First things first go and grab yourself the Time Warp Virtual 7” by Atlas Sound from the Deerhunter / Atlas Sound / Lotus Plaza blog, its two sublime summery time nuggets with shimmering guitars and a dreamy, drunken feel, man I love it when Bradford Cox drops a download.
Now for some news on Mr Cox’s other project Deerhunter they are not only going on tour in the UK again so I’ll hopefully get the chance to see them again as it was mesmerising last time see my words on it here. But they are also dropping an EP called Rainwater Cassette Exchange and you can download the ye olde sounding title track from Pitchfork too. There is a definite lineage from the Microcastle sound in this track.
HEALTH don’t come to town to often in fact they don’t even come to my town at all so I’ve had to trek all the way to Manchester to see their intense dinosaur sounding noise in the flesh as that’s probably the best way to take them in.
HEALTH//LIVE > HEALTH > HEALTH//DISCO > HEALTH//MERCH
I was also happy to find out that African band BLK JKS are supporting as I heard about them late last year and have failed on all accounts at grabbing any of their music despite loving the idea of a post-punk sounding band with amazing African riddims. Tonight is my chance.
Banjo or Freakout are also on the bill and they are a group I didn’t think I knew until I realised blogs were a blaze with their accoustic version of Burial’s beautiful Archangel a while back. You may as well grab the track in question from the wonderful blog//label//whatever No Pain In Pop. So we will see what they have in store in the live environment.
Now for the complete unknowns to me anyway: Young British Artists. I have no idea what they sound like but they are local and made it onto this bill so hopefully it will be a nice surprise.
After masses of delays from somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours the first band Young British Artists came on and to be honest they didn’t do much for me at all. Sure they could play but nothing much happened to get me going in anyway shape or form.
Next up was Banjo or Freakout helped out on drums by one of Gentle Friendly. It was a wicked mish-mash of shoegazing electronica and tribal beat loops with a smidge of indie pop. By this time we realised the delayers where going to stop us from seeing that much music tonight though so it really put a damper on the evening. The highs of Banjo or Freakout’s set were mesmerising it was a real joy to hear.
BLK JKS all the way from South Africa really killed it mind. When they came on the night really found its feet. The band are as tight as hell, playing a kind of Affrican-Jazz-Post-Punk-Indie-Rock hybrid full of atmospheric surges that the Manc crowd were well up for talking all over, all the way to full on big stage anthem rock outs. The drums really pushed BLK JKS above and beyond he could punch out tight skipping African grooves as intricate and mesmerising as some of the best Jazz and African drummers I’ve seen, but he could really pound them out like a rock hero. Fuck me it was good. The songs were enchanting and massively danceable the way they effortlessly went from dubbed out soudscapes to full on rockin’ out was brilliant.
Then the night took a turn for the worse, for us anyway. As the gig had ran so late for some reason we had to leave before the main event to catch our train or we would be stranded. We weren’t happy at all it was a fucking nightmare. So travelling miles to see one of our favourite bands HEALTH was scuppered by people turning up far to late. So I have no clue what the new material sounds like now let alone feel the intense beat heavy tribal brutality of their live show, fuck.
YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND YOU WILL MISS OUR BAND
This is a big line up for a gig on a Sunday night Holy State’s EP on Holy Roar is a cracker (See my review here), Pulled Apart By Horses are a force to be reckoned with in the live setting they just rock the fuck out like new skool grunge legends or something. Then there is the always intense and mesmerising stop start free-jazz-spazz-hardcore of Sheffield’s young guns Rolo Tomassi. I for one was pretty excited.
Holy State took the stage to a really dead and spares crowd unfortunately this put a bit of a damper on things but they still played their harts out. They tore out tracks from their debut EP in a short live wire set with riffs, screaming and the all important quality tracks. I’d love to see them play a livelier gig as the crowed was proper lame.
