Fresh from remixing Grammy-award nominee Adele, Xenomania signing Gabriella Cilmi and MOBO-winner Nate James, Michael Woods is back with ‘Natural High’ released 9 March through new label Diffused Music.

Featuring P Diddy and Michael Jackson collaborator Inaya Day, ‘Natural High’ has already garnered a raft of support from Radio 1 and Kiss, bagging itself a #1 UK club chart smash in the process.

The Out Of Office ‘Full Vocal Remix’ is stripped down, oozing Inaya’s soulful vocals over skidding synths before the infectious piano riff erupts. Mickey Slim’s re-rub bubbles over low-slung broken beats, before Dino Lenny’s ‘Classic Rave Remix’ snowballs into an infectious monster of dazzling piano riffs. Lee Haslam’s mix is a dense sound clash of echoing vocals, relentless bass and twitchy bleeps, whilst Ant Brookes’ remix fizzes around hypnotic bass and laser-gun klaxons. Mickey Slim’s second offering closes the package, with scratchy analogue feedback spearing gloopy acid grooves.

Michael’s Out of Office alter ego has already been championed by Radio 1’s Pete Tong as ‘set to be major,’ naming ‘Hands Up’ an ‘Essential New Tune.’ He’s received consistent backing from Roger Sanchez’s internationally syndicated ‘Release Yourself’ radio show and picked up support from #1 house DJ David Guetta. 2008 also saw him rock Gatecrasher Summer Soundsytem and DJ alongside Soulwax, Jonathan Ulysses and Bodyrox.

It was whilst being classically trained at Pimlico’s Trinity College of Music that Michael discovered house music and began some rather reckless extra-curricular activities, mainly breaking into the school music rooms at lunch, where, like coveted treasure, lay an ancient Apple Mac and Korg M1 upon which Michael would blast out warped electronic odysseys.

Initially breaking into the scene as Warrior and landing himself a top 20 UK and #1 club chart smash with the eponymous track, Michael’s sophomore release, ‘Voodoo,’ enjoyed similar success and led to a string of collaborations, including 2003’s hook-up with Judge Jules and vocalist sister Marcella Woods on ‘Beautiful.’

Early ’09 will also see Out of Office up the ante; first, a collaboration with The Original on ‘90s anthem ‘I Luv U Baby,’ and then ‘Insatiable’ featuring sister Marcella.

“It’s time to concentrate on myself now,” he says. “With Diffused, I want to explore all genres, mixing whatever sounds I uncover and being totally fearless. There’s no other way.”

The essential Disco album of 2009 is holding its launch party in London Town on March 14th with a live PA from Kathy Diamond and sets from Toby Tobias, Sean Brosnan, Nico De Ceglia and Jisco all for only £5 entry!

Kathy Diamond is the Brighton based artist who in the early 90s decided to take the novel approach of writing songs and singing them herself, since then she has worked with a plethora of fellow musicians and received praised from the likes of DJ Mag, XLR8R, Pitchfork, The Village Voice and The New York Sun, to name but a few. Her debut album ‘Miss Diamond To You’ produced by the legend that is Maurice Fulton saw her collaborating with stars from the disco scene, Idjuit Boys, Maurcie Fulton, Aeroplane and the night’s other guest Toby Tobias on ‘the feeling’.

Toby’s debut long-player ‘Space Shuffle’ (Rekids) was named one of the albums of the year in IDJ Mag. Toby started DJing at art college parties, this quickly led to a set at Glastonbury in 1993 from this point he moved to London and his productions with Craig Maccullough surfaced. From there, a steady flow of music emerged, on Odori records , Hi-phen , Hector Works , Tracky Bottoms , Redux , Brontosaurus, Urban Myth, Tiny Sticks, Tirk and Rekids. Joining Kathy and Toby on the night is Sean Brosnan who has complied this very album and played alongside the likes of Lindstrom & Prins Thomas, Henrik Schwarz and Chateau Flight. Regular live appearances include Fabric, Big Chill, The End / AKA (RIP!) and more.

Jisco is the re edit label that has consistently been delivering some of the very best disco edits on our shelves and launched the production careers of the likes of Mark E and The Revenge.

Future Disco Launch Party
Saturday 14th March
Horse&Groom, Curtain Road, Shoreditch

Entry £5

Kathy Diamond (live Pa)

Toby Tobias

Sean Brosnan

Nico De Ceglia

Jisco

more special guest to be announced.

www.myspace.com/kathydiamond

www.myspace.com/tobytobiasmusic

www.myspace.com/jiscomusic

23rd February sees the return of Swedish producer, musician and DJ, Rasmus Faber, with the release of the new album ‘Where We Belong,’ on Farplane Records – a sublime collection of melodic dance, edged with deep-house and upfront pop.

