Pinch and Shackleton

It pains me to have to talk of UK Dubstep, but comparing the North American variety with the gems coming out of Bristol and London is such a mismatch that I'd hate to tar Messrs Pinch and Shackleton with the same brush as their indie-wanabee-bass-head-counterparts across the water...

If you don't that think UK dubstep is so much better, you can check out every track on their new album in the video playlist below...


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Who is Ekiti Son?

Ekiti Son lives in the deep south of London. He is as reclusive as the late great J Dilla was. His beats fall somewhere in beyond Flying Lotus, Madlib, MF Doom and Dilla himself. I say beyond, because Ekiti Son's eclecticism is British. His beats are for the coffee table, to be chewed over by aficionados and ultra-hipsters.

It's hard to know where to start with Ekiti Son's output. He has already put out so much material on his Bandcamp page. So I´ve gone with a selection: Ekiti Son Specialities, which is a wicked beat tape featuring the choicest samples. A must for any beat head or budding MC...



And then I must include one of Ekiti Son´s own albums - the mighty Incarnadine.



Show some love for this music - and for artists publishing themselves :)

Happenstancer Mixtape 3 - Tayo, Roots Manuva, Flying Lotus, Sufjan Stevens

Detail from Leonardo Da Happenstancer's photo montage "The Last Tune"...



TRACKLIST <--->

Purple Brain:Tripping And Rapping With Paul White

Paul White gets 7 of the best rappers around at the moment (including Guilty Simpson, Danny Brown and Homeboy Sandman) into the studio with him, records some blisteringly raw hip hop - then blows himself away with a set of instrumentals that are even better. That Madlib had the same problem on Madvillainy shows how good a producer Paul White is.

So what do you prefer? The original with Guilty Simpson, or the instrumental?

Listen/Download Paul White feat. Guilty Simpson - Trust



Listen/Download Paul White - Trust (instrumental)

If you prefer the instrumental version, check out Paul White and The Purple Brain - a psychedelic beats album released in 2010.

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Shed - Shedding The Past (2008)

Looking for more Berlin (or US versions of...), dubby techno sounds, I stumbled upon Shed's 2008 album, Shedding The Past. It is true techno music. Apparently, Shed was originally an East German product of 90s techno culture after the Wall came down. although it wasn't until 2008 that he put out this debut album.

For me, It still sounds fresh three years later. More lively than his more repetitive Berlin counterparts, Shed's beats manage to be funky within a strict 4 to the floor framework.

Lots of good racks on this album, but my favourite is the intriguingly titled 'Estrange'.

MORE DUBBY TECHNO TINGS ON HAPPENSTANCERADIO.COM

Happenstance Mixtape 2 - Guido, Gonjasufi, Superpitcher, Dan Deacon, Primal Scream, Rolling Stones...

Sometimes music takes you out of your comfort zone in a nice way, gently lulling you with headphone candy then before you know it you are off you your chair, rocking....


1. Gonjasufi - Kowboyz & Indians

2. Clutchy Hopkins - 3:02
3. J Dilla - Workinonit
4. Guido - The Way You Make Me Feel
5. Dr Octagon - Earth People
6. Hugh Masekela - The Boy’s Doin’ It (Carl Craig remix)
7. Grace Jones- William’s Blood (Aeroplane remix)
8. Gonjasufi - Love Reign (Bear In Heaven remix)
9. William Onyeabor - Better Change Your Mind
10. Rolling Stones - Under My Dub
11. Superpitcher - Black Magic
12. Mental Overdrive - Pi
13. Dan Deacon - Snookered
14. Primal Scream - Stuka (TLS remix)
15. Fuck Buttons - Olympians

Mark Ratcliff Rude Audio - That Dirty Echo

There is a nice interview with Mark Ratcliff in Happenstance Radio music blogs this week, where he explains why it's necessary to drive across London at midnight to hear Andrew Weatherall DJ...

Mark's not a bad selector himself. Here he is a mix he did for Happenstance Radio earlier this year (NB. Any fuck ups in the mixing is due to bad editing by me :))...

 

Check out the sources of Mark's inspiration on the Rude Audio website and Facebook page.

And here you can see Mark play out on Wednesday nights at Happenstance Radio's night in Dalston.

Com Truise - Cyanide Sisters vs. Galactic Melt

The beauty of Tom Cruise, sorry Com Truise!, is that he makes the 80s seem like the epitome of retro cool. Man, he even makes Tom Cruise cool, I watched Risky Business (1983) again and it was alright...The new album Galactic Melt is polished and a solid album, but Cyanaide Sisters shades it for me because it captures the 80s sleazy Cronenburg (think Videodrome) movie vibe so well.

'Slow Peels' is one of a few standout tracks on Cyanaide Sisters...

Deepchord (Rod Modell) - Hash-Bar Loops

What a great album. Deepchord (Rod Modell) has really evolved the dub techno sound. The new direction, with stronger beats and basslines mixed with field recordings from the city (Amsterdam) is a real winner. Interesting fact...Rod Modell ceremoniously gave up the master cut of this album "to the murky depths of an Amsterdam canal as an act of gratitude to the city@ - for inspiring this music. Here is the video of this unusual and beautiful act...



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Andrew Weatherall mix, Toddla T, Roots Manuva and a remix...

Andrew Weatherall on his recent purple patch: " I feel like the proverbial conductor on Titanic – as the music industry sinks I’m the busiest I’ve ever been."
Praise The Lord.

Check out this remix of Toddla T and Roots Manuva, out on August 1 on Ninja Tune.

A Decade of Flying Lotus mixed by Gaslamp Killer

10 years of unreleased Lotus, remixed by the master blaster Gaslamp Killer...



Speaking of The Gaslamp Killer, we saw him at his gig with Gonjasufi in London last year and he did this amazing mix with a Jimi Hendrix song. Does anyone know what the song is?

CLICK HERE FOR ANOTHER GASLAMP KILLER MIX

Happenstance Mixtape - AFX, Carl Craig, Can, Saint Etienne, Dilla, Fuck Buttons...

A mixtape dedicated to the ambiguities that spice up our everyday lives...



1. Out Hud - The L Train Is a Swell Train and I Don't Want to Hear You Indies Complain
2. Deadbeat - Gimme A Little Slack 
3. Moderat - Slow Match 
4. Zap Mama feat. Erykah Badu - Bandy Bandy (Carl Craig remix)
5. Jaylib - Champion Sound
6. White Rainbow - Pulses
7. Tobacco - Little Pink Riding Hood
8. Saint Etienne - Your Head My Voice {Aphex Twin remix}
9. Can - Star of Bethlehem
10. Gentle Giant - Funny Ways 
11. Madvillain - Great Day {Four Tet remix}
12. Four Tet - Swimmer
13. Falling Free - Curve {Aphex Twin remix}
14. Fuck Buttons - Surf Solar


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Kangding Ray - Or vs. Automne Fold

Kangding Ray's 'Automne Fold' came out around the same time as Portishead's Third and there are definite similarities in style on the two vocal tracks - which says a lot for Portishead's taste (my feeling is that David Letellier got in there first....).

The vocals are a  factor that might make Automne Fold more accessible than Or (sorry for tainting with pop sensibilities, but time is so short and so much music to listen to...). But that's only two tracks with vocals - the rest of the album is rich in broodiness, and again the nouveau trip-hop connection is there in tracks which sound like Massive Attack without the vocals on Heligoland -  which also came after this Kangding Ray album - remixed by Burial. Hold on a minute, wasn't that Burial / Massive Attack project meant to happen?

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'OR' is a darker, sparser album that puts Kangding Ray and his Berlin label Raster Noton once again at the cutting edge of minimal techno. Together this output makes Kangding Ray the unsung hero of moody electronica - anybody that can out innovate Portishead and Burial deserves to be a legend.

MORE ON 'OR' HERE.

DJ Tayo meets Pupajim

Do you know what a 'steppa rhythm' is? One of the great dancefloor moments, DJ Tayo's production of Pupajim on 'Vampayaa', is the perfect example. Boom. Boom. Bsssh. Bom. Boom. Boom. Bsssh. Bom. You can't put the words dub, version, step, roots, even reggae on next to your name unless you can pull off a real righteous steppa rhythm. Any producer making claims out there, better check against the Vampayaa standard. Pure gold.

Tayo met PupaJim at a Glazart gig in Paris. The word was out that Pupajim had a wicked reggae voice, along the lines of Paul St Hilaire. This was enough for Tayo to set to work laying down the dub and bass...I asked Tayo about how this monumental rhythm came to be.:

 " Actually, 'Vampayaa' was originally going to be a breakbeat track coming out on Paul Arnold's Chew The Fat label. But I realised I'm not into breakbeat anymore [This from one of the pioneers of breakbeat in the UK!]. So I reworked the sample "version style", and turned it into a steppas tune wrote a brass section, and sent it to 'Jim. He wrote the lyrics and it became Vampayaa"

The rest is a small but significant piece of new wave dub history.

LISTEN NOW

When Gonjasufi came to London...

...Happenstance Radio caught Gonjasufi (real name Sumach Valentine) coming out of the changing rooms about 40 minutes before the gig was due to start. (It was his first ever gig in London at Electrowerkz, September 2010). Sumach seemed busy but he was amiable and relaxed - he didn't mind pausing for this photo. Great shot, isn't it? You can see the peace he cultivates through his regular spiritual exercise (he is also a yoga master in California), a peace that was to explode in extraordinary style during is gig with Gaslamp Killer...

VIEW CLIPS FROM ELECTROWERKZ GIG