Unprotected by his dry wit and good taste, since Damion left an RIP message on the site over a year ago I actually lost my will to wade through the plethora of psytrance inanity to reach those golden nuggets of psychedelic funkiness. In fact, the quest for fresh sound even led me to start this blog. Now though, Psyreviews is back with plans for the future! (and he's on Twitter)
As anyone who reads the site knows, Psyreviews has never been just about the psytrance, so I'm pleased that Damion has continued to highlight the lush downtempo gems and deep progressive trance that always had me coming back for more.
In particular I appreciate being led to these two absolutely lush EPs from Evan Bluetech and Kilowatts, both US producers that helped me get into a glitch-ier downtempo sound. The EPs mark a progression in both their styles since I last picked up their releases around 2007/2008; Bluetech with bigger beats and bass and Kilowatts just taking it deeper with plenty of wobbly, floaty layers. Read Damion's reviews below for the full lowdown.
As for the future, in early 2010 Damion will be outsourcing reviews and re-jigging the site as more of a collaborative blog (like ThisIsBreaks.com). Let's hope the new contributors keep up that same quality of tongue in cheek shit sifting that we've got used to.
NB. Psyreviews is a free resource but you're welcome to donate. Likewise Bluetech and Kilowatts have put these EPs up for free, but I can tell you now they're well worth paying for (especially the Kilowatts). Have a listen and go hunt down some of their other releases - they're just as good!
So while we're looking out the window stuffing ourselves with leftover turkey and getting ready for New Year, a dream team of UK producers are going to be rocking it down-under. Just checkout the lineup above.
The Aussies have great taste in dance music and to celebrate the occasion Australia's Triple J radio have comissioned exclusve mixes from NAPT and Elite Force. Both acts have been responsible for some of my favourite tracks this year and will be well worth keeping an eye out for in 2010!
You know how with some people you just really click in terms of musical taste? Like you haven't seem them for ages, and when you do, they've been digging all the same tunes you have? For me Ade's one of those people. Whether he's spinning chunky psy breaks or proggy techno, managing the Wobbly Squadron or running the Dance Tent and Ents24 stage at Guilfest, his taste is always impeccable.
I've been bugging Ade for a mix for ages. He finally gave me one in October, but I said I wasn't going to put it up unless he gave me a tracklisting... unlike our mate Dan (Agent Smith) who disappeared off around the world leaving me with an awesome mix but no names. Ade's in India for Christmas now, which means I've lost, so I'm putting the mix up anyway 'cos its sweet as a nut.
TRACKLISTING? There's loads of Tribal Vision tunes on there and proabably some Iboga. For anything more accurate I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait till Ade gets back!
*NB. This isn't the same DJ Ade who spins UK garage around Kent, Essex and London, just in case you were wondering *
Having experienced Burning Man vicariously this year, through my girl D and our other friends that went out, on Saturday I joined them at the London Decompression party – a re-union for UK based burners to reconnect and reminisce over the seven days at Black Rock City, run by a group of playa vetrans Euro-burners .
Like Burning Man itself, it’s all about participation - all the performers, DJs and crew are volunteers who have bought tickets - so ahead of the event I sent a dubstep and glitch-hop demo over to Justin aka VJ Meno who was curating the sound and visuals for the night. I didn't expect to be selected, so it was a nice surprise when I checked my emails on Thursday to find out I was on first... followed by a mild panic.
The plan was to bring some of that West Coast, playa dust coated, bass flavour to East London and warm up the room with some heavy dubstep, reggae and glitch-hop. In the end my set got cut short due to a late start, but you can listen to it here in it's entirety:
Edit - Ants Freeland - Do You (Pantyraid rmx) Don G - Mrs U (Zeno Goddess Rmx) Liondub ft. Jah Dan & Sotto Bless - Heartbroken Spystep - Portomental Eskmo - San Francisco (The Rhythm) Larytta - You Got Nothing (Lazer Sword Rmx) Ooah - Tuesday Again Good Buddha - Part Preserve (Tipper rmx) Vibesquad - Snagglespuss Knowa Knowonet feat. Seasunz, Firewater, Wiseproof & New Eon - Free Energy Subvert - Size Matters Alborosie - Kingston Town X-Clan feat. Damian Marley - Culture United Oaah - Heat up the night Defcon - Knock Knock Beats Antique - Roustabout (Bassnectar rmx) Me & You - Last Night (Bassnectar rmx) ediT - The Game Is Not Over Matty G - West Coast Rocks (The Glitch Mob rmx) Nalepa - Monday (The Glitch Mob rmx)
Also playing on the night was Jurassik (Ben Child - above) who runs London breaks night and record label Supatronix and the awesome resource that is ThisIsBreaks.com. He was really enjoying himself, pumping the dancefloor with funky party breaks and, when we met later on, he turned out to be a really nice guy as well. You can check out the mix below and have a listen to his own tunes on Soundloud.
