Bullshitty drug namechecks aside though, Ambalance are turning out steadily satisfying music. May 2012′s Discard was a fractured, desolate affair; by contrast Are You Around offers a dense, warm cocoon of sound. The beats are still molasses-slow, but the title track slouches almost purposefully on its way, occasionally spilling trap-py rattles and incoherent vocal mutterings as it goes. Following it with Grenier’s excellent remix is like watching a lens moving into focus – the shapes remain similar but spaces open up, hard percussive edges appear and cotton-wool elements fade into the background.

Main courses over, there’s time for two three-and-a-bit minute cameos. Ixtrane is a limpid, almost cosmic-disco chugger, smooth washes of sound and heavily treated guitars building and fragmenting, while Gregory low-rides off into the distance on a pitched-down (of course), electro-flavoured chassis thoroughly pimped out with 303 squelch.

It figures. Dance music’s weird, history-flattening state finds 90s-fixated teens sharing bills with genre pioneers old enough to be their dads, some little more than living museum pieces while others gamely carry on much as they’ve always done.

So what could be more appealing than a young Motor City native in thrall to vinyl and analogue gear, who’s mates with Underground Resistance, turning out elegant, stern music that nods to that militant past… while having little in common with the Barratt-home musical neoclassicism that’s doing the rounds?

Of course, Gonzales’ approach is hardly unique. The likes of the LIES and Rush Hour crews have ploughed a similar furrow in recent years, while the tireless Legowelt has made a career out of subtly pruning, splicing and tending genres into new strains – and if you’re a fan of any of the above, you’ll probably lap If You’re Reading This up.

As with previous MGUN EPs, there’s enviable variety, but here perhaps better balance between short and long; crisp and muffled; club and home listening. Two extended acidic burblers in the shape of Proxy and Tritan are offset by opener Hand Over Fifth‘s groggy synth doodling and Jijijijij$ijijijiji‘s raw electro cameo.

On a more fuzzed-out note Funnel Vision and, particularly, Bean Chirp showcase the same blend of menace and beauty that made Shamen, from January’s Near Future EP, feel like a lost descendant of UR’s Final Frontier.

They don’t really try to sound like it, though – so there’s no need to read too deeply into that pitch-perfect backstory. If You’re Reading This is another winner for MGUN on its own terms.

Short studio session to celebrate the release of their new album Tranklements.
Visuals By Shaun Bloodworth

A live broadcast of our selected tracks from our new album Tranklements with visuals from Shaun Bloodworth to celebrate 100 years of Stainless Steel.

You can buy The Black Dog album Tranklements here http://duststoredigital.com/

Mobius, all overdriven grime bombast and Sonic samples, takes the biggest strides into outright raving territory. But elsewhere – along with a voguish shift towards juke and trap-flavoured rhythms – there’s a playfully cheesy chucking together of vacuous, stadium-trance offcuts and razor-tipped beats and blips that’s closer in mood to Rustie’s tartrazine-bright productions. Meanwhile the demented Paul Is Dead weaves a Big Boi vocal chopped (and screwed) from UGK’s International Players into a bizarrely uplifting slice of kinda-footwork. Check your sugar levels first, then enjoy.

An excellent video from Shaun Bloodworth who’s one of the key conspirators behind eSC. Check out more of his work at shaunbloodworth.com.

The soundtrack is a rework of “Internal Collapse” by The Black Dog and will be released on the album “Tranklements” on 20th May 2013.

Which makes the trouser-rattling yet restrained vastness of Asteroids – V.I.V.E.K’s debut on his own System Music, after releases on Deep Medi and Tectonic – an oddly pleasurable trip. There’s nostalgia here for the distant mists of eight years ago, sure – not least in the sub-bass, presumably designed for V.I.V.E.K’s custom-built soundsystem, which is low enough that it becomes an almost imperceptible rumble if you’re flexing this over the wrong equipment. But Asteroids‘ subtly-deployed, widescreen sci-fi synth whines and growls also chime with the brand of 85/170 ‘slowfast’ futurism currently gathering momentum.

Appropriately it’s Om Unit who sets to work on B-side Over My Head (simply Asteroids with added buttery vox from Mel Dymand). His version adds an insistent pulse and gradually pads some of the track’s empty space with melting cymbal sounds, woozy, just-about-audible vocal loops and – just for 16 climactic bars – the rattle of hi-hats. It nicely complements Om Unit’s essential Aeolian EP from last summer, and offers an additional incentive to lay your hands on this – even if you never gave a shit about dubstep.

Unlike Mendez’s raved-over but brief 2012 LP Negative Fascination, the tracks here – Dormancy Survivors and Victors’ History – span 13 and 10 minutes. Those luxurious lengths offer plenty of room for sonic shifts headphone listeners will appreciate, but this release feels aimed pretty squarely at the floor.

