Night Slugs Showcase... June 2010

As contenders for Producers of 2009, L-Vis 1990 and Bok Bok were literally on fire... and now their most prized possession is making noises all of it's own.

Exciting week for the Night Slugs crew - their fourth official release is out this week from funky badman Lil Silva, and they're putting on room 2 for Fact Magazine's Cable party - the coming together of a lot of hard work from the Night Slugs crew. Blending UK and US styles like no other, the NS camp sound like no-one else right now.

The latest release on the label... Lil Silva's Night Skanker EP, is a perfect example of this - a fully upfront mix of UK Funky and Grime. Two classic Lil Silva tracks sit perfectly alongside some newer hits and one of the tastiest mash ups we've heard in a long time. Previous releases have seen the NS crew take on aspects of Juke, Bruk, Detroit, House and much much more. For a taste of what to expect, check this free giveaway from Night Slugs (only available on vinyl until recently). Also please grab the Night Skanker EP if you're feeling it... just click the image and you'll be taken to it.

Lil Silva - N0 Hooks

Bok Bok's showcase mix ties all the previous releases together aswell as giving an exclusive look into what is forthcoming on the Night Slugs label.... If this mix is anything to go by, Night Slugs will no doubt be the label of 2010. No tracklisting for this one, so trainspotter's represent... first one to send us it, get's a packet of Starmix Haribo!

Bok Bok - Nights Slugs Showcase Mix

Also don't forget that Night Slugs will be in town this Friday (June 4th) collaboration with We Fear Silence and Fact Magazine for a top night down @ Cable... Ram @ Fabric is now sold out, and you'll have to queue up at 8pm to get in on the door there, so you now have no excuse to head down... Facebook info here!

Club Candy

After a big weekend that saw probably the biggest gig of my life in the main room of London 16+ night Mashed up @ Club Colosseum (capacity 1500). I closed the main room on the night, which is home to a 20kw EAW system. As you can imagine I had a lot of fun with that ;).
As you may have noticed a few minor changes have taken place on the blog, with the site becoming somewhat wider, this being due to my limited knowledge of HTML having expanded somewhat.

I think it's given the site a fresh new look, and means we can have bigger pictures on the site... hooray! Now, a big new week ahead, culminating in my first trip to Fabric since the end of July, so here's to that! To the !!!TTTTTUUUUUNNNNNEEEEESSSSS!!!


Gucci Vump - Sha! Shtil! (L-Vis 1990 VIP Remix)
Now this is a remix that I've been wanting to get my hands on for some time. Ever since I heard that L-Vis had made a second remix of this fantastic tune. The first of the remixes has been available for a little while now, receiving some love from the one and only Annie Mac, but this second one is a perfect example of L-Vis more soulful sound that I have grown to love.

Axwell - I Found You (Remode Mix)
An anthem of fairly old statue, but this is making a big comeback in my sets with all this tropical and bleepy house and techno being so prevalent in the past year. An absolute classic with one of the biggest drops that I know. If you don't already own this, you really are a school boy.

Drop The Lime - Set Me Free (Zombie Disco Squad Remix)
Along with Harvard Bass' attempt, one of the better remixes of the original EP that is set to drop on Trouble & Bass digitally tomorrow, this remix is one of those, "for the morning after..." kind of vibes, with percussion to stamp your feet for. Big remix.

Trip - Who's That (Jack Beats Remix)
This is one of the earliest remixes from the biggest duo of the year and after being slightly disappointed at there being no extremely new material from JB (tbh they deserve a break actually), I went back to the old stuff and this is the pick of the bunch. Such a jokes banger.

Will Bailey - Hit The Club (Hot Mouth Remix)
Definitely one of my favourite tracks of the year in Hit The Club... it was nice to see Will break away from the stagnent wobble scene and venture into making something more accessible for the masses, and this is a great re-work from a rising new talent out of Los Angeles.

