What’s going on?

Hello all, you may have noticed it’s been pretty quiet round here of late.
Basically I work full time, have a son and another one on the way. Any free time I do have, I now concentrate on making/promoting my own music (Long Distance Dan) which doesn’t leave much time for the blog.
I wish I had more time but as it is a labour of love I just cannot commit enough to it at this point in time. This isn’t a definite goodbye but more, let’s see what happens in the future.

I just want to say a massive thank you to all the great artists, promo companies, record labels who have supplied me with the fantastic music. And a huge thank you to everyone who has kept reading. Massive love to you all.

See you on the dark side of the moon!

Podcast 19 – The Best of 2017

Apologies for the lack of posts over recent weeks, life has been extremely busy recently and what with one thing another and putting a lot of time in to promote my own album (The Dust Man Stirs), I have not had the time needed to update the blog as I usually would. So as a final post of 2017 I have put together a podcast of music that I have enjoyed this year. I have called it the best of, which it is but there are many other songs and tracks that I have enjoyed that do not feature on this podcast. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in 2018 – LongDistanceDan

LongDistanceDan – The Dust Man Stirs

Yes, finally LongDistanceDan’s debut full length album, “The Dust Man Stirs” is available for download.
Carrying on from where his 2015, “The Other Side Of The Sky” left off, the album is a heavy mix of lo-fi, raw beats. Taking influence from raw funk, lo-fi hip hop, psychedelia, garage rock, library music and more, here is what people have been saying already –

“There seems to be some kind of crazy interference on my headset….nope…you’ve tuned into the psychedelic sound of Long Distance Dan. The Dust Man Stirs a pot filled to the brim with eclectic beats and sound textures. Moving between the electronic and the analogue, between downtempo trip-hop and speed psyche-beat. Strange variations found here for your third ear…” Ollie Teeba (The Herbaliser)
“Sounds great!” Boca 45
“Dan’s beats are imaginative and intriguing, you never know what is going to come next!” Jonny Cuba (Soundsci)
“This shits dope man! It’s gotta cool sequence to it, well mixed and knockin. Good drums” Walter Gross 
“Sounds good man, I like those drums!!! Keep the nastiness alive” Psychopop (Skrapez/Gonjasufi)
“It’s freaky cinematic, deep psych bangers. There’s some track I absolutely love, massive breaks, dirty bass lines and a weirdness to it all that’s really cool.” Tom Caruana (Son Of Sam/Tea Sea Records) 
“It’s a dope piece of art” Jason Furlow (New Kingdom) 

The album is fully instrumental apart from two tracks, “Rescue You” which features Icelandic forward thinking hip hoppers Cryptochrome and “After Omega”. A hard edged, garage rock howler featuring Sam Crick, formally of Brighton ska, punk, garage band Wilf. The awesome album artwork is provided by Sun Moth.
The album is out now for Name Your Price download via the Dusted Industries bandcamp page.

Youth:Kill – A Hunters Moon

Walter Gross and rapper K-The-I??? come together on as Youth:Kill with “A Hunters Moon” to create a unique EP that pushes the boundaries of hip hop music. Gross provides the music, which is a harsh mix of industrial noise, metallic beats and distorted baselines, while K-the-I??? rhymes furiously, fitting in where ever he can, taking on any off kilter beat and laying into it hard. This is not easy listening, but it’s great to hear people out there still trying to push hip hop in different directions and not afraid of experimenting.
Grab the EP now!

Podcast No.18 Bethaniens Dust – The No Mystery Podcast

The marvel that is Bethaniens Dust has kindly supplied us with a brand new podcast! If you are not familiar with Bethaniens work, check out his recent releases on I Had An Accident Records or the mixtape come turntable noise montage of “Gauze” on Nohmad. He has worked with the likes of Tenshun and also recorded under the DJ Troubled Soul moniker. All can be bought, downloaded and listened to on his bandcamp page.
Here the man has provided us with a mix of experimental, left-field hip hop both vocal and instrumental. Starting off giving the MC’s some light, then moving into the harsher realms of beats and breaks.
Clocking in at around 1 hour 10 minutes, this mix is a trip through the darker side of Bethaniens Dust’s influences and contemporaries  and makes for great listening. Enjoy!

Glen Porter – Mr. Vampire & The Deadly Walkers

Glen Porter returns with a brand new album, “Mr Vampire & The Deadly Walkers”. Mixing well chopped drums, with live instrumentation – guitar, keys, bass, organ, Mr Porter creates what can be best described as prog-hop.  From what we have heard, this may be one of his best outings yet, capturing a dark, unique blend of styles that fits somewhere between raw Americana folk, psychedelia, and well programmed instrumental hip hop.
Released on the 6th of October on The Content Label we are truly excited to hear the album in full.

Son of Sam – Cinder Hill

Son of Sam’s full length album, “Cinder Hill” is now released for your listening pleasure. The 4 piece live band have created a soulful, funky, with hints of rock, album in the vein of classic boom bap hip hop. The list of MC’s the band have got on board is highly impressive, including the likes of Sadat X, Guilty Simpson, Large Professor, Soundsci, Prince Po and more. The album works really well as a whole, but stand out tracks for us are “Forward March” featuring Oxygen and 7even Thirty, “Deep Breath” featuring Jamall Bufford and “Put It On Ya” with Soundsci and Mr Thing.
For anyone out there who likes their hip hop super funky, “Cinder Hill” is a must have for you!

fbcfabric & reindeer – It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Whom You Know

Originally released back in 2005, FBC Fabric and Reindeers album “It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Whom You Know” is being given a new lease of life with its debut vinyl release. Originally released on hand crafted CD, that are long sold out now, Mism Records have done an awesome of re-issuing the album on deluxe triple vinyl, strictly limited to 100 copies.
Musically the album is left-field, avant-garde, experimental hip hop, easily comparable to Anticon Records releases. As much as this is true, there is without a doubt a big influence, it still feels like a slightly lazy comparison. You can also hear influences from the likes of Taskforce, El-P and Def Jux, classic hip hop, folk music and much more.
This is serious music with depth and passion, left-field UK hip hop done well not sounding like a poor imitation of our state side counter parts. Perfect autumn and winter listening, we urge you to get a copy while you can.
Buy the album from Mism Records here.

Cutterz – 12 Inch Face

Here is an interesting new single from hip hop producer Cutterz. “12 Inch Face” is the first solo single from the producer who has been involved in the Manchester hip hop scene for over a decade, promoting, DJing and being 1/4 of Voodoo Black alongside Sparkz, Dubbul-O and Ellis Meade.
However, for his debut solo single “12 Inch Face”, Cutterz has swerved away from straight up hip hop to bring you a track that is heavily influenced by Detroit house and electric breaks. It works well, the track has a nice bouncy vibe and it’s great to hear hip hop producers spreading their wings a little further. Grab it now for free on Room 2 Records bandcamp and check out the video.

 

Meakoom & Bare Beats – ME

Bare Beats has teamed up soul vocalist Meakoom to create the new 3 track ep, “ME”. The ep see’s Bare Beats providing the soulful, yet slightly off key, electronic based beats for Meakoom to let loose over. The soulful musing from Meakoom were all impromptu giving it a more immediate feel, anything could have happened but this is what they arrived at and it sounds damn good.
Grab the “ME”, including all instrumentals, from bandcamp for name your price download.