The ‘Alright Interlude’ opens this 13 track opus, wrapping glistening synth flecks around shuffling bass before Linda Sundblad debuts with ‘Everything Is Alright,’ a slab of soulful pop, with echoes of Robyn, which has won a raft of critical acclaim everywhere, from The Sunday Times to industry bible, Record of the Day. ‘Give It To Me’ rumbles with low-slung funk before erupting into a full-blown hedonistic disco battle-cry from Dyanna Fearon, an accomplished singer/songwriter fresh from the recent Reel People album. ‘Always’ is a cinematic soundscape, drenched with Sundblad’s vocals and celestial strings. On ‘I Don’t Mind,’ the ethereal vocals of Parasto twist around a mix of 50’s exotica and downbeat samba, anchored by balmy drum licks and glistening synths. Meanwhile, ‘Traveller Toccata’ loops bewitching piano taps around bittersweet strings, building a delicate instrumental. Gospel vocals open ‘Where We Belong,’ clearing a path for ebbing bass that gloriously snowballs, trailed by sparkling electronica and guitar scratches.

Rasmus has many strings to his bow: mastering the jazz piano as a youngster, he worked as a musician before falling in love with house music in 2001. His debut album, ‘Never Felt So Fly,’ captured hearts when released on UK label Black Vinyl in 2002.

After two original releases on US label Sub-Urban and remixes for E-Smoove and Kenny Bobien, the young Swede commanded serious attention; Defected chief Simon Dunmore hunted him down to remix Dubtribe Sound System, resulting in a management and label deal and the birth of Farplane Records.

Soon after, Rasmus completely re-invented Junior Jack’s monster hit ‘E-Samba,’ even recording new vocals, which was supported by the likes of Morillo, Sanchez and Morales.

Released in 2003, ‘Ever After,’ Farplane Records’ debut release, became a major hit and timeless classic; followed by a faultless line of equally successful releases (‘Divided/United’ and the Axwell remixed ‘Get Over Here’), Rasmus was established as a major player – even topping Japan’s albums and singles charts.

And now, new adventures are in sight: exploring other non-dance genres, as well as delving deeper into big-room house; releasing harder, more electronic tracks and remixes under the RaFa moniker; roaming the world delivering live shows and unique sets, which see our man tickling the ivories over mixes; and working with labels including Defected, King St, Code Red, Seasons, Shifted Music, Soulfuric and Knee Deep. All the while, Farplane Records continues to grow as an outlet for quality house.

Lined up for giving Rasmus’ tracks a remix touch are Kaskade, Jerome Isma-Ae, Tiger Stripes, Spiritchaser, Studio Apartment, Danism and Stimming, to name a few. Completing remixes for such artists as Miguel Migs, Axwell, Sandy Rivera and Reel People only cements the fact that this talented Swede, still only in his late 20s, is in high demand, and at the peak of his game.

Tracklisting

   1. Alright Interlude

   2. Everything is Alright feat. Linda Sundblad

   3. Give It To Me feat. Dyanna Fearon

   4. Na Minha Terra feat. Clara Mendes

   5. Everytime We Feat. Dyanna Fearon

   6. Always Feat. Linda Sundblad

   7. I Don’t Mind Feat. Parasto

   8. Never Figure Out Feat. Emily McEwan

   9. No More Falling Feat. Dyanna Fearon

  10. Cicade Oposta Feat. Clara Mendes

  11. Traveller Toccata

  12. Yes Feat. Dyanna Fearon

  13. Where We Belong

www.farplane.com and www.rasmusfaber.com

As the birthplace of music as innovative and diverse as Motown, Iggy Pop and techno, there is no underestimating the influence of Detroit. The same could be said of one Carl Craig, producer, remixer, DJ and label owner and one of Detroit’s leading purveyors of electronic music – a man who has been at the top of his game for as long as we can remember.

In 2002, Carl Craig was at the centre of a collaboration between some of Detroit’s most talented musicians old and new, including Motown session players Percy Hughes and Ron Otis – the result of which was the spellbinding Detroit Experiment. One of the highlights of this session was their re-interpretation of Donald Byrd and Larry Mizell’s classic Think Twice, which was transformed into a sublime and unique jazz-house hybrid by this disparate ensemble of techno and R&B heavyweights.

To continue the theme laid down by the Detroit Experiment, we have enlisted the skills of the multi-talented Henrik Schwarz – no stranger to fusing musical styles. His amazing remix effortlessly combines organic and electronic elements, to create a stirring piece of modern electronic dance music which has already taken the roof off parties across Europe and the US, with pre-release plays from DJs as diverse as Ame, Giles Smith, Justin Martin, Dixon and Kev Beadle

Nu disco deviant Mark E takes the Detroit Experiment on a beautiful late-night deep house journey over his two epic mixes, while newcomer Confetti Bomb effortlessly stretches the pleasure over an epic 12-minute techno-house hybrid.

