This is one DJ you don’t wanna fuck with.

So, Wiley’s started previewing his next single and, to the dismay of many grime fans, it’s more electro than grime again, heavily sampling Daft Punk’s Aerodynamic. He’s making more moves towards grime with this one though, it’s got a lot more MCing that Wearing My Rolex but it’s major flaw is that the chorus is shit.

Big up Butterz for the link

JME’s album; Famous?, was out on Monday on iTunes and based on his previous output being essentials to any grime fan, I was all over it like a rash. I was pretty disappointed to be honest, theres not much stand out stuff on there and it kinda feels like just another mixtape. It’s not bad at all, just not as amazing as I’d hoped.

Something interesting off the album is Power, produced by one of my favourite producers; Mr V and featuring everyone’s favourite white man, Tim Westwood.

JME – Power

This instrumental was also vocalled by Durrty Goodz on his Axiom EP released last year. This is something I’d hoped to be able to compare Famous? to becuase, for me, this was a seminal release. Even now it’s stil a great listen and I’ve rinsed it. Bear with the pitched up vocals, it’s not the best track off the EP but it was an easy link.

Durrty Goodz – The Youngers

Talking of Mr V, he’s released a little medley of his bassline tunes for a free download from his myspace. It’s reminded me of how much I rate his productions, so heres a couple of vinyl rips of his past stuff as well.

Mr V – Seductive Vol 1.

Mr V – Mother Fuckers

Mr V – Opera House

Mr V’s done a remix of Rolex Sweep as well which I can assure you is extra funky and fully in tune with the summer. Keep your eyes peeled for it

Are you stupid in the face?

Plastician’s album; Beg To Differ, came out this week and it’s a banger. I’m a big fan of Plastician becuase I like the way he mixes up grime and dubstep. This video for Intensive Snare is awesome, done by Dr Smoov who’s produced a load of his own episodes of classic cartoons like Transformers and GI Joe. There are some heavy tunes on Beg To Differ, as well as the grimey Real Things there’s some great pure dubstep in tunes like Japan and Vio-Lent. Buy it at Bleep now.

Plasitican Ft. Skepta – Intensive Snare

Also, if you’re a follower of goings on in the grime world, you’ll have no doubt spotted by now that grime’s godfather Wiley joined Hot Chip on stage at Glastonbury over the weekend to join in their rendition of Wearing My Rolex as covered in Radio 1’s Live Lounge. I think this is great stuff, along with Wiley’s chart number 2 and Skepta’s Rolex Sweep looking good I think it’s about time some grime artists got a bit of mainstream exposure. A lot of grime purists are arguing that it’s not right becuase these songs aren’t grime, but at the very least its dispelling the stereotype of the grime scene as held by non grime fans. See, it’s not all about shanks, lengs and skets, its all about rolexes.

Hot Chip – Wearing My Rolex (Wiley Cover)

On the whole Rolex topic, Skepta’s video for the Rolex Sweep is looking awesome, far, far more appropriate than that bollocks with the foxes that was the Wearing My Rolex video. Love the midget MJ

Watch out for the cameo by my new favourite radio DJ; Mistajam. We played the Bournemouth Uni summer ball a few weeks ago and caught his set after we finished. He’s amazing. Also pretty good is the Vandalism remix of the Rolex Sweep:

Skepta – Rolex Sweep (Vandalism Remix)

Mixes

I’ve started recording some of my mixing at home and releasing it as a podcast. It’s all recorded live in my living room so is often a bit rough in places, but hopefully should still be an interesting listen as I’m trying to get out as much stuff as possible.

Podcast link for itunes is HERE – iTunes users get a bit of a juicy bonus in the form of artwork and stuff.

Or you can download the fist two mixes below:

Episode 1: Basslime Promo Mix

1) Skepta – You Dead Pussy (Instrumental)
2) Skream – Dutch Flower
3) Trim – Inside Looking Out
4) Mainac – Bow E3 (Instrumental)
5) Agent X – Killahertz
6) A1 Bassline vs Daft Punk – HFBS (Been Done A Million Times But Not Like This Remix)
7) Toddla T – Soundtape Killin’ (Nastee Boi Remix)
8.) Artful Dodger – Rewind (Skepta Remix)
9) So Solid Crew – 21 Seconds
10) Alias – Gladiator 2
11) Coki – Shattered
12) Jakes – 3kout
13) Joker – Gully Brook Lane
14) Benga – B4 The Duel
15) Dizzee Rascal – I Luv U (Instrumental)
16) Dizzee Rascal vs Musical Mobb – I Luv Pulse X
17) Dizzee Rascal – I Luv U (4×4 Remix)
18.) DJ Q & MC Bonez – You Wot
19) Gemma Fox – Might Be (DJ Q Remix)
20) Wittyboy – Curry House
21) Zed Bias – Neighbourhood

