Tuesday 24 November 2009
amazing
Storm Chasers: Inside the Tornado
Storm Chasers | Discovery Channel | MySpace Video
I would love to do something like this one day. Ultimate dream
Saturday 24 October 2009
like 18 weeks
also I'd recommend this ill mix to download. september crack house mix. zinc
http://soundcloud.com/zinc/zincseptcrackhousemix
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Monday 7 September 2009
updaaate
So whats been going on?
Well I'm currently awaiting my results for my degree, should be anytime towards the end of this week/next week. Pretty positive I've done alright! Now that I have uni officially out the way, I'm concentrating on getting an office job, necessary in getting those funds to move to OZ next February 2010. I've also locked down a couple residency's in Birmingham last week, you should see me playing out in Subway City a bit more often!
So....
I'm filling the rest of my time as an assistant promoter for Plug After Hours Club in Birmingham, England. I've been given two nights to start, which will hopefully create more exposure for the club. Thinking about resurrecting my Bassfaced! nights for one Thursday each month, just need to get some ridiculous drink offers and good lineups down. I'm also looking into putting on bands on a regular basis, as it'll be something completely different for the venue and also continue to support live music in the area.
I've also recently been accepted on an internship with Australian digital distributors, Musicadium. I'll be doing the program from England, therefore not costing me a penny and giving me the chance to really really impress these guys. I'm officially a UK Correspondent, where I'll be completing an 8 week project involving various tasks, weekly Skype meetings, online promotion and more. It's all very exciting, could well benefit my job prospects of working in the music industry in OZ next year...will have to wait and see
Other cool stuff I'd recommend to anyone who may be reading this:
http://culturejam.com
http://redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/1215
http://www.brainfeedersite.com/2009/07/20/vida-ahu-nova
http://www.crashblogwallop.com
http://www.brokenrecordseries.com
http://www.datatransmission.co.uk
http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=102521
Peace!
Well I'm currently awaiting my results for my degree, should be anytime towards the end of this week/next week. Pretty positive I've done alright! Now that I have uni officially out the way, I'm concentrating on getting an office job, necessary in getting those funds to move to OZ next February 2010. I've also locked down a couple residency's in Birmingham last week, you should see me playing out in Subway City a bit more often!
So....
I'm filling the rest of my time as an assistant promoter for Plug After Hours Club in Birmingham, England. I've been given two nights to start, which will hopefully create more exposure for the club. Thinking about resurrecting my Bassfaced! nights for one Thursday each month, just need to get some ridiculous drink offers and good lineups down. I'm also looking into putting on bands on a regular basis, as it'll be something completely different for the venue and also continue to support live music in the area.
I've also recently been accepted on an internship with Australian digital distributors, Musicadium. I'll be doing the program from England, therefore not costing me a penny and giving me the chance to really really impress these guys. I'm officially a UK Correspondent, where I'll be completing an 8 week project involving various tasks, weekly Skype meetings, online promotion and more. It's all very exciting, could well benefit my job prospects of working in the music industry in OZ next year...will have to wait and see
Other cool stuff I'd recommend to anyone who may be reading this:
http://culturejam.com
http://redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/1215
http://www.brainfeedersite.com/2009/07/20/vida-ahu-nova
http://www.crashblogwallop.com
http://www.brokenrecordseries.com
http://www.datatransmission.co.uk
http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=102521
Peace!
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Tuesday 23 June 2009
first dream called ocean
Long time no posting shit. Well I'm freeeee from university. Completely finished, three years...done with. Now I'm just working full-time in my shitty job, buying less and less records and starting to save so I can escape.
This time last year I was flying outta Birmingham and on my way to OZ. You are missed
This time last year I was flying outta Birmingham and on my way to OZ. You are missed
Thursday 23 April 2009
life out there??
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090422/tsc-scientists-find-most-earth-like-exop-50a9c9d.html
Friday 3 April 2009
pitchfork dubstep/grime/funky columns are back!
Taken directly from Blackdown's much anticipated and highly welcomed return to the pitchfork column.
******
April 3, 2009
With its relentless forward momentum, urban music moves quickly. Where once it might have taken a decade or a generation to put stylistic clear water between related artists, now even as short as a few years ago can feel creatively distant. 2009 is underpinned by one trend: undercurrent. As funky moves apace, grime MCs jump on 4x4 beats and dubstep tries to roll without wobbling, the undercurrent of percussive momentum flows through them all. Yet it wasn't so long ago-- 2004-05-- when dubstep dared to disrupt its own dance by going into dark and deadly half-timed "halfstep." Led primarily by producer Loefah and DJ Youngsta, it was a time of massive risk taking and change, one that would influence so much of the genre's future progression.
