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

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".

annd back to the nina kraviz thread

Speaking of overrated.

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

very little concrete, it's just one of those things you realise you've been seeing out of the corner of your eye for a while. more people talking about it, the t.williams fact mix devolved into jungle in its last quarter...and it's probably the right "time" for it too. i'll be glad if it turns out to be abortive! this led to people tweeting even more jungle tunes at me in a bid to win me over and they were all kinda bad.

i've been thinking to myself recently "breaks are back, huh?" (a bit more generally than dnb in partic)

re dnb in partic, total freedom played this (from 2002, years in the wilderness) at the fade to mind party i went to and it got a huge reaction. obv that's connected to its whitney-ness, but it still felt like the exact right moment and this is like my favorite old track i've discovered this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZnXyXoSMwU

ben's a great dj and that was a good interview

don't really like jackmaster's style too much

haven't heard anything about a jungle revival but have def heard quite a bit of double 99/r.i.p productions out

^^^^ yeah I'd expect a speed garage revival before anything else.

I would love a speed garage revival. Stuff like that Mosca single points to this happening surely?

the low-profile drum'n'bass has been keeping these last few years could well mean there's a gap in the market for a jungle revival. That Mosca Bax EP is full on garage.

xpost yes, and people acting like "Bax" is the second coming. Which I'm not narky about, but it's indicative, I think.

very little concrete, it's just one of those things you realise you've been seeing out of the corner of your eye for a while. more people talking about it, the t.williams fact mix devolved into jungle in its last quarter...

My suspicion is that 90s jungle has become the UK equivalent of detroit techno - many people will pay lip service to it but it's more one of those "we trace our lineage from this" influences that will perennially seem relevant around the edges, rather than something that will be subject to full-blown revival (and certainly not populist revival).

I straight up love Danny Native aka Altered Natives unconditionally. He doesn't really fit into the labels that are the subject of this thread but he seems to roll with some of the same crowd and his stuff seems to fit into a harcore tradition (dare I say.... "continuum"?) that isn't jungle but has some of the same punishing aspect, obsession with samples and cut up drum loops. And it's just ridiculously satisfying to listen to very very loud.

But to answer the question, Funkystepz are on Hyperdub so....

many people will pay lip service to it but it's more one of those "we trace our lineage from this" influences that will perennially seem relevant around the edges, rather than something that will be subject to full-blown revival (and certainly not populist revival).

i agree with this, i think we were talking about it in the dance partisans thread recently

the musical vocabulary of drum and bass is pretty exhausted ... i think it would be hard to do something "new" that still scans as drum and bass.

the last big innovation in drum and bass was what, leaving out every other drum hit while keeping pretty much everything else the same? what's next?

More evidence of a speed garage revival:

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

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