Ali Jamieson – Seagulls
A Chekov play, the nickname of Brighton & Hove Albion and now a track from Ali Jamieson. Out next week, Seagulls is a lovely bit of leftfield deep house.
Ali’s an unusual creature, both artist and PR person. This inherent contradiction seemed worthy of exploring further through Ted’s Top Ten quiz.
1. Weatherall or Oakenfold?
I’d have to go with Oakenfold, was a big Perfecto fan as a kid.
2. Real instruments or synthesisers?
Hate to cop-out but I love both. I’ve got a few guitars and keyboards lying around the studio, and I use them as often as I can in my productions. But I’ve got a plethora of synths too and I seriously love them all! There’s real guts and soul, particularly in older instruments, synths or acoustic. It’s that I look for when recording stuff.
3. Dance or indie?
Has to be dance really – it’s such a bigger genre. Don’t get me wrong, when I was younger I loved indie, and it was a huge part of growing up, but not tonnes of love for it theses days. Dance music’s been a consistent part of my life for such long time.
4. Beer or coffee?
I’d have to go with Beer… as long as I can still have tea?
5. West London or East London?
I’ve lived in both, currently in East, and I much prefer the latter. There’s far more going on nightlife wise. West’s great if you want to settle down (and can afford to!) but East edges it.
6. Death or disco?
Definitely disco. It’s a massive genre right now and seems to have been having an awesome resurgence in the last number of years or so. It can span from being un-ashamed ‘get everyone dancing’ music to deep, cosmic, vibe-y stuff.
7. Tower Hamlets or Hackney?
I live in Tower Hamlets so it gets my vote!
8. Arsenal FC or West Ham United?
I’m a Spurs fan, so if I had to choose I’d say West Ham as they pose less of a threat.
9. 808 or 303?
I don’t own either, but I’ve used both on several occasions and I love 303s. There’s almost an in-built ‘ghost in the machine’ in all them, and the emulators don’t come close. 808s sound great for their kick drum, but if you’ve got a nifty few samples of that then you can tune it up and down and re-envelope etc, but nothing beats a real 303, spesh through some distortion 
10. PR or artist?
I am a freelance PR/publicist to a bunch of labels and artists, so it’s hard for me to slate them – that said, I know the habits of some larger agencies and subsequently why a lot of blogs find them vacuous, self-serving morons. However, a good knowledge of ‘how it all works’ is basically mandatory for modern musicians these days. No-one is simply going to stumble across your music, and PRs tend to know the right DJs, labels, blogs, magazines and taste-makers to get your music to. Nevertheless, I’m an artist first and foremost, and I love making music, but I could never give my PR up… is that a cop-out answer?
Despite getting question 1 wrong, we should turn to the track. Does indeed start with the cry of seagulls before slipping into a deep house groove. There are shades of The Grid’s Floatation in the synth stabs and the laid-back approach. There’s even a bit of Italo house. It’s all warm and comforting. It also has Floatation’s sense of summertime languor. If we ever get a summer, this will be a track to accompany it. If not, we should put it back in the box and wait for next year. It’s too good to waste on a cold, rainy day.
Released by: Empire State Recordings
Release/catalogue number: ESR017
Release date: Jul 16, 2012
