I know what some of you must be thinking. Where’s the update on what’s happening in Manchester? For those new to the blog, I fairly regularly have a post on what is happening music wise in Manchester (and occasionally beyond) mainly down to the diligent work of James over at Example Magazine who keeps me up to date with releases.
The problem is there is so much happening and I’m such a lazy sod most of the time that by the time I’ve sat myself down to update the blog it’s old news.
In an effort to get myself up-to-date I’ll cut back on my waffle and just let you know about what tracks are available either right now or in the very near future. If you like what you hear be sure to follow the them on Twitter and Facebook as you’ll find out whenever they have gigs lined up elsewhere. I guess in ye olden dayes they’d have had all that on their MySpace but is anyone other than Tom still using it?
A few weeks ago Skittles released a new track, Dot to Dot, from his forthcoming album Poor with £100 trainers. The track features remixes from Zed Bias, Dub Phizix and Joe Kalius. Have a listen to the track, what do you think? It’s been getting a lot of airplay from Mary Anne Hobbs on XFM, never a bad sign!
Next up, celebrating two years in the game, Utopia Records are offering a free download. Dubbed Out by Mute and Mako is a slice of modern British D n B and its yours for free if you Like them on Facebook.
Mute and Mako are also responsible for a couple of rather sublime offerings on the Mars Recordings label. Essential Forms and Who Knows was released on 14 November and should, if you are lucky, transport you back to the 90’s when D n B had a nice soulful sound. Made me think wistfully of the good old days of listening to Grooverider more than was probably healthy!
Still on a Drum n Bass tilt, something that looks really quite exciting for vinyl lovers, but more importantly those who play and listen to vinyl. Samurai Music are launching the Horo, an exclusive 10″ vinyl limited edition series that will come as a pre cursor to a release by the same artist on Samurai Music or Samurai Red Seal. Having listened to the snippets on the site I can’t wait to hear the full length tracks, looks like there’s some tasty shit coming our way soon! What do you think?
Now for a couple of things that will be with us very soon. First up, Andyskopes will be releasing Readings from The Lake and Distance from You also on the Utopia Records label on 28 November. I particularly like the quiet, seductive vocals that opens Distance from You that moment when the BPMs kick in…very tasty!
Leaving Drum n Bass behind the second release to look forward to will be on 5 December when Mindset Records release a new offering from Troy Gunner. The three tracks, Fools Gold, Heads in Hands and Dancing in the Leaves are a very nice selection which I think a lot of people are going to enjoy.
Finally, It’s impossible for me to ever say enough how much I like and enjoy the output of Kelly Sylvia, whether she is DJing, making or producing she can do no wrong in my ears. If you like House music and I surely do, then Kelly is certainly someone you want on your iPod.
Kelly has just released a terrific deep house track on S*mplified Recordings called White Lies which comes with an extremely tasty remix by none other than Soy Mustafa, under his S2000 guise. I implore you to listen to it and not find yourself wanting to groove a little.
Obviously it’s easy enough to listen to the track on Soundcloud but as with all these tracks, shelling out a couple of quid for the high quality files will makes your ears happy and your feet dance, so grab your debit card and buy a couple of tracks today so these poor musicians can have some gravy with their Christmas roast this year!
