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Keep Up! Records returns with another split single with its fifth installment in a series of 7” and 12”s. The direction turns to a more electronic direction. Tom Central features on the A side on a slightly different tack following the massive success of Akama, played by the likes of XFM’s John Kennedy. Hillbrook Boogie features trademark heavy drums and big basslines, this time coupled a synth-based melodic approach. Retro sounds cut with low-slung modern disco boogie.
On the flipside Sega, Avé Blaste & Cosmo Lopez team up again after the sleeper hit Drakefield Soul on KEEP 002 supported by Nightmares on Wax. Again more electronic, this cut delves deeper, moving into the 80s soulful boogie-influenced sound. Oriental synth melodies dart around bubbling 303 basslines. Moody but upbeat with a nod to the vintage video-game sound.
This 7” comes complete with fully designed sleeve and is limited to 500 vinyl copies only.
Current radio and live DJ support comes from: Alexander Nut (Rinse FM), DJ Food (Ninja Tune), Mr Benn, Wrongtom and many more.
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Following the success of their previous three releases, Keep Up! spring into Summer 2009 with Beat Dispenser, the first full release from Paraguayan funksters Lopez.
After winning fans around the world with their past output, which include last years sleeper smash Barrio, Beat Dispenser sees Lopez toning down the Latin flavour, and flexing their production muscles to deliver a wonderfully layered and lush sounding five track EP of 80s influenced synth-based hip hop (think Dam-Funk meets Danny Breaks).
Swinging between the downtempo stylings of Music, the plodding basslines of Mulato and the sharp stabs of head nodder Theo's Beat, the EP's centrepiece is the synth ripping, vocoder beating Jellybean, leaving you unsure whether you should be bumping and grinding or breaking out your best moves on the lino.
This confusion doesn't last long, once long time Keep Up! friend and Tru Thoughts wonder Hint interrupts proceedings with his remix of Jellybean, ramping up the two step drums, and leaving the dancefloor shaking from the reworked bassline.
Heavy is not the word.
Quotes
"More goodness from Lopez. Tough drums, quirky synth tones & warm, fat production. Lovely!"
Mr Scruff
"Great stuff as always"
Tim Love Lee
"Jellybean couldn't get much nicer"
Wrongtom
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Keep Up!, returns fresh for 2009 with another 45 of beaty, bassy goodness. KEEP001 and KEEP002 received massive radio and club support from such people as Mr Scruff, DJ Food and Tim Love Lee so Keep Up!'s 3rd release stays true to the previous instalments with something for everyone. This double A-sider mixes dancefloor action one side and neck-snapping beats on the flip. Tom Central builds on the success of smash The World Famous with Akama (with long-time friend and collaborator Ben Kaitain Leighton) and Av Blaste and Lopez team up for solid soulful hip hop with Change the Channel in the first of many collaborations to come.
Akama sounds like the end product of what might happen if Tipper befriended Miles from Breakestra backstage at a music festival. Using Tom Central's trademark raw uptempo hip hop backbeats and big bass, Akama drops hard with alternating, wobbly b-lines throughout the track. Fx fizz around as the rhythm and bass twists and turns. Guaranteed to make a giant thud on any dancefloor in the heat of the night!
Change the channel maintains the hip hop sound but on a cinematic, scale. Dramatic brass, string stabs and live bass hold down the groove. With a dap of 60s psychedelia and modern production, Change the channel is perfect for those late night sessions or warming up your basement party. This marks the second collaboration between Avé Blaste and Lopez and there is much more from them to come - believe!
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Keep Up!, the five-strong collective from south London, present another super heavy 45 of dancefloor mayhem to follow their huge first release: Keep Up! 001. In keeping with the formula, the boys have gone for an uptempo A Side for that heat of the night spin, while the AA Side is the neck-snapping speaker blower to set the vibe.
Debut artist Avé Blaste joins Lopez to bring you the hip-hop influenced, funky disco soul of Drakefield Soul. Avé, AKA Zac Vibert, has been delivering superb DJ sets to the masses at Hospital Records’ Hospitality night and, of course, Keep Up!’s own tip-top nights in Brixton town. A certain female star leads us into a snapping beat that even J Dilla would have been proud of. The main groove is a piano-led series of hooks with reggae fx fizzing around the mix. The three sections of the tune each produce their own bass line, making the tune twist on its heels throughout. This is a perfect helping of the current craze for disco and great for your party in the club or at home.
