From the land of never-ending bass, veteran Bristol producer Mensah has been tapped for a 12″ single, set to drop on the Deep Medi imprint this month. The a-side will feature “Gambia,” a Mensah production that has become a frequent stop in Mala’s DJ sets (even landing in the special 200th edition of the XLR8Rpodcast that Mala gave us last year). The b-side will host the tune “The Trailing Moons of Saturn,” which proves to be about as adventurous an outing as its name implies. The 12″ hits the streets March 26, and you’ll find the accompanying artwork below.
Atlanta beatmaker Time Wharp has recently started a fresh endeavor with a handful of his tune-making peers, a record label called Jass. The imprint’s inaugural release is a compilation featuring a track from each of the 10 East Coast producers involved, from which the stripped-down and understated “Seperated” (sic) by Georgian artist Cc is lifted. Before Jass’ first record is released on March 20, you can pre-order the Companion I compilation via Bandcamp, here.
Danish duo Laid Back—responsible for the classic underground disco track “White Horse”—have announced plans to release a mini-album of reworked jams and lost recordings from the same session which produced the pair’s early-’80s jam. The story goes that on the same day that brought about Laid Back’s most fabled production, the two musicians were in the midst of experimenting with a few pieces of brand new equipment, which in 1981 happened to be a “Roland TR-808 rhythm box, a SH-101, a Pro-One monophonic synthesizer, and a GR-500 guitar controller-and-synth.” Amongst the many eight-track tapes these sessions produced, only one song made the final cut, and it was—yes, you guessed it—”White Horse.” Now, the remaining compositions have been resurrected from analog obscurity in order to be presented in a shiny new digital mini-album package that will be released under the name Cosyland. For the most part, the songs which make up the mini-album have only received a new mix treatment, but the duo does explain that there are a few instances where they added some “vocals, bass, and drumbeats ahead of a final mix.” Cosyland isn’t set to drop until May 22, but you can take a look at the artwork, tracklist, and listen to a stream of album cut “Get Laid Back,” below.
1. Cosyland Video Edit 2. Get Laid Back
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3. Cocaine Cool Extended 4. 101 Part 2 5. Cosyland
With producers like Sheffield’s Timbah around, no R&B vocals are safe. To his credit, Timbah does find some interesting spots to fit the slices of chopped falsetto on “Cuckoo Clock,” a cut from the his debut EP, Can’t Love Without You (artwork above). The man’s hyper-detailed production seems to build walls around these R&B snippets, piecing giant kick drums, perfectly quantized percussion, and warm, glowing chords together as if they were ready-made, interlocking pieces. It’s this impressively exact production quality that really makes the tune a rewarding listen, pulling touchstones of the post-dubstep world—in particular, James Blake-style chords and sultry re-pitched vocals—into a bit of new territory. After giving “Cuckoo Clock” a listen, you can stream a preview of Timbah’s debut EP, which is out now, if you follow the jump.
01 Can’t Love Without You 02 Eski-Hugz 03 Cuckoo Clock
Ever since the news broke that Vince Clarke and Martin Gore, two of the founding members of Depeche Mode, had reunited after 30 years to create Berlin-inspired techno under the name VCMG, a strong sense of curiosity has surrounded the music. The duo’s recent Spock EP and its follow-up, Single Blip, thankfully proved that the veteran pair wasn’t embarking on some kind of musical disaster, but the new endeavor’s first big test is Ssss, the debut VCMG full-length. The album isn’t scheduled to drop until next week via Mute, but the storied producers have elected to make a stream of the entire LP available now. Give it a listen after the jump.
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Just yesterday, Four Tet took to Twitter to share a track that very well might be on the next release for his Text imprint, a collaboration he did with Burial. The expectedly shuffling and tender production is called “Nova,” and can be streamed in full below. (via Pitchfork)
This is a special installment of our ongoing High Five feature series, insomuch that we’ve doubled its length to accommodate the two predominate styles of artist Daniel Martin-McCormick’s work to date. With his bands Black Eyes and Mi Ami, the multifaceted musician has delved deep into the noisier realms of punk and hardcore, while the latest incarnation of Mi Ami and his new solo material, produced as Ital, mines the fertile landscape of house music and other electronic sounds—all of which Martin-McCormick eventually turns completely upside down for his tracks. So, we thought it would be interesting for Martin-McCormick to give us a bit of background on his two disparate loves: five dance tunes and five hardcore jams.
What he delivered to us is something of a classicist’s primer for each genre. Both wildly popular and lesser known old-school hardcore bands fill out the second half of the list, which Martin-McCormick starts off with a handful of his favorite dancefloor inspirations. Through his descriptions, it’s readily apparent how much of an impact both of these wildly different worlds have had on Martin-McCormick’s varied projects, and how he cherishes them equally. Read on as the artist waxes nostalgic and ecstatic about all of his picks, below.
