Deep House Review : Lay-Far - The Green EP (forthcoming on Fifty Fathoms Deep)

I've recently been turned on to the sounds of new independent label Fifty Fathoms Deep, a project conceived by the revered Craig Smith (6th Borough Project) and upcoming DJ and producer Peter Oakden, who is already being hailed by the likes of Phil Asher as a "rising star".

Based in Edinburgh, the aim of the label is simple: to explore their musical tastes and release quality music from unknown and recognised artists alike. You'll likely be familiar with Craig's work already, with numerous releases on Freerange sister label Delusions of Grandeur, but most notably his output with Grahame Clark as The Revenge.

With both his production and label affiliations, Craig became a household name in 2008/9 with his famed disco re-edits helping give rise to the midtempo deep house style that continues to tear up dancefloors around the globe. For Peter, this tie-up with such a solid name is sure to cement his already glowing reputation following successful releases alongside legends such as Moodymanc, Zed Bias and Atjazz, amongst many others.

Launching on 22nd July, Fifty Fathoms Deep come at ya with The Green EP by Lay-Far, a throbbing, rolling house affair featuring all the sample-rich soulful grooves you've come to expect from the pair.

With a sound reminiscent of production-perfect US output, it's hard to 'Fathom' (oh dear) that this is music born in deepest Scotland. Regardless, be it at the bar in Glasgow, or the club in Ibiza, you're sure to be rocking your socks off to Fifty Fathom's output in the months to come.

Lay-Far's 'The Green EP' is out via Fifty Fathoms Deep on 22nd July and is available to pre-order on 12 via [Juno] | facebook.com/fiftyfathomsdeep

Saturday Sample : Freddie Hubbard - Little Sunflower (Columbia, 1979)

We recently featured the Harlum Muziq Remix of Ovidio's 'Reflexiones' on Moulton Music. It was driving me mad - I absolutely adore the sample featured and couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd heard it before and where it was originally ripped from.

Cue SLL reader Saul, who kindly stepped-up and informed me that the sample is in fact from Freddie Hubbard's 'Little Sunflower', a low-fi jazzy soul number released on Columbia in 1979. Anyhow, through the power of WhoSampled I managed to find the track I originally remember the sample from - Trackheadz's 'Our Music', released on NRK in 2002.

Also check the sample on Karizma's '4 The Love', a funky house classic released on Code Red in 2005.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend peeps!

SLL Thursday Throwback : Susanne Vega - Tom's Diner (DNA Remix) (A&M, 1990)

Having just been reading about the history of the MP3, it turns out it was 'Tom's Diner' by Susanne Vega that Karlheinz Brandenburg used to develop and perfect the audio compression format. He was quoted as saying:

"Somewhere down the corridor, a radio was playing "Tom's Diner." I was electrified. I knew it would be nearly impossible to compress this warm acappella voice."

So I thought it would be a fitting tribute to offer-up the DNA Remix for this week's Thursday Throwback track, a bootleg version Vega liked so much it was officially released without ever knowing the true identities of the remixers (does anyone know who DNA were in the end??). It also rose to become much more successful than the original, a club hit that spurred a huge number of cross-genre remixes.

SLL Feature : The MP3 - What Next?

I've been spending the last few weeks working through Steve Jobs' autobiography by Walter Isaacson. Sitting here writing this feature on my iPad, it really does inspire to understand more about the birth of home computing as we know it today, and the many trials and tribulations that Jobs endured in developing the famed Apple ecosystem.

This got me to thinking about the conception of modern music consumption formats, most notably the MP3. It occurred to me that much has happened during my lifetime in the world of consumer electronics. 1984 saw the launch of the Macintosh and the birth of the first truly consumer-friendly personal computer. Then came the iPhone and iPad, which for many are as much music consumption devices as they are innovations facilitating communication and personal productivity.

2001: The iPod

These milestones mark a dramatic acceleration in the development of the modern semiconductor which gave rise to Silicon Valley and one of the most profitable industries in the world. However, what seems strange is that despite the countless other technical innovations I've seen in my short 29 years, the development of the digital music format seems to somewhat buck this trend.

Let me put this in context: in the last 30 years the tech industry has given us home computing, the Internet and truly mobile methods of communication, which in turn has resulted in an endless stream of new and more powerful devices. As such, we're now able to communicate, consume and create in a multitude of different ways, as facilitated by the rapid growth of the hardware to support this functionality.

It's fair to say that software development has always been the poor slave to hardware innovation, but in 2013 it seems that for the first time in history the two are now able to co-exist and develop in tandem. This is due to a combination of cheaper, more powerful and readily available technology giving rise to a generation of home-grown developers, each with the tools and broadcast mechanics to make waves using a basic PC and Internet connection.

As such, it seems peculiar is that we're still consuming music in the same way we were back in 1999. Sure, the means we use to listen to music have become more advanced (the iPod, iPhone, iPad and iTunes), as have the distribution networks (think cloud-based technology such as Spotify and Pandora), yet, regardless of how, in the main we are still downloading and listening to MP3s in the same way we were at the height of the Napster era in the late-1990s.

2000: Napster

In 2013, we live in a world of endless crowd-sourced music, regardless of whether you're into the latest chart-toppers or the newest and weirdest genre imaginable - there's a market for it. And with each segment, no matter how big or small, there is an army of creative free-thinkers with the technological knowhow to support it; be it bedroom DJs entertaining bigger online crowds than some of the top-name superstars, young music producers writing genre-defining tracks with the most basic of studio setups, self-taught designers creating exhibition-standard album artwork or upcoming video producers creating animation and motion graphics worthy of red carpet treatment.

Despite this, in the same amount of time it took Steve Jobs to 'make a dent in the universe' and re-imagine consumer technology forever, we continue to consume music media in the same way. At best, we are still watching music videos in two-dimensions in the same way we did as kids of the MTV generation. But even video technology has seen leaps in the form of DVD and 1080P Blu Ray, yet lossy, compressed MP3s still reside as our preferred method of listening.

So therein lays the question: do we simply have as much affinity with the MP3 as we did for tangible formats such as the acetate, cassette tape and compact disc, does it still offer sufficient utility in its sound reproduction and smaller file size, or are we simply waiting for the tech geeks to offer us a new alternative? I doubt file size is an issue with so many affordable data storage options now available and rapidly increasing Internet bandwidth speeds. Perhaps the answer lies in the way music is produced, which has, on the whole, remained unchanged for thousands of years.

In terms of consumption, we live in an age of convergence, with the virtual and physical realms becoming ever closer. 3D TVs can now be found in the homes of families with the most modest of incomes, Apple is readying the much anticipated launch of the iWatch, and Google continues to flood the tech rags with updates from its Glass project. Combine that with an era of big data, where the likes of Apple, Google, Facebook and countless mobile apps monitor the where, when and how of every song you listen to or video you watch, it's truly mind-boggling that we're not able to immerse ourselves in a truly personal music experience.

Should we not be watching our own personalised 3D music videos on the go, as curated by a million algorithms about our digital self? Or is there something truly magical about listening to music in the most basic way possible, offering our mind the opportunity to interpret and internalise it in a way no amount of data will ever be able to replicate? To answer that would be to understand music's very effect on the human condition. Probably a conversation for another time(!), but a fascinating question all the same.

- Ben Cox

EDM News : 16th July 2013

1. Relentless offer aspiring DJs a chance to open the 'Here To Be Heard' stage alongside Zane Lowe at this year's Leeds Festival. (via FACT) http://goo.gl/vZWJB

2. Algoriddim releases 16-second teaser video for djay 2 iOS apps in the face of increasing competition from NI. (via DJ Tech Tools) http://goo.gl/DhTgZ

3. Ministry of Sound founder James Palumbo nominated for peerage by Nick Clegg. (via Mixmag) http://goo.gl/22fff

Nu Funk Review : Alice Russell - For A While (forthcoming on Tru Thoughts)

The vibe

Following her incredible performance at Glastonbury this year, Alice Russell returns with the latest cut from her acclaimed album 'To Dust'.

With a MPC driven off-beat swing, the track sits somewhere between the nu funk and the future hip-hop sound. Alice's unmistakable lyrics float softly yet dominantly atop a typically unique and infectious toe-tapping rhythm, with piano stabs, a subtly infused brass section and layered ad libs giving the track wonderful depth, texture and atmosphere.

Sounds like

Well, Alice Russell. It's so difficult to align her sound with any other, even over a contemplative cigarette taking in the instrumental! Therein lies the beauty of all Alice Russell output - it's hard to define, unique, in such a bloody good way.

Serving suggestion

Perfect for a sophisticated night-in on a Saturday night with friends, on the iPod at work, or warming-up the crowd on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Definitely best enjoyed with a good bottle of vino. :-)

Did you know?

Alice loves trampolining...

'For A While' drops on 27th August via Tru Thoughts | tru-thoughts.co.uk

Alternatively, you can grab the album 'To Dust' over at Juno [here]

EDM Review : Alan de Laniere - Ponle Voz (Ft. Miss Wonder) (Mycrazything Records)

The vibe

'Ponle Voz' offers up a slice of Latin-tinged soulful house, with crisp percussion, a down and dirty bassline and silky Spanish vocal. Whilst I'm never that drawn to vocals sung in other languages, after a couple of listens I found myself spinning round the lounge singing 'Ponle Voz', with no idea what it actually means. Better get on Google Translate...

Sounds like

It could have been produced by the Audiowhores.

Serving suggestion

This one's definitely best served-up on a bed of mid-afternoon sunshine, ideally overlooking an ocean with a dancefloor close to hand. For best results, I'd recommend a Spanish island somewhere. :-)

Did you know?

Miss Wonder actually hails for France, despite her Spanish tongue on 'Ponle Voz'. She also has MASSIVE hair apparently...

'Ponle Voz' is out now via Mycrazything Records | Grab a copy over at Juno | 
mycrazything-records.puzl.com

** UPDATE **

@sllmusic It means turn up the volume & it also plays on the words "put it voice" encouraging people to fight for their ideas & express them
— Miss Wonder (@MissWonderMusic) July 15, 2013

Soul News - 15th July 2013

1. The super-soulful, acoustic sounds of San Fran's Chaquis Maliq hit SLL's Inbox this week. Check her video EPK here: http://goo.gl/ciSyl

2. Our friends at Soulab continue their incredible soul and broken beat compilation series in the shape of 'Chill Out With Soul 3'. Available from Juno now: http://goo.gl/HEpoE

3. Tru Thoughts released the Youngblood Brass Band's cover of Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody' to its advance mailing list. Out on 12th August, you can pre-order it on iTunes now: http://goo.gl/oGsKw