Super Flight and heavy Hercules

First of all, a quick apology for the lack of updates recently. As some of you may know, things have been a bit hectic at Tricky Disco HQ, what with numerous best before: parties, work commitments and an office move. Things have calmed down a bit now, though, so expect a rash of bits and pieces soon - interviews, new mixes (at last) and random reviews of interesting new music.

Saturday night saw a big joint best before: & UFO event down at Timbuk2 in Bristol, with Chateau Flight's Gilb'R headlining on his first visit to the West Country. Thanks to all those who braved filthy weather to make it down (and there were plenty of you!) – it was a memorable party with fantastic moments aplenty. Gilb'R himself was superb, showcasing his undisputed skills as a DJ with a set that impressed our resident house and techno nerds and kept an initially reticent dancefloor happy for the full two hours. The number of "randoms" made his job harder, but he overcame it by seamlessly moving between deep tackle, techier bits, European techno, Detroitian sounds and some springy, Fulton-esque offerings. He varied his pace and never went full throttle – something that always impresses those of us who think you don't have to bash things out to get the dancefloor going. Gilb'R seemed to enjoy himself, and hopefully went back to Paris with a favourable impression of Bristol.

Elsewhere, there were brilliant second room sets from some our favourite local DJs - Andy Clarkson (whose P-Funk/electrofunk/Miami bass selection was inspired), Powercut & Lingo (perhaps Bristol's best funk and hip-hop DJs these days, and that's some feat) and Joe Hart. The latter's set was a particular delight, since he managed to keep a rammed room dancing like mental freaks to some of the most obscure freestyle, Miami bass and stone cold electro around. Once he'd done our own Kelly Twins took over, smashing the place up with a pure party set that was a joy from start to finish. I was practically sober (it's a long story) but was jumping around all over the place. Legendary Tone was loving it, too - and it was his birthday (though he kept it quiet). Happy birthday boss!

A good night all round, then. We do it all again this Friday at the Bank, this time with a couple more of our friends from Bristol's club scene. Freejive main man Jambo and Seen/Club Dave heavyweight El Harvo (fresh from supporting Crazy P out in Australia) are the guest selectors ready to make the pub rock. It should be fun.

There's also the small matter of our Bank Holiday Sunday bash at Timbuk2 on May 4th. We can now officially confirm that our guests of honour will be Tricky Disco faves Hercules & Love Affair. Before you ask it's not the band - it's main man Andy Butler with one of his trademark DJ sets. He's a great selector with a fantastic record collection (he counts Derrick Carter and Daniel Wang amongst his musical mentors, so you'd expect nothing less), and I know he's looking forward to finding out just how fun and raucous it can get in Bristol. He'll be moving from disco to acid house while throwing in all sorts of other weird and wonderful delights. Expect big things! Completing the line-up are under_score's Placid, Byte's Al Dare, Bernie & James L from Wonky/Wriggle, and the usual best before: residents.

Tickets for that one are on sale now priced £7 plus booking fee. They're available from Bristol Ticket Shop, either from their store at the Galleries in Broadmead or online.

TD Rants: The Observer Music Monthly

Is there any more frustrating music publication than the Observer Music Monthly? I'd argue not. While knee-jerk reaction bibles like the NME have always been upfront about their preference for the new over the old, the OMM likes to pretend it's both down with the kids and up with the dads (or should that be the other way round?). The result is an awkward mix of Q/Mojo style dad band interviews (U2, for the umpteenth time), genuinely weighty music journalism, Guardianista coverage of urban music ("wow, this new thing called dubstep is amazing" etc) and the odd blast of I-D/Face-ish Nathan Barley-ism.

Of course, we'd expect nothing less from a magazine that comes with a Sunday newspaper, whose audience spans several generations (students and teens at one end of the scale, aging baby boomers at the other). But that still doesn't excuse its poor coverage of dance music, which it seems to see - like many mainstream music publications - as devoid of musical merit. On the rare occasions the OMM does cover dance/electronic music, it usually does so badly. Witness Miranda Sawyer's rambling nu-rave rant last year, which started off by defending dance music (making similar points to this piece, ironically) before wandering off into a celebration of the throwaway nature of dance music. Damming with feint praise, basically. Aside from these sorts of opinion pieces and the odd review, electronic music is pretty much ignored - unless, of course, they can get some pictures of Shoreditch teens wearing silly clothes out of it. Touche.

It was interesting to note that yesterday's edition of the OMM proudly predicted that 2008 would see "the return of the Bristol sound". Their justification for all this, of course, was their cover feature with Portishead. On the back of the release of their forthcoming album - and those by Tricky and Massive Attack - the OMM boldly predicted a big year for "the Bristol sound".

