Another Monday rolls round then, but what a weekend. People are still talking about CO-OP's impromptu rave on Midland St on Friday night and it really is testament to just how exciting Glasgow's club scene is at the moment. If you want to get noticed these days it would seem you really have to be doing something rather interesting. There's absolutely no room for monotony, with Glasgow bursting at the seams with club nights you have to push the boat out! Anyway, here's some tunes I'll be listening to this week as we go hurtling towards another weekend.
BLOG BURNER:
Like Dr Dre last week this is another tune that I've been relentlessly searching for the past few weeks, only to find it's already out. There's no point in beating around the bush here, this is easily one of the hottest Drum & Bass songs of the year. Standout cut from Break's massive 'Resistance' album, the combination of heart wrenching vocals that literally reach out at you from the speakers, plus devastating drops make this utterly sensational.
Break ft/ Die - Slow Down
Next up, the weird & wonderful David Lynch diverts his twisted genius from film to music with this emotionally detached slice of robotic future-pop. Cold, calculated synths create a metallic atmosphere, while heavily vocodered vocals split by explosions and gunfire create the impression that this could be the pleading voice of a military android fighting some far flung war of the future. A very involved, but satisfying listen.
David Lynch - Good Day Today
After ruling the 2010 Miami Winter Music Conference with his highly addictive Boys Noize endorsed 'Tellyfoam', Jan Driver returns with another slice of bass bin scraping bashment in the form of 'Gain Reaction'. Drawing on the same formula as the likes of Seiji & other genre-bending visionaries I can imagine the reaction when this finally drops on a dancefloor and it's far from civilised.
Jan Driver - Gain Reaction
Finally, New York hipsters Hercules & Love Affair return with a tribute to early 90's house in this seriously slick slice of four to the floor dancefloor action. Featuring on their forthcoming second album 'Blue Songs', Shaun Wright provides some truly class vocals over a bouncy, warm bassline. You can imagine the Fast Show's Louis Balfour giving this a resounding 'NICE' at the Jazz Club. It even features a boombox inspired wig out close to the end.
Sure, anyone could have thought of it, but not everyone has the balls to pull it off. Last night saw witness to what quite possibly could have been the best PR stunt a club has ever pulled off in Glasgow. After Naive packed in hundreds of punters to The Arches for a night of super charged electro with Busy P, Cassius & A Trak the inevitable 3am spill out was met with the sound of pumping beats from CO-OP's now legendary mobile disco.
While I tried to direct an impossibly nutted Australian to The Unit for an afterparty he was so desperately seeking it seems Glasgow's newest weekly had already got it started in what has to be the most convenient after-hours rave ever conceived. Literally 300 yards down the road the CO-OP boys had set up a PA system, along with decks from the boot of a VW Golf. Within moments hundreds of clubbers gathered for a frenetic street party and Midland St was thick with punters, all jumping about to hard hitting bass & crowd pleasing anthems (Run DMC Vs Jason Nevins went down particularly well). There were even people dancing on dumpsters, while others got carted about on wheelie bins.
And the best part about it? The police didn't show up once. This was an illegal street party in Glasgow city centre, blocking cars and no doubt causing endless health & safety hazards, yet after an hour & a half it was the party starters who shut it down. If you were there I'm sure you'll agree that was something special. There are already numerous video & photo accounts floating about, here are some of the best so far:
So if you were feeling the impromptu street party vibes provided by CO-OP last night we suggest you go check out their residency at the Sub Club every Thursday. It may be slightly more conventional but with Dirty Noise, Mount Heart Attack & Orderly Disorder behind the decks you know it's going to get messy. Catch special guest Derrick Carter on Dec 23rd.
Towards the end of last week got a little hectic so I'm currently re-posting all the stuff that should have gone up (I'm actually writing this on Sunday, mental eh?) including our inaugural Local Hero award which this week goes to Spectra mega-pal B.Tone. Yet again the new Heartbeats compilation comes up trumps with this dubbed out, thunderous mix on Dirty Basement's ridiculously titled 'Funky Ass Boom Bap'. B.Tone's highly addictive minimal take aims it straight at the dancefloor with an 808 which will knock you off your feet. Nasty.
Almost every week we get a new cut from Quahaze and they never fail to impress. Master of all things deep & funky, Jan Rybacki has got his sound nailed. Dreamy synths, grooving basslines & floating arpeggios roll without hinderence in this seven minute cosmic journey. Word has it that there is an album in the pipeline as well so keep your ears eh, pricked, I suspect there are great things to come.
