A Thurday Set Up

A quick update on a few sets I've been listening to lately- we've been busy organising a few events and writing a full review of Freerotation that we hope to post soon. For now this will have to do- a selection of summer themed mixes I've had on repeat- enjoy!

Goldwill HIAF mix
Great mix, the best from Ronan's HIAF since Chaton's mix last May. The first 20 mins and last 30 mins standout, but its a really nice flowing mix with a great track selection.

Chaton Roof FM podcast
While not quite of the same level as the HIAF mix he did, Chaton's Roof FM podcast has a good groove and some nice tracks, particularly the sublime deepness of Silent State by STL. The Daschund mix of Chaton's +91 Session is worth looking out for too. Roof FM has had some really good quality mixes across the spectrum, definitely one to follow.

Tom Demac live @ Freerotation 2009
One of a cluster of top notch Welsh producers becoming increasingly popular across Europe- the live set is a taster of what Freerotation was all about for those who missed it.

Hector Electronicmusic.pl podcast
Hector is defiantly one for the summer (he says while watching the rain pitter patter on the rooflight....) Both this and his Mobilee Podcast are really nice, deep and groovy house numbers worthy of a listen. I can't tell you much more about this mix as my Polish isn't all that good!

Orde Meikle Monopod One
This is the first of Slam's monopod podcasts, and it's fantastic- starting with deep dub, moving to slow house, before building towards some chunky techy numbers, this is a perfect warm up mix. It includes some really good tracks from the likes of Agnes, Fritz Zander and Mountain People- Agnes' Que Pena is one of my tracks of the summer so far.

Oblique Summer Party : Friday

Freerotation is this weekend!

It's finally here! And just to let you all know how good its going to be, here's what RA thinks of Freerotation, making it their number one festival this month. Expect a full report when we return....

01. Freerotation
August 14 - August 16
Baskerville Hall
West + Wales, United Kingdom

While perusing the electronic music boards on the subject of Freerotation, you'd think the organisers had embarked on an aggressive viral marketing campaign; such is the love floating about for the event. A word of mouth success in the truest sense of the term, the event now enters its third year at Baskerville Hall—a stately 19th century hotel near the village of Hay-on-Wye, Wales. The personal touch is palpable throughout, but it's also reflected in the line-up, with artists such as Move D, Shackleton, Bodycode, Jackmate and Lakuti all receiving the nod for the third year running. Efdemin, Marcel Dettmann, Rndm, Sven Weisemann and Freund der Familie represent a sizeable German contingent, while the home-grown talent is decidedly dubstep, with Narcossist, 2562, Ramadanman, Pangaea, Ben UFO and Peverelist all getting stuck in at varying points of the three days. It seems as though the only concern on behalf of attendees is the event becoming too popular.

RA pick: If hype equates to results, Ben UFO's DJ set should be mind-blowing.

netlabels

schall_023 release cover art

They are the less-talked about side of electronic music production, but having spent an evening with the 'netlabels' this is something that needs to be rectified. And, to start: a weekly mention of a couple of labels that I've been listening to recently.

Essentially, netlabels are creative-commons licensed, web-based production labels that host and, to an extent, promote artists with free-at-source, downloadable tracks. And, admittedly, there are a lot of netlabels of questionable quality.

Grünfeld Tonträger, however, is of the highest standard. It's home to a variety of electronic producers, mostly ranging from dub-techno to atmospheric, ambient sounds. These producers are not limited to the free-netlabel format. DML, who co-founded Grünfeld, has releases on, amongst others, the German label Harthouse. And, some of the productions from DML are superb. Fin (Suedmilch Remix) for example is a piece of Ostgut-esque deep techno, comfortably at home on a six am dancefloor alongside anything from Klock, Dettman et al. Subconscious, by DML and Holger Leger is a slightly more mellow track, with dubby synths, a soft, padding bass-line and airy snares. Both well produced, mastered and eminently danceable affairs: layered, complex and with fathoms of depth. Visit their site and check out the other releases.

