A lot of fun was had to a lot of good music. The review first appeared in the Brighton SOURCE.
Photo by Nina Elm
It’s been a tough 2011 and club nights come and go like boats at the marina. However Nowhere To Run defies all laws and reason, being consistently busy every time we poke our heads in. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of 60s music, it’s what we and the predominantly student crowd have been raised on – healthy amounts of Canned Heat, Dusty Springfield and The Rolling Stones.
The charm of pop classics is followed by the velvety timbre of northern soul while Russ Meyers’ Supervixens is projected on a massive screen hanging behind the DJs. The retro theme gives the students an excuse to dress up, as if they needed it. So we twist and shake among Twiggy and Lulu lookalikes while the guys split off into opposing factions of mods and rockers. It all makes for a groovy night of young love, bright flowers and Hollywood heartbreak that’s proving more popular with the kids than a drive-in movie theatre.
Bowski first drew my attention earlier this year with the excellent 'Hooves', which immediately gets your toes tapping via it's mischievious melodies, echoey techno bleeps and the "bom, bom bom" sounds sampled from his mates. Now he's got the tedious task of completing a degree out the way he's back with a new EP on Blood Music.
'Poppies' is a fantastic track, demonstrating Bowski's jaunty finesse with its bouncing beats and minimal techy bumps. It's got a breezy build up that breaks down into a tremoring sink hole wobble that wouldn't sound out of place on a dubstep track. But for me 'White Russian' is the best example of his post-club pre-coital micro house. It's got a warehouse ethic, lighthearted yet unyielding, his attention to detail is scarcely perceptable but is exactly what makes it so irresistible.
You can pick this up from Blood Music on December the 12th and then bump it out your iTunes rather than playing it from my shitty blog. LOVE.
Hells yeah you are. You're his girl. This ultra hip joint from Brooklyn band Friends is super sexy and cooler than the other side of your pillow. 'I'm His Girl' follows up from their double A side 'Friend Crush'/Feelin Dank' which was released way back when, in March 2011. It continues their bubblegum funk sound, a brand of NY pop that's sweet and sickly, not dissimilar to Sleigh Bells, just sans the grungey guitar riffs.
Samantha Ubani's vocals are like candy floss with a hint of venom. She's confident delivering the sultry lines, "When you see me walking around with him/ I'm not just another chick/ I'm. His. Girl." The video's made even smoother with it's retro flavour, from the gold bling and 80s tube top, to the boombox and lackadaisical Super 8 camera.
'I'm His Girl' is out on 7" and digital download on Lucky Numbers.
They've been making bombastic bass driven fidget house for a while now and this tune is the epitome of everything they stand for. It's got a preposterously funky bassline following a beat that keeps you guessing, switching from dubstep to house and back again, while a Leonard Cohen sample toasts "to the end of love".
It's been a while since I've been brave enough to venture to The Volks and they've had a touch up renovation since my last visit so what better way to welcome me back than some blitzkrieg bassline.
Photo by Zac Colbert
In the Face has been representing Brighton's bassline scene for a while now, catching my attention when they tore up the Concorde's bar during Dave Clarke's gig last year. Tonight Kanji Kinetic and Submerse top the bill, packing their new collaborative EP - Gyaku Gire. Their future bass sounds have the crusty crowd thrashing on the floor from the get-go, the razor blade reverb of 'Nerv' stomps on a demanding 4x4 beat before Submerse's 'Oppai Misairu' become's an instant favourite. The 90's piano chords ring out playfully until a squelching breakdown drops down into a singing niche bassline that wubs away at the dancefloor.
Photo by Zac Colbert
Photo by Zac Colbert
As with most club nights these days, the smoking area is as popular as the dancefloor, which is by no means empty, in fact there's just enough room for a dedicated ravers to get their full skank on. The acid rave vibes of Kanji's 'Southern Cross' stab through the air while a confident techno beat marches underneath and some harmonious female vocals coo over both. The wonky ket-step sonics don't let up till 6 in the morning as the In the Face crew takeover the decks and ram the rest of the night home with nauseous wobbles and jagged drum beats.
Just discovered Gang Colours, the Southhampton based producer of idyllic electronica. From his soundcloud profile 'Chance Meeting' is my favourite, but all his tunes are pretty special. His sound is subtle and understated yet tracks like 'Chance Meeting' build in momentum and morph into otherworldly sonics lined with synths that swell with tender fondness.
Gang Colours aka Will Ozanne signed to Giles Peterson's label Brownswood Recordings earlier this year and released his In Your Gut Like a Knife EP in June. On the record you can hear Burial's atmospherics, the sepia soaked melancholy of Massive Attack and there's an evident love of UK garage throughout it. Lush chords and hushed pads abound this is an EP to score daydreams. I'm off to buy it right now.
Initially we thought this night was called 'Horse Meat Disco' and so my review had a whole equine theme. Turns out the night was actually called 'Disco Deviant' so my editor had to rework it last minute, you can find the resulting review on the Brighton SOURCE site. Below I've posted my original write up.
Photo by James Kendall
Our economy is once again on the downward spiral, the NHS have started charging for wart removal and Tesco are planning their 12th store in Brighton, so there's only one thing for it, time to get down with the gays and dance to disco.
This Friday had some weird equine theme to it, there was Club Unicorn, Donkey Pitch, and our trusty steed - Horse Meat Disco. Bred from the fields of The Eagle in Vauxhall during the hay day of Andy Weatherall, this young colt of a night cantered along merrily before being freed from its London bound stable to trot down to Brighton.
Here the disc jockeys have a chance to delve into the deeper, more dubby side of house and disco, playing with the warehouse ethics of DJ Harvey's marathon 9 hour sets in Los Angeles. As a result they have us and the rest of the crowd chomping at the bit and bucking on the dancefloor till the early morning.
Yeah, their name does sound too much like Caribou, but you'll forgive them once you hear their 'Habitat' EP, which is brimming with chilled after-party house vibes. 'Silent' has got a warm fuzzy synth-line that's similar to the one on XXY's 'Ordinary Things'. Over this drip drops xylophonic notes that ring with crystal clear clarity. The trio consists of Liam Ivory, Chris Davids and Josh Donald who used to be a live outfit but have recently moved into productions and are now making some beautifully graceful electronica.
'Breathe' is a lithe and laconic track with a melodic vocal cut and repeated over atmospheric ambiance and a funky purple bassline. The whole EP is tender in sound and well defined in structure, the arrangements feel considered, the effects energetic yet restrained around the luxurious hooks. Maribou State are signed to Fat! Records and you can cop their 'Habitat' EP on Juno. Do it.
Armand Van Helden and A-Trak have sterling histories separately, together, as the disco-house duo Duck Sauce, they're productions kinda bemuse me. At least at first, they sound shit, basic mass appeal bollocks that's a laughable attempt at dance music. This was my initial reaction to Barbara Streisand, their hit single from last year, which, i feel dirty admitting, grew on me. And the same's occurring with Big Bad Wolf. It's a grower, not a show-er. It's simple, fun and catchy as fuck. The howl is irresistable and makes it perfect for a mid-mix crowd pleaser. The track demonstrates Duck Sauce's sense of humour and knack for producing uncomplicated, highly effective tunes. The crotch faces video by Keith Schoffield echos this tendency to not take themselves too seriously.
Annie Mac proves why she's Britain's First Lady of bass music, full review on the Brighton SOURCE site.
"When you're a mainstream radio DJ you have to reply to Tweets and texts, you have to stick to playlists and deal with Nick Grimmy Grimshaw as a Radio 1 wifey, so people may forget, or not even know, that you play a blinder of a set when left to your own devices. This is exactly what Annie Mac does, she smacks it, to use the parlance of our time."
This apocalyptic anthem is rough and woozy, it's got the disorientation that 'Magic Drops' had with an alarm bell siren that drops in from nowhere like a dirty bomb, and will definitely be dominating raves for the foreseeable future. Jam City's combination of grime and house is an addictive sound and the rest of his 'Waterworx EP' is just as tasty, the droning synths, bouncing basslines, lairy beats and punchy percussion makes him one of the most exciting producers in the UK.
The girlfriend's had this on repeat. Okay, okay, I've had this on repeat. It's plaintive and hopeful, the synthline throbs underneath, the vocals whisp over the top. The lyrics don't even matter, although they're also beautifully delicate and endearingly needy, then, when the parts are all put together it's perfectly indicative of late night LA, drifting through the smog in a neon haze. Yeah, coz I've been to LA so many times, but i HAVE seen Drive, the film from which it's taken, and the tune's simpleness echoes the movie's minimal dialogue and general disquiet.
Don't lie, you've had it on repeat too. The film's full soundtrack can be found right thurrr.
This track is catchier than chlamydia. The clattering beats and tinny snare are set to a more chilled house tempo, with the cut up candy sample of Brandy's 'I wanna be down' vocal over the top, it results in a tune you just wanna put your dick into.
'Getting Me Down' is an instant hit. It's got rolling momentum with gruelling percussion that rumbles away in the background and that voice is irresistable, cue club girls trying to sing along every time it's dropped. Hessel Audio put it out on limited white label back in May and then, unsurprisingly, it got a second pressing.
Fucking amazing. It's a neon noir thrill ride with beautiful cinematography, the camera work has a hazy malaise about it like the LA smog except clear and crisp, added to by the frequent use of slow-motion and sparse dialogue. Ryan Gosling's brilliant performance is stripped back, laconic and raw, the violence is visceral and it's all scored by a sexy-as-fuck synth soaked soundtrack. Plus it benefits from casting Brit Carrey Mulligan and Christina Hendricks who's body rolls like the hills of the English countryside and has a role that's all too brief. What are you still doing here? Go watch it now.
Mosca's latest has a bouncing bassline reminiscent of 94's 'Show Me Love' by Robin S, which gives the skittering 4x4 a classic rave tinge. Released on Numbers its A-side 'Done Me Wrong' also has a lovely little garage beat, skipping along over an eliptical wub that resonates into a wonky whistle when the female vocals cease to be clipped and come to drop.
This was played on the Hospital Records podcast last night and tore my kitchen down. The huge, whirring breakdown drops into a spiraling bassline of "pure and utter filth" as Hospital head honcho London Elektricity calls it. Camo & Krooked are delving deeper into dubstep with their furious and unrestrained style lending itself well to the rawness of the genre.
The two Austrians burst onto the scene with their Play It/Hidden Edge/Drop It EP on Basswerk in 2008, they were signed to Hospital Records back in December 2010 after they played on Grooverider's show and he called them "one of the biggest talents in drum & bass". In July they provided a proper boisterous mix for Annie Nightingale's Radio 1 show. which is well worth a look before hitting the club.
This delightful track's put out by Enchante on Greco Roman for his North End EP. 'Ego' is irregularly lovely and full of character with the house vibes and laidback loops making for some lush deep garage. 'Reggay's' also a nice little bubbler of bleeping skwee and murky 2-step with an oscillating bassline dropping in after a minute or so. I'd expect to hear these rinsed out in every club set in the near future, if not already.
Last month i had some late night shenanigans at The Tube for afterparty Motel, read the full review over on the Brighton Source.
Photo by Sam Hiscox
"Sleazy house and funky electro doesn’t do this night’s music policy justice. Warming up by blending Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’s ‘Dance The Way I Feel’ into Boy Better Know’s ‘Too Many Men’ is brave, controversial and a total success."
It's rare that you hear acoustic guitar on an electro track but Jarr makes it work on this downtempo masterpiece. 'Variations' is from his recent album 'Space is only Noise' which touches on techy house, ambient electro and experimental sounds. At only 20 years old his production style is already very precise and results in tactile tracks that are unassumingly infectious.
I went to Old Yellow Bricks and had a whale of a time. Check the full club review on Brighton Source.
Photo by Sam Hiscox
"Charles Green and Monty rinse out the crowd-pleasing anthems... to a gyrating dancefloor that continues to fill with revelling extras from The Only Way Is Essex."
Proving Bristol's still a major hotbed for musical creativity Arkist's new tune with Kidkut continues their high level of quality productions. Released on Scuba's Hotflush imprint 'One Year Later' is a cool little number. It's got an affectionate synthline underscoring the syncopated house percussion that skips and shuffles along, perfect for warming up or coming down. The flipside 'Vanilla Imitate' is more of a 2-step affair with a deep bass and murky aquatic chords.
Next Friday (the 29th) Vice mag are throwing a party to celebrate the launch of their latest efforts - the annual Photo Issue. Typically one of the most sought after iterations of the magazine the party should be appropriately busy and if their video of the last launches is anything to go by it's gonna be a rowdy ol' affair.
Come party at Green Door Store to pick up your copy and catch live shows from Spector and I.R.O.K. then bang your booty to DJ sets by Sex is Disgusting, NuRaveBrainWave and Nicole De Leiburne.
A couple of weeks ago Rossio sent this fab playlist to a few of us on Twitter and so I had to reciprocate, compiling 'WatchOutNow' over the next 48 hours. It's all electronic, from Fantastic Mr Fox to Zinc via Figure, mostly recent releases although a few are from a year or two back. Hope you like, i mean, i only slaved away at it for a whole weekend, but ya know, whatever.
This short film was made to demonstrate the capabilities of video editing software Magic Bullet Suite 11 and it's exactly the sort of material we'll use in meetings with commissioners, producers and network execs, to show how the genre-specific episodes and scenes of GenreCom could look.
We didn't run this in the mag last month due to a lack of photos, instead we wrote a retrospective on the BlahBlahBlah gang which you can check right here. Below is my original review of the BBB's 4th Birthday with London label Night Slugs.
BlahBlahBlah is 4, which in promoter years is a century, so while a letter from her Majesty is imminent, they're celebrating this evening with a Night Slugs takeover.
From their humble beginnings as a London club night, to their first release just over a year ago this label's already carved a reputation for itself as one of the go-to names for upfront club music.
It would appear that Brighton's clubbing elite aren't as forward thinking as they'd like to opine but despite the lackluster turn out the nocturnal mollusks give the loyal fans 110% and the extra space on the dancefloor allows us to move with even more vigor. The heavenly twinkling of Girl Unit's 'Wut' turns Digital into a melodic cornucopia of appreciative whoops and whistles. Then Jam City's 'Magic Drops VIP' hits us with its mechanized production-line beat and slide-whistle synth to result in a woozy paradise of blissful disorientation.
For their 4th birthday the BlahBlahBlah boys were surrounded by close family and friends with some of London's bass music pioneers providing the soundtrack.
Recently discovered Redinho via Nmbrs, who have snapped him up after his Bare Blips EP rippled through the electronic scene last year. His style is pretty damn broad, from the rapid and delicate bleeps of 'Pitter Patter' - a tune reminiscent of Four Tet and softer Squarepusher, to the twitchy wonk of 'Nuff Prang's' bass, he touches on micro house, dubstep and glitch. I've posted up 'Whips' coz I find the warm kinetic synths irresistible and the funk influence resonates with a mesmerizing neon glow throughout the tune.
'Whips' is taken from his Edge Off EP which boasts other robustly diverse dance tracks like 'Power Look' with it's oscillating sink-hole synthesizers, the hectic, skittering juke of 'Slap' and of course the eponymous, Chromeo-esque 'Edge Off'. His live show sounds like an act to catch too, at SXSW he utilised keyboards and a talkbox as he performed with Jackmaster and Deadboy, hopefully he'll come to Brightopia soon.
Last month I got Ye Ye Fever, check the full review up on the Brighton Source site.
Photo by James Kendall
"When Ye Ye Fever featured as the Guardian’s club pick of the week under its Mama Ko Mama Sa moniker, its then venue The Bees Mouth started to accrue queues that snaked down Western Road. So, after a brief nomadic period, it’s now found new pastures to settle on with the cobbled floors of the Green Door Store."
WRoisetter just sent this to me via Twitter. It's the first I've heard of Ten Thousand Yen and the warm waves of electronica wrapped themselves around me like a melodic cuddle. The producer hales from Manchester - which is proving a hotbed for pseudo-garage and future house output - see Fantastic Mr Fox's delightful tracks.
'You Always Start It' is an irrestible tune padded with a furry bass line and balmy arpeggios that would be prickly if they didn't sound slightly blunted. The yawning vocals lull over the top, echoing you into a blanket of soft percussion.
'Ordinary Thing' is one of his first tracks that turned heads with the delicate grace of falsetto vocals and twinkling arpeggios that cascade down over the fuzzy sub-bass. XXXY's sound is fragile yet substantial with a skipping 2-step beat it's not brash and in your face but still has enough confidence and momentum to move you on the dancefloor.
Another blissful track on the Night Slugs imprint, this time from Jam City. Magic Drops VIP is made up of a machanized production-line beat with the slide-whistle synth resulting in a woozy sound of jiggy disorientation.
Last month I went to White Mink at the Haunt, read the full review on theBrighton Source.
"Noir’s the new black and Freshly Squeezed Music have transformed The Haunt into a veritable speakeasy for White Mink. Tonight we play private detective, getting the inside scoop on the 1920s Mafioso...
Photo by Tom Chambers
... As PI’s go we’re more Jonathon Ames than Philip Marlowe but we know this much – White Mink is such an authentic recreation of prohibition America it could make even Raymond Chandler blush."
"It’s a balmy evening in early May as the sun bleeds into the hazy horizon behind the West Pier, printing its stencilled wreckage on the crimson sky. There’s a spring wind biting our necks but not enough to threaten this late evening club night."
Talking to Mr James Kendall in Brighton Source HQ yesterday he played me BlahBlahBlah DJs' track 'Left'.
Even without considering that this is their first foray into production the track's a staggering success. The shuddering syths slowly build, gaining momentum, volume and confidence, until the piece is fully realised and breaks into a stunning bit of progressive techy-house. It's intro sounds a little like Kavinsky with obvious 80s influence and the tune as a whole could score a John Carpenter scene. I'm thoroughly looking forward to more productions from these guys, but we may have to be patient, as they're busy putting on some of the best dance music events in Brighton every month. If your in our city by the sea then head to their 4th Birthday this Saturday (11th) at Digital, where they're hosting Night Slugs with Bok Bok, L-Vis and Girl Unit.
He's been making upbeat techy house tracks for tiiime now and his Drumming Song remix last year was an industrial paradise of clattering echoey beats with Florence's haunting vocals gliding over the top. This May mix includes some of his own new material, tracks by other producers that he feels haven't got the play they deserve and more electro wonders that he couldn't resist dropping in. I think it's impossible to be in a bad mood when listening to Boy 8 Bit's mixes and this one is no exception, he brings the sunshine vibes into our fluffy ear holes just in time for our UK summer resurgence.
Can't embed this one but you can download and listen on his Soundcloud >here<
The Weeknd is a Toronto based R&B artist called Abel Tesfaye. His tune 'The Morning' is dripping with sex and excess, infact his whole debut album 'House of Balloons' exudes lust and millenial nocturnal living, sometimes sombre, sometimes winning, always louche.
The Weeknd creates lush, emotionally charged tracks about love, drugs, sex, deciet and other explicitly erotic subject matter that's hypnotizing in it's high quality production and patient delivery. Abel sounds like a far more interesting Drake and is set to bring some self-assured sophistication to R&B, he's not quite humble yet not brash and ostentatious finding an accessible medium between being confident and crestfallen.
Props to 1DimensionalMan for the heads up on this one.
I went to this night back on the 29th April and the full review's just gone live on theBrighton Sourcesite.
"New Night 'The Line-Up' aims to give recently signed bands the chance to build up some live gig experience, and in turn to give the crowd an opportunity to catch emerging talent before they blow up, so you can look back and say "I saw them before they were famous" - which always feels good.
Tonight the emerging talent are London indie duoWhite Powder Gold. Jamie and Jermaine renounce the typical skinny jeans and mop bucket hair associated with landfill indie and their brand of music is similarly rebellious. Their performance is raw and unpolished and all the more visceral for it."
Dunkndisorderly sent me this mix via Facebook and it's full of rude riddims and some of the dirtiest new dubstep allowed on the airwaves. Koya are four electronic DJs and Producers from London and just from this mix's tacklist you can see they take influence from artists who don't hold back like Spor, Noisia and Reso.
Last year Koya had releases on labels Monkey Dub Recordings and Rankadank Records, whilst also playing sets supporting Flux Pavillion, Subscape, Funtcase, Reso and Sigma. This year they've got props from non other than Radio 1 dance music darling - Annie Mac, so 2011 is set to be the year Koya blow up with their monstrous dubstep productions.
New release from the Numbers gang set to drop next month - Deadboy's 'Wish U Were Here' - some more smooth grooves from the heartbreak garage kid, this tune is gonna get rinsed this summer, perfect for sun kissed afternoons on the beach.
Deadboy's 2-Step melancholia first blipped on my radar last year with tracks like 'Heartbreaker', 'If U Want Me' and 'U Cheated', and the tear jerking, dancefloor filling DJ keeps going from strength to strength playing bigger crowds with every booking and producing some of the sexiest future R&B tunes out there. This mix he did for May Anne Hobbs is pretty juicy too.
DJ Distance has been a major dubstep player since 2007 with his Chestplate imprint and genre defining tunes like Night Vision, now his evocative productions are rippling through the underground and up into the commercial realm. 'Falling' featuring Alys Be is more radio friendly than his earlier work but still retains that tough drum loop and rough & ready bass, this time with Alys' mournful vocals layered over the top.
Skrillex makes monstrous dubstep tracks that reek of his hardcore metal past. His psychotic glitch and addictive dancefloor fillers released on Deadmou5's label 'Mau5trap' are shaking the electronic music scene by its jugular and his latest tune is no exception.
Netsky's production is ridiculously advanced considering his age. I reviewed him playing at Audio last year, check the piece on the Brighton Source, his tunes are top-notch but his mixing isn't, still, he's young and no doubt gets better every gig he plays.
The young Belgian's remix has a plodding dubstep beat set against the grinding whir that was prevalent on his album. It maintains some of Rusko's Atari shooting sound effects and the epicness of the original yet keeping it accessible and if given more mainstream radio play could easily feature in the charts.
DJ Q's bassline remix is a lot of fun too, grooving 2-step beat with a bubbling bass that sometimes squirms and sometimes squelches. Thing is, as much as I love a bit of bassline, there's not a lot of variety to the sound. Rusko's releasing Everyday with Lick the Lizard, a collabo he did with Reso nearly a year ago now.
Brighton producer Technical Pillow makes minimal chill out and laid back melodies with tropical hints of trip-hop and world music, but without the wankyness.
His tune above 'Clicktomaniac' turns typewriter sounding samples into a stripped down beat, combined with a bit of cowbell and a warm reverb-laden bassline to make some perfect post clubbing cotch music. I think he regularly collaborates with Little Thoughts, another Brighton based DJ who produces similarly relaxed sounds of psy-dub and twinkling electronica with ethnic influences and tranquil vibes.
Little Thoughts is playing at Om Bar in Brighton on the 14th May for the Acidic Records album launch, which I may check out if energy allows. I'd like to interview these guys for the Brighton Source so watch this cyber space.
Stephen Gomberg went on the xx's American tour and has been heralded by minimal dubstep maestro James Blake as "the future of everything." Hype can be a terrible thing but Fantastic Mr Fox's tunes don't disappoint, they're incredibly layered tracks made up of textured samples, simple synths, distorted vocals, drawn out breaks and the occasional 8-bit barrage. He's supporting Mosca and Krystal Klear at Life on the 13th of May which is shaping up to the be a must reach. Below's his track Sketches, a masterpiece of epileptic bleeps and tilting breaks, SBTRKT's remix is well worth checking out too.
Mosca doesn't want to be boxed into one category, simply aiming to produce club music that makes you move your dancing feet, and he definitely does that. Last year Mosca caught the attention of Mary Anne Hobbs and Giles Peterson with releases like the aquatic dubstep of 'Nike' and the oscillating Nintendo bleeps of 'Tilt Shift'.
Mosca's playing at Life on Brighton's seafront on May 13th alongside Krystal Klear who makes boogielicious new jack swing. He did a mix and mini interview for Vice late last year and below's his feature on Toddla T's Radio 1 slot.
