Sitting Ovation

Detboi – Darkside EP [Deep Thrills]

Alex / DFRNT — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:16:06 +0000

Described on Detboi’s Soundcloud as “whats started of as a demo based soundtrack to cut up videos has now been turned into a 9 track ep.” An interesting note, but certainly nothing to detract from the deep dark-garage style beats contained therein.

Darkside feels like an album, but sitting at 9 tracks, I refuse to aknowledge it as anything but an EP (albums should have 10 tracks or more if you ask me – unless they’re super-long tracks of course, and that’s not including remixes).

The tracks on Detboi’s Darkside are a strong mix of grimey old and new school garage flavours, weighty techno swing, 808-topped tasteful electro basslines and springlings of ravey dub style. All with a definitive and uniting sense of attitude.

Check the preview for yourself:

Dropping on the 4th June, Darkside lands on Deep Thrills.

P.S. That old jungle sample on Burn halfway is killing me. Anybody want to remind me where it’s from??!

Roughquest – Hybrid EP [Free release from Cut]

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:21:14 +0000

If you hadn’t noticed it already, the brand new Cut EP is out and available for download. A cracking selection of tracks from Berlin’s Roughquest – this one has a bit of techno, a bit of dubstep and some serious depth.

more information from the Cut website here

N3YZ7DFCUG2Q

Akkord 002 – Persistence / Nexus [AKKORD.002]

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:19:44 +0000

Those talented Akkord fellas are at it again. After the seemingly excellent reception their first release got, they look to be taking a similar approach with the second EP.

With two more exceptional tracks, these Manchester based producers are clearly getting a kick out of these rolling, techy, deep, percussive tracks – and who am I to complain. Every single one has been great so far!

To top it off, it also looks like Akkord have secured themselves some gigs too:

05/05/2012 – Selective Hearing, Manchester
06/05/2012 – Detonate, Nottingham
17/06/2012 – Golden Pudel, Hamburg
22/06/2012 – Church, London
06-09/09/2012 – Dimensions Festival, Croatia

Planas ft Ed Thomas – Breathless (Remixes from Von D dBridge)

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:08:14 +0000

Exceptional Blue have laid claim to the new single by Planas AKA Toby Davies, featuring Spacek-esque vocals from the talented Ed Thomas. The 2-part EP precedes the release of Planas’ debut album ‘The Long Game’ coming later this year.

‘Breathtaking’ contains enough musical mastery to ensure the leap from underground dancefloors to the wider music world. This isn’t surprising when you consider that Toby has either produced, engineered or written songs with Dionne Bromfield, Binky Griptite of The Dap Kings, Tim Hutton (The Prodigy/Groove Armada), Alex Clare (Island) and Kim Burse – Beyonce’s creative director. He also co-produced and recorded vocals for tracks on the recent L-Vis 1990 album, ‘Neon Dreams’.

Von D Remix in the set below:

PART 1
iTunes : http://tinyurl.com/87cnfe3
Beatport : http://tinyurl.com/8697sl3
1. Original
2. D Bridge Soul Steppers mix

PART 2
iTunes : http://tiny.cc/kvujcw
Beatport : http://tiny.cc/wzujcw
1. Original
2. DBridge Steppers Soul Remix
3. Von D Mix
4. DBridge Soul Steppers Remix
5. DBridge Steppers Soul Instrumental

Mario – Let Me Love You (Lapalux Bootleg Remix)

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:34:33 +0000

Nice little improvement on an awful original by Mario. Lapalux improves this track tenfold, and gives it away on XLR8R ahead of his European tour:

