Lofi Hifi

Electronic Breakfast

2010-05-21T09:03:00.008Z

Hi Folks,

A very sunny morning in East London, about to head off to work. Thought I'd briefly have a look at who's currently making waves and who's currently setting trends in the world of electronic music. Bon Appetite.

For the first course I generously serve a slice of broken beat/garage with Randomer & Fife. Smart synth stabs, super-smooth vocals and a very tasty bassline have seen their track Too Many Times see early support from Giles Peterson and Mary Ann Hobbs. Released on May 24th on Fat! Records. For Fans of Joy Orbison.

Randomer & Fife - Too Many Times by Fat! Records

http://www.myspace.com/randomerdnb
http://www.myspace.com/fifesounds

Next up bringing the noise, like a double macchiato, is Girl Unit. Finding a cheeky niche somewhere between sireny-techno and bubbling post-dubstep, new track IRL is hot property.

MP3: Girl Unit - IRL

Also check out the French Fries remix - and buy the original on Beatport

A couple of tracks recommended by Girl Unit in his interview with The Big Chill :

First, Rishi Romero - African Forest. Deep, loud, proud techno.

Also, NGUZUNGUZU - Got U. Future techno, a genuinely fresh take on the genre.

Mp3: NGUZUNGUZU - Got U.

As the funky smoothie of the breakfast buffet, probably with sparklers stuck in the top, is Maluca, who's blowing up at the moment, with Mad Decent's backing.

She was born in the Bronx to Dominican parents, and after a chance meeting with Diplo in a karaoke bar the two started working together, resulting in her debut single El Tigeraso. Fast, aggressive yet sassy, with B-More influences and Spank-Rock like delivery, it has spawned a number of big-name remixes.

Here the above mentioned NGUZUNGUZU take on the remix duties.

MP3: Maluca - El Tigeraso (NGUZUNGUZU remix)

Buy on Beatport

http://www.myspace.com/malucamala
http://twitter.com/MALUCAMALA

Really enjoying the new SMD track Aspic, just great production, a big sound, ruthlessly driving and heavy. An absolute must.

MP3: Simian Mobile Disco - Aspic (a pretty lowly 192 - follow links below to go glorious 320)

Go go go and buy it on Beatport or even Phonica

FINALLY, to exhaust the already overstrained metaphor, for the Eggs Royale of what has now become mega-mega-brunch, if you listen to one person this week, or hey, this month, make sure it's Hudson Mohawke. Already given a shout on Lofi a while ago when discussing 'Aquacrunk', Hudson Mohawke feeds intelligent hip-hop beats through an Autechre-esque filter, really driving the limits of modern dance music, but simultaneously managing to always keep it soulful, usually accessible and often raveable. Comparisons to Outkast, Funkadelic, Timbaland and Pharell seem more than fair.

His debut album 'Butter' was released October last year. Get hold of a copy here. seriously.

MP3: Hudson Mohawke - Joy Fantastic (ft Olivier Daysoul)

http://www.myspace.com/hudsonmo

WIN VIP Tickets to Switch, Aeroplane, Jack Beats and Popof with Lofi Hifi.

2010-04-24T12:43:00.005Z

Since inception NYE 2001, clubnight Together has put on an undeniably quality lineup of electronic and indie acts. From The Chemical Brothers to Roni Size, Justice to Fischerspooner, they've kept it diverse and big-name.

Their spring-summer line up has now been announced and its looking quality.

May 7th sees world-superstar Kelis, showing off her new, dancier sounds, joined by the legendary reformed-gangsters Afrika Bambaataa, plus Tinchy Stryder and room 2 action with Lee Mortimer, in what is a slightly bizzare but probably wonderful line-up.

May 14th Alex Metric, Joker and Friendly Fires join Disco Bloodbath for an eclectic night of electronic destruction.

21st May finds Moda, fast becoming the UKs hottest party hosts, brought in to rock the joint, bringing with them Jack Beats, who's unveling his new 2 man audio-visual show; Switch - who needs no explaining; Popof who's brooding yet bouncy minimalist electro productions and remixes has seen him become a majoy player in dance music, and nu-disco big-name Aeroplane, who has remixed of the likes of Friendly Fires with universal appreciation. Also on the line up is Riva Starr, Grum and Moda frontmen Jaymo & Andy George.

WIN 2 VIP tickets with Lofi Hifi. To enter just email your full name to georgewigzell AT hotmail.com. Competition closes 15th May.

I will pick one name out of a hat and they get the two VIP tickets.

June 4th they have Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, DJ Yoda and Stereo MCs.
June 11th Electro phenomenon and poney fancier Vitalic plus rhetorical DJs Joe and Will Ask?and a DJ set from Mystery Jets - who, having DJed Lofi, I can testify are rather excellent.
18^th June – DIM MAK Records will be taking over the evening, bringing with them Fischerspooner and Steve Aoki.

25^th June – The　BIG Finale with Kode9, Joker, and the very exciting Hudson Mohawke.

All are at the Coronet Theatre, 28 New Kent Road, SE1, 1920s art deco playhouse, which now boasts the capital's biggest main room, with a capacity of 2,600.

All are £10 early bird, or £15 on the door. 10pm - 5am.
www.together-club.co.uk

www.coronettheatre.co.uk

****************

Get the hype on Joy Orbison with this excellent article and free 40 min mix:

XLR8R.com

***************

FINALLY, some music:

Got an email from a man named Devin Madgy, a one-man band, making lovely lofi-indie with a quirky edge. I think this is really promising stuff - check it out. Hopefully some mp3s will follow:

http://soundcloud.com/devin-hollows

**********************

Finally, finally, check this out:

http://www.b3ta.com/links/David_Cameron_Common_People

A timely reminder of what you'll get if you vote Tory. Remember kids, don't let the fuckers get in!

2010-04-14T10:47:00.006Z

ColuringIN (photographer unknown - sorry!)

First off more free music from Scatterblog - the high-quality-no-cost label - and this time it's some heavy sounds from Mexican duo Dirty Beats. This is club-orientated, good-time electro.

Take a listen to: Dirty Beats - Whats Happen

Then head to http://www.scatterblog.com/blog/2010/04/scm-004/ for the full EP.

For anyone that's missed this so far, check out R1 Ryders - Rubber Band (Funkitek mix) (see below for a little clip).

Visit Juno to buy it.

Also check out this, not new but one I haven't heard before. Top summer sounds. Thanks to Annie Mac for that.

Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance (Buraka Som Sistema remix)

If you're at a loss on Friday the 30th April then definitely check out new London based/ Berlin-K7 affiliated label Cool In The Pool's launch party at The City Arts and Music Project.

They're putting on a more than tempting buffet spread of musical morsels, including indie-disco from Friendly Fires DJs; Uk Funky/Dubstep from Brackles; psychedelic guitars, jacking drums and soaring synths from 3 piece Plugs; "future romantic pop" from oh-so-hotly-tipped, LfHf favs ColouringIN; and joyful post-dubstep art noise and intrigue from new superstar Kwes.

Plus it's all FREE.

Mixtape from Friendly Fires to get juices flowing:

http://soundcloud.com/warmhq/friendly-fires-xl-eggs-benedict-mix-01-2010

The Camp, 70-74 City Rd London, EC1Y 2BJ . 10-4am.

www.coolinthepool.net

Exit 2009.

Also, how good is the Exit lineup looking?

LCD Soundsystem, Missy Elliott, The Horrors, Bad Brains (!), DJ Shadow, Placebo (if you like that sort of thing, which I do), Suicidal Tendencies, Hudson Mohawke, L-VIS 1990, Crystal Castles, Chromeo, We Have Band, plus an amazing dance line up including Erol, Boys Noize, Brodinski, Crookers, Josh Wink, A-Trak, Laidback Luke, Busy P, SebastiAn, Mehdi, Zinc and Ms Dynamite plus a ridiculous amount more. Where else do you get a hardcore stage, a dedicated dance stage and an up-and-coming band stage at the same festival? Plus the chance to see LCD Soundsystem? (ok maybe at Leeds/Reading, but look at the sheer amount AND quality of bands here, although I confess I wouldn't mind seeing Blink headlining Leeds)

Tickets still £85 + bf, and camping is £20 + bf (tickets available here: www.exitfest.org)

The question now is: can I afford to go? Well if you can, then do. Just don't rub my nose in it if I don't make it.

A Shot In The Dark

2010-01-09T13:36:00.002Z

This is a film I was in last year.

It was a collaboration between the London Film School and the National Gallery, where students picked a painting in the gallery to write and a direct a 3 minute short around. Sohail, who wrote and directed it, chose Bartolomé Bermejo's painting Saint Michael triumphs over the Devil, painted in 1468. In his words: "I was intrigued by the way the Devil is depicted by the painter. A small helpless figure who, even pinned to the ground, seems to laugh at man´s attempt to defeat him. The painting tackles the classical theme of good versus evil, and something with evil at its centre is always very dramatic. I therefore wanted to translate the image to a disturbing supernatural thriller. In my film, the Devil takes the shape of a child. The juxtaposition of human innocence and mythological evil is perhaps an equally classical element from films of this genre. In this form, the demon child taunts the protagonist through his pictures. Photographically I explored the contrast between light and darkness, mixed with fiery red light in the dark room where the Devil prevails."

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-23T11:51:00.005Z

Introducing Trivo:

32yr old Italian, making experimental indie-electronica. Was really impressed by this. Nice and gentle, with a sense of fun. And he sings in Italian, which is how it should be!

And because he is such a supporter of free music, you can download the whole album here: (although you can own a physical copy for just 3 Euros ,contact via MySpace, below):

http://www.mediafire.com/?myvg2hrfuh2

Tracklisting:

01. Traccia 1- artista sconosciuto
02. La disciplina delle fermentazioni
03. Ratio me fugit
04. Ho un gatto nel cervello
05. The darkest side of the dark
06. Ho bisogno di qualcosa di cui non ho bisogno
07. Tu non sei normale
08. Nero
09. La mia donna è un pagliaccio opulento
10. Talking to Van Vera
11. Perché la cattiveria è enorme
12. Questa non è una canzone
13. Phantazomai
14. La ballata dell'elefante suicida
15. Piccola perdita di sostanza polpastrello
16. Veronica ha un virus
17. Kisstarsky

http://www.myspace.com/elephantsuicide

On a different note,

also introducing Mendel:

Paris/Tel Aviv based producer, making heavy electro-fidget-filter-hip-hop. Definitely one to watch, this guy has proper management, and a sound that is attractive enough to move more into the mainstream.

Check this out, Fully Sick and shit:

Designer Drugs - Drop Down (Mendel Remix)

Listen: http://soundcloud.com/musicbymendel/drop-down-mendel-remix

Plus his remix of Pon De Floor:

Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (Mendel's Ajuelos! Remix)

and

French Fries - Coconut (Mendel remix)

Plus, wild Klezmer beats, sampling Major Lazer:

Mendel - Jews Can Be Booty Too (Major Lazer sample)

Don Diablo, currently on tour in North America.

More Don Diablo destruction - this time remixing Larry Tee's forthcoming single.

Heavy hectic, put it on loud.

Larry Tee - Let's Make Nasty (Don Diablo Remix)

www.myspace.com/dondiablo

HAVE A HAPPY X-MAS, PUT YOUR FEET UP AND GET INTO THAT STILTON. TIS THE TIME FOR VEINY CHEESE, NO DOUBT!

"And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Avant Pop"

2009-11-11T16:24:00.007Z

People in The Sky, a label started in the back of an East London rcord shop in 2006, release the compilation "And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Avant Pop" on the 16th of Nov.

Featuring label mainstays Friendly Fires and Plugs, People In The Sky describe this as an 'Audio Manifesto'.

They explain:

"From Dada to Disco, the commodification and recuperation of all popular culture has been accelerated via ever faster means of communication until we reached this point, the edge of no return.

The musical avant garde, armed with cheap electronics and half forgotten dreams, fights on sporadically. Fresh battlelines are drawn in the subcultural sand, but from 20 jazz funk greats to Reg n’ Fearn in a fortnight, things move fast . Fires are quickly doused , and it’s back to Saturday repeats of Come Dine with me as the hacienda crumbles around us."

1) Wax Stag - Folk Rock (Bibio Remix)
2) Colouring In - Intergalactic Romantic (Radio Edit)
3) Telepathe - Chromes On It
4) Plugs - That Number (Video Edit)
5) Architeq - Sleeping Bear Lament (James Pants Remix)
6) Oko - Can't You See
7) Nightwaves - She's Electric (Vega Italo Dub)
8) Ghostape - Many Stars (Ste Mix)
9) The Time and Space Machine - Children of the Sun
10) Friendly Fires - On Board (Nightmoves Remix)
11) Ghostape - In Your Eyes (Remin Remix)
12) Ecce - Control (Pharao Black Magic Mix)
13) Plugs - Downtown
14) Foto & The Bolton Tadcaster - Love Will Break Her
15) Nuuro - Avila

To promote the compilation they are hosting a launch party, featuring the excellent ColouringIN and Matt Waites (Nightmoves). ALL ARE INVITED ;;;;;;;;;:

People In The Sky presents "And You Will Know Us by TH Trail of Avant Pop" Launch Party @ T Bar

Thursday 19th November | 9pm - 3am

Free Entry + Free Promo CD Giveaways

T Bar, 18 — 22 Houndsditch, Aldgate, London EC3A 7LP

Line-up:

These New Puritans (Domino/Angular) DJ Set

Ipso Facto DJ Set

Matt Waites AKA Nightmoves (Future Flash/This Is Not An Exit)

ColouringIN Live

Damon Martin (Disco Bloodbath)

Bi-Bop

Slutty Fringe DJs

J Saintil (Nurtrend)

EuroSonic Noorderslag - The SXSW of Europe?

