So you’re living in London, but you’re from Leeds originally, aren’t you?

Harry Agius: I lived in Leeds for three… five years, actually. I was a student for three years.

Oh, okay. So were you born there, or…?

No, actually. I was born in Africa. Sorry, I was born in England, then moved to Africa when I was two years old, and then lived there until I was nine, then went to boarding school, and my parents continued to live out there until I was 13, and they moved to Greece. Then I just went to university when I was 19, up in Leeds, and then after that finished I just decided I liked this city. It’s really cheap, good music, great music scene. And quite a few of my friends were staying up there so I just decided to stay, basically.

Wow, that’s a huge cultural swing.

It does go some way to describe why I’m so scatty. [laughs]

So whereabouts in Africa? South Africa?

Tanzania. East Africa. Yeah, which was incredible.

Yeah. What do your parents do for you to have been living there?

My dad’s an engineer; my mum’s a teacher/supermom. She’s got five children so that takes up quite a lot of the time as well.

And so you moved back here and started going to university. Was that strange? Did you always come back to England?

Well, we always had a house in England, and so we were coming back for holidays. So it’s not like I was disconnected. And I was educated in England. But, effectively, I’ve kind of lived away from home since I was nine. You know, I go home for holidays, but I haven’t lived with my parents since I was about nine years old. I mean about apart from, like, two-month holidays.

Crazy. And so what did you study at university?

History.

OK, so why history?

History was just the option that kind of… it was the subject I was best at in school, and going to boarding school, their emphasis was on academics. You know, if you don’t do an academic degree, then you don’t get a good job in an office, even though from an early age I was convinced I wasn’t going to have an office job. I kind of listened to their rhetoric. My favorite subject was art, which is the subject that I worked the hardest at and I loved, but I just didn’t have enough self-confidence. I always saw myself as a bit of a pretender. So even though I got an “A” at A-level, which I was really happy with, it never really seemed like an option; and now, retrospectively, I’m gutted I didn’t do something I really enjoy more at uni because some of my friends did broadcasting and art, and they actually enjoyed going to their degrees.

I mean I was in a similar situation: I went to boarding school and felt that it was the fact that the school was largely academic. Although you can do things like art and music and stuff, there was almost no encouragement given to do that sort of thing.

No, and that was the problem. That’s the same in every school, though. It’s like academics is the focus, and there’s loads of kids who fall through the cracks because their brain doesn’t work like that. My brain, when it comes to maths and science, I just can’t understand it. But if you were to find out what kids were good at and nurture it… Everyone’s got a skill, and it’s trying to, like, instill in kids that, maybe you’re good with your hands so do some carpentry because you’re going to earn double the amount your friends are in an office working as a skilled worker, you know? And it’s not a kind of lower-class job.

I did social work in Brixton recently with a friend — Ben UFO — and there were a lot of kids who’d been kicked out of school or jobless or been to prison or whatever, and once you just sat down and talked to them about music, they kind of forgot about all their problems, and they were just really cool kids who were really interested in it. So I think you just need to focus more on that. The problem is our government will never focus on that because it doesn’t support capitalism. It doesn’t support commerce, really. “Oh yeah, maybe you should try becoming a musician.” It’s not like you’re actually going to contribute to our economy.

what’s the social work that you and Ben UFO have been doing?

To be fair, the course ended about last Christmas, but we did it for about four or five months. He’d done a lot more. I just kind of came in. It’s called Raw Material, and it’s just teaching kids how to produce, how to market themselves. It’s just a general hands-on thing, learning to DJ. They wrote a couple of tunes together, and my involvement was just one day a week for four months. I’m hoping to go back, but it’s kind of… I think it’s stagnated a bit, that specific cause. It was just at a time when I kind of felt like all I was doing was sort of self-serving music work. But it’s definitely something I want to continue doing; it’s just finding the kind of right avenues. It’s really interesting and not in a kind of wanting to give something back sort of cheesy way, you know? I mean I grew up surrounded by really abject poverty, and that’s not in the kind of… I obviously was an expat, but saying that, my parents were quite involved in all this charitable work out there. And I can’t really just come back and then just switch it off, you know?

Do you do music full time?

Yeah. Coming up to a year and a half.

Excellent. So what were you doing beforehand?

I was working in a bar. Just working.

So it was basically like get some money, just enough to focus on music?

Yeah, it was sort of, like, earn enough money just literally to pay the rent and eat. I was living on something hideous like 100 pounds a week. And that was, like, food, rent, everything. Rent was, like, 60 quid.

So when was it that you knew that you were going to do music as opposed to doing something with your university degree?

Well, music was… I never really… I went straight into bar work. The first year after leaving uni was just, like, “Oh, I’m just going to piss around and stay in Leeds as a kind of faux student.” But music started to happen kind of slowly, and then it just was last November, as in November a year ago, that I decided to just take a punt on it. [laughs] It’s quite amusing. I thought I had a big PRS payment coming in because I got quite a few tunes played on Radio 1, but it was the classic “didn’t really know how it worked,” and it takes months for it to filter through. So I quit my job, and then I got my PRS statement, and it was like 54 pounds. I was like, “Oh my god.” I had to borrow a bit of money off my parents. That’s the only time I’ve had to borrow off them since I’ve left university, which I’m kind of quite proud of, considering I’ve paid my rent and my own way really from music since I left. But working in the club, it was just such harrowing work because it wasn’t a bar. I finished at five in the morning four nights a week. And I can’t sleep in late so I was waking up at 10. I was just a zombie for a year. There were times I was just like, “What am I doing?”

Did that give you time to work on music?

Yeah, yeah, totally. I was doing a lot of work on music, but also all my housemates were students. All of our friends were still kind of studying so a lot of people just kind of coming around to our house, and we had the party house. Luckily, I had the room at the top.

So when was it that you decided that music was something you wanted to do? Was it while you were at university?

I DJed at university; I played drum and bass, actually. And then, I don’t know, it happened by accident. Completely by accident. I wrote a tune with David [Kennedy], Pearson Sound, the summer we left uni. It got signed to Aus Music, then I wrote a few more tunes on my own.

So that tune that you wrote with him, was that the first thing you’d really worked on?

Well, I mean I’d been fiddling around with Logic. I’d made five tracks, five finished tracks, but that was the first non-drum and bass track I’d made. With David, the first time we’d actually done something together successfully.

Wow, and you guys were living together?

Yeah, and we still do, actually. And then I just made a few more tunes and sent them to a couple of mates, and [they] made their way to a management company who then signed me up, and they helped me get an agent and they hooked up a FACT mix and helped get an EP with Phonica. So they had the contacts to send out my music because I had no idea. I’d been trying to write drum and bass for two years and having no joy, so I just thought, “It’s going to take me at least two years until people are even listening to my music in house.” And then to find out from the moment you’ve made your first record, like — I don’t know, eight months later, [having] Sasha play your record is like a complete head-spin. [laughs]

In many ways the fact that you did that with David must have been a huge leg up, really.

Yeah, I suppose so.

It’s like instant street cred right there because he was already established.

It was funny because we wrote it kind of just before he really exploded. It was kind of that year; 2011 was just his year, you know? We wrote it at the tail end of 2010. And quite a few people did sort of say, “It’s quite handy that you did that,” but really it just came down to we’d been mates for three years, and we were a bit bored at his parents’ house that one summer day. I’d just gone down because I was bored at home. We were just driving around in my mum’s car, and we were like, “Yeah, let’s write a kind of Chicago-house record,” just a really pastiche-y house record. But then we actually got into it and took it a little more seriously. But it was just a load of fun, man, just sitting in his parents’ attic, just cutting up acapellas and playing keys. But it put a lot of pressure on the releases after because people were always like, “Oh, you’re that guy who made the tunes with Ramadanman.”

Oh yeah, that’s what I was going to ask you about. That must almost be a curse for you.

Initially.

