Archive for December, 2008
Tracksuits at the Ready, Eastern Electrics NYE Venue Announced with Map!
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 | Event Preview, Events, News | No Comments
We’ve just heard on the grapevine that the Eastern Electrics venue will be on Great Suffolk Street in Southwark. Its in the Seager Storage Units 29-31just before the August Bank Holiday location. We’ve heard the venue is looking particularly spectacular to see the tracksuit clad massses into ’09.
Seager Storage Units, 29-31 Great Suffolk St, London SE1 0NS
See You There!
EarPIPE’s Frivolously Fantastic Yet Quite Practical London NYE Guide
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 | Event Preview, Events, News | No Comments
Since we’re halfway through December with Christmas right on our doorsteps I guess we should really cover what’s going down on New Years Eve. If you think you can bear the vomit laden streets and tourist clubbers who make it out for their annual party then read on. If not EarPipe recommends a house party or hired venue for you and your friends to get seriously pissed and whatever else you might want to do….
So what is the party to go to for us? Top of our list is Eastern Electrics. You may remember them from August Bank Holiday weekend, maybe for the wrong reasons. Here at Earpipe we had an OK night but it’s true it could have been organised better. But Eastern Electrics has assured us they’re one the case. So we’re definitely going to give it another shot because who could say no to some South London urban space. You may cry that its going to be cold. But fear not as you’ll be donning some kitsch 80s throw back tracksuit because as part of this year’s line-up Eastern Electrics have brought in Tayo and his legendary tracksuit party!! What better excuse to look 80s hip hop cool or more likely in our case Chuckle Brothers retro.
Tracksuits aside you may want to know what’s going on music wise. Well they’ve got three rooms in this warehouse location. The main room will have the formidable Mulletover who have brought in one half of MANDY Phillip Jung, they’ve also got Crosstown Rebeller Damien Lazarus, who might we add played an absolute stormer at the T-Bar closing parties, and to support these heavyweights they’ve got London faithfuls Geddes from Mulletover and Simon Morell form DDD. Tayo and Frank Tope take over room two with their tracksuit party canvassing support from ex Radioslaver Serge Santiago and to round things off those up and coming Man Make Music kids will be delivering the full spectrum of bass heavy dance music. So pretty fantastic if you ask me.
Tickets are still going at £20 from ticketweb here
And you might still be able to get some £16 ones from View London here
Not bad for New Years Eve!
But if bopping around a cold warehouse in a tracksuit doesn’t take your fancy then here are the next best…
Secretsundaze
Secretsundaze looks particularly good. They’ve taken Village Underground a rough and ready design space in the heart of Shoreditch. The location sounds fantastic and they’ve got a fantastic line-up too. Favourites from the year Omar S and Johnny D will be playing alongside Giles Smith and James Priestley. Expect nothing less than brilliant house music!
Get your tickets from here.
Horse Meat Disco
If you want something a bit off the wall then Horse Meat Disco might be right up your street. They’ve got plenty of delightful disco to see you through the night at Cargo and to give it that Studio 54 edge they’ve brought in show girl Johnny Woo of Gay Bingo fame.
Get your tickets from here.
Fabric
Now we move on to the big boys. Firstly Fabric has one big New Years Eve melting pot of styles. Its going to be a head on collision of Fabric vs Fabric Live. In room one they’ve got our Innervisions favourites Ame and Dixon along with Nottingham whipper snapper Matt Tolfrey. Of course the New Year wouldn’t be the same if the residents Craig Richards and Terry Francis weren’t present. Then over in room two they’ve got Yoda, Craze and the perverts. If you like hip hop and DnB there’s no point looking anywhere else.
Get your tickets from here
The End
The second big boy is The End. They do their final New Years Eve and who better to bring the club in to the New Year for the final time than the French master Laurent Garnier. All night the French wizard will do what he does best and that’s quality journeys through dance music. He’ll get a little support from Layo too and in the back room the most excellent Jimpster and Milton Jackson will have you buried deep in the ground with their deep deep stylings. Sure to be a fantastic party however you might be left a bit tearful not because it’s closing down but because of the ticket price.
Get your eye watering £40 tickets from here
EarPipe’s Christmas Three Club Orgy! Matter to Fabric via Secretsundaze
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 | Event Preview, Events, News | No Comments
Like any good dance music resource we should round up how to get yourself in a ditch via the most fun way during this festive period. So let’s begin with this weekend.
Saturday sees a lude three-way orgy between Fabric, Matter and Secretsundaze. Firstly Fabric has their annual Digweed soirée joined by Lee Burridge and Radioslave which is sure to be prog-e-licious affair. Up the road at Kings Cross’ Scala, the Secretsundaze rabble once again takeover. They’re joined by Shindoe, 2000 and One and Kabale und Liebe in the main room whilst the residents Giles Smith and James Priestley hold fort in the back room with the excellent Brothers Vibe. Finally a Secretsundaze do wouldn’t be the same without a lick of disco, so the Disco Bloodbath boys take over room three. Again another great party to get too.
Last but not least we have Matter and quite possibly the first decent all round line-up they’ve put on since they’ve opened. The main reason for this is due to RA who is taking over for one night to throw their Christmas party with many of the fantastic DJs that have graced their podcast this year. You’ve got everything from the disco funk realm of Trus’me, the electronic techno and house stylings of DJ Koze and Modselektor and the dubby darkness of Appleblim and Shackleton. And that’s just the main room; out back you’ve also got Move D and the excellent Motor City Ensemble. What’s also good about this night is that you can get £8 tickets from RA. That’s £12 cheaper than your normal Matter night with a line-up that is more exciting than poking your knob in the VCR. The big question is, which party do you go to? Unfortunately I can’t answer that; well my answer would be to do all three.
So I present to you EarPipe’s Christmas Three Club Orgy. The map should help you get about and you should be able to squeeze in about 2.5 hours in each club. It may require a dedicated driver and a wheel barrow of cash too. But meh its Christmas… spoil yourself… Thank me later when you’ve got a stinking hangover the next day.
Sinden – FabricLive 43 | Album Review
Saturday, December 6th, 2008 | Album Review, Music | No Comments
Chances are if you’re older than 25 you might not have heard of this guy called Sinden. But for the past couple of years he and Switch have been getting the kids hooked into dance music. For a while it was looking like dance music in general was going to stagnate with an ageing crowd and no fresh blood since guitars made a come back. What happened is that the kids have just mashed it all together creating this danceable urban come indie sound. One slice of this pie is the sound put out by Sinden and the like. The sound is upbeat and littered with big drops and huge build ups. There are vocals, plenty of are wooshy noises and bleeps. It has urban influences yet is distinctly dance music. I’m not sure if this sound has a name. Some call it fidget house, others bassline. I’m not down with it enough to know what it is, but it seems like it’s a big amalgamation of everything.
His Fabric Live 43 release dots around through bleepy house, dub step and Baltimore breaks/Ghetto tech with a dash of 80s kitsch and a big dollop of acid house rave. It’s an interesting mix which is big on excitement. At times I’m thinking it’s extremely corny. The hip house style rap and vocals on the opening track is cringey but then it’s not supposed to be serious. It’s supposed to be easily accessible and danceable with no qualms about being underground.
There is a big afro Caribbean influence going on. Tracks like African Chant, Luanda Lisboa and Secousse bring in the frivolous fun of carnival and many of the other tracks have that Baltimore breaks rhythm. When it’s not the bouncy fun of the afro carribean tracks it’s the deep dark resonating sounds of dub step. Tracks from Skream, Caper, Joker and JME provide a momentary break in the high octane pace.
Another sound which Sinden is pushing is the comeback of garage under its cunningly rebranded name of bassline house. Sinden drops big wobbly basslines and pitched up vocals to a pacey 4/4 garage beat which is silly in every way possible, yet it is foolishly charming. You can see why the kids love it.
So the question is, is this CD any good. I’m afraid it’s a split decision. Its noisy brash beats and bleeps for me are you too in your face. The music is pretty obvious in its quest to excite the listener yet I find myself enjoying it the more I listen to it. Like I said before it’s supposed to be accessible danceable music leaving any snobbery at the door and Sinden has definitely done this.
Buy Sinden FabricLive 43 on CD
Tracklist (Click for MP3s):
1. Juiceboxxx And Dre Skull – Center Stage (Vicious Pop Records)
2. Yo Majesty – Club Action (Domino Records)
3. Aquasky Ft. Acafool – Have A Good Time (The Count & Sinden Mix) (Passenger)
4. Armand Van Helden – This Aint Hollywood (Southern Fried)
5. Scottie B And King Tutt – African Chant (Unruly)
6. Mujava – Township Funk (Sinden Remix) (This Is Music)
7. Tigerstyle Ft. Vybz Kartel, Mangi Mahal + Nikitta – Balle! Shava! (Sinden Remix) (Nachural)
8. Mixhell – Highly Explicit (Brodinski Remix) (BOYZNOIZE Recordings)
9. Buraka Som Sistema – Luanda – Lisboa (Fabric London)
10. Radioclit – Secousse (Instrumental Version) (Mental Groove)
11. Alan Braxe Ft. Killa Kella & Fallon – Nightwatcher (Show Me) (Instrumental) (Eye Industries)
12. Double S & True Tiger – From Day (True Tiger/Always) * Joker ‘Gully Brook Lane’ (Terrorrhythm)
13. JME – AWOH (Boy Better Know)
14. Skream – Fick (Tempa)
15. Zomby – Strange Fruit (Ramp)
16. Caper – Hybrid (Studio Rockers)
17. Project Bassline – Drop The Pressure (The Count & Sinden Remix) (Cheap Thrills)
18. Piddy Py – Giggle Riddim (Dress To Sweat)
19. Roisin Murphy – Overpowered (Hervé And Roisin In The Secret Garden Mix) (EMI)
20. Machines Don’t Care – Beat Bang (Machines Don’t Care)
21. Kudu – Let’s Finish (Sinden Remix) (Nublu)
22. M 83 – Couleurs (Gooom Disques)
23. SALEM ‘Redlights’ (Acephale Records)
Soma Compilation 2008 | Album Review
Saturday, December 6th, 2008 | Album Review, Music | No Comments
Soma helps us to reminisce about the past year with their annual Soma Compilation. It’s a pretty simple concept; Soma put the highlights of the past year on a small disc of plastic. If only life was as simple.
Unfortunately the compilation isn’t mixed. It would have been interesting to hear the full coloured spectrum of Soma mixed together in a multicoloured epic journey. Instead they’ve plumbed for the unmixed variety which in a way is useful for all the DJs out there catching up on tunes in one big go.
So what’s the track selection like? It’s a bit hit and miss, although it is more hit than miss. Prime examples being Adam Beyer’s mix of Slam’s Staccato Rave is a stuttered orgy of whirring noises; enough to kick start any CD, whilst Orlando Voorn’s remix is a beautiful unravelling track of blossoming electronic layers. On the other hand Robert Hood revives the Black Dog track Train by the Autobahn Pt2 by violently shaking it so all the reverberating synth stabs echo out at the pace and rhythm of a train. And new boys Xpansul and Massi DL have a jittery new school techno workout with their track Nerd Soul. So some great hits there.
Then there are the nearly hits. Mark Broom’s version of Lets Go Outside Girls Don’t Like Me isn’t a bad reinterpretation its just a bit too conservative whilst I think the Mr Copy remix would have been more interesting on this compilation. Also nearly a hit is Onionz remix of Funk D’Void’s Ginebra. Whilst raw and heavy with its spacious percussion and growling bassline its still doesn’t hit home for me.
Which brings us onto the not so great. There’s only really two tracks I’m not particularly feeling. First is Vector Lover’s Raumklang. Its spacey synths and excessive layers is just too flowery in its approach. This maybe a personal thing though as I’ve never been the biggest Vector Lovers fan. Second is the noisy Minerva by My Copy. Basically its too noisy with its wobbly alarm come buzz. Noisy is not necessarily a bad thing, its just this is clichéd noisy techno.
Apart from those two gripes this is not a bad package. It’s a great way to catch up on Soma tunes and pick up a good package if you don’t have many of the tracks on there.
Buy Soma Compilation 2008 on CD
Tracklist (Click for MP3 Release):
01. Slam – Staccato Rave (Adam Beyer Remix)
02. Octogen – The Journeyman (Orlando Voorn Remix)
03. Beroshima – Horizon (Funk D’Void’s Hope Remix)
04. Funk D’Void & Sian – Ginebra (Onionz Corrosion Remix)
05. The Black Dog- Train By The Autobhan Pt2 (DJ Remix By Robert Hood)
06. Vector Lovers – Raumklang
07. Let’s Go Outside – Girls Don’t Like Me (Mark Broom Remix)
08. Xpansul + Massi DL – Nerd Soul
09. Mr Copy – Minerva
10. Decimal – Eleanor
11. Harvey McKay – 69
12. Silicone Soul – The Pact (Bassline Dub)
LDOE – Crimes | Single Review
Friday, December 5th, 2008 | Music, Single Review | No Comments
Classic are back! After being out of action for the last few years with the quirky chi town sound falling out of flavour they’re now on a revival with the recent upsurge of all things funk, disco, deep and house. New release Crimes by LDOE is the dab handed work of JT Donaldson and Chris Penny. They’ve created a Prince come punk funk amalgamation which struts some incredibly funky rhythms. Bass guitars slide over crunchy beats and an incredibly infectious Chinese style glockenspiel hook hits home. Add to that some vocals with a hint of attitude and a splash of cow bells and you’ve got the perfect funk strutting DFA Brooklyn loft party track.
On the remixes Luke Solomon attempts to take things darker. A deep growling bass throbs as the cow bells and percussion have been rearranged in a scatty mess with sporadic snippets of the vocal. It’s dark but too busy for my liking. You would need to get your timing perfect to drop this full on busy track.
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