Montreal’s Matthew Hiscock (a.k.a. Hissy Fit) is quickly becoming a producer of note on the post-dubstep side of things; first he released an EP for Scottish blog-turned-label Phuturelabs, and now he’s about to drop a 12″ from new Canadian label Swing & Skip. Here we have a dub of the a-side, “Berry,” in which Hissy Fit pares down the hyper feel of the original track, leaving intact the slow, growling bass and steady beat. As the track lazily rolls along, the melodic elements fade in; some vocoder chirps here, some fuzzy chords there, climaxing around the three-minute mark before beginning to break the pieces back down to where they began. “Berry Dubby Dub” can not be found on the forthcoming 12″, but the original and a remix from Submerse can be when it’s released on December 13.
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Though rendered less retro-flashy as their music video for “Chains”, Brooklyn duo Gatekeeper’s latest audio/video pairing, for the “Serpent” track, which was also realized by Thunder Horse Video, has its own kind of nostalgic vibes from not too long ago. The footage is certainly a sort of tongue-in-cheek homage to the kinds of low-budget b-movies likely to be found in the old Sci Fi Channel original films series—complete with the slight blur of a greased lens, crappy special effects, and camera work of a less-than-inspired production. And yet, somehow, the dark, driving sounds of Gatekeeper’s proto-industrial tune give the imagery some sort of after-the-fact credence, as the vibes offered by both the video and song exist on the same creative plane. (via 20JazzFunkGreats)
Toronto-based imprint No. 19 Music—responsible for dropping records for the likes of Jimmy Edgar and label head Jonny White—will soon have the hono(u)r of releasing the first-ever mix album by Boston’s disco-, boogie-, and house-lovin’ DJ/production duo Soul Clap. The forthcoming album will be the second installment of No. 19’s ongoing Social Experiment mix series, and finds the Bostonian party starters throwing down fresh, exclusive, and classic cuts from fellow music makers Jamie Jones, Nightplay, Deniz Kurtel, Benoit & Sergio, Art Department (featuring Seth Troxler), Gadi Mizrahi, and more. Soul Clap’s Experiment will be available on February 28, followed soon after by a sister release of unmixed tracks. Until then, you can check out the artwork and tracklist below.
1. Jozif – Beats In Space (Craig Richards Ambient Mix) 2. Jonny White – Rainsong (Rainbeats) 3. Gadi Mizrahi – Hurt Me 4. James Teej – Galaktik Option 5. Soho 808 – Just To See – EXCLUSIVE 6. Jonny White & James Teej – Musique Noir (Jamie Jones In And Out Edit) 7. Benoit & Sergio – Principles 8. Tanner Ross ft. Flo Night – 4 U 9. Puente & Rosch – Serious Compassion 10. SECT – H.T.A.D. 11. Michael J Collins – Schizotypal 12. Nightplane – Parallel Lines 13. Jimmy Edgar – Seven Mile (Soul Clap & Sergio Santos Beantown Edit) 14. No Regular Play – Serious Heat (Art Department Remix) 15. Soul Clap – Fried Chicken 16. Miguel Campbell – Kiss & Tell 17. Lee Foss – Foxy 18. Robert James & Burnski – Malibu 19. Art Department ft. Seth Troxler – Living the Life 20. Justin Drake – Cosmic Log 21. Deniz Kurtel – The L Word 22. Teeloo – Sooo oooH 23. Jozif – Beats In Space (Craig Richards Ambient Mix) 24. Art Department & Soul Clap – Glen & Boo
The world of underground hip-hop has been undergoing a serious reconstruction as of late, with many familiar faces receding to the fringe, or worse, complete absence. One such case is the inimitable New York-based label Definitive Jux, run by producer/rapper extraordinaire El-P. Definitive Jux is currently on indefinite hiatus, putting a halt to what has been a consistent and essential output of brutally honest, beat-contorted hip-hop. Though thankfully, El-P hasn’t kept quiet, dropping the epicly titled Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 on Gold Dust earlier this year. An album made up of instrumentals, it tended towards a lighter, funk-based side of El-P. That said, don’t go in expecting softness with this new, previously unreleased track titled “Lab Rat Bravely Escapes on Hovercraft Only to Crash Directly Outside of Gates.” As much a mouthful as it is an earful, this El-P beat apparently didn’t make the cut due to technical difficulties, and after listening, it’s understandable why. Your lowly laptop speakers are no match for the decibels on this one, and good luck finding headphones that will do the trick either.
