He’s back!

The Touch – Sermon from The Touch on Vimeo.

If the brooding, slightly off pitch minimal pop tint of The Touch’s new Sermon EP on Kitsune doesn’t grab you with its purty imagery, then the sewer dwelling remix monstrosity that Renaissance Man have woven out of some stark percussion and swollen vocal chops will absolutely do the trick. Out on Kitsune now.

Plus, if you missed it several years ago now, The Touch provide a robotic tribute to R. Kelly with their endearing bootleg edit of “The World’s Greatest”, obviously a respectful tribute to the Pied Piper of R&B.

R. Kelly – The World’s Greatest (The Touch Bootleg)

You never really see a photograph of How To Dress Well’s Tom Krell unless it’s been taken in a dark room, or cascaded under dim lights. Considering that his debut album “Love Remains” is draped in an eerie spaciousness that evokes ambient r&b, suicide dreams and the sound of a static television channel buzzing in the other room, Manchester’s XXXY seems like a good partner to rework some of his material.

Following up on the oustandingly good “You Always Start It / Ordinary Things” EP on Ten Thousand Yen, XXXY creates a tune that makes you think of a depressed teenager wearing bootleg kicks from Korea leaning in the corner in the back of an empty club, nodding her head with eyes closed. Pitched vocals resonate around the fuzzy chords that fade and merge into each other, while some ghostly ambient voices pipe up in the background.

And if that doesn’t evoke enough heartache in you, also see How To Dress Well’s R. Kelly cover here, which talks about basement joints, nostalgia and losing someone you love.

How To Dress Well – Ready For The World (XXXY Re-Edit)

“Originally from Glasgow, I’ve been living out in Tokyo for the last 7 years where I run Numbers Tokyo and a new monthly night called Laguna Bass with my friends. This year I took some time-out from producing, to concentrate more on mixing and developing my own style as a DJ – The P.O.L.Style….LOL!!! I’m looking forward to getting back on the grind as far as production is concerned in 2011 though. Last year I started a booking agency here in Japan called Clear, setting up mini-tours and helping artists rolling through the city find gigs. Holler if you’re ever in the Tokyo area or come by one of my shows in NYC / Philly later this month!!”

For this mix, I started by picking out a bunch of tunes I’m feelin’ just now + a bunch of tunes from various genres / times in my life that I thought would work. After that, it was all about the blenderzz – looping up parts in Serato and making sure that each transition was tonally correct and added a new dimension to both tunes in the mix. For me, the best mixes are the ones that leave such a strong impression, that whenever I hear one of the tunes played somewhere else, I’m surprised to realize that certain parts weren’t in the track originally and it was just all part of the blend. Hopefully this mix will leave that sort of impression on someone, somewhere.”

DJ Schedule:

12/15 – 10% Disco @ ELEVEN, Tokyo
12/16 – Raw Luv @ LUV, Seoul

12/22 – P.O.L. B2B Nargiz – Blam City @ Medusa Lounge, Philly
12/26 – P.O.L. B2B Nargiz – Rad Summer @ The M Room, Philly
12/27 – Mad Decent Mondays @ Fluid, Philly
12/28 – Rando @ Gallery Bar, NYC
12/29 – Player’s Club @ Pianos, NYC
12/30 – Math + Science Show on 89.1FM WNYU

DJ P.O.L Style – Discobelle Mix, December 2010 (ge.tt)

1. Cooly G – Up in My Head

I love the intro to this tune, but it’s one of those fade in ones so I never usually get to play it cuz it’s difficult to play in the club. That’s why I decided to use it as the first track on the mix. The bassdrums in this tune are sick!

2. Roska & Untold – Long Range

One of my favorite releases on Numbers this year. I’ve been a big fan of Roska & Untold for a while, so I was really excited when I heard about the collab. The organ stabs and sax riff on this tune really do it and it sounds cool when the bassdrums from ‘Grab Somebody’ start kicking in.

3. Ramadanman – Grab Somebody

What can I say? Ramadanman – Killin it!!!

4. Braiden – The Alps

If you went to Carnival in hell, this is what it would sound like. I’ve been rinsing this tune in almost every one of my sets since before the summer. . Shouts to Braiden for one of my favorite tracks this year!!

5. Breach – Fatherless

Massive tune! Love the percussion and the flute sample. Who would have thought the word ‘fatherless’ could become such a catchy hook!?

6. A Made Up Sound – Alarm

I first heard this tune back on the Night Slugs Mishka mix before I knew anything about A Made Up Sound. I love the way the way the rave stab in this tune sounds detuned and the way the song builds up.

7. Altered Natives – The Bitch

I’m a sucker for square waves, Altered Natives and bitches. So this one works well for me.

8. BD1982 – Trails (Jam City Remix)

One of my favorite tunes by fellow Tokyoite, co-worker, Laguna Bass resident and major dude, BD1982. Jam City completely smashed it with his remix.

9. Untold – Come Follow Me

Some dark vibes going on in this tune and it’s a bit of a down beat number. It’s like the quiet before the storm, in terms of this mix.

10. Christian Martin – Ghosts (L-Vis 1990 Remix)

This is the “I’m goin in!” part of the mix. I remember playing this tune at 7am at an after-party in Tokyo. Everyone was either fucked up, sleepy or acting super shifty, and this tune just summed up the vibes in the room perfectly. I can ‘t get enough of that “Woooooo” ghost noise, and the bassdrum fill is hard as…..

