PRE-ORDER: Swindle – Air Miles EP [Planet Mu]

Swindle comes at the dubstep/grime melee from a different angle, he can drop melodic funk or dirty rave bombs at the drop of a hat. His last outing on Planet Mu came on the form of a quality funked up remix of Terror Danjah’s ‘Zumpi Hunter,’ which blended together like a grime/skweee hybrid, but with the four tracker Air Miles EP he steps out with his own diverse style.

The A-side really throws down some killer material with the eponymous track opening proceedings with Swindle in rave mode making a grime tempered instrumental so twisted I’ve yet to hear an MC ride it right. The energy is embedded in the melodic tension-building intro; pads and skipping percussion lead into a deadly drop that bounces into action hard and ravey like. If you put it next to Terror Danjah’s ‘Acid’ it’s like grime has done a Marty McFly and found its way to ’92, dripping with energy and a massive grin on its face. Another highlight is ‘Daredevil’ which creates some serious hyper funk without veering over the line of cheesy preset midi funk tinkling; it’s big, brash and snappy with big basslines powered instruments that sound like they’re being squeezed through a talk box a-la Tupac’s ‘California Love.’

The flip leaves me a bit colder, ‘Coffee’ and ‘Molly’ have a big beat feel to them when they whip out the tweaked and filtered guitars, and just step over the line from fun to cheese though ‘Molly’ redeems itself with a killer low end that growls and twists with plenty of funk. ‘Coffee’ meanwhile has a good skippy feel to it and brings some hi-tech soul and the production, much like on the EP as a whole, is spot on.

Words: James Balf
Out: Tuesday 4th May (Bank Holiday innit)

You can kop Swindle’s recent LuckyMe mixtape here or catch him at Crazylegs in Bristol on the 8th May with Joy Orbison and the one ton heavy Pev meister.



Facebook Event

Link:
www.myspace.com/swindleproductions

INTERVIEW: Dema [Lucky Me]

Introduced to us by the Lucky Me family who share an immediate geographical closeness, Dema, proved himself over the course of our discourse to be an affable chap content to let his mixing and impeccable selection do the talking. With a sublime reworking of Aaliyah's 'One In a Million' doing the rounds earlier this year, his remix for Nadsroic and an EP in the works for the Glasgow based label, he goes a little bit deeper than just an upcoming artist starting to find his feet; as he explains somewhat stirringly...

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Dema: I’m Dema, I have been DJing and making music since about 1997 maybe even 1996, it all becomes a blur after a while.. I have run a fair few club nights most notorious was Freakmoves, which I ran with my DJ partner Mr Nice. We were known as the Freakmenoovers and gained a fair bit of respect and kudos for our DJing abilities. We did start out pretty much as underground hip hop scratch DJ’s but evolved a lot over the years into more dance based club DJ’s.

Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?

At the moment I’m actually a student in my first year of an interior design degree, but I work as a sideline as a Youth Arts Worker teaching scratch DJing, music production and graffiti.

How did you first get into making music and similarly DJing? What was it that infected you to do so?

I started DJing before making music, and I kind of fell into it as I was with my friend who Is actually now my DJ partner and has been since this happened, but he was DJing a local hip hop night and fell ill with food poisoning, but he knew I could mix and stuff because I basically learned at his house so he dropped me right in the deep end and went home leaving me to DJ. I totally loved it, getting the chance to play all my favorite records as loud as I wanted … From there I started getting more and more gigs as I had good tunes, like I brought back rare tunes from NYC and Tokyo and stuff whenever I visited there, and with a little bit of scheming I bought my own turntables and spent hours upon hours each day learning to cut and juggle records.

I got into the battle scene, but more as a spectator as I just never had the nerve to enter a battle, even though after watching some heats I would be like “why did I not enter this year…?” but felt what I really wanted to do was make the music I was playing. I enrolled at the School of Audio Engineering in Glasgow and did the sound engineering course which basically allowed me to use amazing studios and stuff to learn how to make music and record it properly, master it, mix it etc. I decided I needed to get my own equipment so I could do it at home so I found an old Atari and got a crack of cubase and saw an Emu ESI32 in cash converters for £300, I talked a bunch of shit at them and managed to get it for £135, total result, so I just practiced making hip hop beats for years, not letting anyone hear them until I figured they were good enough. I even got a bit of interest from Go Beat records but I decided it just wasn’t musically good enough yet so I kept at it until I was truly happy with my music.

What’s your production set up like? What’s your favorite bit of kit in the studio?

These days I mainly just use Reason 4 and IU have a few synths like a Korg Prophecy and an Akai SG01, but I rarely use them, I just use Reason. I am starting to feel a bit limited with it now though and want to get more into Ableton, also to start doing live sets. But I always think the first sampler I got the ESI32 was my favorite bit of kit, it had such good warm filters on it, made the best hip hop beats. Maybe the quantize was a bit too clean on it, but at the time I was loving it.

Where do you take inspiration from when making music?

I take inspirations from many things ranging from other music, to feeling anxious or watching a film. Even the weather affects the mood of my music, I think a lot of it can be quite dark due to the weather up here, but weirdly I try and make more warm music when it’s the depths of mid winter…ha…

How would you describe your sound?

Initially I would describe it as club hip hop, but I make a few different styles of music, and I have changed musically a lot over the last 5 years, I was very stuck in that all so common mid 90’s hip hop sound, but I’m just boring myself with a genre already done perfectly back then. I still love a lot of the sounds used from early music like the 808’s, 909’s for drums etc, I listen to so much old west coast gangsta music that I search out the sounds they used and try and create the same vibe but with other styles of music, adding moogs and grimy bass synths, keeping it twerked… simple even.

I dropped your mix previously on our Hivemind.fm show and there was a ripple of patter in the chatroom about when people have seen you play before. You have a bit of a rep as a dope DJ…?

I used to really practice all the time, with the turntablist stuff, but I think DJing clubs for so long has given me the ability to rock a party every time I play. When I do any cutting or doubling up records it’s just to amuse me, keep me focused, I even try to do it so people don’t know it, as I don’t want to ruin the dancefloor. If I see just one person really getting into it, then I kind of use them as a controller for other people and build the place into a house party no matter where I am. I have probably been very lucky growing up in Glasgow and DJing here, as our club crowds are nutters, like they properly go for it. I have never had that same vibe anywhere else. Don’t get me wrong people properly love it everywhere else, but not like in Glasgow… you need to come up to experience it, come to Numbers or Ballers, even the big clubs like the Arches, it’s just nutters going for it, I love playing to those dudes. Even Chuck D Says it every time Public Enemy play here.

Your affiliated with the Lucky Me family. How did you come about working with those guys?

Well I first met Hudson Mohawke when he was like 12 or 13, he was really young and he emailed me on my radio show on Sub City Radio (we used to do a turntablist show on a student run radio station) asking if he could come on the show and join in, so we were like yeah cool. He killed it… We were totally blown away by his skills, and over the next few years we would see him at various battles entering them and placing way better than a lot of people who were entering with a rep. Fast forward a few years and I met Dom Sum I think probably at our club Freakmoves at the Art School where Dom was a student and also Mike Slott in fact used to come by with random Irish hip hop records that we would buy and chat away to him. Well they with Hudson and another dude called Reveal started a small night called Lucky Me, and in all honesty it was the only night outside my own I went to as it was actually properly good. They had the best DJs and local MC’s who were killing it at the time, and they asked me to play one night with Hudson, so we had a total jam. By this point Hudson could destroy pretty much anybody at cutting, I was actually nervous and had a good practice session, as I knew I would be put through my paces. In payment I took a free rap from Dom, and kept in touch with them and they asked me if I wanted to be part of the family.

You ran parties at Glasgow School Of Art for a reported 7 years. What music were you pushing? What made you halt the night?

When we started it we were pretty much doing block party hip hop jams on a weekly basis, bringing guests from Rahzel, DJPremier, DJ Rectangle, Dexter, Cash Money etc and it was funny we pissed off a few other hip hop clubs due to the fact we would only charge £3 to a maximum of £5 entry as we wanted everyone just to come and have fun, and they were charging £12 etc for the same gigs, but for us the point was to bring these dudes to our town so people no matter how skint could get to see them. We would have pretty huge guest lists of folk who came all the time, and they loved it, and it made it a hugely successful night, but over time we changed a lot musically, by playing more electro and Bmore that we felt we couldn’t really do that night under that name anymore. It was too different, we weren’t those DJ’s, I mean we still kept it like a block party but the venue were more suited for the older style we did so we decided to end it while it was still big. We had such a good time doing it though.

How are you finding Glasgow now that it’s become some kind of fruitful place for music? More inspiring etc etc?

Glasgow is amazing musically now, it was almost known and an offshoot of Detroit for the techno side of things. Soma had that whole scene sewn up, every week and in fact quite a lot of Detroit dudes were living here and in Edinburgh, I used to play Basketball with Funk D’void and Gene Farris and stuff, there would be crazy techno gods turning up each week. I never even liked techno but I reckon I have been influenced by it in some way as some of the music I make is like techno hip hop, and in fact a lot of the people producing music in Glasgow have similar influences. I think it has really developed well, and I would go as far to say as we kill it!

