“The essence of Orkney’s magic are the deep marvellous rhythms of sea and land, darkness and light” George Mackay Brown, 1921-1996   Over the last few years Erland Cooper has…

These are the 1BTN DJ recommendations for August 2020. Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.   Roisin Murphy Something More (Skint Records) The Queen of the sultry groove…

1BTN’S Jo Dressler tells the story of women making their mark in contemporary music, from Muslim metal to Filipino dancehall.   INDONESIA All female, Muslim metal band (now there’s a few…

As one half of Brum based duo Original Rockers (later Rockers Hi-Fi) Glyn ‘Bigga’ Bush created the 90s progressive-house-dub classic Push Push, put out four great albums, contributed a cut…

In this instalment of Steve KIW’s story of the Balearic Beat the establishment takes fright, a lot of blissed out ravers jump in coaches and record collections begin to look…

Never leaning on the notion of a mould or convention, Colonel Red Is a phenomenon in the underground soul circuit, blending the segways between Rnb, Broken Beat, Hip Hop and…

1BTN DJ selections for the month of July; all new releases or re-issues. Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.   Sault Untitled (Black Is) (Forever Living Originals) The…

Our DJs use the word Balearic with abandon. So often in fact that it came as no surprise when a listener asked: Hola 1BTN, What, exactly, is ‘Balearic’?    Among…

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life is a charitable foundation creating fundraising initiatives for the electronic music industry & beyond in support of children in crisis. Founded in January…

How’s lockdown life on the west coast Adrian? Same as it is over there, boring! *laughs* I guess music is keeping you running through though, right? I guess so, trying…

These are the 1BTN DJ recommendations for new music and reissues going into June 2020. There is a Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.   L-Side & MC…

A few weeks back 1BTN’s Joel Essex caught up with the legendary DJ, promoter, and everyone’s favourite lockdown instagrammer, Luke ‘Unabomber’ Cowdrey for a good old natter. Here’s the conversation that…

Roots Garden is a Brighton institution. A legendary midweek club night that ran for 14 years and span off a record label that has released over 150 tracks – including…

Well, these are tough times for the arts. Tough for professional creators, venues, promoters and everyone connected with the arts, financially at least. But the bright side of isolation and…

How you doing, Martin?   I’m very well thank you very much thanks for having me on   My Pleasure. Whereabouts in the world are you right now?   I’m…

There is no shortage of films about music from Mali. To accompany a piece about the MUSIC OF MALI, 1BTN DJs Jo Dressler and Ian Lawton offer some suggestions for…

Mali, the landlocked country of West Africa has a rich, long-lived and deeply embedded musical tradition and has given us numerous musical treasures, a few of which I would like…

Steve KIW pays tribute to Florian Schneider and the mighty Kraftwerk   It is impossible to overstate the importance of Kraftwerk. Consequently it’s pretty much impossible to describe the legacy…

Here are the big quarantine tunes from the 1BTN massive going into the month of May 2020. Incomplete Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.    Tornado Wallace Mundane…

Legendary drummer Tony Allen died on 30 April 2020 aged 79.  He was furiously creative and prolific until the end. 1BTN pays tribute to the great man by shining a…

Guilty musical pleasures – What are they? Why are they? And what’s to be guilty about!? Jo Dressler goes in search of the uncool …   Being British comes hand…

Most hip-hop fans know the story of DJ Kool Herc’s legendary back-to-school jam that contributed to the birth of a musical revolution in the West Bronx, New York City in…

Some quarantine listening for you. Here are the April recommendations for life under lockdown from our 1BTN DJs. Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.   Murge Can’t Hurt…

J-Felix’s brilliant sophomore album Whole Again Hooligan is a melting pot of musical influences. 1BTN Boogie head Kirollus Elyas asked him to tell us how he became a Boogie and…

The last ten years has seen an explosion of music documentaries – bigger budget docs like Amy, Chasing the Train or 20 Feet From Stardom, but also a whole slew…

These are the albums and tracks that are big in the 1BTN Bunker this month! There is an incomplete version of this chart as a Spotify playlist (Link at bottom…

Legend, pioneer and musical hero to so many of us at 1BTN, Andrew Weatherall passed away on February 17, 2020.   Whether you know him from his work with Primal…

Mark Holis’ band Talk Talk transcended their synth-pop (and punk!) roots to become, retrospectively, one of the most admired bands to have recorded in the 20th century. The band recorded…

Jim Lister spoke to Kokoroko’s Onome Edgeworth (Percussion), Ayo Salawu (Drums) and Tobi Adenaike (Guitar) on his 1BTN show before their February gig at Concorde 2 in Brighton. Photo: Nina…

Fifty years ago David Mancuso  threw the first of his legendary Loft parties. Twenty years ago Nuphonic released two fantastic Mancuso compilations (The Loft 1999 and The Loft – Volume Two…

The biggest new tunes and reissues in the 1BTN bunker as we enter February 2020 with accompanying Spotify playlist (go to the bottom of the page for the link).  …

Step onto a dancefloor in a mainstream club today and you’d be forgiven for thinking that dance music is dominated by straight, male, so-called ‘EDM’ culture. House music is going…

