Home of bass

Resident Advisor and the Kelly Twins curate a night for Bristol's In:Motion series this Saturday

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Cannot wait for this. One of the most mega lineups to hit Bristol for quite a while, I’m certainly making the trip back to Bristol for this. Room one, in the huge main room, is the wide appeal one, but it retains its integrity with some great, unique bookings like Rustie and Shackleton. I’m interested to see what Pollen head honcho EFA will be drawing for in his warmup set too, considering the scale of the space. Let’s hope it’s sounding good in there.

The tunnel always sounds great, which is why I’m pleased to see Shed will be taking the headline set - unfeasibly excited about that. Wow, yeah. Not to mention a solid remaining lineup worthy of Fabric or Panorama Bar, with DVS1, Blawan, Max Cooper and Ryan Keeling.

The cave is hosted by some good friends of ours; if I’m not mistaken this is the first Kelly Twins-curated lineup perhaps since they booked Juan Atkins in Timbuk2 Bristol as a co-op between their UFO brand and the exceptional, now-defunct Headrush crew. They’ve lined up cosmic traveller SDC and liquid-jungle-master-turned-spaceboogie-samurai Arp101 (also known as Alix Perez), as well as a secret guest - everyone knows by now though, the Kelly Twins’ own set will be as much a pinnacle as anything else.

One of the most recommended nights of the year; if you make it to any of the In:Motion series, do this one.

Review - Phillips CitiScape Uptown Headphones

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Got a pair of these in the post the other day from the nice folks at Phillips. Obviously I really hate getting free stuff, but, you know, thought I might put them through their paces and see how they fared. They’re part of a new range wherein Phillips have consulted with some fashionable designers and named their new cans after currently-hip parts of the world - Paris, Shibuya, London etc.

The design on these cans (London) is indeed superb - with a brown leather and brushed aluminium aesthetic, they exude a certain 70’s hi-fi vibe. Quite classy, I thought, and it makes them look more expensive than they actually are (on the streets for about £80, as far as I can see). They’re chunky, comfortable, and feel pretty solid, although obviously only time will tell on that one.

In use? Well, i took them on a road trip to France. Chucked in the record bag, they’re pretty hefty and take up a lot of space - they don’t fold up and are heftier than the DJ/producer’s standard reference point of the HD25. Sonically, my first surprise was donning them on the plane. Phillips have been making a big deal about their noise insulation capabilities - well, it was a small propellor plane and pretty noisy, but they dealt with it really impressively. The closed back, snug fit and hefty insulation worked a treat, and meant I didn’t have to crank the volume right up like you sometimes need to on planes.

Musically the headphones offer a clear, pretty musical and refined sound. Ideal for the journey home from the gig - stuff like Deepchord and Cocteau Twins was reproduced in detail, atmospheres and soundscapes have plenty of depth, and there’s enough low-end to carry most dance music too. On the other hand, full on-stuff can sound a touch overly restrained - while the headphones reproduce the very high frequencies well, they lack a certain crunch at 3-5kHz where metal guitars and DnB snares reside. Perhaps this is just from being used to HD25’s which offer cartoonish humps at 100Hz and 4ish kHz, but these cans feel a lot flatter (normally a good thing, although if you’re into ear-ravaging dubstep and metal you mind find them a touch polite). They’re not quite as dynamic as the HD25 either, giving a more mellow sound - but then again, HD25’s are nearly double the price, so perhaps that’s an unfair comparison.

On stage they didn’t fare quite as well - at very high volumes they distorted a bit, the cable is pretty short, and they could really use some of that ragged high-end crunch to cut through the racket in the club. But again, maybe that’s asking a bit much, as DJ use is probably not what they’re designed for.

Overall though, I reckon these are a pretty solid purchase - for this money you won’t find a better-looking pair of cans, and you’ll struggle to find any that sound better on the move or in the living room either. Check them out at the Phillips site here.

===

Legendary African singer Mory Kanté remixed by Moroka

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Spotted this on Pollinate Records’ Facebook feed today: http://pollinaterecords.com/2012/09/19/moroka-mory-kante-tedekou-moroka-remix/

Moroka’s an artist on the label, and his South African inspired broken house music has been interesting me for a while, alongside Jumping Back Slash, who I always go on about (and will continue to go on about until he’s as big as he deserves to be).

This is his most accomplished production yet, to my ears. The most straightforward deep house bit I’ve heard from him, but so well put together as a backdrop for the singing of Guinea legend Mory Kanté, and his backing singers. It’s one of those tracks that just calls you to the dancefloor from the first few bars, and the fact that while writing this I pulled it up it as soon as it ended tells me it’s going to be in my bag for a while.

Currently unreleased, but I’ve asked and will update this post when I know the details of when/where it’s coming out.

This isn’t the first time Kanté has been remixed for the dancefloor, featuring on a club hit in 1994 in the form of Hardfloor’s remix of his 1988 single ‘Yé Ké Yé K é’ (previously holding an esteemed position as the first ever African single to sell a million copies).

====

Gwyn

PL Funky II, featuring Zeppy Zep, The Phantom and more

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Micro-scenes can be fun. I have hazy memories of a messy afterhours in Bedminster (Bristol’s answer to Sunset Boulevard) where Rory, a angry local scientist and friend of mine, excitedly introduced to me PL funky. A Polish answer to the UK funky scene that is largely silent these days, Top Billin’ had just released

a compilation with that very title

This follow up has finally arrived, courtesy of Polish label Razzmatazz, and it has really very little to do with UK funky, but more interestingly it shows the directions producers have taken since the demise, for the most part, of the funky scene’s intense but shortlived energy.

My percy is Zeppy Zep’s opening track, ‘Przester’, mainly for those clattering broken beat snares which I always love. A lot of the time I’m thirsting for those drums from the UK broken beat scene to be recycled more; so fun to mix with.

The EP drops on vinyl and digital this month. Here’s the stream of the rest of the tracks.

Gwyn

Bass Clef - Dawn Chorus Pedal

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The next release on Idle Hands is from Bass Clef, and it’s available to stream right about now. Due out in the next week or two, it’s a brilliant exercise in contrasting simple live-sounding(ish) drums with vintage house and analogue electronics. It also executes a pretty neat trick the way it starts with just the drums on their own, in a slightly underwhelming fashion. Somehow, though, after the addition of pads, chunky bass riff, and floating chords, the drop down to just the drums some 4 minutes in (with a raging crash cymbal solo on top) really works. Not underwhelming at all - and when the bass comes back in the track suddenly gains a previously unheard momentum. Cracking tune, I’ve been listening to it loads since it promo'ed the other week. Stream here:

And if that’s got you in the mood for more, have a listen to his Boiler Room set from earlier this summer:

Kelpe - Bags Of Time EP

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The new Kelpe EP promo'ed today and shone out of the dross in my inbox like a diamond in the proverbial. I get a lot of promos. Most of them are dreadful. A notable lowlight today was for some electro house bimbo being touted as “the most sexiest DJ in the world” [sic]. Striking a blow for the sisterhood there.So it was a pleasure to hear this bad boy ooze out of the speakers, and even more pleasing to hear that it’s not just a good example of currently-popular tropes. Instead, it draws in loping house beats, analogue lo-fi synth basses and hints of skweee, some heavy West Coast sidechaining, indie electronica and more. Thoroughly enjoyable. The tracks aren’t available to fully stream yet, although there’s a minimix of the tracks below. The release is due out in about 6 weeks on Svetlana Industries - sorry, I know that’s ages away yet. In the meantime though, you can click through to Kelpe’s Soundcloud to hear more of his stuff. I’ve been particularly enjoying the downtempo styles of his URB mix.

