September 6-10th saw new kid on the festival block, Dimensions, hit Fort Punta Christo, the now legendary abandoned fortress near Pula, Croatia, that has been home to Outlook festival since 2010. Sun-soaked beach parties, boat parties on the Adriatic and all night raving in a maze of rocky courtyards and dark tunnels meant that Dimensions was set to follow Outlook’s highly successful blue-print. But this was where the similarities ended: the smaller capacity, more sophisticated programming and slick overall design had clearly been geared to attract a different clientele. A noticably older and more European crowd, obvious local contingent and significant lack of ‘wastemen’ proved this strategy successful, thankfully staving off the ‘Brits Abroad’ feel of Outlook in recent years.

With an audience of discerning music lovers in mind, sound quality was clearly high on the agenda. Massive systems were shipped in from far afield and tuned with expertise and love, consistently producing volume and clarity of a quality that is rarely heard at a festival, in a challenging venue that must be less than ideal in terms of acoustics. Such attention to sound was well deserving of a stellar line-up, and what a line-up it was, featuring the length and breadth of the contemporary electronic spectrum from the headlining synthpop of Little Dragon and big room sounds of Carl Craig, to the subgenres showcased by cult labels of the moment Hessle Audio, R & S, Eglo, and Swamp 81.

House and disco were heavily represented too – notable highlights included Morgan Geist’s set in the Outside arena, jam-packed with instant classics like the newest offering from his Storm Queen project ‘Let’s make mistakes’. Todd Terje’s saccharine nu-disco and edits provided light hearted relief as part of the Scandinavian showcase, with his most recognisable tune ‘Inspector Norse’ receiving rapturous reaction from the packed Moat. Detroit legends Theo parrish and Moodyman took the crowd on an extended and eclectic musical journey, but without question the freshest slice of house was served up by Glasgow’s Auntie Flo, whose tropical Afro-infused beats ensured that there were no stationary feet in the (crumbling) building.

And then there was techno. Not surprisingly, Blawan in the Moat went hard, delivering an onslaught of raw, driving rhythms and disjointed percussion that typified his progressive take on the genre. As track upon acid-dripping track were layered rapidly and with lethal intent, Blawan pushed the previously fatigued crowd into a fit of adrenaline-fuelled frenzy and proved that he can indeed live up to the hype.

Lowlight of the Sub:stance takeover was Scuba’s disappointing reliance on trance-like buildups and breakdowns, which followed by Prodigy’s love or hate anthem ‘Out of Space’ made for an uneasy transition into Shackleton’s other-wordly sound. A true storyteller, Shackleton’s intricate drum patterns, apocalyptic chants and surging basslines fitted the ominous setting of the Moat perfectly, enchanting the assembled congregation with recent material off the ‘Drawbar Organ EPs’ like the eerie mantras of ‘Powerplant’.

Hotly tipped producer Objekt blew the Leisure System showcase to pieces with dark brooding techno bombs, later performing with Nottingham’s Zleep crew on one of the infamous boat parties without which no self-respecting Croatian festival would be complete. As the sun dropped below the glistening horizon, Objekt took the ship on a genre-smashing voyage from italo to techno and back again, finally sending the deck mental with IF’s vocodered electro classic ‘Space Invaders are Smoking Grass’.

Berghain residents Ben Klock and Marcel Dettman closed proceedings on Saturday night with a masterclass in maintaining rhythm and flow in even the most raw, uncompromising techno, demonstrating effortlessly why they remain at the top of their game. Blistering 808 acid lines punctuated the relentless sound of Berlin, which combined dramatically with the flaming walls of the fortress to give Dimensions the send off it thoroughly deserved.

A few teething problems – such as queues for the most popular arenas and confusion over boat party times – should be mentioned, but with a few tweaks the festival will surely become an established and respected fixture on the international scene. There is little doubt that Dimensions truly achieved what they set out in the manifesto, delivering a world class underground electronic music festival in an unrivalled setting. Well, as close to underground as 5000 people in one place could ever be…

Words: Faye Clarke
Pictures: Juan Carlos Covelli

We’ve known you for a bit, for those without their fingers on the pulse, tell us a bit about yourself..

