Gil Scott-Heron R.I.P.

I woke up today to a text from fellow Hotcakes writer Ollie saying simple this: Gil Scott-Heron RIP.

Matthew Dear – Slowdance EP

Techno maestro Matthew Dear is not your usual DJ – he maintains four different aliases (Audion, False, Jabberjaw and Matthew Dear) each with their own distinct styles and visual personality. It was under his own name that he released his latest album Black City to much fanfare in August of last year.

DELS – GOB (Dave Sitek remix)

I wrote some words on DELS debut album recently and it got a big thumbs up. I’m not alone either, fans include Dave Sitek, from TV on the Radio and Maximum Balloon amongst others, and he’s just delivered a remix of the title track.

Looping a sax through the first verse, then emphasising the bass through the second and third, Sitek builds on the progressive narrative of the original. In a similar vein to the Joe Goddard remix of ‘Trumpalump’, a killer, radio-friendly vocal is added to the chorus which makes this the version the one you’re likely to hear on the airwaves.

DELS – GOB (Dave Sitek remix) [alt]

Drop The Lime – March Mix

Put together to celebrate one year of Red Bull Studio in London, New York’s Drop The Lime aka Luca Venezia gives us a taste of his live sound.

No tracklisting as yet but I’ll update the post with one as soon as it surfaces.

Drop The Lime – March Mix

Download it.

TV on the Radio play new tracks at SXSW

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Take a listen above to one of the new tracks debuted by TV on the Radio at SXSW this year.

The track is called ‘Repetition’ and it sounds great. It really builds well and becomes pretty mental towards the end. It’s in the same vein as tracks like ‘Shout Me Out’ and ‘Wolf Like Me’.

Put this alongside already released ‘Caffeinated Consciousness’ and ‘Will Do’ and it sounds like Nine Types of Light is going to be a brilliant and diverse album. The album is out on April 12th.

On a side note, SXSW sounded like an absolutely incredible festival this year, as always.

TV on the Radio – Repetition

Wretch 32 + Distance

Say hello to Wretch 32, rapper and producer du jour and one we’re likely to hear from with increasing frequency this year. You’ll probably know him from his hit ‘Traktor’ (see below) and he’s now set to release a follow-up single ‘Unorthodox’ next month. It’s a collaboration with Example and samples the world famous riff from ‘Fool’s Gold’ by the Stone Roses.

Jamie Woon @ Scala, London

So there we were, myself and fellow Hotcakes baker Seb, at London’s Scala eagerly anticipating one of the first live performances of the much hyped Jamie Woon.

Scala, even when sold-out, is an intimate venue; seemingly perfect for Woon’s downbeat style and emotive delivery. With Ghostpoet in support – his blend of half sung, half spoken vocals and an indie/hip-hop crossover score warming up the crowd to good effect – we thought were in for a good night…

Jamie xx

Jamie Smith, better known to you and me as Jamie xx, released his debut album today: a compete remix of Gil Scott-Heron’s 2010 album I’m New Here. The re-fixed version, We’re New Here, is a journey through the minds of two people separated not only by age – 39 years to be precise – but stylistically too. Gil, a modern jazz and blues legend; Jamie, one of the best young electronic producers around

Chapperdeemus’ Pre-emptive top 10 of 2011

Already preparing to eat these words, Hotcakes have come up with a pre-emptive top 10 albums list of 2011. This a ‘calling-it-early’ stab in the dark that will probably make us look like idiots come December, but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of speculation from time to time.

With 2011 taking shape quite nicely after a slow start, we have a number of firm releases in the pipeline to look forward to, as well as some strong rumours. Here’s our top 10:

Hotcakes meets… autoKratz

London-based duo David Cox and Russell Crank are autoKratz. Their highly acclaimed first album Animal came out in 2009 and now they’re back with their sophomore effort later this year. Having done remixes for the likes of La Roux, Alex Gopher, Fischerspooner and Underworld and supported The Prodigy amongst others in between, it’s fair to say that there’s a great deal of anticipation surrounding their second LP.

We had a chat with them recently about all things music and here’s what they had to say.