Events / Ninja Tune

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“Like the R&B of another time and place, transmitted from an unknown planet in a distant galaxy into the mind of a wildly creative sound designer.” – XLR8R

“Fans of the Kimbies, James Blake’s ‘CMYK’, Four Tet, Bibio, FlyLo, Matthewdavid, Onra, Debruit and all those guys – meet your new favourite producer.“ – Boomkat

“Lapalux is probably one of the finest producers out there at the moment” – Oli Marlow, Sonic Router

“The Barry White of electronica.” – Errol Anderson, The Independent

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www.lapalux.com

) ) ) [1] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11073 [date] => 2013-05-18 [artist] => Bonobo, The Invisible, Letherette, Lukid and Illum Sphere [city] => London [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Roundhouse [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.bonobomusic.com/ [image_upload_id] => 17947 [created] => 2013-01-24 15:56:45 [modified] => 2013-04-12 14:29:07 [year_slug] => 2013 [month_slug] => may [day_slug] => 18 [slug] => bonobo-the-invisible-letherette-lukid-and-illum-sphere-london-roundhouse [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17947 [media_type] => image [artist] => Bonobo, The Invisible, Lukid, Letherette and Illum Sphere [title] => Bonobo Roundhouse Flyer [credits] => [buy_link] => http://ninjatune.net/event/2013/may/18/bonobo-london-roundhouse [filename] => images/bonobo-the-invisible-lukid-letherette-and-illum-sphere/Roundhouse-flyer2-3.jpg [checksum] => c9bf398d734f1e8971780a33b1f19995 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 95534 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/bonobo-the-invisible-lukid-letherette-and-illum-sphere/Roundhouse-flyer2-3.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => bonobo-the-invisible-lukid-letherette-and-illum-sphere [slug] => bonobo-roundhouse-flyer [created] => 2013-03-28 14:12:58 [modified] => 2013-03-28 14:13:16 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 208 [name] => United Kingdom [longname] => United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [numcode] => 826 [iso] => GB [iso3] => GBR [currency] => GBP [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 191 [lft] => 413 [rght] => 414 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 55 [name] => Bonobo [description] =>

Simon Green, aka Bonobo, is an artist very much at the peak of his significant powers. His 2010 album Black Sands was the high watermark of his career to date; a masterful record, marrying Green's inimitable melodic genius to cutting edge electronics, bass and drums.

Black Sands went on to sell over 150,000 copies worldwide, and since its release, Bonobo has toured the world with his live band, wowing audiences of thousands at a time with the hypnotic, extended live versions of the album's tracks. He amassed more nearly 50 million recorded plays on Last.fm and over 300,000 likes on Facebook.

All this comes as the result of over ten years hard work, and five albums that have honed Green's skills. A born musician, Green - like many artists - expresses himself most articulately via his music. The result is that his work is always keenly felt, and always feels imperative. There are no wasted moments, and always myriad great ones.

It's tempting to relate Green's yearning, emotive aesthetic to his upbringing in rural Hampshire. His move to Brighton is also an influence; his skill at drum programming perhaps harking back to his days DJing and producing in the small, musically fertile town. Under the initial guidance of Tru Thoughts' Rob Luis and at nights such as Phonic:hoop, Bonobo found an early education in music.

His first album - 2000's Animal Magic - was released via Tru Thoughts before being picked up by Ninja Tune. It announced him as a serious talent; able to bring a true musician's edge to electronic music, with all the freedom that skill allowed. His subsequent albums for Ninja, Dial M for Monkey and Days to Come, developed his sensibility, won him fans across the globe, and saw him develop his live show into a mesmeric re-working of his records.

He also worked hard as a DJ, a part of Green's arsenal that perhaps truly came into its own at the same time as Black Sands was generally welcomed as his best album to date. 2012 saw Green take the uptempo, club re-edits of Black Sands from a seminal Boiler Room performance in London to dance floors across the world, and unveil a new light show that further enhanced the impact of these stunning songs. A remix album was released featuring reworkings by fans and peers such as Machinedrum, Floating Points, Mark Pritchard, Lapalux and FaltyDL.

Later the same year, he finally settled down in his New York studio to write his fifth studio album. Now, in 2013, he stands ready to take things up yet another notch. The North Borders is another long stride forward - both a natural evolution and a continuation of the electronic palette of Black Sands. Thematic, resonant, addictive and perfectly formed, it's a thrillingly coherent statement piece. With vocal features from no less than Erykah Badu, as well as Grey Reverend (Cinematic Orchestra) and Cornelia (Portico Quartet) it's another finely balanced body of work, leaving room for the beautiful, rich productions themselves to breathe and shine.

Bonobo has a long history of unearthing new talent (Andreya Triana, Bjaika) and The North Borders sees him do so once again. The startling vocals of new collaborator Szjerdene are sprinkled across The North Borders, and Green has yet again found the perfect voice to enhance where he's at. With a huge run of international tour dates set to commence shortly after the album's Spring release date, plus a host of weighty press and radio campaigns and a bleeding edge online campaign, 2013 looks set to be Simon Green's year, which is very good news for the rest of us, too.

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) [1] => Array ( [id] => 166 [name] => The Invisible [description] =>

*Download a FREE radio edit of upcoming single 'Protection' here.*

Dave Okumu, Tom Herbert (bass & synthesizer) and Leo Taylor (drums) have been working together as The Invisible for the last six years, though their musical collaborations stretch back much further. The trio met as teenagers, and, over a decade or so, they crossed over again and again, gigging, jamming, working as session players and supporting each other’s band projects.

It was only in 2006 that they coalesced as The Invisible. “We became a band backwards,” says Okumu. After a year out on the road playing in Matthew Herbert’s band, Herbert said he wanted to produce and release (via his label, Accidental) Dave’s solo record. But Dave instead decided to recruit his longtime friends for a genuine collaboration. The Invisible’s name arrived after the three began writing. The moniker is a nod to the writing of Irish philosopher and poet John O’Donohue, whose simply articulated notion that humans exist in parallel worlds – the visible and the invisible; one physical, one spiritual – is a relationship, a balance, that comes through loud and clear in the band’s aesthetic.

The result was their eponymous debut, which was nominated for the 2009 Mercury Music Prize and was many people’s tip to win it. It was also critics’ choice as iTunes' album of the year. Unafraid to challenge themselves compositionally, The Invisible's boundless approach to arrangement flows effortlessly between the texturally rich and the rhythm heavy, the ethereal and the visceral, taking in unique and subtle electronic dancefloor rhythms as well as deviations into experimental rock. It's a mixture that's won peer level praise from the likes of Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Foals, Hot Chip, Wild Beasts, Anna Calvi and Everything Everything.

Their new album, Rispah, is, in the words of Okumu,”a love letter to grief.” Mid-way through recording a follow-up to their debut, Okumu’s mother passed away and the band’s plans and aesthetic were thrown into turmoil. As Okumu remembers it, “"I couldn't engage with music for a long period. The moment it returned to me was at my mum's funeral, which lasted several days. One evening, during the wake, my grandmother Zilpa, my mother's mum, arrived at our home accompanied by a group of women singing traditional spirituals. They approached my mother's body and sang over it, dancing around her coffin. It was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. They transformed the atmosphere with sound and the spirit they brought to it. They were celebrating life and death, grief and hope, all things. This act was allowing everyone present to express themselves. It served as the most potent reminder of everything I believe about music. It's there for everybody, it's inclusive and transformative. I'm so glad these voices are stitched through our record."

When not working on The Invisible, they are involved in everything from co-writing and producing Jessie Ware's album (Okumu), playing as a member of British post-jazz legends Polar Bear (Herbert) or drumming on much of Adele's world-crushing second album 21 (Taylor). They have also played live and recorded with a dizzying roll call of musicians that runs from St Vincent in the Tom Waits tribute Rain Dogs Revisited, the Britten Symphonia, Jack De Johnette, Matthew Herbert, Hot Chip, Zongamin, Gramme and many others. The Invisible remains closest to the heart of what the trio are about as musicians, though, as the beauty and emotional intelligence of Rispah clearly demonstrates.

