We're back, EXIT 2011 is over and after 10 days of scorching heat, criminally cheap beer and an intimidating amount of music, we return to Britain bronzed and bored. Last year I attempted to review the festival in meticulous detail and admittedly failed, so this year I will do something a little more succinct but hopefully vivid enough to give you some idea as to the festival's enormity. Meanwhile here's my charted tracks for June, which are typically diverse. MANIK (NYC) has won my heart for the second month running, this time with his squelchy house cut, Good 4 Me, while the UK's great house hope, Maya Jane Coles makes an inevitable return with her recent vocal-led jam, Senseless. Mat Jonson's Learning To Fly, released on M-nus is difficult to ignore and even more difficult not to admire, while Claude VonStroke's remix of Girl Unit's Wut and Butch's Big Futt represent the real dancefloor muscle. Top spot is taken by one of the most hyped, but welcome collaborations in dance music, made up of two of the most celebrated figures. Burial and Four Tet couldn't be more suited together in terms of style philosophy, yet there output on Text Records with Moth beats from both producer's hearts, forming something that could never have been created individually but remains unavoidably identifiable with them.

1. Burial & Four Tet - Moth


2. Mathew Jonson - Learning To Fly


3. Girl Unit - Wut (Claude VonStroke Remix) [Undressed Mix)


4. Butch - Big Futt


5. Heiko Laux - Moved (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)


6. MANIK (NYC) - Good 4 Me


7. John Tejada - Subdivided


8. Russ Gabriel - Prey Tell


9. Murphy Jax - Time To Bump


10. Maya Jane Coles - Senseless

The video above of Ricardo Villalobos at fabric sometime in March this year may be short, unclear and prohibitively shuddery, but I feel it captures what Saturday nights are all about. Saturday is the night for House and Techno and that is when we come out to play. We want deep, dark and underground sonics and basslines so groovy, that we can, and will, dance to for many, many hours. I think that is a quality no other style of music can boast.

So to get your Saturday night started I've made up a little package just some glorious house and techno beats. Not a regular post or anything, I just feel excited for tonight myself! I also have included a little off-hand mix I fused together yesterday night before I hit an unfamiliar Friday night rave. Head over to Soundcloud via the link above the mix for the full track listing.

Techno/House Mix 12/11/10 by SweatOnTheWalls-Dom

Igor Brzovic - Friday Night Games (Adoo & Welldone Remix)


Mesuma - No Midi


Solomun - After Rain Comes Sun (Joris Voorn's Dusty Dub Stab)


John Tejada - Subversion


Lee Curtiss - I Can Hear You Arther

We're approaching 100 posts now, which I think is a fairly sterling effort since May for two guys who really should be concentrating on other things of perhaps greater priority than music.... Who am I kidding? Those 'greater priorities' i.e education, have only acted as distractions to us, preventing us posting at a faster rate than already. In review then, I think SOTW has been a success; we've managed to stay true to our original plan, which was simply just post music and our opinions on music we like, and hopefully that music and those opinions have been enjoyed by others. Some have told me they are, but either way our plan will stay the same.

I couldn't wait another three posts just for the sake of some kind of ceremonious occasion to post this, although it would have been gloriously appropriate. Our blog isn't named Sweat On The Walls just because we like the name, and its obvious connotations of underground rave familiarity, but also because we love John Tejada's legendary 2004 anthem. It will never become 'old' in the sense it feels old, and can't be used in modern day sets. It has a wonderfully evergreen aesthetic, possibly because Tejada has always been consistent with his unique style, something that explains why he is so highly respected as a producer. For someone as prolific, it's a remarkable feat to be have literally never sent out a bad record. It's these attributes that made Sweat On The Walls so timeless, and why only recently Donnacha Costello, Martin Lansky and XoX have decided to release their remixes on Poker Flat Recordings.

Sweat On The Walls is notoriously difficult to remix or reproduce, as me and Chris have found out. I wouldn't say it's the metaphorical 'blank canvas' for a remix, like many electronic productions are, but Martin Lansky's effort is probably the best on the three-track EP. He's barely fiddled with the bassline, but he's rearranged that legendary main synth pattern in a way that works perfectly with those anthemic vocals. In conclusion, he's allowed the original ideas to stay powerful, while injecting just a few engaging modifications. Donnacha Costello's remix is not quite as impressive. It's barely different from the original, just without the awesome progressiveness that we love it for. Nonetheless there is still a narcotic, hazy quality that makes it a worthy effort. Xox's 2004 adaption meanwhile, keeps all that progression and lays down a terrific squelchy acid line. Ladies and gentlemen it gives me great pleasure to post Sweat On The Walls once more...

John Tejada - Sweat On The Walls (Martin Landsky Remix)


John Tejada - Sweat On The Walls (Donacha Costello Remix)


John Tejada - Sweat On The Walls (Xox 2004 Remix)

Finally able to do another post, I know it's been a while but when first starting University there are a lot of things to deal with. Hopefully I can make up for it with this post.

All of this stuff is Tech and Techno really, haven't come across many outstanding electro or house tunes recently, but some good releases lined up so hopefully we'll have some up soon!

This Tejada tune is sightly older, hailing from 2009, which now seems so long ago, but it's just as incredible as anything he has ever or will ever do.

John Tejada - Vertex


Kaiserdisco's new EP, another brilliant remix from Sebastien, and quite frankly a breathtaking redo by SIS of the German brothers, TIefschwarz.

Kaiserdisco - Forward


Format:B - Dog Tag (Sebastien Leger Remix)


Tiefschwarz - Find Me (SIS)


Bonus:
Manuel De La Mare And Marshall Aka Luigi Rocca - Hashish (Marshall Mix)

John Tejada Live @ Fabric from Dominic Kocur on Vimeo.

John Tejada performing live in England is like your team reaching the Champions League final. It doesn't happen very often, and if it does, it will only happen once a year at most. So, when I discovered he was flying over from California to play at fabric (where else?), I naturally had to be there, although it hardly takes much of a push to get me to fabric any Saturday night.

In case you hadn't noticed from the title of this blog, we like John Tejada. Why do we like him? Because the guy makes such beautifully composed electronic music. He's the techno equivalent to Beethoven or Mozart. Every one of his tracks are wonderfully layered with intelligence, integrity, and a deep, shimmering complexity that makes you want to withdraw in thought as well as dance.

I recall once discussing with Chris what John Tejada would sound like in fabric's cave-like Room One. Now I've actually experienced exactly that, it was everything I expected. A vortex of synth-heavy bleeps, elegantly infused with clever basslines. It seems as if Tejada would fit no other environment better. He finished his tragically short set appropriately with his epic 'The End Of It All', which is nothing other than a masterpiece.

John Tejada - The End Of It All

Welcome to the first post of Sweat on the Walls! A new blog dedicated to posting the finest electronic dance music around...

How better to start than with our title track?

John Tejada - Sweat (On The Walls)