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landlordrecords · 3 years

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Bassline (& 2020 in general): Re-e-wind

What a strange year, as everyone, everywhere has said a million times… Writing-wise, I’d been doing Record Collector magazine since 2014, and uDiscover (the Universal Records online mag) for not much less, & that all just seemed to (understandably) stop dead with the onset of the pandemic. Since then, I’ve polished off my chapter on the work of Simon Morris and the Ceramic Hobs for Palgrave, & that’s about it, so you’re more likely to find me over on Twitter at Sniffy (@philblackpool) / Twitter these days, blurting out the odd sentence. I hence thought it might be time to revisit a very old piece…

Like many, I’ve been working from home for much of the year, and although I’ve occasionally wanted to pull out my own eyeballs, it has generally been very pleasant for a voracious music-lover. I started by catching up on the vast majority of my insane, years-deep second-hand vinyl buy piles, and then chomped through a load of ‘long listen’ stuff I’d had on the backburner forever (including, astonishingly, eventually getting through something like 40 hours of Pan Sonic live sets someone had dumped online). I graded hundreds of releases for sale on Discogs, and revisited umpteen musical thangs extensively, including 90s gabba, Sun Ra, music hall, Schoenberg, dancehall reggae, the acknowledged worst albums ever, happy hardcore, Italian house, bounce and makina (I’ve lost track of how much time I’ve spent checking out youtubes to try to identify a couple of most-wanted bounce and makina tunes), Britpop (!), cosmic disco, and Belgian popcorn. It’s been an extraordinary year, packed with cultural discovery and rediscovery. In amongst this, in no way ashamed of my abject love of Discogs, and already having used and edited it for many years, I read the entire guidelines and decided to go hard on sorting out stuff I care about on there. Seeing they’d finally added various more recent ‘styles’, I’ve spent the last month and a half doing a ridiculous amount of edits on a dozen or so niche genres of importance in recent times (footwork, Jersey Club, yadda yadda). My tweakings around Bassline and UK Funky eventually drew me to the attention of UK Garage legend Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown, a fellow Discogs obsessive not so keen on the editing side of the site, who wondered if I might give him a hand sorting out the mess of his own and his label’s (2Tuf 4U) discographies. His entertaining phonecalls were enough to convince me.

I dug out all my stuff related to Karl’s label to listen to along the way, and found myself noticing how much UKG has been back in the spotlight of late (key, and brilliant, article here: RA: Like A Battle: The Push For UK Garage's Future (residentadvisor.net) ). While by no means unaware of this (I’ve had some lovely promos from Kiwi and the like of late, plus some moodier bits from various El-B worshippers), my status as a confirmed middle-aged semi-retired raver had hidden much of this from me. This leads me onto one of my big philosophical points of recent years: I listened to dance music avidly before I ever went out dancing, and listen to it now in lockdown, and in semi-retirement. There is far too much an emphasis among ever-rejuvenating dance music correspondents on ‘the club’ as the only way to enjoy dance music, but we know that OG disco fans are 60+ and unlikely to be out every weekend these days – is their experience now worthless? Online fans talk up their love of dance music for exercise soundtracks, bedtime calming soundtracks, etc: this is reality. Dance music is as valid to all these people as rock is to people who haven’t been to a gig in 40 years.

The style I felt myself most drawn back to was bassline (largely via Karl’s low-key issue of some DJ Q material). My love of UK Garage and all its offshoots largely stems from how physically removed I have been from it from virtually its entire history. Only my 2000-03 stint in Essex perfectly matched the garage waveform, and that was the 2-step era, quite the opposite of bassline. Despite being largely a northern phenomenon, Blackpool is largely untouched by bassline, being all about punk and bounce to my mind. An instant love for me circa 2007, bassline feels like one of those genres with unfinished business, but remains one I’ve rarely danced to. Cut off in its prime, it is now back, enormously popular, and rightly so, but, due to the vagaries of the digital music world, some of its key material remains tough to access in any decent form.

I originally wrote the piece I have butchered for this one in March 2008, on Myspace (remember that), in reaction to the exciting waves of bassline and UK funky then reinvigorating the world of UKG. It looks a bit embarrassing now, with more writing experience, although I continue to applaud my own willingness to be open about my innocent appreciation of things I love but am not truly part of.

The most notable misstep in my original piece was the presumption that bassline would become the latest enormous chart sensation. Like happy hardcore before it, the ball was, in reality, fumbled. Instead of hoped-for freaky innovation, the producers also opted, as many in years gone by, for smoothed-out commerciality (in unholy alliance with low-grade grime crossovers), although the main adversarial issues seem to have been police crackdowns and the London-centric ‘cool police’. Although I was long aware of such problems with Niche in Sheffield (the genre’s spiritual home), it appears that the police interference had a devastating effect across the board ( Banned From Sheffield: How Jamie Duggan fought for bassline… And won (ukf.com) ). This largely explains why many of the bassline producers gravitated towards the largely wack bass house/house & bass style so beloved of teenyboppers in recent years. Thank heavens that era is now largely over.

