RECOMMENDED: LHF – EP2: The Line Path [Keysound]

LHF are a shadowy organisation at best and to be honest, that’s just the way we like it. Comprised of a production crew that’s about seven members strong, they keep it tight and have built a world of their own that seems both far-reaching and contained in itself all at once. Describe rather eloquently by Keysound boss Blackdown as sounding like “Sun Ra's hijacked Rinse FM and is using it to communicate with the heavens. Buried inside one corner of the LHF collective is a junglist fighting his way out: these guys have got drumz. Then there's another part of them that is lost in LA, their wonky beats falling off of the grid.” The Line Path EP is split between producers Amen Ra and Double Helix, two of the group’s core members.

Double Helix keeps the bumping rhythmic dubstep patterns going like on the previous EP, Enter In Silence. The horn samples give ‘Chamber of Light’ a Wu Tang shaped shadow when they hit, well Wu Tang if they also featured Mala on the buttons, plus the drums and the deployment of space are as infectious as ever. Double Helix has got a way with programming that really gets things bumping, tablas, woodblocks and all manner of percussive nuggets just keep rolling. On his second cut, ‘Bass 2 Dark,’ bursts of jabbering bass synths hit out of the rhythmic shuffle and gloriously.

Amen Ra’s track ‘Candy Rain’ sounds like it could be taken from the Brainfeeder stable, it’s got a similar de-tuned, warped and melted vibe that a lot of Samiyam’s work showcases. The unlikely coupling of what sounds like an accordion (or a synthesized version of it), steppy rhythms and the warm, lazy bass tones give the track a bright if lilting funk. It’s undoubtedly an EP highlight rounding the thing off with a techy dystopian vision on ‘Trifle;’ all dusty driving synths and gritty textures played like the soundtrack to a sci-fi race scene set in the ruins of Detroit.

Words: James Balf
Out: Now



Links:
www.myspace.com/raizms
www.myspace.com/helixier
Facebook Group

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TOMORROW NIGHT: Keysound Recordings rush the Boiler Room:



Dusk & Blackdown ft Maxwell D
LV ft Joshua Idehen
Amen Ra (LHF) btb Vibezin

Watch it live here this Tuesday from 8-11pm.

http://boilerroom.tv/live

PRE-ORDER: LV ft. Josh Idehen - 38 EP [Keysound]

The three man production team, LV, have a sound all of their own; a subtle concoctive blend of digital dub and future thinking territories that’s caught the ears of A&Rs across the spectrum from Kode9’s Hyperdub to 2nd Drop and Untold’s Hemlock imprint. The 38 EP is a concept record for Dusk & Blackdown’s Keysound Recordings, that’s based around London’s 38 bus route that runs from Victoria station to Clapton Pond in Hackney. Harnessing the vocal collaborations of vocalist Josh Idehen, who takes on the persona of five separate passengers, spitting street poetry from their points of view the record sits somewhere between the urban dread and decay of Kode9 and Spaceape’s beat-less ‘Sine Of The Dub’ and a less post apocalyptic version of London Zoo by The Bug though LV fully carve a more human, free flowing niche that echoes the spoken word of Gil Scott-Heron as much as it does London’s bass continuum.

With its infectious dub bounce and flow ‘Lost’ is a highlight right from the off. The opening lines “It’s obvious you don’t get on with this metropolis” roll of Josh’s tongue with ease, seemingly taking cues from grime syllable patterns but with an altogether looser flow. The track plays off the tension between people trying to get on with the city and how it sometimes seems to be working against you. The dark brooding nature of ‘Early Mob’ with its nocturnal beats, sounds like something taken from Thomas Bangalter’s soundtrack to French revenge flick Irréversible only with a more dub-wise sensibility. With lyrics about rolling with your crew and feeling like you own the place, its full of nonchalant swagger and pent up aggression. It’s a raw, menacing ride. The beat on ‘Your Coat’ comes off like a hybrid of digital dub and deep house, with flowing melodies and rolling four to the floor kicks. It’s here Josh really lets loose, unleashing an unhinged tirade, its infectious as the beats shimmy for position against the bass tones.

