Blog: Blah Blah Blah

WeAreBTN or WeAreBrighton is a regular feature that showcases the bubbling under talent of our hometown, Brighton. Each post will introduce you to the underground electronic artists, labels and parties that make up the fabric of our vibrant clubbing scene. Following up our WeAreBTN mixtape post what better than a load of free downloads from some of Brighton's finest.... Bobby Champs - 'Moonlight'. Moonlight is the lead track from Bobby Champs forthcoming EP on Pictures Music , and amazingly you [...]

A couple of weeks ago Mixmag released the results of their public vote for 'Who Is The Greatest Dance Act Of All Time'. The Top 20 are as follows: 01. The Prodigy 02. Daft Punk 03. The Chemical Brothers 04. Faithless 05. Deadmau5 06. Plastikman 07. Underworld 08. Fatboy Slim 09. Orbital 10. Moby 11. Leftfield 12. Kraftwerk 13. Pendulum 14. Depeche Mode 15. Justice 16. Basement Jaxx 17. Groove Armada 18. The Shamen 19. Above & Beyond 20. The KLF Whilst [...]

Brighton has always produced its fair share of great music and in the last 2-3 years the electronic scene has been bubbling under with some truly exciting Producers, DJs, Record Labels and Parties. Its with this in mind that we present a new regular feature on the Blah Blah Blah Blog - WeAreBTN. WeAreBTN as you no doubt have guessed stands for WeAreBrighton and therefore each article will discuss whats currently hot in the burgeoning Brighton electronic music scene. Each post will also present a guest mix from a Brighton DJ featuring exclusively Brighton based artists and [...]

Brainfeeder recently won label of the year at the ' 2012 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards ' just pipping Jackmasters 'Numbers' to top spot. In celebration of this win and an all round impressive 2011 label boss Flying Lotus has elected to issue a free 12 track compilation showcasing his increasingly impressive rosta of artists. As you would expect from Brainfeeder this is pretty eclectic stuff that on occasion can be a little tricky to digest, but lets not quibble too much as it is free after all. Thanks to XLR8R for [...]

Glade Festival originated from 'The Glade' area in Glastonbury and since 2004 has firmly established itself as the UK's premier undrerground electronic dance event, combining imaginative installations, immersive decor, and interactive shows with breath taking performances. Glade is not just a couple of stages lashed up around a patch of grass with Tuborg Bars as far as the eye can see. This year alone there are 8 areans including the open air 'Meteor Stage' that lies in a crater inside their own private woodland, not to mention ' The Rabbit Hole ' and Psychedelic Village. [...]

Stuck on Repeat simply collects together a load of tracks over an un-specified amount of time that we consider essential listening. As always with these types of things there maybe certain tracks you've already heard, tracks we've missed or accidentally overlooked, so please feel free to hit up the comments with anything you think is indispensable. In no particular order.... Locked Groove - Rooted (Hotflush Recordings) Boddika & Joy Orbison - Mercy (Hotflush Recordings) Claude VonStroke & Eats Everything - Ignorance [...]

Stuart Price aka Thin White Duke aka Les Rythmes Digitales made a shock return to the decks and the studio last year with perhaps his most iconic and revered alias of them all ' Jacques Lu Cont '. In recent years Stuart Price has been content to produce other artist's music with the likes of Madonna and the Killers employing his services, and whilst highly commendable it did deprive the clubbing circuit of one if its more pivotal members. Hands up if you remember and still cherish his [...]

New Yorks Madteo gets the honour of the opening release on Joy Orbison's and Will Bankhead's new label Hinge Finger. The opening gambit from Madteo suggests that Hinge Finger will strive to explore the more unconventional end of the electronic market, putting out sounds that are unlikely to appeal to the more mass market among you. Often this type of approach can come off as self indulgent nonsense, however with the long serving and iconic designer Will Bankhead working closely alongside the equally iconic producer Joy Orbison these worries are likely to prove unfounded, [...]

The 2 Bears are made up of one half Joe Goddard (Hot Chip) and one half Raf Rundell (Greco-Roman Soundsystem) and combined they make Indie-Electro House. We first came across them with their debut EP 'Follow the Bears' in 2010 and have since been hooked into their playful melodies and stomping beats. Earlier this year their ' Bear Hug ' track exploded into the public consciousness and with the latest single ' Work ' having a similar affect we decided to pop down to their neck of the woods and ask a few questions about them [...]

The 2 Bears debut LP 'Be Strong' is due to drop Jan 30th on Southern Fried Records in the UK and DFA in the States. In the last 12 months the furry twosome of Raf Rundell and Joe Goddard have been making considerable waves with their unique brand of curios indie electro-pop. Their sound has been gathering fans from home and abroad, making this LP one of the first highly anticipated electronic albums of 2012. In the build up to its release the Bears have just recorded the much coveted Essential Mix (see below) and have also [...]

