GIG: On The Buttons @ RBMA, London

Calling all London based producers and beat-heads! Get yourself down to Red Bull Music Academy HQ at 155-171 Tooley Street, London (SE1 2JP) this Saturday (22nd May). Gut Instinct Records presents On The Buttons, an event that will encompass a Q&A session with Eric Lau, as well as a live performance from Goldielocks – and it’s FREE to get in!

It’s worth noting that this isn’t your regular gig, although the Q&A session probably gave that away. It will be running from 2-6pm, but you will need to RSVP to get on the guest list. Either confirm attendance via the Facebook event page or email gutinstinctrecordsATgmail.com.

This is the inaugural On The Buttons event, but they will be looking to have a different guest producer each month who will bring along their workstation and give an insight into how they work, show some exclusive tunes and talk a bit about how they got into music and what inspires them.

On The Buttons;

“The mic is open to anyone who wants to ask for production tips, tricks, or find out what they ate for breakfast that morning. This month’s special guest producer is Eric Lau, renowned for his smoothed out soulful hip-hop and work with Lupe Fiasco, Dudley Perkins, and Guilty Simpson.”

I’m gutted that I am out of town this weekend as I would have loved to have gone along to this. Also, really cool that they’ve found a good use for the RBMA HQ post-RBMA 2010. I’ll be sure to catch the next one though!

mp3: Eric Lau – Right Side

GIG: Oscillations Launch Party, London 15/5

Just a little reminder that the Oscillations Launch Party is on in London tomorrow night (15/5). Check out the above promo video for the night made by Popcorn Design. It features the track Power Of The Mind by Slugabed, which is taken from Jus Like Music & Apple Juice Break present: Oscillations Part 2.

Presented by Bridging The Gap and Man Make Music, the party will be at The City Arts & Music Project near Old Street (EC1Y 2BJ). DJing tomorrow night will be Oscillations artists; Slugabed, Om Unit, Kidkanevil and Mr Beatnick, as well as Bridging The Gap and Man Make Music residents; Count Chocula, Toot Sweet, The Fat C, Another Amit and Sketchy. Oh, and did I mention that entry is absolutely free?!

As previously mentioned, there will be 500 limited edition (hand-numbered) Oscillations Mix CDs, mixed by Mr Beatnick, available for free on the night. Here’s a little sneak-peek of what they look like…

Plus, those of you lucky enough to get hold of one of the 150 A2-sized high-quality posters, made by Ross Gunter, will walk away with this…

All you Facebook users can find the Facebook event page here, and last fm users can find the last fm event page here. If you’re in London tomorrow night, I will expect to see you there – tell some friends too!

Lastly, if you don’t have both parts of the Oscillations compilation, or by some fluke you have neither(!), then you can still grab both parts absolutely free from the Jus Like Music Records Bandcamp page.

mp3: Slugabed – Power Of The Mind

GIG: Secondhand Sureshots & Timeless in London

On Sunday 9th May at The CAMP, London (EC1Y 2BJ), two amazing music documentaries will be shown in association with Put Me On It, The MF Social Club Presents: Secondhand Sureshots and Timeless “Suite For Ma Dukes”. Tickets for this event, which starts at 7pm, are strictly limited and only available via the Put Me On It website for £5 in advance. There will also be DJ sets on the night by the incredible Eric Lau (Ubiquity / BTS Radio) and Alex Chase (One Handed / Stones Throw).

If you’re near London and you know what these documentaries are about, then I’d guess that you’ve already stopped reading this and you’re currently buying your tickets! For those not so familiar, Secondhand Sureshots is a documentary presented by Dublab, featuring some of the Stones Throw family and other friends. Described as an experiment in sound recycling, the documentary follows LA beat makers Daedelus, J.Rocc, Nobody and Ras G in their quest to create something new from something old.

Suite For Ma Dukes represents one third of the Timeless documentary series by Mochilla. This is a set of complete J Dilla re-works created and performed by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and his 60-piece orchestra. Truly a spine-tingling experience, the orchestra were joined by friends and family of the late James Yancey, including; Maureen ‘Ma Dukes’ Yancey, Bilal, Dwele, Common, Amp Fiddler, Illa J, Posdnous, Shafiq Husayn, Talib Kweli, J*Davey and Karriem Riggins.

mp3: Daedelus – You’re The One

GIG: OneTaste @ KOKO, London

Those passionate guys at OneTaste are back for their biggest show of the year on Wednesday 16th June down at KOKO in Camden, London (NW1 7JE). It’s gonna be a live extravaganza featuring a lot of artists that OneTaste supported way back, who are now coming back together for one big celebration. I’m talking about the likes of Oi Va Voi, Woon, Polarbear, David J, Kate Tempest, and the very special guests for the evening; Portico Quartet. Tickets can be purchased in advance from the We Got Tickets website for the reasonable sum of £15.

