Villalobos: The Film

Arguably the most important man in techno over the past 10-15 years Ricardo Villalobos is to be immortalised in film by German director Romuald Karmakar. Karmakar whose previous works include '196 BPM' (a biopic, single take look at 2002's Love Parade in Berlin) and 'Between the Devil and the Wide Blue Sea' (an exploration of the techno/house scenes in Ibiza and Berlin) announced via his website that the film's premier would take place at the 66th Venice International Film Festival in September. Like much of Karmakar's work the film will be a documentary; showing Villalobos at work in Berlin's Panorama Bar and during his stay in Ibiza last year interspersed with interviews with the Chilean techno producer "on how he thinks, how he hears and how he produces his music".

Check the trailer

Cheap Thrills Vol. 1 coming soon

News just in that Hervé a.k.a The Count (of Monte Cristal), one half of Speaker Junk, Voodoo Chilli, Action Man, Young Lovers and one member of house tag-team Machines Don't Care has announced the release of the first compilation of tracks signed to his Cheap Thrills imprint.

Home to acts including Fake Blood, His Majesty Andre and Jack Beats Cheap Thrills has become synonymous with the oft maligned 'fidget house' sound. Despite criticism of some releases (most notably Hervé's universally panned 'Baseball Bat') multiple tracks have been absolute gold (Voodoo Chilli's 'Street Players', Action Man's 'Alarm Bell' and Fake Blood's 'Mars' in particular).

Although Hervé had suggested that this release could act as a sort of retrospective the tracklisting suggests its focus is predominantly on new releases, from a range of new artists, which should help to keep fans both old and new entertained.

It's due for release on October 5th with a tracklisting as follows:

CD1 (Unmixed)
01. Jack Beats - U.F.O
02. Fake Blood - Fix Your Accent
03. Project Bassline - Drop The Pressure (Jack Beats Remix)
04. Trevor Loveys - Organ Grinder (The Count aka Hervé's "Big B Morgan" Remix)
05. Action Man - Zombie Dance
06. Fake Blood - Mars
07. Hervé & Kissy Sell Out - Rikkalicious (Club Mix)
08. High Rankin - No Money For Guns
09. Hervé feat Marina Gasolina - Baseball Bat
10. Speaker Junk - Outside
11. Hervé & Jack Beats - Rainstick
12. His Majesty André feat Bloody Beetroots - Puppets
13. The Glamour - Rubbin & Bumpin
14. Max Morrell - Seelikio
15. Hervé & Kissy Sell Out - Everybody (vocals by Hervé)
16. High Rankin - Clarence Baskerville 2

CD2 (Mixed)
01. Jack Beats - Labyrinth
02. Max Morrell - Seelikio
03. Hervé & Jack Beats - Rainstick (Bushfire Remix)
04. Max Morrell - Back Yard Riddim
05. His Majesty André feat Bloody Beetroots - Puppets
06. Fake Blood - Fix Your Accent
07. Gigi Borocco - The Rhythm
08. Speaker Junk - Outside
09. Detboi - Get Low
10. Fake Blood - The Dozens
11. Trevor Loveys - Organ Grinder (The Count aka Hervé's "Big B Morgan" Remix)
12. Jack Beats - U.F.O
13. Martello feat Hervé - Wasted
14. Action Man - Zombie Dance
15. High Rankin - No Money For Guns
16. Project Bassline - Drop The Pressure
17. High Rankin feat. Gyto - Bubble & Squeak
18. Dub Frequency - Felton Skank (Dub Mix)
19. Trevor Loveys - Organ Grinder (High Rankin VIP Remix)

Just Todd Edwards mix

Beloved by fans of house and garage on both sides of the Atlantic Todd 'The God' Edwards is established as one of the dons of the 2-step scene which swept the UK in the late 90's and early 00's. In this mix dj Retrend pieces together 25 Edwards classics both old and new. Whilst some tracks i.e. remixes for Daft Punk & the Klaxons are aimed solely at the dancefloor others explore more ambiguous territory as Edwards punctuates his beats with thinly vieled religious messages ('Saved my Life', 'Sweet Jesus' etc). Edwards' own Christian faith is well known, hence nicknames 'The Messanger' and 'The God' (though avid fans suggest this is solely in tribute to his production skills) though how he squares Christian sobriety with his popularity amongst hedonistic clubbers is anyones guess.

Look out for taught melodies, and exceptional percussion work from a true legend. props to Retrend for putting together this mix too...it's a lot!

Get it here

Tracklist:
Todd Edwards - God Will Be There
Todd Edwards - Sunshine Sunrise
Indo - R U Sleeping (Todd Edwards rmx)
Todd Edwards - Push The Love
Moloko - Pure Pleasure Seeker (Todd Edwards rmx)
Mantra - Away (Todd Edwards rmx)
St Germain - Sure Thing (Todd Edwards rmx)
Heist - I Thought We Were Cool (Todd Edwards rmx)
Todd Edwards - Saved My Life (Large Joints Mix)
Sunshine Bros - Thank You
Richard Les Crees - After the Rain (Todd Edwards rmx)
Kevin Yost - If She Only Knew (Todd Edwards rmx)
Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (Todd Edwards rmx)
MJ Cole - Crazy Love (Todd Edwards rmx)
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better (Todd Edwards rmx)
Todd Edwards - Time To Care
Todd Edwards - Saved My Life
Todd Edwards - Sweet Jesus
Todd Edwards - Perfect Love
Daft Punk - Face to face (feat Todd Edwards)
Sound of One - As I Am (Todd Edwards rmx)
Todd Edwards - Shut The Door
Todd Edwards - Show Me A Sign
St Germain - Alabama Blues (Todd Edwards rmx)
Somore - I Refuse (Sunshine Bros rmx)

Night Slugs Bank Holiday Throw Down

August 30th sees the return of Night Slugs, one of London's best nights featuring a plethora of the foremost urban beats out there. Dj's include residents Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 (celebrating the release of their new split e.p. on Glasgow's Dress 2 Sweat records), Greena and N.A.S.T.Y crew member Mak 10.

