The Bristolian house-music king, Julio Bashmore, dragged his anthemic paintbrush across Justin Timberlake’s Suit & Tie, giving followers a lovely rework to add to their collections. Available for free download, the Suit & Tie remix is suitable for a romantic evening with your loved one, and alternatively to soothe your feelings of loneliness on this year’s Valentines day.
We are a day late on delivering this, but we had to wait up until the 31st to pull this thing together – just in case we needed to make any last minute additions (and also because we are habitually disorganized and tardy).
After a haphazard electronic congress amongst the various selectas’ in our slightly dysfunctional family, we put together a collage of the music that moved us in MMXII.
We didn’t attempt to rank these releases–nor to affix to each of them a rating–because it is our view that this sort of enterprise is not meaningful. We assure you that we have vetted all of it. Finding high-grade jams below should be straight-forward–like shooting fish in a barrel. We invite you to trust us and to peruse with an open mind and curiosity.
With love–
Selected Releases
LPs
Pink – Four Tet [Text]
Channel Orange – Frank Ocean [Def Jam]
Devotion – Jessie Ware [PMR]
Mala In Cuba [Brownswood]
Unpatterns – Simian Mobile Disco [Wichita]
Fin – John Talabot [Permanent Vacation]
R.I.P. – Actress [Honest Jon's Records]
The Keychain Collection – Gang Colours [Brownswood]
Until the Quiet Comes – Flying Lotus [Warp]
In Our Heads – Hot Chip [Domino]
Breakthrough – The Gaslamp Killer [Ninja Tune]
good kid, m.A.A.d City – Kendrick Lamar [Top Dawg]
Ghettos & Gardens – Justin Martin [Dirtybird]
Luxury Problems – Andy Stott [Modern Love]
Visions – Grimes [4AD]
Held – Holy Other [Tri Angle]
Don’t Break My Love – Clown & Sunset [Clown & Sunset]
Ghettos & Gardens (Remixes Vol. 1) – Justin Martin (Dirtybird)
Vision of Love – Bicep [Feel My Bicep]
Froth/Mercy – Boddika & Joy Orbison [SunkLo]
His He She & She – Blawan [Hinge]
Pyramid Lake/Black Ink – Airhead [R&S]
Acquiescence – Anenon [Non Projects]
Grey – Atem [Blenheim & Celtic]
Vacation – Shlohmo [Friends of Friends]
—
Tracks on Heavy Rotation
Held – Holy Other [Triangle]
Au Seve – Julio Bashmore [Broadwalk]
Jasmine – Jai Paul [XL]
Prism – Jacques Green [3024]
Look Out – Homeboy Sandman [Stones Throw]
[Jacques Greene]
Control (feat. Ria Ritchie) (Joe Goddard Remix) – Disclosure [Greco-Roman]
Nova – Burial + Four Tet [Text]
Revolution – Mala [Brownswood]
Flutes – Hot Chip [Domino]
Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe – Kendrick Lamar [Top Dawg]
[Joe Goddard]
Crystal Caverns 1991 – Lone [R&S]
Higher Ground – TNGHT [Warp]
Species Out Of Control – Simian Mobile Disco [Wichita]
The Hope – Scuba [Hotflush]
So Will Be Now (feat. Pional) – John Talabot [Permanent Vacation]
[John Talabot]
Ye Ye – Daphni [Merge]
Bad Religion – Frank Ocean [Def Jam]
Dream To Me – Flying Lotus [Warp]
Always – Maths Time Joy [Live For The Funk]
Elegante – Squarehead [5ANDSEVEN]
[Flying Lotus]
Whatnot – Machinedrum [Innovative Leisure]
Please Forgive My Heart – Bobby Womack [XL]
Inspector Norse – Todd Terje [Olsen/Smalltown Supersound]
Lion (Jamie xx Remix) – Four Tet [Text]
Yoro Diallo (Lone Remix) – Egyptian Hip Hop [R&S]
[Four Tet]
The Perfect Blues (Jacques Greene Remix) – Jesse Boykins III, Melo-X [Ninja Tune]
$tripper – Bicep [Chemical]
Nissim (feat. Amir Yaghmai) – The Gaslamp Killer [Ninja Tune]
Shades – Dark Sky [50 Weapons]
Forgotton Notes – Hackman [Ramp]
[The Gaslamp Killer]
November Skies (feat. Nina Kinert) – Tomas Barfod [Friends of Friends]
The Narcississt (feat. Inga Copeland) – Dean Blunt [Hippos In Tanks]
Thrown – Kiasmos [Erased Tapes]
wen uuu – Shlohmo [Friends of Friends]
Truant – Burial [Hyperdub]
[Tomas Barfod]
Her Fantasy – Matthew Dear [Ghostly International]
Grey – Atem [Blenheim & Celtic]
What’s In Your Head – Disclosure [Greco-Roman]
Running (Disclosure Remix) – Jessie Ware [PMR]
Confidence Boost (Harmonimix Remix) – Trim [R&S]
[Matthew Dear]
All Inside – Bondax [Super]
Fuck You All The Time – Jeremih [Def Jam]
Small Talk (Four Tet Remix) – Ultraista [I Am Fortified]
Rained The Whole Time (Nicolas Jaar Remix) – Shlohmo [Friends of Friends]
The Ego – Nicolas Jaar [Clown & Sunset]
[Nicolas Jaar]
Sleepless – Andy Stott [Modern Love]
For Sake – Aeroc [Ghostly International]
Make It Good – The White Lamp [Brownswood]
Boiling (feat. Sinead Harnett) – Disclosure [Greco-Roman]
Nothing So Great – Evy Jane [Self-Released]
[Disclosure]
Default – Atoms For Peace [XL]
Blue Skies Red Soil – NeferTT [Hotflush]
Gold Soul Theory – The Underachievers [Brainfeeder]
New For You – Andrés [La Vida]
Chum – Earl Sweatshirt [Self-Released]
[The Underachievers]
Compuphonic – Maddslinky [Broadwalk]
23 (feat. Tymer) – Shadowchild [Food]
Get Free (feat. Amber of Dirty Projectors) – Major Lazer [Mad Decent]
Child – George Fitzgerald [Aus Music]
What I Might Do (Club Edit) – Ben Pearce [MTA]
[George Fitzgerald]
Kindred – Burial [Hyperdub]
Chained – The xx [Young Turks]
Leaf (A$AP Rocky feat. Main Attrakionz) – Clams Casino [Self-Released]
Timeaway – Darkstar [Warp]
Night Light (Joe Goddard Remix) – Jessie Ware [Universal]
[Darkstar]
So Many Details – Toro Y Moi [Carpark]
Born To Die (Gucci Vump Remix) – Lana Del Rey [Interscope]
Goin In (Boy 8-Bit Remix) – Zinc [Rinse]
Signal Loss – Pariah [R&S]
Jupiters – Four Tet [Text]
[Toro Y Moi]
Tissues & Fivers – Gang Colours [Brownswood]
Swims – Boddika & Joy Orbison [Swamp 81]
Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage? – Blawan [Hinge Finger]
Lost In Tokyo – Koreless [Vase]
Argonaut – Floating Points [Eglo]
[Blawan]
Video Games (Joy Orbison Remix) – Lana Del Rey [Interscope]
Blessed (feat. Kendrick Lamar) – Schoolboy Q [Top Dawg]
Sleepless (feat. Jezzabell Doran) (Shlohmo Remix) – Flume [Future Classic]
Jagged Edge – Eats Everything [Pets]
Crispy Duck – Dense and Pika [Hotflush]
[Eats Everything]
Forget (Shlohmo Remix) – Lianne La Havas [Self-Released]
Huron River Drive (Evenings Remix) – Shigeto [Ghostly International]
Terrorist Threats (feat. Danny Brown & Jhene Aiko) – Ab-Soul [TDE]
Lotus Bootleg – Jonwayne [Self-Released]
Avalanche – Just Friends [Clown & Sunset]
[Shlohmo]
& It Was U – How To Dress Well [Weird World]
Why Don’t You – Synkro [Apollo]
Ellipsis – Joy Orbison [Hinge Finger]
Flo Jam – Dusky [Dogmatik]
Meu – Jets [Leisure System]
[Joy Orbison]
Oblivion – Grimes [4AD]
The Black God – SpaceGhostPurp [4AD]
Femme Fatale – Justin Jay [Dirtybird]
Fools Good – Troy Junner [Mindset]
It’s True – Wih’lo [Self-Released]
[Grimes]
No To Love (George Fitzgerald Remix) – Jessie Ware [PMR]
Move Love – Robert Glasper [Blue Note]
Gotham Mix 1 – A.CHAL [Self-Released]
Mirror Maru – Cashmere Cat [Pelican Fly]
What You Need – Flume [Future Classic]
Julio Bashmore, arguably Bristol’s leading house-music entity, wows us with another of his playfully simple tunes. Set to be part of the third release on his own Boardwalk imprint, ‘Pelican,’ uses the same tools that have found him previous success; a bouncy bass line, an open hi hat, and a mastery of structure. By the sound of it, this formula has worked yet again.
