I might just replace you with a match stick and gasoline

Just a quick one as I have plenty of media law to be reading about. If you havn't heard of this guy, Andy Hull, or either of the two of his projects - Right Away, Great Captain! (his solo project) or Manchester Orchestra (his band) - then you shouldn't really ever be allowed to listen to music.

He is a hero. RAGC is melodic, pained, angst, folk poetry, whereas Manchester Orchestra takes his unbelievable talent for writing meaningful, powerful lyrics and support it all with an entire band behind it.

I've just got hold of the second RAGC album, 'The Eventually Home' and it is no disappointment. I could never do the four albums linked to this man justice in one quick post, so i'll just post a quick track and hopefully tease you in.

Right Away, Great Captain! - Right Ahead, You Sailor!

Don't be afraid of the nautical terminology; it's all just part of setting the scene.

Active

It's not worth apologising for being away every time I post because I post so infrequently. My journalism course is almost in full flow and this blog may become the vehicle by which I blog about my training and general advance towards journalistic professionalism...or something.

In the meantime, here's my latest (and only) mix. It starts off with some rather large techno, moves through tech-house and the new sub-genre of 'midget', then into some lovely blunt electro. It will blow you away.

Horatio's Summer Promo Mix

Umek - You Might Hear Nothing
Xavi P - Sugar Milk
Regis - HE.3
Dahlback and Dahlback - Forsberg Loves The Acid
Jori Hulkkonen - Sharped Dressed Acid Man
Designer Drugs - Back Up In This (Nadastrom Remix)
Justin Martin & Claude Vonstroke - Beat That Bird
Renaissance Man - Aloha
Riva Starr - Squash
Silvio Ecomo & Chukie - Moombah (AfroJack Remix)
Zoo Brazil - Technik
Sharooz - Get Off
Curses! - What I Need
Chromeo - Bonafied Lovin' (Jori Hulkkonen Remix)

It's been far too long...

It has been months and months since i posted here. The main reason behind this is that i've been stumbling towards the finish line of my degree. I'm now done. What a hero, eh? A separate reason is that i tried to do a post about Cursive a few weeks ago and it wouldn't let me so i became hugely disillusioned. Anyway, i'm back now...ish. I'm still pretty lazy.

Here's a small pick of where i've been heading over the past few months -

Umek - a techno producer who's been around for as long as time, apparently, but i only came across recently. His productions are crisp and his direction is lovely. His work seems to be techno in the variety of Popof - kind of rumbling, with 'pops' all over the show, but the tracks are more solid than some of Popof's work and seem to offer more variation. Check out 'You might hear nothing' for a prime example. In the mean while, here's....

NOTHING - my internet is ridiculously slow and does not like uploading songs of Umek's quality. Don't complain, i've given you the tip, go out and buy his stuff.

Das Glow seems to have gotten unrivalled praise for his re-do of The Faint's 'Mirror Error'. I, personally, don't think it's that great. Yeh, it's different and a bit trippy, but it's nothing to write home about. I'm not saying the Boys Noize edit of it is much better, but i think he gives it a slightly darker, more purposeful touch.

The Faint - Mirror Error (Das Glow Remix - Boys Noize edit)

Sorry that post wasn't all you've ever dreamed of. I'm now writing reviews for Data Transmission - ch ch ch ch ch ch check it out.

Spanish Breakfast

The last couple of weeks I have been downloading a lot of artist albums and full mixes as opposed to single releases and e.p.s. Through this I have stumbled across a few absolutely golden albums -

Osborne's self-titled release on Spectral Sound, which spans from high-tempo acid to spacey disco, certainly lives up to the standard set out on previous releases from the label.

Bavarian Gigolo, DJ Hell's album "Teufelswerk" is nothing short of brilliant, one of my favourite albums so far this year (I won't talk at length about this here, but expect a posting dedicated to Hell in the near future).

Not that long ago I downloaded a track, "Bora", by an artist called Rone. A progressive melodic minimal track with French spoken-word over the top, it transports you (as stupid as it sounds) into a field in the baking sun, the same sort of feeling I got when I first heard "Beautiful Life" by Gui Boratto a couple of years ago. Special.

After doing a bit of research on the artist and finding out that the Parisian Erwan Castex has support from major players like Sasha and Agoria, it was no surprise that the album was of the same high quality as the stand-out track, "Bora".

Go out and buy this album. It's perfect for the summer. Here's "Bora feat. Alain Damasio".

Lovely.

Rone - Bora feat. Alain Damasio

Haus Haus Haus

Due to the terrible weather in Spain at the moment I sat myself down and recorded a new mix!

Full of Housey goodness!

 La Mezcla - Michael Cleis 

 Miranda - Gel Abril

 Ear to Mouth - Hennon

 Snice - Ray Okpara

 Internal Call - Pablo Bolivar

 Disco BZRK - Kabale und Liebe

 Outbreak - DJ T.

 Natty Dread - Williams

 Love Machine - Anton Pieete

 Chunky Buddha - Oscar G.

 Yogoto - Spencer Parker

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WM8JFUON

Enjoy!

Warehouse.

