Venture - Ebb (BB25)

Broken Bubble is onto its 25th release, and when you combine a high-quality label, a Night Tracks favourite in producer Venture, capped off by artwork from Night Tracks' very own Taavi, then you should know this release couldn't have possible failed. Well it did. Nah jokes, it's sick. Fortunately Venture was on hand (via work email) to catch up with us... #BASE.

Despite recent excursions onto a more garage-y tip, Venture returns to what he does best; languid, flickering minimal genius. As with most of his releases, this is one that requires multiple listens, each turn revealing something new, whether it's the running line of hats in Kolendo, the distant horns hidden in the murk of The Calling's pads or the essential Big Narstie sample in stepper Inner Circle. A stand-out on the EP has gotta be the vocals from Livi, working in perfect harmony with Venture's knack for atmospheric perfection.

As always, Broken Bubble cap off the EP with a fine series of commissioned remixes from the BB stable, this time, Klatu, Ak0pian and Bija. Klatu's remix of Tides is just about as good as a remix gets, a moving affair reminiscent of Burial's Crackle Blues remix. Ak0pian takes things on an '06 dubstep hype, focusing on cutting and twisting the Narstie sample for his take on Inner Circle, and Bija drops a remix of The Calling indebted to the likes of Autechre, to show that he's no one-dimensional producer.

We caught up with Venture too....

NT: Yo. What have you been up to recently?

V: Not that much actually, I had a good 6 weeks without doing anything musically, which is a pretty long hiatus for me. But now I’m back, I feel refreshed and I’m ready to get back into production.

NT: When did Broken Bubble first contact you about putting together an EP for them?

V: Guy first contacted me on the 1^st February 2012 at 12:03. He’d listened to Inner Circle and was really diggin’ it, so he asked me to get on board and write an EP. I’d finished my part of the EP by the 18^th February 2012 at 09:29. 

NT: Very precise, thank you. Our readers will appreciate it.

NT: How did you come to work with the vocalist Livi? She seems perfectly suited to your style...

V: It started out as a threesome with fellow producer ZiD. The three of us were connected on Soundcloud and had discussed for a while about working together, which we eventually did. Then after that, I'd send her samples I was working on, and we’ve been collaborating since, her voice just works so well with the style I like to write, she’s very talented. I told her I’ve signed her as my full-time vocalist for my next album, she has no say in the matter.

NT: Tell us what’s in the pipeline for Venture...

V: I received a surprise email yesterday confirming my EP for Square Harmony. That’s pretty much ready, so that’ll be out in the near future. I’m writing some ambient tunes for Black Hymn Records, that’ll be a free EP I think. I’m working with a new vocalist, hopefully that all works out and there’ll be a new vocal track up on Soundcloud at some point soon. There’s a few other releases that’ll be out soon too, best to just follow my Facebook fan page for the latest Venture gossip. Other than that, I’ll just be churning out the tunes again in the next few weeks hopefully.

NT: Finally, anybody you’ve come across recently that we should keep an eye on?

V:. I’m just listening to my favourite artists at the moment really, I’d recommend checking out everything on the Narratives Music label, timeless music lives on.
NT: #BASE

You can grab Ebb from Broken Bubble's Bandcamp page as a name-your-price download now.

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Venture - Autumn Sun (Free Download)

Night Tracks favourite Venture is deep in the autumn spirit with this tune, which might just be my new favourite tune of his.

Check it out.

Lush pads and junglish drums make, what sounds to me, something that Aphex Twin, in one of his more lucid moods, might craft.

Nice to see after a little break that Venture can come back with something like this. Big up.

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Catching Up With Venture... (Free Download)

We took some time to catch up with Night Tracks stalwart, man like Venture when we managed to catch him for a rare moment where he wasn't slinging rock or just generally gangbanging in the ends. As he is immensely kind, he also chose to give away a free tune, a collaboration with Crimean. Read on...

NT: So Venture, how's things?

V: I'm good thanks. I have got a bit of a dodgy back at the moment though, pretty sore from time to time, getting old I think.

NT: What have you been up to lately, music-wise? Any new releases?

V: Production wise I've been very quietly lately, had a bit of a rest. My desire to produce just comes and goes in waves, so when I'm on it, expect to see like three to five new tunes up on the cloud. But at the moment, the new football season has started, so that has priority. I have just recently put out my 3rd album though, it's a collection of tunes I had lying around, so I decided to bunch them up and put them out for free.

NT: Anything planned in the near future?

V: Plans for the future... I have a couple of releases forthcoming I believe, but the majority of labels are real long bods. They pester you to write something, sign it, and then don't bother contacting you for months, especially Night Tracks (nah, you're the best). 

So there's a couple of one track releases on some charity/channel compilations, one or two two-track EP's, and a fourth album which ironically was written and finished off at the end of last year, just waiting for the label to release it, which will be towards the end of the year. You'll most likely notice it sounds quite different to my recent stuff, as it's much older material.

