Gonna be playing a couple of dates withPlaydoeover the next couple of weeks. Definitely one of our favourite groups (see interview here) and we were mightily upset when we were stopped from playing their thought provoking yet damned funky cover version of a Seun Kuti track The Bombs by the over sensitive BBC powers that be. We were also stopped from playing an Astrosnoozeremix of the track Bomb Threat by This Is Radio Freedom. The references to bombs was deemed insensitive with the situation in Gaza happening??!! If anything I think tracks like The Bombs should be played even more but unfortunately we had to put up with that horrible feeling of being helplessly gagged. If you are a DJ please give it as much exposure as possible, we have a radio edit too if you need it just get in touch.
They're currently on tour in the UK at the following places. Catch them if you can.
27 Feb - Cargo, London 28 Feb - Camden Monarch, London 1 Mar Oakford Social Club, Reading 5 Mar - Mixed Bizness @ Glasgow School of Art 6 Mar - Snafu, Aberdeen 7 Mar - The Reading Rooms, Dundee 11 Mar - Lucerna Music, Prague 12 Mar - Fuzz Club, Sheffield 13 Mar - Start The Bus, Bristol with Chrome Kids 17 Mar - Kruger Magazine @ The Social London with Chrome Kids 18 Mar - BBC Introducing @ Bar Four, Reading 19 Mar - Guilford Boiler Roon, London
Bedlam bring another massive line up to Cardiff which includes our very own Monkey & Stagga. It’s rare that promoters are brave enough to put on line ups like this in the city so this night needs to be supported to make sure it continues. These few tunes should give you an idea of who we shall definitely be checking out on the night.
The name kinda says it all with this one, Mad Professor trying to fly the Tardis on Ketamine.
This was originally supposed to appear on Eastern Drum and Breakz Vol 2 but was just too damn heavy compared to the rest of the album. check out his more laid back Don Leisure alter ego as well.
Ever since I copped the Two Fingers(Amon Tobin & Doubleclick) & Sway track, What You Know I've been sat here waiting (im)patiently for my copy of the album to drop. I was mildly dissapointed when Sway didn't drop it when we went to see him last week but figured a certain directors' shouts of drunken abuse at the man were punishment enough for the over sight. It still hasn't arrived but Two Fingers have released these naughty little bootleg remixes to get you in the mood.
We've been bumpin' the new Alien Entertainment and Black Canvas EP for a little while now, and although it took some time to grow, the Dub Fiction 80s Mix of Soundclash is now on heavy now on heavy rotation. It's just about ready to drop for the masses but to get you warmed up for the occasion Soumezfrom the group has put together this dirty Dubbed out Disco style mix.
1. Rye Rye - Shake It To The Ground (Stereotyp Remix) (YSI) 2. Alien Entertainment - Full Speed ahead ft Rider Shafique 3. Sepalot ft. Ladi6 - Go Get It (Zed Bias Club Mix) 4. Riva Starr - La Conga 5. Playgroup ft. KC Flight - Front 2 Back (Switch Remix) 6. Stereotyp - Get Up, Stand Up 7. Daso - Meine 8. D Dub - Deep Blue (Stimming Remix) 9. Stereotyp - Take The Weight (Peter Kruder Dub Mix) 10. Stimming - Die Schatulle(Federico Molinari Remix) 11. TG - Mr Dry 12. Black Canvas - We Fear Not 13. Makossa & Megablast - Kunuaka 14. Carbon Community, Burufunk - Community Funk (Deadmau5 RMX) 15. Alien Entertainment - Soundclash (Dub Fiction MNML RMX)
To celebrate the release of his new single Ghettoblaster, Tim Healey has dropped us a brand new hour long phat and friendly bouncefest. Get ya Tigger on to this one.
1. Intro 2. The Mexican - Tim Healey vs Hotcakes 3. Don't Smoke The Reefer - Deekline (Tim Healey's re-rub) 4. The Riverside - Sydney Samson 5. Shake it down - A-trak & Laidback Luke 6. The way we like it - Tim Healer & Felgruk 7. WTF - Tittsworth (Tim Healey vs Hotcakes work out) 8. Control - Lee Coombs 9. Foo Fighters - Times like these - Alvin Myers Club MIx 10. The reward is cheese II - Deadmau5 11. Ghetto Blaster - Tim Healey vs Marc Adamo (In Stereo) 12. Dominator - Herve 13. I will Rock You - Domino 14. Use Somebody - Defkline's Booty Mix
I'm half tempted to write something really wanky and rather offensive in its racial stereotyping such as 'these tracks carry the full frontal force of a Glasgow kiss with perfectly precise execution blah blah something about a samurai sword' due to the fact that DJ P.O.L. Style hails from Glasgow but is now rooted deep in the Tokyo scene where he is flying the flag for B'more and other related party Bass styles with his Numbers and Tonight events plus releases on Tittsworth & Ayres' T&A Recordsand the excellent Dress 2 Sweatlabel, based out of his home town...and because he makes the kind of music that carry the full frontal force of a Glasg... okay you get the idea, let's not go there.