Niche reputedly specialised in an arguably unholy mixture of dated late 90s speed garage and ‘bassline house’ (think ‘Let Me Show You’ by Camisra, and MK’s ‘organ house’), way past their sell-by date (I still only really like a handful of Shaun Banger Scott bits in this style, one single 2009 Brummie CD EP, and one Virgo remix). Ultimately, though, this experiment unexpectedly created something magical. The crucial element here is the 4/4 beat. While undoubtedly skippy, the vast majority of the material favoured had a firm 4/4 beat, always favoured across all key scenes in the north of England from northern soul onwards. When they ran out of tunes to rinse, in time-honoured fashion, they made their own. Long, rumbling walls of bass, organs, and hoppy-skippy beats, with raggafied samples and gunshots over the top. Popular in Birmingham as well (pretty much the centre of a vinyl glut at the time, and now notable in the popularity of DJs such as Chris Lorenzo and Hannah Wants), B-side titles hinted of coke overload. Disenfranchised by London’s movement away from the holy 4/4 (despite a slight revival in the early noughties), and via messenger services and the like, northern producers began to exchange a new hybrid in the mid-00s which took these speed garage and bassline house influences and updated them with current R’n’B bootlegs, with influences from grime (regional grime producers were key here) and, most notably, with rococo basslines. Its most obvious comparison point was Sticky’s garage productions, concurrent with the early grime era. Southern producers such as Agent X, Delinquent (who featured Gemma Fox on their magical 2006 ‘Boxers’), and Dexplicit (Fox again, 2005’s ‘Might Be’) ran with that, and the north lapped it up. Key early pointers also included DJ Narrows’ superb 2001 4/4 tune ‘Saved Soul’, and early 00s DND work (Artwork, later part of dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man). A notable increase in output came in 2006, and 2007-9 were the genre’s original glory years. And the bulk of producers and up-&-comings delivering serious anthems to the scene came not from London and the south-east, but from Leeds (T2, Wittyboy, Nastee Boi), Bradford (TS7), Manchester (Murkz, Burgaboy, Subzero), Nottingham (Virgo, IllMana), Leicester (JTJ, H20, FB & Zibba), and Wolverhampton (EJ, TRC, Brett Maverick). EJ’s Ejucation mix series (all up on Soundcloud) is a good place to start, beginning as the bassline house began to be overtaken by the pure bassline numbers.

Distribution for serious UK garage music has often been woeful, with only high street compilations & the chart singles (‘Heartbroken’ by T2, ‘What’s It Gonna Be’ by H20, etc) making it all over the country, and this helped stymie the true development of bassline, although vinyl prices, dreadful video promos, and the leap to digital in some ways didn’t help. Years on, as an incorrigible vinyl fanatic, I still only have handful of bassline 12”s. Yes, you can now access this stuff the world over via Youtube etc, but decent, high-quality copies of full-length tunes (they are often hacked about to great effect, but in a way which obscures the original intentions, in the mix) are not always the easiest to come by, although the classic producers are increasingly putting out digital compilations of their original work. Material that would, for previous genres, be fiended after, is lost to being just more online links. At the time, I looked high and low for 12”s, succeeding only rarely, largely on the flip of UK Funky releases. The (mixtape) audience, going by comments online, were often extremely young, are probably now still only in their mid-twenties, and are seemingly happy enough with this chaotic model. Bassline originally, as all rave genres, largely ran off mixtape boxsets, and a 2007 ‘Pure Bass – Fantasy’ box from Stoke remains my key document of that era: seven bassline CDs, with many tracks repeated, but packed to the gills, with most tracks only lasting a minute or two in the mix. As with all rave mixes, it has taken me years to suss the majority of the track IDs. In the Resident Advisor piece linked above, DJ Q (from Huddersfield) talks about thousands of lost bassline tunes, the bad side of the digital revolution. My recent Discogs ferreting suggests more bassline tunes than one might imagine did make some sort of decent release, but too many only made white labels, promo CDs for commercial releases (before being snipped from the main release), mix CDRs, or Youtube’s grainy depths. Classics such as TS7 featuring Bianca’s ‘Seems Like’ appear to never have had any decent release whatsoever, despite TS7 going on to be a big name in bass-oriented house, and Bianca Gerald having kept at the vocal turns ever since.

T2 hit biggest, with ‘Heartbroken’, a gorgeous, smashed-vocal garage dub so popular that it even inspired a Jersey Club refix. His catalogue was immediately deep, although I get the impression he has stopped adding to it. One complaint about bassline, including some of the T2 work, regards the untutored vocals, which can sometimes be rather flat, and certainly lacking in dynamics compared to the dazzling US vocalists featured on some earlier UK garage pieces (I refer here, as always, to TJ Cases’ remarkable ‘Do It Again’). I kinda like that - it shows amateur enthusiasm not far removed from punk, and most obviously links to lover’s rock, as does the production at times: it gives a feeling of melancholy entirely suited to the vocals. Other bassline heroes include TS7, who briefly brought to the fore sassy female garage MC T Dot. His productions also include ‘Smile’, one of my very favourite bassline tracks, full of that Simon Reynolds-quoted 'weird energy’ possessed by DJ Hype & co in the early nineties. Male bassline vocalists such as Ideal also remain unfairly forgotten, although some of the female vocalists have gone on to work in related genres since bassline’s peak.

Paleface, an ex-member of London garage rap crew Stonecold GX, runs Northern Line Records (FB, TRC, Wittyboy, Nastee Boi), something of a quality mark for bassline productions, while also making highly successful UK Funky tunes as part of Crazy Cousinz, and later progressing into commercial house territory. He chronicled much of bassline’s high-water mark (including being married to Kyla, since sampled by Drake). Wolverhampton-based Northern Line signing TRC proved particularly adaptable, spewing out a legion of original tunes and remixes before retreating for a while to grime. Leeds’ Nastee Boi was a favourite of mine at the time, with his pitch-black gangsta bassline tunes, but pushed on towards a mixture of underwhelming R’n’B vocal cuts and nursery grime toons. Wittyboy started similarly punishingly but also went smoother, unbalancing the classic bassline rough and smooth combination.

Now that the dubiously poisonous rep of Niche has been dispatched, the key bassline acts have returned to their key battleground, and the genre seems in full throttle again. Much of the new material seems a little one-dimensional to me: producers invariably big up Bristol’s My Nu Leng as, I suppose, a bridge from bro-step to 4/4. Everything, as acknowledged by the DJs, is huge drops and nothing much else. It still sounds pretty hot though – not the updated lover’s rock of a decade ago, but worth supporting. Bassline is NOT finished!

