Esben & The Witch – Violet Cries [Matador]

Brooding post-rock addled haunted indie soundscapes are what Brighton trio Esben & The Witch deal in. They’ve been on my radar since the very promising EP ‘33’ appeared a year ago, meanwhile they’ve been honing their skills at gigs and in the studio. Only to get picked up by indie big guns Matador, they even landed a spot on the BBC sound of poll and unleash this, their debut album. It’s an assured slow burning long player that shows a young band with plenty of vision and a load of potential. To my ears at least they can sound like If Zola Jesus had a slightly more epic, atmospheric hazy sound and binged on post-rock then you’d get somewhere close, there is a haunted disconcerting beauty to them both. If you took Warpaint out of their garage and recorded them having a near death experience through blown amplifiers in a bigger garage with more plug sockets for drum machines and effects units, you wouldn’t be far off either. They even stand quite well with Laurel Halo’s off-kilter lo-fi pop too. It cold even be said there’s a hint of Portishead in there somewhere but that’s enough comparisons: on with the album.

They build soundscapes that slowly unveil: opener ‘Argyria’ melts into view before teasing a more song like structure then seeping into the next track ‘Marching Song’ which makss a welcome re-appearance from the ‘33’ EP and its sounding better than ever its all high drama and pent up tension. The melancholy, delicate beauty of ‘Marine Fields Grow’ is one to really sink into. We’re really rolling with the one two punch of ‘Chorea’ and ‘Warpath’ slap bang in the middle of the record. They both have a bit of drive and intensity its where the album starts to burst into energy, emerging out of the hazy unsettling dreamscapes into something more sinister. ‘Chorea’ has some seriously luscious shimmering guitars, machine drums and sweeping vocal melodies. While ‘Warpath’ runs with a different kind of energy, there is a melodic, other-worldly spiky almost HEALTH-like post-punk shimmer to the guitar lines before it all drops into a spaced out state of bliss.

We get all tender again with ‘Eumendies’ hushed tones, layers of sound and bubbling building electronics that flow out of the quite before getting a bit twisted and upping the energy and fragmenting into bursts of noise and haunted melody and back again then right when you least expect it, an indie disco thump... The final track ‘Swans’ chimes, drones and rings into effect and ushers Violet Cries out in fine off centre style that goes from haunting dissonant passages of shimmering melody it’s a sweet low key ending. Esben & The Witch are a young band that have really found their feet with the debut album, they’re still growing and mutating but they’ve got confidence in their sound and it shows. The song writing, vocals and soundscapes all come together beautifully. Violet Cries is an interesting listen and a solid record, they’re ones to keep an eye on, they’ll be one of the best new bands around for a while.

Video: Esben & The Witch - Warpath



Buy: http://esbenandthewitch.bigcartel.com/

http://www.esbenandthewitch.co.uk/
http://www.matadorrecords.com/

Richard Skelton

I wrote this for my friends over at Always Everything a while ago but its perfect Sunday music so have it again and check them out too, AE is a new website you should keep an eye on. They’re operating in a fuzzy sonic landscape joining the dots between disparate locations a bit like this review right here…

Proper murky, greyed out Autumnal colours. Fog. Landscapes. Richard Skelton thrives in an area where dense collages of sound and that organic shape shifting nature of, well nature takes hold… just look at that artwork, its pretty much what comes into view out of my car window every morning as I transcend hills and look over plateaus. Spectacular views obscured by atmospheric other ideas... Bleak, ghostly landforms fighting for attention through the cloud and fog, plants echoing a vague hue of green in the meagre repressed light they’re offered. I swear the atmosphere is against the whole idea of photosynthesis… Skelton takes these fogged-out instrumental sessions of cello and string and plays them relentlessly. Building layers of sound like some sort of post-rock, ambient beast thriving in the freedom that only the modern classical, boomkat sphere can bring him. Niche as it sounds Landings deserves an audience outside of that. Big time, it’s the soundtrack to the mornings you missed while you where busy sleeping or waiting for the light to come up. It’s the country flexing itself in the morning dew while those early shimmers of light slowly start to energise the life around it. You can feel the cold fresh air fill your lungs, the deep warm breathe filter out slowly. Its like the whole album takes place in that transitional period between light hitting the ground and you actually feeling the heat of the sunlight. Cold shivers of strung instruments itch urgently into loops and layers, carving out dramatic glimpses of landscapes you’ve passed through. The unyielding atmosphere is urgent yet blissful, like you’ve come to a halt in that car journey I vaguely mentioned above and got out.... You stop and see that this previously fleeting set of landforms, colours, climate, is a new existence, a harsh yet strangely beautiful place that echoes calm as much as it does hostility. In short, you’re going to get cold but if you look a little further you’re going to find a whole different experience that’s rife for exploration.

http://richardskelton.wordpress.com/
http://landings.wordpress.com/

Richard Skelton has Clouwbeck on the way soon hear fragments of ‘From Which the River Rise’ here…

Clouwbeck ~ From Which the River Rises by sustain-release

Originally written for ae.

Onra – Long Distance [All City]

Shimmering 80s nostalgia channelled through off-centre hip-hop beats and an infectious wave of boogie enhanced synth funk. This is the latest album from French producer Onra, Long Distance echoes the late night cityscapes on its front cover. Hinting at DâM-Funk’s retro boogie, but with hip-hop beat tape style rather than a live jam, or Hudson Mohawke at his least ADHD, maybe even an off-kilter Discovery era Daft Punk if they kept up break-dancing a lowered the tempo. Onra likes a concept, his last LP Chinoiseries was made up of samples he picked up on a trip to Saigon and this one switches it all together to concentrate on a wave of 80s funk, boogie and R&B.

The cosmic mantra ‘I want to hear future funk’ on ‘My Comet’ ushers in the first wave of spectral soul. ‘Rock On’ brings the boogie, with crunchy snare hits and lilting bass. ‘Send Me Your Love’ manages to both sound like Phil Collins soaked in cheese and woozy nighttime cool all at once, straggling the line between the two brilliantly. Another highlight, ‘Moving’ feels like a DJ Screw take on Cameo, mellow slowed down syrup funk.

When Onra works with vocalists it all comes together brilliantly, ‘High Hopes ft. Reggie B’ echoes new jack swing and 80s soul. ‘The One ft. T3 of Slum Village’ spits some verses over old school clattering electro breaks. Its Hudson Mohawke collaborator Olivier Daysoul that stands out with his Outkast-esq soul, this works best on title track ‘Long Distance’ where we see him at his most subtle.

The woozy-tape-warp soul of ‘Don’t Stop’ is another highlight; you can just sink into this one and vibe off the space and funk of it all. The phasing hypnotic soul of ‘Wonderland’ keeps driving forward, windows down, sleeves rolled up into the sunset. ‘L.I.A.B.’ keeps the cut-up grooves coming that’ll make your head nod before oozing into the final cut ‘Cherry’, which shimmers with a late night vibes.

Long Distance is a fine album Onra commits himself to the 80s R&B boogie concept and pulls it off in fine style. Put this on during a hazy summer evening, put on some shades even though its dark, it’ll protect your eyes from all the umbrellas in your cocktail when you’re nodding your head to these jams.

Onra - Long Distance - New Album (Teaser) from enozoib on Vimeo.

http://www.myspace.com/onra

Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers [Hotflush]

Just two EPs in and you knew Mount Kimbie would be an act you’d love to hear an album from. Dom and Kai emerged almost out of nowhere into the dubstep scene and never quite fit in sonically at least; they just got embraced into the fold for making quality music. Crooks & Lovers their debut full length sees them spreading out a little from the EP format with ease and creating a cohesive and diverse record. There sound is hard to pin down; they float from ambient found-soundscapes full of twisted field recordings to rhythms that pop off like mutated strands of R&B from a parallel dimension. They sonic contemporise could be anyone from Boards Of Canada to Timberland via the UK bass scene. You never know quite where the tracks are headed or what’s coming next, you could be drawn down a path that leads to bliss or a busy dance floor. This all comes together in one Mount Kimbie shaped package that never feels forced.

