BLOG BLOC

2008-12-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

SKREAM & BENGA

are now for BLOC as well.

The dubstep superstars are playing back to back, for all your jump-up pleasures.

Radical nostalgia

2008-11-06T08:35:00.001-08:00

On another radical nostalgia tip, BLOC resident EDMX recently made a podcast taking us as listeners on a journey through his formative years of listening to music. These shows are such a personal take on some of the finest pop records from the past twenty years, it sounds like Ed is sitting in your living room patiently talking you through his personal collection.

METRO AREA RELEASE FABRIC

2008-11-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

Get this:

The sublime Metro Area are releasing a Fabriclive mix - for anyone unfamiliar with the cool, clean sound of Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani's Metro disco make sure you slam this one in your mobile listening devices and get to know it on a one-to-one basis. Nostalgia's never been so damn cool.

01. Babla's Disco Sensation - Ghar Aya Mera Pardesi (Intro)
02. World Premiere - Share the Night (Breakdown Mix)
03. Ministry - Work for Love (Dub Mix)
04. The Disco Four - Move to the Groove (Instrumental)
05. Skratch - You Should Have Known Better (Instrumental)
06. Barbara Norris - Heavy Hitter (Dub Version)
07. Gary's Gang - Makin' Music (Dub Mix)
08. Voyage - Souvenirs
09. Five Special - Why Leave Us Alone (Long Version)
10. Ray Martinez - The Natives are Restless
11. Dreamhouse - I Can Feel It
12. Mascara - Baja (Instrumental Dub Version)
13. Play by Numbers - Cloud Nine (Ready Mix)
14. Midway - Set it Out (Funky Breakdown Mix)
15. Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement
16. Data - Blow (Remix)
17. Atmosphere - Swede's Scandal
18. Wiretap - X-Rated Man
19. Plez - I Can't Stop (Acid Rainforest Mix)
20. Baby Oliver - Feelings 2
21. Jean Luc Ponty - Open Mind (Special Dance Mix)
22. Premiere Class - Poupée Flash
23. Devo - Freedom of Choice

2008-11-06T04:47:00.000-08:00

We'd actually already booked Arabian Prince for BLOC before I in my ignorance discovered he was in the original NWA lineup with Dr Dre and Ice Cube. He's circled in red here on their iconic ''Straight Outta Compton'' album cover. Check out our BLOC myspace page for Arabian Prince's awesome electro track ''Professor X''.

If you're interested in where gangsta rap came from, this bio of Arabian Prince shows how he, Dr. Dre and another BLOC artist Egyptian Lover gave rise to a worldwide cultural phenomenon.

2008-11-03T06:19:00.000-08:00

The lineup's coming so thick and so fast it's becoming virtually impossible to keep track of it even downtown here in the BLOC office. Check these latest, wild additions to see what we mean:

MODESELEKTOR

METRO AREA / 4HERO / EGYPTIAN LOVER / ALTERN-8

ARABIAN PRINCE / DYNAMIX II

SI BEGG / DJ GODFATHER / DANIEL BELL / I-F / HEARTBREAK

BIZZY B / DYLAN / 2 BAD MICE / BEARDYMAN

GLOBAL GOON / ULRICH SCHNAUSS / CLARK

Also, and this is damned exciting for everyone concerned - OVERKILL are curating and hosting a section of BLOC 2009!

OVERKILL are the archdukes of all things experimental, left-field and staggeringly awesome. They intend to introduce something from a place you've never been before to BLOC - so do watch out for that. ;)

MORE LINEUP!

2008-10-28T05:09:00.001-07:00

Grammy-nominated Detroit legend

CARL CRAIG

will be closing the festival on Sunday night!

