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Bent Art of Chill Vol. 5 Review

Saturday, October 25th, 2008 | Album Review, Music | 1 Comment

Bent continues the CD series where lush melodies love to soar and heavy kick drums are an unknown concept. Spread across two CDs each half of bent gets to take command of their own slice of 74 minutes.

Both CDs explore the full specturms of “chill out” music from dark melancholy tones to bright and colourful strings, airy vocals and snippets of piano excellence. But above all else it covers beautiful music.

On the first CD tracks like Kirsty Hawkshaw’s vocals over Meteors with a lullaby style piano sets a dreamy tone. Whilst Pictor Nooten and Michael Brooks’ Several Times II is a fantastic piece of atmospheric music using deep drawn out tones and a brilliant array of layers.

Music from Bent themselves features on the CD in the form of As Seen From Space, another beautiful track which uses a vocal layers from a monastery choir to achieve a great celestial affect. The CD finishes on a lighter tone with The Ecstacy of Dancing Fleas. It paints a joyous picture of fleas pinging off into the air in slow motion as you would see on some insect nature program but in a more Hawaiian style.

The second CD continues with more atmospheric music. Lusine’s stuttered airy vocal tones breeze through glittering wind chimes in a James Holden way to create an intense but light track. Whilst Ben Benjamin’s Toothlike Tokens uses a light patter of percussion and xylophones as deep and low strings builds a moving and bright crescendo.

One of the standout tracks on this compilation is probably Cathy Davey’s Piece of the Pie which has a sleepy soothing Waltz style sway to accompany Cathy’s light breathy voice. Another interesting track on the second CD has to be Kalimankou Denkou by The Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir who perform a moving piece of harmonic music using vocals alone. Purely fantastic.

Both CDs offers a diverse and interesting selection of beautiful music which is worth your sole attention. And for once a chill out CD which doesn’t go down the usual route of using Roksopp, Zero 7, Groove Armada At The River or anything else you might have heard on adverts.

Buy Bent’s Art of Chill Vol 5 on CD

Tracklist:
1. Pipegroove – Cole, B.J. & Millsy/Davy Spillan
2. Your Life – City
3. Meteors – Hawkshaw, Kirsty
4. Beach Red Lullaby – Flying Saucer Attack
5. Adagio Assai – Ravel, Maurice
6. Its Happening – Simon & Eliza
7. Several Times II – Nooten, Pieter & Michael Brook
8. Angel Eyes – Chungking
9. As Seen From Space
10. Ecstasy Of Dancing Fleas – Penguin Cafe Orchestra

1. Boute – AU
2. Day Follows Night (Bodi Bill version) – Nonostar
3. Jetstream – Lusine ICL
4. Cream Cakes – Pony Comb
5. Amalia – As One
6. Toothlike Tokens – Benjamin, Ben
7. Okonkole Y Trompa – Pastorius, Jaco
8. Childhood – Armstrong, Craig
9. Leap Year – Tack Till
10. Tomorrow Never Comes – Allison, Dot
11. Piece Of The Pie – Davey, Cathy
12. Soft Collared Neck – Helios
13. Kalimankou Denkou (The Evening Gathering) – Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir
14. Unbraiding The Sun – Goldmund
15. Pipe Dreams – Natural Yogurt Band

Tags: Art of Chill, Bent, Platipus

Mills, Dixon, Ame, Jones and Pearson…. Could this be the greatest Warehouse Line-Up Yet?

Friday, October 24th, 2008 | Event Preview, Events, News | No Comments

As the title suggests, there might be an alright night going on at Manchester’s Warehouse Project next weekend. They got a few of those alright house DJs. Dixon, Ame, Jamie Jones and Ewan Pearson to name a few. A perfectly good lineup in itself…. Actually that is a damn fine lineup. However for the folks in Manchester that just doesn’t cut the proverbial mustard. They had to go and add Jeff Mills, one of the greatest techno DJs ever to grace three turntables. What a line up for Halloween. What would make this night even better? Not much really. The only thing that could would be a pair of free tickets from us!

So for your chance to win a pair of tickets to the Exhibitionist night at the Warehouse Project on 1st Nov 2008. Just answer the simple question below:

Which Detroit collective was Jeff Mills once a part of?
A. French Resistance
B. Underground Resistance
C. Constipation Resistance

Send your answers with your name and address to sublevelsessions@googlemail.com
Competition closes 29th October 2008.

