February Dispatch \ Lightworks mix

January. Could there be a more butters month? We’d hope not. We mark the end of each month with a Standard Place party at the Alibi, Dalston and for the last one we jammed especially hard, spilling more Leffe than usual as Deadboy turned out possibly the best set we’d had yet from a guest.

It wasn’t all jam though… we spent much of the month readying the first Lightworks release. Ossie’s Tarantula was already an underground hit in 2010 thanks to grassroots support from UK house funkster DJ Petchy, but we were determined to give it the proper vinyl release we felt it deserved. Test presses are sounding sweet, so we’re on track for a March release date. The full 12” will feature an acidic take from Eglo’s Funkineven and another, more tribal cut from Ossie himself.

Event-wise however, the month’s highlight had to be Swamp 81’s Boiler Room takeover, the centre piece of which was a live set from Addisson Groove complete with hardware 808’s. Inspiring stuff.

On to the mix. First heard on Sean P’s installment of the ultra limited “Originals” CD Series, so we can’t take credit for digging this record. But it’s so GOOD. Originals highlights some of the unsung heroes of the vinyl underground – fiends with PhD levels of expertise in crate digging. Vol.5 dropped earlier this month courtesy of Felix Dickinson. We suggest you go cop that for a scent of similarly esoteric gems.

Speaking of new releases, Isolee makes a welcome return after a 6 year break with a stunner of an LP. It’s his lush remix of Manuel Tur’s “Most of this moment” that’s been rooted itself firmly in both of our DJ bags though. Sheer class, and only available on a limited press.

Motor City Drum Ensemble also hit out with a doublepack…well, more of a Various Artists compilation… but it did contain more than one track that we thought on a par with some of his awesome Raw Cuts releases.

Still on a housey tip, “dubstep & more” maestro Martyn went head-to-head with tech don Mike Slott for a very heavy 12”. Here we feature the more Martyn-influenced of the two tracks: a nimble dubbed out subby number with trademark percussion (who doesn’t like cowbell?) Do check the more down-tempo but equally heavy cut on the flip though, which takes on a more Slott-flavour.

Meanwhile, the ever dependable Hessle Audio made their first release of 2011 -some weighty rollidge from man like Pangaea. We recommend.

Incidentally Hessle’s Ben UFO was also one of the first to give Ossie – Tarantula heavy rotation in both his clubs sets and show on Rinse FM. Hearing him drop the vinyl on a big sound system in South London last week was a bit of a moment. Props to Ben.

This instrumental of Funkineven’s remix of Gucci Mayne surfaced as a bonus track on the Sinden-curated mixtape. The first Lightworks 12” boasts a killer Funkineven acid remix on the flip – something we’ll preview in our next Dispatch. Watch out for that!

Winding down with something for the lovers here. A stunning duet from electronic soulboy Sampha and girl of the moment Jessie Ware. Sampha played live at our first Lightworks party back in July and completely blew everyone away. Be sure to check them both on the Young Turk’s Boiler Room Valentine’s Day Takeover (we play the Standard Place session the following week).

On the other hand, if the thought of Valentines Day make you want to sob / slit your wrists, the final track might be more your kind of tune – an otherworldly piece from Tom Krell’s How to Dress Well project. Tri Angle records are really doing a lot right now – the music is very good and they even went to the trouble of putting out a snazzy deluxe gold-foil print and white vinyl pressing available of this latest LP. One for the collectors.

Lightworks tracklisting

Lette Mbulu Nomalizu
Nicholas Jaar Got To Get It
Manuel Tur ft Holly Backler Most Of This Moment (Isolee Remix)
Motor City Drum Ensemble ft Stee Downes There’s A Truth
Martyn & Mike Slott All Night
Ossie Tarantula
Pangaea Won’t Hurt
D’on Kill A Man With A Joystick in Your Hand
Gucci Mayne It’s Alive (Funkineven remix)
Jessie Ware & Sampha Valentine
How to Dress Well Suicide Dream 2