News - New Shed Mix!!!

Now, you can probably tell from the Artist Tip posted before Shed is one of my favourite artists, he continues to produce music of the highest quality and here we have an amazing new mix from him for your listening pleasure... taken from the guys at over Factmag... (to download it click on the arrow on the right)

"The mix reflects its makers ongoing interest in dubstep and post-garage forms, with tracks from the likes of Peverelist, Martyn, Joy Orbison, Zomby and Skream enjoying prominence, but that’s just one strand of a diverse and hugely rewarding selection: look out for hard and raw techno from Surgeon and Underground Resistance, deadly warehouse minimalism from Pan Sonic and Marcel Dettmann, and out-and-out rave anthems from Aphex Twin, Drexciya and Link"

Recommended Event - Red Bull Music Academy (London)

This year the Redbull Music Academy is in London! And trust me, when Redbull Music Academy comes to your city you know about it!! For those unfamiliar The Academy brings new artists from around the world together, from producers to vocalists, DJs and all kinds of musicians. Over 30 days these artists get to meet people in the scene, collaborate on music, share ideas and generally come away from the experience very inspired and a lot more knowledged about the music and their scene in general. Its been going for over ten years now visiting a different city each year. Aswell as this though, while Red Bull Music Academy is around they put on events available to the rest of us that are not part of the academy, infact this year they have promised 30 mind blowing music events in just over 30 days!!! Starting 7th Feb.

The first party they are doing that got my instant attention is at the Royal Festival Hall on Feb 12

"The Red Bull Music Academy's fascination with the genre’s future tangents is a dance that has lasted over a decade now. To further this investigation, the Academy takes over the Royal Festival Hall on February 12, with four collaborative acts who’re currently at the forefront of exploring the grey areas of sci-fi electronics, discoball jazz, neo-classical, laptop soul, and 22ND CENTURY TECHNO"

The line-up consisting of Carl Craig, Francesco Tristano, Moritz von Oswald, Matmos, Bugge Wesseltoft, Henrik Schwarz, and Terre Thaemlitz as DJ Sprinkles.

No doubt about this one, its going to be an unbelievably special musical evening!!

...And if thats not enough for you, on the same night they are bringing one of the biggest dub-based lineups to the club Plan B. Including my favourites of the night Ramadanman and Appleblim that will be playing back to back. These two have been producing some of the most forward thinking bass music of the last couple of years "Expect Dubstep-to-Techno-to-Funky-to-Jungle and back again"

There are many more artists and events still to be confirmed for the other partys. Anybody within reach I cannot recommend enough! The Red Bull Academy Team again have proven how much they are supporting the most creative, advanced music of our time and full respect to everybody that is involved!

Check RedBullMusicAcademyRadio for endless shows of live recordings and interviews from all artists involved.

News: Much Love To The Plastic People (Four Tet DJ Mix Dec 2009)

Much Love To The Plastic People (DJ mix December 2009)  by  Four Tet

Following on from the Four Tet Recommended Event, here's a mix by the man himself. It starts off with a bang courtesy of his latest killer outing 'Love Cry' and continues in quality throughout.


Also check out the link below for an interview with Four Tet on Pitchfork which talks about the huge influence that his current residency at 'Plastic People' in London has had on his more recent work and up and coming album, which is due out this month called 'There Is Love in You'


"The rhythms and the techno influence seeped into it naturally. I think it was a combination of what I was doing with Steve Reid and DJing"


INTERVIEW HERE

Recommended Event - Four Tet @ Apolo Barcelona 23/01/10

The Four Tet project by producer Kieren Hebden has been a continuous exploration into the balance between organic and programmed sounds, ranging from the more experimental beat and structure patterns of his earlier albums, with the last released album 'Everything Ecstatic' in the same vein, to the more four-to-the-floor orientated outings of his more recent work. 


Below are two tracks I'm really loving, the first one being one of the most beautiful House tracks I have heard in a long time, which was made along side the famously mysterious Burial and the second track is one of his latest tracks released on the 'Domino' label called 'Love Cry'. This track really highlights Four Tet's recent transition into more dance-floor based sounds whilst still retaining the live sample, organic feel which his work is so famous for.  On the flip side there's a very cool remix by Joy Orbison which is worth some attention.


Anyway I'll be popping along to this night so a review will be following shortly, but for now enjoy these and if your not familiar with his work then have a good old dig......

News: Berghain Sub:Stance Interview with Scuba and Robotic @ Berlin Mitte Institut

Really interesting four part interview with Scuba and Berlin Dubstep maestro Robotic.

Check out the four parts on youtube for a sneaky insight into Scuba's Sub:Stance night at the Berghain Club in Berlin, the evolution of Dubstep, Scuba's thought's on the pigeonholing of the genre, the current cross pollination with Techno and future visions.

Just follow the links on the first part to see the other four video's.

Artist Tip: A Made Up Sound (2562)

Firstly I want to clarify that this is not your typical biographical article I'm writing about here, this is more specifically about one of Dave Huismans' alias pseudonym's called 'A Made Up Sound'. If you have been following Dubstep over the last few years you may be aware of a rising star in the scene called 2562, which is the most famous alias of the mastermind that is Huisman. With two widely aclaimed albums under his belt as 2562, both exploring the realms between Dubstep, Post-Garage, House, Grime, Funky and more, Huisman has created a special mood which is amoung a small list of current producers who can rightly claim to have carved themselves. However parallel to this, he has also been very busy creating and releasing a string of releases under his lesser known but arguably more intriguing guise 'A Made Up Sound'. 

Right, lets cut the bullshit fancy writing here, 'A Made Up Sound' is big. I've been following him since his first release on 'SubSolo' and every EP and track with his name on released after 'and before' this has been pretty much, a buy on site purchase. With AMUS he adds an extra depth to House and Techno that seems to have been lacking for me, for quite some time. The tracks are raw and funky, rhythmically adventurous but still stay true to the dance floor which is perfect for any forward thinking DJ's to weave in and out of. Even in a home listening environment his tracks have enough finesse and creative twists and turns to keep you interested from start to finish. But as with most of this kind of music, it really is on a big sound-system, where the music takes on a life of it's own....you really do need to hear the sub-base in these tracks LOUD! 

With AMUS it's a little bit like what I mentioned in the Scuba article. With 2562 you seem to get the Techno elements fused into Dubstep, but with AMUS you get the Dubstep Elements fused into House and Techno. Which ever way round you look at it, and however you see it, give Mr Huisman some love and go and buy some of his music!

Below is a selection of my favorite tracks by 'A Made Up Sound' to get you started.

This does exactly what it says on the tin....Bounce, and plenty of it.

Absolutely love the acid line in this and the groove just keeps on developing throughout. Pure sickness with a touch of cheek.

Leaning towards more of a technoid Dubstep tip, this has rising synths which remind me in a more subtle way of Joy Orbison and has one of those special moods which if dropped at the right point can create magical moments.

This one is purely about the big sound-system. An almost rave sounding track with a raw groove and sub-base which will sound like its ripping through your chest (in a good way) on the right sound-system.

On a much deeper tip, this is one for the early morning meditators. A slice of highly hypnotic Dub Techno fused Dubstep.