Picnic Preview - Benga

Benga is a London dubstep producer and Dj. He is one of the pioneers of fusing the South London dubstep sound with the newer East London born grime sound. Benga's arrival to play on the Bodytonic Main Stage is first step in the dubstep (ahem) direction for the Dublin based crew. If I were in the country this weekend, I would be at Benga.

www.myspace.com/bengabeats

Benga & Coki - 'Night'

Benga (DJ Set): Bodytonic Main Stage, Sunday 19.00-20.00

BSITWT #27

Hercules And Love Affair - 'Blind'(feat. Antony Hegarty)





Some people will love this, some will hate it. I didn't think much at first but after a while it really grows. It has that something extra. Antony's lyrics are special. This will be a crossover hit, if it isn't already. Frankie Knuckles' Dub also deserves attention.

Hercules And Love Affair - 'Blind' (Frankie Knuckles Dub)

Hercules And Love Affair play the Electric Arena at Electric Picnic on Sunday at 3.15.

Picnic Preview - Rob Hood

Rob Hood is techno. Along with Jeff Mills and 'Mad' Mike Banks, Hood is a founding member of the seminal Underground Resistance label. Their influential releases throughout the 90's helped to shape the modern face of techno by fusing elements of acid and industrial with Detroit and Chicago house. He is often credit with being the pioneer of hypnotic stripped down techno and released his Minimal Nation MP on Jeff Mills' Axis label in 1994. Birmingham's Surgeon once remarked, 'When Hood released his pivotal 'Minimal Nation' EP in 1993, it was like a bomb went off.' Clearly ahead of the game his current releases are described as taking techno music to new levels of musicality and sophistication. He plays hard and fast techno often at speeds of up to 150bpm. He is know for using custom altered Technics which can pitch up to +16%.

Hood has shyed away from the mainstream as much as possible due to his desire to remain underground, he prefers to place emphasis on soul and experimentation over flash and popularity. When he started his own label, M-Plant, in 1994 he did so with the desire to create the music "I've always wanted to hear: the basic stripped down, raw sound. Just drums, basslines and funky grooves and only what's essential. Only what is essential to make people move. I started to look at it as a science, the art of making people move their butts, speaking to their heart, mind and soul. It's a heart-felt rhythmic techno sound. M-Plant is just M. minimal"

The return of minimal into the hearts of the masses over the past few years resulted in Hood completing a mix for Fabric's legendary series. Released in March, Fabric 39 is a stomping run-through of what is pure in techno music. It's hard but it's stripped down to the bare essentials and you cannot help but be sucked into the distinctive Detroit drum loops. For those Stradbally bound at the weekend, I would prescibe a heavy dose of Fabric 39 to get in the mood for this one.


Rob Hood headlines the Bodytonic Main Stage on Saturday night at Electric Picnic.

Peadar King - The Nature of Flaws

Peadar King is a singer/songwriter from Inisbofin Island, off the west coast of Ireland. He released his debut solo album The Nature of Flaws to a packed house upstairs in Galway's Cuba last month. We have been reliably informed that it truly was a great gig.
Having been involved in music since his early teens, he was a member of Cornerstone until they parted company to work on different projects. King moved to France and began to concentrate on his own solo material.
Peadar regularly returned to Galway to record his solo album which he then went on to release independently. It features many of the artists that had worked with him in the past. He is joined by vocalist Orla Gibbons on a number of tracks and the combination produces impressive results, each complimenting each other's style beautifully.
I can see the Inisbofin native achieving a good degree of success with his impressive first album and going on to big things in future.

There are a number of tracks to sample on Peadar's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/peadarking

The Nature of Flaws is available to download here.

*Thanks to DR for alerting us to this one.

La Bomba de Tiempo - Buenos Aires

La Bomba de Tiempo is an improvised drum show under the direction of conductor, Santiago Vazquez. Every Monday the percussionists put on one of Buenos Aires' most electrifying spectacles. Completely improvised, two shows are never the same as the drummers adjust their rhythms and intensity at the sight of a nod or a hand signal from Senor Vazquez. Regular special guests and collaborators serve to expand the possibilites even further. Djs, guitarist and all manners of other performers have joined the drum troupe to create one-off musical pieces. The results are very impressive. The crowd is literally whipped into a frenzy as the rhythms slowly build up over long periods. The tension and sense of excitement grows to extreme levels before the drummers unlease a wave of fury as they attempt to break holes in their instruments using limbs, sticks and I'm pretty sure I saw someone headbutting a set of bongos at one point.
Every Monday the college crowd and a good portion of the city's visitors descend on the Centro Cultural at Konex to start the evening. Any visit to the Argentinian capital is not complete without witnessing these percussionists at their improvised best. You can sample some of their work on their myspace page.

