Big Swing Soundsystem studio mix EXCLUSIVE - blindingly cheeky

A week or so ago Kaptin from Big Swing Soundsystem asked if I'd be interested in hosting a new mixtape of theirs. Of course the answer was yes, but having just started a new job, I didn't have time to write an accompanying post, so I made Kap do it himself. Here's what he had to say, and the link to the banging new jungle swing mix at the bottom.

Kaptin:
Having been junglists since it first popped out of the rave scene in the early 90s, and vintage remix DJs for well over a decade, it was inevitable that we would be drawn to the Swing & Bass sounds on this new mix.

We tried to keep away from the obvious, or too many of the big crowd pleasers you'd have probably heard if you'd come to see us live, however we couldn't help but drop a few in there.  Like all of our recorded mixes though, we didn't approach it like one of our DJ sets, we wanted it to work as a proper listening experience… that just happens to get you dancing your ass off too.

It kicks off with our old friend and fellow Cardiffian, High Contrast.  This has been a long time staple of ours and it's just a damn find remix that brings back a little more of the Ray Charles flavour than just straight up Kanye.  Following that is the classic DJ Fresh tune, All That Jazz.  We can't believe that we left it off our old skool 'Under The Influence'  mix but now we're glad we did as it sits nicely in this selection.  Plus from even earlier still is the classic Touch & Go track 'Would You…?'

There's a couple of newer Junglish tracks with a heavy swing flavour from Potential Badboy & Fats MC and N3GUS & Jakes, a TC remix of Tiggs Da Author (loving that guy right now) and some of our Electro Swing and festival friends are of course present in the shapes of Smokey Joe & The Kid, Phil Mac, Dutty Moonshine, JFB, Dirty Honkers, F Block (another fellow Cardiff man) and Jamie Berry, who supplies a remix for one of our favourite combos ever, Marcella Puppini and New York rapper RA The Rugged Man.  RA isn't our only rapper represented either, Alsace Carcione from Dallas, Texas is on here with a criminally over looked track that will have you shaking your 'thing' all over the place.

Finishing off with another All That Jazz.  Nope it's not our man Castro's tune (that can be found on our 2013 BoomTown mix)   but a ridiculously heavy tune from Canadian producer Defunk, which might win the price for most tearing Swing & Bass track on the planet.

Anyway, here's the link, we hope you enjoy and do come and see us this festival season, we shall be back at Glastonbury, BoomTown, Bestival and Womad, whilst also heading to Big Love (where we shall be hosting the Vintage Remix Ball in Baskerville Hall), Secret Solstice in Iceland, and Kelburn Garden Party up there in Scotland for the first time.

https://www.mixcloud.com/BigSwingSoundSystem/cheeky-blinders/

London Remixed Festival - 5th - 7th Feb - preview

I grew up on a farm with two younger brothers. We are all  quite close in age, and when we were aged between 8 and 13 our mother found that having three young lads charging in and out of the house covered in dust, mud and the nameless detritus of a farm yard, fighting and generally being boys was quite hard work. She got around this problem by not letting us in the house for weeks at a time. This may have you hunting out the Childline number but let me stop you there, as it wasn't quite as barbaric as it sounds (though there was a hint of Lord of the Flies about her solution). Instead of sleeping in bedrooms like normal people, Mum preserved the orderliness of her house by making us camp on the farm.

At the start of the summer we'd pitch a number of tents on the farm and each evening we would pile onto one of the farm vehicles shortly before dusk and trundle up to the campsite, where we would produce that particular type of cremated-on-the-outide-raw-on-the-inside sausages that only a really good campfire can deliver. The next morning we would return to the house and spend the day frolicking in the garden and hitting each other. I don't recall how we washed, but I suspect that we were not that concerned. The summers were long and dusty, hot and seemingly endless. What days.

I mention this childhood memory as it was painfully reminded of it as I struggled to pitch my tent against the biblical rain at Boomtown this year. I reflected, as I cursed and wiped the rain from my eyes, that camping seems to have lost some of its appeal in the intervening 20 years. For one, the tent seems far smaller, and my ability to spring from my sleeping bag full of vim and joi de vie after a night sleeping on the grass is very much reduced. 

It is for this reason that given identical lineups and all the rest, I'd pick an urban festival over one in a field. Swingamajig in Birmingham is an excellent example of the breed, but the schelp back from the midlands to London the following day is a brute.

That's why when the promo material for the London Remixed festival starts arriving I feel a little frisson of excitement. Organised by Continental Drifts (Chris Tofu's event production company), it comes at just the right time in the year to help banish the rapidly blurring memories of Dry January (why would you do that to yourself?!), and to get the juices flowing ready for spring.

If you haven't been to London Remixed before, its a "a celebration of the best emerging musical talent and genres and will offer creativity, fun and madness, complete with buzzing atmosphere". As the name implies, the festival is all about the remix. Over the course of the weekend you can catch  Latin Grooves, Afrobeats, Tropical Bass, Vintage-Remix, Desert Remix, Balkan Beats, Urban Roots, Acoustic Soundclash and Brass Band Remix. But you'll be most interested in the electro-swing, Vintage Remix and whatnot.

My top tip is to make sure you catch Symphonica & Mr. Switch. I missed them at Boomtown and can't forgive myself. Just check out these videos of what to expect. Its not electro-swing. It's not even vintage remix. I don't know what to call it other than "thoroughly splendid".

Other acts to catch over the weekend include the Temple Funk Collective (whose brass section also forms part of the Dutty Moonshine Big Band) and brassy hip-hippers 'Dat Brass'.

I know this blog has lots of readers who also make music - if that's you, don't miss out on a day of free ‘Remix Workshops’ with professional music production tutors and established music producers. This is a unique opportunity to mingle with industry professionals and to gain tips on how to progress creatively. Along with sessions for beginners and intermediate remixers running throughout the day, there will be another Remix Speed Dating session for bands, producers and industry bodies to meet up and swap ideas at Rich Mix.