11. Boddika – Boddika’s House

I got this EP the day I made this mix cuz I wanted to include the “Syn Chron” tune, but when I heard Boddika’s House I was like “Oooohshiiiiiet!!!” and this tune just seemed to work better in the mix.

12. Zoo Brazil – Rock The House (Rework)

This tune mixes perfectly with ‘Boddika’s House’. It’s like the two were made to be played together. I love it when that happens.

13. Canblaster – Jetpack

The best thing about this tune is that all types of people get into it and you can mix it with all different types of shit. It’s a pretty epic tune imo.

14. Spark – Revolving (Ramadanman Rework)

The bassdrum pattern in this tune goes hard, but I always try to mix it out before the emo breakdown.

15. DJ Assault – Vandalism

DJ Assault has always been one of my favorites. This tune demonstrates that DJ Assault has a deep side too, and any tune with breaking glass samples is usually a winner in my book.

16. KW Griff – Invitation

Last month I finally managed to get this track at a decent bit-rate (Big ups KW Griff!!) and I’ve been playing it constantly ever since. This tune always puts me in a good mood.

17. SBTRKT – 20/20

A bit of a break from the bangers. Again, this is something I would probably never play in the club, so I’m glad I managed to work it into a mix.

18. Slackk – Theme From Slackk (Dub)

I freakin love this tune. I’ve heard it being described as ‘obnoxious’. It’s definitely relentless and can be a little tricky to mix out of, but I was super happy with the way this Slackk X Dopplereffekt blend came out.

19. Dopplereffekt – Superior Race

This is the first record I ever bought from Rub A Dub in Glasgow and pretty much the record that got me into most of the stuff I listen to now. Shouts to Marty from Rub A Dub for the recommend all those years ago!

20. Roulet – Kitamanda (Girl Unit Remix)

The original of this tune is a lil bit fidgety for my tastes, but Girl Unit did a sick job on the remix. I love the way this version’s got grime, funky and fidget influences with the trademark Girl Unit syncopated drums. The start of MDMA looped up sounds so good over it too.

21. Redlight – MDMA

One of the best uses of the side-chain that i’ve heard in a long time. There needs to be more tunes like this…..and Woo Riddim!!

22. Aaliyah – R U That Somebody (Brenmar Remix)

I’ve been using this tune a lot lately as a tool to transition from 140bpm bass ish into some 70bpm R’n'B stuff. I love the original of this tune but don’t get much chance to play it out, so I’m lovin this flip.

23. Mr De – Whonleone

I love it when an artist who is known for doing one type of music comes out with some shit on a completely different level. This is one of those tunes. It sounds dope in the mix with Brenmar’s toms over it.

24. K.P. & Envyi – Shawty Swing My Way (Edit)

This tune is a staple in my sets. It always kills it in the club and is a good tune to totally switch the atmosphere of the set.

25. R. Kelly – Ignition Remix (Edit)

R. Kelly’s the man! I know every line of this tune off by heart. So happy I finally managed to work it into one of my mixes.

26. Girl Unit – Wut

This is one of my favorite EPs from 2010 and it was difficult to decide which tune to use for the mix, but it just worked so well with the Do or Die tune that I had to use this WUT. Girl Unit = Badman.

27. Do or Die – Playa Like you and Me (Edit)

Everyone knows Bone Thugs, but I feel like people slept on Do or Die. Maybe that’s just cuz I’m from Glasgow though, where back in the 90s barber quartet style R’n'B wasn’t that popular. Random trivia – DJ Funk used to be in Do or Die.

28. Patra – Romantic Call (DJ Deller Remix)

Classic garage number! The pads on this tune over the Do Or Die edit are dope too.

We published the video for this So Shifty remix two weeks ago and I have been asked for the mp3 of this from so many people we just had to provide it.

R. Kelly & Keri Hilson – Number One (So Shifty Funky Remix) (YSI)

R. Kelly & Keri Hilson – Number One (So Shifty Funky Remix) (zshare)

This track just made the rounds on various blogs, The Dream and R Kelly joins forces on a swooshing synthlaced slow mo beat.

The Dream (ft. R Kelly) – Kelly’s 12 Play (remix) (direct link)

Grindin Top 15 (May)

1. Phoenix – Lisztomania (Classixx Remix)
2. Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed (Jakwob Remix)
3. Friendly Fires – Jump in the Pool (Thin White Duke remix)
4. Diplo & Laidback Luke – Hey
5. Burial & Four Tet – Moth
6. Major Lazer – Pon De Floor
7. Rob Threezy – The Change Up (Jokers Of The Scene remix)
8. R. Kelly Feat OJ Da Juiceman – Super Man High
9. Dizzee Rascal feat. Armand Van Helden – Bonkers
10. Renaissance man – Spraycan
11. Joker – Do It
12. The Streets – Blinded By The Light (Nero Remix)
13. The Gossip – Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)
14. Basement Jaxx – Raindrops
15. Retro/Grade – Moda

The monthly Grindin chart is compiled by the Grindin network. Read more about Grindin here. We will be back in June.

Late pass on this – it was spread on Grindin last week but we were sleeping – we can see ourselves bumping this all summer, R Kelly together with Gucci Mane protege OJ Da Juiceman (best rapper name ever?) on this infectious tune.

R Kelly (ft. OJ Da Juiceman) – Super Man High (zShare)