My submission for the Kimbra – “Settle Down” remix opportunity.

Indaba remix opportunities are pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel. One song gets offered up and hordes of people come storming over the horizon armed with their tools to pick the track apart and rebuild it in their own unique way.

I’m not normally a fan of this approach I don’t see how the results can ever be fairly judged and if the artist involved actually listens to the results. However it has to be said there are some decent stem packs on offer from time to time and the Kimbra one was no exception. I encountered her album about three or four months ago (we’re late to the party here, but I recommend you check out ‘Vows’) and was smitten with her accomplished vocal style and musicianship.

Anyway, to cut a long story. Indaba offered up the parts for the lead single ‘Settle Down’ for remixing and it was a no brainer, I got involved in the opportunity. You can have a listen (and vote if you like it) here

 

What’s Going On….

Not updated this thing in a while, which is because I have been pretty busy/pretty slack (delete as you see fit). But here’s a quick look at what’s been going on, most of it you will be able to cop from my Soundcloud page.

Collaborations (including a single), new stuff and cheeky bootlegs as well as an extended twenty minute thing which I was working on, then I wasn’t, then I was, then I wasn’t. So yeah, hats off to the people who let me drag my knuckles over their stuff. And that would be Jane Silence the ‘One Summer Evening’ single is finally out (iTunes etc), with remix action from Tommy Vicari Jnr, I also did a remix for her forthcoming release ‘Send Me A Moment’, you can check the dub up on Soundcloud. I also remixed the Tommy Vicari Jnr track ‘Told U’ with a tiny bit of Krause thrown in the mix for good measure.

There’s the ‘Slab/Suite’ acid tracks which I’m thinking will make a nice cheap bandcamp release at some point. They’re knocking about and people seem to be OK with them so watch this space. More recently are remixes for Arp Attack, the delightful Tara Busch,

Tara will be playing at Sensoria 2012

Orbital and The Russian Girls. The latter two I don’t know what is happening with yet, I’m waiting for confirmation from Ralph on being allowed to leak The Russians and I have no idea if Orbital/Lady Leeshur are releasing ‘Wonky’ from the album of the same name as a single. We shall see….

What Have I Done?

Mainly on remix duties for the last few weeks, managed to get three fresh recuts out of the traps. The first one being for Madeleine Bloom’s ‘Mingle’ project which sees a whole bunch of her tracks being remixed by various artists. Its a quick and fidgety mix which will be streaming from her site soon.

 

Closer to home, I got the opportunity to mangle a track from Sheffield’s Wet Nuns ‘Heaven’s Below’, its your common garden story of acid house meets glam rock, welded together under a bad tempered slew of guitars.

Finally, I have remixed Tara Busch for her Moog Foundation collaboration (all the proceeds of which go to the Moog foundation). I got the chance to strip back the layers of the track and take it in a slightly different direction…

Always Moving….

Fresh from the album release of ‘Watch Me Dance‘, Sheffield’s Toddla T brings us the trailer for his new film ‘Always Moving’ which premieres at Tramlines on Saturday.  Have a look see here

Boy 8 Bit

Have a little pike at the new video for Boy 8 Bit’s ‘Fire Extinguisher’ directed by Brendan Canty, the track is taken from the bang up ‘Madrigal’ EP while the video looks like a train journey through an MRI scan or something…anyway its reyt good and you can see it below.

All other things Boy8Bit can be found at his site which is here

What Have I Done (2)…

Or more to the point what am I doing, inbetween other stuff I am putting together new material in a mixed form for Radio Scotvoid at some point in the future. Its proving nice to work in a free form style and in a bid to make new tracks I am going through existing vocal stems in a bid to make something entirely new.  It seems to be working, the latest track called ‘Sirens’ features heavily chopped and processed vocals courtesy of Anne Garner, Jane Silence and Pixiguts.

I’d always wondered what the three of them would sound like ‘in the same room’ so to speak and thanks to the web we can now get round that pesky problem of geographic location. I should hopefully have something for you to listen to before too long.

Marie Craven, Pixieguts.

Pixieguts should be no stranger to a lot of you that read or listen to any of my stuff, firmly established as a cyber collaborator based in Australia she has an excellent collaborative resume that spans the globe and is a real talent.

Jane Silence is based in New York and possesses an atmospheric vocal style that lends itself to any number of genres. I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with her on a number of occasions both on original tracks and remixes.

Jane Silence

Anne Garner

Anne Garner meanwhile is based in London (via Sheffield) and has proven herself to have an excellent track record as a singer and songwriter. Her latest work ‘Trusting A Twirled World’ (produced by James Murray) adds to a wonderful discography (Magic & Madness, and the excellent remix album ‘Remaking The Pearl’).

Elsewhere my remix for Daystar’s ‘Off Our Heads’ is now available for free download, its took a while to actually get this one out into the daylight but if you like it you can finally have a copy (and for nowt).

