The show will usually comprise of either James Priestley or Giles Smith, or even both, mixing it up and chatting the breeze alongside friends, fellow musicians and an assortment of artists from The Secret Agency and further afield. 

As well as new and unreleased material, listeners will be treated to an exclusive insight into the goings on at secretsundaze HQ. Including tour dates, line-ups, new projects and general goings-on. Of course this also a chance to hear two well-respected selectors get deep into their record collection.

After guest appearances from October and Aybee with with James and Giles respectively. This weeks show featured Nyra in the mix and John Daly on the phone from from Ireland, alongside guest host Ethyl.

Related Articles: secretsundaze Jubilee Party, secretsundaze Radio with Aybee, secretsundaze Radio with October, secretsundaze Debut Broadcast

After the huge success of Brawther’s ‘Do It Yourself’ E.P, released on secretsundaze last year, you could almost forgive him for going a little quiet on the solo-production front. After a busy year of gigs, Brawther has been back in the studio. And boy is it worth the wait.

‘Don’t Go’ is a straight-up, foot-stomping, head-swinging, booty-shaking firecracker set to drop at the end of the month. And My Love is Underground have kindly shared a preview:

Brawther has also found time to record a podcast for the notorious Leeds night backtobasics. They have chosen Brawther to launch their new series ahead of his headline slot for them this weekend. As part of the weekend our man will also be doing an exclusive in-store gig at Waxwerks in Leeds. But for the time-being checkout the podcast on his soundcloud:

John Daly has been busy working away in the studio on his latest LP ‘Sunburst’, which is set to be released via Drumpoet Community on 27th April 2012. Having already put out a free download of the title track ‘Sunburst’, he has now sent us a sneaky insight into his new live set, which is made up of tracks from his forthcoming album, polished for the club. Have a listen to it here:

Being locked away in the studio working on the new LP and live set, however, has not hindered John Daly’s ability to tour over the last year, taking him to places such as Panorama Bar (Berlin), Rex Club (Paris), Air (Tokyo), Fabric (London) and Robert Johnson (Frankfurt), to name but a few destinations. 

John has also found time recently to give a rather interesting and extensive interview to Little White Earbuds, which you can read here, as well as record Drumpoet Community Show 67. 

Good stuff.

secretsundaze caught up with October ahead of his debut gig for them at Village Underground on 5th April alongside Lawrence, Tevo Howard (live), as well as James and Giles themselves.

1. You are having a bit of a purple patch with killer releases lined up for Skudge, Simple and also Applepips. For those that don’t know so much about you please give us a little background on your history within dance music.  

Well I’ve been involved with electronic music since the late 90’s - making jungle beats with a sampler and a 4 track tape machine.  It just escalated from there really…  My cousins used to organise massive events in the early 90’s in The Netherlands bringing people like Lil’ Louis and Derrick May to play mega raves all over the country circa ‘91 to ‘93 so I got into House then but didn’t have any concept of what it was as I was far too young.  I liked it but also loved Nirvana etc as it was ‘91 so I didn’t really start to fully understand House until my late teens.  In 2000 I was beginning to phase out Jungle and DnB out of my life as I found the most of scene blinkered and club nights highly aggressive.  So I focused my efforts on Broken Beat, Garage, Electro and House and now I’m here…

2. We have heard the new tracks on Simple and Skudge and they really are dope with great flair and variation. What can we expect of your Applepips release? Is this something you have done solo or working alongside Appleblim such as your previous track together “NY Fizzzz”  

Neo Ambient Rain Forest Techno and Jazzy Bristol House music.  All synths were played by my Caravan label partner James Fiddian and some additional playing was done by Borai.

3. So much has been made of the Bristol sound from Massive Attack and Tricky to Roni Size and more recently the bass phenomena. Avoiding the usual laid back Bristolian stoners cliche’s what is it about that city that for you seems to spit out such fierce talent and heavy basslines? 

 There’s a different vibe in this town - it seems to be more focused on creativity than capitalism.  It’s very bohemian and there’s a lot of flora and fauna around so maybe that translates into the music…  I dunno, I get asked this question a lot and have been living here for 15 years now and still can’t put my finger on it.

4. Its an exciting time with so much crossover from House, Techno, bass etc etc and DJs more and more cutting across genres,  how do you feel you fit into the musical cosmos?  

