Archive for July, 2008
EarPipe Talks to Tom Baker about Field Day 2008 and Eat Your Own Ears
Thursday, July 31st, 2008 | Event Preview | 1 Comment
Field Day will be arriving on London’s door step for the second time on the 9th August. Taking place in Victoria Park, Field Day promises the alternative festival experience with music from the leftfield combined with that village fete mentality. Headlining the day out will be the Foals, Mercury nominated Fionn Regan, Mystery Jets, Magistrates, Richie Hawtin (Minus, Berlin) with a very exclusive visuals show by Ali Demirel, King Creosote (as a duo), Wild Beasts, Simian Mobile Disco, The Notwist and many more. All for under 30 bucks!
We got to talk to Field Day’s father and organiser Tom Baker from Eat Your Own Ears about this year’s festival.
hi tom, firstly for our readers that don’t know, tell us about you, what you do at eat your own ears and how field day came about?
Me and my girlfriend Natalie (who is currently putting together the Village Mentality Village Green area at Field Day this year) put together a free event a few years back outside the Griffin pub in Old Street for 1000 people a day over a summer weekend called Return Of The Rural; a village fete with live acoustic acts James Yorkston and Beth Orton alongside acts like Clinic and Four Tet. Marcus who ran the Griffin and was involved very much in making the event happen, so after the success of this we all thought we should do something bigger and on a grander scale.A year later Marcus confirmed the use of Victoria Park and I drew up a list of people i thought should be involved – Adventures In The Beetroot Field, Bugged Out, Bloggers Delight and Homefires so we have a strong net work to promote the event through. I then started drawing up all the bands i wanted to play and started talking to agents. Field Day was announced…
Eat Your Own Ears was started by me 6 years ago at 93 Feet East on Brick Lane, London to work with independent record labels such as Domino, Kitty Yo, Rephlex, Rough Trade to showcase new acts alongside established artists. Eat Your Own Ears now works with various labels as well as a selection of artists promoting in various venues mainly in London.
I was one of the first promoters to work with the likes of Danger Mouse (aka Gnarls Barkley) Four Tet, Bloc Party, Peaches, The Kaiser Chiefs, Maxino Park and many others well before any press or media hype, Mercury award winning artists Franz Ferdinand and Antony and The Johnsons, and promotes 2007 Mercury award nominated artists Bat For Lashes, Jamie T and Fionn Regan.
I’m continuing to work as director of Eat You Own Ears with an EYOE series at Indigo in April and various gigs in venues across London from the Scala to KOKO to Shepherds Bush Empire to Bardens Boudoir…
What can we expect this year from Field Day?
After many discussions following our first Field Day last year we felt we had to do it again and make it better. We have been planning ever since, in fact it feels very much like a new festival.
We are all having lots of production meetings, sending out advances and info to the bands and of course making sure posters and flyers are everywhere and mailouts are going out, so lots of hard work and lots of fete things like bunting, ribbons and aprons arriving and stacking up the office
What’s new for Field Day this year?
New to Field Day this year is a dedicated village green area.
Inspired by summer sports days and country fetes.How do you think the village mentality area will go down with the punters and how do we get involved?
Be great, like a village fete Village Mentality will host side- stalls and activities throughout the daytime, ranging from sack-racing to splat-the-rat to the ‘eat as many carrots as you can’ contest and the Tug O’ War.
Last year there were some troubles with queues, toilets, sound and food. what happened and is everything all sorted for this year?
This year we have brought in specialist events agency Ear To The Ground to ensure this years exciting line up is matched with full event management. Ear To The Ground has a wealth of experience in running a variety of events in England and was recently responsible for launching this year’s Liverpool European Capital of Culture.Using Ear To The Ground’s experience of providing for large events, we’re going to make sure that the number of toilets is more than adequate to service the site this year and this provision will be significantly above the recommended level. These will include both normal portaloos and also urinals which can reduce queues substantially.
One of the biggest challenges that any promoter faces working in an urban park is getting the sound levels from the stages right. Every local authority has rules about the amount of noise you can make to ensure that people living nearby aren’t unnecessarily disturbed. We’ve been working with the local authority since November last year and have employed a specialist noise consultancy, Vanguardia, to redesign the site and calculate what levels we need to put on a great show.
Vanguardia have worked across live music from Wembley Stadium gigs to the Download festival and are very well regarded within the business.
