Pitchfork May

My Pitchfork column this month featuring hype tracks from P Money & Royal-T, Eastwood, Untold's new project, Kid Smpl, Krept and Redinho.

Hold tight for my NME column, out next week.

Rinse and "Yardman"

We were back on Rinse FM this thursday. Our delayed show from Tues 10th is still here.

Dusk + Blackdown Rinse FM May 11 “Re/nu dark swing mix”

May audio: here

Double Helix “Supreme Architecture” [unreleased]
J-Weed “Dazzled” [forthcoming 502]
Double Helix “LDN” [unreleased]
Double Helix “Beckoning” [unreleased]
Double Helix “Once Loved” [unreleased]
Dusk “Fraction [Kowton remix]” [forthcoming Keysound]
Darqwan ft MC Shinobi “Flow So Hot” [unreleased]
Albert “Side Showed Out” [Studio Rockers]
Vibezin “Hot 4 U” [forthcoming Keysound]
Bok Bok “Look (dub)” [forthcoming Night Slugs]
Vibezin “Mad Sick” [forthcoming Keysound]
Kanvas - Rebound [unreleased]
Visionist “Come In” [forthcoming 502]
Addison Groove “This Girl” [unreleased]
Blackdown “The Drumz of Shanghai” [dubplate]
Blackdown “defocused” [dubplate]
Dusk “Focus (Blackdown VIP)” [dubplate]
Dusk “Fraction” [dubplate]
LV ft Joshua Idehen “Northern Line” [Keysound]
Peverelist "Dance Until the Police Come" [Hessle Audio]

Bok Bok “Silo Pass” [forthcoming Night Slugs]
Mosca “Tilt Shift (Swing Ting Dub)” [forthcoming Fat City]
Bok Bok “Hyperpass” [forthcoming Night Slugs]
Spooky “Spartan (DOK remix)” [Butterz zip]
Slackk “Double Indemnity Riddim” [unreleased]
Side Projekt "Lift Dub" [Family Tree Records]
Walton “Aggy” [unreleased]
Deeco "Zero Zone (Mr Mitch Remix)" [unreleased]
Zomby “Riding With Death” [forthcoming 4AD]
Malente & Jay Robinson ft Yo Majesty "Cherry Pop (Raffertie rmx)" [Fat!]
Donae’o “Swagger (MDP remix)” [forthcoming]
Cardopusher "Antisharkz" [forthcoming Tigerbeat6]
Logos “Atlanta 96 [Slackk remix] [unreleased]
Desto "Remember" [unreleased]
Zomby “Natalia’s Song” [forthcoming 4AD]

In the meantime I just clocked these are online...

Riko Dan in the booth, just vibezin to the riddim...



Following that Jason Transition hard at work mastering it. Those are the compressors and EQs that did Burial's album, the Hyperdub releases, the DMZ dubplates and 12"s, Jah Shakka's dubs and so many more, including the Keysound back catalog. Historic circuits right there, y'kna.




Balistiq Beats ft Jamakabi, Riko, Badness, Killa P "Yardman Riddim" EP is out now, cop that.

Sweetner

I don't normally do this but... this is a thing of wonder.

Sully "Toffee Apple" 10" single sided with hand etching on the flip on Frijsfo. Cop one.

LDN021 Bias & Gurley “Roll”

LDN021 Bias & Gurley “Roll” [Keysound Recordings]
Released: vinyl and digital end of may/early june
Mastered by: Transition

Keysound Recordings are deeply proud to present the first proper collaboration between two of the UK bass underground’s most seminal producers, Zed Bias and Steve Gurley. Entitled “Roll” it’s an explosive dark UK funky record that’s brimming with garage swing, vocoder funk, jungle rudeness and an edginess straight out of the “roots of” era dubstep. The 12” is backed with a rolling “debt repaid” remix from me, in recognition of what current music owes “Roll’s” co-authors.

Steve Gurley has had a defining influence on pirate music since the early years of jungle, when he was part of seminal outfit Foul Play, releasing an album “Suspected” on Moving Shadow as well as a string of classic 12”s like “Finest Illusion.” He went on to be a defining figure in UK garage, displaying a deft touch for marrying ruff b-lines and razor sharp snares with joyous feminine pressure, as best displayed on his rave-detonating “Spirit of the Sun” remix. His darker garage beats would have a profound influence on the handful of producers, Bias included, who would go on to co-author dubstep. His “Hotboys” refix appeared on the “Roots of Dubstep” retrospective.

In later years Dave Jones aka Zed Bias aka Maddslinky would also acknowledge the influence Steve Gurley had on him personally. As mates in the mid 90s, Jones – then an aspiring producer – was given valuable early breaks by Gurley. And that’s not just a break as in “a helping hand,” but also literally “breakbeats,” samples of funk drum loops or 808 drum machine hits as Octamed samples or on Amiga floppy disc. In reverence of this era of early software technology and the amazing sounds it produced, not least between the blossoming musical friendship between Bias & Gurley, the “Roll” 12” is adorned with a grimey Amiga computer and on the flip a shot of Octamed, which made music through assigning of zeros of ones on a gritty, pixelated screen.

From those technologically humble beginnings, Jones blossomed into a prolific producer, at first making his name in UK garage with anthems like “Neighbourhood” and his remixes for then label mate The Streets (long before Mike Skinner was massive). As the millennium turned, he worked in parallel with producers like El-B and his Ghost camp, as well as Horsepower, Oris Jay and Artwork to help give birth to what is now called dubstep. His two albums from that era, Maddslinky’s “Make Your Peace” and Phuturistics “Feel it Out” were a decade ahead of their time.

With their collective legacies, Keysound Recordings are honoured to welcome to them into their roster.

More by Steve Gurley...









More by Zed Bias...





[Dull, never-before-mentioned trivia, my hand was supposed to be one of the hands on the Phuturistix album cover, I was invited to the shoot but had to postpone when I needed excruciating root canal surgery. I know what I'd have preferred...]



So, what killer Bias & Gurley productions have I missed off this brief summary?

Krept's "Paranormal Activity"

I've been curious about London road rap for a while now because it has obvious parallels with grime, yet when I dip in, the examples I find often seem too close to grime but without all the energy and impact.

Krept's "Paranormal Activity" though has me spellbound. Twitchy and different with something to say, it really stands out. And yes, it bares more than a passing resemblance to early Dizzee...

Rinse FM May 2011 (delayed from April)

Our Rinse FM show from Tues 10th is here. Leave a comment, lemme know what you're feeling...