Luv*Jam is a collective of like minded vinyl junkies from Wrexham in North Wales headed up by Andy Cole who has continued the name with his productions on labels such as Belgium’s We Play House and Lany, UK’s Phonica and Vibrations.

Also, you run one of our fave labels, can you tell us about that?

Crow Castle Cuts evolved from the Luv*Jam parties, a dream of ours to get it going. Crow Castle is the local fort from Wrexham’s neighbouring town Llangollen in North Wales. The castle has amazing history which leant itself to the kind of project we wanted to do. A compelling arts and music project lead by music from specifically invited artists and close friends and all bound together in hand finished ‘crowish’ artwork and fairytales of the castle from years gone by.

The historic moments of the castle were noted in our catalogue numbers CCC0749, CCC1073, CCC1277 and coming up at the end of April CCC1402 the final chapter in the collectors Quad pack!

Any parties coming up?

Yes, lots of gigs spread around the country really… Slowmo in Chester, Jaunt in Newcastle, City Bass in Cardiff are a few and then some nice festival affairs – Ibiza’s We Love Space and Kehakuma, Bestival/Camp Bestival, The Beacons in Yorkshire, and our favourite micro club Barcelona’s Macarena with friend Dusty.

So, what’s the crack with the mix?

There is a Luv*Jam EP coming out with killer NYC label “Throne of Blood” in July or August and the guys were invited to play Fabric to present the label showcase in May, of which they very kindly invited me to join them. Of course I bit their hands off to play there for the first time!

The mix is a promo mix for them really, but it features two of my favourite labels, as we have all grown together I guess – those are TUSK and DISCONNECTED. So it’s an honour for you guys to host this mix tape too!

What have you got coming up on a personal front?

There is all of the above and a few other EPs expected very soon on Skylax – Houseville of Skylax Volume 2, Millions OF Moments – Finite 0.05. The final Crow Castle Cuts CCC1402, which then meanders into ‘BLIND JACKS JOURNEY’
check – http://crowcastlecuts.tumblr.com/

There’s been plenty of radio mixes for Athen’s ‘Black Athena’, Moscow’s ‘Tall Moon Flower’ and Andy Wilson’s ‘Ibiza Sonica’ show is coming up over the Spring and Summer.

Subscribe to the Disconnected Podcast

In order to subscribe you have the following options:

You can also find the podcast by searching for Disconnected in the iTunes podcast directory. If you need any help or if you have any problems please let us know.

Saint Petersburg Disco Spinning Club talk to us about stuff and drop us off a fine mix.

So the Saint Petersburg Disco Spinning Club… Tell us about yourself, where are you from? Who are you?

Okay, my name is Kirill, I live in Saint Petersburg, Russia. I’m 26 years old. Living on the 14th floor in Kupchino district which is bit criminal you know, but I like it and feeling free here because I’ve been here since childhood. Dunno what to say more ’bout myself, I think I’m a pretty ordinary guy.

We love your production name… how did that come about?

Well this was a funny story, I was playing in jazz-rock-fusion band for around six or seven years, and during recording last album (before split) I was so tired of huge arrangements so I decided to do some stuff using only my mpc1000, I wrote ‘love spin’ and ‘marwencol’ as demos then. By chance my friend Sasha Kojevin asked me to come to see his studio, i decided to take mpc for fun and we recorded this tracks on tape. He said to name the folder and sign the tape, donno why, but i wrote: ‘the saint petersburg disco spinning club’. Next time I decided to short spinning word to make it ‘spin’.

What’s your background in music?

At four my parents gave me to piano courses where i was studying till 11, but i was not happy with that, mostly i was into car toys and etc. But two years later I was involved to punk-hardcore-noise scene which my main influence I think, after Pixies, Blag Flag, Sonic Youth, Tad, Melvins bands i started to play guitar and made my first band. I worked at rock clubs as artistic director and played around seven years in jazz-rock-fusion band with 8 members. I never was into house music and had no idea about it, now I’m doing house by chance and really impressed by this all, main fun that I have no idea in house trends so everything I’m doing is really fun for me, like when people saying: “oh, it is sounds like motorbass”… you know, I never heard “motorbass”!

Cool stuff, can you pinpoint anything that you think is ‘your sound’?

