We’re extremely excited to be able to announce our involvement in Bluedot festival which takes place at Jodrell Bank Observatory in July.
We’re thrilled to be included on a line up that features some of our favourite current acts such as Stealing Sheep, Lonelady, Floating Points, and Cowtown.
Hope to see you there.
BRAINTRUST BLOG // 25.06.15
CHOSEN BY: GALAXIANS
Playlist chosen by us ahead of our show at the Waiting Room in London on July 17.
“I first saw Galaxians play at Tramlines last year in the back room of a social club in the outskirts of Sheffield. They had this intricate set up with multiple analog synthesizers going against a small acoustic drum kit, but they produced this uplifting disco sound going on. I loved the fact that their general positive vibe that they brought to a night meant they can slot onto genre bending bills and make punk kids fall in love with them. Drummer Matt Woodward is a DJ at the Release Yourself parties at Wharf Chambers and we’re delighted that he’s made a fifteen track mix for us. I guarantee you’ll find gems in here.” NIALL CUNNINGHAM (Braintrust)
Galaxians headline The Waiting Room with support from Teej on Friday 17 July. Tickets are available through: Billetto + DICE
Galaxians playlist:
1) MATRIX METALS ‘Ray Ban Meltdown’
Matrix Metals is Sam Mehran. He’s possibly more well known as a member of Test Icicles, but for us the MM record is his finest hour. It’s one of those records that defies categorization and people who dig it really dig it. A hard record to describe for sure, but it has a drugged-out, hypnotic, cyclical beauty to it, and it’s all the more amazing when you discover it’s essentially made from tape loops.
2) WICKED WITCH ‘Under Your Spell’
WW is the solo studio alter ego of Washington DC’s Richard Simms and this is from the compilation album ‘Chaos 1978-86’. Again, it’s hard to describe because it’s a pretty nuts record. It’s dark, wild, fucked up psychedelic machine funk, that’s pretty much the only way we can describe it. Matt picked this record up from a-Musik in Cologne recently.
3) RAVIOLI ME AWAY ‘Cat Call’
We played with RMA recently and enjoyed them a lot. They are Sian Dorrer, Rosie Ridgeway, and Alice Theobald and this one is taken from the album ‘The Inevitable Album’ on Good Job Records. It’s just a winner, firstly because it’s a straight up pop hit, secondly because the lyrics are good, and thirdly because the video has them doing some good David Byrne-style dancing in it.
4) SHOPPING ‘In Other Words’
Another ace band we’ve had the pleasure of playing with a few times over the past year. We both dig their album a lot and they’re always super-fun live. Shopping are Billy Easter, Rachel Aggs, and Andrew Milk. They’re also known for being members of other bands such as Wet Dog and Trash Kit. This is one of our favourite songs from their album ‘Consumer Complaints’ (Milk Records) and that guitar line just chops its way into the brain and stays for days.
5) ROLANDE GARROS ‘Polycrosscourt’
Rolande Garros is the alter ego / solo project of Tobias Piel, who is also one third of the trio Les Trucs from Frankfurt. We played with RG at the Robert Johnson club in Offenbach recently and it turned out to be one of the most memorable nights on our European tour this year. And he was one of many very nice people we met that night, too. And that sound system….oh my.
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6) J.A. GROOVE ‘Release The Tension’
This is, as far as we know, the only record ever released by Jeff Seifer and Archie Lucas. It’s something of an obscurity but is a regular feature of Matt’s DJ sets at the Release Yourself parties he hosts at Wharf Chambers in Leeds. It’s one of those post-disco / proto-house records from the mid-80s with a super-tight bass line and conga groove that just jumps out of the speakers and gets people up and onto the floor. At 10:48 minutes long it’s no radio-friendly pop hit. It’s for people who want to get in deep, y’know?
7) MADONNA ‘Lucky Star’
…..and speaking of radio friendly pop hits, this is one of our favourite Madonna songs. For us this is Madonna at her finest and in her most natural, instinctive setting. That early 80s NYC boogie funk club sound was just perfect for her in those first years. Of course, ‘Into The Groove’ is incredible and a more obvious choice (for THAT bass line alone) but the naivety and charm of those early songs is so attractive. It’s the sound of pop rapture.
8) KENTON NIX Featuring BOBBY YOUNGBLOOD ‘There’s Never Been No One Like You’
A West End Records NYC classic and christ, there are so many of those that picking one is a mission. Weirdly, we only came across this one fairly recently, despite being huge fans of the label. But that’s one of the many great things about music and buying records – just when you think you know every record on a label something pops up from a rack in a record shop and blows you away. This is one of those. It’s classic West End – soulful, shimmering, and beautifully arranged.
9) JAMES MASON ‘I Want Your Love’
This is a recent release on Amsterdam’s Rush Hour Records, but it’s actually two songs from 1984 and 1978. The A side ‘Nightgruv’ is really good too, and has a great proto-house vibe to it, but this one is a stunning, sexy, slow burner, more in the boogie style. One of the things we love on this jam is the combination of the slow beat with the crazy fast conga pattern. Marry that with the soulful vocal and those great piano chords and it’s a big win.
