The Eclectic Selector: Miami WMC 2010

The Eclectic Selector: Miami WMC 2010

23 March, 2010 | 6.44AM

• Written by: Elite Force
• Filed under: Music News: eclectic selector, elite force, wmc 2010

I had a long discussion about music a few weeks ago in Rome with my good friend and musical ally Andrea Lai, and then followed it up a couple of weeks later with a similarly involved conversation with Sam in Prague.

We discussed our music tastes and tried to define what exactly ‘does it’ for us about certain tracks, and whilst it’s hard to objectively put your finger on why we like what we like, perhaps it comes down to the ‘soul’ and how the musician manages to convey something of themselves through the music.

For me it can be a lyric, the shuffle of a beat, the bitch-slap of a bassdrop, the fuzzy warmth of an analogue embrace, the addiction to a lead line, or more often than not a combination of all of the above into one compulsive piece of music, into which you simply surrender yourself and tumble headlong. That’s the essence of this column - it’s just a personal standpoint of tracks that are broadly eclectic and appeal to my own sense of what works and what doesn’t.

It has been a fun few weeks on the road anyhow, and with Miami’s annual WMC taking place this week, there’s plenty more dancefloor action to come.

I did a very memorable show with Meat Katie in Lithuania. We flew into Latvia and were greeted by a full meter of snow on the ground, then drove from Riga to Šiauliai in properly arctic conditions to find we were playing at a massive basketball arena in town. Any initial apprehension was soon allayed on walking into the venue and a massive night was had by all.
 

Ahmet Sendil & Koen Groeneveld ‘Rotate’ (D-Unity Mix) [Bosphorus Underground]

There are some really nice lowdown dirty tracks knocking around at the moment that just make me wanna jump up the second I hear them. D-Unity, for example, seem to have that ‘compulsion’ thing on lockdown for me, and their new bomb remix is the best thing I’ve heard from them in quite a while.

Abe Duque & Virginia ‘Following My Heart’ (Oliver Huntemann Mix)

Another low-slung bomb I’ve been diggin’ of late has been from Oliver Huntemann, who seems to have this innate confidence in what he does that shies away from ploughing the same furrow of many of the more formulaic techno heads out there, and this is just grimy, dirty, underground music for dark dark rooms.

Shlomi Aber ‘Slow Dancer’ [Ovum]

On a deeper and altogether smoother tip, comes this slice of lushly-produced tech-house, which unfolds with a real warmth. This is exactly the kind of stuff I’ll be seeking out at WMC this week - perfectly suited to those poolside Mojitos!

Fussy Boy ‘Jonni’ (Original Mix) [Lot49]

There are a couple of things out now on Lot49 that are well worth your attention, and none more so than the new joint from Fussy Boy. ‘Jonni’ is a classic rolling slice of tech-funk and perfectly suited to the sound of the label.

I love the groove on this one, although it does ramp up into something verging on indie-noise territory, so I’ve been playing an edit that sticks closer to the basic groove. Good stuff none the less, and the Robosapiens mix is cool too.

Lee Coombs ‘Punji’ (Zodiac Cartel Mix) [Lot49] 

Emanul Kosh ‘Make My Music’ (Zodiac Cartel Mix) [Electric Sushi]

Also seeing the light of day at long last is Lee Coombs’ ‘Punji’. This is chunky little breaks track that started life as a remix for Bassnectar but wound up as an original.

The remixes are hot fire, and it’s the Zodiac Cartel mix that unsurprisingly has been getting the most airplay from me, as has the massive ‘let me see those jazzhands’ remix of Emanul Kosh’s ‘Make My Music’ on Electric Sushi.
 

Zombie Nation ‘Seas of Grease’ (Harvard Bass Remix) [Turbo Recordings]

Heading into more wobbly waters, there have been a few things catching my ear of late, and I’ve been particularly taken by the wonkyness of this new Zombie Nation joint on Turbo.

What I particularly like about the Harvard Bass mix is that it doesn’t over-stretch itself by heading too far into ear-bleed territory, which seems to have become de rigeur ever since Major Lazer and Sidney Sampson laid down their tinnitus-inducing templates last year.
 