Silent Enjoyment - From Tulsa To Des Moines

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

This landed in the inbox last week. The press release drew me in for a start, calling on genres like instrumental hiphop, techno and scandinavian pop. What results its two downtempo house/electronic beats, which are handily available on a free/pay what you want basis. It’s the second one that really got me though - while lead track ‘From Tulsa’ is a nice-enough mellow vocals-and-chords jam, the flipside 'To Des Moines’ comes at you with a slightly disorienting atmosphere and off-kilter groove which slowly worm their way into your brain until at about the halfway point you’re completely engrossed. Which is just as well because it then heads off into slow-mo metallic techno territory. Superb stuff.

Out now on the intriguingly named Fjellsmug Rekords. Stream and download with the player below:

From Tulsa To Des Moines by Silent Enjoyment

Bass Music Mix 30 – Kelly Twins

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

A very quick intro now to the next Bass Music mix, by Bristol fixtures The Kelly Twins. I genuinely rate these guys as two of the best DJ’s in Bristol – they have such deep record collections and good selection that you can watch them play in any situation, after any DJ, at any time and they’ll still smack it. As you’ll see from the mix, which takes you from super deep house to dubstep in one smooth movement. No mixcloud as they still have a 100MB limit and this is a luxurious 1 hour 50 minutes. But you can stream and download from the player below. Tracklist at the bottom. (Mix artwork by Andy Musgrave)

Tell us a brief bit about who yous are n that, how you got into DJing.

We are the Kelly twins, (our surname is Kelly and we are actual twins), We have been DJing together for the best part of twelve years and pride ourselves on playing across the board, drawing influence from the past as well as the present and only ever playing things that we genuinely like. Since moving to Bristol from Plymouth seven years ago, we have played at a wide variety of nights and held down several residencies. At present we run our own club night which is called UFO, we are part of team Crazylegs, residents for the Bristol wing of RnB mecca So Bones and members of the Idle Hands family.

During the day, i (Sean) can be found behind the counter in the Idle Hands shop and work as a freelance writer for various publications including Trap magazine. My brother (Dan) is Bristol’s most cosmic purveyor of artisan foods and also finds the time to be an amazing dad to his little boy.

Music is more than just a hobby to us, it is something that we have been around since a very young age, our parents weren’t famous musicians and they couldn’t play any musical instruments, but they were both music lovers. Our dad was involved in the rave scene back in the day, so the music, the people and the culture was something that we were very accustomed to and intrigued by, We got our first set of decks at fourteen and gained our first residency when we were just 16, its something that we have been almost obsessively into ever since.
What is the idea behind the mix – and what are your thoughts in general about putting mixes together, do you have an ethos etc.? Anything you hate in mixes?

The mix was recorded to promote the Idle Hands room at the forthcoming Hessle Audio party for Bristol Inmotion. Prior to recording it, we considered the possibility of doing a laptop/ableton mix then realised that we didn’t actually know how to do that. So instead we did what we do best, turn up with a bag of records and wing it. The mix was recorded live and in one take, its starts at 107 bpm and ends on 140 bpm, it is an hour and fifty minutes long and features unreleased material from artists that we respect, including Outboxx, Behling, Hackman, October & Borai, Atki2. It is a true representation of what we do as DJs and reflects exactly where we are at musically.

Society in general is becoming increasingly dehumanised, automated telephone lines, self service checkouts have become the norm. When it comes to mixes, we like to know that an actual person has recorded it, not a machine.

A quick nudge of the record, a mix that wavers slightly, a crackly, dusty old record might be mistakes to some people, but for us, these things add a certain amount charm and some much needed honesty to a mix. As things become more and more digitised and superficial, we feel that this human touch is more important than ever.

You and your bro are known for being tight DJs on the Bristol circuit. Of the many ‘big names’ you’ve played with, who has stood out to you?

We try not to get too sucked into the whole hype thing and tend to take every DJ at face value, regardless of their status. For us its not so much about how ‘big’ the DJ is, it’s more about what they play and how they play it. Some DJs, however are truly worthy of their hype.

Jackmaster always smashes it, as does Ben UFO. Both are technically amazing and know how to work a crowd but more importantly for us they always bring a real varied selection and aren’t afraid to take risks.

A few other artists that have seriously impressed us over the last few years are Funkineven, Actress and Kyle Hall, all three have developed very unique styles of their own, their tunes are instantly recognisable and even as their reputations build they remain uncompromising with what they do. We really respect that.

Some of our favourite DJs to play alongside and some of the DJs that have made us dance the most are local Bristol guys, most of them our friends. Idle Hands bossman Chris Farrell always plays a killer selection as do Kowton, October and EFA. We love hearing music we haven’t heard before, so DJs like Andy Payback, vast & Bulbous and the Falling Up crew always stand out for us because watching them play is an education.

We would much rather be sat in a pub watching those guys play to us and the bar staff, than in a packed club watching that months hype DJ playing tunes we have heard a million times before. We can appreciate why people do like that, it’s just not our thing.

How do you feel about the Bristol scene at the moment – healthy? In a state of flux as dubstep waxes and wanes?

Coming from Plymouth which doesn’t really have a music scene, we are still very much excited by Bristol. It’s positivity and diversity is something that we continue to be very appreciative of. So for us the Bristol scene has always been healthy.

It has changed a lot since we have been here, in our opinion for the better. Clubbers are more open to a wider variety of sounds now. There are dubstep DJs playing house, disco and boogie and house DJs playing garage ect. The boundaries between genres are becoming increasingly blurred, for eclectic DJs such as ourselves these are interesting and exciting times.

Wrongspeed. Talk to me.

Wrongspeed originally came about through a combination of mistakes and getting massively blazed. The idea is to literally play the record at the wrong speed. When things are pitched down and stretched out, there is more space in the tune so every sound is exposed. For a record to sound good on 33 when it should be 45 and visa versa, the tune itself must be exceptionally produced.

The way in which certain tracks when pitched up or down, can take on a completely different vibe and atmosphere is fascinating to us and it’s something we have been working into our sets more and more. The next time anyone buys a record, we urge them to give it a go. The results might surprise you.

How long would it take you to eat a yard of Jaffa cakes?

My housemate bought me a yard of Jaffa cakes the other day (Thanks Shanti), it has taken me about 5 days to finish them. Although if there was money on the table, i reckon i could polish them off in an hour.
What is your favourite example of Farrellian Rage? Is the Farrellian Rage an occupational hazard of working in Idle Hands, and how do you deal with it – the tortoise-like neck-retraction? Or a cunning bit of filing…

Chris is my boss but also a friend who i have known for many years. I have had some pretty shady jobs and as bosses go, he is definitely one of the best. But like all of us, he can have his stressed out moments. I find the best thing to do when Chris is in a rage is to put some reggae on and buy him a can of rubicon, half an hour later and everything will be sweet.

My favourite example of Farrellian rage did not involve any shouting or swearing, in fact Chris didn’t say a word.

It’s monday morning, we are both feeling slightly fragile after the weekends activities when a tie dye wearing trustafarian takes up residence on the wall opposite the shop and starts self indulgently banging away on his bongo with absolutely no sense of rhythm. Chris emerges from the office and stands in the entrance of the shop, he stares directly into the bongo players eyes and shoots him a look of utter contempt. Within about two minutes, the playing stopped and the guy left, never to be seen again. Chris’s eyes at that moment said more than a thousand words ever could.

What is biscuit face? Also when are you going to ride that bike you bought off a crackhead?

Biscuit Face is an old friend and an integral part of the UFO crew. He doesn’t come out that often because his face is literally a giant biscuit, his eyes are exclamation marks and he eats CDs for breakfast. Sometimes he can get a bit crumbly around groups of people and overcompensates by being obnoxious and leaving small pieces of himself on their bedsheets. He is a liability, but we love him..

I try not to feel too bad about buying the bike from a crackhead, i managed to get a proper bargain but didn’t quite give him enough to buy any drugs with. Im waiting until i have some stabilisers and a basket for the front until i start riding it. Probably best to give it a new paint job too.
Shout outs, disses, ways for shorty’s to contact you?

Massive thanks to all the producers that were kind enough to contribute tracks for the mix, to Idle Hands for keeping vinyl alive in Bristol and for taking things back to the raw, to the DJs that inspire us and to our friends and family for their continued and unconditional support. Too many names to mention, but you all know who you are.

For bookings: http://www.idlehandsagency.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/thekellytwins
RA: http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/thekellytwins
FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kelly-Twins/128435010579167?sk=info

Tracklist:

OUTBOXX – APORIA // Forthcoming Idle Hands
ERYKAH BADU – HONEY (Souled Remix) // Unreleased
NAIVE MACHINE – AFRIKA (Om Unit remix) // Hit and Hope Records
HACKMAN – SHE’S SMOKING MEIOW // Unreleased
BEHLING – LAST CHANCE // Unreleased
DOMU – DUSK // Swedish Brandy
DISCO NIHILIST – NEW CAREER IN A NEW TOWN // Running Back
FALTY DL – THE PACIFIST // Planet Mu
REAGENZ – KEEP BUILDING ft FRED P // Workshop
GENIUS OF TIME – HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM // Royal Oak
MOVE D – UNTITLED // Workshop
RICK ‘POPPA’ HOWARD – WITHOUT YOUR LOVE // Beautiful Granville Records
DISCO NIHILIST – COFFEE & A WORN PAPERBACK // Running Back

OMAR S – SET IT OFF // FXHE Recordings

JOHN BELTRAN – BRILLIANT FLOOD (Kassem Mosse & Mix Mup remix) // Delsin Records
OCTOBER & BORAI – TENSION DRIVE // Unreleased
ATKI 2 – FOOTPRINTS // Unreleased
D. KNOX – STRINGS OF MY MIND // SixOneSix
STEVEN TANG – BASS SYNERGY // Emphasis Recordings
HEAD HIGH – HEAD HIGH // Power House
APPOINTMENT – UNKNOWN // White
SURGEON – WIRE // Downwards
MARCELL DETTMANN – MDR – 01 // White
AND – HYDROTHERMAL // Forthcoming Idle hands
FLOORPLAN – BASIC PRINCIPLE // M Plant

MALA – LEFT LEG OUT // DMZ

S-X – WOO RIDDIM // Butterz
KAHN – TEHRAN // Forthcoming Punch Drunk
JILL SCOTT – GETTING IN THE WAY

=====

Lightshapers – When I Fall

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Here’s an update from the Lightshapers. You may remember them from earlier this year – we featured them in the remix competition results for Tongue Riddim. That was one of their first efforts at doing steppy, grimey bass music and it turned out pretty well – so well, in fact, that High Rankin snapped them up for his label Suicide Dub. So if you want to check out what it led to, press play on the video below, which was produced by VJ Air and features some wicked Tron-esque visuals. This is their first full release since then, and it is out this week – check the Suicide Dub page for previews.

Kassem Mosse – Interviewed by Kowton & October

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0400

This Friday sees someone who has been described as ‘the European Omar S’ come to Bristol, to play for the Caravan crew. I refer, of course, to Kassem Mosse, maker of dirty weirdy house music and much admired by Joy Orbison, D Bridge and the Autonomic crew, not to mention by pretty much everyone interested in the non-beatport end of house music. You may know Caravan as being a record label, run by October and putting out a wide range of loosely house and techno based music – ranging from the epic Italo journeys of Antoni Maiovvi to the heavy as lead deconstructed sonic workouts of Emptyset… And of course October’s own unique take on things as well. Anyways, October, along with Idle Hands’ head honcho Chris Farrell and Simon Twine, have decided to launch a night. In October’s own words: “A while back I got contacted by Marco Bernardi of Clone / Soma fame, now running Timbuk2. He really wanted me do a night, which I was initially highly apprehensive about but all that soon subsided after some thought was put into it. Chris Farrell and myself were discussing how Bristol needs a real House and Techno party. Not a massive rave up in a big club but a more intimate sweaty basement vibe reminiscent of early Berlin, Glasgow, Detroit, NYC and Chicago.

I wanted to book artists that I felt a real musical connection with that would fit in with what we are doing and had a few people that I was interested in booking, but Kassem Mosse was always our number one choice”

Anyways, because we always like to spoil our readers, we got Kowton (of recent Resident Advisor mix fame, and a DJ on the night) and October to combine forces and interview Kassem for us. Here’s how it went down… ********************* There has always been a healthy undercurrent of interest in your work amongst techno-heads in Bristol and seemingly the rest of the UK; do find this following is reflected in Germany and the rest of Europe? I should start by saying that I am really glad about the interest from the UK, as this also started really early and after I had only done few releases. When meandyou invited me to perform in Manchester together with Lowtec and Even Tuell two years ago that was my first ever gig outside of Germany. Sometime later when the people from Non-Plus and Doldrums got in touch with me I was really surprised and happy to see such interest in my productions coming from a direction that I wouldn’t have expected. Same with the Commix remix comp: I realised that there was apparently a much greater openness in the UK than in my own environment. Myself included to a certain degree, as I haven’t really been following any of these UK scenes in recent years. It made me realise that I should perhaps make an effort to catch up. Following the release on Non-Plus, it seems like there’s beeen a surge of enthusiasm for what you’re doing from heads across the UK underground; do you feel a musical affinity with UK underground music?

Well, as I said above, I must admit that I am quite ignorant about the current substreams. I was however strongly influenced by UK labels and artists in the 1990s: Warp, obviously, and even more so Rephlex and Skam, Two Lone Swordsmen in their Flightpath Estate period, to mention just a few examples. The UK sounds I liked had different roots obviously, everything was more bassy, more breaks oriented and plainly more weird and strange than what I heard in Germany at the time. I soaked all this up even before I really got into Detroit sounds. So I guess the influence is perhaps not a conscious one, but it’s there no less. Also in this sense of openness, often parties over here will still be very seriously conservative musical affairs, a single style and groove. But I want changes, I want breaks, I want to be able to play Prince alongside a techno record and I want people to enjoy that.

