The Trouble & Bass website has today announced the release of Star Eyes‘ latest single ‘The Night’. Delivering her usual brand of Gothic dubs, heavy bass and throbbing synth stabs, ‘The Night’ is all things to all men: club bangers, future garage, House, Techno and Dubstep are all present and correct.
So my internets inform me that Nightshifters have two new EPs out: ‘Witches’ by Hostage and ‘Grooveworks’ by newcomer Magnum. It’s been a while since we’ve heard much from Hostage and ‘Grooveworks’ is Magnum’s debut so it’s pretty exciting to have both land in your lap like this.
Hostage manages to explore new territories whilst retaining his trademark sound of fast-paced, synth-heavy rave. Magnum, on the other hand, takes things on a Tropical journey through Funky, Dubstep and classic House. Both packages feature a staggering collection of remixes from the likes of Willy Joy, Calvertron, Marcus Price, Panteros666 and NS-newbie Lucid.
You may also recognise label head DJ Donna Summer’s remix of ‘Fire’ from Naifian’s latest mixtape for us. Check out the title track from Magnum’s EP below and then buy them both. And don’t forget the Hostage EP is a Beatport exclusive so you won’t find it anywhere else.
Download: Magnum – Grooveworks
Tagged Hostage, Magnum, Nightshifters, Techno, Tropical
Last week I told you about the new free Hostage EP. Today I bring news about the latest Alan Parley project (not to be confused with The Alan Parsons Project). His new guise Wira is a departure from the usual Hostage territory and is to be released via the brand new label Phuturelabs (brought to you by the guys behind Nerve Recordings).
This new persona has only really been described as an “elusive” producer from the UK, though with Alan Parley’s picture on the Facebook page the mystery begins and ends there.
The A-side is a track called ‘Vloeitjes’; a slow-paced, a low-frequency piece full of dramatic tension with an unexpected bounce for such dance music. The whole package will be available in glorious 320 from the Phuturelabs website on September 13. In the mean time you can grab another tune of his ‘Animals’ below.
Download: Wira – Animals
Tagged Electronica, Hostage, Nerve Recordings, Phuturelabs, Wira
Our good friend in the north Alan “Hostage” Parley has put out another stonking EP on Nightshifters and it’s absolutely free!
It’s good to see him branching out from the sidechain electro/wobble templates and trying something a bit different. Here big Al bridges the gap between dubstep and funky with an incredibly wobbly drop and the trademark funky drum pattern.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/14136143
Hostage – Roll from Nightshifters on Vimeo.
You should also totally check out the new look Nightshifters page. It’s right sexy.
Download: Hostage – Roll EP [ZIP]
Tagged bassline, Funky, Hostage, House, Nightshifters
Just as 2006 belonged to electro, 2007 and 2008 to dubstep, and 2009 to bassline, so too will 2010 belong to UK Funky. So what better way to kick off the year in funky (even though it’s March, for fuck’s sake) than to review DJ Donna Summer‘s first release on Nightshifters in 2 years?
I wouldn’t say I’m a convert yet, but the possibilities within the genre have been opened up to me. Tracks like ‘Wood’ remind me of the old glitchy records that tigerbeat6 used to put out back in the day. The percussion-oriented tracks seem to allow for more irregular time signatures, which is encouraging, but the RnB element that never seems to die still exists in funky. Which is gay.
You can always rely on Donna Summer to do something exciting with a genre or style of music. Hopefully, the jungle element will come to the fore and BPMs will go up again. He’s bagged a good bunch of producers for remix duties as well: Noise Floor Crew and Hostage deliver as expected, and Bok Bok delivers what some are describing as his best tune yet, but Sonido Del Principe are the surprising little gem with a Cumbia-inspired take on Funky.
Stand out tracks: Raw, Wood, Fighter
Download: DJ Donna Summer – Fighter
Title: Raw (NS013)
Artist: DJ Donna Summer
Out now on Nightshifters
Grab it at: Beatport, iTunes, Juno Download
Posted in Reviews
Tagged bassline, Bok Bok, Cumbia, DJ Donna Summer, Dubstep, Electro, Funky, Hostage, House, Jason Forrest, Nightshifters, Noise Floor Crew, Sonido Del Principe, Tigerbeat6
“Nightshifters label head Jason Forrest is back with a vengeance as DJ Donna Summer! Hot off his Pitchfork-approved remix for The Arcade Fire, he’s here to shake asses and (gasp!) even make you think a little bit. ‘Raw’, his first EP for Nightshifters and first release in 2 years, is filled with syncopated drums, far-out bass, and hybridized house organs to take you well into the next morning.The title track “Raw” is an expansive bass tune with enough sexual innuendo to keep a nun awake for a week and ‘Fighter’ an explosive house-dubstep 1-2 punch that will surly call for many rewinds. ‘Back’ is caught between deep house organs and a touch UK Breaks, whereas ‘King’ uses Forrest’s Star6 iPhone app to shred police sirens over a driven beat. But it is the surprise last minute addition “Wood” that really pushes the boundaries between dubstep, house, and proto-Jungle! Save it for your year-end lists!
And then we have our remixes! Emerging UK star Bok Bok delivers what we think is his finest tune to date with a remix of ‘King’, which builds from an organic organ melody to a massive crescendo. Sonido Del Principe surprises with a deep, raw Cumbia mix that is sure to turn heads, and the Noise Floor Crew from Chicago go deepest with the lowest bass line we’ve yet to hear. Lastly our Scottish hero Hostage shows up in fine form fresh from his live BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix with Annie Mac.”
You can grab a copy at Beatport, iTunes and Juno.
Download: DJ Donna Summer – Raw :: DJ Donna Summer – Back (Yobkiss Remake)
Big news about the next couple of months at KOTJ: I’ll be interviewing Starkey, DJ Donna Summer and Kid606; but sooner than that, the first volume of the Kick Out The Jam mix series will be hitting you square in the knackers in around a month’s time with a contribution from none other than Donna Summer himself, Jason Forrest.
In the mean time, Hostage has recorded a session for Annie Mac’s Essential Mix live at Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh. This is what the good chaps at Nightshifters had to say about things:
“Wow, 2010 looks to be an IN-SANE year for us here @ Nightshfters! There’s a lot of awesome stuff happening for us (don’t worry- we’ll let you know when the time is right) but for now- what’s that?- Hostage scores a live Essential Mix in Edinburgh with Annie Mac just last week! The crowd goes wild!! We ripped it from the BBC so you could have more than 7 days to check it out! haha!” – Jason Forrest
Right click + save as below to get his Essential mix and a brand-spanking new tune, ‘Skin Out’. The tracklisting is in the folder with the rather snazzy artwork.
Download: Hostage – Skin Out :: Hostage – BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix
Tagged Annie Mac, bassline, BBC, DJ Donna Summer, Electro, Essential Mix, Hostage, Jason Forrest, Kid606, Nightshifters, Radio 1, Starkey
It’s been a busy year for Hostage this year, touring Australia, Asia and Europe and becoming Scotland’s biggest export since heart-attacks-in-a-bun. He’s received a lot of support from two of Radio 1′s biggest luminaries, Toddla T and Annie Mac just on the strength of his first EP and his now legendary remix of ‘Dominator’ by Human Resource.
His second EP is a more bassy affair but still retains the ghettotech/juke influence of his first EP and the Rock It Out b-sides. The title track is epic but Momma’s Boy‘s remix gives it a really old skool house feel and really amplifies this one sample that almost passes you by in the original.
The rest of the remixes come from Angel Alanis, Rampage and Chrissy Murderbot. Valhalla and Asgard have a really strong, almost cheesy Nordic theme to them but the second track, Ronnie Ronnie is more reminiscient of his heavy dubstep or “ravestep”.
Now download the title track below and then nip over to Beatport to download the whole jobby.
Download: Hostage – Valhalla (320 mp3, direct link)
