DjOriented

Renaissance Man are, in fact two former architects from Finland. Having dominated their native countries’ house scene the Finnish duo turned their attentions to Greater Europe, winning hearts and warming dancefloors with their outlandish style of housemusic. Having garnered so much attention Jesse Rose was keen to snap them up to this Made to Play imprint earlier this year.

With prestigious shows being lined up in venues such as Fabric and Panorama Bar, Beatportal thought it was the right time to catch up with the plurallistic confused producers and introduce them to our community.

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DJ Fresh’s long overdue comeback album is one of the most anticipated drum & bass albums of 2010.

Having taunted us with singles from the longplayer over the past two years, including ‘Gold Dust’ and ‘Hypercaine’, Fresh’s return to the scene after an extended absence is a chance to reclaim his title as one of the best producers on the scene.

Having come full force after resurrecting his career post-Bad Company, Fresh (aka Dan Stein) went on to set up the infamous Breakbeat Kaos imprint and became heavily involved in introducing Pendulum to the world. His 2006 debut album, ‘Escape from Planet Monday’, gathered serious critical acclaim on the back of tracks like ‘The Pink Panther’, ‘All That Jazz’, and ‘Submarines’.

Fresh takes the time out to take us through the records that have causing epic rewinds and burning holes on the decks throughout his gigs, keep reading to find out more.

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Did I just fall through a time hole or is someone deceiving me into thinking we’re back in the ’90s? I could swear this new record is a fusion of Soul II Soul and Snap. A record with a jamming break, cowbells, uplifting vocals and that riff from a record that escapes me…

Azari & III (pronounced “Azari and Third”—don’t ask!) have been making waves for the past couple of years with their style of powerful, retro Chicago house with analogue synths and big vocal hooks. ‘Reckless with Your Love’, released last year on Permanent Vacation, was no different, and helped springboard the Canadian duo into the limelight.

One year on and the summery house anthem gets the remix touch from the Deutsch disco don Tensnake, the soulful magician behind Defected’s ‘Coma Cat’. Throwing down a ’90s beat and a cheeky riff from Snap’s ‘The Power’ whilst maintaining the massive vocals from the original, Tensnake has managed to join all the musical dots from the past 20 years in one seven-minute long re-production.

Remixes from Tuff City Kids, Midnight Magic, and Good Guy Mikesh & Filburt round out a package that’s got breakout hit written all over it. Click the “continue reading” link for audio…

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Now in its tenth year, the Exit Festival, located in a historic fort perched above the river Danube, brings a wealth of music and culture to the little town of Novi Sad, Serbia.

Originally instigated as a party to rebel against the oppression of the old Yugoslavian regime, the festival has grown to attract thousands of revelers from across Europe. For those still yet to experience Exit, imagine Sonar in the East. It’s a true festival-goer’s dream: picturesque setting, easy access, cheap drinks, brilliant set planning, and friendly locals. The lineup itself is a diverse and rich mixture of contemporary and classic, electronic and rock. The main stage itself switched between the likes of Faith No More and The Chemical Brothers to DJ Zinc and the Foreign Beggars.

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DJ Friction is largely regarded as one of the best drum & bass DJs, which is why he was recently asked to mix the latest in Ministry of Sound’s ‘Drum & Bass’ series. AKA Ed Keeley, Friction is not only known for his diamond edge mixes and explosive performances but also for spearheading one the scene’s biggest labels, Shogun Audio.

His Weekend Weapons survey forward-thinking, hard-hitting cuts from Shogun, Hospital Records, Samurai Music, and Critical Music. Read on for audio and his commentary.

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Good ol’ Krautrock. Some five decades later, sounds pioneered by the likes of Can and Tangerine Dream still swirl through popular music, uniting rock instrumentation and electronic processing in a psychedelic embrace. Kompakt’s Walls is the latest group to find inspiration in Krautrock’s steady pulse and wooly textures, even though neither member is German. They don’t end there, roping in elements of disco, Balearic pop and minimal techno.

Sam Willis hails from Manchester and Alessio Natalizia from Vasto, Italy; both live in London today. They bring a diverse set of experiences to their music. Willis has been DJing since he was 18, and for the past five years has been a member of Allez Allez, a DJ team and recording act who also run their own blog, home to mixes from a staggering array of contributors (Ewan Pearson, Animal Collective, Nathan Fake, Four Tet, et al). Natalizia is best known for his Banjo or Freakout project, responsible for avidly re-blogged cover versions of Burial’s ‘Archangel’ and LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Somone Great’.

Following Walls’ self-titled debut album in April, they recently released the ‘Hang Four’ EP. The title track is a slow-motion disco daydream; diverse remixes come from the Field, Loose Fit, Xaver Von Treyer, Banjo or Freakout, and Allez Allez.

We caught up with the two in a tag-team interview.

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With everyone busying around trying to dig up the next big thing, sometimes it’s easy to forget the tracks that played an integral part in today’s contemporary productions. You begin to hunt around the crates (or today that would be the back catalogue on Beatport) to find classic records, whether they were huge hits at the time, or just classics to you, for entirely personal reasons.

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Bibio’s ‘Ambivalence Avenue’ may be a year old, but here at Beatportal HQ, we sometimes have trouble finding time to listen to anything else. There’s something about its feathery textures and lilting rhythms that gives it an air of unflappable calm. With Bibio streaming out of the office speakers, we can almost pretend we’re lounging in a park somewhere, grilling corn on the cob and reading trashy summer fiction.

In the five years since Bibio (aka Steven Wilkinson) released his first album for California’s leftfield hip-hop label Mush, and then moved on to Warp Records, he’s refined his brand of dreamy downtempo into one of the most distinctive sounds going. Given that today is the summer solstice, we figured it was the perfect time to meet the man responsible for such sunset-friendly grooves. Roll out your Pendleton blanket and get cozy.

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Netsky is the latest addition the Hospital Records roster, following in the footsteps of the likes of Logistics, High Contrast, Danny Byrd and Nu:Tone. This Belgian-born producer has been making massive waves in the drum & bass circuit as of late with massive Beatport hits like ‘Your Way’ and ‘Eyes Closed’.

Hospital themselves have been earning numerous comparisons to High Contrast, who was turning out hits himself just 10 years ago.

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“Do you wanna party with the Bonaparte?”

Of course you do — who wouldn’t want to raise a ruckus with this rabid bunch of avant-garde circus freaks? This multinational group of party-punks has been causing chaos in Central Europe with their with their burlesque gigs, animal costumes, fire breathing and onstage debaunchery.

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