Beastieography

I recently came across a documentary I used to watch over and over again when I was a kid on the Beastie Boys. It covers their carer from their early punk rocker days right up until the release of their 1998 album Hello Nasty. Enjoy!

If You Forgot

So the last DEAF has been and gone. Its really only when you look at the festival retrospectively that you realise just how much effort went in to making it the event that it was. So many quality acts jammed into venues around town, not to mention all of the film, photo and theatre aspects that went into it aswel. There was the argument of course that there was too much going on over a short period of time and that events wouldnt be attended well. Speaking from first hand experience this was pure nonsense. The gigs I went to last week were both packed and great fun so congrats all round to the DEAF team for giving this festival to us for the last 8 years and good luck with the new projects.

One of the gigs I did go to was one that I had been looking forward to for ages. Aux 88 are prob one of my favourite acts and I had never seen them live. They started off with the material from the Mad Professor album, doing that for about an hour before breaking out the classics and finishing up with a preview of the new material. Im not too sure about this, its all 4x4 which for me isnt Aux 88, not saying change isnt good, just that for me I would associate Aux 88 with the techno bass sound, electro beats and to hear them hype up "its 4x4 people", I was just a bit disapointed. Anyway, great gig all round, really good to see a lot of younger heads there really getting down to the music.

Posting a recent mix from Dj Di'Jital that was up on electrobass.net, cant reccomend it highly enough.

Dj Di'Jital - Technobass.net Mix

Trust Me

The first Switch tune I heard was a remix of a Chemical Brothers track and if my memory serves me, I bought the vinyl for the Felix The Housecat version on the flip. The beauty of his productions is not only do they sound great but they are very simple and with the dance floor always in focus. He's someone that has worked with everyone and is responsible for bringing a whole wave of artists to the forefront of club culture around the world. I think its fair to say that if there was no Switch, there wouldnt be a Crookers or a Herve but more worryingly, take your pick from the thousands of "fidget" producers currently enjoying theyr 10 minutes of fame.

Im posting a mix i recently rediscovered. A cover mount mixmag cd from 2006, 3 years after Mr Taylor set up his Dubsided label but just as his star was on the serious rise. Also an old remix he turned in for Australian act Infusion and a brand new one thats been around the internets.

Switch House Music Bash Up

Infusion - The Careles Kind (Switch Remix)

Toxic Avenger - The Fall (Switch Remix)

Leaves

Music today comes from the legendary Detroit tech outfit Model 500. Anyone else think Juan Atkins looks a lot like Omar?

Model 500 - Huesca

Model 500 - No UFO's (Instrumental)

Shooting Star

First proper gig I went to was on my 18th birthday, Judge Jules in the Temple Theatre for Paddys weekend, it was a place id come to frequent quite a lot in the following months and years, going to see the likes of Mauro Picotto, Seb Fontaine, The Tidy Boys, Timo Maas, all the mid ninties "Superstar Dj's". My real education in dance music however would begin one winter night in the Red Box when a moody Englishman by the name of Dave Clarke was at the helm. To say my mind was blown is an understatement. Id never seen anyone djing the way he did, id been used to going to see dj's that would play the whole track mixing out in the last 8-16 bars. Here was a guy going hell for leather choping,cutting and scratching in and out of banging track after banging track. One of my fondest memories of a Clarkey gig was going to see him at a Bugged Out night in Mono, there was only about 50 people there but the atmosphere was unbelievable, he actually came down to the front of stage and had a chat with one of my mates before he went on, promising to play a request. Its a far cry from the shirt brigade queuing around the corner to get into Tripod to see the same guy a few years later.

The set below isnt the best representation of his skills as a dj but I think its a lot more balanced and listenable than others and you still get the seamless mixing combined with the relentless tempo of the type of techno that we just dont get to hear out on a regular basis on these shores anymore. Some would argue that hes been on the decline for a few years now after the release of his long player Devils Advocate but his original productions like Before I Was So Rudely Interupted and Southside are still tracks that I play out regularly combined with some of his remixes like Depeche Mode's Dream On and Underworld's King Of Snake. All in all this is a guy that introduced me to so much through going to see him play and for that Im truly grateful.

Dave Clarke Breezblock Set 2001