If you’re not familiar with the OneTaste crew, or you generally just want to find out a bit more about what this night will entail, check out the preview video…

mp3: Woon – You’re Not Alone

GIG: Oscillations Launch Party in London

To celebrate the recent release and phenomenal success of Jus Like Music & Apple Juice Break present: Oscillations Part 1 & 2, I’m pleased to announce that there will be an Oscillations launch party in London on Saturday 15th May. Presented by Bridging The Gap and Man Make Music, the party will be at The City Arts & Music Project near Old Street (EC1Y 2BJ). DJing on the night will be Oscillations artists; Slugabed, Om Unit, Kidkanevil and Mr Beatnick, as well as Bridging The Gap and Man Make Music residents; Count Chocula, Toot Sweet, The Fat C, Another Amit and Sketchy. Oh, and did I mention that entry is absolutely free?!

Things will kick off at 9pm and go on until 4am. Each person in attendance will get the opportunity to put their mitts on a limited edition Oscillations mix CD, mixed by Mr Beatnick. There are only 500 of these in existence and each one is hand numbered. Plus, in even more limited numbers, there’ll be A2 size collectable posters of the flyer artwork available to grab – as designed by the talented Ross Gunter. So, whether you end up leaving with good music in your head, a CD in your bag, a poster in your hand, or all of the above, it promises to be an amazing night!

All you Facebook users can find the Facebook event page here, and last fm users can find the last fm event page here. If you’re in London on the night of the 15th, I will expect to see you there – tell some friends too!

Lastly, if you don’t have both parts of the Oscillations compilation, or by some fluke you have neither(!), then you can still grab both parts absolutely free from the Jus Like Music Records Bandcamp page.

mp3: Mr Beatnick – Plastic Memory

REVIEW: Bonobo – Black Sands

Out now on Ninja Tune is the fourth studio album from Bonobo, entitled Black Sands. It is Bonobo‘s first full length release since 2006′s widely praised Days To Come and features recent Ninja Tune signing Andreya Triana on lead vocals for a few tracks on what is largely an instrumental release.

At just under an hour in length, as the Black Sands flow, the hourglass resonates with the frequencies of both computerised and organic sounds which journey between triumphant uplifting expressions and more subdued melancholic passages. Although the album does not strike me as being alarmingly innovative or ground-breaking, Simon Green AKA Bonobo’s latest offering is a compelling listening experience and a beautiful piece of music which is extremely rich with character. The album infuses live drums and percussion into Bonobo’s trademark syncopated mechanically programmed rhythms, which operate adjacent to synthesised electronic sounds, acoustic hand-played instruments and imposing symphonic arrangements.

Tracklisting:

01. Prelude
02. Kiara
03. Kong
04. Eyesdown feat. Andreya Triana
05. El Toro
06. We Could Forever
07. 1009
08. All In Forms
09. The Keeper feat. Andreya Triana
10. Stay The Same feat. Andreya Triana
11. Animals
12. Black Sands

As well as writing and producing the album, Simon Green himself is responsible for playing the majority of different instruments on the album and considering the largely instrumental nature of Black Sands and his extremely economical application of vocals (which are provided by the fabulous Andreya Triana) the recording relies heavily on Green’s juxtaposition of diverse musical elements to communicate ideas and create atmosphere. This is immediately apparent as the opening Prelude, in which a descending ostinato violin pattern accentuated by Green’s piano, double bass and harmonium playing, shifts into Kiara – in which the motif established in the prelude is repeated whilst drum machines, reverse effects, vocal chops and synthesizer arpeggiations catapult the organic opener into a dense electronically driven soundscape.

Despite the divergent sounds, ranging from jazz and soul to folk and film-score inspired orchestration which form the palette for Black Sands and saturate Bonobo’s breakbeats, it is less garish or gimmicky in its clashing of opposite ends of the colour wheel and more absorbingly rich and polychromatic. The album is consistent throughout and progresses naturally and cohesively as it integrates and meanders between these differing influences. Although the instrumentally driven tracks which occupy most of the album are very enjoyable to listen to (El Toro is particularly inspired and features lots of additional instrumentation and some absolutely wonderful drum work!) the tracks featuring Andreya Triana are the real highlights for me; The Keeper, Stay The Same and particularly the album’s second single Eyesdown – in which Triana’s haunting and evocative vocals are accompanied perfectly by a catchy repetitive electronic drum pattern and simplistic bassline alongside the dissonant chord progressions of a gritty, vibrato heavy distorted Rhodes piano.

mp3: Bonobo – El Toro

Definitely one of the best full length albums I have heard this year, I would highly recommend checking out Black Sands, which can be purchased right now from the Ninja Tune website. I was also lucky enough to see the tracks performed live when I attended the album launch at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club around a month ago, and I would highly recommend catching a live performance if at all possible.