Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai – Horror Punks EP [Rack & Ruin]

Coming on like a fucked up noise driven glitch addled punk pop hybrid Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai is the latest project from the enigma that is _ from Japan and Bradford’s Gnomefoam and Bunny. It’s hard to explain exactly what kind of music lays within this seven track EP, which you can download for free on the fantastic net label Rack & Ruin. You could say that this is the flip side to the project AWSTS did for Bearsuit (words on the way soon), which was mellow and glitchy this one is insane, a no holds barred journey into the unknown and you know what its loads of fun.

The gentle opener ‘Evergreen no niwa ni kirisame’ opens with sweet Japanese lyrics and what sounds like an accordion before looping into some crunchy beats and eerie electronics. The Punkieness of the title really kicks off on track two which comes off like an insane Go Team! But with lo-fi noisy guitars and descends into a thrashy metal like beast at the end. You really don’t know what’s coming next with AWSTS right after the full on thrash of ‘I wish they all could be horror punks’ comes the quirky dreamy off key poppieness of Persistent damp problems haunt my keyboard’ which sounds like its been made out of clockwork robots.

An un-doubted highlight for me is ‘Moisture container and the pain in my arm’ with its catchy melody and fuzzed out distorted lyrics that echo the title as a lonesome guitar and electronics try and freak the shit out of you. The next track somehow reminds me of a twisted hip-hop track if it wasn’t so off the wall you could imagine Biggie Smalls rhyming against the breaks and strings. This idea is only enhanced for me when the piano loop of ‘Lost in the forest of blank sportswear’ comes in but then soon gets dismissed when the track melts into a freaked out noisy ballad with fuzzy buzzy sounds and pluck melodies that give way to distorted melancholic guitars, wonderful. The EP closer does exactly what it says on the tin ‘Goodbye Until We Meet Again’…

The two combine forces to create a strange skewed vision of punky pop played though found sounds and electronics, its music made by any means necessary. The Horror Punks EP is experimental by nature but still manages to twist out some song-like wonders, its almost like switching on the radio and surfing the airwaves, once in a while a song pops out of the fuzz. This juxtaposition of all out freewheeling experimentation and catchiness brings a joyous energy to the EP that gets under your skin.

http://www.myspace.com/awsts

http://www.myspace.com/gnomefoam

http://www.myspace.com/deconstructivism

http://www.rackandruinrecords.com/

Golau Glau

The dreamy electronic duo Golau Glau haven’t been around to long and like to keep themselves to themselves making music when they can, in fact they only started making music together in June and dropped a free single called ‘Soft Silver Young’ in July this year. They describe their music as Silver Pop as it seems to come from a different place they bring together off-kilter electronics and beautiful vocals to create something that’s truly theirs. There music hasn’t gone un-noticed in their short time either they’ve already had props from the Guardian’s new music Wednesday slection, Mr Beatnick and Blue Daisy not to mention an impressive selection of others like Shortstuff and Numan commenting on their myspace page.

The links to download the debut net single can be found bellow and if that’s not enough they put up tracks they finish on Last FM for your downloading pleasure. There are ten tracks there under the ‘Arrianna’ section. These Silver Pop nuggets range from all out dreamy numbers to more beat fuelled dance orientated tracks and they all have this otherworldly mellow vibe that’s both strange and wonderful all at once. It’s brought on by the beautiful juxtaposition of vocals and electronics, which can be hard to come by at times but here its done so well and gives Golau Glau an instantly accessible appeal.

Some of my Silver Pop highlights so far are… the rolling sunshine tinted ‘Summer Games’ the percussion and woozy organ sounds do it for me. The glitchy beats on ‘Virtual Boy’ sound like a Gameboy playing breakbeat while rolling down a hill but this is all done under hazy vocals it’s a brilliant wonk-fuelled 8-bit meets Portishead variation of some kind, brilliant. Something about ‘Le Dame Blanche’ and ‘The Moon Illusion’ reminds me of the italo disco stylings of Sally Shapiro but a lot more dreamy. ‘A Better Drinker’ has an almost dubstep beat to it with a heatbeat vibe to it that suits the laid back lyrical delivery and spaced out soundscapes really well. The catchy little number ‘Snap’ with the line “boys boys records, crazy noise records” makes me smile over a 80s infused almost Postal Service backing works really well. ‘Placer Hush’ is another highlight again it’s the mad electronics that make it for me.

Check them out for your self on the links bellow…

Download: Golau Glau – Soft Silver Young

Download: Golau Glau – Arrianna

Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/golauglau

Blog:
http://golauglau.wordpress.com/

Club Defcon @ Fibbers, York. 14th August 2009

I’ve been asked to spin again at Club Defcon this Friday, so I’ll be reaching for more upfront dubstep, funky, wonk, all things beyond and between. I’ll be on the bill with resident Decoy Rocktopus and the spooky Herman Munster playing their own eclectic blend of electro/house/Baltimore/bassline/grime/jams. So get down early and party through the night it's going to go off.

10:30pm - 3am // £4 otd, £3 b4 11:30 with NUS/Flyer

Facebook Group

http://www.myspace.com/clubdefcon

10-20 – Island [Highpoint Lowlife]

As part of the Landforms EP series 10-20 drops the first of the four instalments ‘Island’ on us and there is no let up in quality at all after his excellent self-titled album earlier in the year, which is still on heavy rotation from me. Island takes things down a slightly smoother route, and this might be the beautiful weather talking but there seems to be a woozy sunshine vibe going on here. You can hear tropical streams and shimmering pads of sound played off against the glitch riddled beats and electronics until they all melt together.

The opener ‘Pol’ sounds like a waterfall and stream fed through electronic sound, the way the glitches and pads flow and take over are so hypnotic, then the track switches up into an off-kilter electro jam before melting back into the calm. It’s a brilliant start and maybe the stand out track here for me.

The more beat driven ‘Hallow’ takes over next with a subtle shuffle and electronic surf washes up on the side of a shore before beautiful looped pads make you fall into a blissful state. These first two tracks show the hazy side of 10-20 that’s for sure.

Things get a little more industrial on ‘Nei (reversion)’ it has a crunch and wurr like distant machinery but with an underlying softness that gives the track a unique atmosphere. The phrase I used for the s/t album still rings true here, it’s like flowing down a river and past a working industrial estate you can hear the working urban environment rubbing against natural elements.

The finale comes in the shape of the dreamy ‘Thing From Inner Space’ there is a hypnotic feeling here like the night is drawing in and the muggy heat of day is dispersing into a gentle cool. It drones and crackles and finishes off the EP really well.

10-20’s Island EP is a wonderful listen and a great start to the Landforms series, which is sounding very good indeed and explores many sounds from the sublime and ghostly to neon and beyond.

Download: Future Sounds Of Highpoint Lowlife Mixtape

Download: 10-20 – Landforms Mix

http://highpointlowlife.com/?p=814

http://www.myspace.com/1020musik

Zomby - One Foot Ahead Of The Other EP [Ramp]

Back again from the dead Zomby walks amongst us One Foot Ahead Of The Other. A double EP of day-glow psychedelic bleep driven music that only the man himself can make, in some ways this is the natural successor to last years amazing Hyperdub EP full of twists and turns, flailing Gameboy sounds, freaked and tweaked arpeggiated synths and deep undulating bass. But this time the beats are more four to the floor rather than the lopsided boom bap of its predecessor. Its all somehow more floaty and dreamy too, make no mistake these tracks will destroy dance floors but this by hypnotising them.

The title track opens proceedings in fine style the break-y beats combined with a sublime bleep bloop melody over some chest beating bass create a beautiful melancholy yet energetic number. Zomby’s use of melody is something else on this EP he’s always had an ear for it but it really drives the One Foot Ahead Of The Other EP. Helter Skelter has a similar feel to much of the Hyperdub EP with twisted speeding up and down synth motifs and a monster groove, you get a wicked fucked up energy from it.

You flip and reveal yet more bombs Pumkinhead’s Revenge is easily one of the highlights for me the bleeping high end makes psychedelic shapes and switches over a steady driving four four beat and the odd deep bass 808-esq stab. Its almost as if acid house has been torn a new a-hole by beings not from this world.

The lilting twists of Polka Dot create such a tense pent up energy that will keep the dance floor on edge. There is a kind of Baltimore house bounce at play here somehow, it really is hard to categorise Zomby he’s been embraced by the dubstep community yet is something else entirely, he’s out on his own...

The sublime shimmer of Godzilla may well be some of the best work Zomby has put out to date, you can get lost in those twinkling shifting melodies and spaced out grooves that the bass and beats bring. It switches up into an energetic finale too.

The deep bass driven groove of Expert Tuition is probably the most dubstep sounding thing on here, but with added skip and shuffle. Again the EP’s trademark is those killer synth hooks and bleeps but here we get a nice smeared neon synth line that gives a woozey feel.

The last side kicks off with Bubble Bobble which I’m guessing is inspired at least in title by the amazing computer game of old, there is certainly a bubbly feel to it you can hear shapes in his synth work. This would have fitted in nicely on the Hyperdub EP too, the beats really propel this one, this is fucked up.

Mescaline Cola has a futuristic dancehall bass and bumping jacking beats that play under yet more woozy smeared synth lines and addictive bleeping tweaked out melodies, this is another favourite of mine.

The EP comes to a head with Firefly Finale, a moving almost emotional sounding end of night number that sounds like it could have come straight out of a scene in an RPG on the SNES but perked up for the dance floor.

