Pacific Northwest bass producer Simon Ho (a.k.a. Cedaa) is another young music maker taking a page or two out of the footwork/juke playbook for his own tunes, although Ho likes to call his sound Bellingham bounce. So leave it to newly minted XLR8R scribe Dave Quam—who wrote this fine article on the Chicago-based genres for our latest print issue—to sign three of Ho’s tracks for the first release of his new imprint, the cleverly titled Free Bass. The opener of Cedaa’s Old Growth EP is “Escalade,” probably the closest relative to footwork featured on the release. All the key attributes are present: incessant vocal samples, woofer-cooking bass, breakneck 808 beats, and halftime claps. Yet Ho still manages to make those trademark sounds his own with the injection of more melody into his low-end, a serious helping of warm synth pads, and a particular sheen uncommon in your average Chicago-born footwork production. You can download the whole Old Growth EP for free via Quam’s It’s After the End of the World blog, here.
On D.O.B., his third full-length release, Jamaican dancehall sensation Busy Signal shows no signs of slowing the momentum that has made the Saint Ann’s native and Alliance member one of the genre’s leading proponents. Busy’s known for his seemingly endless energy, and the mix of his tireless lyrical exhortations with frenetic, hot-stock riddims makes for a kinetic listening experience. The kick-off track, “How U Bad So,” sets an appropriately hectic tone, cruising along at a breakneck tempo, with offsetting percussive flurries, tons of bass, oscillating synth lines, pimp-slap handclaps, builds, breaks, and even a whistle. Basically, everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in—yet somehow, it’s not over the top, at least not by dancehall standards.
Busy’s mic persona is brash, swagger-heavy, and authentically Jamaican. He bigs up the ladies, ghetto youths, high-grade marijuana, his bank account, and the gossip talk at the “Hair Dresser Shop.” He updates The Commodores, Phil Collins, and the Stalag 17 riddim. His stylistic versatility shines on “Busy Latino,” a brassy, jazzy tune complete with en español backing vocals.
But the album’s best—and most original—song is “Opera,” a sparse, minimal track consisting of nothing but strings, Auto-Tuned arpeggios, and a relentless cadence. Stripped bare of the multilayered bashment riddims, Busy’s lyrical skills are undeniable. It would have been nice had D.O.B. taken even more experimental chances, which could have elevated the album above its somewhat predictable adherence to dancehall conventions. Then again, in dancehall, artistry has always been secondary to making butts shake to earth-rattling grooves.
Even though Dover, TX, producer Blixaboy has been making music in a number of forms for nearly 20 years, his forthcoming full-length album is a sort of re-introduction of the artist’s forward-thinking dubstep- and bass-leaning sound. Blixaboy will release Kliks & Politiks through his own label, Astroblaque, on October 19, but we’ve got the first leak from that record for you today. “Sci-Fi Jack” is the third cut from Politiks, and finds the tunesmith smack dab in the middle of some low-end gymnastics out in the middle of space. Through “Jack”‘s near five-minute runtime, Blixaboy never once lets up from his bouncing bass rhythms or touches down from his cosmic sound explorations—moving deeper instead to the outer reaches of dubstep’s club-ready sonics. You can listen to all of Politiks now, over on the Blixaboy/Astroblaque website, here.
Next week, the venerable Soul Jazz label is jumping headfirst into the post-dubstep-future-garage-bass-post-everything game with the release of a new compilation entitled Future Bass. The album features all-new tracks from the likes of Four Tet, Mala, Untold, Ramadanman, Coki, Kevin “The Bug” Martin’s new project Black Chow, Distal, and others, and XLR8R has a stream of the entire thing. Start rattling your subs now.
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Bet you didn’t think it would be possible to make Salem‘s (pictured above) blown-out, depraved, and bastardized music any bit creepier than it already is, did you? We never even considered the option ourselves, but here we are: San Francisco’s oOoOO has remixed Salem’s “Asia,” creating something that sounds like it needs to be chained to a post in your grandmother’s basement. The familiar distorted smash of drum-machine sounds still remains from Salem’s original, along with snippets of wavering, ghostly moans the trio used for vocals, but the ‘witch house’ brother oOoOO decided to give “Asia” a cleaner hip-hop beat, a handful of twinkling synths, and some dismembered vocal samples to alter the track to his liking. Anyone looking to add another song to their Halloween party mixes needs look no further, and anyone looking to score some free Salem gear needs look no further than our contest going on here.
Singer, producer, DJ, and house music legend Robert Owens is set to expand further on his 20-plus-year career with a brand-new album of soulful dance music adorned with his iconic voice. The 19-track double-disc album entitled Art will be released on October 8 via Germany’s Compost label. Along with Owens vocal work, the record features production from long-time collaborators Larry Heard, Atjazz, Show-B, and Beanfield, and is split between two ‘Vaults’: The first contains more somber and slowed-down tunes, while the second focuses on Owens’ “history in the old and new school vein.” You can check out Art‘s full tracklist and artwork before it’s released, below.
