MistaTrick - Interviewed by Max Golfar

Max Stuart Golfar

Max Speaks to MistaTrick, one of the most creative producers and promoters in the UK, about his new live project, his festival, and his musical roots. The new live act is amazing, blowing my housemate's tiny mind with its combo of close harmony, live brass, a tight MC and serious dance beats. 

MAX: For those of you who don’t know you, who is Mista Trick and what are you all about?

MistaTrick: My name is Mista trick and I am a swing and bass DJ. I'm from London but now live in Bristol and I'm all about funky drum and bass.

MAX: You weren’t always a Swing’n’Bass guy, so would you be able to tell us about how your DJ career started and where your musical roots stem from?

MistaTrick: My musical roots stem from the UK garage scene in 2000s where I DJ'd under the name of DJ Halo. When I was 16, I ran a pirate radio station from my back garden and I learned so much about DJs and MCing. I then went onto Leeds Uni & DJ'd in pretty much every club by the end of the three years I was there. I'd mainly play R&B and hip-hop and at legendary house parties where the basements would always be drum and bass. I remember the first rave I went to was at the West Indian Centre in Chapel Town in Leeds; Subdub. The bass on that system was just mental. 

I ended up doing some commercial Djing in the West End and pretty much hated it - it's soul destroying playing music that you're not passionate about for 8 hours. I then started going to festivals and Boomtown changed my life and introduced me to the beautiful sound of Electro Swing.

MAX: You’ve progressed your music production in to a live show with a full band. What was that process like?

MistaTrick: After going to Boomtown I found out one of my friends was in a swing band called Elle and the Pocket Belles and I asked if I could remix one of their tracks called Swinging Together which was then released on Ragtime Records. We got loads of bookings as a collab band but I decided to create Mista Trick Live for the harder Electro-Swing tracks. The change has been a journey trying different ways of doing the sets and I'm always learning and one day I want to play live kit. One major factor I have is that I want to create more original tracks similar to the likes of Scratchophone Orchestra, Jenova Collective & Caravan Palace. This is why we're kickstarting our album and we need all the support we can to make this dream a reality.

MAX: Who have been some of your musical influences?

MistaTrick: Wow, so many. I think, at the moment, London Elektricity Big Band. They killed it at Glastonbury. The musicians are insane. Ed Solo tracks are always big tunes in the clubs. The reggae/jungle vibe is just perfect in so many ways and I feel that's what can be created in a swing/jazz style.

MAX: What music production software do you use and why?

MistaTrick: I was on Reason for years but then moved to Logic 9 (standard) and I dabble in Ableton. The warping function is second to none.

MAX: You also started your own festival last year, what was that like putting it on?

MistaTrick: Oh yeah, that! Sometimes I don't know how this happened! I love sharing people's talent and showcasing the scene. Under The Hill is a collab with my old family friend, James, and Amy, our incredible marketing expert. Funnily enough, putting on a festival isn't easy, I worked so hard I gave myself meningitis straight after!

MAX: What is Under The Hill all about and when is the next edition happening?

MistaTrick: Last year was really successful, we had 500 people attend. We managed to secure a license for up to 3000 this year and it's going to be just as good. We're also opening for one day more on Friday evening till Sunday morning. We'll be showcasing some incredible live bands and superstar DJs. I also want to reach out to anyone who wants to get involved, from sound, lighting, stalls and traders.

We also want local bands (Hereford and Worcester) and we are running a dj competition.

MAX: Where can people next catch you performing?

MistaTrick: Depending on when you may be reading this, I play all over the shop at a few London gigs, Bristol and the odd city in Europe. And a handful of great festivals. Also, Canada is going to be fun. Check Facebook and follow me on bands in town - great app for gigs. I also run a venue at Boomtown with Marcus Gear from Subsonic called Little Pharma.

MAX: Any else you would like to mention?

MistaTrick: You're a G! 

Mista Trick’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mistatrick/

Under The Hill Festival: www.underthehillfest.co.uk

Under The Hill Festival Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/234855063725631/
MistaTrick Live's KIckstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mistatrick/mista-trick-live-album-fundraiser

Swingamajig 2017 - part 3 - Chicken Brothers

Last but not least in this year's Swingamajig preview are the mighty Chicken Brothers - pioneers of the scene in Liverpool and festival fields around the land, scratch maestros and all-round good eggs. One member of the flock has just flown back in from Oz, setting a new world record for 'Longest Flight by a Chicken' in the process, so the answers are a little brief, but entertaining and informative none-the-less.

Jack: You’ve played a few Swingamajigs now – can you share your best memory of the festival, if you can remember any of them?

Our favourite memory would have to be at the first ever Swingamajig — playing the closing set with an audience made up of loads of UK producers, DJs and performers all getting down and interacting. A particular highlight of that set was when Odjbox approached us to request some Odjbox... He also went on to say that we were top of the list of people to play the electro swing office Christmas party, being "the dj's DJ..."

Jack: The Chicken Brothers have a habit of popping up during other people’s sets – have you got any guest appearances planned?

Not due to do any cameos at Swingamajig this year as we will be working all day helping to run the event in different areas. But we will be on hand to play the opening set at the after party, and as a reverse cameo we have our newest member Mike coming down on rooster duties [I think that means MC duties. Ed.].

Jack: You have a hand in loads of events and festival stages and so on. What is it that sets Swingamajig apart from other festivals?

Swingamajig is special to us because we have been involved in it from the beginning, and now help to run various areas of the production as well as perform. It's filled to the brim with our favourite acts, producers and DJs. Plus the crowd are next level awesome! It's a solid date in the diary every year.



If you've got your ticket yet, I think there's still a few left, but don't delay. There's so much more to do in addition to the music. I've been asked to take part in some sort of table-football event, so watch out for that; there's dance classes, something called the Bacon Cheeseburger Pie which sounds life-changing (or perhaps life-ending), and performances from the likes of Oh My God It's The Church, magicians and all sorts of scantily clad ladies. The festival's tagline is 'A show like no other'. They're not wrong. It is, as Odjbox said, the vintage remix world's office party, so there'll be some tired legs and sore heads come Monday morning.

Swingamajig 2017 - Part One: Madame Electrifie & Emma Clair

When I was asked if I wanted to cover Swingamajig again this year there was only one sensible answer. A big fat, hairy yes.

There'll be the usual JtC review appearing at some point after the event, [watch out for the traditional 'I don't remember what happened after this...' line] but by way of a preview I've been in touch with some of the people playing at this year's festival to ask them what makes it such a special event.

Speaking for myself, I love any event where a huge chunk of the vintage remix family are together in one place; I feel sure that having all these amazing artists together in the same place has provided the catalyst for some cool collabs and innovative projects. The crowd at Swingamajig are always a super-friendly, stylish and hard-partying lot, the importance of which cannot be overstated. But what really makes the event special, for me, is the time, care and attention that the Ragtime Records and ESC put into it all - they love this scene, they love this sound, and that really shines through.

First up, I spoke to Jo, aka Madame Electrifie, who played at the first ever Swingamajig way back in 2013.

Jack: What was the best performance that you’ve seen at Swingamajig over the years? 

Madame Electrifie: There are too many to try and remember, it’s been great to see electric swing circus grow and develop into the amazing live act they are now over the years. And Smokey Joe and the Kid are a definite contender, I’m really looking forward to seeing them again this year.

Jack: How has the festival evolved and grown over the years? What have been some of the changes that you’ve liked most? 

It’s quite crazy how long it’s been running, I just had to check back and see that the first one was 2013 which is mad. I remember the first year was like a huge meeting point for all these artists that I was aware of musically but had never seen in person, I made so many long-term friends from that event, people I’ve since had the privilege of playing alongside many times. I was unable to make it last year so I am really interested to see how much it has grown since my last visit.



I like the fact that although Vintage Remix and Electro-swing are still at the heart of the event, the festival has grown and adapted as the scene has. There are some people who have been involved in the scene right from the start, so of course their sound and influences have developed over that time, which is great as it would be a bit repetitive otherwise. The festival has developed to accommodate that development whilst still offering a good slice of vintage action for the new comer. Bringing in acts from the Ghetto Funk and Breakbeat world really helps add another dimension to the programming, which is important to add some variation to the event and keep in interesting.

Jack: What has been your own personal favourite set (i.e. that you played), and what do you think you’ll be spinning this time around?

My first ever swingamajig set was so much fun, way back when! Although I couldn’t see over the decks if I remember, which happens far too often!

This year I’m playing before The Freestylers (WAAAAA!), one of my favourite acts of all time, so I’ll be visiting some old-skool breaks influences and splicing these with my all-time favourite floor filling electro swing tracks that have rocked previous years at Swingamagic – it’s one place you know the audience will want to hear them, so it’s going to be a bit nostalgic, but in a good way, and you know, banging too!

Next I spoke to one of the UK's most up-and-coming electro-swing DJs, Emma Clair

Jack: This is your first year performing at Swingamajig – have you been as a guest before?

I’ve never been to Swingamajig, as I have always been tied up with DJ gigs! So the fact it’s my first time performing and my first time experiencing the wonders of the festival itself, is unbelievably exciting!

I’m honoured to be playing the closing set on the Vintage Terrace with my partner in crime, Andy McBain who will be bringing an element of live performance to our set with his amazing clarinet skills! (shameless plug haha)

Jack: Who are you most excited about seeing perform?

Argh.. there are so many amazing acts on the lineup, it’s hard to single anyone out! But, for me, it has to be Elle & The Pocket Belles! I’m in love with their song “Swinging Together”, and I still regularly play it in my DJ sets.

I’m also really excited about seeing Sam & The Womp – they definitely bring the ‘fun’ element to Electro Swing, which is something I always try to push too!

Also The Electric Swing Circus (honest – Tom didn’t ask me to say this, it’s actually true) – They absolutely blew me away when I booked them to play at Prohibition earlier this year, so I can’t wait to see them in action again!

Jack: What about the sideshows and other entertainment – what tickles your fancy there?

Ooh again, this is really tough, there is so much going on!!!

I’ve heard good things about Vicky Butterfly, so I am looking forward to seeing her do her Burlesque thing.

The Swing Era Dance workshops are definitely on my list of things to check out!! I’m hoping to pick up some moves to bust out on the dancefloor… that’s the plan anyway…

And finally.. I will be paying the food court a visit! I’m hoping for some vintage treats to satisfy my extremely sweet tooth! 

Watch this space for Part 2. dropping later this week, and featuring the Chicken Brothers and Dutty Moonshine!

UK Eurovision entry sucks the soul from electro-swing

The BBC made a huge mistake in trying to appropriate the electro-swing sound.

A wave of horrified dismay rippled through the UK electro-swing community this weekend, as the UK's entry for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest was announced. The offering, "Still in Love with You" by Electro Velvet, is described by the BBC as an 'up-tempo electro-swing" track, though what gave them that impression I fail to understand. Watch this to see what I mean.











On behalf of the electro-swing community I want to take this opportunity to state that this song is in  no way representative of the genre or of the scene as a whole. Commenting on Facebook when I first saw the video I described it as 'electro-swing with all the electro and all the swing removed'. 48 hours later, I stand by my initial reaction. It also seems to have had a joy-ectomy and a passion bypass.





Now, I am not a Eurovision sort of chap, and I couldn't give two figs whether the UK does well or not. What upsets me is the shameless plundering of the electro-swing sound, and the fact that so many excellent electro-swing groups have been overlooked. The selection process included submissions from aspiring artists, but the BBC also spoke to record companies, presumably in order to commission entries. The various submissions were then selected by a panel of 'experts'. My suspicion is that this entry was one of the commissioned ones.





