LA SHARK REMIX COMPETITION
It’s easier to describe London 5-piece LA Shark by what they’re not, rather than what they are. Not: Boring. Not: Conventional. Not: Of any easy-discernable genre. And now they’re offering everyone the chance to remix their latest single, A Weapon. If it was hard to pigeonhole them before, there’s no telling what genre-defying creations some budding remixers might come up with. There’s still over a month left before entries have to be submitted, so if you have aspirations of creating some sort of 140bpm P-Funk-Step masterpiece then go and grab the stems from LA Shark’s Soundcloud page HERE. Just don’t be surprised when Beatport labels it Electro House.
YU(C)K
Shoegaze-y grungers Yuck don’t like being called up-and-comers. Why? Not because the band, whose members span the globe from London to Hiroshima by way of New Jersey and have already plied their trade in a series of other groups before beginning their latest project, find it patronising. Nor because it’s a clichéd and lazy cop-out for music journalists struggling to get through their ever-growing piles of promo CDs (or should that be mp3s?). Nope, the reason, according to the band’s Twitter feed, is that the term “up and coming” reminds them of “erections and ejaculations”. How Freudian.
That in itself should tell you a lot about the band. They don’t particularly care what people think, and, judging by their up-and-com… forthcoming release – a super-limited edition cassette EP – they’re not too concerned if people can hear their tracks either. Actually, that’s not strictly true, since they’ve also made one of the tracks from the EP available as a free download via Dummy Mag. Just as well, too, because it’s rather good.
HOOLA HOOPS
Archie Bronson Outfit were one of the most eagerly anticipated live acts in the run-up to Stag & Dagger London, and from all accounts they made quite an impression when they performed at The Quietus’ stage at The Macbeth – their blend of DFA-tinged disco percussion and droning garage-rock guitars hitting all the right notes in East London. Their latest single “Hoola” is another treat. Don’t let the guitars fool you, this is euphoric psych-funk that’s right at home on the dance floor, with remixes from the likes of MCDE and 6th Borough Project to prove it. It’s out on 12″ and digital, and you can order both from Domino here.
Also check out the great video for the album-version of the A-side, above, complete with Futurama-esque flying brain action.
THE RETURN OF THE S&D CLOUDCAST, W/ SYNTH EASTWOOD
One of the big hits in the lead-up to this year’s festival was our series of exclusive DJ mixes brought to you by some of the promoters and artists involved. As a result, we’ve decided to keep it going on a monthly schedule, and kicking off the relaunch is Synth Eastwood – the Dublin-based multi-media collective who won all the plaudits with their audio-visual performance at the Diesel-curated party at the Art School on the Glasgow leg of Stag & Dagger. You can check out a video of their set from Glasgow just by scrolling down a few blogposts, or you can view it in hi-res on Vimeo.
The mix that they’ve recorded is just as accomplished, featuring several original Synth Eastwood tracks and edits, alongside tracks from the likes of Caribou, Chateau Marmont and S&D-favourites Clock Opera’s remix of The Phenomenal Handclap Band, who were another of the big successes of this year’s festival, mesmerising a packed-out Hoxton Bar & Kitchen with their superlative psych-rock.
Keep checking the Stag & Dagger Mixcloud page for more mixes in the upcoming months.
STAG & DAGGER CLOUDCAST COMPILATION
Over the months leading up to Stag & Dagger, we were fortunate enough to have some of the best of S&D 2010’s promoters and artists create a series of exclusive mixes. With weekly content spanning well over 2 months, some of you might not have had a chance to check out all of the mixes on offer, so we’ve compiled them all here in one post for your listening pleasure. Many of these promoters are regularly putting on events throughout the capital, so be sure to check out their individual websites too.
#1: Sonic Cathedral
Experimental & pscyhadelia from the “regularly irregular club-night” that can regularly be found putting on events in East London, and irregularly in the West-end.
For fans of: Gazing at shoes.
#2: Sexbeat
Off-kilter rock’n'roll and indie from the East End party-turned-promoter & record label.
For fans of: Andrew WK conspiracy theories.
#3: Deadly Rhythm
Future-bass from the South London super-promoters, whose forward-thinking clubnights have featured a who’s who of bass music over the last couple of years.
For fans of: Speed-chess and low frequencies.
#4: Feeding Time
A genre-defying mix from the promoters who champion everything from acid house to avante-garde post-punk.
For fans of: Math-rock. But not actually listening to math-rock.
#5: GETME!
Dancehall and reggae from GETME!’s Lixo, think: if West London did Major Lazer.
For fans of: Daggering rather than staggering.
#6: Club.The.Mammoth
Indie-pop and rock from the multi-tasking promoters who took charge of not one, but two stages at Stag & Dagger.
For fans of: Guitars. Remember them?
#7: Hyponik
A double-bill of heavyweight bass from Bok Bok (Night Slugs) and Reecha (Dirty Canvas), representing Hyponik.
For fans of: Black eyes.
