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.

FaltyDL feat. Ed Macfarlane - She Sleeps Remixes (Ninja Tune)

“She Sleeps” is the second single from FaltyDL‘s coming-of-age masterpiece, Hardcourage, and perhaps the centerpiece of the album. The only vocal song on the full length, “She Sleeps” features a brilliant, haunting turn from the Friendly Fires’ Ed Macfarlane. Mysterious, tender and reflective, his lyrics weave around the driving, purposeful percussion and a melody that’s singularly exploratory and gentle.

The single comes with a remix package that more than does justice to the quality of the original. Holland’s electronic pioneer Martyn has reworked the track into a writhing, muscular dance floor stomp. Gang Gang Dance need no introduction, and their take on the song proves why once more. Lifting the inter beauty of the song to the fore, they’ve turned it into an opus of rich texture and uplifting, melancholic melody. Ital is the solo moniker of Planet Mu’s Daniel Martin-McCormick, and his remix takes things a touch darker and industrial edged, warping the melody into something altogether more ominous. Finally, exuberant London boogie-ists 2000Black have worked “She Sleeps” into a deep, hypnotic soulful groove. 

Chris Woodward (Buzzin Fly) - “The Martyn remix is sick!”
DJ Rocca (Ajello) - “A great remix collection … quality stuff!”
Brett Johnson - “Great package … I’m leaning towards Martyn’s mix.”
Tensnake - “Nice remixes for one of the best albums of the year.”
Chris Todd (Crazy P, Hot Toddy) - “The original is gorgeous. The 2000Black remix very nice, also.”
Q-Burns Abstract Message - “The original is absolutely the leader of this strong package, though 2000Black really shines on the remix as well. Superb all around.”
Chris Duckenfield (Swag) - “Great remixes to be had here. I’m liking 2000Black and Martyn. Ital is also strong … really good package.”
Shir Khan (Exploited, Radio Fritz) - “I’m a big fan of Falty DL. And these remixes … wow. What a selection. Gang Gang Dance and Martyn in one package! Only Ninja Tune can deliver this great eclecticism.”
Deep Space Orchestra - “Lovely selection here … I’m digging the 2000 Black version the most, Martyn and Ital versions are also killer. Every version here is decent.”
OOFT! (Foto Records) - “A lovely package of music. I’m especially feeling the original and the 2000Black mixes.”
Ben Mono - “A 2000Black remix? Wow, oh yes … full support here.”
Will SumSuch (DeepWit, Etoka) - “Original and 2000Black mixes are doing the business for me. Really cleverly put together, organic sounds with a gorgeous vocal.”
Michael Reinboth (Compost Records) - “Feel the bass and touch the beat … good good!”
Bob Duskis (Six Degrees Records) - “Loving the ‘electro- dreamy’ vibe of this track and all of the remixes as well. The Gang Gang Dance mix is particularly tasty to my ears.”

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.

FaltyDL - Straight & Arrow (Ninja Tune)

Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL has been a name to watch for quite some time now. With his new album for Ninja Tune (in partnership with Falty’s new label Blueberry Records), Hardcourage, he’s ready to step up and join the electronic music elite. “Straight & Arrow” offers a clear idea why. FaltyDL makes pitch-perfect, beautiful, widescreen club music that works as well pumped from ear buds straight to your cerebral cortex as blasted from club sound systems. He’s a technically gifted, subtle producer who understands that soul should never be sacrificed to tastefulness.

It’s a mark of how highly he’s thought of in the world of electronic music that he can command remixes from both Four Tet and Gold Panda. Four Tet re-imagines the original, initially with the vocal hook and shuffling beat but evolving into a late-night crescendo of acid-tinged electronica, while Gold Panda chops things up to create an alternate groove. In between, Mike Q and Divoli S’vere concentrate on the beat, piling kicks and claps together for a sparse but compelling floor-filler.

FaltyDL has been turning heads since 2008, when Mike Paradinas signed his US-ified versions of UK garage to Planet Mu and released them on an unsuspecting world. Since then, Lustman has looked to expand and evolve his signature sound over two albums, an EP, and three singles for the label. In addition, he has released an afrobeat-inspired 12”, Mean Streets Pt 1, with Loefah’s Swamp81 label, a single on Ramp backed with a remix from Jamie XX, and begun releasing collaborations with Machinedrum online. An in-demand remixer, he has made versions for the likes of Seun Kuti (Fela’s son), Mount Kimbie, The XX, Scuba, Photek, Anthony Shake Shakir, Jose James, Alice Russell, and others. Recently he supported Radiohead in New York and topped Thom Yorke’s office playlist.

