April 2007 Archives

A new record set this month! Onward and upward we go.

A member of the Polish Murky contingency just sent me a little note today concerning a new mix of his...

Aside from a seemingly deep rooted fetish with letters and their arrangements, Alexander Köpke is also one talented artist. Far ranging and covering a broad spectrum, his music is easy on the ears and a whirling dervish on the dance floors. I can't stress enough how much I enjoy his Vocals, Funk inspired beats and basslines, Live instruments and generally good natured attitude. He's doing what more people should be doing with Techno. Expanding it's borders to it's former glory.

Check out his personal site for a large selection of tracks: http://www.tafkatafta.de
His material is so varied, give a lot of it a listen. I promise you'll find something you'll like.
Alex runs Zinch records, visit Zinch's site for other info, videos, mixes and odds and ends: http://www.zinch.de

I don't know why I've never mentioned him on his own before. Ever since his Aeox stuff first found it's way to me I was hooked. You should look forward to this week's Bleep Radio show which Alex put together himself. It features released and unreleased tracks of his, an interview with Bill Youngman and whatever other info he saw fit to share. Good stuff, my favorite Bleep to date. hands down.

I almost don't really have enough information to bother posting this...but I'm short on nuggets to share today. Consider it more of a quick heads up than anything. No artwork, cover, samples...At least you know it's coming now.

This week is the off week for Bleep Radio. That alone should let you know something is up...

What is up you ask (hopefully without prompting)?

Bleep is going back to a weekly broadcast! It's been over three years since Bleep was a weekly 'event' and I feel that it's high time I kick it back into gear. So the next 4-6 weeks will be a trial run. If I have enough time to put a show together for each week then I'll stick with it. If not I'll head back into bi-weekly territory. Things are looking good though.

Ok, enough general bally-who!

This week is also a bit of a special week as my guest is the first local (to me) person I've ever requested a guest mix from. Mike Gleeson is a Toronto House jock who I feel has a good ear for tunes and keeps it Chicago oriented. He takes little tours and excursions into other areas as any open minded person should, but in general it's because of the House he plays that I dig him. Jack, Bleep and Soul are all present and accounted for so buckle up.

Unfortunately this is a digital only release as far as I can tell. It'd be nice to have some new bubbly acid beats, I guess it's not in the (vinyl) cards right now.

I don't know if this is a new bit of Acid House Jason has dug out of the archives or what. Regardless of when it was originally recorded it's better than what I hear people calling Acid House these days.

We all hear talk about how things were back in the day, or how the oldschool was the only school. Apparently someone is doing something about it.

The new label "Yore" is starting off with an .XTrak release. .XTrak is Todd Sines, who some of you may know from recent endeavors on Planet E and Frankie Records. Some of you may also know that Todd used to rock out with his cock out on Peacefrog (i_node ep and relay ep). Unfortunately I haven't been as enamored with his latest string of releases. This one definitely pops him up out of the 'rut'. Although to be fair - it's not really a rut, just not like it was 'back in the day'

So here, here's a new EP by someone who's tracks are fondly remembered as being oldschool. Consider it a lesson, a teasing, a taste. Whatever. let's bring back the bleep, the wee woo and while we're at it some jack.

Edit: Yore is run by Andy Vaz. That's all the info you're getting out of me for now.

I recall not being a fan of the last Limbretimbre release on Pretension. Although I could be imagining things. In fact it's more than likely. Look at the pretty colours!

Four old school bombs from Paul's back catalog and 4 unreleased roller-skatin', pop-locking good times. A definitive pack worth having. And playing the snot out of.

UPDATE: Deejay.de Has this in stock now!

Bill Youngman has long been a Murky favorite. Here's another one of his previously recorded live-sets dug off of the archive disks...

Download

Whilst listening, check out Bill's site: electrostep

Another Bleep under our collective belts, another archived chunk of Techno to pass on. For Bleep 55 Mark Hawkins supplied another live-set! If he keeps it up he's going to become the most frequent guest Bleep has. I can live with that.

Cynthia Stern has finally gotten his label Input-Output all set up in a few digital music stores. Namely Beatport and HRFQ. Beatport I think we all know about and HRFQ which is based in Japan. So, if you're the type who doesn't have any I-O (shame on you!) because you don't buy vinyl, well now is your chance to grab some really good music!

I find the search on Beatport makes it a little difficult to find the label, but "Input - Output inc." brought it up as a "related item". I wont bother making the comment I'd like to regarding that. Anyway, I'm glad I-O is available to more than just us vinyl nerds now as it's a great label and it's only been getting better with each release.

Beatport
HRFQ

These are both older now, one is from 2005 and the other is from 2001 or something. Just dug them out and decided to put them back online!

I can't comment too much on this as I haven't received track samples yet. However, I know from past experience that MasCon takes what he does very seriously and if he thinks he's ready to release an LP than it's probably going to be a very well crafted package of music. It also helps that it's on Zinch. Zinch may only have 3 releases out so far, but those 3 releases have been consistently quality music with an aim at giving people more than most labels seem to settle for.

On Saturday night I went down to Detroit to play. Brought my lovely other half and a friend and the three of us barely made it anywhere. The night was apparently cursed. I had planned on arriving at 10pm (or even earlier!), but I had to run in at 11:55pm which was only 5 minutes before my scheduled start time. I don't think I ever want to do that again.

In the end I guess it all worked out. Difficulties were had, but they were overcome or just worked around. I know I enjoyed myself once there and got the chance to meet a few cool new people (which I always love to do).

