Country To Country EP - Hreno (Sound Architecture)

Read my Ibiza Voice review of this engaging piece of work here.

Inconditional EP - Andrade (Hudd Traxx)

New review up on RA here.

Seawall - Envoy (Soma)

Read my Ibiza Voice review of Envoy's rereleased 'Seawall' here.

November Chart

As always, in no particular order and with absolutely no regard shown for format.

Life And Death - Kris Wadsworth (Get Physical)

International Smoke Signals - Simoncino (Mathematics)

Before - The Oliverwho Factory (Dolly)

Kinks - Project E (Merk)

Astrodynamics EP - Innerspace Halflife (Episodes)

Glesprin EP - Geiom (Frijsfo Beats)

Tactical Manoevre EP - Trevino (3024)

Earth Calls - Joey Anderson (Deconstruct)

The Last Magic Maker - John Heckle (Creme Organisation)

The Paranormal Soul - Legowelt (Clone Jack For Daze)

Harvey At Work

I may have posted some of these before, but it doesn't matter.

Tracks Of The Day

Momentous.



Phunky as . . .



Instantly recognisable.



A Wiggle fave.



And this was hot on its heels. Has Kevin Saunderson done anything good since?

Thee Kaleidoscopic Rebellion: 17/11/12

Thee Kaleidoscopic Rebellion 1: 17/11/12 by Cacophonousbling on Mixcloud

Playlist For Last Night's Show:

Passed Over Trail - Raime (Blackest Ever Black)

The Last Foundry - Raime (Blackest Ever Black)

Pharmacy - Tuff Sherm (The Trilogy Tapes)

Actress Meets Shangaan  A - Actress (Honets Jon's)

I Program My Computer Right - Population One (Harbour City Sorrow)

High Dream - Joey Anderson (Deconstruct)

Train Ride To Offenbach - Jus' Ed (Underground Quality)

A Walk Down Linwood - Big Strick (FXHE)

Dissolve - Crystal Maze (Bio Rhythm)

You're Driving Me - Rachael (Idle Hands)

On A Journey - Simoncino (LIES)

One Self - John Heckle (Mathematics)

Human Need (Heinrich Mueller Celestial Sphere Mix) - Jason Fine (Kontra Music)

Nihinl Novi (Factory Floor FFGG Remix) - Forward Strategy Group)

L.A.D. - Roger 23 (Neurhythmics Recordings)

Belfry Tower - Braiden (Rush Hour)

BIT-Space - (Legowelt Remix) - Morpology (Zyntax Motorcity)

Collider (HG Remix) - Skirt (Frozen Border)

Metropolitan View - Obsolete Music Technology (Dolly)

22ml - Bleaching Agent (Mira)

Sealion Woman - Marquis Hawkes (Dixon Avenue Basement Jams)

So, after a two-and-a-half year hiatus, I finally hit the local airwaves again last night thanks to the benevolence of Harry Sword. We jointly presented the first instalment of 'Thee Kaleidoscopic Rebellion' and a lot of fun it was too, but not without a few initial problems. We were on immediately after another new show 'FourFour' and the presenter was using his laptop with Ableton Live and a controller. This meant that the turntables weren't being used which can always pose problems as, such is the lack of turntable use in preference to laptops and CDJs, they often tend to be unfairly negl;ected in the studio. We went all vinyl last night, except for the two Raime tracks at the beginning. Harry had bought 'Quarter Turns Over A Living Line' earlier in the week and having one CD proved to be a lifesaver. We thought we'd get away with one track at the beginning while we cued up our first piece of vinyl but we needed two as we realised that the turntables had been wired the wrong way around. A simple problem to solve I'm sure you agree, but with such a small amount of time to do it in a little bit of stress played its part and the first ten minutes or so suffered because of it. Anyway, once we got properly under way with the Tuff Sherm release we started to relax and things seemed to go quite smoothly. Now we're back in the groove, everything should go a lot smoother from the next show, which will be broadcast on the 1/12/12 and be hosted by Harry.

So What U Want Me To Do EP - Cardopusher (Classicworks)

Read my review of Cardopusher's hyper five tracker here.

Interview With Layo & Bushwacka!

Here's the result of an email chat I had with Layo & Bushwacka!.

My Days EP - Yasuo Sato (Logos Recordings)

Read my Ibiza voice review of the latest release on this stellar balkan imprint here.

