Soma 20th Birthday: Classic Roundup

The day is finally here when Soma celebrate their 20th birthday in Glasgow at the Arches. With the special Triple CD already released, all that remains is for you to have one hell of a party to properly mark the occasion. Joining Slam on the night are label mates Silicone Soul and Funk D’Void, who will no doubt bring the tunes that you all want to hear.

We thought we’d celebrate the event once more with a bumper crop of classic tunes from Soma Quality Recordings.

Starting things off by taking a trip back to 1993 with Slam’s classic “Positive Education”. Although it’s had many a remix over the years, it’s the original that still pops up in DJ sets worldwide and unleashes chaos on the dancefloor time and time again.

Slam – Positive Education

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Jumping forward a couple of years we’ve got this classic from Percy X. Another one that’s seen some remix action of late, the lush detroit flavoured stabs of the original still cut through.

Percy X – X-Trak 1

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Another wee leap in time sees us arrive in 1999 and this huge huge tune from Silicone Soul. It’s got summer written all over it and it’s hugely infectious string hook guaranteed it’s place in Dj sets forever.

Silicone Soul – Right On 4 The Darkness

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Next up we’ve got one of Funk D’Void’s finest moments – Diabla. Worth checking the video for this one!

Lastly, who can forget the funk driven masterclass given by Scott Grooves as he samples Parliament-Funkadelic to create a dark room destroyer.

Heiko Laux and Steve Rachmad – The Viking

With Soma’s 20th birthday celebrations still rolling, the label prove they don’t plan to rest on their laurels by welcoming Heiko Laux and Steve Rachmad into the fold. With both producers already having firmly established reputations as purveyers of top quality techno, this meeting of minds was never going to be anything but special.

Lead track “The Viking” is a nice chunky number with a side slab of funk to loosen things up a little, sprinkling an infectious bass hook over a driving 4/4 rhythm with percussive interludes, it’s a nice deep slab of techno goodness.

Heiko Laux and Steve Rachmad – The Viking

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“Carlos” is up next and takes a slightly lighter approach but my pick of the bunch is EP closer “7tine”. Utilising spacey synth work to add depth to a robotic groove that unfolds throughout.

Heiko Laux and Steve Rachmad – 7tine

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Released on the 24th of October.

Zed Bias – Biasonic Hotsauce – Birth of the Nanocloud

Zed Bias first appeared on my radar back in 2000 when his classic “Sound of the Pirates” and he’s remained at the forefront of the UK garage scene since then.

This week saw the release of his second album under the Bias name, the snappily titled “Biasonic Hotsauce – Birth of the Nanocloud”.

It’s probably the most fun album you’ll hear all year, packed wall to wall with quality beats with guest producers and vocalists including Toddla T, Skream, Mark Pritchard, Falty DL, Sam Frank, Jenna G and more.

Zed Bias feat Toddla T & MdC – Koolade

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Standout tracks for me personally include the funk vibes of the collab with Toddla T, “Phoneline” featuring the ridiculously catchy vocals of Rosco Trim and the dubstep darkness of “Badness”, his collab with Skream.

Each track works for it’s money however and the album is pieced together like a jigsaw, each individual track adding to the overall picture.

Zed Bias & Skream – Badness

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The album’s available now at Boomkat and you can also pick up a rather nifty 12″ picture disc featuring the tracks with Skream and Mark Pritchard.

Modeselektor – Monkeytown

After much touring and time spent developing their now firmly established label Monkeytown as well as quality offshoot 50 Weapons, the German duo Modeselektor, synonymous with feel good techno, hip hop and electro, are back with a new album.

With two massive long players under their belt in “Hello Mom” and “Happy Birthday” the bar has been set very high and the new album comes with inbuilt expectations.

Access to promo tunes has been tight due to the fear of piracy but we have finally managed to listen to the whole album several times and can happily report that the if it’s not broken approach has produced another record rich with everything you will have loved in their previous work. You might even say its their most accomplished yet.

Check out “Pretentious Friends” below:

Modeselektor feat. Busdriver “Pretentious Friends” (MONKEYTOWN) OUT SEP 30 by Modeselektor

You can also stream clips of the full album via their Soundcloud and you can pick up the full package at Boomkat from the 30th of Sept.

They have a European tour to come before world domination is imminent. If you haven’t seen these guys live I highly recommend it!

Scroobius Pip – Distraction Pieces

Scroobius Pip’s work with Dan Le Sac has produced some of the finest hip hop of the past 10 years but listening to Pip’s 2007 debut “No Commercial Breaks” often left me wondering what the end product would be like if he were to vary up the producers behind the desk once more. Well, I need wonder no longer as his second solo outing “Distraction Pieces” has arrived.

With a mini whirlwind of hype surrounding debut single “Introdiction”, the bar was set high and second single “Let Em Come” maintained the adrenaline rush and threw Sage Francis into the mix.