Because you make house and techno.

Yeah, yeah.

And nobody thinks of you as a house and techno producer.

They didn’t, until recently. I think people still thought that I was sort of part of UK bass world, which I am kind of by proxy. It’s not saying that I don’t play and sometimes make things which are classifiable as that, but it’s so much about who you’re seen to be associated with, what sort of labels you’re with, and it’s all how people perceive you. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. You get asked to play one night, which is a really house-y night, and they’ll be posting up the things they think you might be doing. So you’ll be playing a house party, and they’ll be putting up “Your Words Matter” and my last Aus one, the more straight ones. And then you’ll play at a more UK bass night, and they’ll be putting up your earlier ones.

That’s true as well with releasing music. You might release something you made two years ago; to people buying it, that represents you now. But to you it actually it really is something quite old. And so with this last release I did for Aus, I had a few tracks lying around, but I was kind of loathe to use them. So I wrote the tracks all in four months at the same time last year, because I know Will [Saul] is very efficient in how quickly he releases music. And so I think from now on I kind of like the idea of having these tunes and giving them to labels or releasing them shortly after.

I was having a think about this on the way here, because you make music that varies a bit. There are so many producers now who just hone in on one sound and just do that to death. How do you feel about that in terms of perhaps what the public wants? Do you think people are actually after that from an artist? Because it makes it hard, doesn’t it? If you’re trying to put yourself out there and build an image as, “This is me; this is what I do.” If people think they’re going to hear a release from you and the next release is going to be really different, they’re not going to know what to think or what image to form of you.

I know, this is the kind of constant thing that plays on my mind. For instance, I’ve just done two remixes which are quite straight house. And for the third one, I almost feel like a sell-out, using a 4/4 kick drum because I’ve already used it on these two, and that’s not me trying to be like, “Oh, I’ve got to keep my balance,” you know, “I’ve got to keep my slightly wonky stuff,” you know? It’s just that I’ve just spent a month with 4/4 kick drums, and I want to do something different.

You’re kind of bored of it by that stage, yeah.

[laughs] Maybe it’s just that, maybe it’s just a short attention span. Or not even a short attention span, but…

But I guess the thing with music is you always want to push yourself, don’t you? And just do something completely different.

This is true. I think it gets harder to do as you get more of a name. You do kind of see it with artists who have formerly been very interesting, kind of honing in on one sound. There’s nothing wrong with it. But then also you get people like Actress almost just going weirder.

But that’s his thing.

And that’s amazing, you know? It works so well in its kind of disarray. I suppose it’s trying to keep a coherent kind of sound through all the different sort of stops along the way. I suppose that’s it, really. I just like things to have a bit of character. And there’s a lot of people recently who have been asking me what hardware I use, like, “Yeah, man, I like that analog sound you’ve got.” I don’t use any hardware, I just make it on my computer, but I always want it to sound kind of worn. So I’ve got processes which I use that kind of age sounds that aren’t actually played in from old synths, you know? Everyone loves the hardware at the moment. It’s on every press release. The sort of single-sided analog jam, and you listen to it and it’s not great, but the press release is so wordy, and it’s just using all these superlatives and descriptions about what’s actually quite mundane. Hardware is actually quite difficult to work with; and I like hardware, but I think a lot of people are just buying hardware because they think it’s a kind of golden ticket to writing.

They think it’s going to write itself, or something.

That is actually incredibly difficult because you’ve got to sync it up with your sequencer. Most synths like the Juno, the Juno-106, you can’t save patches. Like the one I used to have before it gave up the ghost, you had to touch the corner just to get the cutoff to work. It was temperamental. I think people quite like the temperamentality of it, you know?

I remember I first started going out and buying lots of old analog stuff, and some of the things you get coming out of them because you patched it wrong or you didn’t understand MIDI properly, something else entirely would start playing.

Yeah, totally. I remember reading an article, an interview with Ricardo Villalobos — you know he did that kind of recontextualized jazz with Max Loderbauer. And they were using these crazy modular synths, and he was saying that, you turn it off and you never have that sound again, and there was an element of complete chance. The planets align and you get this sound and you use it, and it’s gone, which is kind of fascinating. I almost think I’m too much of a wimp to do that at the moment; but also, I haven’t been able to afford hardware until recently. I think it’s just a process. I want to try out as much as I can before I invest my money in it. To just learn one synth really well.

Well, I mean that’s the danger, isn’t it? Because it’s so easy to get VST plugins for all these amazing old synths, and you tend to treat them like…

Throwaways.

Yeah.

But that’s just part of the problem now, isn’t it? Just, “oh, it doesn’t matter; I’ll buy 10 MP3s because they’re only a quid each,” but then you wouldn’t be doing that if it was 10 records in a record shop. You’d have that thing where you listen to the records, and then you have to do a kind of shortlist, and then you listen to the shortlist, and it’s like, “I really can’t spend more than 40 quid.”

You might even have to throw one back that you really want.

Yeah, and it really hurts. 90 percent of the records I buy on vinyl now are killer, and I suppose I’m getting a bit more selective about the MP3s. But it is, again, that digital thing, and it’s the same with synths. Someone emailed me going, “Oh yeah, what’s a good synth for deep house?” I’m just like, “Any synth will make deep house sounds.” It’s something that took me ages to learn, that the synth is really just someone’s opinion on how to do the same thing, you know? Most synths do exactly the same thing, especially with VSTs. It’s just a design. And once you find the one you like, the chances are you can use that for years, and get completely mental, different sounds out of it every time.

Yeah, I think especially if you really learn how to program properly.

Yeah, totally. I mean I use 90 percent Logic plugins off Logic 7, they’re old but work really well.

Yeah, I mean that’s the thing: when you think about all we’ve got these days to be able to make stuff, compared tolike, 15, 20 years ago, it’s ridiculous.

There’s too much choice. You listen to seminal old records; they had an eight-track, three seconds of memory per track. And you’re like, “how can I twist this one hi-hat.” You know, “I’ve got three hi-hats to choose from. How can I make this one hi-hat really mental?”

Exactly, whereas now you have 28 different effects on each channel, and all sorts.

Yeah. I think if you really want, and if you do use computers to their full potential, you can get some amazing results, but you can also just have 10 tracks with synced loops.

Yeah. Now you were mentioning before about press releases saying at the moment everyone talking about the analog sound sort of thing. How aware do you feel you have to stay of trends? Obviously, within house music or bass music or whatever, there’s certain things that are really hot right now, and when you start to get your name out there a bit more, people expect a certain thing of you. How much does that weigh on your mind when you go in and start to make something?

Not at all. [laughs] Not at all. I got the press release for my last EP, and it was just this really long track-by-track analysis, and I just was like, “Is it alright if I rewrite this, or can I rewrite this with someone independently, and then we just shortened it down a lot. I just really can’t stand track-by-track press releases. I have nothing against people who use them; I’ve got friends who release records who use them, but it’s just telling people what to expect, you know? I like it when it just says “new record from this person.” Or if it’s like Jus-Ed, you know, and it’s, “Don’t buy the fucking MP3s. You’re taking food out of my son’s mouth and stopping me being able to send him to college.” [laughs] I like that. That’s a press release right there.

Exactly. Or get a German person to write it and then translate it into English. I love that.

Kind of really amusing, but in a really deadpan way. But no, the next couple of releases I’m doing, I have really no plans. I’m just going to write some music, basically. I’m in a very lucky position; I’ve got gigs now so I can relax a bit and pay the rent.

Are you now getting approached by labels who are commissioning releases off you?

Yeah, I mean I’ve had a few offers, but I’ve kind of got a quite specific idea of what and where I want to release.

You seem to have a good relationship with Aus.

