The kind folk at Radio Magnetic asked us if we’d take the Phuturelabs sound to their very high quality airwaves. We of course agreed, gathered up our fave tunes of the moment and dived in headfirst. It’s myself (Paul) and Cliff behind the controls for the first episode (or experiment if you will) with Kieran chipping in a wee guest mix of IDMness.

So pop on over to Magnetic and have a gander.

http://radiomagnetic.com/main-features/experiment-1/

Tracklisting:

1. Phantogram – When I’m Small – Ghostly
2. Breakage – Open Up – Digital Soundboy
3. The XX – VCR (Matthew Dear Remix)
4. Distance – Beyond – Chestplate
5. Kuedo – Starfox – Planet Mu
6. The Set Up – Lizard (Ronin Reconstruction) – Nerve Breaks
7. Epyptrixx – Battle for North America – AAAHH!! Real Monsters
8. Noisia – Split The Atom – Vision
9. Four Tet – Love Cry – Domino
10. Donaeo – Riot Music (Skream rmx) – Digital Soundboy
11. Floating Points – Peoples Potential – Eglo
12. Seafar – GLA (FSOLDIGITAL.COM)
13. Seafar – High Tide at Point Ormond (FSOLDIGITAL.COM)
14. Midmir – Whiteout – Retronym
15. Fur – Witches – Waaga Records
16. Fur – Hidden – Waaga Records
17. Essell – Daydream – Soulseek Records
18. Echoes Escape – 10 (unsigned)
19. Fur – Friends (Solar Bears Remix) – Secret Station
20. DFRNT – Decay – On The Edge
21. Jose James – Blackmagic (Joy Orbison’s Recreation) – Brownswood
22. Y2D – Autonomy – Nerve
23. Black Van – Yearning (Emperor Machine Mix) – DFA
24. Caribou – Odessa – City Slang

If you’re a fan of Aphex Twin or Boards of Canada, or just a fan of quality IDM electronica, then you should really give Phenoplastic’s recent release “Presented In Colour” a listen.

Hailing from the “dear green place” of Glasgow, Phenoplastic (aka Paul Harrison) is an upcoming musician producing music that is, on the one hand reminiscent of tracks you might have heard before, and at the same time, utterly original.

Kieran (PL)- “So, tell us a bit about yourself- how did you get into writing electronic music?”

Phenoplastic- “Well… I’m a jazz musician mainly – a piano player, though I’ve been making electronica for far longer, since I was about 14. It all began when my Commodore 64, which was pretty cool for music at the time, was replaced by an Amiga 500, and I started making tunes with the tracker software everyone was using back then.

I have tapes and tapes of stuff from back then (the very early 90s) which I dug out recently and listened to again. Nothing releasable there though, I think, though it was great to hear them again!”

Kieran (PL)- “What does your studio setup consist of? What did you use for ‘Presented In Colour’?”

Phenoplastic- “The album was produced using Logic, mainly with softsynths and all kinds of plugins. I’m always looking for new ways to distort and dirty sounds. I’ve always thought that the post-digital obsession with ‘hi-fi’ was misplaced and that more lo-fi sounds can communicate more spirit and soul. I don’t know why this is, though. I also suppose I use some of my jazz influences to bring in weird melodies – different kinds of melodies and harmonies that you don’t often hear with electronica.”

Kieran (PL)- “Anything else you think we should know about Phenoplastic? “

Phenoplastic- “….I should tell you that I’ve started on the follow up to ‘Presented in Colour’. No idea when it will be done though!

Many thanks to Phenoplastic for taking the time to answer a few questions for us!

If you’re liking the tracks below you can download the entire album, in all its various digital formats, for free here.

Phenoplastic – The Alms

Phenoplastic – Skellybob Wood

(Right click and “save as” to download)
Phenoplastic – Hawaii 61

Originally broadcast via their website on Tuesday the 2nd of March 2010.

A 12 hour long continuous mix by the Autechre boys featuring over 170 tracks!!

From Squarepusher to Herb Albert via Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, FSOL & 808 State, this mix has got it all!

One listener managed to record the entire show and has made it available for download via P2P sharing here. Size of the mix is nearly 700mb and the quality is 128kbps.

