Young Fathers | I Heard

We're teaming up with the illustrious Dark Party to put on a gig in our beloved hometown Luton at Edge next month. If you've not come across Young Fathers, get familiar. Probably one of the most important acts in UK hip hop in recent times, Young Fathers hail from Scotland & are signed to legendary label Anticon. 

Check their latest video to the track 'I Heard' below & full info on the gig here

Jela | Will Robson-Scott

Great work as ever from Mr Robson-Scott

Ben Hayes EP | Quite Alright Records

Quite Alright Records are a new label between Leeds & Sheffield at the minute that have recently put out an absolutely wonderful free EP from London based producer Ben Hayes. 

The 3 track release features the lovely vocals of Naomi Banks on the opening track 'Colours,' a great way to set the tone for those new to what Ben Hayes is all about. 'Islands' is the second track of the EP, a downtempo number with a drawn out pitched vocal to accompany that would make for perfect listen on a warm summers evening. The third of tracks, titled 'Things Left Unsaid' begins in similar vein - a mellow, hazy production which incorporates a whole host of musical influences, that then takes a more intense turn with layers of sounds that culminate into an arrangement of sounds that all compliment each other well & work perfectly.

Grab a listen below in full below & keep an ear out for what Quite Alright Records have in-store next

Colourway | First Light SS13

In the past month or so there's been a handful of UK based brands that have presented either their debut collections or surfaced with ranges for the new season that are all definitely going about things the right way. It's been a little while since I've properly got excited about new releases from 'brands' & over the course of this week will be sharing a few that you'll have every reason to get excited about too. 

And so, this is Colourway. Colourway are a new british menswear brand, that from the off you can tell have exciting times ahead. I came across them over on Fuckin' Yeh a week or two ago & found myself genuinely excited at the cleanness & quality of everything & wanting to find out more, just on first impressions after a brief read up. Their tagline 'Everything Incorporated' is a great summary of what Colourway are all about, it's the result of an eye for design & passion for good quality clothing from the brains behind the brand Christian Taylor. 

There are a couple of standout pieces for me from the collection, the first being the slogan tee which reads 'Have A Good Forever' in red print over blue linear waves. Second pick would be the the artists series tee's, a collaboration with Clay Hickson, an illustrator & printmaker, living & working in Chicago who's work explores the intersection of post-modern influences & attitudes central to 1960's counter culture. They display geometric shapes & forms in varying colour prints onto white.

A combination of tees, beanies, 5 panels, jersey crewneck sweaters & a great skateboard deck makeup the rest of the Colourway debut collection, titled 'First Light.' They site the first release as occupying 'a consciously slow & steady approach' with which it's only natural that care & attention are given to the production of each piece. There's a real minimal aesthetic to it all, something perhaps somewhat overlooked in recent years & this 'less is more' approach to the design allows for there to be a more equal balance in attention being payed to things such as the quality of the fabrics & finer details that begin to set the boys from the men, if you will.

To coincide with the release, Colourway recently put out the first of their 'Shapes In Sound' mix series with #1 being an incredible 70 minute 100% vinyl mix from Bristol DJ & producer Jay L which you can download for now't. Great stuff. 

Check a few more images from Colourway's First Light collection, currently stocked at Donuts, below & check more from them here

RA: Real Scenes | New York

Been meaning to share this for a couple of weeks now, it's the latest of the brilliant Resident Advisor series 'Real Scenes,' which focusses on the nightlife & club scenes of different cities across the globe. Previous episodes have included Johannesburg, Bristol & Detroit, all pretty influential places in their respective genres that they're renowned for today.

For me, the great thing about these episodes by RA, is that it doesn't just solely focus on the music. It gives you a real sense of what the city is actually all about, speaking to normal people about normal things. Getting an idea of the everyday goings on in the place each episode focusses on, gives us a much better idea of how & why the music we associate with each place exists today. The history of these places, early influences of the artists & DJ's & then how these Real Scenes episodes document how they have all evolve & will continue to make for a fascinating watch.

Take a look for yourself at the Real Scenes: New York episode by Resident Advisor below

Brandy | You Don't Know Me (Olojee Remix)

Been away for a little while, sorry about that. Kicking things back off with a bang though with this heavy remix we got sent through a week or two ago.

It come's courtesy of Olojee, a producer based between London & Sheffield at the minute. It's a great remix of 'You Don't Know Me' by Brandy & its heavy percussion along with weighty baseline make it without doubt a dancefloor ready number that to be honest, you can't really not like.

Grab a listen below to the track in full which you can also download for free via soundcloud stream below & be sure to check more from man like Olojee here

S1 Studios Presents Dance Party 2.0

Saloua Raouda Choucair: From Beirut to Tate Modern

A chance now for a watch of the latest in the 'Tate Shots' series, which gives a brief insight into the life & work of Saloua Raouda Choucair ahead of the retrospective exhibition of her works at the the Tate Modern. Enjoy.

"Saloua Raouda Choucair is famous in Lebanon for bringing abstraction to the Middle East. A rare female voice in the Beirut art scene from the 1940s onwards, she has spent her career combining western abstraction with the traditions of Islamic design. But, working through civil war and ongoing unrest in Lebanon, she remains virtually unknown outside her own country. 

Now, at the age of 97, this pioneer is belatedly recognised with her first major museum show. As her interlocking sculptures, textiles and paintings, both abstract and figurative, go on display at Tate Modern, we travel to Beirut to meet the artist's daughter at the apartment where Choucair's work started its journey."

Nut City: Kebab Customs

Nut City: Kebab Customs is documentation of a series of photographs and illustrations by Joel Barton, Elliot Holbrow & Nazusk. Been eagerly anticipating the release of the zine for a minute & glad to see that it's finally surfaced with some great content. They went on sale down at the Connect The Dots event at Victoria Quays in Sheffield a couple of weeks back now.

Grab a look at some images from the zine below followed by a teaser vid the Sheffield based trio have put together. Available online here

Chaos Wolf | Starchild

It's always great when you find some good new music. Even more so when you find that it's coming out of your hometown. 'Chaos Wolf' is the latest beat tape from Luton based producer, Starchild. He's a hip hop/electronic producer making some real interesting stuff at the minute & there isn't really much more to be said apart from his productions should definitely be getting heard.

Chaos Wolf is beat tape 4 in a series of 12 called 'Cosmic Creatures' by Starchild. It samples iconic American musician George Duke's 'Faces in Reflection' album, definitely recommend setting some time aside on a Sunday afternoon & kicking back to this. 

Take a listen below & check more from Starchild here

cha·os (ka-os) 
n. 
1. A condition or place of great disorder or confusion. 
2. A disorderly mass; a jumble: The desk was a chaos of papers and unopened letters. 
3. often Chaos The disordered state of unformed matter and infinite space supposed in some cosmogonic views to have existed before the ordered universe. 
4. Mathematics A dynamical system that has a sensitive dependence on its initial conditions. 
5. Obsolete An abyss; a chasm. 

wolf (wulf) 
n. pl. wolves (wulvz) 
1. 
a. Either of two carnivorous mammals of the family Canidae, especially the gray wolf of northern regions, that typically live and hunt in hierarchical packs and prey on livestock and game animals. 
b. The fur of such an animal. 
c. Any of various similar or related mammals, such as the hyena. 

Hurricane | RVLVR EP (PV001)

Right then, next up an announcement that we're pretty excited about. Today we are putting out the debut EP from Hurricane. Titled RVLVR, it's a 5-track release that features recent production works from the Luton based producer. The overall feel of the instrumental EP  lends itself nicely to hip hop with a combination of winding synths & melodies that drop in & out alongside some subtle sprinkles of percussion that'll keep you head nodding. 

The RVLVR EP is available to grab for free & you can get your hands on it on our new shiny bandcamp page. Take a listen below via the stream, check more from Hurricane over on his soundcloud. Shouts also to Jordan Blucher on the EP artwork. 

Olugbenga | Hafiza [Innocence]

Remember Olugbenga Adelekan, the bassist from Metronomy? Well he's taken things in a slightly different direction of late with some solo stuff as a DJ/producer & gathering a wealth of supporters along the way. 'Hafiza [Innocence]' is his debut release  & set go out on the eclectic UK label Pictures Music, who's previous releases include material from the likes of Lapalux, Dauwd & Koreless among others.

In their words, OLUGBENGA’s music 'draws on elements from hip-hop, techno, gospel and the claustrophobic soundscapes of post-rock' & you definitely get a sense of all those with this. It's pretty high tempo stuff, the layers of sounds & pitched vocal culminate into a hazy synthy groove really works well.

You can grab the 'Hafiza [Innocence]' single over on iTunes now & be sure to keep an ear out for the full release as a 12" vinyl on 20th May on Pictures Music. 

Paul White ft. Danny Brown | Street Lights (One Handed Music)

One Handed Music last week brought us a video to the great track by Paul White featuring Danny Brown. All trippy n' illustrationy n' that. Grab a watch below & you can grab the track on iTunes here. 

Also, for any London gang, catch Paul White next Friday at the Bussey Building alongside Romare, Chesslo Junior & a bunch of others including our guys Yancey Boys, more info on that here. 

Tramlines Festival 2013 Preview

Been drooling over this for a few days now. Tramlines festival is one of, if not the best thing in Sheffield & for that matter, maybe in the UK in terms of weekend festivals & value for money. There's a hell of a load more big announcements for this years festival to come in the coming weeks as well.

The thing that took me most by surprise when I first heard about Tramlines, was that it was all free. Near every promoter, live music venue & whoever else fancies in Sheffield gets involved & put on some incredible shows, all for nothing. How? Even just from a monetary perspective, surely it wasn't viable? I really struggled to get my head around how it worked & it wasn't until I actually experienced a Tramlines weekend for myself that I properly understood. 

So, back to July 2011, it was like the place transformed over night. Trying to move anywhere in Devonshire Quarter - an area of Sheffield's city centre filled with independents & probably one of the most interesting areas of town - took about 15 minutes longer than it should ever do, chaos. Good chaos though, if such a thing exists.

The day panned out something like 'pop here to see this band, just heading there to meet so-and-so for a quick drink, ah whats-his-face is playing over there this afternoon'  & it was the diversity of the gigs and DJs playing that were going on throughout the day that really got me. I just remember thinking, yeah this is pretty cool..and it's free. On top of that, everyone I came across was just happy as Larry & cheesy as it sounds, it was a great thing to feel a part of, kind of sums up what Sheffield is about for me. Fast-forward to the Friday night at Sheffield's DQ, I remember being taken aback again not only by the atmosphere & number of people inside the club (more than I ever remember seeing in all the times I'd previously been to DQ at that point) but also the lack of trouble, which you'd usually expect considering the amount of boozed up punters packed inside in a sardine-esque fashion. Good vibes all round. Youngsta, Zed Bias & Checan went on to make top things off & make my first Tramlines experience an unforgettable one, it was like nothing I had seen before. Things pretty much go like that for the weekend.

Check the highlights from last years Red Bull Stage below. You can be a Tramliner for this year here

Rewolmer | Plenty Vibes Guestmix

Our latest comes from another producer we've been a big fan of for a minute now, it's Copenhagen based producer Rewolmer. The 35 minute mix contains some of his own productions along with some others that are inspiring him at the moment.

Check more here from Rewolmer & grab a listen his mix which you can download for free below

ClekClekBoom presents Paris Club Music Vol. 1

Not seen a trailer as good as this for a hot minute. Clek Clek Boom gang present the first volume of Paris Club Music which includes tracks from the likes of  French Fries, Manaré, Jean Nipon, The Town, Coni, Ministre X, Bambounou & Chaos In The CBD across 2 CDs. Grab a look at the video teaser & full tracklist below.

CD1 - Exclusives

01. French Fries - Yo Vogue VIP
02. Manaré - Riddle
03. The Town - Dice
04. Jean Nipon - Coming At You
05. French Fries - Southside
06. Coni - Missing You Nire
07. Ministre X - Kobe

CD2 - Archive

01. French Fries “Champagne”
02. French Fries “Hugz” ft. Bambounou
03. Coni “Luz In Pool”
04. Ministre X “Calling Me” ft. Sana
05. The Town “The Movement”
06. Bambounou “Night”
07. Manaré “Quartz”
08. Chaos In The CBD “Slab”
09. Jean Nipon “Put It In The Trunk”

Preditah | The Sound of Birmingham (Dazed Digital)

'The Sound Of Birmingham' gives a look at the grime producer from the Midlands, Preditah, with a short insight into what he is all about. The video & photography have been taken care of here by Cieron Magat & Nina Manandhar of ISYS & the short video captures what Birmingham is to Preditah himself & how local people, places & other surroundings have contributed to the music that he is making & putting out today. 

Hard to believe, but it was only just over a year ago that the Circles EP was released & quite interestingly, whilst on the whole recognised as grime, there's an obvious crossover in Preditah productions with garage & 2-step - something that he happily acknowledges in the video below by Dazed, mainly due to it being the music of the time particularly on pirate radio when he was growing up. Similarly, another producer out of the Midlands, SX, the brains behind the much championed Woo Riddim from 2009, seems to take heavy influence from Hip Hop in what he's putting out, but on the whole would be referred to as grime on these shores. And just thinking in reference to these, it raised a quick question that you might want to mull over, not that it even matters too much or is completely relevant but may be interesting to think about in the future, what defines Grime music, today in 2013? 

Anyway, that's for another day, having a sense of 'home' is what this is all about & it seems is an integral part of what Preditah does. Take a look below at the full video & head over to the Dazed website for a look at more photography from  Cieron Magat & Nina Manandhar

That Vague Delight, APG Works Sheffield

Quick photo recap of 'That Vague Delight' the exhibition at APG Works in Sheffield towards the end of last week. Featured works from Sheffield based artists Kristian Barnes, Lea Torp Nielsen, Mark Riddington & myself. Head over to the Archipelago Works facebook page for a look in full at images from the show. 

The Do You Breakfast w. Maximillion Dunbar & Mr. Wonderful18/04/13

Listen back to Charlie Bones'  Do!! You!!! Show from earlier this week on NTS with Maximillion Dunbar & Mr Wonderful.