Sleepyhead - History's Greatest Monster

History's Greatest Monster (Tape for TTN) by Sleepyhead__ on Mixcloud

This is a mix a did a lil while back for a local Perth thing. My mixing wasnt the best, but I think its cool in terms of track selection. Trying to go for a more dancey, party thing, it's a blend of bass music, DFA cowbell rock and weird pop. Got tracks from Odd Future, Fergie (yeah, you heard me), Pearson Sound, Maximum Balloon, Tempa T (TEMMMMMPPPZZZZ), French Fries and The Rapture. Check it out, and enjoy!

LV & Joshua Idehen - Routes (Album)

This. Get this now. This is too fucking good to let slip under the radar. First things first its probably one of the best dance music "albums" I've heard in ages. And this is coming from someone who revers the Daft Punk albums, you know? Secondly, bass music wise, this is big. Think like We're New Here but better. Like it doesn't have anything quite as magical as NY is Killing Me or I'll Take Care of You, the entire album is awesome, and still has a strong single in Northern Line at the very least. It is produced impeccably by trio LV and the vocals from Idehen are reminiscent of a more serious Ghostpoet, but the result is better that that was found on Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam. This is an album that is the love child of Burial's Untrue and Skinner's Original Pirate Material.

Sorry bout all this, I should stop trying with the comparison thing, it doesn't give the disc any favors. At the end of the day though, this is an album that deserves to be right fucking up there on all the best of lists for 2011. Do not let it slip out of sight.

LV & Joshua Idehen - Northern Line

Lunice - Boiler Room Mix

BR #51 Lunice from BOILER ROOM on Vimeo.

This is super entertaining. An interesting mix of the #based music from Lil B, Soulja Boy, Young L and Clams Casino, regular hip hop and bass music, its a very fun 50 minutes of music. And while alot of the hype has been around his stopping to explain how to do the cooking dance, at the end of the day its really interesting and a deviation from the norm of bass music. Its also a good demonstration of the value of enthusiasm being shown by the DJ. Sometimes all you need to get a crowd on your side is really get into yourself. If that means sometimes looking like an absolute tit or completely wileing out to Guido, then so be it.

Dark Sky - Promiscuous Gyal

Is there a chance that all the pop/R&B refixes could get lame/turn the scene stale? Yeah, but fuck it, if they stay this; fresh, fun and different, I'm fine with it.

I'd like to think that despite his current sell-out status, that when Timbaland goes to sleep, in his head, music sounds as crazy as this.
Dark Sky - Promiscuous Gyal - Out Now by Dark Sky

Oneman B2B Jamie XX @ The Boiler Room

This is my shit right here. Amazing stuff from Jamie XX and Oneman going back and forth at what is probably the internet epicenter for this sorta music in my eyes, the Boiler Room. The two DJ's show their prowess, dabbling in what is essentially disco for the first 25 minutes, before getting into anything resembling bass music. And while the mixing may leave something to be desired, its the selection that shines through. Through 90 minutes we take a trip through garage, house, bass music, hip hop and disco. In the last half, probably 80% of the tracks get rewinds. You can see edge of the crowd on the video going ham. Definitely a good way to spend 90 minutes.

However, why is this so important? There's better mixes out there from both of these gentlemen and the countless others that have graced the Boiler Room, the Fact Mix, Rinse Fm and the other institutions of bass music. Its also a pandering set, that for a lot of it isn't even bass music but rather other more well known genres and tunes. However in my eyes its a huge moment as it demonstrates the accessibility of this scene to the dance music world at large.

It really highlights the importance of the aesthetic of bass music. Remember for a second here that the style and sense of music that is dominating non commercial clubs these days is the brash and aggressive electro and brostep. Bass music is alot cooler with its approach, emphasizing rhythm and dance above noise, moshing and pranging out, Bloody Beetroots style. As such, this set emphasizes the style of bass music where the rhythms of funky, garage and dubstep can sit alongside the house and hip hop for the masses. It makes the case that bass music can have as much fun as the other scenes, drawing on the favorites of the crowd, in a 'pop' sence, so long as it fits into the 'vibes' of the set. It sets itself up as a viable alternative and gives us two heroes in Jamie and Oneman

In the end, it hints at an interesting battle for the future of our dance floors, one that's not so much about genre, as it is about ideology.

Watch it or listen to it here.

Sleepyhead - Hold On, Be Strong

I FINALLY MADE A NEW MIXTAPE!

