Freestyle

Revolution In Your Pocket

2012-02-23T14:05:00.000Z

Vincent Gould, a.k.a. Revolution In Your Pocket, performs live at Freestyle tomorrow night. He has a brand new EP on Zang Productions out now and available for free download here. This is a taster of what to expect.

And here's a short interview, where Vince answers a few questions about the release.

For full details on tomorrow night's event, head here.

A Lovely Mix

2012-02-21T12:32:00.000Z

Well it's been a long time coming but I finally have a brand new mix completed and ready to share with the world. What you have here is 67 minutes of funk, hip hop, reggae, soul, pop, house, disco, latin, broken beat, afrobeat and much more all chucked in a cauldron and given a mighty good mix.

Of course if you like it then please don't be shy about sharing it! Tracklist as follows...

The Temptations - Psychedelic Shack / The Meters - The Clapping Song / Snoop Dogg & Pharrell - Drop It Like It’s Hot (Acappella) / The Dynamics - Whole Lotta Love / Sister Nancy - Bam Bam
The Pharcyde - Ya Mama / El Michels Affair - Shimmy Shimmy Ya / Ol’ Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya (Acappella) / Chinese Man - Washington Square
Queens Of The Stone Age - Turnin’ On The Screw
RJD2 - Beyond The Beyond (Instrumental) / Studio - West Side
The Specials - Ghost Town (The Revenge Increase The Peace Mix) / Max Romeo - I Chase The Devil / Jay-Z - Lucifer (Acappella)
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain / The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist (Acappella) / Danny Breaks - Duck Rock
Diana Ross - Surrender
The Bug feat. Warrior Queen - Poison Dart (South Rakkas Crew Remix) / Daedelus - Fair Weather Friends
Mark Pritchard & Om’mas Keith - Wind It Up (Instrumental) / Missy Elliott - Gossip Folks (Acappella)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Is This Love (Sam Redmore’s Freestyle Mix II) / Harry Romero & Robert Owens - I Go Back (Acappella)
Floating Points - Shark Chase / Green Velvet - La La Land (Acappella)
Havana Cultura Band - Chekere Son (Seiji Remix) / Afrika Bambaataa - Just Get Up & Dance (Acappella)
Yazoo - Don’t Go (Sam Redmore’s Freestyle Re-Style) / Status IV - You Ain’t Really Down (Jazzanova’s Hey Baby Beats)
Ray Mang - To & Fro
Aphex Twin - Window Licker / Depeche Mode - I Feel Loved (Danny Tenaglia’s Labour Of Love Acappella)
Hercules & Love Affair - Answers Come In Dreams
Feist - Sealion / Magic Drum Orchestra - Raggasamba
Modeselektor - Happy Birthday
Quantic & His Combo Barbaro - Un Canto A Mi Tierra (J Boogie Remix)
The Bluebeat Arkestra - T.A.R.E. (Sam Redmore’s Freestyle Tarejerker) / Dunkelbunt & Cloud Tissa vs M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun (Bag-O-Beetz Re-Edit)
Thievery Corporation feat. David Byrne - The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (Louie Vega Remix)

4oz Of Groove

2012-02-16T11:35:00.003Z

In support of Paper Tiger at tomorrow night's Freestyle we have the mighty 4oz Of Groove. Here's a video recorded live the last time they played for us...

For full details on tomorrow's event, head here.

Paper Tiger

2012-02-15T20:00:00.002Z

Our headline guests at this week's Freestyle are the hotly-tipped Paper Tiger. With support coming in from 6Music, Radio 1 and a whole host of discerning DJs far and wide, Friday's event promises to be a big night for all involved. Looking ahead to the occasion I caught up with bandleader Greg Surmacz for a few words on what Paper Tiger are all about...

When did Paper Tiger form, and how did the current line-up come about?

The core of the group formed many years ago - we were just teenagers messing around really, not taking things too seriously. It was just a bedroom production thing (using live instruments/recording) rather than a live project, although we always intended to do live stuff. Then I moved up to Leeds for university, and we gradually put the live band together. We've had this current line-up settled for a couple of years now.

For those out there who haven't previously heard you, how would you describe your sound?

Always difficult! I suppose it's electronic music with a strong live element - the live band is exactly that, no pre-recorded stuff or backing tracks. Musically it draws on experimental hip-hop, bass, garage and dubstep but without quite being any of these things. "Future bass" and "post-dubstep" are labels I've heard attributed to us, but both are pretty horrible.

Who are you main influences and inspirations?

This would be completely different depending on who in the band you ask, but a lot of us met studying jazz, so this plays a big part in informing our playing. Other than that, music from labels like Stones Throw, Ninja Tune, Warp and Tru Thoughts has inspired us greatly over the years. We're huge music enthusiasts and are always absorbing new influences and ideas from the spectrum of hip-hop, jazz, soul, 2-step, pop, grime, dubstep, R 'n' B... all sorts really.

Which current artists and producers out there are doing it for you at the moment?

I'm not sure I'd describe him as 'current' but D'Angelo blew my mind a few weeks ago! There are some great underground electronic musicians and bands around at the moment in the UK - Fantastic Mr Fox, Throwing Snow, Blue Daisy, LV & Joshua Idehen, Blacksmif, Memotone, Slugabed... the list is endless!

Where have been your favourite places to play over the last couple of years?

We've been lucky enough to play all over the place, with some amazing people. Koko in Camden is pretty special: we played on a line-up there also featuring Dam Funk, Tokimonsta, Dimlite and Rustie, which was an amazing night. Soundwave and Outlook Festivals in Croatia are incredible too. Hi-Fi Club in Leeds is always good value... to be honest, we're happy playing anywhere where the audience is enthusiastic and open-minded about the weirder parts of our sound.

What can we expect from the live show on Friday?

Heavy bass, too many computers onstage and lots of energy. For example, something a little like this...

What are your plans for the rest of 2012?

We're just about to release an EP on Mind On Fire Records, the Illuminated EP.

This is out on the 27th Feb and has already had lots of good feedback from people like Daedelus, Debruit, DJ Simbad, LV, Lauren Laverne, Mixmag etc. We're already preparing the next EP, although we can't say much about that yet. Basically, expect to hear a lot more from us!

Thanks to Greg for taking the time to speak to me. For full details on Friday's event, head here.

You can check out more from Paper Tiger at their website, Facebook page and Soundcloud.

Future

2012-01-12T17:36:00.000Z

So happy new year one and all. It's been a while since I last posted anything on here. This is a brand new remix I've just finished for Birmingham-based Genius Collective. My first official release, this is due to come out soon on ISM Records, complete with a Yam Who? remix.

Genius Collective - Future (Sam Redmore Remix) by Sam Redmore

Hope you like it, and if you do then please spread the word!

Jake Bullit

2011-12-22T18:44:00.000Z

Jake Bullit return to the Bull's Head tomorrow night for a headline live set at our Freestyle Christmas Party. In anticipation they have kindly put together a DJ mix especially for the blog, and I caught up with Jake for a few words on what they're all about...

Who are Jake Bullit?

We're four young men from Birmingham who like to make music with drum machines and synthesizers, with a bit of guitar and singing thrown in. Myself and Oscar are brothers and we make the beats. Christie the guitarist is our cousin and Tom, the singer, has been friends with Chris since they were kids - you could say we're a family band, like Sister Sledge.

How long have you been making music together, and how did you meet?

We’ve been together as a band for about eighteen months. Tom and Christie were in an indie band called Nightmares, who were gigging a lot in Birmingham, whilst myself and Oscar were messing about with an electro pop project. It seemed like a fun idea to try to merge the four of us and see what we could come up with.

You’ve been responsible for some excellent remixes of fairly high-profile artists, how did they come about?

Thanks! We got lucky there, in that our friends at Lucky Number Music helped us to get some remixes on spec. Some got approved and some sadly didn’t, but they’re a lot of fun to do and they’ve been very helpful for us to develop our sound and skills.

Do you have a particular process by which you go about writing music?

It’s quite a simple formula: we listen to a lot of boogie and funk records, steal the ideas, and then Tom and Chris do their thing on top of that. We like to think we're a "songs band" as much as we're a "sounds band", so we put a lot of effort into the lyrics and melodies too.

Who did you listen to when you were growing up, and which current artists are you really into?

We’re all unashamedly pop kids at heart but with our own particular slightly more obscure inclinations. Oscar is the real clubber. He listens to a fair bit of techy stuff and spends a lot of time making dirty beats. Tom’s a bit of a Brit pop fan and he loves the Manchester stuff like Joy Division and Oasis. Christie’s our hip hop expert who doesn’t shut up about Kanye, whilst my passion is disco, from Arthur Russell to Zapp.

One thing we would all agree on is that Nile Rodgers is a legend and we love pretty much everything he's done from Chic to Bowie to Duran Duran. As for current stuff we all like Chromeo and anything with chunky, upfront beats and sexy synthesizers – add some Nile Rodgers-esque boogie guitar and we’d all be happy with that.

What can we expect from your live show at Freestyle on Friday?

Beats, basslines, pokey little synth riffs and a ridiculously good funk guitarist. Songs about girls, cars and mad nights out.

What are your plans for 2012?

We spent most of our energy this year developing our sound and getting our live show tight so next year will be about more shows, new songs and hopefully putting out some tracks for public consumption. There are a few remixes dropping in the new year too which we're really excited about.

We'll be starting the year with a bang when we play a Brummie invasion at the Silver Bullet in London alongside two excellent Birmingham acts, Free School and Greg Bird. That's on the 6th of January so we're hoping to make a small part of London Brummie for that night!

Thanks to Jake for taking the time to speak to me. Check out this very special Christmas party mix from the boys to get you all in the mood for tomorrow night.

Jake Bullit Christmas Party Mix 2011 by jakebullit

For full details on tomorrow's event, head here. And for more music from Jake Bullit, check out their Facebook page and Soundcloud profile.

The Rebel Army

2011-12-21T14:53:00.002Z

It's the Freestyle Christmas Party this week at the Bull's Head and one artist I'm really looking forward to seeing perform is Vince Gould a.k.a. The Rebel Army.

Vince has created a highly original military hip hop sound, which you can check out for yourselves with this recent recording.

Predictable Ways by vincentgould

The bill for Friday night's event also includes Yam Who?, Jake Bullit, The Weapons Of Choice, Roy Roastbeef, Matt Beck and myself. For full details head here.

