Beta Test return with another dope dose of digital debauchery and some of the freshest free downloads with an exclusive guest mix and interview from Joshua Casper. Link to all the free downloads are provided!
Beta Test Records' debut 180g bass-heavy battlewax is now scheduled for general release on 1st February 2014. Previews of the release are now available via the betatestrecords.com website.
JmeDj - Gritty MCTitty Funk Test
Mustard Tiger - Skid Mark [Original Mix]
Skope - Crooked [Original Mix]
U R So Fucked [Opiuo Remix]
Ordure - Silver [Theglitchshop – Ordure-silver]
Sedge Warbler - Octopus Lover [Shamanic Technology Remix] [Shamanic-technology – Sedge-warbler-octopus-lover]
Horns? This was a free download but poorly labeled!
Silantra - Smooth Jazz Through A Contorted Speaker [Theglitchshop – Smooth-jazz-through-a]
Qubit - Me Like Waffles [Original Mix]
Interpersonal Communication [Ratchet Remix]
Blunt Instrument - Traffic Fines [Original Mix]
Love and Light - The Light We Bring [Knowa Lusion Remix]
Kry Talk - Bend It [Dephicit Remix]
Gruff - Trumpet Tune
Ill Gates & Wick It The Instigator vs Action Bronson - Get Off My Remix [Ill-gates – Ill-gates-wick-it-get-off-my]
Joshua Casper Interview
Exclusive guest mix from Joshua Casper
XXX In The Middle East (Original Mix) - The Mavrik
Fiesta (Gramatik Remix) - 80s Casual
Porn Funk (Original Mix) - Mr. Bill & Stickybuds
Belgium Waffle (Original Mix) - Beat Fatigue
Thug Life (Original Mix) - Divided By Zero
Pass the Sauce (Original) - K+Lab
Revival (Joshua Casper Funky Mix) - Martine Girault
That's My Jam (Original Mix) - Them Lost Boys & Party Favor
Get Filthy Ft. Headkrack (Original Mix) - J.Goods
So What (Original Mix) - Pegboard Nerds
Rio Ft. Menahan Street Band - Theophilus London
Finally Moving (Remix) - Pretty Lights
Finally Moving (Original) - Pretty Lights
Good To Me (Original Mix) - Skope
Robin's Rocket - Cheshire
Shadow of Power (Original Mix) - K Theory
Talk Box (Original Mix) - KOAN sound
Secret Squirrel Division (Original Mix) - Staunch
What Ft. AK Sediki (Original Mix) - Joshua Casper
Dark Horse - Digital Rust
Jurasic 5 - Red Hot [Cheshire Remix] [Cheshire – Red-hot-j5-remix]
Mr Vegas, Inko - More Under Mi Sensi [Jam Hott Edit] [Beta Birmingham]
Kursa - Bjork [Kursauk – Bjorkk]
Dino Safari - Breakspeed [Audeka Remix] [Audeka – Dino-safari-breakspeed]
AMB - Oven Funk [Original Mix]
The Beta Test Show returns for Uk Glitch Hop on Glitch.fm with an exclusive guest mix and interview from UK based Glitch Hop and Ghetto Funk producer Dephicit, plus, a bass blitz of free downloads and fresh off the press dub plates with host Terrorbyte.
Beta Test return with hosts Terrorbyte and Automaton for UK Glitch Hop. This week features more exclusive clips from the label's forthcoming debut vinyl release 'Chemical Coercion', Automaton plays some of his mix from last week's Carousel plus a very special guest mix from Chris De Luca - One half of electronic pioneers Funkstorung!
Terrorbyte from Beta Birmingham looks ahead to the 10th anniversary of Drop Beats Not Bombs - a party with a purpose in Birmingham. Catch Harley on the Basstronics Stage with DJ Switch, Shamanic Technology, Spenghead, Skanky Panky Records and Beta Test Records live.
It seems so unreal to say that Drop Beats Not Bombs started TEN years ago but that is the truth of it.
So much has happened in that time, so many ups and downs behind the scenes, and I'm sure in all of your lives too. Blimey, there wasn't even Facebook, Twitter, smartphones or a coalition government back then.....
We have all come such a long way in the past decade but at the same time nothing has changed. Looking around, what do we see? More war, more death, more pain. Are the lessons ever learnt? Perhaps, when we all marched on London in February 2003 we should have done more than we did. Our mere presence and voice was not enough then and the lack of any change in direction from our elected government has had a significant effect on the protest movement as a whole, in my humble opinion.
Even so, I felt it would be wrong to let the ten year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the very first Drop Beats Not Bombs event go by without us coming together again. So Saturday 4th May we will ride the Drop Beats Not Bombs beast once more. The event will run from 9pm-6am.
I have a road in Birmingham all ready to be closed off with a warehouse space next to it. It has never been used before and, as we did so many times with Drop Beats Not Bombs, we will show Birmingham something new.
There will be one live main stage within the warehouse and five other stages out on the closed off street. There will be food stalls, pleasant and friendly security and as many info stalls as can be mustered. If you want to contribute something please do get in touch.
Nova - Too Many Ts - Major Triadz - Alternative Dubstep Orchestra - B.I.D. aka The Bootlegger - Earth Is Flat - Jam Tidy - PCM - Enigma Dubz - 2 Smokin DJs - The Beatbox Collective - Sicknote - Feva - Hey Zeus - DJ Shorty - hosted by MC Taz
SECTION 18 - Drum and Bass Stage
Jordan V - Mutated Forms - Mistanoise - TNT & Vytol - PMX - Tim Ryan - Raw Theory - Andy Massive - Toomz - Scarce - Richie Swift - Dat Kyid - Snypa Riley - MC PM
BETA BIRMINGHAM - Basstronics Stage
Barbarix - Shamanic Technologies - ADJ - Beta Test (live) - Spenghead - DJ Switch - Kryme - Skanky Panky Allstars - Leon Trimble
Wonkey Hi-Fi - Automaton Ft Cheshire Cat (live) - Iman Issachar - Don Carlo - Pure Phase - Daddy Hovis & The Biscuit Tin Selectas - I-Mitri - Version Girl
CUSTOM MADE - Chill Stage
Adam Posh One - Jon Harris - Lenny OMP - Rob J - Marvin Carpenter - Big Andy - Mark Smallman - Ben Dunn - Bobby Bird
Plus full-on visual assault from over 30 of the UKs finest VJ crews
Terrorbyte and Automaton host an uber special interview with AMB ahead of his London show at Distant Tremors on 29 March, plus clips from forthcoming Beta Test releases and a cacophony of free downloads and fresh glitches!
The second installment of Conscious Movement sees the Beta Birmingham lads hit the Croft in Bristol this Friday 7 December. Terrorbyte, Automaton and 3xDMC world champion DJ Switch bringing the glitch bounce alongside live funk band the Boom Operators and a whole loada reggae and Brazilian beats.
Founder of top midlands glitch-hop night Beta Birmingham, Terrorbyte hosts a Glitch.FM show with Automaton (this Wednesday 5 December 10pm-12am) and is just about to launch a new project, Beta Test...
Please introduce yourself....
I'm Harley Davies aka Terrorbyte hailing from Birmingham UK and architect of Beta Birmingham and the forthcoming Beta Test Records.
How would you describe your particular style of bass music?
That's always a difficult one as I hate to pigeon hole myself. Hybrid bass with a heavy dose of electro infused Hip Hop? In the past I've tried to experiment quite a bit so I've made anything from robot electro to ragga and breakcore. I like future b-boy music [thanks Andy Jaggers].
What equipment / software do you use?
I use fruity loops with a midi keyboard and my mpd32 for most of the beat making then switch it to Ableton for edits and glitches and master everything using Cubase and my TL Ivory valve compressor. Reaktor, Fm8, Massive, Predator, Albino soft synths. I have an Ensonique dp2 also which is truly shocking. I'm looking at maybe going analog and getting either a Moog Minataur or a Mini Brute as they look outstanding. Got a bit of synth love there, need to stop dribbling on my keyboard.
What first turned you onto bass / glitch / lazer music? Any particular artists or tracks?
Through a few avenues really. The early Warp, Ninja Tune, Detroit Underground and Rephlex stuff were definitely a big influence in getting me into Electronica and experimental electronics in general. It was Prefuse 73's One Word Extinguisher album and Forss' Soulhack that really stand out.
I worked engineering at a funk and jazz bar for 5 years and that introduced me to all kinds of sounds [shout outs to the Yardbird!]. I'd occasionally DJ there in between engineering the bands and that introduced me to funked up glitch breaks from the likes of Sticky Buds, Featurecast, and Shepdog. We had some amazing gigs there, working with such a high calibre musicians taught me loads about production. The UK B boy champs regularly throw down there too which made for a wicked atmosphere. We made a video for them actually, definitely worth a look!
