Wednesday 29 April 2009

Weekly News


Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve DJ Set @ Bloggers Delight @ Lock Tavern on Sunday 3rd May

Beyond The Wizard Sleeve is Erol Alkan + Richard Norris (from legendary English electronic group The Grid). It's free entry, Alkan is on from 5-10pm. They have remixed artists like Goldfrapp, Franz Ferdinand, Findlay Brown, Simian Mobile Disco, Late of the Pier, Peter, Bjorn and John. When they DJ together they play a mix of 60's pysch rock, disco, and their own remixes and re-edits. Facebook event page
here

Hardcore Continuum Discussion

Today (April 29th) from 2-6pm at the UEL's Docklands Campus, a group of journalists, DJs and bloggers get together to in association with the Wire to discuss the Hardcore Continuum - Simon Reynold's theory that 
the most urgent and innovative British dance music of the last twenty years – Jungle, Speed Garage, 2-step, Grime, Bassline House – belongs to a lineage that started with a mutation of rave at the beginning of the 1990s.  As Reynolds himself said:  “I call it a ‘continuum’ because that’s what it is: a musical tradition/subcultural tribe that’s managed to hold it together for nearly 20 years now, negotiating drastic stylistic shifts and significant changes in technology, drugs, and the social/racial composition of its own population. … And I call it ‘Hardcore’ because the tradition started to take shape circa 1990 with what people called Hardcore Techno or Hardcore Rave, or sometimes simply Ardkore.”  More info on the event here, and on the continuum itself here.

It turns out that The End is not actually closing... Well not as a club anyway, as due to lack of funding there wasn't enough money to turn it into flats, and it is now reopening as the Den.  More info here, but one can't help but feel that without nights like Bugged Out, Trash, Durr, Ram and FWD behind it, this new venue will never be as special as the End.

Got a brand new single from Embryonik on the email from the Noise Porn team today, and it's a belter.  I've included a 128k version, but if you like it please follow the itunes link, and buy it, and check out the Embryonik myspace
here. 


embryonik. - Hollywood - EP


I've had a couple of new Rebirth releases drop into my mailbox over the past few weeks as well, both of them absolutely quality, as I've grown to expect from the label who've released some cracking tunes by Adriano Filipucci, Djuma Soundsystem, Julian Sanza and Axus. Both were on a more disco tip than I usually expect from Rebirth, whose usual releases are on a more techey/tech house tip.

1 FancyBeat - Funk In.  
Buy

2 NUfrequency feat Snax - Passage of Time.
Buy


Must hears, especially the Juan Maclean mix of Passage of Time  and the Telespazio mix of Funk In.  Great to hear some more disco type stuff from Rebirth, and I'm clearly not alone - these two releases have been getting support from Aeroplane, In Flagranti, Matt Walsh, Grum and Boy 8 Bit.

I put up my new chart for May on my RA page (bit premature I know, but if we get any late belters coming through in the next couple of days I can always change it!








Hey, Mr. Lee here... few small items from me to round off the week in news!


Firstly, The Fat! Club launched a huge DJ competition this week, with the winner playing along side the legendary DJ Zinc, and rising UK stars Caspa, Rusko and Foamo during their next party @ The Arches, London.
To enter you need to make a one hour mix, record it to CD and send into The Fat! Club... the winner will play an exclusive one hour set in the main room on the night... All details can be found
here!

It seems that lately a hugely disgusting fake HQ version of DJ Zinc's
Blunt Edge from his upcoming album 'Life Begins At Midnight' has been circulating the blogosphere lately. The file was downloaded from youtube and then uploaded to blogs @ 320kbps.
However, the funny part came when Zinc himself uploaded the full version of the song to youtube with a voice over that explains the file being a dud. The original file that was uploaded before was infact a 56kbps MP3, that some people have clearly converted to a 320 version... thinking it would make a difference to the codec and everyone would think a real version had surfaced! This serves as a warning to a lot of people and DJs as well that all the music you get from blogs may not always be in that saint like 320kb state we all love and crave.
In the spirit of things though...
Blunt Edge, which was included in Fake Blood's Essential Mix for Radio 1.... it an absolute banger! Also check out his new 2009 DnB rework of his 1999 Jungle Classic 138 Trek, entitled 178 Trek...


DJ Zinc - 138 Trek



DJ Zinc - Blunt Edge



Finally ending on a lighter note... Pictures emerged last week of a new Tatoo being sported by Mr. Zimmermau5, although its yet to be confirmed if its real, and whether he knew about the Space Invaders inspired tat that's used by French DJ Joachim Garraud as his logo... either way... it's shocking! I mean I'm a huge fan... but really what is that! He'll just have to hide it on stage now, by wearing a mask... or a giant green mouse head of some kind maybe... just a thought :P



Think that's all for this week, keep an eye out for artist features coming up on 

1  The Pipedown boys

2 Matt Cox who's had remixes out on Destination for Calvertron and AC Slater

3 Dean Tynan who's had releases out on Universal Records, Tunnel Vision records for Ludacris, Aina and A1 Bassline, and whose joint track with A1 Bassline We Love Pussy had to be one of the biggest tracks of last year.

Monday 27 April 2009

1 Month Anniversary Celebration!

I realised today that we hit the 1 month mark on Squeaky Bleeps yesterday... It's been a rollercoaster of a month - we had artist features on R!M!E, GreenMoney and Thrills.  Our Bangers & Mash feature on up and coming artists looked at Jack Beats and L-Vis 1990.  I got up far too late on Sunday to ever actually get the Sunday Morning Hangover feature in on time at least 3 times.  To celebrate I thought I would post up a few exclusive productions I've completed over the last month or so, so you can get a better idea of what kind of stuff I produce.









Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading! 

Bangers & Mash Week 2


Second in the Bangers & Mash series is a post on up and coming producer L-Vis 1990.
Resident at the legendary Night Slugs night, whose free nights at Eastern Village in Old Street have never failed to blow me away with their lineups; past guests include the T&B crew, Egyptrixx, Crazy Cousinz, Brackles, Lil Silva, Ikonika, Kode 9, Jackmaster and many more.  L-Vis 1990's productions have been getting some serious attention to - United Groove and Flux are both tipped for release very soon, and have already been getting played by some massive DJs - Flux was featured in the Count & Sinden's last DJ mix.




L-Vis 1990's Hyper Bass approach to dance music pulls together a whole load of different genres: basslines that borrow equally from UKG and fidget, chopped up vocal snippets in that fidget style as well as drum beats that have that tribal energy of UK funky, as well as a syncopated dubstep feel to them.  

I first noticed L-Vis when his Township Funk and Night remixes started getting blogged - I was immediately impressed by the quality of them, especially considering how many remixes there are of these two songs out there... The Night mix remains my favourite mix of Night.

His debut self titled EP didn't fail to impress either - both Apple Bass & Change the Game were absolute belters - and although on first impression they didn't seem to vary much from the other fidget out there, it was only when I played Apple Bass out that I got 'it'.  You can see why L-Vis calls his own mixes Hyper Bass mixes - the appeal to them is how he fuses jungle, drum and bass, dubstep, breaks, reggae, funky, garage, grime and bassline together - creating some serious dancefloor heat as well as getting heads moving.

