YOU'RE FIRED!!!
Someone had to tell you.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you’re fired.
Whatever it is you do to pay the bills, whether you enjoy it or not, please stop it.
These aren’t our rules. They’re Lakeway’s. And he’s pretty forthright about the whole affair. Just look at him dishing out the P45s at our recent BMC Takeover.
Watch him on this video we filmed in a bakery rave and you can even see Alan Sugar vapour trails dripping off him as he fires everyone in the building. Gesticulating like some mad capitalist power pig, he ain’t stopping until everyone in the room has been well and truly fired.
I kid.
I’m being tenuous and subverting the name of one of his new tracks in the hope the headline might lead to some shocked email opens. It’s not the first time I’ve done that and it sure as heckers won’t be the last.
It won’t be the last time I tell you how much I love Lakeway, too. Not only is he a trusted purveyor of cutting edge bass music, he’s also a man of peace, love and prosperity for all.
Unless you’re a right wing hateful *%$& of course.
Sure, okay, it does look like he’s kicking the sh!t out of something underneath the decks when he DJs.
Granted, some of his tracks might headbutt you as if he wants you to lose enough braincells so you can no longer function in a professional capacity.
And yes, if he’s playing a late set then he will do everything in his power to keep you on the dancefloor and keep you away from your bed where you sleep before you go to work thus raising the likelihood of you not turning up to work with every breakneck mix, strange blend or unidentifiable dub.
But in general Lakeway is happy if you’re happy.
And I think you’ll be very happy when you listen to Lakeway’s new release. Here’s a really handy link to it - Firebreak / Broken Soul
One brutalist contemorary jungle / hardcore shock-out.
One esoteric, dreamy tub-thumper that has the brazen audacity to sample a Tarzan cry.
Both will have you swinging from the trees, ceiling, rafter or any other lid-type-structure / climbing aparatus you find above your head… And they kick start a new run of EP from this intriguing Devonshire Devil. Fresh from excorcising his solar demons on his debut album I’ve Missed The Sun and the Bandcamp-only expansion pack Sun Sun Sun Sun Sun Sun Sun Sun Sun earlier this year, these are his freshest designs and he’s packing plenty more.
New energy, same frenetic focus that splurts out three stories all at once yet makes complete coherent sense - Lakeway is very much present, correct and on-point as we hurtle towards late stage capitalist oblivion. Hopeless, coral reefless and now jobless thanks to this fella.
Don’t worry though. Rough justice has prevailed. Let’s just say a shiny yellow projectile hit him in a tender area recently and I may have documented the caper. You’ll have to wait till Monday for that particular reveal.
OTHER COOL SH!T WE’VE DONE…
We’ve been very busy since our last Substack. Here are some highlights, re-caps and cool links:
What a trip it’s been with our friend Deerhill. His debut album Spore Prints landed on September 22 in audio form.
Two weeks later, it landed as a visual album. First at a private event we hosted in an indie filmaker’s community space FOMO House, Shoreditch, then on YouTube where it will live forever.
For me, the album is up there with Daft Punk’s Discovery, Noisia’s Outer Edges and Trentemoller’s Last Resort. Albums that really pulled me inside them and created vivid and very physical visions and feelings. Spore Prints does the same. It’s a real trip that doesn’t cut itself short to serve algorithms. It doesn’t hold back on the space or abstract pauses. It really grabs you and tells a story with cosmic confidence.
Not long after the first time I’d sat through the early versions of it, I declared in a creative meeting that I’d like to get a bunch of people to “sit down, shut the f**k up and listen” (SDSTFUAL) to the whole thing.
“Hold my beer,” Deerhill effectively replied.
A graphics, special effects, 3D guy by craft, he’s worked on Startrek and won an Oscar for his work on Blade Runner 2049. As if making such an interesting and immersive album wasn’t quite enough, he went ahead and made a full visual flip. And we did indeed get a few people to SDSTFUAL!
We arranged access to a screening room with a decent soundsystem and got around 40 people to enjoy the album on a Friday night. No distractions. No one was on their phone. I even made sure people knew they could come and chat to me at the bar if they didn’t want to sit still or just weren’t in the right headspace (fidgeters recognise fidgeters!) But no one did. For a full hour, on a Friday night, our ensemble of lovely family, friends and friends of friends just sat and enjoyed an album.
In my years of music journalism that might go down as one of the most special and unique moments I’ve managed to achieve. It wasn’t without its challenges, stresses frustrations behind the scenes including a flat battery, a near panic attack, massive war planes, full-strength gabber music and an embarrassing incident in a Sainsburys carpark and a parking ticket (honestly) But they’re stories for other times. This was a cool moment and something we’ll be returning to. There’s so much to be said for the social experience of sharing a moment listening together. Not saying a word but sharing so many thoughts and feelings. There’ll be footage and sets from the evening coming very soon.
Thanks to everyone who has been part of the Deerhill journey and supported it any way so far. We don’t stop promoting music after a few weeks (like most labels seem to) so look out for more updates, editorial and eventually remixes as our collabs with Deerhill continue.
DON’T STOP!
One thing that Spore Prints has done which no other 1 More Thing release has done is get me on the mic doing spoken word.