Pulled Apart By Horses are local hero’s / loons in Leeds they play everywhere and anytime it seems, I think I’ve caught them accidentally as much as I have on purpose as they crop up as support quite a bit. The band were having troubles this time mind as not only had the crowd only slightly grown and still felt dead out (I blame Sundays) but member James Brown injured himself somehow previously and wasn’t playing. He was apparently having his leg taken off and replaced with a horses, which will defiantly give them an extra kick when he rejoins the tour soon in Glasgow. They played some wicked stuff though, my highlights have to be the anthem Swan Dive High Five and E=MC Hammer they really shredded it up.
Now for the main event Rolo Tomassi took the stage with M83 setting the scene as intro music before doing their thing. Again the crowd was a little fuller but still dead, which was a really shame as I thought this would be a hype gig for Leeds on this tour. The sound was a bit muddy and muddled as well which didn’t help too much, this has been the case for all Faversham gigs I’ve been to mind so I wasn’t really surprised. Rolo played a set full of album material and only included one or two from the first EP this kind of gave the gig a really samey vibe, I’ve seen them mix it up a lot more and kill it. Highlights included the epic Gary Numan meats Hardcore ‘Nine’ and the brilliant ‘Digital History’ from the one sided 7” on Holy Roar, I’m pretty sure they played ‘Film Noir’ as well which always gets the gameboy-scream-core crew going.
All in all it was a nice gig but I kind of expected a bit more energy in the room, I wouldn’t blame the bands for that mind I blame the sleepy Sunday vibes and sound quality. Go and catch the rest of the tour where Grammatics also feature it will probably rock loads more.
The four-man Leeds natives Wintermute debut album drops on Oxford’s prime indie label Big Scary Monsters in the shape of Robot Works. They make a nice clean and tappy emo infused indie rock that BSM are so good at bringing to our ears. They fit right in with label mates This Town Needs Guns or Tubelord with their taping and melodies a plenty, not to mention the poppy hooks.
Wintermute have their own vibe that they bring to the table mind and that comes in the form of some Foals-esq indie dance party moments in places and in others a kind of power-pop meets post-hardcore energy, in-act they are pretty reminiscent of Kubichek! at times, or maybe a hint of their city mates ¡Forward, Russia! but with a less epic sensibility. It’s something they pull of quite well and it makes for a solid debut from the young band.
The catchy as hell ‘Bad Company In A Sauna’ almost makes me cringe at it’s poppieness but not quite it’s a wicked opener. ‘Disco Loadout’ is the most Foals-esq boogie down production but they bring a bit of grit and growl to the minimal dance guitar repetitions by growling a bit and adding distorted passages, to be fair to Wintermute they have been doing the Foals-y vibes for maybe longer than Foals them selves it’s just an accessible comparison really. I blame the press and a whole swath of bands listening to a lot of Minus The Bear all at once, in a house, making notes but in a good way (wink).
They pull out some brilliant jagged edge guitars on most of their tracks and have an ear for a melody. ‘Shark Vs. E-Boat’ is another highlight and the only thing even remotely Foals like on her is the drum hits that sound like the clipy clopy hooves of a tiny horse, which plays off some really nice melodic guitar taps. ‘Spanish Girls’ really does kill it in the quick fire melodic stakes though the riffs in this is something to behold, ‘I Abandoned My Boy’ is maybe the most mellow highlight of the album and it pulls off similar melodic heights before drifting off into an atmospheric sea of twinkling pianos.
Leeds has been very vibrant for quite some years now for producing these sorts of bands and Wintermute don’t let the side down at all in-fact they are very well established in the scene and have been for sometime now. They may not blow minds but Robot Works is a very enjoyable listen.
BSM bring the noise and throw out some Shapes. They make one hell of a racket too, a mix of hardcore punk mathematics and brutal energy along with the songs to back it up. They fit in really well with the noisy end of Big Scary Monsters output like a less insane Blakfish or a more insane Tubelord.
For just three people they shred the place up that’s for sure, they take the drum, bass and guitar set-up and channel a fuck load of energy.
The Pasture, The Oil EP is only their second and they bring some crackers to the table. ‘Trampled By A Horse’ is a thunderous opener (see video for evidence) the schizophrenic, jagged edged riffs surge into pure streams of energy and brutal shouts and screams. They remind me a little of Chickenhawk on this one.