A knock-on effect is that History Survivors lacks some of the enjoyably beat-up scruffiness of both contributors’ most recent output: as with Negative Fascination, Lucy’s Finnegan from the tail-end of last year did a fine job of coating its precision design in a fur of disuse. True, even Dormancy Survivors (the harder offering here) isn’t exactly shiny; but its collection of clanks and skronks is driven forward by a kick pattern supple enough to divert attention from how desolate the rest of its sound palette is – and by the time a steel-drums-gone-nasty riff kicks in around the four-minute mark, we’re firmly in the peak-time zone.

On the flip, Victors’ History sounds almost soothing by comparison, but its wide open spaces and dubby pulse will be well suited to earlier in the night, or to slipping in next to something housier. Either way, it rounds things out to complete a well-balanced brace of productions.

Thankfully the same can’t be said for the other two-thirds of the EP. With the near-eternal life now enjoyed by music genres, it’s become pretty meaningless to describe productions as ‘timeless’. But Ethyl’s sublime, smooth techno remix of Slime manages the neat trick of sounding unashamedly like a moment stolen from some long-silenced 1995 dancefloor and given a lick of modern gloss – while still towering over the landscape of yawn-inducing identikit retreads claiming to channel the spirit of classic Detroit/Chicago/NY/delete as appropriate. And Moving Patterns is just as good: it’s made out of the same stuff as the original mix of Slime, but here massive descending subs and a euphoric/wistful female vocal coil around the glassy chords, with the end result coming across like early Good Looking gone house.

While Beneath’s first few releases have grabbed attention by setting funky’s polyrhythmic flex off against dark, eerie textures, Wen’s debut is much less sonically busy, and it’s all the more menacing for it. Throughout the EP, a decaying, horror-movie atmosphere – conjured by dank slabs of bass and the disembodied snatches of MC chatter interspersing each track – runs up against a subtle, liquid-metal mesh of drum programming, dicing it here and hemming it in there to dramatic effect.

The title cut in particular draws power from the ominous spaces within its stepping rhythm – filled at intervals with low-end rumble – which are only gradually filled by pitched-down string stabs. Nightcrawler is even more off-kilter, fogged-out jungle pads (calling to mind Lee Gamble’s recent love letter to the genre, Diversions) and occasional distorted kicks interrupting its crisply popping beats.

Over on the B-side, Spark It is the closest Commotion gets to upfront – its crushing bassline rides the rudest, most sinuous wiggle on the EP. But only by a nose: Road is built on another slippery syncopation, a sliced up Trim acapella and stop-start structure bringing things to a juddering conclusion. It’s another essential, distinctive release from Keysound – and sharpens the appetite for the label’s This Is How We Roll compilation, due out in March.

For (Yacht) Club Use Only, with its swung kick pattern, deep marimba notes and an actual chord progression, is an altogether friendlier beast. Here too there’s a steeliness, mostly stemming from a rattlesnake snare sound straight out of the manual blueprinted by Plastikman’s Spastik, but the contrast with the track’s suppler elements makes this the more interesting half of the EP.

Both originals here are lushly padded confections that ditch the sassy swing of 2011′s City Wind EP for Templar Sound. The Boat keeps things languid, tipping a hat to the smudged, world-weary feel of 90s gems such as 20:20 Vision’s Future Remembrance via its shuffling tempo and insistently pulsing bass motif. The highlight, though, is Keep New Fear: it ups both pace and grunt factor, its twinkling melodies underpinned by a satisfyingly gnarled low end as the track progresses.

But the real hard stuff comes courtesy of the remixes that fill out the release. Grizzled Dutchman Gerd gives The Boat‘s wispier aspects short shrift, installing a Steve Poindexter-indebted rhythm, ‘work it’ command and atonal acid line that add up to (perhaps unsurprisingly) an effective but by-the-numbers jack-track. Ghosts On Tape’s rework of Keep New Fear is more interesting, swooping subs and a textbook, insistent techno riff combining for a strong piece of peak-point gear. However, unless you’re in the thick of a sweaty small-hours room, the original mixes win out here.

Due to unforeseen circumstances we’re unable to broadcast tonight. We’re totally gutted as months of planning and new equipment had gone into this event.

We still recommend you going tho and remember it’s at The Fez
http://www.tuesday-club.co.uk/

Big things are going to happen for Squarehead in 2013 and you can quote us on that, you just watch as his schedule and releases get blocked out.

http://soundcloud.com/squareheaduk
https://www.facebook.com/Squareheaduk

Autograff is a cracking DJ and Producer who manages to cut across most of bass genres that people like to police. Sit back and relax into 1.5hrs of the good shit.

http://soundcloud.com/autograff

Brilliant series of documents by Kirby Ferguson and a must watch for any music fan.
http://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

Lars Sandberg AKA Funk D’Void is one of our favourite DJ’s at eSC towers, so watching him at work at Collect! was a real pleasure to witness,  a true master at work.

http://soundcloud.com/funkdvoid
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Funk-DVoid/8709108603

Stevie and Ben (Set 2) play what they call deep techno and thumpy house, whatever you call it the crowd at Collect! love it.

