A message for Itch-E & Scratch-E fans who dabble in remixing. Andy here. For many years now, we’ve been getting occasional requests from producers and remixers asking if we have the stems [...]]]> Australian dance music veterans Itch-E & Scratch-E today shared the stems from “Sweetness & Light” to their Facebook page for all to download! This awesome gift for old school fans / remix junkies is sure to put smiles on more than a few faces.. to quote the group:

A message for Itch-E & Scratch-E fans who dabble in remixing.

Andy here. For many years now, we’ve been getting occasional requests from producers and remixers asking if we have the stems to Sweetness and Light, our best known track. The answer is, yes we do. We’ve been handing them out on an individual basis so far. However, now Paul and I have decided it would be much easier for everyone, and …more fun, if we put the parts up online for anyone who wants to have a go at a remix. The only rule is, you need to credit the resultant remix in the following format (make sure you get the spelling right):

Itch-E & Scratch-E: Sweetness and Light (remixed by INSERT YOUR NAME HERE )

See the link below for the stems.

Enjoy!

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1460525761/e9af1441af69c72d8c084d9a583a5300

 *** Update ***

Loads of people seem to be excited about this one, so this is now the theme for our next production competition… more information about it is available over on the forums! Get involved!

Credits:

Via Sakura / Via Facebook

Juzlo caught up with the boys to say what’s up!

How are we boys!? excited for an easter bday special in Sydney with the RELOAD! crew?And how’s the melbs massive going? Whats your vibes on [...]]]> Reload are bringing in Melbourne heavyweights Affiks (Heavy Innit, 50/50) & Arctic (Car crash set, 50/50) this Easter long weekend to help celebrate their first birthday at the Gladstone. As always, expect good vibes and two rooms of awesome music on the mighty DSS sound system !

Juzlo caught up with the boys to say what’s up!

How are we boys!? excited for an easter bday special in Sydney with the RELOAD! crew?
And how’s the melbs massive going? Whats your vibes on the scene in melbs at the moment..

Yep, it’ll be Arctic’s first time dj’n in Sydney so He’s really looking forward to coming up. Big up Reload each and every!
Melbourne is busy as ever, plenty of internationals rolling through atm. we feel there’s massive support for unsigned artists down here, heaps of blogs/radio/local shows always exposing the freshest talent, love being a part of it all.

Whats is the worst bday present you ever got?

Arctic: I honestly can’t remember my bday presents over the years you know…never been one to ask for much! Maybe a notepad or something.

Affiks: Probably socks.

Both of you have been in the game for a while now when did u start djin/producing?

Arctic: Started dj’n around 2008, was mostly just house parties/student clubs to begin with though. Raves and bigger bookings started coming in 2009 I guess. Started producing around mid 2010, taking it seriously after I moved to Australia and settling in an apartment in Brisbane. Always been around my brothers studio though in UK, learning and watching him through his early stages of producing dnb, check him out: http://soundcloud.com/harvestdj

Affiks: Started djing in 2001. First gig was in an indian resturant playing hip hop lol. Can’t remembered exactly when i started producing. i think maybe in 2003. I was mostly making hip hop & scratching instro’s. After i moved to melbourne in 2007 i actually started writing more electronic based stuff.

@ Arctic > pizza hut or dominos hawaiin?

Domino’s definitely. Pizza Hut are live for deals, but Domino’s kills it with the selection of fine crusts and that.

50/50 GRIME MELBOURNE, tell us how that came about and what future projects you got coming up?

50/50 came about through Arctic, Affiks & Fraksha and our disappointment at not seeing any grime internationals in Australia. Fraksha & Brendan had previously ran a locals grime event called, ‘Next Hype’, but nothing really came from it. Arctic having moved to Melbourne only last year, was keen on getting something organised, so when Affiks approached him with the idea, he jumped at it.

Affiks > last time i seen you up here was at the VOID grime special and u mashed the place what you got in store for us this time!?

Yeah man, was sick. Not really sure what im gonna play. Most probably a mash up of grime & dungeon i reckon. Might drop a few classics dubstep tunes in too for good measure.

How good are chocolate hot cross buns ?

With weed I reckon they’ll taste better!

What artists/tunes/vibes/genres you guys feeling at the moment?

Arctic: So many! I produce a lot of acid house/130 bass stuff, most of my influences come from peeps I know back home in the UK and those I trade tunes with on the regular. Gotta big up Artifact, he’s killing it right now. Other guys like Ziro. Thefft, Riffs, Kozee, Damu, Lakosa, Mosca…
Grime wise, been listening to so much old eski stuff…that definitely has an influence in some of my music too.

Affiks: Feeling the dungeon side if dubstep for sure, artists like killawatt, j:kenzo, dj madd, sleeper, lx one etc + the purple sound a la joker etc is still big for me. Been producing a bit of 130bpm & garage influenced stuff as well.

Finally, any cool future projects/output coming up for you guys?

Arctic: I got my second EP coming on CarCrashSet at the end of the month, with a remix forthcoming on 7 Deadly Records shortly after. Just recently signed 3 tunes to a UK label based in Sheffield, can’t really give more info on that yet though!

Affiks and I have been talking about doing a grime/dungeon project for a while now, just finding the time to do so is pretty difficult with full time jobs and everything else inbetween.

Also, hold tight for the next 50/50 event in June alongside our fam in Ruler. More info on that soon: http://duppyandleave.tumblr.com

—————————————————————————

Well there you have it notepads, hip hop indian cuisine, and everything is better on weed…

You can Catch AFFIKS & ARCTIC This SAT APRIL 7TH @ RELOAD GLADSTONE HOTEL also including a froffing massive lineup! ENTER THE DOUBLE PASS GIVEAWAY NOW!

This is without doubt a fun & impressive looking piece of hardware. Just imagine all the things you’ll have to play with during those lengthy munted studio sessions, or at a shirts optional bro party as shown in the video! Just don’t get too wild with your moves or you’ll risk disconnecting [...]]]> Your mates might call you a douche, but when you’ve got 16 midi controlled arcade buttons, assignable lighting and  3D sensors controlling your parameters…. they can pretty much get fucked!

This is without doubt a fun & impressive looking piece of hardware. Just imagine all the things you’ll have to play with during those lengthy munted studio sessions, or at a shirts optional bro party as shown in the video! Just don’t get too wild with your moves or you’ll risk disconnecting the USB cable.

The Midi-Fighter 3D isn’t shipping until April, but you can get on a pre-order list now over at DJ Tech Tools.

Key Features:

• Fully customizable high performance RGB arcade buttons 
• 4 banks of controls
• 6 side buttons 
• Optional hand strap for full instrument control
• Full 3D motion tracking of five degrees of movement (Patent Pending) 
• Highly grippy rubberized feet and sleeve 
• Gyroscope, Accelerometer and Compass for absolute orientation tracking.
  

The seeds of the label were first sown when Tommy, [...]]]> Melbourne’s CUE Recordings is about to unleash it’s fourth release upon the world… and a heavy release it is, featuring an all star line-up with tracks to suit every taste. I thought that it was about time that the Bassfreqs crew was brought up to speed on this rapidly emerging label and decided to catch up with owner Tom ‘Tommy Dub’ Whitlock for a little bit of an insight into CUE.

The seeds of the label were first sown when Tommy, together with friends Christopher Emerson and Max Jones, started a podcast in the UK with the intention of finding and promoting unsigned artists. They soon found that they could take things further, as Tom says, “Funnily enough it was Fred V, Grafix, Joe Syntax and Netsky that we found [through the podcast] so it’s fair to say we had pretty good radars”.

After receiving a VIP copy of Fred V’s ‘In My Head’ they set out to release it in mid 2010 and CUE Recordings was born. This was then followed up by releases from Grafix, Squash and now, moving into 2012, the Reflections EP. Although only featuring remixes of previous releases, don’t be fooled; this isn’t any normal substandard remix package. For CUE004 they have pulled out the big guns in the shape of Mutated Forms, Phetsta, Agent Alvin and Eastcolours.

