Deadboy

Every now and again an artist or producer seems to come from nowhere and absolutely knock you senseless, coming with a sound that is like heaven for your earlobes, evoking senses in your musical taste that you may have never knwon you had. Towards the end of 2009 a producer came to my attention who's sound is both strikingly original and yet carries a huge sense of familiarity.

Not much is known about Deadboy other than he's young, he's from South East London, and that he's making some of the most heart wrenchingly beautiful music thrown under the Dubstep/Garage/UK Funky banner since the master of sadness Burial.

His debut release on Well Rounded contained one of the most hyped up tunes of the year, the stunning 'U Cheated', as well as my personal favourite track of his, the unbelievably haunting 'Heartbreaker'. The most striking thing to me about the whole release is that it doesn't sound exceptionally well mixed down, which only seems to add to the warmness and the atmosphere of the tracks.

Deadboys next output is the stunning 'If U Want Me', a track which sounds like Old Skool Rave, Garage, House, Broken Beat and Pop all having a sleepover at Dubsteps place, and which is soon to be released on a special one sided 12" on the new look Numbers imprint, having been a staple track on a huge amount of mixes over the last few months for those DJ's lucky to have an advanced copy, including being the opening track on one of THE mixes of 2009, Modeselektor's amazing Resident Advisor podcast.

The quite frankly brilliant Fact Magazine podcasts started 2010 with a mix from Deadboy, and unsurprisingly, its nothing less than stupidly breath taking, and is a real tour de force through a slew of genres, featuring tracks from Martyn, Julio Bashmore, El-B, Joy Orbison, a stone cold Garage classic from Scott Garcia and even Theo Parrish, as well as all the productions from Deadboy himself that have catapulted him into the spotlight. Do not sleep on this, its just absolutely fucking glorious.

Deadboy - Fact Mix (Mediafire)

Tracklist:

1. Three Chairs – No Drum Machine Pt.2 (Three Chairs)
2. Deadboy – Brock Lee Riddim (Well Rounded)
3. Deadboy – Heartbreaker (Well Rounded)
4. Theo Parrish – Soul Control (Sound Signature)
5. Martyn – For Lost Relatives (Aus Music)
6. Julio Bashmore – Footsteppin (Unreleased)
7. Scott Garcia – It’s a London Thing (Underground Connection)
8. Deadboy – Lingua (Unreleased)
9. El-B – Assassin (Ghost)
10. Cassie – Official Girl (Deadboy 'Unofficial Girl' Remix)
11. Smokin’ Beats – Dreams (Smokin Beats)
12. Joy Orbison – J.Doe (Forthcoming DLDRMS)
13. D-Malice – My Joy refix (White)
14. Deadboy – U Cheated (Well Rounded)
15. Burgaboy – You and Me (Strickly Bangorz)
16. Deadboy – If U Want Me (Forthcoming Numbers)

Bonus Beat:-

Delphic - Halcyon (Deadboy Remix)

Splittercore

I have no shame whatsoever in admitting that I used to be a fully fledged Hardcore Techno & Gabber head, in fact I am proud that I have contributed to, enjoyed and fully understood just what the Hardcore Techno scene is all about, and some of the classic tunes and the nights out I had back in the late 90's/early 00's will remain in my memory for as long as I live.

To be honest, I still make sure I have my head blasted at least once a year (usually at Glade) as there is still nothing to compare to the sight of over 1000 people going apeshit to really fast music (the last time I had my ears raped was in fact only last Christmas when I watched Hellfish @ Bangface in London).

The reason I left Hardcore Techno behind was down to me growing bored of the sound, because I believed it was stagnated and that there was nowhere else to take the music beyond where it was (you have to remember its been a fully fledged genre for nearly 20 years now). How could it get harder? How could it get faster? How could it surprise me anymore?

I last properly DJ'ed at a Hardcore Techno night in early 2007 at a night called Rigormortis in Nottingham playing some classic tunes in a 2nd room, and it was that night I was first introduced to the mind boggling genre apparently known as Splittercore. Yes, thats right. Splittercore.

Speedcore was probably the most exciting thing my ears had ever heard when I was 16 and used to listen to HMS (RIP) & Loftgroover tapes from Helter Skelter, but when I listen back nowadays its pretty embarrassing, as all the (to be fair, legendary) DJ's were doing was playing normal Hardcore Techno tunes on 45rpm rather than 33. 

That is not me dissing HMS or Lofty in any was, as things were much different back then, but listening back it seems silly that all that a lot of people wanted was to see how hard or fast the music could be taken, when in fact listening back you realise it wasn't very hard at all, just stupidly fast. I instead much preferred intricately and meticulously produced tracks by people such as Micropoint and Hellfish & Producer, who could switch Bpm with ease yet always retain a fierceness like no one else.

Which brings me to Splittercore. Maybe if I was 16 again, it would be the best thing I have ever heard. Instead, it serves to be quite possibly THE SHITTEST MUSIC ON EARTH. I am often asked if there is any music I don't like, and here is your answer. Yes. This.

Its basically, fucking stupid. I have learnt over the years that my ears love melodies, scales, chords, key changes and rhythm, and Splittercore, provides absolutely none of them. It is in my opinion, and this may get me in trouble but I don't really care, music for outcast morons. No subtlety, no imagination, just noise.

If people want to play this shit, and 'dance' to it (I have seen people attempting to dance to it, its horrific), then let them be of course, they have as much right to dance to what they want just like the Donk heads have and just as much as I have. I just hope I never have to be in the same club where it is being played again.

And even after saying all that, I still find it strangely endearing. I think that it sometimes reassures me to know that there are absolute fucking lunatics out there listening to the maddest music imaginable. I wrote this post after telling a friend of mine about Splittercore last week and him not believing it existed, so here's a couple of the most extreme examples below to prove that unfortunately, it does!

Hot City

Another producer to rant on about this post, and yet another one who's sound is difficult to lump into one specific category, fusing a whole host of influences from a plethora of scenes to create something that sounds incredibly fresh.

Hot City is another producer to have emerged from the huge melting pot that is London 2010, and in what seems to be becoming a more popular trait, is a producer with a sense of mystery around him. In theory, Hot City essentially makes House Music, but there is so much more going on with his sound its difficult to tie him down in that genre.

One immediately noticeable production trait of Hot City is the exquisiteness of his vocal cut's that he uses, at times employing them along with his incredibly catchy synth lines to create what sounds like the perfect merging of jackin Chicago House, skippy 2-Step & Garage and mad as you like Old Skool Rave, whilst keeping a close tie to the post Dubstep movement, all done with a sprinkling of that most vital ingredient, fun (there's even a track which has what sounds suspiciously like a Donk in it!).

Its a really hard sound to explain without sounding too much like a rambling tit, so your best off just listening to the stunning mix Hot City did recently for the XLR8R Podcast, packed full of fresh exclusives. Be careful listening to it in public though, it took all my strength to stop myself jumping up and dancing like a tit whilst listening to it on the bus the other day.

Hot City - XLR8R Podcast(Mediafire)

01. Hot City “What Am I Doin”
02. Terrence Parker “Why After All This” (Seventh Sign)
03. Karizma “Neccessarry Maddness” (R2)
04. Justin Martin “Beat That Bird With a Bat (Donk Boys Remix)” (Dirtybird)
05. DJ Zinc “Because” (Bingo)
06. Mike Dehnert “Umlaut2 (Levon Vincent NY Basement Mix)” (Clone)
07. Shams “Watch You Foam at the Mouth and Try to Swim Today” (Vicious Pop)
08. Cubic Zirconia “Josephine (Egyptrixx Remix)” (Don’t Cry)
09. Grevious Angel “Move Down Low (VIP Mix)” (Soul Jazz)
10. Hot City “Another Girl”
11. Tolfrey/Ramirez “Bounce To Me (Lauhaus Remix)” (Phonica)
12. DJ Assault “In The Club”
13. Black Box “Ride On Time (Zombie Disco Squad Remix)” (AATW)
14. Jay Robinson & Screama “Down (Original Mix)” (Monkey Beats)
15. The 2 Bears “Be Strong” (Southern Fried)
16. Nochexxx “Sandspur”
17. Jodey Kendrick “Dirt Devil” (Rephlex)
18. Jimmy Edgar “B There” (Hypercolour)
19. SBTRKT “Laika” (Brainmath)
20. Harmonimix “A Milli” (Harmonimix)

Bonus Beat:-

Monarchy - The Phoenix Alive (Hot City Remix)

DJ Fails

It has happened to me a lot over the years, mainly down to my high levels of intoxication, but nothing can still ever prepare a DJ for those moments where it all goes hideously wrong.

Instantly wanting a hole to open up in the ground so that you can escape the eyes of disgust looking back at you all around the room, you adopt a confused look and use the awkward flapping of your arms and hands to try and distract the baying mob (its never really that bad of course, but it sure does feel like it), and try and determine what the problem is whilst your mind slowly cries out 'whyyyy!?'.

Its reassuring to know then that even 'the best DJ's in the world' (snigger, chuckle, arf arf) are prone to making horrendous mistakes themselves. Take a look for yourselves at two of the most well paid and famous DJ's in the world having bad days at the office, with the Guetta one being especially painful. Note his angry little French face on the particularly harsh second fail!

Seiji

A producer and DJ up now, who rather ashamedly I had never heard of up until a couple of weeks back, this fact made worse when I found out his history and past projects and realised that he's a bit of a legend and one hell of a prolific producer.

Ove the years Seiji has sprinkled his production magic on everything from RnB to Dancehall with his own unique style and was a major purveyor and pioneer of the Broken Beat scene, a scene which had undoubtedly had a huge influence on some of the fresh new sounds to be pouring out of the capital right now.

Seiji is also a driving force behind the much adored Bugz In The Attic crew, and was key to the the formation of the project, enjoying phenomenal success over the years with the project thanks to tracks like this:-

The reason why Seiji has finally come to my attention is thanks yet again to the wonderful Fact Magazine podcasts which he was in control of a couple of weeks back, plucking out a set which did that rare but lovely thing of absolutely blowing me away upon the very first listen.

Seiji seems to be able to skip effortlessly through a whole range of genres such as House, Dubstep, Garage, UK Funky and Hip Hop with a seam and flow that is deadly, moving between tempos constantly, at one point in this mix even employing an Old Skool release on Moving Shadow recordings from 1993 to devastating effect.

Seiji - Fact Mag Podcast(Mediafire)

01. New Sector Movements – Digital Age [Virgin]
02. Greenmoney feat. Mz. Bratt – Who’s Greenmoney [dub]
03. Gorillaz – Stylo (Seiji remix) [Parlophone]
04. Seiji – Elevator [Seijimusic]
05. Seiji – Yesman [Seijimusic]
06. Todd Edwards – Rite Now [Grassroots]
07. Erykah Badu – Honey (Seiji remix) [Motown]
08. Basement Jaxx – Scars (Seiji remix) [XL]
09. Kaotic Chemistry – LSD [Moving Shadow]
10. Donaeo – Riot Music (Skream remix) [Digital Soundboy]
11. Mark Pritchard – Elephant Dub [Deep Medi]
12. Bugg Kann & The Plastic Jam – Made in Two Minutes [Labello Blanco]
13. Seiji – Hohoho [Seijigoodies]
14. Blapps Posse – Don’t Hold Back (Blappstramental) [Tribal Bass]
15. Tinie Tempah – Pass Out (Sbtrkt remix) [Parlophone]
16. Greenmoney feat. Lady Chann – Political Hype Dub [Fool’s Gold]
17. DJ Gregory & Sidney Samson feat. Dama S. – Dama S Salon [Defected]
18. DJ Joe T. Vannelli feat. Csilla – Play with the Voice (MAW remix) [Nervous]
19. DJ Champion – Motherboard [white label]
20. Mr Mageeka – Different Lekstrix [Numbers]
21. Seiji – Loose Lips (instrumental) [Bitasweet]
22. Lady Sovereign – Random (IG Culture remix) [dub]
23. DJ Beware & Motorpitch – El Toro (Seiji remix) [Man Recordings]
24. Seiji – It’s You [dub]
25. Tim Green – Kitsch In [Dirty Bird]
26. Florence and the Machine – Drumming Song (Seiji’s Squelchy Rub) [seiji.co.uk]
27. Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir – Sunrise [Seventh City]
28. Extra Ts – E.T. Boogie [Sunnyview]
29. Seiji – I Can’t Let It Go [Seijigoodies]

The mix has been on constant rotation on my Ipod and a few of the tracks I just had to have, and going over the tracklist it became apparent that some of the best tunes in the mix were by Seiji himself. So imagine how happy I was after a bit of investigation and a visit to his website that a few of these tunes he had already given away for free, in fact there's a pretty obscene amount of free tracks on his site when you consider the quality of them.

I have posted my favorite tune I downloaded from there (although its the remix of Gorillaz that is my favorite track by him, its just not up on the site), and I recommend you go have a peek over there yourself as its definitely a site worth your attention - www.seiji.co.uk

Basement Jaxx - Scars (Seiji Remix)(Mediafire)