To say that Scottish born, now London-based, Colin Bailey, whose devilish alter ego, Drums of Death, is doing stand-out things with music, wouldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of all that he has accomplished in the past year. Here’s a quick recap – Drums of Death has toured with Hot Chip, remixed Tricky’s “Council Estate”, DTL’s “Hear Me”, and several others, worked with Peaches, and released ‘Drums of Death Steps into the Ring’ EP in September on Greco-Roman. He was invited for a chat and to play a mix on Rob Da Bank’s show, and managed to find a spot on DJ Mag’s ‘Best British Breakthrough Producer’. DOD continues to play at top nights around the world and with 2009 in sight, he’s poised to takeover. Not bad for a guy from a small fishing town called Oban.
Whether it’s the curse upon Colin that causes him to churn out music with a deadly edge or his vast range of music influences – metal, jazz, hardcore punk, two-step garage, bass, grime – that gives his music all the right elements, one thing is certain, Drums of Death is straight-up fucking brilliant! Catch Drums of Death at GASH! TONIGHT at The Macbeth (U.K.), listen to his latest remix of Escort’s “Starlight“, and stay on the look out for more Drums of Death on Trash!!
Ensuring her take over of 2009 is Trash darling Hannah Holland. Already featured here in a radiant interview, Hannah has now sprinkled some new heat on us in the form of her Spektrum remix of “HOTSTEPPA” released yesterday on Stop/Start Records. Sporting a truly dynamic sound with this House-friendly rework, Hannah’s current remix work is a true foreshadow to the power of her own productions; the most recent of which appears on Drop The Lime’s mix for Fact Magazine as well as Hannah’s mix for Trash. We are all antsy to see where else she’ll be popping up, and don’t be surprised if it’s here.
If you caught Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show on 9th October, you may have heard him praising Drop The Lime’s tune “Hear Me 2009” as one of the hottest songs in the world! Recently released on Beatport, you can choose your favorite amongst remixes by AC Slater, Buraka Som Sistema, Drums of Death and The Touch. With a main room residency at Fabric, it’s no wonder DTL has been spending loads of time across the pond. Last Thursday (10/23), the entire Trouble & Bass crew teamed up with Bok Bok & L-VIS 1990 for an extra smattering of bass, dub, grime, and ghetto house at ‘Night Slugs‘, held at East Village in Shoreditch. Check the photos from the night here and here.
Sometime during all of this, DTL had a chat with Tam Gunn over at Fact Magazine. I’m always peepin Fact, they’ve got the goods! Head on over to their side and see what DTL has been up to these days and what the future has in store. Excerpt below taken from DTL’s interview on Fact. It’s time to lose control!!!! And you can do so whilst listening to DTL’s latest mix for Fact, posted in our mixes section snatched by our TM Seattle rep, TheCrookedClef!
Tamm Gunn: How does playing London differ to playing New York?
DTL: “You can play anything here. I could drop the craziest bassline, and people will go off because they understand it. In America you’ve gotta trick them a little. Play some hits and reel them in, and then we can let them loose, but you don’t have to work at that here – you can just go out with a bang and people will get down man. They’re really into the music, and not just there to be seen with the music, or seen at a certain party… It’s more open minded – there’s more of a dance scene, and dance culture.”
A couple weeks back our very own Local Hero (no pun intended), wrote to us about Black Holes. It was a very heady subject including algorithms and low frequencies, but in the end we got a better look into Chicago’s up and coming duo. Adding now to the arsenal provided by Local a few weeks ago is a big victory for the Black Holes kids. Last week the Trouble & Bass family announced the winners of their Little Jinder remix contest for her E.P release on T&B Recordings called “Polyhedron.” Black Holes indeed won and their remix of Polyhedron is available for you, at 320kps, at the bottom of the page.
You’ll notice immediately the foreshadow of bass heaviness as soon as the track starts. But beware of the breakdowns, as the truly professional rework of this Little Jinder tune comes to your attention quickly and only builds through out the rest of the track. The song is dynamic, rave-tastic, and will bass you. A particularly glorious moment comes at around 2:20 as Little Jinder’s tender voice juxtaposes the darkness of the Black Hole synths.
As this is a special treat for you Trash readers, be sure to pick up her Polyhedron EP over at Beatport, Turntable Lab, Juno, and iTunes. Further remixes of the track will be available soon from Drop The Lime, Math Head, Blackfinger, AC Slater, and Goon & Koyote. Congratulations Black Holes on being included in an all-star line-up of US & UK producers! Enjoy the heat below and look out for Black Holes to do big bassy things in 2009!
So I’d heard of Miss OddKidd before – on myspace obviously, I was taken with her a little but perhaps dismissed her ever expanding friends list as hype!
