skinslife

So Skins is going to Creamfields. We’ve tricked Toby into coming as we told him we were going to spend a weekend in the Cheshire countryside, little does he know it’ll be full of gurning scousers partying to some awesome dance music.

Although taking loads of speed (Obviously, SkinsLife and especially Toby condone and encourage the consumption of amphetamines in all forms and in great quantities from scary Scouse stereotypes with moustaches, bubble perms and Everton tops) and going in search of the elusive Donk is what everyone should be doing at the festival they should take time out from that search for my personal picks of the festival.

1) Toby cowering in a corner with a copy of the Sunday Telegraph shielding his eyes from what he believes is the downfall of civilization.

2) Switzerland's Luciano: he has produced some of the best tracks of the last few years (check Fourges et Sabres and his Nina Simone remix for two examples) and is one of the best DJs around, just check out his Fabric mix for confirmation.

3) Hercules and Love Affair: Their eponymous debut album is one of the successes of the year and after missing them at Sonar I plan on finally catching them here.

4) Claude VonStroke – Claude's been over in Europe for the past few months and you really should make the most of it before he goes back to San Francisco. Who’s afraid of Detroit is a legendary tune and he’s recently been playing an awesome house edit of Damien Marley’s ‘Welcome To Jamrock’. I was at the club in Barcelona where Hudson Mohawke dropped this tune, sending everyone mental and inspiring Claude to make his edit.

5) Magnetic Man – Skream’s DJ sets are now maybe the worst thing in dubstep as he rewinds every track to rapturous applause from idiot drum n bass fans hoping for loads of ‘wobble’. However his actual productions are still some of the best in the game and it’s this improvised set up with Benga that is keeping his credibility.

Honorable mentions also go out to Skinslife’s friends The Clik Clik, Philly's Plastic Little, the awesome (and hot) Little Boots, Boy 8 Bit (anyone remember his Burial remix?), Drop the Lime (his DJ sets are way better than his productions) and Portland's YACHT.

We'll have loads more news over the next week or so including who from the old cast will be there, competitions and lots of other goodies.

We'll be filming a video for the site as per usual which will mainly involve footage of Chris and I dancing very, very, very badly

It's going to be great...

Have a look at the Creamfields site and keep checking back here for all our plans...

So here I am stuck in an overcast London unable to afford a train ticket to Bristol whilst Toby, Chris and hundreds of lucky extras are at Skins’ ‘Rave in a Cave’. With not much to do the temptation to put Grouper’s ‘Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill’ on for the millionth time in the last month and mope around is almost overwhelming but I’ve decided to unearth the gems that you’ve been posting on the site over the past month.

These are the tracks I’ve really enjoyed and I’ll be trying to find a place in series 3. Of course this is not a guarantee but just to let you know that good things should be coming your way and you’re definitely on the right path. Also if I haven’t mentioned you don’t be disheartened you still may be used.

The first band i liked were the awesomely named Dead Dog in a Black Bag are definitely up for inclusion. Some upbeat tongue-in-cheek electro indie is definitely something Skins should have tried to include before now. Then i heard Orphees Cry, who have posted a track which begins with an awesome bass line before it moves into heavier territory. I can imagine this in some sort of frantic running scene. ElsewhereThe Utopians give us some ‘geezer indie’ to remind me of growing up in Stoke and I just might think that there’ll be a place for music like this in the new series. Nate Champion posted a good song that is surely up for consideration in one of The Slasher’s episodes. The emotional scenes in Skins are pretty much always soundtracked by songs like this so for everyone else who makes stuff like this keep posting.
Saving what I feel is the best for last Lokomotive Stations can also be grouped into that – does anyone else think it reminds them of Damon ALbarn fronting Chrome Hoof?

Keep the suggestions coming everyone let me know if you think i've picked out the best bands, if i've missed one particular band or if my suggestions are completely wrong.

Ashley P in my opinion gives the best suggestions. First he asks for some awesome Kompakt orientated acts (the new Burger/Voigt 12” maybe?) then he moves onto amazing twee Swedish indie pop with bands like Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. I’ll hopefully be able to please you with my choices in this series Ashley.
Thibaut then gives suggestions I never thought I’d come across on Skinslife. Alva Noto’s ongoing collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto (we used him in episode 5)is in my opinion the greatest ambient duo since Harold Budd teamed up with Brian Eno. Skins has a proud history of including ambient compositions from Summer Night Air to Stars of the Lid to Eluuvium so rest assured something like this will be popping up in series 3.
Elsewhere people have been asking for Fleet Foxes who have put out an amazing EP and Album over the past year and they fit in with the Slasher’s taste so they’ll most definitely be considered. Agaskodo Teliverek have been around for a while and I think I under the right circumstances would be an excellent choice. Joshwa has asked for Jamie Lidell. While for me his new Soul direction took me a while to get used to after his work with Cristian Vogel as Super_Collider the second single from his new album ‘Another Day’ is still my favourite pop song of the year and I’ve been trying to get it in Skins for months now.
For stuff I didn’t already know Tegan and Sara and GlasVegas have been getting a lot of love from you lot. I checked them out and they’re both definitely usable.
So all in all, good choices everyone! Keep them coming otherwise the music in series 3 will be like sitting in the car with your mum whilst she plays Terry Wogan's radio two show.

