You may well have noticed but things have changed around here some what, so despite being one of my favourite dance music labels, it's been a while since we posted anything from Sweat It Out on the blog. This new single from RÜFÜS feels like something of a change for them too however. Early morning / late night vocal House that's making me pine for an Ibiza sunrise and a nice villa veranda from which to watch it.
If the pic's too small to read, click on it to enlarge.
Top marks to these guys, I think this is an excellent move and shall definitely be down there. Fantastic selection of acts including family, friends and favourites such as Clark (AV Show), Martyn, Pinch, DJ Die, Close (aka Will Saul), Arkist & Komon, Skudge, Indigo, Also (Appleblim & Al Tourettes), Bass Clef, Cheeba, Behling & Simpson, Eliphino, Typesun and Face & Heel.
Just saw a Tweet from Kastle saying that Bodhi's new Justin Timberlake booty has been smashing up SXSW. Exciting news, somebody invite them over for next year! Grab yourselves a copy if you don't have it already.
Those of you who actually read these posts may remember us mentioning one of our family members called elmono the other day. Well we can now let you know that his 'debut' outing will be the first release on Pinch's new Cold Recordings label and that he shall be playing in the Tectonic hosted Room 2 at Fabric this Friday. For a taster of what to expect, check out his Fabriclive Promo mix below and a mini interview with him over on the Fabric site.
From our extended family comes Blured. A compadre of the Chrome Kids for many years, he has just released a vinyl only monster of a Techno tune in the shape of 'It's Quite'. It provides the 1st outing for label YCO, which is run by another group of our boys from back in Cardiff (also the crew behind the excellent City Bass nights). You seriously need to check the swagger on this track. It's already been getting heavy rotation from Martyn, Jackmaster, Boddika, Gingy and Bordello.
With their 'Culture' EP riding high on the playlists of Skream, Gilles Peterson, FaltyDL, Machinedrum and Rob Da Bank amongst many others, we shall forgive Bodhi for missing a month in their monthly Groove Series (they did slip out a Mixmag mix instead to be fair). This is another killer mix of Housey, Garagey vibes from the boys, much in keeping with its name.
Well looks like we've got a load of catching up to do in regards to the Bodhi boys, can't keep up with them! So just in case you haven't been keeping an eye, here's a few things they've been up to recently.
First of all is their new single 'Culture / Deliquesce' on Sinden's 'Grizzly' label which dropped this week along with this video for 'Culture'. The video is a collaboration with Chrome Kids resident artiste, Snowskull and the EP itself has been getting some major love from the likes of Skream, FaltyDL, Giles Peterson, Machinedrum and Rob Da Bank (who has booked them for his incredible Bestival festival which we rocked a Chrome Kids set at a couple of years back).
Then of course there's this free download from XLR8R of the Bambanou remix. There's also a wicked Ifan Dafydd remix which you might have caught on our last Radio Show.
Finally there's this mix they cooked up for Mixmag, who gave a glowing review to the EP (big ups to Joe Muggs).
I'm sure there's something we've missed but that should keep you lot busy for now.
Two of the newest members of the Chrome Kids family have their debut single out via Push & Run on Monday, complete with cover art from our very own SnowSkull. Getting much love for their ShadowBox remix and The xx bootleg, Bodhi are already two of our favourite producers (and DJs after their killer set last Friday) currently making noise out of the Welsh capital and lovely fellas to boot.
WE ARE 3 AND WE HAVE SOME FRIENDS AND FAMILY COMING OVER FOR A CELEBRATION!
STAGGA & MONKY Undoubtedly the leading force of Bass music in Wales and a killer combo since their Optimas Prime days. Also both card carrying members of the Chrome Kids family.
LANDSLIDE Been a little quiet for a while but now based here in Cardiff, the original Fwd>> Resident is back with a stunning new soulful, bass heavy album called ‘Peak’ which drops very soon.
ITAL LION One of the founding fathers of the dance music scene in Cardiff especially for the Dubstep / 2Step generation. Ever evolving and ever progressing, he’s still one of the best in the city.
RATCATCHER Since riding solo from the CRST crew, the artist formerly known as Rodski has pursued his premier love of House to great achievement, with some of the best sets / tunes we’ve heard.
MR HEALAN Not necessarily a newcomer to the scene but definitely making a lot of noise right now after reinventing himself using updated, forward thinking Electronic parts, like a Cyber(bad)man.
Good Monday people, hopefully you will have recovered from this Weekend's festivities in tine for the coming Bank Holdiay weekend, as we are programming an event at Cardiff Arts Institute from Friday to Sunday. Many of the acts playing will be recognisable to our regular readers and if you are anywhere near the vicinity would be great to see you all. Here's the info...
