This is something I have been meaning to do for a while: a list of some of our favourite podcasts to fill a rainy day downloading, as I do my bit to spread the word by way of thanks for all the fantastic music they have deposited on our server. I just hope your bandwidth can take it!
Marvin Suicide Marvin Suicide's half hour weekly show for London's wonderful Resonance FM is also available as a collectible take-home podcast; but what is most amazing about each top-notch tune-packed dispatch is that all of the music featured has been found for free and legal download on the internet (from netlabels and the like), without ever having to compromise on quality. Marvin has a funny farmer-voice too, although I suspect that he might be putting that on for the radio...
One of my favorites is Tycho's http://blog.iso50.com/ Not so much a pod casting blog but the Scott & crew posts some really great music along with its daily design posts.
Nothing like a bit of self-congratulation to kick off the week: Nathan Fake's We Fear Silence podcast that he delivered up in celebration of our last Corsica Studios do has romped home at number 3 on the lovely Mixcloud's Top 50 of 2009 (compiled using Mixcloud stats and the results of their Best of 2009 poll). Not bad for a boy who once proclaimed he "is not a DJ, and probably never will be!".
Our Border Community channel also featured in the Top 50 Cloudcasters chart, but since we have only uploaded two mixes so far it wouldn't be particularly becoming get too excited about that accolade. But I am currently working on getting some new contributions from a couple of our crew, so hopefully that will change soon (subscribe to our Border Community profile for the heads-up).
To keep you going until that fateful day, you might be interested to know that obliging mystic Wesley Matsell has created his own Mixcloud account, where over the Christmas break he uploaded a brace of DJ mixes dressed up in a suitably psychedelic fashion as "a small, but sincere token of appreciation for everyone who is vaguely interested in my music". And if you would include yourself in that description, please find the Fiber-optic Pteranodon and Ancient and Flailing flavoured goodness repeated below:
The still-in-beta Mixcloud hub itself only launched last year, so it is still relatively early days for the site, but to my eye it is shaping up rather nicely as a convenient repository for any and all future DJ mixes that come my way. The take-up on a certain other music hosting site seems to have been more pronounced, but with its nifty compulsory tracklist function and sleek, clean design Mixcloud is definitely my mix hoster of choice. Fellow converts whose podcasting activities might convince you to commit to the Mixcloud meritocracy include our homies Allez-Allez, BPitch Control, Skull Juice (and solo-juicer Alex Egan), One-Handed Music (don't let that Bullion mix pass you by!), Tigersushi, Phil Kieran, Dazed and Confused, Diesel U Music Radio, Chris Coco, Micromattic, Justin Robertson, Caged Baby and Erol Alkan, who it seems is possibly even more enthusiastic about Mixcloud than me!
A further incentive to sign up this week would be to add your own half hour DJ set entry to the BLOC / Man Make Music competition to win an hour long set (and of course, your ticket!) at the legendary BLOC festival on the weekend of March 12th - 14th: upload your contribution by 22nd January to enter, although since community comments and votes also count towards the voting I know that doesn't give you much time to mobilise your campaign of self-promotion! And if you can get together a band of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 electronically-minded buddies, get your Butlins Minehad apartment for the weekend locked down now well in advance via the website, and as well as our own Nathan Fake you will be rewarded with performances from the likes of Ellen Allien, Lindstrom, Autechre, Alden Tyrell, Joker, Joy Orbison, Kelpe, DMX Krew, Lukid, Luke Slater, Luke Vibert, Surgeon, Kode9 & Martyn, Skream & Benga, Flying Lotus, Billy Nasty, Radioactive Man, Derrick May, Rob Hall, Adam Beyer and Appleblim & Peverelist. So who is in?
As I crawl out of my state of internet hibernation, from beneath the mountain of paperwork that currently engulfs our house, it seems that quite a considerable chunk of time has now passed since our inaugural Border Community party at Britain's best small club Corsica Studios (it is official, and for once I agree with a DJ Mag poll!). And I still haven't delivered my official photo-illustrated lowdown on the merriment! So truly without further ado, let us get on with it, shall we?
The dedicated earliest of birds to get themselves down to the venue on the night were rewarded with a free ticket to enter The Community Cast-Off Tombola, and therewith the chance to win a truly remarkable and exotic array of prizes donated by some of the artists playing on the night, including music from Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden and Rocketnumbernine (and their synth-operator Ben's side project Elite Barbarian), and the obligatory Border Community merchandise. And what a bemusing little frivolity that turned out to be!
