SUNDAY BEST PRESENTS BESTIVAL 2013 : 10TH ANNIVERSARY

After checking the weather forecast all week I knew the chances of me trading in the palatial luxury of my home for a weekend of abject squalor masquerading as fun were slim. However, due to the persuasive techniques of my main migo I somehow found myself waiting for a ferry at Southampton on the Friday at 22.30pm.  After getting lost on what I thought was a minute island we eventually got our bands, made the last artist transfer and were in at midnight. The van radio was playing Hackney Parrot, Ray Keith's Terrorist in the campsite, and Fabio or Grooverider dropped True Romance VIP at the Redbull Stage just as we walked in so if all else failed at least I'd had my fair share of jungle.

It was hard to leave our new masked friends but Rob Da Bank's Sunday Best Tent was calling. Big up to my man Nick at Sunday Best for the hook ups, Andy and any of the Sunday Best family that we didn't meet. We arrived at the jam packed cardboard tent with Nick, who had been on since 6 o'clock, still going strong. 

We ended up going b2b for a few hours warming up nicely for the weekend. Only tune I remember but if you were in there then you know it got X-Rated. We'll be playing alongside Sascha Dive next month so come catch a vibe.

We were woken up from our yak induced slumber by what sounded like someone being sick into a mic. Not the most gentle alarm clock but still effective. 

Big up Nidal, Lorelle and Reprezent radio crew and an extra big dap for Yianni of Meat Liquor for feeding us then ensuring the rest of the day was spent bleary eyed. If you haven't tried one yet you are missing out. They'll be opening in Brighton in September for those outside London.

Highlights of the festival were undoubtedly Tuba Gooding Jnr, parents covering their kids eyes during Snoop's on stage lap dance, Chic (why is it now Chic ft Nile?), I don't remember seeing Sir Elton but I was supposedly there so I'll claim it...EZ, Oneman, Evian Christ and and last but not least Lionel Richie. 

Our festival ended in a surreal fashion in the seaside resort of Sandown. We were the easily the only people there under 70. Our hotel was half pirate ship, half old people's home and it was these same geriatrics that destroyed us in the pub quiz. Although we were granted passage back across the Acheron to the land of the living I'm still not feeling fully normal but I recorded a mix to provide an aural remedy for everyone in the same boat. 

What struck me most about Bestival was how clean and green it was - everyone cleaned up after themselves so big up Rod Da Bank for attracting a clean crowd and hiring a slick cleaning team. My mind has been seriously changed on what a festival can be.

60mb Prescription Mix

FKA TWIGS - HOW'S THAT

THE WEEKND - LOVE IN THE SKY

VISIONIST - THE CALL FT FAQ

SUICIDEYEAR - CCCXXV

ROME FORTUNE - GRIND

LIL UGLY MANE - FOLDING PERSON

QUASIMOTO - SEASONS CHANGE

GFK - THE CENTER OF ATTRACTION

JEREMIAH JAE - OUTLAW THEME

KING KRULE - BABY BLUE

THE ROOTS- YOU GOT ME (LIVE VERSION W/ JILL SCOTT)

BANKS - CHANGE

AN INTRODUCTION TO : TEREKKE

It's nice to put a face to producer who's records you've bought. Seeing the laid back set up of his 'rhythm factory' definitely explains his lo fi dubbed out sound. And he's nailed the writing process - jamming on the sofa.

His latest YYYYYYYYYY EP is out now on Ron Morelli's weird and wonderful L.I.E.S. On that note, I've been waiting for my Delroy Edwards repress for a couple months now so hopefully it will arrive soon - '4 Club Use Only' moves me differently!

For more videos, photos, mixes  and other music related stuff check http://minesclarence.tumblr.com/

An Introduction To: Terekke from Mines Clarence on Vimeo.

Gem :

Beneath Open Deck Session on NTS - he drops a wide selection from Issac Hayes to Mobb Deep, my favourtie Cannibal Ox tune 'F Word', Terekke's 'Piano', Larry Heard, Florian Kupfter, Levon Vincent, Elgato and more.

JESSY LANZA - PULL MY HAIR BACK

The third LP released on Kode 9's mighty Hyperdub label this year: after Walton's Beyond and first lady Ikonika's Aerotropolis - Pull My Hair Back is  a sumptuous slice of futuristic electro-tinged 80s R&B. Don't be fooled by the Ontarioian's Tyler-esque forlorn expression, from the instant you press play her coyness is done away with. In retrospect, if she were facing the camera it would have been to overt. It's always the quiet ones. Now she's no Adina Howard or Rihanna but she's certainly not suitable for the Jonas Brothers.

