J-One “Illuminate”*South Fork Sound*

Simon Jones (a.k.a. J-One) is a producer from Southeast England who trades in the type of clean, crisp sounds that others tend to clutter up with sonic ephemera. On “Illuminate,” from Jones’ Guava EP for South Fork Sound, he keeps a mellow, spare chord progression propped up by a simple-yet-effective kick and hi-hat pattern reminiscent of the UK’s 2-step scene. A hint of dubstep wobble emerges from the bass before a cleverly processed vocal sample enters and steals the scene, but J-One is content to keep “Illuminate” minimal and let the uniqueness of his sounds come through. Before Guava drops on August 16, all three of its tracks can be previewed after the jump.

Illuminate

Eric Copeland Joke in the Hole

Eight years after Broken Ear Record, Black Dice‘s final full-length for DFA, Eric Copeland has returned to the label that released some of his band’s earliest (and arguably finest) records. Copeland, who originally joined Black Dice in the group’s long-ago days as a punk band, has released solo records for several years now, but has lately been on a serious tear of productivity. In 2012, he released two particularly strong full-lengths: Limbo and Waco Taco Combo, both of which presented noisy yet relatively straightforward slices of the scatterbrained, often difficult realm of psychedelic noise coming from the Black Dice camp. In many ways, Copeland’s new album, Joke in the Hole, is stylistically in keeping with the dissonant, psychedelic whimsy of those records, but it is undoubtedly the most upbeat and easily listenable installment of his latest output.

Fringe though Copeland may be, this album is a serious coup for DFA—he walks the line between complete nuttiness and outright accessibility, and ends up with one of his best records to date. In what feels like a major change, Copeland maintains a buoyant atmosphere for an entire album. Last month’s loopily engaging 11-minute single “Masterbater” gave an idea of what to expect; in his current mode, Copeland sculpts twisted approximations of dub and dance grooves that, more than ever, resemble bona fide party tracks.

It’s tempting to take the record’s relentless affability with a grain of salt, but Copeland seems genuinely eager to please, and Joke in the Hole really is fun to listen to. “Flushing Meats” clusters cheery, pitch-shifted samples around a 4/4 beat, which creates a deeply disorienting yet pleasing effect. The marimba-heavy “Cheap Treat” and the harried, horn-inflected house of “Grapes” sound like they’d make great 12-inch singles—as much as any of the thoroughly odd Black Dice singles do, anyway.

Still, the album is not totally without the challenges that longtime Copeland/Black Dice listeners have come to expect. With “Shoo Rah,” for instance, the listener can, depending on where his or her attention drifts, opt to listen to one of two different, seemingly incongruous songs occurring at the same time. And even during the record’s most overtly fun moments, the music has a precarious, disquieting feeling to it, as if it could collapse into a lurching, more sinister-feeling headspace at any time.

Joke in the Hole is an unusually infectious outing for an artist whose recent work with Black Dice, although intermittently catchy, remains as unrelentingly challenging as it’s ever been. Making a record like this was a risk of sorts, but it’s certainly paid off—Joke in the Hole provides lots to chew on and even more to jam out on.

Ernest Gonzalez and Diego Bernal “Thirteen Gold Coins (Nicodxmvs Remix)”*Exponential*

Ernest Gonzales has released music under a few different guises in the past few years, but his latest release, an EP called Atonement, is a unique collaboration with beatmaker, civil rights attorney, and San Antonio District 1 councilman Diego Bernal. The two met in 2008 when Gonzales was seeking out producers for a Texas-centric compilation for his Exponential label, eventually releasing two albums by Bernal and becoming friends in the process. Here, Gonzales has enlisted fellow local talent Nicodxmvs to twist their “Thirteen Gold Coins” track into an evocative, footwork-leaning exploration. Nicodxmvs does a good job of finding space within the mix to wring out some necessary emotion, pushing a vocal sample into the abyss while click-clack drums are zipped tighter with digital distortion. “Thirteen Gold Coins (Nicodxmvs Remix)” is bursting with energy, but moreso, has more than enough ideas to pique our interest in what he does next.

Thirteen Gold Coins (nicodxmvs Remix)

Shapednoise Until Human Voices Wake Us

The latest Opal Tapes edition isn’t actually a tape, but rather a record, the label’s first. Until Human Voices Wake Us, a mini-LP by Shapednoise, leans far toward the noise side of the noise-techno crossover. Although Nino Pedone has plenty of dancefloor credibility, recording as half of duo Violetshaped and being a part-owner of the Repitch label, these six tracks are more comparable with the producer’s work for Hospital Productions, which is to say that they are ferocious. There is some semblance of form throughout, as most of the tracks are underlined by pulses, but that is about as domesticated as they get.

