Free Vangel vs Unkut EP and a new DVD

We got a tweet from @illerhiphop earlier today alerting us to yet more free music this month. This time it’s Canadian producer Vangel teaming up with German tablist Unkut for a collabo mini EP which they’re giving out for free. As they explain on their myspace:

“One world class producer, one world class dj, one vision. Vangel (Canada) & DJ Unkut (Germany) are well known for their talents and innovation in their respective fields of art. Vangel is an unassuming instrumental producer whose diverse musical catalogue has been redefining genres that don’t exist. DJ Unkut is the 2007 Vestax Extravaganza World Champion/2006 DMC World Champion, and has become the next evolution in
turntablism. “Vangel VS. DJ Unkut” is been released as a showpiece of what happens when 2 masters combine talents to create something, “..you never heard of.”

You can download the EP as a zip here. It includes two tracks as well as an Unkut scratch practice. And they’re all well worth your time, trust us.

Vangel has just released a new EP on Scientist’s excellent Equinox label. It’s called Biblio and it’s out now as a digital only release. We’ve been airing tracks from it over on Rhythm Incursions, and we also recommend it.

As for Unkut he’s also just released a new DVD, titled ‘Wizard of Ahh’ (see what he did there?). That’s available now from hhv.de and you can peep a promo video for it below.

Look out for more from these guys in the next podcast.

New single from ProF – free download

Insideamind member Cheldon aka DJ Vision dropped us a mail recently to announce the release of his latest single, taken from his forthcoming solo EP which is being released this summer. Regular listeners of the show will be familiar with Chel’s and insideamind’s music and the good news is that the new single is available as a free download from his myspace and the label’s website. We’ll pass over to Chel for some more info:

“As a member of renowned turntablist act iNSiDEaMiND, ProF (born Cheldon Paterson a.k.a dj Vision) is definitely no stranger to bending minds. With a well rooted background in vinyl manipulation, he brings a new flavour to the scratch. One part tactician, one part time traveler, this guy twists and turns up beats to unexpected depths with his melancholic samples and off-time tricks. This can be heard and felt in the production on his forth coming EP “Superorganism”…… Out this Summer with a special limited edition release on 5&1/4 records.”

Grab the single here and keep an eye on the label’s myspace for more release news.

DJ battles might be dead… but at least they’ve got a sense of humour

It’s hardly going to be news round these parts that our opinion of DJ battles is somewhat ‘negative’ and along the lines of ‘can we f*cking move on now please’. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t got love. We do, always have and always will, we’re just not going to pretend it ain’t a pain. All this to say that I was quite surprised by a fairly random email from the French guys who have seemingly taken over the IDA championships (previously ITF, remember them?). Random because all the email offered was a bunch of youtube links, leading me to think ‘oh god no not another scratch demo that is going to make me want to tear my ears out’. Still I clicked it and was pleasantly surprised to see a fairly surreal, and quite funny video which basically takes the concept of ‘micro-trottoir’ (which is French for vox pop if you will) and applies it to scratching. Which is funny, especially when the majority of those interviewed seem to include women, random dudes in shops and scratch DJs only too happy to play the game.

Part 1 is above, and part 2 is below. It would seem this also serves as an advert of sorts for the 2009 French IDA Finals, so I guess if you’re still up for spending a night with a lot of guys in a room listening to other guys scratching, then you might want to check it. Oh and if anyone reads this please think before commenting or emailing me to say that battles blah blah blah, because as much as I do think battles are dead, this is also tongue in cheek. So step away from the keyboard and go have a cut or something.

In related news look out for more ‘The Mr Trick Years’ shows very soon, we had a bit of an issue with our promised weekly podcasts, but we’re working on fixing that and putting together a few other regular shows and specials. More soon we promise!