for monthly emails, send request to:

Upcoming live shows

The VIllage Orchestra, Erstlaub, Mandelbrot Set, Fighting Kites
2008-08-31
Cafe Oto, Dalston, London, UK
click for more info

Production Unit
2008-09-05
w/ Various Production, Jackmaster
Sub Club, Glasgow, UK
click for more info

The Village Orchestra, Production Unit
2008-10-23
w/ A.R.E. Weapons, SJ Esau
Last.fm/Netaudio night at Shunt, London, UK
click for more info

the Highpoint Bloglife

Friday, August 15, 2008

hangover lounge

hello! ICA was fun last night, tho there is something rather dodgy with the sound system in the bar at the moment, so all our tracks had no bass and weird midrange. Should hopefully be sorted by next month's slot. Bar staff were all super nice tho and quite busy, so we had a fun evening!

if you're in London, you are heading along to Wifey on saturday, right??! Should be ace.

Well, on sunday, you're gonna feel rough tho - so get yourself along to the Hangover Lounge, where i'll be doing a laid back disco, soul, dub and indiepop afternoon DJ slot and eating a nice sunday roast!

Labels: dj, gig

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

toosday

yar! friday night was ace fun, thanks loads to Ed for having us along, and definitely go set up your own online store at http://peoplesmusicstore.com/ - now out of beta and open to the public. I think it's an excellent concept - basically allowing anyone to open their own download store, stocking it with their own choice of music from the catalog carried by the service, allowing you to completely customise and take away your store - anything you sell, you get a cut from, as does the label and of course, the people's music store get a little bit for setting up the infrastructure to allow you to do your own thing.

Highlights of the evening for me were Ikonika's DJ set, and then seeing I-F play after we had finished about 4:30am. Arthur Baker was pretty fun, just playing big disco tunes, and DMX Krew put in a lot of effort, doing cover versions of loads of classic electro. I didn't get to check out much of 808 State as they were on at the same time as Ikonika.

Quite a busy week for DJing - me, mat and max are gonna be along in the ICA bar on thursday night for the second HPLL night, which should be a laid back affair, and then on sunday, i'll be DJing at The Hangover Lounge, a sunday club run by a friend of mine at the Salmon and Compass pub in Islington.

Labels: dj, drunk

Friday, August 8, 2008

nosehair pt II

hello! slightly self-indulgent of me to be posting up these mixes, but here's part two of the Nasty As Nosehair mix, this is the more techny/dubstep end:

http://highpointlowlife.com/downloads/nastyasnosehairmixptii.mp3

tracklisting is:

1. Voltaic - Darkhaze
2. Funckarma - Nays Of Dight
3. Zomby - Liquid Dancehall
4. Joker - Snake Eater
5. Martyn - Vancouver
6. ASUSU - Bruwa
7. Timeblind - Wander The Earth Like Cane
8. Kit Clayton - Aspoket
9 Geoim - Reminissin
10. Surgeon - Whose Bad Hands Are These (Autechre Mix)
11. Young Bloods - Burning Up
12. Redshape - Steam
13. Maurice - This Is Acid
14. The Marcia Blaine School For Girls - Team
15. The Village Orchestra - 2562 remix
16. Chip E - Time To Jack
17. DJ Maxximus - Rms
18. Natasja - Ildebrand I Byen 2000F Dub Remix
19. Zomby - The Lie

Labels: dj, downloads, mixtapes

Thursday, August 7, 2008

nasty as nosehair

yar, been kinda hectic with the Stray Ghost release and getting some promotion out for the upcoming Towards The Singularity gig - all good stuff!

Theres an excellent gig on tomorrow evening in london, Nitefreq with 808 State, I-f and Arthur Russel all playing in the main room. The small room is a party hosted by People's Music Store, where me and Mat/Fisk will be playing a 2 hour back to back DJ slot - it's gonna be a tough one to follow as we'll be on right after the amazing Ikonika (saw her DJing again on sunday at FWD - she's sooo good!!). I've been putting together a big set in Ableton for it. Heres a hip hop styled run-through i did last night and rendered as mp3:

Nasty As Nosehair Mix

tracklisting is:
1. Dev79 feat. Bezel - That Philly Shit
2. Flying Lotus - Robo Tussin feat Lil Wayne
3. J Live - The Upgrade (instrumental)
4. Ad Bourke - Flight Deck
5. Cappablack - Facades and Skeletons
6. Viktor Vaughn - Raedawn
7. Up Hygh - Acid
8. Busta Rhymes - How We Do
9. Bretzel Zoo - The Dunk
10. Frank N Dank - Spitkicker
11. Miles Benjiman - Chop That Wood (instrumental)
12. Kirby Ditko - Hulk Smash

(p.s the title "Nasty As Nosehair" comes from a line in the Viktor Vaughn track!)
(p.p.s theres one bit at the end of the mix where i seem to have forgot the delay is on!)