Other highlights include ‘The Escapologist’ which comes at you with more melody and a slightly more laid back feel, they still tear it up though like a hot ball of molten rock fired through a cannon. The riffs twist and turn to make some interesting shapes as the songs develop leaving you feeling that you just let off a lot of steam.
‘The Moon Is Bright, But Coned Off’ is such a wicked track it has a slightly space like feel to it with the drums being backed by shimmering guitars drenched in reverb and a mad little twinkle noise. This all breaks down into some stop start guitar patterns and building the tension up before dropping back into woozy vibes of space again.
The EP closer ‘You Butcher’ twists and turns comes out a bit jazzy in its own hardcore kind of way before morphing into a bit of a bond theme-esq beast with a big metal orchestral moment, quality stuff.
Shapes sound like an exciting young band well worth checking out live and in EP form.
Indiana’s Native are dropping the We Delete; Erase EP for the first time in the UK on the wonderful Big Scary Monsters and you know what they fit right in. They play a spaced out kind of post-rock meets hardcore mathy type indie rock. Over in the US they share the same management as such big underground hitters as Maps and Atlases, Russian Circles and the epic guitar noodler and ex At The Drive-In man Omar Rodriguez Lopez, so they must be doing something right.
The freaked out space loops on ‘Alpacastan’ open the EP before things really kick off with some tappy math guitars laid under some monster riffs. They have an energy to them that is kind of playing against the spaced out nature of the music at times it adds a really interesting vibe to the tracks. It must be the pent up rage and passion of the vocals and the hardcore style bits mixing with the post-rock elements that do it.
‘What Are You Dylan In My House?’ is a fast paced clean tapped out guitar monster with stop start riffing, skipping drums and spaced out jazz sections. It’s an undisputed highlight of the EP that’s for sure. If you have been missing Meet Me In St. Louis (lets face it most people who heard them now are) and want something a bit like it but with a more hazy atmosphere them Native are for you.
Another highlight has to be the closing track ‘Hey Mon’ Hook Me Up ‘Do’ its just so full of energy and brutal passion.
Native manage to keep it interesting without delving deep into post-rock experimentation and obscurity, they just have a massive energy about them that really hits you and takes you on a mathy journey out of the spacey passages.
We Delete; Erase proves Native are indeed a force to be reckoned with and can hold there own against the big boys, ones to look out for that’s for sure.
Original writen for the Sonic Router, but this is so good I had to post twice ;)
You know when something comes out of the blue from a brand new unheard name and it makes your jaw drop? Well this is what happened when I put on 10-20 who is a young producer from Devon just dropping his debut self-titled album for Highpoint Lowlife.
This is a deep one full of hypnotic soundscapes made of electronic glitches and what sounds like a mass re-wiring of a super computer channelling fragments of hip-hop, ambient electronica, a wide array of dance music from either end of the spectrum and even a hint of krautrock’s pulse. 10-20 melts all of this and more into one solid flowing album that is quite hard to pin down.
The organic glitches of opening track, ‘Milvus’ has a chiming chilly vibe to it like a walk in the snow near a distant industrial site. It sounds cold; crunchy yet also has an endearing warmth to it. This robo-esq theme runs through the album, its like 10-20 has been making a tiny mechanical army and recorded the whole process. I think this army are built for good mind, as there is a sublime ambiance to the whole project.
The madly titled, ‘Wdrtrhjvelgrad’ sounds like the ghost of 2-step pirate radio being picked up over the top of a old skool electro beat and layers of ambient loops. These different section fade in and out and create something that’s both jarring and kind of beautiful. This melts into the truly wonderful, ‘InB’ which echoes the smooth chords of ambiance found in Aphex Twin or even the looped out brilliance of GAS, maybe ‘Arcadeagle’ is a better example of that. ‘sA’ has some serious crackle glazed dub sensibilities.
10-20 has made a dark and brooding album that flows like a winding river through industrial landscapes.
Norwich newcomers are setting gardens and living rooms on fire way out east with some old school inspired hardcore noise. These dirty son of a guns will shout and fuck you up with gnarly riffs, fucked drums and in your face vocals. They will kneecap you and cover you in mustard before running off with your Nan, so mind out...
