| | |
|
|
   | EL-B Producer Masterclass | |
| By admin on1/29/2009 1:27 PM | |
| | This video was recorded for Computer Music back in 2007 as part of their 'Producer Masterclass' series and has just found its way onto the internet today. EL-B (Ghost / El-Tuff / Groove Chronicles) explains how he goes about producing a track and reveals a few tricks of the trade in the process. The video provides a great insight into how his tracks are put together and should be an interesting watch even if you don't produce music yourself. Enjoy... |  | |
|
|
| | Trojan Records / THTC T-Shirts | |
| By admin on1/28/2009 6:56 PM | |
|  
We've just got these rather nice Trojan Sound System t-shirts in from the ethical folks over at THTC (The Hemp Trading Company). They are made from organic hemp and cotton and are screen printed using water based inks and a discharge screen printing process that ensures the tees are as environmentally friendly as possible. We've gone out of our way to make the price as friendly as possible too and are selling them for £18.90 each. We believe this to be the cheapest price around. We have now also got the 'Herb 'n' Warrior' design pictured below in stock as well.
Our stocks of some of our other t-shirts have taken a real battering recently, but we've just re-stocked as many of them as possible. If we were previously missing a size that you were after then it is well worth checking again now to see if we have it in stock. Unfortunately the limited Planet Mu tees have now completely sold out. If you have some t-shirts that you think we may be interested in stocking then please do get in touch.   
| | |
|
|
| | Ruffnek Teachings | |
| By admin on1/27/2009 4:18 PM | |
|  
Bristol sees out January in fine style this weekend with two more nights of bass-heavy niceness. Teachings In Dub kicks things off on Friday by bringing the mighty Jah Shaka to town. Back at the Trinity Center following the success of their last event there, DJ Stryda and the Bristol Reggae Society have the honour of playing host to a man who is ever more selective about the dances which he plays. A night of mystic vibes and incredible music is guaranteed, but how deep he will dig into his pretty much endless collection of dubplates is anyone's guess. The Zulu Warrior will, as usual, be handling the night's proceedings on his own, running things from 10pm right through until 5am (also known as dubplate o'clock). This is truly one not to be missed. Scottish dubsters Mungo's Hi-Fi are in town the following night for some serious party action at The Croft. Their unique blend of digi-dancehall and dubstep fits perfectly with the Ruffnek ethos, guaranteeing as the tagline declares, plenty of 'Riddim & Bass To Wind Up Yuh Waist'. They will be supported by two stalwarts of the Bristol scene: the legendary Rob Smith (RSD) and DJ Pinch. In a move which is particularly fitting for the venue, Pinch will be playing a pre 2005 'lost dubs' set which is bound to evoke memories of the early Dubloadeds at The Croft. Further (and no less notable) support comes in the form of Atki2 and his increasingly impressive arsenal of laptop trickery.
All in all it's another great weekend to be a Bristolian. | | |
|
|
| | Planet Mu T-Shirts! | |
| By admin on1/16/2009 7:08 PM | |
|  
We've teamed up with the mighty Planet Mu to produce these limited edition collaboration t-shirts. They are available in white and slate grey and cost £15 each. The tees come in sizes S, M, L and XL. They are screen printed onto our blank Highrise tshirts so you can be sure that the quality is absolutely top notch.
It's a real honour to be involved with a label as prolific and diverse as Planet Mu. You only have to take a quick look at their forthcoming release schedule to see why they are so highly revered; it's a pretty impressive roster I think you'll agree. The label's open-mindedness and relentless passion for music is something that we definitely share with them and it is one of the reasons that it is so great to have them on board for these tees. A special big up to Gemmy as well for his recent signing to the label, this is going to be a very big year for him.
Imminent releases:
Remano Eszildn - R-Tracks (album)
Boxcutter - Arecibo Message (album)
Venetian Snares - Horsey Noises ep
Jamie Vex'd - In System Travel ep
Gemmy - Supligen ep
Tim Exile - Family Galaxy 12"
Tim Exile - Listening Tree (album)
Venetian Snares - Filth (album)
Shitmat - One Foot In The Rave (album)
Starkey - Creature/Miracles remix 12"
Distance - Skream/Goth Trad remixes 12"
Future releases:
Jega - Variance (album)
Ceephax (album)
Falty DL (12" & album)
Raffertie 12"
Pinch 12"
Ital Tek 12"
and many others | | |
|
|
| | Commix Interview | |
| By admin on1/9/2009 9:39 PM | |
|  
Of late, Drum and Bass has received a lot of criticism from those outside of the scene for becoming increasingly stale and inward looking. Whilst this may be true for a large percentage of the genre's output it does not tell the full story. There is still a small group of producers and labels keen to push the increasingly rigid boundaries which define the genre. Cambridge based production duo Commix are part of this group. 2007 saw them release their debut album 'Call To Mind' on Metalheadz, a particular honour given that it was the first album to be released on the label by an artist other than Goldie. The duo is now back in the spotlight once again, having just mixed the latest CD in the Fabriclive series. We caught up with them to discuss the Drum & Bass scene and their explorations into other genres of music. We also quizzed them about the Fabriclive mix and their approach to production and the music making process in general. One of the most striking things about the Fabriclive mix is how much space the tracks have in them; they are focused largely around the sub bass and carefully eq'd percussion. Was this a conscious decision?
We’ve always liked music with a lot of space in it, for us simple music is the way forward. To a certain extent we’ve always been into the simpler side of Drum & Bass. I guess over the last year or so the deeper end of Drum & Bass has been going more and more down the minimal route. For a long time though, especially 2003-2004, it was all about big soul samples and that kind of thing. Now it seems to be taking a lot of influence from the Detroit thing and the whole minimal thing and that’s something that we’re really in to. Certainly when we’re trying to put together DJ mixes that’s something we think about; we don’t like things to be too brash or full on. We like things that are a little bit slower, have a little bit more space in them and are a little bit deeper or more forward thinking.
In my opinion the mix has a very old school feel to it, with many tracks sounding like a new take on old ideas. Would you agree and if so was this a deliberate choice?
Yeah. We tried to put some tracks in there that pay homage to where we come from and what originally influenced us to make Drum & Bass, so I would say that was a definite theme. I’d like to also think that it’s quite forward thinking – like we were talking before about the more minimal sounding stuff. When it comes to that kind of music there’s a lot more room to experiment with the engineering and for more general experimentation with sounds. That’s one of the reasons we’re into Techno, because it’s very experimental. So I’d like to think it’s a bit of both really, we wanted to pay homage to the old school whilst bringing everything up to date at the same time.
You talk of wanting to be experimental; do you think that this is made harder given the length of time that Drum & Bass has been around for and how much has already been done?
I think that perhaps it is becoming more difficult, but I think that it's more to do with the landscape of music in general as it is now. When Drum & Bass first started becoming popular and getting all the press attention it got in the early 90’s, the landscape musically was very different to how it is now. In the charts you had people like Massive Attack and Bjork who were quite experimental and left of centre. If you look at things now though it’s all quite watered down and mediocre if you’re looking at music in a wider sense. I think from that perspective it’s becoming slightly more difficult to be experimental within Drum & Bass as well. At the same time, there’s a little group of producers, like ourselves, D Bridge, Marcus Intalex and Calibre that are kind of sticking to that early 90’s ethos of trying to push things forward a little bit, trying to experiment a little bit and do something that’s more valid as a work of art rather than just a seven minute DJ tool.
On ‘Call To Mind’ you experimented with other genres as well; is this something that you are continuing to do?
All the time. The more we make music, the more we want to break the boundaries of being genre specific. We’ve never gone into the studio as Drum & Bass producers, just like we’ve never gone into the studio as House producers or Hip Hop producers. When we get into the studio, depending on how we feel or what we’ve got in our sample banks, we just make music. One of our big things for this year is to try and break down those boundaries even more. Hopefully our next album will be even more like that; it won’t be so directed towards Drum & Bass or anything really. Music to us is just music and hopefully we’ve got enough of a signature sound to be able to play across any format.
Which other genres do you listen to and draw influence from?
House and Techno as we spoke about earlier; the more tech house side of House and Techno I’d say. Also a lot of instrumental Hip Hop, we really like a lot of the Warp stuff . A recent example would be the stuff that Flying Lotus is doing at the moment, Harmonic 313 as well. It’s very hard to pinpoint our influences as it were; it’s a pretty broad spectrum of stuff.
Am I right in thinking that there are some remixes of your stuff floating around at the moment?
They’re on their way. We’ve got a big project called ‘Re-Call To Mind’ which is going to be a remix package taken from our first album ‘Call To Mind’. We’ve chosen some of our favourite artists across various genres to do remixes for us. Konrad Black’s doing one, Matthew Johnson, Burial’s done one, Mark Pritchard, Harmonic 313 is going to be doing one and there’s the possibility of Carl Craig…
We’ve always loved the remix idea; people taking a different angle on producers that are already out there and are already well known. We loved it when Jazzanova did their remix package. I think it’s been missing in Drum & Bass recently. The last thing I can really remember that was properly like that was when the Represent album came out. It’s much more interesting to see a completely different take on the music rather than just seeing what another Drum & Bass producer has done with it. For us, Drum & Bass seems to have pulled away from the grander scheme of dance music. You don’t get things like Skunk Anansie remixes by Optical and Bjork remixes by Photek anymore. We want to try and stretch what we do a bit more – make the electronic music world a bit closer to home, a bit more part of our family.
Do you have a set way of working when making music?
We try to be as diverse as possible, to keep ourselves as interested as we can. Sometimes we’ll go and borrow some old synthesisers and I might sit on them whilst Guy scoots around on the mixing desk. There are no specific working methods – we like that because it helps to keep our music more varied and interesting.
You mentioned borrowing synthesisers, what equipment do you use to make music?
We’re pretty much software based as far as the arranging and processing of things goes. We were using Reason for a long time. We’ve recently got a copy of Logic that we’re hoping to delve into more and more this year, but our album was put together entirely within Reason. We’re very sample based artists, be it a sample that we’ve taken from a record or like we said, borrowing synths off of other people and just pummelling the shit out of them for a few days and seeing what we get out of it. The sound sources that we use are all over the place really.
The more time goes by, the less we’re borrowing from old music and other people’s records and trying to forge our own, completely original sound. It’s an ongoing process though that takes a long, long time to get right. We’ve got various synthesisers in our studio that we’re constantly trying to learn and master. It’s quite a shortcut to just get old electronic music and sample synthesisers from it and rehash them into something else – that’s becoming less and less of a challenge for us. For us it’s more about forging our own sounds and working our own synthesisers into stuff. In that way, if you get the combination right, you’re going to get something completely unique. An example of that would be someone like Matthew Johnson who is completely original with every track he writes – you could never reproduce his sound. Tracklisting for Fabriclive 44 - mixed by Commix: 01. Commix - Life We Live - Soul:R
02. Rufige Crew - Sometime Sad Day - Metalheadz
03. dBridge - Creatures Of Habit - Exit
04. Alix Perez - The Reckoning - Alix Perez
05. Data - The Causeway - Influence
06. Logistics - Murderation - Hospital Records
07. Commix - Justified - Metalheadz
08. SpectraSoul - Buried - 31 Records
09. Calibre - Can't Get Over You
10. Lynx & Alix Perez Ft. Kemo - Dangerous
11. Commix - Belleview [dBridge's Belle-reviewed Mix] - Metalheadz
12. SpectraSoul & Ben-E - Suppression - SpectraSoul
13. Calibre - In Denial - Soul:r
14. Commix - Bear Music - Hospital Records
15. OAK - Nu Sunrise - Brand Nu
16. Jonny L - Common Origin - XL
17. Breakage - Old School Ting - Breakage
18. Instra:mental - No Future - NonPlus+
19. Photek - Yendi - Virgin
20. Instra:mental - Photograph - Darkestral
| | |
|
|
| | (Audio) Barry Steppa: Roots Time | |
| By admin on1/4/2009 7:45 PM | |
| If the festive period has left you feeling a bit worn out and in need of some serious relaxation then the mix below should be just the ticket - think of it as a belated Christmas gift. The mix was recorded by Bristol's inimitable Barry Steppa and is made up almost entirely of 70's roots reggae, although he has included a couple of tracks from the latest Dubkasm 12" as well. The records are played in the traditional style, with most of them being flipped over to air either the dub version or an alternate cut. It was a pleasure to sit down with Barry as he dug gem after gem out of his bag and I haven't been able to stop listening to the mix since. I really can't enthuse enough about this mix, so please take my advice and download it now, you won't regret it. Massive thanks to Mr Steppa for the music and the education, it's very much appreciated. Download Here (Right Click 'Save As') Tracklist: 1. Ijahman Levi - 'I'm A Levi'
2. The Jewels - 'Love And Livity'
3. 'Love And Livity' (Version)
4. Sylford Walker - 'Burn Babylon'
5. 'Burn Babylon' (Version)
6. Judy Mowatt - 'Black Woman'
7. Joy Tulloch - 'Black Beauty'
8. Cultural Roots - 'Drift Away From Evil'
9. The Revolutionaries - 'Drift Away' Dub Plate Mix
10. The Silvertones - 'Rejoice Jah Jah Children'
11. Jah Lion - 'Columbia Collie'
12. Twinkle Bros - 'Rasta P'on Top'
13. 'Rasta P'on Top' (Dub)
14. Desi Roots - 'Warning'
15. The Mighty Three - 'Rasta Business'
16. 'Rasta Dub Business'
17. Levi Roots - 'Respek/I-Spek'
18. Afrikan Simba - 'Touch I Heart'
19. I. Jahman - 'Jah Heavy Load'
20. Jahman's All-Stars - 'Straight To Blackwax Locks' | | |
|
|
| | "I Talk To The Dead... To The Soundboy You Thought Was Walking Ahead" | |
| By admin on1/4/2009 5:26 PM | |
| A bit late on this due to a break for the festive season, but for those of you who haven't seen this already, here's a video of Wiley on Westwood's 1Xtra show proving that he can still do grime better than almost anyone. Hopefully 2009 will see him doing more of this sort of thing and less of the electro crossover stuff that he and many other grime artists were pursuing last year. I couldn't resist the old bars in the post title cliche so apologies for that...
| | |
|
|
| | Sale: 20% off Highrise T-Shirts! | |
| By admin on1/4/2009 5:24 PM | |
| 
January sales / credit crunch / yada yada yada... Essentially we've just knocked over 20% off the price of all our Highrise branded t-shirts, meaning that they can now be snapped up for only £15 each. If you've been thinking of grabbing one then now's the time!
Check them out here... | | |
|
|
| | Deadly Doppelganger... | |
| By admin on12/23/2008 11:36 AM | |
| 
Above are a few examples of the work of the mysterious Deadly Doppelganger. He was kind enough to do some T-Shirt designs for us earlier in the year, including the Babylon image pictured above. You may well have already seen some of his distinctive characters adorning an array of flyers, blogs and websites. His doodles have also recently been blessing the pages of the fantastic Woofah magazine.
One of Gutterbreakz's shady associates (don't hold that against him), he is also a fully fledged member of the Dadblogging crew. His blog, which can be found at http://deadlydoppelgangers.blogspot.com, is definitely worth checking out, especially if you have more than a passing interest in Doctor Who. Those of you whose dreams lack the presence of Daleks and Cybermen will still find plenty of topics to engage with however, all of which are written about with a much greater flair and intellect than you will find on the pages of this blog. He sent me this bit of text to help advertise his services, although it does sound as if he's just lifted it from the back of a grotty magazine... "Dadblogger, Doodlebugger, Co-conspirator in Bleepfiend, Used and abused by Woofah magazine. Will draw Cybermen for free, maybe other stuff too.....give me a shout….." | | |
|
|
| | Bristol XMAS Show / Party: Audio | |
| By admin on12/18/2008 2:15 AM | |
| 
As expected, Wedge's Christmas party last night was absolutely brilliant; in fact I'd go as far as to say it was the best house party I've ever been to on a Tuesday! The list of DJs was seemingly endless and the music was top notch all night. More than anything though it was just nice to be able to catch up with everyone at once and enjoy an evening of festive merry making. It's interesting how different the vibe of the night was compared to Mary Anne Hobbs' 'Bristol Rise Up' show earlier this month. The polished fade outs and indents of Radio 1 were missing for a start, replaced instead by drunken calls for rewinds and the occasional confused silence. Having a group of MCs on hand also added to the live party feel of the show and they did a great job of keeping things bubbling all night. A talented new MC by the name of Appleblim took to the mic towards the end of the night, dropping some serious bars on to a very surprised audience! Apparently last night's show broke the record for the highest number of listeners on Sub FM, so a fair few people must have been joining in the party from afar as well. I did take my camera along with me, but due to large amounts of booze and conversation I succeeded in taking exactly zero photos. Wedge was wielding a camera for most of the night though, so I'm sure some snaps will surface soon. Big up to Wedge and the rest of the Redland Rd massive for hosting the evening's festivities and also to all the DJs and Mcs for providing such great music. Here's a link to the audio (all 293 minutes of it), although I think a full tracklist could be a long time coming... http://archive.subfm.com/Wedge-BristolXmasParty16Dec08SubFM.mp3 | | |
