Posted in Music, Reviews on 07/27/2010 06:58 pm by snf
I was mesmerized when first hearing “Smooth Skin” from Quest (Twitter, Facebook) and now that I have the record it’s no less magical. I don’t write about a lot of Deep Medi because they get a lot of coverage as is, but this release is special even by Medi standards. As far as I’m concerned the b-side could be Miley Cyrus covering Rusko’s Jahova in acapella and it’d still be worth buying. Quest slows the tempo down to 94 bpm on this one producing something completely fresh, a combination of Kool and the Gang’s “Summertime” era high pitched synths, 808 cowbells, excellent syncopation on a woodblock and some soulful basslines. I literally can’t get enough. Bass music. Out to Quest, this one is a serious contender for song of 2010 in my book. The b-side “Wind Tunnel” is a pretty standard dubstep track done in a Quest style, it’s good but really can’t hold a candle to the a-side in my book. It does however maintain the extremely high standard of percussion that Quest lives up to in all his releases.
Posted in Music, Reviews on 07/19/2010 01:47 pm by snf
Out today on Project Squared is the “Pinpoint EP” coming from L-ow (Myspace, Soundcloud) who hails from Tallinn, Estonia. Two originals on this with a great remix from Furesshu, a Project Squared standard. Straight to the music.
First up “Pinpoint” is my favorite of the three with a rolling bassline and an excellent use of claps on the 2’s and 4’s to create a 4×4 feel without the sometimes oppressive quarter-note kick. The build towards the second half is equally good where a fuzzed out bass comes in to complete the soundscape. The second original from L-ow is “Diver”, based around some Berlin sounding chords that build and release in the first drop atop some L-ow sub-bass (pardon the pun). Sparse percussion and almost IDM-like clicks keep the song going. The last entry is a Furesshu edit of “Diver” which takes it further towards proper dub techno, maintaining the chords from the original and adding a new bassline. On the whole it’s another excellent release from the Project Squared crew, especially the title track.
L-ow – Pinpoint
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L-ow – Diver
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L-ow – Diver (Furesshu’s Die Welle edit)
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Posted in Music, Reviews on 07/19/2010 11:26 am by snf
The latest from the enigmatic label Hyperdub comes from the production duo Ill Blu (Myspace, Twitter) on a UK funky tip. kode9 selects from a huge swath when signing songs to HDB with this release, Kyle Hall and Cooly G versus his own work with the Space Ape, Ikonika’s album and a forthcoming single from Terror Danjah. There are similarities in the signings; they’re bass heavy, dance inducing, and generally excellent.
This single starts with “Bellion”, a pretty standard UK funky sound complete with marimba and the archetypical snare pattern. The a-side is quality but really doesn’t hold a candle to the b-side in my book, the innovative and percussive “Dragon Pop”. The bassline lays a foundation for what could be a congo, tambourine & snare drum line straight out of a marching band. The song is entirely driven by percussion which is probably why I love it so much, one of my favorites of 2010 so far. “Dragon Pop” is also the basis for an amazing remix of Mavado on a Suncycle production by Ill Blu, that one out now on Suncycle Digital.
Ill Blu – Bellion
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Ill Blu – Dragon Pop
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Posted in Music, Reviews on 07/17/2010 05:18 pm by snf
Mount Kimbie (Myspace) out of the London area are releasing their debut album on Hotflush next Monday. To get you a bit excited for the release they’ve put out a track off it for free download called “Field”. It’s a rather minimal track with eerie vocals, bleeps and echoey guitars that reminds me of an electronified version of The Album Leaf or some of Four Tet’s more electronic work.
The album as a whole showcases the duo’s diverse production ability with everything from the 1:26 “Adriatic”, a droney clip of chopped vocals, acoustic guitar and claps to the wobbly, 2steppy “Blind Night Errand” and the e-harpsichord sound of “Mayor”. On the whole this album isn’t the most dancefloor friendly of the Hotflush catalog, but it is beautiful music and definitely worth checking out.
Check out the free tune Field:
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Posted in Mixes, Music on 07/16/2010 06:02 pm by snf
Dubbel Dutch (Soundcloud, Twitter) hailing from Austin comes with more goods for today with an exclusive mix for URB magazine and a free tune featured on FACT. The mix showcases a blend of funky/house/bass styles chock full of dubplates from Dubbel Dutch himself, Bok Bok, Ghosts on Tape and more. Keep a lookout for this man, he’s been representing the Lone Star state to the fullest.
Paired with this URB mix he’s got a free tune out thanks to FACT magazine which is a remix of Parson’s “I Rep the Dirty South” done up in a funky/bass style that I’ve glibly called Funky South. Look out for more along these lines from Sines who’s been putting out some great dirty south juke/bass tunes lately. You can grab the tune over at FACT for a week only!
D51 – OD (Dubbel Dutch Remix) – Ghetto Division
Illmana ft. Stush – Ready Fe Di War – CD-R
Benjamin Damage – Pump – CD-R
Dubbel Dutch – Throwback (Munchi Remix) – CD-R
Sekta – Liquid Tek – Shifting Peaks
Imperial Tiger Orchestra – Djemeregne (Canblaster Tribal Mix) – CD-R
French Fries – Senta (Bambounou Remix) – Youngunz
Mu-Gen – Fizzdom (Sam Tiba Remix) – Scattermusic?
Roska – Boxed In (Bok Bok Remix) – CD-R
L-Vis 1990 – Forever You – Night Slugs
Doc Daneeka – Hold On – Ramp
American Men – Claude Speed (Ikonika and Optimum Remix) – LuckyMe
Dubbel Dutch – Fool in You VIP – CD-R
Mad Cobra – Big It Up (Night Hunter Riddim) – CD-R
Cardopusher – Coppertoned Punch (Ghosts on Tape Remix) – CD-R
Jackal Youth – Let Me Be – Reduction
LadyBox – Got it Right Here (Dubbel Dutch Remix) – Palms Out
Samo Sound Boy – The Bandit – Run Riot
J-WOW – The Rattle – Mad Decent
Munchi – You VIP – CD-R
Jamie Grind – Footwork – CD-R
Carl Thomas – I Wish (Chrissy Murderbot Remix) – Sleazetone
Posted in Music, Reviews on 07/16/2010 05:41 pm by snf
Palms Out Sound presents their sixteenth release coming from Dubbel Dutch (Austin TX, Myspace, Soundcloud) titled the Throwback EP. Futuristic house music as demonstrated by the surreal cover art with three tracks that are all A-sides. I thought I published this but just found it in my drafts so better late than never, gonna be a double Dubbel Dutch day..
The title track “Throwback” is some finely crafted US funky with cut up vocals riding over trademark funky snares. Look out for the cowbells. Upon first hearing the second cut “Deep Underground” I was instantly mesmerized and probably rewound it about ten times in the mix I was listening to. I’ve long thought that breakdowns are a way to measure the production level of a track and the build in Deep Underground is one of the best I’ve heard in 2010. Personal favorite on the release easily. Last up is “Fool In You,” an 8-bit mutant house tune that sounds like a remix of a long lost NES soundtrack. All three have infectious grooves that I’ve witnessed send dances into a frenzy multiple times – get this in your life, and then on your dancefloor.
Multiverse Music, a promotion and music publishing company based out of Bristol, are releasing a CD celebrating the last five years of their existence called “Dark Matter.” The tracklist of this is impressive in and of itself, but what really caught my eye is a contest that Multiverse are running along side the release of this compilation. Click the image to the right to enter your email into this contest, with possible prizes:
1ST PRIZE
COPY OF THE DOUBLE CD – Dark Matter: Multiverse 2004 – 2009
SELECTED 2010 RELEASES FROM THE MULTIVERSE LABEL FAMILY (cd & vinyl)
TEC037 Jack Sparrow – Terminal / Tormented
TEC038 Pursuit Grooves – Fox Trot Mannerisms
TEC039 Jakes / Darqwan – Times End / Jahwan
TECCD008 Pursuit Grooves – Foxtrot Mannerisms
KAP005 Joker – Tron
EAR013 Ginz & Kool Money Kwame – Wet Wipe Riddim
EAR014 Gemmy – Maroon Chant
CVAN011 October – Muscle Memory EP
CVAN012 Antoni Maiovvi – The Thorns Of Love
CVANCD003 Antoni Maiovvi – The Thorns Of Love
CVAN013 Annonymous – Oops
BUILD002 Baobinga – Ride It
BUILD003 Ginz & Baobinga & Cosmin TRG – The Good Stank / I Get Ruff
COPY OF LOOPMASTERS “MULTIVERSE :: DARK MATTER – EXPERIMENTS IN DUBSTEP” SAMPLE PACK
LTD EDITION TECTONIC LOGO T-SHIRT
2 X RUNNER UP PRIZES
COPY OF THE DOUBLE CD – Dark Matter: Multiverse 2004 – 2009
COPY OF LOOPMASTERS “MULTIVERSE :: DARK MATTER – EXPERIMENTS IN DUBSTEP” SAMPLE PACK
Seems like an easy choice to enter to me (I already have!)