This is mixture of emotions, I’m just sitting infront my laptop or knocking on my mpc, sampling some music. Dunno. this is house of course, but for me, with rock back ground flavour

What do you have in store for the next six months?

New Moscow label “What’s in the box” will release first single to them with my collaboration with Eleonora called “Divine”, including remixes from Vincenzo, Mario Basanov, Ponty Mython, 7he Myriads and Krjuk. Then Lovebirds & Vincenzo label “Teardrop” will release my with Lipelis single “I Need It”, including Lovebirds, Leaves & Iron Curtis, Rocco Raimundo, Vougal, Arsenii remixes. Sleazy McQueen’s Whiskey Disco will release 4 tracks EP this April. In May/Juno Gazeebo releasing my “Driving” single with remixes. DBH music Germany releasing three tracks EP in June with “Balduin Baas as Conductor” which got really huge feedback right now, including respect from Jimpster, Move D, El Harvo Futureboogie and Jay Shepheard.

Busy busy! Ok, so tell us about the mix, what should we be looking out for?

This is several tracks that I mostly playing now at my sets, including great Ponty Mython remix for “I Need to Have You Next to Me”, Arsenii’s remix for “I Need It” and unsigned “Paris Texas Real Estate”

Cool thanks for the chat

SPDSC Blog

Subscribe to the Disconnected Podcast

In order to subscribe you have the following options:

You can also find the podcast by searching for Disconnected in the iTunes podcast directory. If you need any help or if you have any problems please let us know.

Supine from Purple Radio took some time out with Mat and James from Plimsoll Records.

Tell me about Plimsoll, how did it start?

(Mat Hoods aka The Automats) It all started through a chance meeting on a popular Belgian jazz forum Shoes edit of Al Green’s ‘Love and Happiness’ had recently been released and I loved it, we got talking and James sent us a mix for the website I was involved with at the time. Things moved on from there really, I’d sent over a couple of Patrick Adams tracks that the Automats had sampled with the prospect of doing a Shoes of Patrick release. When that idea was shelved I cheekily suggested we do a side project label and call it Plimsoll and well, here we are today. Bad puns FTW!

(James aka Earwig) Yeah, When Mat sent over the two Automats tracks, I really dug them even though they didn’t fit into what the Shoes edits vibe was at the time. Around the same time another friend was starting up his Space Ranger project (now signed to Love Monk) and had some edits they wanted to put out. So it just seemed like the right time to launch another label.

Who is involved?

(James) Myself, Mat, and all art, including are beautiful logo, is done by James Mayall at http://drjimble.tamesisdigital.com/

Flo and Rino of Space Ranger have been very helpful, giving two of our best selling releases and collaborating on the Kompleks EP.

Which artists / edits have you released so far?

We’ve put out these releases on vinyl:
001 – The Automats – Guardian Angel w/ remixes from Diesler & Shoescrew
002 – Space Ranger – Keep on movin/Love don’t come easy
003 – Sy & El – Crawfish/Camina Como comico
004 – Onur Engin – Origins ep
005 – Space Ranger – Chocolate Bar ep
006 – The Automats – Pass me by w/ remixes from Tal M. Klein, Earwig & Del Gazeebo vs Omeron
007 – The Kompleks Edits ep

Digital:
001 – MJ RIP – w/ edits from Onur Engin & Space Ranger

Do you guys DJ at all? If yes, tell us about it.

(Mat) As and when required but no where near as ofter as I should! I’ll soon be starting up a lovely Sunday session at Jam Street Café in Manchester. That should be from November onwards. I also have a weekly radio show on Purple Radio every Friday night between 8 – 10pm. Tune in herewww.purple-radio.co.uk

(James) Not playing out anywhere currently. I’ve been enjoying the control of making mixes with Ableton Live. Creating more like edit suites, with production elements. Check out the Soundcloud or Mixcloud links.

Future releases? Anything you can tell us about?

(James) We have two 12″s coming out late ’11 early ’12. One a disco edit EP lead off by an edit of Phillip Wright “Keep Her Happy” by a legendary radio host and dj who is going by the moniker MR. It also features firey (if I do say so myself) remixes by Earwig (that’s me) and Happy Finnish (that’s Matt collaborating with Del Gazeebo). Also a EP of really nice salsa and latin remixes by an up and coming Orlando producer Stereo 77 with a great future tropical vibe.
There is also a new Shoes release in the pipeline in the vein of my “Afro-Perculator” release; afro-beats mashed up with other unexpected tracks. It’s called the Warp Afro-beat Remix Project… Keep your ears open.

