Every cloud has a silver lining eh? Well, sometimes. This one did. But when part of your Hi Fi breaks down, it’s always the case.

I’d had the Marantz amplifier for a good three years or more, and not really thrashed it at all, music quality is more important than volume, though with pieces of kit like this, there’s a happy medium around 12 o’ clock on the volume dial itself.

Unfortunately around twelve months ago it started playing up, intermittently deciding it wasn’t going to power up, I’m sure it must have overheated in the summer of ’06 back at my parents but that’s by the by. It finally gave up the ghost last week and is now relegated to the pile of broken amplifiers that lie under my bed. I mean hey, I might meet someone who can repair these things on the cheap. Or at least for a fair price, something I won’t get at the local electrical repair shop staffed by young fellows who say innit a lot.

So after scouring the net for an amplifier that would take the 1v+ signal from my mixer, I came across the NAD C315BEE. Perfect.

Richer Sounds do a pretty cool price match scheme, so off I went to Stockport with a printout of the amp at another online retailer for £30 less. The manager did not want to match it, whether out of a dislike for the company selling it cheaper or maybe I didn’t look the stereotypical sort of clean cut respectable customer who would be spending such a large around of money on Hi Fi equipment, but he did, begrudgingly.

Amp sorted it was time to look around for some speaker stands, as everyone knows bookshelf speakers don’t sound right until they’re off the shelf and on some stands. I picked up some 9-cm high Gale ones for £50. I know they’re not exactly high end but once they’re filled with gravel or lead shot for weight, they’ll sing, or more accurately they’ll be pretty much inert, and help the Hi Fi system to sing.

And after a while cleaning contacts, fitting dum-dums, mounting and toe-ing, it really does. All my old CD’s sound like brand new albums, I can hear bits that id never heard before, notice little things like the sharp intake of breath before each line when Ben Gibbard sings, it brings more depth to the way Francis Mark and Ben Perri’s vocals intertwine.

Yes, today I am going to be listening to a lot of music, and it’s going to sound a whole lot better.

you're a few years overdue, I spent them waiting here for you...

One of my favourite bands of all time were The Get Up Kids but they split up a few years back and continued with their numerous side projects or other bands, these bands were also good but for me they never captured the same energy and emotion as TGUK. They lacked something that was only ever there before, although they never seemed to be chasing after what they had back, just changing, growing but I suspect all that may change with ex-frontman and songwriter for The Get Up Kids, Matt Pryor and his new album Confidence Man.

The first track to be heard off it, Loralai, has recently been uploaded to his Myspace page as a taster for the album and it has got me very excited. It's not The Get Up Kids but then again I don't want it to be.

Loralai is a short acoustic ballad in which Pryor battles with a love that for some reason has gone astray. It's never wet, nor is it never blaming or laying guilt. More just stating the facts, almost a stream of consciousness which plays out over a simple melody.

I can't get enough of it and have high hopes for the album, its out on 29th July.

You can listen to Loralai at www.myspace.com/mattpryorsongs

The Robot Soap Factory: Two New Tracks

I feel this is quite a big milestone for me, for about 3 or 4 years now i have been working towards this point, i started out DJ'ing when I was 17 with a different plan to most other bedroom DJs, my plan was that being a big DJ would never be my main goal, it would only be a stepping stone to the next level... production.
I have studied music production at various different levels and analysed music inside and out, however, when it came to making my own i was confronted by quite a large problem... what is my style?
I'd never thought of it before, when i DJ i play whatever the hell i want, house, electro, techno, minimal, 80's, 90's etc. But when it comes to production everyone has their own unique sound. I had no idea where to start.

So i came up with a plan, and quite a good one i think. A concept album... sort of. I would make four tracks of different styles which i enjoyed the most, and from that i could work out where i wanted to go.

My first would be the distorted electro style, a sort of 'Ed Banger/Boys Noize' inspired sound, Justice, SebastiAn etc. But with a bit more of a beat.

My second would be the classic old school house style, fused with the similar Institubes style such as Surkin and Bobmo.

My third would be a minimal style inspired by various artists such as Gui Boratto, Andre Crom, Oliver Huntemann and Booka Shade.

And my fourth, well i'm still not 100% certain, but i'm thinking a style based on Daft Punk's Discovery album mixed with the old Italo Disco style.

So far i have made two of the four tracks, and here they are:

Correct Effect - Smoke and Lasers (Classic House)

Correct Effect - Effective (Distorted Electro)

These tracks are also on my new myspace page: www.myspace.com/correcteffect

My third is in the pipeline as we speak... I'll keep everyone updated.

Thank you for the memories

After nearly two years, a stupid amount of parties and some of the best nights of my life Robot Soap is now officially over.

Thank you all for being part of something that became bigger than I ever thought it could be when we did our first night at Fuel, Special mentions should go to Sarah P, Andrea C, Sally, Chris E, Tall Sarah, MrB, Mat Payne, Bob Swans, Aaron(Dance FASTER!), Phil Wood, Jemma-Lee, Tom P and Ruth for being with us all along.

The blog will carry on running at http://robotsoap.blogspot.com and Robotic Noise, Cognitive Records and The Cognitive Club-night are still to come so stay tuned and look out for us DJing in the future.

Pictures from the last night will follow shortly

Robot Soap - The things that dreams were made of...

Robotic Radio

This has all been a bit last minute but I'll be on the radio tonight playing new and old favourites of mine, from across the board.

Tune in!

Robot Soap Memories...

