First post of the year and really nothing to get too excited about, the past month hasn’t really been too conducive to writing about bleeps and beeps. Anyway this weekend I’m finally reappearing in impolite society so thought I better dip my toe back into this whole blogging thing.

So… first things first, this Friday sees the launch night of Club Med, down in the basement of Life on Old St (not the Shoreditch end). It’s going to be an awesome night, yacht rock, balearic and italo disco all mixed up like a fine cocktail. It’s free to get in but remember the dress code is ‘European Millionaire’, personally I’m opting for an off white suit, with tassled leather deck shoes, it’s a strong look.

After that I’ll be playing at Egg on the Saturday, not too sure what’s going on next door but the room I’m playing with is packing some serious heat with the likes of Tetine, Wrongtom, Shock Defeat! and Chik Budo all on hand doing their wonderful things.

Anyway that should do for now, some big news (well for me) coming soon but that can wait for another day, instead I’ll leave you with one of the best things I’ve seen in recent times, Thom Rolands ‘Jews For Justice’ T-shirt, found at IGETRVNG by the ever on point Tony Poland.

Midnight Mike has alerted us to the existence of a new track and video from disco-punk auteur Zongamin. Due for release next year on XL it sounds oddly kind of like the sort of track you reckon the Chemical Brothers would actually like to do if they didn’t have to worry about keeping mini Allen’s in pampers.

Anyway moving on, this Saturday is of course the Warp Records Christmas Party at The Great Eastern Hotel but should you be stuck down south London for the night, you can catch me playing 10 till 4 at the Dogstar in Brixton, it’ll be quite an easy going set, lots of fun, easy to drink and dance to hip-hop, electro and fidgety house. If you’re in the area come say hello.

After that it’s a little break for Christmas and then I’m playing at Cargo on the 28th with people like DJ MK, Mr Thing, Digitonal and many others, just in time to work off a few mince pies on the dancefloor.

And finally Nikhal from the rather good Man Make Music crew sent over this fine mix of bumping tracks to keep you going over the festive period, well worth a download.

Download: DJ Sketchy - Punctuality Problems

Right… time for another infrequent update, what with the real life commitments and a variety of end of year round ups I’ve had to knock out for various odds and sods (writing the Bleep.com top 50 albums of the year nearly killed me, I was surprised to look up when I’d finished and not find the final ten entries just read ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’) I’d somehow managed to miss the new video for Ready For The Floor the new single from probably one of my favouritest bands of recent years Hot Chip.

Anyway for those unable to operate YouTube (yet somehow able to find this murky corner of the internet) I present it here for your pleasure, the track itself is a nice little uptempo number with a vocal from Alexis that harks back to the more emotionally pummelling tracks off Coming On Strong whilst the video, directed by Nima Nourizadeh is one of their best yet, the joker business is a strong look indeed.

If you’re in London next week Greco Roman are throwing an Anti-Christmas party on the 21st at Transit in Shoreditch, which will of course be ace.

Whilst we’re on a video tip I got sent a link to a video of a Kissy Sell Out refix of The Human League’s These Are Things That Dreams Are Made Of. Pretty much sounds exactly as you’d expect it to, the video, an animation by Chris Bianchi is pretty decent, worth a click anyway.

But best of all it allows me to nicely segue into a plug for the Warp Records / Dedbeat Xmas Party which takes place on Saturday the 22nd of December at The Great Eastern Hotel and features a DJ set from the brilliant Martin Rushent, founder member of the League and responsible for the peerless Love and Dancing album that no one who reckons they like music should be without (check your local charity shop you should be able to pick it up for a quid or two). The rest of the lineup is pretty tight too with Weatherall, The Oscillations, Broadcast, Toddla T, Shackleton and loads more playing. Get your tickets from the newly minted Warpmart.

And finally this weekend Allez Allez are hosting Optimo and Grovesnor down at the Amersham Arms, the second best venue in town if you’ve yet to check it out make the effort. Allez Allez is one of the best nights in town, Twitch and Wilkes from Optimo are 2 of the best DJs and Grovesnor, well if you want to get a lady into bed, getting her greased up at a Grovesnor gig is a cheaper and more sure fire way of getting her sexed up than any expensive meal.

Alternatively you could check out the Keston Lodge in Islington, where there no-shit music policy will be tested to the limits as I’m playing a 5 hour set from 9 till 2. If you’re in the area come and say hello and watch the decks for me whilst I make a bid for the bar.

One of this year’s best new labels, People In The Sky, are on a roll right now what with Friendly Fires almost certain to be one of next year’s biggest indie/dance crossover acts and the likes of Wax Stag keeping it ferociously fresh. They’re finishing the year on a high too with the signing of Plugs, one of the many projects out there involving Morgan Quaintance from the shitly named but annoyingly fun Does It Offend You, Yeah?

The EP is out in February but we’ve got an advance taste of it for you now. The lead track That Number is a surprisingly downtempo slice of nicely shambolic disco punk with a nice squelchy acid line running through it and reinforces my belief that 2008 is going to be all about the sub 120 bpms. Yuksek pops up for a mix that takes you into what should be familiar French territory by now and the whole things is finished off with the pleasantly awkaward sounding Transatlantic Air Miles.