As Mr West surmised, when people are going through tough shit, ‘another dance track gotta hurt”. Yet dancing can also help. Everything's kinda shitty now, so why are we still wallowing in ‘cornball ass techno music’? We can have fun with you commanding us to in autotune. These are tunes for dancing that reflect the fact that everything’s isn’t all right and that we’re not necessarily having the time of our lives. Dance tunes for the people with boy problems, girl problems, people outta work, people having a shitty fucking time, people who don’t wanna get ravey to the latest David Guetta abortion while people are are homeless and frozen in Japan.

The tape starts off easy with some indie disco, before working up to the bass music that’s coming outta the UK, with a few diversions along the way. While the styles may be unfamiliar, the tunes wont be, with reworkings of old favorites scattered throughout. Also featured are tunes from local badmen Scenic and DYP. This is how Sleepyhead likes his music these days. Fucked up pop, dreamy disco, screwed R&B, frantic bashment and funky out of the UK, and always, always with plenty of bass. Hold On, Be Strong. Sleepyhead will take care of you.

Hold On, Be Strong - Sleepyhead by 72 & sleepyhead

Tracklist
This Can’t Be – Scenic
Odessa (Aera’s Black Sea Edit) – Caribou
VCR (Four Tet Remix) – The XX
Dreams (Rocco Raimundo Edit) – Fleetwood Mac
Rock The Boat – Soul Clap
Seventy Four – Martyn
I’m a Flirt (Accapella) (Ft. T-Pain & T.I.) – R. Kelly
Me & U (Brackles Remix) – Cassie
Battle For Middle You – Julio Bashmore
Every Day – DYP
Grab Somebody - Ramadanman
CMYK – James Blake
Digits – Mele
Bad Like Jimmy Cliff VIP – Warrior One
Calypso – Round Table Knights
Runaway (DJ Sega Philly Club Remix) – Kanye West
Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People
YGTL XX Remix (Renaissance Man Edit) - Florence and the Machine
Clint Eastwood (Ed Case/Sweetie Irie Refix) – Gorillaz
It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World (Regrooved by Parker) – James Brown
Used to Give a FK - ▽nkown ShΔpes
Fuck the World – Freddie Gibbs
Fireworks (Slo-Mo House Edit) – Deadboy

Cooly G

To continue the theme of kinds self-promotion, the other set I'm playing this weekend is in support of Hyperdub's Cooly G. This is going to be a seriously mean Sunday night, with extra sound production being installed just so the little indie club of Ya Ya's can handle the bass that will be produced by this woman's set. Expect alot of bass music and funky on Sunday night, but for those unfamilliar with what I'm talking about, check out the seriously mean set she did at the Boiler Room earlier this year. Not a night to be missed if youre in Perth

PS I'll prolly be bringing some pitched down R&B vibes, some cool bass and a bit of Radiohead for my set. All part of the plan to take British music and use to to obtain fame and fortune, or you know, something like that :P

BR #39 Cooly G by BOILER ROOM

Outkast - Spottieottiedopalicious (Nacey Remix)

This a hugely fun remix. Was hesitant to even click on it in the first place. Found it on some hipster blog so it could have been a total clusterfuck of what is a bonafied classic. However it's done really tastefully. It's skittering beat fits in nicely with the rhythms of bass music and future garage and makes use of the originals bpm, mostly just adds some drums to make it well suitable for the dancefloor. Well done Nacey. Totally going to be playing this out for my next gig of this type (got a support slot for Hyperdub's Cooly G when she rolls through Perth on the 27th of Feb)

Moreover its important to mention that Aquemini is definitely my favorite Outkast album. Would have bought it at the end of 09' on a whim (also my last physical CD purchase for myself), and its stayed in my car ever since. The remarkable thing about the album is that it never really sounds dated, it easily sounds like it could be from the future. I wonder what it must have sounded like to people back in '98? Prolly would have been blowing minds.

Outkast - Spottieottiedopalicious (Nacey Remix)

Joy Orbison - Ellipsis

Huge tune, heard this a few minutes ago when Bashmore played it on the Boiler Room and some chatroom citizen was kind enough to identify it. Well if it wasn't clear before that house styles rule supreme in bass music, this should make it obvious. Joy Orbison's gonna be having a big year in 2011, mark my words.

James Blake - James Blake

I haven't been writing as much lately. Its a bad habit to get into as I think I've been getting better and the blog has seen a bit of growth in terms of traffic and response. Beyond that it's a really good way to organize my thoughts about music, and as such it's not something I wanna let go.

That being said, it's the beginning of the year. Last years stuff is getting wrapped up and compartmentalized in my head after my ridiculous Best of 2010 shenanigans, and I think I'm more or less waiting around for new awesome stuff to get me inspired again. Until that happens I'm more or less going to be devoting my time to practice and mixtape making (got a few on the way, stay tuned).

However the one thing that has really caught mine and everyone else's attention has been the stunning debut album from James Blake. I've written a fair bit on bass music on this blog and this stands as a crown jewel on the non club side. It comes from the same place as the XX, with a similar appeal, yet with a far reduced pallet of sounds. It continues bass musics fascination with 'pop' music (read R&B), and once again forgoes commercial appeal for a sweet bass sound, with its eyes firmly fixed on the floor.

End of the day this isn't really a coherant piece on the album itself, just trying to sort out some thoughts on it on the screen. The album is fantastic, I can't stress that enough. Only real question is, how important is this album going to be down the line?


James Blake - Unluck

Cassie - Me & U (Brackles Remix)

Because you can't be into bass music if you don't have a massive crush on Cassie (not the Cassie above....) Mickey Pearce's rework is also dope, but this is better for DJing.

Cassie - Me & U (Brackles Remix)

Gold Panda & DJ Oneman

Huge double-header in Perth last night. For only $5, people got two see two of the best right now in their respective fields, beat wunderkid Gold Panda and Rinse FM badman DJ Oneman. Word spread quick and the night sold out leaving more than a few punters stranded outside the Bakery. The venue was packed, with most there to see the Pitchfork hyped Gold Panda with a decent amount holding out for bass music from Oneman. Opening act was Australian beatmaker Woosha who put on a very impressive display. It’s clear that he’s a huge fan of Flying Lotus and he carries it off well. Expecting big things from him in the future indeed.

A bit later on the first of the headliners, Gold Panda, stepped up to the stage and proceeded to blow everyone away. While I like Gold Panda, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over live, but we were treated to a surprisingly danceable set. It sounded like LA beat music run through a house music filter, or vise versa. The BPMs fluctuated around bringing feelings from hip hop, house and even a little bit of juke music. It was fresh and for the hour that he played everyone was very impressed.

With the unenviable task of trying to keep a room full of hipsters from bailing to the outside area, Oneman stepped up the decks and proceeded to show everyone not only why he’s considered one of the top Djs of the year but why bass music deserves a seat at the table of dance music. While the room initially drained of everyone but the dedicated, it slowly filled back up over the course of his hour and a half set. Furthermore it wasn’t the same crowd of people just nodding their heads, it was people full on dancing. That’s right, when it needs to Perth can still bust a move, not just cross its arms.

The set had a long build up of garage and bass music with an early highlight being The Street’s ‘Has It Come To This”. Shortly after it was followed up with a huge run of Jamie XX’s ‘New York is Killing Me’, 50 Cent’s ‘Ayo Technology’ (I’m serious) and Girl Unit’s ‘Wut’, which even got its own rewind. Just when the crowd couldn’t go anymore ham, a short while later Blake’s CMYK got dropped and there was a massive rush to the dancefloor from outside. Other big track to get a reaction was Sicko Cell’s “The Information”. Expect big things from that mysterious track this year. According to Twitter Oneman was well impressed with the notoriously fickle Perth crowd. A fantastic night, big ups to and Don’t Sleep for putting on an awesome, forward thinking night. There’s hope for this city yet.

Mosca - Tilt Shift

One of the most fun beat tracks I've heard in yonks. Seriously crazy stuff and really fun to DJ with. Most of my djing at home at the moment has been with tracks like this, LA beat stuff from Tokimonsta, Nosaj and others and the more forward thinking hip-hop of the last decade. Stuff from the Neptunes, Timbaland and others from when they were still good and making that future music.

The sonic connections between these guys is nothing new and has been written about ad nauseam. Yet trying to put it into practice with DJing, to make it into something fun to dance and party to is really fun for me. Might make a proper mix soon if I can be bothered.

Tilt Shift by DeejayMosca

Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Jamie XX Shuffle)

In continuing my obsession with everything Jamie XX, heres the new jam as posted by the fine folks over at the FADER. Rhythm and fucking Blues.

