Balance Series Party @ Cable, London

Looking for something special in the London this weekend?

Then look no further than the excellent Balance Series Party which takes place on this Saturday July 17th at Cable in South East London.

Featuring a four hour set from AGORIA back 2 back OXIA with additional sets from Emerson Todd (EQ/Cocoon) and Jozif (Wolf & Lamb).

In the bar, get on down with GET DOWN GOOD featuring Jimster, along with Tom Bulwer, Greg Sawyer and Jo Sayers.

CABLE is situated at Bermondsey Street Tunnel, London SE1 3JW, nearest tube station London Bridge.

Tickets £10 in advance or £13 on the door. For further information visit the Cable website.

International Peoples Gang - Up

Not what you might call prolific, this is the third album from The International Peoples Gang since 1995’s debut 3395, their second Action Painting was released in 2006.

Up is the first IPG album to be released through Amsterdam’s Hi-Phi Music and it finds the gang expanding their hybrid sound even further than before, creating a sumptuous mix of kaleidoscopic house, funk, folk, down-tempo and pop music.

Inspired by a lyric from David Bowie’s Panic In Detroit, The International Peoples Gang was formed by Nottingham (UK) residents Martyn Watson and Ric Peet who have since created their own sublime sound through their IPG albums and masses of production work and remixes.

Martyn and Ric use concepts of sound as their material, throwing them at blank spaces and watching abstract images and audio-visual beauty take shape. The result combines warm, organic dub soundscapes with classical stylings, elements of folk with fuzzed guitars, creating a manipulation of language with electronic experimentation.

Up kicks off with the anthemic and uplifting Second (featuring elements of The Who’s “Blue, Red and Grey”) showing off the pair’s impeccable taste for beautiful sound but as the name also suggests, this album was produced by Martyn & Ric with much valued contributions from their gang.

The pair have brought out fantastic vocal performances from Jay Thomas (daughter of house producer Tony Thomas) on Angel Delight and Katty Heath (who has also sung for Mylo, Bent and breakbeat duo Slyde among others) on the tracks Caught Up In Something which features Crazy P producer Jim Baron on Trombone and 271 The Trencherman, with upright bass by Arwel Hughes.

From the shimmering and hypnotic Son of Still to the more upbeat stance of Instant Sideways and Chika Woodward’s spoken word diatribe on the sparsely beautiful Nascent, International Peoples Gang continue their musical ascent with Up.

The sleevenotes give a valuable track by track insight into how the album evolved from none other than the The International Peoples Gang themselves;

Up Sleevenotes:

Junior Cycle
Due to a love affair with the fuzz-tone noise of Johnny Thunders and Mick Jones I’d always fancied a Les Paul Junior and, after treating myself to one as a birthday present, I played it non-stop for about a month…riff, riff, riff and then another riff. Eventually I formulated this pretty little cyclic tune that has alternating bars of 6/4 and 5/4 but; please don’t go scratching that ‘prog’ rash y’all, it grooves.

Second
I’ve always loved the ‘me against the world’ sentiment of Townshend’s lyrics to ‘Blue Red and Grey’ and, with its sonic-palette of ukulele and brass, it’s certainly an odd sounding Who record. The track has been a nagging inspiration since autumn ’75 and Ric and I were so made up when Pete let us use it.

Caught Up In Something
Featuring an ace vocal interlude from Katty Heath, a woozy, boozy coda courtesy of Jim Baron’s trombone (Fa fa faah…), an experiment with mutating room-ambience and a lawn-mower solo; this is the latest in a long line of IPG ‘musique-concrete’ melodic creations.

Place des Abbesses
Whilst living in Paris during the late ‘80s I often found myself ‘people watching’ at the Café St Jean and the art-nouveau splendour of Metro Abbesses. This tune, with its reflective clarinet theme, accordion splashes and heat-haze Algerian buzz takes me right back there.

Son of Still
Anyone remember ‘Still’ from em:t 3395? Check it out. I love the way that the nagging sequencer resonates with the naïve, piano part to create a kind of theatrical suspension between aggression and humility. Yin and Yang.

Instant Sideways
This one’s got a disorientating party vibe as it lurches from one idea to another…never quite making its mind up…like most Friday nights. The joyous kids were recorded on a carousel in Paris, the bells are from a June wedding in Derbyshire and the harmony guitars are totally 1973.

Angel Delight
The centrepiece of the record for us. This track has got a spacey, loopy, bluesy quality that Jay Thomas absolutely nails with a totally gorgeous vocal performance. I’d demoed this in falsetto so Jay sings it in an unusual register for her but still reckons that she’s never sounded better. Love on ya baby.

Spacebook
Dave Morton squeezes out a gorgeous violin tone from his electric guitar and sucks the listener into a propulsive electro groove. Ric’s orchestral collage has a disassociative quality and, when I close my eyes, I get a similar vibe to the stylings of ‘Aeroplane’ from our first album. Lush and dreamlike.

Nascent
I woke up from one of those mad semi-lucid dreams with a template for this in my head. I scribbled down as much as I could and stuck it on the studio wall. Ric spent the best part of six months sound-designing and it ended up as a sprawling monster; a soundtrack looking for a narrative. Independently, Japanese artist Chika Woodward had written a poem musing on the Hiroshima bombing from the perspective of a young mother taking her child to school that morning. We put them together and it worked. Just like that. Synergy.

Astronomy
Dedicated to Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Easy
This was written, late at night, during a snowstorm and is my reflection on a brand-new relationship. If Bowie hadn’t done it first this would be called ‘A New Career In A New Town’. I dig what Ric did with the scratchy, flanging, phasing guitar sounds and the breakdown to silence. “Of course you can…”

271 The Trencherman
This one’s a collision between a desire for love and peace and a more prosaic, gritty realism. Kind of like a Hippy v Punk wars being fought in your mind. The title is the address of a Chelsea restaurant owned by ‘60s hipster Terence Stamp…the building seen being bombed with graffiti in The Stones/Godard film ‘Sympathy for The Devil’. The lyrics are a paean to dream state of pre-Manson California and Arwel Hughes’ upright bass cunningly avoids jazz. Phew.

Up
Ric and I worked hard at establishing a sense of order/disorder by the use of pop-art/action-painting/mixed-media collage techniques. We love shaking things up and there are no rules. We did a lot of field recording (aren’t mobile phones ace?) and cared not one jot if we found ourselves ‘doin’ our thang’ in a ‘studio’ or not. Indeed, Isobel’s front room, post-fracture morphine, Ric’s sunlit yard and serene interludes amidst episodes of mid-tour mayhem all played their part. All in all, ‘Up’ took about 3 years to put together…we’d write and record in chunks and then spend ages reviewing and editing material…attention to detail and all that. We guarantee that this record will reward careful listening. You know us.

ARTIST: INTERNATIONAL PEOPLES GANG
TITLE: UP (LP)
FORMAT: CD / DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
LABEL: HI-PHI MUSIC
CAT NO: HIPHILP1
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW DIGITAL / CD COMING SOON

Form @ Village Underground, Shoreditch, London

Saturday 19th June sees the launch of FORM at Village Underground.

Although a new kid on the musical block, this fresh young upstart brings you the kind of savvy format you’d expect from a night much older in years.

A truly bespoke night, it will concentrate on quality programming, production, ambience and and the kind of line ups you rarely see outside of festivals these days. Sound wise each event will be non genre specific.

The main bulk of the evening will revolve around the house and techno spectrum. But be prepared to hear everything from electronica, funk, hiphop, disco, mashup, ska and all that goes inbetween.

FORM has been founded by a team of industry veterans. They have been working under various roles and guises within clubland, music, radio, press, technical, production, fashion and creative for over 20 years collectively. Some have even been lured out of retirement to be involved in this exciting new project. The culmination of their experience, enthusiasm and essentially their “contacts” means they can bring you something very special indeed.

This collaboration of people realised there was something lacking on the London club scene, and a massive target audience were not being catered to. The whole of clubland has become saturated with so-called “underground” club nights at present.

In reality this format is now so common place that all they bring us is the same old crowds, the same old venues, the same old sounds and the same old experiences – all the while still claiming to be individual. These kind of events also alienate lots of people who like a good night out just by the sheer “cliquey” element attached to them.

FORM wants to shake it up and do things differently. They’d like to give you a night which is thoroughly down to earth and without pretention. The line ups are aimed at the sort of regulars who may not go out every week, but will come out of hiding for nights which strike a chord with them and those which have the premise of something a bit special.

The lineups will speak for themselves for each event, bursting with the kind of names that need no introduction.

FORM aims to give you what you’ve been holding out for… A night out with a lovely, welcoming crowd, amazing music, banging soundsystem, eye catching production, and most importantly a night that was actually, for once, worth the effort!

Opening FORM on Sat 19th June 2010 will be: X-Press 2, Jon Carter and CJ Macintosh.

X-Press 2
A phenomenal recording and DJing unit consisting of Rocky, Diesel and Ashley Beadle who first burst onto the international club scene in 1993 with Muzik Express. Expect roasting beats (a la Trance Europe Express), full on epic breakdowns and all kinds of catchy hooks. Currently signed to Skint Records (Fatboy Slim’s label) and partaking of all kinds of six-deck wizardry, expect lots of surprises and innovative collaborations.

