How many labels are actually doing discovery these days? I mean really doing it? How many are hitting the street to find new sounds, making them sound better still and surrounding them with remixers and a team that can make a real worldwide introduction and launch a career?
Meet F*CLR, and then check your bank balance because if you’re a DJ you are going to want to scoop up this entire catalog. I missed the first few F*CLR records, but I found and bought the next two on my own. You know how you drop a needle on a record and pick it up and drop it again and every time you do it you get more and more excited about what you hear? That’s pretty rare, right? I’ve experienced that three times now, on each of the three records F*CLR has released, by artists I’d never heard of in my life: Glenn Davis (Body & Soul) and Blazers (Groove Sequence).
Mutenoise, the alias of Moscow producer Alexander Bannikov, makes it three straight stone cold killer EPs with Midnight. The original mix is a glittering gem of ’90s Garage (the American one) – you can almost instinctively feel Tony Humphries‘ dancefloor vibing to this frantic, unapologetically funky masterpiece. Ashley Beedle has two remixes and they’re on-point, they’re black wax dynamite for a DJ set but I’m going to call out the North Street Stripped Back remix in particular. Percussion is minimal, making this track that’s a pleasure to mix into and out of as well as serving as a kind of unique tool for the more creative DJs. This is one reason I’ve developed a strong appreciation for Ashley Beedle the more I’ve listened to his music. He has no fear of creating for the creative, for the one-in-a-hundred (I hope it’s not one-in-a-thousand) DJs that are going to think about how to best mix into a track they really want to play rather than catering to the lowest common denominator. There is no producer that holds his audience in higher regard than Ashley Beedle.
Mutenoise: Midnight EP / F*CLR
A1. Mutenoise: “Midnight” (6:36)
A2. Mutenoise: “Northern Lights” (6:34)
B1. Mutenoise: “Midnight” (Ashley Beedle North Street remix) (7:55)
B2. Mutenoise: “Rules Of Monopoly” (5:44)
Mutenoise: “Midnight” (Ashley Beedle’s ‘North Street’ Stripped Back Remix) (3:47) (digital bonus)
5 Mag Members: First published inside #5Mag167 featuring Dan Curtin, Ron Basejam (Crazy P), Eddie Niguel, Anna Tur and more. Help support 5 Mag’s mission to make the world more funky by becoming a member for just $1 per issue.
