Founder of influential London and Ibiza party and record label Solid Grooves, in what seems like a short space of time MichaelBibi has become known as one of the most exciting House artists around.
‘Garden of Groove’ is a playful cut with an intoxicating synth line buried amongst razor sharp hi hats and chunky bass and kick combos. It’s one to rattle the walls of any club but has enough freakiness in the vocal line and weird samples so as to really get some big reactions. Just as impressive is ‘FunkFlex’ with its woodpecker drum programming and turbo-bass. Warped synths and a sleazy hip hop vocal bring things to life and ensure maximum impact in the club.
For the remix of ‘Garden of Groove’, Lee Foss links with Manchester mainstay Mason Maynard. The result is a bubbling track with sashaying drums that sweep you off your feet while the wailing vocal gets you into a trance.
MichaelBibi ‘Garden Of Groove EP’ drops on Repopulate Mars on 4th October 2019.
Tracklist: 01 Garden Of Groove 02 Funk Flex 03 Garden Of Groove (Lee Foss & Mason Maynard Remix)
Dark electronic pop producer Verasect has just had his ‘Catch Your Breath’ track remixed by Dobie via Terminal Blue records. The remix was premiered via The Playground before being released on the 23rd of August. The track is the third remix Verasect has released ahead of his upcoming remixes EP, ‘Awakenings’. The EP will also feature the same track remixed by the late Øfdream.
The track features a harsh mixture of drums meeting a smokey womans voice. We see elements of Trip-hop rise to meet both with a solid bass line to hold it all together. The result is a gradual build that gets your heart pounding and yet soothing it at the same time. The final electronic push of a kaleidoscope of sounds pushes home the individuality of the track.
We went hunting for the foretold sincerity with the British producer and peeled back his many layers. Read what truths he had to tell below
Hi Verasect, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. What has been the highlight of your week so far?
This week I’ve been lining up vocalists for the next EP. I’ve found three talented women with unique voices that I’m very excited to be working with. I have also been wandering the London streets at night filming some videos that I hope to have out soon.
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound? I usually explain Verasect as dark synths with big beats and ethereal female vocals. A tug-of-war of melancholy and aggression in a perpetual dream-state.
What is the inspiration behind your name?
Verasect is a condensation of the Latin phrase Veraciter Sectari which means “hunt the truth”. So many of individuals’ and the world’s problems can be attributed to avoiding or denying the truth. Looking internally and being truthful with yourself is hard and often painful but is the only way to grow as a person. Those revelations have been my inspiration for writing music.
You’ve released a string of remixes with the ‘Catch Your Breath (Dobie Remix)’ being your latest one. What do you enjoy so much about having your work remixed?
I never thought much about having my work remix until Dobie asked for the stems for Catch Your Breath. I tend to not listen to many remixes myself but after I heard Dobie’s version, I knew I wanted to do a full EP. Hearing others take what you’ve done and twist it in totally different ways is fascinating. This also lead me to do my first remix which I did of Cheerleader by Luna Shadows.
Tell us some of the highlights and lowlights of working with Dobie?
Dobie has really opened my eyes to a different way of producing. I’m the type to sit behind the computer and overthink every creative decision in the songwriting process. Dobie has a much more laid back approach. He also pushes me to write more and to release more. The latter of which I’m still struggling with.
There haven’t been any lowlights of working with Dobie but we both have been through our share of personal struggles over the past year that I rather not go into detail about.
Who are the 5 most influential artists that have impacted you the most throughout your life?
As a kid I was a full-on elitist metal head and it wasn’t until high school where my musical journey took a turn. I met an interesting friend who was quite experimental and exposed me to a bunch of new music, art, books and philosophy. He would play me a few songs during lunch and most of it was too weird for me at the time but I remember really liking a song by KMFDM. On a whim I bought their album Nihil as was hooked. I had never heard mixing heavy guitars and electronic beats before and it took me down the rabbit hole of industrial rock for years.