Make way for the feel good, funky house hit of 2009 and the video that everyone is talking about.

Already a firm favourite in Liverpool, Sex Shooter is an instant uplifting, funky house classic sprinkled with that elusive magic that puts you straight into party mood!

Coming complete with mixes by Cahill themselves, Soul Avengerz, Dave Ramone, funky house newcomer Rossko, Agent X, Crazy Cousins and Outsource.

This is the perfect follow up to their huge national chart hit ‘Trippin’ On You’ which charted at No 20 in April 2008, achieving playlists on Radio 1, 1 Extra, Capital, Kiss Fm, Gaydar and the Galaxy network where it spent a massive 7 months on their playlist.

The musical maestros behind Cahill are Liverpool’s own, DJ Anton Powers, Tim Condran and studio wizard Scott Rosser, with vocals being provided once again from the unmistakable Nikki Belle.

3 Beat Blue step up to the plate once again to provide a set of stunning remixes that will make sure that ‘Sex Shooter’ will be heard across all dancefloors. Soul Avengerz cleverly introduces a cooler vibe into proceedings while keeping all the uplifting qualities of the original. Next up, German producer Dave Ramone twists the original into a driving, peak time anthem that keeps on building. The ever reliable Agent X and Crazy Cousins take this Northern favorite back down South with their selection of mixes. Rossko delivers a mix sure to be heard on all cool funky dancefloors whilst Outsource turn the track into a mix that’s perfect for the bouncy gang.

It’s been a very busy and hugely successful opening year for Cahill. In addition to their own productions they have created huge remixes for Chris Brown, Taio Cruz, Steve Mac, Kevin Rudolf and Alesha Dixon.

Bloc Party, who have just completed their latest UK tour with two sold out

shows at Wolverhampton Civic Hall over the weekend, announce their biggest

UK tour to date. The month long BLOCTOBER tour will see the band play 23

shows around the UK throughout the month of October.

The band are about to embark on the sold out European leg of their Intimacy

world tour which has already seen them visit South America, USA, Canada,

Australia and Japan.

Meanwhile all 25,000 tickets for the band’s two London Olympia shows in

April are now completely sold out.

The dates are as follows:

October

02 – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool

03 – Picture House, Edinburgh

04 – Iron Works, Inverness

06 – Music Hall, Aberdeen

07 – Alhambra, Dunfermline

08 – City Hall, Hull

10 – Academy, Sheffield

11 – Academy, Leeds

12 – Engine Shed, Lincoln

14 – Victoria Hall, Stoke

15 – Academy, Birmingham

16 – Centre, Newport

18 – Arena, Llandudno

19 – University, Liverpool

20 – Academy, Bristol

22 – Hall for Cornwall, Truro

23 – Pavillion, Plymouth

24 – Centre, Brighton

26 – Cliffs Pavilion, Southend

27 – Corn Exchange, Cambridge

28 – Rock City, Nottingham

30 – Rivermead, Reading

31 – Bic, Bournemouth

Tickets for the BLOCTOBER tour go on sale Friday (6 Feb) from gigsandtours.com and gigsinscotland.com.

Tickets will be priced at £22.50.

After the successful first edition of “Systematic Colours Vol.1″ which was compiled and mixed by Stephan Bodzin, it´s now time for the label boss himself, Marc Romboy.

Systematic Recordings was founded almost five years ago with its first release “Everyday in my life” by Marc Romboy in collaboration with Booka Shade. More than 50 releases by a lot of well known electric activists like John Dahlback, Blake Baxter, Phonique, Dusty Kid, Robert Babicz and Gui Boratto followed so that Systematic Recordings became one of the worldwide most reviewed and respected electronic label imprint from Germany.

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Miami’s emerging electronic music group, organicArma, reaches a major milestone this week with the worldwide digital distribution of its inaugural EP “Discordia” through Rock Ridge Music from today, Tuesday, February 3rd. Miami’s progressive electronic music group, brings its pioneering ideology to the table and has taken upon itself to communicate its own rather unique and powerful solution for political change through the release of its newly produced track and music video.

The EP will be available via all digital download portals, including iTunes, MSN Music, Zune and Napster, among others, and will include the original version as well as remixes by leading artists that have collaborated with the group, including DJ Spooky and King Unique. The new EP will also feature an original orchestration by phAxas, the band’s leading remixer and chief audio engineer.

“With new shifts and motions in the music industry it is increasingly important to utilize creative marketing techniques,” says dhArma111 from organicArma. “Rock Ridge Music not only has an established network, but has a unique vision for carving out new frontiers. This is ideal for a borderless concept such as organicArma. We are thrilled to venture into uncharted realities with Rock Ridge Music.”