Tuesday April 17th – Social Club, Paris
Friday May 4th – The Academy, Dublin
Sunday May 6th – Sounds From The Other City, Manchester
Friday May 11th – Forum Stadtpark, Graz
Friday May 18th – Bar Soma, Brisbane Australia
Saturday May 19th – The Bakery, Perth Australia
Thursday May 24th – Mighty Mighty, Wellington New Zealand
Friday May 25th – Good God Club, Sydney Australia
Saturday May 26th – Roxanne Parlour, Melbourne Australia
Friday June 1st – AB Theatre, Amsterdam
Thursday June 14th – Sonar, Barcelona
Friday June 15th – Lovebox Festival, London
Sunday June 24th – Backyard Weekend, Bucharest
Thursday July 19th – 10 Days Off, Ghent
Saturday September 8th – Bestival, Isle of Wight

Clubroot – S/T (III – MMXII) [LoDubs]

Alex / DFRNT — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:48:41 +0000

consisting of his most refined, touching works to date, which demonstrate an interwoven and otherworldly understanding of the depths, atmospheres, and potential shapes of low end melody and frequencies perhaps only seen in fleeting glimpses in other forms of sound in the past. We just hope you have a capable stereo.

More information here on the LoDubs bandcamp.

Clubroot – S/T (III – MMXII) – LODUBS-12001 by LoDubs Records

Daojia – Riego Street Dub / Riego Street (Scan 7 Way Of The Se7en Mix) [Awkward Movements]

Alex / DFRNT — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:05:24 +0000

It’s not often I get physical promotional stuff these days. I guess I grew through my “getting promos” phase, as vinyl and physical product started to demise. Despite still selling vinyl and CDs labels pretty much send me all of my promotional stuff digitally these days. I don’t mind – often it’s more convenient and much quicker for me to check the tracks, but I tell you what. It is real nice to get physical promos once in a while, especially when the tracks are good!

Recently, Daojia passed me, by way of our local record store, a copy of his new 12″ due on Awkward Movements. A brilliantly put together slab of it’s-not-Skrillex-so-call-it-what-you-want-step with a chunky techno remix from Scan 7 on the flipside. It’s a solid release and exactly the sort of thing that I’d play out in sets at the moment. Not only that but I have a nice 12″ with centre-stamp that was done by hand. Sitting in my record box, the release had all but drifted from my mind, only to be called to mind when playing out, or enjoying the track – but I noticed today that Awkward Movements posted a video on their process for spraying and hand-printing the vinyl, and since I’m possibly on the brink of releasing my first vinyl through Echodub, I thought it was fascinating to see the process at play. Not only that but it puts more value on the 12″ I have in my box.

(Wow, did I just say I had a 12″ in my box?)

Innuendo’s aside, you can check the video above, and stream the tracks below.

Release/catalogue number: AWK005
Release date: Apr 2, 2012

Pykup – Nature / How’s Wally [Cambrian Line]

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:56:01 +0000

Cambrian Line is a new label born out of a desire to fuse early memories of Jazz, Dub and Disco inspired melodies and instrumentation with groove and space; sometimes moody sometimes joyous but always imagining once more what its like to accept the music as it comes with pigeonholing the shit out of it.

I love the ethos, I love the name, and low and behold I love the first release to surface. From Metz resident and odd Jazz House grand wizard Pykup. It’s all warm ambient house moves, with cheeky rolls of jazz drum loops, and hypnotic piano lines. Described in the press release as “Backroom Underground House” I think we’ve pretty much hit that one on the head there.

With enough jerked-out idiosyncracies thrown in to keep things interesting, this reminds me of Motor City Drum Ensemble on Ketamine, in a good way. In the best way possible in fact.

“Nature” is due for release on Cambrian Line on 16th April in digital format.

Nether – Moon Dub / Oracle / Gliese 581g [dub-techno EP on Space Cadets]

Alex / DFRNT — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:08:05 +0000

Nobody can deny my love for dub-techno. The spaced-out, hypnotic washes of synth, the filtered noise, the monotony. I find it calming, and it actually helps me work. Now, there are good and bad variants of dub-techno but ultimately for me it’s like pizza. It might be bad, but hey… It’s still pizza.

