Marsh on the Marshes: The Badical's Hi-Tec Hip-Hop

The first time I saw The Badical they were blowing up a jungle dome in the desert with their twisted science, a potent concoction of multi-flavoured bass music.

Last time I saw Andrew Marsh he was clinging onto the back of a bass buggy mobile soundsystem on Hackney Marshes, a mutant Mothercare vehicle for outdoor-types being put to good use to protect a darling pair of speakers, busy blasting beats into the assembled ranks of BBQ eating warehouse-dwellers. From what I remember, swigging cider as the sun set over the East Coast railway, his set scoped classic hip hop to 90s cheese filtered through various prisms of flitched out hip-hop, IDM and dubstep. There was also lots of other stuff so pleasantly unexpected that I can't remember it.

When I asked Andrew for some compressed BBQ Marsh-hop he pointed me towards the full set of The Badical mixtapes, from which the hi tek hip hop number most closely resembles what I was trying to recapture. It sweeps from J Dilla and Foreign Beggars through RJD2, The Knife and Four Tet to The Glitch Mob, Mochipet and Modeselektor. Badassical innit.

DOWNLOAD The Badical's Hi-Tec Hip Hop Mix (Right Click Save As)


madvillian - all caps
flylo - grapesicles (samiyam remix)
unknown white label
J Dilla - workinonit
MED - Cant Hold On
Foreing beggars - Glacial (ft syntax)
D...iplo - Big Lost
Clark - Herr Bar
Osland and erro - Everything in its right place
Soldier Girl RJD2 remix
Fourtet - Smile around the face
The Knife - We share our mothers health
LOTP - The bears are coming
Kis sister - unknown
Try Again - Simian mix
sentinal - Eliot Lip
Monday - Glitch mod edit
mochipet - Turbo Thizz penetration
Busy P - c-est chollet (or something)
Krazy Baldhead - revolution
Modeselektor - Edgar w/ the first rebirth double drop
All is full of love - plaid remix
TTC - Antenne 2
HudMo - Overnight

In other news, Andrew has designed The Synflower - a multi-player musical instrument for one to eight people - and an Aerodynamic Umbrella. Nice one!

Music for post-traumatic stress decompression on a summer evening

You know how sometimes you just get bored of everything you have on your MP3 player? You've heard it all before. It all sounds the same. Why the hell have you been bothering with all this shit?! Why don't I just listen to pop music or the radio? Or maybe you have more than 8GB capacity...

I've been having this kinda existential crisis with my whole life lately. Thankfully though, after another day of suffocating in my mentally over stimulating and anxiety inducing work, I left the office to the sounds of four mixes I've recently downloaded and went to sit by the river, where I achieved a more zen-like state of glitchitation. Just what the perspective-adjusting mind doctor ordered. Enjoy.

AfroMonk runs a wicked blog right here. He's just got back from Lightning in a Bottle. Git. This is a damn tasty lovestep mixtape he's done for http://brasky.org.
  Afro Monk Presents: Left Behind - (http://www.brasky.org) by AfroMonk
Featuring music by: Gladkill, +verb, Manni Dee, Guttstar, Nico Luminous, Thriftworks, Elfkowitz, Mimi Page, Omega, Jobot, NastyNasty, Tokimonsta, B. Bravo, Epcot, The Human Experience, Chris B, & Ghetto Sexuual

kLL sMTH from Smoulder, Bollorado makes some proper synapse tweaking insertdescriptivenamehere-step tunes like Smoothstep and a journey through time and bass. This is a live set from the Ghost Ranch wherever the fuck that is
  Live at the Ghost Ranch pt. 2 (all original set) by kLL sMTH
TRACKLIST
1. Smoothstep vs. Cassie
2. Funky Crunk
3. Slamborghini
4. Gnaardvark vs. Stilettos - crime mob
5. Subsonic (kLL SMTH Remix) - Excision
6. Babylon (kLL SMTH Remix) - NiT GriT
7. Bustle Hustla
8. Rump Shakin
9. Nurrbody into Body Movement - Conquest