Alternatively you can get it directly from the below link-

(right click & save as).
Autechre 12 hour Radio Broadcast

No track list was provided for the mix- so an army of fans have made a collaborative public google docs file here to try and figure one out. As time goes on it will become more complete- but even a quick scan just now shows that the mix is fairly comprehensive!!

Unfortunately putting a 12 hour mix onto the blog isn’t possible- so instead I’ll leave you with one of my favourite Autechre tracks “Second Bad Vibel” (Video by Chris Cunningham).

Time for some big chunky breaks shenanigans! In recent years the breaks scene has kinda died off a little and as a genre it isn’t really represented that well – but with some digging you can still uncover the odd gem and this is a prime example! This has just been released for free on my Nerve Breaks label so get this on your Mp3 player of choice asap and get yer armchair groove on!

Ekaj – “Detox”

The nice folk at Digital Soundboy have given us two copies of Breakage’s amazing “Foundation” album to give away. It’s an absolutely brilliant album and you can read our review from earlier this month for more info.

To enter the competition simply email us your name and address and we’ll pick two names out of the hat next Monday (15th March).

Entering also automatically adds you to our email list but don’t worry – you won’t get tons of spam from us – all you’ll get is a once weekly email listing all the posts from the previous week and the very very occasional email with the early heads up on stuff we have coming up on the site.

To get you in the mood – here’s the video for new single “Speechless (featuring Donaeo)”.

Caribou tune “Melody Day” remixed by Four Tet has been wearing down my hard drive for weeks now. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Caribou – Melody Day (Four Tet Remix) by Caribouband

New York’s finest live 8 piece The Phenomenal Handclap Band have been given another rework. So many doing the rounds at the moment but this one is a stand out. Their tune “Baby” had been funked up by London producer Clock Opera. Thanks to the guys at XLR8R for the heads up.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band – Baby (Clock Opera Remix)

Lots of 2010 updated working their way onto the Phuturelabs headphones at the moment!

After the brilliant remixes of Yello, it’s time for Joey Beltram’s 2001 track “Slice” to get an update. The original was a cracking wee techno number with a bassline reminiscent of “I Feel Love” and the first remix from Carl Cox doesn’t wander too far from the original, simply beefing up the sounds in a “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” stylee. Alan Fitzpatrick steps up next and retains the vocal hook of the original but sprinkles a touch of darkness over proceedings – turning the track into a moody techno rumbler. Joseph Capriati’s remix finishes off the package and while he does a good job – it’s the first two remixes that tickled my fancy.

Joey Beltram – Slice 2010 (Carl Cox rerub)

Joey Beltram – Slice 2010 (Alan Fitzpatrick rmx)

This tune has been on the net for some time with several different people on remix duties including Aeroplane and Dolle Jolle. Whatever one you have the essence of the song is pure Studio 54 disco, New York scene with Donna Summer hanging with you as you listen. Actually its from 2009 and made by a soft-spoken, gardening Norwegian called Hans-Peter Lindstrøm. For the last few years he has been the king of the disco sound. We have a radio edit of “Baby Don’t Stop” from the album “Real Life Is No Cool” which came out in January.

Lindstrom and Christabelle – Baby Don’t Stop (Edit)

Released on Warp Records on 08/03/10, Gonjasufi’s official debut album “A Sufi and a Killer” is well worth a listen.

Warp Records writes…

“Produced by Los Angeles heavyweights Flying Lotus, The Gaslamp Killer and Mainframe, this deep and compelling collection embraces aged Eastern influences, reanimated hip-hop and vintage psychedelia – laced with Gonjasufi’s cryptic lyrics and captivating vocal delivery.

“Timeless, incredible filth” – Flying Lotus.
“Contender for album of the year” – Guardian Guide.”

To give you an idea of his music i’ve picked out my three absolute favourites from the album- and if you like the sound of them then you can buy the album on CD, Limited Double Vinyl & Download from all the usual suspects from the 8th of March.

Gonjasufi – Duet

Gonjasufi – Candylane

Right click and “save as” to download the next track, courtesy of Warp Records!
Gonjasufi – Ancestors