Ok, less than a week to go until the Decade:Dance, so it's time for a second mix. This time from about 2005- a minimal/tech mix with tracks from Nathan Fake, Domenic Eulberg, Miss Kittin, Tommie Nevada, Dinky and Tobi Neumann. Listen and enjoy.

Lerosa on Hybridise

I've downloaded a few tracks from Dublin's Lerosa recently that I've really enjoyed- his 'Plesso' for Ostgut is great, and his Donato Dozzy collab 'Snakes at Number 2' Ep is superb, really deep, slow techno- Acid Snake clocks in at 100bpm... that's positively lazy! Check out the RA review of that here.

Anyway, trawling the web I came across Franco Cangelli's Hybridise blog, which is a new one to me but well worth a look. I don't know much about Franco and the blog doesn't give much away. I only know him from his charts on Juno, which are always full of good stuff, and his release on Mawar earlier this year. Alongside some interesting looking mixes from Franco, Hybridise are currently hosting a Lerosa mixes Lerosa mix , a set of his own releases and remixes that is a great introduction to his sound and well worth a listen. Check the tracklist below:

Russell – Real Soon

Franco Cangelli – Innocence In A Jar (Lerosa Remix) – Mowar

Regret – D1

Clique – Real Soon

Seeker – Enclave

Circadia – Millions of Moments

Lovers bleed – Millions of Moments

Plesso – Ostgut

Dark Knight – A Touch of Class

One Year Friends – Enclave

Much Later – Uzuri

Triage – Quintessentials

Abby – Uzuri

Buddy system – Quintessentials

Andy Vaz – Hurry, Hurry Remix (Lerosa Mix) – Yore

Pussy – Enclave

Building up to our Decade:Dance on 4th December here in Cardiff, we are reliving some old memories through our mixes from the last decade. First up is a mix I recorded in about 2003 (ish), a fast paced techno mix. Expect Envoy, Slam, Vince Watson, Drama Society, Funk D Void, some Nathan Fake, before heading into harder techno territory. Hope you like it!

time for a look back...

A note from home.....

Birmingham boy Regis has produced this mix for FACT entitled Built on Sand: A Birmingham Sampler 1978-86. It's not what you'd expect from the man behind British Murder Boys and Sandwell District. Both Regis and Silent Servant have expressed their love of 'other' forms of music than their trademark techno, and that's what's showcased here as FACT say:

"The mix concerns itself with Birmingham's vibrant but infamously fragmented and undervalued punk and post-punk scene of the late 70s and early 80s, and features amazing music by familiar artists like the Au Pairs and Swell Maps as well as more obscure nuggets from the likes of Spizzenergi. Mixed and edited with all the punch and precision we've come to expect from Regis, this is a blisteringly enjoyable listen and an invaluable history lesson to boot. Download it, and enjoy. "

As a Birmingham boy, I'd recommend everyone downloads a piece of the "Bermuda Triangle of success" that falls between the M6, M5 and M42. It makes for 'different' listening at least....

Modern Lovelies

A short post this time- Mary Anne Hobbs featured a guest mix from the Manchester-based Modern Love on her BBC Radio 1 show this week. Half an hour of deepness featuring all unreleased material, now that that can't be bad....

It's slightly more on the steppy end of the spectrum, but starts with some nice deep techno. New stuff from all the usual Modern Love suspects- Andy Stott, Claro, MLZ, Pendle Coven, Millie and Hate- winter looks to be hotting up nicely!

“Ouch! Passion must prevail!”

I've come across an interesting article about new Cardiff venue The Cardiff Arts Institute. The commentary voices feelings I share about the scene in the city- Cardiff has been going through somewhat bleak period of late. It has seen some much loved venues closing due largely due to political reasons, and reports from several of big name promoters are that the city isn't what it was before longer licensing hours for bars and pubs. For smaller promoters like ourselves, there's few decent venues about, and even fewer that offer a good sound system and staff. The city is begging for decent places to dance, so much so that promoters have started thinking "outside the box" as they say in management speak; Perhaps the best example is Backroom eschewing clubs altogether and using disused bank vaults to throw parties. As Kai puts it in the review, "Sometimes you’re faced with the grim reality that what Cardiff needs, Cardiff never gets." Having lived here for nearly ten years, that ain't far from the truth.

