Blog - Music

To see us kindly into the weekend, we thought we would bring you a little treat in the form of “5 questions”. Joakim is one of France’s foremost electronic musicians: one part club music, the other experimental jazz/ electronic. He's also the man behind Tigersushi record label. We are very excited to have him playing next week at XOYO performing alongside Mylo, Madeon and the boys of the summer: luca & bricante. Here’s what he had to say for himself when we sat him down for a little chat…..



1.What do you see as the similarities and differences between france and UK regarding clubbing cultures?

It's funny, i was yesterday in Moscow with some Russians asking if French and English really hate each other. Well, that's the Russian way of seeing things i guess. Anyway, there is less and less differences in clubs between UK and France these days since France's youth has caught up on electronic and club music since a few years.
For me, the main difference would be the amount of drugs and alcohol in French and UK clubs. That makes a big difference of course. And UK is still ahead musically in many areas.


2.What's your favourite memory of playing over in the UK?

i have too many good memories in the UK. Like having the honor to replace Optimo for their former Sunday night residency when they were in Japan, playing live at Fabric for NYE, being driven to the club by Tony Wilson in Manchester, playing that small pub for ASBO's birthday, DJing at the DURRR party at XOYO with Erol sending me congrats messages after the set...


3.Who are your biggest influences?

John Wayne, John Kennedy, John McEnroe.


4. Being from a classical background, how do you feel this influences your music production now?

I tend to put too many notes. I have to be careful with that.


5. What are you most excited about in 2012?

The end of the world of course! That means we all have to do our Masterpiece very quickly.


Make sure not to miss out next saturday! Check out his remix of the late, great DJ Mehdi (RIP)

As The Legendary Tigerman kicks off his UK tour, we sat down with him and asked him 5 of those oh so sort after questions....

1. What can we expect from your concert in London?

I guess i´ll play stuff from all the records, from Naked Blues to Femina... Plus i have a very very special guest, Cibelle, Which will bring some feminine touch to the show....

2. How did you come up with the idea of an entire album of duets with female singers? and how did you manage to record with such famous artists as Peaches, Asia Argento, Cibelle and Lisa K from Bellrays?

Well, my idea came from a script i was writing... then i invited Asia for the film and to sing in a song....by Myspace, which is pretty crazy.... She Loved my music and she said yes... Peaches i already knew, Cibelle i already knew... With Rita Redshoes i saw her live & was blown away by the show...the rest of the women was just people i admired, i just sent some rough song and invited them... it was pretty laid back, i was so fortunate with the people i invited, everyone, was so generous and genius...

3. When was the last time you played in UK and what kind of memories did you keep?

I played the Spitz, was pretty cool.. i played a few songs with Billy Jenkins, was really exciting, he´s an amazing british bluesman.. On the bill too was Dead Combo & my side project, Wraygunn. It was packed & hot, like it should!

4. What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?

I dont know... Maybe Playing Bataclan in Paris or the Coliseum in Lisbon & Porto.. in the end i guess the true highlight of my career is still being around, making music, and people listening to it....

5. What are your main influences?

All the old country blues stuff.... all the Hill country Bluesman from Fat Possum, that i guess gave some more punk to the blues.... all kind of desperate rock´n´roll, Tango, Exotica, Garage... & of course The Cramps too....

Make sure you're down at XOYO this Sunday to see The Legendary Tigerman take away our Sunday blues....

With massive support coming from artists as varied as Josh Wink, Tensnake and Visionquest the rise of this Bristolian seems to be showing no sign of letting up. With an insatiable appetite for creating genre-busting tracks, we catch up with the hungry house-music titan and latest Dirty Bird-er, catch him this Saturday when he performs alongside the legendary Todd Edwards, as always we asked him 5 of the most important questions....

1. How did you get into music?
I started listening to dance music in 1992 at the tender age of 12, old skool hardcore and house etc. Its gone on from there, it is a major passion and I am very lucky to do it for a job.

2. How would you describe your music style?
Bassy!

3. Biggest track of the summer?
Toughy, but probably Maceo Plex’s version of DJ T – City Lights or FCL – Lets Go

4. Which other producers, DJs and artists do you really rate?
Justin Martin, Bashmore, Maceo Plex, Jan Driver (for the heavier stuff), Catz n Dogz, Von Stroke and many many more. Bristol guys Waifs and Strays and Lukas are doin it at the mo. Jazzy Jeff is an amazing DJ. There are so many, the list is endless...

5. What have you got in store for the coming months?
Lots!! Releases on Dirtybird, Hypercolour, Pete Tongs relaunch of FFRR, Pets and gigs in Brighton, Berlin and most importantly my residency at In:Motion!

Get ready for Saturday with 'The Size' from the Eats Everything EP, let's just say it's healthy listening!

So...Were you there? Did you see him? The hysteria surrounding Frank Ocean reached a fever pitch on Friday, relentless phone calls and guest list requests were thrown our way, but in the end an intimate crowd saw the first glimpse of Frank Ocean as his whirl wind world tour stopped by in London, photographer Phil Smithies was there and caught some snaps for us, oh we do hope he comes back!

Photography by Phil Smithies
© XOYO 2011
www.philsmithies.com

True innovators of the game The Renaissance Man Project hit XOYO this Saturday night, architects in their own sound but also for the likes of Azari and III, Brodinski, Crystal Fighters and HEALTH, they've gone to Tiga's Turbo Recordings for their new album, as you know the format, we asked them five of the important questions.....

1. Thanks you for talking to us, now you've had releases on Kitsuné, Dubsided and Sound Pelligrino, now you're releasing on Turbo Recordings, have these many labels influenced your sound?
I think our influences are mainly elsewhere and much broader, everywhere from Memphis Hip Hop to old Belgian Techno. We don't really work under one label or one "sound" since we try to evolve and develop in to our own direction all the time. One day we might produce a record that sounds like Turbo or Sound Pellegrino and the other day it might sound like Bunker or old Warp. Hopefully it always sounds like Renaissance Man.

2. You've been credited with pioneering versatile house sounds, do you accept this credit? Was your initial goal to change something in the house scene, or did it come naturally?
I don't believe you can deliberately just change something (you can attempt of course). Our goal has been all the time to find our own distinctive sound and do something new and unique. Of course we mainly work loosely within the framework of house music in terms of the rhythmic structures and so on.

3. What are you feeling at the moment, did you take influence on your new project?
There's tons of influences on the album, every track has a little bit of a different lead. You can hear everything from dub to new wave to ambient to electro to RnB and "jungle". Lately we've been playing a lot of old electro and also the new UK bass music, and listening to a lot of hip hop.

4. We have to ask, where did the Renaissance Man name come from? Was it a stab at recreating a new sound in house music? Or am I reading too much into it?
It's more of a joke of ourselves and many of our friends trying to master multiple creative fields. The designer/DJ/Writer/Chef-type.

5. I read this ' Groove is in the air, and you need to know how to catch it', is this the best quote you've ever heard for a new album description? Could you do better with a sentence depicting your show at XOYO on November 19th?
We've created our own, much better description: "This is the sound of Critical House and Post Tropical Techno".

Check out Renaissance Man's recent Fader mix, it should definitely get you in the mood for Saturday!

Renaissance Man FADER Mix by The FADER

Having released 'Everything Is Amplified' earlier this year Veto, have once again retained there status as a unique outfit, in the realms of making great music from a variety of different influences, we spoke to the band before their appearance at XOYO on Thursday 17th November in our formidable (yes, formidable) 5 questions for....


1.VETO, welcome to your 5 questions, can you give us your fondest memory of London?
Well… we've played some really nice gigs, and met a lot of nice people in London in the past year. I've never been to London as a tourist, so those are definitely my favorites.

2. You seem to morph and change your sound on regular basis, is this something you set out to do?
I actually don't think we do it on purpose. I think of it more as a natural development in sound and ways of writing music. I think we are influenced a lot by the music we listen to, and by our previous records. We always try to refine our previous releases i think. Not remake them, that is.

3. What is your process in creating a song, is there a pre-conceived idea to your material?
Often there is a preconceived idea. It could be a beat, a synth sound, a guitar riff or such. Sometimes it's, more or less, a finished song. We try to write the material when were together, but living in different parts of the country makes it pretty hard.

4. Would you say that guitar music needs to evolve to encompass the electro orientated sound? So many people crave that and love the versatility it can bring.
I don't believe anything needs to evolve into anything. I just think it's a natural development to combine the worlds of classic instruments and machines. A guitar is extremely dynamic, and a computer often more rigorous in it's feeling. I think it's the meeting of the two, that makes it interesting.

5. And finally, if you had an synth or a guitar, which one would you pick up first to start making a song with?
Which ever is closest!


Make sure you grab your tickets for Veto at XOYO, a truly unique rock outfit, as mentioned, catch them at XOYO on Thursday November 17th!

It's fair to say that whenever Grand Hotel come to XOYO they throw an amazing party, and this weekend we're sure will be no different, with an amazing line-up including Hot City, C.R.S.T, WAFA and Mistamen, we spoke to Lee and Andy ahead of this weekends grand affair, we highly recommend you have a read...

1. First and foremost welcome, Grand Hotel returns to XOYO next month, crowds at XOYO for previous Grand Hotel shows have always gone crazy for the show, does that energy transcend into what you bring to the night?
We think that XOYO being so music lead is a perfect stage to experiment with our music, and the crowd that are getting down at our shows there are well into hearing what we gotta say. We are still making Plump music every day, developing our sound and enjoying the challenges of making new underground music. This must be achieved without compromising our mission statement : "We must find new ways to make people dance". Its that fresh energy supplied by our acts and us i suppose that is the attraction.

2. Has there always been a linear approach to your performances in terms of what genre's you step into, or does this change on a consistent basis?
We find inspiration everywhere, from every scene, genre and artistic dimension. Tempo wise we find that we prefer to dance to a beat between 120-140 bpm, i suppose that comes from the impression that the dance music of the late 80's and 90's left on us. This is our only real restriction when we make dance music, it has to get our heads nodding and that means listening to our natural 'go beat'.

3. I Read in a previous interview that intimacy plays a big role for Plumps, is this something you always try to retain?
We are enjoying the level of intimacy that XOYO provides being that its a medium sized venue around 800 capacity. Though venues of all sizes have their merits, its hard to beat the atmosphere when a big crowd go bananas, but then its always good to be able to see everyones faces when you perform, they are generally lost in a big venue.

4. Can we get a memorable moment from the last Grand Hotel party at XOYO?
I think it was when we, with the help of the production team (Fido) put up the Grand Hotel banner in the club on the eve of the event, it was like the icing on the cake after months of planning and preparation. With that last job complete all that was left was get there on time and do our thing. We stood back and looked at the banner hovering over the stage and nodded at each other knowingly, we knew it was going to be party to remember. It was indeed, the place felt so right, the performances by all the other acts were sublime, and the venue was rammed but comfortably so ..if that make any sense?

5. We received an amazing CRST mix recently, how did you guys hook up? Is there a possibility of Grand Hotel taking the sound to the Welsh big smoke!?
We would love them to do a remix for us, digging their new garage sound seriously. They were actually recommended to us by our buddies at Columbo, after checkin their soundcloud and mix we were hooked. The line up for the next event is fresh as fuck, I think we may be recording the event so we can post the audio, and you can all hear what you may have missed. We are playing in Cardiff soon, maybe we could drag C.R.S.T to the event and tell em to bring their records. Must speak to the CYNT crew!

6. In a sentence, can you describe what you want Grand Hotel to be synonymous with going into the new year and beyond?
We set up the label to be a platform for our own musical experiments and place where we could showcase inspiring music from other acts. We hope that Grand Hotel is synonymous with innovative underground dance music.

7. Dream line-up for your next Grand Hotel party?
We are releasing a Mix Album in February called 'Dirty Weekend', we hope that the next line up will reflect in part the music on that record. At present we have some seriously dope acts providing music for that piece. We always put 110 percent into our what we do and this is no exception, though we cant give away any line up details or track listing at present. Just let us give you the date for your diary FEBRUARY 11th 2012 @ XOYO and there will be a dream line up. Fantasy line up - probably Jimmy Saville (R.I.P) vs Adam Freeland ..that would be a night to remember.

8. Since you got the name Grand Hotel from a movie, what film would you compare your night at XOYO to, and why?
There was a party scene in Adrian Lyne's 'Jacobs Ladder', last time I was at XOYO something like that happened to me I swear (we'll let the fans search for it)

Make sure you're down this Saturday! And just incase you missed it, here's their recent mix they did for Mixmag....Trust us, BE THERE!

MOTW: PLUMP DJS by Mixmag

So we thought we would kick off the week with five questions for TEED aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs aka Orlando Higginbottom, since coming to prominence with his energetic debut E.P All in One Sixty Dancehalls, Mr.Higginbottom has just grown and grown in terms of interest and popularity. From the beginnings on the soon to be legendary Greco-Roman label to the heightened anticipation of his debut album on Polydor, we asked him five of the most important questions....

1. Many thanks for talking to us, you come to XOYO on November 10th, how would you describe the journey for TEED in 2011? - This year has been so full on its been hard to take in. I know I will look back on it as a real success though. Right now I'm just coming to terms with being in LA for the 3rd time in 6 months, a place I never thought I'd get to know.

2.You've had songs remixed by the likes Justin Martin & Lone, which artist at the moment do you feel would do a TEED song justice in the form of a remix? - Those remixes are both great, I particularly love the Lone mix of Waulking Song. Remixes are impossible to predict, and it is not a very fair representation of how good the remixer is. There is definitely an element of hit and hope, but I've been very happy with the people who have remixed my stuff; Jamie Jones, Soulclap, Chad Valley, Lapalux, Calibre, 2 bears ... not a bad start.

3. Styles and hybrids often get banded about in the realms of electronic music, do you see it as a positive thing? Where do you see TEED fitting in? - It's not so much that I see that as a positive or negative thing, more that I try not to let those labels get in the way of making and listening. The only place you'd need to work out where I fit in is if you were looking for my record in a record shop.... so thats not really a problem is it

4. Would you say an extension of the many different styles would be boredom and need for eclecticism in music? Was this the main reason you started TEED? - I'm always up for eclecticism in music.

