Heidi’s new compilation for Get Physical The Jackathon is so loaded with badass tracks it can re-inspire those feeling a bit broken after some hard core nights out. One of my favourites is by Waifs & Strays, the very lovely What You Want.
Then I remembered that name was linked to an absolute killer from the Miami Winter Music Conference this year Yeah Yeah, released on Leftroom 20 June as part of the Extended Family EP (Part II).
So it turns out Waifs & Strays are Amos Nelson and Rich Beanland from Bristol and had been playing apart for almost ten years before they started producing together, first getting noticed by the Big-men in 2010 with the mighty 3am. Waifs and Stray – 3 in the morning (Master) by waifs&strays
They’ve got quite a few other things in the pipeline for our musical delectation, including Feel getting a release on Futureboogie some time this Summer, and Heartbreak added to the forthcoming 5 Years of Leftroom compilation on 1 August. More full-bodied deep house for the balmy nights.
Come and see us play tonight at Vogue Fabrics in Dalston for Booby Hatch. You can’t really go wrong with a rave in a converted shop can you? I mean, we DJ in behind the counter, it’s pretty special.
£3 before 11, £5 after
Vogue Fabrics, 66 Stoke Newington Rd, N16 7XB
I’m playing a little bit of house, some 90s specials and a heavy dose of electro.
I’m not a fan of retrospectives: it’s not very inclusive to harp on about a brilliant night/festival/set for too long, unless there’s some sort of constructive end to it. Go and see so-and-so here, etc.
BUT festivals like Sonar and Miami WMC are tastemakers and fixers for the rest of the year’s musical delights, and a precursor for the Summer’s selection in Ibiza, so I thought I’d let you know what tracks we heard out and about in Barcelona. Plus, it allows me to re-live it a little bit, so indulge me.
Particular highlights were the RA by Day party on Thursday, poolside on the roof of Hotel Diagonal, which started chilled in the sun, was moved up a level to fun old skool hip-hop and disco by Space Dimenson Controller, then brought to a sundown sweat-fest frenzy by Claude VonStroke. So many new tracks and highlights which we managed to ask him about later, but he warned us we’d have quite a wait, in particular for the release of Justin Martin and Ardalan’s epic follow-up to Mr Spock; LEZGO. I found a very small taster here – only 21 seconds but thank you to ‘Rainingcaps‘ and his dancing-while-filming brother.
A few other greats which you can get hold of now are Claude’s Take a Trip mix of Chilly Gonzales - I Am Europe, and J Phlip‘s new track with Claude under his Grizzl moniker for his vinyl imprint Krush Groov, BkupGrl, and of course my favourite, (another one I’ve been waiting patiently for) J Phlip’s OMG Remix of Russ Yallop‘s Rock Me, which is a bootleg and sadly not due for release (I think)… but you can hear it 12 minutes into this mix from March this year: Claude VonStroke – March 2011 Tour Mix by Rainbow Venues
Fun fun fun was the Jackmode party on Thursday night in a tennis club high in the hills overlooking the city (complete with a slide and see-saw) and it was nice to see Oliver $ drop his own Doin’ Ya Thang to a crowd very happy to try to sing/shout along. Oliver $_Doin´ Ya Thang by oliverdollar
All the beautiful people were at Ghoa Beach Club for the Hot Natured party all day on Friday. Dancing bodies filled the pool while we danced on ledges to the stealthy bass of Thugfucker’sDisco Gnome (Tale of Us Remix). Download here.
A-Trak at Sonar Night on Friday was ridiculous. His hands were moving so fast on the decks he looked like a smartly-dressed robot. He gave us a little taster of his new ‘mystery’ track Big Bad Wolf, which when it comes out on Fool’s Gold is going to be immense.
We rounded the week off in fitting style with the Sunday parties, and a massive thanks to Culprit vs Leftroom for good sunny times on the roof at Hotel Catalonia in the day, then Get Physical for putting on a beach party at Mac Arena Mar through to 3am. Just enough time to pack and get to the airport for a Monday morning flight home (those crazy enough to go to work on Monday). So for now, we put Sonar to bed for another year, and content ourselves with hastily booking some flights to Ibiza, stalking producers until we get our grubby mitts on the tunes we heard, and re-living some of the joy at 5 Years of Leftroom (with Room 2 hosted by Hot Natured) at Fabric on 2 July. See you there.
Every great record I hear at the moment is on, or soon to be on, Tigersushi Records. Let’s name some of my favuorites: the darkly epic Night Moves EP from Jackal Doom Disco (all great, in particular The Tapes), Stopmakingme and Deadstock 33s‘ Oscillate, newcomer Yes Wizard with Elephant & Castle, and not least, the forthcoming Joakim record Forever Young.
