Mind Games by kitsch

Can't get enough of this one from our man KITSCH, check it.

Straight from Finland, on 502 Recordings. Check those vocals.

Forgot to mention Tunnidge's solo exhibition show presented by LAVA Collective, most definitely my bad. The London Audio Visual Art collective have been putting on massive shows and have featured the works of Obey, Faile, Swoon as well as S • W • C favourite, Ashes57. They also throw massive after parties and have bought in the likes of Loefah, Mala, Jehst, Kryptic Minds and others for the dance.
Tunnidge, the killer dubstep producer and dj is also behind all of the portraits of the Deep Medi family on their record sleeves and his first ever exhibition is aptly titled 'One For The Heads'. Unfortunately the show ends on 02/03/11 but you can find more information over at LAVA COLLECTIVE. Ashes57 has also documented the night in her usual inimitable style and you can find all pictures of the launch night and exhibition on her FLICKR.

Don't forget your Annihilator 2000 when you leave the house. We heard the mark II version is being released later this summer with a built in ipod dock, subwoofer and a super soaker for when you just want to have jokes.

Dubstepforum.com 2011 Awards

It's that time again. 2010 had some pretty interesting developments in all things spanning 120-140 bpm, bringing in some exciting new producers and labels to the scene. To see where the sound is going and what 2010 had in store for us, check out the Dubstepforum 2011 Award Nominations where you can vote on your favourite producers, djs, labels and more. It's your chance to give props to the guys and girls doing their ultimate hardest to make our ears have the best of times. You can find all the details HERE.

Walking towards the church, on its own little island in the middle of Brixton, always brings on a buzz of excitement and anticipation that is only ever felt at that moment every two months. The notorious pilgrimage up the winding stairs, the bass getting louder, deeper, and more physical the closer you get. Walking into darkness with only sub bass to guide you. Its time for DMZ.

Run by Digital Mystikz (Mala & Coki), Loefah and Sgt Pokes, DMZ has become one of the most legendary nights in the Dubstep community. Those who have been understand that it’s more than just a dance, it’s a whole experience. If you’re a follower of bass music, I can promise you there is nothing quite like standing next to the speakers in the darkness of Mass during one of Mala’s sets. Since it started in 2005 the night has created its own family of loyals who, without fail, make it to Brixton on the first Saturday of every other month. You start getting excited about the next one whilst you’re still in the club. It feels like two months is longer than you can wait before your next fix, although it is nice that the nights are spread out, it makes it feel that bit more special. Then there’s the inevitable mystery surrounding each nights lineup. Mala will generally only release the list in the week running up to the dance, although more recently he hasn’t even done that and it’s been up to those most keen to trawl the internet for clues. Most regulars take the view that it doesn’t matter who is on that list because it will always be good, and we trust that Mystikz will make the right choices for us.

There’s a mellower vibe in the dance at DMZ than in most clubs, the tagline for the night “Come meditate on bassweight” sums it up perfectly. There are obviously sets where the crowd get hyped and skank out, but the general feel is that people are just appreciating the music they love. The atmosphere has changed slightly the last few times, due to a change in the layout. Unfortunately they’ve taken out the DJ booth and now have a desk put up on the stage. This means you now face what used to be the back of the room, so without actually creating more space it has made the club feel a lot bigger (and lighter due to the doors to the hallway being behind you) so it’s lost some of its intimacy. But this is no biggie, as long as they don’t take away the soundsystem.

These days, to me, DMZ feels like the only place left that represents what dubstep was originally. There are so many spin-off genres that it’s hard to even say what we’re listening to anymore, beyond simply saying bass music. Not that that’s a bad thing, the umbrella genre of dubstep is constantly changing and offering a wider range of sounds. But DMZ has thankfully dug its heels in and kept true to how it was back in the early days of dubstep. The lineups do cater for the more recent evolutions (James Blake played the summer blazedown last July), but the majority of the names on that lineup are going to be bringing bass of the Digital Mystikz type. Deep.

The next dance is celebrating DMZ’s 6th birthday on Saturday 5th March at Mass in Brixton, and if it’s anything like the previous birthdays will have a crazy lineup. If you haven’t been before come and get a lesson in bass. And in the mean time, prepare yourselves with this 2006 Essential mix
filled with classics.



Guest contributor: Buttons MC

Dead Red Sun - Facility



Majority of our posts are based on electronic sounds but friends of S • W • C, Dead Red Sun have just finished mastering their track Facility that is definitely worth a mention.