However there are certainly no punches pulled in his interpretation of the music which verges on Ghettotech at times in its relentless party posturing designed to drag you kicking and screaming onto the dancefloor. This is just a taster but look out for more phunked up as f**k releases coming soon on the labels we just mentioned.
Big Shout to Luminfire over at Ants In My Trance for hitting us up with this version of Crookers' What Up Y'all from rapper 607 out of Little Rock. Previous 607 tracks have apparently included samples from the likes of Röyksopp, King Crimson, Mylo, Robyn, Björk, Tangerine Dream, Zero 7, Crash Test Dummies, Britney Spears, Chicago, Fiona Apple and Basement Jaxx which definitely interests our pallettes, and this remix puts an already dope track firmly in our firing line. For more information head over to theAIMT blog.
Alternative Blueprintare a new label on us but apparently they deal with electronic & acoustic music hybrids which are different, hard to categorise, and musically enriched from many styles and influences. Well this frenetic bass-fest from label signing Optikatechniqua certainly fits that description. With a boulder rolling beat, filthily twisted synths and all out glitch warfare over the top, this track is a promo precursor to the forthcoming Optikatechniqua album Sinister Dub.
With artists such as Cappo, Scor-zay-zee, The P Brothersand Joe Buddah, Nottingham was always one of the leading cities in the UK Hip-hop scene, but recently there's been a few Dubstep producers from the area that have been catching our ears. One of them is Ill Boding who made the leap from Hip-hop to Dubstep within the last year or so and has just dropped a duttyfied 5 track EP (plus Intro) which he's passing out for free from his Myspace (or you can grab it below). At the moment he's on the look out for MCs to collaborate with and these solid productions would owe themselves nicely to that so if you're on that vibe then make sure you hit him up. He's also working on a joint project with fellow Notts artists Crackertoa, N.A.T. and Klassic so we shall be looking out for that one in future for definite. Here's a couple of our choice cuts from the EP. If you want the whole thing then grab it here.
In his latest selections iamxl harks back to the days when he used to make mix tapes with two cassette decks, have Boyz N The Hood on repeat and upset his parents by blasting Gangsta rap at full volume. These cheeky little Electro refixes of some Hip-hop classics from the Vancouver veteran bubble along nicely enough with the Ice T and Too Short mixes but for us it’s all about the King T and Run DMC remixes that get just that extra bit dirtier and are aimed firmly at making sure those feet are on the floor and hands are up in the air.
RQM just hit us up with this weighty number that flips U2's Bloody Sunday into a glitched up bass tribute to "that toxic Rock N Roll type of relationship that swings on the extremes and burns out quick." Ironically fitting then that he should send it out between Valentines day and Kurt Cobaine's birthday. It's a track he recorded with Robot Koch for Fritz Radio Berlin back in The Tape vs RQM days. Look out for RQM's upcoming releases on OMG! Records and Exploited.
So you've got the object of your desire back to the manor and its blatantly gonna be on. You fix a couple of drinks, dim the lights but then you have a dilemma. What music do you put on? Sorry but gone are the days when you could just press play on the R Kelly cassette and let the wiley crackhead paedophile provide the soundtrack to your bumpin' and grindin', so what's the solution? Well there's no doubting that Hudson Mohawke is one of the slow-glitch kings and he has compiled a fine selection of 80s souls smoochers here in his second Valentines mixtape, however this can only be played in any romantic situations with extreme irony (hence the Gunshots throughout I guess). Just incase you didn't realise that we waited til a couple of days after Valentines to put this up, it's for your own good you realise. Now pass me another glass of Babycham and I'll try to figure out how to keep the strawberries in place with this damned cream running so much.
We had this Mudmowth tune up a while back, plus it was the only track not to make it past the censors on our BBC Radio 1 mix for Rob Da Bank & Friendslast year. But now there's a whole new dimension to this track. Associated Minds are also looking for people to remix this video so anybody interested hit us up at the address on the right and we'll let you know more about that.
This kind of mix makes me wish it was sunny and I was on a beach some place, this would be a depressing thought (as it isn't and I'm not) except I'm finding it far too hard to be down whilst this is playing. Bubbling mix of Hip-hop influenced Electro, Figit and Bmore from the combination of New York Turntablist DJ JayCeeOh and 'Miami Crate Digger' PQ.