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*Download a FREE radio edit of upcoming single 'Protection' here.*

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) [2] => Array ( [id] => 172 [name] => Letherette [description] =>

The story of the most fun new force in electronic music goes a long way to explaining just why their music is so good. Letherette are two childhood friends with a current of empathy between them so strong that they seem more like brothers than anything else. Their serious intent is always expressed endearingly; they never take themselves too seriously, but they do want their music to be seriously good.

Richard Roberts and Andy Harber were both born during a deep snowstorm one December - at the time the worst since 1960 - that prevented the ambulances that came to get their mothers from reaching their houses. They grew up thirty minutes away from each other in Wolverhampton, and met at the age of 11 when they were sent to the same secondary school. Andy threatened to beat Rich up if he didn't invite him to join a football game, and they took things from there. It's perhaps helpful to know that whilst Andy was the same height then as now, Rich used to look entirely physically different. He went so suddenly from blonde to dark haired that his father claimed he was swapped in his teens.

The pair quickly became firm friends, their (now friendlier) football games lasting long into the night, and remaining their main pastime until they discovered girls, cigarettes and, most importantly, music. Both had strong musical experiences early in their lives. Andy had two older sisters and was 'made' to sing along with them and his mother in the car. They'd harmonise along to The Carpenters on their annual journeys to Wales. He also loved guitar music: Jimi, The Beatles, Moody Blues and T Rex. His first purchase was an MC Hammer tape, and his eventual love was the electronic music of Orbital and Aphex Twin and the avant-garde work of pioneers like Stockhausen.

Rich had a profound early experience when he heard "Reach Out and I'll Be There" by The Four Tops. To this day, whenever he hears it he remembers how excited he was at the capabilities of this thing called music. His dad has a massive soul collection, and he devoured it happily in his youth. Later, he taught himself guitar by freezing videos and copying chord shapes. He used to go to Andy's in order to make use of his friend's more expensive gear.

They began making music together, initially just hitting record and improvising for hours and hours, making experimental music. 'We'd just smoke joints and indulge ourselves,' they say. It seems it was a fertile starting point for their career. 'Wolverhampton is perfect,' says Rich, 'because there is nothing to do. It was recently voted the 3rd or 4th worst city in the world, with some shanty town in Brazil the next worst.' Easy then, he says, to get into creativity. 'We couldn't live in London,' they laugh. 'There'd be much too much to do.'

They did make the most of what little music there was in their hometown though, soaking up the commercial house music at Wolverhampton's two main clubs, The Canal and Light Bar. Andy worked in the latter as a glass collector at 16, and the pair clubbed at both together. You can hear the influence of these days in their own exuberant, unrestrained music, which moves the feet as much as the mind. Despite their regional upbringings, they are firmly part of a generation of artists taking electronic music to a new level, making the artform richer.

Actually, they went to a sort of anti-Brit school for young electronic talent; Actress was two years above them, Alex Nut in the same year. The latter introduced them to Bibio - still a great friend and contemporary - and like him and Lee Gamble, they attended courses at Sonic Arts college. This mixture of musical pedigree and regional boredom was a strong tonic for the young duo. Myspace was a real tool for them, and they met Kwes, Machinedrum, Jimmy Edgar and Brownswood records via the social networking site. They remixed Machinerum and Bibio in 2009, and were then invited to submit a track for the ‘Brownswood Electric’ comp in 2010. They played their first, ‘awful’ gig with a crashed Ableton at the comp’s launch, in front of Gilles Peterson himself.

A mix for Andrew Meza’s BTS radio was a huge turning point, as were the two EPs Alex Nut released on his Hotep label. For a while after that they felt slightly stuck, they say; they were talented beatmakers with potential, but needed inspiration to move on. That inspiration appeared in the form of manager Greg Eden (Mark Pritchard, Clark) who told them he’d take them on if they took a step up. They put their heads down, worked hard, and won him over within only a few months.

And the work they made to do so became part of the demos that saw Ninja Tune eagerly pick them up in 2012. Ninja ‘saw the light,’ they say, and helped them to do the same. Now, they are full time musicians whose stunning debut album is winning applause from all sides. People fall in love quickly with Letherette, whose playful, ‘70s referencing, sexy stylings and joyful music are infectious.

They want, says Rich, ‘to be in a position where they make great albums playing to great people.’ 'We always want to be in touch with what's good,' Andy adds, 'and to make music we're proud of and never go stale. If that ever happened, in my ears, we’d call it a day.’ May that never come then, because it would make the musical landscape a significantly poorer place.

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) [3] => Array ( [id] => 169 [name] => Lukid [description] =>

Lukid is a producer from London who makes all manner of electronic music depending on what kind of mood he’s in. Sometimes it’s quite fast and angular, other times it’s warm and blurry like summer rain. He has previously released two albums on Actress’ Werkdiscs label - Onandon (2007) and Foma (2009) - and with new album Lonely At The Top, he’ll make that three on 22 October 2012.

The lighting bolt for Lonely At The Top came in the form of a bag of home-taped cassettes he found on his street a year and a half ago. Among the haul were classical recordings, a few language tapes and one marked DISCO. Having just started playing around with recording stuff to tape with an old hi-fi, this was one of those funny little coincidences that some would call fate. “Tape has a way of making things sound sad,” he recalls. Listening to those tapes set the wheels in motion for "Bless My Heart". A low, slow funk track, it set the tone for the album: a little spooked but shot through with hope.

It was made using an old Dell laptop, a Macbook, a couple of synths and a tape machine. Claiming to know “nothing about the technical side” of things, Lonely At The Top is the first record Lukid has made without any creeping worries about professionalism. “I just thought, if it sounds good then that’s all that matters,” he continues. “I would record things back and forth and mess with the same sound so many times that by the end it was a complete mess and totally distorted.”

That sense of freedom runs through the album. Its arc is geographical, tracing landscapes, stirring up buried memories and giving shape to ideas of places. “I like albums that are put together like a film,” he says. “So it has ups and downs and keeps you guessing.” The foggy, faintly industrial plains of "Manchester" provide the backdrop to the titular sample which was picked out from a Japanese language tape. "Snow Theme" paints a soft white-out scene, with the rush of calm that chases it. Like a gentle call to stir slumbering workers to their posts, "USSR" has both a familiarity and warm regretfulness to it that stings and yet was named after a level in Street Fighter II.

Perhaps that’s the most moving thing about Lonely At The Top: the tension between the playful titling and its teasing presentation of this mournful music. In listening, there is an intimate sense of closeness, a feeling that situates the heart in the throat. And yet there is that tongue-in-cheek title, chosen because it made Lukid laugh: “It clearly doesn’t apply to me.” But then sometimes funny is the saddest thing of all.

Lonely At The Top is a deeply moving, absorbing album, and without a doubt Lukid’s finest work to date.

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www.werkdiscs.com

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Lonely At The Top is a deeply moving, absorbing album, and without a doubt Lukid’s finest work to date.

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www.werkdiscs.com

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) [4] => Array ( [id] => 177 [name] => Illum Sphere [description] =>

Restless as a DJ and adventurous in his productions, Illum Sphere (real name Ryan Hunn) is both a key player in the Manchester scene and a unique presence on the global stage. Deliberately oblique in his approach, he has still had a vital impact on electronic music, and it’s about to get bigger.

Hoya:Hoya, the club night he founded in 2008 along with Jonny Dub, has steadily expanded its reputation in and outside Manchester: they now boast Eclair Fifi, Jon K, Lone, and Krystal Klear as resident DJs, as well as mic skills from Chunky and visuals by EMN. That’s a hotbed of talent from which radio stations, festivals and record labels outside Manchester draw.

Hoya:Hoya also brings names like Four Tet, Dabrye, Ikonika, and Kuedo, to the city, helping to spread their name as a nightclub singular in style and one of the best parties in the country. It’s well known that you can’t fully predict what music you’ll get on a Hoya:Hoya night, let alone from one of Illum Sphere’s own DJ sets. He’ll skip effortlessly between hip hop, psych, techno, boogie and you name it, before you even know what’s happened.