#bassline #bassline house #niche #organ house #brostep #speed garage #uk garage

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iheartmoosiq · 5 years

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With the way Los Angeles-based trio Wake The Wild keeps us moving with their intoxicating electronic dance releases, we might as well make them a part of our daily ritual! I bet all our days would be a lot more blithesome with the deep pumping sultriness of their latest single pouring through our ears and pulsing through our veins. The group, a band of lifelong friends that fuse live instrumentation with electronic dance aesthetics, happen to be back with a song named Ritual. It’s the first in a series of four singles that will culminate in their next chapter of sound, fusing funky house, catchy melodies, and danceable grooves. Ritual is a steamy deep house and future garage broiler that recalls early Disclosure, with an injection of Friendly Fires’ flashy color and sexy flair. It’s a song about dusting off negativity and how we can find balance through the different cycles of life. It’s almost hard to believe Wake The Wild is from California, considering how much their music reminds me of our favorite UK dance acts. Stream new single Ritual on Spotify, here.

#Wake The Wild #Ritual #dance #electro #electronic #electronica #edm #house #deep dance #deep house #garage #music #song #producer #funk #funky house #future garage

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pinwheelrecords · 5 years

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BREAKING NEWS!

Here's the list of everything we'll have on Saturday. We did our best to order everything that folks asked for, but unfortunately we didn't receive everything we requested.

Please note that quantities are *extremely* limited - in some cases, we only received one copy of a particular title. And as usual, only one copy of each release per person.

We open at 9am Saturday. You're welcome to line up whenever you want - just be respectful of our neighbors. We’ll have free coffee and donuts for y’all.

Okay, here we go:

13th Floor Elevators: The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators

A-ha: Hunting High And Low / The Early Alternate Mixes

Allman Brothers Band: Fillmore East. Feburary 1970

Armstrong, Louis: Disney Songs the Satchmo Way

Arnalds, Olafur: RE:MEMBER + STRING QUARTETS

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Spiritual

Badalamenti,Angelo, David Lynch: Twin Peaks: Season Two Music And More

Badu, Erykah & James Poyser: Tempted

Baker, Julien: Red Door / Conversation Piece

Bananarama:Bananarama Remixed: Vol 1

Basement: Be Here Now

Bingo Hand Job: Live At The Borderline 1991

Black, Frank: Frank Black

Black, Frank: Teenager Of The Year

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony: E. 1999 Eternal

Bowie, David: Pin Ups

Bowie, David: The World of David Bowie

Bowie, David / Marlene Dietrich: Revolutionary Song / Just A Gigolo

Broken Social Scene: Let's Try The After Vol. 1 & 2

Brown, James: Sho Is Funky Down Here

Buckley, Jeff: In Transition

Buffalo Tom: Buffalo Tom - 30th Anniversary Limited Edition

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica

Cheap Trick: The Epic Archive Vol. 3 (1984-1992)

Cheech & Chong: Up In Smoke 40th Anniversary Picture Disc Vol. 2

Chic: Le Freak

Chicano Batman: Black Lipstick (EP)

Complesso Strumentale Italiano, Giulio Confalconieri: Dalí in Venice

Costello, Elvis and the Imposters: Purse EP

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: 4 Way Street (Expanded Edition)

Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs, and The Alchemist: FETTI

Currie, Cherie: Blvds of Splendor

Czarface: Double Dose of Danger

Death Grips: Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix)

Devo: This Is The DEVO Box

DJ Khaled: Victory

Dorough, Bob: Multiplication Rock (Original Soundtrack)

Dr Dog: Live 2

Dr. Dre:Nuthin' But a "G" Thang

Dylan, Bob: Blood On The Tracks - Original New York Test Pressing

Emerson Lake & Palmer: Live At Pocono International Raceway

Evans, Bill: Evans In England: Live at Ronnie Scott's

Flaming Lips: Kings Mouth

Fleetwood Mac: The Alternate Fleetwood Mac

Franklin, Aretha: The Atlantic Singles 1967

Free Nationals: Beauty & Essex

Gabriel, Peter: Rated PG (Limited Edition Picture Disc)

Gibbard, Benjamin: Me And Magdalena / The Concept

Good Old Boys, The: Drink Up And Go Home: Live At Margarita's Cantina, Feb. 20 & 21, 1975

Gorillaz: The Fall

Grant, John: Remixes Are Also Magic

Grateful Dead: Sage & Spirit

Grateful Dead: The Warfield, San Francisco, CA 10/9/80 &

Green Day: Woodstock 1994 Live

Green Jellÿ: Cereal Killer Soundtrack

Green River: Live At The Tropicana 1984

Green, Al: The Hi Records Singles Box Set

Greta Van Fleet: From The Fires

Griot Galaxy: Kins

Grodeck Whipperjenny: The Grodeck Whipperjenny

Hancock, Herbie: Dedication

Hawkwind: The 1999 Party - Live At The Chicago Auditorium 21st March, 1974

Hicks, Bill: Revelations: Variations

High on Fire: Bat Salad

Joel, Billy: Live At Carnegie Hall 1977

John, Elton: Live From Moscow

Joplin, Janis: Woodstock Sunday August 17, 1969

King, Albert: Born Under A Bad Sign (Mono)

Kool Keith: Complicated Trip

Lennon, John: Imagine (Raw Studio Mixes)

Lightnin Hopkins: Strums the Blues

Lillingtons, The: Death By Television

Lord Huron: The Night We Met

Madonna: La Isla Bonita - Super Mix

Madonna: True Blue (Super Club Mix)

Mastodon: Stairway To Nick John

Menzingers, The: No Penance b/w Cemetery's Garden

Minus 5, The: Stroke Manor

Mission Of Burma: Peking Spring

Modest Mouse: Poison the Well

Montgomery, Wes: Back on Indiana Avenue: The Carroll DeCamp Recordings

Morrison, Van: Astral Weeks Alternative

Morrissey: Love-To-Be

Mumford & Sons: Delta Acoustic Sessions | Live From Electric Lady [10" Picture Disc]

My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade Is Dead-Live In Mexico

Ol' Dirty Bastard: Intoxicated

Parker, Charlie: Charlie Parker With Strings: The Alternate Takes

Pearl Jam: Live At Easy Street

Pelican: Midnight & Mesaline

Pink Floyd: A Saucerful Of Secrets (Mono)

Pinkfong: Baby Shark

Police, The: Message In A Bottle

Pop, Iggy: Hippodrome - Paris 77

Presley, Elvis: Live at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, NV August 23, 1969

Prince: His Majesty’s Pop Life

Prince: The VERSACE Experience: PRELUDE 2 GOLD

Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody Picture Disc

Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody/I'm in Love with My Car

Ramones: Live at The Palladium, New York, NY (12/31/79)

Redding, Otis with Booker T. & The M.G.'s with The Mar-Keys: Just Do It One More Time!