Yeah, definitely. I mean Will’s basically said, “We’re always here.” You know, obviously there’s a lot of music coming up over the next few months so in terms of if I want to do another one, it would probably be in December or January. But Will is always there, and I love how he works. It’s just really quality, you know? And I’m so lucky to have basically worked with them since I started releasing music. And also, that I’ve had pretty much everything I’ve ever written released on vinyl, which is not something everyone can say. And it’s something that, if I start my own label, it will be top of the list: the vinyl and how it’s presented. And also, if there is a vinyl and you buy the vinyl, you get a free download code.

I think that’s always good. Yeah, that’s something I’ve really appreciated lately. You know, so then you can just download the stuff to listen to when you want, and then you can keep your vinyl pristine for playing.

I still buy at least 100 pounds worth of vinyl a month. All the vinyl-only stuff, and then I rip it, and I play it through Serato. But the whole ripping process is so lengthy. In our house we’ve got a really nice Rega. David has his Rega, so we got that and a phono pre-amp. So we record it in through that and put it into Logic, edit it, limit it, so you’ve these limited, beautifully recorded WAVs of these records, and that preserves them. There’s a record in there which cost me 12 quid, and it’s like if someone scratches that, and it’s one of 300 copies… It is very funny because you get shit off people who are purist vinyl DJs saying, “Oh, you play on your laptops,” and it’s like, “I’m still playing records that I’ve bought. I’m still buying records; it’s just I like it all in one place,” you know?

That’s very interesting, that you go to that effort to keep your vinyl in good nick.

Yeah, yeah. I’ve probably ripped, like… I mean me and David, both of us do it, but I’ll probably spend about eight hours a month ripping vinyl. It’s so satisfying because that way you’re forced to listen to the music, you know?

That’s true. Because I mean that’s one thing that’s hard now, isn’t it? Like, in the past I knew every single piece of vinyl I had, every track.

Well, when it’s ripping you have as long as it takes to record it, and so you just sit there, headphones on, comfy chair. When I used to play vinyl and Serato, I’d forget to play the vinyl. I’d forget to play the tunes in Serato. But it’s very funny because you have people who don’t buy vinyl anymore leaning over like, “What’s this tune? What’s this tune? What’s this tune?” It’s like if you’d kept up with what’s getting released, you’d know. And it’s digging for those tunes which gives your set an interesting edge. Like, I got asked to do a chart for Beatport recently, and I looked at my chart, and only one of the tunes was released this year.

Or unavailable.

No, I did it all with ones that were on Beatport, but only one that was released this year. I have this really interesting relationship with promos and digital promos, and I kind of like to discover music of my own where you go on those tangents. The other day I knew nothing about Masters At Work so I spent a day just researching. Then you start reading up about them and working out who they worked with and finding all these little nooks and crannies. And that’s one day, and you get to the end and you’re completely rinsed out. I like the idea of playing music in sets that people don’t know if it’s new or old. And I think if something was worth playing four years ago and it’s still worth playing now, then it’s a timeless record. And then obviously you still play records and then [think], “Why did I play that?” But it’s kind of nice to try and limit the amount of times that happens. But sometimes you have gigs where the crowd is just completely not feeling what you’re playing, and you’ve to go a little bit harder or cheesier, and then you get to the end and you feel dirty. [laughs]

With that in mind, what about remixes? You’ve done quite a few remixes. Are there any sort of on the verge of “I’m not sure if I should do this”?

Yeah, there were a couple of ones I did very early on and it was like, “Wow, someone wants me to remix, and they’re going to give me some money, and it’s good and it will pay my rent for three months when I’m really really poor.” But now it’s like, ughhh. Everyone’s a genius in hindsight though and I think now it’s a matter of what’s the label like? What’s the artist like? What’s the tune like? And if that’s cool then… But as of this last one — and I always say this — I do really, really want to limit it because sometimes you finish something and you think, “That could have been a really good track of mine.”

Deetron said a similar thing, that he would only do remixes now with vocals in them because otherwise he felt he was giving away a free track.

That’s very true. I think remixes are a funny because they’re just as important as a really good tune. But I think Levon Vincent put it really well in an interview in RA when he was talking about remixes as a commodity thing. They want a bit of your image, you want a bit of theirs, and it kind of made me think, “Why do they want your remix?” Is it because I fill their edgy UK underground box, and it makes me kind of wonder. But then there are amazing remixes, like the Marcel Dettmann remix of Junior Boys. Man, that’s a remix. Actually I played the Carl Craig remix of that Junior Boys track…

“Like A Child.”

Yeah. And I’d never played it out before and it’s like four minutes until the kick drum comes in and by the time the kick drum comes in people are totally losing their shit. It’s such a good feeling to be able to do a remix like that and know that it’s going to take a DJ with balls to play it. I’m not saying I’m a trailblazing DJ, it was 5am when I played it. But I was talking to my housemates the other day and we were saying how big tunes, often, are the ones that catch you and get you into a groove from the off, you know? They’re not too much for people to process but they’re just enough to get people interested. It’s a simplicity, which I often don’t do. It’s always too complicated I think. You flick into one part of the tune and you’re like, “Errr, that’s OK,” but really you want to be able to tell people to wait because in two minutes that last bit will make sense and the whole thing will have grown. But maybe I’m just jealous because I can’t write stripped back bangers.

It’s a real problem in production in that you’re always trying to pack lots of ideas in rather than just work on a groove.

Yeah, you’ve got to be very militant and really question as to what you need in the track. I think it always gets to that stage where you feel like you need more elements where all you really need is to just work on the parts you already have.

So what’s in your record bag?

This is a Jon Heckle remix of Trackmasta Lou, which is just humungous. Then there’s this new one on the Rawax label. All of the records under this banner are really good. If I ever get asked to play at Panorama Bar, then these records are weird enough and also heavy enough. Then there’s this new one on Voodoo Down, which I didn’t get for the STL track. I do love his stuff but then I have ten of his records and they’re very similar sounding.

He’s one of those guys who just really work on honing a particular sound.

Yeah, I think that’s why it’s quite good to work sometimes with an alias, because people won’t then have preconceptions about what it will sound like. But then every time I try and work under an alias my management always tell me I might as well release it as Midland, or I just end up doing that anyway.

So you haven’t got any secret ones out yet?

No, not yet, but it’s still early days. I just work really slowly. That’s why I’m looking forward to the next few months, because I’m going to finish this remix and then I’m going to write four twelve inches by the end of the year. What’s that? Like one every two months or so, so it’s not that much really.

And how often are you playing gigs?

Pretty much every weekend. This weekend I’m playing Rome on Saturday and then Bristol on Saturday. It’s enough time to recover and be productive. I like to keep the week and the weekend separate. My housemates are always joking with me that I DJ on the weekend and drink too much, but then during the week I’m really militant, eating really well and getting to bed early, just preparing for the next weekend. I mean I’m not one of those people who feels like they can party all weekend, I fell like I’m too old for that now. I mean I’m only 25 but I think I might just be a bit of an old man. All my friends say that about me. I just prefer to do things like get the paper on a Sunday, relaxing, play some darts, I don’t know.

So what can you tell us about the mix that you put together for us? Things you’ve been diggin lately?

Well not necessarily things I’m feeling right at this minute per se, not in the sense of like a Beatport chart or anything, but more perhaps things people haven’t heard before. With a mix, usually I like to start slow and it’s like a dot to dot. It’s not that I have certain tunes and they have to be in the mix, it’s more a case of having a tune and then figuring out what the next one should be, whether it’s something I’ve already got or something I have to go and buy. So there is a theme, from slow and fuzzy sort of disco stuff through to some weird rhythmic stuff before the house comes in. There are different sections… Maybe it’s just really self-indulgent tripe, but I just like it when people say to me, “I really love your mix, I listen to it every day on the way to work or when I’m at the gym, or when I’m going on the train.” When you’re sound-tracking someone’s journey, that’s when you know you’re doing a good job.

I mean it’s a very different thing, isn’t it? You’ve got to approach it from a completely different angle than just putting your records together to go out and play a set.