And if you don’t believe that they will fuck you up with mustard, well you are just kidding your self as at least two of them have the aforementioned word ‘mustard’ tattooed upon their very knees.
They are off into the studio soon to record some bits and get an EP going so wish them luck there. But for now just try and catch them live where they bring their own brand of brutality and positive energy to the proceedings.
There young and fresh, there hardcore reincarnated in the flesh!
The aptly named Filth is the latest album from dirty breakcore / grimey acid / fucked up IDM producer Venetian Snares and this time he has going all out in your face and down right pornographic. Like a maniac running around the studio, pants round his ankles, covered in a suspicious goo, dripping all over his 303 and slapping his gnarly dick on the sampler setting off breakbeats and thoroughly getting off on it as the songs unravel and the stains build up.
Sorry I got a bit carried away but its alright I’ve whipped myself down now. VSanres may well be dirty as hell here but he is also on top form, Filth already sounds like an IDM style classic, it can sit next to his other offerings and the high octane end of Aphex Twin and Sqaurepusher with ease.
Expert junglist breaks smash off monstrous base and donk worthy techno beats morph and freak out in front of your eyes by speeding up, slowing down and genraly making up fucked grooves as they go along, as the harsh tweaks and bleeps of the acid workouts fly in from all directions like Wink never existed.
Some highlights include: Labia, which sounds pretty beautiful in places, beautiful in a filthy kind of way of course. Chainsaw Fellatio has a low-slung dirty groove that gets shit swaggering like a Windowlicker-esq sex scene in a run down industrial estate. Splooj Guzzlers has to be in the review just for the name alone.
All the tracks have a visceral and down right physical presence a bit like the best most passion filled hardcore and metal has, but with an extreme electronic edge like a sex toy that has been battered so far out of shape you can’t switch it off. You really do have to be in the mood for such depraved acid breakcore otherwise you will feel orally violated to the extreme.
Now go and have a fucking shower you stink of sex you dirty c*~T!
Last year I stumbled upon the MIE head honcho raving about this band Trouble Books and the album The United Colours Of… and I just got drawn into the day dream inducing laid back beauty of it all, its a true gem (and it’s still available to buy from http://miemusic.co.uk/).
When I heard the new EP was on its way I had to see what was going on and I wasn’t disappointed. The Endless Pool EP is another little bundle of woozy vibes, like a hazy summer morning the sun breaking through as you open your eyes, stretch and get ready to start your day.
The homemade sound of Trouble Books sounds so simple yet so lush and it makes up a whole world of its own. Warm loops made up of found sounds and playful experimentation meet with subtle instrumentation and then out of the blue you get a story or hook sang from one or both of the duo, which really grounds the atmospheric and organic sounds.
Title track Endless Pool opens with a subtle bit of distortion and beautiful tremolo guitars before some sweet vocals and an armchair orchestra swells into drones, before it all breaks down into stripped back guitar that really makes you gasp after the subtle build of noise. The second track flows seamlessly out of that with tape loops building from that old machine I presume they still have from the last album. Hedgehog is a leafy stroll in the morning due as the sun just starts to rise and you take your first breath of fresh air. Tusk Love Revisited finishes off the EP in a dreamy fashion.
I would call this shoegaze if it weren’t so ambient and snugly it’s more like slippergaze (if that existed), it’s just so down to earth and homely. It’s a country cottage compared to My Bloody Valentine’s citywide soundscapes of fuzz. And that’s in no way a diss, Trouble Books make for a compelling listen. Lie back into The Endless Pool…
If you’re on a minimal infused future garage tip with plenty of glitch and deep vibes then the forthcoming Immerse Records 12” by Russian resident Kontext is the one for you. Techno arpeggio riffs glide over a 2-step riddim and big bass on ‘Convex Curved Mirror’ while the flipside, ‘Hometown Swamp’ dubs it out real deep; it’s a perfect blend of ambient electronica, minimal and dubstep.