(Me DJing @ Robot Soap) Photo by Katie Wynne

So there's now officially less than a week until the last ever Robot Soap and I'm feeling nostalgic today, it's probably a combination of it being a Sunday, the Manchester Rain, feeling slightly hungover and having too much time to myself at work thats doing it but I've been thinking a lot about what we've achieved in the last couple of years so I thought I'd compile a list of a few of my favourite Robot Soap related memories, they're not in any particular order of importance...

1) 'The Dirty Social Club' - We hosted the live music room at a night called Filth, a 6 room super-rave witha total capacity of about 3000. The line up for our room was Hiem (Crosstown Rebels) Far From The Dance, The Dirty SOUL club and Ruthless Producer. Unfortunately I messed up the line up in an email with the main promoters so The Dirty Soul Club became The Dirty Social Club on about 20,000 flyers and 100's of posters all around town, thankfully the band saw the funny side of it! (I'm still sorry about it though!)

2)The D-Percussion after party with Back To Front, 700 people packed into our room dancing to Elliot and my DJ-ing and the place going absolutely nuts all night long without the need for guests. It was an amazing night and as I wound down to what I thought was the last tune of the night (I had nothing else cued up!) Elliot shouts 'Who wants one fucking more tune!?' to a room which was at this stage nothing short of a riot. The reply was rapturous 'Yes!'. I quickly picked a record - The Pet Shop Boys 'Flamboyant' (Micheal Mayer Remix) it was a bit of a change in tempo and you could feel the tension in the crowd as everyone was waiting for the beat to drop, the entire room seemed to go very quiet except for the music and then as the beat came in the room when absolutely insane with a mass pogoing mess of a crowd all together in unison. Beautiful.

3)Playing Tribal Sessions, There's an entire blog entry about this previously about how much this meant to me but playing at it as part of Robot Soap was fantastic.

4)I don't know if this should be a bad or a good memory but its funny either way, Porl and I used to have a residency as Robot Soap DJs at an indie night called Mooch - every Thursday night we'd play with Manc heroes like Bez, Mani and Tim Burgess. On one particular night, mid-set, myself and a friend were thrown out of the club for being a bit naughty, leaving Porl to finish up the evening

5)The first ever Robot Soap we held was at a club/bar called Fuel, a tiny little place with a dodgy set up in the DJ booth. Marco Giannini (The Warehouse Project) was on the decks and the room was starting to go off, only every time people started properly going for it the record's needle skipped, we couldn't find a way to make it stop but a great night was had by all regardless, by the end of the night it seemed to be adding to procedings quiet nicely! On the same night I was so nervous about people turning up that during my warm up set I took the wrong needle off the record twice!

6)We did a charity Robot Soap at Preston's 53 Degree's club and booked local heroes Gash DJs (Pete Carvell and Jim Da Mentalist) at the end of the night I was completely exhausted but Pete was adament I was coming back to his after party, to the point where he picked me up and put me over his shoulder and tried to bundle me off - kidnapping style - in a taxi. He didn't win in the end, but it was a valiant effort!

7)I DJ'ed with Mr Oizo for All Day Breakfast and after my set Mr Oizo was up, as I started to leave the DJ booth he shouted 'where do you think you're going? lets party!' and thrust a bottle of Champagne in my hands which we drunk (from the bottle!) together throughout his set.

Errors

Earlier this week I went to see 65Days Of Static with friends. 65DOS were on top form as per usual but we've covered them before on here so in this entry i'm going to focus on Errors, the main support for 65DOS.

Glasgow's Errors, signed to the Mogwai owned label Rock Action are one of those bands I'd heard little bits of before this gig, I think i'd also seen one of their video's on MTV 2's '120 Minutes' program and although I thought those bits and pieces were good, they had never really grabbed my attentsion long enough for a proper listen. Tonight however, I had 30 minutes to get properly acquainted with the band.

Watching a very nervous looking band enter the stage for the first time I could almost feel a let down coming on, and they got off to a shakey start of fuzzy electronic noises mixed with what can only be described as half-arsed psuedo-post rock noodling's, I was almost ready to retire to the bar three minutes into their set.

However, i'm glad I stuck with it because however shakey the opening track was the rest of the set did not disapoint whatsoever. If I had to compare them to other bands I would say Errors are like a combination of The Field (check out From Here We Go Sublime, on Kompakt Records) with their warm and emotive electronica mixed with equal parts of Mogwai-esque post rock and The Faint's electroclash noise. One thing I do have a gripe about though is that Errors tracks just don't seem long enough; just as I was starting to find my groove with some of the tracks played later in their set they finished. It was a real shame.

You should have a listen to them at http://weareerrors.com

a couple of top 10's and a little rant about a bad record

Its been a silly amount of time since I've written in here. The reason's being a stupid amount of uni work to do, my job, DJing and going to gigs has left me without anytime to write but enough of the excuses, here's what i've been listening to recently...

Top 10 Long Players

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.

Thrice - The Alchemy Index Volumes 3 & 4 (Air & Earth)

Built To Spill - You In Reverse

Low - Trust

Mastodon - Blood Mountain

William Elliot Whitmore - Songs For The Hopeless

Boris - Pink

Sally Shapiro - Disco Romance

Annuals - Be He Me

Portman - From Here To Your Eyes and Ears

Top 10 Singles

Soulwax - You Can't Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones Cover)

The Juan Maclean - Happy House

Paul Woolford - Knives

The Teenagers - Love No (Tepr Remix)

M83 - Couleurs (Jori Hulkkonen Remix)

Gonzales - Working Together (Boyz Noize Dub)

Crystal Castles/HeartsRevolution - Split 7 Inch

Chaz Jankel - Get Yourself Together (Hercules & Love Affair House Mix)

Rodion - Atala Ride

Mille Caro & Franck Garcia - Dead Souls (Radioslave Long Distance Kiss Remix)

I'm sure you can find links to most of this stuff on hypem if you want to have a preview listen but seriously go out and buy the records and support whatever scene you're into...

