There's no way that this is a coincidence. Kanye West, famed for putting a lot of time, effort and money into his music videos, has obviously seen Gaspar Noe's visual assault that is "Enter The Void" a psychadelic, colour filled, pulsing mind fuck of a film shot all in POV (including blinking eyes) in which an american ex pat living in Tokyo as a drug dealer is shot by police in a raid. His soul then exits his body and flies over the neon lights of Tokyo and the film traces the after effects of his death on his friends and family.
Anyone who's seen Irreversible will be aware that Noe's style of film making is completely different to anything you've seen before. Kanye's latest music video has taken a big pile of the key elements of "Enter The Void's" look made it a little bit shitter, thrown rihanna in with her tits out, put kanye in it doing a shit rap and boshed it into the mainstream. See below the title sequence made by German film maker Thorsten Fleisch and trailer for enter the void and Kanye West's latest video All of the Lights...
Today after weeks of work behind the scenes we have launched the brand spanking new Example Media website which you can check if you want to see an overview of what Example and its various projects are doing. Check it here... . As well as the media site we have also launched our brand new clothing project. We aim to search out the best hidden design talent and commission them to produce exciting clothing and other items.
Each artist will be featured in Example prior to their designs being released so you can all find out about the artist who's designed the clothes before you decide to buy them. To kick off the project Example founder James Mernagh has designed the "Making An Example T-Shirt " which is available in four exclusive colourways now over at the example shop.
Lots more to come from both of these projects in the next few months so keep checking back.
Manchester band Tyler Mae have been doing something different with their music for a while now. Effortlessly mixing elements of punk, grime and dubstep into one big melting pot and then throwing it an audience with their energetic shows. They toured last year with Enter Shikari as their support act and have kicked off 2011 with a month long UK tour which they've just got back from. Yassmin caught up with them to find out how it went.
Example: Who has influenced your sound and how would you describe it?
Tyler Mae: A lot of things… we listen to a lot of music, from metal and punk to grime, techno and dub etc, we try to take all the sub genres we like and push them together. however, there is a fine balance between making a mish mash of genres and creating a new sound which is what we are trying to do. its only really over the last year that the noise we make has started to sound more complete, and its got along way to go still. we always have trouble describing what our sound is, so lets just say if you want to hear something epic then check us out.
Example: What was the first and last piece of music that you bought?
Tyler Mae cant speak for the rest of the band but i think the first piece of music i bought was limb bizkit "3 dolla bill" and im not sure what i bought last, i did download the new ninja tunes ting tho, and its absolutely sick.
Example: You toured with Enter Shikari last year how was that?
Tyler Mae eye opening, nerve racking and epic. we all obviously had a well good time, shikari and their entourage were all safe as.. we got the opportunity to play to our biggest crows so far at 53 in preston 1500 crazy pitters haha. it was a massive break for us and we appreciate being given the chance to show what we are made of, just wish we could go back and do it again with the set we have got now!
Example: After last year's success you're kicking off 2011 with a month long UK tour. Hows that going?
Tyler Mae better than expected, there been ups and downs, big crowds and small crowds, good venues and unfortunately a few clangers, but i think we have been makin the most of it. i think if we had the money then we would all wana carry on. but also cant wait to get some time to write new material and get it in the set.
Example: Got any good stories?
Tyler Mae what happens in the van stays in the van….
Example: What else have you got planned for 2011?
Tyler Mae loads of shit, cant say to much about any of it yet tho but we are working on a bad tune at the moment with a certain bad man grime mc. we have got collabs commin up with manchesters finest Murkage cartel, plus a few other heads that we will let loose soon, we're going on a tour in the summer, more on that as it develops, its still in the early stages of organising, and possibly some festivals too.
Example: What tunes can you not live without at the moment?
Tyler Mae P Money mixtape is defiantly getting the most air time in the van.
To promote his debut EP Australian maker of beats Johnny Faith is giving away 2 tracks for free download to do as you please with. You might want to swing them around your bedroom, shove them up your dog, convert them into Gifs for your Tumblr or put them in your music library. Fuck it its 2011 go crazy. Whatever you do make sure you download them first if you like them I suppose you should go and buy the EP here...
Node goes to work on two recent Dubkraft releases...
EDOC - PARASITO EP
Spanish debutee Edoc brings together 3 tunes on this EP of glitched out, stuttering beats. On the whole the tunes are held together by a collection of muddy sub, lurching drums and strange vocoded stabs and synths. It's not necessarily easy on the ear, the feel being very down-tempo in mood and an emptiness surrounds the tunes which can be quite unsettling.
