April 2013
4 posts
4 tags
RON TRENT AND CHEZ DAMIER - 1993
Seminal. Legendary. Genius. These are words which journalists always lament for their over- and inappropriate use … and then proceed to use them anyway.
I am not going to use any of these words.
I am just going to post this link.
Enjoy.
4 tags
DJ KOZE - Burn with me
DJ Koze recently released a track called ‘Burn with me’. It’s another banger from an old Benji B show, rumbling in like the 1840 from Hereford. It’s underpinned by some low dissonance, cutting industrial sounds skirting across the top and some elastic percussion adding the icing layer.
It’s one of those tracks which doesn’t necessarily go anywhere; but then...
2 tags
Lowtec
‘Carbon Copy’ by Lowtec. I love the fact that Lowtec has engineered a sound that seems familiar but remains totally distinctive. It’s got elements of analog, of simple, thumb-tapping hi-hats; but it’s also got beautifully deep beats and rumbling basslines. This particular track has a bizarre synth line thrown in too, which is sicklier than a broken keyboard in Chicago and...
5 tags
Artifact - The Way It Do
I have just discovered that Bristol producer Artifact, who did a wicked mix for Sonic Router in 2011, has recently released a double A titled ‘The Way It Do’/’We Trapped’. Better late than never, huh.
On a cut released by Berlin/London label somethinksounds, the former track is the real monster. Its main force is its irresistible swing, a wooden and echoing off-beat pulse...
March 2013
2 posts
5 tags
The Range #2
Last week I posted a track by Providence producer The Range. Today I post two tracks by Providence producer The Range.
First is old(er) tune ‘Metal Swing’. The gruff hi-hats are a mite’s body off-beat, perfectly placed within its whole syncopated structure. The vocal loop, probably discernible to the more affluent ear, is an urgent call to the other arrangements to match its...
Back with a Promise(s)
Yes. It’s been a long while. It is certainly not lack of want, more lack of energy. But, with Spring announcing itself with buckets of slush and temperatures which don’t just tease zero but strip off and dance provocatively in front of it, I feel it is time to inject some warmth into the forever welcoming blogosphere.
There have, in the absence of words on this site, been a large...
December 2012
2 posts
6 tags
Jack Dixon - Free EP
Way back when, when when was not too long ago, London producer Jack Dixon made a mix for xlr8r which was nigh-on perfect. None of the tracks particularly stood out in brilliance or magnitude, but were all part of this one, smooth, warming, grooved narrative. It was cheerful, and sensible, with ice-cold execution.
His own productions have varied between the brilliant - ‘You Told’ - and...
November 2012
2 posts
4 tags
Dustmite & Kuru - Bare
Allotments. Little patches of earth, formed by escape, tendered by strained stooping.
Flexed inwards, cultivators work deep into the soil. Grubby knees rub into the damp dirt, scratching and burning sore.
Several allotments – no, more – have been flooded in Oxfordshire, swamped by roguish water swimming close to the train line. One gate is like a weir, allowing water to pass with mendacious...
11 tags
Seven down, six across: Grandma’s calligraphy -...
Very few artists nail that multifaceted ‘bathing in sound’ energy. The German language would express it with greater force, ‘kompliziert’: a matrix of emotion, sharpened senses, trundling water, mist, bright sunshine, height. Electronic music made to sound natural through samples, loops, and recordings. It is the predilection and provision of the few.
Sam Willis is one of these few. His new...
October 2012
4 posts
6 tags
Benoit & Sergio
Looking back, one of my favourite blog post entries for wonky carton is the one about ‘What I’ve Lost’ by Washington-based but Berlin house-scene-loving party animals Benoit & Sergio. (NB. Don’t bother trying to find it on google by typing in “wonky carton what i’ve lost”, because it comes up with results like myboyfriendisatwat.com. I’ve written...
4 tags
Perc - Start Chopping
Perc, the UK producer, used to (and still does) remind me of the Berghain’s Kantine for its sheer bowel-clenchingly deep industry.
Listening to Perc for joy at home proved more difficult. It seemed a little too extraneous, too intense … for absorption into, or to be the soundtrack for, normal structures of life. Like standing on the tube, for example.
