Modeselektor new realease...

...out today! My pre-ordered copy arrived this morning at 8.30am and I'm listening to it as I type! Monkeytown is a limited edition, signed and hand numbered by Modeselektor; mine is number 354. Such high quality finish; hard cover book with black and white photos, signed and numbered by hand, 2 LPs in clear vinyl, it's all so beautifully made with such attention to detail!

A side really nice, could listen to it over and over again. B side starts with Evil Twin which I thought was a really good track! C side... not my favorite, not even close, don't really like the vocals. The last track is better than the first ones, but still not my thing. D side, like the first track a bit of rap going on there, which I think works quite well and these vocals that so rarely agree with me... here they don't bother me much. And the rest of the side is nothing too impressive either, but I don't dislike it either.

Overall, really happy I got this! Love the 1st LP, not super keen on the 2nd, but such beautiful cover, keep wanting to touch it!.. 

Amon Tobin Isam AV show

I've been watching this video of Amon Tobin's Isam, AV show. I missed the last time he played I think back in July or August, but I'll definitely try to make the next one on 23rd November at The Forum. Super cool visuals!

By the way, you can get a free download of Amon Tobin's Surge Two Fingers Mix; all you need to do is visit his website and type in your email!

Death Grips at Old Blue Last

I first wrote about Death Grips back in June, when I tried to find some information about the project but there wasn't much out there. Last night a friend called me to ask me if I would be up for going to a Death Grips gig... I was quite surprised; firstly I didn't know they were playing; secondly, I wouldn't have thought even if I knew they were playing that anyone would want to go with me!.. So anyway, I found myself at Old Blue Last! The gig was so much better than I expected! MC Ride was on the mic and Zach Hill on the drums, they played for 45mins and there was so much energy in the room. Old Blue Last is not a big venue, but it was pretty much full. At the beginning when I saw that they would play for less than an hour, I thought it was a bit poor, then again I think 45mins was more than enough! If they had played any more than that they would probably have had a heart attack and we would probably have gone deaf! And that is all positive! I loved it! You've never seen anyone as sweaty as Hill, you've never seen anyone screaming and dancing as frantically as MC Ride. Death Grips is definitely one to see live, rather than listen in your living room!..

Matthew Dear at Alpha-ville

Saturday night... Alpha-ville festival... Hearn Street Car Park...

Had a really nice night at Hearn Street on Saturday night, at a party organised as part of the Alpha-ville festival that was on 22-25 September. Got there at about 12.30 when Truss was just about to start. He played for an hour, his sound was quite raw and industrial, a bit too slow at times for me, but definitely enjoyed it! Then Jennifer Cardini... I was really looking forward to seeing her; I had never seen her before, but I love so many DJs on Kompakt, that I had a very good feeling about her. She played for just under 2 hours, I loved her set, she played some super nice techno! It's also so nice seeing girls DJing well! And finally... Matthew Dear! He played for another couple of hours, quite nice, not too harsh, good for the masses, nice visuals, kept us dancing... Overall a good night out, I expected it to be more busy, but hey at least it was good for us to have more space to move around and not have to queue at the bar or to get in!

New Andy Stott EP

On 10 October Andy Stott is releasing his new double EP We Stay Together; 40mins, 6 tracks, the photo above is the cover artwork. To get a feel of what to expect, you can stream the second track; Posers, from The Wire. I really look forward to getting this, I love his dark primitive sound.

So looking forward to seeing him at Corsica Studios on 28 October; great venue, great lineup! Definitely one not to be missed!

Mcbees paints the Berlin Wall

Berlin is not all about music... Here's a video about an exhibition at Freedom Park in Berlin; artists were invited to paint on pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Bloc looking into the future

So, Bloc has outgrown Butlins Minehead and is looking for a new venue for 2012. I was really sad when I heard the news, I've been to the festival the last 3 years and I've always had such a good time. I loved the setting; the stages, the accommodation, the beach... Then I thought, well change is good and I got quite excited with the prospect of a new, better, bigger venue. I then heard some pretty dissappointing rumors on what the future holds for Bloc... As it's not public news yet, I won't go into details, but I think Butlin's Minehead was better... I can only hope for the best though, and even so I can assure you I will be there for Bloc 2012! And hopefully I will love it! Anyway, I'm sure the line up will be good, no matter what...

For now you can enjoy some of the sets from Bloc 2011.