April 2, 2012Mike Corbett aka Maccy is a proper hip-hop don, with whom I had the pleasure of living with many years back in a (chaotic) share-house in Australia. During this time he opened up a whole new level of music appreciation for me, from digging in the crates for jazz to beat production, to his late night freestyle sessions and history…
March 29, 2012Shot on iPhones and Flip cameras that were just occasionally left rolling, thought we’d get this up there as it’s started doing the rounds. Instead of just leaving the Soundcloud samples sitting at youtube with the centres we thought we’d give you some insight in to what went in to making the sleeves for the first press of Daojia’s Riego…
March 28, 2012Possibly the best studio decoration we’ve come across, Rob Ricketts A3 designs are the electronic image equivalent of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston when he first won the world title. Much like the Ali shot these are a simple, & clean representation of a turning point in a culture, the changing of a guard ignited by a brash youth that…
March 26, 2012Kicking off a stunning fortnight of gigs in to and through the Easter break is a night at The Rhythm Factory, appropriately calling itself A History Of Detroit. Happening this Saturday (on 31.3 – which bizzarely is the area code of Detroit) you only have to look at the labels on the flyer (Tabernacle, Mathematics, Tresor, UR, Cratesavers) and the acts…
March 24, 2012Many years ago, heavily in to my boom-bap record collecting and short-run turntablism phase I had the pleasure of meeting DJ Nu-Mark, who was touring Oz with J5 for Power In Numbers. Here’s a brief transcript, taking place while he was signing my mixer for me. DJ Nu-Mark: So you’re in to scratching? Me: Yeah. DJ Nu-Mark: Turntablism’s dead. No…
March 23, 2012Still early days but why shouldn’t we get hyped when we get news like this? Phonica representer and long time London underground don Raimo is stepping up to the plate (quite literally) big time for 2012, launching his own label Lampuka Records. LAMPUKA001 is announced and coming from underground producer Tomas Rubeck, who’s been floating in and out of the…
March 19, 2012Incredible documentary for anyone with an interest in modern music. The name Les Paul is synonymous with guitar manufacture, but way before the endorsement deal with Gibson the man Les was going well outside the box with equipment and technique. Starting at age 8 Les Paul created the neck harmonica holder, used by the likes of Bob Dylan and Neil…
March 14, 2012Two hours of audio goodness for the Awkward Movements rotation, including a belated peek at the Planet Mu juke compilation Bangs & Works Vol. 2 – The Best Of Chicago Footwork, new stuff from Frak, Ugandan Methods and Ital, a couple of Hispanic things, a Porter Ricks repress, and a whole load more besides… DJ Rashad & DJ Manny –…
March 11, 2012We’re only about a quarter of the way in but already it’s been a crazy good year for records. As soon as someone works out how to make the £9+ single 12” illegal we’ll be back in perfect stead. Firstly, any guy making techno who calls himself Hobo is alright by me. That and the stunning artwork for Iron Triangle…
March 6, 2012Myself and Paul Ackroyd were back in session at NTS yesterday for our monthly Awkward Movements show, serving up all kinds of goodness on wax. Besides some mic issues (ie it not turning off – thankfully we had a rant free couple of hours) it was quality. We actually ended staying on an extra hour, though the back announcing and…