Slipping effortlessly into a groove which will no doubt stumble in the near future, we are proud to present a selection from Patricia Hall, the nonchalantly voiced frontwoman for Soft Metals. The Portland duo have just released their eponymous debut album on Captured Tracks, the Brooklyn label responsible for some noisy excellence in recent times.

Our infrequent mix series passed the 20th edition milestone with that fella from the Foals so we decided it was time for a change – out go the cosmic prisms and animals floating in space and in comes a new clean design which will look equally stush on your iPhone. We also noted that it’s been a decidedly male affair to date with only one half of Lovers & Gamblers repping the fairer sex to date.

The balance eeks towards a state of redress with London and Berlin dwelling DJ duo the Moustache Mamas taking care of duties for the 21st edition. Those who reside in either city and attend club nights on the reg will no doubt have shaken booty to a Moo Mamas set at some point over the past few years. I vaguely recall having a very enjoyable evening soundtracked by them in Bardens Boudoir circa 2008, and more recently they’ve been tearing a new hole in the Berlin nightlife with their Hott Boxx night.

With the growing success of that still ringing in their ears like an evening spent too close to a monitor speaker and the news that they are about to launch a new record label, now seemed the perfect time to call on them to drop a mix as welll as conducting an interview that stretched from London to Berlin via California.

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To be honest we’re not massive fan of people in bands being DJs, too many nights out ruined by sub-Libertines chancers with a crap selection of shit music and even worse mixing (that’s if they’re not playing some shitty pre-mixed CD and miming like idiots).

Occasionally though someone comes along who not only has great taste in music but has bothered to learn how to use the equipment and most importantly work a dancefloor, Jack from Friendly Fires is a great example and to that short but sweet list you can add Foals’ Edwin Congreave.

We’ve had the pleasure of playing alongside Edwin a few times now at places like Be and so we’ve invited him to join us this Friday when we takeover Islington’s Old Queen’s Head for a little party and figured we might as well cash in and get him to put together a mix for us and talk about his adventures on the wheels of steel.

Hello Edwin… well firstly thanks for playing our party, care to tell our readers what kind of things they can expect to hear coming out of the speakers next Friday?

Something like this mix, but with more… party. My fixed gear is classic underground house music, but I try not to be too much of a douchebag about it.

You’ve been DJ’ing for a while now, was it something you had wanted to do before you joined Foals?

It was something I did before foals–badly. I’d dj between bands at indie nights in oxford and play stupidly inappropriate minimal records that I’d bought in London the previous week. No one liked me very much. It was the sort of situation where various people were probably thinking, “what’s this arsehole trying to prove?” I don’t know what I was trying to prove. But years of djing to foals-related crowds has disciplined me into opening up the music I play, and, subsequently, the music I like. So I’ve learnt, essentially, to be fun. I think. (I suspect only un-fun people think about life in that way.)

Do you think you DJ’ing more had any influence on Foals’ records, or will have in the future? 

No, not really. The others aren’t remotely interested in djing, despite my best efforts. They all like dance music, though, and the music I’ve introduced them to has had unpredictable and probably untraceable influences. For example, the B-side to our first single was heavily influenced by monolake’s plumbicon, though I doubt many fans of industrial techno would notice or be particularly enamoured with it. No matter how many records we play each other and whichever direction this myriad of influences rubs itself off, we’ll always sound like a bunch of jive-arse wannabes playing guitar too loudly.

What are your five favourite club records to play out?

Mm. I’m gonna go with crowd-pleasers that I’ve been playing for years and have yet to get bored of. “burning love” by glossy, “another excuse (dfa remix)” by soulwax, “happy house” by the juan maclean, “sinfonia della notte” by dennis ferrer, aaaand more recently the round table knights remix of “coma cat”.

What do you prefer Vinyl, CD or laptop?

It’s probably not very right-on to admit this but I think I only really got my head around djing when I moved from vinyl to cd. It freed me from the limitations of playing only the records that I either owned or thought worthy of buying. By which I mean I only bought records that I considered to be beautiful and/or a good investment in one way or another. So I owned all these brilliant techno records that I couldn’t for the life of me apply to most of the contexts in which I’d be asked to dj. I guess this is the inverse of the argument that limiting yourself to vinyl creates a more refined and disciplined aesthetic. Yeah, I guess. Once I’m a millionaire I’ll switch back.

And, no, I don’t know anything about laptop mixing. There’s nothing that turns me off in a club quicker than that glowing apple logo.

When playing what best describes your DJ style, sober party technician or substance fuelled disco shaman?

er. I’m no shaman. In fact I could probably compete for title of the world’s least charismatic djs. I regularly get told to “cheer up” by smart-arse punters. Should I admit that? Well, I’ve no interest in djs who want to throw themselves around–I’m sure they’re lovely people, but it’s kind of repellent to me. Maybe it suits a particular kind of smash-and-grab electro but it certainly doesn’t suit the kind of music I like to play. Not that I want to be po-faced. One of my favourite djs, move d, keeps himself to himself but spends his time bopping and visibly loving the music he’s playing. That’s what it’s all about if you ask me. Creating a space for yourself, and in doing so sharing it with the crowd.

