Since our first encounter with Doc Daneeka back at the tail end of last year thanks to his inclusion of the Elevator Music Vol. 1 compilation with the positively tribal 'Drums In The Deep,' the Leeds based producer has gone from strength to strength to strength, with global publications like XLR8R and FACT becoming more than a little smitten with his production and remix work.
Following his recent Kelis 'Milkshake' bootleg, audio of which is available on our Hivemind.fm show (archived here), we've been bestowed with something of a coo, thanks largely to Manchester's Illum Sphere - a man also experiencing somewhat of a boost in profile thanks to his recent 12" on Martyn's 3024 label. Basically, Illum commissioned a slew of remixes of his most recent Fat City release, Long Live The Plan, and he's kindly decided to give us dibs on the freebie Doc Daneeka re-rub of 'Psycho.'
The lovable rogues at theQuietus sent me to Spain on a mission to enjoy Barcelona's optimum 'International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art,' Sonar 2010 last week. Here's what came out of my withdrawl laden, fuzzed out brain and bandaged fingers earlier this week...
"The whole vibe of the city during Sonar is infectious; reams of bars, tapas spots and pavement corners are coated in music lovers, the glorious weather soaks everything in a sheen that simply feels 100% significant and isolated to this 4 or 5 day period; and bar the lime green lanyards sported by the festival goers milling around Barcelona’s awkward, thin streets it’s not obvious that everyone is there for simply for the music. In fact a lot might not be there for the festival, but for a bunch of the numerous off Sonar parties that pepper nightclubs, hotel roofs and secluded beaches around the same time as the festival – a glorious subculture that often holds more than the festival can accommodate."
Over the last couple of years Hotflush’s little sister imprint Hotflush Two has been responsible for some of that community’s deeper and more experimental cuts. Sigha’s first two EPs operated with a defiantly minimalist agenda, and Pangaea’s jazzy ‘Mosaix’ is among the most opaque things he’s yet committed to tape, all tightly syncopated upright bass and mournful Berlin shimmer. But then again, it’s also home to Joy Orbison's 'Hyph Mngo’, so it’s hardly as if it’s totally neglected populism in favour of stranger treats. George Fitzgerald’s debut EP finds itself somewhere between those two poles; the humid synths of ‘The Let Down’ easily match that track’s dancefloor heft, but flipside ‘Weakness’ proves to be something else entirely.
It’s probably worth getting it out of the way early: Joy Orbison comparisons are going to flow thick and fast from many quarters keen to write Fitzgerald off as some kind of copyist. And the similarity is undoubtedly there - you’d have to have lived under a rock for the last eighteen months or so to miss it – but anything deeper than a cursory listen should suffice to highlight their differences in approach. It’s largely down to structure; both tracks on this EP show a more obvious garage influence, and Fitzgerald certainly knows his way around a bassline. Both these two tracks and others doing the rounds currently like ‘Don’t You’, are driven by huge, sinewy pulses of sub that solemnly refuse to engage with any other element of the music. Instead they brood darkly in the background like unshakeable monoliths, while at the top end diffuse strands of melody curl around two-step percussion.
Fantastic though the title track certainly is, B-side ‘Weakness’ is where the real heat’s at. Here Fitzgerald shows off in understated monochrome, crafting a roller that manages to strike a delicate balance between euphoria and crippling sadness. It shifts back and forth like mercury that’s escaped from a shattered thermometer, with a central melody so thin and evasive that each time you attempt to get a grasp it slips away like secondhand smoke. It’s certainly the equal of anything Orbison’s yet put out, and I’d argue that its subtler approach makes The Let Down an even more accomplished debut EP than 'Hyph Mngo' was last year.
Blawan came out the blocks hard with his first release on Hessle Audio, stripped back, tough and uber percussive - just the way we like it. Hard tribal beats got chopped and flipped into rolling grime-like approximations of garage and dubstep via a rolling techno sensibility that hits in the perfect place between dance floor headiness and propulsive head nodding energy that verges on the meditative if you weren’t so busy catching yourself on those rhythms. His second release, featured on the A-Side, comes on Folk Wood with Ste Shine, whose deeper vision balances out the 12” nicely.
The lazer guided synths blips on Blawan’s ‘Jackel Ter9’s’ ride the rolling grooves like a twisted sibling of grime’s past with smeared synth textures taking over adding a twisted energy that really bursts out the speakers. Shades of Kode9’s ‘Black Sun’ can be heard in the down tuned synth squiggles, but its taken into a different placem plus the rhythmic patterns echo the tough tribalism of his first release, a hybrid sound that does that more dubstep inherent thing of balancing space and time to create dance floor tension that oozes pent up energy.
