Going a long way to justify the hype, Night Slugs had dancefloor anthems coming out of their ears last year. From an outsider’s perspective it was more than pretty impressive to consider that all these tunes - Girl Unit’s ‘IRL’ and ‘Whut,’ Mosca’s sprawling epic ‘Nike’ and ‘Square One,’ Jam City’s ‘Ecstacy Refix’ and Velour’s ‘Booty Slammer’ – stemmed from the same label. Refining that output they’re kicking off a new year with their first artist album - which follows fresh in the wake of their endlessly impressive Allstars Volume 1 compilation released late last year – produced by the most stylistically consistent artist to grace the label to date, Egyptrixx.
The Toronto native picks up where his The Only Way Up EP left off; his sound spreading itself thicker across the full length sized canvas. Having dabbled a lot with noise in various forms - playing in bands as well as being a classically trained pianist – all his experience seems to feed into his current manoeuvres within dance music. You can hear that noisy dissonance in the oozing syths but it’s paired with bright, slow burning melodies and it all manages to come together into one flowing cohesive structure. It’s a subtle, more melancholy vision that he presents across this album, opting for his own manner of depth rather than the outbursts of joy personified by other, more anthemic Night Slugs releases.
Finding a sonic cousin in Ikonika’s debut album, Contact Want Love Have, released on Hyperdub last year – they both share a hyper colour sense of fun and melody - Bible Eyes is a woozy exploration of sound. There are plenty of highlights: ‘Start From The Begining’, ‘Liberation Front’ and ‘Fuji Club’ all show off different facets of Egyptrixx’s sound; the opener is all seasick piano and spaced out percussion and brooding synth-scapes that wouldn’t feel to out of place alongside Oneohtrix Point Never or Knox-Om-Pax. One of the more dance floor leaning tracks ‘Liberation Front’ twists itself into more extreme shapes, while ‘Club Fuji’ is a hard hitting, sub-loaded but spaced out grime-like effort.
There’s a big lean toward the bastardized house direction on this album; the listener is often fed relentless 4x4 kicks broken up with rhythmic ticks and spaced out excursions into slow-mo colourful dubstep. And for the most part Bible Eyes gives off the air of a house album, or a more twisted take on one at least, but at times there’s almost a trance-like quality at work here too, like he decided to chop and screw stadium filling synths from Tiesto, transplanting them into underground 2011.
Competently displaying that both Night Slugs and Egyptrixx can step into the album format with ease – something that I wasn’t sure would be such a smooth transition – Bible Eyes is a fine album that wont bang you over the head with wall to wall bangers. It’ll ease you into a heat wave soaked colourful dimension that’s surprisingly comfortable. Deep and hypnotic without ever retreating up its own bass funnel, there’s still plenty of Night Slug’s trademark bite, it’s just presented across a very stringent sound palette by one of their most talented artists.
The 3rd in the line of Sonic Router podcasts for Bleep.com went live yesterday...
Featuring our look back at the past month of releases it includes work from Pearson Sound, Scuba (and a troupe of remixers including FaltyDL and Joe), Joker, Mosca, Lukid, A Made Up Sound and so much more.
"...I just don’t think there’s anything more righteous than a heavy brass section really."
Read the Sonic Router penned interview with Night Slug's prog monolith Mosca over on the fabric Blog and download his epic 80 minute mix, made in promotion of his upcoming date at fabric on the 6th August for Club Autonomic.