I'm writing up the May previews for Brighton Source and the wonderful T-E-E-D have been brought to my attention. T-E-E-D aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs not only boast the best name in dance music but also produce some sumptuous celestial electro to feast your ears on. Below is their mini mix for Annie Mac which includes Jameson's Urban Hero - one of my favourite garage tracks E-V-E-R.
Not my usual type of washing machine this is one, but a good night nonetheless. Komedia regulars 'Da Doo Ron Ron' Chris and 'Born Bad' Steph played female-fronted pop, punk, post-punk, dance and rock from the 1970s to the present. There were lots polka-dots, quiffs and eyeliner - and that was just my outfit.
From Blondie to Beyonce, via Hole and The Slits. Peep the full review in next month's Brighton Source.
In March I checked out the former Funky Buddha for it's relaunch as the Tube by the guys who brought us Life - so you know you're in a for treat of quality beats. Hit the Brighton Source site for the full review.
"The booking of A Guy Called Gerald signifies the vibe of The Tube that will distinguish it from its competitors on the seafront, a more mature destination and an alternative to the £1 novelty nights mainly catering for students and West Street drop-offs."
Props to Dunkndisorderly via Spotify for this one. Not a massive fan of Katy P, there's no beef she's just hot and unobtainable and her music's annoying, but this Noisia remix is irrestible. Her moaning vocals work real good over the guttural bass.
Noisia - the 3 man production team from the Netherlands have been making disgustingly good music for a few years now - Split the Atom, their Sweet Dreams remix and Machine Gun, which 16 Bit reworked into a tune of total annihilation last year. You should play it now and play it loud.
Zinc's mad generous at the mo, after giving away some of his old tunes and remixes last week - including his Fugees or Not - he's just offered this crack house mix for free download via his Twitter. The DJ/producer coined his new genre last year when he released volume 1 and 2 of his Crack House EP. The first was far superior, almost every track was a sexy bass driven banger, but i mean, a tune by Zinc's never gonna be a bad tune and volume 2 had plenty bingo booty shakers too - like Nexx.
The Guardian music podcast is always good, it's got me through many hours in the office. This UK rap special is particularly poignant, with Chantelle Fiddy, Rosie Swash and Alexis Petridis. It features RoXXXan and Ghostpoet.
Loving the whir on this one, a popular trend in dubstep and drum n bass at the mo Southbound Hangers are a couple of Brighton based producers with residencies at Supercharged and Dubnium
Since the advent of the noughties with its MySpace, YouTube and viral marketing, meteoric rises to fame have become common place for many bands, but it’s safe to say even without these developments Sleigh Bells would still have become so popular so quickly. Their debut album 'Treats' has accrued positive reviews from harsh music critics as much as fan-boy bloggers and the crowd in Audio tonight is as varied as the many genres evident in Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss’s music.
They open with the first track on the album, 'Tell ‘Em', comprised of machine gun beats and distorted guitar riffs from Miller who likes his music very, very loud and it would be uncomfortably abrasive were it not for Alexis’ bubblegum vocals providing the sweet contrast to his dark matter. Initially the levels aren’t right and Alexis is almost inaudible but the sound engineer quickly corrects it and her melodic lyrics flow under the low ceiling and over our hands held high.
'Infinity Guitars', their first single to be officially released, is met with the audience members either singing along or head banging to the gritty guitar which Miller cranks up to 11 towards the end of the track to throw the throbbing dancefloor into wild thrashing. And it’s this which sums up Sleigh Bells’ signature sound – the raw unbridled rebelliousness of adolescence, shrill and unforgiving. The sample of Funkadelic’s 'Can You Get to That' introduces 'Rill Rill', which provides some harmonious respite from the unhinged onslaught of 'Noise Pop' and most of the girls in the audience join in with Alexis, who sounds like Katie White from The Ting Tings, if she bought a personality and it came with a free order of attitude. Unfortunately Sleigh Bells’ set only lasts 30 minutes but this is to be expected as 'Treats' is only 30 minutes long. Their performance enraptures the crowd for its entirety and is all sorts of decibel breaking awesome, but it’s also very predictable, rarely veering off the tracklist of their album. What will be really interesting is where they go in 2011 and what new material they produce for their already adoring fanbase.
Audio, Saturday 20th November 2010
Words by Zac Colbert