Pfff…  No idea frankly.  I don’t really think about where I fit in as I don’t tend to fit in anywhere - I just try and stay away from any fad or hype.  In my world there’s only good music and bad music.  I might not like something but can still appreciate how good it is, hopefully my music fits into the good music category.

5. We’re really looking forward to having you debut at secretsundaze after your gig playing alongside us for the secret agency party late last year. Can you tell us about another special gig from the last year and what was it about that experience that made it memorable. 

Freerotation and Watergate were the highlights of last year.  Mainly Watergate as I got to play for about 7 hours and really get into it - the crowd were amazing and so responsive we managed to keep them until well passed 8am on Wednesday night!  I played b2b with John Osborn in the middle of it so it was just perfect all round.  Freerotation is always special and there’s such a loyal following, everyone is genuinely hyped to see you play.  That does make it one of the most nerve wrecking gigs every year hands down though…

See October play at secretsundaze Easter Special @ Village Underground on 5th April.

Tickets available from Resident Advisor.

John Daly:

“With a bit of a lull in the old release schedule as i wait for my album to drop…Figured i should put something out there. This is a track that’s always seemed to do the business in my live set the past few years, and I can’t release it through normal channels…..So i figured i’d share.

Check out John Daly’s Blog here.

Delano Smith has just dropped his incredible new full length album on Sushitech. The CD comes with with a rather nice set of biographical linear notes, in which Delano discusses his influences, career and music.

Here’s the first chapter:

The Early Years

Before there was House Music, Techno Music, Disco or any form of electronic music we listened to the funk bands of the 70’s. Earth, Wind & Fire, The Ohio Players, The Commodores, Brass Construction and Brothers Johnson rules the airwaves. Funk and R&B was the music of choice at all the basement and backyard parties I attended growing up. It was a great time back then. No internet, cell phones, compact discs, MP3s or computers. Just vinyl, 8 track tapes and the radio. I remember spending all the money I earned from my part time job at the local convenience store to buy the newest EWF or Brass Construction album, which was probably around $6 back those days…a fortune! My entire paycheck was spend on these records, which I listened to over and over again.

I attended night time parties in the fall of 1978, my freshman high school year. During this time some Detroit radio stations shifted from playing Funk/R&B to Disco. WDRQ and WLBS adopted to the disco format and played it exclusively all day and night. Everyone seemed to be drawn to this new music. The days of the funk bands were over, which gave birth to Disco. The Disco genre wasn’t the only music that ruled the airwaves. A local radio DJ in Detroit, “The Electrifying Mojo”, debuted artists like Rick James and Prince that kept us grounded in funk to an extent, but Disco was the music of choice at most parties.

My good friend Shawn McDaniel and I attended parties at a place called “Plymouth Church”. It was an actual church that had a room where high school students in the Detroit area would go to dance from 8pm - 12am. This was the first time I actually saw a DJ perform. There was no blending or mixing, just a DJ sitting playing one disco hit after another. We danced non-stop from the beginning to the end of the party. I realized I wanted this music for my listening pleasure. This began the addition of Disco Music to my record collection Professional Records and Detroit Audio were the stores of choice for the Disco 12” singles.

As Disco grew, so did the Detroit party scene. Local DJ crews grew as well, notably Todd Johnson’s Eclipse, Essence 2 and The Dale Willis Organization (Dale introduced Jeff Mills to the world) to name a few. Songs such as Gary’s Gang “Keep on Dancin” New York Community Choir’s “Express Yourself” and Lakeside’s “It’s All the Way Live” were some of my favourites back in ‘78 and ‘79. During this period I heard a DJ by the name of Ken Collier on WLBS that changed my view of the definitions of Disco Music and parties forever. I immediately related to him and wondered how he was blending the two records together? My friends and I would often speculate how this feat was performed. Little did I know very soon I would witness this marvel performance. 

You can buy the CD including the booklet at Phonica Records, or you can by the vinyl or MP3 at Juno.

