on Soundcloud

Ever the creative chap ‘Rut’ is the latest offering from Joe, the producer who brought us the paradoxically relentless yet addictive ‘Claptrap’. Sparse yet ultimately fulfilling, sparing chord hits punctuate a flowing percussive rhythm like expertly placed raisins in a particularly delicious muesli.

Ok, I paused for a second to see if that made any sense and to be honest, I don’t really understand the analogy myself. I’m just eating muesli as I type and figured I may as well include it. The raisins are nice. No one gives muesli radio play anyway, it’s all about Coco Pops and Lucky Charms for kids these days. Get yourself some real oats you sugared up scamps. Yeah, and give this a listen with your ears before the diabetes kicks in and they fall off.

‘Rut’ is out now as the b-side to ‘Grimelight’ on Hessle Audio.

Buy Joe tunes at Juno.

I just wanted to post to alert you all to the fact that I’m still alive and well, roaming around the streets of Manchester with no sense of direction and spending an ungodly amount on craft beer and pulled pork sandwiches (no, I haven’t grown a moustache, fuck you). I also wanted to draw your attention to the Jeff Samuel faded mix of Rhye’s ‘Open’ because it’s almost as good as a hangover cup of tea.

A masterful rework of the source material, changing it beyond recognition, it’s all constructed around a short and perpetually looped vocal snippet that fades in and out over eight minutes of exquisite house.

Buy Rhye tunes at Juno.

From their recent single of the same name, which dropped on COJA a couple of weeks ago, the new video for ‘Feel Me’ from duo/trio/occasional-four-piece-when-live Atlas offers pure nocturnal vibes. Soft focus urban luminescence. Owls love this shit.

Buy Feel Me (COJA001) at Juno.

After three weeks of living like a 75-year-old man who listens to the radio and drinks scotch in the dark, I finally got the internet in my new apartment. What does that mean to you? Well it means I can start posting regularly again and from my point view, it means less time pretend shooting the inner-city geese prowling the canal outside. Vicious bastards. What tune am I posting to accompany my triumphant come back? The Wideboys London mix of T2′s ‘Heartbroken’ of course. Probably not to everyone’s taste, but a bit of a banger.

After two successful releases on Pictures — Moonlight and Drag Queen — Steve Martin EP is Bobby Champs’ debut on Hypercolour. It actually dropped in November, but I only got around to pressing play a couple of days ago because I can be a lazy bastard. Which, dear employer who may be reading this, is a statement made purely for low-quality comedic effect.

Comprising three tunes of tech house goodness, from the tribally inflected title track through the stomping “NYC Panther” and finally to the uplifting, pacier and tighter horizons of “Brooklyn Bomb”, this is a decent offering. The artwork isn’t really doing it for me but the rest of it is. Preview all three tunes after the jump.

Tracklist
1. Steve Martin
2. NYC Panther
3. Brooklyn Bomb

Buy Steve Martin EP at Juno

Frequent collaborators John Talabot and Pional have once again come together to produce music that makes me the opposite of angry. This time it has arrived in the form of an eight and a half minute remix of The xx’s “Chained” from their recent album Coexist. Inspired by The Streets’ melancholy yet euphoric classic “Blinded by the Lights”, this is going to take you places. Not like your Uncle does in his mini-van when he has to run “errands” and drop off “foo-foo dust” to his “friends”, but like…make you feel good and use your dusty brain.

Buy John Talabot tunes at Juno | Buy Pional tunes at Juno

Available to download for a limited time only — although let’s face it, it will be uploaded to infinite sources by various kind souls after this period — Disclosure are offering a remix of the Artful Dodger classic “Please Don’t Turn Me On”. The tune has been around in various incarnations for a while now, surfacing in full form last month, but now you can call it your own for the princely sum of a mouse click. It’s like bloody Christmas or something.

Buy Disclosure tunes at Juno.

Apologies for the current trend of starting posts with ‘it’s been 2 weeks’ but… It’s been 2 weeks since Five Easy Pieces released fLako’s Eclosure EP. Apparently, Mating Dance could be classified as jazz, which is fantastic news. This is basically my idea of perfect music; who can decline the offer of happy-go-lucky tribal patterns, ambling strings and angelic vocals floating through your brain machine? Not to mention the “is that a vocal or a synth” progressions that take over.

If you’re not convinced, check fLako’s IA mix after the jump and go trekking.

Buy fLako tunes at Juno.

Danger EP is a free, 4-track release from Katy B and a group of long-time collaborators and similar talents including Jessie Ware, Jacques Greene, Wiley, Geeneus, Diplo and Iggy Azaelia. Come to think of it, a line-up like that should do a new Band Aid. They’d certainly produce something a little less confusing and woeful than “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” It would probably also annoy Sting and, in my book at least, that’s always a good thing…

Listen to the title track after the jump and download the full release over at Katy B’s official site.

Tracklist
1. Aaliyah with Geeneus + Jessie Ware
2. Got Paid with Zinc + Wiley
3. Light As A Feather with Diplo + Iggy Azalea
4. Danger with Jacques Greene

Buy Katy B tunes at Juno | Buy Jacques Greene tunes at Juno