There is no doubt that all those album releases are big news, and it is great that Bristol's most famous artists are returning, but the city has not been a haven for stoned trip-hop producers - or even particularly hip-hop producers - for the last half decade at least. If the Observer Music Monthly did some digging, they'd find that the Bristol scene is as healthy and vibrant as it's ever been - and that no-one sound dominates. Our dubstep producers - most notably Pinch, Appleblim and Peverelist - are renowned the world over, the city's techno community is thriving (see Emptyset and others), we boast some of the best grime and garage DJs and MCs around (Joker, Blazey) and drum & bass is still big news. Hell, we've even got a small but dedicated community of disco nerds.

2008 does feel like a big year for Bristol, but it's not because of a few million-selling artists who haven't released records in donkeys. It's because we have some of the most exciting, up and coming producers around, a gaggle of dedicated DJs and promoters, and a massive student population. If anyone from the OMM is reading this, we'll happily fill you in - come on down to Bristol and we'll show you around.

Jamie Lidell: I'll have a dance please, Jim

I don’t think I’m alone in getting all hot under the collar at the prospect of new albums from this century’s kings of dancefloor soul, Jamie Lidell and Plantlife. Both’s sophomore sets are scheduled for release in April, making Spring 2008 potentially a vintage season for hot new elpees (you can also look forward to albums from Maurice Fulton - under his Syclops guise - Hercules & Love Affair, the Juan MacLean and Kelley Polar).

Imagine my excitement, then, when both the Plantlife and Jamie Lidell sets landed at Tricky Disco Towers this morning? Helpfully our office CD player is on the blink, so I’ve spent the last few hours with my headphones on and the volume cranked up, submerging myself in the deep fried funk, high octane soul and P-funk flavas of two of dance music’s most remarkable talents.

We’ll start with Lidell’s ‘Jim’, which is due for release on April 28th on Warp Records. It’s a truly remarkable set, full of unashamedly euphoric songs – the kind that make you want to jump out of your seat, punch the air and sing along at high volume with a pained, Stevie Wonder-ish look on your face.

Opening with the positive soul vibration of ‘Another Day’ (think ‘Multiply’ with gospel choirs), Lidell works his way through a string of piano-heavy, hands-in-the-air retro-soul anthems. There’s the ‘Waiting In Vain’ goes Blues Brothers throwdown of ‘Wait For Me’, the orgasmic funk build of ‘Out Of My System’ and the stomping funk rock wig-out that is ‘Hurricane’. As is traditional, Lidell gets his Prince on for the P Funk-and-piano jam ‘Figure Me Out’, a strutting peacock of a track that sounds like it came straight out of Paisley Park in the mid ’80s. Only better.

Of course, it’s not all about tub-thumping Motown-ish screamers. Lidell shows his sensitive side with the superb ‘All I Wanna Do’, perhaps his most heart-achingly sweet track yet. Even better is ‘Rope Of Sand’, a track so atmospheric and melancholic it’ll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It’s almost painfully beautiful, and the perfect end to a dazzling sophomore set. Lidell is already something of a star, but ‘Jim’ could send him stellar – it’s a wonderful set.

As for Plantlife, expect some thoughts on that in the next few days. With 19 tracks covering a myriad of styles, it takes a few listens to get a handle on. I can tell you that it's a belter, though - definitely one to keep an eye out for come April.

Peace dance

There was much merriment at Tricky Disco Towers when we heard about ‘Computer Incarnations For World Peace 2’, Sonar Kolektiv’s timely follow-up to last year’s superb collection of obscure prog disco and experimental electronic oddities. This time round, compiler Gerd Jansen has swapped vintage ’70s and ’80s electro oddities for contemporary nu-disco, cosmic and Balearica. In this regard, ‘Computer Incarnations…2’ is more of a companion piece than a straight follow-up.

Still, the tracklist is certainly tasty, with the mouth-watering prospect of rare and unreleased material from the likes of Todd Terje, Prins Thomas, Chateau Flight (who will be making their Bristol debut at best before: at the end of March), Maurice Fulton (coming our way in April) and recent TAPE guest Mark E.

Since it landed on our desks this morning, we’ve had the finished CD on almost constant rotation. As you’d expect, it’s a lovely collection – once again Gerd Jansen has put together a set that will appeal to both disco newbies and fully paid-up Balearic beards (only the most obsessive of nerds will have the vast majority of material here). Craftily, he’s found space for some relatively big records – in nu-disco/Balearic circles, at least – in the shape of Smith & Mudd’s ‘Shulme’, Ray Mang’s ‘To & Fro’, Danny Wang & Brennan Green’s largely forgotten 2002 remix of Crazy P’s ‘Keep On’, and Woolfy’s brilliant ‘Odyssey’, one of the best things released by Rong in 2007.