2009-11-10T17:17:00.004Z

Lucy Love, pic thanks to http://allscandinavian.com

EuroSonic Noorderslag is Europe's biggest music industry conference and showcase. Every year a selection of Europe's new musical talent get a chance to strut their stuff in front of industry pros, including promoters from Europe's biggest festivals, as well as hoards of music lovers. All will be eagerly scouring 100+ gigs to discover the next big thing.

This year the particular focus is on Norway. So expect a strong presence of indie-dance, death metal and great facial hair. (Ok so this was the best cultural stereotype I could muster. Blame Lordi.)

Past success stories include Blood Red Shoes, Goose, Lykke Li, Yelle and, last year, White Lies, who clocked up an impressive 15 European festival bookings after appearing.

Blood Red Shoes had this to say:

""EuroSonic Noorderslag is one of those weird showcase things you do but feel uncomfortable about because it's crawling with music industry types and not many real people, a bit like SXSW. But much like SXSW, if you do a good job of it, you get some way cool stuff out of it."

...which makes it all sound a bit cynical, but adds some weight to the SXSW comparison. Although the guy from White Lies had this to say:

"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what job title each member of the audience has, they are still potential fans and still have the ability to be moved and excited by your music".

...and get you way cool stuff....

Sliimy

The line-up is all new to me - but after a preliminary listen my ones to watch are, in 3 categories:

I Think I Might Like You: Bands With Promise

Joensuu 1685 - Psychadelic, lofi rock.
Lucy Love - Electro, dancehall and dubstep beats with assertive female MCing. Loads of potentially good tracks and catchy riffs. Still lands a little short of brilliant, yet. Though check out the OK Formula rmx of No VIP on her Myspace.
Sliimy - Synthy indie-pop-soul, with impressive voice and and one eye on radio play. Plus a few good covers.
So I Watch You From Afar - Intelligent and progressive heavy-ish instrumental rock. Swapping from emotional (small e) Post-Hardcore riffs to fantastic african rhythms and a sense of the Epic. Bits of ATDI, Mogwai and QOTSA (I'm not using all these acronyms just to take the piss, I promise). BIG sound, stirring, yet never outlandish.
rockettothesky - can't tell if I like this, but I might do in time, so have included it. Very strange sounds, lots of synths and some guitar, lots of reverb on the minimal drums. Twinkly and gentle music with floaty female vocals. Makes me think of snow.

Will Probably Be Big, But Shouldn't Be

Lee Everton - Singer songwriter plays rootsy reggae meets rhythm and blues, easy on the ear. Average, unimaginative, coffee table.

I'm Already Loving It , Get Your Orders In.

Svjata Vatra - Bagpipes, accordian, trumpet, djembe and amongst other instruments something called a duduki make up this weird-and-wonderful-sounding band. Primarily a Ukranian and Estonian folk band, but embracing elements of "Tango, Polka, Punk, Rock, Funk, Soul, Ska, Jazz and Reggae." Adventurous and exciting music, never losing its sense of fun. My only criticism being I wish it would kick off a little more often. Personal taste perhaps.

www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl
____

On a different note the Evening Standard published their list of 1000 most influential people in London. Apparently I'm not on there. I can only assume I came in at 1001. Bastards. Don't they know who I am?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/the-one-thousand.do

...and now for Something Completely Filthy.

2009-11-02T21:31:00.004Z

Been a while since I've posted any straight-up, dancefloor-dominating, siren-blaring, hectic electro.

The excellent Scatterblog is now a fully flegded blog/label hybrid, giving away a load of top quality music for absolutely FREE.

Upcoming releases include: Edu K (out december 5th), Dubbel Dutch, Dirtybeats, Slap & Dash ft Spoek, Cumbia Cosmonauts, Lewis CanCut and Tranterco

Check out the following offering. FILTHYyyyy.

Matt Cant, Scattermish - Hornbo (Sticky K Remix)

Then head to www.scatterblog.com for the original track plus a load more remixes, PLUS a load more free music.

Or go here to buy the record.

Also, new Don Diablo track remixed by Mason was sent over my way.

Check it out:

Don Diablo - Never Too Late (Mason Remix)

Plus this cheeky number:

DON DIABLO - TOO COOL FOR AMSTERDAM BITCH (HUGO VAN DYCK BOOTLEG)

According to the press-release, "'Too Cool For Amsterdam Bitch' is a cheeky bootleg by Hugo van Dyck based on Don Diablo's 'Too Cool For School', which proved to be quite the DJ weapon during the recent Amsterdam Dance Event, where it spread like wildfire among many of the world's biggest DJs and became one of the festival's biggest tunes. As a result, Don Diablo has now asked Hugo van Dyck to do an official remix of his forthcoming dancefloor smash 'I am not from France'."

Must hears of the week...

2009-09-30T22:29:00.002Z

Just to make sure I don't miss out on the bandwagon this week, and nor do you, two bands getting me excited this very second:

Boys Noize. New album. New song, Gax. Brilliant. I feel like I've just heard sweet sweet filter-house for the first time. And it's very exciting and beautiful.

In fact I haven't heard anything getting me this excited in a couple of months. It's just ace.

Boys Noize - Gax

The album, Power, is released in 2 days. Click here to buy.

Also have just discovered Miike Snow.

Clever, shiny, big pop music. This will go very far.

He is giving away several songs, including remixes of Animal by Crookers, Fake Blood and Punks Jump Up. Plus a wicked remix of Black and Blue by Tiga. Go here.

Psychadelic shoe gaze, dreamy electronica, riot grrl, bubblegum pop and progressive electro.

2009-09-21T17:41:00.006Z

This looks pretty good:

Teengirl Fantasy bring their dreamy electronica, for one of only a handful of London dates. Arch M, plays a bleepy shoe-gaze psychadelica, with a clever Motown flavour, and Trailer Trash Tracys are first on - a band I really like - bringing a classic shoe-gaze sound - distant vocals and thick, ethereal sounds, with a very London-now sound.

Free mp3 from the band's website:

Trailer Trash Tracys - Candy Girl (Demo)

More tracks to listen to and download: http://trailertrashtracys.co.uk/

Fellow Merok-ers Comanechi release their album Crime of Love on Dec 7th. It's already sounding pretty exciting. Strong Riot Grrl and hardcore vibes.

Merok are also giving away a free mp3 of Comanechi's Close Enough To Kiss/ On and On, remixed by US Psych-ravers Basketball. >>>>>

Comanechi - Close Enough To Kiss/On and On (Basketball)

I also want one of their cool Tees:

This is also - of course - going to be sweeet:

This is what Bugged Out! had to say:

" Boys Noize will be playing a two hour set that will include many of the albums tracks played on CDJ’s using separate parts for live edits – a more kinetic experience preferred by Ridha than using a laptop. He has also picked fellow Germans Smith’n’Hack to play live alongside his mate and BNR artist Housemeister. Room 2 is helmed by Riton and Stopmakingme."

Tickets here

Also, a mention for the brilliant, funny and deeply charming No Cars.

Kyoko, wife of Ben, ex-St Francis, plays drums for them.

No Cars means 'farmers' in Japanese, and they have an obsession with songs about food.

Their cleverly faked bad English doesn't hide the gravity of their wit, as they play off of the Japenese stereotype. Oh, and they have synchronised dancing.

When they supported us a few months ago they wore kimonos, had a music stand with wacky illustrations for each song, and were pushing their merchandise, No Kazoos :

I have a No Kazoo. It was worth every penny of £2.

Their music is a delightful mix of bubblegum rock and roll and chaotic 3-chord punk. The music is simple. The lyrics are simple. The tunes are fantastic, catchy and bloody fun. Then they will throw in a tender post-punk number, and break your heart. "No Cars, we are No Cars..." I challenge anyone to dislike this.

Like all good entertainers, you feel in the presence of people wittier and more inventful than you are.

wE'RE ROCKING DOWN THE HOUSe

2009-09-02T10:47:00.005Z

T-shirt label MILLIONHANDS was launched this July by Berlin based music producer Tom Mangan, fusing his two long held passions: music & T-shirts.

He has collaborated with the likes of Chicago acid house hero Adonis and the shirt 'We're Rocking Down the House' is a salute to Adonis's seminal 1986 track of the same name.

Quality looking Ts - and isn't it always the case that when you come to buy T Shirts you can never find any that are half-decent, or indeed have a Chicago acid-house reference on them?

Shop the store here http://shop.millionhands.net/

Check the blog here http://millionhands.wordpress.com/

DJ Koze, Competition Time and Hellogoodbye meets Postal service from Indiana.

2009-08-13T23:23:00.005Z

With cited influences as diverse as Public Enemy, My Bloody Valentine and Al Green, DJ Koze is something of an electronic music maverick.

Since emerging in 1999, the Hamburg jock has applied his defiantly different outlook to an unfathomable number of musical styles. He has recorded for heavy hitting labels Kompakt, Warp and Freude-Tanzen, and is famous for the deeply danceable cum swerveball mantra of his live sets.

His ability behind the decks is impressive too - he actually came second in the DMC championships during his hip-hop years - undoubtedly summoning a unique electricity when channelling this dexterity into his true love of techno.

DJ Koze is appearing at Future Flash @ Cable, SE1, on Saturday 22nd August, with support from fellow out-the-box-technosmith Lawrence, and residents Will Saul, Dave Congreve, Sean Johnston and Matt Waites.

Lofi Hifi has 3 pairs of tickets to give away for this event. To win, simply email georgewigzell [at] hotmail.com with your name. Entries must be received by 3 pm Friday 21st August. First three names received win the tickets.

http://www.myspace.com/djkozeakaadolfnoise

Polychromatic! force together the polar opposites of fast/slow beats, lofi/hifi production , clear/distorted sounds and IDM experiments/sickeningly catchy riffs, with generally a very not-unpleasant effect.

Weighing in somewhere between The Postal Service and Aphex Twin, with a generous dollop of Hellogoodbye, this simultaneously takes 3 steps towards cheese as it takes 3 steps back to unclassifiable electronica.

The album is due for release later in the year.

http://www.myspace.com/musicsoundsbetterincolor

Polychromatic! - Good Enough

Some fresh new beats...

2009-07-28T00:36:00.003Z

Some summery, riffy hip hop from LA sent my way. PM Cool and Mr Keyz describe themselves as "the modern day Run DMC with a blend of rock star, a tone of conscience, and universal swagger".

It gets my seal of approval.

The Cool Catz - Nitro
The Cool Catz - Loud Mics (Ratat Remix) [one link to YSI]

WWW.THECOOLCATZ.COM

Glastonbury 09 - Port, Sweat, Thunder, Skanking, Where's Wally and Parklife

2009-06-29T22:38:00.016Z

Copyright The Guardian 2009. Their excellent coverage here.

Tues
11.00 Get on megabus at Victoria. Meet 'Nutzo' who is also sharing a lift with friend-of-friend Yasir from Reading. He's lovely, of course.
12.30. Wow. Reading Sainsburys is massive. No inflatible pillows though. Port or Rum? Both. Oh and a token bottle of Old Perculiar. Food bill (Apples, Cereal Bars, Shortbread): £6. Booze bill: £39.
14.00 On the road. Stop for punnet of Strawberries. First swig of pear cider for the weekend (yes it's Tuesday I know)
15.30 Arrive at Glasto. Sun's out. Hooray!
15.34 Carrying stuff from car. Bought too much beer. Heavy. This hurts.
16.00 Set up my mini tent in 5 minutes, in the time my neighbours have read the instructions for their Presedential Suites tent apartment.
20.30 I am working on the Lockups for Yorkshire CND, so we go for a briefing. Meet all the friends I see once a year working on the lockups, and some very old friends from Leeds. I try really hard not to volunteer for roleplay. I volunteer for roleplay.
21.00 Only the workers are on site yet. It is beautiful; incredibly tranquil. Reminds me of some sort of camel-trading festival in the Rajistani desert. The sun setting over the Dance Village made the roofs of the tents look like the sillouhettes of ornately crafted spires. And there's still grass on the ground by the Other Stage. You almost want it to stay this way.
22.00 First random 'I had no idea you were here' encounter. Excellent.
23.00 Cider.
00.00 Bed

The Yorkshire CND Lockup Crew. Actually looking freshfaced.And grass on the ground.

Weds
11.00 Cider.
12.00 Shower. Which feels a little wrong. I haven't even done anything suitably murky to deserve such cleansing yet. But inevitibly feels great.
14.00 Two of my friends are in a play about bullying in the Green Futures Field. An opportunity too good to miss, despite my friends' protestations. On the way, second random encounter, with the lovely Evan and Jodie. They come to the play too. The play is quite obvious, but makes its point (Bullying boss, who bullys the speccy four-eyed geek underling with such snarling enthusiasm he makes Alan Sugar look like Alan Titchmarsh).
15.00 First cold pint of Brothers'. PieMinister Pie. Ale, Steak. Feels a little luxurious.
15.10 Feels a little woozy. Crikey, had forgotten how strong this stuff is. Pokey.
16.00 Work.
20.30 Housemate Ciara and her bf Ed have arrived. Me and Ed wander into Shangri-La. Our wristbands get us access into the temporarily cordned off , wierd tunnels of what I think were called the Badlands. Mad max meets Bladerunner meets depressed small-town shopping arcade. Green-glowing shop windows revealing mutilated taxidermy. Stuff like that. And a big open area surrounded by battlements and lazers. Looking good.
22.30 Sunset by the stone circle. The spiritual sound of balloons being dispensed. Slightly more congruous sight of candle lanterns rising into the sky .
00.00 Well into the bottle of port. Lots of different groups of friends around. Feeling marvellous.