Obvious comparisons will be made to Burial's first album and also early Squarepusher and Aphex twin Experiments. Opening track 'Broken Love' is a swirling dirge of random sound as a solitary kick drum thuds it's way through proceedings, crackling atmospherics drop in and then open out, making way for a really cold synth sound as it progresses and gains more rhythm further into the track before dropping down again into bizarre synthy shifting randomness.
Definitely one for the headphones, perhaps while travelling on a train somewhere via freezing cold country. 'Always To You' continues the darked out vibes, very minimal on percussion and churning out a twisted vocoded vocal that babbles over this abstract musical canvass. 'Lastrip' has some beautiful sounding strings that break down into an incredibly complex rhythm which is still very obscure, parts of the tune halting erratically to form another beat, and all the while you get the feeling of being drowned in a dark, dark water of sound simultaneously struck through with curious electrical cracklings and chirrups.
An incredibly strange EP, that while not necessarily comes across as being a must have purchase, is definitely an intriguing prospect to be delved into by those who like their music that is genuinely insane.
Adam John – Sugarbot Dubkraft
Standard, half-step fodder here from veteran Adam John aka Kid Kryptic. 'Sideways Drift' boasts some big bolshy bass, glitchy little percussive snaps and a very screechy little synth lead on that 8os swing electro-swing tip, there' not much else to be said about this track, haters are gonna hate on the fact that it sounds like a lot of the generic stuff out there of recent times, the production standard is present to some extent but cynical in the extreme in it's execution.
Title track 'Sugarbot' is as far removed from the first track as can be imagined, with a very ambient feel to it reminiscent of Boards of Canada et al, but the unimaginative half-step plod is a let-down and the incredibly irritating casio keyboard lead may cause some listeners to self-harm.
What also disappoints here is that there is no change-up at all in the track and we get the same thing for 3 and a half minutes. 'Tumbleweed' has a bit more about it, with a tough set of drums, a good bit of variation so you don't lose interest and generally has a bit of a rugged feel that would be alright on the dancefloor. The bizarre computer jabberings and atmospherics are all good and so I would say this track deserves a check out of the whole of the EP.
Overall, quite a weak release from someone who has a proven record, it's not so much that the tunes are completely without merit but with such strong competition out there at the moment already all over this kind of sound these types of tunes really have to grab you by the throat to have any kind of impact. The weakness is in the variation of ideas and structure and the way the three tracks don't even hold together well as an EP. Steer clear if you have a tendency to get angry about music.
We caught up with Cardiff's Maxx Roach to find out a bit more about Cardiff's bubbling scene and see what he's got coming up this year...
EXAMPLE: Hello Maxx Roach, thanks for talking to us for a hot minute. How are you? What have you been up to?
MAXX: Good Thanks. Hitting that time of year where it rains most of the time especially in Wales, so its a usually more productive time than the Summer when id prefer to be outside.
EXAMPLE: So what’s it like in Cardiff this time of year? We hear Carmarthen is hot for a bit of Dubstep, tell us what your manor is like?
MAXX: I suppose there is abit off a lull in the scene at this time of year, everyone is skint from Christmas and all the nights going on around then and New Year. Also very few records get released at this time of year too, so it seems to go quiet for the last couple of weeks of January. Still its not going to put people off if a big night does come along! Its been 4 years since i lived in Carmarthen now, doesn't feel that long ago, its a town that gets under your skin....Got to hand it to the people who have done things down there, both now and in the past. For such a small town it has some big things happen every now and then. I remember back in 2006 Mala and Sgt Pokes played, around a similar time Skream was brought down, mainly by the foward thinking of Matt who runs the local (and only) record shop 'Tangled Parrot', he introduced me to Skull Disco 1&2...and things moved from there i suppose. Even now Carmathen has some big nights going on, not so long ago Goth-Trad was booked by Martin and Dai of Project Roach (no relation :P). Its been a long time since ive been back to Carmarthen. I suppose Carmarthen is where i come from and Cardiff is where my home is now.
EXAMPLE: What kind of vibe does Aperture have?
MAXX: Really good, one big happy family underneath it all. You know its a good night when the Dj wants to be in the crowd too. Aperture was one of the first nights I played at when I came to Cardiff and the one i felt at home with straight away. Dave who runs the night was really welcoming and and the longer standing residents like Ransom and Subs:stance were too, that doesn't happen at alot of nights you go to!
EXAMPLE: Where is your favourite place to DJ if it’s not Cardiff?