These underground “beard anthems” nestle side by side with a selection of real exclusives – a string of unreleased and suitably obscure cuts that are worth the admission price alone. Mark E’s ‘Fighter’ is the sort of track the bespectacled Brummie is becoming renwoned for – long, loping, atmospheric and subtly euphoric. It’s not in the same league as his forthcoming release on Internasjonal (the brilliant ‘Good Times’), but it’s still pretty darn hot.

Another of the exclusives comes from Tricky Disco’s fave Swiss producer, Alex Storrer AKA Lexx. His ‘Mahogany’ instrumental feels like a logical extension of his recent uber-Balearic ‘Axis Shift’ single, all bubbling German house synths, subtle disco guitars, sunset kys, dubby basslines and music box melodies. Wonderful stuff.

Perhaps the most high profile of the unreleased tracks is that by Versat'ile Records’ Chateau Flight. Ironically, it’s perhaps the most pedestrian of the lot. Trippy, chugging and hypnotic with appregiated synth meldoies aplenty, it sounds like cosmic disco for the afterhours generation. It's not bad by any means, but they've done better.

Away from the exclusives and “big hitters”, there are plenty of highlights. Todd Terje & Prins Thomas’s ‘Reinbågan’ is arguably the compilation’s stand out track. For those who don’t own one of the 60 12” copies supposedly in existence (that includes us, by the way), it’s a fantastic dub disco cover of Cloud One’s disco classic ‘Don’t Let My Rainbow Pass Me By’ complete with anthemic piano flourishes, deliciously dubby beats and On-U-Sound style harmonica. Thankfully it’s one of the tracks Sonar Kollektiv have picked for the ‘Compter Incarnations For World Peace 2’ 12” sampler, so all us vinyl junkies can finally own a copy. Hurrah!

Almost as good – and also destined for the 12” sampler – is Project Sandro’s ‘Blazer’, a marimba-tastic nu-disco epic that’s so Scandolearic it should move to Oslo and call itself Rune. I have to admit not coming across it before, though apparently it came out in 2005 on L.A’s Sentrall Records. Incidentally, another Sentrall track appears on ‘Computer Incarnations… 2’ – Maurice Fulton’s typically dreamy/walking bass-heavy remix of Rollmottle’s ‘Take A Break’. It’s good, too, though followers of Fulton may feel a little short-changed; he might be a genius, but he might want to thinking about writing some new basslines.

Throw in a dash of Balearic disco-pop from Frontera (their chill out comp-friendly cover of the classic ‘Walking In The Rain’) and San Serac and a wonderful Al Usher tune (‘Lullaby For Robert’, which I somehow managed to miss when it was released a couple of years back) and you’ve got another essential collection of electronic disco oddities. Good work Gerd.

Expect to see ‘Computer Incarnations For World Peace 2’ in record shops around April time.

TONIGHT: Freevive & best before: @ Dojo, Bristol

Just a quick heads up for those in Bristol with regards to a little party we're putting on with our friends from Freejive. To celebrate their first birthday, they've invited us to share the billing and give their always excellent party the best before: treatment.

Myself and Five-Stylez have fond memories of Freejive from our appearance there before Christmas, where we treated them to the most incendiary Thumbs Aloft live set yet. Back then we played a deliciously energetic mix of disco, funk, breaks, hip-hop and anything else that kept the party going. The reaction was good, especially to MC Coherent's mic hype. This time round I'm flying solo, alongside the rest of the best before: crew - Legendary Tone, Puffin Jack, Richard Carnage and The Kelly Twins, who'll be celebrating their birthday by treating us to one of their legendary party sets. You can expect the usual array of dancefloor goodness, from obscure dub disco, nu-disco, electrofunk and Italo to acid house, techno wrongness, random rock, pointless pop and much, much more. Freejive ressies Jambo and Louie add their deck skills in the warm-up and end of night slots. This all takes place at Dojo Lounge on Park Row, starting at 10.30pm and going on until 6am. Bring it on!

This weekend also sees the return of our fave Sunday night session, Normalise. This time round, Luke Malcher, Puffin Jack and Harry Glazebrook have decided to swap to a Saturday at Cosies (Portland Square, Bristol). Expect the usual odd but brilliant selection of tunes, from slo-mo techno and "sugar time" grooves to psych rock and 60s garage. Our old pal Andy Clarkson is amongst the guests.

To get you in the mood for a party, here's a selection of things that have been rocking Tricky Disco Towers of late…

1. The Rolling Stones - Miss You [Special Disco Version] (Decca)
2. Chromeo - Needy Girl [Lifelike Mix] (Backyard CD-R)
3. The Juan Maclean - Happy House (DFA)
4. Goldfrapp - A&E [Hercules & Love Affair Remix] (Mute CD-R)
5. Hercules & Love Affair - You Belong (DFA)
6. The Paul Simpson Connection - Use Me, Lose Me [Dub Me] (Streetwise)
7. Starshine - All I Need Is You [Instrumental] (Prelude)
8. Yazoo - Satisfaction [Us 12" Remix] (Mute)
9. The Flying Sapphire - Untitled 1 to 3 (Internasjonal CD-R)
10. Ajello - Over The Sky EP (Deep Freeze CD-R)

Kelley Polar: All Around Is Elysium

When former Julliard School of Music graduate Kelley Polar first appeared on our radar back in the early noughties, it would be fair to say very few people were taking notice. Initially known as "that guy who does the strings for Metro Area", Polar began to make a name for himself thanks to a series of inspired EPs on Morgan Geist's Environ imprint. These were truly wonderful concoctions, full of grandiose but understated space-disco with brilliant string arrangements and an aloof, off-kilter feel.

Then came his debut album, the delightful 'Love Songs Of The Hanging Gardens'. Taking his love of vintage electronics, cosmic imagery and studious classicism to new levels, it showed Polar - real name Mike Kelley - to be an artist more than adept at making understated, intergalactic pop. It quite rightly earned him a reputation as a 'one in a million' producer - one whose take on music was different to almost everyone else on the planet. Praise was more than forthcoming, not least from yours truly, who used the pages of iDJ magazine to predict that Polar would "become one of the most celebrated talents of the modern disco era".

Yet since the release of 'Love Songs' in December 2005, we've not heard much from the acclaimed violist. Bar the brilliant 'Chrysanthemum' single – and accompanying dancefloor-friendly 'Rosenband' remix - last summer, all has been quiet on the Polar front. There was also, of course, a remarkable remix of Caribou's 'She's The One' – the sort of record that no doubt confused as many people as it delighted (for the record, we think it's brilliant). That, though, has pretty much been it in recent times.

Soon all that will change and Kelley Polar's profile will rise dramatically, thanks to the imminent release of his second album, 'I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling'. And this time, people might just get it.

Certainly, 'I Need You To Hold On…' is another superb piece of work. It further develops Kelley's widescreen, cosmic vision whilst showcasing a newly-sharpened pop sensibility. At times, it it deliciously out-there and experimental; opener 'A Feeling Of The All-Thing', for example, is one of his most adventurous tracks yet, an other-worldly fusion of whispered vocoder vocals, disembodied operatic wailing and bubbling electronics - all cut through by those trademark strings. 'Zeno Of Elea' is equally eccentric – a beatless electronic journey layered with his unique harmonies and an oddly-confident vocal. See also the weightless rush of 'A Dream In Three Parts (On Themes By Ernesco)' and the eerie star-gazing of 'Thurston & Grisha'.

Yet for all the neo-classical electronic experimentalism, there are also moments of pure pop genius. See the sharp, dancefloor-centric duet 'Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City)' (a tribute to a "party without end", it's Kelley at his most Arthur Russell-esque - though since Russell was a cellist, Kelley may take issue with that comparison), the previously-mentioned 'Chyrsanthemum', 'Rosenband' and, most gloriously, the seven-minute 'Satellites'. It's here that Polar momentarily turns soul singer, emotionally opening his heart to the woman (or man) of his dreams ("you keep me waiting… and I could wait forever"). With a careful bit of spit and polish and the odd nip and tuck, it could be a bona fide dancefloor slayer. Also worth mentioning is the glistening 'Sea Of Sine Waves', which sounds like Brian Wilson's 'Our Prayer' as played by the Cantina Band in Star Wars. Sort of.

Certainly, 'I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling' is an album you'll be hearing a lot more about before it's March 31st release. Quite rightly, too; if there's a better leftfield electronic pop album this year, I'll be surprised.

Kelly Polar's 'I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling' is released by Environ on March 31. Watch this space for a special feature celebrating 13 years of Environ Records.

Tricky DiscoMix: Piece DJs - More Music From Merkin Manor

Here's a little musical bonus for you all in the shape of another instalment of the 'Merkin Manor' mixtape series. This one was recorded live last night and features a mixture of wonky techno, deep house, Balearic bits, Italo and electro. It was put together on the fly by myself and the Kelly Twins - AKA The Piece DJs. The recording went a bit spazzy towards the end (something to do with the rubbish old CD recorder we use) so I've faded it out. We've attached the original final track - a brilliant unreleased gem from Hiem and Roots Manuva - as a sort of reprise.

Full tracklist to come, but expect nuggets from Keytronics Ensemble, Bodycode, Future Beat Investigators (edited by Dixon), Ed Chamberlain, Alex Under, I:Cube, Human League, Charlie, Klein & MBO and DMX Crew.

Download 'Sell By Dave & The Kelly Twins: More Music From Merkin Manor' from Sendspace >>