Los Angeles’ darlings of dreamy post-punk, the lovely Warpaint quartet (who helped make this Q&A with Ariel Pink the interesting read it is), are a week from releasing their debut album on Rough Trade, but thanks to the magic of the internet, you can listen to The Fool in its entirety now. Below, you’ll find the nine-song record and all of its cavernous, delicate, and moving sounds, which includes the lead single we offered for free download last month, “Undertow”. We suggest you take some time to really delve into the subtleties of this record; Warpaint’s debut LP has a whole lot of good music to offer. You can buy The Fool in physical and digital formats on October 26.
As editors, critics, and fans look at their stack of 2010 releases, there is no question that many of them have placed Matthew Dear‘s chilling and endearing Black City high in the overwhelming heap. Dear recently kicked off a lengthy set of tour dates (see here for dates), so he’s unleashed this digital bonus track “Innh Dahh.” The track serves as an appropriate afterword to the density of Black City with its short, intimate vocal loops providing comfort to Dear’s submerged voice. While the song is squarely of the album’s somber mood, it seems to drift and float away in beatless ambience, nostalgic for Black City‘s imagined spaces yet comfortable to be left at the fringes of the action.
We’re still weeks from the release of Brooklyn beatmaker Shigeto‘s debut album for Ghostly, Full Circle, yet pieces relating to that LP continue to make their way into our ear holes. Following the download we recently offered of Circle track “Relentless Drag” comes this remix of the production by LuckyMe tunesmith and fellow NY resident Mike Slott (pictured above). The auspicious artist re-dubbed the song “Unrelentless Drag,” and inserted his own lazy hip-hop rhythms and upright bass grooves into the plinking, ethereal soundscapes that encapsulate Shigeto’s original. Slott’s remix sounds like Shigeto’s tune performed by a ramshackle jazz combo in some rainforest shanty on the astral plane. That is to say, it’s really pretty, and we like it. (via FACT)
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Did you guys ever play that weird Japanese videogame Katamari Damacy? It’s this sort of puzzle/action game that takes place in a hyper-stylized, cartoonish version of Earth. You play as a tiny little alien prince that travels around the world, rolling up the blocky, pixelated mishmash that litters the many environs of our planet until it becomes this crazy, massive ball of tea cups, bikes, cows, cars, houses, stadiums, monuments, and whatever other inexplicable stuff. Anyway, that game is a lot of fun, and this new video for Flying Lotus’ Pattern + Grid World cut “Kill Your Co-Workers” reminds us of the cutesy graphics and playful nonchalance of it, though with a hilariously sinister touch. Directed by the insanely talented people at Beeple, this beautifully rendered music video starts out seeming like a happy-go-lucky parade in some cartoon town with people walking down the street holding signs that say stuff like “RAINBOWS ARE YUMMY!” and “FUN IS SWEET!” Then, out of nowhere, some dude named Rhon harshes everyone’s mellow when he tells his friend Steve, “Dude, yer robots r crap 4ever!!” Steve isn’t too stoked on this, and things get pretty grim for those in attendance.
Coming November 16 on Ramp Recordings‘ fresh new imprint Pattern (PTN) is the debut EP from nascent London house producer DJ Dom. This one is the first in a series of upcoming releases, and Dom is also readying a 12″ for friends and label honchos Brackles and Shortstuff, whose Blunted Robots label has been creating space in the catalog of future-minded UK bass music over the last two years. He’s described as a deep house producer in his press release, but there is no doubt Dom’s association with the UK underground will melt and mutate that description into something wholly new and lacking definition. Check the tracklist below.
Tracklist:
1. Boss Mode 2. Computer Love 3. Plastic People 4. Untitled
Minimal tech-house veteran Jay Haze (also the man behind Fuckpony, Sub Version, and The Architect) delivers another of the dark tracks he’s come to be known for with “I Wait For You.” Off his recent EP of the same name, the track is steady and soulful, weaving a variety of themes, synth lines, and vocal threads (thanks to guest vocalist Laila Tov) over the consistently driving eight and a half minutes. The video for “I Wait For You” is a beautifully shot black-and-white affair, following the story of two young Peruvian kids as they weave through traffic, get stared down by patrolling officers, and eventually hitch a ride out to the ocean to catch some waves. Sure, they’re not the best surfers, but hey, it looks like a lot of fun. “I Wait For You” is available as a 12″ single whose b-side features Ricardo Villalobos on the track “The Darkest Disko” and is the first single from Jay’s upcoming album, Love = Evolution.