Expect to hear funky, grime, dubstep and bassline: not to mention the hottest dubs out there.

It all goes down at the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane. £5 in.

FREE Techno

Courtesy of one the most highly regarded techno labels out there, Belgium's R & S, are four free tracks of high quality, if some what chilled out electronica. These tracks explore the more ambient side of R & S a label synonymous with forward thinking acts such as Aphex Twin, and Model 500.

Get 'em here

Fake Blood - Fix your Accent (Cheap Thrills)

After what feels like an eternity out of the game the mysterious Fake Blood (Theo Keating a.k.a. Touché, Black Ghost & one half of the Wiseguys) returns from the wilderness with a new three track e.p. entitled ‘Fix your Accent’ on Herve’s Cheap Thrills imprint. Although he's released a string of high-profile remixes there's been an unmistakeable lack of original material over the past year or so. Fans simply expecting a rehash of the anthem Mars may be disappointed as Fake Blood persues a new disco-tinged direction.

Title track ‘Fix your Accent’ reminds me of Oizo’s disco material whilst ‘The Dozen’ takes a maximal Justice-esque approach to straight up house grooves complete with a jackin Baltimore breakdown. For me the stand out track is ‘I Think I Like It’ a disco-house stormer with sharp building strings and a subtle percussion line. I’ve no idea where the cut-up vocal sample is lifted from but if anyone out there does get in touch.

I doubt this will reach the anthem status of ‘Mars’ but that doesn’t deny its status as a top quality release. Though contemporaries seem to be opting for a more maximal bass-heavy approach to house music Fake Blood has stayed one step ahead of the game with a refreshing E.P. that will continue to cement his reputation as one of the finest producers in the UK right now.

Check the previews here: http://www.datasapiens.net/2009/08/fix-your-accent-ep/
Buy it here: http://www.phonicarecords.com/product/view/58109

Rustie - 'Bad Science' (Wireblock)

Although filed in the Dubstep section of many record stores Rustie’s sound seems to hold more in common with the low-slung sounds of Atlanta strip clubs than with a sound synonymous with suburban London and Bristol. What Rustie does have in common with a select few ‘dubstep’ producers, most notably Joker (with whom he recently collaborated with on ‘Play Doe’) and Zomby is a forward thinking outlook fuelled by a love of underground electronic and video games. Rustie's eclectic, off-kilter sounds is difficult to pin down with his own term 'aquacrunk' being used liberally to describe his diverse sonic offerings.

At times new E.P. ‘Bad Science’ sounds like the theme music to a secret level in Sonic 1- one in which Dr Robotnik’s minions are replaced by metallic strippers. Opener ‘Tar’ effortlessly melds the Southern beats of Drumma Boy (T.I., Rich Boy, Young Jeezy) with hypnotic, pitched synths- over which Rustie layers multiple cut up samples creating a audible blow to the senses. It’s uneasy, yet stimulating listening.

Title track ‘Bad Science’ has seemingly been around for months thanks to live airings from a plethora of dj’s including Kode 9, Wireblock head-honcho Jackmaster and Kiss Fm’s Sinden. Again, Rustie employs wind up samples and bleeps over 808 kicks before launching into a, quite simply, huge drop which speaks not of sweaty, underground clubs but of main rooms. Put simply; it’s rave fodder in its purest form.

Although evocative the futurist sounds employed by Rustie need to be put in some perspective. Though original Rustie’s sound clearly has one foot firmly lodged in the past; owing a massive debt to late 80’s and early 90’s video games and early techno. In this sense Rustie’s music is a continuation of the principals of ‘space music’ first alluded to by Juan Atkins. Furthermore, it may be suggested that this E.P. acts as part of a growing trend towards ‘futurist revisionism’ or a modern reinterpretation of cultural movements musically expressed by a diverse cannon of artists including the Bellville Four and the second wave of Krautrock acts, throughout the 1980’s.

The reanimation of futurist principals and ideas comes full circle on the E.P’s flip-side which sees Heinrich Mueller (Drexcyia, Dopplereffekt, Arpanet etc) drafted in to remix Rustie’s ‘Zig-Zag’. Mueller’s work is synonymous with fusing the glacial template of Kraftwerk with a technological approach to music production. The result is staggering as he produces an eerie, hypnotic slice of experimental hip-hop.

Whilst title track ‘Bad Science’ suggests that this E.P. will be an exploration of the more club friendly side of ‘aquacrunk’ as a body of work it serves more as an example of the ever evolving closeness between experimental and mainstream electronica. Although Rustie employs a range of obtuse and unconventional samples throughout ‘Bad Science’ it remains a thoroughly enjoyable journey through experimental hip-hop; proving not only extremely listenable but challenging and greatly rewarding.

Check out 'Bad Science' here