When Sasha re-launched his label "Last Night on Earth" (previously known as Emfire), he also issued a set of beautiful artwork to accompany the first six releases (below). Talenthouse, the creative agency behind the design, says "The artwork was designed to capture a more sensitive side of dance music, a stark contrast to the relentless beats that inspire pandemonium on so many dancefloors."

To celebrate the success of the label and art, Sasha is launching a competition for aspiring designers. The task is to submit artwork inspired by the covers released for the six singles below. The winner will have his or her design turned into a motif for the next eight releases on the label, including vinyl artwork with full sleeve design. The full prize breakdown is as follows:

Sasha's Choice
One winner will have their design adapted to be used for the next eight releases on the label. Including vinyl with full sleeve design, that will be sold through Last Night on Earth’s online store as well as various other outlets. In addition, the winner will receive:

- A one year Adobe Creative Cloud membership, valued at $600
- A feature for their submission across Sasha’s social media channels
- A framed copy of their winning submission, signed by Sasha

One runner-up, as selected by Sasha, will receive:
- A framed copy of their artwork, signed by Sasha
- Exposure through Sasha’s Facebook page
- $500

People's Choice
The highest voted artist will receive:

- A limited edition Sasha vinyl, signed by Sasha
- Exposure through Sasha’s Facebook page
- $500

Here's the link to the competition - good luck!

Artwork for first six releases:

Listen to Sasha on Pulse Radio

2012 was a historic political year in the United States. Amongst other headline news, our president came out in support of gay marriage, and marijuana was legalized in Colorado and Washington. Quick to take advantage of the new legislation, a marijuana nightclub, aptly named Club 64 (after the 64th amendment that legalized pot), has opened in Colorado.

The club will not sell marijuana, but will allow open smoking indoors for its members (who pay a small fee to frequent the joint). Surprisingly, marijuana advocates are divided on the topic. Many enthusiastic youngsters are in favor, while more seasoned vets of the pot fight criticize the club for tarnishing marijuana's reputation among the mainstream.

The idea of a marijuana club is akin to a social experiment. Most modern nightclubs rely heavily on alcohol, and the atmosphere that ensues is one of sloppy, belligerent debauchery. A marijuana fueled party could be an entirely different affair, and potentially one where music could be the core focus. At Club 64, alcohol will be served, but the focus is clearly on the reefer.

Marijuana has been linked to music ever since jazz made headway in the US. Since many of today's dance music artists are on the deeper side of things, this venue may provide a unique location to appreciate their music. We look forward to seeing how this venue, and others like it, get on. 

DJ Cottonmouth has, of course, been named lifelong resident.

Light one up and Listen to Jon Talabot on Pulse Radio

Music is subjective. Just like every other form of art, how much you enjoy it depends on a number of different factors, like the genre, melody, lyrics, or lack thereof. But it’s hard to deny the brilliance of 'Miura'. The 6:43 minute gem strips back disco music to basic basslines, drums, handclaps, cowbells and a modest vocal to reinvent the genre for a new era. The song is so brilliant in fact that Resident Advisor named it theirnumber one song of the noughties, 2000-2009. The song was composed by Darshan Jesrani and his partner in disco Morgan Geist as Metro Area. When it was released in 2001, shortly followed by their self-titled debut album, the nu-disco genre was launched and it has dominated dancefloors eve since.

More than ten years later, Jesrani is still hard at it, spending most of his days in his Brooklyn studio, about to launch his own label Startree, and DJs when he has the time. Pulse Radio had a chat to Darshan ahead of his Australian tour this month to talk about organ duets, the current state of electronic music in New York and the real meaning of disco.

Pulse: Like most producers, I’m guessing your studio is your second home. What is your studio set up like? Darshan Jesrani: I have a commercial space here in Brooklyn where I work from. I use to live with my stuff when I lived back in Manhattan but when I came here to Brooklyn I decided to make a new space and set things up separately so I could feel like I was going to work everyday. I just have a bunch of instruments, mixing consule, a computer, pretty normal studio stuff, a microphone and other assorted noise makers. I do try to get here everyday and I do try to treat it like a full time job. There’s something to do here everyday and often I can spend really long days here. It becomes my little heaven and hell.

Do you keep your vinyl in the studio or in your apartment? I keep like a rotation of records down at the apartment, and I have a lot up here too, but I try to keep the stuff at the apartment limited to the things that I am actively playing so they don’t over run the place.

How many vinyls do you have? Not that many compared to other DJs, maybe a few thousand, 5000, 6000. I’ve known guys that have basements full of records but I have a fair amount, more than I can mentally count for. Sometimes I go record shopping in my own collection, for stuff that I haven’t listened to in years that I don’t remember I have.

Do you get surprised by what you find? Sometimes, yeah. And sometimes when a record comes around and you listen to it or you buy it, maybe you’re really not ready to listen to it fully or appreciate it. But then you just let it sit, give it years, and it’s the most amazing thing, like a completely different record the second time around. Sometimes it’s a matter of where you are mentally when you acquire it. Sometimes you could come across it again years later and it will sound like something new, which is interesting.

Do you have a favourite in that collection? Nah. There’s so many kinds of records that are suited to so many different kinds of situations it’s a bit hard to pick a favourite.

When you come to Australia will you bring vinyl or CDs? I’m going to bring vinyl and then a couple of small books of CDs to supplement them, but most of the set is records.

What kind of music do you plan to bring with you to Australia? I plan to bring a mixed set of old and new music. A bunch of old disco records and then a bunch of housey, electronic things, just going to go back and forth between them depending on what the place feels like and what kind of mood people are in.

In Sydney you’re playing with Daniel Wang. How long have you guys known each other? I’ve known Danny since he lived here in New York, which was probably a good ten years ago now. Danny has been kind of an inspiration to my and Morgan’s exploration of disco stuff when we started in the late `90s because Danny was already messing around with that stuff. So I’ve known Danny’s work for a while, even before I had met him and then I met him here in New York and we did occasional parties. We’d keep in touch, but then he moved to Berlin and I see him just about as frequently, which is pretty nice.

Is it often that you get to play together? We don’t get to play together too often, but I did play with him in Berlin at Soju Bar last year and it was really fun. He had a good disco night going there. He has great taste and has really good records. I think you’ll enjoy his music, he plays very musical disco stuff all the time but always with that really good, generous feeling that dance music is meant to have, it makes people feel good.

The Sydney Festival is a big event every year here in Sydney where all the best Sydney parties put on internationals and it’s always a lot of fun, so it’s a good party to play at. I’ve seen a picture of the venue, it looks really, really nice.

It is, they’ve got a grand old organ that lines the back wall, which is really beautiful too. Like a pipe organ? Do you think that people would mind if I let a record run out and then I ran over to the organ and did an organ solo?

No, not at all! That would be awesome! We could have like a real haunted house moment. I think that would be pretty cool. Maybe Danny and I both, I’ll be on the super low end and Danny could be on the high end, or visa versa. Pipe organ duet, that’s not something you see a DJ do everyday. I’m looking forward to it I think it will be really cool.

You and Morgan played together at the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival last November. Do you guys get to play together very often? We were a little bit of a last minute addition. It was nice to play with Morg here at home. We play separately a lot, so it’s fun to play together, especially here at home. And that place (Cameo), the sound normally really sucks but that night it sounded really good, I think they might’ve change something. It was fun to play.

What do you think of the current electronic music scene in New York? I don’t know, it’s hard to say. To be fair, lately I have been spending a lot of time getting stuff done in the studio so I haven’t been going out a lot, so I might be missing stuff. I know there’s a lot of promoters and there’ s a hell of a lot of talent for sure, a lot of people making records, but I think we have a serious shortage of venues here in the city and I think that has to do with real estate being really hard to find here in New York and space being really tough to come by, especially cheaply. That said, people are really doing their best to work around all that stuff. You see a lot of people throwing parties in temporary spaces or lofts and random commercial spaces.

But in terms of having actual dedicated discothèques or places to go and dance I think we are at a low point historically. We use to have tones of discos and tones of places that were just dance clubs, like huge places where it would just be this huge soundsystem, where you could go and get lost there. But starting in the early 2000s, or even the late `90s, the trend shifted towards lounges, and in the 2000s the trend shifted towards ultra lounges, whatever that is. Basically bottle service spots, no dancefloor, or a tiny little dancefloor, or a dancefloor that was compromised by tables and stuff that had to be moved. So not a place where the priority is getting the crowd to dance. I really miss that actually, even from the point of view of wanting to have a place that I could go out and go dance. I like to be anonymous, just go to a place and go and dance. When I use to go out in the city that’s what I would do. I didn’t really want a lounge, I just wanted a spot to dance at. I miss that. I think that people are working on some stuff. There are some things in the works that I hear about so hopefully it will come around again.

You said in the 90s there were more spots to dance. When you and Morgan first started making music in the `90s, what was it that you guys wanted to do and bring to that scene? I think our early records were a reaction to other stuff that was going on at the time because we were both buying a lot of Chicago house records, stuff that was made in the mid to late `90s, and we found that a lot of those producers were looking up old disco records. A lot of the stuff was really loopy, like a disco loop with a kick drum. What we wanted to do was experiment a little more and tried to, instead of sampling disco, tried to break the idea of disco open a little bit and try to do our own take on it coming from a modern perspective, a house and techno perspective and use some of the vintage atmospheres and production techniques that we heard in those records. It was basically disco made with a deep house mentality or a techno mentality and that’s I think what made ours really work particular to us. We weren’t trying to make a disco record with a lot of horns or an orchestra and shit, we were trying to do something really spare, like almost with an early `80s New York or Chicago mentality, just exploring disco with limited means, skeletal versions of disco.

That’s why a lot of people reacted to the stuff. A lot of write ups would be like, yeah, these guys basically edited out all the parts that might normally be considered cheesy, bombastic, that huge major key disco sound. We basically kept all the stuff that was cool for the modern ear. That’s basically it in a nutshell.

From what you learnt back then and what you made back then, how has that changed to what you make now? Now I want to make really cheesy records cause I’m tired of making stuff that’s tasteful. Nah, I’m just kidding. There’s a little bit of truth to that. I’m experimenting with a more playful and a little bit more psychedelic music right now in terms of dance music. I feel like now everything is so tasteful and it’s easily made tasteful, people know how to do all the proper chords and everyone has their production techniques to do quite passable records. So I’m trying to break it open and do something that is a little more rambunctious, but it’s hard to explain without playing something for you. I hope I have something to play by the time I get there. I’m trying to reverse a little bit of the tasteful trend but not do it so much that people won’t play it. So it’s kind of a gamble.

Gambles are good. I think that all the best things that have happened in music over the years has happened because of gambles, because people tried something new and took a chance so, I think it’s a good thing. Thanks. I’m just trying to keep the same head that I was in when I did Metro Area. You know, Metro Area was very much a reaction to the marketplace and we were being contrary. So I’m kind of doing the same thing now. I don’t want to be contrary for the sake of being contrary, I really want to do it.

Is that kind of plans you have for Startree? Yeah, exactly. Some of it will vary depending on the project name, but for the first release and every project under this name it will be like this.

When do you plan on having the first release? I’m trying to get a date from my distributor, so I’m hoping end of February, early March.

Why did you want to start your own label now? Because Morgan and I haven’t been making Metro Area records in a little while and I wanted to start a new brand as an umbrella project for myself and all of my stuff. I felt like that would be a good thing to do instead of signing different projects to different labels and put it out all over the place, I just wanted to keep all my stuff in the same place and build up a nice catalogue of different stuff.

Will you release anyone else’s music? Yeah, definitely. But very selectively and not really being too conscious of who is a hot producer and who is releasing on other labels, I don’t really want to play that game of sharing the same talent pool with all the other labels. I will release other people’s stuff but it’s going to be kind of on a record by record basis and for personal reasons, you know, if I really love the song, and also if I can see some potential in the song for me to remix it or maybe if it’s not quite market ready or club ready I could do something with it.

So big plans for 2013 then? Yeah, for sure. It’s about time! I’ve been making plans to do this label for the past year so I’m really anxious to get it up and running.

How long have you liked disco? How did you first get into disco music? It’s hard to tell. I’ve heard it all through my life, and I always really liked it, but I didn’t have quite the relationship to it. I haven’t always been a real enthusiast about disco records. I’ve always had musical phases. It’s only now, in the past 10 years, that I’m realising how disco music connects all the other disparate genres of music together. Disco to me now really just means music that you can play in a club, so that could be everything. And that kind of goes back to the old definition of disco where you could go to a disco or club and hear Motown records and rock and roll records and weird European `60s 45s and all kinds of stuff, so I think disco as a concept is pretty cool, just records you can dance to or records that are oriented towards dancing.

There was a lot of traditional disco on the radio when I was a kid, you know, all the big pop disco songs like 'Funky Town', all the Sister Sledge stuff and all the Nile Rodgers and Chic stuff and those big records that people think of when you say disco. But then through house music, going backward, I got introduced to a whole other world of disco, you know all the independent, back room stuff that people never really talk about, so that’s a whole world in itself. People in the late `70s doing these small run batches of records on independent labels and some of those records are really, really amazing too. And then never mind all the imports. Disco sound was an export, so you get all these records back from other countries that are doing a US black and Latin-rooted disco sound with their own twist, so that’s another whole world. Disco to me is all pervasive now, it’s everywhere.

One of the things that I really love about disco is that there are so many records out there that you would never be able to discover it all. Yeah, there’s so much. You can make things disco records too. You can discover something yourself and it can be some oddity and you can play it in a club and people dance to it and instantly it’s a disco record. But it’s a disco record of your creation, you added it to the disco cannon by playing it for people so I think that’s a pretty cool thing.

Do you ever look back at that time and wish that there was some club or place that you could’ve gone to in the `70s? I just wish that there was that kind of club and that kind of partying happening now. Where you could go to a space and it would really be oriented around the sound and the dancing and the DJ would play music that is really appealing on a bunch of levels, body level and mentally and emotionally and everything. I feel like right now, we probably have more people dancing worldwide than you ever have. Clubbing is really, really popular, but I feel like it’s missing a bunch of pieces. Some stuff in the music, the music could do more.

[Darshan Jesrani plays the Picnic party at Sydney Festival with Daniel Wang on January 19th. Tickets here]

Listen to Metro Area on Pulse Radio

New Years Day is fast overtaking New Years Eve as the main event. More than proof were the crowds who poured into the ivy for Lost Disco and Hot Creations NYD Pool Party this Tuesday. Big thanks go to all who joined us; Russ Yallop, Infinity Ink, Brohn and all the locals brought their A Game. The Changeroom stars giving the pool stage a run for it's money all day. We'd go back if we could but atleast we can look back on these photos as a memory of what was a great way to start 2013! Finely Tuned have big things planned for you in 2013 so dust off your dancing shoes and Like their page to check out the rest of the photos thanks to Tim Jones Photography and to stay up to date with all they've got for you. Here's a taste:

2012 symbolized a fruitful time for dance music and underground culture. But four days into the New Year and Pulse have news of a brand new London residency for 2013 from The Classic Music Company, the burgeoning and revitalised house label run by Luke Solomon and Derrick Carter. Kicking off on Saturday January 26th at popular hang out Dalston Superstore, the event features a solid line-up of the label's key players.

Classic have had an amazing 2012, that saw Luke Solomon explore his Digital Kid moniker further as well as releasing a slew of well received singles and EPs through the imprint. For their inaugral gig at the popular East London venue, Luke headlines the basement alongside long-time label affiliate Rob Mello. Check out the below video of Mr Mello's 40 minute Boiler Room mix underneath.

The bar upstairs is looked after by Horse Meat Disco's Severino (who contributed to our fantastic end of year podcast and mixed the fantastic "Through The Eyes of Severino" compilation last year) as well as long term Superstore affiliate Dan Beaumont, both of which keep the atmosphere fun and fragrant with a selection of the finest disco - old and new - around. Let's hope this amazing looking residency from one of contempoary house's coolest labels isn't as 'infrequent' as we may fear. For tickets and further details, see below the flyer.

Classic x Dalston Superstore
Saturday 26th January

Line Up
Luke Solomon
Rob Mello
Severino
Dan Beaumont

Tickets

Listen to Luke Solomon on Pulse Radio.

As the digital media partner for Rio Music Conference, Pulse will be bringing you exclusive content in advance of the hotly tipped festival in February of this year. The Rio Music Conference will run from February 1-13, 2013 and will be broken into three parts - a Business Fair, a Club Week and a Festival portion.  Today we sit down with the beautiful DJ DRI.K, a Brazilian who's proud of her city and will be playing the festival. Over the last several years, she's shared the decks with some of the best in the industry, and is one of Gui Boratto's favorite DJs. She has also played in Ibiza, Croatia, Poland, New York, Miami, Boston and many other places around the world. Check out her exclusive mix and interview below:

What does Brazil mean to you?  Brazil means home for me. Although I believe my soul is somewhere around New York and Berlin, I love my country and the wonderful city I was born in.

What is your favorite club in Brazil? My favorites are D-Edge and Warung. They have something special that I can't describe. Such magic places!

Who is your favorite DJ or Producer right now, both from Brasil and abroad?  HQNO and Fabo are doing great right now here in Brazil, but my favorite is always Gui Boratto. Abroad, the Diynamic boys are my favorites. Solomun, H.O.S.H., Stimming, NTFO, Hunter/Game and Karmon are pretty awesome.

Who helped inspire you to get involved with electronic music?  So many people… I better not say names because if I forget someone I'm gonna be in trouble! 

If you could get involved with any label at the moment who would it be and why?  Diynamic and Hot Creations, I guess. Because the tracks they released were the ones I most played last year. I really recognize myself in it.

What are your thoughts on RMC?  It's the most important event of electronic music that we have. I say we, necause I feel like its also mine. I care about it like it is. I'm so proud of having Rio de Janeiro at the center of world during Carnival not only because of samba. This conference showed the world that we are much more than "mulatas" and futebol. It's an wonderful place to listen to good music and connect with people that come here from all around the country and world.

Where would you like to DJ that you haven’t yet had the chance to?  Berlin. It's such an amazing place for the kind of music I play and love. Hope I can make it happen in 2013!

Stay locked on Pulse Radio for a lot more spotlights and music from Brazil's hottest artists as well as event lineups they're released!

Listen to RMC Festival Artists on Pulse Radio

Pulse Radio is teaming up with record label Smoke N'Mirrors to bring you a party like no other on January 10th during the BPM festival at La Santanera. Featuring an all star lineup including DJ Harvey, Death on The Balcony, Shiny Objects, Galen and some incredible surprise guests we can't reveal yet, the show is certain to bring you sounds as diverse as the crowd in attendance, all wrapped elegantly into some of the most danceable house music you've ever heard.

Death on The Balcony is the UK duo of Mark Caramelli and Paul Hargreaves. Their releases, on Pets Recordings, Resonance, Akbal Music and others, have met wide appreciation from DJs and music fans alike. The new year promises to be even stronger than the last, as their signature, hazy deep house sound catches hold and they launch a new label. We're proud to share with you an exclusive interview and Smoke N'Mirrors podcast from them in advance of their performance on the 10th!

Given your recent mix for Pets, it's clear your influences go way beyond electronic music. What drew you to producing dance music instead of rock or other genres?  We both clicked initially through a mutual love of disco, 80’s new wave/pop and early 90’s music, art & culture so it was a common ground from the start, which we can be heard exploring in our Petcast. We are DJs and like to dance & make people dance so we were always going to follow down the electronic house root when producing together. It was a natural progression from the dancefloor to the decks into the studio, which is a common ground that many DJ/producers share.

You're playing the Smoke and Mirrors party at BPM that's being co-presented by Pulse Radio on January 10th with the legendary DJ Harvey-does the DJ's you share a bill with inform the type of music you play or does it not affect you?  When selecting our music we take the whole event into consideration. The DJs, the time we play and the space/surrounding the party is held in. All these factors inspire us and ultimately influence the direction we take the set. We have a lot of music and styles between us so it’s easier for us to mix in the moment and connect with the audience, which ultimately is what it’s about.

What do you think fans can look forward to from you guys at the party?  To play with Harvey is great for us as he explores the full spectrum with his sets so it really leaves us lots of room to try out some things as we love to do when we get the chance and really mix it up a bit with some house, disco, new stuff and some older gems that fit the vibe too!

Where are you most excited about playing this winter after BPM?  Return to the Future’s birthday in London, a return trip to the USA in Feb, Berlin always!

Do you have any iconic venues or festivals that you've always wanted to play at that you have yet to check off your list?  All the usual suspects. A residency at Panorama Bar would be good...Warung, DC10, Fabric. There are so many good places and festivals these days it’s hard to answer this question without leaving lots out. We would love to play anywhere to people who appreciate and love what we do!

When you get in the studio, do you go about producing a "DOTB sound" or do you entertain whatever ideas come up?  We make ideas generally on the spur of the moment and it will quickly become apparent whether it fits our sound or not. Our production is influenced from a lot of different styles and sources and people would sometimes maybe be considered “varied” or “eclectic” across genres but to us we mainly produce within the colours & shades of house music.

Who are some artists you'd love to work with that you haven't had the opportunity to work with yet?  All the ones on the Petcast! There are many of our peers we would love to work with too. We won’t start listing them all out…but watch this space!

Tell us a little bit about how this mix came about? How do the two of your approach putting together something like this?  The Smoke N Mirrors podcast was made with some more recent tracks we were feeling at the time and also some up and coming Death on the Balcony releases. It kicks off with a Slow Hands track from our label we are starting this year called Vice & Virtue.

What was the worst request you ever received?  We were playing a house music set and someone came up and asked us if we had any “Dance Music”...Needless to say we looked at each other, bemused, and continued playing regardless!

What's your favorite mexican food?  Soft White Fish Taco’s with some good salsa and spice, Frozen Tamarind Daiquiri’s and Mango Mezcal. If you have all 3, watch the tacos don’t make a repeat performance later in the night!

Listen to Death on The Balcony on Pulse Radio

Skrillex's new track, "Leaving," is worth a listen. Captain of brostep, the commercially successful producer/DJ is often a hate target for others in the genre. Dubstep and, more generally, bass music, was once an underground phenomenon in the UK, and Skrillex is one of the main figures responsible for its rise to radio status. After a string of "brostep" tracks and collaborations, Skrillex's latest offering is surprising in its subtlety and emotion. The similarities between the song and one of Burial's are pretty significant - sparse beats, pitch-shifted vocals, and bright piano chords feature in both. In fact, you could even say Skrillex copied Burial. If that's the case, then it's a fairly good copy, but nothing more than a continuation of, rather than departure from, Skrillex's current discography. However, some are less skeptical, and claim that popular dancefloors are getting ready to be a little more experimental. There's no doubt that Skrillex is a capable producer, and could techically make a track like "Leaving." The fact that he actually did, however, leaves some questions to be answered. Both Skrillex's track and Burial's are below- what do you think?

Listen to Burial on Pulse Radio

In case your head's in the sand or you're left with no time to prepare, we've put together a mini guide of apps you'll want on your smartphone for BPM. They will both help you avoid costly roaming charges and provide important information.

The first is of course BPM's official iphone/android app. It allows you to "create your own schedule, maps, VIP Discount listings and [get] all the latest info on BPM."

Whatsapp. As most of you know, this app allows text messaging over Wifi, sort of like iPhone's "iMessage" but for everyone. Great always for communicating internationally.

The next, and slightly less well known communication tool, is Viber. This is like Whatsapp, except for actual phone calls. As with all communication apps, you and your recipient will both need the app, but the ability to make calls without eating up signal charges is huge.

Another intriguing communication app is Voxer, which is essentially a digital walkie-talkie on steroids. You can send pictures, smilies, etc. and all your "rogers" go over wifi.

Of course, to use these apps you will need wi-fi. To the best of our abilities, we will also be updating you on places in playa with access to the internets. Stay safe, stay cheap, and stay drug free! Or not. But definitely stay tuned.

Listen to Guy Gerber on Pulse Radio

Glaswegian mixmaster Jackmaster is returning to Australia this February, locking in three dates in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney across just one weekend.

Following a stellar few years which has included countless gigs and a revered mix for the Fabriclive series, the DJ has a lot to look forward to in 2013, helping Glasgow’s Numbers label celebrate their 10th anniversary (hence the label party at Goodgod in Sydney) with fellow posse members Spencer, Nelson and Goodhand, and has also just been announced as one of the new hosts of BBC Radio 1’s In New DJs We Trust show. Check out the tour dates below.

Jackmaster 2013 Australian tour dates:

07.02.13 – Geisha Bar, Perth
08.02.13 – Liberty Social, Melbourne
09.02.03 – Numbers @ Goodgod Small Club, Sydney

Listen to Jackmaster on Pulse Radio

Luke Slater is a name well known to aficionados of proper techno. In his Planetary Assault Systems guise, he’s been responsible for some of the biggest dance floor belters of the past twenty years, notching up five albums and over 22 EPs across imprints as diverse as Peacefrog and Ostgut Ton, and more recently his own Mote-Evolver label. Since starting his own label in 2006, he has released tunes from luminaries such as Marcel Fengler, Lucy, Cari Lekebusch and Bas Mooy, making a strong mark with several forward thinking releases.

With a CV like that, it’s easy to see why the clamour for a Luke Slater tour had been steadily building following his last visit in 2001 (and a painful false start in 2010). A New Year's Day visit to the Abercrombie with the bonus of a purely live set brought a swell of approval through Sydney’s underground, several NYE plans were cancelled or scaled back, and the event sold out a week in advance. With one of the founding fathers of Disconnected, Pete Coyle, leaving for Berlin in February, the gig marked a high point as well as a nostalgic moment for many of us who have stuck with the Disconnected brand over the years.

The setting couldn’t have been better, and a sunny and breezy New Year’s Day, perfect outdoor terrace with a few beers to ease one’s aching liver were enough to get this humble reviewer back on his feet even after a large NYE. The Abercrombie has its issues (poor traffic flow between the rooftop and bar being the big one) but the crowd was tolerant, with a smile and a little patience enough to keep the flow of dancers moving – and move they did, spreading an infectious vibe through the dance floor as the afternoon warmed up. To get a crowd that good on a new year’s day is an impressive feat, and the party people who came out were one of the day’s greatest joys.

A mingled group of both Disconnected and Strange Fruit regulars laid out a huge range of sonic wares over the ten hours I saw; with a line-up as long as your arm, over 15 hours and two rooms on offer, there is no way that the diversity of the day and night can be captured in a review. The darker, sweatier downstairs room tended towards the glitchier sounds of tech house earlier in the afternoon, with MSG laying down some bassier tunes to get the party started. Jay Smalls followed through with some darker, harder grooves. Meanwhile, Dave Stuart and Jordan Deck took things in a more melodic, vocal direction in the courtyard’s sunny ambience, providing a sweeter prelude to the harder live set that Trinity soon cooked up on the same stage.

Kate Doherty proved to be a particular crowd favourite, drawing flocks of dancers into the dank musk of the lower level and into a fast, fine-edged weapon of a set, bristling with filter sweeps and quick cuts. It proved a hard choice between Kate and Ben Dunlop upstairs, who deserves special mention for providing a deadly warm-up for the man himself. Delivering a more Birmingham influenced set which slowly moved the party into a darker space, Dunlop set the stage for Slater’s entry as the night bloomed.

As the Planetary Assault System fired up, the first hail of silver plated hats shot across the dance floor and the crowd went wild; roaring and raising their hands in triumph as that much awaited 909 kick drum touched Sydney’s shores for the first time in a decade. Slater covered all the bases of deep, droning, hypnotic rhythms, soaring sweeps and crashing transitions, as well as taking the pace down in moments to a deeper place, drawing us with him on a true journey that reinforced his standing as a diverse producer of both the banging and ambient sides of techno. It would be a fair statement to say that every eye was turned toward the DJ booth as the press of bodies on the terrace swayed in unison to the roar of the kick drum assaulting the planet.

Far from over, the night carried on with a huge set from Defined by Rhythm, who followed Luke Slater by drenching the dance floor in a four deck concoction of white noise, holding plenty of disoriented dancers upstairs until the terrace closed (somewhat prematurely) just after midnight. Luckily, Mark Craven and Methodix Mainline were prepared to bring the wilderness in from the cold downstairs, and the party moved inside to continue into the wee hours of the morning. With some claiming that the locals outshone the headliner, the event certainly delivered an experience beyond a single DJ set. Expectations exceeded, I slunk home at 2am, battered, slightly broken but with a pretty smug grin on my face and a state of contended exhaustion setting in.

[Photos: Ivanna From Russia With Love]

Listen to Luke Slater on Pulse Radio

Daniel Wang is a bit of a music purist. Born in California and raised in Taiwan, the classically-trained DJ and producer moved to New York in the 90s where he met Morgan Geist of Metro Area who released his '70s boogie-inspired album, 'Idealism' on his Environ label. A move to the techno capital of Berlin almost a decade ago didn't qualm his passion for organic disco and dance music rooted in songcraft, and it's there he's now a resident of the monthly Saturday night Horse Meat Disco party where he spins to Berliners who prefer to avoid techno altogether.

A constant world-travelling DJ, Wang is on his way to Australia this month to spin alongside the other half of Metro Area, Darshan Jesrani, at the Picnic party as part of the annual Sydney Festival. In anticipation of his arrival we caught up with the disco aficionado about Berlin, interior design and his aversion to contemporary electronic music culture.