But that changed when I heard...
3 tags
2 tags
Fennesz - Fa 2012
From the silence I emerge. Textured, dark, beautiful. Sibilant resonance. A beat, slow in coming, long in leaving. A hum in the distance of bells, eventually, and then away.
If you like your ambient techno, this release from Fennesz is absolutely for you. Check it now.
September 2012
9 posts
7 tags
In the clutch ... Dimensions Choice #5 - Synkro
And finally, but by no means lastly …
I must say that by a definitive distance (though we’re talking Olympic sprint margins here) the best performance belonged to Manchester producer Synkro. Or, shall I say performances.
Beneath flaming hair and sturdy-rimmed glasses, atop a boat (Exit Records) and on a stage, Synkro proved the ultimate selector and professional mixer. He traversed...
2 tags
4 tags
In the clutch ... Dimensions Choice #4 - Joy...
Classiest performance of the festival went to Joy Orbison, who comes in at a belated No.4 in my Dimensions’ best.
Watched by a large number of other prominent DJs from the back – including Four Tet, Floating Points and the omnipresent Scuba – Peter O’Grady stood hypnotic before a wasted, convulsing crowd – shoulders ceaselessly dipping in tandem, fingers moving across the mixer like...
2 tags
6 tags
In the clutch ... Dimensions Choice #3 - Todd...
Todd Terje was my big tip for the last night - tucked nicely in the 0000-2000 slot before fellow Scandinavian house man Axel Boman.
The Norwegian producer first broke my attention with his remix of Paul Simon’s ‘Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes’. It was a long, lolloping remaster, full of the original’s slap bass, produced in a fug of reverb and underscored with...
7 tags
In the clutch ... Dimensions Choice #2 - Locked...
Locked Groove, from Belgium, gave one of the smoothest sets of the weekend, utilising all range of dynamics and pauses in a fluid but intense 90 minutes. In contrast to someone like Objekt, who absorbed you into his own feel for the records and transfixed you within his jut, Locked Groove was more about dancing. And dance one did.
Locked Groove’s debut release Rooted was for Scuba’s...
9 tags
In the clutch ... Dimensions Choice #1 - VISIONIST
In seeking something different on Friday night, I went to see London’s Visionist in the Ballroom. The Ballroom is a stage inside the fort’s hollowed out turret, an atmosphere which makes you feel like a dust particle in a vacuum cleaner. Though his set was cut short through a laptop/sound malfunction – depriving him of deserved applause – Visionist proved a clear standout through effortless...
7 tags
Dimensions Review
So after a long absence on writing we can finally write a little more on our first, only and last festival of the summer (it’s been impoverished): Dimensions Festival - from Fort Punta Christo in Croatia.
Hot on the back of Outlook Festival (we quite literally boarded the buses from which Outlook festival goers had alighted) Dimensions was the cooler, hipper, younger bro, with a more...
August 2012
2 posts
5 tags
New Fenbred Mix
Fenbred, aka real name Benjamin Gardner, has done a mix for Rhythm Incursions. And it’s good. Real good.
It begins all delicate, with some Prayer Wheel and Four Tet, but swiftly picks up the pace with the amazing track ‘Dun Dun’ from Boddika and Joy Orbison.
Gardner’s mixing skills have also improved since his mix for us a few months back - which is good to hear. As...
6 tags
Sam Willis - Winterval
Sam Willis is one half of Walls and another half of Allez-Allez. After releasing the sophomore album Coracle last summer with Alessio Natalizia (that’s Walls), he is releasing his own debut full length on Half Machine records on 5 November. To promote the album, he’s giving away debut track ‘Winterval’ for free.
Walls are a great combination because they are two different...
July 2012
6 posts
7 tags
Jon Convex / Lusine
Jon Convex has been omnipresent recently: hot on the releases (‘Lied to Be Loved’ with dBridge) and now releasing a mix for xlr8r. Perhaps unsurprisingly from the man who formed half of Instra:mental, they’ve all been smoking.
His latest cut is the Idoru EP, featuring the dark ‘New Model’ and ‘Shadows’ and the more upbeat ‘Fade’ and luscious...