Erol, Simian Mobile Disco, Surkin, Digitalism, Metro Area, and Yuksek all played at the Warehouse Project last Sunday and I was there to watch.

Highlights of the night included, but were not limited to...

-Surkin playing the Laidback Luke remix of White Knight Two

-Yuksek playing his remix of Ugodzilla

-Simian opening with Animal Collective - My Girls

-Surkin and Yukseks' silhouetted hairstyles

-Jupiter Room's lovely tech-house

-Erol opening with new Boys Noize and ending with Bathroom Gurgle

-Digitalism being the most physically mis-matched DJ pair around

The new Boys Noize is pretty cool. Enjoy the vocoding lyrics, but it may get old. Worked well as an opener.

New Boys Noize at SXSW

The Animal Collective track, surprisingly, was a beautiful, very atmospheric opener and sounded balearic on the underground car-park's soundsystem. Simian's mixing and track selection throughout was brilliant.

Animal Collective - My Girls

Also, kudos to my good friend, who goes by the name of Delcourt, who will be periodically updating this blog with his own, invasive take on music. He'll be dealing with things more tech-y and what not. Ciao.

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DJ T.

Thomas Koch ... a bit of an institution; with releases on Poker Flat, Get Physical and it's sister label Kindisch (one of my favourite labels at the moment) he seems to me to be going from strength to strength. Oh and did I mention he co-founded Get Physical?!

His tracks merge between tech-house and minimal and have an understated charm, but still manage to get stuck in your head.

The first track I came across a while ago was his collaboration with Thomas Schumacher on the Get Physical compilation GPM100. "May Contain Nuts" is so very simple....it needed a few listens before I got it. It's perfect mid-set material to bounce to! 

His latest release on Kindisch, "Booty Call", is a slow-rising track with a drop that sounds just like something from my old Master System. The Daniel Melhart remix is noteworthy as it brings a bit more life into the tune, utilising the synth breakdown from the start. I would highly recommend purchasing this ep. 

His new release on Poker Flat, "After Dark" is also a stormer. Personally I prefer the b-side...a bit more club-friendly....go and buy it!

Here's the original mix of Booty Call in glorious 320 kbps....play it loud.

DJ T. - Booty Call 

Dusty Kid

Sorry i've been away for a bit. Had an interview for a journalism course/loads of work etc... I got the course though which i'm pretty chuffed about. Anyway...Dusty Kid.






I just got hold of his new album A Raver's Diary. It's glorious techno gold. Really enjoy it. Dusty Kid made it big with his track The Cat. I can't believe there is anyone out there who hasn't heard that infectious track. If you heard that track you may be surprised by Dusty Kid's other stuff which is much darker tech-house. Not as many acid licks as you'd think, considering The Cat and The Riot.



These two tracks are similar in their pounding base- something that he's good at, but not neccessarily what he's best at. Lynchesque is the first single off the new album, whereas the Moby remix is an oldie. Absolutely belting, you have to love the slightly spooky vocals as well - "How could you lie?"

Dusty Kid - Lynchesque (Original Mix)

Moby - Disco Lies (Dusty Kid's The Fear Remix)

Dusty Kid is playing at Wax:on's new sister project, Magicbag, in Leeds on 6th June. Post-exam fun...i think so. Oh, and go buy the album - out in a week or so.

Modeselektor + Apparat = Moderat

Modeselektor has been kicking around since 1996 making very distinctive tech-house music. His versatility is what impresses, with music and remixes drawing on genres from hip-hop to electro and Russian folk. Apparat has been around just as long, playing solo and in a band. Slightly less well known but produces just as good techno-y goodness. It's not your average techno, it's much more atmospheric and melodic - see 'Arcadia'.



Anywho, they have come together on their second collaborative project since 2003 - Moderat.

The album's called Moderat. It's hot. It retains the atmospheric...err...ness. You can easily hear the Modeselktor in it, he takes care of the foreground, and Apparat deals with the background. I'm not sure how many of the tracks could work in a club but they still great tracks. More importantly, do not neglect their solo work. I should delve into Apparat more but Modeselektor are tried and tested.

There's a remix for the Bjork song for boys as well; just as good. I could only find a few tracks by Apparat, so instead here's a surprisingly subtle, lesser-known Crookers remix.

Moderat - No. 22

Bjork - Dull Flame of Desire (Modeselektor's Remix for Girls)

+

Mike Snow - Animal (Crookers Remix)

Go buy it...

Pussy

Nadastrom are killing it at the moment. They have just released a remix of Freakin' me out's DRNKN BTCHZ on Beatport following the remarkable success of their Pussy EP. I can't quote any figures but it was lingering in the Beatport top 100 for a while. Reluctant to buy it at first, due to, well, due to its name, when i did buy it, it is easy to see why it has been so popular...the title track is immense.

It samples Soul II Soul's 'Back to life' song to perfect effect. The electro sound is surprisingly fresh and the drop will get any dance floor, from scene kids to crusty oldies, moving. I'm not going to post Pussy because i suggest you buy it, but you get the idea from the remixes.

