Kelle - Hibiscus EP [BB26]

Night Tracks' very own Kelle has put out his debut EP on the always on-point Broken Bubble. The Hibiscus EP is five wonky originals, naturally, as always, backed up by four top quality remixes.

This release is perfect for fans of the likes of Boards Of Canada, Mount Kimbie, etc. and tunes like Balsam and Hibiscus will leave you clinging onto the dying days of summer as they weave together a tonne of wide-ranging (and occasionally Moomin-based) samples into a bouncing, ever-changing electronic-yet-organic release.

The release is out now, initially available for free, from the Broken Bubble Bandcamp page. Grab it now. I demand it of you.

Also, heads up, the sick artwork was put together by Lucy McArthur.

Peace.

_______

Kelle - Ghost Train

Mother fuck a summer yo. And on that note, mother fuck a copper, got that Maserati dancin' on that bridge, pussy poppin'.

Autumn is where it's at, and following on from my recent piece about artists making Burial-influenced ambient pieces, Night Tracks' own Kelle pops up with this gem to remind us that, hey, he does it too, and maybe the end of summer isn't the disaster it's hyped up to be.

Check it out. Ghost Train is bleak as hell, and the subtle bass pressure pushes it over the edge into the "My Recent Favourites" category.

More of this please dude!

_______

Venture - Once Upon A Dream

Birmingham based producer and Night Tracks favourite Venture has got bored of not putting out bare tunes, so, luckily for you, decided to put out bare tunes in the form of the self-released album/compilation, Once Upon A Dream.

Now whilst I'm fortunate enough to know that Venture is a dangerous and violent criminal in real life, his tunes don't reflect that. Listening to them, you'd think he exists in a permanent dream state, with ethereal pads floating over interesting drums punctuated by occasional distant vocals.

For what it's worth, Girl From Venus is a favourite of mine, a melancholy, tech-y piece of minimal DnB, but the rest of the album is solid, with a couple of remixes on there too, but you'll find the times where he ventures (no pun intended) into ambient and jungle in his own inimitable style impressive too. What d'you know... there's also a collab with me on there too.

To further the Night Tracks connection, the artwork was created by our very own Kelle.

Check it out on his Bandcamp page, and pass him a few pennies, as it's a pay what you like release.

_______

1 Year Old Today...

Happy Birthday to us! Night Tracks is one year old today!

Honestly can't believe how far things have come in just a year. On July 26th 2011, I signed up to blogger, and wrote the first post on a blog that I honestly couldn't see getting past a few posts. However, with a few interviews to get things going, I noticed people starting to read. And then more. And then some more. It's not like I think I've defined a movement or whatever here, but I think I just managed to start writing about music that a lot of people were looking for, but is massively under-represented in the world of electronic music.

I was getting sent so much music that the logical choice was to put the very best of this out, and I started a name-your-price net label, and we put out an album by Venture for our first release, and again, things snowballed onwards, and we're now in the planning stages for our eight release, with plenty more lined up.

Sometime between then and now, a Finnish guy got in contact with me, asking if he could design a header for the blog for a portfolio of work. After we got talking some more, we decided he would take on all responsibility for the artwork for the label and blogs, which seems to have garnered universal praise from our fans.

 

 Night Tracks 001. The first ever mix I made, just to listen to in my car.

As a way of thanks for your continued support, we decided to put together a release of some of our older tunes for you. 

One tune is by me, Budeaux, the first tune I ever put on Soundcloud, called "Goodbye". I've lost the project file now, so it was lucky I had a WAV available. I know a fair few of you gave really good feedback on this one, so I hope you enjoy it. The other tune is by the design wizard, Kelle, and it's another first. The first tune he ever sent to me, titled, "Love". I've played this tune so much, it still has the same impact now as when I first heard it, and hopefully you'll feel the same.

You can grab it from Bandcamp as a name-your-price download by clicking the artwork below, or clicking here.

(BDAY001) Budeaux & Kelle - Night Tracks Birthday #1
A - Budeaux - Goodbye
B - Kelle - Love

Photo by L. McArthur

Design by T. Kelle

You can also listen into July's Night Tracks Showcase with Ting on Rood FM from 10-12 pm tonight. Check out the time where you are by clicking here now.

I think it's time for some serious thanks to everybody who has helped us go from a hastily assembled blogger template to a site that has hundreds of readers every day from all around the world, and a label that's doing pretty well as far as fledgling digital electronic labels go.