ELECTRIC SHEEP WEEKENDER Friday 27th - Sunday 29th May 2011 (Bank Holiday Weekend) Cardiff Arts Institute, 29 Park Place. CF10 3BA £4 per day (limited £6 passes for all 3 days)
The Welsh Electronic scene has truly coming into it’s own over the past few years. As musical genres overlap and intertwine, particularly after the Bass music scene in general’s mass migration from formulaic Dubstep, so Wales’ tight knit community of producers and DJs become ever closer, more open and undoubtedly stronger. As celebration of this fact we have brought some of the top artists from the scene together for a long Bank Holiday weekend of showcases, secret sets and a whole lot of drinking and dancing.
We have 3 Secret headliners, all well established acts at the top of their game, plus: Modeselektor’s label signings Doc Daneeka and Ben Damage showcase their new live set ahead of their Melt! Festival debut in Berlin; one of the city’s most forward thinking producers, Monky gets set to show why his future blend of bass heavy beats have been getting so much love across the electronic music world; Cardiff 2 Step tearaways Didz & Chico bring a little ‘something new’ to the table; Chrome Kids drop a rare appearance ahead of shows in Glastonbury and Bestival over the summer; experimental circuit benders Zwolf, STD and Mr Healan step out of the Hip-hop shadows into something altogether more interesting; former CRST member Ratcatcher (Rodski) and Owain K hold it down for the current generation of House producers; whilst Juvenile Scum head honchos and Dirty Sanchez DJs Telegram From The Queen, to quote Redman, ‘come to throw a little mud in this mother**ker’ and make sure proceedings don’t get too serious. With many more up and coming DJs and producers, just starting to cement their reputations as ones to watch also on the bill, this is undoubtedly going to be a great marker on where the scene is now and where it’s heading. There’s plenty more information on each act, as well as free downloads, streaming tracks and videos over at the Cardiff Arts Institute blog http://cardiffartsinstitute.org
We recently told you about the excellent South African House compilation, Ayobaness. Well Schlachthofbronx, who have their own (unrelated) Ayoba Remix EP dropping next week have just hit us up with this killer refix of the DJ Mujava track from the EP.
We're not too sure whether they're trying to inject some conscious Hip-hop flavour into Chicago's Juke-house scene, or possibly the other way round... either way it probably hasn't worked too well. However B.B.U. (Bin-laden Blowin' Up) have come up with some fun post-ironic hybrid party music that fits more with the Diplo minded rather than any strict brackets, and with some straight up infectious tracks set to splatter their debut mixtape, Fear Of A Clear Channel Planet (out March 1st)they could well find favour with those kind of scenesters.
The new school of South African bass heavy party Glitch hop and Dubstep are pretty well represented on these pages but we rarely touch on the House aspect of things except for the occasional riddim ridden by Spoek. Well the scene over there seems to be on fire at the moment as the Kwaito scene gets quieter and the rhythms that are influencing alot of the House and Bass scenes in Europe in many ways could be said to have come full circle. This can be seen in effect throughout this EP from Outhere Records, a German based label with a history of strong African music releases.
We've already told you a little about Ayoba and it's meaning, the spirit of which is captured here by artists like the crazy blinged out man of the cloth Pastor Mbhobho(check the video for his title track) and DJ Mujava whose Township Funk on Warp was one of the biggest club anthems of last year (and the year before come to think of it).
Stream the whole EP at the label's Soundcloud account but here's a taster of the DJ Mujava track. Look out for a full length 13-track compilation due later in the year.
We're keeping it warm for the winter today, so get ya thermal jump suit on and do some mellow star jumps (if you don't know how make them up) to this triple crown of blurred boundary Dubstep, Techno, Tropical, blah blah blah from: Bok Bok; an Untold mix for XLR8R that we've rather scandalously only just got round to listening to; and a FACT mix from Bristol boy Hyetal which must be nearly reaching the 3 weeks download limit so needs to be grabbed asap before it disappears.