I've put together a little 6 track minimix of L-Vis 1990's material to date, some already released, some not.  If you like, please support - if your in London then get yourself down to the next Night Slugs on the 14th May.   Entry is only £3, and L-Vis will be joining the rest of the resident crew, along with guests Terror Danjah & Egyptrixx.  You can buy his debut EP off Beatport here, or keep an eye out for United Groove - it should be out on an as yet unannounced label in the next few months.



L-Vis 1990 - United Groove
L-Vis 1990 - Change The Game
Crazy Cousinz - Bongo Jam (L-Vis 1990 & Bok Bok's Refix)
Laidback Luke & Diplo - Hey (L-Vis 1990 & Switch Remix)
Benga & Coki - Night (L-Vis 1990's Hyper Bass Remix)
La Roux - In For The Kill (L-Vis 1990's Hyper Bass Remix)

Saturday 25 April 2009

Camden Crawl


My first ever visit to the Camden Crawl last night - kind of suprising considering its the only festival in the UK that is 10 minutes walk from my house.  Drank far too much beer, and don't remember a lot of it.   Highlights were definitely YYY's playing Maps, discovering a couple of new bands in the Monarch, and a Count and Sinden DJ set to finish things off.

Karen O's voice and energy are still as impressive as they seemed when I first heard Fever To Tell - Date with a Knight tonight was an immediate crowd favourite, and the material from the new album didn't disappoint either, Soft Shock and Zero especially.  Gold Lion and Cheated Hearts showed off that more melodic side to the band, and Maps had me close to tears.  Bit of a shame not to see more tracks from the first album getting an outing (Pin, Rich, Black Tongue, Y Control) but what can you expect from that short a set just after the band has released a new album.

Spending a couple of hours sitting down and filling myself with more and more beer in the Monarch turned out to be one of the best decisions of the night - we managed to catch Peggy Sue and Circle Square.  Although Circle Square is probably one of the worst band names I've heard in a while, the band itself definitely do not disappoint - the singer comes down somewhere halfway in between New Order and Depeche Mode, and the basslines place them somewhere nearer to Aeroplane.  I highly recommend you head over to their myspace, and check out some of their material - Hey You Guys especially, which I remember absolutely loving last night, and I can see this morning that it's been remixed by the Juan Maclean... A killer combination.

The other new band I managed to see at the Monarch was Peggy Sue, and although I'm told that their set was a bit of an unnusual one - mainly B-sides, with none of their more well known material, it was still an absolute corker.  They closed with The Sea The Sea, which I found on their myspace this morning, and it sounds as good on record as it did live.

Lastly I managed to catch the Count and Sinden DJ set at Dingwalls, and I'm so glad I managed to persuade my friends to skip Echo and the Bunnymen for it - although the venue was a bit empty at the start, the moment they started playing it pretty much went off.  C&S played an hour long set, rattling through a mix of their own productions (Afrojack, Rocky Raver, The Fear Count Remix), as well as some more well known tunes (Township Funk, Mars, Sound of Kuduro), and some stuff I had never heard before.  An amazing end to the day, and big props to C&S for managing to absolutely destroy what was at the start a half empty venue full of bemused looking rock fans.  By the end it was absolutely rammo, and no one was looking bemused. 

Wonky (Worst genre name since nu-rave?)


Reading a hilarious Guardian article on 'wonky', a new style of dubstep, that linked wonky fans with ketamine users (a tenuous one at best I thought), I thought it was probably the laziest piece of music journalism I'd ever encountered. To make a connection between drugs and any genre of music is lazy enough, and especially when the genre is debatably not even a real one - many of the artists mentioned in the article do not seem to have any real connection, bar sharing a label (often Hyperdub) and a larger genre (dubstep). However this doesn't change the fact that the producers mentioned by Simon Reynolds in the article are some of my favourite at the moment - Zomby, Joker and Hudson Mohawke. In the last paragraph of the article, Reynolds makes his most sensible point - he compares the sound to 8 bit and trip hop, and listening to tracks like Ikonika's Simulacrum or Joker and Rustie's Play Doe certainly reinforces this. But the genre also seems to me to align itself with hardcore more than Reynolds likes to admit - Zomby even released a hardcore tribute album - Where Were U in '92? Although my answer to his question is probably in a crib wearing a nappy, producers like Acen, 808 State and Altern 8 have been really up my street lately - the breakbeats bring hardcore closer to bmore than happy hardcore or drum & bass, the genres that hardcore were said to develop into.



Zomby - Where Were U in '92? Buy rest of album here:


Ikonika - Simulacrum (Hosted by Electrorash)

The B side to Ikonika's debut single on Hyperdub (Please) was absolutely rinsed by me when I first got it - Ikonika combines a proper fat analogue bassline, and a synth line that borrows heavily from chiptune and 8 bit, with a classic syncopated, off-beat dubstep percussive beat. Buy MP3 here.


Zomby - The Lie

This Zomby track samples classic reggae artist Sizzla's I Was Born, coupling that vocal sample with percussive shakers, airhorns (hardcore again anyone?), detuned synths and a real feeling of pent up aggression.  The 12" came with remixes from LV and a new Zomby track - Dripping Like Water.  Buy it here.


Joker - Zariak (Hosted by YCCMP)

Another jittery, off kilter hit from Joker - keeping up the tension with a fat square wave analogue bass and a drum beat that keeps you guessing all the time.  Thanks to the Grime Forum for releasing this for free.

This was my first real introduction to 'wonky', and still remains one of my favourite tunes - it's so easy to hear exactly which parts are Rustie and which are Joker.  It's got that trademark Rustie 'aquacrunk' (another contender for worst genre name) lead synth line, and that grunting vocal sample propels the track along nicely.  Buy MP3 here

2000F & J Kamata - You Don't Know What Love Is

Already covered this song in my first post for Squeaky Bleeps - I think the exact words I used were "If Prince made dubstep", and I'd still agree with that... the vocoder gets me everytime.  Showcasing a more funky vibe, this B side to Joker's Digidesign actually got more attention than the A side from a lot of DJs, and with good reason.  Buy the 12" here





Friday 24 April 2009

The Squeaks #1

Now that things are moving along quite nicely one the blog, its definitely time to crack on with the first post in the 'Squeaks & Bleeps' series that I introduced to you last Friday. 5 Tunes aimed at getting you in the party mood for the weekend. 'The Squeaks' focusses on tunes of a more uplifting nature, the sort of tunes played @ The Gallery on Friday nights at Ministry of Sound or a typical night at the Techno capital known as Berghain in Berlin.

This week we've a real treat for you in the shape of a new direction being taken by the man most people know as Hostage. Alan Hostage as he's better known has recently taken to producing more Technoey based tunes under his a guise 'Alan H'. In a recent post on his Twitter he explained his reasoning:

"it is me - just under a slightly different guise - doing deeper slower grindin techno!"

One of Joel's newest tracks that I hear he's been banging out in his live sets recently, I hope he plays it when I get to see him in a couple of weeks in Camden :D
This track really strikes me as unique, it's tech-house in its core, but its also quite brash and in your face... almost like he's trying to bring an element of big-beat into the equation, and the bassline is gastly!

New tunes from Angello that's surfaced recently, currently getting a lot of love from Dave Spoon at the moment via his monthly Radio 1 slot.
It's a really interesting tune that seems to pin pick snippets from a range of styles including progressive, electro house, tech-house and the sweeping crunching hi-hats we've been used to hearing from the techno heartland of Berlin over the past couple of years. Don't miss this!

A storming mash-up here!

I literally cannot believe that I managed to miss the release of this tune... Dusty Kid is one of my favourite producers out there... such a tight tune!

Thursday 23 April 2009

New Plump DJs & Far Too Loud Mixtapes!

So I was just browsing blogs and such this morning and realised I hadn't checked the legendary Breakzlinkz for a wee while. So I scrambled to click my bookmark bar and was delighted upon my arrival at the site to find new mixtapes, from two of the UK Breakbeat scene's true heavyweights. Get locked onto these immediately!


* No tracklisting yet I'm afraid :'(
34:13 Mins : 78MB : 320kbps MP3






Tracklisting:
1. Paul Lyman - Break Through (10 Rapid remix) - Dusted Breaks
2. DJ Vitamin D & Ben Pound - The Lift (Paul Anthony & ZXX remix) - Eighttrax
3. The Death Kit - Loser (Pablo Decoder remix) - Big & Dirty
4. 4Kuba - Rock Your Floor - iBreaks
5. Loafer - Dirt Bike - Hope
6. Kiwa - Drop Control - CDR
7. James Cocozza - Garf - Lot49
8. Pig & Dan - Terminate - Cocoon
9. Dustbowl - St. Petersburg - U&A
10. Break The Box - Anika - VIM
11. Dub Elements - Neurobreak - Bombtraxx
12. Stereo:Type - Sewer Gash feat. Beardymen (Far Too Loud remix) - Hardcore Beats
13. Filthy Rich - Dirty Freak 2009 - Control Freq
14. Access Denied - Tumbler - Yellow Finger
15. Far Too Loud & CodeZero - Blackout (Headphonics remix) - Exogenic Breaks
16. Loop De Ville - The One feat. Michelle Upton (Butter Party remix) - Trickery Collective
17. Francis Preve & Wolfgang Gartner - Yin - Toolroom
18. Disco Of Doom - War Pig - CDR
19. Specimen A - Hard Times - Funkatech

The Dubstep Dance (Over 75s Only)

A few weeks back I did a short post of an amazing video I found that was the best example of how to dance dubstep I'd seen :P. It was basically just a bloke doing crazy dancing pretending he was on K... but you know, it was a good laugh.
It gets better though, as Benga, Zinc and Skream found out last summer whilst sound checking in Barcelona. Possibly the grooviest old man to hit the dancefloor since James Brown!




Also a word about this weekend's clubbing schedule!

Wherever you go this Friday in London, your bound to have an absolute stormer! I'm being dragged to Ministry of Sound to see Armin Van Buuren @ The Gallery, due to the fact that I've dragged my mates everywhere else in the last couple of months, most notably Plump DJs' Headthrash night @ Fabric with Fake Blood and DJ Craze back in February. However, I suppose now it's my turn to 'learn' some new music.
Anyway back on topic... other highlights of the weekend include the April Playaz night @ Fabric, featuring Hype, Pascal, Andy C & DJ Die among others. As well as an exclusive guest performance from LTJ Bukem & MC Conrad in Room 2, whose been confirmed for Fabriclive 46, which hit shelves in June and NAPT headline Room 3, fresh from they're romping hat-trick of awards at this years Breakspoll.
Elsewhere in town Chew The Fat! are back with a huge lineup @ The Arches, Foamo, Lee Mortimer, Calvertron, Zodiac Cartel and the one and only Trevor Loveys provide the tunage. There's also the THIS IS NOT LONDON party @ Scala for the album launch of Who Made Who, and Sick! On The Dancefloor takeover SeOne with Will Bailey, 2 Bit Thugs and Matt Cox.


In the spirit of such an occasion such as Mr. Bukem @ Fabric (that I am very pissed that I'm going to miss) this weekend, I've managed to dig out an absolute classic in his legendary Essential Mix with MC Conrad for Radio 1 back in March 1996. Enjoy!


Tracklisting:
Dusted - "Access" (Good Looking) 
G-Force - "G-Force" (Good Looking) 
Johnny L - "untitled" (XL) 
Phil Basement - "A Jazzier Groove" (Good Looking) 
Jack Smooth - "The Genesis Project [Remix]" 
Shogun - "Together" 
Shogun - "Stretch [Remix]" (R&S) 
Universal - "untitled" (Good Looking) 
Voyager - "Hyper Sleep" 
Seb & Lotek - "So Long" (Looking Good) 
P.H.D. - "untitled" (Good Looking) 
Aura - "Aura" (Mo' Wax) 
Intense - "Only You" (Creative Source) 
Subject 13 - "Subject 13" (Good Looking) 
Crystal - "Mind Games" (Good Looking) 
Universal - "Groove Therapy" (Good Looking) 
UFO - "Loud Minority [Alex Reece Mix]" (Talking Loud) 
DJ IIs - "untitled" 
Life On Mars - "Cool Spot" (Clean Up) 
The Jedi Knights - "Solina" (Universal Language) 
Phungus - "untitled" (Reload) 
Voodoo Child - "Desperate" (Trophey)

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Weekly News

One of my favourite up and coming techno producers, Darling Farah from the UEA, has got a new track for your ears. Called Darkroom, it's a blend of the minimal feel which a lot of Darling Farah's productions have, and a more maximal approach.

Darling Farah - Darkroom 

Diplo's new project with Switch, Major Lazer, have finished recording their album - it's a reggae/dancehall album, with a whole load of amazing guest vocalists, and the youtube videos of Major Lazer DJ sets have made me so excited for the album, especially the snippets I've heard of the track Pon Di Floor. Diplo has released the first track of the album for free download on the Mad Decent blog - it's called Hold The Line and has Santigold singing on it. Surf rock guitars and a proper boss drum beat make me even more excited for the rest of the album, as does the leak of other ML track Zumbi that some blogs have posted.


Major Lazer - Hold The Line (Hosted by Mad Decent Blog)

This isn't as such old news, but it's so quality that I had to post it. The boys over at the Pipedown blog recorded a minimix to launch the blog, and I've only recently managed to get it on my Ipod. For 5 minutes long, it's properly chock a block full of tracks - electro, house, drum and bass, jungle, dubstep, garage, hip hop. Hopefully we should have a full feature about the Pipedown crew (SDUK and CNTRST) soon.


