ALWAYS EVERYTHING

ALWAYS EVERYTHING MIX 006: MIX FOR PASSION RADIO

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:59:00 +0100

Download 320: http://www.mediafire.com/?y4642l7mh4ibqrb

Tracklist:

Nina Kraviz - Walking In The Night
Redshape - Throw In Dirt
Genius Of Time - Houston We Have A Problem
Todd Terje - Snooze 4 Love
Bad Autopsy - Ginmixer (Jam City Remix)
Ikonika - Idiot (Altered Natives Remix)
Gerd - Palm Leaves
Mr Mathz - Preacher’s Daughter
Jam City - The Courts
Ciara - Gimme Dat
Bass Clef - Rollercoasters Of The Heart
Mokona - Stewardess Rush

Although at the time fate (and an archaic radio mixer) conspired against me, here is the (intended) mix in all its glory. Tuff summer traxx as part of my end-of-masters escapism.

Although we’ve been a little quiet, my self imposed exile is almost over. We’ll be going full throttle from June. Always Everything Radio will be starting up again on Hivemind.fm with Rory and I alternating between the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month.

—

Simon

ALWAYS EVERYTHING MIX 005: MUSICK FOR MOORLAND

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:47:11 +0000

Musick for Moorland was inspired by two immediate events. The first was writing a feature about The Haxan Cloak, whose self-titled album from this year is one of 2011’s finest, darkest treats. The second was a late night purchase of Leyland James Kirby’s 2008 album Bleaklow, recorded and released under the name The Stranger, whose theme was one of exploring the moors around the region where Kirby grew up.

Both musicians are tied together by writing music that’s strongly evocative of the countryside and untamed nature (and also of people being swallowed up by the wilderness). Both albums are wild, elemental listens, necessitating repeat listens at high volume on very large speakers.

This mix was also influenced by a trip to the Peak District a few weeks back, a welcome escape from the urban surrounds within which I spend most of my time.

Outside of these triggers to record the mix, there are the contents themselves. A number of (particularly British) artists have been taking electronic music and composition into darker and more treacherous territories over the last two to three years. People like Demdike Stare, Raime and Ekoplekz are rewiring and re-energising the dread ghosts of eighties Thatcherite Britain, potent reminders of the fucked state we find the UK in circa 2011. Others - Manchester’s Modern Love label and a number of people in Bristol immediately spring to mind - are wearing the hard, polished edges of dancefloor music away, leaving rhythms that send muffled ripples of dissonance outward through the mix. And the spectre of post-punk and early industrial - Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle - is once again leering forward in Perc’s hard-edged techno, Roly Porter’s ragged ambient landscapes, Actress’ house-not-house and Ekoplekz’s crushed analogue dub. Richard Skelton and Lawrence English both make music concerned with space and resonance, the former working with the naturally amplifying properties of wind-whipped moors in order to create beautiful, moving, exploratory string compositions.

There’s something peculiarly British about the landscapes - both urban and rural - these artists evoke: the main reason why it was particularly easy to find the common threads that bind them together in a mix.

So Musick for Moorland is intended, as much as possible, to match its title. For best results, if you’re not anywhere near somewhere wild, cold and unnerving to go walking, it’s probably about turning the lights off, or something similar.

ALWAYS EVERYTHING 005: MUSICK FOR MOORLAND by Always Everything on Mixcloud

Music by: 10-20, Raime, The Haxan Cloak, The Stranger, Andy Stott, Leyland Kirby, Miles, Demdike Stare, Perc, Richard Skelton, Chris Watson, Roly Porter, Lawrence English, Actress, Shackleton & Sam Kidel.

Download in 320: http://www.mediafire.com/?gg6supb820z47ah

ALWAYS EVERYTHING MIX 004: INTO THE DEEP

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:20:00 +0000

As dubstep’s stature accelerates to a freefall from grace, the Bristol music scene’s existential crisis has deepened. Some have stuck to the path well trodden with mixed results-see Punch Drunk’s excellent releases from Bass Clef and Kahn, and compare to Joker’s trance tinged attempt at pop dubstep crossover - whilst others have undergone slow yet radical transformations. As the dust clears, the consensus seems to be settling on deep and deadly house and techno.

Kidkut’s sometimes-mixed Immerse Records (though still baring the slogan “breakbeat and sub culture”) has entered a powerful second phase with a string of spectacular Bristolian house records, peaking with a decidedly underrated classic by exciting new face El Kid. Elsewhere Appleblim, a figure formally synonymous with dubstep, now counts producers like October and Watergate resident John Osborn among his collaborators, featuring with each on the launch release for new house labels Smorgasboard and Taanstaafl respectively. The most pronounced change in the Bristol landscape, however, is the move from sadly defunct Rooted Records to Chris Farrell’s Idle Hands, acting as the record shop arm of the label and agency of the same name. Just as Rooted functioned as a hub for the Bristol dubstep scene, so now does Idle Hands for house and techno, with a tightly woven web of connections between labels (Idle Hands, BRSTL Vinyl, Livity Sound), artists (Kowton, Outboxx, Hodge) and nights (Western Union, SUM) all traceable back to the shop via releases, instores and staff members. As the monthly, midweek dubstep party Dubloaded sadly bows out, its not inconceivable that Chris and Kidkut’s intimate house night Western Union could start to play an analogous role for this new scene somewhere down the line.