MAXX:I think ill change this question from 'is' to 'was'......and it was in Cardiff......It WAS Glo. That place is missed by alot of people around here. Seen alot of different people there, Dj Marky stands out, and so did Dj Format, play a set of mainly 7" soul mixed with his hip-hop was sick...cant put this list down with out local hero High Contrast in it either. I think it was because it was such an intimate venue with the nice bar upstairs and then you would go down stairs into this little sweatbox, where everyone was in good spirits!
EXAMPLE: So what would be your favourite thing about the music scene here for the people who haven’t been before?
MAXX:The relatively unknown local talent, especially coming though at the moment, Obviously Lung is doing well at the moment with the original and the remix 12"s out on Kokeshi, But also Tolerance, Magenta. Monky, Curtamos. as well as the recent releases on 10-thousand yen of Didz & Chico and C.R.S.T.
EXAMPLE: Can you tell us who some of your influences are?
MAXX:First we should get big ones out the way.....I think that the record labels themselves is something I think about.....When a label has a a bigger scheme in there choices and signings.....When I go to Catapult to buy records there are labels that I don't have to ask for, they are just something that you need to listen too. Ive got every release on Deep Medi, mainly because they are all epic tracks but as a collection of records they all sit well together. I give credit to labels that are willing to overhaul and image to go in a new path, Black Acre did it a couple of years back and R&S have gone a major new direction. I also like that you can hear different local scenes in the releases that labels put out..... Hessle gives you a look into the Leeds, Tectonic with Bristol, and DMZ & Tempa with London....there is many more labels doing that sort of thing but the list would go on and on if i names specific artists too.
EXAMPLE: How would you descibre your sound?
MAXX:In Progress.......at the moment ive been going with funk-ish noise's, with a dub echo....Ive been digging though alot of old motown and soul vinyl too and sampling those....
EXAMPLE: What was the first and last piece of music that you bought?
MAXX:The first i remember going out and buying was White Town - 'Your Woman' on cassette from Woolworth's (RIP).........The most recent was The Rope Tightens By Shackleton on vinyl and a Julian Jeweil Ep digitally.
EXAMPLE: If you had to choose, Drum and Bass or Dubstep...if you HAD to choose.
MAXX:Dubstep for sure. Drum and Bass was what i first started going to night to see, but i never had the urge to make it, Ive tried, but if anything my tempo is slowing down from dubstep not speeding up im getting closer to tech-house as we speak...haha.
EXAMPLE: Sounds like you’re doing big things at the moment and for the future, how are things going with Step2Records? What’s the plan for the future?
MAXX: Good, Step2Records is going through some changes at the moment, there is about 3 releases mastered and on hold and will be put out close to each other.The reason being is that Step2 has both its Hip-Hop side and its Dubstep side. My Best mate Dan is the MD of Step2Records and works with the Hip-Hop side of the releases and I have been in to work with the Dubstep things, and hopefully over the next 3 releases we are going to bridge that gap and end up with some interesting collision in the middle. Also the collaborative music between me and another one of my closest mates Lung has recently been signed for Deadplate Recordings 001 release, which is exciting, James and I have finished the tracks and now its with Alex who runs the label, Ill keep you updated with that.
EXAMPLE: whats never out of your box at the moment?
MAXX:Julio Bashmore - Batak Groove/Around hasnt left my bag since it came out.....And i dont think ive left the house without at least one Mala track in the bag in a few years now haha.
EXAMPLE: Finally.... Anything else exciting going on in Cardiff in the near future?
MAXX:Signature is a relatively new night that have done some big nights over the past couple of months including Martyn and James Blake and have also got some big bookings coming up, Zed Bias is at the end of the month, and 24th of Feb is SBTRKT, which im lucky enough to be booked on too.
And on a fashion note there is Droneboy Laundry. some seriously amazing designs coming out.
We caught up with Bristolian producer Mensah to find out a bit more about him...
Example: Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into music?
Mensah: My name is Mensah and I'm me! Been doing music since as long as I can remember, weather it was mixing my 2 garage records and my mums 80's vinyl at a friends house at 12 or recording hip hop from the westwood show and cutting a pating my own mixtapes with the tunes I liked. I switched it up when I was 18 and started producing and that has been my main passion ever since.
Example: Who would you say are your main influences, old and contemporary?
Mensah: I just listen to as much music as possible but I would say that it is the work of Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Gwen Stefani, George Clinton & and then uk and more recantly people like Fresh, Clipz/Redlight and all of Full Cycle, Skream, Joker ect...
Example: What do you mainly use for production and is there anything you would say typifies your sound?
