Best Before Tomorrow

This Friday 27th April sees the return of legendary Bristol night, 'Best Before'. Founded by our chum Sell By Dave many moons ago, the night pushed an eclectic music policy which was something severely lacking in Bristol at the time. To put it in perspective five years ago you could go out any night of the week and witness some 'rinsin' drum and bass, but decent nights that played the type of music we witter on about here, were few and far between. The exceptions to the rule were Seen (check this futureboogie link) and Best Before. Well anyway, the night has been out of action for a couple of years but we here at the TAPE Bristol office have been nudging Sell By Dave for a while telling him it's about bloody time it returned!
This time round the location is no longer a 'proper' club, but rather the charming little boozer that is The Bank (venue of the last TAPE party). Having solidified our disco camaraderie with Sell By Dave since Best Before was last around, he has kindly asked us to be residents. Ricky and I jumped at the chance to play, safe in the knowledge that that we can play whatever we want. I'll be playing a heady mix of reggae, disco and nerdy afro-beat amongst other things, whilst Carnage will be indulging his love of very slow records made by Italians.
Highlight of the evening looks set to be the debut performance from Bristol edit maestro's Thumbs Aloft, premiering their 'Pointless Edits' series, described by Bill Brewster as "completely pointless", fine praise indeed! Seriously though I have heard their tinkerings and have been mightily impressed. They have managed to tweak some classics into really tight dance floor bombs, which will no doubt be rockin' the pub tomorrow night.

To recap then:

BEST BEFORE @ THE BANK
'REAL ALE, PICKLED EGGS & DISCO BEARDS'
8pm - LATE
FREE ENTRY

If your not to hung over on Saturday and fancy a bit of record shopping here are my tip top tips for a few things you might want to check out (if you haven't done so already).

Claro Intelecto / Warehouse Sessions 4 // Modern Love - Hypnotic square bass and deep Detroit style action from the Boomkat camp, arguably the best in the series so far. Oh yeah, and he's playing Bristol next week, wa-hey!

Move D / Workshop EP 2 // Workshop - Like Moodyman after a couple of gurners.

Mia / Bittersuss LP // Substatic - Substatic head honcho delivers this fine album of squelchy minimal funk, nice cover too!

Kerri Chandler / Computer Games EP // Deeply Rooted House - 4 trax of pure Kerri gold, each one very playable and no vocals, marvelous!

Robag Wruhme vs Rolf Oksen / Bart Eins EP // Freude am Tanzen - Apparently a tribute to a 70s German police show, or did I just dream that? How that relates to some seriously heavy, and exceedingly wonky bass weight I don't know!

Niederflur / Din // Minus - Sometimes I forget how much I like minus and don't bother listening to the label's new releases. I'm glad I listened to this, its phat, yes phat with a ph.

Frank Hebly / De Tuinslangboogie // Magnetron Music - This is fast becoming a Ricky Carnage classic, and with good reason, super heavy slo-mo boogie made exclusively on analogue gear. Its been out a while now so grab it while you still can.

Pepe Bradock / Rhapsody in Pain // Atavisme - Does what it says on the tin, easily one of the most disturbing house tunes you will ever hear, and all the better for it!

Kromestar vs Hatcha / Ridick // Dub Steppers UK - Having been quite excited by Kromestar last year I have to admit I've felt a tad let down by his releases this year. They have all seemed to be a bit 'safe'. It's clear from this release all he needed was Hatcha to kick him into shape. One of the best records I have heard this year, dubwise or otherwise.

Basic Channel and Maurizio - er, bit of a cop out this one. I noticed the other week that these have all been repressed again. I know they do it about once a year but seriously if you don't own any of this gear, do yourself a favour and go to the bank, take out a loan and buy the entire back catalogue. The CD comps really don't do these seminal tracks justice.

That is all for now, have a good weekend!

This Ain't Your Momma's Minimal!

TAPE Radio - Show #25: 'This Ain't Your Momma's Minimal!'
Loosefingers (aka. Larry Heard) - Glancing At The Moon // Alleviated
Phonique - 99 & A Half (I:Cube Remix) // Dessous
Ianeq - The Return (Fabrice Lig Remix) // Mental Groove
Idjut Boys ft. Rune Lindbaek - Laisn (Kalabrese Remix) // Bear Funk
October - Raw // CD-R
Abe Duque - This Ain't Your Momma's Minimal! // Abe Duque
Sideshow - African Cheri (Stefan Goldmann Macro Version) // Aus
Maxime Dangles - Noemie // Kompakt Extra
Jurgen Paape - Fruity Loops 2 // Kompakt Extra
Future Beat Investigators - Lotus // Sonar Kollektiv
Matthias Tanzmann - Nip Slip // Moon Harbour
Can - ...And More (Westbam Remix) // Mute
Mudd - Adventures In Bricket Wood (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) // Rong
Faze Action - In The Trees // Nuphonic
Night Moves - Transdance // GC
Lindstrom - Breakfast In Heaven // Feedelity

Listen:
TAPE Radio - Show #25: 'This Ain't Your Momma's Minimal!'