CJ Mackintosh
The man responsible for remixing MARRS, ‘Pump Up The Volume’ together with Dave Dorrell. Originally a hip-hop DJ, CJ moved over to house music in the early 90s and scored a residency at Ministry of Sound in ‘94 where he played for seven years. Now a father of two and still pleasing mainstream clubbers as resident DJ at City Loud, Turnmills, London.

Jon Carter
A man of many guises who plays and records under the names Joe Schmoe, Monkey Mafia and Junior Cartier amongst others. Originally inspired by the 80s acid house scene he has since experimented with various musical styles including funk, dub, breakbeat and even reggae. Now best known for funky, energetic old skool house, Carter is one of the worlds most popular DJs.

Form @ Village Underground
54 Holywell Lane, Shoreditch, EC2A 3PQ Saturday 19th June
9pm-6am

X-Press 2
CJ Macintosh
Jon Carter
Leroy Roberts
Tim Gale

£15 in Adv

Tickets from: www.clubtickets.com & www.residentadvisor.net.

For more information visit www.formlondon.com.

secret cinema - welcome to my club

Having started his career back in the 1990’s Jeroen Verheij tasted success almost immediately with his first release Sonar System, an instant rave classic.

He then created the Secret Cinema persona in 1994 and released the international hit Timeless Altitude. Selling over 20,000 copies in six months, the track proved more ‘timeless’ than anyone could have imagined at the time.

In December 2009 under the guise of Secret Cinema, Gem Records was born and using his large musical knowledge to select tracks for his own DJ sets he released his first DJ compilation (GEMCD001).

The latest release on the Gem Records label is Secret Cinema’s Welcome To My Club, One CD, 20 superb tracks and one brilliant mix!

Welcome To My Club, mixed by Secret Cinema, explores the realms of Verheij’s club sound and his flavours for the coming season. The mix includes the latest release on Gem ‘Secret Cinema – Glad Chord’ (GEM003) and an exclusive preview of two tracks from the forthcoming EP ‘Haasten’ by Egbert (GEM004) one of Secret Cinema’s proteges.

The CD kicks off with vintage synth chords from Jamie Lloyd but soon twists in another direction with the sexy P-funk inspired electro beats of Big Bully.

The CD continues to pick up pace as it pounds through twenty excellent tracks, creating an exiting and energetic journey through one of the most action packed compilations around.

This superb collection marks Verheij’s twentieth year in the business, proving that he still has his finger firmly on the pulse of a constantly evolving genre.

Welcome To My Club Tracklisting:

1. Jamie Lloyd – When Good Oompa Loompa’s Turn Bad
2. Big Bully – Nightflight
3. Ahmet Sisman – Baze
4. Steve Parker – Mexhilhao (Handycraft Remix)
5. DJ Sodeyama – Realthing
6. Norm & jochen Pash – Watching You (Norman Zube Remix)
7. Andreas Saag – Jazz Lapse
8. Egbert – Yourself
9. Jewel Kid – Break My Heart (Masi & Mello Remix)
10. Christopher Benjamin – Drop Down Pass Out
11. Psycatron – Is What It Is (So It Is Remix)
12. Peter Horrevorts – Bloody Hands (Marc Marzenit Remix)
13. Cyro – Afrodisiac (Dirty Disorder Remix)
14. Tim Deluxe – When We Come To It
15. Oculus – Awake
16. Jakiro – Fountain Trip
17. Egbert – Haasten
18. Itamar Sagi – One Million Oaks
19. Secret Cinema – Glad Chord
20. Shinsuke Matsumoto – Lantern (Kuba Sojka Remix)

For more information and to listen to the album visit Gem Records.

Garden festival goers indulge in fine food and drink, travelling around the region and lazy sun-kissed days and hedonistic nights, all framed by the festival itself, which again takes place across the first and second weekends of July from 2nd-11th.

Nestled on a narrow peninsular jutting into the seductive Adriatic waters, the festival features a fully live outdoor stage and beach bar where waters lap around revellers’ feet, twice daily Argonaughty Boat Parties, club sessions in the retro-tastic Barbarellas Discotheque and attracts sun and fun seekers from all over Europe.

Nick Colgan, one of the Garden Festival’s founders, explains that, “We’ve already got some cracking names down for the summer and we’re all really pleased the way it’s taking shape so far. There are some really exciting developments with the Argonaughty Boat parties and also Barbarellas Discotheque too. I am personally really excited by Killer Whale (The Arthur Russell Project) and also Tensnake, both making debuts, along with some cracking DJs making their first trips to our little spot of paradise.”

