September 2011
1 post
Space Is The Place - stream
Sun Ra’s blaxploitation film ‘Space Is The Place’ streaming in full here:
http://www.ubu.com/film/ra_space.html
It’s an amazing and transporting concept. 70s Oakland is incredibly real, despite the space-age treatment Sun Ra brings to it! Some of the subject matter is obviously controversial given its place the context of blaxploitation film period - I just find it...
July 2011
1 post
Mop Of Head, BNJMN, Tanner Ross, Blacksmif, Dark0
It’s a shame this is just a snippet; it’s such a good record! Can’t wait for it to come out…
Retronix Symphony - Seiji Remix”60ver” by Mop of Head
Whatever E-Funk is, I want to be with, in or around it. Amazingness from Catz N Dogz with Tanner Ross on the remix.
Catz N Dogz Feat Nicholas Ryan - Long Way ( Tanner Ross E-funk Remix ) by Tanner Ross
BNJMN...
June 2011
1 post
Holy Other; Vincent Gallo
Extreme blog hiatus. Struggling to fit everything in these days.
Channeling the dreamy RnB vibes of The Weeknd and Sepalcure come Holy Other. Their With U EP has four killer tracks, the best of which is ‘Feel Something’. I’m feeling we’ve reached a bit of a saturation cap with obsessive vocal-warping producers right now; Jamie XX’s excellent new Far Nearer / Beat For...
May 2011
2 posts
Hyetal, The Son(s), Polarsets
Last night’s second-ever Dems gig in Brighton was brilliant. Big up all those who came down!
A few records I’ve been listening to that need to get mentioned:
Hyetal’s new Black Acre LP, Broadcast is sounding incredible, a culmination of everything fans have known this producer can pull together. The best track on the album is ‘Diamond Islands’ - massive vocal,...
I'm going to play at Great Escape tomorrow
It’s been a mental, interesting and educational month or so, where we’ve played our first gig - which was both exhilarating and horrifying at once - and are now moving on to our second at cheetah speed, after a heavy weekend session in my girlfriend’s renovated family barn. Anyone who produces in their bedroom, I really suggest you try playing a live show at least once, with...
April 2011
2 posts
Ahmed Sirour, HxdB, Awning
This Little Dragon cover is so very good. Played out on Gilles Peterson earlier in the week, alongside an amazing 30 minute Erykah Badu set. Soulful and stripped down. That’s how it sounds, not how to listen to it…
Little Dragon’s “Twice” (cover version) feat Cleveland Jones by Ahmed Sirour
Going a bit heavier, here’s some horsie-step from HxdB aka...
Aimes
Aman Ellis splashed onto the Camelglasses radar around October of last year, with his free Cacti EP, with tracks like ‘Man From Alabama’ blowing me away with Flying Lotus-styled warped melodies.
For his live performances, he developed a different way of playing his tunes, and this experiment has resulted in a new act altogether, under the moniker Aimes. Yo Yo Mama stands out from...
March 2011
2 posts
Non Person; Sorrow; How To Dress Well/Twins
Non Person - Too Late by nonperson
Non Person is from Finland. His Ninja Tune / CMYK take on production is absolutely brilliant and refreshingly tangential to a lot of the ‘en mode’ electronic sounds out there right now. ‘Too Late’ is massive, and I’m told there’s more to come from him very soon.
Sorrow is the latest and best from the L2S Recordings camp,...
February 2011
4 posts
Thomas Bjerring; Stateless
Thomas Bjerring’s Stratus totally passed me by when it was released last year; it’s an amazing soulful minimal techno record, culminating in the amazing track, ‘0245’. Jamie XX played it in his recent 6 Mix session, and it fit in beautifully with the rest of his eclectic soul/garage-driven set. Spacious vocals are sewn into tech 4x4 beats, and it’s markedly different...
Glyphs; Submerse
I can find relatively little out about Glyphs, other than they’re from London, and that their music ranges from soulful bass through folktronica to straight up 808 beats, clicks and whirrs. It’s refreshingly different from a lot of currently en mode processed and formulaic production, by-products of the success of songwritery dubstep out there. Which is wicked and all. But I like...
3 tags
Stream Mogwai's new LP
Mogwai’s new album Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is streaming on Rolling Stone’s website. More greatness from one of the best Scottish electronic groups of all time. Listen here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/hardcore-will-never-die-but-you-will-20110208
I haven’t got through the whole thing yet, but it’s sounding as etherial, murky and...
3 tags
Unquote; Sepalcure
Unquote’s tune from late 2010 passed me by until I heard Crissy Criss play it on 1Xtra earlier in the new year. This song reminds me of Hot Flush boss Scuba’s work in its really restrained build up and totally absent drop.
The other record that’s had me swooning in the past week is Sepalcure’s Fleur EP. All four tracks are brilliant but the eponymous title tune is a...
January 2011
4 posts
Zarate, Brodinski, Hackman
Hyperdub’s first of the new year has dropped and it strikes me as indicative of where a lot of bass-heads are turning for 2011 - more Night Slugs than Digital Mystikz, Kode9 has enlisted the warped Rn’B and Juke turns of Morgan Zarate. B-Side ‘Buy Bye’ is a beautiful mess of deep gurgling kick drums, scratches and samples that remind these ears of that urgent-sounding BBC...
Beardyman on the Essential Mix...
Utter madness. Catch the two hour extravaganza in the wee hours of Saturday morning 3:00-5:00.
Ikonika, True Tiger, Jam City
Apologies for the hugantic break in posts. My internet broke for a month, it’s as simple as that really, and I felt awkward going over to friends’ flats to ‘write a blog post’. If I ever do that, turn me away like the stray I’ve become.
Anyway, first of all I don’t know what in god’s name Rough Trade are doing putting Anna Calvi’s release as their...
Slope Songs
Back from New Year Holiday break; it was badass. To wing my way into the new year, here’s a couple of tunes that have been the soundtrack to my journeys down the slopes of Italy’s Madonna di Campiglio. This first tune leaps out of Breach’s ‘Fatherless’, its a heoooge track called ‘When I Dip’, forthcoming on Loefah’s Swamp 81 label. This one’s...
December 2010
5 posts
3 tags
Blacksmif: Turning Heads #003
For the latest installment in a series that has featured up-and-coming dubstep connoisseur Dark0 and Leeds’ Funky tyro, Hackman, I’ve caught up with eclectic electronica producer Blacksmif, the moniker of London-based-and-bred Yemi Olagbaiye. His expansive sound has resulted in attention and support from the likes of Sinden on Kiss, and personally, I think his tracks have been getting better and...
Randomer; Japanese War Effort; I.D.
The Japanese War Effort, so casually a-mentioned in my last post has put across a mix filled with songs from the past year. It touches on some big recognisable tracks, and shines a light on some local, eclectic Scottish talent too.
It’s got some Darkstar, Rustie and all sorts in it; I’m actually quite desperate to know what the last track on it is… he’s elusively missed...
1 tag
Gerry Loves Records - LOVES003
Edinburgh’s Gerry Loves Records have rapidly carved a very reputable niche for themselves in releasing uncompromising tracks from some of the most experimental indie-friendly electronic talent across Scotland, aligning themselves with artists like Yahweh, The Japanese War Effort and Debutant.
Their latest release is - again - killer. Boasting tracks from four emerging and distinctive...
Profisee; Congorock
Profisee’s ‘O-Riginal’ is one of the better tracks I’ve heard in recent times from a Hip Hop artist in Scotland. Nike Oruh has refreshingly collaborated with some of the most exciting talents across the country to develop an unique style, tangential from the conventions of London road-rap and grime. The likes of Dam Mantle and Akira Kiteshi contribute their talents to...
4 tags
Father Longlegs; S-Type; More Taylor
There are quite a lot of musical things you can download for free today rightaboutnow…
Firstly, can we talk about Father Longlegs please? His Intergalactic Double Dutch EP is on Bandcamp and looks and sounds brilliantly interesting, with particular shiners in the eponymous ‘Double Dutch’ and ‘Chinese R’n’R Cat’. I don’t know what...
November 2010
4 posts
Hackman: Turning heads #002
Bordering the complimentary worlds of Funky and House, and currently residing in Yorkshire, Hackman is amassing a versatile portfolio with a sound that improvises on his powerful beats, layering twisted vocals under whirrs, unrelenting 4 x 4 kicks and claps. The music college finalist been really active on the Soundcloud front lately, putting out clips and full tracks of really high quality on a...
5 tags
Taylor; Kupa; Lazer Sword
I’m feeling buoyant today; a good colleague-samaritan retrieved all my acquired and original music off the hard drive that accompanied my burning laptop. Now that I’m in a proper good mood, some things to direct your mind and heart towards this evening:
Nottingham’s Taylor has dropped a Super Recording in the most literal sense. With remixes from Super’s inceptor...
6 tags
Taz Buckfaster; Soul Rebels; Blacksmif
Right, it’s felt like I’ve abandoned my Usain-Bolt-like speed and frequency of musical skullduggery and exploration since my last post like 10 DAYS AGO. If you think this is because I’m some sort of part-time fanboy, a fair-weather blogger-type, well then you are mistaken.
In reality, I actually destroyed my personal laptop. I suppose this is better than destroying a work laptop...
5 tags
Jacques Greene; VVV; Damu
Apparently, this is a picture of Damu in space.
There are too many times I really wish I hadn’t sold my vinyl set-up earlier this year. It was a bit crap though and, in fairness, couldn’t fit in my car…
Such an occasion comes with a listen of Montreal’s Jacques Greene’s latest work. It’s dangerously zeitgeisty and I’m basically ragingly jealous of...
October 2010
8 posts
Say 'Wut'? Girl Unit's latest record
I’m not one for relentless pigeon-holery, but Girl Unit’s enigmatic end product has got me wondering about the various ingredients that go into it.
This year’s earlier release, ‘IRL’, was riddled with all the clicks and snaps of a metronome-melting Gold Panda track, but flowed with the overarching smoothness of a hip hop purist. His guest mix on...
Album samplers galore... well two: Scuba &...
Along with a room full of South London’s finest party public this weekend, I watched Scuba, the brains behind the never-more-popular-than-RIGHTNOW Hotflush imprint celebrating Trouble Vision’s second birthday with a heart-thuddingly deep bass set at Corsica Studios. Along with a very enigmatic SBTRKT, he was a treat to enjoy in a stellar second room line up, and it’s worth noting...
3 tags
Scottish Enlightenment - essential bath listening
I’m going to deviate for a second from the load of electronically-orientated music I’m always ramming on here, as I also like to keep repping Scotland in its many musical guises; so who should be more representative than the aptly named Scottish Enlightenment? I’ve been listening a fair bit to their new release St. Thomas, since the very nice Alan from Armellodie Records hooked...
6 tags
"It's turned into something I can barely stomach"...
When I was living in Edinburgh, I regularly posted chats with new artists from the big bad world of electronic music in Scotland. I thought it was time to get back into the swing of things South of the Border.
A couple of months back, I found a tune called ‘Wormhole’ on Soundcloud by a producer called Dark0. Given that it features samples from what I’m certain is Chaos Legion 2...
4 tags
Aman Ellis; The 2 Bears
Good matin to you. I have found some things to talk about.
Up and coming beat-provocateur Aman Ellis has recently posted up a new collection of nine free tunes on Soundcloud. Having released the All The Things EP earlier this year, The Cacti EP is a worthy leftfield progression, packed with interesting samples, and in some ways recalling Warp’s Flying Lotus. Listen/download here:
The...
Ooo I've mixed a new mix
Greetings earthlings, today I have uploaded a new mix to Mixcloud; it has some nice wholesome music on it that my mother would definitely mostly hate. As my dear friend Tim sugarcoatedly points out, “It gets lost a bit in the middle”; story of my life. But I’m happy to say it sort of perks up again after the aforementioned wandering.
My favourite track on this is probs the new...
6 tags
Darkstar; new Woon
Darkstar’s debut LP North is now streaming on US website NPR, and it sounds brilliant. When I saw them at XOYO at the end of last month, the whole experience was really atmospheric but I didn’t realise that the album would be so meaty. Blackdown of ‘Dusk and Blackdown’ fame also conducted a brilliant interview with them, where they talk about their influence of artists like...
The Lie-In post
Today is a good day for many reasons. Firstlymost, I am having a sweet lie in before work. Secondlymost, Rival Schools are making their second LP, and given that I’m a devotee of their United By Fate record, I CAN’T WAIT. Thirdsomely, NMBRS have announced that they are not only going to release Jamie XX’s debut solo work later in October (pinch punch everyone), but they have...
September 2010
4 posts
Lucky Shiner + Everything In Between
Holy endangered East Asian mammal, I’ve gone and embedded Gold Panda’s new album, Lucky Shiner. I don’t believe there’s much better than ‘Marriage’ and the two ‘You’ tracks that feature on this glistening (‘shiner’ - geddit?) LP. Oh, the indulgence… I should probably buy it now, rather than simply relying on this temporary digital...
Dapper Kings
Sharon Jones has produced a most wicked, original and authentic soul album with I Learned The Hard Way. The title track below should give you a good idea and, hopefully, tempt you into listening to the whole thing, because there’s honestly not a bad track on it.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way by sopedradamusical
Update on the Rustie front. Last time round, I...
Rustie Robyn
There are a load of album and EP announcements coming out at the moment; the newish tunes from The Arcade Fire and Kings Of Leon are doing the rounds and getting all of us excited about the biggest mainstream developments to drop this year. But my head has been well and truly turned by this EP preview sampler from Rustie, of Glasgow fame. Very much in with the Hudson Mohawke and Flying Lotus crew,...
What you call it?
To the world of garage, grime, bass and allsorts now. I was wowed when Wretch 32 brought out his Wretchrospective mixtape a couple of years ago, tracks like ‘The Reason’ and ‘All That I Need’ marking him out as another potential beneficiary of the pop fascination with UK Homegrown music. Production credits from people like J. Flows and Scorcher show that he’s had all...
August 2010
9 posts
MOPP and handlebars and Justin K B
My handlebars nearly came off my bike today. Those familiar with me, my blog or my bike will know that this is not the first time that the Gods of bicycle engineering have shunned me with their cruel unloving gaze. Utterly unrelatedly, I was also reminded today of the excellence that is Scotland’s MOPP - as yet unsigned and undervalued as far as I can tell. As I contemplated certain death...
Business as usual
Yesterday evening I held the internet in my hands.
Well, it was a BT Broadband Hub thing actually, but when you’ve not had the internet in your home for one and a half months, it feels like you’re in possession of what Dr Octopus calls “The Power of The Sun” in Spiderman 2. Which is ridiculous isn’t it - the power of the sun being harnessed for...
Yahweh Rmx; Sleigh Bells vs Jay Z
When I made the excellent purchase of Gerry Loves Records’ second release featuring Trapped in Kansas and the magnificent Yahweh, I was just wondering whether someone would step up and have the balls to remix it. Fortunately, Japanese War Effort are spankingly good at this sort of thing, and hey presto, this ‘Internet’ Remix was born, and I’m a big fan of it.
Yahweh -...
Salem, Gold Panda, Edgar Davids
I’m in electric mode, keeping one sneaky eye on ‘Edgar Davids Watch’ all day, as manager Burley tries to tempt the Dutch midfield legend to my beloved Crystal Palace. Cross yer fingers for me.
In the meantime, a couple of tunes for you: One is from my man Gold Panda, and it’s a new track from his upcoming album Lucky Shiner. It’s really nice, more dance-influenced...
Edinburgh and London giggings
I thought that all the good stuff was down here in London following my recent relocation. But this evening just shows how Edinburgh has loads to offer to purveyors of new music. The much touted Besnard Lakes, who I’ve referred to a few times on this blog, are playing Sneaky Pete’s, with support from Penguins Kill Polar Bears and Heart Beats. Apparently it’s being webcast live...
Count & Sinden's new album...
It’s very wicked. Sorry again for lack of posts, internet’s coming in next few days BT tells me. In the meantime, listed to the whole damn thing on FACT’s website. It’s called Mega Mega Mega which pretty much sums up the sound of the LP. Very excited about owning this as soon as it comes out in physical, dancey, blippy form.
Listen to the WHOLE new album exclusively here...
Elephant & Castle; The New Job; D Double E
It’s only been 23 days since I moved to London, but it feels like loads longer. I’m totally moved in to my new abode on the Walworth Road near Elephant and Castle, living above a Dry Cleaners and opposite a Jerk Chicken shop. Don’t be fooled by the surroundings; my friend Soph found us a wicked place with two balconies and another flatmate who cooks amazing cereal bars. Win.
...
Other side of Blake
James Blake is this year’s obsession. Everything from his progressive remixes of Mount Kimbie’s ‘Maybes’ and Untold’s ‘Stop What You’re Doing’, to his own acclaimed future garage vision ‘CMYK’, it’s easy to overlook a completely different side to the 22-year-old music student.
Here’s Limit To Your Love, originally by Feist....
oh my diddy
…it’s skepta. And diddy. Hence the title of this brief post. What do you reckon?
Plus, loads of good stuff just went up minutes ago at Wonderama Shit, which as we all know is a fantastic destination for everything leftfield and electronic.
July 2010
9 posts
Sylvanian Families + Crap New Boyband
Err, a brilliant and bizarre pop tribute. Some fan of new cringe-pop boyband The Wanted creates a video for their tune All Time Low using her Sylvanian Families. Respect. This is hilarious…
Friday's For...
My new landlord people are quite annoying; I have things to do for them today. To destress myself from this…stress I have plonked up a couple of new tunes I’m listening to alot at the mo. One’s from MNDR, who I knew I’d like because I’m always a big fan of bands and songs with no vowels involved. Vowels are for the weak, you can quote me on that. “I Go...
American Men + Hudson M; Keep it so LDN
As of the wee early hours of Saturday, I’m back in the clutches of the capital. For the next week or so I’ll be getting used to the transition from 12 minute bike journeys of Edinburgh to long silent commutes, but from August I should be cycling everywhere again from my new Moss HQ at Elephant and Castle. There’s a good story about why it’s called Elephant and...