Kontext has a sound somewhere between Pole’s electronic yet organic glitches and 2562’s punchy and skippy dubstep techno, with a hint of the more subtle end of minimal maestro Gabriel Ananda’s flowing grooves via the prevalent Basic Channel spaced out dub techno. The bass weight is sold too, with a kind of rhythmic punch to it. He really makes it his own style though with a hypnotic feel and melancholic warmth that oozes quality.
His last EP for Immerse was a killer and this is no exception. Both tracks are subtle builders for the more discerning dance head; let the drums move your feet as the synths take you into a meditative headspace. Sublime. http://www.immerserecords.com/public/
Nine Inch Nails are off on tour and then having a big old break for a while (I'm pretty sure I heard that anyway...) So it's nice to see Trent wacking up some more free music in the form of a tour sampler, featuring unreleased tracks from: Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction and Street Sweeper. It's a nice listen as well if your in need of some scuzzycock swingin' rock acction.
On top of that I stumbled apon a nice dubstep remix of one of the Ghost tracks, '19 Ghosts III' over at dubstepforum by Zardonic. It's a nice minimal clatering half stepper Grab it here.
Original writen for the Sonic Router, but I had to wack it up again as it's such a quality album.
Rich Panciera is badman bass producer Lloop from Austria. He’s been around since day one engineering sounds and generally making noises. Back in the day he could be seen opening for The Orb or building Bass Mind Studio in Brooklyn, not to mention being part of electronic band WE™.
60 Hertz is a wonderful mix of big Soundsystem bangers and Warehouse party monsters with a dub infused jungle vibe squeezed into a fresh dubstep shape. It’s full of dancehall dubs with a cheeky half step and sonic innovation. This is maybe what Distance would sound like if he was brought up around New York’s dance culture.
Highlights include the dubbed out reggae monster, ‘Ritter Dub’ which has a huge low end reminiscent of RSD and King Tubby. There is a really laid back smokers paradise feel to it, with echo drenched dub samples flying at you from all angles. You can also hear a big hip-hop influence in the sampling, which you would expect form someone so engrained in the NY scene. This can be seen in the dancehall bomb, ‘Conch’ pretty well. Un-sheath your pistol fingers and skank out to, ‘ODB Scripta Elegans’ with its monumental bass that drives under some eerie, gritty samples. Big things.
If you’re a fan of deep, dark and moody explorations in sound from the likes of Untold’s rhythmic shuffle, Shackleton’s doom filled bass shakers or Mala’s dubby soundsystem riddims; Lloop may well push your buttons.
60 Hertz by Lloop is available now on Agriculture Records.
This has to be one of the most wonderful 12” I have heard all year; it’s a beautiful mixture of ambient, off-kilter hip-hop, drone, post-rock and dubstep. The A-side is at a hip-hop pace and the B-side is at about 140 bpm for some dubstep mixing action. Mount Kimbie are Kai and Dom from South East London and this is their debut record.
The title track ‘Maybes’ has some super low slung droning guitar sample that are morphed and shaped into some beautiful chord structures as break beats skip around and flickers of vocals pop on and off in a sublime melody, that brings a little light and hopefulness to the track. It’s all so mournful yet when the beat and vocals kick in it’s a real thing of beauty. I just want to lay back and hear this over and over.
The next track, ‘William’ is on a similar tip but with some super soulful vocal samples from Canadian folk tinged hip-hopper Soso. This track really draws you in with a laid back feel with mellow pianos, clicks, fuzz and a sluggish deep kick then out of know where comes some huge bass that just pulls you out of the haze and takes you on a more physical musical experience.
When you flip the platter the tempo ups but the vibe stays pretty similar which is no mean feat considering the jump. ‘Vertical’ comes on like a more lively version of ‘Maybes’ with a growling guitar style sample that still manages to sound a little sleepy and laid back. Subtle percussive tweaks and bleeps fill the record until some off kilter drum samples really kick things off. Breakdowns pop up out of the blue before building into entirely different and beautiful things, filled with melody and oral pleasure.
‘Taps’ finishes off the platter with bleepy bloopy underwater pings and crackles before a sideways beat takes you into some big bass and chords. I’m pretty addicted to this track; the way it flows into each section and the whole thing progresses is something else. Beautiful melodies break down into an electro percussive section before they come back again and really tug your heartstrings.
Mount Kimbie’s debut EP is something special that anyone after a dose of ambience with a glitchy hip-hop base and some of the most beautiful dreamy sonics around then this is for you. I would love to see a full album from these two.
I love getting post from Holy Roar as they always deliver something that’s both brutal and a damn good listen, they usually make me want to jump around throw some rock shapes. This debut new EP from Holy State is no exception!
If you’re after 11 minuets of pure punk energy with a meaty backbone and killer riffs then look no further. The melodies they use really stick in your head it’s a real cathartic joy to listen to. I can only imagine what they are like live kicking out the jams.
They manage to sound pretty brutal even if they aren’t the nosiest band around; I mean they don’t scream too much or over drive the guitars into oblivion. They just have a really beefy sound that rocks hard and is packed full of high-tension energy that makes your head rock hard.
Opening track, ‘Comatones’ is a killer. The tone of the guitar is so lush and in your face and the riffs just hold so much vital energy. The vocals are raw, catchy and passionate and when the track breaks down and builds again it’s a real rush. ‘Solid State Messiah (vs The Valve King)’ keeps things rolling and, ‘Repeat and Fade’ smashes you in the face with a killer hook before, ‘Skeleton Coast’ finishes you off feeling a bit bruised but wanting more, the adrenalin still pumping through your veins.
Holy State’s debut EP is a real beast and well worth a punt, go on feel the fuckers roar!
The next instalment for the fantastic and I must say well back on form Fabric mix series is from Detroit native and FXHE owner Omar-S. This guy is all at once a bit of a throwback and a pioneer. His productions hark back to the hay day of Detroit techno with it’s high tech soul edge yet there is something kind of new and refreshing by this approach in this day and age.
All sixteen tracks in the mix are original Omar-S productions from his FXHE Music imprint. I suppose you could compare the approach to Villalobos’ on his Fabric mix in which he pretty much made an original album that would probably be a bit lazy though. Plenty of DJ’s will play exclusives to keep their sets fresh and in demand, and Omar-S has a lot of freshness of his own that really needs some hype.
You really can hear echoes of Chicago house and Detroit techno throughout the whole mix. Tight punchy retro beats play off warm tweaked out synths in a really organic old sounding way. You can hear little quick edits and lo-fi glitches at times that just make the mix sound more human. It sounds like it could have been made any time between Strings of Life and the invention of the Gameboy.
The whole mix is a highlight to be honest but some stand outs have to be, piano led ‘Oasis 13 ½’ which sounds like a long lost E-Dancer number which then blends seamlessly into the brooding darkness of ‘1 Out Of 853 Beats’ with it’s bubbling synth lines and building beats. Tracks like, ‘Psychotic Photosynthesis’ are just irresistible and draw you in with their beautiful melancholic robo-soul chords.
Omar-S really knows how to get you hypnotized in the mix, clicks, bubbles, blips and a whole array of tricks skip around the tracks with a warm minimal sound. Then to throw you out of that collective mass all swaying to the techno beats a soulful vocal comes out of know where like on, ‘The Maker’ and makes you look around and feel that human side to the dance. It’s a living breathing beats he has managed to create here.
Original writen for Sonic Router, the excelent dubstep / bass blog.
Harmonic 313 is one of the many pseudonyms of prolific electronic producer Mark Pritchard. When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence is a strange beast it’s a little bit to rigid and robotic to be a purely off-kilter hip-hop album in the vain of Flying Lotus’ organic grooves and it’s to slow to be dubstep, it’s kind of just Harmonic 313 I guess.
There is an air of the retro styling of old skool electro and Detroit techno in these hip-hop beats, Pritchard has taken these influences fed it through an Amstrad sideways and pumped it full of bass on the way out.