For audio samples or to pick up the comp check the player below:
EshOne (sddubstep, Soundcloud) coming out of San Diego has been producing tunes that go deep on the bass end of things for a while now and has recently decided to give away this 5 track EP chock full of heat. Personal favorites on this are “Anti Oil Spill Dub” and “Die Cast”, though really all 5 are good. These five in a classic dubstep style: bass heavy with tasteful wobbles and great percussion.
Be warned: the bass in these tracks is barely audible on most headphones and surely not on your laptop or imac speakers, this music is meant for an array of bassbins. That said, if you have a sub this will give it a better workout than the last time you tried an hour of Tae Bo.
Posted in Music, Reviews on 06/24/2010 12:56 pm by shortstack
It has been a busy month for the HotFlush camp, with the recent release of Review: Sepalcure – Love Pressure EP (HF025), a new release on the ABUCS sub-label featuring a Ramadanman refix of Scuba’s Tense, as well as a new release on the HotFlush Two imprint from George FitzGerald. As much as I love the deeper, half-step sounds of modern bass-music, I am grateful for the refreshing summer swing of dance oriented releases such as this.
This release finds a great home on HotFlush Two, after some recent releases from the genre-bending Sigha, the imprint returns to a sound more exemplifying the aesthetics of Joy Orbison with this release. The A-Side of the release “The Let Down” fortunately does not live up to its name, with an intro of soulful synth stabs and layered vocals before the tune drops into a soulful and uplifting groove.
“Weakness,” the flip-side of the release builds intro with a slow filter release that builds tension before smoothly flowing into a deep groove accented by rhythmic percussion sounds with a smooth rolling bass behind it. Again, not an aptly named tune as the pressure from the sub-tones in this track make it anything but weak. The strong build continues through the second drop where the tune really comes alive with myriad vocal bends on top of staccato grooves of synth.
Summertime is here, and the latest string of releases from the Hot Flush camp have made sure that the dancefloor stays as hot as the weather has been with this release from up-and-coming producer George FitzGerald. These tracks are slated for release next week on June 28th. Anybody looking for more uplifting vibes on the floor should make it a point to bag these as soon as they are available.
Posted in Music, Reviews on 06/14/2010 02:38 pm by snf
I first heard music coming from Sepalcure back in February on Praveen’s excellent Lovestep Vol 2 mix and have been anxiously awaiting this EP ever since. A huge addition to the Hotflush catalog, the Love Pressure EP has four tracks spanning BPMs with a common style of melodic lovestep/future garage/post-dubstep or other genre bending terms. Prime “bass music”. Sepalcure are Praveen of Percussion Lab and Machine Drum both out of NYC who just by all accounts played an amazing set at Dub War just last month. Look out for this duo in the second half of 2010.
The title track “Love Pressure” is driven by a subtle 4×4 beat and well edited vocals that join up with some of the best pads I’ve heard in a while to form what is in my opinion a masterpiece of bass music. Seriously danceable music that forces a smile onto my face every time I hear it. In a similar vein the second track “Down” uses more syncopated kicks alongside a great woodblock to take you deep in the underground. Sounding something like the love child of James Blake and Joy Orbison, this one is masterful also. Just these first two alone put this EP among the best releases yet in 2010, but there’s two more to go.
The last two tracks on the b-side slow us down to the 125bpm area led up by “Every Day of My Life”. This isn’t your normal 125bpm EDM though with a shuffly beat carrying pitched down vocals that remind me of both Pangaea’s “Router” and the singing of Michael McDonald simultaneously. Last up is the extremely emotive “The Warning” complete with harps, piano and beautiful atmosphere again over a shuffly, sparse beat. This one makes me think of sitting by a cove on the pacific coast just watching the waves roll in with birds, wildflowers, and some little fluffy clouds blowing by overhead.
I was mesmerized when first hearing “Smooth Skin” from Quest (Twitter, Facebook) and now that I have the record it’s no less magical. I don’t write about a lot of Deep Medi because they get a lot of coverage as is, but this release is special even by Medi standards. As far as I’m concerned the b-side could be Miley Cyrus covering Rusko’s Jahova in acapella and it’d still be worth buying. Quest slows the tempo down to 94 bpm on this one producing something completely fresh, a combination of Kool and the Gang’s “Summertime” era high pitched synths, 808 cowbells, excellent syncopation on a woodblock and some soulful basslines. I literally can’t get enough. Bass music. Out to Quest, this one is a serious contender for song of 2010 in my book. The b-side “Wind Tunnel” is a pretty standard dubstep track done in a Quest style, it’s good but really can’t hold a candle to the a-side in my book. It does however maintain the extremely high standard of percussion that Quest lives up to in all his releases.