Si Begg – The Bleeps [Unique 3 mix] (Mutate Records) Shut Up and Dance – Cream (Shut Up and Dance) Refracture – Energy Flow (Noobish Records) Breakzhead – Goin’ On [Jurassik mix] (Dusted Breaks) The Prodigy – Warriors’ Dance [Future Funk Squad's Rave Soldier mix] (Take Me to the Hospital) Flack.Su – T-Break [Aeron Aether remix] (Glack Audio) Robosapiens – Infected [LuQas mix] (Dead Famous) Digital Bass – White Lines [Robosapiens mix] (Dead Famous) Rennie Pilgrem – Rich Rule Us [BSD remix] (TCR) Future Funk Squad ft Mojo – Blow (En:Vision) BSD – Intoxicated (iBreaks) Jurassik – How to Pick Up Chicks (Supatronix) 9BO – Antilightbulb (Glack Audio)
Toby Lyons was up after Ben. A bit of a wizard at the controls, he was mashing up some bad boy electro and breaks before pulling out into party style d’n’b, much to the joy of the crowd. Have a look at Toby's Myspace for mini-mixes.
Ok, so I've been sitting on this for a while, but after I posted MaryMissFairy's last electro mix, she sent me this tasty techno wobble-a-thon as an exclusive bonus. Enjoy, you lucky fuckers!
Still on the tech-funk vibe at the moment. Been really digging a few tunes by Rektchordz, a guy from Cornwall by the name of Jamie Smithson who makes some pretty tasty tech funk breaks and techno. In particular really loving Meat Katie's remix of 'These Girls' and Elite Force's rework of 'Feed Your Head', both on Elite Force's record label U&A.
For a flavour of Rektchordz DJ sets, listen to his November promo on his Soundcloud page below, or download it from the link below that!
sebastian ledger-bubbly mike hulme-100mg(stupid freh remix) (U&A) Zodiac cartel-beyond the dancefloor(warehouse music) lee coombes & uberzone-right now (lot 49) Rektchordz-Feed your head(elite force remix) (U&A) backbeat soundsystem-daily grime (rektchordz remix) (free give away) Rektchordz-speaker bump (U&A) the subs-dusk till dawn (zodiac cartel remix)(lektroluv) Rektchordz-these girls(U&A) Dave spoon-lumox (plump djs remix)(television)
If you like that, you'll probably want to check out Tech:Funk (U&A recordings volume 1) just released on U&A and compiled by Aussie duo Loops of Fury. Read a review of the mix here, then buy it (for only 5 squid in UK!) using one of the links below:
Disco of Doom's dawn set on the Arcadia stage at Glade this year is going to go down as one of my musical highlights of 2009. There was just something perfect about the marriage of their awesome sonic barrage in the grey morning light and this flame-throwing post-apocaylptic setting, with Tom Real hanging the top half of his body out of the DJ tower and gesturing at the dancing masses like a man possed.
Disco of Doom is a collaboration between Tom Real and The Rogue Element, longtime respected electro breaks producers, who are pushing new buttons with a sound that can't quite be described as techno, electro bass or fidget house. It's more like twisting, writhing, grinding house and techno - laced with electro poison and acid 303 - that winds you round it's little finger, pounds you into submission, then spits you out the other side.
