Brackles – 6am El Gordos [BRAiNMATH]

This one sided slab of wax comes to you from the mysterious BRAiNMATH who have been carving a niche of their own with music from a diverse bunch: Zomby, SBTRKT, Spiders, Untold, Airhead and James Blake all bringing tracks to the table that sit with the BRAiNMATH aesthetic but never pin it down to just one sound. And the next platter comes from Brackles who as a producer, DJ and label curator with Shortstuff at Blunted Robots has been pushing the flexible broken garage meets uk funky sound, bringing bumpy beats and plenty of energy to the dance.

The first Brackles 12” to drop was a quality number called ‘Glazed’ on Berkane Sol which somehow harnessed the grimy attitude of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘I Luv U’ in its bumpin’ drum patterns and raw energy as well as a deep dubbed out techno-like atmosphere. Well ‘6am El Gordos’ feels like the tropical cousin of ‘Glazed’. Shuffling soca beats, pulsing bass tones that shake the floor, skipping snares and hats, as well as synths that sound like they’ve been made under high air pressure for maximum energy, this all underpin soulful loved up vocal samples that bring a summery edge to the production.

Originally written for Sonic Router.

http://www.myspace.com/brackles
http://www.myspace.com/brainmathbrainmath

12”

It’s back, the assorted records from my bag post of music I’ve been wanting to chat about but hadn’t got round to it yet… This month I catch up on a few that I’ve not been able to stop playing.

Addison Groove – Footcrab/Dumb Shit [Swamp81]
Anthem of the moment sees Headhunter in a juke inspired beat down. Bass heavy 808/909 drum patterns, chopped and looped vocals and an insane amount of dance floor moving energy. This is so addictive it could do with its own dance routine.

Joy Orbison – The Shrew EP [Aus Music]
He’s back hot on the heels of last years hyped Mngo and the fantasitic J.Doe. This time is a slow burning gem of a release on the renowned techno label Aus Music. ‘So Derobe’ is the pick for me, restrained melodic euphoria over rolling beats, bliss. Actress drops in a subtle rework too.

James Blake – Bells Sketch EP [Hessle Audio]
Following up his insane Untold remix and low-key collaboration with Airhead on BRAiNMATH comes a diverse three tracker of twisted soul infused, blues addled R&B meets dubstep funk. Yeah he’s hard to pin down, but has a sound all his own. ‘Buzzard And Kestral’ is rhythmic joy on wax.

Bok Bok ft. Bubbz/Brackles & Shortstuff – Citizens Dub/Pipey D [Blunted Robots]
Pure party jams from Bok Bok, destroying it with adrenaline fuelled ascending descending bass tones with a grimey electro beast that should give you a big shit-eating grin. The flip sees the label bosses bring out the winding rave gear, keeping it funky and broken.

Altered Natives – Believe In Me ft. Sacha Williamson/(Zed Bias Club Mix)/Raaaatid Einstien [Fresh Minute Music]
Smooth spaced out vocal cut that brings the soulful house vibes coming on a track you get so hypnotised by you don’t want it to stop. ‘Raaaatid Einstien’ ups the hype with a raw energetic funky cut that should keep the floor moving in fine style.

Egyptrixx – Battle For North America EP [Aaahh! Real Monsters]
Bubbling electro infused dubstep/funky hybrids ‘Hexagon Ya’ is THE one with A ‘Citezen Dub’-like ability to twist floors out of proportion with addictive ascending bass tones, builds and drops. The rest is suitably on it and they’ve got a Night Slugs on the way too, killer stuff.

Kuedo – Dream Sequence EP [Planet Mu]
Jamie Vex’d debts’ his Kuedo name with a damaging EP. Taking the off-centre bright synth led hip-hop meets dubstep he’s been destroying it with since his ‘Twitch’ rework and last years In System Travel EP, and shaping it further into his own vision. ‘Star Fox’ is a real gem and makes me nostalgic for my old SNES.

Slugabed – Ultra Heat Treated EP [Planet Mu]
Sluga gets deep down and dirty with his own gnarly hyper coloured vision of hip-hop, like the evil twin to the already slightly deranged Kuedo EP, he makes harsh dance floor noise in the most fun way possible, which shows you can keep it dirty and send it sideways all at once.

Geiom Ft. Marita – Sugar Coated Lover / Brackles & Shortstuff Remix [Berkane Sol]

Geiom’s Berkane Sol is an essential label and ‘Sugar Coated Lover’ is another reason why. They’ve been exploring the fringes of dubstep, house and garage for quite some time as well as introducing us to some sparkling new talent along the way, see: Brackles, Shorstuff, Spamchop, Earlybird and The Hizatron for example, some even for the first time… The last time Geiom made an outing with vocalist Marita it was on the anthem ‘Reminissin’ so this is a welcome return.