Drums Of Death…

Drums of Death has always been a safe pair of hands for club heads. A solid suite of remixes has seen him punctuate dance’s firmament for a while now. His EP’s have been solid and there was a strong album release in the form of ‘Generation Hexed’ in 2010.

Now Drums of Death returns with a squally nasty filthy pill washed little EP on Civil Music and trust me that’s a good thing. Four exquisite club cuts that suitably encompass the darker side of rave. ‘Cold Lazarus’ is circuit blown assault on your senses, a screaming mixture of punched synths stabs, relentless beats and fractured drawn breath sounds that charges through you before before staggering bleeding and beaten over its own finish line.

‘Lost Highway’ is a shimmering clubber’s sunset. Ghostly horn like synths and moody and spacious percussion loiter on the outskirts of the track before it fleshes out and becomes a gauze dimmed haze which almost signals one of those nights where everything might have just started slipping away from you.

Thankfully  ‘I Cant Take It’ arrives like a clenched fist gripping the nape of your neck and planting you back in thick of it. Half sheared vocals, fierce combative high end percussion and agile kicks in the low end. This track stamps its authority in no uncertain terms.

Closing out the EP is ‘Love’s Labour Lost’ a beautiful arpeggiated builder that is surely going to become someone’s dancefloor epiphany at some point. Layer upon layer of synths build within this track to the point where it’s not even the beats that are leading you by the end, a proper teaser piece which keeps pushing and pulling at the listener from start to finish.

Not so much a continuation of Generation Hexed more of an evolutionary step forward, there’s something darker about Drums Of Death that’s been cut loose now.  This has been worth the wait.  Available now from Civil Music.

Today’s smashdown…

Comes courtesy of Hostage, who is already having an impressive year so far via his own material and a wealth of ear slaughteringly good remixes. Keeping up the consistent run he’s slinging his Moombahcore remix of J -Trick’s Def Jam out to you for nowt!

I had to wait till it had finished before I could write a description because this monster frankly removes my capacity for cognitive thought while it is in progress. Its the audio equivalent of being slapped with the flat of an oil starved chainsaw blade, a relentless man sized angry waveform that strides out of your bins and just stands in front of you screaming in your face until its over. It will probably make young children misbehave and kill birds in flight. Bloody excellent!

Listening Post…

There’s no shortage of stuff knocking about at the moment for your audio delectation. The last couple of days has seen strong offerings on the mix  front with Boy 8 Bit dropping his one hour Triple J mix over the weekend which should keep our ears busy for a while. Its a moody and direct offering a little less playful than some of his more recent mixes but that doesn’t detract from it in the slightest.

Elsewhere Villa brings another one of his sun dappled loose limbed mixes to the table, I’ve come to expect those gentle loping intros to his sets now, the pace builds slowly but never over cooks and while you’ll undeniably be moving to this its not gonna prove overly strenuous.  Its a nice post weekend antidote.

Elsewhere Toddla T’s ‘Watch Me Dance’ drops a little earlier than expected due to a leaky journalist but as a consequence we get to sample the goods sooner than we expected. We’ve come to expect a real melting pot of influences with Toddla’s music  but this time out he steps up his game from the strident tough funk of ‘Watch Me Dance’  to the house infused Shola Ama vehicle ‘Take It Back’ (the one with the huge piano chords, yeah?). Its a strong album that brings in a world of influences and a number of surprises along the way.  Let’s put it this way, you can tell he’s been travelling. All good and thoroughly recommended. (higlights ‘Body Good’, ‘Streets So Warm’ as well as the obvious singles)

Check the video for ‘Watch Me Dance’ below. The album is available to buy on iTunes.

What Have I Done…

Marie Craven, Pixieguts.

Been keeping busy, new tracks with a long overdue guest spot from Pixieguts called ‘Blink Blink’ which brings a little bit of bounce to the table and some finely diced vocals. Then there was the MixedInSheffield ‘Now + Again’ project which saw me getting the opportunity to disassemble Double No No‘s Bullfight. Most recently however I got to do a cheeky little remix for Krause (‘Soaring Through The Starlight’).

Krause is Susanne Clermonts from the Netherlands, releasing music under the Krause banner, you can find out more about her here and check out her debut album ‘No Guts, No Glory’ on iTunes etc.

Krause, Susanne Clermonts

Double No No are Sheffield based trouble causers Nicky B and Danielle Maibaum. Sometimes Nick slings keyboard lines out for The Human League, Danni I often see in the pub (when she is not singing as part of Double No No and turning up on other people’s stuff).

Pixieguts is Australian cyber vocalist Marie Craven, who can be found on absolutely tons of stuff, and if you haven’t checked her out so far you can do so here. She’s part of a thriving online collaborative community that spans worldwide.

Double No No, Nick Burke & Danielle Maibaum

Krause

Pixieguts

Double No No