Although her lyrics are fairly incomprehensible on the opening track 'Giddy' her enchanting falsetto paired with a hypnotic acid bass line suitably loosen you up for a cosmic ride. Junior Boy Jeremy Greenspan's minimalist soundscapes hold just enough weight pin down Lanza's sultry notes but not so much to drown them. 'Fuck Diamond', 'Keep Moving', and 'Against The Wall' all step up the pace making them just as suitable for home listening as they are for tracks to play at any roof top parties this summer.

Title track 'Pull My Hair Back' returns to the sparseness of debut single 'Kathy Lee' but is not nearly as sweet. Starting of with a booming Timbaland like 808 before she sings explicitly 'Baby I don't give a fuck what you do' this is most 'explicit' track on the album. She cites a love for Gerald Donald's Japanese Telecom project and in some way she embodies what I imagine a Virtual Geisha would be, through her skill, confidence and boldness - making this project right at home with my vision of what the name Hyperdub invokes.

The album closes out with my favourite - the apocalyptic 'Strange Emotion'. Generally, if it sounds like it came from outer space I'll probably like it - and this album certainly does whilst still remaining accessible. A possible chart attack (a very welcome one) from Kode9  this album certainly deserve all the attention it gets; and at 9 tracks its seems like a teaser when compared with the usual 14 or 15 tracks of a mainstream album - meaning that once you've played it through you'll surely want to play it again. And again. And again. There must be something in the water in Canada because it's seems a lot of R&B is coming from there lately.

If you're yet to hear the album do yourself a favour and buy it here.

KINGDOM - BANKHEAD OFFICIAL VIDEO

Fade to mind boss Ezra Rubin a.k.a Kingdom has released the video to his summer anthem 'Bankhead' featuring the soon to be star Kelela. The video, directed by Jude MC, effectively uses chiaroscuro to highlight convey the contrast between the sadness in Kelela's voice and the uplifting nature of Rubin's track.

GEMS: It's a big week for the Night Slugs family with EP's, mixes, and videos all dropping this week.

N.A's (Daniel Pineda of Nguzunguzu) Xtreme Tremble EP also just dropped on Fade To Mind. Buy that here.

Jam City has released a new mix entitled 'Earthly' featuring Dizzee, Spooky & Danny Weed along side some  of his own productions, some bmore and some ballroom. The highlight for me being Frett's 'Runnin' which the Grime Librarian had me believe was Gully Ranger unless they're the same person.



Visionist also dropped his 'I'm Fine' EP on Lit City which features Fade To Mind's Fatima Al Qadiri which you can buy here  as well as with a Fact mix of forward thinking mutant club tracks from his own Lost Codes camp, Hessle, FTM, Gang Fatale as well as Young Scooter and youngster Haleek Maul.

GO FOR BROKE! I AM STREET FIGHTER 25TH ANNIVERSARY DOCUMENTARY

Street fighter is more than a game, it's a culture. My first introduction to it was playing Street Fighter II with one of my 'uncle's' on his SNES when my family would go round on the weekends. As you can imagine - the excitement as a young kid was a lot. I wanted to go there every weekend. Whenever that dreaded knock on the door came, awakening me from my trance, and signalling that it was time to go, it was like my world was ending. But, luckily, with most african parents (especially Nigerian) even when they said they were ready to go you could still get anywhere up to a a few hours more time by getting them to discuss politics.

It was another world to me. First of all the intro music. The music for the original release and the '94 Super Street Fighter II is rivalled only by the Pokémon (Red) theme. My foray into rock music probably stems from this intro. After those weekend exposures the only place I could play was the arcade in the bowling alley on the opposite side of the estate. That pilgrimage was the most exciting thing back then. Obviously the game is a classic but what really struck me and still does today is a the music. The legacy of the game is largely down to the chiptune genius Yoko Shimomura who features in the documentary. The themes for Chun-Li, Guile & Vega are untouchable. Between the euphoric trumpet blasts, the mystical oriental melodies and Guile's overly emotional ending and theme music she has got enough classics to last a lifetime.

Grime heads will instantly tell where the likes of Dizzee and Rapid found some of their inspiration as producers. Dizzee's own ode 'Street Fighter' which samples Chun Li's ending theme , Rapid's 'Lethal Injection', Pied Piper', 'Your Love Feels', any of Kid D's R&G stuff and countless others are really just extensions of her 16 bit anthems. Hyper coloured synths, horn blasts, those sounds from Tekken, square wave bass and you have grime. The same goes for synth heavy works of Zaytoven, Zomby et al.

A Few examples of grime records that capture that video game sound.

