Carnage's Top Ten (10/12)

Apologies for the drought of posts that has plagued this site yet again, but there's a new mix and radio show below for you audiophiles. The radio show may be of special interest to people who've been getting their head around the huge amount of dub techno that's been released lately. The first hour plays through older cuts from the Echospace crew, plus newer bits from Quince and Quantec, before picking up with an exclusive track from from October (you heard this one here first!), along with new stuff from Donnacha Costello, Baby Oliver, and Alexander Robotnick.

There should also be a few guest mixes coming up, and I'm trying to hassle Puffin to do another Doodledub mix for all you dubstep fanatics out there. There's also the end of year roundup to contend with, and I still need to get the Sebo K and Steve Bug interviews written up, so look forward to those.

As far as club nights are concerned, we had a great time playing the Bugged Out! party with Hot Chip and Jesse Rose, and the Andrew Weatherall TAPE night went off with a real bang. Thanks to Andrew and also Mr Clarkson for coming down and playing with us, and we'll be back on January 19th with sets from Matt Waites (Nightmoves) and Mark E (Jisco Music/Full Pupp). Put the date in your diary, folks! We've also got some Best Before shenanigans coming up before the end of the year - this Friday sees Daniel Donnachie (Disco Paradiso / Cosmic Dancing) descend on The Bank for our 'Cosmic Christmas Cracker', and we're also taking over The Bank for NYE - watch this space for further details.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my current top 10:

1) Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts - Petits Djinns EP // Circus Company
The samples of his recent LP on the Musique Risquee label sounded great, but I haven't yet got my ears around the full thing. What I have picked up recently, however, is their latest effort on Circus Company which is quality through and through. The A-side 'Sous D'Arbre' holds a lovely tribal groove before an idiosyncratic synth line and submerged vocal peep through the mix, picking things up nicely. The end of the track sees him indulge his wonky jazz tendencies with a looped sax sample and some wooshing noises to pick up the straggling dancers. The b-side cuts are a little more downbeat, with 'Yone' going for a tropical cyclical vibe and again utilising the sax here and there, whilst 'Chilly Willy' has more of a Moodymann with brass band in carnival mode thing going on. Three solid tracks - tip! There's a recent interview with the man over at Resident Advisor here.

Samples:
Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts - Petits Djinns EP // Circus Company

2) Son Of Raw - Black Man In Space // Objektivity
Dennis Ferrer ramps up the techiness level for his first 12 under his Son Of Raw pseudonym, and it's a bumpin' deep late night anthem that I can see really working the dancefloor. The killer groove is topped off by a vocal that errs just on the right side of cheese ("Somebody once said that there was no soul in space... Somebody slap them!"), and there's a 'Sax Mix' on the flipside for DJs who feel they need something a little more organic and jazzy.

3) October - Invitation EP // Caravan
After providing Boomkat with their fastest selling in-house release, our good friend Jules (pictured above right with Puffin) is back with his second twelve for his own Caravan imprint. The title track is the one that Peter Kruder had originally earmarked for a new sub-label of his, but after much dilly-dallying is coming out on this release. Smooth synths drip with echo and reverb whilst a detached vocal drifts over the top of Jules' trademark broken techno percussion, whilst b-side 'Tape' (dedicated to us lot at TAPE, no less) bubbles along with synth stabs, Carl Craig-esque surges, and a command to 'jack'. In early '08, I'm sure the bodies on the floor will be doing the talking. Also, we've got exclusive news that in addition to signing a 12" to Ripperton's Perspectiv label, Jules has also been offered a side of one of the new Liebe*Detail releases - a sure sign that this boy is going somewhere fast.

Here's a mix that the boy Jules has done, featuring current and forthcoming tracks from his catalogue:

October - New & Forthcoming Releases
1) Listen, Move, Dance
2) Three Drops
3) Invitation
4) There's A Glitch In My Soup
5) Tape
6) Homosapiens

Download:
October - New & Forthcoming Releases

4) Citizen Kane - Kane's Spanish Home // Moton
There's nothing more annoying than buying a record, only for it to go missing somewhere along the way. This is especially true when you lose it less than a week after first buying it, which is exactly what happened with my copy of the latest Moton 12". Of course, I had to buy it again, meaning that I've spent £14 on a track, but with this one it's definitely worth it. I first heard this when Dennis Kane dropped it on Metro Area's Beats In Space show, and it just stood out as something with a totally different vibe to the glut of edits coming out over the last couple of years. Based on a track from the Kill Bill soundtrack, it's a stomping disco beat backed by a rousing spanish guitar/brass combo, but the arrangement is something incredibly special. Check the way it drops down to the plucked acoustic guitar and strings, only to snap-clap its way back into action and kick into the rolling strum. Disco edit of the year, methinks?