Dusk + Blackdown Rinse FM May 2011 (delayed from April)

Bias & Gurley “Roll” [forthcoming Keysound]
Bias & Gurley Roll (Blackdown’s a debt repaid remix) [forthcoming Keysound]
Beneath “Bubble” [unreleased]
Spells of Yoruba “Gel Abri l ( Seany B Tribal house remix)” [unreleased]
CRST “Roulette” [Ten Thousand Yen]
Funkystepz “Shocker” [unreleased]
Lil Silva “Cheese and Bun”[Good Years]
G Smallz “Call of Duty” [unreleased]
NDV “Mind Over Matters” [Botanika]
Sully “Let You” [unreleased]
Untold “Nice Story Bro” [Hessle]
Joy O “Elipsis” [unreleased]
Arcade “Contrincante” [S&C]
G Smallz “Daydreamer” [free giveaway]
Vessel “Ton” [Left Blank]
Teeth “Shawty VIP” [unreleased]
TDK Alliance “Locked on” [unreleased]
Kastle “Time Traveller” [Secluciasis]
Goldffinch “Rat Face” [unreleased]

Desto "Final Chamber" [unreleased]
Visionist “Sodium” [unreleased]
D1 “Subzero” [Hessle]
Dizzee Rascal “Stand Up Tall (Kid Smpl remix)” [unreleased]
Kele “On the Lam (CRST Remix)” [Glassnote]
Sunship “Cheque One, Two (DJ Spooky refix)” [unreleased]
Matt Flynn “Empire” [unreleased]
P Money, Blacks & Slickman “Boo Yoo” [Forthcoming Butterz]
Zoltan “Beat It (Sines Bmoe Gutta Remix)” [unreleased]
L Wiz “4 42 Oz” [Forthcoming Kapsize]
Mr Mitch “The Advocate” [Boogaloo City]
Redinho “Edge Off” [Forthcoming Numbers]
Young Montana “Sacre Cool” [Alpha Pup Records]

LV & Josh Idehen Routes album launch

LV & Josh Idehen "Routes" album launch, Saturday 14th May. Free before 11!

Pitchfork May: 130

Wot do you call it: 130?

The Exchange

Me, rambling about music with Todd, editor of RA (requires you to be signed in to grab it).

In conjunction, win a one-of-a-kind Skream 12" on Keysound and a Balistiq Beats "Yardman" TP.

FREE: LV ft Joshua Idehen "Routes" [Keysound] promo mix

LV feat. Joshua Idehen – Routes Promo Mix

Lost Tour mix

So last year we were luckily enough to do some US dates with The XX and as preparation for the tour, were asked to do a studio mix for Fader mag. Dusk and I put it together in September, submitted it and got on with things. But for some reason Fader Mag chose not to use the mix - we never found out why.

As DJs Dusk and I are pretty committed to the 'upfront selection' guiding principle. The thinking goes, to us anyway, if we're not offering you some sounds you don't already know, why should you listen to our Rinse show or club sets, right?

Needless to say 7 months after we made it, some of these records are no longer upfront. But we put time and love into this mix so we'd hate for it to be entirely lost. We leaked it to the Salisbury Sessions Facebook group last week, but here it is for everyone. We hope you find something you enjoy...

Dusk + Blackdown present the NYC to ATL via LDN - Lost Tour mix Oct10 by Dusk + Blackdown


***Dusk + Blackdown present the NYC to ATL via LDN mix for The XX***

October 2010

Wiley & MJ Cole "From the Drop" [Prolific]
Wiley & MJ Cole "From the Drop [LVis 1990 mix]" [Prolific]
Rishi Romero "African Forest" [Made In NL]
Dusk + Blackdown "Dasaflex" [unreleased]
Gella "Twinkle Ft. Spyda (Baobinga & ID Remix)" [Bass = Win]
Mickey Pearce "What's Mickey Talkin' About? ft Ms Dynamite" [Blunted Robots]
Sully "It's Your Love" [unreleased]
Double Helix "Chamber of Light" [Keysound]
Vibezin "Hot 4 U" [forthcoming Keysound]
S-X "Woooo (Teeza remix)" [unreleased]
Balistiq Beats "Yardman Riddim (instrumental)" [forthcoming Keysound]
Balistiq Beats "Yardman Riddim ft Riko" [forthcoming Keysound]
Joker "Gully Goon Estate (Gully Brook Lane remix by Terror Danjah)" [Hardrive]
Damu "Ridin" [unreleased Keysound]
Trim "Confidence Boost (Harmonimix)" [unreleased]
Jamie Woon "Night Air (Ramadanman remix) [Candent Songs]

Sailsbury Sessions vol 1

At our album launch at Plastic People, Benji Bars rewound my copy of Omni Trio "Thu the Vibe (2-on-1 mix)" so hard I thought he'd break it. I took that as a compliment.

So when he said he was going to start his first night in the back of a massive old pub on Green Lanes, 50 feet from where "Margins Music" cover was shot and where we drove past with Goodz for the video, well... we thought we'd help him out.

So come join us, especially if you like the best kofte kebab in London. Double Helix is doing a jungle set, muttered something about Hidden Agenda 12"s but dont hold him to it. It'll be like a lock in but with more dubs. Oh and it's free.

**BACKROOM BASS BONANZA @ THE SALISBURY - FREE ENTRY!**

Dusk & Blackdown (RInse FM, Keysound)
Double Helix (LHF) [Jungle Set]
Amen Ra b2b Vibezin (United Vibes)
Benjybars (Spatchcock)
Nath (Eyes Down)
Bukowski (Eyes Down)

Salisbury Sessions Vol.1
9th April The Salisbury, Green Lanes


PS visit the Facebook group for a little cheeky gift...

Twice fly: Teeth

Recently my Pitchfork column featured Teeth. Here's the full transcript. Oh and check the discography at the end if you think you've over achieved this week...

Can you introduce yourself, who are you, where are you from etc?

My name is Matti Pentikäinen, from Helsinki Finland. I work under the alias Teeth.

Can you tell me a bit about the music you've been making recently?

Teeth is a logical continuum of music I've grown up making. A hybrid thing. My background is in West Coast underground Project Blowed / Good Life Café -style hiphop (worked actively with my rap group between 1990 and 2006, recorded for EMI Finland among others). In the latter part of the 90s the sound of Ceebrolistics, my group, started developing towards electronic music, geared mainly by Warp style experimentations and Berlin techno, especially the dubbier side of the sound, Rhythm & Sound and stuff. In the turn of the century, we developed a soundsystem-style routine rapping on top of monotone, chord-filled techno, I remember Main Street Round 4 being my ultimate choice at the time. 2004-05 dubstep emerged as a logical step in the continuum.

The aesthetics and the means we had been combining for years were all of a sudden in a uniform package; the dub side (from Berlin/Detroit techno), the emphasis on the drums and the rhythm (from hip hop) and the 140bpm (ideal for styles, or double time rhyming). All we had to do was to add our raps.

So after a lengthy rap-induced prefix, Teeth follows the same path. My emphasis nowadays in on the rhythm and the stripped aesthetics. Rawness, if you will. I'm a pretty black and white person, simply into drum machines, garage swing and an impact.

What does it mean to you to be on 502?

502 is the future. Quite simply, Oneman is on point. The Jay Weed songs on the last 12" are some of my favorite music of late, a beautiful mixture of rhythm-driven percussions, space, concentration and somehow the same rooted feeling I get from the DMZ releases, especially the earliest ones. Even though 502 is only three releases strong, there's a sense of a sound they're after. I like that.

How did "Shawty" come about, why did you pick 147bpm and where did the sample come from?

The sample is the first 2 seconds of a pretty well-known pop song, actually one of my favorites of late. My wife's into the record and she was listening to it all the time last summer. One day, having started working on a rhythm, an instrumental predecessor of “Shawty,” Maria put the sample on at home. I connected the dots, the stem and the sample, and finished the song the next day.

What was it like to play DMZ and Rinse?