Pulse: Are you still enjoying living in Berlin? How long have you been there now? Daniel Wang: In summer 2013 it will be a complete decade, although I already began visiting Berlin in the year 2000. Once I had experienced the beautiful buildings, the trees, the down-to-earth sexy German people here, it seemed that my heart moved here long before my body did. Yes, i love it more and more as I grow older. USA seems more and more like a schizophrenic imitation of 19th Century Europe, mixed with some parts of the 2nd and 3rd World - handgun rampages, crumbling buildings, cultish christians, or nutty hasidic jews in New York. Of course Germany has poverty and problems too, but it's not quite so extreme. My boyfriend has a small boat now, we go cruising on the East Berlin lakes. I miss Berlin whenever I'm away from this city for more than a few days.

How has the scene there changed for the better, and for the worse, since you’ve been there? Obviously the rents have gone up some 30-40%, but they were abnormally cheap even up until 3 or 4 years ago. The music scene is probably less raw and rave-ish but has probably only gained in diversity and quality, I feel. Except for the new GEMA fee structure which is causing grief - the exact outcome is still uncertain. I feel that the music and club scene here are still quite alive.

Is there much of a disco community there? I would have thought London a la Horse Meat Disco would be the city to be in for a disco DJ at present? London is the home of a certain kind of camp culture, but in case you havent heard, Berlin is much more the secret gay capital of Europe and maybe the world now. The monthly HMDisco event in Berlin is a Saturday night blockbuster, not like the small, cosy Sunday evening originator in London. I sometimes have the impression here of swimming in a sea of well-fed European flesh! And there is a strong small cult of DJs who are purely into classics, funk, soul. I meet Germans all the time who tell me that they're not just into techno - that's a false stereotype.

Vinyl stores around the world are quickly disappearing. Are there still any good ones left in Berlin? There are a good dozen or two maybe! For new electronic dance music, definitely Rotation, HardWax, Leila M, etc. But if you also want real vintage 70s and 80s, there's Melting Point and so many more, I can't even name them.

Do you still go record shopping whilst on your DJ travels around the globe? Any particular store that’s a favourite? No, I hardly go shopping in stores anymore, because the chance of accidental discoveries is very low now. Maybe I'd go to A1 in East Village NYC, or Streetlight in Castro District of San Francisco, but I tend to search on internet now, just like everyone else around the globe. Even 20 years ago, I don't think anyone would have imagined that there would be DJs and collectors everywhere from Moscow to Jakarta, the globalization of such pop culture is pretty mind-blowing.

Aside from DJing around the world, what else have you been up to lately music wise? The last thing you released was the 'Balihu Bootleg EP', no? I DJ too much and produce too little. Truth is, I've had only one project for the past 3 years or so: renovating my little East Berlin flat into a new home and new studio. My family moved frequently during my childhood so I always longed for my own home. I took the same approach to interior deco as I did to disco records though, so I've been studying and collecting 70s sofas and armchairs and colour schemes and neon lights. When the new home is ready in early 2013, then I will get back on my synthesizers.

You’re known as a sucker for organic disco and house tracks with good melody. I imagine that lots of electronic music today disappoints you? That's really fair to say, thank you for putting it so bluntly! It's more of a constant amazment at the dullness and shamelessness of much contemporary electronic music culture: it's really "Emperor is wearing no clothes". So much is hype, ego, and masses of party people who confuse the messenger with the message. Part of me is objective about it and says, "well, not every human is a wine expert, not every human appreciates the basics of even good food, they eat rubbish and drink coca cola, so why should their senses be any more sharp for beautiful music, beautiful objects, and so on?" But part of me thinks that you just can't relativize all this. You listen to radio hits AND dance music up until the late 80s, and there is a basic quality in musicianship and composition, a solid bottom line which doesnt exist now.

On that note, which DJs and producers today excite you? There are just a few. I really liked 'Inspector Norse' by Todd Terje even if everyone played it to death. I've even heard it in supermarkets in Germany. He is just naturally musical. You can ask DJs to sing a tune, and if they can sing properly, then often they have better ears.

You’re coming to Australia soon to play at Sydney Festival with Darshan Jesrani. What are you looking forward to about the trip? You’ve been to Australia several times before, right? Actually I am not looking forward to the physical traveling at all. I sleep very badly in airplanes, i get a bit nervous during turbulence even though rationally i know there is nothing to fear, and I even insisted that the two 12 hour flights from Europe be broken down over two days because continuous sleeplessness is sheer torture. I've only been to Australia twice, and the flights are a big reason why it's been so infrequent. i think a lot of serious music people are known to hate long distance flights - maybe it has to do with inner ear calibration. But of course i look forward to having fun with Darshan and making people happy with my DJ sets.

Name 3 of your favourite records to play at the moment. Hmmm, I rediscovered an old LP by The Trammps, the one with 'Disco Party' on it. The whole LP has great arrangements. I love the Crown Heights Affair LP 'Sure Shot' for its B sides too. And i love the synth effects on JR FUNK's 'Feel Good Party Time'. All three are black Afro-American male vocal tracks actually. I'm getting away from female diva disco music a bit!

Favourite book on dance music? Fave book is probably still Andrew Holleran's 'Dancer From The Dance" which is not strictly non-fiction but is a more intimate documentary of the gay disco scene in lower Manhattan in 1977.

Favourite book not about dance music? Favourite book not about dance music? Isnt that kind of a wide net to cast, haha? Well, I got this great book from the Oxfam thrift shop last week: "Universe" by Nicolas Cheetham. It literally shows all the bizarre astronomical discoveries on huge photos page by page which scientists have mapped in the past 30 years or so. It's like a cosmic menu in a way, but instead of hamburgers and noodles and cocktails, it's photos of supernovas, moons that might have water and organic life on them, nebulae, spiraling bizarre hourglass-shaped clouds...

Good DJs make good cooks. Yay or nay? Can't generalise. Brennan Green is a good cook, I am a decent cook, i can say that. I always refuse the "pre-party group dinner for DJs" anyhow because I don't like to play with a full stomach. You gotta feel light as a bird up on that stage, in that DJ booth, otherwise you can't dance to the music, and DJs who don't dance to their own music are just the epitome of lame!

Listen to Daniel Wang on Pulse Radio

Berlin techno stalwart Marcel Dettmann is returning to Australian shores next month to play shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth across one whirlwind weekend. The last time the Berghain resident visited the country was late in 2011 alongside fellow resident DJ Ben Klock, with the pair's brand of rough and rugged techno well received by audiences.

Dettmann will spin at Brown Alley in Melbourne, Chinese Laundry in Sydney and for the Likes Of You in Perth at a TBA venue. Tour dates after the mix.

Tour Dates:

15.02.13 - Melbourne, Brown Alley
16.02.13 - Sydney, Chinese Laundry
17.02.13 - Perth, The Likes of You

Listen to Marcel Dettmann on Pulse Radio

2013 was welcomed by Sydney together with some of her closest friends at the annual Field Day; an incredible array of artists moving 14,000 pairs of dancing shoes under the summer sun and a cloudless sky in the city's beautiful Domain.

Jesse Rose was the first international up on the main stage - the early timeslot was mandated due to him also featuring at Melbourne's Summadayze several hours later. It wasn't only him jaunting between states and festivals on New Years' Day; incredibly 14 other artists flew between Sydney and Melbourne on the day to play before revellers. Playing with the crowd, Rose quickly swept past any hangups on being the opening act and made sure there was plenty of bounce for those who arrived early.

Behind the main stage after Rose was Maya Jane Coles, who showcased a fantastic tech house-based set. Showing plenty of enthusiasm for the afternoon, Coles surprised many by infusing less dub than expected with the style clearly directed by the crowd's mood. Crossing over to the Island Stage where Walter and Arno of Booka Shade played an amazing live set to what must have been the biggest crowd before the sun left for the day. The crowd let out a rousing cheer for the first few bars of 'Mandarine Girl' and even the Melbourne-bound Jesse Rose would have heard the noise when Booka Shade closed with 'In White Rooms.'