Ok so to fess up I just got these tracks, I like them alot and I’m particularly fond of the turbo-charged Drop The Lime Remix of ‘Don’t Be Afraid to Sweat’. To add to this I have been dancing around manically to the Goldielocks Remix….check them both out below.
This little lady has been working with alot of young producers namely Rowdy Superstar, and Steve Mason aka Black Affair. Released this autumn, ‘Don’t Be Afraid To Sweat’ is Miss OddKidd’s first real release. With performances at Glasto, Bestival and all across Europe she’s definetly ready to be heard – whether you like it or not guys and gals!
Don’t Be Afraid to Sweat – Miss OddKidd (Drop the Lime Hungry Hoovers Remix)
Don’t Be Afraid to Sweat – Miss OddKidd (Goldielocks Remix)
One of the catchiest songs you’ll hear this summer is “Cross the Dancefloor“, a really fresh track with a bit of funk and elements of filter house. It’s so infectious and feel good, that the dance floor is immediately filled whenever the song is played. The producer behind the track is Treasure Fingers, a former Atlantan that recently moved to Brooklyn.
While some may know Treasure Fingers through hard step/drum & bass act, Evol Intent, most people are completely unaware of his history. And even though there is a huge trend of drum & bass producers turned electro blog house producers, Treasure Fingers is completely different. Offering music that is more fresh and feel good and roller rink ready then pump your fist, stage dive, and wear neon.
“Cross the Dancefloor” and other productions were so ear-catching that Fools Gold scooped up Treasure Fingers for a 12″. Updating and remastering the track to be even better than before and getting superstar producers Laidback Luke, Lifelike, and Curses! to lend remixes to the release. Then they packaged it up and made it beautiful and ready to purchase through beatport, turntable lab, and itunes.
To celebrate the release, I met up with Treasure Fingers and we did an interview and he also provided us with one of the remixes of the 12″ single.
sirhan: so, you are in evol intent, why did you decide to start treasure fingers?
treasure fingers: i had always done some house/funk style production stuff on the side and just never pushed it. i played some of it for jordan (of Snowden) one day and he really pushed me to get it out there. The first treasure fingers remix I did was for Snowden’s “Anti Anti”.
sirhan: how do you feel about the way its going now?
treasure fingers: I love it, it just took off and everything started falling into place.
sirhan: you still tour with evol intent?
treasure fingers: yeah, it’s a little sparse with bookings right now because we are all working on other projects at the moment but we’ll have a couple new releases out later this year though and we just released a full length album in march.
sirhan: so you just released, “cross the dance floor” tell me a little bit about it and how did you get such awesome remixes?
treasure fingers: That track actually started out as just a funky instrumental house type tune, then one night I decided to put some vocals on it, then got the idea to have my girlfriend sing a part to play off mine. I meant to write out full verses and put into a pop song structure, but after I showed the rough draft version to Preston/Kiss Atlanta, he wanted to blog it as is, so I mixed it down and let it go as more of a club track. Fool’s Gold sorted out all of the remixes. Once I signed it to them, they hit me up one day and was like.. ‘hey what do you think about these guys to do remixes?’
I’m a fan of all those guys so I was pretty excited. Chromeo also did an amazing remix. It’s going to be featured on a Fool’s Gold CD.
sirhan: so whats the next thing you’re doing?
treasure fingers: I’ve done a bunch of remixes over the past couple months that should all be getting released soon. I’ve got 2 more that I’m wrapping up over the next week, then I’ve got an australian tour. When I get back from that, I plan on working on some original material again.
sirhan: so this is a typical question but who are some of your influences and who should kids go diggin for?
treasure fingers: lots of the 80s funk/disco era stuff. midnight star, shalamar, zapp & roger, dazz, carl carlton. I was really influenced by the 90s french house stuff as well.
sirhan: any particular records by those producers?
treasure fingers: carl carlton – swing that sexy thing / dance with you, most people just know ’she’s a bad mama jama’ by him, but he’s got so much dope stuff!
sirhan: what about new stuff?
treasure fingers: love a lot of the new lifelike stuff, symbolone, that really synthy euro sound, and miami horror also.
sirhan: so you’ve been to tons of places whats you best place so far?
treasure fingers: i think the best / craziest parties ive played have been in ATL or LA. I love traveling though, every city has it’s own charm. I think sometimes, the small towns that you don’t expect much from turn out to be amazing.
sirhan: so, any good stories from your travels?
treasure fingers: i’ve never had anything super crazy. there’s always something going wrong though. last time I was in LA, my door lock had broke after I had left for the gig and no one could fix it and I had an early flight the next morning. they ended up giving me another room, then breaking the door down at the last minute the next morning so I could get my stuff out… I’m not a heavy drinker so I don’t have any crazy club stories.
sirhan: music obiviously takes a lot of time whats your other passions?
treasure fingers: I used to paint/draw a lot. I’d like to get back to that when I get the time. that’s probably the closest thing to a passion, other stuff I do in free time is just for relaxation/fun. xbox360, movies, friends, whatever.
sirhan: so lets close off here any advice to budding producers or closing words?
treasure fingers: It’s kind of contradicting, but find a really good producer and copy them until you can get your engineering and mixdowns really tight, then switch it up and try to do something completely original and different. Most producers lack in one or the other, so I think the key is having something that sounds really fresh and original, that also sounds great sonically.