When we first became aware of your music a few years back, a mate of ours claimed you ran all your tracks through a VHS recorder. Is this true? If not, why do you think he told us this!? Hahaha… that is amazing! Your friend has a point: I’ve been collecting all sorts of cheap equipment since the 1990s and I like the fact that a lot of these items have an imperfect sound. My way of production is completely unsophisticated, which ties in with the VHS. When you use imperfect tools there is always the possibility of magic: things happening that you cannot explain and that you don’t direct, they just happen by themselves. You lose control over these the devices and sometimes that can be a really good experience. I like when you can hear that something was recorded with a machine, when the mechanical process reveals itself. That’s a certain sense of honesty: electronic music is an artificial form and I believe you should be able to hear that in a recording, an element that reminds you of the process of recording. Take the Leron Carson album on Sound Signature for example: you can hear how the sound drops on the tape at times. I totally love those tracks for that. I believe there is an aspect to analogue gear that people mostly ignore in these tiresome analogue vs. digital debates (and I should add that, yes, of course I also use digital equipment and computers for certain things): I don’t prefer analogue over digital because I believe it inherently sounds better or something, I prefer it because I love analogue imperfection. Would you say you’re part of any local scene? Or do you operate in isolation? While I was part of a local collective and am still affiliated with its members and their current projects I don’t really consider myself as part of a larger local scene. I do my own thing, but also collaborate with friends on other projects, like Chilling The Do, my Freeform Ambient co-op with my mate Lorenz, who releases as Mix Mup. Most of my connections are based on longstanding friendships. You recently remixed Commix for the ‘Re:Call to Mind’ project – have you ever considered yourself a junglist?

In the 90s I took some interest in it, went to a couple of parties, locally and also when I was in London, but I would not have considered myself a junglist. I really liked the energy of it, though.

Why did you choose the name Kassem Mosse – is there a meaning behind it? Let me think… I would say it’s twofold: it’s an attempt to go beyond a local context (i.e. Germany, as in Kassem Mosse is not Wolfgang Voigt) and to represent a personal aesthetic. The name is derived from an earlier alias, and the whole idea behind it is to keep people guessing, or better: to make it up for themselves. I always get different associations, and a whole lot of misspellings. I like those errors. Everything is so fixed in a way nowadays: you get your profile page on some website and that’s the official Mosse right there. That’s a bit boring, because I would like to keep it mutating: in a way it’s an experiment, a little game with names. Whether you spell it Kassem Mossem, Karem Mossa, Karem Mousse, Kareem Mossee or Kassem Mosses (I stumbled across all those variants on the web) shouldn’t really matter, because what matters is that people are getting into that music. What is funny about the name though is that people in Germany never manage to pronounce it “right”. But that’s just a further aspect, another mutation. What gear do you use in the studio and in a live set up? I won’t comment on this, simply because I believe that it doesn’t matter. I use the tools I have at hand, I could do the same or similar with something else because the approach would be the same. As I mentioned I’m not about sophistication, you can make the most amazing tracks on the most bland piece of gear. Put some energy into it, be willing to go the extra mile is all. Being a DJ as well as a live act, can you tell us a little about your experiences and the different reactions you may get when you DJ or play live? Perhaps the difference come down to control: when I play live I try to create a set that gives me enough freedom to shape the tracks as I go and a situation where I can also lose control, where I can get lost – a potential for things to happen that will surprise me (in a good way, hopefully). When I DJ I want to stay in control. I’m not sure about the differences in reactions between the two approaches, because I do not DJ as often as I play live, so it’s hard to compare. In general what I do will mark a break from what was going on before, because I like my music rough and raw and I don’t stick with a single style for the whole set; I’m not a purist. What I like to do is move along with sound rather than style – 808 sounds for instance can be used in any electronic style: techno, house, electro, whatever, so why not mix them up? The music must be quality, that’s the most important thing.

This year in Hamburg I played a whole night together with my friend Annette (who releases, a bit too sporadically I think, as nike.bordom) and that was a great experience and audience. People really got into the flow and were open for going different ways. That’s how an ideal night should be like.

Did you work together with Omar S for his revamp of your amazing ‘578’ track on FXHE and if so, what’s the man like to work with? Yes, I did. We met in Berlin and set up a session and we recorded some takes of his live mixes of the original track. It was quite an amazing experience for me. He is a producer that I have admired since he started releasing – the sound, the attitude, I love it all. At the point when the first FXHE releases dropped I was quite disappointed and fed up with electronic music, everything sounded alike and clean, everybody was getting into these shiny laptop sounds and there was this guy recording this amazing raw music and that restored my faith and kept me going, producing tracks no matter if they sounded perfect as long as they were deep and funky and real… At the time I obviously never would have thought that I would ever get a chance to work with him. I learned a lot from those sessions. He’s super-focused when he’s working on a mix. And I found him to be a very nice and funny guy, actually. Any plans for an artist album? I’m considering it, but I’m not sure if I really want this for KM: there are releases but in a certain sense it’s also a live thing, it’s about what happens here and now. On that night, with that crowd. And it should be subject to change. I know this doesn’t make too much sense – there are the 12″s after all. But when I try to think up electronic albums that I really admire or that really impressed me, then I’m worried that I couldn’t come up with something that would come close. And if you just do a double 12″ with a couple of tracks why would that be considered an album? It’s really a complex thing and a difficult format. Eventually it will happen though, one way or the other… What do you have in store for us for your Bristol debut? Raw live sonics, I usually play unreleased stuff and tracks that I play just live, with some odd parts from new projects thrown in. Or I just jam once I get into jam mode. Raw machine funk is what I have in store… ===

Producer Q&A – Untold

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Very pleased this week to be able to introduce this producer Q&A from one of the producers I admire most in the scene; Untold. You don’t need me to tell you how he’s managed to get himself to the top of the bass music tree without stooping to cheese, populism, or any sort of compromise whatsoever – it’s inspiring. This week sees the launch of his new sample pack with Loopmasters, which is called ‘Dubstep Producer’. It’s out now, so go and check it out;

How do you approach a tune? Drums first? Melody?

First off I write the concept down in a notebook. This is usually bullet points with
descriptions of the mood, other tunes or periods I’m referencing for inspiration, sometimes even beat pattern scrawled out in a similar style to a piano roll in the sequencer. Even if I don’t get anything done when I go to the sequencer I’ve got a book full of ideas for later use that are great for skimming through when I’m stuck on a tune.

Once I’ve got a clear concept I’ll gather appropriate samples and build synth patches. I usually start sequencing with drums, but try and get them down quick and move on to the bassline. Sometimes I’ll get the rough rhythm down using temporary sounds, like a 909 kit, then replace the drum hits once I’ve got the bassline working with the rhythm.

What time of day do you work best?

It used to be after midnight, but I’ve slowly learnt to write at any time. Often I’ll have the sequencer open with a tune on the go and add bits throughout the day.
This way I spend less time listening to the tune looping on repeat and don’t get as sick of it as I’m building it.

Where do you get your inspiration / motivation from?

I have CD buying and listening binges of specific genres, artists, movements or labels. For instance I’ve bought four Arthur Russell albums this week, last month I bought loads of post punk compilations.

The motivation takes care of itself. I’ve always had to write or play music in some form or other.

What do you do when you’re not feeling inspired?

Grab a handful of CD’s from the shelf and go sample hunting, or build new synth patches. Just try and ride it out and not to give myself a hard time.

Do you start a tune from scratch, or do you usually have a drumset/template/etc to work from?

I have a template folder structure for the project which is invaluable when transferring a project to another studio or retrieving an old synth patch.