TRACKLIST_
Shy FX & T Power - Don't Wanna Know (Feat. Skibadee)
Joker - Stuck In The System
Starkey - Gutter Music
Dusk & Blackdown - Concrete Streets (Feat. Durrty Goodz)
Joker - Gullybrook Lane
JME - Awoh
Jakes - 2 Steps Back
Jakes - 3kout
Synkro - Hold Tight
Skream - Fick
Rusko - Hammertime
Rusko - Get Your Cock Out
Benga - Better
Wiley - Local Lad
Benny Page - Swagger
Ghetto - Sing For Me (w/ Rudekid)
Sean Paul - Temperature
DJ ZInc - 138 Trek
L-Vis 1990 - Apple Bass
Xrabit & DMG$ - Killin 'Em (Xrabit Remix)
The Bug - Poison Dart (South Rakkas Crew Remix)
Buraka Som Sistema - General
Klaxons - It's Not Over (Skream Mix)
Mujava - Township Funk
DJ Manaia - Sobrevivente De Rave
SL2 - On A Ragga Tip
Original Sin - D Is For Danger
Original Sin - Don't Be Silly
Danny Byrd - Shock Out
Chase & Status - Smash TV
Brookes Brothers - Tear You Down
Aphrodite - Return To Jedda
Rebel MC - Junglist (Feat. Peter Bounce) (DJ Zinc Remix)
Rebel MC - Jah Sunshine
Jaymo - On The Grind
MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Remix)
Kanye West - Workout Plan (Galactik Knights Remix)
His Majesty Andre - Peep Thong
Tom EQ & Jak-Z - Killa
Proxy - Raven
Evil 9 - All The Cash (Feat. El-P) (Mumdance Remix)
Goshi Goshi - The Lock Shot
Diplo - Blow Your Head
Drop The Lime - Hear Me (Drums Of Death Remix)
Heavyfeet - One Last Time
Steed Lord - It's What You Do 2 Me (Jack Beats Remix)
Partyshank v Yo Majesty - Club Action
AC Slater - Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix)
Baobinga - State Of Ghetto Jackin' (Feat. DJ Nasty)
Andy George - Big Dipper
Skibadee - Tika Toc
Ini Kamoze - Hot Steppa
Krafty Skillz - Insane Banger
Kulture - Diesel (cntrst Edit)
OliverDaySoul - Bopgunn
Bullion v Paul White - Get Familiar
Flying Lotus - RobertaFlack (Martyn Remix)
Zomby - Spliff Dub (Rustie Remix)

The Chew the Fat blog are hosting a remix competition of Lee Mortimer's new track This Is Real Shit. Download the parts here, and send a link to download it (from somwhere like YouSendIt) to club@thefatclub.com. As an added bonus, if you get it to them before the party on the 24th you’ll also get free guestlist so include your full name. I've had a quick go at a mix




Hostage has also had a couple of new tunes this week - Massive, which is a classic 4 to the floor stomper, and has already had radioplay from Annie Mac on her BBC1 show The Mashup, and another tune which is a bit more different from Hostage's usual fare. It's called 8 Bit Boom Riddim, and is a nice bit of more chilled out dubstep action. With a nice chunky bassline, you can tell Hostage has been listening to Joker. Hostage has said he's not going to be producing much stuff like this, so might as well get on this while you can.





Last but not least, it's rare that dance music and charity combine, but our friends over at Noise Porn are doing just that this July. The project is called the Mongolian Mixtape Marathon. The plan is for the Noise Porn team to depart on a 10,000 mile drive from London to Mongolia on July 11th, crossing Europe, central Asia and culminating with a dash across the mighty Gobi Desert. They will be raising money for Save The Children, in association with the Mongolian Charity Rally. The culmination of the drive will be donating educational materials and clothing to to the Mongolian people as well as donating the vehicle to a local farming community.


The dance music aspect of the Marathon is that during the 800+ hours driving time, they're intending to listen to dance music non-stop all the way there! Each DJ will be asked to submit a one hour mix of their favourite tunes and also make a small donation (of at least £1). All the mixes will then be put together and listened to them non-stop, all the way to Mongolia!


DJs confirmed include Krafty Kuts, Brodinski, Ben & Lex, AC Slater, A1 Bassline, Aquasky, NAPT, The Rogue Element, Foamo, Trevor Loveys, Jaimie Fanatic, Miles Dyson and Nick Thayer.


They have already had or confirmed future radio coverage from a number of radio stations including NuSkoolBreaks, Brap.FM, South West Underground, BangingTunes, and Leith FM.

Noise Porn have also secured free advertising on the international clubbing website DontStayIn.com and London clubs/venues like Fabric, The Egg and The Fat! Club have pledged their support.


FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT info@mongolianmixtapemarathon.com, or head over to the website to get involved.

666 Saturdays @ The Loft


Morning all... thought I'd give you a heads up on a night that I'm DJing on Saturday night in Maidstone, Kent. I'm third on the bill and it'll be my first gig outside of University where I'll be able to play the music that I really want to play.
It's a weekly night run and promoted by a collective of local DJs, most prominently Twisted DJs. There's an up coming post on 666 in the next couple of weeks...t for now... check out the night and get along to attend and support me. Much love!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=71804904856
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=71804904856
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=71804904856


Also if you read this blog but haven't heard we are also on Facebook, hit us up!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58392893422&ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58392893422&ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58392893422&ref=ts

Tuesday 21 April 2009

Squeaky Bleeps April Chart

Lee's Chart

1
Artist / AC Slater
Title / Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix: Thrills Edit)

2
Artist / La Roux
Title / In For The Kill (Skream Remix: Thrills Edit

3
Artist / Fake Blood
Title / Mars (R!M!E Remix)

4
Artist / Tiga
Title / Shoes (DJEjotronic Remix)

5
Artist / Ricco Tubbs
Title / Hip Rave Anthem
Label / Cheap Thrills

6
Artist / Jak-k & Scott Cooper
Title / Move Ya (HiJack Remix)

7
Artist / Kissy Sell Out
Title / This Kiss (Jack Beats Remix)

8
Artist / Strike
Title / U Sure Do (DJ Dunno's Fuck Up Mix)

9
Artist / The Crystal Method Feat. Matisyahu
Title / Drown In The Now

10
Artist / Little Boots
Title / New In Town (Drop The Lime Dub)
Label / Atlantic



Ben's Chart

1
Artist / Gantman
Title /Juke Dat Girl (GreenMoney VIP Mix)
Label / Fools Gold
2
Artist /Solo
Title /Afreaka
3
Artist /Crazy Cousinz
Title /Inflation
4
Artist /Skream Vs Chromeo
Title /Fancy Footboxing (Thrills Refix)
5
Artist /Disco 3000
Title / That's The Kind Of Love I've Got For You
6
Artist /Hector & Bryant
Title /Tension (Appleblim & Al Tourettes Remix)
Label / Phonica Records
7
Artist /Lily Allen
Title /The Fear (Duke Dumont Remix)
8
Artist /AC Slater
Title /Hello (Ben White Remix)
9
Artist /Adriano Filippucci
Title /The Day After (Robytek Remix)(Robytek remix)
Label / Rebirth
10
Artist /Fragma
Title /Memory (B Rich Dub)
Label / Ministry Of Sound

Monday 20 April 2009

"Shout loud, breathe in... won't you Drown In The Now"

Now, I've spoken briefly before about my love for the American duo known as The Crystal Method before... but in the coming weeks you'll start to understand just how far that love stretches. I've been a devoted and avid follower of TCM since I was introduced to four tracks from their first material courtesy of the game FIFA 98 (I owe you so much EA). These tracks were called 'Busy Child', 'More', 'Now Is The Time' and 'Keep Hope Alive'; the first the last being among my all-time favourite tracks. I've only ever seen the duo play once... a DJ set at Fabric last summer. They were confirmed for a DJ set at last year's Rockness festival and Fabric saw an opportunity to snap up a rare performance. They played a two hour set of some amazing breaks/big-beat bangers including some of the remixes from the 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of their debut album Vegas.

Last Monday TCM released 'Drown In The Now' the first single from their fourth studio album Divided By Night which is scheduled to be released worldwide on May 12. The single features vocals from up and coming rapper Mitasyahu and is available to download now on iTunes
Here's a youtube video in HQ, that was captured a few weeks back and an MP3 of the tune... in low quality of course for reasons we all know about... if your digging the tune... you can buy it from the iTunes store... and the video for the song is available for pre-order, which will be released tomorrow.




Bangers & Mash Week 1

Here's another new post series that we'll be running every Monday morning... a short mix of five tunes from an artist that we feel are going to have a big impact during this year.


First up is Jack Beats... whose contagious beats and hypnotic basslines have been tearing up clubs across the country in the past 12 months. They're a duo from London consisting of Beni G formally of The Mixologists and Plus One, who we all know and love as one of the three Scratch Perverts dudes.
Up until this year they'd only been putting out remixes, most notably their remix of AC Slater's Jack Got Jacked, Project Bassline's Drop The Pressure and their huge re-work of Caspa's remix of TC's Where's My Money (wow that's a tongue twister) that sent the clubbing scene into overdrive.
It wasn't until January that their first official release 'What' featuring MC Dynamite surfaced on Herve's Cheap Thrills label and Get Down also followed suit, featuring on Herve's 2CD mix compilation Ghetto Bass.
What's got possibly everyone savvy in the electronic music scene all over the world rather wet downstairs... clubbers, promoters and DJs alike right now is their up and coming release, a full EP on Cheap Thrills set for early summer. The source of all the commotion is locked inside a sub-10 second sample of the aptly named K-Hole, which slyly made it's way into their MiniMix for Annie Mac's Radio1 show on April 13th. I literally have no words to describe the sound... so far this is the closest I"ve got (which is what I yelled out when I first heard it): "OMFG... that is the sickest thing I have ever F***KING HEARD!". I literally can only dream about what it must sound like in Fabric's Room 1.
I've nicked the K-Hole part of their MiniMix as it's very tasty placed into the next tune... Bang it out in your car... or on your iPod on the way to work/uni or school to kill some time!


1. The K-Hole Bass Riddim Intro/AC Slater - Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix)
2. Jack Beats - What (Foamo Edit)
3. Steed Lord - What U Do 2 Me (Jack Beats Remix)
4. Jack Beats - Get Down
5. TC - Where's My Money (Caspa Remix: Jack Beats Edit)


Here's also a link to the MiniMix that Annie Mac was kind enough to grace the world with, trust me it is superb...


Tracklisting:
Richard Strauss - 2001: A Space Oddessy 
Renaissance Man - Spraycan 
AC Slater - Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix) 
Ragga Twins - Spliffhead 
Dynamix 2 - Dont Touch That Dial 
Jack Beats - K Hole Bass Riddim 
Pitbull 
Jack Beats - Get Down 
Rob Threezy - You Bad 
Jonny L - Hurt You So (S&M Mix)
Lady Sovereign - I Got You Dancin (Jack beats remix) 
Rebel MC - Tribal Bass 
Switch - This is Sick 
Popof - Alcoolic
Jay-Z - Public Service Anouncement 
Laidback Luke & A-Trak - Shake it Down 
Redlight - Rock Your Body 
Gat Decor - Passion
Acen - Trip to the Moon Part. 2 
Bug Kann and the Plastic Jam - Made in 2 Minutes 
Bingo Players - Get Up (Diplo Remix) 
The Prodigy - Wind it Up 
4 Hero - Mr. Kirks Knightmare 
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Look for the Woman (Fake Blood Remix)
Busta Rhymes - Light Your Ass On Fire 
Meat Beat Manifesto - Radio Babylon 2 Vesion Galore
La Roux - In for the Kill (Skream's Lets Get Ravey Remix) 
Duke Dumont - Hoy
Project Bassline - Drop the Pressure (Jack Beats Remix) 
Mr. Fingers - My House (Acapella)
Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor (Soulwax Remix) 
Zombie Disco Squad - The Dance 

Enjoy and look out for some more tasty posts coming this week!

Sunday 19 April 2009

Thrilling


Thrills has really been getting a lot of attention recently - and it's definitely deserved - Kissy Sell Out played his refix/mashup of Chromeo and Skream recently on his Radio 1 show, and I've been playing it pretty much everytime I play out since I got it, and with great results. Thrills has done a whole series of dubstep refixes, all absolute bangers; he manages to give some of the biggest dubstep tracks out there a 4x4 workover.




His tracks have been getting support from a lot of heads, both stateside and in Europe: DJ Yoda, Drop the Lime, Mickey Slim, DZ and Nero. Another one of his dubstep refixes that got a lot of plays from me recently has to be his refix of the Jack Beats mix of Jack Got Jacked - AC Slater. Thrills draws out that ravey breakdown, speeds it up, and then it drops to that classic bassline, but with a slightly different bassline this time.




We've yet to hear any original material from Thrills, but I've no doubt that when we do it will be absolutely killer! In the meantime, his DJing is as good as his producing, so check out his dubstep mix:



Thrills Live on The AfterParty C89.5FM Dubstep Mix (04.09.09)
TRACKLISTING
1. Markomen - Unitasker
2. Crissy Criss - Soap Dodger
3. Sukh Knight - Knightlife
4. Bar9 - Midnight
5. TRG - Horny (Reso Remix)
6. Woogie - End Dub (DZ Remix)
7. Pendulum - SHowdown (Excision Remix)
8. Torqux - Relentless
9. Conscious Pilot - Hash & Hydro
10. Unitz - The Drop
11. Chase & Status ft Kano - Againest All Odds (Dubstep Mix)
12. Rusko - Biggest Chopper
13. The Others - Do The Super Skank
14. DZ - Regulate
15. Boabinga - State of Ghetto Jackin (TRG Remix)
16. Ed Solo - Watch Your Eyes
17. Nero - The End Of The World
18. Babylon System & Antiserum - California Style
19. Bar9 - Murda Sound
20. Chasing Shadows - ILL
21. Synkro - Bitz
22. Bombaman - Rear End
23. La Roux - In For The Kill (Last Japan Edit)
24. Ed Solo - Eyes Of Dub
25. Cyrus & Distance - Violate
26. Cardopusher - Steppin Worldwide
27. Chase & Status - Saxon
28. AC Slater - Jack got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix/Thrills Refix)
29. Does It Offend You Yeah - Epic Last Song (Jack Beats Remix/Thrills Refix)
30. Egyptrixx - Godzilla
31. Syntonics - Material (Bombaman Remix)
32. Illgates - Sweatshop (Antiserum Remix)
33. Emalkay - Heroics (Thrills Edit)
34. El Haijin - In Control
35. Bar9 - Malicious Thoughts
36. Prodigy - Breathe (NumberNin6 Remix)
37. The Streets - Blinded By The Lights (Nero remix)

Sunday Morning Hangover 3

For some reason Google decided that the second installment in this series was a breach of copyright... oh well... you can't always please everyone!
Anyway, cracking on... I hope everyone has had a sick weekend, as ever. I unfortunately am beached into my room at University with copius amounts of assignment and essay work. With the money I didn't spend out and about, I decided to spend my hard earned cash on some new headphones :D, as I appear to have broken my Fake HDJ-1000s...
In the spirit of everything 'chilled' here's a selection of tunes that I regularly listen to the 'morning after'!


This, until very recently, was the last single to be released by the American duo, back in 2004, which featured on their third studio album Legion of Boom, a very firm favourite of mine.
The song features vocals from Soul and Hip/Hop singer Hanifah Walidah. To me there is no other track that speaks to me in such a powerful way, it's the tune that I continuously come back to in tough times, or times when I just need a little break or 'pick-me-up' to keep me going. [Squeaky Bleeps Highly Recommended]

If there is one techno song from years gone by that you must listen to, it has to be this. Composition wise this tune is argubly one of the best ever made... its the sweeping intricateness of the synths in this tune that make it really stand out. If you took the kicks out of this song... it would still be one of the most uplifting electronic songs that you'll ever come across.

Now I did say that one thing we wouldn't be posting on this blog would be Trance music, purely based on my lack of knowledge of the genre... however I decided to make an exception here.
Now although this track is not trance in essence, to completely reject BT's past as a true pioneer of the trance sound, would be an insult to his unquestionable talent as a music producer and as a multi-instrument musician. This track weighs in at 11:34, and can be summed up as ambient electronic music, with Glitch undertones, but I feel that kind of takes away some of the genius of it. This tune is a true masterpiece that can never be recreated... and I feel absolutely gutted that I missed his recent headline performance at Ministry of Sound this weekend... he is God in my eyes. [Squeaky Bleeps High Recommend]

Now this song needs no introduction... You all should know what to expect here. One of the tune I continuously go back to, saturday and sunday morning after saturday and sunday morning on a train home from London. I won't go into the whole which cover version is better and all that bollox... what matters is the power that this music ensues, and this is no exception to that claim.

Despite what everyone else thinks, this is Moby's best track to me. By just closing your eyes... you can paint a whole landscape and setting with just the sounds being given to you. This is the sort of music I really love... music that can transport you and really take you away to a better place. The vocals just really add to the whole feel of the tune... I also believe there is a version over 10 minutes somewhere, although I've never heard it... sad times!

One of my favourite tunes of all time without a doubt... its such a mellow and uplifting track, but it also posesses a real power that gives you such a warm feeling... well either that or you've just messed yourself looking at Hafdís Huld in the video. I believe this is the version found on the 2002 album 'Machine Says Yes', which is so medodic near the end it makes my teeth hurt!
I also made a music video for this song for my Media Studies A-Level coursework, which I've embedded below.

Apologies for the low quality, however at the time I didn't have a youtube director account and needed it keep the file under 100MB... drat!


Saturday 18 April 2009

The Apple Fritter's Bedroom Rave

Well it's taken me a month to plan, tracklist, record then re-record, then re-record again and then noise-reduce and touch up... but I'd say it was well worth the hassle and stress :D

My first fully fledged Mixtape/Demo Tape is now 100% completed and ready for you all to download for nunkin' stunkin' FREE!!!!! In 320KBPS Quality!


Tracklisting:

The Apple Fritter's Bedroom Rave

01. Hostage - Bring The Music
02. Calvertron & Banga - Like Dat (Aspin Dipace Remix)
03. AC Slater - Vertigo (Nick Supply's Horizontigo Remix)
04. AC Slater - Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix)
05. The Bulgarian - Air Bounce (Nick Supply Remix)
06. Jak-Z & Scott Cooper - Move Ya (Tom EQ Remix)
07. 2 Bit Thugs - Tearing Up The Club (Original Mix)
08. Jak-Z - Get Ya Ass Up - (WoNK's Big Booty Bass Remix)
09. Lee Mortimer Ft. MC Flipside - That Thing (Original Vocal Mix)
10. AC Slater - Bassline Time (Original Mix)
11. Chris James & Lee Dearn - Torcida Cumbia (Mightyfools Remix)
12. Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - Look For The Woman (Fake Blood Remix)
13. Joachim Garraud - Are U Ready (Roman Salzger Remix)
14. Fake Blood - Mars (R!M!E remix)
15. Nathan Boon - Like To Freak (Kelevra Remix)
16. Larry Tee - I Love U (Bart B More Secured Dub)
17. Laidback Luke Feat. A-Trak - Shake It Down (Original Mix)
18. Kidda - Feel Too Good (Jack Beats Remix)
19. Machines Don't Care - Drop It To The Floor (TADT Baby Pop Remix)
20. Plump DJs - Beat Myself Up (Plump DJs Night Remix Vs. Don Diablo Re-Rub) (The Apple Fritter's Easy Mixer)
21. Steed Lord - Its What U Do 2 Me (Jack Beats Remix)
22. The Prodigy - Everybody is in the Place (AC Slater Remix)
23. Jackinori & Leon Dipace - Breathe
24. Mr. Oizo - Positif (NT89 Remix)
25. Drop The Lime - Hear Me (AC Slater Remix)
26. Acen - Trip II the Moon (Hostage Remix)
27. La Roux - In For The Kill (Skream Remix) (Last Japan Re-Edit)

Also carrying on the Fidgety-Rave theme... I've just found this new remix from DJ Dunno, which Noiseporn just graced us with! I agree with them... it's the cheesiest little bassy monster tune I've heard in absolutely agesssss!
Turn this up suuuuuper loud! Dancefloor mayhem will ensue, mark my bloody words!!!!!

Also check out the dude's MySpace, some of his stuff is tighter than a Burger King employee stuck inside a 4 year old's tutu! He's also got quite a sick blog on the go if I do say so myself, with regular mixes from up and coming and established DJs! Seriously, get locked onto this!

Friday 17 April 2009

The Squeaks & The Bleeps

Well... that's easter over... Christmas anyone? 
To be honest, with the current state of the economy at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if shops started banging out all the X-mas related stuff now! Personally, anything involved with Christmas that I see happening outside of December makes me feel sick... I completely reject the idea of the whole 3 month build up period to one day of the year. If you think about it, that's a quarter of your life spent building up to one day a year! I could do better than that... How about a build up to the festival season instead. Glastonbury is now under 70 days away. It lasts five days (if you get there on Wednesday to pitch your tent)... and is a much more beneficial use of your money and your life.