Prins Thomas - “The Four Tet mix grabbed me immediately. I’ll definitely play it. The original is good, too.”
Laurent Garnier - “Another superb remix from Four Tet.”
Nick Warren - “Brilliant work from Gold Panda.”
Tom Findlay (Groove Armada) - “Amazing. I love the Gold Panda and Four Tet mixes. Gold Panda is boootiful. Original also lush.”
Kraak & Smaak - “Excellent Four Tet remix … sick!”
Gavin Hardkiss (Hawke) - “Hella dope.”
Chrissy Murderbot - “Loving the whole thing.”
Gavin Herlihy - “Four Tet and Gold Panda remixes are working best for me. Four Tet is particularly good.”
Chris Coco - “Stellar line up of remixers for a really good artist. Four Tet remix works for me.”
Alan Brown (Cuki) - “Sublime electronica all around. That is some seriously deep musical mystery there. All mixes get major thumbs up but it’s the original that gets the big high fives for sounding something close to a Floating Points production. Brilliant!”
Nick Chacona - “What a great f**king record! The mixes are nice but the original really kills.”
Bill Brewster - “Four Tet is the one, though the Gold Panda mix is pretty cool, too. Nice mix of dance floor friendliness with some nice touches of waywardness.”
Joshua Ferguson (XLR8R) - “Loving the leftfield soul on display here.”
DJ Tomas - (Friday Night Session - KUSF) - “Hard to pick a favorite here. They all stand on their own, especially Falty’s origina which is straight deep vibez. Love the FourTet mix too – outersteller!”

Available now from Juno Download and Beatport.

Toddla T - Watch Me Dance: Agitated by Ross Orton & Pipes (Ninja Tune)

In 2007 Toddla T (aka Tom Bell) was working in a shoe shop in his hometown of Sheffield, then just 19 and living at home with his parents, he DJ’ed at weekends and was producing beats and tracks with his friend Scott as Small Arms Fiya. Just four years later and Toddla T is DJ’ing around the globe, has a slew of remixes under his belt (Hot Chip, Gyptian, Gorillaz, Major Lazer for starters), released two acclaimed albums, and has launched his Girls Music label. Toddla T’s productions can be described as a combination of dub-wise street-soul for the clubbers. As he explains, “A bit of the Soul from Soul II Soul Club Classics and a bit of the Left-field from Leftism. I’ve been listening to those now and again, they took in a whole load of club music and made an album that summed something up and were great to listen to at the same time.”

When Toddla T was asked if he fancied the label commissioning producers for a remix album of of his second album Watch Me Dance, he had a much better idea. He asked two legends of the Sheffield underground music scene – Ross Orton and DJ Pipes to agitate, smash and rebuild his album in the manner of the scene that shaped his sound. A renowned designer as well as DJ – and instrumental in the Sheffield underground music scene for well over a decade – Pipes has been described by Toddla T as his number one inspiration. Orton, meanwhile, in between working on the Toddla T records, was a member of Fat Truckers, the drummer for Jarvis Cocker, and, as the Cavemen (with Steve Mackey of Pulp), wrote and produced MIA’s “Galang.” He has also remixed and produced everyone from The Kills and Kelis to Tinchy Stryder and The Arctic Monkeys. Together the pair have taken Toddla’s record and agitated it with the essence of Sheffield bass culture – running from a dub reggae take on “Fly” through a bleep-tastic version of “Take It Back” and taking in everything in between – a true Steel City re-work of the original album that goes much further and has way more coherence than a series of unrelated remixes.

Fort Knox Five - “This is wicked!”
Tim “Love” Lee - “Nice. I really enjoyed this a lot. Hard to pick a favorite.”
DJ Sabo (Sol*Selectas) - “Nice dubwise agitations … big ups Toddla T!”
Ben Mono - “‘Take It Back’ is my thang!”
Azaxx (Tru Thoughts) - “‘Fly’ is amazing. I like the dub vision of this really good track.”
Kid Gusto - “I’m feeling it.”
Quincy Jointz - “Love it. Hard to chose the favorite tune.”
Pablo Contraband (Disco Deviant) - “BOOOM! I’m loving this sound so much. Hats off to Orton & Pipes for the stunning reworks. I’m going to cane this hard.”
Vinyl Ritchie - “Smashing.”
Andy Wilson (Ibiza Sonica FM) - “Some great bass ‘n’ bleeps business. ‘Streets Get Warmer’ and ‘Fly’ work best for me with their reggae flavor, and ‘Cherry Picking’ is the one for the dance floor.”
Florian Stumpf (Rhino Soundsystem) - “Mind-blowing stuff … love it!”

Available now from NinjaTune and iTunes.