Simplify have simply put out some of the best glitch-hop and bass music of the last year from Stephan Jacobs, Love and Light, Chris B, Ben Samples, Elfkowitz and Blunt Instrument. Like a glitch-hop finger buffet, this mixtape by Aaron Simpson has it all and more. Fuck. Yeah.
  Simplify Mix Sessions 7 by Simplify Recordings 
TRACKLIST
01 Nero – Me & You (Danger Remix) (MTA)
02 Opiuo – Patchouli Dump Truck (Addictech)
03 Love & Light – The Light We Bring (Simplify)
04 Samples – Montauk Point (Made In Glitch)
05 Knight Riderz – Light It Up (Made In Glitch)
06 DCarls – All In (Simplify)
07 Blunt Instrument – Simmer Gently (Simplify)
08 Digital Rust – Loophole (Addictech)
09 Love & Light – Slap and Tickle (Simplify)
10 Freddy Todd – Skattabrain (Simplify
11 Kraddy – Let Go (Instrumental) (Minotaur)
12 Gramatik – The Uprising (Cold Busted)
13 DCarls – Flavorhythm (Simplify)
14 Gramatik – Who Got Juice (Cold Busted)
15 Who Cares – These Three Words (ill-esha Remix) (Simplify)
16 Pretty Lights – Hot Like Sauce (Rustified Remix) (Pretty Lights)
17 Freddy Todd featuring Unc – Homefaced (Simplify)
18 Hirshee & Tonye Aganaba – So Good (Big Fish)
19 Stephan Jacobs – In The Vortex (Simplify)

When you need to chill-the-fuck-out after that one, try Guido's latest 29 minute mixtape, which sends me floating out into a sea of twostep Light Emitting Diode twilight. It's even got some conscious grime vocals set to such beautiful minimal bassline production that it almost sounds like he's not angry. Lush.
  29 min mix 2011 - GUIDO by guido productions
TRACKLIST
Class act
Quick idea
Africa
The PL Remix Type & J B Love (Remix)
Lunar Eclipse
Micro X (Forthcoming State Of Joy)
Most wanted
Ballin' feat Baobinga (Forthcoming BUILD)
What I'm here for feat Scarz
Dust Off
Same Road feat Shadz

Stickybuds starts UK & European Tour!

One of the best breaks makers I've discovered of late is man like Stickybuds. He makes some damn funky shit with proper good bass and lashings of ragga toasting, so I'm stoked that he's coming from Canada to over to Europe this June to promote his new vinyl only EP from Ghetto Funk. Check the tour line up and tunes below, and this brilliant little promo video. If you like A.skillz, Fort Knox Five, and JPOD you'll love it. Now where can I find some turntables nowdays...?

STICKYBUDZ EP ON GHETTO FUNK

Ghetto Funk Presents Stickybuds (GFP02) by ghettofunk

REMIXES AND RELEASES

  Baymont Bross Feat. Sporty-O - Handz Sky Up (Stickybuds Remix) by Stickybuds~ 

  Deekline + Ed Solo Present ~ Stickybuds - Guaranteed (Jungle Cakes 007) by Stickybuds~

  Basement Freaks - Here Comes Our Dilla (Stickybuds Remix Ft. The Rootsellers) by Stickybuds~

FREE TUNES

  Stickybuds - Bass Now VIP by Stickybuds~

  Dj Wood - Turn Me On (Stickybuds Drunk Ass Edit) by Stickybuds~

2010 PROMO MIX

  Stickybuds - The Wookie Shuffle (2010 Promo Mix) by Stickybuds~

Guttstar lovestep: Double Healix EP

Just a quick one to share this free EP from Vermont bass monkey Guttstar. Melodic, crisp and floaty lovestep with lots of G-funk stylings, it's a step up on the clean production from his previous bandcamp releases. One to kick back and bliss out to - if you liked Mihkal's Snuglife mix we posted a while back, you'll love this!

Click here for free downloaad on Bandcamp

  The Birds (Free EP - Double Healix - tinyurl.com/644t5v9) by Guttstar 

  Turn On (Free EP - Double Healix - tinyurl.com/644t5v9) by Guttstar

  To Have and Have Not (Free EP - Double Healix - tinyurl.com/644t5v9) by Guttstar

  Panda Dance (Free EP - Double Healix - tinyurl.com/644t5v9) by Guttstar

  Decompress (Free EP - Double Healix - tinyurl.com/644t5v9) by Guttstar

Love and Light: Crunk Junkees from Reno

2010 was the year that wobbly, funk mid-tempo breaks and glitch-hop really landed. Towards the end of the year Love and Light dropped a gem of an EP - Crunk Junkee - on Simplify Records, who are fast becoming one of my favourite labels at the moment. Hailing from Reno, right next to Black Rock City, these guys make some proper lush bass bounces. Essential for anyone into Opiuo and JPodtbc, although a bit more downtempo. Check out the free mini-mix and get the EP before the next one!