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry - LIVE BAND
Scientist aka Hopeton Brown - DUB SHOW
Digital Mystikz – Coki
Kode 9
Tipper
Mad Professor - DUB SHOW
Rusko - Exclusive LIVE DEBUT
Ed Rush and Optical
Plastician
Zion Train - LIVE BAND
Pole - LIVE

Frequency 7 feat. Ben Sims and Surgeon

Rob Hood - FULL LIVE SHOW

James Ruskin

Redshape - LIVE

Steve Strawberry & Alex Downey

CURATED BY DJ PINCH,

Pinch

Appleblim

2562- LIVE
Jamie Vex'd

Peverelist

Joker B2B Blazey
Hosted by MC SGT Pokes

joining the Future Sound of London Afrika Bambaataa, Jamie Lidell and many, many, many more still TBA for a weekend like no other...

2008-10-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday techno, anyone?

Check this wicked Freq 7 promo mix!

;)

2008-10-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Further updates, more acts announced!

worra treat ;)

Brand new acts on board:

BLOC is back for 2009! The solar system’s leading indoor underground music event has been re-configured for the future and will feature a more powerful lineup than ever considered possible at a brand new and wildly exciting venue…

To find out more, read on;

There are no words for how excited we are to announce the first five acts on BLOC’s lineup:

THE FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON – LIVE

Despite massive chart success (most notably with the massive ‘Papua New Guinea’) and constantly being namechecked as one of the most influential electronic music acts of all time, Brian Dougans and Gaz Cobain have not played a show as The Future Sound of London for over ten years.

JAMIE LIDELL

With his unorthodox takes on soul and techno music, electronic experimenter Jamie Lidell has solidified his place as one of the most innovative artists in the underground scene. As part of the groups Subhead and Super_Collider, Lidell pushed the boundaries of dance music, but as a solo artist his work has challenged the common expectations of electronic music performers and composers. His live show has become an infamously exhilarating experience, combining his breathtaking voice with improvised electronic wizardry to create a show that’s uniquely Lidell.

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY

Grammy Award winning living legend Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry known as the most innovative producer working in reggae, producing records for Bob Marley and the Wailers at his Black Ark recording studio in the seventies. More recently he’s collaborated with Adrian Sherwood and Mad Professor, keeping his own brand of crazily eccentric performance art relevant to the masses well into his seventies.

AFRIKA BAMBAATAA

The Amen-Ra of Universal Hip Hop Culture, the Father of the Electro-Funk Sounds, Afrika Bambaataa founded the sound we know as hip-hop with his kraftwerk sampling, era-defining track ‘Planet Rock’. Along with DJ Kool Herc, Kool Dee and Grandmaster Flash, Bambaataa organized the original soundsystem block parties in New York in the late 1970’s.

FREQUENCY 7
feat. BEN SIMS & SURGEON

An incomparable force of techno power, the dancefloor punishing duo of UK legends Ben Sims and the DJ Surgeon is a no-holds-barred journey to the experimental side of the dancefloor. Not just famed for their innovative, trend setting production that’s championed by DJ’s the calibre of Dave Clarke, Jeff Mills and Derrick May, they are nifty selectors themselves. Between they’ve played at every self-respecting dance event on the planet, from I Love Techno to Tresor via Sonar – and of course everyone’s favourite UK festival – BLOC itself.

2008-10-14T03:06:00.000-07:00

This is the first post in the BLOC BLOG, what a treat for all involved and us especially.

For anyone unfamiliar with the internet or indeed the 21st century in general, a BLOG is a way my fingertips can reach your brain via the keyboard in front of me and the screen you're looking at. It can be updated whilst the BLOC management are relaxing at a central Reykjavik oxygen bar, snowboarding in Trowse or just hanging upside down in the BLOC cave fingering the hell out of some portable device or other.

So BLOC's hit the news stands! New venue - Butlin's Minehead, the Holiday Resort of Champions - one massive act already announced - Future Sound of London - massive acts still to be announced and there are barely contained rising excitement levels around the world...

Whilst y'all sit and excitedly babble at each other wondering what's going to happen next - check this video of the Future Sound of London live in action:

The Future Sound of London, live at the Essential Festival in 1997: