Dutty Moonshine’s Movers & Shakers 1

Welcome to the first Movers and Shakers, a fortnightly blog centred around the Electro Swing movement brought to you by us, Dutty Moonshine! We’ll be showing you some free tunes, recommended releases, interviewing artists, reviewing nights, talking about the scene, where it’s been, where it’s going and more of that ilk. Don’t know what Electro Swing is? Well your super sexy bloggers Dutty Moonshine will tell you what we think. If you do know then scroll through this opinionated paragraph. A sampled based genre where the base tune can be anything – Hip-Hop, House, DnB – it does’t matter as longs they’re is a vintage twist to the song. Whilst the genre has the term “swing” in it you can often get away with 1950′s Rock n Roll samples and all the way down to 1910′s Ragtime, for the sake of trying to keep it simple Electro Swing is the umbrella name but the artists in the scene often refer to a song as being Swing-Hop if it’s Hip-Hop based.

So to start we thought point you in the direction of some freebies because who doesn’t love free stuff!

Free Tunes

3 free tunes Cee-Roo isn’t one of those artists that sticks to one genre, big recommendation from us and this track has been in our set list a while now. This tune keeps that Swing vibe very strong with some steazy rapping amongst original vocals.

This guy is a beaut! Francis Red mostly makes House based Swing and of the heavy persuasion but we just got an exclusive of 110bpm Blues based tune so watch out for that on his Soundcloud. He’s got loads of free stuff there already, have a gander.

Anyone savvy on Ghetto Funk has probably already come across this guy before. Defunk is one of the guys responsible for the “Ghetto Swing” movement. He’s prolific as hell for writing tunes and some of his older stuff has got all sorts of Swing based corkers.

Honkey Review (review of a release)

For a first Movers and Shakers we had to get Smokey Joe & The Kid in there. They’re our favourite act in the scene. They hail from Paris and Bordeaux. Their style is so unique they bring both French and English vibes into well produced Swing-Hop vibes. We’ve listened to this album the whole way through loads of times and really enjoy the scene setting the tunes can do. On top of their live style, dress sense and music videos these guys are pro at dragging you to a fantasy world of well dressed guys and dolls, gangsters, gambling, moonshine and basically the good old days. Here’s a preview of their album cannae recommend getting this album enough!

Dutty’s Duo Recommendation

We thought each blog we’d give you guys a couple of tunes we’re feeling at the mo, they might be free, upcoming or cost you a mighty 69p on iTunes!

Mike: picked this one because I love it but also wanted to show you how Electro Swing can encompass many forms and artists. Rizzle Kicks are far from being an Electro Swing act and when they made this tune I think they just wanted to make something that had vintage vibes but this scene has welcomed it with open arms.

Furley: Chosen this because these guys rock in general, it’s a nice laid back tune and Savage Henry their Dj is my secret lover..

Movers (review of a night).

Swing n Ting’s!!! A Bristol based night which is a collaboration between Aberystwyth crew Swing City, Bristol bass night Bass Jump and Bristol crew Tremor Sound System. They mostly do Electro Swing with a few extra’s chucked in because variety is the key to life. It’s held at The Lanes, they bring their own rig though thank god! They have circus performers on stage, Lindy Hop dancers on the floor, walkabout artists causing mayhem and the DJ booth…! God if only everyone made this effort, they build different stage sets which they then do 3d mapping onto. The last one we went to was a giant old school gameboy where the DJ’s performed where the screen should be in their dapper decollage and ramped up vintage sounds. Previous event.

Shakers (interview with an artist).

We’re going to interview an artist each time and give you a little insight into their minds. We chose this act because Mike like’s antagonising the scene by saying C@ in the H@ is the only act who is a proper Electro Swing act because his music actually encompasses swing beats throughout. Such an interesting sound live! He’s also part of the ASBO crew, Alternative Dubstep Orchestra and the head honcho of Electro Swing label Ragtime Records.

C@ in the H@

1 – What was your last gig?

Swing N Tingz in Bristol at the Lanes, with Jamie Berry, Too Many Tees, Waggles & Savage Henry.

2 – What’s your next gig?

Hot Club de Swing in Birmingham at the Hare & Hounds, with the Electric Swing Circus & Jenova Collective.

3 – If your music was a food what would it be and why?

I like to mix up the style & tempo when I DJ so it would have to be Special Fried Rice, cos there’s loads of different flavours & surprises in there.

4 – Highlight of the year?

Seeing the fruition of my Gangster Swing EP was definitely a highlight, and also the parties we did as Ragtime Records for the London & Bristol Electro Swing Club. I’ve been blessed with loads of really fun gigs this year so it would be hard to choose one of them.

5 – Which artists are on your label Ragtime Records?

Myself & The Electric Swing Circus so far. We have loads of stuff coming soon, including remix projects for The Woohoo Revue, Lunatrix, & The Fresh Dixies, and The Electric Swing Circus. We want to be open minded so we’re really pushing the boat out on the style of the remixes – I don’t want to disclose too much info but we do have some really interesting artists involved & a bunch of people you wouldn’t expect. We’ve also got some more solo projects coming up soon including a really tasty one from The Jenova Collective & one from myself due out early 2014.

6 – Tell us about an upcoming release?

I’m really excited about the next Ragtime Records release. We are doing a remix project for australian gypsy swing band The WooHoo Revue. If you’ve not heard of them go check them out, they are really good fun music, and they’ll be making their way over here in the summer of 2014. Mortisville came up with the project idea and got in touch with us. There’s some really great artists involved from all over the world – Skeewiff, Mouldy Soul, donJohnston, Dephicit, Sound Nomaden, Mortisville, Audio Prophecy, Charlie Rouhana. It’s got all sorts of styles from Ghetto Swing to Gypsy House to Breaks to Minimal, so think there’s something on there for everyone, even my Mum!

7 – What have you got in store for C@ in the H@/Ragtime Records?

For Ragtime Records i’m gonna get this EP finished for the start of 2014. Unlike the Gangster Swing EP it’s gonna cover a variety of tempo’s but you’l be pleased to know they’ve all got a good helping of bass & plenty swing drums. I’ve got some remixes coming out on a few other labels too which i’m pretty excited about. I’ve actually been a bit slow this autumn with my Swing production, as i’ve been spending a lot of time on production for the Alternative Dubstep Orchestra, so thanks for everyone for being patient. But first I’m gonna get some more hats.

8 – What would we find you doing 5am Sunday at a festival?

Haha well who knows, generally i’m not of sound mind by that point… at Secret Garden Party this year I was in my boxer shorts dancing to the Correspondents.

9 – Invent a genre name and what would it be?

Chip Shop Hop – it’s like Flip Hop’s older and greasier brother, & it’s got a lot of drunken stories to tell.

10 – Anything you want to say?

Yes, thankyou for spelling my name correct!

And a few last quickfire questions;

Marmite – yes or no? No Marmite, no Mushroom, & definitely No Nuts! -

Worst torture – stuck in a room listening to non stop heinous sped up gabba and breakcore or listening to all your favourite tunes played really slowly? Oi I actually like gabber and breakcore! Now when it comes to playing tunes really slowly, all I have to say is ‘Pauls Extreme Time Stretch’…. do a search on gizoogle for ‘Eastenders theme – 800% slower’ – proof that even depressing things can be made into beautiful soundscapes… bring on the torture

Afro or Mohawk? Mohawk. Nothing worse than trying to talk to deaf people with an afro at a rave and getting a mouth full of hair.

Pink or Brown? Pink – it’s worth 6 points (…pulls innocent face)

Hip or Hop? Hip. Without Hip there would be no Hop

Toodle pip honkies, thanks for stopping by. We’ll be back with more tasty Swing tings in a fortnight!