01.00 Attempt to climb a giant wooden dragon.
04.00 Don't know how it got this late. Rapping down a megaphone with a group of Northern Irish boys from a gospel choir (flamboyent lie or delicious truth?)
06.00 Oh dear. It's only Wednesday. Sat in a tea tent sipping lumpy chai (yes, I didn't chai could or should be lumpy) as a Manc with his bottom lip gurned so far up his face he looks like a fish from the deep tells me he's friends with Oasis.
07.30 Bed.

Pics nicked from Jen Conneely.

Thurs

9.30 Too hot too sleep.
10.00 Ian tells us that yesterday he needed two poos, but only did one. The thought of what happened to the second one, plus sleep deprived delerium sends me into a fit of giggles.
10.09 Rolling around on floor, still laughing. Getting silly now.
12.00 Shower no2. Curry for breakfast. Feel vaguely better. Practice teddybear rolls.

13.00 Walking through the farm house (which provide some of the best loos on site) we see Michael Eavis himself. Wow! Just stood there! 3 feet from me. With manual labour gloves on. Never mind The Boss, ME is my man of the people. I want to call him Mikey and give him a playful knock on the arm. I don't. Though I think he could take it. He's looking very healthy, and relaxed.
16.00 Work. which actually invloves some work this time. Blistering sunshine, glad of the shade

18.00 The band 'The Momeraths', a boy and girl in red and white stripy shirts, check in a glockenspiel, a bag of coloured material and an ironing board.
21.00 Head to canteen. Cloud the colour of Gordon Brown's eye bags groans towards us. Grab dinner and shelter as the skies open, and claps of doomful thunder ring out.

21.20 Amazingly, by the time we've finished our lacklustre burgers, the storm has cleared, and the sun reappears, like a naughty puppy pretending it's done nothing wrong.
22.50 First music of the weekend. Squeeze into The Queen's Head for Kap Bambino, at my request. The atmosphere is incredible. Ebony Bones had just whipped them into a frenzy and they want more. French Boy/Girl duo KP dive fearlessly into a relentless 40 mins of their indie-happy-hardcore, accompanied by a stunning light show. It is fantastic. I was reminded how exciting music can be.
23.00 Metronomy continue the good work, though they are cut off before they can triumph with 'You Could Easily Have Me'.
00.00 We dance the night away to Rock n Roll in The Diner, Shangri La. Mine and Maddie's keen, if unrefined jiving sees us invited to Conga across the dancefloor. We find ourselves by the bar. Seems rude not to indulge in a couple of tequilas. Find my friend Kate and promise I'll meet her for Bjorn Again in the morning.
02.00 Stumble home. Workers camping: nice toilets, quiet showers - very far from everything else. It's a long stumble, softened by some tasty free garlic bread from Manic Organic.

Friday

10.00 Wake up feeling surprisingly fresh.
11.00Yes, Bjorn Again it is. A perfect hammy start to the festival. They kick off with Waterloo. Sunshine, lots of smiles all round. They seem to exist soley to please the middle aged man who pretends not to like ABBA, but is tempted to them by the flashes of thigh on the 30 something ladies, who sing and dance with bored slickness, as well as the outlandish guitar solos and smutty humour from the men. Plus they somehow get a cover of Status Quo and a very silly hip-hop pisstake in there too.

12.00 More chai.
13.00 Jazz World Stage. Speed Caravan - driving arabic dance-rock.
13.30 Eat best meal of festival - North African goats cheese and spicy lamb bourek (filo parcel) with pepperonata (something like that).

15.00 N.E.R.D. on the main stage. They start late. Pharrel oozes with hip-hop arrogance, claiming misguidedly that '200,000 people had paid $100 dollars' to come see them, which at first just doesn't work to this relaxed Galsto crowd. But his absolute committment to his music, and the barrage of heavy-hitting hits, sort of wins us over. He gets down into the crowd, he sparks a stage invasion, and absolutely refuses to leave the stage despite being told his set is almost over. He reminds me of Axel Rose at Leeds who told us they hadn;t come all this way to be cut short. Unlike Axel, though, Parrel has the PA cut, as the opening shouts of 'All the Girls Standing In The Line for the Bathroom' ring out. But he stays down in the crowd, trying to whip the crowd into a mini riot, acoustically. He only half fails.
17.30 Lamb on Jazz World. Trip-hop hasn't been fashionable for about a decade right? I certainly haven't heard their name uttered once in the last five years. But this most un-scene of cats win me over with their soothing yet deep sound, haunting vocals and joyous exuberance. Jazz world sees its first and possibly only stage dive from their keyboardist.
20.00 I go to work, gutted I'm missing Neil Young, The Specials, The Horrors and Animal Collective.
21.00 But I do sneak out for half an hour with friends for the comforting sure-bet of Crookers, who push all the buttons.
22.00 A man spends 10 minutes checking in a can of cider, only for his girlfriend to come along, as he finally hands it over, to declare 'That's my can of cider!'.

01.00 Spend an hour getting into Shangri-La, half an hour queuing for a beer, dance for 30 mins back in the diner, then decide to call it a night. V tired.

Sat

10.30 Woken by the blistering heat in my tent. Eat an apple and cereal bar.
11.00 Sit and watch VV Brown, who's much-discussed hairspray-heavy fringe is looking fine in the morning sunshine. Good, fun soul music.
12.00 Work. I miss Spinal Tap, and their 14" stone henge.
14.00 A man has lost his ticket. I spend 10 minutes being very officious filling in forms and explaining that without any ID he can't claim items until he manages to butt(y?) in and say it's just a sandwich he's checked in. I still ask him to name the filling. It is egg mayonaise.
16.50 Sit in the sun on the park stage to watch Horace Andy. Do some dozing and some skanking as he soothes with his distinctive vibrato vocals, Massive Attack songs and cool yellow traditional dress cum PJs. Find my voice sings out quite nicely to 'Big Wheel'. A minor miracle given the chain smoking occuring over the last 4 days.

18.50 Shuffle down to the John Peel tent for last songs of Passion Pit, who sound a bit fluffy for my liking, but none-the-less encourage a sort of warming euphoria in the crowd.
20.00 Florence and The Machine storms it to the loudest crowd response I've ever heard at any gig ever. They go crazy for her as she provocatively climbs the scaffolding in her flowing black dress. An incredible reaction for a singer yet to release an album, and in between songs, when she lets her sassy persona drop, she is unbelieveably touched by the response, all nervous charm and near-tears. It did strike me though just how much she looks like Noel Fielding.

A video of her performance.

21.00 Is that The Boss arriving in his tour bus we see by the John Peel tent?

22.00. We head down to see The Boss, who is actually pretty amazing. Despite knowing few of his tunes, he was a winner as the seasoned showman I expected. His soliloquay about building a house of love and sexual healing was great fun. He just looked so much like he was having the time of his life. And genuine or not (and of course the beauty of headlining the Pyramid Stage is that everyone is humbled, no matter how big they are. This really is one of the few gigs that everyone is desperate to play) you just loved him.

Pics nicked from Jen Conneely.

23.00 Sneak off early to catch 2 Many DJs. There's never been a safer festival bet than these guys. And once again they wow. Best of all is the visuals. For every song they have the record artwork projected. It means you find out what every song is, a rare treat. Even better, the artwork is then animated, so that the characters on the cover of 'Rock The Casbah', 'Ciao' and'Windowlicker' etc, come to life dancing. All in time to the music as well. Mind blowingly tight. They also had a camera permenently fixed over the decks, so us geek-massive could tech-perve on the incredible skill used in the 4 CDJ setup. The only thing to top this was the climax of Nirvana mixing into Fischerspooner and the skys opening up with confetti and streamers.
00.00 Try to get all our friends to meet in one place.
01.00 Still trying.
01.30 Still trying.... oh wait... no.... we're all here..... hang on...no..... someone's gone AWOL
01.32 Are they in the loo?
01.35 They've gone to meet some other friends and bring them here?
01.38 Told off for smoking in a tent for the umpteenth time. "Oh sorry! I didn't realise you weren't allowed."
01.42 They were just at the bar. Despite all this having a great time.
01.55 Ed is spun round in a wicked chair on a chain by some crazed Irishmen.
02.00 Finally arrive at Trash City.
02.10 Which 'club' shall we queue for? "Do you have to pay in?"
02.15 There was a whole tent dedicated to Shitmat and Scoth Egg? Next year more research needed. Sotch Egg is just finishing.
02.20 Get into a 'club' in time to catch the last few songs of Ebony Bones. Seen her a few times before, but she and her band suddenly make sense in this madcap, hedonistic setting. Everything is chaos. Their dance moves are so so tight.
02.21 At the Bones's command we go left.
02.22 We go right.
02.23 We go forward (you get the idea...)
02.30 They finish. All getting a bit intense, so we bee-line for some Tea.
03.00 Tiny Tea Tent. How Chai should be. We find they have a womb. We climb through the 'vagina', into this incredible, cosy make-shift tent, complete with lush sofas, and little sperm paintings. We cuddle up with hot tea and feel safe and soothed after a rather hedonistic night. The desired effect. We giggle unashamedly at our womb puns. 'Womb with a view'. A highlight.
04.00 Crawl home to bed.

Sunday.

09.00 Sweat.
09.30 Sweat.
10.30 Emerge. Ouch.
10.32. Ed sums up the moment. 'I feel lost.'

11.00 But onwards. Lots to explore. Quite a quiet afternoon for music, so we decide on some mooching instead. Eat some of the great French sausages in red wine with potato grautin. Feel a world better. See some juggling. Wander through the theatre and circus fields, seeing a Ceilidh, a row of ladies in pink skirt-and-umbrella outfits dancing their way through the crowd, a kazoo orchestra, a man throwing an invisible flee across an audience. Wander in circles finding Ciara a pie. But it's ok, as going in circles sort of makes sense here.

A video I didn't make, but captures lots of stuf nicely.

12.00 Then cross over in the Green fields, and find the tranquility of the Green healing field. It is populated with masseurs from every possible real and seemingly fabricated discipline of healing plying their trade (lady demonstrating sucker-cup massage on a beaming, muscley man, oblivious to nasty purple bruises forming on his back), as well as a smattering of party casualties seeking wholesomeness and quiet. it's a lovely break from the more manic elements of the festival. Me and Ed sit with our feet in a pond in a little water garden. Wow. I feel like I'm being healed too! We unwind. Just great to get out of those wellies, I think. Little nap.

13.00 Wander next into the crafts field, and watch a man start a fire with sticks. Amazing to think that the night before, not far from this spot, we had been witness to a giant skull spewing forth rhythmical flames. We muse, with a wry smile, on how the back-to-nature environmentalism that the festival promotes fits with excessive, purely aesthetic fire cannons. We don't muse for too long, though. More tea to be drinking!
17.00 Much wandering later, we return to see some music. Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the other stage. They are great. Karen O dominates the crowd, shaking them from their hippy-dippy Sunday bliss. They fly back and forth across their back catalogue, from the early, angular art-punk, to raging rock-disco on 'A Date With The Night', the tender swells of 'Maps' and the gargantuan sound of their new electrock-n-roll material. They bow out by smashing up their instruments. Just what Glato needed. Hooray for rock n roll. Who needs healing ponds?

18.00 Madness play an irresistible set on the Pyramid Stage. I think Suggs is very hungover. Or very pissed. Probably both. Either way, he's feeling what I'm feeling. Some of the newer stuff inevitibly a bit lacklustre, but it's all forgotten as they squeal into 'House of Fun' and the saxophonist gets lifted into the air on wires and spins around. Lots of wild skanking ensues.
19.00 Roots Manuva is good fun. Bit of a dip in energy. We sit and contend with our strawberry cider, perhaps seeing about as clearly as everyone else around me. Though I did lose my glasses yesterday. I find a fake moustache, which sort of makes up for it.

22.00 The big event. Blur! I always find headliners difficult. I think I just feel an natural aversion to anything loads of other people scream and shout about. But I know what I'm dealing with here. I lay this cynasism well aside. And they turn out to be the best headline act I've ever seen, by a mile. They are so perfect for the end of the weekend. one massive, emotionallly charged, return-of-the-kings style pop singalong. You just know you are in the presence of pop gods. Opening the set is Boys and Girls. They play it like a runaway rollercoaster train. They then spend the next two hours alternating between the joyous upbeat hits and their spine-shivering tender numbers. Tender itself is a highlight. At the end, the entire crowd, and I mean the entire crowd, chorus back 'Oh my baby, Oh my baby, Oh I, Oh I' for a full two minutes as a stunned band stand in silent awe. They are blown away by the whole gig. Damon tells the crowd, with a barely hidden break in his voice, 'I'm so glad we decided to do these gigs now.'

Gleefully throwing aside hyperbolic self-awareness, this is what pop music is about, what Britishness is about and what Glastonbury is about.

I'm also lucky to be stood with my friends, who are happy to go wild, jig, pogo, jog in circles, lurch and throw their arms about. being able to feel complete abandon also makes the experience.

00.00 the only negative was having to leave a song short of the end to go to work. But actually nice to bookeend the festival with that experience, and then get to sit in a dry tent with Sam, Ian and Anna as the rest of the festival got drenched in the late night storm. And had a laugh to find out that our friend jacqui had got very drunk for Blur and after the first song shouted 'One more tune!' repeatedly.
08.00 A long night of work, with some bits of sleep on the hard wooden shelves, some amusing drunken punters. And searching for ages to find a girl's sleeping bag that she'd checked in only to find Tom asleep in it. Fortunately she saw the funny side. Goodbyes to Sam, Ian and Anna. Sad that our geographical distance (well, the M1) prevents us from seeing more of each other, but was reminded of how much fun we al have.