Julio Bashmore - Around (Forthcoming Soul Motive) Mosca - Square One (Dub) Doc Daneeka - Deadly Rhythm (Dub) Shortstuff & Hyetal - Don't Sleep (Dub) NB Funky - Frequency (White Label) Brackles & Shortstuff - Pipey D (Dub) Headhunter - Love Dup (Forthcoming Soul Motive) Starkey - Knob Twiddler (Forthcoming Planet Mu) Sully - Toffee Apple (Dub) Guido ft Aarya - Beautiful Complication (Forthcoming Punch Drunk) Hyetal - Gold Or Soul (Soul Motive) Gemmy - A Night On Da Wonk (Dub) Hyetal - Pheonix (Dub) Prince - I Would Die 4 U (Warner Bros)
Before we kick off our Top 20 of the year, let us first state that such a task as to dilute a year in this way is actually impossible. However, we stayed away from the tune round up, that would have been a headache more painful than a New Year hangover and stuck with 20 or so artists that have in some way touched our ears and hearts this year. This should in no way be viewed as the definitive 20, well ok maybe it should seeing as we've said it is but before you go shouting and screaming about those we left behind, know one thing... we don't really give a shit. Nobody knows better than us the wealth of talent that should have made it's way into the chart type post but that's just the way the cookie has crumbled this time and these are the chocolate chips that fell out. It's also a great excuse to get up some tracks we never got round to and revisit some classics. So in no particular order let us begin...
Following up excellent definitive 2008 album releases from Harmonic 313 and Flying Lotus, Warp continued to invite post Hip-hop producers into their indie electronic world this year. But perhaps surprisingly it wasn't the album from the greater established Prefuse 73, good as it was, that got us most excited but rather the first offical solo album from HudMo, half of the Heralds Of Change with the equally as endearing Mike Slott, who would have joined his LuckyMe bredren with perhaps Rustie and Dema also if they had been just a touch more prolific this year or we could be bothered to do a top 30 instead.
After a good few years trying to drag the dying UK Hip-hop scene into the now, looks like Foreign Beggars became one of the few to finally make it to the other side, and we're so glad they did. With rhyme skills galore, a VIP guest list that includes the likes of Dubbledge, Kyza, Badness, Ben Sharpa and Guilty Simpson, plus a perfecty tuned ear for a quality beat their United Colours of Beggatron album was truly, in the words of Dead Prez, 'bigger than...'
Yes we realise that we're highly biased in this what with them being family but we aren't giving them undue props, they've both earned more than enough stripes this year with some truly killer releases. Both have developed different styles and sounds with equal power in neighbouring arenas but we still can't seperate the two in our heads, even with them now residing in completely different countries. Luckily they have been working on new material together so watch out for that in the new year.
Whilst there are now artists adding Dubstep elements to Hip-hop, Bassnectar kinda got it arse backwards, or perhaps visionarily forwards, he was making stomping bass heavy digital Hip-hop beats first then realised that his style was equally suited to making dirty jump up dubz. When we half jokingly refer to Hulk Hop, it's primarily his bulky, mean and bouncing beats that we have in mind.
When gypsy punk Gogol Bordello sangStart Wearing Purple, he was reffering to a certain crazy woman's choice of clothing, Prince is perhaps the most famous purple fanatic and as well as being a touch eccentric himself he does make some incredible funk, or did at least. So it seems only right that the crazy deep digital funk of Joker's dubz is reffered to as the 'purple sound' right? We're pretty sure that's not the reason, we're just rambling lyrical but either way, already with a heavy artillery of tunes under his belt, this year saw the young Bristollian step up yet another gear to become one of the scene's most wanted artists, and rightly so too.
Not so much an emcee as a beat seeking missile, Mr Mathambo has been on a round the world trip of dope producers sampling every bass heavy flavour out there. Already in our high esteems due to his groundbreaking work with Sibot as Playdoe, 'the post-apartheid, post-hip hop, poster boy' has truly helped to push forwards the African scene this year and has also been as prolific on his blog as he has on the mic.
After catching our ear with his B'more style Evil 9 remix, Jack Adams proceeded to kill it on every level. With a slew of remixes that largely featured Jammer and / or Badness on extra vocals he went on to become the collaboration king sharing the boards with Brodinski, AC Slater, Toy Selectah and Drums Of Death amongst others, adding a touch of Grime soaked South East UK Tropical flavour to everything in his reach.
Known to us for his big, dark and brutal remixes that not so much rocked dancefloors as picked them up and shook the living shit out of them, yet his No Money For GunsEP on Hervé's Cheap Thrills label showed a refreshing diversity that we believe is set to spread out even further. Although everything he does is still pretty huge, mind you he is a big lad.
Arguably the king of crunked up digitally mutated music, yet shockingly overlooked on MAH's West Coast Rocks programme, the Godzilla suited don of Daly City has also helped to pave the way for such Chrome Kids favourites as Flying Skulls and...
Made up the bulk of the year's Fre-Releases along with his alter ego DJ 0.000001 (one millionth) and produced some monstrous beats in the process. His DIY ethos, nursery rhyme style delivery and madcap musical adventures make him difficult to fit into the accepted boxes but that's just why we love him so much.