Ste Shine drops an altogether deeper and more spaced out track in ‘Mid-life Crisis,’ one that harnesses melodic synth patterns and the original dubstep vibe that gets twisted into a tense almost sinogrime shape that gets crossed with an early Warp era energy; drum hits get tweaked and dubbed into orbit, bass pulses hit the chest and the synths get seriously hypnotic with their melodies.
You know you've heard/read us singing David Kennedy's praises since day dot of this tedious publication. His 'Wad' 12" under his Pearson Sound alias remains one of the most insightful things thats happened to Sonic Router HQ's Tannoys and his forthcoming smasher, 'Work Them' 12" as his more commonplace Ramadanman moniker is set to drop on Loefah's Swamp 81 label in two weeks time.
Well... dude is playing Bestival this year, so he's done a mix. Trust us, every one that he's ever done has been worth the space in your Temp Files folder and plus it means we got to post this picture where he looks about 12...
Sepalcure’s Love Pressure EP serves as yet another reminder of how easy it’s been to love Scuba’s label over the last couple of years; as much as he’s managed to unearth some wonderfully obscure talents, it proves even more impressive that each seems to slot perfectly into the label’s wider aesthetic. I don’t think I’ve heard a Hotflush release recently that sounded like anything other than a Hotflush release; the fractured techno of Sigha’s recent Shake EP is as attuned to the whole as Mount Kimbie’s Crooks & Lovers album or Ramadanman and dBridge’s recent Autonomic-styled forays. Sepalcure are another weapon in their already sizeable arsenal.
The Brooklyn-borne Love Pressure EP is apparently the result of a ‘cathartic two week collaboration’ between Praveen and Machinedrum, and its swift gestation shows. All four tracks could almost have been recorded live, were it not for the delicate sample work throughout. Sepalcure’s music is coated in a thin haze of vinyl crackle, lending it a spontaneous, bedroom session feel far removed from the glossy sheen favoured by more dancefloor oriented producers. Which isn’t to say these tracks aren’t danceable – second track and EP highlight ‘Down’ is fiendishly so – but more that they reveal far more with careful inspection.
There’s a nervy, wide-awake feel to everything on here that seems to work in total opposition to the music’s ethereal fuzz. It’s akin to a sensation of chemically induced wakefulness at a time when you really ought to be asleep; elements emerge in turn before sinking again into the background as the attention moves elsewhere. Those focal points tend to be the vocal snippets that punctuate each track, which brim with crisp vitality and set up a delicious tension against their lo-fi backing. That conflict ramps up the energy quotient considerably, especially on the EP’s second side with the slower ‘Every Day Of My Life’ and the shimmering synthplay of ‘The Warning’. Once it ends, it’s almost impossible not to flip the record and start again.
Time messes you up sometimes... You look forward to something for so long, it comes and goes and then you realise you haven't done anything productive in the run up thanks to the anticipation and expectation; still, its a great thing to be able to come back and go big the very first day...
Evan Gach, a little more commonly known as Cloak and Dagger, had us enraptured with his very first release at a dubstep tempo; his 12" for Immerse, 'Crimewaves' b/w 'In The Cut,' making the grade for our radio show straight away, fusing gloriously with the minimal work of people like Joe, Blawan and James Blake. We caught up with him to reignite the SR mix series and get the low down on his music and life choices...
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Cloak & Dagger: I’m 27 years old, from San Diego, California, and have been located in Japan for the past four years or so. After DJing for a few years, I first started experimenting with production in 2003 making mostly drum & bass, and I’ve had a few drum & bass releases out over the past couple of years on labels like Intasound, Offshore, and Subtle Audio. I’ve been focusing increasingly on slower tempos over the years, and for the past while have been really enjoying working with the possibilities of 130-145 bpm range.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily? Where are you based etc?
I recently finished a master’s degree in Environmental Policy focusing on global climate change policy - that’s been taking up the majority of my time over the past few years. I just relocated to Tokyo for work, so it’s looking like I’ll still be quite busy with that. Most of the little free time I have is dedicated to music, but when I’m not doing that I enjoy messing around with photography or hiking when I have the chance.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?
I bought a guitar when I was 13 with money I saved up and played in a few punk/hardcore bands with friends since then. Around the same age, I was introduced to jungle, and for the first time I felt like I heard a style of music where you could seemingly do anything. I was always into a wide variety of music, mostly from having two older brothers, and hearing a genre where you could incorporate any of those was eye-opening for me. By 15 I was buying records with every spare bit of cash I had. I’d always been interested in electronic production, mostly because I had no idea what the producers were actually doing to make their music- it was all a big mystery to me. DJing was fun (and still is), but I always wanted more than anything to actually make music where I felt like the only limit was my own creativity. When I was 20, some friends showed me the basics of Reason one night, and I just got hooked; the experience of seeing a crowd of people enjoy music that I enjoyed making is still the best feeling in the world to me.
Why the decision to switch styles, slowing it up from a d&b tempo to a dubstep speed?
It was never really a conscious decision. Production-wise, d&b was my first love, but I always enjoyed the UK garage I heard. In America we were never really exposed en masse to the commercial side of the genre, it wasn’t really getting played in San Diego, so it was easy to weed that stuff out and just enjoy the sounds that were closer to d&b in their aesthetic; people like Wookie, Zed Bias, El-B, Horsepower Productions etc. As this stuff developed into dubstep, I heard in the music what I loved most about jungle - a mash of influences, a drive to experiment and develop a unique sound, and the idea that you could have a general aesthetic (tempo, bass, etc.) and just push it until it was almost something else, yet still accepted within that genre.
Even when making drum & bass, I had always still experimented with slower tempos, and I was finding it a little hard to make music at 170bpm that didn’t sound like d&b; a lot of the stuff I was making was deliberately trying to push (or at least blur) the boundaries of the genre’s conventions, which is what I loved about the genre in the first place. It wasn’t an act of defiance or leftfield elitism or anything like that; it was just how I thought it was supposed to be done. At the same time, the scene seemed to be splintering more and more into predefined subgenres, each with their own set of rules, and I was finding that I could go to a drum & bass night and not really identify with the majority of what I was hearing. I think this is pretty natural for a music genre that had seen as much growth and different “eras” as dnb had and new producers and DJs come into the scene after being influenced by a particular sound or era.
However, as a producer, hearing a lack of “grey areas” between subgenres and a lack of outside influences as a fundamental part of the genre was frustrating, but I found that at slower tempos, the opportunities for mixing genres, influences, and experimentation were overwhelming. Overall, I find this more interesting and more challenging, and so this has led me to lean naturally towards the 130-145 range.
Cloak & Dagger - Crimewaves [Immerse]
What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?
I’ve always been a huge proponent of the idea that it’s not the gear that you have but rather what you do with it. All of my favorite electronic music - jungle, electro, techno, hip hop, whatever – was made on so much less than what’s available to bedroom producers nowadays, so I never really fully understood when I would talk to other producers and they would tell me I couldn’t make good music using certain software or without a particular piece of gear. My setup itself is pretty minimal; apart from a few cheap toys, a couple of low-budget midi controllers, a mic, and a pair of monitors, everything is done on my PC. I use a lot of free plugins and have more fun getting interesting sounds out of those than a lot of the professional, powerhouse plugins that are available. Up until recently, I was using Reason as my main software, so even the ability to use and experiment with different plugins is pretty exciting for me!
Where do you take inspiration from when making music?
More than anything, inspiration comes from my environment and surroundings. I’d been living in Nagoya (Japan) for the past four years, which has a very industrial vibe, similar in some ways to Detroit in atmosphere, as well as a lack of sunny days throughout the year, so my music would often reflect that in its sound. If we had nice weather for a week, my next tune would generally be more upbeat and dancefloor-friendly. I didn’t realise quite how influential my surroundings were to me until I played in San Diego last year and realised how out-of-place some tunes felt compared to Nagoya and vice versa. Other than that, I listen to very little dubstep and don’t follow the scene that closely, so musically a lot of my inspiration comes from various other genres I listen to and trying to incorporate other philosophies, ideas, and attitudes from my influences into my own music.
Your moniker suggests hidden talents or an underlying intention. What was your thinking behind it?
I think it encompassed the attitude I had when making music; it’s always been the subtle things and little nuances in songs that I’ve loved the most, even in really simple music. Also, I’m a small guy, so the characters in books, movies, video games, etc. that have always left the biggest impressions on me were the ones that weren’t physically strong or socially/politically powerful, but rather came out ahead through wit, deception, and skill – spies, ninja, detectives, all that cool stuff. I’ve just always dug the idea that there’s a whole world behind the scenes that we can’t see.