1BTN spoke to the maverick Scottish composer ahead of her UK tour.   You’re playing Brighton on the 10th of February, the last date of your uk tour. Are you…

Hey, Jurgen! How you doing? Good. Good to talk to you! You too. Where are you in the world are you right now? I’m on the East Coast, in Savannah,…

1BTN’s Black Feather spoke to riotous Brighton two piece ARXX about their new EP fuelled by superfood smoothies and early nights, their origins and their recording process. Photo: Kaleido Shoots  …

How do, Dan? You good? I’m good man thanks for having me on. Pleasure. Where about are you at the moment? I’m up in Scotland, in my little studio i’ve…

Though the wave scene has been growing and evolving for some time now, with clear distinctions between different styles, artists and labels, its emergence into the mainstream has become more…

The biggest tunes buzzing around the 1BTN radio bunker entering November, selected by our DJs. Full playlist and reviews below and Spotify playlist.      Cruisic, Slowly Inspector Norse…

1BTN spoke to Laura Ducceschi, programmer of ACCA Digital which runs from 30 Sep to 18 Oct in partnership with Brighton Digital Festival and features Holly Herndon, Tim Hecker and…

Kate, How are you? I’m very well. How are you? I’m very well thanks, where are you this morning? I’m in a, kinda, radio, down the line studio in the…

How you doing, Pete? Very well, thank you. You’re bringing the Little Chill festival to East Sussex in July, as a fund raiser for your new project, which is very…

Hi, Sonny. How are you? Very well, thank you. So you are Leeds born and bred, Sonny? Huddersfield. Just down the road. I’ve travelled around a bit but I’m back…

1BTN in conjunction with Detroit Tourism and Metro Centre are proud to present, Detroit Day. You know Detroit, right? Famed for it’s legendary auto industry and for it’s music; it’s…

Ivan, how you doing? Fine, thank you my friend. Where are you in the World right now? I am in my house in Saquarema, which is about 2 hours from…

Sal, how’s it going? It’s good, Mickey, It’s good. Everything’s great at the moment, pretty busy and pretty manic. Releasing a record on your own label is pretty hard work…

An amazing amount of killer choonage this month as the 2019 release schedule gets into full swing. Here are the essential cuts at the beginning of March as selected by…

Let’s get straight to it: 2018 has been a bumper year for music. Here on 1BTN we are blessed to have an incredible array of DJs who are only too…

Kamaal Williams gig review. Words by Joel Essex, photo by Fred Lopez. It’s been just over two years since the seminal release of Black Focus, an album that brought to…

We talk to Gavin Sutherland, AKA Other Lands, from Firecracker Recordings Mac-Talla Nan Creag, about their soon to be released 2nd LP, “The Sorrow of Derdriu”. So Mac-Talla Nan Creag…

Aka ’The Dark Prince of Reggae’ aka ‘The Ghetto Dentist’ (he was qualified apparently), Keith Hudson cut his teeth (sorry) on the Jamaican music scene working for trombone legend Don…

For a short, but extremely frenzied few years, either side of the Millennium, the talents, minds and hearts of some of the finest drum and bass, house, jazz, electronic and…

Glaswegian label dons, Craigie Knowes, first made a dent in the UK’s dance music scene back in 2015 with their first annual fundraiser for the charity, War Child. The record…

Our man, Dan Storey, wanted to know more behind the lovely music being produced by, Denis Leonovitch AKA Alterleo, a talented sound man out of Moscow. He asked and here…

We speak to the prolific veteran Scottish producer about his 2 new albums, Via under his own name and a new alias, Quart. You are living in Amsterdam these days…

The Hubbabubbaklubb crew take time off from cruising on their Mopeds to talk about their debut LP. SO TELL ME ABOUT HUBBABUBBAKLUBB – HOW DID YOU ALL MEET? In kindergarten….

Ian Lawton spoke to Dave Howell of ground breaking FatCat subsidiary 130701. He filled us in about the history of the label, its ups and downs, its second wind, forthcoming…

In the mid-1960s, a new generation of young Turkish musicians combined Western pop music with traditional Anatolian folk to forge the home-grown phenomenon of Anadolu Pop. My book, The Turkish…

As a huge Italo-Disco fan, part of the appeal of collecting the records is definitely some of the mad cover art which adorns these cheesy pizza platters. I aim to…

Ian Lawton spoke to promoter Daniel Spicer about Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival which runs throughout October at various venues. What was the original motivation for setting up Brighton Alternative Jazz…

We recently added ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life foundation’ to our ever-evolving roster of presenters. With host, Dan Storey, along with an assorted array of special guest selectors ‘LNADJ’ will showcase their incredible knowledge of music from across the genres, whilst highlighting the importance of what they are set up to do… read more

1BTN DJ and presenter Kate Wildblood reflects on what LGBTQ Pride means to her on the eve of Brighton Pride 2018. Whether your first or your forty-first, nothing comes close…

Known for a series of albums exploring the cosmic end of jazz on the Pharaoh Sanders/John Coltrane axis, saxophonist Nat Birchall has released an LP of full dread roots reggae…