The Chemical Brothers

Here in Harry’s head we’re building up to the weekend. Three bona fide pure gold bangers from electro royalty coming right up. Also, it says something about how deep the discography is for these guys that none of these tracks appears in their top 10. You can go for hours on the Chem Bros.

First up Swoon. Never have sirens sounded so bloody good. And just you wait until you get to 2 minutes in. Phwoar.

To follow, a touch of Saturate.

And finally, the Shinichi Osawa remix of Star Guitar. Enjoy responsibly.

Happy House – The Juan Maclean

I don’t know how The Juan Maclean have passed me by. They were brought to me hard on Saturday by Sean Johnston & Andrew Weatherall (together, A Love From Outer Space – more on that later) and since then I’ve been hooked.

The Juan Maclean (by the way, he is actually called John Maclean, which I like) is a Brooklyn-based producer and DJ, and he’s good. Add the super-cool Nancy Whang’s vocals (of LCD Soundsystem fame) and you are onto a 12 minute clubby electro winner. If you like it, check out the album The Future Will Come for more of the same. And if you are lucky enough to live in Brooklyn, go see them live.

So, Saturday. It’s 4am, the music is loud, the energy is flying and this comes on. For those of a darker persuasion. (Not too proud to admit this one is courtesy of Shazam).

Thriller – Caribou

This one is hot off the press. Canadian producer Caribou has released a track out of nowhere, and it’s free to download. More upbeat and danceable that his usual fare, I think you will be hearing it a lot in 2019. For extra points, the track samples the original MJ Thriller. Listen and download on this link.

https://caribouband.bandcamp.com/track/thriller

Bonus track album: I’ll never miss an opportunity to post this. Can’t Do Without is 100% likely to get goosebumps going and the rest of the album ain’t bad either.

For more Caribou, check out this post.

Orange Tree Edits

Is it January? Is it? Really? Get this hour long mix of divine afro magic down your earholes and transport yourself the hell outta here.* It is mixed by Orange Tree Edits label boss Jimmy Rouge, so if you like I highly recommend checking out their Soundcloud page.

* I’m doing okay, honestly.

Koyma Hondo – Boncana Maïga

*GUEST POST*

Likelihood is that a few of you might be feeling a little blue right about now, so, in the spirit of getting through January, check out this fella from Mali, Boncana Maïga, who’s been a big deal in the latin-soul scene for c. 40 years.  This EP is more on the afro-funk end of things, so, stick it on and bounce your way through the opening salvos of 2019.  Weirdly the final track, Petroci, was written as the soundtrack for an oil company of the same name from the Ivory Coast.  We hate oil companies, but, boy do we love afro-funk eh.

Enjoy,

Winston

 

Best of 2018

Happy New Year music fans. I’m really excited to bring you a load of new music this year, but before I do, let’s have one final post on 2018. Here are my most played tracks of the year courtesy of Spotify. You’ll find some new ones, some old ones, some quick ones and some slow ones. Pop it on shuffle and enjoy.

Quick note – there are a couple of albums on here that I’ve rinsed for chilling out. So any tracks on there by Bibio or by Marconi Union are liable to send you to sleep. You’ve been warned.

Against The Clock – FACTmagazine

Against the Clock is great little feature run by FACTmagazine. The premise is that they give artists 10 minutes to make a track and film it. What you get is a wicked insight into their creative process – most of the time the artists are able to make a track that has their signature sound. Unpolished, but fresh. Two my faves below – but check out the Youtube playlist for some more festive viewing. There are 193 of them so find an artist you like and go from there.

Agar Agar (another post about them here)

Tom Demac (another post about him here)