In 2009, dark and deadly halfstep seems creatively distant. It's almost as if it has been forgotten, by DJs at least. Yet to lose such a bold and unique idea-- that dubstep can have impact without excessive momentum-- would be a tragedy. Luckily, in the true dubstep spirit of swimming against the tide, the small but tightly knit camp of Swamp 81 are determined not to let that happen.
It's perhaps little surprise to learn that the owner of new label Swamp 81 is Loefah himself. 2009 sees the innovator back and energized, carrying a new secret weapon. That weapon is Kryptic Minds, the production duo of Si and Leon, who-- after falling out of love with 21st century drum'n'bass-- found themselves creatively liberated. Kryptic Minds and Loefah met through Youngsta and in doing so re-formed the halfstep circle. When you factor in Headhunter and Burial's involvement, suddenly you have a very strong creative core. "I came up with the name [Swamp 81] in May. I just couldn't find anything for it. I didn't want it to be just another dubstep label bringing out whatever," explains Loefah.
Then he heard Kryptic Minds' deadly new direction, which represented something Loefah had been seaching for in dubstep for quite some time. "That night I listened to the beats... I was like 'fucking hell,' I couldn't believe it," he said. "Throughout 2008 I was very confused about where the sound was going. There was this whole jump up thing going on, which is what it is. To be honest it's not my preferred music but... it fills a gap. What I want to push with Swamp 81 is the gap that isn't really being represented anymore. The roller, the halfstep... spacious."
What Loefah heard in those first few Kryptic Minds beats is edgy, rolling, stripped back spacious dubstep that was spectacularly well made and also had its own identity-- emotive, organic in places, very junglist in spirit-- unlike the vast number of producers who tried to clone his sound in 2006, and failed. The first fruits of the partnership are Kryptic Mind's "One of Us", a deadly 12" that encapsulates producers who understand the difference between edgy and too angry; that restraint often has more impact than chaotic release. This deft understanding of the tensions and contradictions buried within dubstep, and how you use them is played out yet further on their new album, due on Swamp 81 later this year.
The most remarkable fact about Kryptic Minds is how little dubstep they'd heard before creating such a startlingly strong album. It was just Mala's "Bury the Bwoy", Loefah's "Jah War remix", and some Burial which was to ignite their passion for the sound. "To be honest I still don't listen to a lot of stuff, only what Headhunter sends," admits Si. "Maybe within this dubstep thing, I think I'm gonna be an outsider."
Maybe a distance will remain between Kryptics and the rest of the dubstep scene, but in many ways they and Loefah are as one. Look at their passports and, just like Burial's, under their occupation it reads "Original Junglist." Loefah speaks regularly about being inspired by the musical place somewhere between Reinforced Records and early Metalheadz. Si loves this era, too: Kryptic Minds signed to Metalheadz in the early part of this decade, releasing singles for Goldie's legendary imprint.
"I'm thinking Wax Doctor, Doc Scott, Goldie-- that kind of thing. It's that transitional phase between Reinforced and Headz that is in my heart" explains Loefah. "That's what I'd like to do with Swamp. And I don't want it to be labelled as 'the halfstep label.' I want it to have that kind of tunnel vision Metalheadz had in 1996, that kind of 'we're going this way. I'm not watching what you're doing, I'm not watching what you're doing-- I'm going straight ahead.'"
In that spirit, Kryptic Minds' One of Us zooms in on edgy 140bpm halfstep, forcing the listener into a headspace where perfectly placed details come into vivid focus, like the hyper-real intensity of night adrenalin. Everything is tautly coiled, as if priming the listener for a flight-or-fight reflex. The tension is barely unleashed throughout the album. "To me the album-- and this may be really gushy," enthuses Loefah, "it's like a night out. Leaving the house or wherever you are, going through the night and the last track is morning. The sun's come up and it's time for bed."
While much edgy music speaks of urban decay, Kryptic Minds live in Essex rather than London-- more outsiders than scenesters-- and some percussion sounds were recorded in the woods, striking trees for snare sounds recorded at gritty low quality on a mobile phone. It's like Burial's plan to sample footsteps scuttling out of a church flipped into a completely different setting, one that subverts the natural tendency to think of urban decay when placed in a dark headspace.
But despite the edgy overtones of the album, Si and Leon found the album enjoyable and fun to make, especially in relation to the emotional context in which they wrote their last album, the drum & bass longplayer Lost All Faith. "Basically my brother died in 2000," explains Si. "In 2003, we signed to Metalheadz and were doing a lot of work for Goldie; originally it was going to be the first artist album album on Headz. But it didn't really pan out and one thing lead to another.
"We do literally a couple of tracks a year and so we just left it because I was too emotionally tired: three years in and I'd just lost my brother so I was drained, at the time I was trying to write vocals dedicated to him and I can't sing, at all. So it was kinda just a mad one because I'd lost all faith in drum & bass and because of the drugs, the drink and my brother killed himself, he had also lost all faith... So [by contrast] the new one has been great fun."
His sense of enjoyment must be infectious. As 2009 rolls on, Swamp 81 seem to be building a tight knit camp and an impressive arsenal, built by their natural affinity for each other's sound. Headhunter and Kryptic Minds have collaborated, Loefah's back on production duties again exploring his love of dark 808 drum machines, at whatever tempo he pleases. Kryptics have built a future anthem entitled "Badman" and have remixed Loefah's DMZ classic "Root" to devastating effect. Returning the favour, Loefah and Burial have been collaborating on a pair of Kryptic Minds remixes, due out on the same 12". But before all that, there's one deadly album to be dealing with first.
"I think the Kryptic Minds album and the 12"," concludes Loefah, "it's just making a bit of a statement. We're saying 'you know what? It's not this, it's not that, we're right in the middle and we're headstrong with it. You either like it or you don't.'"
Check www.blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com in the coming weeks for the full interview with Kryptic Minds and Loefah and an exclusive mix.
by Martin Clark
******
big ups blackdown.
full article here: http://pitchfork.com/features/grime-dubstep/7638-grime-dubstep
also, check this lecture featuring Mala @ the Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona
******
April 3, 2009
With its relentless forward momentum, urban music moves quickly. Where once it might have taken a decade or a generation to put stylistic clear water between related artists, now even as short as a few years ago can feel creatively distant. 2009 is underpinned by one trend: undercurrent. As funky moves apace, grime MCs jump on 4x4 beats and dubstep tries to roll without wobbling, the undercurrent of percussive momentum flows through them all. Yet it wasn't so long ago-- 2004-05-- when dubstep dared to disrupt its own dance by going into dark and deadly half-timed "halfstep." Led primarily by producer Loefah and DJ Youngsta, it was a time of massive risk taking and change, one that would influence so much of the genre's future progression.
In 2009, dark and deadly halfstep seems creatively distant. It's almost as if it has been forgotten, by DJs at least. Yet to lose such a bold and unique idea-- that dubstep can have impact without excessive momentum-- would be a tragedy. Luckily, in the true dubstep spirit of swimming against the tide, the small but tightly knit camp of Swamp 81 are determined not to let that happen.
It's perhaps little surprise to learn that the owner of new label Swamp 81 is Loefah himself. 2009 sees the innovator back and energized, carrying a new secret weapon. That weapon is Kryptic Minds, the production duo of Si and Leon, who-- after falling out of love with 21st century drum'n'bass-- found themselves creatively liberated. Kryptic Minds and Loefah met through Youngsta and in doing so re-formed the halfstep circle. When you factor in Headhunter and Burial's involvement, suddenly you have a very strong creative core. "I came up with the name [Swamp 81] in May. I just couldn't find anything for it. I didn't want it to be just another dubstep label bringing out whatever," explains Loefah.
Then he heard Kryptic Minds' deadly new direction, which represented something Loefah had been seaching for in dubstep for quite some time. "That night I listened to the beats... I was like 'fucking hell,' I couldn't believe it," he said. "Throughout 2008 I was very confused about where the sound was going. There was this whole jump up thing going on, which is what it is. To be honest it's not my preferred music but... it fills a gap. What I want to push with Swamp 81 is the gap that isn't really being represented anymore. The roller, the halfstep... spacious."
What Loefah heard in those first few Kryptic Minds beats is edgy, rolling, stripped back spacious dubstep that was spectacularly well made and also had its own identity-- emotive, organic in places, very junglist in spirit-- unlike the vast number of producers who tried to clone his sound in 2006, and failed. The first fruits of the partnership are Kryptic Mind's "One of Us", a deadly 12" that encapsulates producers who understand the difference between edgy and too angry; that restraint often has more impact than chaotic release. This deft understanding of the tensions and contradictions buried within dubstep, and how you use them is played out yet further on their new album, due on Swamp 81 later this year.