Here's a whole new breed of posts for you, featuring tunes we think are hitting it big at the moment. The first is called 'The Squeaks & the second 'The Bleeps', which will be landing on a weekly rotation aimed at spanking your sound system with five new tunes of disgusting electronica. On 'The Squeaks' there'll be a strong focus on everything Uplifting/Progressive/Minimal/Ambient and all the bits and bobs in between. Typically music you'd expect to hear @ Fabric or Ministry of Sound on a Saturday night... or Berlin's Berghain as a typical example. The one thing you won't see on this post however is Trance music. I've nothing against the genre personally, and I've always enjoyed going to The Gallery @ Ministry of Sound in the past. However, it's a scene and history that I've extremely minimal knowledge of... and blogging on something that you have no knowledge or first hand (raving) experience of, is something I'm whole-heartedly against.
Then, alternatively on 'The Bleeps' there'll be a huge mash-up of tunes with a distinct rave and bassy feel. Here's where you'll be updated with some of the newest Fidget/Dubstep/DnB/Breaks style of tunes; the kind of stuff you'd expect to hear on a Friday night @ Fabric for example... lots of beats and bass with plenty of balls, basically.
To get things kicked off here's three tunes from each 'scene' I suppose, the first three relating to stuff featured on 'The Squeaks and the second three on 'The Bleeps'

Tiga- Shoes (DJEdotronic Remix)
It's taken a little while for a full 320 version to find it's way on the net, but thank god it has... Annie Mac delivered it to my cranium on Friday night before I hit Matter... it was the perfect warm-up to Simian & Timo Maas. The original production was good enough for me but Edotronic has really given this track a new lease of life. I'm really feeling the builds in this remix

One of my favourite tunes around at the moment that's been getting a lot of love from Dave Spoon recently, and courtesy of the Hijak Allstars I was lucky enough to hear it bangin' out on a tasty Martin Audio system over the weekend. It's simply a stunning piece of work... Norman's old vocals really are the cherry topping on a roaster of perfectly layered synths, snare's and penetrating kicks.

Currently the hottest producer in the Techno scene currently... he's drawn unprecedented praise from DJs and Clubbers alike with the release of his 2CD mix compilation 'Balance 014'. I can't recommend that album enough to you, it's simply startling and really showcases everything startling that's coming out of the Techno scene currently. He's also been given the thumbs up by Radio 1 and will be taking to the privileged Essential Mix decks tomorrow night, expect that to explode over the blogospheare over the weekend. For now however, just marvel at this six minute acid infused adrenaline ride.

deadmau5  Feat. Kaskade - I Remember (Caspa Remix)
Currently getting love from a range of Radio 1 DJs at the moment, this tune has been neatly placed in a nice new sub-genre of dubstep people are called 'Balearic Dubstep' (as if we really need anymore sub-genres in the current scene). Probably the least likely two producers you'd expect see working on the same track, it's not quite up there with 'In For The Kill' but Kaskade's vocals are really add to the whole vision Caspa is trying to create here. You know I wouldn't be surprised if we now see Skream giving Milton Jackson a make-over at some point this year... if he ever managed pulled it off, it would be one hell of a tune.

2008 was a huge year for this Breaks duo and i was gutted to miss their closing set for this year's Breakspoll Awards where they took away the prizes of Best Producers, Best Track and Best Remix. Although I'll get my chance when they headline Room 3 at this month's Playaz night @ Fabric. Lose Control is the duo's first release of 09', and it seems they're continuing on their N-Funk quest to change the face of Breakbeat. It doesn't quite stand up to the class of 'Gotta Have More Cowbell', but to dismiss it as just another track would be an insult. Out last month on Funkatech, it's sure to be one of the biggest selling Breaks releases of the year.

After the legend pretty much abandoned his DnB roots a couple of years ago, many were about what he could achieve moving over to more House-y beats. However, he seems to sceptical have found his feet and with regular House sets @ Fabric, has been coining his own new sound, dubbed Crack-House. Last year's original Blunt Edge was hailed by many DJs from the Fidget scene and this latest work is no exception. Bassy heavy wobbles and Dubby vocals under a House beat confused me at first... but after a few listens it all starts to make perfect sense. Welcome back to the big-time Mr. Zinc... we've all missed you dearly.

Hope you enjoy the tunes... coming soon is a great artist feature on Dubstep producer Thrills!

Friday 10 April 2009

Bring Back The Rave...

So its a subject that's been on my mind a lot lately, but I think it's only now that I think I've really thought I should talk about it in more detail. Firstly though, we need to consider the obvious. What is a RAVE?


Now wikipedia, the 'free encyclopedia' tries to define a rave as being:
"A term in use since the 1980s, to describe dance parties (often all-night events) with fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties DJs and other performers play Electronica, Trance, and Techno with the accompaniment of laser light shows, projected images, and artificial fog."
Although I've more come to like the definition given by Pastronroot.co.uk:
"A rave/free party is an all night (or longer) event, where people go to dance, socialise, get high and generally have fun in an unihibited way with other like minded people. Consider them temporary autonomous zones. The music is a distinctive 'series of repetitive beats' provided by sound systems with DJ's who follow specific genres of music, so the sounds you hear in a good party will be stuff you'll never hear on the radio or really from any standard commercial outlet."
Of course I could do into more detail and talk about the history etc... but most of you will already be familiar with Acid House, 1988, the Reigate Rave, The Hacienda, and Danny Rampling's venture Shoom. So i'll move on to my next point, being about a recent resurgence in rave music.

Now, I'm going to primarily centre my argument on the existence of 'Fidget' music, however, it would be wrong to suggest that only this sub-genre has contributed to the recent rise. There seems to be a complete resurgence in almost all styles of music that originated from Rave. Dubstep has grown out of DnB, 2-step Garage and traditional Dub, emphasising raw and encompassing sub-bass, with random samples and bleeping sounds. Techno has evolved hugely the past five years or so with a huge following being created in Eastern europe and more specifically in Germany, with club Berghain in Berlin, being crowned DJMag's No. 1 club in the world, beating London's Fabric and Ibiza's Space in the process.

With this new found resurgence in rave music, there also seems to be demand for such music in the suburbs of London, which mirrors exactly what happened during the original scene (generally 88-92), with club nights and one off events sprouting up in and around the London metropolitan area, such as FWD (Dubstep), Kill Em All' (Electro/Techno), Supercharged (Breaks, Electro) and most recently in the Kent area, 666 presents (Fidget/Electro/Breaks/Dubstep/Alternative).
When Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs began championing these new experimental sound a few years ago the scene was in its infancy, but it seems the demand for such nights has increased ten-fold in the last 18 months. It seems the old indie scene of 2004-2006 has grown up a bit and gone looking for something a bit harder, a bit more party orientated (I know I did).

The UK scene is now a huge melting pot of up and coming talent ranging through all genres at the moment whether it be Rusko and Skream in Dubstep, Commix and Cyantific in DnB, Herve and Fake Blood in Fidget, Milton Jackson and Dave Spoon in House or Riton and Erol Alkan in Electro/Techno. These artists are only going to benefit the scene and hopefully take it forward and to better times, unlike what happened in the early 90s with the collapse of the rave scene after its drug stained past and the many police raids and club closures that followed.

Seeing as it's the weekend I thought I'd take the time to delight you with a few blasts from the past from producers and DJs that are shaping the new sound today, but incorporating those timeless classics that have put the scene where it is today.