Episode 2 – In A Corner Promo Mix

Track Listing
1) Rico Tubbs – I Like it Raw
2) Oh Snap! – Bill Cosby Sweater (Hostage Remix)
3) South Rakkas Crew – Mad Again (Boy 8-Bit Remix
4) Fake Blood – Mars
5) Kid Cudi – Day N Nite (Crookers Remix)
6) Snoop Dogg – Senual Seduction (Wideboys Bassline Mix
7) Wiley – Wearing My Rolex (Pirate Soundsystem Bassline Remix
8.) Dynamite MC – Rush The DJ
9) Jammer ft. Skepta & Frisco – Skankin’ Ting

Just incase anyone wasn’t sure, In A Corner is another night we’re running in Bournemouth featuring our favourite local dj’s playing everything from electro indie mashups to filthy ragga tinged fidget house to bassline and dubstep. Skanktastic. DJ’s involved include Capture the Castle, Ste-V-Something, Your Boyfriends are DJs, Rilla and ourselves. We might also get an MC down as well.

bassssssssslime

Basslime, our new night, starts this Saturday at iBar in Bournemouth. There’s been a couple of nights around town that maybe play some grime or a bit of bassline, but as far as we’re concerned they’ve got it all wrong, so we’re Bournemouth’s first proper grime, garage, bassline and dubstep night. And proud of it.

Our first night is a showcase for our resident DJs, then we’ll start booking some shit hot djs to properly bring the party to the south coast. We’ve set up a myspace page at www.myspace.com/basslime and started adding some of our favourite DJs so you can get an idea of who we’re looking at.

As well as us, the resident Basslime DJs are:

Rilla – This dude was a big part in bringing dubstep to Bournemouth with his Bloc Control night, which is sadly dormant since The Consortium shut. We’re weren’t down with letting his DJ talent go to waste so we’ve roped him in to this Basslime business, and we’re pretty much certain he’s gonna smash it.

Massi – I met Massi at a house party where he was djing and fuck knows what he thought of me but I fucking loved him from the minute he busted out Wiley’s Eskimo. Luckily he’s actually amazing, and I didn’t just think that cos I was wasted.

Here’s some banging tunes that I’m gonna play

Jammer ft Skepta & Frisco – Skankin’ Ting (from Are You Dumb? 3)

Leon Jean-Marie – Bring It On (Rusko Remix)

The Specials – Ghost Town (Suspicious Stench Remix)

Virgo ft. B Live & Flirta D – The Clack Riddim (CLASSIC)

Tubby T – Tales of the Hood (R.I.P)

Great Escape

Just got back from the weekend at Brighton, we saw some amazing new stuff, some amazing established stuff and some stuff I’d been told was amazing but had to see it to get into it. Here’s a breakdown:

Thursday

After getting fully violated by flies for wearing a green t-shirt, we caught Paul Marshall in a very quiet gig, with most of the crowd seemingly being made up of his friends. I think most people were struggling with the concept of roaming around town for the festival so had chosen on venue to stick to all night. They all missed out, big time.

Paul Marshall – Cross Stitched Lips

After Paul Marshall we headed down to catch Mumdance doing his dj thing between bands at Revenge. This boy knows where it’s at, we were loving his tunes, and had a chat with him after and he turned out to be a really nice guy, who will definitely be coming down for a Basslime gig soon. Check his mix over at Mad Decent

Went on then to catch Late of the Pier who were awesome and young, and jealousy inducing. I’m pretty sure everything of theirs has been blogged to death, so heres their video for The Bears are Coming

The night wound up at Concorde 2 with the Go Team, who we queued for fucking ages to see because Vampire Weekend were on first. It was fun tho, when we did get in, but we were all pretty knackered by then and ended up heading back to our rooms which were invaded by the We Are Your Friends crew who got a bit screwed for accommodation.

Friday

We stepped it up a gear on Friday, taking in twice as many bands and 5 times as much alcohol, so forgive me if this write up is a little hazy on the details.

First up was The Shoes at Barfly. I have no recollection of this at all, but at least that means it wasn’t rubbish. From there we went on to see Rolo Tomassi at Revenge for the absolute highlight of the weekend. I’ve heard people banging on about them for ages but seeing them live was what made it for me. Literally, amazing. Go and see them now. Also, buy their EP off

Rolo Tomassi – Film Noir

From there we staggered slack jawed back to Barfly for Ebony Bones who were good enough for me to remember (just), and were then followed by Friendly Fires who were awesome. I got introduced to Orlando from The Maccabees and couldn’t process what was going on. (I was a lot drunker than I thought)

Ebony Bones – We Know All About You

Friendly Fires – Paris

Friendly Fires – On Board

We moved on again to Concorde 2 from Magistrates and the Ting Tings. I stood outside for most of the Magistrates set trying to sober up and talk to random girls, and despite having no interest in the Ting Tings I’m pleased to say they put on a really good show. I may have fallen asleep standing up and with a pint in my hand.

Magistrates – Inbetweens

Saturday

On Saturday Pete and I took in our first daytime show, brushing up on our METAL from the likes of Johnny Truant, The Ghost of a Thousand and Cancer Bats.

The Ghost of a Thousand – They Breed as They Swarm

The evening shows were set to start with Beardyman followed by Wiley then Tomb Crew DJs, but Beardyman was silently cancelled and Wiley bumped up the bill, only to not show up anyway leaving Tomb Crew to play for ages. To be fair though, Tomb Crew know where the shit’s at, and I’ll be making the effort to catch them at Big In Japan when they come down.

We went up to Pressure Point to catch Example, but got there early for the end of Gotye’s set. It’s a damn good job we did as well, because he was great. One dude playing keyboards, drums, a wood block and a laptop with some awesome visuals and a great range of tunes, definitely one to watch if you ever get the chance.

Gotye – Thanks For Your Time [Amazing Video]

Example was great as well, and turned out to be the highlight of the night. I’ve been a fan of his style for a while and he didn’t fail to impress, even if he does look like a local dj who hates us. He even boshed out the Herve remix of So Many Roads, which kept everyone bouncing bouncing bouncing. Shit hot show!

Example – Eyeballs Painted Black (Feat. The Rolling Stones)

Example – You Can’t Rap

Example – Me & Mandy [TUUUUUUUNE]

Example – So Many Roads (Hervé Remix)

We returned again to Concorde 2 for Wiley who was scheduled in to replace Santogold who was ill. I’m a big Wiley fan but had never managed to catch him live before, and I left the show feeling proper let down. All the videos I’ve seen or live audio I’ve listened to shows a completely different show to what we saw, I think down to the success of Rolex. The crowd was pretty waste until Rolex came on, Wiley seemed half bothered, did single verses of tunes, fully dictated what DJ Cheeky should play and didn’t really seem to have a set list or anything. Live PAs are difficult for a grime MC because it’s not like the rave situation they’re used to in London where there’s huge hype and the DJ runs the show. He played a couple of tracks off Grime Wave, but I mean played the tracks, straight off the CD. Missed out big tunes in favour of letting Cheeky do his thing with some old school garage?! Not what we went there for really.

Tunes He Played:

Wiley – Local Lad

Wiley – If You’re Going Out I’m Going Out Too

We were gutted that he didn’t play:

Wiley – Bow E3

Upcoming…

The lineup for the next We Are Your Friends event just got announced the other day, and we’re playing our first set in the main room alongside Partyshank and Rock Da World. We’ll be abandoning our Grime/Bassline/Dubstep passion for the evening to rock the party with a classic mix of electro remixes and massive bangers as the main room at WAYF is traditionally an insane electro mayhem pit and we don’t like to disappoint.

We’ve been big fans of Partyshank since hearing their stuff when it first dropped on blogs back in November, and are pretty excited to be supporting them. Here’s some favourites of mine:

Partyshank vs Yo Majesty

Late Of the Pier – The Bears are Coming (Partyshank Remix)

The Shank half of Partyshank is also a bassline bad man by the alter ego of A1 Bassline (I think the name is to get him listed higher in the Yellow Pages)

A1 Bassline ft. Safi – Girl Thing

I have to be honest, I’d not really heard of Rock Da World until yesterday, but after a bit of research I’ve liked what I’ve found. I’ve only been able to dig up some low bitrate stuff, but here’s one:

Theres a few more over on their website

We’re off to the Great Escape in Brighton tomorrow for the weekend, so hopefully I’ll have some great new stuff to post next week.

revisited

The first time garage came around it was a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. I was at a school not far outside London and one of my mates from London introduced me to the sounds, but all my other friends were metalheads who didn’t get it. Then by the time Rewind smashed the chart, I was ready to drop it all as it hit the mainstream because I was young and wanted to make an impression. Still, I look upon my garage days fondly and will make a few posts for nostalgias sake as I come across some classics.

The first of these posts is about classic garage legends Sunship. I just re-bought their 1998 album Is This Real and it’s brought back some memories!

Sunship’s first release was a self titled breakbeat track on the Acid Jazz label in 1991(!), and whilst it’s pretty different from his later, more popular stuff, you can still hear the influence that the sound would continue to have on the tunes that made his name.