http://www.myspace.com/labombadetiempopercusion
http://www.labombadetiempo.blogspot.com/

SiSi Take a Break

I'm the bearer of double bad news today. SiSi have announced that August 30th will be the last gig they are hosting in The Cellar. The lads have understandably decided to take a break from regular promoting and concentrate on other work commitments. There is, however, a silver lining. As you could expect the lads will be going out with a bang and will be saying goodbye to The Cellar, for now, with the visit of Berlin's Housemeister(All You Can Beat / BPitch Control). Sisi have not hung up the earphones just yet and will continue to appear at various gigs. They will continue to host The Hive at Bar 903 once every month (currently on second Fridays).

Electric City Powers Down.

Dublin's Electric City crew have decided after 5.5 years of providing the capital with a weekly jolt of the finest techno, minimal and italo to call it a day. The night which has moved from The Metropolitan to Traffic and finally to Wax over the years was behind bringing some of the most influential names in electronic music to these shores, and most importantly, in an intimate venue surrounded by like minded individuals. The lads will continue to run the larger Electric Shock parties at various Dublin venues. The last ever Electric City takes place on Thursday September 25th. It promises to be an emotional one and looks like this:

Wax:
Onur Ozer [Vakant - Istanbul]
Giles Armstrong [electricity]

Spy:
Alexander Robotnick [Fuzz Dance - Florence]
Simon Conway [electricity]

Access all areas : Tickets 12 euro + b/fee from Beat Finder and Spindizzy Records.
Admission on night e15

The penultimate Electric City on September 18th is also one not to missed, "Our Friends Electric" will feature:

Sunil Sharpe

Chymera - Live

Donnacha Costello - DJ Set

Tickets 10 euro from Beat Finder and Spindizzy Records.

BSITWT #26

Today's BSITWT: Miracle Fortress - Next Train (mp3) from the Polaris-nominated (and very Canadian) record Five Roses, released last year on Secret City Records.

Pretty much any track on this LP is worthy of praise. In that spirit, here's another one:

Miracle Fortress - Beach Baby (mp3)

Lovely stuff.

Body and Soul

Sorry to be seemingly oneupmanning Eoin, but here is the line-up for Body & Soul at this year's EP

http://www.electricpicnic.ie/html/body_soul_chill_lineup.html

Milosh - iii

Mike Milosh has released his third album, iii. The ambient electronica master's previous albums, You Make Me Feel and Meme are big favourites around here, containing some of the single most beautiful tracks we have ever heard. He returns to Ireland, having played a number of intimate instrumental sets around the country earlier this year, (or was it last year??) to play Body and Soul at the Picnic, late on Saturday night. We won't be missing this for the world.

Picnic in Wanky Campsite Name Shocker.

The names of the four campsites are up: Warhol, Wilde, Hendrix and Chaplin; apparently so named in honour of modern pioneers in the fields of art, literature, music and comedy. Although prone to pretentious misgivings ourselves, one can't help but think that this is a gigantic load of cock, as Wilde himself may have said.

In other Picnic news, the line-up gets better and better. See it here (without, as far as I can see, the line-ups for the two most important areas at EP: Body & Soul and bodytonic). An unofficial / highly reliable line-up is available here, complete with Modeselektor, Milosh, Spilly Walker, Somadrone et al.

BSITWT # 25

Tycho - Cascade (Ghostly International).

Since his 2002 EP release The Science of Patterns, everything Tycho has touched has turned to cloudy, airy gold. He only lists six people as his influences: Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss, Manitoba, DJ Shadow, Zero 7, Cinematic Orchestra. Nuff said. Well worth further research.

Tycho MySpace

Donal Dineen's Summer Nights

The Great One is talking to Kilkenny percussionist / David Byrne impressionist / All-round lovely musician R.S.A.G. on his seasonal talk show tonight (he had Liam O'Maonlaí in last week). Anyone who knows us will understand that his weeknight show is easily the most pivotal event in our daily lives, so the development of this little series is an interesting one.