Pet Sounds

I'll start by saying thanks to everyone who either wiggled their ass, put their hands in the air or gurned in our general direction at Stealth on Saturday night. A great time was had by all the TAPE disco service crew. It was nice to finally check out the frankly marvelous Stealth, which surely has to be one of the best clubs in the UK. Thanks to Dave, Ben, Boggy and Pete for making us feel very welcome, and cheers to everyone who we spoke to, bumped into or got arrested (don't ask!). Hopefully we'll be allowed back at some point soon...

Anyways, talking to people up in Nottingham made me realise how much people like this blog. It got me thinking that I should really pull my finger out and do a bit more posting. Fired up by this new found spirit I thought it would be apt to share with you my feelings for a certain label that has come to be particularly close to my heart. I had been meaning to write a piece about this label for some time, but due to my usual faffing and procrastination had not found the time to commit pen to paper (or finger to keypad as it is here in the 21st Century).

This is a label that has done much to sustain my faith in house music for well over a year now. It has been putting out 12"s at a fairly regular pace, all of which have been of an extremely high standard. In these days of identikit 'schminimal' and second rate electro house this label has continued to push a deep, innovative and dare I say it, organic house sound. This is the label that when playing out, I get the most ID requests off eager DJ trainspotters and clued up punters. This is also the label that only I seem to own any records on, so without further ado let me announce to you my whole hearted love and devotion to the truly wonderful Kalk Pets.

I first became aware of the label whilst still working at Replay records as the techno/electronica buyer. I had come into contact with the label's 'mother ship' the also rather ace Karaoke Kalk, purveyors of the finest leftfield and electronic sounds, but had never heard anything I could play out. Karaoke Kalk is more in a rockist tradition like say Morr music, in that it is more about the songs with squiggly noises, than shaking your booty.

The first 12" I came across was the second release on the label (I can't find the first one anywhere!), which was a remix package to accompany the release of Roman's 'So Ghost?' LP on Karaoke Kalk. I was primarily drawn to this release because of the Lo-Soul remix, which is quite possibly the best reworking he has done. I'll happily admit this is one of my 'secret' weapons. It is one of those tunes that seems to mix perfectly with anything, even taking into account my own cack handedness on the decks! Lo-Soul utilises the vocal to great effect, creating a dense, emotive piece of house music that never fails to rouse the dance floor. It also has a rather fantastic title in 'True Love Owes Us Shit'. Marvelous stuff.

The label's next release dropped a few months later in the form of Antonelli's 'Esplanda' EP. Once again I was not disappointed, three wonderfully warm house tracks, packing oodles of emotion and a certain childlike innocence. Pick of the bunch would be the super deep 'Surrender' , but the other two cuts are pretty damn fine too. I haven't heard much else from this producer, anyone care to shed some light?

The next EP to come out on the label was delivered by Pascal Schafer, probably my least favourite release on the label, but still very solid, and still very playable. Easily the most straight up deep house release on the label, this none the less refines that genres sonic palette into a sound more ready for a noughties dance floor (jeez, did I just say noughties?!). In a similar way to the Roman remix package, the next 12" release tied in with a Karaoke Kalk release, this time the Wechsel Garland LP. Stepping up to the plate for remix duties was the mighty DJ Koze and the slightly less mighty Lawrence. As you may have guessed it is Koze's effort you want to check out. I don't know what he was smoking the day he did the remix but it must be strong! His remix is on a seriously smokey, slo-mo melodic techno tip, which sounds great down at our fortnightly electronic meltdown session, the ever drunken Normalise, held right here in our beloved Bristol. The Lawrence mix is certainly worth checking, but not being a massive fan of his productions I naturally head straight for the Koze workout. Excitingly the next release came from my favourite Chilean producer. No not Ricardo, or Luciano for that matter, but the master of play full minimal Mr Dandy Jack or in this incarnation, Juction SM. Arguably not a dance floor cut, or certainly not one I could get away with playing on a Saturday night, 'Ma Mere L'Oye' is one of those minimal techno records that is continually changing and evolving without ever giving too much away. A record that shimmers with a subtlety that draws you in, wonks you around a bit and then has done with you. I can remember the Sherbunator waxing lyrical about its delights in the Wire, and I can see why!