What I discovered the other day is dub-techno of the good vareity. It has all the classic incredible elements, and yet something more. Maybe it’s the tripped-out beat that skips along, maybe it’s the subtle intricacies within the audio patterns, or maybe it’s something yet more subtle, undiscovered by my conscious mind. Either way I love it, and i feel I may have discovered yet another astounding label in the process.

I present to you the artist “Nether” and his “Moon Dub / Oracle / Gliese 581g” EP for Space Cadets.

Due for release on April 16th, with awesome artwork by Theo Ellsworth.

Profisee – From All Angles [Beats/Hip Hop album]

Alex / DFRNT — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:59:39 +0000

I don’t often post hip hop up here, and as such I struggle to find suitable words to describe and enthuse about it. I love hip hop in so many shapes and forms, but for fear of sounding like I don’t know what I’m talking about, or coming across sarcastic or misguided, I’ve opted in this instance to work with the press release sent to me. I think it aptly sums up Profisee and the album, and I urge you to take some time to check this when it surfaces.

Edinburgh based Profisee first appeared as part of the heavy hitting Yard Emcees whose self titled EP earned them a Dazed & Confused award for music and a deal with innovative label One Little Indian in 2003.

Since parting ways and working up some serious solo work, Profisee has collaborated with artists including Hint, The Hidden Orchestra and Neil Landstrumm amongst others. His consistent delivery and intelligent lyrics have earned him the respect of anyone lucky enough to have heard his work.

His sounds have transported him through London to Mexico, whilst headlining at the Big Chill Festival on his tour with Hexstatic along the way. Championed by the likes of Rinse FM, Kiss FM and BBC Radio 1, the Zoning E.P was the first official release through his Cloak X Dagger label. Produced by acclaimed San Francisco producer Eprom, Profisee took the squelching beats & bass to another dimension with remixes by the LuckyMe cool-ective, on both digital and vinyl format.

Profisee’s debut album ‘From All Angles’ boasts an impressive array of accomplished and fresh out the blocks producers such as the bass music don Starkey, electronica’s indomitable Neil Landstrumm, riddim king Poirier, beat mathematician Dam Mantle and Glasgow’s current hip hop medallion S-Type, allowing Profisee to utilise his formidable delivery across an enticing musical landscape. From All Angles explores the tests and quests we all experience and seek: finding a direction, keeping perspective, and reflection, recognising that we already possess all the tools we ever need, Profisee surmises “Find yourself, then make the progression”

Pluginboutique – VST Instruments, Effects and Studio Tools

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:22:45 +0000

The people at Loopmasters have presumably by now realised that despite their best and I guess, fairly well-regarded endeavours, their sample packs pretty much end up on the pirate networks at one point or another. Unlike the rather lucre-less music industry and apathy towards record label bigwigs, the music sample-packs scene seems to be decent cash for the artist (correct me if I’m wrong), and really the retailers look like they’re genuinely losing out on a solid bit of income.

As a result, it seems Loopmasters are branching out to fill the plugins and VSTs market hole. Previously you had to ask around for recommendations for plugins, find out who made them, look them up and purchase direct from the software makers. Often a somewhat taxing endeavour, involving multiple accounts for sites, variable payment processes and other headaches. It would seem that Plugin Boutique may put an end to that.

According to the press release:

The website features product ratings, instant download and authorisation, a service to ensure all your plugins are up to date, one login to see all your plugins from different manufacturers, free plugins, trial versions, and a virtual cash scheme which rewards you with each purchase.”

“The website was designed from the ground up to provide a custom solution to sell downloadable products such as Soft Synths, Music Plugins, Studio Effects and Synth Presets – and launches with some great names already involved including Fxpansion, Ohm Force, Flux, PSP, D16, Sinevibes, Waves, Sonic Charge and G-Sonique alongside many others.