Labels: dj, downloads, gigs, mixtapes

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

chocky

I've been throwing loads of design work at mat lately!
He's put together an amazingly nice flyer for our upcoming "Towards The Singularity" gig at the end of August, based up on a cover image for John Wyndham's Chocky. This crop on this post doesn't do the art justice (I use the Gimp at work for any image editing and it never seems to resize images without losing a lot of quality - prob due to my not knowing how best to use it). I'll post up a proper copy on the home page of the site next week.

He's almost done with the Stray Ghost artwork too, so we should be on track for a release date beginning of august.

Tomorrow night see's the start of a monthly Highpoint Lowlife DJ slot at the ICA bar in London. However - i'm not going to be there! Rather unfortunately, i need to head back to Glasgow for the weekend, but the ICA bar will be in the good hands of Mat/Fisk and Max. If you're in the area, drop in and say hello to them!

more from me next week..

Labels: artwork, dj, gigs, ICA, upcoming releases

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

dubTechno2StepAcidBassline mix

while preparing for DJing at the upcoming Funckarma release parties, i've been assembling a set in Ableton Live. I made a recording this past weekend of the more uptempo tracks which beat-match. I was pretty happy with the results, it seems to have turned out all right - from 2step to bassline via some 303!

Download here.

Tracklisting is:

thorsten's dubTechno2StepAcidBassline mix

1. Ramadanman - Kablammo Eleven
2. Appleblim - Vansan
3. TRG - Broken Heart (Martyn's DCM Remix)
4. 2562 - Enforcers
5. Peverelist - Infinity Is Now
6. Kit Clayton - Aspoket
7. Plastician - Cha
8. Voltaic - Darkhaze
9. Acid Jack - Mookie (Curses! Making You Nervous Mix)
10. Boy 8 Bit - Fogbank
11. Surgeon - Whose Bad Hands Are These (Autechre mix)
12. Ron Hardy - Welcome To The Club
13. Theo Parish - Falling Up (Carl Craig mix)
14. Blaqstar - Shake it to the ground (Drop The Lime remix)
15. DJ Pierre - Box Energy
16. Ron Carrol - Walking Down The Street
17. Ramadanman - Carla
18. Lethal Bizzle - Mr (produced by Dexplicit)
19. Adonis - No Way Back
20. Gescom - D1
21. The Village Orchestra - 2652 remix

Labels: dj, downloads, mixes

Friday, April 11, 2008

djing and podcast this weekend

hey! couple of things this weekend..

if you're in London, I'll be DJing at the Last.fm Presents 'Boy Better Know' night. Should be really good, i'm excited to see Skepta and JME. Not so much about Afrikan Boy - me and Mat/Fisk saw him supporting Bassclef a few months back, and it must have been the most painful performance i've seen in a long time! I'll be on early, opening the proceedings, then proceeding to drink all the free beer! Event is free, but do come early as they stop letting people in when its full.

I've put together a 40 minute mix of new and upcoming HPLL stuff for the Electronic Explorations podcat, which i believe is going out this weekend. Featuring brand new tracks from Feld, Funckarma, Production Unit, and a few things from Magnetism, plus some other stuff. I'm really happy with how the mix came out.
If you haven't checked it out before, the Electronic Explorations podcast is excellent and well worth checking out - weekly 1 1/2 hour shows with a 40 minute mix from guest producers. Theres been 19 so far, including mixes from The Village Orchestra, Surgeon, Milanese, Boxcutter, Neil Landstrumm and loads more.

Labels: boy better know, dj, jme, last.fm, podcast, skepta

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

[re]views

I found out on a forum this morning that the Scuba record, "A Mutual Antipathy", has been delayed a week, however i managed to get an *ahem* listening copy today. I'm on my second listen and enjoying it a lot. Forget any preconceptions about it being a dubstep record, its just a really great electronic record with super sweet production on it. Occasionally The synths and melodies can sometimes tend a little towards the sacharine for my taste, but theres ample low-end and rhythmic/percussive inventiveness to keep interest fully engaged. I really like how its all basically mixed together, one track flows straight into the next and as a whole its a really well thought out album that ebbs and flows in a really organic manner.

Bought a few other downloads this morning too:

Disrupt / Rootah split digital release. Both of these are listed separately as physical 10" releases, but sold together a one digital download which is pretty decent. Both sides are really damn good, but i think the Disrupt side pulls a little higher - production sounds authentically old and analog, big aquatic basslines carefully woven together with 8-bit melodies and bounced seemingly endlessly through echo and delay. Rootah side is slightly more traditional reggae sounding. Both releases feature Mikey Murka's vocal, with a soft rolling singing mc style, which I just found out is called singjay. factoid of the day!

Starkey - Bounce/Prism. Didn't know anything about this guy before, but just readin on his lastfm biog entry that he's an american, out of philly with releases on Slit Jockey and Werk. I really like these two tracks, taking a slow dubstep bassheavy template as a starting point, and applying it to a more slowed down hip hop/bmore/party sound. I might need to check into the rest of his releases too...