There are two types of people who ask for tunes while I'm deejaying that generally annoy me most: Those who ask for cheesy pop chart hits whilst I'm playing the opposite (funnily enough for the last 8 years the most popular requests of this kind are still Kylie and Madonna, why is that?). These also fall into the "play something we know", "play something we can dance to" or "play something funky" (I always seem to be playing Funk when I get this one, oh the irony)categories; then there are the people who ask for either Justice, Hot Chip or MGMT. Not because I don't like these bands, I do and yes sometimes I'll even play them, but why do the people that ask for them seem to think they are being cool in doing so? Just for the record, you're probably about the 6th person to ask me for that tonight and it shows you up to be as much as a pop tart as the Kylie / Madonna people. Just so you know.
However saying that, if from now on you come up and ask me for this George Lenton remix of MGMT, you are blatantly cool as f**k.
Anyone who caught Mary Anne Hobbs' 'West Coast Rocks' programme earlier this week would have heard a killer new remix of theMIA& Rye Rye track 'Tictok'. With 15 years of rockin' the West Coast it was only fair that the man behind the remix was included in the show. An-ten-naehas relatively escaped our radar up until now and f**k knows how cos he produces the kind of stinkin' Bass heavy beats that make you nod your head so hard it gives you concussion. Plus he runs nights such as Get Freaky in San Francisco whose list of guest artists include some of our favourite acts: Mehdi; Jahcoozi, Modeselektor, MRK1;Freq Nasty; and Glitch Mob. Also with his Acid Crunk series (of which #4 has just dropped on Muti Music), he's come up with probably our favourite name to describe the sound so far, infact from now on it is Acid Crunk.
Not sure if you should really give rappers marks for effort, but if you did then I'd be tempted to offer them up to Asaviour. He generally gets good production, has a good package and appears to work hard at pushing his thing. Only problem is I just don't think he can rap that well. Actually that's not necessarily fair, he can rap, it's just something about his flow, voice, well kinda everything which doesn't sit right with me. To be honest it sounds like he's not putting in enough effort after all. So why bother putting this track up here I hear you ask? Well a) so you can make up your own mind, and b) cos Dubbledge absolutely smashes it once again and IQdoes make a bumpin' beat, the two of these things might just have saved this tune, after all I have been known to drop Bad Boy 4 Life at times and Asvaiour isn't quite as bad as P Diddy at least. This is only the promo version with spoilers in it but if you're feeling it then it's worth giving The A Loop Theory album at least a listen when it drops in April.
2tall - The Space Race Architeq - Sleeping Bear (Take Remix) Onra feat Hazel - Super Genesis Floating Points - Love me like this Harmonic 313 - Flaash 010 - Beatdatazz Daniel Savio - Flogsta Danshall Beem - The future Jay Dee - B.B.E (instrumental) Mr Scruff - Hold The Dub 2tall - Grazing On Empty (King Knut’s 80’s Dub) Uncle Lew - Mandy’s Uh Om Unit - Ether Bullion - Young Hearache Saul Williams - Coded Language (live at def comedy jam) Ras G - Sloooooow Doooooowm Tranquil - Payroll (paul white’s clean dub) Dr Who Dat - Ghetto Dreaming Madlib - Left On Silverlake Sugoisounds - Many Grams Actress - Hazylude Afta 1 - The Time In Between Afta 1 - Honey Dip Lukid - Time Doing So Mean Dwilt Sharpp - Will You Tell Me Where You Are
Those Fidgity Cardiff B'more brothersChesus & Rodski have now been taken under the wing of the Bigger Than Barry boys and will be heading out to Ibiza with them from March 23rd - 26th alongside Toddla Tand Tomb Crew. They will also be playing alongside the DJ wing of Chrome Kidsand the mighty South Rakkas Crew outta Miami on Wednesday 4th March at 10 Feet Tall in Cardiff.
Think I might have to install a hotline to Daly City Records if they keep up their current high level of quality output. No sooner have you finished downloading the new Flying Skulls stuff when these rather impressive gems come rolling in like Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom or something. Some may remember we put up a post with the DJ 0.000001mixtape, Whirled Fusion. A prequel to the new album from Th' Mole which features some of the album tracks along with a mash up of medleys that saw the likes of Rush, Skream, Too Short & Wild Sugar running side by side. It eventually clicked slowly that DJ 0.000001 was infact Th’ Mole himself,another addition to a growing army of alter-egos such as: Captain Daydream; Pierre Johnson; Johnny Sunshine; Turbo Punx; and Experimental Man which punctuate his releases back to 1994.