Reed, Lou: Ecstasy

Residents, The: B.S. LP pREServed Edition

Robyn: Body Talk

Rolling Stones, The: Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) (UK)

Rolling Stones, The: Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (UK)

Rush: Hemispheres

San Fermin: Live At The Fillmore

Santana: Breaking Down The Door

Santigold: I Don't Want: The Gold Fire Sessions

Sly & The Family Stone: Woodstock Sunday August 17, 1969

Soccer Mommy: For Young Hearts

Soundtrack: Coneheads Music From the Motion Picture

Soundtrack: House Of Wax Music From The Motion Picture

Soundtrack: Howard Stern Private Parts OST

Soundtrack: IAm Sam

Soundtrack: Lost In Translation

Soundtrack: Malcom X Music

Soundtrack: New Jack City OST

Soundtrack: Office Space OST

Soundtrack: The Crow

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture

Spence, Alexander "Skip": AndOarAgain

Spence, Alexander "Skip": I Want A Rock & Roll Band / I Got A Lot To Say/Mary Jane

Stars: Sad Robots

Strummer, Joe: The Rockfield Studio Tracks

Sublime: NUGS: BEST OF THE BOX

Sumney, Moses: Black in Deep Red, 2014

SUNN O))): Life Metal

Tangerine Dream: Le Parc

Tangerine Dream: Machu Picchu

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Pizza Power Single

The bird and the bee: Ray Guns are not Just the Future

Thunders, Johnny: Que Sera Sera - Resurrected

Tiny Tim: Live At Royal Albert Hall

Tweedy, Jeff: WARMER

U2: The Europa EP

Van Zandt, Townes: The Best Of Townes Van Zandt

Various Artists: Ghost World Soundtrack

Various Artists: The Basketball Diaries: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Various Artists: In The Garage: Live Music from WTF with Marc Maron

Various Artist: Soul Slabs Vol. 2

Various Artists: Breaking Bad (Soundtrack)

Various Artists: Disco Not Disco

Various Artists: Folk and Pop Sounds of Sumatra Vol. 2

Various Artists: Rough Guide To A World Of Guitar

Various Artists: Rough Guide To Blind, Black & Blue

Various Artists: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Soundtrack

Various Artists: Stax Does The Beatles

Various Artists: Sun Records Curated by Record Store Day, Volume 6

Various Artists: Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets Highlights

Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground

Weezer: Dusty Gems: The B-Sides

Weezer: Teal Album

Wipers: Alien Boy EP

Zappa, Frank: The Guitar World According To Frank Zappa

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sofreshsosoulful · 7 years

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Irish women at the controls-a short of list of some of the DJ’s

Following on from the excellent This Greedy Pig article by Emily Carson on Irish women in electronic music, it struck me from the discussion that followed that there seemed to be a sense here that women have only recently made inroads here in this regard. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth and in Ireland women have played an important part behind the decks over the years. The history may not have always been documented but it runs deep. Down here in Cork there was one stage where I can vividly remember around the turn of the millennium a few male hip-hop dj’s lamenting that they were not getting a chance, as there were so many women getting gigs! How times have changed! Overall I’m going to provide a brief list of women who I know personally who’ve made an impact here, mainly from the djing point of view though there are many more who produce music too and are involved in other realms. (Edit: i’m adding producers now too). It’s not a comprehensive list and it will be mainly focused on my field (soulful music with a few exceptions) and confined to those mainly who I know or have worked with. (Edit; the list is expanding now more additions coming). This means it’s pretty cork centric too, where there’s always been loads of female djs active. Anyway the list is just a tip of the iceberg, and if other women are looking for inspiration, there are some great examples here.

There’s a lot of debate surrounding lack of women on festival line-ups and house and techno are particularly male dominated, though again, two of the biggest Irish festival slots last year were held by women. Annie Mac is probably the best known DJ in the whole country and she’s arguably the biggest name in the UK too. She played a saturday night main stage set at Longitude last July and was the only DJ to do so. Meanwhile Jenny Greene proved to be a huge highlight at the Electric Picnic, where her 90s dance orchestral show first showed that it could be an arena filler. She’s sold out her forthcoming Live at the Marquee show in no time. But a recent twitter conversation started by Nialler9 highlighted that some festivals have only a few women, and that Annie and Jenny are more often than not the exception rather than the rule.

DJing is a male dominated activity, but look a bit deeper and there are examples aplenty of women making an impact here. Please add to this list and pardon me for forgetting so many more. I’ve left out many who are known primary in other fields (e.g. radio DJs such as Nicki Hayes, Lilian Smith and Louise Mac Sharry, artists such as Maeve Murphy, Elaine Mai, Laoise etc) I kept it to mainly DJ’s too rather than producers, of whom there are many many more. (Edit: i’ll be adding more producers but i’ll keep radio off it for now). It’s a male dominated activity but it’s good to shine a light on many of those who some of you might not know, aswell as the big names too. I’ll be adding to the list too when i get a chance. This list aims to highlight those making an impact and i’m not for one minute saying that women don’t face big obstacles breaking into a male dominated industry. But those who do are many and here’s a few who deserve your attention

EDIT Loads more additions made and more to come!

Annie Mac

The Dubliner is Irelands (and arguably the UKs) best known DJ, and her radio show is massively popular and influential.

Jenny Greene Hugely popular 2FM DJ who’s RTE Concert orchestra gigs are selling out time after time these days, Jenny is a big draw throughout Ireland in clubs and now arenas.

ELLLL Brilliant Cork producer and DJ who’s Romance EP drew lots of favour last year, ELLLL has already appeared on Boiler Room and she spearheads the Gash Collective of female artists. Also one half of WRYMYRRH with Irene Buckley.

