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