The lineup is indeed taking shape to be the most inspiring yet in the Garden’s esteemed 5-year history, with everything from NYC deep disco from Metro Area jousting with the sublime sounds of  Floating Points, one of the most talked about acts of 2009 for a string of revered releases and remixes, through to Leeds’ finest deck devil, Dave Beer.

One of Scotland’s finest, The Revenge, is set to unleash his fine disco cuts, and since his Resident Advisor podcast his stock has risen even further. London’s Horse Meat Disco also star, themselves enjoying their most fruitful year yet, and three late night specialists, Moodymann, Sebo K and Seth Troxler, bring a tech-noir edge to nocturnal proceedings. Of course it’s not just all about the new boys – some already legendary Garden guests also return, including Greg Wilson, Henrik Schwarz, Kelvin Brown, Terry Farley, No’ Fakin and a great deal more also star.

Croatia itself has enjoyed a bumper year as a travel destination, offering everything from secluded coves and deserted stretches of pristine beach to historic and vibrant cities, succulent sea-food and an enriching culture of old and new. Many of those who attended one or more of the weekends last year also took time out to explore some of this inspiring and seductive country too.

Croatia Garden Festival confirmed so far:

LIVE ACTS: 2020 Soundsystem • Bonobo • Crazy P • Henrik Schwarz • Killer Whale (The Arthur RussellProject) • Tensnake • Trojan Sound System DJ SETS: Adam Regan • Adam Shelton • Ame • Andy Blake • Basement Boogaloo • Bobby Beige • Christophe (Redux) • Daddy G • Dave Beer • Dave Jarvis • Deano Ferrino • Discomendments • Dixon • Dolan Bergin • Dom Chung • Ed Cotton • El Diablos • El Harvo • Electric Minds • Emma Chibuku • Faith • Felix Dickinson • Floating Points • Florian Keller • Futureboogie DJ’s • Geddes • Greg Wilson • Hang The Dj • Harri and Domenic • Horse Meat Disco • James Holroyd • Jimpster • Joe 90 • Karen P • Kelvin Brown • Kid Bongo • Metro Area (Darshan Jesrani) • Moodymann • Nick Shaw • No Fakin DJ’s • Ole Smokey • PBR Streetgang • Pete Herbert • Phat Phil Cooper • Red Rackem • Sam Redmore • Sebo K • Seth Troxler • Shur-i-kan • Smith and Mudd • Soul Jazz Sound System • Ste Hodge • Stu Patterson • Subb-An • Terry Farley • The Revenge • Tirk • Yam Who?

For further information visit The Garden Festival website, click here for ticket information.

technasia - central

Central is the first new album from Technasia in five years, it took a year in the making and is set to become one of the musical highlights of 2010.

Taking its name from the Hong Kong metro system Central is essentially a journey through the senses that at times is both refreshing and familiar, while in places downright comforting.

The ride also has its moments of austerity and darkness as any journey would and as a result Central works on an instant aural level as well as a deeper emotional level. It is very different to its contemporaries because it is designed to get under your skin.

Central takes the listener into a musical universe that whisks them from the beautiful and peaceful midnight cityscapes (Music To Watch The City Lights Late At Night) to incredible Balearic sunsets (Tu Isla) and into the stark dark bowels of underground clubland, possibly somewhere just outside Chicago (Aries).

There is indeed a melodic soul to Central that raises it above others, the album not only transcends trends as it is designed to do, but also transcends the boundaries of electronic music, making it an album that is instantly accessible even to those who do not specifically follow the electronic genre.

Technasia mainstay Charles Siegling says:

“I deliberately avoided writing a record to reflect the current scene, I wanted to do something that would last, to simply compose music the way I want to, and to reflect my different musical tastes. After a year of hard work I’m very
pleased – I have achieved everything I set out to do.”

An excellent achievement.

Technasia – Central is released on Technasia Records on May 31st.

TECHNASIA TOUR DATES:

APRIL
17 HOT HOUSE OF TECHNO @TRIANGLE, ST. VITH, BELGIUM
30 NITSA, BARCELONA, SPAIN

MAY
07 INOX ELECTRONIC FESTIVAL, TOULOUSE, FRANCE
08 DOLLYSSEUS, NICE, FRANCE
15 BETA CLUB, LA CORUNA, SPAIN
22 BCM, PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN
28 ROMY S. STUTTGART, GERMANY
29 THE STIFF KITTEN, BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UK

For further information visit the Technasia website.