While the mix forgoes halloween classics like The Monster Mash, the beats here are definitely spooky enough to fuel your ghoulish weekend’s festivities.
Early this morning, the notorious Bristolian house producer, Julio Bashmore, released this, the third installment to his young Boardwalk Records imprint. True to form, ‘Husk‘ is simple, repetitive, and entirely compelling; a proud conveyor of the less-is-(Bash)-more state of mind.
The minds behind Croatia’s Outlook gathering have self-confidently dubbed their brainchild to be “Europe’s leading bass music and sound system culture festival.” Now this may read as just another self-serving and over-zealous sale’s pitch, but I am happy to inform you that most every bit of zeal in this statement is justified. In fact, through a breif calculation of logic, this proclamation may prove even modest;
If Outlook is indeed the leading bass music and sound-system culture fetsival in Europe, which, from my experience, appears to be quite true, and if Europe is the world’s leading continent in that same category, which, again, I can attest to, then Outlook festival may in fact be the leading bass music and sound system culture festival in the world.
Now, this is a bold statement, so let me begin to tell you why I think so:
First off, the event takes place in, on, and around, an abandoned fortress, which, by my degree of knowledge of 18th Century Mediterranean Architecture, is essentially a castle, and not only is a castle one of the most exciting and appropriate settings that I’ve had the opportunity to indulge in a variety of deep sounds and styles, but acoustically speaking, its almost as if those determined Croates of yesteryear built it expressly for the ideal presentation of contemporary bass music.
Speaking of which, the music was thrilling, utterly so, and I know that I stand risk of sounding like a jittering fan-boy, but today that’s something I may very well be.
If I had a crown to give, it’d have to go to Addison Groove. He threw down the most exciting set of the weekend; at the end, mixing from his trade-mark grit-house jams, to a combination of Hudmo‘s “CBat” and Earl Sweatshirt‘s “Drop,” and finally into a booty shaking version of The Chordette’s barbershop classic, “Mr. Sandman,” of which I have yet to track down. A round of applause is more than in order for Mr. Groove. If he’s coming to a club near you, do not miss out, just go.
Dark Sky rounded off the Black Acre party on Saturday night, and even from outside the fort, one could tell it was the place to be, with a line-up extending easily over 50 meters out the gate. The beats from their Black Rainbows EP sounded ripe and juicy on the Courtyard system.
[Boddika]
The Swamp 81 party was yet another stand-out, with Boddika standing as the personal highlight of the exhibtion, though only just ahead of his more than worthy label mates, Oneman and imprint-boss, Loefah. And since we’re on the topic of dubstep, big ups to Joker for up-staging the DMZ showcase in a big way. Sorry, Mala and Coki, we still love you.
Friday Night at Mungo’s Arena was a breath of fresh for anyone feeling a bit claustrophobic from the prominence of D&B at Outlook. Girl Unit was the highlight of this party. His work on the Club Rez Ep dazzled between the stone walls of the military fort.
Some respect is to be given to trap stalwarts, Baauer and Hudmo, because their numbers, “Harlem Shake,” and “CBat,” were springing up dj’s sets of every genre. Same goes to Julio Bashmore for his summer anthem’s of 2011 and 2012; “Battle For Middle You,” and “Au Seve,” respectively.
So, we’ve run through the good and the grand, but was it a perfect experience? No, of course not. All things are flawed, even the most wonderful.
The major bone I have to pick is with the audience, who whilst being, for the most part, avid fans of these genres, neglected some of the bare necessities of festival etiquette. Muscling belligerently to the front of the bar line was a common activity. Now that I think of it, muscling any where at any time without an excuse me or a patient moment’s wait was standard practice at Outlook. Friends assured me that this was simply the English way of doing things, but I don’t take that as a valid excuse. Thumbs down. Love thy neighbour next time, boys.