Geiom and Marita’s ‘Sugar Coated Lover’ is a house anthem waiting to happen, the vocals deal with the age old notions of falling in love over melancholic house pads and slinky groove that goes right to your feet and hips because of the infectious bassline and subtle percussive elements that shakes the kick free from its four four pattern while keeping the drive. But most importantly it has that infectious bitter sweat loved up vibe that should bring a smile to the dance floor.

Brackles & Shorstuff pop the cork on the sparkling stuff and drop a remix on a garage flex. They take their energetic 8-bit boogie, a bassline that’s full of momentum and splice it with some of that broken 2-step magic, a dash of cut up vocals and plenty of the original vocal to make it into something with a harder dance floor hustle but with that all important slinky garage bump.

Three producers that have been at the top of their game for a while all showing their flex along with some brilliantly emotive vocals from Marita: equals an essential 12” that will add a bitter sweat dance floor soul to your record bag.

http://www.myspace.com/geiom

http://www.myspace.com/djshortstuff

http://www.myspace.com/brackles

Originally written for Sonic Router.

Event: Sonic Router is 1. Rave. 06/02/2010 @ Lakota Nightclub, Bristol.

To celebrate a whole year in the blog game Sonic Router are hosting Room 2 at [dissident] in Bristol on the 6th Feb 2010. We've invited some of our favourite DJs including Brackles, Jack Sparrow, Shortstuff and Gemmy to mark to occasion.

The rest of the line up across the club is stacked too. Join us...

06/02/2010 @ Lakota, Bristol.
10 - 6am // £10 advance/£12 OTD
Tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop/Rooted Records/Drop Records (Bath)

Main Room - [dissident]:

Ed Rush (Virus)
Teebee (Subtitles/Momentum)
Doc Scott (31 Records)
Icicle (Shogun Audio)
Ulterior Motive (Subtitles)
Incite & Breach [dissident]
Noisy Boy [dissident]
Distilled (Torque)

MC'S: Stapleton, Fokus, Mantmast

Room 2 - Hosted by Sonic Router:

Brackles (Planet Mu/Blunted Robots)
Jack Sparrow (Tectonic)
Shortstuff (Ramp/Planet Mu)
Gemmy (Planet Mu)
Reecha (Dirty Canvas)
The Kelly Twins (UFO)
mlr (Sonic Router)

Room 3 - Hosted by Idle Hands Records:

Peverelist (Punch Drunk)
October (Caravan)
Kowton (Keysound)
Atki2 (Steak House/Idle Hands)
Chris Farrell (Idle Hands)
Richard Carnage (RA/Tape)

Room 4 - No Rules!

Munkee
Ironside
Alkemy
B Goat
Midas
Punksi

More info and content soon come.

Link: Facebook Event

http://sonicrouter.blogspot.com/

12”

A rummage through my record back…

Cluekid & LD – I Don’t Wanna Cry/Jupiter 9 [Bullfrog Beats]
The jungle vibes are strong on this one, emotive diva samples and Detroit techno chords play off some serious 140 jungle experiments with some soul shaking bass. Not unlike Skream’s insane ‘Burnin’ Up’ and last years ‘Monkey Style’ on Subalicious.

Geiom/Hizatron – Bubbles/Von Glooperstine [Berkane Sol]
Bag on sight white 12” business from the Notts crew. Geiom comes with a skipping techy bubbler, which sounds not unlike a robot short-circuiting to a garage pulse that switches up into a 4x4 bump. Hizatron takes us on a low-slung bleep’n’gloop tip, minimal in a techno sense but with an ear for fun.

LV ft. Errol Bellot – Don’t Judge/(Fantasic Mr Fox Remix) [2nd Drop]
Deep and rootsy excursions into dub: A-side, has lush horns, instrumentation and vocals off-setting the sparse beats and bass. FMF kick up the rhythm section and get squelchy on the bass creating some kind of garage/digidub hybrid.

Quest – Last Dayz/The Unknown [Deep Medi]
Some of my favourite anti-social tracks right here, epic slices of deep soundsystem future funk. Those breakdowns take you to another place, while the synths add the energy.

Heny.G – Area 1/Retro Love [Gangsta Boogie]
This plate has been on the cards for ages and delayed for to long, but now its hear and takes some seriously funked up dance floor kicks that bring the boogie while the soulful bass and pads bring the bliss.

Brackles – Rawkus/Air Pie [Planet Mu]
He’s been unstoppable this year and this 12” is no exception. Mad energetic twisting synths and that broken beat meets garage shuffle he’s so good at along with Shortstuff. Pure dance floor energy from the grey area that brought you future/garage/funky/dubstep/grime/electro/techno/house-U-call-it?

