Martyn

I first came across Martyn a number of years back on a Fabric compilation mixed by High Contrast. As my music listening rotation swings back and forth from drum & bass to other forms of electonic music it's easy to lose track of artists from time-to-time.

I noticed over the last year or so that Martyn hasn't been making Drum & Bass per se, or rather what i've heard hasn't been deebee - (I may be wrong?). There has been odds and sods of dubstep and techno and the like, but not what I expected. A fleeting glance at his myspace address would lead you to believe he is making d&b, but a quick listen to the the tracks on his player would suggest otherwise...

Martyn's Myspace

After having an adventure through blogland over the last few days (no work - snow days FTW!) I found some links to some truly awesome songs by Martyn. Have a listen, I hope you'll agree.

Roland Dubbs - Huh!

Whipped up a little NYE treat for you lovely lot. Just wanted to do something simple and bouncey. Hope this does the job :)

Roland Dubbs - Huh!

MEGA MEGA MEGA...catch up post!

Normally when people blog after a long absence they sign in with "Oh I'm sorry but things really got on top of me", or "I've been totally slack, sorry dudes". We read these statements and never really feel much empathy towards our fellow bloggers. Now, I'm not asking for extra Christmas cards or anything, but I do ask you to listen to my story and search deep within you for your xmas spirit and share my pain that was November and the first part of December.

November starts and some fat (technically she was pregnant, but I was angry) idiot proceeded to pull out in front of my new car for no reason other than that she is an idiot.

It was a 40mph road, so I did my best to swerve but had little chance. After much paperwork and extended phone call bollocks, I managed to persuade her insurance to fix my Audi A3 T Sport ('oooooh' I hear you say!). It has been almost 7 weeks now though, and I still haven't got it back. Total cost to her - £5k. Merry Fucking Christmas, bitch.

Then to make matters worse, the tossers that are Ofsted (big major scary school inspectors for those that don't know) decided to contact our school and tell us they could drop in anytime over the next 20 working days (4 weeks to normal people). So for four weeks everyone at work has been mad tense and overworked. Needless to say, they fucking arrived on the 20th of 20 days (CUNTS). Things went well, but it has only been this last week in which I have managed to return to normality!

Fuck, what am I on about - you people aren't arsed about any of that, you just want some music!

Right then - the important stuff...

Here is the latest episode of the adventures of Roland Dubbs courtesy of Mr. Hope! (Click to view) I've been sitting on this for a hot minute, ironic it should include my car! As friends, we constantly push each other to do better. I asked him for a new comic, he asked me to make a tune to accompany the comic. He delivered this to me - an alien themed mini story. So I created my tune "The Lonely Life Of A Misunderstood Alien".

It's very ambient, with lots of luscious sound design on my part. I must admit, I had just bought 'The Future Sound Of Russia' on Hospital's awesome label, so I dare say there was some inspiration from the likes of Bop et al. It's definitely a different sound for me, but I do love experimenting with all the styles and demonstrating what I can do! Enjoy!!

Roland Dubbs - The Lonely Life Of A Misunderstood Alien

Next on the list is another tune I made. It's very tight technically and one I'm very proud of. Again, it's the not the jacking, wonky sound of my few more popular tracks, nor is it another trip down dubstep lane. It's uplifting, and more dancey with a very catchy hook and some simply gorgeous homemade sounds that sink so well into one-another. Read "Deadmau5 on a comedown" and your about halfway there.

Roland Dubbs - Once Magnificent

NYE PARTY TIME!

As you may already know, I am a regular guest at Thirsty Ear's awesome nights at The Harley in Sheffield. Good friends of the blog, Paulo and East have been putting on slammin' shows for years now, recently featuring Chimpo, No Fakin' DJ's, Boca45, Paul White, DJ Woody, Kidkanevil and Bullion to name but a few.

They have records on the way, mashups under their belt, and recognition from some big labels, record stores and proper headz. There is also a radio documentary featuring Thirsty Ear and myself coming out in January on UK Undiscovered, detailing where we came from and how we got here. It features input from lots of people including some of my tunes! Definitely one to watch out for! Anyway, on NYE @ The Harley they are having a fucking HUGE party. It's already been featured in Exposed magazine as the best place to be on NYE in Sheff. I'll let them explain it to you...

TE say farewell to 2009 and hello to The New Decade in the only way we know how...WITH A SAVAGE PARTY!!!
We'll be taking over The Harley - And throwing the coolest, cheapest, alternative NYE bash in town. Expect the best in Reggae/Dancehall/HipHop/Funk/Soul/Beats/Breaks/Bass/Dubstep/DnB/& Everything Else Inbetween!

We'll have the Full Thirsty Ear DJ Crew playing our biggest & best tunes of the year. With some Special Guest DJs we've picked up along the way this year. Plus warm-up from Thirsty Ear Jukebox 45s!
Drink promos...Carling £2 Double Spirit & Mixer £2.80 Bottle Of Wine £7 Shots from £1 & More!
9PM-3AM (+beyond)
FREE ENTRY BEFORE 11pm! ONLY £2 ENTRY AFTER 11pm! LAST ENTRY 1am

How's that for a catch up?