Your SR mix track list basically mixes up the cream of the current crop of producers. Who are you feeling at the moment (in and out of the scene)? What are you looking for in a tune when you’re making mix tapes?

At the moment my favorite people are Lazer Sword, Eprom, Hov and Lunice, Dam Funk, Krystal clear, Mweslee’s new EP is so musical, Machinedrum is sick… the Night Slugs guys make such good club music, Roska, Kazey still gets heavy plays form me, there is far to many to mention. As for using them on mix tapes, I love mix tapes as it’s a whole different vibe from DJing a club, you can almost turn it into an audio story, chopping between tempo’s and trying to turn it into its own entity. Gawd I sound like a pretentious dick here but that’s just how it is for me, I take it pretty seriously, I need it to sound good 1000 times on repeat, and to make sense musically.

What other projects have you got in the pipeline? What’s happening with you in the rest of 2010?

I am finishing off my own EP for Lucky Me. I was meant to have finished it by Easter but I had a huge college project which demanded I dropped everything else in life for a few months… so I will get that finished, and I have a couple of remixes I need to do, which will be available soon, just keep checking the Lucky Me website for news on those!

Any words of wisdom for our readers?

Do what you do if you love it, don’t if you don’t.

::

DOWNLOAD: Dema – Sonic Router Mix



Tracklist

1. The Blessings – Lungebob
2. Becoming Real – Lapland
3. Terror Danjah – Acid M
4. Dema – Izzle (Gucci mayne Acca)
5. Eprom – Hendt
6. Taz Buckfaster – Wetter is better
7. Kanye West ft Twista – Slow Jamz
8. 8-Bitch – G41 (Rustie Remix)
9. De De Mouse (Hudson Mohawke Remix)
10. Missy Elliot ft Vybes Cartel – Bad Man
11. Dema – 1’000’000
12. Hovatron – Gold Star Radiation (Lando Kal remix)
13. Lazersword – Shot in the night
14. Peter Digital Orchestra – Jeux de Langues
15. Mweslee – Variations pour cx pallas
16. Busta Rhymes – Break ya neck
17. Shlomo – Antigravity (Fulgeance remix)
18. Supa Nova Slom ft Jay ELectronica – True and Living
19. Tiago – Babelfish (Dema’s work it out mix)

Links:
www.myspace.com/demadoggydogg
www.thisisluckyme.com

RECOMMENDED: Kowton - Basic Music Knowledge/Hunger [Idle Hands]

One of the unavoidable issues associated with music blogging, as highlighted so eloquently by Kode9 in a recent interview with Resident Advisor, is for a fickle online community to make out that there’s some kind of revolutionary shift occurring every time a decent new track is released. Unavoidable, because among such a large group of individuals there will always end up being at least one person who hears something extra special in any given release. With that in mind, that the praise has been pretty much universal for Idle Hands’ 12” releases is testament to Bristol’s capacity to nurture unique music. While never claiming to offer radical upheavals, the imprint has consistently put out material that suggests a concentrated distillation of form and function. Each – the rolling technoid mutations of the ‘anonymous’ first 12”, the hypnotic tropicalia of Atki2 and Dub Boy’s anthemic ‘Tigerflower’, and now two slow-mo transmissions from Kowton – is finely-honed evidence of how far UK bass music can deviate from the norm.

In the case of these two tracks from Kowton, what immediately strikes the listener is just how slow they are. We’re used to escalating tempos in nuum music; certain quarters aside, drum ‘n’ bass continues to peak well above the sensible limit, and at the wobbly ends of dubstep some artists are pushing for 150bpm. So it’s a refreshing change to hear a producer slow their music down to a snail’s pace. In this case, these two tracks are a culmination of what Kowton started with his bewitching ‘Stasis (G Mix)’, stretching the beats out to allow ample space for swing and crafting house tracks that flex like garage. ‘Basic Music Knowledge’ does exactly that, brooding darkly over nocturnal pulses of sub-bass and percussion that hesitates just enough to introduce palpable tension. ‘Hunger’ is even better, filled with a sense of twilight yearning appropriate to its title, and so cavernous in depth that it feels far slower than its already soporific pace.

Words: Rory Gibb
Out: Now

Link:
www.myspace.com/narcossist
www.myspace.com/idlehandsbristol

RECOMMENDED: V/A – Tropical Heat Vol. 1 [Myor]

If you’ve visited this page more than once over the last year and however many months its been running you’d have probably noted that there are a couple of pivotal moments in terms of ‘wonky’ that are constantly referred to. Be it the two Up My Alley Beatnicks 12”s (number 3 is reportedly mastered and imminent by the way…), Rustie’s Jagz The Smack EP or either of the Beat Dimensions compilations, we like to give a lot of thanks to the curators for introducing us to a wealth of talent that is now blossoming; people like 1000Names, 00Genesis, Jackhigh and fLako... Or basically the backbone of some of the most interesting ‘beats’ we’ve heard in 2010.

Tropical Heat Vol. 1 comes from the mind and passion of one Coco Bryce - someone we were ecstatic to get interviewed on here recently - and his fledgling Myor imprint. As the ‘Volume’ signifier in the name suggests Tropical Heat is the first in a series of 12” compilations; and featuring 6 producers it wields tracks from Coco himself, the first ever Sonic Router mix giver: Rekordah, Slugabed, Nino, Harmonia signed skwee producer Mesak and Saccage & Insence. With each producer bringing their own particular brand of warped hip hop to the table whether its rooted in skweee or simply in boom bap and madcap quantization, its hard to pick stand outs though personal highlights come in the form of Nino’s funk laden ‘Ready To Rock,’ Sluga’s swampy hysterics on the somewhat contemplative ‘Here You Are’ and Rekordah’s straight banging drum work on EP opener ‘Sometimes.’

The compilation pretty much induces the same kind of excitement that those early Beatnicks 12”s did in me and its unquantifiably reassuring to learn that there are people out there still willing to invest in a physical product for this kind of music. Hopefully the sign of more to come, this collection comes highly recommended.

Words: Oli Marlow
Out: Now

DOWNLOAD: V/A - Tropical Heat Vol 1 - Snippets



Link:
http://20shotsequence.blogspot.com/

EVENT: Dusk & Blackdown present Margins Music LIVE

Dusk & Blackdown’s Margins Music was a concept album of sorts. Based around the different sounds of today’s multicultural London the duo infused their heavily dubstep and grime centric productions with sonic snatches of the non stereotypical London; the micro cultures that exist on the outskirts and in the underbelly of the city. The result highlighted the duo’s ear for melody as much as their passion for new and interesting bass weight and starred emcees Trim, Durrty Goodz and the vocal stylings of Farrah.

If you follow Blackdown’s blog or read his Pitchfork column regularly you’ll know that he’s not really one to sit still or conform to concentric opinions of what underground UK dance music should be like. So much so that he and Dusk are re-interpreting their debut album live on a mini tour of the UK throughout June.

Ahead of the launch night, 5th June at South London’s Albany, we caught up with Blackdown to find out exactly what a ‘live’ performance will entail and to sneak a quick peek at what his Keysound label has forthcoming.

Sonic Router: What are the plans for the live setup? Grander ideas than an Ableton set with a midi keyboard cook off I presume?

Blackdown: The plan is to make something that really works live, that can evolve and change in real time, without sacrificing the physical impact of everything we worked to create in the studio for our DJ sets. The plan is to make something that works visually as it does sonically, so we've enlisted Jonathan Howells who built our video (below) to build something powerful and cinematic. Equally we've enlisted Durrty Goodz, who's got more stage presence than the rest of us put together and Farrah and the other musicians will be performing their parts. Yes we'll be using Ableton but in a way that allows us the freedom to remix on the fly, instrument by instrument, part by part, but also keep the sonic impact of our studio production - especially the drums. We anticipate it will roll like a DJ set - no song breaks - just building and building on the fly. We want to keep it intense, rolling and physical.



Will it be interpretations of the Margins Music album or new material?

Both. The project began as a being centred on Margins Music but in all honesty, for our sake alone, we needed to keep it as fresh and upfront as our DJ sets, so we'll be performing some of our remixes (Geeneus, Scratcha DVA, a Bollywood classic etc) as well as lots of new material. It's about 60/40% right now. Certainly there will be a significant number of new tracks, in new styles and tempos, that most people won't have heard.

What else is coming from you guys musically? I mean Keysound is on it at the mo. Any original productions waiting on the hard drive?

There's always beats on the hard drive, though most of them are being added to the live set right now too... In terms of Keysound the next release after Skream's is the LV 38 EP in May. Up after that is LHF EP1: Enter in Silence... late May, early June. LHF will be supporting us on all the tour dates with a bag of upfront material, alongside other Keysound DJs.



An exclusive dub mix by LV of the 5 tracks from their forthcoming '38 EP' ft Josh Idehen, out in May on Keysound Recordings.