The most remarkable fact about Kryptic Minds is how little dubstep they'd heard before creating such a startlingly strong album. It was just Mala's "Bury the Bwoy", Loefah's "Jah War remix", and some Burial which was to ignite their passion for the sound. "To be honest I still don't listen to a lot of stuff, only what Headhunter sends," admits Si. "Maybe within this dubstep thing, I think I'm gonna be an outsider."
Maybe a distance will remain between Kryptics and the rest of the dubstep scene, but in many ways they and Loefah are as one. Look at their passports and, just like Burial's, under their occupation it reads "Original Junglist." Loefah speaks regularly about being inspired by the musical place somewhere between Reinforced Records and early Metalheadz. Si loves this era, too: Kryptic Minds signed to Metalheadz in the early part of this decade, releasing singles for Goldie's legendary imprint.
"I'm thinking Wax Doctor, Doc Scott, Goldie-- that kind of thing. It's that transitional phase between Reinforced and Headz that is in my heart" explains Loefah. "That's what I'd like to do with Swamp. And I don't want it to be labelled as 'the halfstep label.' I want it to have that kind of tunnel vision Metalheadz had in 1996, that kind of 'we're going this way. I'm not watching what you're doing, I'm not watching what you're doing-- I'm going straight ahead.'"
In that spirit, Kryptic Minds' One of Us zooms in on edgy 140bpm halfstep, forcing the listener into a headspace where perfectly placed details come into vivid focus, like the hyper-real intensity of night adrenalin. Everything is tautly coiled, as if priming the listener for a flight-or-fight reflex. The tension is barely unleashed throughout the album. "To me the album-- and this may be really gushy," enthuses Loefah, "it's like a night out. Leaving the house or wherever you are, going through the night and the last track is morning. The sun's come up and it's time for bed."
While much edgy music speaks of urban decay, Kryptic Minds live in Essex rather than London-- more outsiders than scenesters-- and some percussion sounds were recorded in the woods, striking trees for snare sounds recorded at gritty low quality on a mobile phone. It's like Burial's plan to sample footsteps scuttling out of a church flipped into a completely different setting, one that subverts the natural tendency to think of urban decay when placed in a dark headspace.
But despite the edgy overtones of the album, Si and Leon found the album enjoyable and fun to make, especially in relation to the emotional context in which they wrote their last album, the drum & bass longplayer Lost All Faith. "Basically my brother died in 2000," explains Si. "In 2003, we signed to Metalheadz and were doing a lot of work for Goldie; originally it was going to be the first artist album album on Headz. But it didn't really pan out and one thing lead to another.
"We do literally a couple of tracks a year and so we just left it because I was too emotionally tired: three years in and I'd just lost my brother so I was drained, at the time I was trying to write vocals dedicated to him and I can't sing, at all. So it was kinda just a mad one because I'd lost all faith in drum & bass and because of the drugs, the drink and my brother killed himself, he had also lost all faith... So [by contrast] the new one has been great fun."
His sense of enjoyment must be infectious. As 2009 rolls on, Swamp 81 seem to be building a tight knit camp and an impressive arsenal, built by their natural affinity for each other's sound. Headhunter and Kryptic Minds have collaborated, Loefah's back on production duties again exploring his love of dark 808 drum machines, at whatever tempo he pleases. Kryptics have built a future anthem entitled "Badman" and have remixed Loefah's DMZ classic "Root" to devastating effect. Returning the favour, Loefah and Burial have been collaborating on a pair of Kryptic Minds remixes, due out on the same 12". But before all that, there's one deadly album to be dealing with first.
"I think the Kryptic Minds album and the 12"," concludes Loefah, "it's just making a bit of a statement. We're saying 'you know what? It's not this, it's not that, we're right in the middle and we're headstrong with it. You either like it or you don't.'"
Check www.blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com in the coming weeks for the full interview with Kryptic Minds and Loefah and an exclusive mix.
by Martin Clark
******
big ups blackdown.
full article here: http://pitchfork.com/features/grime-dubstep/7638-grime-dubstep
also, check this lecture featuring Mala @ the Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona
Tuesday 10 March 2009
is this for real?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/mar/05/wonky-ketamine-dubstep-zomby
I read the above article in a bulletin from Zomby earlier today...