Kujio hails from Lyon but now he’s a resident in SoYo and Collect! Some mixing of vibes in his Ableton set, minimal tech and house. European flavours with plenty of homemade edits and bangers.

First time eSC has seen Keyman play out in SoYo and you know what he played a blinder of a proper warm up set, take note youngsters who just belt it out early doors.

We’ve been predicting big things for the Mista Men since eSc started, so it’s an absolute pleasure to host Woozee, who makes up 50% of MM. Check out the exclusive tracks and edits, the real shit that puts these guys ahead of the pack.

http://soundcloud.com/mistamen
https://twitter.com/Woozeeee

There’s plenty of young talent in SoYo and here’s Shorty to testify, at just 20 year old and already an key player in the LSS Crew, there’s no doubting his talents as he’s already dropping some great mixes and productions, preach!

http://www.liquidsteelsessions.co.uk/mcdj.html

Tuesday Club’s mixmaster is back at eSC with an old school classic set on the 1′s and 2′s, Andy’s defo got some mad skills! Brilliant opening set to our first event and team up with the Tuesday Club. Thanks to The Bowery for sorting us out as well.

Broadcasting from 12pm BST, the line up for the 8th of December 2012 will be:

Funk D’Void
Set 2
Kujio

Get yourself a ticket here: http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?429016

Broadcasting from 8pm BST, the line up for the 12th of December 2012 will be:

Squarehead
Mella Dee
Autograff

Get yourself on the invites list as we almost kiss 2012 goodbye. We’re at the same venue but in a smaller room for this one, so invites will be like gold dust!

Cosey Fanni Tutti is one of our favourite artists at eSC towers, watch this video and find out  why we’re such big fans of her work.

Twitter: @coseyfannitutti
http://www.coseyfannitutti.com/ 

Stoaty is part of The Tuesday Club crew who’ve been hard at work joining the gaps between Beats, Bass, Soul, Hip Hop, Funk and Reggae… Stoaty has played alongside some of the worlds biggest DJs and always holds his own his own.

http://www.tuesday-club.co.uk/

Lee heads up Itchy Pig Records and if you’re involved in music at all in SoYo you’re bound to have come into contact with him in our way or another, his enthusiasm is infectious and another open minded label in SoYo is a great thing. Cracking set!

http://soundcloud.com/itchypigrecords
http://www.itchy-pig.com/

Brilliant set from Arshaw, tight, hypnotic and bass heavy – just the way we like it down at eSC. Defiantly one to watch for the future in SoYo and beyond. Make sure your following his release as, get on the links below sharpish.

http://soundcloud.com/arshaw
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arshaw/159850760697231 

Broadcasting from 9pm BST, the line up for the 20th of November 2012 will be:

Woozee
Shorty
Andy H

Please note this broadcast is coming live from The Bowery and is collaboration with The Tuesday Club. Stay tuned for future events, going to be large SoYo!

Broadcasting from 8pm BST, the line up for the 7th of November 2012 will be:

Stoaty
Sir Vinyl Instinct
Arshaw

Big things in the air for Walter and with good reason, DJ, label owner and producer, releases on Ninja, R8 and GM, he’s making waves with lots of BASS! You’ll be hearing a lot more about him in the future and that’s a promise.

http://soundcloud.com/walter-ego

It was only a matter of time before we got Sheffield Bleep down, another fellow SoYo Music Worker! If his name doesn’t give you a clue then we can’t help but when he’s not DJing he’s also running Future Music and his new label Central Processing Unit – just more proof that SoYo is taking over!

Cellar Dweller or Ben to his Mam was one of the first supporters of eSC before it had even started, he encouraged us and gave us an early write up in Now Then magazine but he also happens to be a great DJ and part of the Sheffield Techno Institute who’ve been bringing some of the best techno nights to Sheffield, you should support them, we do.

https://www.facebook.com/sti.sheffield

Broadcasting from 8pm BST, the line up for the 24th of October 2012 will be:

Walter Ego
Sheffield Bleep
Cellar Dweller

When we started eSC Geiom was one of the first names to go on our “wants” list, amazing producer and DJ that moves across genres like true pro wanting to push things forward all the time. Watch out for his new 12″s and album that’s about to drop real soon.