Tags: Add new tag, Ame, Dixon, Ewan Pearson, Exhibitionist, Hot Chip, Jamie Jones, Jeff Mills, Warehouse Project

Michel De Hey – No Nonesense Review

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 | Album Review, Music | No Comments

Like Ronseal Michel De Hey´s new compilation does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a no nonsense mix, simple and straight forward, mixing good music without any fancy stuff. On this compilation De Hey guns for melodic, atmospheric house and techno, using his slick skills to effortlessly blend between upfront tracks.

Highlights on the CD include the Spanish guitar melody of Vacaciones en Chile, the melancholic riff of Daso & Pawas´ Det and the funk fuelled Delete dub of Johnny D´s Soleil. However whilst a solid straight up mix that is well blended, De Hey doesn’t really venture too far away from the restrained beats and atmospheric melodies to wow us with something off the wall or original. Tracks off the beaten path or something classic could have really spiced up the CD and helped to give the mix a bit of identity. Without that it is just another CD with upfront house and techno albeit very well mixed together.

Tags: Michel De Hey, No Nonesense

Dr Lektroluv Live at Pukkelpop 2008 Review

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | Album Review, Music | No Comments

After successful mix CDs recorded live from Extrema and Rock Werchter, Dr Lektroluv returns with a sample of his set from the massive Belgian festival Pukkelpop.

Dr Lektroluv’s live set from the Belgian festival takes you on an electronic music journey….. Actually it’s more of a frantic blitz as you ‘go postal’ through a quiet neighborhood. Big fuzzy saw tooth basslines bite through big beats and catchy riffs; add a few vocals from tracks like Day and Night and the Crooker’s remix of To Protect & Entertain and you’ve got yourself a pogoing party on a CD for the kids.

The brash electro lines and booty shaking beats might not be the subtlest, but the shear mentalness is quite fun. The kids will definitely lap this up. It is a great mix of the sound and if you were there it will probably bring back fun memories. If however you like stroking your chin to the minimalist of techno and frown upon those neon coloured sunglasses with built in blinds, then this CD is not for you!

www.lektroluv.be / www.myspace.com/drlektroluv / www.pukkelpop.be

Tags: Dr Lektroluv, Pukkelpop 2008

England Makes Contakt!

Saturday, October 4th, 2008 | Event Preview, Events | No Comments

Have you noticed that the evenings have been getting darker a little earlier? You might put that down to winter. Actually the truth is the Berlin juggernaut label Minus is making its way to town. The UK leg of their Contakt tour will be rolling into London on the 18^th Oct but not before a quick Minus showcase at the Manchester Warehouse Project on the 17^th which I hasten to add we have a delightful competition to win a pair of tickets!

But first let’s talk about Contakt in London. On Saturday 18^th October, Richie Hawtin and friends will take over the tunnels of SE One to wow your senses in an orgy of twiste, abstract techno whilst an invigorating, immersive visual display of lights and images will suck you into the dark world of Minus. Together, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Troy Pierce, Marc Houle, Hearththrob and Gaiser will collectively build a journey of music whilst Ali Demirel will interpret this into a visual extravaganza so your eyes don’t feel too left out. It’s quite a spectacle. Those that were at Field Day this year would have seen a glimpse of the visuals to be expected, whilst anyone that made it to Sonar would have seen the whole show in motion. EarPipe saw both and we can say it is visually stunning as the pictures in this post prove. Some of the best visuals we’ve seen at an event. As for the music, expect all kinds of techno and house with each of the djs inputting their mark on things. With their collective minds the possibilities are endless. Tickets are still going at Phonica and on the door, so better get in there early as this one is definitely a road block!

Now on to Manchester. Before their London show, Hawtin along with Troy Pierce, Gaiser and Barem will be commanding the northern masses. This won’t be a full blown Contakt show but it sure will be entertaining. It will be the first time that Hawtin has played the Warehouse in three years it has been going so it is sure to be something special. To make it even better, for one night only those folks from WHP have managed to smooth talk the environmental officers of Manchester to let them stay open till 7am!!!!

As attendees of that infamous ambassador’s party would say, Excellente!

So, how does one win a pair of tickets to Minus Presents… at the Manchester Warehouse Project on the 17^th October? All you need to do is answer the simple question below:

Where did EarPipe catch the Contakt show this summer?

Send your answer along with your name and location to sublevelsessions@googlemail.com
Competition closes on the 12th October 2008

Tags: Ali Demirel, Contakt, Gaiser, Heartthrob, London, Magda, Manchester, Marc Houle, Minus, Richie Hawtin, SE One, Troy Pierce, Warehouse Project