RIP Rod

Do the Metal Dance...

Look around the more discerning corners of London's nocturnal landscape and the shadows of Electronic Body Music, Post-Punk and Industrial are there twisting and turning.

Trevor Jackson's Metal Dance compilation on Strut is a neat and handy one-stop shop for the best bits from these genres - it makes everything very easy for the likes of us less industrious crate diggers to nab them and claim them as our own superlative finds...

Down below are some of the best bits from the compilation - and you can read a few thoughts on Metal Dance by moi over here... - it's well worth a peek...

Darkhouse Fam go inside and out...

Everyone needs a little bit of hype in their lives - but if you're record label and musical collective Earnest Endeavours, you're wading through huge, elephant-esque dollops of the stuff. The weight of expectation on the shoulders of these mothers for BIG things is colossal.

Second release on the label is by the wonderfully named Darkhouse Fam - This Welsh duo are tinkering away in smoke-filled zones somewhere near the silk and snarl of contemporary players such as Hudson Mohawke and Krystal Klear. Get your ears on them now...

You can read my review by clicking here

Scran

If someone held an uzi to my ear and forced me to define February in a shorter word which begins with the same letter, then I'd probably opt for 'food'. I've not turned into one half of the hairy bikers or owt but the images on my phone suggest that I've been venturing into culinary pastures beyond the realms of supermarket sandwiches. The above is one of the best things to enter me gob this year. A burger at Ed's diner which arrives with a thick layer of Chilli Con Carne waving at you like a siren to a love-struck sailior. The combo of so many meats and a five dollar shake may sent me guts spiralling into madness for 24 hours. But stomach cramps have never been so decadently attained. I'd do it again without a second thought...



'The Waxed Bat'



Tira misu



It's an Ardennes ting



You've got red on you



Pancake flex



Slow roasted belly innit mate

Julia, Julio or Hoolio?

The post-rave blues can be particularly acute in January, and the aftermath of the Bugged Out! Weekender was no exception. There were at least three moments in the following days when I thought the wolf was leering at my door. It was all I could do to stop him from getting in and giving my tear ducts a massive yank. It was a close fucking call.

Despite all this late night action, just days later we were back on it and taking a trip down to Brixton to journey into the dimly-lit heart of yet another rave. This time Julio Bashmore was playing as part of the Red Bull Music Academy take over at Plan B and we were booked in for yet another dance. After witnessing a street punch up over what appeared to be a plastic bag, we entered the club and got a right wonk on...

You can read what I had to say about it for Red Bull here

It was a suitably big evening with plenty of smiles, sweat and dancing - Check out the shakey video below for an indication of just how fiery Bashmore was. Make no mistake, this small ginger dude is gonna be ruling 2012...

Objekt gets his pricks out

Ooooooooof - If you like your bass, big bad, 'eavy, 'eavy, 'eavy, then skinny German wunderkid Objekt is the man for you. Cactus is the latest vinyl release from him - it detonates on Hessle Audio and is one of the hardest things yet to reach my ears this year. It's proper narsty shiz. Check my Hyponik review here - and give it a listen below - this is not for the screamish...