Don't Mean To Sound Cynical

2011-12-16T13:34:00.001Z

Here's a brand new remix I've just finished for one of my favourite Birmingham-based artists and past Freestyle guest, John Napier.

Don't Mean To Sound Cynical Remix by Sam Redmore

Whether it's his solo work, as one half of Waler or under the Ray Vaughan moniker, John's recordings always sound interesting, fresh and totally unique. You can check out more of his stuff on his Myspace page.

To download the above song just click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the waveform.

And here's the original version, so you can hear where it all began...

Don't Mean To Sound Cynical (Original Mix)

More Photos

2011-12-13T17:12:00.004Z

A few more photos just in from last Friday's Freestyle, courtesy of Igor Jefremov.

Live Photos 09/12/11

2011-12-10T19:29:00.001Z

Last night Free School, Arc Vel, Diùra, Sylvia and Husch played some excellent live sets at Freestyle. Here are a few photos from the evening...

Free School

2011-12-08T17:51:00.001Z

Tomorrow night Free School headline our Freestyle event at the Bull's Head in Moseley. Signed to Tirk Records, one of the most accomplished live acts in Birmingham and with a remix from Mark E in the pipeline, Free School are very much a band on the rise. I caught up with them for a few words on where they're at right now...

Who are Free School?

We're men in masks come to save the day. Whatever is troubling you, we will help.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

In no particular order:

The Field – Looping State of Mind
Rufus & Chaka Khan
The Jones Girls
The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient
Tiger & Woods – Wiki & Leaks
MF Doom – Operation Doomsday
Benoit & Sergio
Black Van
Justine & The Victorian Punks

What can the lucky Freestyle-goers expect to be treated to at Friday’s show?

We're really up for this show, our last of what has been a brilliant year for us. So many good things have happened - our records coming out, the places we've DJ'd, some great remixes that we've done that will see the light of day soon - so the show is a celebration of where we're at, a few new tunes, some sumptuous visuals, bells and whistles.

By what process do you tend to go about writing tracks?

It usually comes from the pair of us improvising live, recording the results and improvising over the top of that again and again. We then rework that in to something that we like, find a theme and run with it.

And how about for remixes?

Well you can use the individual tracks of a song as the source material for improvisation, it's a very similar process. You just have to get a sniff of something that's working and then mine that seam as deep as you can. I'm liking this mining analogy. The trick is not to try and second guess what people want and follow your heart.

How are you finding your new-found fame as DJs for all the coolest nights in Birmingham?

Ha! Steve is coping remarkably badly, it's all gone to his head. It's been amazing. The live show takes an awful lot of preparation and focus to realise, and so the DJing is a real tonic to that (i.e. you can have a beer whilst doing it). We still put a lot into finding the right music that really makes us buzz, but it's great and people are really enjoying it.

Can you tell me a little about your podcast?

We love doing the podcast. We started it simply to get out there and try and connect with a few more people and share some music we love, and it's really taken off. We often have guests on the show from the Birmingham music scene and they're the best bits. We've heard some eye-watering stories that just aren't safe to broadcast! We ask the guests to select tunes to play as well, so it's a great way to hear new stuff.
I hear rumours of an album dropping next year on Tirk. How long has it been finished, and when is it due for release?

We've actually just been sorting that out this week with Tirk. Bar one or two tracks it's all agreed and it sounds amazing. We're so pleased with it - dates to be confirmed very soon...

What does 2012 hold for Free School?

If this year is anything like the last then we'll be responsible for finding the Higgs-Boson, winning the Olympics 100m final and developing a new way to harvest the Sun's energy...

We've got our next 12" coming out on Jan 16th, It's called 'Unravelling After The Lottery' (which Free School have very kindly allowed me to upload for you to check out below) and comes with a remix from one our heroes, Mark E.

We've got an amazing show on Feb 3rd with another hero Andrew Weatherall at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath which we're really excited about - the man's a bona fide legend!

We'll have a few more remixes popping up as well - one involving Phil Oakey and another on ISM Records, Yam Who?'s label. Then there'll be the album and after that we'll be looking to the summer and seeing which festivals will let us in to run amok. All in all, we're pretty chuffed.

Thanks to Free School for taking the time to speak to me. Have a listen to 'Unravelling After The Lottery' here, and check out their Facebook page for more information. For full details on tomorrow's event, head here.

Look What You've Done

2011-11-24T22:30:00.001Z

New in this week from John Napier and Vince Gould, who form everybody's favourite Birmingham-based disco-punk-rap duo Waler, is a video for the track "Look What You've Done", taken from their excellent album "Formulas".

Look What You've done is the third video from the album, and you can check the previous two just here...

Want You In My Soul

2011-11-16T16:41:00.001Z

On heavy rotation at Freestyle HQ, exquisite dancefloor soul here from Lovebirds featuring the considerable vocal talents of Stee Downes.

Want You In My Soul (Original) - Lovebirds feat Stee Downes by Stee Downes

Buy here.

Greg Bird & Flamingo Flame

2011-11-15T19:48:00.001Z

Greg Bird plays live at Freestyle this Friday. Former bassist in Sunset Cinema Club, over the past couple of years he's immersed himself in house music and cooked up some suitably tasty tunes for your dancing pleasure. I spoke to him about where he's at right now and what we can look forward to on Friday...

Can you introduce yourself?

I’m Greg Bird. I’m a local hipster-douche who DJs, puts on gigs, and occasionally tries to pass myself off as a solo singer/producer sort of thing.

How did you get into doing what you do?

S’funny because I was watching BBC Three the other night and they were showing Nirvana live at The Palladium, and I suddenly remembered that watching that show on VHS at a sleepover was the exact moment I decided that I wanted to play in a band..!

After discovering music at around the age of thirteen I was pretty much a grunge/nu-metal kid, but got bored very quickly and found myself delving into my parents’ records and discovering half-remembered sounds from my upbringing - stuff like Depeche Mode and Siouxsie & The Banshees. Then I was a moody, wannabe goth in a nu-metal band until my dad directed me to “learn real bass”, and gave me a couple of Mastercuts Funk compilation CDs, which pretty much changed my life. I feel obliged to keep everything funky and bass-line orientated now, no matter what style of music I’m doing. So after uni, I moved to Birmingham to make the big time. 8 years later, here I am! Hah hah.

How did you find the change from making music as part of a band to working on solo material?

It’s been tricky. With a band you can write a song, bash it out together four or five times and it’s done, ready to go. You feed off one another and set targets and keep kicking each other up the arse. Solo, however, you’re your own worst critic and you can hit certain walls. I never dry up idea-wise, but actualising the noises in my head is another matter, which is why it’s taken so long for me to finish off my most recent set of tracks.

I’ve been on a never-ending learning curve when it comes to producing too. The previous EP was all live keyboards and a drum machine going through guitar pedals so I didn’t have that problem, but now it’s all learning midi and how to make juicy beats. I’ve yet to reach that optimal ‘work flow’ stage, but I can see myself having that nailed soon. I’m 99% there with my new stuff now - just mixing it down - so I’ll have that out there very soon.

Who are your main influences and inspirations, and what current artists are doing it for you right now?

Over the past eighteen months I’ve been listening to nothing but house music. Blame Matt Beck! I’ll always have some of that 80s goth and dream-pop in my blood, so I want to hold onto that, but nearly all my other influences from the past fifteen years can be written off at this point.

I actually buy MP3s too, from Amazon and Juno. There was a period last year when I was temping for the council, commuting really long bus routes to a re-purposed 80s school in Sheldon. For my journey I’d scraped together everything I could find by Mark E and absolutely absorbed the stuff, which wouldn’t usually be possible because his tracks are so long - there isn’t enough time in the day!

At the moment I’m really digging Axel Boman, Suzanne Kraft, Maceo Plex and a lot of that plastic-sounding apple mac house that Hot Creations are putting out. It’s almost gothy, in a camp, lo-fi sort of way.

Can you tell me about your involvement with This Is Tmrw?

Matt booked Sunset Cinema Club for nearly all his line-ups during the ‘glory days’ of the mid-00s, so when we stopped playing regularly he invited me to get involved. I jumped at it, for fear of becoming a hermit otherwise, which worked.

We’re totally non-profit but me, Matt, JP and Carl have a lot of fun doing what we do, with some cool plans coming up for 2012. Matt’s been a major musical influence on me too, second only to my parents, hah hah. He taught me what I know as a DJ, and got me into modern house music as a bi-product of that. It’s ironic, because now, aside from my favourite local bands, I’m totally disinterested in guitar music. I only want to put on DJs, but they’re even more expensive than bands, so I’ll have to make do with our Toro Y Mois and Neon Indians for now!

What can we expect from your live set on Friday?

Danny (my regular guitarist) has got the night off so I’ll be dusting down my guitar, as well as the usual keys. I’m going to attempt to do the whole set in Ableton for the first time, so I’m pretty nervous, but as long as I just let go on the night and wail out some funky, n-n-n-nineties tinged goth shite, it’ll be job well done for me.

Do you have a special outfit (see here) planned for all the lucky Freestyle-goers?

Nothing too disturbing this time, but I do like to decorate myself, shall we say. I sometimes worry that it might distract from my music, and when you’re dressed like a chubby Siouxsie Sioux on a bad day you’ve definitely got further to fall if it all goes wrong. But I need to overcompensate, for lack of clones able to play as my band.

Where do you hope to take your music in the future?

I’d like to expand the band somewhat and get back to playing bass on my songs rather than keys. It’s hard to ‘feel’ keys, although I’m using MPC pads at the moment which is more like it. Musically, I will continue to push the crossover of old school goth with different dance genres. The first EP was goth meets 80s soul, this one is goth meets 90s dance and RnB, so the next one, God knows... Maybe I’ll catch up with the rest of the world and get some of that sine-wave bass thing going on. As long as it’s something I’d want to listen to, then I'm happy.

Thanks to Greg for taking the time to speak to me. You can check out full details of Friday's event here, and keep up to date with all of Greg's goings on at his Facebook page.

Wandering Star

2011-11-15T17:21:00.001Z

Quantic returns on the 22nd December for a very special set in the downstairs bar of the Bull's Head, Moseley. Here's a wonderful Portishead cover by Mr Holland and his Combo Barbaro, available to pick up on the recently released Best Of Quantic album.