(Mat) Having heard a few of the warp afro beat tracks I can say they are indeed awesome. I’m currently working on new Automats material that should be quite interesting, having actually managed to make two tracks all by ourselves with no samples involved whatsoever. There are new edits on the way too…

(James) Very excited for that!

(Mat) You know us better than that James, lets pen them in for a 2018 release date

Do you do English festivals? Where do you party?

(Mat) I’ve done most of the big UK festivals but the older I get the more I prefer smaller boutique festivals. Less headline acts and more chance of discovering something new. Last festival I was at, I was more interested in the food than the main stage

(James) Not so much, as I live in South Florida. Though it would be fun to come over someday!

(Mat) Dude, your more than welcome anytime. Bring duty free it’s going to be a long weekend

Dogs or cats?

(Mat) Asked me a couple of years ago and I’d have said cats, but since returning from a gig in Cardiff one weekend and found a my girlfriend had rescued a dog I’ve totally changed my mind. Dogs every time. Apart from when they wander into your studio to demand to be taken for a walk when you are in the middle of doing a remix.

(James) That’s funny, I was a totally cat person until I meet my wife and her dog. Now we have two dogs (and two kids!) and I’ve become a big dog fan… Though I still have a place in my heart for cats.

Tell us a random fact…

(Mat) Your thumb is the same length as your nose.

(James) Eka Pada Raja Kapota means One Legged King Pigeon in Sanskrit.

For more inormation about Plimsoll Records, check out some of these links:

Facebook
Soundcloud
Mixcloud

Subscribe to the Disconnected Podcast

In order to subscribe you have the following options:

You can also find the podcast by searching for Disconnected in the iTunes podcast directory. If you need any help or if you have any problems please let us know.

Uncanny Valley sits down for a chat and provides us with an atmospheric mix which represents his take on dubstep and future bass.

Thanks for the mix, we’ve been loving it over at DSCNTD HQ, can you introduce yourself for our readers?

Of course.. I’m from the beautiful city of Dresden. I’ve been throwing parties together with Conrad Kaden and our graphics genius Lars Lämmerzahl as The Moroders for quite a while. We’ve been running this night “Cosmic Dancer” at Altes Wettbüro for five years. We thought, this could be a good opportunity to invite our favourite DJs in a intimate venue, and djing alongside them. We had great times back then, dancing to Todd Terje, Tim Sweeney, Runaway, Tensnake or Mr Raoul K to name just a few. It’s been a great time but at some point we had to stop it because Uncanny Valley took too much time.

DJ-wise, as you’ve maybe noticed from our guests and from our name, The Moroders were associated a lot with Disco, Italo and all kinds of Boogie Music. And indeed, that’s what we were playing most in the beginning. Later we became more and more enthused by House and Techno. Lately, we decided to focus on playing under our real names. So maybe that’s a little turning point in my DJ-attitude. I’m a lot into that music they call Future Bass. But I still love it to play a diverse set from Disco to Techno. Check our mixes at themoroders.com to get an impression.

Besides that I’m the press guy at Uncanny Valley, hosting a little radio show called “Cosmic Listener” (and soon “UV Funk”, little name switch here) and taking small steps into producing.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself away from music?

Well, I love my family, good friends, movies and books. I’m writing a lot, for a newspaper, for Uncanny Valley, at my job or to remind myself of things. And I really love to go on vacation.

So how did you get into running the label?

That was almost two years ago, when we had the idea to create a platform for our talented friends. It was pretty much by necessity. Since then, Conrad, Albrecht (Wassersleben) and Carl (-Johannes Schulze) have been doing a great job to establish the label. It is hard work, but we’re pretty happy that things are working so well and all those great artists from Dresden get a little bit more attention.

You have a really diverse set of sounds in your releases, if thats something that you have always aimed for?

This is also almost by necessity. I personally don’t understand why a label is releasing only one style of music. There is so much exciting music around. I don’t see any logical argument for limiting to one certain sound. We all love sophisticated House as much as banging Techno. As always, there is good and bad music in both.