The initially came together for a Samurai Fm radio show through their 'shared appetite for destruction and a love of loose women'. I first noticed their crunchy electro breaks collaborations on Passenger in about 2007 and they put out their first release as Disco of Doom in 2008. Since then they've released a number of tunes and remixes over the summer, most notably their already classic remix of Chemical Brothers 'Do It Again' (click for free download) and the filthy 'Warpig' (check the Foamo remix below!). The duo are currently 'locked in the studio working towards delivering their debut artist album'.
One thing these boys have done well is tap the new electro bass sound being championed by the likes of Andy George and Jaymo on radio one, and make it something much dirtier. For a full flavour, click the link below to download their November 09 Promo Mix featuring cuts from Vitalic, Boys Noize, Passion Pit, Doorly, Claude Von Stroke + new and exclusive new Disco of Doom tracks:
If you're in London, catch Disco of Doom and their How's My Raving Sound System at their monthly Out The Box night at The White House in Clapham. There's one tonight - see details below.
Calling all producers - Meat Katie (Mark Pember) and his label Lot49 are running a 'New Lot' production competition for unsigned producers. To enter, you've just got to submit 'an extraordinarily good, original piece of dance music'. You've got till 1st December to enter for the chance to win a 3 E.P. contract with Lot49 and some incredibly sick kit. Judges include Orbital and Timo Maas! All detail on the website here -> http://www.lot49.co.uk/
For the rest of us, we can enjoy Mark's latest mixes on his soundcloud page, inlcuding a tech/funk Lot49 promo from last year and a recent 'Dirty Stop Out' techno mix.
Our mate Spinky's B-day on Friday, lots of old skool jungle pulled out the record bags. As if to remind me, i.d. has just posted this jungle mash up from Kiss 100's Jay Cunning on bass music blog - 32 classic tunes in one hour!
Jay's recently launched his own breaks/dubstep label Sub Slayerz - check this earlier bass music post for details and a free promo mix.
1 Alex Reece / Pulp Fiction / Metalheadz 2 Leviticus / Burial / Philly Blunt Records 3 Origin Unknown / Valley Of The Shadows / Ram 4 Omni Trio / Renegade Snares (Foul Play VIP Remix) / Moving Shadow 5 Omni Trio / Renegade Snares (Foul Play Remix) / Moving Shadow 6 Whats My Code / Dubplate / Stage One 7 Ray Keith / Renegade Terrorist / Dread 8 Deep Blue / The Helicopter Tune (Fantasy #1) / Moving Shadow 9 Q Project / Champion Sound (Alliance remix) / Legend 10 Hyper On Experience / Lords Of The Null Lines (Foul Play Remix) / Moving Shadow 11 Origin Unknown / Truly One / Ram 12 DJ Rap & Aston / Spiritual Aura / Proper Talent 13 DJ Taktix (feat. Top Buzz) / The Way (Remix) / Back 2 Basics 14 Dead Dred / Dred Bass / Moving Shadow 15 Slipmatt / Breaking Free / Awesome 16 Boogie Times Tribe / Dark Stranger (Origin Unknown Remix) / Suburban Bass 17 Andy C & Shimon / Nightflight / Ram 18 Jo / R-Type / Awesome 19 DJ Ron / Crackman The Return / Rough Tone 20 MA2 / Hearing is Believing (Vocal) / Formation 21 Alex Reece / Basic Principles / Metalheadz 22 DJ Zinc / Super Sharp Shooter / Ganja Records 23 A Zone / Calling All The People / White House 24 The Dream Teem / Stamina / Suburban Base 25 DRS feat. Kenny Ken / Everyman / Rugged Vinyl 26 Roni Size & Reprazent / Brown Paper Bag / Talkin' Loud 27 Krome & Time / The License / Tearin Vinyl 28 Splash / Babylon / Deejay 29 DJ SS / The Lighter / Formation 30 Amazon II / King Of The Beats / Aphrodite Recordings 31 DJ Krust / Set Speed / V 32 Roni Size & Reprazent / Share The Fall (Full Vocal Mix) / Talkin' Lou
Far Too Loud have come a long way in the two years since Oli Cash and Dom Smart crashed into the breaks scene on Funkatech with their fresh, techy, crunchy and psychedelic sound, winning Best Single at Breakspoll 2007 for 'Get High'.
Since then, they've played around the world, release a ton of tunes and started their own record label, Broken Robot. Their biggest track to date - 'Play It Loud'- seems to have been in every DJ's record bag and provided the soundtrack of many summers in 2009 from Glade, Glastonbury and to the mighty Burning Man in the states.
They've also had a lot of props and airtime from Radio 1's Annie Nightingale, who recently collaborated with Oli on a filthy electro mix of Lily Allen’s 'Not Fair'. Apparently, she likes it so much that it's became part of her live show!
Last time I saw Far Too Loud play (at Electric Circus) Oli was on his own though, and it turns out that he'll now be running Far Too Loud as a solo act, with Dom leaving to concentrate on his new solo venture, Neurodriver.
This is pretty much the musical equivalent of splitting two picture cards and drawing a couple of aces - Neurodriver's first EP of twisted psychedlic breaks, Sidewinder/Robofunk, came out on Broken Robot in September. In his own words "it represents a conscious move back toward the underground, fusing elements of techno, breakbeat and psychedelia to form a new breed of heady funk suited to big rigs and dark rooms." Dom has also collaborated with the legendary Gaudi for a track on his new breaks album "No Prisoners" and the awesome Atomic Drop (check the track in MaryMissFairy's latest mix below). Go to Dom's Neurodriver myspace for news and track previews.
As for Oli, Far Too Loud's new single Bass Association/Dancefloor Destroyer is now out on Beatport. You can preview the tunes in his most recent mixtape below and the Soundcloud page for older mixes. You can also register on iBreaks for higher quality 192k stereo archives and tune into the Funkatech show every Monday 8-10pm GMT with Far Too Loud on rotation.
It's quite a statement, but... MaryMissFairy (Mary Reilly) is probably my favourite DJ of 2009. Not including her vocal duties on Nagual Sound Experiment's 2007 psychedelic dubstep track Hexorcism,I first heard her quaking the top room at Alpha Omega in April, first met her in May and was last blown away by her set in tiny room at Wonkay Records' Turned Toon in October.
Why does she qualify for this staus? Well, she seems to be mining a stream of sound that I've been slowly gravitating towards for the last year or so. A crunchy, techy blend of techno,progressive house, electro and breaks being led by Tom Real and Rouge Element (Disco of Doom), Atomic Drop, Meat Katie, Elite Force and some releases on Tribal Vision. She's also introduced me to the amazing dirtyloud and Felguk.... all of whom are present and correct in her fresh Wonk This Way mix below.
Mary's just set up her Soundcloud page, so you can also grab Miss Scarlet in the Library with the lead pipe and keep up to date with future mixes. She has also recently been made a label DJ for Wonkay Records, in charge of the A&R for electro and techno, and will be compiling a compilation due for release 2010 - can't wait!
1)Its the music - Josh the Funky1 ( MIles dyson remix) 2)Do it again - Chemical Brothers ( Disco of Doom remix ) 3)Panic Attacks - Rogue Element( Arrow remix ) 4)Burn out - Seductions ( Aaren San remix ) 5)What you gonna do - Atomic drop vs Neurodriver 6)What... you think - DirtyLoud 7)Wunderbar - Gustavo Assis and Thiago Sian 8)Non believer - Elite force and Meat Katie 9)Buzz me( Rework ) - Felguk 10)Flick a switch - Loops of Fury 11)Gustavo Assis - Move on 12) Trash house music - DirtyLoud
If you like that, then make sure you catch MaryMissFairy at Wonkay Records Crunch Bunch party in London on 4 December. Details below:
Eskmo started his own digital label, Ancestor, in 2009 and the promo mix below showcases a style which he describes as "a fusion of thick, floor-creaking bass layered with rich, oozing melodies and syncopated rhythms" - begining with some lush glitch hop, stepping up into some pretty epic dubstep towards the end.
Hedflux launched himself onto the UK music scene last year with "Music is my weapon". I first heard it via Far Too Loud mixes last year. They then went on to re-release the tune through their Broken Robot label alongside their own badass re-rub, after Sinister records went bust. If you like your breaks chunky, techy and psychedelic (and I do), here's your man. I still haven't seen him live yet, but this promo for Glade this year and the fresh tunes on his myspace page give a pretty good idea of what he's capable of. Enjoy!