5. Finally, what’s coming up in the TEED calendar? Is there a release date for your debut album? No release date yet for the album, but early next year for sure. Coming up I have the rest of my US/Canada tour, XOYO and lots more shows before Australia for NYE. Also I've just done a remix for Lady Gaga which was unexpected..

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs are performing at XOYO this Thursday.

From Jessie J to Katy B, Ms Dynamite to Tinie Tempah, I Luv Live have an uncanny talent discovery trait that's hard to ignore, bi-weekly residents at XOYO on Monday nights, here's a preview of their forthcoming show this Monday, make sure you're down to discover new talent first.

ARTFUL

Artful is the new project from Mark Hill, original member of Artful Dodger that had hits with Rewind, Movin’ Too Fast and Woman Trouble and was also the writer and producer behind Criag David’s multi platinum selling album “Born To Do It” and many more hits. The new project features collaborations with some incredible vocal and writing talent such as Kal Lavelle and Shean Williams who will be appearing on the night.

http://www.artful.dj

JOSH OSHO

At Just 20 years old, South London singer/songwriter Josh Osho has the life experiences of a person twice his age. Following an unconventional and often tempestuous childhood, Josh went from being homeless at the age of 16, dealing drugs and a period living in half-way house Ebenezer Hotel.It’s all seen , heard and felt in his music. After turning his life around his journey led him to a record deal with Island Records and recording with members of the Wu Tang Clan.

“Music gives me an opportunity to get people thinking. If people just thought a bit more each day, their lives would be so much richer, I want to get people thinking.”

http://www.facebook.com/JoshOshoMusic

JOE BLACK

Joe Black’s good friend Felony introduced him to his cousins, Real Gees. Together with Real Gees, he went on to produce 2004’s Pedal Bike Diaries. He went on to appear on the Hottest Mixtape of 2006, Mashtowns S.P.O.R.T.S. VOL 1. That further solidified his name as a promising lyricist. After a few collaborations with some local artists, Joe Black went on to release another Mixtape King of the Underground in February 2010 and has since performed with some of the biggest names in the music scene right now (Rick Ross, Giggs, K Koke, Benny Banks, Hunt, Squeeks and Propane)

Rapper/Songwriter/Ghostwriter/Artist Management/Youth Football Coach

His latest Mixtape ‘Realionaire’ released this year.

http://twitter.com/#!/joeblackuk

STOOSHE

The first rule of StooShe? There are no rules! Boisterous, mischievous, outgoing and witty, Alex Buggs, Courtney Rumbold and Karis Anderson are three brilliantly distinct personalities, as attainable as they are aspirational. Utterly uninterestedin following the formula, this London-based three-piece have not only disregarded the girlband code of conduct, they’ve ripped it into teeny tiny shreds. They swear, they talk about sex, they wear weird clothes, they have(gasp) opinions and they’re really funny. Oh and they can sing, really, really sing.

Ignoring the rules, writing their own manifesto and delivering a truly unique take on urban popmusic, StooShe are the sound of 2012.

www.StooShe.com

FEARLESS

Also Known As ''Dukuman'' is a Talented recording Artist from North London. He's Featured in songs with N-Dubz Ultra & Tinie Tempah & many more. He's been working in the studio with a few producers like Jorg, Maze Beats, Martin Anderson N.H.D & Fazer from N-Dubz. on his upcoming debut album which hopefully should be dropping SOON. Started rapping & writing as a youngster doing it as a hobby but now 20 he's taking hes music to another level. He's New Mixtape "UNSTOPPABLE" is OUT NOW free download so support & get yourself a copy.

http://twitter.com/#!/fearlessdukuman

JAYA

Jaya is an exiting pop artist. The all dancing, singer-songwriter hails from Wembley ; North London and has toured with N-Dubz, Tinie Tempah and Mz Bratt. Her debut single 'DJ Do It Again' introduced her to the public in March 2010 and saw her land at number 2 on the MTV Dance charts and number 8 in the Music Week Club charts. Showstopping performances for BBC introducing and at the Asian Music Awards have helped solidify her réputation as a top performer. The likes of Jojo Simmons (pka Young Simmons) the son of Hip Hop royalty Rev Run (Run DMC), Wretch 32, Tinie Tempah, Dappy, Marvell and Tinchy Stryders Ruff Squad have all stepped up to feature on her material.

Jaya is definitely one to Watch for the future.

WWW.JAYAWORLD.COM

HOST: RAS KWAME
DJ: MELODY KANE

Catch some of I Luv Live's last show on 24th October -

Were you at Hudson Mohawke last week? What did you think? Many thanks to Tim Ferguson who took these snaps of the gig last week, on a side note, props to Jacques Greene and Redinho also, who were all fantastic! Agreed? Good....