On top of this, they seem to be running some sort of promotion involving free samples:

As an introductory offer all first time purchasers at Pluginboutique will get a Free Sample CD from Loopmasters sent to them. Plus until the end of May every additional £100 you spend entitles you to another free Sample CD.

To claim your free samples simply leave a comment on the Pluginboutique facebook page with your order number and the type of music you produce – your mystery sample CD/s will arrive in the post!

I’ll reserve judgement on the success of the site for now, but from here it looks like they’re all set to make a decent go of it, and I’m sure that I’ll be checking it out in the near future.

DFRNT – Fading [album preview and artwork]

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:05:51 +0000

I’ve been hard at work on the new album project, and so I have now managed to get the masters back from my trusty mastering engineer Bob Macc at Subvert, as well as sort out the artwork for the release (CD at least).

So in order for this album to see CD and vinyl release, I need everyone’s assistance in reaching my financial target. You get some mad perks in return for helping me out! In fact you’ll get more than your money’s worth, I guarantee it.

All the project and help-me-out details are here.

Preview of the album is below:

Not only that but here’s the artwork in all it’s glory. (gotta run with the stag thing!)

Koloah – Love EP [Free release from Cut]

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:57:21 +0000

The latest release to surface from the world of Cut is Koloah’s Love EP.

Preview:

Details and bag it for free here.

Submotion Orchestra – It’s Not Me it’s You & Tour

Alex / DFRNT — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:25:47 +0000

Submotion Orchestra have switched it up. Ruby and Co have suddenly undergone some sort of “hyper-iva with an attitude” kind of transformation. Where once deep lush atmospherics and floaty light trumpets drifted in through windows on the wings of butterflies, the new Submotion gang charge in, headbut the door open and shout “what are you all doing sitting down? We’re back, and we’re not taking the piss, so put your damn dancing shoes on.”

Bear in mind this is just the impression I’ve got from their first new single to drop since Finest Hour (and the shamefully overlooked Remixes). There’s still room for them to mellow things way out for any other tracks, but I’m intreagued as to where they are planning on taking this new sound.

Musically filled slightly closer to the brim, and buzzing with more in the way of electric input, I’d say I’m sold on the new single, but I would definitely like to see more mellow tracks surfacing as well.

Submotion Orchestra have quite rightly seen a huge amount of praise for their work, and considering their output, I’d say none of it is ill-deserved. Their dedication to producing catchy and enjoyable tracks is evident. I like that it doesn’t get too experimental round the edges, so that even those listeners with a more conservative taste in tracks (read: “mums”) can feel at home listening to them while doing a bit of ironing.

Ultimately I can hear the band going places. New interesting jumpy uppy-downy places. This new single is definitely a punchier, more attitude filled piece; a precursor to the new album it seems, so I’m keen to see where things go from here. i doubt i’ll be disappointed, let’s just say that.

While we’re at it, their March tour starts on Monday, so if you’re keen to see them live (and why wouldn’t you be, let’s be honest.) then check the dates out below.

For those stuck up in bloody Scotland like me – better luck next time!

Tour dates: Ticket links available from the Submotion site

Monday 12th March: Manchester – Fac 251
Tue 13th March: Sheffield – Tuesday Club
Wed 14th March: Leeds – The Wardrobe
Thurs 15th March: London Scala
Fri 16th March: Brighton – Concorde 2
Sat 17th March: Bristol – Fleece
Sun 18 March: Exeter – Timepiece

Archie Pelago – SonicRouter Live Video mix – NEW REALMS

Alex / DFRNT — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:19:36 +0000

As soon as i started watching this I knew it had to be posted. NYC’s Archie Pelago (three crazy-talented dudes) have done this mental mix for SonicRouter. Not only do they have impeccable selection in music, but they have got this whole live creation manipulation thing going on, which is probably going to blow your mind.

I for one have had to reconsider how bland and inneffectual my mixes seem in comparison to this now. it’s set some sort of intense new benchmark for me, and I fear I have no grounds upon which to compete.

