SECURE SHOPPING
Our man BCee is back with another sterling D&B podcast, which sees the Spearhead Records chief mix together cuts from Netsky, Pendulum, B Complex and loads more.
The artwork and tracklisting for Model 500’s return to the production fold has been revealed.
The announcement of a Durrr party with Zongamin and Villa at XOYO in October is just the latest in a long line of impressive nights to call the soon to be open East London venue their new home.
German producer Apparat will curate the third DJ-Kicks compilation for 2010.
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These faultless Berlin techno/dubstep merchants are on very fine form at the moment, having recently announced Modeselektion Vol 1, a bumper compilation that features a heavyweight cast of international producers currently entrenched in the post dubstep sound. Their label 50 Weapons is gushing out all kinds of goodness at present, they never fail to retain their trademark sense of humour, and now they have released this excellent set of Art & Cash remixes. This Mdslktr classic from last year was perfect enough in a taut, funky motorik way but here we see Bok Bok, Roska, SBTRKT and Phon.o really expand the horizons.
Nightslugs’ star Bok Bok transfers the original’s sinuous synthlines to a way lower register, riding a huge bassline that’s embellished with some raw snares, claps and cash register sound effects, a nice sonic pun on the tune’s title. It’s prime UK bass material, and is yet another excellent Bok Bok version. Roska is someone else who’s simply unable to turn in a bad mix – staggering given the amount of stuff he’s been knocking out of late. Using his trademark kit of organic percussion (with a nice eastern flavour this time around) layered into powerfully funky sequences, he keeps the original’s booty-slapping electro snares and loosely follows the chord structure with some shivering synthlines. It’s prime Roska, even if it’s hard to spot the original Modeselektor in the mix.
SBTRKT keeps closer to the spirit of the original, using glitchy chords and bleeps in his version, but he really makes it his own with a chord sequence that tugs hard at the heartstrings and an added vocal that sounds as though it’s being dredged out of the sea. It’s a real beauty, almost like Boards of Canada on a house tip, with crisp snares that don’t over-complicate the tune. Whereas the other three mixes are pretty radical makeovers, Phon.o’s mix is possibly the one hardcore Modeselektor fans will pounce on. Upping the tempo slightly, he keeps the huge tech-riffs of “Art & Cash” in place, but adds a whole set of minimal hits in a Bmore-meets-Radioclit style, and filters sections up for maximum rinse potential. Don’t make us pick our favourite – these are all absolute gold.
Oliver Keens
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Female funky star du jour, 20-year-old Katy B is definitely on a mission. A graduate of the Brit School and Goldsmith’s College, London, she has worked with Benga, Geeneus, Zinc and DJ NG, sung on Magnetic Man’s “Perfect Stranger”, The Count & Sinden’s “Hold Me” and is swiftly becoming the go to vocalist for all manner of funky, R&B, house and garage tracks. With a credibility that belies her years, she’s garnered interest from across the board. Rinse FM have been plugging her hard, fabric have pledged their support, even The Guardian have dubbed Katy their hot ‘New Band Of The Day’. She’s also heading towards a top ten hit…with this song right here.
Taking Benga’s original “Man On A Mission” riddim, Katy effortlessly translates it into a shimmering slice of gently matured, pop-orientated beauty. “When we erupt in to the roo-oooo-oom / And hear the sub go boo-oooo-oom,” she sings, “so I sink in to the tune…” Her honeyed vocals are smooth, polished and oozing with class; lyrics are catchy, but cool; and the tenure of the track, the reason why it’s captured the heart of millions, is due to its downright danceability. It’s hard to tire of that glorious refrain, the throbbing bassline, which basks underneath those swooning, serotonin soaring vocals, those strong Benga drumbeats with their honed dubstep edge and simple repetitive low-end synth riff, which drives it along.
Zinc brings his crack house production skills to flipside “Louder”. Waves of rocking synths, whispering percussion and jacking bass undulate like a stormy ocean, as Katy’s cry to make it “louder…louder…louder…” heralds a progression in the music, a rise in volume and a shift in the tempo. Lyrics such as “As I buy another round / With my final twenty pound / It seems as if my money’s spent / How am I gonna pay the rent?” seem a little Lily Allen-esque at times, but with rather more gravitas and refined aplomb.
There’s no doubt about it that the next year is going to be a big one for our heroine. With mounting hype, attention from major labels, a coveted place on the Radio One playlist and impending chart success, the question on everyone’s lips is: what will Katy do next?
Belinda Rowse
Mark Broom has enjoyed a long and fruitful career within the UK’s techno scene. An intensely prolific producer, the East Londoner has released an almost unrivalled plethora of tracks on a host of renowned labels. His early career saw releases on innovating imprints such as Mo Wax, Warp, Pure Plastic, R&S and then Soma before he moved onto the likes of BPitch Control and more recently Rotary Cocktail and Ralph Lawson’s 20:20 Vision. It’s hard to imagine then, that his latest album, out on Nic Fanciulli’s Saved Records, is only the second album under his own name. Fifteen years after Angie Is a Shoplifter, his sophomore effort Acid House is somewhat of a departure from Broom’s traditional style. With a sound less akin to the record’s title and more focused on a crossover between techno and disco, Acid House is Broom’s most intriguing work to date. Juno Plus writer Tom Jones caught up with Broom to talk about the new album, the future and the healthy state of techno in 2010 and beyond.
On fire Glaswegian imprint Numbers has announced a collaboration between Roska and Untold, who will release a joint two track EP next month.
Juno Plus editorial meetings often descend into screaming matches over which releases are better than others, and this week it was no exception.
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As with anything that’s around for more than a successful ten minutes in the dance music world, Kompakt gets a lot of stick. How anyone can value the worth of a company which acts as distributor for over 120 labels and releases two benchmark compilations a year (this as well as Pop Ambient) though, is bemusing to say the least. What’s more, Total 11 is far from a regurgitation of old material, but instead is a double disc effort made-up by 95% new material – and that’s value for money, if nothing else.
As well as new music, there are new production teams – It’s A Fine Line, AKA Ivan Smagghe and Tim Paris, who contribute a tobacco stained, rock infused and bleepy beauty; Three Lions, a group made up of Jorg Burger, Superpitcher and Rebolledo, who add some stoned Calypso vibes and have Michael Mayer on saxophone, as well as recent label newbies Walls who get tightened up and techno-fried by Allez Allez (Sam Willis is a member of both). Then there are subliminal tech tones and seductive, raw synth funk from Kompakt staples like Superpitcher and Ada battling for your attention next to the broken pianos, oscillating pads, muffled growls and sci-fi patters of favourites like DJ Koze or The Field. Encompassing as many styles as it does, Total 11 is a fine example of quality control and is one which makes you dance as much as dream and laugh as much as cry: off-kilter and experimental electronica isn’t often as classy as this.
Kristan J Caryl
Ostgut Ton, the in-house label of (in)famous Berlin club Berghain/Panorama Bar, has announced a 2xCD compilation to celebrate its fifth birthday.
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We’ve been swimming in Luke Abbott’s debut album since it landed on our desks a few weeks back. As one would expect from a member of the Border Community family, it’s a record steeped in melody, gentle yet strong, perfect for at-home headphone escapism. Abbott is a master of kosmische, and on Holkham Drones he creates a lush, richly textured soundscape, with similarities to be found in the work of contemporaries James Holden, Allez Allez and Four Tet. It’s utterly relaxing, but never succumbs to the level of mere background music. A distinct lack of crisp instrumentation creates an overall sense of haziness, a feeling heightened by the album sleeve which shows the artist and title name rewritten in several layers – so your eyes have to constantly readjust – while the artwork is equally indecipherable.
