Taze

Il start by saying that Im a really big fan of Egyptrixx. I think he's someone that blurs the lines between genres and styles with both his dj sets and his own productions. This year is set to be a big one for him too with a release on Night Slugs and hopefully for us, some more tour dates this side of the pond. If he does venture over this side of the world this year then Id imagine he'l be performing his live show that he debuted in his home town of Toronto earlier in the month. Below is a taster of what to expect.

Egyptrixx Live pa @ Fuck Faces January 2010

Haystack

If your into producing music then the task of creating a live set can be regarded as the ultimate way of presenting your music to the public. Sure, djing is a good way of expressing your tastes and individuality but the process of stripping your tracks down and playing them out as you intended them to go together is something different altogether. I always find it interesting hearing different peoples approaches so that's why these 2 live sets come from completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Id recommend both of them highly though

Flying Lotus live in Paris

Dopplereffekt live in Berlin

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)

Red Butler

Its always nice when your somewhere new and you find something familiar.  Whether thats an Irish bar in Kuala Lumpur or a big mac in Tokyo. Iv been trying to find new music lately with mixed results. Its either not very good or perfect for home listening. Nothing really that I could picture myself playing in a club, until I spotted a familiar name. Neil Landstrumm is someone I remember from a few release on Tresor and Music Man. Im absolutely loving the Empire on a fiver ep he's done with Rustie and his new long player on Planer Mu is next on the shopping list once I gets paid. Until then Im seeing myself listening to the below quite a lot. 

Neil Landstrumm @ Bombomatic

Twitchy Eyes

Iv always liked James Ruskin, you know exactly what your gonna get. You know its going to be stripped back, looped and pretty bangin. The vast majority of his releases came on his own Blueprint label with 4 albums also appearing on Tresor. This mix sees him in flying form in the Berlin club in 2003. 

James Ruskin @ Tresor 2003

Seems hes found the best way to play his trademark sound out by developing a live set. I always find it interesting when a dj/producer tries to do this, can they replicate the same kind of energy and diverse range as playing other peoples tracks? or does it fall a bit short of the sound you usually associate them with.

James Ruskin Live 2009

More info and an interview here.

Eye On You

I must admit, im catching on to this a bit late in the day. Joy Orbison is the 22 year old nephew of Ray Keith and his Hyph Mngo/Wet Look ep is one of the most talked about releases of the year. I never really got Dub Step, it was either too chin strokish or too aggresive for my liking but this is just right. Blisfull synths, haunting vocals and lovely builds. The ep dropped on Hot Flush last week and I would seriously recommend picking it up.

Joy Orbison - Wet Look

Also, heres a mix that was posted on Lower End Spasm back in June, as I said, really late getting on this one

Joy Orbison Mix

Pearson Sound - Indelible

Karizma - Drumz Nightmare

Nu-Birth - Anytime

Tonya Renee - About You

Altered Natives -Rass Out

Joy Orbison - Smother

Efdemin - Acid Bells Martyn Remix

Shed - Selection One

Ultramarine - Hooter Carl Craig Remix-Joy Orbison Edit

Joy Orbison - Tentative Bidding

Martyn - Hear Me

Joy Orbison - J. Doe

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo

Judging from the amount of as yet unreleased material on this mix and others on mixes from the likes of Untold, we can expect to be hearing a lot more from Joy Orbison in the future.

Seeing Stars

My favourite Dj bar none, Dj Godfather. I had a conversation not too long ago with someone about his skills as a dj. We talked about how, by comparisson, he wouldnt rate with the top turntabalists in the world, but, the top turntabalists in the world probably couldnt do what he does. Not only does he have all the tricks in his bag, he uses them in a way that its not showing off but increasing the tempo of the music he is playing and generally making any club he plays in go right off.

His Twilight 76 label, and later Databass, took the sound synonomous with Detroit mix tapes and pushed it onto a global audience. The label rosters read like a who's who of the scene with additions from the likes of Sekter 17, Keith Tucker, Dj Dijital on the electro side and Dj Nasty, Dj Slugo, Dj Deeon and Dj Omega on the ghetto tip. He is a Dj held in the highest regard with everyone from Dave Clarke to Daft Punk being a fan and his skils have taken him around the world many times. Iv seen him play in Dublin 5 times and hes the only dj that iv seen that i went to the gig completly sober and danced my ass off.

I dont think this mix represents fully what you could expect by going to see him in a club atmosphere but the tempo is frantic, the mixing is fast and theres plenty of mention of tricks, hoes and bitches.

Dj Gofather Promo Bass Mix 2007

Sun Swept

The Modeselektor mix that was on 2FM at the weekend. Some really good stuff in here.

Modeselektor on The Sessions, 2FM

Smog

I suppose thinking about writing this post I had, before they were famous or before they were past it in my mind. I guess its just really about the music that they were making or playing before they gained the status that they have today. I think everyone would agree that they are now household names and some would argue that their best years are long behind them. First up is Daft Punk. The recording below was taken from an event that they played in Wisconsin in 1996. A quick Google search and youl be able to see Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo without the masks, robot costumes or giant pyramids. absolutely tearing it up live. I think they have always put on a good show, I went to see them a few years ago in Marley Park and their Red Box gig from the 90's is the stuff of legend. Alive is still an album that sounds good today but this set is just as raw as it gets. Really makes you wonder, what will all the advances in technology and the growth in popularity of programs like Ableton, how no one has really managed to come even close to replicating or bettering what these guys were doing 13 years ago. I think they'v lost their relevance in recent years. You couldnt say that the material that they have put out is bad, just not up to the very high standards that they set themselves and what we came to expect of them. There is no question though about the quality of this.

Daft Punk Live at Even Further

Next is the Prodigy or more so, Liam Howlett. This recording was taken from an American radio station he did a guest mix on in the early ninties when the Prodigy were touring with Moby and others just as the rave scene was really kicking off. The mixing is sloppy in parts to say the least, but, for me its more about the tracks he's playing. I think every Dj I know has a copy of Experience on vinyl, its one of those seminal albums and this mix was recorded a year before its release so you really get a sense of the sounds that were going through his head at the time. Cant say Im a fan of the new stuff though.

Liam Howlett Guest Mix on Edge Club

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