Have you got any Uncanny Valley parties coming up?

Yeah, on 10th December, we have our fourth huge two-floors-party at Sektor Evolution, Dresden’s best Techno-club. We’re doing this together with our friends from Sub Sickness. They are taking care of all the Dubstep-Heads in Dresden and we’re hosting the House-and-Techno-floor. Serge from Clone will be playing alongside the lovely C-Beams-project and some resident-DJs.
Apart from that there are parties with Uncanny Valley-artists around the globe.

What have you got lined up in terms of the next few releases?

The handstamped UV Limited 01 is just out. We did it for the Record Store Day in Berlin and it’s the return to the compilation-concept as it features four artists from Dresden. For the next artist-EP we have Cuthead making you dance. The record is called “Brother EP” and will be out on December 2nd. We have artists Eps by Break SL and Credit 00 lined up and we’re working on more Various Artist Eps at the time of speaking.

Can you tell us about the mix?

This is pretty much my take on Dubstep or Future Bass. I’m not so much into all the wobble-Dubstep but there’s so much good stuff in the Post-Dubstep-vein that was coming out in the last three years. Maybe it’s the journalist in me, but this is the music which appears to me in any sort of innovative. And as I had the opportunity of djing at some Dubstep-nights lately, I recognized that it’s also a lot of fun playing such records. As with my mixes, I love to create an atmospheric mood in the beginning and try not to forget that electronic music is a lot about dancing. And I think that having a track in the mix which makes you laugh isn’t a bad thing.

For more information check out uncannyvalley.de

Subscribe to the Disconnected Podcast

In order to subscribe you have the following options:

You can also find the podcast by searching for Disconnected in the iTunes podcast directory. If you need any help or if you have any problems please let us know.

Following on from our first release, we are back with DSCNTD 002. This time it’s a full EP from Chocky, which also features a remix from Brooklyn’s Krts. With our DSCNTD releases, we resist the modern addiction to genre pigeon-holing, we’d rather focus on pushing a variety of interesting and emotive sounds.

The release came out on vinyl in November and will be available digitally in February 2012.

This five track EP captures the rich and varied musical inspirations of the mysterious man simply know as Chocky. First up is ‘Down with Idris’, a beautifully, blissed-out slice of electronica. Krts supplies a dusty, broken remix with a deep, creeping progression; these two versions really compliment each other.

Chocky – Down With Idris (Chocky’s T.H.C Mix) – Out Now by Daisy Disconnected

Chocky – Down with Idris (Krts Moody Remix) – Out Now by Daisy Disconnected

On the flip you’ll find the jazzy ‘Can I Mither You’, suspenseful but really groovy house music. Finishing the whole thing off is the deep as you like ‘Frizzy Fuzz’; lovely drums and synths, pure atmosphere. 

And keep an ear out for Chocky’s interlude/DJ tool ‘Ripp Off’, it pays homage to his love of sampling…

You can check out the other tracks on our Disconnected Soundcloud. There are lots more tracks to listen to on Chocky’s Soundcloud page.

Franz Underwear.. the Italian, now living in Berlin takes over the controls and lets us know about a few realeases that are soon to hit the shelves.

Hows it going Franz?

I’m fine, thanks.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My DJ career started in 2005 when I started to organise the first Slow Motion parties in Italy. Our parties got bigger and bigger and in 2008, when I finished my university studies, I moved to Berlin with my German lady. Since I arrived in Berlin I started to learn how to produce music and throw Slow Motion parties all around.

How did you get in to music?

I started in my teens playing guitar in a rock/noise band. My first music idols where Sonic Youth and Ministry.

We first came across you with you release on Andy Blake’s new label, how did that come about, and are you planning to release any more stuff with him?

I first met Andy a couple of years ago when we played together in a after hour party in Berlin. I totally like the genuine and personal approach that he used on Dissident and when I made Grauzone I just sent it to him to know what he thinks about the track. He was going to start his new label and my track just fitted perfectly for his new project.
Andy already has another track of mine that will be released on World Unknown next year.

I keep seeing you name on some posters for what look like real cool parties in Italy, are you involved in them as more than a DJ? Also, what’s the scene like over there?