5 tags
Old Apparatus - Sullen Tone and Derren
Old Apparatus, an anonymous collective from London, are releasing their first EP on their new label Sullen Tone tomorrow. Entitled Derren, it continues OA’s pursuit of dextrous and intense electronic expedition, previously formed through LPs on Deep Medi Musik.
Old Apparatus understand how to push sonic boundaries without slipping into visceral and decadent aural-wasteland. Their OA001...
3 tags
Happa. Freak
Not sure if the full stop is superfluous or intentional, but I am certain of an increasing admiration for 2nd Drop. Fifteen year old (yeah, dats right) Happa. from Leeds, UK, is releasing ‘Freak’ soon on the label - and ‘Freak’ is certainly an apt title for this effervescent piece of music.
This dunt ape genres; it just jumps around, selecting the vital fruits and...
5 tags
DJ Rum: Watermark/The Darkest Hour
I’ve been waiting absolutely ages for this one.
First appearing on Synkro’s RA mix, ‘The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn’ embraces Felix Manuel’s deep heartbeat kick, reggae-tinged vocals and drum and bass timbres. Beautiful atmospherics in comfortable time are interrupted with a subtle change of gear, with the tune rollicking along with a hi-end on fourth and...
6 tags
Sonarpilot
This dude’s back story is pretty amazing.
Michael Moppert was a Swiss musician, initially influenced by pop artists such as David Bowie but later focused on electronic production. Presumably as he reached the stresses of third decade-adulthood Moppert got involved in business, and entered the dirty world of capitalism (or a ‘successful start up’, as he puts it). In 2008 Moppert...
June 2012
11 posts
4 tags
2nd Drop Records Hyponik Mix
Hardly surprising, this. I mean, it’s just so damn good.
The great bass music blog Hyponik has an excellent mix series, and the latest in the sequence is from UK label 2nd Drop Records. Formed by James Bliss and Mark Gurney 2nd Drop was initially a bass music label but it has recently explored further forms of electronic music. It now releases cuts from artists as varied as DJ Rum, Gerry...
6 tags
A Made Up Sound - Malfunction (Despair)
Of the many bits of offensive machinery that 50 Weapons have released over the years, the latest cut from A Made Up Sound (also known as 2562) is a particular shard of dark, lacerating brilliance.
This< i must add >dunt come as much of a surprise, because AMUS has been at the forefront of rhythmical techno variations for a long time. But ‘Malfunction (Despair)’ nevertheless...
5 tags
Great Skies - Where You Should Be
From amongst the browning bracken of blackberry bushes did Great Skies emerge last summer. Film student Matthew Wells’ initial output was so graceful and carefully constructed - much like the intertwined woods of those said blackberry bushes - that we were compelled to interview the young London producer, and he was kind enough to do us a mix: HERE.
Back then said Wells that he made music...
3 tags
Grenier - Say Something / Here Come The Dark...
New up from Grenier, aka DJG, is a double-A split ‘Say Something’/’Here Come The Dark Lights’. In the way that DJ Rum’s Mountains EP took influence from DNB, techno and dubstep - though defining itself by none of them - this cut from Grenier assumes an insistent beat with familiar and jagged thumps. With bongo timbres and looped vocal samples Grenier does perhaps veer...
11 tags
‘TALKING IS OVERRATED’ – JUJU AND JORDASH REFLECT...
Since floating away on the sonic barge of recent Golf Channel release ‘Chelm Is Burning’ (it thankfully wasn’t present in the Flotilla) I have been damn keen to explore the finer points of electronic exploration with Juju and Jordash.
Gal Aner (Juju) and Jordan Czamanski (Jordash) make music that is esoteric and unpredictable. It traverses the jazz and experimental honed in their hometown-of-Haifa...
4 tags
Material Object - Blacklight
A Guy Called Gerald is a cornerstone of dance music. From his first cut in 1988 to his xlr8r mix the other day, Gerald Simpson has produced, mixed and promoted the area ZENITH of house, techno and jungle through the last four decades.
His latest mix for xlr8r - who keep coming up with these monster mixes - is an hour of consistent rumble and menace, traversing low frequencies in perfectly...