My worst nightmare is those clubs where the DJ booth is smack bang in the middle of the stage with a spotlight on it. The dj is evidently expected to provide some sort of visual entertainment or status symbol or something I can’t ever relate to. Djs are supposed to stand in dark corners playing records, one after the other, while better looking people do drugs and throw themselves around. That’s it!

Who apart from yourself would you most like to DJ a Foals after party?

As much as I’d love to invite radio slave I know it’d have to be someone who our fans would actually be into. And that’s easy: tensnake. I’m a huge fan, and I think he is one of a handful of artists who successfully bridges that potentially nightmarish abyss between indie and house music. He also has a slamming collection of tunes that no party can argue with. 

Apart from being invited to play in the top room of a pub with us, what has been the highlight of your DJ’ing career to date?

Hmm. playing the main room of fabric? Though I kind of fluffed that. It was all going real swell until I decided to close my set with “trycycle” by various productions, a tune I’d only heard for the first time that day and that I thought was some incredibly visionary pysched-out post-dubstep creation but was in fact a stone-cold vibe-killer that, well, I just couldn’t quite mix properly. One of the guys from simian mobile disco appeared behind me to take over, and I swear he was eating his own fist with horror.

Anyway. The highlights are usually the nights that have confounded low expectations. I played in Athens at the end of a week-long band visit to yannis’ home-island Karpathos, and we all thought it was going to some sort of close-minded indie downer after a blissed-out pastoral holiday. Turned out, of course, that we were the ignorant ones, and the party was incredible. I got to play Kenny Larkin and Pete Herbert and Andy Stott and a bunch of records I wouldn’t dream about playing in the UK while a packed out bar lapped it all up. 

Tracklist:

1. Kraak & Smaak – No More Crying
2. Tony Tobias – In Your Eyes (Tensnake Remix)
3. Jumping Back Slash – Ibhithi Six
4. Cosmic Kids – Reginald’s Groove (Juan Maclean Remix)
5. B.C. X Delivery – Return To Me (Art Of Tones Returning Dub)
6. Kasper Bjorke – Alcatraz (Kenton Slash Demon Remix)
7. Osunlade – Idiosyncracy
8. Precious System – The Voice From Planet Love (Dixon’s Chic-A-Go Remix)
9. Maya Jane Coles – What They Say (Dyed Soundroom Remix)
10. Tom Demac – Jaded (Ripperton Remix)
11. Arto Mwambe – Noh Ngamebo
12. Chez Damier – Can U Feel It (Mk Dub)
13. Todd Terje – Ragysh
14. Johanna Knutsson – Heavy Baby
16. Reboot – Enjoy Music (Crazy P Remix)
17. Yann Solo – Border Line (The Bongo Man’s Big Room Remash)
18. Friendly Fires – Live Those Days Tonight (Catz ‘N’ Dogz Remix)

Download Link

Check out more from Edwin on his Soundcloud

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and here are the details for Friday… come and play.

Slutty Fringe presents…
Edwin Congreave
Slutty Fringe DJs

The Old Queen’s Head, Essex Rd, Islington
Music from 8pm till 2am
Free entry before 8 / £4 after
http://www.theoldqueenshead.com/

Yes that’s right! After a period of being stuck in neutral that can’t really be described as brief, the world famous Slutty Fringe mix series slips back into first gear with the mysterious East European troupe Endless House Foundation at the helm.

Earlier this year, our good friend Leighton from Keytars & Violins suggested we check out a compilation from the Dramatic Records stable entitled Endless House. As with all K & V shaped recommendations we were not left disappointed as the twelve track set revealed itself to be a winning blend of oddball synth wave, downtrodden proto house sounds and mid tempo glitchiness that seems totally ahead of its time.

Matching this is the elaborate back story which is probably best told via the press release that accompanies the compilation:

“An obelisk of noise that rose rudely above the treetops of the Bialowieska Forest, the Endless House project shone for a mere six weeks in the spring of 1973. The outlandish brainchild of wealthy audiophile/maniac Jiri Kantor, its stated mission was ‘to become the cradle of a new European sonic community… a multimedia discotheque’ that should ‘surprise and delight’ artists and dancers alike. For all the wide-eyed optimism of its manifesto, however, the enterprise was never unknowing in its flirtation with disaster and self-destruction. The brilliant Czech may have made his millions as the midas-touched entrepreneur/taste-maker behind Paris-based magazine Otium International, but Endless House was always a vanity project as irredeemably vain as its maker…”

There’s definitely a generous hint of ambiguity regarding whether the above  is gospel or fiction, but regardless the msuic is justso good you don’t really need to waste time wondering if its true. Thus when word came through from Dramatic Records that the Endless House Foundation were keen to join the annals of Internet fame known as the Slutty Fringe Mix Series, it was a easy decision to make.

It was down to the inherent mystery surrounding the release that the option to engage one of the Endless House Foundation’s artists in an interview to accompany the mix was eschewed (that and our Czech is not too good) but we feel that the 30 minute mix Arpensium submitted is one of the finest and most idiosyncratic to date.