Yeah, totally. And that’s why when people are asking all the time for podcasts, I say that I only really do one or two a year, max. And they’re like, “Oh, come on. Just 30 minutes of a live set.” But I think if you want your mix to stick out, or if you want your mix to be something people go back to, you’ve got to put in some effort because there are so many mixes these days, and I’m pretty sure that if I put out five mixes a year, people would be less inclined to listen to them properly. But then again, once people start to trust your selection implicitly, like someone like Ben UFO, they just know it.

He could put out five mixes a year, and–

Yeah, and we’d all want to listen to it. He’s a really good mate of mine, and this sounds like such a kiss-ass compliment, but I find the prospect of a new mix from him is almost the same level of excitement as a new Radiohead or Actress album, you know? It’s like, “I have no idea what’s going to be in here, but I’m so looking forward to it, and I need to give it some time.”

You mentioned you want to finish off a few EPs, but have you got sort of any plans over the next year? Things you want to achieve with what you’re doing?

Not really. I mean I just want to write some interesting music, basically. I got closer to it over the last EP, being happy with stuff. But I’m still kind of finding my feet, I think. So I’ve just finished a 12? with Pariah, which is quite banging, quite techno-y. We wrote one of the tunes a year ago, and the flip-side we’ve just written. But we were very conscious about how they sound as a pair. They ended up sort of harder than I think anyone would have heard me and him go. So that will be quite interesting. And it’s quite funny because one of the tunes went up on YouTube, and everyone was like, “No, this is definitely a Karenn tune, this is definitely a Blawan tune. The percussion’s too heavy to be a Midland tune.” [laughs] So again, that’s just how people perceive you.

File under old-school hop hop!

©2012 NCUD/Moon is Half Records

The critical acclaim continued in 2006 with the release of Past Is Prologue on Miami-based IDM imprint Merck records. Ghostly met Scott Hansen in 2007, and like everybody else, we simply had to work with him.

In 2008, Tycho received a nod as one of URBmagazine’s “Next 100” artists to watch. Since 2007, Tycho, with great care, released sun-drenched, melodic singles for the 3 years, honing his sound and collaborating with even more live instrumentation. In 2011, his meticulous process sees the release of DIVE. The wait has been well worth it. (from Ghostly)

“Dive” album preview

Guillaume’s initial musical forays were as a percussionist in a funk band, after which he studied latin and classical percussions in college before discovering electro-acousticcomposition, which he pursued  further atuniversity. It was during this period that he joined [iks], a contemporary jazz formation with whom he recorded two albums and toured for several months in Senegal. Upon his return to Montreal, Guillaume decided to focus his efforts on composition.

Influenced as much by concrete music as by techno, which he discovered one night in the midst of a lightning storm, Guillaume founded Egg (MUTEK_rec, Karat, Floppy Funk), Luci (MUTEK_rec, Morris Audio), Chic Miniature (Raummusik, Musique Risquée), Flabbergast (MUTEK_rec), as well as the artistic collective Racam. He has toured with one or another of these projects in north/south America, Europe and Asia.
Since January 2007, Guillaume has reached European soil. Like many other, he chose Berlin as his new home base. Traveling all around the block, he’s always looking to get the dance floors grinning with guilty pleasure. C’MON NOW SHAKE THAT ASS!

As the year concludes, we find ourselves taking a wistful look back at the music that’s been produced and launched forth over the last twelve months. From a list of thousands we filtered it down to hundreds, and finally down to the forty that made the End Of Year polls. Whether you agree with the choices or not, it’s hard to argue the quality line-up compiled for this download album, an exclusive extract of those very choices.
In association with AllSaints and Clash, these are fourteen tracks that exemplify 2010′s place in music history.
Download, enjoy, and dance your merry way into January.

LCD Soundsystem – All I Want

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/01 I Can Change (Live).mp3
So farewell, then, James Murphy. After helping to redefine dance music in the Noughties via LCD Soundsystem the DFA don has decided to pack up and move to pastures new. Confirming a farewell tour with Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem leave on a high with ‘This Is Happening’. Rightly acclaimed, James Murphy’s production has rarely been so searching, so emotive and so self-assured. A vital album from a truly seminal group.

Chrome Hoof – Crystalline

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/02%20Crystalline.mp3
Electro-rock is a much abused term. Away from the world of Delphic, Two Door Cinema Club & Co. sit the adventurous sonic explorations of Chrome Hoof. Taking the genre to mean ‘electronic rock’ the multi-limbed London collective melt synths down into sparkling new shapes. Returning with their new album ‘Crush Depth’ the band have honed their often bewildering material into something approaching coherency. The sudden twists and time signature changes are still there, but Chrome Hoof simply have more light and shade, more depth to their experimentation.

High Places – Can’t Feel Nothing

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/03%20Can_t%20Feel%20Nothing%20remix.mp3
Originally from Brooklyn, High Places are an example of the exploration going on in American music right now. The duo mix acoustic instruments with electronic loops, abandoning buzz terms for something more worthwhile. New album ’High Places vs Man Kind’ was ambitious both in a sonic sense and its apparent need to retain a common humanity. Rightly praised, High Places are almost impossible to classify yet difficult to discount.

Lissie – In Sleep (Live)

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/04%20In%20Sleep.mp3
From Marianne Faithful to Cat Power, female songwriters have matched stunning beauty with tender songwriting. The next in that illustrious line could well be Lissie, whose debut album ‘Catching A Tiger’ is a deeply honest vision of Americana. Moving from alt country to sweet 60s pop, Lissie’s debut album is more than a mere conglomerate of styles. Rather, what emerges is a unique voice gathering together component parts. A stunning first step, ‘Catching A Tiger’ is made all the more effective by hinting at the glories which could follow.

The Phantom Band – Walls

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/05%20Walls.mp3
Enshrined as a hub of indie pop, Glasgow can be a tough place for guitar groups. The Phantom Band are about as far away from twee as it is possible to get, with their second album ‘The Wants’ being a Krautrock inspired journey through exhausting emotional terrain. Somehow eclipsing their critically acclaimed debut album, The Phantom Band have also opened up new avenues for exploration. Drenched in stark, folk derived influences what emerges as a brave, distinct new voice.

Matthew Dear – Slowdance

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/06%20Slowdance.mp3
Techno is built on maverick spirits. Attracted to Michigan to be closer to techno’s Motorik roots, Matthew Dear is one of the most strikingly out there talents in dance music. Signed to Ghostly International, the producer returned this year with the nightmare oscillations of ‘Black City’. Easily his most accomplished work to date, Matthew Dear effortlessly combined the physical with the ethereal in an expression of 21st century gloom.

Perfume Genius – Mr Peterson

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/07%20Mr%20Peterson.mp3
A Seattle based solo artist, Perfume Genius specialises in the kind of skin crawling songwriting Nick Cave is capable of producing. With the same gleefully lo-fi attitude to production as a young Beck, Perfume Genius crafts material which is unexpectedly bizarre. ‘Mr Peterson’ is a twisted song about lost youth, spend in the company of a mentor who introduces the songwriter to weed and Joy Division. The homoerotic – even paedophilic – undertones are too strong to ignore, with the track ending in Mr Peterson’s suicide. Chilling, and difficult to forget.

Max Richter – Journey 1

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/08%20Journey%201.mp3
A classically trained composer, German born Max Richter is one of the few genuinely unclassifiable artists working today. Moving between electronic composition and daring avant garde pieces the producer is passionate about breaking down barriers between styles, genres and disciplines. Returning with ‘Infra’ Max Richter has once again challenged both himself and the listener, pushing his thought provoking compositions into new and exciting areas.

Walls – Gaberdine

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/09%20Gaberdine.mp3
An internet fuelled success story, London duo Walls released a handful of free downloads last year. Attracting the attention of German imprint Kompakt, the duo were able to work on a full length album. Glitchy techno, Walls absorb a diverse set of influences while still retaining their own voice. That rare beast, a side project which overshadows its parents, will Walls match demand for more material?