Dance:
Reel by Real “Serene”
[This is] a master class in sliding chords and eerie, evocative pitch bending (something I have an avid interest in). Anthony “Shake” Shakir has the Midas touch to end ’em all, and this is an especially awesome example. [It’s got] such a nice groove, [and is] so much more potent than it should be if you think about how simple it is. I wouldn’t have made “Culture Clubs” without this one.
Armand Van Helden “You Don’t Know Me”
Maria Minerva recently turned me on to this jam, and it’s such a slammer! This belongs to a whole category of tracks for me: classic house HITS that I missed the first time around because I wasn’t a kid in Europe and/or I wasn’t paying attention. I was introduced to this particular genre with Inner City’s “Pennies From Heaven” via the Dope Jams crew, as well as a crucial High Fantasy DJ set from Bobby Browser. (I walked in to a room of freaks bugging out to “Rhythm of the Night”.) Then, I made my way through Bizarre Inc., After Hours, Snap. and the like. I suppose this brands me forevermore as an exponent of ‘hipster house,’ but fuck it. What’s actually interesting is how, even though the song itself isn’t familiar, the sound is extremely familiar. [It’s] so potent and hits these pleasure centers I didn’t even realize I had. Is it the ’90s production? I guess that shit was just around when I was coming up, and feels like home, or something. Or it could just be that this song rules, and I’m just getting into it on that immediate level and over-thinking the whole thing.
Carl Craig vs. Deee-Lite “Heart Be Still”
Carl’s remix work was especially influential in the making of Hive Mind, particularly the way he just turns tracks inside out and doesn’t appear particularly beholden to genre or ‘the club’ or anything. Of course, his tracks still come out clubby, but you can feel this river of ideas flowing through him. There are a bunch that I can get down with—like the “Domina” Mind Mix, his Tori Amos remixes (oh, yes), his version of Theo Parrish’s “Falling Up,” [his remix of href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb7p4sYLQww”] “Poor People Must Work” (the skipping vox…)—but this is the one I especially geeked out on. The “hold me back hold me back hold me back back hold me back hold me back back back back back” part… Fucking ecstatic.
Pam Todd & Gold Bullion Band “Making Love”
I had some of the most intense musical experiences driving around DC summer nights in my parents’ car, jamming a mixtape I had just made on a trip to NYC with this opening Side B. Fuck, hearing it now, I just wanna lose it, turn that shit up, way, way up. This is some of the most relatable, emotional, awe-inspiring music ever made. That the lyrics are bone stupid and the verses are particularly clunky only serves to fucking EXPLODE the chorus into a torrential outpouring of joy and yearning. Ughsdfmkld…
Moodyman “J.A.N”
When KDJ is on his A-game, he’s kinda the platonic ideal of house, except also so much more. One major point of interest for me regarding house and techno is how, being so non-narrative and sonically abstract, they can successfully cultivate deep emotional impact despite the lack of clear, narrated emotional space. A mournful country song (for example) will transport the listener to memories of heartbreak and loneliness, and massage those sore spots in a way that’s both pleasurable and painful. But what’s the mood supposed to be here? It’s spooky and sexual, but, more than anything, mercurial. Why the radio clips are so satisfying is beyond me, but there they are. This track never fails.
Hardcore:
The violence, speed, and destructiveness of hardcore are usually cited as the logical progression from punk’s buzzsaw-ification of classic rock & roll tropes, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important about hardcore is that it’s fucking hard, a cleansing, pummeling bath of flames that clears the air of all the bullshit your parents, teachers, bosses, society, and everyone else feeds you. It speaks truth to power. And it’s an especially ugly, scary, and very real truth at that: That we feel trapped, bitter, spiteful, and are ready to fucking kill. Or at least that’s the idea. I was never 100% committed to hardcore because, by the time I started going to shows (’98/’99), it had become an orthodoxy just like any other, with a lot of bogus dudes in funny black hoodies and a lot of bands like Converge and Cave In and shit like that. There’s still great groups out there (Double Negative got me psyched in 2011), but overall my tastes veer towards the early, fuming, skin-peeling shit, mostly.
Black Flag “Rise Above”
OK, let’s be real here. There’s a reason I started playing music, and it’s Black Flag, no two ways about it. I always thought being in a band was for ‘other’ people, musicians and such, this rare breed or something. Then one day when I was 14, I went into a Tower Records and started reading the display copy of Henry Rollins’ Get in the Van, his road diaries from the Flag years. Stories of going on tour in the UK, having piss thrown on you, fighting skins, living under police surveillance in LA, playing, like, 200 shows in a year, and drinking a whole pot of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee blew my mind so hard that I immediately decided I wanted to start a band and tour for the rest of my life. Pretty much nothing has changed. This clip is the best I could find on YouTube. I wish they still had that one of Rollins bashing the dude’s head in. I think it got taken down.