Quite why they chose to ask an advertising jingle-writer to produce the entry is anyone's guess. David Mindel, the man responsible for this outrage, was previously most famous for having penned the theme tune to Jim'll Fix It (yes, really), and Challenge Anneka. Given this sparkling track record, it is maybe not surprising that the song has come out sounding rather a lot like the music from a Birdseye Potato Waffles ad from the 80s. Mindel's partner in crime is one Adrian Bax White, who has apparently shared a stage with Rolf Harris.











But wait, it gets better! You might be thinking that even if they have made a rather left-field choice in terms of songwriter, they will surely have chosen some talented performer to actually deliver the song.





WRONG!





In fact, they have gone with a Mick Jagger impersonator and a reject from The Voice. I don't know if they had to be coerced into doing the song, but neither of them is particularly convincing. If Elle and the Pocketbelles (to take an example at random) have the sexy razzmatazz of  lacy red lingerie, then these two are the musical equivalent of huge, grey, y-fronts.





Alex Clarke, lead singer of The Rolling Clones, looks more like Tuppy Glossop than any kind of jazz-age lothario. His partner, Bianca Nicholas, is fractionally more convincing, but frankly neither of them appears to have bought into the song. In fairness to them, the lyrics don't help much - lines like “You’re bound to get sneezes or nasty diseases”, or “While I’m on vacation, you be a good patient, take your medication” don't give them much to work with. Emily Jupp, writing in the Independent (the song has been savaged by most of the majority of the newspapers) wonders whether

"Mindel had a rejected jingle for cold and flu medication lying around in a drawer somewhere and just thought “I’ll shove it in, pimp it up with some lines about love and scrub out that reference to Beechams – et voila! Eurovision 2015, here I come.”

It certainly seems plausible.





I actually think that the song has as much chance as any of the UK's recent entries (not a high bar, mind), as electro-swing is very popular in Euro. As I say above, my interest in Eurovision is pretty slight, so why am I so cross about this?





It is simple, really. I have felt for some time that electro-swing / vintage remix has been approaching a point where it could break through into the mainstream. In many ways, this would vindicate my work with this blog, the purpose of which is to introduce more people to the sound, but it is a development about which I also have misgivings.


At risk of sounding like a music snob, there is always the potential that 'going mainstream' results in a watering down of the music. We saw this with the evolution of dubstep and electro, which morphed into soulless big room EDM, losing the subtleties that once existed and focusing on the lowest-common-denominator, crowd-pleasing, 'drops' and cake-hurling. If, by some ghastly chance, it turns out that people actually like this tripe, then there is a horrible chance that this is what all future electro-swing will use as a benchmark. It really doesn't bear thinking about.





This over-produced record undoubtedly contains all the tropes of electroswing - programmed beats: tick; vintage-sounding sample: tick; flappers in the video: tick; scatting: tick - but what it lacks is feeling. It is electro-swing by numbers. There is no emotion in the delivery, and I can't help but feel that Mr. Mindel is probably not a regular attendee at his local vintage remix nights. As Nick Hollywood pointed out on Facebook:

"This is likely to be both the beginning (and the end) of many people's understanding and experience of Electro Swing and the record a lot of people in the UK will end up judging the entire genre on."

That this is true is a crying shame. 'Still in Love with You' has already produced sentences like this in the national press:

"...electro swing [...] apparently means swing recreated with cheap digital instrumentation instead of a big band."

Wouldn't it be terrible if that was really the case? Pat yourself on the back for knowing that this could not be further from the truth.


Something similar happened with the soundtrack to Baz Lurhman's Gatsby film. It could have been the chance for the music bods behind the film to go out and find some amazing undiscovered artists, but instead they went with big-name blandness. As a result the soundtrack was bland, and it took something away from the film. It could have opened up a whole new audience for electro-swing.





Like Gatsby, however, it does also give us a chance to win new fans. There will be a few people who like the song enough that they do decide to investigate a little further, so I thought that I would put some ideas down for artists who could have replaced Electro Velvet. Perhaps we can also convince some of the doubters too.

Who should have been chosen?