It is perhaps surprising that within the middle of these personalities lies an endearing honesty in the music and a sound that whilst impossible to pin down, brings a punk ethos a Hip-hop attitude and the weight from the best of the new skool West Coast bass scene. His new album Greatest Hits (Ha Ha Ha) Vol. 1 is a fine combination of classics, remixes and fresh out the box which ranges from the Gypsy stompin’ of Heart Phire to the slow rolling melancholy of Sonny Boy, maintaining an off the wall eclecticism without losing its way at any point.
What’s good about Greatest Hits is it works as a whole album rather than just a loose collection of tracks, although the stand out inclusion for us is probably Jump Jack, where the first lady of Bass herself Warrior Queen orders the listener to “Jump Motherf**ker”. Makes sense then that this is the first single off the album that also comes with a dirty Breaks remix from Daly City head honchoMochipet, if for some strange reason you weren’t jumping the first time then this mix leaves you no other choice. There’s also a Turbo Crunk remix of Heart Phire from Bearmodwhich completely flips it on its head, and a crazy home-made video using the Baile Funk remix of Go Horsie from Brazilian legend DJ Amazing Clay . You can grab the whole single package for free from the link below, and keep an eye out for the album dropping sometime soon.
Regular readers would already have seen this fantastic video from Virus Syndicatea few months back, but the track is finally being release on the forthcoming Mosquito EP through their very own Contagious Music label, so it's a perfect opportunity to post it again.
Any regular listeners to the Mary Anne Hobbs show will know she recently headed over to LA and San Francisco to check the scenes out and deejay at Low End Theoryand West Coast Rocks. Well XLR8R have just put up her West Coast Rocks set and true to form it's full of some of the most exciting new Dubstep-esque material out there.
Bassfudge Powerscones might well be in the running for EP title of the decade and the name is not all it has going for it either. Don't generally hear much out of Belgium these days but seems a collection of Brussels' most notables have opted to change that by combining forces into one might bass driven force by the name of Herrmutt Lobby. Their EP drops this week on Eat Concrete Recordsand is a fine collection of pile driving industrial glitch ridden future Hip-hop. Like a music equivalent of Ed 209 from Robocop with a heavy funk injection. Stand out track for us has to be Vampire Remix which features LA rhyme-smith Non Genetic from the groupShadow Huntaz. Feeling the mutated space flora and fauna artwork by Elzotoo although I think it might be more suited to a Flying Lotus album.
Many an old skool Techno producer tried to install a Jazz ethos to the world of computer technology, I’m not convinced any of them truly managed it although I’m sure there are those who would gladly prove me wrong on this. People have found it hard to equate the rigid world of technology with that freestyle spirit, but Flying Skulls certainly help to bridge that gap. For me they might well be the kings of improvisational beat bashing and the two live sets we’ve put up on the blog have been testament to that. It makes sense then that they should release an album of tracks gathered from their live performances. A heavyweight collection of nasty synths, wobbly basslines and crunked out glitchy beats so dirty you'd swear they robbed their MPC players off a crack dealer. J Tonal, Snareface and Jerome Forney are joined by Ribotto and rapperZap Tap , this is Flying Skullsin their element, and whether or not you could class it as strictly a live album, this album is most definitely live. It is also free through the combination of Daly City and 1320 Records so you have no reason not to go grab it right now.
Here's a couple of our choice cuts and a link to the album.
Although we don’t generally cover this kind of straight up Electro banger unless it’s got a Hip-hop spin on it, there are some producers who have almost unlimited access to our pages and Chew Fu is one of them. This remix has hit written all over it.
After a few says of quiet from us it’s time for some major catch up. First up is this killer Tek-step track from, erm… Tek Step. Another big jam from the Amsterdam badman. Techy, glitchy grindin’ Dubstep at its finest.
Forensics always seems to know when we’re working late, and manages to provide the perfect accompaniment. Chilled, deep and falling mainly in the Dubstep region, but without sitting on the wobbly fence this new mix is the perfect introduction to his new Mini Album The Horror and the Glory which you can pick up on Digital Tunes or Additech. This mix also features our very own Stagga with Freight Dub which shall be dropping on Rag & Bone next month along with Sick As Sin which is blowing up about now and Predatory Control Freeks which Mary Anne Hobbs gave a good rinsing last year. Will remind you nearer the time of course.
This excellent collaboration between[Adult Swim] and Ghostly International was originally released early last year but seeing as we weren’t up and running back then and they’ve just decided to re-release it both digitally and as a free CD when you spend over $20 at the Ghostly International store seems a perfect opportunity for us to upload some of our favourites from the album.
