Krautrock documentary

Another really cool BBC documentary! This one is about krautrock; the experimental rock scene that appeared in Germany in the 1960s, and moved to Britain in the 1970s.

Group Doueh at Barbican

Group Doueh from the Western Sahara, played at the Barbican on 13 May. The group is on Sublime Frequencies, a record label that specialises on music from Southeast Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.

The gig started with just the synth; the guitarist, Doueh, was introduced as the 'master guitarist'; and then throughout the gig amazing vocals and traditional dance. Only drawback was the sudden end of the gig... The audience was so into it and suddenly someone came on stage to announce the end of the gig, which was a surprise to both musicians and audience. I guess it was about time for the gig to finish and then move onto the foyer where Sublime Frequencies DJs started playing. Personally, I wasn't too bothered about seeing the DJS, I would have definitely preferred to have seen Group Doueh for a little bit longer.

Synth Britannia documentary

Really cool BBC documentary showing how different post punk bands and musicians started using synths in the 1970s.

Tunisia

Tunis

...the right hand on the heart...

Dried chameleons... In Tunisia (and Morroco) chameleons are thought to have considerable magical power. It is traditional practice to kill and dry their skin or burn them to keep the 'evil eye' and bad luck away. Slightly disturbing if you have a pet chameleon...

Around the Jerid area

Djerba

DJ Eprom RobotSexTape

Listening to this mix from Warsaw based DJ Eprom, not bad.Can be streamed it or 'pay what you like' to get it!

Track of the week

'this is a journey into sound'

Don Daneeka's Skream remix

Listening to Don Daneeka's remix of Skream's Where You Should Be.

Skream -Where you should be remix - DocDaneeka's Curtain Rd. Remix by DocDaneeka

Battles new music video

Battles' new music video of Ice Cream, one of the tracks of their new album Gloss Drop, featuring Matias Aguayo. Such a cool track and such a cool video! The album is expected to be released on 6/7 June. Copies can be pre ordered at Bleep or by choosing the £20 option ticket for their upcoming shows at Heaven in London on 8 June or at HMV Institute in Birmingham 27 June.

Africa Hitech new release

Today is the release date of the new Africa Hitech album, 93 Million Miles on. To get Glangslap, one of the tracks, for free, leave your email on the Africa Hitech website. There is a really cool remix of Out in The Streets, 5mins 12sec in a loop... Always liked Damian Marley's original...

Africa Hitech - 93 Million Miles by Warp Records

DJ Qbert scratching

DJ Qbert scratching to DJ Design - Gather Round. He makes it look so easy...

Track of the week

Ryan Elliott at Electric Minds

 


Last Saturday I went to an Electric Minds event at a secret location in Shoreditch, where Ryan Elliott was playing. It was in a basement just off Hoxton Street. Really nice location; quite big, well ventilated, Funktion One in white; it really does look impressive in white!


I got there around 2.30am and I knew straight away I was going to love it! And it kept getting better and better. Berlin based Ryan Elliott, currently on Ostgut Ton, played an amazing techno set. I just couldn't stop dancing! His mixing was flawless, the tracks were just right for the mood, the crowd was loving it and he seemed to be loving it too! There were a few moments I could have done with a little bit less vocals, but then again that definitely didn't ruin it for me to the slightest! So no complaints really!

The only disappointing thing was that for some reason they closed the night at 5.30am instead of 6am. Maybe it was because people had started leaving, but I think the ones that were still there would have definitely liked to keep going for another half hour... Or anyway I would have for sure! Nevertheless, what a great way to finish the bank holiday weekend! Without a doubt best night of the weekend!

Here's a pretty cool tech house mix by the man himself!

Gonjasufi last night...

...was sick!

I had been waiting for this gig extremely excited since it was announced! I was so happy to be there last night and it was even better than I expected! No idea how long they played for... definitely over an hour... Gonjasufi was there with a full live band; drums, guitar, bass... and this guy who was on stage with them throughout... He first kind of blessed everything on stage; the mics, the pedals, the band, the speakers, then the audience... He then stayed on stage filming, taking photos, dancing around, hanging around and doing random stuff when Gonjasufi and the band were off the stage, which happened a few times. And at the end he came out to thank us for being there and send us home! Anyway, the gig was so good! It was really rock, played some of the classics of course including She's Gone, that I really like! Gonjasufi was amazing with his weird yet beautiful vocals and the band played really well!

Kutmah was supporting and played a really cool set... again he mixed everything he could mix... I think I liked it more than last time I saw him, same venue with Jehst, Kelpe, Lukid etc. Really like his style, I don't think there are many DJs that could do what he does; he just plays whatever he likes no matter how irrelevant the tracks are with each other and it's so good!

Thriller tonight!

Getting in the mood for Thriller at Plastic People tonight. Really nice mix!

Thriller by ThrillerLDN

Marcel Dettmann at Fabric

Saturday night at Fabric with Marcel Dettmann. He started at 3.30am and played an amazing 3.5hr set. Didn't move from the room for the whole time, didn't stop dancing till the end, wasn't interested in going to see anyone else. Definitely enjoyed more the last 1.5hr of his set. Have to say though... I'm really not that keen on Fabric... Enjoyed so much more seeing Dettmann at Corsica Studios and Berghain, there's something about Fabric that just doesn't do it for me.

And for an unusual mix from Dettmann...

Marcel Dettmann - 2011-04-14 - Seduction Mix for Oki-Ni mix series by Electro-Mix-Memory

Youngman's Tear It Out

Listening to Youngman's Tear It Out, produced by Benga... It's shocking how bad it is... Benga are you not embarrassed having your name next to this? If not, you really should be...

Mount Kimbie at Heaven

On Thursday 28 April I saw Mount Kimbie at Heaven. Great gig, nice venue, good sound, lots of people, quite young crowd. Didn't see any of the support bands or DJs, as I got there just as soon as Mount Kimbie were about to start. They played for about 45mins, would have been great to have seen more of them, but that was all. At the end when the crowd was cheering for more, one of them came out and made a rather funny statement... Apparently they would have liked to play one more track for us, but they had already played everything they had! Never seen anyone say that before on stage... But they did promise to go back to the studio and make more music for us to hear!

Morocco

Marrakech

Going through the Valley of Draa and Valley of Dades on the way to the Sahara

In the desert...

Essaouira

Nobody Beats the Drum Music Video

Dutch group Nobody Beats the Drum mixes electro, breaks, hip hop and apparently every other form of music. The Grindin music stopmotion video, a sequence of 4085 photos, was directed by visual artist Rogier van der Zwaag.



Short documentary on the making of the Grindin...