You can catch the Dusk & Blackdown live show on the following dates at the following venues:

5th June @ The Albany
Douglas Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AG
thealbany.org.uk / 020 8692 4446 / £12 advance from ticketweb.co.uk / Doors 8pm

8th June @ Brighton Dome
12a Pavilion Buildings, Castle Square, Brighton, BN1 1EE
brightondome.org / 01273 709 709 / £TBA / Doors 8pm

11th June @ Band on the Wall
25 Swan Street, The Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 5JZ
bandonthewall.org / 08452 500 500 / £10 / Doors 9pm

16th June @ South Street
21 South Street, Reading RG1 4QU
readingarts.com / 0118 960 6060 / £TBA / Doors 8pm

11th Sept @ Kendal Brewery
Highgate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4HE
breweryarts.co.uk / 01539 725133/ £TBA / Doors 8pm



Link:
www.myspace.com/keysoundrecordings

RECOMMENDED: Brackles – 6am El Gordos [Brainmath]

This one sided super limited platter comes to the public from the mysterious Brainmath label who have been carving a ghostly niche of their own over the last year or so with music from a diverse bunch of producers. Zomby, SBTRKT, Spiders, Airhead & James Blake and Untold have all brought tracks to the table that sit with the Brainmath's other worldly aesthetic but never mark it down as just one sound; it's as if the label simply provides a service, an outlet for small nuggets of vinyl brilliance released with no fuss or hyperbole.

The latest release comes from Brackles who as a producer, DJ, Rinse.fm regular, and label curator with Shortstuff for the Blunted Robots imprint has been pushing the flexible broken garage meets UK funky sound, bringing bumpy beats and plenty of energy to the dance. The first Brackles 12” to drop was a quality number called ‘Glazed’ on Berkane Sol which somehow harnessed the grimy attitude of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘I Luv U’ in its bumping’ drum patterns as well as harnessing a deep dubbed out techno-like atmosphere. Well, ‘6am El Gordos’ – named after a Nottingham boozer that saw numerous after parties laced with frantic sets of new and weirdly interesting music which helped shape some of the now prevalent Notts explosion - feels like the tropical cousin of ‘Glazed’. Brackles layers shuffling soca laced kick drums, pulsing bass tones that shake the floor with skipping snares and hats getting quirky on top, with synths that sound like they’ve been made under high air pressure for maximum energy. In typical Brackles fashion he underpins it all with soulful, loved up vocal snatches that bring am exceedingly summery edge to the production.

Words: James Balf & Oli Marlow
Out: Now

Links:
www.myspace.com/brackles
www.myspace.com/brainmathbrainmath

PRE-ORDER: Instra:mental - Lets Talk/Vicodin [nakedlunch]

New 10 inch platter from Instra:mental out now on [nakedlunch].

Read the full review here: http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=7343

Link:
www.myspace.com/instramentaluk

INTERVIEW: Free The Robots [Alpha Pup]

With the LA beats scene getting a veritable banquet of props from publications and blogs like ours over the past couple of years you could be forgiven for getting a little lost in the melee of producers promised by some to re-energize the scene - that incidentally has not shown a single thread of slowing down since I first heard the Beatnicks 12”s back in 2007. As a key proponent of the community feel of the Californian scene, Daddy Kev – a name you might have seen or heard name checked on wax by rappers like Busdriver, Subtitle, The Grouch and Sole – his involvement in the running of the Low End Theory club alongside fellow residents Gaslamp Killer, Nocando, D-Stylez and Nobody and his own Alpha Pup imprint has done a superlative amount for some great producers. He's given a home to many, releasing notable work from Nosaj Thing, Sonic Router bud TAKE, edIT of the Glitch Mob and most recently, (and quite pertinently for this article at least) Free The Robots.

FTR's latest work, Ctrl Alt Delete, follows a self titled Free The Robots album that appeared in 2008, and a collaborative EP with GLK mooted as The Killer Robots. It’s a 13 track opus that rolls through multiple moods and styles flirting with mammoth bass weight on ‘Orion’s Belt Buckle,’ capturing the energy of early Sixtoo productions on opener ‘Sci-Fidelity,’ utilizing the off sync snare beautifully on ‘Turbulence’ and ending up deep in prog rock territory towards the tail end of the album. A record that after a trusted recommendation hit us square between the ears, engaging our brains as much as our neck muscles, so much so we went straight after an interview, intent of giving something we constantly enjoy, the coverage we figured it deserved…

Sonic Router: For those who may not be so up on you, can you introduce yourself and what you do?

The names Chris Alfaro and I make dirty, psychedelic, electronic music under the alias Free The Robots.

What the story behind the Free The Robots moniker?

The name, 'Free the Robots,' was originally a metaphor that represented the state of music at the time I started the project (early 2000’s). It was based on my vision of how the music industry ran before the boom of homemade productions and the rise of the Internet music/social networking age. Back then, everything seemed to follow a bunk system. Majors had a firm grip on peoples mind states when it came to music, and it was very unhealthy for the creative mind. It was like a mass of Robot artists, and Robot fans being fed the same thing from the same source. The story's obviously different these days… The evolution of D.I.Y. culture over the past few years has risen above and taken over. People are setting precedents every day, and doing so right from their own bedrooms. I think it’s beautiful! The Robots have been freed…

Other than that the name just sounded dope to me.

The debut album Ctrl Alt Delete is out on Alpha Pup now. What was the inspiration behind it? What can people expect from it?

At the time I was making it, I was going through a major life transition. With that came a lot of intense feelings. Trying to juggle my priorities and my sanity with my only outlet being music had a serious effect on my creative process and the inspiration for this record. It’s darker, louder, and much more aggressive.



It flips from prog instrumental hip hop, to all out bass line tearouts; it has a real mongrel sound. Why do you think it came out sounding the way it does? I mean has like dubstep been as big an inspiration for you as psych/kraut rock evidently is?

I’m deeply rooted in psychedelic, Kraut rock, dub reggae, jazz, hip hop...etc but over the last few years the energy of the dubstep sound has been undeniable. The aggressive intensity of it was the perfect fit for my mood at the time. It sort of reminded me of how I felt when I was listening to hardcore/punk music back in the day. Extremely heavy, but it can calm your nerves at the same time. The record sounds the way it does because my production process starts without thinking. Whatever I’m feeling at the time is how my music comes out. The mood of the record is an accurate description of my mental state at the time.

The album also has a lot of moments with rich layered melodies but it also manages to chop up the 8 bit, computer game sounds in the same breath. Do you work heavily with samples? Can you explain a little bit about your processes?

Samples weren't the main focus for melodic content of this record. I stirred away from my original, sample-based, format, which forced me to develop myself as a musician. Most of this record is purely original. A good amount of the record started from my, late night, after a long stressful day, recorded improv sessions on my keyboard…no thinking, just feeling, and jamming.

Alpha Pup seems to be killing it in terms of album releases lately. How does it feel to be in such esteemed company?

Alpha Pup to me is just as much a family to me as it is a label. Everyone involved, from the artists to the team behind everything share the right mindset. I have the utmost respect for Daddy Kev as an artist and a label owner. Not only does he get it, he knows how to make it happen.

Your part of a very fertile Californian beats scene… what do you think it is about the music from the area that is so influential?

The synergy between the artists in LA right now is heavier than it’s ever been. With so much talent condensed in a small area, it can only mean progress, and the sounds coming out of the woodworks constantly amaze me. Being surrounded by good music, and good people, and good vibes keeps me inspired to do what I do, and I’m sure it does the same for many artists. One thing is for certain, people are becoming more open minded.

Who else should we be keeping an ear out for?

As far as the next wave of Los Angeles beat makers, definitely Mono/Poly, Tokimonsta, Mathiew David, Teebs, Co.fee & the My Hollow Drum family, Baths, Friends of Friends...all that and much more

Is there any wisdom you’d care to share with our readers?

One thing Ctrl Alt Delete taught me is this: you can learn from your mistakes, scrap it, and move on, or you can come back to that mistake and make something beautiful out of it.

::

Ctrl Alt Delete is out now on Alpha Pup Recordings.

DOWNLOAD: Free The Robots - Orion's Belt Buckle (Right Click/Save As)





Links:
www.myspace.com/freetherobots
http://freetherobots.tumblr.com
http://alphapuprecords.com

DOWNLOAD: Rustie - FWD/Rinse Mix

There’s a big rave happening this Friday at matter. It involves the family behind the immensely influential FWD>> club night and probably the most globally recognised pirate radio station, Rinse.fm. Amongst the line up (which you can see in full on the flyer below) is Glaswegian producer Rustie, whose recent live set at fabric showcased a bundle of new Rustie Rus beats destined for release on his new long player, due sometime in the future on Warp Records.

He’s put a 30 minute mix together in anticipation of the performance which you can kop to brighten your overcast Monday right here...

