In The Box - January

Been very busy over the last couple of weeks so apologies for the lack of updates. TAPE went off with a bang a couple of weekends back - the club was packed out by 12:30 and we had great sets from all involved. The Kelly Twins busted out a proper old school electro selection that worked the dancefloor up early on, while Mark E traversed from loopy disco to pumping acidic house and back with ease. There were loads of fresh edits and tracks that were unknown to my ears, but their obscurity didn't make his set any less enjoyable. Nightmoves' Matt Waites (pictured above - cheers to Tulane Blyth for the photo) took Mark's disco baton and ran with it, peppering his slick selection with a few bangers and spaced out jams. In particular Part 1 of 45:33 sounded excellent at around 3am, and he finished with a classic anthem yet again (Prince's 'Controversy' this time around!).

Cheers Matt, Mark, and everyone who came down and made it such a wicked night, and we'll be back in on Friday 21st March with Bass Clef (Blank Tapes) and Peverelist (Punch Drunk). They'll both be rocking more varied sets than their usual dubsteppin' fare, so we hope to see some of you down for that one!

Anyway, it's reaching the end of the month so it's time to pull out another list of stuff that have been keeping me from jumping off the suspension bridge this January.

In the Box - January '08

1) Bjorn Torske - Feil Knapp LP // Smalltown Supersound
Words can't describe just how brilliant this album from Norse elder statesman Bjorn Torske is. Jumping from chuggy electronic disco, 8-bit dub reggae, smooth house grooves and sparse tribal techno with aplomb, Bjorn's whipped up a journey that'll warm the cockles of many a music lover once they expose themselves to its multi-faceted charms. Sublime stuff.

Listen:
Bjorn Torske - Feil Knapp LP // Smalltown Supersound

2) Omar S - Psychotic Photosynthesis // FXHE
I first heard this on the mix that ISM's Pipecock did for us (which is absolutely cracking by the way - scroll down to get your fill) and was entranced by its delicate see-sawing melody and hypnotic groove. I'm sure that I'm one of many that are looking forward to see what Mr Smith has up his sleeve for later in the year after this quality slab of wax.

Listen:
Omar S - Psychotic Photosynthesis // FXHE

3) Prosumer & Murat Tepeli - Serenity LP // Ostgut Ton
I'm sure that you've been told how good this album is quite a bit already, but it really is a great body of work. Sure, the production is clinical and there's some fantastic grooves all the way through, but what really shines out is the quality of the songs and the flow of the album. Both Elif Bicer and Prosumer's vocals are slick and emotive in all the right places, and it's clear that they've taken a lot of time over the track arrangements even though they seem so simplistic on first listens. Buy the double LP for playing out, but don't turn your nose up at the CD version as that's definitely the most satisfying way to enjoy this cracking collection of tracks. It's a shame that they didn't stick with the original cover (pictured above), to be honest.

Listen:
Prosumer & Murat Tepeli - Serenity LP // Ostgut Ton

4) D1 - I'm Loving // Tempa
I was round Puffin's gaff when he pulled out the new Tempa 12, and was pleasantly surprised to hear this upbeat soulful cut from D1 oozing sexually from the speakers. Based around a sample of Ron Hall & The MuthaFunkaz cut 'The Way You Love Me' (never heard of it - not surprising seeing as it originally came out on Defected), 'I'm Loving' is packed with swelling melodies, perfect percussion, and great hooks. Balearic dubstep, anyone? Anyway, this is sure to be a big summer anthem with more open minded DJs, and to be honest I could see it becoming a big radio hit if it's picked up on by a major and re-released in a few months time. 'Instep' on the flip is a little bit wobbly-skank by numbers for my liking, but 'Speed' fares much better with its distorting clinks and hauntingly bouncy bass. The synth stabs sound a little unrefined, but that's a minor quibble. Tip.

Listen:
D1 - I'm Loving EP // Tempa

5) Mark E & Dragon - Good Times // Internajonal
Mark kindly sorted us a copy of his forthcoming release on Prins Thomas' Internajonal imprint, and it's an absolute beauty - think Ibizan sunsets on a heroin drip, and you're nearly there. Sparse heavy kicks and bubbling synths make way for a killer bassline, before the gorgeously woozy melody takes over and blisses things right out. Bonus points for Dragon's vocal lifted straight from Chic's anthem of the same name. Prins gives the track a more percussive arrangement that should work well in warm up sets, and I think you know exactly what Quiet Village are going to bring to the table. Upping the horse factor by ten, this is slo-mo hypno-house at its finest. Verdict? Well balearic.

6) Freund Der Familie - Konig Der Welt // Freund Der Familie
According the Discogs, the original on this record is from back in '98, which seems surprising since it sounds incredibly relevant to the recent melding of dubstep and techno ideals. 'Konig Der Welt' is a heavily tonal steppin' dub techno track with light percussion and the occasional bass purge, and is sure to find a happy home in the collections of Basic Channel and Modern Love fans. On the flipside, Sven Weisemann contributes a remix that's similar both in style and quality to his recent works on Mojuba and Meanwhile. Get it before you've got to pay about £40 to get hold of one.

Listen:
Freund Der Familie - Konig Der Welt // Freund Der Familie
Freund Der Familie - Konig Der Welt (Sven's dWorld Mix) // Freund Der Familie

7) Tony Lionni - Better Change // Mule Electronic
Solid three tracker from Madrid based Liverpudlian Lionni who looks set for big things in '08. He's got forthcoming bits on Versatile and Wavetec (which I've unfortunately not heard yet) as well as this EP that's coming out on Mule in March. A-side 'Better Change' is a gorgeous dubby piano houser that unfolds slowly across its ten minute duration, while the b-sides explore Tony's techier side. Eerie synths swell and surge away on 'The Presence', while 'Raices' takes Basic Channel-esque stabs and marries them to a crisp bouncing bassline. Tony should be sorting us out with a mix sometime soon, so keep checking back for that.

Listen here:
Mule Electronic myspace

8) Don Williams - Detroit Red EP // a.r.t.less
Simple but effective is the vibe on this, Williams' second outing on his own Mojuba sublabel. 'Beyond The Means' is a pumping techno cut with a rousing/annoying (delete as applicable) vocal paen to ol' Motor City, while 'Exhibition' takes a more emotive, chordal direction with irresistably sharp bouncing percussion.

Listen:
Don Williams - Beyond The Means // a.r.t.less
Don Williams - Exhibition // a.r.t.less

9) Lee Jones - Aria (Original & Tiger Stripes Remix) // Aus
My My's Lee Jones returns to Will Saul's Aus imprint with a stonking melodic minimal houser. The groove is stripped back but packed with all the percussive intricacies that we've come to expect from Jones, while the chiming melody resonates its way into your brain for days on end. Tiger Stripes keeps the melody intact but gives things a more pumping tech-house spin for more peak time sets, and while it is good in its own stabbily chugging way, it's Lee's more subtle original that comes out on top.

10) Columbia #1 - Columbia #1 // Dissident
The highly annoying Dissident records (limited quantities of substandard singles does not a good record label make) depart from their disco excursions with this slice of throbbing dark techno that apparently comes from a mysterious British producer who wishes to remain anonymous. A female voiced space-age computer intones emotionally devoid commands over a relentlessly charging bass synth and a seriously heavy kick as queasy sharp melodies swoop over the metallic groove. 200 copies as usual, so don't sleep on this one if you like your techno to be as dark as your pint of Guinness.

Listen:
Colombia #1 - Colombia #1 // Dissident

So there you go! I'm going to do a roundup of ten 12"s every month (should make doing the 100 a lot more manageable this time around!), so if you want to send me any promos for inclusion then hook me up here. Until next time...

TONIGHT!

TAPE
Friday 18th January
Native, Small Street, Bristol
10 til 4 // £6

with special guests:
NIGHTMOVES (Matt Waites DJ Set)
MARK E (Full Pupp / Jiscomusic)

and support from:
The Kelly Twins (UFO)
Puffin Jack & Richard Carnage (TAPE)

Been looking forward to this bad boy for ages, and the time is finally nigh. Expect deep dubby discoid stylings from Birmingham's favourite beard, Mark E, and a typically wildstyling, party jackin' set from Nightmoves' Matt Waites. Hope to see some of you down there! Here are some mix links to get you warmed up...

Download:
Mark E - Cool In The Pool mix
Mark E - Beats In Space mix
Mark E - Warm mix

Nightmoves - Beats In Space mix
Nightmoves - July '06 TAPE mix

Check out Beats In Space and Cool In The Pool, and Mark's City Rhythm page for loads of other decent mixage.

Rewind!

I've had a couple of requests to reupload Sell By Dave's 'Christmas At Merkin Manor' mix, so here's the new link.

Download:
Sell By Dave - Christmas At Merkin Manor

The full tracklisting can be found here. Have a good weekend!

Competition: Fabric this Saturday

The lovely people at Fabric have offered up two tickets for this Saturday's party featuring a rare live appearance from Random Factor (pictured above) and a main room set from Wagon Repair's prince of darkness, Konrad Black. Here's the full line-up:

Room One:
Craig Richards
Konrad Black
Matt Tolfrey

Room Two (Wiggle):
Terry Francis
Nathan Coles
Eddie Richards
Pure Science (Live)

Room Three (20:20 Recordings):
Ralph Lawson
Burnski
Random Factor (Live)
Bonar Bradberry

I'll need all entries in by 11am tomorrow morning (Friday), so I'll make this fairly easy:

Carl Finlow produces under the Random Factor moniker, but can you name me the two other pseudonyms that he releases under?