If I had been in charge of choosing the entry, I would have had no hesitation in choosing the aforementioned Elle and the Pocketbelles, along with their DJ / producer MistaTrick. The consummate performers, the girls would be perfect for Eurovision - sassy, beautiful, talented, hard-working... As it happens, their excellent first EP is out in a couple of days on Ragtime Records, so go out and buy the thing. In the meantime, here's their new promo video.











I also might have considered giving Kitten and the Hip a call - as former X-Factor hopefuls they are at least as well qualified as Ms. Nicholas, they have proven song-writing skills, Ash has a no.1 single and Scarlett seems to be rather a better performer. If the decision-makers at the BBC felt that an electroswing duo was what was needed, this is where they should have looked.











Another option might have been Little Violet. Again, she has loads of stage presence, a great voice and a fantastic band behind her. I saw her perform at Swingamajig last year, and even Mrs. The Cad, a confirmed electro-swing sceptic, was bopping away, so I am sure her style would appeal to a Eurovision crowd.











A more interesting option would have been to go with the full band stylings of a group like Jenova Collective. I saw them perform a couple of weeks back and was really impressed with the energy and panache they showed on stage. Their performance was tight and really got a very mixed crowd jumping.










So here is my message to the people who made the crass decision to appropriate the electro-swing sound.





Stop it.





Now.





Please.





Don't take the soul and the life from this scene - it is tight-knit, supportive and full of joy, but it also has a DIY ethos, a hint of grime and if it is clean, it is no fun - don't sanitise it for the mass market, because by doing so you betray the memory of the swing era, you betray dance music, and you betray our genre.

GUEST BLOG - DJR's Boomtown Report

Owing to my pal Benjamin deciding to get married on the same weekend as Boomtown  Fair I was unable to attend this year's jamboree. This was a sad state of affairs, since Boomtown is just a few miles from the my family's country seat, has the best Vintage Remix line-up of any festival in the world, and is one heck of a party. Fear not, dear reader - Ben has been chastised.

BUT, I would never leave you wondering what went down at an event like Boomtown, so I went on the hunt for a correspondent to give you all the lowdown.. Happily, DJR of the Free Breaks Blog stepped up to the plate. Without further wittering from me, here is what he had to say about the weekend.

Hey hey swingers and swingettes! Jack The Cad couldn’t make this year’s Boomtown festival and since I wouldn’t shut up about it he asked me to write a report of some of the goings on. In case you’re wondering who I am, some of you will know me from my own ‘Electro Swing Roundup’ over at Free Breaks Blog. For those who don’t, I’m DJR and I try to keep an eye on all the latest music in the scene. If you’re a DJ looking for fresh music, or just keen to hear the latest tunes check out my posts on the 1st of the month (or thereabouts!)at http://freebreaksblog.com/category/music/electro-swing/.

So. What was Boomtown 2014 like then? Well it’s a hard festival to sum up. They focus less on having lots of superstar names in favour of having an incredible strength and depth with every single small and medium size act they can find from a diverse range of styles, including swing, reggae, roots, ska, punk, and pretty much the whole spectrum of dance music (apart from mainstream house), and they seem to find a home for every single band in the country that has lots of members. Brass section? String section? 'Orchestra', 'Collective' or 'Ensemble' in your name? Yep you’re in. They also have a legendary attention to detail which means that the site looks incredible. In truth I can’t even start to describe it, so best watch this instead:



From a swing point of view they always have an incredible line-up, in no small part due to Town's Sherrif Kaptin (solo DJ and part of the Big Swing Soundsystem) who ensured that they continued to have the hottest line-up of vintage artists of any event in the country. Last year’s festival was triumphantly completed by Pavor Stelar, so this year they had to pull all their strings and ensure that they could match the line-up again; and match it they did, recruiting amongst (many) others Dunklebunt and the Secret Swing Society, Tape Five, Algorhythmik, and pretty much all the stars of the UK based swing scene. Here’s the promo mix they put together in advance:



I’d like to say that I managed to see all of these, however Boomtown is one of those festivals where due to the sheer number of stages (over 70 fully programmed stages for four days) you seem to spend lots of time missing everything you planned to see and discovering other incredible stuff instead. Therefore I’ll just talk about what I saw.