You probably can't make it out from the photo, so to explain, this lucky fellow is now the proud owner of a vibrating hamster that used to live in James Holden's studio:
And further to the rodent theme, this excitable young chap took home Kieran Four Tet's own customised mouse, and a strange USB light up fan device:
The fellow on the right won an exclusive t-shirt emblazoned with the artwork from Four Tet's wonderful Ringer EP that you can't even buy in the shops yet: if you would like one of your own, then you will have to keep an eye on the racks of Uniqlo over the coming months.
And this much-envied winner paired off with the trusty Evolution midi-controller that has notched up considerable airmiles on its travels around the world in the care of Nathan Fake: a couple of the channels are a bit worse for wear, but Nathan assures us that it still works, "enough".
But the prize that seemingly everyone wanted to win was a collage crafted by Wesley Matsell's own fair hands, bearing the title "The Universe Is Over":
A few chancers felt downright entitled to it, but the undignified haggling that ensued as they urged me that I should just give it to them even though they weren't the lucky ticket holder wasn't quite what I had in mind when I dreamt up my caring sharing tombola concept. But making these collages is a bit of a hobby for Wesley, so those that were unsuccessful this time can at least console themselves with the hope that he might donate another Matsell original to be raffled off at a future Border Community event (and I only wish I was allowed to enter!). For although the tombola did threaten to turn into a bit of an albatross when we found ourselves left with a table full of prizes and no more tickets to give out (some early-comers didn't seem to quite get the tombola concept, whilst others just got muddled up with their cloakroom tickets!), I can promise that it will be back for another whirl (with a few subtle refinements) at our next Corsica do. And with prizes like this, it really is worth making sure you get yourself down there early!
Whilst all that was going on at the back of the bar, I did think that the early doors Rocketnumbernine synth-and-drum experiment that was taking place on the stage went down exceedingly well, coersing quite a round of excited whoops and a not inconsiderable shuffling of the feet out of the audience - but unfortunately I haven't managed to hunt down any photos of the happening (unless you want to hook me up with some in the comments?). Mr generosity Kieran Hebden then took over, most considerately coordinating his outfit with our flower decor to surreptitiously drop a Shakira moment on the crowd when they least expected it, the scamp:
Meanwhile over on the other side in Room 2, collage-king Wesley Matsell warmed things up a treat, opting to stand this time, which I suppose is a step up (literally!) from the bizarre kneeling position he has favoured on previous outings:
Then, like a shoal of salmon swimming upstream, most of the Border Community friends and family seemed to intuitively migrate en masse to Room 2: quite a huddle of them were to be found jigging around in there to the sounds of the eagerly anticipated Lone (whose equally eagerly anticipated new album Ecstasy & Friends is now finally available from the mighty Bleep):
Strapping young lad Nathan Fake then launched into to his debut DJ set for us like the proverbial duck to water. The internet went pretty nuts for the special Nathan Fake mix he did in advance of his appearance, and the switch from Ableton to Traktor for the evening was far from a night off for Mr Fake, working up quite a sweat, and the crowd into just as much of a frenzy as we have come to expect from his awesome live sets:
From the cosy security of the celebration of danceable electronica that Matsell and Fake were so ably hosting in room two, the crowd could have little inkling of what was going on over in the main room as our latest greatest Norfucker Luke Abbott took to the stage. Where Luke led the dance, a collection of strange hybrid headonistic creatures followed, and it went down something like this:
You may still be wondering where did that all come from, or (as sleep-deprived animal head sculptor Michael Page pondered on his slow bus straight back to Bristol) was it perhaps all a dream? The answer lies over on Youtube, in the form of Mikey's new video for Luke Abbott's mathematically hypnotic new single Whitebox Stereo (which was also conveniently released this week on vinyl and mp3!), where our new woodland friends get down to the pagan techno at their own forest rave:
At first Corsica's bouncer didn't seem keen on letting our animal friends join Luke on the stage, but fittingly he finally relented just as the strains of 'Whitebox Stereo' came marching in, and a truly beautiful moment came to pass as the too-good-not-to-reuse papier-mache creations were happily allowed to flourish and grow in a new environment.