My excuse for buying more records than i can afford this week, is that i'm now DJing on saturday. Its the last.fm/presents Boy Better Know party at The Old Blue Last, with JME and Skepta. I'm on early, opening the proceedings, but if yer the neighbourhood, come say hello!

Labels: dj, reviews

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Redshape and Rustie

No, not on the same bill, which would be astoundingly good, but two totally unrelated mixes i've been listening to!

I'm planning to head up to Glasgow next month to see Redshape play at Numbers alongside The Village Orchestra which should be ace. I've been really excited about Redshape for a few months now, and been tracking down as much as i can from him. His own site at http://www.shapedworld.com/ doesn't have much info, just his discography. Hiding in the listings there you'll find a link to download "Redshape Live At ADE 2006". Its pretty excellent.

I was checking Rustie's myspace this morning again, and hadn't noticed before a link to http://www.thisisluckyme.com, a loose collective of scottish DJs and producers. They have a download section there which includes a mix from Rustie which is well worth downloading, full of well chunky hip hop.
Theres also a pretty interesting Rustie interview over at http://lazeruspit.blogspot.com/2008/01/rustie-interview.html. Curiously I think he looks quite like Kit Clayton in that image!

Labels: dj, downloads, mix, mixtapes, redshape, rustie

Thursday, January 17, 2008

new mix

I recorded this last night, just sorta selecting tunes for DJing at "Magnetism, That Electricity.." next saturday.
A blend of hip hop, electronica and dubstep, just pretty much going for a chunky head nodding set. A lot of these are tunes i been picking up recently which i've been really feeling.
Download the mix here.

Tracklisting is:
1. Cool Kids - Black Mags
2. Modeselektor - The Death Medley
3. Ghislain Poirier - Hit & Red
4. Andreas Tilliander - Stay Down
5. Mic Terror - Gold Around My Neck (prod. by Tony Baines)
6. Jay-Z - excuse me miss (rustie rmx)
7. Loefah - Yours
8. Chipmunk - If Only You Believed
9. Benga - Dominion
10. Madvillain - Accordion
11. Headhunter - Drop The Waste
12. Skepta - Serious Thugs Dub
13. The Bug - Poison Dart (Skream remix)
14. Plastic Little - Crambodia (pink skull remix)

I've been discovering a lot of great chicago hip hop at the moment - the Cool Kids, Mic Terror, Million $ Mano. I picked up the Cool Kids track from emusic.com, and the Mic Terror track is from a mixtape you can download on his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/micterrormusic. Mat/Fisk has been a big fan of Ghislain Poirier and from what i had heard i was quite into it, but after listening to his recent Bastard Bass mix over at Pitchfork Media, i'm totally sold! excellent mix. Andreas Tilliander's couple of recent releases which he describes as "Acidub" have me totally addicted. The one on this mix is prob my fav, "Stay Down", but also really feeling "Bonnadub". The Jay-Z track - well, like everyone else i get wet finding any new Rustie tracks! I think that was from his myspace page. Loefah is a new one sided vinyl - tho i apologise for the quality of this rip - i need to re-rip it as the bass just sounds distorted. Chipmunk track is ace fun, and then closing the mix with a couple of dubstep tracks and then an excellent track from Plastic Little, which i believe is Spank Rock, Ghostface Killah and Amanda Blank - I'm slightly confused by the credits on the 12" - from the 12 it looks like the band name is called Crambodia, but when i try and google info on it, the band seems to be called Plastic Little.

anyhoo, hope you enjoy the mix!

Labels: ableton, dj, downloads, gig, live show, mixtapes

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

glesga kiss mix

hello!
I been fooling around mixing in Ableton for the past few weeks for the couple of DJ gigs i've had recently. Mostly when i've been playing out i tend to mix up the styles of music, so quite often its not really beat matched, but at home i have been enjoying being able to just mix detroit and minimal techno. A few influences should be mentioned - a couple of months back i was reading Simon Reynold's Energy Flash, which is pretty decent - the first half of the book is ace and covers early chicago and detroit through the early wave of acidhouse and into hardcore and raves, and more recently listening to the Rob Hall mix series. Anyhow yeah, i have been through several iterations of this mix, but this is the one which i guess i'm happy to leave it at. Nothing special, but kinda fun if you fancy a listen. Mix is uploaded at:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?7mjz2xnjt9o

Tracklisting is:

1. Seldom Felt - A1
2. Redshape - Steam
3. The Village Orchestra - What Time Is Made Of
4. Siobhan Donaghy - Don't Give Up (Carl Craig Dub)
5. Emptyset - Isokon
6. Redshape - Pink Dust
7. Lil' Louis - French Kiss
8. Quantec - T1 0
9. Mark Ashken - Roots Died Brown ( Skream remix)
10. 2562 - Circulate
11. Shed - Solitude Straight
12. MLZ - M-Brane
13. Gescom - D1
14. Leftover - Response
15. Wasteland - Doomed
16. Kaman Leung - Lacriminal
17. Todd Terry - Bango

[me being a young drunk dj!]

Labels: ableton, dj, downloads, mix