Hudson Mohawke on 1Xtra.

Benji B has been fighting the good fight over on BBC 1Xtra for a while now spinning the best in soul music from across the myriads of dance music sub genres indiscriminate of tempo, timbre or which micro-scene a sound was bred in. Last night he had pipedown favourite Hudson Mohawke on as a special guest for an interview and exclusive mix and he didn’t disappoint. We must’ve had a HudMo track in our top 10 more times than not so far on this blog and his mix, rammed full of exclusives, makes me think this isn’t going to change any time soon. This is a real treat for Hudson Mohawke fanatics but also the perfect introduction for those yet to experience the psychedelic Scot. Listening to this WILL improve you day.
I haven’t managed to find a recording of the mix yet but for the next 6 days it is available on iplayerI will make it my goal to find a recording by the time this runs out so it can be added to iPods to make walks to work/school/nowhere in particular that bit wonkier and vibrant.

Listen here >>> Hudson Mohawke on 1Xtra

Interview starts at about an hour and a half in. I’ll also try and hunt down a tracklisting although many of the tunes apparently still only have working titles so could be tricky..

Ten for November.

01 Florence & The Machine – You Got The Love (The XX Remix)
02 Darkstar – Aidys Girl Is A Computer
03 A Made Up Sound – Rework
04 Starkey – Rain City
05 Hud Mo – Gluetooth
06 Joy Orbison – J. Doe
07 Vampire Weekend – Horchata
08 Offshore – simsalabim
09 Ungdomskulen – Idunno (Gold Panda Remix)
00 Numan – Secrets

simsalabim.

Got this through the mailbox the other day. The release is from Scottish producer Offshore who I hadn’t heard of before (lax on my part seeing as he’s had releases of Stuff and is apparently now signed to Big Dada.) The 7″ is out on Disboot and whilst both sides are akin to the movements of Rustie and Hudson Mohawke, it’s all about the B side for me; simsalabim. It sounds closer to grime than the afore mentioned Scottish producers; think Starkey’s high-end hooks coupled with the space in Terror Danjah’s production. We never plan posts here but this fits in nicely with recent posts about bass music emanating from Scotland.

Listen to samples of the EP below and grab it here. Oh and there’s also a free download that Fact mag gave away last month, his remix of Thavius Beck’s Go, crunked-up dexterity…

Offshore – Black Destroyer Hill

Offshore – simsalabim

Thavius Beck – Go! (Offshore Remix)

Also worth checking out is the very nice looking Disboot, on which this release is appearing. Have a gander round their website, some very good releases, including some free downloads, highly recommend the latest Suckafish EP. Check the Disboot website here.

Nosaj Thing @ Plastic People 28/10.

Nosaj Thing is currently touring Europe at the moment, on Wednesday he hits up Plastic People in London and we’re lucky enough to be playing with him.

Listen to him once and it’s very easy to lump him in with Flying Lotus; he’s from LA with unquantized beats and heavy on the sidechain. But listening to Nosaj’s album, Drift, puts the listener on edge, in the best possible way. It’s something I am beginning to get really into again, after a rebellion against halfstep’s moody coldness and a gravitation towards Joker’s uplifting synths and funky’s elevating rhythms, then once again I am really loving drama and unease in music. Maybe it’s just the winter months but Drift’s is completely hitting the spot, in much the same way James Blake’s remix of Untold fizzes from nothing to climactic noise. If James Blake is doing it for the 140 gang then Nosaj is for LA’s post-Dilla massive. There is precisely the right amount of dirt, the unquantized beats, but unlike the dark eyes down atmosphere from some dubstep a few years back, his synth trickery makes this a rather warm affair, warm-uneaseyness.

All at one of London’s most intense venues, where FWD>> is on Sundays. Low ceiling, concealing curtain, massive sound and very very dark and intimate, I’ll be honest I can’t wait to play on the system. Support comes from Bullion, Slugabed and us so get down early. Presented by the THEM! massive you can buy tickets or check the Facebook event.

There are stunning visuals too, for a taste of what’s to come, check out this promo video:

Something for nothing.

