Monday, July 13, 2009

Rinse July

Rinse FM

We moved our Rinse FM set forward this month. It was this Thurs 16th at 11pm GMT and it went funk > 2step/dubstep > grimewonk. Setlist to follow at some point.

July 09 Rinse Tracklisting

DOWNLOAD it here.

MJ Cole: Volcano Riddim (unreleased)
Maxwell D: So Bad Mind (unreleased)
Zed Bias: To The Left (unreleased)
TRG: See Want Get Now (unreleased)
Skream: Funky Stepper (unreleased)
Geeneus and Ms Dynamite: Get Low (Crackish) (unreleased)
Doctor: Move Down (unreleased)
Zed Bias: Neighbourhood (Roska Remix) (forthcoming Sidestepper)
Grievous Angel: Move Down Low VIP (unreleased)
Pearson Sound: Wad (forthcoming Hessle Audio)
Alison Hinds: Roll It Gal (a little bit funky VIP) (1720 Entertainment)
TRG: Tribal Flex (unreleased)
Funkystepz: Bounce (Original Instrumental Mix)

Brackles: Air Pie (forthcoming Planet Mu)
Sbtrkt: Wrong Move (unreleased)
Shortstuff: Stuff (forthcoming Ramp)
Maddslinky: It Was You (unreleased)
Sbtrkt: 2020 (unreleased)
Sully: 94 Remix (unreleased)
VVV: 335 (unreleased)

Kowton: Countryman (forthcoming Keysound)
Kowton: Stasis (G-Mix) (forthcoming Keysound)

Guido: Korg Back (unreleased)
Terror Danjah: Zumpi Hunter (Swindle Remix) (forthcoming Planet Mu)
Untold: Stop What You're Doing (James Blake Remix)

Trim: Skeng (unreleased)
Zed Bias: Blaow (unreleased)
Blackdown: Concrete Streets (Zomby Mix) (forthcoming Keysound Recordings)
Zomby: Digiflora b (unreleased)
Zomby: Cluster Formations (unreleased)
Zomby: Su5hi (unreleased)
Terror Danjah: Stealth Mode (forthcoming Planet Mu)
Rapid feat. Ghetts: One Way Road (unreleased)
SRC: Dinobore (unreleased)
Desto: 20-20 Hindsight (unreleased)
James Blake: Sparing the Horses (Hemlock)
The Nextmen feat. Ms Dynamite and Andy Cato: The Lion's Den (forthcoming Universal)

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Pitchfork July

joy orbison

New Pitchfork column from me on Joy Orbison and the impact of the funky explosion. For a wider discussion check the debate in the comments box of the post below this one.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

where do u call it

LDN011

I’ve just written my column for Pitchfork this month, it should be out on Wednesday. It features Joy Orbison, who’s “Hyph Mngo” track is just overly-sick. Ben UFO was playing it when I walked into FWD last weekend and I nearly ran from the back to the front to pull it up. (I didn’t, because I having just arrived I wasn’t sure if Ben had already licked it back once already.)

The piece explains what’s great about “Hyph Mngo,” which I’d love to see become an anthem, the influence of funky and some of the DJs that connect to this sound: Ben UFO, Oneman, Brackles etc.

What it can’t and won’t mention is me and Dusk.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our sound lately, production, DJing and label wise. It’s been three years since dubstep blew up and truth be told I’m finding it harder each month to get hold of “dubstep” I like for our Rinse show (I’m not talking about the satellite producers like Zomby or Joker here btw or eski gems from Untold, but dark subby dubstep).

I think it’s probably also pretty clear from my writing, which I’ve tried to keep positive, that I really can’t stand the direction the majority of dubstep is heading in. Mid range distorted heavy metal is a total betrayal of everything we tried to build as a scene, whether the DJs/producers in question invented it themselves or cloned it off someone else. I still believe deeply in what dubstep is and can be, but if that’s it, count me out.

I guess it’s become clearer to me recently where Dusk and I stand, musically summer ‘09, and that is some kind of intersection between dubstep, grime, funky, wonk and 2step. And where is that? London.

Finding inspiration in London is hardly a new idea; it’s hardly even a new idea to us, who wrote a flipping album about it last year! But as I see so many of the dubstep DJs take dubstep global on ever increasingly large stages, I increasingly feel that kind of scale is not for me. Don’t get me wrong, if Yankee Stadium calls, I’m man enough to step up to the decks, but realistically I enjoy Forward and Rinse, both as a punter and a DJ, far more.

When I look around the Rinse roster, as well as the funky selectors, it’s DJs like Oneman and Brackles, who share our Thursday 11pm slot, who I increasingly feel musical affinity with. Dusk and I take a different approach to how we use old school on our show, and I sure would love to mix like Oneman, but selection wise I think there’s common ground.

Hyperdub have been an incredible inspiration in the last two years, but it’s nice to now see a collection of likeminded producers/DJs like Ben UFO, Oneman, Brackles, Braiden, Alex Bok Bok, Grievous Angel, Shortstuff, Martin Kemp and Joy Orbison using Hyperdubs, funky and old school grime ‘n’ garage sensibilities to find a way that isn’t either wobble, dub techno or dull commercial house. To find a way that preserves the quintessential London elements of feminine pressure, rawness, rudeness and all the other nuum factors, without coalescing into just one thing or becoming something unlistenable or unlistenably dull.

In practical terms, this may be as much a question of bpms as selection. Funky rides at 130 bpm, 2step-badman Sully flexes at 134ish and grime's at 140bpm still. I've seen harder dubstep DJs pushing 150bpm. To me, with the gravity of the mass creativity of funky right now, I feel an urge to drop the bpms and up the groove. If this approach is adopted by others this may or may not have the effect of decoupling a large number of the most creative producers, away from the anthem-bashing, endlessly revving wobble guys who really want to turn dubstep into post-d&b noize (and are proud of it).

So there we are. All this won’t be news if you’ve been checking our Rinse shows, come to our sets or buying our Keysound 12”s. But perhaps it was worth saying. Praps not. Either way, let’s roll...

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

LDN011 Grievous Angel

"I know I'm fallin'... I hear the cry."




Followin Starkey ft Durrty Goodz "Gutter Music" and DVA "Bullet A'Go Fly ft Badness, Riko, Flowdan and Killa P", comes Keysound LDN011.

Naphta "Soundclash 1 (Grievous Angel VIP)" b/w Grievous Angel "Harpy"

Out on vinyl and digital July 27th.

Following that will be LDN012 Blackdown ft Durrty Goodz "Concrete Streets (vocal, instrumental and Zomby remix)".

There will be other 12"s following that but we should also see Dusk + Blackdown v Grievous Angel "Margins Music Redux" on CD later this year, where Grievous mutates our debut album.