Quahaze - So Real
Next up Pasty Thirtytwo gets grimey on 22 year old Baltimore rapper Rye Rye. With a bassline that sounds like a tricked out snail rocking a subwoofer on it's back, this filthy re-rub compliments Rye Rye's nasty lyrical style perfectly. I reckon this would probably make Baltimore's hardest hood rats shit themsleves on the kerb if you rolled up with this blasting out the lowrider. You know, if that's what people do in Baltimore.
Rye Rye - Bang (Pasty Thirtytwo Remix)
Finally, Slow It Down have been up to their re-editing hijinx again with this quality re-rub of early 80's funk sisters Krystol. After deconstructing the original and injecting it with some additional spunk, this is the type of slow-grinding, groove rider which will see you rocking a pair of parachute pants like you've just graduated from Bayside High. Smooth grooves yo.
It's just not fair, as if Naive's Xmas blow out with A Trak, Cassius & Busy P wasn't enough this Friday we also have Mixmag's annual tour to contend with the following night. I guess sometimes you just have to accept mild bankruptcy during the festive season, after all, what else are you going to spend your money on?
This year Death Disco have teamed up with Mixmag & Moda to bring you a downright dangerous line up consisting of some of the hottest name's in house, electro & certified bashment. For the Glasgow leg of the tour you can expect earthquake inducing wobble from Jack Beats, super-sexy French house from Parisian trendsetter Surkin as well as the trademark electro bounce from rising stars Jaymo & Andy George.
The party starts in Lincoln
Jaymo & Andy have of course enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame over the past few years with their In New DJ's We Trust show on Radio 1 cramming the finest disco, house & techno into a super-charged hour of highly entertaining, nonsensical chat & quick fire mixing. Their own label Moda has also been responsible for the output of such dancefloor rendering artists as Tom Staar, His Majesty Andre & Foamo - unwavering quality in other words. Here's what they had to say about the tour:
Jaymo: "New music is the driving force behind everything we do, whether it's our radio show, our DJ sets or the parties we put on. We try and champion new music from as many platforms as possible, this tour is now one of them! But as with anything, it's not just about the here and now - a true music fan wants to know about the history, the classics, the heritage. So we also wanted to get some big established names on the tour too"
Andy George: "The tour kicked off at Moda HQ (the Engine Shed in Lincoln) with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Jakwob, Jaymo & Andy George, Tom Staar and the headliner to end all headliners - Fatboy Slim!"
Fatboy Slim at The Engine Shed
"It's a milestone for any club night when you've got Fatboy Slim playing for you. He's usually DJing to thousands of people at a festival, not 1500 people in a warehouse, so this is really exciting for everyone involved. He played alongside some of the coolest nu skool heads - Jakwob and TEED, so the contrast of musical styles over the night was amazing!"
"It was important for us to get a real mix of acts that represented the music we believe in from live bands like Shake Aletti and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, to boundary pushing DJ's like Surkin and Jack Beats"
Sounds like we're in for a big weekend then....
WHAT: Death Disco presents...The Mixmag Tour 2011 in association with Moda & Don't Stay In WHO: JACK BEATS, Surkin, Jaymo & Andy George, Union, Hushpuppy & Wavy Graves WHERE: The Arches, Midland St WHEN: Saturday 11th December TAX: £12 Advance FACEBOOK EVENT: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106891519377468
If your a regular reader of this blog then you'll be more than aware of our love for Glasgow's Heartbeat collective. Over the past few months the group of 13 local producers have been responsible for some of the hottest music to fill our columns & abuse our airwaves. Created by Chris Stevens aka Megamegaman earlier this year, he managed to enlist some of Glasgow's best up and coming talent to contribute some devastating dancefloor material for the first edition 'Heartbeats: First Pulse'.
With the second compilation encouraging the same artists, plus some new ones to remix each other's stuff, the result was nothing short of incredible. Whether it's the slamming techno of Rob Etherson's driving mix on Barrientos, the progressive grandeur of Peace's strictly Balearic 'Sleeper' or Mia Dora's liquid dub mix on Megamegaman's 'Tywyllfyd', this is nothing but uncompromising quality. This album alone has provided half of our own weekly Blog Burner title's this year, and the best part? It's completely and utterly free. You can download the Zip file of all these incredible tracks below and check out some of the artists while your at it.