Hope you like them! Add your own and check back for the video next week.

Take a look at the Northampton Secret Skins Party! Add your own photo's if you fancy and we'll have a video for you in a bit.

Middlesbrough photo's and video coming soon...

I love Grime. Toby loves Grime even more than me. Superstar in the making Daniel Kaluuya loves Grime even more than Toby.

So let it be said that Daniel’s episode is likely to include an upcoming British based MC. We’ve already asked MC Toby Welch but he’s too busy with his beef with Lil Wayne to come back and do something for Skins. We have some other MC’s in mind but perhaps you know about an upcoming MC that even Daniel and Toby don’t know about.

Give some props to your favourite new MC below and you may even see them in the new series of Skins.

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Everyone in the SkinsLife office has been working fucking hard over the last few months whilst taking the country’s best upcoming bands on tour and getting releases ready for Paper Heroes and Edinburgh's The Unicorn Kid.

We’ve been working so hard that Toby’s been unable to sit in his dressing gown and slippers next to a roaring fire in his Hampstead mansion to catch up on the gossip about his old chums in the Financial Times; Chris has only spent half of his salary on upcoming hair products and I’ve only been going to one or two gigs a week. (Alex's holiday has now been cancelled. Ed.)

However, as of today I’m getting back into going to gigs to prepare to pick some awesome music for Skins series 3. Tonight I’m seeing My Bloody Valentine’s first show in ages at the ICA. Hopefully they won’t be awful as this band have been pretty special to me since I was a 15 year old stuck in a Stoke on Trent suburb.

Tomorrow I’m going to the Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder showcase at Hearne Street Car Park. His debut album ‘Los Angeles’ is out now and is available in a lovely gatefold 2LP format. It’s my album of the year so far and FlyLo is always awesome live: I can't recommend it highly enough. Also playing on that night are Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Kode9, Mala, Gaslamp Killer, Samiyam and quite a few other cool acts which makes it a night to look forward to.

Then on Sunday night Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Yellow Magic Orchestra are playing their first UK show since 1980 at Massive Attack’s Meltdown festival. Sakamoto is a bit of a hero of mine and I even managed to get his most famous track ‘Forbidden Colours’ in Chris’ episode in the last series (That was the funny one where the writer Ben merged the scripts from Rocky and Trainspotting and hoped no one would realise.) Supporting him will be Warp’s awesome new signing Pivot.

Then’s it’s off to Barcelona for Sonar festival where I’ll be seeing pretty much everyone who is important in music including Ricardo Villalobos, Pan Sonic, Buraka Som Sistema (of Skins episode 6 fame), Richie Hawtin, Pram, Shackleton, Jeff Mills (of Skins episode 7 fame) and tons more.

When I’m back from that and after tearful reunion with Toby I’ll be ready to keep looking out for the best upcoming music in the country, both for the SkinsLife label, the tour and a little TV series called Skins.

Keep posting your tracks and I’ll listen to them when I’m back.

Alex

Check out the SkinsLife Label to get the track on limited edition Vinyl!

Available on download soon...

Directed and Edited by Jack Clough.
Ably assisted by the beautiful Gavin Kaps and Chris Lynd.
Thanks to the crowd (who were just brilliant) and, of course, to Jenny...

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Up in leafy North London, we've stumbled upon the rather obvious solution to the 'festival's are far too expensive problem': Do it yourself.

So in time honoured, Blue Peter fashion, you will need:

ONE HOUSE, GARDEN or FIELD… preferably with understanding neighbours. Maybe not parents’ houses, especially while the Daily Mail survives. They'd have you on the front page as 'Skins Horror Teen' at the first hint of fun.

MUSICALLY MINDED FRIENDS… Most people can play the guitar. After a couple of drinks, the rest think they can. Three hours in and magically, everyone's a DJ. Music; done.

AND FINALLY, PEOPLE. Obviously.

And here’s one we made earlier…

May 30th and 31st saw the first ‘Manorfest’, a two day extravanganza of live music and all good festival activites (ie. face painting). With three different areas and music from Alice Young and others, Salmaan Bhutta and Joe Brooks on the decks...

The festival goers were a wide ranging group and, to my stylistic delight, wearing a wide range of festival outfits.

Forget wellies, forget Kate Moss style hot pants and make up by ‘mud’. Despite being indoors there were still the chewed-looking straw trilbys, sunglasses and visors and of course… a glittery cowboy hat! There was even an eye patch, but I didn’t like to ask if it was authentic or just an accessory. In fact, hats were the order of the day. Even Couch was spotted running around like Oliver Twist in a train driver cap...

Back in 2004 it was trucker caps, this lasted for a couple of years until cowboy hats became the festival sunshade of choice.

The Doherty effect has led to thr profusion of the trilby, but what's next? Boho head scarves???…

Anyway, let me know and all home-made festival stories welcome...