Production wise, until recently I was always more into producing Electronica, Breakcore, Techno and Electro but I ended up playing a gig supporting Edit from The Glitch Mob and that was an epiphany. It's funny now as I had no idea who he was at the time. I was playing a boom bass electro set but after hearing the stuff he was playing I was hooked. That introduced me to the likes of kraddy, Boreta, Deweyb, Ill esha, Bassnecter and Breakbeat Buddha and there was no looking back really. At that point there wasn't much in the way of glitch hop in the UK and it's been amazing to see how the sound has progressed and how many people are switching up over the last few years.
I found Colony Productions after playing a gig with Point B back in about 2003-4 and always loved their stuff. Glitch Hop wasnt really a genre back then in my mind and I considered their releases to be more electronic than anything but Colony have been true innovators of the sound in the UK over the years in my opinion so massive respect to Mike and Sam!
I think it was at the edit gig though that I realised the potential of mid-tempo 100 - 110 bpm music and changed focus. There appears to be no end in scope for what you can get away with in Glitch Hop and Bass music in general.
What's the scene like where you are?
Painfully slow really but Birmingham is a notoriously difficult egg to crack. It's strange, there are so many wicked producers and musicians here, which is why I set up Beta Birmingham, but whenever we make an effort and put decent events on it can be hit and miss as to whether people represent. Then you get the old "there's nothing good on in Brum" speech which can be frustrating. Don't get me wrong, Birmingham is a melting pot for creatives and I love that, but I wouldn't really say there was so much of a "scene" for decent bass music here unless you like commercial Drum and Bass birthday parties or drole Dubstep events. There has always been a wicked Reggae scene in Brum Town though so it's not all bad.
Both myself and cohort Automaton have been holding down a bit of a monthly residency for the afore mentioned Andy Jaggers [ADJ] from Pyramid Transmissions and to be honest without those events and the bits we do, there isn't much else which is tragic. Under The Counter have done a couple of cool events but it's all a drop in the ocean really. Quick shout out to Ben from Jam Hott though, played a wicked show for them a few weeks back and it sounds like they have some interesting projects lined up for 2013!
Where do you like to play the most?
Festies are great fun but I prefer 200 cap venues as you're right up next to the crowd and that's a real buzz. I used to play loads of free parties under motorway bridges and in abandoned warehouses, except for the odd bit of trance music they were pretty epic.
What's the craziest gig you've ever played?
Ha! I'm not sure I'm allowed to mention all the details but I was on my way to be interviewed on the Tim Shaw show on Kerrang Radio to promote one of our gigs years back but on the way to the studio the police tried to pull us over. I'd not met the guy giving us a lift before but he turned out to have a bit of a shady past as a bit of a getaway driver. He had some weed on him or something and decided to pretend to pull over and then do one. A few handbrake turns later and we were at the studio. Never laughed so hard in my life!
Absolutely loved playing at Shambala Festival in the ufo this year as they had alien air hostesses with lazer tits.
Who's inspring you most at the moment?
Such a difficult question, I guess what has inspired me the most has been the emergent scene in general and all the characters I've met along the way. No beefs or arrogance and just pure passion for the music is my general experience to date and that's really refreshing to see.
What's your next project in the pipeline?
Big things planned for the future! The label is going through a bit of a transition at the moment as we are changing the name from Beta Birmingham to Beta Test. I've always wanted to represent a pretty broad spectrum of bass music but now I want to move away from the D and B and Dubstep and concentrate more on the Glitch Hop stuff as this is what I'm enjoying the most at the moment and it's also the stuff we have had the best reception to. Originally the label was conceived to represent the Midlands but we are going national now so the name is a reflection of that.
I'm currently coordinating our first vinyl release, admittedly its taking a little longer than expected but once the first one is out and we're set up properly we will be looking to do one every 6 months and to be honest it's worth the wait. I can exclusively confirm that we have William Breakspear, Mouldy Soul, Abstrakt Knights, Shamanic Technology, Spenghead, Automaton, Inaudible and myself. This is a heavyweight line-up to be pressed to a gatefold double vinyl with scratch samples and lock-grooves for remixing the tracks on the fly. I want to make Glitch Hop battle wax basically and the response we have had already to the idea has been immense. I don't want to say any more as there are still a few other bits to confirm, but that alone is pretty dope ey?