One Foot Ahead Of The Other is a special EP you just don’t hear music like this from anyone else, Zomby is a talent pushing his own vision further with each step. The Hyperdub EP pushed things forward but was to weird for some the groves were hard and strange but here he’s brought melody to the forefront and made something that’s easier to listen to yet doesn’t compromise any of his deranged twisted ideas, this will win over a lot of new fans. This has to be one of the must have EP’s of the year. Zomby has found that if he puts One Foot Ahead Of The Other he doesn’t put a step wrong.

http://www.myspace.com/zombyproductions

http://www.myspace.com/ramprecordings

Silkie – City Limits Volume 1 [Deep Medi]

Silkie has been producing since he was about 15 making grime and garage infused beats he was also about during dubstep’s rise on the London underground, places like FWD>> inspired him to make it himself and really get stuck in. Now as part of the Anti-social Entertainment crew’s extended family with the likes of Quest, Harry Craze and Henny G amongst others he has carved out a sound all of his own and got picked up by Mala’s essential Deep Medi label where an album was on the cards right away and after some quality, sort after 12”s from the man his debut full length City Limits Volume 1 is finally with us.

‘Concrete Jungle’ opens proceedings with field recordings of the city, horns, cars and a distant crackle this sets the scene for the huge purple bass tones and plastic horns. Silkie knows his way around a groove and every track on here has one, as a trained pianist he knows how to get a jazz infused soul vibe going too. He has an almost trade mark way of using keys and pads that echo the past not unlike the high tech soul of Detroit’s Underground Resistance.

The rhythms fit in somewhere between dubstep’s half-step moodiness and the skipping rolling funk of garage without really sounding like either of the two, Silkie makes his own broken soul variant that really takes these tracks forward. It goes without saying for a Deep Medi release that the bass is pretty damn huge and one of the main elements of each track. He has a deep distinctive warm sound that he twists and warps into some serious grooves.

There are plenty of highlights as the album flows so well but here are some of mine… The smooth electro beats and space age synth lines of ‘Sty’ that drop into some serious boogie bass and a dancehall chug-a-chug sample gets me into a blessed out bass bounce every time. The jungle-esq cut’n’paste breaks on ‘Quasar’ is a good touch and its no surprise to see L.D credited for extra arrangements here it has that rhythmic bump to it. The Mizz Beats collaboration ‘Purple Love’ takes twisted lazzer guided bass lines and synth arpeggios and creates a warm neon glow around a floorless and hypnotic track.

‘Planet X’ drops into one of the most addictive bass lines around along with heaps of soul and some quality skippy percussion in the top end. The industrial crunch and noisy dub pad of ‘Head Butt Da Deck’ really mashes up dance floors and that purple G-Funk infused Dr. Dre-like synth that plays over the piano breakdown really makes it special.

The final two tracks really make City Limits; ‘The Horizon’ is an absolute anthem the piano intro gives way to some almighty euphoric funk squiggles and spacey loved up, blissed out vibes this is only enhanced by the closing number ‘Beauty’, which has that end of night feel to it like you’ve been dancing for hours but have it in you for one last track there is a loved up sadness to it that the end of a big session brings.

With City Limits Silkie has made an essential dubstep album that really showcases his deep and soulful sound, he doesn’t deviate from what he does so well it’s a singular vision and all the better for it. There is a perfect balance of light and dark in Silkie’s work you get the rough and ready dance floor energy along side smooth grooves. He keeps the original dubstep vibes of space and bass then updates it with his own unique formula for today’s dance floors.

http://www.myspace.com/silkie86

http://www.myspace.com/deepmedi

http://deepmedi.com/

Mickey Pearce – Innami/Martin Kemp – No Charisma [Blunted Robots]

Blunted Robots is a brand new label run by two young upstarts Brackles and Shortstuff. They are big in the game right now pushing new and exciting sounds that overlap somewhere in the fringes of both dubstep and funky. This first release reflects this perfectly.

Innami is a rough a ready bashment style house track with broken riddims and full on vocals. Its full of energy brought on by the freaked out bass pulses and deranged synth lines that twist into bleeped out shapes. Mickey Pearce has made a rudeboy hybrid of mutant funky and bashment that would make his Nan proud.

The flip No Charisma by Martin Kemp has been making a lot of noise and getting plays from everyone from Cooly G to brother Brackles and beyond. It’s a futuristic take on funky with dub wise sensibilities, broken beats that skip and bump with a chunky, punchy precision. The synth lines make this track for me the way they tweak and bubble gives a mad energy to the deep bass space and off-kilter rolling rhythms.

Here you get two badass productions, on a brand new label that’s owned by two of the scenes brightest shinning lights, with some killer artwork by the Wigflex crew. That makes for an essential purchase in my book. Rise up funky, dubstep, ‘Wot U Call It?’ hybrid crew it’s your time!

http://www.myspace.com/bluntedrobots

Originaly writen for Sonic Router.

Gold Panda – Miyamae EP [Various Productions]

Various Productions have branched out their label into releasing music from others the first of which being Gold Panda who has been around a bit on remix duties for indie types like Bloc Party, Telepathe, Little Boots and Simian Mobile Disco, usually that’s a bit of a put off but this debut EP of original material is damn nice and dismisses the suspicion of a big book of industry connections over talent really quickly, I hope I can be forgiven for this first impression but the indie remix hasn’t exactly been fertile ground of late.

Gold Panda makes a subtle sort of glitchy electronica not unlike some Four Tet, interesting and quite easy on the ear. The three tracks on the Miyamae EP go from a glitch ridden looped out techno on ‘Mayuri’ and ‘Back Home’ that’s almost reminiscent of The Field in that it samples live instruments and twists them into new shapes, to more electronica based slightly off-kilter stuff like on ‘Long Vacation’ which almost has a glitch-hop/dubstep feel to it.

The Miyamae EP is a nice introduction into the world of Gold Panda ‘Mayuri’ is the most dance floor orientated of the bunch and one of the highlights, ‘Long Vacation’ comes a close second for its twisting up of old Super Nintendo game sounds. It’s a very enjoyable listen indeed, Various Productions have spread the net on their label wider and hit Gold… Panda.

GOLD PANDA - Back Home from NO-FACE Films on Vimeo.

http://www.myspace.com/goldpanda

http://various.co.uk/

Worriedaboutsatan – Arrivals Remixed [Gizeh Recordings]

If you were lucky enough to pick up the limited addition copy of Worriedaboutsatan’s latest album Arrivals you will know that you not only got the fantastic full length but a whole second disc remixing choice cuts from the album, and what a treat it is too. Don’t be disappointed if you missed it though I swear they mentioned releasing it a bit later in the year on its own merit.

The original explored the areas between post-rock soundscapes full of guitar fuzz and swirling epic structures, glitch riddled electronica and a minimal techno pulse Arrivals Remixed takes these ideas further down the electronic end of the spectrum and ends up with some quality results from a diverse bunch. You get members from all sides turning in remixes: from the post rock end of things you get Her Name is Calla and Glissando, then from the electronic side you get Marco Zenker and p45 amongst others.

The album opens with a sublime little re-interpretation of One Down by Enkidu it’s an acoustic sounding number that’s really catchy and beautiful with loops and field recordings, it sets the scene really well.

Munich’s Marco Zenker turns one of my favourite tracks from the original album Evil Dogs into a deep dubbed out minimal techno bomb, when the kick drum drops its got some power to it. Subtle percussive elements drive things forward as Worriedaboutsatan’s soundscapes get twisted into new techno shapes. This could well be the highlight of the package for me.

The small binding segments of Arrivals that go by the dots even get a twist added to them by Umber..

Leeds producer P45 who I saw warm up for The Mother Fucking Gaslamp Killer and Flying Lotus at Leeds Uni earlier in the year turns in an electro infused drum and bass remix of Arrivals that moves along with a rush of energy, darkside bass drones and ambient pads. It’s a really nice switch up of the original and proves to be another highlight.

The deep space-like arrangement that Khixbrrr come up with for All Things But You Are Silent is beautiful, the bleeps that play off the brooding drones and guitars that are followed by a techno pulse and looped out groove works really well as a middle ground between post-rock and dance music.

Label mates and all round brilliant band Her Name Is Calla turn their talents to I Am A Crooked Man and they bring the string led cello drones and ambient stylings with them, and to great effect. They build a ghostly sound around them, which is only broken by a robotic voice with some lyrics this adds an even more sinister edge to already the spookiest track here.

Her Eyes Static make You’re In My Thoughts into a melancholic yet euphoric grinding electronic meets post rock number not unlike a noisy variation on the M83 sound, its full of bitter sweet ecstasy and I must say its one of my favourite moods in music that energising sadness gets me every time.

The final remix comes in the form of another label mate Glissando who turn their post rock powers into gold on another variant on the track that opened this remix package One Down. They take the pulsing deep synth line and play it over soothing pads of sound its a hypnotic piece.

The remix artists manage to keep the brooding almost romantic, longing nature of the original album and flip it up into different styles it has to be one of the best remix albums around. Worriedaboutsatan have collected some quality remixes that add another dimension to Arrivals, they have also flagged up some artists I just know I have to check out. Arrivals Remixed stands on its own just as well as it does next to the original, a wonderful piece of work.

Worriedaboutsatan have just set up a blog where they put up allsorts ranging from audio of practise sessions, Sportify play lists and remixes of them and by them, along with the usual blogger gubbins. Check it out…

http://worriedaboutsatan.blogspot.com/

Previous Worriedaboutsatan Posts

Download: Worriedaboutsatan – You’re In My Thoughts

http://www.myspace.com/worriedaboutsatan

http://www.gizehrecords.com/

http://arrivals.tumblr.com/

Young’uns...

I just realised I’ve not really pushed any young indie/whatever bands in a little while on this here blog so I got curious and wondered what up and coming young things were making the good stuff, so take a look at what I found…

The XX

I’m addicted to the track ‘Crystalised’ its got this melancholic, cool, calm and collected feel to it that draws you in. Nothing else has quite stuck with me as much as that but their debut album in on its way and I’m looking forward to seeing what it has to offer.

http://www.myspace.com/thexx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pib8eYDSFEI



Youves

Spunky upstarts with a razor sharp party style punk rockin’ pita shitting sound. They are singed to the fantastic Holy Roar and already have their debut album called ‘Cardio-Vascular’ on the shelves (note to self… buy it).

http://www.myspace.com/youves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOK88cEK5Dk



Salem

The only Americans in this little roundup for some reason… But anyway they make a mad racket that I can only describe as a lo-fi indie noise crunk crossover, full of loops and 909s, its strange and pretty addictive. They have a few EP’s out right now I think. I’d love to see some MC’s jump on these beats, its almost grime-y.

http://www.myspace.com/jjhhmm

SALEM - DIRT from ACEPHALE on Vimeo.

Click’n’listen…

Luke Vibert – We Hear You [Planet Mu]

Vibert is back this time under his own name pushing his unique brand of dance music with its high-end production values and sense of humour. He flirts with many styles and always has done over his long career in electronic music and We Hear You is no different, you get a bit of dubstep, a bit of hip-hop infused electro, break beats, acid house and much more, yet it always sounds like it belongs together as one.

Album opener Belief File shows off Viberts knack for cheeky samples, chopping up hip-hop sound bites to introduce you to the listening experience before your pummelled with a big dirty bassline, skippy drums and a melody made up of what sounds like Steel Drums not unlike the ones used in some classic Aphex Twin. There is an almost dubstep-esq groove here but with a funked up live drum sound. Dive And Lie Wrecked has that dubstep feel to it as well with dubby techno chords and a half step beat and evil sounding bass, but what really makes this track for me is the spooky female vocal sample.

Hot Sick comes on like a ghostly Daft Punk house track with funky filtered bass, beautiful melodies and electro drums. When Vibert plays with melody he creates some really wonderful stuff, the synths here have a chiming reverb drenched feel that sounds, just sublime. One of the more funk infused tracks Batting For England takes samples you swear you’ve heard all your life… and makes a cracking track out of them.

I always like it when Vibert turns his hand to some acid tweaking and that’s exactly what he does on Pretty Old Acid Music, whips out the 303 or whatever he uses and just gets tweaking over a wicked old sounding electro beat. House Stabs is another banger that does exactly what it says on the tin. He takes the ye olde and maybe slightly cliché elements from early house and makes it all into something kind of refreshing.

The slightly mad Marvellous Music Machine comes on like a deranged robot he found lingering on the set of an old sci-fi film, there is a electro meets dubstep feel going on here but with singing robots, it’s a quirky little master piece and the sound of the bass kills it. The vinyl exclusive track Electrophy has a similar vibe going on but with less robot singing and the bass pulse sounds a bit like Dizzee Rascal’s I Luv U.

We Hear You is a quality album that’s really enjoyable to listen to it will get you coming back for more without you realising, it all flows with ease has humour a plenty and loads of interesting ideas. Luke Vibert turns out another quality album that oozes personality.

Mount Kimbie – Sketch on Glass [Hotflush]

Dom and Kai aka Mount Kimbie are back with their second offering on Hotflush after the sublime debut EP Maybes earlier in the year, which got them noticed by such a diverse range of music heads. Being on Hotflush they pretty much got picked up right away by the dubstep community but Mount Kimbie’s sound takes them beyond that and into the consciousness of everyone from hip-hop heads to post-rock fans and beyond.

The EP kicks off with the future soul glitch riddled ‘Sketch on Glass’ with its short, tight bleepy organ like stabs, crunchy popping drums and a big fat bass not unlike one Joker might dream up. The pitched vocals and pure unadulterated funk of this track just kills it, no one does it quite like Kimbie.

The deep earth shaking drones of ‘Serged’ sound like a natural progression from the ‘Maybes’ EP there is the same post rock meets dub and hip-hop though bleeps and soul feel to it. This is a laid back, eyes down mesmerising piece of music.

The flip opens in a similar vein, ’50 Mile View’ has big echo chamber stabs, ambient pianos and high-tech drums that sound like they’ve been taken from R&B from the year 3000. The vocoder vocal likes that play off the beats and funk-drenched soundtrack really get in your head.

Sketch on Glass finishes with ‘At Least’ with its loops, crackle and double bass before a drum shuffle takes you away and the deep soundscapes of Mount Kimbie wash over you. This drops into some serious bleep funk and sub sonic bass manoeuvres and a voice comes out of the blue asking if there any other effects on and it all turns into a dreamy outer space number.

On this EP Mount Kimbie take their sound even further and into bleepier glitch riddled twisted dance floor areas. The future funk and soul shines through, no one else really sounds like them. There nearest contempery is probably Kimbie collaborator James Blake, sound wise they have a similar pallet but still come out in slightly different directions. Hotflush are pushing boundaries as ever and the two Mount Kimbie EP’s are up there with the best of them this year, they’re the very definition of essential.

http://www.myspace.com/mountkimbie

http://www.myspace.com/hotflushuk

http://www.hotflushrecordings.com/

12"

Here’s another run down of random 12”s from my record bag that I’ve not wrote about else where. For more bass music recommendations you should check out Sonic Router too. Now get your ears round this lot…

BUBBLEZ/Lady Saw and Cecille – Move Down Low/Loser (BUBBLEZ Refix) [Devotional Dubz]
Funky Bashment refix action from Grievous Angel alter-ego BUBBLEZ. Raw energy harnessed for your dancing pleasure. Caned by Kode 9 with its grime meets house on a dark dance floor vibe, these are certified bangers.


Untold – Just For You/Just For You (Roska Remix) [Hotflush 2]
Future Jungelist flavours from Untold, it’s an energy rush of broken beats, Eski bass and space age synths. Roska flips it into a funky banger with ravey vocal snippet: when the bass changes up things kick off. Perfect.


Pangaea – Memories [White Label]
Soul shaking tear jerking future garage with a moving vocal that gets even the most militant headz emotional. It’s maybe the most beautiful dubstep track since Archangel, smooth and melancholy with a driving 2-step beat and catchy bass.


Johnny Clark Vs. Mala/Coki – Sinners/Gobblin [Ringo]
Mala goes deep as Coki goes bonkers. It’s been a long time coming, Sinners is a sublime dub drenched slice of pure mediation and loved up vibes it’s just amazing. Coki switches it completely and takes wobble to the EXTREAM, with a gnarly fucked up Gobblin bass and not much more.


Brackles/Brackles & Shortstuff – LHC/Sutorito Faita [Planet Mu]
Heavy weight duo fix up some future sounds, making bleeped out hybrids of garage/dubstep/funky out of the remnants of the Large Hadron Collider expeiment just before it rips the Earth a new black hole and we’re found floating round the International Space Station, well that’s what it sounds like anyway but with added Street Fighter samples.


Ramadanman – Revenue / Revenue (Untold Remix) [2nd Drop]
Ramadanman does it deep and techy as Untold ups the percussion, glitches it out and makes me want to mix it with Mala’s Left Leg Out. Original is deep and dubby with a subtle tribal groove that’s tight as fuck. Untold twists it into new shapes that only he knows the name of, I’d plump for it being something like a ‘gowreckthebass-ahedron’.


James Blake – Air & Lacktherof/Spring Horse [Hemlock]
‘Maybes’ ahem my favourite new artist since Mount Kimbie, who coincidently he works with providing vocals and suchlike (he’s a badman on the mic). This is some kind of twisted soul with a freaky post-dubstep vibe, it doesn’t sound like anything else and it’s beautiful for it.


DVA ft. Badness / Riko / Flowdan / Killa P – Bullet A Go Fly/Bullet A Go Fly (Dusk & Blackdown Remix) [Keysound]
Hardcore, dark as hell grime that only Keysound have the balls to release it seems… It’s hard to come by and hard as hell, pure violence, rudeboy riddims and a snapshot of what you don’t want to see round the next corner. The remix gives it a dance floor skip.

Jimi The Exploder // Club Defcon // Fibbers // York // 24th July 2009

I really enjoyed this night it’s the best set I’ve done for a while and it went down really well with an un-expecting crowd, this is roughly what I played.