It’s partly through this reach that Illum Sphere has also attracted international attention. He’s played from Low End Theory in LA to Sydney, Australia, and besides releases on Manchester’s own Fat City had output on Martyn’s label 3024, Pinch’s Tectonic, and recently on Young Turks. As with his boundary skipping DJ sets, Illum Sphere’s releases are marked not by a regulated approach beginning with tempo or genre, but a free-spirited attitude that reigns in a range of genres.

Photo by Shaun Bloodworth

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Hoya:Hoya

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Photo by Shaun Bloodworth

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Hoya:Hoya

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) ) ) [2] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11211 [date] => 2013-05-18 [artist] => Mr. Scruff [city] => London [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => KOKO [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/OKF1805?brand=koko&camefrom=CFC_UK_KOKO_MRSCRUFF_KOKOSITE [image_upload_id] => 17961 [created] => 2013-02-18 16:59:25 [modified] => 2013-04-08 11:34:04 [year_slug] => 2013 [month_slug] => may [day_slug] => 18 [slug] => mr-scruff-london-koko-17 [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17961 [media_type] => image [artist] => Mr. Scruff [title] => Scruff Koko 18 May 2013 [credits] => [buy_link] => http://ninjatune.net/event/2013/may/18/mr-scruff-london-koko-17 [filename] => images/mr-scruff/KOKOmay2013WEBflyer.jpg [checksum] => 0376ae73387bc2665a9eac7d300cf0e8 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 278448 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/mr-scruff/KOKOmay2013WEBflyer.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => mr-scruff [slug] => scruff-koko-18-may-2013 [created] => 2013-04-08 11:31:45 [modified] => 2013-04-08 11:32:08 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 208 [name] => United Kingdom [longname] => United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [numcode] => 826 [iso] => GB [iso3] => GBR [currency] => GBP [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 191 [lft] => 413 [rght] => 414 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 40 [name] => Mr. Scruff [description] =>

A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started answering to the name Mr Scruff, making a name for himself under the shadow of Manchester's mid 90s club scene. Releasing three critically acclaimed albums, selling over half a million records worldwide and playing countless tours and club events has cemented his now legendary DJ status; this is a DJ that can sell out the 1600 capacity London KoKo armed only with his records, some turntables and a few spare packets of teabags.

More than that, Scruff has established himself as a general guarantor of quirkiness and quality, so much so that when his range of speciality teas were launched they became the 5th best selling grocery product in the long and illustrious history of Selfridge's Food Hall (see www.makeusabrew.com for more tea shenanigans). His 'CUP' tea shop in Manchester packs in the punters and the now legendary travelling tea stall is a firm favourite at Scruff gigs & festivals all over the UK. Meanwhile, his wobbly potato people adorn t-shirts, brollies and even people's bodies worldwide (Ninja Tune has been sent documentary evidence of this phenomenon...)

But who are we to tell you the full-story? Over to you Andy...

Greetings! I am Mr. Scruff, DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker. As a DJ, I play across the board, including Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks and loads more. I make music that draws on these influences, with a large dose of cheek and good humour. There follows a rambling overview of what i have been up to for the last 20-odd years...

The event that first sparked my curiosity about music was in the early 1980's when, as a young 2 Tone fan, I discovered a stack of my father's original Blue Beat 7"s, including several Prince Buster songs that had been covered by my then favourite band, Madness. I suddenly realised that the new music I had been listening to had roots that reached far back, and this knowledge inspired me to explore the wider musical world which had just been revealed to me.

I encountered mixing as a 12 year old in late 1984, when a friend of mine played me his uncle's electro records, notably the Streetsounds' LP 'Crucial Electro Volume 2'. At first, I assumed that the reason for there being no gaps between the songs was to fit more on the vinyl, it didn't occur to me the mixing was a creative part of the presentation, and had been carefully thought out.

Soon after I was constructing my own crude pause-button mixtapes, inspired by the Electro compilations and various radio shows on stations such as Piccadilly, and Radio Lancashire & Southside. These shows exposed me to a wide range of dance music, which at the time was a blanket term to cover anything from electro and hip-hop to soul, reggae and early house music. Back then there were far fewer records being released each week, so DJs had to be versatile and play across the board.

As an enthusiastic young music fiend in Stockport, these stations were a lifeline to quality new releases, and exposed me to a lot of older music that I had missed. Little by little I was building a collection fuelled by this knowledge, all the while improving my DJ skills. By 1987 I was proficient at turntable mixing and editing, although I was still using primitive home hi-fi gear. In the summer of 1988 I had my first mix played on Waxmaster's show on the Manchester pirate station WBLS.

Fuelled by this exposure, I took a part time job at Kwik Save and ploughed all my earnings into vinyl. By this time I had a good knowledge of electro, hip hop, house, & 80's soul, and was busy expanding my knowledge of blues, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, African and Latin music. More pause-button mix tapes followed, as did demo tapes of my own early productions. My first break came in 1994, when I met Barney Doodlebug, a DJ/Doodler who was originally from Bristol, and now runs the international Doodlebug events. He gave me my first Manchester gig, in Dry Bar on a Sunday night, and he also passed a demo tape of mine to local label Rob's Records, which resulted in them releasing my first 12" single.

I gained regular bar gigs, as well as a short stint at Manumission alongside fellow Stockport lad Treva Whateva. Following on from this, I became a frequent guest at Headfunk, alongside residents Chubby Grooves & Tom Simba (who went on to form Groove Armada with Andy Cato). This night mutated into Eardrum, a DJ/jam night that I was resident at alongside Chubby, Mark One and Andy Votel. Other Manchester residencies included One Tree Island with Stefano, Guy Morley, Jah Conguero and Funk Boutique; and Dubism, with Guy Morley and Dom from Blood and Fire.

On the recording side, I released further singles for Rob's Records subsidiary Pleasure, as well as sides for Echo Drop, Grand Central & Cup of Tea. My work for Grand Central with Mark Rae inspired some 4-deck club performances, including friendly 'battles' with DJ Food, which introduced me to the Ninja Tune fold. My first remix was a DJ Food megamix for their 'Refried Food' box set in 1996. Then more gigs followed.

Some of my first DJ gigs abroad were with Grand Central in the mid to late 1990's, and following my signing to Ninja Tune in 1999, I did several European tours with the likes of Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Dynamic Syncopation & Mixmaster Morris. The release of my Ninja album 'Keep it Unreal' also kick started my Manchester club night of the same name, borne of a desire to play exactly what I wanted, rather than having to fit in with the music policies of other club nights. After a short stint at Planet K, the night moved to the Music Box, where it remains to this day. The success of this night inspired me to take the idea on tour, so that instead of turning up with my records and playing the standard 2 hour guest DJ slot, I would recreate 'Keep it Unreal' in different venues, and play for the whole night. A similar situation occurred in Brighton, where after 7 years of regular gigs with Tru Thoughts' Robert Luis, we started the monthly Etch residency at the Concorde 2 in 2001.

Another logical step for me was radio. It was such a vital part of my own musical education that I jumped at the opportunity to guest on shows such as First Priority's late night function on Kiss 102 in the mid 1990's, as well as the many RSL stations that had one month licences. It was on these that I joined forces with Treva Whateva to present the 'Hot Pot' show. The show then progressed to the national Student Broadcast Network for a few years, and then onto Manchester's Key 103 in 2002 for an 18-month run, as well as a year long stint on the Virgin Trains onboard radio channel.. I am not doing a regular radio show at the moment, although my mixes do feature regularly on shows such as 'Futureboogie' on Kiss 101, and 'Unfold' on Juice 107.2.

I am now in a position where as a DJ I can play a lot of esoteric and unusual music, as playing for the duration of the night enables me to create a very relaxed atmosphere, before increasing the energy levels at my own pace, taking in many kinds of music along the way. Over the course of a night the music can include blues, jazz, soul, funk, 60's R&B, disco, boogie, deep house, reggae, ska, rocksteady, dancehall, electronica, electro, hip hop, african, latin, drum & bass, breakbeat, and any combination of the above. The only real criteria is that the music has to have soul!