I’m going to stop wittering on and let you watch this – the sooner you hit play on this badboy the better to be honest. Give it less than a minute, you’ll be hooked. I guarantee it.

These guys are my new favourite reason that I’m greatful to be able to move to NYC this year. Like the city, I expect I shall probably never sleep.

Mix and Interview on SonicRouter (including mad complex diagram on their setup. Whoa boy) – video also above on this page.

P.S. That bass lick at 32:30 ish – man alive.

P.P.S. I love how throughout all three of them give it some classic nodding-dog action. Relentless!

Help DFRNT fund his new album. Be part of Echodub history

Alex / DFRNT — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:59:51 +0000

This morning I launched an IndieGoGo project to fund the creation of my new album “Fading”.

Check the indiegogpage here

Intro…

“Would compliment a night of love making with a whale on the back of a crystal.” is how one reviewer responded to my debut album “Metafiction” back in 2009. “Metafiction unfolds into a complete, enveloping environment of Blade Runner glamour, of loosened gravity and of sleek hi-tech luxury.” said another review in The Word.

As glamorous as all this seems, my debut album came and went, drifting into and out of the collective consciousness with little furor or commotion. A few years went by and a few other single and EP releases happened (with generally positive responses), but the time has come to make another solid dent on the world. The world of emotional electronic music that is. In the form of my new album, “Fading”.

Hello. I’m Alex.

I produce deep, emotive, electronic music under the alias DFRNT, and I would really love to let you hear my tracks, and consider helping me fund this second album.

You can listen to a selection of my other forthcoming tracks on my Soundcloud as well as clips all over the web (youtube, facebook, spotify etc) and I will be working on a short mix of tracks from the album to go online soon, so you know exactly what you’re funding!

The Story Of How I Got To Here

I have been producing music for a good few years now and since the very beginning i have been keen to support the scene. It has been one of my main aims all along. It has seemed oh, so futile at times (especially being up in Edinburgh, a city not exactly well known for its burgeoning electronic music scene) and there have been points where I’ve almost put everything down and said “you know what? Forget it, I’m off to take up modelrailways.” – but something has kept me going. Something that manifests its self in all the beautiful tiny relationships that you build up as you get to know more people and as you connect with others through the common interest of music. Not even specifically electronic music. Something that urges you to produce music when you have a spare moment, and something that just gives you a sliver of faith in music and what other people are doing with it and for it.

I have, for some time now, run a blog called SittingOvation, where I showcase new and upcoming artists and releases. I provide honest opinion on new releases that I enjoy, and i try and put new and exciting releases in front of people so that they can support the artist, labels, organisations etc. This only costs me time and effort.

I have been running a fortnightly podcast called Insight for a year now, which was built on the premise of supporting thie best tracks from those I had been sent within those two weeks. I’d like to think that has helped a number of artists get recognititon, and a good number of people find new and exciting music. This takes up one out of two Sundays and costs a bit of bandwidth, and time to promote.

I briefly ran a physical magazine called Modus, which was aimed at helping the scene, providing insight and opinion on relative issues, as well as things like extensive help/tutorials on how to send your music to labels and other producers, and how to craft an online presence. The “dub-etiqette” article has subsequently been made sticky on a popular forum, and continues to help those who struggle to get their music out there. The magazine was a large undertaking. Bigger than I expected, and so it has been shelved for now, although issue 1 is still available.

I have been running a free net-label called Cut now for over a year and have been putting out completely free releases to as many people as possible, under the premise of helping new artists reach a wide audience, and providing the audience with good, well written and packaged music for absolutely nothing! This costs me quite a bit of money to do, in promotion, sometimes mastering, and bandcamp credits. it also takes time, and effort to run and curate releases, but it’s always worth it when you see people getting satisfaction from the music, and artists getting well deserved credit.

