Blog Archive
Dalston resident, dance floor smashing electro DJ and brains behind this Friday’s Grand Hotel party, Badbob, has laid down a mix of uncompromising, bass heavy bangers to help you lose the Tuesday blues. Plump DJs, Foamo, Duck Sauce and The Count and Sinden all squished into an hour serves as the perfect warm-up for this Friday’s party proceedings.
Check Badbob alongside the Plump DJS, Detboi and many more this Friday. For more information, click here
This aural delight brings the production skills of two upcoming Lemonade headliners together in one track. Retro/Grade’s seminal electro banger, Mindfighter, has been lovingly reworked into a driving 4×4, dance floor smasher by deep disco DJ, Maxxi Soundsystem. What’s more, it’s free to download for all Nest blog readers.
Maxxi Soundsystem’s nu disco deliciousness first came to our attention when his edit of Alexander O’Neil’s 80s soul classic, ‘Criticise’, dropped online. Cue many hours of office dancing and shameless reloads until we decided we just had to get Maxxi up to London to headline Lemonade. Catch him this Saturday alongside some live action from Wild Palms and I Am A Camera.
Retro Grade – Mindfighter (Maxxi Soundsystem Warehouse Mix) by The Nest
Grand Hotel is nearly open for business, and the Plump DJs, Detboi, Loops of Fury and everyone else on board are dusting off their proverbial record bags and getting ready to take the roof off on 29th.
You’d have to be locked in a pitch black, soundproof cave in the dark depths of Croydon not to have heard the latest output from the Plumps, a rolling-dance floor focused banger with a killer sample and a similarly stonking, porn inspired video. Luckily for you, young reader, we’ve got hold of a free to download remix of the Plumps’ ‘Hump Rock’ masterpiece by Submo. Here’s what the Plumps have to say on about the track:
”Here and exclusive to The Nest, Submo’s VIP mix if our brand new record HUMP ROCK for your downloading pleasure. Available for a limited period only, this version has been honed on tour and kicks like a mule”
For more information on the soon to be sell out Grand Hotel event, click here
For those who don’t already know, La Shark are a New Cross based pop band whose electronic influenced sound and highly charged, unusual delivery has earned them global tours as support for the likes of The Maccabees, Good Shoes and Paloma Faith. Set to wow the ever-growing Lemonade massive this Saturday alongside fellow South Londoners, the Orlando Boom DJs, we thought it apt to get the low down on what’s popping in the art and music world on the other side of the river.
For more information on this Saturday’s Lemonade with Hey Today!, La Shark and much more, click here
5 places to be an ART SLAG in a BAND in South East London VIA Pecknarm
The Bussey building and Franks
Probably Peckham’s largest open gallery space, four floors and a roof of utter madness… When I went a few years ago it was ROUGH; people were fighting me whilst dancing and there was crack in the stairs. Recently, however, it has become the breeding ground for some excellent artists and DJs with LARGE nights-out every so often.
You may also see some inspiring installations at the nearby rooftop, Franks Bar. You have to climb through a derelict car park and take a lift to get there so you can feel like a gangsta and a rah at the same time which is really appealing. They had a ten metre diving board last year with nothing but concrete beneath it. I sat on it and thought about death.
Auto Italia
This disused car garage has been home to ace projects including a Lucky Dragons gig I saw a few years back and an Upset The Rhythm mini festival. In my 23 years in Peckam, I have seen many places of this that DIE at the hands of bulldozers (RIP Area 10), but Auto Italia remains a consistent source of inspiration in the art and music I have seen there.
The New Gallery Bar story and Sassoon
I stumbled upon the newly erected New Gallery when Sami El-enany of LA SHARK and WOE fame scored and played grand piano on a short film there. As far as I am aware, the owner also runs Bar Story and the Sassoon, excellent places to check out some emerging Camberwell/Goldsmith graduate/current work even if YOU HATE HIM.
The South London Gallery
One you may have heard of… WHATEVER, I’m running out of ideas and there’s a Tracy Emin quote on the website. The book shop’s RAD and it really does have one of those rooms you can stand in front of a painting in, feeling really sophisticated “HMMM”.