When asked how the Reflections EP came about, Tom answers, “Luckily for us the inspiration came from the remixers! Mutated Forms expressed their enjoyment in Fred’s track so I asked them if they wanted to have a go. They were a huge inspiration to Fred and this was my way of thanking him for risking a release with us on our first attempt!”

Once Mutated Forms were on board CUE started on the the task of getting other producers involved. “The originals were good solid tracks and we wanted to get them remixed by guys I believed could handle that and stamp their own sound and direction,” Tom says. “Luckily they were all really keen and ended up taking the tracks further than I expected so it worked out brilliantly – apart from being in Australia and having some horrible time differences with Mutated Forms and Eastcolors haha”

However, when questioned about starting the label Tom admits that it’s not all been roses. “I am not afraid to admit we owe a lot of our exposure to the amazing rise and success of Fred V and Grafix, but am always quick to remind people that it brought a very inexperienced label owner a lot of hard work and lessons to learn whilst trying to keep the momentum going at the same time!

“We made some mistakes, learnt a lot about the industry and are working really hard on trying to make this small amount of success turn into a foundation for something to be proud of in years to come – I’ll let you judge from here on!”

Even though the Reflections EP has only just dropped, the CUE boys already have another new release lined up for later in the year, this time by London’s Koncept. Alongside this, Tom also says he’s signed tracks by a number of relatively unknown artists with the hope of exposing them and launching some more promising dnb careers.

“At some stage this year it would be great to build a base and a family” he says. “Fred V and Grafix rightfully moved onto bigger and better things with Hospital and Squash plays drums in a band that just hit the big time so this year. I would really like to get together some of the up and coming generation and really try to build a little CUE army to help not only build the label but also the future success for them as individuals.”

There are big things happening in Melbourne!

The Reflections EP was released on January 30th 2012 and is now available to buy on vinyl and digital download from all good retailers.

Break presents Symmetry Podcast 001 by Symmetry-Recordings

More good news for the industry is that for the first time in 10 years, sales have come out of decline.. The industry still sells only half the number of units they were moving at the turn of the millenium, but you can probably blame the [...]]]> The new year has marked another nail in the coffin for CD & Vinyl music sales, as figures released this week in the US showed digital finally pushed ahead of physical sales, making up just over 50% of all music sold in 2011.

More good news for the industry is that for the first time in 10 years, sales have come out of decline.. The industry still sells only half the number of units they were moving at the turn of the millenium, but you can probably blame the major players resisting the move to mp3 distribution until quite recently.

Even though vinyl sales have continued to increase in popularity, they’re still a niche product limited to DJ’s and hipsters & make up fuck all of the overall market… 

As subscription services such as spotify & zune continue to push the industry into new territory, album sales are becoming a less relevant measure of commercial success.

David Bowie might be a crackpot, but he wasn’t far off when back in 2000 he said:

Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it’s like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.

Peats Ridge 2011 has officially kicked off, so unless you’re reading this on your mobile – it’s fair to say that you didn’t make the trip  up… but this is 2011, and thanks to that magical series of tubes we can all share in the experience via the YouTube live stream!

That’s right.. you can watch the festival between now and the 1st of January from the comfort your couch (or toilet), without some dirty hippy getting his dreads getting all up [...]]]>

Peats Ridge 2011 has officially kicked off, so unless you’re reading this on your mobile – it’s fair to say that you didn’t make the trip  up… but this is 2011, and thanks to that magical series of tubes we can all share in the experience via the YouTube live stream!

That’s right.. you can watch the festival between now and the 1st of January from the comfort your couch (or toilet), without some dirty hippy getting his dreads getting all up in your shit….

By all reports, this is a first for an Australian music festival – hopefully we’ll see more local festivals follow suit soon…

Click here to check it out!

In recent years, the popularity of burlesque has skyrocketed in Sydney & Australia – largely from the likes of Dita Von Tesse and Cher / Christina Agulera with their movie of a similar title.

