Friday Tunes

Some new tunes from me to kickstart the weekend. New bizzniss from man like Nosaj Thing, Sinden, The Blue Nile, Geeneus and a classic garage cut from El-B.

First off, LA hip-hopper Nosaj Thing is on remix duties for Charlotte Gainsbourg's Heaven Can Wait. Full of false starts and reversed samples, Nosa Thing's ethereal production style combines with Gainsbourg's lovely vocals to create something a bit special here - all staccatto claps, lush synths bubbling up and a timeless vocal refrain - "Heaven Can Wait".

Next up, the remix package for new XX single Islands is jammed full of quality mixes - Delorean and Faulty DL mixes are both worth checking out - although unfortunately, for once Untold's effort falls short (for me anyway) - the Untold mix would be better as a standalone track, with the XX's vocal stylings seeming ill suited to the percussive tension Untold brings to his productions. The real treasure in this package is the Blue Nile Remix, which introduces a new piano line and bathes the vocals in reverb.

Geeneus kills it once again with another funky banger - the Yellowtail VIP rolls along nicely with a percussive beat and a properly banging synth line, all set off by that repeating vocal sample.

Sinden's clearly been switching up what he's been listening to lately - his tracklists for his Kiss FM show have been showing it for a while, and it's beginning to be evident in his productions too. His mix of Miike Snow's Sylvia builds from a simply UK funky drum beat to a sweltering tropical house riddim. Dreamy vocal lines and a nice piano refrain don't hurt either.

Last up, classic UK garage slice for you from El-B. One for the heads who know this one - I was watching a few of the Red Bull Music Academy lecture videos, and when people were questioned over the origins of dubstep this producer popped up every time. That dark 2-step thing with skittering rhythms and real sub bass that was being produced by heads like El-B, Horsepower, Zed Bias would go on to become influence each and every of the original dubstep producers. This track Buck & Bury was played by both Skream & Kode 9 in their RBMA lectures as an example of this dark garage sound, and rightly so. Can't stop doing the Buck and Bury....

Any Brighton heads should make sure they head to Aka Aka Roar on Monday to catch Ramadanman - I'll be doing my usual residency thing, warming up and closing the night - cheap drinks all night, £2 entry, Life - dun know.