This week I have been mostly...

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

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

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

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.

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!

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

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: