Some people know they can find me at Phonica, others not. That aside, everybody knows that Phonica Records is one of London’s premier outlets for those 12″ pieces of plastic that some of us still choose to play music from. Our selection is wide and our taste refined, even if I do say so myself.
Until know, fans of Disco and House/Techno were the only ones receiving the monthly blessing of Phonica’s club excursions which take place at the Big Chill Bar, and T-Bar respectively. Thankfully, my esteemed colleagues Free-Care and A.Child (Nick and Aaron to their friends) are spearheading a new venture to cater for those of us who are more moved by that electronic bass music shiznit. Rather than try and claim all the glory for themselves, they’ve decided to use the sessions as a platform for some of our most loved labels/musical camps to showcase their freshest work. The twist is, that each event also includes a further guest whose work compliments the rest of the night’s offerings. Nice.
So, this Thursday 27th May, make the pilgrimage to Plastic People for the event’s maiden voyage. One Handed Music are in the house and are celebrating the launch of the Paul White and the Purple Brain project. They’ll also be presenting we the people with exciting noises from Bullion, Tranquill and Alex Chase. Veteran analogue B-Boy Danny Breaks completes the bill with our very own Free-Care and A.Child laying the foundations. It looks like a good one. I’m excited….
You know what makes me feel good? Seeing things work out for someone who really deserves them to. Elemental and I used to go to school together and even then he was squeezing bleeps and beats out of the music department’s Atari STs. As you can imagine, having been on the production trail ever since, he knows his way around a studio better than most. After a long wait, his debut longplayer is finally ready to drop on the 16th of this month and to celebrate, he’s lined up a little party for us.
Just to keep us on our toes, the flyer lists Search & Destroy as the guest selectors but the flyer is lying. Make your way down to Gramaphone this coming Thursday night and you’ll hear the mighty bass tones of Pevrelist alongside a mammoth live set from Elemental himself which promises to explore new frontiers of live, electronic modulation….
Looks like this week will be a busy one…Sa-Ra are playing the same basement for Weds night’s Deviation session…i’m gonna get my sleep in now….
Click here for the full lowdown on the LP courtesy of ST Holdings.
Although the video clip below would make an excellent tutorial on how not to film a clubnight, the music is dope….Elemental naturally….
I hate Twitter. That living your life online ish isn’t for me. Tucking self-promotion between tweets about how good your Cornflakes taste and how you feel about sitting on a bus in traffic jars my spirit….I still use it though. And as much as it pains me to say it, I have to admit its not all bad because it’s thanks to a tweet from the Brownswood BPM that I found out about Bookworms.
His bumpy yet hypnotic re-imagining of Mi Ami’s African Rhythms is currently smacking up the real and virtual worlds and his dense, unreleased dubs have rumbled their way onto the playlist of Ms Mary Ann Hobbs more than once over the past year. With our current wave of hot beat producers, you’d be forgiven for thinking Mr Worms is yet another fresh-faced talent jostling for position in the Bass Music marketplace….not so. He’s been doing this for a minute.
“…since around the year 2000, I was 17 years old…making beats on PlayStation recording to boom-box. The first music I ever let anyone hear was a couple Bjork remixes I uploaded to this old website called bjorkremixweb. This was around 2000. Then I produced and worked with some punk and hard-core bands who met through friends from high school. I also made beats for a couple mc’s from around the way. Around 2003 I got really into making my own beats and instrumentals, mostly because other people were too hard to work with…I guess you could say it was a natural progression.”
Although other artists proved hard to work with, it would seem Bookworms has no problems making friends with different genres. Listen to any one of his original productions or remix efforts and you’ll hear traces of Punk/Rock, Hip Hop, Detroit Techno,Disco, Dubstep and Experimental Electronica all present, all correct and all somehow managing to compliment one another.
I need to know more about the San Francisco scene. There’s some hot music out there and by the looks of Bookworms’ discography, he’s busy remixing a lot of it. Lemonade are a San Fran based band who have been getting some hype this side of the water recently and sure enough, who do we find on their ‘RemixTape’…
“My ex girlfriend used to work at a used-clothing store in SF with the Callan from Lemonade, so we knew each other from around SF and going to shows. They’re cool dudes, we talked about it at a show and they sent me the files to remix ”
Talking to Bookworms it soon transpires that many of his links are a direct result of long nights spent listening to loud music on herbal foundations. Take the Solos label that’s put out his version of African Rhythms as a case in point.
“Solos is on some crazy shit, it’s electronic music. It’s all across the board. I met Roche at a warehouse party Solos was throwing in Berkeley, I wanted to smoke and he was rolling a blunt, so we smoked and then I gave him a CD. A week or so later he asked me if I wanted to put some music out with Solos. The rest is history.”
