REVIEWSKillerS
Stone Cold Killer — track of the month When you absolutely, positively must decimate the dancefloor, this is the tune you need…
Ashley Beedle ‘Yardism Vol.1’ Girls Music
soundcloud.com/ashley-beedle
DANCE MUSIC has always been a complimentary mixture of the concrete and ephemeral, ceaselessly splintering and mutating since it emerged from the primordial energy of American nightclubs but always driven underneath by the heartbeat- like thump of house music. As such, its history is filled with renaissances and rediscoveries, reinventions and revolutions. The artists that have thrived are usually those that have maintained a similarly yin and yang blend of authenticity and adaptability, sticking to their guns to create a personal sound while still manoeuvring the vagaries of musical trends.
Around to experience acid house during the UK’s very own ground zero moment, Ashley Beedle is probably best known as part of X-Press 2, the three-headed house beast responsible for a string of hits including ‘Muzik Xpress’ and the David Byrne- fronted ‘Lazy’ (which reached No.2 in the charts), but one look at his discography shows his tentacle-like reach has explored various nooks and crannies of clubland, making him a constant presence in underground music. If you don’t believe us, just listen to his name-check in Daft Punk’s seminal ‘Teachers’, a roll call of their formative influences. In the ‘90s alone he teamed up with David Holmes to produce the acid-tinged breakbeat of The Disco Evangelists’ ‘De Niro’ and was one of The Ballistic Brothers, who reshaped classic jazz and dub for the post- acid generation, as on sunny classic ‘Peckings’, a feat he also performed as one half of Black Science Orchestra
on the sublime Wood, Brass & Steel- sampling ‘New Jersey Deep’, or under the moniker of The Jamayka Boys. And that’s just a fraction of the projects that have introduced his name to succeeding generations of fresh-faced kids, his taste for disco edits helping usher in the noughties explosion.
A warm bassline bubbler, ‘Acid Life’ rocks out Speak & Spell vocal intonations over a succession of snare rolls to dazzle dancefloors not yet familiar with Paul Rutherford’s ‘Get Real’, while ‘Only You’ takes the swing of funky down an introspective path, isolated low-end tones and swooshing synths giving a rare melancholic edge to its urban underbelly. ‘Inner Burning’, meanwhile, taps into his long-running vein of dub specialism, it’s reggae sub pattern and vocal recasting dub house for younger ears. Biggest, brashest and best by a country mile, though, is ‘Run The Track’. Opening with a distinctive dubbed-out organ, there’s no messing about as it launches into a peak-time winner that instantly marks its palm prints in Beedle’s boardwalk of fame. Bass music’s body-moving single-
mindedness constructed with the delicate touch of deep house, if this don’t get you moving, then nothing will. So pull up, and run the track again...
VitAl lABel4LUX
4lux.com
Who’s behind it? Gerd, aka DJ/producer Gerd-Jan Bijl.
Sounds like? “4lux (the main label) currently focuses on music with a deep and strong ‘house’ feel, suitable for both club play and home-listen- ing,” says Gerd. “The tracks we release are not always the standard DJ tools. Sometimes we like to challenge people to listen to more forward-thinking sounds. With our sub label 4lux White, we focus on breakbeats, electronic hip-hop, soul and crazy downtempo music.”
Who’s on it? “Currently we work with great producers such
046
www.djmag.com
as Nicholas, Arttu, Kaspar, Joe Drive, Carlos Nilmmns, The Organ Grinder and S3A to name just a few.”
Who’s playing it? “Ripperton, Ben Sims, Deetron, A Made Up Sound, D’Julz, Will Saul, Roska, Huxley, Sebo K, Laurent Garnier and many more...”
What’s next? “We just released the debut album by Kaspar, ‘Ascensus’, packed with advanced dance music, and we also just released the first Organ Grinder 12” for 4lux. For 2013 we are preparing a second Organ Grinder single and another single by Kaspar,” Gerd signs off.
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