The inimitable An'Unexpectacle of course also graced us with his presence as the living embodiment of his "The more you move, the more you feel it" mantra, only this time he had a human puppet in tow (but again, sadly I have no pictures!). Early teething troubles meant that the puppetry was short-lived after their equipment befell an untimely misfortune, but the pair soon made up for the setback by gamely donning animal heads, and making like a badger (and bear...). Our old friend An'Unexpectacle was quite simply born to be a badger, as I am sure anyone who witnessed his mesmerising antics will agree (note also his hand-customised Border Community t-shirt: now that is dedication to the cause!):
All this madness, and you will note that our omnipresent master of ceremonies James Holden has yet to fire up his CD players! So as current Holden golden boy Luke Abbott's addictive elasticated beats sprung to a close, James eagerly stepped to the plate, putting the cold-that-would-not-die temporarily on the back burner to serve up a bumper three hour set of what only he does best, like the cute little cherry on top of our knickerbocker glory of a night that he is.
So there we have it. Better late than never, as they say - and hopefully the same sentiment applies to the special musical goodies recorded on the evening that are coming to this space very soon. And in case you thought I had forgotten my manners, it would be very wrong of me indeed to leave things without thanking everyone (and I mean everyone) who came along, performed, helped out, donated prizes for the tombola, wore an animal head, danced, and let me pilfer their photos from Facebook: for where would we be without you?
And finally, it seems that it isn't truly over until everyone has had a slice of the animal action:
it was a really great night. rocketnumbernine was incredible, four tet did one of the best dj-sets i've heard and the last hour of holden was exceptional too. we came all the way from holland, and it was really, really worth. would be cool to here the sets, when will they come online?
As the dawn of our new residency at Corsica Studios edges closer by the minute, you would think that I might have better things to do than update my blog. But I, for once, am feeling strangely organised, which gives me a minute to lay out the final pieces in tonights puzzle while James frantically listens through this week's promos...
Eager beavers are also rewarded with free entry to my "Community Cast-Off Tombola": the first 200 guests to arrive will each receive a raffle ticket to present at the tombola stall, where exciting prizes await the holders of the luckiest of numbers. James Holden's Vibrating Hamster, Nathan Fake's hand-broken Midi Controller and a "small collage resembling a face" by Wesley Matsell nestle amongst Border Community goodies and mystery prizes yet to be revealed donated by the likes of Kieran Hebden. I'm half expecting Luke to bring a drawing of a spider as his offering, it being his favourite internet meme du jour (he even made some poor bemused Berliner bring a drawing of a spider with him to Watergate in return for Luke putting him on the guestlist last time he played there!). The inimitable An'Unexpectacle meanwhile has promised me a "a genuine, fully-flattened frog that I found on the street in Oxford a few weeks ago" as a tombola gift; I told him that such unique and fascinating artefact was too good to give away, and really he ought to keep it for himself, but I still dread to think what he will produce later this evening...
On the subject of everyone's favourite merkin tailor, you are no doubt wondering what japes An'Unexpectacle has in store for us tonight. The November chill was deemed to be too inhospitable an environment for an outdoor merkin booth, so tonight will see the An'Unexpectacle crew relocate their activities indoors to present "The more you move, the more you feel it: A travelling repository of devices and techniques to encourage and enhance the experience of motion with music". He'll be setting up his own stall near to our tombola, giving the whole event a decidedly village fete vibe: the curious need simply locate said stall and call upon our trusty guide An'Unexpectacle and cohorts for further enlightenment...
Wow, the story about the spider as payment really made my day. Crazy move, and i really wonder what would happen if tried this in Holland...haha thanks.
Really happy about the new residency taking place at the Corsica Studios, the Fake album launch party proved that it was the ideal venue for BC to make it's new home. Will you guys be on a bi-monthly rotation like you were at The End?
Is anyone else very very confused that according to James' website and myspace he will be playing in fabric of all places on 22nd Jan, which, ontop of the fact it is fabric, is a Friday??!! buh??
aaaaahhhh. the fabric thing makes infinite more sense now. hopefully james and kieran can blast all the christian dior sunglasses out of fabric for once.