Well, fortunately we try to keep it real. As Slow Motion, we directly organise a weekly club night in Tipografia Club and also thanks to Slow Motion Records we are in touch with all the greatest producers and DJs all around Italy.

In Italy the club scene is just about 5-10 year back in the past but unfortunately not there’s no much space for good DJs and sadly, the minimal techno DJ/producer Regis. There are, of course, some great club nights all around the main cities, but special events or one night offs cannot generate a real following and a buzz. In Abruzzo, where I come from, things have changed. Like I said, we have been organising parties in Pescara since 2005, we have great following that was grown with us and really trust us, and a lot of people say that this may be the only alternative indie/dance movement in Italy.

What have you got lined up in the next few months, in terms of releases and parties?

As Franz Underwear, my forthcoming release will be in December on Tusk Wax (have you heard about them?) and next year there will be a new track out on World Unknown, Italo Deviance and Slow Motion. I´m also working on a new side project called Studio Luce. Our first track will be released on Slow Motion soon and we have an EP coming out next year on the new Berliner label Cocktail d´Amore. On Slow Motion we will have our first label compilation out in December, which is going to represent the new Italian dance wave.

Can you tell us about the mix?

For me dj’ing is like showing others my music references and inspiration. Also when I dj in a club I try to give different atmospheres and music styles and let the audience feel the line between the old school production and the modern one. I love when people can’t tag music in a certain style.

Is there anything in particular we should listen out for?

Golden Hands LP by Clap Rules, this album represents our Italian music scene.

Subscribe to the Disconnected Podcast

In order to subscribe you have the following options:

You can also find the podcast by searching for Disconnected in the iTunes podcast directory. If you need any help or if you have any problems please let us know.

I’ve picked up each of the three Skylevel release and rarely do I pack my record bag and at least one doesn’t find its way in there. The latest release, which has just landed in the shops, is ace! So ace, that it annoyed me that I knew next to nothing about the label. As a result I searched them out for a quick chat…

Skylevel records, nice to meet you, who am I talking to?

You’re talking to two devoted record collectors who go to sleep and wake up thinking about vinyl. Yes, we’re quite the nerds, but we love going out and dancing as much as we love Djing.

Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

We’ve been friends for a long time and spinning together ever since, so I guess you can say that skylevel is music by DJs for DJs.

How did the label come about?

It’s all real simple: We’ve been saving up the money until there was enough to do a small 12” pressing. Since we earned the money together, it felt like “Okay, we can use this to gamble.” Skylevel 01 got made and luckily enough people picked it up so we could do skylevel 02. Same with number 3 and hopefully number 4.

What’s the thinking behind the the label?

All the music we made for Skylevel is not stuff that we’d put out with our names credited for production. We believe in the high art of editing a song, but the whole creation process is different from remixing or composing original material. We generally take it seriously when it comes to what and where you can sample. Skylevel is like a playground with less rules and more fun.

Where do you stand on the recent inevitable back lash against all the ‘edits’ that are doing the rounds at the moment?

Many tracks simply don’t need to be edited, it looks like many people jumped on the train, because by doing an edit it’s possible for people to release a record even though they have hardly any skills or feeling for music. We don’t like to dwell on the negative, so many people are doing inspiring edits that take good songs to another level.

What have you got in sort for the coming months?

We’ve been “signing” a few tracks, some of them directly at a party where we heard them and with a drunken mind.. Maybe that’s not too smart, but it felt good in every case and has already worked well for number three.

The ‘drunken mind’ sometimes its the perfect gauge of a huge track, sometimes its the opposite… I’m looking forward to hearing it.

Alright Garry, how’s tricks?

Howdy. Sitting with a mild lager and partially melted Chinese tray, all a man could ask for.

Tasty stuff, can you tell us about yourself away from music?

I would love to sound all abstract & mysterious here but I do finance 9 – 5. Excel Spreadsheets, RPI, Margin yada yada.

Bar that I love getting blitzed at the weekends with my sauce hounds (drinking partners).

We all seem to be at the age where italo, new wave cinema and midnight multi-match football bets are acceptable entertainment.

I can’t think of anything more abstract than Excel! We first came across you when Chamboche sent me you tracks that were posted on the bicep blog, how did that come about?