Oh and i'm already sick to death of SebastiAn's 'Motor' its absolute tripe! I don't quite know why its been hyped up so much but it really needs to just do one!

What took you so long..?

Its been a long time coming, but was it worth the wait?

Today The Courteeners released their debut album, St Jude, and to be honest, I’ve not been this excited for the release of an album in a long time. We’ve seen Liam come from an acoustic troubadour playing dingy venues around Manchester to selling out venues like the Academy and the Ritz and it makes you fucking proud. Manchester hasn’t had a band that crosses the boundaries into pop with such balls out attitude, touching sensitivity and the ability to craft the kind of hooks that other bands would kill for in a long time. Memories of 1994 and definitely maybe swim to the surface of this particular wreckhead’s couldy head….

But misty eyed reminiscences aside, is St Jude any good? The answer to that is yes, and a little no. Its not perfect, but nothing ever is, it has its flaws, some of the new recordings aren’t quite what was expected, the beach boys-esque backing vocals in Bide your time for instance. Having yelled along to the chorus for so long, its going to take a bit of getting used to, and to be honest Stephen Street has over produced some tracks, theyre slightly too polished but these are niggles rather than major downfalls and are greatly outweighed by hearing tracks like the rogueish How Long and the tear jerking Please Don’t finally laid down on record.

Music aside, its frays lyrics that capture a lot of people, the nearest comparison being Alex Turner, but older & wiser with a few more broken hearts on his sleeve. From delicate acoustic tracks, to balls out monsters like the live favourite Fallowfield Hillbilly, the words are there.

It’s a proud moment when you know the whole country (and the world going off the Japanese import "Here Come the Young Men") are going to be lapping up tales of Picadilly Records & wrecked up nights down the Late Room (before it fucking closed), the appeal in this album goes way beyond the filthy streets of Manchester, its international and intercontinental….

Its difficult to separate the Manc from the reviewer, but in all honesty, this is a great pop album, whether you’re new to the band or have been following them for a while, its well worth buying. Even more worth buying is the limited double CD, with some unreleased early versions of tracks like Acrylic and Cavorting alongside some acoustic tracks like the stunning acoustic version of Bide Your Time for an extra few quid.

The end...

The last ever Robot Soap
26.04.08 @ Cord
9pm til Late + Afterparty
FREE ENTRY

Robot Soap has been running for just short of 2 years now, we've had some amazing times and some amazing guests along the way. We've made some of our best friends because of Robot Soap but the time has come to call it a day and April's Robot Soap is that time.

Helping us celebrate and commiserate in equal measures are Mat Payne and Bob Swans, who together are doing an exclusive laptop battle with all kinds of midi-keyboards and samplers etc and We can't wait. In preparation they both did Robot Soap a mix which can be downloaded for FREE at our blog - http://robotsoap.blogspot.com

This won't be the last you hear from us though...

Gareth and Porl are in the process of setting up a label, Cognitive Records, as well as running Robotic Noise - the live music side of Robot Soap. Our first release will be out in the next couple of months, alongside it will be a compilation of new talent from all genres and showcasing what Cognitive Records is all about. So keep your eyes peeled for those little beauties!

Elliot and Rob will be DJing at some of Manchester's best parties too

I'd just like to personally thank anyone who has ever been to Robot Soap and supported what we've done. We've achieved more than we ever hoped to with it.

Also a huge thanks goes out to:
Radioclit
Mary Ann-Hobbes
Casper C (Fluokids)
Hiem (Crosstown Rebels)
Speculum
Digital Filth
Far From The Dance
Pete Carvell (Disco Slut)
Marco Gianinni (The Warehouse Project)
Dirty Soul Club
Bought In Error (Marcus Connell + Smiffy)
Emma (Chibuku)
Greg Lord (Tribal Sessions)
Hooked DJs
Access DJs
We Are Nice People DJs

and anyone else we've missed for coming down to play at Robot Soap

For one last night - We Are Not Playing Games!

Electroma

Electroma starts this Thursday at Cord Bar (where we host Robot Soap) expect the unexpected from a collective of Manchester's finest DJs - Mat Payne, Bob Swans and Ourselves will be taking the helm and guiding you through a wonderfully magical mystery tour of beeps, bleeps, squeaks and 'oh holy shit, what the fuck was that!?' styles of music.

It all kicks off at 7pm, an early start because no doubt you'll have got out of the office and being gagging to get started with the bank holiday weekend just as soon as possible. I know we are!

Electroma is free, and as far as we're aware there's going to be no better start to the bank holiday, get involved, get a drink, then get on the dancefloor and dance your tits off all night. We might even have a bit of an after party too, ask us on the night for information.

Bugged Out

I was asked to photograph this months Bugged Out! at Sankeys, trying to catch some of the atmosphere in the club on the night. With a line up which included the mighty Erol Alkan and Brodinski, alongside local heroes Slippery People (Naive Melody Residents) I couldn't say no.

Click Thumbnails for full size shots.

