THIS/Is

This/Is is a collaboration of Sydney Kids Alan and Nix. The First song i have for you is an original production by the boys and it has a really solid sound to it. It's well mastered, multiple synth lines and some cut up vocals that fit with the song so well it must have been based on them. It's really poppy and makes me feel warm and tingly inside. The Second Track is an official remix they have done for 'Just A Band'. It again has multiple synth lines to keep things interesting but this time a little heavier and a nice underlying baseline. Some THIS/IS things to look out for in the near future: The just a band remix will get released on digital in coming months with remix's by Le Castle Vania + 2 more and This/Is will be doing the official remix on the vinyl for Just A Bands new EP coming soon.

THIS/Is - W.H.S.L.So damn catchy

Just A Band - Burn It Out (THIS/Is remix)

Myspace here

Bonus:

U2 - Get On you Boots (Crookers Remix)

Owl Vision

It's Swede-on-Swede action here as the Stockholm-based sophisticated pop ingenue Miss Li has her track "Ba ba ba" taken apart and glued back together by Gothenburg's Owl Vision. The vocal sample is really all that remains from the original, cooey version and the larger-than-you beats that the remix brings into the mix drench the coda in this-century robotic synths and steady drums. Quality track.

If you're liking the Sweden-boy check his album free to dload on Owl Visions’ myspace.

Miss Li - Ba Ba Ba (Owl Vision Remix)

Owl Vision - Dancing Remix

Owl Vision - Machines Wash

Owl Vision - Comorbird

Myspace here

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Another quality tune from the Chewy Chocolate Cookies lads. Usually they’re banging out faster tracks, but this remix of Adele’s Hometown Glory slows things down quite a bit from what we’ve come to expect of CCCs. The story behind this track is that they shared a plane from Heathrow to NYC with her, evidently spurring talk of a remixing. Coming in at around the 2:30 mark, it could be a bit longer, but those looking for the trademark dark, deep resonating bass that is so typical of the Chewy boys won't be disappointed.

Buy Now - Body Crash (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Rmx

Adele - Hometown Glory (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)

Cool Kids - 88 (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)

Alexander Technique - Nightlovers (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)

Myspace here

And I need to give you this:

Mariah Carey - I'll Be Lovin' You (Designer Drugs Remix)

Squire Of Gothos

Hailing from the birthplace of bassline - Sheffield - duo Squire of Gothos fuse womping speed garage with dubstep and house for bass-driven bangers. Wonky-bass don Kanji Kinetic has already snapped them up for his record label 'Electrostimulation' for recently released Rave Lord EP.

Their tunes are bizarre, grimey and strangely erratic; swinging from bubbly garage to pounding house beats in an instant. Their 'Introsphere' is currently a staple opener for many DJ sets. Starting off with an ominous, eerie lead-in, for the first two minutes elevating up and up, it finally drops into a satisfying thicket of warbling, pulsing basslines. Grimey vocals start off 'Triple Drop', before the track succumbs to some tasty wavering and wobbly dubstep. 'I Only Wanna Be With Bass' begins with a cheesy pop sample - cut, chopped, contorted and swiftly dropped into a tumultuos sea of bassy noise.

The Squire Of Gothos - I Ony Wanna Be With Bass This is a bit of a guilty pleasure

The Squire Of Gothos - Triple Drop ft MC Condom

The Squire Of Gothos - Introsphere

Also if your in the mood for one of their mixes check this out

The Squire of Gothos “Forest Gateaux Mix”

Tracklisting is:

Nas “life’s a bitch (Squire remix)”
Squire Of Gothos “Sandpaper Riddim”
Destiny’s Child “Independant woman (squire Remix)”
Squire Of Gothos “Jonas’ Birthday”
Squire Of Gothos “Graftin’ Every day”
Squire Of gothos “?”
Onyx “Slam Harder (squire rough remix)”
Delacy “Hideaway (Squire of Gizzle remix)”
Adina Howard “Freak Like Me (Squire’s Hired Goon remix)”

Myspace here

Kid Cola

Local boy Kid Cola from Cambridge is pretty new to the trendy dance scene but has been smashing it for the last couple of months. He's been gaining support from all the big names and blogs, as well as radio play from Kissy Sell Out and the Loose Cannons. His remixes are of well chosen originals which he then adds his fantastic energy and wobbly synths to - these are guaranteed to get the dancefloor moving. Big things for this kid!

Secret Machines - Atomic Heels (KiD COLA)

Ladyhawke - Back Of The Van (KiD COLA Remix)

Lisa Shaw - Can You See Him (KiD COLA Remix)

Crystal Fighters - I Love London (KiD COLA Remix)

Myspace here

A1 Bassline

A1 Bassline, AKA Christian Shank, is all over the place at the minute. Got a nice snippet of an interview for you:

Bassline was born in Sheffield, do you see a big difference between the Northern and Southern UK scenes?

When you say that, you mean like from the club niche? Well, yeah, I guess people from the north say it's their sound. But I have been listening to garage since I was a kid and yeah I think there is a gap now between bassline and grime as north to south goes.

Where do you most enjoy playing?

I don' really have a favorite places, as long as the people there mental and the sound system is good im happy. I do like playing in L.A or over them ends because its always so hot and I hate being cold. Also any clubs you can smoke in is a YES!

The likes of yourself, Dexplicit and Pirate Soundsystem are really pushing the envelope in terms of blurring the boundaries between bassline and electro. Are there any other UK artists honing this new brand of garage that we should know about?

Yeah people like heavy feet, some Andy George beats, Baobinga I guess have this electro, garage feel. I guess now when writing i just tend to write house music with the influence of garage/bassline music.

Laptops vs old school decks. Do you think it matters that people are using laptops to play DJ sets? Are they cheating or just pushing the medium forward?

Hmm... it's hard to say, only ever used to play off records and was anti CD, but now CD decks are much better and its rare ill play off 12"s. Its a touchy subject. Although vinyl sounds better than cds!

Do you have preferred software for your live sets?

If I were to play live its hard seeing everything I do is pre done in the studio, but Abelton live is really good.

Your music isn't just bassline house, it crosses over into a handful of other electronic genres. What do you make of this new 'Fidget House' genre. Is it really a genre? And is it possibly getting a little stale now, or are there enough people pushing it forward?

Ha im not to sure if it really counts as a genre, i thik the real fidget stuff is like early switch and jesse rose stuff but i think the term got out of hand, just like new rave ha. But yeah the stuff I write doesn't always have to fit into "fidget" or "bassline" genre. I still think people are playing it, but i can sense that something fresh is going to happen real soon!

Do you think mp3 blogs are a positive or negative phenomenon for the music industry? Are they stealing money from the artists and labels? Or are they indispensable in terms of promo?

I think they are great for new artists, and amazing for getting exposure, I remember when I first blogged Girl Thing, Palms Out gave me a feature which helped me alot. For bigger artists im not to sure, on one hand it makes tunes more dispensable, and everyone has them so it makes it less special to hear a song when everyone has it. But on the same hand its great that people have access to these songs. I like it the way blogs say buy this tune and give links, I just hate it when people dont and play a shit mp3 out, it makes it sound horrid and is bad all round!

Who are your favorite artists right now? Any tips for 2009?

I love nearly everything Jack Beats do and really feeling His Majesty Andre. Tips, err.. Sampled loops, cuts and filters ha. And Big basslines ha.

Could you list your current top five dancefloor bangers?

In no order:

Nadastrom - Pussy
Heavy feet - Killa
Destroy Disco - Fly Or Bounce
A1 Bassline vs Dean Tynan - We Love Pussy
TC - Wheres My Money (Jack Beats Re-edit)

You also produce under another name Partyshank with Howard – it's punky electro, fusing 8-bit sounds and dirty riffs, another favourite of this blog. Which project will most of your focus be on this year?

I'm not really to sure, they are really different sounds so its nice to have a break and switch from either projects. Recently i have been writing loads for both projects. Got 4 new partyshank tracks which are dirty electro tracks with a few vocal hooks.

Frank Music - 3 Little Words (A1 Bassline Remix)

The Qemists - Dem Na Like Me (A1 Bassline Remix)

A Girl & A Gun - Whomp That Sucka (A1 Bassline Remix)

A1 Bassline Vs Rusko - Cockney House

Myspace here

Jack Beats

British hard as nails electro/house/hip hop duo Jack Beats have been making a name for themselves pumping juice into tracks by the likes of Lady Sovereign and Steed Lord. They are just one of the sick artists on Hervé's Cheap Thrills label, perhaps the number one fidget label of last year, and have an astounding number of tracks and remixes in the pipeline.