Donal's involved with the Body and Soul arena at Electric Picnic again this year, at which RSAG will be playing on the Saturday (along with the incredible Mike Milosh)

*** He just called two bodhrán players, Neil and Conor Lyons, the 'Seoige sisters of rhythm'.

**** He just called Martin Busden the Maurice FitzGerald of bass.

***** Lisa Hannigan, Damien Dempsay AND Liam O'Maonlaí are on next week!!!!!!!! A veritable who's who's of HiCoism, this is David McWilliams' wet dream of a radio show.

Cold War 2.0

From Yahoo.com's review of Olympic warfare on Friday:

"The baseball park played host to a couple of politically tinged thrillers which went down to the wire. It was a good day for communism: Cuba beat the United States 5-4, and rookies China defeated Taiwan 8-7."


Take that, capitalism.

Buenos Aires - Gig Previews

It was with great sadness that I stepped aboard Avianca Flight AV0092 in Bogota airport on Tuesday evening. I had said goodbye to 5 good travel companions and friends over the course of the previous week. I also had to leave the best country I have ever visited. The people:the friendliest, the women:the hottest, the weather:had everything but mostly good, the clubbing:excellent and as for the predicted danger:non-existent. Colombia is a subject, and country, I will return to shortly so I'll leave it at that for now. In the meantime, I was on the way to Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires is an amazing city and it is for that reason that I choose to return here on the departure of my fellow backpackers. I had a pretty good knowledge of what to expect from BA and was lured back by Steak, Quilmes, Techno, Drum and Bass, and of course the women. I really could not believe my luck when I did a little research into what was going on over the weekend. What a way to blow away any gloom post-Colombia.

Friday 15/08/2008: Martin Eyerer @ Bahrein

Discard the fact that he is behind some of the cheesier music you've heard over the last couple of years(think Dj Sammy), Martin Eyerer has worked with some of the highest quality producers in the world. He has shared a studio with Gui Boratto and Oliver Klein amongst others, the latter is on remix duties on his current release on Kling Klong 'Furthermore'.
He has recently played at Berlin's Love Parade and at Dance Valley so his arrival in Buenos Aires is hotly anticipated judging by some of the reactions on Argentinian music forums. I have always kept an eye out for, and played some of, his tracks so I'm looking forward to this one.


Saturday 16/08/2008: Hell's Club on Tour with Mau Mau, Pil Marques and Carla Tintore @ Cocoliche

Voted Buenos Aires' best club by the worthy members over at Resident Advisor it has to get the nod for Saturday night. Cocoliche will be a welcome change from Pacha on a Saturday night. I'm expecting a true underground experience amongst Argentina's finest. Hell's club, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is regarded as one of South America's best club nights. This should be a highlight of my return to the Argentinian capital.



Sunday 17/08/2008: Dillinja @ Bahrein

To celebrate clubnight +160's 6th birthday the drum and bass crew are flying in Valve Recordings boss man Dillinja in to shake the place to pieces. Owner of the legendary Valve Sounsystem and self proclaimed purveyor of "Bad Ass Bass", Dillinja gigs should come with a stern health warning: "Bring ear-plugs".


Wednesday 20/08/2008: Florian Meindl @ Wacha, Bahrein

This one caught me by surprise. A huge name on the undergound scene Florian Meindl is rapidly becoming one of the world's most respected Djs, producers and label boss. I have been hoping to see this guy for a while and having missed his recent visits to Dublin, I cannot believe my luck in happening upon this gig. I had planned to move on to another city on Monday until I saw this listing and promptly changed my plans. If you don't know this guy, get to know him.




Thursday 21/08/2008: DFA sounds with Rub 'n Tug @ Cocoliche

I hope to be still alive at this stage and if so I will be making a return trip to Cocoliche to see New York's Rub n' Tug. Regulars at London's Fabric these guys have shared the stage with heavyweights such as Ricardo Villalobos. They are due to perform at The Warehouse Project with Erol & Friends at Picadilly Train Station, London in November. These are guys are behind Fabric 30 in the legendary mix series. If that isn't enough of an endorsement, I don't know what is. Dublin/New York's Shitrobot continues the DFA sounds residency in Cocoliche on September 18th. His track "Chasm" featured as one of our BSITWT recently.

Despite the fact that I've entered the solo leg of my travels, I know that I will be amongst good people at each of these 5 nights.