Deerhill & NoDave - Don’t Stop
I’m still a bit weirded about hearing myself in this way. It’s quite raw but also clumsy and cringey and all those feelings I’m sure anyone who’s ever recorded vocals has felt. I’ve been told to get over myself and I’m sure in time I will.
I have to, it was picked for Vision Radio by Martijn (I don’t select any records we play on Vision Radio, it’s still very much a Noisia curation). He asked if we’d created a new genre. Yeah man. Spoken word neuro. It’s the sound of 2026, just watch.
Or alternatively you can listen to something that’s very 2025. A mix I made to promote the tune. Don’t Stop kinda themes and characterises the whole thing. It’s the first solo mix I’ve recorded since January and it’s one of the most complex and strange mixes I’ve ever done. Definitely the type of trip I’ve always dreamt of - starting with ambient and going to 200BPM and beyond. The type of thing I’d be inspired when listening to DJ Food & DK mixes or Andrew Weatherall but never felt I had the musical dexterity.
What’s more, it’s absolutely crammed with forthcoming music from 1 More Thing. If you’ve not checked it yet, please do. Perfect for any long drives or journeys you have.
Have a buzz!
Writing As Catharsis
The most interesting thing for me with Don’t Stop was how I experienced it as a writer. I’ve never written lyrics before and I wanted to avoid any familarity with my day job / general pastime of sitting at my computer in my office. Instead I wrote them on my phone, while standing up in my living room, pacing around. The movement allowed me to vent. The whole track is an argument with myself and my demons. It seemed to work. But maybe that’s a one off. I don’t plan on becoming a vocalist or poet any time soon or ever. I do admire songwriters though, especially when they’re coming from such a deep place as Sahala.
She’s recently released a track called Calling Out Your Name with Caedubs on Diligent Fingers Spynal Records imprint. It’s inspired by her own experiences growing up with her parents addictions and lyrics don’t get any realer or rawer. This is pure music and expression, compassion and love. I spoke to Sahala and Diligent Fingers about the track and the whole creative process of catharsism and how music transcends so many boundaries and barriers as a healer. This one goes deeper than deep…
Fight Or Flight?
There’s more inspiration and deeeeeeeeeeeeep chats in another podcast I ran in the last month. I spoke to Matt and Adam Tool AKA The Soul Bass Project about their label Fight Or Flight Recordings, a label that donates all its revenue to the Brain Tumor Charity.
In 2019 Matt was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and the doctors advised him that he may have just 18 months left to live. Six years later he continues to live an active and beautiful life with a young family, a job he loves teaching music and his the music he makes and label he runs with his brother. The word inspiring doesn’t come close. Matt is the real deal and a proper fighter. In our interview he puts so much of it down to music and how strong it is as a healer. Amen, we couldn’t agree more!
Watch and get acquainted. Especially recommended if your life has been affected by cancer and, like me, you have a sibling who you’ve been on a creative journey with. This one really hits differently. Won’t lie, I’m in tears at the end of it.
Raving in a bakery!
Last month Lakeway and I went to Plymouth to go nuts among the doughnuts as local crew The Bedlam Ball hosted a tasty little pop-up party. Making themselves known among the new student arrivals and promoting their Halloween party (which we’re also playing at), the event took place in a really cool spot called Mrs Brown’s Bakery. Mrs Brown was super accomodating and is an AMAZING chef, the crew were super friendly and welcoming and the vibes from all DJs were on point.
Needless to say we had a lot of fun and can’t wait to come back to P Town on October 31. Check out some of The Bedlam Ball story and a few clips of the antics in this video…
(And if you can come and see us on October 31 here’s the ticket link)
Free Download: Kolectiv - Calibrate (Instrumental)
We’ve also collaborated with Dispatch this month to help highlight London duo Kolectiv’s debut album Circadian Rhythms with a free download.
A deeply personal album and a love letter to drum & bass, it’s a really compelling body of work that digs deep into the true essence of the genre with the pair of them really going in on their sounds and crafting everything from scratch. If you’re tired of samey Splicey sounds then you’ll be interested in this one. There’s some superb timeless vibes running throughout.
There’s also a crucial PAV4N collabo called Calibrate. An out and out banger in its own right, the instrumental is a very classy affair too. So we’re running it in exchange for a Soundcloud follow and email. Seems pretty fair to us! Cop the DL here, check it below…
Last but not least: Let’s all be better fans!
Big love if you’ve read this far. We’ve been super busy so there’s been lots to share! But we can’t leave this one out. It’s me chatting on cam at the Spore Prints screening to a young a journalist Lorenzo Bishop who, in his masters dissertation, is using 1 More Thing as an example of a disruptive platform that’s trying to have a positive influence in a very commercialised market. We’ll run the full interview at some point but this clip I posted last week seemed to inspire a lot of positive chats.
Now is not the time to be passive. Now is not the time to just blindly consume. Be passionate about what you love and really shout about it. Share it with your mates. Share it with chest and let the people who made it know you’re behind them. There’s a lot of talk about engagement in today’s content-rammed worlds but making a deep connection is much more important.
Check it and let us know what you think. We got LOADS more going on so watch out for another round-up soon. Enjoy, take care, peace!
NoDave Columbo
