Wednesday 16 May 2012

BEST OF 2011 : MAKING THE IRONMONGER GRADE

It's here! Yes it's May, but it's nice to reminisce so here's my favourite 25 tracks from 2011. I'm going to try and work this list from ambient through to throbbing dance-floor fillers. Here we go:

Jamie XX - Far Nearer (Numbers)
Steel drums never sounded so good.


Jamie Woon - Spirits (Universal)
First Katie Tunstall and now Jamie, this songs makes a good argument for buying a loop pedal.


Adele - Someone Like You (XL Records)
With vocal chords like Adele's, it'd be a crime not to make the top 25 list. Love her or hate her (tax-evasion arguments aside) she's certainly caused a stir in 2011, even if it's the same issues she sang about in '19'.


Saturday Night Gym Club - The Ballroom Scene (Music Cuisine)
Four lovely chaps from Cambridge, producing tasty slow-mo electronica. I would recommend seeing them live - expect electric violins and more midi controllers than you can shake a stick at. If you enjoy their sound, have a listen to 'I Know', which did very well in 2010.


Isolee - Taktell (Pampa Records)
From the album 'Well Spent Youth' - a journey through ambient techno, overplayed in my bedroom every week.


Maya Jane Coles - Nobody Else (Hypercolour)
2011 has been a mindblowingly fantastic year for Maya Jane Coles, seeing her collect a host of accolades - 'Breathrough DJ of the Year' and 'Star of 2011' according to Mixmag, 'Number 1 DJ to watch for in 2012' by Time Out, and 'Best Producer of 2011' by DJ Mag. Wow. Her trademark underwater house sound has finally permeated the dance music scene and left us all the better for it. If you want to hear more of her, head straight for the Louche podcast, Essential Mix or 'What They Say'. All are very, very easy on the ears.


James What - About Love (Crosstown Rebels)
Fresh-faced London producer James What, taking you so deep into the house you come out the back door. It also strangely reminds me of the Spyro The Dragon music when you're chilling in the home world.. haha. Good times.


Felix Da Housecat - I Just Want To Be The One (Mixmag)
Absolute synthgasm. Also, very kindly released as a free album when buying Mixmag, so here's the download for you.


Bowski - Poppies (Blood Music)
Fake Blood's label 'Blood Music' has had an astonishing first year, have a listen to Menace's 'Hz & Tones' or Clouds' 'Mauful' and you'll see what I mean. Bowski is a very promising Bristolian, and a newish signing to the label.


Julio Bashmore - Battle For Middle You (PMR)
Good gosh, one of the biggest anthems of 2011 undoubtedly! wub wub wub YES.


Hot Natured ft. Ali Love - Forward Motion (Hot Creations)
Hot Natured is where Lee Foss' and Jamie Jones' minds meet.. need I say more?


Alexis Raphael - Kitchens and Bedrooms (Lower East)
Yeah, it just wouldn't be fair to put Jamie Jones and Lee Foss on this list without letting Alexis get a look in! Go listen to Hot Waves if you like this :).


Mosca - Bax (Numbers)
Don't confuse Mosca with Roska, Rusko, or Mos Def! "Bax' is a classic chilled garage tune, wubbing its way into the top 25 narrowly beating 'Jager' and 'Done Me Wrong'.


Marco Carola - The Method (Play It Loud!) 
Bit of an off-beat kilter beat to this - I really enjoy mixing it into a set. Good work Sir!



Noir & Haze - Around (Solomun Remix) (Noir Music) 
Miss Kittin dropped this at Melt Festival and sent us and all the Germans mad. God bless my friend Matt Howie for finding it when we returned to the UK, good work Matt! The Subb-An remix is a 2012'er but it's insanely good too...


Four Tet - Pyramid (Text Records)
I REMEMBER HOW YOU WALKED AWAY.


Siriusmo - High Together (Monkeytown Records)
In a word, 'uplifting'. But be prepared to be hit clean in the face with a Korg Trident when the drop comes.


Murk - Amame (Eats Everything Rebeef) (unreleased)
I'm not sure what's in the water in Bristol, but lately there have been a lot of excellent producers coming out of it! (Appleblim, Joker, Julio Bashmore, Bowski..and Eats Everything). This track is from the start of his excellent live essential mix (the atmosphere sounds explosive) - I'm dying for him to release this! Entrance Song was another close contender for this spot..  


