Something fresh out on Federico Scavo’s label ‘Area 94’ is this tech-banger from Rokaman. Fusing together some big choppy vocals with a deep rolling bassline and some sketchy tech-drums. To me this brings back an old style of tech that I always loved and played out all the time. So many elements served up through breakdowns, drops and some pretty big drum-fills… love it!
This is currently exclusive to Beatport, get it..
Click here to buy on Beatport:
The first event from Locker Room Records this year comes in the form of VADE. After the label’s hugely successful launch event in December, Locker Room Records are back with VADE – a day party at The Magic Roundabout, Old Street, London. This event comes highly recommended for any underground house/techno fans and with a strong lineup, alongside the team of Locker Room resident DJs, will certainly be a sell-out.
Tickets are available from Resident Advisor, more info and event description below –
Join us on Saturday 12th March
@ The Magic Roundabout, Old St, London EC1Y 1EB
From 12pm – 11pm
Jack Swift is best known for his up tempo sets where his skills behind the mixer are up there with the best. A Real Dj’s Dj, Jack’s dynamic mixing style sees him draw on House, Techno and Garage and has taken his sound to some of the countries most iconic clubs including Sankeys (Manchester), Studio 338 (London), Canal Mills (Leeds), XOYO (London), Stealth (Nottingham) and the Rainbow (Birmingham). A regular on the festival circuit the last few seasons have seen Jack spin at Lovebox, Unknown, Ceremony, Outlook and Hideout. Jack has also had the pleasure of putting together the official ‘Journey to Hideout mix’ for the past three years. Alongside Dj Listener and Devstar, Jack also runs London based clubnight Juxx. Over the last 12 months they’ve hosted some of the most credible names in dance music including Gerd, Dale Howard, De Sluwe Vos and DJ Klose One.
With a packed calendar of upcoming shows and some fresh productions ready to drop it’s set to be a bright future for Jack Swift.
A self taught DJ & Producer from Manchester. He has been making a big impact with his energetic DJ Sets on dance floors all over the country, Playing in Sankeys Manchester & the infamous Studio338 where he has a Residency at ABODE. 2015 saw Jimmy start his residency at Sankeys Ibiza for Solidgrooves & Abode. Jimmy’s upmost passion & determination for the music has seen him play at some of the most established clubs in the world. Since hosting his own event brand at Sankeys he’s been support for the likes of wAFF, Josh Butler, Art Department, Phil Weeks & Dyed Soundorom. He started out by Winning Data Transmissions DJ comp back in 2010 which resulted in him playing at the Opening Pre Party at Hideout Festival in Croatia where he warmed up for Death On the Balcony. After spending the summer of 2015 in Ibiza, Jimmy has been on the legendary Pete Tong Show on BBC Radio 1 as part of the Club Scouts with Steve Lawler (Viva Warriors) where he was interviewed about playing at his favourite venue Studio 338 in London.
He also has started a new residency in Leeds for Prism which is held at MINT Warehouse, where he plays once a month.
South East London born DJ Harriet Jaxxon plays across the genres. Starting out a few years ago playing strictly bashment, trap and hip hop she has since progressed onto mixing across a wider spectrum of music with sets featuring house, ukg, drum and bass and jungle. Expect to hear quick, high energy mixing with heavyweight basslines, catchy vocals and a carnival influence.
Franko Moliterno and James Razda first met through there love of Drum n Bass, Franko was a dj and Razda was an MC , they instantly clicked and ended up working together. 3 mixtapes later, Razda was discovering a new found love for house music. He started getting into production. Turno guided him through the basics but Razdas drive and passion helped him through. This sparked the birth of “Second Nature”. They new they were destined to continue there musical connection and this seemed right. This sparked a new energy and love for the music grew and grew. Expect deep/tech flavours and a capturing performance as these two have a vibes to sell.
Producer, DJ and one of the original founders of Arcko Digital, Dmarco has a history of supported releases and remixes from artists such as Mark Knight, ATFC, Andi Durrant, Omid 16b and many more. Dmarco DJs across London and Europe and has graced the decks at the notorious NYE Full Moon Party in Thailand.
The collaboration of Dmarco & DEV:ROX. It is the blend of alias’s and alter ego’s in its finest form. When the two combined in the studio, Sub Deux was born. A fresh and exciting combination of many spectrums from the musical world.
London based DJ Joe Bonner has over 20 years DJ experience specializing in Deep & Tech House. Joe is a regular in Ibiza and the UK club scene playing at the Leisure Lounge and Kinky Malinky plus many more. He often tears up dancefloors alongside Danny Rampling, Brandon Block & Terry Farley.
Catch Joe every Monday night from 6pm-8pm on www.selectukradio.com
Essex based DJ, Danny Cook plays a style of energetic, underground Tech House. The addictive basslines and high energy percussion in his sets always make for an engaging addition to any underground event.
From the outskirts of London, Charlie Grumbridge has been mixing for over 10 years. He Loves switching up hard rolling basslines with vocals guaranteed to get any crowd going.
With 20 years of music production and djing under his belt, Lawrence is no stranger to packed dancefloors and crowd interaction. He has previously held residencies at Ministry of Sound and Pacha, and with brands such as Connected and Gifted, all under three different guises. After performing regularly as a scratch dj, Lawrence travelled the world twice under sponsorship from Skyy Vodka, which has collectively helped shape his unique sound & style today.
These days Lawrence runs the house music review website ‘Public House UK’, as well as pushing out his own tech house / techno production on some of the industries most credible labels, and having numerous tracks feature in Beatport’s Top 100 charts.
These two have certainly chosen a superb release to get their year started. Out now on Vamos Music which started back in 2012 by Rio Dela Duna within the Housesession label group. Becoming quickly an undisputed label in the house scene, the label is supported by Roger Sanchez, Richie Hawtin, Bob Sinclar, Erick Morillo, David Herrero..
Initially you can tell it’s Barry & Lawrence’s groove from the get go. They have really started to create a signature sound from their grooving drums & rolling percussion..
With effective timing that builds anticipation they introduce “We got a beat going on” sample, teased in then building into the main drop. Nice low cut drums and trippy spacey atmospheric pads and stabs that fills the room before rolling nicely out into that deep rolling bass.
With other recent popular releases out on Jango, Rezonation & Jungle Funk, these two have plenty more dancefloors tricks up their sleeve! I Will be grooving this one into the next Arcko Digital Podcast!
Click here to buy on Beatport:
Leeds based producer DeMarzo one of my favourite producers, always delivering high quality tunes with powerful techy underground vibes often coupled with some really nice vocals. With this new EP out on Tube and Berger’s label – Kittball Records from 12th January 2016, he is delivering more of the same. This is a versatile EP which is already being well received and could fit well into a variety of different types of DJ set.
The lead track on the EP – ‘I Like It’, features very strong bass stabs with vocal ad-libs and chops which sets the scene for a nice and heavy underground feel . A catchy vocal bridges the track into the drop with some retro sounding synths also giving a groovy feel to the track. This is my preferred track on the release and I will definitely looking forward to playing this at forthcoming events.
The EP features two versions of ‘Another Day’ with the Original Mix, already receiving support on BBC Radio 1 and also the Heartless Dub version without the vocal. The vocal on the Original Mix would certainly give this track appeal to a wider audience, however the typical Demarzo addictive bassline means that either version would also make a nice addition to a rolling tech house set.
In my opinion DeMarzo is one of the most underrated producers in the scene. Overall this is a great addition to his collection and a really strong release with a lot of potential. I look forward to hearing what else he will bring to the table later in the year.
Click here to buy on Beatport:
Milan based DJ/Producer, Alex Rubia has released a four track EP on London Tech House and Techno label, Hustler Musik. The release, entitled Pitch EP features four tech house tracks, any of which would make a really effective addition to an underground house set.