The woozy opener ‘Tunnel Vision’ bumps with a hip-hop shuffle, that brews under spaced out guitar strums, distant vocals and field recordings of what sounds like a summers day in a park. It all melts seamlessly into ‘Would Know’, which cuts through a wind tunnel of noise with big bass tones, clicks and bleeps before releasing some soulful vocal cut ups into the mix before it steps it up a gear a little with quicker loops and beats. It’s a mesmerising piece and an early highlight: the video isn’t half bad either... ‘Before I Move Off’ starts like something from Druqks before morphing into a slinky guitar led number with the off-key Druqks-esq dissonant loops creating a freaky background to a funky little lick and popping R&B drum hits, vocal snippets and anything else they can get their hands on. It sounds like they’ll make percussion out of anything from found sounds to vocal ticks. There is an almost post-punk vibe to this track when the live bass and guitars start rolling, like they’re channelling 80s synth pop, post-punk and Two Lone Swordsman all at once.

The electro-esq ‘Blind Night Errand’ sounds like the most dubstep thing Mount Kimbie have committed to wax. It rolls into action with a tweaked out driving bass line that gets more and more twisted as it rolls along and block rocking electro beats, when that breathless little vocal tick hits its sublime. Guitars spring back into action on ‘Adriatic’, a folky aesthetic run along side more propulsive hip-hop ones in a way you wouldn’t really expect. It’s a little sketch that flows into another highlight from the middle of the record ‘Carbonated’, like a laid back variant on Terror Danjah’s ‘Air Bubble’ it pops and fizzes like the name suggests. With filtered airy tones and reverberating beats that roll through an almost James Blake-like organ/keyboard melody that has a sweet laid back gospel feel to it. They pack so much melody into every element of the music they make, its like everything sings off each other perfectly. ‘Ruby’ is he most like anything from the Maybes EP here along with ‘Field’, its got a slight post-rock twinge to it. Droning atmospherics find their way through lilting beats, low-down bass tones and subtle synth flourishes before switching up into a more upbeat flow. ‘Ode To Bear’ is an almost folky inclusion, its sunny and pastoral in a Mount Kimbie kind of way, laid back and subtle with shuffling beats and bitter sweat melodies.

The one two punch of ‘Field’ and ‘Mayor’ is one that keeps me coming back to the album time and time again, the pulsing techno build of ‘Field’ just keeps coming before it all twists into a sunny guitar jam as if out of nowhere. But the album really peaks with the wonderful ‘Mayor’, it filters and bumps into action in a mutated soulful house kind of fashion, with percussive clicks and bubbles bringing some energy before the synths really take off, glowing and twisting from arpeggiated flourishes to a tough head nodding crescendo. The way the bass plays off the beat and synths is pretty sublime, its low and funky and hits you just right. Closing with the melancholic ‘Between Time’ gives the whole thing a bitter sweat end of the night kind of feel.

With Crooks & Lovers Mount Kimbie pull off something that is tough to balance, its an album that’s both easy to get on board with and keeps you tuning back in, it’s a slow burner but easy to digest. It’s an intimate album that flows from mood to mood with ease, peaking and dipping again before it makes the transition again into a higher gear… Its chilled passages compliment the more twisted dance infused elements brilliantly they melt into each other with ease. You don’t quite know what’s coming next, the tracks twist and fold into shapes before your ears.



http://www.myspace.com/mountkimbie
http://www.hotflushrecordings.com/

Download: Mount Kimbie – Field (Via. Xlr8r)

Roof Light – Kirkwood Gaps/What Makes You So Special [Highpoint Lowlife]

Double-header business from Roof Light, he’s dropping an album Kirkwood Gaps and a physical slice of wax What Makes You So Special on Highpoint Lowlife. The 12” EP is one for the DJs: Garage or bumpy house rhythms, deep sub, dubbed out flavours and bleepy computer game melodies, reminiscent of another Highpoint Lowlife artist Hot City at times and maybe Actress at others. While the album Kirkwood Gaps gets a bit tripy with a wider ranging sound that sits somewhere between the ambiance of Boards of Canada and off-centre hip-hop variants as well as the garage influence.

Kirkwood Gaps opens in an almost ambient fashion with tracks like ‘ Marrying Maidens Fair Of Willow’ setting the tone with distant crackles and shimmering guitar or ‘Kite Tails And Redwings’ and ‘Daytrips And Starlight’ which have their blissful melodies shaken to their foundations by crunchy broken beats, it sounds like it could be a section lifted from a Cold Cut mix. The glitchy ‘Drawing Near To The Printed’ rolls and lilts with a lazy groove and deep bass that’s pretty addictive, sometimes echoing something you’d hear from the Brainfeeder crew. Things get switched up a little when ‘Outline To Cross’ and ‘Hold It Back’ comes into view the latter with its smeared synths, rolling subs and bumpy drum patterns skip and bubble like a cross between Zed Bias, Todd Edwards and Kyle Hall. It melts and shifts from one mood to the other with melody and bass taking over from skittish grooves, like it’s a section taken from a DJ mix that’s been morphed into a full track. The dream like state of ‘Losing My Mind’ keeps things slow and bumpy with plenty of dubby bass playing under the shape shifting vocal coda. ‘Taro’ is in a similar vain but with added cut up diva samples. ‘Late Into The Evening’ brings the tempo back down with another slow burning blessed-out number. The way the album flows from early morning ambiance to bumpy midnight grooves before melting into the night is seamless.

The title track to What Makes You So Special mixes dub accents with punchy beats that pop off in all directions rolling in broken garage kind of fashion and bass tones that shake from the unknown. ‘Face Up (To Your Sensibilities)’ sounds like a deep underwater disco remake of Mario, slow house beats play off computer game sound effects and the odd echo of funky guitar, all sweeping through a soup of reverberating vocal goo, its pretty hypnotic. ‘Praying’ To T.E.’ comes on all bumpy and funky with fun cut up vocals skipping all over the beats and a bassline that wont give up until you’re moving. Things go a little bit underwater again with ‘Cakes, Biscuits and How's Yer Father’, its got a vibe not dissimilar to FaltyDL with its woozy blissful soundscapes that get punctuated by deep funky bass licks and skippy almost spectral garage beats.

Two solid releases from Roof Light, they do Highpoint Lowlife proud as it winds down its release schedule. If you want to go on a journey from blissful ambiance through glitchy otherworldly hip-hop to bumpy garage this is exactly what you need. Kirkwood Gaps gets under your skin and really starts to hit hard in its second half after easing you in with some hypnotic soundscapes. The 12” What Makes You So Special is a fun one too keeping it bumpy throughout.

Roof Light - sampler for forthcoming album and 12" by sideb0ard

Buy: Roof Light – Kirkwood Gaps [Highpoint Lowlife]

http://soundcloud.com/rooflight
http://highpointlowlife.com/

Mandelbrot – Effect/Delay [Highpoint Lowlife]

Highpoint Lowlife makes a slight departure with this one, unleashing some noisy guitar drenched splattergedon and forgoing the electronica for a moment with an album from Keung Mandelbrot. He’s gone for the one take fly by the seat of your pants approach utilising the ‘10 fingers, 6 strings, 18 pedals, and no overdubs’ method to record the four tracks, which veer from the sublime and dreamy to the raw and abrasive sometimes all at once.

Opening track ‘Effect/Delay’ filters in with a riff that quickly descends into noisy loops and burnt out psychedelics. Layers of sound rush in all directions, dissident but with an otherworldly beauty and purpose: Like a noisier extended guitar solo that got out of hand from the Pixies track ‘Vamos’ and accidentally came loose from its hyper-punk ties as Santiago got more and more adventurous, attaching a rocket to his guitar which then drifted off into orbit, and they’ve just let it go… to have a life of its own floating up there never to return to the lucrative business of rocking stadiums as a reformed cult band’s favourite solo.