Cloak & Dagger - In The Cut [Immerse]
How would you describe your sound?
This is a hard one for me to answer. Knowing that what I’m about to say is extremely cliché, I’ve come to realize over the years that, first and foremost, I make music for myself rather than for others, and at this point it’s more of a therapy than anything else. I never feel comfortable sticking to a particular sound, and on the contrary my motivation comes from pushing myself to make something I didn’t think I could or experimenting as a learning experience. Even so, I’m sure there are similarities in my approach that can be pointed out - as I said before; I love the idea of making music that doesn’t sit completely comfortably within a particular style but at the very least flirts with the grey areas between them. Percussion and rhythm is the driving force behind my music, and overall I think space and groove are the most important elements to a track…
Your first release for Immerse comes out shortly. Whats the deal, what can we expect from the release?
I’m extremely happy to have both of these tunes released and even happier to have the support of a label like Immerse behind them. I think both tunes showcase the genre blending I’ve been going on about so much; you can hear dubstep, garage, broken beat, drum & bass, and other influences in there. Both are percussion driven, but ‘Crimewaves’ takes a more upfront approach, whilst ‘In the Cut’ is a bit subtler and darker. I think they both represent my sound really well and hope others dig them as much as I do.
What other projects have you got in the pipeline?
Hopefully I’ll see more releases, but anything regarding that is too early in the pipeline to mention. But I would definitely like to try and get more of my stuff out there; not following the dubstep scene so much is great for my music, but not as good when it comes to getting my music to DJs and labels. As far as gigs go, I’ve been DJing less and instead doing a live set of my own tunes over the past year and just remade it from the ground up, so I’ll continue to perform that when I have the opportunity. I also just moved and started a new job, so I’m expecting my output to slow down for just a bit as I get settled in.
Any words of wisdom for our readers?
I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who’s supported me over the years, whether it be through buying or playing my music, attending a show, giving me feedback and criticism, or teaching me a bit about the business. Props to Immerse and every other label who’s stood behind my music, and thanks to Sonic Router for the opportunity to provide a mix and rant about myself a little.
Hope you guys dig the mix, and words of wisdom… stay positive!
Over the last couple of years, the resurgence of garage beats in post-dubstep music (owed at least in part, I suppose, to Burial’s wake) has fuelled my own speculation as to just why they are capable of sounding so haunted. It seems like a strange fate, in a way, for beats normally associated with the sexy flex of turn-of-the-millennium two-step to be co-opted by a new generation of producers using them to denote loneliness and melancholy. I suppose the clue’s in their construction really; a two-step beat is already a skeleton of the past, with the excesses of earlier rave musics trimmed away to leave only the bare essentials needed to make bodies move. When further displaced from an obvious dancefloor context, the minute snags and slippages in the rhythm of a swung beat leave space for the mind to fill in those gaps with personal and shared memories.
Since Burial showed that the form could have real emotional resonance away from the floor, a whole host of producers have been following in similar footsteps by carving out distinct sounds. Scuba’s achingly sad ‘Negative’ might well be the best of them so far, but Finnish producer Late’s new double pack for Immerse, the Phantom Papers EP, offers yet another angle. His sound, especially on lead track ‘Losing You,’ is undoubtedly in debt to Burial, but it would be a mark of journalistic laziness to pin it down as mere copyism. Instead it’s filled with a dubbed out sense of space that’s more Berlin than London; the beat itself seems to hang in a void, sending ripples outward through its structure as it moves.
Elsewhere, the undulating, uber-percussive ‘Bittersweet’ sounds a little like a Hessle Audio track, if the label’s crisp ‘n’ dry aesthetic was shorn of its edges and heard through an underwater loudspeaker. ‘Under These Conditions’ has a similar aquatic feel, and proves to be the EP’s highlight, an opening vocal section holding back for the delayed payoff of a beautifully simple, canned synth melody. The title track, meanwhile, drops the tempo and crafts a beautifully delicate piece of hip-hop, its expansive reverb leaving it a wraith in a sea of sound. As an EP, Phantom Papers holds together admirably, fitting neatly into the Immerse label’s more considered aesthetic but also striking out in surprisingly affecting directions.