#8: The Line Of Best Fit
Another mix featuring a real miscellany of genres, with the overriding theme being the multitude of tracks from artists who played at this year’s festival.
For fans of: Reliving Stag & Dagger 2010.
#9: Blogger’s Delight vs. Allez Allez
The second double-feature, this time from two authorities on all things electronic – the podcast equivalent of Simian Mobile Disco and Dopplereffekt going up against each other in a car-park rave. Now where could you expect to see that happen?
For fans of: Debating the respective merits of analogue and digital.
#10: Top Off
Promoters Top Nice and art-collective Off Modern linked up at this year’s festival; this mix of 90s hardcore and ghetto house comes from the former’s Louis Enchante.
For fans of: Ravin’ over raving (it’s a generation thing).
PULLED APART BY HORSES’ DEBUT ALBUM OUT TODAY!
Infamous for their anarchic, injury-riddled on-stage performances, hardcore-rockers Pulled Apart By Horses have thankfully managed to survive long enough to release their debut album – a self-titled affair featuring some brilliantly imaginative track names including “I Punched a Lion in the Throat”, and “I’ve Got Guestlist to Rory O’Hara’s Suicide”. The latter, a darkly-humorous yet brutally-heavy homage to the (still-living) bassist of fellow Leeds band Grammatics, highlights the band’s ability to make relentlessly loud, fun music, whether in the studio or on a live-stage, and is characteristic of the album as a whole.
You’d imagine that their record label will have been keeping them wrapped up in cotton wool over the last few weeks, but with the band about to hit the festival season just in time to promote their release (all dates can be found on their Myspace), they’ll no doubt be ready to unleash a whole load of pent-up energy on unsuspecting revellers. If you are lucky enough to be going to one of the festivals Pulled Apart By Horses are playing at, make sure you pack a first-aid kit next to the booze and other essentials. For their benefit as much as yours.
SEXBEAT / BRANCHAGE SERIES: NO. 2 TWEAKBIRD
This week we’re bringing you the second installment in the series of viral videos made to commemorate the fantastic visuals curated by Branchage film festival as part of the SEXBEAT stage at this year’s Stag & Dagger in London. Video no. 2 is a collaboration between directors Fred Grace & Gemma Atkinson and jazz-metal sibling duo Tweakbird (think Kyuss meets The Melvins), who by all accounts impressed a packed Cafe 1001 audience with their potent combination of crushingly-heavy riffs and jazz-y improvisation.
GETME! X NIKE
As part of the “Tied Together” project, promoters GETME! are joining forces with NIKE in support of their (RED) charity, an initiative designed to help eliminate AIDS in Africa by supplying anti-retroviral medicine to those who need it. The GETME! stage at Stag & Dagger showcased Lady Chann, Dominique Young Unique, Doc Daneeka and several others in front of a packed-out audience at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, with queues stretching all the way down Hoxton Square. This time they’re taking over Old Street’s hottest new venue, the City Arts Music Project, and they’ve pulled out all the stops to put together a stacked line-up that’s worthy of such a great cause. The line-up reads like a mini-festival in itself, and the names include Grizzly duo Sinden & SBTRKT, as well as the likes of Heartless Crew, Brackles, Greenmoney, Redlight, Pariah and Man Like Me. And that’s barely even scratching the surface!
Check out the event page on Facebook here – the minimum donation is a mere £5, all proceeds go towards the (RED) charity. A great line-up and an even greater cause – don’t sleep on this!
GETME!’s own Lixo, the man behind their contribution to our series of exclusive cloudcasts, has also done a new mix for Nike – 30 songs in 30 minutes featuring tracks by MF Doom, Flying Lotus and J Dilla – check it out on Mixcloud.
CLOCK OPERA – “A PIECE OF STRING” OUT NOW
As you’ve likely figured out by now – we’re big fans of Clock Opera here at Stag & Dagger. They impressed at the Kill Em All stage at Queen of Hoxton, stunning the audience with their chop-pop wizardry and azygos. Or lack thereof. I’m not entirely sure. Clock Opera have been kind enough to let us offer their wonderful remixes of Marina & the Diamonds and The Phenomenal Handclap Band up on our site, and now it’s time for one of their originals – “A Piece of String” backed with “Let Go The Lifeboats”, on a 7″ release that also features some characteristically sleek artwork. The mp3 is available on iTunes now, or you can order the vinyl release at Puregroove, where they describe it as a mix between Four Tet and Anthony & The Johnsons.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, it turns out a piece of string is 3 minutes 45 seconds long.
SEXBEAT / BRANCHAGE SERIES: NO. 1 BANJO OR FREAKOUT
To commemorate the fantastic visuals curated by Branchage film festival as part of the SEXBEAT stage at Stag & Dagger in London this year, we will be releasing each video shown as part of a viral series.
Installment no. 1 is Banjo Or Freakout’s ‘Left It Alone’ – with a film directed by The Astburys.
For more info on the artists visit:
http://banjoorfreakout.blogspot.com/
http://www.theastburys.co.uk/
Stay tuned for next week’s installment!