5 tags
GOLDFFINCH - MODEL
GOLDFFINCH . MODEL .
GoldFFinch really came to my attention through the Synkro RA mix and their 2012 release ‘Funky Steppa’/’Groove Panda’. The latter was flamboyant staccato shit, jacking-up a funky beat with drops made for the darkfloor. The Belgium-based duo uploaded a primitive video of new cut Model on youtube, which was a refreshingly excitable taster, and...
6 tags
San Proper # Animal
I’ve recently been covering a lot of techno, rummaging around in the 128-ish 4x4 region, nodding towards London and Berlin rather than the house idyll that is Amsterdam. However it is a fatal flaw to forget one’s roots, and it is thus that I return to a city - and a man - to whom I owe a lot for my own musical heritage. For San Proper is back with a debut album called Animal.
With his...
6 tags
Afrikan Sciences - Onliest / XI Nightlif
Young Oakland producer Afrikan Sciences returns with new EP Boss Nova’s Second Pass. Leighton from Keytars and Violins first hooked me up with AS by a sweet cut called ‘A Decision’, a track which matched its desperate but jovial attempt to find beat regularity with convivial urges to “take that leap of faith”. This, including its two-second mid-track silence, and...
May 2012
9 posts
6 tags
Skudge006 - Arriving
With a deep breath and stamp of the approving foot, Skudge006 is on the way, tba.
In their own words Skudge are a Swedish duo who make music with an ‘exceptional sense of loops and unexpected detail in their productions’. I can’t say I particularly notice loops in music; I guess it’s either a subconscious ignorance, or a deliberate attempt to avoid picturing DAWs and...
8 tags
Dimensions Launch
Just booked Dimensions flights. On one leg we’re doing some crazy route involving Paris, Venice and quite a few incidences of public transport … but man am I excited! Meanwhile, the organizers have found time in their busy schedules to set up a launch party this coming Friday in London which looks ridiculous (currently at an unknown venue, but deets should be revealed in the next few...
10 tags
In Flux: Albert Swarm Interview and Mix
Late last year a little-known producer called Albert Swarm released an EP on Ceremony recordings. Held came snug in the reviews of Resident Adviser, bestowed with a 4.5/5 rating and some brightly, glowing words. Its cover was adorned with interwoven dandelion leaves (or perhaps Georgian handkerchiefs), shadowed in the middle and blooming on the edges. It was complex, fluid.
The magical art proves...
7 tags
Pawas Who Is In / Mano Le Tough Take It Back
Two long tracks for you, quickly.
First up is my choicest cut from the latest Jack Dixon mix: ‘Who Is In’ by Pawas. Well, Pawas, I fucking am. Because this is the smoothest piece of house beat work since I saw Axel Boman play on a cloud in my dreams. As readers will know, I really like simple things done well, and this track could be a case study. The bassline is TWO NOTES varied in...
6 tags
Jack Dixon xlr8r podcast
Call me a loser, a loner, or socially anaemic - indeed wat-evaa yo want - but there are few more delightful things in the morning than getting a Class A podcast delivery. We’ve had some pretty sweet mixes this year from the likes of Lapalux, DJ Rum and Objekt, but Londoner Jack Dixon has just added his name to the mix (aww) with a beauty for...
Off the scale Dimensions
This summer’s festival bill has one outstanding line-up: Dimensions in Croatia.
Brought to danceheads by the team behind Outlook, Dimensions will be rocking from 6-9 September in an abandoned Croatian fort. Quite simply it’s a straight-up, no frills, extraordinary line up festival, with the best range of acts I’ve ever seen. And, as a gift in the last few hours, they’ve added DJ...
6 tags
Live drums, football, and the City of No...
In the dank depths of February I used LV’s xlr8r mix as a mid-afternoon shockwave. It was an alternative to the caffeine-induced plummet at 6pm, and simultaneously opened my ears to all kinds of new musical incarnations. Amidst the juke, grime, and off kilter rhythms of the mix I found a really interesting drum pattern from an artist called Fenbred.
Fenbred, it turns out, is Mr Benjamin Gardner...
