PRE-ORDER: Silkie - City Limits Vol 1.2 [Deep Medi]

Since Christmas last year one of Silkie’s unreleased productions has been running around my head. The video below captures when I first heard it; the Anti Social crimbo-spesh on Rinse FM where a track that was simply so full of vibes that it’s been playing on my mind ever since. It turns out that track was ‘80s Baby;’ a track you can hear on City Limits Vol 1.2 - the bridge gap between last years fantastic City Limits Vol.1 album and the follow up, unsurprisingly called Vol.2 - the first in a series of limited 12”s whose cuts you won’t find on the next album or the last.

‘80s Baby’ has a rolling street soul feel to it like a London variant on Detroit techno, all midnight tempoed machine funk that refuses to leave quietly. Sweeping pads, bumpy rhythms and funk stabs made from plastic sax and lounge piano fuse with 80s tinged funk synth keys that sound like they’ve been beamed in from a forgotten Cameo record. It all comes together with a hypnotic loved up vibe that’s just irresistible. The flip ‘Bass Junkie’ sounds like the tougher brother of ‘80s Baby’ it hits hard instead of rolling; its rattling breaks shimming over bass pulses and funked up synth lines that sound like aliens shooting the London breeze. Keeping that blissed out funk Silkie’s blessed with producing, ‘Bass Junkie’ manages to live up to its moniker, twisting itself into slab like gnarly shapes that are pretty relentless.

Words: James Balf
Out: Now



Links:
www.deepmedi.com

PRE-ORDER: V.I.V.E.K. – Feel It EP [Deep Medi]

The latest release on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint is a four track double pack from one of their finest new signings V.I.V.E.K. It comes on the back of his first Medi release last year ‘Kulture’ b/w ‘Meditation Rock’ and countless dubplates that you’ll no doubt have heard if you’ve checked the Anti Social Entertainment on Rinse FM. Fusing digidub, soundsystem deep bass, rolling percussion, a hint of Berlin techno it all adds up to those ‘Medi’ style vibes; eyes down, blissed out, heavy weight music.

The title track, ‘Feel It’ kicks things off in fine style with some of the most infectious rolling tablas - his percussion is just sublime. A vocal sample declaring the weight of your bass and the largeness of your soundsystem is all the track needs to usher in a chest thumping sub sonic bass tone and there is no way back you’re sucked into that soup of sub bass frequencies. ‘Grandfather Clock’ counts down to a dance floor meltdown when the metronome-like sample, half tempo drum patterns and hefty bass melts into blazing techno buzzes that just keep coming, it’s those killer synths that make it, truly coming from nowhere.

The deeply blissful ‘Motherland’ is one for the meditative crew, subtle but weighty bass pulses roll off half stepping rhythms, tablas and all that good stuff all accented with Indian vocals instrumentation. It’s so deep, minimal it would make Youngsta proud. The final track ‘Strategy’ is a roller with a garage kind of swing to it, it skips along with big room dub techno chords twisting in and out of the bumpy beats it really comes alive and picks up the pace.

Pure vibes all the way.



Words: James Balf
Out: Soon

Links:

www.myspace.com/vivek321
www.myspace.com/deepmedi

PRE-ORDER: Calibre – Tenopause/Discreet Dub [Deep Medi]

Calibre flexes his dubstep muscles, here making his second outing on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint - the first was a subtle rolling garage-like affair that had all the hallmarks of Calibre’s drum & bass sound as well as Deep Medi’s deepness. Dubstep and d&b have always had a dialogue, whether it be jungle influencing producers to make the music they do today - all be it filtered and fragmented through a different prism - or people from either scene stepping up (or down) to the next domain to give their take on the sound. It’s been a fertile area for creativity with the likes of Instra:mental, Breakage and Kryptic Minds all finding their own voice in the dubstep world and Skream, Scuba and Ramadanman flirting with the quicker notions instilled in drum & bass.