01_Sequencer = For sequencer project files, usually about 50 in total, a new numbered project file created when each element is added to the track.
02_Samples = All samples split into sub folders
03_Patches = All battery kits, synth and FX patches used in the project
04_Bounces = For exporting the loop under construction, which is useful for keeping track of a tune as it progresses
05_Mixdown= The audio stems bounced out ready for mixdown
06_Export=The uncompressed pre-master wav with proper filename, along with loud wavs and Mp3 for sending out to Dj’s

I also use a default song that autoloads in the sequencer with NI Battery set up as a multi channel for the drums, a couple of synths, some basic fx and all the routing and parallel compression paths in place.

If you got a chance would you write pop stuff for a major label (if the money was right?)

Well I’ve already remixed a US #1 and I’m involved in some pop production projects so I’ve already crossed over to the dark side. In my experience the bigger the label, the bigger the hassle and wait in getting paid so it’s best not to focus or rely on the cash for those projects.

What’s the boring, workhorse plugin/piece of kit that you use all the time?

Well I don’t think it’s boring, but I use the SSL Duende box for EQ and compression in every track. It’s got the least software sounding EQ’s I’ve heard and the bus compressor is incredible.

What’s the coolest bit of kit you’ve got and do you actually use it much?

Probably a ‘90’s midi guitar synth called the G10 that looks like it’s a Star Wars prop. It’s a pain to set up but lots of fun to play.

I have made absolutely no practical use of it, but I’d never consider selling it.

Do you mixdown your own stuff? Reckon there’s a stigma around this?

I mix 90% of my tunes myself although I’ve no problem with handing stems over to mixing engineers. If they are professional then they’ll make it work and bring a fresh perspective.

New producers seem to obsess over getting perfect mixdowns but these days they aren’t the thing that makes or break a tune. We’ve signed tunes that we’ve heard clips of on youtube. It’s the musical ideas that stand out.

What production technique do you think is really overused / annoying?

Recycling a fashionable sound ad-infinitum without exploring the unknown.

What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started out?

Once you have a vinyl release, a pixie doesn’t visit you with the keys to a vault of amazing sounding samples
You are not a bad person if you have to scrap a tune because its not gelling, even if you’ve got to bar 64
For D&B and dubstep, kick and snare should have the same RMS (average amplitude), these combined should match the RMS of the bass. (Usually.)
Turn the hi-hats down 1db less than you think you need to
Check these trouble spots with spectrum analyser and EQ if a part is sounding harsh, 1k, 4.5k, 7k

BMB Interview – Seiji

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Chuffed today to introduce this interview with the man like Seiji.

Seiji is one part of the Bugz In The Attic, but has recently been much more making a name for himself as a solo artist – he has been producing solo for a long time (check his 12″ on Man Recordings from the other year) but recently he’s stepped it up, giving away loads of tunes for free on his website, seiji.co.uk. And they’re great: funky, tracky, beaty stuff – somewhere in the new middle-ground between Funky, Broken Beat and Breaks which fit really well into any set. I’ve been rinsing them, and I know Bao and TRG are too, so we had to track him down for a chat.

It’s interesting to see what he had to say about the Broken Beat scene – for a minute there it was desperately exciting; loads of great beats and rhythms but with musical interest, but then it kind of became a bit Jazz, a bit po-faced. I guess you can draw a parallel with what happened to the breaks scene – from fairly similar beginnings, both had the potential to become the place to go for people who liked interesting beats, but Broken Beat went too serious, Breaks went too rave, and out of nowhere dubstep sprung up and nicked the middle ground all to itself. Personally I reckon both are gonna come back next year, and if they do it’s gonna be amazing. Anyway, random musings aside, lets hand over to someone far wiser than I:

You seem to have been a bit quiet since the Bugz debut album. What have you been up to lately?

I’ve been working on new tracks for the site, doing a few remixes, and writing more stuff with Roisin Murphy. Getting excited about beats again, really…

Do you feel broken beat ended up being associated with a bit of a ‘smooth’ stigma?

I think that broken beat stopped evolving, and closed itself off to outside influence, and so sort of got stuck in a time warp where it could only be appreciated in a nu jazz context, whereas for a time it was being played alongside all kinds of bass heavy music.

Do you hear any links between the chopped up styles of Funky these days and what broken beat was doing a while back? (or even now?)

Yeah, I like to think that Funky is directly influenced by the old broken stuff, but if i’m honest its likely that many producers may have heard only a few Bugz mixes. Its no surprise that the style of beats is finally finding the wider audience it always deserved, but it needed to be raw dance music without the muso baggage in order to be felt by the mainstream. Let’s face it, these rhythms are as old as the cavemen, they are going to keep coming back in various forms over the years, so only the ignorant will try and claim ownership of them….

What artists are you checking for at the moment?

Dance music, electronic music wise, FunkinEven, Redlight, Modeselektor, Jan Driver, Joy Orbison, Guido, Lil Silva, Deadmau5, loads really so much good music right now…..otherwise still listening across the board, and strictly Radio 3 in my kitchen.

Would it be right to say your tracks are quite percussive-oriented, and if so what interests you in a drum beat?

Well, I love all aspects of music but I am drawn to syncopated beats! Having said that I’m starting more and more to appreciate a really straight beat too….

Do you see yourself as being aligned to any one sound at the moment, or are you just content to do your own thing?

I’m just doing my own thing, that’s all I can do….Of course I’m influenced by everything going on, but I’ve never really been able to get in with ‘scenes’….. I only ended up in the ‘broken scene’ by accident because it developed around me and those I was working with. It was the same with Reinforced back in the day, I recorded for them because they were the badboy experimental label, but I was never part of the d’n’b scene and I wouldn’t even really have said that I made drum’n’bass then either, it was just some mad shit influenced by what was going on. Maybe I do suffer from a lack of ‘branding’ by not being easily categorizable but thats not the most important thing in music, not by a long way! Once the marketing drives the music it’s all over as an artist….

Why did you decide to give all these tracks away recently? Thanks, by the way – they’re wicked! has you seen any noticeable benefit from it?

Well, yeah I thought I’d try something different. It just seems that sharing music is the way that it gets distributed nowadays! Whether you like it or not, it reaches the most people that way, so why not make it as easy as possible, and be the one doing the sharing of your own creations? I’m definitely not saying that all music should be free, or that everyone should follow my example, it’s just one method in a confusing time…. hopefully people will appreciate the idea and be willing to support me when i put out a physical product or perform.

What can we expect next?

More banging tunes….. website pressure…. and some different, more abstract music in the pipeline!

Smutlee – Interview & Fabric Mix

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

So the Fabric Birthday weekend draws ever closer, and the amount of cool stuff hitting the net to hype the whole shebang gets ever larger. London’s finest ‘named-after-a-cartoon-dog-with-a-wheezy-laugh’ dancehall DJ Mr Smutlee came through with a quality blend of funky and bashment for them, and while we could have just bunged it up a couple of days ago, we wanted to give you lovely, dedicated dance music fans a bit more depth for your blog perusal. Cos it’s not like you only want free stuff, no not even slightly… Ahem. So, here it is – BMB vs Smutlee. BMB: Introduce yourself please!

Hello, Im DJ Smutlee AKA Lee. See what i did there? Im a Club DJ, Mixtape maker, & Blend specialist, from London.BMB: How would you describe your sound?

Hip-Hop & Dancehall are the foundation of my sound, and i’ll use this to bring in other genres wether it be funky, dubstep, grime or whatever. Over the last year or so i’ve been pushing the Uk Funky/Bashment sound.BMB: What would you say your main Influences are?

