Blog: Blah Blah Blah

New Zealand pop songstress Kimbra gets the underground electronic makeover, with Brenmar, George Fitzgerald , Owsey and Benjamin Damage all on hand to reign in her natural pop sensibilities and introduce her to an entirely new audience. With this being a free download just a couple of weeks before her debut album drops (May 22nd) it's obviously a calculated move by her label to raise her profile, however when the remixes are this good its a move that has bought us some great new music, which you cant really complain about, whatever the motivations. Our pick is [...]

'Don't Go' is the second single to be taken from the forthcoming debut LP ' Ghettos & Gardens' which is due to drop on Dirtybird May 22nd, and its a richly deep house chugger that pulls at both the heart strings and the dancing feet, sublime. Second track 'Ruff Stuff' is more of what we have come to expect from Justin Martin in recent years, booty infused bass house, but dont be fooled this is not bass by numbers but another example of Martins unique talent to connect with the dancefloor. On the strength of [...]

Glade Festival was already looking quite flavour-sum with Sven Vath, Andy C, Rusko, Stanton Warriors, Boddika , Jimmy Edgar (Live), Mosca , and Eats Everything among others all confirmed to appear, however despite this nicely seasoned line up Glade have decided spice things up further with a pungent mix of the world's finest Techno artists. Marcel Dettmann, Levon Vincent, Blawan, Function, and Space Dimension Controller have all been confirmed for the primed and loaded Pryo-mid Stage, making Glade the most tantalising of underground electronic festivals in 2012. [...]

Hot of the press, Boddika has just revealed his latest Joy Orbison collaboration 'Dun Dun / Prone' and both are simply sublime. Like previous releases both cuts are weighty slabs of main room nirvana. Dun Dun is a killer techno banger that builds on a faint almost Faithless type backdrop before dropping one of the most energising kick drums we've heard for quite sometime, this is the type of track that when played on a big system it is simply inescapable. Prone takes a deeper more melodic approach, but is by no means weaker for it, [...]

It would appear that underground electronic music has a bit of a thing for female soul-tress's, but in an already crowded powder room do we really need another? Its not like the use of a female vocal is a new trend, however since the crossover success of Ms Dynamite's 2010 Wile Out vocal, its safe to say that artist's and label's that are perhaps considered more underground have seen the benefits of combining electronic sounds with female leads, a fact clearly highlighted with the emergence of Katy B from feat. to solo [...]

So what to do when your bassline is declared lame, and your synth line is rushed to the operating table? Well, there are two options, you can either take the easy road of hooking up with an experienced engineer and getting them to lay your ideas down, which has proved profitable for many a recognised name, or you can take the slightly more rewarding but longer scenic route and teach yourself. Therefore to help those of you looking to produce your own tunes we have decided to launch a new section to our blog, Tech. Tech has been [...]

The wait is over, the elusive Joy Orbison track 'Ellipsis' finally finds it way to the pressing plant. Like Sicko Cell and Swims it has been a long time coming, but it is still very much worth the wait, with its infectious vocal hook and 902s piano riff embellishing a discreetly disguised acid bass line. Ellipsis drops 21st May on Joy and Will Bankheads ' Hinge Finger ' label, and is available for pre-order now via ' The Trilogy Tapes '. Also check Joy Orbison's - Hinge Finger (Mixtape) Highly recommended download. [...]

It's safe to assume that Darren Cunningham, the enigmatic character behind Actress, has never so much as glanced at the techno producer's rule book. And it's to his credit, as latest outing "R.I.P" plays as a uniquely post-genre, individual work of brilliance. Arguably, previous albums " Splazsh " and " Hazyville " looked out of the producer's South London studio for influence, with beat-driven tracks drawing in ideas from luminaries in Detroit and Berlin. "R.I.P" however, looks deeply inwards, the listener feeling almost perverse as we witness one man's exhalation of creativity. [...]

The aptly titled Galaxy Garden marks a departure from Lone's previous two albums of blissed out, hip-hop infused electronica. His third LP retains the atmospheric touches of Lemurian and Ecstasy & Friends. It also shares their soundtrack qualities but this time it's the sonic backdrop to a psychedelic, schizophrenic journey through the cosmos. Dreamy synths float all over this album giving it a lush but eery feel. There's beatless moments where pan pipes, whale noises, running water and acoustic guitar could take it into chill out territory but the frantic [...]

Jack Dixon is back on Skint Records with his latest single 'Above From The Below', and again he is impressing with a delightfully lush mix of dreamy soundscapes that are punctuated with tight grooves and rhythmic percussion. This is the sort of Deep House that has longevity beyond the dancefloor whilst not over indulging itself in floaty directionless sounds that lack clear purpose or drive. If for example you are already drawn to the likes of Midland , Lorca , George Fitzgerald and Maya Jane Coles then you need to be adding Jack [...]