Minnesota-bred rapper, well-regarded freestyle battler, and turntablist Michael Larsen—who wrote and rhymed under the moniker Eyedea, often with his partner-in-crime DJ Abilities, and also made music in the bands Face Candy and Carbon Carousel—was found dead by his mother on Sunday, October 17. Larsen was known best in the hip-hop community for his albums released via the Rhymesayers and Epitaph labels, the most recent record being 2009’s By the Throat. The cause of Larsen’s death has not yet been released, his mother adding via Facebook, “At this time, we kindly request your respect and our privacy as we process this devastating loss.” You can help Larsen’s family cope with their loss and pay for the funeral costs by donating to this PayPal account. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the friends and family of Eyedea.
Tom Ford (a.k.a. Peverelist) and his Punch Drunk label have been solidly representing Bristol’s dubstep scene since 2006, but even with an established name and fanbase, he continues to push things forward. “The Hum” b/w “rrrr” single comes out today, and it finds Ford working in tandem with relative newcomer Hyetal. The young producer has previously collaborated with Blunted Robots don Shortstuff, and his solo track “Phoenix” was certainly a big tune earlier this year. “The Hum” and “rrrr” find Hyetal’s love of blippy video-game synths left intact, but Peverelist’s veteran knack for thick, sweaty percussion is also on display. Both tracks are streaming below.
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Red Bull Music Academy has given us an exclusive stream of their recent Culture Clash contest at London’s Roundhouse between Goldie and his Metalheadz crew, Soul Jazz Soundsystem with Oxman, Skream, Benga, Joker, and more. Take some extremely bass-heavy tracks, some reggae/dub classics, and throw in rewinds, some colorful MCing, and some good ol’ competitive spirit and you pretty much get the idea. Spoiler alert! The crowd spoke and Channel One took the prize at the end of the night. If you feel brave enough to yell out a few “Boohs” and “Eeermenows,” then by all means take a listen to the stream from Red Bull Music Academy Radio and judge for yourself who should have been the champion of the Entertainment Round of Culture Clash.
Danny Yorke lights up a spliff in his London flat and takes a patient puff before telling me about how he remixed Ikonika, released two artist albums, and is auditioning tracks for his Eye4Eye label’s next release. It’s been a busy 2010 so far; maybe he deserves a smoke break. But the 30-something producer, better known as Altered Natives, is also calculated, pausing like a chess player contemplating his next move.
The reticence might have something to do with his admitted bad-boy past as a graffiti writer who left home at 16 and formed a hip-hop crew in North London. Or maybe it’s that with song titles like “Eating Drinking Fucking Sucking,” “Cut, Slash, Mutilate,” and “Rage of Aquarius,” he has to clearly explain his motivations. Yorke is a rule-breaker who eschews London music scenes, but has been embraced by broken beat, house, and bashment circles thanks in part to his 2009 single “Rass Out” (Fresh Minute), which became an anthem as the UK funky scene exploded.
“Rass Out”
He’s come a long way from his days in the early ’90s making hip-hop and discovering acid house and jungle. Inspired by Hackney artists like Overlord X and Shut Up And Dance, Yorke began producing his own tracks with an MPC-60. He made hip-hop with his group The Heretics and then bruk riddims as Da Altered Natives for Broadcite Recordings. After a few compilation appearances in 2004-’05, Yorke issued his ’08 solo debut, A Thousand Days of Patience. “[That album] was like my tombstone to my time at Broadcite,” he explains. “I spent 1000 days with them and my patience was up. But it’s all good.”
No, he’s not afraid to speak his mind, musically or otherwise. His music is filled with gritty drum patterns, sharp lead synths, and stabby basslines; he even released a track called “Goya Owes Me Money,” which name-checks a defunct UK music distributor. “The music I make is quite personal,” he says. “I’ve been that demon in my tracks. They reflect my current status in life. Some of the music that I like most is really quite dark.”
“Out of Existence”
That heaviness comes through both on his gully house album Tenement Yard Volume 1 and the noisy bruk-beat vibes of Serial Vendetta, both released this summer on Eye4Eye. Yorke’s tracks have a London edge and a sinister groove that sounds especially good on large speakers. While Serial Vendetta‘s title doesn’t necessarily signify ill intents—it’s an anagram of Altered Natives—other titles have a more literal meaning. “Eye4Eye is a reference to taking my own fucking life back,” Yorke says about reclaiming his autonomy post-Broadcite and charging ahead with new output.
Now he has set his sights on more of everything: remixes, new aliases, and a new EP featuring fellow UK producers Ceramic, DJ Grayz, and Funkstar. He’s also completed tracks for Tenement Yard Volume 2, a single for Martyn’s 3024 label, and hopes to release music on Hyperdub in 2011. “I’m constantly working,” he says. “There will never be a shortage of music—it’s a matter of whether people will get bored of it.”