I have also been running another more regular paid-release based label called Echodub for a few years now, and it was started because I wanted to give new and unsigned artists a platform upon which to build. Somewhere they could release an EP or two, and move onwards and upwards. A humble cause I felt. We are reaching a fairly good audience now, although there is still much work to do to build us up to a comfortable level where I make any sort of return on the money I put in, but it’s a goal – and I always have strong ambitions.

It is on Echodub, which I intend to release my new album. It will be Echodub’s first ever physical release, and hopefully a real milestone for my projects. I expect it to take Echodub to the next level, and allow people to take the label more seriously. We previously tried to launch a vinyl EP, but weren’t able to secure funding for this (wasn’t aware of IndieGoGo!) and so the release was subsequently picked up by Skint’s sub-label Under Fives and released digitally. A disappointment for the label, but ultimately a great release for the artist involved, so I have no problem with that, aside from slight disappointment in not getting to support it fully myself.

So in my quest to help people and further the scene, and on my limited travels while DJing in the UK and USA I have met people, and helped people, I have tried as much as possible to connect people, give people feedback on their music, talk to them about anything they may want to ask and so forth.

So now I feel it is my time to call on the scene, my friends, my extended family and anybody who has felt that my endeavours have perhaps not been as futile as I had felt at the time. I’m asking you to help me with my project. I’m asking sincerely and as humbly as I can, and I’d like to give you as much back for helping me as i possibly can. Without you, I am next to nothing.

The Project

My new album, “Fading” has taken around a year or two to make. It is a collection of musical pieces which I have produced electronically, but with inspiration, and influence from real life, real emotions and real people. It is a piece of work that I am very proud of, but also one which, in seeing any degree of success will ultimately be very humbling.

I don’t strive to be famous, I don’t want to tour the world and play to packed crowds in stadium venues, I’d just like anybody who listens to my music to enjoy it. I’d like them to feel like they have discovered something beautiful that they want to continue to listen to.

The tracks range from ambient, dub-techno style pieces, through deeper bass music, to tracks stylistically similar to house or techno, with plenty room for genre-hopping in between. That’s not to say it lacks consistency – there’s an over-riding sense of consistency, but one track to the next, you should inevitably find another path through my world of production.

The album is a 12 track body of work. It is currently in the final stages of mixdown – I’m just making sure to get all the audio levels and EQing right. This is a crutial stage.

Once ready, I will be getting the tracks mastered. I have a very good mastering engineer lined up, who I have worked with for some time now. His mastering work is second to none, and I trust him to make sure that my sound is fully realised.

Primarily I’d like to release this album on CD – which is a format which I think it suits best, and one that is commonly recognised, accessed and so on. I’d also like to support this with a digital release of the tracks, for those who wish to get the music that way.

Depending on the level of funding I managed to accummulate, will dictate my next step however. If I manage to get my full funding target, I intend to press a 2 or 3 track 12″ vinyl release ahead of the album launch. This will be 1 or 2 tracks from the album, plus an additional track or remix, which is to be decided. This will be done as a precursor to the album release and will likely be released a few weeks prior.

Following that I will release the CD into the world.

I already have a distributor for my label Echodub, and they have agreed to distribute physical product – so this is something already in place, and ready to go.

Promotion is by and large my own responsibility. Provided I have a good chunk of investment for production, I’m happy to put my own money towards promoting the album, and I have been doing fairly extensive promotion for previous EPs on both Cut and Echodub, and with a strong mailing list, a good set of industry contacts and a plan for promoting to large publications and press contacts i feel that I can push hard and get some great results in this department. If there is remainder of budget for the project I will be putting that in to making sure the promotion is on point.