  Love and Light - Crunk Junkee EP - MINI MIX by Simplify Recordings

I came across Love and Light via Bwomp Beats and this awesome Stephan Jacobs collaboration (yes Peachi, awesome like the universe)

  Stephan Jacobs & Love and Light - Sound A Da Bass (feat Naada) MORE 320's IN SONG DESCRIPTION!!! by Love and Light

Smoke this in your pipe and swing it!

***Howdy folks! Dave "The" Knox here...long time listener, first time blogger. I'm fresh outta bloggin' bootcamp so go easy on me sarge...***

This mix is literally still dripping little 1's and 0's as it's so fresh off the mp3 press... the genre creating Dutty Moonshine have bent to the will of the baying public by releasing a mash-up mix of their eclectic rave-driven Electro Swing style.

Dutty (Don Von Drop It & FunkunFurl) have been steadily kicking the arse into Electro Swing for a while now... dirty little dubstep fused ditties (Soundcloud "Spanky Tonk"!) have popped up here and there sparking enough interest for a tour last summer that took them to such diverse places as Paris and Bethnal Green (via quite a few other locales!).

I'm crap at descriptions so here's theirs: Swing for the rave generation and rave for the swing generation. With backgrounds of Drum and Bass, Hip-Hop, Funk, Electro and Breaks and a passion for vintage music, scantily clad ladies and dapper décolletage comes a duet DJ show which brings you back to the 30's with big bad dutty basslines thrown in to satisfy all those insatiable needs.

'nuff reading! Listen to this....Knox out.

ELECTRO SWING ON THIS by Dutty Moonshine

Tracklisting:

Savage Henry - Breathe and Swing
Backini Company - B Boy
Tape Five - Dixie Biscuit
Dunklebunt - La Revedere
Al'Tarba - Mushroom Burger
C2C - 2005 DMC Piece
Chinese Man - Artichaut
Eminem - Without Me
Jive Bunny - Beethoven
Beat3 - Superduper
Bassnectar - Carried Away
Beats Antique - Roustabout (Bassnectar remix)
Top Shelf Jazz - Live Hard, Drunk, Die Rich (Dutty Moonshine edit)
Caravan Palace - Brotherswing (Major Zero)
Goldfish - Wet Willy
Dutty Moonshine - Up To The Red
Balkan Beatbox - Delancy
The McMash Clan - Balkan Riddim
Max Farenthide - Happy People
Kormac - Wash My Hands
Odjbox - Bakers Dozen
Beat3 - Eastcoast Swing
OdjBox - Mister Joe's Cafe
DKS - Sing Sing Sing
White Noise - You Ain't Got That Swing
Don Johnson Big Band - One Mc One Delay
Zodiac Cartel - Make My Music
Yolanda Be Cool - We No Speak Americano (High Rankin remix)
Gramophonedzie - Why Don't You Do Right (High Rankin remix)
Parker - Where's My Monkey
Cragga - Mr. Postman
Bukez Finezt - Al Jawala
Stenchman - Puking Over
Stenchman - Cockeck
Dutty Moonshine - How To Escape A Haunted House
Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer - Everything Stops
DJ Yoda - Ding Dong Daddy
Baron - The Ratpack
Glen Miller - In The Mood (Dr. Fish remix)
Ray Charles - Hit The Road Jack (unknown artist remix)
Louis Armstrong - If It Ain't Got That Swing (Fractal Remix)
En El Hijodeputa Del Edificio
Waga Waga - Beeg Spenda

NastyNasty bears his Lazer Soul

For me, NastyNasty's Priceless was one of the stand out tracks on this year's Acid Crunk compilation from An-Ten-Nae. It's a mournful vocal repeated over sleepy dubstep with creeping electric lazer noises is a pretty good introduction to his sound, which takes that sad but beautiful element of dubstep and makes it something so much more....