DJ Kicks is one of the longest serving compilation series within dance music, releasing its first mix in 1995 when the idea of a commercially marketed mix was the thing of dreams. Since then the DJ Kicks series has drawn influence from all facets of electronic music with mixes from the likes of Stereo MC's, The Glimmers, Tiga, Four Tet, Hot Chip, Chromeo and Scuba to name a few. However every man and his blog has a mix series these days so why should we care about 'DJ Kicks'... [...]

GoldFFinch first came to our attention with their sublimely accessible bass single Red Mask on Numbers , and now the Belguim duo are back with their 3rd single - 'Point of Entry/Arabian Prince' on 877 Records . Leading off with 'Point of Entry' GoldFFinch demonstrate again that they have a sound that gives them both an air of credibility whilst appealing to the wider dancefloor. The combination of ground shaking sub, booty vocal loops, punchy drums and almost fidget type leanings mean [...]

With the unprecedented success of Swims Boddika and Joy Orbison have announced that they will be doing a series of 12 inches together on the freshly launched Sunklouwn label. The first of these releases includes the superb 'Mercy' track that we featured on the blog back in 2011. Froth/Mercy is due to be released Feb 21st and is currently available for pre-order via the Rubadub site. Thanks to XLR8R for the heads up on this one. [...]

Blah Blah Blah Records presents the second single from the hotly tipped Irish producer REID . Since releasing his debut single ' Genesis ' on BBB Records REID has been snapped up by a prominent management agency and his new single Diptera was recently used by US filmmakers Second Base Films for their documentary ' From The Inside Out ' which also features tracks by Chase & Status, Nero and Digitalism. With his second release the young producer expands upon the ethereal qualities of Genesis/Forrest and delivers two tracks that expertly weave washes of [...]

By now you should be aware that Hessle Audio took the torch for Bass music in 2011 and under the guidance of label owners Ben UFO and Pearson Sound they have helped solidify a genre of music into a brand of electronic music that both excites and pushes the boundaries, despite its often self indulgent nature. Next up on Hessle is Berlin based Objekt with a two track bass shaker. At first listen the lead track Cactus comes off as [...]

Bleep have just revealed their Top 100 tracks of 2011 and for the third year running they are giving away all 100 tracks to one lucky winner. The Top 100 compilation which is compiled by Bleep staff boasts tracks from the likes of Blawan, Burial, Falty DL, Jacques Greene, James Blake, Julio Bashmore, Caribou and Scuba among many others, and for your chance to win these tracks plus a load of other extra vinyl goodies simply hit the following link to Resident Advisor and get entering. [...]

2011 was the year that Bass Music officially severed its embryonic ties to Dubstep and established itself as a definable genre. Its fair to say that Bass music benefited from the ever increasing exploitation of Dubstep as a commercial sub genre of pop. Whilst majors were squeezing every penny from the genre and student nights across the UK hammered Dubsteps greatest hits week after week Bass Music was able to bloom as the new underground sound of choice. Its a new and exciting era for Bass Music with fresh and often mesmerising ideas being pushed by an increasingly talented fraternity [...]

Electronic artists have many more strings to their bows these days and the increasingly popular trend is to launch your own label, giving an artist instant credibility and status. However with the ever growing dominance of social networking in the consumption of music a new label really needs some sort of platform from which to launch itself, making an established artist the ideal choice. Next to enter the fray is Canadian born Jacques Greene with his Vase label. The first release 'Concealer' is due on the 30th of Jan featuring two solo productions and two collaborations [...]

First post of 2012 and its a big one. We posted towards the back end of 2011 about the impending ' Hatched ' compilation from Dirtybird and we can now confidentally reveal that the CVS & Eats Everything collaboration is the first big tune of 2012. 'Ignorance is Bliss' got its first airing on Pete Tong's Essential Selection last night and is available in the shops Jan 11th via the 1st part of the 3 part Hatched series. Check the radio rip below..... Claude [...]

These are the 30 tracks that have been jostling for position in our respective record bags throughout 2011, and have most likely been hyping a dance floor somewhere near you. Feel free to mention any we may have missed. The following list has been compiled and verified by the WeAreBlahBlahBlah writing team 30. Oliver $ - Doin Ya Thang 29. Danny Daze - Your Everything 28. Four Tet - Pyramid 27. Worthy & Eats Everything - Tric Trac 26. J.Phlip - Bootyberg 25. Mervielle & Crosson [...]