http://www.gruenfeld.net/blog/

Schall Netlabel is a veritable treasure-trove of deep, dub-techno and ambient soundscapes. Founded in 2007, they describe themselves as focusing on 'deep, intense electronic music', and it's no word of a lie. With a roster of approximately 25 artists, their sound ranges from the gaseous, basic-channel inspired, classic techno to more left-field ambient releases. Dominique Jacquinet's Timeless Peak delivers hissing, bleak clouds of sound over a radically stripped down four-four beat, slowly rolling bass-line and melancholy synths. Somehow timeless, yet as contemporary a sound as you'll hear coming out of Berlin. Floating by aku aku is a warm, melodic summer piece. A lighter bass-line and snappier beats support synths that do, indeed, float. Certainly one for watching the sun set on a late-August evening, it's light, yet deep at the same time. The schall label's releases seem of the highest quality, and with judicious listening, real quality pieces of electronic music can be found, and enjoyed, for free.

http://www.schall-netlabel.com/

There's a wealth of music out there, from unknown producers. You've just got to dig. And keep on digging. You can find these labels, and more, on the netlabels.org website http://netlabels.org/

I'll cover more releases from other labels over the coming weeks.

Marcel Knopf, dusty dance

It's rare, that rush of blood to the follicles, making the hairs on your arm stand up. Moments that resonate with something inside create this. And sometimes, you come across an unexpected piece of music that forces this neuro/physical response. Listening, albeit in low-quality pre-release preview audio, to the final track, Leave it alone, on Marcel Knopf's superb new album, dusty dance, induces this effect. A haunting, mid-tempo, deep-dub reverb heavy beat structures a bleak, spoken vocal from Padberg of Thomas de Quincy - 'for solitude is essential to man. all men come into this world alone. and leave it, alone.'

Punctuated only by synth-stabs, the spiraling atmospherics underneath create a track that is more space that substance. It's airy, gaseous, ethereal. It leaves room to contemplate the vocals, understand the content and get lost in a piece of timeless electronic music.

Solitude is essential.

Keep a watch out for this album.

Out on Mo’s Ferry Prod. (Distributed by Word & Sound, DE.), Mid October 09.

Full review closer to the release date.

From the press-release:

Thanks to [Marcel Knopf's] interest in diverse electronic sounds, this work presents a perfect production design as well as unexpected caprices and obtains a genre-overlapping consciousness, that definitely stands for the self-confident idiosyncratic statement: "You can't quarrel about musical taste - you just have it or not!" Except track 1 and 10, this album unfits ruminant activities and is quite the opposite of bone sedation. Strobe instead of candlelight, but at the same time suitable for finding a like-minded person for the rest of the night.

01 Intro

02 That Shit

03 All Right

04 Crazy About feat. Camara

05 Holpergeist

06 Dusty Dance

07 Skinny Bitches

08 Rec-Chord

09 Take A No

10 Leave It Alone feat. Padberg

As some of you may remember, Oblique's May guests were Tom Ellis and Leif who performed live for us as Trimsound. After a superb set for us, the boys are certainly having busy summers with the release of Tom's album 'Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls' and Leif's recent release 'Designed with that in mind' on Fear of Flying, backed with a Two Armadillos remix.

Well, the main point of this post is to share this interview for the 'Bring Down the Walls' blog, which offers a good insight into Leif's background, route into music and the scene in North Wales.

I'm looking forward to seeing Tom and Leif playing at the Freerotation festival next weekend in Hay on Wye- If you're going be sure to check them out for some minimal housey goodness!

travelling back

so. times change. places become different. movement occurs. it's time to travel back somewhere, and spend some time there.

summer. in the UK. music and rain.

some things recorded on the way back. the way away.

for now.

<travelling back> recorded on the 22:45 service london - cardiff, july 2009.