Sculpture “Slime Code 1”

If you didn’t already know, the secretive, Bubblin’ Up UK artist known as Patten has his own imprint, called Kaleidoscope. Its latest release, Sculpture‘s Slime Code, is the first in a series called Limited Dubs, in which select artists perform a few unique sessions straight to cassette tape. “Slime Code 1” is nabbed from Sculpture’s recordings, and exhibits the kind of playfully warped and intensely psychedelic electronic music featured on its release; it’s kind of like every phase that Black Dice went through crammed into eight minutes. You can nab the rest of the tunes digitally here, and grab a physical copy of Slime Codehere.

Slime Code 1

Video: BFlecha “Qvasi Naves”

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Spanish producer BFlecha released her first single over a year ago, but will soon be following it up with a self-titled EP for the Arkestra imprint. One of those tunes, the effervescent “Qvasi Naves,” is presented here in the form of a music video by Lisi Gonzalez. We use the term “video” very loosely, though, as this piece is essentially just a scene from the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor film Cleopatra. Thankfully, BFlecha’s shimmering production is more than strong enough to make up for the video’s lack of innovation.

Podcast 234: Chief Boima

While the notion of being a “citizen of the world” is often worthy of scorn, or at least a pronounced eye roll, in the case of Chief Boima (a.k.a. Boima Tucker), the concept actually makes sense. Raised in Milwaukee and subsequently a longtime resident of Oakland, Boima currently calls Brooklyn home, although “home” is a relative concept when you’re frequently traveling the globe and soaking in the local sounds of places like Spain, Colombia, Bolivia, Sierra Leone (his father’s birthplace), Liberia, and other locales too numerous to list. Along the way, he’s been adopted by the Dutty Artz crew, who will be releasing his latest record, African in New York, next week. As such, we figured now would be a good time to have Boima assemble an exclusive mix for the XLR8R podcast series, and the multifaceted artist has responded with something that’s both entirely unique and completely representative of what he’s all about when it comes to music. Largely eschewing the latest output of dance music’s established hubs, Boima weaves together a tapestry of sounds either from or directly influenced by the third world (mostly Africa and Latin America), places where combining even the most commercial of tracks with local flavors is anything but taboo. It’s a production approach often used by Boima himself, which is why you’ll find him reworking an R&B superstar like Usher one minute and flipping old-school house anthems the next. Listening to his podcast, there’s a tangible sense of freedom, as Boima isn’t constrained by trends or notions of what’s “fashionable.” Even with the frequent nods to global pop culture, he’s documenting something that’s truly underground, not to mention a whole lot of fun.

01 DJ Arafat “Frapper Naboula Tala” (Ivoir Mix DJ)
02 Chief Boima “Last Night of Your Life” (Dutty Artz)
03 BB Ramazani “Fouka Fouka” (X-pol)
04 Dollar R DJ “Wolosso Azoubagehi” (Section Zouk/Score)
05 Abou Nidal “Wrou Wrou”
06 DJ Passon “Kuduro Logobie”
07 DJ Bax “Kro. D’F.L.O Gringo” (Bazzerk)
08 Chief Boima “Logobi 1”
09 Chief Boima “Decolator” (Dutty Artz)
10 The Shine feat. Jimmy “Qual é a Dica”
11 Crystal Fighters “At Home (Cousin Culo Remix)”
12 Chief Boima “Cape Verdians in Paris”
13 MC Cidinho “Dinheiro (Maga Bo Remix)” (Comando Digital)
14 Walter Ananaz “Mboia” (Bizness Music/Bomaye Musik/Sérios L)
15 J. Martins & Cabo Snoop “Good Tym” (Don Family/Storm)
16 Oz Kiezos “Princeza Rita” (Lusafrica France)
17 DJ Eridson feat. Dj D.D.Cabeça “D.D 122 Dor de Cabeça”
18 Tshala Muana “Libanga Yatalo” (Syllart)
19 Osunlade “Envision (Dixon Version)” (Innervisions)
20 AJEButter 22 feat. Taymi B “Senrenre” (Studio Magic)
21 Geelex feat. Appietus & E.L “Bend Ya Body” (Agany Entertainment)
22 Lamin Fofana “Brokedown City (Aramac Remix)” (Sticks n’ Stones)
23 Sorie Kondi “Without Money No Family (Chief Boima Remix)” (Dutty Artz)

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Reilly Steel “Boyfriend (MikeQ & Divoli S’vere Club Mix)”

Today, San Francisco’s Reilly Steel is dropping his debut EP, Challenger (artwork above), via the RISLabs imprint, which consists of two original tunes and a handful of remixes, including this one from ballroom house don MikeQ and collaborator Divoli S’vere. The resulting rework is exactly what you’d expect from the NYC producers: Big drums and big rhythms are the focus, while everything else is stripped back except for a few choice vocal samples and some occasional washes of space-age FX. In short, this one is ripe for vogueing dancefloors the world over. Grab it below and then preview the entire EP, which is streaming in full after the jump.

Boyfriend (MikeQ and Divoli Svere Remix)

Murk House Masters

How does one review an extensive compilation of Murk, one of house music’s most prolific duos? It seems like it would be easy, but the sheer breadth of material contained on Defected presents House Masters: Murk is honestly intimidating. Over the past 20 years, the Florida duo’s work has maintained a consistent quality as it’s developed and grown with the global underground house scene. It’s hard to imagine a history of house, much less New York club culture, without the work of Ralph Falcon and Oscar G.

Defected’s House Masters series is a recent development that provides lengthy compilations of unmixed, DJ-friendly versions of prime cuts from some of house music’s most respected figures. Previous iterations have focused on such diverse producers as Kevin Saunderson, Kenny Dope, MK, and John Digweed. House Masters: Murk fits perfectly into the series with a two-disc collection that blends newer tracks, old classics, and codified standards. It’s perfect for Murk, a production pair whose prolific output extends beyond the range of its six studio albums into a messy network of remixes, one-off singles, and side projects. Throughout it all, a clear picture emerges of a duo capable of creating huge-sounding, big-room tracks that somehow manage to retain a sense of intimacy and complexity.

The record starts on a contemporary footing with “Amame (Long Ass Mix).” It’s a bold choice for a retrospective when you consider that the track was released in 2011. Nevertheless, its musique concrète opening of a rain-soaked train platform serves as a perfect intro to the driving and hypnotic acid-led soulful house that follows it. Clocking in at a full ten minutes, it’s a track set to slowly boil as its silky vocals and tough percussion work together to please dancers, whether they’re on the floor at an early-morning Manhattan loft party or stewing in Ibiza’s beach scene at dawn.

From there, the compilation goes on to cover just about all the bases with a few notable absences, the most glaring being “Fired Up!,” a staple for both Danny Tenaglia and Junior Vasquez and one of the tracks that arguably pushed Murk from the underground into a more mainstream spotlight. Speaking of mainstream, the duo’s remix of Madonna’s “Fever” is also strangely absent. Then again, can you imagine how hard that would be to license?

That being said, there’s plenty of material on here that’s considered classic. Fans and students of ’90s house will undoubtedly be pleased by the inclusion of The Fog’s “Been A Long Time” and Liberty City’s “Some Lovin’.” Where the compilation really shines is in its presentation of some of the duo’s less critically fetishized, but nonetheless classic and popular, material. These cuts make up the majority of the comp and include things like Murk’s remix of Willie Ninja‘s “Hot,” Funky Green Dogs From Outer Space’s trippin’ balls anthem “High Up,” and the slapping gospel house of Bobby Pruit’s “Tried So Hard.” As such, House Masters: Murk is a great introduction to both the well-known and less-known highs of the past 20 years of underground dance music. It’s an essential compilation for anyone, particularly DJs, interested in tracing the historical lines of East Coast house.

Video: Ifan Dafydd “Treehouse”

Welsh producer Ifan Dafydd just dropped his first official 12″ on Push & Run last month, and he has now brought us a video for its a-side, the moody “Treehouse.” Directed by Yoni Lappin, the video follows the lonely exploits of Dafydd as he moves from a graveyard to a house party, donning a panda suit in the process. After all the illicit chemicals are consumed and the party ends, the alienated, sweat-covered producer removes his mask and tells us, seemingly in defeat, “I will never change the world or any other thing.” It’s a moving clip, and one that makes it hard not to be invested in the narrative as interspersed, kaleidoscopic visuals mesmerize the viewer into careful attention over the course of its four minutes.