I'm in the studio 5 days a week at the moment finishing up a few projects so I'm expecting to be a lot more prolific in the coming months. I've just done a mashup of Dead Prez's Bigger Than tune which is available for free download by liking my page on Facebook. Glitch Hop Bootlegs are bigger than hip hop but with Funk licks and some brass and Clavia synths to boot.
Terrorbyte and Automaton from Beta Birmingham delivered a brilliant debut show for UK Glitch Hop on Glitch.fm last week. Here's Automaton on DJing Mayan pyramids, following in the digital footprints of prefuse73 and a very special release coming out soon...
Please introduce yourself....
My name is Thomas Dunstan, sometimes known as Automaton... I'm 33, from Birmingham UK and I'm an electronic music producer, music technology lecturer, live sound man and father to an amazing six year-old girl.... I release hip hop infused electronic music on Satamile Records in the US and Beta Birmingham (soon to be called Beta Test) Records in the UK.
How would you describe your particular style of bass music?
I don't like to drop the names of genres or sub genres... essentially it's a mixture of all the sounds that I have enjoyed in my life... fundamentally hip hop, electronica, funk and dub with a glutinous helping of bass!
What kit do you use?
Ableton, livid instruments ohm64, a technics 1210 and a whole bunch of weird and wonderful plug-ins.
What first turned you onto bass / glitch / lazer music? Any particular artists or tracks?
I tend to like any music that isn't mediocre, whatever its roots may be.... I can say that some of my favourite artists are Tipper, DJ Shadow, Toots & The Maytals, DJ Premiere, Bassnectar, Boards Of Canada etc., but I'm sure a lot of people out there would say the same.
I think it was hearing point to b by prefuse73 that made me realise that you could actually successfully release this kind of sound. also funkstorung and bitt meddler were massive influences on me.
What's the scene like where you are?
I think me and Terrorbyte are the scene in Birmingham.
Where do you like to play the most?
Festivals. You get a much better crowd, better soundsystems and it's always much more of a doss than playing in nightclubs.I played Shambala Festival and Espiritu Mundo Festival this year. My favourite nightclubs to play in are Hootenanny in Brixton and the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham
What's the craziest gig you've ever played?
Soma soundsystem in a place called Ague Azul. It's near the Palenque ruins (Mayan pyramids) in southern Mexico on new years eve 2000. There were lots of naked people, waterfalls, monkeys and we were all mashed up on peyote.
Who's inspiring you most at the moment?
My students inspire me loads. I love the enthusiasm they have and the freaky ideas that they come up with.
Who are you looking out for in 2012?
I always look out for the stuff that Colony Productions are releasing. and I'm really liking the work of Shamanic Technology too.
What's next in the pipeline?
A very exciting project involving all of the UK glitch hop heads, DJ Switch and the Rane Corporation. This project will take UK glitch hop to the world.
Where are you playing next?
The oh yeah music centre in Belfast, lakota in bristol and in brum -the yardbird, the birmingham ballroom, the hare and hounds, PST and suki10c
When Corporate Propaganda came out on Muti Music in early 2010, I was delighted to see that it'd been made by someone from the UK. Now, although he's currently lounging around on a beach somewhere in Thailand, Inaudible has found the time to give us an interview and a guest mix for UK Glitch Hop on Glitch.fm this Wednesday 28 March, 10pm-12am GMT.
How would you describe your particular style of glitch?
Bass driven electronic music. I like to think that the bass/lead are creating the groove rather than the drums (obviously they work together too). I try to change up what I’m doing as much as possible so that it isn’t too pigeonholable. I like to make music as slow and heavy as possible but still with enough groove to dance too, lately I’ve really enjoyed making half time stuff at 100-110.
When I play out I play stuff a bit wonkier than what I produce, I love awkward swung slow grooves, anything which is difficult to put a genre tag on. Which is why I guess I like Glitch-Hop so much, it’s very difficult to pigeonhole as a genre.
What first turned you onto glitch hop and mid tempo?
I was getting quite into the more glitched end of breaks / prog / techno (NuBreed, Luisine, Andy Page, Habersham etc…) when I stumbled across a couple of SOTEG tracks. I think it may have been his track Ebeneezer which first cracked it for me. From there I discovered Kraddy, I remember the illegal album getting a silly amount of listens early on which obviously led me onto the Glitch Mob, Bassnectar, Vibesquad… then BOOM!
Your had early releases through Muti Music and Car
Crash Set, two of the major glitch hop labels in San Francisco. How did
they come about?
Other than 2 early tracks, the Corporate Propaganda and Game Theory EPs were my first productions. I sent the Corporate Propaganda EP around a bunch of my favourite labels to try my luck, and Dov from Muti said he’d release it. Which I couldn’t have been more stoked about, Muti Music being my favourite Glitch Hop label. Similarly Cosby at Car Crash Set said he would pick up the Game Theory and Black Swan, which was wicked. Car Crash Set have had some amazing releases.
Since then other than a few remixes I’ve been doing my own thing. I don’t seem to be able to make anything resembling a cohesive EP. I just make whatever I feel like at the time and end up with a collection of tracks varying quite a bit in style, so I’ve been putting them out myself. Maybe if I was a bit more patient and held onto tracks for longer they would have more cohesion, however I just sort of want to get tracks out there as soon as they are finished.
You've been featured on both the recent Beta Birmingham comps, what's the scene like there?
Obviously Dubstep is pretty big here, as it is everywhere else at the moment, a few nights cater for the deeper stuff and a decent amount of electronica passes through town. There’s a reasonable amount of Glitch Hop being played at the moment, mainly at the Hare and Hounds where sometimes a bit of Glitch Hop will be played, just not as the main attraction. However The Beta Birminghamcrew have just started putting on Bi-Monthly events in Brum, at which Glitch Hop is heavily supported. Last month they had William Breakspear down and next (13th April) they have Mouldy Soul coming to town. So big things be afoot.
Where are you now?
I moved to Bangkok where I am teaching English for the year, don’t worry, I’ll be coming back in the UK
You manging to play or produce much out there?
Zero at the moment. For the first time in 3 months I have something resembling a studio. Now I’m a little more settled here (had a crazy first 2 months) I’ll start hitting the bass nights and try get involved in the scene here. There’s a LOT less electronic music here than in the UK.
Have you got the gasmask with you? Is it a pain to play in?
No I’ve not brought one over to BKK with me (I have 3 of them) however I will get one shipped over soon. It’s an absolute arse to play in, if it’s hot as it steams up, I need to sort some ventilation out inside of it so that my panting doesn’t steam it up so much.
What's the craziest gig you've ever played?
Have played in a venue a few times in fancy dress because I was barred from the place, and at another gig some idiots started throwing rocks through all the venues windows it was like a warzone in there, however I’ve not played out to any silly large numbers of people. I played to more people when I was playing breakbeat before I got into production than under the inaudible pseudonym, this needs to change.
What's your favourite track at the moment?
heRobust – Facebook Lift, heRobust is on fire at the moment, he just put out a double album on the Saturate! Label which is fire, I’m completely blown away by how future it is.
Who's inspiring you at the moment?
Robert Glasper, Dimlite, Dorian Concept, Lapux, Robot Kotch, Tipper, Swarms, Nicolas Jaar, Flako, James Blake, Rumpistol, Eskmo, Spoonbill, heRobust.
Who are you looking out for in 2012?
On the UKGH Tip: Breakspear, Mouldy Soul, Beat3.
General Glitch Hop: Freddy Todd, Love and Light, Blunt Instrument.
On the Wonkier tip: Dolor, Moa Pillar, Baconhead, Squeaky Lobster, +Verb, Coco Bryce, Swede:Art
You've recently remixed +Verb, Splatinum and Freddy Todd? What have you got in the pipeline?
Nothing at the moment I’m afraid. I haven’t touched Ableton for nearly 5 months now, life has been getting in the way. However as of this week, for the first time since December, I have something resembling a studio (desk, laptop, decent headphones and a controller) so as of now I’m back in the studio, if you can call it that. Which makes me immensely happy, I’ve missed making music so much.
When's the next beach party?
It’s Songkran festival in a few weeks so there could well be a week long water-fight / party planned on the cards.
That's it for now. If I can find the time I'll be doing a round up of the year in the next few days. If you want to be considered for inclusion, post your tunes and mixes in our Facebook community and Soundcloud group.
We're hoping to have a Glitch.FM show in the New Year - watch this space!
