Turntable Radio – April 2008 podcast

Following on very swiftly and quickly, for once, from our recent special live podcast as part of the 5th Anniversary series, we return to a more normal broadcast with our April show.

This show was originally supposed to come with a special reminiscing mix to replace the show Trick and I were going to do, but continuing a very unfortunate series of technical mishaps and problems, I haven’t had the time to do this, so instead we just bring you the usual hour-long serving of new and exclusive material from around the world.

Up this month we’ve got some great new tracks and material from a whole bunch of people, keeping it worldwide as usual. In no particular order, we have new stuff from 2tall, ADS, Ill Insanity, Baku, INSIDEaMIND, Naoki, Ken One, Quest, Red, Kwote, Faust, Morse and B-Ju. Most of these are all taken from just released or forthcoming releases, so as usual if you like what you hear check the links and go out there and support the artists.

We also start the show with a very rare and sought after track from DJ Krush and DJ Klock, taken from a Nike sponsored 12″ entitled ‘Cage’, which came out in 2001. The 12″ features Krush collaborating with Klock on one side and Baku on the other, on two interpretations of the same track. This track goes out on the first year anniversary of Klock’s sad passing away, and our thoughts go out to his family at this time.

That’s about it, check the tracklist for full details and linkage as usual, and stay tuned for the next 5th anniversary podcast which will be videos from our Japanese session and should be incoming in a few weeks.

Subscribers should already have the file waiting on their desktop, or on its way. For those who haven’t subscribed yet, it couldn’t be easier: either use any of the shortcuts on the top left corner of the blog to add the show’s feed to any podcatcher, or visit our feedburner page or launch iTunes and find us in the podcast directory where you can subscribe automatically. And for the really lazy ones there is a direct download link at the bottom of the post as usual.

April 2008 podcast – Tracklist:

DJ Baku – Turntable Radio intro
DJ Krush & DJ Klock – Cage Oddisey – Nike
B-Ju – Soja Extra – Equinox records, taken from the 5inch series compilation, available for free download on the Equinox site
2tall – Grazing on Empty – Content, Turntable Radio exclusive, taken from forthcoming ‘Softer Diagram’ LP, dj2tall.com
DJ Baku feat. Itouseikou – Dharma Dance – POPGROUP, taken from ‘Dharma Dance’ LP, out now
INSIDEaMIND – The Tiniest Spy – INSIDEaMIND, taken from forthcoming LP
Kwote – Have You Been Here Lately? – Kwote Music, taken from ‘Journey To Somewhere’ EP, out now
Ken One – Mind Rain – Unreleased, Turntable Radio exclusive Ken 1 myspace
Naoki – Neoluxor – Unreleased, Turntable Radio exclusive
DJ Quest – Submarine Thump – Zq records, taken from ‘Questolous’ LP, out now
Red – Seen (Kids in Tracksuits remix) – Dealmaker Records, taken from the ‘Seen’ EP, out now
Faust – Sudden Death – Decon, taken from ‘All Pro’ by Z-Trip, out now
A.D.S ft. Paura and Gemon Science – Mowsqua – Relief Records, taken from the forthcoming debut album
Morse – Bouche Cousue – Unreleased, taken from forthcoming self-produced EP, Morse myspace
Ill Insanity ft. Excess – P Bounce – The Ablist, taken from ‘Ground Xero’ LP, out now

Direct Download Link (right click and save as)

Quest album update

Just got an email from Quest updating us on his LP, which apparently was leaked a little ahead of time. As such the cover artwork we displayed in our previous news was not the final version, however the one you see above is.

So if you do want to buy the proper album, and not a bootleg or pirate copy, then head over to the Giant Peach page where you’ll be able to put in your order.

And keep em peeled on Quest’s myspace for previews, tour info and more. Also look out for the next podcast, online in a few days featuring a track from the album.

5th anniversary podcasts – Turntable Radio live from Shibuya

As announced earlier, we continue our 5th anniversary celebrations with another very special podcast, our second Japan live session.

This time we headed out to Shibuya, for the POPGROUP offices where DJ Baku, Exsample (Ken-One, Naoki and Shige) and Miyajima came together for the occasion. As with the first session, back in September, the idea was simple – ask the guys to come together, put them in a room with lots of gear and just record the outcome. With less space this time round, but still bags of enthusiasm, we took over one of the rooms in the POPGROUP offices and got down to business.

Unfortunately, Miyajima had to leave early as we had some delays in setting up (as always) and so he only appears on one of the tracks. For the rest, what basically happened was that Baku and Exsample jammed together for the best part of 3/4 hours and what you’ll hear on this podcast are edited takes from the jam session. Pretty much everything you’ll hear was done unrehearsed and off the cuff, with the guys chatting in between takes, bouncing ideas and just discussing a rough direction for what they would do.

The session also coincided with the release of Baku’s second album, Dharma Dance (check the recent news item below for more on that), and so Baku, who was using Serato and a Pioneer 909 mixer, primarily used sounds he had made and produced for his album, including drums, guitar melodies and synth lines. For the majority of the tracks you’ll hear in the podcast, Baku provided the backbone for the track with the Exsample guys adding on top, with melodies and vocal cuts. On a couple of tracks the roles were reserved with Naoki and Ken-One taking the lead on drums, and everyone else filling in. So for those who haven’t yet heard the album, this session should give you a pretty good idea of some of the tracks’ moods and influences.

In addition to all this, Ken-One also premiered a new loop routine for us and there is, as I said, a 3 way session between Baku, Ken One and Miyajima, as well as an Exsample freestyle.
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DJ Baku new album, Kaikoo compilation and Japanese music download shop

Update: I’ve just found out today that you can buy the POPGROUP compilation, ‘Kaikoo Planet’, from Play Asia of all places! Click on this link to be taken to the page where you can place your order for worldwide delivery, it’s a little more expensive than you would normally pay for it, but it’s all hassle free, and Play Asia are a reliable shop as any gamer will tell you.

Lots of exciting news from Japan this month, mainly from DJ Baku and his label POPGROUP.

First up is the release of Baku’s second album, ‘Dharma Dance’, which came out earlier on this month on POPGROUP. Following from 2006′s ‘Spinheddz’, the new album shows Baku’s musical maturity with a sound that is a lot more cohesive than in his first outing (not that this was a bad thing first time round mind), and aims square for the dancefloor and getting your head bopping. Baku keeps its short but concise, not wasting any of the 12 tracks. His rock and heavy influences still shine strong, as do a lot of inspiration from dance music, without forgetting some straight hip hop numbers. There are only 2 guests this time round, including the legendary Doseone who puts the vocals down on ‘Void It Out’.

What struck me most on the album is the quality of the production, especially the drums. It seems Baku has been working hard since his debut, and in a strange way the drums on this album remind me a lot of those on DJ Krush’s recent ‘Self Remixed Best of’ compilations – hard hitting, crisp and packing a serious punch. Considering how the album is a lot more upbeat than his previous, the drums form the perfect backbone for the melodies and keeping the energy of the tracks. The album is a definite grower, which only gets better on repeated listens, and on a loud system too preferably.

I’ll be airing a couple of tracks from the album on the forthcoming podcasts (which will be live in the coming week), and you can also check his myspace page for more previews.

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