Irene Buckley Composer who is very busy writing for theatre , dance and film, providing improvised electronics in WRYMYRRH with ELLLL, and playing with the sublime Crevice too

Mona-Lxsa

If it’s hard for women to breakthrough it’s fair to say it’s harder for black women to breakthrough in an industry dominated by white males. Dublin based Souletiquette co-founder has no such problems though just look at the numbers her soundcloud mixes are hitting.

Susie K Little is known about Susie outside Cork, but she was my DJ partner at the influential Jam Junior in the savoy for many years, playing to over 800 or 900 every time. She started doing these teenage gigs in Sir Henrys at only about 12 or 13 years of age and remains highly respected here.

Laura Lolz Galway Bap to the future resident and another DJ and taste-maker highlighted in the article by This Greedy Pig. Laura has since been dead helpful in adding a few more to this list!

Claire Maloney Very well known DJ and personality who used play a wide selection of funky grooves in the highly regarded Ju-Ju club and elsewhere and do some radio presenting on TodayFM.

Ms Ken D Wexford native who set up Radio Friendly in Cork city and also ran club nights such as Soulsides here. Andrea was also a resident at Mor Disco in Cork.

DJ Dandelion Dandelion has been DJing for well over 20 years now, spinning the soul & mod wax, running multiple nights, and remaining one of the coolest and most distinctive figures in the Capital.

Hilary Rose (DJ Her) Dj and actor who is now achieving great success with “The Young Offenders”

Aisling o’Riordain DJ and promoter who spearheads the southern hospitality board and Quarter block party. I would have worked closely with Aisling in the Pav and subsequently elsewhere too.

Aoife Ni Canna Limerick native who has DJ’d all over the country over the years, a veteran who plays soulful r&b and house and who was responsible for the seminal “Folklore from the dancefloor” radio documentary on Irish club culture.

Kelly Anne Byrne TodayFM radio presenter and club DJ who presents one of the best shows on irish radio, and who is a regular on big festival bills such as the Electric Picnic

Mo Kelly Former model but also a well known DJ and an artist who has hosted many solo exhibitions.

Tara Stewart Dublin based Radio DJ on RTE and an eager breaker of new music, Tara is also heavily involved in the excellent District Magazine

Vicky Langan Cork based artist who is highly respected in various fields including performance, sound and film, Vicky is woking on an audio visual project at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris.

Miss Motif This Mitchelstown Dj singer songwriter and producer has been a regular on the irish dance scene for many years now.

Eleni Ellen is a cork born dj, singer and producer who has been making electronic music in New York for a good few years. Her younger sister Liz is a brilliant music talent too

Claire Beck Another DJ who is also a well known radio presenter, Claire regularly spins at the likes of Lumo in Dublin.

Kate o’Shea DJ and booker for the always busy Crane Lane in cork city.

Jenny Glitt, Shirley Sparkle, Velma Velour, Jade Some of the DJ’s who helped Corks indie night Freakscene become one of the longest running club-nights in the country, this clubnight had a strong female presence in various venues.

Mandy Reid Lisburn DJ who has played huge gigs here, a veteran of the Irish music scene.

Ciara Brady Young Irish DJ who spins disco and house and has recently formed Citrus DJ’s with Colum o’Connell.

Gina Johnson Cork soul and hip-hop DJ who was a resident alongside myself in Sir Henrys in the 1990s. Gina was one of the biggest influences on moi and her taste in music was superb.

Kim Keating Workshop cork resident who has recently appeared at the Lumo 1st birthday party, Kim has been spinning electronic grooves at various parties for many years now.

Joni Singer/writer/musician and DJ, she has just released her new track today too! Joni is a member of Gash Collective and is about to start a fortnightly show on Dublin Digital Radio too!

Ruth Kavanagh Ruth is a resident at Mother in Dublin, who run weekly club nights plus appearances on the festival circuit.

Sweet Oblivion Better known as a a journalist and all round arts contributor these days, Aoife Barry is a really good DJ too.

Shiv Siobhan ni Bhrosnachain has been very active with the skirmish blog here, and she’s plays electro vibes on radio and in clubs.

Elaine Howley Altered Hours, Crevice, Morning Veils and Cosmosis on UCC radio. Amazing taste in tunes!

Eve Dublin female collective of DJ’s that include Lauren, Jessica and Micu

Senita Appiakorang Shookrah front-woman who also sings with Lakerama, Senita has been known to drop some soulful gems on the turntables too

Rosalyn Steer Cork musician who is in the excellent Morning Veils with Aisling o’Riordan and Elaine Howley (Altered Hours), Rosalyn won’t consider herself a DJ but she often steels the show at my vinyl love gigs.

Arlene Murray Mitchelstown promoter with Alliance Promotions, Arlene is an amazing DJ who will play anything from northern soul and garage rock to 60s pop and new wave!

Spinderellas An all female DJ ensemble who play Bow Lane last Sunday of every month, Sarah-Jane Goff, Mimi Rogue, and often Christine Kelly. Sarah and Christine Kelly play Whitefriar Grill too and Sarah has played Womyn for 2 months, an event in the Soundhouse Wiley Fox which usually includes a female line up!

Aoife o’Neill

Kerry woman who is very busy behind the decks in cork, this month along she plays Cube, Cask, Pigalle and Sober Lane.

Aisling Murphy

Cork native now residing and djing in Edinburgh, and spinning house music all night long.

Fifi de Faoite Another Cork DJ who is spinning abroad, this Clonakilty born DJ spins at venues such as the Roadhouse in London.

Lisa Lemur The sacred harp singer and promoter of some excellent events is also a capable DJ who will drop anything from crazy animal instructional songs to Arthur Russell on the decks!

EimearJean McCormack, Sinead Murphy and Ciara McCormack I’m gonna include these three, as they used play quite a bit in cork at the turn of the century, in various bars and clubs and on radio too! All are pursuing great careers in other artistic avenues now.