Joakim Bouaziz and Charles Hagelsteen started the Parisien label in 2001 while they were still at university, and since then have gone on to pair the best of the old with the freshest of the new, releasing amazing disco-y electro, including Gina X, Joakim’s productions as himself, K.I.M, and Poni Hoax, among others. The man himself has a forthcoming new album Nothing Gold on the label due to hit in September.
It’s RA‘s tenth anniversary, so to celebrate they’re throwing ten RA X parties with epic lineups in ten cities all over the place, including a mystery guest ‘X.’ We’re lucky enough to be attending at Sonar next week, and the one over here is tomorrow night at Cable. A Night With…Heidi heads to Bar A Bar in Stoke Newington, and Trouble Vision continues being truly great, with Tensnake and Lee Foss at Corsica Studios.
We play a little monthly shindig organised by the lovely Meredith O at Bungalow 8, called the Private Parlour Party. Tomorrow’s pretty special as it’s Meredith’s birthday. Come and have a dance with us. Here’s a little taster of what we’ll be dancing to.
SebastiAn- Yes
Soul Clap – Extravaganza
Hot Natured – Equilibrium
Homework – The Street
Mark E – R&B Drunkie
Avicii & Sebastian Drums – My Feelings For You (Treasure Fingers Remix)
Bass Kleph & Filthy Rich – These Mornings
Black Rose – Anthem
Julio Bashmore – Battle for Middle You
Friendly Fires – Live Those Days Tonihgt (Tim Green Remix)
Orbital – Chime (Heretic Rework)
Say Yes to Another Excess – Say Yes To Another Success
The Loose Cannons – Girls in Hats (Boy 8- BIt Remix)
Peter & The Magciain – Twist
Cassius – 99 (Tim Green Remix)
Nile Delta – Channel
Hugg & Pepp – Sweet Rosie
Tiga – Shoes
We just can’t get enough of Miguel Puente. He’s one of those people you hear about, download all his mixes, can’t get enough of them, and feel a little bit like you’ve discovered him yourself, only to find everyone else in the know feels exactly the same as you.
Jozif and J Phlip have praised his mixes and productions, his Serious Compassion track featured on Soul Clap‘s Social Experiment 002, and Lee Foss obviously agrees, as he’s signed the next Miguel Puente EP to Hot Creations. What I love most is that there seems to be so many productions in the pipeline – my favourite tracks on his mixes are his own and soon to be released, so expect lots more from Miguel Puente this year.
He’s based in Barcelona, and I’m not even sure how to describe the excitement brewing as One From The Vaults are off to see the boy-wonder (and a few other people besides) play on- and off- Sonar next week. We caught up with him for a few party tips and a delve into his ‘futuristic gangsta club’ sound.
So first things first – can you introduce yourself for our readers? How did it all begin and how would you characterise your sound?
Regarding electronic music, it began in Montreal in 2005 when I was living there for about 7 months. Back in Monterrey (my home city) if you wanted to listen to electronic music there was basically only one place to go, so I was never very attached because it was just the same music all the time. So Montreal showed me a lot; so many options to listen to, and all of them good, plus I was really lucky to always have friends who could tell me a thing or two, let me use their turntables or give me tips for my productions later on.
As for my sound if you come up with a description let me know, because I really don’t have a tag for it, but I like to call it “futuristic gangsta club” if I should call it anything… Futuristic because even though it has quite a few different influences it sounds so fresh to me that as I said I don’t know what to call it, gangsta because it always makes you lean back, and club because I don’t really like to use the terms house or techno, so this way it tells you it’s for the dace floor while being a bit forward-thinking…
You’re based in Barcelona, what’s the kind of sound that characterises the Barcelona clubbing scene?
I would have to say cave man’s techno…
Berlin’s deep and minimal house and that bouncy Dirtybird sound is really taking off in the US. Where else would you work if it wasn’t in Barcelona?
If by work you mean by djing, I can DJ wherever- I love going to new places and showing my sound to new people. But if you mean work as in where I have my studio it definitely has to be a place with good weather! I really like Berlin but I couldn’t live there in the Winter… I feel really good right now in Barcelona, it gets better with time. I guess if I was in America I would be in Mexico because I don’t have to worry about a visa, plus great food and beaches, and you’re just right next to the US.
Where can we see you play?
Barcelona most of the time, Sonar is coming and I will be playing in the One Illusion party at the Hotel W on Thursday 16th, and also in the Culprit vs Leftroom on Sunday 19th at Catalonia Plaza hotel. I work with some friends organising events and parties over here under the name Digital Delight, and we have a party on Friday 17th with S.A.S, Jay Shepheard, Daniel Maloso, Death On The Balcony,Miguel Campbell and few others in a really cool outdoor venue with a pool. I’m not playing on this one but worked a lot to make it happen.
