Get on this groove from Echo Park

Friends of 64 bar will recognise the name Echo Park from his appearance on the sixth 64 bar challenge mix.

His track, All Told, is a bouncy upbeat little number that represents his LA sunshine sound roots, with a twist of his South American domicile.

Back to the matter of this blog post, and the track above is out on Disfigured Dubs. Its about  as 80s as you can get, but in an impeccably cool way. He sang, played the keys and built the beats on the track. 64 bar have am exclusive interview with him this week, lookout for this

Echo Park is the brain child of Brian Gibbs. Los Angeles born and now living in Santiago, Chile, Brian is a true adventurer – musically and in life.

He cut his musical teeth in LA alongside the kind of artists who would later form the Brainfeeder / Low End Theory axis – but in 1999 got itchy feet and left for Tokyo, where he founded the notorious techno labels Deafmosaic and Gunjack Series.

Another relocation to Madrid, Spain saw him reconnecting with hip hop and funk roots but also, via Jaxx Records, experimenting the sort of dark sub-bass mutations that inadvertently prefigured dubstep. Moving again to Mexico City, he met his wife, a Chilean national from Santiago, and returned home with her – only to discover a fascinating and intricate experimental hip hop scene thriving underground despite much adversity in the Chilean capital.

Howdo, 15 dead minutes peoples

The 15 dead minutes produced a naughty acid electro breaks monster for the 6th 64 bar challenge mix. It’s a tough slice of 303 bleeps bended with phased drums and glitchy orchestration.

You can hear it now right? In your mind..?

But, just who are these people? 64 bar interviewd them to find out.

Success – 64 bar music signs digital deal with champion label

64 bar music has signed a one-off deal with a world renowned independent label to release a best of 64 bar challenge digital album.

The compilation will be released in January, first as a digital only download, with plans for a physical release if 200 pre orders are made.

The release will have 20 tracks that represent the premium beats from the six-album mix series.

For those new to 64 bar music, the project was inspired by Cardiff based DJ and producer, Kovas.

It was his idea to create mix projects where all contributors submitted beats 64 bars in length, at an agreed tempo.

The first mix dropped in the summmer of 2009, and the sixth and final mix landed in autumn 2011 with DJ Food at the controls.

Kovas said: “I’m very excited to have signed this deal. It’s recognition of the quaility of the music that has been produced, and proof that good things happen if you do the right things well.

“I can’t reveal what label it is yet, I can’t reveal which tracks are on the compilation either. That will happen when the label do their official launch in the new year.

“I can say that it will be coming out on January 16, and the reason I’m talking today is to try and build some interest and take some pre orders for the vinyl.

The 20 tracks on there are perfect DJ friendly tracks. The range of sounds is broadly dark electronica, with some real moments of sonic beauty.

The 64 bar challenge project has grown in popularity since the first mix. That had just 50 downloads in the first 48 hours. That rose to 500 by the fourth mix, and there were over 5000 plays of the sixth mix when DJ Food played it on Solid Steel.