Tracklist:

Warm Up…
Cooly G – Nasrt
Martin Kemp – No Charisma
F- Epilogue (Ramadanman Rerub)
Hyetal – The Last Time We Spoke
Dark Knight – Reasons
Brackles & Shortstuff – Sutorita Faita
Untold – Just For You (Roska Remix)
Lil Silva – Different
Bubblez – Move Down Low
Kode 9 – Black Sun
Rustie – Zig Zag
Joker – Snake Eater
Quest – Eden
Mark Pritchard & Om’mas Keith – Wind It Up
Joker – Re-Up
Jakes – 3kout
Mr Larger & Alys Be – Tell Me
LD – Woodblock
Benga – Buzzin
Ikonika – Please
Starkey – Gutter Music VIP
Jakes – Rock Da Bells
Joker – Digi Design
Geiom & Earlybird – Net Weight
Zomby – Strange Fruit

Warm Down…
Untold – Anaconda
Darkstar – Need You
Joker – Untitled_Rsn
Guido – Orchestral Lab
Pangaea – Memories

James Blake - Air & Lack Thereof

Club Defcon @ Fibbers, York. 24th July 2009

I’ve been asked to play at Defcon this Friday (aka tonight!) at Fibbers so if your in York get down and check out some of the freshest sounds around. Check out what the facebook event says:

10:30pm - 3am // £4 otd, £3 b4 11:30 with NUS/Flyer

After the crowd surfing, Fibbers-busting chaos of GRUM at Easter, York's hypest party returns with resident Decoy Rocktopus playing out the most danceable beats and the heaviest bass. Electro, techno, fidget house, bmore, baile funk, dubstep, uk funky, grime, bassline, we're going all in!

Joining him will be dubstep don RLM (Uprooted / Base / Cranky Radio) dropping some serious dub-techno fire as well as the triumphant return of Grim Beeper. Get on it York!

*LINE UP CHANGE*

Due to Grim Beeper's numerous STDs finally catching up to him and leaving him hospitalised, he will be replaced with…

Jimi The Exploder (Sonic Router)

Excellent writer for the peerless Sonic Router blog (http://sonicrouter.blogspot.com). The blog seems to be getting exclusives from nearly every exciting producer in the country right now so expect to hear some new and futuristic sounding dubs from spacebass to uk funky!

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Facebook Event
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19656828116&ref=ts#/event.php?eid=124271563361

Club Defcon Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19656828116&ref=ts

Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/clubdefcon

Fibbers
http://www.fibbers.co.uk/

Kurtz - +1 EP [Soundmaker Records]

The two-man team of Kurtz take the tools of baritone guitar, drums and effects and create a kind of primal post rock meets punk aesthetic. They’re two brothers: Frederick and Ralph Fuller originally from Wakefield now residing in London and this is their debut EP.

Opening track ‘Drumming’ eases you in with a tribal percussive session that gets more and more intense before ‘Run Faster’ brakes out of it with some riffage that somehow reminds me of Joy Division but played by a metal band, its got a slightly spiky edge but drives along with a raw rock mentality into distorted passages and hard hitting drumming. You could also make comparisons to Leeds noisemakers That Fucking Tank; they share some aesthetics at least.

The skippy and almost happy go lucky ‘DDD’ uses a twangy jaunty riff that’s overlaid with sweet pads of feedback. There is a melancholic and restrained euphoria to it somehow, that brakes into the heavier elements of deep riffing and my personal favourite a mad high-sounding tomtom hit that just makes the song for me.

The back end of the EP shows off the more meandering laid back stuff, that Kurtz pull off really well, ‘Music Words Text’ has a mesmerising feel full of melody and loops that build an atmosphere of beauty. ‘Skyscrapper’ takes things even deeper with subtle drones, percussive clicks and fret sounds, which open out into a sludgy doom drenched metal riffing not unlike a more guitar based Legion of Two. There is space, tension and a lovely droning bass feel to it that I really dig, and it all builds into a swaggering beats of a track. The finial track ‘Underneath’ is a looped out collage of sound, really laid back and otherworldly. It closes the EP in a blissful fashion.

Kurtz have made a quality EP that goes from brutal to sublime with ease. The upbeat noisy punked up stuff brings some swaggering energy and the more ambient stuff offsets that and adds tension to create an interesting listen.


Video: Kurtz @ Off Modern
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54709222


http://www.myspace.com/wearekurtz

Alpine. – Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates. [Highpoint Lowlife]

Alpine. are the next to release an EP on Highpoint Lowlife, a label that has seduced me somewhat this year not literally of course but the sounds have certainly struck a chord and ‘Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates.’ Is yet another example of why… Coming off the back of the ambient explorations of The Village Orchestra and his soundtrack interpretations comes Alpine. again on an ambient tip.

This is the work of Alex Smalley one half of Pausal who have toured with the likes of Stars Of The Lid and Grouper to name but a few. Alpine. is his solo project and ‘Fr:om…’ will only be the second release.

The six tracks showcased here sound like a trip through beautiful countryside on an early morning, the sun just rising as the subtle chords glide over you. There is an almost classical feel to this music, you hear pianos and orchestral sounds but they’re tweaked and made into subtle reverb drenched loops into electronic soundscapes rather than any traditional notion of classical music or sounds. This coupled with a subtle use of field recordings and found sounds, which gives the pieces an out and about in the countryside sort of atmosphere somehow.