To be honest anything that has happened since then is because of the Bicep Blog, nothing much before.

I’ve made music since I’ve been 11, on one of the first Fruity Loops programs.

I can remember two of the first tracks I made were euphoric trance anthems (in my head). One called ‘Orgasma’, which sampled a 7 minute Jenna Jameson orgasim with a 909 beat, the breakdown being… well you know (snare roll included).

‘Armacado’ sampled the Spanish commentary of an old soccer manager game that is all the description it deserves.

Back to the Bicep blog, big thanks to Matt & Andy. Met Matt in Uni when he was there with one of my best mates from school, one of the first times was at his desktop with a demo of Ableton, which meant he couldn’t turn the PC off or he’d lose the track (which was then released), even then his stuff was sonically glorious.

The Blog is great and get’s so much respect… cheers guys! Hopefully a new post will be up on me in the near future with my newer stuff. There should be a collab with them too out in the new year, a bit different from what we normally do but sure isn’t that swell.

Cool, we’ll be looking out for that. So you’ve got a few release coming up, can you give us a run through of what we should be looking out for?

I’m new to all of this so a lot of the tracks have been made for a while and I’ve managed to get them out.

Tetra is now sold out on Tusk Wax One. Loved everything about how this came about and the other tracks on it, including Chamboche, who I’ll be releasing Descend (3rd track from the end on the mix) on Bricolage, in the new year. I’m also putting together an EJECA EP on Tusk with which will be out late this year or early next.

I’ve some more tracks out on HellZone Records on Beatport now, Make Out / Love Daze and remix of a Julio Peris track called Don’t Leave. Touch You & Marcelus is available November 14th. Was I Here should be out 24th November 2011 on a Skycreaker sampler. The Way I Feel, In Deep With You & Valleys are on a EP with Redux Underground in December.

Also I’m playing at a Tusk party in Nottingham Sat November 19th. If anyone else likes the way I slam tracks together grab me through Soundcloud. I’ll get some regular mixs going too….

Cool stuff my man, especially looking forward to the Tusk EP (#vestedinterest;) what music are you feeling at the minute?

There’s amazing stuff about now, in all genres.

Suzanne Kraft, Casual Encounters, Julio Bashmore, SYNKRO, BOP, Consequence, ASC, Burial and your boy Chocky all have a great outlook on music.

Always like back tracking through older stuff and light the candle from both ends as it where, so I’ve been getting into old M83, Four Tet, Sigur Ros, Brian Eno… anything with a good soundscape has always grabbed my ear.

Also the Jurrasic Park theme tune slowed 1000%, it truly is remarkable if you’ve an hour to spare, some of the comments are a laugh.

Jurassic Park Theme (1000% Slower) by birdfeeder

Cool, so, tell us about the mix…

Tried not to think about it too much and get what I’ve liked recently into an hour, a couple of my tracks in there too and a bit of a classic to finish.

A lot of vocal used, something that I’ve embraced in my newer productions and reflected in my mix.

Thanks man.. it’s a great mix.

If you’d like to find out more then make sure you check Ejeca’s Soudcloud

Subscribe to the Disconnected Podcast

In order to subscribe you have the following options:

You can also find the podcast by searching for Disconnected in the iTunes podcast directory. If you need any help or if you have any problems please let us know.

Shawn from Casual Encounters talks labels, releases and does us a lovely mix.

Hi there chaps, hows tricks?

Hey! We’re doing great, just unwinding on the weekend and working on some new music.

Thanks for the mix, loving it! Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

We’re the duo Casual Encounters, which consists of Shawn Mac and Chas Bronz. We’ve been producing together for about two years now. We produce House, Deep House, Disco, French House, and Funk. Besides being a duo, I myself (Shawn Mac) am the Co-Owner of Skycreaker and Relux Rimini, and Chas being part of projects such as Graceful Exit on DFA and Transatlantic Disco Alliance on Nang.

What’s your background in music?

Chas has a large musical background. He’s been playing guitar and bass for about 15 years now, and also has a dual degree in both audio engineering and music synthesis from Berklee School of Music in Boston. I personally don’t have any musical training, but have been an avid follower of the dance music and house scene for about the past ten years, so slowly built up an idea and experience about music over the years.