The second pickable bone is not necessarily the fault of anyone in particular. It was the simple fact that Mala, Coki, Loefah, and Disclosure, were far from being loud enough at the Harbour stage on Saturday night. The open ocean is no natural amphitheatre. Fortunately, this is where Dimensions Festival comes in.
Opening tonight, Dimensions festival promises an equal if not more impressive line-up of underground artists, an audience of presumably more committed listeners, and lastly, exclusive use of the Fort stages, which means, better sound and smaller venues for bigger artists. Let’s hope it lives up to these other-worldly expectations.
Outlook, thank you. It was a blessing to be a part of. Considering the legend of setting and sound that your team has etched into bass-music’s youthful history, the title of world’s leading bass music and sound system culture festival is yours to loose. Now, to see what your little brother is packing…
To follow up the anthemic first release on Broadwalk Records, Julio Bashmore has called upon underground garage-house veteran, Maddslinky, (a.k.a Zed Bias.) The new single, titled Compuphonic, is a dark, deep, and groove-inducing track that is in no way inferior to Bashmore’s smash hit, Au Seve.
Available from Beatport on Sep 9th, 2012.
12″ and Broader digital release Sep 23rd, 2012.
Earlier this morning, English pop-soul artist, Jessie Ware, unofficially released the single, Sweet Talk, by making the track available to streamon her own Youtube channel. Sweet Talk features production from Bristolian bass-music behemoth, Julio Bashmore, and by Dave Okumu, the lead singer and guitarist of the British band, The Invisible.
Jessie Ware’s Sweet Talk is a dreamy and seductive combination between tasteful electronic-yet-organic production, and Jessie’s gentle depiction of submitting to emotion opposed to logic. The result is beautiful, achieving near perfect chemistry of atmosphere and sentiment.
Sweet Talk is taken from the Jessie’s debut album, Devotion, available to pre-order, here.
This weekend past, Barcelona was the capital of the world. Or, at the very least, it seemed as such, because between the buzz from artists and fans alike; the resulting heat, apprehension, joy and euphoria; the all around sense of a welcomed cutting-edge, it was hard to assume it as anything else. It was Sonar 2012.
Personal highlights are numerous:
Flying Lotus bouncing to Flosstradamous‘s ‘Original Don Remix,’ alongside a super-sayaned Thundercat before making an impossibly smooth segue from a dubstep take on Wacka Flocka‘s ‘Hard In Tha Paint’ to an utterly delicate jazz outro.
Brenmar uncharacteristically dropping an instrumental version of Joker‘s ‘In My Head,’ inspiring Paul Salva to remark to his surrounding entourage (which included half of Nguzunguzu and Julio Bashmore‘s manager, amongst others) “Man, 2 years ago we were all bitching about dubstep. Now we all miss it!”
[ the official image of Sonar; a still from Sergio Caballero's forthcoming film, 'La Distanca' ]
The city is buzzing. Club-rats, artists, and industry folk of every rank have flocked here to witness what is widely considered to be one of, if not the most influential three days in the world of electronica, internationally. We’ll see about that, as low-life will be on site, reporting the tides and triumphs of this so anticipated celebration of the multi-media arts.
“Sónar once again makes Barcelona the world capital of electronic culture: the festival presents more than 150 proposals in its programme, including music, exhibitions, screenings and activities for professionals based around the technology applied to artistic creation. The music line-up includes essential classics, experimentalists with a unique profile and an extensive representation of the new forms of house, contemporary electronic pop and the multiple derivations of bass music.”
“Fast cars, money, but no record label to truly call my own? This ends today… Hi, I’m Julio Bashmore. Somehow I have found time between jet-setting around the globe, becoming a voice for the people via my Radio One show and generally living the high life to bring you a brand new label, BROADWALK RECORDS. Today heralds a new era in the Julio Bashmore chronicles, with a sound that shall echo through the ages…”
Its not every day that we feature a female brit-pop act, but then again Jessie Ware isn’t you’re everyday female brit-pop act, seeing as she snagged the under-ground renowned Julio Bashmore to sit behind the mixer for her latest track, “110%,” due out on June 4th via PMR.
While you’re at it, have a listen to this particularly scintillating remix from UK duo Disclosure, put out in February of this year. I highly recommend it.