There are many highlights as it works so well as a single flowing piece but the organic crackles and mesmerising drones of ‘micro,’ do it for me. As do the tweeting birds and looping chimes of opener ‘fr:om’ that descend into orchestral bliss. The field recordings on ‘weather’ are something else too you can really feel the ambiance captured on tape from these places.

Here we have music for late nights and early mornings, Alpine. shows the way on a journey mapped out through sound. Its compelling and beautiful, it just shines with a shimmering laid-back energy.

Buy: Alpine. - Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates. (mp3/FLAC: £3)

2562 – Love In Outer Space/Third Wave [Tectonic]

Dave Huismans is back with another slice of 2562; this one almost sneaked out with little notice after the fantastic Tectonic Plates Vol.2 12”s and compilation, but it wont stay unchecked for long this is quality. Two tracks of pure fire are held on this disc.

Love In Outer Space is defiantly THE one, fusing his love of techno sounds and super skippy grooves to create a monster. You can hear elements of Detroit and old Acid records in the bleeping tweaking synth lines, but at the same time it doesn’t really sound like anything else out there right now. The skippy swung beat programming is something else, taking tight and punchy electro drums and twisting them out into strange new shapes. It’s the synths that give it the Outer Space feel the title suggests, first to appear is a pulsing, ascending-descending arpeggio before the soulful spaceage pads build tension and shift from mellow to discordant and pitch shifting new sound as the track rolls, almost like the neon smear Kode 9 has been deploying of late but not quite its got more of a Deep Space 9 feel rather than a Kode 9 feel. This has to be one of the best 2562 tracks around right now.

Third Wave is a deeper less twised affair with a 4x4 pulse that shows off Dave’s techno leanings in full effect. It may almost be techno but its still got that funk and swing with the added percussion bringing some flavour. Deep atmospheric synth lines keep things rolling as dubby tweaks and pulses finish the track off, its got this hypnotic feel for a real eyes down shuffle. It’s a subtle little dub techno number that could add a nifty four to the floor action and energy to your sets that’s for sure.

Yet more quality from 2562 and Tectonic they’re flying the flag for deep and techy sounds in dubstep and always pointing the way to new and interesting takes on their sound.

http://www.myspace.com/2562dub

Trim Freestyle

This is fucked, Trim slays it with Obese on a sick beat this is wetting my appetite for his forthcoming mixtape Monkey Features Vol.1 (See interview).

Listen to Plastician with Nomad, Trim and Obese on Rinse FM the other night, here (Right Click Save As).

http://www.myspace.com/trimbale

EL-B – The Roots of EL-B [Tempa]

Ammunition & Blackdown Present: The Roots of EL-B is a killer retrospective of rare gems from garage legend and dubstep innovator EL-B aka Ghost, if you want to know the history of it all Blackdown has done his thing on the liner notes explaining what its all about and why its so important. So I wont / can’t go into to much detail here as I don’t have the knowledge, as I mostly missed garage at the time apart from the odd bit from Wookie, MJ Cole, Zeb Bias and dark breakbeat stuff from Zinc. But with a heavy garage influence in much of today’s dubstep and even funky from everyone from Burial who has confessed to being heavily mesmerised and influenced by EL-B and his effortless way with swung drums and grooves, to the likes of Pangaea with his soulful explorations and Roska on a funky tip even remixing Neighbourhood by Zed Bias just as EL-B does on this compilation. The garage vibe is still alive that’s for sure.

Every track on here is a gem the drum workouts are something else they are all so punchy, rolling EL-B has a sick sense for a groove. There is also a lot of darkness involved with big bass and melancholic synth hooks but this is balanced out with soul and melody, it’s the contrast of light and dark that makes EL-B so special.

A few favourites for me are the Ghost tracks ‘The Club’, ‘2000’ and ‘Lyrical Tempo’ the latter having a deep rolling almost Detroit techno feel to it that I really relate to, plus the bassline is stupid! You can really hear dubstep in its infant stages on tracks like the dubby ‘Express’ with its ragga infused vocal hook, the same goes for the Juiceman featuring track ‘Digital’. The Neighbourhood remix often has me reaching for a rewind and singing along the bass drop is something else it really kills it after the jaunty piano licks, toasting and female vocals. ‘Serious’ has everything I want from an EL-B track. This really is the roots of something special.

If you’re after some killer garage you really can’t go wrong with the Roots of EL-B. It shows the past and points to what came after, plus it will give you a head start as EL-B is still in the game and working on new material that sounds damn exciting. Just check out the EL-B showcase on Ramp Radio for evidence of that.

Download: EL-B Showcase on Ramp Radio
http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=87844

http://www.myspace.com/ghostrecordings

For an added bonus watch EL-B at work in the studio flexing his dubstep muscles:

Untitled from significance on Vimeo.