BOILER ROOM

UKG Reloaded. Hear the story of this unforgettable sound, told by the insiders in the form of an hour-long original Boiler Room podcast celebrating the history and cultural impact of UK Garage featuring Interviews, never-before-heard anecdotes, and a banging UKG soundtrack. Featuring contributions from Wookie, Philippa Reed, Todd Edwards, Norris ‘Da Boss’ Windross, Dee Kline, Kele Le Roc, MC Creed, El-B, DJ Touch, Ricky D, Martin Larner, Matt Jam Lamont, Lisa Maffia, Donna Dee & Steve Gordon. Presented by Rinse FM’s Emerald Rose Lewis; Produced by Zakia Sewell.

Our series of album-focused podcasts continues with a celebration of Burial’s mysterious masterpiece “Untrue.”, which turned 10 the day of this talk. Two heroes of the UK underground dance culture – BBC/Deviation’s Benji B & Keysound’s Blackdown – sat down with Boiler Room’s Gabriel Szatan to discuss everything that fed into Hyperdub’s stone-cold classic. Focus on rave euphoria, FWD>>, night buses, El-B’s drum techniques and much more inside. As a special treat for the heads, “True Love (VIP)” and the alternate version of “U Hurt Me” are included on this podcast, their first official outing on tape in many years. Have fun hunting those out.

Our series of talks podcasts continues with a celebration of Radiohead’s game-changing “In Rainbows”, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2017. Radiohead diehard Lone guested at a Classic Album Sundays event in London (Miranda, Ace Hotel) with Boiler Room’s Gabriel Szatan to go deep on the Oxford band’s stellar and deeply personal 2007 masterpiece. They also spoke about his remixes for the band; the classic Boiler Room party he played at the invite of Thom Yorke; “In Rainbows”‘ notorious ‘pay what you want’ approach; and more. The podcast features a number of rare offcuts and live performances from the era of their 7th album – see if you can spot them all.

We reboot our series of talk podcasts with an in-depth look at Roni Size Reprazent’s drum ‘n bass landmark “New Forms”. Roni Size himself sat down with Boiler Room’s Gabriel Szatan to discuss the Mercury Prize-winning smash, its legacy over two decades, and a deluxe 20th anniversary reissue package which was exclusively revealed to BR here. The “New Forms” remixes included here will feature on the forthcoming release. It was recorded live in front of an audience during a Boiler Room x Classic Album Sundays session at London’s Miranda (Ace Hotel), September 2017.

Following on from the hugely successful discovery of a never-before-heard J Dilla mixtape, Boiler Room continue their coverage of hip hop’s finest technician with their second Yancey-dedicated podcast in partnership with Classic Album Sundays. Where Episode 1 saw Boiler Room Head of Music and Dillaphile, Raj Chaudhuri, break down his magnum opus Donuts, this sequel digs into the anatomy of his 2001 debut LP Welcome 2 Detroit (BBE Records) alongside Dilla’s mentor, Amp Fiddler. Containing rare tape demos from a 17-year-old Jay Dee, classic J Dilla productions and unheard beats broken down to their kick and snare bare bones (via Dilla’s own MPC files) and plenty of other musical nuggets, it’s a must listen for anyone vaguely interested in the genius’ work. Recorded live at Classic Album Sundays in London.

For the third instalment of Mumdance’s podcast series he sits down with grime don Riko Dan to talk about the early days of pirate radio, dancehall, being part of Roll Deep and more…

During our weekend in Arcosanti, Arizona for FORM festival, we organized a talk focusing on the relationship between environment and creativity, nature and art. Moderated by FORM co-founder Mike Feinberg, the panel included Arcosanti co-president and historian Jeff Stein, musician Julianna Barwick, and FORM artist-in-residence Bert Rodriguez. The result is a history lesson on the architecture wonders behind Arcosanti, its dedication to creativity and collaboration and how it drives the spirit of FORM, and the impression it has left on various artists.

A standalone goliath in California’s barren techno landscape, Moe Espinosa – aka Drumcell – has always been a determined experimentalist in sound. Though galvanised by the early ’90s rave scene in LA, his love affair for synthesis and sonic design date back to the classical training of his musical youth. Now a vanguard sound designer, label founder, performing artist (and a product specialist for NI to boot!) there are few other people who can discourse more entertainingly on the evolution of digital sound. As part of our Native Instruments series, press play on an exclusive podcast in which Drumcell tells the story of his entry into the world of synthesis via several essential records.

In preparation for our return to AVA Festival this year, we set out to find out more about what’s in the water of Belfast’s club culture. With a growing global notoriety, founded organically by it’s homegrown talent, it’s a music scene with deep roots and and a bright future. We caught up with the Schmutz boys, Swoose & Cromby, Matt from Bicep, Timmy Stewart, Phil Kieran and Phil from Twitch to hear their personal anecdotes of being in clubs, and their perspective on where Belfast is at right now.

