Friday 1 June 2012

Review: Midland - Bring Joy (Radio Slave Remix)

Now I very very rarely review music on my blog, but i've been meaning to write a piece on this track for a long while, mainly becuase it seems to be the least favourite track off of Midlands brilliant EP on More Music, Bring Joy.
The original track is a lovely hard hitting yet strangely deep piece of housey garage, the real gem being the cleverly sampled female vocals which create a stunning breakdown.
However on the reverse, Radio Slave delivers a rework which he calls the 'Joy & Pain Remix', incorporating his standard dark, grungey techno into a truely haunting piece of music. Playing at just over 12 minutes long, Radio Slave pounds the original into a solid, flat, brooding piece. Occasional hi-hats rattle over the track as the vocals begin to fade in; completely unrecognizable from Midland's original, Radio Slave has twisted and distorted them into a ghoulish wail. Frequintly overlapping, the vocals almost speak to each other as they howl and cry while the droning beat pounds on. Despite this seeming like the track is a wailing, confsuing mess; its strangly minimal, and particularly haunting as the vocals fade in and out. By no means an uplifting tune, the Joy & Pain Remix desivers alot more credit than critics seem to give.

Monday 14 May 2012

Obey - Urban Essence Podcast Vol. 4

'Volume Four in the Urban Essence mix series comes from 19 year old Joe Stapleton, aka Obey, and it also coincides nicely with our first birthday! Happy birthday to us.

We’ve been following Joe’s monthly Autonomic mixes for a while now and in an age compounded by countless nonsensical mixes, meaninglessly collating the latest tunes, what’s striking about his is the painstaking care taken over their curation and creation. We’re all about patience and diligence with creativity here at Urban Essence, so it seemed appropriate to get Joe on board.

For the mix, Joe’s delivered a hard-hitting melange of machine music, comprising an array of tough warehouse-worthy tracks from the expansive catalogue of dubstep, house and drum&bass’ peripheral sounds. Seamlessly drifting between genres in a sort of ethereal haze, it’s a fairly dark and subliminal offering from Obey, from the eerie introductory sounds of They Live, through to the militant tribalism and housey groove of the second half.'

For the full interview & to the listen to the podcast go to the Urban Essence site here
Or, play it on my Soundcloud here.

Tracklist:

01. They Live - 7998 [Exit]
02. Teeth - Shawty [502]
03. Commodo - Surveillance [Deep Medi]
04. Madd - No Tomorrow [Black Box]
05. ??? [N/A]
06. V.I.V.E.K - Soundman [Deep Medi]
07. They Live - Dimark [N/A]
08. Untold - Kingdom [Hessle]
09. Ben Damage & Doc Daneeka - Juggernaut [50 Weapons]
10. Echo Park - Fiber Optic (Jon Convex Love Transmission Remix) [Disfigured]
11. Martyn - Bauplan (L-Vis 1990 & Bok Bok Remix) [Brainfeeder]
12. Midland - Bring Joy [More]
13. dBridge - Scarlett [Convex Industries]
14. Ben Damage & Doc Daneeka - Elipsis Torment [50 Weapons]
15. Instra:Mental - Plok [NonPlus+]
16. They Live - Horizonta [Exit]
17. They Live - Cancel Standard [Exit]

Sunday 22 April 2012

DjRum - RA. 307 (Resident Advisor Podcast)

Incorporating countless genres into the 44 minute journey, and occasionally adding samples from pictures such as 'Jacob's Ladder', Rum's mix plays out exactly as it was intended. A Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film...

01. Chris Watson - The Blue Men Of The Minch
02. Murcof - Una
03. Pangaea - Memories
04. Frozen Border - 3.1
05. Sleeparchive - Papercup
06. DjRUM - Mountains pt.1 (Live)
07. DjRUM - Mountains pt.1 (Pedestrian's Pirate Radio Remix)
08. DjRUM - Mountains pt.2
09. Beatless (ft. Quasimoto & Mablib) - Dominant
10. Herbie Hancock - Goodbye To Childhood
11. Andy Bey - Celestial Blues
12. Untold - Kingdom
13. Chris Watson - River Mara At Dawn. Maasai Mara
14. DjRUM (ft. Shad[]wb[]x) - Lies
15. Perc - Tension
16. Chris Watson - The Blue Men Of The Minch. Moray
17. DjRUM - The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn (Undercoat pt. 2)
18. DjRUM - Honey
19. Richard Skelton - Noon Hill Wood
20. Marcel Dettmann - Shatter Proof
21. Daughter - Landfill
22. Andy Stott - Handle With Care
23. Chris Watson - Oceanus Pacificus (10m)
24. Indigo - Snowfall
25. Chris Watson - Oceanus Pacificus (3m)
26. Vashti Bunyan - Here Before
27. Elephant & Castle - I Will
28. Alix Perez (ft. Sabre) - Hemlines
29. Chris Watson - The Blue Men Of The Minch
30. The Drop - Looking To The Sky (DjRUM Remix)

LINK TO RA SITE (Interview with Rum, Download link at the bottom)

Sunday 15 April 2012

April Top Tracks

1. Indigo - Symbol #7.3
2. Hatti Vatti - Palms (ASC Remix)
3. RQ - Black Prism
4. RQ - Greater Geometry
5. RQ - Hounds (Sam KDC's Strung Out Remix)
6. Method One - Symbol #5.1
7. Synkro - Broken Promise
8. Method One - Symbol #5.3
9. Fracture - Get Busy
10. Midland - Bring Joy (Radio Slave's Joy & Pain Remix)

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Δkkord - Electronic Explorations Mix #183

The mysterious Manchester based producers Δkkord make their debut mix for Elecronic Explorations. Well worthy of a listen

STREAM (Via SoundCloud)

No official tracklist, however...

01. Troy Gunner[?] - ?
02. ?
03. Δkkord - Back & Forth [
Δkkord Dub]
04. ?
05. ?
06. ?
07. Δkkord – Renewal [
Δkkord Dub]
08. Indigo - ? [Dub]
09. Stickman – The Verge [Dub]
10. ?
11. ?
12. Δkkord - The Drums [
Δkkord Dub]