They seem to be a fairly crude, slightly immature, duo from Washington who have a slightly cheesey take on electro but it works damn well, kind of similar to Herve's remix of Work it out (Yes, i know i was slagging him off before). It combines what is best about distortion with middle-range 'fidget'...i think. It's fun music. Good party music. Even if they do like curse words a bit too much, it's half the fun. Everyone loves a good swear. Damn. Ass. Crap. The WTF remix is a perfect example of that. I suggest you check it out.

Tittsworth - WTF feat. Kid Sister & Pase Rock (Nadastrom On Drugs Remix)

Lil' Wayne - A Milli (Nadastrom Remix)

Noob

As far as I can tell he started making waves with his remix of Brodinski's tune 'Oblivion' and all of sudden he's the best thing to come out of France since Napoleon. If anyone knows the origins of his name, please enlighten me.

Anyway, it's tech-house goodness. His style seems to fit perfectly with Brodinskis, and his remix of AA 24/7, the most hyped tune of the month, certainly makes it a better track, although it does lose the electro-house 'pow!' factor. DO IT!


Dance Area - AA 24/7 (Noob Remix)

Brodinski - Oblivion (Noob Remix)

Check out the Diplo remix of AA24/7 for a more friendly take on it.

x

PUZIQUe

Just thought i should put some more decent music up to counter the rubbishing of Herve + i'm avoiding dissertation-ness.

PUZIQUe - Relaxe


PUZIQUe is Boys Noize and D.I.M.. They put Herve to shame in showing their musical versatility. Yet, i saw D.I.M. close wax:on a few weeks back and he was disappointing to be honest. His mixing was sloppy, althought he may have been drunk, and his track selection, although in some places crowd pleasing and justified, was weak. I was expecting a few more dark dirty-ish techno-esque moments of gritty BNR but there you go.

x

Get on the floor and smack that booty - No.

What is the point of Herve's "Exclusive re-fix" of 'Mars'?

He loops it a bit, puts a little bmore drum beat behind some of the build-up and the drop and adds the lyrics 'Get on the floor and smack that booty' to it. When the original mix has been really popular and played out in many-a-set, the remixer has to take it in a completely different direction. Basically, he has to Duke Dumont it; transform the track, not just wear it out. See; Duke Dumont's remixes of Mystery Jets and Late of the Pier for examples.

If you want to listen to Herve's 're-fix', it's over at Rollin' and Scratchin'.

One of the most boring remixes i've heard in a while. Especially considering the hype around it. Herve is falling behind. He went from being one of the front runners of 'fidget', or at least giving electro house a slightly new angle. This led to the belief that he had ingenuity to keep music moving. Instead, he has settled into 'fidget' and let his productions become weaker than a really weak person who is quite tired and hasn't had much to eat.

I think Herve needs to leave and, maybe let one of his pseudonyms (The Count, Action man, speakerjunk, machines don't care) take over. Even then there is not much change. Machines don't care is probably the best bet and that's only because there are other artists pulling the strings. O well. I won't miss him.

Here's something decent to take your mind of him.

Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400 (Laidback Luke Remix)

Lee Coombs - Control (Rogue Element Remix)




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Lost

Well, i lost my blog in cyperspace.

Really, I knew what the blog was called but I couldn't for the life of me remember how to get to it. I've found it now and, that's what's important. I still havn't really decided the direction of this blog, so to test the water i'm going to post some music. I love music but don't think i have the time or the know-how to keep up with all those 'profressional' bloggers.

So, here it comes; the post to begin all posts...

Shadow Dancer - Golden Traxe

That was the least professional thing ever. God knows how all the cool kids do it properly. Also, it is a completely random track selection. I do really like Shadow Dancer but this isn't their best track. Rather a strange one to kick off a music blogging career that will surely rocket me to stardom. Should've posted some Journey. O well.

Now, i have a dissertion to write and an interview to prepare for.

Broken wrists

I've broken my wrist. I fell off my bike.

Well, i fell off my bike two weeks ago, went into hospital the next day and they told me, after two hours waiting and several x-rays, that my wrist was just badly bruised.

So i got all the pain and none of the glory, or, more importantly, the sympathy. Anyway, after two weeks of intermittant splint wearing I am bullied to go back to hospital by my doting girlfriend as i'm still in pain. Two hours more wait, 3 more X-rays, two hours more waiting, and bam...that's one broken wrist.

I'm not one for having a go at the NHS but it is well within my character to have a go at the lazy doctor who forgot about me after I got my x-rays done. Now i'm in a cast for god-knows how long.

Ow. My wrist hurts.

x

In the beginning...

Good day to all,

So this is the start of my blog apparently.

I havn't really decided which direction this blog is going to head. It could become a music blog although I don't feel I have the knowledge to independantly lead music-lovers without just borrowing tracks from other sites, making mine just a poor almalgamtion imitation.

It could become an Art blog, yet I know a very little about art...

Photography...

Fashion...

Politics...

News...

More than likely it's going to be a mixture of everything, all hand in hand with the moaning and social observation of a 20 year old History student. Doesn't that sound exciting?

Will anyone read this? If not, we best put a picture up...

There we go. Bit of political art - pow!

Soon i'll start making this blog useful, but for now i'll ease into it.

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