Welcome to our latest playlist written during lockdown at TBC HQ. We haven’t posted for some time and we wanted to rekindle our website posts to share our latest listening with you during the lockdown period. We hope that this post finds you safe and healthy and you are able to seek out some of the albums that we have been listening to for your enjoyment in May.
At TBC HQ we have had an increased amount of time to listen to music due to a period of furlough and an existing period of maternity leave. We have recently installed a new wifi system so we are able to transmit music around the house from our desktop PC and hard drive plus we have our extensive CD and vinyl collection to call on. Each room is currently being used as a different room in a club so we have a chill out area, warm up, after party, techno, house and electro music rooms as you can see from the playlist.
We have also been watching a lot of the live stream DJ sets and hope to add these to the playlist for next month.
The list below are our recommendations with particular favourites marked with a star.
Albums
Agoria – Drift
Bonobo – Black Sands
Dapayk Solo – Decade one
Com Truise – Persuasion System *
COMA – In Technicolor
Dave Clark – Devil’s Advocate *
Djrum – Portrait with Firewood
The Field – Infinite Movement
Four Tet – Sixteen Oceans
Function – Existenz
Grimes – Miss Anthropocene
HVOB – Rocco
Snuff Crew – Behind The Masks *
Spektre – Casting Shadows in no light
Tuff City Kids – Adolescent
Compilations and Mixes:
Berghain Vol.1 by Andre Galuzzi
Back To Mine by Nightmares on Wax
Fabric Presents Maribou State *
Ministry of Sound Session by Cajmere and Green Velvet *
Ministry of Sound presents Mashed by Ajax and Wok Djs
X Mix 2 pres Laurent Garnier – Destination Planet Dream
Watch the Ride by Andrew Weatherall
Vinyl Back Catalogue:
Scuba – Personality
Various Artists – Dark Beat Detector
Radiohead – OK Computer
Ellen Allien – Berlinette
Please respond with any feedback and other recommendations for us to include in the playlist for next month.
Welcome to the TBC annual review for 2018, it has been a quiet front in regards to TBC this year with only the 2017 annual review being posted on the website and one event in July (NY Muscle). In 2019 however, we continue to look for new ways to bring you more events and articles, this has already included our first podcast posted in January 2019 that included a mix and some words from Nick O Teen. Our last event in 2018 was exceptional, so many of our friends attended, made a great effort on the costume front, partied hard and gave us some great feedback to help TBC grow and develop in the future.
2018 was a very busy year for TBC, as ever and it included a number of big clubbing events. 303 in Liverpool in February at the awesome Invisible Wind Factory venue with Charlie May, Nick Warren, Guy J, Henry Saiz and Quivver (John Graham). The highlight being the basement room at the end with Quivver playing his moody progressive techno style and Nick Warren absolutely smashing it with a superb progressive set. Techno for Humanity in Antwerp (Belgium) in April for our wedding anniversary (how romantic!) with Danny Howells b2b Dave Seaman b2b Darren Emerson on their 3D tour, Hernan Cattaneo b2b with Nick Warren, Radioslave, Martin Buttrich, Gary Beck b2b Marcel Fengler and finally Amelie Lens b2b Pan-Pot. This event was top draw, DJ proceeds go to charity and you enjoy a massive rave by a lake in Antwerp with some of the best music and DJs across a multitude of genres. We finally got to attend Printworks in London on October 6th for Maceo Plex’s Mosaic night with Maceo himself, Len Faki, Ellen Allien and Silent Servant to name just a few. Printworks is an out of this world venue in, you guessed it, an old print works South of the river in London, it is simply ginormous and such an audio and visual spectacle. Room 237 at Club Loco in Bristol on October 13th for Bjarki and Randomer at a rave in a tunnel! As you can guess this was a totally insane event from a prestigious dark horse of a night called Room 237 that has been going for some time, check it out. Lady H also went raving in Vienna and had a ball at Grelle Forelle and Pratersauna. We attended Hybrid’s UK tour that came to Sheffield at Plug in November, this was a trip down memory lane back to the late 90’s and early noughties along with their new materials released in 2018 which is excellent and features on our playlist. Our last clubbing event of the year was a cheeky little outing to the Harley in Sheffield in December to see one of our all time favourite DJ’s and previous playlist winner Helena Hauff playing at Pretty, Pretty Good. We also managed to squeeze in 3 family weddings, one of which we DJ’d at, and a bonkers mini-festival that our friends threw in Welshpool in August called Brooskfest. I need a rest having just typed that out, we never do things by halves, all in or all out at TBC.
This year we are trying to better previous years articles on two fronts; posting the article as near to the start of 2019 as possible and changing up the format of the article to provide a fresh approach. We are posting the first part of the article in early March 2019 so we have definitely achieved on the former and the latter will see the results of the annual review revealed on our latest podcast later in March 2019 with some samples of the albums, compilations, podcasts or live mixes.
Playlist
This years list has 80 entries with 52 albums and compilations, 12 radio shows or podcasts and 16 classic albums or mixes. We have techno, house, progressive, disco, break beat, drum & bass, electro and even some dubstep. Our top picks are highlighted in bold and the shortlist will be presented on our podcast soon.
Berghain 08 by Fiedel – Various Artists
Balance 029 by James Zabiela – Various Artists
Nick Warren, Henry Saiz and John ‘Quivver’ Graham live from 303V (Liverpool, Invisible Wind Factory) – Various Artists
Clarian – Television Days
Oliver Schories – Blitzbahn
Dj Kicks by Deetron – Various Artists
Dax J – Offeding Public Morality
Fabric 88 by Maceo Plex – Various Artists
John Hopkins – Singularity
Dj Koze – Knock Knock
Balance 030 mixed by Max Cooper – Various Artists
Naif by Efdemin – Various Artists
Eskimo Recordings presents The Purple Collection – Various Artists
Skee Mask – Compro
Gui Boratto – Pentagram
Blawan – Wet Will Always Dry
Schneeweiss 9 presented By Oliver Koletzki – Various Artists
Bedrock XX mixed and compiled by JohnDigweed – Various Artists
Hybrid– Light of the Fearless
Permanent Vacation Selected Label Works 6 – Various Artists
Chronika V – Various Artists
Djrum – Portrait with Firewood
Hidden Empire – Mind Palace
Chris Liebing – Burn Slow
Djedjotronic – R.U.R
Orbital – Monsters Exist
A-Sides Vol.7 – Various Artists
Max Cooper – One Hundred Billion Sparks
Stil Vor Talent pres. Tempelhofer Feld – Various Artists
ReKonstruct mixed by Quiver – Various Artists
Balance presents Uone – Various Artists
Dj Kicks by Mount Kimbie – Various Artists
Global Underground Nu:Breed by Denney – Various Artists
Live at Cocoon Ibiza by Kink
Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman
Michael Klein – Snapshot
Mariel Ito – 2000 to 2005
Redshape – A Sole Game
Adriatique – Nude
Prodigy – No Tourists
Watergate 025 mixed by Adana Twins – Various Artists
Miss Kittin – Cosmos
Elke Kleijn – Moments of Clarity
The World of Monnom Black – Various Artists
Dj Kicks by Robert Hood – Various Artists
Sound of the 19th Season mixed by Sven Vath – Various Artists
Thomas P Heckmann – Body Music
Gary Beck – Dal Riata
Tribology by Ben Sims – Various Artists
Anthony Rother – 3L3CTRO COMMANDO
Foundations Vol.1 – Various Artists
Panorama Bar 07 mixed by Nd Baumecker – Various Artists
Essential Mix
Palms Trax January 2018
Charlotte De Witte February 2018
Dax J April 2018
Blawan May 2018
Eagles and Butterflies July 2018
Le Fleur August 2018
Avalon Emerson August 2018
Haai September 2018
Mariel Ito October 2018
Agoria November 2018
Resident Advisor Podcast
Amelie Lens June 2018
Alienata April 2018
Classics
Hybrid Back Catalogue – Wide Angle, Morning Sci-Fi, I Choose Noise, Disappear Here 1999 – 2010
A1 People – Fresh Juice 2000
Layo & Bushwaka – Night Works 2002
Balance 005 – James Holden 2003
Warp20 present Chosen – Various Artists 2009
FabricLive 44 by Commix – Various Artists 2009
Chase and Status – Beginnings and More Than A Lot 2010
Commix – Recall to Mind 2010
Chase and Status – No More Idols 2011
Commix – Dusted 2012
Andy C presents Nightlife Vol.6 – Various Artists 2013
Tuff City Kids – Adolescent 2016
Kink – Playground 2017
We hope you can find some new favourite albums, mixes and artists from our playlist. Check out their online content and of course support them by purchasing their latest releases.
It is now time to select our favourites from 2017 and write a short review of each explaining our selection process. The process of selecting our favourites at TBC is always challenging due to personal preference, musical taste, the context of the listening experience (where and when you listened to the album or mix) and whether the selection will stand the test of time and repeat listens. When looking back at previous favourites and our picks from years past we can safely say that we still listen to these mixes today and have done so recently. They have each stood the test of time and we would still recommend getting involved in these now classics.
2016 – RA Podcast #525 – Dr Rubenstein
2015 – Fabric 84 – Mathew Jonson
2014 – Defected Pres. Nic Fanciulli In The House – Various Artists
We have reviewed our playlist over and over again to whittle down to our favourites and this year we have picked out a short list of 10 from which we will select the top 3 and the winner for 2017.
Planetary Assault Systems – The Lights Years (reworks)
Ellen Allien – Nost
Balance Pres. Natura Sonoris mixed by Henry Saiz
Bicep – Bicep
Sasha – Refracted Live
Nic Fanciulli – My Heart
Adam Beyer live at Awakenings Festival 25th June 2017
RA #596 mixed by Oscar Mulero
Essential Mix by Helena Hauff
Essential Mix by Bicep
Planetary Assault Systems – The Lights Years (reworks)
Luke Slater is a legend within the techno community for quite simply destroying dance floors with his heavy acid tinged, full on techno. Whether his production comes via his actual name or one of his many aliases you are sure to be on to a winner with any of his production albums, compilation, EP’s or LP’s. Under his Planetary Assault system moniker he quite simply produces bonkers rave-like techno that you would expect to hear in the basement at Tresor, strobes going off, smoke machines on full, bass bins shaking the floor like an earthquake and 135BPM beats blaring from the speakers. This is two decades of classics remixed and edited for 2017 by some of the scenes hardest and heaviest producers; Fengler, Function, Steve Bicknell, Slam and Planetary Assault System special P.A.S. Live edits. If you want to be pulverised by some of the best heavy techno then step right up, turn up your speakers and get involved. If you want to scare someone during a mix then throw one of these beasts in and to be honest there aren’t really any bad tracks on this mix so you would be unlucky to select one that wouldn’t do the job.
Temporary Suspension remixed by Slam, Surface Noise by P.A.S. are the two stand out tracks if you had to choose and there is also a treat at the end of the release, having managed to survive the 13 selected monsters, with an hour long megamix of the Planetary Assault System gems, a nice little bonus.
Have a listen to some samples on the link below.
Ellen Allien – Nost
Many of our TBC followers wouldn’t be surprised to see an Ellen Allien album make the end of year playlist however considering the fact that we are super fans of the Bpitch label legend this album is not what you would expect having listened to previous production albums. The last few albums Lism , Dust and Sool were all experimental electronica ranging from house, techno, pop, chillout and dub. The albums before this with Apparat (Orchestra of Bubbles) and the solo albums Thrills, Berlinette and Stadtkind were all more electro influenced with Thrills being the stand out album with classics such as Brain is Lost – still a TBC favourite. Ellen’s eighth production album since 2001 has taken us on a journey and finally we have an album more similar to her single releases and live sets. It’s techno time!
The opening track sums up my previous words perfectly with Mind Journey which takes you on a bass heavy journey accompanied by an evil lyric “this is not a mind journey…”, with an epic bass line. The theme generally is a more stripped back, basic techno structure that sucks you in and you cannot help but be captivated by the albums transition from storming track to another storming track accompanied by a little dance and grin of satisfaction. 2018 already has a number of remixes from this album lined up and we are very excited at TBC to dance to and play these tracks out in a club.
Mind Journey, Innocence, Call Me, Mma and Physical are stand out tracks but each carries it own weight.
Enjoy the samples from the Bpitch Soundcloud page below.
Balance Pres. Natura Sonoris mixed by Henry Saiz
Since his big hit Balance series volume 19 in 2011 and one particular release in 2008 titles Hello, Infinite on his Artificial Paradises EP (Renaissance) Henry Saiz has been on the TBC radar and we have kept out eye out for new albums, events and singles. His Reality Addendum production album in 2014 followed by its numerous remix collections has been featured in our progressive DJ sets for some time and are still in fact being played today. In 2016 we met the 303 event organisers from Liverpool in Croatia and they are good buddies with Henry Saiz so we have been spoiled with a few epic nights at their club listening to his epic progressive, balearic, percussion infused disco and, in some instances, unique style music (that features heavily on his Natura Sonoris label).
The Balance Series has been enjoyed by TBC since 2003 with the legendary James Holden 005 edition and we have lost count of the instalments that we own in our mega CD collection, its worth checking the series out if you haven’t done so (but if this is the case where have you been?). Henry Saiz has brought his label to town on this special Balance presents edition of their mix series and it is like a match made in heaven. A legendary CD series asking a DJ who already has a critically acclaimed instalment in the series plus a label that we cannot talk highly enough for its originality, bizarre-ness and its high quality of artist selection and music production. The 2 disc mix is perfectly balanced (pardon the bad joke) with its dreamy, percussion lead, balearic/summery feel music that takes you into a progressive soundscape that you could quite easily meditate to, pre-party to or get your groove on, just alter the bass response on your speakers and the master volume. All we can say is that this mix is epic, a true classic style compilation CD that shows off good music, production skills, track selection and some great labels and artists.
Sonder by Joep Mencke, Goliath by Tentacle and Ventura by Hal Incandenza all feature on disc one with superb edits and mixes either by other producers or spliced with other tracks by Saiz himself.
Disc two is almost solely Henry Saiz production or remixes so the whole disc is excellent but our favourites are the soundtrack-esque Prophetess, the epic vocal lead, trancey Light, Woodhouse by NVSBL and Death Drive blended with The Pendulum.
Since their Feel My Bicep podcast Bicep have come a long way, their 2012 Throne of Blood compilation mix, their 2014 BBC Essential Mix and a great number of superb production tracks such as Stripper and Just show their development in style, production quality and growth into all round electronic scene powerhouses. You can see them play disco on a boat in Croatia, a rave set in a warehouse, techno and house at a festival or bide their time until 2017 to produce and release a truly epic debut production album Bicep which they play at their Live shows. Their choice of label for the album . . . Ninja Tunes, was one which left a few people puzzled but when you hear their production sound and style this album harks back to an era of urban electronic production that Ninja Tunes are famous for and that in retrospect makes perfect sense to show off Bicep’s production skills and excellent to put out an album that can be enjoyed by such a diverse audience, old to young, urban scene to electronic scene.
The album itself needs a good few listens, one with headphones, another loud and in a party situation and the final one in a studio environment with a good balance of bass and treble. Once you have racked up a few listens through the album your appreciation to the 12 track album builds and builds, we even thought back to Orbital, Hybrid and Underworld production levels in the early naughties and nineties. This is a must have album from 2017 and one that will be around for many years to come.
If one of your first clubbing memories back when you were 18 was the Airdrawndagger album launch party at Heaven in London, you have listened to the original Renaissance Mix Collection from 1994 or seen this person DJ back to back with John Digweed for 4+ hours on two occasions you will get very excited when Sasha brings out a new song, mix, CD or is booked at a night or a festival. However somewhat amazingly we weren’t aware of the Sasha Refracted tour even though it is a continuation of the epic Scene Delete album on Late Night Tales released un 2016 and reviewed on the TBC website. What is happening to us, our finger is off the pulse! Well we need to make up for missing one of the most ridiculous live events ever where Sasha has reconstructed his tracks from Scene Delete and selected classics (yes Xpander is in there!) to be played with a full orchestra, Charlie May on keyboard and a whole host of synthesisers, drum machines and other classic and electronic instruments. We purchased the full, all singing all dancing, Blu Ray and double disc set in its fancy textured boxset in order to revel in Sasha’s masterclass. This was Sasha’s first ever fully live performance and wow doesn’t do it justice.
It would be cheating to mention the Blu Ray video in this article as it isn’t fair against the other entries but it really is amazing, the high definition cameras and sound is simple unbelievable.
The album is made up of two discs, the first is Scene Delete reconstructed for the show with live vocals and of course live instruments and some crowd noises that, unlike other live albums don’t detract from the music itself. We won’t spend too long on this disc as we have already reviewed the album but this version is stunning, the orchestral strings and percussion add a new layer to the tracks and the live vocals are spot on.
Baracus with its bass breakdown around the 2 minute mark, Detour with it’s haunting vocals, Time After Times percussion and keyboard magic and Rooms featuring John Graham (A.K.A Quivver) on vocals stand out.
The second disc is classics from the Sasha era including one from Airdrawndagger all those years ago. Hearing the classics in this new way has that feel of nostalgia that many have tapped into with this new classical/orchestral take on classics but at the same time revitalise classics in their purest form.
Battleships, Belfunk, Burma (by Lostep is the original artist) and Xpander are stand out.
It is hard to sum the overall album up due to the nostalgic value this holds at TBC plus being swayed by the magic Blu Ray video but Sasha has really hit the mark and excelled himself, once again, with Refracted Live. Please enjoy the link below and go and get this album.
Nic Fanciulli – My Heart
Nic Fanciulli is one of Maidstone’s finest exports and being a Maidstonian myself it is great that he continues to build his brand and excel within a competitive electronic DJ environment. He hosts the Social event all over the world having started it in the humble Mote Park in Maidstone, is very good mates with Joris Voorn who often plays at small events in Maidstone bars and clubs and continues to loyally support Maidstone FC in the Conference Premier. Back in 2014 we selected Nic’s Defected in the House series as our favourite release and since he hasn’t released any full length mixes or major EP’s or singles, however in 2017 Nic finally graced us with his debut production album My Heart and you have to say patience is a virtue and this was worth waiting for.
In a career that has spanned around 20 years, since TBC first saw Nic playing funky house in River Bar for the Club Class warm up at Ikon, Nic has evidently honed and developed his sound and matured as a producer as My Heart oozes class and detail in the production work of each track. This is also a full length LP of 16 tracks that includes great interludes and flows nicely from deep house with superb vocals to dirtier, harder dance floor tech house tracks which is something that TBC greatly appreciated in an LP.
Imitations is a superb summers day time deep house track with a great male vocal, 100mph is a groovy deep house track with haunting keys and vocal, Twisted and The First Step are quality house tracks with catchy keys and groovy baselines that would be welcome at a house party, at a festival or in the club. Wrong picks things up a bit with a tech-house feel, The Perfect Crime is a nice progressive house uplifting track and Resistance harks back to acid house with an acid groove. Saying (featuring a great vocal cameo from Damon Albarn) and My Love brings things back down with deep house and an uplifting summery feel and you can have a break having got to the I’m Tired interlude. After Time and Sunshine 101 move back to the uplifting progressive house vibe and again show a great balance in production skill to vary and change across the LP. Little L has a tough tech house groove and satisfying bass line while The Light is an epic vocal lead dreamy that would sit well in a Moderat set, just great electronica. When you reach Under Stars you are in the outro and the album fades out but you feel that you need to listen again and appreciate a true gem of an album, we have done this a few times at after parties and when reviewing the album in this article.
Highly recommended and great debut album, have a listen to the album by following the link below.
Adam Beyer live at Awakenings Festival 25th June 2017
Awakenings is on the top festivals in Europe, they host a few parties every year either at the indoor Gashouder or the outdoor Sparrenwoude (we would highly recommend checking out some of the videos on Youtube as both are spectacular). The line ups are somewhat over the top with almost all of the top techno artists across all of the sub-genres of techno featuring and 2018 was a festival that TBC almost attended due to a friends stag do event in Holland however we were unable to make it. Luckily almost all of the mixes are recorded by BE-AT.tv which means you can easily access the best mixes and in this case we have a stormer for you from none other than the Drumcode head honcho Adam Beyer.
Adam Beyer has spent a great deal of time building and developing the Drumcode label and its artist roster so the last few years have not seen as much of a buzz around his tracks, mixes, albums or festival/event sets however this Awakenings set was the buzz on the internet and on social media from those who went telling their mates who couldn’t attend how much they were missing out! When we heard about his set from our friend who attended we went straight to Soundcloud (see link below) and got involved in typical TBC style in the early hours of a Saturday morning, Techno Breakfast time.
This mix has it all, which is essential for a festival set (having heard many over the years both live and via streaming or download), Drumcode artists, new material, a Depeche Mode remix from Thomas Schumacher and Victor Ruiz, the classic Vitalic Le Rock 01, the 80’s classic Pump Up The Jam and stormers from Boxia with Point of No Return and Spektre with Forged in the Heart of a Laserbeam. Add to the great track list (link below) the crowd noises from the festival, some ice cannons and other pyrotechnics you can hear in the mix plus the great transition from techno stomping to dance your ass off party tracks to classics you can sing along to like a little kid this mix epitomises the festival live set. As it is hard to put the whole mix into words we would highly recommend listening yourself on the link below.
TBC have been fans of Oscar Mulero for a few years now albeit he has been djing and producing since the 80’s in his native Spain and across the world. When you listen to his production work it becomes quickly evident why we like him so much as he makes loud, heavy bass, banging techno, enough said! He runs the label Polegroup that has hosted artists such as Exium, Jonas Kopp, Reeko, Christian Wunsch, Lewis Fautzi and Perc which is quite a roster from the harder end of the techno spectrum. I was lucky enough to attend a night in Barcelona in 2017 where one of his label DJs played and it was banging, some of the artists he has signed to his label or invited to his nights are just superb techno dj’s and producers. Could you withstand the audio onslaught?!
In 2017 we were fortunate that RA enlisted Oscar to provide an episode of their podcast and this is simply stunning techno. Heavy and moody at the start progressing to the more full on, bass heavy, storming techno within around the 10-15 minute mark. Turn on your sub-woofer for some great bass frequency production work and a DJ utilising the EQ levels of the tracks to maintain a relentless bass line. Sciahri presents Insanity at around the 15 minute mark that does exactly what it says on the tin, this is pure insane techno. Oscar Mulero himself follows this track (and provides a few others later on too), along with a monster from Steve Bicknell called Harmonious Balance and later a remix from Planetary Assault Systems of a Lucy track, there are too many great techno tracks to name without writing down the actual track list. We must warn you that this is the heavier end of techno and could scare some people away but it is simply a great techno artist compiling and blending heavy, fast and dubby techno at its best. Enjoy the link below but beware, this isn’t for the faint hearted.
Essential Mix by Helena Hauff
2017 was the year that Helena Hauff rose to fame and held an almost stratospheric status in electronic music. She hosted a BBC Radio One residency show, debuted on the BBC Essential Mix show, played club nights and festivals across the World all while playing the electro end of the techno spectrum and in most instances just straight up electro, which has never really been mainstream in electronic music. This is quite a feat when you consider that she is also not a prolific producer having only released one production album in 2015 and a handful of singles and EP’s. Therefore she has risen to her current status off the back of her pure desire to promote her favourite genres, her superb mixing style and an almost geeky level of music crate digging for both new and old electro.
TBC were very excited about this Essential Mix having rated her Mixmag In Session mix in 2016 very highly and we were not let down when we finally got to Helena’s debut essential mix (we very much hope there will be more). Our excitement even lead to an after party at our flat where the full 2 hour mix was played at high volume with our sub-woofer turned up to max, this was pure exhilaration! The mix oozes class and feels like a sci-fi film soundtrack or computer game with the flow and mixing style that accentuates the bleeps, squelches, vocal samples and kicks that are prominent throughout. When the mix hits Transparent Sound at around 16 minutes with No Calls From New York, which is an evil sounding, break beat-esque rave track, the mix really cranks up and you almost feel like Helena is showing off her tune selection while not scaring people off with the more eccentric, eclectic end of the electro genre. TBC had to find this track, a cheeky steal from this mix, and have played many times since (something we had to do with a few tracks in this mix). As the mix nears 25 minutes W1bo presents Utopia Planitia things really start to pick up with a great bpm pace change and an uplifting electro track that is simply brilliant. The mix goes on to feature The Exaltics, Drexciya (twice), The Hacker, Aux 88, The Horrorist, Alien FM, The Advent and DJ Stingray which is literally the glitterati of the electro world for the last 15 years in dance music and the mix continues to grow, develop, ebb and flow throughout not feeling like a simple tune-fest but a perfectly crafted blend of superb electro and techno. The second hour is definitely more techno and at the harder end of the music spectrum with a particular favourite from Paul Blackford called Fallout played over an Adam Beyer Untitled track which is almost a tribal style electro monster track.
We literally can’t say enough about this mix, it even won Essential Mix of the Year! Have a listen with the link below and enjoy.
Essential Mix by Bicep
This is the second feature in our 2017 playlist from Bicep and it comes in the guise of one of our favourite radio shows the BBC Essential Mix. This was also Bicep’s second essential mix for Pete Tong with the first coming way back in 2014 and boy have Bicep come a long way since then in regards to sound, career progression and the overall quality that is evident across the 2 hour mix.
The mix starts at the lower end of the electronic spectrum with chilled, blissed out yet uplifting tracks that sit between chillout, nu-disco and deep house. At around the 25 minute mark Bicep step it up a gear with tracks from Giraffi Dog, Hammer, Tons of Tones, Lake People and Norwell that flow perfectly and bring an old school feel with a great groove, squelches, breaks, kick drums and some superb keys, each of these tracks are ones you will want for your own collection. This shift in the mix brings us more in line with the sound that Bicep are harnessing and developing today, similar to the feel on their self titles album (reviewed earlier). As the mix nears the hour mark the old school feel remains but the bass becomes a bit heavier and the break beats continue with the epic Touch Absence from Lanark Artefax and flows into the hour mark where a more electro sounds emerges from the break beats from Abyssal Zone by Djedotronic, who are stalwarts in the electro scene, via an epic trance like track from Claude Speed called Ambien Rave. The electro sounds dominate for the next few tracks, raise the energy levels up and make you want to dance about and shake your ass like you’re at a rave, its contagious. Into the last half hour the mix takes on a more bassline, garage sound which is a nice touch as TBC are fans of this scene from many years ago and its works well with the rave, breaks and electro from earlier. Dan Cough’s B Jam into Urban Myths Makin Me Feel is a great mix that you would expect from a garage DJ, the diversity of Bicep is truly on show here. A classic from CJ Bolland is included around the 1 hour 40 mark called The Tower of Naphtali which is an R&S classic and again we hark back to the rave era and one of its most famous labels. The mix draws to a close but not before an Apex Twin number and two final tracks to ease you to the end with God Within Raincry being a great vocal chanting trance like breakbeat track and Modaji with Belle Epoque a blissed out closing track , what a mix!
The biggest failing of this mix was that it was released in December 2017 and missed the Essential Mix of the year poll where Helena Hauff took the crown (see above), as this mix would have definitely given Helena a run for her money. However do not be deterred by us using the word failing in this mini review as this mix is superb and one of our favourite essential mixes ever. The progression of Bicep is clear to see in this mix and we cannot rate it highly enough. Enjoy with the link below.
Welcome back to our annual review of all the music that has been played at TBC HQ over the past year. We must say that 2017 has gone quickly, it has almost flown by, but this has not been without the standard level of trawling through new music, albums, compilations and podcasts plus our archive of music (that has been amassed over the years and the odd classic album we find while out and about) in order to report back to our TBC followers. The reason for ever increasing speed of the years is normally linked to age however at TBC we seem to take it upon ourselves each year to challenge and see how many things we can shoe horn into a 12 month period and we have excelled yet again 2017. We have managed to finally buy our new house (after 2 failed attempts) where we are now able to party in our sound insulated attic. We attended half a dozen weddings including one in the Game of Thrones land of Dubrovnik, partied at the Night Kitchen (TBC was first held in the basement at this venue) one last time before it closed its doors, attended a Stag Do in Barcelona and one in Sheffield. We surprised friends on a Berlin hen do, enjoyed multiple parties at the end of the year at Collect and The Holt (cheers Gaz and Jess) where I finally got to DJ out properly (the only occurrence in 2017). You may ask where have the TBC parties been in 2017 but after a very busy 2016 we took a break to focus on other things with the intention to come back and have a ‘re-birth’ in 2018 so watch this space. We did of course have multiple shindigs to enjoy the music finds of the year; at our old flat to send off the Mezz in true TBC style and to christen our new house, sorry to our old and new neighbours!
Part One
The 2017 playlist is extensive with a total of 121 releases, split as follows; 2017 has 99 with 83 albums/compilations/radio shows/live sets plus 16 Resident Advisor podcasts and BBC Essential mix shows. The Classic and Eclectic portion is made up of 22 releases and we venture back to 2001 to cover all of our selections this year. We had to trim the playlist considerably as our music back catalogue has been delved into during a recent reshuffle of music during our house move resulting in many, many lost hours. The range of musical genres takes us from electronic to pop to hip-hop and rock with the former spanning drum & bass, house, electro, rave, techno, progressive and disco. In brief we can say that while 2017 was not one of the best for producing truly standout releases there have been a few gems that have been great to seek out. We hope that you can find some new artists, record labels or releases when reading the article and can enjoy the releases as much as we have.
2017 Playlist
Eskimo Recordings pres. The Red Collection
Resistance Vol.1 mixed by AndHim
Permanent Vacation Vol.4 – Various Artists
Selectors 001: selected by Motor City Drum Ensemble
InFine 10: Tomorrow Sounds Better With You – Various Artists
Stereo Productions pres. Best of 2016 – Various Artists
Welcome back to the TBC album promo feature, fresh in 2017 with an album which we have been enjoying since December when it first landed in our inbox. Following on from a successful 2016 roster with Moodymann, Dam-Funk, Jackmaster, Marcel Dettmann and Daniel Avery Dj Kicks is back in 2017 with a superb addition being to the series by the legend Matthew Dear (AKA Audion). Matthew has been around for some time now and his sound is a mixture of many genres; pop, techno, house, dub, eclectic electronica sounds and electro which is ideal for a series such as DJ Kicks. The series is always an opportunity to delve into a famous DJs repertoire, see a different musical angle or experience a leftfield musical journey and Matthew Dear doesn’t disappoint, albeit you will have to be open to his eclectic style and selection.
The mix starts with a superb intro from Nils Frahm Ode which eases you into the mix with a blissed out chilled masterpiece. Wrong with Us follows, an exclusive DJ Kicks track by Matthew himself, which is typically a Dear track with his own quirky lyrics, a nice baseline and a summery house groove that breaks with some nice squelchy keys towards the end of the track. The mix progresses with some heavy baselines, eclectic house and growling techno that epitomises the Matthew Dear sound and are highly enjoyable with a good set of headphones and the accompaniment of a Subpac for some bass feedback. It is great to see some new artists and tracks that we are not familiar with (those which will have come from a diverse record collection of Matthew’s) but yet flow together in a very satisfying manner. Lust for Sale (MGF Remix) by Gwilym Gold x Doc Daneeka is a great pop vocal over a dub house track which stands out as the mix approaches the quarter mark. ITJ10B1 by Italojohnson follows on a few tracks later with a superb bass heavy electro track featuring an almost unidentifiable yet superb vocal that sets the track off perfectly.
