Mixtape massif!

I have three quite outstanding mixes to share with you on this rather grey, miserable Tuesday morning. Hopefully these will get you skanking and grooving all the way into the weekend and before you know it it'll be time to get your party flex in motion!

The first comes from my good friend Barrientos who has delivered a rolling tech-house beast. From devastatingly dark basslines to grooving carnival vibes, this mix takes me straight back to my days raving in Ibiza this summer. Check out more of his mixes and some of his quality productions on the link below.

"My favourite tech house BANGERS from this summer! Crank it!"

September 2010 Tech-House Mix (128) by Barrientos

Next up, a new mix by Luchalibre which I'm REALLY feeling right now. This is some proper mash up business in full effect, from Vato Gonzales' summer smash 'Bad Man Riddim' to grime classic 'Oi' from those mischievous Mo' Fire boys this is straight heat. Don't know anything about this DJ'ing duo, but I'm sure we'll hear more from them in the future.

Lucha Libre Fiesta Mix by LuchaLibre

Finally, it's time to go go deep on some liquid dubstep action from one of my favourite Glasgow dub producers Kid Robotic. The mix builds slowly from the ethereal beats of Burial to the space-age futurism of Redlight's forward thinking 'What You Talking About?' taking you on an epic journey through some incredible soundscapes.

FADED:PROMOMIXXX by Kid Robotik

Straight back on it....

Right, busy times equals massive blog neglection unfortunately but that is going to change starting from NOW! What's the point in having a blog if you don't update the thing? So here we go, its new tune time!

BLOG BURNER:

This week's official Blog Burner comes from power-disco, uber talent Grum. Or rather a brand spanking new remix he's recently done of Passion Pit. Not really sure where this sits, is Passion Pit re-releasing 'Sleepyhead' or has Grum just decided to wave his disco wand over it for the banter? Either way it's another shit hot remix from the Leeds based producer and another reminder that Grum has the POWER!

Passion Pit - 'Sleepyhead (Grum Remix)'



We keep the feel good vibes in motion with our next track, 'Give Me A Break' by Ellie Goulding's producer 'Starsmith'. With a string of recent remixes and a major pop sensibility it's only a matter of time before Finlay-Dow Smith is penetrating the charts with contagious head-nodders like this. Utterly uplifting and undeniably catchy this is the type of pop music I can get on board with.

Starsmith - 'Give Me A Break'



Right, time to get a bit nasty next. Style Of Eye returns with another disturbing 'Electro-tech' monster with his collection of indiscriminate noises putting you right on edge. Teaming up with Magnus (?) 'Antidote' is a rolling, bass squelching horror which will no doubt be popular for the likes of Erol Alkan et al, especially on Halloween.

Style Of Eye & Magnus - 'Antidote'



Finally, we end with a haunting slice of ethereal dubstep which is both beautiful and subtly devastating at the same time. It comes from a young, up and coming singer-songwriter called Claire Maguire and is remixed by Breakage who is quickly becoming one of the most prolific remixers in the game. Zane Lowe has already been likening it to Skream's remix of La Roux, but I can't see myself dropping this at peak time and getting away with it!

Claire Maguire - 'Ain't Nobody (Breakage Remix)'

One More Tune presents....The 6th Borough Project: Preview

Busy, busy week ahead. It's fresher's week at Glasgow Uni, and being one of the residents means I've got a lot of late nights and cheesy tunes to prepare. So I'm taking my night off tonight as my opportunity to get a bit boozy, and since I missed One More Tune's third birthday last month, it's off up The Arty.

Created by uber-promoter Matthew Craig along with four-to-the-floor connoisseur Ralph Thompson, One More Tune is the type of night you can set your watch to, great crowd, great music and cheap pints! And tonight they've booked Craig Smith of the 6th Borough Project to bring the noise!

We caught up with Matthew earlier in the week ahead of tonight's disco nonsense, here's what he had to say about stuff:

S: Ok, so One More Tune has been going strong for three years now, you celebrated your third birthday at the Art School last month and tonight you have Craig Smith of the 6th Borough Project as a special guest. What would you contribute the success of One More Tune to? Do you think persistence is important in developing a successful club night?

M: Persistence is the key ingredient in my view - persistence to keep finding new music, to keep entertaining your audience and to remember that you're very lucky getting to do such a fun job.

S: Focusing on tonight, can you tell us a bit more about Craig Smith & the 6th Borough Project and what we should expect from his set?

