POST CATEGORY : Remixes

BarryGruff Playlist August 2015

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A now regular monthly feature, whereby we round up all the blog action with a nice, neat and handy playlist of tracks featured during the month.

August was pretty damn good! We had new tunes from Anderson, The Foetals, The Annulments and DRINKS ahead of their respective, forthcoming new albums. There were excellent new singles from SALES, Cornershop, Imploded View, Foreign/National and Silverbacks, and EPs from Mr Huw & Dog Legs. Oh, and Johnny Feeney shared his albums of the year so far too.

Also featured on this month’s playlist are great tracks from Martha Ffion, Sh-Shakes, SQRD, BUCK, and Ghost Culture’s, Ghostpoet remix . So, August, pretty good alright.

Listen to BarryGruff’s August 2015 playlist below.

Ghostpoet – ‘Sorry My Love, It’s You Not Me’ (Ghost Culture Remix)

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As much as Ghostpoet’s – London-based Obaro Ejimiwe – talent and skills are without question, his style tends to lend itself to a darker, more morose tone.

Stepping in on remix duties, London producer Ghost Culture, demonstrates his wizardry, serving us with an exquisite re-framing of Ghostpoet’s enormously bittersweet current single, ‘Sorry My Love, It’s You Not Me’, from his most recent LP, Shedding Skin. It is a refreshing, upbeat synth-lead rework, with Ghost Culture injecting plenty of bounce, rhythmic energy and some serious pep-to-its-step. A sprawling six-minute plus thing of wonder, that builds and builds, through world of cool grooves with all the clinical precision, delicious crispness and burbling synthesizers that make Ghost Cuture’s self-titled debut record the treasure that it is. A marvelously smooth rework, no doubt about it.

You can listen to Ghost Culture’s remix and Ghostpoet’s original below – and/or check out Ghostpoet’s recently released third studio album Shedding Skin here and Ghost Culture’s superb self-titled debut here.

BarryGruff’s July 2015 playlist

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A now regular monthly feature, whereby we round up all the blog action with a nice, neat and handy playlist of tracks featured during the month.

July was pretty ace! We had new tunes from The School, The Stammer and DRINKS ahead of their respective, forthcoming new albums, and the return of WE//ARE//ANIMAL. There were excellent new singles from Neon Wolf, Galants, Lethal Dialect, Manor, Kelly Lee Owens, The Expert, Glass Sines and Koloto.

Also featured on this month’s playlist are great tracks from Bedbugs, Effin, Gwenno, Trails and Ways, Open Window and Joan. So, July was pretty good. And that’s all before mentioning that Justin Beats gave Jamie xx’s new record In Colour, the once over, Johnny Feeney reported from Knockanstockan and we had a chat with Trails and Ways. And the small matter of my albums of the year so far list.

Listen to BarryGruff’s July 2015 playlist below.

Stealing Sheep – ‘Not Real’ (Gwenno Remix)

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Liverpool trio Stealing Sheep – Becky Hawley, Emily Lansley and Lucy Mercer – released their second LP back in April. Slightly odd, peculiar but brilliant new record, it is one this year’s favorite records so far.

The trio’s sweet and heavenly voiced psych-pop, choral harmonies and quirky delivery is immersed in a colourful mix of electronics and leftfield ’80s pop, incorporating synthesizers and drum machines to their psych-folk tendencies, it is an admirable evolution of their sound. Equally meritorious is their label mate and former Pipettes front-woman, Gwenno‘s remix of the title track. Stealing Sheep‘s utterly contagious, infectiously off-kilter pop gem ‘Not Real’, is transformed into a blissed-out chugging, hypnotic electro-kraut-pop jam. An insistent, urgent backbeat gives shape to the more dreamy, ethereal tones and the echoing vocals flashes of psych moments only add to a most ear-catching, immersive and irresistible of tunes. Ruddy marvelous!

Stealing Sheep’s Not Real is out now, while Gwenno’s album, released late last year, is getting a reissue later in 2015.

Gulp – ‘Vast Space’ (Cotton Wolf Remix)

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Gulp are signing off on an excellent year with the release their new single ‘Game Love’ on December 29th.

It has been a year which has seen Gulp, Guto Pryce (0f Super Furry Animals fame) and Lindsay Leven, deliver one of 2014’s most astounding albums in Season Sun. Latest single ‘Game Love’ is one of the highlights (of which there are many) from Gulp’s bewitching debut album, and although it was first self-released by the band as a limited-edition 7″ a couple years ago, the re-release features two new remixes: a version of ‘The Way’ (from the recent ‘I Want To Dance’ EP) by fellow Super Furry Animal Cian Ciarán, and this incredible rework of ‘Vast Space’ by Cardiff based Cotton Wolf. While retaining the hypnotic rhythm of the original, Cotton Wolf drains the stomp but envelopes the space with a blend of gentle strings, soft bleeps, chimes, creaks and supremely beguiling floating vocals.What we are left with is quite stunning, a rather crisp, airy and refreshing tune, with an added sense of urgency arrived upon with crunchy beats, vocal chops and some sparkling synth work for a spectacular climax. A magnificent rework, consequently it’s been far too long since hearing from Cotton Wolf, far too long indeed.

You can check out Cotton Wolf’s remix of ‘Vast Space’ below, along with the original stomper and ‘Game Love’. Enjoy!

 

Ceiling Demons – ‘Every Step (Fold – Follow The Lights remix)’

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Following the release of their debut album Dual Sides, alternative hip-hop group Ceiling Demons are releasing ‘Every Step Is Moving Me Up’ as a digital single, along with a brand new remix from Leeds based trip hop extraordinaires Fold.

The single aims to raise awareness for CALM, short for Campaign Against Living Miserably, a charity dedicated to raising awareness and the prevention of suicide – an issue that has affected far too many of our lives for sure. Accompanying the Yorkshire trio’s own ‘Every Step Is Moving Me Up’, an assured, sincere and wholly positive track, is Fold’s re-imagined and re-titled ‘Follow The Lights’. Uplifting and warm, it underpinned by a soft driving beat, trip hop grooves and dubby layers, peppered with uplifting bouts of brass and chanting samples which extenuates Ceiling Demons’ deft lyrical dexterity, which ingrains a positive message within their music. A marvelous anthem of positivity, which is quite apt and all for a very good cause.

The single is available from all the usual haunts as well as a ‘name your price’ via bandcamp, with all proceeds going to CALM. You can also check out their debut LP, Dual Sides, here.

Teleman – Skeleton Dance (Boxed In Remix)

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Released earlier this year, Teleman‘s debut album, Breakfast, is a charming yet bittersweet bundle of a indie-pop songs with a instantly loveable quality, which like all Saunders’ work (Tap Tap & Pete & The Pirates), has substance to match the immediacy.

Following on from the album’s release, Teleman are set to play a UK tour this Autumn, joined by Boxed In as support. Boxed In has already made quite an impression this year too, with ‘Run Quicker’ and ‘All Your Love Is Gone’ , two phenomenal pieces of driving, propulsive alternative-pop. And to coincide with this news, the producer has decided to re-work ‘Skeleton Dance’, with fantastically good results. Coaching out those psych textures, amplifying Teleman’s splendid crystalline pop sensibilities and planting a driving, motorik rhythm right through the middle – Boxed In brings to life a shimmering, sparkling late night jam of magnificently enchanting quality.

So that is two great acts playing under one roof, you can check out the tour dates here. And both the Boxed In rework of ‘Skeleton Dance’ and the original are below, as proof and enticement.

Factory Floor – ‘How You Say (Daniel Avery Remix)’

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London-based producer Daniel Avery, already wowed us with his excellent debut LP Drone Logic, belated discovery over the festive period. It’s a big old fashioned dance album, in the sense that it revolves around no nonsense synths with house/techno beats in a similar way to Underworld or Leftfield in their pomp, and is nothing short of amazing.

A couple of weeks back, he released this sublime new remix of ‘How You Say’ by Factory Floor, who’s own debut of motorik, bone-rattling analog magic from last year has plenty of it’s own spectacular moments. On this eight-plus-minute remix, Avery applies a foggy-hazy touch to transform the skeletal original into a more lush and blissful track.

‘How You Say (Daniel Avery Remix)’ can be streamed in full below, before its release on April 14th through DFA. Factory Floor also have a string of North American tour dates, if you’re on that side of the pond, check them here. 

Castle – ‘Live Action’ (Prod. Has-Lo)

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Last year Castle debuted with Gasface, an enigmatic intro to the North Carolina MC/producer’s talent. It offered everything needed from a hip hop record; style, substance, beats, slick production and meaningful lyricism. 

Castle is back with a ‘new’ LP, Return of the Gasface (The Has-Lo Passages), which sees his gruff delivery, frank observations cheeky sense of humour undergo a full-length redo from labelmate Has Lo. Such a fan was he of Gasface, that Has Lo re-envisioned an entirely new identity for it, getting Castle to re-record verses, adding his own verses and production style, to create something that sounds a lot different to your usual remix project. The first taste of Gasface re-imagined is ‘Live Action’, originally called ‘No Prep Time’, it indicated in no small way that the reworking is a more than worthwhile exercise. ‘Live Action’ is injected with a new spirit and it’s strength lies in the execution, particularly the two artists willingness work together in tandem for a common goal. Has Lo’s production is flawless, bouncy beats entrance you while the pauses and breaks are perfectly timed to compliment Castle’s delivery and flow. Realized at the most opportune moments, it reinforces what Castle’s got to say, sounding more authoritative and speaking with an authority that makes you pay attention. 

Return of the Gasface (The Has-Lo Passages) is released on March 18th with original artwork by Josh Bayer. For now though, you can sample the delight that is ‘Live Action’.

Public Service Broadcasting – ‘Theme From PSB (Fold’s Technicolour Remix)’

Public Service Broadcasting‘s raison d’etre appears to be for sifting through old propaganda film archives, splicing and dicing these snippets to music.

In doing so the London-based duo have managed to craft an artful and powerfully evocative mix of post-punk, krautrock  and electronics into the sample-tastic delight that is, Inform – Educate – Entertain. Their LP is a fresh and fun, which feels entirely retro and futurist at the same time. Hopefully time is found to elaborate further on the many qualities of this album in the near future. 

That said, it was Fold’s Technicolour Remix of ‘Theme From PSB’ which first the caught the eye and sparked an interest for further investigation. Fold’s interpretation is a stunning rework and a far cry from the original. Keeping the vocal clips, Fold’s adds a dash or two of horns, drums, drones and some spliced ambient vocals. The result? A colourful, uplifting and inspired remix.

You can listen to both the original ‘Theme From PSB’ & Fold’s remix below. And sure while you’re at it, if you have the time, check out PSB’s  Inform – Educate – Entertain [Spotify / Deezer / iTunes].