Schlachthofbronx “Slowine”

In two and a half minutes, Schlachthofbronx‘s “Slowine” manages to create a mesmerizing and imposing sense of weight on the listener. As the title suggests, the track slowly chugs along a shuffling cumbia rhythm, but the song’s arrangement is actually dominated by a tremendous, crushing bass growl. A female voice periodically repeats the song title and reminds us of higher frequencies, but it’s hard to not stay focused on the low end here. “Slowine” is part of a double a-side release (pictured above) from the Munich duo that features tracks from its upcoming LP, Dirty Dancing, which hits March 30 via Disko B.

Slowine

Objekt “Cactus” b/w “Porcupine”

Hessle Audio continues to assert itself as one of the most reliable sources for forward-thinking electronic music, tapping the relatively fresh producer Objekt for two tracks that are as sophisticated and expertly crafted as they are absolutely visceral.

Both “Cactus” and “Porcupine” are two of the most techno-informed tracks to appear on Hessle’s discography to date, essentially making no effort to appear aligned with any of the current UK flavors. Still, each track somehow seems entirely appropriate for the current bass-music climate, and has no trouble falling into place amongst the lineage that Ben UFO, Pangea, and Pearson Sound have built their imprint’s reputation around. The a-side, “Cactus,” may have been helped along in this process by its appearance on Ben UFO’s Rinse 16 mix, where the track took hold with its larger-than-life percussion and unnerving—yet somehow entirely not cliched—wobble. “Cactus” is aggressive in the most controlled of manners, with the main modulating bass synth moving through different octaves and signal chains, rendering it crisply distorted at times and massively full at others. The rhythms are built in steps, eventually adding half-time snares and claps to the jagged beat when the song reaches its apex. Clearly, Objekt’s aim here was on crafting a “big tune” for the dancefloor, but has managed to do so without dumbing anything down in the process. As such, Objekt has made what may very well prove to be the year’s most intelligent banger.

The flipside is an even more cerebral endeavor. “Porcupine” seems less interested in the club (not that it’s inappropriate for that setting) and more interested in crafting a genuine electronic composition. The propulsive drums and finely orchestrated synths recall the work of Aphex Twin, not necessarily in their shared likeness to IDM, but more in their ability to weave a path that is almost impossible to follow while still managing to feel like a natural progression. It sounds completely machine-made, but contains an undeniable infusion of human intuition. There’s a surprise around every corner of “Porcupine,” but nothing is ever jarring enough to confuse; instead, you are constantly trying to anticipate what pattern will take over next, what percussive element will fill the gaps, or what dense pad will float up from the bottom, only to be whisked away in a completely different direction. It’s the kind of song that demands a number of listens to wrap your head around, but proves worth the effort in the end.

Clearly, there’s something risky about “Cactus” and “Porcupine” in that they both come so dangerously close to reaching modern dubstep taboos—the songs’ rumbling bass and the heavy, stepping drums in particular. However, it is in this blurry region that Objekt finds a way to reinvigorate the once-touchstone facets of the genre and comes up with two brilliant and unique tracks to add to the increasingly essential Hessle discography.

Video: DVA “Where I Belong”

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Longtime Rinse FM presenter and veteran producer DVA has released a music video for a track from his upcoming debut LP, Pretty Ugly, which drops on March 20 via Hyperdub. The clip was created by Dean Blunt (one half of Hype Williams), who used the epic and foreboding march of “Where I Belong” to soundtrack an animated crucifixion video. Blunt even makes a cameo halfway through, superimposing his face onto some divine lightning. Watch closely and repent thy sins.

Listen to Grimes’ ‘Visions’ LP Now

Not long after our recent feature on Montreal artist Claire Boucher (a.k.a. Grimes) and roughly a week before her latest album drops via 4AD/Arbutus, the experimental pop producer has given NPR the go ahead to stream her Visions LP in full. You can listen to Grimes’ 13-track record, as well as read a bit about it, before it’s released on February 21, here.

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