Send all entries to richardcarnes@hotmail.co.uk, and the winner will be picked at random and notified by e-mail by noon tomorrow.

The latest Fabric mix in the series is #38 from the MANDY boys, and I have to say that I found it a bit of a disappointment after the splurge of quality mixes that they put out at the tail end of last year. It starts off really nicely with a cut from Yello's Solid Pleasure LP before leading into subtle minimal house cuts from Guillaume & The Couto Dumonts and Crowdpleaser's mix of Quarion, but once it gets to Booka Shade's 'City Tales', things take a dip into filler territory. It picks back up again with a trio of tracks from Robag Wruhme, Claude Vonstroke and Djinxx & Xpansul, but then retreats back into tedium that only Sebo K and Sideshow manage to break up. I'm sure that the acolytes of the current wave of minimal house will lap this up, but unfortunately I just wasn't engaged enough by their selections and programming. Things will almost certainly take a better turn for the series in March with an upcoming mix from minimal legend Robert Hood, so make sure you look out for that one in a couple of months time.

Guest MixTAPE: Tom Cox (a.k.a. Pipecock)

Hopefully all you guys had a good Christmas and NYE, and maybe spent some of your moolah on some of the things you may have missed from our top 100 12"s. We're finally back from our holidays to present you with a specially commissioned mix from Pittsburgh resident Tom Cox. Known as the outspoken but always entertaining 'Pipecock' to people who trawl the forums, he caught my eye as someone who has a lot in common musically with us lot over here at TAPE. Sometimes we can be slightly Euro-centric in these pages (hell, we do live here!), so I asked Tom to do us a guest mix consisting of US only jams, and thankfully he obliged! Here's Tom with the blurb:

"This mix was a little more difficult than usual for me. Usually I mix by mood first and foremost, regardless of genre, year, or BPM. For this mix, showcasing house and techno artists from the US was the goal, so I had to make some decisions. After trying a couple different concepts, I ended up going with a mixup of some of the best of the past year as well as a couple other favorites from previous years that I had been wanting to throw in a mix but never quite fit in.

Things start off on the Chicago tip, defining house music with Larry Heard and then moving on to Malik Pittman's 808 rhythm trax. Then I went a bit spacey with the crazy remix of Kelly Polar (who hails from somewhere in New England), an obscure cut featuring the insanely overlooked Walt J. (of Detroit's Dow Records fame), and Omar-S' newest banger. Then the soul really kicked in with cuts by Atlanta's Kai Alce, North Carolina's $tinkworx, and Detroit house legends Andrés, Delano Smith, and Lawrence Hall. A nasty edit of a Ronnie Laws cut by Detroit expatriate Recloose signalled the move into the deepest territory. Cleveland resident Warren Harris (aka Hanna) beats the hell out of his drum machine's swing function, while Kevin Reynolds and Still Going combine electronics and live sounds in a smooth mix. Mr. Kenny Dixon, Jr. ends it with his ridiculously loopy edit of a Mario Winans cut, one of my personal favorite joints to drop at the end of the night.

This is how my man Jwan Allen and I do things at our biweekly Night Moods, deep and emotional house and techno (mixed with lots of other stuff, of course!), so i named it "412 Deep". Hope all you TAPE-aholics enjoy it! Thanks to Richard and all TAPE crew, peace my brothers."

1) Loosefingers - What Is House? // Alleviated
2) Malik Pittman - Chicago Nights // Unirhythm
3) Kelley Polar - Rosenband (Magic Tim's Instrumental Version) // Environ
4) Walt & Dave - Nuponty // Vigilante
5) Mike Huckaby - Wavetable No. 9 // SYNTH
6) Omar-S - Psychotic Photosynthesis // FXHE
7) Kai Alcé - Broken Headlights // Real Soon
8) Smith-Hall - Power In Unity // Mixmode
9) $tinkworx - No Luv // Delsin
10) Andrés - C2 // KDJ
11) Chow Daddy - Never Fade // Moxie
12) Warren Harris - Metropolitan // Sound Signature
13) Patrice Scott - Raw Fusion // Sistrum
14) Kevin Reynolds - Anonymous Room At The Corridor Of Last Night // Todhchai
15) Still Going - Still Going Theme // DFA
16) Kenny Dixon Jr. - Should've Known // Private Collection

Download:
Tom Cox - '412 Deep' Mixxx

Nice. A few of my favourites (Loosefingers, Mike Huckaby, Patrice Scott...), and quite a few that I haven't picked up on before. Discogs here I come! If you fancy a bit more of Tom's mixage and ramblings, then you should check out him and his pals' infinitestatemachine blog. There's loads of good stuff over there, so what are you waiting for?