If you would like to use these Photographs for any reason please get in touch with me before doing so, all photos are Copyrighted to myself, Gareth Wood.  

Guest mix - Mat Payne

The second of our April guests to give us an exclusive mix is Mat Payne - He's big in Belguim and Justice 'Heart' him (check out his facebook group for photographic proof!)

Here's a quick interview we did with him...

what 4 records have defined your life so far, and why?

The Smurfs All Star Show
I used to own this on vinyl, it was more than likely the first album I owned, I used to love listening to it all the time, I think I must've driven my parents crazy with it, as they ended up getting me my own means of playing music. So I gues it was pretty defining in the fact that I could now listen to my own stuff in my own time, this probably involved my other big record of the time which included the more popular nursery rhyme hits of the time. The cool thing I remeber about it was that it didnt really matter if you listened to it on 33 or 45 as the voixes were chipmunk like anyway...

Public Enemy - Takes a Nation of Millions... / NWA - Staight Outta' Compton
I'm going to get away with having two albums in one here, just for the fact they were both copied onto the same tape (on either side) by a friend of mine at school. I must've been around 88 / 89 I was about 11 at the time. I seem to remember being into the usual stuff kids were into at that time, stuff that was in the charts and on the radio, but took quite an interest in some of the Rap that was being played, stuff like Salt n' Pepa, Wee Pappa Girl Rappers, Bomb the Bass, S Express Etc... I remember getting told that one of the guys had this album that was like the rap in the charts but it had loads of swearing on it, swearing in music? Michael Jackson wasnt doing that on BAD... I really got into both these albums over the summer holidays, they were all about a lifestyle that was very different to the one I was growing up around in the Manchester Suburbs. These two albums completely changed my outlook on what music was and that it wasnt all about boy meets girl and that music existed outside of the charts / the radio.

Stone Roses - Stone Roses
I was forunate to be in Manchester around the time it was the centre of the musical universe, dont expect any tales of pilled up nights at the Hacienda or drunken tales of Spike Island, I was at most only 13 and probably only caught onto it at the back end anyway. I couldnt get enough this album along with others by the likes of The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets and James and I wanted the world to know, cue a stupid haircut, bell bottom jeans and some crazy T-Shirts. I'd say this was probably the first time I felt I belonged to any sort of musical movement, hence the influence. Plus the Indie / Dance crossover appeal would come back to haunt me in later life...

Orbital - Orbital
I had long hair, listened to Pantera, wore Metallica T-Shirts and thought all dance music was terrible, then this album was released...

what role do blogs (like this one) play in your life as a dj?
Its reallyhard to escape from the blog culture, esp. in this line of work. I could argue (and probably have done) for hours about the pros and cons of it all. I'm really against blogs that post up really high quality rips of the latest promos esp. when they dont even bother writing anything about the tune. But love getting bedroom remixes from places such as Palmsout and SBC, there are some real hidden gems out there. Blogs have been great for me too, its crazy to think that my Rainbow Man remix was up on a blog one day and then 48 hours later Goose is playing it out peak time at one of the biggest clubs in Barcelona.

The whole blog mixtape thing astonishes me too, its a great way to get myself promo by doing little excluive mixes for blogs, the first one I did for 'Get Weird Turn Pro' got over 20,000 downloads, thats as many people as go to some Premier League football games all with one of my mixtapes on their PC or IPOD. and to think the Radio Soulwax Volume 2, which is one of the most popular commericial mixe CDs of recent years which everybody I know seems to own or have owned at some point sold around 110,000 copies. I've managed to reach a fifth as many as they did without any cost. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Forget NME or Smash Hits, blogs are the new taste makers, if someone like Fluokids likes what you've done puts in on their blog, thats pretty much as good as getting on the front cover of a magazine...

what are the best and worst things about the manchester scene?
In terms of promoters and DJs, I like how everybody seems to know everybody else and most people get along with each other and play at each others nights. Thats kinda' good and 9 times out of 10 you'll get into places for free as they know you'll do the same for them. Its a proper community vibe and with the exception of a few nights its a real cottage industry. There's some talented DJs out there too, its just weird that not many people seem to get much coverage or gigs outside of the M postcodes...

We've been getting loads of great DJs playing recently although its a bit discouraging for the smaller nights that places like the Warehouse Project and their clubnight are snapping up all the big names, but I've really enjoyed every night out I've had at WHP so they're doing it all right, I'm probably just bitter I've not played their yet, lol! Credit has to go to nights like yourself, P&P (they've done an amazing job) and Sex with Robots for taking chances and getting people over to play.

There's a few nights that seem to get all the press coverage though, I think this needs to be spread out a bit more, yeah they're doing some great nights, but let the public know about the other nights that are doing good things too!

And also the council need to let people advertise their nights a little easier, just look at the case of Tramp, who brought Manchester the early gigs of people like The Klaoxns, Diplo and Justice, they got a £10,500 fine for blu tacking posters to walls and now had called it a day. Its crazy. Plus I bet the council are paying some Pr company an obscene amount of money to attract visitors using 'Manchester's Musical Heritage' as the reason to visit. These small nights / bands are the musical heritage people should be talking about in twenty years time.

what one record is doing it for you more than anything else right now?
At this moment now? Erm, I just got the Bobmo EP on promo, thats alright, I'll probably be bored of it in an hour or so, ha ha!