Closing words: go buy “Cross the Dancefloor” & bug your local promoter until they book me.
Who would have thought that the beloved kings of bassline heaviness, NYC’s Trouble & Bass crew, would release an EP so sweet and pure that it conjures up thoughts of a dream-like world where young girls float on billowy clouds?? If purity is what T&B was in search of, they’ve found it in the ethereal voice of Stockholm’s Little Jinder.
For their 12th release, Trouble & Bass have set their sights on the soft sensations of Josefine Jinder, the 20-year-old Swede with whispering Bjork-esque vocals. Little Jinder shares her thoughts on the discovery of synthesizers around the same time she discovers boys and sings of three-dimensional space and symmetry in “Polyhedron“.
Self-written and produced by Little Jinder, the 5 song debut EP, ‘Polyhedron‘ (released 5th August on Trouble & Bass Recordings), will leave you reminiscing of a time in your youth when your heart was flooded with those ‘first feelings’. Catch her on tour in support of the EP release with gigs in Berlin, Helsinki, and Stockholm and a tentative U.S. tour in fall!
Head over to Discobelle and listen to the heavenly remix of Little Jinder’s “Eat My Fear” by Drop The Lime.
Purchase Polyhedron at Turntable Lab!!!!
Record Label, Fools Gold is about to make this summer even hotter with a slew of new releases scheduled to come out in the next few months.
If you have been living in a cave or maybe some how stuck in time back in Soviet Russia, Fools Gold is the new indie record label started by Nick Catchdubs (who was just featured here on Trash) and A-trak. The label, so far is famous for bringing the world rapper Kid Sister and rapper Kid Cudi, who surprisingly are not related but both amazing. They have also introduced Canadian powerhouse producer/dj duo, Jokers of the Scene and Sammy Bananas a member of East Coast phenoms, Certified Bananas.
This is the kind of thing Fools Gold is about; introducing and breaking new talent to the scene and keeping things fresh. Not to mention the artwork is astounding because creating it is super designer, Dust La Rock.
They have recently released a Kid Sister remix ep with mixes by Simian Mobile Disco and JFK from MSTRKRFT. Head over to RCRDLBL to hear a preview.
Next up is the KAVINSKY picture disc vinyl “BLAZER”.
And it keeps getting better and better.
Atlanta’s Treasure Fingers is releasing his hit single “Cross the Dance Floor” with huge remixes by Laidback Luke, Curses! and lifelike.
Then Canada invades the scene with “Acid Bagg” ep by Jokers of the Scene. Almost everyone has been waiting to get there hands on a copy of “baggy bottom boys” and this will be the chance. Brodiniski and Destroy Disco will also be appearing on the ep remixing “acidrod”.
And speaking of Jokers of the Scene, they have just teamed up with NYC clothing company MISHKA for their new mix tape series “Keep Watch” – listen to the mix tape here – MISHKA explains, “Mix tapes have always been an integral part of NYC’s underground culture and burgeoning music scene, and as such, Mishka is proud to carry on the tradition with the launch of Keep Watch. Featuring top DJs hailing from every genre and geographic corner, Mishka’s Keep Watch party-mixes celebrates one of the most widely practiced American art forms. Released on a semi regular basis (usually to accompanying party), the mixes will be available for free download through our site, the Bloglin and very shortly podcast on Itunes.” The mix features a track from the “Acid Bagg” ep and one from labelmates, Nacho Lovers, ep.
other scheduled releases are:
FGR011 – Four Color Zack & Pretty Titty Sing Sing Breaks
FGR012 – Sammy Bananas Braids & Fades
FGR013 – Jokers Of The Scene Acid Bagg EP
FGR014 – Nacho Lovers Go On / Acid Life
FGR015 – Bag Raiders Big Fun EP
FGR016 – Trackademicks Enjoy What You Do
FGR017 – Crookers EP
FGR018 – Congorock EP
FGR019 – LA Riots EP
FGR020 – Malente I Like It
So keep a look out and be aware!
Also if you’re in the Chicago area on August 23, 2008, co-owner of Fools Gold, A-trak will be performing at Subterranean. It’s a 17+ show, so buy your tickets here. And grab those two tracks of his off his blog here.