As long as i’ve got good new music, im always inspired. I’d say my favourite producers right now are Steven ‘Di Genius’ (Dancehall), Sticky (House/Garage) and Swizz Beatz (Hip Hop). and how can i forget West ham – when they play well!!BMB: Any interesting plans coming up?

I really need to get into producing, its just finding time. Other than that, more djing.

BMB: We hear you’re a bit of a sneaker connoisseur… is that true?

Haha im no connosieur. i was brought up on Hi Tec squash cos my mum could get them cheap, I’m all about Air Max these days. BMB: Oh ok. Tell us a joke then.

Heres a dodgy music related joke – dont judge me from this:

“I was in the pub yesterday when I suddenly realized I desperately needed to fart. The music was really, really loud, so I timed my farts with the beat. After a couple of songs, I started to feel better. I finished my pint and noticed that everybody was staring at me.Then I suddenly remembered that I was listening to my iPod.”

Booooooooo – get him off!!!!!

BMB: Damn straight. But if you want to hear more like that, Smutlee is also playing the next night in Bristol, with MJ Cole…

http://soundcloud.com/fabric/smutlee-fabriclive-10th-birthday-promo-mix

Smutlee FABRICLIVE 10th Birthday Promo Mix

01: Geeneus Ft. Chino – Smutlee Special (Yellowtail VIP Riddim) (White)

02: Egypt Ft. Busy Signal & Mavado – Badman Place (In The Morning

Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

03: Illmana Ft. Stush – Ready Fi De War (White)

04: Marvin Brown – Jack It Up (White)

05: Sticky Ft. Ding Dong – Badman Forward – (Bad Gyal/Jumeirah Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

06: Suncycle Ft. Mavado – No More (Bless Beats Rmx) (Suncycle)

07: Major Lazer – Pon De Floor (Mad Decent)

08: Lil Silva Ft. Vybz Kartel – Pon De Floor (Different Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

09: BBK – Too Many Funky Tunes (Martelo Blend) (White)

10: Hardhouse Banton Ft. Vybz Kartel – Dump Truck (Sirens Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

11: Sticky Ft. Elephantman – Krazy Hype (Fugitive Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

12: Warrior One Ft. Lady Chann – King (White)

13: Maxwell D – Funky Baby (White)

14: Geeneus Ft. Ms Dynamite – Get Low (Crackish Riddim) (White)

15: El-B Ft. Mirikal – We Don’t Play (Ghost Recordings)

16: Dubchild – Show It Now (Ratio Mix) (DPR Recordings)

17: Emvee – Repeat Me (White)

18: Roska Ft. Jamie George – Wonderful Day (Smutlee Special) (Roska Kicks & Snares)

19: Danny Native Ft. Busy Signal – Da Style Deh (Rass Out Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

20: Maxwell D – Street Knowledge (Rass Out Riddim) (White)

21: Donae’o – Party Hard (Dev79 Rmx) (White)

22: Malanté & Dex Ft. New Kidz – Lions (Exploited Germany)

23: Erup – Click Mi Fingers (Grahmzilla Rmx) (White)

24: Lady Chann – Sticky Situation (Toddla T & Seiji Rmx) (White)

25: Mavado – So Special (Dj Yonny Rmx) (White)

26: Whitey Ft. Mr Vegas – Hot Wuk (Wrap It Up Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

27: Miike Snow Ft. New Kidz & South Rakkas – Get Mad (Animal Riddim) (Smutlee Blend) (White)

Producer Q&A – Bassnectar

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Boom! Time for another producer Q&A. This week I’m particularly chuffed to present the U.S. legend that is Bassnectar. Pioneer of that slow, swinging, bass heavy sound he sometimes calls swamp-hop, it’s now slowly getting recognition worldwide, as part of that hip-hop influenced West Coast scene that includes the likes of Glitch Mob, Flying Lotus et al. Get on over to his site to download a few free tracks and see what it’s all about. Bassnectar is honestly one of the best party DJ’s I’ve seen, switching tempos so quick it left me scratching my head how he did it – although you can see from his gig list he gets plenty of practise. In fact I’m amazed he gets any time to produce at all, as it looks like he spends most of his life on a tourbus. Anyway, massive thanks to him for these detailed answers!

www.bassnectar.net

How do you approach a tune? Drums first? Melody?

I usually hear the bassline first…kind of in a churning death metal style, but i work on drums first, since the idea is usually in a specific tempo, i need to build the “groove” in order to work on the bassline idea properly.

Then again, there is no STRICT SYSTEM in my methods…

What time of day do you work best?

After the phone stops ringing…i work best when i’m immersed for days on end.

Where do you get your inspiration / motivation from?

From a pretty metaphysical place in my cabeza.

What do you do when you’re not feeling inspired?

I pretty much always feel inspired, if not then i just process my thoughts and address whatever is bugging me, usually with good friends. If my creative juices are clogged, it’s probably due to a real-time issue that needs to be addressed in my life, so better to solve/address it so i can approach music in a pure headspace.

Do you start a tune from scratch, or do you usually have a drumset/template/etc to work from?

Holy shit, it’s been 15 years and i’ve never made a proper template. That is one reason why i suck…what a ridiculously great time saver it would be to have a template! i recommend doing so, although i have never followed my advice there..

If you got a chance would you write pop stuff for a major label (if the money was good?)

I’d only consider the money in the sense that it would take up my time, which there is none to spare… but it’s not like i need to prove something by avoiding pop music. i guess if i authentically LOVE how something sounds, then i WANT to spend my time on it. Anything that i DON’T wanna do i guess i would need some type of compensation in order to justify taking me away from whatever path im on.

But as for working on ‘pop’ music, i can think of a lot worse ways to sell out… i do not really expect to make any money selling music i have produced… money seems like it is earned on the road, playing shows, etc.

What’s the boring, workhorse plugin/piece of kit that you use all the time?

Oddly, I have lost most of my go-to techniques… i enjoyed using Reason for about 6 years, and then i felt like everything sounded “Reasony” so i am now using Ableton, and pretty open-format with it.

What’s the coolest bit of kit you’ve got and do you actually use it much?

I really like Albino.

Do you mixdown your own stuff? Reckon there’s a stigma around this?

Yes i do and yes there is. i think the stigma is ridiculous (it’s the same kind of boys club mentality that makes you wonder…are you making music to impress your colleagues or to touch a wider range of people?)… Following that logic, there are no rules if your goal is to impact people with music. I am happy contributing to a song, and not having to do everything on it myself, as long as i love the end product. That’s why i like collaborations so much! And that’s why i don’t hesitate to use samples, or really ANY sound source that turns me on. I do not need to perform every single function in producing a song, but of course i *can* do every part (like the tune i made back in 2004 called ‘Blow’ …i even mastered that one myself)… but really if i can help give birth to an idea, i do not really feel so insecure with myself that i need to do EVERYTHING on it… maybe that comes from knowing that i can if need be though…

I think being in bands helped a lot. When i was a part of a band i never felt wierd or regretful that i did not perform every single function. it was a team effort! It was totally ok in my mind if i did not play the bass and the drums AND mix and master, and distribute the demo tape and promote the shows, and set up the backstage, and run the sound board, and and and and and… you know? i just had fun raging on the guitar and headbanging and going “BWAAHHHH!!!” into a cheap ass mic.

So when i started producing in 1994/1995 i enjoyed being able to kind of make everything happen myself, and not rely on anyone else…after proving to myself i could do it all, i suppose i realized that it’s fun to connect with other minds musically.

