Hint

Daily Intake Promo Mix 04: Freestyle

This is the last in a series of mixes I have been putting up in the run-up to my album release.

The mix series has been collected and released on a dedicated website – DailyHintake

Mix 04 is a 58 min Freestyle mix. Various shifts in tempo and mood over the course of the hour cover a lot of ground. It’s packed with a load of my current favourite club tracks, includes a couple of upfront exclusives and ends with one of the greatest dance records ever made.

01. King Louie – Too Cool
02. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Spottie
03. Sweater Beats – Remember
04. Sleepin’ Giantz – And The Ting Went… (ft. Bitch Pls)
05. Western Tink – Get Ratchet
06. Mia Dora, HaHaHa & Rashka – High Sheen
07. Todd Terry All Stars – Get Down (Kenny Dope Dub)
08. Quantic & Alice Russell – Magdalena (Hint Bumpy Remix Demo)
09. Randomer – Scruff Box
10. C.O.N.E. – Babysteppa
11. Hint – Watch The Media (ft. Profisee)
12. Drippin’ – Bubble Room
13. Fire For Effect – Step Into Liquid (It’s A Trap)
14. Baobinga & Guido – Ice Black
15. Infamous 3rd – Test Dummy
16. Ghost Mutt – Sweat Mode
17. D.M.S. & The Boneman X – Sweet Vibrations

For DJ & Live bookings, please contact Ben at Mixed Bizness

Daily Intake

Hint’s third album ‘Daily Intake’, out 19th March 2012, sees this highly respected underground producer, remixer and DJ working with incredible vocal talent from around the World; mashing up dancehall, hip hop, UK house and bass music influences to create a flowing yet constantly surprising album, which is a scintillating record for dancefloors and headphone moments alike.

01. Crash and Burn ft. Natalie Storm
02. Lock The Door ft. Zed Bias
03. Watch The Media ft. Profisee
04. Tape Packs
05. Give It Up ft. Josie Stingray & 1-O.A.K.
06. Aliens Enter ft. T-Fly
07. Physical Stamina
08. Pretty Stable
09. Peter & I ft. T-Fly
10. Find Yourself ft. Josie Stingray & 1-O.A.K.
11. Upper Echelon
12. Mad Nervous

Album opener Crash And Burn featuring Natalie Storm is the lead single, to be released as a limited edition upfront double A-side 10 (backed with Aliens Enter feat. T-Fly) in January. Hint’s take on current UK house mixed with Jamaican dancehall, Crash And Burn characterises the album’s sense of being both weighty and a lot of fun. Through serious and thought-provoking lyrics, Jamaican talent Storm proves that not every club banger has to be all about partying. Hint (Jonathan James to his Ma), says, “Natalie picked up on the mood of the track and used the energy to talk passionately about injustices in the World.” An early promo has been met with immense support, with confirmed radio play including Rob da Bank on BBC Radio 1.

Daily Intake features a handful of uniquely talented vocalists, with women heavily outnumbering men; while this bias was not intentional, it has a striking effect, and in Hint’s words, “I’m glad it’s worked out that way. So much of the UK underground scene can be too male-dominated, so I feel that bringing in some super talented female voices to the mix adds a new dimension.”

Prodigious teenager T-Fly is from Austin, TX, and is Hint’s most momentous discovery since a pre-Kicks Rizzle featured on his last album. Aliens Enter grew from a killer beat that Hint had made but could not pinpoint the right vocalist… that is, until Tru Thoughts A&R Robert Luis came back from SXSW 2011 raving about a young female MC he’d seen in a showcase for the Austin Hip Hop Cipher, a charitable community project that helps young performers explore and express their talents. The buzz was so intense as T-Fly performed that show, and Luis – knowing that Hint was looking for someone to perfect this track – was in the right place at the right time. Hint says, “T-Fly really picked up on the more ‘far out’ elements of the beat. It’s off-key and peculiar. You feel that she gets really caught up in performing, and this is music as escapism, as something supernatural”. Her other track, Peter And I, is even more imaginative and escapist; telling of a day spent with Spiderman, Peter Pan and others, T-Fly’s stylings flow gloriously atop Hint’s ‘80s boogie style beats.

Watch The Media featuring Profisee originally started life as a beat that Hint used for his remix of MJ Cole and Wiley’s From The Drop which caused a huge buzz, being played by Annie Mac (BBC R1) and Blackdown (Rinse FM/Pitchfork) among others. Amid constant DJ requests, Hint built the beat into a full tune. The track came together in the wake of the UK riots and News International scandal and, since Scotland’s Profisee (Paul White, Bullion, Hextatic) is the only UK based vocalist on the album, it seemed right to talk about these current affairs, and he handled it with real flair and passion. On the lighter side of things, girl-boy duo Josie Stingray and 1-O.A.K. – from the Honor Roll Crew out of Oakland in the US West Coast’s Bay area – infuse the feel-good hip hop tracks Give It Up and Find Yourself with that entertaining and fresh vibe that the West Coast seems to do so well.

Elsewhere on the album you’ll find a collection of electronic instrumental creations that see the eclectic, internationally influenced UK club music scene of today refracted through the quirky Hint lens. UK legend and label-mate Zed Bias hops on board, collaborating on the production of slightly darker, dancefloor-destroying bass track Lock The Door; grimey UK garage track Tape Packs evokes the big boxes of cassettes of recorded DJ sets from raves that soundtracked a lot of Hint’s late teenage years. Unusually, for a producer of ‘urban’ styles, Hint lives and has his studio in rural seclusion in Sussex, and this removal from the typical city treadmill results in a unique slant as his influences inevitably pass through a different set of filters.

