OK, OK, hands up…base camp Duck has been slightly neglected of late, my continued apologies
BUT, I have been busy doing lots of things I’m sure you’ll be interested in, so pop the kettle on, pull up a chair and check this little lot out…

• It’s been an action packed January in the studio, previews of all the forthcoming stuff in the post below !
• My Myspace page has had a major overhaul, including a full Discography & Remixography, mix links, chart & updated biog – so now there are two online options for staying tuned in, check it out HERE
• All new 2010 Chart action can be perused on the CHARTS PAGE
• Gigs are coming in thick and fast for the first half of the year, I’ll be continuing with my residency at SAWA in Sheffield (see previous post) and also dropping in this Saturday (Feb 6th) at the awesome FREAKIN in York.

• Finally, a mixed bag of tricks on the DJ Mix front for you this time around, with the long overdue posting (sorry !) of a bit of my l o n g set at Mad Racket’s 11th birthday in Sydney from back in October, plus (amazingly) a good chunk of the Sunday day time session the day after !

LIVE RECORDING FROM MAD RACKET’S 11th BIRTHDAY PARTY_SYDNEY_OCT ‘09:
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LIVE RECORDING FROM B SIDES @ The Beresford (the day after !)
Right after the Racket session, we bedded in for an all-dayer at the lovely Beresford boozer @ Lorna Clarkson’s ace B Sides party, here’s a slab of that Gin & Guinness soaked Sunday set:
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BONUS !
Here’s a more Discoid style session recorded live at my debut ALL EARS night:
LIVE @ ALL EARS_SHEFFIELD DEC ‘09

And I’ll sign off with more glorious Disco flavours from the latest installment in the Discolated Hip series !
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So the annual January hiatus has been far more productive than expected !
Here’s a sneaky peek at some forthcoming Duckbeats related tracks and remixes:

I was absolutely over the moon to be asked to get involved in a Heaven 17 Remix project, co-ordinated by the excellent Mixed In Sheffield crew.

Fascist Groove Thing was a chart topper way back in 1981, in the midst of the hideous Thatcher years, which I remember clearly, if not fondly. Sadly the same themes which undoubtedly inspired the original seem to be topical again, racist bigots like the BNP winning political seats and a chinless brigade of privately educated and out of touch idiots about to take over at number 10, some things never change.

It’s always a tall order tampering with such well-loved music, but I think I managed to strip this 150 bpm synth-pop classic back to it’s steely Sheffield core.

HEAVEN 17_FASCIST GROOVE THING_DUCKBEATS SO-YO DUB

Next up we have the debut release on a new label venture from my good friends over in Croatia, Burek will kick off soon with a sterling release from the ever on-form Kink

KINK_YAKO_DUCKBEATS DUB

Another timely Acid drenched number from the legendary Back To Basics resident Buckley & studio partner Jon Woodall, soon to be released on the revived Basics label, aciiieedddd !

BUCKWOOD_HALF INCH JACK REWIRE

Last, but by no means least our new & decidedly epic Extended Play release is almost ready to go, it’s another collaborative affair with my label partners The Jet Project and sounds a little bit like this:

JP & DB_ASCENSION (DUCKBEATS DUB)

JP & DB_ASCENSION (JET PROJECT VERSION)

Well, it’s been quite a few years since my last steel city residency at the celebrated SCUBA night !

So, it’s with no small amount of excitement that I commence a long overdue monthly slot in the city’s newest, most bijou and certainly loudest venue – SAWA.

The mission to provide the perfect Saturday night soundtrack for Sheffield’s underground freaks starts here…
Live recordings from the monthly will be posted on the ALL EARS @ SAWA Facebook page & of course here, for your ‘listen again’ pleasure – Amen

So a few years back, myself and Swag partner in crime Richard Brown rustled up 3 EP’s of scandalously pilfered late 80’s Chicago style Jack Trax called HALF INCH JACK. We kept it kinda quiet at the time, pressed up a few of each one and just let them do their work, and work they did !
Anyway, much like the music which inspired them, they’ve aged remarkably well…so I thought it was high time this hat-trick of Acid Housery was available digitally, and thanks to those nice people / fiendish peddlars of mediocrity (delete as appropriate) at Beatport, you can now pick up all three EP’s and do all kinds of fun things with them, click below

TAKE ME TO THE HALF INCH JACK TRACKS ALREADY !

‘And jack had a groove, and from this groove came the groove of all grooves….’

Had a couple of weeks off to get over the Aussie trip, and boy did I need it !
Anywho, back with a vengeance at the end of the month for a long weekend of partying, firstly with the SUBJECT crew in Dublin on the 27th Nov, then the following night in Manchester with the DISCO OUTCASTS !

Heading off to a land down-under for the 11th Birthday celebrations of the best party in Sydney ! MAD RACKET.

Really looking forward to this one, and a couple of other parties in the neighbourhood (Including some post-Racket Sunday weird & wonderful wonkyness at the Beresford for the excellent B Side)

Also done 50 copies of an exclusive after-hours CD, which I’ll be dishing out at Racket as a thankyou to the wonderful Racketeers who make the party so special

Here’s a snippet of some recent Warehouse action to warm those legs up a little:

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As luck would have it our good friends The Popular People’s Front are also in the area this weekend, so be sure to check them @ the Good God Small Club for some Discolated debauchery ’til dawn !

Hot off the press – A trio of new Duckbeats cuts destined to see the light of day on ace new label from North of the border called HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC.

Their first release (on their Myspace page linked above) is a monster from THE REVENGE, with new material from Eddie C also in the works.

With a current return to raw, no frills sample-house, it seemed fitting to pay homage to some masters of the genre like Prescription Underground, Natureboy & Mood II Swing. So, the plan is to release these three tracks across two 12’s, with the fantastic ANDY ASH on remix duties for ‘Loni’s Groove’

DUCKBEATS_HOUSE BACK HOME PART ONE

MUSIC (DON’T STOP)

REPEAT PRESCRIPTION

DUCKBEATS_HOUSE BACK HOME PART TWO

LONI’S MOOD

OK, back in the Steel City this weekend for the WARP20 shenanigans. Kicking things off in true ‘89 style with a secretive warehouse party deep in the former industrial heartland of the city.

You can find out a bit more  HERE &  HERE

Myself, DJ PIpes and Maurice Fulton will be dropping warehouse goodness from past, present and future. Sure to be road-blocked, red hot and proper !

Here we go again, third release on our EXTENDED PLAY digital-only label has just touched down !

‘LOVE DUB’ is the first of many collaborative efforts from label founders The Jet Project & Duckbeats and is a sonic journey into the early morning dancefloor undergrowth !

On Remix duty we have the classically trained Berlin B-Boy Siopis (check the releases on Get Physical, amongst others), and the rather wonderful Sei A (who has delivered a belter)
All that sits happily next to the hefty original and a warrior charge dub from yours truly…

You can rush over and buy it now from Beatport.

AND, being as you so regularly support our occasional output, here’s a big fat one hour slab of free DJ mixage, courtesy of the Jet Project, recorded live at their Stiff Kitten residency in Belfast

JET PROJECT_DJ SESSION_BELFAST_AUG09

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More original material and exclusive remixes on the way. Play on !

THE BIG CHILL

Coming up on Saturday the 8th August, I’ll be heading to the fantastic Big Chill Festival in Malvern, to do that thing I do in the Rizla tent, round about 11 until close. Kind of a late edition to proceedings, so not much of a heads up I know, but very much looking forward to taking it all in down there !

I know I’m pretty slack at updating this little blog/site of mine, and I’ll spare you the excuses (although parenting and record distribution are incredibly time consuming !). By way of apology, here’s a snippet from a recent gig for the crew over at Subject in Dublin:

SUBJECT BIRTHDAY MIX

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MAD RACKET !

Yes yes ! Last bit of news for this post – I’ll be heading over to my second home; Sydney, for the last two weeks in October.
A few tasty gigs lined up, including my favourite place to play in that hemisphere or any other, Mad Racket who’ll be celebrating their 11th year of party throwing par excellence, can’t wait !

More detailed gig info, barbeque ideas and didgeridon’ts in the next update…