Introducing... Dirty D

Now it's rare that when I listen to the first minute of a mixtape I start smiling before any music has even been played... ok that's a lie, a cheeky wide brimsen smile and some under garment leakage appears when I find a new Jack Beats mix on the web, but I'll leave that well and truly alone.

Usually I'll be sitting there, sweating with anticipation, feet ready to be tapped, head ready to be-a-bobbin', waiting for my senses to be touched and my mind to be blown away. However, upon hearing the intro to his mix... I simply burst out laughing and spat my lovely glass of pure tropical juice all over my new t-shirt. Take that as a compliment Mr. D, you have made me very internally happy. BO BO BO... Drive-By FM!

Now in all seriousness what we are talking about here as a very tasty mixtape from a new starlight on the Sydney (Australia) club scene, who's just caused a bit of an internet creampie over his recent mash-up of Jack Beat's new tune Labyrinth and one of 2008s biggest club hits WTF by Tittsworth, featuring my second favourite ghetto bade of all time, Kid Sister. A very very clever little re-work that I'm very certain needs to be given a 320 leak so that we can all bath in its wonderousness... I can imagine Kissy Sell Out watering himself with the prospect of delivering a rather sexual Kissy Klub makeover, if it is leaked.

Going back to the mix front there's a whole bunch of exclusive and newly released tracks, as well as some very tasty mixing talent and creativity thrown in for good measure! Along with Zinc's July mix, Solo's Fabric mix and The Loops of Fury's mix that I've recently thrown your way this is the next best thing in July so far for me. Lots of juicy, bouncy, wobbly beats and bass, just how I like it :D Enjoy!

Jack Beats vs. Tittsworth - Labyrinth (Dizz & Draz's WTF Bootleg)

Dirty D's Still Dirty Damn It Mixtape

Tracklisting:

1. Drive By Fm --Intro--
2. Down In L.A. (Shazam Instramental Remix)
3. Let It Rain (Trevor Loveys Remix)
3. What You Wanna Do (Funkanomics Remix)
4. Letting Go (Andy George Hype Remix)
5. Get Digital (Udachi Remix)
5b. Letting Go (Andy George Hype Remix) Re-Bring
6. Without Me (Blatta And Inesha Remix)
7. The Way We Go (Herve Remix)
8. Wutang Cream (Pop The Hatch Remix)
9. Doom's Night (Crookers Remix)
10. Amsterdam (Dem Slackers Remix)
11. Fire And Gold (Barletta Remix)
12. Can I Dance (Like A Bear Mix)
12b. I'm The Ish (Dj Class Dirty Remix)
13. Call Me Al (Pop The Hatch Remix)
14. Cheap (4 Kuba Mix)
15. Can't Crux Themselves(WoNK vs. Bounce Heretic)
16. Extraball (TMX Remix)
17. Think About The Way (Gigi Barocco VS. Ice Mc)--Dizz "What" edit--
18. Love You So (Mightyfools Remix)
19. Offical Chemical (Touche Remix)--Dizz "Touch My Horn" Edit--
20. Tell Me Why (Aerotronic Remix)
21. Boom Bam God Damn (Pop The Hatch Remix)
22. Knee Deep Theme (Eymnd Remix)
23. Give You (Defkline and Red Polo Remix)
24. Jak Muzak (Dirty Freek Mix)
25. Love Bounce Parade (Act Yo Age Remix)
26. Ohhh!! (Pop The Hatch Remix)
27. WTF (Deekline & Tim Healey Dub Remix)
28. UFO (Jack Beats Mix)
29. Wolfgang's 5th Symphony (Wolfgang Gartner Mix)
30. Gifted (Steve Aoki Remix)
31. Gold Dust (Boy 8-Bit Remix)
32. Get Low (Pop The Hatch Remix)
33. Thats The Bass (Touche Remix)
34. Creepy (Mightyfools Remix)
35. Mars (R!M!E Remix)
36. Hard Times (Jack Beats Remix)
37. Spread The Love --OUTRO---

DJ Umb - Apocalyptic Dubstep

Now this is actually an edition of our Sunday Morning Hangover series of posts that we try to get up as regularly as possible, in order to aid the important recovery process, believe me after the weekend I've just had I really need it.

Thursday night was spent in my local indie club, for a warm up night with a few drinks with mates and some solitary tooons. However, things officially got kicked off on Friday with myself turning 20 and attendance to Fabric to see Adam Freeland, Evil Nine, Alex Metric, Goldie, Friction, Shy FX, Drop The Lime, Starkey, Tayo and 16 Bit. Then last night was spent in the company of The Count & Sinden for their Mega Mega Mega Warehouse Party in Shoreditch with Kissy Sell Out, Plastician, Jack Beats, Example & DJ Wire and Dollop Dollop DJs supporting to disgusting effect, a review of both night will be coming up tomorrow so stay tuned!

However, here come the dub!

DJ Umb, which stands for 'Una Musica Brutal', taken from a song by french group called Gotan Project... I think, has been around since before I was doing my GCSE's, ok so maybe not that long ago, but the man has enough experience to think of himself as an established DJ in his own right. He's the brains behind Generation Bass, whose sole aim is to explore and in some ways educate others about some of the joys in non-western dance music, quite a unique site in my opinion.

Back in December 07' (cheers for the heads up on the date dude :D) he was responsible for an Electro-House compilation called Global Electro under his guise of Shisha Soundsystem, which has become some what of a classic in the past 6 months, earning heaps of praise from none other than the man himself Pete Tong, who also played one of the tracks featured on the compilation on his In New Music We Trust show.

We thought we'd let the man introduce himself better and give you an insight into his style.

So... who exactly is DJ Umb and for someone who hasn't heard of you before... what can they expect?
Well, I’m a bit of a chameleon, I think you could say. I DJ just for fun mainly and have done so for around 6 years. Throughout that 6 years my dj’ing style has changed and continues to evolve as I’m very open-minded in terms of music and I’m always searching for new sounds/vbyz/beatz.

I’m not a follower of fashion or trends, if I’m feeling it then I’ll mess with it, if I’m not, I won’t.

Of course, as you are aware, Generation Bass is my home at the moment and there I’m doing everything from Global Ghettotech through to Dubstep. I’ve done a fair few things in my brief foray into dj’ing and played at some pretty awesome and exclusive places around the world to the rich kidz…..haa.haaaa…

I’ve had some commercial compilation releases and even had tracks from my first mixed CD played on Tong’s show.

I’ve always been in the underground where I feel most comfortable but I’m kinda like more in the overground underground nowadays and that’s why peeps like you are getting to hear what I do.

Always expect, the unexpected, I seem to have a great knack for doing that.

Talk us through your influences, what has defined your current sound?
Man, I have so many influences, impossible to list them all:

Bands/Artists – Led Zeppelin, Tom Waits, Radiohead, Cowboy Junkies, Oum Kalthoum, John Coltrane, Kraftwerk, Mahler, Astor Piazolla, Hossam Ramzy etc etc

DJ’S/Producers – Claude Challe, Eno, Leckie, Diplo, Switch, Said Mrad, Bobby O, Phil Spector, Bar 9, L-Vis 1990, Moshic etc etc.


Obviously everyone has their reasons, but when was it that you realized; I know I want to become a professional DJ
After I heard Buddha Bar 1 by Claude Challe, which was like a divine revelation to me. It was first time that I’d heard Ethnic music like Arabic, Indian, Balkan and African music fused with Dance beats to really great effect. That left a lasting impression on me and also inspired me to start dj’ing as I love music of the world and of different ethnicities.

We try to establish a quick indent for those, you know 'challenged' people... the ones who define their taste by artists... so Skream or Benga?
Well Skream seems to have the upper-hand at the minute but in the long run I would have to probably say Benga as it’s more of an intellectual sound and I’m not saying that in an elitist way…

Were you surprised at the way 'Habibi' was received?
Dude, I’ll be honest with you I got into Dubstep fairly recently and I ain’t no expert on the genre and I have no problem in admitting that. I have not been there since its start, albeit, you could say I have in a way cause my bro’ and remix partner, Celt Islam, has been doing a kind of Sufi-Dubstep for a little while now.

Dude, I have no idea who “Habibi” is by but man it sounds interesting, please let me know who has done that.

Unless of course you’re talking about the track, Habibi off my Global Elektro mixed CD that got on to Tongy’s show on the BBC….haa.haaa

Well, you know that I did that mixed CD way back in December 07, did it at home on my Pioneers and then it was mastered in a studio but essentially it’s a proper LIVE home mix. I was surprised that it got the sort of attention it did, sort of almost 16 months after I did it because I’d left that Electro sound behind shortly after I did that mix. But everybody who heard that mixed CD went a bit bonkers about it, even though I’m kind of only 70% happy about the overall mix.

The label I did it for are still having some trouble getting it sorted world-wide as their distributor went bust. But as I understand it’s available in France & Canada but nowhere else at the minute and there’s no promo behind it whatsoever and it’s gonna end up in the bargain basement bins…haaa.haaaa especially when you can get so many amazing mixes free on the net nowadays.

So I think the sound is old hat already but by the time it hits the UK Proper, its maybe going to be even more irrelevant than it already is in my mind.

What can we expect from you in the future?
The unexpected, I can’t be more than truthful than that bro’

The only thing I’m quite sure about is that there will always be a global flavour to whatever I do, so always expect a sprinkling of Indian, African, South American, Arabic, and Balkan flava’s in my sound.

Oh and also I hope to start making my own mark with some of my own productions within the next few years. I have not had the time to do that before, still don’t have the time and have never used any of the Ableton/Logic software ever in my life but just like when something was telling me to start dj’ing, something is now kicking me, saying produce, produce, produce, you prick!....haaa haaaa.

Lastly, who do you think is defining the Dubstep sound of 2009?
Well, I think artists like Bar 9, Babylon System, High Rankin, Bassnectar, Ghislian Poirier, Villa Diamante and Datsik are doing some of the most interesting stuff alongside new boy Jayou.

But watch out for Indian Dubstep via the Bandish Project too and some heavy Arabic Dubstep too courtesy of my combo-Sufi-Dubstars, coming at ya soon ;-)

DJ Umb - Apocalyptic Dubstep

Tracklisting:
1. Hamas Rule – Shackelton
2. Benga & De La Guetto feat Randy – Villa Diamante
3. Roller – Benga
4. Control Room – High Rankin
5. Retreat – Datsik
6. Gangster – Babylon System & SPL
7. Murda Sound (Riskotheque Remix) – Bar 9
8. Pull Up – Bar 9
9. Belgrade Riddim (DJ C Remix) – Sub Swara
10. Riddle of Steel (12th Planet & Tea Long Remix) – Guns n’ Bombs
11. Toxic – (Yael Naim/Britney Spears) – Champion Sound
12. Eastern Jam ( High Rankin’ Remix) – Chase & Status
13. Inshallah (Ghislain Poirier Remix) – Sub Swara
14. Ghost – Jayou
15. Lollipop (Lil Wayne Dubstep Remix) – Nasty Ways
16. Hide & Seek (Enigma Remix) – Imogen Heap
17. Bulletproof (Foamo’s Dubstep Remix) – La Roux

Zinc - Crack House July Mix

The next installment of Zinc's wonderous 'Crack House' (a term actually coined by myself back in January, because I hated 'Fidget' probably just a coinsidence though) has been uploaded to his MySpace and you can catch it here.

I've done my best to try and make something of the tracklisting. It's understandable sometimes when you don't really want others to know exactly what you're going to be playing in the clubs, but I envy his current style so much that I can't help but try and figure out exactly what every song is if I don't recognise it at first. so here goes, enjoy! It's is pleasing to know that he's chosen Boy 8 Bit's Chapel of Ghouls as one of the first tracks... it's the opening song of my August mix coming soon :D

DJ Zinc - Crack House July 09'

Tracklisting:
Zinc - Pimp My Ride
Boy 8 Bit - Chapel of Ghouls
Laidback Luke & Diplo - Hey
Roska & Jamie George - Wonderful Day
Q project - Champion sound (Total Science Will Never Die Remix)
Jack Beats - U.F.O
Tea Diss ???
The Requesters – Strong Love
Dizzee Rascal - Stand Up Tall (??? Vs/Remix/Edit)
Nathan Boon & Kelevra - Like To Freak
Zinc - Watch Dis
Cannibal ???
Kylie - He Was Like ???
Gev Abril - Spells of Yoruba
Zinc - Jekyll n Hyde
Mange ???
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero (Erol Alkan Re-Work)
La Roux - Bulletproof (Zinc Remix)
Convicts ???
Altered Natives - Rass out
Tiga – What You Need (Proxy Remix)
Chai ???
Jesse Rose - You're All Over My Head
Outlander - The Vamp (??? Remix)
DJ Zinc – Killa Sound (feat Nolay) (Acapella)
Kewok ???
The Proxy - Raven (Nolay Vocal Rap)
MJ Cole ft. Serocee - AO (MJ's Open Your Gob dub)
Latina Cafe - Power To Conquer

Still a few tunes I'm not sure about... the ones with ??? next to them, but I'll keep updating the post in the next few days if I can't figure any of them out!
Much Love!

Club Candy

Now... I'm not sure when a new post is going to get to you at the current time... I'm uploading this blog outside a fucking Starbucks on my wireless, because some dick in the South East of England decided it would be a fucking great idea to cut through an underground electrical cable on a Monday morning... and EDF Energy has warned that it may take them up to 48 hours to fix the problem, leaving the entire of North Kent without any fucking power. Anyway, rant over!
New kind of post here that I will be maintaining every Monday afternoon giving out five free new tunes that I'm feeling or hit my inbox that you need to know about! Let's get straight to it!


Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (R!M!E Remix)
Got an absolute treat for you here in the shape of Sydney based Producer/DJ R!M!E. For those of you with a perfect memory, you'll remember we blogged about him in our very first artist feature at SB. It's always nice when an artist remembers the little things, and as a small appreciation for our support in the past he's be nice enough to hook us up with his newest remix of Switch & Diplo's latest banger, which has been tearing up the clubs in the past couple of months.
This makeover has his unquestionable touch in places, a stripped down, cut up fucked up boomshine of a banger! If you're a DJ, this mix will certainly add that little bit of diversity in your sets, cutting in and out of the original for example. Also please headover to his MySpace and check out three other new tunes... Journey and Gangsta are right up my street!

Santigold - L.E.S Artistes (Zodiac Cartel Remix)
Next up is Zodiac Cartel and his new remix of Santigold's L.E.S Artistes, which was a huge favourite of mine from the festival season last summer. The remix is the second in a 6 part series of free 320k downloads aptly titled Weapons of Choice. The Zod himself has assured me that it was worth it's weight in gold and I wasn't disappointed upon hearing it. The luscious vocals have been given an electro-house make-over accompanied by a delicious array of acid'y synths and sweeping white's. My personal favourite sound is a laser-ish stab that swims below the bassline, swinging to the beat and dancing on top of the sweeps. A fine attempt!

Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)
The one man production super machine seems to be turning everything he touches into hot, sticky, red, rave-ridden blood. I've heard that he's finished a few new tracks for his next EP, which I hope will drop sometime this year, his DJ schedule so far this year has been ridiculous, but he deserves it! I just hope that new EP drops soon! Can't beat this remix for pure genius production though... "lick the Fake Blood from your finger" ;).

MSTRKRFT ft. John Legend - Heartbreaker (Laidback Luke Remix)
Laidback Luke seems to be on fire at the moment. A dazzling 2008 saw him release one of the biggest underground club tunes of the year in Shake It Down and unquestionably one of the biggest commercial club tunes of the year in Be, which cultimated in a re-release of the classic Show Me Love with Angello. Then along with remixes of Delirious, Dooms Night, Get Get Down, Fancy Footwork and my personal favourite of Surkin's timeless banger White Knight Two he continued to prove what a world class producer he is and this is definitely no exception that will surely propell help propell him into the super league of DJs.

Joris Voorn - Sweep The Floor
Going from strength to strength at the present time, the Dutch techno mystro fresh from his Balance 014 masterpiece drops this absolute bomb of a funky techno track. The vocals are so cut clean fresh, they make Umbongo look like a packed of ready salted crisps, tesco value crisps... and I apologise for that outburst of NME vocabulary. Get onto this sharpish though and as ever, please support the artists!

Bonus Track:
The Freestylers vs. Eric Prydz - Pjanoo (Breaks Mix)
Here's kind of exclusive (that was dug up for me for a DJ friend by a very kind man on the Erol forum), in the form that it was never released as a digital download. This is a Vinyl rip and possibly the only mp3 version in the blogsphere. The original vinyl pressing is a white label, which actually bears the name 'Unknown Artist vs. Eric Prydz'. However, my own knowledge told me this was definitely Freestylers mix that came about around September last year of possibly the biggest big room club tune of 2008. Enjoy :).

Out with the old... in with the new?

So I've had certain things pondering around in my head lately... thoughts about the future, about the fact that in two months time I'll be underway with my third year at university and starting to get to work with research and the first stages of the dreaded D word... yes DISSERTATION!

Holy sheet!

Now it's alright for Ben, he'll only be in his first year, so he can strut along doing what he does, making tunes and such, but me I'm gonna be slogging my arse off for 8 months straight! Just when things are starting to pick up DJing wise, I'm being landed with the most important year of study in my life... ohhh yay!

However, with this new found inspiration from various other things currently happening, It seems like I've gathered a new lease of life that officially starts today. This is more of a rant than anything but its good to get something out of your system. Starting from Monday, I'm going to start giving the blog a bit of a shake up, in the form of a new layout (which is long overdue), a new direction and a much more directed focus at what I really started this blog for, which was to review the music I give out to you, rather than just stick it on a nice hand-made victorian plate and go "here, gob it".

Coming tomorrow I've got a fantastic Dubstep mix coming from a very little known DJ by the name of DJ Umb called Apocalyptic Dubstep, then on Monday I'll be laying down a sweet little summery-ish mix for all of you that I'm just going to do in one take and save all the minute practising and piddle that usually goes into the niddy biddy-ness of tidying up my mixes.

Finally, from Monday we will start seeing a new range of posts aimed at getting down and dirty with reviewing music... specifically Singles and Albums, but also I want to start getting into actually reviewing mixes that get sent to me, because believe it or not I am supposed to be a Journalist, and I ought to start living up to the title. Oh and there's also the Club Candy post that came before this one that from now on will be coming every Friday morning, containing tracks I'm sent and mash-ups/edits that have been done by me and Ben. We've be greatly donated pictures for the posts by my very good friend Bim Hjortronsteen, a Swedish photographer from my University whose work has always dazzled me... please check out her Blog... it is in Swedish, but she's been very kind and offered an English translation tool ;)

So, stay tuned for much good tidings and happenings at this little site that I've come to love more and more the more that I write about it. Also want to take this wee chance to say a mahoosive thank you to all the people that have commented in the past about the blog, given us constructive criticism or through the process of mailing us content have expressed the love for this blog. I also want to say hello to Ben who is at the moment, who is somewhere in Greece, tanning up and "looking at the peaches, walking down the beaches"... GIT!

Oh and here's a fecking tune that get's a released on July 26th... BASSLINE!

Black Noise - Knock You Out (Andy George Remix)

Jay Robinson - July Promo Mix

Got a great new mix I've been sent over by the man that includes 9 exclusive unreleased tracks, including the epic UFO from Jack Beats that gets a full release on Cheap Thrills next week, and Andy George's remix of Aquasky's new alias Black Noise. There's also new tracks from Jay's collaborative work with Malente and a new delight Jay's other project with Il Diablo, known of course as Dub Frequency, who have collaborated with fellow Cheap Thrills extrodinaire Detboi.

Jay Robinson July Promo Mix

I was really feeling some of the mixing and the perfect use of effects in this mixtape especially from Get Down to Pon De Floor, it really shows how Jay is committing himself to developing his sound and taking it further in all of his projects. I've been a huge fan of Dub Frequency's Whoop Whoop and Guy Brutus since their release and I can tell you that Drop is of no exception.

Tracklisting:
1.Jack Beats - UFO (Original Mix)
2.The Audio Bullys - Dope Fiend (Udachi & Tommie Sunshine Remix)
3.Black Noize - Knock You Out (Andy George Remix)
4.MSTRKRFT Feat. John Legend - Heartbreaker (Laidback Luke Remix)
5.Mike Snow - Animal (Fake Blood Remix)
6.Jack Beats - Get Down (VIP)
7.Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (Afrojack Vocal Mix Ft Grace Jones)
8. Chuckie & Silvio Ecomo - Moombah (Afrojack Remix)
9.Dub Frequency & Detboi - Drop (Original Mix)[Cheaper Thrills]
10.Jay Robinson & Malente - Drop Dead (Original Mix)[LABEL TBC]
11.Machines Don't Care - Beat Bang (Original Mix)
12.Jay Robinson & Malente - Do Your Head In (Original Mix)[LABEL TBC]
13.Prodigy - Take Me to The Hospital (Rusko Remix)
14.Skunk Anansise - Because Of You (Duke Dumont Remix)
15.The Count & Sinden - Mega Mega Mega (Original Mix)

Loops of Fury

I waited for a clear day of posting to release this to you because it's fucking mental! A great feature for you today on up and coming House/Electro duo The Loops of Fury.

An exclusive heads up on their debut release, which celebrates 25 years of U&A Recordings... the perfectly named Flick A Switch. I think along with Boys Noize's Jeffer this is probably the best electro tune I've heard so far this year... but lets not get ahead of ourselves. First lets get aquainted with the new starlets of the scene.

Previously Hyperion and now under the new banner of The Loops of Fury, the duo hail from down under in Brisbane, Australia, but there seems to be nothing vacant about their music. With support from the likes of Plump DJs, Kissy Sell Out, Calvertron, Stupid Fresh, Annie Nightingale, Dopamine and Lee Coombs... Flick A Switch has even been given a thumbs up from my favourite producers ever, Far Too Loud and The Crystal Method.

I've been guilty of burying my head in far too much Dubstep and Electro-Breaks lately so it's rare for me to go straight for the repeat button after a first listen... five times! I literally can't get enough of this tune... it reminds me of the first time I heard Idealism and Lava Lava... the ingredients feel so familiar, but the end product sounds so fresh! I urge you to check it out and head straight to their beatport page and purchase it immediately! Here's a stream of the tune to wet your appetite in preperation for the guzzling 320.

The Loops of Fury - Flick A Switch [Soundcloud Preview]

Beatport Link

I've also been kindly sent over a hour long mix from the duo, which features some absolute bangers in the shape of Boyz Noise, Erol, Proxy & Brodinski... along with Flick A Switch and a Hyperion remix of the legend that be Dylan Rhymes and his track I Am Sweet. I had a bang out of this mix yesterday and I assure you it is a classic... do not miss this!

The Loops of Fury - July Promo Mix

Tracklisting:

1. Alex Metric - Shirley
2. Disco Trash - Neon Disco (Alex Gopher mix)
3. The Loops of Fury - Flick A Switch
4. Phillipe & Lars - So Sick
5. Dylan Rhymes - I Am Sweet (Hyperion mix)
6. Djedjotronic, Spoek - Dirty & Hard (Boys Noize mix)
7. Digitalism - Home Zone (Proxy Mix)
8. Housemeister - Inordertodance (Boys Noize mix)
9. Les Pitits Pilous - Wake Up
10. Hyperion - Gotta Hold It (The Loops of Fury mix)
11. Mixhell - Highly Explicit (Brodinski mix)
12. Blende - Peaches
13. Felix Cartel - Salty Lake
14. ZZT - The Worm (Erol Mix)
15. Housemeister - Who Is That Boys
16. Tiga - What You Need (Zombie Nation mix)

Weekly News

First up on the news this week, is clearly the most important and it's the title of the second artist album from the legend that be Boys Noize. In a display of everything formuliac about the german based DJ & Producer, who along with Erol Alkan has been playing out tracks from the album, let slip that the album will be simply called POWER.

A tracklisting that is likely to include the already released Starter and Jeffer - along with several others he's been playing out including Come With Me and Transmichen - has not yet been released.
A release date has not yet been confirmed but it is expected to be released sometime during the Autumn. In celebration of this fantastic news, I though it appropriate to issue you with a recent live mix of the man that'd been floating around in the last couple of week. Unfortunately, I can't find a tracklisting anywhere :/. However, enjoy!

Boys Noize @ Sputnik Der Mix 21/06/2009

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Palms Out bad-boy B.Rich has notched up a up promo mix for July with a sterling track selection and a fine display of his smooth operation of the decks... I'm rather a fan of the first mix, definitely the best mix out of that Jack Beats remix I've ever heard. Don't miss this exclusive as the man is gearing up for a tour of the UK in October, a slot @ London's Egg is clearly very likely.

B. Rich - July Promo Mix

Tracklisting:
1. Diplo & Blaqstarr - 'Get Off (Jack Beats Remix)'
2. DJ Icey - '2 Times feat Marlon (Bill Eff Remix)'
3. Audiostalkers - 'Hallucinate'
4. B. Rich - 'Bump feat Sue Cho & Whiskey Pete'
5. B. Rich - 'It'll Be Alright feat Domonique'
6. Costello - 'Bitchy Skills (Udachi Remix)'
7. Villians & Classixx - 'I'm On It feat o8o (AC Slater Remix)'
8. Top Billin - 'Playboy Anthem (Rico Tubbs Remix)'
9. TreMoreFire - 'Now You're Gone'
10. Agent X - 'Fallin feat Mutya & Ultra (Lee Mortimer Remix)'
11. Roots Manuva - 'Do Nah Bodda Mi (Red Light Remix)'
12. Jamie Woon & Debruit - 'I'm Goin Wit You feat Om'Mas Keith (Octapush Remix)'
13. Drop The Lime - 'Tabac Theme'
14. Darling Farah - 'Suicidal Tendencies (Nonewyork Remix)'
15. Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden - 'Bonkers (Doorly Remix)'
16. Jomen - 'Understand My Style (Ishe Remix)'
17. Nero - 'Act Like You Know'
18. Rusko - 'Moaners'
19. Raffertie - 'Antisocial (B. Rich Remix)'
20. Stanton Warriors - 'Precinct (AC Slater Remix)'
21. Reso - 'Tik Tak'
22. DJ Fast Eddie - 'Yo Yo Get Funky (Crissy Criss Remix)'
23. La Roux - 'Tigerlily (B. Rich Remix)'
24. Boltan - 'Nine To Five (DZ Remix)'
25. Deadmau5 - 'I Remember (Caspa Remix)'
26. The Streets - 'Blinded By The Lights (Nero Remix)'
27. Don Diablo & Example - 'Hooligans (Doorly Remix)'
28. Asher Roth - 'I Love College (12th Planet Remix)'
29. Horse The Band - 'Rape Escape (DMNDAYS Remix)'
30. High Rankin - 'No Money For Guns'

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Tom EQ is back in the limelight and has just released his new EP Shock Out & Tell Dem on Gung-Ho Recordings. We've very kindly been sent over an exclusive minimix of the EP form the man himself for your listening pleasure! Backed up by a WIll Bailey remix of Tell Dem, this trumpeting wobbley madness is sure to blow up over the summer, and you can catch the release now on Beatport from this link.

Tom EQ - Shock Out & Tell Dem (EP Minimix Preview)

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However, I have saved the best news for last this week. It has been confirmed that this week's upcoming Radio 1 Essential Mix, previously stated as highlights from Exit Festival in Serbia, shall be a live performance from Dubfire and Richie Hawtin from July 10th. News that has made my night in this weekend due to lack of funds all the more merrier!

You can of course find a tracklisting for the mix as it becomes available from the Essential Mix site, and no doubt it'll be available from every single music blog in the known universe from Monday morning onwards.

The only thing left to say now, is I hope Adebayor enjoys his time at Man City... and I hope he enjoys he first visit back at The Emirates... traitor!

Guilty Pleasures

Morning... little heads up on a new tune from a producer who really impressed us with his debut release Hollywood, which recieved very warm receptions from fellow blogs 'Let There Be Light' and 'Slaves To The Beat'.

Embryonik is an Electro-House DJ/Producer from Greece and he's kindly informed me of his new tune Guilty, which you can now buy from Amazon, iTunes and eMusic. Please do the right thing and support this guys' work.

Hedflux & Tom Wilkes - Basscake

An AMAZING new tune... possibly one of the most anticipated breaks tunes of the year, definitely for me at least and the third release on Far Too Loud's own label Broken Robot, a collaboration between the acid-breaks master Hedflux and beat-junkie Tom Wilkes entitled, Basscake.

Hedflux aka Steve Young was first introduced to my ears last summer when I came across his monster tune Music is My Weapon... which was soon on repeat constantly, along with Far Too Loud's remix.

Much like many new breaks producers these days, including my own favourites Stereo:Type and Specimen A, Hedflux really hasn't gotten the praise he truly deserves, and I feel with this release he has really hit the ground running.

The release including remixes from Matthew McCurry (what a name) & Stephen Cole, and Plastic Shell has been let out to the world via Vinyl and Beatport today with other download services gaining privilages on July 27th.

I first heard the tune back at the end of last year when Far Too Loud included the tune on their November 08' mix, and then I heard it again when FTL took over the airwaves of NSB radio early this year. However, there were two stark contrasts to the two versions. The first included a vocal and the second didn't. Now, I'm also unsure as to whether the vocal was part of the song in the first place, as FTL could have just mixed it in, but I did think it suited the vibe rather well and it helped build to the climatic drop. However, it appears the vocal (whether legit or not) has been dropped and the original mix itself seems to have been kept vocal free. However, I am writing this post on Sunday evening and since the sample of the tune below does not contain the sample then I expect that when I purchase it tomorrow, it won't have one in it either.

It is although a little bit of a shame, but it also seems that in the finished version there are a number of extra layerd synth sounds, which kind of make up for the loss. Nevertheless it is a small debate, and I'd like to hear your responses on the tiny issue. Enjoy the samples of the original and the remixes below, and please support the fantastic work that Steve Young has been doing over the past two years or so by buying the release here, because he truly deserves it.

Hedflux & Tom Wilkes - Basscake (Original Mix) [Sample]

Hedflux & Tom Wilkes - Basscake (Matthew McCurry & Stephen Cole Remix) [Sample]

Hedflux & Tom Wilkes - Basscake (Plastic Shell's Techno Remix) [Sample]

Sunburned but never Burnt Out!

Possibly one of the hardest working producers around is finally back with a new mix and some new tunes ready to state his claim to greatness once more. The glasgow based one-man-ginger-party Hostage burst onto the scene in 2008 with his monster productions Shake It, Ain' No Man and The Slave. In fact one of his very first mixtapes, entitled Does My Bass Look Big In This contained entirely his own material bar a Malente edit of his Roll On.

He's also notched up a sizeable remix catalogue including his massive bassy makeovers of Acen's Trip II The Moon, The Streets' Let's Push Things Forward and Altern8's Frequency.

His newest track Soundboy has just be unleashed to the world, and Special Brew has been around for a month or so, get onto these sharpish!

Hostage - Soundboy

Hostage - Special Brew

Then there's his mixtapes... after the one above came his powerful November mix, then his thunderous Hyper Mix, 27 tracks in 38 minutes, and his Concrete Mix, which cemeted not only his skills as a producer, but also as a talented DJ. His current gig schedule on his MySpace vouches for this with an upcoming tour of Australia in October this year.

He's recently just finished a new mix, which along with Solo's recent Fabriclive mix, Zinc's April mix and Fake Blood's Essential Mix for Radio 1, is definitely one of my favourites of the year so far. I was hoping he'd include some newly unreleased material in the mix and I wasn't disappointed with new tracks in Rudeboys and Pirates that I hadn't heard before. Along with well known tunes like Herve's Who Da Champ and Major Lazer's Pon De Floor are lesser known tracks in Heavyfeet's Raveline, Boltan's Braindead and Drop The Lime's Tabac Theme. He seems to have a perfect nack for picking out the most unique in the House and Electro rave scenes. Enjoy the mix... got some really exciting news coming for you tomorrow in some the form of some pulverising Acid-Breaks.