Daily Intake is a new beginning for Hint that sees him consciously moving away from the more downtempo elements of his two previous long-players (*Ninja Tune*s Portakabin Fever and Tru Thoughts Driven From Distraction) to reconnect with his passion for party music, from jungle to dancehall to house and contemporary hip hop. Everything, right down to the album’s darkly striking artwork, represents this new vibe of freshness with an edge. Doing a number of acclaimed remixes in recent months for the likes of Lanu, Stac and Maddslinky – as well as his lauded rework of MJ Cole and Wiley – has also helped him to hone his style.

With building radio support across the BBC, RBMA, Rinse FM and elsewhere; international DJ bookings galore; plus an exciting new custom control-based Ableton Live set, in which he brings together live mixes with special guest PAs; the foundations are laid for Hint to break through in 2012.

Daily Intake Promo Mix 03: Bristol D&B (Side B)

Another collection of some of my favourite productions from Roni Size, DJ Die, DJ Krust and Suv from the mid to late 90s.

Side A is HERE: Bristol Drum & Bass Mix: Side A by Hint

More examples of the high quality, stylistically varied output of this small group of producers throughout the second half of the 90s. This mix covers the whole spectrum from classic cut-up Jungle to spaced-out futuristic rollers.

01. Gang Related & Mask – Dictation [Dope Dragon 1996]
02. Glamour Gold – The Only One [Rap Records 1997]
03. DJ Suv – Woo Town [V Recordings 1998]
04. DJ Krust – Future Unknown [Talkin Loud 1997]
05. Reprazent – Watching Windows (Roni Size Vocal Version) [Talkin Loud 1997]
06. DJ Krust – Blaze Dis One [V Recordings 1997]
07. Roni Size & DJ Die – Down [Talkin Loud 1996]
08. Firefox & 4Tree – Warning (Powder Mix) [Philly Blunt 1994]
09. Scorpio – Division One [V Recordings 1997]
10. Adam F – Music In My Mind (DJ Krust Inside Out Rmx) [F-Jams 1998]
11. Glamour Gold – Now I Got To Show You [Philly Blunt 1996]
12. DJ Krust – Set Speed [V Recordings 1995]
13. Moloko – The Flipside (Krust Dub) [Echo 1998]
14. Roni Size – It’s Jazzy (Felix Road Mix) [V Recordings 1997]
15. Gang Related & Mask – Not Not [Dope Dragon 1996]
16. D.N.A. – D.N.A. [Full Cycle 1995]

For DJ & Live bookings, please contact Ben at Mixed Bizness

Daily Intake Promo Mix 02: Bristol D&B (Side A)

The second mix I made in the run up to my album release on March 19th 2012 is about history – a collection of some of my favourite productions from Roni Size, DJ Die, DJ Krust and Suv from the mid to late 90s.

Side B is HERE: Bristol Drum & Bass Mix: Side B by Hint

The sheer volume and variety of releases these guys put out in a 5 year period was amazing, and the sound and style of these records had a big influence on me. They moved effortlessly between lighter melodic productions and heavy tear out tracks, but there was always a common thread, whether they were working individually or collectively. Many of these tracks are great examples of just how much you can do with not much more than some drums and a bassline.

01. DJ Die – Reincarnated (The Remix) [Full Cycle 1997]
02. Gang Related – Rukus [Dope Dragon 1997]
03. Scorpio – Li Li [V Recordings 1997]
04. Roni Size – Trust Me [Talkin’ Loud 1996]
05. Gang Related & Mask – Follow None [Dope Dragon 1996]
06. Roni Size – Soul Power [V Recordings 1996]
07. Firefox & Survivor – Who is It [Philly Blunt 1996]
08. En Vogue – Whatever (Roni’s Searching For A New Key Mix) [Eastwest 1997]
09. Dj Cam – Innervisions (DJ Die Rmx) [Inflamable 1997]
10. Roni Size – It’s A Jazz Thing [V Recordings 1994]
11. Roni Size – Timestretch [V Recordings 1994]
12. Roni Size & DJ Die – Music Box (Remix) [Full Cycle 1994]
13. Firefox – Bonanza Kid [Philly Blunt 1996]
14. Scorpio – Breakbeat Era (ft. Leonie Laws) [Full Cycle 1996]
15. Roni Size – Only A Dream [V Recordings 1997]
16. 3 Way – Sub Zero [Dope Dragon 1997]
17. Gang Related & Mask – Suckers [Dope Dragon 1996]

For DJ & Live bookings, please contact Ben at Mixed Bizness

Daily Intake Promo Mix 01: House & Garage

This is the first in a series of mixes I will be putting up in the run-up to my album release on March 19th.

The mix series will be collected and released on a dedicated website – DailyHintake

Mix 01 is a 55 min House mix. Mostly new and forthcoming releases, with an old classic thrown in too.

01. Hardhouse Banton – El General
02. Roots Manuva – Get The Get (ft. Rohksan) (Mia Dora Rmx)
03. Major Note$ – Aural Viagra
04. Manaré – Silk
05. Hint – Lock The Door (ft. Zed Bias)
06. CSY & Stripes – Speak Easy
07. House Of Royalty – Contra
08. Eli Escobar – Work It
09. Randomer – Grindin
10. Dee Patten – Who’s The Bad Man
11. C.O.N.E. – Arms Ol’ School
12. Joonipah – Whupah
13. Hint – Physical Stamina
14. Woz – Junky
15. Hint – Crash & Burn (ft. Natalie Storm) (Hint Warehouse Mix)
16. Kuhn – Slime Beach
17. Sleepin Giantz – Raving Bully
18. Hint – Mad Nervous

For DJ & Live bookings, please contact Ben at Mixed Bizness

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