Also, I’m really happy to be playing my UK debut on 30 July in Leeds with the guys from Nest!
We’re heading over for Sonar and catching you play alongside Maceo Plex, Robert James and Rob Mello. How does the city change during Sonar festival? What’s your best Sonar memory?
Yes I’m really excited about this party as well: massive line up, awsome venue, everything you see there is just the perfect combination… The city changes a lot as its the best week of the year fo’ shoo its awesome!!! and for some reason my memory when it comes down to Sonar is really blurry…
What are your ‘must-sees’ for Sonar 2011?
Daniel Maloso doing a different live act to his normal show, he will be with another guy that will be playing drums live. He’s an exclusive at the Digital Delight/Struments party on Sonar Week, keep an eye on him!!
How did the releases come about – were you DJ-then-producer or always both? How did the labels first get hold of your stuff?
Yes, I was DJing before I started doing music so the flow just developed naturally. I have just been sending tracks to the people I’ve been meeting lately, no special tricks…
I first noticed your Proton Radio show when J Phlip commented on it on Soundcloud. Do you find that you are getting lots of feedback from other DJs?
Well not lots but I’m definitely getting more feedback then before, some of it by people that I’m being influenced at the moment or have been influenced by…
Any collaborations in the pipeline?
The only collaboration I’m doing right now is with my mate Sishi Rösch, half Guatemalan half Italian and one of my best friends here in Barcelona. I help him with the parties we are doing as Digital Delight but apart from the parties its also his label. He also has another label (Sultry Vibes) which we just released a hip hop EP on, with 2 west coast tracks that I really love … so right now its the only serious collaboration I’m working on.
What’s the next project or release for 2011?
Well i got a few tracks signed by Hot Creations and No.19 so hopefully the EPs will come out this year but I have no dates on any of them still.
Miguel Puente’s latest EP West Coast Feel with Sishi Rösch came out last week – buy it on Beatport here.
Retro/Grade have a new EP Mindfighter (Motion: Part 1) out on Deconstruction Records on 17 July, so to celebrate they’ve given us the first in a new series of mixes: Grade/1. Tom Neville and Serge Santiago are releasing Mindfighter as the first of three EPs this year that will come from their forthcoming album Motion. This mix is full of electro-italo-disco big hitters, Hercules and Love Affair sounding pretty lovely nestled in the middle. Retro/Grade – Grade/1 by Retro/Grade
Tracklist
01. Donna Laser Orchestra – Vega Synthauri
02. Eddie Mars – Future
03. Serge Santiago – Running Passions
04. Hercules & Love Affair – Painted Eyes (Maxxi Soundsystem Vocal Mix)
05. Space Ranger – Herbal Cake (The Revenge Rubdown)
06. Dinosaur L – Kiss Me Again (Serge Santiago Re-Edit)
07. Azoto – Havah Nagilah
It’s finally June! Time for holidays, festivals, more sun and even more booze… Find your tents and pack your sunglasses; summer has arrived.
If you’ve still not recovered from last weekend’s antics, don’t bother, just go with it… I really hope you’re feeling decisive because once again there’s way too much to choose from this weekend and we’ve got our pick of the bunch to share with you. Tonight get yourselves down to one of the following: Detail with Brighton boy Russ Yallop at Basing House, Good:Vibe bringing disco legend Mario Basinov to a secret location in London, Lonely Hertz featuring the fantastic Ghostpoet alongside French Fries at The Nest, or the eagerly anticipated Diesel Island Disco with Goldie, Punks Jump Up, Aeroplane and the Kill Em All lads now at the Islington Metal Works (don’t forget you’ll need your passport to get in!)
Ryan Cavanagh is Slow Hands, and once you’ve read this post and listened to what we want to play you, you might start hearing his characteristically laid back sound wherever you go. He studied classical guitar and composition until 2001, which isn’t really surprising when you hear the kind of melodic piano, muffled beats and acoustic strings that pervade his productions
His first release was the beautiful Fast Tongue, on Wolf + Lamb’s Significant Others Too EP in 2009
No Regular Play – Ladyluck remix
Male Madame on Fade Records, and Worst Friends, his spastic experimental group on Moodgadget.
The Formal EP was released on 5th April on More Or Less
Heidi’s new compilation for Get Physical The Jackathon is so loaded with badass tracks it can re-inspire those feeling a bit broken after some hard core nights out. One of my favourites is by Waifs & Strays, the very lovely What You Want.