The extraterrestrial vibes continue on ‘Hope/Delay’ – Blissful loops and twinkling soundscapes surge into a dissident wall of noise before melting out of the intensity into an altogether more sinister, melancholy plateau, which again gives way to surges of blistering sound. Post-rock progressions and noise drenched passages sit side by side in an ever-evolving cycle of sound. The otherworldly charm only broken by the uneasy atmosphere of ‘Nervous/Delay’, which really does live up to its name: nagging tonal glitches buzz and tweak into different shapes. It’s the sonic opposite to the dreamy moments on Effect/Delay and maybe too much for some but the mood quickly switches as the smouldering ‘Twilight/Delay’ creeps into action: the frazzled guitar sounds like a burnt out mess of wires. Firing on empty cylinders before burning out into bursts of noise, from exhausted struggle to final exhilarating push. It’s something to behold, a slow moving cathartic release executed in style.

Effect/Delay is an experimental noise record that still manages to sound accessible, for every abrasive face splattering section there is another of melodic bliss. It never feels self-indulgent either. Mandelbrot keeps it dynamic with ever shifting moods and subtle progressions, holding your interest the whole time playing with your emotions with a visceral sonic pallet. A mesmerising set piece showing versatility and vision but overall an engaging ride.

Buy: Mandelbrot – Effect/Delay [Highpoint Lowlife]

http://mandelbrotset.co.uk/
http://highpointlowlife.com/

Quack Quack – Slow As An Eyeball [Cuckundoo Records]

Summer is fast approaching and whether the sun shines or you want to try and tease it out from behind the clouds, as you have to do sometimes in the UK… The soundtrack could well be made by Quack Quack a three piece from Leeds that consists of members from local bands: Bilge Pump and Two Minuet Noodles and Chops. Together they make an interesting sound that fits somewhere between breezy sun drenched indie pop, tropical party music and African township funk with a pinch of jazz, all done in an instrumental fun time party post-rock kind of way. All by utilising bass, keys and drums they keep it stripped back and to the point, keeping it freewheeling but never to cluttered. They remind me of another favourite Leeds band The Dragon Rapide, who are long gone now but had a similar breezy way of doing things all be it through different means. This is Quack Quack’s debut album: Slow As An Eyeball…

After an eerier opening with the slow and spaced out beach jam ‘Perpetual Spinach’ one of the first highlights has to be ‘D Motherfucker D’, which you can grab free bellow. Looping organ riffs, sounding like reverberating tappy guitar hooks swirl in all direction and play off the funk created by the drums and bass. This joyous, yet laid-back approach continues on ‘Three’, which has a playful edge to it. They also keep the rhythms varied and jazzy, to keep the flow interesting and make you want to move, this works brilliantly on ‘Phonehenge’, oh yeah the track titles bring a smile to your face too. The skipping twilight funk jam ‘Big Sounds’, keeps things bouncing with an infectious bassline and rolling drums before sliding into nocturnal space-jazz and back again.

When the organ is really unleashed like on ‘Bird Parliament’ or ‘Toc H’ Quack Quack can come across as a cleaner, lighter sounding Sun Araw without the hazy weight of the world heaviness, they really bringing out a 70s-esq-psyche/prog element to great effect. They even branch out into a Rhubarb and Custard on a sunny day outing soundtrack on ‘Cakes Are Easy. The almost-title track ‘As Slow As An Eyeball’ really ups the pace, as quick fire drum patterns play off swirling keyboard melodies. You also get a surprise appearance from some mad sax and drums by Seb Rochford and Pete Wareham from Polar Bear/Acoustic Ladyland, they bring an extra bag of energy to the track it makes for an outstanding highlight. ‘Jack Of None’ finishes the album off in fine style too, keeping that momentum going with yet more sax and guitars bringing a heavy party atmosphere, like Acoustic Ladyland from another dimension populated mainly by psychedelic beach parties.

Slow As An Eyeball is a very enjoyable album that oozes fun. Quack Quack are a solid band that have a quirky, joyous sound that stay the right side of cheese at all times. Come and join a tropical party there is room for everyone.

Download: Quack Quack – Jack of None (via. rcrdlbl)

Quack Quack - D Motherfucker D by cuckundoo

http://www.cuckundoorecords.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thisisquackquack
http://www.thisisquackquack.co.uk/
http://twitter.com/thisisquack

Ikonika – Contact, Want, Love, Have [Hyperdub]

The Mega Drive generation has been in full effect in recent years, people who grew up with 8-bit bleep tones engrained on their brains from bashing buttons and chasing pixels have been translating those influences into their art. You can hear this ‘PlayStation boogie’ in the ever-blurring fringes of the dubstep scene, its been devouring the bleeps like a ghost chased Pacman and showing it off with pride. Not only that though it’s all being twisted through other influences and that makes it a hard album to pin down, she’s got a unique voice that touches on so much and comes out in directions that are hard to imagine. You get the upfront playfulness of modern R&B and the sweet syrupy bleep funk of Skweee or the aforementioned computer game soundtracks playing off the dark, heavy bass weight of dubstep and a diverse rhythm-scape that seems to feed on anything from skippy garage to tough and rough uk funky hybrids via a hardcore punk sensibility. Ikonika’s debut 12” with the addictive and sinuous ‘Please’ really got me hooked back in 2008 and her debut album in 2010 does the same.

Power up with ‘Ikonoklast (insert coin)’ and before you know it ‘Idiot’ is unleashed on you, this dropped on a 12” recently with a fantastic Altered Natives remix that strips back the hyperactive bleeps and bumps up the chunky house funk vibes, it’s a killer track… The original bubbles with energy and comes alive on dance floors thanks to its bouncy bassline all while it leaves it’s Gameboy hook in your head for days. The epic, sweeping synth lines of ‘Yoshimitsu’ and the slow burning, ‘Fish’ with there subtly shifting melodic patterns feel like your sinking into a sea of neon bliss, the latter especially has been one that always seems to creep into my sets. The drums skip, bubble and roll around the ebbing digital tide perfectly.

The massively heavy and spaced out ‘R.E.S.O.O.L.’, which turns out to be looser backwards is one of those tracks you didn’t see coming. Its got all the hallmarks of her sound but twists them in a way I couldn’t predict, a pixelated Godzilla attach that grinds, growls and swirls with mysterious melody. The dark 80s/90s-esq synth workout ‘They Are All Loosing The War’ feels like grime work its way back in a time machine to a techno rave in a dark warehouse. The next two may be familiar if you’ve been following Ikonika: ‘Millie’ has been a favourite of mine for a while; the twisted off-kilter woozy synth patterns bounce off the deep bass tones perfectly. And the beats go from punchy half step and rock-like to pumping energy fuelled dance floor shakers. ‘Sarah Michael’ appeared on the ‘5’ compilation last year, it’s a track that has grown on me considerably. When the bass drops it kicks a hell of a punch and those Street Fighter-esq melodies really work their way under your skin. ‘Continue?’ really does remind you of the moment in a game where you die and have to choose to reboot or give up, but with this album it’s an easy choice. Keep rolling…

The latter half of the album gets more percussive, taking pointers from uk funky’s hard soca bump. It’s an influence that’s really taking hold in the dubstep scene over the last few years probably thanks to its addictiveness in the dance, and Ikonika takes on this influence with ease. ‘Heston’ bumps hard with digi-snares, claps and kicks that make you want to shake it alongside roller-rink melodies and deep comforting bass, it’s a subtle one. The hard hitting ‘Psoriasis’ reminds me of Lil Silva the uk funky don with his square-wave synths and raw grimy dance floor power, filtered through the Ikonika prism of bleeps and short circuits. ‘Video’ Delays’ takes those chunky house drums and off-sets it with hypnotic Bladerunner synth lines. The last push comes in the form of ‘Look (final boss stage)’, which has that Lil Silva vibe again, tough grimy and fun. ‘Red Marker Pens (good ending)’ ebbs and flows with a melodic kind of bliss channelled through the swirling pads, synths and hypnotic bass tones.