Avi Buffalo – What’s In It For?

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/10%20What_s%20In%20It%20For_.mp3
One of the year’s most prominent newcomers, Sub Pop signings Avi Buffalo do a neat line in intelligent post-Shins songsmithery. Hailing from California, the group have sunshine pouring through their music but it is a wrought with the darkness often associated with the West Coast. Alt rock noir, the band’s self-titled debut album has been justifiably lauded as one of the finest efforts.

The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/11%20American%20Slang.mp3With the rise of groups such as Animal Collective, Gang Gang Dance et al there is a danger that simple, American blue collar rock could be forgotten about. Not with The Gaslight Anthem around, though, with the New Jersey group blasting back with their new album ‘American Slang’. Indebted to Springsteen’s legacy, The Gaslight Anthem add a punk urgency to the American liberal tradition. A hard working band for hard working times.

Male Bonding – Year’s Not Long

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/12%20Year_s%20Not%20Long.mp3What with the deluge of indie rock emerging from the United States its easy to ignore groups closer to home. Male Bonding hail from Dalston and despite sounding like Husker Du trapped in reverb drenched cathedral epitomise a new confidence in British guitar music. Debut album ‘Weird Feelings’ was striking, confused and deeply inspiration.

Maps & Atlases – Solid Ground

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/13%20Solid%20Ground.mp3Though their initial EPs marked them out as math rock stylists, Maps & Atlases broke down those preconceptions on their debut album ‘Perch Patchwork’. Sure, there is still plenty of math in there but above all Maps & Atlases are striving to find their own sound. Deeply ambitious, ‘Perch Patchwork’ was a triumph of new ideas and classic soundwriting, with Maps & Atlases balancing the two with rare grace and understanding.

No Age – Glitter

http://stream.unknownclubberz.org/AllSaints-Clash-Presents-The-Best-Of-2010/14%20Glitter.mp3
Sure ’Nouns’ was a good album, maybe even a great one but ‘Glitter’ took No Age into entirely new dimensions. Adding a sampler, a hell of a lot of feedback and an increasing sense of daring and the Los Angeles duo were able to cough up their finest work yet. Mixing electronics with post-hardcore riffs, No Age never forget the human dimension, wearing their hearts on their sleeves in a sentimental yet entirely unforced way.

Plastikman has been a large source of inspiration for me throughout my production carreer. When I try describe it to others, I fall short of words. Many times I have experienced this music in a way that is anything but ordinary. The tracks seem to evolve as if living … much like the name they all are very malleable in my mind.

This mix is a short representation of how I remember certain moments of experiencing Plastikman. All tracks used are normally much faster and higher pitched. Instead, I have chose to play them all at 90bpm to open up all of the dark and strange spaces from in between.

JPLS

Jazzanova’s DJ man talks about grooves, East Berlin and eclecticism on this week’s Exchange.

There’s a tendency to celebrate those who do one thing exceptionally well. Once upon a time, though, in electronic music that wasn’t the case. As one of the founding members of the Jazzanova collective, Alex Barck knows this well. His is a career built upon the idea that variety is the key to happiness.

As he prepares to head down to Australia, we thought it best to catch up with the Berlin-based DJ/producer. He’s got a new project under his belt with Christian Prommer, he’s busy starting up a new label to release the finished product and he’s as passionate as he’s ever been about music. From living in East Berlin before the Wall came down to his current status as an international DJ, Barck has plenty of knowledge to impart.

Mr. Spring is the man behind a string of records released over the last 8 years on the seminal German label Sub Static (directed by Falko Brocksieper and Cologne’s M.I.A). He develops a variety in sound ranging from the most intricate Techno, to forms of House that call on Mr. Jack in the most respectful manner.

Between then and now, John Spring presented many successful releases on labels like Crosstown Rebels, Resopal or Harthouse, licenced to the likes of Cocoon, DC10 and Four:Twenty. More recently, John Spring has been making a lot of waves as part of an anonym collective… that will stay that way, until further notice!

It is with immense honour that we not only send this new podcast episode to you, but that we also announce that John Spring took over Airdrop’s next record – AD018. It is set for release on the 18th of January 2011 and will laser-beam all your eardrums out.

Enjoy this very spontaneous John Spring mix. It made us tick all the required boxes at once and we are sure it will bring a lot of happiness and warmth to our cold homes!

Something a little different from me. Bringing the BMP and vibe down. A selection of a few favourite sounds and tracks from Hip Hop to Nu Jazz. Inspired by mushroom Jazz.
Come down to Greenwich Bar, Berlin every Thursday from 8PM. Deep House and Nu Jazz sounds.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=157812177563475
Website : www.greenwichbar.de

Hey planet earth, its Charlie taking over this post. I know our format is typically exclusive mixes for the Adventures of Soul Clap Podcast, but we had to make an exception for Dijon. Some of you might know I went to college out on the west coast, Pitzer College to be exact, in Claremont, California. There I met a HOST of characters doing the DJ thing in and around Los Angeles and throwing generator powered desert parties on most full moons aka Moontribe Parties. Thats where i first heard of Dijon, on my 18th birthday in the desert!

Dijon and I didn’t know each other that well, I was just a big fan. He had already graduated from neighboring school Pomona College but was still hanging around with the outlawed party fraternity/sorority (frasority?) called the Nappys. Another famous Nappy you might know is Dirtybird’s Christian Martin. Now I never joined those guys (final initiation involved taking a full balloon of NO2 and getting pushed down a staircase lined with mattresses!), but I sure did get crazy with those cats because they were full on raving! In fact, it was these parties and Moontribe that got Christian Martin to convince his then teenage brother Justin Martin, to leave their hometown in Connecticut and head west.

So, past spring Justin Martin came to Boston to play at our beloved Midweek Techno with our dear friend Heidi. The party was a smash and afterwards we’re hanging at Aldie St shooting the shit and talking about California and Dijon’s name popped up. Turns out he was massively influential to both of us and we found the man on Facebook. Thats how it happened!

Whew, that was a long story so lets talk music. This podcast is really special, its a rip of Dijon’s Easy Listening mixtape (yes a TAPE, two sided, remember?) from around 1999. I swear this tape was the ultimate after-rave, ride home soundtrack until I had to sell my car and no longer had a tape deck, wack. In my opinion it perfectly captures the early deep tech house sound that was coming from labels like Guidance, Svek, Swazak andPlastic City. It was also the first place i heard Black Science Orchestra’s – New Jersey Deep, which has since become a personal anthem. Easy Listening is seamlessly mixed and perfectly programed and has brought SO much joy and chill-out vibes to my life, I’m so happy to share with you!

Dijon’s is now finishing up graduate school in Geology in Rochester, New York. He is married with a new baby (congrats Jon!) and is really brilliant and talented dude! Check out his blog where you can follow his world travels, check out his ace photographs and listen to many more amazing mixes like this one!

Xhin (pronounced as “sheen”) has been crafting ominous cuts of cutting-edge electronic music since 1997. Building a forte in sound design, he is best described as a sound futurist. His identical rhythmic structure and compositional techniques which incorporate elements of techno, tight sub bass, ambient and IDM delivers a hint of chaotic soundscape amidst artistry. A Singaporean by birth and residence, he independently released “Xycle”, a self-promotional ep that made the industry to stand up to take notice, in early 2003. He then followed with his debut album, “Supersonicstate” the following year.

In 2006, his talent has been discovered by a German independent record label Meerestief. With a remix for Five Green Circle’s track entitled Ronan’s BBQ has created a storm over Europe, fully supported and charted by heavy weights from the world of electronic music.

An active DJ in the Singapore club culture he has played extensively in a number of clubs and various events like ZoukOut, Good Vibrations, Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival, Singapore Fashion Festival and for fashion label Woods & Woods runways. In 2007, Xhin was invited to play at the important electronic music festival, C/O Pop in Cologne Germany and the first outdoor electronic music festival in Hanoi, together with various good acts from the far east.

Besides releasing and remixing, Xhin also got involved in various miscellaneous projects like producing music and sounds for Nike, Nokia and fashion label like Woods & Woods among others. He also appeared as a special guest tutor on electronic music production using Ableton Live for Red Bull Music Academy Info Sessions II in Singapore.

In 2009, Xhin joined Berlin’s new techno label, Stroboscopic Artefacts to release his dark, intense and experimental sounds. From the results of his new releases for the label, he has done it again. Heavy rotation from the big boys like Speedy J, Luke Slater, Ben Klock and many more. This will be yet again the beginning of an old new direction for him to explore and experiment sounds even deeper for his future releases.

One will find Xhin’s work mind-blowing as it hinges on tomorrow’s cutting edge creations. SImply put, an aural feast for one’s mind.

Ad Noiseam

Ad Noiseam has been swimming against the flow since its inception in 2001. Mixing genres and formats, this label has made every possible atempt to blur its paths and not become a niche label. Noise, electronica, jazz, breakcore, dubstep, metal: over close to 130 releases (all of them on physical formats), Ad Noiseam has touched almost every possible genre of underground music, and intends at keeping it this way. Modern and indie in its relation to artists, shops and promotion, it’s in a way an old-school record label, which puts the quality of the music first, and not its genre or hype.

About the mix

Respectful of the high quality of the podcasts on Electronic Explorations, I wanted to do something special with this set. It’s easy for a label manager to record an hour long-advertisement for his roster, or to unleash dubplate after dubplate. After all, my job is to listen, select and work with tracks which haven’t been released yet. My intention here was different: on the one hand, I wanted to showcase what Ad Noiseam is about, but I also wanted to show that my words are not vain when I say that I like very varied genres of music. This is why there’s some Ethiopian jazz next to some doom metal here, and why some hot and fresh new track out of London might be mixed together with an old Diamanda Galas classic. It’s my opinion that if the tracks are good, they can be mixed and presented together easily. Moreover, this is not a club DJ set: I could start very slowly and take much time to bring the hardest material. I hope the listeners of Electronic Explorations will enjoy this set, and that it will stay as a (hopefully successful) experiment in genres mixing. This is what Ad Noiseam is about. And of course, thanks to Rob for the opportunity and his hard work.

Biography

Marko fürstenberg was born in 1976 in thuringia, germany. influenced by the 80s music such as depeche mode, a-ha and new order he was attracted to electronic music from its beginning. very early marko made his first steps in recording his own tapes as “dolby”.

In the beginning of 1995 he started dj-ing at several parties in thuringia and already then showing a techno-orientation originated from labels like x-trax, force inc., klang and later basic channel. a few years later he started creating his first own electronic sounds with a pc and thus he invested constantly in technical equipment. in 2000 his first project “vertikal 23” was established, in cooperation with local musicians. the outcome was a mixture between downbeat & trip hop but later on marko developed his own deep sound.

Providing his music on the internet, marko got in touch with the “thinner” netlabel, which published his first release under “dolby” alias in 2002. further releases followed also on other netlabels such as realaudio, stadtgruen and instabil, as well as remixes for digitalverein, rktic, lod and sarah goldfarb. the success story began: between 2003 and 2005 marko performed at some international festivals and clubs, e.g. in canada, greece, sweden, poland, suisse, austria, etc. after publishing quite a number of netreleases, his first vinyl track on “thinner allstars pt.1” (2003) was published under the pseudonym “surphase”. very soon after that marko decided to use his real name marko fürstenberg for his future work.

After moving to leipzig in 2006, marko approached a peak level in productivity, releasing a number of songs in rapid succession with labels like a.r.t.less, tfe and rotary-cocktail. marko’s success within the constantly changing techno scene didn’t come as a surprise: together with diverse dj partners as well as solo artist marko fürstenberg is now performing regularly in clubs & parties all over europe. his live sets combine classic dub-techno elements with current techno trends, which is much valued by his audience. with this kind of electronic music marko is considerably involved in the development of dub- and deep-techno.

Video

Marko Fürstenberg – Porn Infection (Das Kraftfuttermischwerk Softporn Edit) from Saint Sebastion on Vimeo.

At the beginning of 2010 I was asked by various Music blogs to compile my favourite tracks from 2009
I decided to make a mix from these 70+ tracks with the help of 2 friends, Tommy ‘Akira Kiteshi‘ and Matt ‘Mad EP‘

Fast forward a couple months and here we are !!!

Unfortunately due to timing constraints beyond Akira Kiteshi’s control, Tommy was only able to piece together the first 20 minutes of the mix, using 18 of the tracks available to him, however, you’ll agree its a bit special.

Matt ‘Mad EP’ diverts away from the AK approach, staying close to his hip hop roots and the love of the cross-fader…. how the hell did he mix up 70 odd tunes into the space of 46 minutes !!
So ….. I gave these 2 producers the following tunes .. the rest is up to them !! .. oh and yeah, I know I missed out some awesome tunes from 2009, but its bloody hard to remember all the good music from 2009

[CD1] 13 F**king New Tracks

[CD2] 12 F**king Classics

cheers,

G-Stone Recordings Team

Pre-order the CD via Ninjashop and the first 20 orders receive an exclusive signed copy:
Ninjashop (USA) / Ninjashop (RoW)

Braddell could be said to be something of a trip hop pioneer, operating out of the Uterous Goldmine Studio, his ‘Hed Phone Sex’ album in 1995 brought dark surrealism to sampler music, and pre-dated DJ Shadow’s first album ‘Endtroducing’. All of this helped bring in a golden era of sampler based music, although on ‘On’, more live instrumentation is used than any other of the Funki Porcini albums previously. The greatest provocateur and humorist of the early Ninja period, Funki re-animates with his sound intact yet sounding utterly contemporary. Funki Porcini has promised to not let it go so long before his next release . . .

A young Simon Green (for it is he who is the monkey king) refused to be dragged down by the lazy journalistic prose that labeled him ‘chillout’ and ‘downtempo’. Far from it. He upped the stakes, and indeed, even stuck his neck out, moving from his original label Tru Thoughts to Ninja Tune, and set about taking things to the next level.

Cos it’s all about the levels with Bonobo. Not in a techy, studio kinda way, but in the levels of involvement with his music. On the surface there are the organic, pastoral atmospheres, the catchy melodies, the elements that caught people from his first album. You can engage with a Bonobo tune in that way if you wish, and will be well rewarded for it. But it’s the deeper, slightly hidden levels that you should investigate, for they bring the greatest prize. It’s these elements that he explored on ‘Dial M For Monkey’, as a greater focus on live instruments, the intricacies of rhythm, the darker shades of the soul, and almost a sleight of hand, that meant that you could be in one mood one minute, and the next you would somewhere different.

‘Dial M For Monkey’ showed the set of brass balls that Bonobo (like his namesake) had, and these would be tested again as he set about building his live band. He duly found the right musicians, self financing rehearsals, and fine tuning a live show that brought out the elements of his music that had hitherto gone largely unnoticed, as the band swung and rocked their way through shows at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Jazz Cafe, and internationally exotic settings from Italy to Russia.

He set about building his DJ style in the same way, refusing to conform to the preconceived ideas of a laid back style, and aiming headlong for the dancefloor, with a heavy mixture of hip hop, weighty jazz, broken beats, Latin, funk, and soul, with the occasional cheeky bit of psyche rock and drum and bass thrown in. Just to keep you on yer toes right? Now a DJ of international repute, Bonobo has played all over the world, including playing to huge audiences in the USA and Canada with Amon Tobin, a progress culminating in Ninja Tune asking him to put together a Solid Steel mix album. Bugger the lounge, lets dance.

