Archive for April, 2009
May The Rave Be With You!
Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
I love this stretch of April to May. There’s a nice series of bank holidays which firstly equates to four day weeks or long weekends, but secondly and most importantly it means so many great rave up opportunities. You might have only just flushed the last bank holiday weekend out of your system, but here it is again, another extended weekend in our midst.
So what are the options for the May day rave up?
Saturday has some nice options with Excuse The Mess being top of the pile. They’ve got My My live along with the always excellent Matthew Styles in room 1. Then in room 2 Ralf Kollman takes the spotlight to entertain along with Shane Watcha.
The first part of Eastern Electrics also kicks off on the Saturday too. They’ll be vibing with some dub-tastic sounds with Dublime who have brought in Brendon Moeller. Room 2 has been taken over by the folks that brought you the Bloc Weekender. Their room is looking particularly sharp with the likes of Metro Area, Appleblim and Zomby. Then the third and final room is hosted by the Man Make Music guys. They’ve got the West Coast house head and Buzzin Fly aficionado Justin Martin.
Tickets are still available for both, so get Excuse the Mess tickets here and Eastern Electrics tickets here.
Luke Slater – Balance Promo Mix
Monday, April 20th, 2009 | Event Preview, News | No Comments
In just over a months time three heavyweight underground techno forces will collide at Cable, a new club in the London Bridge area. Nights Split, Base and Wang come together to present Balance, a night which brings together the best in techno, electro, house and electronica. And they certainly mean business just check out the bill:
AUX 88 (Detroit) live – UK exclusive
Surgeon – London debut for new live /av show
Luke Slater (Planetary Assault Systems DJ set)
Ben Sims (Split/Theory)
A Guy Called Gerald – live
Jim Masters (Base/Hi-tek-Soul)
Billy Nasty (electro set)
Electro Elvis & Lula (Wang)
Alex Downey (Split)
Leading up to the event, they’re making a new mix available every week. The first comes from UK techno stalwart Luke Slater. Hope you enjoy.
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Or you can download the mix from here.
The Mother of All Weekends is Upon Us!
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
When most people think of Easter they think the second coming of Christ, Easter eggs, fluffy bunnies and daffodils. For a select few it’s all about Easter weekend and how to run your mind into the ground for four days and nights. I’m in the latter camp.
This year the options seem to be bunched around key days. Thursday night has an all mighty clash. In one corner you’ve got your scenster nights. Secretsundaze do their annual thing at the coronet theatre which will see Ame, Dixon and Henrik Schwarz combine forces to create some ableton improve amalgamation live set where they be as one together. No its not some gay love in between the quartet, it’s actually their new project Critical Mass. The whole thing sounds pretty interesting, especially if its anything along the lines of their recent Granfather Paradox mix. After the live session, Dixon and Ame will be dropping a dj set or two along with the SS and Horse Meat Disco ressies.
However if Secretsundaze all sounds a bit too complex with the live sets and you just want to go and party your ass of to some party tunes, then maybe Disco Bloodbath is for you? They’re celebrating their 2nd birthday and to help them they’ve brought in their Scottish mentors Optimo who have been playing party tunes for countless years. Todd Terje will be headlining the main room for the Bloodbath along with the residents, whilst Optimo residents Twitch and Wilkes will be keeping a handle on things with Gucci Soundsystem.
If that all seems a bit to fashionista and you just want raw big room stuff, then you want to be heading towards Koko or matter. Old Coxy is doing a party at the former with Nic Fanciulli and Yousef, whilst Diggers is doing his Bedrock thang at the latter.
Butane – Mutation | Single Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | 1 Comment
It’s good to hear Butane return to our speakers with this single from his forthcoming album on Crosstown Rebels. Its been a good year or so since his last release, but the wait was worth it. New track Mutation is a fantastic slice of glitchy hypnotic minimal techno. It begins with a murky hypnotic bassline and a spattering of electronic twitches. Every so often the murky bassline would raise its head above the water line as it filters out into a clean synth trickle before quickly diving back below into the murky bassy depths. It’s interesting how Butane uses the bassline as the melody for the breakdown. Its pretty one dimensional in its execution, but the shear depth of sound gives it all the kick it needs.
On the same release is two remixes from some heavyweight up and coming producers. Sety of Circus Company fame reworks the dark original into a more bouncy shuffling number. Sety fills in the minimal gaps with quite an infectious horn hook which sounds like something out of the King and I. Musical prejudice aside it seems to work, giving it a catchy and infectious edge the original didn’t have.
The other heavy weight remixer is man of the moment SiS. He also uses the original’s bassline but pads out the space with a clichéd minimal tap drip and samples of an Indian sitar. Add the skipping beats that SiS is so good at and the result is another infectious shuffling remix of the original. Another great release from the Crosstown stable.
Tracklist (Click for Mp3):
1. Mutation (Original Mix)
2. Mutation (Sety Mix)
3. Mutation (SiS Mix)
Burnski – Draw Your Own Sword EP | Single Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | No Comments
Burnski is a young whipper snapper from Leeds. Aged 23 and he’s already seen a variety of his tracks released on labels such as Dessous, Morris Audio, Trapez and home label 20:20 Vision. He’s also resident at one of the country’s longest running club nights Back to Basics. A few strings to his bow I think you’ll find.
For his release on Pokerflat, Burnski has combined the deepness of Chicago house with an electronic and spacey palette to create this three track EP. Title track Draw Your Own Sword takes a Chicago style skipping beat with bellowing sub bass and gives it a slight twist with the massive plunging piano keys and trickling synths. A similar style is used on Sleep. The beats are slightly chunkier but the same ethos is there. The rest of the track is made up of washy pads and hollow keys to give it that classic twilight deep house vibe. Finally Mud and Mouse has a more upbeat approach using a rounder more prominent bassline which is accompanied by more skipping beats and a distinct see-saw accordion melody.
The result is unfortunately a mediocre package. All three tracks are middle of the road house with little to get excited about. It’s well produced with some interesting sounds, but lacks a spark to get you really involved.
Tracklisting:
1. Draw Your Sword (6:25)
2. Sleep (7:44)
3. Mud And Mouse (6:53)
Tiefschwarz – Simple, Maybe Parts 1 & 2 | Single Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | No Comments
Tiefschwarz return to their label Souvenir to release their first EP for quite some time. And like buses, you wait for one release and then two come along at once. February’s part 1 release consisted of two very different cuts. On the a-side was On and On a shuffling wonky number which uses a slightly annoying vocal sample which persists throughout the track. The track doesn’t really hold up, it just keeps on shuffling along whilst any movement on the track comes from the vocal sample which cycles through different variations of “on and on”. It would be quite monotonous if it weren’t for the occasional stabs of off colour organs.
The better part to this release is Best Inn. Here Tiefschwarz combine their roots of deep house with their more up to date wonky sound. A classic house loop from the boys adds an element of jack, whilst a sci fi b movie organ whirrs away to give it that wonky feel. And to make it that bit more hypnotic they chuck in a vocal loop which I feel is a bit to prominent but thankfully doesn’t drag the track down too much.
For part two, Tiefschwarz return a month later with Yeah and Deininger. Yeah is a pretty simple track, its one loop of tumbling beats which twists and turns as whistles and vocal stabs come and go. Whilst the track doesn’t really go anywhere, its steady droning bassline keeps the groove locked in for some good heads down in a darkened room action.
On the flip, Deininger is more of the same drawn out loops with little quirks. Based around haunting horn lines, a popping percussion track and a bit of a funk bassline, Deininger shuffles along like the other tracks on this release. It eventually builds to a quivering vocal break, before rejigging itself with a slight change to the funk line. Its ok, but nothing to get too excited about.
Le Le – Disco Vraiment | Single Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | 1 Comment
I can’t seem to find much about Le Le. All I know is that they’re a French/German pop outfit with an indie edge, or maybe that’s the other way round. Either way their latest release bypasses most of that to take a big hit of Disco influence which sees them take on a bit of an In Flagranti guise. On this release there is only one track called Disco Vraiment and it is quite simply an infectious combination of disco loops over a big beat. It’s simple and it works. The up beat rhythm makes it highly danceable whilst the disco loops inject plenty of funk. This is sure to go down well with the recent influx of italo and cosmic disco out there. There is a radio and long version, but the only difference is one is longer than the other. And that’s about all that can be said on the matter.
Tracklist:
1. Disco Vraiment (Radio Edit)
2. Disco Vraiment (Original Mix)
Benny Rodriguez – I Like EP | Single Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | No Comments
The Shlomi Aber stable Be As One delivers two cuts of old skool influenced house by Rotterdam’s Benny Rodriquez. According to his press write up, Benny seems to have been around a bit, from multiple festival gigs at Dance Valley and DEMF to tours with Josh Wink. So with a fair bit of history behind him Benny has injected some of that into his latest release.
