Toddla T Sound - Worst Enemy (Ninja Tune)

This is the first single from Toddla T Sound, the collective of Serocee, DRS, Shola AMA and Toddla T, brought together by Toddla himself. Featuring both elements of live performance and DJing with live vocalists, their aim is to bring all the madness from the clubs to the studio. Already road tested at Love Box, Roskilde, and Bestival, the response has been resounding. “Worst Enemy” is a collaborative release that has come about because of the great vibes of a year spent on the road touring filled with the combo’s ‘old-meets-new school’ sound and ethos. “Worst Enemy” also gets the remix treatment from rising Numbers artist Deadboy whose productions have been described as ‘hypersoul’ and ‘heartache for the dance floor.’ Tapping into London’s rich musical heritage from Scott Walker to early ’90s hardcore all the way through to UK garage and house, Deadboy’s tracks somehow still share the same sense of futuristic melancholia as the first wave of Detroit techno by the likes of Derrick May and Juan Atkins. Energetic breakbeat floor power pours out of Deadboy’s mixes here, with both a full vocal version and a more DJ-centric dub. Dig in.

Soul of Man (Finger Lickin’) - “Yes, yes, and YES again! The original all the way, swerve the remixes though. TOP TUNAGE, got the vibes, got the the bleeps, got the hairs standing to attention, too.”
Dave Taylor (Switch / Major Lazer) - “The original is proper!”
Sebastian Doering (Lovebirds) - “The original is wicked … so deep!”
Tom Flynn (Hypercolour / Dirtybird) - “Awesome! I absolutely love the Deadboy remix. Full support.”
DJ Rocca (Ajello) - “The Deadboy Remix changed my day! Amazing.”
Kruse & Nuernberg - “The original mix is ACE.”
Ulysses (Neurotic Drum Band) - “The Deadboy remix is super fun. I love the old rave feel.”
Jota Wagner (Colors Sound System) - “Modern and ‘old school’ at the same time. The Deadboy remix is pretty cool.”
Joey Silvero (Distant People) - “Heavy weight massive impact track!”
Da Wiseguy (Mixed Up on RTE Pulse, Ireland) - “Don’t get me wrong … the Deadboy remix is a deadly buzz altogether. But the original is just something supremely special.”
Joshua Ferguson (Dialogue Inc.) - “Definitely a great follow up to Toddla T’s recent successes. Deadboy really kills it with that rolling break.”
Charlie Wild (WNYU / Mixtape Riot) - “The Deadboy remix is FRESSSSSSSSH! I’m liking the original a lot, too.”
Velanche (Velanche’s Playtime) - “Deadboy smashes it. That is all.”

Available now from Juno Download and Beatport.

Letherette - Featurette EP (Ninja Tune)

For their third EP Featurette, shadowy Wolverhampton duo Letherette come to the Ninja Tune label ahead of a debut album in 2013.

Drawing on Bangalter-inflected house but giving it a rumble and wing, Letherette make infectious, beat-driven music which is as fun and un-self-conscious as it is clever and technically cutting edge. From the exuberant cut-up boogie of “Warstones,” through moments of ethereal beauty on the four-to-the-floor stomper “Ettewards,” on into delicate, poised “Surface” (featuring vocals from Jed + Lucia), and finally the spaced hip hop of “Wecko,” the childhood friends use the Featurette EP to show their range and diversity as well as their technical nous.

After two releases on the excellent Ho Tep Records, an appearance on Brownswood Electric, a couple of stunning remixes (for Machinedrum and Bibio), and a fantastic DJ mix for BTS Radio, plus support from the likes of Benji B, Gilles Peterson, and Brackles, gigs and festival appearances across Europe this summer, and now a trio of fantastic EPs, Letherette are ready to make the musical leap to the big time. 

