We have been given this early Christmas present to head back up north to the corner of the globe in which we learned our trade (Leeds is near enough right?!) and boy are we excited.

These promoters are brimming with enthusiasm and enterprise, and all the early indicators are suggesting that it is going to be rammed so make sure you get down early. And if that wasn’t inspiration enough, our set is being bookended by two incredibly accomplished local DJs and we will be in the intimate and perfectly formed Market Bar which boasts a Funktion One Soundsystem.

No excuses. See you on the dancefloor.

AB x

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Everyone’s favourite obsolete instrument, the Stylophone, has been launched into the 21st Century with the introduction of its BeatBoxing younger brother - The Stylophone BeatBox. I know I shouldn’t but christ I want one.

See video for a performance by the world’s preeminent Stylophone BeatBoxers.

Some maths:-

Stylophone + Beatboxing + two creepy northerners + House of Pain = Inexplicably cool.

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Sup brosephs (cast me into a cliche-ridden hell!).

A couple of weeks ago I made a post about my Top 10 Summer tunes, and provided a free download of Gucci Vump’s ‘Sha! Shtil!’ remixed by LSMitchell. It’s a great, quirky take on this bizarre brand of Yiddish-sampling techno (I’m calling it Yidno) and we had some awesome feedback on the track, so I thought I would repost it for you guys to check out in case you missed it amongst all the other tracks we posted that day. It’s a full 320kbps, so feel free to play it out.

This version keeps the cool-ass sample but has more of a ‘banger’ to it - so if you’re on the fence about how your crowd might react to playing the original, this version is mainstream enough to play with reckless abandon.

Have at it!

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For those who of you who read the AngelBreaks blog regularly you will know how big a fan I am of Lisbon’s Buraka Som Sistema. For those of you who don’t, you are in for a real treat because having barely recovered from their very excellent album, Black Diamond, and a summer of critically acclaimed sensory overloading live shows, they have only gone and dropped a gem of a single on us. Your education can start here.

I present to you Restless and Buraka’s coming of age. Whilst this track still harbours the raw Kuduro energy and percussive African tremors that have defined their sound, it represents a more sophisticated and textured piece of dance music production. It is a step away from their lo-fi back alley sound and it is a step in to measured and relevant music architecture.

The triumph of this track is its ambivalence, its polarising affect, its Jekyll and Hyde character. The sound is energetic, yet controlled. The beat is driving, yet hypnotic. The voice is familiar, yet eerie. These apposing qualities are cradled in the lyrics, most tellingly in the refrain , ‘Tell me if it’s real or should I let you go?’ It is about love and melancholy at the same time, yet it is these clashing uncertainties that make up its absolute success.

This track marked the launch of their world wide tour in late October, a tour which will see them swing through Manchester on Saturday 28th November for a starring role at the Warehouse Project. But if rumours are true , it is also a taster for a forthcoming album - watch this space.

In the meantime, Buraka’s Fabric Live mix CD is due for release on Monday 7th December. Santa can definitely expect a letter this year.

Buraka Som Sistema, you make me restless.

Buraka Som Sistema - Restless (Radio Edit) by fabric

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Sony Audio Europe have this week launched a Fantasy Festival game based on the successful model of fantasy football but inspired by the brand’s passion for music and sound.

It is an entirely digital campaign and via its partnership with Last.FM it asks users to put together their ultimate festival line-up, which is then scored according to their acts real life popularity, i.e. online activity.

AngelBreaks has decided to indulge and you see can our festival line-up in the picture above and here. We have gone more with our heads than our hearts, (although we really are secret Cheryl Cole fans,) in a bid for not only the many prizes on offer, but of course the glory also. How can the holy musical triumvirate of MJ, Justice and Daft Punk fail us?!

My only cricitism of the website is that there isn’t an option to navigate through the leagues of available artists. When our budget was starting to get very stretched after dropping a bomb on the ubiquitous Kings of Leon, it would have been great to file through a list of the artists that we could afford, instead of having to search blindly.

Nonetheless, we are very excited about the prospect of this campaign and we encourage you to get involved. It is running for the next six months and hopefully we will see you at the summit of our digital festival superstardom!

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