I’ve been thinking about what to write about in this column for a few days and had kind of settled on the weird little idiosyncrasies (or foibles if, like my mother, you’re Barnsley mental, don’t ask) of everyday life (well my life) and out of nowhere as I was falling asleep last night, I remembered my period of insomnia in Uruguay a few years ago (obviously, great timing on the cusp of never never land, but still…)
Eclectic house boogie techno label run by Thee J Johanz to relaunch this month.
Johanz Westerman (Irdial, Djax-Up-Beat, Ballyhoo) a pioneering musician and artist popular in Indian Electronic circles as a close collaborator of the late acid house pioneer Charanjit Singh, talks at length with Kenneth Lobo about Charanjit Singh, the magic of Groningen, Babla’s Disco Dandiya and his self-styled Ballyhoo record label. Read more here and check the previews here in the players below. Welcome Ballyhoo Records!
Move Your Butty, Kambo &Vivian to be released in May and June.
The latter compatriot joins Terje for the first in a new series of Dansbar releases from Olsen that aims to highlight “the lost history of Norway’s disco underground.” First under the spotlight is Dra Te Hælvete from Beranek, which was released as a 7″ on Mind Expanding Records in 1981 and seemingly spent six months bothering the Norwegian pop charts after being banned by national TV/radio channel NRK.
The Croatian DJ local spills the beans on where to eat, sleep & party…
To celebrate the release of Petar Dundov‘s fifth artist album entitled ‘At The Turn Of Equilibrium’, the talent producer and DJ has put together a wicked guide to the Croatian capital of Zagreb, especially for DJ Mag travellers. A stalwart of the Croatian underground scene and a fine purveyor of sophisticated melodic techno, Dundov has been on our radar for over a decade — trust us when we say, this guy knows a thing or two about the best spots in his hometown!
Being quoted by FACT Magazine as one of techno’s most consistent and respected practitioners, Luke Slater has been instrumental in reinvigorating the techno landscape for the past two and a half decades:
“With hundreds of official releases and remixes over twenty years under a slew of conceptually distinct aliases, Slater’s signal-to-noise ratio is unmatched among producers of similar prolificacy, forming a discography that doubles as a definitive guide to techno’s halcyon beginnings and future fractures. Whether making an art of mangled metal as Planetary Assault Systems, churning out breakbeat choons under a variety of aliases in the early 1990s, mastering atmospheric techno as The 7th Plain, or proving his chops as an A&R with the formation of Mote-Evolver in 2006, Slater’s career is a tangled web of releases that are rarely staid, exceptionally focused, and continually riveting. The adoption of various aliases wasn’t just a form of artistic evasion or obfuscation. Each project seems individually detailed to certain emotional or functional needs, diverse and embracing variety without stepping on the toes of some other names’ output.”
2016 sees Slater add another string to his bow in the form of the Planetary Funk 22 Light Years Tour, which will bring together some of his contemporaries to curate a string of nights celebrating the 22 years since he released the first volume of the legendary Planetary Funk series. There will also be a special release to commemorate this hypnotic distance. Watch these pages for more details Lukeslater.com / Facebook / Twitter
“The music that Eskimo brings forth into the world all maintains a certain feeling without being beholden to any formula”. Check out a taste of Eskimo Recordings in a playlist:
