The Young Punx are a busy bunch. Remixing, producing and performing have kept them almost constantly busy over the past two years, but somehow they’ve found the time to get back in the studio and finish their own album. ‘Mashpop & Punkstep’ is due for release early next year, but in the meantime the collective drop a double a-side single to whet the appetite…
First up is ‘Simple Pleasures’, featuring vocals from Laura Kidd and Yolanda Quartey, this is a rolling trip of a track, opening with 1970’s influenced punk vocals and ending in d&b toastings. Proof if ever it was needed that a hooky riff, strong bassline and love-based lyrics are a timeless blend.
Meanwhile ‘Like Dat’ is a murkier affair, combining Memphis rap, old school hip hop grooves, rock guitars and a uniquely filthy London bassline, ably ridden by Count Bass D’s commanding flow. An almost improvised gem, the Count’s vocals were the first continuous take, recorded immediately after they had been penned and guitar legend Guthrie Govan’s solo was again a first take, this time with him playing having never heard the track before.
The Young Punx themselves are a fluid collective, in demand as remixers, producers, DJs and a band, they draw on breaks, rock, hip hop, electro and even pop to create their own unique and un-genrefiable sound. A sound that has already seen them release one album to critical acclaim, gaining praise from the likes of Pete Tong, Annie Nightingale and Clash magazine along the way.
With their second longplayer due for imminent release The Young Punx are now making moves up the ladder and are sure to be coming to a radio station, dancefloor or live venue near you soon…
“It’s been described as an Acid House Bohemian Rhapsody, it takes in 25 styles during it’s course, I like it” – Rob da Bank on BBC Radio 1
“This guy F**ks with all the rules” – Norman Cook
“Learn to Recycle is six minutes of utterly unique music” – IDJ
“Phonat has frequently stunned us with his none-more-innovative productions over the last few years, coming across like a hyperactive Daft Punk on happy pills…… By the end, you’re exhausted, perplexed, flabbergasted, and left with the feeling that all other music is boring, unimaginative, repetitive trash. Wow. 10/10″ – Data Transmission
Unique, innovative, rule breaking, genre-spanning….just a few of the plaudits that have been used to describe the works of Phonat, the seven foot mop-haired Italian who’s been catching the ears and attention of the ever intangible ‘tastemaking set’ over the past few months.
Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Andy George, Rob da Bank and Pete Tong have all been championing the producer since last year, when singles ‘Incredible Sound’, ‘Ghetto Burning’ and ‘Learn To Recycle’ marked him as one to watch for 2009 and beyond. Now readying the release of his eponymous debut album, Phonat has created a panoply of chopped up riffs swirled around murky basslines, a world where guitar-driven dancefloor fillers meet bleep-filled fantasies for fun, friendship and possibly more.
Originally from Florence, Italy, Phonat (aka Michele Balduzzi) was first spotted by MofoHifi Records on MySpace and they were so impressed with the 21 year old that the loving label bosses persuaded him to leave his parents’ idyllic country farm in Florence and move to a bed sit in Canning Town. Armed only with a five-year-old computer and an electric guitar Phonat dutifully relocated to London in late 2007 and the rest, as they say, is history.
Drawing on every vein of dance music, from hip hop to house, garage to breaks Phonat’s expert use of a vocal hook is also evident, most noticeably on the Yolanda vocalled ‘Ghetto Burning’ and next single ‘Set Me Free’ – where classic 80s style rock vocals sit atop a stacatto-synthed stomper.
Phonat may have arrived on the scene late last year, but with DJ bookings and remix requests coming in from across the world and his album ready to hit the streets, 2009 is set to be an busy year for the big Italian.
‘Phonat’ by Phonat is released on MofoHifi Records on September 21st. ‘Set Me Free EP’, featuring remixes from Avicci, Louis La Roche and High Rankin was out August 24th.
Tracklisting
1. A Warm Welcome
2. Get Down My Dirty Street
3. Set Me Free
4. Ghetto Burnin’
5. Love Hits The Fan
6. Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde
7. It’s For You
8. Learn To Recycle
9. The Big Deal
10. Zombie Army
11. Bad Boy
12. London
Available at all major sellers.
(from the BBC web site)
From the teenage grime producer who pored over the pages of heavy metal weekly Kerrang and sampled Japanese chamber music, to the pop star Jeremy Paxman calls ‘Mr. Rascal’ when soliciting his views on US president Barack Obama, Dylan Mills AKA Dizzee Rascal likes confounding expectations.
In 2003, his radical debut album Boy in da Corner scooped the Mercury Prize. He’s since redefined UK urban music with a trademark style which blends raw street lyricism with radio friendly melody and draws as easily from grime as hip hop, R&B or pop music.
In the last 12 months, Dizzee hooked up with producers Calvin Harris and Armand Van Helden for an untouchable trio of electro-grime anthems – Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers and Holiday. All three UK number one singles feature on upcoming fourth album Tongue N’ Cheek – a recession-beating collection of upbeat party bangers. Enjoying his recent reinvention as a pop star, Dizzee is now in a place where he has artistic free rein; “I don’t know what people think I am now, and that’s good, because it means I can do whatever I want”.
Continuing to confound expectations, for BBC Electric Proms Dizzee Rascal delivers his first ever full length live show with a band, horns and string section. Dizzee is joined by Heritage Orchestra and backed by electronic mash-up collective The Young Punx under the musical direction of Hal Ritson. A celebration of the artist’s diverse influences, expect a party set of mash-ups, radical reinterpretations of Rascal favourites plus a few closely guarded surprises.
Massive new club anthem on MofoHifi Records, with groundbreaking remix from Phonat.
London based electro producer Sharooz was first introduced to the dance world by MofoHifi in 2006 with his debut release “Hell Yeah!” which received over twenty BBC Radio One plays and featured on numerous high profile compilations.
Three-years on and his star is still rising. Sharooz’s productions can now boast a clutch of leading taste-maker fans including 2 Many DJs, Moby, Mylo, Erol Alkan, Boys Noize, and Kissy Sell Out; an appeal which hasn’t gone unnoticed by club promoters, securing him DJ bookings in Serbia, Switzerland, Russia, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, USA and France. After topping many of the main dance download charts earlier this year with “Get Off”, Sharooz is back with his third release on MofoHifi – “Adrenalize”.
Adrenalize is a tough, big room crowd pleaser combining his trademark simple biting basslines and epic builds, with a triumphant piano break that has been raising the roof in Ibiza over the past few weeks.
Early support for the track comes from Fake Blood, Steve Aoki, Meat Katie, Grum, Dada Life, The Young Punx and many others and it looks set to be one of the underground dance records of the year.
On remix duties, MofoHifi artist Phonat, building up to the release of his forthcoming debut album ‘Phonat’, delivers a radical and innovative remix that creates a sound fusing the worlds of Dubstep and French house. Never one to deliver a predictable sound, the seven-foot Italian has been inspired by the increasing integration of the Dubstep scene into mainstream Ibiza clubs such as “Reclaim the Dancefloor” to create a Dubstep influenced groove that can be easily dropped by house DJs in their steps without changing tempo.
Italian producer Phonat has been catching the ears of a fair few tastemakers with his last few single and EP releases. Add the likes of Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Andy George, Tiesto and Pete Tong to the list above and you can see why the lofty Italian has been marked out as one to watch this year.
Now, ahead of his eponymous debut album due out in September, Phonat releases ‘Set Me Free’ a staccato-synthed stomper of a track, where classic 80’s rock vocals provide the support. A standout from the forthcoming album, Phonat hasn’t skimped on remixers with the first coming courtesy of Avicii, the latest ‘made’ man in the Swedish House Mafia. Proving his pedigree Avicii chops vocals and swirls synths to create a hands in the air Balearic bomb, early copies of which are already becoming staples in the record boxes of the more discerning DJ.
Bleeps and basslines are the order of the day on High Rankin’s re-rub as the dubstep dandy leads listeners to the dancefloor, albeit down a slightly murkier back route, before Louis La Roche’s Reconstruction adds a tougher, twisted edge to complete the package
With previous singles ‘Incredible Sound’, ‘Ghetto Burning’ and ‘Learn To Recycle’ Phonat (aka Michele Balduzzi) has showcased his ability to draw on every vein of dance music, from hip hop to house, garage to breaks and left fans eager to hear more. Now with DJ bookings and remix requests coming in from across the world and his album ready to hit the streets, 2009 is set to be a busy year for the big Italian. Not bad for a man who arrived in London from Florence little over a year ago with just a guitar and a five-year-old computer.
The Young Punx team up with their Japanese label buddy Shinichi Osawa with this full throttle remix of forthcoming Young Punx single ‘Rock Star (Understand)’. This banging hard glitch remix went straight to number one in the Japanese iTunes electronic chart on release! Shinichi Osawa is one of the worlds most exciting producers and needs no introduction following his UK releases on Data (Star Guitar) and Southern Fried (The One).
The Young Punx perform "Rock Star (Understand)" live in Japan, July 2009.
(NB This release is not yet available in North America)
MofoHifi Records and Ultra Records are delighted to announce that the forthcoming track by The Young Punx – “Ready for the fight” is featured prominently as the title track on the highly anticipated new boxing video game “Fight Night Round 4″. The track is one of several songs from the ‘eclectic electric collective’s forthcoming album “Mashpop and Punkstep” to feature guest vocals from highly respected Memphis rapper Count Bass D.
Hal Ritson and Nathan Taylor of The Young Punx with Count Bass D
“Ready for the fight” is triumphant cross genre collaboration between London-based electronic dance producers The Young Punx and Memphis-based king of the independent Hip Hop producers Count Bass D. Despite radically different musical and cultural backgrounds both artists have developed a great respect for each others’ work and come together to create a unique and moving track seamlessly combining the best of post Daft Punk European dance production with big room Hip Hop vibes in a moving tale of resolve and determination in the face of adversity.
The Young Punx are no strangers to the gaming world, having had 3 tracks featured on EA releases in the past 2 years, and having performed live at the EA Games “Be The One” event in Trafalgar Square recently. However, “Fight Night Round 4″ ramps this up a notch by using the track to soundtrack key scenes in the game as a core part of the gaming experience.
“My favourite song so far of 2009… it’s really amazing. lots of wicked rifts that go real mental”- Jaymo and Andy George on Radio 1 covering for Annie Mac.
“this guy F**ks with all the rules” – Norman Cook
The eagerly awaited new EP from the Italian prodigy paves the way for his debut album release this spring.
The “Set Me Free EP” is a follow up to the innovative and critically acclaimed “Learn to Recycle” which was celebrated as one of the most adventurous pieces of electronic music to be released in 2008 and was described as the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody for the acid house generation’.
Support has come thick and fast for Phonat from top DJ’s such as Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Andy George, Rob Da Bank, Herve, Kissy and Pete Tong.
“Set Me Free”
“Set Me Free” is an uplifting and inspirational club track which draws together three separate themes from current house music – disco revivalism, rave revivalism and wonky fidget. It combines them in a fresh sounding summer anthem that unifies many aspects of underground dance within one, highly accessible track and shows that dance music, so often divided aggressively by sub genre, can unite defined by its similarities more than its differences.
The EP also contains a re-edit of “Set Me Free” by East London Nu Disco outfit, Tasmanian Disco Stampede, re-focussing the track on its more funky elements, for more disco based dancefloors.
“Get Down My Dirty Street”
“Get Down My Dirty Street” is a unique and entertaining track, created from tiny fragmented micro-samples of different songs; rock, country, pop, soul, rap and metal, which start off playing as a stark disjointed chaos and slowly coalesce into a cohesive whole and then wonderfully form an upbeat party breaks bomb. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!
“Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde” – (“I’ve Seen a Green Picture”)
Finally, “Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde” shows off Phonat’s more minimal side – a trippy yet bouncey stripped back club tool which explores the sparse soundscapes, yet doing so with a sense of charm and humour so rarely seen in that field!
The track name translates from Phonat’s native Italian as “I’ve Seen a Green Picture” and is derived from a drunken bet with a friend made when he was living in his native Florence, in which they invented a variety of surreal and ridiculous pretend song names, and bet that one day ‘when they were successful’ they would be able to release an album that actually included one of the names in the tracklisting!