Brodinski was my hot tip last year and he's really blown up now. France is still doing it for me, although like many people I'm bored of the whole Justicey distortion sound, and the Herve / Sinden thing is starting to grate and is reminding me more and more of Happy Hardcore every day. Hostage, Detboi and Andy George are doing interesting things in this genre though. Yeah WONK is quite massive at the moment isnt it. Jo Whiley's a big fan though :(

I'm quite into Sally Shapiro at the moment, for me its going to all be about ITALO this summer...
I am very excited about the forthcoming Portishead album too.

If you were a biscuit, what type would you be and why?
Can I be one of those variety packs? Family Circle or something like that?

Mat Payne - Robot Soap Mix part 1
Mat Payne - Robot Soap Mix part 2

Tracklisting:
The Whip - Divebomb (Crystal Castles Remix)
D.I.M. - Is You (Brodinski Mix)
Andy George - Big Dipper (Hijack Mix)
The Shoes - America (Brodinski Mix)
Thunderous Olympian - Live As Hell (Olin Dub)
Alter Ego - Why Not!? (Joakim Remix)
Digitalism - Jupiter Room (Erol Alkan Edit)
Bumblebeez - Dr Love (Crookers Remix)
Altern-8 - Frequency (Hostage Remix)
Dead Prez - Hip Hop (Lars Vegas Here We Go Again Remix)
Chemical Brothers - Do It Again (Elektric Cowboy Remix)
Tronik Youth - Laugh Cry Live Die (Grum Remix)
Busy P - Rainbow Man - (Mat Payne 130BPM Edit)
Sonny J - Enfant (Riton Rerub)
Sinden and The Count Of Monte Cristal - Beeper (Fake Blood Remix)
Sinden And Count Of Monte Cristal - We dont give a damn
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars
Dusty Kid - The Twister (Nathan Detroit Edit)
Roman Flugel - Gehts Noch? (Steve Angello Vs Whos Who Mix)
OH SNAP!! - Bill Cosby Sweater (Hostage Remix)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Loud Pipes Remix)
Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar (ft. Au Revoir Simone)
Ladytron - Open Your Heart
Federico Franchi - Cream (Franchi Alternative Mix)
Daft Punk - Prime Time of Your Life (Night Facilities Remix)
Underworld - Boy Boy Boy (Switch Remix)
Robbie Williams - Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight Vocal)
Inner City - Big Fun (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)

Robotic Noise 12.04.08 - Portman, Steer Clear, Dirty Soul Club and Idola

This is the Second Robotic Noise Gig @ The Castle and with it comes an excellent line up:

Portman - www.myspace.com/portmanuk
Having just released a new full length with Pep Rock and Walnut Tree Records, Portman are really on fire right now. Think early Get Up Kids meets The Maple State with a blistering live performance

Steer Clear - www.myspace.com/steerclear
Steer Clear from Belfast will be fresh back from appearances at Texas' SXSW Festival for this tour. Melding intricate pop and emotion with some added rock this band are one to really watch out for right now

Dirty Soul Club - www.myspace.com/dirtysoulclub
Manchester indie rockers Dirty Soul Club make a lovely driving racket with added synths

Idola
This is the Manchester debut for Leeds band Idola, think Mogwai meets 65 Days Of Static

12.04.08 @ The Castle, Oldham St, Manchester
8pm Start

THIS IS A FREE GIG BUT DONATIONS TO COVER THE TOURING BANDS PETROL MONEY WOULD BE GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED

Guest Mix - Bob Swans

In April two good friends of Robot Soap, Bob Swans and Mat Payne, are coming down to do an exclusive laptop battle set for us, in the run up we asked both Bob and Mat to record us a mix and answer a couple of questions... here's the results for Bob Swans!

what 4 records have defined your life so far, and why?
Well this is a strange one,All the music that defines my life is
Far from the dancefloor ,it all takes me back to my Post rock/Indie
musical background,When i used to jam in the school hall with my buddies.
But , as you asked , these are the 4 records that have defined my life so far.

1-Slint-Spiderland (Album)
Simply because it is the greatest piece of music ever commited to vinyl.
I could talk for hours about it,i Mostly turn it up, plug my guitar in
and play along, I can do the whole album start to finish.

2-Tortoise-TNT (Album)
This is a fine blend of post rock,organic,jazz,synth loveliness
All my mates say they sound like Gong, But i dont believe them.

3- Neil Young-Harvest(Album)
Its Neil young(And thurston moore) That made me wanna play guitar so bad.
I still love playing along to Alabama and Needle and the damage done
Another album i could talk about for hours.

4- Pop will eat itself- Cure for sanity (Album)
I used to be all "Rave is shit" until i heard this record
but i was only about 14 so i let myself off!!
A classic lesson on Film sampling and breakbeats

Please feel free to check these out on my recommendation

what role do blogs (like this one) play in your life as a dj?
They are pretty damn important as no one wants to send me promos :)
Mr Payne benefits from them more than me,But i got some productions
in the vault that will probably get sent to some blogs soon.
I like the personal touch of your blog and the diversity too.
I contribute to one http://radionymphoyo.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

what are the best and worst things about the manchester scene?
Although i have been out a number of times in my
first year in this fine city, i have only been to a few nights.
But from what i have seen so far
Best- it dont matter what your into manchester does it
Worst- it does it at about 12 different venues 7 days a week

what one record is doing it for you more than anything else right now?
Easy one! Bogdan Irkuk-The coastal ep

If you were a biscuit, which would you be and why?
I have had the chance to think and i will always be a bourbon biscuit man!!