Monday.

10.00 Had planned to sleep, but too hot, so we begin the long treck home.
12.00 And long it is.
16.00 Finally arrive home, as the post Glasto blues begin to kick in. The real world is not as fun. Console myself with a long shower, Glasto highlights on TV and begin to write....

Thanks to Anna Danby also for borrowed photos.

Something like a robot disaster

2009-05-29T13:30:00.004Z

As I've been a bad blogger recently (and have the attention span of a goldfish on ketamine) have decided to experiment with 'tweet' (shudder) sized copy for each track.

First:

Something Like Fire - supported us (St. Francis) at Camden gig recently. V. promising hummable indie meets LFO filter basslines and classic electronic drum sounds. Digitally re-hashed post-Libs hooks blasted from a bedroom-tech noise-core cannon*. (Obviously)

Something Like Fire - Mr. Shadow

A band that I posted ages ago have apparently got quite a bit bigger (it was about time I scored a 'I recognise talent a furlong off' coup). Check out Robot Disaster's myspace, or go here to download 'Guitars are Overrated' for free (though, ahem, I think you can maybe still download it from one of my old old posts). They're getting lots of attention from radio etc, and you can buy their stuff on beatport. Plus they have a super-swanky myspace. Not all the tracks stand up to 'Guitars....', depending on what you're into, but they're def perky. (failing so miserably to maintain this 'tweet' haiku discipline already)

Check out this video:

On our recent Italian mini-tour we happened to be playing prior to the Italian equivalent of a guilty pleasures club night, with DJs playing brilliant 80s euro pop. This is one nugget they pointed us towards.

*****

Couple of remixes sent my way - the jury's still out, but worth a listen.

Passion Pit- Sleepyhead (JazZstePpa Remix) MP3 320KBps

Deft - Emotion, Get Up ! (w/ 50 Cent) (EmoShock MashUp)

* I realise now that I don't lack attention span, I'm just chronically verbose.

Secretsundaze tickets GIVEAWAY! and Easter Ska-Punk mixtape, reliving the classics of youth.

2009-04-07T11:08:00.012Z

Secretsundaze
Easter Thursday
The Coronet Theatre, SE1

To win two tickets to this event email me,

georgewigzell[at]
hotmail.com

and I will pick one name out of a hat.

secretsundaze & friends present Innervisions & Horse Meat Disco

Room 1 - secretsundaze meets Innervisions
A Critical Mass – Live (Ame, Dixon & Henrick Schwarz – UK Debut)
Ame (DJ set)
Dixon (DJ set)
Giles Smith (Dessous)
James Priestley (Simple)

Room 2 - Horse Meat Disco
Daniele Baldelli
Horsemeat Disco Residents

* Plus exclusive Ableton Live Workshop with Dixon, Ame & Henrik Schwarz at 10pm *

secretsundaze are very proud to announce details of our Easter Thursday event at The Coronet Theatre in Elephant and Castle. For what is always one of the biggest party weekends of the year secretsundaze have pulled something very special out of the bag, having been approached by Innervisions to host the UK debut show of 'A Critical Mass.'

Two years in the pipeline after discussions in the studio, offices, on planes, in hotels and in the streets, Ame, Dixon and Henrik Schwarz' much whispered about live project finally saw the light of day in 2008 at Popkomm in Berlin and ADE in Amsterdam. After two hugely successful shows and a string of worldwide dates planned throughout 2009 the live project 'A Critical Mass' hits London in April. Together the live set-up sees all key members of the Innervisions crew - Ame (Kristian & Frank), Dixon and Henrik Schwarz play live together on Ableton Live with their unique Innervisions versions of stone cold classics, as well as their own twists on key Innervisions releases and remixes from the vaults! As ever, our trusty residents Giles Smith and James Priestley will be in support and the art deco auditorium at The Coronet provides the perfect grandiose setting for this show.

Easter Thursday – 9th April 2009
The Coronet Theatre, Elephant and Castle, London SE1 6TJ
10pm to 6am
Admission: £12-£14.50 Advance / £20 on the door
Advance Tickets from residentadvisor.com and Phonica

**********************************

My Easter Punk, Hardcore, Post Hardcore and Ska-Punk Mixtape.

Decided today that I would raid my CD collection and have a little retrspective of what was making me tick when I was 15/16. Some absolutely classics here. Some of them are my favourite track from an album, not neccesarily the biggest song. All are tunes.

Reel Big Fish - I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend
Lagwagon - Bye For Now
King Prawn - Be Warned
Edna's Goldfish - Veronica Sawyer buy records from Moon Ska Europe
The Toasters - Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down buy records from Moon Ska Europe
Hot Water Music - Better Sense (Live) buy records from No Idea
Dropkick Murphys - Barroom Hero (Live)
Guttermouth - Secure Horizons
The Bouncing Souls - Kid [To purchase Bouncing Souls Downloads click here]
Rancid - Bloodclot Epitaph Records
Rancid - New Dress Epitaph Records
Less Than Jake - Al's War buy records from Moon Ska Europe
Less Than Jake - My Very Own Flag buy records from Moon Ska Europe

This is the story of peaceful protest, disgusting police tatics and desperately tring to get to my band's first gig...

2009-04-03T14:27:00.004Z

Copyright The Guardian

On Weds my self and friend went down to take part in a peaceful protest at Bank. We were there to display our anger at how modern capitalism has failed most people, and is seriously failing the environment. But for us, personally, our anger didn't mean we wanted to damage any property, let alone any people. We were there for a fun, lunchtime protest, for a dance, to use own free time to take to the streets and sing and shout our dissaticfaction.

As well publicised subsequently, by 1 o'clock the police, in heavy riot gear, had blocked off every exit. I had a dentist appointment (at two-thirty, as it happens), and so tried to leave. Little did I know we'd be there for many many hours more.

The atmosphere by 2 was still jolly, upbeat. The sun kept peeking out from behind the clouds. We couldn't leave, but we were brightly optimistic. Us, like many others, hadn't predicted that the police would behave this way. It was my first protest in such a situation, and hadn't heard of the plight of the May Day protesters a few years earlier.

It's absolutely crazy, flabbergasting, that the Police could do this. It was a peaceful protest, right until the exact moment the police blocked off all the narrow streets, with heavily armoured riot police, in their trademark intimidation outfits - all in neon yellow or black, heavy helmets, long batons held tightly in readiness for action, big shields and balaclavas covering all but their eyes. How surprising that violence happened as a result.

The police created, I would estimate, 90% of the violence on Wedsnesday. The protest was made up of 7% 'hardcore' anarchists, 43% peacful protesters, students and observers and 50% media. Do the maths - had we been allowed to peacefully wander home, the remaining 7% would have perhaps caused some damage elsewhere, but the situation would have been nothing compared to what it became- by 6pm getting very very nasty indeed. And with all their helicopters, long-range survellaince gear and CCTV, not to mention swarms of police camera men, photographers, and the estimated 8,000 police people present (out-numnbering protesters), surely they would easily have located and eliminated further violence from the hardcore few elsewhere.
But no, we were told by several police men and woman that we were being kept so that they could know where the trouble makers would be.

By 5pm we had been charged at by police whilst looking for a way out, we were severely dehydrated, very hungry, and my earlier optimism for getting to my first gig, at 8.30 in Shoreditch, was almost destroyed. We joked, half-heartdely, about faking illness, attacks, etc as our only way to get out for the gig.

I told a police lady that I was hungry, and that it was surely our civil right to have access to food and water. She replied that it was their right to prevent breaches of the peace. Yes, I said, but even under arrest you are allowed access to food and drink. She thought about it for a second, and then gave me a look as though to say 'fair point'. I changed tact and pleaded about getting to my gig. She then whispered that they were expecting to start letting peple out by half 7.

By 6 thirty we were very very bored. I overheard a policeman say:

"ah, the police love their boredom tactic. Your bored, we're bored. Senior management are happy". Which rightly points out that most of the police must have been as sick of the whole thing as we were. Except that some of the police were clearly as up for a fight as a minority of the protesters were.

We were also increasingly scared. The mass boredom had turned, unsurprisingly into mass anger. chants of 'LET US OUT!' accompanied stampedes around the varying exits at rumours of a way out. A near complete lack of communication from the police had left us all in a hyper, confused, doomful state, combining with the hunger and thirst (a hungry man is an angry man! as they say).

A flurry of phone calls from my band mates were supportive, but unable to hide their fear that we might have to cancel the first gig we had been so excited about.

At 7 the music had stopped, the police were pushing in, making the area smaller, and things had started to burn. Claustrophobia had set in.

My friend complained that he started to feel a bit ill, and very uneasy about the cowrds which were now contracting and retracting with every charge of the riot police. I told him to hang on in there, that all would be fine. Then he started shaking, the colour draining from his face, and I ran to get help, very uneasy about our only source of medical help being from our current 'opressors'. A nasty, squat riot policeman told me, with an air of complete distrust (in my tweed jacket and mild manners I couldn't look any less like a threat) no police medics would venture out. By the time I returned to my friend he couldn't talk, couldn't walk. It all got incredibly scary.

Out of nowhere some lovely lovely people emerged, one girl dressed all in green springing up with a bottle of (precious) water and comforting words, another helped him take off his shoes and got police help. I was so touched by the rallying nature of strangers, even in the face of personal threat. Some good good people out there.

In the end I followed my friend behind riot police lines, who was being dragged by two paramedics. Once safe they immediately ripped open his coat, took his pulse and gave him some water. I had no idea what was going on - I have only known this friend 2 weeks, and didn't know if he had a history of medical problems. I was grateful, at least, to be able to tell them he hadn't taken any drugs or drunk any alcohol.

Within 3 (scary minutes) they had worked out that it was the result of dehydration and lack of food (to which my friend later added severe stress at the situation). 15 minutes later (with 30 minutes to go til the gig) he was sat on the step of a police van, covered in silver cape, laughing with me about the irony of our intended fake medical problems as our ticket out of there. He insisted we skip the ambulance, and we jumped in a taxi. At that moment they had just started letting people out, one at a time, with police escorting each and every one, and taking names and address and photos of every single person. In reference to the above estimate of only 7% actual trouble makers this seems very wrong and brutally totalitarian. But the point being we never would have made it out of there before 10 at the earliest, had it not been for my poor friend's horrible attack.

But we made the gig, with ten minutes to spare, and never have I been so glad to see my friends, have a beer and have my freedom.

A very good article about the police tactics:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/03/g20-protests-police-kettling

And a song from my band:

St. Francis - Autumn.

Mixcloud

2009-03-30T16:13:00.005Z

Offering a service long over-due, Mixcloud is a new venture aiming to be THE place online for DJs to host, share and promote mixes. Annoyed with the ubiquitous "MegaRapidFileUpload" file sharing services that are currently used by DJs, Cambridge grads Nico Perez and Nikhil Shah set up the site.

"DJs are natural promoters", says founder Nikhil Shah. "They want their mixes heard by as many people as possible. Yet the tools they currently use are broken in 3 ways: 1. They have no metadata so they don't rank on Google; 2. They're "sender to receiver" so they only get discovered by people who know the link, and 3. They're too dispersed so there's no easy way to navigate this world of content".

Whilst becoming the definitive place for mixes online is no small challenge, they have some serious weight behind them. A world-class development team (including Mat Clayton, one of the UK's top social application developers) join former bigwigs from Warner Music and Ministry of Sound,and they have a grant to work with Queen Mary University's renowned Centre for Digital Music.

So far it seems the interface - a trendy mix of bold, busy and readable design - will sit very easily with a community raised on Hypem and innovative design/fashion blogs. And it has already attracted mixes from the likes of Plimsouls and Lejazz, lending the much needed weight of credibility. Time will tell if the big guns make it their roost, thus sealing its place in the collective blog consiousness, but for now things look promising.

http://www.mixcloud.com

Yes yes yes.

2009-03-20T12:38:00.003Z

Yes. I know it's an advert, but this must be the product of some of the best creative minds around. Taking the ideas of cutting-edge multi-media live performance, and making them into something as wonderfully populist as this, they have done soemthing really radical. And it's the sort of video you could happily watch ten times in a row, and be amazed every time. Brilliant. It was made by this guy: http://rupertsanders.com and these guys: http://www.droga5.com/

>

The Middle Ones

2009-03-08T22:06:00.007Z

Anna and Grace, from Norwich and Manchester respectively, make colourful, twee pop-folk. Their music suggests images of best mates on rainy afternoon expeditions through the quiet corners of a ramshackle antique-thrift store.

Drops pitches a beautiful, criss-crossing vocal duet, sparkling with poppy tenderness, against simple guitar, slightly out of tune, and enthusiastic egg-shaking. Listening to the singing, there's no dout they were smiling throughout the recording of the song, and fair play, they have reason to. This recoding is lofi, but it's hard to imagine it presented any other way. Hard not to love this.

The Middle Ones - Drops

http://www.myspace.com/themiddleones

Slight change of pace - without a doubt go to http://ppelectro.blogspot.com/ and download

Foreign Beggars - Hit That Gash (DJ Prime Cuts' Itchy Naaan Re-rub)

Ridiculous name, ridiculous bass.