Sally Cinnamon Another very popular and influential dj who plays pretty much everything, and who has played everywhere from big festivals to clubs and bars

DJ Half Dutch Now in London but originally a Dub, and part of the influential Standard Crew spinning UK garage and grime, she had a show on Radio na Life too (via Colz)

Genie Bassbin resident alongside Ali, Genie then hooked up with Bodytonic and played some of their nights plus the Electric Picnic. She also hosted a radio na life show for 4/5 years (via Executive Steve and thanks to Jean for speaking to me too!)

Ali Drum n’bass partner at the legendary Bassbin with the aforementioned Genie, she also did that Radio na Life show before moving to London where she still played the odd gig in her pub, the Castle (via Steve, Ali and Jean!)

Kate brennan Harding Now a producer at TodayFM, Kate is also a DJ who still spins at parties such as Mother Dublin

Laura Totten DJ Sage Music producer, singer,drummer, DJ and lover of everything, DJ Sage is hugely popular Stateside (via Genie)

Carla Brennan Soulful vibes were always the order of the day from Carla, who also had the misfortune of working with myself and Jim o’mahony in comet records Cork for awhile.

Jules Walsh DJ and booker at the Chambers in Cork.

Isabel Bartak Healy Radio presenter at Redfm, Izzy now DJ’s at clubs too and played at last years Indiependence Festival

Natasha Scott

A regular at Reggae Fever, she has smashed it at Sim Simma a few times too (via Frankie Grimes)

Little Jay Toby Hatchett is a well known face at musical festivals, and his daughter was only 11 when she made her dj debut at Body and Soul festival (via Dr Dread)

Siobhan Kane Journalist and passionate music fan, Siobhan runs Young hearts run free and she DJ’s at some of their many unique events

Justyna aka Juko Polish born Dublin based DJ playing mainly house and tech-house in Opium Rooms, Pygmalion, South William and on radio with Phever.ie

Natalia Beylis aka Sunken Hum Organiser of the Hunters Moon festival in Leitrim, she’s got amazing mixes on Bandcamp (via dj mascis)

Niamh Hegarty Niamh New Noise is talented across many disciplines and a brilliant supporter of new music.

Saoirse London based DJ from Dublin who has gone from pirates here to Rinse FM. She has already had an RA mix of the day, and has enjoyed frequent appearances for promoters such as Art of Dark, Toi Toi, Make Me, Half Baked & fabric.

Tiny Choons KT and Zonja, two tiny, best pals playing house, disco, funk soul and hip hop for the last couple of years and producing podcasts on Radiomade and ClearHaze.ie. KT also runs dance music blog Swooner Rather Than Hater'

Maedbh O’Connor One of the main people behind DIE in Limerick and a killer techno DJ (Via Justin of Cutting Heads Collective cork)

Kate Butler Still active on Dublin Digital radio, Kate did a show on PowerFM back in the day, and is a well known journalist too (via Ali)

Kate Ahern Another Cork DJ very active at one stage, Kate used play hip-hop and soul in various bars and clubs such as Hi-Fi

Gadget and the Cloud Lo-fi experimental hip-hop vibes from Cork, Kelly Doherty is busy making music and writing about music for the Thin Air while studying at UCC.

Olivia Chau Olivia has been very active in Limerick for over 10 years and is part of the D.I.E. crew, Djing and promoting and bringing her kitsch-y blend of music to the masses (Via mynameisjohn)

Ali Day Lee Ali started collecting records while studying in Cork and set up Flipittv with Olivia Chau, and they soon became part of D.I.E., where Ali started organising and DJing at the parties (via mynameisJohn)

Maebh Murphy Still flying the flag with You’re only massive, Maebh has been active for many years bringing her DIY aesthetic to a new life in Berlin. She is now helping spearhead the first Girls Rock Dublin music camp soon, “taking a stand against sexism”.

Ais Dot Cork born disco enthusiast who got sick of lighting up the party in front of the decks and decided to spin some behind , she is now living in Vancouver

Aoife Conway Former Glitter and Trauma resident in the Pav with Eoghan Walsh, Aoife now helps run things at the Rising Sons bar on the coal quay

Elaine Mai Irish singer, producer and musician who has also written music for a play by Vickey Curtis, Elaine is well respected electronic artist who has a number of good releases at this stage

Tamara Hall Limerick DJ/Producer signed to Plasmapool, Tamara has just released a new single called “Bassline62”

Sinead Meaney

An audio visual artist, DJ and creative producer from Dublin, Sinead has been very busy over a really wide range of disciplines (via Laura Lolz)

Rosie Barrett Roise used to run Assquake, and is a highly respected DJ who can cut up anything from Hip-hop to kuduro (via Laura lolz and Executive steve)

Staxx Lyrical Dublin Digital radio DJ bringing the underground hip-hop to your eardrums (via Laura Lolz)

DreamCycles Jenn Moore, an Irish women who tells This Greedy Pig that her experience at the Red Bull Music academy in Montreal gave her the confidence to pursue music further, Jenn is also on DDR

Cáit Cait is involved with Dip and spins on Raidio na Life. She features in This Greedy Pig article and has an impressive visual portfolio on her site too. She helped organise “Room for Rebellion” in aid of the Repealing the 8th in Wigmam (further info via This Greedy Pig)

Cailín Waterford native Cailin Power spins techno for the likes of District 8 and Subject (via This Greedy Pig)

Sarah Mooney Resident at PLT (Peace Love Techno) and instigator of a new collective called Groundwerk. (via Ciara Brady)

Maggie -Rose Brennock Another great DJ, who is part of the Empty Space collective in Dublin, who who run late night events combining visual arts, music and attendees to create a unique atmosphere. (via Ciara Brady)

Alex Donald Acclaimed party DJ who has played numerous venues and festivals here and abroad. Alex comes from a breakbeat background which has given her a nice platform to mix up everything from house and electro to hip-hop and pop

Tiffany Depuis

Another DJ who spins in Cork, Tiffany pays Tip-top above the Bowery

Sinead ni Mhordha I don’t know much about Sinead but she is a DJ/radio presenter/TV presenter and more (via Tony Clayton Lea)

Americhord Maura O'boyle aka Americhord, released a number of stellar records on pioneering D1 records label, her catalogue is outstanding. (info via Liz Rooney)

Jenn Gannon Lime and fancy DJ at a night which sounds amazing, “the most glorious of 80s pop perfection mixed with your faves from the early 90s & a slice of Italo Disco, all served beneath the palms with a cute cocktail umbrella” (thanks Aoife barry for the heads up)

Bitch Blackheart EimearAnn o’Sullivan is a really exciting young producer and musician from Cork, producing everything from hip-hop to electronica, watch this space!