Probing further, I discover that sadly, not all of Bookworms night-time trips have such a happy ending
“…back in about 2006 I went to Big Sur, California for this weird show where San Francisco bands Tussle, Brookhaven, Lemonade and the Drift were playing. Now Big Sur is way out in the woods and nature so I was a bit out of my element and it was hella dark….to cut a long story short I end up jumping off a motor home into the darkness and spraining my ankle really bad outside the show…not a good way to end the night…”
We feel you on that one…moving on to happier times we’ll focus on the music, or rather how Bookworms would like it to be received.
“I would like people to listen to my music on headphones while riding around a medieval city on Tron light -bikes. I am trying to expose parallels between sounds and samples and styles of music. I hope to share that with others.”
Shared it he has. Sounds to me that he’s read a little too much Sci Fi though. Well I guess with a name like Bookworms you can’t fault the brother for hitting the books…
“I like Simple Takes A Wife by Langston Hughes… anything by Isaac Asimov and [I read] lots of Sci-Fi end of the world stuff when I was younger..Reading helps me come up with names for songs…sometimes.”
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Finest Dearest – Slow Going (Bookworms Rmx) Brookhaven – Something Must Remain Of Us (Bookworms Rmx) Brookhaven – Static In The Valley (Bookworms Rmx) Mi Ami - How Can I (Bookworms Rmx) Mi Ami – African Rhythms (Bookworms Rmx) Lemonade - Sunchips (Bookworms Rmx)
LP’s, EP’s and singles
Bookworm Kills (Demo cassette)
The Hidden Staircase LP (Solos Records)
Mandarine Hits CD (Expel Records)
Folks: Remixes (Self released)
African Rhythms CD (Solos Records)
Yeah I know, this should have been posted last Friday but it’s been hectic times at Heads High HQ. I could have done it yesterday but I promised myself I’d take one whole day off the LCD and actually interact with real people ALL day. It was nice. I’ll do it again someday….
Anyway, here’s the missing selection. One of those ones that I wasn’t too happy with when I recorded it but listened back and was pleasantly surprised…A little rags in places but the rawness is the realness. Enjoy….
Dark Knight // Mutant Funk Bookworms // African Rhythms Zomby // One Foot Ahead Of The Other Silkie // Spark Red // I Should Tell Your Mama On Ya Baatin // Marvelous Jimmy Castor Bunch // It’s Just Begun (Larry Levan Mix) Holzer & Kamura // Pure Love Players Association // Let Your Body Go Don Armandos Second Avenue Rhumba Band // Deputy Of Love Fallout // The Morning After Martyn // For Lost Relatives F // Epilogue (Ramadanman Mix) Kode 9 & The Space Ape // Do You See What I See Elemental // Talk
Chinua Achebe was right. Things Fall Apart….or at the very least, divide and evolve. Take Dubstep. Once used to denote a specific crossbreed of steroid-pumped dub and skunked out two-step, the term now shelters a clutch of vaguely related forms ranging from the technoid to the unashamedly dubwise . When I first heard the sounds of 2562 aka Dave Huismans and his alter ego A Made Up Sound, I was excited. he’d managed to carve out his own niche, and by the time his debut Aerial LP dropped he’d built up a long list of accolades and received perhaps the greatest compliment – imitators.
One and a half years later and it’s that time again. November 2nd will see the release of his second collection Unbalance. With more than a hint of the detroit disposition of his A Made Up Sound alias, Unbalance promises to be everything you’d expect and quite possibly, a little bit more. We’ll leave the last word to Tectonic head honcho Pinch
‘I’ve worked closely with 2562 over the last few years and I can honestly say that Unbalance is an incredible album – it’s one of the most exciting releases that Tectonic has seen to date – it vastly exceeds the already high standard he set himself with Aerial’
1. Intro
2. Flashback
3. Lost
4. Like A Dream
5. Dinosaur
6. Unbalance
7. Superflight
8. Yes / No
9. Who Are You Fooling?
10. Narita
11. Love In Outer Space
[12. Escape Velocity – digital only]
We’re gradually getting back on top of things in here. Decent content, regular podcasts, we’re loving you the right way. Here’s a selection from the Duke to make you feel nice. He lost his voice half-way through but it’s all good, the music speaks for itself…
Lizzy Mercier Decloux // Hard Boiled Pearson Sounds // WAD Sole Fusion // Bass Tone John Robertson // Blame Reggie Dokes //Walk In Deepness New World Aquarium // Tresspassers Block 16 // Morning Sun (Pepe Bradock Refix) Lightening Heads // Message Beats Nanyo Addo // Wo ba wo ba shue Jimi Tenor & the Kabu Kabu // Fast Legs Silkie // Purple Love Elemental // Braindrops James Blake // Air and Lack Thereof’
Build an Ark Remix (Unknown – Help us out!) Amede & The Soundsmith // Tip Toe ft. Shanazz Dorsett Sa Ra Creative Partners // Soul’s Brother
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Thanks to Yuki for the Image.
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