Blawan - Potchla Vee [Unreleased] Rubi Dan - Pelvic Floor (Acapella) [Unreleased] Mosca - Tilt Shift [Forthcoming Fat City] Deamonds - Tilt Shift Crooks [Unreleased] Keke Palmer - Super Jerkin' Equinoxx - Infantry Riddim (Version) T'Nez - Normal Day (Infantry Riddim) Kemikal - Hear Mi Nuh (Infantry Riddim) Navino - Put It On (Infantry Riddim) Terre Thaemlitz - Radio Freedom Ramadanman - Grab Somebody [Unreleased] G.O.D Limited – Bounce Kismet - Loose Screw [Unreleased] DJ Deekline & Red Polo - Let It Bump (Hydroz Remix) Menta - Sounds Of Da Future Braiden - The Alps [Forthcoming Doldrums] Seany B - Bass Release DJ Technics - Hoody Hood Rat Riva Starr – Maria Funkystepz - Leave With You [Unreleased] Dwongo Lab - 60 Seconds Pariah - Crossed Out Ramadanman & Midland - More Than You Know Alison Hinds - Roll It Gal (Acapella) Doc Daneeka - Hold On [Forthcoming Ramp] T Williams - Drumstrumental [Unreleased] Imran Khan – Amplifier Frankie Bones – Beware J2K Ft Roses Gabor - Don't Let It Go [Unreleased] Mosca - Brand New Polaroid Loefah - Fire Elements Jaimeson - Urban Hero Darqwan – Confused Tubby vs Footsie - Tiger Style Joe – Digest JME Ft Tempz - CD Is Dead (Acapella) Youngstar - The Formula TRC Ft Z.O & Bonez - Bang (DJ Q Remix) [Unreleased] General LOK - Elmo Riddem CRST - Dance (Mosca Remix) [Forthcoming No Hats No Hoods]
If you’ve been listening to the recent Sonic Router radio shows on Hivemind.fm you’ll have noticed a bunch of tracks - work by the likes of George Fitzgerald, Hypno - credited as forthcoming on Brownswood Electr*c. Well, the goose is cooked, crackly on the outside and suitably juicy across the innards and we’re happy to be able to reveal the info... It’s a new compilation put together by Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label as somewhat of an ode to the bass led continuum you’ll find playlisted on his BBC Radio 1 show. One of the collections most charming indulgences is its breadth; refusing to stick to a template and joining the metaphorical dots between styles, languages and producers like 16Bit, Rockwell and Leathertte it’s a substantial and informative listen, collating work by some of last year’s breakout stars (Mount Kimbie and Mosca), producers on the rise (Eliphino, Rockwell, Clueless) and Sonic Router favourites (devonwho, B Bravo, Pearson Sound and Hypno).
Ahead of the compilations release on the 28th June, we grabbed five with the CD’s compiler, one third of London DJ clique Patchwork Pirates and Brownswood demigod, Alex Stevenson.
Sonic Router: So... Brownswood Electr*c yeah? Whats the deal? Obviously Gilles has embraced a lot of this newer music championing people like Mount Kimbie, JoyOrb etc of late, so what’s the inspiration behind the compilation?
Alex Stevenson: You know how it goes, all you need to make electronic music these days is a scraggedy computer, some free software and a good idea. Unfortunately 95% of the bedroom producers out there are lacking the latter component, but there’s still a very healthy movement of free-thinking artists operating just under the radar and making really great music. What’s more, the boundaries between so-called “hip-hop”, “house”, “techno”, “dubstep” and “drum & bass” have never been so blurred. There’s a lot of cross-fertilisation and hybridisation (haha – can’t believe I said hybridisation – is that a word?) But that’s the key isn’t it? It’s at these crossings, junctions and awkward intersections where the most inspiring and stirring sound clashes occur… and those are the joints that grab Gilles’ attention. As you rightly point out, Gilles supports this “sound” heavily in his radio shows and DJ sets (I think he calls it something slightly comical like “future motion beats”) and so I suggested that he do a compilation of his favourite tracks, to which he responded: “Good idea… you know more about it though, so why don’t you do it.” So I did.
And similarly, what’s the thinking behind the selection of producers...? Is it all people Gilles has supported played etc?
There’s a nice blend of established artists and hitherto undiscovered talent on the CD I think and yes, Gilles has supported practically all of the featured artists at some point in the last year. We wanted to represent the full rainbow spectrum of electronic goodness so it was important to nod to that low-slung hip hop vibe, the burgeoning “funky” sound, house/techno, dubstep in its myriad forms and, of course, drum & bass. Ramadanman aka Pearson Sound has consistently been one of Gilles’ favourite producers over the past couple of years so it made perfect sense to include ‘Wad’ – one of his finest moments to date in our opinion. We wanted to try to bring something new to the table though; I think people expect that from Gilles and Brownswood, so for many folks this will be the first time that they hear Eliphino, B.Bravo, George Fitzgerald, Clueless or KiEnRa.
Brownswood has a strong presence in the compilation sphere, with five Bubblers compilations to date. What do you think makes this one different from those that have come before?
The Brownswood Bubblers compilations are really just an indulgence for Gilles to highlight some of his favourite new, obscure or unfairly overlooked music from the Worldwide underground on a jazz/hip-hop/soul tip. Basically stuff that he’s been playing a lot on his radio shows. The latest volume features everyone from globetrotting boogie monster Dam-Funk to Tobago’s calypso queen Calypso Rose via Daru & Rena, Analog Monsta, Trilogy and fLako. With Bubblers and Brownswood Electr*c the notion of giving folks some new shit that they haven’t heard before is exactly the same, it’s just that with Electr*c we’re focusing on a particular area of dance music that we’ve been really excited about of late.
Where do you think Electr*c fits, given that it’s not 100% dubstep focused? Like do you think the fact that it isn’t, is a major strength?
Yep – I think that the fact that Brownswood Electr*c isn’t focused solely on dubstep is a distinct advantage. Like I mentioned before, it was a conscious decision to reflect the spectrum of styles and tempos represented in Gilles’ radio shows and I hope that that inclusive attitude will be embraced by the music buying public.
We just want to share our excitement for this inventive spirit and fusion with fans of electronic music in general… folks who want to scratch the surface and see what’s hiding underneath.
There are some awesome pieces of music included, (Hypno, Rockwell, Pearson Sound, George Fitzgerald stand up), yet everyone seems on the precipice level if you get me, like on the edge of bigger things. Was it a conscious thing to keep it a bit more underground?
Yep, definitely. I think folks expect that new, new shit from us and I wanted to keep things as fresh as possible. Rockwell – alongside dBridge and Instra:mental – has really re-ignited my interest in drum & bass in the past year. I nearly pooped my pants when I first heard that ‘Underpass’ track, then he dropped a great EP on Critical and did a killer remix of Jose James for us too. Hypno is one of those dudes seemingly sitting on the fringes of UK funky, dubstep and techno – he featured on Elevator Music and has an EP coming on new Ramp sub-label PTN. ‘Over The Top’ is a banger, plain and simple. George Fitzgerald is coming through quickly too, he’s got forthcoming 12”s for Doldrums and Hotflush – ‘Painted Jezebel’ is exclusive to Electr*c though. SHAZAM!
What are some of your highlights from the CD...? Are there plans to do more?
Let’s not forget the likes of Clueless (a Norwegian chap who makes 2-step reminiscent of classic El-B productions), KiEnRa (the criminally underrated Estonian beathead) and Lazer Sword’s Low Limit (bringing his techno game). Personally, Letherette’s neatly julienned ‘Blad’ is a highlight. But it’s ALL good. There’s no filler here – we gave it 110% - hahaha!
As for plans to do more – I guess if we manage to shift more than 7 copies and folks seem to be down with it, then the bosses will be up for another chapter. We’ll have to wait and see. I sincerely hope so, there was so much good shit, we could have done a double CD!
Full Tracklist:
01. B. Bravo – Computa Love 02. devonwho – Whispers 03. Eliphino – Let Me Love You Forever 04. Pearson Sound – Wad 05. Mosca – Square One 06. Shlohmo – Antigravity (Low Limit Remix) 07. Letherette – Blad 08. KiEnRa – BB Thing 09. 16bit – ADSL 10. Hypno – Over The Top 11. George Fitzgerald – Painted Jezebel 12. Clueless – Lady In Red (Club Edit) 13. Von D – Berlin Call (Alps Edit) 14. Rockwell – Underpass 15. Mount Kimbie – Serged
Brownswood Electr*c drops on 28th June on CD/download supported by a 12” featuring two cuts from B. Bravo and Eliphino.
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.
All personal bias aside - go read the liner notes - 'Elevator Music Vol. 1' is an impeccable collection of beats and fresh ideas from some extremely talented underground producers. Joining the likes of Mosca, Julio Bashmore, Hackman and Doc Daneeka with more established artists like the work of Martyn, Untold and Starkey pays dividends in the end listen and an extremely high percentage of these tracks are a sheer pleasure to mix.
1. Bad Autopsy – Beam Beamer 2. Groove Chronicles – First Time 3. Sunship – Try Me Out 4. Bump & Flex – Long Time Coming (Big Up version) 5. Jinder – Youth Blood (Bok Bok remix) 6. Elektric Red – Drank in my Cup 7. Funkystepz – Touch On Me 8. Deadboy – Easy 9. Matt Jam Lamont – Feel My Love 10. Bakongo – Baga 11. Adonis – No Way Back 12. Buraka Som Sistema – Restless (Julio Bashmore remix) 13. Ultrasound – The Hard Way 14. Zinc feat. Ms Dynamite – Wile Out 15. Mosca – Square One 16. Ke$ha – Tik Tok (Untold remix dub) 17. Groove Chronicles – Blakjack 18. Dexplicit - Karma
Another XLR8R podcast goes up, another post on SR goes up pointing out how they are probably the best US site pushing the variant chasms of UK dance music. It seems to been a chain reaction of late...
Wandering asides aside, this week's podcast comes from Greena (with another tailored Steve Braiden image) and taking in everything from unreleased Terror Danjah, Untold and Ikonika, to Omar S, Carl Craig and Villalobos the Applepips affiliated dude smacks it on the TL.
Limited freebie from Greena and Mosca (pictured): Greena's remix of Mosca's 'Square One' track which is forthcoming on Night Slugs with original versions of 'Square One' and 'Nike' alongside remixes from Bok Bok & L-Vis 1990.
01. Lemonade - Sunchips (Ghosts On Tape remix) 02. Steve Summer - Shake the House (Clone Jack for Daze Series) 03. Rene Breitbarth - Pump (Deep data) 04. Major Lazer feat. Ms Thing - When You Hear the Bassline (Cooperative Music) 05. Oliver $ feat. Deize Tigrona - Com Medo de Mim (Man Recordings) 06. Hot City - No More (Infrasonics) 07. Hyetal - Neon Speech (Soul Motive) 08. Kazey & Bulldog - Fo Da Real Gs (Dress 2 Sweat) 09. Underground Resistance - The Force (UR) 10. Grand Puba - Get It (12th Planet Remix) (Scion Audio) 11. Kanji Kinetic - D Stomp (Electrostimulation) 12. Shortstuff & Hyetal - Don't Sleep (Forthcoming Punch Drunk) 13. Planetary Assault Systems - X Speaks To X (Appleblim & Al Tourettes remix) 14. Move Down Low (Grievous Angel remix) 15. Subeena - Picture (Forthcoming Opit) 16. Kid 606 - Monsters (Doshy Remix) (Tigerbeat6) 17. Royal T - Beat Fighter (Bok Bok remix) (No Hats No Hoods) 18. Face A Face - Galash (Ebola Remix) (LO Dubs) 19. DJ C ft MC Zulu - Body Work (Octapush Remix) 20. Photonz - Red Rooms (Forthcoming ?) 21. Diplo & Luke Laidback - Hey (Dre Skull Remix) (Southern Fried Records) 22. Unknown 23. Stereotyp feat. Edu K & Joyce Muniz - Jece Valadao (Man Recordings) 24. Cooly G - Jus Wanna 25. Bingo Players - Get Up (Diplo Remix) (Stealth Records) 26. Mad EP - Fire (Akira Kiteshi Remix) (Forthcoming Spectraliquid)
Mini(mega)mix of the new 'Elevator Music' 'bass music' compilation on fabric Records. Minimix by mlr // Art by Remote Location // Animation by Peter Dickinson
Note: If you pre-order the CD you can get entrance to the launch party on the 8th Jan (featuring Untold, xxxy, Shortstuff, Mosca and Vista) for a tenner.
Keen followers of this blog should know just how much of a lingering presence that Bristol based producer Hyetal's mix for us had on us when it dropped all those months ago (audio and interview here). Well... now the boy dunn did a FACT mix...
Julio Bashmore - Around (Forthcoming Soul Motive) Mosca - Square One (Dub) Doc Daneeka - Deadly Rhythm (Dub) Shortstuff & Hyetal - Don't Sleep (Dub) NB Funky - Frequency (White Label) Brackles & Shortstuff - Pipey D (Dub) Headhunter - Love Dup (Forthcoming Soul Motive) Starkey - Knob Twiddler (Forthcoming Planet Mu) Sully - Toffee Apple (Dub) Guido ft Aarya - Beautiful Complication (Forthcoming Punch Drunk) Hyetal - Gold Or Soul (Soul Motive) Gemmy - A Night On Da Wonk (Dub) Hyetal - Pheonix (Dub) Prince - I Would Die 4 U (Warner Bros)
He may have changed the colour of his promo triangle (pictured) but its evidently not the only thing Hyetal has been working on of late. Along with remixing Starkey and a slew of great collabos with Shortstuff he just put together a superlative guest mix for Electronic Explorations which you should definitely download - if you aren't subscribed already.
Mosca's sometime DJ partner, Unknown Soulja, has put together a promo mix for his appearance at Um Bongo in Bethnal Green, on the 27th Novemeber (alongside the one Jackmaster and Cooly G). The tracklist is weighty weighty...
1. Jam City - In The Park 2. Al Ripken & Diamond K - Hands in the Air (Bok Bok remix) 3. Deadboy - Heartbreaker (Julio Bashmore remix) 4. Busy Signal - Picante (So Shifty remix) 5. Dubbel Dutch - Throwback 6. Martyn - Mega Drive Generation 7. Joy Orbison - BRKLN CLLN 8. Major Notes - \holy Ghost 9. Doc Daneeka - Drums in the Deep 10. Mosca - Gold Bricks I See You 11. Demdike Stare - Janissary 12. Movado - Fall Rain Fall (Survivor riddim) 13. Matt Shadetek ft Rustee Juxx - BK Assassin 14. Deadboy - Long Way 2 Go 15. Tego Calderon - Sudamelo Que Hace Calor 16. Busy Signal - Blaze Up Di Herbs 17. Red Rum ft Rick Ross - Thats on My Momma 18. Ikonika - Sahara Michaels 19. Major Lazer ft Vybz Kartel - Pon De Floor (R1 Ryders remix) 20. Untold - Dont Know Dont Care 21. LD - Shake it 22. Sbtrkt - Inamillion 23. Shortstuff - Progression 24. Wiley - Sidewinder (Vocal medley) 25. Busy Signal - Da Style Deh (Douster's Dagga Dagga Mix) 26. Busy Signal - Rass Out/Da Style Deh (Smutlee' blend) 27. Douster - Alleluja 28. Mosca - Square One (Roska remix) 29. A1 Bassline ft Saffie -Girl Thing (Christian Martin remix) 30. Hackman - Multicultural 31. T Williams - Flooring 32. Kazey & Bulldog - Gangster 33. XXXY - Sing With Us 34. Gremino - Screech 35. James Fox - Lighter Work refix 36. Vato Gonzalez - Badman Riddim 37. Mosca - Nike (DJ Edit) 38. Vybz Kartel - Genie Wine (Fitness riddim)