Sarah Beth Cork singer songwriter and occasional partner in crime with Bitch Blackheart, Sarah Beth is another of my favourite young artists here

Rebecca Meagher Cork DJ who span here regularly, Rebecca was also an accomplished singer and she appeared on Fish go Deeps “Let’s go Back” track on Chez Records

Sarah Lennox Tech-house spinner who plays regularly in Dublin and who has spun in Ministry of Sound, Sankeys, Eden and EGG. Sarah also produces and has tracks signed to 69Street and a new EP on the Playground label

Ciara Known to many by her twitter moniker of @Ciara_BK, Ciara is a published writer from the midlands who spearheads the Unoriginal Podcast with two afro-irish friends, an important platform for emerging acts such as NC Grey and Rocstrong

Gretta Gunn Electro-pop singer and producer with releases on Alphabet Set and Norwegian skweee label Dodpop. (via Sixfoot Apprentice)

Niamh DeBarra Singer and producer with awesome cello / synth / loop pedal setup for live shows. (via Sixfoot Apprentice)

Bluebottle Farm producer who had a great EP of ambient / experimental / IDM stuff on Acroplane records. (via Sixfoot Apprentice)

Ilex Electronica producer formerly known as Fringe (and Minge for the more housey productions) (via Sixfoot Apprentice)

Laura Sheeran - How did I forget her first time out? Amazing CV of work some some total legends in various genres. Also one half of Nanu Nanu. (via Sixfoot Apprentice)

Kazabon DJ now based in London playing with the brilliant Hipsters Don't Dance night (via Sixfoot Apprentice)

Zoe Clubs, Festivals and radio, Zoe has done it all over a long career. Zoe is also a dancer who brings a serious performance element to her shows!

Ciara Harrington Currently down in Australia, Ciara used run nights in Dublin including We are Electronic playing wavey Italo Type stuff (via Laura Lolz)

Kerrie Anderson Manchester based Cork woman grew up on deep house in Sir henrys, and has played some high profile shows in the UK with Prosumer, DJ QU, Young Male, DJ Richard, Tama Sumo, Fish Go Deep and Marcellus Pittman among others

Elinor o’donovan Operating out of Edinburgh, Corks Elinor o’Donovan presents Lemonade on FreshAir.org.uk, provinding us with a mixture of new and old skool jams

DJ Beep Beep

Beep Beep plays a mix of rock and rockabilly music held a residence of 11years on a Sunday night at Dublin's Dice Bar ... all round cool kitty . (via Dandelion Sergeant)

Aoife Bauer

A regular Dublin DJ playing Soul Fusion in April (via Niall Comiskey

Polly m Love

Another DJ who has been around for a long time and Polly promotes shows too (via Niall Comiskey)

Geraldine Fahey

Geraldine is a regular DJ in Dublin and Kilkenny were she runs her own nights. (via Niall Comiskey)

Angie Sheehan

Angie has her own night and is a regular at the Saturday Socials in Dublin. (via Niall Comiskey)

NOTE:

Executive Stevie has been very helpful in highlighting many of those who may not be so well known. He tells me about some more women at the controls; "Studio B didn't DJ, but herself and another woman Beatnik ran a night called Studio B that was pretty highly regarded back in the day. Jenni Junglist has been plugging away doing Jungle gigs in Dublin for a few years now. Nicky Halliday and Rosie Loopz are both still playing out, and K.Ska is one of the better Jungle DJ's in the country but she has taken a bit of a break from playing out what with having a young child. Debbie Happe, who used to hammer out the techno at Joe McGrath's nights in about the 2000 era. Liz Meade was a Power FM stalwart back around then too"

#IWD women girls djs ireland music thisgreedypig nialler9 anniemac radioclubs brandnewretro feminism corkcity

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tune-collective · 7 years

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Disclosure's 15 Best Songs: Critics' Picks

Do you think Howard and Guy Lawrence’s parents birthed them in a UK garage warehouse party? How else could two kids born in ’94 and ’91 respectively understand to such depths the feelings and vibrations of an era they can’t possibly remember? It’s mind boggling, but there’s no denying Disclosure is one of the absolutely pulse setters of a nostalgic generation of dance producers.

When Disclosure hit, people were literally walking up to DJ booths asking “hey, can you play more stuff that sounds like Disclosure?” It was almost it’s own genre, and it is a retro-influenced sound that went on to define the next three years of the greater genre. Even future house is in some very arguable way a response to the basic tenants Disclosure set in place. This is the band that killed “EDM” as a concept. This is the band that helped introduce thousands to the real roots of “house.” This is a band worth celebrating, and this is a list of the 10 best Disclosure songs so far.

15. Disclosure – “Grab Her!”

This song is kind of strange. That stair-walking robot synth, those twinkling keys, that forceful sample. It’s actually a clip of J Dilla, one of the duo’s biggest influences, and he’s not really saying “grab her,” but it sounds like it does, hence the song name. It’s a whole lot of freaky, funky fun. Guy Lawrence said of the song, “I made that after being on a pretty serious weekend out with my friends listening to a lot of DJs, and that is just the remains of the resonant tinnitus in my ears that came out musically the next day.”

14. Disclosure – “Good Intentions” with Miguel

This sultry little number has me imagining dark rooms and scented candles and satin sheets. Maybe that’s the fault of Miguel’s sensual vocal work, or maybe it’s the Lawrence brothers’ deep, rolling synth work. Something about this Disclosure song just promises naughty things, and everyone knows naughty is nice.