Slutty Fringe Endless House Foundation Mix Tracklisting

Daphne Oram – Lego (Builds It)
E.M.A.K – FilmMusik
Johannus Arpensium – Ostend (Invisible Cities) FROM ENDLESS HOUSE
Intro Sequence From Dune
Serge Gainsbourg – Bonnie and Clyde
Terre Thaemlitz – DC D.O.A
Uusitalo – Between Kate and Naomi
John Williams – Life On Earth (Jellyfish section)
The Orb – Spanish Castles in Space
Commentary on Jacques Anquetil
Dopplereffekt – Calabi Yau Manifold
Prince Rama – Om Namo Shivaya
Faust – Just a Second (Starts Like That)
Angelo Badalamenti – Laura Palmer’s Theme
Interview with James Hunt
Tangerine Dream – Love On A Real Train (live)

You can stream the mix via mixcloud above or download here.

So just over a year ago we started to run a label of the month feature, except after duly crowning Thisisnotanexit our first ever label of the month we all got a bit busy and well things haven’t really quietened down since. The result being that like some grizzled prize fighter TINAE have clung onto their award for nearly 13 months now.

But all things must past and so finally we are ready to pass the laurels onto another label and hopefully make this a more regular feature, so ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere may I present to you our brand new label of the month… Optimo Music!

The Glasgow based label run by JD Twitch of Optimo DJ and club night  has long been a favourite of ours, with an ear for unearthing long neglected gems and working with some of the best new acts around. Recent highlights have included the brilliant Green Door Kids album, a collection of post punk/no wave disco classics laid down by a group of ten year olds, and Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle’s long unavailable The Spaces Between.

Twitch was kind enough to put together a mixtape of Optimo Music highlights and we caught up with him to talk about the label, the clubnight and the joy of vinyl.

The next release on Optimo Music is the (R E A L L O V E) 12″ by Factory Floor, complete with an Optimo remix on the b-side (hint… it’s amazing). If you’re in London this weekend then you can catch Twitch DJ’ing alongside Factory Floor at Dollop‘s Citipost Warehouse night.

It’s almost twelve months ago now you called time on the regular Optimo night at the Sub CLub, are you happy you ended it when you did?

Yes. It was the right time to call a halt to proceedings. I’m always getting asked if I miss it and in all honesty, I don’t. I loved every minute of it and it went out with a glorious bang but running it as a weekly night was such a huge commitment and took up so much of my time that it prevented me taking on many other projects that I now have time to work on. I definitely feel more creatively fulfilled now that I have time to work on other activities.

The night has been replaced by Hung Up which you still play at but has a lot more guests featuring, how’s that been going? Is it odd to know that other people, although friends, are up there taking your place behind the decks?

It has gone exactly as we hoped. It is a very low key night with no expectations, at least from us. It has gone back to being a hobby and while we never do anything without putting a of of love into it, it takes up very little of our time. Jonnie still does all the design and I book people to play (mostly friends of ours) but spend maybe an hour a week doing this as opposed to the half a week i would spend working on Optimo when it was weekly.

Sometimes it’s busy, sometimes not but it feels like it is back to the natural order of what a Sunday night should be rather than the freak anomaly that was Optimo. It’s nice still to have a Glasgow outlet to play at once a month as it’s a test laboratory for when I dj elsewhere. Having a residency, even an occasional one is a total blessing to a dj (in my opinion). I love that other people are playing there and getting a bit of a taste of Sunday night djing through one of the best sound systems out there.

So the reason why we’re chatting is we’ve made Optimo Music our new label of the month (probably year too). We’ve been big fans of the label since it started but it definitely feels like in the past few releases it has really hit its stride. Do you think you needed to end the night to put more focus into the label?

Thanks! I actually probably spent more time on the label while Optimo was still running as back then I took care of almost every aspect of it but now that it is run in association with Kompakt, they do most of the slog.

I run the label with my friend Jill Mingo who takes care of a lot of the administration and does all the offline press and I have Andy Ingle doing the online press while my girlfriend does all the design. My roll is really A & R and liaising with Kompakt.

Most of the time I spend working on the label is devoted to listening to music that is sent to me to be considered for release, trying to track down the copyright holders of music I want to reissue and trying to plant the seed of an idea for a potential release with people I’d like to work with.

It’s great to see you still putting in the extra time and money and indeed hassle to press up releases on vinyl, is that something that’s important to the label to keep doing?

Absolutely. I have put out a cd on the label in the past but in all honesty I loathe them, so now the label is strictly vinyl and digital. I’m not a vinyl purist but records have given me so much joy throughout my life and are such an alluring and wonderful sounding format that releasing them is a pure pleasure I am fortunate to be able to indulge as a result of my dj gigs. If a time came when it wasn’t financially feasible to release vinyl I’d call it a day as the idea of running a digital label isn’t very appealing to me.

And so this week you’re releasing the new EP from Factory Floor, which is clearly a hugely exciting thing and feels like a perfect fit, is that it for you and them now or is this the start of a longer relationship?

It’s actually out the first week in April. It is strictly a one-off release. The idea for the release came from them and I jumped at the chance to put it out and have a bash at remixing them. I don’t really have the infrastructure to take an artist beyond a one off release but I’d love to work with them again in some context.

What else do you have lined up on the label that you can tell us about?

The idea is to operate on two levels; release new music and make available again forgotten gems from the past. At the moment I’m working on the latter and trying to get the rights to several possible reissues but i’d rather not mention them as it is always a worry that someone will do a bootleg release thus rendering all the time and effort put into a project a waste of time.

With regard to new music, I put out things as and when something really excites me rather than just putting out records for the sake of putting out records. I like to release records that have a bit of a story to them and have a couple of projects I’m nurturing which might come to fruition in two weeks or two years. I’m in no hurry.

Finally, horrible question, If you can choose one, what has been your favourite release so far

Very hard to answer and I’d have to choose two. Chris Carter’s record was something I had dreamt of putting out for a very, very long time as the original version had brought me so much joy over the years. It was immensely satisfying that it was so well received.

My other favourite would be from the first phase of Optimo Music when I was putting out records by Scottish artists. I put out a 10″ by Dollskabeat called “Zodiac Rising”. Dolskabeat is Lucy Ross from Edinburgh who is supremely talented and wrote, played and produced the record herself.

It was a rather fraught release, sold fairly poorly and for contractual reasons is sadly no longer available but I am so proud to have put it out.

It is such a bewitching song referencing so much from the past that I love while also sounding thoroughly modern. In some alternative universe it was a global number one. I hope the world hears more from her one day.

Slutty Fringe Mix Series #18 Acid Washed on Mixcloud

We’ve featured Acid Washed a couple of times this year so when the chance came to get them to get them to do a mix we jumped at the chance.

Signed to Record Makers the Parisian duo draw together aspects of Moroder’esque disco, Chicago acid, Detroit techno French house music to make music that sounds both timeless and utterly of the now.

With their debut album released and earning nods of approval from all directions, we caught up with them to see how things were hanging in Acid Washed land.

Slutty Fringe: Hello Acid Washed… Thank you for making this mix for us. How’s Paris on this fine November evening?

Andrew Claristidge: You are welcome! Paris is beautiful and getting ready for an exciting winter:) But right now I am in my studio in Berlin where we will start to record some new tracks…

RDA: Cold. Bright. French.

SF: So… debut album on Record Makers, lots of people heaping praise upon you, I guess 2010 has been a good year for you?

Andrew Claristidge: 2010 was great for us. We travelled a lot, played very good shows in Europe & the US. We were really busy the whole year and we did not have time to really realise what happened But yeah it was BIG FUN!

RDA : It was only the take-off, get ready to hear some more:) The great thing is that I feel loads of love around, the crowd on the dance floor is very responsive, and as a DJ…and a clubber (!), I feel blessed. I will keep playing & keep playing good music for such good people!

SF: What has been your favourite place to party and play (in Paris and abroad) this year?

Andrew Claristidge: I had several great parties. Out of the gigs we played I would say: El Rey/Los Angeles & Point Ephemere/Paris for Record Makers 10 years anniversary. PS 1/New York was also fantastic…
I also had great times while partying @ Social Club/Paris, SOJU Bar/Berlin, HBC/Berlin.. the ones I can remember

RDA : Chez Moune in Paris is definitely a great place to play : it’s sweaty, it’s dirty, it’s classy. With the proper vibe and the proper records, you can turn the place upside-down, and make a hell of a party in a clubber’s paradise.

I like Le Pompon, a new place which is getting really hip at the moment, and since it’s run by a friend of mine, a little promo over the Channel doesn’t harm, ey!

SF: There’s something about your music that makes me think of massive, awkward, wood panelled synthesisers the size of wardrobes, what’s the set up when you play live?

Andrew Claristidge: you are not far from the truth We bring only analog machines for our LIVE set but we control the sequences with a computer to have a stable basis. We bring analog but small machines like a 707, a 202, a SPD6 but also some new analog synths like the DEOPFER Dark Energy… the rest will stay secret

RDA : Well done Andrew.

SF: I read that you preferred vinyl over digital for DJ’ing, are you still holding out against laptops?

Andrew Claristidge: I am a vinyl addict but the sad reality is that many clubs do not have vinyl players anymore. So we adapt ourself to modernity

When we DJ, we mix vinyls, CDs and computer, but if there are turntables we usually forget quickly the CDs and our laptops! And vinyl is sounding so much more dynamic!

RDA : I definitely always will love to play vinyls more than anything else, including cd’s (that I especially dislike btw)…but we’re currently using 2 additional laptops (I’m going slowly but surely into The Bridge, developed by Live Ableton)…with that, 2 vinyls players, and 2 cd players (Andrew is using it), let me tell you that some of our dj sets are something like THE F… WALL OF SOUND:)!

SF: Which brings us onto this mix, is this representative of what you would play in a club?

Andrew Claristidge: in some ways yes: it’s a mixture. I would say that in a club we will play a bit harder but for sure it depends on the people. We are good at adapting ourself to the crowd.

RDA : We play much harder in clubs. But yeah, our sets are a real mixture, from disco to some bangers, from minimal but lyrical techno to house music…We don’t have any limits.

SF: I got very drunk the other night and stayed up very late listening to ‘French Touch’ era house music on YouTube, after the noisier excesses of the French electro scene in recent years, there’s something about your music that seems to hark back to that era, where do you feel you fit in the great history of French electronic music?

Andrew Claristidge: really hard question but I would prefer to fit into the future of French Electronic Music;)
I can say that we are influenced by all kind of era.

RDA : I totally acknowledge what you are saying here. I feel absolutely French, absolutely connected to the French touch, historically…and genetically, obviously:) I although we’re bringing our little contribution to it, and that the Pilgrim Fathers are proud of us, trying to be the future.

SF: You’ve also got a really strong visual identity and have worked with one of my favourite designers Anthony Burrill, how did that come about?

Andrew Claristidge: It was very simple. Marc from Record Makers introduced us and it was “love at the first sight”!

RDA : You know, somehow, we HAD TO work with a Brit! Anthony was chosen, it was his tragic fate

SF: Name one band our readers may not have heard of, but they should check out immediately (well after listening to this mix)?

Andrew Claristidge: Patten

RDA : My friend Leonie Pernet

SF: Who would you like to work with in the future? Anyone you’d really like to remix, or have remix your tracks?

Andrew Claristidge: I would like to have a remix from Carl Craig. And realize once again how talented he is.
I would love to work with Manuel Gottsching, Jean Michel Jarre, Steve Reich…etc

RDA : Les Daft, Kanye West, M.I.A…& Nico Mulhy, for the repetitive side of the things.

SF: Finally what can we expect from Acid Washed in 2011?

Andrew Claristidge: a new EP, new collaborations, the unexpected and lots of new cities to visit!

RDA : The worst behaviour but the best music.

Slutty Fringe Acid Washed Tracklisting
Cecil Leuter “Dialog Dans l’Espace” (Segway)
Scenic “This can´t be” (Tigersushi)
Get A Room! “Gazebeat” (Small Time Cuts)
Sharam Jey Ft. Tommie Sunshine “The Things” Acid Washed Remix (King Kong Records)
Munk “Violent Love” (House Version) (GOMMA)
Nakion “Jesu Sufo” Club Silencio Remix (Tiger Sushi)
Glimmers “U Rocked My World” (GOMMA)
Smalltown Rodeo “Party Motion” Malente Remix (Plant Music)
Azari & III “Indigo” (Turbo)
Bukaddor & Fishbeck – Rolling Stoned (My Best Friend)
Acid Washed “Acid Washed” Lazy Flow Remix (Record Makers)
Kink “Existence” (Ovum Rec.)
Paris “The Cross Over” Siskid Remix (Ekler´O´Shock)

Stream now from Mixcloud, and check back here later for a download link.

Slutty Fringe Mix Series #17 Anthony C (God Don’t Like It) on Mixcloud

Next up in our increasingly sporadic yet wonderful mix series comes a mix from God Don’t Like It‘s Anthony C. Responsible for many of the more interesting nights going on in London these days, recent GDLI shows have recently showcased the likes of Meursault, Drum Eyes and Becoming Real.

On top of that Anthony hosts the excellent Independent Music Podcast alongside Bearded’s Gareth Main, and has recently launched his own label Robot Elephant Records. Clearly a man who knows his music if not when to take a day off.

Anyway if all that wasn’t enough, he has begun cropping up on flyers as a DJ in his own right and today we are proud to host Anthony’s first ever DJ mix. Reason enough to catch up with him and chat shit.

Slutty Fringe: Hello Anthony, thank you for the mix. So promoter, DJ, podcaster, label boss… anything we’re missing out there?

Anthony C: Actually yes I’ve got a press agency too! The lovely Alice French does most the of the press stuff and I deal with getting the bands and labels etc. I’ve also been doing a bit of management on and off, working with the ace band Tristram who have a new record out in a couple of weeks.

SF: You’ve been doing the God Don’t Like It shows for a while now, what got you into promoting shows in the first place?

AC: I was always into music, going to gigs, playing guitar etc but what actually happened was I ran a catering company for a couple of years in 2006-2008 sort of time and this was earning really good money and I had some spare time on my hands so just thought I’d try to put on some shows!

When I started I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and I lost loads of money but was still quite fun.

SF: SP, what has been your favourite show to date?

AC: Christ… um… Bo Ningen at Queen of Hoxton sometime in 2009 was a total stunner, still the best time I’ve seen them in 20, 30 times.

I’ve gone blank this morning, not feeling very well, but there’s been so many gigs… at the end of the 2008 I did I more folky gig with Left With Pictures, Sons of Noel and Adrian, David Thomas Broughton & Magic Arm which was a really really special day.

SF: What have you got coming up over the next month or so that we should be putting in our diaries?

AC: Got loads of stuff coming up but if I was going to recommend a couple… On the 29th of November it’s Tristrams EP Launch at The Macbeth which should be a gooden. 30th November I have a brilliant Leeds band called The Horn The Hunt down to play they have been getting loads of coverage recently for their latest single Raptor.

Then on December 6th we are putting on a show to celebrate the launch of our ISVOLT Compilation of dark electronica from the US with Fostercare & Mater Suspiria Vision (hopefully, could be iffy) down to play with Spencer Rough Trade and myself DJing. There is tons more but thats some highlights!