Fort Knox Five - “Dopeness!”
Gavin Hardkiss (Hawke) - “I love Letherette. I’m playing this every chance I get.”
Jay West - “Awesome!”
Alland Byallo - “Fatty cuts! Just the right amount of everything in it, and all pure quality.”
Pezzner - “This whole EP is lovely.”
Kruse & Nuernberg - “Great EP. ‘Warstone’ is wicked.”
M A N I K (Ovum, Culprit) - “DOPE. I can always count on Ninja Tune.”
Giom - “This is awesome!”
Djuma Soundsystem - “Love it!”
Stereo 77 - “I need more of this in my life … like ASAP! Fantastic all around.”
Sebastian Doering (Lovebirds) - “Wicked stuff … full support!”
DJ Rocca (Ajello) - “I really love ‘Wecko,’ but for the floor I’m going straight for ‘Warstones.’”
OOFT! - “Really like the whole EP with its atmospheric 80s references. Great stuff.”
DJ Tomas (Friday Night Session, San Francisco) - “This is one of my favorite EPs of the year. A seriously talented producer.”
Ben Gomori (Data Transmission) - “‘Warstones’ is like cracked-out, tubro-charged French cut-up house with a filthy edge. Amazing. ‘Surface’ and ‘Wecko’ are gorgeous, too. Great EP.”

Available now from Juno Download and Beatport.

Hercules And Love Affair - DJ-Kicks Sampler (!K7 Records)

It’s all too easy for nostalgia to tip into something negative. At its best it’s a celebration of the best the past has to offer while putting it into a contemporary context; at its worst it’s moaning that things aren’t as good as they used to be. Hercules & Love Affair have always been firmly in the first category. Main man Andy Butler takes classic house and disco sounds and uses them to craft dance music that has one foot in the past, the other cutting a rug on dance floors right now. It’s a well-judged and expertly executed balance.

A highlight of the new Hercules And Love Affair DJ-Kicks mix, “Release Me,” finds Hercules mastermind Andy Butler binging on a variety of retro sources in an otherwise ’90s-house focused context. Says Butler of his new track and its vougishly dispassionate singer: “It features this LA DJ called Whitney Fierce singing. Great name. She has a Bananarama thing going on with her voice. I decided to do something akin to that early ’90s mash-up thing. We pulled out old gear, early samplers, so we could get that low bit rate quality. It has that really rough sound. It’s very authentic of the period, kind of Stock Aitken Waterman production meets the Hacienda.”

In addition to the original “Release Me,” this sampler includes a beefed-up remix from Butler and Mark Pistel (formerly of Consolidated and sometime Meat Beat Manifesto collaborator). Also one will find the track “A Bit of Redemption” by Ha-ze Factory, comprised of Viennese producers Philipp Haffner and Constantin Zeileissen, who are currently working with Andy Butler on new Hercules material. This track is also exclusive to the compilation, and consists of a 90’s techno-house style that definitely falls into the Hercules retro-not-retro ethos and should give much pleasure to the DJ-types out there.

Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space) - “As always, great stuff from Hercules & Love Affair!”
Dave Taylor (Switch / Major Lazer) - “Nice!”
Graeme Park - “Well smack my ass and call me Sally! Outrageously good.”
Tom Findlay (Groove Armada) - “Ha-ze Factory’s ‘A Bit Of Redemption’ is amazing.”
The Magician (Kitsuné) - “Cool. I like it.”
Stereo 77 - “Fantastic trio of tracks! I can’t help but remember the early days of freestyle here … I love them and can’t wait to test drive the Andrew Butler & Mark Pistel remix.”
Severino (Horse Meat Disco) - “Pretty cool.”
Abicah Soul - “Rocking!”
Cosmo Vitelli - “The original of ‘Release Me’ is quite cool.”
Chrissy Murderbot - “Big big big!”
The Glimmers - “Love it.”
Brennan Green - “Sick. I’ll play this with some sprinkles.”
Mr. Spring (2 FM, Ireland) - “Back to the ’83 … I now have big hair.”

Available now from Juno Download and Beatport.

Clubfeet - Last Words (Plant Music) →

Clubfeet return with their newest single, “Last Words," another piece of melancholic pop mastery from the Melbourne (via Cape Town via Biarritz) band. The single has been remixed by some of their friends.

First up is from legendary hedonist and French disco icon Dimitri From Paris who takes us for a trip along the Cote d’Azur on the back of his super yacht, with deep live bass and 60’s strings swirling around a dance floor gem that is bound to have beautiful eastern European girls momentarily forgetting their ennui and holding aloft their menthol Gauloises in the warm summer air. 

Indie producer Andrew Maury, aka RAC (who we love in wildly inappropriate ways), drops a chunky, catchy mix that works equally well in clubs, on the radio, at home or on your iPod. Finally, Londoners The C90s turn in a remix that is synth-heavy, twisting and turning into a slab of pop-funk that will shake any of the booties that Dimitri or RAC could not.

Available now from Juno Download