t/s: hessle audio vs hemlock vs hotflush vs hyperdub

Dry is absolutely the word to describe Hessle. That Blawan track "Getting Me Down" kills everything else he's ever done because the vocal sample injects a bit of fun into it. I'd vote Night Slugs in a heartbeat over any of these, and yeah they count - I'd mix NS stuff in with Hyperdub etc...

ugh I hate fun, even the word you use ("injection") makes it sound nasty

oh here you go, here's yr prescribed "fun", better smile like you love r&b or we'll take yr dissensus account away

i hate fun as well, "getting me down" is deadly serious and all the better for it but it's not dry either

if you don't love r&b i don't know wtf went wrong with your life really

like anyone on dissensus knows shit about r&b though

for every NS release that bangs (thinking of the immense bok bok "southside" release) there's some garbage like mosca or velour lurking

velour is one of their best releases!!!!! i could listen to "she wore velour" forever

in fact i think i might put that ep second only behind wut in their catalogue

well we've already established we have different tastes so ...

you can only listen to that track forever cause its so deathly boring you wouldn't know the difference

"Dance fans who hate fun". Uh huh, okay.

Also Mosca and Velour are responsible for some of my favourite tracks in recent years (although that recent "boring house" EP Mosca released recently is the epitome of "dry/not fun".

fuck fun, i want something simultaneously steely and thought-provoking, like reinforced to night slugs' talkin' loud

more fun to go around for everyone else then I guess...

"she wore velour" is like if somebody tried to remake "discopolis" or "stars" (mr fingers) on a playstation

in a bad way

oh hello perfect immortal song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FkVaoe_BSE

pardon my while i poop out some nasty cheap synth diarrhea and an awful "swung" beat all over you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CWNL06R7z0

the synth trombone at 1:35 is particularly ... musical

i mean, to be fair, on balance it's not *that* bad but it's just a standard 2010 "future garage" beat + some bloopy synths over a mr fingers sample

i like my fun like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDb-9bNRW_Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGoQ5oWaA0M

well when you put it that way, i agree

also this idea that hessle is more interested in drums than hemlock is not correct

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAWCUb8stgw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gSPK2hYH50&feature=related

if i'm going to listen to something like velour i would much rather go to like dj dom or doc daneeka or hackman or CRST or whatever

Hyperdub have released my favorite individual tunes out of these four, but in terms of overall consistency and feeling drawn towards their overall aesthetic then it's Hessle Audio for me by a long way.

The stuff on Hotflush is generally not my cup of tea, I can see that they're good at what they do but it never really grabs me.
Hemlock - there's definitely been some tunes on the label that I've enjoyed, but as a label it doesn't stand out for me, I don't check for every release there like I would with Hessle or Hyperdub. Like when I saw the name up top I had to stop and think 'hang on, which tunes actually came out on there?'.

IIRC there's a fair bit of overlap between Hessle & Hemlock in terms of artists anyway?

"she wore velour" isn't great b/c of the beat, it's the gorgeous gorgeous melody and the structure of the song, that amazing tune coming down from the heavens halfway through. i remember the first time i ever heard it, had no idea what it was - bok bok was djing on some london rooftop as night fell in the summer and it was the most incredibly perfect moment. a few months later when i got that promo i replied back in all caps going OMG IT'S THAT SONG IT'S THAT SONG YOU PLAYED THAT NIGHT OMG

so many memories of vibing to it at 8am afterparties that summer~

xpost to andy m YES that's why i put them front and center in the T/S action, its the subtle difference between hessle and hemlock i was trying to suss out

^^ In terms of the other labels discussed above:
Numbers are another favorite of mine but I do tend to feel they are on a somewhat different vibe to any of the 4 in the OP. Not quite sure I would use 'fun' to pinpoint the difference, the corny-sounding way I'd put it instead is that they're more of Friday night good-times label. Like when they did that video for Different Leksrix with all the clips from the New Dance Show in it that made so much sense to me in terms of the overall vibe of the label and the music that they're putting out.