The chirpy Berlin based beat freak has always been light years ahead of his time it seems, his crew Jahcoozi were making 'now' music a good few years back and his work with RQM and Cerebral Vortex helped to prove that at least some emcees weren't being left behind. With a fantastic full length release in the shape ofDeath Star Droid and large selection of singles, mixtapes, remixes and exclusives all assaulting our eardrums from every direction in such an enlightening way, it has most definitely been good to have Robot Koch firmly on our radar this year.
Another big lad who doesn't exactly make small and subtle music, infact his tracks are possibly as large as it gets with skull ripping basslines, the kind of drops that would give an acrophobiac a heart attack and enough dirt to keep an allotment going for a year. We've had a taste of his leanings towards the Hip-hop side too with his Foamo remix and we are eager beavers gnawing at our nutsacks waiting for more.
South Africa and Cape Town in particular has given us some of our favourite music of the year and Mix N Blend are a shining example of how their scene have got it so right. Dubstep without a hint of pretension that still manages to drop as heavy as anything else, plus their album on African Dope showcased a variety of styles that certainly do the name justice yet never gets lost amongst the madness.
It kind of feels like Mr Lenton has came out of nowhere and with a noticeably low number of 'official' releases to his name his inclusion here might seem a tad premature but regardless he has still managed to unleash some of the best tracks of the year. Although Troll carried the same Network sample as a few other tunes his version seeme to be the definitive summing up of the mood of the nation and kicked off our Pimp My Tour Bus mix perfectly. His blurring of boundaries between Dubstep and 'Hulk Hop' or even pop and underground sits perfectly with our point of view also.
One of those artists who manages to keep a big profile whilst remaining just under the radar. Some might say this is a perfect position for an artist but we can't help but feel the whole world needs to recognise the skills of Hollyrock's finest. Tracks ranging from 130bpm Dubstep style tracks (why aren't even more artists doing this?) to big and beefy Hip-hop via the occasional Electro Pop tune. His diversity might be confusing to some but it's certainly endearing to us here.
Originally a duo of Steven Hyslop and Tommy Forrest (still alive under the name AK Kids) Akira Kiteshi stomped many a speaker with their no holds barred beats, and as a solo warrior Forrest has in no way lost any of the projects power, infact he goes from strength to strength. With so much hype surrounding Glasgow it's good to see somebody holding the corner for the Scottish capital of Edinburgh hard and with a number of releases on labels such as Black Acre and Muti Music cementing credibility there's no sign of this ronin needing to commit seppuku anytime soon. For more information check out his interview over at BwompBeats.
When we first caught him rhyming over a Kode 9 beat it was so refreshing to hear a New York rapper approaching Dubstep in a different way, and then we discovered his Police and Thieves album. What one of the best albums of the year was doing just sitting there as a free download on his MySpace is anybody's guess but we're so glad it was. The follow up Sub Bass Diet gave Elucid a firm spot on this Top 20 and a VIP pass card to the Chrome Mansions stereo. The fact that he included our good friend Metabeats (don't worry he'll certainly be in next years chart!) on the album was extra icing for a hella tasty cake indeed.
Undoubtedly an inclusion on many a blog round up this year and not without reason. There were many pretenders to the coolest band crown this year but none quite got the level of straight up sonic sexual healing that oozed out of their self produced debut album. Inspired some fantastic remixes from the likes of Lunice and Nosaj Thing as well.
We have to thank Pelski above all other blogs for properly introducing us to the new wave of minimal tech artists that have a decidedly tropical leaning. We could have picked any one of the Sound Pellegrino roster to represent but as Renaissance Man was our first proper hit, we'll include them as the definitive door to our new addiction.
It may be cheating to have a joint place but we honestly can't choose between these two Saturday night dancefloor favourites. Don Diablo not only makes the best all out new skool Disco about but has managed to help turn Example from a Hip-hop try hard to a rallying voice for the party generation. Chew Fu on the other hand has been relentlessly adding his golden touch to a number of bootleg hits this year that have gradually seen him move further into the official arena and up in the size of dancefloors he fills. They've perhaps got a little too big for our tastes lately but there's no doubting his latest hit with Wiley is a beast that isn't just tearing up the charts but ripping it a new hole that Chew Fu will be more than capable of filling.
A new Fre-Release blog-label called Scattermusic have just dropped an exceptional offering from Brazillian baille-tech producer Edu K. As well as the original big but minimal (ah we love a good contradiction in our tunes) cheeky double header of Ja, Mann! and Jumpin n Pumpin there's a bunch of remixes in various flavours from: Mom & Dad; Slap & Dash; Dubbel Dutch; WILDLIFE!; and Femme En Fourrure not to mention this excellent bashy riddim from Aussie based producer Lewis CanCut with the choice of two vocalists riding on top.
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.