Jimmy Edgar returns with his third album, Majenta. With previous albums released on Warp and !K7 , expectations of a fairly leftfield electronica aren't unfair. He's already earned himself a reputation as a purveyor of sleazy electro-funk and with track names such as 'Sex Drive', 'Touch Yr Bodytime' and 'In Deep' this looks set to continue. On first listen it's easy to identify the bouncy electro basslines and 80s synth stabs that characterise his work. Along with the sexual spoken word narratives and hints of RnB flavour. There's a tougher [...]

We are approaching our 5th Birthday ( May 12th ) and as part of those celebrations we have a whole host of things planned among which is dropping perhaps our most eargley anticipated ' Blah Blah Blah Records ' release to date: 'Blacksmif - Hoop Dreams / Microweight'. Blacksmifs debut 123 'And the Sun Rose Out EP' caused quite a stir earlier this year with Mixmag voting it's 'Mandy' track 5th in their monthly 'Big Tunes' feature, along with luminaries such as Mary Anne Hobbs and Gilles Peterson hammering it on their respective radio shows. [...]

In anticipation of her superb DJ Kicks mix Maya Jane sits down with the !K7 crew and discusses her unquenchable passion for electronic music.

Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet doesnt tend to announce what he's got bubbling away until the moment he decides to drop it on his unsuspecting audience. Like his recent Burial collaboration ' Nova ' this just appeared on his Soundcloud account accompanied by a very modest low key tweet "New DJ Mix". As you would expect from Four Tet this mix is an assorted array of contrasting themes shoe horned into 43 minutes of listening bliss, plus you should also know that it contains two tracks from his forthcoming 123 single.

Fresh from their slick Jessie Ware remix the London duo Disclosure are preparing the release of their next EP 'The Face', which drops June 4th on Greco-Roman . Like everything that has gone before this is another equisite cut of bass powered music thats melodic overtones are inescapably rich. Vocals are provided by UK songstress Sinead Harnett .

Legendary UK garage imprint ' Nice N Ripe ' announced that it was finally making its back catalogue digitally available from April 10th. To support this new chapter in the labels history they have also lined up exclusive new music alongside mixes from Todd Edwards and Soul Clap. First launched in 1993 by George Power and Grant Nelson, Nice 'N' Ripe and its vast cluster of sub-imprints helped cement the embryonic UK Garage scene and nurture its endless offshoots that most modern garage/dubstep/bassline/funky owes a huge debt to. Producers such as Warren [...]

The DJ-Kicks series has become so synonymous with quality electronic music, that you don't really need to know who's been asked contribute as the results are invariable startlingly good. Get it right, and people still talk about it 15 years later (here's to you, Carl Craig and Kruder & Dorfmeister). Not a challenge to be taken lightly then. This success is obviously not based solely on it's reputation. The carefully hand-picked contributors are varied, interesting, and on top of their game. There is no room for fads only truly world-class electronic musicians, making Maya Jane [...]

Since 20112s ' Adrenalin EP ' Hotflush Recordings owner Paul Rose aka Scuba has most definitely embraced the 802s, which for someone who built a label on underground dubstep and bass sounds is quite a risky departure, has it worked? The Adrenalin EP marked a clear change of direction for Paul Roses's own productions with the ghetto blasting 'Everywhere' suggesting that he had switched Berlin for a high waisted and permed version of Beverly Hills. This nostalgic theme continued in his recently released LP ' Personality ' with tracks July, Ignition Key and NE1BUTU all dazzling [...]

Towards the middle of last year Mad Decent's enigmatic leader and Major Lazer co-conspirator 'Diplo' let it leak that a 2nd boombastic Major Lazer album was in the process of being recorded. Accompanying the statement was a roughly recorded YouTube video of Diplo and friends laying down some early ideas in an undisclosed Jamaican studio, however despite this fly on the wall opportunity it looked like we were going to be left even more in the dark than when we started. However just as the credits are beginning to roll on this hastily recorded clip, a sumptuously soaring [...]

Should a mix be perfectly mixed. In most cases our answer would be most likely be yes as without good mixing it is just simply a collection of tracks or an unmixed compilation. Which is fine if your mix is not prefaced by the words 'Essential Mix', however these immortal words do suggest something that is greater than its parts. As you may have already guessed Rustie's Essential Mix is not your typical surgically precise mix of perfectly selected house beats that seamlessly flow from one 16 bar phrase to the next, but would we expect anything less [...]