What I Need

So, ultimately I’m looking for the money to do a few things:

Master the tracks
Press and promote a 12″ precursor release
Press and promote the “Fading” CD album

I expect mastering costs to be around £200 – £250
I expect production of the vinyl for 500 pieces to come in around £1200

I expect production of the CD product at 1000 pieces to come in between £800 and £1000

So as a result I’m looking for $5000 which is around £3,100 (at time of posting) which will allow me to cover mastering, pressing of both products and leave me some remainder to put towards promotion. if this means a small PR campaign with a company, or printing of materials, or even just finding the delivery of an email to a few thousand people, then this will all help.

I am also willing to put in money from my own pocket. i regularly contribute to costs of running Cut and Echodub, and so this is no different. I fully expect to get involved with contributions.

If i don’t reach my target, then here’s my stages of fall-back.

First to go is my promotional costs – so I can still do the vinyl EP and CD release.

Second to go will be my vinyl precursor release – I will still release the CD

If I don’t get enough to cover CD costs, I will re-consider my opions here, and will either end up saving long and hard to put the release out in a year or two, or look at options to reduce amounts, printing options, or packaging options. If it means releasing in a regular CD case as opposed to a digipack, or 300 instead of 500 – then those decisions will need to be considered accordingly.

What You Get

What you get in return for helping me, aside from the ultimate satisfaction and a slightly lower bank balance is any potential combination of things, depending on your donation level.

I should make it clear that I want to be as generous as possible with this project, so if you feel your donation deserves more than I have assigned to that level, just let me know. I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re getting done out of money here. I truly believe in giving you what you deserve for helping out.

As well as the obvious copies of the album and or EP, both physically and digitally, I’d like to put in some pretty interesting additions, and I’m also hoping to pull from my other resources to fulfill these rewards.

Best refer to the sidebar of the indiegogo project page for your reward details. Your donations will not go un-noticed.

Other Ways You Can Help DFRNT:

Firstly, there’s the sharing tools build in to IndieGoGo – use them as you wish.

Other ways, are limited only by your creativity. Ideal help would be some of these options:

Mention the campaign on your blog
Mention the campaign on your Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or MySpace
You could email your friends a message about it
I’m open for interviews, and can supply any graphics you may wish to have
I can create unique written content, and any sort of long-winded plea you may require!
Do you have an event? Get your MC to spit on the mic for me.
Canvas your neighbourhood

Make hand-written flyers and scatter them round your local town
Billboards and plaquards in any location
Write a stern letter to your local member of parliament or congress
Write a song about my campaign

I’ll be blogging, twittering, facebooking, networking, MSN and AIM messaging, emailing and talking about it to as many people as I can (without becoming a pest that is).

Mekha – Conscious [Car Crash Set]

Alex / DFRNT — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:40:07 +0000

Nobody really seems to know who Mekha is. I find it astonishing. It truly amazes me that somebody with such incredible talent, style and finesse within their productions can be so sorely overlooked. A mysterious Mexican who personally, has me gripped with his music.

Mekha’s crisp, intricate subtleties and huge monsterous washes of flavour are testament to the time he spends perfecting his sound. It’s a cold, stark, botomless pit of sound where stabs and riffs dissipate in to the black abyss and high pitched glitched-out percussion blips cut through the ambience like ninja stars.

This, for me is a real progression on the dubstep sound. Flirting with the aesthetic of dub-techno, but remaining well within the realm of dubstep and bass music. Mekha’s sound has a glossy feel to it, a highly polished, yet conversely opaque and shifting surface where hints of melody peel off in thin, perfectly formed layers.

Mekha’s original tracks that start the release are incredible, from the ambient intro to Aneurism. Dsve’s Remix pushes the dub-techno flavour, but introduces an epic layer of pulsating melody and subtle vocoder style work. Kupa Vampaya Slaya’s 8-bit glitched out remix is perhaps my least favourite mix since it doesn’t have that same vast expanse as the original Mekha track – but it’s still very well produced, and does add something new (although perhaps unrequired) to the album.

The moody orchestral stabs and dungeon-style bass weight of Cortex Feedback sit nicely in the middle of the album with D.M.R.’s more beats driven remix and MHV’s incredible footwork-tempo juked-up remix really exploring new territory for me.