Brighton based label Hit & Hope, just launched, going live with a new website, a great lil 5 track press sampler (pictured above and visualised below) and a free download from Naive Machine. Sharing that big low end rattle we've always been big fans of the Brightonian producer twists snatches of bollywood films around 8 bit stabs and a loping hip hop drum line, making 'Sept I Share' a great introduction to the sound and direction of the label.
The debut Naive Machine single is destined for shops and that on the 19th July.
With his Astro:dynamics project now up running and available exclusively at Boomkat and on his Bandcamp profile, compiler, curator and featured producer Rekordah has leaked a couple of jams taken from the album into cyberspace. Namely his contribution 'Candy Flossin' (via XLR8R) and Lower's 'Heartbroken' (via FACT). In case you missed it, DL these here tasters and check out the in depth interview we published with him a while back. You can also virtua-hop over to http://astrodynamics.bandcamp.com for further listening and purchasing options...
Manchester producer, regular AIM berater and former Sonic Router mix giver, xxxy, is back in the fold thanks to a free tune he's dropped on his Soundcloud account called 'Fela!!' and a guest mixtape for The Daily Street site.
Some straight 130bpm business for your Wednesday...
Jay Scarlett is basically... the dude. His tireless work curating the Beat Dimensions compilations has had a massive impact on the musical direction of many producers, and made a lot of ears prick up and understand that this new wave of beat music has legs far beyond the first Flying Lotus record. The man himself has put together a new promo mix in honour of the Creative Control Coalition night, which launches at The New Empowering Church in Hackney on Saturday 19th June, so any London bods not making the trip to Barcelona's Sonar festival should take note.
Featuring acts like Jay, Om Unit, Morgan Zarate, Subeena and Amalgamation of Soundz tickets are a ten sheet and come with a free copy of the CCC compilation which you can stream at the link below.
Gumpf:
The Creative Control Coalition (CCC) is a new, innovative not-for-profit organisation dedicated to representing, connecting and supporting independent creative organisations and individuals in order to encourage and nurture collaborative work for the benefit of all involved.
The shared mission of the coalition is to work together and grow stronger in order to keep on loving what we do so that we can keep on doing what we love. Artists and labels who make up the CCC are concerned with creating, promoting and selling their work but have made an informed decision to do this independently of the confines and compromises that relinquishing creative control of their work would inevitably bring.
1. Colonel Red - 'Inside is light' (unreleased) 2. Simon S - 'A Free Soul' (previously released on vinyl only) 3. Chima Anya feat. Soweto Kinch - 'A New Day' 4. Jay Scarlett Ft Reggie B - 'Cartoon Characters' 5. Miki Grems - 'My Name is Michael' (produced by Son of Kick) 6. Kay Suzuki feat. Duchy - 'Move On' 7. Dave de Rose - Dreams 8. Morgan Zarate - 'Satin White'
To provide the world with another reason to be and to draw a little attention to the release of his 3D 7" single on Galleta Records, Niño, has kindly offered up a free download of his 'X' track. With the normal edition harbouring three original works: 'X,' 'Y,' 'Z' which display Niño's quick bursts of funk heavy slump stylings in beautiful fashion the special edition EP contains two remixes from Coco Bryce and Mwelsee, whose work has been absolutely flooding our office time with joy.
Coming from the same vein as Coco's recent Tropical Heat compilation we rated so highly a month or so back, Niño's latest release for Galleta, marks him out as someone who's got the groove dripping out of his both his stuttering drum machines and his synthesizers.
A busy couple of weeks for Hyperdub boss Kode9 then... he's just spun together a FACT mix comprised solely of jungle records, he has a label showcase off Sonar next Thursday featuring Cooly G, Darkstar and himself and the release of his DJ KiCKS mix on !K7 is rearing its head later this month. I kind of get the impression he thrives of this kind of a ram out attention schedule and maybe its not just the mandatory 'mpfree' most labels seem to be offering up around the release of the album, but google will probably see a heavy increase in Kode related traffic when word gets round that the Dub version of the exclusive track he made for the DJ KiCKS album is available for the price of an email address over at the album's minisite.
'You Don't Wash Dub,' appears on the mix in this vocal-less format that is up for downloading whilst the single versio - due out early July also on !K7 - features long time Kode collaborator Spaceape on mic duties. Splattered with nuances and a bracing groove ‘You Don’t Wash’ benefits a touch from The Spaceape’s phrases, almost every one is coated by Kode9 in layers of delayed decay, sprawling his deep tones on into the depths; but the dub version loses none of its potency without them. Both versions are a unique insight into the mindset of the producer and given its summertime release date, the vitality and soca flourishes of its drum pattern it seems destined to mark a new territory for dancefloors, providing something light and vehemently danceable for the dark underbelly of bass music.