Mensah: I use Logic with a lot plug-ins. I also use a few bits of hardware (which gives me a lot of my character & size). The main thing is the time I have spent in the studio since 18 (almost 7 years)
Example: Dance music had some pretty rigid genres in the past, do you see the relaxing of these boundaries as a good thing, if in fact you do see that happening?
Mensah: Yeah there is a lot of boundaries getting broken and I think it's good and healthy. As a DJ/producer or listener you can move between genres real easy and it's great. I say the the ipod, internet & digital format music has played a big part in this.
Example: What's your opinion on all this social media out there now, in terms of using it for promotion, do find it a useful tool? Or a red herring?
Mensah: I find it useful and have fully embraced it BUT see a lot of kids/wanna be artists going about it in the wrong way so I think like anything in life it's how you use it/what you do with it. Too much can be a bad thing...
Example: Had any trouble with pirates? As in geeks downloading, not the ones that want your gold?
Mensah: I luckily have not been troubled by Somalian Pirates of the Arabian Sea! I have had people download my music and then hit me up saying "that new tune is sik, I just got it!" It is part and parcel with the modern day and I don't have a solution to the problem. It seems to be a double edged sword because if you have more people listening/downloading then it still gets you bigger and playing to bigger crowds ect...
Example: Your last single is out on Baobinga's label Build, how did that come about?
Mensah: We met at Pinch's Dubloaded night in Bristol, We decided to do a tune and NSG is what came out of the studio session we did. I love collaborationg with artists who are a lot different from me, it's more fun and the results seem to be better in the end.
Example: Top 3 Dj's/Producers/Tunes killin it right now?
Mensah: Breakage Ft Jess Mills - Fighting Fire (Digital Soundboy)
Julio Bashmore - Battle For Middle You (PMR Records)
Redlight - Source 16 (Dubplate)
Example: Best Club night you've been out to recently?
Mensah: Hit & Run in Manchester was OFFFFFF THE CHAIN! But Basslaced in Nottingham has been equally as good the two times i have played there.
Example: 2010 must have been a top year for you, what would you say have been the highlights?
Mensah: Playing abroad as much as I did was great but the main highlights have all been dj/producers I have admired and respected for YEARS, hitting me up for tunes/remixes and general praise. It really felt/feels good and helps me to Goon out in the studio!
Example: What's in store for us from you in 2011 and where do you want to be by the beginning of 2012?
Mensah: OK. Here goes!
release wise:
Drop The Lime - Hot As Hell (Mensah Remix) Out 31st Jan on Trouble & Bass/Ministry Of Sound
Melé - Trappin' (Mensah Remix) Out Jan/Feb On Sinden's label 'Grizzly'
Mensah, Sukh Knight & Squarewave - Quad Bikes/G Activity out on H.E.N.C.H Feb(ish)
Mensah - The Gambia Out On Mala's Deep Medi in the Spring
I am also working on two EP's at the moment so who knows where/when they will come out!
I have a ton of remix requests in my inbox so there will be a fair few of them this year!
Also working on some vocal projects. Expect a 12" from me & Foreign Beggars & also me producing beats for other artists
DJ wise I have a good diary at the moment with lots of UK & Europe bookings and also a New Zealand Tour at the end of Feb. Australia should be in the Summer & hopefully USA at the end of the year
Example: And finally...was 1986 the future?
Mensah: It started on a Wednesday.
Sega released the Master System Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz. Pixar Animation Studios was opened.
The 'Top 40' Chart format was started The Clash broke up (marking the end of good Punk Rock) But N.W.A & No Doubt where formed marking a new era. Kraftwerk released The LP Electric Café
Aliens, Big Trouble In Little China, Blue Velvet, Top Gun, Crocodile Dundee, Ferris Buellers Day Off & Labyrinth all came out in the Cinema
AND. lol
Me, Skream, Benga, Megan Fox, Wayne Rooney, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen & Lindsay Lohan where born!
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Today after weeks of work behind the scenes we have launched the brand spanking new Example Media website which you can check if you want to see an overview of what Example and its various projects are doing. 
Manchester band Tyler Mae have been doing something different with their music for a while now. Effortlessly mixing elements of punk, grime and dubstep into one big melting pot and then throwing it an audience with their energetic shows. They toured last year with Enter Shikari as their support act and have kicked off 2011 with a month long UK tour which they've just got back from. Yassmin caught up with them to find out how it went.
Example: After last year's success you're kicking off 2011 with a month long UK tour. Hows that going?
We caught up with Cardiff's Maxx Roach to find out a bit more about Cardiff's bubbling scene and see what he's got coming up this year...
EXAMPLE: How would you descibre your sound?
We caught up with Bristolian producer Mensah to find out a bit more about him...
50: February 2013