In addition to the prep for the Pure Evil gallery exhibition I was playing at the Pepe Deluxe album launch party at the London Aquarium on Monday night, mixing water, sea and surf inspired music before and after their ‘Queen of the Wave’ LP play back. Out came everything from Jaws, James Bond and The Deep soundtracks to Led Zep’s ‘The Ocean’ and Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke On The Water’. The gig was held in the Ship Wreck Room which has a whole wall of glass looking into a giant fish tank populated by all manner of sharks, fish and three huge Easter Island heads. It was fun to play to an audience who didn’t make requests and gently bobbed their heads to even the most obscure surf soundtracks.

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I finally met Jari and Paul too (Pepe Deluxé) and they gave out mini books containing all the album companions they’d been posting on their site a well as nice little lunch boxes for the post-work crowd to chew on.

Not only is their new album, ‘Queen of the Wave’, (finally) out today but they have a new mix on this week’s Solid Steel too which you can listen to and preview some of the album right now. Buy it here (physical) and here (digital)

There’s also a great grindhouse-esque trailer for the record to give you some sound AND vision – seriously, you need to hear this album, it’s going to be a love it or hate it affair but if you love it you’re going to LOVE it. If you liked ‘Spare Time Machine’ then this is a worthy successor but also even deeper in detail, it takes a fair few listens but will have you humming tunes out of the blue before you know it. In case you hadn’t already guessed, I love this band and record.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are limited quantities of the Japanese exclusive mix CD, ‘Solid Psyche’ available in the Ninjashop right now. I did this as a freebie for independent stores alongside the domestic CD version of ‘The Search Engine’ for Japan. The tracks are all taken from Ninja, Big Dada, Counter & Brainfeeder releases and Ninja have a limited amount for sale so don’t hang around.

You might also notice a little digital release called ‘The Good Food Guide’ in the link too. This is a 23 track retrospective compilation spanning the DJ Food canon from 1990-2001, sort of a catch up for people jumping on at the new album.

Sometimes with a release, gig or event, there are reviews that stand out, where the person has delved a little deeper than the first impression or copied the press release. Here are two, one from someone who knows me (Inkymole – reviewing the planetarium album launch) and one from someone who doesn’t (Kris Needs via Data Transmission – reviewing the album). Also here are some photos by Emma Gutteridge of the foyer outside the planetarium during the launch, photography inside was difficult because of the darkness but I’ve just picked up film footage which I’ll be editing into a short next week.

With courtesy of the Royal Observatory Greenwich

Out today (with artwork by Remi/Rough) is a tidy compilation of highlights from the Ninja Tune forum instigated 64 Bar Challenge entitled ‘Boundaries’. Started by Kovas a few years ago, the concept was to make a piece of music in any style for 64 bars at a predetermined tempo. Numerous producers, both professional and unreleased, took part across the six different challenges and the quality was remarkably high. I was approached to mix the sixth installment and helped forward the best of the bunch to Ninja for a possible release, and here it is!

Released today digitally, with the option of a vinyl pressing after a certain number is reached coming soon via Ninja’s new Beat Delete arm, it’s 20 tracks of largely instrumental electronica by producers from the US, Canada, Russia, Chile, Australia and all over Europe. Congratulations to all involved and respect to Kovas for pulling the whole thing together, here’s a little preview put together by Tom Central from the Keep Up! crew, followed by a mini DJ Moneyshot megamix of various tracks.

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DJ Moneyshot – 64 Bar Challenge blendable by 64barmusic

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I’ve heard this album, every track a winner, check the cover art and video preview above. www.djformat.com

The 2 minute postcard records I’ve made specially for the Pure Evil Gallery opening on Jan 26th have arrived They are a thing of great beauty and I couldn’t be happier with them. 30 copies only and they will retail for £8 each at the show with any left over available from me direct via this site.
The fidelity isn’t going to win any awards but it’s better than some recent postcard records I’ve acquired and the track is an exclusive ‘discovery’ version of ‘In Orbit Every Monday’, only available here. If you want to make your own there’s more info on where to get these beauties made, and other sizes and formats too. Contact Kenneth Winkler: www.vinylpostcards.com/ or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Vinylpostcards

Black Mills Tapes vol.3: All pathways Open will be available on Jan 23rd via Bandcamp, if you missed the first 2 they’re still available at the same place from Pye Corner Audio.

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Imminent new podcast being cooked up by Matt Johnson featuring myself in interview and my version of GIANT plus an exclusive listen to the new ‘Deep Space’ version I prepared for him and the planetarium shows. TheThe.com being relaunched soon…

Just arrived, fresh from the Amorphous Androgynous (aka Future Sound of London) is a, frankly mind-melting, 17 minute remix of ‘The Illectrik Hoax’, a track from the album, featuring Natural Self on vocals. This has been in the pipeline for a while and they initially started work on a version of ‘GIANT’ but changed direction and so a three part Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble remix of the Hoax has been born. To say that they’ve thrown everything into it is an understatement, after a manic version of the original they proceed to tear it apart and reassemble fragments of it in two new versions.

Not only that but 2econd Class Citizen has also created what can only be described as an ambient acoustic version of the same track, completely different but brilliant in its simplicity. As soon as I heard it I realised it was perfect for the planetarium shows next week and it will get its premiere there. As to when these will be available and on what formats, I’ll get back to you on that but we’re looking at sometime in April.

Love this poster for a documentary about a guy from Boston trying to get The Kinks back together. Watch the trailer here