The mix reaches the halfway point as you realise time has passed quite quickly yet the resounding bass and mix track selection doesn’t drop but continues to ebb and flow into the second half. There are a few tracks which drop the pace a little and reverberate around a tribal sound tinged with spacey disco sounds and effects, such as Alex & Digby’s Angolan Rumble which is played over the bizarre Harmonitalk by Gary Sloan & Clone creating a great combined track. This is followed by the equally bizarre yet entertaining and uplifting Rendell Pips by Randomer which continues the aforementioned mid-mix style.
At around track 18 the bass picks back up again and the techno sounds return with tracks from Markus Enochson and Simian Mobile Disco, both which are excellent inclusions on this DJ Kicks edition. Pearson Sound’s XLB and Soulphiction’s Sky So High maintain the heavy, and I mean heavy, bass which growls away and thunders through each track leading to an interesting trio of Audion productions. Live Breakdown, Starfucker and Brines are a great insight into Matthew’s darker techno and more experimental side delivered via his Audion alias. Starfucker and Brines really stand out with great rolling techno baselines and an array of effects and samples which set the tracks off and really push your speakers/headphones to their limit. The mix ends with Kumu which helps bring you back down after the relentless techno which preceded it and helps bookend the mix with great intro and outro tracks.
Overall this edition of DJ Kicks can definitely be classed with the more heavy, club style mixes in the series, it isn’t for the faint hearted and less experimental listeners and is a great advert for Matthew Dear and his quite unique style. I am not sure if it sits among the best in the series which boasts some truly epic mixes and collections but it is definitely up there in the DJ Kicks series. Please check out the stream link and tracklist below for yourself and enjoy. The album itself is due for release on Friday 27th January.
Global Underground #40 by Solomun – Various Artists
Defected Pres. Nic Fanciulli in the House – Various Artists *
Essential Mix of the Year Selection:
BBC Essential Mix – Bicep
BBC Essential Mix – Caribou
BBC Essential Mix – Jon Hopkins
BBC Essential Mix – Joy Orbison *
BBC Essential Mix – Ten Walls
December Selection:
Balance Vol.25 – Danny Tenaglia
Watergate Vol.17 – Pan Pot
Balance Pres. – Kolsch
Verbalizer – Anthony Rother *
Sankeys 20th Anniversary – Darius Syrossian
Introduction
This is probably the latest edition of any music website’s ‘best of 2014’ article but at TBC we like to do things differently and are not worried to break the mould from time to time when necessary. While you may have had to wait some time for this article it will not have had its relevance diminished by the tardiness in its publishing. 2014 was a great year for electronic music and the playlist above which shows the shortlist from each of our playlist’s last year and is a clear indication that we were graced with some great production albums, compilation CDs and live mixes/radio shows. If you were to have a listen through the best of selection above you would be spoiled by some of the best producers; Dettmann, Rother, Efdemin, CD series; Fabric, DJ Kicks, Balance, Watergate and the best (TBC’s favourite anyways) radio show the BBC Essential Mix. While the music industry life cycle process seems to shorten each year with individual tracks coming and going at an ever increasing pace these mixes and albums have captured and exhibited a key milestone in electronic music. Their ability to deliver such range and diversity in electronic musical genres while exhibiting such quality throughout the mixes and albums is something to be proud of as a music fan and a great indication of a buoyant and healthy industry.
In order to select our favourite of the year we have reviewed our previous favourites shortlists, taken heed of our own advice in the previous favourite choices and had a listen through them again. Are our previous favourites still at the top of our list, are some still in our CD player or on our iPods, have we forgotten about some of our previous selections?! The review and selection process isn’t easy when trying to select your favourite from a whole year however in 2014 TBC can remember some mixes very vividly and these are the ones which we have homed in on in order to select our favourite of 2014.
Verbalizer – Anthony Rother (2014)*
Defected Pres. Nic Fanciulli in the House – Various Artists (2014)*
Fabric #77 by Marcel Dettmann – Various Artists (2014)
Too Slow to Disco – DJ Supermarkt (2014)
BBC Essential Mix – Marcel Dettmann (2014)*
BBC Essential Mix – Jon Hopkins (2014)
We are pleased to see a balance across our 2014 shortlist in both genres and format; electro, techno, house, electronics and disco are represented via production albums, compilations and radio shows. We always like to keep our options open and ensure that we capture as many formats as possible when we compile our playlists and review our favourites and this is nice to see.
Pete Tong always represents with his legendary and consistent Essential Mix show on BBC Radio One, our previous feature on the 2014 best mix highlighted his ability to maintain his curating excellence with such a wealth of talent on show. Our previous selection Joy Orbison we felt was the best of the year but for our enjoyment factor we only included Marcel Dettmann and Jon Hopkins as we are still listening to them into 2015 which is testament to their quality as they can still compete with the new shows which air every week!
Fabric continue to rollout their series which ties in with their Saturday night event along the lines of techno and house, they haven’t been that consistent over the last few years but continue to provide a few gems each year and Mr.Dettmann’s offering not only shows off Fabric’s techno heritage but also himself as he has two places in our shortlist for 2014 which is an amazing feat.
Our most recent playlist and review brought Anthony Rother back into the limelight, he is one our all time favourite DJ’s who has helped introduce TBC to so many of our favourite DJs and music styles, Bodzin, Huntemann, Gigolo style electro house, haunting/scary electro, techno and bleepy/freaky minimal techno. We were so pleased to see his new album Verbalizer bring back his signature sound with a 2014 twist and freshness.
Nic Fanciuli is a DJ who I have personally seen DJ since he began as a resident back in Club Class in Maidstone around the early 2000’s. He has provided so many good sets over the years and continues to represent all things Maidstone while taking over the DJ world with his club nights and also providing some of the best mix compilations we have ever heard; Renaissance, Mixmag CD’s, back to back compilation with James Zabiela etc. His new mix on Defected is another superb addition to his discography and another superb release on the Defect label which has been on a role in recent years with their In The House and Masters series. This two disc compilation lead to complaints in a hotel in Manchester when celebrating my birthday in July 2014, we listened to it on repeat the whole weekend while dancing around like wollies and it remains one of our first choices for any pre/after party.
Finally one of favourite DJ’s at the moment not just because of his great DJing ability, his excellent website promoting all things disco and electro pop; ‘How Do You Are’, but also because he is genuinely one of the nicest DJ’s out there. After some twitter correspondence with the disco king from Germany, he even invited us to one of his parties in Berlin when we visited this Easter (2015) to finally meet one of our heroes. His mixes are legendary and are well worth checking out via his Soundcloud page, his previous guise as Le Hammond Inferno is one of legend if you are into certain musical circles and his recent Too Slow Disco series (which is soon to be added to with volume two in summer 2015) is pure excellence. The track selection, the album art, the introductions to the tracks and the album itself are genius. Reviving leftfield classic disco from the 60’s and 70’s when others look to the standard classics from that era is both brave and highly commendable as it exudes that geeky side of music where he trudges through old vinyl and classics to find those forgotten gems. DJ Supermarkt always seems to strike gold and his brave selections are so exciting to listen to at home and in the club when you see him live. We can only recommend seeing him live and because of his musical history knowledge you could probably take your Mum and your Gran and they would have a ball too!
The Verdict
As ever the final decision isn’t easy but we won’t bore you with the small talk at this stage, this time round anyways! Based on both being selected as one of our favourite previously back in September and continuing to entertain us at TBC it has to be Nic Fanciulli’s edition of Defected In the House. We don’t think this release got enough attention when it was released back in July, it doesn’t seem to have many publicised reviews on any of the big music websites but this compilation is exceptional. It represents the Nic Fanculli sound, his attention to detail when selecting the tracks is simply a masterclass in set structure and this is just a mix CD! The way each CD builds and flows between house and techno is just like seeing him live when playing a long set where he has time to take you on a Fanciulli musical journey. Congrats to Nic and Defected for the best release according to TBC in 2014. Great to see Maidstone representing at the top of the electronic music industry. We expect Nic to continue his domination of the World in 2015, he already has a world tour planned and the Social festival later in the year, we hope he has a great year and TBC followers and fans get a chance to see him.