Unfortunately, Hot Chip were unable to play their scheduled live set owing to their production equipment being lost in transit. In true showbiz fashion, Alexis and Joe of the band continued with an impromptu DJ-set, arguably releasing them from the constraints of their own back catalogue to play an eclectic and energetic array; Joe's live rendition of 'Bear Hug' by his alter-ego The 2 Bears somehow managed to bring extra funk to their timeslot. A surprise announcement then followed Fake Blood's set - Hot Chip's rider was located and Fuzzy hastily negotiated with the location to extend the night by half an hour to allow Hot Chip to close Field Day with a short live set after Mark Ronson.

As the sun set Scuba took to the decks for his much anticipated set. Having been through the same jet-setting rigmarole as the other acts, the Hotflush boss looked weary and a little aloof (it soon became apparent that’s simply his demeanour behind the decks), though his music conveyed the complete opposite. Dropping big bassline filled tech and house, Scuba’s set was immense, making every drop count and his style at times feeling reminiscent of a one DJ T. As the crowd cheered in agreeance throughout his set, Scuba let out a few wry smiles here and there – he was clearly enjoying himself, and enough to cheekily drop Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ as his last track. No shit…and it completely worked.

After the crowd lapped up Disclosure’s hour live set of their retro-leaning house, SBTRKT made his much welcome return to a Sydney stage since his set at the musica festival back in 2011. This time, however, he was doing it live complete with a drum kit. And what a performance it was - bashing through his catalogue he reminded just how good dance music played live can be. During a particularly rousing rendition of ‘Wildfire,’ everyone went suitably nuts.

The last minute change to Hot Chip playing last was worth the delay and although the group powered through just four songs, no one could say they were disappointed upon leaving The Domain. Organisers Fuzzy managed to display to all in attendance how to run a festival; drink and bathroom queues were brief and there were minimal disruptions throughout the day. Monitors were present to ensure that the neighbours weren't too disturbed by the party, and the aqua-mist canopy allowed relief to those wishing to escape the summer heat. One can only imagine the eleventh hour discussions that took place between Fuzzy, The Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens' Trust, the New South Wales' Environmental Protection Agency and Hot Chip for the closing live set, but somehow, they managed to pull it off.

Hats off to Fuzzy for Field Day, a wonderful start to 2013.

Listen to Field Day on Pulse Radio

Bturn - the baltic club culture and lifestyle gang who are documenting the explosion of electronic music in Eastern Europe - have released a new video featuring an exclusive interview with Hotflush signings Mount Kimbie, following on from an interview with British bass pioneer Mala a couple of weeks back, filmed on location at one of the region's most talked up new festivals.

Croatian production company Bturn TV have gained themselves a reputation for producing quality content - in this interview, Mount Kimbie give an honest and upfront insight into their sound, performances and their contribution to UK bass culture. Check out the video in the YouTube player below...

Check out more video loveliness at bturn.com.

Listen to Mount Kimbie on Pulse Radio.

Auntie Flo
Rituals
[Mule Musiq]

Rituals is a group of three original productions, split between two labels, dedicated to: “the ritual music that takes place every day around the globe.” All three tracks, Kisumu, Mela and Sun Ritual were released in November -- Kisumu and Mela were released on Mule Musiq and Sun Ritual via Kompakt. Keep reading and see what sets Brian D’Souza aka Auntie Flo apart from the rest...

In addition to exploring complex sounds ranging in disparity from Chicago House, Kwaito to advanced Pop D’Souza’s music challenges the norm that Western music is a commodity, unlike other places in the World where it is, “ingrained into everyday life.” Kisumu has a time-worn African feel that is rich with rhythmic diversity; this deeply heartfelt tune should strongly appeal to fans of Osunlade or Culoe De Song without question.

Unalike Kisumu, Mela is more aggressive. Though it follows in similar polyrhythmic suit as it’s A-side counterpart, the spacing or lack their of, between the bass, piano-line and the other long list of percussion driven rhythms, makes the B-side feel that much less delicate. Mela is absolutely the more Techno-minded of the two; if you like Luciano or Ricardo Villalobos, this might just be your cup of tea.

Idiosyncratic in nature, but also not unalike Kisuma or Mela, Sun Ritual sees D’Souza exercising the most artistic freedom of the three tracks. Buried under a cacophony of African-sounding instruments -- marimbas being the most noticeable --Sun Ritual balances a playful, ritualistic-like nature with a guttural -- at times straight up screechy -- industrial palette. Once again, if you like Luciano or Villalobos, you’ll easily like Sun Ritual.

Listen to Auntie Flo on Pulse Radio.

Bristol has always been known for its rich musical heritage - from Massive Attack and Tricky to Roni Size and Untold, the city has never failed to impress in terms of a diverse and rich hotbed of talent outside of London. Most recently, helped along by the likes of Julio Bashmore, labels such as Futureboogie Recordings and a penchant for blending the once disparate worlds of 4-4 and bass culture together, Bristol's latest musical continuum focuses on contemporary house music. If you haven't already, then meet forerunners Behling & Simpson, a production duo who look to take things nice and slow, mixing the aesthetics of deep house ith r'n'b, groove and more. 2013 is looking set to be a pinnacle for the production and DJ duo, with many releases slated to come out over the year. Pulse got acquainted further as they deliver our inaugural podcast of 2013. Take it away guys...

2012 is officially over... what were your highlights of the last year? 2012 was a cracking year - the main highlight has to be the progression from January when we'd released just a few tracks and done a couple of gigs, to the autumn when we were gigging every weekend all over the UK and Europe. In particular, playing Wilde Renate in Berlin was a great experience, and we were stoked to be asked back a few months later. The Garden festival in Croatia was also a very welcome dose of sun in a damp and dreary Bristol summer, although we paid for that with a trip to Oslo in the middle of winter...

In terms of productions, what is coming up for you in 2013? So far 2013 is looking pretty busy to begin with - we've got a 3 track EP on Outernational Recordings which is just out on vinyl and will be coming on digital in the next week or two. That's going to be followed by remixes for Quantic & Alice Russell and Bristol's own Type Sun, and then in Feb/March a new white label 12" of two Ciara edits. They've been getting a lot of heat lately, so we're pretty excited about that one. After that, there will be more releases and more remixes, once we've sorted out the schedules!

Your sound is geographically specific, continuing the trend of lo-end house that seems to come from the city. Have you always been into electronic music? Pretty much - among other things! We're kids of the 90's and came of age listening to Orbital, Underworld, Goldie, Jeff Mills and Plastikman - but alongside that we also listened to a lot of rock, dub and soul. I think it's easy to forget how good / weird Radio 1 went in the 90s - John Peel had a regular show, One In The Jungle blew us both away on a weekly basis, Mary Anne Hobbs started The Breezeblock, Mark & Lard had a show with a poetry section (!)... I think what happened was that after the BBC chieftains realised their roster was massively dull in the early 90s, it seemed like they went really far the other way in an attempt to become relevant again, so most evenings, once you got past 7pm there were loads of quality specialist shows to check out. As any musician will tell you, it's vital to listen to as much different music as possible; we were lucky that the biggest station in the country helped us start doing that at quite an early age!