Magik Johnson ‘Blame Dodger’ feat. Morning Star (HiJack Remix) [Underwater]

On a similar tip, I’m constantly impressed by the work of HiJack. He is one of the few producers to have taken on the mantle of ‘that Switch sound’ from a few years back, and really run with it. On his new mix for Underwater, he absolutely nails that groove to the floor!
 

Boys Noize ‘Sweet Light’ (Boris Dlugosch Mix) [Boysnoize]

Peaking out a little more, I’m sure there will be many tracks that will do great business from the new Boys Noize compilation.

I saw him play in Miami a couple of years ago, and it was a pretty wretched affair, very much at odds with the blazing sun and the beachfront vibes (he finished with a couple of Gabba tracks), but all eight tracks on here are much more measured and less NOISY than recent output.

The pick of the bunch for me is the Boris Dlugosch mix that I can imagine raising an arm or two in the air in the next week or so.
 

Baobinga ‘Ride It’ [Build]

Not all of the Baobinga stuff is for me, but I’ve always been happy to lend an ear to his productions, and on this new track ‘Ride It’, he definitely hits the sonic nail on the head for me, delivering a great, growling, peaktime roller that charges off into the sunset with a bag of genres without ever committing to any of them - a perfect track for me really.

MJ Cole ‘Sincere’ (Nero Remix) [Prolific Records]

I could go on and on about music this month, and if time and space permitted, believe me I would - there’s a world of quality dubstep knocking around at the moment from the likes of Bassnectar, Trolley Snatchers, Excision, and the simply sublime, timeless Nero remix of MJ Cole’s ‘Sincere’, which is one track I’ve had on constant rewind this month.

Even if you don’t like the musical content, the production is SO DAMNED CLEAN!
 

Noisia ‘Machine Gun’ (16 Bit Mix) [Vision]

However if there’s one track from the more, er, savage end of the spectrum that you shouldn’t be without, then there can only be one choice. 16 Bit’s remix of Noisia’s ‘Machine Gun’ is utterly brutal and pure moshpit material.

 
Finally, it’s not every month an artist gets to release an album, and that’s exactly what I did last week with my ‘Revamped’ collection on U&A.

It took six months of work to get to the point of release, and whilst we’d spent a lot of time developing the new online store designed to provide people with a whole bunch of unique, collectable physical stuff, the real marker for any release’s success remains Beatport’s charts.

Needless to say we were pretty much blown away by the response, and to hold all Top 12 of the places on the Breaks chart for a week, as well as having 40% of the overall Top 50 at one stage was one of the biggest thrills I’ve had as a producer. So a big old shout goes out to everyone for helping that to happen.
 
Here are a couple of the album’s tracks, and below is a free 320kbps download of my re-fix of Benga’s ‘26 Basslines’ as a big bad thank you!
 

Elite Force, Stanton Warriors, Vandal, Hatiras, JELO ‘M.A.D.’ [U&A Recordings]

Elite Force, Bar9 ‘Shaolin Style’ [U&A Recordings]

About Elite Force

Elite Force is often credited for being a lynchpin in the developing the tech-funk genre (an amalgamation of breaks, house, techno and electro) and in a career dating back to 1996, he has released a series of highly successful singles & remixes, finding broad support from DJs and musicians across the board, including the likes of James Zabiela, Sasha, Crystal Method, Laurent Garnier and Fatboy Slim to name but five.

In 2006 he set up his own imprint, U&A Recordings and has overseen it going from strength with chart-topping tracks from a burgeoning roster that includes Zodiac Cartel, Dustbowl, Mike Hulme, Meat Katie, The Loops of Fury, Rektchordz, Butter Party. and of course Elite Force himself.

His music has also been the soundtrack to many a movie, with a huge list of impressive A-list credits to his name, including the likes of the Matrix, Charlie’s Angels, Arlington Road, Mortal Kombat, Crow, The Bone Collector, The Jackyll, Spiderman 2. He’s also soundtracked a number of computer games, including no fewer than 5 FIFA games, several of the Wipeout series, The Matrix and Motorstorm, and also finds time to maintain one of the biggest blogs (Tech-Funk Manifesto) and forums (Tech-Funk Forum) out there.

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