Friday 26 February 2016

This complete tool tells you about the future in a mystical fashion, AGAIN! IT'S DUNSFORD'S STARZ!!

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‘Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Your favourite bastard Dubble D returns, with his take, on what’ll happen soon

Aries:

You really loved February, that wanker from work was on the receiving end of a disciplinary. Don’t get too cocky though, you’re getting one this month. Gross misconduct as well. You’ll probably fucking hate March. Mercury will no longer be retrograde in your prestigious career sector. Luck rides a unicycle.

Taurus: Brexit questions swirl around your confused mind. Is Ian Duncan Smith an economic sage or will you go with the Cam Fam? Bit of a Sophie’s choice really. Flip a coin and do the opposite.

Gemini: This is such a special month for you that you may find yourself singing in the shower and showing a bounce to your step, careful not to slip and smash your head open.

Cancer: Tinder has stopped working, it’s fucked. Not to worry Cancer, it’s a glitch in the software not you. Swipe right for a mysterious stranger and a night in casualty.

Leo: This is a high energy month where you will be able to accomplish a lot and get what you want. That secret basement? Done. Use it for good, ignore the hitchhiker.

Virgo: The February 22 full moon continues its uncomfortable influence until the March 8 solar eclipse. It’s time to take the plunge and get yourself to the clap clinic.

Libra: A chance meeting at a motorway service station leaves you with more answers than questions but those questions…..just won’t ever go away. Ever.

Scorpio: It’s a good time to try a new hobby as the moon is usually out at night. Get yourself a Spinning Jenny and a small child to get mashed up in it. Bang on trend.

Sagittarius: A skiing holiday in one of the lesser Bulgarian resorts leads to an hilarious tragedy. That said, you came second in the Big Air competition. Swings and roundabouts.

Capricorn: You can sense Spring in the air. A night out with Simon Heffer, Kelvin McKenzie & James Delingpole and brings horseplay, horror and climate change denial. Choose your company wisely.

Aquarius: This month the Universe has gone binary on you but it means it -
01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110000 01100101 01101100 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01100011 01110101 01101110 01110100

Pisces: Anger management may become an issue for you in the months ahead with the beginning of an extended Mars transit but the full frontal lobotomy the street kindly chipped in for may help. It’s never 100% is it? You will lose a vital part of what makes you, you.

Till next month!
Keep it fucking tight 'n right. Dunford. X

Friday 19 February 2016

Thoughts On Love & Smoking podcast #8. Lokier.

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Lets get one thing straight. I'm not going all Pankhurst in defence of female DJ's here but lets be honest, the position immediately behind the Technics in nearly every nightclub in the known universe is predominantly manned by, well, a man! The oft repeated mantra of 'Man behind the decks. Woman dancing behind the man.' is as prominent now as it's ever been. Thankfully there are a few notable exceptions (no, we won't even go into the whole Paris Hilton' celebrity DJ thing. We're better than that!) and fortunately, there is always always room for surprise to the open minded.
Yoan Rodriguez aka Lokier is a girl! A girl from Mexico who plays and makes music!! Yoan is not the aforementioned girl who is tossing her hair around, trying to draw attention to herself dancing behind the DJ. No, she's most definitely upfront and center stage. She's the one you see bumping the male DJ's off the decks. She's the one making the freaky slo-mo horror synth records.

‘…I started djing when I was 21 years old at massive clandestine parties, they were dark, scary & illegal. On one of my first performances, as I got on stage, the DJ that played before me was picking up her things and she said: "someone just threw a bottle at my head; good luck". There was no room for mistakes at those parties and they would usually be cut short by the police. I told myself I would make no mistakes, since I didn't want to go home with a black eye. The pressure was too much and I was always very scared. Dj’s kept coming off-stage with blood on their heads… Months later I got offered to play at small bars in nice areas and that’s when I decided that djing was not so bad and that you can actually have fun. ’ – Lokier

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Purveyor of moody electronic vibes guaranteed to transform the dancefloor into a scene from a 70’s B movie, Yoan has released tracks on Justin Millar's brilliant 'Have A Killer Time', Days Of Being Wild, Le Dame Noir and Melomana, amongst others. She also recently joined the illustrious ranks of talented producers have a track included in the 'Edit service' series for unber-cool Parisian label 'I’m a cliché.'
Her original tracks gather inspiration from classic synth and electronica sounds and her attraction to the darker corners of music is demonstrated on the mix she's put together for us. Bits of post punk, cold wave and industrial comfortably rub shoulders with techno and disco influences while staying dark as velvet. It's like those textiles by Anni Albers and intricate geometric patterns that force you to get close to follow the lines for several minutes to understand where they come from and where they end.
With her 'She Made Monster' project (alongside longtime friend and musical collaborator Morgan Hammer) due to birth it's first fruits and upcoming shows back in Mexico and then a full US debut tour later this year as well as a bewildering amount of European dates later this year 2016 looks to be a busy one for Yoan!

Edit Service #34 * Lokier.
Lokier on Facebook.
She Made Monster.



Download the mix from our 'HearThis.at' page below.



Till next time.
Big love. Mark. X

Thursday 11 February 2016

The best record label you've (probably) never heard of: Umor Rex.

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It’s hard keeping track of record labels in these times we’re living in, especially when you are a fan of a specific niche genre, like drone, ambient, or other more abstract forms of music. Keeping up with what’s hot can be troublesome. Others, on the other hand, seem to not have trouble moving their music and building a strong following.
Umor Rex is a Mexico City based label founded by Daniel Castrejón in the summer of 2006 based on the premise of free downloadable albums by original, exclusive artists. Its parameters were then and there set as wide and as flexible as is possible within the grasslands of experimental music. There is not a single dominant genre in the catalogue and even though a high percentage of the catalog is nearer to the ambient/synthesiser side of music; things as diverse as rock, misty folk sounds, lo-fi and electronica meet and mingle in a casual, natural way.
Umor Rex is a weird record label in a weird situation: it’s both well-known and obscure. You see, I'm assured that not many people in Mexico, where the label is based, know about its existence, even many who would enjoy the sounds they put out. At the same time, Umor Rex is a household name in the international 'experimental' scene, boasting a formidable catalog of talent hailing from the U.S, Canada and Europe that sell out quickly, get rave reviews in respectable publications and newspapers and are sought after by collectors. Among the artists that make up the Umor Rex family are Berlin duo Driftmachine, L.A. analog synth explorer M. Geddes Gengras, Chicago abstractionists Good Willsmith and French sound collage practitioner Félicia Atkinson.

Not merely another label making homemade noise recordings available to the indefatigable completist weirdo, Umor Rex put quality over quantity on all fronts. The label usually puts out vinyl and cassettes in exquisitely designed packages that make for eye-catching objects; labelhead Daniel designs the bulk of the graphic material (he also keeps a print branch focused on photography books).
Furthermore, a typical release by the label is made up of sounds that you mostly likely won’t find anywhere else; they range from soundscapes conjured from carefully built electronic instruments that push the boundaries of timbre and texture, to explorations that defy form, rhythm, and even 'rules' of established avant-garde schools. Simply put, Umor Rex are presenting some of the most advanced sound artists in the world.
This was evident in the recent Boiler Room Upfront mix which Umor Rex founder, Castrajón headed up. A set that etches the label's forthcoming anthology through 44 minutes of 100% in-house releases. Pure aural hypnosis instigated.

Started initially as a netlabel by Castrejón, the original inspiration was to put out music made by local artists without an outlet, like bedroom folk hero Molloy and His Bike, noise miscreants The New Parallelogramers, downtempo tweaker Drugs Made Me Smarter, and experimental flautist Wilfrido Terrazas. After taking a break of sorts in 2008, the label was relaunched to do physical releases, starting with White Thunder by German post-folk pop exponents The Human Elephant. Since then, the focus has shifted to an international roster (with exceptions like Cian, featuring former Parallelogramer Kevin Altamirano) that provides unique music for those tired of the same old.
With a distribution deal with cult Chicago label Thrill Jockey and praise from selected and influential voices, Umor Rex is a label that deserves recognition everywhere, and will probably become the stuff of legends if it keeps delivering this level of quality in vanguard music.



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Till next time.
Big Love. Mark. X

Friday 5 February 2016

Thoughts On Love & Smoking podcast #7. 12 Inčų Po Žeme (Smala)

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Lithuania's post-Soviet surprise package Vilnius has been rapidly making a case for itself being one of the 'must visit' destinations for forward looking travellers in eastern europe of recent. You can wander through the beautiful 13th-century Old Town admiring the ancient buildings if that's your own touristy choice of course, but away from all the usual holiday trappings it's making it's name with everything from investigative journalism to post-modern architecture to IT start-ups and Michelin star eateries.Vilnius isn’t just tower blocks, trench coats and snow. Oh no.
It's here that DJ's - Billy Kristal & Killl My Disco, otherwise known as 12 Inčų Po Žeme (translating to '12 inches under'), together with their close friend Manfredas, started their night 'Smala'. It's been described as 'The Baltic Hacienda' and a club night in Twin Peaks. Consistently bringing top-level international house and techno talent to the Lithuanian capital. Since it's inception it's played host to the likes of Ivan Smagghe, Gabe Gurnsey, Chloe, Clement Meyer, Raudive. Red Axes, Tomas More, It's A Fine Line, Matt Walsh and Daniel Avery. Which in anyone's book is a veritable who's who of heavy hitters!
12 Inčų Po Žeme fit perfectly into the frame here as they are cut very much from the same freewheeling, non-conformist musical cloth as their friend (and previous podcast contributor) Manfredas.
I've been a huge fan of all these guys for a few years now. Their sets cover that cold-blooded narco-disco, dark-hearted house which seem to be permeating the walls of Europe's best clubs. Moody, slow techno & analogue electro jams combined with an anything goes sensibility.
But this is all by the by, after all 'talking about music is like dancing to architecture' so I'll shut the fuck up now and let the music do the talking. It's with great pleasure that we give to you the 7th in our podcast series, another absolutely flawless effort all the way from Eastern Europe courtesy of Smala residents '12 Inčų Po Žeme'.
Enjoy!

Further listening:
Smala Radio.
12 Inčų Po Žeme on Mixcloud.




You can also download the mix from our 'Hearthis.at' page simply by clicking on the link below!





Till next time.
Big love. Mark. X