Deathwish Discotech

There's something in the air, something building from within the UK's fiercely multi-cultural music scene. There's always been a rich diversity and a loyal tribalism to our multiple strands of sonic subculture. Often they're seen pulling apart from one another, distancing themselves through their own idiosyncrasies, but right now it feels like they are coalescing ... or it certainly did on Friday night in London.

I was booked to play at Deathwish Disco at 93 Feet East, a night which the promoters told me on arrival had been spawned, in part, as a response to the dubstepbreaks collision of the Revamped album of last year. As a music producer there can be no finer compliment than that - to see an idea grow, evolve, have impact - and in many ways the night could be characterised as a celebration of one simple word. Bass.

Like any big city London can sometimes be a hard nut to crack with crowds a little 'cooler' and more reserved than those out in the provinces. Not Deathwish Disco though - predominantly young, massively enthusiastic, open-minded & eager to consume all angles of the 'Warehouse' style - this was a genuinely thrilling return to the capital for me, and one that I hope will become a fixture in the diary over the coming months.

Elite Force for President

01.03am. Saturday night. Sevilla.

My ride to the club arrives. I sling my bag in the back & leap in. We grin at each other & I attempt to engage in some basic language-transcending chat. 'Party. Good?" (thumb raised). The response is a nervous laugh & the sad shake of a head. 'No entiende'. Long ride to club.

The streets around Ypodromo have been hard-wired into excess. Bottles roll, hoodies lurk, voices are raised, gangs gather around car stereos, dancing in the streets. At the door a hundred people are scrumming to steamroller their way in - I'm pushed through the centre and then we're inside. The music's tough, angular, driving. Crowd are biding their time through the drop, and as I make my way to the front to reach the stage, the beats kick back in & the whole place erupts as one, leaping like lemmings, arms akimbo, touching the sky. I'm swept along & squeeze through the gate to an enclave behind the booth.

As I take over from Krafty Kuts, signs are raised aloft saying 'Elite Force for President'. With that, a dozen people jump on the front of the booth and for a minute it looks like the whole structure is going to crash & burn. 

This night is hotfire.

Fishnets, Flamboyance & Flair

It's hard to imagine a city more suited to seeing in the New Year than San Francsico, and that's where I found myself last night playing for the Opulent Temple crew at the spectacular Sea of Dreams party at the Concourse Exhibition Centre. 

Playing over midnight comes with it's own little pressures - not least getting the timing right (last year in Perth I was about 3 minutes out, but no one seemed to care) - and this time round I had to time the triggering of my 'countdown' track bang on the T-minus 15 seconds point, and to my complete amazement, it worked out ... although afterwards I was told that the clock on the big screen was a clear minute early. No matter, it's only time.

Once again, San Fran was at it's most dressy, glitzy - it seems that the good people of the city have perfected their own kind of twisted burlesque-hobo-raver-chic, and it's a look that I love to bits. Fishnets, flamboyance and flair, the perfect tone to begin 2011 on.

Hope you all had a good one

s

x

Strongarm Sessions Xmas Special 2010

It's been a cracking year at Force Fields & I'm currently celebrating my 6th Beatport #1 of the year with the Chasing Shadows Revamp as well as hitting the Top 10 in four different genres this year. I couldn't have done it without your help & support & the only way I know of saying thank you, is through more music!

So, as is now something of a tradition, the Strongarm Sessions mix series (now in it's 9th year) comes correct with a belting Xmas Special that begins & ends with a Wurlitzer but melts your frozen face off somewhere in the middle.

SOUNDCLOUD / TRACKLISTING
DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK

Happy Xmas to all of you,

s

Going Nowhere

-4C / 2.40pm / Home

It's been a week that 's hardly started, and here I am in the final throes.

Music production's a strange old beast - with the best will in the world I need time-blocks to ENGAGE with the groove, but it's been so fractured with the cold-weather chaos I've barely hit first base. Each time I return to the screens, there's the same leaden, uninspiring sequences of zeroes & ones & before I hit my stride there's a new, inevitable array of jobs to do ... the chickens need the ice breaking on their water, the car needs digging out of the driveway's thick compacted snow, the sheep are grumpy & need more hay bringing down from the barn.

Unfortunately the arctic blast has also now claimed my DJ show for the weekend, where I was hoping to indulge in some post-Burning Man shenanigans at the London De:Compression party.

The show goes on, but sadly I won't be able to make the trip - the roads are still virtually impassable down here and with a severe weather warning in place for heavy rain / sleet / snow it means I have no choice other than to sit this one out & wish everyone well with what will surely be an amazing party - I hope to make it next year!

Meanwhile I'm excited about the release of the Final Revamps 2010 EP on Monday on U&A. I've been pretty prolific this year and this is the final piece in a jigsaw that began back in March with the release of the first single from the Revamped album. I hope you'll grab a copy on Monday when it hits Beatport :)

PREVIEW THE WHOLE EP HERE & have a great weekend.

Fractured days on the Arctic Farm

I wish I could report a triumph of creativity over adversity in these savage conditions, but the truth is that the deep freeze brings life back to simpler times, to basics. In the UK we can routinely go through an entire winter without so much as a snowflake falling from the sky, which makes this current situation all the more exceptional.


Last night we had the largest single dump of snow I can remember in the UK (and certainly on our farm) ... when it finally wound down this lunchtime we'd had an additional 12 inches (30cm) on top of the 6 inches that was already cloaking the farm. My wife had an urgent court case in London, which meant we were all up before 6am, shovelling, digging, defrosting & layering up for a chaotic ride to the station. As the 4x4 spun & reeled, gracelessly on the driveway it was soon clear this was a complete non-starter for both us & our childcare (snowbound too).

I am bemused though by the *outcry* that goes up every time an event as rare as this unfolds, as if we should somehow be expected to be as prepared as our Canadian or Scandinavian cousins. We have 18 inches of snow on the ground in places & it means putting our lives, and in my place the sonics I so enjoy fashioning, on hold for a few days; but it's also a timely chance to enjoy some quality family time in an exceptionally 'changed' landscape free from the norms that govern the every day.

Cold weather proving an almost total distraction here at the Luna Module.

Full bail out yesterday which included rescuing stranded drivers, eating pub fayre at lunchtime, sledging with the nipper in the afternoon. Out raking snow this morning from chicken's run today, smashing sheep's water & feeding with hay then removing 6 inches of snow from greenhouse roof.

Happy, unproductive days :)