SF: More recently you started Robot Elephant Records, was running clubnights just not stressful and money consuming enough?

Haha, well basically my flatmate is a massive music fan too and luckily has a regular job that pays pretty well and we thought we would team up to put out some records.

It was a learning process with the first couple of releases but now that seems to be going very well! I mainly deal with the bands and Seb does the shitloads of legwork that goes with it.

SF: What are the plans for the label then? Any interesting signings that we should be aware of?

AC: So we have a new release just coming out in November of Stearica and Invades Acid Mothers Temple two acts we are VERY excited to be working with and then in December the ISVOLT comp hits with White Ring, Rituallz, Mater Suspiria Vision and lots more. We have had lots and lots of interest in that so thats cool.

We are doing a single for a west coast Garage band called Bare Wires who Im not really so much of a fan of but Seb loves them.

And our main project for next year is that we have signed the utterly amazing Italian duo Husband and are going to release an EP and hopefully tons of stuff. We are so so so stoked to be working with them.

SF: And… you also do the Independent Music Podcast with Gareth from Bearded, what’s the deal with that then?

AC: Me and Gareth met after I asked him to DJ at one of my gigs and we really hit it off. We were chatting about ways to promote good music and Indy labels who were slogging to not much success and then decided to do the podcast.

Surprisingly its been really popular and we are loving doing it!

We recently launched a new website www.independentmusicpodcast.com and have done 26 of them now. They come out every Monday.

SF: Which finally and rather neatly brings us onto DJ’ing, this is your first proper mix, so again thank you for making it for us, do you just want to talk us through it a little bit, and is the kind of music you’re playing out at the moment?

AC: For the last 6 months I’ve mainly been listening to electronic music after getting bored of the happy happy, I’m a surfer, bartsimpson, Best Coast, Wavves, BORING BORING scene that everyone has been banging on about for this year.

I think it was Nosaj Things – Drift, that was the first record that I totally loved and the acts from across the world who get described as Drag or Witch House like Fostercare, White Ring, Horse Magyver etc.

Doing the podcast with Gaz has put me onto a lot of new stuff too, that and doing press for Drum Eyes, who are fronted by DJ Scotch Egg, so Shige showed me a lot of stuff.

Also there has been a big scene of people who haven’t really been into Electro getting into it this year with acts like Gold Panda, Becoming Real, Dam Mantle etc really crossing over. You can hear on the mix what sort of stuff I’ve been liking!

Excuse me if its a bit shoddy sure next one be much better! And thanks to my friend Memo though for help getting the mix together.

SF: Where can we catch you playing next then?

On Thursday (Nov 11th) I’m DJing at the Crippled Black Phoenix / Anna Calvi gig upstairs at The Garage till bout half 10 and then straight down to Big Chill House to go on till bout 1.

Then on Friday 19th me and Gareth are DJing at the new Bardens Cafe which is brilliant and on the 27th I’m at Nail the Cross. You can see all my stuff on the www.goddontlikeit.com site.

Anthony C Slutty Fringe Mix Tracklisting
Fostercare – Cold Light
Nosaj Thing – FWD
Unison – Outside
Husband – Love Song
Pictureplane – Day Glowwed
Fever Ray – If I had a Heart (Fuck Buttons Remix)
Esben and the Witch – Lucia at the Precipice
†‡† – Misery Walk
Two Fingers – Fools
Becoming Real Feat. Trim – Like Me
Emeralds – Double Helix (except)
Hounds of Hate – I like Triangles
White Ring – Roses
Salem – King Knight

Stream now from Mixcloud or download for posterity from here.

After a brief (ish) mid season break we’re finally back with the next edition in the Slutty Fringe Mix Series and this time we’ve found ourselves boarded by the piratical Danny Berman aka Red Rack’em.

Danny’s been one of my favourite producers and DJs for some time now, going way back to when I ran a record shop and his naughty disco/soul edits would fly off the racks.

Since then he’s clocked up hits under the Hot Coins alias, signed a deal with those lovely people at Tirk Recordings and established himself as a major player with the likes of Todd Terje, Gilles Peterson, Bill Brewster and Prins Thomas all supporting his releases.

A great DJ to boot, his fortnightly Smuggler’s Inn podcast is essential listening for anyone into leftfield beats, and if you see his name on a flyer you can be pretty much guaranteed a good night.

This month he’s just pulled together and released a retrospective of the early Red Rack’em releases on his own label Bergerac and we figured it was as good a time as any to get him in to do a mix and have a natter.

SF: The first Bergerac release is out, why did you choose to start your own label with The Early Years, a career retrospective?

I don’t actually know when I decided to do The Early Years, it was just a vague idea at first.  I wanted to put together a strong artist album and I thought rather than put together a traditional album with 5 or 6 good tracks and some not so good ones, why not pick out some of the best tracks I have released so far and put them onto one CD?

Most of the tracks had been released on limited run vinyl only releases or on very vinyl based labels so the tracks haven’t really been available to many people outside of the the record shop scene.

I love vinyl and my primary goal is still to make vinyl singles which will be played in clubs. But the majority of music bought today is in a digital format. So I would like my music to be available to those listeners as well.