The main stage for vintage mayhem at Boom is the Ballroom stage which once again looked incredible. Over the weekend it was graced by a veritable who’s who of the swing world, plus circus performers, (if you’ve never seen them search 'hoop hooligans' online!) , burlesque beauties, and all sorts of vintage reprobates.

In musical terms my highlights were: 

Elle & the Pocket Belles who seem to be going from strength to strength since adding Mistatrick to their lineup. This means that they can choose between doing a classic swing style show, and doing a electro swing show where Mistatrick adds beats and bass. This is what they played in the Ballroom and it went down really well on the Saturday afternoon. Sadly there's no footage from their Boomtown performances, but here's a video of them shot at Glasto this year.






The Big Swing Soundsystem rocked it late on Saturday night, giving Kaptin a chance to relax from festival duties while Hypeman Sage did what it says on the tin and hyped the crowd. 
The Electric Swing Circus always go down a storm and this they did again, particularly with a great set in the town square early on Saturday, including The C@ In The H@ on FX and scratching duties.





Other acts worth mentioning are the Chicken Brothers who seem very at home on the big stage now; Chris Tofu who is always in his element at any festival both performing front of house, and backstage controlling the multitude of bands and ensuring that the show went on; Smokey Joe & The Kidd with their great live and VJ show; and Madame Electrife who followed last year's Chinese Laundry with a new General Store Venue in the Wild West district.

The weather did make the festival. It was a little challenging at times, particularly on the Friday night when it did turn nasty, creating a lot of mud to contend with (on a very hilly site!) however, apart from one small glitch, the Ballroom, being indoors was a brilliant respite from the elements.

Alex’s Last Gigs With Dutty Moonshine

For myself and many other swing fans, one of the most important, 'can’t miss' moments of the weekend was Alex Furley's last gig with Dutty Moonshine.

As was reported in this blog (check here if you missed it: http://jackthecad.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/alex-leaves-dutty-moonshine.html ), Alex has decided to move on from Dutty Moonshine and focus on other projects both within music and his career. So how would they sign off with their time with him? Well to start with, newest member of the group Danny managed to get himself locked out of the site after returning after the 10pm curfew when everyone had to be inside the site. This was sad for him, but maybe appropriate for Mike and Furley that they signed him off as they started – together.

So with a packed Ballroom stage at 3am on Friday night, Mike and Furley tore into their customary swing & bass set for about 20minutes before Mike handed over the controls fully to Alex and let him do what he wanted. I think even Alex wasn’t quite sure what he was going to play, because he tore into a set of big bass heavy hip-hop classics, mixed unpredictably and at a furious pace. There was no swing in sight, however Furley clearly enjoyed having the freedom and it went down really well with an excitable crowd. Then finally to sign it off, Mike called Furley to the front of the stage, and well, this happened...



Athough this was treated as Alex’s proper last gig, in actual fact it was the day after when, all three of them this time(!), played a much lower key set at Charlie Brown's across from the Ballroom (a spectacular speakeasy populated with gangsters and molls in brilliantly rendered style).

The post-script to this farewell is that following on from this gig, I actually managed to catch Dutty Moonshine play a week later in Birmingham. This time they had a much smaller crowd, however Danny and Mike will clearly have fun together because they showed they are still masters at rocking any venue big or small. Danny’s clearly enjoyed the ride so far although he is going to have some work keeping up with Mike’s infamous partying! Still they did get to be put on the side of a building.

While I’ve got the chance, there’s one more slot I can talk about. 24 hours after the Dutties' big sendoff, I had the privilege of playing the Ballroom stage to close the Saturday night lineup. Following on from the ever reliable C@ In The H@ who had the crowd rocking to his bass heavy shenanigans, I had a great set, enjoying the chance to play quite heavy for once and dropping in plenty of bangers transitioning from hip-hop tempo right up to drum & bass including a healthy dose of swing, soul & funk and rock & roll. If you fancy checking it out have a listen to this:



That’s it. I hope I’ve whetted your appetite, and I’ve barely even mentioned everything else that went on... the best reggae stage in the country, the mighty Arcadia (if you don’t know – check Youtube) and so many other stages also featuring the cream of their particular scene. In fact, don’t bother listening to me just see me on the dance-floor next year!

