12"

More picks from my bulbous record bag… this sporadic feature seems to have slowed down a bit since I got a new pair of 1210s and I’ve started using ustream for even more sporadic shows. But here is another selection of music I didn’t get around to writing about elsewhere but just couldn’t help mentioning…

Non Person - Presenser / Mi Empress [Channel Zero]
After turning in one of my favourite recent mixes for Sonic Router the Finnish producer drops two twisted hip-hop infused dubstep gems for Clouds Channel Zero label. Mesmerising and dense but with an experimental playfulness these tracks shift and bubble in strange ways, seriously addictive.

Mark Pritchard – Elephant Dub/Heavy As Stone [Deep Medi]
Elephant Dub does exactly as it says on the tin, sounds like an elephant creating it’s own dubplate. Its such a heavy, plodding beast it makes you wonder if the complaints about half-step seem like a distant memory, until you hear a boring half-stepper… The flip channels FlyLo’s ‘Tea Leaf Dancers’ and an epic sense of soul into a deep heads down number.

Shortstuff/Taylor – Regression/Squeege [Wigflex]
Sublime 12” from Wigflex upping the game once more with Shorstuff bringing a flexible slinky ‘what you call it?’ number that echoes uk funky, broken house, grime, Detroit techno and dubstep all in one cohesive dance floor bomb. Taylor rolls out a slice of seriously blissfully melodic techno that feels like early AFX but built for the dance floor, playful, hypnotic with a pinch of melancholy.

SCB – 20_4/3_5 [SCB]
Scuba takes a brake from making techno infused dubstep and makes dubstep infused techno instead, and its way more different to how that statement sounds. He drops one of my favourite albums of the year so far and still has the pace to drop a couple of slow burning deep nuggets of techno bliss.

Desto – Disappearing Reappearing Ink/Broken Memory [Ramp]
Finally you can get hold of these tracks: bleepy computer game soundtrack eski-beat grime meets broken dubstep, again in Finland. Equal parts uplifting and playful as well as intense and heavy. Arpeggios squiggle and bass tones shake your chest plate. Both tracks nail it, more Desto please!

Rossi B & Luca – E10 Riddim/Police Are Come Run ft. Killa P [Planet Mu]
Massive riddim that fuses a funky carnival vibe with a hard hitting grime intensity to great effect, just like Lil Silva takes grimy bass into funky Rossi B & Luca switch it the other way around and absolutely nail it. Killa P turns in a hard as hell vocal version too completing a tough 12” that will be in my bag for some time.

Africa Hitech – Blen/Rmx/The Sound Of Tomorow [Warp]
Mark Pritchard joins forces with Steve Spacek for a brand new project that is looking very promising. Blen is a fuzzy digital dance floor beast that fuses an African house style party vibe with a Harmonic 313-like electronica, while the remix plays up the funky vibe more and turns down the digital aspects, both kill it. The flip flows on a meditative tip with an epic dreamy song.

LV & Untold – Beacon/(Mount Kimbie Remix) [Hemlock]
Big collaboration that I first heard in the mix Untold did for us at Sonic Router way back… A deep and warm dub style workout that clicks and winds with an organic eyes down dance floor experience. Mount Kimbie up the good time vibes and add a smidgen of glitch addled garage along with their addictive melodic sensibilities.

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.

12”

Just before record buying Armageddon picks up again and decides to destroy everyone’s wallets with fresh platters of sound coming thick and fast again this year, here’s a little round up of some 12”s from my bag at the end of last year.

Royal T – 1Up or Shatup EP [No Hoods No Hats]
One of the grime instrumentals of the year, 1Up is Mario on the rampage, fuckin’ things up to get those coins, P Money kills the vocal but you’ll need to buy his mixtape for that. Martin Kemp turns in a funky remix with balls and Bok Bok maybe makes the best material I’ve heard from him yet.

Martin Kemp – After The Night/Aztec [Blunted Robots]
Funky manoeuvres with broken grooves, deep bass and twisted synths that sound like harnessed air pressure pointed directly at your feet to make you move. Martin Kemp does it again, the Blunted Robots crew are really on it right now.

