Ascension.

The trip starts in Argentina, we stay over in Damascus, make a detour to Berlin, then we travel along the Eastern highway. The journey ends on a strawberry field where we together with Zoe meet very closely the levitating president.

The music on our trip? Cumbia, Arabic and Indian sounds between jazz and electronics, German pop, bass-driven music between drum’n'bass and dubstep as well as Beatles sounds from Mumbai, Istanbul and Washington.

Remark:
I ran riot during the Headhunter & Djunya vs. Indigo‘s tracks.
As already mentionend in the Flying Sparks post before, here now both the Milanese remix of Jahcoozi‘s Close To Me and the dubstep interpretation of The Beatles‘s Hey Jude by David Starfire. ‘cos it was so cool, we continue with the Turkish adaptation of Love Me Do by the D.E.F. Orkestra, the Indian version of Tomorrow Never Knows by Studio Pagol, Strawberry Fields Forever as a fidget house mashup, and conclude with Yesterday in the original. All my troubles seemed so far away… Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.

In the following, there are the links for the listening pleasure @ Mixcloud. Have fun!

Here’s the track listing:

1. Chancha Via Circuito: Selva Riddim
   Rodante EP 12inch (ZZK 2008)
2. Toufic Farroukh: A Night in Damascus
   Drab Zeen (Le Chant Du Monde 2002)
3. Ramesh: Mother Earth (Georgie Weeratunga RMX)
   Re-visited (Jubilee 2004)
4. Rohan: What To Say (feat. Ej Sebian – Head Tripper Remix)
   Revolution Rising (Ethnotechno.com Vol. 1) (High Chai 2009)
5. Peter Fox: Das zweite Gesicht
   Stadtaffe (Downbeat 2008)
6. Susie van der Meer: Somebody Has To Pay
   Luciferin (Freispiel 2003)
7. Wax Tailor: Stay Tuned
   Tales of the Forgotten Melodies (Mole Listening Pearls 2006)
8. Endorphin: Zoe
   Skin (Epic/Sony Music Australia 1999)
9. Mutt: Hot Lick Squeeze
   Hot Lick Squeeze 12inch (Creative Source 2006)
10. Luca: Eastern Highway
    Speakeasy 12inch (Samurai Red Seal 2009)
11. Headhunter & Djunya: El Presidente
    El Presidente 12inch (Surefire Sound 2010)
12. Indigo: Levitate (feat. Chunky)
    Levitate 12inch (OpenEarz 2010)
13. Zeb: Dub Step Halal
    Zeb Step (Rudiments 2008)
14. Jahcoozi: Close To Me (Milanese Remix)
    Close To Me (Milanese Remix) (BPitch Control 2010)
15. Palyrria: Argo
    Methexy (Protasis 2006)
16. David Starfire: Hey Jude (feat. Lynx)
    Bollyhood Bass (Six Degrees 2010)
17. D.E.F. Orkestra: Love Me Do
    Beatles Alaturka (Müzikotek 2001)
18. Studio Pagol: Hidden Track (T.N.K.)
    Serendipity (Le Maquis 2003)
19. The Beatles: Strawberry Fields Forever (Mojo Jones Remix)
    (2008)
20. The Beatles: Yesterday
    (1965)

On a Sunday night in May I listened to some new (mostly) Dubstep stuff. In the following some information about this.

Last week, Balkan Beat Box were again in Berlin to present their third album Blue Eyed Black Boy. My first impression was that the predecessors had more catchy tracks. Anyway, I like their fusion of different cultures and music styles because it represents the more innovative approach of Balkan music in my opinion.

Same place (Festsaal Kreuzberg) two days later, there was the record release party of the Berlin band Jahcoozi‘s third album Barefoot Wanderer. My current favourite track on it is Close To Me which has been already remixed by Milanese. He did it in a laid-back Dubstep approach. Before Jahcoozi‘s gig, their beat master Robot Koch presented some of his solo stuff. In my opinion, some more song structure would be helpful. My favourite on this evening was his cover of the track People Are Strange by the The Doors.

Finally, the debut long player from David Starfire has been published in Germany. He has been already known from his digitally released mini EP at Six Degrees as well as from some remixes and DJ sets in the conglomerate of Asian Beats, Breakbeats, Dubstep and Mashups. His debut album is as manifold as his previous work. A highlight is his Dubstep interpretation of The Beatles‘s Hey Jude.
Related to him is the work of the Shiva Soundsystem crew from London. DJ Nerm and D-Code released an album with various collaborations last year: Phasmatis In Machina – Asian influenced Drum’n'Bass, Dubstep and other Electro tracks from London’s Electro East.

Badawi contributes an arabic influenced monster on a 12″ to the Dubstep scene. Breakage as well as Scuba explore the capabilities of Dubstep: While Breakage is based on Drum’n'Bass, Scuba investigates the connection to Techno sounds. This approach reminds me of the Berlin production by Moderat from last year (by the way, Rusty Nails is a really beautiful track).

More new interesting Dubstep was released from Mutt (who previously has produced beautiful DnB), DJ Madd, Cardopusher and Riz MC. The latter both were released by True Tiger, known from transglobal influenced Dubstep tracks on the Around The World 12″s and by Sukh Knight, respectively. Pinch‘s release of Get Up stems from his album Underwater Dancehall where Dubstep was heavily enriched with vocals, whereby most of the Dubstep releases are instrumentals or with only samples.

I very like the work of Geiom. His new 12″ Sugar Coated Lover is a conglomerate of Dubstep and Garage with some nice percussion samples. He will be DJing in Berlin on June 5: at the “We Want More Bass” party of the Freak Camp crowd @ VCF.

Various Production were active again. They remixed a track by The Hundred In The Hands.

In the following, there are the links for the listening pleasure @ Mixcloud.

Here’s the track listing:

1. Balkan Beat Box: Kabulectro
   Blue Eyed Black Boy (Crammed Discs 2010)
2. Badawi: El Topo
   Index 1-1 12inch (The Index 2010)
3. David Starfire vs. FreQ Nasty: Baghdad (Remix)
   Bollyhood Bass (Six Degrees 2010)
4. Mutt: Tekdub (feat Illgates)
   Tekdub 10inch (Tube10 2010)
5. Breakage: Open Up
   Foundation (Digital Soundboy 2010)
6. Jahcoozi: Close To Me
   Barefoot Wanderer (BPitch Control 2010)
7. Scuba: Minerals
   Triangulation LP (Hotflush 2010)
8. Moderat: Rusty Nails
   Moderat LP (BPitch Control 2009)
9. The Hundred In The Hands: Dressed In Dresden (Various Mix)
   Dressed In Dresden 12inch (Warp 2010)
10. V.I.V.E.K: C My Vision
    Phasmatis In Machina (Shiva Soundsystem 2009)
11. Cardopusher: Gibold (Scandalous Unltd. Remix)
    Gibold 12inch (True Tiger 2010)
12. DJ Madd: Someone (Breakage‘s Unspecified Remix)
    Someone 12inch (Black Box 2009)
13. Pinch: Get Up (Guido Mix feat. Yolanda)
    Get Up (MCD) (Tectonic 2009)
14. Geiom: Sugar Coated Lover (Brackles & Shortstuff Refix feat. Marita)
    Sugar Coated Lover 12inch (Berkane Sol 2010)
15. Riz MC: Shifty (Scandalous Unltd. Remix)
    Shifty 12inch (True Tiger 2009)
16. Moderat: Berlin
    Moderat LP (BPitch Control 2009)