Contact, Want, Love, Have is a seriously addictive album. I’ve been to busy playing it to bother writing about it, but it has to be done or I’d feel like something is missing. It’s a really fun coherent piece and the first full-length artist album to showcase the bleepy synth led direction that Hyperdub have been playing with over the last few years. Ikonika makes a world of her own here, there are some kind of boundaries set up somewhere but she moves freely between them, keeping things interesting and diverse within her distinct sound. The way the music progresses from bumps and bleeps to smeared syrup drenched passages is pretty addictive. The melodies are so catchy and the bass so hard it’s like she’s mutated things so much that some kind of new hardcore-pop-r&b-hyper-dance hybrid has been created where the lead singer has been replaced by synths and everything has been cranked up for maximum enjoyment.

http://www.myspace.com/ikonika
http://www.myspace.com/hyperdub

Scuba – Triangulation [Hotflush]

The second album from Paul Rose the man behind Hotflush, Berlin’s Sub:Stance club night at the legendry Berghain but as well as being an excellent curator he can create too. Producing deep and techy dubstep for many years, he’s been a main player in the scene releasing tracks as Scuba. There are many 12”s I adore from this producer but Triangulation steps up the game and shows scope that he’s only hinted at before on last years Aesuanic EP. From deep ambient passages through rolling techno and dubstep to spaced out minimalist d’n’b variants it takes in various tempos and vibes seamlessly.

The techno pump of ‘On Deck’ and ‘Heavy Machinery’ see Scuba coming at the sound from two different angles the first a big room shaker and the latter a more spaced out Berlin/Detroit experiment with wide screen bass and space age synth melodies. The one two punch of ‘Traces’ and the deep roller ‘You Got Me’ are the sounds of a dark dance floor that is happy to embrace dubstep sensibilities into techno. Big deep dub bass tones and hypnotic driving synth hook.

The sublime ‘Before’ and ‘So You Think You’re Special’ are the sound of melodic slow burning euphoria. Not unlike Hotflush stable-mate Joy Orbison. Lush synth pads, deeply moving female vocal samples, light ambient crackle and a restrained slow burning build make these tracks really shine. Closing tracks, ‘Glance’ and ‘Lights Out’ take blissful dub techno sounds and seep them in melody for an epic finale.

Scuba talks of being inspired by the divers sounds of dBridge and Instra:mental’s Autonomic project and you can hear the open yet cohesive nature of their vision taking hold with Triangulation. He’s happy to explore all sides from low-slung house, rolling dubstep and d’n’b but makes it firmly his own by creating a mood or style rather than an exercise in genre. Where as some artists fall down when they try and open up their sound Scuba really seems to thrive, he sounds inspired and free, which makes the different tempos, vibes and influences melt together as one singular vision.

Scuba - 'Before' from FACT Magazine on Vimeo.

Download: Scuba – Before (via Xlr8r)

http://www.myspace.com/paulhotflush

RxRy – Snwmltr / RxRy

Mysterious electronica producers are ten a penny so without further a do here comes RxRy, maybe pronounced ‘RexRay’ if I’m reading the myspace page clues correctly came to my attention the other day and the bright and mellow vibes suited the Sunday well. RxRy has a restrained, reflective electronica meets techno thing going on, you can imagine it either on Kompakt or as the soundtrack to the start of a hazy day. There isn’t anything glitchy about it, yet it’s not quite straight forward either. Loops and atmosphere, woozy soundscapes that remind me of the coming spring. Currently unsigned RxRy has released a debut eight-track s/t album and an EP entitled ‘Snwmltr’ as free downloads via the myspace (links bellow too).

Lightly bit crushed crackles, floating pads and strings along with heart pulse drums and subtle yet funky basslines are the mainstay of the RxRy sound and the two releases reflect this. Usually I like my electronica a little rawer or addled with glitches but there is something here that keeps bringing me back. The highlights include: ‘Sw Crstl Mlts’ an uplifting arpegiated almost trance like number from Snwmltr, it just cycles through its melody until some heartbeat drum kicks filter in half way through. The digital beach-scapes of ‘Hlljh Snds’ filter bird song and breeze through zeros and ones until you’re hypnotised by a droning bass tone. ‘Bld Drft’ takes bass guitar loops and keeps them fast and urgent but with that omnipresent dreamy atmosphere still in tact.

The s/t album is where things come into there own though, maybe it’s the added vowels in the titles that did it… The ultra smooth and woozy opener ‘Baulkn Slhts’ gently bubbles under with subtle loops and pads over a kick pulse. There is a melancholy yet hopeful emotional ambiance around RxRy’s music here maybe it’s the sound pallet or the gentle melodies. The electro drum hits on ‘Eaurowi’ play off the melodic pads and shifting subtly digitally distorted guitar loops, there is something a bit post-rock about it. The choppy pads on ‘Prajhil Ryhtm’ feel like a gentle morning light has just crept through your curtains, RxRy even gets a bit funky with the synth bass line here. Maybe the most upbeat track yet ‘Convrtbl Bvbes’ has a house kick and warm, bright looping pads but with a subtly hypnotic layer of guitar floating over it all. RxRy even gets a little evil on ‘Edvrd Rvrfy Guitr’ where he sounds like an outtake to a disturbing cyber chase dream sequence from a long lost SNES game. ‘Cartuulo Ashtry’, the final track eases you out into the calm…

If you’re a fan of gentle bedroom electronica of the likes of Gold Panda or The Field then you’re sure to find something in RxRy, you can get lost in these productions. The tracks seem simple as they progress, there are no wild twists or out there sounds. You just get some blissful slices of bedroom electronica to ease your day.

Edvrd Rvrfy Guitr - RxRy - RxRy 2010 from Rx Ry on Vimeo.

RxRy - "RxRy" 8 song LP

Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mdtccs2myd9

RxRy - "SNWMLTR" 4 song EP

Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mpj4mngtyjl

http://www.myspace.com/rxry

Trouble Books – Gathered Tones [MIE]

The lo-fi bedroom ambient pop maestros Trouble books are back to follow up last years ‘Endless Pool EP’ and their wonderful debut album ‘The United Colours Of Trouble Books’ with a full another full length on MIE. ‘Gathered Tones’ sees the group expand their sound a little and reach ever so slightly out of the house and into the unknown. The last two outings where so homely it was almost as if they recorded their lives while bumbling around the house and they just happened to sound like songs, found sounds and everyday lyrics brought beauty out of the mundane. This time they keep some of that edge but expand it and it’s as though they’re gazing into the stars via a telescope in the garden or attic, with melodic synths adding a cosmic edge.

If you’ve seen the homemade sci-fi epic by Christmas On Mars by The Flaming Lips you’ll know that everyday items can be transformed into other worldly spaceship fixtures or alien appendages, a child’s toy as a control panel, a vacuum cleaner as a futuristic gizmo. All they need is imagination and a little tinfoil. On ‘Gathered Tones’ Trouble Books do just that but for your ears, they build a homemade space station of sound! Then move in like it’s a second home.

The gentle warm tones of ‘Ascending Kidney’ usher in the album along with sweat vocals and spaced out sweeping synths that are balanced out with melodic strumming and field crackles. ‘Past The New Parking Deck’ bubbles like a lo-fi Postal Service with subtler drums and a cooler nonchalant air, its all space bleeps like the Jetson’s rocket car, sequenced bass tones and souring tremolo guitar tones before it transcends into a twinkling crescendo of arpeggiated synth lines. ‘From Colfax Place’ continues the theme of a second home in outer space. They combine the synths effortlessly with their found sound folk and guitars, some bands struggle and seem to strap them on clumsily bit Trouble Books ooze with restrained confidence when they unleash them.