The palette here is a sort of festering, blackened mulch, and like many producers in his field, Pedone seems concerned with conjuring noxious zones. The titles, then, which primarily reference human (or postmortem) activity, feel like misnomers. The molten corrosion of “Between Hallucinations and High Poetry” suggests bubbling vats of industrial chemicals, while the searing electricity of “Information on the Individual Sensoriality” heaves like the bowels of a massive generator. Pedone doesn’t have the same mastery of space as, say, Emptyset, but he is adept at getting a lot of power out of his machines, as well as keeping his arrangements loose and exciting. The slippy unquantized rhythm on opener “Witness of an Heart Attack Death” provides a fine base for roaring blasts of noise, while “Survival of the Dead” is virtually taken over by chunky, rapidly pummeling kicks. Occasional pads keep the record from going too far over the edge, and these work nicely as hints of meditativeness in otherwise unforgiving surroundings. The only glaring missteps are the glitches toward the end of “Information on the Individual Sensoriality,” which immediately call the computer to mind; deliberately put there to disrupt the track, they end up disrupting its ambience instead, reminding the listener that there is a stodgy computer program behind the caustic muck.

Video: The Bug “Dirty”

Shapeshifting London musician/producer Kevin Martin has returned to his solo moniker, The Bug, for his upcoming Filthy EP, set to drop via Ninja Tune next week. The record’s biggest single, “Dirty” features vocals from veteran UK MC Flowdan, whose aggressive flow adds a menacing edge to the already sinister cut of dub-infused grime. The video for the tune is similarly bleak, alternating between black-and-white shots of council estates, digital mulch, and blurry shots of the vocalist. Allegedly foreshadowing The Bug’s upcoming Angels & Devils LP, Filthy will see release in digital and 2×10″ vinyl formats on August 12.

Download a Live Mix from Loefah

South London DJ/producer Loefah has been instrumental in the evolution of dubstep, from his role as one-third of the vital DMZ label, to his current position as boss of the ever-innovative Swamp81. Late last month, he spun at Boiler Room London’s Dimensions Festival edition, and has just made his set available to stream, watch, and download today. The 55-minute mix finds the producer born Peter Livingston playing a wide range of bass music, R&B edits, and some classic dub-wise cuts. The whole thing can be streamed and downloaded via the widget below; alternately, video of Loefah’s live set can be watched in the player below, courtesy of Boiler Room.

Listen to Greco-Roman’s First Label Compilation

Record label, DJ collective, and recent XLR8Rpodcast contributor Greco-Roman has made quite the name for itself in recent years with releases from artists like Disclosure, Hackman, and Joe Goddard (who is one of the collective’s co-founders). The imprint is now about to release its first compilation, We Make Colourful Music Because We Dance In The Dark, and has made the two-disc offering available to stream in full before it hits retailers next week. The collection brings together some of the label’s many highlights over the past six years, including high-profile remixes from the likes of Four Tet, Soulwax, Dixon, and Lone. We Make Colourful Music Because We Dance In The Dark is set to be released on August 12, but in the meantime, can be streamed over at Pitchfork, here.

Stream dBridge’s ‘Move Way’ EP for R&S

This week’s XLR8Rpodcast contributor, drum & bass veteran dBridge is about to drop his first release of 2013, the Move Way EP, and has made it available to stream in full before it drops next week. The record finds the UK producer in typically fine form, as he offers up three tracks—including a collaboration with fellow UK artist Skeptical—of spacious, classic-sounding breakbeats. Move Way will be released on August 12 via long-standing Belgian label R&S, but before then, it can be heard in its entirety below.

Superhumanoids “Bad Weather (Tropics Remix)”**

Following yesterday’s release of its Exhibitionists LP for Innovative Leisure, Los Angeles trio Superhumanoids have elected to share a new remix of standout album track “Bad Weather” by Southampton producer Tropics (pictured above). In its original form, the tune is already a rather synth-heavy affair, and on his rework, Tropics delves even further into neon-flecked synthscapes. Ultimately, it’s a smart move, and the result—which also comes with an extra dose of rhythmic punch—is certainly a welcome freebie to accompany the LP’s release.

Bad Weather (Tropics Remix)

Watch Huxley Make a Tune in 10 Minutes

One of Hypercolour‘s biggest exports and recent addition to the Rinse roster, burgeoning UK house DJ/producer Huxley is the latest artist to go up against the clock in FACT‘s ongoing series of timed production sprints. The Londoner works quickly and diligently on a straightforward house beat, using little more than what appear to be a handful of Logic presets and a single MIDI controller. And as it so happens, the tune Huxley churns out isn’t half bad at all. It’s an entertaining way to see how the producer works, and maybe even an inspiring clip for those beatmakers looking to maximize their workflow.

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