Hostage - Sunburn Mix 09'

Matt Cox - I Believe EP

Hey peeps... been a little while since the last post from us... I've been back from Magaluf for a few days, but it's taken a while for me to get my house in order and sort things out after loosing my wallet out there... bad times!

However, things are truly back to normal now and I'm very proud to be able to give you a heads up for Matt Cox's new EP, I Believe/Get Up, which was released last month on Champion Beats with remixes from Dylan Holshausen and Scott Harris.

It's a really strong release from the Maidstone based DJ/Producer who fronts the ever expanding 666 presents venture @ The Loft in Maidstone, and Twisted DJs who recently were invited to be part of Reclaim The Dancefloor @ Eden in Ibiza.

I was really feeling the percussive and vocal elements of I Believe, which comes over really funky in parts and Get Up is definitely a pure party tune that would go down well in any club set.

Scott Harris' remix of Get Up is also brilliant.

Please get over the the holy Beatport page and support Matt in the best way you can!

There's been a lot of support for the EP from other up and coming Producers...

BILL EFF
“Gonna have to be the matt cox original for me! Good strong package with something for everyone.”

SIGNAL DRIVERS
“I love Matt Cox's stuff, always supporting! This is more fun than a poke in the eye! “

KYLE WATSON
"Nice package, very broad spectrum of styles here. The Matt Cox Original of I Believe is the pick of the bunch for me, I will definitely be playing it out.”

TOM EQ
"I will be playing the Original Matt Cox mix thanks very much its a nice little funky glithy house track. Like the production skills on the melting man track too, deffo heavy, close second for me."

YOUNG NUTZ
“Another quality package, me personally its gotta be the melting man mix for the more jacking elements that are starting to appear in my sets and the scott harris mix for my usual assorted wobbles and booms...........nice work guyz....big ups

New Dubstep Mix From Me

It's so rare I do a mix (or play a set) that's just one genre these days, but recently I've been hearing so many people complaining about 'wobble' dubstep or 'lagerstep' or whatever you want to call it.  It seems like every week over at Dubstep Forum there's a thread saying "dubstep is dead" or "wobble killed dubstep"... So I'm saying 'fuck da haterz', and I've decided to put together a little mix to show people exactly what they're missing when they dismiss dubstep as just syncopated beats and an LFO wobble bassline: this mix is colourful, vibrant, soulful and still 100% banging!  I left all my holiday packing far too late so had to throw this together uber fast this morning in one take when I was still a mite hungover... So don't expect wonders in the mixing department, it's more of a tune showcase... Get me?

Ben White * Colourful Step

Martyn * Hear Me

 [3024]

Cooly G * Love Dub Refix 

[Hyperdub]

The Streets * Trust Me (Sduk Remix)

[CDR]

Joker * Zariak

[Kapsize]

Zomby vs 3 6 Mafia * Stay Aquafresh

[Pipedown Spesh]

Wiley * My Mistakes (Starkey Remix)

[Big Dada]

Jamie Vexx'd * Radiant Industry 

[Planet Mu]

Dusk & Blackdown * Drenched

[Keysound Recordings]

Joker & Ginz * Purple City

[Kapsize]

Kulture v Mr Vegas * Diesel Me Sensi (Pipedown Spesh)

[CDR]

Starkey * Pressure

[Planet Mu]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs * Heads Will Roll (L.A. Boxers Dub Remix)

[CDR]

Hostage * 8 Bit Boom Riddim 

[CDR]

Zomby * The Lie 

[Hyperdub]

Starkey * Gutter Music VIP

Emvee * Glitch Dub

[Wireblock]

Star Eyes * Disappear (Dexplicit Remix)

[Trouble & Bass

Basement Jaxx * Raindrops (Joker Remix)

Stenchman * Puking Over

Moderat * Out Of Sight

[BPitch Control]

Widdler * One Fine Day

[CDR]

James Blake * Air and Lack Thereof

[Hemlock]

Burial & Fourtet * Moth

[White Label]

Ronnie Foster * Devil's Water

[Rebirth Records]

Enjoy!

July Charts

Apple Fritter July Chart

Here's my July chart... UFO is up the top again primarily because this time last month I thought it was going to be released in bloody June, but now its not going to be released until damned 20th July... swines!

#1: Jack Beats - U.F.O (K-Hole Bass Riddim)

Cheap Thrills

#2: Plump DJs - Be Good

Fingerlickin'

#3: Hedflux & Tom Wilkes - Basscake

Broken Robot

#4: Boy 8 Bit - Wolfen

This is Music

#5: Stanton Warriors - Precinct (Plump DJs Remix)

XL Recordings

#6: Laidback Luke & Diplo - Hey! (Foamo Remix)

Mad Decent

#7: Beat Assassins ft. Sweetie Irie - Boom Style

Mofo Recordings

#8: Bolton - Creepy (Mightyfools Remix)

Party Like Us

#9: Kissy Sell Out - Garden Friends (16 Bit Remix)

San City High

#10: DJ Zinc - Because

Bingo Beats

Ben White July Chart

Tried to keep my chart as fresh and summery as possible, and also not just copy Lee's as he's got some corking tunes in there - K-Hole, Hey! and Wolfen.  Although for the record the L-Vis mix is infinintely better than the Foamo one, and Wolfen is the worst track off the Baltic Pine EP.  In fact I feel so strongly about the Boy 8 Bit issue that I'm going to chart Baltic Pine just to prove that it's better.

