813 - Recolor EP (Activia Benz, Out late Feb)

Day-glo hip-hop / rave crossover stuff from Slugabed's label, due to drop some time in late February. Enjoyably hyperactive and luminous.

Warlock - Pocket Dancing

Shallowrave likes Warlock. The head of Rag and Bone is, at heart, an old school rave DJ who, when booked for a party the night before Halloween, was confused as to why the hell everyone was so heavily costumed. Hadn't got a clue, but he still tore it up. Good times.
Now he makes some juke / rave type stuff. Nice.

Slugrave mixtape #010

What is "Slugrave"? Listen and find out:

Slugrave Mixtape #010 by slugrave

Hardcore (You Know The Score)

Two great clips of early 90s hardcore rave for ya - recommended by our pal Nick, who really knows his shit when it comes to bombing 12 Mitsus in a hi viz vest and a mohawk, and stomping yourself into a muddy hole in a field in Ayr:





But mostly THIS, which unfortunately can't be embedded.

Drums Of Death - Red Waves EP

Drums of Death - Red Waves EP - (Civil Music, 05/12)

Incoming! Monster new business from Colin Bailey that's as wonderfully over-the-top as we'd expect. Fusing house, synthwave and unadulterated rave madness, it's a mad banger of an EP that's on par with his devastating 12" Steps Into The Ring for Greco Roman records and a cracking follow up to Black Waves back in July. Tear the Box Apart rips it up with epic synth lines and monster subs to create full metal jacking techno, whilst Venice Beach combines the same 808 booms into a hip-house inflected work-out. Relentlessly cheesy and unashamedly old-school, DOD manages to create crossover classics with a huge retro appeal. Refusing to rely on the nostalgia ticket, DOD fires up the 808 again for aptly titled The Jerk, but throws in a weird mix of breakbeat and UK funky to striking effect. Sadly, the more experimental moment falls a bit flat, and I can't say I was desperate to hear garage given a death-zombie reinterpretation, but it has it's own niche.

There's always been something of a disparity between the dancefloor productions of Colin Bailey and the Danse Macabre electro-pop that Drums of Death busts out live - the former is an introverted electronics geek, the latter a wild-eyed pop misfit in the Manson/ Danzig/ Gaga vein who exists to entertain. Whilst Bailey seems to be finding the confidence to leave behind his extra skin, Bang the Drum is the perfect fusion of the two; a jacking 808 beat leads into a duel between Bailey's vocodor-distorted vocals and a wirey, acid synth-line that ought to kill it live. It's a powerful cross-over tune that will appeal to a massive cross-section of clubbers, and we expect to hear this ending a lot of sets for the next few months. A solid and well worked ep.

Two excellent Rave docs

Check these out quick before I repost them on Dangerous Minds with expanded text. They're two different BBC documentaries about rave culture, the first a World In Action special from 1988 (some of this footage has been widely circulated, such as two old cockney ladies talking about flashing lights), the other a BBC North production form 1992 following the set up of a legal rave in a field near Newcastle.

Coming from the BBC, both these programmes contain a typically patronising voice over, but it is interesting to note the difference in tone in both shows. The earlier World In Action special, while coming form 1988, has a more balanced approach, with even a spokesperson for the police admitting that ecstasy use is not that widespread, certainly not as much as the press suggest. The "Rave" programme, even though it is covering a fully legal, licensed rave, is more obviously influenced by an anti-rave/anti-drug press bias that the figures in the show feel they have to counteract.

This being the late 80s/early 90s there are some BAAAD clothes on display, and of course the music is pretty damn aweosme:

WORLD IN ACTION "A Trip Round Acid House" 1988 Part 1



WORLD IN ACTION "A Trip Round Acid House" 1988 Part 2

WORLD IN ACTION "A Trip Round Acid House" 1988 Part 3

BBC North "Rave" 1992 Part 1



BBC North "Rave" 1992 Part 2

BBC North "Rave" 1992 Part 3

Bass Clef - Rollercoasters of the Heart / So Cruel

Bass Clef - Rollercoasters of the Heart / So Cruel (Punch Drunk / out now)

The summer has landed! our very favourite trombonist / dub manipulator Bass Clef drops in with two unique dub-techno variants for Peverelist's Punch Drunk label. As his live shows will attest, Bass Clef isn't one to rely on heavy amounts of technology, prefering to spin simple drum loops and augment them with live improvisations; Rollercoasters takes on similar format, with it's basis in a simple, quaking bassline and a jump-up beat, throwing in chopped-up vocals and a euphoric piano riff. Two parts classic rave to one part Scientist-esque dub work, it's weirdly offbeat, earth-shakingly heavy and totally awesome. So Cruel sees Bass Clef reinterpreting the hard-nosed styles of UK bass bass music in his own loping fashion, throwing in not only a speaker-wobbling sub, but a melodic bassline over the top and scattering a loose percussive pattern across the mix. There's hints of UK funky in the skittery R'n'B inflected vocals, but as usual it's surreal, deep and mildly confusing. Much like Barry Lynn's Boxcutter project, Bass Clef is a truly unique proposition that proves impossible to pin down, and despite this being vaguely in line with Punch Drunks previous releases, Rollercoasters of the Heart is something totally new for Punch Drunk.

