cubikmusik

bubbles

Saw these pics, via @LDN on twitter and immediately wanted to do a post. i am pretty sure that most people have at some stage, likely when a kid, have played with or just watched bubbles. using washing up liquid instead of that special stuff they sell. i've always been amazed by those folks on saturday night tv shows who can do all kinds of mad stuff with bubbles.

so, off i went and searched 'bubbles' in iTunes but nothing hit the spot. then i started going through my 'electronic' genre in iTunes and this came on.

i can easily think of bubbles when listening to this and vice-versa.

enough words can't really be spoken about this man, Arthur Russell. i highly recommend that you go to pitchfork for this 2004 review. the first two paragraphs are especially good.

"There was the world of Indian master-musician Ali Akbar Khan, in which Arthur used his cello to trance-inducing effect. There was the world where his cello shadowed the beat-poet Allen Ginsburg at readings...then there was the world of disco music, where one night in 1977, a DJ saved his life."

wikipedia also cover this extraordinary life well.

Download 1-01 _Instrumentals_ Volume 1

 buy:

The World of Arthur Russell SoulJazzRecords , Amazon (US) (UK)

First Thought Best Thought boomkat,  iTunes 

lentfest...days 20 and 21

yes, its becoming a bit of a habit this whole two day posts in one. my next series will be the 3 for 2 posts!

so, paddy's weekend is over.
great fun. lots of hanging out with mates, drives to the country, good food, afternoon drinking, top music and a hint of the summer. back to work today for just a 3 day weekend so hoping its all smooth sailing.

first up tonight is the absolutely delightful remix of platinum pied pipers 'on a cloud' by bearded babys (teebs and cof.fe
Download On a Cloud PPP REMIX
via yeyesyall

and then, apparently this dude is gonna be releasing a new album soon. that'll be an interesting discovery.
Download Bbydhyonchord 

also: gotta go to kickinthepeanuts for some wale (Feat. Curren$y & Tre of UCB) and produced by 9th wonder along with some kid cudi (retiring from music after his next collab album (?)) pure rollin'.

46 days of lent...day 10

big shout out to el remolon (previous post) who made this massive summer tune. gonna get me in the mood for sunshine parties for sure. whatever about phil spector's wall of sound,  el remolon brings his wall of bass to the fore with this one witb mc marina laying down some fine vocals.

Download 02 Vem Que Tem (feat MC Marina)

buy: junodownload , zero-inch
also, get over to man recordings blog for an amazing old school baile funk mix. only 20 mins but just superb, major electro action. my favorite mix since that one diplo.santogold (or what she's called now) did.

deviation

if you're in london tonight i'd highly recommend you go to deviation to see harmonic 313 dj along with a live p.a. from mayer hawthorne and i'm sure some benjib  for good measure! this will be one to well remember.

mark pritchard (he of harmonic 313), mix of  dj mujava's 'township funk' which has been remixed all over the place with sinden's killing it by laying all that bass that he does best.
tonight we get the version excursion and it is true to it's word. a really nice twist to the original. taking it down.

Download 01 Township Funk (Mark Pritchard's v 
buy: juno download  , iTunes

also putting up 'summer of '83 by casio social club' which i think go down well there. (April 16th, taken down at the request of the label)
buy: juno download , iTunes

46 days of lent...day 3

so really should have posted this on day one to honor the great carnivals that were finishing up around the world to celebrate fat tuesday before the great lentfest. either way, top tune from the maestro that is mr.scruff. great, great summer sounds here to celebrate stockport's own answer to carnivaaaaal! 

how is ya'll's lent going? you staying off them chocolates?

Download 13 Stockport Carnival

you buying

night pack

fresh release from stereotonic recordings here in dublin (them of bodytonic fame). i have a lot of time for these guys, not just musically but with regard to their approach to it all.

tonight we have simon resoul. originally from roscommon and a member of kormac's live band. the tune i am posting is 'night pack'. i am lovng the whole ep, 'simon says', with a similar feel across two of the other tracks but with a richer sound and a softer production on this one. the first song, entre, with kormac is a great opener bringing you into their world with jammin' reggae piano and a deep bass that lobs around perfectly. need to get the translation of whats being sung!

to celebrate the launch of steretonic recordings and 'simon says' there is a party at twisted pepper on saturday night with simon resoul and others such as conor (cheers mate) dj'ing throughout the night. i'm gonna check it out as i have been in this venue yet and what better night to do so!
details here.

Download NIght Pack [Stereotonic Recordings]

buy: digital-tunes (download)

missy does a pill

i cannot find this tune, or a reference to it anywhere.
a massively fun missy elliot play that's pure party.
shout out to pacosgrove for turning me onto this one.
i think we'll be hearing more from his collection in time.

