back to the blog!

this past weeks been a bit too hectic to scribble much on here, but back to work now, tuesday morning, things are ticking along and my boss is on holiday, so i'll have a lazy start to the day while penning about a couple of things i've been listening to this past week..

Frank N Dank "Xtended Play Version 3.13"
When we were doing the Plastic People gig last week, i got talking with the sound man, Slim, about J Dilla, and he asked if i'd heard of Frank N Dank - he described it as hip hop mixed with detroit techno. I hadn't heard any of it, and downloaded an album to check out. The one i grabbed is "Xtended Play Version 3.13" which is excellent, but on further investigation, its not all produced by Dilla, and actually some of the better tracks are done by different producers.
I'll need to find some of the earlier Dilla produced Frank N Dank still, but i would highly recommend Xtended Play. Check the full list of producers at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xtended_Play_Version_3.13

Hayzee - Next Level
Slightly Dilla related - i joined the DILLA group on last.fm, and found a recommendation to check out Hayzee. Their myspace doesn't list the members, but from the photograph, its three guys, from Amsterdam, doing an excellent take on 8-bit hip hop. Easily falling within the current batch of producers from Flying Lotus to Rustie, with skewed tumbling hip hop beats, big midrange synths, and bleepy Mario-style melodies. They have a full 8 track album for free download linked from their myspace page, and its pretty infectious stuff. Some of it is a bit too close to the formula you can imagine just from the description "8bit hip hop", but other tracks are total standout productions, such as "Press Start" and "Last Boss/Final Form".

Mike Dearborn - DJ set from the Smartbar, Chicago, march 2008
Just found this mix this morning via Fun In The Murky. 2 hour deep dubby techno set, starting out pretty mellow and basic channel sounding, working up into some classic old chicago and detroit techno. I wish i had a track listing for it, as theres a bunch of old stuff i recognize but couldn't name, some old classics i remember from Glasgow's Tin Pan Alley, back in '90/'91.
excellent stuff!

Phantom Channel Presents - Part 2
Second release from Phantom Channel, who i've written about a wee while back. 13 tracks of really sublime organic ambience, drone and experimental recordings. Still delving into this one, but so far, all sounds excellent!

Ikonika
Just wanted to say a few words about her DJ set at Plastic People last week - absolutely top notch! Really excellent selection of tunes, hefty bass-weight, but leaning more towards 2step than dubstep, really uptempo and dancefloor friendly, and almost completely stuff i didn't recognise. Her mixing skills are tight as hell and she was constantly working the decks. Everyone was up on the floor for her set and loving it. She's playing Plastic People again at the end of the month for FWD>>, and i'll definitely be along to see her play again.

Ramadanman and Pangea
The day after our Plastic People gig, I took the Funcken brothers out around london to see what was on, and I had spied a free Hessle Audio night down at Cafe1001, off Brick Lane. I usually hate that venue, its so overly crowded with hipsters and scenesters (is there a difference? painfully fashionable anyhoo!), and tonite wasn't much different, but it well worth checking out, as Ramandanman and Pangea's back to back DJing selection was impeccable, lots of their own productions being played leaning towards that same outside-genre as Martyn's productions - elements of techno, dubstep, 2step, mixed together effortlessly and really enjoying themselves.

The Cool Kids - That's STUPID
And.. haven't heard it yet, but The Cool Kids, recent XL Recordings signing, release their new mixtape, That's STUPID", via their myspace later today.