Bob Swans Teaser Mix - CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!!!

Riva Starr-Bubble
Top Billin-Shake my ass
Dada Life-The great fashionista swindle
Nic Sarno-Elephant
Heavyfeet-Sick like that
Larry tee-I love you(The Bulgarian remix)
The ghost frequency-Never before(Zombie disco squad remix)
Anglo satellite-big black spider (les petits pilous remix)

Musings on the state of cyberspace

Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding,

Reading what Gaz said in the previous post, reminded me of several books, specifically Snow Crash. Its a pretty tongue in cheek cyberpunk classic, not the usual style of say Gibson, but it has some interesting ideas nonetheless. One being what is pretty much identical to what second Life has become. The Strip. A virtual sphere with real estate on it, shops, the lot, that people buy, trade in, and generally live out virtual lives in parallel to their own in RL (real life).

The same idea was expanded a few years later with Tad Willams' Otherland Quadrilogy. Still one of the most amazing epics I've had the pleasure of reading. The idea's presented in this series of books are like nothing I'd ever read before on the VR/Tech scale. Whole worlds, clubs and lives in VR, coupled with the Otherland Network itself, something that really does make the reader think. Where anything is possible, life never ends and the price people are willing to pay for such privileges. the sheer scale of Otherland is mind boggling, politics, social commentary, future-tech, its well worth looking into.

Which draws us back to where it all began, with William Gibsons concept of Cyberpsace, something were all now familiar with, something we experience every day, a household phrase. What was once future-tech conjecture is now science fact, who knows whats just beyond the horizon, to quote what was once Motoko Kusanagi;

"And where do I go now? The 'Net is vast and limitless"

Other resources worth looking at include;

Silver Screen - Justina Robertson
Serial Experiments: Lain
Ghost in the Shell
Neuromancer - William Gibson

Second Life

Friday night was another good Robot Soap, a bit quieter than usual but I'll put that down to a few factors like the weather and not being on our usual night - so regulars couldn't make it down. Eitherway we still had a great little party. I'd like to say thanks to Mark Stacy (Glitch) for coming down and playing a few tunes. Also big thanks go out to those who did make it down in such awful weather conditions!

If you've been following this blog you will already know that we broadcast this months Robot Soap live on Second Life, and having done only a little bit of research I think (correct me if i'm wrong) we were the first club-night in Manchester to broadcast on Second Life live and direct.

This got me thinking about the nesscessity of 'real' clubs and if they too will slow down - like the sale of CD's and Vinyl due to the rise of MP3's and peer to peer sharing. It struck me as an odd thing that people were sat inside, probably alone, in a virtual world when they could be out in a real club with real people to meet and socialise with. Will this become the norm? Will people be constantly be switched into their own computers and social networking sites rather than socialising in the real world. I don't know, nor can I speculate on such things because these things are evolving so quickly.

musing's aside here's some of the tracks played on the night:

Tiefschwarz - Ghost Track (Shonky Remix)

Duke Dumont - Lean and Bounce

Hercules And Love Affair - This Is My Love

Underworld - Boy, Boy, Boy (Switch Remix)

Crystal Castles - Alice Practice

Coming up soon we have two exclusive guest mixes from Mat Payne and Bob Swans, who are both playing at Robot Soap in April. I've heard the Mat Payne mix and it's a belter, you should look forward to it!

Sing me to sleep

Its only 12.39pm and i’m already having a pretty terrible day. My girlfriend and I have just broken up and as usual the only thing I can find solace in is music. This is why I love music so much, it can say everything my heart would like to – the things I can’t find the words to say or the emotions to express myself. It’s a release, and it’s quite often my only release.

Despite what you’re thinking this isn’t a negative entry, it’s positive because I’ve always got, and always will have music and it’s in times like this I appreciate it even more than normal.

In the immortal words of The Smiths:

Sing me to sleep

Sing me to sleep

I’m tired and I want to go to bed

Sing me to sleep

Sing me to sleep

And then leave me alone

Don’t try to wake me in the morning

cause I will be gone

Don’t feel bad for me

I want you to know

Deep in the cell of my heart

I will feel so glad to go

There is a better world

Well, there must be

Incidentally, as far as i’m concerned Asleep is the only good Smiths song but it is very, very good.

The Smiths - Asleep

Power Ballad Saturday 01

Here at Robot Soap HQ we have a little bit of a sense of humor and for the last few Saturday's I've been waking Elliot up on a saturday morning with selection of power ballads, the cheesier the better!

I refrained from waking Elliot up this Saturday because I was starting to fear for my life a little after the last time, so here we are with the first, in possibly a series of blog entries simply titled 'Power Ballad Saturdays'.

This weeks choice pick is Roxette's 'It Must Have Been Love (But It's Over Now)' as featured in the 'classic' film Pretty Woman. I remember my mum saying 'this is the song that makes the film' I think she was right.

Roxette - It Must Have Been Love

Roxette FACT:

The Song 'It Must Have Been Love' was originally called It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted) but was edited for the Pretty Woman Soundtrack. 9 Million copies of this track have been sold worldwide.

Seconds From Nothing - Finally a new mix!

Seconds From Nothing February Mix - You Break Me, You Break Me Down

I've just recorded this mix without any thought apart from 'I'm going to record a mix tonight'. Its a selection of new and old records that I just kept digging from the box at the side of my decks. Its a bit rough around the edges at times but I'm happy with it for a quick mix. Enjoy...

