Silkie - City Limits Vol 1.2 [Deep Medi]

Since at least Christmas last year a Silkie track has been running around my head, the video bellow captures when I first heard it, Anti Social where having a crimbo-spesh on Rinse FM and played a track I’d never heard before that was so full of vibes it just kept playing on my memories ever since. It turns out that track was ‘80s Baby’ a track you can hear on City Limits Vol 1.2 the bridge gap between last years fantastic City Limits Vol.1 album and the follow up Vol.2. A series of 12”s you wont find on the next album or the last and by the sounds of it Silkie isn’t messing.

This is the one I’ve been waiting for: ‘80s Baby’ has a rolling street soul feel to it like a London variant on Detroit techno, midnight machine funk that just keeps coming. Sweeping pads, bumpy rhythms and funk stabs made from plastic sax, lounge piano and 80s tinged funky synth keys that sound like they’ve been beamed in from a forgotten Cameo record. It all comes together with a hypnotic loved up vibe that’s just irresistible. The flip ‘Bass Junkie’ sounds like the tougher brother of ‘80s Baby’ it hits hard instead of rolling. Rattling breaks shimmy over bass pulses and funk’d up synth lines that sound like aliens chatting each other up. It keeps some of that blissed-out funk but twists it into gnarly shapes that are pretty relentless.

Keep the 12”s rolling, when Silkie hits his stride there isn’t anyone like him ‘80s Baby’ is pure vibes, hi-tech London soul through and through. With three more platters of material on the way before the second album Silkie will keep us doing that gangsta boogie right the way through.



http://www.deepmedi.com/

Originally writen for Sonic Router.

Peverelist & Hyetal – The Hum/rrrr [Punch Drunk]

Massive collaboration from two of Bristol’s finest, it comes off the back of their two solo releases: Peverelist’s ‘Better Ways Of Living’ and Hyetal’s ‘Phoenix’ 12”s both of which wont leave my bag in a hurry. The two producers first melted their sonic sensibilities when Peverelist remixed ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ to great effect, twisting the original into a trippy number that still sounds like nothing else around. This time the two hook up for some original productions. With Peverelist’s knack for hypnotic techy dubbed-out sounds and Hyetal’s bittersweet melodic sensibilities it’s a collaboration just aching to happen.

The two tracks ‘The Hum’ and ‘rrrr’ feel like early electro experiments that where forgotten but dug up, rearranged and lovingly finished especially to move some dance floors. There’s a retro feel in there somewhere but one that’s brought on by the melancholic melodies and synthesized sounds rather than any kind of revivalism, because nothing really sounds like this collaboration. You never know who did what in collab’s like this but you can hear Peverelist’s swirling dubbed-out percussive ticks and bumpy rhythms and Hyetal’s knack for shimmering synthesized melody in both the tracks. They’re hypnotic and introspective but the bright synth tones and subtle funk keep them from being ultra deep eyes down material. There’s an uplifting quality to the tracks that hits that magic bittersweet spot which gets me every time.

Punch Drunk is a buy on sight label already and this 12” is just sublime. It’s the sound of two artists flexing their production skills and it coming together so on point that it makes me wonder if there’s more.

http://www.myspace.com/punchdrunkrecords
http://soundcloud.com/punchdrunkrecords
http://www.myspace.com/thepeverelist
http://www.myspace.com/hyetalmusic

Originally written for Sonic Router.

Xpldr #2

Xpldr#2 by Xpldr on Mixcloud

It’s been about a month since my last Xpldr Session and even longer since Xpldr#1 so its about time you got something fresh. Welcome to Xpldr#2 I’ve gone for some dark dubbed-out funky flavours diffused with techno tangents, hyper-coloured house and some major curveballs.

Commix – Be True (Burial Remix) [Metal Headz]
T.Williams – Afric [Local Action]
Cooly G – Phat Si [Hyperdub]
Fris-T – Deep Mover [502]
Bowly – Idee D’un Tropique [Berkane Sol]
Ill Blu – Dragon Pop [Hyperdub]
Lil Silva – A Million [Night Slugs]
Robert Hood – Clash [M-Plant]
Dexplicit Feat. Sweets – Follow Me (DJ Naughty Remix) [DXP North]
Apple – Siegalizer [White]
Martin Kemp – Wot U Got [Blunted Robots]
Swag – I Need A Freak (Freaksbusinessasusualredo) [Version]
Mr Oizo – Last Night A DJ Saved My Dog [F-Communications]
Ikonika – Aqueous Cream [Hum & Buzz]
Simon/off – No Pills [Immerse]
Likhan’ – Boxin [7even]
Los Hermanos – Quetzal [UR/Los Hermanos]
Dopplereffekt – Myon-Neutrino [International Deejay Gigolo’s]

One take, all wax.

Stream: http://www.mixcloud.com/xpldr/xpldr2/

Download: http://www.sendspace.com/file/7t6k83