Burlectricity has put it’s own unique twist on the phenomena by bringing in live reggae, hip hop, dub & electronica acts along with techno, minimal, deep house, drum & bass and dubstep DJ’s instead of the usual rockabilly bands you’d normally find [...]]]>

In recent years, the popularity of burlesque has skyrocketed in Sydney & Australia – largely from the likes of Dita Von Tesse and Cher / Christina Agulera with their movie of a similar title.

Burlectricity has put it’s own unique twist on the phenomena by bringing in live reggae, hip hop, dub & electronica acts along with techno, minimal, deep house, drum & bass and dubstep DJ’s instead of the usual rockabilly bands you’d normally find at these kind of nights.

Burlectricity’s debut back in September was covered in the Sydney Morning Herald (photos here). This instalment is taking place at Valve Bar (900 Princess Hwy, Tempe) & has grown to include a BBQ, market stalls in the afternoon along with multiple stages / sound systems running into the evening. You’ll also find some familiar names & faces from Bassfreqs on support!

Warm up for your Christmast weekend & check out what’s on offer.

Burlesque performances from:
BUNNI LAMBADA

Bunni Lambada is a dancer, showgirl, Pin Up Model (Vargas style) and a (self confessed) very ditzy blonde. She was recently crowned Miss Perfect Pin Up NSW in the State Finals of Miss Pin Up NSW.
In January 2011, she was crowned both Miss Perfect Pin Up Australia AND MISS PIN UP AUSTRALIA 2011 at the National Finals of Miss Pin Up Australia Competition.

She performs many different routines on pole, en pointe and can also play a range of musical instruments.

EVIE VA VOOM

Evie Va Voom burst onto the Australian burlesque scene in early 2010 with her pocket rocket persona exploding all over stages and into audience’s hearts.

A love for the stage and a sucker for a storyline means she has taken the best from traditional bump and grind and raw Aussie neo burlesque and created her own brand of cheeky tease. With a soft spot for pop culture and tongue in cheek parody, you’ll no doubt recognise more than a few of the cheeky characters she has in her repertoire!


MEMPHIS MAE

Think retro rock goddess meets 1950’s Stepford wife and you’ll only just begin to scrape the surface of what Memphis Mae has to offer.

Inspired by all things glamour Memphis’s performances are anything but traditional, so those looking for that same old Burlesque experience shouldn’t even bother turning up because this is one girl who doesn’t like to disappoint.

Sensual, sexy and satisfyingly good, her performances are like an orgasm, only better.

Live music from:
THE STRIDES (AFROBEAT/REGGAE/HIP HOP)
FAIT ACCOMPLI (PUNK/SOUL)
XANTHOPAN (LIVE ELECTRO)

Plus DJs – SAKURA+MAD COW+HIGHLYDUBIOUS

FREE SHUTTLE BUS FROM NEWTOWN STATION

Presale tickets are available here, or pay more on the door.

Check the event page here for more info.

But he’s not done yet. He’s planning on raising the bar & smashing the existing record by two days, taking his total set time to 1 week!

If you’re [...]]]> Smokin’ Joe Mekheal, the man who’s relentless positivity & enthusiasm has won over so many Sydney punters, can now also call himself a Guinness World Record holder… surpassing the old record of 121 hours last night (December 21st) around 9:30 pm in front of a huge crowd at The Empire hotel in King’s Cross.

But he’s not done yet. He’s planning on raising the bar & smashing the existing record by two days, taking his total set time to 1 week!

If you’re in town and haven’t stopped by to show some support, then now is the time – but for those who can’t make it, you can always watch the live stream at the URL below & talk to him on his Twitter & Facebook pages.

 http://www.mydjspace.com/Music-News/World-Record-DJ-Set.html

Of course, we’ll have to wait for Guinness to confirm before we can call it an official “World Record” but it’s definitely looking promising.

UPDATE

The longest DJ set in the world has come to an end – Smokin Joe has this morning decided to stop playing in an effort to avoid permanent hearing damage, after the ringing in his ears became painful.

You can read all about it over on his Facebook page.

Congratulations Smokin’ Joe! #WOOOOOOOOOO!!!