We went out onto the streets of London with members of the eclectic mashpop collective to find out about their approach to albums, music, gigging and mayhem.
The first single from The Young Punx second album, featuring vocals from Laura Kidd, awesome ravey fidgety mixes from Shir Khan and Goshi Goshi and an insane new video from Han Hoogerbrugge!
The Young Punx; an innovative collective of diverse musicians led by inventive multi-instrumentalist and producer, Hal Ritson, have been building themselves quite a reputation of late. Resisting easy definition by continuing to deliver fresh sounding, first-class electronic music, coupled with a string of hugely popular remixes for the likes of Sonny J, Mighty Dub Katz and Giant Jnr, The Young Punx are becoming one of London’s hottest exports. Drawing on an eclectic fusion of influences – breaks, house, rock, pop and electro – to create a sound loosely coined as “mashpop and punkstep”, they get ready to release their second album in Spring 2009.
MASHitUP is its first single release, a fine slice of quality breakbeat driven electro pop featuring a killer punky vocal from ‘new girl on the block’ Laura Kidd (fresh from touring with Tricky and her collaboration on ‘Automatic’ with Michael Gray, Eye Industries) and staggering shredding guitar licks from The Young Punx’ resident guitar virtuoso, Guthrie Govan. It’s dirty, it’s multi-layered and it’s loud – just the way they like it.
MASHitUP is already creating vibrations across the globe. From performing it live to a rapturous 15,000 strong crowd alongside the Stereophonics in Yokohama Arena, Japan, to featuring it in their inspired DJ set alongside Tiesto at Ibiza super club, Privilege, it’s going down an absolute (electric) storm.
Discerningly keen-eared blog tastemakers have been onto this for some time, sharing and hyping MASHitUP since mixes surfaced 6-weeks ago. Support from key blogspots, such as Discodust, Discobelle, Get Weird and Monster Says Rawr – considered instrumental in unearthing and breaking the hottest of fringe and underground acts – are all marking The Yong Punx as one to watch this year:
“I love the original on this, The Young Punx are bad as fooook, will be playing this 
”
– Micky Slim
Filmed out and about in Old Street, London, and more intimately at Hoxton’s cult ‘Phone in Sick’ night, hosted by Jerry Bouthier, MASHitUP’s video is a visual feast of freakish fun. Cut and animated by renowned Dutch Digital Artist, Han Hoogerbrugge, if you’ve ever wondered what Old St might look like should a troop of bikini-clad clowns invade, take a peek and wonder no more…
Mixes come from the Berlin Battery’s Shir Khan and new MofoHifi signings, Goshi Goshi. Shir Khan is undoubtedly one of the finest German DJ / Producers to have emerged in recent years and underlines exactly why he deserves the hype with this mash-up of electro house style leads, distorted e-guitar solos, baile funk drum rolls and a shuffled groove. All in all a massive record already singled out by Pete Tong for inclusion in his Fast Trax Show – “Totally rocking remix!”
Goshi Goshi lean their mix towards the ‘sound of 2008’ fidget house. With a banging combination of retro rave revivals, dropping basslines and glitchy beats, they deliver a killer peak-time remix.
Love and respect continues to grow in every corner of the dance world for the humble Italian giant since his arrival in the UK at the end of 2007. Phonat has now received plays from Tong, Jules, Rob Da Bank, Annie Mac and Annie Nightingale on Radio 1 along with strong support from the worlds DJ elite as he continues to redefine electronic music.
Learn to Recycle quite simply breaks all the rules and is a taster of what we might expect from the forthcoming Phonat album, due for release early 2009. The idea of the track is to take the same sample, drum kit and bass and, in six minutes, journey through everything from house, hip hop, drum and bass, electro, down tempo and everything else whilst passing. We challenge you to find a more original piece of electronica this year! Despite its unconventional tempo structure, the track is proving to be absolutely massive on more adventurous dancefloors.
Meanwhile the ‘4toThe Floor mix’, also mixed by Phonat at a more conventional speed, has steadily been climbing the electro house charts in Beatport and in the Coolcuts chart. Full of ravey beeps and driving guitars.