DHS 9 - Part 2 (H)

DHS 9!! GET IN THERE!! :)
Buzzing off this lads - we're away to the races with the new one - I've been bursting to get some tunes I've heard lately up here.... but first lets have a little peek at the first 5:-

Kid Frost - never heard this, cool track - the triple album it's off looks wicked too, good intro - cheers.
Crystal Meth remix - proper acid techy breaks - wicked tune, sure I've heard it on a mix somewhere, maybe a Plumps mix, can't remember.
The Chems - totally forgotten about this track....I bought the SG single so I know it well - proper bass line thumper - jump up breaks with some AWESOME drum samples.
Spor...........errrm - that's just gone straight into my "Best of Potentials" list!!! hahahaha - can't pick it for probably a year or more but it's ready and waiting all on its Jack for others to join it (soon I hope!!) Proper took me by surprise, what seemed like it was going to be a Sotomayor type chill out record explodes into breaks fury - what a f-ing brilliantly original record, particularly the drum programming - offbeat/onbeat/cut up stuff - very cool indeed. Hard to believe it was 2008... if you'd told me some kid did that yesterday I'd have believed you.
Moby - the bald vegan strikes again (by way of a cracking remix)... Sasha and Digweed opened an SW4 rave with this and the crowd sounded like they were proper on top - great party record.

Soooooooooooooooooo - I've gone all quirky - complete change of direction - can't imagine a few of these will win me many friends but I've been loving weird stuff of late and so as awlays I feel it is my duty to share:-

Matthew Dear - wtf is this all about?! I have no idea but I LOVE it - moody, haunting, eerie... don't adjust your headphones - them crackles is all part of the piece. Somehow this reminds me of Berlin (the group not the place). The original is mental (it's got a chugg factor to it) but this is just somehow weirder and yet totally beautiful and sad all at the same. (By the way the Mark E remix from this EP is ace summer chuggy house - check it too.)

Alexander - what an absolutely storming vocal over a nice organic production.... I can genuinely play this four or five times in a row and still get a buzz off it... really listen to the lyrics if you can (repeat plays essential) - some cracking little rhymes (not to mention the brilliantly oxymoronic "Your darkness is shining, My darkness is shining"). The intro reminds me of the old spaghetti westerns from when I was a kid :)

Aquarius Heaven - again; wtf is this all about?! I genuinely don't care - f-ed up distorted totally mental non-sensical vocal over one of the moodiest tracks I've heard in time... when it slows then drops back in... class. WHAT THE ....?! Is that vocal ?!? "F---ing the world and make the universe be my baby / lady" - I think it is anyway!! Mindloss - the geezer needs to have a day off!! Little story behind this - my mate who lives in Barca sent it to me on You Tube - when I said "this is the easily one of the best tracks you've tipped me, where did you hear it?" - he replied "The club by the airport.... it opens at 9am on Sunday morning.... guy dropped it at 11:30.... f-ing crazy - very messy, people losing their minds all over the shop!"

Jamie xx - that's that then; I'm off to buy a steel drum and get me some lessons! One of my tunes of the summer.... dub, house, carnival rave music.... bet this gets thrashed in Notting Hill this weekend. The four four section is wicked and could/should be longer.

Spada - one of my favourite releases of 2011. Saiz uses it on his recent Balance mix. Simply quite stunning. Reminds me of the lovely old melodic trippy trance that the German guys used to make.... like early Jam & Spoon... great to use in the mix as well I would have thought... the big kicks don't come in until over half way - and then that humming bassline near the tail end. So uplifting. The sun aint shining but this record definitely is.

As ever - Keep on Keeping on - God bless the beats.

H

DHS 9 - Part 1 (S)

Hehehehe - I always find starting off a brand new DHS to be most exciting - anticipation of bombs to drop and gems to discover. To think we've already done over 700 tracks in total DHS is mildly arousing - and by the end of DHS9 we'll have taken that over 800. *applause all round*

Enough of that though. DHS is choons not chat.

Starting off DHS9 then in bombastic fashion with five HUGE dance tunes from across a range of styles;

Kid Frost - Terminator - early 80's (1983?) electro tune from the days before 'rap' when you would gets rhymes on a whole range of tunes. Always loved this and it's a classic of the time.

Keoki - Caterpillar (Crystal Method Remix) - released in the mid '90s the original version was/is an average 'progressive house' track - Crystal Method's remix twisted it into a breakbeat stormer that I absolutely hammered on vinyl. Love this track.

Chemical Brothers - Base 6 - had to check to see if this had already been picked (obviously it hasn't but it does become the 8th Chem's tune on DHS so far) - I'm not their biggest fan (that's D obviously) but this track (flipside of Star Guitar) grabbed me by the bits and pieces when I heard it for the first time recently. Huge.

Spor - As Dust Falls - honestly suggest you're both sitting down when this plays for the first time - and have a light on for the sake of your sanity. I used this on a d'n'b mix three years or so ago and I've still never really got over it. Some really quite nice little piano touches and synths in amongst some astonishing low-end mayhem. Absolute armageddon record.

Moby - Mistake (Maxime Dangles remix) - a really quite remarkable 13th appearence on DHS for the bald, veggie, freak. And, to be honest, the presence of this track on the list owes EVERYTHING to the remix. There are some good parts to the original but the remix teases them into something much (MUCH) better. Top tune - I've played this out in Clapham to a great reaction.

There you go chaps - off and dancing...

S
x

Onwards and upwards...

Ok chaps - so DHS8 is closed off (and shortcut link added to the blog).

The Best Of list is once again shut - and DHS9 is open for business.

As Tong would say, '... and we continue...'

S
xx

Best of DHS - from 7 & 8 (S)

Hmmm - I've gone backwards and forwards on this for a couple of weeks now and probably could do the same again so I'll nail it down based on how it feels today and, as you both have also done, give some (very) honourable mentions.

Nacho Soomayor - To Dawn Part II - simply gorgeous
Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo - also simply gorgeous
Jay Z - Lucifer - wanted to have one rap tune in my selection and this just edged out Kanye's 'Runaway'
Tony De Vit - The Dawn - for it's sheer relentlessness
Bomb Da Bass - Beat Dis - important early record for me all those years ago
Herbie Hancock - Rockit - an even more important, even earlier, record for me

Honourable mentions to;
Kanye West - Runaway
Moby - Lacrimae
Who Made Who - Keep Me In My Plane
M83 - Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun
One Dove - White Love
Booka Shade - Scaramanga (Dusty Kid Remix)
Clock Opera - Once And For All
Bobby Brown - Two Can Play That Game (if this had been the 12" mix (not on Spot) I may well have had to choose it)
Lupe Fiasco - Shining Down
Antix - Lost & Found

Peace out rabbits
xx

The Best of DHS 7 & 8 (D)

Ok its time for that best of once again, 7 & 8 this time. Hodge getting in there first has taken '6am' off my list which would have been an absolute shoe-in to be honest - amazing piece of music. Out of the remainder i managed to get it down to 18 tracks of which 8 would have been on this list. But, we can only have 6 and they are:

Lupe Fiasco 'Hip-Hop Saved my Life'
Probably the greatest hip-hop track of the last few years, great productions, great lyrics and every single part of the production works, accessible but yet not cheesy, a rare feat.

M83 'Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun'
This piece of music is awesome in its scale. There's nothing particularly clever about the production, but its just the way its put together and is unashamedly enormous, totally epic. Wonderful.

Triangle 'Five - We've Found it' King Unique Remix
Something about this just absolutely talks to me, loving the KU production and the vocal pitch is immense. The chorus line is just beautiful too and I love the key change in the voice with the just the right production behind it.

The Naked and the Famous 'Young Blood'
I just love the up-tempo nature of the music in this record, works really well with the vocal and certainly feels better than a lot of the other selections which while close, didnt make it as they were melancholy to these ears.

Who Made Who 'Keep me in my Plane (Max Pask Remix)'
Love that riff. Love the unhurried nature of the record, love all the elements and the warm analog sound. That bassline is rather tidy too - in fact everything about it just works.

Fritz Kalkbrenner 'Kings in Exile (Chopstick & Johnjon remix)
Not sure why I like this record as this type of stuff is usually to minimal for me, but there was no disputing I was chuffed every time it came up on the shuffle. I think it has a kind of brooding intensity which builds and builds all the way through it - maybe thats it. Anyway its fantastic.

If there were 8 selections...

Kasabian 'ID'
Mamas & Papas 'California Dreamin''

Honourable mentions:

MIT 'Rauch'
Revtone 'Love Movement'
Four Tet 'Everything is Alright'
Yppah 'Never Mess with a Sunday'
Delphic 'Counterpoint'
John Dahlback, Andy P 'Late Night Worries'
Beah House '10 Mile Stereo'
Duran Duran 'Drowning Man'
Eelke Kleijn 'Flavour Saver'
Tycho 'Coastal Brake'

Another great couple of DHS' lads. Keep up the good work !

One Love

BEST OF DHS (THE 'SHORT'LIST) - H

Suffice to say, I could write about each and everyone of these: the tunes that didn't make it on to my teeny-tiny-you're-only-allowed-6 "Best of" list... Some are, in actuality, a few of the best records I've heard in recent times (top two most notably). BUT for certain reasons I had to rule them out (mainly because I like to try and include some classics as well as new tunes - as well as other stupid little rules I set myself). Anyway here's my not-so-short-list (which killed me deliberating over):-

Schwarzfahrn - Blaumachn (DP Remix)
Art Department - Without You
FPI - Everybody
Technotronic - PUTJ
Lustral - Everytime
Delerium - Silence
Soap & Skin - Mr Gaunt
Eric B & Rakim - IKYGS
Bob James - Take me to the Mardis Gras
Rebel MC - Street Tuff
Poolside - Do you believe
Momu - Donner Pass
JFOS - Do What U Want
Liquid Liquid - Cavern
Rhythm & Sound - No Partial
MARRS - Pump up the Volume
Massive Attack - Teardrop

BEST OF DHS (H)

Shmuel Flash - Like Minded: A BEAUTIFUL progressive piece of chillout.

VOA - Hoomba Hoomba: SEMINAL RECORD. The way the piano melody falls either side of the break beat - superb... benchmark record.

Moby - Lacrimae: One of the best modern additions to our lists. Very close to his best - given time it may even be equal to GMOTFOTW. Same power as main lining smack into your eyeball.

Alex Smoke - 6am: Immense production - drawn out background strings which create an almost cinematic tension. Lush.

Midland - Play The Game: Clearly not to everybody's tastes... From my perspective I think he's possibly the most exciting producer out there at the moment. I could go on for hours but suffice to say; not since Leftfield's "Leftfield" do I think anyone has pretty much created their own genre. Midland in the space of two years has basically done this.... his sound has it's roots in the likes of Burial's work but he has his own unique touch on the dubby, two step, jump up, melodic progressive, breakbeat, rave dance scene.... yeah let's just call it 'Midland'.... already got a string of people copying him. 'nuff said. Oh - the track; when the melody kicks in first time I heard it I was sold.... When it kicks in off the breakdown I was losing it. Played it on that mini set for R1 and I loved it then. Solid find KS - fair play.

Hybrid - Finished Symphony. I always try and get some kind of balance of old and new on the best of - this list has been as tough as any.... I really had a tough time putting this in at one stage because I've recently had some real first class 'moments' driving out by the beach listening to Lustral's "Everytime".... Anyway this won; it's association to arguably the best mix cd ever created and the millions of happy memories listening to it with mates, most notably in the small breaks room at Bedrock (Can't remember DJ's name - little fella, no hair, sweat bands - he's well known I've just forgotten him after 5 years) when it got played as the last track of the night.... well it was "Symphony" actually - the only difference to my ears being the lack of the little 'Aaa oooh ooooh" vocal on this "Finished" version.

I'm done for now - much needed pillow time. Apologies for lack of email response lately - bit busy. I shall post up my "Honorable Mentions", the (not so) short list of records from which I had to choose to get these six, soon.

As ever - Keep On Keeping On

H