Vault 1 01. Pipe Dreams 02. Black Diamond 03. One Love 04. Hearts and Soul 05. Reach Inside 06. Wonderful 07. Counting Blessings 08. Art 09. Sacrifice 10. Same Old Thing
Vault 2 01. Rise 02. Unique 03. Be Your Own Hero 04. Ancestral History 05. It Takes Me High 06. Exhale and Breath 07. Step Inside the Moment 08. Moments 09. Cherish Your Love
Still over a month until the release of its debut full-length album, the globe-trotting duo of Lazer Sword submitted this inspired mix to International Tapes‘ ongoing mixtape series. The DJ set of bass-laden tunes was named 808 Mix, simply enough, because of its focus on the booming sounds still used to this day from that classic drum machine. Low Limit and Lando Kal mixed together a whole ton of club-appropriate sonics for their set, including cuts from their new album, an unreleased Lando Kal jam, and loads of beat-heavy tunes from Ramadanman, Machinedrum, Distal, Space Dimension Controller, Bok Bok, Krystal Klear, and many more. You can stream and download Lazer Sword’s 808 Mix for free here.
Stones Throw has announced an upcoming album from former Slave frontman and funk music OG Steve Arrington to be entirely produced by Dam-Funk. “I Be Trippin” is the first taste of their collaboration—although Arrington did also guest on “4 My Homies” on Dam-Funk’s “Hood Pass Intact” 12″—and it finds Dam cooking up a classic-sounding, laid-back, feel-good West Coast beat complete with bubbling synth pads, some classy electric piano, and a fat bassline. Layers of Arrington’s vocal float over the beat going through some of the many scenarios where he be “trippin” and throwing out commands to “drop that funk.” This track is a must for any slow-motion pool party/bbq you’ve been planning. No word on when the album is due, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do.
Though he’s been practicing the art of DJing since the late 1980s and producing since the mid-1990s, the productions of London’s Mr. G (a.k.a. Colin McBean) are only now getting the broader attention that they so richly deserve. One of the original progenitors of a funkier, low-end house that has blown up in the past year, McBean has always been a favorite of DJs and the techno cognoscenti, but his recent debut album on Matt Edwards’ Rekids imprint has brought a whole new group of fans and producers to his music. Yet McBean is anything but bitter about the belated appreciation.
“I don’t get into the bittersweet thing at all, because I try not to be negative at all in anything in my life,” McBean intones in his warm, silky English accent. “Fans have simply come back around to this twist on house music. Seeing the youth pick up on these sounds is a great new picture.”
That said, McBean acknowledges that producers like himself and Robert Hood “don’t always get what we deserve, and that’s the nature of the beast. For me, it’s simply nice to get some positive feedback, because producing can be a lonely little world, and putting out singles doesn’t necessarily give me the validation that I need to hear.”
“Blessed”
After years of releasing only singles and EPs, Still Here (Get On Down) acts as a long-form way for McBean “to test out the waters, to see whether I still have it.” And with the accolades of the press and fans alike, it is certain that Mr. G is still a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps it’s is because McBean still uses an all-analog, MPC-based approach to production that allows for maximum spontaneity and freshness, both in the studio and live. “Blessed” perfectly conforms to that aesthetic, building from a bassline and slowly incorporating piano and vocal samples that eventually cut in and out in the places where the listener would least expect. “In the studio, I do my cuts and tweaks and jumps on the fly,” he explains. “It’s more than building a track; it’s the picture that you’ve gleaned while you’ve built the track that you’ll produce again. Sometimes in the studio, it’s one take and the piece is perfect, and sometimes it’s 29 takes and the picture of the sound still isn’t right.”
Yet because his live set-up is the same as his studio set-up, it’s clear that McBean has a pretty firm grip on the aural picture he wants to create. Indeed, his one-off live sets are legendary, not only for the way they push the bass to its extreme depths, but also for McBean’s stage presence—unlike many DJs who simply stand behind a board, Mr. G is “doing robotics, jumps and leaps, punching the MPC,” and acting like a true entertainer.
“Performing live, as I get more into it, people go crazy. It’s about interacting with the crowd, creating a fantastic total atmosphere for the people on the floor,” enthuses McBean. “Taking performative risks like that, it can take time to get recognized for your achievements. But right now, my sound is really ripe.”
After releasing music from Neon Indian, How to Dress Well, and several other high-quality, lo-fi artists, it would be totally okay for the folks at Lefse Records to rest on their laurels a bit. Instead, the Sacramento-based label is indulging its inner TLC impulses and expanding with a new series called Way Slow. In the words of label head Matt Halverson, “Each release will be a unique creation from start to finish. Many of our artists are going to be releasing material that is well outside of their normal sound, some will be collaborations, some will be from parts of the world where most of us will never see… Our physical products will be hand wrapped/sewn/carved individually for every release and presented as a heartwarming package of beautiful sound.” The first offering comes on October 12 from London’s Banjo or Freakout, and if the rest sounds as good as the dreamy, washed-out haze-pop of “Over There,” this Way Slow series could be something special. Future installments are forthcoming from artists like Houses/Teen Daze, Phaseone, Ganglians, Sonny Smith, Sunnybrook, and Tape Deck Mountain.