The digital remixes take the listener on a trip of various style and moods and really is worth checking out.

From the superb tech house of fellow Canadian Mahar Daniel (whose mix has been featuring heavily on Pete Tong’s recent US tour), to the heavy duty 10 Year Anniversary Mix and the epic prog trance of the 13 minute B & G Mix, this is a musical adventure not to be missed. There’s even a lush spaced out Ambient Mix to round everything off in perfect style.

tone depth - rumblefish

Tone Depth
Rumblefish
1. Maher Daniel Remix
2. Tone Depth 10 Year Anniversary Mix
3. Tone Depth 11 Years Of Bedrock Remix
4. Zoltan Kontes & Jerome Robins Remix
5. B & G Remix
6. Ambient Mix
(Bedrock Digital) Beddigi03
Out Now on Beatport

The People In The Sky presents You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Avant Pop launch party, will take place at:

T Bar, 18-22, Houndsditch, Aldgate, London EC3A 7LP.

Entry to the launch party is free and doors are open from 9pm until 3am, with free promo CD giveaways and an excellent line up of entertainment featuring the following:

These New Puritans (Domino/Angular) DJ Set
Ipso Facto DJ Set
Matt Waites AKA Nightmoves (Future Flash/This Is Not An Exit)
ColouringIN Live
Damon Martin (Disco Bloodbath)
Bi-Bop
Slutty Fringe DJs
J Saintil (Nurtrend)

In their own words;

From Dada to Disco, the commodification and recuperation of all popular culture has been accelerated via ever faster means of communication until we reached this point, the edge of no return.

The musical avant garde, armed with cheap electronics and half forgotten dreams, fights on sporadically. Fresh battlelines are drawn in the subcultural sand, but from 20 jazz funk greats to Reg n’ Fearn in a fortnight, things move fast . Fires are quickly doused , and it’s back to Saturday repeats of Come Dine with me as the hacienda crumbles around us.

So now we seek to join the urgent struggle to transform our sick, commodity-infested workaday culture into a more sensual, trippy, exotic and networked Avant Pop experience .It is in this spirit that People in The Sky has released  ‘And You Will Know Us by TH Trail of Avant Pop’, a  17 track audio manifesto . To mark it’s release, we invite all concerned parties to the T Bar  on Thursday 19th November.

structured noise-diarmaid meara

Structured Noise is the latest album from Ireland’s techno producer Diarmaid Meara, it will be released on CD and digitally on December 13th through his own label Gobsmacked Records.

Meara has been busy building his reputation over the last couple of years and is now a frequent contributor to many of the UK’s music stations, particularly championed by Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and XFM’s John Kennedy, but also getting attention on the Radio 1 ATL Dance Show, Absolute Technoise, RTE, Kiss FM and more.

The new album features sixteen tracks all produced, co-produced or remixed by Meara and is described as a blending of numerous styles of energetic and melodic techno. The album ebbs and flows in a style that suits Meara’s eclectic mix and includes recent releases Murdering Disco, Paranoid, and Bitchbags along with other released and currently unreleased works.

Structured Noise by Diarmaid Meara is available through Gobsmacked Records from December 13th. For more information and free tracks visit Diarmaid Meara’s website.

MOS The Annual 2010

Now in it’s fifteenth year, The Annual series from the Ministry Of  Sound serves as a reminder that the year is drawing to a close and of course this year is no different.

Ministry Of Sound have gone all out to end the decade in style with three definitive CD’s that not only celebrate another fantastic year of dance music but splattered with future hits as well.

The Annual 2010 is released on Monday November 2nd and from the tracklisting looks sure to be another number one album on the compilation charts with the original and best dance music album around.

Disc One kicks the album off in style with aNYway, a brilliant collaboration from Armand Van Helden & A-TRAK (AKA Ducksauce), followed by a host of number one smashes from Dizzee Rascal, David Guetta and Calvin Harris. As if this wasn’t enough, there’s also some massive remixes of Friendly Fires, Jack Penate and Emipre of the Sun.

The pace picks up a notch on Disc Two with some upbeat treasures including the huge floor filler I Know You Want Me from Pitbull, as well as dance god Basshunter’s Every Morning. Disc Two is also home to another special collaboration, this time taking the form of Bassment Jaxx and Sam Sparro.

Disc Three will really test your speakers and starts the way it means to go on with future smash Riverside from Sidney Sampson, plus 20 of the best bass-heavy hits on one disc with The Prodigy, Crookers and Fake Blood, as well as drum & bass from DJ Fresh, Sub Focus and Blame.

The three disc compilation from Ministry Of Sound – The Annual 2010 is available from November 2nd.