Although I am a fairly technical DJ, it is vital to remember that the most important skill for a DJ is to play great records in the right order. Each record must complement the one before, and introduce the one that follows. Beatmatching is an obvious way of linking records, but there are other common factors, such as lyrical themes & complimentary keys that a DJ can use to aid the transition. Each piece of music has a mood and an energy level, and orchestrated carefully, you can create an atmosphere where every record that comes in is precisely right for that moment.

[links] =>

www.mrscruff.com

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But who are we to tell you the full-story? Over to you Andy...

[links_clean] =>

www.mrscruff.com

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Martyn’s unique strand of bass defies easy categorisation. Yet no matter the genre, tempo or drum pattern, there always remains that immersive, intricately detailed and rhythmically precise sound: to his fans and admirers, it’s known simply as ‘Martyn Music’. A unique character that’s become emblematic for all that’s forward thinking in dubstep and techno, a defiant out-of-the-box mentality is pushed into his every artistic venture, side-stepping convention and continually stepping forward towards what’s new. Or, more often than not, what’s next.

Throughout the many turns and layers of his winding career, the Holland native (and now Washington DC resident) Martijn Deijkers has always stood in a scene of his own. Never a complete outsider but never one to fit in, each of his releases is a progression on from where he left off, and an evolution into where the electronic world is likely to move in the near future. His first releases in 2005 (on Play:Musik and Marcus Intalex’s Revolve:r imprint) indicated a tendency towards the dub end of the spectrum. Drawing on his roots in techno and house, as much as a still fertile dubstep scene, his Broken EP on Revolve:r in ’07 blurred the lines entirely. And though his releases that followed on Tempa, Applepips and Hessle Audio (including his scene-altering remix of TRG’s "Broken Heart") made thorough rounds in dubstep circles, there was a distinct nod to future 4/4 explorations, and served as a tip-off that he was on his way to forming a new, uncharted genre altogether.

“I was always interested in the technology side of things - synthesizers and science fiction and lazers and transformers and robots...that was really my thing. I have been buying music for as long as I can remember, really; as soon as I got a weekly allowance I spent it on 7” singles and albums. When I was studying I went clubbing a lot, there were a couple of clubs that I used to frequent, and I just got drawn to the music, really. In the early 90s, I heard Chicago house and Detroit techno for the first time in a club; from then onwards that was kind of my thing, but I kept following bands as well, so for me not all music was electronic. I never thought I would play a role in music myself.”

Equal parts unpredictable and electric, as a DJ Martyn’s is a style that is equally as uncategorizable as his production style. His encyclopaedic knowledge of music and rarities is aptly matched with an ability to mix the most unlikely of sounds: a raw J Dilla cut gets paired with a rare Jamie Principle house edit one moment, New Wave vocals get thrown down with the percussive fills of Shed the next. His seamless sets have crossed countries and stages, playing iconic venues the globe over, including Berghain/Panoramabar, The Roxy in LA and DMZ at Mass. There’s also his all-inclusive festival circuit, which has included Sonar, Mutek, Airwaves, Decibel, Electric Zoo, Bestival, Lowlands, Pukkelpop, The Big Chill, Elevate in Austria and Unsound in Poland.

A regular at London’s clubbing institution Fabric from early in his career, towards the end of 2009 Martyn was approached to mix their landmark 50th mix CD. Released the following January on the fabric series (rather than the bass-heavy FABRICLIVE series), the mix set off 2010 with an audible buzz, sparking reviews that hailed the appearance of one of the finest mixes in the fabric collection’s long and illustrious history. Employing an adventurous tracklisting, and bringing back the old school vinyl feel of classic techno mixtapes, the CD added yet further to his reputation as a multifaceted artist.

As an artist, a sharp sense of integrity and imagination is thematic throughout Martyn’s every move. He opts to work with genre-crossing musicians that are as unorthodox and innovative as himself, as seen in his extensive remix work (for the likes of Flying Lotus, Maximo Park, Fever Ray, Tiga, Kode9 and Shed, among many others). His art-led mentality shines brightest through the output of his vibrant 3024 label. Launched in 2007, he teamed up with old friend Erosie (one of Europe’s most celebrated street artists) to create a visionary stack of releases, with a roster that keeps building from strength to strength: including the deep sounds of Mancunian Illum Sphere, the housier feel of Altered Natives and the rhythmically led 2562, and remix work from Ben Klock, Zomby, Flying Lotus, Redshape and Roska. Forthcoming releases in 2011 include an interesting mix of Martyn’s across-the-board taste, including Julio Bashmore, Addison Groove and Instra:mental. Released in April 2009 on his 3024 imprint, Martyn’s debut album cemented the path of his next expansion: Great Lengths set a new standard in the fragmenting dubstep scene (if not all of electronic music) for long players. Showcasing every distinct element of Martyn’s sound, the album’s refusal to sit with any identifiable genre resonated far beyond bass culture, repeatedly occupying top 10 spots in end-of-year polls (including #2 on Mixmag’s ‘Albums of the Year’ chart), and leading to releases on the experimental Aus Music and with Berlin’s 4/4 stalwarts Watergate Records and Ostgut Ton.

Intent on continually finding ways to merge different arts, in the summer of 2010, Martyn starred in a beautifully poignant and moving short film by Dutch director Ramon Gieling called Great Lengths. Soundtracked with 2 tracks off the album, the dream sequence is a duet between film and music: vimeo.com/14451792. "It was a great experience putting my music in a different context, and working with someone as creative and visionary as Ramon. It felt like the music and the images gelled together perfectly." Towards the end of 2008, Flying Lotus invited Martyn (alongside frequent DJ partner Kode 9) to the first Brainfeeder shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ever since, he’s become a resident for the esteemed family, playing increasingly legendary sets for Brainfeeder events from NYC to Barcelona. With a close friendship and intuitive artistic alliance, in 2010 Flying Lotus asked Martyn to release his hugely anticipated second album, Ghost People, on Brainfeeder. In leading up to the release of Ghost People, starting in June 2011, Martyn began taking his performances - and his musical creations - to the next level, by merging his sounds and Erosie’s visuals into an extraordinary live show that has been touring the festival rounds. Martyn and Erosie additionally have a series of album launches planned, which will be a “full live manifestation of the album.”

With Ghost People, which will be released on Brainfeeder this autumn, Martyn takes his sound into astral heights, paving his way towards perhaps the most unexpected direction yet. Adjective-heavy journalists and genre-name creators be warned: that next sound is here.

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) ) ) [4] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11349 [date] => 2013-05-18 [artist] => Thundercat [city] => Chicago [state] => Illinois [country] => US [venue] => Metro [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.stubhub.com/flying-lotus-chicago-metro-18-5-2013-4255499?GCID=C12289x839 [image_upload_id] => 17981 [created] => 2013-03-27 10:39:54 [modified] => 2013-04-17 11:09:22 [year_slug] => 2013 [month_slug] => may [day_slug] => 18 [slug] => thundercat-chicago-metro [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17981 [media_type] => image [artist] => Thundercat [title] => Thundercat - Press Shot 2013 [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/thundercat/Thundercat-press-shot.jpg [checksum] => 7a68dae77b1b7ef464d72dcb891d2822 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 40090 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/thundercat/Thundercat-press-shot.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => thundercat [slug] => thundercat-press-shot-2013 [created] => 2013-04-16 15:58:02 [modified] => 2013-04-16 15:58:25 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 122 [name] => United States [longname] => United States of America [numcode] => 840 [iso] => US [iso3] => USA [currency] => USD [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 117 [lft] => 241 [rght] => 242 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 151 [name] => Thundercat [description] =>

Bassist/songwriter/vocalist Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, has music deeply rooted within. His father, Ronald Bruner, Sr., is an internationally renowned jazz drummer who played with the Temptations, Diana Ross, Gary Bartz and Gladys Knight. His brother Ronald Bruner, Jr., a Grammy-winning drummer, has played with the likes of Roy Hargrove, Stanley Clarke, and Wayne Shorter. Stephen joined his brother as a member of West Coast punk vets Suicidal Tendencies, playing bass on their worldwide tours while still in high school. He also toured through Japan with Stanley Clarke at the age of 16.

As Thundercat, Bruner takes his jazz roots and works with a mix of artists that suit his wildly experimental sensibilities - ranging from Flying Lotus, Erykah Badu, and Stanley Clarke, as well as more recent collaborations with Wiz Khalifa and Earl Sweatshirt, to name but a few. After meeting and touring with Flying Lotus, the two artists collaborated on Lotus’ 2010 LP Cosmogramma on the track "MmmHmm." Their kindred sense of musicality led to Thundercat’s 2011 solo debut The Golden Age of Apocalypse, co-produced by Flying Lotus, which opened Bruner up to a new stratosphere of songwriting and artistic exploration.

In 2013, Thundercat teamed up with executive producer Flying Lotus once again, to form a profound body of work for his second album, Apocalypse.’ Forthcoming on Lotus Brainfeeder imprint this July, the album straddles lines and pushes genres further, blurring the confines of pop, funk, electronica and prog rock, and creating something else entirely. Both vulnerable and fearless, a comedy and tragedy, Apocalypse is an intimate portrait of an artist who will continue to take music to a new place; the beyond.

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) ) ) [5] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11395 [date] => 2013-05-18 [artist] => Toddla T Sound [city] => Brighton [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Great Escape Festival [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www2.seetickets.com/greatescape/event.asp?e%7Cartist=THE+GREAT+ESCAPE+2013&filler1=id1escapefestival&filler2=multiid1esca [image_upload_id] => 17972 [created] => 2013-04-09 13:47:41 [modified] => 2013-04-09 13:47:41 [year_slug] => 2013 [month_slug] => may [day_slug] => 18 [slug] => toddla-t-sound-brighton-great-escape-festival [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17972 [media_type] => image [artist] => Toddla T [title] => Toddla T Sound Tour Flyer 2013 [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/toddla-t/Mail-Attachment.jpg [checksum] => 5e8965092392bee59e1964361c6e1df8 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 2173623 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/toddla-t/Mail-Attachment.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 0 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => toddla-t [slug] => toddla-t-sound-tour-flyer-2013 [created] => 2013-04-09 13:34:16 [modified] => 2013-04-09 13:34:49 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 208 [name] => United Kingdom [longname] => United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [numcode] => 826 [iso] => GB [iso3] => GBR [currency] => GBP [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 191 [lft] => 413 [rght] => 414 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 95 [name] => Toddla T [description] =>

Do U Know Toddla T?

In 2007 Toddla T (aka Tom Bell) was working in a shoe shop in his hometown of Sheffield. Then just 19 and living at home with his parents, he DJ'd at weekends and was producing beats and tracks with his friend Scott as Small Arms Fiya.

Now it's 2011 Toddla T is making the finishing touches to his second album on the legendary Ninja Tune label, has a regular slot on BBC Radio 1, and has produced tracks for some of the UK urban scenes biggest stars (hands up Tinchy, Jammer, Bashy, Roots Manuva and Ms Dynamite).

He DJ's around the globe, has a slew of remixes under his belt (Hot Chip, Gyptian, Gorillaz, Major Lazer for starters), is a star of his own Toddla TV channel online and has worked in studios from Kingston Jamaica to Kingston upon Hull. Not to mention the recent launch of his Girls Music Label which, after only three releases has already featured productions by British dance music heroes Sticky and Roska.

So how do you get to be one of the leading lights of UK dance music in 4 short years?

Much can be attributed to Toddla’s phenomenal talent, drive and ambition. He has good taste and keen eyes and ears in all elements of British youth culture. However, the man himself modestly explains that it has just as much to do with the sea change which has taken place in British Pop music in the last few years.

When Toddla first started taking to the decks outside of his home town he was worried that no one would "get it" and to start with, many didn't. (Listen to the track "Roadtrip" from debut album Skanky Skanky to hear an amusing account of just such a night). No one could quite work out who Toddla was. Was he an MC? or the producer at the front of a now forgotten, media created "UK Digi-Dancehall revolution"? Was that skinny white kid the voice singing about Rice n Peas? Surely not.

Not allowing this confusion to get in his way T stuck to his guns. He could smell a change in the air and knew that what he was doing was worth sticking with. He made a mixtape, The Toddla T Ghettoblaster Vol.1 in 2008 and put it up for free online. It was downloaded by more than 10,000 people, was brilliantly received and announced Toddla as a talent to be watched. People other than club promoters and other DJ's started to hear about him and his club sets started to get more and more busy with people who were there to see him. Longtime studio spar and MC Serocee joined him on the road and the pair started to travel far and wide around the UK spreading the good word.

His debut album Skanky Skanky was released in January 2009, this was followed by a Fabric live mix album and a lot of requests for his production skills with everyone from Major Lazer to Grandmaster Flash getting in touch. Over a Guinness or two in his new London local (he decamped from Sheffield to the capital in 2010) Toddla reflects on the last couple of "pretty crazy years", the current UK scene and sets out his stall for what promises to be a very busy and successful 2011.

"When I was first signed (to 1965 Records) every kid wanted to be in a band. The Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines and all that were really popular, me and my mates who were into Notorious B.I.G and dancehall were really in the minority. Nowadays kids want to be Skream and Benga, or Tinchy or N-Dubz and because of that all their points of musical reference have changed"

It's true, there has been a huge shift in musical aesthetic, away from the skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors of The Strokes and the seemingly never-ending bandwagon that followed. What Toddla's saying here is borne out of the recently released statistic that rock music has had its worst year in the UK charts since 1960 with only 3 rock bands making it into the top 100 songs of 2010.

As a backdrop to Dizzee, Tinie, Tinchy et al storming the charts, the explosion of dubstep and subsequent re-evaluation of bass-driven, UK club music has seen a major shift in what people aged 15 - 25 are raving to. Where Soulwax and SMD and their like were ruling the clubs 2002 - 2006 nowadays seasoned campaigners like Shy FX and David Rodigan are championed by kids who weren't born when they were first spinning records.

Watch Me Dance is a bold step forward for Toddla T. Fans of Skanky Skanky will find plenty that will please them but for the countless thousands of clubbers who know Toddla T the DJ but haven't heard his productions this second album may come as a surprise. Toddla explains...

"I've been busiest in the last two years as a DJ, so of course this album has a big dose of the sounds and production techniques that I'm out there representing in the clubs every weekend but if you're looking for tops-off jungle or 4x4 bassline tearouts you won't find them here. This is definitely still a record for clubbers, but it's the one they'll listen to at home with their mates or every day on the way to work"

In Watch Me Dance Toddla has created a dubwise, street-soul masterpiece. In a typically precocious reference to records that were made when he was 4 and 10 years old respectively Toddla sums it up. "A bit of the Soul from Soul II Soul Club Classics and a bit of the Left-field from Leftism, I've been listening to those now and again, they took in a whole load of club music and made an album that summed something up and were great to listen to at the same time."

Amen to that.

Watch Me Dance is released on Ninja Tune on 22 August 2011.

[links] =>

www.toddlat.com

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Do U Know Toddla T?

So how do you get to be one of the leading lights of UK dance music in 4 short years?

Amen to that.

Watch Me Dance is released on Ninja Tune on 22 August 2011.

[links_clean] =>

www.toddlat.com

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Funki Porcini Presents City

As part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2013

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Funki Porcini Presents City

As part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2013

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Funki Porcini's music is the fruit of a well-traveled life.

Porcini left England at 19 to escape from a squat in Kings Cross being savaged by violent Scots, stranded in London after a football game. Arriving in Los Angeles with three hundred dollars that disappeared in a week on cocktails and hamburgers he was forced into menial labour, stacking shelves in a Westwood department store before earning enough money to hitch-hike to San Francisco. Here he bought a saxophone and moved into the Residents' old warehouse, where Snakefinger was still living. San Fran was alive with a post punk scene of radical experimentation and it was here Porcini started his forays into recorded sound. Although there were some true luminaries on the scene, such as Mark Pauline and his Survival Research Laboratories, Monte Cazzaza, Factrix and a host of underground bands, Porcini grew restless and decided to drive to New York with two friends.