Individually you have hugely impressive credentials – why did you decide to combine forces, and what do you each bring to the table?

It wasn’t really a conscious decision to do stuff together, we’ve both been really good friends from a long time ago, before the whole DJ championship stuff, and we just started messing about with making tunes together because we knew we’d have fun doing it. I guess we started making music both around the same time, and musically we were on the same page so when we got together it was pretty natural. We both knew how to make tunes and so it was just fun and creative. The first thing we did together was a remix for Deekline and Wizard, which was in 2005, that came out as a Beni G & Plus One remix, which was, I guess, the beginnings of what we are up to now. What do we bring to the table? Well one of us brings the milk, and the other brings the tea – we drink far too much of that in the studio, and possibly too much beer out of the studio.

There are some hugely impressive acts on Herve’s Cheap Thrills label, on which your debut EP will be released; how does it feel being on such a great roster, and what can we expect from the release?

It’s amazing really – we are so pleased to have a label like Cheap Thrills to be part of; we respect everyone on the label so much and couldn’t think of a better place for our music to be getting released. The first thing to come out is gonna be on the download label (Cheaper Thrills), which is a track with us and Dynamite MC, and is kinda our style meets Bmore, with a Boy 8-Bit remix. Then in the first part of 2009 we’ll drop our EP on Cheap Thrills, which is gonna be a real example of what sound we rep, and as it’s our first original material we’re gonna make sure it’s the best we’ve done yet! So far we’ve only written one track for it, called K Hole, which is pretty hard to describe really – we did it super quickly and both were like, ‘Damn, is anyone gonna get what we’re doing here?’ and when Herve heard it and loved it, I guess we knew we’d done something hot. We’re just really excited about getting the EP wrapped up and released now.

You’re gone on record saying Jack Beats is a sideline gig for you both – if the demand continues to rise as it has, do you ever see it overtaking your current priorities?

Well, we do both have other commitments outside of what we do with Jack Beats, but it’s definitely taking off more so this year. The good thing with us is that we have such a high work ethic that we’ll always be able to continue doing everything we currently do, as well as pushing what we do with Jack Beats as far as we want to.

Project Bassline - Drop The Pressure (Jack Beats 'Rinsed Out Rave' Remix)Got a nice Bodyrox-ish thing going on during this, I LIKE!

Boy 8-Bit - Fogbank (Jack Beats Remix)

Lady Sovereign - I Got You Dancing (Jack Beats Remix)

Steed Lord - Its What U Do 2 Me (Jack Beats Remix)

AC Slater - Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix)

Myspace here

And a cheeky extra Boys Noize remix of Royksopp which is doing pretty well round the old blog circuit at the minute

Royksopp - Happy Up Here (Boys Noize Remix)

Dan Sena

A few months back Dan Sena did an unofficial remix of "Haus Of Cards" that is an absolute tune. Since then I've looked forward to hearing more from him, but haven't until today. His new track is called "Italofuker (BB Drop 3:16)". The BB Drop part is dedicated to the masked men themselves, The Bloody Beetroots. The track is fun and bouncy with some nice little guitar riffs that go well with the raw electro sound.

Weird Science - Haus Of Cards (Dan Sena Remix)

Dan Sena - Italofuker (BB Drop 3.16)

Dan Sena - Just Too Hott

Myspace here

B. Rich

His chicago housey style mixed with the newer heavy bassline has been contributing to seeing his songs in pretty major dj sets all over. And with the launch of AC Slater's new 'Party Like Us' label, B. Rich is gearing up to drop a quality ep. Until then to hold us over, sample these beauties:

B. Rich - Everyday Hustle (AC Slater Remix)

Daft Punk - Too Long (B. Rich Remix ft. Nate Dogg)

Knowlton Walsh - Animal (B. Rich Remix)

Lismore - Light Years (B. Rich Remix)

There is a free DJ mix on his myspace
Myspace here

And just cos I love this and couldn't keep this to myself

Blur - Song 2 (The Toxic Avenger Remix)