Guest mixTAPE: Harry Glazebrook (West Country Shakedown / Normalise)

The next in our series of Bristol mixTAPEs comes from the West Country Shakedown and Normalise institution, Harry Glazebrook. This is the man who's responsible for resurrecting 3 Of A Kind's pop-garage classic 'Babycakes', having it smashed by an unknown usurper (how could such a loveable record suffer such a fate?) and having to buy another copy off Discogs in the unlikely process. But yes, this man loves a bit of 2-step. It's one of his many facets, however, and his previous 'Sexual Humming' mixes for Normalise (endearingly dubbed onto cassette during the night) have taken things from the lush tones of M.I.A. all the way through to Will Oldham's folky ramblings as Bonnie Prince Billy. His true passion lies in techno music (of course!), and this with this mix he's definitely giving Jimmy P and The Kelly Twins a good run for their money as to what the choice after hours selection would be. There are some fantastic moments in it (Boards Of Canada into Plastikman, the always welcome 'ACD Voice' emerging from Pikaya, and boy, does that Jeff Samuel track sound hot) and it serves as deeply satisfying late night burner.

1) Boards Of Canada - Amo Bishop Roden // Warp
2) Plastikman - Plasticine // Novamute
3) Pep Gaya - Dragon Soup (Lod Remix) // Klitekture
4) Markus Nikolai - Work Out // Perlon
5) Pikaya - Jedi // Cadenza
6) Sleeparchive - ACD Voice // Sleeparchive
7) Guido Schneider - Super Sander // Poker Flat
8) Erykah Badu ft. Rahzel - Southern Gul (Acapella) // Motown
9) Cassy - Somelightuntothenight // Beatstreet
10) Jeff Samuel - Lost // Trapez
11) Maurizio - M4.5 // Maurizio
12) Dave Barker - Rocococoa // Classic
13) Unknown - Can't Get Enough (Chris Mac Vocal Mix Remix) // Unknown
14) Autechre - Clipper // Warp
15) Derrick L. Carter - Where Yaccapella? // Classic

Download:
Harry Glazebrook - Guest mixTAPE

Just look at that poster. I haven't seen a better one in absolutely ages. West Country Shakedown is the brainchild of Harry and Joe Hart, and will serve as Joe's final blowout before he moves down to London to do some mental nursing. No, not unplugging people's respirators or giving people 'entirely necessary' enemas for no reason, just nursing the mentally handicapped. We wish him all the best - and if any London promoters need a Bloc weekend resident to bash out some crazy italo/freestyle/electro/acid wrongness, then he's your man. Plus, he's fully trained in nursing the ket-heads at the end of the night! I'll leave the plugging to Joe Hart:

Who can you trust?
You can trust Louis Digital, he's had releases on Warp and offshoot label Arcola. Also, alongside CIM, hes made tracks under the guise Unspecified Enemies, their sought after ep, 'Multi Ordinal Tracking Unit', has been rinsed by the likes of DJ Bone, Surgeon, Rob Hall and everyone else who really knows techno music.

Who else can you trust?
You can trust Luke Malcher (under_score), Paul Purgas (Emptyset), Harry Glazebrook (Normalise) and Joe Hart (Bloc).

Why can you trust these people?
Because they'll be mixing up non stop techno, electro, acid tracks and 2-step in a basement all night long. You can also trust Savage City soundsystems who'll be putting the boom in the room.

That's:
Saturday August 4th // 10-6 // £2 in // Take5 Cafe, Stokes Croft

I'll be there with my two quid - you know it's money well spent, if only to see what state Malcher's in by 6am!

U.F.O. Has Landed

If you're wondering why old Softie hasn't been around hear that much (read: at all) of late, then you won't know that he's secured a job over at FACT magazine. Writing about music all day doesn't exactly make you want to come home and do it all over again, I can imagine. Instead he plays football with Hector from the shop downstairs (which, incidentally, is Phonica). Imagine having a shop like that underneath you? Actually, it'd probably break me financially. Mr Soft, if you haven't noticed already, has got a monthly column over at FACT's website entitled 'The Contemporary Fix' which is always worth checking out. Read it, and realise where the razor sharp wit from this place has disappeared to! Have a worm around the site and they're all archived, but here's the latest one for the moment.

If you're in Bristol over the weekend, then the only place to be this Friday is The Kelly Twins' UFO night down at Dojo. Those with less taste will be staring at Fanculli and Zabiela (yes, he's a great DJ technically, but he bores me to tears) at Empathy, but there's a veritable treat of dancefloor caviar on down at Bristol's premier late night establishment. With the council cracking down on late night licencing, this is the only intimate space that you can check out music til the early hours (6am in the case of Saturday morning), and even now they're limiting entry to before 2am (you can, however, sign up for free 'membership' that lets you come in until 4) there. The Kelly Twins (if you haven't checked their mix yet then get to it - anyone that ends with Lee Douglas into Ada gets a thumbs up in my book) will be warming things up, indulging their love for 80s electro and assorted business, before wildstyle disco wizards Thumbs Aloft take to the decks. If you haven't picked up their 'Bedmo Disco Volume 1' 12" yet (if only for the cracking take on Paul McCartney's 'Coming Up' - sounds great pitched down a bit by the way), then you better get on it quick sharp, as there's only just over 100 left. One of their members tells me 'not to expect the usual'... Ominous, eh? Headlining the night is young gun cock-er-ney Toby Tobias, who's already had a string of releases on luminary labels such as Bearfunk, Rekids, and has one forthcoming on Tiny Sticks with an accompanying Zeefungk remix. Not heard the latter yet, but the original's a low slung house belter of the highest order. Then it's up to us to take things to an inevitably (of course) thrilling conclusion until it's time to face the sunlight at 6. Bit of dubstep, bit of techno, bit of disco - all geared towards the fellow partiers who always stay til the end. We salute you!

Here are a few records that might be slung in the Saturday morning 'freak box' (if you're wanting audio then check the new show over at Viva - I'm far too lazy to type out the tracklisting now but go to www.viva-radio.com/tape and it'll be there for you):

T++ - Space Break // Erosion
Devastatingly wonky bass heavy workout from Hardwax affiliated techno technician Torsten Profrock.

Quadrant - Infinition // Planet E
Late night Basic Channel bass wonk, pure and simple. Do you see a theme developing here?

Arto Mwambe - Mudhutma! // Brontosaurus
Moodymann via Berlin on the A, and a trancey boogie number on the B. Both are rock solid gems - pick this up in Phonica's sale if they've still got any.

Tiger Stripes - Hooked // Liebe*Detail
The best thing that Tiger Stripes has done in a while, which is saying something. House, techno - who cares? Tune!

Claude Vonstroke - Who's Afraid Of Detriot? (Soultek 's Suckaz Running Scared Mix) // Echospace
The Deepchord mix is all very well and nice on the B-side, but Soultek's strung out yet jacking interpretation is the one that I'll be playing. Spacey sounds envelop this huge, purging bass synth throughout, and I just can't not imagine everyone going for it when this is played. Now if only they'd housed it in an actual sleeve...

Murat Tepeli & Prosumer - What Makes You Go For It? // Ostgut Ton
It's lovely for Ostgut to open up another side to their already staggering catalogue (honestly, there actually hasn't been a bad one) with their latest 12", which sees Tepeli again teaming up with Prosumer after their Playhouse release back in '05. It's a down and dirty freaky vocal anthem (purists beware!), and the b-sides are pretty decent as well.

Philip Sherburne - Lumberjacking (Original/Exercise One Remix) // Lan Muzik
The Sherburnator finally gets into the production game with an epic Berghain banger. It's surprisingly peak time, but I'm sure that in the right place and the right time, it'll do some serious damage. Check the delay/drop breakdown about two thirds of the way through - nice. It's a shame then, that he chose Lan labelmates Exercise One as remixers, as they blow him out of the water with a driving, dark destroyer that's their best work since their remix of Sebo K.

Frivolous - Midnight Black Indulgence sampler // ~scape
This has been at the front of my box all year due to a tip off in a chart from Phonica's Jess. There's two great cuts (annoyingly the second track on both sides) on there - 'Sooo Savvy...' is a great boompty call to arms against the wall hugging hipsters, but 'Goodbye Regrets' is my favourite. It's got a fantastic tropical-trance melody line, before this amazing bassline kicks in - I definitely see this EP riding up high in the 100...

Aril Brikha & Inner City - Winterlife (Edit) // CD-R
'Winter' meets 'Good Life'? Surely not? I'm not going to bang on about how it's in key and amazing like Herr Pearson (that Fabric mix is fucking amazing, however - great selections and fantastically put together), but if this doesn't have everyone in E-fuelled rapture, then the local dealers are obviously doing a bad job.

Mathew Jonson - Stop // Wagon Repair
If you'd said that MJ was going to come out with a dreamily filthy electro-pop ditty (with his own vocals, no less) last year, I would've probably slapped you around the face and told you you'd finally taken too many drugs. How wrong was I? As ever with his solo material, it's all about the wonky bassline.

Und - Race Horse // Trapez Ltd
Crazy track with a bonkers horse loving lady intoning monotonously over an aquatic synth backing. I fucking love Und. Check also their Rodeo/Fox In A Box 12" for some seriously humourous dancefloor workouts.

Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts - Les Gans (Philip Sherburne Remix) // CD-R
Yes, two picks from the Sherburnator. It may seem like I'm doing a bit of backslapping, but I was actually astounded when I heard this for the first time. Gorgeous intertwining brass lines sail through boomptily chirpy basslines and filtered xylophones, whilst the bleeps and blips provide the punctuation that put the cherry on the cake. It does sort of pose the question: when's he going to give up writing for good?

New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone Extended Dance Mix) // Qwest
Best ending track ever?

Coming soon we've got a mix from ex-Normalise (they're on hiatus, apparently) and West Country Shakedown resident Harry Glazebrook. From what I've heard it's exactly what I love - late night wonk. Also, myself, Dan Kelly, and the ever affable Bloc Weekend DJ/West Country Shakedowner Joe Hart recorded a mix round at his gaff with his records and that should surface in the near future.

On a final note, if you're in the city on Thursday August 8th and like your decent jungle, DMZ's Loefah is going to be doing a 93-94 jungle set at The Tube at Hoedown. I'll be playing a set of, er, italo disco down there as well, along with various other themed sets from local DJs that do other nights. Sounds intriguing, but I have hope that the party troopers will be out showing their love on a weekday - at least to see Loefah getting jiggy on the floor when Koto drops...

Brewer's Droop

It's a sad time for the people of Bristol, as we're going to have to say goodbye to the landlord of our favourite drinking and partying establishment, The Bank (pictured above). Jon has put his blood, sweat and tears into making what was a dingy old man's pub into a vibrant boozer that consistently put on good nights (including our own TAPE and best before: parties) and hosted countless after hours lock-ins where we could consume Guinness until our eyes and stomachs bulged.

Unfortunately, the brewers spotted that the pub was actually doing a lot better than it had been doing over the past few years due to Jon bringing in a new audience of people, so when his contract came up back in January, they lumped a whole new bunch of terms and conditions on there that put him in a position where he was actually unable to fulfil the contract. This weekend will be his final one at The Bank, so he's decided to go out with a bang and is putting on a 'closing party' this Friday (May 20). There'll be DJs from various Bank-related nights down there, including:

ANDY CLARKSON [Payback Hi-fi]
RICHARD CARNAGE & PUFFIN JACK [TAPE/best before:]
SELL BY DAVE [best before:]
MIKE 'AFTER EIGHT MINCE' [er, After Eight Mince - trashy 80s stuff]
JONNY BALL [AKA Jon The Landlord]

Don't forget that Mutant Pop will also be running from 10 til 4 with Lukas (Player's Paradise) and Jobody (Deep Cut) as guests, so you know it makes sense to pop down to both. There's been a few nice comments posted up on our local forum, so I thought that it'd be only right to display a few here as a testament to Jon's time at The Bank and the good times that he's facilitated.