‘Arms Full Of Lemons’ strips back the cosmic stylings with its gently plucked guitar outro that’s drenched in warm reverb with what sounds like a game of ping pong in the background. ‘Abandoned Monorail Station’ is on a similar tip too, putting orchestral swells deep in the background droning away under weary floating melodies.

Somehow ‘Tropical Islands, Germany’ almost sounds like it could be at home on Planet Mu, with its twisted synthesizer shimmers before it drops into baroque woodwind pop and a brooding breakdown that sounds like you’ve been jettisoned into space.

The wonderful ‘Sudden Loop’, takes a looping sample and floats it against acoustic guitars and melodica where it becomes a subtly psychedelic backdrop to Linda’s vocals. This looping sample technique is taken further with the ‘Dusk Accelerator’ into where woodwind gets twisted into twirling patterns before dropping into a slow atmospheric number that soon turns into introspective stargazing soundscapes. Things come to a close with ‘Houseplants’ where synths harmonise beautifully with the guitars again to create a lonely, laidback yet hopeful atmosphere.

‘Gathered Tones’ flows beautifully as a whole and adds another string to Trouble Books’ bow. The space age synths work beautifully with their ambient found sound pop songs. The album just keeps giving and opens up with each listen, the heartfelt melancholic stories get under your skin and the beautiful music subtly grows on you until you crave its shimmering homely sound and gentle homemade sonic space station melodies.

Order: http://miemusic.co.uk/GTLP.html

Download: Trouble Books - Past The New Parking Deck(Right Click Save As)

http://www.myspace.com/barkandhiss
http://www.barkandhiss.com/
http://miemusic.co.uk/

Polar Bear – Peepers [Leaf]

The Seb Rochford led outfit Polar Bear are back again, this time on Leaf with their fourth album ‘Peepers’, which see them keeping the same general band dynamic of Seb Rochford on drums, Leafcutter John on electronics, Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart duelling on sax while Tom Herbert keeps the bass rolling. But as always they look to keep their sound progressing and taking different directions. With their last album, the s/t ‘Polar Bear’ they branched out into sprawling jazz jams and the Mercury nominated ‘Held On The Tips Of Fingers’ before it was more of a dynamic beast. ‘Peepers’ sees the band at their most raw: they’ve gone for a really live sound this time. They always had an organic, live feel of a full band working as one in a single space. But now that dynamic is really brought to the fore.

The opening track ‘Happy For You’ welcomes you in with super bright and upbeat song writing, with bass lines bouncing off guitars and sax in a joyous outburst. ‘Bap Bap Bap’ follows on a similar tip, if not slightly more subdued with a Balkan skank feel to it. The abrasively disjointed ‘Drunken Pharoah’ see Leafcutter John’s crunching electronics take the stage and play off the tight harmonized sax stabs and lilting percussion to great effect, its an unpredictable number but it shines in its own freaked out way.

Things calm down a bit for the beautifully atmospheric ‘The Love Didn’t Go Anywhere’ with its gently building reverberating guitars and emotional sax lines that go from melancholy melodies to heartstring pulling fluttering and back again with ease. It’s a romantic sounding song with the classy feel of a smoky bar room and a well cut suit. ‘A New Morning Will Come’ (see video bellow) picks up the mood a little from the lonely to hopeful with teasing drones that melodies float out of and bumping beats that stay subtle yet driving all at once. The interplay between sax’s here is sublime, you get lost in the harmonies as they progress and flow out of the drones. It’s an undoubted highlight.

Title track ‘Peepers’ really gets under your skin, you’ll find yourself humming its folk-funk melodies, no idea how folk-funk is possible but Polar Bear make it so by being ultra funky with acoustic instruments and a really human organic sound. There influences come out in subtle ways, you can’t quite pin point where one idea comes from or how they manage to fit together but they combine to make a unique sound that’s a joy to listen to.

‘Bump’ and ‘Scream’ come out of the gates like a maniac before the brilliantly upbeat ‘I Hope Every Day Is A Happy New Year’, unfurls itself with firework noises and an unhinged jollity that breaks down into an off-centre broken lilt full of passion and tension before the party sounds feed there way back in through the discord.

The gentle almost bosanova shuffle beats of ‘I Want To Believe Everything’ offset some beautiful mood setting tones from the sax and double bass. The reverberation on these elements really brings it together and gives it a spaced out feel. The disconcerting vocal loops of ‘Finding Our Feat’ meet somewhere between the Middle Eastern sounds of someone like Muslim Gauze and Polar Bear’s own unique sound and when they really set in they become more meditational than disturbing. The closing track ‘All Here’ takes us down a smoother route with a romantic end of night slow dance theme to it.

‘Peepers’ sees Polar Bear in top form, they’ve come back with an album that is just as assessable as ‘Held On The Tips Of Fingers’ yet altogether a different beast. The performances gel brilliantly; when each musician takes the lead the others work perfectly with them before they all melt back into one singular theme. The live vibe rally gives ‘Peepers’ a vibrant atmosphere. It’s a dynamic and diverse album taking in many moods and sounds, which will keep you coming back for more where you’ll find new layers to explore with each listen.

Polar Bear - A New Morning Will Come from Leaf Label on Vimeo.

Seb Rochford (Polar Bear) mixtape by theleaflabel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X5j2LK1ses
http://www.myspace.com/sebastianrochford
http://www.polarbearmusic.com
http://www.theleaflabel.com/polarbear

King Midas Sound – Waiting For You… [Hyperdub]

Bitter-sweat smoky dub, love songs full of longing and a heavy sense of dread: Kevin Martin makes a return with a new project to follow up last years fantastic ‘London Zoo’ under The Bug pseudonym. Roger Robinson joins him in a more prominent roll, taking off where he left with the subtler cuts from the aforementioned album, eerie falsetto and a fragility that really balanced the aggressive energy of that project. Hitomi also features; often on backing vocals or in a more prominent roll giving Robinson a strong counter point to play off, the pair create an atmosphere full of ethereal emotion. ‘Waiting For You…’ is the first full artist album form Hyperdub since Burial’s sublime ‘Untrue’ and continues in a line of albums from the label that are full of a melancholic darkness and tension that shows a side of our modern existence so well. In fact ‘Waiting For You…’ may well be the natural successor to ‘Untrue’ in theme at least, both albums seem to deal with love and longing in some way but from entirely different angles.

The opener ‘Cool Out’, which came out last year with a couple of brilliant remixes from Flying Lotus and Dabrye. The original has lost none of its appeal though, the opening lines ‘We kill soundboys with our shaoulin styles’ are delivered with a sweat fragile air about them that gives the lyrical bravado of the whole track a eerie juxtaposition of styles that works so well. ‘Waiting For You’ and ‘Meltdown’ have a similar stripped back minimal sound that lets the love sick lyrics really breathe so lines like ‘Seems like I’m heading for a meltdown’ really stick in your mind. The latter was also on the fantastic ‘5’ compilation, a biter sweat lovers dub track that this album excels in. ‘Darlin’ works with similar effect.

‘One Ting’ first heard in dub form as part of the 12” before the album is a dense affair that comes across as a hip-hop variant on London Zoo era Bug material. ‘I Man’ also appeared on that 12” under the name ‘I Dub’, it’s my favourite on there too and the vocal works a treat. The gentle winding toy box melody that ushers in the teeth shaking bass line gets me every time. It’s probably the best vocaling of the previously released dubs too, the lines, ‘Morning brings a smile, I have a happy vibe’ make it one of the most hopeful here too. ‘Outta Space’ comes with some subtle dancehall beats and chords that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Vengalis album, but seeped in dub and a fuzzy fragile atmosphere.