Which is included in my latest mixtape:

RockandShockTheNation Mixtape - George Wigzell

Foreign Beggars - Hit That Gash (DJ Prime Cuts' Itchy Naaan Re-rub)
Dead Prez - Hip Hop (Diplo Remix)
Zombie Nation - Forza
Kelevra, Nathan Boon - Like To Freak Remix
Wu Tang Clan - Da Mystery of Chessboxin' (A Capella)
Player Player - Lonely
Armand Van Helden - Shake That Ass feat Team Facelift (Mowgli Remix)
Whitetown - Your Woman
Hostage - Shake It
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll/ Joe Smooth - Promised Land Mass D Beats
Elite Force - Here Come The Flow (Heavy Feet Remix)
Nadastrom - Pussy
Mark Stent - Waiting (The Bulgarian Remix)
Daniel Haaksman - Who's Afraid of Rio feat. MC Jennifer/ Modeselektor - The Black Block
Tiga - Mind Dimension (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)

Finally check out my housemate Shelley's lovely new blog, about living in Hackney, amogst other things: http://streethawker.wordpress.com/

We Like Free Music and Field Day

2009-02-24T16:44:00.002Z

Firstly, check out the Scatter blog (scattermish.blogspot.com), who are set to release a bunch of tracks for FREE through the blog, on their label, Scatterblog Music.

The first release, Real Music for Hustlers, will feature a mix of local and international talent - most of which I admit I hadn't heard of before - but have been pleasantly surprised by thus far, as well as featuring 'secret' tracks by Edu K and Scottie B. The downside is this album was only available in full at their launch party. Which was last Saturday night. In Melbourne.

BUT they will be releasing the tracks as singles over time through the blog.

Basically what we have here is some rather brilliant wobbly electro, which I think you'll like (if I know you as well as I think I do......er, readers...).

Here's two tracks from the album to get your juices flowing, and if you like what you hear head over to the myspace to hear some more.

http://www.myspace.com/scatterblog

Lewis Cancut - Egg Yolks Yo
Rhys - Hot Summer (Scattermish Club Dub)

And the line up for field day's looking pretty interesting so far:

Just added -

TOUMANI DIABATE / EROL ALKAN / FINAL FANTASY / FAKE BLOOD / AEROPLANE / S.C.U.M / FIRST AID KIT

Ok - I don't know all the artists in that list, but have just checked out Toumani Diabate who is great, really mesmerising stuff, and I can just imagine as the perfect antitdote later in the day for all that grinding techno, electro and indie.

http://www.myspace.com/toumanidiabate

Victoria Park, Sat 1st August.

Lofi Hifi @ Proud this Friday

2009-02-17T23:20:00.003Z

ROOM 2: LOFI HIFI + dj JAKE (INDIE CLUB, EXETER CAVERN)

Lofi Hifi play a 4 hour marathon set. Class.

Proud, Camden. 8pm - 2am.

See the facebook group for guestlist places.

Search for:

StitchStereo @ Bangers & Mash

on facebook.

secretsundaze competition and catching up with a London vinyl legend

2009-02-13T10:18:00.004Z

Chances are you won’t recognise his name, but as manager of London vinyl-mecca, Phonica records, and with regular DJ spots at giants including Fabric and Bugged Out, Simon Rigg is a distinguished force within modern electronic music. From a humble role at Oxford Street Virgin Records, Simon quickly progressed, via an ear for innovative records and an eye for a stylish set-up, to manage his own shop, Koobla. Two years later, the guys who own Vinyl Records and FACT magazine asked him to create a shop from scratch, and Simon understandably jumped at the opportunity. An old car showroom on Poland Street was duly purchased and, with help from Heidi & Tom Relleen, who now works at DC Recordings, Phonica was born.

Now, Friday afternoons in Phonica see many of London’s biggest DJs congregate for pre-weekend crate-filling, and he is the man presiding over it all. And he vets every record stocked personally, resulting in an unrivalled knowledge of new music, putting him amongst the Capital’s most influential characters. Lofi Hifi catches up with Simon to chat about marble records, afterhour parties and a 30,000 record collection…

What makes Phonica as important as it is to the London music scene?

We're just a shop selling records at the end of the day but we must have been doing something right over the years to still be here. Our stock and the staff are the main thing but the most important thing is the social side of it – its still a place where people can go and bump into other DJs, whether from London or visiting from Europe or the States.

Has owning a record store ever taken the fun out of collecting records and DJing?

After listening to records all day, the last thing i want to do when i go home is listen to music – I have to listen to lots of mediocre records because of the sheer volume of stuff that gets released, even on vinyl - but it would never take the fun out of collecting or djing,

Once in a while you add a new genre category at the store – how often do you have to add new ones? What's your view on constant new genres and sub-genres, is it important?

Not very often – I think we've only added Minimal & Dubstep in the last 5 years – and, in the case of Minimal, that's more to make it easier for people to find records, its all techno, really.

Do you get the final say in what records you stock? Have you ever boycotted a record based on personal dislike?

Of course, I choose what records we stock although we do stock some we don't like – obviously, we have to sell some records at the end of the day but there is always a high quality threshold.

You've been a regular guest at some of Europe's biggest nights – have you felt a marked change in the atmosphere and attitudes of party goers over the past 5 years? Are they getting more hedonistic, more niche etc?

No, i don't think there has been a change – the music has changed obviously – but people are always up for a party. One change has been the afterhours scene – it just gets later and later...and people go on for days now!

What's the biggest crowd you've played to?

Not sure, maybe 1000 or so at Nitsa in Barcelona – though Im not sure how many people you get in Fabric;s Room 1

How easy do you find it to construct a set? Do you have a policy – a handful of classics, mostly new music, a theme etc?

I always try and keep it interesting with new records alongside a few classics and then something thrown in that's a bit different – a dubstep record in a house set for example…

How many records do you own? 30,000 or so....although im trying to whittle it down..

What's the most interesting vinyl you own? Hmm, not sure, im a big fan of Marble vinyl!

What do you listen to to chill out? It changes every week....i usually put my ipod on shuffle...at the moment , i love the "Rigning" CD from Yagya, Bon Iver and the Ethiopiques series.

Hot tip for a record hitting the shop in the next few weeks?

Theres a great limited 7" on acephale Records coming in a week or so, that's amazing! And, of course, Phonica's very first release from Hector & Bryant with an amazing Appleblim remix – hes certainly done the label proud…..

Thanks to Simon.

Simon is playing at secretsundaze, Saturday 21st February, with, in room 1:

Pedro (Cadenza / a:rpia:r)Mathias Kaden (Vakant / Freunde am Tanzen)Giles Smith (Dessous)James Priestley (Simple)and in room 2: PhonicaSkull Juice (Bugged Out / Bloggers Delight)Simon Rigg (Phonica)The Vangelis (Phonica)

This promises to be a great one.

Room 1 sees residents James and Giles joined by Monza – a Frankfurt based party with legendary spots at Privilege and Space in Ibiza, and previous collaborations with secretsundaze. Headlining is Monza marvel Pedro, who’s impressive residency at DC10 and quality output through labels such as Cadenza and his own label a:rpia:r make him an apt man to lead the party. Joining him is secretsundaze debutant Mathias Kaden, who’s ambitious and refreshing productions, with distinct percussive elements, and dynamic DJing style mean his set will be one to behold.

Room 2 sees Simon Rigg and The Vangelis joined by genre-sailing disco pirates Skull Juice for a friendly ‘bloggers VS record shop managers’ war of quality tunes, from techno to disco via dubstep and hip-hop, no doubt.

10pm - 6am Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross N1 9NL£12 advance tickets / £15 on the door www.myspace.com/secretsundaze

We also have a pair of tickets to give away for the night – to enter, we’d like to see what brilliant anagrams you can make of the word ‘secretsundaze’. Email suggestions to georgewigzell[at]hotmail.com before 3pm, Friday 20th Feb, and we will pick the best suggestion as winner of the two tickets.

Example: CEZE’S NUDE RATS.

Ok, that’s rubbish, so lets have some decent entries to trounce it.

Pete Doherty in 24 Hours - EXCLUSIVE Preview

2009-01-16T16:04:00.006Z

Went to watch a screening of the new MTV 'Pete Doherty in 24 hours' documentary last night, which was rather entertaining. I'm not one to buy into the 'Pete' celebrity fascination, though it's quite hard to avoid hearing about his alledged escapades in the press. But I do have an interest in how fantasy, enigma and romance are veiled upon personalities in the media - and with Pete's country manor, famous friends, enemies and drug problems, it can't he a hard job for them.

The film actually did a very good job of demystifying Mr Doherty, painting a picture of a shambolic life lived out by a rather charming man. Like when he suddenly comes across the letter box he's been searching for for weeks, and with it his unpaid rent bill, and an invitation from his neighbours to go horse rising. His reponse is to pull out a Lambert and Butler from an ever-present cumpled fag packet, and sit down at the first broken piano he finds to bash out some de-tuned melody. And it doesn't feel contrived. Perhaps a little sad, but we like him, not because he's a wreck, bot despite it. And it felt quite life affirming, in a strange way, that apart from a handful of great songs, it wasn't money, power or status that made everyone want to like him, it was just him being genuinely personable. Somehow this is more important to our society than all those other things, and I like it. Call me optimistic.

His manor was brilliant - like a mad old major's country pile meets a perpetual post-party mis en scene meets the fantasy house of a little boy who sleeps in a different room every night - over run by cats and wonderful little trinkets, from boxes of buttons to stuffed birds and old military legends, lost rooms and stumbled upon evidence of forgotten, drunken deeds.

He shows us his 'bed' - a hammock. "But I've only slept there once, I usually fall asleep in the chair" before adding, earnestly "it's much more than comfy than it looks, honestly".

Me and Guy had a good laugh at the Gio Gio designers (the premise, I perhaps should have said earlier, is that Pete's performing and modelling that evening for Gio Gio in Camden, though he's mostly unaware of this til the film crew arrive) - who all seem, for reasons unkown, to be big Mancs with big beards. Watch out for them if you catch the documentary - splendidly out of place, but entertaining none the less.

Fans of Pete will revel in seeing him talk candidly about past relationships and at the end being reuinted with Carl Barat on stage to sing 'Don't Look Back into the Sun', which gave even me, generally unmoved by the Libs, and a committed cynic, a slight emotional lurch in the gut.

There are of the course the obligatory MTV titles shoved into your face, alongside sound-of-now indie licks and funny angled montages (or was that the supply of free Becks?), reminding you of 24 hour countdown premise, I guess a neccesity. Despite this though, I was surprised to enjoy a picture of a gentle poet and artist, somehow at odds with the blood-paintings he shows us, meandering through the world, cartwheeling through fields, and yet swiching on grace and humanity as he hoovers the house in preperation for a visit from his mate the fashion show organiser, and then calls ex model girlfriends as a favour when Gio' Gio's are all double booked.

And there's not a spot of drug taking involved - not a trick of the editing the makers asured us. And I believe them.

So here's an exclusive preview into the doc, with Pete showing off his 13 or so cats. It's not profound, but it's fun.

The documentary is on MTV One on Sunday 25 Th Jan, 10pm.

Lofi Hifi Service Pack volume 1

2009-01-14T15:39:00.003Z

Right people - it's been a while since my last post - let's blame stilton, port and other festive sundries for that. But as it's a new year, let's kick off a new Lofi Hifi series, The Lofi Hifi Service Pack collection. The idea is to put together a handful of tracks that you need to have in your life right now. You might know most or none of them, but the idea is that you'll then have them all in one place, ready to play to a room of grateful punters, or to stick on in the car or gym, or to steal and make your own as a mixtape for that girl you met whilst trying on cardigans in Beyond Retro.
They won't be neccesarily new, or limited to one genre, though I'll no doubt play with themes in SPs to come. Yes this is basically a mixtape, but I've called it something else. Ok?

Without anymore jarring, digressed waffle, I present:

Lofi Hifi Service Pack Vol1

01 - Sebastian Tellier - Kilometer (Aeroplane 'Italo 84' Remix)
02 - St. Francis - Love Love Love
03 - Daniel Johnston - Foolin'
04 - Poni Hoax - Hypercommunication (Alter Ego Remix)
05 - Armand Van Helden - Shake That Ass feat Team Facelift (Mowgli Remix)
06 - Daniel Haaksman - Who's Afraid Of Rio feat. MC Jennifer
07 - Phonat - Learn To Recycle
08 - Mark Stent - Waiting (The Bulgarian Mix)
09 - Mirror Mirror - New Horizons
10 - Player Player - Lonely
11 - Gentle Friendly - Ride Symbols
12 - Nite Jewel - What Did He
13 - Zombie Nation - Forza

Buy on itunes/amazon/beatport
www.myspace.com/stfrancisband
http://www.myspace.com/phonat
http://www.myspace.com/mirrormirrornyc
www.myspace.com/gentlefriendly
www.myspace.com/nitejewel

Also, for those who like their music a bit deeper, have been enjoying this from Glaswegian Milton Jackson:

The video seems to be about a guy in a suit getting hit with a lot of things - from bottles to guitars. Interpret any way you will.
Musically this revolves around one great synth pattern, and has a lightness to it, keeping it on the right side of seedy, though still wouldn't be out of place at any early morning house affair. Not revolutionary, but Milton keep it simple, moving and appropriately delicate.

Also check much played biggie 'Ghosts In My Machines'

The 'Crash' EP is out Feb 09

Milton Jackson on Myspace

Finally,

Check - enjoying very much:

http://www.myspace.com/notsquares

More Aquacrunk, some Fromage Disco re-edits, Foamo Rockerman remix cos why not,

2008-11-12T01:20:00.007Z

Firstly to bring to your attention the comment left by Mole below in response to my Aquacrunk post. He said:

" absurd yes, one man no. check out flying lotus, hudson mohawke, dabrye and those of that ilk for more of the same..."

Have checked out Flying Lotus, who is based Stateside, and he's making some diverse noises. He asserts himself with phat dubby/junglist electronica with an old school hip hop flavour, before crossing over into 8-bitty drum-burn, through spine-tingling female vocals with muted polyphonic synths (on Auntie's Lock Infinitum), and it's pretty exciting, and certainly wildly eclectic, stuff. Something to appeal to a lot of niche music fans.