Moving in to the East Village with new found Australian friends SPK he enjoyed NYC but eventually came back to England - and hated it. After a brief trial of Berlin he settled in Italy and remained there for 10 years making music for film and television before setting up 9Lazy9 with Keir Fraser.

After establishing connections with Ninja Tune from Italy, Porcini eventually came back to the mother ship and immersed himself in his studio 'The Uterus Goldmine', to produce first album 'Hed Phone Sex', a heady record openly made more for the pillows than for the dance floor. This was followed by 'Love Pussycats and Carwrecks', 'Let's See What Carmen Can Do', 'The Ultimately Empty Million Pounds' and 'Fast Asleep', where Porcini, together with Team Alcohol aka Rupert Small, produced stunning visual interpretations of the music, released on a DVD sold with the CD and premiered at The National Film Theatre in London.

Since the release of Fast Asleep, Porcini has been working on diverse projects involving animation and film; still in the Uterus Goldmine in deepest Warwickshire, he is currently working with writer/director Tony Grisoni on film scores.

Eight years on from his last full-length album, Funki returned with not one album but two! In December of 2009 he released PLOD independently on funkiporcini.bandcamp.com and in May, Ninja Tune released 'On'.

The greatest provocateur and humorist of the early Ninja period, Funki re-animated with his sound intact yet sounding utterly contemporary. Mixing together surreal jazz, found noise, synthetic strangeness and dream logic, "On" is as beautiful and odd as anything he made previously. Porcini has promised to not let it go so long before his next release.

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Funki Porcini's music is the fruit of a well-traveled life.

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) ) ) [8] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11539 [date] => 2013-05-18 [artist] => Daedelus and Thavius Beck [city] => Hollywood [state] => [country] => US [venue] => Musicians Institute College of Contemporary Music [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => [image_upload_id] => 14848 [created] => 2013-05-07 17:09:46 [modified] => 2013-05-07 17:09:46 [year_slug] => 2013 [month_slug] => may [day_slug] => 18 [slug] => daedelus-and-thavius-beck-hollywood-musicians-institute-college-of-contemporary-music [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 14848 [media_type] => image [artist] => Daedelus [title] => 'Make It So' video screengrab [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/daedelus/daedelus-makeitso-screengrab.jpg [checksum] => 075edb5992fd52eab50194159c0d8b51 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 92286 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/daedelus/daedelus-makeitso-screengrab.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => daedelus [slug] => make-it-so-video-screengrab [created] => 2010-12-08 10:47:07 [modified] => 2010-12-08 10:47:07 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 122 [name] => United States [longname] => United States of America [numcode] => 840 [iso] => US [iso3] => USA [currency] => USD [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 117 [lft] => 241 [rght] => 242 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 59 [name] => Daedelus [description] =>

Alfred Darlington isn’t a paint-by-numbers musician. From how he looks (early Victorian Dandyism), to how he makes music, or how he expresses
himself and views the world, his is a very individual ‘bespoke’ outlook.

Alfred was born in Santa Monica in 1977 to an artist mother and professor father. Musical from very early on, as a child he was classically and jazz-trained in a number of instruments, but his interests were broad and varied – less a prodigy than a renaissance boy whose obsessions ranged from Greek legend to the mountains of Wales. As a 15 year old he finally persuaded his parents to take him to the Principality. Whilst in a YWCA in London he flipped the radio dial, found a pirate radio station and taped some UK rave and hardcore. “It was my first ‘Eureka!’ moment in music,” he says.

Back in the US he joined local rock bands, jazz bands and ska bands, which he enjoyed but felt limited by, too. At home he was listening to Warp, Ninja and your harder electronic stuff. He started DJing out the more leftfield side of drum & bass and making his own rudimentary productions. They were meant to fit the d&b template but they kept turning out different and from his outsider’s experiments his own style was born. He chose the name Daedelus as he had a childhood obsession with invention, and what was he doing, after all, if not tinkering and fiddling and experimenting like the “gentleman inventors” of old?

In 1999 he started DJing on Dublab.com for his 'Entropy Sessions' and began dropping in his own early demo productions. Carlos Nino (of Ammoncontact) had the show after him and usually pushed Alfred out the studio as quickly as possible as he was not so enamoured with Alfred’s leftfield-electronic DJ style, but when he heard a tranquil Daedelus production he took Daedelus and introduced him to the LA scene. Nino placed Daedelus tracks on two influential compilations and then Plug Research released his debut album, 'Invention' in 2002. Remixers included Madlib, who later took Daedelus' accordion parts and used them on 2004's Madvillain record.

In 2003, he was booked to play a show in San Diego by Brian Crabtree and Peter Siegerstrong and the pair asked him to test out an early prototype of the Monome. "It’s a Non-traditional electronic instrument,” Daedelus explains. “Basically it allows for massive improvisation." Since then Daedelus has continued to use this revolutionary controller, bringing much genuine liveness to the sometimes static world of performed electronic/dance music.

In 2003 he did 'The Weather' album with Busdriver and Radioinactive and the remix album 'Rethinking the Weather' on Mush records. 2004 saw the release of 'Of Snowdonia' on Plug Research, the album with which Daedelus says he first “felt true artistic confidence, finding a true voice. I was finally in the right zone.”

There was certainly no let up in his creativity. Also in 2004 he released the concept album 'A Gent Agent' on micro-label Laboratory Instinct. The 2005 album 'Exquisite Corpse' on Mush featured the likes of TTC, Mike Ladd and MF DOOM. Ninja signed Daedelus for UK/Europe (a relationship which reached its full expression on 2008's 'Love To Make Music To', his first album for the label worldwide and put together with the help of their team).

In 2006 'Denies the Day's Demise' came out, a record showcasing his love of Brazilian music. Last year he released his first live album, 'Live At Low End Theory', and 'Fairweather Friends EP'. Later that year came the release of his collaboration with his wife, Laura Darling, as the pastoral 'The Long Lost'.

Since his last album 'Love To Make Music To' for Ninja there has been no let up in Daedelus’ productivity. He has remixed or been remixed by and produced with all of his LA scene peers including Flying Lotus, Nosaj Thing, The Gaslamp Killer, Baths, and countless others from further afield. In addition, singles and EPs under his own name have come out with Brainfeeder, All City, Magical Properties (the Daedelus home-imprint), Alpha Pup, Warp and Stones Throw. And all the while his reputation has grown internationally, his place in the LA scene has also solidified as a musician that many of the hottest names in the city turn to for everything from bass clarinet licks to advice on obscure electronics; all the while with a continuous string of tour dates across North America, Asia, Europe, the UK, and beyond.

2011 starts not only with his new album but the meticulous planning of a huge tour featuring guest vocalists from his 'Bespoke' LP and with a spectacular visual show curated in part by Emmanuel Baird (of Manchester's Warehouse Project and Hoya Hoya nights) which will feature a top secret new invention codenamed ARCHIMEDES, promising to yet again re-invent live electronic performance.

[links] =>

Website

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Website

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SoundCloud

) [1] => Array ( [id] => 91 [name] => Thavius Beck [description] =>

Thavius Beck, like many of Los Angeles' independent MCs, cut his teeth at the Project Blowed open mic workshop in LA's Leimert Park. But even in the 1990s, when Beck was a member of Global Phlowtations (along with Mikah-9, Sach, and a handful of others) and went by the handle Adlib, his sights were fixed on the future of music. His debut release, 'Vs.', showcased his ability to both conjure maximal sonic impact with limited means, and his ability to write intricate rhymes and deliver them with an effortless flow.

Since the late 1990s, however, Beck has focused much more on the production side of his skillset, releasing full-lengths under the monicker Adlib including 'Save Us', 'Experience Experiments' and 'Manipulator', as well as two full-lengths as Thavius Beck on Mush Records, 2004's 'Decomposition' and 2006's 'Thru'. Beck spent 2007 contributing production work on Saul Williams' 'Niggy Tardust' full-length with Trent Reznor, and in 2008, he entered the studio with new LA resident K-The-I???, producing K's entire full-length 'Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow'.