Moss Side ravers 1986

From A Guy Called Gerald, this is ACE. Original ravers havin it large to Chicago house back in 1986, two years before it hit London, in the Manchester suburb of Moss Side. That's just up the road from me! I am actually working on some old school house influenced by Manchester, so this is pretty inspirational:

Free Valta & Minikin

Valta & Minikin - Let's go mental by ragandbone
Remember those bassline loving Ukranians we covered about a month back? Well, we've just stumbled on this wee freebie from them via Rag And Bone's Soundcloud, and it's just as brilliantly wobble-tastic as previous ventures. lovely.

Ravers take to street for illegal party

From the Evening Times:

Hundreds of clubbers held a giant rave party in a city street over the weekend.
Midland Street became a dance floor in the early hours of Saturday morning when clubbers poured out of The Arches at 3am to be greeted by a Volkswagen Golf with speakers in the boot.
It pulled up and started blasting out music, blocking the street for one and a half hours.
The atmosphere was “frenetic”, according to one witness.
Despite the fact the city centre is busy with police on weekends, not a single officer saw the crowd or reported it.
Although the event was described as “good natured” and no complaints were made, a leading Glasgow MSP called for a police investigation.
Club promoter Chet Capkiner, 25, who organised the party, said: “We had a great time.

Read all about it.

Optimo Turbo Rave TONIGHT!!

"This Warehouse Party will feature a massive custom 80,000 Watt Sound Rig, Full-Moonflower Lighting Installation, Turbo Strobes and Chill-Out "Environment". This party is NOT an exercise in nostalgia!!! Rave On!"

I think all of Little Rock went to the last one of these, which was truly awesome. And now there's another one - TONIGHT! Facebook page.

Klaxons cover

I'm not a huge fan of this band but I gotta say the cover of their new LP is awesome:



Cats in Space! GENIUS!

Vuvuzelas

OH GOD, TRENDING FASHION. TEN MINUTE ZEITGEIST. QUICK, RIDE THE WAVE WHILST IT'S COOL.
I was in South Africa back in 2002, and you could buy these damn things everywhere, but in light of the world cup, they've become wildly popular. I think they resonate with exactly what the world cup seems to be about- a gigantically dumb and unsubtle spectacle with a carnival-esque atmosphere. I should point out, I don't neccesarily consider that a bad thing.
However, someone's set up a twitter for the vuvuzela, which just prints random humming noises every couple of hours, and I've come across two vuvuzela influenced tunes. If there are more, just post a link below. This thing is trending like crazy, and will be dead within a few days, but for now...
London producer "DJ Total Confucious" (thanks to Joe Muggs for the link) came up with a rave /vuvuzela tune with an awesome video.
The other's a free download from soundcloud from Mr. Benn, and is far more ragga-carnival. fun. Mr Benn - Vuvuzela riddim by Mr Benn

Gigs this weekend.

Here's some gigs on this weekend in Glasgow that you could do worse than attend. Both feature a few friends of Little Rock, from both the Rave and Norave camps - that's Pi-Eyed and Halt Bar Hijack respectively. Best of all both are absolutley free.

FERAL aka MC Kinky

If you're an old school raver then the name MC Kinky should ring a few bells - she was the voice of the E-Zee Posse's acid-house era classic "Everything Starts With An E" ("eh-eh-eh-eh-ecstacy!").

Caron (for that is her real name) has a vew project on the go called FERAL, and right now they're giving away a few tracks over on the FERAL Soundcloud page. They come highly recommended - if you're a fan of Glasgow's MC Soom-T then check Kinky out, they're coming from a very similar place. Here's one of the new tracks, called "DSKasting" (the downlaods are on page 2 of the account.):
DSKASTING by FERAL

And here's some old school footage of Kinky on the Normski-presented BBC2 programme Dance Academy. This is a classic clip we've watched here many times! And please, if there is to be a 90's revival, then let it look like this:

Plant Food - The Wave Breaks

Mephedrone is known by various names, including "M-Cat", "MC", "mieow", "meow", "4MMC" or simply plant fertiliser. It is usually a white or yellowish powder, which is snorted, but can also be obtained in pills and capsules. It is marketed as plant food. 

(via the BBC)

Optimo Turbo Rave classics

BIg up to the Optimo massive - here's some classic tunes that got played at last week's most excellent Turbo Rave. Is a rave revival on the horizon?










Moby - Go on MUZU

Genesis P-Orridge

is the (wo)man! I have only pretty recently been turned on to the music and work of P-Orridge, but it's fascinating and inspiring. P-Orridge used to front the bands Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, both of whom have played pivotal parts in the British industrial, rave and independant movements. He has been a poet, artist, occultist, exile and agent provocateur. His most recent project was to physically transform himself and his wife into the same person, "The Pandrogyne", through plastic surgery and body modification. Unfortunately his wife Lady Jaye died in 2007 (gutting!) but the project continues anyway.

For more info on the great (wo)man, here's hir wiki entry, and here (s)he is being interviewed by Ian Svenonious on Soft Focus.



A more indepth interview focusing on the early years (and specifically Throbbing Gristle and thier notorious Prostitution show) is below, taken from Disinformation's "Infinity Factory" broadcast. Highly recommended!