clicks, whistles and radio rips: april/may, fact magazine 2008

Welcome to the third instalment of Clicks, Whistles and Radio Rips, our ever-expanding exploration of niche scenes and the best bits of music you can nab off them for free. This month we’ll be doing the usual round-up of what’s been happening in UK dance music, investigating the provisionally named aquacrunk/wonky scene, and bringing you an interview with WZT Hearts’ Jason Urick.

new talent/semi-interview: pivot, fact magazine 2008

Warp Records’ flirtation with guitar bands has been hit and miss, but the pioneering dance stable’s latest squeeze will impress the ‘rents much more than Maximo Park. Introducing Pivot, an Australian guitar/drums/laptop trio whose excellent In The Blood EP and forthcoming album sound top notch, despite the band recording them 13,000 miles away from each other.

interview: heartsrevolution, fact magazine 2008

Birthed from a converted mail van called the Heartschallenger that’s sold imported ice creams, music merchandise and artwork in Los Angeles and New York, Heartsrevolution’s single ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ was a perfectly cool indie electro track – it was fuzzy and noisy and hit the right spots.

The format (white heart-shaped vinyl) was probably more remarkable than the song, and this dedication to the vinyl record’s position as art in its own right as well as a vessel for music continues across their glow in the dark split with Crystal Castles and their forthcoming Switchblade EP on Kate Moross’ Isomorph label.

Judging by the tracks you can preview on the band’s myspace, Switchblade is going to be special, particularly ‘Digital Suicide’, which in either of its two guises, is the most beautiful song I’ve heard since Burial’s Untrue came out last year. Heartsrevolution took the time to speak to FACT while they were in London, and explained what makes the song so good better than I ever could. I’d best hand you over…

clicks, whistles and radio rips: march, fact magazine 2008

Tom Lea and Raven Baker do the hard work for you, sifting out the new musical gems that internet has recently thrown up. This month they’re spoiling you with hot-off-the-press tracks from Ruff Sqwad and Skepta, an exclusive DJ Magic grime mix., and interviews with dubstep innovator Grievous Angel and B-More linchpin Jason Urick.

interview: chipmunk, griminal & little dee, woofah magazine 2008

I wrote this for the excellent Woofah Magazine in November 2007 and it wasn’t published until March 2008. The points the piece makes still apply, but were more relevant at the end of last when most grime discussion seemed to centre around the new wave of youngsters, so bear that in mind.

new talent/semi-interview: joker, fact magazine 2008

If you attended a dubstep rave or listened to a grime radio set last year, you probably heard ‘Gully Brook Lane’. Joker’s Kapsize EP gave him a reputation outside his native Bristol, where he was a DJ in Kold Harted Krew (’DJing wasn’t enough for me’, he tells FACT on his move to producing), but ‘Gully Brook’ flooded the market without a vinyl release. The only grime and dubstep instrumentals more ubiquitous in 2007 were Skepta’s ‘Stageshow’ and Benga and Coki’s ‘Night’.

clicks, whistles and radio rips: february, fact magazine 2008

Tom’s from East London and Raven’s from Baltimore. We love grime, hip-hop, Bmore club, dubstep, DIY punk and everything in between. Clicks, Whistles and Radio Rips is where we barrage you with the audio and video that we’ve been obsessed with over the last month, and sometimes we’ll even write stuff about it.

[NB: This article originally featured an interview with Wildfire Wildfire records and Sub FM DJ Ben Thomson's review of FWD's Bristol Takeover night, but upon recieving a 5000 word document the magazine, probably sensibly, decided to publish those as seperate articles. It looks a bit mish-mash due to what was taken out (and a desire to fill the first edition with as much as humanly possible!) but the future ones will hopefully be more cohesive.]

review: aiden moffat - i can hear your heart, fact magazine 2007

For my money Falkirk’s Aidan Moffat has been the best lyricist of the last decade, but it’s only with I Can Hear Your Heart, after ten years of collaborating with Malcolm Middleton as Arab Strap and putting out lush, wordless ambient albums as L. Pierre, that he’s graced us with a record where the focus is one hundred percent on his words.

review: chipmunk - league of my own, fact magazine 2007

Even with Skepta’s album finally coming out and Durrty Goodz coming back from the dead to make the scene’s best record since Boy In Da Corner, it’s Chipmunk who plenty of people will cite as 2007’s true grime success story…

micro review: the death set, music week 2008

The Death Set: MFDS (Counter Records) by Tom Lea (FACT)

‘Hi-energy, up-tempo, spastic punk-rock songs with electronic elements’ is how Johnny Death Set describes the Baltimore Duo’s forthcoming album. They play on warehouse floors, studio corners and art display houses, and cause a right old ruck – something like Dan Deacon riding a Lightning Bolt.