In terms of the mixdown, i am a control freak so i usually want to do everything myself, but if a homie can come into the studio and help me tweak something, or a mastering engineer can pull 3 or 4 more DB out of a tune by working some kind of magic then HELL YEAH!

What production technique do you think is really overused / annoying?

Gangster rap lyrics….and actually any lame/negative vocal samples in general.

And beyond vocals and vocal samples even in terms of the music/melody, i’m pretty bored by Hard/Angry Tough-Guy vibes in music… i mean if you are truly angry, then by all means express that!!! But so often DnB and dubstep (2 of my favorite genres due to their sheer intensity, raw sound, and overall energy) sound like someone with no musical ideas who is just grating my ears with some under-sexed vibe. Not fun.

(By the way, i am NOT trying to talk shit here at all, i really do not say this to piss anyone off…partly because i do not want to hear the angry music they might make in response..;)

But also because i think anyone has the right to make any sounds they want… but you asked, so i said it: i think the super dark death toughguy bully sound is overused because sometimes it feels unnecessary but still used to fill the void of good ideas.

What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started out?

That none of this matters, that life flies by faster than i ever imagined, that learning to enjoy moments instead of stressing out is a really good thing.

At the same time though, it ALL matters, so being grateful for every moment before that moment passes lets me engage it on a deeper level.

Most goals i have set for myself i have achieved, yet still felt just as dissatisfied as before i achieved them, …i think humans will always strive for the next thing, yet in doing so i hope to find a balance so i can enjoy more of the journey on my way to the goal.

Exclusive mix & Interview from Subeena

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

This is the life. I’m sitting in a cafe in Prague drinking a bevvy – sadly they don’t cost 0.000001p a gallon anymore, they’re about a quid a pop in this here suburb (I’ll be writing to the Telegraph about this catastrophic injustice, mark my words) – the sun is shining, and the wonderful Subeena has just dropped over an exclusive DJ Mix and interview for us at bassmusicblog. Subeena really started making a name for herself last year with some deep, techno influenced dubstep sounds – not so much on the 2562/minimal kind of tip, more rolling and percussive I’d say. I was particularly into the track ‘Perception’ which came out on a free release (more on which shortly) – so if you missed it,grab it here. It’s got a wicked mix of techno, eastern vocals and a heavy, static sub-line. Anyway, the next time I looked, I saw the track ‘Boksd’ on Subeena’s myspace

, and was properly impressed. It’s kind of electro, in the true sense of the word, with that other-worldly analogue sounding melodic sensibility that one used to find in mid-90s Warp records, and latterly on labels like Border Community et al. It’s brilliant, and is not the only track like that on the player at the moment. So I had no choice but to ask for a mix and interview. So, tell us about this mix. What do you have for us? I’ve got a few tracks I’ve been into recently and that I would play out probably at a gig. There’s a few forthcoming / unreleased tracks and some new bits that just came out by for example Milanese, Untold and Bok Bok amongst others. It seems like you’ve changed your sound a bit recently, moving away from dubstep (and the dancefloor?) and towards a more melodic, electro kind of stuff – reminds me of early Autechre a bit. What inspired this? I definitely got away from the only-140 bpm tracks… I do some melodic stuff as well but I’m trying to keep it all quite varied. I think I my ideas back then were a bit less clear so I had to focus on one “genre” to get used to writing a bit better (both production and creativity-wise). Overall my inspiration is quite random really. Partly I’ve been inspired by music I listened to years ago, but now I might just take inspiration by my friends’ work or by random things I listen to – and my moods. You’ve lived in Italy and then Berlin, to me those places shout techno. (But then I was always really into the Naples techno producers anyway). Did you get much into those scenes? If not, what musics and parties did you take inspiration from? Funny… I met a guy from Naples when I lived in Berlin and he would always tell how lots of great producers were from Naples.. I only knew a couple though, unfortunately. As far as I’m concerned it the places I lived in were “techno” but in a very particular way: I got to know the first club music in Italy for sure when people like Laurent Garnier or Jeff Mills or Highfish came over to Dj but I got stuck quite quickly into free parties shortly after (they used to play some sort of techno there as well but I never seriously got into it). While living in Berlin I would go to Berghain every now and then, but I was never a massive follower… The parties that influenced me most were probably those “free” ones I used to go earlier, and then lots after I moved to London.

Music-wise I listened to any sort of genre throughout the years, it’s hard to mention them all. They range from cheesy 90’s pop / dance hits to old Warp stuff, random hip hop tracks, some bands… How is – the newly renamed – Imminent Sound going? We’ll be stopping that one soon and starting new Imminent labels and productions! You mentioned a while ago that you were going to be releasing stuff on the label using the creative commons licence. For those who don’t know, what does this actually mean? And has it worked out like you hoped? To start with, I got interested through Dot

as she’d been supporting it for quite some time. I personally haven’t registered my music on there yet, but I am still keeping the option open for the future. Creative Commons allows you to give different types of copyright licences to your work. For example you can allow people to copy / share your work (could be music but it is used for a lot more) but the copyright is still yours… More info here http://creativecommons.org/license/

Finally, what’s the in the pipeline? Any cool stuff coming up? Next thing should be a 12″ coming out on Planet Mu, the A side is a collaboration between Jamie Woon, Om ‘Mas Keith and myself and the B side is a track of mine called “Analyse”. Tracklist:

Milanese – Disclosure (instrumental) – (Planet Mu)
Oliver $ – Ta com medo de mim (feat. Deize Tigrona edit) (Man recordings)
Edu K – Mexe mexe (Man recordings)
Dub frequency – Whoop! (Cheaper thrills)
Stereotyp feat. Edu K, Joyce Muniz – Jece Valadao ( Rob B edit)
Kanji Kinetic – Scientist (unreleased)
F – Phase One (7even recordings)
Gunjack – El Soplo del Diablo (Bracket remix) – (forthcoming Consume)
Untold – Just for you (forthcoming Hotflush)
Dre Skull – I want you (Bok bok remix) – (Mixpak)
Skream – If you know (Tempa)
Kid 606 – Dancehall of the dead (Kanji Kinetic remix) (Tigerbeat6)
Untold – Anaconda (Hessle Audio)
RSD – Forward Youth (Tectonic)
Subeena – Excuse me (unreleased)

New Reggae Digital Mixtape on Jahtari.org

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Coming straight from Paris-town is this skanking tape by our mate MALLEM aka DUB-4, crazy Reggae collector, boss DJ and Cool & Deadly Sound operator.