10) WALTER WHISENHUNT ORCHESTRA featuring GLORIA ANN TAYLOR ‘Deep Inside You’
This is a really beautiful song from 1973, and we read recently that the original EP – which also features the even more stunning ‘Love Is A Hurting Thing’ – is one of the most expensive disco / soul records ever. More importantly, it’s a gorgeous, eerie, seductive, super-soulful record from start to finish and every home should have one.
11) ADONIS Featuring THE ENDLESS POKER’S ‘!The Poke!’
Not our favourite cut on DJ International Records by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s something Jed picked up recently from Kompakt Records in Cologne when we did a bit of record shopping whilst on tour. It’s kind of a daft record, but just has that unmistakable late 80s Chicago house vibe, with those 303 sounds and that wobbly acid house bass line. And it’s always going to remind us of our time in Cologne which turned out to be a real highlight of the tour.
12) DIBLO DIBALA ‘Super K’
Diblo Dibala is a Congolese Soukous musican whose nickname is ‘Machine Gun’ because of his insane skill and speed on the guitar. This song is from a mid-80s album Matt picked up from Deco Records in Withington in Manchester the morning after we’d played a show at Fuel Cafe. If there’s a more positive and uplifting record than this in the entire world we’ve yet to hear it. Diblo’s records are a big influence on Matt’s other band Azores.
13) DEERHOOF ‘Paradise Girls’
Choosing just one Deerhoof song for a playlist is a near impossibility. Choosing a favourite top five albums is difficult enough and we are constantly amazed by their ability to keep writing genuinely incredible music after thirteen albums. Just such a great band and a constant inspiration as people, writers, musicians, the whole shabang. This one is from the most recent album La Isla Bonita.
14) UNIVERSAL ROBOT BAND ‘Barely Breaking Even’
It’s always difficult for us to put into words how much we love the combination of Leroy Burgess (as songwriter and performer), Greg Carmichael (as performer and producer), Patrick Adams (as producer) and John Morales (as remixer). For us this 1982 record is a benchmark and the pinnacle of the NYC post-disco / boogie era (there’s even a record label named after it). It’s just the perfect boogie jam and is a deejaying no-brainer. It always brings a full floor along with whoops and hollers.
15) GOLDEN TEACHER ‘Party People’
GT are Cassie Ojay, Charles Lavenac, Laurie Pitt, Oliver Pitt, Richard McMaster, and Sam Bellacosa. Together they somehow seem to effortlessly combine every element you’d want from a dance act and in live terms there’s probably no one to touch them right now, at least not as far as we know. When we played with them on tour recently their new material just floored us, and we like them a lot as people, too. They are part of Glasgow’s great tradition of community-focused experimental music and art.
RY / WHARF CHAMBERS PRESENT:
RELEASE YOURSELF II
@ Wharf Chambers
23 – 25 Wharf St, LEEDS
LS2 7EQ
15 / 12 / 12.
9pm – 6am
£4.00
http://www.wharfchambers.org
with:
RUNNERS (LEEDS)
UNMADE BED (SHEFFIELD)
RELEASE YOURSELF DJs
WONKY WONDERS (DJ)
RUNNERS DJs
Feels like it’s been a while, but we cant wait to have you come dance with us again. We were all so pleased with our last party – over the past few months we’ve all been day dreaming about how much fun we had. You dancers really made it for us.
We just hope we can make it for you again.
This time we hope to make Release Yourself even more special.
We’re delighted to have former Long Blondes guitarist Dorian Cox’ new No Wave bedroom disco outfit Unmade Bed, who will make the trip over from Sheffield to play for us. Have a listen here:
http://soundcloud.com/unmade-bed
Our good friends and upfront good hearted Leeds party people Runners will be playing too. In case you don’t know they’re a blend of Krautrock, proto-house and ambient techno, and feature members of Hookworms, Chrononautz, Nope, Charlie Cake etc etc:
We’re delighted to announce that we asked some friends to come play some records and they said yes. So expect some new faces behind the decks. If you would like to play at the next party just get in touch.
Most of all though expect to dance freely. What we value most of all in putting on nights like this is our belief that anyone of us can come together from any background, even just for the night, to celebrate each other and dance together. We want you to make friends – maybe even fall in love. We’re hoping that you come and make a connection with someone and Release Yourself.
Get your backs off the wall people – let’s go dancing.
IT’S 20 YEARS AGO TODAY THAT THE WORLD SAID A FOND FAREWELL TO LARRY LEVAN, but for so many he will always live on! Larry was a one-off, a supreme talent that created some of the most thrilling, unique, organic, sexy mixes we’ve ever heard.