Now seriously a gold star to whoever could have predicted so many killer records would have come out of St. Albans this year…

Download:

Plugs - That Number
Plugs - That Number (Yuksek Remix)
Plugs - Transatlantic Air Miles

Ok no posts for a month as my dayjob has been keeping me far too busy but with things starting to calm down it’s time to poke my head back out into the real world and show off my utterly piss poor new haircut, seriously can someone please recommend me a decent milliner otherwise I’m going to be staying in crying till it grows back.

Assuming I can find a decent hat I shall be at the Dogstar this Saturday for the Audisushi Winter Ball, New Order’s Peter Hook is on the decks alongside the likes of The RGBs (live), Suicide Dogz, Tony Poland, Disastronaut, Sean Mclusky and myself. Saturdays are always lively down there so it should be a good one.

As you may have guessed from a quick look at any of our flyers we’re big fight fans at Hot Sauce, from boxing to wrestling we appreciate all the sweet sciences, though I have to admit above all others Lucha Libre holds a special place in my heart. From the pantomime ultraviolence to the clear cut lines between good and evil and the glorious masks and costumes everything about this sport of champions sings to my soul.

Having spectacularly failed to see any matches earlier this year when we were actually out in Mexico it was a pleasant surprise to find it all going off on our doorstep at the Bethnal Green’s Working Men’s Club. And what Lucha Britannia may have been missing in the way of gorgeous sunshine and dirt cheap tamales it certainly made up for it by not being a cramped 10 hour flight away. This was fierce, funny and in your face with holds and throws that had you wincing with sympathy for the poor sod whose turn it was to get smacked down.

And the wrestling was just the half of it, throw in burlesque performances, some alternative stand up, a healthy amount of greaseball rock n’ roll and you had one of the best nights that personally I’ve ever been to. Anyway several bone shattering nights in Bethnal Green they’re stepping things up a gear this Friday with a Day of the Dead Spectacular down at SeOne. Unless you have something ridiculously important to attand, like your funeral for instance (and even then being the Day Of The Dead that’s no excuse), cancel everything get yourself a mask and come down you will not regret it.

Oh and if you’re a gambling man, save your money for the Irish wrestler, christ I don’t know what was in his potatoes but it’s like they shaved a bear and stuck it in spandex, terrifying.

Lucha Britannia Day of The Dead Spectacular
Friday 2nd November - 9pm till late
SeOne, London Bridge.
Check the website for full details.

All photos © Manolo - you can see more of his amazing Lucha Britannia photograph’s here

The best pumpkin I ever carved, shame it was actually about the size of a tennis ball.

Quick heads up for this Weekend if you’re in London and at a loose end and fancy stalking me. Tonight it will all be going gangbusters down Corsica Studios at the I Love Acid Halloween Rave, Luke Vibert, B12, Cylob, AGT Rave Cru, yours truly and several other top drawer types will be dishing out lysergic sex beats from 10 till 6 in the morning, there’s a few tickets held back for the door and if you get there early you can probably get hold of a free halloween costume and a few on the house vodka jellies.

Saturday and I’m playing at the Legion in Old Street at Crackin’ Skullz, back around the turn of the century when Skullz started at the 333, they would make me dress up as a bear and wrestle another chump dressed as a gorilla, in return I’d get a lapdance (on stage, in costume I have to add) from whichever porn star the promoters were currently rolling with, heady stuff. Well finally after nearly a decade I’ve been promoted to the decks and will be digging out the finest eighties penthouse soul, booty bass, ignorant rap jams and Canvey Island classics to celebrate, I think it kicks off at 8 and it looks like it’s free to get in.

And then assuming my body allows me I’ll be back at the Amersham Arms on Sunday to sink into a sofa, sup Guinness and listen to some Balearic classics from the Tramp DJs, the wonderful Hot Breath Karaoke will be on hand too so depending on how much I’ve consumed I may be back on stage sooner than I’d planned.

There are few things in life that give me greater pleasure than kicking back and slipping some Queen onto the soundsystem, indisputably the greatest band that ever existed you know when you’re in good company when you meet a fellow fan.

This point was rammed home when I got hold of Minneapolis resident Jonathan Ackerman’s Double Doggin’ mix, 60 minutes of sublime disco (not disco), penthouse soul and new wave joints with the absolute dancefloor bomb It’s A Kind of Magic right in the middle. It’s a brilliant mix and has soundtracked the last few days morning commute, almost making the journey to work bearable.

Download: Jonathan Ackerman - Double Doggin’

If you like things more upfront and in your face you’re in luck too, as Jonathan is also one half of The Moon Goon’s who have opened for the likes of Justice on their US jaunts and he sent over another mix Everything is Coming Up Milhouse that’s packed full of proper club bangers, mixing up electro, bmore and baile funk tunes. As he says himself these should make you feel like a hot dog in a bun.

Download: Jonathan Ackerman - Everything is Coming Up Milhouse

You can also check his Myspace page for news of gigs and shit and it looks like The Moon Goons are throwing a secret Halloween party this Saturday, not much use for those of us living in South East London I guess but if you’re near the Mill City I’d check it out.

Our furry electronic friend’s Octavcat have resurfaced with a nice little remix competition. You can now download all the parts from their gorgeous Dumming Up album (think the plinky plonky childlike naivete of Plone mixed with Plaid’s ear for lush melodies) and mess with them to your heart’s content. Then when all the beast tracks have been selected they will have videos made for each winner and the results released on DVD. Not too shabby.