Friday 24 October 2008

Aquacrunk!?

I dearly love a new genre - and the more niche and silly the better - and so when Dean Lofi pointed me in the direction of Aquacrunk, I was not to be dissapointed!

Essentially, Aquacrunk is Glaswegian Electronica-Crunk. Which of course inevitably misses the mark, explaining nothing, thus qualifying the exsitence of the genre title. Aquacrunk makes the crunk link clear, and gives a 'feeling' of what the sound is really like, but in essence a new genre like this needs a silly name to act as signifier for the music itself.

Listening to Rustie - my first impression is of just a glitchy, experiemental hip-hop. Is this was those in the know would call Electronica Crunk (with a Glaswegian twist?), or is this just hopeful scene alchemy? (and if it is, is there anything wrong with this??).

As already stated, I love a good new genre, but it occurs to me - as it does to most people commenting on the Gurdian article below - that this is really just one guy producing this stuff. Maybe this would test even my generous scene-leanings?

But thinking back to any 'scene' picked up by the media in its early days, there's nearly always several other artists already echoing the sound by the time it reaches the ears of the (underground) masses.

The article explains it all very neatly, and Rustie's myspace contains several of his tracks, so head on over and decide for yourself if we face the next 'new-rave', or a one-city phenomenon that will remain a brief tangent amongst the swathes of electronic music out there.


Guardian Article on aquacrunk and Rustie


http://www.myspace.com/rustiebeetz

Friday 17 October 2008

LOFI HIFI comes to the smoke!




Lofi Hifi is officially coming to London, with a one off at The Fly next Tuesday, the 21st, Ft. the excellent Targets live + support, and Ciara and myself on the 1s and 2s getting you to Shake It Down, plus Tom Lillywhite, lead singer with Targets, playing some excellent indie-rock records. If we can persuade him to!

No doubt it will bring the infamous party vibe with it, and a mix of cutting edge and classic electro, new wave, filter house, fidget, no wave, synth pop-rock and indie oddities.

Plus - you heard it here first - we look set to move into a permanent home as of next month at the Old Blue Last. Things aren't fully confirmed, but all going to plan we should be kicking off next month. More info will follow soon....

http://www.theoldbluelast.com/

Saturday 11 October 2008

REVIEW: [matter] SMD+Lindstrom+Riton+Foamo+Dusty Kid



What does 20 quid buy these days? Jellied eels and mash for both sets of grandparents. 13 tracks on Beatport (Creditcrunch eh Beatport? - 'Creditcrunch', incidentally, should become a genre, perhaps some kind of post-apocalyptic jackin' goth-grime). Half a posh ticket to see Pussycat Dolls' 'Doll Domination' Live at the O2. 1/7th of a Bestival ticket. Enough to secure a winning bid on a 1-1/2"BLK BADA$$$ LEATHER WRIST CUFF Matara Watch NYC on Ebay.
1/100th of a boob job. Probably.

Well it gets you entrance to Matter, London's newest super club, apparently.

The 'dream venue' created by the Fabric team, Matter embraces the bands n' DJs ethos of Fabric, whilst aiming to supercede it with it's world-class sound and lighting (upgrading the 'bodysonic' floor in Fabric with a 'bodykinetic floor here - which to most of us means drums pounding away in the floor!), and take advantage of the purpose built space to give unhindered sight lines to the stage from any location, huge bars and plenty of space to move around.

Walking through the O2 to get there however almost squeezed every ounce of soul out of the venture, as the streets of 'dreamtime boulevard', or whatever the fake street ringing the nil-two should be called, were lined with identi-kit chain restaurants and bars - all trying so very very hard to look vibrant and real, and failing so miserably that the corporate brief may as well be enlarged 700 hundred times and nail gunned to the 'rain weathered effect' teak exteriors, which will never ever see a day of rain in their lives.

As Phill and Jim put it best, the kind of place a sad guy with no imagination takes his girlfriend for a date.

It took a while to get over this, and the sting of the 20 quid entrance fee, but it really is a great club.

All marble (or marble effect), spacious, tea lights glimmering everywhere, DJ booth not too aloof (you can peek in at what's going on) a large balcony, nicely hidden second room (which could be the place where the real shit goes down at future nights) huge, accessible smoking area, THE bodykinetic dancefloor (ok, I was expecting slightly more from it, but perhaps when the bass bighitters come to town it'll be pushed to the max) and most of all just very good music.

Was most excited to hear Foamo - very young and very new to the scene - but as these things go only caught a couple of tracks, but those sounded mighty, and the crowd were definitely feeling him. SMD erred on the side of experiemental, which I really liked - lots of pulsing, grinding electro and disco, with a smattering of big tunes, all swathed in a bubble of upbeatness, which was great for a brand new club, and the atmosphere was genuinely really pleasant as a result.

At one point Crookers were being played in both rooms - which made me laugh, and proof of just how big they are now.

I would really recommend checking it out if you can - try and forget about the location (though they offer an 'oyster compatible boat ride' everyhalf an our - I mean more the fact that it's in the 02) and try and get there on a night when it's cheap/fabric first/you know a friend on the inside who can get you guestlist.

Drums of Death - Breathe! (Curses Remix)


http://www.matterlondon.com/


Also get your ears around this:

Headshotboyz - Detector


Strange, twisting, staggering fidget-opera.

A bit about them:

"We are Headshotboyz from Budapest, Hungary, we have upcoming releases on Crux Records (NY)(with Stereoheroes, Bryan Cox, Toxic Avenger, Gaetan, MKXTC...), Sick Recordings (CHI), Electric Sushi (South Africa) and a remix on Palms Out Sounds"

And check out their excellent mix:

Headshotboyz - The Dolphins Will Never Die (October Mixtape):

1. Richard Dinsdale - Sniffin
2. Stereoheroes - Washout (Headshotboyz Remix)
3. Shinichi Osawa - Detonator (Herve's uxb Remix)
4. Laidback Luke, Roman Salzger - Generation Noise feat. Boogshe
5. Frank Sinatra - New York New York (Chew Fu fix)
6. Destroy Disco - But I Ain't
7. Fentura - Live It (Klaas Dub)
8. Headshotboyz - Elvis
9. Mightyfools - Super Sexy
10. Micky Slim - Hit The Club (Stupid Fresh Remix)
11. Digital Manges - Give Me A Reason (Headshotboyz Remix)
12. Mystery Jets - Half In Love With Elizabeth (Foamo Remix)
13. Larry Tee feat. Christopher Just - Get Your Grind On
14. Stupid Fresh - Get The Fuck Up feat. Stellar MC (Bass Kleph Remix)
15. Pomomofo - Back at the Club (Boy 8-bit Remix)
16. Ed Kane, Will Bailey - Will & Ed's Excellent Adventure
17. Santiago & Bushido - Got That