M: 6th Borough Project's getting a lot of attention at the moment and "Do It To The Max" is one of our favourites tunes of the year. Craig Smith is a a special DJ who can mix Disco, Slo-Mo, House, Funk and much more together yet keep a reserved subtlety too. He'll build sets that make sense and doesn't need to play "big" songs to work up an energy, it's a real joy that he's agreed to come and play for us and it's immense that Scottish producers are doing well.

S: Obviously you have a formula that is working for you at the moment, but where do you see One More Tune going in the future, especially when the Art School goes under refurbishment. Do you plan on developing the night further with bigger guests or new directions for example?

M: Aye, the interiors are all being overhauled and the GSA will run parties/operate as a union in a two hundred capacity venue near Sauchiehall St come next Summer so we'll have a big decision to make because we're bursting at the seams in the three hundred capacity Vic bar already. Either we downsize or try changing things up in a different venue so that's very much on our minds just now but change is good so we'll find a way that works for us.

S: In a nutshell, what is One More Tune all about and what does it represent? If you had to sell it to someone for example how would you describe it?

M: Music = Hope. There's not much I can say than that.

S: Glasgow appears to have a really healthy clubbing community at the moment, although some would argue it’s too small to support the volume of nights and events the promoters are pushing. Do you think there is a danger of the scene becoming over saturated with smaller nights suffering losses or do you think the choice punters have can only be good?

M: The dance scene is pretty strong but you're right, many talented people are running great nights at the moment and struggling. Conglomerates are probably the main negative aspect in Glasgow, not the individual venues, promoters or punters. Recently the big names are proving harder to spot, employing a mercenary student crowd to write their press releases, design their posters and bring their pals to their clubs.

Smaller venues/promoters need to find better ways to entertain people or at least make sure that the music they provide is new and exciting. Punters deserve choice in a city like Glasgow, it just really saddens me when good nights or, worse, clubs end and are replaced with lowest common denominator cattle markets ran by businessmen adding to their portfolios. Fuck them and get the people with passion back at the centre of things and Glasgow's scene will truly flourish.

One More Tune takes place tonight at The Glasgow School Of Art
Ft/ The 6th Borough Project, Gnarly Face (Itch!) & Define Define
11-3am
£5 on the door

Facebook Event

Check this pure, mad-mental video of the third birthday created by visualist extraordinaire Joe Crogan to get your rave juices bubbling:

One More Tune = 3rd Birthday from Joe Crogan on Vimeo.

Jam Hot...

Soooo, another week, another handful of ridiculously hot tunes to write about. Firstly, have to say I'm gutted I missed the Naive launch party on Saturday, but it was a mate's leaving night and seemingly ABC was on the cards...I will most definitely make up for that at One More Tune this weekend!

BLOG BURNER:

Ok, the hottest tune to land in my inbox this week is a remix from Netsky on Plan B's new single 'The Recluse'. Netsky has already proved himself as one of the hottest up and coming names in Drum & Bass this year with an exceptional debut album and a slew of hot remixes to boot. Here he builds round Plan B's incredible vocal to make a super emotive dancefloor killer.

Plan B - The Recluse (Netsky Remix)



Coming in a close second this week is a brand new mix from Tiga on 'Shelter' by The XX. Not so much a complete remix but an impressive re-edit, he's kept all the eteheral elements of the original but added a deep kick which builds on the original structure nicely. Here's hoping The XX take the Mercury next week, if Mumford even get a sniff I'm declaring war on the music industry.

The XX - Shelter (Tiga Remix)



Right, it's time to get the dubstep out for the lads. Here comes Afrojack, towering dutch house producer extraordinaire with new single 'Take Over Control'. The original is a cheesy, peak time monster as you'd expect but here Adam F goes a bit mad with the sub bass, turning it into a euphoric skankathon.

Afrojack - Take Over Control (Adam F Remix)



Finally, after a summer of super hot remixes, Boys Noize returns with his own material and it was certainly worth the wait. 'Yeah' is the B-side of new single '1010' and instead of going twisted techno it echoes the steely chops of last year's 'Jeffer' and 'Starter'. It's definitely a grower and I suspect you'll hear it all over the shop come October.

Boys Noize - Yeah

Naive Launch Party....

Well, I have to admit, I have absolutely no idea who the guys behind Naive are but they've quite frankly come storming out the abyss with one of the hottest launch night line ups I've ever witnessed. Tonight Stereo see's a disco spectacular with one half of Aeroplane - 'The Magician' headlining in a cloak of Italo mystery, while disco house supremo Louis La Roche provides a glittering French touch on warm up duties. Further to that, local lad Peace will be opening the night with a cascade of delicious electro to get you moving...