Sample:
Citizen Kane - Kane's Spanish Home // Moton

5) Alex Under - Gris // CMYK
Alex Under's no stranger to using weird samples from movies and TV (one of his best works, his remix of Random Play's 'Just Like That' features samples from Requiem For A Dream), and for his latest release on his own CMYK label, he's sampled the stoned gay hippy from Family Guy. On paper it shouldn't work at all, but the lines that he's taken ('I'm gonna eat that hairy leg', 'I did have a chubby kid on the raft earlier today, etc.) give the relentless bass riff and plinky melody that extra surreal edge.

Sample:
Alex Under - Gris // CMYK

6) Metro Area - #7 // Environ
There were always going to be high expectations for this, and Darshan and Morgan definitely don't disappoint. A-side 'Read My Mind' is the first ever MA track to feature a vocal, and is a dreamy disco-pop voyage, wrapped in sultry strings and staccato synths. Some may find it a little, well... gay for their tastes, but it's my favourite of the bunch. A short dub version is also provided (thankfully at the same speed so you're able to mix the dub version over the top of the previous track before fading down and whipping the needle back to the start of the vocal), along with 'Erodyne', where the lads set the arpeggiators to stun before dreamy chords send proceedings into orbit. The whole package isn't as immediate as some of the previous 12"s, but give it time and it'll become one of your favourites of this year.

Samples:
Metro Area - #7 // Environ

7) Mark Farina - Back To The House EP // Om
This is a few months old now, but seeing as I haven't spoken about it before and it's still in the front of my box, I may as well do it now. The 'GLA mix' is my preferred version - an incredibly simple track made up of a spoken word vocal eulogising about bringing house music back, backed with a boompty bassline and a jacking drum track. There's also a mix with just the drums and vocals for the more adventurous DJ, and a more melodic version for people who want to keep things a little more groovy. A classic jack track for '07 - get yourselves on it.

Samples:
Mark Farina - Back To The House EP // Om

8) Claro Intelecto - Dependent // Modern Love
Serving as a taster for Claro's forthcoming 'Metanarrative' LP, this 300 copy release (now unfortunately out of stock) has definitely got me very excited about this album. Starting beatlessly for the first two minutes, the kick gets added before slowly metamorphesizing into a fuller sound, with choppy hats panning around the speakers and syncopated static bursts emerging sporadically. He's had a great year in 2007, but I'm sure that 2008 will see even more Claro converts worship this man for the talent that he is.

Sample link (click through to Boomkat):
Claro Intelecto - Dependent // Modern Love

9) Mountain People DJs - Mountain People 005 // Mountain People
No surprises here - Mountain People come out with yet another cracking twelve inch. No idea who the producers are on this one (I'm guessing that label founders Serafin & André Schmid provide a side each), but you've got a tracky roller on the A broken up intermittently by a sustained spaced out chord, and a chunkier track on the B which is on more of a skippy deep house tip.

Samples:
Mountain People DJs - Mountain005.1 // Mountain People
Mountain People DJs - Mountain005.2 // Mountain People

10) Pole - Steingarten (Shackleton & Peverelist Remixes) // ~scape
If you only buy one of the four Pole remix twelves, let it be this one. Shack's tripped out mix was the one that held my attention in the shop, but once getting it home it was Peverelist's use of space and whomping bass pulses that really got me going. Good on local boy Tom - he's really going from strength to strength at the moment.

Samples:
Pole - Achterbahn (Shackleton Remix) // ~scape
Pole - Winkelstreben (Peverelist Remix) // ~scape

And remember that we've got Best Before with Daniel Donnachie (Disco Paradiso/Cosmic Dancing) this Friday if you're in Bristol...

To get you in the mood, here's the latest edition of Daniel's 'Cosmic Dancing' mix series with exclusive cuts from Nick Chacona on Prins Thomas' new offshoot and the disco aficionado's edit label of choice, Beard Science. More of Daniel's mixes can be found here.

Daniel Donnachie - Cosmic Dancing #41
Lovefingers - Astroturf // RVNG
Studio - East Side (Version) // Chinatown
Lovefingers - Bermuda // RVNG
Beard Science - Ark Raiders (T.Tauri Edit) // Beard Science
Simone Ferdi - Belzebu Tales // CD-R
They Came From The Stars: I Saw Them - Signals (Emperor Machine Dub) // This Is Not An Exit
Nick Chacona - Eagle City // Internasjonal
Beard Science - Hold Me Longer (Jininchi Rework) // Beard Science
Brennan Green - Escape From Chinatown // Chinatown
Nick Chacona - Mariachi // Internasjonal
Les Edits Du Golem - Klout // Golem
They Came From The Stars: I Saw Them - Signals (Album Version) // This Is Not An Exit

Download:
Daniel Donnachie - Cosmic Dancing #41