DLT Mix 003: Sentinels

Summer, summer, summer time. North London production duo Sentinels drop our third Days Like That mix - a nostalgic 45 minute smash of sweet summer bangers, cheeky bass badness and classic two-step anthems. We'll have a full interview with the Sentinels boys, currently causing a rave ruckus with their future classic 'Love Rhythm', up on site next week too. For now download this badboy, slap it in your stereo and get the summer vibes flowing.

Tracklisting:

N'n'G- Right Before My Eyes (Remix)
Dream Team vs. Artful Dodger- It Ain't Enough
Reservoir Dogs feat 702.- You Don't Know
Amar- Sometimes It Snows In April
M.A.W feat. India- To Be In Love (MJ Cole Remix)
Cleptomatics- All I Do (Bump and Flex Club Mix)
Ed Case- Something In Your Eyes (K Warren Mix)
Some Treat- Lost In Vegas
Colours- What You Do
Sia- Little Man (Wookie Mix)
Azzido da Bass- Dooms Night (Timo Mass Remix)
Teebone feat Sparks and Kie- FLYBI
Sticky- Golly Gosh 2
Jameson- Urban Hero
TNT- Unique
Same People - Dangerous
Beatfreaks- Speakerbox
DJ Narrows- Saved Soul

"I did the mix using 2 CDJs and a Technic 1210 but all of the tunes were vinyl uploads or vinyl from our collection of UK Garage that we started a decade ago (I feel old saying that!) It starts with bumpy vocal two-step and goes a bit darker towards the end and ends up with the dark garage that preceeded the grime and dubstep era. Highlights for me are two of my favourite garage tunes of all time the MAW MJ Cole mix of 'To Be In Love' and Cleptomatics' 'All I Do', also I pulled out the old trick of mixing 'Flybi' into 'Dooms Night' which we always used to do back in the day haha! Wookie's remix of Sia's 'Little Man' is also a highlight. I really enjoyed it and I think it gave me a reminder of how decently produced most of the classic tunes are, the songcraft and sequencing of the tunes are sick. They may not be louder than say a modern fidget house tune, but there is a much greater dynamic in the mixes and everything on vinyl is generally much better mastered than most modern digital mp3s that float about. Truly days like that. Bring 'em back!"
James (Sentinels)

 Days Like That Mix 003 - Sentinels by Days Like That

Who remembers this one? 002: B15 Project feat. Crissy D & Lady G 'Girls Like Us'

Can you tell it's summer? Viiiiiiiiiiiibes!

Garage legend Todd Edwards gives away remixes on Soundcloud

Is there any garage head in this world than hasn't got love for US producer Todd Edwards? It's no overstatement to say that Todd Edwards is unanimously the biggest single influence across the garage sound. His mad scientist use of vocals and his ability to splice and dice them into seamless, otherworldly instruments of their own has been running like a constant grain throughout the whole evolution of UK garage - from Tuff Jam to Burial everyone owes a little to Todd The God. And somehow he's even more relevant than ever - headlining Fabric, remixing the biggest artists around and influencing a whole new wave of producers. We've even heard on the garage grapevine that he's putting a new mix album together for Ministry Of Sound.

But we digress. The real reason for this post is coz he's giving away a shit load of unreleased remixes on his Soundcloud right now. Yep, over 20 unreleased dubs, remixes and refits from a true master of the art just waiting for the taking. Props, indeed.

Who remembers this one? 001: Sunship 'In The Pocket'

Can you believe this track is over 10 years old? One of Sunship's less celebrated classics (for classic it definitely is), 'In The Pocket' was the opening track on their 1998 album 'Is This Real?' which, in our opinion, is pretty much the most underrated UK garage LP of all time. But that's another post altogether. As for 'In the Pocket'... it's everything we love about Sunship's sound. It's smooth, soulful, musical and slick, but also raw, bumping and - even listening today - futuristic at the same time; Noel McKoy's soulful tones bending blissfully across the bouncy steppa beats and almost-but-not-quite-rave stabs. The perfect summertime steppa - it's in the bounce!

DLT Props 001: DJ Whistla

Like any music heads, there's a shit load of people out there that we think deserve more props than they get and seeing as we've got this (cyber)space at our disposal our 'props' series will be all about giving them to them - simple really, innit. We just want to put a little focus on the inspirational, the undercelebrated and the interesting heads both past and present -  be they DJs, producers, promoters, label owners or simply music enthusiasts. And our first subject - one DJ Whistla - fits easily into every one of those categories.

Both a serious connoisseur of the old school garage sound and a huge champion of the 'future garage' movement (it was arguably him that coined the term), Whistla is a man dedicated to reaching back to the true - and diverse - essence of UK garage and giving it the future he feels it never had first time round.

If we were talking about a less passionate being or a more jaded DJ, then it would be easy to take his often expansive 'future garage' ideas as little more than empty rhetoric or vacuous PR spin. But we're not. Unconcerned with hype, fads or ego, Whistla literally lives and breathes this sound. His DJ mixes online have revealed pages of garage history that we never really properly examined (check out his mix of underground legends KMA Productions here ), his L2S label gave the world a bountiful supply of quality modern garage before the sound had become en vogue once more and he's generally a top bloke; enthusiastic, unpretentious, impassioned and friendly. We're also pretty honoured to say he's been at every Days Like That so far - so double props for that one.

On paper, or screen to be more apt, the theoretical term 'future garage' is almost a contradiction in terms. And in many ways that's the beauty of the way Whistla executes it in practice. Listen to anything Whistla has his hand in and it's at once unmistakably classic in feel but futuristic in form. Ghosts of pirate stations past given a new lease of life, Whistla beats always take vintage, nostalgia-flooding garage - and rave - flavours into another dimension altogether without ever shape-shifting their essential form; the swing, the soul, the shuffle, the late-nights-driving-through-London, the renegade FM crackle and bittersweet optimism is always seeped into his sound.

The most recent - and arguably best - examples of this are the products of Whistla's four-track EP out next Monday on  L2S. A dubby soul drenched, rave-reflective garage track, 'Never Again'  has strains of classic Reinforced Records, Todd Edwards and Dem 2 mixing beautifully. Another 'ardkor rave meets bumping two-step garage (ravage anyone? maybe not!) 'London Love Story' is a ruder, more angsty affair, while 'No-One' is a dark string laden gem.  The fourth track 'Only Treasure' has more classic rave sounds, garage shuffles and a touch of vintage Horsepower to it - which is always a good thing. 

Anyway, if you're still wondering what the hell this 'future garage' thang is all about, then don't fret. Whistla did this pretty natty introductory mix last year which is below and there's also a wicked and highly insightful interview with legendary journalist Blackdown here. So that should get you clued up.



Whistla - Future Garage An Introduction by Whistla