Quantic & His Combo Barbaro - "Wandering Star"

Mark E

2011-11-14T17:12:00.001Z

In the six years that's passed since springing to the widespread public's attention with his sublime re-working of Womack & Womack's "Baby I'm Scared Of You", Mark E has well and truly risen to the top of the house music scene. With DJ bookings worldwide, support for his productions from the likes of Sven Vath and DJ Harvey and his very own label, MERC, to his name, I grabbed a few words from him on where he's at and what inspired him to get there...

The first I heard of your music was your re-edits, were you always working on your own original material as well?

When I started making music I was always using samples, but didn't intend to make edits - I was trying to make original music by using samples. The edits came by accident when I just dropped the original track in at the end of some nice loops and it worked. I was always trying to make new music, and the edits were an accident, but they were very well received so I carried on for a while. This gave me the confidence to work solely on original tracks, no samples whatsoever.

When did you first get into producing music, and who first inspired you?
I guess I started playing around when I was about seventeen on my dad's computer. Trying to emulate some of the old American guys like Sneak, Van Helden, Boo Williams etc. Then Daft Punk came along and "Homework" was everything for me. That album was just the kind of thing I was trying to do, and that whole French house sound around that time was where i saw myself.
What other producers out there are you really into at the moment?
I really like Omar S. He's consistently way ahead, I think. I'm a big fan of the Sandwell District label too. Also, Ultracity and Bogdan Irkük never cease to amaze me.
What are your standout DJ gigs from the last couple of years? (Apart from Freestyle, of course...)
Playing at Freestyle and in Birmingham for friends is always a lot of fun - it's more like a house party vibe and I've had some of the best nights doing that kind of gig. When you are booked elsewhere though it becomes more serious as people are paying money to come and see you DJ, so there are different pressures. This year the standouts have been Subculture at Subclub in Glasgow, Eleven in Tokyo, and more recently two great parties in Istanbul.
What's in the pipeline for MERC, and where do you hope to take your music in the future?
The idea for MERC is to keep releasing 12's for now - there is a new release by EXward coming very soon, and probably more from me.
I'm finding my productions becoming more influenced by techno these days, rather than directly from disco. I might get into some edits again sometime though.
Big thanks to Mark for taking the time to answer these questions. Keep up to date with his new releases and all things MERC at mercmusic.net.

Hustle!

2011-11-14T15:49:00.001Z

So looking ahead to next weekend and fresh from their barnstorming set at last Friday's Freestyle, The Bluebeat Arkestra host their very own club night at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath on Saturday.

The lineup features a delightfully eclectic array of local talent, including Snooty Bobs, Ask Alfie and Sicum playing live, whilst The Arkestra's very own Dave Breeze and Innsy (a.k.a. Trum N Bass) take to the decks. For full details, head here.

And to get you in the mood, here's the aptly named disco stomper "Bump & Hustle Music" by Tommy Stewart.

Tommy Stewart - "Bump & Hustle Music"

Buy here.

Chris Read

2011-11-12T15:27:00.001Z

Past Freestyle guest Chris Read has been cooking up some serious heat of late with releases on both Breakin' Bread and BBE making their way into the record boxes of discerning DJs worldwide. I caught up with him for a few words on the journey that's led him to where he is today.

Can you introduce yourself?

Yes I can: Hello. I'm Chris Read. How do you do?

I guess what you were looking for was a bit of info on what I do though... I'm a disc jockey for the most part. I also spend a lot of my time making music and remixing other people's music, and over the years have been involved in making various club nights happen. I'm an artist for both BBE and Breakin' Bread.

How did you get into doing what you do?

I discovered hip hop in the late 80s through various radio shows that were on mostly late at night in London, then started to buy records and developed an unhealthy vinyl addiction I guess you could say. By the early / mid 90s I decided I ought to make use of the records and so decided to start DJing. Around the same time I was also starting to discover and get into the music that hip hop was constructed from - funk, soul, jazz etc., which also led me off in various other directions. I moved to Birmingham for a period of about 6 years in the mid 90s and starting playing out and promoting club nights. It all spiralled out of control from there really. I eventually got into making music in the late 90s and had some of my earliest efforts released by Different Drummer around 2000. There have been rises and falls since but that's pretty much my introduction.

You've compiled and mixed an album for BBE's 15th birthday celebrations, can you tell me how that came about?

Well, BBE found me through some stuff I had submitted to Mixcloud. We started a conversation, got on well and then in March this year they asked me to mix the bonus feature for the Beat Generation 10th Anniversary album alongside DJ Spinna and Mr Thing. The label was pleased with the work I did on that and so asked me to mix the 15th Anniversary double CD which obviously was a great honour, considering the wealth of great artists on the label. The reaction to that comp has been overwhelmingly good for the most part.

What are the nights you currently promote, as well as ones you've been involved with in the past?

I currently promote a handful of nights in London. Whack It! is just my own little thing where I can just play whatever I damned well please. That's at Vibe Bar on Brick Lane - they do a good job of programming good music all week (Mr Thing, Jon Kennedy, Soul Jazz, Kid Kanevil and Simbad all have residencies there too). The other two nights I promote are both in partnership with a guy called Nick Armitage. One is called So Much Soul, which is a pretty irregular affair at a variety of venues - we play strictly dancefloor funk & soul all night with a slight leaning toward modern funk which we felt was a bit under-represented at other funk nights. We've had DJ / live guests occasionally (DJ Center from Bastard Jazz in NYC and Randa Khamis of the Soul Kingdom / Freestyle Records from Australia), but mostly it's just Nick and I.

The night that most people know about outside of London is Classic Material, which for just over a year now we've been doing a monthly night where we play only hip hop from a specific era or year in chronological order. We started in October last year at 1979 and we've just hit 1999. Guests have included DJ Format, Andy Smith, Strictly Kev (DJ Food), Ollie Teeba (Herbaliser), Mr Thing and tons of others. Each event is accompanied with a mix CD, t-shirt and box set. It's been a huge undertaking but a lot of fun. We're wrapping it up at the year 2000 next month with an exhibition of hip hop design and photography at the City Arts and Music Project.

I'm rambling and not even mentioned Substance, which we ran at the Medicine Bar in Birmingham. That night obviously is close to my heart. A great bunch of people. In its first 5 years it grew from a few DJs playing to about 20 of their mates in a bar to one of the country's biggest club nights with crowds occasionally topping 1700 people. It ran for over 10 years in total. The guests we had speak for themselves really - DJ Premier, KRS One, Grand Master Flash, Jeru, Pharcyde etc. - especially when you consider the time that we were putting these people on. I'm also very proud of the fact that we had a house band and stuck by that as part of the night.

You're one of the most prolific DJs I know for putting together top quality mixes, is there a particular method you have for going about this?

Yes and no. I never really know exactly how they're going to turn out until they're complete but it's mostly in the preparation. I usually settle on an idea or theme first and then select a pool of anything up to about 300 records as a starting point -then go through them all and narrow it down to the ones that I think I'll actually use. Then I start compiling the mix, taking effort to find parts of the records that will facilitate interesting transitions, cut sections, acapellas etc. That's it really - it's not rocket science, just time and effort...

Can you tell me a little about Maylight?

Well, it's a 7 piece band put together by Mary Wakelam at Birmingham Jazz. We have Lizzy Parks on vocals who's done two albums for Tru Thoughts. On drums is Jim Bashford who I'm sure a lot of local people will know. On keys is Rob Barron who is fantastic and has worked with everyone from Nostalgia 77 to Kanye West, Damon Albarn to Jay Electronica. Our sound is a bit of a melting pot of the influences of everybody involved, but overall is a sort of even mix of various electronic styles, soul and jazz. We recorded an EP in Pinewood Studios about this time last year and have been working on the post production and new tracks since then. Our show at Leftfoot in December will be the first time we air that new material.

Who are your musical influences and inspirations?

Very hard to say really. I think you're influenced to some extent but pretty much everything you ever hear, but I suppose my direct influences are the classic beat makers - Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Premier, Dilla etc., but also by so much new music too.

Stuff I'm really into right now includes Tall Black Guy, Julien Dyne, Slakah The Beatchild, Oddisee, Opolopo. People I find really inspiring though are the greats - Miles Davis, Coltrane, James Brown. Both inspring and depressing I guess to accept you'll probably never hit the level they lived on...

Your recent releases on Breakin Bread have picked up support from DJs far and wide, what else do you have in the pipeline?

There will be some more stuff for Breakin Bread, although we're still talking about what form that will take. The aim is to have the Maylight EP or album ready in time for another spate of shows possibly toward the summer next year. I also have a third CD comp for BBE which is a double CD of modern producer led Latin stuff called 'Latin Concrete'. That will be out in the Spring some time. There will also be a new line of Classic Material products in partnerhsip with some very talented folks which I'm not at liberty to say too much about right now, but I'm very excited for that too. Finally I have some remixes forthcoming for Bastard Jazz in NY and also Hope Street out in Australia so plenty to be getting on with...

Check www.musicofsubstance.com for all the latest!

Thanks to Chris for taking time to speak to me. For more info check out his website, Bandcamp and Mixcloud pages.

You Bet Your Love

2011-11-11T14:06:00.001Z

Lovely bit of disco here from 1979 courtesy of jazz legend Herbie Hancock. In the late 70s / early 80s Hancock released a significant amount of disco material, much to poor critical acclaim.

Herbie Hancock - "You Bet Your Love"

8-Bit Ninjas

2011-11-10T21:45:00.001Z

Kicking off live proceedings at tomorrow night's Freestyle we have 8-Bit Ninjas, making their second appearance at the night. I asked Andy Cowley, one half of the band, what they're all about...

Who are 8-Bit Ninjas?

8-Bit Ninjas are Andy and Sam, a couple of nerds who are still in love with the golden age of computer games and have a special place in their hearts for the Commodore 64. We make bouncy, dancey music with 80s consoles, synths, guitars and a vocoder, and write about girls, computer games, Pokemon, Monster Munch and Nyan Cat.

How did the idea of making 'recycled electronica' come about?

Well there's a special lo-fi aesthetic associated with 8-bit consoles. Everyone knows the themes from Tetris and Super Mario Bros., and the hardware used to make those songs has a very distinctive sound which instantly transports you back to Saturday mornings in the 80s, convincing your family to give you the telly for an hour. The harsh sounding square waves, the fast arpeggios and all the fun of cramming as much stuff as possible into a limited amount of channels, the abysmal attempts to reconstruct drums, it's all just wonderful.

There are plenty of chip artists out there to aspire to be, composing whole albums using only a Gameboy etc. and they're ace and a massive inspiration, but we decided to mix it up a bit, get some filthy guitar tones in there to contrast with the clinical bleeps, throw in some cheesy synths and even sing on it!

Purists think that's a bit dirty, but we don't care. Oddly enough, the primeval soup from which 8-Bit Ninjas was formed wasn't actually composed of any chip artists really. I had been listening to a load of Swedish synthpop and thought it would sound ace on an Atari ST.

How do you decide what songs to cover?

Cider and gin make most of those decisions. We've done a few - "Push It" by Salt 'N' Pepa, just because the bass is amazing; "Ride On Time" by Black Box because it's one of the most awesome and memorable dance riffs of all time; "Pokemon Face", a parody of Lady Gaga's Poker Face was a zeitgeist thing at the time, everyone was listening to it and it made sense to play on the Gameboy thing. Recently we did a cover of "Deer Dance" by System Of A Down featuring an artificial voice that sounds like a robotic William Shatner. I can't explain the reasoning behind that, not in words.

Who are you main musical influences and inspirations?

Initially it was a couple of Swedish bands called Alice In Videoland and Thermostatic. They really planted the seed. There was a lot of stuff going on at the time though like Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Late Of The Pier that we liked the smell of. Then we discovered stuff like Crystal Castles and Slagsmalsklubben and a whole world of it opened up. It's basically just a big ugly, hairy lovechild of that and 90s dance music by the likes of The Prodigy, The KLF, The Shamen and that sort of thing.

Describe a typical 8-Bit Ninjas gig.

One too many beers, giggling on stage, sweat, crowd singing the wrong words to Pokemon Face thinking we're covering it, Sam cutting his fingers apart on his bass strings and lots of questionable rapping. Lively, loud and bassy - you'd better be dancing!

What have you been working on most recently, and what are your plans for the future?

Last year we threw ourselves about in the Midlands and did as many gigs as we had time to. It all started off a bit too complicated to play live so we had to scale it all back to samples and a laptop for the stage. I didn't want to get too many people involved in case it was awful. We made a bit of a name for ourselves though on the internet, played some ace venues, made a music video and released an EP.

This year has been a bit of a nightmare as we both moved fifty miles South because of work - boring day jobs to pay for the shiny bleepy machines - so it's been a bit tamer. We played our first festival this year though at Limetree in Yorkshire. Go if you haven't been it's ace! We got booked for a much longer set than usual there so there was a lot of work to be done writing new material.

We're going to keep gigging, whoring ourselves out to anyone who'll listen, and in the new year I'm going to start to forge an album. I've got some ideas about how to make the live show a bit more exciting, so you may see a few more people recruited to twiddle knobs and maybe a drummer... who knows?

Thanks to Andy for taking the time to speak to me. You can check out more from 8-Bit Ninjas on their website, Bandcamp (for the EP and singles, which are also available on iTunes and Amazon), Twitter and Facebook for gig info and freebies.

For full details on tomorrow's event, head here.

Live Photos 04/11/11

2011-11-10T14:15:00.000Z

Here are a few photos taken at last week's event, where Frutaloka, Barrowclough and Joel The Custodian rocked the Bull's Head.

Freelance Mourners

2011-11-09T18:16:00.001Z

In support of The Bluebeat Arkestra at this week's Freestyle we have the rather magnificent Freelance Mourners. I spoke to guitarist Lee Mess to find out more about what's in store...

Who are Freelance Mourners?

Freelance Mourners are a Birmingham based 4-piece comprised of drums, bass, guitar and trumpet. We’re a pretty incestuous band, as in we’re all related. Me (guitar) and Aid (drums) are brothers, Andrew (bass) is our cousin and James (trumpet) is our mum’s boyfriend’s brother’s youngest son. I suppose in that respect we’re like a non-fundamentalist Christian version of Kings of Leon. Or a white Jackson 5.

How did you get into doing what you do?

It originally started out as just me and Aidan recording songs on a broken guitar in our kitchen. We were living in London and had no money so we just used whatever came to hand. I think we used Pot Noodles for maracas on the first few tracks. I can’t remember why we chose the name now. I guess we thought it sounded cool at the time but it kind of backfired as it makes us sound heavier than we are. We’re forever having to explain to people that we’re not Norwegian rape metal.

When did the band double in size?

We never intended to be a live act – we recorded two EPs, mainly for our own amusement – but when friends started hassling us to play live we took to the road as a guitar and drums two-piece. We were noisy and messy and played an insane number of gigs around the UK over a hectic nine month tour. What we lacked in sonic scope we attempted to make up for with energy, balloons and fake moustaches, but in the end I think we both got sick of the limitations of our sound. Andrew and James were the missing pieces in the Freelance Mourner-shaped puzzle. They were like the Egon and Winston to our Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd...

Who are your musical influences and inspirations?

Tom Waits. Scott Walker. Devotchka. Beirut. Chic. Free jazz. Prog metal. Opera. Salsa. Zumba?

What can we expect from your live show on Friday?

Well we’re getting ready to release our first album as a 4-piece, which is called "The Wicked Bible", and is a sort of sub-concept album about adultery, madness and murder. So you can expect adultery, madness and murder. Plus confetti.

Thanks to Lee for taking the time to answer these questions. You can find full details on Friday's event here.

The Bluebeat Arkestra

2011-11-07T19:59:00.000Z

This coming Friday The Bluebeat Arkestra, one of the finest bands in Birmingham, play live for Freestyle at the Bull's Head. I've been looking forward to this event for some time, and in preparation caught up with Dave Breeze, founding member and bassist in the band, to find out a little more about where they come from and what the future holds for them...

Who are The Bluebeat Arkestra?

The Bluebeat Arkestra are collective of friends and musicians from various backgrounds who have come together and formed an exciting sound that's hard to put your finger on.

Shaun (guitar), John (drums) and myself (bass) have played in bands together for about five years. We originated doing punk stuff, and started projecting more disco and reggae influences into our music, similar to how The Clash did. We then picked up Hayley (vocals) who is more of a blues/soul/folk singer and Keji, who responded to an advert looking for a rapper but has influenced our sound massively with the addition of synths, following on from solo work she'd being doing with just her and her synths. Finally we added Leonie on strings and Innsy on brass to build an orchestral sound on what we already had.

Your musical output is always very varied, can you tell me how you come up with the Bluebeat sound?

It's really just a complete mix of all our influences. Some tracks sound more soul/disco based. These tend to originate from Shaun. Then some are more electronic based which tend to come from Keji. I think we look at building songs differently to some others. Most of our songs are driven by the drums and bass and the orchestral instruments play a strong role. It's rare that the guitar would lead would one of our songs, which I think is how a lot of bands tend to write.

Who are your main influences and inspirations?

I'm a big JLS fan...... hahaha. No, ermm... Shaun is a massive fan of The Jam, Hayley loves PJ Harvey. There are so many really, many of whom people may never come across or be aware of. Keji is into a lot of underground bands who have relative success but would never be picked up by the mainstream. I think that is something that we aspire to. Whilst we have songs that could be commercially accepted, we'd be more than happy if we could make a living from this and have a small, loyal fanbase. That's the dream, just to have people enjoy our music and be able to keep providing it to new audiences.

Who are your other favourite bands right now on the Birmingham scene?

Camila Kill. They are working on their album at the moment and have kept gigging to a minimum whilst doing so, and therefore not many people will have heard of them. Once they drop their album though I predict big things! We've got to know them pretty well and they are helping produce some of our songs.

Also I saw Jake Bullit down here at one of the early Freestyle gigs and loved them. I was really impressed. Other acts we're into include Snooty Bobs, Ask Alfie, Sicum and Vault Of Eagles. The first three mentioned are all playing at our night, The Bluebeat Arkestra Present Hustle! on 19th November at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath.

Can you tell me a little more about your Hustle club night?

Yeah, it all started in August when we brought out our debut EP. We did a sting of gigs with some amazing bands and thought it'd be great to play with them on one bill. So we came up with the idea of 'The Bluebeat Arkestra Present', which would just be a way of us putting on nights to show some of the great local bands that we have played with and like. We named the night itself 'Hustle!' after one of our songs.

The band members are taking it in turns to DJ at the nights, which will give an insight into the influences of each member. This time Inssy and myself (Trum N Bass) will be DJing and it's open until 2am. The last one got a bit messy and ended with an incident involving a pile-on and a pair of ripped trousers to the sounds of "Purple Rain". It was a great night and the bands we've got on at this one promise so much, so if we can build on the last one it should be a great one to get down to.

The Hare and Hounds is a brilliant venue - the sound quality is great and the general vibe of the place is amazing. It's £4 on the door or £3 if you go to our Facebook page and click 'like'.

What can we expect from your live show at Freestyle on the 11th?

We've got two new songs and some older ones which a lot of people may not have heard so it'll be a fresh set. With there being seven of us, we're expecting it to be cramped but in a good way. Some of the best gigs are when the crowd are right in your face which we're expecting it to be. We're pretty lively too, so I'm bringing a towel, as I think it'll be sweaty!! I think I'll be running home for a shower as soon as we come off stage but will be coming back in later to party.

We're all looking forward to this one loads. We really appreciate the support you've offered us recently, so we want to thank you with a great show.

What are the future plans for the band?

We're keen to get a manager and representation to help get our music to the wider market so will be exploring those avenues. It's been such a hectic six months following the release of our first EP, and we've started recording some really exciting stuff which really captures our live energy well. We'll have a little break at the start of next year whilst we sort out new recordings and write new material, and then will look to put those out there and get back on the road to promote that.

The Bluebeat Arkestra have very kindly donated this song to the blog for free streaming / downloading. If you like the sound of this and wish to check out more, then head to their Soundcloud page.

The Bluebeat Arkestra - "Spies"

Download here.

Thanks to Dave for taking the time to answer these questions. For full information on Friday's event, head here.

Glass, Concrete & Stone

2011-11-04T13:21:00.000Z

Here's a beautiful track by former Talking Heads lead man David Byrne, taken from his 2004 solo album, "Grown Backwards".

David Byrne - "Glass, Concrete & Stone"

Download here.