Hailing from Okland, CA, NastyNasty first came to my attention on Soundcloud through a joint remix of Rn'b classic Say My Name with NiT GRiT. Unbelievably it still hasn't reached it's download limit despite it's hair raising combination of classic dubstep, NiT GRiT's earth shaking lazer bass and NastyNasty's off kilter swirling lazer synth - so grab it while it's still hot!

Both artists share a sense of meoldy, but while NiT GRiT goes for all out lister submission through the power of his bass, immersion in NastyNasty's sound is a more subtle process. His beats are more broken, his melodies layered in more comples patterns and his overall palette more eclectic - more along the lines of Slugabed or Nosaj Thing. Check out Western Slang below for a good example.
Western Slang by NastyNasty

More recently he's dropped a free VIP remix of No Name which lets the bass bubble as much as wobble as the arpegiating high end weaves in and out of an achingly wistful vocal. Perhaps the best this he's produced to date:
No Names VIP by NastyNasty

Meanwile this wicked remix of Justice's New Jack seems to pull him out of his dubsteppy roots into a funkier mid-tempo crunk disco vibe:
Justice - New Jack (NastyNasty Remix) by NastyNasty

If you download just one thing though, most of these tunes and more are showcased in the beautiful Lazer Soul mixtape he uploaded a few months back:
Lazer Soul by NastyNasty

I'm so jealous of these people here


It's time you got NastyNasty ;-)

Morbidly Obese Midget: Mega Meal Deal

I've been spending more time actually mixing and playing myself lately. The result is this collection of Morbidly Obese Midget mixtapes bundled together here for your listening pleasure. A late festive pressie for your ears! Thanks to Peachi for keeping Musical Mana going over the last few months with a fat selection of mixtapes while I've been otherwise distracted...

London Spinners Party Mix by Morbidly Obese Midget

This is a condensed version of a set I played at the Spinning@ London Jugglers Christmas Party, recorded the following week at the Synergy Spinners Solstice Party. I get a lot of my practice playing for spinners, twirlers and jugglers who are a great audience because if they like what you're playing they'll play harder to it and the floor will become a frenzy of activity, even if there's only five people in the room anyway. The set moves from bass loaded breaks into more straight 4/4 driving electro. The electro almost always gets people moving more, but the breaks is a nice warm up.

TRACKLIST:
Tittsworth - WTF (Deekline and Ed Solo Remix)
The Fort Knox Five - Shift (Deekline and Dustin Hulton Remix)
Sporty-O - International Wingman (DJ Fixx And ILL DJ Chris B Original Mix)
Slyde - Move ya Body
Beat Assasins - Put Em Up (NAPT remix)
Nick Thayer - Let it Go (Cutline remix)
Neurodriver and Atomic Drop - What You Gonna Do?
Far Too Loud - We Want to Dance
Dirty Loud - What U Think
Neelix - Disco Decay (Felguk remix)
Tegma - David's Song
Perfect Stranger - Stardust (Felguk remix)

  Morbidly Obese Midget - Droppin bombs on ya glitch - Nov 2010 by Morbidly Obese Midget 

Bass bombs straight outta tha suburban jungle! I've been trying to nail a good glitch-hop mix for a while - getting the right balance between bass, glitch and bounce. Drawing from a whole bunch of tunes I've been enjoying over the last few years this comes pretty close to the sound I've been aiming for, keeping the tempo up, the bass whomping and the beats popping. While it gets my head bobbing and my body swaying, I'm not sure it translates too well to the dancefloor, but I'm hoping the Opiuo's more bouncy sound is going to open a whole new range of mid-tempo breaks and glitch-hop next year that will do just that!

TRACKLIST
Mimosa - Pandora's Box
SubverT - Speaker Humpin' (Knight Riderz Remix)
Blunt Instrument - Battle Toad
Nasty Ways - The Good The Bad The Squishy
DJ Vadim - Maximum feat La Methode (Bassnectar & ill.gates remix)
Opiuo - King Prawn
ill.gates & Filastine - Pharma Sutra
SubverT - Curbstomper
Glitchy & Scratchy - Midgets
edIT - Battling Go-Go Yubari in Downtown L.A.

Morbidly Obese Midget - West Coast Of The Thames (Is Stained With Purple Crunk) by Musicalmana on Mixcloud

This one's a downtempo dubstep mix. It's an attempt to find the blurred lines between Bristolian 'purple wow' sounds and West Coast whomp and dubstep influenced crunk. The mixing could be better but this was on the fly and I've not had the time to re-do. This is a streaming mix on soundcloud, but hopefully soon I'll find some time to re-work it for a Soundcloud DL.