Night Slugs I go through stages through, which are prob as much to do with me and the variability of what I want from dance music at any given time as they are with any changes in the label's output (though of course there has been a lot of variety between the different releases there).

(Apologies for post splurge, just trying to get myself a bit more involved plus generally unblock my writing a bit).

when i think of numbers i think of jackmaster which is more of a post-everything mixed bag diplo sort of experience

hemlock / hessle / hotflush (and to a less extent hyperdub) are much more rooted in "traditionalist" dubstep labels, hence my ref to tectonic

Yeah I feel you on that. Would never use dubstep to describe Numbers, even in a source/primary influence kind of way.

I guess I'm kind of biased on Jackmaster and the other Numbers djs after so many good experiences going along to their nights at the Sub Club over the last 2-3 years. Jack in particular can def do the thing of playing a set full of big anthems from across several hip scene, which I can see being irritating (have found the same approach annoying from other DJs myself). For me what ties his style together and imo lifts him up is the love of classic Detroit & Chicago stuff - not unique him to obv, but it seems to underpin his tune selection even in contemp stuff and in how he mixes (plus of course he's just very skilled with beat-matching and has a great ear for blends/tune combinations).

A load of the labels share artists.

Untold: Hemlock, Hessle, Numbers, Hotflush.
Ramadanman: Hessle, Hemlock, Night Slugs.
Randomer: Hessle, Hemlock, Numbers.
Cosmin TRG: Hemlock, Hessle.
Girl Unit: Hemlock, Night Slugs.
Pangaea: Hessle, Hemlock, Hotflush.
James Blake: Hessle, Hemlock.
Martyn: Hessle, Hyperdub.
Lil Silva: Night Slugs, Hotflush.
Mosca: Night Slugs, Numbers.
Bok Bok: Night Slugs, Dress 2 Sweat which is now part of Numbers.

You could prob go furthere I just got bored.

i don't actually think that "hot songs from all scenes" thing is annoying at all, i know diplo is sort of a love/hate thing

'Hot songs from all scenes' is not a major bugbear of mine but I have def heard some pretty clumsy takes on it.

jackmaster is such an incredible dj - i think what sets him out is also his fondness for playing str8-up populist cheese and mixing that up with "hip" stuff from "hot scenes" like it ain't a thing

^ he's one of the best. I really want to hear a...

Jackmaster b2b Ben UFO b2b Oneman b2b Bok Bok b2b Brackles set.

I think something close happened on Sub FM way back but one wasn't there, Brackles maybe.

If Blunted Robots didn't kinda slow to a hault and 502 wasn't so young they'd be worth a shout here too, ace labels.

i had free passes to see Oneman and Jackmaster last week but i couldn't go :(

i contemplated it but went to move d instead

i think what sets him out is also his fondness for playing str8-up populist cheese and mixing that up with "hip" stuff from "hot scenes" like it ain't a thing

Good point this. There was that great mix he did a while back filled with 90s crossover house hits like You Don't Know Me & Synth And Strings, was a nice reminder of how good some of those tunes still sound.
Really the only problem I have with his very anthem-orientated sets is that some of those tunes I've just heard too many times already, no matter how good they are. I was slightly disappointed with his Fabric CD for this reason, it's harder to justify shelling out for a mix when you've got and regularly rinse a lot of the tunes on it already. But it's a minor in the big scheme of things, I def rate him highly.

no matter how many times i've heard splack pack, UR and thomas bangalter, i've never heard them over one another, so that fabric mix was gold for me

i really didn't think the fabric mix showcased what's great about jackmaster, it felt like he was trying to cram way too much stuff in

plus it fucking ended with RADIOHEAD kmft kmft kmft unforgivable

you don't like the avant-r&b electro-soul stylings of thom yorke? maybe you could start with some hot chip or jamie lidell or the junior boys and work your way up.