Bad Brains “Banned in DC”
Best band ever? Probably. I love how uplifting it is, but still punishing, too. I got to see them do the first Soul Brains reunion show in ’99. They opened with “Attitude,” and, surprise surprise, the place fucking exploded. HR was so high, I crowd surfed, yeah.
Gorilla Biscuits “No Reason Why”
I don’t even really like this band, but, for some reason, this song is deeply ingrained in my psyche, to the point where, 12 years after getting rid of the 7″, I still catch myself singing the lyrics walking down the street. The breakdown sounds like No Doubt, but hey. NY crewcore was never really my shit, but I did dabble early on. The mob energy is so crazy, especially when they’re all just looking like a pack of crazed athletic bros. I like how positive it is, a bit like a rave or something.
Young Ginns “Score”
A killer feedback squall from Tim Green, this has some serious Unwound-goes-Void thing happening (they even cover “Time to Die”). I love the vocals, just like… Fuck it, man. I listened to their collected works a LOT in high school.
Die Kreuzen “Rumors”
This band was a recent discovery for me, actually, but what a fucking band. I never really got into too much of the Touch and Go output, but how can you deny this shit? “Rumors” especially has that pitch-perfect murderous scream thing cooking. So good. I’d say their first record rivals Void’s side of the split in ferocity and kill-everything immediacy. There, I said it.
Beca (pictured above) is a New York-based artist who has just dropped her debut 12″ (to be followed shortly after by the release of her debut EP on March 19). The vinyl’s a-side cut, “Let’s Run Wild,” is heavy on the cold-wave vibes, but the flip side offers some intoxicating house, thanks to this rework from London producer Klic (who also operates under the guise Medlar). Truthfully, it sounds like little more than the chopped vocals and occasional synth stabs are shared between the two versions of “Let’s Run Wild”—not that we’re complaining, as we can enjoy any slice of soulful, bass-loaded house, no matter what the source material is.
It’s funny. Royal-T and his associates in the Butterz crew are ostensibly grime artists, but there’s nothing particularly grimey about their music. Theirs is a new sort of grime, one that sheds the dark baggage of the genre’s gritty past and instead delivers bright, technicolor sounds more suitable for the rave than the street. That’s certainly true of the songs on the Number One EP, Royal-T’s first outing for Rinse, which is dropping ahead of a forthcoming full-length album.
The two-track release kicks off with “Inside the Ride,” a production which takes most of its cues from classic 2-step garage. The drums skip and swing, the snare pattern initially offset by plinky keys and chimes and boosted by some epic big-room chords. About a minute into the proceedings, a more modern touch takes hold when Royal-T brings in a big, buzzing synth line with enough mid-range-heft to dominate the composition. It’s anything but subtle, and not particularly tasteful, but songs like “Inside the Ride” are created with one thing in mind: mashing up the dance. Viewed through that lens, the track accomplishes its goal with aplomb.
On the b-side, “Cool Down” attacks the dancefloor with a similar fury, but manages to do so with a touch more refinement. Once again, the production is highly reminiscent of garage’s glory days, although “Cool Down” looks to ’90s New York more than ’00s London for inspiration. Nicely weaving together shuffling drums, prancing synth notes, and finely chopped female “oohs,” “aahs,” and other vocal bits, the song offers some quality nostalgia-laden bliss without sounding like a derivative throwaway. Even when Royal-T brings in a crunchy, rave-minded synth, it’s done in a much less over-the-top fashion than before. Sure, it does dumb things down a touch, but “Cool Down” is undeniably fun, and far less likely to elicit protracted sighs than its a-side counterpart.
Los Angeles producer Brian Simon (a.k.a. Anenon) has unveiled the first bit of music from his forthcoming debut LP, Inner Hue (artwork above). “This Is What I Meant” takes on a similar feel to the tracks we’ve heard from his Acquiescense EP (the title track of which toppedXLR8R‘s downloads list last month), pinning a steady beat underneath a heavy fog of sonic textures. Whereas “Acquiescense” utilized more recognizable sound sources—a grand piano and touches of live saxophone—Inner Hue is said to be more focused on manipulated soundscapes, such as the enveloping mass of blissful haze displayed here. You’ll find the complete tracklist for Anenon’s debut full-length, which is set to drop May 1, after the jump. (via Dummy)
Inner Hue LP: 01 Eighty-Four 02 This Is What I Meant 03 Stone River 04 Murmurs 05 Embers (feat. Laura Teasley) 06 Memory Residue 07 The Sea and the Stars 08 Inner Hue 09 I’m Awake Tonight 10 Entwine