First off, thanks to those that have entrusted me with putting out your music. Big up to Dan, James, Joe, Will, Ian, Joey, Thomas, Alex, Jerms and Charles. Hope that I've done what you'd expect from a label.

Next, thanks to those that were kind enough to give away their creative works for free, so out to Dan, Simon, Cieran (and of course, thanks for his ongoing mix series!), Louis, Will, Gracie, Sangam, Jerms, Delete, Jake, Johnny, Zelda, and Ghost Ark. Also thanks to those with free stuff coming, peace Peter, Chris and Tristan.

Thanks to all those that took the time to take part in an interview or produce a guest mix for us, and help us learn a little more about them. Big up Ollie, Gordon, Dan, Simon, Deji, Cieran, Jamie and Yung-E, Lewis, Donald & Micah, Tyler, Christian, Henry, Louis, Nic, Will, Gareth, Owen, James, Jack, Tobias, Joey, Ben, Dave, Gracie, Tom and Jamie, Mike, Matthew, Tom and Dom, Sangam, Krystian, Jerms, Delete, Guy, Johnny, Jon, Kevin, Arthur and begrudgingly, Simon. 

Thanks to all the guys at Pixelatique, Life Crushed, Sub Radar, Future Astronauts, RDKL, etc. that have ever helped spread the word about our releases. Thanks also go to Phil for giving me a break on radio, and to Laura for giving me a regular slot on your show. Immense big ups.

Big up to all the badmen at Movement in Birmingham.

Of course, huge thanks to Taavi, who I think really helped Night Tracks step up into something serious, and of course to Lucy for her sick photography, and of course, to my girlfriend, back in day when we didn't have  graphics students to help us out.

Out to everyone who's ever read and been interested, and even those who read once and decided to sack this site off forever.

Peace.
_______

Patterns In Plastic - BDAF Remixes

Wesley Akinfolarin and Joe William Todd, better known as Newcastle's Patterns In Plastic, dropped an EP in June, called "Balloons Don't Always Fly", a release with three short, dreamy tracks, with treated, otherworldly vocals, with no overt electronic-ness coming through.

However, that clearly doesn't mean that they aren't aware of what's going on in the world of electronic music, evident in their selection of artists they chose for a remix release.

Along with the original "Balloons Don't Always Fly", with it's lazy guitar and ethereal ghosting that you could call vocals, are remixes from Deft, Sun Glitters, and Night Tracks' very own Module Module and Kelle, whilst Sina and Sipp worked their magic on "Sleepyhead" and Manni Dee and Fybe:one put together their take on "Glasseye".

Props to PIP for picking producers that would put together interesting and innovative takes on their music, when they could've gone down the easy route, and picked those that would've put together a thoroughly forgettable release. I mean, I listened to five versions of the same song in a row, and it isn't tiring in the slightest, such is the variation on offer here.

 

Deft is as chopped as ever, Sun Glitters doesn't drop the atmospheric act for a second, and Kelle and Module Module take things towards the frayed edges of UK Garage. You'd be stupid to expect anything even bordering generic from Sipp or Sina, and Fybe:one and Manni Dee round things off in a danceable fashion.

Honestly, you'll struggle to find a better free release this year, and for those that are wary of remix compilations, overlook your hang ups just this once, and you'll be more than pleasantly surprised.

Grab it on Bandcamp here.

_______

Kelle - Rigid

Man like Night Tracks' very own Kelle sends me tracks in varying states on the regs, and Friday was no different. He sent me a 1:38 loop to listen to at work, and it took me nine seconds to realise I liked it. I listened to it for at least half an hour, so when he messaged me this morning telling me he'd finished it, I listened to it for another half an hour, and then I just listened to it whilst driving back from the cinema. You can probably tell by now that I endorse it. Highly.

Trademark Kelle overlapping vocals are slathered on top of skippy, 2-step drums but it's the rumbling, menacing bass that pushes the moodiness to the maximum. I have a lot of stuff by Kelle, and to say this is probably my favourite so far is high praise. Check it out...

_______

Venture - Moments Of Nostalgia (Kelle Remix)

Check Kelle (who aside from producing awesome tunes is also an amazing designer) and his remix of Venture's tune "Moments Of Nostalgia". Really takes the impressive original and makes it his own here.