We get our first glimpses of Hitomi on ‘Earth a Killya’, where she ushers in the opening mantra, a gentle, hushed delivery that’s so controlled that it’s both beautiful and sinister. Robinson delivers his lyrics in a simple spoken tone, which offsets the two deliveries really well. This trac and the wonderful ‘Lost’ most reminds me of early trip-hop and early Bristol sounds, they have the breaks and the latter even has Portishead-esq loop. The bass pulse that echoes out of the un-named instrumental before ‘Goodbye Girl’ is something else, it reaches right through you just like the feelings of heartbreak but in sonic form. It’s emotion recreated in bass a feat this album pulls off brilliantly throughout.

‘Waiting For You…’ is an album of loss, longing and heartbreak; it’s a heavy listen at times due to its dense atmosphere and emotion. But it’s also a brilliantly relaxing listen that gives puts you in a Zen like state of tranquillity to meditate on the albums messages and the lush bass heavy atmosphere. Kevin Martin, Roger Robinson and Hitomi have created an album that you’ll find yourself coming back to and discovering more in the lyrics and sound, it’s an album that grows and reveals its self slowly.

http://www.myspace.com/kingmidassound

http://kingmidassound.blogspot.com/

Gnomefoam – Fucklord Dragonfist

Now where to start with Gnomefoam, I first bumped into them via a collaborative project on the wonderfully diverse net label Rack & Ruin, a project they worked on with _ yep _, now _ is a brilliant artist that specialises in his own little world a world where _ rains supreme and field recordings and sporadic ideas rule. The Gnomefoam/_ axis of sound was called Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai, which came in the form of two EPs one noisy on R&R and one laid back on Bearsuit Records, both polls apart in sound but just as brilliant to listen to. But now we have Gnomefoam on his own with Fucklord Dragonfist a sample-shafting journey through sound.

Freaky collages of words and fx usher in the album with sample addled tracks opening out in front of you, but things really come into their own on the shimmering laid back beauty of ‘FADE’, which feels like a hip-hop variant on the twinkling ambient experiments of Aphex Twin. ‘Beasthole Tunebarge’ comes on like a freaky hybrid of the Beach Boy aping indie hipsters Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear doing an acapela in space as punishment for being mentioned in every music publication on earth to the point that you’re a bit sick of the site of the names, and it sounds brilliant too.

The underwater siren song of ‘Saved by Beluga’ is a twisted otherworldly story from the deep that really comes into its own when the orchestral swells and delayed spoken word samples come into full effect, before melting into the surf… ‘Livid’ balances the disturbing with the laid back, by throwing together bursts of noise and rolling electro drums with distorted vocal snippets and a mesmerising guitar loop, it works really well as a juxtaposition. ‘The Fucklord’ pulls off a similar feat, with its horror film screams and disturbing monologs drenched in effects, but then it kicks off in a whole new direction with rave addled breaks and even a small metal lick.

The almost Portishead-like vocals on ‘Wright/Griffths’ have a hazy dreamy quality that draws you in then some seriously twisted soul grooves appear like you’ve driven past a funky house club on a windswept rainy night. The toy town breakbeat of ‘Hostage Moth Guns’ flys out of the gates like a deranged Go Team! Before taking a more atmospheric direction in the mid section before it drops back into the car chase soundtrack breaks.

Gnomefoam has made an enjoyable collage of sound that jumps from the eerie and sublime to the fun and noisy at the drop of a hat. The messy sporadic nature of it all is endearing and makes for an interesting listen.

Download: Gnomefoam – Fucklord Dragonfist

http://www.myspace.com/gnomefoam

http://www.rackandruinrecords.com/

Peverelist – Jarvik Mindstate [Punch Drunk]

The Jarvik heart is an artificial heart, a mechanical replacement for the biological heart an idea that echoes Peverelist’s music and explains the artwork for this his debut full-length record. The music he makes has this mechanical soul a flowing tech infused blues in the vain of much electronic music from the past. The need to make machines have a human soul and connect to us has a long history from Kraftwerk through the finest Detroit techno producers and many of today’s artists. The artwork also looks a little like the insides of what you’d expect to be under the swamp tinged digital camouflage jacket of the Hyperdub compilation ‘5’ or some kind of Jungelist outfit. Jarvik Mindstate is the debut full length from a producer that’s always had my attention, Peverelist the head honcho of Bristol label Punch Drunk.

The echo-drenched fanfares of ‘Esperanto’ ushers in the album while drum patterns, masterfully programmed to create some stone cold grooves, deep shifting bass tones and techy melodic loops make epic futuristic shapes infront of your speakers. These are all traits of Peverelist’s sound every track has a subtle stripped back feel that opens up gradually and develops into something stronger than the sum of its parts. The super minimal half-stepper ‘Revival’ with another Bristol mainstay Pinch has an epic sense of space and dread, a darkness that’s barely held together by an unknown force. The fantastic ‘Bluez’ is up next, a track that I’ve been wanting to get my hands on for some time along with ‘Esperanto’, the deep soulful organ melody that ushers in the bumping space bass really grows on you. The super dry mechanical sounds get drenched in a subtle merck and hypnotise relentlessly before prolonged synth pads and chiming robotic bells and that original organ loop drops in again and your left with a beautifully bitter sweat dance floor moment.

The title track ‘Jarvick Mindstate’ isn’t dissimilar to ‘Bluez’ with its looping organ style riff, but this time its altogether more urgent and tinged with electro snares that snap around the bumping kicks before descending into spaced out breakdowns and teasing hypnotic loops. ‘Yesterday I Saw The Future’ is another new track I’d not heard before the album and it’s an undoubted highlight for its booming bass lines mesmerising subtle melodies and watery underbelly. Its echoes Bristol’s jungelist past in its kick patterns and history he’s very familiar with. The beast that is ‘Infinity is Now’ a track that was released last year on Tectonic still hits the spot just as it did then, the twinkling twirling techy arpeggios get me everytime. Pev’s music stands the test of time well I would have been happy to hear older gems like ‘Roll With The Punches’ on here too, tracks I always find myself digging out.

The jungelist vibes are even stronger on ‘Not Yet Further Than’, with all its pent up urgent energy and distinct techno dystopian future soul that could soundtrack a chase scene in hover cars in a sci-fi film set in a flooded city. The uplifting housey chords on ‘Valves’ really echo Detroit for me, as do the skipping high hats. Pev’s touchstones are always highly filtered through his unique sound and come out as twisted mechanical-soul that works its way into your mind. Another favourite ‘Clunk Click Every Trip’ makes a comeback to finish the album off in fine style. I had a surreal moment playing this track at a club night at a gig venue where Sigue Sigue Sputnik just chilled at the bar in full on glam rock gear, its not something I expected to happen and the coincidence that Sigue Sigue Sputnik and ‘Clunk Click Every Trip’ rhyme was pretty funny. Anyway the track just slays it by building and building with the retro drum machine bleeps and reverb before dropping the perfect answer to all that build up, a sweat euphoric string section that gets you reaching for the sky… only to drop that away for another sublime build only to conclude at the very end of the track, goose bump inducing stuff.

Jarvik Mindstate is a hell of an album Peverelist pulled off a full length with ease showcasing his single vision and sound so well. For some that vision is going to be to much, just as some of his peers such as Shackleton whose darkness is sometimes over whelming but for some you’ll find yourself coming back to this album time after time. 2562 and Martyn pulled off quality techno-infused album this year as well yet Peverelist’s vision still sounds so different, it just goes to show that even the techno inspired dubstep producers can’t really be lumped in together so easily, the range is vast. It’s up there as one of my full-length highlights that’s for sure.

http://www.myspace.com/thepeverelist

http://www.myspace.com/punchdrunkrecords

Depakote – It Ain’t ’94 Anymore [Highpoint Lowlife]

Highpoint Lowlife have had a hell of a year, constantly surprising me with brilliant releases covering many electronic avenues. As a little present they’ve released a free album from Low End Theory’s Depakote of all out party starting hip-hop, full of old school samples that will get you reaching for the lino and those dust off the breakin’ moves this holiday season.

