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A truly great show this week that is action packed with promos !
We get underway with the latest Bedrock release (out now) as King Roc (Martin Dawson) teams up with Dimitri Nakov to bring us the A-side from their "Sao Paulo Nights" EP. "Jardin Nights" is a very cool piece of tech edged house with a deep groove.
Martin and Dimitri met a couple of years ago, at Universo Paralelo in Bahia (Brazil) at New Year. Musically, they found they had a lot in common and kept bumping into each other at gigs and (crucially) on an Iberia flight to Sao Paulo late last year. Having a couple of days spare in Brazil they sat in a friend’s studio after dinner one night and Martin started tinkering. Dimitri said .. "record!" and delved into his sample and funk and disco collection - 2 nights later they had created the two tracks that are ‘Sao Paulo Nights’ , which they then recorded at Dimitri’s friend Gabe's studio in Jardins in Sao Paulo.
Working under the name King Roc, Martin Dawson released his debut album in 2009 to critical acclaim (including album of the month in DJ Mag and 10/10 from IDJ Mag) and was nominated by DJ Mag for best UK producer and best artist album 2009. His sproductions have been supported by many dance music artists such as Laurent Garnier, Tiefschwarz, Radioslave, and Luciano to name a few. He also records under the name Two Armadillos with Giles Smith from secretsundaze, London – he’s worked with labels such as Bang!Bang!, Dessous, STHLM Audio, Buzzin' Fly and Four:Twenty with remixes for Moodmusic, R&S and Fear Of Flying, and DJs Deep House and Techno all around the world.
Dimitri Nakov moved to Brazil in 2001 after a few good years in the UK dance scene and a handful of unique experiences working and DJ'ing with Sasha, running Narcotic Records (Roger Sanchez's UK based label) and promoting artists such as Robert Miles, during the "Children" heyday. An integral part of the burgeoning Sao Paulo electronic music scene Dimitri regularly plays events topping 10-20,000 people across the globe, especially in Brazil (Creamfields), and Big Beach (Japan) as well as smaller, more intimate gigs like D.Edge (Sao Paulo) and De Puta Madre (Belo Horizonte), which is widely regarded as one of Brazil's best clubs, alongside Warung (which Dimitri has also played). Back in Europe (Ibiza) at present, Dimitri has become a regular guest on David Moreno's show on Ibiza Global Radio, while also achieving an unofficial residency with Sasha last year at Cream at Amnesia, and playing internationally at Sonar, Urban Artforms Festival, The Glade Festival and touring with Layo & Bushwacka and Luciano in Japan. Dimitri's other recent musical adventures include remixes of Sasha’s "Park It In The Shade" and "Coma", and "Move!" by Smith & Selway.
"Jardin Nights" has been massive in a live setting for Diggers over the past few months and a core element in the way he gets the dancefloor moving and builds his special sets. Future collaberations are keenly anticipated !
Japanese label Endless Flight (Sub-label of Mule Musiq) presents some brilliant remixes of tracks off KZA's 2009 debut album. one of the hottest talents on the nu disco/house scene 'The Revenge' remixes the A-side taking the original Italo electro-style house track and upgrading this into heads down atmospheric deep house territory. Scottish DJ and producer 'The Revenge' is definately a name to watch out for. He frequently collaborates with Craig Smith as 6th Borough Project (recent EPs 'Instruments Of Rapture' and 'Delusions Of Grandeur') and also brought us a stripped remix of "Soldiers" on T289.
Harvey McKay is respected within the global techno scene after a couple of EP’s and his full artist album on the infamous Soma label at the end of last year. His 'the Welshly arms' is a fierce techno gem - look out also for the Giorgos 'Binary Star System' Gazigristos remix which has had support from the likes of Sasha.
Next up is the first single from Danish producer Anders Trentemøller's forthcoming album 'Into The Great Wide Yonder'. 'Sycamore Feeling' is a beautifully melancholic downtempo song with haunting vocals courtesy of singer Marie Fisker. Add in the talents of Gui Boratto, who can simply do no wrong of late, and we get a very beautiful, moody and accomplished remix with a memorable hook. Adding a simple and driving four / four beat, Boratto immediately gives the track momentum. A deep bassline chugs beneath cut ups and snippets of Fisker's vocals that give the remix the familiar feel of the original. The skill of the remix lies in Boratto's ability to transform the mood of the original, but keep the melodic tones that wash over TrentmØller's original version of "Sycamore Feeling."
The full-length second LP will be released on June 7th, and will come out via Trentemøller's own In My Room imprint. Composed of ten tracks, the record sees Trentemoller experimenting with "more organic and analog" textures, in contrast to the "crisp, digital sheen" that made him famous on his debut, The Last Resort. Reportedly including instruments like bass mandolin, theremin and a music box, Trentemoller nonetheless admits that computers were utilized at some point in the process. "I recorded most of the album in my computer, but in the final stages I transferred all the parts to analog tape through a lot of vintage EQ's and pre-amps. The tape saturation and the analog outboard really helped getting the warm sound that I was after." Solveig Sandnes, Josephine Philip and Guillemots singer Fyfe Dangerfield all feature.
French duo Lownza (Loris 'Lowkiss' Pugnet and Damien Zala) are two independent DJs and producers, who after meeting in JETT parties discovered they had something in common - they are both sound engineers and share the same culture, the same passion for music and the same tastes in matter of electronic music. Here we get Sweden's Martinez in remix duty - Martinez is also about to release his new solo album “The Paradigm Shift” on Moon Harbour, out in late may 2010, which is very inspired by his passion for deep chicago house mixed up with influences of techno, break beats, heavy percussion rhythms and dubby downtempo. 'Crème de Chateigne' is a hypnotic and percussive piece of deep techno ideal for a small dark club.
Madrid's Henry Saiz is simply one of the hottest emerging prospects in elecronic music today - whether it's running his 'Natura Sonoris' label, banging out amazing and definitive remixes, DJ'ing worldwide or producing his own music. Henry's latest release is, as ever, full of beautiful haunting melodies, clever composition & structure, and driving beats. I did try to wrangle the title out of him but I think that Renaissance are keeping things under wraps for now. So keep watching this space !
Next up the the huuuuge track from Circus in Liverpool that John closed with last weekend, as Christian Smith tackles Carl Craig's 1993 classic "At Les" taking it into the progressive arena - the results are stunning.
Here's a link to the original, which still sounds fresh exciting and pioneering today:
"A grumbling breathy 5th counterpointing the sighing chords, the most subtle of lower notes here and there, a tough pinned down synth eventually riveting the beats in to place to prepare for the shuffling quasi-acoustic breakbeats, electronic china cymbals heralding the arrival of a buried kick drum - and that haunting wind motif falling, falling, falling..."
[YOUTUBE]
Christain Smith has produced two remixes and says 'I think its the best work I have done in a long time' - which is no small statement from a producer whose list of achievements would be the envy of many.
"Thanks for the support John. I have a feeling my remixes of Carl Craig will become big. Wohoo
out in June on Tronic!" Christian Smith
We end with another couple of remixer/producers that don't seem to have such a bad CV either - whether they go under their individual names or under their "Bedrock" moniker, John and Nick always come up with something special. Anyone that has seen John live over the past 6-months may well have heard this track - now we can finally ID the dancefloor destroyer that is their remix of Abe Duque's 'Hypocrisy'.
John Digweed - Transitions 293 (Kiss100) 11th April 2010
01. King Roc and Dimitri Nakov - Jardin Nights [Bedrock BED87]
02. KZA - Goth Energy (The Revenge Remix) [Endless Flight Recordings EF023EP]
03. Harvey McKay - The Welshly Arms [Manual Music man037]
04. Trentemøller - Sycamore Feeling (Gui Boratto Remix) [In My Room IMR01]
05. Lownza - Crème de Chateigne (Martinez remix) [Jett Records Promo]
06. Henry Saiz - untitled [Renaissance Promo]
07. Carl Craig - At Les (Christian Smith`s Tronic Treatment Remix) [Tronic Promo]
08. Abe Duque - Hypocrisy (John Digweed and Nick Muir Remix) [Process Recordings Promo]
King Roc Guest Mix (Kiss100) 11th April 2010
01. Pol_on – Toga (Martin Dawson Remix) [Pets Records]
02. Alex Niggemann – Deep Down [CDR]
03. Kay Sand – Tool Tung [CDR]
04. Catz n Dogs – Rolling [CDR]
05. Ramon Tapia – Sunka Sanka (Coyu & Edu Imbernon Mix) [Great Stuff]
06. Martin Eyerer & Sasse – Save My Life (Martin Dawson Remix) [Moodmusic]
07. Loko – In Love [Buzzin' Fly]
08. Uner Coyu – The Garden of the Gods [CDR]
09. King Roc & Dimitri Nakov – Alameda Jau [Bedrock]
10. Sour Grapes – We Are [CDR]
King Roc Bio
http://www.myspace.com/kingrocuk
Part Twin Peaks ... part Pink Floyd ... and it’s King Roc’s new album project...
WELCOME TO THE MUTUAL SOCIETY
The search is still on for the mythical dance-artist album that’s “not just for clubs”. A bit of mystery, a bit live, not just house - and more ambition than just cranking out the perfect dancefloor number...
King Roc’s new label the Mutual Society is the rehearsal for his debut album Chapters, due mid-2008. It’s part visual-art project - unlocking layers and layers of meaning through the Web and collaborations with Australian artist Sebastian Godfrey of Drunkpark. It’s part “a bit of a hippy thing”, as King Roc puts it - creating, across four EPs and an album, a new type of old-school concept album, taking in birth, death, and what drives people in the time between ...
But mainly the label will be an ambitious musical reworking of the four EPs to create a new, final album - turning ambient tracks to dance, complex electronics to rough live performance, crossing downtempo to techno, EPs to albums. Nothing will sound like it did to begin.
The first chapter EP? It runs from its ambient opening to house to techno to electronica, from birth to the random chances that change your life... "The album as a whole is about curiosities and questions," says King Roc. "But chapter one – Lunaris – is focused on the world of patterns and cycles - from the rotation of our planet around our sun and the moon around us, to the routines of when we eat, sleep, work and play.
"Day-by-day, we live in patterns, structured and repetitive. But it is often the random event within a cycle that has the greatest affect on our lives. This can come from meeting a person who ends up having a big influence on your life, to the personal experiences we have that inspire us and which drive us to create.
"Does everything that has happened to get us to this point depend purely on the fluke and coincidence? From the monumental creation of the universe and our planet, to a smaller but equally important event - how our parents met. Or is there some sort of pattern for it all? Do we believe in fate and destiny? Or is it really just because of chance events that anything is here at all? So we wonder…
"But asking the question," he says, is what makes us who we are and because we ask the questions, we reason. Perhaps then; reason is the definition of who we are? But this still leaves the question why? In Chapters, you you won’t find any answers. But there is a mutual desire to look at the questions to show we know they are there..."
For King Roc, that's the future. And the past? He's released records on labels from BuggedOut! to Simple to Love Minus Zero to Azuli to Beautycase to Playtime. He's remixed New Order, Future Sound of London, S'Xpress and Stakker. His dancefloor sound is deep, lush melodic techno to house, with gigs from Berlin to Sydney, Siberia to San Paolo. But his roots are in live music, and his first forays into music were a live band that has since split to become three successful UK DJs – the others were Tom Neville and Nick Fryer (Sentience).
Chapters, he says, is in some ways a return - from live to electronic and back to live again, from groups to solo to new collaborations. Start, change, return, change ... the journey, always, as important as the destination...
Selected discography of King Roc
Feed On Me - Back Yard Recordings 2004
Pressure / How Big Is It - Kingsize 2005
Prime Evil - 1 Trax Recordings 2005
Prime Evil - Cassagrande 2005
Better Ways - iO Music 2005
Take Me Away / Mirror To Infinity - Bugged Out 2006
The Tip - Love Minus Zero 2006
Tirades Of ENV - KRPD 2006
Welcome To Zion - Simple Records 2006
Chapter I: Lunaris - Mutual Society 2007
Flicker EP - Love Minus Zero 2007
Remixes:
Chicken Lips 'Do It Proper' - Azuli Black 2004
Plastique EP 'Metro Sexuality' - Beautycase-Records 2004
Dylan Rhymes 'Salty' - Kingsize 2004
Atlantis 'Atlantis' - Skyline Records 2005
Andy Bell 'Crazy' - Sanctuary Records 2005
Holderman 'Left / Right Switch' - Involved Productions 2005
Peas (12") Peas - Most Records 2005
Mark Moore 'Trash The Can' - Umami 2005
New Order 'True Faith' - New State Recordings 2006
Cass & Mangan 'Caper' - Playtime 2006
'She's Hardcore' - Toolroom Trax 2006
Breakfasterz 'The Pressure' - Passenger 2006
Junkie XL 'Today' - Skyline Records 2006
Pablo Bolivar 'Vertigo EP' - Bay Street Recordings 2006
FSOL 'We Have Explosive' - Virgin Records 2006
Above & Beyond 'Good For Me' - Ultra 2007
Gastek 'White' (King Roc Remix) DJ Magazine 2007
Stakker Humanoid 'Stakker Humanoid' - Jumpin' & Pumpin' 2007
Finally ...
at Bedrock Easter Party last week the line-up for SW4 in the Bedrock Arena was announced, and looks rather tasty