|
|
|
| | Guido Mini Mix Dec 08 | |
| By admin on12/12/2008 12:15 PM | |
|  | One of Bristol's lesser known producers, there is a good chance that Guido may have slipped under your radar until now. For reasons that I can't go in to at the moment this situation is set to change very soon. This tasty little mix from him is a great introduction to his sound, which combines the synthesised Bristolian funk of friends Joker and Gemmy with a distinct R'n'B influence that sets him apart from the crowd. His love of big, bold melodies is central to his music and is part of what makes it sound so fresh and emotive. Anyway, enough of my ramblings... enjoy the mix! Download Here (Right Click 'Save As')
Guido - Tantalized
Guido, Aarya & Ruthless - Beautiful Complication
Guido - Chakra
Guido - You Do It Right
Guido - Orchestral Lab
Gemmy - Johnny 5
Guido - Mad Sax
Joker - Do It!
Guido - Tango
Joker - Digidesign | | | |
|
|
| | Who Feels It Knows It | |
| By admin on12/11/2008 3:18 AM | |
|   
Whilst it is admittedly a bit short notice, I thought I'd post something up about a couple of nights that are happening in Bristol this Friday (12th Dec).
The first, Who Feels It Knows It, is a one off reggae night that we are involved with putting on. Featuring some of Bristol's finest selectors, the night is taking place at one of the city's newest and most exciting venues. Relatively unknown at the moment, Chesters is tucked away on Frogmore St, close to the Mandrake and Bristol Academy. Having been tastefully fitted out and decorated the club looks clean and smart but still manages to maintain the kind of dark, grimy atmosphere that is essential to any decent night out. Interior design aside though, it also has a seriously weighty sound system which is more than capable of filling the intimate venue with bass. The night should be the perfect warm up for Subloaded so pop in and join us for a few festive drinks.
Returning to its roots at the Black Swan (which most certainly has the grimy aesthetic mentioned earlier), Subloaded celebrates its tenth party in fine style. Featuring a strong Bristol contingent, a few London guests, and the Dissident rig in full effect, the night is guaranteed to go off. I can remember watching people struggling to catch their breath at the last Black Swan event, having had the air forced out of their lungs by the chest rattling bass. All the crew involved this time are set on trying to top that performance, so ear plugs will definitely be a necessity! | | |
|
|
| | Christmas... Bristol Style! | |
| By admin on12/7/2008 7:25 PM | |
| 
If last week's Radio 1 show left you craving more Bristolian bass weight then you're in luck as the onslaught is set to continue. DJ Wedge has taken it upon himself to assume the role of Father Christmas and will be playing host to a Christmas party / radio show of epic proportions. The evening's festivities will be broadcast live on Wedge's Sub FM show on the 16th of December from 8pm-12am GMT. The line up's not too bad for a house party...
DJs: PINCH
APPLEBLIM
HEADHUNTER
JAKES aka PAPA 'ENCH
PEVERELIST
WEDGE
KOMONAZMUK
WHITEBOI
GATEKEEPER
ATKI 2
FORSAKEN
SUPERISK
WASCAL
GEMMY
THINKING MCs: MC SCARZ
MC SHADZ
MC GRILZA
MC KOAST | | |
|
|
| | Under The Underground: Bristol Rises Up | |
| By admin on12/4/2008 7:01 PM | |
| The Bristol Rise up show on Radio 1 (02/12/08) more than lived up to the hype that has been building around it, with all of the producers involved delivering fantastic individual sets. When combined, these sets showcased brilliantly the incredible variety of sounds and influences which lie at the heart of Bristol's music scene. There were too many highlights to mention them all individually and it would be unfair to speak about some and not others, but as you would expect the levels were very high. Everyone packed in plenty of exclusive tracks and the bar was definitely raised more than a couple of notches over the course of the two hour show. Jakes also used the opportunity to declare war on the whole of London with his new track 'The Mysteronz', which has a vocal sample stating that "the next act of retaliation will be to destroy the city of London". You see what happens when you rouse a bunch of sleepy Bristolians! There's also a video to go alongside the show which includes some funny, if slightly random interviews with the public.
The show can be streamed using the BBC iPlayer for the next seven days. Tracklist: Hyetal - 'We Should Light A Fire' (Dubplate) Pinch mix
Moving Ninja & Pinch 'False Flag' (Dubplate)
Pinch 'Attack Of The Giant Robot Spiders' (Dubplate)
Pinch 'Motion Sickness' (Tempa)
Pinch 'Teleportation' (Edit) (Dubplate)
Pinch & Pavel Ambiont 'Poison-Remedy' (Dubplate) Joker mix
Rsd ‘Trample’ (Joker Mix) (Dub)
Joker ‘Untitled.Rsn’ (Dub)
Joker ‘Digidesign’ (Dub)
Joker ‘There She Go's’ (Dub)
Joker ‘Do It!!!’ (Dub)
Joker & Ginz ‘Purple City’ (Dub) Pimp Style Gatekeeper mix
Gatekeeper - 'Slow Motion Dub'
Gatekeeper - 'Event Horizon'
Gatekeeper - 'Ignite Feat. Grilza & Dread Mc'
Gatekeeper - 'Which Way' Komonazmuk mix
‘Music for Mary Anne’ [Exclusive tracks written especially for the show] Jakes mix
Jakes - 'Part Of Me Part Of You' (Hench Dub)
Jakes - 'Forgotten' (Hench Dub)
Jakes - 'Justice' (Hench Dub)
Jakes - 'Paper V.I.P' (Hench Dub)
Jakes - 'The Mysteronz' (Hench Dub) Appleblim Mix
Hector - 'Tension' Al Tourettes & Appleblim Remix (Forthcoming On Phonica Records)
Appleblim & Le Ruffiant - 'Ravenous' (Unreleased)
Sideshow Ft. Tikiman - 'If Alone' Komonazmuk & Appleblim Remix (Forthcoming On Aus Music) Headhunter Mix
Brendon Moller & The Spaceape - 'Strangers' Headhunter Remix (Deep Space Media)
Aligning Minds - 'Way Back When'
Headhunter & Djunya - 'El Presidente'
F - 'Night Drive'
Headhunter - 'In Motion' (Tempa) Gemmy mix
Gemmy – ‘Kodama’ (Dub)
Gemmy – ‘Johnny 5’ (Dub)
Gemmy – ‘Temptations’ (Dub)
Gemmy – ‘Shanti Riddim’ (Dub)
Gemmy – ‘Rusty Tin’ (Dub)
Gemmy – ‘Wata Dwn’ Sound (Dub) Peverelist mix
Hyetal - 'Pixel Rainbow Sequence' (Peverelist Mix)
Peverelist - 'Bluez'
Peverelist - 'Clunk Click Every Trip' RSD mix
Henry & Louis – ‘Rise Up’ RSD Mix (Edit) (Forthcoming On 2 Kings)
RSD Feat. G.Rina – ‘You To Know’ Versatile Mix (Dubplate)
RSD – ‘Good Energy’ (Dubplate)
RSD – ‘Naked Mariocart’ (Dubplate)
Wedge mix
Wedge And Aesoteric – ‘If Symptoms Persist’
Wedge – ‘Bequest’
Wedge And Rasha Shaheen – ‘Backward Puzzle’
Wedge And Aesoteric – ‘Detachment From Reality’ Forsaken Mix
Forsaken Feat. Ben Blackmore - 'Sagrada'
Forsaken Feat. Ben Blackmore - 'Cross The Border'
Forsaken Feat. Ben Blackmore - 'Evening Star'
Forsaken Feat. Ben Blackmore - 'Learn The Hard Way' | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|