Brilliant, in all my years of listening to Holden and the crew ive never seen them play at Fabric. But then that isn't surprising seeing as it's such a uber rare occurrence... Has James even played there before?? I can totally understand their reasoning against the place and their overpowering influence on the UK scene. That aside this should be a musical experience not to be missed and hopefully seeing as it's been held on a Friday and the line up isn't a collection of supposedly 'in and trendy wannabees' we probably put bets on the crowd been a lot less touristy and full of pretentious twats. Yay! :)
Another day brings us closer to our return to Corsica Studios, but if (like me) you feel like you can't quite wait a whole week longer, an obliging Nathan Fake has provided a tasty amuse-bouche to keep us going till then, with this shot-glass sized DJ mix preview of what we might expect from his Room 2 DJ set next Friday (6th November) just uploaded to the pure and simple Mixcloud hub.
As the tracklist below might suggest, we are in for a bit of an electronica fest, something which is extremely welcome round these parts: our own Avus, Luke Abbott (in his Output cloak of yore) and a couple of Mr Fake's own exclusive remixes rub shoulders with a few of Nathan's mates (Operator, 7oi), plenty of the greats (Orbital, Boards of Canada), all topped off with a healthy serving of that shit-hot young British electronic talent that we're so fond of (Gold Panda, Rustie). Mr C. Clark in epic mode rounds things off a treat (and wasn't he on great form in his supporting role at Fuck Buttons' London gig earlier this week?).
Nathan Fake - We Fear Silence Mix October 2009 1) Ceephax Acid Crew - Credick 2) Avus - Darkness Visible 3) Boards of Canada - Korona 4) Bochum Welt - CH Riot On Proxima Centauri 5) 7oi - Byrjunartónninn 6) Piroth - Dance Closer (N.Fake Remix) 7) Operator - 7 Years Over A Mirror 8) Starting Teeth - Venom (N.Fake Remix) 9) Drexciya - Drexciyen Star Chamber 10) Orbital - Planet Of The Shapes 11) Gold Panda - Back Home 12) Gescom - A1 13) Kode9 - Black Sun 14) Rustie - Zigzag 15) Luke Abbott - B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B 16) Clark - Farewell Mining Town
Fake's room 2 DJ buddy for the evening Wesley Matsell promises more of the same (may I refer you to Wesley's own Mixcloud installment for evidence of just how complementary this pair's DJ tastes are?), and with Lone's luscious twinkles sandwiched in the middle, we'll be dancing to the left-of-centre all the way. And with James Holden, Kieran Hebden, Luke Abbott and Rocketnumbernine taming the main room, do be sure to join us (advance tickets just £10 from Ticketweb or Resident Advisor, or more on the door).
The date of our next Corsica Studios shindig is fast approaching (6th November to be precise), and I just realised that I have yet to give you your list of recommended listening in preparation for the nights festivities. Time is clearly of the essence here, so get your notebooks out, fire up Bleep in another tab, and the lesson shall begin...
It only seemed right to launch our new residency with the aid of our old partner-in-crime from the old one at The End, so Mr Kieran Hebden will be graduating to our main room to work it as only he knows how. Kieran can currently be heard playing most months at the deep and dark Plastic People, but such a fan am I of his DJing shapes that even that is not enough for me: watch him give Corsica's boho crowd a thorough shakedown using his own decidedly atypical selection of "dance" music, and you will see why. And in a stroke of perfect timing that I can only wish was intentional, the Four Tet man also has a mysterious new vinyl release ready to ship next Monday (2nd November), and available to pre-order now from Bleep: all anyone seems to know about Love Cry is that it has a pretty brightly coloured label, comes backed with a B-side called 'Our Bells', and is likely to fly out of the shops at a similar rate to that Burial collaboration of earlier this year, so don't dawdle...
I am teasing you again here, as this one won't be out until November 30th, but you can pre-order the vinyl now from Rough Trade so you are prepared. Maths and hedonism make surprisingly comfortable bedfellows on Norfucker Luke Abbott's latest EP, which will be given a thorough roadtest in his Corsica live show; the entrancing pagan techno of lead track 'Whitebox Stereo' meanwhile will be unveiled here in video form in a matter of days, so watch this space. But you don't have to wait any longer to purchase Luke's twisted rework of The MFA's synth-pop-tastic Throw it Back (We Will Destroy You): cartoonish collectible vinyl awaits you over at Juno, or get the mp3s right away from our own online store...