As much as his output as 2562 is exciting and intriguing in equal measure, Dave Huismans’ house and techno inspired music as A Made Up Sound manages to retain a sheer visceral thrill that just pips his other material to the post. Last year’s incredible 'Rework'/'Closer' EP is still on heavy rotation round these parts, the lead track’s lurching parabolic motion somehow even more exciting now than when it first emerged, and its follow up 'Sun Touch showcased a suitably deeper and more experimental bent. This month sees two new releases from the man like AMUS: a new pair of original tracks for his own label, and a pair of razor sharp remixes of Basic Soul Unit’s ‘Jack’d Freq’.
Huismans’ take on Basic Soul Unit is a little reminiscent of the awkward, peak-time power of his DJ sets; his ‘Puur Natuur’ remix rides off a gloriously bizarre, broken beat which maintains a relentless momentum despite its minimalist structure. Over the top he strafes the track with jagged barbs of synth, culminating in a slow peak and gradual dissociation. The ‘Acid Bonus’ mix on the flip fills in the gaps, pushing the A-side’s more considered shapes into overdriven techno territory. ‘Acid Bonus’ is about as terrifyingly apt a description as you could get as well, the track’s central motif a bracing wall of abrasive squiggle that takes the prettier melody of ‘Love In Outer Space’ and feeds it through a retro-futuristic blender.
His latest for his own AMUS label, the 'Alarm'/'Crisis' 12”, acts as a real contrast to the less straightforward ‘Jack’d Freq’ remixes: both tracks are among the most direct he’s put out. ‘Alarm’ retains their acid-tinted feel, but sets it over a heavy percussive jack, but ‘Crisis’ is the real gem here. It’s probably the thickest and most heady groove his A Made Up Sound music has ever managed to lock into, powered by steamroller bottom-end and his characteristic offbeat hi-hat figures. The overall result is sheer, brainmelting peak-time techno, but delivered in Huismans’ distinctive style it’s somehow both deliciously subtle and utterly brainless at once. Once again, he’s less leading the pack than forming a kind of vanguard, entering unknown and exciting territory long before anyone else even dares to follow.
To mark the 3rd release on Baobinga's BUILD label - a split 12" featuring two collaborations with Bao going toe to toe with Joker collaborator Ginz on the A side, 'The Good Stank,' and head to head with CosminTRG on the blazing B, 'I Get Ruff' - they've linked up with You Naughty Monsters, to make a video clip teaser featuring their music, zombies and high rises:
And in another act of promotion Captain Bao has released a b2b mix with CosminTRG into cyberspace which you can kop at the url below.
With a unique take on two approaches - the g-funk era, squelch sonics of the Ginz collab and a tough as Carol off Eastenders face house tempoed highlight on the flip - Baobinga is cementing his hold on the vinyl market. Though the CosminTRG collab wins out thanks to in no short measure to is nuttiness and intensity, both tracks have a distinct appeal that work well in a basement with a big rig.
Mr. Shortstuff emerges from the cold static of his recent radio silence with the latest edition of the Hotflush podcast. News of forthcoming projects from him should surface shortly but for now get this on the DL and keep an eye out for Martin Kemp's next 12" - 'Fix' b/w 'Wot U Got' - dropping soon on Shortuff's co-run Blunted Robots imprint... 'sabiggun.
If you’ve been listening to the recent Sonic Router radio shows on Hivemind.fm you’ll have noticed a bunch of tracks - work by the likes of George Fitzgerald, Hypno - credited as forthcoming on Brownswood Electr*c. Well, the goose is cooked, crackly on the outside and suitably juicy across the innards and we’re happy to be able to reveal the info... It’s a new compilation put together by Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label as somewhat of an ode to the bass led continuum you’ll find playlisted on his BBC Radio 1 show. One of the collections most charming indulgences is its breadth; refusing to stick to a template and joining the metaphorical dots between styles, languages and producers like 16Bit, Rockwell and Leathertte it’s a substantial and informative listen, collating work by some of last year’s breakout stars (Mount Kimbie and Mosca), producers on the rise (Eliphino, Rockwell, Clueless) and Sonic Router favourites (devonwho, B Bravo, Pearson Sound and Hypno).