TRACKLIST
Nastynasty - Priceless
Gemmy - 1987 Bounce
Guido - You Do It Right
Professor Green & Lilly Allen - Just Be Good To Green (Joker Vocal Remix)
Luniz Vs Joker - Kraddy's Next Level Mash Up
Joker - Tron
Nit Grit - Love Songs
Nastynasty Vs. Nit Grit - Say My Name
Mimosa - F.T.A.M.F.
Nit Grit - Grit Shifter
Mimosa - 140bpm On That Kriptonite (Point Of No Return Remix)
Pantyraid - Enter The Machine

If you like what you're hearing follow me on some of these sites for more regular updates and recommends:

soundcloud.com/musicalmana
mixcloud.com/musicalmana
twitter.com/musicalmana

Bass in your face London! Bassnectar review and remaining UK tour dates

Friday lunchtime I saw the Fabric line up for the Scratch Perverts Beatdown on Friday night. One name stood out above all others... BASSNECTAR! What the fuck was he doing in London? Why did no-one tell me? Why did I not tell me? I can't remember the last time he was here, I just know that I have a 2006 promo my housemate gave me from a Freq Nasty night she can't remember if he played at. And that's been it for years...

  DJ Vadim - Maximum ft La Methode (Bassnectar & ill.Gates Remix) by Bassnectar  

After getting the news I went straight to Lorin's tour blog to find out:

"Hello Bass Heads!

"I remember years ago, the thought of playing a show in Europe felt like a Pilgrimage. When my agent started sending me to places like Arkansas on a Teusday and Tennessee on a Wednesday, I threw a fit. In my mind electronic music belonged in international meccas of prestige like London, Paris, Tokyo, New York. Not random spots in middle America where nobody even listens to electronic music.

"But after a lot of international touring in 2002 and 2003 I had lost interest in an unlimited scope of travel, and I wanted to focus on building a deeper, more fanatic network locally. I began gravitating towards the idea of bringing the music to places where it did not exist previously, and kind of forging a path for bass music here in the states.

"This was after the rave scene of the 1990′s had dissolved (or been extinguished) and I never expected to find such open arms scattered in essentially every American town I visited. So now after over 10 years of hardcore touring stateside, the number of bass heads is larger and more intense than I ever would have imagined. The shows are beyond a ‘rave’ and something more like an experience, and I am utterly stunned and grateful to continue taking this space ship deeper and deeper into the unkown.

"But we figured, why not go back to Europe… I haven’t played in London since a night with Freq Nasty back in 2004 (or 2003?) since the schedule over here got so jam-packed.

"This is exciting for several reasons; in part because it is a chance to explore fresh ears, and to delve much deeper into both the CLASSICs in my record box, and the baaaaangers that i have been rinsing over here. But also some of the shows over there are a whole different ball game… tiny-ass little rooms like I used to play regularly on stateside tours years and years ago.

"While I do not mind the huge venues and huge stages over here, I do miss the impeccable freakishness of a low ceiling and a room, a bat-shit crazy crowd bouncing off the walls, and the feeling of borderline panic as the room appears to burst at the seams."

He certainly got what he wanted at Fabric. By the time I managed to get in Bassnectar's set had just started and Room 1 was packed to the max and bouncing to the ceiling. As we fought to the bar the tunes were on the lighter side of things, switching between glitch-hop and mid tempo breaks or d'n'b and a wicked reggae vocal tune I didn't recognise. As the set developed, so did the bottom end, and by the time we'd squeezed our way into the centre of the room he was dropping dubstep-eque bass slabs from Wildstyle, Cozza Frenzy and Timecode.

  Bassnectar - Bass Head by Bassnectar

The crowd, the majority of whom like me had never seen (or in a lot of cases heard) this before, were mad for it. To see Lorin on the decks is an experience in itself. He's an animal, bouncing around with his straight long hair hanging down over his face and the occasional shouts on the mic of 'London lemme see you go wild!". Technically he really uses the tempo controls to full effect, with beats of different styles mashing into each other seamlessly and getting through tunes at a pretty epic pace - his own brand of omni-tempo maximalism in full effect!