Whilst Grime is inherently aggressive and raw - owing to its origins in some of the darkest, most dangerous and run down areas of London - some of the instrumentals are amongst the most motivational, inspirational and colourful of any genre. This is not meant to be a post on Grime but given that the name of the blog is taken from my favourite Ruff Sqwad song it's only fitting. You only need to see the amount of Youtube hits on D Double E's 'Street Fighter Riddim' to see the cross-generational appreciation for both Grime and Street Fighter - with nearly 3,000,000 hits its up there with 'Next Hype' 'Pow 2011' and 'Fix Up Look Sharp'. The similarities between Street Fighter and Grime undeniable. They are both about competition - who is the best? Whether it's clashing on radio or battling it out at the arcade in the end its all for the glory.

I was completely occupied with Tekken 2 ( its incredible OST which deserves) until Alpha 3 came around.  With retrospect I appreciate that Tekken characters didn't have hadoukens (Devil had those laser beams eyes though) but at the time spectacle of super finishing combos had me fully gassed. Before, I had been a button basher and everyone knows that feeling of when you first manage to do a super move so with the clearer controls I could finally master them. It also had the arcade's high speed, Evil Ryu and the near impossible boss Akuma. The previous games had always been highly stylised but the art of Alpha 3 took it to the next level. 

Minus the weak rapping the documentary is fairly insightful but be warned unless you are a serious gaming nerd it's not for you! That said if you like grime you'll be familiar with a bunch of guys in a room hyping over what to normal people seems insignificant; so this is just your thing. THAT Wong v Daigo battle is up there with any clash.

GEM : Joker just released his own Sega inspired mini album which you can download below.

THE WEEKND - KISS LAND

Having just talked about the hazards of uploading snippets in my last post the mysterious lothario Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd is currently streaming his latest musical catharsis 'Kiss Land' in full. I listened to it first thing this morning without really paying attention to the lyrics and can safely say it will be on remain in rotation for a while. This is actually his debut LP despite the classic 2011 mixtapes and in those 2 years since the trilogy he's worked with Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J, French Montana, 2 Chainz, Big Boi, Kavinsky and most recently Lil' Wayne. Whilst I'm a fan of these collaborations his solo work is still second to none.

I played it through without skipping a song which today is a impressive. My hand twitched when the up tempo 'Wanderlust' came on but I resisted. It sounded like a hazy tribute to Michael Jackson which he has done before on 'D.D' Pharrell has even done a remix which pulls the track out of the smoke whilst retaining the emotion and turning into a slow burning dance floor number.



Regardless of the sampling incident regarding 'Machine Gun' from Bristol exports Portishead and his own 'Belong To The World' both the track and its video are epic. Whether it was sampled or recreated I'm not fussed; I'm just a firm believer in giving credit where it's due. The next track of interest was 'Live For' featuring the man of the hour Drake. Initially, I thought it was Big Sean rapping - Drake has borrowed his 'supa dupa flow' before - but on this their voices were extremely similar. His line 'things I shouldn't share for the sake of my career' struck me because that's part of the reason why him, The Dream and The Weeknd are so famous; but then again R&B at its best is confessional and emotional. Their willingness to share their supposed inner most feelings is what creates the emotional connection between them and the listener and this quality is now extremely prevalent in the new wave of R&B artists that follow in their wake. I'm not sure if the feature works as well as it did on 'The Zone' but it has the potential to grow on me like most Drake tracks tend to do these days.

When I saw 'Tears In The Rain' I was hoping secretly hoping for a sample of Rutger's famous lines from  Blade Runner but in hindsight it could have been a bit too cheesy. As the last track on the album (bar the bonus tracks) the Blade Runner referencing track serves as the perfect final building block to the futuristic dystopia of 'Kiss Land'. He said 'Kiss Land is like a horror movie'  and he has a track titled 'John Carpenter' (the second part of the track 'Kiss Land') but either I'm completely desensitised (most likely the case) or he needs to be introduced to The Gorgeous Children and Lil Ugly Mane. The closest he comes to capturing the fear he expressed in the interview on Complex  is on 'The Town' -  those paranoid chord stabs make it my favourite cut off the album. 


He's by no means a one trick pony but you know what to expect from this misanthrope - guitar delay, haunting synths (plus a few screams) and moody bass lines. That's not intended to be derogatory but he has s found a formula and  it works. On John Carpenter he states 'this ain't nothing to relate you even if you tried' and it's true unless you're a jet setting superstar you'll probably be listening to this with your girl or alone wishing you had one.

Stream the album below which is released September 10th.

SPECIAL REQUEST - SOUL MUSIC

In a similar vein to Zomby's 2008 album 'Where Were You In 92', Paul Woolford is set to release his own ode to pirate radio, exploring Techno and Jungle under his Special Request moniker. There are 1 minute snippets of each track online and the vibes range from  Pearson Sound/Kowton-esque excursions , Reese driven tracks and straight up techno . I'm loving the recent revival in breaks orientated music but I don't want it to be just like the 90s house revival. There has to be progression. After Millie & Andrea's (Miles Whittaker & Andy Stott) output in 2009 I was hoping more producers would explore that hybrid territory.

It's times like this that I think to myself what would Ratty do?

I can't talk about Techno and Jungle with mentioning Basement (not Da Bassment - Devante Swing's crew who are equally as important to me) . Growing up in Reading - Phil Wells via Basement records and his store the Record Basement were pioneering 'Jungle Techno' & DnB from people like Kev Bird, DJ Mayhem,Top Buzz, Jack Smooth (Ron Wells), Wax Doctor, even Photek (under his Sentinel alias) and Source Direct (under their X-Files alias).  Sadly, I was in huggies during the raving heydays at Nitrous and the Rivermead but old enough to go to the store before I moved away and it shutdown. Apart from Mike Oldfield, Sam Mendes, to a certain extent David Lean, Jeremy Kyle and Ricky Gervais - Reading's cultural output and influence has been minor so if it is to be known for anything let it be Basement records.

The opening track 'Forbidden' sound like it samples both the piano melody and the bassline from Saunderson's seminal track. This euphoric new take on the classic is one I very much look forward to hearing in full. He does get props for sampling Rochelle Jordan's 'Pressure' on 'Soundboy Killer' which features on my mix but he hasn't really done the sample justice compared to something like Zomby's Aaliyah sampling 'Float', that said, I'm prepared to eat my words if once released it turns out to be a banger.

The Sade sampling 'Broken Dreams' which came out on his latest 'Hardcore EP' is forgettable. 'Black Ops' reminded me of DJ Crystl's classic 'Warp Drive',  whilst 'Capsules', 'Deranged' and 'Descent' all whet the appetite. It's not until Anthony Naples track that I'm really gripped - his melancholic 'Eternal Remix' of 'Mindwash' has been a late night special of mine and this new 'Aftemath Remix' of his is like a kushed out version of 'Dred Bass' and will certainly be getting a lot of spins from me. I picked up his debut on Mister Saturday Night from Phonica just because of the Pharrell sample and he has continued to impress - especially with 'I Don't See Them'. He's definitely one to watch.

Between the originals and remixes there's more than enough new material to keep you happy. However, I think my problem with the release is that the tracks are too clean - they are purpose- built for today's clean cut dance floor and seem to lack the raw energy of the 'golden era'. That said, Hackney Parrot VIP is a banger. With the sample of GQ's signature 'Wheel and Come again' from a Kenny Ken A.W.O.L set from 94 he neatly blends the old with new and hopefully sends some people running to Discogs whilst pleasing old skool heads. This is not an album for reminiscing or meditating like Lee Gamble's dreamscape 'Diversions 1994-1996' it's more in line with Lone's club focused re-imagined rave tracks. What is does mean is that you can get some jungle drum tracks into 120-130bpm set without drastically changing tempo.

Kenny Ken - AWOL - Live in London Vol 2 1994 by Rave Archive Uk © on Mixcloud

This is the problem with putting up snippets - you allow people (like me) to form judgments based on limited info. You can listen to them here but I'd advise waiting until you can listen the work in full and blast it out preferably whilst joyriding through empty streets late at night.

The triple LP drops October 7th with the CD & Digital on the 21st on Fabric in house Houndstooth label run by the mighty Rob Booth. Pre-order here.

Tracklist:

CD1
01. Special Request - Forbidden
02. Special Request - Undead
03. Special Request - Cold Blooded
04. Special Request - Body Armour
05. Special Request - Lockjaw
06. Special Request - Ride VIP
07. Special Request - Soundboy Killer
08. Special Request - Broken Dreams
09. Special Request - Black Ops
10. Special Request - Capsules
11. Special Request - Deranged
12. Special Request - Descent

CD2
01. Tessela - Hackney Parrot (Special Request VIP)
02. Lana Del Rey - Ride (Special Request Remix)
03. Special Request - Mindwash
04. Special Request - Alone
05. Special Request - Mindwash (Anthony Naples Aftermath Remix)
06. Special Request - Lolita (Warehouse Mix)
07. Special Request - Vapour
08. Special Request - Deflowered (Kassem Mosse & Mix Mup Remix)
09. Special Request - Mindwash (Anthony Shakir Remix)
10. Special Request - Capsules (Lee Gamble Full Length Remix)
11. Special Request - Deflowered (Hieroglyphic Being Remix)


Gem : Om Unit on Metalheadz out now.