FaltyDL – Party/Alpafun [Ramp]
Low down garage funk with plenty of soul and the party vibes to match. Like Ghost moved to New York and started a warehouse party with a house band made of funk legends and free cocktails.

Sully – Reminder/Jackmans Rec [Frijsfo Beats]
Bumpin’ garage beats and a rude rough and ready bass pressure that sounds so dark and swung. These tracks have been a long time coming and they still kill it.

Mickey Pearce – Innami/Martin Kemp – No Charisma [Blunted Robots]

Blunted Robots is a brand new label run by two young upstarts Brackles and Shortstuff. They are big in the game right now pushing new and exciting sounds that overlap somewhere in the fringes of both dubstep and funky. This first release reflects this perfectly.

Innami is a rough a ready bashment style house track with broken riddims and full on vocals. Its full of energy brought on by the freaked out bass pulses and deranged synth lines that twist into bleeped out shapes. Mickey Pearce has made a rudeboy hybrid of mutant funky and bashment that would make his Nan proud.

The flip No Charisma by Martin Kemp has been making a lot of noise and getting plays from everyone from Cooly G to brother Brackles and beyond. It’s a futuristic take on funky with dub wise sensibilities, broken beats that skip and bump with a chunky, punchy precision. The synth lines make this track for me the way they tweak and bubble gives a mad energy to the deep bass space and off-kilter rolling rhythms.

Here you get two badass productions, on a brand new label that’s owned by two of the scenes brightest shinning lights, with some killer artwork by the Wigflex crew. That makes for an essential purchase in my book. Rise up funky, dubstep, ‘Wot U Call It?’ hybrid crew it’s your time!

http://www.myspace.com/bluntedrobots

Originaly writen for Sonic Router.

12"

Here’s another run down of random 12”s from my record bag that I’ve not wrote about else where. For more bass music recommendations you should check out Sonic Router too. Now get your ears round this lot…

BUBBLEZ/Lady Saw and Cecille – Move Down Low/Loser (BUBBLEZ Refix) [Devotional Dubz]
Funky Bashment refix action from Grievous Angel alter-ego BUBBLEZ. Raw energy harnessed for your dancing pleasure. Caned by Kode 9 with its grime meets house on a dark dance floor vibe, these are certified bangers.


Untold – Just For You/Just For You (Roska Remix) [Hotflush 2]
Future Jungelist flavours from Untold, it’s an energy rush of broken beats, Eski bass and space age synths. Roska flips it into a funky banger with ravey vocal snippet: when the bass changes up things kick off. Perfect.


Pangaea – Memories [White Label]
Soul shaking tear jerking future garage with a moving vocal that gets even the most militant headz emotional. It’s maybe the most beautiful dubstep track since Archangel, smooth and melancholy with a driving 2-step beat and catchy bass.


Johnny Clark Vs. Mala/Coki – Sinners/Gobblin [Ringo]
Mala goes deep as Coki goes bonkers. It’s been a long time coming, Sinners is a sublime dub drenched slice of pure mediation and loved up vibes it’s just amazing. Coki switches it completely and takes wobble to the EXTREAM, with a gnarly fucked up Gobblin bass and not much more.


Brackles/Brackles & Shortstuff – LHC/Sutorito Faita [Planet Mu]
Heavy weight duo fix up some future sounds, making bleeped out hybrids of garage/dubstep/funky out of the remnants of the Large Hadron Collider expeiment just before it rips the Earth a new black hole and we’re found floating round the International Space Station, well that’s what it sounds like anyway but with added Street Fighter samples.


Ramadanman – Revenue / Revenue (Untold Remix) [2nd Drop]
Ramadanman does it deep and techy as Untold ups the percussion, glitches it out and makes me want to mix it with Mala’s Left Leg Out. Original is deep and dubby with a subtle tribal groove that’s tight as fuck. Untold twists it into new shapes that only he knows the name of, I’d plump for it being something like a ‘gowreckthebass-ahedron’.


James Blake – Air & Lacktherof/Spring Horse [Hemlock]
‘Maybes’ ahem my favourite new artist since Mount Kimbie, who coincidently he works with providing vocals and suchlike (he’s a badman on the mic). This is some kind of twisted soul with a freaky post-dubstep vibe, it doesn’t sound like anything else and it’s beautiful for it.


DVA ft. Badness / Riko / Flowdan / Killa P – Bullet A Go Fly/Bullet A Go Fly (Dusk & Blackdown Remix) [Keysound]
Hardcore, dark as hell grime that only Keysound have the balls to release it seems… It’s hard to come by and hard as hell, pure violence, rudeboy riddims and a snapshot of what you don’t want to see round the next corner. The remix gives it a dance floor skip.