Innersound

Love Is The Function Of Death

2011-11-06T05:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a new techno track from me. It's inspired by reading Yevgeny Zamyatin's dystopian masterpiece 'We'. Cold steely techno for your pre-programmed brain - have a listen

Per Bojsen-Moller - Love is the Function of Death by Per Bojsen-Moller

Fred Savage

2011-11-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

Adolescence is a tricky time; raginghormones, a deep distrust of the older generation, problem skin andstruggling to fit in amongst your peer group whilst trying to developa strong sense of individuality are just a few of the problems thatplague teenagers. Thankfully those times cede into adulthood and itsown set of trials, leaving the spotty, awkward years of growth anddevelopment a distant, oily memory glossed over with the fuzzykindness of recalled triumphs and bff's. Some people are not so luckyhowever, especially the small select group of child stars whosepuberty plays out on our TV screens in constant re-runs for decadesafter their own journey from youth into maturity is over.

Fred Savage is one such child star, theperpetually blemish-free Kevin Arnold, whose trials and tribulationscentred around growing up in the 1960's with a speccy geek of a bestfriend and a love interest in the beautiful girl next door withimpossibly lustrous locks.

When I am patched through to FredSavage, the image of his teenage alter-ego quickly fades as we starttalking about more current matters. Savage is in his car, on his wayhis kitchen job, which he likes to do in his spare time, not for theextra cash, but simply because it's a great environment and a funplace to work.

“I feel like the work in a kitchenparallels the work on a set,” he explains. “You've got a biggroup of people who are thrown together and you're trying to createsomething special but doing so in a really compressed amount of timewith a huge amount of stress and you've all got to communicate welland I just love it.”

Savage's rapid-fire, enthusiasticdelivery leaves no doubt in my mind that he means every word he says,and it's a vivacity that permeates our conversation about his lifeand work as he slowly makes his way through the traffic to hishospitality internship. Although it has been almost twenty yearssince The Wonder Years finished screening, for many people FredSavage is still Kevin Arnold, despite the fact that at the age of 35he is well past the days of awkward first kisses and trying to swervethe school-yard bullies. In fact, although he came to prominence withthe role, and continues to appear in the occasional TV show or film,he tells me that he feels slightly embarrassed thinking back on hisacting days. This is because for more than ten years Savage has beenfollowing his lifelong dream of being a director.

“It's been a long time goal of mine,ever since I was a kid,” he tells me. “Being on set and takingapart the cameras and checking out the lenses and going into thecamera trucks and loading it and feeding the film through the gateand seeing how it all worked. Talking to the camera assistants andthe DP's, I was just always so fascinated by the mechanics of it.Then when I got older I started to really appreciated the art of itand the technique of it. So I've been pursuing it since the firstopportunity I got to do so. I've been directing now for the past tenyears and it's really gotten to a point where I'm working all thetime and I'm creating stuff and doing the work that I enjoy.”

Savage's first break came when he gotto direct one of the last episodes of Working, a sitcom he wasstarring in, in 1999. The show was far from a hit but it was a breakfor the budding director, who soon after went on to direct hisbrother Ben Savage in his own series Boy Meets World. Acting may havestill been getting him more work than directing at this time, notablyappearing in smaller roles as the Mole in Austin Powers' Goldmemberand a particularly inspired turn as A Junkie Named Marc in BrettEaston Ellis' The Rules of Attraction, but it was a way for him tolearn more about the trade he was passionate about, even if there wasno-one to actually mentor him.

“I found that working from when I wasa kid I was exposed to a lot of the good and the bad and I found Ilearned as much from the directors I didn't like as I did from theones I did,” he says of his directorial education. “Learning whatnot to do is just as important sometimes. I didn't get taken underanyone's wing but I did learn about the different approaches thatpeople had on things and I learned what I liked, how different peoplecommunicated with the crew and how they best responded to it. So youstart to pull together all this knowledge that you've gained over theyears from observing and then once you actually start applying it,it's another whole learning curve.”

Savage's workload has steadily beenincreasing over the years, not just in quantity but also in quality.Working on his fair share of fairly lacklustre TV shows and TVmovies, he has in more recent years been doing a lot better, scoringepisodes of Ugly Betty, the Cuba Gooding Jr family film Daddy DayCare and hit comedies It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and PartyDown. With the latter two achieving some cult status amongst comedyfans, they have now opened up many more doors to the young director.Having been a fan of It's Always Sunny... since it started, Savagewent to met the creators of the show at the end of their secondseason and ended up working on the third, fourth and fifth seasons,producing as well as directing. With Party Down, one of the funniercomedies to come out of America in the last five years, Savage waslucky enough to get in on the ground floor. “The guys who hadcreated the show, they had shot a pilot where they each took a sceneand had put it all together,” he says of how it all came together.“I don't know if they intended for it to be ready for air or if itwas more of a sales tool but I think they initially pitched it to HBOand then Showtime and it had bounced everywhere. And then when Starsfinally picked it up they were looking for someone to come in andre-shoot the pilot and give it a better treatment. It wasn't a verycohesive show as it was – I mean there was a great script but whatthey had shot was an amalgam of the different ideas of the four guyswho had created it. But one of the things they had shot was this bitwhere Lizzy Caplan's character kind of walking around a partyshooting parts of conversations with a video camera. And in theirpresentation they had that scene but the rest of the pilot they hadshot was very formal. When I watched the pilot I told them thatfunniest part of it for me was the bits that Lizzy had shot with thevideo camera because it was all this fly on the wall stuff and youreally felt like you were there. I thought that's what the whole showshould be, made up from these shots, so you're touching on aconversation in the kitchen and then catching a moment in thebathroom and being able to see something crazy that's happening inthe background. So that was my approach and they agreed with it sothat's how we came up with the style of the show.”

After lending his style to thesuccessful show for the two years it ran Savage has been in hotdemand, but instead of committing to one project he's choosing toplay the field and direct for a whole swag of different shows,enjoying the variety and the challenge that each shows style bringshim. He likens the experience to that of playing differentcharacters, using the pre-set visual vocabulary of each show to workhis own style through. This will take a back seat though when BestFriends Forever, a new show he shot the pilot to, starts shortly forthe American fall TV season. With all this comedy and television, Iwonder though if Savage has aspirations to crack the world of film ordabble in drama.

“Film would be a world I'd like toexplore,” he confirms, “but I really do lean towards comedy. I'mnot a very dark person. I've lead a very happy life, I have a greatfamily and I just don't really have those stories to tell. I wouldn'tsay I'm a cynical person but I would say that my approach to theworld is a layered one, which works well in comedy. In drama I justdon't feel like I have that in me, I don't know, maybe I just haven'ttapped in to my dark side yet.”

The only hint of that dark sideappeared in Roger Avary's adaptation of Brett Easton-Ellis's TheRules of Attraction, in which Savage played a spaced out junkie witha penchant for wind instruments. When I quiz him about where in hispsyche the drug-addled wannabe muso came from he replies with alaugh: “Oh, my years as a junkie. That was actually my clarinetthat I brought to the scene though. I play a little so I guess thatwas my connection to the character, my fondness for reed instruments.You know sometimes you catch it on cable or something and it cracksme up, because I don't know where that came from. People come up tome and ask me 'what drug was that? It wasn't coke, but it wasn'theroin. What was it?' And that right there uncovers my lack ofexpertise in the area, because there was no research, there was nosense memory, I honestly don't know where any of that came from.”

And as Fred regales me with the fun hehad shooting the scene, he also arrives at his destination, pausingto talk to the car park attendant in his best school boy Spanishbefore telling me he'd best get to work in the kitchen. With his zealshining through to the end as he heads off to do a job many in hisprofession would consider a waste of time or menial, it's aheartening to see that there are people out there who genuinely lovewhat they do.

The Baby

2011-10-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a brand new cut I just finished today. It originally started as a project for a short film, but it took a very different direction. Have a listen... Daslton Pils, The Baby by Per Bojsen-Moller

Love for Mirrorcube

2011-08-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

You slave and slave and try not to do bad things to others (to yourself is okay) and then finally people start noticing what you're up to. When Andrew Lo-Train and I started Mirrorcube a couple of years back and then Dalston Sunday Club earlier this year, we expected to be famous within minutes. Nevertheless we're quite happy to have people recognize us for our god-given talents, however long it takes.
Here's a piece on Dalston Sunday Club by the lovely people at Glass Magazine here

Podcast for Little White Earbuds

2011-08-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

I write for the Little White Earbuds blog, which is an indispensable source of what's going on in the realms of house, techno and affiliated quality music musings. I also just compiled and mixed their latest podcast for them, two hours of damned fine house and techno, which I highly recommend you check out. http://www.littlewhiteearbuds.com/podcast/curators-cuts-18-per-bojsen-moller/

Some new cuts from the Mirrorcube

2011-07-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty productive week in the Mirrorcube and I managed to finish off a couple of tracks, both of the deep side but with some blah blah blah blah... just have a listenMirrorcube, Remote Trading (Silverbeat's Hazy Dub)

Remote Trading (Silverbeat's Hazy Dub) by Mirrorcube

Mirrorcube, Unstuck (Silverbeat Mix)

Unstuck (Silverbeat Mix) by Mirrorcube

Dalston Sunday Club with Doudou Malicious & Mirrorcube

2011-06-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday's Dalston Sunday Club got treated to the wonderful sounds of Mr Doudou Malicious, head honcho and all round nice guy (despite his name) of Multi Vitamins records. First up was the Mirrorcube boys with a couple hours of back 'n' forth business, busting out new tunes and old, whilst Doudou was warming himself up in the corner with a series of finger crunches and snacking on vinyl biscuits.

Mirrorcube at Dalston Sunday Club 19.06.11 from Mirrorcube on Vimeo.
Then Doudou stepped up and took over for the last two hours. I mean, it wasn't a takeover like in the movie rockers where Dirty Harry and Horsemouth storm the DJ booth and relieve the disc-jock of his limp disco nonsense

It was just some real nice techno business for two hours featuring plenty of his own Multi Vitamins back catalogue. Check it out below...

Doudou at Dalston Sunday Club 19.06.11 from Mirrorcube on Vimeo.

New track from Dalston Pils

2011-06-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

I've got a veritable swagbag of different aliases I've used for writing and such. The latest is a new musical alias, Dalston Pils - came to me after seeing some staggering geezer trying to stuff fake money down a girl's jeans at a rave, all the while cradling a precious can of Holsten Pils. Anyways I digress, here's the latest track I've made under that moniker, it's called Exabachay, taken from one of my favourite movies of all time, Dead Man.

Dalston Pils - Exabachay by silverbeat

Five hours of Dalston Sunday Club

2011-05-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

Dalston Sunday Club 24.04.11 from Mirrorcube on Vimeo. If you missed the most recent edition of Dalston Sunday Club, then you can play catch up here. Five hours of house, techno, and in-between deliciousness with Mirrorcube and Jean-Robert Saintil. Enjoy!

DSC this Sunday

2011-04-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

So after one week hiatus Dalston Sunday Club is back. We decided to hold the show every other Sunday and this week shows that the added preparation equals more treats for you. So this Sunday 10/04/11 we will be streaming live right here with special guests Bi-Bop (ReviveHER/Cool In The Pool) and Elliott Mess (Naive Melody/ReviveHER).
Tune in to the stream 6:30PM GMT

Dalston Sunday Club

2011-03-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Mirrorcube boys are now providing you with audio and visual treats each and every Sunday to massage away any lingering tension from the weekend and to soothe you into a new week. We are streaming each Sunday around 6:30pm GMT on ustream. House, disco, techno, dubstep and more with special guests popping by to drop crucial sides and the latest heat for Dalston Sunday Club.Check us out herehttp://www.ustream.tv/channel/dalston-sunday-club

Smoke'N'Bubbles the Final Chapter

2011-03-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a week takes a longer time than you think. In any case here's the final part of the Smoke'N'Bubbles mix trilogy. Enjoy!

Still Bubblin'

2011-01-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

Here it is, the second part of the near infamous/well known/anonymous Smoke'N'Bubbles Christmas party.

Part three coming next week. But for now, enjoy!

Bubblin' Hot

2011-01-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Most people spend their Christmas' in an endless toil of family fighting and crap presents. To counter that possibility some close friends held a Smoke'n'Bubbles Christmas party. The plan was simple, have a delicious meal, decamp to the upstairs bathroom, don a swim suit and play some amazing tunes.
Here's the first of a three part mix of the event.
Enjoy!

New from the Mirrorcube

2010-11-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something that we've been working on in Mirrorcube studio. After a lot of back and forth with making tracks this is our first we've truly collaborated on at the same time. MEMORY MODEL 7 (Beta) [UNRELEASED] by Mirrorcube

Coco Sumner

2010-11-10T05:52:00.000-08:00

Many will try to argue but the truth isthat it's not where you're from but where you're at. Bearing that inmind it makes no difference that the diminutive, pensive beautysitting in front of me is the daughter of one of the more famousmusicians from the late 70's and 80's, because she is here on her ownmerits rather than any sort of fame by association. Coco Sumner hasbeen notching up increasing amounts of attention lately, but afterchatting to the affable young lady barely out of her teens I begin towonder if much of the press coverage is for the wrong reasons. Forthe truth is that the majority of what I have read about her needlesat the fact that her father is Sting, he of the long winded sexualrattle and former singer with the Police. While this is undeniablytrue, these same articles have sought to denounce the buddingmusician for her parentage. A good deal of similar sounding vitriolmay be more accurately levelled at the offspring of other ageingstars, but there are two things that save Coco from the same unfaircategorisation.

One is her attitude towards what she is doing.Throughout our brief but focussed interview her passion for her musicbecame more and more evident, while her insights into how she feelsabout what she does displayed that her music career was anything buta dalliance.

Born Eliot Paulina Sumner in Pisa,Italy, in 1990 to Gordon Sumner and Trudie Styler, much of her earlylife was spent in the idyllic surrounds of the Wiltshire countrysidein South West England. She first started writing songs around the ageof fifteen, though had starting playing around with a guitar as earlyas ten years before that. It is small wonder then that having justreached twenty years of age she is releasing her début album,having already collaborated with a handful of incredibly talentedindividuals.

Her first recorded efforts began tosurface several years ago and, somewhat telling of her heritage wereheavily influenced by a mixture of reggae and pop punk. What shonethrough those early recordings more than anything was her strong,husky voice and a huge amount of unpolished talent. Her first releasewas a 1997 white label 7” of “I Blame Coco”, a track she wrotewith Mr. Hudson that year. It was from this record that she took herstage name.

“It started off with being calledCoco the Clown,” explains the striking singer behind an unkempttangle of hair. “I don't really know why. My mum started calling methat as a kid and then a few people started calling me that and thenit started to stick. But when I printed up “I Blame Coco” I foundmyself writing the name of the song over and over again on to thesleeves and when I got to the shop they asked me what the name of theartist was and I used that. It seemed like I had written this nameout about 500 times so I should use it.”

By her own admission many of her firstsongs she wrote were typical of a teenager's mind; angsty andmelancholic for no good reason. Though with the benefit of some yearsof experience they started to materialise into something deeper andmore cryptic. Enquiring about the change of musical direction andwhether that process is forever open to changing views and thegathering of experience netted a considered response. “I think themusical brain is just like any other brain and it needs to go throughprocesses of learning things and processing them. I think I'mlearning every day and I'm hearing about new music every day sothat's very inspiring.”

Sumner can found on guest vocal dutieson several tracks in the last few years, notably Miike Snow's“Animal” from 2009 and Sub Focus' drum and bass crossover hit“Splash” from earlier this year. The Sub Focus collaboration wasin trade for a remix of her first single “Self Machine” whichalso got re-rubs from La Roux, Pangea and super fixer Chew Fu. WhilstRackNRuin and Arthur Baker have had their way with “In SpiritGolden”. This eclecticism is not just a nod to management choiceseither, as Sumner tells me she's asked Matthew Dear to remix her nextsingle, “Turn Your Back On Love.” She says she enjoys thecrossover creative appeal of trading remixes for vocal spots, thoughis hesitant about becoming known for being a guest artist.

“I think there is a point where youcan do that too much and you end up losing a sense of your owndirection,” she states emphatically.

From the early skank of her reggaetinged material through to her current work, the big leap in Sumner'ssound can be attributed to her work with Swedish producer KlasÅhlund, previously ofTeddybears fame and sometime producer for Robyn, Eagle Eye Cherry andJordin Sparks. Sumner was in the midst of a love/hate period withLondon and needed some breathing space, so decided to take some timeout.

“London can often be my oppressor,”states Sumner quietly, “and it was becoming too much so I spunaround a globe and my finger landed on Sweden. So I just went therewithout knowing anyone or where I was going to stay or anything. Iworked all that out when I got there, and ended up staying for aboutsix months.”

It was during this time and inattendance at a Gnarls Barkley concert that a friend pointed out Klas Åhlund, knowing thatSumner was a fan of both Teddybears and Robyn. After introducingherself the two started talking about music and it wasn't long beforeshe was visiting the producer at his studio, eventually leading tothe two making music together and working on her first album. Thereis an understated quality to Sumner that belies her age, as she omitscertain facts from our conversation that any other young person wouldbe only too happy to boast about. She leaves out the sessions she hadin Los Angeles or earlier ones in Jamaica. In fact she doesn'tmention anything about what must be a very interesting life full oftravel and access to places and faces that the majority of peopledon't even have on their radar. It is this sort of discretion thatfurther shines a favourable light on the musician. That, and herattitude towards some of her seemingly more glamorous jobs that shehas undertaken too. Seeing the look of abject disdain at evenbringing up her brief stint modelling for Burberry or the bit partshe had in the 2007 feature film Stardust is enough to lead me tobelieve that being a model or an actor is not high on her list ofprofessions.

“I did a little bit of modelling whenI was younger but it was nothing I was proud of or anything I thoughtmuch of,” she confirms. “And I have never really acted before, Iwas just an extra as a way to make a quick little bit of cash. Butmusic has always been my focus, I just did those things to fund myway.”

Despite the natural tendency to thinkthat someone from such a privileged background doesn't need to thinkabout funding her own way, it would be churlish to think that justbecause of her background, Sumner doesn't have her own sense of pridein wanting to do things for herself. The signs are there, fromrunning off to Sweden for some time out from everything she knows, toself releasing her first recordings to forging her own path throughmusic by releasing her album with relatively little fanfare. Thealbum itself, The Constant, may not be destined for immediate classicstatus but it shows immense promise, something the folk at IslandRecords obviously picked up on, having signed the singer for amulti-album deal. I wonder if this is in any way daunting, having apledge to complete so much work ahead of her at such an early stageof her career. Though the thought may have crossed her mind, carefulwords flow from her and find footing in a positive outlook on thetask in front of her.

“Hmmm,I'm really looking forward to... I've already started to write thesecond album. This first one hasn't really felt like a first album,it's felt like a learning process, like this is the first bit of workI'm handing in to the teacher, or the world I guess. So I'm sure I'lllearn from this one and then future albums will feel like more of ajourney to make.”

Thepolished, electronic pop sheen of The Constant may not always hit themark, but within the chrome-plated production and catchy riffs liessomething more enduring, something that is more obvious when hearingSumner play the songs with an acoustic backing. While Klas Åhlundcan rightly be accredited for that pop overdrive with some help fromEliot's friends Dan Foat and Nathan Boddy from the DJ/production teamWild Geese (who gave the tracks a “bit more punch andcompression”), you only need to search for Sumner's acoustic setson Youtube to see that her songs come with a solid base to beginwith.

“I think it's very important whenyou're writing song that they're songs first and then you can put anyproduction on them whether it's electronic, dubstep or whatever,”she says to explain the two sides to her work. “As long as you havethe structures there and they're written by an organic and naturalbasis then you can do whatever you want with them. And I like playingacoustic shows because it's more about the song side of it ratherthan the pop side of it, whatever that means,” she adds with a raresmile. Perhaps the best way to exemplify this is to look at the twoversions she has recorded of Neil Young's timeless paean “Only LoveCan Break Your Heart”. The first appeared on the Luv Luv Luv labelas a 7” single and was a faithful rendition of Young's version sungas a duet with Fyfe Dangerfield from the Guillemots. It was sweet andtender; a worthy cover, not the sort of drab effort you'd utter a 'ifit ain't broke' maxim at before blanking it from your mind forever.The other version can be found on The Constant, and is a cover of themarvellous Saint Etienne version from 1990. Again it is very true tothat version and succeeds for staying true to that course.

“I heard the Neil Young version whenI was very young and really loved that, then when I was a bit older Iheard this song from this other band (St. Etienne) who were massive,and there was this video for them of this huge party and thisexciting new sound. House music has also been very inspiring to meand my musical... likings,” smiles Sumner as she fails to find thewords to express herself properly. “So I didn't want to changeeither of those two songs very much because they were both reallytributes to those songs and those artists, which is why they're sosimilar to the originals.”

This sort of respect towards music ismost likely something she has learnt by being so close to it herwhole life. Picking up that guitar before she had reached half adecade on the planet, having not just an incredibly famous musicianfor a father but also having an older brother who had follwoed thosefootsteps before her. It was an upbringing that had her hold both IanDrury and ABBA near to her heart. When I voiced a similarpredilection to the Swedish pop stars at an early age she wonderedwhy people hold them in such disdain, almost embarrassed to like aband who had such incredible melodies.

“I also went through stages of likingsome quite angry music,” she says, delving deeper into her earlyinfluences. “Things like the Prodigy and Rage Against the Machine.When you're the smallest in the family and the smallest at school youwant to listen to music with swear words and you want to throw piecesof paper at the teacher and that sort of thing. I didn't actuallythrow paper at the teacher but I liked that musical attitude, it'smuch more expressive.”

Whilst that angry side of Sumner maynot have shown itself obviously on The Constant, you only have tolisten to the lyrics throughout the thirteen tracks to see thatnonetheless there is a mind trying to probe a bit deeper into lifethan many of her peers. Alienation and observation both play partsalong with the standard tropes of love and idealism. The imageryladen lyrics have been fuelled by more than listening sessions of IanDrury and Abba though, there's also some heavy reading on thenight-stand.

“Itake a lot of imagery from some of the books and films I've enjoyedand use that in my songs. I was reading Brave New World before I madethe album and not so much the sci-fi part of it but more just theslightly dark and sinister tone it was written in, that stayed withme. Same with the Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. It's about a man wholives as a recluse and thinks he's a wolf. It's all very dark andthat helped me create a lot of imagery for the album too.”

Sumner sums things up best herself whenI ask her about how her experiences have been so far in the fairlytreacherous waters of pop music. Mentioning the strong unit of hermanagement and label, saying they help each other make carefulchoices, she adds to close, “I think trial and error is not alwaysthe best thing to do but it certainly is a way.”

The Greatest Dub Techno Mix in the World... Ever!

2010-11-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

That little pile of sweetness over there counts as some of the most prized records in my collection. Any serious techno head will have their own little love story to tell about how and when they found out about Maurizio, Basic Channel, Chain Reaction and Rhythm & Sound. After posting this pic I took for an old article I wrote profiling the music, I was asked if I'd ever done a mix of all of those records. I hadn't and immediately set about plotting one out.
I made a few rules for myself in doing the mix: it would only be music made or remixed by Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald together. That meant none of their recent solo work or co-produced tracks with others. I also left out the majority of the early Basic Channel records as they weren't really dub techno, although I did sneak in Q1.1. Some others I left out because with the mix running at 2 1/4 hours already I was conscious of how much more space I would need to host it, and my ability to keep putting the records together was waning. Anyway, here it is, 30 tracks of the greatest dub techno in the world... ever! The Greatest Dub Techno mix in the World... Ever! by mirrorcube

Full track list after the jump!

1 - Rhythm & Sound w/ Jah Batta - Music Hit You [Burial Mix]
2 - Rhythm & Sound - No Partial [Rhythm & Sound]
3 - Rhythm & Sound w/ The Chosen Brothers - Mash Down Babylon [Burial Mix]
4 - Rhythm & Sound - Outward [Rhythm & Sound]
5 - Maurizo - M4 [Maurizio]
6 - Basic Channel - Quadrant Dub II [Basic Channel]
7 - Round One ft. Andy Caine - I'm Your Brother [Main Street Records]
8 - Maurizio - M4.5 [Maurizio]
9 - Carl Craig - The Climax (Basic Reshape) [Planet E]
10 - Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman - Music A Fe Rule [Rhythm & Sound]
11 - Rhythm & Sound - Smile w/ Savage [Rhythm & Sound]
12 - Rhythm & Sound - Carrier [Rhythm & Sound]
13 - Maurizio - Domina (Maurizio Mix) [Maurizio]
14 - Rhythm & Sound - Queen In My Empire Version [Burial Mix]
15 - Rhythm & Sound w/ Cornell Cambell - King In My Empire [Burial Mix]
16 - Maurizio - M5 [Maurizio]
17 - Rhythm & Sound - Range [Rhythm & Sound]
18 - Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman - Why [Burial Mix]
19 - Rhythm & Sound - Free For All Version [Burial mix]
20 - Rhythm & Sound w/ Paul St. Hilaire - Free For All [Burial mix]
21 - Round Two ft. Andy Caine - New Day [Main Street Records]
22 - Maurizio - M6 [Maurizio]
23 - Rhythm & Sound - Mango Drive [Rhythm & Sound]
24 - Basic Channel - Q1.1 [Basic Channel]
25 - Rhythm & Sound - See Mi Version (Basic Reshape) [Burial Mix]
26 - Maurizio - M7 (Unreleased Mix) [Maurizio]
27 - Round Three ft. Tikiman - Acting Crazy [Main Street Records]
28 - Round Four - Found A Way [Main Street Records]
29 - Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman - Never Tell You [Burial Mix]
30 - Rhythm & Sound w/ The Chosen Borthers - Making History [Burial Mix]

Please share this with all lovers of dub techno!

RIP Gregory Isaacs

2010-10-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

He was the Cool Ruler, the Lonely Lover, possessed of the sweetest voice to grace reggae and perhaps my favourite reggae artist of all time. A compilation of his mid to late seventies work has been one of my most played albums of the many, many thousands that I own. I have played his music at various restaurants I have managed over the years and have had an enormous amount of people - most of whom I would never consider to be fans of reggae, come and ask me about the artist.
He experienced the ups and downs of fame, though for all his personal trials he produced an incredible body of work that proved to be remarkably solid despite the overwhelming quantity he released.
His music has and will continue to be a soothing tone, a healing vibration, a lovers soundtrack, a poor man's vision of hope. He was the Cool Ruler. RIP!

Why Porn Soundtracks Blow

2010-10-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

When it comes to the history of cinemathere are scant few among us who cannot recall the era definingsoundtracks to such great films as Saturday Night Fever, The HarderThey Come, Pulp Fiction or Trainspotting. Because for the seriousmusic lover, life can be archived by its soundtrack. Perhaps thefirst time you heard My Bloody Valentine or Public Enemy, you knewwhere you were, what you were doing, how it made you feel. It isthere as we go through periods of huge change, as we grow and learn,as we laugh and cry. It's there for many the first time we kisssomeone, the first time we have sex.

Music helps us form the emotionsaround our cognitive memory. It colours our lives and helps to shapeour identity. For these reasons, music becomes meaningful, intimate.It is the very reason why powerful cinematic experiences areheightened. Would Tony Manero's highly sexualized pomp have amountedto anything without the camp strut of the Bee Gees? Would IvanhoeMartin's badman antics have carried the same swagger without thegully rock of Toots or Jimmy Cliff himself? And would Vincent Vega'snight time city drive been stamped with the same opioid sheen if itweren't for The Centurion's?

Sadly the same cannot be said of thecelluloid medium's late night, x-rated cousin. Does anyone know whatnotes were being struck when Linda Lovelace first demonstrated to Dr.Young that her centre of enjoyment was in the back of her throat? Orfor that matter what the tune was as Jeff Stryker forcefullypersuaded the prison warden to let him out of the pen early onPowertool? Sadly, in the medium of pornographic film, the soundtrackis usually an afterthought at best. Mention music in porn and mostpeople immediately conjure a slow, suggestive bass line rolling outover a flabby tangle of flesh and hair. Given that porno is nearly asold as the medium of film itself, and that it is the largest of allfilm genres, it seems wrong that the soundtrack hasn't evolved to thesame extent that its more well-heeled big screen sibling has. Butsadly it is true. The very notion of music for porn carries with itits own stigma; a cheesy hot pot of tepid funk and sexed-up slap bassto accompany the equally stereotypical dead-eye glaze of thegone-wrong protagonists the films feature.

Music didn't really play a part inporno until the medium itself began to gain some legitimized footingin the late 60's and early 70's. Swedish and Danish movies madeforays into the genre via an educational or comedic route; the Danesparticularly, increasingly lavished more money on their explicit sexcomedy productions in the early 70's. But in terms of mainstreamreleases, the breakout piece of porno history, Deep Throat, is markedas being one of the most influential films of that time. Not only wasit blessed with a plot line, but the score was also tailor made tofit with the thrusts and wiggles of the movie's actors, itssoundtrack one of the only commercially released soundtracks to anadult film to date. The vast majority of the films from this erathough did not make the same effort with their soundtrack and thegenre and its music quickly became unimaginative parodies ofthemselves. The 80's didn't fair much better; synthesizers took theplace of fuzz box guitars and all of a sudden it was possible for oneperson to make the entire soundtrack to a film, giving an even moretwo dimensional feel to them. The 90's continued on in this vein,with cut and paste electronic beats proving just as bland asoundtrack, while more recently the popular gonzo style of porn moresuited to the You Tube generation rarely features music at all.

Although attemptshave been made along the way to bring this balance of music andvisuals to some sort of harmony, the closest it ever comes is via theoccasional crossover of explicit sex into mainstream cinema. Filmslike Romance, 9 Songs, Baise-Moi and Shortbus have all featured theirshare of explicit sex (and in the case of 9 Songs an excellent rocksoundtrack), though as they are technically not pornography, theydon't strictly count. There are a couple of films worthy of mentionthough that combine steamy footage with hot music. A soft core eroticproject of Richard Kern's called Extra Action features a collectionof alt-models getting into mischief either on their own or with othergirls to a rousing soundtrack by Thurston Moore. And most recentlycontroversial director Travis Mathews managed to license tracks fromSan Francisco indie act Girls, the Chromatics and Glass Candy for hislatest work titled IWYL (I Want Your Love).

Theannual AVN (Adult Video News) awards actually features a Best Musiccategory, though listening to this years winners on the Live In MySecrets film I doubt John Williams is in danger of losing any work.In a bid to find out more about the ins and outs of the music end ofthe industry I tracked down a couple of experts. And who better totalk to than stars of the films themselves? 56 year old Seka is thestar of more than 200 adult films including the Swedish Eroticaseries that proved very popular in the early 80's. She has workedwith such luminaries as Paul Thomas and John Holmes and can stilloccasionally be found taking it off and getting it on for publicconsumption.

Joanna Angel isfrom the new school of porn. Not quite 30 years old, she has starredin close to 80 films, directed over 30 and has her own productioncompany and website. I asked both ladies for their opinions on themusic used in adult films.

“Tome music is an important part of any kind of movie as it can set thetone, the tempo, the movement”, states Seka. “The music helps totell the story, maybe that's why the music wasn't so good in myday... let's face it, there really wasn't mush of a story line,though it seems there used to be a start, middle and an end and areason for having sex. These days it seems that the movie opens andeveryone is already nude. As for the music, now think about how manyof us even turn up the sound when watching a XXX movie? I know Ididn't then and don't now.”

Joannashares the sentiments that the music is bad, though has more of aninsight as to why. “Nowadays producers and directors have addedvery generic guitar riffs, or bland electronic beats that stronglyresemble one of the choices of stock ring tones that your phone comeswith. Unfortunately there is a very logical reason for this and thatis, that porn is produced for a mass audience, so putting insomething bland is a way to "play it safe". Also, thebudgets for porn movies are a lot less than the budgets formainstream movies and licensing music is not cheap.” She also addsthat many mainstream acts don't want to touch porn because of what itmight do to their reputation. “Iknow from experience that many music licensing companies won't eventalk to you if your intentions are to put their music in a porn, evenif the budget is there. It could tarnish the chances of that songpotentially ending up in a car commercial, or a kids movie, and thosethings pay a lot!”

So forover 40 years pussies have been plundered and penises polished allthe while to a lacklustre, sonorous accompaniment. The stars havetheir own favourites they like to listen to whilst not performing.Seka professes a penchant for Barry White, Rod Stewart, Dean Martinand even Michael Bublé,while Joanna preferssomething either “fastand angry like Black Dahlia Murder or soft and faggy like Pulp orMorrissey.” A number of years ago I managed to put the samequestion to the Hedgehog himself, Ron Jeremy. He bagged hip hop asmusic to get down to, but gave baroque the thumbs up, then, moustachequivering, said “oh, and Enya of course.” Who would've thunk it?

Butjustthink of the horny heights that could be reached if the stars alignedcorrectly. DâmFunk could be laying down hot boogie swirls over strenuous, spermymanoeuvres, Night Jewel could be mixing their spaced-out Italo to thecreamy thighs and sighs of porn girls and guys. Bad Brains' very nameconjures up a horrific blooper reel of hardcore, oral fixation gonewrong, while the Minutemen's shuddering bursts of free-form punkcould provide the climactic money shot to the porno medium's visualequivalent. LCD Soundsystem may even be one step ahead of us all.Their 45:33 album they did for Nike could in fact be a subversivesoundtrack for a sweaty porn workout that has completely slippedunder the radar. All of a sudden “Losing My Edge” and “YouWanted a Hit” could have whole new meanings.

Taking the Myth?

2010-10-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

Myths have formed around the eclecticindie rockers Klaxons since their startling Mercury Prize-winningdebut. Real Groove sets out to debunk the theories with guitaristSimon Taylor-Davis.

As far as the media consuming publicare concerned, Klaxons are on their last chance bid to save theircareers. The ill-fated second album was turned down by record labelPolydor, with drug binges and over indulgent prog rock all part oftheir lost weekend in the French and Italian countryside withproducer James Ford. Sent off to musical rehab, anyone would thinkthe British quartet were punished by being paired up with producerRoss Robinson, the so-called Godfather of Nu Metal who has workedwith acts such as Limp Bizkit, Korn and Slipknot.

But then, what themedia feeds you isn't necessarily always the truth. To be honest,sitting in a more-than-cozy, darkened booth at a central Londonprivate members club, I was prepared to grill Simon Taylor-Davis onthese very matters. But as our conversation unfolded the truth ofSurfing the Void slowly came to light and proved to be whollydifferent to the previously reported one.

Simon Taylor-Davis's leopard printshirt over limb-hugging jeans and dark blazer fills the rock profilecertainly, yet is in stark contrast to the indie, mysticspace-travellers garb the band are more known for. In fact Simonconfesses that his natty attire is because he has a date later onwith a young British actress he met during the recording of the albumin Los Angeles.

That album of course is the longawaited sophomore effort from one of the most exciting bands to comeout of the UK in many years. The band exploded onto the English musicscene in late 2006 amidst a particularly dull period of bed-wettingearnestness and substance-addled tabloid behaviour by their peers.Their day-glo splattered indie was quickly branded with its own tagand nu rave was heralded as the best thing since the last time ajournalist tarred a bunch of emerging bands with a lazygenre-defining brush. Taylor-Davis is unfazed with the label and thenow popular bashing of it by the media.

“We never saw being labelled as nurave a bad thing,” states the guitarist, seemingly surprised as towhy he's even being asked the question. “I mean we were just makingthe music that we were into at that time, we weren't thinking aboutwhat people would call it. It was just us playing around at friend'sparties to begin with anyway. But at the same time we're proud ofeverything we've made, why should we be ashamed of our music justbecause the magazines want a new genre or word to get excited about?”

This pride also extends to what hasbeen reported as the rejected second album effort that apparently hadthe band members tripping balls on an unknown substance in thepastoral quarters of France and Italy. Rather than the strung out,doomed flight of prog indulgence that many will tell you was theintended follow up to Myths of the Near Future, the prolongedstudio sessions were nothing more than a dalliance for the band afterhaving spent the past two years relentlessly touring.

“Basically we were in the position ofhaving toured for so long and we felt we needed a break. Our labelwasn't pushing us for a new album or anything, but we told them wewanted to go and do some sessions with James (Ford of Simian MobileDisco and the producer of Myths...). So we went to a couple ofreally nice places in the middle of nowhere and started playingaround. When we recorded the first album it was done really quickly,like in the space of a week or something, so it was nice to be ableto be in the studio without any pressure on us. We never intended forthe songs we made there to be the second album, but we jokingly tolda reporter about it and how we had given the recordings to our label.All of a sudden we were reading these reports that our album had beenrejected and we had to head back in to the studio and get rid ofJames.”

In reality, after having worked solelywith Ford, the band felt they needed some fresh ears for their newalbum and settled on Robinson.
“James has been a friend of oursright from the start and we wanted to make sure he stayed one. Alsowe had only ever worked with him and we felt we needed to trysomething else,” explains Taylor-Davis. “Ross has a completelydifferent approach to making an album. He got us to think about eachsong and visualise everything we wanted to do with it before werecorded it.”

The result is immediately differentfrom their début, with the neon sheen being replaced by a moremature, harder edge that may well divide fans. For Taylor-Davisthough, the album is a more honest and structured effort.

“We made our first album in ahorrifyingly short space of time, so having all this time for thisone we really had to think about what we wanted to do. I think forthat reason it's a much more personal album, even spiritual in somerespects.”

Beyond Dubstep

2010-10-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

Unless you've had you ears tucked away under the settee next to a stack of Noel Coward long players or exclusively tuned in to the confines of Radio 4 for the past ten years, then chances are you've heard of dubstep. Its popularity has been steadily rising for many years with its roots able to be traced back to everything bass-wise that has come before it; be it the dub heavy sound system culture that itself emigrated from Jamaica, the future forward strains of drum & bass that impacted on the entire world, the champagne and cocaine excesses of garage and 2 step, or the gritty urban reality of grime.

Dubstep itself has now been around for about a decade, the tone being set in its early stages by the more experimental offerings tucked away on the b-sides of garage records. From those tentative beginnings through to the low-end rumblings of spare, dry minimalism from the likes of Skream and Digital Mystikz, to the beginnings of avant garde exploration by the Skull Disco crew, through to the full blown, free-form eruption of the sound today, the scope of dubstep is such that you can both love and hate it depending on what end of the spectrum you're tuned in to. At the most primal/adolescent core of the music is an angry, dreadnought bass and whip cracking snares combo. It bears a remarkable resemblance to the dark, stepping thrash of the hardest of drum & bass, only disembowelled of most of its percussion, and stands as the most recognisable form of the genre. Like drum & bass before it, it is rapidly succumbing to its own stagnation, pressing forward solely with the advancement of new effects to place on those snares and ever deeper ranges of hertz with which to wobble one's organs. At the other end of the spectrum is a more promising future. Producers are taking influence from the aforementioned strains of UK bass culture, but are looking further afield for their influence too. So whilst Skream is scoring chart attention via his somewhat dubious Magnetic Man outing and the inclusion of dubstep on Skins has marked the official popularization of the sound (some would argue its death knell), other artists kick against the pricks, refusing to be categorised by a term that is rapidly outgrowing the confines of a comfortable media tag. It was only a few years ago that the first crossovers of techno and dubstep were occurring; now the scope of influence is coming from every direction imaginable, from pop to hip hop to jazz and even classical. One wonders how long its popularity can last though, given that historically, interest in new forms of breakbeat music tends to peak amid a flurry of hype and proclamations of genius, then wane and eventually dry up while attention is lavished on the next big thing. For now there is enough thought provoking material being released to stave off that question and there are three young producers in particular who are responsible for some of the most forward thinking output in the ever-changing manifesto of a sound that is being polarized by its own characteristics.

Hot Flush Recordings are without question one of the labels heading the assault on breaking new ground within the realms of dubstep and all its myriad, bastard children. Undoubtedly the jewel in their crown right now is Mount Kimbie, a ridiculously talented duo comprised of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos. Their initial offering, the Maybe's EP highlighted them as ones to watch, while their next EP, Sketch On Glass confirmed their arrival as a serious talent. Their tracks stutter, twitch and crackle like exposed, live wires, working around recondite loops and intricate melodies. They believe the broad-mindedness of the producers working within the scene comes down to the sheer disparity of their backgrounds. “I think it's got something to do with the internet as well,” Kai told me in a recent interview. “The generation of people who are making exciting dance music now, compared to the drum & bass scene in the early to mid 90's when the people making it were from similar backgrounds or places; the people making it now are from everywhere because the internet allows you all to access whatever you're in to from wherever you live.” That unchecked access also helped to make Mount Kimbie's debut album Crooks and Lovers. “We sampled quite heavily for the album,” confesses Kai. “I had some sessions on Last FM sampling the first few seconds from various songs that came up under a Basic Channel playlist. I just skipped through and pressed record without checking what songs they were. After a while I had a ridiculous amount of low-fi samples, which I relabelled and cut up in to bits. They helped make the album.” While techno helped make Mount Kimbie's Crooks and Lovers, it manages to escape obvious reference points, instead inhabiting the spacious divide between a plethora of genres. Looking to forge new ground on their next release, we can expect further innovations from the duo in whichever direction they take.

At just 21 years of age, James Blake is fast becoming one of the most talked about names along the IDM branch of dubstep. Although his discography boasts only four releases to date, his handle on post-dubstep, R&B wonky business is fearsome. Rightfully appearing on one of the vanguard labels of open ended dubstep exploration, Hessle Audio, his complex, innovative approach to music has seen him labelled by some-time collaborators Mount Kimbie as “basically an incarnation of Joni Mitchell.” Utilising his voice as just another instrument to be stretched, pushed and sampled to the limits, his melodic productions roll, stumble and flail towards an invisible resolve. He incorporates pieces of R&B, funk, jazz and classical into his tunes whilst sounding light years beyond any of them. With further EP's set for release and an album based around his unadulterated vocal beauty in the works, people's ears are going to be playing catch up with James Blake's sound for some time to come.

On to his second album and rapidly emerging as a bona fide artist, Darren Cunningham, better known as Actress is perhaps the most far reaching of these artists in his sound. His debut album Hazyville was primarily an excursion into the foggy depths of late night house and techno, whilst more recent twelve inch releases and his latest album Splazsh remove the parameters entirely and head towards the space inhabited by greats like Miles Davis, Prince, Sun Ra, Moodymann and Mad Mike Banks. As label head of Werk Discs he is also responsible for the crushingly weighty release of Zomby's Where Were U in '92 masterpiece mash-up of future-retro, hardcore breakbeat. His sly, underhand releases on the Thriller label had techno, house and dubstep jocks alike salivating over their crates, while his recent album Splazsh is already sitting high atop many premeditated best-of lists for 2010. Strains of dubstep, techno, IDM, funk, boogie, house, jazz and more can all be heard worming their way through Splazsh, but not in ways that may be obviously recognisable. Working outside the confines of contemporary dance floor arrangements, Cunningham folds, spindles and mutilates his beats to hold his ideas, the results immediately arresting, if not always easily digestible.

The greater future of dubstep is anything but certain, but with the producers behind these subsidiaries all forging their own pathways ahead, we can be sure that wherever it's headed, there's going to be a killer soundtrack along the way.

Clubland October

2010-10-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

James Blake invites you to leaf your mind

First up this month is Red Rack'Em AKA Danny Berman and his debut album The Early Years. He's been hotting up labels like Undertones, Shift, Untracked and Home Taping Is Killing Music with his slo-mo house and boogie for the past couple of years. His full length cobbles together some of those tracks with some brand new ones and is essential for anyone with even a remote interest in milk-fed, rosy cheeked house music. James Blake's CMYK EP on R&S was a genre bending work of art and his new one is no different. He's incredibly young and unfathomably talented, making experimental, electronic masterpieces that are getting him compared to Joni Mitchell! Check out his latest Klavierwerke EP on R&S records and breathe it in.
On a harder techno tip, Lucy, who owns the Stroboscopic Artefacts label has released the EP of his career with his new one on Prologue. Titled Kalachakra, its pitched down, corrugate grooves are so masterfully put together they hint at a meditative state (or perhaps just induce one). Hot remixes by DVS1 make this my techno tip of the year so far. Here's some quick-fire breakdowns of further essential purchases. Arto Mwambe make the deepest, blackest shades of house music. Not bad for a couple of Germans. Check their new Duster FC EP on Live At Robert Jonson for proof.Jason Fine has been releasing a steady stream of lush, deep techno on Swedish imprint Kontra-Musik for a few years now. His latest, the Colors EP may just be his best yet.Milton Bradley ain't playing. The name may hint at the beloved board games company but this guy makes undiluted, fearsome techno that's more Battleship than Game Of Life. His latest on Do Not Resist The Beat mixes up raw, concrete textured techno with broken, stepping bass.Roof Light dabbles around with techno, dubstep, dub techno, house and disco. Far from spreading himself too thin, he excels in every style he touches, his latest release “Midas/Palm” on Millions Of Moments flexing his disco funk muscle with considerable aplomb. Erdbeerscnitzel (which translates as Strawberry Schnitzel) has been getting better and better with each release. His creamy, candy cane house treat that is the To An End EP on the Mirau label is some kind of sonic cherry on the top of his career to date.

Top Five

James Blake – Klavierwere EP
NDF – Since We Last Met
Public Lover – Musique D'Hiver Pour L'Été
Elgato – Blue
Lucy – Kalachakra

Classic Listening

Aaron Carl – Crucified (RIP Aaron Carl)

Clubland September

2010-09-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Johannes Heil is one of those rarebread of producers who can wake up one morning and discover he'saccidentally penned another album in his sleep. Since his debut in1995 the German stalwart has notched up more than fifty releases,including an impressive nine albums and a bucket-load of remixes. Hisskills are transferable across many different genres; as at homecrafting brutal, skull splitting techno as he is at etching outelegant, graceful electronica.

One of his strengths is his ability toturn his productions into sonic architecture, which has meant thateven his most simplistic ideas come across sounding fully realized.This is most evident on the track “Glockenspiel”, where Heilshapes the track around child-like chimes, something he has done inthe past on “The Chains of Babylon” from the Future Primitivealbum. But where “The Chains of Babylon” was a slice of big roomrave, “Glockenspiel” remains a kinetic, understated pieces oftech house. The opening track, “Hallelujah” is also immaculatelysculpted and a real throwback to some of Heil's older work where hewasn't afraid to chop up break beats and use them in a technosetting. Resonant jungle drums are slowly beaten, augmented bymachine made claps and the buzzing of flies, wild animal calls andAfrican chants. It's Heil at his playful, experimental best, anddespite it being the opening track is one of the album highlights.

Other points on the album sound staidand formulaic in comparison. “To the Groove” feels like techhouse filler while “Freedom of Heart” lacks just that.

Listening to some of Heil's older work,I feel like the signature stamp that was embossed on those is missinghere and that makes Loving feel like more a collection of singlesthan a cohesive album. That's not to say it is completely absenthere, as tracks like “A Holo Static”, “Hallelujah” and“Glockenspiel” all possess that undefinable quality that madeHeil's tracks stand out in a crowd of doppelgängers. But for themost part, Loving could be an artist album from any number of a bunchof producers, which is a shame considering the ability Heil possessesto sound so individual.

SIDEBAR

Sometimes the hottest tracks simplypass you by before you can nab them. Try and get your hands on thesesuper limited sound nuggets:

Jazzmoon's White Tools EP comes at youon the super low key Playtracks label out of Germany. Furtherinvestigation reveals that the space flute wielding protagonist is T.Bachner aka Zweikarakter, mainstay of the label and co-founder. Twotracks of ultra deep yet forceful house that threaten to suck yourheart out through your twitching, dancing feet. No really, they'rethat good.

Dee Edward's 1972 classic “Why Can'tThere Be Love” gets considerably interfered with by Pilooski, he ofthe Dirty Edits fame. Edward's original has featured recently on anAdidas commercial and released here on an homage label to the brandcalled Originals, Pilooski grows tentacles and puts them all to useon the MPC, chopping, slicing and dicing the sweet soul lament into asticky, frenzied mash. Hot mess doesn't even begin to describe thisone.

Brand new for the Detroit wunderkind,Kyle Hall's Sun Goddess EP furthers his reputation as the youngproducer all the old cats are steadily growing more and more jealousat. Releases on Hyperdub, FXHE and Moods & Grooves have allimpressed, but for his latest, Hall brings it back home to his ownWild Oats label. “Solar Funk” rides the line between jackingChi-Town house and disco laced euphoria, while “Dancen With A SunGoddess” fires up the little silver box and waves the flag high forthe acid revival.

Johannes Heil – Loving

***

Old guard of German techno fails toleave his indelible mark on latest long player

TOP FIVE

Milton Jackson – Beautiful Liars EP

Oskar Offermann & Moomin –Hardmood/Joe MacDaddy

Axel Boman – Holy Love EP

Hatikvah – In The Spirit (Deepchordremixes)

Trickski – Phil Collins

CLASSIC LISTENING

Talking Heads – Little Creatures

Jethro Cave

2010-08-28T05:38:00.000-07:00

JETHRO CAVE

It has long been noted that it is notwhat you know but whom. For a growing set of adolescents coming ofage in the spotlight this could be no more true, for their famehinges on one crucial fact; their parents are famous. For most,anything they do will pale in comparison to the achievements of thosewho gave them life, whilst a very few will inexplicably manage tooutshine their folks. Many are shameless in their quest for fame,trying anything they set their name and money to for their fifteenminutes, whilst others shun the lifestyle completely, seeking onlyanonymity and the opportunity of leading a normal life.

Jethro Lazenby can tick off some of theabove boxes. Eighteen years old and possessed of a particularlyslender frame he has become of late a hot commodity in the fashionworld. Walking for the likes of Balenciaga and Costume National, hehas also been shot by Heidi Slimane, which is not bad for a boy fromCollingwood, Melbourne and a look best described as aestheticallyinteresting. It doesn't hurt Lazenby of course that he happens to bethe son of one of Australia's favourite musical sons, Nick Cave. Thesinger had a brief affair with Jethro's mother, Beau - herself amodel, with the result being a gangly, intensely blue eyed boyinfused with the rebel rousing attitude of his father.

It is nearly forty minutes past ourarranged time to meet when Jethro Lazenby folds himself through thedoors of the Dalston bar where I'm waiting. He is all pointy bonesand a seething tide of great, unwashed hair that frames a face stillclinging on to boyhood, and judging by the odor emanating from theyoung model I'd say it's been at least a couple of days since he lastsaw a shower. Tucking himself into the barstool opposite me we settledown to chat, his sentences punctuated at first by nervous laughter,then with more frequency by the irreverent mirth of a teenager whohas contempt for anything and anyone that might take life tooseriously.

“I was walking through a trainstation,” recalls Lazenby of first being discovered, “and wasgetting the last train and some guy came up to me and said 'oh, I'mlooking for models who don't really look like models.' I was theGuess Who? kid on a TV ad when I was about nine. You know the boardgame? So I was like 'who the fuck are you? I'm the Guess Who? kid'and started screaming at him. Then I got a call from him and he stillwanted to use me. So he wasn't just a dirty old man after all.”

Just fourteen at the time, the youngmodel started off with the odd job here and there before landing aspot in Melbourne Fashion Week where he caught the attention of themodeling agency Viviens. After going to see the agency they toldLazenby he was too young and to come back in a year or two. However,when they put two and two together and found out who he was (or moreaccurately who his dad was) they called him in and put him on theirbooks.

“I went back in there and they toldme how much they wanted me on their books but they asked me if I'dchange my name to Cave. My theory is that if I sell out now I won'tbe accused of it later,” splutters the model amidst much laughter.“So people won't be like, 'oh he changed, he used to have soul andpassion'. I could then say no I was always a sell out. But I wish Ihadn't have done it now.”

Now back to Lazenby I ask him if hisfather had any opinion on the name change.

“Fuck I wouldn't have a clue,” hestates quickly, though concedes a little more information after amoments thought. “I didn't really see him that much when I wasgrowing up. But now that I've grown up a bit we can relate to eachother and shit. I might see him every few weeks, not that muchreally.”