We would like to commend both DJ Supermarkt for providing us with such entertainment with those Too Slow To Disco gems and Marcel Dettmann for featuring twice in our 2014 shortlist, you only just missed out on being selected our 2014 favourite.
Bonus Treat
We haven’t included a favourite track of the year before and its always hard to pick a favourite across genres and the whole year but 2014 belong to a track from I Break Horses called Faith which featured in the Jon Hopkins Essential Mix in one of the greatest mixes ever between the Gary Beck Alogoreal track and the Fields remix of Faith. Jon Hopkins is to thank for bringing this track to my attention and ever since at TBC it has been on repeat. It has featured on our recent TBC playlists that we create every so often, it has been played loud at TBC HQ, in the car on our travels, in Berlin on holiday, the list is endless. This track is perfect electro, moody, progressive, catchy, an amazing vocal, great bassline and simple but perfect track structure. The original version is our favourite and its 3 minutes and 48 seconds of perfection, have a listen using the link below, we challenge you to not dance around like a lunatic and avoid a massive smile on your face. The Fields version is also linked below to see the alternative version that Jon Hopkins used, it is an 11 minute techno stormer! We would recommend you also check out their album Chiaroscuro for an alternative listen.
Many thanks for all the support in 2014, we hope to see you all later in the year at our next TBC event and keep coming back to read our latest articles.
Happy New Year TBC followers, this is our second and very belated post for 2015. Apologies for the delay but with the festive period, a busy January and a disrupted February we have been unable to publish anything new until now. ‘Quality not quantity’ and ‘patience is a virtue’ are both sayings that come to mind in this time and fear not as we are bringing you a brand new promotional article now and this will be followed shortly by the end of year playlist for 2014 as well as our ‘Best Of’ 2014 article. This coupled with a very active 2015 for new music and you will see a lot of activity over the next month or so.
This article is being brought to you by a one armed, lame TBC writer as I unfortunately fell victim to the icey conditions in Sheffield in January. I slipped and managed to break my shoulder resulting in a long lay off, currently 3 weeks but due to be 4/5 in total, and extended rehab spanning a few months! It wasn’t pretty and I would not wish this injury on anybody. It hasn’t been nice, the pain has been bad and the partial lack of use in my left arm is frustrating. On the positive side I have had plenty of time to listen to music including an array of new promotional material from One Records, Eskimo Recordings, Culprit Records, Hot Creations, International Feel, Crosstown Rebels, Firehouse, Viva Music, Hot Trax, Rebellion and BLDG5 Records. I have also had access to plenty of pain killers to take the edge off so every cloud and all that. I hope you enjoy the article, the structure will be a short review for each of the 13 records and I will then select the TBC top 5 with a favourite which will get some extra write up.
This article has been a joy to write and we have enjoyed listening to the new records from artists such as Subb-An who recently completed his Essential Mix on BBC 1 and two great offerings from one of our favourite labels Eskimo Recordings. Skream also chips in with a new release – he has become an interesting prospect in the house and techno scene since his transition from dubstep. All this plus an array of new artists that have excited and entertained us at TBC HQ over the last few weeks.
Subb-An – Warp (One Records)
Two great tracks on this EP; Warp and TV. Bass heavy, chunky tech-house with the A-side Warp focusing on a more stripped down groove and bassline while the B-side TV really excelling with its reverberating bassline and haunting vocals from Jacob Phono. This is Subb-An’s first release on the label he co-founded. Great first release and looking forward to the next one already.
Du Tonc – Every Song (Eskimo Recordings)
What you come to expect from Eskimo Recordings; they have such a nose for artists that deliver their signature sounds and with such a timeless quality. Du Tonc provides an uplifting summery pop/disco track with a great male vocal. Reminiscent of an Aeroplane/MGMT track which is testament to how good this track is. The only downside is that this is a single track release only.
Maxxi Soundsystem – Medicine EP feat. Name One (Culprit Records)
Culprit have a great array of artists who have featured over recent years; Lee Curtiss, Adriatique, Shonky, Subb-An and Hot Natured. Droog, a collective of DJ’s, have done a great job in developing their label. Uk based Maxxi Soundystem provides a three track release for Culprit titled the Medicine EP.The tracks sit in a nu-disco, house genre with a great vocal on each track from Name One. The title track is the standout track with wonky disco/electro infused house that accompany the vocal perfectly.
Denney – Pimp Out (Hot Creations)
This is a two track release from Denney on Hot Creations (always such a busy record label) with Pimp Out. The title track is a catchy, nice paced and infectious house track that verges on G-House with its ghetto feel. There is even time for some acid house samples to leave this track sounding slightly old school-esque. The B-side Low Frequency has a slightly slower pace but where it slows down it adds groove and a superb acid squelch. The vocal is far more ghetto which again leaves this house near the G-House genre. Overall a great release from Denney and we could imagine dancing away to this one at Kater Blau in Berlin.
Satin Jackets – Shine on You (Eskimo Recordings)
As with Du Tonc Every Song, Eskimo Recordings are able to churn out quality disco and house with ease. Satin Jackets are stalwarts for Eskimo featuring on the label for a few years now and Shine On You doesn’t disappoint. This is a 5 track release of Shine On You and remixes: Radio, Original, Mighty Mouse, Ben Macklin Remix & Dub Remix. Ester’s vocals are perfect for this uplifting, summery, emotional and atmospheric pop/disco track. Mighty Mouse chips in with a more energetic and club ready remix while Ben Macklin slows things down to create a remix that oozes disco sophistication.
Double Knots – Double Vision EP (International Feel)
“Imagine Tangerine Dreamsoundtracking Miami Vice through Todd Terje’s ears” is the summary of this EP on the press release, nuff said. This is a three track release, on International Feel who specialise in the more alternative side to electronic music, from Double Knots. Each track is slow, atmospheric, cosmic disco that seems to come from a film score which is testament to the production quality on offer here. Its hard to pick a favourite but I would say the title track Double Vision mixed by Toby Tobias as it reminds us of a DJ Supermarkt Too Slow To Disco track, lets see those disco fingers!
Skream – Still Lemonade (Crosstown Rebels)
Crosstown Rebels, as Hot Creations above, continue to churn out quality releases. This time Skream offers his Still Lemonade track with a remix from Redshape on the B-side. Skream’s transition to house and techno from dubstep shows that a quality producer can perform in any genre of music. The original is a progressive techno stormer which builds to an electro infused breakdown. The bassline, drums and synths are epic. The Redshape remix cranks it up a notch and leads the track into a more full on techno track with a thunderous grumbly bass.
The second release on Kim Ann Foxman’s new record label Firehouse and Kim delivers more solid house production as she develops her style since pursuing a solo career outside Hercules & The Love Affair. A 5 track release, Open The House with 2 remixes from Eli Escobar, The Lady is a Vamp and Eye See Me. The Eli Escobar remix is the stand out track as it spices up the house formula to provide an uplifting feel with strong beats, key and percussion. The Lady is a Vamp is a quirky B-side with freak show-esque horror sounds and effects. Eye See Me completes the diverse record with a cosmic, futuristic sounding progressive track with a nice breakdown.
Mark Jenkyns feat. MC Chickaboo – On Me (Hot Creations)
This is yet another Hot Creation release and another quality one at that. Mark Jenkyns provides us with a 4 track release named On Me which has 3 iterations; original, club tweak and Skream remix plus Like This. The vocal is the standout element to this track courtesy of MC Chickaboo. The Skream remix is the best of the 3, providing a club ready, well produced and polished track remix. The remix builds and develops around the vocal perfectly with an excellent breakdown for the dance floor.
