Black Noise

Black Noise were easily my favourite act of 2009, exploding onto the Fidget Scene and quickly becoming one of the key groups in it, along with Jack Beats and Lee Mortimer who also had a very strong 12 months.

I discovered what became Black Noise with the inclusion of 2 tracks by seminal breaks group Aquasky on Fatboy Slim’s last Compilation “Dance Bitch”. The tracks were “Knock You Out”, which became a Black Noise track and “Have A Good Time” which was released as Aquasky.

I contacted the boys in advance before the EP’s release last year to get a release date (for EP.01) but unfortunatley forgot to ask them what the relationship between Black Noise and Aquasky was. I believe they share 2 common people but maybe I am way off (can anyone answer this for me?).

Either way, the Two EP’s they released (EP.01 and EP.02) are certified house/breaks destroyers and the rappers they work with just add to the madness. They have another 2 EP’s on the way this year and then an album and I honestly think the album is going to become huge. Definatley watch the boys in 2010.

Heres some links to tracks they have released on the blogs, you can grab EP.01 and EP.02 on Beatport.

Tonka- Jack Track (Black Noise VIP)

Crookers- Business Man (Black Noise Remix)

Black Noise- Knock You Out (Black Noise ‘Kick The Break’ VIP)

Black Noise- Junge Iz Em (Take Me Away VIP)

(For those wondering, VIP is a jungle/breaks term for remix)

Also check out the wicked video for Jackin’ My Fresh from EP.02:

Podcast + Mix + Gig + Your Music

I just finished mixing down the first episode of my new podcast, “The Sketch Up” where I’ll be putting together a 30min mix of tracks together every fortnight and sharing them with you. People have been asking since I finished my radio show Sketchy Sessions when something similar would be returning and this is it. I hope you enjoy the show when it launches on Saturday (possibly before then though).

I have also done a promo mix for local promoters Party By Jake, it’s straight up Indie-Dance and once the boys give it the all clear I’ll post it on my SoundCloud (Its just under 30min, incl. tracks from Miami Horror, LCD Soundsystem, Tiga, Calvin Harris and more).

On the gig front, I am playing 12-1:30am at Trash Thursdays @ Academy tomorrow night and then supporting T-Rek on Saturday from 10-1 then 3-close with Jared De Veer. All the details for T-Rek this weekend can be found on the facebook event here.

One last thing, if your making tracks and you want me to post them here or play them out you can upload your tracks to my dropbox and I can get them there. If I like it, expect to see it included in a future podcast or blogged here. Too easy.

Funk is back

In the next couple of weeks I am going to write a much bigger article on this but for now I just want to touch on it. For the last 6 months I have felt like House music is coming full circle and going back to its funky and old-skool production roots. Its all about the one repeating groove, the samples from 30 years ago, except done now with a modern aesthetic (in the case of fidget artists moving to this style, its all about chopping the sample to bits and working it harder than ever before but still keeping it funky).

I am very excited for a lot of album’s and EP’s dropping this year but one that I was most excited for last year that has yet to be released is the Duck Sauce (A-Trak + Armand Van Helden) EP, “Greatest Hits”. The EP has been leaked for download for probably close to 6 months now which I feel will make the EP really lack any impact when it does eventually drop. Its just too long to wait for something we were promised in September 2009, I remember A-Trak telling me when I supported him at UC Refectory here in Canberra last year that the Duck Sauce EP would be out on Fools Gold before Blau would be, which finally dropped in December last year.

Who knows when the Duck Sauce EP will eventually drop, A-Trak told a fan on Twitter that there was “legal issues” to sort out and the EP would be on the way soon. It would be nice to have an update on the situation since nothing’s been said about the EP since September 2009 but that clearly hasn’t stopped me seeking the EP out. Here’s a link to by far my favourite track on the EP, its been one of my biggest club weapons of the Australian summer.

Duck Sauce- The Motion

The new Gorillaz album “Plastic Beach” just dropped and its an absolute winner, go cop it when you can. The first single, Stylo, got me pretty excited for the LP but what excited me even more was the remix package, specifically the remix that Alex Metric has done. I first heard of Alex with his release on the Stanton Warrior’s new label Beats, so once I saw his name on remix duties for Gorillaz I had to have a listen. To put it simply, the reactions in the club have been amazing. Its got that old-skool glint with big horns and the 80’s bass synth carrying the whole track through. Get on it.

Gorillaz- Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)

Lastly, some self-promotion. At the end of last year I brought one of the many “James Brown: Greatest Hits” CD’s that are available, mainly so I could get my hands on a full quality cut of the Funky Drummer break, but I also discovered a track of his that I fell in love with, Get up Offa That Thing. I spent the next week putting the beat down on it and also toughening up the original to make it playable in the clubs and its been working a treat.