DOWNLOAD: Rustie – FWD/Rinse Mix (via YouSendIt)

Tracklist:

Four Tet - Sing
Machinedrum - Make Me
Hudson Mohawke - Freek
Brackles - 6am El Gordos
Ciara ft Ludacris - Ride
Ramadanman - Glut
Lazer Sword - Shot in the Night
DJ Dysu - Deegaan
Mussck - I Slay Speakers
Machinedrum - Fresh Kids [Rustie Resmak]
Halp - Leek
8bitch - G41
Mweslee - Eurocarne
Rustie – Hyperthrust



Links:
www.myspace.com/rustiebeetz
http://rinse.fm/
http://ilovefwd.com/

PRE-ORDER: Calibre – Tenopause/Discreet Dub [Deep Medi]

Calibre flexes his dubstep muscles, here making his second outing on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint - the first was a subtle rolling garage-like affair that had all the hallmarks of Calibre’s drum & bass sound as well as Deep Medi’s deepness. Dubstep and d&b have always had a dialogue, whether it be jungle influencing producers to make the music they do today - all be it filtered and fragmented through a different prism - or people from either scene stepping up (or down) to the next domain to give their take on the sound. It’s been a fertile area for creativity with the likes of Instra:mental, Breakage and Kryptic Minds all finding their own voice in the dubstep world and Skream, Scuba and Ramadanman flirting with the quicker notions instilled in drum & bass.

The highlight here has to be ‘Tenopause,’ where Calibre’s knack for subtle rolling percussive bliss is in full effect. The hi-hats draw you in with their fluid forward motion and when they play off the kicks and that addictive bass line pulses with hypnotic energy before flailing off into open space like it’s ricocheted off a passing space cruiser, you’re deep into eyes down zoned out, head nod, arm shake territory. ‘Discreet Dub’ is a more spaced out affair, slowing things down to a half step and upping the atmosphere as the bass seduces you into a state of bliss as it shifts amongst the eerie Middle Eastern melodies.

Words: James Balf
Out: Today

Links:
www.deepmedi.com
www.myspace.com/deepmedi
www.myspace.com/sigrecs1

RECOMMENDED: T++ - Wireless [Honest Jon’s]

So we reach the final transmission from Torsten Profrock’s ever compelling T++ project and as its final notes fade to nothingness it’s difficult not to feel a sense of sadness that his pairing with the Honest Jon’s label has come to a standstill so swiftly; when this one contains his most fully realised music yet. One cursory spin instantly reveals why. Spiralling ominously just within earshot, its source material stalks Wireless, lending these four tracks a sense of hanging dread but also, more importantly, a tangible presence in the physical world. Profrock has certainly taken full advantage of the sampling possibilities the Honest Jon’s back catalogue opened up – the label describes it as a kind of ‘remix project’, as each track has at its heart some of the label’s oldest 78 recordings of African music.

Working with this kind of disintegrating matter couldn’t be more right for T++. His music has always both signified and amplified the processes of decay, deconstructing his influences – techno, jungle, two-step – down to their barest elements before reanimating them with a blast of electricity. His remix of Shackleton’s ‘Death Is Not Final,’ itself a dusty approximation of flesh falling from bones, creaked like the undead: hard and permanent as ancient granite but also fluid, shot through with jittery junglist breaks and irresistible forward momentum. The same is true of Wireless, where he resurrects the musicians who originally recorded these tracks – at this point, who knows whether they’re dead or alive? - and gives each a new and eerily eternal life.

So during ‘Anyi’ voices rise and fall through the mix, accompanied by buzzing melodies that surface only to fall away under the weight of sub-bass and brittle percussion. His production is as gritty as ever, and placed alongside samples with such a weight of history manages to change the properties of his music to something more primitive than programmed. This is deeply ritualistic stuff – the metal wasps that buzz furiously around ‘Cropped’ moan like mourners at a burial rite, while its furiously driven pace brings to mind a macabre Day Of The Dead parade.

Of course, for all its neatly theoretical properties this is still dance music, and it fulfils that role far more directly than any previous T++ material. ‘Dig’ shuffles like garage, driven with hard edged pulses of sub-bass, and ‘Voice No Bodies’ operates on so many levels that it’s almost impossible to know which element your body is tracking. Both haunted and haunting, heady and hugely physical, Wireless is the most complete and rounded release in T++’s catalogue. It’s a shame the project’s come to an end, but if this is anything to go by whatever Profrock does next will be just as exciting.

Words: Rory Gibb
Out: Now

Link:
T++ on Discogs

DOWNLOAD: Spencer/Subeena/Ben UFO - Various Mixes

Co-founder of Wireblock and subsequently the Numbers label, Spencer, helms the latest FACT Mix featuring stone cold Glaswegian classics and plenty of forthcoming material on their new conglomerate label.

DOWNLOAD: Spencer - FACT Mix 143

Tracklist:

The Jonzun Crew – Space Is The Place (21 Records)
Mr Fingers – Distant Planet (Jack Trax)
DJ Gregory – Don’t Panic (Gregory and Karizma Dub) (Defected)
Cybotron – Cosmic Cars (LP version) (Fantasy)
Sully – In Some Pattern (Keysound)
Kraftwerk – House Phone (Warner)
Autechre – Eutow (Warp)
Deadboy – If U Want Me (Numbers)
MJ Cole Crazy Love (Todd Edwards Underground Remix) (Talkin’ Loud)
Roska – Time Stamp (Rinse)
Karizma – Beat Dis (R2)
Sticky – Jumeirah Riddim (Mixpak)
Altered Natives – Raaatid Einstein (Fresh Minute Music)
Ultradyne – E Coli (Warp)
Jan Driver – Rat Alert (Music Man Records)
Roska and Untold – Long Range (Forthcoming Numbers)
Deadboy – Easy (Maybe Forthcoming Numbers / Lost On HD)
Yonurican – Boriken Soul (Yonurican Club Mix)
Mosca – Nike (Club Edit) (Night Slugs)
Anthony Shakir – Spectre (Seventh City)
Addison Groove – Dumbsh*t (Swamp 81)
SRC – Brakedance (Forthcoming Numbers)
Rudekid – London Town (Forthcoming No Hats No Hoods)
Terror Danjah – Limbo (Planet Mu)
Taz Buckfaster – Future Funk (Forthcoming Numbers)
Macabre Unit – Lift Off (Terrorhythm)
Addison Groove – Footcrab (Swamp 81)
Hakan Lidbo – Walk Away (Todd’s Tell Someone Dub) (Loaded)
Untold – No One Likes a Smart-Arse (Hemlock)
Kavsrave – PClart (Forthcoming Numbers)

::



Opit Records boss lady, Subeena, weaves together a mix exclusively comprised of her own productions, which she's never really done before, for the FADER. Reportedly a mix of old and new ish...

DOWNLOAD: Subeena FADER Showcase Minimix

Tracklist:

Subeena – System Message
Subeena – 2080
Subeena – Excuse me
Subeena – Neurotic (Instrumental)
Subeena – Don’t call it anger
Subeena – Unconditional (Instrumental)
Subeena – Analyse
Subeena – Call it Anger
Subeena – Dual
Vaccine – Radiate (Subeena Remix)

::



New mix from Ben UFO for the Austrian Rave, Disko 404. Mixcloud only business at this time... but new bits from T++, Joe, Starkey (remixing Terror Danjah) and Rossi B & Luca are all there...

*UPDATE:

NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD: Ben UFO - Disko 404 Mix

Tracklist:

1. Wookie - Saturn [Manchu]
2. Lemonade - Lifted (Shortstuff Remix) [Unreleased]
3. T++ - Allied [Erosion]
4. Oris Jay - Trippin (2010 Dub) [Gusto]
5. Dong - Sazuran (LV and Quarta330 Remix) [Forthcoming Hyperdub]
6. James Lavonz - Inpractical [FFK001]
7. Joe - Digest [Forthcoming Applepips]
8. Masterstepz - Melody ('98 mix) [Outlaw]
9. Falty DL - Because You [Unreleased]
10. Skream - Untitled [Tempa]
11. Ruff Sqwad - Pied Piper [White]
12. Mala - Level Nine [Hyperdub]
13. Rossi B and Luca - E10 Riddim [Planet Mu]
14. D1 - Murky [Tempa]
15. Hindzy D - Target [White]
16. Shackleton - Shortwave [Skull Disco]
17. Terror Danjah - Air Bubble (Starkey Remix) [Unreleased]
18. Plasticman - Shockwave [Slimzos]
19. Drop It Like It's NOT (Harmonimix) [Unreleased]

PRE-ORDER: Andrea - You Still Got Me/Got To Forget [Daphne]

The Daphne series of 12”s from initially anonymous crossover operators Millie and Andrea – since outed as Modern Love techno heads MLZ and Andy Stott - has proven to be one of the most enigmatic but rewarding label outputs of the last year or so. Their last release saw a shift towards early nineties rave territory, with the manic ‘Ever Since You Came Down’ pitting a pitched-up diva vocal against deftly sliced breaks. Andrea’s first entirely solo outing pushes further in that direction, but rather than summoning up celebratory energy these two tracks seethe with the loneliness of nostalgia. The result is several leagues from Zomby’s heady Where Were U In ’92 album, still out in a muddy field but delving into a darker side where memory begins to blur into dream.