With a debut single that aims to highlight how opposite ideologies can connect to form a common solution, organicArma explores the concept of Discordia – the science inside emotion – and applies this theory to the differences and commonalities shared amongst our existing and future world leaders.

“We are excited about new relationship with organicArma. The band is making high-concept art, and we are proud to be their partner in bringing their music to a broader audience,” said Jason Spiewak, President of Rock Ridge Music.

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An American artist left his home of New York for the shores of Europe, in order to pursue a blossoming career in the world of arts.

Armed with his paintbrushes, unpublished manuscripts, songs and poems, he decided to commit himself fully to the vitriolic world of the struggling artist and their sometimes fruitful plight.

Working as a songwriter and playing vocalist in more than twenty rock/pop groups and pulling a handful of small artshows for his paintings were hardly usual.

Struggles were many, penury, usual and homelessness – obvious but, hey, didn´t Frank Sinatra say “If I can make it there, I´ll make it anywhere”? But someone else said “Reward yourself, your self holds rewards, so be yourself”.

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The last 18 months have been a worrying time for London clubland. Although musically there has been plenty to get excited about, numerous closures have left London clubbers wondering whether the capital is losing its edge. Two members of The End’s programming team are looking to change all that with an exciting new project for 2009.

The new venture takes over a central London venue on Fridays with an electrifying line up of parties under the banner We Fear Silence, bringing together some of the UK’s most forward-thinking promoters to banish any notion of quiet from the capital! The line up includes Ben Watt’s Buzzin’ Fly, Gilles Peterson, Chew The Fat!, James Holden’s Border Community, drum & bass collective A Bunch of Cuts (Marcus Intalex, Calibre, D Bridge, Doc Scott and Klute), Eat Your Own Ears and Warp Records with plenty more parties still to be announced

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Ask anyone what their favourite compilations are and, invariably, James Zabiela’s ‘ALiVE’ and ‘Utilities’ will feature amongst them… Then, ask anyone what their favourite compilation series is and, invariably, ‘Renaissance Masters Series’ will also crop-up… Put the two together and you have the recipe for one of the most eagerly anticipated dance compilations of 2009.

“I’m delighted to step-up and join the ranks of The Masters Series,” says an ever-humble JZ, “It’s produced some incredible comps over the years and, albeit nervously (lol!), am relishing the opportunity of joining its ranks.”

“After recently completing the comp’ I can’t wait for it to hit the shelves. I haven’t done a solo compilation in over two years so I really went to town on it,” he adds.

And he isn’t kidding… James has produced two incredible discs that differ, yet compliment each other perfectly. Disc One – Down is what James describes as an ‘audio travelogue’, an intricately produced collage of beautiful electronica over-laid with his own ‘field recordings’, a suite of ambient sounds and spoken word that represent both his journeys on the road and in the air, and time and thoughts between gigs. The result is one of the most beautiful, unique mixes to emerge in recent years.

Disc Two – Up transports the listener to the club and is where James has chosen to feature 2 new original productions: a mix (Darkness.2) of the much-hyped ‘Dark By Design’ that he’s been road testing around the world in ’08 and a brand new Luke Dzierzek remix of ‘Perseverance’, which he’s also edited exclusively.

Finally, we couldn’t sign-off without giving a shout to James’ wider, exciting track selection, which features Trentemoller, Modeselektor, Boards Of Canada, Paul Woolford, Apparat, Extrawelt, plus many more…

‘Renaissance: The Masters Series – James Zabiela’ is due 23 February 2009 in the UK and 31 March 2009 in North America.

And he did it again…! The very talented producer & remixer EDX produces one amazing remix after another… Lately he has done a very great job with the remix of Funkagenda’s “Breakwater” on Toolroom Records, which went straight to #1 of the Beatport Progressive House Top 100.

But EDX would not being EDX if of course this bloody talented and busy producer would not have two more brand new remixes out now rocking the dancefloor and burning the turntables worldwide!

I guess all of you already know “In too deep¿ from Robbie Rivera. This is without a doubt one of the biggest tunes of Miami based Robbie in 2008 so far. And guess what? Yes, EDX produced a remix of that one as well! This track went also straight to the top of the cool cuts charts and is the single of the week at DMC UK! This remix is out now.

The next remix was in late 2008 played by only a few handpicked superstar DJs and it caused quite a stir. The “EDX’s 5un5hine Remix of Australian DJ-Team Passenger 10’s “Mirage – is out now, too!

And as if the list is not already long enough, there is one more EDX productions available now! After the big support by all global and most famous DJs for his last single Premiumline, now Pink Star records released his second single „Casa Grande“, which is a masterpiece of electronic club music. Without any doubt nobody can stop this hard working guy…

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