13. Disclosure – “Confess To Me” with Jessie Ware

I just can’t resist this wonky bassline. Ware was added in the 11th hour, replacing Howard’s original vocals. An old friend of the brothers, Ware came in and added verses to the track, stamping “Confess to Me” and the game-changing Settle with her mark forever more.

12. Disclosure – “Omen” with Sam Smith

Sam Smith and Disclosure blew up together thanks to their mega-hit “Latch,” so you know they had to get back in the studio for Caracal. “Omen” is a bit more late-night than “Latch,“ and people loved the vibe. “Omen” charted in 24 countries, further proving the perfection of Smith’s smooth croon when cascaded across Disclosure’s bedroom beats.

11. Disclosure – “Magnets with Lorde

No, you shouldn’t sleep with other girl’s boyfriends, but Lorde makes it sound like an exotic adventure one just has to give a go. Side pieces, rejoice! Lorde is one of your kind. The bridge here is perhaps the best part of the song. Lorde’s smoky voice in tandem with the syncopated percussion lures you into the hook, just as she leads you to make all kinds of bad decisions behind closed doors.

10. Disclosure – “Help Me Lose My Mind”

Here we explore the softer side of Disclosure. In fact, in the duo’s track-by-track analysis of Settle on Spotify, the brothers explain how they built “Help Me Lose My Mind” to match singer Hannah Reid’s softer spoken demeanor. Disclosure still give us the beating bass and persistent snare, but it all melts into the background under the ghostly synths and Reid’s alluringly rich vocals.

9. Disclosure – “Nocturnal” with The Weeknd

Disclosure’s second album Caracal is a strong step into the world of pop music, a message to fans telling what kind of band Disclosure sees itself being at its core. Settle earned them the right to work with whatever vocalist they wanted, and opening your LP with vocals from The Weeknd is surely a dream come true. This track has all the subtle darkness of its singer’s classic catalog mixed with the shining dance floor romance of its producers. It’s also a strong thematic predecessor to The Weeknd’s own recent disco-inspired release Starboy.

8. Disclosure – “Superego” with Nao

How you gonna write a song about an egotistical maniac and then go and make it so bouncy, the listener walks around struttin’ like the song’s protagonist? This is one of those songs you fall in love with immediately upon listening. Some fans wanted to critique Caracal for being less than earth-shattering following Settle‘s paradigm shifting greatness, but I say this song is right up there with anything Settle had to offer.

7. Disclosure – “Holding On” with Gregory Porter

Watch your step as you descend from the time machine. Take this flannel and tie it around your waist, ad be sure to grasp this bottle of water firmly in your right hand as you shake it for dear life to the beat. There you go, you’re ready for the ’90s dance floor. Alright, so “Holding On” is still decidedly modern, but it This song is damn near the perfect groove. Now, get out there and shake it, shake shake it.

6. Disclosure – “You & Me” with Eliza Doolittle

Flume’s remix of this Disclosure song is hugely popular, and it’s often the first version that comes to mind when I read the title, but this upbeat rhythm is nothing to be overlooked. This is glorious girl’s-night-out stuff, the perfect track for those moments on the dance floor when you get lost in thought then find yourself suddenly ripped back into the middle of the action. It’s the sound love makes just before you fall into it face first, when you’re still feeling pretty independent and wanna act like your crush is no big deal, but you know you’re lying.

5. Disclosure – “Voices” with Sasha Keable

Sasha Keable has such a perfect voice for this track, fittingly titled “Voices,” strangely enough. She is powerful and strong, even if the lyrics imply a willingness to give in to temptations too great to resist. It’s an easy siren’s call to answer on top of this delicious garage-inspired beat. This was the sixth single from Settle, but it was no less popular in DJ sets around the world.

4. Disclosure – “F For You” with Howard Lawrence

This is a Disclosure song so dope, Mary J. Blige had to jump on a remix, still, I want to throw it up to the original version, which says a lot about how much I really love me some Howard Lawrence vocals. For a track about playing a fool, it’s quite the cocky rhythm. Even Howard’s vocals drip with a certain slickness. I’m also going to nominate “I’ve been infected with restless whispers and cheats / That manifested in words and the lies that you speak” as two of the best lyrical lines ever written.

3. Disclosure – “When a Fire Starts to Burn”

I’m gonna Settle something once and for all. That sample? It’s from a monologue by Eric Thomas, a Chicago-based motivational speaker, author, and minister, the self-proclaimed “hip hop preacher.” He’s got a series of videos called T.G.I.M., and this is from episode 30, and this is quite clearly one of the greatest uses of sampling in the history of ever. Be honest, you didn’t catch every word in that last part, but you’re on the dance floor screaming it in your friend’s faces through a sloppy drunk grin anyway. Dr. Thomas isn’t even saying this shit to a backbeat, he just has the funky spirit running through him. Disclosure uses his encouraging message to elevate an already holy groove, and your feet on damn sure on fire by the time this track is over.

2. Disclosure – “White Noise” with AlunaGeorge

The first time I heard this song, it was nothing short of a revelation. It was early 2013, I was sitting on my then-boyfriend’s couch, and I’m pretty sure I stood up with a very serious look on my face all “Hey, hey, who is this?” I haven’t looked back sense. Disclosure is close to godliness, and so is AlunaGeorge, for that matter – which is two people, by the way. The singer is Aluna, and she is absolutely divine on this subtle anthem. It’s not an in your face tune, but it is arresting.

1. Disclosure – “Latch” with Sam Smith

In 2013, my buddy told me he used Settle as his finishing move whenever he wanted to get a girl in bed. He said that by the time “Latch” came on, it was sex city. I believe him, I mean, can you fight the raw silky smoothness of Sam Smith’s falsetto? Didn’t think so, and neither can the rest of the world who made “Latch” the biggest hit of Disclosure career to date. It helped launch Sam Smith into an absolutely star, as well as the Disclosure boys and this whole UK house revival sound. It helped change the direction of dance music. No small feat, to be sure, and it’s still one of best, most infectious, organically soulful tunes this decade has seen.

Source: Billboard

http://tunecollective.com/2017/01/21/disclosures-15-best-songs-critics-picks/

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