The gist of this is of course some Video and Pictures. The dozen or so pictures my girlfriend took and 25 minnnnutes of video she was also a trooper enough to stand through. Into the archives they go!

I've got info about Zinch #4, but I think I'll save that for tomorrow. Today, before I head out of town, I thought I'd make some new Fun in the Murky features known...

I don't consider myself too picky when it comes to Electro, but come on guys and gals...the word Electro is being thrown around quite a bit lately. unjustly I might add. I'm not a huge keener when it comes to genre names and dividing everything up, but for some reason I've always been a bit of a prude or hold-out on the Electro front. Some of that 'purist' crap I suspect. Oh well, this mix makes up for all the "Electro House" I've been unfortunate enough to hear accidentally the last year or so. It's fantastic!

It's been a few months since a new Neil Landstrumm set has popped up online (that I've seen anyway), so this one is whole-heartedly wlecomed!

Neil landstrumm @ Techstylism 5 year Ann.

#EDIT: I found a You-tube video post from the same party: Landstrumm @ Techstylism Video Clip

Check out Neil's web site while you're listening.
Scandinavia

For those of you interested in Rotorik or his alter-alter ego TET than this is for you. His irregular bulletin...

Luke has done very well for himself the last 2 years. 2 EPs and a couple tracks here and there. Not only does it all rock, but it's got more than enough variety to keep you guessing at what he's going to drop next. None of this new EP is available to listen to on his Myspace anymore, but go ahead and check out what he does have there anyway.

TigerBeat6 Write-Up

Update: this is now OUT!

Daniel Bell has finally realized there weren't enough copies of these pressed the first time around!

A while back -- right around Bleep Radio 46 I think -- I posted a set of Vadz' that he played at a party called Techno City 2. Well there have been a few more Techno City jams since then and the recorded Vadz set from number 3 turns my crank...

On June 09th I was originally supposed to start my vacation and head to Chicago. Luckily for me, my first day of driving will now be a little shorter as Eric & Danielle of Blubuni have asked me to play for them in Columbus Ohio.

Anyway, here's a little promo mix I just now put together for them to spread around. Not too long, not too crazy. I didn't want to scare anyone --and there were file size requirements.

Back in stock at a few of the German web shops, this older Neue Heimat by Michele Fasano who also has releases on the Swiss label Mercurchrome is a little dirtier than the Mercurchrome stuff and more 4/4 oriented. It's also a far cry from the much earlier output under the name Dj Hi Speed which some of you may recognize from a few of the Mid-West acid labels that Woody McBride commanded in his prime.

This is just an oldschool Bleep and Rave mix as found on the Discogs Forums. There are definitely some gems in there worth remembering. The tracklist isn't completely accurate, it's more of a rough guide, but you'll get the idea. Enjoy the listen!

Mike Holmes! Bleep Radio # 54 was a marathon set full of wonk-core bass blasts and other genre outcasts.

"Mike Holmes has been Djing for 10 years playing a mixture of dark, grimy and wonky techno. He has played along side some of Europe's finest Techno DJ's and producers including Ben Sims, Surgeon, Steve Rachmad, James Ruskin, Regis, Neil Landstrumm, Deetron, Christian Wunsch and Robert Natus to name a few.
After co-promoting 'Soundslike' in his home City, Chester he then joined up with Alcatraz where he is currently resident DJ @ The 'legendary' Cavern Club in Liverpool."

Mike Holmes / Myspace

The net label Motronic's newest EP available for download has a Jerome Hill remix tucked away in it. It's easily the my favorite track on the EP!

J-Lab "Radiophonique EP"
Available here

I've always had a spot in my heart for the tracky, bleep laden house of Chicago (hence my vacation there in a few months). Hell it was Terry Mullan who was the doing the most damage to dance floors as far as I was concerned when I first started going out and discovering. So Chicago house has been a large part of my musical taste and record collection.

I seem to be unable to find stuff that really raises my eye brows anymore though, or at least I had difficulty until a few labels started hooking me up. I mentioned Robsoul a few days ago as a label that periodically hid a gem on an EP, but .dotbleep has been pleasing me even more.

The last .dotbleep I bought (Natural Rhythm's "Chicago Tower") hasn't left my bag in months. It fits with damn near anything I've tried to play it with and it rocks dance floors. This EP by Rosie Brown -- and DC on Remix duty -- I don't think will have the same holy crap factor, but it definitely holds it's own.

Aux 88 are one of those responsible for me loving Electro. I was passed a few old mixtapes full of Aux 88, Drexciya, Dj Godfather and Dopplereffekt once and never turned back.

So I was pretty excited about things when I found out Aux 88 were jumping back into it with a full length release. I knew their sound would probably change a bit. Time changes all, but I thought it would be for the best. An updating of the systems!

Ah well - When I finally got my copy in the mail I wasn't exactly super impressed with it. My dreams of dozens of awesome new Techno Bass records from the a-u-x mind may have been shattered a bit.

There are a few good tracks on this LP, but in all I think it's their weakest album to date. Maybe their sound just works better with the older production methods. It's all too clean and tidy now.

Robsoul has been catching my ear lately. but only slightly. It tends to be something like 1 track on an EP that makes it worth it and even then only 1 of every 2 or 3 releases. Still, they tend to jackin' examples of tracky Chi-town at it's finest and in a style you don't hear often anymore.

For example...

March was a good month. I can't think of anything that happened or was released that proves that, but I can't think of anything to prove it wrong either!