Title track I Like is a full on Roland 909 work out with the bulk of the track revolving around classic cow bells and kick drums as echoed sonar blips provide a slight hook. Whilst the groove is catchy, Benny doesn’t really keep it as interesting as he could do, causing the track to stagnate as the same loop keeps coming and coming. It has to be said the real gem on this release is the b-side Reel. It’s looped funked up house beat and bass repeatedly punctuated by a snippet of a hypnotic jazz organ creates a simple and fun track which will get many bums a shakin’. And for me this is the true old house sound where a simple infectious groove was enough to run any party.
DJ Hell – The Angst Part 1 & The Angst Part 2 | Single Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | No Comments
The first single from DJ Hell’s new album Teufelswerk is to be The Angst & The Angst Part 2 where DJ Hell binds guitar folk melodies with the electronic preciseness of the techno and synth pop genres. The entire track is a massive progression from the folk end of the spectrum to the electronic. It begins with a gently strummed guitar riff which casually unfolds to subtle electronic beats and undertones, which gives it a slight Radiohead feel. As the track progresses, soaring vocal harmonies begin to carry the track away from the guitars towards the electronic end of the spectrum. Come the half way point and The Angst has completely transformed into a pulsating techno track with flashes of white noise and distorted synths. It’s an interesting and quite epic journey but I do wonder whether the full on techno ending is really needed.
Henrik Schwarz on the other hand offers to make The Angst a bit more formal by providing his “Innervision”. From the very beginning Schwarz sets out to create a techno come house track, using the folk elements to add texture to the track. The vocal harmonies are brought in early on to help with the gradual build of the intro. As more and more elements slide into the mix the track finally bursts at the seams with a distorted wall of synths. Whilst it is a little too drawn out it is a good interpretation of the original. However with this being Henrik Schwarz I was expecting a little more from him to make it more epic.
Tracklist (Click for Mp3):
1. The Angst & The Angst Pt. 2 [Original]
2. The Angst [Henrik Schwarz remix]
Adultnapper – Anglia EP | Single Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | No Comments
New York’s Adultnapper debuts his Anglia EP for digital spin off Crosstown Digital Rebels. The former punk rocker delivers a two track EP entrenched in tripped out electronic sounds. First track You Just Arrive manages to fill every crevice of the low end spectrum with an incredibly warm and spacious bassline. That bassline lazily lugs itself around whilst an infectious pattern of castanets pop and click alongside a haunting piano hook and an occasional wailing outburst from a vocal sample. Its dark and moody overtones do well to engulf you in what is a deep and infectious work out.
Second track Other People keeps with the eeriness opting for a shuffling beat to compliment another fine and full bassline. Multiple synth lines of a haunting flavour descend on to the track creating a dreamy and mysterious atmosphere. It’s a murky mixture of basslines and synths scored with sharp animal sounding stabs equals another decent deep and moody house track.
Tracklist:
01. You Just Arrive
02. Other People
In Flagranti – Brash and Vulgar | Album Review
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Album Review, Music | No Comments
What do you get when you have an image of 70s porn and wipe it all over house, disco, punk, funk and glam rock? A crusty white tissue and tight glitter trousers? Probably. With In Flagranti the result is Brash and Vulgar, their follow up to 2006’s Wronger Than Anyone Else.
You may ask what 70s porn crossed with music sounds like. Well it’s quite infectious and definitely a bit quirky. The Italo Disco influenced “I Can Thrill & Delight” completely embodies this. The smutty vocals from Tatiana Ilinas gives the track a minxy attitude whilst the off key chimes and horse claps give it that quirky wonkiness. Odd but undeniably catchy.
In the same catchy category is the funk strutting “A Piece of False Morality”. It’s pumped up disco lines and funk rhythms give it such a hook for the insect life spanning two minutes it has you bouncing off the walls. Then you have title track Brash and Vulgar. Its Giorgio Moroder styled synth and disco samples has a great vintage quality yet sounds quite modern in the nu rave house realm.But its not just all disco and funk. The boys throw a curve ball with Svelte Blonde, a sultry glam rock track which has smoking Goldfrapp style vocals.
However the itchy energy of the first part of the album soon fizzles out however with the later half flagging with a series of tracks made up of monotonous cosmic loops. Which is a shame to end an album with such a promising start with its humour, energy and cheekiness which made it blushingly charming.
Buy In Flagranti – Brash and Vulgar on Mp3
Tracklist:
1. She bend each leg alternatly
2. Brash & Vulgar
3. A little something “Extra”
4. I can thrill & delight
5. A piece of false morality
6. Black & grey stripped trousers
7. Svelte blonde
8. Pick a trick
9. It was like nothing before or since
10. I hadn’t screwd around before
11. Ohh, i’ll have to loose weight luv
12. How did the affair end?
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