His remixes of Gwen Guthrie tracks in particular are simply jaw-dropping, genre-defining (and genre defying!) classics, full of charm, sexiness, and the kinds of sounds you can’t quite describe in words. We only wish we’d been old enough and bold enough (to fly all the way to NY!) to catch one of his legendary sets at the Paradise Garage way back in the day.
Here’s an interesting piece written about Larry from the Discogs website….
“There’s not much that can be said that hasn’t been said already in dozens of articles, reviews and tribute websites, but I’m compelled to add my two cents. I first heard about the Paradise Garage from an article in NYC’s defunct “SOHO Weekly News”, and I was fascinated. The very well written review was published sometime in 1979 or `80, and my interest was piqued, as my world consisted of clubs, parties and venues that thrived on the anti-disco backlash. My willingness to examine my own irrational prejudice against “Disco” occured one night at The Mudd Club, a cutting-edge post-punk dance club with a sound-system designed by Bryan Eno and a punky-artsy clientele that probably prided itself in never having set foot in a “real” discotheque. I counted myself among that herd until I heard a real Disco DJ upstairs, guesting on the second floor, and my eyes were opened wide and my jaw dropped when I watched and listened to this guy seamlessly blending hot Salsoul, West End and Prelude records. Of course the music was amazing and had nothing in common with my media-inspired, brainwashed aversion to so-called Disco music. I was mesmerized and made it my business to get into the Garage come hell or high-water. I had started DJing in the East Village by then and Bobby Shaw, then the promoter for Warner Brothers records, got me on the guest-list and I finally arrived at Disco Nirvana. But even then, Larry opened my mind and challenged my pre-conceived notions of what he was about. In the course of the night I heard Kraftwerk, The Peach Boys, Yaz, Konk, Mikki, The Temptations, Men At Work, D-Train, and the list of ecclectic twists and turns was mind-blowing to say the least..and that sound system. The best I’d ever heard, albeit too loud for my already sensitive ears. I was a regular there until it closed, and due to Larry’s reputation as a moody and unpredictable soul with a slightly self-destuctive bent (like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, to name a few), I kept my distance from his inner circle and insisted on paying my yearly membership fee as well as the modest admission price. I never regretted my decision, and only after the Garage closed did I become friendly with the now more accessible and down-to-earth Larry Levan. I feel blessed to have had him share his knowledge and stories with me, and not a day passes when I don’t think about the man or listen to one of his totally unique, trippy and dub-inspired remixes. Literally NO DJ can ever achieve his impact on my life or come close to his skills at sonic reconstruction and open-minded, genius programming. He was a genuine 20th century SHAMAN. I Love you and miss you Larry!”
Here at GLX HQ we can’t get enough of Larry’s work and we thought we might share with you a short list of some of our favourite Levan mixes.
We strongly recommend that you hook up with LL and let him cement himself in your subconscious. PLAY LOUD and DANCE!!
JIMMY ROSS – First True Love Affair
TRACY WEBER – Sure Shot
CENTRAL LINE – Don’t Tell Me
GWEN GUTHRIE – Hopscotch (vocal and instrumental)
GWEN GUTHRIE – Seventh Heaven
FIRST CHOICE -Double Cross
LOGG – I Know You Will
AURRA – When I Come Home
SKYY – First Time Around
INSTANT FUNK – I Got My Mind Made Up
NEW YORK CITI PEECH BOYS – Don’t Make Me Wait
CLASS ACTION – Weekend
There’s so many more, but these are some of our biggest faves….hope you dig :)))
<<<< GALAXIANS >>>>
STARGAZE RECORDS FIRST RELEASE NAMED SINGLE OF THE WEEK AT NORMAN RECORDS!
Galaxians // Runners Split 12″ – SG 01, released October 25 2012.
Here’s what they said:
“Oh, nice! I don’t know a lot about this Stargaze label but this mysterious and very limited (only 100 in the world!) 12” has some super-fresh cuts from two top new bands with a shared love for live drums and classic synthesizers. Hot dawg! I doubt our copies will last long so I wouldn’t sit on this one.
On the A side we’ve got duo Galaxians dropping ‘Brace Yoself’, with a stomping disco-funk beat alongside some nimble acid squiggles, cosmic arpeggios and slick synth acrobatics that remind our Brian of Daft Punk, and me of ‘Rockit’-era Herbie Hancock with a touch of New York house influence. This track is so classy! The beats are clean and hard-grooving and the vibes are constantly blazing. You’re gonna rip up dancefloors up and down the country with this. I’ve seen these guys live and it’s a total dance party, don’t miss out if you get a chance.
On the other side there’s Runners, whose debut ‘Starting Line’ 12” impressed us all last year. These four chill dudes like to smoke the reefer and play the synthesizers, and the jam on this platter, ‘Tranquility Base II’, may remind you of Inner Tube minus the guitar or perhaps the TV programme ‘Wish You Were Here’. It’s all celestial smooth synths with a soft head-nodding groove for a real driving-into-the-sunset slow groover with silky, insidious melodies. Totally hot offerings on both sides, highly recommended!”
© Galaxians 2012-2025