1) Turntablerocker - I Heard You Were Dead

2) Poni Hoax - Antibodies (Chateau Flight Remix)

3) Gucci Soundsystem - aCarpenter

4) Simon Baker - Full Range

5) Apparat - Arcadia (Boys Noize Version)

6) Burnski - Get Dum

7) Layo & Buskwacka - Life2Live (Green Velvet Remix)

8) Jori Hulkkonen - Enter The Fear

9) Claude Von Stroke - Deep Throat

10) Tiefschwarz - Ghost Track

Bonus:

11) Franz Ferdinand - All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem Cover)

Click Here To Download

Get back to bed...

It's very late on a rather cold Sunday/Monday night/early Morning. I'm back on the otherside of the Pennines and for some reason i miss my adopted city, and the people that are there. I'm fully aware that i have a dentist appointment tomorrow too, and yet i cant wait to go and sit in a waiting room, waiting for my mouth to be poked and maybe x-rayed, if i'm lucky that is.

Currently infront of me is a tv, with the adverts for late night phone lines, so far i've heard the jingles for hot babes, lonely wives and virgin teens. Its a bit of a desperate time when you need to give them a ring, thats what i think anyways. So in order to get these theme tunes out of my head i cracked open my itunes to have a listen to some tunes. Here's a few of what i dug up, 

Pulp - Dishes (zshare)

Skream - Midnight Request Line (zshare)

New Order - Thieves Like Us (instrumental) (zshare)

Mice parade - Galileo (zshare)

2 more for today

Lindstrom – Late Night Tales

This really is a lovely compilation and mix CD from Lindstrom. It’s been in and out of my CD player for a fair while now and while at first I was a bit disappointed with it, it has definitely grown on me to the point I see it a bit like an old friend of mine, slowing bringing me round on a hungover morning with a decent cuppa and a bacon sandwich.

Highlights include Carly Simon, Todd Terje & Prins Thomas but the stand out track for me is Lindstrom & Solale’s ‘Let it Happen’ (Vangelis Cover), a track that throb’s throughout chugging along with twisted deep house melodies. It makes me think of the dark and sweaty basement parties I used to attend a few years ago. Let It Happen seems to spiral away from you only to bring back the beat at that crucial moment.

Carly Simon - Why (12 Inch Mix)

Anja Garbarek - I Won't Hurt you

Band of Horses – Everything All the Time

I was talking to this about this to a friend the other day who asked me how I’d describe Band of Horses’ music my reply was ‘The Choruses of The Shins mixed with a little bit of spazzy weirdness of Modest Mouse’ and I’ll stand by that description. 

I first listened to Band Of Horses while playing SKATE on the PS3, their track Funeral features on the games soundtrack and I really enjoyed it, forcing me to go hunt out more music by the band. This is a great album and its been accompanying me on train rides to see my girl.

Band Of Horses - Funeral

Band Of Horses - St Augustine

a special mention should also go out to, the now defunct, Something Corporate. Their nine and a half minute epic story of love, loss and dreams known as Konstantine has been getting more than a few plays recently. 

I really don't like Something Corporate but this is a great song, and it very nearly ended up in the entry below for more than a couple of reasons.

Something Corporate - Konstantine

25 into 15

I was reading earlier this week that its 25 years since Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Came out, a track that pre-dates my entire life by a whole year but the artist whose track it is played an influential part on my life back in the day because Jacko’s ‘Bad’ was the first tape I was ever given as a kid at age nine.

This is all one big tenuous link so that I can post the tracks that have defined my life in the last 15 years, I’d like to point out not all these tracks came out in the years I’m posting them in – They were just tracks that defined that year.

I've tried to find links for all of these, unfortunately i've been unsuccesful for a couple.

Age 9/1993 – Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror
This was my favourite Track from Bad, and like i’d previously mentioned I loved this album, it was the first proper cassette I owned, up til that point I’d just stolen my mum and dads tapes.

Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson

Age 10/1994 – Oasis – Cigarettes and Alcohol
I think listening to my cousins mixtapes warped my mind a little bit – he was putting acid house on there before I even had a clue what acid house was but this track always stuck out to me because of its attitude and rawness. Its a shame this was the only good album Oasis made.

Oasis – Cigarettes and Alcohol

Age 11/1995 – Blur – Charmless Man
I got my first ever CD player at the Christmas of 1994 but up til Blur’s The Great Escape album was released I spent most of my time still buying cassette singles. This is the best track from that album and it makes me very happy every time I hear it now. Its even managed to sneak into more than a couple of my sets at Robot Soap, always to a fantastic reception.

Blur – Charmless Man

Age 12/1996 – Meatloaf – I’d Do Anything For Love But I Won’t Do That
Yeah, this is cheesy but I don’t care. I love it for the memories attached to it. It also has one of my most embarrassing memories attached to it but that deserves a separate blog post all of its own... watch this space!

Meatloaf – I’d Do Anything For Love But I Won’t Do That

Age 13/1997 – NOFX – Liza And Louise
When you’re thirteen a song about two lesbians with the line ‘i’ll never forget the first time you kissed me, now i’m ready for you to fist me’ is the funniest thing in the entire world. I first heard this on one of my favourite compilations ever – Punk-o-Rama 3. I heard a lot of the bands that went on to be firm favourites of mine for the time ever on that compilation.

Age 14/1998 – The Offspring – The Kids Aren’t Alright
Its all about the guitar riff of this song, well that and the ‘woa-oh’s – proper pop punk perfection.