Although a quick spin of Oriol‘s debut LP, Night and Day, will likely seduce you into its world of subdued, jazzy, post-breakbeat electro-funk, the London-based producer, known formally as Oriol Singhji, just wants to make a banger for the dancefloor. “I wish I could make a big club tune, but that’s not where my head is at most of time,” he explains. “I spend more time at home or in the car than in the club, so I guess that affects the way I listen and make music.”
Truthfully, a lot more than just his current environment affects the way he made the gorgeous retro-futuristic sounds that comprise Night and Day. Born in Barcelona, Oriol moved to London with his parents when he was just a few months old. He grew up in the ’90s with drum & bass and the now-classic sounds of Warp and Mo’Wax, cornerstones for his eventual interest in electronic music. “There was a musical culture [in London], and kids knew about it and appreciated it,” he says. “I might not have heard it or gotten that education elsewhere.” He later moved to Boston, where he played saxophone at Berklee College of Music for four years. While there, Singhji bought a computer and some gear and started making beats. “Studying music helped me in a lot of ways,” he says, “but school is about technique and theory. I think the best thing anyone can do is work on their own thing and try to be creative with it.” Oriol learned to filter his musical interests through an academic background, and it shows in the advanced-sounding melodies and structures that make Night and Day so unique.
“Night and Day”
Night and Day, which arrived earlier this year on Planet Mu, is a multi-era journey into ’70s soul, ’80s electro-funk, and ’90s Detroit techno and breakbeat hardcore. Driving-yet-understated beats provide the backbone for lush, reverbed synths accompanied by a healthy dose of soul. Its finished product conjures futuristic hovercraft joy rides along breathtaking cityscapes, like the audio equivalent of Super Nintendo’s F-Zero. “You’re not gonna forget the sound of all the music you heard as a kid,” he says. So if you hear flourishes of Theo Parrish, Domu, Neptunes, or John Coltrane, it’s not by accident. “I’ve probably listened to them more than anyone,” he says, “along with Earth, Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, [and] Leon Ware.”
As the resurgence of electro-funk broadens in scope and popularity, Oriol rises above the rest with laid-back, though highly advanced arrangements. While a club banger may be just out of reach, Oriol’s tasteful restraint, and penchant for translating emotion through his music, is perhaps his greatest strength. “I think most of the tracks on the album revolve around a melody,” he ponders. “They would sound incomplete without it. I guess that’s because the melody is the most emotional aspect for me. [Because] I can’t sing and didn’t have any vocalists on the record, I tried to make the melodies sing and say something visceral.”
If we knew anything more about CSLSX than that it is a collective based in Philadelphia and has a handful of great tracks to its name, we’d be happy to tell you. But we don’t, so the track will just have to speak for itself. The title seems rather appropriate, as a number of elements from the song could have originated in 1987; the initial drum loop and giant tom fills have ’80s drum machine written all over them and the chopped, incomprehensible vocals could easily be a sample from an ’80s freestyle group. It even could have been an instrumental for a Paula Abdul song, that is, if she had been really into psychedelics and was a little more concerned with boarding the mothership than dancing with giant cartoon cats. Decades-old pop-culture references aside, the track is an excellent mix of the cheesy and the majestic, pairing the ’80s elements with swirling pads, sparkling percussion, bouncing arps, and globs of reverb and delay. Our curiosity has certainly been sparked for the mysterious group, whose identity appears to be safe now, but for how long? (via Altered Zones)
Zed Bias, star of a recent XLR8R podcast, is a man who operates under many monikers, including Maddslinky and Funk Bias. The latter is actually a collaboration with production partner Funk Butcher, a Rinse FM host and purveyor of house and broken beat sounds. It’s been confirmed that the two have a release forthcoming on Loefah’s Swamp 81, and Zed got us hip to some of their tracks on his podcast. But Funk Butcher also has his own story to tell, most currently with this re-interpretation of late-’80s Chicago disco/house singer Loleatta Holloway’s “Love Sensation.” Riding Butcher’s own “Sinister Boogie,” Holloway sounds both classic and of-the-moment over Butcher’s warm, chopped, garage-style organs and plush high-hats. There’s still no word on the date of Swamp 81’s Funk Bias release, but we do know their track “Last Forever” has made the cut. Listen back to the Zed Bias podcast for a preview of that, and download Funk Butcher’s “Sinister Boogie/Love Sensation” right here. (via FACT)
Cologne’s Kompakt Records is now on the 11th of its Pop Ambient series, an idea conceived of and curated by Kompakt’s co-owner Wolfgang Voigt (who usually appears on the compilation under one of his many guises). Over the years, the compilation has gained a reputation as an excellent collection of majestic ambient tracks, all of which have a slight pop tinge or melodic emphasis, and this edition appears to be no different. It will feature some of Kompakt’s usual heavy-hitters, with selections from Jürgen Paape (also a co-owner of the label), Mikkel Metal, and Thomas Fehlmann, as well as some newcomers to the comp such as ANBB (the collaboration of Raster Noton’s Alva Noto and Einsturzende Neubauten’s Blixa Bargeld) and Barnt, a co-founder of the newly started Cologne-based label, Magazine. Pop Ambient 2011 appears poised to continue the tradition of the well regarded series with its release on January 31. Check the full tracklist below. (via Resident Advisor)
Tracklist: 01. ANBB / Alva Noto & Blixa Bargeld – Bernsteinzimmer 02. Marsen Jules – Once In A Moment 03. Triola – Dunkelraum 04. Wolfgang Voigt – Rückverzauberung 1 05. Bhutan Tiger Rescue – Beginner’s Waltz 06. Jürgen Paape – Ein Schöner Land 07. bvdub – Make The Pain Go Away 08. Crato – 30.6.1881 09. Barnt – Libretto 10. Mikkel Metal – The Other Side Of You 11. Jens-Uwe Beyer – Volax 12. Thomas Fehlmann – Titan
Philadelphia’s foremost purveyor of all things future bass, Starkey, has a new EP coming next week featuring five new tracks and a handful of remixes from the likes of Egyptrixx, Arp 101, Ital Tek, and other bass-minded producers. Egyptrixx’s remix of the EP’s opening track, “Robot Hands,” strips down the layered production of the original and instead focuses on an intensely repetitive 2-step groove that builds upon itself with siren-esque synths and intricate percussion. After a few minutes of methodical building, the elements culminate into a massive track with a heavy kick drum and a low, growling bass that take the remix to its full, future-sci-fi potential, especially if your system can handle a healthy dose of low end. The Space Traitor Vol. 1 EP is set to be released December 6, check the full tracklist after the jump.
1 – Robot Hands 2 – Playing With Fire 3 – Holodeck 4 – Paradise ft. Anneka 5 – Lenses 6 – Robot Hands (Egyptrixx Remix) 7 – Robot Hands (Kaiser Remix) 8 – Paradise (Rudi Zygadlo Remix) 9 – Pradise (ARP101 Remix) 10 – Paradise (+Verb Remix) 11 – Playing With Fire (Ital Tek Remix) 12 – Starkbot Beats: Space Traitor Vol 1 (narration by Halfcast)
Just when 2010 seemed to be wrapping up post-Kanye, post-Nightslugs Allstars, post-Diplomats reunion concert, UK post-dubstep producer Untold went ahead and dropped a last-minute 12″ on the historic R&S label. Titled “Stereo Freeze,” the track begins with a torrential rainstorm of wet Chicago house claps and morphs into an alien life form of gremlin-like utterances and breathy sighs à la Salt ‘N Pepa’s “Push It.” Untold has more than massive singles up his sleeve though, as a debut full-length is apparently in the works. FACT magazine caught up with Untold to talk about this and other developments in their ongoing “Five minutes with…” Check the short interview here, and before you read, make sure listen to “Stereo Freeze” below.
