DUO

Duo (Demo) by Dee El

UNO

Uno by Dee El

Couple of new bit's I have been sitting on recently. Quite like these, they have a Mr Oizo feel to them...

IMASCHINE

Lidell is simply brilliant - no doubt in my mind he created the thing in one take. I bought the App shortly after and haven't stopped using it all week...DAMN, if I had the money I would be all over the full scale Maschine!

PASSERINES

What do you mean, NO (Live Edit) by Passerines

I have recently started a new project, diversifying from the usual Hiphop framework. I have been listening to lots of 4-4 music recently and thinking about how the dynamics build to create tension/euphoria and how odd rhythyms built around 4-4 kick remain so effective and keep the music interesting. I'm going to keep the song's as 'live' as possible by playing the samples in Ableton and doing a rough mix/master before posting on Soundcloud.

THIS IS 2011

This is 2011 by Dee El

A celebration of this years influences...

THE BIG DEAF DEZZLE

Kev and I spent Sunday to Tuesday fine tuning and recording the new Manreads LP this week with Rich Tamblyn of Old Blacksmiths fame at the helm.
The process from start to finish was a joy. Some of the songs are pushing three years old, so hearing them professionally recorded really felt good.

We completed the drums around 3pmish on Monday - the kit sounded great but I managed to crack both 18" cymbals in the process which I was gutted about.
We ended up splitting Kev's bass and micing up both cabs individually. This meant we only recorded the bass once without pushing for the 'wall of noise'
Multi-tracked bass.

We discussed what kind of sound we were after but could not agree with anything, so just went for the basic recording. The mix and master is being handled by Rich, who really turned into our much needed 3rd member for the 2 days we were there.

One of my favourite parts of the recording was the vocals...I was dreading this but Kev and I nailed the whole lot in little more than two takes. I guess, being a loud mouth and singing in front of the mirror with a hair brush in hand does make the much needed difference.

Dull, dull afternoon...my only saving grace this afternoon is this blog post and the thought of being able to ride a new bike from North East to South West London!

So, Metropolis3001 was released last month. A talented young fellow by the name of Leo Alexander done a fine, fine job on the artwork (see previous entry). Received a fairly mixed response from the EP, the main nods were towards the beats which I was pleased with...that said, it is a very long and hard process promoting music these days. Stumbling across the 1,000's of other artists trying to do the same thing, most of whom are pretty decent themselves. It makes me wonder how people really manage to stand out from the crowd!

Manreads recently played with these guys. They are called Hold Your Horse Is...Kev didn't like them, I thought they were pretty good though. Pretty straight forward punk-rock akin to McLusky perhaps but played in a really tight and polished manor. I appreciated them, something I don't tend to enjoy as much these days.

Manreads are hitting the studio in July to record the album. I Can't quite believe we are going through with it but I am very excited about working with Rich 'Old Blacksmiths'Tamblyn again after 5 or so year haitus. So far, we know WHEN we are recording just not WHAT/HOW/WHY? I will update you as soon as I we know!

Dusted off the laptop last night and nothing came out...nothing is inspiring me on a musical level at the moment, so here are some nice iPhone photo's for the sake of prosperity.

A Southbank Skateboarder

Vicki walking through a crazy, random door at Tate Liverpool

The Worlds worst seats for Death From Above 1979's London reunion show (good work Sheeeersmiff!)

Proof that my parent's dog DOES smile

DEE EL & THE SUPER DUKE

DEE EL & THE SUPER DUKE - METROPOLIS3001

POP SHIELD

Home-made pop shield using a tatty rag, gaffer tape, broken drumsticks and 2 rubbish mic stands...it worked a treat but then again, all we done was screamed at the piece of cloth for an hour and convinced ourselves it sounded great?!

DELS

Really great doc on UK rapper Dels. I particularly liked Hot Chips, Joe Goddard comment on working in a big studio with nice equipment. As much of a pop star as he maybe, it's good knowing the artistry in music always remains!

NERO IS BEING USED TO BEAT ME AT MY OWN GAME

Nero is being used to beat me at my own game by manreads

I pieced this track together from various recordings at ManReads rehersals. We wrote and recorded the lyrics in about 30mins one evening....I even had a go at mastering this one. Really happy with the results and I can't wait to play this live on the 1st June...

AT & LUCASSE

Film number two from Mr A. Telling. On a similar tip to Crossing Lines, this follows UK artist Word To Mother across my homeland Italia. The edits are far, far quicker than CL almost opting fora series of photography like images set to the dry background of a typically Italian/Mediterranean town.

The soundtrack was produced by Lucassse with Buddy Peace helming the beats this time rather than your's truly. The low end from the guitars sound great, particularly in the intro of the track...beat-a-rific-folk-blah?!

Lucasse - Madre

Madre from Andrew Telling on Vimeo.

TOM VEK

I know of so many people waiting the long 5 years or so for new Tom Vek material. I got into him during my hardcore-punk-holier-than-thou phase. A great, great return to form I think you'll agree!

THIS IS 2011

Post number 1 of 2011...sums up how thing's have been going of late, London beckons in a change of fortune and the studio has now wittled down to headphones and the laptop.

Musically, I have been very busy finishing up a couple of projects.

My first hip-hop EP will be released and available to purchase on bandcamp towards the end of April.

DEE EL & THE SUPER DUKE
METROPOLIS 3001
1. Drone
2. Under the Sun
3. Centigrade
4. 2222

Very excited about having the thing finished, it feels very complete and has been mastered by Joe at Subsequent Studio's. I small mix will follow for all to download...

Manreads has finally finished writing the album and we look set to record in July with Rich T @ Blacksmiths Studio in Portsmouth. We have finished working on a new song titled MNML which will be released on our soundcloud page also towards the end of April.

2011 has far, been brilliant for new music. Recent ting's that have been tickling my ear drums;

BEANS - DEATHSWEATER taken from END IT ALL (Anticon)


AKRIST - ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT (Immerse Records)


SIRIUSMO - MOSIAK taken from MOSIAK (Monkeytown Records)


THOM YORKE/FOUR TET/BURIAL - MIRROR (Text Records)