As for the Bristol connection, it's not just lo-end house - it is, and always has been, lo-end everything, from dub and roots soundsystems, to garage and dubstep, drum and bass, jungle, all the way back to the Wild Bunch and Smith & Mighty. It's so good to be in a city where so many cultures and music styles rub up against each other - the result is a great melting pot of ideas and influences, which is definitely helped by it not being too big.

I've also read that you guys created more straight up bass music, and released over 100 singles under various guises, Can you give us some clues as to these previous monikers? No [laughs]! To be fair, we're not really trying to hide them - 30 seconds with Google will sort you out there - it's just that as we try to establish Behling & Simpson as a project with its own identity and sound, we'd prefer not to muddy the waters by chatting about our other stuff just yet. We're still proud of what we achieved, and it's definitely benefitted Behling & Simpson having our production chops somewhat up to speed, but there aren't too many useful stylistic links between them all... Other than perhaps a love of good drums in every kind of dance music.

Speaking of Bristol, the amount of talented producers that came from the city exploded in 2012... who can you tip off as someone for Pulse readers to keep an eye on? Outboxx have been bubbling under for a while now, but they've got a couple of quality releases lined up on good labels this year, and we reckon they'll be doing big things come the summer. Kowton as well - he's a good friend of ours and has recently hit a rich vein of form with his rugged grime-influenced techno. If he's not smashing it by the end of the year we'll be very surprised! And on the experimental tip, Emptyset continue to blow minds and deconstruct souls - if you get a chance to see them live, don't pass up on it.

The music you make is very loosely categorized as house, but you seem to take inence from aflull forms of electronic music, Do you think artists (and consumers) are more eclectic and open these days and expect more than just dancefloor cuts?Are people looking for musically rich tracks? That's a hard one to call - some of the biggest tracks this year were pretty uninspiring, if we're honest, and didn't really offer much in the way of musical richness. But on the other hand, there have been a lot of people really mashing things up - since the likes of Hud Mo, Rashad, Blawan, and Huxley (to name just a few) have made it big, any of whom could headline a credible 'bass music' event, people have started pulling those kind of influences into their own stuff, whatever the genre. So there's definitely a wide range of stuff being made at the moment, and the increasing globalisation of dance music has led to some very interesting developments over the last couple of years too - producers from Venezuala and Bulgaria alike are putting their own spin on things. Long may that continue.

It's great, too, to see people prepared to dance to anything from 107 to 170BPM in the main room - that marks a bit of a change even from the last few years, where you'd have 'eclectic' lineups, but rarely would you see (say) deep house and juke on the same bill. Which is a good thing - we're all about variety!

Tell us about your affiliation with the brilliant Futureboogie Recordings and how you came to be such a big part of their operation.... It all harks back to why Bristol is such a great, connected city. We were hawking round the first B&S productions in demo form, and just passed it to various DJs and producers in the city. We'd never heard of Futureboogie at that point, but Julio Bashmore passed the CD on to them, they liked it, we all got together in the pub and sorted out the first release. It was pretty straightforward. Since then, we've developed a really good working relationship with the Futureboogie guys - they're top people who do things properly, we love playing their events, and I guess they must like our stuff! It might sound a bit prosaic but that's pretty much all there is to it.

Are you looking to release an album soon? We'll release an album when the time is right. It's something we'd love to do, but having released several albums over the years, we've learned that you can't really force these things…. drop an album when people aren't ready for it, and it may sink without really getting the attention you feel all those months of work should merit! But yeah, it's definitely on the cards at some point, and we're keeping an ear out for interesting vocalists...

This is the first Pulse Podcast of 2013.... what's the flavour of the mix? Wahey, we get to kick things off in the big 2k13 - well chuffed! Ok, on a dry and purely technical level, the mix starts at 107bpm and finishes up at the heady heights of 115bpm, and lasts about an hour. But within that, we've hopefully given a bit of a taster as to what we're about - some deeper material, some of our trademark 'slow-but-bumpty' stuff (including one of those Ciara edits we mentioned earlier), through some boogie and R'n'B and off to a bit of a cosmic end. So it covers a few different vibes, but hopefully hangs together enough to be an interesting and engaging listen... Or so the plan goes! Oh, and there's also a bit of a cheeky 'exclusive' kicking around in there, in the shape of our remix of a house legend... Not sure what's happening with that in terms of a release, but it's certainly been doing the business for us in our sets.

Finally, what's coming up in terms of EPs? Are you looking to continue releasing across smaller labels such as Midnight Visions? Hey, are you insulting the honour of 2020 Midnight Visions? We'll duel you at dawn! Seriously though, we're very happy with how that release turned out and we'd certainly be up for working with the 2020 guys again should the opportunity present itself - it's a massively impressive legacy they've built up. Obviously in general we'd like to release on the biggest labels we can, but we're in the slightly odd position of releasing house music at a tempo that the majority of regular house DJs don't play - and of course, if a label has spent 5 years building up a distinct sonic identity, they're often reluctant to compromise that by releasing something completely different. So we've definitely been lucky in that all the labels we've worked with (Futureboogie, Applepips, Outernational and 2020 Midnight Visions) have been willing to deal with us on our terms, and accept what we do 'as is', which is hugely liberating.

It is interesting with the tempo thing though - we do love producing and DJing at this speed, there's a unique swing and groove you can access down these parts of the BPM map, and once we start playing, we get people on the floor (and they tend to stay there)... but at the same time, it feels like writing at a more standard tempo would open a couple of doors, perhaps. That said, Bashmore's new single is 116BPM, the new Maya Jane Coles EP is all down around 115, so maybe the rest of the world is starting to catch up….

Tracklisting
1. Kassem Mosse - 2D - Workshop
2. Duff Disco - TLD - House Of Disco
3. Mario Basanov - High School - Needwant
4. Behling & Simpson - Slow Mo Acid - [dub]
5. Ciara - Goodies (BnS Edit) - [dub]
6. Typesun - The PL (Behling & Simpson RMX) - Root Elevation
7. Frames ft J Dub - Master of Time (Behling & Simpson RMX) - Blotter Artists
8. Creative Swing Alliance - Get Down - City Fly
9. Alkalino - Ruff N Stuff - Whiskey Disco
10. Mike Mago - Galactic (Behling & Simpson RMX) - BMKLTSCH
11. Solange - Losing You - Terrible US
12. Touchsoul - Give U More - Touchsoul Edits
13. Freekwency - Outrun - Voyeurhythm
14. Kerri Chandler - Peace Of My Mind (Behling & Simpson RMX) - [dub]
15. Francis Inferno Orchestra - Silk & Smooth - FINA
16. Amplified Orchestra vs Dexter - Funk Force 1 - Clone
17. Playgroup - Number 1 (Chicken Lips Dub) - Playgroup Recordings
18. Behling & Simpson - The Vaults - Outernational NL

Download Pulse.107 - Behling & Simpson here.

Listen to Behling & Simpson on Pulse Radio.

Peckham is the new Hackney Wick. Or something like that. A myriad of unusual, erstwhile and temporary spaces have popped up in the south London district over the last couple of years, a world away from the hustle and bustle of the over-saturated East. Arguably many of these parties attract a more discerning crowd, given that the Eastern sheep are less inclined to follow their mates off the tube network, with nearby Goldsmiths University supplying an ever-steady stream of music-loving students as floor fodder.

The Hydra’s 2012 finale with Border Community and friends in Peckham Rye made for an off-kilter New Year’s Eve choice, especially in the run-down confines of the gloriously named Peckham Palais. Arriving some time after midnight, we were greeted by an uncovered outdoor smoking area on the main road, and big crowds bottlenecking through the tight entrances and staircases of the venue. There also appeared to be a barber’s shop on the ground floor. So far, so confusing.

