It's happened at last - Atomic Drop have dropped their first tune that us mere, non-superstar Dj's can get our grubby paws on! Coming straight outta Brighton, they're the best live electro/breaks/tech funk act of last year (I told you so), ripping it up at Glastonbury, Glade, Matter, Alpha Omega, Sonica, Electric Picnic and, ending the year where the started, on the beach at Bazil's massive Universo Paralello NYE party.
The first release is a bumping electro house remix of Dylan Rhymes and Tom Real's monster (geddit?) tech funk grinder Godzilla, on my fellow Suburbitonite Meat Katie's brilliant Lot 49 label.
If you don't already know, Atomic Drop is the filthy, sordid and downright dirty project of James Anthony (aka Liquid Djems, Liquid Records Co - Owner/Founder) and Ken Barrett(aka Keny Keys), with occasional guest appearances by Joe Markendale and Daniel Thomas. They've also got a very close relationship with Inside Us All (Voted 2009 Number 01 VJ's Worldwide – DJ Mag - Public Vote) with whom they debued their first fully live Audio Visual show at Matter in 2009. Check out their joint skills in the hilarious Flight of the Conchords a/v remix below, from Atomic Drop's YouTube channel).
The boys should have their first EP, Forget Everything Else coming in February, on James's own label Liquid Records. There's also rumours of a psybreaks release compiled by Djem's somewhere on the horizon. Can't feckin wait.
Atomic Drop are playing live at Halcyon, Matter on March 12 alongside Simon Posford and a sick Alpha Omega line up, including Musical Mana favourites MaryMissFairy and Hedflux. Get your tickets HERE
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:
As always, we kicked the weekend off on the Origin stage. Peter Digital’s set looked like it might be marred by the heavy showers at the start but soon, spurned on by a committed hardcore, a decent number of us decided that we’d rather get soaked than miss the lush, floaty techno coming out of those gorgeous speakers. Rain? What rain? I’m more used to hearing the Digital Structures sound on Sunday afternoon, but having it ease us into the weekend was perfect.
Next up up, Liquid Ross looked a tad nervous as he took the reins, pulling some fantastic expressions of concentration during the first few mixes. Moving from some badass psychedelic breakbeats to full on funky psy-trance though, his face soon broke into a cheshire cat grin as he reaslied that he was nailing home the first proper Origin dancefloor set of 2009. As the basslines grooved their way out across the campsite (advantage of having Origin as the outdoor stage), late risers got their dancing shoes on and the crowd swelled.
Straight from Liquid Ross to see NAPT in the Breakdown tent. NAPT have been mopping up the breakbeat awards this year and this set showed why. Unfortunately the sound wasn’t as loud as it should’ve been but this didn’t stop them getting the whole tent bouncing to the N-Funk! There were some great mash up moments, but I can’t for the life of me remember the tunes now. An energetic onstage presence really made the set as well, the energy was infectious. Surprised these guys weren’t headlining later (perhaps due to the fact they had a better offer?). Gotta have more cowbell!
I took five after NAPT, regrouping with my crew in time to saunter down to Freeland on the Glade Stage. For some reason I felt this was the best year for the Glade Stage set up – it really felt like a showcase at the entrance to the festival with lots of space to spill out without noise bleed from other areas. By the time we got there, the sun had made an appearance and was bathing the crowd in golden light as the warm up DJ was laying down some proper funky breaks (anyone know who this was?).
We were right down the front so got a good view of the band when they came on. With a rockier sound and Alex Metric on board, Cope definitely translates well for the live Freeland band. They previewed a lot of tracks off the new album, Cope, which have been floating around on promo mixtapes for a while. Perhaps predictably, highlights included Do You, Strange Things, Bring It, Morning Sun and of course everyone went mad for We Want Your Soul. A perfect sound for the evening sunshine (complemented by a well timed balloon) and a welcome return after the wait from Now & Them!
In the last few years The Rabbit Hole has become one of my favourite places at Glade, and somehow this year it seemed cosier and fluffier than ever. I had a wicked poi spin to Droptear Modelmaker’s live liquid d’n’b sound, before shooting off with Tom Wobbler to bath in the lushness of Booka Shade. I’d been very excited about this, and for me they didn’t disappoint, even if it did feel like they kept building up to the end of the set like cock teasing bitches, leaving us wanting more and then re-delivering for what seemed like endless encores. It was lush while it lasted.
Things get a little hazy after Booka Shade but I do know I was drawn to the flames of the Arcadia stage like a moth to a candle (I’d actually planned to see Deekline and Wizard in the breakdown). This rig was awesome, 360 degree Function One with flame throwers, a DJ tower with a lighthouse like perspex screen, stages to dance on and strobes with enough light to burn your retinas off. Danielle had told me about it at Electric Picnic last year and I’d seen the video from Glasto, but still wans’t prepared for the full on Burning man meets mad max-esque craziness of it.
We arrived just in time to see Freeland’s DJ set, heavy dubstep remixes of his new tunes twisting into some proper filthy electro. Quite different from the live band, but ideal for the post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
Following Freeland were Liquid Records secret weapon, Atomic Drop. I’ve been going on about these boys since I saw them at Luminopolis last year. Their heavy electro breaks basslines are some of the crunchiest sounds this side of a demolition ball, and for Glade they were pulling out a turbo charged set with Djems swinging around the DJ tower like a ghetto biker monkey on heat. Beyond this I remember very little…
Stuck for what to do in that no man's land between Xmas and the New Year? Then look no further... On Monday 29 December Brighton's WONKAY Records, dedicated distributors of the wobbliest free music, are holding the phatest night of off kilter breaks with special guests Mood Deluxe/NSE, Atomic Drop, and Slackbaba from Liquid Records. Atomic Drop delivered that phatest breaks set I've seen all year at Luminopolis back in October with an album in the pipeline. Check out their Myspaz for a sneak preview. Mood Deluxe should have some new shit ready soon too... can't wait!
Wonkay have some COMPLETELY FREE dark and chunky trance compilations and artist EP's for download on their site now. As a special Xmas prezzie I'm told there's a downtempo release on the way tomorrow! Get in!
A chance for all Brightonian locals to gather in the warm and dance their arses off to some of the best local Liquid talent and celebrate the release of Wonk#ay Recs new free release FOR UNDER A FECKIN FIVER!!!!!
Celebrating the free release of the WONK#OUT album on www.wonkay.co.uk
After the closing of the Pressure Point WONK#AY have been unable to secure a free venue. Come along and help make this one a stonker to bring back future pre-nye Free parties!
Looking forward to kicking off the New Years celebrations with you!
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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