The ambient wind-down of Conscious rounds off the album really well, and with the downtempo mix from The Raging Sea as the penultimate track, it’s just left to the short and sweet Conscious to return my ears to normality.

I suggest you immediately jump over to Boomkat and buy this, before you miss an opportunity to check one of the best releases of 2012.

Ak0pian – Fields Of Fortune EP [Broken Bubble]

Alex / DFRNT — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:39:48 +0000

Broken Bubble have been churning out material since their inception in 2011, and it seems that they continue to go from strength to strength. Their latest forthcoming EP is from Italian producer Ak0pian who had previousl released on Echodub as well as Gamma Audio and Idletone.

In Broken Bubble’s words:

Here you’ll find melancholic and reflective leads drifting over shimmering ambient soundscapes, propelled throughout by gently funked-out basslines and delicately minimal garage rhythms. Chillstep is an appropriate tag to use, but these tunes have the invention and emotional resonance to really stand out from the pack.

The 6 originals are accompanied by a euphoric dancefloor re-interpretation from Fedbymachines and a slow house groover by label boss Cogidubnus.”

Sounds good to me!

1. Fields Of Fortune
2. Rest To Go
3. Seven Eight
4. Recognizing
5. Outside The Door
6. Death Of The Impala
7. Fields Of Fortune (Fedbymachines Remix)
8. Rest To Go (Cogi’s Liquid Rust Version)

Fields of Fortune will be out from the usual digital outlets on 13th February.

Evy Jane – Sayso [Self Titled EP & Video]

Alex / DFRNT — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:32:12 +0000

Evy Jane is the experimental R&B project of Vancouver-based musicians Evelyn Mason and Jeremiah Klein. Drawing from UK bass, gospel, and noise, the partnership yields beat-smart, hyper-textural pop that imparts a sense of fey elegance onto sub-bass juvenile delinquency.

Both Mason and Klein have been involved in the West Coast’s DJ/rave culture for years, each having performed at various festivals, and with Klein having been part of organizing some of Vancouver’s most memorable renegade dance parties.

Cycling through obsessions, but forever attached to pop hooks, Mason’s cindery voice is her primary instrument. Armed with a slew of synths, strings, and analogue pedals, the two have been writing and producing music since 2010.

This heavy, expertly mastered 12″ vinyl includes two original Evy Jane tracks, as well as remixes from Taal Mala and Max Ulis, and is out on February 13th, 2012.

A digital version will follow in March, with additional remixes from Andy Dixon and Julien Mier. Purchase of the record includes a download to the digital release as well.

For more info…
http://kingdeluxe.ca/evy-jane

Sonitus Eco – It Is Loneliness That Makes The Loudest Noise [Silent Season]

Alex / DFRNT — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:13:54 +0000

Silent Season is a label I have been aware of for some time, and it would seem that their continuous dedication to high quality output has allowed them to continually sell-out of each release. I expect their next release to be no exception.

View the release and stream some of the tracks here on the Silent Season Bandcamp.

Well orchestrated and truly enveloping beautiful ambient works. Some with subtle rhythmic patterns, some just duly floating on their own momentum. This is most definitely meditative, relaxing, deep thought music. I find it especially great for working to, since it enhances my concentration, and allows me to really think clearly.

From the pre-release email:

“The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.” ~ Edward Gibbon

Tracklist:
01 Ascention To Nowhere
02 Time Goes By..
03 Strange Figure Up Ahead
04 In the Cave
05 Living with people I create
06 It Is Loneliness That Makes The Loudest Noise

Music created by Sonitus Eco / soundcloud.com/sonitus-eco
Mastered by A.P. at GS Mastering & Post & Photo by Danthon
Samples & Purchase: CD $12 + shipping includes digital download

Dedicated to all the lonely people in mental institutions.