My Hyundai

2011-11-03T19:06:00.000Z

Barrowclough returns to Freestyle tomorrow night for, as he puts it himself, another good opportunity to jump around like a lunatic and shout at people. Here's a recent video he made alongside director Knox Harrington for "My Hyundai", the final track on his free EP, "Zang Zero".

Once again, Barrowclough will be joined onstage by Joel The Custodian, whilst the line-up for the night is completed by Frutaloka, Smileymic, Tyler Markovic, The Doctor and Mr Muz.

For full info on the event, head here.

Weekend Favourites

2011-11-01T15:41:00.000Z

I like these.

Tony Joe White - "I've Got A Thing About You Baby" (Psychemagik Love Dub Edit)

Download here.

Reuben Bell - "Superjock"

Download here.

Introducing H.L.I.

2011-10-26T19:07:00.000+01:00

With brand new EP "Omniglyph" complete and ready for a late November release, H.L.I. are two hip hop artists at the very top of their game right. Ahead of their hotly anticipated live appearance at this week's Freestyle, I caught up with them for a few words...

Who are HLI?

HLI are Elai Immortal & Sensei C. A progressive hip-hop duo originating in Birmingham.

How long have you been working together, and how did you get into doing what you do?

Sensei C: HLI have been together for about seven years now. For the initial period HLI's primary impetus was to smash shows and the skills of the group were forged in the fire of live performance before being refined in the studio. In the last few years HLI have focused on producing studio music which embodies the vast range of music enjoyed by both members, whilst creating something unprecedented. Simultaneously the live show has been cultivated so as to still capture the raw, whilst also being dynamic and varied.

I have written lyrics and music from as far back as I can remember. Having explored a range of acoustic and electronic musics throughout my teens as a multi instrumentalist, composer and song writer I eventually developed a passion for hip hop.

Who are you main influences and inspirations?

Elai Immortal: Qawwali music, old Bollywood music that surrounded me growing up. Furious hip-hop by the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, passing Radiohead, Bjork, A.R. Rahman, Michael Jackson on the way. Comics, books, flicks, good conversations, food, LOVE. The mentors that schooled me and took me under their mighty wingspans. The Birmingham hip-hop scene. The future, the past.

Sensei C: Music is the primary influence. I have a particular preference for musical which is very rhythmic and intense whether it be the free jazz of Eric Dolphy, the sufi mysticism of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the electronically enhanced melodrama of Bjork or the raw energy of the Wu Tang Clan. Hip Hop artists working today that inspire me to keep pushing the envelope include Anti Pop Consortium, Aesop Rock, Pharoahe Monch, Juice Aleem, and Mos Def.

Can you tell me about Omniglyph?

Elai Immortal: The All-Symbol. Seeing the unseen, speaking the unspoken. This EP and Remixes features collaborations with some of our best friends and favourite peers including Juice Aleem, Greybeard, Thavius Beck, Kashmere, Mike Ladd, Bless, Justice Hotep, Neurotic Nate, Autodyne and others. It’s the first ascension towards the Supreme Vector. It’s great, we’re proud of it.

Sensei C: Musically it is sonically cerebral whilst being sufficiently bangin to make heads nod and floors shake. We manage to embody and develop the original creative spirit of hip hop whilst avoiding nostalgic cliche, instead using the art form to push music forward whilst resurrecting styles and enthusiasm which have long been unexplored.

What can we expect from your live show at Freestyle?

Sensei C: Expect the live show to be an out of body experience. Be prepared to be taken through the peaks and troughs of consciousness, for there to be melody as well as raw noise and for a dynamic performance which touches the soul whilst making the body work.

Elai Immortal: Ha ha, yeah. What he said. Depends on how pissed the Moseley crowd is. I’ll bring some incense sticks and citrus fruits. To make friends with the audience; have them take something with them they won’t lose in the haze of the weekend or work week.

What are your plans for the future?

Sensei C: Plans for the future include releasing and promoting the Omniglyph whilst finishing the forthcoming album. Also expect solo offerings from either HLI member.

Elai Immortal: Right now we’re trying to get our pre-sales game on so we can press the Omniglyph. Sort out a couple of tours. Finish off the album. I’m working on some solo projects with a pantheon of meta-heroes. Salute to my Shadowless family too.

Thanks to Elai Immortal and Sensei C for taking the time to answer these questions. You can watch a preview video featuring snippets of the Omniglyph and buy yourself a CD here.

HLI need 150 pre-orders of the CD before they can press them up (the project is entirely self-funded), so please do show your support and bag yourself a bargain if you're feeling what they do.

Crosstown Traffic

2011-10-14T12:50:00.000+01:00

Little beauty of a Hendrix cover here courtesy of Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra.

Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra - "Crosstown Traffic"

Buy here.

Rotary Connection

2011-10-13T19:59:00.000+01:00

Minnie Riperton has long been a favourite singer of mine, and this song, recorded as part of Rotary Connection (probably most famous for "I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun"), is right up there with the best of them.

Rotary Connection - "Turn Me On"

Word Up

2011-10-11T19:38:00.002+01:00

Cameo meets Willis. New video just uploaded...

Download here.

Last Weekend's Biggies

2011-10-11T16:32:00.000+01:00

My favourite tunes from last weekend...

Parliament - "The Motor Booty Affair"

Oscar Sulley - "Bukom Mashie"

Sabo & Zeb - "NYC" (Moombah Zone Remix)

Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You (Jeremy Sole's Zombie Stomp Remix) by Jeremy Sole

Edits Aplenty

2011-10-11T13:47:00.000+01:00

I've put together a zip file containing a whole load of my remixes, edits and mashups. You can download it here.

It features tracks that sound a bit like this...

And this.

Plus lots of other stuff that doesn't sound like any of the above.

The Penniless Optimist

2011-10-08T15:40:00.000+01:00

Here is a brand new remix I've just finished for Birmingham-based band Electric Swing Circus.

The Penniless Optimist Remix by Sam Redmore

Download here.

I Was Made To Love Her

2011-10-06T19:00:00.000+01:00

Whilst checking out the ever-brilliant Hotpot Radio Show from Beane Noodler this week, I was treated to a champion disco cover of Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made To Love Her", by Michael White.

I've unfortunately not yet been able to track down the Michael White version myself, but hearing it did remind me of these two high-profile cover versions.

Jackson 5 - "I Was Made To Love Her"

Download here.

The Beach Boys - "I Was Made To Love Her"

Download here.

One Day, Revolution

2011-10-05T20:32:00.000+01:00

A new favourite here in the dub bass-driven Schlachthofbronx remix of Danish outfit Copia Doble Systema. Looking forward to playing this on a soundsystem near you very, very soon.

Copia Doble Systema - One Day, Revolution (Schlachthofbronx Remix) by schlachthofbronx

Buy here.

Stronger Than Me

2011-10-05T19:18:00.000+01:00

Here is a recent tribute to Amy Winehouse, recorded by four of the seven-piece Birmingham-based funk outfit Genius Collective.

You can download this song from their Soundcloud page, along with two more excellent recordings.

Come Let Me Love You

2011-10-04T18:16:00.001+01:00

I heard this bit of disco loveliness whilst listening to Benji B's excellent Radio 1 show. Released in 1981 and sampled by the Beastie Boys on their track "Hey Ladies", here's the dub mix of Jeanette Lady Day's "Come Let Me Love You" (featuring Francois Kevorkian on the mix).

Jeanette Lady Day - Come Let Me Love You (Dub) by classic2

New Videos

2011-10-04T12:46:00.001+01:00

I've been uploading some of my tracks onto Youtube recently. Here are a couple...

There are lots more to check out on the Youtube channel. If nothing more then at least making them has been a good opportunity to flex my extremely limited graphic design skills.

Download "On & On" here, and "A Day In The Dub" here.

Dean 'Sunshine' Smith

2011-09-29T14:52:00.000+01:00

Walsall-based DJ and producer Dean 'Sunshine' Smith has been making significant waves in the disco / balearic / house scene of late. With two releases on his own Soulshare record label making their way into discerning DJs' record boxes worldwide, I caught up with him to find out more...

Can you introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Dean Smith. I DJ and produce under the name Dean 'Sunshine' Smith and I'm a Walsall lad who enjoys life.

How long have you been DJing and producing music for?

Well I've been DJing and collecting sounds for around twenty two years. Production has come to me late - I only started out a year ago with Ableton. Part of me wishes I had done it years ago, but I guess the time spent DJing has given my production a helping hand.

Who are your musical influences and inspirations?

Far, far too many to mention on here - I could fill your pages with artists, poets, musicians, producers, DJs, songs etc., but off the top of my head certain situations and songs will always be with me...

Jose Padilla around '91 at Del Mar and how well he knew the sunset! Those selections introduced me to soul and started me on a journey to look back and discover house music's influences. As hippyish as this may sound, in those early Del Mar days Jose and those sunsets had a connection - amazing!

My friend and fellow DJ Colin Joesbury when he first played me Cal Tjader's "Soul Sauce" - the energy in that song! It's when I first understood how dance music was the same in the 60s as it is now - a feeling with the music that if you connect with is a true natural high!

My pal Gary 'Gaz' Holyman, another top soul DJ and collector - when he introduced me many years ago to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album. He said, "The music is wonderful, so for a long time you will hear it and enjoy it, but then one day the words - the feeling - one day you will really HEAR IT!". So, so true! My favourite album that is, to me, simply faultless!

Andy Weatherall, when I heard him at a night in Birmingham at the Institute. It was the early 90s and the club was banging out 4/4 house music. Then Weatherall came on, suddenly stopped the tune and dropped some American racial speech for ten minutes, mixing in One Dove's "Fallen", with the cowbells start - the place went bonkers. I realised then that I had a long way to go as a DJ! I was still wrapped up in all the technical mxing side of things, but if you have the faith and the feeling, it's not just about technical mixing, its about having a knowledge and understanding to carry a room full of people with you. What a moment! At his height Andy was untouchable.

I cannot mention influences to my music and me without poetry and humor... People like the late, great Gil Scott Heron, Charles Bukowski, Kerouac, Frank Randle, WC Fields, Bill Hicks - it's all a beat and those boys have got it.

There are tonnes more DJs / clubs / times I could mention, but I best leave it there.

Can you tell me more about your production work?

Well as I've said I've only been producing for the last year, but it is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I finally got introduced to Ableton Live and, because of my interest in computers, I picked it up pretty easily.

As mentioned earlier I think my years of DJing helped in my understanding of a song's structure and the feeling I wanted to create. The response has been truly overwhelming!