Weekly News

First up a bit of event news for those of you from/near to London. The Pull & Bear afterparty is tonight (Wednesday 16th) and is going to be an absolutely massive night - it's going down at the Bathhouse in Liverpool Street, and unbelievably it's free entry... Which considering the lineup is fairly hard to believe: Drums of Death, Joe Goddard, Cooly G, Brackles & Patchwork Pirates. So if you're in London tonight then make sure you get yourself down! Facebook event here.

Warp have released a whole load of new details about the upcoming Hudson Mohawke LP: the LP is called Butter and is due out on the 12th October. You can check the artwork above, and HudMo himself has put together an album minimix, which you can cop here(right click, save as.). For more info about the album and to preorder, head to the Warp Records website, or the HudMo myspace.

Next up we've finally got some news about the Night Slugs EP (which is forthcoming on Jackmaster's Dress 2 Sweat imprint.) The EP was originally due out on the 14th, but I've been assured that it is coming SOON, and problems with the label are responsible for the delay. In the meantime, Bok Bok has put together a Dubplates mix, full of exclusives from both the Night Slugs boys.

Night Slugs Dubplates Mix 2009 (right click, save as.)

BOK BOK // Ripe Banana
Buraka Som Sistema // Generale (L-VIS 1990 remix)
Royal T // Beat Fighter (BOK BOK remix)
Hardhead // Toothbrush Country (L-VIS 1990 edit)
BOK BOK // Citizens Of The City Dub
L-VIS 1990 // Zahonda
Little Jinder // Youth Blood (BOK BOK remix)
L-VIS 1990 // Compass
Untold // Stop What You’re Doing (BOK BOK edit)
BOK BOK & L-VIS 1990 // Wake Up Early
L-VIS 1990 // Hide
Riton & Primary 1 // Who’s There (L-VIS 1990 remix)
Egyptrixx // Just Say Really (BOK BOK remix)
Kingdom ft Shyvonne // Mind Reader (L-VIS 1990 remix)
L-VIS 1990 // Changes
Secret Agent Gel // Crew (BOK BOK dub)
Gucci Vump // Sha, Shtil! (L-VIS 1990 remix)

We've finally been given a glimps at Pioneer's new range of CDJ's, which seem to feature some kind of headup twaveform display (I'm hoping it's nice a touch responsive)... James Zabiela has recently expressed his delight at the new features, which I think are a strong answer for anyone DJs wondering whether to switch to digital... to just stay put with CD decks.

Here's a couple of pics of the proposed 'CDJ 2000'.

Also this weekend sees the third anniversary of one of my favourite labels in the game, Trouble & Bass, who've got Skream and Benga coming over to Brooklyn for a very special party.

I've been a huge fan of the label for the last couple of years and hope to see DTL at least once more this year... fabric sort out another residency night please!

L-Vis 1990

You'll have read about L-Vis 1990 on these pages before - he's one of my favourite producers, and a definite tip to be big in 2009 - I've been waiting for literally months for news about his next release - it's called United Groove, and fellow Night Slugs resident Bok Bok told me back in January that it should be out sometime mid 2009 on Mad Decent... and that day has finally come.  The full video is now up on youtube (the only place you could hear the song before was in L-Vis mixes), and the vinyl is available for pre - order over at the Mad Decent online store here.  I'm definitely gonna be jumping on that vinyl - the artwork looks really amazing, and there's a previously unheard B side - 'Come Together'.

Check the video below - it's well worth seeing.  L-Vis put it together himself, and it's got some awesome dancing from Sims type characters.

Hearing the song in full has made me even more excited for this release - that funky bongo drum beat at the beginning is completely hypnotic, and those synth stabs are hot enough to set any dancefloor moving.  L-Vis keeps on bringing up the tension with those ascending and descending synth lines, and then it all gets released at 2 mins with some glorious bass.  Get on this, I've no doubt you'll be hearing it everywhere.

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.

Bangers & Mash #2 - L-Vis 1990

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)