The other two international guests to be featured tomorrow at Scatterfest are NASA and Mowgli – 1 has featured at an Scatterblog party earlier in the year, and the other has been a Scatterblog favourite since close to when we started out.

NASA’s debut album “The Spirit Of Apollo” got all kindsa heads turning (i think they were also most talked about act of 2009 on hypem?), featuring a whole range of big name vocalists. Their live show is filled with cut up and remashed music and visuals, some space costumes and accessories and a whole lotta hype – producing a huge individualistic and exciting show.

Mowgli on the other hand has been some1 who’s music Scatterblog has been in love with since way back when. His style has been ever evolving and he now really leads the market with his label Deadfish and their midget house sound.

Both of their shows will be explosive for totally different reasons. TONITE YO!

So there’s a last minute double double ticket giveaway! So i’ll make em easy.
For one double pass, just answer what Mowgli’s alias is.
For another, name 6 people that featured on NASA’s Spirit Of Apollo album.
Only one double pass per person.
Send answers to scatterfest@gmail.com
First in best dressed…

As for the tunes, check this super dutch remix of NASA’s Whatchadoin by Alvaro…

NASA Feat. MIA, Santogold, Spank Rock, Nick Zinner – Whatchadoin (Alvaro Remix)

I was really surprised when I had a look back through our archives and realised we hadn’t done a post on Mowgli’s firing up label, Deadfish Audio. They’ve been putting out releases by some top producers – Mowgli, Solo, Round Table Knights, Camel and really pushing their own individual sound, gaining a big following in their wake. Deadfish has it’s own style of minimal… It’s really deep with a lot of atmosphere, almost putting you straight into the scene of a movie. It has plenty of clicks and blips, and it’s really rolling and clubby. The most important thing however, is that under all of this there’s a very distinct underlying bit of fun. Their tunes always manage to get me moving in a certain way that i don’t do with most minimal tunes. With each release, Deadfish are really cementing their sound (which many are coining “Midget House”) and i really can’t wait to see what else they put out…

We’ve been given a 128kbs version of Nu Skool, from the new Mowgli EP of the same name. The EP also features a Camel remix, and the totally awesome “London To Paris” (definitely my favourite for the club) which is making a climb up the Beatport charts, so be sure to grab it!!

Mowgli – Nu Skool (128kbs) (buy link)

Also take a peak at the Minimix:

Ok, so this post got taken down and i don’t know why. I can’t work out which tracks there’s a problem with… So if you want to download the tracks, get over to our Facebook Fan Page and check out the links. Or check our Twitter.

Beats of this variety have been sending us all a little crazy lately… I’ve always said i’m a hater of minimal, but this new wave might be turning me for the better. There’s been the odd exception to the rule with liking some of this stuff throughout the years, and it seems like that hint of radness is finally starting to make a bit more sense…
What’s starting to push this sound forward is a kinda hype take on things – as you mighta realised we’re all about hype music flowing thru tracks here. We try to put it in the tunes we make, we love to put it in our sets, and we definitely center a lot of posts around it. It’s all about feeling rather than genre really. Shit that makes you throw your hands up, jump around like an idiot and shout out chants – hype is all about tracks being upbeat and bouncy. And hype seems to be finding it’s way into minimal beats. which is great, cause i generally find minimal to be a bit too dark, isolating and druggie.
Obviously we’ve been flooded with way too many bangers over the past couple of years. Just a note, there’s nothing wrong with bangers! I still love em, but with such saturation, you can see how people want to turn to something completely different and opposite in nature. People haven’t turned away from party tho, and on top of that world beats, and especially African (especially), south American and Latin drums are infiltrating in a big way. So here we are left with our mold.
This can often turn out into rounded, hype arpegiated synths, lots of congas and shakers, a touch of bmore-ish chants (which we still def need to see some more of, always, tee hee) and some smooth, sparse bass. But for the bass-heads, don’t be discouraged, as it seems like some of the UK Funky scene is putting back some droney and grimey bass into the tunes.
Here are a couple tunes i’m really into at the moment which i think help explain what i’m talking about a little bit… I wish i could put the Sharkslayer remix of “Manges” in as it’s got these styles with even more hype in it, but the track is still unfinished and unreleased, so soon my pretties…

First check out a remix that one of our favourites Mowgli sent in recently. He does the whole minimal thing (which he often terms midget house) real well. He always has tasty synths and is getting more and more drum orientated as of late. This track has a synth sound that i’m getting into in a big way that definitely has a hands up trip out element to it. It’s also apparently getting a radio 1 hammering by Pete Tong so look out. Check out Mowgli’s Twitter which he’s started up. Also his label DeadFish now has a podcast, just search iTunes for Deadfish Podcast and it’s on like kong.

Tommy Sparks – She’s Got Me Dancing (Mowgli Dub Remix)

This N.B. Funky track is a step towards the UK Funky side of minimal. You can definitely see the African roots come thru in the drum production, and the bass is pure dirt. I’m up for more of these kinda basslines AA247. Although the bass, and many of the extra noises are kinda dark and droney, the drums manage to really push your shoulders forward and head back.
Buy more of these releases through ukfunkyhouse.com

N.B. Funky – Riddim Box

This Rubi Dan & Chinski track really is much more of a move towards a worldly bouncey thing, and is pretty far from anything tech. I do find myself dropping this tune regularly, and you’d be surprised with the switch it can add to more techy stuff. It’s got them drums at heart, and then a bit more of a soca-ish feeling to it, so can work nicely.