So far I have released on two EPs on Soulshare (my own label) - my first release was part of a series of tunes I have ready for release called the Sunshine Reworks series - basically I take diggers' gems and classic tunes and reconstruct / re-ignite them and introduce them to todays deeper dancefloors. Hopefully I can put my own stamp on those wonderful tunes and people will enjoy it.

The second release is an EP of my own original music. It's important to me that I also create my own stuff and not just reworks. I have been told that I have my own signature sound and style, which is great. The music to me is deep and from my soul, and as long as people enjoy it then I will continue to evolve and grow. I'm still very much learning but so far so good!

I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind words and support. Thank you all so much!

What is Soulshare Media?

Soulshare Media was set up to fulfill my various interests in music and technology. In a nutshell I have a server and I have built a touch screen application that can stream specialist music to venues, bars, etc... It's also a record label, radio station and events DJ / production company. You can take a look for yourself here.

What is your role in the Garden Festival, Croatia?

At present I'm one of the residents for the Garden Festival and some of the other festivals hosted at the same site. I tend to go out there and work for the whole season. I also look after some of the technical web stuff and, through Soulshare, live streaming feeds.

As long as they want me to I'm going to be getting more involved in the music and programming side of things as well. Nick and Eddie have a great team out there and, as they say themselves, we are the Garden Family. It has that magic out there and it's a true honour to be involved in its evolution.

It's a great way to earn and learn - long may it continue!

What are your plans for the future?

To continue to learn and appreciate the things that matter in my life. To focus on my music, label and DJ commitments, and to enjoy what I do. As the great Nolan F. Porter said, "Keep on keepin on!".

Thanks to Dean for taking the time to answer these questions.

Check out his debut EPs, "Hello Sunshine" and "The Sunshine Reworks" below.

Hello Sunshine by Dean 'Sunshine' Smith

The Sunshine Reworks #1 by Dean 'Sunshine' Smith

Doubts Even Here

2011-09-20T21:50:00.000+01:00

Here is one of my favourite tracks by New Order, "Doubts Even Here", taken from their debut album, "Movement".

New Order - "Doubts Even Here"

Movement was the first album produced by the band following the death of singer Ian Curtis, and the mood here is fittingly gloomy. After Curtis's death, New Order were uncertain of who should be vocalist. Having taken it in turns at singing it was decided upon that Bernard Sumner would take the role of lead vocalist, although Peter Hook sings on this particular track.

Download here.

Automaton

2011-09-08T13:35:00.000+01:00

Local electronic funk, hip hop and dub artist Automaton has been making waves in recent years with both his productions and DJ sets, and tomorrow night we welcome him to Freestyle for a live show at the Bull's Head. I asked him a few questions to find out more about what lies ahead...

Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Thomas Dunstan, sometimes known as Automaton... I'm 32, from Birmingham UK and I'm a music producer, music technology lecturer and father to an amazing five-year-old girl....

How long have you been making music for?

I started writing music when I was nine, so twenty three years so far... My dad bought me a bass guitar which I played relentlessly until I was about sixteen, when I got into turntablism... A few years later I went to the SAE college in London to do a degree in audio engineering; basically I wanted to make the records that I was playing and not rely on other peoples music... After that I ran many events, released music under a few different alter egos and have performed worldwide as a DJ and electronic performer...

How would you describe your sound?

I don't like to drop the names of genres or sub genres... essentially it's a mixture of all the sounds that I have enjoyed in my life... fundamentally hip hop, electronica, funk and dub...

Who are your main musical influences and inspirations?

I tend to like any music that isn't mediocre, whatever its roots may be.... I can say that some of my favourite artists are Tipper, DJ Shadow, Toots & The Maytals, DJ Premiere, Bassnectar, Boards Of Canada etc., but I'm sure a lot of people out there would say the same....

One of my earliest memories is watching Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street whilst sat with my mother. He was with a full funk band and singing through a talkbox (a device that makes you sound like a robot)... I think that was by far the biggest musical influence in my life and I still remember it vividly today....

The Youtube link of that show is here.

I just watched it and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up...

Can you tell me about the Boom Operators?

The Boom Operators is a live project that I set up last year. I wanted to take my productions into the live environment and progress my music further, and thought jamming with talented musicians would be a fun and interesting way to do it.

I'm incredibly fortunate to be close friends with some extremely skilled and successful musicians who were more than keen to play in a band with me... those musicians are:

DJ Switch (3x World DMC Scratch Champion) - Turntables
Richard March (Bentley Rhythm Ace / Pop Will Eat Itself) - Bass
Hugh Graham (Industry Records / 1eye) - Percussion
Gary Williams (Playing Django) - Guitar / wah wah lapsteel
Zion Lion (Global Gathering / Resolution) - Vocals

I would also like to give a quick shout out to a couple of ex band members... they are Malicious DJ of Alternative Dubstep Orchestra fame, who has played turntables and guitar for us, and the beatbox extraordinaire known as Madflow.

Can you tell me a little about some of the nights you've been involved in running / promoting?

The first night I had dealings with was Antidote. It was the first drum and bass night to be hosted at Birmingham's fabled Que club. I used to play trip hop records in the back room there. We also got to play in Vienna and Zurich with Antidote and all before I was old enough to get into the venue!

A few years later I ran an electronic music night called EARKO... We booked just about every Warp and Rephlex act going. The highlights of that for me were hosting Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert and Mike Paradinas to name but a few. I'm still very proud of the fact that we hosted John Peel and Richie Hawtin on a Tuesday night that was £2 entry and broadcast live on Radio One!

I was also the promoter of Scratch Club at the Yardbird... It was an open mic MC night with scratch DJs and breakers. I love hip hop culture and I'm proud of what we did during the three years that we ran it for... The truth is Scratch Club outgrew itself. We went from a lowly tuesday night jam to hosting DJ Qbert at the Rainbow Warehouse and collaborating to bring Public Enemy to Birmingham in the space of three years. We all felt that we couldn't grow any bigger than that in Brum so we ended on a high note. I'm happy to say that all involved have gone on to have extremely illustrious careers in music and I have a lot of love for all of them.

I've just started a new event called Phat Cat Boom Bap with my friend DJ Mylz of Heducation fame... We're monthly at the Yardbird. It's a free entry Saturday night concentrating on an emerging genre called ghetto funk.... Essentially it's funk samples, fat beats and dirty bass. I love it!

What are your plans for the future?

I'm happy to announce that I'm getting married next year to an amazing lady that I love dearly, that is my big news...

I also plan to raise a happy and healthy child and teach my students at Access To Music to the best of my abilities.

Musically I've got a few releases coming up on Satamile Records and Beta Birmingham Records, which are both very fresh labels worth checking out if you don't already know about them.

I'll be performing at the Millennium Dome alongside DJ Switch in October at the DMC World Finals, which I'm really stoked about. It's going to be HUGE! Props to Tony Switch, Sally DMC and Aroha at Rane for hooking that up.

AND

I will shortly be unveiling my new collaborative project called OOMPH.... Watch this space!

You can buy my previous releases from Addictech here.

Or from Satamile records here.

And please take the time to join my Facebook page here.

Thanks to Tom for taking the time to answer these questions. You can catch him live at the Bull's Head tomorrow night - full details here.

Gimme Shelter

2011-09-01T14:33:00.000+01:00

Recording covers can be a risky business, but here are two that really hit the nail on the head for me.

First up is Merry Clayton's version of The Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter". Merry Clayton was the singer that duetted with Mick Jagger to such brilliant effect on the Stones original, and went on to record this version for her 1970 debut solo album.

Merry Clayton - "Gimme Shelter"

Download here.

And here's a cover by Torrill of the Ashford (R.I.P.) & Simpson track "Over & Over", probably made most famous by Sylvester.

Torill - "Over & Over"

Download here.

Barrowclough

2011-08-30T21:03:00.000+01:00

With one EP, "Zang Zero" released just a couple of months ago and another EP forthcoming later in the year, Barrowclough is a local MC at the top of his game. Looking ahead to his debut appearance at Freestyle on 9th September, I caught up with him to find out more about the man behind the mic.

Can you tell me a little about yourself, and what got you started?

I was part of the Birmingham hip hop group Michaelis Constant until 2002, and have been performing and recording as a solo artist for about five years. Since I stumbled upon De La Soul, Public Enemy and Hijack in the early 90s I’ve been fascinated by hip hop’s potential to educate and entertain. MCs can hold you spellbound just by playing complex word games and creating verbal rhythms or they can shape your whole worldview with impassioned rhetoric. I’ve always aimed to be the kind of MC who tries to do both.

How would you describe your sound?

For Zang Zero, I seem to have unintentionally attempted to bring everything back to late 80s, early 90s British rap and golden age hip hop. Greybeard brought it into the 21st century. Greybeard is the man. Greatest producer in the world. He’s rubbish at FIFA though.

Can you tell me about the Zang Zero EP?

Zang Zero is the first EP of two that I’ll be releasing this year. It has been noted that my music is a little schizophrenic, bouncing between earnest polemic and whimsical silliness, so the plan was to split my two personas over two EPs. Zang Zero was supposed to be the more light-hearted one. I guess that idea sort of failed because it contains tracks about the future cessation of the flow of time, the importance of forgiveness in relationships, and the need for personal spiritual revolution. There is a song about my car though. That’s pretty silly.

Who are your main musical influences and inspirations?

I’ve mentioned a few already. Ruthless Rap Assassins and London Posse both had a big impact on me early on in the way that they moulded their whole style and sound around their dialects rather than trying to fit a mould of what hip hop was perceived to be. More recently: Aceyalone, Buck 65, Anti-Pop Consortium and Dillinger Escape Plan. Oh, and Joel the Custodian. Rap coach extraordinaire and super dope MC.

What can we expect from your show at Freestyle?

Well, it will be myself, Joel the Custodian and my iPod. Anything could happen.

What are your plans for the future?

There’s another music video dropping any day, then another EP. It's my first project that is totally Zang regarding production, guests and overall sound. It’s a bit more mature. More organic sounding. Basically, it's crazy ill. I imagine after that the stadium tour will begin.

For more info check out Barrowclough's Facebook page here.

And the Zang website here.

And to download the Zang Zero EP (completely free), click here.

Sola Rosa

2011-08-19T13:55:00.000+01:00

Here's a track by New Zealand-based Sola Rosa that was recently released on the German record label Melting Pot Music. Featuring Iva Lamkum on vocals and Suff Daddy on the remix, "Turn Around" is the first single from the forthcoming album, "Get It Together".

Sola Rosa - Turn Around Feat. Iva Lamkum (Suff Daddy Remix) by MPMCGN

Buy here.

Easy Tempo

2011-08-18T17:28:00.001+01:00

Whilst listening to the iPod on shuffle yesterday this Ennio Morricone song came tumbling through the speakers.

Ennio Morricone - "Meglio Stasera"

It is featured on "Easy Tempo Vol. 10: End Titles", an excellent compilation showcasing 60s and 70s Italian film soundtracks, in which every song included is an end title theme.

Here is another of my favourite tracks on the album.

Bruno Nicolai - "Alora Il Treno"

Download Ennio Morricone here and Bruno Nicolai here.

Sherrazi

2011-08-14T20:08:00.000+01:00

I first heard Sherrazi supporting Ghostpoet at the BASS Festival 2011 launch at the Rainbow a couple of months ago. Formed last September and winners of this year's BASS Talent Award, the future looks very bright for this local trio.

There are three recordings currently available to listen to on their Soundcloud page, all of the highest quality.

Going Home by Sherrazi

Twice by Sherrazi

Purple & Yellow

2011-08-11T14:21:00.000+01:00

Check out this post on the ISM Recordings blog about a quite beautiful record recently released by Finn Peters.

Limited to just 300 hand-stamped copies, I'm glad I picked up my copy before it's too late. You can pick up yours here.

And here's another Finn Peters track I have been playing out in some of my more leftfield DJ sets in the last few months. Entitled "Popcorn Brain", it's the opening track from his 2010 album "Music Of My Mind".

Finn Peters - "Popcorn Brain"

Stevie Wilderbeast

2011-08-04T18:48:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow night Freestyle regular Stevie Wilderbeast is back behind the Bull's Head turntables. Always one of the most energetic, entertaining and technically accomplished guests we have, he has made a lasting impression on the crowd with every appearance since his debut back in April last year.

Stevie first starting playing records about 10 years ago, in the hope of offering his student union an alternative to the usual cheese that could be heard down there. The first tune that he played was Chemical Brothers "Under The Influence" - which, as he tells me himself, received "mixed" reactions from the crowd.

Describing his sound as disco, cosmic disco, hip hop circa 84-90, funk, breaks, shoegaze and tactical house, Stevie's passion for the music he plays always shines through and never fails to get the crowd on his side.

Check out this recent cosmic mix

Wok and Wilderbeast Spacewalk Mix June 11 by Steviewilderbeast on Mixcloud

And this disco selection

Stevie Wilderbeast Freestyle Promo Mix by Bullsheadmoseley on Mixcloud

For an idea of what's in store.

Ghostfunk

2011-07-29T15:26:00.000+01:00

Ghostfunk is a new project recently released by one of the finest remixers out there, Max Tannone, which pairs Wu Tang's Ghostface Killah with vintage African funk and psychedelic rock music.

Previous outings from Max include the excellent Jaydiohead and Mos Dub albums, and for me this latest offering is the best yet.

Ghostfunk by Max Tannone

Walk Like An Egyptian

2011-07-28T19:18:00.000+01:00

This remix / mashup was put together many moons ago, and I decided to give it a quick wash and shine when I stumbled upon it whilst tidying my hard drive recently.

The Bangles "Walk Like An Egyptian" meets Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" and Indeep's "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life", with live bass and guitar courtesy of Nick Brown-Warr and Leo Siddle respectively.

Walk Like An Egyptian Remix by Sam Redmore

Download here.

Mack The Knife

2011-07-26T20:35:00.001+01:00

Here is a new remix / mashup I uploaded to my Soundcloud page yesterday.

Louis Armstrong's "Mack The Knife" mixed with the instrumental to Missy Elliott's "One Minute Man".

Mack The Knife Remix by Sam Redmore

Download here.

Live Photos 15/07/11

2011-07-26T13:44:00.001+01:00

Here are some photos from Freestyle on 15th July, when we were treated to live sets by 8-Bit Ninjas and Tom Peel.

All pictures taken by Andy Neale.

Paul Kaminski

2011-07-19T11:26:00.000+01:00

Joining me on the Bull's Head wheels of steel for this week's Freestyle is Paul Kaminski, one half of Birmingham house dons Discomendments. I caught up with him to find out a little more about what's in store...

Who are Discomendments?

Discomendments consists of myself and Lee Fisher, and was established over ten years ago. The concept of the project is to keep things eclectic, taking in influences from many different genres, past and present.

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Well I started DJing at the age of fourteen, and got my first break at twenty one, playing the infamous Circo bar for Adam Regan's weekly club night 'Global Hi-Fi'. Since then I have spun at many of Birmingham's top bars and club nights including Further, Leftfoot, Below, Hott Date, A Family Affair and Jocko Homo to name but a few. Further afield, I have been a regular with my fellow Discomender Lee at The Garden Festival in Croatia, which is always an amazing party.

Who are your musical influences and inspirations?

I love so many different types of music and am into so many different artists that it would be impossible to list them all here. As far as DJs go, local heroes such as Andy Roberts, Adam Regan, DJ Dick, Lee Fisher, Jock Lee and Dean Smith have all helped or inspired me over the years.

Can you tell me about Out Of Bounds?

Out Of Bounds is a Birmingham-based label run by myself, Lee and Martin Fearn, with the aim of putting out original, quality proper deep house and electronica productions. Our debut release, 'Tales from the Bunka', by Discomendments is due out soon, and also includes two superb remixes by Tom Flynn and Free School.

What sort of sounds can people expect to hear from you at Freestyle on Friday?

The Freestyle crowd can expect a good old genre-hopping mix up this Friday, with a few classics thrown in for good measure.

What are your plans for the future?

To continue the Out Of Bounds releases, as well as running the club night and to continue producing music as Discomendments.

With thanks to Paul. For full details on Friday's event head here.

Feist Remix

2011-07-17T14:52:00.001+01:00

Here's a brand new Feist reworking I've just uploaded to my Soundcloud page. I'd been playing the original out in my sets for a while but always felt it needed a slight retouch to work best on the floor.

Enjoy!

Sealion Remix (Remastered) by Sam Redmore

To download just click on the downward pointing arrow to the right of the waveform.

The Tropical Sound Of Frutaloka

2011-07-05T18:07:00.000+01:00

Our headline live act at this Friday's Freestyle is the splendidly diverse Frutaloka. Consisting of members with backgrounds spanning as far and wide as Greece, Italy, Jamaica and Ireland, and music taking in Latin, African, Balkan and Middle-Eastern flavours, it promises to be an unmissable live show. I caught up with Yannis Yfestos, songwriter and band leader, to find out more...

Who are Frutaloka, and when did you form?

Frutaloka are a Birmingham-based collective of musicians from different cultural and musical backgrounds. Our members are Rochelle Balach on vocals, Antonio Feula on guitar, Peter Lewis on saxophone, myself on bass and Ilias Lintzos on drums.

The band was formed in April 2007, since which there have been a few changes in the line-up. I'm the band leader and songwriter, Ilias joined in March 2010, Peter in August 2010 and Antonio and Rochelle in May 2011.

What can we expect from your live show?

A dynamic set with plenty of positive and uplifting energy, warm vibes and a fresh atmosphere. Each song is made up of a unique combination of rhythms and melodies from all around the world.

There'll be a lot of people dancing and expressing themselves in creative ways. All our songs are named after fruits, and our gigs resemble a fruit 'explosion'.

Who are your main musical influences and inspirations?

Jazz, funk, Latin, soul, reggae, ska, world music...

Our main inspirations are Jimi Hendrix, Santana, James Brown, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Hector Lavoe, Eddie Palmieri, Manu Chao, Ojos De Bruno, The Destroyers, 360, Friendly Fire, Mango Trio, Mama Matrix and Mahatma Gandhi.

We find the ethnic diversity in Birmingham inspiring. We are a multi-cultural band and this is reflected in the fusion of styles in our music.

Where else have you played, and what are your plans for the future?

We've played at The Yardbird, Hare & Hounds, The Drum, MAC, Wagon & Horses, Adam & Eve, Latin American Festival, Artsfest, Moseley Festival, Leamington Peace Festival and more.

As for plans for the future, our debut album 'Tropical Fusion' is due for release on Biris Records in October and we hope to do a tour around the UK and Spain next year.

For full details on Friday's event, head here.

Is This Love

2011-07-05T15:35:00.000+01:00

Brand new acoustic reworking of the Bob Marley classic here for you all to enjoy. Looking forward to playing it in the sunshine of the Garden Festival this coming weekend.

Is This Love (Acoustic Takedown) by Sam Redmore

Download here.

Herbert

2011-06-29T19:50:00.000+01:00

It's the Mostly Jazz Festival this weekend and one standout act on the bill for me is the Matthew Herbert Big Band. A true musical hero of mine, even better I'm honoured to be DJing alongside him at the festival afterparty on Saturday night. Full details here.

Anybody not familiar with his work do check out www.matthewherbert.com, and to find out more about his quite brilliant food-inspired album from 2005, "Plat Du Jour", head here.

Herbert - The Audience

Herbert - Birds Of A Feather

The Invisible - London Girl (Herbert's Kent Boy Dub)

No Fakin' DJs

2011-06-28T17:58:00.000+01:00

Liverpool's No Fakin' DJs will already be familiar to many Freestyle regulars, having made a number of appearances at the night since their Bull's Head debut back in November last year. Looking ahead to their slot at this Friday's event, and following on from their set at the Mostly Jazz Festival, I thought it was time to find out a little more about the men behind the musical mayhem.

Who are No Fakin' DJs?

Kwinzola and myself (Paddy No Fakin', but my 90s name was DJ Illson!) are the core ears and hands behind No Fakin' DJs, although we're often joined by other No Fakin' family members including MC Kwasi, Fredo from Six Toys, Fingathing's Peter Parker and Mr Jonze.

When did you form?

We've always collected and played hip hop records together since we were young teens and started our first club night along with Mr Jonze in '95. We set up No Fakin' the club night in February '97 and things really developed from there.

Who first got you into doing what you do?

Many people influenced our early interest in hip hop, especially older heads from the Liverpool scene. I've started documenting this era on the No Fakin' blog.