Flying Lotus Myspace

Quite different, but arguably connected is Rustie's fellow 'Wegian, Hudson Mohawke.
The sound is a lot more British, and despite my first impression being Eletronica-Smooooooth-Groove (on Still On It, at least) more than Crunk, I could stretch to accept the latter as a loose term. His Myspace calls him Emotronica/Emotronica - which, whilst added with his tongue no doubt firmly in his cheek - describes him curtly. At times like Death Cab jamming on an MPC and an old 78 player,with DJ Shadow having a bubble bath with Nathan Fake and Cloud Dead in the corner, before the lot of them get drunk on Cava and head down Oceana to get their thang' on. (excuse the exuberent over-extended-flog-it-for-all-it's-worth-metaphor, sometimes you just get carried away).

His myspace boasts some BIG tunes anyway, and when not doing the unexpected he manages to squeeze in hook after hook. Just check out 'Zooo0o0Oo0m (or whatever it's called) on his Myspace. Massive.

Hudson Mohawke Myspace

Next up -

Some tasty disco re-edits by Fromage Disco.

Fromage Disco was started as a club night 2 years ago by Nate B and Dr Disconyx in Melbourne, Australia. They specialise in disco house nu/old disco, and have been 'churning out' re-edits for some time now. A couple of their best:

The Supreme's - High Energy (Fromage Mother Edit)

Hall and Oats - I can't go for that (Fromage Yacht Rock edit)

Myspaceeeeeee

Next -

It's seen a lot of exposure, but I was reminded of this as my good friends in Exeter had managed to bag Foamo for their new night Bangers and Tash at The Amber Rooms on Nov 20th. And it's a class record.

Foamo - Rockerman (Lee Mortimer Remix)

Another strong Lee Mortimer remix (in full 320 glory)

TJR - Sonic Chronic (Lee Mortimer Remix)

Aquacrunk!?

2008-10-24T14:44:00.002Z

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

LOFI HIFI comes to the smoke!

2008-10-17T15:57:00.003Z

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/

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

2008-10-11T06:57:00.003Z

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

Killing It

2008-09-22T16:44:00.003Z

Review: TRAILERTRASH VS DEADLY WAREHOUSE RAVE

Queue queue queue. Long queue. on my own.

As all hope was about to be lost, a kind chap,

sold me a cheap wrist band.

In I went, stumbling on rubble, but sober.

Found some love dup girls, shaking it to Knobbers.

They gave me whisky and coke, as Crookers

put down the big ones.

But the highlight was Bart B More,

taking us on a journey through

re-edits, jiggling basslines, bigguns,

And most importantly,

Killing It.

Bart B More - Killing It

Classics

2008-09-17T00:44:00.004Z

Two classics I found in the bargain singles section of Music and Goods exchange (I think it's called that!) on Chalk Farm Road.

Having heard a mashup of PDiddy and White Town in Urban Outfitters earlier in the day (yes, I'm so London now) it seemed fate the this one popped up.

White Town - Your Woman

And this one I last heard on a mixtape whilst working at Glastonbury, reminding me of its brilliance. Tune!

Busta Rhymes - Gimme Some More

Incidentally, seems White Town (aka Jyoti Mishra) is still making music. he released a new album earlier this year titled 'Don't Mention The War', which got a fairly favourable review on i-Tunes, though I was less than impressed with the acoustic version of the album track Death In Kettering available on Last FM, though Merry Fucking Christmas is a bit more promising, if a bit too outdated-shoe-gaze.

FREE download on Last FM

Buy on ITunes

Return of the Mashup

2008-09-10T22:09:00.004Z

Bestival is over -

Had an incredible time [giant scrabble (KETAMINA!)/bollywood rave massive/costumes/rainrainrain/pear cider/rain/mud/MBV noise fest/parliament-funkadelic/touche killing it/fakeblood-a bit patchy-super sharp shooters-machines don't care multi-drop/justin robertson killing it/latenight sugahill madness/roni size killing it/thali kitchen love/maze/jew lewis wearing his rucksack on stage/beardyman on form/mud wrestling/salsa dancing/EROL killing it/A.N.N.I.E. killing it/born slippy giant helium balloons and firework euphoric finale/...... to name but a few highlights]....

but it has left me just a bit poorly (to work's apparent chagrin). I was sick on the coach over to the ferry, which was a low low point (apologies to all my fellow passengers) The ferry/walk/train/tube/tube/train/walk wasn't much better, but worth it. And a forgotten visit from my mum (who gave me some real TLC and support) and a surprise visit from my lovely friend Kate Stanley today helped me out no end. And the news I recieved whilst at bestival that I became an uncle (welcome Eva Daisy Wigzell!) certainly helped.
ANYWAY

on point again... I'd thought that the mashup was on the wane, but someone's set (I'm afraid the details escape me... let me know if you were there) in the Bollywood Bar on Friday included several brilliant dancehall/bashment/hip-hop mashups that signalled to me the rebirth of the mashup. I mean, it's just great fun. Not one for the chinstroking blogstarr, but when five hours into a festival, pear cider in hand, in a jumping tent it is absolutely perfect.

In celebration here's a re-edit of an old favourite mashup of mine wot I made, and a new one. I have to confess they're both a little simply done - certainly not masterpieces, but I think they do the trick.

Justice Vs Beastie Boys - Intergalactic Waters

Benga Vs Basement Jaxx - Where's Your 26 Basslines?

Haven't got any photos yet! So the above is a Paint representation of the affair.

REVIEW: SECRETSUNDAZE, The Arches Open Air Courtyard, Sunday 24th August

2008-09-09T15:42:00.003Z

Many things can ruin a Sunday garden beat fest: winding toilet queues, progressively warm beer, tentative volume levels – but more than anything a potential sunsetter knees-up can be foiled by rain. The sky started off beautiful - clear, and blue. Then we had cloud, wandering over in patches. Then it went grey, very grey. People carried on dancing, pretending they weren’t ready to run for cover. Aviators stayed out. Flipflops stayed on.

Pornographic and very funny art adorning the walls.

But in the end…the rain never came. And the beer wasn’t that warm, nor the toilet queues that long. The soundsystem was not quite running at a healthy volume – it did mean the chance for a proper chat, but as the afternoon wore on the need for a more involving volume became apparent. The fact that on approaching the venue there was no chance of getting lost, as the bass could be heard several streets away, made the reality all the more disappointing. But the rain never came, and despite other complaints this turned out to be a class event.

Shiny Disco Balls in the sun.

The venue was perfect – a flashing, intimate indoor space (if mostly deserted for the first five hours due to the good weather), and a brilliant, atmospheric outdoor courtyard, flanked by arches on one side, and by traditional London brick buildings on the other, it lived up to its ‘sprawling urban backdrop’ claim. The décor was fun and flashy whilst not taking itself too seriously, and the two bars quick in service and not over priced.

Musically things started off a little too housey for my personal taste but soon progressed to become sharper and more techy, whilst retaining the funky and breezy element perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Keith Worthy also added an eclectic element, checking in via the Detroit vibe before going leftfield to a more chilled out feel, and then back to a progressive tech style. As the sun set Carl Craig took things a little darker, notching up the four-to-the-floor factor, before the 10.30pm curfew drew things to a close before the rain could be further tempted.

Me and Phil in front of some urban decay, and shit.

Review: Chromeo Hidden Depths, The End

2008-08-25T01:36:00.007Z

THE END, THURSDAY 21ST AUGUST

Upon arrival, about 10pm, it was quickly clear that the organisers had massively oversubscribed this one. People were queuing around the block to get in, and it was only the press line that got us entry at all. A fair bit of huffing and puffing from fellow press packers (lets call them this) got the line moving, and before you could mutter 'unfavourable review' (not my style, personally) we were inside, beer tokens in hand (actual beer tokens - brilliant! - they know how to buy a happy journalist don't they) with a last, sympathetic look at the masses curdling outside, unlikely to see the bottom of a San Miguel bottle before 1am.

Inside it was jumping. People were packed in wall to wall, but the atmosphere was incredible, a really happy, excited crowd. No doubt the free entry helped. Seams of well turned out Indie Kids
ran through the sedimentary layers of intrigued inbetweeners, all bobbing happily to Herve and Annie Mac, who against the advertised lineup were playing together. This, as the rumours purported, was because the two are definitely an item. I'm not one to get much of a kick from gossip (even if it is the slightly tounge in cheek gossip of the love affair of two electro/house DJs) but in the intimacy of The End, where you almost walk right into the DJ booth when entering the main room, it is hard to ignore them when they are sharing a tasty wonk set and a good bit of old tonsil tennis in the booth!

Both were on form, playing steady fidget and glitchy electro, a mixture of the less known and the current big hitters (...........Mars......ping!). And Annie Mac's A.N.N.I.E. T-Shirt! (See below) Fuck the Erol original. I want this! I had to try hard to resist the urge to attempt a high-five with her in appreciation. (again, this is what the intimacy of the end encourages (Sorry Annie, but the way, this isn't your best light, slight quivering lip, bad photo)).

As the zero hour, the hour of Chromeo's cometh neared, things began to get a bit fanatical. People poured into the right hand side of the main room to try and get a perch with a view of the stage. Here the weakness of The glorious End was exposed - a club just not designed for a live gig that everyone in the whole building not only wants to hear but, as is the convention of live music, wants to, believe it or not, see. Various problems ensued, like firstly not being able to move, and then getting pushed over. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to shy away from a good, packed in crowd. I like the smell of another man's hairin my face as much as anyone, but this got a little silly. So much so that the organisers, and fair play to 'em (and they got a good bit of booing from the idiots who somehow sneaked in) they halted the gig until people backed off and left those at the front some more room.

And then, finally, to a a reception I had never predicted, Chromeo took the stage. The one question that was nagging us all night was 'how are so many people into Chromeo?' I had no idea they were this big (to commend a several crushings, football style chantings and a two hour queue outside??!). Unless their record lable, in association with San Miguel, has somehow convinced half the population of, say, Peterborough, that they XXHeartz ChromeoXX LOLS by giving them all free tickets and a selection of ringtones of Needy Girl. This isn't meant to sound bitter, like some 'they've sold out$$$€€' bullshit tirade. I think it's a great thing. I was just genuinely surprised.

The gig itself was not bad. Visibility was mixed, even for myself at just less than 6 foot, which instantly reduced my feeling of connection with the show, even though, in fairness to the organisers, they had a live video feed playing at the back of the room. Chromeo actually seemed a little too awestruck by their reception to genuinely make use of the fervent atmosphere. As the set progressed they began to enjoy things slightly more, but I would have liked a bit more playfulness, experimentation and madness. Some of the lighter funk-pop numbers seemed a little lost in the atmosphere, and it wasn't until the Needy Girl finale that their sound really cut through the crowd. By that point things had gone wild, and all seemed right again, in the way that a really fantastic pop tune can make you forget all that came before.
Overall a good night out, with some surprises, and the overwhelming feeling that Chromeo still have some growing to do to fill the boots that they've made for themselves (or have been made for them!), but I don't doubt that at the same event next year they really would act like they were curating the night, and make the show theirs.

Fellow Lofi Hifi crew and housemate Ciara tells us its 2am and the only way is Clapton. (Via MaccieD's, ouch)

All photos copyright Charlotte Sweeney 2008 All rights reserved.

This week I have been mostly...

2008-08-23T14:10:00.004Z

Loving this blog:

BRRRLN

And Math Head

Butal. Terrifying. Brilliant.

Math Head - Get Hype // buy on Beatport.com

And check out this very good mix from my friend Osmo at the Erol Alkan Community Podcasts

http://erolcommunitypodcast.com/

Secretsundaze

2008-08-20T16:35:00.003Z

Another excellent event...

The one and only Carl Craig is headlining the first bank holiday secretsundaze outside of TDK Cross Central, a heady Sunday afternoon affair in a brand new venue, The Arches Open Air Courtyard set against an inner city, sprawling urban backdrop. Just 5 minutes from London Bridge station, the organisers promise that "the site will be transformed with our usual close attention to detail and high production values with outdoor bars and all amenities."

Keith Worthy looks like an exciting prospect, with his recent Fabric debut playing to rave reviews, "making the deepest, purest House and Techno heard for some time".

In the arches we have Disco and Electro, with the exciting, up-and-coming Phoreski, and Richard Sen, playing an eclectic mix of Sunday afternoon beats with typical technical precision.

And of course Mr Craig, doing what he does best, turning London all a bit Detroit for bank holiday weekend, mixing up jazz, funk, soul and a reputation as a world-conquering producer and record spinner, no doubt to create a high tempertaure end to what is inevitably going to be a damp summer London weekend.

Giles Smith pres.Two Armadillos: Warriors

secretsundaze
Sunday 24th August
2.00pm – 10.30pm
The Arches, London Bridge

Open Air Courtyard
Carl Craig (Planet E)
Keith Worthy (Aesthetic Audio)
Giles Smith (Dessous)
James Priestley (Simple)

The Arches
Richard Sen (Padded Cell)
Phoreski (Special Interest)
Loose DJs - Paul Crognale & Cred, 'Aitch & Dan Kinasz

Tickets
£12 advance tickets ticketweb (0844 477 1000) and phonica / £15 on door

Links
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=279372
http://www.myspace.com/secretsundaze

Dubstep On It

2008-08-19T18:20:00.005Z

I was always turned off by dubstep - a bit difficult to dance to, a bit samey, despite enjoying the bass sounds, and despite friend's insistence to give it another chance - until I saw Benga at Field Day. His set was phenomenal. Hearing the implausible thunder of incredible basslineafterbassline, all running through the properness of the Blogger's Delight tent system, has forced me to reconsider. I still find some of it isn't up my street, but Benga's own stuff is consistently rude (not sure if any other word describes it better, especially on 26 Basslines) and I can see the ease with which it can slip into a conventional techno/electro set. The Skream and Plastician remix of The Black Ghosts works very well in this way.
The Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This (Skream and Plastician Mix) // Buy on Beatport.com

I'm also appreciating some more techy dubstep such as this track I nicked from Palms Out a while back, which I've been dropping a lot. For me this fulfills my danceable requirements much more than a lot of other stuff.

