It is somewhat hard to believe that Tim Hecker‘s forthcoming LP, Ravedeath, 1972, was mostly recorded over one day inside an Icelandic church whose pipe organ served as the main sound source. Listening to “Hatred of Music I,” Hecker has obviously utilized other various sound sources (piano, guitar feedback, etc.) and manipulated them, along with the pipe organ, into a blissful oblivion, but there is still a mystery to how Hecker can take these seemingly simple elements and twist them into deep, consuming, other-worldly compositions. “Hatred of Music I” is the first taste of what’s to come on Ravedeath, 1972 and it does not disappoint, sounding as beautifully rich and natural as any Hecker composition to date. The piece starts with a few slow piano notes that are quickly washed away into the vastness of guitar feedback, organ drones, and indiscernible angelic layers of noise that seem to slow down time as they pass over you. Ravedeath, 1972 will be available on February 14. (via Stereogum)
Apparently, UK beatmaker Star Slinger considers himself quite handy with a sampler, as the title of his recently shared, free EP Rogue Cho Pa indicates, and we’d be inclined to agree. This fiery cut from that fresh online offering certainly speaks volumes to the producer’s claim. “Hot Potato” holds fast to the classic blueprint of soul music chopped up and reformatted for use in hip-hop instrumentals, and since there aren’t any live vocals on Star Slinger’s tune, he uses the space to let loose with a barrage of well-played tricks. While vocal snippets, clipped guitar strums, subtle string arrangements, and gutturally funky bass plucks make up the meat of the song, it’s the way those sounds deftly interplay with the red-hot beat and spacey synth sounds that set “Hot Potato” apart from the other five cuts on the Rogue Cho Pa EP. You can grab the whole thing here, and if that’s not enough sample magic for you, check out a collaborative joint Star Slinger did with Texas-based producer Teams for a forthcoming Mexican Summer release, here. (via Altered Zones)
ZZK‘s El-G, Chancha Via Circuito, El Remolo, and Leo from Tremor made a stop at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles while touring the US, and shared with the camera some of the gems they picked out. Most surprising purchase? A live DVD of Nirvana—but who purchased it? You’ll have to watch to find out!
If you’ve spent any time at London’s Plastic People club, you know that the musical fare on tap changes nightly. It’s on this eclectic menu where you’re most likely to be served the mellifluous floetry and soulful cookin’ of Fatima Bramma-Sey, the first lady of Floating Points‘ and Alexander Nut’s Eglo Records, one of the hottest young labels in London. This is largely due to the fact that, at the mic, the 25-year-old known simply as Fatima is electric. Her ability to improvise and cover a wide range of musical styles was an inspiration to Nut, who quickly became a fan and invited the young Swede into the Eglo fold.
With Mindtravelin’, the young singer’s debut EP, she brought the electricity of her live performance into the studio, where some hotly tipped producers supplied the driving funk beats for the stellar four-song mix of nostalgic and modern sounds. The record manages to classily meld London’s penchant for retro-soul stylings with LA’s Stones Throw/beat-scene vibe, particularly on the Dam-Funk-assisted slow jam, “Warm Eyes,” and the sizzling Funkineven collaboration, “Soul Glo.” “I think growing up in the ’90s, when you had all these dope singers around—Aaliyah, Missy, Brandy, Mary [J. Blige], TLC—it was impossible not to get inspired in some way,” she says of some of the more immediate reference points for her unmistakable sound. But that’s to say nothing of the funk and soul artists like George Clinton, Rudy Rae Moore, and Betty Davis who also perked her ears up. “Imagine that collabo! Pretty mad,” she comments.
“Warm Eyes”
Fatima’s musical approach is also deeply tied to her own diverse roots. Growing up in Sweden as the child of a Senagelese/Gambian, “music-lovin'” mom who owned a boutique in Stockholm that traded in African wares, Fatima was exposed to the rich vibrations of West African music from an early age, sparking an interest in the many musical styles that African rhythms have engendered. Now she’s managed to bring all those raw styles together. “The combination between soul and electronic sounds is the future,” she offers. “On the other hand, it doesn’t matter what instruments you’ve got to make tunes—the mind is the only thing that can limit yourself at the end of the day.”
Lately, Fatima has been working on a new record with Floating Points. “I think this EP feels a bit more live, in the sense that we actually both recorded in the same room, playing our instruments live simultaneously,” Fatima says. “It’s a mix of written tunes and improvised sentences and melodies.” Though she proved her studio chops on Mindtravelin’, the energetic Fatima is eager to infuse her new EP with that inimitable energy of live performance—it’s what she’s in the game for: “I just love that raw, pure energy from the bumpin’ soundsystem, and the people dancin’, lettin’ loose, jellyshakin’, and head-boppin’,” she says. “Not thinkin’ about tomorrow and just livin’ for the moment.”
The dynamic duo of Low Limit and Lando Kal, collectively known as Lazer Sword, have just announced they will be taking their brand of boom-bappin’, head-knoddin’, futuristic beats across the pond to Europe for a few weeks starting February 11 and making stops in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Austria, and Luxembourg. If you haven’t had a chance to catch Lazer Sword live in action we can assure the performances will include all of the following: loud music, lots of bass, and an audience completely dripping with sweat by the time the night is through. In other words, a damn good party. Below you’ll find the complete list of European dates and a video of the duo performing in Denver last year.
