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This week, Los Angeles’ Non Projects imprint dropped the sophomore release from adventurous producer RareBit, the Daizo LP. After first previewing the effort with the technicolor “Emergence,” a video for LP cut “Mt. Weather” has surfaced. Much like his music, RareBit’s video is a pastiche of sorts, pulling together a wide range of imagery to illuminate the patient, textured track and its gradual movements through an ambient soundscape and, later, into more restlessly percussive territory.
On Monday, Japan’s Diskotopia imprint will follow up the release of its recent label compilation with a new EP (artwork above) from London producer Mau’lin. As a preview, we’ve gotten our hands on a remix from Am Rhein, one of Diskotopia’s three label heads, who reworks the endeavor’s title track into a sleek piece of ’90s-indebted, late-night house. Adding an array of glistening synths to the mix, Am Rhein’s version is considerably more cosmic than Mau’lin’s original, but is equally suited for the dancefloor. You can stream a preview of the six-track affair and peep the entire tracklist (which includes remixes from Jack Dixon and Green Linez), after the jump.
01 Function Open 02 Duties 03 Starbeast 04 Function Open (Jack Dixon Remix) 05 Function Open (Am Rhein Remix) 06 Function Open (Greeen Linez Remix)
It’s been nearly a year since we last heard new original productions from UK tunesmith Lil Silva, so that lull’s interruption is wholeheartedly welcome, even if it is a somewhat insubstantial one. The Bedford-based artist has posted previews of three unreleased tracks on his SoundCloud, one of which is a teaser of studio material he’s working on with crooner Jamie Woon. Lil Silva has also taken this opportunity to announce that he’ll be releasing a new EP via Night Slugs in the summer of this year, though none of those tracks are part of this preview. But you can hear them all the same, below.
One of our favorite tracks from the XLR8R Pick’d Visions LP by Grimes, “Oblivion” receives an appropriately weird and personable music video here. Conceived, filmed, and produced by director Emily Kai Bock and cinematographer Evan Prosofsky, the clip finds Montreal-based artist Claire Boucher meandering about at a dirt-bike rally, dancing around a men’s locker room, and hanging out with the denizens of high school football games throughout the four-minute piece—effectively juxtaposing her girly charm with plenty of machismo and testosterone-fueled activities.
Here, we have an instrumental production by one of 2011’s best new artists, Clams Casino, which he delivered through his Twitter account. The track was originally part of a remix for “Swervin” by Kansan rapper XV, but works just as well without the strangely tender vocal performance—thanks largely in part to the slow-moving bounce, deteriorating melodies, and glacial crunch of the Clams Casino’s production work.
Midwest imprint Still Music has been a loyal champion of Detroit’s underground dance music since its founding in 2004. One year later, the then-young label issued In the Dark (The Soul of Detroit), a collection of the city’s notable producers and DJs that featured names such as Rick Wilhite (pictured above), Mike Huckaby, and Marcellus Pittman. Now, Still Music has announced plans to re-release the compilation, along with a previously unreleased 30-minute documentary chronicling the Motor City’s electronic-music scene during that era. The film, entitled In the Dark: Voices, is said to “shed a light over the mystique of the Detroit scene,” with a series of candid interviews and footage of live performances and DJ sets from the likes of Wilhite, Huckaby, Ron Trent, Franki “DJ 3000” Juncaj, Malik Alston, and many others. Considering the electronic-music community’s newly regained fascination with all things Detroit, and the fact that the work of many of these artists has somehow gone largely undocumented in any comprehensive manner, Still Music’s compilation and documentary are certainly welcome efforts. The reissue package is set to drop sometime this spring, but for now, you can peep the complete In the Dark (The Soul of Detroit) tracklist—which includes a number of tunes not found on the original version—and accompanying artwork, below.
01 Courtney Jack “Everybody (Amp Fiddler Remix) 02 Malik Alston “A Walk Thru Oska” 03 Keith Worthy & Malik Alston “Ecoutez” 04 Rick Wilhite “City Bar Reopen ‘Live’ Dancing” 05 Delano Smith “Hot-N-Funky” 06 Rick Wilhite and Kenny Dixon Jr. “Bosmos” 07 Patchworks “Sugar (Amp Fiddler Remix)” 08 Rick Wilhite “Magic Warter” 09 Mike Huckaby “Melodies From the Jazz Republic” 10 Raybone Jones, Marcellus Pittman, Rick Wilhite “In the Dark” 11 Rick Wilhite, Urban Tribe, S. Ingram “Cosmic Jungle”
London residents My Panda Shall Fly and Benjamin Jackson have put together a collaborative EP, which dropped last week via the Five Easy Pieces imprint under the apt title Let’s Vibrate Together (artwork above). Here, we have the EP’s second offering, a surprisingly warm head-nodder that folds Asian harp samples, buzzing arpeggios, and sun-kissed chords on top of some deliciously heavy drum programming. While the aforementioned elements may lead one to believe that “JS8” is simply a piece of summery electronics, don’t be fooled—this tune definitely has its footing securely in the street-wise side of beatmaking, but its creators somehow still cleverly infuse the track with a memorable chord progression and touches of friendly sonics. After giving “JS8” a spin, you can peep the release’s full tracklist (which includes remixes from Cloud Boat, Chairman Kato, and Patten) after the jump.
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The ever-crowded London music scene is full of unusual characters, but few can match Brey when it comes to out-and-out weirdness. The Angolan-born producer will soon be releasing his proper debut, the Brasil EP, a tempo-hopping, four-song effort that’s slated to drop via Serbian imprint Svetlana Industries. The vinyl won’t be ready until March 19, with a digital release to follow on April 2, but in the meantime, Brey has unveiled this trippy video for lead cut “Bengela.” Interspersing footage of Brey behind the decks with a trip he made to a gypsy flea market in Belgrade, the wildly edited, albeit colorfully lively, clip is an oddly perfect match for the song’s shuffling rhythms and blaring melodies. (By the way, those are actual live horns on the track.) It’s just one of many flavors that Brasil has to offer, but Svetlana has put together a streaming preview of the rest. It’s been posted below, along with the EP artwork and tracklist.
SIDE X 1. Bengela 2. Juno
SIDE Y 1. Double A Side + A Side Order of Tilapia with a White Wine and Lemon Sauce 2. Monies featuring Vinny Radio
Next week, Floating Points’ and Alexander Nut’s’ Eglo imprint will be celebrating its third birthday with a night of music at London’s legendary Fabric nightclub and has tapped one of its flagship artists, ARP 101, for a new track to help spread the word. As always, the funky Brit delivers, this time with “Mystery Man,” a track full of broken breaks, space-age synths, and just enough completely incomprehensible vocal chops to keep things moving. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself anywhere near London on Thursday, March 8, then we advise you make your way to Fabric, as Eglo’s third birthday party is set to feature a live set from ARP 101, the Eglo Live Band (featuring Fatima), DJ sets by Alexander Nut and Funkineven, the premiere of Floating Points’ brand new live show, and—amazingly enough—a rare guest appearance by Detroit’s DJ Dez/Andres. For more info and to grab tickets for the event, head here.
As Venetian Snares, Canadian producer Aaron Funk has long been interested in the possibilities of grating audio, claustrophobic arrangements, and unnerving melodic themes. His vast output of sonic explorations stretches all the way back to the late ’90s and boasts some 50 or so releases. It is also patently restless and somewhat lopsided; even when Funk hits his stride in the world of glitchy, mutated breakbeat and jungle (see: Winter in the Belly of a Snake, Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding, Detrimentalist), he always veers toward a new tangent—like, say, fucking with classical music, gabber, or reggae—that yields entirely mixed results. The Fool the Detector EP (his third release in under a year) is a brief coalescence of Venetian Snares’ various stylistic proclivities, which is to say that it’s just as frantic and uneven as his discography on the whole.
Opener “Ego DSP” sounds more or less like a revisiting of the excellent “Dad,” a cut from 2002’s Winter, albeit one less foreboding and inspired. Funk’s vocals sound flat and hokey when delivering awkward lyrics like, “I know the weight of the curse on you’s heavy,” and his everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to the production offers little to grab hold of. The music works better when the wealth of ideas crammed into each piece is pared down a touch, as is the case on the title track and “Chriohn.” Even then, Venetian Snares’ sadistic need to disorient his listener by jumping from moments of sparse melody to barrages of high-frequency electronics and fragmented rhythms tends to get in the way of simply making a good track. By the time the aimless noise wankery of “Index Pavillion” finishes its fourth minute, it wouldn’t be inconceivable that jarring his audience was Funk’s primary intention all along.