It was when Lorin dropped the remix of Metallica's Seek and Destroy that the place really went nuts though. The dancefloor exploded into a full on mosh pit frenzy with the raw testosterone force of the metal / dubstep combo awakening some kinda primal urge in the club's under 25 male population. Personally I've never much enjoyed moshing in clubs, I used to go to metal and punk gigs for that, but the craziness kicking off was testament to the energy in the room. I didn't even mind the split lip.

 

The mosh-bass frenzy continued for another 20 odd minutes before spitting us back out into the realms of more danceable downtempo broken beats and bubbling squelchy bass from Cozza Frenzy and Underground Communication. With no Andy C in sight Lorin got to drop one more old classic before shaking as many hands as possible and disappearing to leave many wondering exactly what just happened.

DOWNLOAD:
  Bassnectar - Magical World feat. Nelly Furtado (FREE DOWNLOAD) by Bassnectar

The tour played Birmingham last night, but if you're lucky enough to live anywhere near Sheffield, Manchester, Cardiff or Dublin there's still time to catch him in the UK.

NOV 16: @ TUESDAY CLUB in SHEFFIELD, UK

Alongside Sub Focus!
I play @ 12:00
NOV 17: @ RETRO BAR BASEMENT in MANCHESTER, UK
NOV 18: @ IFOR BACH in CARDIFF, UK
NOV 19: @ CRAWDADDY in DUBLIN, IR

Lorin - if you read this, please come back again soon and bring more stateside bassheads!

DOWNLOAD:
The Pixies - Where is my Mind (Bassnectar Remix) (Click through for DL)Bassnectar - Boombox (Bassnectar & ill.gates remix) (Right click save as for DL)

Slugabed: Drop a Donky On It

I first came across Slugabed through a review of his Ultra Heat Treated EP on Doktor Krank's epicly prolific bass blog. If you haven't heard it yet, at least get Skyfire - it's an epic slab of off kilter future-hop, with arcade game pings and blips morphing in and out of the most addictive melody, fading between bass runs and floaty pauses. Overall I'd probably describe his sound as somewhere between Joker and Flying Lotus.


More recently the learned Doktor has flagged up this dope mixtape he's done for Brighton night Donky Pitch. It's properly sick, with remixes of La Roux, Wu Tang Clan and what sound like Erykah Badu and Bjork and tracks skewed somewhere between filth and the sublime. I've been addicted for well over a week now. Enjoy!

  Slugabed - Put A Donky On It Mix by Donky Pitch

If you like that, Slugabed and the Donky Pitch crew are taking over Cafe 1001 just off Brick Lane in London this Saturday. Due to the usual twists of universal irony that flow through my life I'm due to be down in Brighton though. Oh well...

You can read more about Greg Slugabed in this recent Quietus interview. Apparently he's now moved to Kingston for some bizarre reason... will have to track him down sometime as that makes us practically neighbours and I've never heard anyone else playing music this good anywhere near here.

Phew! Managed the whole post without describing his music as wonky.... oh shit...

The Glitch Mob: Drink the Sea and Remix It Like You Stole It

THE REVIEW

So upfront, I have a confession to make. A few months on and I'm actually slightly disappointed by the Glitch Mob's debut 'Drink the Sea'. This is not too say that's it's bad. In fact if you're only going to read this part of this review, buy the album, it's well worth it! As stand alone tracks they're beautifully produced and there's plenty of those sharp hooks, tonk beats and enough bounce to get your arms swinging like you're really throwin' it down (see We Swarm below).

  We Swarm - DRINK THE SEA - Out Now by The Glitch Mob 

So what's my gripe? Well maybe I've kinda built it up to much in anticipation - eDit and Oaah have long been two of my favourite whomp and glitch-hop producers and I've always liked what I've heard from Boreta.

Drink the Sea certainly solidifies the Glitch Mob's sound, but for me the downside is that too many of the tracks sound a bit too similar and use many of the same tricks as the epic remixes with which they made their name. While this means that the album holds together in terms of cohesive sound, I get the same emotion from every track. They're occasionally a bit slow and overly epic (rock drums, Gfunk synths and guitars), without enough of those really poppin beats, glitches and deep whomp that make the individual artist's work so godamn addictive. This may be partly explained due to a slight void in the heavy crunk department, left by the departure of Kraddy not long before release, or a desire for album to be realised by a live band, as Lowri points out in this review.

