Here’s a selection of ‘With You’ 12″s out in the field, thanks to all who bought a copy. The initial press of 500 has sold out with my distributor and the last of the 12″s are in the shop. I have a couple of edits to do of forthcoming reissues and will then commence work on the next EP.
The latest Skylab show is up for streaming. I have to say it’s a good one! It starts off with some Dub and Reggae before moving into Disco and some musical curveballs. I’ve not bought many records lately due to the insane shipping times from the US and Europe so i dug deep into my collection finding a lot of stuff i’d forgotten I owned.
Tracklisting:
UB40 Present ‘Arms In Dub’ / Prince Fatty ‘Get Ready’ / The Rolling Stones ‘Feel On Baby’ (Dub) / The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band ‘Roob Lor Pu Tai’ (Rootikal Re-Dub) / Good Morning Tapes ‘Silence Please’ / Jeff Majors ‘Yasmeen’ / DJ Mad A & Dr Stevie Levitating Pharoah’s (Ambient Mix) / FG’s Romance ‘What Is Love Today’ / Percussions ‘Talking Drum’ / Pieces Of A Dream ‘Mt Airy Groove’ / Ketiov ‘F’ Afrodesia ‘Deep Down In Zanzibar’ / Sirs Cut ‘Love Me Right’ / Tony Allen ‘Jealousy’ / Mongo Santamaria ‘Ebora’ (yeza) / King Africa ‘Version Jungle’ / Dr Togo ‘Be Free’ / Skyway ‘High’ / Flamingo Pier ‘Boogie Meltdown’ / Whodammany ‘Troublemaker’ / Common Sense ‘Voices In My Head’ / Lavender Interlude / Velvet season & the hearts of gold ‘Love directions’ / Supermax ‘Love Machine’
The Test Pressing ‘Stay In & Chill’ series has introduced me to so much great music these last few weeks so its an honour to contribute to the series with my own selection. I started with Fantastic Mr Fox and ended up at Jim Reeves, you can check it out above.
Dr Rob and his always on point Ban Ban Ton Ton blog pulled together some really great book and movie recommendations from various DJ’s, Producers and Label People. I recommended ‘Station Eleven’ by Emily St John Mandel which you can read about here and 28 Days Later for the Movie list.
It feels like a strange moment to share new works & i appreciate buying music may not exactly be a priority right now. The release was put into production some weeks ago so is in the system to be released in May, titled ‘With You’ its another 6 track EP / Mini LP following last year’s ‘Monster Skies’. Like the last EP the idea is to bring together the melting pot of influences that also inspire the label. The A side has a Balearic vibe with a distinct dub influence, and a lifetime of house music influences emerge on the B side with some hypnotic basslines & mesmerising melodies (hopefully! 🤠) set to classic Roland drum programming. Mastering By Matt Colton. Sleeve Design By Bradley Pinkerton. Pre-Order Here.
Test Pressing ran a ‘Day In The Life’ feature, if you want to know what i eat for breakfast read on! There’s also some more interesting insights into my digging process and the prospect of making a living from music during the Coronavirus crisis.
New Juno chart for March is here packed full of the good stuff.
My favourite music site Test Pressing gave the ‘Transmission Two’ LP the thumbs up:
“One of those compilations that slides between dimensions, opens stargates, and suggest wormholes well worth heading down. You’ll find pathways and connections here and anyone who can do that and keep us dancing or reflecting is doing good work in my books”.
You can read the full review here.
The third and concluding part of my Skylab residency is now up on their site (sure i’ll be back though!). This one is aimed purely at the dancefloor and the kind of set you’d hear me play in a club. Expect Proto House, Chicago Trax, House, Techno & Disco spanning the past 4 decades. Tracklisting:
Joe Church ‘Don’t You Wanna Be Mine’ / Supereal ‘Body Medusa’ (DIY Mix) / Ruf Dug ‘Down 2 It’ / Optimo Caste Out ‘Four Point One’ / Rockers Revenge ‘Dubbing in sunshine’ / Jules Etienne ‘Dude’s Den’ / Wuf Ticket ‘The Key’ (Instrumental) / Dance Reaction ‘Disco Train’ / Don Laka ‘Stages Of love’ (Prins Thomas edit) / Alice Myers (Kon Dub) / Chaplin Band ‘Nami Simada’ (Sun shower Larry Levan Mix) / Mike Perras ‘Beginning of life’ / John Rocca ‘Zulu Dub’ / Daniele Pattuchini ‘People Come In’ / Kerrier District / Ginger Thing / Conga Dub / Burrell Bros ‘Say a Prayer’ / Flashback 86 ‘Orange’ / Omar S ‘Percussions’ / Norm Talley ‘Starz’
Transmission Two will be released on 13th March. Following the long sold out first Volume, the second instalment once again focuses on music never before released on Vinyl alongside some rare and out of print titles. Variety is the spice so and the compilation covers a few genres, fluidly moving through Ambient, Electro, Disco, Library music and finishing off with some Esoteric star gazing cuts. The album is bookended by Carl Craig and Jeff Bridges and in between you’ll find Aphex Twin protege Bochum Welt, John Rocca of Freeez and Pink Rhythm, Library music aficionado’s Daniele Patucchi and David Arch, an special edit of Sapho, Hitman from the Phily World music stable, Hirini Melbourne and a beautiful previously unreleased song by Zann.
The licensing was long and arduous (no change there!), but i’m really happy with the end result which works well as a listening experience from start to finish and should also please DJs, cut loud on a Double LP.
Pre-Order now on Bandcamp shipping 13th March.
