text: Seriously, this man is a fucking machine. It seems like every week there's a new single, remix or DJ mix coming from Calvertron, and the more the merrier we say!
  Funkagenda makes his Essential mix debut, delivering a set of techno and progressive sounds with a minimal twist.
  I have listened to this in the car about 3 times now so make sure you check it out because its definitely not worth missing.
  Last week, long time electronic artist and DJ, Sam Evans, better known to dancefloors across the world as Vandal, got his candid on for the reading enjoyment of TFM. By now most blog visitors will be quite familiar with his newest single, ‘Captain Magic’, and indeed, it’s a racy video. But here we have the opportunity to delve deeper with the breakbeat veteran, including some of his inspirations, general musical musings, and future plans. Enjoy.
  Q: I see on your myspace page that we've both grown up listening to a large amount of the same music, from the hair bands to the boss. So, I have to ask, who's your favourite non electronic artist?
  Tough call, either Bruce Springsteen or Fugazi. I’d have to go for Springsteen just because I’ve listened to him all my life. I’ve seen him play many times over the last two decade and he still blows me away. Although his musical output over the last decade or so has been very inconsistent quality wise. Fugazi always stuck to their guns though and consistency in quality of all their albums was exceptional. Both acts are legends in different ways.
  It’s hard to pick any defining moment but the years 92-94 was the period when I really started getting into electronic music. I remember my mate gave me a copy of the brown album by orbital and straight away I was hooked. The track ‘Impact’ just blew me away. 94 I got to see Orbital at their now infamous Glastonbury show and it was like nothing I’d seen before, looking back it was quite a basic show in terms of lighting & visuals but at the time it was very different. Only the Orb were doing anything similar on that kind of scale. Early in 94 I also got to see Underworld play at the university in Sheffield, I really remember that night as it was the first time I’d ever seen a band that didn’t have a pit down the front. I also realised very quickly that I was shit at dancing. Good times.
  Q: Having been a successful label manager during the last good years of vinyl, and now being a part of the digital age, would you say that dance music artists struggle more these days against being anonymous?
  In my opinion nothing much has really changed, if someone looks good or has an interesting appearance and produces fairly strong music then, providing they have fairly good PR, they will be noticed. When I was working with Plastic Raygun all artists had promo shots and biogs but the records were sold on the quality of music, definitely not on our good looks and taste in fashion! I think the major difference these days is the sheer volume of music available to buy.
  I love producing, I’ll quite happily spend 12 hours in the studio without batting an eyelid. I would class myself as a true nerd, although I still struggle working with computers! But Djing is something else, nothing beats having a crowd going off to your own music. Djing has taken me all around the globe. I’ve played some unbelievable shows, seen some amazing sites and met some great people.
  Q: How do you approach or become inspired to writing new tracks? Is it a melody in your head or do you start throwing loops together, etc?
  I found just playing out or hearing other tunes (new & old) is enough to inspire me. I don’t really start writing with a melody, I tend to go drums, bass then leadline.
  Probably my remix of Dynamo Dresden’s ‘In The End’. It came out around 2003 (I think), it was ltd to vinyl promo run and never went on general release. It’s completely different to anything I’d done before or since, my love of Underworld shines through! The reactions that remix received were something else. Freeland, Rob Da Bank, Paul Van Dyke…the feedback across the board was exceptional.
  Q: It was 20 months between 'Idiots' and 'Captain Magic'. Writers block or just extended time by the pool?
  Not sure really, I’ve never been that prolific. After Idiots came out in 2007 I had plenty of stuff to deal with outside of music and that did affect my writing so that probably had something to do with it. Captain Magic will be my fourth single in over 4 years. I’ve just always looked for the big tune. The weird thing is I’m constantly writing but it’s not just tough dancefloor music, I’ve written and produced tracks for a few different acts over the last couple of years. Hopefully 2009 will see a few more Vandal tunes out there though.
  Q: So, the 'Captain Magic' video...inspiring stuff to say the least. And I'll admit, I spent a few handfuls of dollar bills supporting my favourite single moms after first viewing it, but it must've been hard work shooting that video. Any words on how the idea came about, tomfoolery during the shoot, how it's been received, etc?
  The feedback has been great, people either think it’s genius or just wrong! It’s made a lot of people laugh which is what I wanted. It’s all very tongue in cheek. The idea was to create a superhero character who had made a sex tape which was then leaked. The actress was a friend of a photographer I work with and the shoot was the first time we had met so it was quite funny to begin with. Basically I’m asking someone I’ve never met before to do some dirty dancing for me in a hotel room, which we will be filming, and I’ll be dressed up in an outfit that makes me look like a camp superhero! The track Captain Magic is really filthy and I wanted the video to have a real seedy style.
