Late contender for tune of the year?

Picked up Part II of the Juan MacLean's 'Happy House' Remix series featuring the brilliant Chateu Flight whose contribution fuses a clear, crisp beat with wonderful vocals and some great percussion work. Check it here, well recommended.

This year's biggest comeback (after Raekwon)

Really didn't see this one coming....yes R. Kelly, arguably the biggest name in R'n'B is back with a new track. Like a lot of his output of late it's totally original and could only come from a man who wrote, starred in and yes sung his own 'hipopera'.

I'm not going to give too much away but check it out here

some of the lines are gold:
Never felt nothing like this,
she’s more than a mistress,
bout to handle my business and put that girl in my kitchen

Zinc - Essential Mix

It's been a quiet few months for the Essential Mix following some massive mixes in the first few months of 2009 (Jesse Rose, Joris Voorn etc) and of course Garnier/Lawler in successive weeks in May. However this week saw a real return to form with Zinc stepping up to showcase his 'crack house' sound. Anyone who's seen him over the past few months will know that Zinc has (thankfully) given up DnB altogether and has focused more on a bass driven 4x4 sound embracing the jacking 'fidget' sound of the Count & Sinden and the harder edge of funky i.e. Hard House Banton, N.B. Funky. Check it here

Real standout is the Ms. Dynamite vocalled 'Wile Out'. Basically it's her MC-ing over Blunt Edge but it really works in the dance and has been getting cained on Rinse amongst others. Listen here

Free Hatcha Mixtape

Coursety of Blackdown (big up) is a free Hatcha mixtape from late 2001/early 2002. It features the clipped minimal sound which defined early dubstep and features multiple dubs from the likes of Skream, Benga, and Benni Ill (of Horsepower Productions). Enjoy it here

Tracklist (according to Skream)

Skream and Benga - The Judgment
Benga - Star Wars
Skream - ?
Skream - Dubsteppa
Macarbre Unit - Its All About
Benga - Skank
Benga - Skank VIP
Jameson - Switch
Skream N Benga - WAR BOOTLEG
Dubchild - Roll That,Light It,Smoke It
Benga - The Virus
Skream - The Bug
Menta - Jacknife
Jammin - Tonka - Menta Remix
Benga - Full Cycle
??
Benni Ill Vs Hatcha - Highland Spring
Skream - Futures Dark
Skream - CapeFear

Oxia - Whole Life

Number 1 on last month's Resident Advisor is a slab of tribal heavy house from France. Really enjoying this one, heavy rotation from Anja Schneider, Sven Vath, Luciano etc

Check it here

A while out the game

Sorry about the lack of updates, only a handful of people read this stuff anyway....

Of late two things have stuck out to me: One, dubstep is pretty much done. Two, Ricardo Villalobos is possibly the most exceptional artist of the decade.

First things first, dubstep. In 2005/6 it was without question the most exciting thing in the world of electronic music. Guys like Skream, Loefah and Shackleton's application of a minimalist aesthetic (especially the latter) to the 2 x 4 template of UKG and Grime created a sonic landscape of distinctly British sound. The clubs were drenched in sweat and the bass was deafening at times but the energy and intensity of the music was something else. But now? The most exciting producers still associated with dubstep (Bok Bok, Dead Boy, Jam City, Oneman etc) are moving into new territories way down at 130-136 bpm, whilst the void up at 140 seems almost solely occupied by sub-wobble donk for students and cheap soundsystems. Plastic horns coupled with the 'womp' of Caspa, Rusko, 16 Bit etc has essentially created the lowest common denominator of the 'ardcor Continuum. It's sad but it's becoming unlistenable. Basically dubstep seems to have become everything which is wrong about drum and bass, and drum and bass fans in particular (no offence to any on here, but post-97 it's all a bit.....rubbish)

Two (far more uplifting)

fabric celebrated it's 10th brithday bash of late with quite honestly the mother of all shindigs. For a full 32 hours the club was going all guns blazing (and for a fair few more on Monday morning in chill out mode). I was only there for Sunday afternoon/evening but it was undoubtedly one of the most uplifting experiences of my life. The crowd was superb: up for it, unpretencious and teeming with pretty girls with smeared mascara...nice. The real draw though was the music: Ivan Smagghe, Steve 'The General Bug', Rub-n-Tug, Daniel Bell, Daniel Wang, Nacho etc were all straight fire but one man above all made it the great event it was: Ricardo Villalobos.

Villalobos is without a question the most innovative man in dance music over the past few years. His dancefloor productions (MDMA, Lugohitz etc) are impeccable but anyone can make a dancefloor banger these days. What really sets him apart are the dynamic shifts and subtleties within his music, whether remixing Shackleton or blurring the lines between Berlin MnMl and Chilian Folk he is always in total control. In all honesty I was a little worse for wear during his set but the mixing and track selection was impeccable. I've been to fabric mulitple times but no-one has worked the dancefloor like that. Majestic, the subpar dubstep boys could learn a lot.

Upcoming in the next few? Dead Prez/K-Lash at Koko next Friday followied by the Trouble and Bass Crew at Fabric with Herve and Zombie Disco Squad. Missed Nat Self at T-Bar this weekend (did see Anja Schneider though, wicked set how anyone can make 'Diva' sound fresh again has got to have something going for them) so really up for ZDS.

Also tracked this down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I05QvTXMys it's by Luciano and is without question one of the biggest dancefloor bootlegs I've heard in ages. It really stands out from the Michael Jackson refixs coming out left, right and centre.