Sunship – Sunship

Sunship won the MOBO for best jazz act in 1997, but towards the end of the 90s, Ceri Evans came to embrace the 2-step sound that would make him a household name as Sunship. Standout tracks from Is This Real:

Sunship – In The Pocket Featuring Noel McKoy

Sunship – Try Me Out Featuring Anita Kelsey

Which went on to become

Sunship – Try Me Out (Let Me Lick It)

In 2000 he remixed Flowers by SFA which went huge and still kills a crowd, then Craig David’s 7 Days which adds loads to the original.

Craig David – 7 Days (Sunship Remix)

More recently, the expanded Sunship team remixed Jay Sean’s Ride It in 2007, in which you can hear the bouncing basslines that fuelled the bassline resurgence later in the year with T2’s Heartbroken.

Jay Sean – Ride It (Sunship Remix)

They released Quits featuring prominent dubstep vocalist Warrior Queen, which got the remix treatment from one of the men of the moment, Sinden

Sunship – Quits (Sinden Remix)

Then they only went and returned the favour with a remix of The Count and Sinden’s Beeper, which easily holds its own against a slew of amazing remixes of this tune.

The Count and Sinden – Beeper (Sunship Vocal Remix)

Yes, I know I already posted that.

I seen it done in toy story

I swear there’s never been a better time to keep an eye out for remixes than now, every day theres new remixes coming out that are by remixers I love, or bands/DJs I love, or both if I’m lucky. Here’s some that I’m loving right now, and will play tomorrow.

The Count and Sinden – Beeper (Sunship Remix)

With this bassline/garage revival I’m happy to see the return of Sunship. They had some classic tunes back in the garage hayday and are clearly still on top form.

The Black Ghosts – Any Way You Choose To Give It (Fake Blood Remix)

Every blogger is on Fake Blood about now, everyone’s wondering who he might be. Even wikipedia thinks it knows. Whoever he is, he’s goooood. As are The Black Ghosts, who I saw at SXSW and were fucking good.

Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (Crookers Remix)

I also saw Chromeo at SXSW and they were obviously amazing, and I love almost all Crookers remixes. Could this get any better for me?

South Rakkas Crew – Mad Again (Boy 8-Bit Remix)

Everything Boy 8-Bit touches turns to gold. EVERYTHING. Watch out for The Suspense is Killing Me when it drops, that tune is one of my favorites right now and all I’ve got is a copy of it mixed into something else.

Basslime 1

Basslime’s launch party at the firestation went off in a big way, with 4 hours of the filthyest grime, bassline, dubstep, garage and wobbly wobbly house.  The first proper Basslime night is gonna be pure showaaaaa and is in about a month and a half.  Sometime in that month and a half I aim to get a good promo mix done for it and will up it here, in the style of contiuum with his heavy ass promo mix for his night Monster City.

On the subject of mixes heres a few more of my recent and not so recent favorites:

Justice – Radio 1 Essential Mix – Oct 07

Benga – Radio 1 Essential Mix – Feb 08

Meridian Crew – Sidewinder – 2006

Intothefray – Trouble Vision – March 08

Bok Bok + Manara – Mad Decent Niche Podcast – Feb 08

Capture the Castle – Ayia Napa Gave Me AIDS – March 08

Big thanks to Neil from CTC, Rilla and Trevor Loveys for riding the bassline with us

Is it Alot?

One of the things I love about grime is the clashing and beef between the performers. Because most of the scene revolves around regular radio shows, its pretty easy to keep up with the evolution of these issues and it all turns into something of an old school WWF type rivalry, which is why we all watched WWF when we were kids.

The latest drama surrounds who invented the phrase “It’s Alot;” which, to those of you not in the know, means “its good” or some shit along those lines. It’s achieved it’s biggest fame thanks to Jammer and his single and supporting T-shirt.

But months before that, Griminal recorded a tune with the same name which he then released on his free mixtape Not Just Bars Vol 1.

Why is this important? Aside from the obvious pride thing, “I invented this, you can’t have it,” catchphrases = sales in grime. Boy Better Know? Started as a catchphrase by Big H, now it’s sold thousands of T shirts, cds, and BBK is the biggest name outside of the grime scene.

Tempa T got in on the action with a tune called Par, you can hear it over at hyperfrank. Tempz is a member of the Slew Dem crew with Jammer, and he’s making his stance on this one clear.

But it all gets interesting on Westwood when we get Griminal, Tempz, Jammer and Ghetto (among others) on live, and Ghetto sticks his oar in on the matter (around 8 mins in) “What? It’s alot it’s alot, I swear you man borrowed that from Josh” (Josh = Griminal)

The most entertaining stuff in grime so far has to be the War Report 2 years ago where every week Logan had new war dubs to play. Let’s hope theres more this summer