The edit has always been a vital part of dance culture and the current state of artists and DJs utilising editing into their mixing and overall act is more than ever before. The current underground ‘Nu-Disco’ movement has gained a huge amount of steam in the past few years, coming from partly house drop-outs and also from funk and disco enthusiasts. The one thing tying them together is the art of the edit. It enables them to put a new spin on older tracks which allows a newer audience to enjoy the sounds from that time. Rather than simply becoming a revival of sounds, the cross-section of tunes picked for editing and chosen for a mix are wide and vast and all this makes an exciting and progressive scene. 2000 & Disco proves that older music can still evolve to this day, years after it has been released. New listeners and DJs can connect with these tracks from their own perspective and if an edit can make a records more relevant to a modern audience then everyone is a winner.
dbe 3's is a new feature where we get a guest to write about 3 of anything they want, be it 'new artist to watch for', 'new label', 'mc', 'singer' or even a curve-ball like 'best takeaway food' or probably more suitable ' best new dj equipment'. But it's not up to us to select the categories. Each guest writer will update you with his/her top 3's in order to get a broader picture of the state of bass in today's ever-changing music scene. Our first 3's is selected by dbe man SK. Take it away...
1) Label to watch in 2011 - PTN Records
Last year the ever prolific and out-there label RAMP started a new sub-label called PTN. Covering a more stripped down basement sound with elements of funky, house and tribal, the label's debut release came from Doc Daneeka, the “Deadly Rhythm” EP. The EP recieved play from Gilles Peterson, Marcus Nasty, Sinden, Kode 9, Brackles, Oneman and Martyn over the resulting months. Following that Hackman, who along with Doc Daneeka, featured in FACT Mag’s top 10 producers to watch for the year, released the "More Than Ever" EP. On the back of an appearance on Fabric's famed "Elevator Music' comp a few months before, Hackman's release started a peaked interest in the label. The two debut EP's undoubtedly had grasped the perfection of utilising rhythm and bass to ultimate measure. The label then released what was to be probably it's most succesfull release yet with the MONSTER that is Breach's "Fatherless" 12". Featured on dbe's TOP 10 of the year, the record, backed with an almost equally devastating Doc Daneeka remix, was played out by almost everyone with an interest in dance music over the 2nd half of the year and still to this day. Following that were debut releases by Brackles & Shortstuff's friend DJ Dom (whom a debut album is on course for PTN in the future), and a euphoric 12" from Deep Teknologi stalwart T. Williams. Next in line is a Adele sampling 12" from Hackman, and the future is most certainly bright and funky for the now year old PTN.
Hugely dark, broken and emotive music has been hard to come by in the past year, mostly due to the party aesthetics that new producers seem keen to build on (which is not a bad thing, just tiresome sometimes). However, duo Downliners Sekt. have been quietly releasing free EPs and albums on their website over the course of a few years now, and whilst most free albums often get wrongly mislabelled as not good enough to be bought, every single one here deserves to be digested. From the post rock fuzz of debut "Saltire Wave" the duo have always been difficult to really listen to, but one soon realises that sometimes unfriendly rhythms are the most rewarding. The distorted beats and grooves of their records almost swing at 'dubstep' tempo, but they owe more to the post-everything aesthetic of Warp records stalwart Chris Clark. Those who enjoy the lurching, bass heavy side of dubstep may feel at home here but for those who have ever stayed late at a club, along with heavy eyes and epiphany type moments, will understand the broken rhythms and rising chords complement their 'late-night music'. Cinematic programming and both sung and sampled vocals play their part well, but only through subtle usage, often coming through only slightly yet totally overshadowing the dread vibes of the beats and bass. The last two releases "Hello Lonely, Hold The Nation" and "We Make Hits, Not The Public" explored the popular crucifixion of R&B vocals, but here they sound at one with their landscape. They are perfect places to start and both are available for free on their site: www.downliners-sekt.com. Their adaptation of the dark often comes coupled with rays of light, similar indeed too Burial, but whilst comparisons are always surface level, Downliners Sekt. will almost certainly stay pressurised below it.
3) Night to look out for if you are ever up NORTH - Acetate Leeds
Clubs seem less and less tailored for vinyl these days, a sad truth but one that seems to be linked with the dissolvement of production of Technics turntables. Acetate is a night held at the Wire club in Leeds. The night's concept is that of 100% vinyl, spun by familiar and some less-familiar names through a Funktion One soundsystem. No CDs, no laptops. Given the increase in clubs not built for vinyl, it seems like a welcome and great idea. Started by David Kennedy aka the Ramadanman himself, the past three nights featured himself along with Floating Points and others such as Ben UFO, Loefah, Joy Orbison and Appleblim. The ethics of it seems wonderfully brilliant and the joys of hearing an old vinyl is something which is unparamount compared to a rough digital rip.
"I guess the point of Acetate is that people can play exactly what they want to play, and it doesn’t matter if people don’t recognise 100% of the tunes or whatever, if that makes sense?"
Its the start of a brand new year, and with it comes a plethora of excited bloggers and radio DJs casting their eyes to the future and pushing their hot tips for 2011. We here at dbe are dedicated to bringing you the freshest produce that bass music has to offer, so much so that we went to the excruciating effort of doing some field research to get a hands on look at who's gonna be leading 2011 from the front.
After witnessing a spell-bindingly wonky and sub flexed set at the Warehouse Project last month we've come to the conclusion that Jamie XX is one of the most exciting things in dance music right now.
Mercury Prize winning drum machinist Jamie XX has already made a solid impression with his epic rework of Florence's You Got the Love, along with an already impressive list of remixes under his belt. But now that he's turning his hand to drum machine and steel pan toting solo production, 2011 looks set to be a massive year for him.
The first finding of our WHP field research is a fresh cut from Jamie's upcoming remix collaboration with Gil Scott-Heron. This project see's Jamie remixing soul and spoken word poetry legend Gil-Scott Heron's entire album, entitled We're New Here. The album is a beautifully humane and intimate reflection of Scott-Heron's troubled life, and the fact that he entrusted the beat-junkie to re-work the entire album indicates its gonna be a carefully curated piece of sonic craftsmanship. The work we've heard so far seems to contrast with Gil Scott's weathered tones and create a hopeful sound-scape which totally flips the emotional output of the originals.
The first sneak preview can be streamed below (and downloaded from www.werenewhere.com) . This track is a true sonic journey through sheer blinding synths, rolling wonkbass, and sensually screwed out vocal samples. Not to mention his lush trademark steel pan flecked outro. Not to be missed:
And possibly the most important finding of our research is, in our opinion, going to be one of THE tunes of 2011. Shrouded in mystery and rumour, Far Nearer is to be Mr XX's debut solo 12" production. We heard this track dropped in the field and all of us hit the roof. This tune is a gorgeous composition of shuffling garage beats, awesome steel pannage, and wicked tweaked vocals. We love it and reckon its going to be huge. But at the moment Numbers records are keeping us hanging, with no definite release date due to "sample copyright issues". Sort it out Numbers!
So we cant leave you without sharing these amazing tunes, mixed by Jamie's own hands. In this guest mix for Alexander Nut at RinseFM, Jamie drops both of these 2011 anthems for your listening pleasure, amongst other bass classics from Skream, Martyn and Dark Sky.