2/11 Opwijk, Belgium @ Nijdrop 2/12 Athens, Greece @ Bios 2/18 Amsterdman, Netherlands @ Sugar Factory 2/19 Frankfurt, Germany @ TBA 2/20 Hamburg, Germany @ Golden Pudel Club 2/22 London, UK @ Boiler Room 2/23 London, UK @ Pattern Cutters 2/24 Vienna, Austria @ Market Club 2/25 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ dqliq 2/26 Wuppertal, Germany @ AZ
If Lil Silva‘s associations with the Night Slugs crew, multiple excellent releases, or his stellar XLR8Rpodcast hadn’t convinced you of the talent this young London-based producer possesses, then his ability to breathe life into this track from The Streets should do the trick. Dropping all discernible elements from the original “Going Through Hell,” save the first line of the first verse and part of the chorus, Lil Silva turns the track into an absolute banger by employing some dark synth stabs, hyperactive percussion, and a healthy dose of bass. Silva skillfully controls the track, not allowing it to fully kick in until around the two-minute mark, and even then not letting the climax stick around for too long, as he continues to break down the track and take us through the many rhythms he’s got up his sleeve. It’s impressive work—the only thing we might ask him to do different next time is drop an instrumental version as well. (via FACT)
Now that Oberlin’s house-loving production duo Teengirl Fantasy has conquered just about everyone’s year-end favorites list with the lovely 7AM LP, the pair has set out to conquer the world—well, North America and Europe at least. The tour kicked off last night in Vancouver, Canada, and starts the trek down the West Coast with Denver’s Pictureplane today, making a stop at the XLR8R-sponsored Tormenta Tropical vs. Donuts party this Saturday. Teengirl Fantasy then takes off to spread the bubbling dance music throughout many parts of Europe for the remainder of January and a couple days in February. You can check out the full list of dates on the nifty web flier below.
Much like the folks across the pond who have been championing his forward-thinking beat-funk as of late (a list that includes Girl Unit, Hudson Mohawke, and the LuckyMe crew), San Francisco-based producer and Frite Nite label head Salva toys with booming beats, synth-driven soul, and wonky grooves, all of it elevated by just a touch of that purple stuff. A fine example of those smooth soundscapes is this fresh leak from his forthcoming debut album for the Friends of Friends label, Complex Housing. “Wake Ups” jumps high into the atmosphere on an elastic boom-and-slap rhythm, but its the host of R&B-inspired synth melodies that keep it up there long enough to be carried away by angelic vocal samples and a bassline that sounds like it’s bouncing from one smoky cloud to the next. Salva’s Complex Housing drops on February 8. (via Altered Zones)
If last year’s excellent LA Series is any indication, Dublin’s All-City imprint knows what it’s doing when it comes to curating ongoing 12″ series. So for 2011, the label has decided to start a new series featuring collaborations from a diverse range of producers, the first of which will come from respected sonic innovator Martyn (picture above) and futuristic-beat producer Mike Slott. The collaboration, to be released January 25, is said to have taken 18 months to complete through a series of “emails, yousendits, and skypers!” Maybe not exactly what comes to mind when you imagine two artists collaborating, but the results are impressive enough to make us not really care how it happened and just be happy that it did. No word yet on what other teams the All-City people have put together for the rest of its Collabs Series, but judging from the first pairing, there are plenty of impressive tracks to come. You can check the artwork (with tracklist) below.
Over on EPM Music today, web-goers and lovers of the early days of rave are treated to a fresh podcast from hardcore/jungle legend Marc Mac (a.k.a. Manix). Across a 57-minute set, the DJ/producer delivers 11 tracks flexing the classic dancefloor sounds he helped pioneer, including gems from the Reinforced Records catalog by his 4Hero project, Tom & Jerry, Nookie, and others, and also shares two brand-new Manix tunes at either end of the mix. A short Q & A with Mac is also included in the post, where he unveils that he has been hard at work on a new record, saying, “I wanted to mark our 20th year as a label with a special release, so originally I was gonna do a four-track EP, but as I got into doing it, the memories inspired a 12-track album. I dug out the Akai-S950 sampler, my Atari-ST1040, and a box of old breaks, and focused on the real feelgood factor, the 150 BPM hardcore/rave sound of Reinforced and Manix. I also did two tracks inspired by the earlier Chicago house sound.” You can stream/download the podcast and check out the whole interview here, and peep the full tracklist below.
1. Manix “Your Love is Over” (unreleased) 2. Nookie “T-Tree” 3. Doc Scott “Mayday Mayday” 4. Inta Warrious (Grooverider) “What Would We Do” 5. Manix “Heading to the Light” 6. Scott & Keith “Deranged Part II” 7. Nooking “Shining in the Darkness” 8. Tom & Jerry “A Patch of Blue” 9. Rufige Cru “Menace” 10. Tom & Jerry “Papillon Love Song” 11. 4hero “Journey From the Light” 12. Doc Scott “Here Comes the Drumz” 13. Manix “One More Time” (unreleased)
