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JFC WRITERS Select... The Top 5 Albums Of The Year

31/12/2015

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The Christmas jumpers are gone, and with them the warmth of the festive season, the happiness in the eyes of your family and the god-awful December soundtrack that's been making your ears bleed for the past 30 days.

What's left? Well, apart from the hangover built from three weeks of wine-drinking and the protruding stomach built from three weeks of cheese, thankfully it's now time for the world to return to it's usual musical customs - we're finally free of Slade.

So, what better way to celebrate than to look back at the past year and pick out our favourite albums from the vast list of releases in 2015? Seeing as the JFC team are constantly disagreeing when picking out any sort of playlist, this should at least make for a varied read...

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Stuart Kenny's Picks:

5. CHVRCHES – Every Open Eye

I was nervous pending the release of CHRVCHES second album. Could they top their hit-packed pop-perfection of a debut? They’ve at least run it close. Another LP with barely a bad track on it. It’s only a matter of time until the Scottish trio end up taking over the world.

4. Jamie XX – In Colour


Earlier this year, The Guardian compared Jamie XX to Sam Smith. On this particular occasion, The Guardian can fuck off. In Colour flows from hard-hitting club anthems to brewing instrumentals with a diversity far from Sam Smith’s reach. The production is refined perfection, oozing style, and the hip-hop endeavours are so damn good they leave you desperate for more.
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3. Maribou State – Portraits

Chicago pianos meet soft vocals, rhythmic synths and melodies more delicious than a pizza and a cry on a hangover. This is probably my most played record of the year – crackling perfection and musical purity in the backbeats with all the kick of Caribou or Bonobo in the loops.

2. Hudson Mohawke – Lantern

Lantern blends hip-hop and R&B with the hounding basslines that put Hud Mo on top of the world. Subtlety is not the strong suit of the Glasgow genius. The album is raw and unchained, with funky-as-hell synths, vocals and melodies, cultured and measured to form a mastery of madness, and executed to perfection.

1. Claptone – Charmer

Claptone’s debut LP is just as mysteriously seductive as the golden mask the Berlin DJ hides behind. The LP flows from funky pop to twisted fervour through pounding basslines and accessible vocals, not wasting a second of album space. I first heard the record some time ago now and haven’t stopped jogging on the spot ever since. Seriously. It’s getting hazardous. Someone please help.

Honourable mentions: Rustie, Major Lazer, Seth Troxler, Four Tet, Purity Ring, Julio Bashmore, Madeon, Bring Me The Horizon

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Jonathan Falconer's Picks:

5. Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
 
Post-punk being one of my favourite genres, it’s unusual that whenever I hear a band label themselves thus it elicits an eye-roll. However, rather than retreading the ‘sound a bit like Joy Division’ formula, Protomartyr prove their post-punk credentials through acerbic, lyrics; spacious music with jagged guitar; and singing performed with desperate abandon.
 
4. Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete
 
Electronic musician Daniel Lopatin’s previous album R Plus Seven crafted beauty through Philip Glass-influenced, crystalline compositions. In G.O.D, he takes a sledgehammer to them. The horrors of digitally-informed existence live through chaotic, metal and E.D.M. influenced blasts of disjointed data. Lopatin’s balance of beauty and terror are why I loved this album.
 
3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
 
Post-rock titans GY!BE’s shortest LP to date, Asunder finally chronicles the 40-minute-plus  live piece, appropriately titled Behemoth. This record presents something of a development from their previous album which moved away from the ‘found-sound’ of earlier records, to a more all-encompassing, monolithic, eastern-influenced sound.
 
2. Bjork - Vulnicura
 
Intended to document the real-life breakdown of her relationship, Vulnicura presents an interesting dilemma in that the confessional, personal and incredibly raw nature of the lyrics makes for a difficult listen, almost to the point of impossibility. I found the words frank honesty and the music’s relinquishing passion inspirationally pure.
 
1. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
 
Not only is this entire album beautifully and passionately crafted and performed, but through the departure from typical hip-hop instrumentation into a realm more influenced by jazz and funk, it fundamentally deconstructs the way we think about music in general.

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Exclusive Interview: Denney

11/12/2015

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JFC talk ibiza,
'Low Frequency' and how to make a hit
​with leeds-spinner denney

Leeds-born Denney has been DJing and producing for over 15 years now – blending house and techno to form an irresistible sound that has grown his name around the world.

His 2012 release Ultraviolet was a smash hit. He’s been hailed as one of the sounds of the future by the people at Mixmag, and he provided the sound of 2015 for many when he dropped the unrelenting Low Frequency earlier this year.

Denney features in the line up for the latest Nightvision party in Edinburgh, spinning at The Liquid Room on Saturday 12 December alongside Hot Since 82 and Maxxi Sound System. We caught up in the lead up to chat creativity, new music and summer parties in Ibiza.

“It’s been an insane year to be honest,” he laughs, as we kick off discussing his highlights from the past 12 months, including remixing Rudimental and Ed Sheeran – Denney actually went to university with Piers and Kesi from Rudimental – getting a first residency in Ibiza and seeing banger Low Frequency pretty much take over the world.

“Obviously I couldn’t believe the track actually got into the top 100 chart, so that was pretty crazy. 
“I've been touring all year and I’ve had my first Ibiza residence with VIVa Warriors which was amazing. There’s loads more stuff in the pipeline for next year now. It’s opened a lot of doors. It’s just been mental; loads of remixes, loads of studio work.”

He’s certainly been a man about town. As well as travelling the world in the past few years, Denney has released music on labels spanning from Hot Creations and VIVa Music to Saved Records and Crosstown Rebels.

So, what goes into making the magic, and when all is said and done, did he know he had a hit on his hands with Ultraviolet or Low Frequency? Long story short; there’s no formula, and it tends to change from track to track.

“I always sit there with a blank canvas in the studio and just jam,” he tells. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Ultraviolet and Low Frequency are two totally different tracks... When I made Low Frequency, not in a million years did I think that would go so big. When I made Ultraviolet I suppose I did think it’d be big.

“Low Frequency was a B-side originally! The other side was A. It’s a nice surprise when something like that happens. You don’t expect it at all.”

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REVIEW: ANNIE MAC PRESENTS - CORN EXCHANGE, EDINBURGH, 28 NOVEMBER 2015

1/12/2015

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​There aren’t many club nights in Edinburgh outside of the old town that serve up carefully selected, banging basslines alongside your vodka and coke.

It often feels like it’s difficult to get away from the same old places if you want new beats. Ironically, the old town tends to be the saving grace for new music, while the new town charges you £20 for a shot of WKD and insists on making you listen to David Guetta songs from 2010.

The team at Nightvision have been shaking up the capital club scene for over a year though, bringing some huge electronic names and huge nights to the city. Fittingly, these are normally based in the old town, which is why we were particularly intrigued to see Annie Mac and her ‘AMP’ circus scheduled to shake the Edinburgh Corn Exchange on November 28.
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The Irish electronic music idol always smashes it when she comes to the Scottish capital, spinning fresh beats and irresistible loops in front of sell out crowds – and bringing some cracking new acts to warm up the audience as well. 
Annie unleashed an hour and a half of what Edinburgh so often misses when she takes her hand off play

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