The flipside heralds the return of Lopez (the three-man Paraguay-Tooting expansion team) with Barrio. We told you to watch out for them and, true to form, they’ve delivered another slice of latin-edged hip hop. Leaning firmly on the past, but with a foot in the future, Barrio cleverly uses the influence of a certain latino icon and smashes it up with a huge twisting bass line that should make any basshead bug out. In other words, it’s big and nasty. Super-subby kicks work with the warping, mutating bass line, which should suitably bang heads whatever time of night you rock this one. If you loved Donde on Keep Up! 001, you’ll flip when you hear Barrio.
As before, Keep Up! 002 is being released as a limited 500, on 45 only.
Praise for Keep Up! 002:
"Barrio is a prime slice of summertime wobblage"
Mr Scruff (Ninja Tune)
"Both tunes sound really fresh. The A fits to the B fits to the C..."
Jazzanova
Barrio: ''Can i feel it? Yeah my chest is hurtin’ from that bassline… DUTTY!!..''
Toddla T (1965, EMI Records)
“The Keep Up kids do it again with another pair of surefire midtempo bangers. Drakefield Soul is a classy 60s soul piano workout with a hint of disco”
Dr Rubberfunk (Jalapeno Records, GPS Recordings)
“Both great summer tracks. Barrio is my favourite. Chunky and soulful - I can imagine it ringing out over a few sun-drenched fields this festival season!”
Hint (Tru Thoughts)
Drakefield Soul: “Good gosh - latino jazz twisted into spaced out disco until it becomes my idea of a perfect record! i badly need a solid copy of this"
Wrongtom (Hard Fi’s DJ)
Praise for Keep Up! 001:
The World Famous: “Drum hugeness and horn riffage collides with honky tonk piano – straight in the box”
- Strictly Kev (DJ Food, Ninja Tune)
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From the depths of south London comes brand new label Keep Up! Records. Its aim is to bring you contemporary music for the dancefloor heavily influenced by vintage funk, soul, hip-hop, jazz and latin - tunes that all the best diggers out there are clamouring for. For the last four years, Keep Up!?s five-strong collective of DJs and producers has been putting on parties across London. A residency at Brixton?s best boozer-cum-club The White Horse has boasted guest DJs such as The Herbaliser, Hint and J*Star. Keep Up! has also featured or supported Prince Paul, Coldcut, Luke Vibert, DJ Food, Nostalgia 77, Jazzman Gerald and Danny Breaks over the last few years. Rumour has it that Keep Up! was behind last year?s smash Recorded Delivery 12" EP of classy re-edits. Now, after months of slaving away over hot laptops, the Keep Up! boys bring you their debut release.
The World Famous is from Keep Up!'s Tom Central. Tom has spent the last ten years DJing in Europe?s best and worst clubs, and is said to have been behind three of the tracks on the Recorded Delivery EP. This cut takes its cue from from the hard-hitting American funk and soul cuts of the late 60s and early 70s. A heavy bassline, smashing snares and bold brass run this massive dancefloor cut. A solid live breakbeat works around the arrangement in the vein of the classic Hook n Sling. There?s even a tinge of latin thrown in for good measure. When you need a reaction on the floor, these four minutes should deliver the required shakedown.
The flipside is brought to you by Lopez, who are Keep Up! member Javier Nexus and two of his buddies back home in Paraguay. Donde is a solid latin hip-hop head-nodder that was born in Latin America and raised in Tooting. Boom bap drums rattle the speaker cones whilst timbales and trombones take their turn with solos to move the feet. There?s a simple vintage vocal hook added to the mix, which keeps the groove bumping along nicely. If you love Quantic's latin outings, this will be perfect for you.
Keep Up! Records is our fledgling label, destined to bring you the finest in world wide beatsmith-ery. Keep Up! 001 was released on 4th Feb 2008, and Keep Up! 002 will follow sometime in June.
If you want to send Keep Up! promos, CDRs or Demos, please email promo@keepup.co.uk for the address