Mockin' Bird - Effort

Having said this, the more I listen to dubstep (can I call it D'step? Has this already been done?) the more I also realise that there is a lot of danceable, uptempto stuff that isn't techy.

Have a listen to this mini-mix by Amit from the Man Makes Music collective, recorded to advertise their pre-carnival night this Friday.

Dubstep mini-mix

Tracklisting:
1) Zomby - Spliff dub (Rustie remix), 2) Zomby - Mu$h, 3) Darkstar - Need You, 4) Ikonika - Please, 5) L-Vis 1990 - Change The Game (Starkey Remix), 6) TRG - Broken Heart (Martyn's DCM Remix), 7) Shut Up and Dance - Epileptic (Martyn Remix)

It showcases well the diversity within the genre.

the night looks pretty good too:

MAN MAKE MUSIC + ECLECTRIC CARNIVAL PARTY

Fri 22nd August
Rhythm Factory
10pm-6am

Room 1 - MAN MAKE MUSIC - (B'more, Jackin', Dubstep, Garage, Wonky, Jungle):

RUSTIE (Hyperdub, Dre$$2$weat)
JACKMASTER (Dre$$2$weat)
SCANDALOUS UNLIMITED (True Tiger)
Man Make Music DJs (Sketchy, Zaz & Another Asian)
Solid Gold (Trouble Vision)

Room 2 - ECLECTRIC - (House, techno, electro)

TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT DINOSAURS (live)
UNION DJs (Union@Fabric)
TJ Hertz
Matt Carter
Rich Smith
Ed Steele
Noel Mas (MMM)

£6 tickets in advance at clubtickets.com
£6 b4 12 / £8 after

http://www.manmakemusic.com

Which reminds that next weekend is carnival. ( I gather that it is referred to as just 'carnival', I guess because this is THE carnival, in this country at least, and therefore requires no prefixes).

I haven't been before, so expect to be a bit bewildered. Have checked out the Time Out's Carnival Soundsystem guide, though, which gets me very excited, if a bit overwhlemed. Any tips for where to stand/dance/eat etc most welcome!

Competition: Chromeo & Friends! + ExclusiveMP3

2008-08-15T17:33:00.004Z

CHROMEO & FRIENDS @ SAN MIGUEL HIDDEN DEPTHS
THURSDAY 21ST AUGUST: THE END/AKA

Win a pair of tickets!

Curating and hosting an epic night at The End are electro-funk bad boys Chromeo. Fortunately the boys have impeccable taste, and already announced are New Young Pony Club (DJ set), Herve, Neil Parnell AKA Tronik Youth and the legend that is Annie Mac. PLUS, the full line up won't be announced until the night itself, and we are promised some very exciting special guests.
In understandable exuberance the organisers saw it fit to provide me with a couple of tickets for the event for you, dear readers.

To win simply answer this question: WHAT IS Hervé's REAL NAME?

and email your answer to georgewigzell AT hotmail DOT com ----

One email will be picked at random from all the correct answers.

PLUS they gave me this exclusive mp3 for your aural pleasure.

Chromeo - Opening Up (ce soir on danse album version)

Fast, Cheap and Out of Cigarettes.

2008-08-06T15:45:00.001Z

On opening Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, the first thing that strikes you is the Marlborough fag which is inserted into the (inaccessible) spine of the jewel case. I am instantly sold by this. Yes, despite the cheap-shot potential, it makes you instantly feel there is something tangible and personal about the album. It says, from the outset, that this is an album with an ART agenda, united by concept ( a naughty word it seems, but here used justifiably, more borrowed from visual art than from the darker moments of experimental pop history) and not just the creative subconsciousness of the artiste. .

Putting on the CD you whisk through catchy pop in a dizzying array of forms, from high couture diva pop to sleazy art school e-clash, somewhere via 80s stadium rock, early Bowie and Kraftwerk.

Overall, the tunes achieve catchy pop heights with consistent skill. Some miss the mark, but there is enough variation, and enough hooks, to keep you listening to the end. This really is Pop Art, taken to its logical future, which is certainly an exciting prospect. The problem is, in deciding to make a statement with her album, she seems to have missed the real sense of excitement that seeps from good music. It is technically strong music; but, with the very good, though uber-slick production of the pure synth pop, it ends up sounding like she is singing over karaoke backing tracks, dreamt up by a ‘noughties’ Warhol if he hadn’t let the Velvets (or the modern equivalent) do it for him. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just not a great thing.

There is no doubting the quality of her voice though. This, alongside an excellent, wacky style, makes her a more than worthy proponent of this concept. I can’t help but feel, though, that the album comes across too frequently as an over-serious ‘statement’, when it might want to be exclusively playful e-clash, art-school pout.

That said the track posted below is rapidly elbowing its way into my head. I’ve found myself playing it a couple of times in a row, a few times now. Maybe the whole album will burrow its way into my pop lobes, and stay there, no doubt an intention of HK119.

Given the diversity of the music and the bold intention of using progressive pop music, and its conventions – the creation of ideology/mystique/populism – to comment on modern life, this album has a lot to offer, and is definitely one to check out for yourself. I’m just unsure at the moment whether it will emerge as a musical winner. And if I grow to dislike it I can always crack open the case for an emergency fag.

http://www.myspace.com/festivalideal

HK119 - Mind

Stokey!

2008-07-26T13:59:00.002Z

Quick message to say I have just moved to London so have no internet at home= few posts/tracks... but that shall be rectified shortly. Lofi Hifi is carrying on in Exeter, but I think I'll carry on the blog from here.

I'm already loving London. Have an amazing house, though still unemployed. But so hard not to have fun, like last night spending £3.50 all night, buying a fourpack and sitting in green park by Buckingham Palace getting drunk and feeling about 15, or last Friday, ending up in Marathon Bar in Camden with the great Elvis impersonator playing and cans of stella the only beer available. Or just getting lost in London, going to Hampstead Heath, hanging out in Clissold Park near our house. Anyway, time runnign low on internet session. Quick link:

http://www.myspace.com/motelproject Good stuff

Filthy 22 Grand Team Penetration

2008-05-17T23:58:00.006Z

Ola,

Currently working exhausting 55 hour weeks so not a lot of time for blogging let alone promoting Lofi/moving house/finding a new house in London/finding a job/sorting my life out, so excuse the silence.

Very excited as just found out that the last Lofi of the year - and 7 out of the 8 Lofi lot's probable last ever Lofi sob sob - will be with the up-and-coming, guitar-and-bleep dancefloor destroyers, remix junkies, DJs and poducer extrordinaire's Filthy Dukes.

They hit Lofi June 11th - and it is a welcome treat for those in Exeter 'vibing' the guitar-house/electro/bloghouse thing, as few up-and-coming bands of that ilk make it this far down the country.

They arrive at Lofi fresh from razzmatazz in Barcelona, which i had the pleasure of visiting last Christmas time, and can be seen at Glasto, Field Day, Global Gathering this summer and AITBF at Fabric regularly (which if I'm informed correctly they also run - AITBF that is not fabric haha) as well as at our friend's Jac The Discos night Last One In's a Rotten Egg in Camberwell (which in fact is probably happening as I write this (how unfair that I'm here in bed on a saturday night too exhausted to go out to a mediocre indie disco in Exeter when I could be out in Camberwell - moan moan moan - that is why Im moving to London...anyway))

So, they're hotly tipped peeps. Their debut single 'This Rhythm' features vocals from Samuel Dust of Late Of The Pier and sits as happily as a dance floor destroyer as it does accessible pop song. Layered 80s synth bleeps are compelled by a scuzzy saw bassline and made instantly rememberable by the breezy chord sequence and catchy vocals. This reminds me of the Chemical Brothers in its refusal to alienate either dance music enthusiasts or radio 1 daytime listeners, as well as the quiet euphoria it invites.

Filthy Dukes - This Rhythm // Buy.
The Rakes - 22 Grand Job (Filthy Dukes Society Remix)

Got a Myspace add from Team Penetration the other day, and was greatly impressed by a very head-noddable, fast moving, freeform take on the disco/electro/indie thing. Team Penetration don't seem to fuck around, so to say; they bang straight into siren like guitar riffs, assertive, opinionated lyrics delivered with the force of telling you not asking you, with all the swagger (and some of the intonation) of Ian Brown. That, plus at his most angry think TV preacher man possesed by the ghost of Johnny Rotten (ok, hes not dead, yet anyway (incidentally the chef at work said he saw the Pistols play a few years back and after a black guy in the crowd repeatedly threw a bottle at Lydon he got on the mic and instructed 'Skin The N****r lads' as 20 skinheads set into him - fucked up huh? Anyway, incidental comment - this isn't anything to do with Team Penetration)) calling you a cunt.

So after the myspace listen I was duly intrigued and messaged asking for a track to blog. They courteously obliged, and here we are:

Team Penetration - Guitars Are Overrated

[21/5 - Edit: These boys are now called Drop Like Bombs - www.myspace.com/droplikebombsnow.]

Enjoy.

Finally,

This is the video for the new Young Knives video which was partly recorded when they played at Lofi @ Cavern earlier in the year:

Lofi trounce the FYC and future gigs

2008-04-29T00:10:00.007Z

May 21st sees Zombie Zombie hit Lofi Hifi.

ZZ play Kraut rock style dark psche-disco mayhem, and seem to be making some waves with appearances at Bestival, Shoreditch Crawl and a 13 date tour of the UK and Ireland.

In their biog it reads:"Zombie Zombie is a crazy scientist and musical project based in Paris city, France, lead by two people, professor Etienne Jaumet and Cosmicnewman (from Herman Dune) Using sound and rhythm to explore the feeling of fear growing deep inside you..."

The Album, "A land for renegades" is released in the UK May 5th, and "Driving this road..." is already being described as "a lost Can anthem.”

It was conceived as "the soundtrack to an imaginary road movie about two mercenaries racing against the night, hounded by unseen forces. " The driving rhythms, so Kraut rock in their repetitiveness; the tentative chord changes; the muted synth screams and layered fuzz-siren really do have the feel of a horror movie soundtrack, genuinely teeming with narrative. Things seem to happen in their songs, creatures chase you and jump out in front of you. And meanwhile the sense of fun remains, and it seems so very danceable. The feeling of atmosphere is only enhanced by their commitment to old technology:
“We use hardly anything made after 1980. With computer programs, you can do anything, so you end up playing them. With an old synthesizer, they are so temperamental that they end up playing you.”"
And meanwhile the sense of fun remains, and it seems so very danceable

Zombie Zombie - Driving this Road Until Death Sets you Free (Joakim remix)

************************

Weds night saw us take our 'rivals' in Exeter, The FYC (of which me and Jamie are also a part, though ssh!)
It turned out to be one of the best nights in ages, possible ever. That good.
EachLofi DJ took on an FYC DJ, in an appropriate pairing and had 15 mins to prove their worth with the audience voting. The pairings saw new-wave take on new-wave, boyfriend take on GF, Happy Hardcore (Lofi) take on Ganster Rap (FYC) and laptop take on laptop (Me "Jawline Frigzell" and Patrick "Pschyo bateman" Dishman)
The pre-battle 'beef' was hilarious, with both sides trading some serious, and at times rather personal insults. The resulting hype set us up for the fervour of the event itself.

The quality of tunes played was amazing, as was the variety of the music played. We had Ollie playing Happy Hardcore and Dean playing classic Disco as me and the boys danced in Balaclavas:
Rich, a Lofi hardcore regular stepping last minute to save the day - he ran home to get his records, turned up with minutes to spare and pulled out a blistering set to avoid forfeiting the round. Rosi, girlfriend to Matt, the guy on the right in the poster, played her first ever DJ set and tore it up at only 10 o clock with a combination of gangster rap and bouncing rude gal stylee in an amazing fur coat flanked by her two (very tall) hype men, the night's hosts Tim and Jim.

The best thing about the night was how absolutely wild the crowd was. It was the first week back of Uni, and people ended up queuing 2 hours to get in, so as a result the place was absolutely going off. By the time I played my set it was spilling onto the stage, and there were friendly faces everywhere you turned. Playing to a crowd that up for it is what makes DJing completely worth it. All those nights playing to a mostly emplty dancefloor suddenly seem worth the graft. Nights like Weds only come around once or twice a year but when they do it's the best feeling imagineable.

And to top it all off (it didn;t really matter) but Lofi Hifi won the competition, and I instigated a spotaneous three cheers for FYC to a packed room (ah bless cheap vodka).

Anyway, I'll post my mix tomorrow when I haven't got to get up in the morning at 10 the next day.

Violet Violet

2008-03-16T17:52:00.002Z

myspace.com/violetviolet1

New and Future releases

2008-03-13T16:49:00.008Z

Saw the Mystery Jets play a free gig at Exeter Uni yesterday - and I'm really liking their new stuff. Twenty One is released "very soon indeed" and they've taken a great direction with it. Their new stuff uses all the talents of the band - Blaine's haunting voice (flecked with a hint of vibrato, reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, though he still very much has his own unique style) on Flakes, William's voice and songwriting talents on Young Love, the counter edge that Kai's voice brings and some beautiful bass riffs, especially on 'Half in Love with Elizabeth'. We were treated to an exclusive half and half acoustic/electric version of that particular song when the audience couldn't choose between the version they wanted to hear. They also plucked a yoing lady from the crowd to sing laura Marling's part on Young Love - and despite the fact that the lady in question confessed she 'couldn't sing at all' - she got up on stage and gave it a great go and at the same time created a truly magic moment.

