If one thing is true, The Bay likes to BOOTYCLAP! Not only have I heard that song at literally every nightclub in SF for the last few months, it’s usually the highlight of my night! So I decided, “What the hell, let’s start a monthly party dedicated to the booty bass movement.” I’ll be kicking off behind the decks as we celebrate the Launch Party with a trio of up & coming local talent, Infected Frequencies tagging “minage a tio” for 2 hrs. Wrapping up the evening, Chew Your Vitamins General, A+ will be dripping bass bombs all over a presumably sweaty dancefloor. Bring your booty and come get into it this Thursday 8.9.12 at The Comet Club on The Historic Fillmore St. at Filbert! FREE / 10-2AM / 21+
Our homie KROOKS is joining us for his first ‘KROOKS Report’:
It’s been a huge month-and-a-half for breakout production duo Disclosure since presenting their most substantial release to date, “The Face EP”, on Berlin/London based Greco-Roman Records. Initially released on 6.04.12 it’s taken a meteoric rise through beatport’s loosely categorized “electronica” section, landing it in the #1 spot in today’s Top-Ten. Dual vocalist Sinead Harnett and Ria Ritchie combine to conjure up the summer-ready Deep House shimmy of ‘Boiling’, and the Broken Beat-flavored chords and nimble drum programming of ‘What’s In Your Head’, both with Sinead Harnett on the A-side. Flipside they summon classic late ’90s vibes on the effervescent bubbler ‘Control’ starring Ria Ritchie, tipping out on a “sexier” House jaunt called ‘Lividup’. The huge support this album has seen across many different sub-genres of edm is a true testament to the “electronica genre” or “bass movement’s” ability to fit into a wide array of dance music sets and have the crowd grooving deep into the night. I strongly encouraging copping the album today and also digging deeper into the seemingly “wild-wild-west” of beatport.com that is “electronica.”
This1that1 is what happens when the two bass wizards Kill Frenzy and Nick Monaco team up for a collaboration, forthcoming on Moda Black. Kill Frenzy, the Willy Wonka of the Booty Clap factory, brought out all the secret ingredients for his debut release on dirtybird which made waves throughout EDM with everyone m-m-making that booty clap including Skrillex. Nick Monaco is also no stranger to dirtybird, having been recently featured on their Hatched compilation, he is master chef in the bass kitchen. This1that1 is gonna be wrecking dancefloors all summer. Its well engineered bassline keeps you on your toes then its soft melodies and hook takeover the wheel steering you straight into Basstown, USA for an extended vacation.
Sepehr never looked so good ! ‘Apple Bottoms’, the track heard round the world, is finally seeing a proper release on Anabatic. I first caught wind of this tune on Justin Weisberg’s Sound Pellegrino podcast, and I’ve been waiting to get my hands on it ever since. When we hosted Sepehr at Bangers &MASH you know he dropped it legit (photos). With summer vibes taking over ‘Apple Bottoms’ is gonna get some booty’s clappin. Support from Justin Martin, Claude Von Stroke, Maelstrom, Tom Flynn, and others. Keep your ears open for more fire from Sepehr more big releases are on the way.
Girl Unit is back !! Club Rez a 2xLP is out now on Night Slugs. After putting out what was arguably one of the tippity top tracks of 2010 with his club smasher ‘Wut’ expectations are high, but as he says in this interview with cluster mag “I could’ve done a follow up with a similar thing, but I really didn’t want to try and outdo it.” Even though we arent getting a Wut 2.0 with Club Rez it definitely raises the bar even higher and fleshes out one of the world’s most interesting producers in the form of 6 solid bangers on all white vinyl.
With that said the standouts for me are ‘Ensemble’ best described by the man himself ”it’s all done on a LINN drum – the old Prince drum – with a shit ton of effects on it, but at the same time I wanted to show a grimier, darker side of it”. Seriously nasty prince club vibes serenaded by a synthladen miami beach breakdown. Next, If theres anything that comes close to a Wut 2.o its ‘Club Rez’. Leading with a tron style synth buildup which drops into a no frills bassline it keeps you grooving while still wanting more, it might leave a lil to be desired but it gets better with time. Finally, theres ‘Double Take’ which is drenched in hyphy bloops and inspired by drum programming from the bay area (YEE!). Listen to the end of the the track to get a preview of what Girl Unit calls ‘Double Take 2′ on course to be a for sure banger !!
Recently I took a journey from my town of adelaide and travelled to melbourne where I had the pleasure of meeting up with young gun producer ‘Kraymer‘. After his massive release with Will Bailey’s Simma records which had support and tune spinning from the likes of Mightyfools, he now drops another monster couple of records with ‘Vicious Bitch’, the sister label to Vicious.
The EP drops with big remixes from Sick Nifty, Tigre Hoods, Will Bailey and Jay Robinson while spanning genre’s of drum step, moombahton, bass line and acid house. Now as if that wasn’t enough, the release is completed with a nice little techno tune which seems a form of experimentation from Kraymer’s signiture bass line sound.
Currently in the midst of moving cities to Sydney, the future looks bright for this Australian producer, so be sure to keep an eye on him!
1. Ragnar Grippe – Ten Temperaments: 2
2. Ike – Ribbons
3. DJ Hell & Anthony Rother – German Bodymachine
4. 11:11 – Tourist Trap (Renaissance Man remix)
5. Unique 3 – Weight For The Bass (3 Ton Edit)
6. Michna – Redline Flights
7. Tevo Howard – Spend Some Time (Underground mix)
8. Martyn – Masks
9. The Swiss – Double Or Nothing (Renaissance Man Remix)
10. 5 Mic Cluster – Basildon Lover
11. Aquarius Heaven – Universe
12. Renaissance Man – Stalker Humanoid
13. Dexter – Space Booty
14. Instra:mental – User
15. The Other People Place – Let Me Be Me
It seems as though any sound is up for grabs in Renaissance Man’s studio. The Finnish duo sampled spraycans on their 2009 debut through Dubsided; used scat singers and (synthesized) insects on Made to Play; and chopped-up religious chants via Sound Pellegrino. Their forthcoming album, The Renaissance Man Project, runs even further with this approach. Ticking clocks, ping-pong balls, fireworks and sitars are just a few of the overt sonic sources, although many of the tear-out inclinations of Downtown and Jaxxon’s previous releases have been scrubbed from the palette, leaving behind an air of experimentation and genre explorations.
The album might not be suffused with the kind of classic electro flavours present throughout RA.273, but that just serves to illustrate the breadth of Renaissance Man’s purview these days.
What have you been up to recently?
Finishing an album, making another album, enjoying the perks of global warming in Helsinki, preparing our first live show, making a video, writing a book.
How and where was the mix recorded?
Live on a Sunday morning on a rusty container ship hosting a 72-hour fetish party, sailing in the extra-legal international waters of the Baltic Sea. Or on Ableton Live in Ville’s flat in Berlin. One can believe either of the stories but the first-mentioned provides a better mental setting for its full appreciation.
Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?
It’s a concept-free representation of what we are playing out at the moment; a healthy dose of different styles, old and new.
Where are you at musically at the moment? There seems to a strong
(proper) electro current running through the mix.
True. Lately we have found ourselves digging, playing and rediscovering a lot of electro-ish stuff. Growing up in the Finnish electronic music scene one could not avoid the influence of artists such as Mr. Velcro Fastener, Mono Junk, ImatranVoima, Helsinki Bass Machine (who is, by the way, featuring under a different name on our upcoming album) and their likes. Not to speak of the DJ’ing of K-X-P’s KaukoLampi or the legendary Helsinki Turbo parties. So it’s in our blood but perhaps a bit more explicit than earlier.
What was behind your decision to leave Helsinki?
Well only half of RM (Ville) left Helsinki more permanently. It’s the usual story, being a music producer, moving to Berlin. Helsinki is a small city and Finland a small country relatively far away from the rest of the European “scene.” It still has great events (like Flow Festival) and a few nice clubs, but we find ourselves playing mainly elsewhere.
What are you up to next?
Touring both DJ’ing and with our live show. Ville is also working on a new musical project, Millennium, with City Slang artist Norman Palm and on a mysterious project called Madgermany with writer Ingo Niermann. Martti’s book Solution Finland: The Welfare Game will be out in the fall on Sternberg Press. We are also working on a literary compendium to the album with the London-based design collective Åbäke. And of course, new Renaissance Man material is already in the works.