  The Captain Magic release is officially out in February then I’ve got a remix of a Dopamine track out on LOT49. I’ve also been working on two remixes of a band called Operahouse, they’re signed up to the label that discovered the Killers. After that it’s a case of sorting the next few EPs and Djing.
  Many thanks to Vandal for the opportunity to talk to him, and look out for more keynote interviews on the tech-funk manifesto.
  This remix was original done back in 2006, but the label had a last minute change of heart and it never got used. Since then, it been the subject of a lot of chatter and mail traffic with people trying to get hold of a copy. I dug it out late last year with a view to putting it in my sets, but on reflection it felt a little on the lightweight side .... so I took the turbo-charger to it & flame-grilled it to woppa-size for my own DJ sets.
  So the voting has begun at Breakspoll again for this year's awards, and despite some very 'barbed' comments about certain producers 'jumping ship onto the electro house bandwagon' (jeez), and some notable omissions from the drop down menus they are using this year (to further distance themselves from producers who are clearly making the wrong kind of breaks / tech-funk?), I would still ask everyone on here who can be arsed, to step up & vote, to ensure that there is at least a little balance to the results.
  I've been out of the loop for a bit, paying my dues in a suit by day and re-tooling the machine, calibrating the frequency by night. I spent some time building up a beast and reorganizing its contents...what a chore that was. But while my head remains a mess, the sample library is finally in order.
  I've also been shackin up with an indie band for the last couple of months. Playin bass, trading the carpal tunnel and screen tan for callouses and blood blisters. It's been alright but the initial enthusiasm has worn off. And more than anything, I realize that the indie and rock crowds sometimes annoy me. For the most part, the people just stand there, arms folded, at most head nodding. They clap or hollar out after each song, and a couple of the prettier ones have followed me home, but overall, it feels slightly lacking in spirit. Maybe it's just that I don't believe in playing music for people who don't want to dance.
  Things are looking up though. Toolroom this weekend. Evil Nine in a couple of weeks. Yes. And soon the weeklong industry leaning, whore parade that passes for a future glimpse of music, better known as south by will descend upon my streets. And there are always great moments to be found in there. One just has to filter through overcrowded bills, hotel lobbies, or any number of afterparties. Viva la hipster and all that shit. But they put out, and given enough drinks, they'll sometimes even dance to the rock and roll music (where's the ghost of Lou Reed when he's really needed?).
  So the cycle has begun anew - we're all a month into another trip around the sun. And on these shores, imminent doom has been replaced by hope. And as always, there are new tunes to be made, to be heard, and to be hyped. The Tech Funk sound will be pushed even further this year. By all accounts, the blogs have almost entirely replaced the locals behind the counters. And this blog will continue to do its part to help expose new music. More news, reviews, tunes and a few choice interviews. So to any labels or artists who've just recently stumbled upon our pages: get in touch with us if ya feel your sound fits in here. This goes out to those familiar to TFM as well.
  Far Too Loud kickstarts their new series ‘Music For Machines’ with a genre blurring techno fueled track that bangs just one door over from Goa of days gone. And I mean that in a good way. One minute in and this track is slaughterhousing. And at the half the low end rises up, like all good bass these days is obliged to do, and drops to a break that already holds a special place in my crate (and cd book and gig stick). The tone is dark, with minor riffs throughout, further shaded by the relentlessness expected of the FTL camp. This is the tune for those of us who appreciate the funk that punches like concrete.
  Specimen A tones things down for the rub with a breakbeat interpretation that bends the sounds and varies the presentation. Compared to the Original, it does notch down the energy, but this still delivers the goods on all fronts. It plays out very similarly to previous FTL output with strong, jarring edits on the turns and phrase changes that keep things interesting. But with this mix, I’m really diggin the emphasis on the patches and the vocal, and damn if that’s not a perfect future funk hook.
  This is the first in what I hope will become a regular series of Soundcloud Roundups, where we select several of the hottest tunes to cross the Manifesto's threshold this week. To submit tracks for consideration for this column - use the DROPBOX
  Having been a staple for both these pages and currently celebrating a #1 in the German Club Charts with their epic remix of 'Rave is King', ZC need no introduction to Manifesto-headz, and here's their latest remix - another stone cold killa, this time for US label Monism.