Drake - Fireworks (Deadboy's Slo-Mo House Edit)

Cudos to The Fader for rubbing it in how much I missed out on when I was too sick to make it out to Deadboy the other week. By all accounts I missed an amazing show. But I’m not too worried, there are plenty more events from Don’t Sleep coming in the future.

I could write something about how the bassey house and ghostly R&B are so hot right now and this is the cutting edge blah, blah, blah, wank. This is one of those tracks that goes beyond genre exercises and hangups. The simple truth is that what Deadboy has done with this edit is cut away all the excess from the Drake original to get to the heart of what he was trying to express. Problem with a lot of Drake songs isn’t necessarily the emotion he’s trying to convey, it’s that he fumbles around with how to present it and so the sentiment is lost. Couple that with his annoying rhyme pattern and a weird sense of stature and entitlement and what should be resonant winds up being grating (cheese).

This edit just works for me really. Combines my appetite for forward thinking dance music with the fact that right now I just feel like music that isn’t the usual pump up and get ravey stuff. Sometimes people like dance music but don’t feel happy. And what better artist to express inexplicable and unreasonable melancholy with than Drake? Part of me would love to drop this in the middle of a huge set at a club, just to see what happens…

This is coming out sometime soon on a limited edition vinyl pressing called Cash Antics Vol 2. You better believe I’ll be buying it.

BONUS - Deadboy - Long Way 2 Go

The Streets - Trust Me

A Grand Don't Come For Free is one of two of my favorite albums of all time.* Despite its depressing content and stuttering sonics, its like a big warm musical hug to me. It's something I can come back to time and time again and get lost in, follow the story and detail, and find solace in at the very end. I could go on for pages about how amazing this album is (I might just one day), but just suffice to say I'm a fan of Mike Skinner.

However following this album, Skinner moved on from his storytelling and instead concerned himself with other things, namely celebrity and parables. While not unworthy pursuits and a seemingly natural progression from the broad picture of Original Pirate Material and the in depth focus of AGDCFF, unfortunately neither had the same level of quality of the first two classics. Yet they still had some good songs on them (Prangin Out, The Escapist, ect...)

However it appears that the local city poet has once again emerged, with this video for a track he released online last year (with a little bit of extra production by the sounds of it). The track is an excellent one and is reminiscent of his Original Pirate Material days but clearly showing the development and experience of the years since then.

I'm really excited for any new Streets material. With all the new musical developments in the bass and garage realm over the past few years, I'm really curious to see if Skinner incorporates them into his new album and if so, how. These are exciting times, and I can't wait to see how The Streets chooses to tell us about them.

The Streets - Trust Me

The Streets Twitter - seems like its fairly constantly updated with new stuff now

*The other one is The Avalanches "Since I Left You". Despite the fact they're so different, they both provide a world I can get lost in and find new things in each time. Couldn't choose between them if you held a gun to my head, I swear.

Ghostpoet - The Sound of Strangers EP

"Cause she left in the morning,
took her suitcase, left without warning,
I messed up but I'm alright cause,
I know shes coming back,
well I hope so..."

My, my, my, what do we have here? Got sent this gem of an EP the other day from the homie Dan at Don’t Sleep. He’s getting him to voice a radio ad for the new ICSSC club night (also called Don’t Sleep), which has bass maven Deadboy headlining. I can see why Dan hit him up for it, the mans got a well geezer accent, with a ghostly tinge to it, perfect voice to entice the punters into some bass adventures in the Bakery.

Ghostpoet’s Sound of Strangers EP exists very much in the linage of UK trip-hop, and is a direct descendant of Massive Attack, circa Blue Lines. This is especially evident on the lead of track of Gone, a masterful story telling exercise concerning drunken infidelity and the false confidence that his girl will forgive him, over a dubbed out beat and meandering bassline.

The beats split the difference between the plodding trip-hop of yesteryear and the skittering drums that characterise garage and bass music today, and Ghostpoet sounds well at home over them. However when the EP closes on Love Confusion, the initial shock of hearing his Electric Relaxation remake almost made me hit the mute key on the laptop to avoid the train wreck I was certain was coming. Yet as soon as Ghostpoet starts rapping, all my fears were confirmed to be unfounded, it’s clear he was born to rap on laidback boom bap tracks like this.

Don’t sleep on Ghostpoet, he’s almost guaranteed to be a major force in the UK in no time at all. Reminiscent of Daddy G, Roots Manuva, Mike Skinner and Jamie T, he’s no doubt going to be your new Local City Poet. Just in case you geezers didn’t know it……