Download: Depakote – It Ain’t ’94 Anymore [Highpoint Lowlife]

Read: http://highpointlowlife.com/?p=1000

DâM-Funk – Toeachizown [Stones Throw]

This is an epic collection of home made retro G-funk from long time LA musician DâM-Funk who’s been in the game for longer than we know, he may well have only just been picked up as a synth funk superstar of the underground and reached our/my radar via Mary Anne Hobbs showcases and Low End Theory hype or association with long time quality label Stones Throw and even a bit of hype from Animal Collective: but he was also one of the original session musicians for Dre-era G-funk workouts from the likes of Warren G and Nate Dogg to name but a few, which is a hell of a pedigree and one which you can hear ring through Toeachizown. This is a massive; mostly solo collection made on a big range of drum machines/drums, synths new and old and a bit of studio trickery. There is a really live freeform feel to it. There is that smooth machine funk sound that sounds so old it’s new, there is a retro futurism at work. Toeachizown is the laid back jus’ chillin’ cousin of Hudson Mohawke’s glitchy ADD funk or a loose sun drenched long lost hip-hop soul brother of Kraftwerk.

It’s the drum machine boogie that often draws me in and the opener is no exception, ‘Let’s Take Off (Far Away)’ starts with crunchy funk drums before really getting its groove on with deep synths, spiralling psychedelic melodies and treated vocoder vocals. The tracks start off sounding a little bit kitsch or overly retro at times but as soon as the grooves set in you really get swept up in it all and it becomes something way more exciting than an exercise in retro funk. The soulful twinkling melodies on ‘Mirrors’ are another highlight they bring a laid back sunshine vibe to even the coldest winter evening. The low-down blazed out funk of, ‘Brookside Park’ is such a killer track that I find myself keep coming back to time and time again, you can loose yourself in the spaced out sounds and lazy drum beats. ‘The Sky Is Ours’ comes on like a long lost 80s version of what Kanye West tried to achieve on 808s & Heartbreaks minus the auto-tune, that’s swapped for DâM-Funk’s sweet laid back subtle tones. For some reason ‘Searchin’ 4 Funk’s Future’ and ‘Fantasy’ make me think of old computer games, more specifically Out Run on the Saga Master System with it’s rolling beachscapes, palm trees and Ferrari where you just keep rolling on and on through sun blazing scene after scene. The first disc finishes on the melancholic funk of ‘Keep Looking 2 The Sky’, a hopeful synth ballad, where sweeping soundscapes meet crunchy groove beautifuly.

It’s more of the same on the second disc, ‘Toeachizown (D-f’s Theme)’ taking it in a smooth direction before the silky funk of ’10 West’ is so laid back and mesmerising that, the way the strings play off the dirty funk bass lines and electronic drums is a joy to hear. There is so much to digest in this two-disc set that sometimes parts wash over you, but on repeated listens you always find new interesting passages to get your ears around. Another gem has to be the three parter ‘A)Flying V Ride/B)Burn Straight Through U/C)Candy Dancin’ Ft. Mark De Clive-Lowe’ which seams to be spread over two or so tracks. It just flows into one big sweeping funk odyssey full of soul and boogie. The bumpin’ ‘Hood Past Intact’ is easily one of the highlights; the hard grooves and addictive melodies will make you move. ‘I Gots 2 Be Done Wit’ U’ drops in a similar vain, the skweee/8-bit funk really has space to breath on this one a similar feet is pulled of on the sublime ‘Spacecapdes’ too. The skippy drum patterns on closer ‘In Flight’ offset the lounge keys to make for a funky lilting listen to round off the collection.

There has been a trend this year for washed out lo-fi nostalgia, especially in indie circles with the whole hauntological pop or glo-fi/chill out thing (which kind of just reminds me of ministry of sound compilations played at the wrong speed with reverb and usually a boy singing something inane just out of earshot) but also in dance with italo being cool again again again… or people like Omar-S and Kyle Hall dropping some quality throwback house music, FaltyDL sounding like the ghost of NY and garage or Mordant Music being MM... Bar a few exceptions, like the ones noted above and maybe a few more its something I’ve not really been able to get on board with and its left swathes of indie blogs and websites left to rot on my rss feed until another trend kicks in. But DâM-Funk’s nostalgic funk has really got me addicted. Toeachizown might be over long for some but it just goes to show how prolific the man is, its an epic collection that you can just sink into a feel the loose laid back funk fly around you or make you want to get up and swagger.

BlueFunk District presents Dâm Funk from eckelwood on Vimeo.

http://www.myspace.com/damfunk

Moritz Von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon’s Records]

I’ve not heard anything quite like this before, who would have thought that a jazz, dub, techno album would sound so f*#in’ good? Well the Moritz Von Oswald Trio did and for that I’m thankful, as Vertical Ascent is one hell of an album. I’m vaguely aware of Von Oswald’s history as one half of Rhythm Division and Basic Channel the dub techno pioneers from Berlin but I somehow missed the boat on all that and now I’m stuck playing catch up. One thing I do know for sure is that he has worked his magic here and done something pretty special.

Vertical Ascent is an epic sprawling piece segmented into four numbered patterns and at the most basic level sounds like techno heads freely improvising dub with specially made metallic percussion and banks of synthesizers. It’s done in such a subtle, minimal and inspired fashion that it comes out greater than the sum of its parts, the music really draws you in and makes you want to listen and listen.

The patterns range from deep minimalist dub workouts with a dark brooding edge to shimmering percussive sessions with an African sort of vibe, overall things don’t get to dark not pitch black anyway it’s more like rain day darkness where the clouds break every so often and beams of light filter though the ever moving clouds.

Vertical Ascent is an undoubted highlight of my musical year.

Buy: Moritz Von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon’s]

Worriedaboutsatan – Arrivals Remixed

Arrivals is a wonderful album that fuses post-rock with a love of techno an idea that was always going to lend its self to remixes, so after grabbing the special addition and finding an extra disc full of them (see here) was a real treat, but they weren’t done there... They gave out files and challenged people to turn in their interpretations, plus the usual commissioning and put together an epic two disc Arrivals remixed package. Worriedaboutsatan get their creations twisted into many different shapes over the twenty-five tracks from post-rock ambiance through glitchy electronica, many strains of techno, drum & bass and beyond by an array of artists and even have a re-tweak themselves.

Ithaca Trio open the two disc epic with a swirling almost SAWII like Aphex Twin classical soundscape rendition of ‘You’re In My Thoughts’ it’s a super chilled effort and gets things off to a good start. Fieldhead takes things deeper but on a similar tip, it’s a subtle dark rendition of ‘Arrivals’ with sinister atmosphere and a splattering of percussive elements and bass that picks the pace up a little. It’s the techno renditions that get things really rolling though; Worriedaboutsatan’s post-rock meets minimal experiments really lend themselves to a dance floor kick. So the reappearance of Marco Zenker from the special addition disc is more than welcome, it rolls with minimal bongo grooves techno drums at a nice spaced out hypnotic dance floor pace. It’s just the start of a minimal/techno section to this compilation too as Apparatus shows with his deep and bleepy number, which sits somewhere between Villalobos and the Leeds Warehouse sounds of LFO but with added post-rock. And Josh Tweek pumps up the bass and seduces you with it as it shines through his micro edits.