  I've been casually following the Z-Listers for an internet minute or so, and this is the side of their sound we really like - tough, aggro, growling electronichouse.
  There's no doubting that the Introspective sound has moved right along since the says of Sinister Records' washy MOR breaks, and this new mix he's just done for Spanish Tech-Funk uberlord, Peter Paul, couldn't illustrate it more clearly. Tough, thumping, psychotic and BANG ON IT.
  After an absolutely storming christmas party at East Village in December, the Lot49 crew decided they enjoyed it so much that they would take up a bi-monthly residency there! Gving the London based tech-funk label the chance to showcase the sounds that flick their switch on a regular basis in the heart of Old Street was too good to turn down, and so the new night is called, simply, Lot49, and they kick off 2009 with a tasty Valentine's line up for singletons and loved-up couples alike!
  Newly installed residents Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes and Kid Blue will be joined by Belfast's Phil Kieran, who is a long time-friend of the label and a DJ of some repute. Lot49's Vandal returns after rocking the the christmas party, fresh on a wave of critical and popular acclaim for his 'Captain Magic' single which found fans across the board. He's joined by rising electro star Sharooz, whose recent 'Get Off' stormed the top 10 on Beatport, alongside Passion FM's Caninesounds and Babyshake resident Duncan K.
  For all fans of the tech-funk sound, this is a must attend event! There's a special £8 guestlist for all registered members of the tech-funk forum, so if you would like to be on this list just PM Elite Force @ the Forum.
  Although Scuba (aka Paul Rose, head honcho @ Hotflush Recordings) is usually thought of as a dubstep artist, here he showcases the fathoms deep bass-driven hybrid sound that emerged in 2008. Switching from mournful electronica to tough broken beats via thunderous warehouse techno to crunching dubstep, this mix shows a DJ at the very top of his game.
  This is the second in a new 3-part serialization on the Manifesto of the Elite Force Tour Diaries dating back to a particularly intense 13-day trip to Australia in the first part of 2008. Sorry it's been a while since the first installment, but for those looking for a refresher on where we were at here's PART ONE
  After FMF in Brisbane, the first night of the tour sees a long overdue return to the Chinese Laundry. This brilliant maze-like catacomb of tiny sweatbox rooms, hemmed in by squat ceilings, barely illuminated save for the odd psychedelic swirl of fidgeting lights, is a true clubbing institution, and almost anyone who's had the pleasure of playing there would concur that it's up there at the top of the must-play lists.
  The Laundry's sound system is generous for the space (to say the least!), and it's possible for a DJ to completely engross and envelop a crowd in its subterranean intensity. Tonight Steve Bug is on the decks when I arrive and the room is completely locked into his deep, melodic and uber-spartan blip-house. It feels like stepping into a bath for a hot soak, and I can't help wondering how my rather more abrasive sounds will come across. The nature of the crowd, however, is very open-minded and they respond to the jacking up just fine, and come the 4am curfew it's a seething throng, ramped to the hilt and baying for more. From coming off the decks to the pick up for the airport I have all of two & a half hours, and by the time I've showered & tried to control my endorphin levels I manage all of 90 minutes rest.
  The flight to Perth's a long one, but by now my body clock is too conflicted to know what to do with it's own growing sense of exhaustion, so I end up doodling on my laptop, mindlessly re-ordering blocks on data in Ableton & wondering for all the world what the Perth festival will bring.
  I'm due onstage at 3.30pm and it's already 35C and rising. No time for rest, I head straight to the site and as we pull up outside what looks like a circus tent I'm convinced they're dropping me at the wrong arena. Local hero Micah is pounding beats out of the speakers & to my complete surprise the tent is almost full & bouncing in the sauna-like heat. If my jaw could hit the floor it would, but I settle instead for trying to keep my fluids up & making sure I stay upright, & ultimately turn in what's probably the best set of the tour with a raging punk energy that draws from & gives back to the crowd in equal measures.
  Luckily the aftershow party I was due to play in Perth was canceled at the last minute, so I was able to kick back, grab some beer, some vodka & some red bull and properly hit the site to check out what some of the other DJs are playing. Eddie Halliwell's spanking out some tough, melodic trance/house but it's his scratching of the CDJs that really takes me aback, with a rigid precision that's quite something to behold, even if the music doesn't hold me in it's thrall for long. Roger Sanchez is next up on the same stage and wit the sun shining and the music bumping, it seems like a wise soundtrack for the setting sun over the Perth skyline.
  After that I hook up with Tom from Evil 9 and we head off to catch some of Who Made Who playing live ... clearly a band on top of their game, I spend a good half hour marveling at their ability to craft such a tight & fulsome sound from just three instruments. By then I'm starting to fade a little, and whilst I'd love to have seen the Chemicals play here, my body said no & before i knew it I was crashing hard back at the hotel.
  I then headed off to Melbourne for some rest & relaxation, and to hang out with my sister, who lives there with her family. However, midweek the Chemical Brothers were doing an indoor show at the Vodaphone Arena and Future offered me tickets to the show, which was far too good an offer to refuse (even though initially I'd promised my ears a rest). It's a monumental show that night. Indoors the sound lifts you off the floor, but it's the lights that really seal the deal - indoors they burn retinas, and there are moments within their set which are simply staggering in their intensity ... the way that 'Believe', for instance, is transformed into 4 minutes of pure sonic tsunami, layer on layer of noise is ladled on thicker & thicker with a 3D visual rush that's every bit as overwhelming as any chemical high you care to imagine. Occasionally they take their foot off the gas, but it's the light & shade that gives the impact moment real bite, so the likes of 'Surface to Air' are a real joy to hear in the live arena.
  We stumble into the night not so much with our ears ringing, but our eyes. Great show ... now on with the job in hand!
  Those clever German chaps at Ableton have just announced the latest incarnation of their software, Live 8. It comes with a raft of new features, including a new 'groove' engine, upgrades to the warping system, some new effects, a 'Looper' device as well as forthcoming collaborations using Cycling '74 Max/MSP software.
  I am SO fucking bored right now of countless mediaclones ramming lazy, lazy 'tastemaker' shit down our throats. Every magazine, every supplement, every radio show has been awash with features along the lines of 'SOUNDS YOU WILL LOVE IN 2009'. It's the same story every year, and every year it makes me seethe with self-important audacity of a tiny pack of Barleys (ie. Nathan Barleys) pre-determining the year ahead, as if they are already focusing on 2010. It then goes without saying that their 'predictions' will simply become self-fulfilling prophecy as the year unfolds ... after all, it's hard to imagine an eventuality unfolding whereby they prove themselves wrong.
  I'd like to think that the blogging network was the natural reposte to such establishment, agency-generated (and let's not forget label paid-for) hype, and there still many out there with independent voices and deeply personal leanings, but all too often the herd mentality seems to dominate, and the whole community veers towards a generic flatlining.
  Music's a deeply personal thing. Find your own way. Be resourceful. Your soundtrack is yours alone. And if anyone tells you that "YOU WILL BE LOVING LITTLE BOOTS", this year, laugh openly at them before very politely kicking their faces off. You won't be alone.
  I saw these guys at Parklife, when they came to Perth. I had not really heard much about Soulwax until the event, but whilst standing in the queue to the toilet they immediately grabbed my attention. With so much energy and presence on stage, they were hard to ignore.
  It was very entertaining watching two people play the drums and the way they use the moog is hard to comprehend. Definitely the highlight of the festival for me. Here is a set from New Years Day with their DJ duo "2 Many DJ's"
  This is Kid Blue's last remix of 2008, or his first of 2009 whichever way you choose to look at it. Seeing the light of day on the 22nd December it got a bit lost in the christmas period, but it's a corker which was featured in his promo mix on here a few months back, taking elements of the original and twisting them up into a bouncing, trippy tech-house affair with a huge bass drop.
  Having recently released the excellent 'Indian Queens' collaboration with Meat Katie and with more remixes in the pipeline for Calvertron, Lee Coombs, Brian Thomas and Jeroen Van Anken, keep an eye on Kid Blue's output in the year ahead.
  Happy New Year to everyone on the blog! Not had much tech-funkery to blog about of late; mainly been busy finding alternative sources of income, the economic slump has knocked the legs right out from under my studio. No big deal, wasn't really enjoying the pop-work so any excuse to do less of that was always going to be welcome.
  Luckily - and many fingers crossed - my bar is still chugging along, and to kick start 2009 I'll be spinning for 4-5 hours tomorrow night starting about 1AM (Hong Kong is a +8GMT time zone). For those of you not in honkers, you can listen live and direct via the Yumla page on Awdio.com. Awdio recently changed their business tack and dropped subscription fees altogether - live streaming from around the globe is free in exchange for an e-mail address. Go sign-up and I'll catch you in a few hours!