The flip side to the 12” is more laid back; ‘Walk It’ rolls with a subtle head nodding dub vibe and free flowing rhyming over the lounge lizard rhodes pianochords and conga rhythms. ‘Face Of God’, with its live sounding dub bass plucks and R&B finger clicks punctuating the bittersweet soul of the airy pads and heartbeat percussion ends the EP with a blissful vibe, musically at least - the vocals deal with religious beliefs and free associations to do with life, death and judgement.

Keysound often explore the culture of London via its bass led excursions, Dusk & Blackdown’s own Margins Music album took the listener on a ride through the cutural fringes of the city and this EP feels like it follows on from that, representing LV’s micro cosm of the wider picture poignantly. LV and Josh Idehen bring the winding bus journey to life through their street bass novella echoing the city’s atmosphere and people painting a sonic picture with words and sound. LV’s productions are quite often creepers, getting under your skin slowly with their subtle vibes, but this EP might be their most realised, instant and engaging musical vision.

Words: James Balf
Out: Now



Catch LV at fabric on 18th June:



Links:
www.myspace.com/lvbass
www.myspace.com/ keysoundrecordings

EVENT: Dusk & Blackdown present Margins Music LIVE

Dusk & Blackdown’s Margins Music was a concept album of sorts. Based around the different sounds of today’s multicultural London the duo infused their heavily dubstep and grime centric productions with sonic snatches of the non stereotypical London; the micro cultures that exist on the outskirts and in the underbelly of the city. The result highlighted the duo’s ear for melody as much as their passion for new and interesting bass weight and starred emcees Trim, Durrty Goodz and the vocal stylings of Farrah.

If you follow Blackdown’s blog or read his Pitchfork column regularly you’ll know that he’s not really one to sit still or conform to concentric opinions of what underground UK dance music should be like. So much so that he and Dusk are re-interpreting their debut album live on a mini tour of the UK throughout June.

Ahead of the launch night, 5th June at South London’s Albany, we caught up with Blackdown to find out exactly what a ‘live’ performance will entail and to sneak a quick peek at what his Keysound label has forthcoming.

Sonic Router: What are the plans for the live setup? Grander ideas than an Ableton set with a midi keyboard cook off I presume?

Blackdown: The plan is to make something that really works live, that can evolve and change in real time, without sacrificing the physical impact of everything we worked to create in the studio for our DJ sets. The plan is to make something that works visually as it does sonically, so we've enlisted Jonathan Howells who built our video (below) to build something powerful and cinematic. Equally we've enlisted Durrty Goodz, who's got more stage presence than the rest of us put together and Farrah and the other musicians will be performing their parts. Yes we'll be using Ableton but in a way that allows us the freedom to remix on the fly, instrument by instrument, part by part, but also keep the sonic impact of our studio production - especially the drums. We anticipate it will roll like a DJ set - no song breaks - just building and building on the fly. We want to keep it intense, rolling and physical.



Will it be interpretations of the Margins Music album or new material?

Both. The project began as a being centred on Margins Music but in all honesty, for our sake alone, we needed to keep it as fresh and upfront as our DJ sets, so we'll be performing some of our remixes (Geeneus, Scratcha DVA, a Bollywood classic etc) as well as lots of new material. It's about 60/40% right now. Certainly there will be a significant number of new tracks, in new styles and tempos, that most people won't have heard.

What else is coming from you guys musically? I mean Keysound is on it at the mo. Any original productions waiting on the hard drive?

There's always beats on the hard drive, though most of them are being added to the live set right now too... In terms of Keysound the next release after Skream's is the LV 38 EP in May. Up after that is LHF EP1: Enter in Silence... late May, early June. LHF will be supporting us on all the tour dates with a bag of upfront material, alongside other Keysound DJs.



An exclusive dub mix by LV of the 5 tracks from their forthcoming '38 EP' ft Josh Idehen, out in May on Keysound Recordings.

You can catch the Dusk & Blackdown live show on the following dates at the following venues:

5th June @ The Albany
Douglas Way, Deptford, London SE8 4AG
thealbany.org.uk / 020 8692 4446 / £12 advance from ticketweb.co.uk / Doors 8pm

8th June @ Brighton Dome
12a Pavilion Buildings, Castle Square, Brighton, BN1 1EE
brightondome.org / 01273 709 709 / £TBA / Doors 8pm

11th June @ Band on the Wall
25 Swan Street, The Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 5JZ
bandonthewall.org / 08452 500 500 / £10 / Doors 9pm

16th June @ South Street
21 South Street, Reading RG1 4QU
readingarts.com / 0118 960 6060 / £TBA / Doors 8pm

11th Sept @ Kendal Brewery
Highgate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4HE
breweryarts.co.uk / 01539 725133/ £TBA / Doors 8pm



Link:
www.myspace.com/keysoundrecordings

DOWNLOAD: LHF - Pipedown Mix

Facebook Event

Followers of Blackdown's blog will no doubt be up on the LHF crew - comprised of Amen Ra, Double Helix, No Fixed Abode, Escobar Seasons, Low Density Matter, Octaviour and Solar Man. In the Keysound Recordings boss' own word their music sounds like "Sun Ra's hijacked Rinse FM and is using it to communicate with the heavens."

High praise indeed, and to demonstrate they're handling the latest Pipedown mix (100% comprised of the crew's productions) ahead of the Keysound Label's showcase - featuring sets from Dusk & Blackdown, LHF, Kowton and Pipedown residents - at Rhythm Factory in London next week.

DOWNLOAD: LHF - Pipedown Mix (Right Click/Save As)



Tracklist:

No Fixed Abode – Sirius Nanotech
Double Helix – TSR-1
Low Density Matter – Blue Steel (Forthcoming Keysound)
Double Helix – Shadows of the City
Amen Ra – Song For Auset (feat. Double Helix and No Fixed Abode)
No Fixed Abode – Indian Street Slang
Double Helix – An Eastern Philosophy
Amen Ra- Fragments Of A Love Story
Amen Ra – Final Chapter
Catta – Fourth Motion (Double Helix Remix) (Forthcoming Dubsquare)
Amen Ra – Unbroken Chain
Double Helix – The Chains
No Fixed Abode – Strangelands
Amen Ra – One Way Ticket

PRE-ORDER: Kowton – Stasis (G Mix)/Countryman [Keysound]

Keysound have stepped up a gear this year dropping more 12”s than ever before and doing it in fine style to boot, with several unique takes on the bass sounds of the underground. Starkey and Durrty Goodz dropped a killer 12” of hyperactive street bass anthems, Zomby did his aquatic gloop & bass rendition of label bosses Dusk & Blackdown, Scratcha DVA showed off the dark side of grime and Grievous Angel re-fixed a jungle anthem into a rolling garage number all to great effect. But with Kowton they come with something all together different, something that manages to sit so well with the Keysound output whilst expanding its sonic pallet.

‘Stasis (g mix)’ gets things rolling and here Kowton takes garage and deep dubbed out minimal techno and fuses it to a Youngtsa-esque half stepping dubstep sound. Lowering the tempo and upping the groove he creates a really unique zoned out number, which just rolls out like a long lost garage joint that Basic Channel and Youngsta forgot to make back in 2001. The deepness is hypnotising.

Things get minimal with ‘Countryman,’ a four to the floor pump and a relentless bass pulse replaces the garage vibes with something altogether darker and more sinister. The track builds and rolls with dub samples and a subtle groove, feeling simple it ends up greater than the sum of its parts, the minimal half step house rhythms really feel like a fresh slant on the dubstep techno sound.

Words: James Balf
Out: Now



Check out Kowton’s interview and mix for Blackdown here:
http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/2009/09/kowton.html

Link:
www.myspace.com/narcossist