The gritty opener ‘Dirtbox’ sets the tone with bags of attitude and beastly sine waves. Things flow along nicely until the sublime wonky dancehall dub’s of ‘Koln’ and ‘Galag-a’ really takes hold with some really early Warp sounding synth melodies. I keep finding the bass of ‘Call to Arms’ going round and round my head at times as well. The acidic bleep tones of ‘Flaash’ make me want to dig out Al Niahfish (The Soul) by Hasim because of its old skool electro style.
At times it’s a little too rigid for my liking and the computer voices spelling Harmonic 313 grate a little after a while. Then the tracks with raps already sound like something is a little bit missing or a tad dated. But When Pritchard is on form he really is on top of his game.
If you’re a fan of big bass, hip-hop beats and electronica you can’t go far wrong than check out Harmonic 313.
Werk Discs come up with the goods again with a sublime little album from label mainstay Lukid. He brings a sublime and dreamy edge to this thing called wonk, If you’ve been playing Los Angeles by Flying Lotus just a little bit to much for about a year now and your in need of some more of the good stuff, then look no further than Forma.
Where FlyLo brought the crackle and breaks, Lukid does things a little more subtle with a similar lilt and big synths but more emphasis on dreamy loops and soundscapes.
The whole album is beautiful and has an effortless flow to it all the way through, but if I had to pick one highlight it would be the track slap bang in the middle, ‘Chord’. It teases you in with the aforementioned chord looped and looped and looped… before dropping some quality off centre beats and a bassline that really tops things off in sublime style. The bass drones and hits all the sweet spots that vibrate you to your core, all while sticking to the beat and making your feet move. I can’t stop rewinding it, most wheeled track of 09 for me so far.
Forma is full of little chilled gems, it’s a real joy to listen to. Its like someone turned up the heat to make the aqua in aquacrunk a nice temperature to sink into and let wash over you. Lukid’s bass is the best kind of bubble bath. It’s a bit like finding yourself in the scene in the matrix where he wakes up in the goo, but in a good way…
Lukid has soul in his beats a warm, deep soul that really shines. When he uses samples they are subtle and woven deep into the beats and bass to make some beautiful inventive hip-hop, ‘Ski Fly’ is a brilliant example of this. There are many more within Forma though from the delicate opener, ‘Ice Nine’ through the dubbed out block party jam of, ‘Veto’.
If you have ever found yourself up late at night listening to Gangstarr or The Pharcyde in a bit of a haze and really got into the groove and forgot the MC’s existed for a moment, or as I said played a bit to much FlyLo then Forma By Lukid is a step in the right direction.
Just a quick one from me today as I'm off out to catch some comedy, I just found this from the wonderful Holy Roar and thought I would share it with you lot. It's a free sampler of, 'New songs, new bands, rare songs, classics. Free. Win? Win' stuff from Holy Roar!
Tracklisting -
1. Brontide - Crunk Anansie 2. Youves - Big Arexic 3. Holy State - Repeat and Fade 4. The Ergon Carousel - Ironclad 5. the_Network - 500 pounds of idiot 6. Throats - Reign of Low (tape version) 7. Maths - Untitled Album Demo 8. Cutting Pink With Knives - Aylburton 9. Rolo Tomassi - Cirque Du Funk (4Music Session version) 10. November Coming Fire - Return of the Black Dog 11. Jealous - Ruins
Music reviews and words. No leaks. Feel free to comment.
Miss Marple? No Dot Cotton...
Other projects include Sonic Router and the mess around news feed Xpldr and the occasional contribution to Always Everything. Check out the links and RSS bellow for the low down.
'jimi is the apex from which everyone else fans out of' NFR Blog
'so here's to jimitheexploder. The only name to trust' Worriedaboutsatan
'Jimi - whose enthusiasam for this remarkable genre is humbling - he say's "Now that's a single!" And let's face it, I know who I should be more inclined to take my dubstep recommendations from' Wendy Roby of DiS
First things first go and grab yourself the Time Warp Virtual 7” by Atlas Sound from the Deerhunter / Atlas Sound / Lotus Plaza blog, its two sublime summery time nuggets with shimmering guitars and a dreamy, drunken feel, man I love it when Bradford Cox drops a download.
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