We are confident that with the conditions we have negotiated for our entertainment license and the day to day management from Vanguardia, we will achieve a significant volume increase throughout the site to complement the exciting line up we have secured this year.In terms of eating and drinking we have over 100 metres of bars this year provided by Peppermint, who are behind the bars at some of the UK’s most innovative and exciting festivals including Bestival, The Glade and The Secret Garden Party to name a few. There is also a wide variety of food on offer including gourmet burgers, delicous handmade pies and Cakes; vegan & veggie wholefood, Mexican food peddled from a Volkswagen Beetle and the infamous Tiny Tea Tent.
Who or what are you most excited about this year?
We recommend you see as much as you can but some highlightswould have to be Foals who played mid bill last butare now headlining the Converse / Eat Your Own Ears main stage. Their mix of stridentpost- rock / jazz / pop and electronics and poly-rhythms are intense yet catchyand should get everyone dancing… Ifyou’re a fan of Battles then you should definitely check out Foals.
Weare very lucky to have dance music pioneerRichie Hawtin playing a
special2 hour set with unique visuals by Ali Demirel on the Bugged Out stage. You can also shake a leg next door in the Bloggers Delight tent to local heroes Trailer Trash, Wet Yourself, Durrr and many others.Overon the Homefires stage you should catch Mercury nominated Fionn Regan who plays his first London show for a long while;similar to Dylan’s early albums, but with the flow of Nick Drake… FionnRegan’s live sets are beautiful and beguiling.
Baltimore’s Dan Deacon brings his own weird takeon electro noise rock to the Adventuresin the Beetroot Field and NME Stage as he takes in influences from Devo to Talking Heads to the Residentsmixes them up and delivers a sound that could be somewhere close to LCD Soundsystem on crack…
Are there any official Field Day after parties we should be getting ourselves to?
The Official Field Day after party at The End 11pm – 7am Featuring bands and dj’s playing records including Crookers, Brodinski, Foals, Mystery Jets, Filthy Dukes and more.£15adv www.ticketweb.co.uk £12 NUS/£16 on the door.
What makes Field Day different from your regular GlobalCreamW4s?
Its a central London event, and a good day out for a very reasonable ticket price for the 5 stages and amount of acts you can get to see and some great mix of music from folk to dance to indie to electronica, and by some bands that don’t play often or at all the other festivals.
Which acts/DJs are you particularly enjoying this year?
I am really into Santogolds album, Bon Iver’s album I am addicted to Radioheads album even after so many months of constant listening – Errors are great live as wellAnd finally, what would be your one tip for Field Day this year?
Get their early to see Noah and the whale and also catch Richie Hawtin, Fionn Regan, Dan Deacon, Foals and as much as i can really…
Field Day takes place at London’s Victoria Park in Hackney. For more information and tickets go to http://www.fielddayfestivals.com/
Get Physical off shoots a kinda Kindisch new label
Friday, July 25th, 2008 | News | No Comments
Kindisch, German for Childish, is the sort of new label from the Get Physical folks. I say sort of new because the idea was conceived way back in 2006 and they’ve had a whole host of releases since then too. But what is new is that they are now finally online with their website www.kindisch.net.
Why Kindisch? Well Kindisch is the playground where artists are invited to run free and experiment within all the varieties of contemporary House music. Adoration for House music with no boundaries or borders is the basis for the Berlin based label which strives to pump fun, freedom and creativity back into the House music scene.
We’ve already seen some great releases from the label such as Gavin Herlihy’s Opium Haze which featured on Chris Wan’s MyNeighbourWontLetMePlayMyMusicLoud mix. Tracks from Samim, Jay Haze, Riva Starr and Raz Ohara have also released some great tracks on the label, with DJs such as Derrick Carter, Claude Von Stroke, Lee Burridge and Jesse Rose already singing their praises.
To commemorate the new site, those lovely people at Kindisch have got a mix of some of the label’s best moments for you to stream or download.
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Tracklist (Follow links to buy mp3):
1. Raz Ohara – Witmey Na
2. Vita – Mare Mare
3. H.O.S.H. – White Elephant
4. Daniel Mehldhart – January
5. Jay Haze – Soul in a bottle
6. The Skull – All you booty shakers
7. Einzelkind in bed with Douglas Greed – La Belle
8. Samim – Circles
9. Einzelkind – Maferefumeco
10. Gavin Herlihy – Opium Haze
11. Matchbox – Upehd Ah
12. Riva Starr – War Drums
The Sonar Report 2008 Part 2: EarPipe makes Contakt
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 | Event Reviews | 1 Comment
In the first part of EarPipe’s Sonar review we left you at the Soma La Terrazza party with a club full of glamorous people and decadent house music. Fast forward to Friday afternoon and that chic taste of vodka limon in an open air club has been replaced by a sweltering room, a furry mouth and an undying thirst for water. Being only the second day you can’t really whimper at the fact that we’re still in Barcelona, the day is glorious and one of the world’s greatest music festivals is taking place. Why feel hungover and sorry for yourself in some hot box hostel room when you can do the same outside on the fake grass of the Sonar Village whilst sipping that all important sixth mojito.
After a relatively slow crawl to the CCCB, EarPipe pitch up under a tree and relax to the various obscure bands. The first of these being a couple of natives called El Guincho who were described in the guide as a combination of funk, afro beat and African rhythms making them sound quite intriguing on paper. However I was totally confused when they opened with this. Its intro sounded a lot like the Ronette’s Be My Baby and was far from the funk and afro beats that were expected. A few more tracks in and the band edged into the African vibes and got a fair proportion of the Sonar Village on their feet. Quite an achievement considering many of the revellers tend to be struggling from the night before.
El Guincho was to be followed by EarPipe’s highlight of the day Quiet Village. Their ambient/psychedelic down tempo album Silent Movie has been receiving critical acclaim from all over and their recent RA Podcast was one of the most refreshing in recent times. But what’s most interesting is that one half of Quiet Village comes from the dark and pounding depths of Matt Edwards aka Radioslave. Much like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Matt has two guises where Quiet Village is definitely the Dr Jekyll persona. They open their Sonar set with the incredibly beautiful Victoria’s Secret, a long and winding scenic track laden with strings and clichéd wave crashes and cooing birds. They continue through their album dropping the great vintage 70s funk sounds of tracks like Can’t Be Beat and Pillow Talk. Ideal for a chilled sunny afternoon. As you can see by this video it was totally a sit down affair.
Kalabrese had the job of following Quiet Village. He made use of the opportunity to present his Rumpelorchestra from Switzerland. Together as a small three piece band they infused influences from jazz, afro-beat, funk and house. The energy from their performance got the crowd back on their feet. One thing that makes the Rumpelorchestra stand out from other outfits is their use of brass instruments which really brings in that classic jazz feel. Seems like a bit of a brass revival with Ronson and the mainstream getting involved.
For the evening, a trip to the Raum open air party was supposed to happen, but unfortunately it hadn’t started early enough to make it worth the trip. So instead EarPipe watched the surprise defeat of Croatia to Turkey before heading to Sonar by Night. On arrival to the vast venue we were greeted by the two tone sounds of Suggs and Madness. Their blend of pop and ska had the crowd singing along to all their greatest hits like One Step Beyond, Our House and It Must Be Love. Even the younger fans would have been able to join in what with Suggs doing all those fish finger commercials. A quick run over to the Sonar Park and we catch the finishing moments of BC vs JC feat. Darren Emerson. JC is infact Jamie Cullum the floppy haired jazz come easy listening artist that your parents and even your grandparents like. BC is Jamie’s brother Ben on guitar, talk about nepotism. And they’re all backed up by former Underworld brains Darren Emerson. Together they jam out a sort of soulful jazz influenced house come techno sound. Once we start looking past our music snobbery we actually find their performance quite pleasurable and to be fair BC vs JC feat Darren Emerson is a good way of introducing electronic dance music to the kids in a more palatable format, so props for that. However we are still getting over Jamie Cullum bopping his floppy haired head to electronic beats.
Meanwhile in the SonarClub, Diplo our man from Philly is entertaining the crowds with his ghetto tech and Baltimore breaks. There are no rules for this man; he plays whatever whenever so long as its got booty shakin bass riddem and tings, its just fun, unadulterated music which you can just bounce around to. He cuts and mixes everything from hip hop, techno and electro in that mashup raw way that’s currently popular. In the space of an hour I was hearing MIA edits, hip hop classics from Dead Prez, big electro numbers from Justice and even a splash of Plastikman Spastik. Diplo just delivers a whirlwind of music in such an effective manner. It’s not the sort of music we’re into down at EarPipe but it is much fun. And seeing some of the most die hard EDM fans just getting right into it is just proof of that.
Now on to the main event. The performance that was eagerly anticipated by a 10,000 strong crowd outside in the SonarPub was of course Richie Hawtin and his band of merry techno laptop technicians with a cube in tow. It was the Barcelona leg of their Contakt tour where the concept was built around a collective DJ performance creating one set rather than individual ones. Unfortunately the cube was no where to be seen, the reports from other gigs were saying that its lights changed colour but we were unable to give the official EarPipe word on that. Their introduction was very prog rock-esque. A mystical silence fell on the SonarPub before the black curtain was drawn back to reveal quite an impressive LED stage as an eerie soundscape comes in over the speaker. Like an epic prog rock entrance, Richie Hawtin rises from behind the laptops to rapturous applause. He continues to tweak the eerie soundscape whilst slowly bringing on each of the Contakt family one by one. As they do, their names are emblazoned in giant letters on the LED screen. It’s all very Spinal Tap, they probably had the system turned up to 11.
Over the course of the next six hours the Contakt group go through various combinations of DJs. Troy Pierce starts with Gaiser who are then later joined by Heartthrob and Magda. Hawtin comes on and replaces Troy for a bit and plays solo for a while. Marc Houle comes on later on and there is just steady rotation. The overall sound of the set is basically Minus, tripped out techno sounds with abstract noises with a relentless and hypnotic groove. At points there were up to three or four DJs chipping into the combined set. But in all honesty I’m not really sure what they were doing, what they were chipping in or having any effect at all? To us it just sounded like a normal set, with different DJs coming and going. The entire performance seemed like an elaborate back to back session. It was no different to your normal Minus night. Marks for trying to come out with something different and unique but I feel it didn’t push the boundaries obviously enough. Its neither here or there between intricate DJ set or rehearsed live performance.
Despite my grumblings of an elaborate back to back set the whole six hours definitely kept EarPipe entertained. Hawtin did all the usual stuff including those filter out buzzy drops and dropping classics like Yekke Yekke. Gaiser ran through some of the twisted horse music off his new album to great effect. Troy Pierce, Marc Houle and Magda all chipped in to create an amalgamation of sound which saw a crowd stay strong well into Saturday morning as the sun rose. They even finished everyone off with a little blast of Techno Vocals before bringing the curtain down on it all, quite literally. We must also add that the visuals were pretty stunning for the whole event. The way they were worked in across all the LED screens to create one big canvas was quite amazing, and the actual visualisations went hand in hand with the music. Whoever did that I salute you sir.
So to sum up Contakt is an elaborate back to back that doesn’t add anything new. The music is still pretty good to party to and its not really any different from your normal Minus party.
Part 3 coming soon 
)
Luciano – Fabric 41 Review
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 | Album Review | No Comments
The quality line ups continue at Fabric this month with the turn of the cheeky Chilean Luciano. Luciano’s productions and DJ sets have seen a meteoric rise in popularity in recent times. His combination of South American rhythms and melodies with the mechanical and electronic elements of house and techno brought new dimensions to the sound, breathing in soulfulness and an air of sensuality. Tracks like ‘Father’ and ‘Yamore’ have a minimal and techno edge, yet they sound so full and organic, as does much of the output on his own label Cadenza. His DJ sets follow in a similar sense by being raw and hypnotic but still with plenty of warmth and feel. It will be interesting to see if Luciano can capture that atmosphere which has made him a world renowned DJ. There has also been a slight Luciano backlash with some people over the past year, mainly due to his sets becoming tired with the same usual suspect tracks of Freaks Come Out, M83 Church and that Rose Rouge remix, so all eyes are on this CD to see if he can hit back with something fresh and innovative.
The mix starts lively with an array of beats and percussion from new find Rhadoo on his Cadenza track ‘Slagare’. Through his ever effective use of the filters Luciano is already stepping up the percussion and heat by dropping into D’Julz’s ‘Yo Momo’. Both tracks are simple percussive loops but Luciano plays and teases with the tracks before settling down with his remix of Getting Late. This track is sure to divide opinion with its sing along vocal but personally I think it works. Its kaleidoscope of synth lines and quirky percussion gives the track individuality and lightens up a consistent 4/4 beat.
The mix dips and climbs in and out of hypnotic percussion to more soulful and colourful reaches. Reboot’s ‘Be Tougher’ lays down the hypnotic foundation before allowing a clear house vibe with Alex Picone’s ‘Floppy’ and Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts excellent mix of Mogane. Mogane brings back an old US house feel with its African American vocal sample and dare I say funky bassline. The funk continues through with piano stabs and soulful vocal samples combined with ass shaking percussion on Johnny D’s Chicago-esque OrbitalLife, before Luciano skilfully layers in Jungle Beatz which allows the mix to reduce down.
Dropping the mix back allows Luciano to dig out one of his most favourite and overdone set pieces, the classic M83 Church euphoria moment. He simmers the Jungle Beatz down to just bird chirps as the epic organs of Church soar high, giving you that sunrise ecstasy moment. He then takes it all away and brings back the Jungle Beatz to complete the moment. I criticise for it being over done, but I got to give it to him, it is rather effective.
The mix continues along a quirky route through Tiefschwarz’s mix of ‘Rise from your Grave’ and the massive Schneider/Galluzi collaboration ‘Albertino’. From here we see a glimpse of the old style Luciano and his party technoness which is unfortunately cut short for the need to wind down for the CD’s outro with Kenny Larkin’s ‘You Are Original’. However Luciano does have a skill in using beautiful pieces music which he does here by ending the mix on Chymera’s ‘Arabesque’. Epic comes to mind.
Having seen what Luciano has done in the past, I and many others had high expectations for this CD. Unfortunately it’s not as groundbreaking and out there as we were all hoping for. But quite often with most things, if you hype and build it too much you will most likely come away disappointed. If you don’t let any preconceptions cloud your judgement about this CD, you’ll find that Luciano has come up with a great mix which shows his technical flare of layering tracks and percussive elements brilliantly. It’s a fun and enjoyable mix which has been receiving repeat plays from me. And every time it grows that little bit more on me. A solid effort and it will give you an insight into a Luciano live set. So hopefully it will inspire you to check him out as recent reports have been saying the man is back to his usual self.
Tracklisting (Follow links to buy tracks):
01. Rhadoo – Slagare – Cadenza Records
02. Brothers’ Vibe – El Baile [Acapella]– Som Underground
03. D’Julz – Yo Momo – Intacto Records
04. Los Updates Ft. Luciano – Getting Late [Luciano’s Getting Late Remix] – Candenza Records
05. Reboot – Be Tougher – Cadenza Records
06. Alex Picone – Floppy – Cadenza Records
07. Sety – Mogane (Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts Remix) – Circus Company
08. Johnny D – Orbitalife – Oslo Records
09. Julien Jabre – Jungle Beatz – Defected
10. M83 – In Church – Gooom Disques
11. Inner City – Good Love [Luciano Remix] – KMS
12. Phuture – Rise From Your Grave [Tiefschwarz Remix] – Strictly Rhythm
13. Schneider, Galluzzi – Albertino – Cadenza Records
14. D’Julz – So You Know – Ovum
15. Kenny Larkin – You Are Original – Planet E
16. Chymera – Arabesque – Tishomingo
Slam – Sci Fi Hi Fi Vol.5 Review
Monday, July 7th, 2008 | Album Review | 2 Comments
It’s been a long time coming but finally the purveyors of Scottish techno have finally released their own Sci Fi Hi Fi release. The Soma bosses follow quite a great line of DJs from Luciano to Ewarn Pearson and Alex Smoke, all of which have churned out some incredible mixes for the series. The most recent in the series was from Funk D’Void who tingled our senses with his new sound of deep and melodic house taking the series away from the predominate techno route. All tough acts to follow, Slam have decided to try and emulate their club sets and have even deemed this a tribute to their Return to Mono nights at the Sub Club in Glasgow. The CD features some of the bigger and older tracks that are popular at ‘Return to Mono’ as well as unreleased material from the duo which is forthcoming on their new and more experimental label Paragraph. The boys somehow condense a Slam DJ set/ night into 70 minutes, starting from the more restrained and minimal, building on a steady and gradual gradient to climactic peaks, a difficult thing to do in 70 minutes.
The CD begins slow and chuggy with Claro Intellecto’s ‘Kiss The Sky’ mix which effortlessly glides into Loco Dice’s mix of ‘Class’. The moody and restrained groove of both tracks sets a gentle precedence easing the first small steps in. The mix takes baby steps in progression. SiS’s ‘Organsa’ drives the mix to the next level with its organ bassline and looped hypnotic vocal stabs. As Slam slowly drip feeds the tension by each track, Beutkickneu3’s Tout Va Bien releases some pressure through its build of woodblock hits and bright synth trickles before allowing the percussive nature of Tanzmann’s ‘Keep On’ lifts you on to the next step up.
The consistently good new comer Prompt brings the mix into the main peaks with his track ‘Evolve’ which has been big for many DJs this year. Whilst on tracks from Decimal and Funkwerstatt, hypnotic electronic sounds ring out over steady and chunk techno beats all the time keeping a steady groove before dropping down into the mechanical blips and round basslines of Claude Von Strokes brilliant remix of Poxy Music’s ‘War Paint’.
Things take a turn down tripped out lane with Slam’s new track ‘What’s On Your Mind’ an eerie and raw Minus-esque track. Whilst Danton Eeprom’s ‘Face Control’ regresses you back to dark times with its synth sighs and brain infecting blips. Blips of the type that make you question whether you’re actually melting into the floor.
The final push to the summit gathers pace through the scaling and intensifying synths of Tigerskin’s ‘Push the Patton’ and the drilling percussion of Mauro Picotto’s ‘Flashing’ before ending on another Slam exclusive ‘City Destroyer’. Its layers of short synth loops and masses of reverb add a depth and darkness which ends the CD on a high of frenzied techno.
The way the CD progresses in small steps with its carefully programmed tracks make the mix enjoyable to listen to as a whole. It’s good to see that being upfront hasn’t prevailed and that Slam has taken the cream of their DJ sets to create a club styled set that represents them. Another fine addition to the Sci Fi Hi Fi series.
Slam – Sci Fi Hi Fi is out now. Buy on CD
Tracklist (Follow links to buy individual tracks):
01 Rom1F – PI Kiss The Sky (Claro Intelecto Remix)
02 Social Material – Class (Loco Dice Mix)
03 SIS – Orgsa
04 Plasmik – Pearls On A String
05 Matthias Meyer – Tout Va Bien Butkickneu3
06 Matthias Tanzmann – Keep On
07 Anderson Noise – Londrina (Daniel Carboni and Alessio Mareu Remix)
08 Jandroide – Grande Coracion
09 Prompt – Evolve (Original Mix)
10 Decimal – Eleanor
11 Funkwerkstatt – Sputnik
12 Poxy Music – War Paint (Claude Von Stroke Mix)
13 Slam – What’s On Your Mind?
14 Danton Eeprom – Face Control
15 D’Julz – Just So You Know (2000 and One Remix)
16 Cle – Nomads (Mathias Tanzmann Remix)
17 Tigerskin – Push The Patton
18 Mauro Picotto – Flashing
19 Slam – City Destroyer
Felipe Venegas – Pa Bailar y Pa Gozar EP Review
Monday, July 7th, 2008 | Single Review | No Comments
Felipe Venegas is given his debut on up and coming label Immigrant records. The young Chilean from Santiago has been growing on the local scene over the last few years, with his live sets featuring alongside other established Chileans Villalobos and Luciano. Studying classical music traditions, Felipe took his knowledge and applied it to his electronic house and techno productions retaining a highly rhythmic and percussive feel.
Pa Bailar y Pa Gozar is a three track ep. The title track is big room house. Its chunky tribal beats plip plop through the intro before a fuzzy synth line and looped Chilean vocal rip through to the foreground causing a drop of monstrous proportions. It’s energetic and carnival in character which is understandable considering its South America roots and will no doubt whip up a crowd.
On remix duties is Tuning Spork’s Michel Ho. His remix adapts the predominate fuzzy synth line from the original into a subtle sub bassline. The Chilean vocal snippets are kept but warped with a good dose of effects, transforming the remix into a fidgety, wobbly house effort.
On the b side is De Gama, which is in complete contrast to Pa Baliar y Pa Gozar. Here Felipe creates a slow burning minimal-esque techno come house track. He subtly incorporates jazz percussion samples set just behind a warm and techy bassline whilst it glides through an array of soft bleeps and occasional vocal stabs to create a hypnotic and sensual atmosphere. The build and progression crawls along as it travels over its speed bump peak like an Essex boy’s lowered white escort. But it does work if you’re trying to build in a DJ set. Just don’t let it run on too long.
This release is a solid package all round, ticking the boxes of house, techno and tech. Pa Bailar y Pa Gozar for the big rooms and peak time. De Gama for the dark and dirty small room, and Michel Ho’s remix sits somewhere in between.
Felipe Vengas – Pa Bailar y Pa Gozar is out on Vinyl from the 14th July and Digital from the 28th July.
https://www.immigrantindustries.com
How to get your Wild in the Country ticket refund
Friday, July 4th, 2008 | Event Reviews | No Comments
From RenHQ on how to get your refund:
REFUND INFORMATION
Tickets bought directly from renaissance.com will be reimbursed for the face value of each ticket purchased. Please send your contact details along with a valid unused ticket and transaction confirmation to:Rebirth Music Ltd.
52a High Pavement
The Lace Market
Nottingham
NG1 1HWTo guard against loss/damage please send all tickets by recorded delivery.
E-Ticket customers: Please send your contact details along with your e-ticket voucher to the above address.For all other outlets please contact point of purchase for their refund policy.
Once again apologies for any inconvenience caused.Kind Regards
Renaissance
The Sonar Report: EarPIPE’s Review Part 1
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | Event Reviews, Events | No Comments
It seems like only yesterday since EarPipe was scoffing its all meals in one croissant whilst basking in the Barcelona sunshine listening to an obscure foreign hip hop band after being massively on it for two days already. You’ve probably guessed that such a sequence of words can only mean we’re talking about the advanced music and multimedia arts festival Sonar and that this is the first part of EarPipe’s Sonar Report for 2008. We’ll be covering, well attempting to cover what we saw at the Sonar events and a bit of the other stuff that happened off Sonar too. All this is of course subject to memory!
So to kick off, proceedings began with EarPipe’s visit to Sonar by Day held in the CCCB MACBA complex. The same format from previous years was kept with the usual outdoor Sonar Village courtyard area, the marquee Sonar Dome, the two indoor arenas and our personal favourite the Red Bull Music Lounge, five great arenas where you can catch the obscure, the weird and the wonderful.
On the first day the Sonar Village were treated to DJ2D2’s Spanish trip hop stylings in between live performances. He keeps the crowd nicely ticking over as they sip mojitos in the sunshine. The main treat however was Little Dragon who have been slowly creeping to popularity on the alternative scene. Their recent single “Twice” has been getting plays from the likes of Giles Peterson and the like. Their sound is a combination of electronica jazz with hints of dub, hip hop and funk, think Bjork but with a bit more funk. The result is some beautiful songs over interesting beats and melodies. The laidback jazzy melodies were perfect in the Barcelona sun and definitely complimented the numerous rounds of mojitos.
Departing briefly from the laidbackness of outside, earPipe took a trip inside to check out the Red Bull Music Lounge. Of course the lounge must only be entered via the claustrophobic metal lifts to experience that “doors opening onto at basement rave in blade” feel. Doing just that the doors roll back and Patrice Baumel is breaking out the techno to a packed room dancing as if it were DC-10. I’ve always loved the atmosphere in the Red Bull Lounge. When the right DJ comes on you get a real house party vibe and Patrice was doing that to the fullest extent, playing electronic house to techno with intriguing melodies laced in.
A short trip downstairs sees earPipe stumble across Pan Sonic an experimental electronica/techno group. Their music was chin stroking and abstract of the highest order. Whilst I’m not usually one for this type of music, Pan Sonic were intriguing with their body reverberating sounds. It was literally a wall of noise, but a carefully calculated chaotic one. Understandably these guys are all about the sounds they can create using custom built synths and drum modules to tickle every end of the audio spectrum that computers just can’t reach. Their show consisted of the group on stage with their equipment and an oscillation visualisation to show you how gut wrenchingly raw their sound was. Interesting but definitely not for the faint hearted or more so those with loose bowels. This clip may go some way to explaining what I’m on about.
Thursday night left us with a few options. There were various parties going on all over the city. The choices were the GetPhysical pool party at Liquid outside of the city, the Club4 special at City Hall with Beyer, Carola and Matthew Dear or the This is Hardcore night at Razzmatazz with Holden and Felix da Mousemat. With too much choice came much deliberation, but not fancying the long trips or queues, the group plumped for the Soma party at La Terrazza. On the bill were the Soma family from Slam to Silicone Soul and Funk D’Void. La Terrazza is a beautiful open air club set in the hills near the Olympic village. On arrival Silicone Soul had just finished and Funk D’Void had taken to the reins with his new deep and melodic sound as heard on his recent Sci Fi Hi Fi. Funk D’Void laid down the spaced out house sounds which slowly built up to Slam’s set, who instantly tore down the new build with Radioslave’s Grindhouse Tool. Slam kept to a steady pace with the right sort of techno for the fairly glam crowd of La Terrazza, keeping everyone interested and moving. A great party to kick the weekend off.
Part 2 shall be along shortly.
O Dear Wild in the Country Now Cancelled :o(
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | Other | No Comments
Earlier today i posted how WITC was still going to be fun even without Bjork… Well it looks as though the whole thing has gone down the pan due to poor ticket sales and loss of a key financial backer. A similar scenario happened to the Wax:On Live event earlier this year where their financial backers had to drop out due to the credit crunch. So they weren’t kidding when the papers were saying that the global economic meltdown was going to effect everyone, even the most hedonistic of us.