Boddika & Joy Orbison - Swims (Swamp 81)
SERVE. 
  Swims by Boddika


Azealia Banks - 212 (Universal)
If rapping was race, this girl would be Usain Bolt. It's produced by Lazy Jay, who also wrote Honk My Horn (which is in a similar vein, minus the cunt-filled lyrics).


Riva Starr & Major Lazer - Jump (Martin Bros Remix) (Snatch! Records) 
At long last! This only took about a year to be released, what a tease!


Siriusmo - Feromonikon (Monkeytown Records) 
In an interview with RA Siriusmo commented "I think the appeal of my music is that it sounds a bit old." This for me has been the continual appeal of Siriusmo's releases, and judging from the looks of his studio it's no surprise there's a gritty analogue feel to his sound. Also, well done  Siriusmo, being the only artist to get TWO songs in the top 25! 


Patrick Di Stefano - Underlight (DEBOX)
In my opinion this is by far the strongest track on Maya Jane Coles' Essential Mix. Much to my confusion, this Italian only has 312 followers on his soundcloud! What?! I suspect this chap will be big in 2012..


SCNTST - Globus (Boys Noize Records)
If you like Boys Noize Records, you'll love SCNTST. At only 17 I can only dream of what this chap is producing by the time he's 27.


Gesaffelstein - Hatred (Turbo Recordings)
Good bloody work Gesaffelstein, I'm giving you a gold star! In fact, you wrote Control Movement in 2011 too, so you get two gold stars and a large crown for being Techno King of 2011 :)


That's a rap! 

Saturday 24 December 2011

LARDASS BLOG

Noise and Japes, on account of extreme laziness and craziness has been getting FAT.


However, it's getting whipped into shape under your noses and will be back with a new and improved Noise and Japes 2 SOON... :) (in the meantime, pretty much all hundred or so previous blogposts are becoming DRAFTS! don't be alarmed)..!

Thursday 20 January 2011

BEST OF 2010 : MAKING THE IRONMONGER GRADE

FASHIONABLY LATE list*. I love lists. I love lamp. I love lateness. Several of these songs I've already blogged about, because, well, I tend to blog about songs if I like them :P.


DRUMROOOOOOLLLLLLL (in no particular order) ... 

*plus 5 red herrings


LUCY'S CREME DE LA CREME 
DE L'ANNEE 2010:  


Zinc ft Ms Dynamite - Wile Out


Sandro Silva and Anjiro Rijo - Fifty Wat (Dem Slackers Remix)




Foamo - Generate Some Heat




David Guetta ft. Rihanna - Who's That Chick?



Crystal Castles - Baptism





// Doctor P - Sweet Shop (Kissy Sell Out Remix)


I SAID A KEINE VIDEOEN AGHHH (jeans team woo)



Katy Perry - Teenage Dream




Wiley ft. Emeli Sande - Never Be Your Woman 
(Herve Re-work)





Justin Bieber ft. Usher - Somebody To Love 
justin is also a lesbo doncha know



Yeasayer - O.N.E



Boys Noize and Erol Alkan - Lemonade






Olly Murs - Please Don't Let Me Go

 


Dorian Concept - Vertical Output








Flux Pavilion - Voscilate



Yolanda Be Cool - Afronuts (DCUP Remix)




Take That - The Flood




// Brodinski + Noob - Peanuts Club (Faisal Remix)



is no here video que (but this pic is SO funny!)



Zinc - Nexx




Yo Majesty - Don't Let Go (A1 Bassline Remix)





That's a rap! :)

Thursday 6 January 2011

BILLIE AND DOM DO THE 2010 DANCE

--[Sat 8th edit: DMCA got on my back, so all songs are linked to mediafire/youtube, none hosted by myself]
--[Fri 14th edit: After a dance of death with the DMCA I stand defeated; not hosting / linking any in this post (apart from previously ok links from other posts)! boo. Also in a Welsh internet black-hole until Tuesday so unable to update until now (in work!)] badbadbad. Here we go:

Blliiiiimey, hello!

