News: Seriously Social / Bugged Out 'Dream Party' Competition

BlackPlastic hearts Bugged Out almost as much as we heart dreaming up ridiculous party / 'high concept' night clubs and so it is with great joy that we heard about Seriously Social's dream party competition with Bugged Out.

The idea is simple - you've got £30,000 and Bugged Out DJ Johnny Burgess... the world is your oyster. Every idea is considered by a panel of judges before the best 25 go before a public vote. If your party idea is selected then you get to do it for real!

BlackPlastic has already entered... Expect photos if we win!

To give you some inspiration here is Johnny recounting his favourite ever Bugged Out night (it made BlackPlastic a bit emotional):

My favourite Bugged Out night. Daft Punk, Liverpool, 1998. 
From Bugged Out my most enduring memory is from 1998. It was the fourth birthday and we had tried to get Daft Punk to DJ at it. They had played for us since our first year but we kept getting vague 'maybe's and then a  'no' from their manager Pedro Winter. So we printed the flyers and posters with the existing line up and carried on with the promotion. Then the week of the show Pedro got in touch to ask if we would be interested in Thomas Bangalter coming over to play a live set. Thomas had just had the biggest club hit of the summer as Stardust with Music Sounds Better With You and also that Gym Tonic tune. Of course we were up for it. Then the day before the show Pedro rang again and said that Guy Manuel would like to come along too so perhaps we would be interested in squeezing Daft Punk onto the bill after all. So when people turned up to the club they were greeted with the news. There was no twitter back then and people didn't even check websites that often so we announced it with the words Daft Punk scrawled on the existing posters in marker pen! Thomas played Music Sounds Better With You live from the DJ booth and then him and Guy-Man started their DJ set with Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday. I think I had something in my eye at that moment. As it was a last minute booking I don't think we really paid anything other than their train fares and hotels so we left them a box set each of The Beach Boys Pet Sounds on their hotel beds as a way of saying thanks. Different times indeed...

To enter simply head over to the Seriously Social Facebook page, become a fan and submit your entry. Closing date is Monday but it only takes a minute.

BP x

News: Rogue Element remix competition

Earlier this year we reviewed Rogue Element's Lumina. At the time we pointed out the similarities between Rogue Element and Simian Mobile Disco's sound... As it turned out, the Rogue Element album was head and shoulders above the second Simian album.

To celebrate the forthcoming single release of title track 'Lumina' Rogue Element are running a remix competition with Exceptional Records.  You can check out the original over on Rogue Element's MySpace - it's a rowdy, nervous dirge and BlackPlastic for one is sure that it could form the basis for some nice remix material.

The winner will be announced via Exceptional Records (getting some nice coverage in the process) and will get a stack of CDs from Exceptional Records. Best of all the winning remix will be considered for release on Beatport and iTunes.

The closing date is 13 November and files should be sent in MP3 format (no larger than 10mb) to info@exceptionalrecords.co.uk and you need to include name and email address in the ID3 tags for the file.

To get started go and download the stem files.

BP x

Terms and conditions apply - email t&ctre@exceptionalrecords.co.uk for full details.

News: Free MP3 Downloads from R&S Records

R&S are running a giveaway at the moment where you can get five MP3s for subscribing to their newsletter.  The output of the R&S label is good enough that this represents a win-win scenario, truth be told.

BlackPlastic has been listening to one of the tracks - 'O'Loco (Sei A Remix)' by Sun Electric - and it is worth subscribing just to get this one track. Sun Electric have been releasing music on R&S since 1992 whilst Sei A (real name Andy Graham) apparently counts Ben Watt and Tiga as fans.

The track itself is a dubby, progressive track and it is the first time in years that BlackPlastic has heard a track of this style that manages to sound fresh. As one of the few progressive house DJs BlackPlastic doesn't always feel bored by it didn't surprise BlackPlastic when we discovered that Hernan Cattaneo is also a big fan of Sei A.

Head over to R&S to check it out!

BP x

News: Free Charlotte Gainsborough MP3 from new album

Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55 was something of a masterpiece and if 'IRM' is anything to go by the follow-up album, from which it is taken, could be even better.

Check the video for a teaser and a quick interview with Charlotte but if you head over to Charlotte's site you can download an MP3 of the song for free. Inspired by the rhythmic sensation of undergoing an MRI scan it's a trippy, spooky number that feels a long way from the melodic autumnal walks of 5:55 but still captivates.

BlackPlastic is excited to hear what impact this new found eclecticism will have on the forthcoming album.

BP x

News: John Hughes dies

In a bizarre twist of fate BlackPlastic just found this video the other day and was about to share it anyway (despite the fact it has been around for a few months) when the news broke that John Hughes has died.  The writer of all of those great 80s teen movies - the Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink - his greatness cannot be disputed.

In tribute check out this beautiful mashup of scenes from a few of the 80s brat pack movies and Phoenix's 'Lisztomania' - it's lush.  The movies included are The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Footloose and Mannequin, of which the first two are Hughes' work.

If all this leaves you wanting to recapture more of Hughe's spirit through music might BlackPlastic recommend M83's lovely, lovely album Saturdays = Youth.