‘You Still Got Me’ is the more immediate of the two, seeming to escalate ever higher as thick slabs of sub-bass swerve around jittery junglist patterns and a hyperspeed vocal refrain. It’s only after two or three listens that it begins to dawn how tortured the protagonist sounds, as her looped "I just can’t stop" begins to rattle uncomfortably like dodgy speed. Alongside wispy ambient pads that drift through the mix like cigarette smoke though strobe lights, the track summons similar phantoms to Burial’s music; but instead of the ghosts of an empty dancefloor these are the ghosts that swarm though peak time, each locked in its own insular space, limbs flailing wildly. ‘Got To Forget’, whilst subtler in form and function, is locked more closely to the hard techno edges of the early Daphne twelves – all pummeling percussion and sudden bursts of pastel colour that cut through the greyscale backdrop like sunrise.

Words: Rory Gibb
Out: Now

Link:
Modern Love Site with audio

INTERVIEW: Dynooo [Mac Fly/Digsville]

Hailing from Ghent in Belgium, Dynooo’s Gum Dragon EP hit us like a slip on the Malvern hills: totally unexpected and embarrassingly public. It was a poignant act out of nowhere, and a strong collection of beats that piqued all kinds of interest from us. Cut from the same cloth as a lot of the new wave of beat producers (I’d list them if I felt like I didn’t give them enough props repeatedly on here anyways…), Dynooo has a strong and awkward sense of hip hop rhythm, absolutely beating out his boom bap rhythms.

After he ‘Rekuttt’ a track from Slugabed’s Planet Mu EP, we hounded him for some dubs and he obliged kindly, sending us an understated zip folder of some of the rawest demos – an act that never goes unnoticed round this IP address and one that is illustrated perfectly in Dynooo’s accompanying Sonic Router Mix – so we sought to seek him out and let him vent.

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info on yourself? Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?

Dynooo: I’m a 27 year old Belgian guy with a caffeine-addiction and a sincere admiration for beautiful women. I like 90’s action flicks, pattern designs, Harold Faltermeyer and stuff that’s often perceived as kitsch. My daily occupation is walking my good friend/pitbull named Cheese and running a concept store.

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?

I wanted to make a demo tape just like the ones I used to buy at the local skate shop. Me and my best friend started a group and I got hold of a CD which had cracked versions of Cool Edit and Photoshop on it. I bought a mic and started rapping.

What’s your production set up like?

Haha; pretty much just a laptop, mic, mixer, some vinyl and a MIDI keyboard. I own a SP 303 but it’s been a while since I messed with it. I still use the same stereo system my parents gave me when I was 12. I don’t know, every time I’ve freed up some cash for decent studio monitors there’s just other bills to pay. Really wanna get a 80’s analog synth tho....

Where do you take inspiration from when making music?

Nostalgia. Anything unusual looking/sounding; could be something I see walking around, a dope record or cool imagery. I try not to get inspired by music just too much, locking myself in the attic works best for me.

Yours is a very contorted and intricate sound. How would you describe it in your own words?

Tough one. I’d say electronic beat music, although I got so many tunes that sound nothing like what’s out there right now. Let’s result to cliché’s on this one. Let the listener decide.

Your Gum Dragon EP was released on the Digsville imprint recently house in your own custom designed sleeve. Tell us a little about the EP, the ‘Fuh Real’ and Richard Colvaen collabos and the artwork?

It’s basically a collection of songs my friends thought were cool enough to release. ‘Fuh Real’ is a song I did with Swedish songstress Naboobia; it’s more of a r&b joint that didn’t end up on the radio as much as we wanted. I did a remix and so did Luigi.

The artwork is a visual representation of the record, electronic but organic, pure but processed, complete but chopped up.

My dude Vaen is from Luik (located in the French-speaking part of Belgium) just like Cupp Cave. We’re three people with a remarkably similar taste in music production. There will be a collab project, this summer I’m definitely going over there for a week or so. Cupp wants to see Mermaids together but I told him ‘no’.

He’s going to shoot me for this.

Is the visual aspect of your art something you’re concentrating on too?

Yes! Glad you asked… I’ve been trying to do more collage work. Designing the Gum Dragon sleeve certainly triggered my desire to do more visual art again. Finding the time is my biggest boggle. I learned that expression from Demolition Man.



What’s the scene for this kind of music like in Ghent, and in Belgium?

There’s none, basically. People are really close-minded, it’s like they just recently accepted unquantized instrumental hip hop and that’s it. Anything more forward-thinking apparently leads to confusion. Then again, I played at an arts academy a couple weeks ago where people were actually dancing and excited about the music, which has given me a spark of hope.
I don’t know what it’s like in other countries but there’s definitely a lot of envy here and the ‘crabs in a bucket’ mentality is mind-blowing (read: frustrating) sometimes.

Your own and run the Mac Fly shop in the city. Tell us about that...

Mac Fly is a small-scale store I started two years ago where you can get music, new/vintage clothing, magazines and accessories. Attached is a community of young music lovers, designers and photographers. On the blog you can read what goes on in and around the shop.

You also run your own Max Fly mix series too right? Whose contributed to it so far?

Let’s see; Jay Scarlett and Fulgeance are the more known names I guess. There’s a couple mixes that really stand out, like the ones from Jar Moff and the Skate & Destroy joint. I did two, as well as all the artwork.

In the mix you’ve submitted for us you hit an 80s boogie and jazz section. Is that something you’re deep into? Does the mix reflect a typical live set from you?

Not really, I usually play about 80% of my own music at live gigs, preferably heavy bass stuff. However I love doing mixes, that way I can showcase music I wouldn’t be able to play in a live situation, work that I think people should get to know about… I do usually sneak some Pretty Ricky, Freeez, Clay D or Mariah Carey in there. Taking things out of its context is fun to me.

Who else in and out of the beats/dubstep scene are you feeling right now?

I can honestly say both Cupp and Vaen are some of my favorite producers, as are Slugabed, Jar Moff, Dimlite, Mwëslee and 16 Bit. Good stuff is always coming from the Lucky Me camp -I’m reaaally looking forward to that American Men record. In other genres: Nite Jewel, Gonjasufi and Beach House. I just started listening to quite some older leftfield African music as well.

Tell us a little about the mix you’ve put together for us…

It’s a blend of all the stuff I’m currently listening to, including unreleased tracks by Kingfisherg, Richard Colvaen, Slugabed and myself.

What else is coming up for you in 2010?

I’m getting offered more and more live gigs (looking for a booking agent, by the way). The thought of going back to art school has crossed my mind; apart from that definitely new releases plus I’m on some compilations coming out soon-ish.



Have you got any words of wisdom for our readers?

When in doubt, dash.

::

DOWNLOAD: Dynooo - Sonic Router Mix



Tracklist:

1. Sotu The Traveller (Dynooo's Candy Wolf Rmx)
2. Dynooo - Cawf Drop
3. Dynooo - Coiiiin
4. Memory Tapes - Run Uut
5. Dynooo - Kemmet Gefixt
6. Kingfisherg - My Uncle Died Calculating Infinity
7. Dynooo - Sayyyeah
8. The Limit - Say Yeah
9. Sharon Redd - Second To None
10. Dynooo - Fuh Real Instrumental
11. 52nd Street - I Can't Let You Go
12. Jar Moff - Track 04
13. Richard Colvaen - Flashback
14. Jadakiss - I Want A Girl Like You
15. Dynooo - Will Flattened (with Richard Colvaen)
16. Neil Landstrumm - Eva
17. Ludacris & Trey Songz - Sex Room
18. H-town - They Like It Slow
19. Slugabed - Goose
20. Artful Dodger & Craig David - Rewind (Dynooo rwrk)
21. Beach House - Norway
22. Dynooo - Meatfish
23. Kingfisherg - Indian Mound
24. Goodbye Home Sweet Home

Link:
www.myspace.com/dyno
www.macflyisthenewblack.com

Photo: Kmeron
Mix Art: Dynooo

RECOMMENDED: Starkey - Ear Drums & Black Holes [Planet Mu]

The sophomore album from Philly producer Starkey, Ear Drums & Black Holes, hit shops on Monday.