Rocketnumbernine are a pair of brothers who (when they aren't playing in post-rock stalwarts Rothko) have their own improvisational synth-and-drum operation that travels a similar road to Messrs. Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid: debut album You Reflect Me is available now from Norman Records. We have had the pleasure of seeing them live a few times now, and have always found their explorations to be eminently danceable; but sadly that sort of thing just doesn't happen in most band venues, which is why we decided that it was high time that someone booked them for a club do. Get yourself down early to catch them, and do be obliging on the feet-moving front, for I am hoping that the combination of the visual spectacle and Rocketnumbernine's loose, easy groove will be the perfect way to overcome that early doors awkwardness of a not-yet-full club venue.
Nottingham's Lone comes booked at Luke Abbott's special request, but to hear Lone's music is to love it, and we are all aboard the fan train. Luke described Lemurian to James as "the ultimate music to listen to when falling asleep on aeroplanes", which I am assured is a good thing, whilst I reckon it could be the perfect stop-gap treat to keep Boards of Canada's legions of fans going until tea time. New album 'Ecstasy and Friends' will be out "soon" on Werk Discs, and I'm afraid I can't be anymore accurate than that; but I can tell you that you can already hear samples from it on his Myspace, so it can't be that far off. More will hopefully be unveiled during the course of his live set in Corsica's room two, where our own Nathan Fake and Wesley Matsell form the DJ bread of one tasty danceworthy electronica doorstep sandwich.
And with that, your shopping list is almost complete: all that is remains is your ticket to the party on November 6th, which you can sort out now from Ticketweb or Resident Advisor. Any further info you might need you will either find on the flyer below, or on the accompanying Facebook event page, and I won't keep you from your homework any longer.
for fans of lone i would recommend lukids "foma", also on werk discs. in my opinion it's even better than lemurian 'cause i get tired of overused sidechainy compression after a while
The massive amounts of goodwill flying around after our Hard Islands launch party at Corsica Studios last Friday is giving me a warm glow inside well into the workaday week, contrary to the rest of the world's best efforts to drag me back down to earth with a bump. The usual huge thankyou goes out to everyone who played, helped out, danced, drank and had a merkin fitted: in our wildest dreams we couldn't have hoped for a better way to launch Mr Fake's new mini-album (out this week on CD, vinyl and digital download). It turns out that the Corsica crew simply loved working with us and our right-on crowd, and the feeling is very much reciprocated from our end: it must be love!
We didn't have our own happy snapper on call this time, as usual volunteer Dan Tombs was on visual duties for the evening instead, with this particular shot from his found footage slide collection proving quite the hit with off-duty turkey-fancier Avus:
But we do have some proper official video footage of Nathan's storming set coming soon to replace those shoddy Youtube cameraphone efforts, so do watch this space, particularly if you have yet to experience the Fake-quake in the flesh. And in the meantime, for the purposes of my report we will have to make do with a selection of shots stolen from Facebook (thanks Kat and Isis!) and the woefully inadequate fruits of James' beloved Googlephone (see above), at least until someone sends me anything better...
True to the form hinted at in last week's Deep-Space Chrome Pyramid Mix, Wales' entry to the 'Hard Islands' song contest Wesley Matsell served up an impeccable musical blend, which for some reason he opted to deliver from a kneeling position hidden down behind the decks for the duration of his set. When Wes last looked up there were only around 20 people in the room, and as far as he was aware it remained like that until he finished: when in reality the room soon swelled to considerably more than that whilst Wesley remained blissfully, bizarrely oblivious...
Scotland was up for examination next, with Operator providing the perfect live set prelude to the torments to come. The point at which the techno viking finally took to the microphone for his Exemption Song encore was a real goosebump moment, and the incongruity of the sight of such a rich, oozy, liquid-sweet voice coming out of such a scary-looking hairy monster only made it better:
Only recently decamped to London from Edinburgh, Operator operator Lewis could do with some more bookings in the capital (or even beyond), and comes with the highest recommendation from ourselves and Nathan: hunt him down on Myspace if you're interested in a spot of hairy man karaoke at your own clubnight.
A quick spot of hairy man love catered for another one of those moments as man of the hour Nathan Fake took to the stage to take over, clearly much enamoured with his new best friend Lewis's recent services to electronic music. The 'Hard Islands' pounders were duly rinsed out to the joy of a crowd which soon took on rock gig dimensions, as something of a mosh pit ensued down at the front, and the poor old sound engineer risked being guillotined through the waist by the surprisingly not-fixed-down sound desk at the back as the weight of the crowd surged against it. As horrific as I have just made that sound, you will be pleased to know that he did survive to check the levels another day...
Border Community night fixture the Rave Hobbit then assumed his usual position next to James in the DJ booth to punch the air with his trademark youthful abandon, resulting in the following amusing compare and contrast scenario as observed by Lewis' eagle eye. Regardez, Kevin and Perry Go Large, in Ibiza:
And James Holden and the Rave Hobbit go equally large, in Elephant & Castle:
Unfortunately the not-quite-teenage deadly duo were joined in the booth by a certain throwback to James' teenage prog days who shall remain nameless, who turned up out of the blue to try to badger James into doing a remix: hopefully he knows who he is, but since I have never met someone so incapable of taking a hint in all my life, there is no guarantee of that! But if you were as perturbed by his embarrassing DJ booth antics as we were, please believe me when I assure you that he wasn't with us!
A slightly more joyous moment occurred when the crowd stole the white sheet that had previously adorned the stage and subjected it to a spot of crowd-surfing, to glorious technicolour effect:
Over in Room 2, it was never going to be an easy task going head-to-head with the Fake onslaught, but our Allez-Allez partners-in-crime and the charming Dan Caribou Snaith did an admirable job of holding a good balance of people captive (and I mean that in the nicest possible sense!) throughout the night, providing some much-needed respite from the crush next door. And the spiritual healing continued outside in the garden smoking area, where the living legend that is An'Unexpectacle had installed his intimate chamber:
Within the confines of the booth, a captivating character in a white turban who we may call Dwight, or Phoenix, depending on how the mood takes us, made quite an impression with a run of insightful readings derived using his hand-drawn Tasmanic Cards from the school of Balthazar Cogen. James for example was instructed to be more forward in greeting people (advice which he has very much taken to heart), and should make a list of things he wants to do before he dies and tick off or put little hearts next to them as they are completed, as the oft-favoured practice of crossing things off is too negative...
Eventually sufficient levels of social lubrication ushered in the merkin hour, although by that time James was already playing so he had to forgo the sports merkin until another evening. A total of eight merkins were fitted by An'Unexpectacle's trusty band of Merkineers, breaking all previous booth records. One recipient was apparently on her hen night, although I do wonder if I am perhaps breaking the booth code of confidentiality by disclosing such information? One part of me particularly wants to request photos of this part of the evening, whilst another thinks that the full-frontal rear-on view that I got of a trouserless bemerkined An'Unexpectacle as he rummaged around behind the sofa in the backstage attic den is quite probably enough for one lifetime...
And lastly, but by no means least, a Border Community night wouldn't be anything at all without our amazing crowd, so I really couldn't let this blog post pass without also including a few photos of them:
As always, amazing music and the best crowd you could possibly ask for (this pointed out to me on numerous occasions by some BC newbies i took along) I loved the ornithological them to the projections as well. I bet Fake and Wesley we're positively aroused what with all that bird action going on around them lol
Soooo anyway, the big question is when the next party? What's happening with you guys and the Arches seeing as that was supposedly your 'new home'?
Yes the party was fantastic!!! We came from Basel, Switzerland only for the musical experience and back in the morning and it definitely was worth it. (ok, i wanted to stay^^) You guys make me smile and feel good day-to-day. Big thanks! :)
looks pretty fun, wish i could make it, it's hard to seeing how I'm just a poor North American resident who wishes he has the money to travel, but at least i was able to buy the new Nathan album, which by the way, thanks for releasing it... it makes me rock out while I jump up and scream with joy.
As the date of our Hard Islands launch extravaganza approaches (this Friday 15th May at Corsica Studios), I feel like I am drowning under the email deluge, but I think I can justify taking a break from the blaggers to tie up a few loose ends on here before the big day. To answer a few of your queries: our advance ticket allocation has sold out, but there will be plenty more available on the door on the night (just make sure that you get yourself down there early, as everything is pointing towards this one being extremely busy indeed); and the running order is as follows:
The album itself is out next Monday (18th May), but you will be pleased to know that you don't have to expose yourself to the seedy world of those nasty, dirty filesharing networks in order to get a sneak preview before the party, as Warp's digital wing Bleep have an exclusive mp3 pre-release of Hard Islands available all this week for your enthusiastic spontaneous consumption. And whilst you are exploring the snazzy Beta version of the newly integrated physical and digital Bleep store, you might also consider adding some of the gems contained in the Best of Bleep charts from our own Nathan Fake and James Holden to your basket. With plenty more luminaries contributing their own impeccable selections, like our mate Four Tet (confirmed Avus fan), Slam (fans of the Four Tet remix of a certain Mr Fake), Mordant Music chief Baron Mordant, Zomby, Pivot, Thom Yorke (who loves The Sky Was Pink, along with everyone else and their uncle), Bibio and Mr Oizo, a pretty definitive buyer's guide to Warp and its electronica legacy lies at your fingertips...
And as a final enticement to get you down to Corsica Studios as early as you can on Friday night, please accept with our compliments this special preview "genreless" DJ mix care of our Welsh wizard Wesley Matsell, which I have just uploaded to Fairtilizer for you to download again at your convenience.
The Deep-Space Chrome Pyramid Mix contains "a little disco, techno, acid, noise, digital weirdness, electro..." explains Wesley, and provides a flavour of how he plans to open the 'Hard Islands' event. The Timebased Practician has also put together this handy visual segue to go with the sounds, preferring as he does to think of pieces of music and mixes as a collection of images in a process he dubs "Appropriative Oblique Synaesthesia". Says Wesley: "If my djing were a single image, it would be a combination of:"
But if you find it easier to work with the cold hard facts of the traditional trainspotter tracklisting, he has provided one of those too:
1. Wesley Matsell - Binaryreductionlivemix 2. New World Aquarium - Kemo Sabe 3. Laurent X - Machines 4. Drexciya - Waterwalker 5. Dynarec - White Consumption 6. LFO vs. FUSE - Loop 7. Claro Intelecto - Tone 8. Mundo Muzique - A Cluster of Movement 9. Robert Hood - Inner Sanctum 10. Block System - Don't Leave Me Now (Instrumental) 10. Casco - Cybernetic Love 11. Polygon Window - untitled 12. Prime Suspect - Attraction (Extrawelt remix) 13. 808 State - Flow Coma 14. Skanfrom - Confused Machines 15. Front 242 - Take One (Re-built) 16. Shed - Ostrich Mountain Square
Remember: a part of the weekend never dies, and an island never cries...
I know I keep banging on about it, but the line-up (Nathan Fake, James Holden, Operator, Wesley Matsell, Dan "Caribou" Snaith and Allez-Allez, just in case it hadn't quite sunk in yet!) for our Hard Islands launch party at Corsica Studios does look pretty unmissable to me. But just in case you haven't got the good sense to get yourself down to Elephant & Castle on Friday 15th May, or if you simply can't get enough of a good thing, there comes another chance to witness the Nathan Fake live onslaught on Monday 18th May (which just so happens to also be the album release date) at one of those wonderful free instore showcases organised by the mighty Pure Groove:
Proceedings kick off at 6.30pm in the rather different surroundings of the recently relocated Pure Groove record shop in Farringdon (which comes complete with its own bar!), and Nathan's trademark wall of noise terror could well sound more than a little forbidding in the cold light of a May Monday evening. While you're there, don't forget to pick up your own copy of the album on vinyl or CD; Nathan might even sign it for you if you ask nicely enough!
Our old mucker Perc will also be on hand to help make an evening of things, with an odds-and-sods wide-ranging DJ set to take full advantage of the opportunity to play something a little different from your usual club fare. You may be familiar with the Perc name from his releases on an illustrious array of labels including Kompakt, Ovum and Drumcode as well as his own Perc Trax label, and his ensuing international DJ career, but we actually go way further back than all of that. Indeed, it is a little known fact that Ali "Perc" Wells is actually some kind of relation (cousin twice-removed? To be honest I've never quite got my head around the precise nature of the connection!) to our own Scott "Avus" Edwards, who has also naturally had his share of releases on the Perc Trax label. I think the clue ought to be in their extraordinary height: the pair once went on tour together in Japan, which must have made quite a sight to see them towering over the locals like two fairytale giants brought to life. I certainly wouldn't mess with this particular branch of the techno mafia:
'Hard Islands' is the title of Nathan Fake's eagerly anticipated mini-album (finally due out on May 18th), and also the name of the event that we are holding to celebrate its release at Elephant & Castle arts club Corsica Studios on 15th May. Tickets went on sale a few days ago from WeGotTickets, but if you have yet to secure yours, then here is that all-important link.
This will be our first London-based Border Community event since that fateful End departure back in November, so you will understand why we're pretty excited about this one. To create an appropriate atmosphere in which to present the untouchable next level delights of his new album, together with Nathan we have assembled a suitably complementary line-up for the occasion that represents the finest in young British electronic talent.
Our Welsh operative Wesley Matsell assumes warm-up DJ duties at Nathan's request, after Wesley's brave use of noise terror during his wide-ranging DJ set at their first gig together for Holland's Full Spectrum made quite an impression on Nathan. Listen for yourself by streaming his set on their website, or for a flavour of what is currently twisting Wesley's whistle check out his latest chart on his Myspace.
Then from Scotland we welcome Operator, eager to showcase his own new album 'How To Make Bombs and Influence People' which is set to emerge on Glasgow's Mighty Robot Recordings some time in April. Nathan first bonded with smooth Operator Lewis during an Edinburgh tour stop a few years ago, but we know him best for his criminally underrated Holden CD wallet staple Exemption Song, which is like the best song that Apparat never wrote, and deserves to be added to your collection pronto (try the ever-reliable Juno for that all-important vinyl copy). For more of Lewis' electronic singer-songwriter offerings make sure you catch his Corsica show, where his "hairy man karaoke" promises to meet with his own take on "interesting dancefloor" to produce just the type of club soundtrack that we like to hear round these parts.
And there is no Border Community night without Holden as they say, so James will of course be on hand to serve up his own version of interesting music for dancing in the sort of intimate setting that everyone loves, as the difficult task of following on from Nathan's unstoppable industrial assault falls to him once again... (I gather that the good people of Berlin were treated to an even more abrasive Nathan Fake live show that usual last weekend, but that is what you get for asking him to turn it down! Luckily for James there will be none of that at his own launch party!)
Our favourite podcasters Allez-Allez will be your amiable hosts for the evening in the cosy second room, dishing out their impeccable danceable eclectic blend. They are joined by special guest Dan Snaith, otherwise known as sublime Canadian melody-meister Caribou, enhancing the psychedelic ambiance with a rare DJ set showcase of the diverse influences that have shaped his musical career to date. There may even be a sneak preview of some of the danceable material that he has recently been working on under his new Daphni moniker (you read it here first!): so far only one remix for City Slang's Cortney Tidwell is slated for release, but I have it on very reliable authority that there is plenty more where that came from...
For the final excitement of the evening, head on outside to the smoking area (which shall hereafter be referred to as the garden), where our favourite charlatan, street philosopher and moment maker An'Unexpectacle will erect his humble booth. Venture to step inside, and highlights from the supernatural underground therein invite you to improve yourself by experience: a changing programme of events over the course of the evening promises to include "~ faith healer ~ fortune seeing ~ merkin tailors ~ other ~"...
That does indeed read "merkin", and yes, that is what you think it is (but do check the Wikipedia listing if you weren't sure). As An'Unexpectacle wrote to me himself, the merkin fitting "is no doubt the most salacious aspect of the whole ordeal." But if anyone can make the process of fitting a pubic wig into a memorable, palatable, and socially acceptable experience, it is our man An'Unexpectacle: previous adventures instigated by him include an improvisational drone zone mouth choir in a goods container somewhere in Bow, and a post-Notting Hill Carnival midnight rave in Hyde Park which provided a new twist on the children's party game dead lions when participants were urged to lie flat on the ground every time the park warden's headlights came into view and the portable barrow jam soundsystem was silenced. So place your trust in An'Unexpectacle's hands as we do, as he continues to explain the thinking behind his merkin manufacture: "I can recommend it highly as a valuable aspect of the arrangement. We would carry it out with utmost sensitivity, yet it must be counted as adding an edge to proceedings in testing the Border Commuters' own sense of taboo and the other, whilst inviting them to a renewed understanding of themselves and their bodily parts..."
all hail the An'Unexpectacle. look no further for your observations of sonic reaction. the gods are assembling to chuckle at the awe of mortals on this one. the sugar experiment station mix of exemption song is toight as fuck. makes me want to sing lala hoo hoo
feed link