Ahead of the compilations release on the 28th June, we grabbed five with the CD’s compiler, one third of London DJ clique Patchwork Pirates and Brownswood demigod, Alex Stevenson.
Sonic Router: So... Brownswood Electr*c yeah? Whats the deal? Obviously Gilles has embraced a lot of this newer music championing people like Mount Kimbie, JoyOrb etc of late, so what’s the inspiration behind the compilation?
Alex Stevenson: You know how it goes, all you need to make electronic music these days is a scraggedy computer, some free software and a good idea. Unfortunately 95% of the bedroom producers out there are lacking the latter component, but there’s still a very healthy movement of free-thinking artists operating just under the radar and making really great music. What’s more, the boundaries between so-called “hip-hop”, “house”, “techno”, “dubstep” and “drum & bass” have never been so blurred. There’s a lot of cross-fertilisation and hybridisation (haha – can’t believe I said hybridisation – is that a word?) But that’s the key isn’t it? It’s at these crossings, junctions and awkward intersections where the most inspiring and stirring sound clashes occur… and those are the joints that grab Gilles’ attention. As you rightly point out, Gilles supports this “sound” heavily in his radio shows and DJ sets (I think he calls it something slightly comical like “future motion beats”) and so I suggested that he do a compilation of his favourite tracks, to which he responded: “Good idea… you know more about it though, so why don’t you do it.” So I did.
And similarly, what’s the thinking behind the selection of producers...? Is it all people Gilles has supported played etc?
There’s a nice blend of established artists and hitherto undiscovered talent on the CD I think and yes, Gilles has supported practically all of the featured artists at some point in the last year. We wanted to represent the full rainbow spectrum of electronic goodness so it was important to nod to that low-slung hip hop vibe, the burgeoning “funky” sound, house/techno, dubstep in its myriad forms and, of course, drum & bass. Ramadanman aka Pearson Sound has consistently been one of Gilles’ favourite producers over the past couple of years so it made perfect sense to include ‘Wad’ – one of his finest moments to date in our opinion. We wanted to try to bring something new to the table though; I think people expect that from Gilles and Brownswood, so for many folks this will be the first time that they hear Eliphino, B.Bravo, George Fitzgerald, Clueless or KiEnRa.
Brownswood has a strong presence in the compilation sphere, with five Bubblers compilations to date. What do you think makes this one different from those that have come before?
The Brownswood Bubblers compilations are really just an indulgence for Gilles to highlight some of his favourite new, obscure or unfairly overlooked music from the Worldwide underground on a jazz/hip-hop/soul tip. Basically stuff that he’s been playing a lot on his radio shows. The latest volume features everyone from globetrotting boogie monster Dam-Funk to Tobago’s calypso queen Calypso Rose via Daru & Rena, Analog Monsta, Trilogy and fLako. With Bubblers and Brownswood Electr*c the notion of giving folks some new shit that they haven’t heard before is exactly the same, it’s just that with Electr*c we’re focusing on a particular area of dance music that we’ve been really excited about of late.
Where do you think Electr*c fits, given that it’s not 100% dubstep focused? Like do you think the fact that it isn’t, is a major strength?
Yep – I think that the fact that Brownswood Electr*c isn’t focused solely on dubstep is a distinct advantage. Like I mentioned before, it was a conscious decision to reflect the spectrum of styles and tempos represented in Gilles’ radio shows and I hope that that inclusive attitude will be embraced by the music buying public.
We just want to share our excitement for this inventive spirit and fusion with fans of electronic music in general… folks who want to scratch the surface and see what’s hiding underneath.
There are some awesome pieces of music included, (Hypno, Rockwell, Pearson Sound, George Fitzgerald stand up), yet everyone seems on the precipice level if you get me, like on the edge of bigger things. Was it a conscious thing to keep it a bit more underground?
Yep, definitely. I think folks expect that new, new shit from us and I wanted to keep things as fresh as possible. Rockwell – alongside dBridge and Instra:mental – has really re-ignited my interest in drum & bass in the past year. I nearly pooped my pants when I first heard that ‘Underpass’ track, then he dropped a great EP on Critical and did a killer remix of Jose James for us too. Hypno is one of those dudes seemingly sitting on the fringes of UK funky, dubstep and techno – he featured on Elevator Music and has an EP coming on new Ramp sub-label PTN. ‘Over The Top’ is a banger, plain and simple. George Fitzgerald is coming through quickly too, he’s got forthcoming 12”s for Doldrums and Hotflush – ‘Painted Jezebel’ is exclusive to Electr*c though. SHAZAM!