Double Tap

New Roland Dubbs production for you here.
After spending the last few days killing zombies, watching Woody Harrelson perform 'Double Taps' and reigniting my love for sick Drum & Bass, I decided to try and make a soundtrack to fit such a scenario...you know, like that time when...
'Woody Harrelson double tapped a zombie at a Drum & Bass rave Emceed by Liam Neeson' - we were all there.
It's 171bpm - but very deceptive with it's shuffling beat and drum pattern - not strictly Drum & Bass, and not Dubstep either. It does however have a ridiculously large bassline that hoovers up everything around it. Sounding a lot more evil than normal, I give you...

Roland Dubbs - Double Tap

TURN
IT
UP!

Major Lazer Remix No.2 & Roland Dubbs Comic No.2!!!

Above is the second in a series of comics detailing my adventures as a superhero DJ/Teacher! In this issue Roland Dubbs narrowly escapes a zombie horde using only his beats as a weapon. Bloody superb. Courtesy of the wonderful Mr.Hope (Link in my bloglist!) Click on the image for a larger, readable version!)

And below is my new, and second, remix of Major Lazer. Last one was a dubstep remix of 'Pon De Floor'...this one is a tear out drum & bass remix of 'Hold The Line' with a fat sub bass and some wobble. Santigold never sounded so hot! Blow the fuckin' roof off kids. BAM!

Major Lazer - Hold The Line (Roland Dubbs Rinse Up Remix)

Major Lazer // Roland Dubbs Remix

Here are some facts:
1. Major Lazer is awesome.
2. 'Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do' is easily one of the best, most original albums of the year.
3. Diplo rocked at Creamfields this year (check previous post).
4. I met Switch at Creamfields last year.
5. Pon De Floor is definitely one of the biggest party tunes of the year.

How could I turn down the opportunity to remix it? I couldn't.
The download is free of course, in full 320 glory - all I ask is that you head over to the Major Lazer site HERE and vote for my remix in the official competition! :D

Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (Roland Dubbs Remix)

Creamfields 2009 Review by Roland Dubbs.

Everybody tries to do something special for August Bank Holiday weekend, it's a British institution. No matter who you are, the choices seem endless.
I chose to go to Creamfields. Just like I did last year. And once again it was incredible, thoroughly deserving of it's moniker of 'best dance festival in the world'. The above photo sums it up really - you just want to be there.
As you would expect, lots of alcohol was involved - particularly my favourite drink of the moment; Sailor Jerrys and coke, which was mainly the reason why I don't remember the first half of the Saturday in the arena. Apparently I saw all the acts I wanted to see, I just can't remember it for the life of me! So who rocked Saturday you asked? Well let me tell you...

SATURDAY:
Spent most of it in the Ape tent and saw;
Skream & Benga
Beardyman
Andy C...

(...then nipped out the tent with the intention of coming back for High Contrast - but it seems like EVERYONE had the same idea, so I couldn't get back in - Gutted. I hope you enjoyed a full tent Lincoln - I was about 15 deep and that was just at the bloody entrance!
I have been the biggest High Contrast fan for a very, very long time now - ever since True Colours bust onto the scene. I've seen him all over the country and he never fails to absolutely smash it. I buy practically everything he produces including his Two Fisted Tales stuff, and I'm chuffed he now writes his own blog 'Highly Contrasting' too. He is one of my hero's and he demonstrates to me that you can be intelligent, well read and sensible yet still make slammin' electronic music that destroys any rave.
People often assume that to make 'dance' music that's dirty/uplifting/off the beaten track, you must be off your face on something - Mr. Barrett shows this isn't the case. I remember bumping into him at Hospitality @ Plug way back in like Feb or something - and being so star struck that all I could muster was "Fuckin' amazing mate". What an idiot. Anyway - I love The Contrast, I think you get the picture.

By this point on Sat I was at the height of my Sailor Jerrys dreamboat to drunkeness so I think I also saw...

Crookers
a bit of Tiesto - not as good as last year.
All in all - a good day.

SUNDAY: (much more successful as far as the temporary amnesia goes)

Jack Beats - unreal squelch.
Toddla T - awesome.
Diplo - highlight of the weekend, chuffed to see so many people digging the Diplo - when he dropped "Pon De Floor" things just went mad. Serious.
Annie Mac - pleasantly surprised, knows her shit and totally killed it...
FAAAAKE BLOOOOOD - Highlight along with Diplo. His ability to edit on the fly using CDJ's and for it to never sound shit was out of this world - and with a healthy dose of some serious scratching he stole the show. His set just bubbled along seemlessly and always erupted just at the right time.
Deadmau5 - seemed all good, missed the unveiling of his new head as I was at Fake Blood, but I was too far away to tell what Deadmau5 was doing - bit gutted...so I headed to...
Basement Jaxx - The Jaxx demonstrated why they are one of the biggest names in dance. I'm hesitant at seeing acts on the big stage because sometimes it's just so huge it's hard to get down with crowd and not seem distant up there and out of the way. But Basement Jaxx have obviously been doing this for such a long time they knew what they were doing. Their own material was brilliant with some excellent live skits added and extra BIGNESS for the live show. They also droppped/covered some recent big tunes including a few Dubstep tunes, which was right up my alley - definitely better than I ever expected.

Creamfields review over. Excellent weekend, best value for money (only £100 a ticket!), Diplo and Fake Blood won it for me. See you next year.

RD.