Read the full review here: http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=7367

Read the SR penned interview on the fabric Blog here: http://www.fabriclondon.com/fabricfirst/blog/introducing-starkey

UPDATE:



DOWNLOAD: Starkey - RA podcast

Tracklist:

Starkey - 11th Hour - Planet Mu
Kaiser - Polyphonic Pressure
Terror Danjah - Reinforced
Mensah - Acid Dub - HENCH
Spooky - The Devil Within - Oil Gang
Numan - Skull Crusher (Sduk remix) - Slit Jockey
Starkey - Robot Hands
Scratcha DVA - Bullet Dub - Keysound Recordings
Zeno - Test1
Mr. Rogers - Birdbox (Starkey remix) - Innerflight
Starkey - Fourth Dimension - Planet Mu
Stagga - The Park (Draw remix) - Subdepth
Dream McLean - Woo Riddem Freestyle
Gemmy - Da Dodge
Tayo meets Acid Rockers ft. Pupajim - Vampayaa (Starkey remix) - Cool & Deadly
Skinnz & ID - Shimmy - Double Science
Magic Mash - Give Me Some More
Starkey - OK Luv ft. Badness (Eprom's Alternate Mix) - Planet Mu
Alchemyst - Let the Bass (Grimelock remix) - Stainage
Starkey ft. Anneka - Stars - Planet Mu
Foals - This Orient (Starkey remix) - Transgressive
Drake - Over - Cash Money
Baconhead - Ghetto Buffet - Acroplane
Rod Azlan - Jah Live (Starkey remix) - Scion AV
NastyNasty - Damn Girl
SchlachtofBronx - Ayoba (Knight Riderz remix)
Camp Lo - Luchini (Instrumental) - Profile
Kanji Kinetic - Zombies - Senseless
Halp - Leek - Seclusiasis
Starkey ft. Cerebral Vortex & Buddy Leezle - Club Games - Planet Mu
Swindle - Molly - Planet Mu
Numan - Skull Crusher (Capricorn One remix) - Slit Jockey
Starkey - Numb ft. P-Money - Planet Mu

Link:
www.myspace.com/starkey

NEWS: Kode9 DJ KiCKS Tracklisting Announced

Thanks to the invention of twitter it seems nothing is sacred, and therefore half the world (the interested 50% anyway) will be aware of the fact that Kode9 is helming a DJ KiCKS mix for the !K7 label later on this summer.

What couldn't be properly conveyed in 140 characters though, is the complete tracklist:

Kode9 - DJ KiCKS

1. Lone - Once In A While
2. Aardvarck - Revo
3. Kode9 - Blood Orange
4. Kode9 - You Don't Wash (Dub) [DJ-Kicks exclusive]
5. Cooly G - Phat Si
6. Ill Blu - Bellion
7. Ikonika - Heston
8. Scratcha DVA - Jelly Roll
9. Mr Mageeka - Different Lekstrix
10. Grievous Angel - Move Down Low
11. Sticky feat. Natalie Storm - Look Pon Me
12. Sticky - Jumeirah Riddim Sequel
13. Mujava - Pleaze Mugwanti
14. DVA - Natty
15. Aardvaarck - Re Spoken (Nubian Mindz Released Mix)
16. Morgan Zarate feat. Sarah Ann Webb - M.A.B.
17. Rozzi Daime - Dirty Illusions
18. Zomby - Spiralz
19. Kode9 - It
20. J*DaVeY - Mr. Mister
21. Digital Mystikz - 2 Much Chat
22. Terror Danjah - Stiff
23. Digital Mystikz - Mountain Dread March
24. Zomby - Godzilla
25. Digital Mystikz - Mountain Dread March (Reprise)
26. Addison Groove - Footcrab
27. Kode9 vs. LD - Bad
28. Maddslinky - Cargo
29. Ramadanman - Work Them
30. Terror Danjah - Bruzin (VIP)
31. The Bug - Run (feat. Flo Dan)

Note: Kode's 'You Don't Wash (Dub)' is exclusive to the compilation.
Out: 21st June 2010.

Link:
www.myspace.com/kode9

VIDEO: Emika - Double Edge (Pinch Remix)

Ninja Tune artist Emika continues her penchant for roping in dubstep remixes with Tectonic boss Pinch taking up the mantle, after Scuba did before him.

Results below... You can check Emika's orginal here. Its out 10th May.



Link:
www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings
www.ninjatune.net

DOWNLOAD: 2562 - RA Podcast

Dutch producer 2562 is someone you should never let out of earshot for a minute - although once you have done just that, when he returns with something like this its a sheer delight... With his two long playing albums under the numerical moniker (the most recent of which, Unbalance, stole the top spot in our 2009 Retrospective) and his other work as A Made Up Sound, Dave Huismans, is steadily creating a superb back catalogue and his prowess behind the platters is just as press worthy; with his steadfast and sturdy beat matching and impeccably bumpy selection always standing proud.

DOWNLOAD: 2562 - RA Podcast

Tracklist to follow

Look for A Made Up Sound – 'Alarm' b/w 'Crisis' forthcoming on the A Made Up Sound imprint.

Link:
www.myspace.com/2562dub

DOWNLOAD: Greg G [7even Recordings] - The Modulation Mix

French label 7even Recordings have built up an allegiance with quality over their 14 vinyl releases to date. Shedding light on work from producers such as Likhan and Helixir the label released its first full length album, Energy Distortion by F, a month back prompting us to make the producer the subject of our February Quietus column (grab his exclusive SRQ010 mix and read the feature here) on the strength of our hankering for it.

Originally put together by label honcho, Greg G, as a bonus for those who purchased F’s album in a certain branch of Japanese record shops, ‘The Modulation Mix’ has since been expanded upon a little to incorporate “current 7even dubs with some forthcoming releases as well. It’s got some exclusive tracks from the forthcoming Helixir's album too" - which Greg assures us should be out around September this year.

DOWNLOAD: Greg G – The Modulation Mix



Tracklist:

Helixir – Atlantis
Helixir – Summertime
Dogboy – Mellow
Dogboy – Medusa
Helixir x G.Rina – Let You Drive
Helixir – Space Travelling
Joaan – Nocturnality
F – The Departure
Joaan – 115 State
F – Fragments
Helixir – Black Cat
Likhan – Victoire

+ there’s a free DL of Helixir & G.Rina’s ‘Let You Drive’ track which appears in the mix here:

DOWNLOAD: Helixir x G.Rina’s - Let You Drive



Link:
www.7evenrecordings.com

LISTEN: Sonic Router on Hivemind.fm

Made up of a potent stew of some of Bristol and the South West's most vital music collectives, Hivemind.fm is a brand new internet radio station representing a collective train of thought and a passion for innovative and fresh electronic music worldwide.

We've been invited to be a part of it so if you're at your computer between 10pm - 12am GMT - TONIGHT - lock into http://hivemind.fm to catch the debut live show from us. Alongside the mandatory idle on mic patter we'll be rocking some exclusive Sonic Router mixes (that aren't up online yet) from Belgian beat maestro Dynooo and Lucky Me affiliate Dema, amongst other bits...

LISTEN: Sonic Router on Hivemind.fm TONIGHT between 10pm-12am

Available to stream online or on your iPhone.

For shouts/insults log into the chatroom or hit us on the twitter @sonic_router

PRE-ORDER: Pursuit Grooves - Foxtrot Mannerisms [Tectonic]

In past interviews, Tectonic head honcho Pinch has spoken about there being a well-defined Tectonic ‘sound’ – records that fit its ethos, and those that don’t. The fact that the label has always focused on the deeper, more traditionally ‘dubstep’ end of the bass spectrum might have suggested that its particular sound was locked into that trajectory; so it’s great, if a little surprising, to see his A&R skills branching out with Pursuit Grooves’ Fox Trot Mannerisms taking up the mantra as Tectonic’s first defiantly non-dubstep release, with the New Yorker weaving together a set of curious and beguiling electronic soul hybrids.

There’s still a certain something shared with the rest of the label’s output though. Call it intention, but perhaps what Vanese Smith’s music has in common with Pinch, Peverelist and the rest of the Tectonic roster is a sense of purpose, and an unwillingness to rush in order to reach its destination. As a result this mini-album’s most immediate song, opener ‘Pressure’, is also one of its most languid with Smith’s half-sung, half-whispered chatter drifting in space above lounge pianos and sparing hip-hop grooves. ‘Mister Softee’ is as much a piece of modern jazz as anything else, its spaced-out keys recalling the wide-open vistas of Bitches Brew, and the delicately pieced together haze of ‘Whisper’ is almost delirious in its feverish hyperreality. Hers is undeniably soul music though – released on the same day as the second of Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah albums, it’s possible to align the two’s common ancestry and shared intent.

The other aspect Fox Trot Mannerisms shares with its label’s UK counterparts is a sense of the urbane. Although ‘Tweezers’ could almost be described as pastoral, with its fuzz of distant clicks akin to the chirps of nighttime crickets, Pursuit Grooves’ music has a strong affinity with city life. It’s a balmy summer evening’s breeze through suburban streets, or a twilight headphone stroll through a dodgy area of town where the music acts as a barrier to the real world – or, in the case of the dubstep-tinted ‘Start Something’, vividly enhancing the surrounding environment.

Words: Rory Gibb
Out: Now



London heads can catch Pursuit Grooves at the first instalment of Pinch's new Tectonic residency at fabric on the 11th June, where she'll be playing live alongside sets from Pinch, Skream, Kuedo and DJ ThinKing.