1 Peace - Sleeper (Barrientos Progressive Remix) 2 Dirty Basement - Funkyass Boom Bap (B.Tone Simplified Mix) 3 Barrientos - Breathe (Rob Etherson's Suffocating Remix) 4 Megamegaman ft EL Mondo - Tywyllfyd (Mia Dora Remix) 5 Rob Etherson - Frenchy MaMal (Esq Remix) 6 Kabur - Actualise (Kid Robotik Heart Attack Remix) 7 MAUSR - Arcane Markings (Megamegaman Remix) 8 Esq - Little Shark (MAUSR Remix) 9 Mia Dora - Snatch You From The Woods (Kabur Dark Woods Remix) 10 Barrientos - Santiago (Esq Remix) 11 Kabur - Caustic (Megamegaman Redux) 12 Kid Robotik - Buckets (Dirty Basement Remix) 13 Sly & Stallone - Fame and Fortune (Ohmegasir Remix)
For a more indepth idea of Heartbeats and what Chris is trying to achieve with it we recently cornered him for a very interesting interview:
S: Ok, with the release of ‘Change Your Tune’ this week, can you firstly tell us a little about the concept behind Heartbeats as a collective? What initially inspired you to create the group and how did you go about choosing the artists involved?
MMM: There are a lot of good nights fronted by local producers and djs in glasgow, each with their own style and crowd, all fostering creativity. I thought that it would be great to gather producers from as many different scenes as possible and put something together to show what's really going on in Glasgow. I asked the producers behind regular nights like Spectra, Itch and Subfriction to get involved, as well as artists I'd played with and a few guys that I spoke to after seeing their sets and managed to get them on board.
S: The first edition of Heartbeats was released during the summer, what was the reaction to the first edition from Glasgow’s producing talent and how has ‘Change Your Tune’ built on the original formula?
MMM: The first thing that came out of it was that it opened people's ears to artists that they wouldn't normally have heard, and that meant bookings and potential new fans for all involved, but I noticed afterwards that the producers were talking more amongst themselves too and this gave me the idea to cross pollinate further and make the second volume a remix edition. I took on a couple of new artists and drew names from a hat to decide who would remix whom to keep it as fresh as possible.
S: Obviously you believe in Glasgow’s producers and their music, can you give us an overview of the scene, who you are finding particularly impressive and how close you think some of the local talent is to breaking out on a wider scale?
MMM: I believe very strongly in the talents of the artists I've already got on board and they seem to be getting bigger and bigger all the time, in the last month I've seen some great performances from Esq, Peace and Kid Robotik and guys like B.Tone and Dirty Basement have had some big releases. There's been an amazingly diverse scene this year particularly, with new nights launched almost every week, and the one off nights from the Vitamins crew have left a trail of destruction behind them, there's some great work being done there.... and then there's that guy Vianassa that can't stop winning competitions. (Thanks, cheque's in the post - Synth)
S: You had an official launch party for ‘Change Your Tune’ at IAM on last night, how did that go and how has the response to the new compilation been in general?
MMM: The launch was really good, I did a set that included tracks from the new CD and we gave out stickers, sold the first lot of physical copies and IAM residents Beta and Kappa both played great sets. Sub Club became a warm and noisy refuge from the icy, empty streets and we had a lot of fun. Change Your Tune has been very well received so far and general consensus is that it's better than the first and that takes some doing. I'm really pleased to be able to continue giving it away online and sell physical copies at the same time, I want as many people to hear it as possible and if they like it they can pick it up at an event for just a couple of pounds to help us pay for the next one.
S: Finally, can you hint at what you might have planned for the future with Heartbeats? Are there any new artists you want to introduce to the project and how do you see the collective and brand developing in 2011?
MMM: We've recently welcomed AC from Abraxas into the fold, as well as Binary Zero from Tronic, who is putting on Tronic vs Heartbeats on the 28th of January next year at the 13th note, I'm keen on continuing the vs Heartbeats theme to take some artists to nights they haven't played at before. I'm also going to launch a blog, hopefully before the new year to give the artists another outlet and develop our online identity. We're already thinking about volume three, some of the guys are keen on collaborations which could be a logical progression but I'm tempted to go for something completely different.
You can pick up physical copies on request from the Heartbeats Facebook & at selected events.
Based in Glasgow, Synth is a hub for one of Britain’s most thriving clubbing communities. We pride ourselves on getting in on the ground level, whether it’s reporting on an incredible party in an abandoned warehouse, putting the spotlight on an up and coming local producer or bringing you interviews with some of the key players on the scene, Synth is your guide to one of the best party city's in Europe.
Glasgow producers, promoters and DJ's: We want to hear from you! If you've got a hot new track that needs to be heard, a brand new mix which you think should be featured or a big club night coming up that you want listed or reviewed hit us up on info@synthglasgow.com and we will get back to you. We're also currently looking for writers to contribute to the Synth blog. We have a lot of guest list opportunities for exciting new clubs and established nights. We need people to go and review them, so if your interested please get in touch on the above email address. All audio featured on this blog is for promotional purposes only, if you want a song removed please contact us on the above email address and we will remove it immediatly.
