Tag Archives: News

Basic Operations – The Lost Tapes

Basic Operations (Atlantic Connection & Kevin Focus) went their separate ways in 2005 leaving a legacy of awesome music. But even better they left a swag of unreleased tunes which they are now putting out under their ‘Lost Tapes’ series. Classics like Drifting on an Aspect (VIP), Keep on Dreaming, New Dawn and Since I’ve Seen You which Bukem caned on dub for years.

You can get a listen and buy it exclusively from bandcamp.com. And to top it all off Basic Ops are also slated to be going back into the studio again to work on some new releases which I am hoping will hit sooner rather than later.

LSTPS001
Basic Operations
The Lost Tapes Vol. 1

1. Drifting on an Aspect (VIP)
2. Since I’ve Seen You
3. O.S.F
4. Keep On Dreaming

Producer Profile: S13

You gottah love D&B for throwing artists your way that you haven’t even heard of, but blow you away with the quality of their music. One such artist is S13, who’s free Yourself EP features four solid tracks that are all well worth listening too and, even better, mixing. The highlight for me is a track called Earth Ulro, which is totally inspired and inspiring.

If I can dig up any info on S13 I’ll add it here, but for now he is a mystery to me. So I’ll just have to copy and paste the press release that came with the EP.

Once two different stories began. As the result we give you the best quality electronic music for free. S13 has been a big secret but now it’s time to tell you the truth.

Nestle down and don’t talk. Hear the cold and depth of his thoughts. Feel the sand and gaze of his mysterious eyes. Discover his weird Earth Ulro.

Download the EP for free yourself HERE

News – The Ear & Drum: Now with pictures you can see with your eyes!

My chilli plant.

Plant pattern.

My boy having a deep moment.

Any regular downloader of my mixes would be pretty used to seeing the image of a cool android girl with headphones on that I mark my MP3s with. But what does that image really say about me? What insight into my life does this cold woman represent?

Absolutely none, that’s what. 😀

So just to spice things up a bit, and to give you a look at the world through my eyes I thought it would be cool to start attaching photos I’ve taken onto my mixes. That way every mix will look different, and give you a different little peek into my life.

If you hate them and want the sexy android back then post in here and I’ll consinder it. 😉

Producer Profile: ICR

Hungarian D&B artist Zoltan Gal, also known as ICR, has been a key figure in the country’s thriving D&B scene. In 1999 he established it’s online magazine and community site, ImpulseCreator.hu and has releases on dozens of diverse labels worldwide such as Offshore, Covert Operations , Good Looking, Nerve, Fokuz, Counter Intelligence, Flatline Audio, X-Tinction Agenda, Red Mist, Vibez and Influence.

In 2007, he started own label, Misspent Music, which continues to release high quality liquid and esoteric D&B. ICR has been integral in shaping the exceptional Hungarian D&B scene, and he continues to blaze a trail gloabally by releasing his latest album Restored as a free download. Not only is this incredibly generous, but I also think this will be the way of things in the future for music in general.

As a true D&B pioneer, ICR we salute you.

ICR – Restored

1. ICR – Painful Every Day
2. ICR – Hailstones From Heaven
3. ICR – Hungry Man (remix)
4. ICR – Nevermore (remix)
5. ICR – Remember
6. ICR – You Don’t Have To Know The Title
7. ICR – Downhill
8. ICR – Heavy Water
9. Robot Death Squad – Tokyo Burner (ICR remix)
10. Rufige Cru – Krisp Biscuit (ICR remix)
11. ICR – Less Than Three (DJ Trax remix feat. Assorted Anonymous)
12. ICR – How The Glitch Stole Christmas

Producer Profile: DJ Clart

I first heard of DJ Clart through the Golden Orb Weavers EP with his track So Selfish. His ability to toughen up a liquid track and still keep it melodic jumped out at me straight away. Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke he dropped the monster Avenue on Sole Digital, the super smooth Watchout VIP on Liquid Brilliants and sublime Mysterious Ways with Glen E Stone on Quilin’s 4 Corners EP.

To call Clart liquid doesn’t really do him justice. His diversity is always underpinned by a ‘deepness’ that remains consistent in all his releases. His use of organic bass lines which he twists into growling stabs and the crisp, clean and loud production on his beats really make his tracks hold up in a mix.

It’s looking like a big year for Clart with upcoming releases on Peer pressure, Next Sense, Ingredients, Vampire and Influenza Media. I am convinced 2010 will be year that this talented producer blows up big.

Just top get a taste here is a free track Clart has graciously let me host. It’s a bootleg of Lupe Fiasco’s Paris Tokyo and whilst quite a bit lighter than some of Clart’s official releases it still shows what talent he is.

Enjoy. 🙂

Lupe Fiasco – Paris Tokyo (DJ Clart’s D&B Bootleg)

Rip: A Remix Manifesto – A movie on the culture of sampling

I saw this recently and thought it nailed the debate about sampling music to make other music perfectly. What’s more the makers of the movie are inviting you to pay whatever you think the movie is worth to watch it (al-la Radiohead), and then download and remix the movie yourself. So for the more media savvy of you out there this might a great opportunity to show what you can do behind the camera and in the editing suite.

The generational divide is very apparent in this film between those who copy and those who don’t. We now have two generations worth of digitally aware members of society who don’t view copying as a criminal offense. Especially if the copied material is being recycled and altered to sound nothing like the original, as is the case in electronic music.

Rip: The Remix Manifesto is about this divide and what electronic music is doing to fight for it’s right to sample. But don’t take my word for it, check it out and see what you think yourself.

Immerse yourself in the energetic, innovative and potentially illegal world of mash-up media with RiP: A remix manifesto. Let web activist Brett Gaylor and musician Greg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, serve as your digital tour guides on a probing investigation into how culture builds upon culture in the information age.

Biomedical engineer turned live-performance sensation Girl Talk, has received immense commercial and critical success for his mind-blowing sample-based music. Utilizing technical expertise and a ferocious creative streak, Girl Talk repositions popular music to create a wild and edgy dialogue between artists from all genres and eras. But are his practices legal? Do his methods of frenetic appropriation embrace collaboration in its purest sense? Or are they infractions of creative integrity and violations of copyright?

You be the judge by watching RiP: A remix manifesto

Producer Profile: Data

Data was one of my stand outs for 2009. Tracks like Delicate, Vice and Antenna from The Prologue EP on Horizons and Muted & Splice off his debut Metalheadz 12″ single saw him prove that he has his own unique sound, but that he can also cross genre boundaries with ease.

Based in West London Data has been turning heads with his mature and different approach to modern day drum and bass production. Quickly rising through the ranks with a slew of signings, his tracks quickly found their way into many top dj’s bags, including Goldie. Data’s focus on ambience, groove, minimalism and experimentation provides a whole new take on current drum and bass.

If you want find out more then check out his soundcloud and myspace, or just download the three tracks provided below. Two of these were slated to be on Metalheadz, so make sure you show your appreciation by purchasing any other Data tunes you stumble on and like in 2010.

Download here. 🙂

Data, E & Dynamic – Chiba City Blues
Data & E – Relic
Data – The Black Pagoda

Producer Profile: ATP

I’ve been a big fan of ATP’s music for the last year or two. A Melbourne based producer with a strong sense of melody to his work, I always know I am going to get a quality production every time I listen to one his tracks. He is also one of those rare beasts in D&B, a producer who doesn’t take himself super seriously in a chin stroking fashion. This sense of fun also comes out in his music.

With his album coming out called Energy Currency I figured now would be a good time to shine a light on him as a producer and offer up two free tunes he is giving away to promote the album. Both are bootlegs, one of Jay-Z’s – So Ambitious and the other, more interestingly, is of the mighty Hall and Oates’ – I Can’t Go For That.

So check his bio, download the tunes and if you like them then check out Energy Currency which I am sure won’t disappoint.

Biography: ATP

A self confessed science nerd, ATP (Dave Shearer) takes his name from a molecule found in the human body called Adenosine Tri-Phosphate. However, it’s the science of music that he would have you remember him for, especially his own brand of deeper jazz influenced drum’n’bass.

Before starting to play gigs around Melbourne, he started a radio show “Nu Soul” on bassdrive.com. ATP now has supported many international artists including LTJ Bukem, Makoto, Greenfly, Vice Versa, Crissy Cris, Stunna, Amaning, Physics, Flirt with Dirt, Qumulus, DJ Clart, Lenzman, Overfiend, Jay Rome, Youthman and Radiata.

Already ATP’s smooth musical stylings have been snapped up with tunes on Liquid Brilliants and further releases on Influenza Media, BIOS, Fokuz, Urban Chemistry, Point 9 Audio and Golden Orb.

www.myspace.com/djatp
www.energycurrency.info
Mixes at http://atp.valhalla.net.nz/
AIM – deejayatp

• Hall and Oates – I Can’t Go For That (ATP DnB Booty)

• Jay Z (Feat. Pharrell) – So Ambitious (ATP DnB Booty)

Review – Metalheadz Podcast

So we all now Metalheadz are one of, if not, THE biggest label(s) in Drum & Bass, and we all know Goldie’s fearsome reputation for being a hard man and all round grumpy c**t. Well get ready to have that reputation torn in tatters as you listen to Metalheadz Podcast #2.

There is the usual top notch upfront music that you would expect, but what took me by complete surprise is the good time being had by Goldie, Heist, Nick and Chris post Swerve and obviously post a few lemon sherbets. I’ve heard a lot of radio shows and podcasts in my time, but none that have actually made me squirt redbull through my nose on the fit bird sitting next to me on the train.

This whole thing is hilarious from start to finish and took me back to doing graveyard shifts on RTRfm mashed up with me mates in the 90’s. If you really want to hear what D&B is truly about, I suggest you subscribe to the Headz podcasts now while #2 is still available because it is THE best time you will hear on radio.

Big up the Metalheadz for not running a serious and dull podcasting session and for letting us in on one of their big nights out. I wasn’t at the final night of Swerve at the End, but when I listen to this I feel like I almost was. Respect.

Click here to download Metalheadz Podcasts

Where did the old mixes go?

I am pretty much starting my FTP again as far as the old mixes I have online are concerned.

If anyone is looking for previous sets sourced from other sites you can make a request through the blog’s ‘request line’ page and I will dig them out and upload them. My aim is to eventually get this blog to the stage where it can be a single stop shop for any of my mixes.

Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause in the short term.