Links:
www.myspace.com/vjsmith
www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

INTERVIEW: Simon/off [Haunted Audio]

After a relatively low key release on US label, Haunted Audio, we were taken aback by the intricate drum work of Austrian producer Simon/off. Delving deeper into his world we found fans in the Immerse and Surface Tension imprints and somewhere along the line we located a tough as over cooked lamb recording of one of his live sets that's had repeated spins at SR HQ.

With a new EP for the Haunted label just out and numerous other projects bubbling we felt it was time to reel him in for a pop quiz.

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Simon/off: My name is Simon, I'm 32 years old, living in Austria/Graz (which is the 2nd biggest city). I've been making music and DJing for quite a while.

Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?

I consider myself as a chilled, down to earth person. I'm working part time in an art association/gallery, so I still have enough time for music...

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?

I started as a young kid experimenting with tape decks, microphones and keyboards together with my younger brothers. There was no certain moment where I decided to start making music... it just came very naturally. There were a few years during high school when I was too stressed to keep on with it. Then I got a tracker program when I was 17 and from that moment on my old passion was back. Around that same time I went to my first rave parties. Jungle hit me hard and I got obsessed with it. I started buying records, DJing, working in a record shop; kind of a that classic way.

What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?

For production I´m using basically an almost 6 year old laptop which crashes like 2 times a day .. haha. No midi keyboard, no nothing, just a mixer and monitors and decks for sampling. Over the years, I've collected some gear though but I'm currently not using it. Maybe the analog days will come back one day.

When playing my live-sets I remix/arrange my tunes with Ableton and some analog guitar fx and an Akai mpd24.

Where do you take inspiration from when making music?

Sometimes it really feels the other way around. Like music is inspiring my life or maybe it is more like a daily routine; but in a good way. And it's also a catalyst of what is happening around me; it helps to transcend daily life and impressions to another level... if that makes sense?

I just could not imagine living without music.

How would you describe your sound? You seem to take a few pointers from the 2562 school of rhythm construction...

I really like what he does, especially with his A Made Up Sound moniker but my influences go back to early broken beat stuff (before it became too jazzy): Nubian Mindz, 2000 Black, Bitasweet, Archive. 70s german pre-electro, 60/70s Jazz, early Rephlex and Warp days and way more... So basically it's a big old mix up.


Simon/off - Something In The Way (Unreleased)

How’s the scene over in Austria? Does the place inspire you musically?

Most of the time it's really good over here, we have some highly motivated promoters with good taste who are trying to push fresh sounds... Good venues with good systems and there are 2 big festivals in my home town alone (Elevate and Spring). The crowd is open-minded, no crews fight against each other etc. I can't say how my environment is directly inspiring my music because that's maybe more an unconscious thing. I have a few lovely people around with whom I can share my musical thoughts and that's important I guess.

You’re in a group Winterstrand right? Tell us a little bit about that if you wish...

Winterstrand is my 2 brothers and me... its melodic listening electronic; sometimes a bit folky sometimes dubby, sometimes dark... We are kinda trying to keep up with the somehow naive approach we had back in our childhood. So it's about not too much thinking, it’s just about playing and about melodies. We made like tons of music, we still have tapes from when I was 8. Around 2004 we started to release on various (Net)labels, mostly free and downloadable.

We did 3 albums and some remixes and compilations in the past years but we've been a bit lazy lately. Check http://winterstrand.net for links and downloads and some info. The whole Netlabel thing also lead me to a solo-release on Martsman's Label Plainaudio and that helped me being more confident with what I'm doing without my brothers.

What music are you feeling right now from inside and outside the scene?

I'm still haunting a lot of Broken Beat/West London stuff. The production level from that era is just awesome and this sound fits just perfectly into my sets right now. Some of the big labels like Hessle, Hyperdub, Immerse, Hemlock, Tectonic and some others are just bringing out a ridiculous amount of good music. The Blunted Robots/Night Slugs/Berkane Sol/strange sort of funky universe is amazing as well. And recently I got this Tek9 double 12" from 94´ called ‘Jus A Likkle Sumting’ – killer!

I’m not mentioning the non-dancefloor stuff… I'm buying King Tubby as always! And lately I checked again the soul/funk section of my record collection: Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scot Herron are true heroes!

You’ve had a couple of releases on the Haunted Audio label from the US. Tell us a little bit about how you linked with them? And can you take us through what you’ve had out to date?

They simply contacted me through the Sub.fm chat and asked if I wanted to do something with them. Altogether, sending tunes, signing and releasing ‘Think for Yourself’ b/w ‘Realize it’ (HAR101) happened within a couple of weeks. It's really a pleasure to work with them as they are open-minded, passionate, supportive and just honest and straight peeps. Out now is the ‘Resist EP’ (HAR110) which contains 3 tracks from my more minimal and techy side to 808 bass driven half-time stuff. Another tune called ‘Dread Control’ should be out soon as well.

Buy people buy!!! The rent is due. Haha :D

What's coming up for you in the rest of 2010?

I have a 12" forthcoming on Immerse, another 12" & a digital release on Surface Tension plus some tunes on Paradise Lost, Laridae and probably more on Haunted Audio. Out now is the second part of the Echodub Loves… compilation with one of my tracks called ‘Trip to Luca.’

After taking a little break from playing live this winter I should be back on track with live gigs in the 2nd half of this year. Meanwhile I'm DJing in and around Austria. Next dates are on the 23rd with Ark and 30th of April with Ben UFO at Disko404 in Graz.

Can you tell us a little bit about your mix... what tracks just had to be in there and how do you think it compares to your club sets?

When DJing in clubs I play vinyl only so this mix is more of a showcase of (digital) stuff I got sent by friends, some of my own stuff and tunes I stumbled across on the web. I’m also pushing some of the Austrians here... especially IZC who with his Dubsquare label is releasing some great music right now. Sound wise its comes quite close to an usual DJ set; some funky influence, some broken beat, some weirdo-style, some minimalistic 2 steppy stuff, some Techno + a few anthems ;)

Any words of wisdom for our readers?

Hahaha... I somehow mistrust wisdom spread on blogs so I’ll keep my mouth shut. Book me, pay me a drink and maybe I will then share some wisdom with you. ;)

::

DOWNLOAD: Simon/off – Sonic Router Mix



Tracklist:

01 Fontarrian - Snow (myspace.com/fontarrian)
02 D.Hafner - Tole Numerique (unreleased)
03 Simon/off - Niger Delta (unreleased)
04 Tri Funk - 689.20 (Anti Social forthcoming)
05 Wahoo - Make Them Shake - HxdB Bootstep Rmx (soundcloud.com/hexadecibel)
06 Simon/off - Exit Space (Surface Tension forthcoming)
07 Pacheko & Pocz - Cohete (Shockout forthcoming)
08 Seiji - Rumpus (seiji.co.uk)
09 Lurka - Cairo (unreleased)
10 Simon/off - No Pills (Immerse forthcoming)
11 Simon/off - Cloudy Dub (unreleased)
12 Luthor - Diamond Cutter (Haunted Audio)
13 Ca.tter - Waiting for the Sun (Unreleased)
14 El Rakkas - Extremly Cheap and Effective (Dubsquare forthcoming)
15 Ca.tter - Babypolitics (Dubsquare forthcoming)
16 Lurka - Robots (unreleased)
17 Simon/off - In Circles (unreleased)
18 Duncan Powell - Pushing (2nd Drop forthcoming)

Links:
www.myspace.com/simonoff
www.soundcloud.com/simon-off
www.hauntedaudio.com

PRE-ORDER: Egyptrixx - The Only Way Up EP [Night Slugs]

It seems pretty hard to deny that 2010 is looking set to be the year of the Night Slug. On top of Mosca’s stunning Square One EP and a pair of dancefloor-heavy white labels on their own label, Bok Bok & Bubbz’s mighty ‘Citizens Dub’ has made a recent appearance on Blunted Robots and since has become something of a crossover anthem. Such an unstoppable run of releases has ensured that Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 have made a swift shift from largely unknown to figureheads for a new group of bassheads. Once again, it’s largely been down to the power of the internet, and the fact that the sort of tracks both produce are appealing to DJs far beyond the confines of London.

There certainly seems to be a wider movement towards funky-inspired soca beats across the board, at times even tacked onto the kind of buzzsaw elastic noize that made the whole fidget house thing so exhausting. The second track on Night Slugs’ second ‘proper’ release, The Only Way Up EP from Toronto’s Egyptrixx, is a frustrating example. Entitled ‘Everybody’s Bleeding’, it shifts gear from a carefully restrained opening segment to an entirely unsubtle, heavily filtered drop, and in doing so moves the label’s goalposts further than ever before from simple UK-centric sounds. It’s a shame that in this case the track feels as though it strips away the careful nuances of the best funky in favour of cheap thrills.