What are some of your highlights from the CD...? Are there plans to do more?
Let’s not forget the likes of Clueless (a Norwegian chap who makes 2-step reminiscent of classic El-B productions), KiEnRa (the criminally underrated Estonian beathead) and Lazer Sword’s Low Limit (bringing his techno game). Personally, Letherette’s neatly julienned ‘Blad’ is a highlight. But it’s ALL good. There’s no filler here – we gave it 110% - hahaha!
As for plans to do more – I guess if we manage to shift more than 7 copies and folks seem to be down with it, then the bosses will be up for another chapter. We’ll have to wait and see. I sincerely hope so, there was so much good shit, we could have done a double CD!
Full Tracklist:
01. B. Bravo – Computa Love 02. devonwho – Whispers 03. Eliphino – Let Me Love You Forever 04. Pearson Sound – Wad 05. Mosca – Square One 06. Shlohmo – Antigravity (Low Limit Remix) 07. Letherette – Blad 08. KiEnRa – BB Thing 09. 16bit – ADSL 10. Hypno – Over The Top 11. George Fitzgerald – Painted Jezebel 12. Clueless – Lady In Red (Club Edit) 13. Von D – Berlin Call (Alps Edit) 14. Rockwell – Underpass 15. Mount Kimbie – Serged
Brownswood Electr*c drops on 28th June on CD/download supported by a 12” featuring two cuts from B. Bravo and Eliphino.
Infrasonics boss Spatial was invited out to Dub War, the party ran by Joe Nice and co., in New York last month where he appeared on the bill with Sepalcure and Headhunter. Ahead of his forthcoming appearance at Cable this Friday for the FACT Mag vs. Night Slugs event, he's released a recording of his Dub War set for you to download. One of probably 4 or 5 mixes from the man to date, including our own SR mix, its got a heavy dancefloor slant and features numerous tracks forthcoming on his label.
Look out for INFRA12003 featuring Jamie Grind and Gon in shops soon.
"Themed around the title's subject matter the album is a small but natural departure from Francis' previous work, the musical backdrops to his fierce syllable deliveries are crafted completely by a live band rather than a motley crew of producers. While his previous methods worked gloriously in kick heavy effect across his previous long players, the music on Li(f)e seems to represent Francis' growth as a human being, sounding both organic and effortlessly emotive. After hints at such a transition with skits and tracks like 'Jah Didn't Kill Johnny' or 'My Name is Strange', where Francis explored the performance aspect of a live band, the idea has come full circle."
UK Funky has been branching out of its thriving London underground roots with great success of late. Names like Lil Silva are getting picked up by Night Slugs, Ill Blue have a Hyperdub release slated in, Altered Natives are dropping a 12” on Martyn’s 3024 label and Roska made funky work over an album on his recently released Rinse presents album. Roska’s Kicks & Snares label has done a lot to help forge the sound he’s gone on to trademark and the next 12” from the imprint, ‘Quicktime’ by DJ Naughty, helps cement his rep as a global representative of this sound.
Stepping up himself with a remix of ‘Quicktime’ Roska adds tough syncopated drum patterns that roll elegantly under a fully loaded sub bass line designed implicitly to make you shake it. The melody pops in and out, all dubby and funky, reminiscent of music one would expect to hear in searing out of portable radios in a Cuban town centre. The highlight of the release though has to be Naughty’s soulful soca roller ‘Firepower;’ it bumps and shimmies at you like a subtle variant of the foundations Scratcha DVA laid in the landscape with his ‘Jelly Roll’ release. Its less loony tunes than that and becomes more meditative, utilising a dub vibe alongside the sine wave workouts. The low down and funky drum workout on ‘Gearshift’ makes your hips move even before the dubbed out samples and bassline drops, a full and proper minimal roller that just keeps going, ready for the long teasing mix.
Round 2 of Bleep.com's Sonar Festival giveaway scheme was delivered to inboxes this morning....
"This week’s tracks include an exclusive alternative mix from Kevin Martin's King Midas Sound, and a brand new taster track from Glasgow's newest beat-scene stars - The Blessings. These 2 downloads are only available until the 7th June."
You can now preview all 8 giveaways in this nifty soundcloud widget too:
In the words of Teddy Riley: "You gotta bag it up..."
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