Lazenby is understandably reticentabout answering questions on his father given that he was absentthroughout his childhood and now is an obvious point of interest foranyone who knows of the link. He is though all too aware of the factthat much of his new found attention stems from his blood line andknows as well that he has a unique opportunity because of it.

“Yeah I know I have to make the mostof things because otherwise things will go downhill pretty quicklyfor me. I'm going to go see the acting division at independent andI've been approached for a couple of things to do with music thatI've turned down straight away.”

One of those things was a major recordlabel wanting Lazenby to front a flavour of the month 80's synth popband where all of the music was written for them and the band wasthen styled by the label. Although he admits this would be prettyfunny, Lazenby admits that it would kill his credibility and he hashis own musical projects on the go, which are probably about as faraway from the slick stylings of a label fronted boy band as you canget.

“I write lyrics, I rap, I play pianoand I'm really really shit at guitar,” confesses Lazenby. “I alsosing a bit. I've been fucking around with stuff for years, it'salways what I've been interested in. I had some piano lessons for awhile but I'm mainly self-taught.”

He has worked with Australianhorrorcore rap crew Suicidal Rap Orgy and on his own makes musicunder the Pubic Nit banner. In his own words his material is about“ripping off toenails and biting off clitorises, but it's all ingood fun.” There is apparently a more serious side to his music aswell, though with his modeling schedule being busier and busier sincehe moved to London he hasn't found the time recently to writeanything.

That side of his career got a huge pushsoon after he arrived, landing a Balenciaga show in Paris last year.It was during the castings for Paris Fashion Week though that hescored his biggest job so far. On a go see to Heidi Slimane, therevered photographer loved Lazenby's look so much that he told him tohurry around the rest of his appointments for the day and get back tohis studio. When he returned there he found that Slimane had calledthe equally influential stylist Nicola Formachetti and together theyshot some by-now rather famous editorial which has acted as the youngmodel's calling card ever since. The androgynous shots show a teenteetering on the verge between childhood and manhood, innocent yetmischievous. They also prove that Lazenby knows how to put on aprofessional face for the camera, a stark difference to the unguardedyouth with chipped green nail polish and up-all-night wide eyed staresitting across from me. It can be said that he borrows from hisfather a casual disregard for authority, which has seen him land inhot water on more than one occasion. Visually there is the greengumby earring he is sporting today, which has become somewhat of afixture of his catwalk career. He wore it for the Costume Nationalshow he opened in Milan earlier in the year though it has popped upon numerous occasions.

“Yeah but they actually let me wearit then (for the Costume show) but some people don't even notice,unless they're sitting there and see me do it and just think 'right,I'm never fucking booking him again.' But I'll always try and wear itat shows, even if people ask me to take it out, I'll just keep it inmy hand and put it back in just before I go on.”

This anarchistic streak also saw themodel penning his own tribute to Michael Jackson on his arm before arecent show, writing R.I.P. Smooth Criminal on his arm before headingout on the runway. His self styled body art extends to tattoos ofwire coat hangers on his forearm, a bizarre character on his chestand two “23” tattoos.

“I met this guy about five yearsago,” explains Lazenby. “I think he was a psychopath. Every timehe saw the number 23 he was like 'ohhh, 23 man, 23!' like it was somebig thing. I thought he needed to be fucking committed but ever sincethen I think I caught it from him and it's become a really prominentnumber for me and I've covered myself in 23's.”

Lazenby confesses that some peopledon't quite know what to think when they first meet him. Thesupercharged ball of energy with a thirst for the bizarre eitherendears himself to people or makes them uncomfortable. He says thatit is not uncommon for him to turn up for a job and the people whohave hired him are expecting something completely different. Therehave been instances of misbehaving that have had his various agenciessit him down for a chat too.

“They don't nurture my destructiveside,” he laughs, talking about the agencies. “I've had many atalking to. They love the heroin chic thing but they don't like theheroin,” he quips and dissolves into a ball of laughter. Then hethinks and adds: “I don't take heroin, just though I should pointthat out. But I'm actually very professional when I'm working andwhen I'm working with straight-as-fuck people, then I'll go for ashoot and be talking or listening to weird fucked up music. Sothey'll think I'm weird and they'll complain that I wasn't on my bestbehaviour and shit but then the photos always come out fine.”

There was an episode though when hewasn't on his best behaviour, earlier in the year when he was back inAustralia and was hired by the department store Myer for a show. Notseeing the point of rehearsals that stretched over several days hevoiced his opinion to the organisers.

“I turned up for a rehearsal and Iwas walking down the runway with a cigarette. The CEO's were thereand I didn't think I had to be all scrubbed up for a rehearsal for aMyer show. It was something ridiculous like a 26 hour rehearsal withall these synchronised stops and all these changes. I was just like,'what? You're a fucking department store. Why?' They paid me to dothis interview with the Herald Sun about me opening the shows butafter this rehearsal they thought I was rude and didn't value theircredibility so they canceled me from the show. My agency in Australiawere really fucked off with me for that but I did not give a fuck.”

Lazenby tells me that after his fatherread about this incident on the internet he told him he was veryproud of him. He also tells me that after this happened he thoughtharder about his career and decided to start things more seriously,realising that although he may not like every brand he works for theyare paying him to be there. To that end he has recently donecampaigns for Topshop and Barney's of New York, though most of hiswork has been editorial, which has left him with a lot of shots forhis book but not so much money.

“Now my agent is saying that Ishouldn't do any more shit for free. All my friends assume that I'mreally rich because I've done all this work but most of it has beenunpaid. When I get it I just like to spend it straight away, but withsome of the money I get for modeling I know I should put it away andtry and get a deposit down on a house. I need a campaign, just onebig one. Actually I could do a new perfume. If I don't change myclothes enough I become Phero-man, just one big pheromone and excretesexual potency from my armpits.”

The money may not be rolling in forLazenby yet but he does seem to be aware of his earning ability.Beneath the serious-about-nothing attitude there does also seem to belurking some sense of needing to develop a plan to make the most ofhis position. As our conversation turns back to music several timeshe often berates himself for not getting off his ass and writingmore, seemingly aware that modeling may help him make some money andlaunch his name but that it is his passions he needs to be following.He also mentions he may go and live in Belgium for a while as hisgirlfriend is moving over to Europe from Australia and she isBelgian. When I inquire as to whether he speaks any French he hits meup with the following, which really is best left untranslated.

“Peut-tu vomir dans ma bouche pendantque je me masturbé?”

Then before his laughter has even driedup he's telling me his plans for the months ahead with modeling,saying he wants to do both London and New York fashion weeks and howinspiring it is to work with such talented people like Heidi Slimane.It is this contrast between an interest in grabbing on to his chanceat something bigger and his playful, cheeky immaturity that will nodoubt continue to keep his agent worried and make him best friendswith the more colorful characters of the fashion world.

As we leave the bar to part ways we arewalking back down Kingsland Road in the bright, stark sunshine, theunkempt Jethro Lazenby looking every bit the part of East London ashe fixes me with a piercing blue stare and asks if I have a cigaretteand any money for the bus. I empty a few pounds change from mypockets and watch him saunter off down towards Bethnal Green.

Clubland August

2010-08-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

The conceptualization of science fiction through techno is nothing new, especially not for Robert Hood. As far back as his first albums, Internal Empire and Minimal Nation, Hood has posited the existence of other worlds, alternate realities, supposed futures. His latest long player Omega continues this recurring theme, postulating a post-apocalyptic world of decay and decrepitude in which one man works to find a cure for a plague that has rendered any human survivors zombies.

The basis of inspiration for the album comes from the 1971 movie Omega Man starring Charlton Heston, an adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend. In keeping with the waste and burned out, outlaw society depicted in the film, Hood's tracks are charged with a bleak, mutant desolation. However, where the B-grade Heston flick is soundtracked by a copasetic, funk/jazz accompaniment that sounds every ounce a part of the decade it was made in, Omega the album is cut through with an urgent, futuristic score that profiles the ideas contained in Omega Man rather than the style it was made in.

Hood captures his dystopian vision expertly; from the narrated intro “Alpha (The Beginning)” and tone-setting “The Plague (Cleansing Maneuvers)” through to the aptly titled “Omega (End Times)”, he builds the music around his ideas.

Much of the album sounds like it is written from an impersonal viewpoint; that is to say that tracks like “Think Fast” and “Towns That Disappeared Completely” feel like they are the theme music of the conceptual plague itself. There are moments that feel more like human expression though. “Are You God?” reverberates with a searching, thoughtful tone, and “The Workers Of Iniquity” also carries with it a certain sense of being hand wrought. The bulk of Omega though feels like music is being produced by the stark, febrile world it depicts. On “War In The Streets” you can hear the crackle of digitally rendered fires burning, pulsing war cries of zombies bent on destruction, on “Saved By The Fire” the staccato thrum of morse coded synths.

Hood's minimal techno remains every bit as vital now as it was when he started making the tracks that coined the term. On the surface this album could come across like some of the rawest sketches of what has come to be known as Berghain techno, though deeper meditation on Omega reveals that within the walls of Omega is a heart and moreover a funk. That funk is sometimes all that belies the human construction of these tracks, so good is Hood at conveying the bleak nature of the album's themes. And it is that funk that separates Omega from being strictly a concept album to one that will also remain in plenty of record crates for a long time to come.

SIDEBAR

Hood's re-imagining of Omega as a soundtrack that never was is not the first time that one of the techno greats has taken on cinema. Jeff Mills pipped Hood to the post by almost ten years with his phenomenal album Metropolis. Taking on Fritz Lang's 1927 masterpiece of the same name, Mills not only finally escaped the confines of being seen as strictly a techno producer, but also began to emerge as the artist that fans have always known him to be.

Richie Hawtin has also dabbled with the medium, pairing his “We (All) Search@ track from DE9 Transitions to the Russian sci-fi, cult film Stalker from 1979. If there was ever any reason needed to get those kids to take their hoodies off, then the little spoon bending freak who shows a callous disregard for glassware in this clip is a case in point.

TOP 5

Mr. Raoul K – The African Government (Piano Influence Mix)

Robert Hood – Omega (album)

Tim Toh – No Trace

Dubbyman – King Of Motown

Do Not Resist The Beat – Point Of No Return

Classic Listening

Buffalo Tom – Let Me Come Over

Clubland July

2010-07-13T15:39:00.001-07:00

Being a part of Workshop 10 gave Ron Deacon’s career trajectory a big leg up, bringing him to the attention of everyone who follows the highly sought after low-key house label. So upon seeing his first solo EP on Farside Records it was almost a matter of buying the disc unheard, such is the esteem that Lowtec’s label carries with it. Although I did cast a rudimentary ear towards the record before purchase it proved unnecessary; the Secret Garden EP, Deacon’s debut solo outing, offers rich, atmospheric house music laced with a subtle, honeyed vocal that hits deep on first listening.

The title is alluded to in the opening bars of the original mix with a crop of nature sounds bubbling up over the tough, textured kick drums. Deacon references the San Francisco house sounds of the late 90’s with his jazzy guitar licks and silken Rhodesy keys; even the vocal by The Kat is reminiscent of some of the vital Naked Music tracks from that time. Though wearing his influences on his sleeve does Deacon no harm here; the vibe is genuine rather than a pastiche of weathered deep house standards and the vocal also proves to hit the mark. Perhaps in order to appeal to those more familiar with his “Untitled” cut on Workshop 10 or even in appreciation to Lowtec for putting him on, the A side is dedicated to Lowtec’s dub mix of “Secret Garden.” Taking only a syllable or two of the vocal, Lowtec builds up a beautifully minimal, deep house reconstruction that pushes the original into a more subliminal part of the night where words are ambiguous at best and classic song structures are easily replaced by throbbing, relentless vibes. Deacon revisits his original with his own “Refresh Mix,” which pares back the intensity of his compressed, forceful kicks and works on the more subtle elements of the track. Bringing the moodiness to the fore and unraveling the vocal to its full length allows The Kat’s smoky tones shine through, highlighting that her vocal in no small way contributes to the essence of this stunning EP.

SIDEBAR

These tracks have been burning some sort of hole in my head/earphones/pocket lately, and here's why:

Tornado Wallace's “Paddlin'” EP may be full of formulaic deep Detroit house but when you colour in without going over the lines this good then you're eventually going to win that competition. Shit analogy but that's what I think when I hear the latest from the Delusions Of Grandeur label. Wallace is an Australian whose mum calls him Lewie Day and you can expect with this EP for his star to start ascending in a rather rapid fashion in the orbit of house music.

Andy Stott owns a label called Modern Love based out of Manchester. Not to say that he is responsible for running it or has a vested interest in it; he fucking owns it and releases like “Tell Me Anything/Love Nothing” show why. The producer who also makes bass-heavy sonatas under the name Andrea comes correct on a deep sea house tip, dredging up the muckiest of low-end artillery and murky, sky-high dreamscapes for two crucial sides of slow-mo, blissed out dubby house.

Daze Maxim's latest looks to continue on in the vein of his usual impeccable discography of techno house. On his on Hello? Repeat label, which has hosted the likes of Bruno Pronsato's incredible “Why Can't We Be Like Us” opus from 2007, “Tomorrow Universe” is three super stripped back club cuts that adhere to the Edgar Allen Poe ethos of emitting everything that is unnecessary. What's left is audible treasure boring into your head sockets.

Silverbeat's Top 5

Daze Maxim – Tomorrow Universe

Joe – Claptrap

James Blake – CMYK

Andy Stott – Love Nothing

Ron Deacon – Secret Garden (Lowtec Dub)

Classic Listening

Inspiral Carpets - Life

Clubland June

2010-06-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Every year there are a run of artists who completely shake the foundations of music, mercilessly messing with your preconceptions of sound and style, extending a beckoning finger for you to join, follow or simply witness as they blast off into orbit. This year already there have been such albums released and surely with a further six months of 2010 there will be more who inspire, confuse, cause utter disbelief and admiration in equal doses. For my money I'm not sure if there will be any that will surpass the sheer brilliance and unrestrained ambition of Actress's Splazsh and Mount Kimbie's Crooks & Lovers.

Both London based artists, their music embraces the free-willed approach to fusing, splicing and mixing of influences. Actress's productions find themselves as comfortably at home on Rinse FM as they do in the middle of a Theo Parish set, taking in elements of grime, dubstep, house, techno, IDM and much more. Mount Kimbie may be more aligned towards the dubstep scene, though their delicate, experimental ventures exist on the furthest outreaches of that sound, in an area too colourful to possibly be called grey.

Splazsh follows up from Actress's incredible 2008 debut, Hazyville, further exemplifying his position as one of the more unique beat-auteurs working today. Included in the 14 track long player are a few previously released gems, notably “Maze” from the recent Paint, Straw & Bubbles 12”, opening track “Hubble” from one of the Thriller releases that Actress was behind last year, and the mind melting “Lost”, a remix of sorts that Actress (real name Darren Cunningham) completed of an original Various Productions track.

Mount Kimbie have been making serious waves since their Maybes EP dropped on Hotflush Recordings at the beginning of 2009. The duo comprised of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos have been blowing away audiences with their live PA and their two EP's to date have confirmed them as one of the most exciting acts to come out of London in some time. Their debut album, Crooks & Lovers follows their flawless run with a breezy mix of post-garage, avant-garde, experimentalist genius. If you are at all remotely interested in electronic music or merely need your preconceptions about what you imagine to be a series of tasteless bleeps and beats updated, you could do no better than checking out these two albums.

SIDEBAR

Actress – Spazsh – Essential Tracks

Low end, tonal paranoia ensues as Actress channels the grainy, late night, militant techno of Detroit on “Bubble Butts And Equations”. Think Theo Parrish squaring off against Keith Tucker and you're on the right track.

“Purple Splazsh” goes 80's boogie as Actress looks to Prince for inspiration, dragging the frilly-shirted midget backwards through the dirt and grime of London streets and syncopated beats.

Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers – Essential Tracks

“Carbonated” begins with a backwards blur of pressurized synth, firing twee Casio-tone melodies into a reverb chamber, before setting the whole stew to sizzle and laying on syrupy Rhodes keys and an intangible mess of r'n'b vocals.

Plucked piano string nightmare meets Balearic guitar strumming in a science lab on “Before I Move Off”. As the potions boil and bubble, a velveteen vapour of diva-ish vocals coat everything with a sparkling gold dust.

SILVERBEAT'S TOP 5 (these are all individual tracks)

Lowtec – Untitled (Workshop 10)

Pier Bucci – Papa Guede

Alessandro Crimi – Kids

Ramadanman – Glut

DJ Koze – Blume der Nacht

CLASSIC LISTENING

Galaxie 500 – On Fire

An audience with the Modfather

2010-05-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

From the angular, angry edge of The Jam to the sophisticated, Solero grooves of the Style Council, through to his remarkable solo career, Paul Weller proves why his is the voice that spans generations on new album Wake Up The Nation.

In the canon of rock there are few stars who have remained both active and vital for as long as Paul Weller. His career, stretched out over four decades counts numerous top ranking chart positions, whilst his music and indeed even his style has gone on to influence generations of younger bands. Far from resting on his laurels as many of his more successful contemporaries have done, his albums have remained at the forefront of the British consciousness, picking up a BRIT award just last year for Best Male Solo Artist. Following up on 22 Dreams, the album that helped Weller to the win, he returns with a raw, heavy shot to the jugular, Wake Up The Nation. Real Groove caught up with The Modfather in a swank London private member's club to talk about making it up as you go along, creating an enduring legacy and the importance of pop music.

At their height they were one of Britain's most beloved bands. They were labelled as mod-revivalists for their use of 60's rhythms and soul but they just as easily fit into the current stream of punk rock and new wave that was spewing out on to the streets of England in the late 70's when they began to release music. The Jam's songs spoke to the people of Britain of the divisions between classes, the bleakness of those times and the beauty and love amongst the rubble. For 18 consecutive singles they charted in the Top 40, many of those landing in the Top 10. Their sharply cut suits were in direct contrast to the shredded apparel of their peers, whilst their musicianship put their rivals to shame. With many bands like The Smiths, Oasis, Blur, and Arctic Monkeys all indebted to The Jam for their sound, some have even gone so far to mimic the fashion style of Weller in his early years.

“We just thought we needed a look and needed to separate ourselves from everybody else,” says Weller of the choice for their tailored suits. “So when we got signed up it was in the punk days but we still kept that look, which some people saw as amusing because they saw it as being dated, but it worked for us, it set us apart really. Everyone had their own look, you know The Clash had their own look with their painted clothes and that stuff and the Pistols with Malcolm and Viv's shop and all that. Any decent band would have a look, it was just a matter of what you were trying to say to people really.”

In 1982 after the release of the hugely successful album The Gift, Weller suddenly announced that the band were to split up at the end of the year, much to the astonishment of their loyal fan base. Their farewell concerts sold out over consecutive nights at Wembley Arena whilst their final single “Beat Surrender” went straight to the number one position in the charts on its release.

Paul Weller was not a very popular man for the decision he made to leave and effectively disband The Jam. Fans were distraught to witness the dissolution of their beloved band, whilst Mike Foxton and Rick Buckler experienced a mixture of sadness, regret and inevitable anger over the move. Some 28 years later however Weller is as adamant as ever that it was the right decision to make.

“There wasn't any major kind of falling out at the time, but then no one was happy about me wanting to leave,” states the singer. “They wanted to keep going so it wasn't the most popular decision for Bruce and Rick and me Dad who was the manager at the time. They were all like 'fucking hell, what are you doing?' But I just needed to move on in life and any relationship that breaks up is always tough. But what do you do? You either stay in it and live a lie or you go off and do what you have to, that's life.”

Drawing Weller into the past is not what he's here for today in the plush surrounds of the posh Mayfair club we are seated in, though with his own history weaving throughout that of British music it is inevitable that we touch on aspects of his whole career. And as he points out later, he's been answering questions about The Jam and what chance – if any, there is of them getting back together for the last 28 years (it's precisely zero by the way). I am here to talk to the ever stylishly dressed Weller about his new album Wake Up The Nation, his tenth over 18 years as a solo artist. Produced by Simon Dine who has contributed to two other Weller albums, it is the result of the two starting off with several mood pieces prepared by Dine and fleshing out the ideas. At the time Weller didn't even have plans for his next album, let alone what shape it would take. However with the exciting nuggets from Dine lighting the fires of creativity, the pair quickly expanded those raw beginnings to eight workable tracks, calling in other musicians to help expand on what the two had already laid the foundation for.

“He had a very definite idea about the direction of the sound and where he could take the music,” says Weller of Simon Dine. “That's great because my job was made a lot easier too. I hadn't bothered to try and write anything beforehand. I just waited until we got to the studio and I reacted off the music and went with it. It was a different method for me because usually I'll go in to the studio at least with a chord sequence or some of the song formed in my head or something. It was nice after so many years of making records to find a new way of working too, it was really refreshing.”

As with many of Weller's solo albums, Wake Up The Nation boasts a heavy duty array of collaborators, from the My Bloody Valentine eccentric noisenik Kevin Shields, to Clem Cattini, one of the most prolific session drummers in England in the 60's and 70's and even ex-The Jam bassist Bruce Foxton. It was this working with Foxton again that had rumour mills turning with the possibilities of a reunion, but Weller immediately downplays the mere mention of Foxton appearing on the album.

“Let's get something straight,” he asserts quickly. “This in no way points to any sort of reformation of the band. I wasn't really that bothered whether it would fan the flames of rumours about it happening either. But it wasn't that weird you know. I don't know how it was for Bruce but for me it was okay. I mean 28 years is a short time in rock'n'roll, we just got on with it and didn't reminisce about the old days.”

Keeping the creative process fresh for the sessions, Weller would largely improvise the lyrics without trying to say anything too particular. For a man whose lyrics have spoken to generations with their sweet ballads, disaffected views on social classes and politics, it may come as a surprise that he would put such little onus on meaning. He explains that it was very liberating to approach the songs in this manner, focusing instead on the meter and timing of the words instead. I wonder though what formed the basis of the pointed lyrics that found their way through songs like “Eton Rifles” and “Going Underground”.

“Being conscious of the class system that is present in this country, that really came from my upbringing,” explains Weller of what fuelled his views and eventual song lyrics. “Seeing how the privileged classes live in this country too, that had an effect. But it was more born out of the people I grew up listening to. People like Ray Davies, early Townshend, Lennon as well, people like that. For all the moments of 'She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah' there were later moments where people would write about deeper issues and social conditions, people like Ray especially. So for me, growing up, music was not just about entertainment, it was an education as well. It informed me, gave me some kind of world view, it was everything to me. It inspired me and I guess my own music was just a continuation of that. I think that as song-writers that's what our role is. Pop music to me is like the modern folk music. Folk was always about entertaining people but it informed them as well. It's writing about current issues but also about the important things in all of our lives. Pop music is no different to that, it's only different because of the commercial aspect of it but the actual art itself is the same really.”

One other vocal statesman from Weller's past was Joe Strummer from The Clash, a man whose vision of revolution through music was so total that it didn't end with the demise of The Clash, it merely shifted focus. The Clash were in fact early supporters of The Jam, inviting them to tour with them in 1977 for their White Riot tour. It was a tumultuous time in England, a time mirrored through the frantic, urgent fervour of punk and the media reaction of the filth and the fury. Weller remembers that much of the uproar about punk and the divisions painted between mods and rockers were largely media manipulations that got distorted beyond their true size.

“I don't think it was so much being a mod, it was that whole thing of how the media whipped up the whole Pistols thing in '77 and all that bollocks. But it was a very violent time, the 70's, I mean every gig there was always a fight, every fucking night and it was like that for a long time too. It's very different to that now, people are much more sophisticated these days and much more broad minded. We did encounter some trouble in those early tours but it was more because of what people had read in the papers, it was a backlash against that really. There were a few morons who would read this shit in the paper and then go out and become that, but it was just a very violent time. It was much more tribalistic; there were all these little groups of teds and mods and punks, it was that kind of world really.”

Weller's instinct was to counter the media distortions with lyrical snapshots of how he saw the country. “That's Entertainment” was apparently written after a drinking session, taking in both the day to day mundaneness and few simple pleasures that conjured up a picture of working class life in Britain perfectly. It is a sentiment that lives on in Weller, evidenced by the title track to Wake Up The Nation.

“I think at the time of writing some of my earlier songs that looked at where England was at, back in the days of The Jam and Style Council things were much more extreme then and they were much more black and white. I think now that politics and media and TV and lots of other things are just very bland. The personalities are all very interchangeable aren't they? The politicians, it's hard to tell the difference between any of them or their policies. I think English people as a whole have really moved on in the last fifteen years or so and they're quite modern. I just don't think the media and the politics have really caught up with that yet and they're still trapped in the past. We still seem to be spoken to like idiots, talked down to and underestimated. But I wouldn't like to say that the album is any kind of major political statement either. There's all sorts of stuff on there and some of it I haven't got a fucking clue what it's on about. You know I was just making it up, but I quite like that sort of stuff too, it's quite nice to unravel that sort of stuff over time you know. Sometimes you don't find any meaning and sometimes you find loads of it after a time.”

As we talk more of the different phases that Weller has been through we touch for a time on his reason for leaving The Jam, the Style Council. Though the band was never as successful as his first one, it was an outlet for his creativity that he couldn't express through The Jam. From 1983 through 'til the end of the decade Weller, along with Mick Talbot, Steve White and Dee C. Lee followed a pathway of soul, jazz, and more electronic influences whilst still injecting their songs with politically aimed barbs and wry observations on the state of things. Showing a much more complex style of arrangement than he did with The Jam and showing an open mindedness that eventually saw the band toying with house music and acid jazz, the band proved a little too clever for themselves, falling out of favour with the public and consequently their record company. When the Style Council split up it was the first time Weller had been without a band or a record deal for his adult life.

“It was a very odd time in my life that was, because it was time for us to finish the band but I was coming up to my thirties and being a father for the first time. But then I didn't even have a band or a record deal which were the things I'd always been used to. So I was cut off from everything and felt adrift in uncharted seas really. It took me a couple of years to get my bearings again and get back on my feet. It was probably the strangest time in my life, I thought it had just all finished and that was it. I only found myself really through work, through getting back out there on the road and playing. And eventually my muse and the focus came back but it was a very odd time.”

Since then it seems that Weller has been working harder than ever, rarely leaving more than a two year gap between albums, extensively touring and collaborating with other musicians. I sense this is not because he can't handle being in one place for too long, but because of an innate desire to create and to indulge his muse. With such a long career and no end in site I wonder if even he is surprised that his place in music has been relevant for so long.

It has surprised me yeah,” he says genuinely. “I'm surprised to be at this age anyway, I mean who ever thinks they'll make it to the age of 51 or 52 when they're young? It's like another fucking planet innit? But all of a sudden I am this age and I am still doing it, but it was never the plan that's for sure. I never even had a plan, I just made it up as I went along really. I still am I suppose. I think if anything, I feel more comfortable in my own skin now and I just think this is what I do in life, this is me and I play music and make music and I'm grateful for the fact that this is what I'll always do as well. The only scary thing about it all is how fucking quick it's gone. I mean people talk about events that happened 30 years ago and that seemed like only a few years ago to me. So I suppose if anything, if the next 20 or 30 years go as quickly then I've got to do as much as I can and create as much work as possible really. I think for any artist you want to leave a body of work in the world because that's what you're here to do. It's what my purpose on this earth is, apart from looking after me kids and family, that's what I'm here to do. That drives me, the fear of mortality, it drives me to work as much as I can.”

Clubland May

2010-05-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

2010 looks like it will be a big year for DFA with the hotly anticipated final album from LCD Soundsystem due out imminently, though the excitement of that release has been somewhat sullied by being leaked on the internet ahead of the release date, a fate that unfortunately also befell their last album, Sound of Silver.

Already they’ve been warming up their release sheet with Yacht, Michoacan and Ray Mang featuring a vocal comeback of sorts for Lady Miss Kier. Black Van have also presented their début on the label, which on closer inspection reveals two veteran producers collaborating on a new disco project. Oliver Kowalski from Hamburg duo Moonbootica and French producer Kris Menace who has remixed everyone from Robbie Williams to Tracey Thorn have come together with ongoing aspirations, Yearning being the first fruit of their labour.

Showing their considerable experience, “Yearning” sets a tone of irrepressible delight that is part feel-good nostalgia and part disco invocation to lure in the fresh, bright breezes of spring. Keeping things simple seems to be the maxim here with rising and falling chords buoyantly floating on top of an unpretentious, grin-inducing bass line. Extra flourishes from some heart-bursting strings and tinkling of higher octave keys complete the track, which has more than a little bit of pop appeal to it, sounding for all the world like something Daft Punk would be proud of. There are apparently guest vocalists lined up to appear on future Black Van releases so it will be interesting to see how far they push this pop aspect of their sound. The Emperor Machine fires off their remix into orbit with a deranged piece of kitsch, sci-fi disco that incorporates the original bass line into the track but little else. In transforming the original into their own track and applying their signature Emperor Machine touch, “Yearning” loses its clean, carefree appeal, becoming the burnt out, bruised and battered counterpart to the wide eyed young innocent it once was. Horses for courses really, but my money is on the doe-eyed beauty of the original.

SIDEBAR

Ex-pat Christopher Tubbs has been making waves in the UK for a while now. His Heads Down blog http://www.headsdown.org/ is a worthy read for lovers of disco and house, featuring interviews with luminaries from all over the world, while his record label he set up with Steve Harris, Untracked is scoring major points with discerning DJ's. The latest release for the label, the 'All I Ever Wanted' EP comes courtesy of Red Rack'Em and is a quintessential piece of slow burning house.

If you're looking an album to help you through the long, dreary winter that is fast approaching, you could do a lot worse than Conforce's Machine Conspiracy. Packed full of the ebullient, swelling emotion of Detroit techno and the icy, wind swept desolation of their German counterparts, Machine Conspiracy is an instant classic, currently sitting right near the top of my favourite releases for the year.

And finally make sure you check out the incredible remixes of Mount Kimbie. The London duo have called in FaltyDL, James Blake, Instra:Mental, Scuba, and Prosumer & Tama Sumo to add weight to their faultless discography.

Top 5

Kink – Kiss The Sky

Crimen Excepta – Sexxx With Nephilim

Mudd & Pollard – Vincent

Cassy – Cassy 03 EP

Erdbeerschnitzel – 4 Months (Mark E Remix)

Classic Listening

Babatunde Olatunji - Drums of Passion LP

Clubland April

2010-04-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Within a few short years Anton Zap has made himself an indispensable part of deep house and has displayed a growing talent for mining late night emotion from his productions. The Russian producer has consistently been hitting the mark of late as his recent emission for the Millions of Moments label shows, as does this joint for Jus-Ed's Underground Quality imprint.

The aquatic feel of his Take It As It Comes EP sounds like a nocturnal journey to the briny depths to preach the word to all manner of sea floor dwellers. Spread over four tracks, Zap washes layers of dreamy pads and chords over waves of rolling bass and textured rhythms. It's an approach he uses for every track here, which may lead to some seeing the EP as samey and uninteresting, but I feel that what Zap is aiming for here is creating moods and vibes with these tracks, which he does and does incredibly well.
“I Get Deep Beat” makes use of this formula with subtle keys accenting the ebb and flow of the groove, while broken, dirt-worn percussion clatters around behind the scenes. “I'm Fine” is the weakest link on the EP, though still carves out a solid vibe with its blunted wood blocks and marimbas forging their way through the murky blur of foggy pads and grubby bass.
“BYE” charts a similar course as the other tracks, keeping the chords reverberating around a small echo chamber, adding barely perceptible details to spike the track with added feeling and warmth, while “Every Day Could Be Like DIZ” adheres to the most straight up house principles of them all with its Juno-like bass, skippy hats and flourishes of staccato snares.
The Take It As It Comes EP may not be particularly ground breaking but then I hardly think that's the point; Zap has crafted four tracks of sublime deepness here that will hit the heart of any discerning dance floor.
Trus'me's Prime Numbers label may only have notched a handful of releases in 2009 but counting Linkwood's “Systems” and Trus'me's own “In The Red” albums among them, it was a successful year for the Mancunian independent. Barely into the new year and Prime Numbers 11 hits us with three further reasons to count the imprint as one of the most exciting purveyors of house music around right now.
Mr Scruff's usual wobbly, tongue-in-cheek, jazz house gets serious for a minute with a delectable slide through an organic, flute-led bowl of “Fresh Noodles”. The Rhodesy keys tickle in all the right places, feeding off the wide, rubbery bass and live-sounding percussion.
Motor City Drum Ensemble continues his faultless run with “Got It”, a much speedier house cut than the slow, grinding fare he usual serves. The slamming, energetic cut is filled with the deep wall to wall chords that have epitomized MCDE tracks and the tough, booming bottom end and kick help to further the vibe of classic early nineties US house.
Hardly a familiar name (though with a little digging it appears he's the true veteran here) Andres rounds out the release with a big nod to the old school with his “Planet Rock” sampling “Jack City”. It's a hazy summertime, rollerskating jam with a low slung bass line that will get you all nostalgic for space invaders and watching b-boys and girls popping and locking in the park.
Prime Numbers and Underground Quality are just two of the incredible house labels hitting everything out of the park at the moment. For further deepness make sure you check the Quintessentials label, Omar-S's FXHE, Smallville and Workshop.

Anton Zap – Take It As It Comes EP
****
The Russian house maestro goes mining for gold in the deep blue and brings back a top catch.

Various – Prime Numbers 11
****
Three further cuts of unwashed dope from the geezers bringing you plenty of Northern soul on this must-have label.

Silverbeat's Top 5

Pawel – Pawel LP

Kuedo – Starfox EP

Four Tet – There Is Love In You LP

Anton Zap – You Are Not Alone EP

Martyn – Seventy Four (Redshape remix)

Classic Listening

Billy Paul – When Love Is New

One Life Stand

2010-03-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Pledges to fidelity and channelling the energy of Saturn's return; are Hot Chip all grown up or are they essentially the composite sum of R. Kelly in a Devo hat?

Dealing with musicians runs a close third to the old showbiz adage of never working with children or animals, which makes sense as they for the most part inhabitant the psychological space somewhere in between the two. Only one question into an interview with four members of Hot Chip in an antiquated old boozer in East London and Alexis Taylor is cutting my line of inquiry to the quick.

“What do you mean about the album being sentimental?” he questions.

I tell him I was referring only to One Life Stand,the title of their latest album.

“So you haven't heard it and you're just judging a book by its cover?”

At this point the other band members step in and attempt to diffuse the situation, though it becomes clear Alexis was just entering into the jovial mood of the lively pub in his own way. Owen Clarke, guitarist, bassist and keyboardist offers a slightly more philosophical insight to the album title.

“Well we're all a little older,” he offers. “'Now that we're older there's more that we must do' is one of the lines on the album. It's a time of change. We had a previous interview where we talked about Saturn's return, something that happens in astrology which I don't believe in. Something about how the planet Saturn completes its cycle around the earth every 30 years so maybe it's got something to do with that.”

Whilst no personal information regarding any life changes or transformations is forthcoming the band members do touch on something decidedly more pertinent to the physical recording of the album, saying it was the first time they had ever used a studio properly, which sonically translates to One Night Stand being marginally less synthesized sounding.

“Just going in to a studio where you have to record drum kits and get musicians in and not record by sitting on a bed with a synthesizer on your lap going is all quite new to us,” informs Felix. “That's what has really made the album what it is and it's featured everyone in the band much more.”

This new method of recording was brought on partly by needing space to record guest musicians and partly by being inspired by working with Peter Gabriel in 2008 on a cover of Vampire Weekend's “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”.

Playing around with other people's music seems to be part of Hot Chip's raison d'être, so prolific is their body of remix work that it far outweighs their self-produced discography. Whilst the band are quick to point out remixes of their own tracks they have greatly enjoyed (Dominik Eulberg's remix of “One Pure Thought”, the DFA remix of “Colours”), when it comes to bands they have re-rubbed they are a little lost because they have no idea what people think of them.

“I don't feel like we get very much feedback on the work that we've done,” states Alexis. “Often record labels are the ones that want the remixes and the bands don't know anything about it. Felix and I did a Rilo Kiley remix a few years ago and I listened to it the other day and really liked it. I was really proud of it but we never knew what anyone thought of it or what the band even thought of it. Whereas with the Kraftwerk remix we got emails from Ralf saying they liked it, which was nice.”

I wonder out loud at this stage if R. Kelly would appreciate the image remix the band undertook on a promo tee shirt of theirs which depicts the troubled “Ignition” singer sporting a Devo cone hat.

“My friend Nick Ralph made that for us,” Alexis adds with his typical deadpan aplomb. “The combination of those things together speaks more than trying to say something about Hot Chip. It doesn't equal Hot Chip; Hot Chip is more than being influenced by R Kelly and Devo but there is something very amusing to me about mashing those things together... And capturing something in an image that you can't really talk about. It's just an image that makes me laugh and I'm proud to be affiliated with it.”

Clubland March

2010-03-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

I read a review recently that took issue with a release not treading new ground, of sticking to familiar pathways within its genre. Like rock music with all of the best chords already used up, there will always be a certain amount of familiarity within electronic music. The 808 and 909 drum sounds are an instantly recognizable feature within the medium, while there are a plethora of production tricks and sounds that are aped, rehashed and re-molded by the bulk of producers. Red Rack'em may not be breaking new soil with his latest twelve for the coveted Untracked label, but through employing some of the classic deep house sounds and themes on the release he alsoch touches on that vital quality of creating a classic vibe.

This is nowhere more evident than on the incredible "In Love Again," which has already won its place in the hearts and crates of DJs far and wide. Sneaking in a clever sample of Andre 3000 from the track “Prototype” on The Love Below album, the track centres on swelling pads and strings with various layers of the vocal giving a dreamlike, ethereal quality. Realizing that a good thing need not be overdone, Red Rack'em keeps the rest of the track very simple with subtle turns of percussion doing only what it should, accentuating the groove that is already there. The title track likewise makes use of a borrowed sample, which again is achingly familiar though I can't quite place it. Super slow house is the order of the day with orchestral hits firing off like symphonic cannons amid the warm, easy pads and honeyed vocal samples. "Beginning End" channels the same effusive spirit, but aims at a more bass heavy version of the similar threads that tie these three tracks together. Fans of KDJ and Theo Parrish will be right at home here with this latest EP in an increasingly good run for both Red Rack'em and the Untracked label.

As Cherry, Teruyuki Kurihara's debut EP for the Four:Twenty imprint may not have scored much of a blip on the techno radar when it was released mid-way through last year, but his follow up effort, the World Waits EP, should register some more deserving attention for the Tokyo producer. Keenly focussed on the emotive layering of melody, Cherry nevertheless fuels his tracks with plenty of kinetic groove. "When the Truth Is" tracks chiming, Detroit infused techno through wandering pathways of euphony, passed through bursts of steamy noise and rough shod wooden percussion. The relentless high notes figure in to the track like Robert Hood style minimalism played out in long form, though each element is scuffed up around the edges, taking the shine off that distinctive Hood chrome plated feel. Kurihara's hard whiplash claps slam the opening track into overdrive and bounce off the wistful melodies, giving them more onus, not allowing them to succumb to their own precious beauty.

Restless organs sweep back and forth through the sci-fi infused echo box of the title track as if they are searching for something, while space critters cry in the night, howling at a dozen orbiting moons. The bass line is rooted in classic deep house, providing a moment of simplicity in contrast to the drawn out release of never ending chord sequences. Built lovingly over twelve and a half minutes, "World Waits" is a gradual, gentle track that nonetheless hits with a surprising force via its tightly compressed kicks and rounded bass.

Ada takes "World Waits" and applies a dry, reductive hypnosis to the track, reversing some of the sounds and purging extraneous parts of the melody to present a dry ice dance floor killer that burrows into elements of Detroit funk. All told a highly impressive release from Cherry with Ada's remix providing the extra namesake on top.

Red Rack'em, All I Ever Wanted EP

*****

Instant slow house classic using familiar deep house tones charts Christopher Tubbs' superb Untracked label through the roof.

Cherry, World Waits EP

****

More melody and groove than you can wobble various sticky objects at makes for a release worth waiting for from Cherry

Silverbeat's Top 5

Conforce, Machine Conspiracy LP

Red Rack'em, All I Ever Wanted EP

Mark E, White Skyway

SCB, 20_4

Joy Orbison, The Shrew Would Have Cushioned the Blow (Actress' Neu Haus So Glo Mix)

Silverbeat's Classic Listening

Fela Kuti, Expensive Shit

Rupert Grint

2010-02-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

Rupert Grint looks slightly uncomfortable. The young British star may be the veteran of no less than six Harry Potter movies with numbers seven and eight on their way, but right now he looks less than convincing as a stylist helps him into his tight leather vest which will feature on the very pages you are now leafing through. Maybe it's his inner wizard, perhaps just that there doesn't seem to be much rock 'n' roll in the flame headed actor, but between shots, the fashionable attire appears out of place on the young man known to millions as Ron Weasley.

It is when the photos are done and Grint joins me on a couch in the filthy North London pub we have sequestered that he looks more relaxed, though truth be told Grint's unease may have been entirely in my mind, for one on one, his laid back manner offers nothing but a deep, meditative air of calm. Of course this is all in a day's work for Grint, who has been in the public eye ever since he was cast in the impossibly successful film adaptations of the Harry Potter series of books. Only ten years old at the time he has effectively done the bulk of his growing up (more than half his life) in front of the film going public.
Now at the age of 21 he is on the verge of adulthood, still living at home but one of the highest paid people under 25 in the world. It is a distinction he shares with his two co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, three young actors who are now at a crucial stage in their careers as they start to think about life outside the franchise that has made them all incredibly successful. Radcliffe and Watson's futures have been playing out for a little while now. Radcliffe has been dabbling in theatre and television for many years whilst Watson is currently the highest paid actress in the world and as of June 2009 has been the face of Burberry – though she is to leave acting behind for a time to focus on university in America.
It has been Grint whose star has taken a little longer to rise. The actor has already featured in two films, though neither have stirred much critical praise (the first, Thunderpants in 2002 saw Grint playing best friend to a boy with earthmoving flatulence, while the eccentrically sentimental Driving Lessons from 2006 garnered only luke warm reviews). But as Grint and his chums near the end of their fantasy film tenure a new side to the flame haired actor is about to emerge and the two films he is set to appear in should go a long way to help dispel the image of bashful, caped wand waver.
First up is Cherrybomb, a fast and slick movie about friendship, behavioural inheritance and the perils of youthful exuberance. In the film Grint and his best friend compete for the affections of his boss' daughter who just happens to be trouble on a stick. It was a film that Grint was more than happy to be involved with, but shaking off his magic cloak was not part of the decision behind doing the movie.
“It wasn't really that conscious actually,” says the actor of taking on the role. “It just kind of happened. The script came along when we had just finished the sixth movie (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and it just fitted the gap. It was very different too, quite an adult sort of role. So yeah it worked out well. But it was nice to play a character with some more depth who was a bit more real I suppose.”
Grint admits that he was concerned about playing such a role, given that for the most part he has only played a mixture of scared and awkward in his years as Ron Weasley.
“It was quite daunting actually,” confesses the soft spoken actor. “But as the Harry Potter movies have gone on there has been more in them and my character has developed more. But up to recently it was just me playing this scared guy, a bit worried with the odd light-hearted line. So I never got to push myself so I was quite worried about doing Cherrybomb because there's a lot going on with this character, it was a real challenge. The accent as well because it's a Northern Irish accent so it was quite worrying especially because the crew was all from Belfast.”
Grint explains that as his co-stars, Robert Sheehan and Kimberley Nixon were also British the three of them supported each other with learning the thick Irish drawl.
The film is slickly shot and heavily stylised in the manner of the likes of Shallow Grave or Lock, Stock... which can be attributed to the graphic design background of Glenn Leyburn, who alongside partner Lisa Barros D'Sa directed the film. For Grint it looks like Cherrybomb and Wild Target – the second of his soon-to-released films are perfectly timed. As the character of Ron Weasley prepares to take his final curtain call with the two part release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows over the next year, it is imperative that Grint is able to be seen as a versatile actor. With his foppish mop of red hair neatly brylcreamed into submission for Cherrybomb the physical transformation is immediate. Though it remains to seen whether people will be able to dissimulate between the Rupert Grint they have seen mature into a young man through a series of wizard movies and the considerably more street wise, up-for-it youth who isn't above joy riding and sneaking a few cheeky lines in a club loo that his character Malachy displays. It takes a little bit of time to get it out of him, and I sense that he doesn't even want to be saying anything in any way remotely negative about the nurturing role that has made him, but after some prodding he admits to me that after so many years of treading the same ground, the Harry Potter movies are starting to feel a bit “contained” and “routine”.
Born in Essex in August of 1988 to a housewife and memorabilia dealer, Rupert Grint had no real previous ties to acting before Harry Potter, unlike his two co-stars. Although he had appeared in the odd school play, he had neither the acting genes that Daniel Radcliffe inherited, nor the early desire to become an actor that grabbed a hold of Watson at the age of six. In fact it was by “fluke” that Grint even sent in an audition for the movie that would irrevocably change his life. Even after he landed the role it was some time before he started to take the job seriously, or to see it as a job at all.
“I mean it never really occurred to me that it was a job when I first started. It was just the fun thing I was doing at the moment. But I suppose it was a few films in really, about film three or four, when the process became clear and it felt like the playtime was over, that it was actually quite hard work. I suppose it was then that I really knew I wanted to keep doing this. I loved it, I was having such an amazing time.”
Having been there for each other from the beginning, it is no surprise that the three starts of Harry Potter have formed close ties with each other, though as their on-screen time together draws to a close, Grint furthers that they may have to also let each other go as well.
“We are all quite different and all have our agendas on what we want to do,” he says of their relationships, “but we have been through quite a lot with each other. It's been a long time and it is quite an intimate process, filming together for so long because you see each other all day every day, so you form close bonds. We'll definitely keep in touch when it's all over but we don't really see each other outside of filming.”
Of the fame and near worldwide recognition that he has encountered through the movies, he remains humble and unphased by the attention. Admitting that he cannot go anywhere without people recognising him (he says it's the hair that gives him away), he just chooses his moments (not around the release of one of the movies) and places (not a busy pub on a Friday or Saturday night).
The one downside that Grint has found about his fame is that as he has been filming every year for the past ten years he hasn't had the time to some of the things that a lot of people his age have done, like travelling the world. In this respect he feels he has “some catching up to do,” just as soon as the last Harry Potter film is done with, in about five months.
Before then there will be another round of press to do for Wild Target, in which Grint puts down the magic potions and picks up the semi-automatic weapons.
“Again it was a very different kind of character and it was very real,” explains Grint of the movie. “There were no special effects or magical creatures. It's a remake of a French movie and it's got a really good dark humour to it. It's based around these three characters who are all quite independent people who are all missing something in their lives. It all centres around Bill Nighy's character who is a professional assassin who is on the verge of retirement and is going through a mid-life crisis. He can't complete his contract; he's meant to kill Emily Blunt's character who is a big con artist and professional thief. So we all meet in this big shoot off in this big dramatic situation and we all form this weird kind of family. It was a fun film to do.”
Next up, Grint has been strongly rumoured to play Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards in a biopic of the most celebrated, undecorated ski-jumper in the history of the sport. Grint quips that though he can't ski this may actually be a good attribute to have for the film. Filming will start for the movie once Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows wraps. On the end of the movies that have made him the star that he is, Grint remarks that “it is a weird thought that after that we'll be done with it. I never thought it would end really because it's been such a big part of my life for so long. It will be kind of like leaving school and graduating but I'm glad I've had a taste of what being in real movies is like, because I don't think I'll ever be in another movie like Harry Potter, it's quite unique.”
With that, Grint smiles as he thinks about the moment his career got off the ground.
“I was very lucky,” he chuckles in recalling the situation. “It's quite scary to think what I would have done with my life so far if I hadn't sent off that form.”

Clubland Jan/Feb

2010-01-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

The mnml explosion wasn't particularly kind to hard techno. As the cleaner, reduced ethos of the music proved more popular the harder geared sound fell out of favour for a while, prompting certain labels to go into hibernation or dissolve completely. The pendulum has certainly swung back the other way of late and one of the stalwart labels of hard techno, Blueprint re-emerged this year after a good five years of dormancy. Paul Mac, a vanguard of techno for nearly fifteen years didn't suffer the same fate as some of the record labels, but for the past couple of years his releases have almost exclusively been limited to digital format. His latest excursion under the new moniker of Valmay on Blueprint strikes another win for the label this year and finds Paul Mac in top form.

“Distrust” is the sort of formula rich material Mac has been churning out in his sleep for years. It's not trying anything fancy with its blunted, sullen chords and Synewave-style percussion but within that it is a truly effective piece of dance floor techno. “Old Dog” goes further towards upping the momentum of the EP with a call and response style of bass and melody combination writ against brash, sloppy hi-hats and another rolling, New York techno style groove that will be familiar territory for fans of old Solid Groove and Proper records.

The title cut works its magic on a slightly different tip with much of the energy wrought through heavy, muted percussion, the melody arriving by degrees with open ended chord stabs placed at every second bar. Mac's arrangements go a long way to showing how his own productions and his mid 90's peers have helped shape the popular sounds of harder techno today and this EP highlights just how timeless and future forward they have always been.

On the other side of the coin there is still incredible minimal techno output, proving that even though the genre is falling out of favour with trend setting DJ's and DJ Mag reading clubbers, it still has has its place.

You’d never guess by listening to his raw, tripped out, minimal take on techno but Jens Zimmermann’s start in electronic music came via the ultra cheesy Euro-dance hit-makers Culture Beat. The keyboardist and programmer’s tastes obviously evolved somewhere along the line and he began concentrating his abilities on the more subtle rudiments of techno. Zimmermann’s latest for Snork Enterprises finds the producer at his most inspired with two abstract cuts that are — while modern in their detailing — suffused with a raw edge that harks back to analogue banks of gear and real time knob-foolery.

I am slightly loathe to use the term “tool” but “A”’s almost rudderless direction begets the nomenclature as it is the type of track that creates an atmosphere rather than any discernible melody that carries around in your head after it is finished. A steady filter of aquatic noise laps over tinder sticks of percussion while tendrils of effects bubble and fizzle away on the surface. There are few variants to the formula: a hard snapping hi-hat that emerges, murky pulses of the aqueous tones transpose into lower and higher octaves and a snatch of voice is whittled down to a sharp point. While this description may sound like some of the more boring elements of minimal techno regurgitated in long form (both sides clock in over the ten minute mark), Zimmermann’s detailing is on par with Baby Ford at his most spare and hypnotic. On the flip, “B” is a deep, shimmering mirage of lysergic techno equally designed for late night contemplation. Like “A,” its epic length and subtly changing elements give you the feeling Zimmermann is recording this live, the squeal of radio frequencies appearing in the mix adding to this greatly. Beneath the mammoth whirl of evolving pads and sparkling overtones lie minute filaments of detail. Delicate and faint, they add to the trippy nature of the track, heightening the feeling of it inhaling and exhaling, becoming animate. Simply sublime!

Valmay, Radiated Future

****

Paul Mac resurfaces on Blueprint for one of their finest moments during their comeback hour.

Jens Zimmermann, A/B

****

The former Culture Beat knob twiddler continues to cut deep, tripped out abstractions through a minimal vein of techno.

Ed Hogg: Actor Profile

2009-12-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

Ed Hogg's humility is refreshing in an industry full of elephant sized egos that quite often see actors assume their craft is imbued with superhero like powers. The Sheffield born rising star makes no such lofty claims, as we chat over warm, soothing coffee that removes some of the chill from a frosty winter morning in central London.
“It's down to luck” he simply states of his career path to date. “I didn't go searching for the roles I've played. I think that the parts find you, not the other way around. I think if you're right for it you'll get it and you'll play the parts you're meant to play. You read about these big famous Hollywood actors picking and choosing their way to whatever they've done and it's just bollocks. They've been lucky just like everyone else, it's bollocks.”

Hogg's luck has thus far equated to being cast in leading roles for the last three films he has been involved in, with parts ranging from a mentally unbalanced recluse reminiscing over a freakish world adventure, to a booze swilling drug taking Appalachian mountain dancer with a wide streak of danger in his heart, back to a mentally unstable young man who descends into a nightmare of his own making only to claw his way out again. He explains to me though that his career trajectory has followed a very steady path, with roots in regional theatre, to bigger theatre roles in London and bit parts in TV and film along the way until more recently when his roles have become more significant across the board.

Hogg's chosen field has not always been acting though. For many years he was the singer in a punk band called Porno Kings. After three or four years the band broke up (though not before all members indelibly marked the time with matching tattoos) and Hogg says he “kind of fell into acting from there.” After two and a half years of trying he was granted a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he studied between 1999 and 2002.

“I was very naïve to tell you the truth,” says Hogg of his decision to try out for the school. “It was kind of like the blind leading the blind because my drama teacher had never gotten anyone in to drama school either so we were going around in circles for the most of it. But because I was so naïve I never thought I wasn't going to get in either. I don't really know what I was expecting but I loved it. There are some people who go there and they're desperate for it to be one thing and it's not or they put up a lot of barriers about only wanting to work a certain way but I went in to it so green that I just let everything wash over me and I just loved it.”

Though he is far from dressing the part of an actor teetering on the verge of becoming well known (Hogg is decked out in trainers, sweats and a nondescript woolen beanie), his portrayals are fast accumulating him attention, perhaps most notably his role as Jesco White in the American produced movie White Lightning. The movie is based on the true life of an Appalachian mountain dancer and his battle with drink and drugs as he tries to measure up to the legacy of his famous father betwixt a whole lot of mischief and mayhem. A Brit with a thick Doncaster accent may not seem the perfect choice to play the infamous character, but Hogg's depiction of White should put paid to any of that sort of talk. By the way he tells it his casting in the role of Jesco White was down to pure luck, as if he'd been plucked from the side of the road and given the job.

“I think they'd been trying to cast it for a long time in America. I know the script had been around for about five years and I think eventually they just ran out of ideas with what to do there so they came over here to cast it. I'm lucky because I kind of look like Jesco and it was an accent that I thought I could do alright. But I think I also just had the right look. Because you know if you're given the opportunities you go away and work on them and hope that it comes off, but 90% of the time it comes down to your look and being in the right place at the right time. I was fortunate enough to be right for them at the right time.”

The film, directed by Dominic Murphy and written by Vice Magazine founder Shane Smith and Eddy Moretti has already notched up considerable praise in various film festivals with Hogg himself scoring best actor awards at several festivals for the role. I wonder though if being he had any qualms about playing the role, given that West Virginia and its Appalachian mountains are a long way from the shores of Britain and Sheffield?

“I think I would have been more concerned if it was a straight forward biopic like Ray,” says Hogg thoughtfully. “The story was pushed to such an extreme level. It starts off being him but it becomes a very warped version of him so it wasn't like doing a direct impression of Jesco. But he hasn't seen the film so I don't know what he thinks about it and I don't know how many people from West Virginia have seen the film so I don't know what they think about it. They might absolutely hate it. I mean there are a lot of stereotypes in the film.”

Due to funding difficulties Hogg's preparation for the role was two years from when he was cast until the cameras got rolling. He used some of this time to go and visit White at his home in West Virginia, which was an eye-opening experience for the actor.
“I stayed with Jesco for a bit,” he relates with an excited grin on his face. “It was great, mad but great. There's a lot of youtube footage of him, dancing and talking so I watched all of that in order to prepare for the role too. But the best thing was meeting him, and talking to him. You do get the feeling that he is properly edgy, but sweet. He's a very sweet man. I think that's what the film captures, is that even though he's dangerous - and there is a line with him that you can cross and he won't be nice Jesco anymore. But as long as you don't cross that line he'll be nice and sweet Jesco. We got drunk when I was there and he shot his gun and he was kind of frightening but it fun as well.”

More recently Hogg has finished Bunny and the Bull, a bittersweet comedy about a young man trying to pin point where his life started falling apart, tracing it back to a whirlwind holiday he took with his best friend, meeting some unlikely characters along the way. The film features a host of British comic talent including Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and Richard Ayoade, which kept Hogg playing his character very straight as he knew he couldn't compete with the others. With this project complete and Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World due for release next year it would seem like the young actor is heading toward breakthrough point.

“Well you know I was talking about this to my friend the other day and it doesn't feel any different,” counters Hogg. “I still have to audition for every role. I mean people do say nice things about you when you do a certain role but it doesn't change things much. You still audition three or four times for a part and you're still up against people who are a lot more experienced than you and have done a lot more film work for you. I am hoping that if I become more successful then I'll be able to take some more artistic freedoms but at the moment I go for the auditions and if I'm offered the role I take it.”

So landing consecutively envious roles was not a matter of picking and choosing what was out there?

“It's an absolute fluke. I've been so lucky with what I've got so far. I don't think that you ever pick the films, I think they pick you. It's not like I had any choice and had to think about whether I was going to turn down the rom-com movie for something more serious, it's just been all luck. I'm just really lucky that I've been a part of those three films because I'm really proud of all of them.”

For the moment Hogg is balancing film roles with theatre, both of which he says he enjoys, as different as they are. As we leave he is telling me about the TV drama he is going to audition for today and there is a familiar sparkle in his eye, highlighting his excitement for what he does. I sense a passionate man who summed up his love of acting during a conversation on our way to have coffee. Telling me about the photo shoot he had done a few days earlier for this very article he became animated when he told me that there were lots of different hats for him to wear, saying that he just loves dressing up. A simple childhood feeling of playing make believe that has existed within us all and is still very much alive in this fledgling talent that is sure to be breaking down the few remaining doors between him and stardom very shortly.

Shackleton 3 EPs

2009-10-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

Even at Sam Shackleton's most kinetic moments of dub-based munitions deployment, there has existed a fervent experimentalism in everything he has undertaken. Whether it has been the laissez faire approach to making his productions palpable club successes or a casual disregard for the very structures of what may deem a track to be called dubstep, it has been obvious from the first that inherent in Shackleton is to forge his own unique path through his music. Shackleton has been instrumental in turning on many techno heads to the charms of dubstep via some of the hybrid, cross genre pollinations on his Skull Disco imprint, but what sealed it was Ricardo's two part epic remix of “Blood On My Hands”.

Since his move to Berlin a couple of years ago his tracks and remixes have taken on part of the deep cultural weight of techno and house that imbue the city's musical persona, so it seems fitting that he is now at home on Perlon, a label synonymous with the sounds of the city. For his first full length album Shackleton has given us an aureate, densely layered work that doesn't so much require repeated listening as demands it. For those familiar with Shackleton's productions, 3 Eps is no departure from anything he has done, but as a whole shows a much grander ambition. From the cohesive flow of the nine tracks to the locked grooves on the vinyl, 3 Eps has been designed to be a listening experience and it is one that yields further curiosities upon each listening. Take for example the stream of self help-like commentary that litters the album. Compared to the usual, brooding, inevitability of doom metered out by Vengeance Tenfold on other Shackleton cuts these light hearted affirmations instill in the tracks a sense of hopeful empiricism. Opener “Negative Thoughts” attests not to the saturnine side of the producers' productions we've seen in the past but instead calls to let go of cynical ideas. “It's Time For Love” holds an ethereal beauty in its fathomless well of bass and at its zenith on “Asha In The Tabernacle”, in between calls to “sense it, know it, let it be”, we hear a refrain from “He's Got The Whole World In His Hands” leaking in to the mix. Though this can't help but raise the corners of your mouth into a grin, it doesn't seem out of place here, amidst an album that is not such much steeped in lushness and soaring, ecclesiastic reveries but in an exploratory sense of the unknown.
Old world Asiatic sounds continue to play a lead role in Shackleton's work, be it the Eastern timbre of the drums that are ever prevalent, the thin, brassy horns that have been a part of tracks like “El Din” and “Hamas Rule” and here are transmuted by more synthetic sounds or the very air of mysticism that hangs over each track like a fine mist.
In its experimental regard it can be loosely likened to another of 2009's standout releases, the Moritz von Oswald Trio's “Vertical Ascent”. Though 3 Eps may outwardly be more easily approachable, both are fashioned from recondite percussion programming and spend long periods of time teasing out central themes and ideas from studied, repeated rhythms. Shackleton's album however is saturated with the deep thrum of bass patterns, the prevailing essence of dubstep that has stayed with him while he has gradually started erasing the lines between it and other genres. However this doesn't equate to any of the tracks being suitable for club play, but then that is hardly the point here. Instead this is the result of a producer displaying the mastery of their unique sound and further setting themselves apart from their rivals, creating in the process an album that is timelessly classic.

The Editors

2009-09-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

The bleak light of the Editors' maudlin pop dresses up with a lick of colour for their third outing.

Snatching a few moments during their rehearsal schedule at their North London studios, Editors' guitarist Chris Urbanowicz and drummer Ed Lay are in a relaxed, jovial mood as they give me the low down on new album, In This Light And On This Evening.

RG: I understand it's a bit more synth.

Ed: Well it's certainly turned out that way. There are guitars on it but there are definitely a lot of synths too.

C: We haven't ditched them completely, we were just bored on using the same old sounds. So we just changed the formula a little bit, changed the way we write and kept it fresh.

RG: When did you make that decision?

C: Before we'd finished touring. We did a demo and I had a little keyboard and I played on that rather than guitars. I've never really liked the sound of a guitar so it made sense.

RG: Why did you start playing then?

C: I liked people's hair that played guitar, they had good hair.

RG: That's important isn't it. Name one good guitarist that doesn't have good hair, apart from Joe Satriani maybe.

E: I was going to say Brian May but his is good.

C: He's got amazing hair.

RG: It's the best, Slash even tried to emulate it.

E: Cocked it up with the hat though didn't he.

RG: Before you guys became the Editors there were a couple of other names floating about. What was Snowfield about?

C: It was nothing to do with either of us.

E: Wet. Horrible. I wasn't in the band at the time. Well I came in on that name...

RG: But you were like, I can't be a part of this?

E: It would have come down to that, we actually didn't sign any contracts under that name. I mean imagine if we had kept that name and we were sat here right now and we were called Snowfield. I wouldn't be able to look you in the eye.

C: I'm struggling now just talking about it.

RG: Flood produced the new album. What's your favourite Flood produced album?

E: Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails.

RG: Did you use him because you wanted a more classic sound?

E: We just knew he'd be a guy who would fuel a bit of creativity and make us a bit more confident in the way we record. We've always recorded in the traditional way and we were really bored of that; we thought most of our recordings sounded too clinical, so we wanted to essentially play live and add all these sequencer and synthesizers to the mix. He said we could do that no problem.

RG: With it being more electronic are there any remixes lined up?

C: This is a matter of contention. We sent off to our label a list of names that we wanted to be on the remixes and then they came back to us with three remixes by people we didn't even know. Tiësto was a good one to get though. I didn't realize how big he is, he's absolutely huge.

RG: He is, questionable dress sense though.

E: You don't need good dress sense to be a DJ.

C: In fact it helps if you don't have any.

E: It must help his coffers because he's sponsored by Armani Exchange I believe.

C: Exchange! Armani's budget label.

RG: So who did you want to use?

C: Well I wanted James Murphy to do one but I think that was deemed out of our price range. Who else? I think Chemical Brothers were out of our range.

E: They were definitely out of our range.

C: We tried to get Pet Shop Boys for the last album but they wanted £20,000.

E: I mean it's a remix, you're not recording it again.

C: It's like 'fuck that', goodbye car.

E: Burial came up as well, but obviously that was on our list that didn't make it through.
C: We blew the whole budget on Tiesto.

RG: What are some of the themes of the album?

C: London, cities in general, the nighttime, god I think pops up in places.

E: Love, thats on there.

C: Money, meat, houses, shit like that.

RG: You guys seem pretty happy, what's with the darkness?

C: Yeah we're fine. We're just crap at happy music. It's sounds shit, it's boring and it doesn't interest us. It's more interesting making scary noises.

E: There are plenty of Jack Johnson's and the like in the world to put on while you're surfing.

C: We don't like surfing.

T: I don't like the water.

Mika

2009-09-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Will the pop prince's second album blow away some of the mysteries of Mika?

In today's musical climate Mika is a rare artist; his unabashed pop anthems are gloriously over the top, his stage persona and flamboyant style unapologetic and beneath it all is a serious young man with a single pointed determination and intelligence. His songs have been at once personal (his first album detailed childhood experiences while new album The Boy Who Knew Too Much looks at his adolescence) yet unrevealing.

Meeting the tall, Beirut born star with operatic training at his record label offices in West London, we talk about his new record, using pop as a cloaking device and boxing.

A direct follow up to Life In Cartoon Motion, The Boy Who Knew Too Much is remarkably similar in its musical delivery, which can be attributed to the producer of both records, Greg Wells.

“He will make the record with me rather than make the record that he thinks I should make,” says Mika of his decision to use Wells again. “Like if I went and saw other producers, they'd be like 'oh your first album was great, I really want to work with you BUT...' And I think now is not the time for buts, it's the time for moving on and developing yourself without apologizing for your success or what got you there. For the next one, who knows, I might do it with some Inuits, it worked for Björk.”

Mika's occasional sparks of humour pepper the interview, though for every piece of insight or opinion he offers, he seems also to give nothing away. In a world where fans want to own their favourite pop stars, Mika seems to weave together a fabrication of his self, permitting glimpses of his thoughts and emotions through his songs without ever completely opening up. The songs that made up Life In Cartoon Motion deal with such issues as being alone and drunk and a man leaving his wife and having a homosexual affair. Mika admits though that despite his albums being drawn from experience the songs are not necessarily autobiographical.

“I tend to use pop as a backdrop to approach subject matters that aren't typically dealt with in pop music,” relates the singer. “I wouldn't say it's a crutch. It's more of a tool really, two sides of the same coin. It stems from as a teenager and a child I was a loser. I was a loner, I dressed stupidly, I didn't understand why nobody liked me, I didn't have the confidence to confront anybody and I just watched. I was like the man in Rear Window, I just watched all the time. And I thought I knew everything about everyone because I was always the one watching. And it's true I did know a lot more than the others because when you watch you become a lot more perceptive. So when it came to my songs that was the only place I could put a little bit of confrontation, where I could put my honesty. It was where I could put everything I didn't have the guts to say otherwise.”

Mika does let on though that The Boy Who Knew Too Much is written more from the first person and talks about all the usual foibles of adolescence; identity, sex, behaviour, self-abuse, joy, hate, love, jealousy. Drawing on his formative teenage years for inspiration on his latest effort I get the feeling we may have to wait for Mika's next album before we get a true account of who he is, though something he says before we part makes me question whether we'll even then be let into the private world of Mika.

“To me the stage is a boxing ring and everything else is the changing room. So I'll only fight or I'll only truly be myself when I'm on stage.”

Clubland September

2009-09-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

With the sad passing of James Stinson of Drexciya some years ago, the dark aquatic electro sound of Detroit looked to be in decline, though in reality that has hardly been the case. Gerald Donald, the other member of the group has kept busy with Dopplereffekt, Der Zyklus, and recording most recently under the name Heinrich Mueller.

Sherard Ingram - aka DJ Stingray, sometime DJ for the mysterious outfit and member of Detroit techno supergroup Urban Tribe has maintained the legacy of the deep sea dwellers through his own productions and now via his new Micron Audio label, which showcases a global community of like minded electro resistance fighters. The eight track sampler throws up only one familiar name (apart from Stingray himself who features under the moniker DJS 313) in the shape of Aaron Atkins, nephew of Juan, who appears here under the name DJ XRAY. Other contributors include protégés from Greece, Italy, Belgium and Spain all heavily reared on transmissions from the 313 area, which is surprising and heartening in equal parts given that some of them are barely out of their teens.

Of indeterminate origin (somewhere around the Sahara if the Myspace account is to be believed), Aliensextoy gives us “Watery Claws”, an homage of sorts to the lineage of electro he is descended from. Heavy on the snare and hi-hats, with a booming 808 kick underpinning the flange laden synth stabs the short track is undertaken in the best Drexciyan tradition. Alongside Italian cohort X-Beat who provides the baleful conclusion to the compilation with “Midiraisi”, the two also uphold the bandanna clad image of the faceless techno militant.

The familiar thread running through the sampler is the brooding, sinister cloud of post apocalyptic dread that has been a staple of much of Detroit electro, particularly the UR branch. That said, occasionally respite is offered through a more hopeful glimmer of ascendant synth lines, particularly by the Belgian contingent Mariska, whose “The Lumas” is almost ethereal. Spaniard Annie Hall offers up one of the most realized and well rounded tracks with “Redes”; Hawkins style computer generated vocals ponder the future of the human race amidst etched out scraps of percussion and unnerving, disoriented sci-fi pads.

Unsurprisingly, Stingray's “Random” shows up all of his incipient talent, the heart stopping thud of his production displaying his years of experience, his 313 machine-funk executed with an iron fist. Others though, like Kon from Greece with the cerebral “Evolution II” and perhaps the youngest addition to the ranks, Mariska also show a natural affinity for capturing the essence of Detroit electro and both exhibit a natural production talent.

Whilst some of the artists on The First Wave could use a little more tutelage and time honing their skills, it is exciting to see some new blood injecting life into one of the Motor City's finest exports.

One other place you're likely to see Drexciya comparisons recently will be in any description of Floating Points' latest twelve on his own Eglo imprint. The much hyped producers already has his name next to one of the tracks of the year with the Nonsense Dub of Love Me Like This and with his new Vacuum EP looks like he may be adding more to the list. Ruddy, grinding house is done super slow with more of those pulsating, throbbing synth lines that marked Love Me Like This with such success making a return. If you're ready for some slow motion Mathew Jonson type melodies after a heavy smoked out session with Dilla then this is going to blow your mind.

Various Artists – The First Wave

***

The new school of Aquarians put Detroit electro through its paces with an exciting new compilation beamed in from talent around the globe.

Floating Points – Vacuum Ep

*****

Floating Points absolutely kills it with his finest effort yet!

Silverbeat's Top 5

Floating Points – Argonaut

Mass Prod - Focaccina (Jus Ed Soul Stir)

Silent Servant – La Noche

Pablo Bolivar – Recall LP

Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts #5 & #6

Silverbeat's Classic Listening

Burning Spear – Dry & Heavy

Simian Mobile Disco

2009-08-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

The purveyors of big room mirror ball house are back with Temporary Pleasure.

First came the anthemic remix by Justice, then from the ashes of Simian stepped James Ford and Jas Shaw under the new guise of a mobile DJ unit. Their debut album was heralded as one of the best in modern dance culture, garnering critical praise and spawning a handful of recognizable hits, rare for an album of its genre. After intense touring and both members lending their production skills to other projects they are back with Temporary Pleasure, the instrumental album chock full of vocals.

“Usually when you send stuff away there is quite a high rate of people not being able to do it or don't have time or whatever,” recounts Jas Shaw from his East London studio. “So we sent off about eight or nine instrumentals to different people and they all came back wanting to do it, so that definitely changed the plan of the album but we were really happy with it.”

Having originally intended for the album to be mostly instrumental the two Simians were pleasantly surprised to have their plans scuppered by the involved interest by a swag of incredible talent. Beth Ditto, Gruff Rhys, Alexis Taylor, Jamie Lidell, Telepathe and Chris Keating from Yeasayer all feature on the album, which was mostly cobbled together an hour or two at a time after shows whilst on the road. It was being on the road though that put them in touch with the singers, many of whom they'd run in at festivals or had watched perform. Jas explains that this proved to be a much more organic way to go about finding talent for their tracks.

“It's nice doing it that way because you immediately have an idea of what they sound like and you don't have to go through the machinations of getting in touch with someone's manager or anything like that. It becomes more fun and feels a lot more human that way.”

The recording process was similar to SMD's first album Attack Delay Sustain Release, the pair using vintage analogue synths that Shaw says is an integral part of their sound for their unpredictable nature.

“We both have a fairly serious eBay habit,” laughs the producer. “Basically we do use a lot of vintage synths because they have a lot of character and they always end up doing things that you don't expect. In many ways it's the imperfections that make them what they are, whether it's a keyboard being slightly out of tune or playing the wrong patch, these are things that are largely ruled out when you're using software. There's a certain roughness that they give to electronic production that I love; I'm not a huge fan of a really pristine sound.”

Their sound has in a relatively short space of time propelled them to the forefront of the live electronic act/band scene, something they had not even thought about when they started out. Upon leaving Simian they formed Simian Mobile Disco to get away from the constraints of playing live and to enjoy the simplicity of playing records. As their remixes started gathering attention it seemed the release of their own material was inevitable. Talking about the pros and cons of playing live and Djing, Shaw comes back to the use of vocalists and why they are so important.

“For us it goes back to being producers and having been in bands ourselves. Regardless on how you feel about vocals (in a dance track) it is the most recognisable part of a song and the thing that people will immediately connect with. It's the most direct link for most people so ruling them out would be a bit of a foolish thing to do really. But adding them to electronic music can be a whole different thing because often someone will have a really good idea that works as a song but doesn't fit with electronic production. But because it is an area that can potentially go wrong I find it quite interesting.”

Clubland August

2009-08-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

For over fifteen years Moritz von Oswald has been rewriting the book on modern dub music, feeding stripped back German techno and house through vintage valve compressions and creating a legion of fans with his Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound projects with Mark Ernestus. Save for a couple of remixes we haven't heard from von Oswald since the last Rhythm & Sound release though his Recomposed album with Carl Craig last year was a dramatic shift away from his affiliation with dub techno and saw the veteran producer delving in to modern classical fused with electronics. Following on from that project we here witness the formation of the Moritz von Oswald Trio, a supergroup of sorts featuring Vladislav Delay and Max Loderbauer from Sun Electric.

A series of four patterns, the album is largely percussion driven, with only the fourth pattern displaying an obvious connection to von Oswald's penchant for dub-based music.

Pattern 1 readies the listener for take off. There is a Detroit influence evident here, bleeding through the blistering tremolo pads while percussion traces filaments of grooves.

Pattern 2 is then the feeling of zero gravity, the endless whisper of space in all its secret glory. An eerie vibe permeates; incidental strings indicate the wonder of discovery but are mixed with a slackened, heart rate thud of bass and a most unnerving array of percussive arrangements.

There is an excitement about the third pattern that is perhaps brought about by the most conventional sense of groove and rhythm used on the album. The percussion work can largely be attributed to Sasu Ripatti of Vladislav Delay, his tablas sounding like a more buoyant variation on something that Shackleton might employ.

Pattern 4 marks a slight return to the dub soaked bass of von Oswald's work with Mark Ernestus but is also heavy on the percussive elements that proliferate the rest of the album.

Vertical Ascent is a challenging album and perhaps not one for those who are looking for further works from the Rhythm & Sound camp. That said the presence of delay and spatial textures are ever present, though most of the time buried deep within the mix. Vertical Ascent shows a producer still pushing at the edges, exploring the outer limits of his abilities.

Onur Özer's Kasmir album was released some two years back so it's odd that the second batch or remixes from it are only surfacing now.

Isolée changes the direction of “Innervoice” away from the suspense-filled, incidental Turkish orchestral hits that proliferate it towards a grooving minimal funk epic. Sounding like he's utilizing each part of the original, Isolée clips most of the sounds into fragments of what they used to be, repackaging them around an acoustic double bass sound that drives the remix with an astonishingly effective, yet simple groove. Some of those Turkish horns turn up but are not filled with the same ethnic identity as when used in the original, here instead drawing attention to the electronic and organic contrasts of this outstanding remix.

On first contact Baby Ford's remix of “Aida” comes across as an unyielding, impenetrable beige fortress but studied inspection of those hessian hued walls brings them crumbling down to reveal an inventive, finely nuanced piece of minimalism. Ford infects his hi-hats and other higher frequency percussion with such a strong sense of swing that it feels like its breathing rhythmically throughout the track. Where the original played out with more melodic structure, it is this kinetic feeling that helps to carry the otherwise fairly barren remix as it highlights the slight use of other sounds, giving them even more onus. Whilst Baby Ford's remix doesn't have the same instant appeal as the original, its subtle turns and overall feel provide an excellent alternative.

Moritz von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent

*****

Inter-stellar concept album finds dub techno chemist out of the echo chamber and in to the orchestra chamber.

Onur Özer – Kasmir Remixes 02

****

Killer minimalism by two of the masters as they overhaul Turkish techno wunderkind's past material.

Manic Street Preachers

2009-07-22T16:34:00.000-07:00

The Welsh rockers tap into the spirit of gone but not forgotten lyricist Richey James Edwards for their ninth album as Real Groove gets up close and personal with Nick Wire and James-Dean Bradfield.

Their songs have long been a call to arms for alienated, disaffected youth and assorted castoff freaks. Faced with the sudden, shock disappearance of guitarist and chief songwriter Richey Edwards in 1995 on the cusp of real success, they decided to continue as a three piece and have since gone on to become even bigger and more successful than they ever hoped. Their latest album Journal For Plague Loverssees a return of Edwards to the group by way of lyrics long ago left to the other members shortly before he fell off the face of the earth.

“It's hard to recollect the exact time frame but it was between five and three weeks before he disappeared,” explains a gloriously lanky Nicky Wire behind black glasses. “He gave this big binder to me and at the time I didn't think it was weird. because he was just completely and absolutely digesting culture; through his ears, through his mouth, through his nose. Just watching films, reading books. Just constantly doing something. We just thought he was at a creative peak, at an apex of not being able to stop writing. I remember vaguely thinking at the time that it may have been some kind of double album concept record in his mind.”

That next record according to Richey should have sounded like a mixture of Pantera, Nine Inch Nails and Linton Kwesi Johnson. What they recorded instead was the Mercury Prize nominated Everything Must Go.

Now after fourteen years the band have decided to bring out those lyrics passed on to them so long ago and put them to good use. So why haven't they done so before?

“I guess it hadn't seemed right before, we had been wanting to prove ourselves as a three piece. We had them there but we didn't really look at them. We had some of his collages and paintings which we'd look at but then gradually it seemed very natural that we would use his words, I mean he left them for us and after everything that's been said and done it seems that his disappearance was not a spontaneous thing shall we say. So the fact that he gave us these lyrics shortly before he left made us think that he wanted us to do something with them.”

In the time since Edwards' disappearance much has changed about the music industry and I wonder if the brash egos that helped embody the Manic Street Preachers have now had to change with the times?

“I miss that because I loved to embody that ego-driven side of rock, that was our heritage,” laughs Wire.

“And without that Angus Young couldn't go around in his fucking shorts,” adds Bradfield. “The ego you need to carry that off for so many years is unbelievable.”

“I can't even explain to you the cataclysmic change that has occurred since we started out on this label in 1992,” confides Nicky. “I'm just glad we were around in a time when record companies happily pissed money away and didn't care about it. But they also gave you creative space to grow. I mean Everything Must Go sold over a million albums but it was our fourth album and bands just wouldn't get that chance today. We were allowed to hit a creative peak, which was a commercial disaster (Holy Bible). A lot of people say that was our creative peak but if it was done in this day and age we wouldn't have been able to record it. That huge solar-plexus hit that you get the first time you heard Bowie or Liam or even Richey, I don't know if that is there any more.”

La Roux

2009-07-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

Elly Jackson shakes her famously coiffed red shock of hair, loosening fragments of white detritus which float down to the table of the Sheperd's Bush pub we are sat at.

“I had a show last night and I sprayed my hair with that really hard spray but I didn't get all of it out so if you see little bits coming off, it's not dandruff,” she explains.

The unabashed singer of pop sensation La Roux is in a talkative mood as we discuss the debut album which is rapidly ascending her and production partner Ben Langmaid up the ranks of hot British talent. Having met Ben through a friend some five years previous, the two hit it off and started working on music immediately, though their first efforts were a long way from the polished, chrome plated synth pop that proliferates the resulting La Roux album.

“It was very different when it started and we both got bored of it very quickly,” she says of the music they created together. “It was very acoustic guitar driven, very beats-y pop music but it wasn't great, it really wasn't. I mean the songs were there, we've used the same songs as we had then but we just didn't had a sound. We thought it was a bit passé and a bit shit.”

The breakthrough came when Jackson and Langmaid were working on the music for “Quicksand”. Jackson was toying with a guitar riff, which Langmaid said sounded like a synth sound so they decided to double track both elements, the result sparking a creative catalyst which gave shape to the rest of the album.
“Quicksand” was also the first single from the album though it didn't make much of a dent in the charts upon its release. Success came bursting through the door with a shotgun when second single “In For The Kill” was unleashed. Peaking at number two on the British charts, its crossover success was assured by a Skream remix which has become a staple by DJ's across the country.

“We didn't expect that much success with that tune,” admits Jackson, “but there is no question that without that remix it wouldn't be a number two. There are so many tracks throughout history that would have done better if they had reached people and that's what the Skream remix has done for us.”

Something else that helped La Roux reach a much larger audience was playing support for Lily Allen on her March 2009 tour, but it wasn't just the crowds that gave Jackson a wealth of experience.

“I think it helped me find my stage persona a bit more. The first show I did at Glasgow academy to about two thousand people, I looked out and just absolutely loved it, it wasn't scary at all.”

Was there anything to be learnt from Miss Allen personally?

“Yeah shut your mouth, don't say what you want to say. She basically said to me that she had made the mistake of slagging people off, and it's not the same for me of slagging people off, it's more being honest about how I feel about certain kinds of music or the industry about certain hands that you need to help you on your way to where you're going. Everyone has these same opinions but you just have to learn to pretend that you don't and that's what I find really hard.”

Jackson goes on to explain to me the strength needed to steer your career through the music industry, being strong minded enough to be absolute about what you want for your music, your image, your brand. It is after a while of talking about current music that we hit a snag.

“What really gets me is bands that completely sample a whole chorus from an old track,” she gushes animatedly. “There are some around at the moment like Madcon sampling Frankie Valli. How can they do that? Kids will grow up thinking they did the original. It's like the guys who have just done the remake of Elton John's “Tiny Dancer”. They just go on for 8 bars speaking shit before they hit the chorus. I mean of course it's going to be a hit, it's fucking Elton John you stupid twats.”

Jackson pauses for a moment before brushing the long, starchy wash of red hair to one side and concedes with a grin: “see, this is the kind of shit I get in trouble for but I can't help it.”

Clubland July

2009-07-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

If you figure in Holger Zilske's release history as Smash TV, Mindlab and Acrid Gain then his debut solo album has been a long time in the incubation chamber. For the past two years Zilske's productions under his own name have focussed on the meeting points between subtle, deftly crafted techno and house. “Mes Yeux”, the first single from the album backed with”Metrodancer” appeared just two weeks before the LP and as a foreteller of what was to come was exciting news.

“Lichterfelde”, the opener for the album is a purposeful introduction; with its soft, ultra synthetic orchestral stabs and deep bass tone pulses it gives itself plenty of breathing space before gathering momentum and opening up to become a poignant piece of deep clubby techno. Zilske bridges aspects of classic house with modern techno aesthetics on “Rotor Rausch”, its simple chord progression weighs in over minimal percussion while a separate melody is mad of a sublime portamento bass line. Elements of tracks seem to bleed into the next which further enhances the sensation of effortless flow throughout the listening experience of the album. Though Zilske fills up his tracks with a multitude of intricacies there is also a simple minimalism working underneath them all. “Work” perhaps emphasises this best; a mainly percussive workout it is nevertheless plumped up with nimble tweaks and turns of melody. On “Golden” we are introduced to Swedish singer Augustus Landelius, who marks a midway point in the album and time for reflection as the honey toned vocalist injects a dream like quality to the proceedings. That done with, Zilske heads back to the club with the robotic charms of “Metrodancer” and the chill, drama infused “Olho Gordo”. Landelius provides further introspection for the closer “To Them To Me”, an atmospheric plunge into digital downbeat. He has a remarkable voice that Zilske's production captures with finesse.

When choosing a name for your production alter ego it can be fun to take the piss. The playfulness of a good moniker is suited to a music that is as carefree as its characters, perhaps nowhere more so than within the world of electronic music. 2 Phat Cunts was a one-time pseudonym adopted by BT and Sasha for a late nineties breakbeat collab called “Ride”, whilst Mancunians Ben Davis, Dick Johnson and Kiwi house DJ Soane flew under the Troughman banner (it referred to a certain eccentric who liked to lay in wait in the city's club urinals for someone to water him) for the track “La Sourcier”. French DJ and producer Shonky has been active for about 4 years, so carrying on the personality of one who is “of slightly dubious quality or performance” is somewhat of a brave move, especially if some of your output lives up to your namesake.

Such is the case with his latest for Contexterrior, a decidedly flaccid four tracker of samey, formulaic tech house that fails to light any fire of real inspiration or memorableness.

The title track carries remnants of Shonky's meeting with Robert Hood on his “Who Taught You Math?” remix, though “Chocotox” is a considerably malnourished comparison to that effort, its groove solid but ultimately forgettable. “Jazz” is immediately annoying after only two bars as you come to the realization that the track's title is going to be repeated that often, though the boompty house rhythm and wobbly bass work proffer no such similarity to the advertised genre. “La Madone” is a whittled down version of something that Valentino Kanzyani might have made for the Recycled Loops label around the beginning of the century and sounds just as dated with the brief clutches of material girl vocals and tribal, looped percussion. Overall this 4 tracker leaves you wondering whether certain aliases are better suited to one-off projects, lest they end up fitting too snuggly their own self-deprecating connotations.

Holger Zilske – Holz – One half of Smash TV goes solo and delivers a cracking debut album

*****

Shonky – Chocotox – Shonky by name... Frenchman fails to deliver anything but a lowpoint for the usually reliable Contexterrior label

Silverbeat's Top 5

Brock Van Wey – White Clouds Drift On and On

Mount Kimbie – Sketch On Glass EP

Moritz Von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent

Ramadanman – Revenue

Floating Points – Love Me Like This (Nonsense Dub)

Silverbeat's Classic Listening

Nitty Gritty & Wise Intelligent – Run Down The World

Clubland June

2009-06-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

They may not happen with the greatest frequency but one thing is assured upon tracking down a new Robag Wruhme release; you will be entertained. The veteran producer has a knack of injecting his tracks with a certain buoyancy and mirth that few others manage to conjure with each successive release. Abusus Adde, his latest on Vakant finds Mr. Schablitzki in top, maniacal form with three cuts that not only prove to be weighty peak time contenders but also remind you that this music is meant to be fun.

Hodgkin Mopp straddles the line between glitch and deep seated melody in such a way that it almost sounds like two separate tracks have been spliced together. The percussion is occasionally punctuated by a didgeridoo stab sounding very much like Bodol Elsel's Discount Baby classic on Playhouse from 1999, though Wruhme fleshes out the sparse beginnings with much intricate trickery. The dreamy, melodic elements that are introduced sound a world away from the mechanical snap and bounce of the drums, turning a track that is minimal at its core into a vastly different beast by its conclusion.

Ruptur Oing fits most neatly within Vakant's offbeat minimalist style; the dry percussion littered with found sounds like cans rattling, gears (perhaps a fishing line or bicycle) being wound and water pouring. With the absence of any real melody or direction, Ruptur Oing doesn't have much presence as a stand alone track but within the context of a mix I can see it creating a great sense of space and movement.

Fufo2 is Wruhme at his playful, mentalist best, splicing, dicing and re-editing his own track into fractured bits and piecing it all back together again. At times it recalls Windowlicker with all of its sound squashing and bit crushing, but where Aphex Twin laid on thick slabs of pads and funk, Wruhme focuses on building his track into a deranged breakbeat monster best locked away in the basement. Any party in danger of taking itself too seriously should have Fufo2 cued up ready to drop and lay waste to the chin stroking massive.

Some two years after the original release of Acid Bells, Efdemin's subtle, refined piece of minimalism, Martyn gets his hands on it and takes it to a whole new level. This had apparently been in the works for some time but was held off until Martyn's full length was out. While you can hear the unmistakably bold drums employed by the Dutchman in his Bittersweet Mix, there's not a lick of the sweet pads and soothing textures that proliferated Great Lengths. Instead Martyn heightens the percussion, adding densely packed tribal elements on top of the metallic bells from the original and fires up a barely contained bass line that is like a monster come down from the hills to frighten the poor village folk. Uneasy strings are drawn out and just seem to hang in the air, adding tension to the track, playing off the brash sound of the bells.

His Dark Mix on the flip is a beat-less, piano led affair that keeps remnants of the muffled bells in the background, with atmospheric washes of rain and particles of voices plumping up the track. Indicative of the title it's hardly a warm or friendly mix, but the melodies for all their forlornness are arranged beautifully.

What I'm really digging about this hot little blur marbled 10” is that whilst it's another bullseye for Martyn, it's completely unlike his other material. Creating a remix that manages to sit just outside dubstep, techno or breaks, yet encapsulates all three is going to get this track a lot of well deserved play and evidenced by seeing him drop this recently it completely slays dance floors.

Robag Wruhme – Adusus Adde – Gabor Schablitzki straps on a feed bag of nitrous and makes his latest on Vakant a light hearted yet twisted affair

****

Efdemin – Acid Bells (Martyn Remixes) – The Dutchman remains on top form and switches up styles after the crushingly brilliant Great Lengths album

*****

Silverbeat's top five
Holger Zilske – Holz
Beat Pharmacy – Wikkid Times Remixes

Brackles – Broken Harp (Geiomix)

Mathew Jonson – Walking Hands

Starkey – Miracles (Jamie |Vex'd Remix)

Silverbeat's Classic Listening
The Cramps – Bad Music For Bad People

Yeah Yeah Yeah's

2009-05-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

From their perfect thrashing entry into the world and the unchecked maelstrom of Fever To Tell, New York three piece Yeah Yeah Yeahs have constantly stayed ahead of the pack. Cue third album It's Blitz! and another sonic spanner is thrown into the works of expectation.

He may be hideously jet lagged having just arrived in London earlier in the day but rapier thin Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner is ready to counter the inevitable questions about new album It's Blitz! Namely, that the band have gone electronic, traded the guitars for synths, the punk for funk. It's no doubt the prevailing question being put to the man whose shredding guitar licks have been every part as vital as the ferociously fragile voice of Karen O in the band's history, but it's one he happily dispels.

“The guitars are still prevalent on the album, they're just used in different ways. A lot of the time they're run through synth pedals to make them sound different, and there's only one song with any programming on it for the drums, the rest of the time they're made to sound like it's a drum machine.”

There is no denying however that the third album for the band is markedly different to both of its predecessors, leaving behind the raw thrall of their Williamsburg roots, expanding on the acoustic sensibilities of Show Your Bones and heading off to shores you'd never imagine the band who made Fever To Tell would visit. The most exciting part of this journey though is that It's Blitz! is every bit as alive and exhilarating as their first two efforts; it's just traveling a slightly different route. The title of the album hints that the band have not forgotten those Brooklyn roots, as Nick explains: “I guess it came to Karen randomly but something about it just spoke to all of us. It's meaningful enough and ambiguous enough for it to fit. Karen says there's a very blissful element to the record. It's also a nod to New York City and the Ramones, the essence of which we still believe in, no matter what style of production we're currently using.”

The trio made a huge impact on the New York scene in the early part of the decade, first by touring with The Strokes and The White Stripes, then by releasing their acclaimed first EP, which galvanised their popularity. While many bands went on to fall by the wayside after the initial shine wore off the whole art-rock scene, Yeah Yeah Yeahs continued to shine. They accrued masses of fans with their electrifying live shows and their 2003 debut album Fever To Tell went on to sell over 750,000 copies worldwide. Show Your Bones showed a softer, more vulnerable side to Karen O and earned the band places on many end of year lists in 2006. Though it was considered by many a toned down effort on their first album with its more acoustic feel, the band still packed a ferocious punch, which was plainly evident when they toured the record.

The production of all of their albums is inexorably linked to Dave Sitek from TV On The Radio, who has played a part in the production of all of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums. Zinner divulges that he is one of their best friends and isn't afraid to try something a little different.

“Dave's the kind of guy who'll walk into any situation and completely rearrange everything and try out a thousand things to get to the right one. So it's great to have someone shake things up and also to take things in a direction you never thought they could go in. Sometimes it's too far and you have to reel him in (laughs), sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes it does. But it's this very radical element that he brings in and that's what we're looking for.”

Whilst Sitek steers the band in un-thought of directions, it was the band themselves who brokered the shift towards electronics, a decision that was not so much based on wanting to employ that particular sound but rather a feeling that they had to do something completely different from their other albums.

“It wasn't really something that was discussed before going into it,” says Zinner of the album. “But we did know that it had to be different. We just didn't know how and it didn't become clear to us until we were more than half way through. We're actually a really intuitive band so we just keep trying things until they feel right to us. But we knew that in order for us to remain excited about what we were doing it would have to be radically different from anything else we'd ever done.”

Album opener and first single Zero addresses that intent with Zinner's guitars set to 'Moroder' while Karen O asks “can you climb higher?”, while Heads Will Roll more completely realises the dance aesthetics of the album by invoking you to “dance 'til you're dead” and sprinkling “glitter on the west streets, silver over everything”.

Brimming with ideas, It's Blitz! Also marks a more healthy period for the band who very didn't make it to album number three. So burnt out on touring and constantly putting themselves under pressure, the recording of Show Your Bones was apparently a tense affair with the lines of communication breaking down between the three members.

“I mean I don't think any of us ever said I, but it was a really dark time and a really uncommunicative time, as well as a really passive/aggressive time,” admits the guitarist with a light chuckle. “Basically all of those band dynamics that you hear about were being played out. We were just putting ourselves through so much pressure and then taking it out on each other. I think a lot of bands go through it, we're certainly not the only ones. But a lot of bands break up from it and for us it feels really good that we worked through it because now we're in a much better state and there's no drama.”

With Karen O now living in Los Angeles and the guys still living in New York, the trio allow each other more space, ensuring that any tension remains on a creative level rather than a personal one.. Zinner talks about the root of the past problems coming from a “tour hangover” that lasted into the recording of the next album. He says that he's usually a mess after a tour, being used to having so much attention lavished upon him by so many that by the time he arrives home he feels like he's been dropped off the face of the earth.

“I'm a disaster, I wake up not knowing what to do with myself,” he relates of post tour depression. “It's a really strange thing being on tour because you're going in to this completely different world and way of living and a lot of people have a hard time shifting between the two, especially going back to the real world after tour world. That's where most people become drug addicts or drunks. I think a lot musicians can get like little kids after that so we really try not to fall in to that trap. I guess it's just stay in my apartment for about a week and then I'm fine.”

One of his tricks in keeping sane on the road is by taking photographs of the different cities they travel to. Feeding on the inspiration of being in new situations, he says that it not only helps him see things more objectionably and creatively but it also helps to shake off any band mentality of what a rock star should be doing whilst on the road.

Another welcome diversion for Zinner is undertaking extra curricular musical projects. To that end he occasionally remixes other bands (among them so far Bloc Party, Gang Of Four, Tommie Sunshine, Blood Brothers, Marilyn Manson and The Hives – despite telling me that his remixes are “usually just favours for friends”) as well as his own. Fans of his hard, slashing guitar style welcomed a side project of his called Head Wound City, which featured members of the Blood Brothers and Holy Molar, though the future of that project looks bleak as Zinner tells me that none of the members have the time to continue collaborating.

For a band who has evolved under their own direction and has now seen their fair share of others come and go I ponder how they regard other American rock acts and what is going on there.

“I feel like there's more of everything. You know there are bands that are really truly original but there's also more the same boring TV video shit that we've all been hearing for the past ten years, so it's hard to say. I feel like everything has kind of spread out now, and it's not quite so genre specific. But it's hard to tell, I'm so overwhelmed by the number of bands and how big the whole music culture is. I feel like we've been living under a rock for the past year and a half making this record.”

With our time together rapidly drawing to an end I ask Zinner if he has contemplated that the new sound on the album may help the band meet with more commercial success.

“Who knows?” he answers dismissively. “I mean it might happen but it probably won't. We didn't really think about that at all. As long as we're playing to our fans and perhaps inspiring people to go and start something on their own. I don't even know what commercial success is any more. I mean no-one's selling records so it's not going to be that.”

Clubland May

2009-05-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

After the industrial strength artist album from Ben Klock on Ostgut Ton earlier in the year, which left some feeling a little too chilly the label have followed up with a decidedly warmer twelve from Berlin resident Nick Hoeppner. Makeover is nevertheless cloaked with a deep and brooding atmosphere, but there are touches of house licking around the edges of the clubby techno that immediately lightened the mood.

The tribal percussion is sparingly used, and is balanced with more synthetic overtones that spells out a mutual meeting point between the two genres. Foundling on the flip side performs a similar trick, but trades off the vocal touches that inhabited Makeover for some gently evolving chords and a small dose of acid. Both tracks appeal to earthier side of the Ostgut and Berghain sound and continue the impeccable run that this vanguard label is on.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic, Mathew Jonson and his jazzy cohorts who have been notably quiet since the 23 Seconds album return with a new release for their Cobblestone Jazz project. A good deal more accessible than Jonson’s own twisted productions, the Cobblestone Jazz flavour often plays around with vocoders and always injects a helping of adapted jazz into the mix. The two tracks on Traffic Jam are no exception; first up Fiesta is a mixture of lilting vocal melodies squashed through a vocoder giving the track a robotic pop appeal. The keyboards are at Cobblestone’s usual level of wonky brilliance, though the title track pushes things even further with a big booming arpeggio line wriggling around some comparatively straight forward chord stabs. The jazzy ethos can be found sneaking around the fills about two thirds of the way through the track, though it’s in no way an indication that Traffic Jam is a relaxed little moody groover; it’s a mentalist journey through the streets with no brain. Both sides absolutely vital purchases from a still brilliant Cobblestone Jazz.

I thought a couple of years back that I knew DJ Koze’s style pretty well and could almost pick his tracks out at a club on first listen. Lately though he’s been upping his game even further, first with the recent free download only track The Spitzer Ebb Group and now with the insanely out-of-leftfield Mrs Bojangles twelve. Dr Fuck is a demented, detuned visit to the scariest medical practitioner you could ever have the misfortune of being examined by. Koze drops his voice several octaves and runs it through a few modulators and starts blathering on about how his alter ego Kosi feels about house music, all the while clanging a old cow bell or some rusty old pots and pans. The chief melody seems to wrought from some kind of horn or accordion that’s run back on itself but there’s so much else going on that rather than sit still and pick out individual elements you’d be better off just losing yourself to its unbridled, unhinged funk. This track is set for major dance floor carnage so go pester a disc jock in the know to drop it on a nice loud system post haste. Mrs Bojangles lightens the mood somewhat but is just as twisted, Koze making an absolute mockery of anyone attempting to release a straight forward house track by showing them just how far you can move the genre into the land of fruitiness. The only thing predictable about DJ Koze’s tracks is that you can always expect them to blow out the framework of what you think is possible within the realms of a dance record and that’s one predictability I could happily get used to.

Nick Hoeppner - Makeover/Foundling

****

Ostgut Tontraeger comes up trumps again with a deep hybrid of techno house for the late hour dancers.
Cobblestone Jazz - Traffic Jam

****

Wonky Canadian electronics from Mathew Jonson and crew make you forget it’s been over two years since the 23 Seconds masterpiece.

DJ Koze - Mrs Bojangles

*****

One of the most fucked up slabs of vinyl you’re likely to hear this year, an unsurprising coup for Kosi.

Silverbeat’s Top 5
DJ Koze - Dr Fuck

Cobblestone Jazz - Traffic Jam

STL - Silent State

Actress - Ghosts Have A Heaven

Quantec - The Landing

Classic

Brian Eno - Music For Airports

Kasabian

2009-05-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

Possessed of an old school pomp that harks back to the days of rock royalty, Kasabian make no apologies for their unchecked egos and diamond swagger.

Tom Meighan can't sit still. The willowy singer for the Leicester four piece Kasabian is a bundle of raw, super charged energy despite the tranquil surrounds of the Buckinghamshire countryside where the band are currently rehearsing for their upcoming tour. Arriving at the country farm estate where the band have been ensconced for the past couple of weeks conjures disparate images of rock excess (the fully stocked bar inside the front door of the main house and black Porsche parked out front) with pastoral tranquility (leafy vines creeping up the antiquated brickwork, the sky stretched with vapour trails of overhead jets). When Tom parks himself down opposite me and fixes me with an intense stare, lank hair still plastered down from his recent shower, he is instantly so engaging and animated there is no in my mind that he was born to be a rock 'n' roll front man. It's obvious that the man is excited. Apart from the verbal tidal wave that washes over me about the new album and his enthusiasm for it there is the fact to consider that until recently Tom was temporarily between jobs. Not to say that there has been any inter-band bickering but after they ended their four year run of touring off the back off Empire the singer had nothing to do but wait around while guitarist and chief song writer Sergio Pizzorno wrote the new material for what would become West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

“I'm like a caged dog innit,” says the vocalist of his time waiting for new words to sing. “Serge is in the wild, he's in the trees, he's free and I'm like a caged animal.”

The waiting process for all was lengthened by Pizzorno second guessing his own production and handing over the album to Dan The Automator for a second opinion, who polished up the songs and put the finishing touches on the album.

“I mean we had the time,” relates Serge when he joins us later. “We could have brought it out but we thought no, fuck it let's take more time. You're always in a rush to do things and you're made to feel like that as well but we just used that sense of building anticipation and the extra 15% or so that we did was massive.”

Into their third album the band seems to have a firm grip on their sound, the lyrics a mixed bag of verbal braggadocio, lament for the state of Britain, the importance of good mates and the undeniable essence of love pervading all. On “Fast Fuse”, a song inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Meighan gushes “come get me/all you fuckers can't touch me/because I'm the reason you came/what a shame/stroke my mane/see my fist chopping off your reign. It's getting hotter/now I'm spitting out lava,” which Tom and Serge both agree is “proper Wu-Tang”.

This sort of egocentric lambaste is one that song writer Serge feels is now sadly absent from rock music.

“It's that whole fuck you attitude that's missing now,” he laments. “You don't have to actually say it; I mean David Bowie was saying fuck you, you don't have to be aggressive or a lad. It's that feeling of being with your gang, us against the world where anything is possible. I think English bands now are frightened to be rock stars. I liked it when there were bands taking the piss out of other bands, it's funny. Fuck reality man, I don't like it, it's boring. I really want a band to completely blow my mind. I miss the stars, the sort of person who walks into a room and you go 'fucking hell'.”

La Grande Dame

2009-04-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

In the history of comedy and entertainment there has never been a character quite like her. There can be no imitators for she is truly unique; a cultural and comedic phenomenon. Armed with a crooked, wide-lipped smile, bejewelled gowns, an acid tongue and the most iconic pair of glasses in the world she has been dishing out her goodly brand of housewife wisdom for over fifty years to an adoring audience. She has been granted audience with some of the biggest stars in the world, cites herself as a friend and confidante to the Queen and now has her own line of make-up. And as this hapless journalist was about to find she can also inject a certain spookiness into a routine interview.

If legend is to be believed then Dame Edna Everage was born some unknown number of decades ago in the New South Wales city of Wagga Wagga. Details of her early life are sketchy to say the least, though the scraps of information she peppers her interviews with from her formative years paint a picture of a young starlet budding amongst the weeds of her home town co-inhabitants. Her entertainment career got under way in 1955 when she hit the stage as Mrs. Norm Everage, a housewife from the Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds. Soon after she was discovered by budding impresario (and failed comedian as she is quick to point out) Barry Humphries; before long history books were being rewritten to include a Dame Edna chapter. In the past half a century she has become not just a national treasure, but an international one. Her catch phrases long ago entered the lexicon of popular culture, she has become a synonymous symbol of Australia – like Olivia Newton-John, Kylie Minogue and Nicole Kidman one of the iconic Aussie females, and she is one of the few comics who have maintained their exacting level of hilarity throughout a long an illustrious career.

When Dame Edna Everage's voice reaches out from San Francisco, down the phone line to my home in Camden, London I immediately feel like I am chatting to an old and trusted friend. After extending a gracious greeting towards all of New Zealand and in particular to our own stalwart of entertainment, Max Cryer, she informs me she once lived around Camden and we share a moment rattling off street names and familiar eateries. Scant minutes into our conversation Dame Edna leaves me near speechless for the first of many times by picking me for a Pisces. Somewhat incredulously I confirm her suspicion and put it down to some kind of trans-Atlantic cosmic connection. Moments later when we are talking about Auckland city she tells me one of her favourite restaurants is Satya on Karangahape Road, which she holds a soft spot for due to being vegetarian. She has me again, and I am compelled to confess that as a kindred vegetarian it also happens to be one of my favoured eating spots. Wary of our precious time I steer the focus of conversation towards my intuitive interviewee and ask if divine intervention played a role in her rise to fame and fortune.

“Yes I felt that there was something watching over me,” replies the self confessed mega star. “I used to love putting on make-up and dresses. My parents were not well off and I was brought up in a suburb of Melbourne that was a working class suburb, Moonee Ponds. It's become a bit fashionable now, a bit like Ponsonby has but there was a time when it wasn't. I was really a little bit of a star when I was young and I was often in the church plays. We did a passion play one Easter and I played Mary Magdalene. There came the moment when I had to wash the feet of our Lord and he was played by a young Vicar. I remember him, the reverend Tony Morfitt. I had to use frankincense and myrrh and things but you couldn't get them at the chemist so I used Vicks Vaborub and I applied them to his feet. Then I had to dry them with my hair and I can still remember trying to get the stickiness out of my hair. Come to think of it I think there were many girls from Moonee Ponds in my position before.”

The great Dame has come a long way from those fledgling brushes with higher sources. From her early stage performances in Australia and having the distinction of being one of the first people interviewed on Australian television she headed to England in the early 1960's to make her presence known. Fellow comedian Peter Cook had her perform at his West London club and it is him that she credits with helping to launch her international career. Before long the exalted Edna was headlining her own shows and making appearances in movies, though her career focus came at the cost of her home life with her husband Norm and four children all left to their own devices in Australia. She has appeared philosophical about her choice when quizzed on the matter in the past: “My aged mother was going berserk, my daughter had been arrested with a frozen chicken concealed in her gusset and my husband had experienced another spectacular urological episode. And so I made a very important decision - to put my family last.”

Husband Norm's condition worsened over the years, from an increasingly worrisome walnut sized throb to a fatal prostate complication, while the children simply seemed to fade into the background.

As we continue to amble through the many memories of a life of stardom, the great mauve-topped jewel of the Antipodes shares another turning point in her already illustrious life.

“Ten years ago I was in a shop in New York. A department store called Neiman Marcus and I saw a product called M.A.C. It was just in its infancy then but I tried a little bit. And you know how we were talking about supernatural intervention, I heard my skin say 'thank you'. I no sooner had applied it than I got a Broadway contract, a Tony award. Then I got a major role in the series Ally McBeal. Then I became a regular guest on Jay Leno's Late Show. One thing followed another. I am now touring the United States with a new show, I'm in San Francisco at the moment playing full houses for six weeks. Then I go to Palm Springs, then I visit Australia really just to weed my husband's grave and it's all because of that first little touch of make-up. I don't wear much because I don't need to. I think women should let their natural beauty shine through, and all women are beautiful.”

A consummate professional, Edna has no trouble in steering the conversation around to her latest venture; her own line of cosmetics for M.A.C. With the vast majority of celebrities lending their names, faces and bodies to any number of products it was only ever going to be a matter of time before someone snapped up the iconic personality that is Dame Edna Everage. With names that reflect her own tastes it at first seems hard to imagine just who the Kanga Rouge or Possum Nose Pink lippies are aimed at, but then it dawns that like the ageless Dame the products are for anyone with a sense of glamour. For a woman who once used the inventive beauty technique of strapping sardines to her face I wonder what advice she has for young women just beginning to wear make-up.

“I would say try to look as natural as possible but enhance your beauty. I've got some lovely new colours in my range. I've been working on a New Zealand line using an enzyme from an insect called the weta. And people who are stung by wetas, something happens to their skin. So we have to try and narrow that down, we're still working on it. The wee wetas are in laboratories as we speak being milked.”

Of her endorsing other products Edna tells me she has been approached by various fashion houses but they seem to show reluctance, fearing that she will charge exorbitant rates. Setting the record straight (whether for me or the labels in question, I'm not sure) she confides that she doesn't ask or need a lot of money because she gives it all to charity. That charity is Friends Of The Prostate (which I am informed is based at Walnut House headquarters) and it educates people about the prostate, both its location and appearance.

Dame Edna's own appearance is effortlessly faultless; her hair (naturally lilac in colour) always freshly coiffed, her gowns of the most dazzling quality, her face picture perfect. When I inquire about her daily routine she informs me it is nothing more than a shower followed by a towelling down and some Watties asparagus on toast. When I dare to ask if she is one of the types of people who experience a potent whiff to their water after eating the stalky green she levels me with the charge of being a urine sniffer.

At this point during our chat Dame Edna once again turns the tables and asks me about my own endeavours, more specifically a concept band I am affiliated with called the Soldiers of Toast. It is now I realise that being an accomplished interviewer herself, I am not the only one who has done my research for this interview. As the Dame starts reeling off questions about my personal life, its events, and nicknames that allude to certain sexual manoeuvres I begin to wonder if there has been a breach of security amongst my friends, for even with dogged browsing none of these details are available to the general public on line. But then such is the influence and reach of the feted Dame it doesn't surprise me that the tendrils of her intelligence extend into other people's lives.

It is perhaps a trick acquired with age rather than cunning and with that in mind I veer towards the subject of accumulating experience and ask what treasure's it holds.

“Well I saw a Doctor the other day and he told me I was growing older and that it was natural. The thing is that I'm still at the height of my powers and I still have my drives - and my juices according to my gynaecologist. It may interest you to know that while I've been talking to you I've been having an exploratory.”

“Are you in the stirrups,” I venture.

“No I don't need them myself,” she informs.

With a history of frequent sexual gaffes and innuendo on her many shows I ponder for a moment as to the sex symbol status that befalls so many international stars and that would logically also harbour the mega talented one.

“No, I've never had any sex appeal, I don't cultivate it,” demurs a rarely modest Dame. “Since the death of my husband I've never committed an act of immodesty. I've always felt, unlike you, that it is overrated as an activity and it causes trouble. But I'm very pleased to be adored, to be alluring, arousing even.”

Contrary to her admission the Dame informs me that her message light is beeping, most likely a whispered endearment from George Clooney. Taking my cue to wrap things up I attempt the impossible by trying to extract information on Dame Edna's age, telling her that there are legions of fans who want to lay themselves down and worship at her altar.

“Well, I can tell you that my birthday is on the 17^th of February and I'll be in Australia so you can send anything you like to dame Edna care of Australia. It will find me.”

Razor-lite

2009-03-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

Million selling albums, celebrity girlfriends, debaucherous revelry, charity gigs. Razorlight seem to embody all that is required for rock canonisation so why do the press constantly paint lead singer Johnny Borrell as a twat? Real Groove goes in search of the real Johnny Borrell.

RG: Tell us about Slipway Fires.
JB: A lot of the album is the sound of us live in a room. It's live vocals, live drums, live guitar, live piano, all as it went down on the day. That was something we really wanted to capture as much as possible.
RG: How do you see the band and how do you want your band to be seen?
JB: What I wanted to do with this record in terms of where the band is going or whatever is to completely check out of any kind of competition or 'this is the class of 2009' or whatever. I'm not even thinking about my career. I just got to this point where I thought I don't give a flying fuck about record sales, about ticket sales, anything, fame, celebrity, I don't give a damn.
RG: In terms of the band there has been animosity. Do you think a certain sort of creative tension helps?
JB: I think the only thing that helps music is if you mean it and if everyone in the room means it then yeah there is going to be a greater tension.
RG: Do you think you get a bad rap?
JB: It's nothing I can really complain about, but then there are people who print outright lies about you. I'd love to sit down with everyone whose written lies about me and find out what that's about but you just can't do it.
RG: So what are some of the lies?
JB: Well when our album came out there was a news story about me getting some of our lyrics tattooed on my arm (rolls up sleeves to show nothing). But that's a straight up lie isn't it? So now when I go into interviews I either get 'oh tell me about your tattoo' or 'I heard you don't like tattoos'. Another example, we did a gig at the Union Chapel the other day and the fucking equipment broke down. I sang the whole thing a capella in front of 400 people and everyone had a great time. But then in The Sun or something like that the next day it said that I had a big strop and it's just not what happened. But in my position what can I do?
RG: Do you think the media likes to use up its stars and throw them away?
JB: Yeah but I also think that if somebody had never met you and wants to say something about you, by definition it's going to say more about that person than it does about you. But probably the only thing that pisses me off is people who think that I'm precious and I don't have a sense of humour about things. Because that's the most important thing. I mean I care about music, I really care about the music we make. I care about the music that every band makes, I care about music fans. I care about music and I have a lot of love and respect for it. But I don't give a fff... I'm not precious about Johnny Borrell. I'm not precious about Razorlight. You've got to take the piss out of yourselves. This is the wrong career to take too seriously.
RG: What does the album title mean?
JB: I'm not explaining it is the current policy because it's not even out yet. I know what it means and some people work it out, some people don't, which I quite like. It's the nature of this album though, you've got to come to it and figure it out you know.

Clubland March

2009-03-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the recession, perhaps it's the planetary alignment or it could even be down to Kanye's fashion mantourage making everyone pick their game up a little but there seems to be a wealth of incredible releases out there at the moment.

Mark Broom has been a constant figure on the techno scene since the mid nineties and unlike some of his peers has seemed to be able to adapt and push his sound with the times. He's pushing a particularly prolific level of output at the moment with no fewer than six releases to his name this year already.

One of his most recent, Deal Or No Deal is a four track EP of serious weight that features two tracks of clubby dub techno and a further two on the dark brooding house tip, though equally measured with a good dose of the bottom end frequencies. The title track sounds not unlike one of Broom's earlier Pure Plastic releases, such is the raw simplicity of the sounds used. Runners also pushes some nostalgia buttons, but sounds more like the earlier productions of New Yorker Steve Stoll's dubbier work. Both the VIP remix of This Town and Look And Stare round off the EP with two brilliant slices of slow-mo dub house, somewhere between the icy depths of Claro Intelecto and the housier stylings of Theo Parrish.

Out of The Netherlands and on the Frantic Flowers imprint is two hot sides from Dutch dub techno geezers Literon and Ovatow. Calling the release Permutations and taking one side of the record each, Literon cranks the kick drums up to stun and leaves the dust on the needle as he fills up the platter with swirling keys and heavily delayed chords. Ovatow's Permutation Two is a right proper dub techno affair with the bass sounds generally louder than the kicks, a plethora of zaps and distorted clicks filling up space and dreamy, swirling textures.

Stewart Walker's Stundenzimmer is a sweetly melodic affair, the title track itself using pitched up toms, chimes and lilting melodies to convey a spring like feel. L.A. River is outwardly a slightly darker affair, though underneath the paranoid sounding sliding synths there are miniature melodies at work while Seamless is much more pensive track, its pointed synths and yearning pads sounding like a soundtrack for a landing on Mars.

Tolga Fidan and Anthony Collins piece together some hot, tribal, digital house this month with the release of Violence/La Cadence on Vakant. Fidan's inimitable percussive style gets a good airing with the pair giving the two tracks a Latin feel to them, working the drums for a good four minutes on Violence before adding a tinkling piano (sounds a bit lame but that couldn't be further from the truth). Cadence acts as the dub mix of Violente, extending the drum break even longer, dirtying them up a bit and shortening the already minimal bass sounds.

The top of my list this month though is without a doubt the Martyn album Great Lengths. Dutchman Martijn Deykers who has been releasing drum and bass for some time now made the switch over to dubstep a couple of years ago, but with his productions increasingly blurring the lines between the genre and many others it's one he's not comfortable using when talking about his music. Great Lengths is for fans of Ramadanman, Peverelist, Pangaea and 2562 and is an album that immediately grabs you and doesn't let go. With relatively few albums released in this particularly niche corner of the dubstep/techno crossover there isn't too much else out there to stack it up against, but I would say it flows as effortlessly at Headhunter's Nomad and there will need to be something pretty special to come along and knock this off my best album of 2009 pedestal where it is loftily perched.

Mark Broom – Deal Or No Deal – Old school head messes in the dubby elements of techno.

****

Stewart Walker – Stundenzimmer – Beautiful melodic moments amidst some darker techno tones.

***

Martyn – Great Lengths – Breathtaking debut album from the man who refuses to be classified.

*****

Silverbeat's Top 5

Martyn – Great Lengths

Minilogue – Animals Remixes

Korablove – Green Gull

Lawrence – Hamtramck

2 Working Donkeys – Healed

Classic Listening

Slint - Spiderland

No End In Sight

2009-03-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

I love surprises; they relieve you of life's constant drudge through mundaneness, a breath of fresh air into the stale lungs of reality. Though some surprises are best left as the tantalising, unrealised morsel of promise they promote. To that end I was recently invited to a special function to celebrate the release of U2's latest collection of important music. It was to be held at a prestigious London hotel and would be followed by a big surprise!

At this mere whiff of possibility that something truly surprising may happen my mind went into overdrive. I supposed an event where band members were signing new born kittens and giving them out as gifts, where one lucky reporter would get to fly around on the private U2 jet with the band, where Bono and The Edge would vie for our attentions by putting each other down with a barrage of ever more defamatory remarks.

The swelling crowds on Portland Place gave it away immediately. There would be no fluffy animals, no jet planes, no one-upmanship. The Irish rock stars were going to play music to us, probably on top of the BBC building across the street.

I skulked in the plush function room at the hotel, knocking back the free beer and chatting idiotically with other journalists about the impending hour of our surprise. Indeed the great Irish rock band were to play high atop the ramparts of the BBC building directly opposite the hotel. Some had already seen them earlier today at another surprise event so I expected that their surprise level had long since ebbed.

Eventually the time was upon us and whilst others chose to view the occasion from another nearby hotel room I wanted to join the fans on the street. The hubbub was considerable as people jostled and pushed their way forward hoping to be the first to see the band. Every neck was arched skyward towards the roof top where U2 would play and all around me foreign reporters were animatedly giving a blow by blow account of the waiting process to cameras and mobile phones. When a well known BBC DJ welcomed everyone and introduced the band there was an almost audible crackle of excitement through the crowd, though it was swiftly drowned out by cheering and clapping when a familiar frontman took to the microphone and told us in no uncertain terms that they weren't going away any time soon. If the scene was vaguely reminiscent of the band's publicity stunt some 22 years ago when they played on the roof of a liquor store in L.A. to promote The Joshua Tree then it should be noted that their fame has grown comparatively with the height of the buildings they've played on. Over four songs including Beautiful Day and new single Get On Your Boots the crowd was reminded why this quartet has remained one of the biggest bands in the world for the past three decades. But as I headed home amongst the throng of sated fans to look at pictures of mewling kittens on the internet I suspected that somewhere out there Paul McCartney was yawning.

Clubland February

2009-02-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

The word purist used to get bandied around a lot when talking about techno in the 1990's. It was often in deference to the work of the (largely) Detroit and Berlin artists of the time as their music was tarred by association with the crude, cheesy Eurodance shtick of groups like 2 Unlimited and Aqua. The word became synonymous with the likes of Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, Derrick May and Underground Resistance; it was also a phrase used by ardent fans to align themselves with techno from the right side of the tracks.

As minimal techno got its second airing a number of years ago with much being forged from the digital pops and clicks of fabricated machine sounds, it seemed like the purist brand of techno had been left to rust like the cities of decay that once built the sound from the ground up. In recent years this sound has been reinvigorated by producers like Kalon, Stefan Goldmann, Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock, with the latter two proving an energising force in breathing new life into techno in general. Although Klock has been actively releasing since the late 90's, it was his teaming up with Dettmann on the first Ostgut Tonträger record, “Dead Man Watches The Klock” in 2006 that launched their profiles into a new realm. The label is owned by the Berlin nightclub Berghain of which they are both residents and has itself been instrumental in playing home to some of the best techno the world has to offer. In 2008 Ostgut Tonträger proved itself to be the touchstone of techno and house, notching up stunning releases from Prosumer & Murat Tepeli with “Serenity”, Shed with the exquisite “Shedding the Past” album and MyMy's deeper nod towards house with “Southbound”. Marcel Dettmann for his part offered the second Berghain mix CD showcasing the current sound of the club while Klock largely stood back from releasing for the year to concentrate on his first album.

Titled “One”, it is unmistakably inspired by the huge factory club he DJ's at most weekends. Whilst many of the tracks are mechanistic, blinkered floor cuts there is a heart to the album and also moments of pause between the intensity where Klock indulges in some atmospheric beatless sound waves. The opener “Coney Island” displays all the orchestral drama of a Rob Hood record, setting the tone with a cool, charged air. “Check For Pulse” likewise seems to pay homage to the ghosts of minimalists past, a scant acid bass line providing the cold blooded life of the track as a scrap of human voice echoes off somewhere in the bleary distance. A muted howl provides the only real point of contrast within the track, though for all its detached ambivalence “Check For Pulse” carries with it an undeniable energy. “One” is not without its moments of humanity or emotion though; “Goodly Sin” features the vocals of Elif Bicer who appeared on Prosumer & Tepeli's “Serenity”, though Klock never lets her vocal cords stretch much further than a breathless few words. “Gloaming” is no less robotic in its execution but its church organ thrall ebbs and flows with an almost perceivable warmth, whilst the synthetic vinyl burns give the effect of the track breathing. Elif Bicer also graces “OK!” and again has very little to say for herself. Her repetitive cries tell us there is neither happiness nor sadness, just the kind of detached nihilistic conjecture that makes Cassy's (another of the Berghain residents) productions so haunting. Klock even fires something up for the dubstep fans, “Gold Rush” still crackling hot straight out of the kiln, the drums hammering out dense grooves and firing off metallic sparks.

“One” will be a hard album for many to swallow, it's textures too bleak, it's lustre not overtly apparent. However it continues on in a fine tradition of techno as a music made out of artists expressing themselves through machines or perhaps opening themselves to allow the machines to express themselves through the artists.

Ben Klock - One - The Berghain resident gets inside the ghost in the machine and has a good fiddle.
****

Silverbeat's Top 5

Synkro “Lost Love”
Intrusion “Little Angel”
Mount Kimbie “Maybes”

Ben Klock “One”
Equalized “EQD002A”

Silverbeat's Classic Listening

Big Daddy Kane – Long Live The Kane

Clubland January

2009-01-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

There's something to be said for a sultry, disaffected German vocal electronic tune. The first time they won me over was back in 1983 when Nena's 99Luftballoons filled my ears with it's soft yearning incoherence. One year earlier Falco did the same thing when he cooed cool warnings about cocaine excess with Der Kommissar but I later found out he was Austrian so I'm not sure if that counts. In more recent years the Kompakt Pop series have catered to this penchant of mine for Kraut pop and steely synth tracks.

Upon hearing Andre Kraml and Heiko Voss' new Unreachable Girl EP on the Firm label I knew that little bell had been rung inside of me again. The Frankfurt native enlists the help of the honey-toned Heiko Voss to help him out on two of the tracks while Voss produces and sings on one himself. Uh, You've Got To Fall In Love Again sees Kraml strap on his Superpitcher boots and go for a camp old march around the club while Heiko strums away on his guitar, delivering a smooth rhetoric on the importance of trusting in love over, say, watching the TV or going partying every weekend. It's the type of techno pop-tronic gem that has been done more than a few times in the past but when it's done this well you don't mind hearing another example. Heiko Voss' Call Me Now on the flip side gets remixed by Kraml and it's a more subtle affair, Voss' vocals a little harder and more frosty. Kraml's interpretation sounds very much like Codec & Flexor's incredible Time Has Changed which can be no bad thing. The delayed chords are racked with feeling, which the lyrics only amplify further with their droll European languidness. The title track of the EP takes a similarly moody approach with sparse, organic percussion, whispers of Heiko Voss' guitar creeping in and some seriously gorgeous melodies teasing out in the background. The three tracks seem to hold places in the progress of a night, from the upbeat groove of the first track to the slightly mournful 4AM thrall of Call Me Now and finally the sunrise bliss of Unreachable Girl.
Not really fitting in to the thread of sultry, disaffected German vocal electronics but keeping it German at least, Loco Dice's brilliant 7 Dunham Place, which showed up in all manner of best lists last year has received its first set of remixes. Cassy applies her minimal house touch to How Do I Know, working with the vocal scraps of the original but making the basis of the remix much more artificial sounding. The key of a remix should always be to compliment the original, if not actually improve on it and I'm not sure Cassy has done either here, but it's not without a certain charm. I'll be the first to admit I haven't been following DJ Sneak's career very closely for the past ten years or so, so was surprised to see him called up to the plate for a bat at Pimp Jackson Is Talkin' Now. He attempts an old school Relief Records style track that sounds completely dated and makes you reach for the original version to block out any potential damage done to what is one of the freshest cuts on the album. Luciano rights any wrongs committed by remixing the same track but using the inimitable colours and styles from his truly unique sound palette. Wedding bells peel off in the background, before Luciano launches into an epic ten minute mix of squealing feedback, working a tireless bass line into the ground. Mike Huckaby takes Black Truffles In The Snow and transforms it from the eyes-closed blissed out deep sea groover that it is on the album to a straight up Detroit synth house track. There is perceptibly so little of the original used in the remix that it's pointless to compare the two, but if you like you've got the mixing capabilities of DJ Bone then you'll hear this and picture just how you'll fit it into a set. Otherwise it's ultra minimalist house vibes could be a little too unforgiving.

Andre Kraml & Heiko Voss – Unreachable Girl EP
****
German mastery of the techno pop vocal strikes a chord.

Silverbeat's Top 5

Andre Kraml & Heiko Voss – Call Me Now
Various Productions – Lost (Actress Remix)
John Roberts – Bodywork
Spatial - 70707
Moodyman – Heaven

Classic Listening

Phoenix Foundation – Horse Power

Peaches Geldof

2008-12-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

FAME AND THE GIANT PEACHES
You'd be forgiven for forming an opinion on Peaches Geldof without meeting her. Splashed all over the tabloids, you can chart her ill-mannered escapades and impetuosity almost weekly; a marriage here, a near overdose there, a bitchy jibe sprinkled on top. Dig a little deeper and you can also find a young girl trying to forge her way in the world on her own merits, escape the endless comparisons to her dead mother and perhaps lastly, trying to enjoy a youth that all of the above has so far seemed to deny her.

Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa Drummey (nee Geldof) was born on the 16th of March, 1989. With Bob Geldof as her father and Paula Yates her mother there was little chance of Peaches enjoying an average, anonymous childhood. It was the death of her mother by way of accidental heroin overdose in 2000 that stripped away any last hope of that completely. Raised solely by Bob since Yates' then lover Michael Hutchence was found hanged in 1997, Peaches has been brought up with sisters Fifi, Pixie and Heavenly (Yates' and Hutchence's daughter). Used to being in the public eye it was only ever going to be a matter of time before the Geldof girls reached an age where they would start being allowed out without their dad and start to make headlines of their own. Whilst Fifi, the eldest, has kept her nose relatively clean, preferring anonymity to the limelight the same cannot be said for Peaches and Pixie. Following in her mother's footsteps, the opinionated Peaches entered the world of journalism, having her first article published at the age of 14. Her subsequent columns for Elle Girl, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph chronicled the mind of a teenager struggling to cope with everything from exams to holidays with the family to being famous by default. In more recent years she has extended her journalistic capabilities to a documentaries; first with Teenage Mind in 2005 and then the following year with Teen America. Both documentaries similarly sought to capture the trials of teenage life, though they also left a lasting and often less than favourable impression in some people's minds about the young Geldof.
With the presence of Peaches in the gossip columns these days it is easy to gloss over the fact that, unlike other famous daughters she actually has something going for her, that she contributes to the world she lives in – it's the media that contributes her to the tabloids. We may see the 19 year old heavy lidded and in need of assistance to a cab after a long night partying; we don't hear about her design collaboration with fashion label PPQ. We can candidly watch Geldof at her dealer's house placing an order for various kinds of drugs; we don't get to witness her at university in Brooklyn where she now lives. It becomes easy to criticise someone when they are presented in this way. The celebrity obsessed media in more recent years have thrived on the misfortunes and problems of young starlets, and the celebrity obsessed public has lapped it up. Britney's breakdown was meticulously charted for us by the paparazzi yet now that she seems to have her life and career back on track we see comparatively very little of her. Amy Winehouse has been media fodder for some time now, her spiralling decline into narcotic implosion playing out like a slow motion car crash we all have a ticket to witness. It seems only fair then to make note of Peaches Geldof's achievements, rather than to exclusively focus upon the less salubrious side of her personal life.
Having modelled for British designers PPQ at last year's London Fashion Week, she was invited by founders Percy Parker and Amy Molyneux to create a capsule collection for the label. Her favourite piece from the collection is “either the black lace top with high necked cream frilled collar, or the velvet and lace black and white party dress.” The result has pleased the designers enough to ask Peaches to contribute again for their summer collection, though this may strike some as a little contradictory bearing in mind her views on fashion.
“Most people who know me know I don't follow fashion. I mean, I just dyed the ends of my hair blue for gods sake, its not like I'm having my highlights constantly re-done and worrying what colours going to be 'in' next fall. For me, fashion is all about the individual. I hate stars that look totally over styled like Victoria Beckham, she looks totally uncomfortable at all times, give me Courtney Love with her baby-doll nighties and ripped fishnet tights over her any day. Fashion is about expressing oneself, and for me it depends on my mood. When the sun shines down in Williamsburg I go to my local deli dressed in a 1950s $20 dress from Beacons Closet, complete with matching yellow bow in my hair and bobby socks. Fashion is about pushing boundaries, the idea of waking up and putting on the same old pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt takes the fun out of life. Vivienne Westwood once told me that people who aren't creative or have no love of art don't dress up. I asked her why and she simply replied "because it's fun". Sage advice from the queen of eccentricity.”
She cites Chrissy Miller, Marc Jacobs, Luella, Chloe and Balmain as her favourite designers, though says that her own style “flits between being very folk, 1960s hippie, all headbands and paisley print see through dresses with suede furry coats and ankle boots to 1990s grunge ie a plaid shirt with black tights and doc martins to gothic, a black lace vintage dress with black lipstick.” Inspiration comes from gothic fairy tales like Struwwelpeter or Hans Christian Anderson and the music of Nirvana and The Jesus and Mary Chain. She has been charting on style lists for the last couple of years so it really comes as no surprise her eye is being put to good use.
Peaches' penchant for dressing up has also lead her to take to the catwalk and catalogue for racy lingerie company Agent Provocateur. In stark contradiction she has spoken out before about women who reveal too much in their outfits, though it does tie in with her self confessed exhibitionism, so there is some semblance of balance there. It is easy to forget when someone is elevated to celebrity status that they are still much like anyone else of their age group. The media does not forget the gaffes and slip ups, the feuds and spats, and so things said in the boisterous arrogance of youth become carved in stone. Miss Geldof has her own share of embarrassing foibles of this nature, as well as other dalliances that are a part of growing up for many teenagers. She has been accused on several occasions of shoplifting, the most recent in the first week of November, though with every occurrence no charges have been pressed and the items have been duly paid for. There is also the little matter of Peaches being caught out buying drugs from Amy Winehouse's dealer. Again no charges were pressed after a video of Peaches was leaked showing her allegedly ordering a variety of different drugs for her weekend, but if that wasn't enough she was then reported to have had an ambulance called to her apartment over a suspected drug overdose. “I had a bad experience; it was nowhere near an overdose” she has said of the matter, and furthers her point by stating that she is not addicted to drugs, has not smoked crack and it is not something for anyone to worry about. Putting this into perspective one wonders how many young lives and lifestyles would be brought into question should their life choices and experimentations be made public knowledge.
One piece of Peaches news that has seemed to die down is her marriage to musician Max Drummey. Long associated with rock boys, Peaches broke off her relationship with The Horrors singer Faris Badwan some months ago, marrying the little known American rocker a month later. Though there were cries of 'publicity stunt' they have since died down as it has come to light that the marriage was more a whimsical bit of foolishness rather than premeditated media manipulation. Peaches has since claimed she loves Drummey now but doesn't hold out for things to last. Nevertheless, in the face of public perception and for all the media conjecture she has boldly continued to do what she does. To that end her other projects include Djing alongside friend Fifi Brown as the Trash Pussies, presenting various other reality shows and documentaries and her latest foray into the media world, starting her own magazine.
Disappear Here is the title of Peaches Geldof's new magazine. The title is taken from Bret Easton Ellis' début novel Less Than Zero. The protagonist has been driving aimlessly when he comes upon a road sign for a motel saying Disappear Here. The novel, much like all of Bret Easton Ellis' work is a depiction of vacuous, misguided wanderlust at the hands of affluent youngsters who have everything they could possibly want and therefore nothing to aim for. Geldof has sported a tattoo of the saying since she was 14 so the book obviously touched her enough to resurface through this idea. The idea behind the magazine is to create a magazine about music, fashion and lifestyle all in the alternative vein. With a Roladex of suitably hip musos and fashionistas at her disposal there is little chance of the publication lacking street nous. A good deal of that important hip factor could be dispelled though by the recent MTV reality show following Peaches on her quest to launch the rag. With a small team of attractive acolytes assembled, though mysteriously not of Peaches' choosing, the team get to work on creating a mock up to entice financial backers. Mentored along the way by James Brown, the figurehead of lad's mag Loaded, Peaches manages to distance herself from her staff rapidly, going so far as to openly embarrass and insult them, whilst contributing little more than a narration to the show. She puts in little face time to the filmed project giving the viewer the sense that if she can't handle the PR of the making of the magazine, the real thing will need either considerable fortune or someone else's help to survive. As the series ends the future of the magazine looks bleak with ratings for the show faring considerably worse, but reports have it that there will be an issue out by the end of the year.
There is little to argue that people find Peaches Geldof an infinite source of annoyance. She leads a privileged existence, can turn her hand to whatever she chooses without fear of failure or recrimination, and for anything she does that may warrant merit there is a wealth of contrasting behaviour to negate it. At the same time it is prudent to remember that Peaches never asked to be born into fame, that she is living out some of her most formative years in the public eye and given her difficult childhood she should be forgiven a certain precociousness. She may court fame and publicity for her working projects, though it is doubtful she asks the press to be around her at all hours of the night, waiting for her to leave a club looking less than picture perfect. This however is the lot of someone in her position and she'll continue to go about her life, accepting the good press, living with the bad and probably not caring too much about either along the way.

Clubland 2008 in Review

2008-12-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

So another year's diary heads towards obsolescence, presents are bought for nearest and dearest and we here at Real Groove mark off the time by summing up the year that was in music. 2008 has been an interesting year as far as techno and house are concerned. As an inevitable backlash to the rise of minimal that was suddenly branded as big and cool in 2007, house music made a proper comeback this year. It's not a necessarily fair comment to say that house music was foundering before that, because further inspection of some of the keys players this year (label Drumpoet Community, producer Sascha Dive for example) reveals a success achieved in 2008 but groundwork that stretches back many years.

Some producers who had been steadily pumping out harder techno seemed to catch the house bug in 2008, injecting techier shades of house into the scene. Others who had always straddled the divide further blurred the lines with slow-mo cuts hovering around the 115bpm mark, too synthetic to be house music but just not quite techno. Most appealing to me were the proliferation of cuts from Berlin steeped in the funk and raw soul of Detroit. Making no bones about their influences, people like Motor City Drum Ensemble have released incredible Detroit house without actually having been there. There have been some poor, lacklustre releases in this vein as well and a good deal of bandwagon jumping as happened the year previous with every man and his dog scrambling to get out a dry, spare minimal track, often forsaking any real quality or longevity in the process. One can't help but feel that house will suffer a similar fate next year as people clamber to find another genre to champion and exploit. This is very much conjecture anyway as the only difference I've noticed is the amount of column space minimal techno and now house receive.

The other big shift I've noticed this year is the emergence of the dubstep/techno crossover as a bona fide genre, which I touched on in last month's column. The balls-out grimey side of dubstep I can leave, but when people like Shackleton, Peverelist, 2562, Martyn, TRG, Headhunter and Scuba start tooling around with techno rhythms over dubstep percussion my ears prick up like those of a Doberman Pinscher. To say that the influence has been mutual to both camps is an understatement. Not only are we hearing albums like Headhunter's impeccable debut Nomad come out peppered with tracks of a 4/4 variety, but several of the dub techno guard are either trying their hand at dubstep or enlisting the help of some of the aforementioned producers to remix their tracks. To that end the always on point Quantec got 2562 under his A Made Up Sound guise to remix his recent Ray Of Hope release. The result was quite simply astonishing, and as with Brendon Moeller remixing Appleblim and Peverelist's Over Here a little earlier in the year it looks like the exchange is working both ways. I wouldn't be surprised to see this rather specialized end of the dubstep genre outlive the UK garage influenced side as the scope of possibility appears to reach a lot further with the convergence of these outwardly disparate genres.

Lastly and more on a personal taste tip I recently discovered a producer that has rekindled my love affair with ambient music. Bvdub from San Francisco has been producing for a scant two years, but the quality of his productions beggars belief. Knocking out eleven releases (and more on the way) in a little over a year, his presence has been been felt on the deep techno and dub techno thresholds, though his music is equal parts – often more, of ambient. Not only that but the ethereal nature of his tracks are so emotive it nearly hurts.

2008 – A year of quality

*****

There has been much to love about the crop of releases this year with a real evolution shown in various aspects of clubland.

Silverbeat's Top 5

Bvdub – Where to Now

Seth Troxler - Aggression

Argenis Brito - Imminent

Q-Tip – The Renaissance

Guy Noir – Delusion EP

Classic Listening

Mike Shannon – Possible Conclusions to Stories That Never End

The Killers

2008-11-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

As one of the biggest bands in the world puts the finishing touches on album number three Real Groove ponders the cost of being at the top with Brandon Flowers.

If Brandon Flowers isn't guarded, then he's at least being a little bit weary. Arranging himself on a nondescript designer sofa in a roomy hotel suite, he appears coiled, ready for flight, ready for anything but than to answer another run of inquisitions about forthcoming album Day & Age. It is his last interview of three days solid questioning by international press so we can forgive The Killers front man for a certain reticence.

As we begin to chat I sense it is not even that Flowers is sick of the press time, but rather cautious about how much of himself to give away, of how he's going to come across, knowing that major publications all over the world will be adopting a line on him and his band regardless of the music they're about to release.

The album is an important one for The Killers. Sam's Town divided fans and critics alike, with some lambasting the group for seemingly forgetting their synthethised roots. All of a sudden The Killers were caught in the conundrum of their public wanting more of the same but different from them. Flowers himself has stated that despite the sophomore album typically hailed as the hardest for a band, they're in a position where they have to be good all of the time. He is however adamant that even though Stuart Price is at the helm for the album it is not to sate the Hot Fuss fans.

“My instrument is kind of the keyboards, I can conjure them up but he (Price) can get better sounds than I could ever do. Even though we've used keyboards before the quality was never anything like Depeche Mode or anything, whereas Stuart knows that stuff. But no we weren't trying to get back any fans from Hot Fuss. I think if anything we just gained a lot of rock fans with Sam's Town so maybe we'll lose them. I don't know, we're just trying to do what we want to do.”

The process of completing the new album with Price is one that is still in progress at the time of our interview. The band were swapping music files back and forth with Price for several months, before finally getting into the studio together and cutting the sounds they created disparately. Listening to a good handful of the tracks from the album before the interview I learn that the only thing that is stopping completion is that Brandon hasn't yet written lyrics for all of the songs.

“Yeah I'm slow with lyrics so it always ends up coming down to the wire,” he offers by way of explanation. “It's always been like that, but next time round I'm going to try and be more concise and when I get an idea I'll just follow it. Sometimes I'll start doing a song and get this one line that I'm really happy with and because I've got this line, this idea, I get really high from that feeling and I don't follow it through. So months later it's this excruciating process of knowing that I had this idea a long time ago but now having to make something of it.”

The lyrics he pens usually involve a protagonist, inhabiting a narrative style not often used in pop music these days. Perhaps this can be attributed to Flowers being a self-confessed voyeur, watching people at restaurants, eavesdropping to pick up on threads of discussion, trying to figure out what makes them who they are. Often you can read influences of his Mormon faith into the lines he sings. Redemption, faith and hope seem to be recurrent themes for the band, but they are not so obvious as to come over in a preachy manner. More recently, for a new track, Tranquilize included on the Sawdust teaser album, filled with mostly b-sides and covers, Flowers got a little song writing coaching from the grizzled old queen of New York underground rock, Lou Reed.

“We were a little bit scared of him from the start because we knew of his reputation,” relates Brandon. “He came in and he knew who we were but it was scary. Within five minutes he was telling me which lyrics I should change and why but I learned a lot from him. At least I learned about his brain.

“One of his things was that he said you should never repeat verses because you could be saying something entirely new and it's lazy. So I think about that now whenever I want to repeat something. And also a rock band should never say 'la la la'. The song used to say 'I still hear the children play, lalala lalala la la la' so there was no way in hell that he was going to sing on the song with that. So I had to go change it to 'kick the can, kick the can, skip and

blackjack' and all this other stuff, things that I thought children would do. It was much more interesting with that in there so he helped us. I was really put on the spot though because he needed something to sing and he told me in front of everyone, “you're in a rock band, there shouldn't be any la la la.” So I was kind of being a dick and said back to him “well what did you play when you were a kid?” and he said “rock.” That was it, he put me right in my place. There's no better answer than that.”

From working with legends to living through their own folklore, it would seem that no-one is more aware of how much the world is going to be watching the release of Day & Age more than Flowers. It has been just four years since The Killers released Hot Fuss and they've been riding high on a wave of exponential popularity ever since. Part of that success is due to delivering to the fans more of what they want without having them wait too long for it. Cue Sawdust, the filler album that would tide fans over until their third studio album. It did the trick of stopping the gap for a short time, but now it's time for Flowers and co to meet their future. Flowers may be collected in conducting any number of interviews with the press but when talk turns to the pressures of being a band as big as their fans want them to be, he remarks that he's unsure of what that can be.

“I'm impressed with the quality of what we've done,” states the singer. “I mean everything could always be better but that's a pressure unto itself. I mean how do you know if you're getting better? You just hope that it's a natural progression. But you know there's that element of it almost being like religion sometimes when you go to a concert and you want all of that transcendence and everything to happen. You want that band to be like saviours for you.”

Do The Killers feel like they provide that experience for their fans?

“We have our moments playing live but we also have our fun moments. It's always glamourised that people have their voices of a generation but I don't know if we have one or not.” Guessing at what I'm about to ask, Flowers quickly adds with a self-deprecating finality, “I haven't got the balls to step into that role and I don't know if I have the brain to do it either.”

I point out that Bono decided to do that somewhere along the line, which provokes Flowers for a moment to let his guard down and state with a grin that “yeah I love U2, but you know at the same time I love Hall & Oates as well. I feel we balance that out in a good way where there is an element of uplift in our songs but we can't take it too seriously all the time.”

Part of that letting go and enjoying their position sees The Killers unafraid to try out new things on Day & Age. Listen to any Killers song and you can almost hear it reverberating around a packed arena, washing over the crowd. That arena quality is still unabashedly there, but present also is the sound of four guys pushing themselves to cover more ground. Flowers tells me there is saxophone on the new record, steel drums, Cuban percussion. They have in fact freed themselves from trying to be cool (his words).

“We've got a real disco number on there called Joyride and it's got soul all over it,” enthuses Flowers. “It's like Young Americans by Bowie but done by Prince. There's our seven minute long epic which is kind of our Disintegration. We're really giving them (The Cure) a run for their money on this one. So it's really well rounded.”

Also present will be the already accounted for first single Human and the road tested songs Spaceman and Neon Tiger. The band understandably will be calling in producer Stuart Price for some remix duties as well and Brandon mentions at the same time that they'd like to get Australian production duo Pnau to remix one of the tracks too.

Inevitably talk turns to Flowers nationality and the impending fate of a nation hinged on a day of decision. I wonder aloud if either party contacted the band for campaign endorsement, to lend their cool vote to their cause.

“You know for me personally my life is not going to change at all whether it's McCain or Obama who gets in,” says Flowers plainly. “But for some people it's going to have a big effect if that means bringing people home from the war, especially if you're a soldier. I mean everyone's hoping that Obama is going to make it but it's scary because you don't know what's going to happen. Nobody ever thought Bush was going to get a second term. But Obama was in Vegas not too long ago and there was talk of him coming to our studio. But then when I realised it wasn't going to happen I was like “we're called the fucking Killers.” He's not going to come here and have that end up in the papers. So no, there have been no calls for endorsements from The Killers,” he laughs.

Poised at the beginning of what will be a year and a half of solid touring I ask Brandon what the hardest thing is about heading away for so long. He tells me that as he now has a family it is not being there seeing his wife and son, that his priorities have completely changed from “just thinking about dumb stuff like cars to worrying about my boy”. He will have his family join him as much as possible on the road, something that for most other bands would be out of bounds. But then with Flowers being a Mormon there's hardly the chance of rock 'n' roll excess claiming a victim in him. Mentioning this to Flowers though, he seems even more hesitant to share what he really feels.

“No, no probably not. The prospect is exciting though sometimes you know. It's always around so...” It almost as if he thinks over temptation in his head before replying “but I think I'm probably better off without it.”

This sort of response from a devoted man of a tee-totalling faith intrigues me so I ask if because he's on a pedestal that people expect that if he's said something it's forever and there's no room for a change of mind.

“Yeah,” he offers, clearly not wanting to delve into the secret thoughts and trials of Brandon Flowers much further.

Perhaps then people detract a certain human element from their rock stars, to fashion them into the gods they want them to be?

“I think so yeah, but I think it's more exciting that way. I mean I did the same thing with people like Morrissey and Bernard Sumner. They were untouchable. Then I met Bernard.”

So did that shatter his illusion?

“No, I mean you've got to come to the reality that he's just a man. He's cool.”

As I say goodbye to Brandon, I realise that perhaps part of his guarded nature is to preserve the myth of the rock star, to keep part of the allure mysterious, unknown. I'm ultimately left with his impression of Bernard Sumner: he's just a man. But he's cool.

DEADBEAT

2008-10-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

These are exciting times we live in. No, no, please keep reading. I'm not going to talk about the US elections. I couldn't give a toss, really. I'm referring to the astounding quality and fair quantity of albums being released that are patiently stacking themselves into my listen-to list this year.

Earlier in the year Sascha Funke, Loco Dice, Minilogue and The Mole all released superb albums. In the latter parts of 2008 we've had substantial additions from Shed, Stefan Goldmann, Headhunter and the topic of today's discussion, Deadbeat, with Roots and Wire.

Raised amidst the fraying edges of the Montreal glitch techno scene Scott Montieth has released a steady body of work with an increasing eye towards the stark, mechanical dub emanating from Berlin. Indeed Monolake has long been a friend and collaborator and throughout Deadbeat's staggering six album history (quite a feat in the techno realm), has been an increasingly apparent influence.

Now residing in Berlin, his latest album adopts further shades of the city's techno dub clout balanced out with his own proliferating forays into the techno side-branch of dubstep.

Pursuantly it seems only fitting that Paul St. Hilaire acts as compere, welcoming and farewelling us with his goodly Rasta wisdom that he has provided for a myriad of releases over the years.

The opener Rise Again feels like an old steam train pulling out of the station gathering momentum for the journey, the conductor's whistle replaced with a dubman's harmonica, the clacking of the tracks subjugated by subterranean bass. Even in this first track there are strains of dubstep peeking through, which surface next up on the album's namesake. A sturdy 140bpm, Roots and Wire adopts syncopated beats over the rolling bass onslaught and fires off layer upon layer of chords into the echo chamber.

Grounation (Berghain Drum Jack) is a slight return to the impeccable Eastward on to Mecca twelve Deadbeat released at the start of the year, and a nod to the kinetic locomotive energy of the Berlin club. For pure bred lovers of the Maurizio and Basic Channel camps, Xberg Ghosts coughs up the goods, a sprawling techno dub epic slowly unfolds, enveloping all within its cavernous warmth and deliberate hissing valves. Maurizio may be in semi retirement but with the raft of producers out there deeply influenced by and continuing on in the tradition it's like they never stopped.

Night Stepping returns to the fractured funk of dubstep and for my money is the pick of the album. Ascending chords and synth melodies pair exquisitely with the abbreviated drums and fathomless bottom end. All too soon the strains of Paul St. Hilaire chime the endings of Roots and Wire, the rootsy Dominican soul man chanting us out with Babylon Correction.

Mikkel Metal's Peaks & Troughs new long player also hosts St. Hilaire and embraces some selfsame elements of dub and techno, though it is Headhunter's astounding debut album Nomad that Roots and Wire has most in common with, so much so that the two seem to occupy opposite sides of the same coin. Where Deadbeat hits us up with a deep dubby techno feast littered with morsels of dubstep, Headhunter serves up deep burrowing dubstep cut with strains of techno. These two albums coil around each other with slick serpentine grace, together defining the cross over worlds of techno and dubstep and I'm sure introducing fans of each genre to the other.

After picking up a copy of Roots and Wire trawl through Deadbeat's back catalogue and treat yourself to more from this vanguard producer.

Deadbeat – Roots and Wire

*****

Three worlds collide and the super planet created is Dubtechnostep.

Silverbeat's Top Five

Deadbeat – Roots and Wire

Headhunter – Nomad

Simon Flower – Still Here, Still There

Santiago Salazar & Silent Servant – Historia y Violencia 1

Mister X – Hazy Bliss

Silverbeat's Classic Listening

New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies

Alton Ellis

2008-10-15T03:15:00.000-07:00

The Godfather of rocksteady, the man with one of the sweetest reggae voices in the business has died from lymphatic cancer at the age of 70.
Despite being a huge influence on other successful artists, Ellis never enjoyed financial prosperity from his many successes. His biggest hit "I'm Still In Love", which he made at Clement "Coxone" Dodd's Studio One label was a source of controversy between the two men, as were the royalties of many of his other songs he recorded there.
Ellis had lived in England since the early seventies continuing to perform and record, though more sporadically. Listening to his music, you couldn't help but feel happy, whether he was singing songs of praise, lover's laments or hymns of repatriation.
R.I.P.

Keane

2008-10-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Rehab, the Berlin record, alternative media and hyping Dead Prez. Hang on, is this Keane we're talking to?

You don't expect soft rockers to have problems. They make their emotional ballads, play them to adoring fans, sit around with a cup of tea afterwards and head off back to the manor for a kip before the next Royal gala show.

Things are never what they seem though; beneath the veneer of culpable tenderness, cracks appear and soon enough large amounts of mind altering intoxicants are needed to keep that veneer in place.

Such was the case for multi million record selling Keane, with two number one albums and a singer with a predilection for self destructive behaviour.

Drummer for the band, Richard Hughes is telling Real Groove that their new album Perfect Symmetry very nearly didn't happen. With Tom Chaplin's drinking and drug taking getting the better of him the band cancelled their 2006 North American tour as the singer entered the Priory Clinic for rehab in August of that year.

“He came straight out of rehab in October, into the tour bus and onto the road. That was really liberating and exciting. I mean that's what we do. All of the bullshit and distractions, I feel like it all allowed us to drive away from it, drive off in the bus, leave it back there and fuck off on the road.”

Hughes relates that the band reconnected during the remainder of their European dates, enjoying the simple pleasures of hanging out together, which went on to form the basis for much of the lyrical content on the new album.

Album number three is always a difficult time for any band, but for one having nearly broken up perhaps even more so. Hughes maintains though that there was no major plan to make this album a special return or a great successor to their previous material.

“I wouldn't say that we're a band who makes conscious decisions,” confesses the skins-man. “I don't think we're intelligent enough to do that and I think the minute bands really deliberately do something that doesn't come naturally to them it can be dangerous. With this record the only real decision we made was to get John Brion in (who has worked with Fiona Apple and Kanye). He arrived really jet-lagged and in a haze of caffeine and sat us down and told us to go and listen to those brilliant records like Bowie where you wish you'd been at the studio when they made it. And not to discount anything because we think it might be tasteless, just try it and then decide whether it's any good.”

For that reason you will hear the band all proclaim with unbridled vigour a series of 'Ooooo's' on first single Spiralling. It was something that Tom had pictured in his head and in the spirit of the session they didn't question, they just did it.

Another producer who worked on the album was Stuart Price AKA Jacques Lu Cont AKA Les Rhythmes Digitales etc. As the band all loved his remix of The Killers' Mr. Brightside they wanted the thin white duke to sprinkle some of his magic on their own creations. He contributed Again & Again and Black Broken Heart to the album; John Brion only You Can't Tell Me Anything; Keane did the rest themselves.

The bulk of the album was recorded in Berlin where the band decamped to in order to give themselves a different view from the usual landscapes of Sussex where the first two albums were recorded.

“Berlin has this amazing scene going on at the moment and it's one of the most exciting places on the planet. We also didn't want to fly. So we got the night train to Berlin and we woke up as we got to Zoo station with graffiti everywhere. Obviously there were Bowie records, Depeche Mode, U2 and Lou Reed records that were made there that we grew up listening to and we just feel it's a city that's just getting started on its next phase.”

Part of Keane's next phase appears to be the relaxation of their previous embargo of guitars on their albums. The band had occasionally acknowledged the old stringed instrument during live sets with acoustic interludes, but their cover of The Cult's She Sells Sanctuary last year, which turned up on a B-side release heralded that the band were ready for some further experimentation. Listening to selected tracks from Perfect Symmetry before I talk to Richard it is apparent they are not just embracing the guitar, but perhaps making up for lost time as well. The band are also sounding more pop oriented, but then after the comparative darkness of Under the Iron Sea that wouldn't be hard. Tom lyrics though are as searching as ever.

Richard offers up one of Tom's songs by way of example: “there's a song called The Lovers are Losing. It's not about a couple. It's about the 60's ideology, about lovers versus haters and the way that the people who have that hippie-ish dream, the lovers, are losing. It's the people who run Haliburton and Exxon and Mobil – who also happen to be politicians and have friends in high places, they're the ones who seem to be winning.”

If Richard's tone seems a little defeatist, it's because he's been reading. He starts rattling off a list of alternative independent media websites he's been checking out, citing books by Chomsky and Jeremy Scahill that have also ended up on his bedside table and I start to wonder where he's managed to muster the smile he's been wearing for most of the interview thus far.

“I'm just trying to be more informed,” he rebukes. “I don't know if it's because I'm getting older and I give a shit about this stuff but that's why we did Live Earth. I mean if Al gore who should have been president is struggling to get his voice heard then the world is fucked up. I felt like I wanted to be more informed about this stuff. Art has always been a source of protest, whether it's writers or painters, musicians or poets and I think we feel like this is a pretty dark time and I think Tim's definitely articulated that in this record.”

In the past it was this outpouring of emotion that caused The Darkness ex-bassist Frankie Poullain to remark that Keane were “namby bedwetters”, unwittingly coining a term for a whole genre, and a rather funny one at that.

“I don't think about it to be honest,” responds Richard to the label. “It's easy to get into slagging matches but people only do it to get publicity. We don't really play that game. It's a tabloid game and you live and die by it. You've only got to see the way every year someone gets built up and for some musicians it's their way of getting publicity. The minute you start hearing some people gobbing off about how shit they think everything is, you know they've got a new record out. For some reason, saying something is bad gets so much more attention than saying something is good.”

So to focus on the good, what makes Keane happy right now?

“I think the new Death Cab for Cutie record is really good, the MGMT is insane, fantastic. The Vampire Weekend record, Blitzen Trapper. And of course the usual diet of things like Bowie, Talking Heads and all the things you'd expect Keane to listen to. I mean I'm probably the last person on the planet to get into Dead Prez but I just love them. I love the eloquent political nature of them. The fact that they played a protest gig outside the Denver Democratic National Convention recently was brilliant.”

And then in a final self deprecating turn Richard thinks about what he's just said: “but it's funny you know, how many white indie bands are there who sell a few records and start on about this sort of shit?”