The tracks on this release all feature deep subs, techy vocal chops and hard hitting drops perfectly designed for powerful club sound systems. Pitch, the lead track for the release, has a hard drum groove and combined with the minimal baseline, gives a nice tribal feel to the record. Young Beat however, is my preferred track and has the most groove on the release. It features a powerful bassline which repeats throughout and works really well with the vocal loop. It then leads into a nice minimal chord progression on the breakdown, before the drop kicks in. This track would fit perfectly into a high energy underground tech house set and is a great addition on the release.
London based Hustler Musik specialise in combining the Italian and London techno and house scenes together. The label’s owners D. Napolitano and Astin are also launching a new eagerly anticipated sister label called Hustler Hype. We look forward to the launch of this and continued releases on Hustler Musik in 2016.
Alex Rubia – Pitch EP out now available from Beatport.
Click here to buy on Beatport:
Here is Toolroom’s last release of 2015 from Rene Amesz. Rene has had an absolutely incredible year over the Summer, Like It Deep was rooted firmly at the number 1 spot on the tech house genre page for 27 days and spent over 4 Months in the overall top 100.
Big then followed and mirrored previous successes before underground giants Suara played host to Running Out Of Black, which once again was a huge success. Clan Nancy epitomises Renes sound and reflects where he stands musically.
Those unmistakable tough drums, low-slung bass line and seductive, chopped vocals, this is pure gold from Amesz and a perfect way for Toolroom to close the door on what has been an incredible 2015.
A passionate producer who loves what he does, check out his Facebook for up to date videos live from the studio and follow the magic behind the scenes! Watch out for Rene’s future releases in in 2016! There will be more weapon’s for the dance floor!
Click here to buy on Beatport:
Out today – Sidney Charles is back and kickstarting the year with a banger out on TrueSoul. I Think most people can hold there hands up and say they’ve stomped too a few Sidney Charles tracks on the dance floor.. On this occasion, you will be doing the same again!
With solid industrial drums and a low end that work’s nicely rolling with the percussion, a ‘computer game’ like digital synth sound arpeggiates as the drums get low cut filtered out and the Vocals discreetly filter in.
There is great anticipation in the drop with rides pitching out to the main Vocal, rolling out into the grooving drop.
As Sidney’s bag’s are packed and ready to depart on his 2 month tour & your out to watch a line up he’ll be involved in, you’ll be raving to this one!
Click here to buy on Beatport:
Happy New Year and welcome to 2016! I’ve been having a sift through the inbox recently and there are some absolutely amazing releases coming that we’ll be reviewing over the next few weeks. Let’s kickstart 2016 talking about this amazing release on one of my favourite labels; Stereo Productions.
Fresh from producer ‘Joeski’ is this 6-part release of his track ‘Champion Sound’ including remixes from the likes of Rafa Barrios, Tini Garcia, DJ Fronter and Level Groove, with two mixes from Joeski himself. The original mix consists of some reggae/ska brass stabs, giving the track a real Caribbean feel, and some sketchy drums laid under what sound like Ragga vocal one-liners. Sat nicely under it all it a bouncy deep bass groove which compliments it all nicely. Joeski’s other mix is the ‘Boombastic Remix’ which is quite similar to the original but is more like a club version with a punchier bass groove and more tech-based drums, I’d say this remix is a slightly more predictable version of the original; still really good though!
Moving on to the Rafa Barrios Remix. This remix has some big hats throughout and the bass groove is a lot deeper. I’m playing this in my home studio and the bass frequencies are pretty much perfect, sounds awesome! So this has the original vocal elements sat over the hats, bass and a nice little siren. Love it!
Next up is a remix from DJ Fronter and from the off it’s a nice techy number, nice use of the sidechain on the pads during the intro and then into a big long breakdown. Now, I was expecting a pretty standard build and drop (which ultimately is what happens), but then a long horn sound comes in before the risers and snares, and then a huge drop into a deep tech banger!
If you’re a follower of Tini Garcia’s work, like me, you’ll have high expectations for this remix, and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s deep, melodic and has some really nice subtle chord stabs along with the vocal and brass stabs from the original. I’m a huge lover of a drum fills when they are used properly and this one has a little reggae-infused fill right before the drop. Great remix work.
And the final remix comes from Level Groove. This one has a nice bouncy repetitive bass pattern and some simple drums combined with some little vocal stabs. It has a nice long breakdown with a droning sound throughout, a big build up with snares and whooshes with loads of reverb before the drop. Not my favourite of all the mixes of I’m honest but awesome work nonetheless.
All mixes were released just before Christmas exclusively to Beatport, check it out..
Click here to buy on Beatport:
Since the Ministry of Sound club opened its doors in Elephant and Castle in 1991, it has been at the forefront of cutting edge audiovisual technology, firmly establishing itself as a destination venue for clubbers from across the Capital and beyond. Recent years have seen the competition between venues reach fever pitch, and along with the growing pressure from local councils to crack down on nightlife and capitalise on valuable real estate, the modern London club has needed to develop an edge. For MoS, that may well be Dolby Atmos – an immersive sound system coming to The Box room in 2016.
Gabriel Corey, product manager of Dolby Atmos, explained the idea behind the new system. Originally developed for the cinema, the developers were approached by music artists who wanted to know how they could incorporate surround sound technology into a DJ set or live show. At this point, that technology did not exist – so they decided to work with the artists to make it a possibility, and where better but in the Ministry of Sound, an establishment “originally completely designed around the principles of sound.”
DJ, Producer and owner of Circus Recordings, Yousef was on hand to demonstrate the new system.Within The Box, overhead speakers have been added to complement the existing 6 stacks around the room so that elements of a track can be moved around in real time. The result is truly impressive – tracks played in surround sound give the feel of being in front of a live band, but even more so, as if the players are around the room and the vocals are being belted from the rafters. A side by side comparison to the classic stereo sound makes a clear case for the superiority of the Atmos system. However, discussions with other DJs and producers in the room have raised a common concern – the time commitment involved in preparing a set for this new system. There’s no way of just ‘turning up’ and making use of it – tracks need to be specially prepared and with many acts playing two or more sets in a night, the question is whether DJs simply have the time to use Atmos to it’s full potential.
Kicking off with Hospital records and with Yousef bringing Circus to the venue in March, the residency culminates in September to coincide with Ministry’s 25th anniversary. It’s hoped that by then, clubbers and artists alike will agree that this new technology is the future of music events. Whether Dolby Atmos is a hit with clubbers or not, it’s great to see new ideas and investment in our Capital’s nightlife, and we can’t wait for the residency to begin.
The Cat’s bringing the funk back, here with ‘Love Affair’ signed to Soulful Legends. Here is a track that will get pretty much anyone & everyone on the dance floor!
With a gentle disco groove and nice percussion, the nicely crafted vocal the Cat has got grooving with the funky bass and strings. Teasing us with vocal loops, fx and vox shots, it keeps us moving throughout!
To Catch this ledge in the mix sometime, checkout Supernature in Manchester!
Click here to buy on Traxsource:
The Dolly Rockers are on it with this remix. Bringing back the legendary K-Klass ft Bobbi Depasois – Let Me Show You. The Original moved dance floors back in 93, and if your looking for the right remix for today… you need the Dolly Rockers Dub Mix!
The Drums have a grooving kit with bouncy tops & a nicely chopped vocal of Bobbi Depasois singing ‘Live Right Now’. There is a tasty low end EFM sounding bass and nice growl on the tail end.
The break drops into clean 90’s piano chords layered with the original vocal to give you that old school vibe; building the drop back up into the nicely chopped vocals and the teasing bass, ready for full energy with the grooving kit as the tune drops!
This track has been out less than a week and is already sitting at no.28 in the Traxsource House Chart! These two are not only good at producing a weapon for the dance floor, but also very nice chaps! So get your copy now and support these boys!
I will certainly be rocking throughout winter & also featuring in the next Arcko Digital Podcast!
Click here to buy on Traxsource:
