Party time: SMS bring the beach to London!

You can't say we're not good to you...following on from roadblocked SMS parties back to back in East and West London earlier in the year we're back, bringing another sun-kissed taster of what you can expect from our first festival in Croatia this September.

On Thursday 24th June we hit Favela Chic with lives bands Rogue Nouveau - the jazz-hip-hop-soul brainchild of sassy singer/MC Natalia Sheppard (pictured, above) - and Hannah and the Heartbreak, whose previously toured with Martina Topley-Bird and is part of North London's vibrant warehouse scene. Support on the night comes from SMS favourite cumbia-championing world music renegade Russ Jones and resident Madera Verde.

The night after, on Friday 25th June, we return to Notting Hill Arts Club with an all-out electronic affair headlined by secretsundaze resident Giles Smith with special guest Lakuti of sud electronic fame. Expect cutting edge house and techno with a distinctly cool, continental flavour.

See you 'pon the floor...

THURSDAY 24TH JUNE
@ FAVELA CHIC
LIVE: ROGUE NOUVEAU + HANNAH AND THE HEARTBREAK
DJS:  RUSS JONES + MADERA VERDE
Favela Chic, 91-93 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3HZ / Tel: 0207 6134228. Nearest tube: Old Street
Entry free before 9pm - £3 after / 7pm – 1am

FRIDAY 25TH JUNE
@ NOTTING HILL ARTS CLUB
DJS: GILES SMITH (secretsundaze)+ LAKUTI (süd electronics)
Notting Hill Arts Club, 21 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3JQ
Nearest tube: Notting Hill / Tel: 020 74604459
Free entry before 8pm, £6 before 11pm, £8 after / 7pm – 2am

SMS mix 09 - Friendly Fires

One of British music's brightest talents, party-starting XL-signed trio Friendly Fires are equally adept at covering shimmering Chicago house tracks as they are dreaming up their own edgy take on dance punk-pop that's won over fans of Talking Heads and Michael Mayer alike thanks to gems like 'Paris' and 'Jump In The Pool'.

As a taster for their forthcoming DJ set at Stop Making Sense festival this September we bring you their brilliant 'Eggs Benedict' mix, a wide-eyed fusion of Detroit techno, Windy City house and Californian pop cool courtesy of the one and only Ariel Pink.

Oh yes...

Stream: SMS mix 09 - Friendly Fires

Tracklisting:

Jesse’s Gang – ‘Real Love’ – Geffen
Jodie ‘Fingers’ Finch – ‘Jack Your Big Booty (BHQ No Acid mix)’ – Lets Pet Puppies
Terre Thaemlitz – ‘Masturjakor (Kink and Neville Watson remix)’ – Mule Musiq
Green Velvet feat. Kid Sister – ‘Everybody Wants’ – Relief Records
Ike – ‘Dizkadenz’ – Philpot Records
KZA – ‘On&On&On’ – Endless Flight
King Cosmic – ‘Freaky Queen (Paul Hardy remix)’ – Hot Milk
Basic Soul Unit – ‘Hope Unity Vision’ – New Kanada
Kink – ‘Psyche Funk’ – Kolour Recordings
Quince – ‘Electric’ – Delsin Records
Rebolledo – ‘Guerrero’ – Comeme Records
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – ‘Don’t Think Twice (Love)’ – Paw Tracks

SMS mix 08 - Slutty Fringe

So, here we go again...another week, another exclusive hot-mix from the considerable pool of musical talent set to bring down the rafters at Stop Making Sense this summer.

Deck duties on SMS mix 08 fall to much-respected blogger, label runner, club promoter and, of course, taste-making DJ Slutty Fringe, a sun-drenched selection of Balearica and modern disco featuring choice cuts by the likes of Prins Thomas, Todd Terje, Aeroplane and more - full tracklisting and interview below...

Download: SMS mix 08 - Slutty Fringe

Tell us about the mix you’ve recorded for Stop Making Sense...
"Well this is about the 4th attempt at it, in 15 years of DJ'ing I think I've recorded about 3 mixes in total, every time I sit down to do one I end up getting too carried away, trying to create something completely epic and heroic and then get bogged down in the details. Like for this I must have tried about 5 completely different mixes, from pure ambient through to acid house, via god knows what. In end after looking around and realising I was sat in a room surrounded by about 400 records all spread over the floor I just selected a dozen or so tracks I've played recently, got any notion of fancy edits or messing around with software out of my head and just did it as I would a live set."

Any exclusives or particular favourites on there?
"Nothing too exclusive I’m afraid but certainly some of my favourites, I've wanted to sneak To Rococo Rot's 'Telema' into a mix for some time, and I had to get something by Joakim in there, probably one of my favourite producers of all time."

Summer's coming, what's on the agenda?
"Sweating in an office for most of it probably. Still hopefully I’ll shed some of my wintry palour. If all goes to plan I'll get out to a few festivals this Summer, I usually try to get to Standon in the UK, and then I'll probably do Soundwave before finishing the summer in style at SMS. And of course I’m looking forward to seeing England crash in the 2nd round of the World Cup."

Tell us about your latest projects?
"Well, our label, Hot Pockets is going gangbusters, we've just put out our 4th release, a little yellow 7" by this amazing pop band from Brighton :Kinema:. That's a lot of work, money and effort but just about worth it in the end. That moment it arrives from the pressing plant, it's just the best feeling and generally lasts right up till you get your first royalty statement through. Then I think my next major project is a complete redesign of the Slutty Fringe site, we redesigned it last year, but it was only really cosmetic, the plan now is to sit down and really look at just what we can and want to do with all the tools available to us. We really do live in an astonishing time, it's easy to forget sometimes how easier it is to be creative these days. My aim is that later in the year we'll start producing our own little 30 minute shows. The fact that we can do all that with some cheap equipment and lots of good will I still sometimes just find staggering. It's taken me a long time to fully realise that you really can have a go at anything you want, you have to be a bit bloody minded about it. Once that's done it's time to go back to basics, I've just started a little publishing company and hopefully will put out a couple of books by some friends, and hopefully produce a print version of Slutty Fringe, I still love creating things that you can actually hold in your hands.'

What current artists are you drawing inspiration from right now?
"You know after feeling a bit jaded for a while, the past 6 months has been really inspiring musically, people like Walls, The Chap, Grovesnor, have all put out amazing albums this year. Then in the clubs you've got people like Hot City, or the whole Night Slugs crew redefining house music, and there’s still more amazing disco records coming out than I think anyone really knows what to do with. I just think it’s a really great time for club music again."

What are you favourite/biggest tunes of the moment?
"At home I can't stop playing 'Even Your Friend' and 'We Work in Bars' off the new Chap album. Club wise... Leo Zero has been knocking out these amazing hip-house re-edits recently that are just perfect in every way, and something like the recent 2 Bears EP, I think that’s the first record for ages that I’ve ever played every track off the EP in one set, so, so good."

What can we expect from your show at Stop Making Sense?
"Well, I think I'm on about lunch time/early afternoon on the Saturday and I was out at Petrcane last summer and know that the Croatian midday sun is pretty fierce, so I'll just keep things nice and gentle. Lots of dubby disco, ambient pop and Balearic tracks, music for people to slowly get their heads together for the day and night ahead."

Who are you most looking forward to seeing play at the festival?
"Oh too many, it's such a great lineup. I mean take your pick Optimo, Allez Allez, The Very Best, it's hard to choose. Look at the Secretsundaze stage, you could just spend the whole day there, I can't wait for Carl Craig's set, that will be really special under the stars."

Where will we find you at sunrise on Sunday morning?
"You know, I'd love to say i'll be there giving it 'big box, little box' on the beach, but I'm not a young blade anymore and I desperately need all the beauty sleep i can get, so I'll probably be tucked up in bed somewhere snoring contentedly."

SMS mix 08- Tracklisting:

Goldfrapp - Happiness (BTWS Edit)
Antenna - Camino Del Sol (Joakim Remix)
Chaz Jankel - Glad To Know You (Todd Terje Edit)
Memory Cassette - Surfin (Sail A Whale Version)
James Yuill - This Sweet Love (Prins Thomas Sneaky Edit)
Sebastian Tellier - Kilometre (Aeroplane Remix)
To Rococo Rot - Telema
Tiger & Woods - Deflowered
Steelers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You (Todd Terje Edit)
Phenomenal Handclap Band - You'll Dissapear (Munk Remix)
Daft Punk - Harder, Faster, Stronger, Better (Dave Wrangler Remix)

Running Tings: SMS x Nike Tied Together

Stop Making Sense has joined forces with NIKE to support their TIED TOGETHER campaign, an epic journey in response to a global health crisis.

Five cities. 120 hours of racing. 24 hour relays. This week NIKE, (RED) and people in London, New York, Milan, Berlin and Paris are lacing up and moving through the streets of their city to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.

24 teams of London’s most creative ambassadors - including yours truly (alongside the likes of Girlcore, VICE, Work It, Mixcloud, SUP and others) - have joined forces to raise awareness of the ongoing battle against this disease and to help the people suffering from it.

Journeying through the city, each team has devised individual t-shirt designs and routes to broadcast their support and rally behind the cause. We'll also be calling on our rafter of festival DJs to provide a 24-hour musical mix courtesy of Stop Making Sense.

The accompanying exhibition at Nike 1948 concept space in Shoreditch showcases London’s very best talent interpreting, expressing and pressing home the urgency and severity of this worldwide issue.

NIKE will contribute 100% of its profits from the sales of (NIKE) RED Laces to the Global Fund and to support soccer-based programs to help fight AIDS in Africa.

Pictures, info and report to follow!

Richard 'Time and Space Machine' Norris: exclusive new mix for FACT magazine

Richard Norris aka the Time and Space Machine aka one half of Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve (with Erol Alkan), has done a mixtape for FACT.

An altogether cosmic affair that spans psychedelia, Balearic, prog, kraut and disco and is a perfectly pitched indicator of what you can expect from Norris' set at Stop Making Sense this September. With the sand between your toes and waves lapping up to shore in the background, it should go down a treat...

Norris has been entertaining us all year with his Fantasy Island sessions at London’s Camino Bar, and this year released the first Time and Space Machine album, following mini-LPs Volume One (2008) and Volume Two (2009).

Download: The Time and Space Machine in the mix for FACT

Tracklisting:


1. The Loaded Angels – Aquarius Rising (from ‘Jack The Tab’)

2. Alan Hawkshaw – Rumplestiltskin

3. Warm Sounds – Nite Is A Coming

4. Jaqueline Tiaeb – 7 Heures

5. Jabberwocky – Alice OST

6. George Romanos – Two Little Hours

7. River Theme (T+SM Edit)

8. All Along The Watchtower – Savage Grace

9. Prelude – The Millenium

10. Zoltan The Mynd Reader

11. Fine Jung Thing – The Electric Flag

12. The Oud and the Fuzz – John Berberian

13. Love Like A Man – Helmuth Brandenburg

14. Hard Time – A Time and Space vs Cherrystones edit

15. The March Of The Chessmen – AliceOST

16. Tarot Theme – Andrew Bown

17. Buffalo Roam (T+SM Edit)

18. June – Nirvana

19. Bonus

20. Bernard Fevre – New From Tomorrow (T+SM Mix)

Optimo: Forever Mixing It Up

Dance music legends don't come much more consistently creative and jaw-droppingly inspirational than Optimo, the DJ pairing of Glasgae music lovers Twitch and JG Wilkes.

Having recently called time on their much loved weekly Glasgow party of the same name, the pair have already set up a new night - Hung Up! - to showcase the city's deep rooted musical talents.

We caught up with the duo ahead of their set at Stop Making Sense this September to find out more...

Summer's coming, what's on the agenda?
Twitch: "On the road all the time but hopefully will get a bit of time to relax."
JG Wilkes: "2 or 3 club gigs most weekends. Rockness, The Electric Frog, Glastonbury, Ibiza, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, USA."

Tell us about your latest projects?
Twitch: "Working on my label - Optimo Music. In the studio producing Scottish legends Sons and Daughters. Lots of remixing."
JG: "We run a new weekly party on Sunday in Glasgow called "Hung Up!" It's at the Sub Club. We program the line-ups, local and international, both live acts and dj's and we play at it occasionally ourselves. Hung up! has run 3 weeks now with great local dj's playing and it's taking shape nicely. Next week, 30th May, Twitch will DJ and Chromehoof will perform live - should be great. Other stuff…We're doing an Optimo party on a paddle steamer on the River Clyde and another on The Thames in London. We are also co-curating an all-day event at Tramway Glasgow on June 26th which culminates in an evening performance by one of our all-time favourite bands "Nurse with Wound" - we've called it 'A Midsummer Day's Dream with Nurse with Wound'. There's some surprises planned too for the Summer/Autumn period."

What current artists are you drawing inspiration from right now?
Twitch: "Amal Saha, Group Doueh, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Troup Majidi, Christoph Buchel."
JG: "Nurse with Wound, The Comeme artists, Divorce, Arvo Part, David Hammons, Factory Floor, Wooden Shjips, Paul McCarthy, Levon Vincent and more."

What can we expect from your show at Stop Making Sense?
Twitch: "Lots of dancing."
JG: "Music we honestly love that we hope will make people want to dance."

Who are you most looking forward to seeing play at the festival?
JG: "Matias Aguayo."

Any unusual festival tips?
JG: "I'm a relatively inexperienced festival goer and am usually in and out… I guess I would say remember that mosquitoes can ruin everything…. apparently Catnip is a more powerful repellant than DEET."

Where will we find you at sunrise on Sunday morning?
JG: "Somewhere quiet."

SMS festival madness: the people, the parties, revealed in full glory!