DRS hail from sunny New Cross, South London and have been tearing up parties, gigs and kitchens since last year. The three piece featuring Tom Murphy (drums) Ollie Bremner (bass) and Mike Guppy (guitar) has been carefully developing their math/post rock sounds that traverse different influences and genres. Their intense atmospheric live sets have been powering through various venues throughout London and with the latest release from their upcoming E.P. it’s all got very exciting. They have no vocalist, which makes their live shows all the more raw, highlighting the immense thought gone into building their instrumentals. The last time i caught them was at the Playedio vs Filth night last year and it was massive, with the band set up in the middle of the room surrounded by the crowd. That amount of exposure only fueled their energy. The recording, mastered by Dave Powell from Coach Road Studios has a super cathartic climax that is even better experienced in the flesh and we can't wait to see these bad boy extraordinaires again. Check the cheeky teaser-



They've also been super nice and released the full track for free download HERE. We'll be giving you a shout when they release their E.P. and no doubt will be putting in only the fattest GoldenEye N64 session while playing it.
Don't forget to check out the details of all their latest shows on their Myspace, which includes a remix to Silo, titled Silo Waltz by our boy Phanes, featuring a beautiful marriage of two distinct sounds. And it does go off, both at their live shows and in the dance. More details of Phanes to come real soon.

Dead Red Sun's Murphy and Phanes are also continuing their collaboration as the newest addition to the Playedio roster- catch them on the Late Night Jazz Sessions every Monday, 10pm-12am.

http://deadredsun.blogspot.com/

Jamie XX Mini Mix for Benji B (Radio 1)



A delicious mix to start the year on for Radio 1's hot number 2 tip for 2011 artist Jamie XX on the Benji B show (Radio 1, 10pm-1am every Sunday). The mix embodies the sort of vibe I'm sure we'll be hearing in the coming year; keeping a constant proximity to 110 BPM and sounding almost trip-hoppy in places. The half hour features Jamie XX's fortcoming release on XL Recordings which is generating a lot of chatter at the now: Adele - Rolling In The Deep (Jamie XX Shuffle), which provides a suitable outro proceeded by Jamie XX's recent release also on XL and in collaboration with American poet, musician, and author Gil Scott-Heron. That said, the Cassie tune is absolutely large!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Timmy Thomas - Why Can’t We Live Together
Zomby - Tarantula
Jamie Woon - Night Air (Becoming Real Remix)
Koreless - M.T.I.
James Blake - I Mind
Cassie - Must Be Love (Jacques Greene’s Marriage Proposal Mix)
Mount Kimbie - Before I Move Off
Rui Da Silva - Touch Me (Chopped and Screwed)
DJ Choko - Stealth Drums
Jamie xx - Far Nearer (The Knife Bootleg)
Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo
Crazy Cousinz - Inflation (Chopped and Screwed)
Tanya Stephens - Can’t Touch Me No More
DJ A B - Darbuka
Harmonic 313 - Problem 7
Lumidee - Never Leave You
Adele - Rolling In The Deep (Jamie XX Shuffle)
Gil Scott Heron and Jamie XX - One Take

Obsessed with record sleeves, i set myself the mission to find out where the fresh sleeves for all the Hemlock Recordings releases come from. Turns out label owner Untold used to be a graphic designer and the co-owner also is a print and exhibition designer. The design is a modified Renaissance wallpaper pattern. Mystery solved.

May Not Be Real by C.R.S.T

The above pictures the four members of C.R.S.T in multicoloured glory, fresh out of South Wales. This quartet have caught my attention in prior months due to their releases on brighton's Well Rounded Records (WRND006) and No Hats No Hoods (NHNH013); their sound a Power Rangers style megatron of garage, 2-step and house that makes you want to move in several directions at the same time. I don't know if this admiration is steming from my becoming 'house-curious' to quote our man Deepo, but the snappy snares and early 90s female vocals appeal to me in a completely different way to recent productions such as that of Pearson Sound aka Ramadanman which are in the same vein...



and in this way, standalone from most recent releases. It appears as if, especially in London, house is making its way back into mainstream dance music for the masses as dubstep takes a back seat. Take, for example, the appearance of UK Funky pioneer Roska at this years Metropolis at the Warehouse Project, Manchester. Although the line ups of this popular club night in the first 12 weeks of every school year aren't exactly a showcase of credible, let alone tasteful, bass-led music, it does go to show who it's necessary to book in modernity in order to bring in the crowd when you compare this booking to that of Metropolis at the same venue a year before. While this post has already gone deeper than expected, there's still much of the rabbit still to be explored and it'll certainly be interesting to see what shape line ups will take in 2011. Remember to check out C.R.S.T and, if you get the opportunity to catch them live I suggest you do so. I'll leave you with this classic from 1993 to get your teeth in to and bare it and others of its kind in mind as the year progresses.

From we at S • W • C HQ. Hope you all had sufficiently mental evenings wherever you went. I've quite enjoyed looking through these festive gifs on a personal note, I think this one best encapsulates the fruits of my labour, don't you?

FESTIVE SPIRIT

Being Christmas and that, some Artists have been giving away cheeky free tunes. Finally started to recover from the festivities and we hope you have too. Eating your own weight in food in 20 minutes is not the one and like listening to loads of free giveaways remember, it's always important to pace yourself.
Also, don't forget to head over to Example Magazine for their massive advent calender including 24 tracks featuring Synkro and an E.P from Indigo. Enjoy.

+ Addison Groove - "Footcrab VIP"

+ Zed Bias - 'LOST DATS ARCHIVE' Volume 1

+ Silkie - The Night Before

+ Quest (Zip)

+ Jack Sparrow (Zip)

+ Mensah (Zip)

+ DJ Madd (Zip)

+ FaltyDL - And I Really Know...

+ Bjork - Hidden Place (Illumsphere Remix)

+ Skream - Gather Round

+ Skream presents: The Freeizm Album

+ Truth - Perfect Combination

+ Sines- Stuff Dreams Are Made Of (Von D's Mooving Stab Remix)

From the S • W • C TEAM. Hope you're all enjoying the festive period as much as we are and looking forward to taking a break from stuffing your ears with bass to fill your face with food this afternoon. We're excited about the new features PLAYEDIO RADIO is bringing you in the new year; the anticipation is succinctly summarised by this video

Alien Vs Predator most definitely sucked out, but Alien Vs Tron? BIG.

This is a pretty phat video illustrating the shape of things past and things to come.

Found this on the Example Mag website thanks to our boy Smithy. The interview features local artists CHIMPO and SKITTLES talking about Manchester music and, in my opinion, hits the nail on the had as fair as the contemporary scene is concerned.

The Message Manchester // Ashes57 18/11/2010



Illustrator, designer, photographer and nice person extraordinaire Ashes57 is exhibiting her work this thursday in Manchester at The Art Corner (above Trof's, Fallowfield). Fans of DMZ might have seen her cruising behind the decks and lurking around the dance taking only the sickest photos. She's produced illustrations for Loefah's Swamp 81 label- noticeably for Kryptic Minds' One Of Us/ Six Degrees release as well as all the flyers for the hugely influential badass night Dub War in New York. She's worked with heavyweight artist Obey and drawn for record sleeves to murals, taken photos of everyone from Madlib and RZA to DMZ and Cope2, and still remains super humble- easily killing it as one of my favourite artists within the scene.
The hosts Lava Collective are bringing UK Hip Hop artist Jehst to supply some beats on the opening exhibition party as well as Manchester's Format residents, Braille- it's free so come down and get cultured! All photographs, posters and original prints are up for sale too- check out her work HERE.
You can find all other details on the Facebook event page HERE.

EROSIE



Was looking through the collection the other day and found the sleeve for Martyn's 'Velvet' and 'Twenty Four' release. Other than remembering how big the tunes are, i found out that the sleeve was by Erosie- an old school graf-turned-street art badman artist and it turns out he does all the graphic design and illustrations for his and Martyn's label, 3024. (Altered Natives- The Bitch / Crop Duster above)
Always impressed when tracks add some colour to the box and even tell you a bit about the track and artists- Burial & Four Tet's pure matt black cover and even Reso's hypey multicoloured Optimus Prime artwork gives you a little insight so i've got massive respect for all things fresh in record sleeves. And Erosie's sexy 80's colour blends with abstract and contemporary, super odd drawings fit perfectly with the wax.

You can have a cheeky look at the rest of his sleeves for 3024 and other tasty artwork HERE.

S • W • C Sunday Sessions

















After an unfortunate no-go Sunday past due to technical difficulties, this week sees The S • W • C Sunday Sessions kick in to full swing from 8pm-10pm every week. We at S • W • C Manchester are very excited about this development which will showcase all our Leeds brothers and sisters musically have to offer live on PLAYEDIO RADIO. So, what can you expect to hear?

Long-time member of the S • W • C family and future music technician KITSCH will be captain of the ship, hosting the show from his penthouse around the centre of the city. Not so long ago we wrote a feature on our man Kitsch on this here blog, which can be found HERE. Make sure you check out the soundcloud for some tasty productions and mixes.

Also drafted in to the S • W • C Sunday Sessions is another friend and now-member of the S • W • C, RHODES. As you can hear from the sound cloud (CLICK HERE), this man pioneers the latest in deep house and garage music and brings an innovative new flavour to the sessions which were looking forward to hearing mature over the coming weeks in the mix.

Alongside these bad boys, Leeds will be providing you with special guests and new features to the show to create a dynamic listening experience with something different every week. As well as every Sunday 8pm-10pm, S • W • C Sunday Sessions residents will be posting on the S • W • C blog and giving an insight into news, reviews and tunes. For updates join the facebook group HERE.

You've Got The Love (Rhodes Just Breathe edit) by Rhodes