Three years later I got my fake ID and was hitting up the New York underground clubs and was being exposed to all new sounds. I remember being on the dance floor and an epic song coming on that had me in a trance for a full nine minutes. I went right up to the DJ after and found it was Figurehead by Covenant. It was so futuristic yet the lyrics were emotional and poetic. They took me away from rock and since then I full embraced synth-based music.
In my 20s I was dating a girl with great musical taste. She exposed me to so many new bands that I listen to to this day. In the car she played Your Joy Is My Low by IAMX which was so strange but grew on me quickly. I soon moved on Chris Corner’s first band, Sneaker Pimps and fell in love with the melancholy and slower tempos for trip-hop.
By the late 2000s I started getting board of new music and stumbled across Alice Practice by Crystal Castles. Had never heard anything like it before and it got me back into music again. It also opened my eyes to what was happening in the indie electronic scene and all the branching genres, particularly wave and witch house.
The most recent band to influence me is Chvrches. Around this time I was writing the first music for Verasect and I became hooked on their retro analog sound. They inspired me to get out of the computer and write music on keyboards again. Soon after I bought a Prophet 12 which is I wrote most of the hooks for Sleep Stories on.
Do you have any particular gigs or festivals that you dream about playing?
While I’d certainly jump at the chance to play a festival, that’s not something I’d personally enjoy very much or that is well-suited for my music. I’d prefer a small intimate crowd in a dark basement in Berlin where people know the songs. My dream gig would be more about playing with artist that I admire.
Last words for your listeners?
If you love music, try making it. Not every great musician is naturally talented or classically trained, but every single one started by being moved by someone else’s work.
After releasing their debut album ‘Rhinoceros‘ last February and having received widespread approval on both the airwaves , Manchester-based band CALVALOUISE have unveiled their explosive new single ‘Belicoso’.
Taken from their upcoming EP ‘Interlude for the Borderline Unsettled‘, the band has taken a slightly different path from their indie sound to pursue a more alternative endeavour.
A sonic boom waiting to happen, Calva Louise come from different parts of the world. Sailing from Venezuela, France and New Zealand, the band have been tearing up the airwaves with support from BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders and Abbie McCarthy, BBC Radio 6’s Steve Lamacq, Shaun Keaveny and the legendary Iggy Pop, BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Radio X’s John Kennedy, as well as Communion presents, and Amazing Radio.
Meanwhile, Clash and DIY have hailed them as rebels with a cause and Fred Perry selected the band as their ‘Best New Music’. Summoned to support Albert Hammond Jr, Spring King, The Blinders and Hunter & the Bear on tour, 2018 has seen the trio leaving a trail of beautiful destruction from London to Glasgow, which only looks set to continue in 2019, having supported Razorlight on the German leg of their tour in February, a full run of UK headline shows in March, supporting The Maine all around Europe in early April and going on tour all over the UK with Strange Bones in June.
Gothenburg artist sir Was, aka Joel Wästberg, has announced his new album Holding On To A Dream is set for release Sept 20th via Memphis Industries. The lead single from the album “Deployed”, which features Little Dragon, is streaming online now. sir Was is set to play a UK tour this November.
Speaking about the how the collaboration with Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano came to be, sir Was said “Me and Little Dragon go way back. I’ve been hanging out with them for many years, and they were very supportive with my first album. One day I was working in my small studio room, and Little Dragon were one floor up. Yukimi knocked on the door and asked if she could listen. I played her some of my songs and she said, “This is great, go out and talk to the world!”.” Beautifully bright and sincere, ’Deployed’ is a perhaps the most vivid pop song that sir Was has released to-date. “Just when I thought I was done with this new album the song came along and took me by surprise. Straight away I could hear Yukimi’s voice on it so I just felt like I had to ask her to do it. I sent her the track and she said she’d love to sing something on it, so I went to their studio and she wrote a few lines based on my verse and the chorus of the song. It all happened so fast and then we had this song. It was really fun.”
