Sodium Nightlife.

So, time for something a bit different. My good friend, Chris Dennis, in one of our gmail sessions decided he was going to send me albums. Ten of them. Ten albums that I hadn’t heard before, by people outside of my usual sphere of knowledge.

Context plays rather a large part in the music I listen to. I can’t listen to something without running off to google to find out who, why, where and when. So for these ten albums I was not to be allowed to do any research into them at all. Originally I was just going to send him my impressions, but then I thought it might be interesting to post this musical guesswork up here. So, for each of the ten albums, I’ll write a little under the following headings:

• Year

• Instruments

• Influences

• Future of the group after this album and

• Brief Opinion

Hopefully this will be interesting for someone. He’s just sent me the first three, so first reactions will be up next week.

I’ve decided to start talking about a bit more music on here. This place’ll probably remain primarily about house, but I occasionally feel like talking about other things and I’ve decided to stop feeling restricted and just do it. So expect to see a piece upcoming about  These New Puritans, one guitar band who are actually really very good, and anything else that pops into my head.

To start off with something that I’ve talked about before however: here’s a brilliant podcast from Peverelist, one of the best innovators in the Bristol dubstep scene.

Enjoy.

I just listened to this Kalim Shabazz track that’s been getting a fair bit of hype. It builds fairly well, has a nice little groove going on, but then the worst piano solo ever drops. If we’re looking back to deep house, let’s not do the whole awful-imitations-of-jazz thing again. Unless your name is Dennis Ferrer, or Mike Huckaby.

In other deep house news, the new Mountain People is, of course, practically flawless.

Posts have been a bit sparse here, I’ve been a bit busy in the real world. More content to come soon.

Read this: Review of the Jichael Mackson single on Hartchef Discos.

Blackdown and Dusk - The Bits/Northside Cheng Dub

The A side featuring trim is cool, but the B, “Northside Cheng Dub” is absolutely brilliant. All skippy spine tingling oriental awesomeness.

Ricardo Villalobos - Frank Mueller Melodram

Released in 99, one of my Ricardo bits. Nice to have it on vinyl. A beautiful bit of deep house, it was used as the basis for that new order bootleg last year.

Two Armadillos - Butterfly Bee

I missed this when it came out last October, but heard it recently and really liked it. Dubby deep house that oozes grace.

Various - Four Seasons EP

On Diynamic music, continues their run of high quality releases.

Oliver $ - Hotflash

Odd Machine - We Brought Our Friends

I’m off to London this week for a week, so won’t be posting in all probability. Watch out for a Prosumer review on RA however, that’ll be me.

If you’re in London, come see my band play:

14th - Camden Barfly
15th - Buffalo Bar
17th - Hoxton Bar and Grill

Also on the 15th, we’re playing a session on George Lamb’s show on 6 music, sometime between 11 and 12 am. We’re called Damn Shames.

EDIT: My Prosumer review is now up.

Thomas Cox, of Infinitestatemachine, has done a mix for Tape of all American techno from the last few years. I must of been in a sour mood yesterday, because it didn’t immediately click, but today I’m really feeling it. Coming on housey and then going insanely deep, it’s actually complementing my repeated listens to this Cassy set very well indeed. Both are reccomended listens.

U askin? - Mr G (Rekids)

Mr G provides an extremely heavy bump-a-thon replete with cowbell and conga break, great vocals and heavily filtered synths. Marcel Dettmann goes for the remix on the flip, chewing up the house and spitting out brilliant deep techno, as he seems endlessly capable of doing.

Etienne Jaumet - Repeat Again After Me (Versatile)

Saxophones seem to be enjoying a busrt of popularity, what with this and Dennis Ferrer’s “A Black Man in Space” being popular just now. The original is pretty cool, but Ame do the sax more justice in their remix. They take each element of the original and let it take its sweet time, as they seem to  know exactly how to do.

I finally got a record player for Christmas, so I figured I’d keep a record here of what records I buy, Woebot style (RIP). Already bought before I had this (somewhat questionable) idea:

Odd Machine - We Brought our Friends (Non Standard Productions)

Omar S - 111 (FXHE)

Cassy - Nil Desperandum (Perlon)

Arto Mwambe - Mudhutma! (Brontosaurus)

It’s been announced today that all clubs in Ibiza will have to close between the hours of 6am and 10am, which more or less puts paid to the late closing of clubs and the early opening of afterhours venues. This will affect most of the larger clubs, which had been staying open well into the morning, and famous after-parties like Circo Loco at DC10, which opens at 8am on a Monday morning and goes on all day. It has got me wondering how much of an impact this will have on the numbers of people going to the island. With today’s clubbing culture so firmly focussed on the after-hours events, might people begin to choose to spend their summers elsewhere? Could there ever really be anywhere else that matches Ibiza?

I’ve wondered before about this before, and considered other alternate destinations. Eastern Europe strikes me as one possibility: travel there in general is on the up. With all the attention on Pedro, Rhadoo and Raresh last year, Romania might have taken people’s fancy as a place to go to experience some excellent clubs.  The exit festival in Serbia has also become well known in the past few years, its reputation expanded by tales of people dancing on castle walls to Richie Hawtin as the sun comes up.

Of course, there’s nowhere that matches Ibiza for its density of parties, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some people start to turn to alternative destinations to get away from the crowds, expense and the closing hour.

know the name of the Ricardo track with the piano and kid’s choir? It’s at the beginning of this Luciano set. It’s the most uplifting thing the man has done.