This weeks (fairly) regular round-up of healthy Cloudcasting goodness includes everything from hard rock to tech house, legendary labels to home-made podcasts, all served up in easily digestible blog post form.
To kick off the collection we’ve chosen a group of DJ’s who seem to be everywhere at the moment, including being all over Mixcloud; Rinse FM. Amazingly Rinse FM themselves don’t have a profile (hint hint), but several of their regulars do, and between them have uploaded some of the most popular mixes on the ‘Cloud. Take your pick from, OneMan; apparently the only DJ to appear on Mary Anne Hobbs BBC Radio 1 show without releasing a single record, or dancehall/bashment party starters, The Heatwave; who The Metro branded “London’s premier purveyors of dancehall”, or DJ duo Elijah & Skilliam, who modestly claim that their pet project Butterz is ‘the best Grime Blog in the world’. Diesel:U:Music Radio even have a Rinse FM DJ’s sepcial, so if you haven’t heard London’s première pirate radio station, here’s your chance.
Next up is the podcast arm one of the webs hottest blogs, Allez-Allez. Started by DJ duo Sam Willis and Steve Nolan, the show is a mixture of all things ‘weird, wonderful and danceable’, exemplified by current Cloudcasts from guests like uber-cool Aussie label, Modular, and mixes for Modifer and Moroders. When not DJ’ing they’re also a dab hand on the production front, remixing the likes of Fever Ray, Simian Mobile Disco and Heartbreak, as well as releasing their début single, Defeatist, on Kick Boxer Records.
Modular Mix by Allez-Allez on Mixcloud
For something completely different, why not try the We Own This Town show, featuring the best in Nashville orientated music. Founded by ex Clutters member Doug Lehmann, the podcast takes its name from the Ole Mossy Face song ‘Calls & Walls’, but you knew that already, didn’t you?
A fellow North American, Mr Jeremy Baker, demonstrates the diversity of music on Mixcloud with his dual shows, the rambling Morning After and the rowdy Capital Rock City. Hailing from Esquimalt, British Columbia he broadcasts on local radio Zone 91-3, where he ‘talks a lot, ranting about things like social injustice or dropping obscure band names’.
From the US to the heart of Europe, and new Mixcloud member, The Berlin Mitte Institut für Bessere Elektronische Musik (BMI). A loose collective of electronic music enthusiasts, every second Monday from 7pm CET the BMI present a local, national and international DJ in-crowd and a variety of live acts from on the electronic music scene. Their first upload is the fantastically entitled ‘Super Chillout Megablast Mix’ from Fresh Meat, check out the instructions that accompany the mix for a perfect rainy day relaxation session.
Sticking with the German capital, we’re pleased to introduce ‘next big thing’, Florian Meindl, a 21 year old German DJ and producer quickly rising through the ranks. Founder of Flash Recordings with his friend Oliver Koletzki, he has a string of underground tech house tunes to his name, watch out for his remix of Royksopp’s ‘This Must Be It’. His latest studio mix demonstrates exactly why this young man has come so far so soon.
Another welcome guest to the site is prolific producer and DJ Mark Pember, better known as Meat Katie. Making music since the heady days of big beat, he has stuck with that love of funky dance music, regadless of genre. Along with Dylan Rhymes he set up the Lot49 label, which specialises in what he calls ‘tech funk’, if you don’t know what he means, check out the freshly uploaded Lot49 exclusive mix to find out.
In a similarly funky/chunky vein, we are very happy to have ‘rave pilot song writer and creator of bespoke electronics’, Justin Robertson on board. Another man to straddle the genres over his long time at the top table of dance music, his two current uploads are surprisingly relaxed Balearic affairs, but nonetheless impressive for it.
They call themselves ‘the best club in the world’, and full of the bravado within most 18 year olds, Ministry of Sound continue their quest for world domination by promoting their many wares on Mixcloud. Mixes from their recent birthday party dominate their page, but there’s no doubting the quality on offer: from the masters like Sasha and Nick Warren to newer talent like Chris Lake and Lifelike.
And to round off our round up, we leave you with the eclectic electronica podcast, Global Soundtracks, presented by Tom Ravenscroft. Consider it your weekly guide to anything and everything from the leftfield of dance music, with exclusive live sessions, interviews and experimental sounds from the world’s underground music communities.