The CAI might be about to change all that. Set up by 580 ltd (also responsible for Field Day, the Lock Tavern, the Start the Bus and the Adventures in the Beetroot Field club nights and apparently run by Jon Carter), the venue has the potential to freshen up the Cardiff scene, offering something different to the standard bar setup, and boasting a Funktion 1 sound system to boot. Here's what they say they plan to do:

CAI Manifesto:

We aim to:

1. Offer a platform to encourage collaboration, participation and activity.
2. Stimulate and innovate in our city.
3. Forever evolve.
4. Help make it happen.
5. Discover new ways of thinking through interaction, communication and union.
6. Nurture and celebrate new talent.
7. Use no artificial colours or preservatives.
8. Stay up late and break the rules.
9. Listen to you: mail@cardiffartsinstitute.org

Well, it'll be interesting to see if they can do all or any of that, or indeed what impact the arrival of CAI will have on the city. The first month's line up looks promising, including local bands and DJ's and respected performers such as The Apples and Jon Carter. At the moment it feels like this will be something new- let's wait and see what develops- until then, I look forward to checking it out!

New arrivals to banish boredom

Recently I've found that I've been a bit bored. I've not bought much music for the past few months, and what I have bought has been from beyond my normal boundaries or it's been older tracks that I've been after for a while. I don't know why I've suddenly lost interest. Maybe its an autumn thing? I always find that my tastes tend towards a darker more atmospheric sound as winter draws in; perhaps its the start of this transition? Or maybe everything has gone a bit stale?

Well, having been at a musical loose end, in the last week or so i've found a few things that have started to draw me from my sleep. Most of these have been genre-defying treats that step beyond their boundaries to deliver something fresh, something new that pricks up the ears, but also draw on classic sounds and re-interpret tried and tested formula.

Redshape's Dance Paradox LP on Delsin looks from first impressions like it will be one of my albums of the year. Drawing on his unique retro sci-fi sound (if such a think can exist), the album delivers 8 mid-tempo tracks that draw inspiration from 90's techno, reworked in his inimitable style. Stand out tracks for me are album closer 'Dark & Sticky', a Workshop/Dettmann-esque crunchy slow shuffler and the broken beat, dub chord-ridden 'Man out of time'.































The return of the excellent Random Circuits blog (with added redesign) has brought some welcome treats. RC have had a series of deeper than deep guest mixes in the past that included podcasts by Taron Trekka, Vince Watson, Baaz, Langenberg, Anonm and my favourite from Rising Sun. Their rebirth has seen the launch of a new series called the Random Residency, designed to showcase residents from interesting clubnights. The first from Noah Gibson, author of The Futurist blog and resident at The Office in Stockholm is a Berghain influenced techno mix and interview.

The second features MB, resident at Colony, one of the most interesting nights currently running in London. The line ups at Colony are always eclectic, covering techno, dubstep, d&b and IDM- recent nights have hosted Noah Gibson, MLZ, Braiden, Chris Box, Untold.... and their next two parties see Perc, Kevin Gorman, Millie & Andrea and Ben UFO playing! Hmm, I think I might have to pop along to one of those- there's a couple of potential Oblique targets on that list... Colony have in the past hosted a superb series of resident mixes on their myspace, and MB's mix continues that trend- starting with dubby techno from Demidike Stare and Brendon Moeller and tech-stepping from Scuba towards Surgeon, this is an inspirational mix. Also worth a look is a mix by RC new boy Nihal Ramchandani, a grooving dubstep/deep house/techno mix.

Finally, a FACT article caught my attention this week- following on from their industrial-sounding Mnml Ssgs mix and the release of AM04, FACT have a lengthy interview with Ancient Methods. Although often too heavy for my ears, this interview suggests that maybe its not such a bad idea to look to the past for inspiration, that to be constantly searching for the new is not the only approach to music. Techno seems to be rediscovering its history- you only need to check out recent releases such as James Ruskin's Outsider to hear the early techno influence.

And I think that is what i'm feeling at the moment, and what all the items i've mentioned here suggest: Maybe it's ok that there's no 'next big thing' emerging to bring me from boredom. At the end of a decade, perhaps it is time to look back and to reflect on the legacy of electronic music, and let that influence the future.

A plug...

A shameless plug for a blog from Thomas, only on image and graphical things.

Peruse at will.

http://subtractivescent.blogspot.com/

Merci.

Opinions sought on a new identity for Oblique. These have been produced this afternoon, whilst listening to the timeless simplicity of Daniel Bell Live.

'Meanwhile, back in Africa...'

Let us know if you have an opinion.

Will post a link to the DBX set from Melkweg. Truly classic minimalism.

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