Which brings me up to the latest release, the criminally neglected remix package of Leichtmetall. It was with this release that I fully came to understand my deep seated love and fetishistic infatuation with this label. Grinser and James Din on duties this time round, both turning in marvelously wonky remixes. Grinser on a more straight up techy house bounce vibe whilst James Din delivers a Theo Parish holidaying in Cologne sort of vibe.

So, what do you think then? Have I aroused your curiosity in this, one of my most treasured labels? I do hope so. As per usual you can get most of this stuff at Boomkat, they also have the whole catalogue on MP3 as well, for those more digitally savvy amongst you, click here for a direct link. You may also like to have a look at the label's myspace which has everything you would expect from a myspace. See y'all soon...

Rhythm & Stealth

Just a quick reminder to let you know that we'll be appearing in Nottingham this Saturday, headlining the Stealth vs. Rescued night at Stealth. We've got a nice three hour slot (prospectively from 12:30-3:30) in the main room, so we'll have plenty of time to run through a quality selection of house, techno, nouveau disco and dubstep. It'll be good to see some TAPE readers down there, so tell all your friends and make sure you come over and harass us. Also on the bill are angular US dance-punkers Thunderbirds Are Now! (who I'll definitely be checking out if I get the chance), Nightmoves, and Repeat Repeat's Dave Congreve. Here's the full line-up:

Stealth vs Rescued
Saturday 21st April
10:30pm-5am

Room 1:
Richard Carnage & Puffin Jack (TAPE)
Dave Congreve (Repeat Repeat)
Matt Waites

Room 2:
Thunderbirds Are Now! (Live)
Best Fwends (Live)
Nightmoves (Kitsune)
Ricky Haley (Liars Club)

You Bristolians needn't worry, as we're playing at the fantastic Cuisine night on Friday, along with techno legend Heiko Laux. Definitely a night not to miss, and I expect the decor and visuals at Timbuk2 will be up to Cuisine's usual impeccable standard. Anyway, have a good weekend!

Tech Tonic

First of all, apologies for the extended hiatus but to say that we've been extremely busy would be a huge understatement. We'll kick off with what's been going on on the TAPE front since our jaunt to Gothenburg (thanks go out yet again to everyone that we met during our highly enjoyable stay). So, where do we start? Ok, so we've found a new venue to host Mutant Pop; Bristol residents will know Native as an intimate, 200 capacity club with a fantastic soundsystem and we're now going to be doing a night every two months there, joining the likes of Dubloaded (Pinch's monthly dubstep hoedown that unfortunately ALWAYS clashes with Mutant Pop at the Arc Bar) and Byte in their Friday night roster. As we should have a bigger budget for these nights, we'll be bringing you the crème de la crème of the international DJing circuit that we just can't afford to book at the Arc. We will, however, still be doing our monthly nights at the Arc Bar, and June will see the author, DJ, journalist, scholar, and gentleman that is Bill Brewster grace the decks. You may know him best for his co-authorship of the tome of knowledge that is 'Last Night A DJ Saved My Life', and if you haven't read it already, pick up the latest edition that hit the shelves a few months back. Next month (May 4th - get the date in your diary!), as you should already know, we've got Trapez and Resopal's melodic minimal wunderkind Florian Meindl, and two weeks after that we kick off our bi-monthly residency at Native with an exclusive for the people of Bristol. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Axel Bartsch...

Our opening party at Native will be the first time a producer that's released on Kompakt Extra (home of their now legendary Speicher series) has ever played in this fair city. His 'Galaxy', 'Was Bleibt Ist Die Musik', and 'Deal/Shifting' releases on Kompakt Extra were lapped up by discerning techno fans worldwide, and he's also the owner of the Sportclub label, who've just reached their milestone tenth release this April. He's no new pretender, however - the man's been producing in various guises since 1993 on luminary labels like Frisbee Tracks, Spiel-Zeug, and Planet Of Drums. One thing's for sure - with this man at the helm it certainly promises to be a night to remember.... Or should that be forget?

All these dates and venues are probably confusing you, but they're neatly displayed to your right for ease of browsing. So in order to confuse you even more, myself and Puffin Jack have just started a new residency alongside iDJ magazine editor Matt Anniss (more commonly known by his DJing moniker 'Sell By Dave'). The night, 'best before:' (yes, that's right, all lower case and ending in a colon), takes place at our favourite boozer in Bristol, The Bank pub (where we've been hosting the last couple of TAPE parties), where we've been given free reign to play whatever the hell we like (which was the TAPE ethos from the very beginning) alongside fantastic guests that have been willing to play for a few pints and a bag of nuts. First up, on Friday April 27th, we've got the first ever performance from Bristolian disco editors Thumbs Aloft, who'll be launching their debut release on their own Pointless Edits label. The banner's a little to wide to fit in properly, so click on it to enlarge it.

Future guests include SWAG's Chris Duckenfield, and Rong Music's Mudd (which I'm really excited about - scroll down to check out our interview with the man himself), who's Claremont 56 LP should be dropping on these shores imminently, so if you fancy checking those guys out in the intimate confines of the tiny pub that is The Bank, check the dates out to the right. We've also got a couple of things going on in both Bristol and Nottingham this weekend, but I'll do a separate post about that in a bit.

So now, some audio! That's what you've been really waiting for, haven't you? Well, we've got a new radio show brimming with juicy goodies for you to sample. No, it's not an mp3, but all you iPod lovers can grab my mix below if you're that way inclined. There's new stuff from My My, DJ Koze, Luca Bachetti, and Future Beat Investigators amongst other bits'n'bobs, and also a couple of cuts from Ostgut Ton's forthcoming 'Shut Up And Dance! Updated' collaboration with the Staatsballet. I've written a great piece (if I do say so myself) on this release regarding the acceptance of techno in the world of supposed 'high art', but I'm not sure if it'll actually be published by the people I've done it for. I should know in the next week or so, but if not then I'll whack it straight up here for you guys. The radio show's already been played live, so it'll be in the archives ready for you to listen immediately.

TAPE Radio - Show #24: 'Tech Tonic'
1) Substance & Vainqueur - Reverberation // Scion Versions
2) Sleeparchive - Perspective // Ostgut Ton
3) Future Beat Investigators - Forthosewhoknow // Raw Fusion
4) Mock & Toof - Tomcat (Mock's Mod Mix) // Tiny Sticks
5) Superpitcher - Superjam // Kompakt Extra
6) I:Cube - Oblivion (Dixon's Edit) // Versatile
7) October - There's A Glitch In My Soup // CD-R
8) Kerri Chandler - Moon Bounce // Deeply Rooted
9) Motorcitysoul - Kazan (My My Remix) // Aus
10) Par Grindvik - Do Us Apart // Drumcode
11) Luca Bacchetti - Flat Mates // Wagon Repair
12) Battles - Atlas (DJ Koze Remix) // Warp
13) The 7th Plain - Symphony For The Surrealists // Ostgut Ton

Listen:
TAPE Radio - Show #24: 'Tech Tonic'

Phew. Hope that keeps you satisfied for a while as we're busy boys this weekend. I'll post up full details of our dates in a bit. Take care of yourselves, and make the most of your time off.

MixTAPE: Richard Carnage - 'President Of House'

This has already been available over at Club Mezcla's site for the past few weeks, but unless you missed it, here's my latest mix. It's been a long time since my last one, and was spurred into action as Arveene wanted another one for his fantastic Transmit radio show (Saturday nights on Spin FM for all you Irish residents) to promote our second visit to the fair city of Dublin. I hope you guys think it's worth what I'm sure has been an agonising wait! It starts off fairly slowly and works its way through to the pacier techy stuff before ending on a beautifully deep, euphoric tip. I may not be the president of house (yet!), but it'll should definitely get you gurning along like an idiot (as demonstrated perfectly by old Georgy boy above).

Richard Carnage - 'President Of House'
1) LFO - Tied Up (Spiritualized Electric Mainline Remix) // Warp
2) Force Of Nature - Sequencer (Rekid Remix) // Mule Musiq
3) Lexx - Slow Burning (Mudd Remix) // Bearfunk
4) Lindstrom - Monsteer // Dialect
5) Mock'n'Toof - Suck // CD-R
6) Vincent Markowski - The Madness Of Moths // DC
7) Junior Boys - Like A Child (Carl Craig Remix) // Domino
8) Ink & Needle - Two // Tattoo
9) Hearthrob - Golum // M_nus
10) Emptyset - Acuphase // Future Days
11) Efdemin - Just A Track // Dial
12) Akabu - I'm Not Afraid Of The Future (Joey Negro Medusa Mix) // Z
13) Ferrer & Sydenham Inc - Timbuktu (Sydenham And Faber Vibe Out Mix) // Ibadan
14) Throbbing Gristle - Hot On The Heels Of Love (Ratcliffe Remix) // Novamute
15) Partial Arts - Trauermusik // Kompakt

Download:
Richard Carnage - 'President Of House' mix

Happy Birthday To Us...

On the Mutant Pop front, this weekend sees us celebrate our first birthday in style with the debut hometown performance from Emptyset. If you haven't checked their debut release on the Future Days label yet, then I suggest you do so quick sharp as it's pretty much sold out in all stockists after riding high at #9 in Juno's techno chart. I have, however, been reliably informed that a repress is on the way, so expect that to hit the shops sometime in the next couple of months. A-side 'Acuphase' can be found on my current mix that's being hosted over at the Club Mezcla website here.

The project consists of two members, Microman from Bristol's much loved under_score night (you may have seen him in action doing his BoxJam set with felow under_scoree Jim Petherwick at the local Ashton Court Festival or at the Cuisine night at Timbuk2 last month), and his accomplice, 30Hz, who's most known for his breakbeat productions on the Vertical Sound label. After Mictoman unveiled the world of techno to his partner, they embarked on their production project where they strived to create a sound of taut, streamlined, reductionist beats that would work the dancefloor into a sweaty transcendant state. This latter element seems to be an important part of their material as the tracks so far have a very jacking mentality, whilst they remain stripped down to the core elements. Maximum damage with minimal ingredients seems to be the key to Emptyset's sound, and its this style that has already won them fans worldwide such as the legendary Hardwax records in Berlin, and also the guys at Sheffield's Warp Records.

It certainly promises to be a birthday celebration to remember (or should that be forget?) at the Arc, and anyone wishing to make a weekend in Bristol out of it can check out James Holden at Blue Mountain on the Thursday, and Radio Slave at Timbuk2 on Saturday. Those staying until Monday morning should definitely check out the always reliable Normalise chaps (including our very own Puffin Jack) at Hush Hush on Sunday night for some 'bathtime techno, crackle-haus, and pagan disco'. Trust me when I say that there's no better way to soothe yourself into Monday after a hard weekend's partying. Have a good Easter weekend, and make sure that you make the most of it!

Disco Boogie!

So we're back safely from Sweden after a frankly hectic (yet very enjoyable) weekend over in Gothenburg. There are definitely some good stories to tell (including the shaving of my head by the two pictured buffoons in sequinned balaclavas and pink tutus), but I think I'll leave that to the more anecdotally inclined Mr Soft (or should that be Dr Love?) for now. Big thanks go out to Jacob, Fabian, and all the girls for their immense hospitality during our stay. You can continue to find out the goings on of Club Mezcla (or 'Club Mescaline' as I was dutifully informed) over at their blog here. I've still managed to find the time to prepare you two hours of gourmet discofied boogie bliss, which will be aired as usual at 1am GMT tonight and be archived in the usual place thereafter. All you techno fans needn't fret - there'll be a full two hours of techy nectar next week.

TAPE Radio - Show #23: 'Disco Boogie!'
The Hues Corporation - I Caught Your Act // Warner Bros.
Gil Scott-Heron - The Bottle // Champagne
El Coco - Afrodesia // AVI
Asha Puthli - Space Talk // CBS
Ganymed - Black Hole Five // Bellaphon
Disco Dream & The Androids - Dream Machine // Wake Up
Doris Norton - Personal Computer // Durium
Kelley Polar Quartet - Castrovalva (Le Chant Sans Nuances) // Environ
Blackbelt Andersen - Sandoz // Full Pupp
Putsch 79 - Living For The Arpeggios // Clone
Virgo - Free Yourself // Trax
Was Not Was - Spy In The House Of Love // Fontana
Stereolab - Interlock // Too Pure
Bobby O - I'm So Hot For You // Unidisc
The Dramatics - I Just Wanna Dance With You // MCA
Punkin Machine - I Need You Tonight (Wrenchman Edit) // Mandu
Flash And The Pan - Midnight Man // Epic
Moonbase - Waiting For A Train (Vocal Mix) // Il Discotto
Night Moves - Transdance // GC
Sabres Of Paradise - Smokebelch II (Beatless Mix) // Warp
Candi Staton - A Dreamer Of Dreams // Warner Bros.

Listen:
TAPE Radio - Show #23: 'Disco Boogie!'