CORSICA STUDIOS
I’ve been to some slamming private views and end of year shows here in my time, but the line up seems full of names like ‘SCRATCHA’ and ‘YOUNGSTA’ and ‘CLUB MOTHERFUCKER’ nowadays so not sure if there will be any oil paintings anymore. Elephant and Castle has some beautiful wildlife so we could go bird watching instead?
5 places to be a TRAINWRECK in an ART Collective
The Bunker
We ran a costume party here for two years, blood sweat and tears every time. Deptford, darling, “a place people go to disrespect themselves”.
LE FEZ/RELEASE NIGHTCLUB
This looks to be the new place to embarrass yourself to garage music AND it has a chandelier. Maybe you will bump into an ex for the first time in a year and realize they are wasting their lives.
THE VENUE
KAZABIAN? Hahahaha, yea I’ll be there , pick you up outside yea? I’ll be the guy wearing a top, who doesn’t grope you ok?
SE1
Don’t know what in god’s name is going on in the vast space under london Bridge since the fall of Shunt but not so long ago we played a Goblin ball wearing costumes supplied by PRANKSTA and the art director of LABYRINTH was the guest of honour. It was one of the best nights of my life.
LIGHTBOX
Lightbox in Vauxhall has a dance room made of hundreds and thousands of shiny, shiny LEDS. Kind of like this
It’s been over a month since we launched the Go Deeper x Mixmag DJ competition. The Nest headquarters have been humming with the sounds of everything from minimal techno, deep house and disco to UK bass and hard-edged electro. After much deliberation with the Mixmag crew, we sent a shortlist of five mixes to Mowgli who sent a short and sweet email that read, “Street Kids my fave”, and a winner was born!
Come and support The Street Kids debut at The Nest this Friday alongside Mowgli, Spencer Parker and Sonogama. We’ll be going deeper and darker than Dalston has ever been before; if you don’t believe us check out The Street Kids’ winning mix again below, as well as Mowgli’s much awaited July mixtape.
For more information on Go Deeper with Mowgli, Spencer Parker, Sonogama and The Street Kids click here.
Detboi has been bubbling under the radar for the majority of the noughties, producing quality, bass heavy material that’s regularly championed by the Hervés and Plump DJs of this world. Based in Dublin, his isolation from the main low frequency hubs has allowed him to develop a unique sound inspired by original influences rather than contemporary releases.
His next release, on Hervé’s Cheap Thrills imprint, is on the brink of dropping and not only do we have two exclusives from the EP, we also managed to grab the man behind the music for a fleeting conversation. ‘Sanctuary of Love’ is tinged with addictive garage flecks and irresistibly warm, low end bass. ‘Stabbins’ is off-kilter, tribal and banging through to the end.
Set to bring the beats in a strictly uncompromising fashion this upcoming 29th July, Detboi will be joined by Plump DJs, Loops of Fury, Badbob and many more. For more information on the Grand Hotel event, click here
The Nest: Your Curse of the Voodoo Drums release at the end of last summer placed you firmly on the Cheap Thrills map. What have you been doing production-wise with your label mates? Can we expect another solo release on the imprint this year?
Detboi: Yes, yes, yes… Well I’ve been working on a few tracks with Hervé for the Machines Don’t Care 2 album, and I’m road testing tracks from the album at the moment and they sound so fresh and big… I’ve also been doing a few bits with Baxta, a few of those tracks will be coming out on Voodoo Drums 2, another nine track EP, just like the last one. This one covers 2-step/house/disco/bass… exciting stuff!
Old pals Matthew and Colin hooked up in 2008 to lay down a remix under the Mighty Mouse moniker. With a shared love of disco, psychedelia and 80s sounds, their first production project flowed with retro soul and soon got picked up by Aeroplane who gave it some much deserved air time on Pete Tong’s Radio 1 show. They haven’t looked back since. Whether it’s their critically acclaimed Disco Circus compilations, their strictly electronic productions/reworks or the full band show they debuted earlier this year, the Mighty Mouse duo hold it down with high quality, highly distinctive music at all times.
Set to take over The Nest’s humble stage this Friday with their sparkling live show, Mighty Mouse have dished out a pretty fabulous, future retro Edwin Van Cleef remix of their ‘Between the Pavement and the Stars’ track. Sultry nu disco vocals and electronic steel drums are the name of the game on this. Get you download on and don’t forget to check out the pair’s latest Mousecast (also linked below).