Monday Club – Blackout (VIVa Music)
Steve Lawler’s record label provides the next release from Monday Club who are Luke May and Paul Sidoli. They have been on the electronic music scene for some time and are a duo of high calibre. Blackout is a 5 track release; Blackout has two mixes (one from the recent on form Luke Solomon), Footprints and Girls Jacking. The theme for this record is ‘Accciieeeed’ and lots of it. Each track features the signature acid house sounds and squelches. Blackout has an old Speak and Spell computer vocal, Footprints is rave with a great male vocal and Girls Jacking is the most party track and does exactly what is says on the tin ‘jack’. Hard to pick a favourite as each is a solid release, the Solomon remix was not his best and doesn’t take Blackout to a new level, shame.
Raumakustik – Raider (Hot Trax)
Hot Trax is a sub-label for Hot Creations to release some tougher techno style tracks and Raumakustik provides Raider with a remix by the head honcho at Hot Creations Jamie Jones. The original is a marching tech-house track with heavy drums and effects that build, warp and reverberate the dance floor or speakers or both. Jamie Jones provides a tougher take on the track more towards techno focusing on the key elements of the track to produce a more bass heavy, sub-shaking track.
Dino Lenny – Dont Believe (Rebellion)
Another sub-label this time for Crosstown Rebels and Dino Lenny who has 90’s notoriety from remixing INXS, Underworld, Missy Elliot & Timbaland. He steps up with his newest production Don’t Believe. A two track release with Plastic Man on the B-side which is right up the street of Maceo Plex or Ten Walls which means this track is one that TBC like. The A-side is deep, progressive with haunting vocals and roaring chords that create a sinister sounding track. The B-side is dark and moody with keys that provide a ‘wub…wub….wub” throughout. Progressive again in style with an array of effects, sounds and vocals. Couldn’t choose between the two as they are both excellent productions.
Garden City Movement – Modern West EP (BLDG5 Records)
The most alternative music offering of this article and to be honest it wasn’t strictly TBC material but we are always open to new music. Garden City Movement are an alternative urban group who produce experimental, urban sounding, dubstep,grime and pop crossover. A five track release with the title track being the weakest offering as it was just too cheesy. Each of the other 4 tracks were interesting with uplifting dubby track Rebellion and an alternative disco track with balearic sounds called My Only Love. Sorting Things Out was a crackly hubby number with nice percussion and beats while When We Had It Easy provides a broken beat pop record. Sorting Things Out was probably our favourite but the whole record was a nice alternative offering.
Our Top Five, in no particular order:
Subb-An – Warp (One Records)
Denney – Pimp Out (Hot Creations)
Skream – Still Lemonade (Crosstown Rebels)
Mark Jenkyns feat. MC Chickaboo – On Me (Hot Creations)
Monday Club – Blackout (VIVa Music)
Just choosing a top five has been difficult as there are some great records covered in this article. Dino Lenny’s Don’t Believe and the Eskimo Recordings releases were very close to squeezing in. Unfortunately we had to shortlist otherwise we would just be selecting every release from the 13 which is not only lazy but a failing when writing up a review article. In the shortlist we have a great Subb-An record on One Records (who were kind enough to share this promo release with us). He has been on a roll recently with his Essential Mix on BBC that was well received – we are sure he will have a good 2015. Denny is a new artist to TBC but his sound isn’t and this release is a great addition to our G-House collection, we can’t fault a good G-House record as we have become hooked since discovering the genre last year via Amine Edge and Dance’s Essential Mix and our experience at Kater Haus in Kater Blau, Berlin. Skream provides a sample of his upcoming album, which is to be released via Damian Lazarus’s Crosstown Rebels label, with Still Lemonade. This is a well produced club stormer with a great remix from Redshape, we challenge you not to be impressed with this record and we can’t wait to hear it out in a club. Mark Jenkyns is another newbie to TBC but MC Chickaboo isn’t as she featured on one of my all time favourite songs by Timo Maas which I loved so much back in the day I even invented a dance called the ‘Shifter’, I am not joking! On Me and Like This are great tracks plus the Skream remix is superb, he is on a roll at the moment. Monday Club was the surprise of the bunch as we weren’t expecting much from this one but it has provided the most fun at TBC HQ with the warehouse rave tracks, great acid house style and quirky effects, vocals etc. including the excellent ‘Speak & Spell’ vocal effect on Blackout which is so retro its excellent.
As you can tell from the positive words above selecting a favourite is difficult and to be honest has divided opinion at TBC HQ as it is between Monday Club and Skream and both are excellent. The remaining entries in the shortlist have to be commended and it is great to see such a great selection of new tracks from just the 13 we have been lucky enough to review. Having spent a great deal of time listening to each of the favourites we had to go with Monday Clubs latest EP Blackout. The duo have created a superb 5 track EP that captures the Acid sound and warehouse party vibe perfectly. Each track would be well received at a party but could be equally enjoyed at home on a nice bassy sound system. The reason this release sets itself apart from Skream’s release, only just mind you, is that Monday Club deliver on three different tracks and even throw in a Luke Solomon stripped back remix along with an Acapella mix for good measure. It isn’t often an EP provides entertainment from start to finish so not only is this the best release it is also the one with the best value for money. Please have a look at Monday Club’s Soundcloud page below and check out Blackout once it is released, unfortunately there isn’t a streaming link we can offer currently.
Congratulations to Monday Club – Blackout (VIVa Music)
Many thanks for reading and we hoped that you enjoyed. We will be back soon with more on TBC.
We would like to thanks Maouris, One Records and all of the individual record labels mentioned above for the opportunity to review their latest releases.
It is finally time for our first playlist in 2014. I hear some of you saying “what’s taken you so long…it’s almost the end of February!” but as ever it’s quality over quantity plus it has taken some time to recover from the TBC Loved Up party on the 15th of February and all the preparation that took over at TBC HQ in January and the start of this month.
2014 has been slow to get going on the music front, we almost felt spoiled towards the end of 2013 and the annual review showcased what a year it was for new music. Nonetheless here at TBC we have been busy listening to as many new releases as possible, sourcing the new albums and more leftfield offerings that techno and dance music has to give and enjoying the many podcasts and radio shows on offer. I must say that it has been the radio shows and live sets that have been dominating the airwaves at TBC HQ and this has been helped by DJs excelling in their NYE sets (and of course saving and posting on the internet – see the links above) and superb January of Future Hero Essential Mixes from BBC Radio One curated by Pete Tong and selected by Annie Mac and Skream & Benga. February has seen more on the album and compilation release front with two of the best coming from our favourites DJ Kicks and one of the best Berlin clubs Watergate. Lets hope that things pick up into March and onwards into 2014 so Spring/Summer has some gems to be enjoyed and included in our upcoming playlists.
Enough of the waffling and rambling and on to the playlist reviews:
Dj Kicks – Brandt Brauer Frick (2014)
2013 was an amazing year for Dj Kicks culminating in some esteemed reviews in the dance music annual ‘Best ofs’ and TBC selecting the John Talabot mix as our favourite for 2013. Having delivered such a high standard in 2013 they have set the bar high for the 2014 roster. First up are Brandt Brauer Frick who originate from Berlin and provide a group performance live show factor to the newest in the long running series of mixes. The mix is an intriguing mix of experimental, disco, house, minimal, electro, techno, urban and leftfield electronic music and progresses at varying speeds and intervals to create an eclectic compilation of tracks. The mix harks back to the older DJ Kicks where you were treated to a diverse selection of tunes emanating from both the DJs personal collection and preferred styles of music and the dancefloor/live performance venue. While not feeling as ‘polished’ as the offerings from 2013 this is highly enjoyable and there are some great treats;
-Rollercoaster by Dollkraut is a haunted western sounding, groovy number
-Transition by Galaxy 2 Galaxy & Atlantis features an amazing ‘Transition’ vocal that has been sampled many times and is accompanied by a funky baseline
-To Catchy by Dj Do Bass provides a fast, disco/funk track
-Wooden Knuckles by James Braun is a straight up TBC electro anthem
-Now U Know The Deal 4 Real by Machinedrum is a slick vocal & urban number
All in all this is another high quality release by DJ Kicks and a great introduction to Brandy Brauer Frick who we expect a great deal more from and hope to catch one of their live performances in 2014.
BBC Essential Mix – Kolsch (2014) & BBC Essential Mix – MK (2014)
The Future Heroes series curated by Pete Tong in January for the BBC Essential Mix is always a good way to start the New Year. Current BBC DJs including Pete Tong himself present their future stars of 2014 and normally result in a new DJ being aired for the first time over a 2 hour mix. This time round the first mix came from one of TBC’s ‘Ones to Watch’ in 2014; Kolsch. In keeping with his album 1977 the two hour mix provides more of the same and builds on this with a great collection of progressive techno and house for our enjoyment. ‘Euphoric’ is one word to describe this mix, Kolsch manages to encapsulate euphoria with epic sounding tracks, ghostly vocals, moody build ups and breakdowns. A great mix of Kolsch tracks and edits along side some of the best artists in electronic music; Matthew Jonson, Moderat, Ame, Cajmere, Omar S, Technasia, Deetron and Robert Hood. The track list looks like a playlist from TBC HQ with some of our favourite artists featuring. We cannot wait to see Kolsch this summer at Melt.
Following the Future Heroes January was a cracking house mix from MK who many of you may not have heard of, including us at TBC. Marc Kinchen was a big player in early 90’s house but disappeared in the Mid 90’s not resurfacing in the world of house music until 2011 when he released the first of several Defected CD’s (one of which is included in the playlist above). We are pleased he is back as he has been remixing and producing his way through the house music scene leaving party destruction in his wake, which is evident in his essential mix. Some of the tunes and mixes do verge on the ‘cheesier’ side of house but who doesn’t like a bit of quality cheese now and then?!
FabricLive Vol.73 – Pangaea (2014)
Fabric continue their mammoth CD series, which is now up to #74, with the Friday night instalment of ‘Live’ which is brought to you by one of the most popular & upcoming underground DJ’s Pangaea. One half of Hessle Audio’s founders (with Ben UFO) and championing the harder sounds of urban, dub, techno and dark/ghetto sounding genres (there are too many to keep track of nowadays, i’m getting old!) this FabricLive doesn’t take long to start banging and it doesn’t cease until track 27 is complete and the CD finishes! This mix is relentless, is best enjoyed loud and well terrorise your neighbours, flat mates, girlfriend/wife/partner. Pangaea provides a mix which puts most of the Fabric series to shame (apart from Ben Sims in Fabric 63 which is amazing) and seriously stamps his authority on the mix CD genre. Shifted, Speedy J, Drumcell, Alex Falk and Oscar Mulero feature for the avid techno fans and there are lots of additional artists to enjoy including Pearson Sound. Having previously been disappointed with Pangaea when seeing him live in Sheffield this mix more than makes up for that and will sit proud in the CD collection for the upcoming months and in the Fabric CD family.
Watergate vol.15 – Kerri Chandler (2014)
Volume 15 of the Watergate series is literally hot off the press and is the newest of the featured mixes this month. Having read a review of this CD on one of the larger music websites and seeing the poor score it was given we were a little apprehensive at TBC HQ when this was first played. Our apprehension was very misplaced, we should have respected the house & techno legend that is Kerri Chandler to deliver a quality mix. The latest in the Watergate series is superb. Quality house and techno tracks that you would expect to hear at Watergate and dance your ass off by the Spree in Berlin under the amazing ceiling light feature grace this mix from start to finish. Huxley, Kerri Chandler (himself), Italoboyz, D’Julz and Subb-an contribute to this excellent addition to the Watergate collection.
Live @ Output, Brooklyn NYE 2013 – DJ Tennis (2014)
At TBC HQ DJ Tennis has become a legend with his amazing live sets (previously featured was the amazing Panorama Bar mix) are a surefire way to start, boost or end a party. The tune selection is always top draw with moody progressive, vocally beautiful, banging electro and groovy techno tunes being incorporated via some of the best producers and remixers of the moment. The diversity of the mix and ability to move from genre to genre and back again, flawlessly, is testament to this great DJ. The one things that gets to TBC is the elusiveness of Mr. Tennis, where can we get involved and when will we finally see him live?! We hope it is soon but as long as the mixes keep coming we will continue to promote, plug and adore. We highly recommend following the link to the mix from Soundcloud both liking the mix and following this DJ.
I would love to have featured and reviewed more mixes from the playlist however hours seem to have passed and readers may have switched off by this point (hopefully not though) and it is also time to wrap the latest playlist up and select the TBC favourite, our first in 2014.
Summing up each playlist and deciding on our favourite always ends up with some heated debate, reconsideration and sometimes a ‘U’ turn or two. In this case the final favourite was not even considered when we first started writing however having spent the whole day re-listening to each of the featured mixes our opinions changed considerably. One thing to mention is the serious quality of each of the featured mixes, we would recommend that each is sought out and enjoyed. Our final decision was to place the Kolsch Essential Mix on top this month. A single paragraph review is not enough to do this mix justice, we think it may be a big year for Kolsch and if he can deliver in his live shows this year he will be on the top of everyones ‘must see’ list as Dixon was in 2013. We have included a link to the tracklist below just to show how good this is, we would recommend this mix is your first point of call. Follow the link and enjoy!
Well done Kolsch, congratulations of being the first favourite at TBC HQ in 2014.
As most of you know by now, last weekend was the first proper instalment of TBC’s club night! TBC Loved Up! I graced the basement of The Night Kitchen (FKA DLS) for 6 hours of bone shaking techno with all my nearest and dearest! The weeks beforehand were spent preparing with my TBC buddies, making decorations, blowing up inflatable lips and ordering all manner of loved up paraphernalia including confetti cannons and heart shaped cocktail umbrellas! I was literally in a frenzied whirlwind of hearts and kisses for weeks which suited me and my general well being down to the ground! Of course, I fitted in a couple of pre parties at TBC HQ with the TBC resident DJs to discuss party tunage and just generally crank up our TBC excitement levels!
On the day itself i donned some rather fetching heart shaped nipple tassels which made even Oro (my gold mannequin lover) blush! I looked hot to trot especially with my very own sexual purple spot light! Yes, ladies and gents, as per usual, it was all about me!
The basement looked super cool with lots of dark graffiti covered in cutesy hearts and smooches. At midnight tasty clubbers started arriving in awesome outfits including multiple coloured wigs, a green mirror ball jacket and make up any drag queen would be proud of! The dance floor became a vision of colour and smiley faces with all the guests entering into the truly Loved Up spirit of the night!
Now you’ve got an idea of the look of the place let me help with the audio! Luke Symonds was first on the decks with a gorgeous house set. A perfect start to the night which really got people bopping on the dance floor. A set highlight for me was Simian Mobile Disco “Cerulean” which had me bouncing around like Tigger on heat. Simon Bryan was next up and by this point the dance floor was really buzzin. Si’s set was dark with some awesome house and techno tunes and at times was in the style of my ultimate gigolo DJ Hell. Can’t really get a better compliment than that from the Bettster! He finished with the amazing Marcel Dettman remix of “Bad Kingdom” by Moderat. Check his set out on our sound cloud page:
Omar El Gohary was on next and boy did this Egyptian maverick pull it out of the bag – his set was banging to say the least and was completely different to those that had gone before. Super hard techno which at times made me completely lose my mind in a state of delirium! Ben Sims featuring Blake Baxter “I wanna go back” was a particular highlight as was the fez hat which topped his head at an appropriately epic point in the music! James Avery was up next and I’ve gotta say, I thought Jay would carry on in the same vein as Omar bearing in mind I didn’t think it could get much harder but no, Jay cranked up the bpm and played a really fast, ridiculously hard techno set! His penultimate tune was the soul grazing: Radioactive Man “Uranium” which had me practically wetting my pants (if I wasn’t made of plastic and just a torso I definitely would have done!). The residents completely blew my mind with the music and had everyone on the dance floor going wild!
TBC Loved Up was a complete success and my head is already buzzin with ideas for our next party! I have just about recovered after an awesome after party and after after party so watch this space for your invitation to TBC part 2!