Lurk On Film schooled me to this dude Jake who has done probably the most amazing review of Blazing Saddles ever. Then he agreed to do a review of Lurk On Film's incredible new video from The Incredible Torture Showproject. I could tell you about this deep and disturbing new outing, but why not leave it to Jake ... BTW If you're gonna hit him up afterwards, please be nice.
To watch the Incredible Torture Show video click on this image.
Not sure why we hadn't posted this up before but here's the last chart we compiled. As with all charts it changes each second but hopefully it gives a general idea of what we're really feeling hard at the moment. Have put links to each artist's page on Myspace so check them all out for yourself.
Will get the BBC Introducing show up here soon, having problems with the internet connection here at Chrome Mansions and it won’t upload for that long without resetting the server, but soon. Actually spent most of the day at Radio 1 robbing their new tunes, unfortunately can’t post any up here but came away with some great stuff. One that looked interesting was The King Blueswith dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, unfortunately on closer inspection it wasn’t all that and definitely not up to either of the groups’ usual standard. But it did make me do a double take when I saw this remix of The King Blues by George Lenton and I’m glad I did cos it’s killer. He flips Come Fi Di Youts into a glitchy dubbed out Hip-hop stomper which drops like someone just set fire to the pinball machine in the Jerk Chicken takeaway. You can also grab some of his more Electro House style remixes over at his Myspace.
Just discovered Brooklyn producer Lloop, from the electronic band WE™ who dropped the Dubstep-esque '60 Hertz’ late last year. Whilst being far from bright and breezy it is never quite as dark in its depth as some of the stuff we’ve posted recently. We’re talking Ibiza mornings after a wreckage rather than skint London winter nights. Tracks leave enough space for thought although The Cholas, Honch and ODB Scripta Elegans are more aggressive in their approach and are better for sulking then thinking.
So I see that the wider student fraternity in the UK have finally caught on to Dubstep. Whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen.
Wednesday night saw the busiest Dubstep only event in Cardiff with a packed Glo bar bouncin' to Monkey & Stagga, Elephant and Slipperz, Magenta and what should have been Rusko, no doubt the main reason so many students had descended on the night when most Dubstep weekly struggle to muster 20 to 30 people. Rusko was ill butN Type put in a killer set as replacement and despite most of the crowds ignorance to who he was, the atmosphere was real good after only a slight booing session at being told Rusko was a no show (all respects to MC Reuben for turning them round as well), and to be honest most of the Dubstep DJs and Producers in the place were happier with the change.
Can't say the same positive things about the crowd in Bristol unfortunately. Was speaking to Superisk who tells me the crowd at Thekla on Friday were pretty usual for the city these days. Didn't even realise it was a Dubstep night til I turned up, had decided to jump off the train early on the way back from London and made my way there to find out that Virus Syndicate and Benga were both playing. All good except for the fact that the boat (yes Thekla's a boat) was rammed full of student wannabe rudeboys with the biggest fronts I've seen at a club. I couldn't believe the amount of times I heard "Yo Blud" at full volume from some middle class kid with his cap sideways, arms up in the air and cheap cocaine up his nose. This coupled with the not so aggresive students who were far too busy stumbling round in K Holes meant space was a major issue and nobody seemed to be sharing their's happily.
We ducked out early after Virus Syndicate, who were decent in an Emcees over Dubstep kinda way, rather than as a performing group, which would have been better to see in my opinion as not enough people have that style locked at the moment. But we ducked out before Benga and headed to a house party where I picked up these videos from an early morning, last ones at the party YouTube swapping session. Thought I'd share them with you lot just incase there were any you'd missed.
First up is this crew of youngstas from Bristol itself.
Dem Grimey Yutez - Anthem
Second up is some of the Life4Land fellas on a bit of a squatters Hip-hop tip with SMB. Only really know Ed Cox out of Life4Land who's their co-founder and accordian player and makes crazy Gypsy Breakcore type stuff. Definitely worth looking into if that seems like you're style.
Life4Land - What You Know About Cribs
Finally, not sure how I missed this one as it's been around since March last year but Dizzee Rascal spits fire in this AOL 16 Bars Session. Can't find it on YouTube as AOL seem to have culled them all but here's alink, definitely worth checking.
Unless specified, any mp3s linked to on this blog are purely for promotional trial purposes only and should be deleted from a computer within 24 hours. If you like what you hear show respect to the person who made it and go buy the album.
If an artist or label spots material of theirs on this blog and is not pleased by this, contact me and I will remove it immediately.
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