How did you come to work together?

I had first heard about Chas through his project Long Distance Analog, and through mutual friend Sare Havlicek and had gotten in touch with him about signing him to the label I Co-owned at the time, SpaceWalker Recordings. Over a period of time our friendship grew and we were on the same page, so we decided to give working together a shot. We instantly connected on a musical level, and within the first few days had written our first track which became our first single, No Limits.

Since then we haven’t been looking back and strive to keep moving forward and take our music to the highest and mature quality as possible.

So, Casual Encounters, sexy name…

Haha we get asked a lot about our name, which is quite a funny story. We all know the normal meaning of a Casual Encounter (Or have experienced one haha), but there’s also a double meaning to it. We wanted to keep a name that was funny, yet also wanted to have a deeper meaning to our project. We both met online, and to this day have not met, even though we’ve written countless tracks and remixes together, as well as our soon to be completed LP, so in a way it was a Casual Encounter. We’ll actually be meeting soon to work on music together and to DJ at various events.

Wow, you’ve never met in person, so how does the production process work?

It’s quite an interesting and fun process actually! For remixes, we both work on separate remix ideas. The funny thing is we even use different DAW’s, myself using Ableton Live and Chas using Logic. We combine the ideas we like together through making parts, and from that, then arrange and mix down the track. It’s a technique we enjoy very much, as we get two different aspects and vibes to a remix, and combining our ideas together from totally different ideas creates something which is unique yet fresh. As for originals, we just lay out ideas and build on them together.

After working together for two years now, working like this is something that doesn’t phase us anymore, but has become a way of doing what we love to do together from a distance. After all, music has no barriers!

Casual Encounters & ODahl – I Don’t Know (Original Mix) by Casual Encounters

You’re involved in a few labels, can you tell us what you have got going on?

I (Shawn) had been really into the idea of starting a label, and having the ability and power to help artists who are new on the scene really get some pull in the market. My first label project was SpaceWalker Recordings which I founded with my close friend Szilard Prech (Holic). It was a great experience as we released many artists that are very recognizable now like Toomy Disco, Honom, Sare Havlicek, Claes Rosen, Dana Bergquist & Peder G, and many more.

At the moment, I am running two labels, Skycreaker and Relux Rimini. Both labels I run together with vetran Mike Salta, who’s been on the dance music scene for the past 20 years. It’s a great honor to work with him, as his experience and knowledge has really enlightened me, and together we can hopefully build a collective of artists that are strong and push the barriers of our scene ahead. At the moment, we’ve had artists on board like Lord of the Isles, Sare Havlicek, Rayko, Ilya Santa, ourselves, and more, so hopefully you’ll be hearing some special fresh new release from our labels soon.

Also, my partner, Chas Bronz has been finishing up his follow up records for Graceful Exit, Trans-Atlantic Disco Alliance, and also has a Solo Record in the works, so keep your ears peeled!

Salta & Roma – We Love Computers (Casual Encounters Remix) [Preview] by Casual Encounters

What’s lined up for the next few release?

We’ve got quite a few things that are cooking in the oven. This month we have an EP coming out with fellow producer and friend from Sweden, Honom. The EP will be released on our friend Phunktastike’s label Spirit Soul, and will have two originals from us, as well as remixes from the mighty Silver City, Phunktastike, and more.

We’ve also finished up remixes for Penguin Prison and Patrick Alavi, both which will hopefully be out soon!

So, on to the mix, can you describe it?

This mix was a bit different from what we normally do. Most people tend to have a standard mix, where it builds up nice and slowly. For this mix we decided to make it sort of like a roller coaster ride, where it builds up and down, through different styles like House, Disco, Balearic, and Deep House. Who doesn’t like roller coasters?!

Anything in particular we should be listening out for?

Some of the producers we’ve really been feeling are Casino Times, Honom, Ejeca, Phunktastike, Rotciv, The Beat Broker, Dublin Aunts, and Daniel Lucas. We highly recommend you check these guys out if you haven’t already!

Subscribe to the Disconnected Podcast

In order to subscribe you have the following options:

You can also find the podcast by searching for Disconnected in the iTunes podcast directory. If you need any help or if you have any problems please let us know.