Its not entirely without coincidence that the majority of dance music we’ve enjoyed this year falls under the same bracket. Parties like Dirtytalk, Ist Das and Headrush have brought the likes of Marcel Dettmann, Prosumer, Surgeon, Peter Van Hoesen, Kassem Mosse, Legowelt, Intergalactic Gary, Conforce and more to the city over the last year, and its been hard to escape the feeling that all the best nights have been house and techno related. In terms of releases, with the bass-centric hype bubble imploding impotently, great labels like Underground Quality, Rush Hour, Workshop, 100% Silk and Clone Royal Oak have completely usurped all of our previous focuses. This mix is a reflection of that: 53 minutes of hypnotic house and techno featuring Kyle Hall, Ben Klock, DJ Qu, Octo Octa, Vakula, Move D and much more.

ALWAYS EVERYTHING 004: INTO THE DEEP by Always Everything on Mixcloud

Tracklist

Recloose - Electric Sunshine [Rush Hour]
Motor City Drum Ensemble - L.O.V.E (Kyle Hall Remix) [Studio !K7]
Ben Klock feat Elif Bicer - OK [Ostgut Ton]
TJ & DJ Raybone - Gone [Rush Hour]
Octo Octa - I’m Trying [100% Silk]
Carsten Jost - Chateau Jalousie [Dial]
Cooly G - Landscapes [Hyperdub]
Hunee - A Leaf For Hand In Hand [Ostgut Ton]
O.N.I.T - We’re Out Of Control [Fourth Floor Records]
Vakula - Crossing [3rd Strike Records]
Farben - Swinn Off [Faitiche]
Elgato - Music (Body Mix) [Hessle Audio]
Move D - A1 [Workshop]
Sound Stream - Deeper Love [Sound Stream]
Manuel Tur feat Holly Backler - Most Of This Moment (Isolée Mix) [White Label]
Outboxx - Blueberry Lemon [Well Rounded Housing Project]
DJ Qu - First Down [Strength Music Recordings]
Skirt - In The Meadow Under The Stars [Horizontal Ground]

Download 320: http://www.mediafire.com/?7iuofzm1kaqylcf

ALWAYS EVERYTHING MIX 003: SECOND SUMMER ENDING

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:15:00 +0100

The original plan was to record a super sunny house mix for the freak early October heatwave we just experienced, but by the time I got to my decks it had passed. Brief bloom. Blending moody autumnal bass tracks throughout definitely reinvigorated the DNA of the mix anyway, so whogivezafuk. Some stone cold house classics, a couple of underrated gems from the last couple of years and a smattering of new and upfront tracks. A psychedelic house journey featuring Oliverwho Factory, Risque Rhythm Team, Steffi, Dj Qu, Kowton, Isolee, Walton, Shed, Cosmin TRG, Carl Craig and more.

ALWAYS EVERYTHING 003: SECOND SUMMER ENDING by Always Everything on Mixcloud

Tracklist:

Peverelist - Sun Dance
Creative Sens - Rainbow Harmony
Funkineven - XXX
Risque Rhythm Team - The Jacking Zone
DVA - Ganja
Ikonika - Idiot (Altered Natives Remix)
Cosmin TRG - See Other People
Kode 9 & The Spaceape - Green Sun
Jam City - Barely A Trak
Morgan Geist - Detroit (c2rmx1)
Throwing Snow - Shadower
Steffi - Yours
Walton - Mangled Riddim
The Oliverwho Factory - Galactic Transit (Recall Mix)
Isolée - In Our Country
Kowton - Looking At You
DJ Qu - Babyluv
Altocamet - Contrasendito (Shed Remix)
Leyland Kirby - Live For The Future, Long For The Past

Download 320: http://www.mediafire.com/?rof32s3u4akvl37

Previous Mixes:

Always Everything 002 Grime Futurism 2
Always Everything 001 Flex Mentallo

ALWAYS EVERYTHING MIX 002: GRIME FUTURISM 2

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 18:19:00 +0100

Next in our mix series, a long overdue sequel.

Austere and alien, the classic 2002-2005 era of grime instrumentals remains one of the most futuristic and alien subgenres of electronic music. Though partly attributable to coincidence- the space required for MCs disfiguring UKG into asymmetry together with naive approaches to extremely restrictive technology- with the requisite imagination it is easy to place grime instrumentals into a lineage with early electronic work, electro, neue deutsche welle and other bold leaps into the unknown. Perhaps its the emphasis on hollowed out sinewaves, a sound that will always be associated with futurism. Maybe the hyper-functionality of 8-bar tracks and stark minimalism puts in mind classic modernist tropes of utopia. Or maybe its just the combination of hungry youngsters absorbing video game soundtracks and a naive approach to technology that calls to mind the usual examples from early electronic experimentation.

At the same time, the complete unattainability of so much of grime has almost imbued the music with a totemic kind of mythology. With limited white label runs, poor distribution infrastructure and rumours of the complete hard drive failure of some classic producers, incredibly there is a wealth of music that will never see the light of day outside of the battered copies in obsessives’ collections. Bizarrely, this futuristic music harkens back to an age before the internet gave everybody instant access to everything, creating a weirdly contradictory exoticism around tracks which can only be found in fossilised form, the lo-fi rips of records endlessly scavenged and re-encoded.

Futurism aside, its still some of the most striking dance music ever created, in its best spots attaining a delicate balance most fail to meet. Steely complexity and sonic experimentation is always tempered with an IDM-dodging functionality and security in purpose. Fierce sexuality and violence offset with a playful, often naive approach. Its at once exploratory and completely direct. Through all of these dichotomies the best grime instrumentals hit all the pleasure spots of the best UK dance music whilst crucially avoiding the oversteps and excesses of the more indulgent underground niches. Its always slightly baffled me that grime was pushed onto a braggadocio/violence side of the dubstep/grime false binary given how diverse the beats actually are, and I still experience a steadfast resistance from detractors who have already written the genre off. I’m still convinced that people from fairly distinct musical backgrounds can find a lot to enjoy in music that seems to exist, artificially or not, at the intersection of lo-fi, electronic music futurism, hypnogogic pop and UK dance music. Perhaps the recurring theme is music that works against restrictions; more and more I think that idea underlies the majority of worthwhile music.

This mix is a collection of a few more white labels I acquired since the previous Grime Futurism mix I did, together with some newer tracks that touch into that unique space. It seemed about right with the announcement of a (sacrilegious) Blade Runner sequel.

ALWAYS EVERYTHING 002: GRIME FUTURISM 2 by Always Everything on Mixcloud

Tracklist

Darq E Freaker - Queen of Hoxton
Superisk - Find Your Way
Big$hot & F1 - Armageddon
Becoming Real - Showdown In Chinatown (Instrumental)
Plasticman - Shockwave
Bok Bok - Crew Instrumental
Big$hot - Stomp Remix
Joker - Untitled.rsn
Zomby - Aquafresh
Starfox - Blink
Jon E Cash - Spanish Fly
Jay Weed - On The Nile (Becoming Real Remix)
Wonder - What
Mr Mitch - Skittles (Brey Remix)
Big$hot - Short Circuit
Jam City - Island
Royal T - Orangeade
Skepta - Love Is Here To Stay (Terror Danjah Remix)
Bossman - Bongo Eyes (Backwards Riddim)
Nocturnal - Bun Man
Bok Bok - Silo Pass
Wiley - Avenger
JME - Skeng
Untold - Never Went Away
Wiley - Colder (Bass Mix)

Vangelis - Main Titles / Ruff Sqwad - Lethal Injection

Download 320: http://www.mediafire.com/?ijytryq70t65yx6

Previous Mix: Always Everything 001: Flex Mentallo

VIDEO // MARIA MINERVA - LOVECOOL

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:15:00 +0100

First drop from Tallinn At Dawn follow up, Cabaret Cixous. Not Not Fun enjoying one of their best runs to date right now.

LAUREL HALO // HOUR LOGIC + ANTENNA

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:51:07 +0100

We’ve been making noise about Laurel Halo’s music for some time here at AE - last year’s King Felix was among our favourite records of 2010. But with her new EPs Hour Logic and Antenna it feels as though she’s taken a significant step forward again. There’s been a lot of talk lately around the use of synth sounds more readily associated with the beginnings of electronic music, especially in the context of the current vogue for chatter around Retromania. But what set her music (and that of some of her closest contemporaries) apart are the themes it explores, most of which couldn’t have been approached in the same way any time but now. It’s especially concerned with notions of connectivity, the net, science and modern society, all delivered with real weight and excellent production. Hour Logic is particularly physically involving, its surface synth drones often accompanied by a heavy dancefloor undertow. It’s out now on Hippos In Tanks, and comes thoroughly recommended.

I recently interviewed Laurel for The Quietus, where we spoke about Detroit techno, science, and why her music’s not retrofuturistic. Read the interview here.

—-

Rory

LISTEN // AE RADIO JUNE 2011

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:36:25 +0100

Always Everything returned for our monthly radio show, live from the Hive, last night from 10-12pm - kicking off with some Bristolian house action from Baobinga, Vessel, Kowton, El Kid, Behling & Simpson and the like, with a brief diversion into Detroit-ish electro sounds about halfway through. And some excellent new music from AE favourites Laurel Halo and Hype Williams, George FitzGerald, FaltyDL, AnD, Vibezin and more. Paired with the usual banter for your listening enjoyment/endurance. The show’s available from the Hivemind website archive now, but we’ve handily reproduced the link below.

Download the show [right click, save as]

Oneida - Pre-Human [forthcoming Jagjaguwar]
Kuedo - Starfox (Illum Sphere’s Re-fox) [forthcoming Planet Mu]
Hype Williams - Rise Up [forthcoming Hyperdub]
Baobinga & xxxy - Barbakan [forthcoming Build]
Andy Stott - Tell Me Anything [Modern Love]
Vessel - Patina [Astro:Dynamics]
Kowton - Track Mute [unreleased]
El Kid - Construction No. 404 [Astro:Dynamics]
Emptyset - Altogether Lost (Behling & Simpson Remix) [Caravan]
Elgato - Music (Body Mix) [Hessle Audio] (033472 Edit)
Shed - Well Done My Son (033472 Edit) [Soloaction]
Goldwill - Blush [Wandering]
John Osborn - Epoch 4 [forthcoming TANSTAAFL]
Zomby - Natalia’s Song [4AD]
Laurel Halo - Hour Logic [Hippos In Tanks]
Floating Points - Peroration IV (feat. Fatima) [Brownswood]
4th Measure Men - Given (MK Dub) [FXHE]
FaltyDL - Jack Your Job [forthcoming All City]
Ossie - The Power Of Love [forthcoming Hyperdub]
Spatial - Corti (S-Max Remix) [forthcoming Schmorgasbord]
Lone - All Those Weird Things [forthcoming Wigflex]
Hodge - Conjecture [Pollen]
Call Super - Timora (Objekt Rework) [forthcoming Five Easy Pieces]
Model 500 - O.F.I (Space Dimension Controller Remix) [R&S]
Long Ago - A Relic [Transmat]
Model 500 - Info World [Transmat]
Addison Groove - It’s Got Me [3024]
The Other People Place - Let Me Be Me [Warp]
Objekt - CLK Recovery [Objekt]
Laurel Halo - Zoo Hypothesis [NNA]
AnD - Swing Me [forthcoming Project:Squared]
George FitzGerald - Reset [forthcoming Aus Music]
Pearson Sound - Stifle [Hessle Audio]
Emptyset - Altogether Lost (Peverelist Remix) [Caravan]
Zomby - A Devil Lay Here [forthcoming 4AD]
D1 - Subzero [Hessle Audio]
Appleblim & Geiom - Shreds [Berkane Sol]
Bass Clef - So Cruel [forthcoming Punch Drunk]
Bracket - Damage Limitation [forthcoming Brackout]
Vibezin - Vicious [forthcoming Keysound]
Guido & Baobinga - Ballin’ [forthcoming Build]
Angelo Badalamenti - Dub Driving [Interscope]

WATCH // LONDON, 27th MAY

Thu, 19 May 2011 23:45:59 +0100

For anyone around in London next weekend, Friday 27th May, we’ll be hitting up The Nest for a rather fantastic line-up of bass-heavy stylings - particularly for the London debut (as far as I’m aware) of James AE, aka. XPLDR, aka. Jimitheexploder. He’ll be spinning tunes alongside XXXY, My Panda Shall Fly, Seams, Throwing Snow, Nightwave and Anthony C, and ‘tis but a fiver.

In the run up to the night, James has recorded a mix for God Don’t Like It, gathering together some of the best of the current crop of bass sounds, featuring the likes of Silkie, TEETH, Addison Groove, Kevin McPhee, Boddika and more. Check it out here.

Tracklist

Kevin McPhee – Get in With You (LV remix) [nakedlunch]
Mau’lin – Deeper Than the Sun [Ho Tep]
Boddika – Soul What [Swamp 81]
FaltyDL – Hip Love [Ramp]
Unknown Artist – Unknown [Analogue Solutions]
Head High – It’s A Love Thing (Piano Invasion) [Power House]
Thomas Bangalter – I Don’t Know Why [Roulé]
Maurice Donovan – Satisfied [ssssssss]
Funkystepz – Fuller [Hyperdub]
Champion – Loose Control [Hardrive]
Ossie – Tarantula [Lightworks]
Elgato – Music (Body Mix) [Hessle Audio]
DJ Qu – Babyluv [Strength Music]
Addison Groove – Minutes of Funk [3024]
Dark Sky – High Rise [Blunted Robots]
Desto – Glass Clouds [Ramp]
Silkie – Float [Deep Medi]
Alex Zen – Pimp Shoes [Berkane Sol]
S-X – Woooo (DJ Q Remix) [Butterz]
Teeth – Shawty [502]

And you can get tickets here, should you feel so inclined.

AE // THE GREAT ESCAPE

Thu, 12 May 2011 15:27:00 +0100

First update here for a while, a precursor to new things soon to come. In the meantime you can follow us on our monthly radio show, the latest instalment of which shall be soon to be available from these very pages.

However, an announcement for anyone within the Brighton area this weekend: Always Everything are going to be hosting the Green Door Store at The Great Escape this Friday (13th May), with a raft of bands and ourselves DJing at the end of the night. If you’re around in the city and fancy a drink get in touch - or if you’re in attendance at the Great Escape come and find our stage and watch some of the music we’ve got booked.

Headlining proceedings will be Planningtorock, the darkened electro-pop chanteuse who recently collaborated with The Knife and Mt. Sims for the Tomorrow, In A Year soundtrack and whose new album W, is a stark and intense listen, playing off a tension between grit and polish.

And we’re particularly excited to present the power duo of Laurel Halo and Gatekeeper. The former’s dreamlike, hazy pop has been a staple listen at AE as of late, her King Felix EP establishing her as a synthetic pop talent to rival her friends and labelmates Oneohtrix Point Never, Ford & Lopatin (nee Games) and Hype Williams. Her recent remix of Sleep∞Over’s ‘Casual Diamond’ sees her heading in a more dancefloor friendly direction - expect something well worth heading across for.

Chicago duo Gatekeeper (not to be confused with the Bristolian dubstepper), meanwhile, work a grinding electro/techno hybrid that finds them within a continuum that stretches forward from Detroit - the aquatic depths of Drexciya and mechanistic dreams of Model 500 - to the current obsession with synth revivalism. Their Giza EP is fantastic, beautifully creepy and well worth tracking down.

Also playing across the day are Chllngr, Idiot Glee, Woodhands, Admiral Fallow, Rachel Sermanni and Woodenbox. We open at 12:45, and Planningtorock plays at midnight - we’ll be on spinning our usual AE friendly mix of brain/body/booty styles after she’s finished.

For more info, check out The Great Escape’s website or drop us a line. See you down the front!

LISTEN // AE RADIO

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:22:11 +0100

It’s been a bit quiet on the AE front lately, a case of life getting in the way as usual (work/studies have a habit of doing that).

But last Thursday I hit up the Hivemind airwaves once again, this time on a house music tip appropriate to the sunshine blasting through the windows. There have been some really quite special house records released/reissued lately - particular props to K-S.H.E’s (aka. Terre Thaemlitz in yet another guise) Routes Not Roots and Rick Wilhite’s beautiful Analogue Aquarium (from which I played two tracks this time).

The show’s now available to download from the Hivemind.fm archive or direct download here. I’m pretty happy with this one, lots of good tracks, summer-ish vibes.

Tracklist:

Rick Wilhite - Blame It On The Boogie [Still Music]
Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir - Detroit State Of Mind (Space Dimension Controller Remix) [Rush Hour]
Outboxx - Blueberry Lemon [forthcoming Well Rounded Housing Project]
Kassem Mosse - Untitled B1 [Workshop]
Julio Bashmore - Father Father (Instrumental) [Futureboogie]
K-S.H.E. - Double Secret [Skylax]
Steffi - Sadness [forthcoming Ostgut Ton]
Lowtec - Looser [Nonplus+]
Tin Man- Nonneo (Donato Dozzy Remix) [Absurd]
Rick Wilhite - Deep Horizons [Still Music]
2562 - Intermission [When In Doubt]
Vessel - Nylon Sunset (Peverelist Remix) [forthcoming Left_Blank]
LV & Josh Idehen - Melt [forthcoming Keysound]
Brackles - Glazed (Martin Kemp Remix) [free download]
Jacques Greene - Another Girl (Braiden Remix) [LuckyMe]
Ricardo Villalobos - Easy Lee [Playhouse]
Eskmo - We Got More (Throwing Snow Remix) [forthcoming Ninja Tune]
Kowton - Looking At You [forthcoming Keysound]
Hyetal - Diamond Islands (Boddika Remix) [Black Acre]
Becoming Real - Closer (Jam City Remix) [Cold World Industries]
Pangaea - Inna Daze [Hessle Audio]
Hardrive/Pearson Sound - Deep Inside [Night Slugs White]
George FitzGerald - Silhouette [forthcoming Aus Music]
Blawan - Kaz [R&S]
Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle - Baby Wants To Ride [DJ International]
Andy Mac - Asteroid Belts [forthcoming Punch Drunk]
Neat & Submerse - Closer (FaltyDL Remix) [Airflex Labs]
2562 - Cheater [When In Doubt]
Milyoo - Kazaduon [forthcoming Saigon]
Hyetal - Searchlight [forthcoming Black Acre]
Hype Williams - Break4love [Hippos in Tanks]
Knowing Looks - WNCL004 Mash [West Norwood Cassette Library]
Addison Groove - It’s Got Me [forthcoming 3024]
Peverelist - Dance Til The Police Come [Hessle Audio]
Andy Mac - Everytime [forthcoming Punch Drunk]
Kode9 & The Spaceape - Bullet Against Bone [forthcoming Hyperdub]
Addison Groove - Work It [Swamp81]

Back again the first Thursday of May, 6-8pm GMT. More freshness incoming.

—-

Rory

BRISTOL // MOUNTAIN OF FOUR

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:46:00 +0100

Following the meeting of minds that was Xiu Xiu, Former Ghosts and Mount Kimbie, Qu Junktions are hosting the latest installment in their Mountain series this Thursday. Split between Arnolfini and Start The Bus, Kevin Martin’s (of The Bug/Techno Animal/God fame) King Midas Sound collides- in a sombre, solemn kind of way of course - with new age synthesist du jour Dan Lopatin AKA Oneohtrix Point Never, whose Returnal is quite rightly regarded as one of the albums of 2010. Over in Start The Bus afterwards, I’ll be warming up for Lopatin’s more joyful incarnation with Joel Ford as Games (now operating under the very businesslike Ford & Lopatin). Some excellent programming on Qu Junktions part, the bill connects the dots between supposedly disparate scenes quite exquisitely.

—-

Simon

HYPE WILLIAMS // ONE NATION

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:14:52 +0000

There’s been a fair amount of suspicion surrounding Hype Williams over the last few months, as if people aren’t quite sure how to take their scattershot approach to the official signifiers of high and lowbrow culture. The fact that they’re happy to meld trashy YouTube virals with the sort of exquisite, dreamy synthscapes usually peddled by people who wear too much hemp, combined with their vaguely dismissive attitude towards press attention appears to have worried certain listeners. It certainly makes it easy to think of them as a homegrown equivalent to James Ferraro, who displays the same deadpan tendencies and whose more astrally inclined music (Last American Hero; Marble Surf; Pixarni) is probably their closest sonic bedfellow.

But if their live show in Plastic People last night - taking over the crucible that nurtured dubstep and transforming it into a low-lit devotional space - proved anything, it’s that US lo-fi comparisons are simplistic in the extreme. What many of their contemporaries across the pond lack, and what Hype Williams carry an excess of, is weight. On the Plastic People soundsystem (worshipping at the temple of sub-bass, if you like; there’s an interesting comparison to be made there) their airier-sounding tracks take on overwhelmingly hefty, physically overwhelming form. It’s as if the lairy swagger of grime had, even just for a moment, allowed vulnerability and insecurity to take hold, then extrapolated that few seconds outward. In essence and attitude, they’re far closer to the experimental ends of the UK bass scene than to any genre beginning with H.

Their new album One Nation is further proof of that connection; over thirteen songs and forty-five minutes, they pretty accurately manage to capture that contradictory mix of satisfaction and misery that accompanies a particularly virulent comedown. All served with fuckloads of sub and their usual slightly-too-cool detachment. It makes sense that they’ve recently signed to Hyperdub for a single and album, and while they shouldn’t need it, hopefully that endorsement will help to validate them in the eyes of unconvinced parties.

I reviewed the record for The Quietus in more detail, specifically with reference to Hype Williams’ interesting engagement with the boundary-blurred information age. You can read it here.

—-

Hype Williams are playing at the Croft, Bristol, tomorrow night (26th March) alongside Raime. If you’re in Bristol and not heading down to this, slap yourself and swiftly reconsider your options.

—-

Rory

DOWNLOAD // CLAMS CASINO MIXTAPE

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:58:00 +0000

Download Clams Casino mixtape

Clams Casino // Motivation

If you’ve had even cursory interaction with the unassailable amount of material coming from the camps of Lil B and Main Attrakionz there’s a good chance you’ve heard a Clams Casino beat. Living up to the Based philosophy via hopeful and strikingly sparse vocal cut ups, Clams has been behind the cream of Lil B’s back catalogue including the amazing “Im God” and “Motivation”.

On this mixape, Clams Casino collects 12 of his hottest beats: from the mighty Illest Ever piecing a swag call to arms out of Bjork’s Bachellorette to the cavernous She’s Hot, the breadth on display is incredible. Clams’ instrumentals are amazingly emotive, juxtaposing ethereal serenity with satisfying lo fi grit. If that description didn’t make it clear, the tape will definitely do things for people into recent abstract work by the likes of Hype Williams*, Dro Carey and the Olde English Spelling Bee contingent. Legendary stuff.

—-

Simon

*For the sake of the ambiguous context (and so it doesn’t sound like I think the 6”7” video is “abstract work” or some such) this is the increasingly excellent London/Berlin not-hypnagogic duo Hype Williams, not the increasingly lame hip hop video director Hype Williams

OMAR-S // HERE'S YOUR TRANCE NOW DANCE

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 19:02:57 +0000

James offers his thoughts on the latest 12” from Detroit house maestro Omar-S, released on FXHE.

Well I couldn’t have put it better myself Omar: ‘Here’s Your Trance Now Dance’. It’s the first 12” from FXHE for 2011 and the title says it all. Omar-S does his thing with another slab of raw, vibey techno. He’s let loose another slightly electro infused number, not unlike a happy-go-lucky cousin of the pretty sublime ‘Solely Supported’ from late last year. It’s looser, it’s less ashamed to reach grin inducing heights. It’s not as intense and doesn’t brood; in fact this has to be the most epic, uplifting Omar-S track since ‘Strider’s World’ or the moodier ‘Psychotic Photosynthesis’. It’s almost like a mid-point between the two. We’ve got plenty of bleeps and that uplifting energy, but it doesn’t have the menace, those low down urgent chords and beats that move the track along against those Game Boy melodies. It has that hypnotic edge though, just like ‘Psychotic Photosynthesis’.

It’s pure Detroit: the melodies and sound palette reek of techno’s past, but Omar-S brings it all alive with a keen ear and bright synth lines. The key has to be the loose tribal percussion though, drawing it all together. An irresistible bongo loop sets it all off, raw bumping kicks punch at the floor and claps splash with intent, with a crisp halfstepping joyous burst that swings against tight threadbare strings. That’s what does it. But it keeps on… Bubbling arpeggio basslines play off its strings of life, like a modern take on the vibes E-Dancer’s remix of Octave One’s ‘Blackwater’ give off, but minus the seeping Reece tones and diva - a more restrained ‘Night of the Jaguar’, or closer still, a cheeky shapeshifting play on Derrick May’s ‘R-Theme’. It’s almost cheesy and a tad cliché in its execution, but it doesn’t matter much, there’s an underlying melancholic energy that keeps drawing you back in. In the mix it’s deadly and pretty moving, with its honest heart on-its-sleeve dancefloor motion it touches on something… Something breezy…

Midi horns, sharp pressured synth strings and a structure that teases. Beats drop out leaving nowt but strings, synths fall back and let beats take over, hi-hats skit and shake with urgent energy while tablas bounce beneath. Melody builds. Bass lines get the hips moving, with a raw driving funk. What more do you want!? ‘Here’s Your Trance Now Dance’.

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James

BRISTOL // DARKSTAR, JOHN ROBERTS + FLEX MENTALLO

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:21:00 +0000

Just a heads up for Bristol people, this Friday 25th I’ll be joining the very excellent bill of Darkstar [Hyperdub/Warp] and John Roberts [Dial] at Start The Bus. Its gonna be a live show for the two of them, but its still 10pm-Late. I’ll be spinning records inbetween and afterwards. Facebook Event.

Always Everything 001: Flex Mentallo by Always Everything on Mixcloud

LISTEN // PINCH - RA MIX

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:49:57 +0000

So after our shouts about Swamp81’s dissolution of the boundaries of tempo and style (while still remaining at heart in thrall to dubstep’s heady combination of sub-bass and wide open, sprawling space), Pinch’s new mix for RA today furthers what we heard in his Boiler Room set, beginning with a heartbeat house thud and escalating to his usual 140bpm pace. And it’s unsurprisingly great - there are few that manage to balance weight and subtlety like Pinch, and if anything this widening tempo range serves to emphasise that fact. His ‘Croydon House’ single from last year and Boddika’s neo-acid workout ‘Basement’ are both fire in the mix, and the opening salvo of FaltyDL’s jungle-infused ‘Hard’ bursts from an opening swell of ambience with vicious, feral energy. Combined with a host of Tectonic and Swamp81-related dubplates, it makes for a pretty intoxicating cocktail.

Check it out here.

Brian Eno & Jon Hassell - Delta Rain Dream [E.G. Recordings]
Rhythm & Sound - Distance [Rhythm & Sound]
FaltyDL - Hard [Forthcoming Swamp 81]
2562 - This Is Hardcore [When In Doubt]
Instra:mental - Basement [Dubplate]
Photek - UFO (Addison Groove remix) [Dubplate]
Pinch - Croydon House [Swamp 81]
J.O. - Knock Knock [Dubplate]
Distal - Booyant [Dubplate]
Rau - Herbstens [Giegling]
WAX - WAX10001_2 [WAX]
Pinch & Loefah - Broken [Forthcoming on Tectonic]
WAX - WAX20202 (Pinch remix) [WAX]
Goth Trad - Air Breaker [Dubplate]
Addison Groove - This Is It [Forthcoming on Tectonic]
Mala & SGT Pokes - Answer Me [Dubplate]
Joker - 80s No. 2 [Dubplate]
Clue Kid - Spydamonkey [Dubplate]
Illum Sphere - Dreamstealin [Tectonic]
Distal - Angry Acid [Forthcoming on Tectonic]
Anthony “Shake” Shakir - Space Probes [Morphine Recordings]
Laraaji - Meditation II [E.G. Records]

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Rory

Zomby // † Another brief glimpse into the fruits of...

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:02:00 +0000

Zomby // †

Another brief glimpse into the fruits of Zomby’s extended absence; its pretty mighty. As per usual with each of Zomby’s reinventions, there’s a tunnel vision at work that sidesteps basically every current trend of the UK bass scene that has nurtured his ascent. And thank God for that. Whilst there’s (obviously) always lots of great dance music coming out of the UK, there’s been an increasing deluge of uninspiring, tepid politeness, descending what should be raw, sonically uncompromising music into indentikit tech house and grooveless, synth pad garage. Unfortunately these conventions are by and large stuck now, solidified by twin banners of embarrassment ”Post-Dubstep” and “Future Garage”. Defining things by their negatives is for suckers, but I am one so who cares; this is everything that that junk isn’t.

Simon

INTERVIEW // DEMDIKE STARE

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 13:20:00 +0000

“It can be explained really basically: if you look at what witches did, which was conjure spells out of certain ingredients, that’s exactly what we’re doing. Hopefully we can inject some form of hidden factor that makes the end result more than the sum of its parts. It’s almost like a spell in that sense, where you get a load of ingredients, throw them all into a cauldron, set fire to it and see what happens.”

A few weeks ago, I interviewed Miles Whittaker from Demdike Stare about what amounts to one of the most impressive bodies of work we’ve heard for a while: their 3CD epic Tryptych. It was one of the most interesting and comprehensive interviews I’d done for a while, and has now been published in full through the ever-excellent The Quietus. Click here to check it out.

Should make for appropriate reading in advance of their Bristol show tonight, at the Arnolfini alongside Actress and the Moritz Von Oswald Trio.

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Rory

SHACKLETON // FURTHER DOWN THE SPIRAL

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:40:00 +0000

With every release Sam Shackleton refines his music further, each new batch of tracks one more in a series of distillations that increasingly approach some sort of imaginary endpoint – silence, perhaps, or white noise, or sheer rhythm. In that I mean it’s becoming purer: further down his own unique wormhole, ever more distant from concerns of genre (using either dubstep or techno at this point feels reductive in the extreme) or any prevailing trends that exist beyond its self-contained universe. Even the defining lines between elements of his tracks are beginning to break down, as bass becomes a distant rumble, percussion is fuzzy edged, drones skitter like clouds of locusts. After the gritty earthiness of Skull Disco, where he remained most closely tied to soundsystem roots, 2009’s Three EPs felt like the beginning of this process, which his fabric55 mix then continued. This new pair of records for Honest Jons is another logical step forward, featuring three of his own tracks and throwing the floor open for kindred spirits Kevin Martin, Mordant Music and T++ to further twist them out of shape.

And in the mirror of their interpretations, Shackleton’s own music is cast into sharply silhouetted relief. Kevin Martin’s pair of remixes – one as The Bug, one as King Midas Sound – anchor ‘Deadman’ to its roots in noise and dub, and cast it into the UK’s dub lineage stretching forward from post-punk: The Pop Group, PiL, Cabaret Voltaire, Ekoplekz. The KMS ‘Death Dub’ is particularly glorious. Simultaneously light as air and heavy as rock, it nicks Shackleton’s own trick of removing most of the midrange to leave Hitomi’s vocal and gaseous drone adrift above a yawning chasm of sub-bass. Longtime affiliate T++’s take on ‘Fireworks’ is a potent reminder of its core function as dance music, tracing his usual unsteady faultlines between techno, two-step and deep oceanic dub. And Mordant Music’s ‘Undeadman’ solidifies the latent connection between Shackleton’s music and the sounds of the experimental underground, where fragments of pop music are passed through filters of time, space and human memory.

Shackleton’s own tracks, some of which appeared on the fabric mix, benefit from being placed in context alongside some of his closest contemporaries: it serves to emphasise the rarified company he keeps in experimental and electronic circles. ‘Deadman’ should be instantly recognisable for anyone who’s seen him live in the last eight or nine months, pivoting around an unsteady mantra, “Everyone starts from point one”, drifting in and out of earshot across its length. Its real strength is its percussive backbone though, a wiry, snakelike conga roll that stretches like elastic, sending sine ripples pulsing outward through the track’s central nervous system. ‘Undeadman’ is, as its name suggests, a complete inversion, as though some strange disorder has gradually stripped the flesh from its bones, allowing flickering music box melodies to peep through its skinny frame. And ‘Fireworks’ is the most skeletal of the lot though, and a formidable step forward, subtly choral and almost sacred in tone. It feels like only a matter of time before film scores beckon.

Needless to say (especially with the gorgeous artwork from Zeke Clough and Trilogy Tapes’ Will Bankhead), another essential release from the man like Shack…

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Rory