(clicks on thread, reads most recent comments, backs away slowly)

Jackmaster is a fine DJ but the real Numbers sets you want to look out for are from Spencer, in my opinion.

Untold has great sonic textures but I'm not entirely convinced by his grooves - the sound design is there, I just wish it would be used better consistently. Something between Untold's queasy, mutilated sounds and Ramadanman/Joe's take on rhythm would be a high point for any of these labels.

"spencer" is ridic hott

i mean jackmaster is pretty fine too but calum is just ridiculous

ben UFO interview up today on little white earbuds where he name-checks the quietus and "gender relations in post-dubstep"

INTELLIGENT BASS

srsly though i was not surprised that he gave dubstep as his inspiration for hessle, nor that he didn't mention ukg or grime but i was (pleasantly) surprised that he mentioned dj bailey from metal heads (the drum funk / amen revival dude) and inperspective records as getting him into dance music!

i dug that jackmaster mix

wouldn't touch the rest of this stuff with a ten foot pole, basically came in here to pull a l8 gr8 by pointing out that i think these labels are hella overrated :)

annd back to the nina kraviz thread

srsly though i was not surprised that he gave dubstep as his inspiration for hessle, nor that he didn't mention ukg or grime but i was (pleasantly) surprised that he mentioned dj bailey from metal heads (the drum funk / amen revival dude) and inperspective records as getting him into dance music!

This makes a lot of sense to me. I think my love of the first 6 or so Hessle 12s was based on the fact that they were like a dubstep equivalent of that sound.

i would touch nina kraviz w/ a ten foot pole if you know what i mean nyuk nyuk

ben ufo's aunt is mary warnock!

i was just talking on twitter about a potential jungle revival that we sense is imminent. this might be where i have to find some other dance scene to get into

Lex what have you heard about an actual potential jungle revival?

There have been abortive attempts every couple of years it seems.

"actual potential" - as distinct from "fantasised potential".

Whities >>>>

Hyperdub has released some truly woeful music in the past five years, a roster of utter mediocrity coasting along on residual critical acclaim

yeah whities.

although I probably only enjoy about 1/3rd of it, I dare say the rest is still good, just not for me.

loraine james album on hyperdub is beautiful imo

xxxp harsh but fair

Hessle Audio still killing it though. Best UK dance music label since the glory days of dubstep for me.

Hessle Audio haven't released a single record in 2019.

Whities for the win.

Overmono's "iii's Front" on Whities was maybe my favourite club record of 2018.

my (maybe) fave of 2019 is also by Overmono. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvpyQQjahL8

Hyperdub is having a renaissance imo, they're doing what they should be doing signing the younger generation (Loraine James, DJ Haram, Nazar, Proc Fiskal)

DJ Haram record is VG++

Overmono's "iii's Front" on Whities was maybe my favourite club record of 2018.

Killer tune. Sick breaks. What more could you want...

Hyperdub is having a renaissance imo, they're doing what they should be doing signing the younger generation (Loraine James, DJ Haram, Nazar, Proc Fiskal)

They're not quite at the same level of quality as they used to be in the first ~5 years (you could probably easily argue first ~10 years even), but there's some good stuff as of late. The old guard (Kode9, Burial) aren't too interesting these days as much as I hate to say it, but I do love a lot of the new UK signees especially Haram and Proc as well as the Teklife producers.

http://www.adultswim.com/music/hyper-swim/

Burial has a synth now.

But for real, lotssss of good tracks on here so far.

I agree! It's good to see the old guard still going strong ie Ikonika, Cooly G, Scratcha and of course Burial

INTELLIGENT BASS

Ergh :(

I really don't get Proc Fiskal, at all. The Loraine James album is actually really good though, thanks to this thread for encouraging me to finally get around to it

proc fiskal is a funny name at least