Download 04 missy done a pill

civil music

three amazing tunes from civil music (site/ blog) out of london and one, the original of a tune covered here.  civil music is , with all things considered, a label with an amazing roster of artists producing some of the finest tunes around right now with one of them 'drums of death' tipped to be a name to watch out for in '09.
first up though is another one to lend an ear to. heard it today on a nice little mix by LeFtO, over on the brownswood blog. kotchy, with labelmate, rusko's (skwee) remix of 'sing what you want'.
just lovely stuff all round.
Download Sing What You Want (Rusko's Skwee Remix)

next up is javelin, with 'flutey flakes', a slo-disco boogie of the finest order with just a hint of some latin feel.
Download 01 Flutey Flakes

next up is 'drums of death' with the too massive refix of escort's 'starlight' see below). a wondrous track that seems to span a range of genres building to a knock out tune.
Download Dodfucksupanescorttune

Download 03 Starlight (Darshan Jesrani Parks Dept. Dub)

buy:

sing what you want: juno, iTunes, civil music
flutey flakes: civil music
dodfucksupanescorttune: iTunes, juno, civil music
starlight: iTunes

beem

on the weekends I have a tendency to wake up early which is quite a shame sometimes as I would just like to have a sleep in after a week of work. In saying that, early morning (6-7am) is one of my favourite times of the day. the sun isn't quite up yet with the day dawning, the streets are fairly quiet with workers going in and party people coming out. of late, i've been both and no matter what the situation is I love my early morning music. generally i classify it as 'sunday' music what with it being the proverbial 'day of rest' and whatnot.

waking up this morning at 6am (as my roommate got home) i was checking out various blogs that i hadn't visited in a while. on fat planet I stumbled across a mention of beem and decided to check it out. needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to find a free download available. all of it very mellow-electro with beautifully structured melodies. the track featured here, Ep9, is heavy on some warm organ with a soul/gospel feel. when I listen to it I keep waiting for stevie wonder or bill withers to start singing over it! great stuff.

after some digging I guess the style of sound from Beem has a name and sometimes these names for styles just don't work but others just do, like this... from the independent

"(Scandinavia) home to a new hybrid known as Synthetik Skandinavian Funk or "skweee". Yet what sounds like some awful novelty dance craze is in fact a curious mix of instrumental R&B and minimal techno. According to Fran Carlqvist, founder of Stockholm-based skweee label Flogsta Danshall, the nickname is simply reflects "how it sounds", echoing the use of high-pitched, squeaky sonic effects"

Download 07_ep9.mp3

head over to beem, or the label flogsfa danshall  to show your support.

fortune

Download little_dragon_fortune.mp3

a day in the life

 

Update (Sept. 8th): Venue has changed due to flooding at Luggala. Moved to Royal Hospital in Kilmainham.

Next weekend sees another top night of fine tunes. 'A Day In The Life Festival' takes place in the beautiful setting of Luggala featuring Kraftwerk, DJ Mehdi, Busy P, D1 DJs, Soulwax, The Jimmy Cake, Comtron, Boxcutter and Dark Room Notes.
As the originators of dance/electronic music Kraftwerk are sure to wow the limited audience of 4,999 people. I had the absolute delight to see them play when I was 17 in the Humingbird, Birmingham with my brother. It is easily one of the best shows I've been to. Will be interesting to see if this tops it.

Download 102_lucky_boy_outlines_remix.mp3

Download rooty_tooty_rainbow_man.mp3 (from Dilated Choonz back in May-cheers lads)

Download 03_its_more_fun_to_compute_busy_p_remix.mp3

Buy: Lucky Boy

you know me

Róisín Murphy comes to town in December so I'll definitely be going along to check out her show. While some reviews of her live shows have been hit or miss the thoughts of  "slithery rhythms, percussion-laced Ibizan beats and muscular disco-funk..." are so enticing when delivered by the sultry Murphy.
Hot on the heels of working with Roots Manuva on his new album, here's a bass heavy Toddla T remix of 'you know me better'.
Download you_know_me_better_toddla_t_nu_remix.mp3

Go here for an older tune from Roisin Murphy.
Live reviews.
Buy: Tickets, Single (UK), (US)

pretty polyhedron

Pretty little electronic ditty from Little Jinder with the Trouble & Bass crew to start your Thursday.
Check out the remix competition for this one also.

Download Polyhedron.mp3 via xlr8r

healed

Two superb covers of the classic Marvin Gaye tune, 'sexual healing'.

First off is the Hot 8 Brass Band from New Orleans laying down some fine horns and soulful singing that gets your hair standing on end.
Download 01_sexual_healing.mp3

Second is Hot Chip's wonderfully electronic take.
Download 09_sexual_healing.mp3

Buy: Original, Hot 8's, Hot Chip's

black

Back in August '05 I posted the original of this tune and I gotta say that Dan Black does a pretty interesting job on covering this classic.

Born in London but based in Paris Dan Black is unsigned and has just released this as a white label.
As said by Mr. Black himself:
"I knew what kind of music I wanted make, but at first I found it hard to get these conflicting desires to blend well outside of my head. I’d been making these weird remix/mashups for my occasional Djing, so I thought, I’ll take the method I’ve been using for that but use it for song writing instead. The very first thing I tried was HYPNTZ.”
And from the offical blurb:
"Fusing the ubiquitous beat from “Umbrella” with heavily chopped-up samples from the film soundtrack of John Carpenter’s “Starman”, Dan audaciously decided to cover one of the holiest scriptures of hip hop: “Hypnotize”. By bending Biggie’s brutal, braggadocio, mouth-twisting flow over his own aching, passionate melody, almost miraculously, he transformed the ultimate rap brag into a deeply heartfelt, bittersweet epic."

It really is infectious. Lovin' it.

Download 01_hypntz.mp3

this morning...

This morning sees one of my oldest and dearest friends waking up beside her beautiful new baby girl as the sun rises and they open their eyes to a wonderful life ahead.

Congrats to Fi' and Paul. Wishing you many years of love and happiness.
See ya'll soon. :)

Download 08_ce_matin_la.mp3

stand on up

Big shout out to my mate Adam and Unusual & Electric winning song of the week on Nemone's show on BBC  6 Music for their unreleased track called 'stand on up' that features Jay Stoner.
Download stand_onup_radio_edit.mp3

And if you're in London on May 10th you can check out a night of 'wobbly dubtastic technoid disco chunkiness' with U&E at Life in Shoreditch. Check out theirspace for details and RSVP.
Wish I was there.

shudda

You know that the summer is arriving as you continue to find new music and hope that you get to see the names on the festival lineups  with the hope that you can hit up as many of them as possible.

I just discovered Hereldeduke tonight and reckon that if you get a chance to see him this summer (and beyond) you should grab it. Something tells me that the live show, like the album Country Bumpin, is all quality.

"Country Bumpin is a release like nothing else… On first play, you would be forgiven for mistaking HerelDeduke’s debut album Country Bumpin for a new collaboration between Ian Brown, Timbaland and the Beta Band....twists and turns faster than an electric eel plugged into a scalectrix... “Growing up in the bleak surroundings of east Cumbria, and then learning the tricks of my trade in Brighton remixing and producing Skint Records artists like Freq Nasty, Tiga and Roman Flugel, I’ve got a different perspective - like nothing else, I guess.” With its quirky double time beats providing a backdrop to Brown’s Northern realism rhymes, that perspective has created an album with the kind of unique sound and off kilter production that wouldn’t seem out of place on the Mercury nomination list."

And speaking of festivals. If you're lucky enough to be around for any of these (Great Escape, Kendal Calling, Loop and Beach Down) you can check Hereldeduke  out live and let us know how it goes.

Download 01_shudda_radio_edit.mp3

Please vote for Shudda to be record of the week on BBC Radio 2 NOW!!!!!!

Simply send an email to: radcliffe.maconie@bbc.co.uk
And title the email:  Pick and Mix: Hereldeduke - Shudda

Voting ends on Monday at midday (28th April) so do it NOW! 

 

Buy the EP at iTunes (US), Dancetracks Digital (US) , JunoDownload (UK), Juno

Get the album from iTunes here, emusic here or Juno Download here.

12th floor

Well, this isn't just an outright massive tune?
The Trickski remix of 12th Floor's Salsa 313 with absolutely stunning beats, jacking grooves, warm synths, congas, killer piano and a swirling buildup and take-up that leads you astray. 
For my mate Dunk-congrats. Looking forward to loungin' it with you soon enough. ;)

Interesting background for 12th Floor/ Mikael Nordgren from Raw Fusion:
"The talented producer and multi instrumentalist Mikael Nordgren is a living proof of how global the whole dance music phenomena has become since it all started back in the days. Raised not in some urban capital area, but in a small village in the midst of rural Sweden, Mikael had to search harder than most people to find the music that eventually would have him release cutting edge dance music. From the tender age of 10 Mikael started this journey by learning to play a variety of instruments including bass, guitar, drums and piano. Heavily fascinated and triggered by the house music boom that eventually had reached Sweden in the late 80s, his first steps as a song writer were heavily inspired by the sounds of Inner City and S´Express. At the same time he also discovered the funky soul and jazz sounds of the 60s and 70s and these are all influences that still can be heard in his eclectic approach on dance music - inspired as much by Albert Ayler and Roy Ayers as Derrick May or Underground Resistance."

Download 01_salsa_313_trickski_remix.mp3  

Buy:
Download-  Juno (UK),  iTunes (US), Bagpak and Dancetracksdigital
Vinyl- DjHut (US)

whistle

More summer sounds here to enjoy at the weekend or on your drive home tonight. I discovered these guys, Sporto Kantes the other day and they have kindly provided an advance copy of one of the tunes from their upcoming album, '3 At Last'. This tune, 'Whistle', is so catchy and infectious with its whistling (surprisingly enough), latin style melodies and party percussions. I truly hope that it becomes a regular on all of ya'll's mixes/compilations this summer. Another favourite track from the album is 'Concrete'.

A bit about Sporto Kantes from Epitonic:"Nicolas Kantorowicz and Benjamin Sportes formed Sporto Kantes in the aftermath of the first wave of mid-'90s French house. Their first few releases appeared on the Catalogue imprint and were lapped up by those seeking a way to wind down after a night of furious funking to the likes of Pepe Bradock and Daft Punk."

Download sporto_kantes_whistle.mp3

Buy it from 7 Digital (Download, pre-order)