Acen - Trip II The Moon (Hostage Remix)
This remix by the one and only Hostage, for me encompasses everything there was and is to shout about the old and new scenes. With the classic breakdown paying homage to the golden days, and the build and drop to the glory days of the late 90s.

The Prodigy - Everybody Is In The Place (AC Slater Remix)
If there's one thing that Mr. Slater can do, its get people dancing to the most disgusting basslines and catchy beats. He's on the bill for Beatport's artists to watch in 2009, and with his new production 'Hello' branching out to more of a dubby feel, expect big things from him this year.

Altern8 - Frequency (R!M!E Remix)
Now I've already posted this remix before, but purely for this post and the fact that it's a choooon, it had to be posted again for anyone who missed it! Also please check out his material on his MySpace, this dude has some amazing stuff!

Human Resource Vs. 808 State - Dominator (Soulwax Edit)
One of the classic remixes from the duo that's seen a resurgence lately in sets from various french maestro's including Busy P, Xavier from Justice and DJ Mehdi.

Have a good weekend, whether you're raving or behaving people!

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Do the Dubstep Dance!

If you like me are stuck under a mountain of university work, and feel like your whole world is crashing down right in front of your eyes, then the best thing to do, is take a break, crack on the Dub-step and learn how to do the dance. Now let's be honest, none of us really have a clue about how to really dance to that stuff, its good shit we all know that, but it does lack a certain how to put it 'decorum', in other words, something the queen would turn her nose up to as 'boom boom boom, nonsense. Ok I fucked up that description, I was trying to think of a fancy french phrase to describe something that lacks what people of a higher class would find suitable. Epic fail.
However, heres a beginners guide to dancing to Dub-step, plus the track in the video, which is rather sick! if I do say so myself.

Enjoy!



Unitz - The Drop/Morning Blues (Rapidshare)

Monday 6 April 2009

Back to reality...


Morning all, thought I'd check in to la-blog and give you all an update on what I think is kickin' it at the moment. I've finally managed to fully recover (I think) from a hectic week consisting of a lads piss up and girl hunting holiday in Magaluf, 6 solid days and nights of drinking, clubbing and full on raving. I also managed to lose my laptop charger, my iPod and my phone, as well as almost missing my planned flight home on Friday morning because a very inadequate hotel staff including one very unhelpful cunt, almost managed to lose my passport. Which, in turn made me miss my shuttle bus to the airport and I ended up turning up to the boarding gate, ten minutes before take off! Luckily, I got on board and made it home to get ready for the best night out in London that can only be Fabriclive, which featured an amazing night with The Chemical Brothers, A-Trak, Scratch Pervets, Riton and the very esteemed company of Green Money DJs, who Ben featured last week. This was then followed by Saturday night and all day Sunday working. Oh... Joy-To-The-World. Having said that though, it was however, one hell of a week to remember for the rest of my life, for many reasons, if you care to read the Magaluf part, very carefully ;).
Anyway, ranting over, lets get down to business!


Firstly, I'm really diggin' TADT (The American Dream Team) at the moment. They're fourth mixtape in their experimental series has recently been dropped and is available via their MySpace, but its their recent remix of Herve's project 'Machines Don't Care' that defines their sound. Lots of bass, loss of wibble, but also they possess a real nack for a good breakdown, and the vocals in the builds work really well together. As well as having the sickest bassline I've heard in a while. Turn this up very loud!

Machines Don't Care - Drop It To The Floor (TADT Baby Pop Remix)


Jack Beats is one duo that is set for a huge 2009, and they've just been confirmed to play Creamfields 2009, which don't happen just like that!
They're probably most well known for their Jack Got Jacked remix and their re-edit of the enigmatic remix of Where's My Money by Caspa, however, they're newest remix of Kidda's 'Feel Too Good' is another I've been feeling lately, and it works so well mixed into the TADT remix up there ^^^. It sees the duo taking on a more commercial kind of stance, after 'What' & 'Get Down', but its none the less a sure floor-filler.

Kidda - Feel Too Good (Jack Beats Remix)


One of the hottest dudes on the planet right now has clearly got to be Beardyman. The man was on the recieving end recently of a Breakspoll award for Best MC/Vocalist, which was as a result of his recent work with A-Skillz. However, we all know him best for his ridiculous talent with a Microphone and the holy Kaoss Pad. Annie Mac has clearly picked up on this hugely original style, and has found it fitting to present the world with the world's first Minimix that contains absolutely no electornically produced sounds or music, whatsoever. Everything within this minimix, was created solely by his mouth, then cut up, looped and FX'd to the max. This truely is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard. His imitation of deadmau5's 'The Reward is Cheese' absolutely blows my mind.

Beardyman - Radio1 Minimix (03/04/09)

Tracklisting:
Scatman John- 'Scatman'
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins- 'It's like that'
Deadmau5- 'The reward is cheese'
Aphex Twin- 'Windowlicker'
Leftfield- 'Phat Planet'
Unknown- '50,000 watts'
David Bowie- 'Let's Dance'
Chase & Status- 'Eastern Jam'
Radiohead- 'The National Anthem'
Pharcyde- 'Passing Me Bye'
Jay-Z-'99 Problems'
Dizzee Rascal- 'Fix up Look Sharp'
Chase & status vs. capleton- 'Duppy Man'


One of my firm favourites for 2009 is Hostage, who had a storming end to 2008 with some amazing remixes that included Acen's 'Trip II The Moon', The Streets' 'Let's Push Things Forward' and his original works 'Shake It','Ain't No Man' and 'The Slave'.
He's recently smacked it with a few new tunes to wet our appetites, including the rather tasty 'Murder Rocket', which Ben graced you with recently. However his remix of La Roux's 'In For The Kill'. It's nice to see a fresh take on the tune after Skream's mammoth rave tune. Mr. Hostage has also just let out his newest monster mix, which also includes his new remix of The Prodigy.

The Prodigy - Take Me To The Hospital (Hostage Remix)
Hostage - Concrete Mix

Tracklisting:
The Temper Trap - 'Science Of Fear (Herve Remix)'
Rico Tubbs - 'Lumberjack (Calvetron Remix)'
AC Slater - 'No Party For Old Men'
Bit Thief - 'Tidal Rave'
HeavyFeet - 'Killa'
The Prodigy - 'Take Me To The Hospital (Hostage Remix)'
Foamo - 'Wardance'
Milner - 'Freak Nasty'
Blackfinger - 'UMF (Supra1 Remix)'
Hostage - 'Murder Rocket'
Gtronic - 'Iron Man'
Jack Beats - 'What (Foamo Remix)'
La Roux - 'In For The Kill (Hostage Remix)'


To finish off, I thought I'd enlighten you with a little tune of my own... I've not gotten into hardcore producing yet, but I recently did a little mashup edit of Hervé's Re-Fix of Mars, which cuts in and out of the original, with a few tasty reverb's and with the original vocal sample that Hervé included in his version... Enjoy people!

Fake Blood - Mars (The Hervé Re-Fix with a Glitch-y make-over)

Hopefully, some other mixes from the other writers yet to join the crew, should be up and on board during this week, until next time... Adios