Thee Kaleidoscopic Rebellion

As may or may not be known, I started this blog as a direct consequence of having a radio show called "Machines Are Funky". This started on 209 Radio in Cambridge in September 2004 and ran for approximately five and a half years, coming to a natural end of sorts when the station collapsed under the heavy weight of financial difficulties in February 2010. By this time I'd moved further away from Cambridge than I already was, life and family had taken over and I became submerged under the trio of devil's dumplings known as: family, responsibility and middle age. Anyway, a meeting with fellow broadcaster and writer Monsewer Harry Sword in the summer offered me a way back in. Harry has had a show on 209's successor, Cambridge 105 for some time now which continues the good work done by his earlier one -  a contemporary of "Machine Are Funky" - "Drums Wide Open", which was a drum and bass extravaganza. His present show is  more like mine was, but maybe a little less club - orientated.

In any case, he broadcasts twice a month, but wants to go down to once, so he asked me if I'd like to fill in. I jumped at the chance, did a trial run for the station and was accepted. The show is to be launched/relaunched this Saturday and will be called "Thee Kaleidoscopic Rebellion." There is a Facebook group set up already, and all other social networks are planned to gradually fall into place asap. After this Saturday's joint broadcast, we will alternate, for the next month or so at least, with Harry doing the show after, and myself the broadcast before Christmas.

Thee Kaleidoscopic Rebellion, this Saturday on Cambridge 105, on local FM and globally online, 9-11pm GMT.

True Colours - Ivano Tetelepta (Fear Of Flying)

My review of Ivano Tetelepta's debut long player for Ibiza Voice here.

A Theory Of Relativity?

Something that I often think about, more as a result of getting older than anything else I suppose, is my relationship with music now and in the past, and that of my friends, colleagues and associates. When I first started consuming it, Jimi Hendrix had only been dead for seven years and the Rolling Stones still felt fresh. More time has elapsed since the beginnings of house and hip-hop and the present day than that which separated the birth of the Beatles and the hey day of punk. This has always made me feel a little weird.

Yet so little real change in music has taken place in the last twenty five years compared to that which flooded the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties. The grandiose flourishes are over and what we have left is an infinite loop of cross-pollination. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with this statement, sweeping and general as it is, but I'm calling it as I see it permeating everyday life and making true and original statements in the process. Innovation and change is still a vital part of artistic evolution, but it doesn't flood the mainstream in the way it used to. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing of course.

When I was ten, I had little regard for the music that had been made around the time of my birth and, apart from jazz and blues, nothing has changed. Some of my peers though were just reaching double figures at the height of house and its big breakthrough, and when they were born post-punk had just evolved and was about to give birth to mutant disco, amongst other things. A parallel world had been created in which the underground mirrored the commercial but the two were not always mutually exclusive. I remember being in a queue outside Eric's in Liverpool and speaking to Pete Wylie. At the time he, bravely I thought, declared that '(You Make Me Feel) Mighty Real' by Sylvester was his favourite ever record. I think 'Good Times' got a look in as well. 

Such a move wouldn't bat any eyelids these days, but it certainly did then. The clued up would have smiled secretly to their inward selves but still mightn't have gone public with their agreement, while those for whom it seemed shocking would have had a field day, but not to anyone's faces but those of their mates. The next time they heard one of the mentioned tracks, or something similar though, something might have clicked in their consciousness and dots may, or may not have been joined. Similar situations have, and will always exist, but even though many of us are as defined by our tastes and cohorts as ever, something has been lost within the rampant eclecticism that has homogenised and passed off as normal, when it is a virulent strain of celebrity culture trickling down the credibility continuum.

How is it for anyone into electronic music nowadays who was maybe in single figures at the end of the eighties, or just into their teens? What is your perception of it now and how well-grounded in it do you feel? I will interview someone to find out just this soon. Meanwhile, get in touch and let me know.

Let You In The Sky/Help Myself - Lando Kal (Icee Hot)

Review of Lando Kal's new piece of "hybrid" house here.

Stoned Raiders EP - Hector (One Records)

Read my review of Hector's new five pack here.

Interview With Michael Mayer

I recently interviewed the delightful Michael Mayer for Ibiza Voice. You can read the results here.

Tunes Of The Day

Deep, futuristic meanderings.



Ah, the memories . . .



Still fresh as . . .



Squelchy as you like.



The outer limits.

Random Film Clips Of DJs PLaying: 14

Acid Pauli | Hotel California | Nation of Gondwana 2011 from Nation of Gondwana on Vimeo.