Now, with the expectations duly dispatched with the good hiding they deserve, the field is wide open for Bonobo to push himself even further, and we await the next album, due late 2005 / early 2006, with our minds well and truly opened to the possibilities.

“Lots of live shit”, says Bonobo.”Strings, horns, drums and vocals. More energy and a bigger, heavier sound”.

Come on then son.

Paul is not only a producer; he is also one of the rare genuine German Techno Live Acts, who still play live without laptop; just using his hardware. He has played at clubs and festivals all over the world since 1999.
Russia, Japan, Scandinavia Europe just to mention some places. His strength is defined by a timeless understanding of music and a distinct accuracy regarding arrangements as well as exploring new
sounds. With experiences at the legendary Omen club during Techno’s formative years in Germany in the early 90s and the sound of Detroit as a stylistic checkpoint in mind, Brtschitsch
developed his own narrative style over the course of twelve years, accessing a rich sonic pool, which is anything but related to the contemporary.

In 1996 Paul released his first record on the Tritone label which was directly discovered and played by worlds famous Jeff Mills.
At the same time he started to work at Neuton, a specialised vinyl distributior, where a lot of later becoming super stars used to work in the warehouse: Ricardo Villalobos, Heiko Laux, Anthony Rother, Andre Galluzzi
and Paul. That´s the reason why Taksi was founded in the same year with Pauls´s working mate DJ André Galluzzi. Their track „Schneesturm“ was picked up by Richie Hawtin´s Plus 8 and got a re- release including a remix of Richie in 2001. The duo released the full lengths „Rundfahrt“ and „Bordell“, as well as several tracks on labels like Force Inc., Ongaku and Music Man. Their Tracks become frequently played by DJ´s like Hawtin, Josh Wink and at least Sven Väth, which opens the door for André going as an artist to Cocoon in 2003.

Meanwhile Paul focused on his own productions. Since 2000 he released three albums under his name on the Frisbee label to critical acclaim („Surftronic“, „Venex“ and „Memory“). He always followed the concept of creating an album like one of his Live Sets – soft build up, hard middle, and consolable ending – without forgetting to explore never heard sonic spaces. When doing so, Brtschitsch does not rely on laptops and software. His set up is much more complex, resulting in the fact that he really is playing live and not triggering loops or arranging his studio material in front of a crowd. His sets last for one and a half to two hours and are always spontaneously crafted according to crowd and atmosphere.

In summer of 2006 he moved to Berlin and dropped a release on world famous Berghain´s imprint Ostgut Ton. „Twirl/Under“ was the second realease on the fresh founded label. In the same year he released a record on Belgiums famous and historical Label MusicMan called Infrared/Lowrider. The following year Paul decided to found his own label “Rootknox”with the philosophy of an interactive developing tree: “together from the roots up to the
treetop”. Seven releases were already released until today, which are already “en vogue” from Europe over the USA to Russia and Japan. One of this releases is Paul´s 5th solo Album which came out in summer 2009 “Me, myself and Live”. The title shows his 3 facets as producer, live act and collaborator.

In 2007 Paul co-produced Anja Schneider’s album debut “Beyond the Valley” released 2008 on her world known Label Mobilee. Both have a good working flow in the studio that´s the reason why Paul is the co-producer of almost all releases which came out titled “Anja Schneider” in behalf the last 2 years. “Belize”, “Mole”, “Beyond the Valley” and several Remixes for artists like Butane, Samuel Session and even German´s Pop Band “Rosenstolz”were produced by Paul and Anja. Together with Gabriel Ananda he contributed a track on his Label Karmarouge. Paul latest releases are coming out on Rootknox containing remixes by Anja Schneider, Kollektiv Turmstrasse and John Selway.

Tour Dates For Bonobo:

04/02 – Toronto, ON – Opera House*
04/03 – Buffalo, NY – Tralf Music Hall*
04/04 – New York, NY – Music Hall Williamsburg*
04/05 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom*
04/06 – Boston, MA – Paradise*
04/08 – West Chester, PA – The Note*
04/09 – Asheville, NC – Club 828*
04/10 – Athens, GA – New Earth Music Hall*
04/11 – New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks*
04/14 – Austin, TX – The Parish**
04/15 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live**
04/17 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theater**
04/20 – San Diego, CA – Casbah**
04/22 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre**
04/23 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine**
04/24 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom**
04/25 – Seattle, WA – Showbox At The Market**

* w/ The Invisible
** w/ Yppah

Their DJ-Sets cover a wide range of music from classic deep house and disco grooves all the way to peak time tech and minimal house burners all wrapped up in a stunning mixing performance that utilises turntables as well as the loopy and effect-heavy delights of Traktor technology. So better be prepared for some hot funk from these guys straight outta Germany!

This marks Vancouver-based Loscil’s first MUTEK appearance. Working in ultra-minimalistic electronic dub, his ambient creations have been presented through numerous releases on Chicago’s Kranky label, as well as on compilations on labels such as Idol Tryouts and Ghostly International. With his gentle, low-key downtempo, Loscil’s 2004 performance marked the beginning of the closing night at MUTEK in 2004.

DJ Food & DK showcase their impressive AV mix which took months to create.

Coined as “video turntablism”, the duo perform live on 4 decks and 3 mixers using Serato’s Video-SL plug-in for Scratch Live.

You can download the video by clicking here

Having worked together on the recent release ‘Ambient Film Themes Vol.2’ – which features avant garde film and documentary scores that blend electronics, orchestras and field recordings – the two artists have once again teamed up to put together an exclusive mix for Clash.

We caught up with them to find out more about the mix and their intriguing new album.

Clash: Tell us a little about the mix and some of your favourite tracks from it:

Casio: It’s some of my favourite tracks from the golden era of downbeat electronica plus some references to the 80s and 70s. Nowadays a lot of music is produced for specific occasions and therefore has only a short lifespan. The tracks in the mix are somehow timeless in my opinion.

Clash: How do you decide on what goes into a mix? Does it depend on your mood at the time?

LOPAZZ: That’s always different – playing peak-time, warm-up, podcasts – every time it’s different and new. Of course there are some tracks we play for years, our all-time-favourites! But it’s good to follow your mood and the crowd and somehow the customers/listeners’ choice. I mean, it doesn’t make sense to play techno on an ambient floor, right?

Casio: It depends very much on the mood. I was loosely listening to my records with the plan to do a downbeat mix with musically appealing tracks. I collected some more records that I needed for it and then in putting it together kicked out what didn’t really fit, mix-wise.

Clash: Some favourite tracks to play live?

LOPAZZ: I’ve got some all-time-favourites like Metro Area, The Other People Place, Ron Trent, Man Parrish and so on – but I also have a look on new releases and artists.

Casio: I used to do a lot of DJ sets in bars and so on, but recently I’m mostly playing house and techno.

Clash: How about the best live shows you’ve ever played?

Casio: They were all so great. Sometimes I’m having a hard time topping myself.

LOPAZZ: Ha ha, right – I think our show on Pelorinhou Plaza in Salvador was the most inspiring one! We were one of the few electronic artists ever allowed to play there!

Clash: What makes a good remix for you?

Casio: A good remix has the characteristics of the original as well as the footprint of the remixing artist sounding good together.

LOPAZZ: I like remixes that sound completely different though some of the original sounds or patterns have been used!

Clash: Tell us about your new album, ‘Lopazz & Casio Casino – Ambient Film Themes Vol.2’:

Casio: We made a lot more changes in the tracks compared to the original soundtracks than on the first volume. Because some of them were only working with the pictures, some were too short, and some needed a more acoustic, analogue feel to them.

LOPAZZ: Right, but we followed the same rules – mixing the tracks with original sounds captured at the shootings, like city sounds, animals, singing monks…. We wanted to get a fluent mix, a travel-music-album.

