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...

Bugged Out! Weekender

Ooooooooooooh Bognor Regisssssss. At the fag end of January we got a great little group of guys together for a ravey trip to the seaside. The Bugged Out! Weekender was the first big festival of the year and we were foolish enough to take it on only weeks after the arrival of the new year. My guts were already quaking in the days running up to it - and with good reason - the affair was as debauched as you'd expect. My phone captured a few moments but it's a measure of how much of a dangerous time was being had that these are the only ones. You can read my Hyponik review here.

There were shitloads of highlights outside of the aural menu - speaking to a painfully shy Hudson Mohawke while being totally on one in the amusement arcades. Smoking cigs inside the chalet. Getting locked out of the chalet on the first morning, then being forced to have a piss in a bush. Fried breakfasts. Having an internal, sweat-based meltdown. Playing the grabbers while being totally on one. Finding an unconscious old guy outside our chalet on the last night. It was bigger than big. And the festival season can't come soon enough. Bring on the sunshine motherfuckers...



Fake Blooooooooooooooooooooooooded



Joy Orbison and a pint



Darkness brothers



The 2 Bears



Life saving




Rave piff



Inner City



Spoons + Bloody Mary + shithead = perfection



Post rave Monday breakfast

January is dead - Long live January

January is nearly kaput - and pheweee at times it's been tough. A classic case of post-NYE blues, no dosh and the outside occasionally being colder than the uncovered willy of an eskimo. But despite the standard January fare of chilly despair, there's still been some shit out there worth crowing about. The BDO World Professional Darts Championship at the start of 2012 gave us a reason to get out of bed at the weekends, despite the early departure of favourite Martin 'Wolfie' Adams from the tournament. Our shit telly even decided to work for a brief, wonderful weekend when there were more 'Shanghais in the madness' than you could shake a stick at. The only downer was witnessing Stockport's Silverback lose out in the final. Tony! - gutted for you mate.

January was also large for a delicious cocktail of reasons - not only did we watch a shitload of darts but we started playing it courtesy of investing in a set of 'arrows' and throwing them in the general direction of the board. Many domestic culinary master pieces were nailed. I started a new job. Which I like. Wonders will never ruddy cease...



Winning



The tell tale sign of 'The Child' (our flat mate) being in ... Number 1 - an open loaf



Number 2 - open (obvs) jar of peanut butter



Number 3 - The cupboard door is ajar...



The Child cooking up a frozen soup - Sisters are doing it for demselves...



Barbecue Xpress - Fried chicken stand up!




Mateeeeeeeeee



Poached eggs - In 2012 we're doing things differently...



The sort of sartorial elegance of which even Bobby George would be proud



New shoes



Power, corruption and lies. On a mantlepiece



Darts fucking darts



Taste sensation

Are we not bears?

Housey housey housey - If 2012 is gonna be the year of 'house' (as Tim Jonze claimed in the Graniad late last year) it may also be the year of the bear. Make it the 2 Bears. The duo have emerged in January with their claws sharp and gnashers bared ready to do battle on the world's dancefloors and bring about maximum uplift.

Their album 'Be Strong' has pretty much every fucker in the universe yapping - including me. Check out what I had to say about it for Stool Pigeon - and check the Toddla T reworking below. It's a total boomer and has been ruling our kitchen on Friday evenings for the duration of 2012. Check it collective babes...

Never Too Much

Sheffield is the place - and if Sheffield is the place, then 'Never Too Much' is THE lo-fi dance night for the more discerning fan of all things raw, hype, disco and electronic. This has been getting me through the post-Bugged Out! Weekender come down. The horror, the horror! Tracklisting under the widget - widgety widgety...



MASAmatix – In Your Eyes (Maurice Fulton Remix)
DJ Mujava – Township Funk (Crazy P Remix)
Moby – The Right Thing ft. Inyang Bassey (Cosmonauts Remix)
Diskjokke – 1987
Kolombo – Waiting For (Michael Mayer Remix)
Discodromo ft. Hard-Ton – Build a House (Tensnake Remix)
The Knife – Heartbeats (Rex the Dog Remix)
Claude Von Stroke – Beware of the Bird
Osborne – Bout Ready to Jak
Home & Garden – In and Out (D’s Nu Vo Vox) it’s a Derrick Carter rmx if that wasn’t obv
Azealia Banks ft. Lazy Jay – 212
CPEN & JT Donaldson – Next to You (Marko Militano Remix)
Connan Mockasin – Faking Jazz Together (Michael Mayer Remix)
Kraak & Smaak ft. Romanthony – Let’s Go Back (Solomun Remix)
James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream (Poindexter Remix)

Locked Groove is young and big ont' road

Locked Groove is a Belgian dude who is only 23. 23! When I was 23 I could barely tie my own shoe laces, never mind make the sort of music that would have techno-heads chasing their fucking jaws. This is druggy, druggy, druggy and I freaking love it.

Here's Drowning - and here's what I had to say about it on Hyponik - yagga yagga yagga

Drowning [on Scuba DJ-Kicks] by Locked groove