The rest of the EP fares far better. Kingdom’s remix of ‘Everybody’s Bleeding’ reintroduces the feminine pressure the original sorely lacks, imagining it as a militaristic sub-led stomp akin to some of Cooly G’s recent Dub Organizer music. The title track is a deliciously downbeat space-synth epic, and Ikonika’s remix keeps its melodic core entirely intact but rebuilds it as a slowly unfurling post-garage shuffle. Most interesting of all is Cubic Zirconia’s remix. Instead of merely rehashing ‘The Only Way Up’ into yet another dancefloor shape, the Brooklyn band use it as the foundation for an entirely different vocal-led song, Tiombe going all ‘Kool Thing’-era Kim Gordon over a tightly-wound punk-funk backdrop. There’s a palpable feeling that this branching out will prove to be merely the tip of the Night Slugs iceberg – even if the results aren’t always fantastic, it seems unlikely they’ll be any less than intriguing.

Words: Rory Gibb
Out: Now

Link:
www.myspace.com/africaforyou

PRE-ORDER: Joker - Tron [Kapsize]

"Everytime I play Tron by @Jokerkhk I get the same response. Ur a genius mate!" - @mrroska

This one has legs.

Read the full review here: http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=7317

Links:
www.myspace.com/thejokerproductions
www.kapsize.com

DOWNLOAD: Mount Kimbie - Serged (FaltyDL Remix)

The production duo of Kai Campos and Dom Maker have carved out something very special, with their two 12” releases to date under the Mount Kimbie alias. Releasing on Scuba’s Hotflush imprint – a label somewhat affiliated with dubstep and all its mutating forms - they've carved a highly successful niche without coating everything in an overtly shimmering gloss, sometimes leaving their track's snare drums space to snapple, letting them sometimes seethe offbeat momentarily.

Hotflush are set to release a duo of remix EPs from Kimbie shortly and ahead of their physical release the FaltyDL remix of 'Serged' is being made public (for the price of an email address). Here's what SR wrote about the EPs in last month's URB.com column:

"Comprising of refixes from the 2 Kimbie EPs to date there are versions of 'At Least,' 'Maybes' and 'Serged' by half time d&b dons Instra:mental, James Blake and FaltyDL respectively on the first 12” and interpretations of “Vertical” and “William” by SCB – Scuba’s militant house and techno guise – and Tama Sumo & Prosumer on the 2nd plate. Other than the obvious – my position deep in the colon of James Blake is patently well documented if you’re adept enough to use google at even a novice level – it’s the versions by Instra:mental and Tama Sumo & Prosumer, especially the latter, that really make each EP worth punting for."

DOWNLOAD: Mount Kimbie - Serged (FaltyDL Remix)

Link:
http://www.myspace.com/mountkimbie

PRE-ORDER: Pariah – Detroit Falls/Orpheus [R&S] & Fantastic Mr Fox – Brandy /Pariah – Badu [White]

London based producer Pariah’s debut 10” has been in the works for a while now, making its impression felt on all right the airwaves and publications and this release sees him drop his first original artist works to date. After his spaced-out garage re-work of indie darlings The xx and his refix of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Under The Sheets’ we get two opposing slices of his style.

‘Detroit Falls’ twists Motown soul into a lazy hip hop drum structure as he fractures aspects of the original vocal, chopping snatches of it over the piano riff and his bonus spacey bubbling synth melodies. The real highlight is the rolling medative garage displayed on ‘Orpheus’; sitting somewhere between the spectral 2step of Burial and the bumping dance floor styles of Scuba and the soul of FaltyDL - its deep and introspective but with simultaneous flex and and serious hypnotic bass tones.

Pariah’s also set to be popping up in online shopping carts the globe over with his bootleg refix of Erykah Badu’s ‘On & On’ which is getting a white label release on the the back of Fantastic Mr Fox’s remix of Brandy. Both artists make a uniquely off-centre, wistful and melancholy garage-esq take on some R&B big guns in fine style and not only are they fun counterparts to the artist’s original work but they also bring some serious soul to the dance floor.

Words: James Balf
Out: Shortly/Now

Links:
www.myspace.com/pariahbeats
www.rsrecords.com
www.myspace.com/fmforigami

INTERVIEW: Coco Bryce [Lowriders]

First appearing on a split 12” with Sonic Router bumboy Slugabed, Coco Bryce has slowly taken up residency on the HQ’s mainframe computer. Managing to fuse a clean emphatic skweee sound with rougher more boom bap drum work he gets the best out of his bumps on tracks like ‘Boesoek’ (available to stream on his myspace) and ‘Ghetto Freaks’ which appeared on Harmonia’s International Skweee Vol 2 compilation late last year.

After a run of sweet ass mixtapes, including an outing for Musique Large's La Mixette series, the Dutch producer now rolls with the Lowriders Collective - a positively music besotted bunch of party promoters, mixtape makers and bloggers - and has a frankly frightening amount of forthcoming releases so, ahead of his appearance at the Donky Pitch night later this month we stole him away from his outdoor life and sucked him deep into his computer’s circuitry to answer a few burning questions.

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Coco Bryce: I’m still a messenger boy 3 days a week, though I’ve also been a skater for a long, long time.. not too fanatically nowadays, but i never really quit and can still rock a pretty decent switch heel… I've been spending a big chunck of my spare time on the interwebb lately, running a half-assed blog: 20shotsequence.blogspot.com and chatting on Facebook with Halp & V.C.

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?

My uncle (who's a REAL musician, unlike myself..) gave me a Roland TR 505, and I'd already been DJing for a couple years before that, so trying to do some tunes seemed a pretty logical step. I bought a couple of cheap synths and more drum machines, stuck whatever sounds I wanted to be distorted in the mic entrance on my Numark DJ mixer and made a bunch of horrible sounding tekno records like that. I didn't have a sequencer (Cubase or anything) to edit the overall tunes, so most of it was live recordings. also got myself a bootleg copy of Rebirth (Reason's predecessor which consisted of nothing more than a 303 & 808 software version clone) somewhere along the way and Fruity Loops of course.

Where do you take inspiration from when making music?

… Mostly other music; could be something I hear on the radio/internet or being at a party and hearing some fresh sounds. Sometimes it's hearing something in a movie I think might sound good as a sample in a tune; or getting some fresh sample packs will usually get the creative juices flowing a bit as well.. If I find myself at a dead end I'll sometimes put a CD into my computer and start cutting up random bits n bobs and see what comes out.

How would you describe your sound?

It’s pretty much all over the place I guess… lately a lot of hip hop & 8 bit bleep influenced stuff… somewhere between bad Slugabed rip-offs and even worse Dabrye copies… some Skweee tunes which are a bit cleaner sounding… and a bit of mid 90's style rave breakbeat; Iused to be a big "Knite Force" fan boy and I guess it never left…

Release wise, what can people go out an buy from you?

Ok in the shops now there’s Myor 02 (a split 12” with the Slugalicious one), Myor 03 (a split 7” with Artek/S.Y.Z.), the ‘Ghetto Freaks’ track on Harmönia 10 (International Skweee Vol 2 compilation LP) and remixes for Pixelord released digital-only on Error Broadcast.

And forthcoming:

-Myor 04 compilation EP (full compilation features tracks from Rekordah, Slugabed, Mesak +)
-Lowriders 002 EP (with remixes by 1000names & Pixelord)
-Fremdtunes, collab tune with Dj Mace
-Mässy compilation cd (1 or 2 tunes)
-Dodpop compilation cd (1 tune)
-Astro:Dynamics compilation cd (new label by Rekordah, with tunes by Mike Slott, Sluga, Clause Four, Rekordah, Tapes and a lot more)
-Lowriders digi comp.
-A remix for Niño which will be released on a limited 7" by Galleta records (with a Mweslee remix on there as well)
-Lo Fi Funk compilation double LP (1 tune)
-A remix for Pixelord (breakbeat rave) released digitally on Car Crash Set
-A collabo tune with AK Kids for their "featuring" album.

What else is coming up for you? You got any gigs in the pipeline?

Yeah, April 10th at Motel Mozaique with the Lowriders crew in Rotterdam (+ Hud Mo, GLK, Dam Funk), then April 15th at Donky Pitch vs Lowriders, Brighton and May 8th at Europe Mania festival in Pecs, Hungary.

Plus, I'm now ‘officially’ a member of the Lowriders crew, so all their parties + a residency at a local club here in Breda called De Boulevard, on every first thursday of the month.



Got any wisdom for our readers?

I'll get back at you on that when I've thought of something witty to say…

::

DOWNLOAD: Coco Bryce – Donky Pitch Mix (via Zshare)

Tracklist:

1. Space Dimension Controller – The Love Quadrant
2. Phoenix – Listzomania (Classixx Mix)
3. Beem – Automan
4. Rigas Den Andre ft Dan Draper – Drugs Don’t Work
5. Onra & Quetzal – Give Something
6. Ill Suono – Moment of Sympathy (Nobody Remix)
7. 1000Names – Cup Of Joy
8. Black Milk – Outro (Coco Bryce Edit)
9. Caribou – Melody Day (Four Tet Remix)
10. Caribou – Melody Day

::

Catch Coco Bryce at Donky Pitch vs Lowriders in Brighton next Thursday alongside a plethora of great people:



Facebook Event

Link:
www.myspace.com/cocobrycebeats