Greena – Tenzado/Actual Pain [Apple Pips]
Finally we get a 12” from Greena on the mighty Apple Pips. Two slabs of chunky bass heavy funky that rolls with broken tribal percussion. Actual Pain’s devastating bass pulse and twisted vocal samples kill it. Greena has this huge soundsystem shaking carnival vibe going on here it’s addictive.

Breakage ft. Newham Generals & David Rodigan – Hard/(Caspa & The Others ‘The Police Takeover remix’) [Digital Soundboy]
The instrumental ‘Together’ was always big but the Newham Generals give it a new lease of life by making one of THE grime bangers of the year. The Gen’s kill it vocally and add extra hype to a deep track. I’d love to hear more of the Gen’s on dubstep.

Joker – Digidesign (Om Unit’s Pop Lock remix) [White]
Quality hip-hop re-fix of the Joker favourite that has been locked in my head since I first heard it gets the Om Unit aka 2Tall treatment. He gives it a digital b-boy flex with loads of snap. Added playtime for a track I still can’t stop rinsing.

V/A – 25/11/09 EP [Ramp]
Sampha/Slugabed/Tokimonsta/Shortstuff/SBTRKT/P.U.D.G.E. celebrate the night in question with a super limited 12” EP with one track from everyone that played. Irresistible for the frozen remix of A Rustling that takes that track and goes all Wiley on us. Getting an original SBTRKT track that isn’t a remix is bless too. Tokimonsta brings her own brand of off-centre hip-hop and kills it.

Julio Bashmore – Um Bongo’s Revenge/World Peace [Dirtybird]
It took me a little while to get into this one, Um Bongo… is like a straight up peak time techno track with a funky slant and cheeky vocal sample that gets people smiling. World Peace is a subtler affair that keeps growing on you.

Ikonika – Sahara Michael/Fish [Hyperdub]
Taster of things to come from the wonderful Ikonika, who is all set to release an album in 2010. SM was on the ‘5’ comp and with its catchy funk its still lodge in my head. Fish stands up too, with more of an epic sound. Her twisted synths are kind of special. Now what we really need is her track, ‘Idiot’ its insane.

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”

The return of the semi regular, ‘randomly selected platters from my record bag that I’m really feeling right now’ blog post, maybe it needs a catchier name…

Joy Orbison – BRKLN CLLN/J.Doe [Doldrums]
Two 12”s, a few remixes and all the hype in the world. His first release on his own label, Doldrums, shows he deserves it too. BRKLN CLLN is the subtler cousin of Hyph Mngo, just as catchy and full of blissful energy. J.Doe takes the diva samples and throws it down old school house style.

Geiom & Shortstuff – No Hand Signals/Wardenclyffe [Planet Mu]
Tag team antics from two heavy weights, Geiom’s music is always special and Shorstuff makes some of the most exciting stuff around and together we get hyper coloured house variants built to move you. There is something grimy about Wardenclyffe, its like eski-acid house. No Hand Signals picks up the tempo but keeps the funky bump.

ASC – Porcelain/Focus Inwards [Nonplus+]
More Nonplus+ I can’t get enough… having missed the d’n’b boat entirely this is the first label that’s getting me excited about the sound. Super smooth half stepping d’n’b that’s so minimal it sounds like electro being fed through a wormhole. The flip takes in dubstep a tempo, big up the multi tempo 12” crews for pushing DJs to think and ride that pitch shifter!

Headhunter – Prototype (Modselektor remix)/Sex At The Prom [Tempa]
This 12” sounds massive: Modeselektor return the remix favour and make their own take on dubstep, which sounds like big room techno with a dark edge. Sex At The Prom goes deep with acid bubbles and hypnotic bass. It’s like Berlin and Bristol are tearing each other a new one on the same 12”.

Starkey Ft. Badness – Ok Luv/Ok Luv (instrumental)/Multidial [Planet Mu]
Taster of things to come from Starkey’s next album ‘Ear Drums and Black Holes’ due March 2010: super smooth hyper soul with grimy undertones and epic colourful melodies. Multidial, heads right to the dance floor with robo-bass and energy surges, killer.

V.I.V.E.K. – Kulture/Meditation Rock [Deep Medi]
Big room material from V.I.V.E.K., dub techno undertones pulled off in a very Deep Medi way, your soundsystem will shake. Things get ravey with Kulture,the filtered stabs re-live the hayday and make you want to loose it in a field outside the M25. But there is something else here too, an eerie blissful dub vibe... Which is where Meditation Rock picks up from.