Photo Diary: The Swing Dig' with Elle and the Pocket Belles

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be invited along to see the delectable Elle and the Pocket Belles performing at "The Swing Dig", supported by DJ Fred Balkayou. Elle and the girls performed with their Big Band, and put on a typically polished performance. 

The venue, The Nursery, is in a railway arch near Southwark and was packed to bursting. The place is a sort of multi-purpose space and the whole event had a pleasingly home-made feel to it. In place of a cloakroom there was a clothes rail, while in the absence of an entry stamp the chap on the door drew a unicorn on the back of my hand. 

It was particularly nice to bump into DJ Shefitza, the lady behind SwingStep, an electro-swing night  in Shepherd's Bush.

Below are a few of the pictures from the event, some taken by me, and others by Neil Gordon, to whom I am very grateful. (NB - Neil's are the ones that look professional)

Jack's Top Tracks - March 11 2013 - the best electroswing on the web

Phew, what a day. First morning at a new job, so I have been ever so slightly stressed out today. Perhaps your Monday was tough too? If so, here is this week's selection of tasty electro-swing goodness to help you relax. If you don't need help relaxing (you lucky blighter), just enjoy the music. That's an order.

---

Old

Elle and the Pocket Belles

That's right - this week you get 5 lovelies to listen to and gawp at. You there! Stop drooling.
I have selected this video for you this week because I was at a great night on Friday at which these girls were headlining. Performing with their Big Band they always put on a great show. A special nod to Li'l Kimberley, who tells me she is the cute one of the group. I, however, suspect that this is a front to lull unsuspecting and totally respectable gentlemen like myself into indiscretions and louche behaviour. You can keep up to date with their activities via their home page, Facebook or Twitter.

---

Old

Kiril Dzajkovski - Jungle Shadow - Live at Exit 08

You thought I had gone soft didn't you? Well, this will put your mind at ease. This crazy little video is from a few years back - I came across it when researching an academic piece on the Balkan Beat scene last week. It sounds ever such a lot like Pendulum bought a trumpet. Get your listening apparatus around these five minutes of brassy Balkan bonkers-ness and I guarantee you happiness will result.

---

Brand SPANKING New

Pique-aboo - Spanky

Stockings! Bottoms! Spanking! Swing! I think I died and went to heaven. Pique-aboo are a Cape Town-based duo consisting of  Talya (vocals) and Helena (drums) - just came across these girls last week, but didn't have space for them in the selection, so here they are this week. What do you think of the song?

---

New

donJohnson and Leo Wood - I need swing (ft. Myles, Declan and Nicko B)

Who likes bass? Do you like bass? I like bass, so I like this. donJohnson, one of the guys behind the legendary Cabaret Voltaire (Exeter and Bournmouth), has made this wubby, dubsteppy, bluesy number and it quite simply rocks.

---

New

Defunk - I Put A Spell On You (ft. Sam Klass & Vindaloo)

I think Mr. Defunk must have put a spell on me. When was the last time he wasn't included in the selection? How is it that he keeps producing such stonking tracks? This one makes me feel like James Bond. Actually, I am far more suave, not to mention disreputable (I mean really, how come he still hasn't done the dirty with Moneypenny?) Have a listen - I defy you not to pump your fists with the bassy, choppy synths.

---

So that's it for another week. It has been really hard to choose between tracks this week, and there is a whole load of great music around at the moment. Keep your eyes on the Facebook and Twitter feeds the latest updates. As always if you are a DJ, producer or a band, do send me your latest tunes and you never know, I may just plug them here for you. Everyone else, do please share your thoughts on this week's selection this week. What did you like? What didn't you like? Leave a comment below and let me know!