I know my posts have become increasingly random, and I do apologize, my schedule is rather hectic at the moment, an extra long post today to make up for the flakiness.
Well the year certainly got off to a massive start. For three weeks I visited Ireland to catch up and I think it's safe to say I won't be out again for quite some time. It all kicked off with Steffi & Prosumer B2B in Dublin's Twisted Pepper on December 28th, broken up with a bit of Space Dimension Controller in between. It's safe to say that the basement was absolutely heaving that night in what is almost a yearly tradition at this stage. Embarrassingly enough I exchanged a hug with Steffi afterwards only to have us both scream 'Fuck Berlin' rather loudly. I'll blame that one on the copious amount of pints/shots/etc.
Next up was of course NYE. My first ever NYE in Dublin in fact. Despite being from there I have always managed to escape for it. We had bought our tickets weeks in advance for the Discotekken & Bop Gun NYE party and I'm so glad we did, as town was insane. We couldn't even get into the private party for over an hour as almost all of Dublin's underage, chart loving, masses were all queueing for Madison, for some godforsaken reason. The line-up, for Discotekken, not Madison, included some fine Irish talent, such as...
A second copy of Boards of Canada's surprise Record Store Day single has appeared in London shop Rough Trade.
The 12-inch, released through Warp Records, first appeared in New York record store Other Music during Record Store Day last Saturday.
According to Rough Trade it had apparently "stood in the racks for a couple of days," and has just been soldto one lucky and very attentive customer.
"The record contains a brief snippet of music and a robotic voice that reads the numbers "9-3-6-5-5-7." The sleeve reads: "------ / ------ / ------ / XXXXXX / ------ / ------," which suggests the single may be the first part in a series of releases. It is the duo's first official release since 2006's Trans Canada Highway."
I don't think I can take it any longer, although it's been seven years since their last release so what's another few months of uncertainty.
PICKS OF THE WEEK
MIDLAND ON RINSE FM 18/4/13
Midland's show on Rinse FM last week. No tracklisting as of yet but I'll keep my eyes peeled and stick it up should it appear.
DISCLOSURE FT. ELIZA DOOLITTLE - YOU & ME
Needless to say that when a new Disclosure tune drops, you listen. An act that have yet to disappoint my ears. Seriously looking forward to the new LP 'Settle' forthcoming on PMR Records / Island Records on June 3rd 2013.
HEADHUNTER - CHASING DRAGONS
This is by no means new, but I did a clear out of the archives this week and rediscovered a few gems.
Headhunter: Lost Prophet / Chasing Dragons [IDLE004]
and lastly,
BEN SIMS @ BLOC WEEKENDER 2012
one that did the rounds three times last Saturday night. For whatever reason, Ben Sims hit the nail on our pre-session tune desires with this banging set from the (short-lived) BLOC WEEKENDER 2012.
Ben has to be one of the most technically gifted DJs I have come across thus far, and if you asked the two guys up front, I'm sure they would agree. 10-11mins in was my favorite.
WHAT'S ON
A quick run through of what's on in Dublin this week.
F R I D A Y, A P R I L 26TH :
BEDLAM Presents: KLANGKARUSSELL (Tobias DJ Set) (Stil Vor Talent/Austria)
Unfortunately this is already sold out. No doubt it's going to be yet another great show from upcoming Dublin promoters Bedlam. Bedlam have hosted a number of impressive names such as Duke Dumont, Huxley & Ben Pearce in recent months.
CITIZEN @ PYGMALION
Citizen is from London
and at this early stage that’s all we know, but we already know all we
need to know about his productions even if there is just the handful
released to date. They’re brilliant. Citizen’s output is full of
character and flair charged with memories of the past glory of early 90s
House music. Even though this nostalgia is there for everyone to hear
it does not define the music on its own: there is no apparent novelty
with the use of the 90s reference which is something that is quite rare
as this era of music is often abused and dragged into the contemporary
house scene, left with mediocre results probably more than any other
when it comes to club music. In the case of Citizen, there is a sense of
a deep-seated love of the music that is handled with care and used with
the highest skill to produce some wonderful House music.
Support from rising Irish talent Frank B. and Bixon's Dave Mc Donogh.
Door Tax: €8 before 12/ €10 after
S A T U R D A Y, A P R I L 27TH :
If early morning sessioning is more your thing, this Saturday starts off with the return of another Breakfast Club.
BREAKFAST CLUB & TUFF CITY PRESENT | FLORI [Aim/Secretsundaze]
Sorry for the lack of postings this weekend. Friday was legitimate as I popped down to check out Giles Armstrong & Barry Greaves play some serious techno in Sweeney's, Dame St, and Saturday was well, you know as well as I.
Free Techno Dublin's policy is, well exactly what you would expect, free gigs with homegrown Irish talent. Music for the people, by the people. I had heard of Giles Armstrong before so I was somewhat prepared for the night that ensued but I really was impressed with the quality of the night itself. As good as any of the other gigs that were running that night for sure, and I managed to totally forget about Duke Dumont in Grand Social selling out.
Quick example of Giles Armstrong's repertoire;
I also have Part 2 of Bang The Box's 1st Birthday Mix for you. The party will be taking place next Saturday in The Twisted Pepper.
Bang The Box is Juan and what an amazing year it has been. First off a huge thanks to everyone who has given us the opportunities and believed in us. Without the help and support from all of the wonderful people and promoters down at The Twisted Pepper none of this would have happened, so a BIG shout out to you guys:) Thank you to all the talented DJ's that have come down to play at Bang The Box over the past year and played out the music they love in The Box and most of all a massive amount of love goes to all the deadly party heads that danced their booties off at our gigs, without you guys there would be no party;)
Some of the stand out moments over the year would have to be our 3hour set in The Bunker at No Place Like Dome to 500 nutters on that whopper Function One. Our headline slot in The Dimestore Tent at KnockanStockan. The first gig we put on in The Basement of The Pepper with a local only line up which held the crowd all night. Our first international guest Rick "The Godson" Wilhite and most recently Al's 12hour set at Middle Earth Festival!!
We've made so many great friends and brought loads of people together through partying and we hope to see all of you down in The Box on April 20th. To celebrate a year of partying hard guess what we're going to do?? PARTY HARD! We'll have loads of free beers, new mix CD's, balloons and tunes;)
Its a really big night in The Pepper for this one, its the Dimensions Festival launch party with the one and only Floating Points.
HOUSE|FUNK|ACID|DISCO
Line Up:
Maeve McKernan Sean Fitzmaurice Al Murphy Ian Macq Sansjoi
Track List:
1. Eric Faust - Sections
2. Dan Drastic - El Pollo Loco
3. Florian Kruse - Margin Call
4. Greg Mak - Maya
5. 2 Deep - Rushing
6. Mood 2 Swing - Passing Time
7. Kerri Chandler - Atmosphere
8. Kenquo - Stuck In A Finished Dream
9. Kerri Chandler - Return To Acid
10. Dirt Crew - In the Park
11. Audio Soul Project - Bit more grit
12. Pezzner - Brooklynn New York - Justin Martin Mix
13. Scott Ferguson - Keep On Loving Me
And finally, my favourite new discovery of the past week..
Cassius Select, which appears to be refusing to embed for me so here's the bandcamp link, for their debut EP, 'One' forthcoming on Hunter Gatherer Records this Wednesday. The track I'm loving in particular is Jamo. I've posted the YouTube link on Facebook too if for some reason Bandcamp doesn't work for you. Nothing like a bit of Dub Techno, and this track is certainly on repeat. :)
'A new project from the prodigiously talented Lavurn Lee, One sees Lee turning his energies in a fresh, exciting direction. One reflects a new state of mind for the artist previously known as Guerre; informed by ritualistic and savage sonic imagery, the EP exhibits Lee’s new found balance between fervent spontaneity and eclectic sound design. Equally at home on the dancefloor and headphones, the four tracks feature a dizzying montage of colours vying for supremacy; the whole picture threatens to collapse on its own kinetic energy, yet remains taut and tense in the hands of Lee’s signature artistic flair. One takes techno tropes out of their comfort zone into doggedly individual zones.'
Next up was of course NYE. My first ever NYE in Dublin in fact. Despite being from there I have always managed to escape for it. We had bought our tickets weeks in advance for the Discotekken & Bop Gun NYE party and I'm so glad we did, as town was insane. We couldn't even get into the private party for over an hour as almost all of Dublin's underage, chart loving, masses were all queueing for Madison, for some godforsaken reason. The line-up, for Discotekken, not Madison, included some fine Irish talent, such as...