Age 15/1999 – Busta Rhymes – Extinction Level Event (Song Of Salvation)
This track, the title track of Busta’s Rhymes 1999 album made me jump around like a loon for a long time. It reminds of spending hours every night and every weekend skating the away with this playing along on our dodgy little ghetto-blaster covered in stickers.

Age 16/2000 – Underworld – Dark And Long
I saw trainspotting for the first time and aside from Blondie’s Atomic this track was the only one that really stuck with me, mainly because of THAT scene but also because it’s still one of the best techno records ever committed to vinyl.

Age 17/2001 – Jimmy Eat World – For Me This Is Heaven
Clarity, Jimmy Eat Worlds third album, is my favourite album of all time and this is my favourite track off that album. As far as i’m concerned its seven minutes of faultlessly good rock music.

Jimmy Eat World – For Me This Is Heaven

Age 18/2002 – Dugong – People Like You Are Hard To Find
Dugong, as I mentioned when we first started this blog defined an era for me. The Eastmoor Rules is the best album to ever come out of Wakefield. This is the music The Cribs only wish they could make. Proper solid pop rock, in the vein of early Get Up Kids. Bombed Out, the label this was released on is now unfortunately defunct but at the time it was releasing the best music from the UK which sadly went un-listened to by the mass population.

Age 19/2003 – Give Up The Ghost/American Nightmare – There’s A Black Hole In The Shadow Of The Pru
As Dugong defined a calmer time in my life, Give Up The Ghost defined the more erratic side of me. Proper hardcore punk, with proper 2 minute long songs and great lyrics to boot. Again, its a shame this band have already split up. I loved them.

Age 20/2004 – The Horrorist – One Night In NYC
Without this track there would be no Robot Soap. This track kickstarted my love of Techno, along with Sankeys and Tribal Sessions. Twisted and very, very dark this track is something special.

Age 21/2005 – Sigur Ros – Ny Batteri
I’d been listening to Sigur Ros’ ( ) album for ages by the time I came across this. The bassline drags you through one of the most emotional pieces of nearly instrumental music I’ve ever heard. At the time I couldn’t get enough of it and a a spark of love for the track has been reignited by Heima, The Sigur Ros film.

Sigur Ros – Ny Batteri

Age 22/2006 – Nathaniel Green – Down To You Then Supergirl
Nathaniel Green were a side project by a member of Dugong and Pylon. They made acoustic pop music which delights me every time I hear them. It’s as northern as music comes without ever being too much.

Nathaniel Green - Handwriting (The track I talk about here is unavailable but give this a listen)

Age 23/2007 – LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
If you haven’t heard this already, why not? Its probably one of the best pop songs ever written and I mean ‘ever.

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Age 23-24/2008 – Best track/album this year so far – Tunng – Bullets
I cannot get enough of the bouncy intertwined melodies and the hookiest of choruses that make up this track. It makes me smile and bounce around a little bit every time I hear it. lovely stuff.

Tunng - Bullets

There’s hundreds more of tracks I could have placed in these positions but the best thing about writing this blog entry has been rediscovering a bunch of bands/artists I don’t listen to anymore, that are not even mentioned on this list. Bands/artists like; My Vitriol, Fig 4.0, Joe Ninety, Planes Mistaken For Stars, ALL, MXPX, Split Lip, The Gloria Record, Pylon, Cable, Send More Paramedics, November Coming Fire, Grade... The list goes on and on!

Love Will Tear Us Apart

With ten minutes of valentines day left i've decided to post a link to the only cover of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart worth listening to. Make of that what you will but this is a truly outstanding reworking of one of Joy Division's otherwise untouchable classic tracks.

Susanna And The Magical Orchestra - Love Will Tear Us Apart

jolly music

Since i first heard this track, or rather watched the video, it's bought a really nice smile to my face. Elle S'appelle (apart from a name that doesn't start with "The" which has become the law with most new British bands these days) will be on the the Bosspop tour in 2008. Keep an eye out for them.

Elle S'appelle - Little Flames (zshare)

bien...

Air have always been a great passion of mine to listen to since high school. I heard some classic tracks of the french duo over the weekend and it  got the old memory cogs moving again. Summertime back in the hometown, driving along roads, pulling up to ice cream vans and devouring mr whippy's. 

here is some Charlotte Gainsbourg, wh Air produces, and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp fame writes. Her album "555" is pretty fantastic , i'd invest in a copy if i didn't have one.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Songs That We Sing (zshare)

Its late... but strange...

"when you hear the first few moments, you worry, but give it a couple of minutes and it makes sense..."

Scout Niblett

There's nothing much to say really, just listen and enjoy.

Scout Niblett - Kiss (zshare)

wipeout and me

For those who know me, they know i enjoy playing videogames, the Wipeout series being one of them. Apart from looking amazing  for the time, both with style and actual gameplay, the soundtracks were THE soundtrack for dance at the time. I've been playing alot of Wip3out this evening, here are some bits and bobs from the soundtrack.

Sasha - Xpander (zshare)

Chemical Brothers - Under The Influence (zshare)

Underworld - Kittens (zshare)

i'm Hercules

More of a Guilty Pleasure for myself, Hercules And Love Affair, stationed on DFA and EMI Records, are certainly worth keeping and eye on. Its a rather extravagant track to say the least, but it makes a nice change to hear something a little bit, erm, what's the word... glamourous

For those who prefer a little less disco in their lives, try the club version

Hercules And Love Affair - Blind

Hercules And Love Affair - Blind (Hercules Club Version)