https://www.facebook.com/berkanesol
http://soundcloud.com/geiom

Beneath makes music like the sound of SoYo collapsing in on itself: dark, twisted but with hope and drive. We went mad for his No Symbol releases, minimal darkness at its very best and so well produced. Big things people, big things!

http://nosymbols.co.uk/

Brilliant opening set from Jack for episode 006 of eSC, he’s put a lot of work into supporting the scene in SoYo and who can blame him, there’s some mad decent talent up here. Check out the links below for his latest happenings.

https://www.facebook.com/bungabunga.sheffield
http://jackopus.blogspot.co.uk/

It’s pretty hard to argue with the wisdom of this, Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Live urban robotic art is brought to you by artist Mattias Jones and robotic devices developed by the University of Sheffield. Watch the live production of a massive scale mural painted by robots. You can also listen to the amplified sounds the robots make as they goes about the task of creating the artwork. Big fans of Matt’s work at eSC towers!

https://www.facebook.com/madebyjones 

Project Longarm presents : Mind Out. 

For the Festival of the Mind this September, a small army of robots will complete an installation in one unbroken line.

The University of Sheffield has teamed its leading academic researchers with the city’s visual artists, poets and musicians to help bring complex research out of the libraries and laboratories to reach a wider, more public audience.

This exhibition explored 50 ideas for making Sheffield an even better place to live, including self-build housing, off-grid living and innovative new uses for some famous city landmarks.

Every year, the University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture carries out projects in the city, working with communities to explore new approaches to urban development. 50 Ideas brings ten years of those projects together in one place.

Passionate, positive, sometimes controversial, 50 Ideas will get people talking.

SKINN is a not-for-profit development agency for Shalesmoor, Kelham Island and Neepsend areas. It was founded by University of Sheffield architecture graduates Ivan Rabodzeenko and Jekaterina Porohina.

Dr Cristina Cerulli is a lecturer at the University’s School of Architecture. Her research interests include social enterprise and sustainable housing. Cristina is also a director of Studio Polpo, a non-profit architecture agency. Much of Cristina’s teaching, research and practice focuses on community projects in Sheffield.

http://festivalofthemind.group.shef.ac.uk/

Chris Duckenfield is an absolute SoYo legend with a history that stretches from the early party scene in Sheffield to running a vinyl distribution company, All Ears, in 2012. Watching him at work is a really treat and well as a wallet emptier as you feel the need to own every track he’s dropped. Spotters beware!
http://www.chrisduckenfield.com/

Andy H has some of the maddest skillz in SoYo but what else would expect from a DMC 2008 finalist! When he’s not working on remixes and his own productions he’s dropping Hip Hop and DnB bombs to a packed house at The Tuesday Club, stay tuned for more action with Andy H and hook ups with The Tuesday Club.
http://www.tuesday-club.co.uk/

Strictly no messing about! Carl lands at eSC and he’s on the 1′s and 2′s mashing up old and new techno quicker than Mills! Always loved his mixing style and releases, make sure you check his tunes

http://carltaylor.net/

Broadcasting from 8pm BST, the line up for the 10th of October 2012 will be:

Geiom
Beneath
Jack Opus

Nanoscientist Jonathan Howse and artist Mark Fell collaborate on an art installation that uses a high power optical microscope to track the movement of nanoparticles, producing synthetic sound which is played back over a series of loudspeakers.

Date: Friday 21-Sunday 30 September
Time: 12pm-5pm
Location: Creative Arts Development Space (CADS)
Cost: FREE 

http://festivalofthemind.group.shef.ac.uk/scale-structure-synthesis/
http://www.cads-online.co.uk/ 

Sometimes it feels like your whole life has been a constant flow of people saying NO and YOU CAN’T, at eSC we’ve never accepted that and go for what we want without fucking other people over, it’s that fighting spirit that keeps us heading to the next goal, it’s not just the points of journey, sometimes it’s the journey itself that holds the greatest value. Sarah at Rinse explains this beautifully in a battle against all the odds, Sarah, Rinse, We Salute You.
http://rinse.fm/ 

David Byrne and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music, discuss the inner workings of music. Byrne’s new book, How Music Works, is an absolute must-read.

Our history with Grievous Angel goes way back “to the day”, he’s a collaborator and instigator of garage, 2 step and UK funky. He’s been dropping releases on his own label (Devotional Dubz) as well as Electrik Dragon and Blackdown’s Keysound. Thing about Grievous is it’s never what you expect!
http://soundcloud.com/grievous-angel
http://blog.grievousangel.net/mixes

Mista Men have been making waves for a while now with some top releases on Greenmoney Recordings, Unknown To The Unknown and Deep Thrils. They’ve also been dishing up some full on bumpy 4×4 garage and bassline DJ sets. Keep an eye for these lads, we’re predicting big things, the floor was rocking at eSC that’s for sure.
https://www.facebook.com/MistaMen