I also wanted to draw a line under the work I have produced so far and really focus on the future. Bergerac was initially set up as vinyl based singles label.The first release was actually the single How I Program which came out about 2 weeks before The Early Years.

SF: Have you been pleased with the response?

The response to both the album and single has been amazing with support from a broad range of DJs including Motor City Drum Ensemble, Kyle Hall, Jazzanova and The Revenge. Gilles Peterson played Bonn (B side of How I Program) on Radio 1 which was a great boost for the first release.

To be honest though, the emails from people who have bought the record have been the most inspiring though. The album has also had quite a lot coverage too which has been great.

How do you measure success though? Is it in profile? Virtual column inches? Or the quality of the music? I would like to think ultimately it’s the latter.

I am trying to make quirky, thoughtful underground dance music which can move people on the dancefloor and in their heads and I think I have achieved what I set out to do.

SF: What’s going to follow it in the coming months?

I am just about to get Berg 002 manufactured. It’s looking like it will be Courting which is a dark garage house thing, Feel My Tears which is some deep techno thing and How We Do which is kind of ecstasy jazz techno. Still not 100% decided on that yet though.

I am also doing a bit of a tour to promote the album so I am off to Japan next monday for a week to play at http://www.dommune.com (live stream club in Shibuya) on 27/10/10 and XEX Nihonbashi on 30/10/10.

Then I’ll be in Berlin, Belgrade and Zagreb sometime before Christmas too. It’s nice to get to play some new places.

I am also putting together a Smugglers Inn compilation album which will feature artists who I play a lot on my Smugglers Inn radio show/podcasts.

SF: You also have a vinyl only label prepped in Nettles, what’s the focus there?

Nettles is going to be more quirky, sample based tracks. Stuff which wouldn’t be appropriate for the digital market. First release is Bill George and Transfer List. Hopefully out before Christmas but it’s looking doubtful now. Where’s the year gone!

SF: Reading between the lines you seem to have an affinity for John Nettles, which is cool everyone needs a favourite TV detective (mine’s Quincy) where does this love for Nettles transpire?

It all stems from Bergerac. I just wanted to call the label something which people already knew and would register in their minds and memories. It’s a place in France so the detective connection was kind of secondary really.

I have always loved the Bergerac music. French accordion reggae anyone? I vividly remember enjoying Bergerac from my childhood in the 80s so it felt appropriate to reference that in the label. Nettles is just a pun and I think it’s a cool name for a label as well.

SF: Who would you back in a ruck between Bergerac and Quincy?

Bergerac for sure. Quincy is wet I think.

SF: Leaving behind my televisual fantasies, take us through your mix – would you say it’s representative of a Red Rack Em DJ set right now?

It’s a bit of a radio mix if that makes sense. I would probably be more banging in a club scenario. I try to start mixes off in quite a mellow way normally.  I tried to include tracks by artists that I am enjoying right now really.

Some new names like Chicago Damn and System Status as well as some older hands like Seiji and Office Gossip. I particularly like the Roman Rauch track on the mix.

I also included a couple of Juju and Jordash tracks as I play at lot of their tracks on the radio and at gigs. It’s quite housey really. I am also feeling a lot of the garage type stuff right now so it could have turned out differently depending on the day…

SF: Gilles Peterson quite famously claimed you couldn’t put a foot wrong, who do you feel similarly about at the moment?

Well I have to say that most artists I like still make the occasional track I don’t fully understand but I am currently digging a lot of stuff by Kyle Hall, A Made Up Sound, Dexter, See The Road, Souled, Juju and Jordash…

The best thing to do is check out my smugglers inn podcasts  @ http://www.redrackem.com or search itunes store for ‘Smugglers Inn’. Thats what I am digging on a week to week basis.

Red Rack’em Slutty Fringe Mix Tracklist
Chicago Damn – Time Waits For No Man (Cdr)
System Status – Planet X (Cdr)
Red Rack’em – How We Do (Bergerac)
Souled – Changin’ (Fresh Minute)
Chicago Damn – Be Your Man (Merc)
Ordell – Court and Paste (Juju and Jordash Remix) (Minuendo)
Red Rack’em – Bonn (Bergerac)
Roman Rauch – Can’t Get Enough (Tjumy)
Lone – Cloud 909 (Magic Wire)
Darling Farah – Berline (Funkineven Remix) (Civil)
Jimi Oh Vs Baby Ford – Fordtrax Edit (Cdr)
Office Gossip – Ver 2 (Dark Energy)
Soul Minority – Six Nine (Bleep District Remix) (Kolour)
San Soda – Shouts In Peace (We Play House)
Julian Love  - Untitled (Cdr)
Juju and Jordash – Tattoos Island (Philpot)
Robotalco – Is The Nite (Cdr)
Seiji – Elevator (Seiji)
Red Rack’em – How I Program (Bergerac)

Stream now from Mixcloud, AND NOW due to popular demand you can finally download the mix to add to your collection.

Download: Red Rack’em – Slutty Fringe Mix 16

For the fifteenth mix we decided to take it back to the club via our favourite Los Angelean producers of thumping electronic bliss: Acid Girls.