Joker – City Hopper/Output 1-2 [Tectonic]
These tracks aren’t even the catchiest Joker tracks this year but I still can’t shift them from my head. He keeps it grimy and techy for Tectonic, Output 1-2 especially. City Hopper makes you want to roll around the city with your windows down, swaggering funk and irresistible melodies that somehow remind me of the circus.

Instra:mental/Skream – No Future (Skreamix)/Minimalistix [Nonplus+]
Minimalistix is THE one here: Skream takes it into tech infused stripped back and subtle roller territory while No Future tears the dance a new hole. It’s like the evil twin of his Zomby Float remix and will have to do until that drops fingers crossed…

Shortstuff – Progression/Relapse/’A’ [Formant]

Badman Shorstuff is back again with his second solo 12” after the fantastic offering on Ramp. This platter for the Texan label Formant follows on from their last release by Hyetal perfectly and takes his broken tech infused sound into deeper territory, maybe deeper than we have ever seen him go before.

We open up with ‘Progression’ with its sweet and soulful hot butter popcorn bleeps and the broken grooves that Shortstuff does so well, it sounds like he’s taking the garage swing and twisting it into new shapes. The dubbed out echo’s smooth out his 8-bit synths and create some pent up dance floor energy.

The second track ‘Relapse’ almost has a boom-bap hip-hop feel to the beat, which is coupled with some big bass pressure that really adds tension to the piece. The synth lines here really remind me of early Planet Mu or Warp releases, they have that twisted echo drenched smeared sound. The melancholy bleeps of ‘A’ usher the 12” to a close in a melodic fashion. The rolling breaks and sweet bass tones make for a hypnotic listen.

This is some seriously nice work from Shortstuff it shows a deep and subtle side to his music, he’s shown he can spark off an energy rush with high-octane neon synths and pure dance floor tension but this takes us down a different road altogether, its one for the eyes down crew.

Originaly writen for Sonic Router.

http://www.myspace.com/djshortstuff

http://www.myspace.com/formantrecordings

12”

Back again with a mini round up of records from my bag, check out more in-depth pieces including interviews and mixes on the badass Sonic Router.

Gatekeeper/Appleblim & Gatekeeper – Hades/Tomb VIP [Immerse]
Dark doom fuelled steppa with a jungelist vibe and the ghost of Skull Disco looming near, you really can hear the original spirit of dubstep on this platter: Immense from Immerse.


Pearson Sound – PLSN/WAD [Hessle Audio]
It bleeps and bounces like a squirrel trapped in a box on the dance floor and is easily one of the most addictive 12”s around. PLSN goes a little deeper and WAD keeps it funky.


Karizma – Neccessarry Maddness/Drumz Nightmare [R2]
Some broken funky house with a raw edge from the US, the A side comes on like a sugar rush with its bleeps and breaks the flip takes things on a more soulful tip.


Goth-Trad – Dark Path/S.A.T.U.R.N [Deep Medi]
Big soundsystem bangers from Japan, one mellow and spaced out while the other one is on an intense techno-like tip. The more I listen the more I get hooked.


Shorstuff - A Rusteling/Stuff [Ramp]
Incredible first solo outing on a 12” from Shortstuff, A Rustling is so broken it hurts (in a good way), the bass is fucked and both tracks come on like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.


Spamchop & Geiom – Cave Rave/Sirius Star [Berkane Sol]
Speed boating into focus like a mutant techy garage hybrid, it wouldn’t be out of place on a SNES racing game, while the other side Cave Rave gives a broken energetic bleep out with an awesome bass drone.


Rustie – Bad Science EP [Wireblock]
Killer EP from Glasgow’s finest imprint, low swung crunked out bleeps and bass that sounds like your copy of Mario got a virus that gave it a mind of its own and it turns out he’s a bit evil. The title track comes on like Zombie Nation era electro trance being kicked down the stairs by Terror Danjah.


Unknown Artist – Space Invader/Human [Dancing Demons]
Mysterious 12” yet again from this new label, Space Invader jabbers and pummels you with bass before having to load up Atari style in the drop. The flip is deep and has one hell of a switch up after the drop.

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.