THE COMPETITION

Anyway, one way to get me really excited about an album again is to put out a bunch of sick remixes (see Freestylers' Raw a Fuck, Deekline and Wizard's last effort and Freeland's Cope).

Eskmo's chop up of Fistful of Silence is a case in point:

The Glitch Mob - Fistful of Silence (ESKMO Remix) - Right Click for free download

Full props to The Glitch Mob boys for putting the next one out to tender with an open invite to remix another of the stand out tracks, Drive It Like You Stole It. The prizes are many, the deadline is 20 August, all stems are available up on the site and there's already some sick entries. So let's see some of you bass heads steal this mix and put some proper breaking crunk funk in it!

http://www.theglitchmob.com/music/remix_competition/

For non-producers you can grab a lot of this tasty shit for free. Having had a listen to a few I'd recommend Mirko-Kosmos (sick!), Matty B (different), Technobears' Redux and the self explanatory Funkadhesive Remix.

Remix It Like You Stole It Competion - The Glitch Mob

Celestial Crunk Goddesses: Lotus Drops & Profresher

Chris here back on the blog for the first time in ages. Got a couple of stateside dubstep / crunk gems for ya!

The first is a mixtape by bay area DJ, Lotus Drops. Can't remember how I found it, but I've been digging her Celestial Whomp Goddess Transmission all summer. It's a sweet mix of classic eastern-tinged dubstep tunes by UK producers with more whompy US productions. Keeps a good pace throughout with some suitably epic swoops and drops. The only thing missing is a tracklisting. She's another DJ, like my mate Ade, that play sick sets but can't name half the tunes in them... maybe there's something in that! Anyone who wants to work the tracklisting out though, do give me a shout...

  The Celestial Goddess Womp Transmission by Lotus Drops

While listening to the Celestial Whomp Transmision on Soundcloud just now I found someone else asking for the same tracklisting. I don't know what made me click through, but I'm glad I did. It turns out that she's Billy Blacklight aka. Profresher (above) from Minneapolis, MN who gives very little away through her online profile, but posts some extremely sick downtempo whomp, psy crunk and dubstep tunes to her Soundcloud. I've posted a couple of the tastiest gems below. Look forward to hearing more from her!

  Think About Me by Profresher

  Eternity by Profresher

Euro-burners: London Decompression 2009

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:

Decompression Glitch-Hop by Morbgit

Tracklisting:

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.

Jurassik’s Deep as the Thames Boat Party Mix

Tracklist

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.

I've reviewed the whole night for Spoonfed.co.uk - you can read the full write up here. Much love to my surrogate burning crew (below - me looking like a twat in the middle)!

Jay Cunning: Old Skool Jungle remix

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.

Jay Cunning - Old Skool Vol 02 ('94 Jungle) by Jay Cunning / Sub Slayers


Jay Cunning - Old Skool Vol 02 ('94 Jungle) by Jay Cunning / Sub Slayers

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

RA podcasts: Modeselektor and Neil Landstrumm

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.

MODESELEKTOR - ART&CASH OFFICIAL VIDEO from Pfadfinderei on Vimeo.

Modeselektor – Resident Advisor Podcast 173 – (21-09-2009) (Rapidshare link)

Tracklist:

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

Neil Landstrumm – Resident Advisor Podcast 174 – (28-09-2009)
(Sorry, link down. Will get a fresh one up as soon as I can. Also, if anyone can find a tracklisting, please let me know!)

Neil Landstrumm - £20 To Get Home (Planet Mu) from Konx-om-Pax on Vimeo.

BigupBassMusicblog: J Kenzo (Dub Police, Soul Shakerz)

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.

J-Kenzo Mix For BassMusicBlog Sept 09 by bassmusic

J:Kenzo - Exclusive Mix for Bassmusicblog.com

01. Twisted - Changes
02. Von D - Berlin Call
03. DJ Heny G - Hardo Bread
04. J:Kenzo - Constant (crack dub mix)
05. J:Kenzo - Mortal Kombat
06. J:Kenzo - Tekno Bass
07. J:Kenzo - Hoods Up
08. Roska - Holograph (J:Kenzo Remix)
09. Twisted - Robots (J:Kenzo Remix)
10. J:Kenzo presents Konnek Deep - Karizma