The highlight here has to be ‘Tenopause,’ where Calibre’s knack for subtle rolling percussive bliss is in full effect. The hi-hats draw you in with their fluid forward motion and when they play off the kicks and that addictive bass line pulses with hypnotic energy before flailing off into open space like it’s ricocheted off a passing space cruiser, you’re deep into eyes down zoned out, head nod, arm shake territory. ‘Discreet Dub’ is a more spaced out affair, slowing things down to a half step and upping the atmosphere as the bass seduces you into a state of bliss as it shifts amongst the eerie Middle Eastern melodies.

Words: James Balf
Out: Today

Links:
www.deepmedi.com
www.myspace.com/deepmedi
www.myspace.com/sigrecs1

DOWNLOAD: Mala on Gilles Peterson - Podcast

"Much loved low end theorist Mala (Digital Mystikz/DMZ/DEEP MEDi Musik) makes the trek up from snowy South London to join GP in the Brownswood Basement for a chat about his musical roots, dubplate culture, the evolution of the dubstep movement, and of course to spin some of his favourite records – past, present and future."

DOWNLOAD: Mala on Gilles Peterson - Podcast

Tracklist:

1. Mala – Level 9 (Hyperdub)
2. Mala – Livin’ Different (Dubplate)
3. Mala – Education (Dubplate)
4. Burning Spear – Door Peeper (Supreme)
5. Little Roy – Hurt Not The Earth (Pressure Sounds)
6. Augustus Pablo – East Of The River Nile (Message)
7. Steve Reich – New York Counterpoint (Nonesuch)
8. Quest – Smooth Skin (Dubplate)
9. Jill Scott – Slowly Surely (Theo Parrish Remix) (Ugly Edits)
10. Mizz Beats – My World (DEEP MEDi Musik)

Link:
www.myspace.com/malamystikz

PRE-ORDER: Mizz Beats – My World/The Jester [Deep Medi]

East London’s Mizz Beats first made her mark producing grime beats for names like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and D Double E to name just a few, but she really came to prominence last year when heard co-producing the bubbling anthem ‘Purple Love’ with Silkie. As part of the formidable Anti Social Entertainment crew along with Silkie, Quest, J5, Kromestar, Harry Craze and Heny G, she’s flexing her soulful dubstep muscles and there really is no better place to do that than on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint…

On the A-side comes the swirling funk of ‘My World’ with its skipping tight drum patterns and a digital groove carved from midi trumpets and buzzy bass tones. There is a meditative, laid back quality at work here; you can really feel the soul oozing out. The flip ‘The Jester’ takes us down the 8-bit route, with SNES-like sound effects fed through a haze of high-grade mist into a psychedelic soup of digi-funk.

No one does it quite like Deep Medi and the Anti Social collective; they melt together the roots of dubstep with all its space and bass with a trippy street-funk that echoes late night cityscapes and pirate radio like no other labels. Mizz Beats adds a bleepy dimension to the crew with this 12” and on the strength of these two cuts that’s a dimension that’s more than welcome.

Words: James Balf
Out: 25th Jan 2010

Link:
www.myspace.com/mizzbeats
www.myspace.com/deepmedi
www.deepmedi.com

EVENT: Silkie - Album Launch Party

DOWNLOAD: V.I.V.E.K. - Electro East Mix

I love shit like this. I knew nothing about this dude but now i'm hooked. Fusing subtle percussion with the kind of muffled kicks that soak my jean-shorts through, V.I.V.E.K. has officially made his entrance into my consciousness.

Judging by the title it looks like a mix put together for Nerm's BBC Asian Network show, Electro East, so its entirely his own productions. Mans is affiliated with Heny G and Silkie's Anti Social Entertainment clique and he's reportedly got a 12" forthcoming on Mala's Deep Medi Musik too.

Look out.

DOWNLOAD: V.I.V.E.K. - Electro East Mix

Tracklist:

Change
Strategy
Groove On
Engage
Shift
Untitled
Meditation Rock
Feel It

Link:
www.myspace.com/vivek321