For more information on this Friday’s Scandalism with Jaymo and Andy George, Mighty Mouse (LIVE), Teeth (LIVE), Grum and Disco of Doom, click here
Mighty Mouse – Between the Pavement And The Stars (Edwin van Cleef Remix) by Mighty Mouse
Scarlett Etienne is a rising star in underground techno/electro. Championed by dance music kingpin, Sasha, she regularly warms up for his international shows and is making a real name for herself in both the electronic music press (DJ mag/Mixmag) and high fashion publications alike. She’s got her fingers in all sorts of pies; from DJing to producing to rocking out live with a guitar on stage. Performing for the first time at our second Lemonade party on Saturday, she’s already booked in for another August date and looks set to make The Nest her new London home.
We had a quick chat to the lady of the moment about classical training, being labelled a “she-jay” and summer plans. She also kindly donated a Lady Gaga/Maurice edit she dropped via her soundcloud a while back. We copped it on her blog, only to find the track had been deleted and have been intrigued ever since. Correctly titled and hosted on our mixcloud, let’s hope it stays up long enough for all you Lemonade lovers to get your download on!
Scarlett Etienne joins Riton, Avatars (LIVE), The Coolness (LIVE) and Lemmy Ashton this Saturday. For more information and advance tickets click here
The Nest: You’ve been classically trained on the piano and guitar I believe. Do you play any other instruments? Does you classical training assist/influence your electronic production?
Scarlett Etienne: I was classically trained, but I quit playing the piano when I was a stroppy pre-teen, and took up the guitar instead, having been inspired by bands like L7 and Hole. I picked up classical/jazz improv lessons again about eighteen months ago because I missed playing so much. It definitely helps with the writing/production process. Playing any sort of instrument just opens up a different doorway in the imagination. On my forthcoming single “Naked Eye”, you can hear some Beethoven influences.
TN: Tell us about the Lady Gaga edit you’ve kindly given us… What other mainstream artists would you like to tamper with? We’ve seen you have a penchant for Nicki Minaj!
SE: I’m totally head over heels for Nicki Minaj!! I am a lover of underground electronic music but I also sincerely love pop music. So I thought it would be fun to whip up a little edit of Maurice “This is Acid” and one of Gaga’s new album tunes.
TN: You’ve travelled all over the world during your career; if you could play out, party and produce in one place for the rest of your life, where would it be?
SE: London!! Best city in the whole world. The weather is shocking, but all the fun stuff happens inside anyway. You can really get the best of everything in this wonderful city.
TN: I expect you get fed up with answering gender oriented questions regarding your music; have you always seen yourself simply as a musician rather than a “female DJ” or did you look up to any female artists in the electronic world?
SE: Oh dear, I consider it lazy journalism when I get asked about being a “female DJ” or sometimes they even use shocking words like “She-jay” or some stupid shit. Whatever. I’m simply a musician who happens to be a woman. My favourite girls are rock stars who play music better than the boys and their names are Hannah Holland, Smokin’ Jo, Ida Engberg, Nina Kraviz…the list goes on. In London there are also a load of young female artists who are seriously owning pop music like Charli XCX, Britt Love, Viktoria Modesta, Bishi, and Ayah Marar.
TN: Are you looking forward to your debut at The Nest for Lemonade? You don’t play in London very often, could you see yourself making Lemonade your new home?
SE: Absolutely! The Nest is my favourite new venue in London, It’s always so much fun, and very very messy. Lemonade has got some sick lineups planned as well.
TN: Can we expect an LP from you this year? What would be your dream label to release on?
SE: Absolutely, I’ve been releasing dance music releases on my label, Starlett Records, as well as working on new ‘Technolectropop’ material for an LP for the end of the year. My favourite record labels are Turbo, Boys Noize, and Kitsune.
TN: Any festival/Ibiza events we should know about?
SE: I’m opening for Sasha at Sunwaves 10 Festival this year in Romania, on the 13th August…. the eve of my birthday! Along with Sneak, Hearthrob, Paco Osuna, and Troy Pearce. I’ll be celebrating my birthday at midnight with 6000 crazy Romanian party animals on the beach!
Scarlett Etienne – Guest Mix for inthemix.com.au by Scarlett Etienne
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