If dreams can be realised then they can, in turn, become something tangible, something that can be built upon and altered, something that can be held on to. It took Joel Wästberg some fifteen years of self-encouragement to finally release his music. Growing up in a small town in a tiny village on the western coast of Sweden, that dream drifted and faded before finally coming to fruition with the release of both his 2016 EP ‘Says Hi’ and subsequent debut album ‘DiggingA Tunnel’, the latter of which was released to universal acclaim back in 2017.
The culmination of many years spent writing and recording only for himself, the reception to his debut work changed something in Wästberg, diluting the nervousness that had held him back for so long and filling him with new desires.”Making this album I felt less scared about being judged or measured,” he says. “I made my first album not knowing if a “real record label” would pick it up. I was shocked that so many people really heard my music – I still am.”
A couple of years on from that initial release, the Gothenburg-based producer returns once more with a brand-new collection of songs suitably-titled Holding On To A Dream. Negating the difficult-second-album narrative, the new album is buoyed by that new-found confidence, the hurdles that he overcame leading him onto a spectacular path full of dense electronic pastures, of gleaming new colours and patterns. Where once there was trepidation and anxiety, Wästberg’s new work can be seen as a celebration of self-conviction, a record that sees him step out of the background and into the spotlight, unafraid to document all the highs and lows, the darkness and light. [pleasing bit repeats in the following quote]
“I’m ready to be a bit clearer and outspoken,” Wästberg says of his new stance. “The chance of reaching someone is greater than the risk of being misinterpreted. That had been a big fear for me in the past. I was so scared of posting my lyrics on the first album, but this time I’m gonna put all lyrics into the album sleeve. If it can mean something to anyone, then I´ve reached my goal.”
Written, recorded, and produced by Wästberg– then mixed, once again, by Henrik Alser in a small cabin in the isolated Swedish countryside – Holding On To A Dream is personal but not private, a detailed account of Wästberg’s own life, of relationships found and lost, but also a collection of universal themes: love, fear, and our endless attempts to connect with other people.
“It’s the basics of life that I’m trying to cover. Not more, not less,” Joel states. “I can only dig where I stand but I’m am convinced that if you dig deep it will resonate in others.”
Taking all he learned from that first chapter, the new record is bold and bright, a significant leap forward from an artist truly growing into themselves. His relocation from a busy city-centre studio to the quiet outskirts had a profound effect on the new record, shifting his focus from the world outside his walls to the one that he was creating within. “The first record was made in what was essentially a rehearsal space, with just one microphone – it was very lo-fi. It was also right next to the trams that go through the city so it was very noisy, which meant I had to be noisy to drown it out. The new studio meant I could make music in silence. It’s very quiet there in the evenings so I could be in my solitude without being bothered. It gave me more options to shape the sound of the record – I could allow myself to be so much more delicate.”
Not that ‘Holding On To A Dream’ is a quiet album. Still a mesmerising twisting of genres – from classic soul and old-school hip-hop, to beautifully fresh pop structures – the new record is dense and adventurous, a sonic-leap forth. “I was interested in having a lusher sound, more rich,” Wästbergsays. “With the first record I had this idea that I wanted it to sound like an old vinyl record. I wanted this lo-fi, old-school sound. When I realized that I was actually making another album, I felt a bit scared of the whole thing, but it didn’t take me that long to realise that the only thing I could do was to make something that felt really right in my body and soul. I’ve realised that there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m ready to explore so much more.”
A heartfelt accounting of relationships, of knowing when to let go and when to fight for them, ‘Holding On To A Dream’, like those old soul records that left such an impression on Wästberg, will mean a variety of things to those lucky enough to find themselves immersed in it. “This record is an outlet for the things that are going on in my life, and I’m interested in making music that shapes those things into something that other people can’t take something from,” he explains. “Listening back to it, it feels like the lyrics and general feel encapsulates some kind of core in the album. It’s a question about what and why I’m holding on to a dream. In a way it’s a dream that has been haunting me for all my life. To be someone. To show the world and myself that I’m not a failure. To feel free. To feel happy. To not have to worry all the time, just like everyone else. These things are very important to me, and I hope that means they’re important to other people too. Most of us know how helpful music can be, helping you to keep your head above the surface. If anything, I would like to make music that can help you keep moving forward – whatever that means to you.”