Since forming in 2007 Giles Smith and Martin Dawson’s joint project Two Armadillos has seen the pair release on a whole host of quality House labels from Dessous, Four:Twenty, Buzzin Fly, Sthlm Audio and Giles’ own secretsundaze imprint. Their music has always been about real deal, authentic house and techno whether deep and atmospheric such as the forever green ‘Patience’ or pumped up jacking tracks like their hugely played and charted remix of Steve Bug / The Discowboys - ‘To The Mountain Top’ on Dessous a few years back. Their sound really captured a certain spirit pre-dating the deep house revival and their tracks have been licensed to compilations such as DC10 mixed by a:rpia:r, Body Language mixed by Mathew Dear, At The Controls by Claude Von Stroke and Sci. Fi. Hifi by Funk D’Void amongst others.

For the last 18 months the Armadillos have been quiet on the release front, which has led to questions about whether the project had been disbanded, but they have both simply been busy with other various projects. This is set to change with their debut LP entitled ‘Golden Age Thinking’ spread across three separate 12”s. The title of the album is a quote lifted from Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight In Paris’ referring to someone that lives in the past or is nostalgic. Whilst Two Armadillos do not live in the past they have always had a healthy respect for music of days gone by, with its more timeless, classic, less throwaway sound.

Each 12” that makes up the LP will have an A side that is more club friendly and two B sides which are without doubt also aimed at home listening. When hearing all three 12”s the LP format and approach will become very much clear and is intended to be listened to as a singular body of work.

The first 12” was released on 23rd January, distributed by Dutch bastion of quality house and techno, Clone, and the subsequent two parts will come in February and April. Thereafter Two Armadillos will use their self titled new label to release their music and indeed anything else that takes their fancy.

Support and reactions so far:

- Move D [Dial]: Love ‘Another One… For Larry’, have just included it on my FACT mix.
- Nina Kraviz [Rekids / UQ]: Enjoyed this very much. Nice work.
- Cassy [Cocoon]: Greatgreatgreat!!! Is what I think. Played ‘Ronin’ in Tel Aviv at Cat and Dog last night. People loved it too… :) xxx
- Brawther [Balance]: Full support! Love ‘Ronin’.
- Midland [Aus] : Just wanted to say how wicked the new “Golden Age Thinking” EP is!  Especially love ‘Ronin’, fathoms deep stuff!
- Chez Damier [Balance]: Great house tracks.
- Radio Slave [Rekids]: Really like ‘Ronin’.
- Will Saul [Aus]: These tracks are superb with ‘Another One… For Larry’ being my pick, closely followed by ‘Ronin’. Will play both of these and have already tweeted how wonderful I think these are :)
- October [Skudge / TANSTAAFL]: This is great! I LOVE ‘Ronin’. Those drums are proper samurai. Great record - may I request a vinyl of this please?
- Jef K [Silver Network]:  Really beautiful music man congrats ! Especially like ‘Ronin’, will defo play!! The other 2 are really sweet also.
- Spencer Parker [Rekids]: I love ‘Ronin’! - v cool. Great beats and love the instrumentation - reminds me of UR type vibes !!
- Gerd [Clone]: Diggin this EP!
- Karotte [Breaking New Soil]: Really like ‘Ronin’.
- Sascha Dive [Deep Vibes / Cocoon]: Great EP!
- Dorian Paic [Raum / Cocoon]: Like ‘Ronin’.
- San Soda [We Play House]: Love ‘Another One for Larry’.

secretsundaze Easter party 2012 w/ Lawrence, Tevo Howard (live), October, Giles Smith and James Priestley at Village Underground, London

Buy tickets

Patrice Scott - RA.298 podcast

Tracklist:

1. K Alexi Shelby - Sweet Cum Down
2. M.T. aka bayaka - Mi Latino American Flour (Type 2)
3. M.T. aka bayaka - Mi Latino American Flour (Dub Mix)
4. Casey Hogan - Update the System
5. White label
6. Conforce - Spoiled (XDB Reshape 2)
7. Reese & Santonio - How to Play Our Music (Dub Mix)
8. Conforce - Vulcan
9. Sailor Mood - Brick Brick Brick (Dj Qu Remix)
10. Yasuo Sato - Mirage of Night Sky
11. Kerri Chandler - Light The World
12. Doc Martin - Se Me Free (Birchy’s Groove)
13. John Heckle - Hard Sleeper
14. K Alexi Shelby - The Dream
15. Mike Grant - The Struggle of My People (Mr. G’s There’s Hope Mix)

Download

The first session of secretsundaze’s monthly radio show @ StrongroomAlive.FM took place on 6th February, featuring host James Priestley and guest Delano Smith. The show can now be listened back… stream it!