Whilst we don’t offer that much music in comparison to some other blogs, I’ve found a lot of DECENT music given away for free this week, either from other sites or sent to us. Here is a summation of my favourite bits, given credit where credit is due, to make your Saturday that much sweeter.

First up a beat from one of funky’s more prolific producers. Elevated Level has been moving dancefloors differently all year, remixes for Untold and Zed Bias’ Neighbourhood 09 were both big at all the festivals I went to. This tune, Hey Cutie, starts with tropical, synth-imitated steel pan riff, before the devastatingly simple bassline drops. It’s given out as hype for Fabric this Friday, 30th, as funky takes over the entire second room. As well as Roska, Donaeo is performing with a full live band and Toddla, Mistajam, Geeneus and grime-infected Lil’ Silva all step up. check the full line up here.

Roska – Hey Cutie

The best bit about funky becoming in vogue is that it has opened up the entire spectrum of house music, take a look at DJ Zinc. Even electro track Raven by The Proxy has had a second lease of life, over a year after it’s release, appearing in a lot of funky sets, most notably Geeneus’ (I saw him wheel it 3 times at FWD>> a few months back), Braiden also drew for it at Night Slugs last night, place went nuts. Anyway this next tune, a Switch remix, isn’t actually all that different from his sound of 2006 yet it feels amazingly of the now. Crazy, crazy house music, influences from sound systems all over the world, be it Baltimore or Jamaica, brought together in a way that isn’t particularly easy listening but so so works.

The Big Pink – Dominoes (Switch Instrumental Remix) (via Mad Decent)

This is just one tune off an EP of four given away for free to celebrate the relaunch of label Dust Science, follow the link for the other tunes. This one from Grievous Angel, and whilst I can’t wait for the release of his remake of jungle classic Soundclash1, it will more than fill the gap. Very dark, funky meets 2-step with throbbing bass. Dangerous.

Grievous Angel – Show Love

This one nothing like the Digidesign remix that I’ve been caning from OM Unit. Blissed out disco in a similar vain to Love Me Like This (from Floating Points), wish I could tell you where the sample is from.

OM Unit – Ghettos Of The Mind

We love Sbtrkt here and with this remix he lends his hand to yet another style. There are a lot of ideas here in this track be it the big garage riddim, fizzling Joy Orbison-esque synths at the beginning, rhodes stabs later on, teasing soulful vocals then chopped up or the body-shaking wobbling bass. Yes wobble bass, this track proving it’s not something to plain out avoid as you might believe given some of it’s press of recent.

TJR – Just Gets Better (Sbtrkt Gutter Mix) (via Chew The Fat)

And finally two tracks off the new Beat Dimensions compilation compiled by Cinnaman and Jay Scarlett. This is essential if you are into the whole instrumental hip-hop renaissance that seems most fruitful in LA, call it what you want, just don’t call it wonky and you can pick it up here.

Samiyam – Swamp Tarts (via XLR8R)

Dorian Concept – Be Tween (via Fact Magazine)

Idioteque @ Fibbers.

This one’s for the northerners. Tomorrow night sees the return of the intermittent club night Idioteque at which I hold a residency. It’s one of only a few nights in York which aren’t a couple of years behind schedule, note the lack of Ed Banger-esque electro and soulless distorted wobble bass. Instead expect explorations into the deeper side of house, two-step, funky and dubstep with a happy helping of bass to help deal with the cold outside.

Get down to Fibbers from half 10 to catch myself, Park Ranger and The Boog-A-Loo Crew (both Trouble Vision residents) bringing the noise.

Confirm your attendance here

See you at the front.

ButterzTV 22/10.

There’s been a big influx in people heading over to uStream to broadcast, being drawn to the openness, opportunity to try experiment and, despite the barrier of a screen, intimacy that the medium offers, more here. Last night Elijah and Skilliam aka Butterz jumped on it for what turned into a massive session. If you want a glimpse of where grime is right now in ‘09 then this it. New music from Starkey, SRC, Terror Danjah, Maniac along with loads more, didn’t you know Barry White and MJ are big in Bow?

Elijah and Skilliam – ButterzTV 22/10

Night Slugs x Fact 23/10.

This Friday sees Night Slugs and Fact Magazine take over Always Fridayz at The Egg. Headlining is 2562, fresh from his new LP Unbalance, and whilst the techno influenced dubstep of his debut is still there, it’s clear he’s been listening to Joker and recent post-garage movements as colour and skippy rhythms enter the equation. I’m excited to hear new stuff from A Made Up Sound, his housier monkier, recent release Rework, I could well have listened to more than the album. We blogged a lot about Glasgow recently (here and here) and Jackmaster is pretty much at the front of that, heading up what used to be the labels Dress2Sweat and Wireblock but now is Numbers. Elsewhere expect sounds influenced by global soundsystem culture, tropical house music and that sound that isn’t quite garage, funky or dubstep.

Full line up reads:-
2562 / A Made Up Sound
Claro Intelecto
Jackmaster
Untold b2b Shortstuff
Bok Bok & L-Vis 1990
Joy Orbison
Scratcha DVA & Braiden
FACT DJs

Tomorrow (23rd) at The Egg, confirm your attendance here.

Here’s a recent set of the men that are Night Slugs, L-Vis 1990 and Bok Bok, on Rinse.

L-Vis 1990 & Bok Bok – RinseFM 06/10

The Big Pink @ The Duchess, York, 16/10/09.

Two exclusives for you today. First up, a review of The Big Pink’s performance at The Duchess. Secondly, the first post featured on Pipedown that is lacking a Y chromosome. Yep, there are girls on Pipedown. Due to my involvement in the drunken rampage that is Freshers’ Week, Pipedown friends Daisy Bunyan and Sarah Howell took the plunge into blogging for the review that follows…

York: The walled city of the North is more a place you’d associate with Horn-blowing Vikings, and pan-piping Hobgoblins, than the The Big Pink. They did make an effort to fit in though, wearing studded leather and a whole lotta black, and the venue- The Duchess- only enhanced this image further, channelling the York Dungeon look.

We both felt that their sound was multi-layered, in the construction of the different sounds inputted into their songs, and multi-faceted in their patch-working of different musical genres; but this self-reflexive attitude to music’s history doesn’t take away from the fact that they feel pure and fresh and not at all like a re-hashed My Bloody Valentine, though this wouldn’t be a bad thing! The wailing vocal of Robbie Furze, central to their songcraft was even more haunting live, and his cover of Otis Redding’s “These Arms Of Mine” was mind-blowingly wonderful, beautiful. The minimalist cover was so unpretentious and honest- a trait Otis’ shares- that it seemed almost natural for it to form part of their set. The Big Pink live, does everything a band should do: So much better than listening to their album really loud at home, their sound was less clipped, less commercialized, more dare I say poetic. The little box of a stage made for an intimate performance, pushing the sound directly at its fans. One thing we do disagree on is the addition of the shiny black jiggling Phallus, which they introduced to audience as their “new member”. Daisy loved it. But she would. Sarah’s short-sightedness concealed the glory till the end, so didn’t quite get the joke. However this silly “member” only further solidified how unified the band was, all joking about it together and making the gig seem less serious, more friendly. Overall, it was infinitely better than a trip to the Jorvick’s Viking Centre

The Big Pink Official Website
The Big Pink Myspace
My original Big Pink post, featuring 3 free downloads

Feelings Gone.

After a fair old amount of posts, us at pipedown have never really shown our appreciation for a man that has firmly stayed up there in our list of best producers for a few years now. I dug out a few Rusko golden oldies last week and got listening to ‘love is real’ off the second ever sub soldiers release,the track is one of the finest peice’s of dubstep music to date,and should never be forgotten.Moving on from the past,the latest rusko material is as dangerous as his early stuff. The classic Rusko wobbles being slowly being flushed out of productions,and replaced with a more high synth lines doing the talking complimenting the classic rusko fx sounds littered in and around the drums,rusko has defiantly taken it to a whole new level. The Album needs to drop ASAP. 

Basement Jaxx Feat Sam Sparro – Feelings Gone (Rusko Stadium Rock Remix) (via Amazon)

And a sign of things to come, his new one, My Mouth, fire…