Prior to ingesting this mix for the wonderful XLR8R mag, I’d have labelled DTL as a fine purveyor of seriiious basslines. Now, for the first 15 mins or so of this mix, all the activity happens in the higher spectrum: tension comes from shuffling hisses (a nod to early Sheffield rave?) and the snap of snares on speed. More than enough to keep you enthralled before that signature bass drops like an Amazonian storm.

The warbling basslines bleed out of twisted funk from Boabinga, Mujava (that track), DTL himself and Little Jinder, amongst others. Definitely high octane, but for me the interest comes in the juxtaposition with a deeper house (eg. Acid Jacks) – an unlikely yet heavily rewarding partnership.

Tracklisting and more information on XLR8R

I checked Myspace – nothing there.

Next the personal website – lovely design with a bunch of remixes, and that’s about it.

Coming full circle back to the mix that originally triggered the Sparkletone hunt, I thought there could have been some clues in there. All I can say is that Sparkletone has some funk. A funk that comes in many shapes and sizes – starting with upbeat hip hop beats and by the end freaking out with The Gossip. For me the classiest piece of this mix is when Daft Punk’s crazy riff solo drops with a ding into Justice Soulwax remix. There’s a lot of familiar tracks blended in here, but the sequencing injects energy by slowly lifting and sharp mixing lifts what all too easily could have become yawn-worthy nostalgia trip.

For the full tracklisting, see Hot Biscuits.

If you like this, check out more mixes or follow Sparkletone on Twitter. Who knows, you might even find out who exactly Sparkletone is.

The UK artist seems to have stuck to his tried and tested formula: angular electronic funk.

Apparently his live shows are meant to be worth taking in.

check out xlr8r downloads

check out the xlr8r podcast

did get me digging through and found an excellent leftfield hip/trip hop compilation from chocolate industries. something picked up in sf. definitely recommend that slice of cocoa history, but failing that, you can see what they’re up to these days:

check out the chocolate swim taster.

the highlight, if you like bollywood does east side, is the tight “wylin out” feat. mos def and diverse.

stateside site giant step offer some choice downloads. great if you want to try out the likes of the strange fruit project or an odd dr octagon number.

and now again, i feel like a new slice of the netlabel pie has been delivered mixed with exquisite grace. moving through minimal, dub techno and beefing it up towards the end, this really does smoothly breathe life into netlabels electronica.

more info on the unpronounceable dj l’embrouille.

the US arthouse duo of matmos have been getting coverage here on the electronic scene in the likes of trax mag and given their high-fallutin roots and penchant for dropping references to wittgenstein i thought i could be in for something all cerebral and claustrophobic. not quite.

going off on more tangents in five minutes than a neurotic bluebottle but managing to retain a semblance of structure and drift, is this the new jazz?

check out for yourself with guitar laden downtempo/trip-hop/drum-n-bassy Sun on 5 at 152.