Between studio sessions, Beck was taking to the road, traveling Europe and the United States as both artist and DJ. His superb live hip-hop beat construction has earned him much recognition among the electronic music community, eventually leading to sponsorships from M-Audio and Ableton, the creators of ubiquitous beat software, Live. Beck's relationship with Live has grown to the point that his tours often include him booking Ableton Live instructional workshops in many of the cities he stops in.

In 2009, Mush and Big Dada released 'Dialogue'. Unlike previous efforts, which have featured appearances from Saul Williams, Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta), Subtitle, and many more, the only voice on 'Dialogue' is Beck's own. He released a new, instrumental album, "The Most Beautiful Ugly" on Plug Research in 2012.

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[links_clean] =>

Facebook
Twitter
SoundCloud

) ) ) [9] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11550 [date] => 2013-05-18 [artist] => Congo Natty with Nanci & Phoebe [city] => Lisboa [state] => [country] => PT [venue] => Republica De Musica [promoter] => [description] =>

Congo Natty with Nanci & Phoebe

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Congo Natty with Nanci & Phoebe

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Big Dada are proud and pleased to announce that they will release the album Jungle Revolution by Congo Natty on June 17th 2013. Congo Natty aka Rebel MC has a career dating back to his early hit with Double Trouble, "Street Tuff," but is probably most respected as one of the pioneers of Jungle - perhaps the first uniquely UK-born bass music. Jungle Revolution features the whole of the extended Congo Natty family and was mixed with Adrian Sherwood. Clearly showing this Rasta's belief that Jungle is a re-boot of roots reggae for a new century, the record is full of blood and fire, the sternum-buzz of sub-bass, rapid fire drum breaks, sweet hooks, righteous anger and professions of religious fervour. It’s the kind of passionate, committed, raw and spiritual, beautiful record that doesn’t come along every day.

To celebrate this release, we are giving away the track "UK Allstars," which features a who's who of British soundsystem culture. This is the first time ever that this line up have all appeared on one track together and so also marks a historic coming together of a scene which lies at the roots of so much of what we now take for granted in UK music, from dubstep to grime to drum & bass and beyond.

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Big Dada are proud and pleased to announce that they will release the album Jungle Revolution by Congo Natty on June 17th 2013.

Congo Natty aka Rebel MC has a career dating back to his early hit with Double Trouble, "Street Tuff," but is probably most respected as one of the pioneers of Jungle - perhaps the first uniquely UK-born bass music.

Jungle Revolution features the whole of the extended Congo Natty family and was mixed with Adrian Sherwood. Clearly showing this Rasta's belief that Jungle is a re-boot of roots reggae for a new century, the record is full of blood and fire, the sternum-buzz of sub-bass, rapid fire drum breaks, sweet hooks, righteous anger and professions of religious fervour. It’s the kind of passionate, committed, raw and spiritual, beautiful record that doesn’t come along every day.

[links_clean] => ) ) ) [10] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11169 [date] => 2013-05-19 [artist] => Jesse Boykins III & MeLo-X [city] => Leuven [state] => [country] => BE [venue] => Zaal Het Depot [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => [image_upload_id] => 17082 [created] => 2013-02-05 14:08:10 [modified] => 2013-03-13 12:54:12 [year_slug] => 2013 [month_slug] => may [day_slug] => 19 [slug] => jesse-boykins-iii-and-melo-x-leuven-zaal-het-depot [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17082 [media_type] => image [artist] => Jesse Boykins III [title] => Press Shot 2012 [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/jesse-boykins-iii/Fewture-9.jpg [checksum] => fb5f9a8a6931697fe9db668b47dde7ee [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 3841883 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/jesse-boykins-iii/Fewture-9.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => jesse-boykins-iii [slug] => press-shot-2012-2 [created] => 2012-07-20 16:51:42 [modified] => 2012-07-26 10:50:45 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 228 [name] => Belgium [longname] => Belgium [numcode] => 56 [iso] => BE [iso3] => BEL [currency] => EUR [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 226 [lft] => 453 [rght] => 454 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 168 [name] => Jesse Boykins III & MeLo-X [description] =>

Zulu Guru is the first full-length collaboration from singer/songwriter Jesse Boykins III and producer/emcee MeLo-X. Both Jesse and MeLo-X have critically acclaimed self-released albums and duets.With Zulu Guru, they bring together a solid collection of songs that reflect and define a new direction in Hip Hop and R&B, both lyrically and musically. This new sound is rooted in traditional soul music, adding elements from multiple genres to serve a purely unique and honest look at modern romance. With Zulu Guru, Jesse and MeLo-X absorb influences from around the world into the production including Afro-Beat, West Indian, and Electronic Soul - expanding their brand and message worldwide.

"The history of the ZuLu is one rich with stories of royalty, valor and the warrior spirit. In an age of creative freedom through the use of social networks we have become warriors of free expression. Never bound by the shackles of genre, we travel and shift through musical landscapes breaking down barriers in the process. Our approach to music is similar to that of the spirited tribal warrior; conquering new land as we travel the world winning wars through romance. As we venture into a new level in our careers, we continue to embody the Zulu warrior spirit while elaborating on the romantic qualities in everyday life.

The greatest minds are the ones that connect wholeheartedly with their artistic visions and do all they can to make it reality. The Guru in us all simply craves evolution and tranquility which comes with experience, which is simply the process in which we become more and more true to ourselves: being able to acknowledge our flaws and mistakes and wrongdoings and grow for the better.

In this music there is honesty; pure understanding or putting forth the effort to understand the emotions that make us do what we do. We write to express and highlight things within ourselves and our culture that we feel hold some sort of significance, good or bad. We deeply connect with the many cultures of the world, traveling and over-involving ourselves with awareness. This music we bring to you is a sonic form of connection, a humbling form of passion, and the advancement of art in form of romance."

[links] =>

www.zulu-guru.com
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Jesse Boykins III Facebook
Jesse Boykins III Twitter
Jesse Boykins III Soundcloud

MeLo-X Facebook
MeLo-X Twitter
MeLo-X Soundcloud

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www.zulu-guru.com
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Jesse Boykins III Facebook
Jesse Boykins III Twitter
Jesse Boykins III Soundcloud

MeLo-X Facebook
MeLo-X Twitter
MeLo-X Soundcloud

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[links] =>

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Big Cartel
Tumblr
Facebook
Twitter
Soundcloud

) [1] => Array ( [id] => 133 [name] => Teebs [description] =>

"Teebs has such a unique and tender magic, as an artist, as a producer and as a human being...He's a gifted and rare kind...” - Mary Anne Hobbs

“Everything he does is gold, he does HIS thing, always has and I suspect, always will.” - Dimlite

As music from the Los Angeles area thrives and swells across the globe, one of its most beloved and deeply rooted members steps out with an LP full of infectious melodies, subtle hip-hop and a kaleidoscope of sound. Music for the imagination.

Ardour is the debut album by long time running My Hollow Drum, Dublab, and recent Brainfeeder artist, Teebs. Born in New York to Malawi and Barbados origins, Mtendere (pronounced “ten-de-ra”, Chichewa for “Peace”) Mandowa, is a 23 year-old producer who bounced around the East Coast before finally planting his feet in the Southern California suburb of Chino Hills.

A city known for its rolling hills and FBI ranking of one of the safest in the United States, Teebs developed his artistry right outside Los Angeles’ county line and just south of the Orange County beach community. Music may have come by accident, literally. A skateboard injury sidelined Teebs, which led to a concentration on art.

Through great focus and vision, Teebs made a name for himself as a skilled painter. His artwork found on canvases of all form, from walls to record covers, become imbued with vibrant color, energy, and shape.

From paint and brush, Teebs slowly found himself in the world of music making.

Early in his musical pursuits, Teebs joined a group of like-minded friends and producers who went by the name ‘My Hollow Drum’. Within this crew, he was able to build new ideas, share works and perfect his production craft. Intrigued with what was going on in Los Angeles’ evolving electronic scene, he never expected to fall directly into it.

He began interning for the acclaimed online radio stream, Dublab. This sparked his self-expression, spirit and growth as an artist. Being around music, art and a creative atmosphere while brushing shoulders with the artists he admired from the area.

Teebs was accepted into the Red Bull Music Academy for their 2008 edition in Barcelona, Spain. Upon arrival back home, Teebs became even more focused on his music and art. A chance meeting with Flying Lotus led to his involvement and joining of the newly founded Brainfeeder collective. Having previously heard from local producers and DJs about this new up and comer, Lotus didn’t hesitate to take Teebs under his wing after hearing some of his earliest beats. 'Ardour' began to bloom.

Ardour was made during two major periods of his life. Having just lost his job and with little to no money, Teebs moved into the same apartment complex as Flying Lotus and shared living quarters with another Brainfeeder affiliate, Samiyam. It was here that the beginning stages and one-half of 'Ardour' were created. Before Teebs was aware his album was showing itself, his father who had been terminally ill, passed away. He moved back home and stopped making music.

Back home, Teebs finished where he left off.

'Ardour', two years in the making, is the result of Teebs’ journey thus far. More than the music, it’s the feeling he wants to convey. The idea of hearing something you really love, the moment you know something is really special. Flying Lotus said, “Teebs music sounds like an island vacation...The way Avatar looks.” What’s often said about Teebs’ sound is the warmth it has on the listener. It’s only fitting that a title like 'Ardour', which is defined as “great intensity and warmth” is used to represent this essential chapter to the ever-growing puzzle of Los Angeles.

[links] =>

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"Teebs has such a unique and tender magic, as an artist, as a producer and as a human being...He's a gifted and rare kind...” - Mary Anne Hobbs

“Everything he does is gold, he does HIS thing, always has and I suspect, always will.” - Dimlite

From paint and brush, Teebs slowly found himself in the world of music making.

Back home, Teebs finished where he left off.

[links_clean] =>

Big Cartel
Tumblr
Facebook
Twitter
Soundcloud

) ) ) [12] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11563 [date] => 2013-05-19 [artist] => Funki Porcini [city] => Norwich [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Epic Studios [promoter] => [description] =>

Funki Porcini Presents City

As part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2013

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Funki Porcini Presents City

As part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2013

Funki Porcini's music is the fruit of a well-traveled life.

[links] =>

Funki Porcini's music is the fruit of a well-traveled life.

[links_clean] =>

http://www.bonobomusic.com/

) ) ) [13] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11074 [date] => 2013-05-20 [artist] => Bonobo [city] => Nottingham [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Rock City [promoter] => [description] =>

http://www.bonobomusic.com/

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) ) ) [14] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 11564 [date] => 2013-05-20 [artist] => Funki Porcini [city] => Norwich [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Epic Studios [promoter] => [description] =>

Funki Porcini Presents City

As part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2013

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Funki Porcini Presents City

As part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2013

Funki Porcini's music is the fruit of a well-traveled life.

[links] =>

Funki Porcini's music is the fruit of a well-traveled life.

[links_clean] =>

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An experimental and self taught singer and songwriter originally hailing from South East London, Andreya Triana grew up submerged in a multicultural atmosphere. A unique vocalist, Andreya began singing at the tender age of 7, taking influence from the sights and sounds of inner city London. Her early love and passion for music would see her locked in her bedroom for hours on end writing poetry, making homemade mix tapes and recording tracks - utilising two battered cassette decks to record harmonies. Her early love of improvisation would warp and change over the years, hugely influencing her 'Freeflo Sessions' - a hypnotic one woman show using a sampler to loop vocals, percussive sounds and beats live. To date she has taken her Freeflo Sessions worldwide, dazzling audiences far and wide with her cutting edge and soulful performances.

2006 saw her selected from thousands to take part in the Red Bull Music Academy in Australia where she further developed her style for improvisation and secured links with some of the best producers and musicians on the music scene. Multiple collaborations ensued daily at the Academy, with 'Tea Leaf Dancers', a collaboration with glitchy hip hop producer Flying Lotus (released on Warp Records), was a product of this and has been her most successful musical venture to date. Hailed as a classic while getting rave reviews from Benji B and Gilles Peterson while getting airplay on Annie Mac's Radio One show, it was this track that also caught the attention of Ninja Tune stalwart Bonobo.

2009 has been an eventful year for Miss Triana, touring America and Canada with the Bonobo live band, playing on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury showcasing new material and signing a three album deal with Ninja Tune Records. 2010 saw the release of her album 'Lost Where I Belong', produced by Bonobo, with fellow Ninja Tune singer and songwriter Fink also stepping up to co-write two tracks for the album. 'Lost Where I Belong' is a beautifully honest album combining Soul, Folk, Jazz and Bonobo's cinematic magic in a highly anticipated and hotly tipped debut... watch out for Andreya Triana!

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Multiple collaborations ensued daily at the Academy, with 'Tea Leaf Dancers', a collaboration with glitchy hip hop producer Flying Lotus (released on Warp Records), was a product of this and has been her most successful musical venture to date. Hailed as a classic while getting rave reviews from Benji B and Gilles Peterson while getting airplay on Annie Mac's Radio One show, it was this track that also caught the attention of Ninja Tune stalwart Bonobo.

2010 saw the release of her album 'Lost Where I Belong', produced by Bonobo, with fellow Ninja Tune singer and songwriter Fink also stepping up to co-write two tracks for the album. 'Lost Where I Belong' is a beautifully honest album combining Soul, Folk, Jazz and Bonobo's cinematic magic in a highly anticipated and hotly tipped debut... watch out for Andreya Triana!

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“What the hell were we thinking?,” exclaims Dan Taylor, guitarist for U.K. indie soul-rock titans The Heavy, of the band’s audacious new album, The Glorious Dead, to be released on Counter/Ninja Tune on 21 August 2012. “We wanted to make a bold statement – it’s not shy.”

“It’s over the top, in a good way,” adds Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. “We went pretty cinematic, setting out to score a film that hasn’t been written.” As such, The Glorious Dead proves The Heavy’s most ambitious effort: Frankensteining swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage rock and Gospel-soaked soul, it’s unlike anything you’ll hear this year.

The Glorious Dead builds off momentum from The Heavy’s international smash single “How You Like Me Now?,” off acclaimed 2009 album, The House That Dirt Built. “How You Like Me Now?” became the first song David Letterman’s ever requested an encore for when The Heavy played the “Late Show,” and appeared everywhere from “Entourage,” Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter, and the trailer for the new Mark Wahlberg comedy Ted – and was even performed by contestant Tony Lucca on NBC’s hit show “The Voice.” “It’s become such a big tune, people ask, ‘How are you going to top that?’,” Swaby says. The Glorious Dead provides the answer with supernatural force. Album opener “Can’t Play Dead” thunders as if Jack White remixed “Ghost Town” by The Specials; “Curse Me Good,” meanwhile, balances sweet whistled hooks and acoustic strum with heartbreaking vocals. “It’s good to have a bit of light and shade,” Taylor explains. As such, the album’s soaring centerpiece “What Makes A Good Man?” contrasts Swaby’s gritty soul searching with girl-group backgrounds and epic strings. “Think vintage, but keep it contemporary – that’s our approach,” Swaby explains. “…Good Man?” proved the album’s breakthrough. Searching for inspiration, The Heavy traveled from their Bath, England hometown to Columbus, Georgia, hooking up with local church-trained singers and players for some Southern Gothic sublimity. Taking the material to yet another level was Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, who added string and horn parts to four songs. “He’s such a talent,” Swaby enthuses.

The Glorious Dead also represents the first time The Heavy’s members – which in addition to Taylor and Swaby include Spencer Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) – chose to produce themselves. To mix the results, the band first worked with longtime associate Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys) at Peter Gabriel’s famed Real World complex, then finished up with Paul Corkett (The Cure, Nick Cave, Björk). “Self-producing was all about being self-sufficient in realizing our vision,” Taylor says. “It’s our third record, which is when you’re judged if you’re here to stay, or sliding off the face of the earth. We want to stick around, so we took our balls out and went for it.” “I love what we’ve done,” adds Swaby. “We got our deadpan heartbreak down. This record suggests how we continue to walk among the dead – now just in a few more places, and with more of a swagger.”

[links] =>

www.theheavy.co.uk

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