See sir Was live: 28 June – Fusion Festival, Germany 29 June – Hill Chill Festival, Switzerland 19 November – Picture House Social, Sheffield 20 November – Headrow House, Leeds 21 November – YES, Manchester 22 November – Broadcast, Glasgow 23 November – Cluny2, Newcastle 24 November – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham 25 November – Hy Brasil, Bristol 27 November – Scala London
Holding On To A Dream track list: 1. Fly Away 2. No Giving Up 3. Deployed (feat. Little Dragon) 4. No More Seperation 5. The Sun Will Shine 6. Somewhere 7. Lean Into This 8. Speak Up 9. Trust 10. See U Again 11. Pin Me Down
Norwegian artist and producer Wolfgang Wee released his New single ‘Heart of Stone via Uppwind Records on 24 May. Inspired by the beauty of his environment, several of his tracks pay homage to the area, such as ‘Theme From CaliFornebu’ and ‘From CaliFornebu To Nordnes.’ His musical path began in 1996 when at 14 years old, he began basic music tracking on FasttrackerII.
Wolfgang gives some insight into the process: “The track started out with some simple feel-good chords and some basic drums, and had just that when I sent it around to a couple of vocalists I know. At the time, I was listening to a lot of French artist Dabeull, who had a song called “DX7” with some really beautiful and soulful vocals to it. So I checked out the vocalist, Holybrune, (who I still haven’t met in person!) and sent her a message on Facebook, asking her if she wanted to do a collab. Almost immediately, she sent over a verse and a chorus that really caught me on first listen. The rest of the topline seemed like a walk in the park for her. I can’t recall whether I had any notes for her either, it was two or three recordings and boom! She had it done. Then I called up my two great go-to guys for guitar and bass, MarkusNeby (Lemaitre) and Magnus Falkenberg (KAPPEKOFF), which gave the track a lot of additional life and an organic feel to it.”
So basically what happened over the weekend is that We Are FSTVL failed to supply enough wristbands for festival attendees. They had to stand in that line for hours and well… heatstroke got the better of them. All hell broke loose and the barricades were told to F right the F off. People ran, people walked, people screamed, people fell.
There were some injuries and some sickness. Quite a number of people couldn’t attend the even afterwards because of these issues, At least eight wound up in the hospital from Saturday’s incident. We Are FSTVL issued a statement on the matter encouraging those affected to reach out to organisers.
As the one track a month trend continues with The Young Punx, they release another song right on schedule. This one entitled ‘Drop it Hard’ is as all their releases, a seemingly incoherent fusion of genres and yet once you hear it, makes perfect sense.
To go along with the track, The Young Punx has dished up a side plate in the form of a mini video, which you can watch below. Trigger warning: This track will leave you feeling badass.
Hal Ritson, who spawned this project explains the birth of ‘Drop it Hard’ by saying, “The vibe of this track was initially inspired by the drum sound of The Police’s Stewart Copeland in the very early 80s. At this time The Police had left behind their punk roots and were playing a unique kind of groove that echoed the danceability of disco, yet had a totally different sound where the drum kit was tuned super high and sat over the top of the bassline, the way that a pitched up jungle break does over the sub-bass in Drum and Bass today. We worked with our longtime drummer Alex Reeves (Elbow, Razorlight) to accurately recreate this rather unique drum sound and feel, and then built a fresh track around it. But the addition of dancehall MC toasting over the solid post-disco groove was the wildcard element that made the track pop and become a beast in its own right!”
As the hype around Lomea’s sophomore album grows, he has released the video for the first single ‘You Are Your Memories’.