Clash: You took sound recordings from various parts of the globe as part of the project – how were these used in the final product? And how did you decide what sounds to record?

LOPAZZ: It’s supernatural to me! Sometimes I travel with the film crew to locations such as Mongolia, Macao, Ethiopia, South Africa and my ‘Kook Kook’ tour led me to places like Brazil, Ecuador, Lebanon and I always record sounds and moments. I started doing field-recordings as a little boy and now it’s part of my profession. LOPAZZ records always have this analogue feel (I don’t like this expression) – I use real acoustic instruments or my voice to create sounds I need for dancefloor tracks or scores.

Clash: Yours will be our first DJ mix of 2010! So – a few generic New Year’s questions: Tell us about the best New Year’s Eve you’ve had:

LOPAZZ: With Casio on a fancy LSD-Party (in the early 90s) – now we don’t do that anymore – we changed to ecstasy pills, hahaha….

Clash: Any New Year’s resolutions?

LOPAZZ: No meat, no alcohol, no drugs – at least for the first two days in 2010.

Casio: A little less of everything that’s bad for my health.

Jesse provided two links, one to download his latest songs and the other to a recent feature on ‘Yes Yes Y’All‘. The feature was very brief; it consisted of a song called ‘Angels’ with some artwork done by his friend Chelsea and a few words from Jesse. “Gilles Peterson really liked my music for a couple months and played it like 3 times or something. I also enjoy Synthesizers and Batman“.

I sent back an email to Jesse, “Yes, we do like your music, a lot!” We couldn’t believe that this was actually from a 17 year old. Jesse’s age is something that constantly interferes with his music and success. People don’t respect him enough, they promise him things, but never actually follow through with them. However “I don’t want to be just judged by my age, but I do because I’m not 100% confident in my work.”

Jesse’s been pigeon holed into many genre. Someone asked him, “Your from that beat dimension, right?” hmmm. He doesn’t know what genre he’s in, it doesn’t matter to him. “I really don’t know what it is, it’s up to the listener…all I know is that it comes from somewhere inside of me, it’s reflective of my current feelings and experiences. If anything the listener should decide. Naming it would be unfair, I just make it.” Jesse listens to all types of music, especially jazz, “I became very interested in jazz at 16…I would spend all my money on records. Sounds from Impulse, Strata East, 60′s Blue Note and Blackjazz really helped me understand how limitless a genre jazz is.”

Jesse uses Ableton and a host of sounds to make his music. ‘Angels’ features vocals from Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Angel Eyes‘. Ultimately it’s just the beginning of his beatmaking career. “Apart from samples I use a lot of synths for effects, strings, basslines or whatever. My dream is to work with analogue musicians…I have a lot of ideas revolving around working with real musicians…full string sections, more layered pieces.” Untill he does find some musicians; I guess he’ll have to make do with the support of his friend Ben Thomas aka Singing Statues and the breakbeat, hip-hop, electro man Moonstar. Ben has opened up Jesse to a lot of music and film, “Ben has been a huge influence on my sound, I’m a huge fan of his work. Moonstar has also been a big help to my music…he’s really helped how I look at music.”

I think Jesse’s music is very good and I hope to hear more from him. He already has label interest so I hope he’ll release some of his music soon. For now we’re offereing a free download of a song by Jesse called ‘In Flight‘. Enjoy the mix and I’ll leave you with a few words from the man himself.

“This mix was made at my house, and also at my buddy Evan’s house (he also helped me with some of the ideas and later transitions). The inspiration for the mix came through re-visiting a lot of old ninja tune records, and hearing that the sound of spoken word, layered over funky beats and rhythms. Some of the stuff on the mix is re-edited and some parts of the mix have a combination of more than one song playing at once. The photograph I provided for my mix was taken by my good friend Vince Malik. I hope you enjoy the mix as much as I had making it. This one is for your Sunday morning.”

DOWNLOAD: ‘In Flight’

BEN NEILL is a composer, performer, producer, and inventor of the mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument. He has been called “the mad scientist of dancefloor jazz” (CMJ), “a musical powerhouse, a serious and individual talent” (Time Out London), and “a creative composer and genius performer” (Time Out NY). Neill’s music blends electronica and jazz, blurring the lines between DJ culture and acoustic instrument performance.

Neill has recorded eight CDs of his music on the Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, Six Degrees, Universal/Verve, New Tone and Ear-Rational labels. His most recent CD Night Science was released in September 2009. His music has been featured on numerous compilations including Wired Magazine’s “Music Futurists”. He has performed extensively in a wide variety of international settings including the Sleepless Night Miami, Cite de la Musique France, Berlin Love Parade Germany, Spoleto Festival Italy, Umbria Jazz Italy, Bang On A Can Festival New York, ICA London, Istanbul Jazz Festival Turkey and the Edinburgh Festival UK to name a few.

In Neill’s live performance, laptop computers merge his three-belled, digitally interfaced mutantrumpet with live MIDI controlled digital audio and video. In addition to controlling digital audio in real time, Neill literally plays the moving pictures, making the images an extension of his electrified horn. In 2008 Neill constructed a new mutantrumpet with the help of a residency at the STEIM Studios in Amsterdam. Neill originally worked with synth pioneer Robert Moog to design the early version of his instrument.

In 2008 Neill composed original music for two films. Guest of Cindy Sherman was produced by Sundance Channel, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and shown in film festivals around the world. 911-911, an animated film by artist Mel Chin, premiered at Tribeca Cinemas and was presented at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2009. In 2005 Neill presented his collaboration with visual artist Bill Jones titled Palladio, an interactive movie based on Jonathan Dee’s 1998 novel of the same name. Palladio was premiered at the New Territories Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, and at the Thalia Theater/Symphony Space in New York City.

Neill is also active as a sound and installation artist. His collaborative works with Bill Jones have been exhibited in museums and galleries including Sandra Gering Gallery New York, Exit Art New York, Wellcome Gallery London and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Neill’s installation/performance Green Machine was shown at Paula Cooper Gallery New York City. ITSOFOMO, his collaborative piece with the late artist David Wojnarowicz, has been exhibited widely in venues such as The New Museum New York and PPOW Gallery New York, and was featured in the PBS documentary Imagining America.

In 2002, Neill “made music industry history” (MSNBC News) by releasing Automotive (Six Degrees), an album entirely comprised of extended versions of music he originally wrote for Volkswagen TV and Internet commercials. He supported the release of the album by performing on an 18 city tour of the House of Blues and other major music venues in the US and Canada. Television appearances have included CNBC, Tech TV Screen Savers, Wall Street Journal Report, and Media Television Canada. Neill and Jones video remixes were presented at Sundance 2004 and have been aired on Fox TV network.

A native of North Carolina, Neill is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music. He studied composition with minimalist composer La Monte Young, and has collaborated with numerous other composers and musicians including DJ Spooky, DJ Olive, Dub War, Helmet’s Page Hamilton, Rhys Chatham, Nicolas Collins, David Behrman, John Cale, John Cage, and Coil.

To this end, we present a round up of this year’s Cross Section download albums. Each bursting with a month’s worth of tunes from the band’s we write about.

Check out your favourites and discover 2009′s wealth of great, new talent.

Visite www.clashmusic.com

It’s taken us the best part of a year to get a Podcast mix from our Album Of The Year 2008 winner, but it’s certainly been worth the wait.

The Norwegian genius is still largely unknown on these shores, but the aforementioned Ralphorama! has charmed everyone who’s come near it, with its technicolour mix of electro, hip-hop, folk, downtempo and disco grooves combined with superb vocalists. He hails from Bergen, the city that brought us the likes of The Whitest Boy Alive and Royksöpp, and with his Jack Herren band has played some of the biggest festivals in Europe – including on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage.

His long-awaited podcast for us features a heap of new material from his studio, as well as all manner of disco grooves new, old and re-edited. If you like what you hear, make sure you check out the album…