In '95 we met Chubby Grooves, now running the supa dope Chopped Herring record label. He introduced us to the club night Headfunk and Fat City records in Manchester. Chubby was hugely influential in everything we did in the early days and our record collections would not be as musically diverse as they are now without him. Kwinzola would go on to become a resident at Fat City's Friends & Family events, and I went on to work on several mixes for the label.

Can you tell me about the night you ran in Liverpool?

We decided we wanted to bring what we were experiencing in Manchester at Headfunk over to Liverpool, so in '97 we started No Fakin' at a pal's club, the Zanzibar. Chubby was our first guest, he smashed it and we were the talk of the town. We were new to promoting and booking talent but knew what we wanted to do with the night and who we wanted to book and we learnt fast. In our first year we had DJ Spinna, All Natural, The Scratch Perverts, DJ Noize and Supernatural play for us and would go on to host tonnes of our hip hop peers and heroes.

It was here that we started experimenting with multiple set ups - 4, 5, and sometimes 6 turntables - and through our interest in sampling and breaks were developing a large collection of funk, soul, reggae and disco as well as hip hop. This became the set up and sound of No Fakin' DJs and as demand for us to play for other promoters and clubs grew it developed a life outside our own club night.

Are there any particular highlights that stand out from the night?

Too many to mention really, but we are stoked to have had the opportunity to meet, host and perform with many artists who have had a huge influence on us musically, and for the most part they turned out to be super cool. The night paved the way for us to perform at some of the freshest parties across Europe and put us on stage with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Echo & The Bunnymen and Ringo Starr in front of 10,000 people. An orchestral, turntable celebration of Scouse culture!!

What sort of set will you be treating us to this Friday?

It's Freestyle, so we never know what we're gonna spin when we play there. That's what we love about it. Birmingham knows its beats too so we feel like we can take it anywhere. One of the best little parties in the UK.

What are No Fakin's plans for the summer and beyond?

"All roads lead to the Mostly Jazz Festival and Freestyle this week then we're off to Croatia for the Garden Festival, which is always a highlight of our year. There are a few more shows with Mean Fiddler in the pipeline with some very special guests, but I'm sworn to secrecy for now. We also have our Chibuku and Shipping Forecast residencies in Liverpool, and will hopefully be back at Freestyle very soon. We've just done a track for Big Dada's latest signing Mr Bang On, got a few other projects on the boil and hopefully drop the follow up to our sample based Hip Hop Opus 'Give an Example'.

Give An Example by No Fakin DJs

For full details on Friday's event, head here.

A Party Piece

2011-06-28T17:12:00.000+01:00

Final mix from the vault uploaded to Mixcloud today and it's probably my best-received effort so far. Mashups aplenty, taking in funk, hip hop, house, latin, soul, rock and more.

A Party Piece by Sam Redmore on Mixcloud

Jim Ingram - Drumbeat /

Booker T & The MGs - Melting Pot /
The Beatnuts - Off The Books (Acappella) /

Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady /

Martin Solveig - A Few Words /

Quantic Soul Orchestra - The Conspirator (Main Theme) /

Amazonia - Circus Nights /
The Chi-Lites - Am I Your Woman (Tell Me So) /

DJ Gregory - Elle (Acappella) /
Ray Barretto - Right On /
Mr. Hermano - Free As The Morning Sun /
The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian (Acappella) /

Incredible Bongo Band - Apache /

Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (Acappella) /
Funky Four Plus One More - That's The Joint (Rae & Christian Remix) /

Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke /
The Sugarhill Gang - 8th Wonder (Original & Pressure Drop Remix) /
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (Acappella) /

Fingathing - Walk In Space /

DJ Shadow - Organ Donor /

Grace Jones - Slave To The Rhythm (Acappella) /
Louie Vega feat. Ursula Rucker - Journey's Prelude (Acappella) /

RSL - Star /
Fantastic Plastic Machine - Love Is Psychedelic (Acappella) /

Quantic Soul Orchestra - Walking Through Tomorrow /

Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower /

Eddie Amador - The Funk (King Unique Higher Sauce Acappella) /
Billy Squier - The Big Beat /

Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp (Acappella) /

Prokofiev - Dance Of The Knights /
Dilated Peoples feat. Kanye West - This Way /
Paula Perry - Extra, Extra /

Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me /

Radiohead - Talk Show Host /

Missy Elliott - Work It (Intro) /
Stevie Wonder - Living For The City /
Beastie Boys - Ch-Check It Out (Acappella) /

Herbie Hancock - Rockit (Coldcut Remix) /

Gogol Bordello - Sixty Revolutions /

Blur - Song 2 /

Harry 'Choo Choo' Romero - Suck My Clock (All Beef Mix) /
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit /
Dead Prez - Hell Yeah (Acappella) /

Alter Ego - Rocker /

Eric Prydz - Slammin' (Acappella) /

New Order - The Beach /
DJ Gregory - Tropical Soundclash /

X-Press 2 - I Want You Back (Acappella) /

The Chemical Brothers - Electronic Battle Weapon 6 /

Sasha - Xpander /
Radiohead - Idioteque /

Who Da Funk feat. Terra Deva - Sting Me Red (Clever) (Acappella) /

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole /

Prince & The Revolution - When Doves Cry /

The Beatles - The End /

Deep Dish pres. DC Deepressed - Come Back (Soft's Flashback Mix) /
The Clash - London Calling

Live Photos June '11

2011-06-28T15:49:00.000+01:00

We have been running Freestyle with live bands performing for the first half of the evening for a month now, and so far, so good. Here are a few shots from a couple of the nights. Thanks to Laura Reid and Samantha Reid for taking the time to take these photos.

To check out the full albums, head to the Freestyle Facebook page.

Audiology

2011-06-27T20:21:00.001+01:00

This mix is a fair few years old, but I think it still stands up well - especially on days like today when the sun is shining (for a bit, at least). Enjoy!

Audiology by Sam Redmore on Mixcloud

Ohm Guru - Hotel Capri /

Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band - Think Twice /

Quant feat. Guida De Palma - Chills N Thrills /

RSL - Wesley Music /

Outlines - A Matter Of Time /

Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper /

B.O.P. Unreleased - Victory Song /

Puddu Varano - Back To You (Artificial Funk Remix) /

DJ Gregory - Don't Know Malendro /

Borique Bandits - Midnight Expresso (DJ Disciple Latin Mix) /

Frankie Knuckles - Your Love /

Louie Vega presents Anane - Mon Amour (DJ Gregory Mix)

Soul Buggin'

2011-06-27T19:22:00.000+01:00

This week we look forward to Nottingham's finest DJ collective Soul Buggin' making the trip over to spin for us at Freestyle. Here's what they're all about...

Who are Soul Buggin'?

Three monkeys that are commonly known as Wrighty, Beane and Mark A. Odd looking, a bit hairy, slightly ruff around the edges but perfectly formed.

How long have you been playing together?

We're not entirely sure, but the concept of Soul Buggin' has probably been going for around 6/7 years. Individually we've all been DJing around Nottingham for yonks at various nights, parties and clandestine shindigs in basements, back rooms and warehouses. Soul Buggin' as a night has been held at Moog for a few years now.

Can you tell me more about the night?

It's a night that revels in all things disco, soul, jazz and beyond. It is held in Moog, a small late night pub just outside Nottingham city centre that basically feels like a house with a bar in it. Unlike your house though it's got a massive soundsystem and world class DJs. Oh and lots and lots of booze. Too much booze in fact but it's all good as no one's died yet.

The soundtrack to the night straddles the old and the new pretty nicely and that was something we've always felt was important. We're just as likely to play a brand new Floating Points, Lone or Simbad record next to some crazy ass Fela Kuti afro workout or a Larry Levan re-edit.

We've had some great DJs come and play at Soul Buggin' over the past few years such as Benji B (BBC Radio One), Phil Asher, Ashley Beedle, Domu, Colin Curtis, Horse Meat Disco, Faze Action, Simbad, Charles Webster, Kev Beadle, Atjazz, Clyde, Al Kent, Flash Atkins, Red Rack'em and many, many more. We love the fact that in this little dark pocket off the beaten track people can come and see some of these truly fabulous DJs in such a small, intimate place, which in turn creates a fantastic atmosphere.

Who or what inspired you to get started?

There were many great nights that are sadly no longer with us that inspired us to create this sweaty little late night pub party. The last was Basement Boogaloo, whose dedication to the disco cannot be understated. When they decided to call time on the glitter ball we felt compelled to carry the disco torch aloft.

The Nottingham scene has distinctly changed over the past few years and we felt that there was hardly anywhere left to go out every month on a Saturday night and actually dance in a space that predominately focused on 'soul-orientated' music. Of course when we mean 'soul' we're not really talking about old Motown 7 inch records but music that in a nutshell had that word beating strongly at its heart.

Where have you played?

All over the bleedin' shop. We've spread our wings as far as Croatia, Tenerife and erm, Norwich, as well as having played in pretty much every half decent venue left standing in Nottingham. As a collective we're always excited about leaving hoodtown and bothering others with our disco-inspired nonsense so we're looking forward to our first expedition to Birmingham.

What can the people of Birmingham expect from you on Friday?

Well it normally depends on how much we've had to drink but we'd say it's a safe belt we'll get you up off yer bum and shaking. We never plan it, but simply play the sort of music we love to hear when we go out as punters. We get one big pot and chuck in big whopping handfuls of disco and boogie, some spicy broken beats, a pinch of latin, some housey stock cubes and maybe toss in some hip hop herbs if need be. Give it a stir with a big jazz spoon, put the lid on, give it a shake and see what comes out. Always tastes different and always tastes nice.

For full details on Friday's event, head here.

Patti Jo

2011-06-23T18:04:00.000+01:00

Patti Jo only released two records, both were written and produced by Curtis Mayfield and both were outstanding.

"Ain't No Love Lost" (released 1972)

"Make Me Believe In You (Tom Moulton Remix)" (released 1973)

Quantic

2011-06-21T18:18:00.001+01:00

I'm really looking forward to playing this Saturday with one of my favourite producers out there, Will Holland a.k.a. Quantic.

The gig is at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath, Birmingham, and you can find full details on the event here.

This is a track called "No Soy Del Valle", taken from Quantic's Flowering Inferno album "Death Of The Revolution".

Quantic presenta The Flowering Inferno - "No Soy Del Valle"

Always a favourite at Freestyle, you can download the song here.