This is what he had to say on the matter:
"Next time you write a piece in a national newspaper try have some accuracy or even some intellectual property on the creativity or artisty of the music/artists rather than lowest common denominator music journalism i.e 'Drugs & a new music'."
Agreed. Big up Zomby!
I totally forgot how good this tune was:
I read the above article in a bulletin from Zomby earlier today...
This is what he had to say on the matter:
"Next time you write a piece in a national newspaper try have some accuracy or even some intellectual property on the creativity or artisty of the music/artists rather than lowest common denominator music journalism i.e 'Drugs & a new music'."
Agreed. Big up Zomby!
I totally forgot how good this tune was:
Monday 9 March 2009
baked goods
Great distributors. Which leads me to discuss:
http://typerecords.com
Only just stumbled across this label...not sure if there's much activity anymore, but still, check the roster and seriously, get on the podcast:
http://typerecords.com/radio
bliss.
I suggest you also take a visit here:
http://musicstore.deru.la
Get on the download! I know the tracks are in 128k, but still, they're freeee
big ups DERU
http://typerecords.com
Only just stumbled across this label...not sure if there's much activity anymore, but still, check the roster and seriously, get on the podcast:
http://typerecords.com/radio
bliss.
I suggest you also take a visit here:
http://musicstore.deru.la
Get on the download! I know the tracks are in 128k, but still, they're freeee
big ups DERU
Sunday 15 February 2009
unexpected
Life can be very odd indeed. Wow.
Many exciting plans for 2009 and beyond!
Positive vibes.
Wednesday 4 February 2009
Monday 19 January 2009
Thursday 15 January 2009
slow good morning
Very low times indeed. Life can be a bitch. Seems the only thing that's getting me through all this fucking studying is the consumption of new records...on that note, here's what i've got lined up (when I get some money)
- New Chasing Shadows release on HENCH (by the time i get the money they will probably be all gone anyways)
- 16bit - In the death car EP
- Silkie - Skys the Limit
- Pinch - Qawwali
- Ruckspin / Quark - Sunshine/Horns promo
- Ruckspin / Quark - Miserere /Arigato
- Tunnidge - Geddeo/Facemelt
- Crissy Criss - Soap Dodger (old now but I don't have)
- Coki - Shattered/Tortured (I believe this has been repressed thankfully!)
- Ill Bill Bachelor - Choppa (forthcoming)
- Ill Bill Bachelor - I make hits
- The Grouch EP (subtrakt)
- Vesicle - Surround (forthcoming on Paradise Lost)
- Pensieri Morbidi (The Subdivision/Paradise Lost) *** DEEPEST TUNE YET.
- DMZ remix of Fat Freddy's Drop - Cays Crays (rare and I neeeeed)
I have no idea why I shared this with whoever may be reading...I'm alone in the house as usual and guess I just like talking about records instead of studying.I also have a new collaboration with my bro...release forthcoming on Andromeda Records in May. More of a hype thing!! More news on that soon.
Ok, a cup of tea is needed, then I'm going to finish this bullshit evaluation.
Missing you.
- New Chasing Shadows release on HENCH (by the time i get the money they will probably be all gone anyways)
- 16bit - In the death car EP
- Silkie - Skys the Limit
- Pinch - Qawwali
- Ruckspin / Quark - Sunshine/Horns promo
- Ruckspin / Quark - Miserere /Arigato
- Tunnidge - Geddeo/Facemelt
- Crissy Criss - Soap Dodger (old now but I don't have)
- Coki - Shattered/Tortured (I believe this has been repressed thankfully!)
- Ill Bill Bachelor - Choppa (forthcoming)
- Ill Bill Bachelor - I make hits
- The Grouch EP (subtrakt)
- Vesicle - Surround (forthcoming on Paradise Lost)
- Pensieri Morbidi (The Subdivision/Paradise Lost) *** DEEPEST TUNE YET.
- DMZ remix of Fat Freddy's Drop - Cays Crays (rare and I neeeeed)
I have no idea why I shared this with whoever may be reading...I'm alone in the house as usual and guess I just like talking about records instead of studying.I also have a new collaboration with my bro...release forthcoming on Andromeda Records in May. More of a hype thing!! More news on that soon.
Ok, a cup of tea is needed, then I'm going to finish this bullshit evaluation.
Missing you.
Thursday 8 January 2009
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