The sound of an old film projector reel spinning sets the mood for this pensive visual feature as it settles into the heartbeat opening of the track. The video comprises of a series of washed out family photographs that appear to morph with the changes of the tracks sonic elements. The imagery is reminiscent of that which you might find in a dusty photo album at your grandparents’ house or loosely displayed in an antique store cabinet. The effect is quite unsettling. Colours pulse across the screen as anonymous figures, faces and forms shift, melt and distort.
The visuals effectively communicate the mood of the track and its title. It feels as if the viewer has been placed inside the head of an individual processing the complex memories that have shaped their being. It also ties in nicely with the broader theme presented by the album’s title and artwork, fragments from the past blooming across the screen and conveying a sense of the cycle of life. For the cover of Echoes in Bloom, Lomea has created an interlocking series of nine canvas paintings inspired by the Ouroboros, an ancient symbol of a serpent eating its own tail, variously signifying infinity, wholeness and the cycle of birth and death.
Lomea’s sophomore album Echoes in Bloom is due May 31, 2019, via Here and Now Recordings.
Bass DJ/producer–DIRTY AUDIO–releases his newest single “West Coast” feat. KARRA on Thrive Music. The Los Angeles-native “keeps it West Coast” with a dynamic mesh of melody, perfectly harmonized with Karra’s saccharine voice, then suddenly turned upside down with vigorous bass.
Matt Meadow of Your EDM premiered the track, and says of “West Coast”: “The beauty of this track is the juxtaposition between Karra’s delightful vocals and the absolutely gnarly drops that oozes filth and power. The vocals assume a more light-hearted, maybe even future bass drop. Instead, Dirty Audio hits you with the heavy bass and it knocks your breath out like a punch to the gut.”
Dirty Audio began his journey as an aspiring DJ and music producer at a very young age, but while many get lost in the pack or drop out of the race altogether, he has emerged as a premiere rising star in our scene. Born with an intrinsic love for all music with a catchy beat, Dirty Audio grew up in Los Angeles amid one of the world’s finest melting pots of music. Dirty Audio’s own signature sound has emerged as a dynamic and sophisticated sound with a theme of heavy-hitting bass. Today, his guaranteed party-starting ability has made DirtyAudio a household name across the globe – having released records on Monstercat, Panda Funk, and Mad Decent amongst others.
With his goal of mastering a unique sound that is certainly not for the faint of heart, Dirty Audio has touched down all over the world to dole out doses of his dance-worthy beats. Touring everywhere from the US to EU to Australia to Asia, he has brought his electrifying live sets to all corners of the globe. Last fall he took the stage at EDC Orlando and Lollapalooza Chicago. As Billboard said, “With the bass scene more saturated than ever, it’s important to pick out the key players moving the genre forward. One of them would be Dirty Audio, whose music has been played out in countless festival sets from mainstays.” Looking to the future, Dirty’s only plan is to keep going up; stay tuned for lots of originals, some incredible collaborations and, of course, dirty beats this year.
‘Rythym is Wild’ is the Young Punx’s latest dance-floor ready offering. A genre-defying two and a half minutes, the track is a mash-up of pop, disco, drum & bass, and big-band – sure to get even the timidest of wall-flowers onto the dance-floor.
Conceptualised, produced and composed by Grammy Nominated UK multi-instrumentalist, singer and record producer Hal Ritson, The Young Punx have shared stages with the likes of Tiësto at Privilege Ibiza, and present shows like Japanese So You Think You Can Dance and the UK Dance Music TV station Flaunt under the brand, along with their very own podcast The Young Punx FM.
The Young Punx hit the scene in 2003, with a mind to celebrate and subvert dance music, breaking the norms of tradition, finding a balance between organic and electronic. “‘Rhythm Is Wild’ is a game of two halves… All recorded on our own 1940s recording equipment, with kick-ass electro house guaranteed to shake your speakers and accompanied by a mind-bending CGI video by esteemed Dutch artist, Han Hoogerbrugge, ‘Rhythm Is Wild’ is an in-your-face teaser for the 4th studio album, coming later this year.” says Hal.