#1: Boy 8 Bit - Definitely Not Wolfen (AKA Baltic Pine)

This is Music

#2: Julio Bashmore (Um Bongo's Revenge)

CDR

#3: Music De La Nick - Devil Will Ride

CDR

#4: Renaissance Man - What Is Guru

Sound Pellegrino

#5: Angger Dimas - Duck Army

CDR

#6: Emvee - Glitch Dub

Wireblock

#7: Cooly G - Love Dub Refix

Hyperdub

#8: Melting Wing - Kingdom Nineteen

Erol Forum Massive Inc

#9: Miiike Snow - Animal (Fake Blood Remix)

#10: El - B - Serious

Tempa

A little bit of a word from me now about number 3 - Gomez have long been a favourite band of mine, since pre their Mercury Prize, and this trip hop remix of their 'Devil Will Ride' song is seriously off the hook.  That funky little trumpet hook coupled with some serious breakbeatey rhythms and a hilarious sample from Superbad  equate to an absolute tune.  Plus Nick (of Music De La Nick, or possibly Ainse Dari, I lost track after the 8th name change) is a seriously sound guy.  So check out his myspace here, and download the tune here:

Music De La Nick - Devil Will Ride

I'm so impressed with myself, while I was writing this post I had the tune playing on Itunes and then I loaded up Nick's myspace to get the address, and it started playing off there too, and now they're both playing perfectly in time.  I just beatmatched off Itunes and the myspace player. Does this make me the best DJ ever? Quite possibly.

Weekly News 4th June

So I'm finally back from Glastonbury, and I've just about recovered (ish).  I've compiled a little top 5 list of moments for you so you can get an idea of how it went down even if you weren't there:

1:  Blur playing Tender - the breakdown in the middle with just Albarn on accoustic guitar and 180,000 singing along, and then coming back in with the whole band.

2: Annie Mac playing Animal (Fake Blood Mix) - a definite contender for favourite summer dance tune so far and maybe even Fake Blood mix.

3: 2 Many DJs playing Vitalic LA Rock... Enough said.

4: Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve on saturday night.  Although I can only remember The Turtles - Happy Together (greatest song ever?) and their mix of Finlay Brown, BTWS absolutely nailed it for two hours.

5: Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run.... The Boss absolutely nailed it for this one, unfortunately only one of his set I managed to catch as I had to run off to VIP to DJ... But seriously what a moment.

This week sees tribal techno producer Solo play his debut at Fabric in the Batty Bass room, and to celebrate he's thrown together an absolute banger of a Fabric mix - it rolls along for just over an hour, and it's exquisitely mixed - Godfather theme -> Cyprus Hill -> MfDoom was a real highlight for me.  So make sure you get on this, and head down to Fabric this friday to catch his set!

Solo Fabric Promo Mix June 09

The Godfather Theme

Cypress Hill-”Hits from the Bong”

Mfdoom&Dangermouse-”Sofa King”

F.Rich,Prok&Fitch-”Naga”

Dj Chus,Niki B&Christian E-”Hossa”-C.Soul Rmx

DjGregory&GregorSalto-”Con Alegria”-SOLO Rmx

Gramophonedzie-”WHy Don’t You”

James Brown-”Super Bad”

S.Samson-”Riverside”-Afrojack Rmx

SOLO-”Congaloid”

Bastian Schuster-”New Orleans”

Dj Jean,Asino-”The Bomb”

Afrojack&Diplo-”How I like it”-Kid Kaio/R.sinester Rmx

Dopamine-”Spunk”

SOLO-”Joga Bola”

Dennis_Dj Vasco- ”

Renaissance Man-”Spraycan”

Layo&Bushwacka-”Love Story”-SOLO Bootyleg

L.Charmes,Kid Kaio-”This sound is”

Maskio-”Human Jungle”-Santos Reedit

Flash 2.9″-Cdr

Tiga-”Shoes”- Noob Rmx

SOLO-”Rawmania”

Max Romeo-”Play with your pussy”

Surkin just announced via Twitter that he's doing a new minimix for Andy & Jaymo's BBC 1 show this thursday AND that he's finished a new track for it... This has me seriously excited, especially considering how amazing his minimix for Annie Mac was.  So make sure your tuned in this Thursday!

In the Sounds of Dee

J Dilla has to be one of my all time favourite producers ever - he's worked with A Tribe Called Quest, Common, Busta Rhymes, Mos Def and De La Soul.  It's his solo work that really does it for me - the beats are chunky and crunchy, and it's unbelievably easy to hear how big an influence he must have been on FlyLo, Bullion, Tayreeb, Paul White - any of 'those' hip hop producers who I'm feeling so much now.

So when I discovered that Bullion had attempted a mashup of some Jay Dee's solo stuff and Beach Boy's seminal Pet Sounds (which still remains one of my favourite albums... if only I'd been alive in '66), I wasn't exactly suprised.  The way Bullion pastes tiny snippets of Pet Sounds, covers of Pet sounds and Dilla's beats together is breathtaking - the arrangements are so diverse that it's impossible not to love this.  

I first discovered the album through a review over on Dubstep forum, which compared it to Dangermouse's Grey Album - but for me this kind of comparison is just lazy.  Bullion pulls off something infinitely more interesting, more varied and more intelligent.  To call this a remix or mash up album is falling far short from the truth - rather than combining the two to create a mix, he extends them both into a posthumous tribute of two of the greatest artists of our times.

Highlights include 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times', which retains Wilson's psychedelic tendencies and adds a soulful bounce, 'God Only Knows' and "Wouldn't It Be Nice'.  The whole album is absolutely essential summer listening - get on it.

Bullion: Beach Boys vs J Dilla - Pet Sounds In the Key Of Dee