NT: So, tell us a little about your collaboration with Crimean? How did it come about? Will you be working together more in the future, or was this a one off?

V: Well, I've been a big fan of Crimean, since I first discovered him, and he's definitely a big influence on my sound. We'd been speaking here and there, I'd sent him some sample drafts, and then when he finally found the time, we got started. I wouldn't rule out collabing with him again, but I find collaborating incredible difficult, I prefer to work alone, but who knows.

NT: Who are you enjoying listening to at the moment? Anything you're looking forward to?

V: I listen to a wide variety of stuff, so it's hard to narrow it down. The one main person though would have to be ZiD. Jay's one amazing producer, all his music really captures my attention, it's very emotive and moving. I'm not as on the ball with music and future releases as I used to be, but I am looking forward to the new Bat For Lashes album, which is out in October, I believe.

NT: Big up, and thanks again for the free tune, which you plebs can grab by clicking here (if you're on a Mac, you might need to add '?dl' to the end of the link), or on the artwork below.

Thanks to Taavi & Lucy for the artwork.

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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.

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Crimean - Escapist

The autonomic movement did a lot for the world of Drum n Bass, and it's thanks to that, we have the likes of Crimean, a producer from New Zealand who makes tunes at roughly 170 that don't fit the cookie cutter template that has become massively overused.

Check out this tune, "Escapist", a free download from the producer. Deep rolling bass, stripped down drums and lush pads all underneath a sparse vocal... Just the sort of DnB I can get into.

It's a free download too, so grab it if you're feeling.

It's probably worth mentioning that we'll be catching up with Venture in the near future, and you'll be able to grab a free track by him and Crimean too, which you may have heard if you've listened to any of my mixes recently.
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A Reminder...

On the eve of the previews of NT006, remember that you can still bag our previous releases over at our Bandcamp store. Check out releases from the likes of Venture, EPLP, Apple Bottom, Bhava and Kid Smpl, and bag at a price a lot lower than the digital stores.

Out to all those that support the music, and help the label continue. I like to think that we do things well, and I appreciate those that still pay for tunes, and allow us to put out more music that we're really feeling at a high standard you deserve.

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Sam KDC - A Prelude To Winter (James' Song)

This will be of particular interest to fans of Night Tracks' favourite Venture. A sublime tune from Auxilliary head Sam KDC titled "A Prelude To Winter (James' Song) has surface, and it's a free download too. The track makes extensive use of bleak, sparse strings underpinned by a rolling bass with drums that build to a frantic finale.

Check it out. The pads are something else.

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Venture - Girl From Venus

Woi. Check out this tune from Night Tracks regular, Venture. This one is a tech-y, spacious piece of the sort of DnB that is actually interesting. Very nice stuff.

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(NT005) Kid Smpl - Float

The day has come, and Night Tracks' latest release, Kid Smpl - Float, is now up for sale on our bandcamp page.

The release is a Kid Smpl original, "Float" backed with remixes from Venture and Mirror State. Buying from bandcamp gets you the exclusive "Kid Smpl's Accidental Devil Mix" version too. All for £2.50. We are too generous. Anyway, check out the sample below....

 

Bag here.

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5-Foot Nothing - The Way It Goes

It's not often I stray into DnB territory, as I find that whenever I do, I come across sound-a-like after sound-a-like, but I can usually rely on Venture to point me in the right direction, which is why I'm sat here wondering why he didn't tell me about this gem after I spotted a comment that he left on Soundcloud 7 MONTHS AGO.

Regardless, I've found it now, and it really is a sublime piece of work. If you're a fan of Night Tracks regular, Venture, then this will be right up your street. Lush textures and some really interesting (but incredibly powerful (I mean physically)) drum work combine for a really solid release from the Australian producer 5-Foot Nothing.

It's out now on Bandcamp, but I was told to inform those that are broke-ass poor that you can also torrent the release here (Don't worry, it's approved by the man himself.)

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.

(NT003) Venture - Together We Fall OUT TODAY ON BANDCAMP.

To go along with releasing our back catalogue here, here and here, we're releasing Venture - Together We Fall on our bandcamp page early to celebrate.



You can grab the whole release for just £1.25 of your hard earned money, so there's no excuse not to really, is there?! If you'd rather buy it from somewhere else, then it'll be available for full release on Monday 27th Feb.

Out to anyone that supports what we're doing!

Some free downloads, etc. from the Night Shift Collective

Happy New Year everyone. Here are a few free tracks from some of the members of the Night Shift Collective that might make the first day back at work for many of you more tolerable.

First up, Venture has put his track "As The Rain Falls" as a free download, so grab it while you can!


You can now grab Budeaux's track "Crystal Paths" too.


Eplp does his part by making his new track "Grief Blossoms Wherever She Treads" available for free.


And finally, a reminder from Inofaith that you can get his "Dawn Is Late EP" with a bonus track for half-price until this friday. Grab it here.

Minimal Corner - Big News

After some discussion, it was decided that a sub-label for Night Tracks would be founded, and curated by man like Venture. Sticking with the name of his regular feature here on Night Tracks, it's called Minimal Corners, and will naturally be focussed on the more minimal sounds, although I'm not yet sure what tempo he'll be pushing, if any. I'm sure he'll be searching for potential releases straight away, so keep your eyes and ears open.

Follow Minimal Corners on Soundcloud, and grab a track from Venture's second album, Heart Strings, as a free download to celebrate.

Free Venture Download & Forthcoming Night Tracks Stuff

You're in for a treat today goons and goblins. To celebrate nailing down what I consider to be his best work yet to Night Tracks, Venture has decided to give away one of his older tracks as a free download.

'A Special Kind Of Love' is an archetypal Venture tune, with lush pads fading in and out over shifting minimal drum patterns. It's a pretty old tune, but definitely worth a download, so click on the artwork below to download it or check out the preview below.

Now, onto the track that's forthcoming on Night Tracks. Called 'Together We Fall', Venture sent it over to me, and immediately I had to check that it wasn't scheduled for release by somebody else (he's a very in demand man), and as soon as I knew it was available, it had to happen, so yeah, at some point, there will be a Night Tracks release of Venture - Together We Fall/??? (I'm not being mysterious with the '???' there, we just don't know what the other track is going to be yet). Check the track out here:

A bit of news on the other forthcoming releases now. There's a release by London and Leeds based production duo Mosket planned, Tek Som/Knock Turn All, which you can check out below, but the tracks are currently being reworked, so who knows how it's going to sound when it's finished?

Also being worked on is a release by my man, eplp (who I interviewed before and he gave away a free tune), who is, quite confusingly, releasing an eplp EP through Night Tracks. I'd love to one day release an eplp LP, but who knows. Meanwhile, check out one of the tracks from the forthcoming release below, featuring Alpenglow, called 'Blue Evening'.

There's another track that's being kept on the down low for now, but I can assure you, it's quality stuff. I'm also getting sent some quality tracks too, have discussed releasing some of them with the artists, so hopefully that'll come off, because man, they are good. More on that in the future!

LOL

I had to make a post about this. Earlier today, I was looking through the stats for Night Tracks, and I happened upon the search terms people had used to end up here. A few caught my eye.

• Bhava Immerse Mediafire
• Bhava Mediafire
• Venture Heart Strings Rapidshare

LOL. In case you haven't been following, both of Night Tracks releases are Pay-What-You-Like downloads. That means if you like, you can pay absolutely nothing. You don't need to try and search for pirated downloads if you really, really don't want to pay. So for all those people who want to listen to some sweet, sweet, night-time music, check out Night Tracks' Bandcamp page.

(NT001) Bhava - Immerse/Irradiate

(NTLP001) Venture - Heart Strings

Venture's Minimal Corner

After a short absence, Venture's Minimal Corner makes its return to Night Tracks, and the track he's selected is Pro Luxe - My Hands Are Wings Again. You can listen to a clip from Pro Luxe's soundcloud below, and you can bag the Radiance EP it appears on here, released by Soul Deep Recordings.

Pro Luxe - My Hands Are Wings Again

Night Tracks Update

Just a quick update for you all.

The next release on Night Tracks by Bhava will be out VERY SOON. Previews below.

Should have a few pretty interesting interviews and mixes up soon, names are being kept under wraps at the moment! A couple more releases are already lined up for NT002 and NT003 too.

There might be a slight dip in posts while I get everything up to working order, and as I try to get back into production myself, working on a few collaborations with Venture that may or may not ever get finished.

Check out this track below anyway. I seem to have discovered it too late, and it's sold out everywhere, so if anybody is selling a copy of this (that's cheaper than the €49.99 copy on Discogs), let me know!

Dorisburg - Mima

Honestly cannot thank you all enough for reading, and checking in regularly! This has taken off ten times more than I ever thought I would, so please, keep checking back for more goodness!

Venture - Heart Strings

I've noticed that I've got quite a few more followers over the last few days, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to let any of you that might have missed it know about Night Tracks' first release, Venture's album, Heart Strings, which you can bag as a download at whatever price you like here.

Venture's Minimal Corner - Minimal Mix 001

Venture's (slightly later) Minimal Corner comes to you with a treat this week. Rather than pick one minimal tune for you to enjoy, he's put together an entire mix for you to enjoy, which you can download here. It contans 21 minutes of top minimal DnB, and to get a feel of what's included, here's a few of the tracks to tempt you to download.

Silent Mind - Farwater (Self Released)

Ultracode - Mule (Dub)

The mix continues on this sort of vibe, so go ahead, download it, listen to it anywhere, walking the streets, cotching at home, driving in the car, it's a great mix, a lot of tracks I hadn't heard before that I'm now bagging after hearing.