To make sure you can feel those disco vibes deep down in the nether regions of the lower intestine, caressing your bowels until you shit yourself they've also enlisted Cheesy & Zambo's legendary SUPER SOUNDSYSTEM.Visual Aids will be providing motion pictures and general eye-fuckery to complete the experience so my advice is get down (and boogie).

The Magician's Magic Tape 2:

Magic Tape Two by TheMagician

Louis La Roche - Prickstick

Louis La Roche - Super Soaker - 03 - Prick Stick by louislaroche

Phoenix - Fences (Peace Remix)

Phoenix - Fences (Peace Remix) by PEACE

Details:

Sat 4th Sep // 11-3am
Stereo, 22 Renfield Lane
£5 Adv, £6 Door, Free if you've RSVP's on Facebook

Facebook Event

Summer's last gasp....

Ok, it's Saturday afternoon, I've just enjoyed what I genuinely think will be the last few hours of sunshine this summer and now it's time to blog some TUNES! Starting with this:

BLOG BURNER:

This week's official Blog Burner comes from a match made in heaven. Friendly Fires & Azari & III have made a late contender for tune of the summer in my opinion with this deep slice of sun-soaked disco magic. Shimmering synths and burning basslines make this near-perfect. Pick it up on the forthcoming addition of 'Suck My Deck' mixed by Friendly Fires and hold onto summer that little bit longer...

Friendly Fires & Azari & III - Stay Here



Ok, it's no secret now, dubstep is OFFICIALLY mainstream with Katy B hitting No.5 in the charts last Sunday. Here she joins Magnetic Man on their new single 'Perfect Stranger', the original is already primed for the top 40 with a pop hook which has massive potential. Here's Benga's grimey version for all the heads...

Magnetic Man ft/Katy B - Perfect Stranger (Benga Remix)



Tune of the summer? In my opinion the answer is yes. With Tensnake's 'Comacat' an official 2010 anthem and enjoying daytime airplay left, right and centre it was inevitable we'd get some fresh remixes for the official release. Here Round Table Knight's take the 'Calypso' formula and produce a peaktime monster in the process. If only I had it in time for Creamfields!

Tensnake - Comacat (Round Table Knights Remix)



Finally, we end with an anthemic slice of liquid dubstep from Jakwob. This track has been floating about for most of the year in various forms but is only now getting the full release it deserves. An epic soundscape in all respects you can expect this to feature in my sets for the foreseeable future. LOVE IT!

Jakwob - Here With Me

MEGA UPDATE

Holy smokes batman...it's been a crazy couple weeks and only now have I found some time to get in some solid writing. After a simply magnificent trip to Ibiza, last weekend saw my triumphant return to Creamfields and it didn't disappoint.

The weather left a little to be desired but let's face it, no one cares when your raving your tats off. After winning the Mixmag DJ competition to play at the festival I was gifted a set at 2pm in the Mixmag Arena - a great marquee which became the 'Annie Mac Presents...' tent the next day. Having a set so early I wasn't expecting much in the way of a crowd but to my pleasant surprise the place was absolutely heaving! Check out this video of me rocking out to some dubstep action near the end:

Creamfields2010: Sub Bass time in the Mixmag Arena! from Colin Brownbill on Vimeo.

I have to thank all my mate's who got things going down the front, I've never seen so many taps aff in one place and also my trusty companion 'Whizzer', who not only got his mankini out on stage to rapturous applaud but also kept bumping tinnies from backstage.



The absolute highlight of the festival was without doubt The Swedish House Mafia, headlining their own tent on Sunday night, the superstar trio played for two hours to an over capacity crowd which rocked from start to finish. With huge pyrotechnics, fireworks and ice cannons it felt like a true moment, summed up nicely by Angello proclaiming 'thank God for this show'. Other areas of interest came from Deadmau5 playing a whole 15mins of dubstep to end his mainstage set on Saturday - the majority of the crowd got very annoyed, very quickly. I also have to give a shout out to Grum & Louis La Roche for putting up with my drunken antics all weekend, they both played exceptional sets in the Strongbow tent & I'm looking forward to catching Louis at Naive @ Stereo this Saturday!

So with Creamfields over, taking a quite incredible summer with it, it's time to get refocused on Glasgow, September is traditionally boom time in club land when the students return and the promoters pull out all the stops. So look out for interviews, reviews and hot tunage over the coming months. Whoop! x