Andy Basic:
'What??? That is a real shame. Makes me want to get into pub management ASAP.'

Andy Payback Hi-fi:
'The Bank closing is a real shame. I'll really miss having endless pints of Guinness and generally loafing around with my missus in there. Plus I've met some top people and been to some cracking parties there too. Jon is a top bloke and landlord. Why is it always the nice, little places that get closed down? I think I'm starting about 7:30pm for this - bringing the Disco/Dub noise for the last time at The Bank. RIP'



Puffin Jack:
'This is so shit! The bank is one of the only decent pubs in the centre. It pisses me off that Jon has gone in there, turned it around, and is now being done over very unfairly by the money men at the brewer, who keep moving the financial goalposts. When politicians go on about this country being a 'meritocracy' and how we need 'entrepeneurs' cases like this shows what really happens. Young people stick their neck out and borrow money, work their arses off, turn businesses around only to be knocked down by greedy men in suits. Capitalism sucks. The rich get richer, whilst hard working people are crippled with debt.'

Al Dare:
'This is sad sad news indeed. really is another nail in the coffin of good taste and good times in this Town. I for one thought that a venue had been found that suited our various cerebral tastes in music. I always saw the place as shining light in a sea of medicore venues (with over inflated prices both at entry and at the bar) and high street chain bars.'

Andrew Kipple:
'Oh FFS! Just wrote out a post and deleted it as it was a bit too negative, but I'm sure other citys don't have it as bad as us keeping non-mainstream services running. A lack of independant record shops, city centre pubs and clubs, and now another quality place lost. I really can't see what the brewery were expecting? I've not been to The Bank anywhere near as many times as I would have liked but everytime I did it was busy to rammed, with people drinking as well. This kind of shit really makes me wonder why I'm still living in this city.'

Leon Eggbeer:
'Such a shame. Good luck with the final party, I'm sure it'll be a belter.'

Jon - we'll miss your good self and your fine establishment. Good luck for everything in the future!

In The Box

I haven't done one of these for absolutely ages (I guess you'll have to wait til this year's 100 for the full rundown), but here's a quick and by no means comprehensive look at a few of the records that I'm getting some good play out of at the moment.

Solomun – Pretty much anything // Diynamic/Liebe*Detail
This boy's been on fire this year! From the tranced out Tagesshau to the garage swing of Feuervogel, he never fails to show both his ingenuity and production prowess. My favourite changes from day to day, but I'm always coming back to Eiszauber with its delicate melody and soothing strings.

G-Man - Quo Vadis // Styrax Leaves
Solid three tracker that was originally released all the way back in '95. No nonsense driving wonk for the freaks.

Kelley Polar – Chrysanthemum/Rosenband // Environ
Thank fuck this man’s back on the scene to soundtrack the summer of 2007’s lazy moments. I suppose this is the summer of our disco-content (groan!). Can we have a full LP release this time around, Mr Geist?

Deepchord presents Echospace – The Coldest Season (Parts 1 & 2) // Modern Love
Own the Basic Channel back catalogue and think you’ve got everything that dub techno’s got to offer? Think again. The ever reliable Modern Love come up trumps again with these two beauties, with both of the gems slotted on each release’s B-side. Check out the hypno-house of ‘Celestialis’ or the sedate skank (seriously, you have to check this bassline) of ‘Empyrean’, and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

My My – Fast Freeze // Cocoon
My My go disco? Who’d have predicted that? As ever the production is impeccably detailed (lovely fluttering snares, if I do say so myself), and its dramatic structure is sure to do some dancefloor damage at all sorts of nights. Just wait til those London beards get onto it!

Mock'n'Toof - K-Choppers // Death From Abroad
It's been long awaited, but it seems as if DFA's Death From Abroad offshoot is about to rear its head. Promos for this went out last month (and yes, if you send us vinyl there's a much higher chance that we'll bang on about it on here!) so I'm guessing that this storming tribal acid wonkfest will hit the shelves sometime next month. I can see the e-disco heads loving this drugged out late night freakathon, whilst flipside 'Brown Bred' will inject a bit of eerie bounce to their warm up sets. Also forthcoming from the Tiny Sticks camp is a Darshan Jesrani remix of 'Black Jub', so keep your eyes out for that one.

The Turtles - Happy Together (Wade Nichols Edit) // Mindless Boogie
Play this in the early hours to an MDMA drenched dancefloor, and there is only one possible result. Watch as grown men hug each other and jump up and down, whilst the couples sneak off for a cheeky grope in the corner. Been caning this for a good few months now, and it never fails to raise a smile on my face when the chorus comes in. I can't see Carl Craig dropping it, but he's never really been one for displaying his cheeriness whilst playing, has he?

Metro Area - Miura (Maelstrom Edit) // CD-R
Maelstrom's a newbie on the editing scene, but comes up trumps with this driving, moody interpretation of the jewel in Geist and Jesrani's crown. A pulsing groover, if I ever heard one.

Apparat - Fractales (Apparat's Ibiza Mix @ 33+8) // Shitkatapult
A little too hectic for my liking at full speed, but slow this baby down to 33+8 and you've got a rousing emotive gem to trance out to in the early hours.

Robag Wruhme als Rolf Oksen - Dopamin // Freude Am Tanzen
The always on point FAT camp (see what I did there?) have provided my biggest floor shaker of the year with yet another masterstroke from the guy with the weirdest name in techno. Maybe it's just because I'm based in Bristol, but when this bassline hits everyone goes fucking apeshit (and yes, that includes me!). Feel the wobble... His more recent 'Guppipeitsche' was a little too jazzy for my liking, but 'My Gloomy Head' on the b-side was an absolute corker with its funky bassline and melancholic keys.

Theo Parrish - The Rink // Sound Signature
Akin to some of his Ugly Edit work, this is a simple but effective disco looper. It's appeal lies in the slow-down-start-up drum work at the end of most bars, and the ascending strings take you to Theo's special place where everyone's in a gurning, loved up mess. Magical stuff.

I'm sure there's loads of other stuff, but it's getting late and to be perfectly honest, I can't be arsed to go through my records. Remember though - support your local record shop if possible, and if not then go for one of the more independent online retailers like Piccadilly or Phonica. If anyone's heard of any other decent independent online stockists (or any decent records that they've heard recently), then that's what the comments box is for.

Also, check out the latest iDJ for a couple of reviews that I've done for the Matthew Dear and Cyrus LPs. Both are great, and well worth picking up if you haven't already done so. By the way, ignore the 3/5 rating for the Cyrus - I gave it 4 but someone in the office must have something against dubstep! That's the press for you!

This Friday @ Mutant Pop, Native - Bristol Showcase

Lukas' July Chart
1) Style Of Eye - Let’s Talk (Unreleased Remix) // Dot Bleep
2) Sebbo - Beirut Boogie // Liebe*Detail
3) Manuel Tur & DPlay - Portamento (Palmskin Remix) // Freerange
4) Matthias Tanzmann - Nip Slip // Moon Harbour
5) Ben Mono - Beatbox (Jesse Rose Remix) // Compost
6) Tom Mangan - Texas // Souvenir
7) Ben Westbeech - Hang Around (Wahoo Dub) // Brownswood
8) Ben Watt - Just a Blip // Buzzin’ Fly
9) Dirt Crew - Big Bad City // Dirt Crew
10) Samim ft. Big Bully - Paspd // Circus Company

Lukas' myspace:
www.myspace.com/electronicwildstyle

Jobody's myspace:
www.myspace.com/jobodymusic

Guest mixTAPE: Jimmy P (under_score)

Next up in the Bristolian mix series is an effort from one of my favourite nights in Bristol - under_score. They've been pushing the techno envelope in this city for a good few years now, putting on people like Sleeparchive, Bodycode, Andy Stott, Errorsmith, Kode 9, Sutekh... The list goes on, as you can imagine. Jim Petherwick is one of their resident DJs, and is affectionately known as 'the godfather of techno' by local enthusiasts. His love for all things dark, driving, and dubby is deep rooted, and this mix shows where his head's currently at stylistically. Full of spacious dub techno, cold reductionist minimal and a sprinkling of dubstep, this one's for the more cultured bass heads out there.

1) Convextion - Miranda (Deep Chord Remix) // Matrix
2) Peverelist - The Grind // Punch Drunk
3) Luciano - Bombero's // Cadenza
4) Andy Stott - See In Me // Modern Love
5) Appleblim - Vansan // Skull Disco
6) Metrolux - Descap (Live) // Metrolux Music
7) Claro Intelecto - Instinct // Modern Love
8) Heartthrob vs. Troy Pierce - Horse Nation Amended // M_nus
9) Shackleton - Massacre // Hotflush
10) Konrad Black & Ghostman - Medusa Smile // Wagon Repair
11) Pepe Bradock - Deep Burnt // Kif
12) Soulrack - Modul Age (Sleeparchive Remix) // Cray1 Labworks
13) Marc Ashken - Roots Dyed Dark (Skream Remix) // Leftroom
14) Surgeon - Bad Hands Break // Dynamic Tension
15) Emptyset - Displacement Activity // Future Days

Download:
Jimmy P - Guest mixTAPE

The next under_score event is next Saturday (21st July) at Cosies in St Paul's, and will host a live set from Tom Ellis, who recently impressed me with his Trimsound project (with labelmate and collaborator Leif) at this year's Venn Festival. Also, the word on the street is that they'll be hosting two techno heavyweights at the Blue Mountain later this year. Watch this space....

Guest mixTAPE: The Kelly Twins (UFO)

It's been a long time... We know it's been quiet on the blog because we've all been so busy, so I've been pestering the best of Bristol's local talent to drum up some hot mixes for all you music starved TAPErs. They should be appearing sometime over the next month, so check back for some killer sounds from the South West. The first mix is by two amiable young lads that go by the name of The Kelly Twins, who are involved with the UFO night that goes on in both Plymouth and Bristol. We'll be playing the next one on 27th July at Dojo Lounge here in Bristol along with Toby Tobias (who drops his 'Steel Bells' on Tiny Sticks very soon) and Thumbs Aloft (who are riding high in the Juno charts with their 'Bedmo Disco' 12"). These boys have grown close to our hearts with their mutual love of high quality dancefloor belters, so I thought I'd share this mix which they first played to me whilst I was out of my tree after seeing Aril Brikha. It's full of great tracks that showcase their techier side, and is a frankly cracking afterhours workout.

1) Agnes - Drowning // Resopal Red
2) Mariel Ito - Life Index // Modern Love
3) Niederflur - Isv // M_nus
4) Tolga Fidan - Isla (Alex Smoke Remix) // Vakant R
5) Chugga - Theme For The Buck Rogers Light Rope Dance (Shinedoe Remix) // Mule Electronic
6) Beck - Cellphone's Dead (Ricardo Villalobos Entlebuch Remix) // White
7) Richard Bartz - Atomic Dog (3 Channels Minimix) // Kurbel
8) Giles Smith - Tunnel of Light // Dessous
9) Alex Smoke - Neds (Tolga Fidan Remix) // Vakant R
10) Andromat 3000 & Jan - Frost // Cadenza
11) Sebbo - Beirut Boogie // Liebe Detail
12) Dattare - No Stopping // London Housing Benefit
13) Lee Douglas - Ravm // Rong
14) Ada - Hensel & Damsel // Cereal Killers

Download:
The Kelly Twins - Guest mixTAPE