Dan O’Connell: I genuinely miss
 great music TV

“Does filming a TV show here a new music show at Red Bull Studios sound like something you’d be interested in?”

By Dan OConnell | Arts, Music | Monday, 23 January 2012 at 12:38 pm

DJ Q: Bassline’s breaking through even more than when it was commercially successful

“Now this whole UK Bass thing is kicking off, I think bassline’s in a really good place,” DJ Q says, “Even though a lot of the original people involved with bassline don’t seem to care for it anymore.”

By Sam Moir | Arts, Music | Monday, 23 January 2012 at 10:19 am

Darren Hayman: Hefner were the best band, but you can’t go back

Darren Hayman rose to prominence in the UK indie scene throughout the 1990s. He was the key member of the band Hefner, which unfortunately split up in 2002 after ten years of making music. After the band disbanded, he released an enormous amount of LPs and EPs under his own name, sometimes accompanied by his band, The Secondary Modern.His discography is phenomenally large for anyone, totalling 69 records! His unique brand of lo-fi music is a brilliant accompaniment to his ironic, yet deep, lyrics.

By Jay Platt | Arts, Music | Saturday, 21 January 2012 at 11:05 am

Belfast producer Bubba on the music scene in Northern Ireland’s capital

Across the Irish Sea it’s usually Dublin that gets a lot of shine for its party scene whereas Northern Ireland is slightly overlooked, even though it has a lot to offer. One Belfast native who has become hot property in recent times is Bubba – his bass-heavy track Dance With Me made a lot of noise last year and was picked up by the much-lauded Hot Creations stable.

By Marcus Barnes | Arts, Music | Friday, 20 January 2012 at 1:15 pm

Difficult second album? More like difficult third

The problem of the ‘difficult’ second album has long been a part of musical lore, but in reality, it’s the third album that’s the real challenge.

Break-out bands of the last 10 years have all more or less been good for two LPs, beginning with a fresh but under-developed sound and then experimenting with production and complexity on their second.

By Oscar Williams-Grut | Arts, Music | Friday, 20 January 2012 at 9:41 am

L-Vis 1990: MySpace, Night Slugs and a secret collaboration

A lot of people claim to break the rules when describing their musical exploits, yet Night Slugs co-founder L-Vis 1990 has released a string of limit-free club tracks which are truly doing things a bit differently. Last year’s ‘Neon Dreams’ album melded nostalgic traces of Chicago house with a hint of pop to great effect and just before Bugged Out Weekender, we caught up to have a brief chat.

By Errol Anderson | Arts, Music | Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 2:25 pm

Hip hop has come full circle – it’s pure Logic

It was always going to happen. UK hip hop, has been suffering from an affliction. For too long it has come to be characterised by, the negative image and reputation left by corporate boardrooms and their marketing strategies. Of late though, UK hip hop has seen something of a renaissance.

By Richard Sudan | Arts, Music | Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 10:45 am

Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards are back

Gilles Peterson is to world music what Mr. Kipling is to cakes. That might sound crass, but I love immersing myself in his radio show as much as I love tucking in to one of Mr. K’s apple pies. What I’m trying to say, is if someone says to me ‘DJ who knows cool shit from everywhere’, I only have one answer. Like if someone says, ‘mysterious man who makes delicious baked goods’.

By Emma Gritt | Arts, Music | Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 12:38 pm

A chat with Acid House pioneer DJ Pierre

I’ve always been a big fan of Acid House music – it was the soundtrack to the Summer Of Love in 1988. It was a huge movement within electronic music that spawned many imitators, many raves and parties and left many people with hazy memories indellibly etched into their minds. The pioneer of this timeless sound was DJ Pierre, AKA Nathaniel Pierre Jones, who formed the group Phuture with his friends Spanky (Earl Smith Jr.) and Herb J (Herbert R Jackson Jr.). The threesome were responsible for creating Acid House and Pierre went on to work alone on many more productions using the infamous 303 synthesiser from which the Acid sound came. Still making music and producing 24 years on, I was privileged enough to have a chat with Pierre…

By Marcus Barnes | Arts, Music | Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 12:00 am

Canterbury: Music is changing in a really big way

In the current musical climate, finding a band that can truthfully say they’ve done everything themselves is a real delicacy. In an age where we’re surrounded by mp3’s, wav’s, and endless streams of Bandcamps and Tumblrs we can only hope to find a diamond in the rough. For me, that diamond is the ‘sweet rock’ four-piece, Canterbury.

By Ed Cooper | Arts, Music | Saturday, 14 January 2012 at 6:00 am