The tempo is upped again when Toby Dixon, Saapsss and P45 turn in glitchy d’n’b refixes the former showing a melancholic yet hopeful vision of ‘You’re in my thoughts’, a track that pops up a lot which just goes to show how very good the original is on Arrivals. Saapsss gets a broken beat bump going under the sweeping melodies and quick edits. Then P45 makes the soundsystem’s rattle with big dub bass and a fizzing minimal dancehall like beats, it’s when the deep driving bass kicks in along with an energising loop that this remix really takes on a life of its own.

It’s Golau Glau who pull out a very unexpected re-shuffle of one of my album favourites ‘Pissing About’ the Silver Pop duo take things dark and bassy with sub a plenty and a spaced out atmosphere where they twist and tweak new grooves and edits out like its child’s play. It’s an undoubted highlight and doesn’t sound quite like anything else here let alone much else I’ve heard from them.

The disc is finished off with an eerie offering by Genoud which fuses Worriedaboutsatan’s atmosphere with subtle electro shuffles and a beautifully restrained mellow re-jig by Her Eyes Like Static that just builds into a fuzzy M83-like number that came with the special addition remix disc.

Disc two just keeps the good things rolling out: Dr. Birch’s remixe take a more laid back approach and give off a really zoned out blissful atmosphere that’s more than welcome as does the wonderfully deep layers and techno pulse of Khixxbrrr’s edit that sound like somewhere between the autumnal sounds of GAS and a space station docking procedure. Template, go both electro and glitchy and really organic all at once, utilising voice and brining out the instruments more from the electronic haze. Galissando build a sweeping variant on ‘One Down’ using that pulsing bass line to great effect, they have a really good sense of atmosphere too.

Casstro turns in a slamming d’n’b meets melodic post-rock effort, that works loads better than I could have expected and is the most beat driven of the second discs first half. Enkidu get all uplifting with a melancholic twist giving ‘One Down’ a shake up, that makes the melodies sing and just comes across beautifully. The glitchy atmosphere of Weikie’s Jar remix is a super minimal at times, deranged and spooky at others take on ‘Evil Dogs’ like a stripped back Squarpusher interlude that breaks out into a ghostly breakdown and bass addled finale.

Her Name Is Calla crank up the tension fuelled horror soundscapes on their remix and give a wide screen beauty to the back half of the album. Worriedaboutsatan finish off the package with two remixes of their own, one gagged and one cracked: the first being an ambient relaxing affair with hushed conversations in the background that make you feel like your eves dropping in a Gus Van Sant film about death. The dubbed out electronics act as a bed for the ringing guitar tones and it lulls you into a hypnotic state with ease. The ambiance is soon broken when they breakout into cracked mode on the final track with electronic pulses and percussion underlying those melancholic tones of ‘I Am A Crooked Man’ and builds into techy soundscapes.

Arrivals Remixed is one heck of a package; with some really diverse takes on Worriedaboutsatan’s music, there is so much to explore and get lost in. It’s a remix album that steers well away from the usual remix album pit falls of faddy electro throwaways and the like. Instead you get loads of artists taking the wonderful sound pallet of Worriedaboutsatan and twisting it into new and interesting shapes.

Buy: http://worriedaboutsatan.bigcartel.com/product/arrivals-remixed-2cd-album

Listen Via Sportify

Words: Worriedaboutsatan on Sonic Minefield

http://worriedaboutsatan.blogspot.com/2009/10/credits.html

http://worriedaboutsatan.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/worriedaboutsatan

http://arrivals.tumblr.com/

Dot Rotten – Something Out Of Nothing [Rotten Riddims]

Dot Rotten is back with the underground album Something Out Of Nothing the follow up to one of my favourite grime CD’s of recent times R.I.P. Young Dot and the free promo This is the Beginning that got him some well-deserved attention a while back, so SOON has quite a bit to live up too. Dot is on a fierce independent tip producing most of this himself and self-releasing, he’s got the fire to pull it off too.

After the opener with some dodgy teacher skit things quickly pick up with a solid first track before you get ‘Two Step Non Stop’ which sounds like the official lift off of SOON with a dirty broken beat, horn stabs and a skippy grime meets hip-hop funk feel welcoming you in and setting out the stall, ‘I’m Not Stopping’ has a similar thing going on. And before you know it you’re in deep and he’s playing to his strengths, Dot’s got skills when it comes to adding darkness and emotion to tracks; he comes out sounding like a UK version of hard underground southern hip-hop at times with grimy edge. On ‘Get Money’ and ‘Best Of Me’ he pulls off the emotional struggle bars brilliantly where as ‘The Roads Are Cold’ and to a lesser extent ‘The Days’ gets a little let down by the grating auto-tune hook that he’s no doubt got skills with but sometimes misses slightly, the beats and lyrics are dark and on point though. Not many people have pulled off the bars about struggling and reaching for more so well and with such emotion maybe since Boy In Da Corner Dot has got a knack for it and its refreshing to hear honesty along with hype in grime, which brings me to ‘There’s More To Life’ where Dot rips up Dizzee’s classic beat from ‘Brand New Day’ and more than holds his own.

It’s not all emo-grime though he can go hype when he needs to as his ‘Talking The Hardest’ remix and bars show, he plays Giggs at his own game and even ups the stakes by brining energy and aggression. He brings some greeze to some low down dirty synth funk on ‘I’m Going Hard’ with Faith SFX on the buttons turning in a beat that stands tall with Dot’s productions. He pulls it off again on the ‘Rowdy Riddim’ freestyle with a splattering of old bars I swear I heard on SB.TV/Westwood and all that; the remix bars still sound good. ‘Don’t Diss The Program’ is another highlight, maybe even my favourite on SOON. Dot’s production is deep, dark and skips along with energy while him and clipper go at it with bar after bar. The chorus is too much: ‘I’ll crack your head like a coke can’. ‘They Don’t Know About Me’ and the preview of ‘Violence In The Music’ show Dot has really been working at song craft, his stuff is sounding less like he’s just got a sick beat and rhyming on it and more like fully formed songs than ever before.

Dot shows his ambition on ‘Ride For Me’ on a quality Terror Danjah beat he drops a track with a bright and trancy Pop/R&B hook and lyrics about girls. Danjah pretty much has the perfect beats for keeping it grimy while having that musical ear for the mainstream, it reminds me of JME’s ‘Over Me’ produced by Deco and that’s the way I’d like to see grime go mainstream without to much compromise, bright and gully. Dot’s reaching for the money and he’s got the talent for it, but there are still a few more underground albums in him yet before that avenue is explored.

Something Out Of Nothing is a diverse affair with dark, gully, emotional, hype and a little bit of cheese all thrown together and it holds up well. Dot’s productions are on point as are his flow and lyrics. It’s a grower though it’s not all instant hype and cheap tricks, he takes it deep and it shows. You really have to stick with him a bit before it opens up. It sounds like he’s been working hard on song craft, every track bar the freestyles are a full on song where everything feels tied up and like one solid piece rather than just balling on beats full tilt with 8 bar rallies. He can do both and do it well mind but its refreshing to hear fully formed tracks on a grime mixtape. I might still prefer R.I.P. Young Dot right now but it’s still early days and you can see Dot is improving his craft and putting the work in, SOON is still dark and rough but it’s slicker than the last. He’s not done yet either with the Extra Attention CD due to drop pretty soon, it looks like a good year for Rotten. Dot is the full package he can write songs, spit bars and produce beats, if/when he breaks out and makes moves for the mainstream, which he’s threatening to do he’s easily the best placed to do his thing and keep his personality by making music and not just a quick buck. But who knows if that will happen the grime kids are seeing green and reaching for it, but for now enjoy the sounds because Dot nailed it.

Dot Rotten Interview & bars on SB.TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugM2IcBt6wg

Dot Rotten - Two Step Non Stop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV1kls5Lktk

Download: Dot Rotten Presents – 50 Free Instrumentals

Download: Young Dot – This Is The Beginning

http://www.myspace.com/Itsdotrotten