It was fantastic to see a band playing such new material at a time when they're still revelling in the quality of the songs they've just written. There was a genuine enjoyment and freshness to their playing that no doubt begins to wain once the album is released. And they're such nice lads too - you got a real sense of ego-lessness which made a warm, intimate atmosphere.

We met them before when they DJed at Lofi Hifi and there was no sense of fame going to their heads then - and nothing's changed. Unrelated really, but I also once had sex in the same room as Kai. Fact. Not with Kai may I point out. And the atmopshere was intimate then too. they've just got it going on.

Great pop songs, and I have my fingers crossed that the rest of the album is as good as the tracks I've heard.

head to the myspace for a listen.

I know I always go on about Carl Craig - but very excited about the Carl Craig Sessions CD just released. As Phonica says
" New double CD collection highlighting why Carl Craig is one of the best remixers & producers in the world. 23 tracks from classic techno tracks to recent 2007 remixes (a lot of which have been only available on vinyl!) - its only when you see them all here in one place, that you realise how prolific & consitent he is"

I rarely dare play out the Like A Child remix - It's such a great tune - but in the way that his brand of techno is it's quite a subtle brilliance - it has to be dropped at the right time in a set, when everyone's really into the music - or the kind of crowd who'd really appreciate this kind of stuff - in short supply in Exeter sadly.

Anyway - this track is an anthem in the making:
Francesco Tristano - The Melody (Carl Craig Remix)

The album is out now and at £13.99 I will be getting myself a copy very soon. review will follow.

Also worth a mention:

As the promoters have said:

"It's all happening in a beautiful 600-man private space (good for all the smokers amongst you) with massive projections and other quirks and performances in an accessible East London warehouse. On top of this it's a very reasonable £5 a head with option to bring your own booze. However, there will be a fully stocked bar in the venue should you find yourself without a drink."

BYO + smoking + Nathan Fake = unmissable

Answers and heavy rotation

2008-02-22T02:21:00.003Z

copyright Alex Cambell 2007

First the (belated) answers to my cryptic quiz

a) Green Velvet - No Sex
b) Junior Boys - Like A Child (Carl Craig Remix) - haven't been able to get this out of my head for days and weeks, absolutely relentless. How one great bass riff can be made to sound masterful for 8 minutes I don't know.
c) Johnny Foreigner - Champagne Girls I Have Known - another track that I can't seem to shake. Saw them a few weeks back and their live show is as good as the EP. So brilliantly driving, never letting you get comfortable, always throwing something new at you, yet never once swaying from catchy pop brilliance.

A few tracks on heavy rotation this week:

Glass Candy - Candy Castle
I gather I'm a bit late on picking up this one but for anyone who hasn't heard this one then grab a listen. Coming on the exciting Italians Do It Better imprint, they take the classic Italodisco sound and a perfectly produced vintage synth and have created something both vicious and haunting. Like disco dancing in treacle. It makes me want to pop over to Portland and have a play with their synths, and to make a track with bass that prominent in the mix.

Another tune of the moment that does a similar bass-centric thing is Ebony Bones - We Know All About You.

It's the first properly blistering pop tune I've heard in a few weeks, and it just makes me very excited. I love the layering up of drums in the opening minute, getting more and more frantic to the point of bursting, and doesn;t allow you not to get your groove on. I also like the latino flavour and experimentation going on in the percussion. Proof that you don't just need a drum machine to make good dance music - this takes some of my favourite percussive elements: hand clapping (ala Etalking), strange little samples, melodic junk drumming (on what sounds like bottles containing different levels of water), counter rhythms.

Also very very worth checking out is the NLLR Mixtape project (unsure if this link will work - if not search for it on facebook- a series of free mixtapes from some big name in electronic music with new mixes posted regularly. It is run by Lee Norman Williams of No Love Lost Records - the blurb explains more:

"Launched in November 2007 by lifelong dance music fanatic Lee Norman Williams, the NLLR Mixtape Project is a free side-project of his dance music record label No Love Lost Records, featuring masterfully mixed sets by talents of every genre and sub genre of the music we love... dance and electronica. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of -- deep breath -- Techno, Electro, House, Drum’N’Bass, Bassline, Dubstep, Trance, Breaks, Hard Dance, Hardcore, Progressive, Minimal, Micro, Blog, Bmore, Garage, Grime, Hip Hop or IDM, I love them all, which means you’ll get to hear them all."

with mixes from OCELOT
LAURA HEATH
MEMEME
THE BLOODY BEETROOTS
TRONIK YOUTH
L.A.O.S.
RUPERT ROMARO
MARAL SALMASSI
TYSKERHAR
CONGOROCK
ARTHUR BARR
MISTRESS DE FUNK
ZOMBIE DISCO SQUAD
CRYPTONITES
ZOLTAR (SPEAKS)
JAHCOOZI
LILLICA LIBERTINE this is exciting stuff, and the quality is up there.

Enjoy. x

Puzzlecore Tuesday

2008-01-22T03:36:00.000Z

The tracks posted next Tuesday will be the answers to the following clues. This is a game I used to play to while away the long, dull hours when a pot-wash aged 15. Each is a cryptic clue to the band name. With either each word representing a similar or opposite word in the band name, or the clue being a more general cryptic clue. Which sounds more dull than it is. Promise. Answers in the comments section, please.

1 - Envious Suede
2 - Senior Girls
3 - Contraception National (clue: West Midlands band)

Listmas Time

2008-01-02T01:49:00.000Z

Happy New Year

Because why not:

Top 25 of 2007 (top 25 = why constrain myself to less??)

1 - Brodinski – Bad Runner [Mental Groove]

2 - ZZT – Lower State of Consciousness [Turbo Recordings]

3 - La Priest – Engine (Erol Alkan's Transonic Re-edit) [Phantasy Sound]

4 - Larry Tee ft Princess Superstar – Licky (Work It Out) (Herve Goes Low Remix)

5 - Chemical Brothers – Saturate [EMI]

6 - Digitalism – Jupiter Room (Erol Alkan’s simple yet effective mix)

7 - Dusty Kid – The Cat [Southern Fried Records]

8 - Justice - Phantom Pt 2 (Soulwax Niteversion) [EMI]

9 - Justice - Waters Of Nazareth (Woodie!'s The Underwater Adventures of Ghettoruckus ReRub)

10 - Robbie Williams – Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight Mix) [EMI]

11 - SebastiAn – Walkman (Re-edit) [Because Music France]

12 - Justice – Stress [Ed Banger]

13 - Thieves Like Us – Drugs in my Body [Kitsune]

14 - M.I.A – Paper Planes [XL]

15 - Primary 1 – Outside [Demo]

16 - Sinden & the Count of Monte Cristal – Bleeper [Counterfeet]

17 - D.I.M. – Is You [Boys Noize]

18 - Johnny Foreigner – Champagne Girls I Have Known [Best Before]

19 - Black Ghosts – Any Way You Choose to Give It (Extended Mix) [Southern Fried]

20 - Hot Chip – Shake a Fist

21 - Proxy – Decoy [ Turbo Canada]

22 - RATM – Killing in the Name of SebastiAn [Ed Banger]

23 - Beirut – Postcards From Italy [Ba Da Bing! US]

24 - Simian Mobile Disco – It’s The Beat[ Wichita]

25 - Golden Bug – Barbie’s Back

They Call It Justice

2007-12-13T17:37:00.000Z

Copyright G.Wigzell 2007. Lofi Hifi 31/10/07.

Very nice little mash up sent over from Tel Aviv -

Justice Vs Dead Prez - They Call It Justice (Yarin Lidor Remix)

As he says "I recommend playing that tune in an electro cranky dance floor, after 02:00am…"

Indeed.

Yarin Lidor Myspace

Rip it down and start again

2007-12-12T02:32:00.000Z

Daft Punk - Technologic (George Wigzell's Rip Down and Start Again Refit)

haha. I'm quite new to the making music game, and this is the first effort I've felt like sharing - and it's still not complete, or properly mixed - generally rough sounding, a work in progress - and I've labelled it as a Daft Punk Remix for now until I find a different vocal line to use. I've also always wanted my own silly remix name so 'George Wigzell's Rip Down and Start Again Refit' seemed like a good starting point. Anyways, disclaimers aside, feedback appreciated.

Our Band Could Be Your Life

2007-11-12T18:13:00.000Z

A recap back to some tunes due an airing at Lofi, a bit of punk rock and some chic French bedtime music.

The Minutemen were one of the most influential underground indie-rock bands of the 80s, yet it took me reading the excellent book, Our Band Could Be Your Life, to discover them. The book itself charts the underground American indie scene through the 80s, following the bands that led up to the breakthrough of Nirvana. Some of the bands are more widely known - Fuagzi, Black Flag, Minor Threat - and much more punk-rock/hardcore, some were new to me - and the Minutemen now rank amongst my favourite bands. I also guarantee you'll recognise one of the tracks posted, even if you've never heard of the band before. I'll let the music speak for itself, anyway.

The Minutemen - The Glory of Man A record played at Lofi occasionally, usually earlier on, but deserving a place higher up the order!
The Minutemen - Corona

As mentioned, a band featured in the book, and the perfect example of the beauty of American hardcore (check out the Rage cover on Renegades too)

Minor Threat - In My Eyes

Next, a track I first heard dancing in the disco up north many years ago - no reason for posting it other than I think it should be played out more often!

Sultans of Ping FC - Where's Me Jumper

For "pop culture's unkempt poster child of doom and gloom" (NY Rock) would a fast and furious electro remix of one of his songs cause Robert Smith further gloom, or would it indeed cheer him up? Decide for yourself. An oldie but a goody:

The Cure - Fire in Cairo (Digitalism Remix)

Finally, stoke the fire, cuddle up to your loved one, turn the lights down low and let this lull you off to sleep (but not until you've got to the vocals 4 minutes in)- pure genius - sexy, chic, clever, French.

Sebastian Tellier - La Ritournelle

Primary Plimsouls

2007-11-05T02:28:00.000Z

2 new tracks for my first post in a month (!)

First up, wired down from Brizzle is Don't Panic by the youthful Plimsouls.

Plimsouls makes 8bitty, fun electro/bloghouse, full of catchy synth repetitions and propelling drum rhythms- and the feeling Don't Panic inspires is certainly pleasant and exciting, if a bit frenzied, like video games and too much sugar as a kid.

Plimsouls - Don't Panic

Next, expect big things from Primary 1. " Pop music for you and your fammiles to enjoy" as the Myspace says, they are signed to Phantasy Sound, the same labal that recently released the massive LA Priest song Engine, including the even bigger Erol remix. Outside is similarly well produced, fresh sounding and indeed a great pop song, a slick blend of disco/house/electro/pop/funk that catches you somewhere between head noddin' and hip gyrating'. You'll love it, I'm quite sure.

Primary 1 - Outside (Demo)

Down down, deeper down down

2007-10-03T02:45:00.000Z

Sept top 10

Radioclit - Divine Gosa (Brodinski RMX)
LA Priest - Engine (Erol Alkan's reedit) buy
autoKratz - reaKtor
Brodinski - Bad Runner - unreleased until later this month
Larry Tee ft. Princess Superstar - Licky (Herve goes low remix)
Dusty Kid - The Cat (Crookers rmx)
Does It offend You, Yeh? - Battle Royal
ZZT - Lower State of Consciousness buy
Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger (GR Mix)
Hot Chip - Shake a Fist
Duke Dumont - Lean n Bounce

Needles and Suspenders

2007-09-27T11:39:00.000Z

A lovely little song by a very very new Exeter University student.

Needles and Suspenders is an infectious pop number of the best tradition - sounding like it was recorded in one take on a bedroom 4-track (it probably was), yet letting this mask a very clever song structure and ambitious vocals.

Jamie T comparisons are inevitable, but this is set apart by its scuzzy, lofi feel and tinny synth-electro beats, which gives this an honest, raw emotional appeal - the sort of music tough boys can well-up to.

s.k.g - needles and suspenders

Look out for him at a Lofi Hifi in the near future.

All over it...

2007-09-10T16:32:00.000Z

Oh, and whilst I'm at it...

this will be appearing at a Lofi Hifi near you very very soon. Wednesday in fact. Lofi w/ iLIKETRAINS. The Cavern Club, Exeter. Free b4 9.

One of the catchiest, best produced songs I've heard in a while.

M.I.A - Paper Planes

Frankenspiel

2007-09-10T15:22:00.000Z

A bit of a cut n' paste monster mission:

See what you can make out of the following, using as many or as few as you like into a single track. Entries to georgewigzell AT hotmail DOT com.

Our own efforts will follow soon.

Amerie - Take Control (Acapella)
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (Acapella)
Nelly Furtado - Maneater (Acapella)
Roots Manuva - Witness (1 Hope) (Acapella) [LINK RE-POSTED!]
Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mamma Out (Acapella)
Warren G - Regulate (Acapella)

Guns N' Bombs - Nothing Is Getting Us Anywhere (Instrumental)
Switch - A Bit Patchy
Chemical Brothers - Saturate

Good luck!

We say Party! We say throw knives!

2007-08-25T17:33:00.000Z

Lofi Hifi are proud to announce:

Los Campesinos! and You Say Party! We Say Die!
Cavern Club,
Exeter

31st October
Doors at 8pm. Price TBC.

Los Campesinos! download page

You Say Party! We Say Die! website, including free mp3s

Also, some other excellent shows coming up:

31 Aug 2007