The music itself is like falling under the spell of one long hallucination. Abbott drenches the glacial beats on opening track “2nd 5th Heavy” beneath a twinkling key melody and hypnotic synth washes. It isn’t until “Whitebox”, three tracks in, that we are snapped out of this narcosis, with an electro swirl that takes us into “The Sky Was Pink” (Holden remix) territory. “Trans Forest Alignment” is submerged beneath a sea of melodic keys and atmospheric analogue synths, and it, like everything here, is assembled using the most delicate of sounds. The moody, aquatic vibe of “Sirens For The Colour” lingers long in the memory, as does “Brazil”, which shines like a beacon of hope, while the ambient fuzz of “Dumb” offers one of the album’s most moving moments, and brings Holkham Drones to twinkling close. This is one to cherish.
Aaron Coultate
The third Juno techno podcast sees a return to the turntables for Space DJz man Ben Long. On this mix Ben takes us on a retrospective journey through some classic techno cuts from the genre’s nascent years.
The Planet Turbo warriors will be taking the stage this weekend at the London Electronic Dance festival, and to celebrate label tzar Tiga is giving away a free remix of Mercury Prize nominees the xx.
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He’s a man who comes with many guises. Primarily he’s known as one Justin K. Broadrick, guitarist in seminal grindcore band Napalm Death and industrial/metal outfit Godflesh. Later on in the ‘90s, he turned to electronic music, collaborating with Ninja Tune signing The Bug (aka Kevin Martin of King Midas Sound) under the alias Techno Animal. Then he metamorphosed into Jesu in 2002 – a metal project specializing in slow, melancholic soundscapes, of which Pale Sketches was an original release back in 2007. Finally, he appears to us today, under the Pale Sketcher moniker as a “de-mixer” and musical deviant, demixin” the Jesu album of 2007 into something rather peculiar, experimental and deeply intriguing.
Kicking off with “Don’t Dream It (Mirage Mix)”, Pale Sketcher goes in deep, transforming the original into something which, intentional or not, is very much a sound of now, as clinking, chiming sounds are contrasted against dark, grumbling bass and arcane rhythms. Moving forwards with dreamy, ethereal piece, “Can I Go Now (Gone Version)” come replete with a pious melody and shuffling beats, whilst the absence of sound that Pale Sketcher seeks to achieve in his demixes becomes ever more apparent in ambient cut “Wash It All Away (Cleansed Dub)”. Shimmering, trance-like murmurings and a stripped back guitar provide some sort of absolution here, it would seem.
See also “The Playgrounds Are Empty (Slumber Mix)”, up next, with its heavy-lidded, dreary vocals and tranquilised, numbing atmospherics, which pertain to the same ambient sensibility. “Tiny Universe (Interstella)” bridges the gap between these two central tracks and the final section, with vocal-led “Supple Hope (2009 mix)” leading smoothly in to “Dummy (Bahnhoff version)” – an intricately textured piece with a vaguely oppressive atmosphere and a distinctly downtempo vibe. Concluding track, “Plans That Fade (Faded Dub)”, enacts the process described in the title, yet far from fading away into nothingness, it serves to reinforce Pale Sketcher’s intention of demixing and deconstructing to create something new, and in doing so, entirely reconstructing his Pale Sketches.
Belinda Rowse
There was a huge sense of anticipation building in the darkened room of the ICA on Wednesday August 18. For those who had attended the Brainfeeder event the previous weekend, or the sold out live performance of his film score for Harry Smith’s 1957 film Heaven & Earth Magic at the Tate Modern on Monday, this was the final part of Flying Lotus aka Steven Ellison’s tripartite series of London events this summer.
The professional chin strokers over at DJ History have called on the likes of Prins Thomas, Luke Soloman and Running Back chief Gerd Janson (pictured) to select their secret weapons for a new compilation due for release in October.
Ace Berlin bass demons Modeselektor have announced the full tracklist for Modeselektion Vol 1, an 18 track CD compilation that features a heavyweight cast of international producers currently entrenched in the post dubstep sound.
Whilst spending another productive afternoon browsing one of our favourite time wasting websites – that of the Red Bull Music Academy – we stumbled across this superlative mix from John Roberts.
Following the spectacular fallout from a recent 2.5 star review on Resident Advisor, Wolf + Lamb have made six edits from prodigious talent Nicolas Jaar available for free download.
