Category Archives: Music

Gigs

Friendly reminder

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Just in case anyone only reads this and not the local message boards.

To The Bone : Murder on the Dancefloor

Following an unfortunate incident at the George IV* on the morning of our last party, Brixton’s least appropriately-classified pub got shut down for 30 days. We relocated to Stockwell – to a real pub with old people and toilet seats. Sendex played three of the finest hours of live music any of our forty-three customers had ever heard. He was ridiculously, ridiculously good.

And then Max Duley performed a one-man re-enactment of Madonna’s Vogue Tour Stage Show. Needless to say, the night belonged to Duley. He’s back this month with a self-choreographed HI-NRG routine to be accompanied by the Pointer Sisters’ Jump (For My Love). Come marvel at a dancer at the very top of his profession.

DJs
Phonopsia
Nick Craddock
Jamie Steere
Charlie Blue & Tony Little

George IV
144, Brixton Hill
10pm-4am // £5

*a resident child prostitute known to customers as Little Lord Fontanelle was drugged, raped and eaten to death on the dancefloor

New/Reviews

New records

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DABRYE feat DOOM: Air (Ghostly International US)
-Just ordered this today on the strength of the clip and a coupla recommendations. Sounds dope! Really original, while MF DOOM is sounding uncharacteristically fierce with his delivery (in a good way).

WRIGHT, Bobby/KENNETH COATS/ROY DAVIS/STEVE POINDEXTER/BRIAN HARRIS/ANTON
MITCHELL: Sex Chants (Chicago Undergound US)
-This is that thing I mentioned in passing the other day. The Anton Mitchell and Davis/Poindexter/Harris tracks are excellent. The former sounds like 80s Chicago house in a circus tent, the latter sounds kinda like what you might imagine with these three guys – on the deeper side of their output, I guess.
Good trumpet in it anyway, if a fairly grim recording.

LARKIN, Kenny: Azimuth (Rushhour Holland)
-Very happy for this repressing

CURTIN, Dan: Tricks (part 1) (Tuning Spork Germany)
-I think this is some of that stuff he played when I posted about his set at Spacebase fairly recently. Very nice stuffs, and most of it rather different than most of his output. Perhaps it’s boompty techno? Shove that in your sub-sub-genre critique! 😉

SIENKIEWICZ, Jacek: Double Secret (Recognition Poland)
-The dude is on fire. This one is slightly slower and perhaps even housier (??? in a hard to explain way) than a lot of his recent stuff. Very nice though

DJ YOAV B: Language Of The Open Heart EP (Delsin Holland)
-Late, I know, but really enjoying this. Very ballsy intro to the first track on the B-side

REDSHAPE: Shaped World EP (Delsin Holland)
-Sounds like a Kraftwerk geiger counter meets C2’s bassline from his remix of “Ain’t Changin'” to my ears

INNERVISIONS presents HENRIK SCHWARZ/AME/DIXON feat DERRICK L CARTER: Where We At (Sonar Kollektiv Germany)
-It’s about this [] shy of progressive, but works really well. Especially loud. I really like the vocal, but not sure if I should be embarassed about that. Don’t care

PUNGTANG: Sub Seducer (Planet E US)
-Wooo!

Clubs/Parties

Sendex

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So… it’s been a while since I’ve given a local update. Saw Sendex on Saturday at To the Bone. Seeing as most of y’all reading this will have seen my reports elsewhere by now, I’ll just say that he was phenomenal. He played live for 3 hours. Run, don’t walk if he’s ever near you.

From last Saturday through six weeks from then we will have had Kenny Larkin, ACGC, Britich Murder Boys, Domu, Larry Heard, Kirk Detroitio, Theo Parrish, Colin Dale, Aux 88, Fabrice Lig, DJ Bone, Akufen, most of Minus, Darshan Jesrani, Convextion, Hieroglyphic Being, Henrik Schwarz, Ame, Dixon, Stewart Walker, DJ Pete and Dynarec, not to mention the as-yet unannounced guests at Spacebass. I’ve got a real indication of a hangover coming on. London crews are really pushing things forward so far this year. Looks very promising.

Kit

A few more notes on Machinedrum

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This thing has such a stupid level of control for a) hardware, and b) a drum machine – in one. It’s crazy. The parameter locks are probably the coolest function, which allow you to take a normal step sequencing drum machine and tweak the hell out of any one of the 24 parameters which colour the sound for just that note, or for any note that you want to do it to. Then you can adjust the ‘slide’, which tells it how much to ‘fade’ between the parameter settings on each different note (or the defaults if they haven’t been set on some notes). Then you can apply that slide on any combination of notes that you want to, so some parts of the pattern will blend and other parts will be more severe. It’s just crazy!

You can also get stoopid with swing and accent in a way that a good-ole drum machine just doesn’t permit. The effects sound very nice, the level of control you can get on the kicks is fairly unique in my experience, the muting interface seems like it will be perfect for live performance, and the mode of navigating between banks of patterns is really intuitive. It’s all just so well thought-out and most importantly the resultant sound delivers in every way from raw to crystal-clear.

I’m probably going to try making a few tracks with just the Machinedrum now because the stuff is sounding much different than what I would normally make, I don’t want to get distracted from learning it by trying to finish a song in the way I normally would, I want to get more practice with the live elements of the interface, and mostly I just really want to see what happens!

Kit

Kit

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So my friend Kent just blogged about the new moog, which looks pretty slick:

…which reminds me I should give a proper pic of my new machinedrum, of which I took possession yesterday:

Still figuring it out, but so far… FUN!

And… yesterday I stumbled across the Reload forum, in which Mark Pritchard was talking about the new Reload album he’s working on. The post was from last May, and he’s since moved to Australia, which has apparently slowed things down a bit, but he also mentioned The Waterphone, which has to be about the craziest bowed-theramin/harp contraption thingy I’ve ever seen. Sounds cool too. Well horror. There are sounds and video clips on there too which are worth spending 5 minutes of your hard-earned time on.

Mixes

246 Mix

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This is a rough ‘n ready one-off mix recorded on February 4, 2006 – my first time mixing in about three weeks after injuring my hand. Similar to most of my more recent mixes, this mix is comprised of mostly newer house and techno stuff, with a couple of electro cuts, a brief, nostalgic journey through Chicago, and my effort to resurrect interest in David Moufang. Oh, and the now-obligatory inclusion of MF DOOM. Encoded at 256 Kbps, clocking in at 2 hours, 46 minutes.

Get it here.

Tracklist:

Danger Doom – Bada Bing [Epitaph]

Hiro Ohta – Kakera (Yoav B Mix) [Miso]

Theo Parrish – Capritarious #7 [Sound Signature]

Kahil El’Zabar – He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (Henrik Schwarz Remix) [Deeper Soul]

Furry Phreaks – Tearful [Miso]

Ron Trent – DuB LiFe (Dub Hi Fi) [Atal]

Young Seth – Moment [FXHE]

Move D – I.O.U. [Bruchstuecke]

Wamdue Kids – Can We Start Again [Acacia]

Turner – When Will We Leave (Robert Hood Remix) [Ladomat]

Monolake – Plumbicon (Live in Osaka) [ML/I]

Skat – Postcard [Karat]

Mikaël Weill – Scarlito [Karat]

Move D – Montagskino [Liebe Detail]

Studio Pankow – Heidelberger Platz [City Centre Offices]

Aardvarck – Aardbij (Extended 12″ Version) [Rush Hour]

DJ Gregory – Vasefa [Faya Combo]

Quentin Harris – Let’s Be Young [URA]

Roman – True Love Owes Us Shit (So in La With You Remix by Losoul) [Kalk Pets]

Dominik Eulberg – Gastof “Zum Satten Bass” (89 Mix) [Trapez Ltd]

Egoexpress – We Are Here [Ladomat]

Johnny Fiasco – D-Drive [Distant Music]

DJ Sneak – Because Your Love Ain’t True [Down Town 161]

Gemini – Movement [NRK]

Green Velvet – Water Molecule [Music Man]

Green Velvet – Electrocution [Music Man]

Mathew Jonson – Spanish (Hrdvision Remix) [Wagon Repair]

DJ Yoav B – Energize [Wabi Sabi]

Isoul8 – How I Feel [Stagioni]

Thomas Jirku – West Bestern [Arbutus]

Titonton & DJ Mochizuki – Expanded (Titonton Refreak) [Loop Sounds]

Jacek Sienkiewicz – Still Forward [Recognition]

Shed – Connex [Soloaction]

Arne Weinberg and Shawn Rudiman – The Lost Arts [Technoir Audio]

AFX – VBS.Redlof.B [Analord]

Enjoy!

New/Reviews

Pre-xmas records

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I got some new records. Having only purchased four records since June, that makes me very happy. Here they are:

AARDVARCK: Cult Copy (Album Sampler) [Rushhour Holland ]
-I really like 1 and 3, but this is probably the best so far. One really good deep house cut and two very lush electroish tracks

AFX: Analord 09 [Rephlex]
AFX: Analord 10 [Rephlex]
AFX: Analord 11 [Rephlex]
-Three of the best of the series

CHANDLER, Kerri/MANOO/DJ BERTRAND/JOVONN: The 4 Colors EP [Deeply Rooted House US]
-Both the Chandler and Jovonn tracks are sounding very nice to my ears

FURRY PHREAKS: Mixed Messages EP (reissue) [Miso]
-Slightly older, purchased for the B-side, ‘Tearful’

HARRIS, Quentin: Let’s Be Young [Unrestricted Access US]
-I heard Lindstromm play this in Panorama in Berlin. Had to get it. Sounds dope in a club

KAHIL EL ZABAR: Deeper Soul Remix Project Sampler [Deeper Soul]
-Fuck me, both the Henrik Schwarz and Osunlade remixes are fantastic. The Osunlade one sounds like the most primal thing I’ve ever heard in a house track

ROMAN: So Ghost? (remixes) [Kalk Pets Germany]
-Losoul and Pascal Schaeffer remixes. Both excellent

TORTOISE: It’s All Around You [Thrill Jockey]
-Long overdue purchase of the most recent album

Tracks

New track?

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I’m at the point with this song where I either need to call it quits or call it done. Been working on it on and off for a year. Although I like the stuff I’ve come up with, I’m ultimately dissapointed because I suspect I’ll wind up sounding precisely like I always have, which has gained interested responses but hasn’t really left many people saying “yeah, that’s exactly what it should sound like”. Regardless, I’d like to have some suggestions. It’s the first song that has been close enough to done in two years to provide to the public, so I’m looking for any tips I can get to help me sound less like I do without reinventing myself. Obviously I go for a ‘maximal’ sound, and like to switch things around a lot, so basically I’d just like to know if anyone has good ideas about how I can accomplish that better, given this template. At best I think it’s just a matter of making it more DJ friendly, at worst I think it’s a matter of re-evaluating what I’m trying to achieve full-stop. Anyway, voila! Let me know your thoughts if you’ve got 7:15.

Happy Clapping

Clubs/Parties

Oh forgot about some gigs too

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Quick prelude: if you missed my post from a few minutes ago through syndication, I started it as a draft on Monday, and just published it, but it still has the Monday date, so scroll down (or up ast the case may be).

In the last couple of months (other than the Berlin trip) I also saw:

  • Jamie Lidell, who absolutely killed it. Half on his own, half with a band. Good to see both sides of his performance styles as a perfect intro on my Lidell cherry-pop day, but I’d love to see him do the mic+sampler thing solo for a few hours. Unbelievable stuf, that is.
  • Dwele, who I could barely hear over his band. May have been a factor of where we were seated.
  • Aroy Dee, Peel Seamus and Terry Brookes at the Planet Delsin launch party. Good fun. Even got one of the robots on the sleeve names after me.
  • Serge from Clone, last weekend. The Italo stuff was good but nothing special. the Chicago bits were nice, but nothing I haven’t heard before. In short, he’s doing good stuff, but I don’t quite see what all the hubub’s about.

On a totally unrelated note, The Shining Redux is hillarious. Hope I’m not late.