The singles however only tell a fraction of the story and for the complete picture, “Distraction Pieces” deserves your full attention. With a variety of producers at the controls, ranging from Renholder (Nine Inch Nails, Puscifer etc) to Steve Mason and Richard Russell of XL fame, you’d possibly expect the overall feel to be a little scatty. You’d be wrong however and the atmosphere running throughout the piece is sustained by Pip’s flawless delivery and intelligent lyricism.

The pace is pretty much kept up for two thirds of the album before you hit the best track on the album and possibly one of Pip’s finest moments to date – the Steve Mason produced “The Struggle”. Dealing with the strangeness of fame and setting it to a groove that leans heavily on “Personal Jesus”, it’s an absolutely brilliant track.

Scroobius Pip – The Struggle

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The album closes with two slightly melancholy tracks and leaves you hungry for more as all the best long players do.

The album’s available now everywhere but we’d heartily recommend you pick it up at fairsharemusic where 50% of the shop’s profits go directly to charity.

Craig Hamilton – Kelvingroove EP

Glasgow’s Craig Hamilton has been punting his house based wares around the city for over 10 years and his US influenced sound has also seen his productions turn up on labels such as Greenhouse and Yakuza before eventually starting his own imprint Flatpack Traxx.

His latest outing however has appeared on Phil Weeks‘ imprint Robsoul Recordings. Hamilton wears his influences on his sleeve over the four tracks and househeads won’t be disappointed by the variety through. For us however, it’s lead track “Glasgow Acid” that does the bizness. Simple but hugely effective 303 driven house goodness.

Available now at Junodownload.

Craig Hamilton – Glasgow Acid

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Plaid – Scintilli

With a catalogue of releases that spans back to 1991, Plaid have been releasing quality electronica since before some of today’s tastemakers were even born.

Originally beginning life as an offshoot of The Black Dog, the project slowly begin to take on it’s own life and their “Rest Proof Clockwork” album from 1999 is highly regarded as one of the best electronic long players of the 90s.

Jump forward to 2011 and new album “Scintilli” has just landed, putting the duo back on top of the electronic pile with ease. Moving between deep n dark soundscapes that wander into modern classical territory to more beat driven pieces, it’s a brilliant piece of work that rewards repeated listens and unearths new layers with each play.

Preview album opener “Missing” below and head on over to scintilli.com to grab the track for free.

The album’s available now at Bleep and there’s also this rather nifty promo video for “35 Summers”.

Find out more about the production process behind the album and more in this Plaid interview over at Inverted Audio and make sure to catch them on their current live tour of Europe.

The Black Dog – Liber Nox

The third in the The Black Dog’s “Liber” series has arrived and it’s a bit of a belter. The 12″ serves as a final taster of their forthcoming “Liber Dogma” album on Soma and will no doubt whet your appetite for its arrival on October 24th.

First track “High Rise Choir Reprise” moves slightly to the side of the techno leanings of the previous two outings and sees the trio strap a shuffly garage style break to the bottom end of a doomy bass monster.

Creepy rising synth pads and a growly sub add to the package while cinematic atmospherics float above before the silver box makes an appearance.

On the flip, “Dissident Bleep” is a dark chunk of techno goodness dripping with industrial soundscapes and unnerving atmospherics. Brilliant stuff.

The vinyl has unfortunately already sold out but you’ll be able to pick this up at the same time of the album’s release on October 24th, pre-order available now.

Lazy Sundays: Cloud Boat

The guys from Cloud Boat first came to our attention when they supported James Blake on his UK mini tour early this year.

Their tunes vary from a dreamy acoustic vibe through deep emotional electronica to more glitchy beat driven material. They have a new EP out on R&S which you can check below. If you like, go buy at Bleep or Boomkat.

Saturday Snacks #25

Another week passes, another batch of quality tunes for you to download. While we work out way through the music we want to pay homage to the humble scotch pie. The original Scottish fast food.

Anything Midland does is of a high quality with his ability to drift between styles with ease. Here he takes on Stateless, retaining the spacey atmosphere while overlaying an infectious 2 step house infused beat. It came out a while ago on Ninja Tune and is now available as a free download

Stateless – Aerial (Midland Remix) – Ninja Tune [Free Download] by Midland

We were put onto James Johnston while interviewing Ali OOft! and have been loving his slo mo house beats ever since. This freebie takes thing ultra slow and ultra deep. Just how we like it.

The Vodka Game Shut Up >>>>FREE DOWNLOAD_WAV….THANKS!! by James Johnston

London producer Jack Dixon is back with new EP. The free track we have has an upfront house groove with layered vocal samples adding some spice. Get downloading!

Jack Dixon – Out My Window

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Polish producer Deam is promoting his new EP on the Concrete Cut label by giving the tune “Riot” away as a freebie. Early indications are the “Square Cut” EP could be a classy little garage package.

Deam – Riot

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A late entry onto the snacks list this week is Skream. He is at it again and being very generous with the free tunes before he embarks on his tour of OZ. The tune is called “Demented”, it’s a proper dubstep stomper and don’t forget to check out his “Freeizm” series of goodies if you missed any of them.

Demented – FREE DOWNLOAD by SKREAMIZM