Terrace Martin took the stage on January 31 for our fourth Sunday Sessions presented in conjunction with MoMA PS1. The event featured a conversation with Terrace moderated by Meghan Stabile of Revive Music, and a performance by Terrace and his live band We’ve taken bits from that discussion, done a follow-up phone interview, and added highlights from Terrace’s performance to produce 45 minutes of illuminating conversation punctuated by music. Topics of discussion include Terrace’s formative influences, the relationship between jazz and hip hop, the climate of music in Los Angeles, and his work with Kendrick Lamar. We close with Terrace’s rework of Kendrick’s anthem “Alright”.

Following our first New York party of the 2016, we sat down with the three co-founders of platform and booking agency Discwoman for a discussion on gender issues, the music scene in New York City, and Discwoman’s swift rise. Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson, Emma Burgess-Olson aka UMFANG, and Christine Tran were joined by Jen Lyon from MeanRed for a conversation moderated by Michelle Lhooq of THUMP. Recorded live at Manhattan Center.

Benga: the original afro dubstep warrior has quite some history behind him. As one of the genre’s mercurial stans, he’s been there right from its birth; a veteran within a movement that would go on to set the world alight during the mid-2000s. For this exclusive live recorded podcast, we invited Benga into our office for some teatime chatter with journalist, Melissa Bradshaw. There’s new unheard tracks, old classics and plenty of high-pitched laughing to enjoy as we take a trip through his career highs and lows. An insightful peek into the diary of an afro warrior…

Today marks ten years since James Yancey, better known as J Dilla, passed away. Regularly considered as one of the greatest producers and musicians to ever grace hip-hop, his innovative techniques, meticulous accuracy and outright groove have been mimicked and revered since he passed in February 2006. His magnum opus, Donuts, was released just three days before his death; much of it produced from his hospital bed using just an MPC, sampler and portable turntable — a remarkable feat under any circumstance. Raj Chaudhuri (aka Raji Rags) — head of music at Boiler Room and Livin’ Proof co-founder — has been an avid Dilla disciple for a long time. Classic Album Sundays recently invited him to chair a talk on Dilla’s finest work on the anniversary of its release date. What ensues is not only a highly informative and emotional examination of the 31-track project, but a cross-check of all the relevant events that lead up to its making. Skip forward to 27:25 for the start of the Donuts-specific discussion. Recorded live at Classic Album Sundays in London.

2015 saw Grime reach a global status with co-signs from Drake & Kanye with the help of poster boy Skepta, Stormzy finishing in the UK Top Ten xmas charts and a new generation of online stations keeping pirate radio spirit alive. DJ Cable mixes up some of the best moments in Grime from the last 12 months. The second half of the podcasts highlights where Grime and “Road Rap” blur lines in 2015 featuring music from Giggs, Grizzy & M Dargg, Reekz MB, Youngs Teflon, Blade Brown + more mixed by BR’s Skinny Macho.

BR’s Sean Keating speaks to Dexter Story, Miles Mosley, Terrace Martin and Patrice Quinn about the making of 2015’s standout jazz album – The Epic by Kamasi Washington released on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder.

This “sound” – too loose to be called a genre – has been growing across the globe for almost two years, but 2015 was a particularly strong year. Nabbing inspiration from movements as varied as yacht rock, jazz, broken beat, J Dilla and beyond, it’s all bound by a universal groove. Contributions span many a time zone: from Cologne’s ava. to Copenhagen’s Tartelet; Peckham’s 22a and Rhythm Section to Poland’s FASRAT; and Melbourne’s Voyage to Vancouver’s Mood Hut. Tune in to our hour-long mix (mixed by BR’s Sean Keating) featuring some of this community’s finest works.

In this podcast with Boiler Room’s Sofie, Lefto presents an hour long round-up mix of what went down in the beats scene this year.

Club music coming from bedroom producers from all over the world is getting weirder and more wonderful every day, thanks to exchanges of ideas and collaboration over the internet. This podcast is all about the year in club music, with a specially curated mix from Akito showcasing the ins and outs of the sound. Hold tight for sounds influenced by Baltimore club, kuduro, ballroom, UK funky and many more.

In this podcast, we revisit one of our favourites mixes of the year – great as a standalone, but equally emblematic for ambient’s continued revival and hybridisation. Suzanne Kraft‘s fluid, supple mix for our Milan party struck the tone perfectly; it works as well for warming up as cooling down. Weaving soft jazz, Balearic noodling, synth washes and plenty in between – much as the LA-based producer did on this year’s standout LP “Talk From Home” – Kraft neatly encapsulated ambient in 2015.

BR’s Charles Drakeford hit up some of our favourite label owners and DJs about the reissues they have enjoyed in 2015. Including: Antal (Rush Hour), Sassy J, Ben UFO, Beatrice Dillon, Athens of the North, Palto Flats, Matthew Kent (BUTW), Light in the Attic and Dark Entries.