Seem to have featured a few DJs lately who have been breaking free from the styles that made their name to forge new sounds (Meat Katie, Neil Landstrumm). Another who can't go without mention is DJ Zinc - one of my favourite drum'n'bass DJs from the original Tru Playerz nights of old.
I saw Zinc drop bombs with his fresh new style at breakspoll in February and he's recently put out this mix with the title 'crack house'. The funky grooves of house bind this mix, but it covers a myriad of influences from the dancehall electro of laidback luke n diplo to the tic-tic-tic of progressive techno and the bass bumps of electro house. Zinc's d'n'b roots are still evident in MC skits on some tracks and even a grime number from Dizzy R, not to mention the deep bassline drops.
If you like what you're hearing, he's just released a load of these tunes on the Crack House EP, via his own label, Bingo Beats. Follow this link to the brilliant You Can Call Me Pelski for a full review and low-bit tracks samples.
Download the mix from Zinc's soundcloud page below:
t/l is; zinc - pimp my ride b8b - chapel edit laidback luke n diplo hey + remix roska wonderful day special championsound jack beats ufo tea diss moda - strong love dizzy vs tom like to freak zinc watch dis cannibal kylie - he was like spells zinc - jekyll n hyde mange zero - erol alkan rework la roux bulletproof zinc remix convicts rass out wot u need rmx chai jesse - over my head vamp remix kewok ravenolay mjcole + serocee - ao power to conquer
I turn my back on Resident Advisor for a month or so and just when I'm not looking, two stonking, bass heavy podcasts turn up in a row. The first is Berlin based duo Modeselektor, who ignore the usual boundaries to blend electro, techno, dubstep, electronica and hip-hop. I've been particularily enjoying their recent wonky bass heavy tunes, such as the one below, and this mix serves up a deep dish of fresh techno, dubstep and UK funky dubplates.
Deadboy - If U Want Me - Numbers Untold - Just For You (Roska Remix) – Hotflush Recordings Maurizio - M5 - Maurizio Zomby - Digital Flora – Brainmath Untold - I Can't Stop This Feeling – Hessle Audio Taz Buckfaster - Gold Tooth Grin - Numbers Mikkel Metal - Kenton (Marcel Dettmann Remix) - Echocord Colour Headhunter - Prototype (Modeselektor's Broken Handbrake Remix) - Tempa Venom & Damage - Deeper Second Phase - Mentasm (R&S Records) Modeselektor - Outro - Get Physical Buraka Som Sistema - Skank & Move feat. Kano – Fabric Records Lil Silva - Different - Lil Silva Ramadanman - Revenue (Untold Remix) – 2nd Drop Records Lil Silva - Funky Pulse - DDJs Productions L-Vis 1990 - United Groove (MJ Cole Remix) - Mad Decent XxXy - Reflections - Mindset Headhunter - Sex at the Prom - Tempa Robert Hood - Museum – M-Plant Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo - Hotflush Recordings Mark Pritchard - ? – Ho Hum Records Gas – Koenigsforst - Mille Plateaux
The second is from Edinburgh's Neil Landstrumm, a man I'm more familar with from dancing to his banging techno sets at parties around the country. Recently though, he's been bringing out more downtempo dubstepy, bleepy, bass heavy releases on the legendary Planet Mu. This podcast is a great example of his wonky new sound, described on his myspace page as:
"Imperial British Bass Psychedelia" and all it's stylish bleepy trimmings. Freshly imported southern-fried krunk, and sweet island dancehall are mixed with the refreshed roots of UK rave, steppers, grime and garage to brew an addictively low frequency elixir
I've been meaning for some time now to give a MASSIVE SHOUT OUT to Bass Music blog, a collaborative project by some of the biggest names out there on the UK bass music scene: baobinga, dub-4, ginz, heavyfeet, high rankin, i.d., james alexander fox, mumdance, reso, rico tubbs, sidenote, terry hooligan and trg.
This is not just a blog, it's a fucking resource. Top bass lovin' genre blending producers host mixes and post free tunes and review releases by their favourite producers. What more could you want? As you might expect, they know their shit, with sounds ranging through bassline, ragga, dubstep, garage, electro, techno, house and all heavyweight shapes in between.
Of particular note is their exclusive 'Bass Music' series (check the right hand menu) of interviews and mixes from innovative DJs and producers at the leading edge of the European bass music scene. The most recent installment is this lush mixtape from J Kenzo of Dub Police and Soul Shakerz. Clean and uptempo, this is a strong contender for my favourite dubstep mixtape since Appleblim's Resident Advisor podcast last year.
You can read a full interview with Jay about his projects featured in the mix on the Bass Music blog. To keep posted with future sub sonic developments, follow @baobinga and @bassmusicblog on Twitter.
Since coming across Jungo Road via an ill.gates mix that was hosted on the site I've been listening to a few other mixes on the podcast. One that's particularity been pleasing my ears is this dubwise glitch-hop progression into a more wobbly juglist breaks from Dale Phurrough, one of the sites NYC based founders. The description below pretty much sums up his approach:
In 2002, Dale attended the Burning Man festival for the first time and was exposed to a fresh diversity of music. Since then, Dale has played and embraced the organic sounds typically coming from the west coast, the underground electronica scene, and the Burning Man community. While he has a solid house head, he leans more toward breakbeat, glitch, broken beat, 2-step, IDM, and dubstep. Dale and Chad North founded Jungo Road in 2009 to increase the exposure of electronic music like these and others like tech-funk in New York City.
Some producers it seems can do no wrong. Ooah (aka Josh Mayer) appears to be one of them. Not only has he recently dropped what is possibly the best glitch-hop album of the year, PANTyRAiD - The Source (with Marty Party), but thanks to Dancefever5000 I've just discovered that he has a new lush chill out album out under the name Of Porcelain. If you like PANTyRAiD or Bluetech and that whole Left Coast Liquid / Native State, then sounds then make sure you check it out.
I first came across Your Niece (aka. Rhys Clarke) in the Master Bedroom of The Dex Club in Brixton during the Secret Garden Party Bacchanalia Ball in early March this year. I was following the sounds of bass that I heard from next door and found a tiny room packed tight with revellers in faun outfits and togas bouncing to the ceiling, and all over the luxury four poster bed that was pushed up against one wall. This Spoonfed reveiw by their DJ editor Lowri Clarke says it all:
"A pair of Pioneer CDJ-400s rests on a desk beside the bathroom door. Behind them a topless, painted madman is hurling fireballs of monstrously heavy, glitchy turbo crunk into the crowd - who are reacting appropriately by creating an undulating carpet of flesh, whirling limbs and bared teeth. People are actually screaming."
To quote his profile on Spoonfed (one of the best London listings sites when it comes to what's actually going on):
"(My Neice is) of the first UK DJs to bring the sound of glitch-hop that's been cooking in California, he splices it with dubstep, techno, electro and drum 'n' bass and operates a strict 'whatever's rinsing' policy."
"It's the Glitch Mob meeting Beyonce in a less salubrious part of town and fucking her from behind while the whole of Ed Banger dance to her moans."
Since March we've been having an on and off Myspace conversation while I've been pestering him for mixes. To my delight, he's just got back from Burning Man and in in touch with a link to his mix archive on Soundcloud.
The first mix above is a recent one which reflects the dubsteppy lazer crunk I recall from the SGP Bacchanalia Ball . The second below is a party set live from the Tower of Babel (which was later burnt down) in the middle of the lake at the Secret Garden Party this year. It starts off with some tasty glitch-hop, veers off on a MGMT/Nirvana/Micheal Jackson medley and returns with some phat tunes at the end:
Mana - A supernatural force believed to dwell in a person or sacred object.
Since December 2008, Musical Mana has been serving up fresh mixtapes and tunes for your enjoyment. It's all about sampling new music for free, so that you find the tunes, DJs, producers and nights for your future.
Tastes are predominantly underground electronica with heavy bass, funked up grooves and interesting sounds - glitch-hop, dubstep, future bass, breaks, electro, IDM, progressive trance, tech funk, wonky techno and soothing down tempo grooves.
Please get in touch if you've got something that you want to share -> chrisduballstar at google mail dot com
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