Planet E is far away...

First and foremost, did anyone see 'Death Wish Live!' on E4 tonight? If you didn't, you missed a hell of a show. Oh, the thrill of live TV. Ever since the dawn of reality television, the concept of live-as-it-happens TV has been stretched to its limits. Derren Brown's gun stunt is one thing, but a live hanging? The guy (famed for hardly ever successfully escaping the traps his dad sets him) has 30 seconds to escape from handcuffs (selected and brought along by an audience member, of course) and get his head out of the noose. Easy, right? You expect it all the go right at the last minute... but no! It goes tits up. The rope lifts him... he's strugging... gasping... waving his legs around like an uncontrollable mentalist... and down he crashes. The show goes off for a few seconds only to return with Alex Zane desperately trying to pretend that everything is ok in the only way that he can. Yes, that irritating MTV News way. Anyway... have some mp3s you greedy bastards! The first track's slightly relevant to things, and also excellent to boot! The treat in question is a piece of brooding ambient techno from Matias Aguayo (responsible for last year's excellent 'Are You Really Lost?' LP) and Dirk Leyers back in their days as Closer Musik. Matias' haunting vocal drifts over a delicate yet dubby minimal backing in what was their debut record for Kompakt all the way back in the dark days of 2000. Well worth rediscovering, if I do say so myself.

Download:
Closer Musik - One Two Three (No Gravity) // Kompakt

If you fancy the track in it's more recent 'acid' incarnation, it's 'floating free' at the end of my first 'Tape Me Out' mix, still available here. In other news, word reaches Tape Towers that a certain Mr Alkan finished his set at Bugged Out! on Friday with a song that he got from little old Tape! I recieved a very nice message from the man himself about a week ago exclaiming that the track was great and that he never even knew of its existence. Lovely man. Oh, what we dedicated Tapers do for you guys! The track in question is Josh Wink's excellent mix of Radiohead's 'Everything In It's Right Place', and is still available to download from here.

Anyway, here's a wonderful track that I believe Erol played in his Radio 1 Essential Mix. The original is a fantastic punk-funk/disco/electro mish mash, but Rub'n'Tug stretch out the drone, fuck up the percussion, and make you bounce all the way into next week... Quality dancefloor action that we've come to expect from Eric & Thomas.

Download:
Out Hud - It's For You (Rub'n'Tug's Panarava Remix) // K7

Here we have the latest release from Alan Braxe & Fred Falke under their 'Defender' guise. It's not what you've come to expect from the sleazy French lads, and sees them go more up the route of their electro brethren (Justice, Sebastian...) in their use of using ridiculously phased, fucked up synths. However, this is not the sound of a chic French bar. It's more of a lairy rave anthem and isn't scared to walk the line between cheese, and well... cheese. So Braxe and Falke are now doing cheesy rave music, are they? At the end of the day, it is what it is - a fun but ultimately pointless little side project, but you can't deny that it still has dancefloor potential if deployed at the right time.

Download:
Defender - Defender // Vulture


What is it with dance artists and self titled tracks? Is it a defining statement of intent? Or are they just too lazy to think of a different track name? Anyway, it really doesn't matter when the tracks are this good. A hundred times better than the Defender effort, this is an uber-jackin' tech-electro bosher taken from Duoteque's first EP, released on the Boxer Sport imprint last year. Words alone cannot do this track justice. The only thing that I can say about it is that it'll get your feet and neck moving like nobody's business. Fuck the cheese of Braxe & Falke... this is what you need in your life!

Download:
Duoteque - Duoteque // Boxer Sport