Anyways, here is the official statement from those at RenHQ
I am really sorry to announce that this years Wild in the Country Festival has been cancelled, please see the below statement:
Wild in the Country Festival Cancelled
Stately Events Ltd is extremely disappointed to announce the cancellation of the Wild in the Country festival at Knebworth Park on Saturday 5th July.
The cancellation is due to lower than expected ticket sales and a key investor withdrawing at the last minute, leaving the event in an unsustainable position.
This is a very sad conclusion to our passionate efforts to develop an
interesting and credible addition to the UK festival market.
Unfortunately, Wild in the Country has become the latest in a series of festivals that have suffered from a unique and well-documented set of market forces this summer.We did everything possible to make the event happen and would like to apologise to all those who have purchased tickets, and for the inconvenience this cancellation may have caused.
The Organisers will make every effort to ensure that ticket purchases will be refunded.
Bjork has cancelled but there is so much more to see according to EarPipe’s Wild in the Country guide!
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | Event Preview | No Comments
So Bjork is officially off the bill due to stage and production issues or that illness which forced her to cancel her other date in Sheffield. Nobody knows and we’ll probably never get to know. Either way she’s cancelled and caused a right who-ha. But as they say in performance circles, “the show must go on”. The line-up still remains as is. The Battles, who were initially swaying on their appearance, will now definitely be appearing and Soulwax who are curators of their own tent will also be present. So unless you’re a diehard Bjork fan, here is EarPIPE’s pick of the bunch to catch this Saturday, leaving only the weather to worry about. Dig out your best sun dance.
Richie Hawtin
OK so our top pick isn’t really the off centre alternative choice. But you just can’t deny how good the Canadian turned Berlin scenester is. Think of this more as the solid without fail choice. More often than not Richie will deliver, trust us we have seen him countless times and never get bored. Expect driving techno beats which build up to infinity, some technical ingenuity and his trademark hair flick and clap dance.
Bookashade
With a new album out this year, the boys have been on the road showcasing a new live. Already receiving rave reviews from all corners of the world, this show is sure to excite the electronic dance heads as well as those who prefer their bands live live rather than laptop live.
Carl Craig
This man has the golden touch. Anything that he produces or remixes turns out seminal. A stalwart on the scene from the early Detroit days Carl Craig has been there, done it and decided to hang around a bit longer to show the kids what its really all about. EarPipe caught him at the start of the year and blew us away with his Detroit blend of techno combined with such musicality that only one word comes to mind. EPIC.
Dixon
Another person we caught at the start of the year was Dixon. The Innervisions resident has been at the forefront of the deep electronic house sound that has seen a recent flourish. His deep house stylings are warm, sensual and seductive, be sure to catch.
DJ Yoda
Here at earPipe we love a bit of novelty comedy to lighten the mood. DJ Yoda is the undisputed heavyweight of lightening the mood. Serious does not even come into the equation. Simply marvel and smile as he ridiculously scratches and cuts up anything and everything into an old skool b-boy rhythm. Entertaining of the highest order.
Killa Kella
Whilst we’re on the subject of entertaining hip hop we can’t forget about beatboxer Killa Kella. The former beat box champion transcends all genres from Britney to drum n bass all through the manipulation of his voice. Truly an amazing sight.
The Field
Stockholm’s Axel Willner as The Field creates some of the most epic and mesmerising soundscapes you will ever hear. Signed to Kompakt he sound is often categorised as minimal techno but it is so much more than that. Intertwining harmonies, drawn out loops and sheer epic soundscapes create a complex and intense musical environment. We caught the man at Sonar and effortlessly floated away in the sunshine on a river of mojitos.
Audion
This Saturday Matthew Dear has left his leather trousers and big hands at home for he will be in his Audion guise. What this means is he’ll be thrashing out his blend of epic twisted techno from mouth to mouth and beyond.
Danny Tenaglia
Last but not least the Brooklyn 20 hour legend that is Danny Tenaglia. Renowned for his relentless 20 hour DJ sets, this man knows how to party. The purveyor of dark twisted tribal beats, Danny will take you on a long and deep journey, then at the end he’ll kick you out in the middle of no where. Expect tribal beats with a dash of diva vocals. But do beware of the stilton clangers that he has been known to drop every so often.
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