Rubi Dan & Chinski – Big Boi Spitta

We’d be kinda lost in this post without something Douster related. The dude is doing some great things in a more Triassic related way, ranging from bouncey hip hop to stripped back shakers – all with a great worldly sound. This track is a remix by Mommas Boy (Mikix The Cat’s alias) and it’s a real trip. The synth has me kinda tranced and jumpy. Works great over plenty of stuff.
…Got this track via the curbcrawlers btw, who have been pushing all this sound for a bit already. They’re doing an big overhaul to their site and bringing in some dope new names to write for it. They’ve already announced L-Vis and Renaissance Man, and the others upcoming are big big too.
Look out for this release coming out on Sound Pellegrino, Apr 20th.

Douster – For Weirdos Only (Mommas Boy Remix)

There’s a definite need for a relation on this stuff that goes back in time a bit, referencing the minimal of time past… Deadset’s “Tick Tock” has much more drive to it, and starts to get into the territory of that druggy lost in the corner sound i was getting at earlier, but there’s something much more fun about it. I dunno if it’s all them damn clocks, or that wired synth that keeps popping in, but something definitely has me, and it’s got me smiling..

Deadset – Tick Tock

I think the key to keeping these tunes sounding hype is to just keep mixing through them. They’re mostly really housey song structures, and there’s nothing worse than hearing the entire intro and outro in a club. The fact that the tunes have so much space opens them up to be layered and cut up real nicely.
There’s plenty more tunes i could mention obviously, feel free to call out some big ones in the comments. I think that Riva Starr needs a mention in all this also, some of those earlier releases like Scratch n Itch i love to use in between all this stuff…

Music used to be all about cool sounds and interesting bits. 90s music was all about that, hell hip-hop was built around it. And all that stuff was dope (it made me the man i am today *shead a tear*). But since the DJ took over the music scene, and everyone wants that next floor filla, music has become all about fun. We’re talking massive builds, big drops, bouncey basslines and raw club crack that makes you dance all funny. Just something i was thinking about the other day when going thru some old tunes for a project.

The next tune in the Mowgli monthly bootleg thing he’s got going (last one posted when he did his guest spot). As promised they’re gonna be up here each month. This time he takes on Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” tune. You all remember that video clip yeah?
Mowgli flips the tune around and makes it a more minimal fidget vibed thing. Sounds nice and Mowgli, can’t wait for next months.

Benni Benassi – Satisfaction (Mowgli Mix) (alt link) – cdr

1. Jesse Garcia – Off Da Hook (Duke Dumont remix) (Stealth Recordings)
2. Bass Kleph – Helium (Mowgli mix) (Vacation)
3. Worthy – Copius (Katabatic) – MP3
4. Sawtooth Sucka – Radio Check (Dotbleep)
5. Benny Benassi – Satisfaction (Mowgli mix) (White label)
6. Marshall Jefferson – Mushrooms (Justin Martin mix) (Airtight) – MP3
7. Mr.Elastic – Justice (Mowgli mix) (Sokolov) – MP3
8. Chemical Brothers – Boot it Again (Mowgli remix) (White label) – MP3
9. The Yank – Everybody in here (Funktion Recordings) – MP3
10. Armand Van Helden – Je T’aime (Riva Starr remix) (Southern Fried)

Mmm, them some tasty beats. Better keep your lips peeled. Mowgli (also check out his stuff as Minimow) has been high on my playlist over the last year, with is own form of fidget house. It’s characterised by a sort of filtered squelch, with little bit of a minimal touch and smooth and chunky basslines with some nice stabs thrown in. Really well produced stuff that always manages to get dance floors going, kinda on a left-field tip… I always feel like doing geeky little dances like pointing my fingers out and rolling my head roller coaster style. Mowgli’s started to pump out more and more tunes as of late, and they’ve been getting heads turning (notably Pete Tong, who’s well into Mowgli’s sounds), so he’s one to watch, as each new release i hear is as mad or madder than the last.

Mowgli has also just released a new single which is bloody good- “Get Down” ft MC Zub. The hip-house remix has been sitting in my top 10, and i’m playing it almost every time i’m out. Make sure you grab it from either Beatport or Junodownload.

Another great project which he has on the cards, is a new thing where he will be releasing a bootleg every month through his myspace page, and onto blogs (we’ll be posting the boots each month too i reckon) for people to download. I got in contact with him as soon as i heard this Chemical Brothers bootleg on his space, and luckily he already had it in mind to release it for free. The song is a really nice take on the chem bros track “Do It Again”. The update, as “Boot It Again” manages to update the track really well. He keeps some good elements of the original, so it will keep dance floors involved, but he’s managed to flip it into a fidget house floor banga-langa. Don’t miss out, and check back next month to be satisfied…

Chemical Brothers – Boot It Again (Mowgli Mix) (alt link)