Full of forgotten gems, obscure masterpieces and unheard-of versions from the early 80s, a time when digikal sounds started to clash with the Channel One vibe at it’s peak,this selection contains nuff drooling material for every 7" addict Flash It !!!

http://www.jahtari.org/music/tapes.htm

Tracklisting :

01- Tony Ford - Money make the mare galop
02- Ras Joel - South africa
03- Nitty Gritty - Got to make it
04- Delton Screechy - Cry fe di youth
05- Lionel Ganja Barrett - Rasta cowboy
06- Clarence Parks - Things a come up to bump
07- Howie Smart - Sweet reggae music
08- Derrick Pitter - Play mr music play
09- Junior Murvin - Superpower
10- Junior Murvin - Make it & set it
11- Michael Prophet - The Cop a come
12- Roland Burrell - Cut eye cut eye
13- King Kong - Dont touch the gorilla
14- Major King - Jahovia
15- Earl Cunningham - Cool Profile
16- Archie Mc Lean - Worries
17- Oneilo - Classic
18- White Mice - Ambition
19- Gregory Isaacs - Here Comes Trouble
20- The Hax - Nah fatten no roach fe fowl
21- Puppajim - TV Addict
22- Mikey Melody - Cool & Deadly HiFi (Dubplate)
23- Ricky Lewis - Apartheid in south africa
24- Ses Campbell - Na tek nu boots
25- Cojo Reid - Champion Don
26- King Kong - Reggae Mylitis
27- Tiger - Gather people around
28- Tony Tuff - Heat in the place
29- Bobby Boom - Turn on the heater
30- Crimestopper - Drug addiction
31- Cornell Campbell - Don’t get lost
32- Alfredo Smith - The Doctor
33- Joy White - Rising sun
34- PEP - Crisis
35- Taxman - Terminator
36- Bionic Echo - Digital
37- Dixie Peach - Run come follow me now
38- Ackie - Lick them

a bit of classic Glastonbury

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Oh aye, it’s Glastonbury weekend once again, and I’m watching it on TV as usual, being moderately jealous of all my mates who are down there. I haven’t been to Glasto since 2000, and it’s changed a lot since then - the capacity has more or less doubled, and I rather doubt that there are any gaping holes in the fence that you can just stroll through these days (ahem). Careers are made there, reputations cemented, so I thought I might assemble a couple of those ‘defining moment’ clips for all the sad gits like me who aren’t actually there.

The Prodigy - Break And Enter, 1995.

Absolutely incredible stuff. Break And Enter has always been one of my favourite Prodigy tracks, and the drawn out, spaced out intro to this version of it just screams RAVE. But it’s got rock guitars! I think that’s something that is often overlooked with the Prodigy - although there were some guitar kind of samples in Music For The Jilted Generation, they recruited guitarist Jim Davies for the tours in early 1995 and took their live sound much much heavier. I think it worked brilliantly, and shows how ahead of their time they were - it was years before anyone else was doing this with any kind of aplomb. Incidentally, Jim Davies then left to join Pitchshifter - who promptly dropped their jungle/metal crossover album ’

www.pitchshifter.com

’, which for my money set new standards in the industrial/metal/techno crossover area too. But that’s for another blog…

Orbital, 1994

I could have picked any track from this set, when Orbital headlined the NME stage. Oh, the days when live electronic music meant rebuilding your entire studio on stage, not just unfolding a laptop and loading Ableton. Apparently they ran the whole setup off a bunch of sync’d 8-channel pattern sequencers (Alesis MMT-8’s for the nerd crew). Thinking back about it, Orbital still blow me away with the depth and range of their innovation in the first half of the 90s. From ambient to rave and covering all bases in between:

just listen to this and be amazed.

Then watch this vid.

These are two pretty widely accepted classic performances I guess, and I could have easily added

Pulp in 1995

Radiohead in 1997

(and half a dozen others that either show I’m stuck in the 90s or that it takes a long time for a set to establish itself as classic) etc. So if you’ve got any other, slightly less obvious suggestions, share the wealth - link them up in the comments!

——- i.d.

HeavyFeet Loves Derrick Carter...

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Right, this here post should (hopefully) be the first in a mini-series of mixes, the theme of which will be along the lines of that bumpin’ jackin’ business from across the pond.
First up we have the man Derrick Carter. Some weeks back there was a review on Resident Advisor from some guy who had been to Sankeys in Manchester to see him play. After ranting long and hard about the state of the club and the crowd he finally got to the point and attempted to tell all about the music he had heard that fine evening. However, the only word he could pull out of the bag to do so was ‘groovy’.
Now there’s no 'review’ of each individual track on the mix as was originally planned beacuse I really couldn’t think of 12 different ways to sing praise to Mr. Carter, so we’ll stick with the 'groovy’ description, which to be fair is quite accurate, if not a little less than articulate…

Download from Zshare
Download from Mediafire

Tracklist:
01. Mark Farina - To Do - Derrick Carter Remix - OM
02. Colette - About Us - Derrick Carter’s BHQ Vocal - OM
03. Ian Pooley feat. Tim Fuller - What I Got - Derrick Carter Vocal Remix - Pooled Music
04. James Curd feat. J Dub - You Know What To Do - Derrick Carter Vocal Remix - Greenskeepers
05. Samim feat. Big Bully - The Lick - Derrick Carter Vocal Mix - Get Physical
06. White Lotus Society - Space Cadillac - Derrick Carter’s Club Vocal - Muzique Boutique
07. Greenskeepers - Polo Club - Derrick Carter Book Learnin’ Dub - OM
08. Mark Militano - What You Say - Derrick Carter Remix - Dotbleep
09. Rosie Brown - Bliss - D’s Boom Bap Bleep Edition - Dotbleep
10. Jorge Watts - Up To The Sky - Derrick Carter Mix - 1200 Traxx
11. 3rd Face - Canto Della Liberta - D’s New 3rd Face Dub - Classic
12. Greenskeepers - Alphabet Man - Derrick Carter Remix - OM

Smart,
James HF

DJ Godfather, Jitting, and Movement 2009

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Detroit is a major influence of mine. I feel like electronic music really takes its own shape once its been passed through Detroit, and electronic music gets a certain richness after being experienced in Motor City. Ghetto Tech is a world of its own, it has its own history, its own artists, its own dance. Its 140-150 bpm dance music with a dirty edge and raw bass sounds, and its been around for a while.

Chicago Booty has been getting more and more popular recently with Busy P signing DJ Funk to his label, but Detroit is still just grinding away with underground releases and very little cross over. I can see that changing soon this stuff is perfect for mixing in with a 140 bpm dance set. The best place to search it out is at the

Electrobounce

website, run by DJ Godfather himself.

When I visited Detroit recently for DEMF 2009, virtually all of Sunday was dedicated to Ghetto Tech. The Doors opened and Electrobounce residents ran the Redbull stage for most of the day with DJs like

Starsky and Clutch

and Chicago Juke/Booty Pioneer

DJ Deeon

hosted by

DJ Omega

(if you don’t know the name, he’s the voice of Ghetto Tech, all those singalong moments of “ass and tittes” are generally his voice). When the fest was over, we went to the Electrobounce afterparty with virtually the same line-up but with Toronto’s Syntonics

added to the Line-up. The party was at the 5 Elements Gallery, in an area of town that wasn’t nearly as well kept as the DEMF grounds. Across the street from the venue was a dilapidated pawn shop that would trade gold for rifles. The party was sweet, sweaty, and the crowd was diverse.

DJ Godfather murdered it, I’ve never seen a DJ go through so many songs so quickly, if a song ever got more than 40 seconds it was because he was beat juggling the hell out of it. There was some serious Jitting too with crews like the X-menn showing up, I wish I’d brought my camera, but I was a bit wary of carrying around my DSLR.

I got back from the afterparty around 6 or 7 and we stayed in the GM building that night. I couldn’t get the Ghetto-tech vocals from ringing through my head, and scenes from Robocop, namely ED-209 laying waste to corrupt execs, kept me from sleeping.

—————————–

In a related note: Toronto artist

Egyptrixx

has a forthcoming release on

Vicious Pop Records

, Grab the 12" and digital available July 21st featuring remixes by

LVIS 1990

and DJ Godfather.

To play mp3s in your browser, you will need to have Javascript turned on and have Flash Player 9 or better installed.