enuui.org - ambient & dub excursions into the upper plateau

This looks interesting. www.aurorafestival.gr

Amazing line up for 2009

The Orb, Banco de Gaia, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Vibrasphere, Asura, Abakus, Solar Fields, Eat Static, Bluetech, Tripswitch, Cell, Shulman, H.U.V.A. Network, Koan, Gaudi, Kukan Dub Lagan, Sync24, Chris Zippel, Youth, Shaolin Wooden Men, I Awake, Circular, James Murray, krister linder, Tajmahal, Hesius Dome, Highlight Tribe, Hol Bauman, Direct Connection, Bass Science, Aesdana, King Bonk, Vlastur, Subsonik Park and Marius Sammut

Some of my favourite artists all in one place, and on the Greek coast (where its gonna be scorching, not to jinx the weather like..), only 80 euros, and 6 days long!!!! Looks like holiday is in Greece this year.

Picture by _mARV

Anyone going?

I came across this interview with Brother Culture today. Really good read.

How did you get involved in being a musician and what were your early influences?

I started to MC in about 1982, and primarily it was because I loved music, I loved sound systems from when I was in school. My older sister who was nearest in age to me, her name was Sister Culture and she was an MC, and she used to chat on a sound called Jah Revelation Muzik which was the sound of the Twelve Tribes of Israel—a Rastafarian organization—it was international and this was the like London branch. So when I left school and I started to go to a lot of dances where my sister was MCing, people would naturally say “special request to Sister Culture’s brother.” Now, I sort of got the name from people because I’m Sister Culture’s brother not because I’m an MC. And then halfway into 82, you know, I started to rehearse a lot, and get interested in moving with the sound system. The manager of the sound at the time was a guy called Cecil Reuben; he said to me, “can you MC like your sister? Cause you look like an MC.” And so I was glad for this and I took it from there, that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. I was working with Twelve Tribes initially for about ten years, all over the world, between Jamaica, America, Canada, Trinidad, England, I worked with all twelve Tribes sounds—worked with artists like Brigadier Jerry, Sister Carol, etcetera. And then, about 92, after I’d been MCing for about ten years, I cam back from America, and the whole Twelve Tribes scene had kinda changed in London, and I wasn’t part of the Twelve Tribes sound system anymore. That’s when I stated checking out the UK dub scene which was kind of having an upsurge at that time in the early nineties. You had sound systems like Aba Shanti, Iration Steppas, obviously Jah Shaka, many others, too many to even mention. I started to MC a lot on that circuit because at the time—in the beginning of the nineties—the actual kinda dancehall Jamaican roots which is where I was coming from had become very kind of, uh—the raga movement had kinda taken over. There was not many spots with spontaneous like MCs, in such dances, but yet there was on the UK dub steppers scene, and I could sort of still go and chat the mic, and as an MC you tend to go where you can do your stuff. So all in all its about twenty, twenty five years, that I’ve been doing this.

Click here to read the rest of the interview on myninjaplease.com

In 2008 Liquid Sound released his debut album, called Isis, which was produced with Manasseh. It comes recommended from me.... of course!

I wanted to put up the video of Fat Freddy's Drop in Manchester 15th November 2008, which was a truly amazing performance. They were doing their chilled out traditional NZ dub which was great, but then suddenly went all live minimal techno! Anyway the video from Manchester on Youtube's all crappy quality, so here the same tune they performed at the Dublin concert. The quality is not great, but million times better than the Manchester one. The track is called 'Wild Wind'.

The homepage of Fat Freddy's Drop

By the way, I don't intend to just post Youtube videos all the time, but this one just had to be done : )

Woah!!! The Orb springs back with this lucious mix for the new year, pure melacholy inside the ride. Accompanied by a little interview by Youth who is an on/off member of the Orb. Big up The Orb and Resident Advisor for doing this.

click to download from ResidentAdvisor.net

Published / 08 January 2009 Filesize / 67.54 MB Length / 00:56:16

RA goes beatless: The Orb provide a chillout podcast to start off 2009.

The first line of The Orb’s Wikipedia entry pretty much says it all: “The Orb are an English electronic music group known for popularising chill out music in the 1990s.” For much of the decade—and on into the ’00s—the group has been among the preeminent purveyors of ambient house, stitching together little fluffy clouds and perpetual dawns that seemed to stretch out into forever.

So, as revelers continue to come down from the after-effects of marathon New Year’s Eve parties, we thought it only made sense to go to the source for the ultimate club music detox soundtrack. Ambient to its core, The Orb have put together a slow-moving (and mostly beatless) podcast for RA that should bring you gently into 2009—and get you ready for the year to come. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ultraworld.

What have you been working on recently?

I’ve been playing guitar in Stanley Kubrick Goes Shopping alongside Dennis Morris from the legendary British black punk band Basement 5. I’m also writing and producing with LA band The Daylights, East London teenage indie band The Screaming 66, all-female electro band Client, my own band Vertical Smile, and writing with and for various other amazing artists.

How and where was the mix recorded?

We did it in November at my home studio called The Dreaming Cave in Wandsworth, London. It’s called The Dreaming Cave because we are in close proximity to a Nod. There are four Nods in South London. A Nod is a pre-Roman indigenous oracular temple, similar to Delphi in Ancient Greece, dedicated to the Celtic god Nodern, who is a god of dreams and visions. It’s actually where the phrases “land of nod” and “nodding off” originate!

Can you tell us a little about the mix?

Alex came up with about 75% of the track selection and myself the rest. Then we—along with our engineer David Nock—arranged and mixed in other sounds and atmospheres, our only remit being to make it beatless and very ambient. We had more spoken word on at first but then adjusted the feedback knob to a more ambiguous dimension!

What are you up to next?

In February I go to Spain to work with various artists on writing and production projects. I can’t mention who just yet!

How did your hook up with Kompakt start?

We met Thomas Fehlmann years before when we remixed German band Marathon, and he and Alex have remained firm friends and collaborators since. It was Thomas that suggested Kompakt.

With Thomas Fehlmann’s departure from The Orb, is the Kompakt relationship finished?

There are no concrete fixtures with The Orb apart from Alex. All things are possible!

Do you have any plans to tour this year?

Yes!

What can people expect from one of your live shows at the moment?

Light and sound from beyond the fringe!

What did Dreadzone’s Tim Bran bring to the table on your latest record?

Tim is a very talented writer and keyboard wizard as well as being very gifted on the mix!

Can we expect to hear more from The Fireman?

There are some surprises in store…

link to RA.136 on ResidentAdvisor.net

and cheers to Safetyboy for bringing it to my attention!

My first mix of 2009... enjoy the journey!

66mins long | 76mb big | 160kbps

click to download - right click and save target as

01. Mirror System - System a la Folie

02. Abakus - Deun Deu

03. Pitch Black - Melt (Youth Remix)

04. Aftershock ft. Brother Culture - Eclipse

05. Don Peyote - Peyote Dreaming

06. Digital Mystery Tour - Saute Motion (Syndrom Mix)

07. Total Eclipse - Nakano Ghost

08. Abakus - Indu

09. Shpongle - A New Way To Say Hooray (Prometheus Remix)

10. Abakus - Excession

11. Banco de Gaia - Kincajou

12. Slackbaba - Sea of Green

13. Abakus - Igamatik

14. Banco de Gaia - 887 (Structure)