It’s slightly worrying at first, with access to the main room temporarily shut off - but the situation soon evens out and we’ve got the bizarrely laid-out venue to explore. We caught the end of Koreless’ set once settled in and, as pretty as it is, he took a hugely misguided approach for a peak-time set. What we hear in his last 15 minutes is a good 70% devoid of beats, with rhythms dropping in for 32 bars or so before being sucked back into the ether. It’s immensely frustrating, and not music for dancing to. Stick a 4/4 kick under the whole thing and we’ll call it quits.

Things got a lot more interesting as Nathan Fake climaxes his set with some blindingly euphoric geek tech in the sweaty, dark, incredibly intense basement, before Luke Abbott steps up to bridge the gaps between experimental, riff-rich techno and chattering breakbeats and suggestions of breakcore (there was more than a tinge of hard dance going on at points). Room 2 soon seduced us, Mark E playing muscular disco and hooky acid house and tech alternately, working up a sweat in the decently sized room. The sound was sadly not as beefy in there as in the other rooms, but with a raised area overlooking the dancefloor and excellent music, we were more than content.

Redshape stole the show with his eclectic blend of techno grooves, hidden behind his spooky red mask. A multitude of touchstones feature, from throbbing-yet-accessible dark room grooves to ethereal melodies and gruff, distorted riffs. It represented a masterclass in weaving an engrossing, evolving live set together, a world away from the dull laptop-gazing debacle it could be. "The set tonight was like an update on the album show, first played in Berghain and then last night at Horst in Berlin where I added three new tracks to it" says Mr Shape after his set to Pulse in an off the cuff interview. "I wanted to give some new drive to the album tracks as the album is more focused on moody music somehow, and for the live set I wanted to put some more energy into it. I'm always excited to try out new material... and nervous. But I'm always nervous". 

The South DJs rounded off the night with an eclectic mini-set that takes in Henrik Schwarz’s remix of Omar’s ‘Feeling You’, Plastikman’s ‘Spastik’ and unbelievably, Livin’ Joy’s mid-90s euro-dance classic ‘Dreamer’. Don’t ask how, but it somehow works and gives a satisfying anthemic climax to the night’s proceedings.

Although sadly,  things take a sour turn when the event ends; a chaotic cloakroom crew having begin creeping up the narrow, winding staircase from around 5 AM and not finishing until well after 7 AM. This reviewer gets forcibly ejected from the queue by a meat-head bouncer who mistakenly believes he had cut in, and so spends an hour interviewing Redshape and talking to Hydra promoter Ajay in the refuge of Room 2. He vents his frustration at the disorganisation of the security and the difficulty faced by everyone turning up between 1 and 2 - but he needn't worry too much. We’ll soon forget the epic cloakroom queue - but some of the music we’ve heard tonight will stay with us for a long time. An unusual NYE, but one that left us feeling pretty damn satisfied.

Listen to James Holden, Nathan Fake& Redshape on Pulse Radio.

Sometimes, being isolated is a good thing. In this day and age here choice is available in abundance, sometimes one can feel over-saturated by the music on offer - and that's for just the record buying public. But what if you're an artist, working to the pressures and trends of a hyper accelerated culture? Being influenced by others around you is something that The Carter Brothers have never had a problem with - hailing from a remote part of Australia, the Tsuba endorsed duo take their own spin on dancefloor sounds - albeit doused with their own musical angle and lashings of upfront, quirky humour. The brothers took some time out to introduce themselves further to Pulse and delivered a cracking mix to boot. Read on...

For those unaware, where have you released music previously to your recent album Metropolis on Tsuba? We have worked with Black Catalogue, which is Monty Luke's label. Total legend and love his label. Hopefully we can do some more work soon. We've also just released a crazy five tracker for Melbourne Deepcast. Those Deepcast boys are nice lads. Threw us a dope party at Mercat in Melbourne to launch the record. Good fun.

For a debut it's quite ambitious to release across double 12" - did you guys have stacks of material begging for an outlet? No not really. Metro was out there but needed someone to believe in her and commit her to wax. Now she is whole and happy!

Electronic music - especially alternative forms of house music - are becoming huge in Aus, helped along by the likes of Melbourne Deepcast and artists such a Tornado wallace and Mic Newman. Is the scene going from strength to strength and are there any hot names you can tip us off for in 2013? There are a lot of young crew who are really passionate and love underground house and techno. The scene has grown a bit recently and I would attribute a lot of that to the players who have been putting out records and good clubs dedicated to underground music. Keep your ear out for the Cuckoo crew of Fission Theory, Martin Regan, 12"Phildo. All absolute talents.

It also stated in the PR that the album is largely focused around sampling... do you think the art of sampling is still an art form as such? Yes. Absolutely. It has to be done right. Certain things aren't kosher.

Growing up in rural Australia meant that you ere far from the trends and bustling heartbeat of any scene - but do you think your musical creativity and output has benefited from not being over exposed to stuff? It made us very hungry to experience new music. We became gluttons for sound. When we heard techno for the first time look out! Jeff Mills left us mystified. We would listen to techno 24/7. It was always techno time.

Is it fair to say that Metropolitan as a concept and title, is inspired by the fact that you DIDNT grow up in a busy Metropole? Movement and travel is definitely part of the concept!

Saying that, how did you come to get into dance music in the first place? There was a radio show with a dj who played lots of different house, techno, trance etc. People would bring mix tapes back from the city. Soon they're were crews with turntables putting on parties, playing records and there was this little scene happening. We would trip to the city and visit the record stores before we decided that Adelaide was we're we wanted to be. There were some artists and labels here we really believed in.

The album is a mesh of different sounds and influences... but outside of electronica, what genre or style is most influential on you? 50's/60's Rock and roll.

Have you ever had plans to take the sound a transpose it to the live setting? Yeah we have done many live sets over the years, in lots of different setups. At the moment we're doing a raw live acid set. Just drum machines and pedal efx but it's very good fun and sounds loud.

Tell us about the Pulse mix you've mixed for us - what';s the special flavour of it and are there a couple if curve balls included? We set up for a live set in the studio and had a bit of a jam. Piped our loops out through the desk. Drum machines & Filters. Then mixed a few to finish it off. Hopefully it's a nice little journey for the ears.

Finally, where next for the Carter Bros? Is 2013 going to be your year? We really want to work with all our local crews here in Adelaide making records. There's so much talent it would be a shame if a lot of these guys didn't get some records out.

Metropolis is available to buy now through Tsuba.

Listen to The Carter Brothers on Pulse Radio.

New Years Day is fast overtaking New Years Eve as the main event. More than proof were the crowds who poured into the ivy for Lost Disco and Hot Creations' NYD Pool Party last week. Taking the stage were Russ Yallop, Infinity Ink, Brohn and a long list of talented locals over 2 rooms all bringing their A Game. The Changeroom stars giving the pool stage a run for it's money all day. Here are the photos taken by Tim Jones for Pulse Radio of what was a fantastic way to kick off 2013! Finely Tuned have big things planned for this year; REBELRAVE 10 Year Label Tour, Circoloco, Lost Disco, Agwa Yacht Club and so much more so dust off your dancing shoes and Like their page to check out the rest of the photos thanks to Tim Jones Photography and to stay up to date with all they've got for you. Here's a taste:







For more Lost Disco presents Hot Creations Pool Party photos; LIKE Finely Tuned for the full selection thanks to Tim Jones. 

Listen to Russ Yallop on Pulse Radio

Listen to Infinity Ink on Pulse Radio

Listen to Brohn on Pulse Radio