Known to their mothers and lovers as Gregory Bowler and Jamie McNeil, Acid Girls first surfaced on the Slutty Fringe radar via their superlative blog of the same name before embarking on a fruitful post blog production career. Despite only gracing our ears with a mere clutch of original releases for the likes of Kitsune and iHeartComix, the duo have obliged us with some additional remixes of \\Health//, Appaloosa, Sisters Of Transistors and more that remain the staple of a Slutty Fringe Dj set.

There’s been a smattering of Acid Girl mixage on these here pages over the years and they were two lines from the top of the list marked “Who Shall We Get To Do A Slutty Fringe Mix?”.

It’s a brilliant mix that veers with delight through various different ends of the electronic spectrum. We managed to nail Gregory down to answer some silly questions about Electrowars, the LA club scene (surpringly similar to DJ Girl apparently) and the perfect Acid Girls event.

More »

It’s been a bit of a vintage year for electronic music, with old hands like Four Tet and Caribou, releasing standout albums, and newer names such as Walls, Mount Kimbie, Gold Panda, James Blake and Dam Mantle helping to reinvigorate a genre that has been much in need of a tonic.

The latest addition to 2010′s bumper crop comes Norfolk resident Luke Abbott who has already wowed our collective hearing with the brilliant Honeycomb EP for the Amazing Sounds imprint run by  Allez Allez. You missed it?

Well here’s a sonic reminder of it’s greatness in the shape of “One Hundred & Thrteen”.

Download: Luke Abbott – One Hundred & Thirteen

Additionally last week saw the release of Holkham Drones, Luke’s debut album for Border Community. Full of layered textures and sounds, tones and drones that build up and up to hypnotic effect, Abbott has produced an album that could happily soundtrack a night on the sofa just as it could light up braver DJ’s sets. Holkham Drones firmly seats Abbott at the top table, and as such more than deserving of a place in the Slutty Fringe Mix Series hall of fame.

More »

It’s mix series time again and this time it’s the turn of hotly tipped East London DJ/production team Lovers & Gamblers.

Brought to our attention via their refixes for the likes of Marina & The Diamonds, Primary 1, Young Fathers and Class Actress, it turns out they’re not too shabby on the decks either having smashed it at nights like Girlcore and Little Boots’ Boots Camp.

You can catch them this Saturday at our NEW! night at 93 Feet East where they’ll be playing alongside Filthy Dukes and Team Fringe in the Pink Bar. In the meantime get yourself in the mood with this proper party selection they’ve kindly put together for us.

Tracklisting
The Jacksons – Shake Your Body
The Outlaw Four – Million Dollar Legs
Mary Jane Girls – Candyman
Linkwood – Fudge Boogie
Pink Stallone – Hydroplanes (Joey Washington Edit)
Yam Who – Wax The Van (Yam Who rework)
Class Actress – Journal of Ardency (Lovers & Gamblers remix)
Todd Terje – Eurodans
Gwendolyn – Come to Me
Tom Tom Club – Man WIth The 4 Way Hips
Five Star – Love Take Over
Caribou – Odessa (Junior Boys Remix)
Gazebo – Get a Sequencer (get a room re-edit)
Diskjokke – 1987 (Dreamtrak remix)
Orbital – The Gun is Good
Ray Mang – Big Bambu (Bamboo Beats)
Talking Heads – Zimbra (i, timbre edit)
Young Fathers – Automatic (Lovers & Gamblers Remix)
Gerry Rafferty – Right Down The Line

UPDATE you can now download this mix from here.

I know we say this all the time but this week’s guest mix really does come from one of our favourite DJs and producers, Matt Waites. We’ve been lucky enough to have Matt play at several of our nights over the years and he’s always killed it.

Whether remixing the likes of Klaxons, Metronomy and Punks Jump Up as Nightmoves, Shy Child, In Flagranti and Friendly Fires as Moscow or knocking out spacey disco with Nadia Ksaiba as G&S, he’s proved he has a golden touch when it comes to delivering stone cold dancefloor classics.

His Moscow remixes are especially lush (if you’ve yet to check these out, head over to his Soundcloud page now, turn up the volume and enjoy) and his debut Moscow EP, ‘Deep Heat’, is one of the best 12″s you’ll buy this year.

You can catch Matt playing at our 4th birthday party this weekend but before then wrap your ears around this superior slice of disco tackle.

Tracklisting

Todd Rungren – Breathless
CFCF – Snake Charmer (Young Galaxy Remix)
Beautiful Swimmers – Big Coast
Blamma Blamma – Beyond 17 (cage & Aviary Rmx)
Matthew Dear – Soil To Seed
Space Dimension Controller – Journey To The Core Of The Unknown Sphere
Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal
Monarchy – Love Get Out Of My Way (tim Goldsworthy Dub)
Bryan Ferry – You Can Dance (richard Sen Dub)
I Cube – Grandes Orgues
Harkin & Rainy – Word To The Wise
Ricardo Villalobos – What You Say Is More Than I Can Say (isolee Rmx)
Guilaume & The Coutu Dumonts – Can’t Have Everything
Mugwump – The Congregation
Kool DJ Dust – Side A
JR Seaton – Azklementhyme

Stream from Mixcloud now or download from here.