My first attempt at Rinse was a bit of a fail (the mixer had blown up an hour before I was due on). I've also had a karma of sleeping past major parties I've wanted to attend. This happened to my first attempt at DMZ (as well as twice with Dub War in NYC). So finally getting to DMZ and Rinse was a win. I was years late with my DMZ initiation, but still the night Mala and Loefah put on was extraordinary. Honored to play both places, despite the minor technicals.

Tell me about Desto, the man who tipped us off to you?

Desto is the missing link, hahah. No, seriously, I am a big fan of Desto. Not just production-wise, but also as a person. After all he introduced us a while back, right? He's also a vital part of the recent Teeth past. I've used him as a filter before sending my songs to the world. We give each other feedback on music. If the arrangement of a tune is f'd up, I can trust in getting meaningful feedback to make it right. A helper. In a nutshell, he breakdances and makes incredible music. Enough said.

He also tells the most amazing stories about going round to Hatcha’s house and meeting three generations of Hatch’s family. This story is the stuff of keysound legends, ask Dusk after our trip to Tampere. Anyway, ahem... What is living in Finland like?

Have to say, I like Finnish people. Even though the weather can be completely foul for 7 months of the year, the people are cool. Finns get to the core of things, without too much hassle. Case example Dead-o, who started trading cassettes with a couple of Californian underground rappers and ended up starting an entire movement in Finland. I feel it's due to the "hermit work" of people like Dead-o, that Finns end up coming up with interesting variations to brewing phenomena.

Who else from Finland should we look out for?

The following names are in no particular order. Coming down from 140bpm: Non Person, Desto, RRKK, Clouds, Tes La Rok, JKRL, LAS,... A whole bunch of interesting music and a lot of people with abbreviations for names. Coming up from 120bpm: Renaissance Man, Femme En Fourrure and Lil Tony. DJ's (besides everyone mentioned in the 140bpm list): Anonymous, Tanelee and Smoodie. Otherwordly: Vladislav Delay, Samuli Kosminen (the drummer for Islandic Múm), Matala, Huoratron, and Lunne. Rap: Kylmä and SRKKPJT.

Can you tell me about the experience of writing music. Why do you write music? When you write music, who or what are you thinking about? How do you feel?

Have to admit, Teeth is pretty purpose driven. I'm a father of a three year old, so my production hours are limited. It's a process of to do-lists and 'get shit done'. Having said this, I enjoy working like this, setting goals, pushing myself and coming up with a finished outcome. My aim is for impact and straightforwardness. A lot of stuff I've done along the years has been fluctuating, blurred and undefined, like Aavaavaa my poem book / cd-project from 2005, but Teeth is focused.

Many of the scenes you mention (UK dubstep and electronica, US rap, German dub techno – one thing that links them is their geographical distance from Finland. Do many of the big canons of underground music traditionally seem distant to you in Finland or does enthusiasm for them and internet connectivity make them feel close? Do you think your relative geographical distance from say, LA, New York, London or Berlin (the sources of some of your inspirations) make any difference to how you make and enjoy underground music? I’m especially interested in the difference between say “inspired by” and “contributing to?”

Our initiation to West Coast rap was in the era of trading cassette tapes, rote learning underground music mags, and meticulously studying the credit lists of existing records to get to know what was going on in California. Ultimately pre-internet. So I think some of that is still present in how we perceive these phenomena.

We definitely perceive the flow of ideas a bit differently here. I feel there's a continuum of sound development and living off the heart of it all gives you a possibility to approach the development from an angle. To twist it slightly Finnish, slightly boondocks.

On that note, how do you think of your music in terms of genres or likeminded (international) producers? You write at 147, 130...

Guess I'm aiming at fitting the aforementioned continuum, in one way or another.

Why did you call yourself Teeth?

Names are weird. Whimsical ideas of what sounds good, and then you stick with one. Teeth stuck.

Did you really hurt your teeth in an ice hockey incident before DMZ? Tell us about that or was ASBO making it up?

My cheek actually. Yup, I got hit by a hockey puck the night before and I looked like a onesided trumpeteer at DMZ. Quoting Pokes: "An inch away from being called Gumz".

Do you miss working with vocals, as you did with Ceebrolistics?

Not really. With vocals you have to have something to say. I thoroughly enjoy not having to say anything for a change. At the moment I prefer working with other people's vocals rather than my own. Having said that, I used my own on Vibrate.

Can you tell me about some of your forthcoming releases and dubs you have written? What is inspiring you and what directions are you exploring in your music?

I like drum machines, obviously. Sequencing. Alterations. The 808 vein. The time is fruitful to be making music, as a lot of the influenced I've been into along the years all of a sudden fit together, ghetto tech, percussive house, audio of my wife going through her singing practises (used on most Teeth tracks in one form or another), techno, etc. I guess the ideal is a rhythm that is simultaneously stagnant and organically living.

What DJs have been playing your music and how does that feel?

Well, apart from yourself and Dusk, Oneman obviously, Ben UFO, Club Cheval guys from France, for example. As well as the Finnish DJs of course. Opened a bubbly with my wife for the first Rinse plays.

Seems a long way from making hip hop in 1990...

The 90s was an era of slanging tapes "out of the trunk of a car" in a true backpack rapper-style, so everything was self-paid, independent and self-released, pressings ranging between 300 and 3000. Our first pressed release was a cassette ep titled Spring in 1994-95, the first album A Day Of The People In Between recorded in 1997 and released in 1998. A curiosity fact: performed at LA's Project Blowed in 1998. All through the 90s I was principally a rapper. Started getting into production mid-00s.

Discography:

Ceebrolistics

Ö / cd, 12” (Fullsteam Records, 2005)
AINTIE / cd & 12” (Fullsteam Records, 2005)
0. EP / cd & 12“ (EMI Finland, 2001)
HYVIÄ JUTTUJA / cd & 12” (EMI Finland, 2000)
PÖLY / 12” (Popzoo, 1999)
A DAY OF THE PEOPLE IN BETWEEN / cd, cs &12” (Ceebrolistics, 1998)
HOMELESS BEATS / cd & cs (Ceebrolistics, 1996)
SPRING / cs (Ceebrolistics, 1995)

Murmurecordings

ESCAPEMODULE / cd (Murmurecordings, 2004)
SELKÄ KOHTI MAAILMAA / cd (Murmurecordings, 2002)
POOR LOCAL POETRY / cd (Murmurecordings, 2000)
KASVOT / cd (Murmurecordings, 1999)

Mattip

SAVE THE KING / cd & 10“ (Fullsteam Records, 2008)
AAVAAVAA / poembook & cd (Katusea, 2005)
THE KING / cd, cs & 10” (Katusea, 2003)

Teeth

CNT / 12" (Noppa Recordings, 2011)
SHAWTY / 12" & digi (502 Recordings, 2011)
FEMME EN FOURRURE: BRONCO (TEETH REMIX) / digital (Top Billin, 2011)
MICHAEL BLACK ELECTRO: MUSTANG (TEETH REMIX) / 12” (TeamACRE, 2010)
GRANO / compilation (Paradise Lost, 2010)
JALIL / movie soundtrack (Sputnik, 2009)

Songwriter (selected picks)

CLOUDS: PROTECTING HANDS / 12” (Deep Medi Music, UK, 2009)
BINARY BOYZ: BINARY BOYZ / digital (Miraloop Hearts, ITA, 2009)
NUSPIRIT HELSINKI: NUSPIRIT HELSINKI / cd & 12” (Guidance, USA, 2001)

Translator (English to Finnish, selected picks)

JEFF CHANG: CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP (LIKE, 2009)
GARY STEYNGART: ABSURDISTAN (LIKE, 2007)
SAUL WILLIAMS: A LIST OF DEMANDS (Akseli Ensemble, 2007)
SAUL WILLIAMS: , SAID THE SHOTGUN TO THE HEAD (LIKE, 2006)

Photo by www.jimmymould.com

Rinse FM Mar 2011

Our Rinse FM show from last thurs 11pm.

Kidnap Kid "If" [unreleased]
Blackdown "???" [unreleased]
Marcus Price & Carli "Bubbelgum (Sam Tiba Remix)" [unreleased]
Kode9 "Neon Red Sign featuring Cha Cha" [forthcoming Hyperdub]
Walton "Untitled" [unreleased]
Bass Jackers & Apster "Klumbu remix (DJ Seany B remix)" [unreleased]
Jay Weed "On the Nile (Becoming Real remix)" [unreleased]
Champion "Lighter" [unreleased]
Atropolis "NYChero" [forthcoming Dutty Arts]
Logos "King Mob" [unreleased]
Martin Kemp "Cracks" [unreleased]
Champion "1994" [unreleased]
Melé "Mugged" [unreleased]
Altered Natives "Ghost Hands" [unreleased]
Teeth "Vibrate" [unreleased]
Wiley & MJ Cole "From the Drop (Hint remix)" [unreleased]
Parralax "Watching" [unreleased]

2BiT "Real Life Fantasy" [unreleased]
Albert "Side Showed Out" [Studio Rockers]
Zed Bias "Hidden sorcery" [unreleased]
Kanvas "Flip the Script" [unreleased]
Jay Weed "Dazzled" [forthcoming 502]
Sines "Memory Walk" [unreleased]
Clueless "Fast Forward" [forthcoming L2S]
Silkie "It's Late" [forthcoming Deep Medi]
Clueless "Jazz Lick" [forthcoming L2S]
Peverelist "Dance Until the Police Come" [forthcoming Hessle Audio]
J:Kenzo "Protected" [Forthcoming Tempa]
Instra:mental "Rift Zone" [forthcoming]
Wiley & MJ Cole "From the Drop (Dark Tone Sound remix)" [unreleased]
SBTRKT "B Surley" [unreleased]
Giggs "Heavy Heavy (Caski Remix)" [XL]

R. Kelly "Be My#2 (Dubbel Dutch R&G mix)" [Dutty Artz]
Jamie Woon "Lady Luck (dbruits Suave Remix)" [forthcoming Polydor]
Sully "4am" [unreleased]
Damu "1,2 Sigh" [unreleased]
Koreless "Up Down Up Down" [unreleased]
Roc Marciano x 3:33 "Scarface (3:33 Mix)" [unreleased]

Pitchfork March 2011: Teeth

Pitchfork this month ft Teeth

King of the stars

Dear everyone,

I'm confused why "King of the Stars" by Original Face is not a massive anthem yet. What say we all get together and make it one? Yeah? YEAH?!!!

OK nice, lesdoitden.

Blackdown

Rinse FM Feb 2011

We've got our Rinse FM Feb 2011 show this thurs 24th 11pm. You can still download last month's here.

This thurs I tried something new with Ableton on a eskifunk flex.

DOWNLOAD it here>>>

Blackdown Rinse FM February 2011

***Blackdown Eskifunk mix [Ableton]***

Logos "Kowloon" [unreleased]
Maxwell D & Bean "Funky Creeper" [unreleased]
Maxwell D & Bean "Funky Creeper vocal" [The Way I Am mixtape]
Slackk "Eski Clicks" [unreleased]
DJ Mondie Feat. Ribz, Nappa, Flirta D & Shizzle "Pull Up Dat (Walton refix)" [unreleased]
Walton "Cool It" [unreleased]
Slackk ft Badness "Broken Wings (Theme from Slackk)" [unreleased]
Eastwood ""U Aint Ready? (Walton refix)" [unreleased]
Blackdown "untitled" [unreleased]
Trim & Dirty Danger "Wickedman Style" [free download]
S-X "Wooo (funky remix)" [Stay Fresh]
Esko & MC Creed "Generate" [unreleased]
[Slackk "Eski Clicks"]
Funkystepz "XYZ riddim" [unreleased]
JME & Tempz "CD is Dead" (Mickey Pearce remix) [unreleased]
Damu "It Wants to Snow" [unreleased]
Maxwell D & Bean "Funky Eskimo" [unreleased]
Wiley "Where's My Brother (Skream's Where's My Funkin Brother remix)" [unreleased]
Logos "Atlanta 96" [unreleased]
[Slackk "Eski Clicks"]
So Solid Crew "21 Seconds (Roska & Scratcha DVA remix)" [unreleased]

***End Eskifunk mix***

2562 "Brazil Deadwalker" [forthcoming When In Doubt]
Walton "untitled" [unreleased]
Pixielord "Oh Lord (VVV remix)" [forthcoming]
Swamp81 14b [forthcoming Swamp81]
Dark sky "Armour" [forthcoming Blunted Robots]
Falty DL ft Lily McKenzie "Brazil" [forthcoming Planet Mu]
Grievious Angel "Rum & Redbull remix" [unreleased]

Kowton "Don't Go Back" [unreleased]
Aloe Blacc "I Need A Dollar (Tensnake Remix)" [forthcoming]

Kryptic Minds "1000 Lost Cities" [Black Acre]
Double Helix "Beckoning" [unreleased]
Double Helix "Once Loved" [unreleased]
Low Density Matter "untitled 2011" [unreleased]
Double Helix "Supreme Architecture" [unreleased]
Visionist "Mr67" [unreleased]
Nehuen "Juke331" [unreleased]

Canblaster "Clockworks (Para One & Teki Latex remix)" [unreleased]
Arkist "Fill Your Coffee home" [unreleased]
Gremino "Lush Synth" [unreleased]
Darq E Freaker "Mortuary" [unreleased]
Trim & TRC "I Am/Skipping" [forthcoming Monkey Features 2]
Trim "Fish Tune" [unreleased]
Trim "I am the Concept" [unreleased]
Hindzy D "Sword Final" [free download]
TRP "D'roaming" [forthcoming L2S]

Falty DL Pitchfork column and interview

Falty DL photo by Sabine Mirlesse

Falty DL talks timelessness in my Pitchfork column this month. In writing that, Falty and I chatted for quite a bit...

Falty DL interview in full

Blackdown: So how did you go about writing a second album? What did you try to do differently?

Falty DL: My process of writing an album. To be honest I make my best tunes when I am not worried where it is going to fit, either an album or a single. I just try and make tracks in a vacuum, which is difficult enough, with all the music I receive on a daily basis. However Planet-Mu and I have talked about a second album for a little while now. This took 1.5 years to put together. The process was show off how I have developed and let mike Paradinas help curate the selection. We spoke very closely for about 4 months putting the alum together. That’s the dry response I guess. Emotionally I lost my mind trying to write this album. I found it again though.

B: How so, lost your mind, as in, really pushed yourself? Questioned your direction?

F: Yeah I sort of shut myself off from the outside world (outside my apartment?) when I am making music. I get really lonely after an intense 2 week studio session. I will have made about 15 songs in two weeks, and never really socialized. It's partly because I feel like I need a self imposed structure on my self employed life style.

F: So I go to the extreme of only hanging out with my own thoughts! Haha Which arent so bad and they are quite occupied when I am being productive. Also, it should be noted that for me, making an album with Mike Paradinas can sometimes involve a lot of contact, and sometimes a simple 1 line response email "This is shit". That can be rough... although it does push me to make better music. That is where I think I lose it to be honest. I get pissed off at myself and at Mike. Ha.

B: wow I'm pretty hands on at Keysound, in fact I've helped mix and arrange several recent releases, but I've never said 'this is shit'… wow.

F: haha, yeah he can be brutally honest in his opinion. I usually just call him and say "No it isnt."

F: He says OK, why do you think so and sometimes it stays on the release. Tough love. Really. But there is love. I don't need there to be that from a label, but it is nice knowing how much Mike does care. In his own strange way.

B: So, when you say, ‘cut yourself off’ do you include the internet?

F: I try to. That is really tough. Twitter has become a constant thing to check unfortunately. It gets to be too much.

F: I spent a lot of time listening to albums this past year. Not so much singles. To get the feel of a long player back in my head. That is so important when making an album.

B: it's funny though don’t you think the idea that you can cut yourself off from human contact but still be massively hyperconnected via digital means?

F: It is funny, and it is interesting what decision you make at that point. Fully unplug, or stay connected. How tough are you? Haha. Could your ego handle total disconnect? Even for a week? You might make some amazing music.

B: I don’t know about ego, but I don’t know if I could handle that many emails at the end its less hassle to deal with them in bursts don’t you find?

F: True. It is. I stay on top of my emails pretty quickly because of that. But do you think as a producer, as a label owner and as a journalist, you could handle not having any contact with the digital world for a week? And not have it affect your internet presence or persona? I think this defines a lot of people. In this age we share so much information, we do not lead very private lives at all. Some people tread that line very well. Like you have to struggle very hard to find out anything personal about some producers. that is amazing.

B: I only really talk about music on Twitter and try to censor any urge to send mundane Tweets.

F: That is awesome. haha I think I fall somewhere in a 80/20 split, music/private.

B: Split what, time or contacts?

F: How much information I allow to come through on twitter/interviews 80% is about music 20% just my own thoughts I think...

B: It's an interesting broader point though, how much external influence you allow to make music and how much internal input goes into the creative process? People like Mala and Burial for example, seem to want to be insulated from their surroundings whereas some people thrive on the creative juices from a scene… the "scenius" priniciple.

F: Yes that is what I am thinking about. How wonderful is there music too. I think it is impossible to create music or art in a complete vacuum. But if and when you try you are allowing yourself to come clean with your artistic confession I think.

F: What is more interesting, timeless music or music which encapsulates a certain time and scene? Surely both are important. And it takes time to see where one will fall.

B: Can you divide the two?

F: Yeah I think so. Depends how the tune is originally intended I think. But we have, and have agreed with each other, that the rate of digital info is the next big movement (it’s happening now). So it will take time to see if the Keysound or Night slugs 12"s will be regarded as timeless or not. I dunno, it may be up to the beholder in the future, who is to decide. As long as sampling stays around, I think timeless music will thrive. Ha

B: I'm thinking out loud more than having a definite position music can be of its time, it can be timeless, it might be both too Goldie's "Timeless" is both I reckon for example… well titled album!

F: Yes! I do agree, rarely is something hated on during its release and later regarded as a timeless piece of music. You know what this is? It's me wanting to make a banger already. Haven’t made one yet... just LPs ;)

B: me too lol there's something required about a banger, where you have to jam everything on full, in each tiny corner of each beat of the bar, to make it so overloaded, that I don’t do easily...

F: yeah, less room for subtlety. My drums are all over the place for a banger. Do you want to sign bangers? Don't mean to be putting you on the spot, I am genuinely curious off the record if you want.

B: Well, I'm not “anti banger,” I love getting feedback as a DJ, but I have other criteria too, so that the tune can't be moronic, and lots of bangers are utterly moronic and I feel as a DJ if I play a record to people that in its essence says 'i'm stupid' and it makes people respond to it this means that i'm saying I think they're morons and I can’t do that… I won’t do that.

F: True.

B: But, say, Grievous' “Soundclash VIP,” [or Starkey “Gutter Music”] that went off but it also worked as a piece of music too. You only need ultra bangers if you play bangers as default. But if you start from a lower intensity, then something slightly harder can be a banger, without being moronic. There’s “no loud without quiet” etc.

F: So is the moronic thing becoming timeless? Or can we rule out moronic, it will never be timeless?

B: Ultimately I’m not sure my final position on what is or causes timelessness in music.

F: I have a funny gig tonight

B: Comedy stand up night, yeah?

F: I wish… No I am opening for The Friendly Fires at the bowery ballroom
sold out 2,000 people

B: haha nice!

F: Yeah.

B: It'll be tough, I saw fantastic Mr Fox do that for The XX in Atlanta. No band = no response, from indie types, in my experience.

F: Ha yeah, I did a few XX afterparties those were fun I have know the Friendly Fires guys for a few years so they asked me to do it, and I don't know when I’ll get an opportunity to do this in NYC.

F: How was your XX tour? So pissed i missed you guys at Love.

B: Twas fun, anyway but… enough about me :-)

F: Sure.

B: You explained the process for the album but not so much about the direction. What did you choose to make differently and what did you keep, from before?

F: About two years had passed between starting the first album and finishing the second album. My own production skills have gotten better, and my ideas have broadened. I wanted to showcase that from a producers standpoint. I also wanted to say something with this album. I really think an LP is only necessary when you have something to say. Not just a collection of tracks. These tracks come from a place inside of me that I think is trying to get out. Both musically and emotionally.

B: Don’t you think it's a massive challenge or at least, more of a challenge to 'say' something with predominantly instrumental music?

F: Its hard to not sound super emo when talking about this, but it is true. I had a wealth of emotions inside of me these past few years. Anger against the music I was making, always wanting it to be better, and also a deep love with music in general. I wanted to get lost in it, take people on a journey in 4 minutes. It is hard. However I grew up listening to instrumental music. Miles Davis live at the Philharmonic, Aphex Twin, Richard D James album. Instrumental albums that say so much.

I worked with a few vocalists pretty straight forward with this album to see if I could bridge a gap. Think it worked out really well. I didn’t treat the vocals too much like I usually do. I trusted their voice more here. Vocal manipulations are so much fun, and there are obvious people who do it a lot better then I. Burial for one.

B: Burial and Todd Edwards do make that field tricky don’t they? And Todd got the bug from MK ;-)

F: Todd is amazing. I played with him recently and he played only his tracks for about 2 hours. But this Love/hate relationship is what wanted to say with this album. The dusty feel to many of the tracks is the warm feeling I get when I am writing music, and the harsher drums are pain I think I feel when I am upset at myself for not creating more. If I am not making music I am generally miserable.

B: Haha it's like you're wasting your life?

F: Yes. And I also feel like I am incredibly selfish always wanting to make music. I was pretty happy when I was teaching pre-school and only making music on the weekends.

B: You making music full time?

F: I am now yeah. This last year, between music and gigging I have been sustaining. Its amazing. It gets tight though ; )

B: So do you make music to be happy, or to stop you from being unhappy? Unhappy that you're not making music...

F: Both I think. It is a spiral. I make it to make releases and get gigs to make money. I also make it because I want to explore some new sample I found. It’s also so much fun. I can't forget why I started in the first place.

B: I'm curious about this Love/hate relationship... you have a love hate relationship with your own music? (Not uncommon I know but am curious about your case...)

F: Yes I do. I Love making music, and I get this really high sensation when I making music. Like I feel actually stoned, and I am chasing that feeling. I love what I have made, then I make a new tunes and I hate the last one, or it is not good enough. I look at other producers and get competitive silently. I hate that part of me, but I use it to be productive.

F: I am touched by anyone who enjoys listening to my music, but it is second to the feeling I get of making it myself.

B: The funny thing is, people who don’t make music probably won’t know how different it is to listen to music you've made (and heard 10,000 times) versus music you didn’t make...

F: True. And isn't it spoiled a little as a producer to hear a song and immediately analyze how it was made? I have had to unlearn that process in order to enjoy a lot music. If I can get lost in a tune and inspired by it, that's the best.

B: Well, it bothers me personally less than people said it would as I was always thinking about music's parts before I could produce anyway.

F: True. You were a producer before you even knew it. Ha, maybe. Lately I am plagued by an idea. Well it's not that bad, but it interesting. What place in the club scene does my music have? I have made tracks that are for the floor, but in general I don't want to challenge the dancers too much. In the end there is a responsibility to them to allow them to dance. Not to make them scratch their chin.

B: Interesting

F: Like, I can understand where the clubs are at in LDN and NYC by going, but when I make tracks I forget a lot of the direction.

B: It's interesting you want to place it, since many producers rush to avoid being placed with anyone else...

F: Yeah. Well this isn't genre placement. It's still music. It is very simple, it's just will this clear a floor or not? Haha. I love when I am in LDN and I hear music I know really well, but in the right context. I love going on Rinse, done it a few times. It feels so right.

B: yeah man I was thinking about this on the way to Ministry of Sound today that most venues are just places to sell beer but a few are just hallowed, sacred musical ground and Rinse is like that for me.

F: That’s so nice. Club Love was that, but declined so hard. It consumed itself. With money and greed of a new owner. Rinse is special. There is nothing that compares over here. East Village Radio is dope though... But too legal.

B: Yeah US radio is pretty commercial, or so I understand.

F: It is. EVR is non profit i believe. It is a little whole in the wall on 1st avenue by Houston street. On the street, glass walls, people stop by and dance outside. It is really fun.

B: So how much did London inspire this album?

F: The records I sampled were English hardcore records. The synths used were a bit dreamy and static at the same time. Something I have been listening to for years, back to Aphex stuff. Bit and parts are very English I think, also the ears that hear it at planet-Mu are English :) Marcus Scott helped me a lot this past year. He is one of those incredibly talented selfless people who have a wealth of knowledge and generally knows his shit. He is also super busy, so I enjoy the time he takes with me. But maybe this record isn't as English as “Love Is A Liability” was. There are a few garage tracks on this album. But it seems more personal then the last album. And I am a New Yorker.

B: When I hear the LP lots of it makes me think you’ve been absorbing London influences. We talked about this a little and the other day too when you commented on my blog. Does geography matter anymore?

F: I think it still matters a lot. Acceptance plays a part in this as well for me. I think I was accepted in the greater dubstep community from an early point. So It was possible to bridge any geographical distance. But I do think one needs to go to the epicentre of a scene or a movement to fully understand it's language. And if you are native to that area, then it is fluent. If you are not it is a second language, and you may have a better command of that language, but you will never understand fully its idiosyncrasies.

B: How much has the Dub War family affected your musical path?

F: It was highly influential for me, to travel 10 minutes on the subway and see acts like Vex'd and Kode 9. Dave Q who ran Dub War for 5 years has become a close friend of mine, and we later discovered we are essentially from the same home town outside of New York. It’s like minded people at that party, having a hell of a good time. Dave has allowed me to showcase a few times at Dub War and always encourage me to play whatever I wanted. So I played on diverse lineups with Ras G, Mike Slott, Kode 9, Loefah... pretty dreamy.

B: Are there other NY collectives or institutions that have been influential too?

F: The history of music and culture has been inspiring to say the least. DubWar, which at times had Dub and at time nothing of the sort, was the only group of people I got close with. I could not name any other collectives, simply because I don’t know any names. But coming from a hip hop background, what better place to be, then New York? I still say east coast sound is smoother, harder, more fantastic then any west coast hip hop. Sorry, they [the west coast] are in denial over there. You notice one or two names always come into conversation in the east-west discussion on the west side of things. East goes to deep to name them all… Good, that will start a fight.

B: How do you feel about southern hip hop?

F: That had never came in to consideration for me until recent years. Blame it on my ignorance. I do love a lot of it. I am maybe too comfortable with the oldies to fallow some new directions. Again, ignorance. However, back to the west, to its credit, I can not get enough of Earl Sweatshirt right now...

B: How much of a bearing on your music is current hip hop? I find it quite easy to ignore it when I'm in the UK but it's so everywhere when you’re in the states, kinda like the reverse relationship with dance music I find, which is in European DNA but not so easily visible in the States...

F: The production values in current hip hop are incredible, always have been pushing the boundaries of clarity in mixes and mix downs. That plays a role, however I try and ignore it. I’ll tell you what, when I am at a house party or chilling with friends I don’t put on dance music over here. I put on Nasty Nas. Or newer stuff, but that is a current role of hip hop in my life. It connects me with my friends, who don't listen to dance music as much as I do.

B: Dave Q's a massive 90s hip hop fan (as are Dusk and I…), but I get the impression it plays the role in his sets in the way jungle does for us here, i.e. after all the dubs are done that music comes out and it’s party time...

F: Isn't that part of the night so much fun? I draw for the jungle too. I start with hip hop actually. But yeah, it’s that time period ‘92-96 or whatever

B: Didn’t you play some hip hop on Rinse, when you were on Oneman's show?

F: Yeah i think I did open with some. It's sort of my indulgence in being American on Rinse. Like, here I am, this is where I come from in a way. But also ‘cause it sounds so good in the new Rinse studio, plus it’s a nice break from Onemans rolling sets.

B: yeah, makes sense did you see me and Dusk did a little 30 min hip hop section on our Christmas special?

F: I did see that, I think i have the podcast. Who selects more, you or dusk? Your djing'is it back to back?

B: yes we always, always do b2b.

F: that’s so great man I love one video http://www.vimeo.com/1467214 of yours the teaser for the album I think? Goes between the two tracks the one with trim maybe? And that woman with the beautiful voice? Durrty Goodz and Farrah. Yes love that back to what we were saying, it’s a dark video man, a really dark vibe "This is london" you may need to travel to London to get that feeling.

F: I think videos are really important now. Maybe best way of delivering music to a lot of people.

B: Sadly so…

F: but like boiler room over 600 people live watching the Swamp special and maybe 100 there. I have a 12" forthcoming on Swamp81. March 1st I think - “Mean Streets part 1,” backed with “Hard” and “Moonshine.” “Mean Streets Part 1” is my fave tune to date that I have made ever

B: you didn’t want it on the LP?

F: Mike didnt like it.

B: “THIS IS...”

F: hahah! Yes. Loe has tracks form me that are not Planet-Mu like. very NYC sounding tunes maybe? I dunno.

B: What does Swamp and being on Swamp mean to you?

F: Its incredible. I was so happy to hear from Loefah about the tracks he liked. I met up with him a few times, but this one time on Instra:mental's Rinse show and we spoke at length. We have been in touch since. It means a lot. I love that label, and his selecting has been incredible. It also means I really feel welcomed into a community that I look up to a lot. I'm very grateful and excited about it.

B: Like all the best people, loe's a fussy fkkr ;-)

F: Meaning?

B: High standards. Doesn’t accept imitations

F: Yeah. that is a stamp of approval.

B: Zactly I love it. So, tell me about the 110bpm house stuff. What inspired you to write down there?

F: Theo Parrish, some slower Shake Shakir, Floating Points. In the last two years these guys have showed me a lot more then anyone in the 130-140 bpm range, that has resonated personally and really struck a chord with me.

F: It is a beautiful lurching tempo that can be swung so hard. It just feels right to me, like I feel free to enjoy that space and not worry about anything outside of it while I am in there. It’s also fun to dance too. Albeit sometimes too slow.

B: It's brave because there's something about the tempo clustering that’s hard coded into producers that music that can't be beat mixed into other stuff disconnects itself.

F: Yeah, and to be fair it throws some people off that it gets pressed to vinyl. When it may not be usable to a certain audience. I dunno i may be wrong about that actually.

B: Might find a new audience?

F: Yeah hopefully. It was pretty funny though when a pretty well known online music store labeled my Endeavour 12" as dubstep. The tunes were all 115bpm and slower...

B: also, with some of those tunes, you seemed to be going on some kind of vintage synth exploration, or was that a fluke of naming?

F: Ha, I was actually going for space ship names, seriously.

B: I’ve been listening to the album in the car a lot. One thing I noticed is an influence from rave and acid house, is this deliberate?

F: The rave influence is deliberate. Partly from sampling old rave records to get the amazing sub bass they have. Sampling bass is tricky, but can work out sometimes. I think a lot of the tracks are pretty ravey on this album, but maybe in an obscure light. I have played a few of the cuts out myself and will do more in Europe. There is a sound quality to the entire LP that some call "dusty" and others call "Rave" I suppose it depends on your background.

B: rave was a long time ago, it also feels like quite a 'free' era, of fluid and change, of sonic possibilities, why did you choose to go back to it? Given much of your audience might not know it...

F: Tough question really. Why do I love rave and a period that I never actually experienced first hand? The process of writing music and the outcome is important to me, but the journey and figuring out why I am compelled by a certain sound is more important. The journey outweighs the product. I was and am still incredibly excited by early 90's hardcore, mid 90's jungle, and even further back, late 80's rave and house music. I think they have a place still in today’s music, if you don't know it, you’re still hearing music that is influenced by it. Its also just really dark music. Highly emotive, but incredibly danceable. I can't make up my mind what I make any given day. I have to give it up to something else.

I am also recreating an energy that I feel lacks in a lot of current dance music. Not discounting a load of lovely music, I just miss an energy I hear in old records that happily sit in my mind as a fantasy.
I think we are in an age of sonic possibilities again. It is a shame to some, how much we are provided with information wise, as it can cheapen the experience a bit. You need to find this stuff out in a tactile un-comfortable way. Go feel awkward and slightly frightened in the dark corner of a club. Thats what I did. For about 2 years.

B: For rave or dubstep?

F: Both. But mostly dubstep. Dubwar in fact. I saw Vex'd in '06 maybe? I hugged the wall all night and lost my shit. I remember them all. It took me a year to talk to anyone at that night. I would just go and drink water and feel moved. It wasn't a beautiful experience entirely. It was tough, cause I was making music at the same time trying to figure out my sound. I didn’t want to sound like anyone. Vex'd was pivotal though.

B: yeah, they sure had a sound.

F: It was/is ravey. Almost D'n'B.

B: it's funny, being inspired by scenes that you weren't part of directly (like rave), do you feel sometimes you can find interesting variants when lost in translation?

F: Yes. Because much will be lost in translation. Like a tape being recorded over and over. It will lose some authenticity, but gain more age and wisdom. To be honest, that’s what I am striving for often. Taking cues from loads of different genres and fusing them together in my own way. I’ll take straight loops from too different tracks, one untitled rave track and one Herbie Hancock track or something. Fuse them and find this middle ground. That’s where many tracks start and then I find a way of doing it without all the samples for obvious reasons. I feel like I am in a rave listening to Boddika or 2562 these days.

B: Yeah but what about Simon Reynold's counter argument, that too much information/influences makes musicians "glutted and clotted"... any truth in that to you?

F: I don't think new genres or movements are made in a vacuum. Nor are any improvements in science, politics or economics. That being said, I have been told my tracks are pretty busy! Haha. It takes a lot of ingredients to make something truly savoury. I think that applies to music as well. Although some amazing tracks have been made in 20 minutes.

It’s not always the sum of the immediate parts either, it’s the sum of all of ones experiences. Without going into much detail, a lot of my music comes from experiences I had between age 15-20. Some pretty epic shit I wouldn't wish upon many people. Or any for that matter.

B: do you think that time increased your ability to summon emotion in your tracks?

F: Time and experience. Everyone is on their own timeline. Some reach a maturity in their music at a really early age and that is incredible. It's rare but it happens. I’m still looking for that honesty, I think I have tapped into it.

F: I have friends send me tracks that don't sound very honest to their personalities. It's not me to say what is and what is not their own experience. I hope they reach that ability to listen to their heart. And then I have people send me tracks that are an exact exposure of their inner monologue. It's amazing stuff here.

B: But do you think that the best material is when you reflect your internal monologs? Can't music be about imagining what could be, not what is or who you are? Personally I try and fight my own internal monologs in my music, to break my own patterns and subconscious sound .

F: Ha, well depends on what your mind is saying. I hear what you are saying, but I think you may have miss interpreted my idea of inner monologue. I'll rephrase by saying it become impossible for one to ignore their inner monologue. How can you do that? The tune is coming through you, hopefully you are being a channel for it, for the art. I think this applies to dance music, and folk music and everything in between. It's quite a liberating feeling. I don't make music to escape, I make it to purge. I don't want to run away from anything, the problem will remain if you do so. I have to make music. I just have to.

B: I think I used to make music to contribute and compete, now I think I make music to a) leave something behind and b) because it's so satisfying to do so.

F: Competition is really tough. If you are an artist or a producer or whatever you want to call yourself, there is a great chance you have an ego right?

B: yeah, it's just whether you let it affect you. Ignore it, I say. Ugly business, ego.

F: Yeah you have to if you want to have things like, friends and love in your life. Obviously those two things are the most important. I do think it is healthy to an extent to compete with yourself.

B: The thing I find hardest is trying to lay my hands on what I've not yet seen
to see that new angle.

F: That is the search right. Stop me if I sound ridiculous, but that is what I think we should be striving for.

B: You sound sensible.

F: And so it's OK if you want music to remain purely physical and visceral. that's fine. I can't leave it at that, I have to immerse myself emotionally in it, invest in it.

B: and you sound like LHF too ;-)

F: Musically or philosophically?

B: Philosophically. LHF are always striving for what is unseen, beyond

F: Word.

B: That's a compliment btw ;-) At then end of the day, are you enjoying yourself? That remains the priority, after paying bills of course.

Lost sleevenotes: Gil Scott Heron v Jamie XX

Gil Scott Heron v Jamie XX "We're New Here" - the lost sleevenotes

2011: we live in an era of unprecedented hyper connectivity, saturated with music and information, swamped with data, signal and noise, in real time, whenever and wherever we are. There are relentless pressures to absorb new fragments, fresh styles and trends, pressures to consume music and yet more music, to move relentlessly forward. The future is piped into our today by Wi-Fi, fibre optic, super-broadband connections. Standing in the now, this wood can often seem like trees, all raw noise and no signal.

Step back a bit however and a picture resolves itself. Music, like the waves it itself is made from, moves in cycles. Stars rise and they fall, careers blossom and fade, genres burn bright then extinguish themselves and from their ashes others rise. From single to single, album to album it may all look like trees, but over longer timescales the woods emerge.

So if much of music is cyclical, that today’s ‘old’ will more than likely become tomorrow’s ‘new,’ timing becomes crucial: you best catch the wave at the right point, on the up not the down, on the in and not the out. To use the relevant term from the physics of waves, you need to be “in…” not “out of” phase.

Writing music is, in the narrowest sense, the art of combining two or more waves. And science makes it quite clear what happens when two waves combine. When one wave in phase – on the up, things going well – meets another out of phase – on a downer, fading out – then despite similarities they cancel each other out. By contrast when two waves meet in phase, both in the ascendency, then their forms combine to create an even greater peak, respective heights to which each had not yet reached.

Take two respective wave-makers, Gil Scott Heron and Jamie XX, who for the first time combine on “We’re New Here,” a remix album of Gil’s “I’m New Here.” In some ways it’s hard to imagine two more polar people: one white, one black; one younger, one older; one Brit, one American; one vocalist, one instrumentalist. Yet take the top down view and their picture resolves itself with clarity. Here are two musicians who find themselves at the right time and place, their careers both on the rise: they are “in phase.”

The last 18 months have been meteoric for Jamie XX, his band’s debut album winning both critical and public acclaim before scooping 2010’s prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Looking on a slightly longer timescale there have been low points for Gil Scott Heron, with addiction and prison to overcome. Yet finding it within himself to rise, he returned this year with the lauded new album “I’m New Here.” So what happens when Jamie XX remixes Gil Scott Heron? Two wave-makers combine in phase at the right time, in the right place? Something quite special it seems.

Born in 1949 and releasing music from the 1970s, it is perhaps inevitable that Gil Scott Heron’s influence appears at multiple points in the cycles that lead us to “We’re New Here”. His proto-rap spoken word is credited as an influence on hip hop, a genre that would both inspire Jamie XX as a producer and feed into the nascent rave scene of the late 1980s. It was in rave that both Jamie XX and Gil Scott Heron’s current record label, XL recordings and its owner Richard Russell, would make its name, with acts like SL2 and Prodigy mashing up hip hop beats at house tempo to make cultural waves. 15 years ago, as the flames of rave began to die down, Jamie XX’s parents would play him Gil Scott Heron records around the dining room table, feeding his love of music. Last year Jamie would establish his credentials as a remixer by magically reworking Florence and the Machine’s “You’ve got the Love,” itself a cover of rave bootleg by The Source, which in turn used soul singer Candi Staton’s vocals over seminal 1980s anthem “Your Love” by Jamie Principle and godfather of house, Frankie Knuckles. Then of course there’s his work with The XX, which Richard Russell listened to while producing “I’m New Here.” The influence seeped in so far it seemed only logical to Russell that Jamie apply his sensitive touch to an entire album rework.

So when they came to combine, on “We’re New Here”, perhaps Jamie XX and Gil Scott Heron were not truly strangers, instead linked by musical heritage, with Richard Russell the bridge in between.

Gil’s admission that he is “new here,” is a brave and honest one. But the “here,” in the context of this remix album is perhaps not so unfamiliar: maybe he’s not that new? Gil’s early work inspired hip hop. Freed from the constraints of being part of a band, Jamie returned to the hip hop breaks that he first loved as a producer and built a beautiful new sound for Gil. Jamie also took the occasion to bury samples in the work; fragments of the past recontextualised in the “new here.” Perhaps Gil felt more at home than we realise.

And as for the parts that might be less familiar to Gil, like Jamie’s more dubstep inspired work, you can’t help but feel that perhaps this is the cycles giving back to Gil. The young boy who was inspired to write music by records playing at the dinner table is now returning the favour by treating Scott Heron’s vocals so lovingly but underpinning them with the dubstep sub bass that has so dominated the recent now, that he offers Gil the gift of a new and current context.

2011 dubstep, in a tradition it borrows from 1970s dub reggae, also has a way of warping and bending vocal samples so they feel at once alien and familiar, lost and found. Perhaps then, on this album as the cycles of history have turned so successfully to combine two musicians in phase, when you finally hear a voice ask, “I’m new here, won’t you show me around?” you might just have to think for a second: is that Jamie XX or Gil Scott Heron asking? The answer probably lies somewhere in between.

Blackdown
LDN 2011

· Read my Jamie XX interview here.

Ross Allen's The Meltdown

I was a guest interviewee this week on Ross Allen's The Meltdown on Ministry of Sound radio show, no mixing, just a chinwag about Keysound releases and some classics.

Yuo can catch it streaming here, download it here. Thanks for Ross for the Keysound support.

The Meltdown Feb 7th

D Bridge - D Tuned Heart - Autonomic download
James Delay - Howl - Russell Club CDR
EVM - Stay - Meltdown Music Recordings CDR
Afrikan Boy - Kunte Kinte Dub - Melted Dubs CDR
Yambee - Chemical Love - CDR
Owny Sigoma Band - Margaret Okudo Dub - Brownswood CD (from the selftitled LP)
Morgan Zarate & A Cyde - Hey You - CDR
Dirtbombs - Sharevari (Omar S Remix) - download
Kid Sister - Work Dem (Ramadanman version) -download (from the mix tape Kiss Kiss Kiss (mixed by Nick Catchdubs))
Skream - Filth (Silkie Remix) - CDR
DELS - Moonshining - Big Dada download
Gucci Mane - Party Animal (Hudson Mohawke Remix) - download (from the mixtape Sinden Presents Free Gucci 2: The Burrrtish Edition)
Chris Brown feat Busta Rhymes, Twista & Lil Wayne - Look At Me Know - download
Alex Clare - Relax - CDR

Hour 2 Interview with Martin 'Blackdown' Clark from Keysound Recordings/Rinse FM/NME/Pitchfork & Blackdown Blogspot

Double Helix "Chamber of Light"
Balistiq Beats feat Jamakabi "Yardman"
Zed Bias & Steve Gurley - "Roll"
L.V. feat Joshua Idehen "Northern Line"
Vibezin "Hot 4 U"
Dusk & Blackdown "Dasaflex"
L.V. feat Joshua Idehen "I Know"
Damu "Ridin'"
Kowtown "Lookin' At You"
El-B feat Juiceman "Buck & Bury (original mix)" - Tempa (from The Roots of Dubstep compilation)
Roll Deep feat Dizzee Rascal "Bounce"
High Times "Journey Into Jazz" Underground Classics
Omni Trio "Thru The Vibe (2 on 1 mix)" Moving Shadow