Flappy 2011! I trust your NYE was good! I was DJing at a lovely house party in Brum, sufficed to say I took IMMENSE relish in hurtling a good 15-20 people into the new year to the sound of:

Mousse T - I'm Horny


hahahahahhaha whoa, that's horny. Excellent. 2011 is looking mind-blowingly exciting so far; I've developed a new found appreciation for font size variegations and soy milk, although I'm not sure how long that'll last...But seriously (ha), judging from the AMAZING latter half of 2010, 2011 is sizing up to be a bloody excellent year for music.

To be more specific:

  • thanks to the internet (in particular wordpress, beatport and bandcamp) forward-thinking music lovers have the tools to start a label on a shoestring, thus enabling SO much more music to get out to an audience. YAY.
  • genres are blossoming: futurebass is getting up on all fours now, dubstep has proliferated into a myriad of subgenres and is blessing the charts with more and more popstep, and the uk grime and funky scene is explodingggg. Even the BBC is starting to get more switched on to good music < was impressed to see that on front of their news site! Fantastic. 

Lucy's notable good musicy-related things about 2010:
Myspace music finally realised they were shit, paid some developers and crawled into the 21st century 
Justin Bieber becomes bearable at -800% tempo
Rinse FM got an Ofcom licence!! JAMMY. 

Now, working on true Lucy timescale and avoiding any sort of resolution to flirt with punctuality I'm going to do what should've been done at the end of 2010, which is to have a rundown of:

 the best 25 tracks released in 2010!

However I'm not going to do mine (yet!), but I'm going to give you the lists of two dear friends who are also humble, indirect contributors to Noise and Japes: Billie (fucking amazing dubstep/grime/electro DJ, recently had his 25min mix played by Mistajam on Radio 1Xtra) and Dom (the walking Encyclopaedophile Britannica of Life (you can't spell wisdom without dom); specialist subjects: medicine, and knowing the release date of pretty much any dance music in the last 10 years. Also resembles a tall stick of bamboo).

Although biologically male, their tastes are definitely more feminine than mine, which is hugely refreshing :) get ready for a gentle electroexperimentalshoegazeyjizz in yer ear..


(note, I'm gonna host the supergoodies, but put in the most part of the mediafire legwork too (>>), although these links aren't my responsibility! I urge you, please, BUY THE EPs/CDs of what takes your fancy!)

TUNES THEY BOTH CHOSE:
**
James Blake - CMYK
look I found her... 

Girl Unit - Wut
you've died and gone to synth heaven

Addison Groove - Footcrab
I just don't get this one! but Billie and Dom must, so here it is :)

Tensnake - Coma Cat 
will make you want to knock on your neighbour's doors, grab strangers, babies, dogs, and pull them out into a conga line so you can all dance around like loons celebrating the feeling of being alive (or is that just me? could be just me :P)


Breach - Fatherless
best use of panpipes since I used them to satisfy myself anally / since Dem Slackers remixed Sandro Silva and Anjiro Rijo 
**
TUNES BILLIE CHOSE:

Caribou - Odessa
Mosca - Square One (Julio Bashmore Remix)
Lil Silva - Night Skanker
Ramadanman - Glut
Jamie Woon - Night Air
Deadboy - If U Want Me
Jacques Greene - Baby I Don't Know (what you want)
Roska - Squark
Aeroplane - We Can't Fly
Joe - Clap Trap
Terror Danjah - Bipolar
Taz Buckfaster - Gold Tooth Grin
Kingdom - Fogs
Tiga - Gentle Giant (Martyn's Heaven Remix)
Screendeath - Packback
Joker - Tron
Mount Kimbie - Field
The XX - Crystalised (Dark Sky Remix)

**
TUNES DOM CHOSE:

Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Deerhunter - Helicopter
Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
Salem - King Night
LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change
Crystal Castles - Not In Love ft. Robert Smith
Azari & III - Reckless With Your Love (Tensnake Remix)
Cults - Oh My God
Lone - Pineapple Crush (Manchester Warehouse VIP Remix)
Cee-Lo Green - Fuck You
Tame Impala - Solitude Is Bliss
Jamaica - I Think I Like U 2 (Breakbot Remix)
Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce - Telephone
Dom - Burn Bridges
Twin Shadow - Slow
Joy Orbison - Derobe
Vampire Weekend - White Sky
Kingdom - Mind Reader ft. Shyvonne
Small Black - Photojournalist

Raaaawr happy listening!! 

...It's a good time to have ears, use them :)