Greg Zifcak (one half of rave-ready weirdos Eats Tapes) and Andre Ferreria (a.k.a. Bobby Browser) are the Bay Area’s Global Warning, the latest addition to a budding crop of hardware-rocking, old-school-obsessed production outfits hell bent on filling our dance parties with the sounds of Roland’s finest vintage gear. The unstoppable house rhythms and undulating bass melodies of Warning’s “071110” are lifted off a compilation entitled Pacific Housing Authority, a DIY release which serves as a sort of introduction for this crew of producers from up and down the West Coast. XLR8R faves like The Miracles Club and C.L.A.W.S. are included in the bunch, along with fresh faces Finesse and Prints, among others. You can stream the entire compilation here, but if you want a physical copy, you’ll have to catch the Authority on tour through August.
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Earlier this year, the folks from La Blogotheque made a stop in Buenos Aires, and while they were there, filmed this lengthy clip with the city’s ZZK collective for their ongoing series of Take-Away Shows. The series usually focuses on more indie/singer-songwriter types, but perhaps the sweltering heat of the Argentinian summer inspired them to try something a little different. As it turns out, the video does a nice job capturing ZZK’s futuristic cumbia/hip-hip/neo-folkloric vibe without simply filming a bunch of dudes on laptops pushing buttons. ZZK is currently in the midst of its North American tour; the next show is tomorrow night in Denver, and stops along the West Coast are scheduled over the course of the next week.
Seeing as how the silken-voiced Andreya Triana got her first taste of widespread exposure lending her sultry croon to Flying Lotus‘ “Tea Leaf Dancers,” from the Reset EP, it makes perfect sense that this remix of her brand-new single, “Lost Where I Belong,” sounds like it was ripped straight from FlyLo’s own discography. The warm, glittering tune even starts midway through a thick melody, like producer Steven Ellison had placed it within one of his interconnected, shapeshifting opuses, and the busy basslines, orchestral arrangements, and shuffling beat work are pure Cosmogramma. But as the bulk of the instrumental drifts away, it’s apparent that Triana’s wounded psalm inspired Ellison’s brilliant production, as he leaves her voice and some subtle harp flourishes to finish the song alone.
As you all should know by now, we dig on some Mosca. We’ve had the UK-based DJ/producer hook us up with a podcast, swooned over his Four Tet remix, and spread the good word of his Square One EP for Night Slugs, so excuse us while we gush a bit more over this excellent tunesmith and the awesome mix he just hooked the internet up with. Mosca will be performing at FABRICLIVE on August 6, alongside folks like Untold, Appleblim, Instra:mental, Al Tourettes, and D Bridge, but before all that hubbub, he’s delivered a DJ mix to stoke everyone’s excitement for his performance. Mosca FABRICLIVE Promo Mix is 80 minutes of club-ready bass music, tropical riddims, unreleased tunes, and a bit of Mosca’s own production magic. You can check out the tracklist and download/stream the mix below, and read an exclusive interview the DJ did with Fabric here.
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Blawan – Potchla Vee [Unreleased] Rubi Dan – Pelvic Floor (Acapella) [Unreleased] Mosca – Tilt Shift [Forthcoming Fat City] Deamonds – Tilt Shift Crooks [Unreleased] Keke Palmer – Super Jerkin’ Equinoxx – Infantry Riddim (Version) T’Nez – Normal Day (Infantry Riddim) Kemikal – Hear Mi Nuh (Infantry Riddim) Navino – Put It On (Infantry Riddim) Terre Thaemlitz – Radio Freedom Ramadanman – Grab Somebody [Unreleased] G.O.D Limited – Bounce Kismet – Loose Screw [Unreleased] DJ Deekline & Red Polo – Let It Bump (Hydroz Remix) Menta – Sounds Of Da Future Braiden – The Alps [Forthcoming Doldrums] Seany B – Bass Release DJ Technics – Hoody Hood Rat Riva Starr – Maria Funkystepz – Leave With You [Unreleased] Dwongo Lab – 60 Seconds Pariah – Crossed Out Ramadanman & Midland – More Than You Know Alison Hinds – Roll It Gal (Acapella) Doc Daneeka – Hold On [Forthcoming Ramp] T Williams – Drumstrumental [Unreleased] Imran Khan – Amplifier Frankie Bones – Beware J2K Ft Roses Gabor – Don’t Let It Go [Unreleased] Mosca – Brand New Polaroid Loefah – Fire Elements Jaimeson – Urban Hero Darqwan – Confused Tubby vs Footsie – Tiger Style Joe – Digest JME Ft Tempz – CD Is Dead (Acapella) Youngstar – The Formula TRC Ft Z.O & Bonez – Bang (DJ Q Remix) [Unreleased] General LOK – Elmo Riddem CRST – Dance (Mosca Remix) [Forthcoming No Hats No Hoods]
The online UK dance/bass music radio station Rinse FM just recently had good reason to celebrate, as the taste-making massive climbed the status ladder from ‘pirate radio station’ up to ‘officially licensed FM broadcaster.’ Now, possibly an even bigger reason for the music hub to party is on its way; Rinse is turning 16. To properly ring in this momentous milestone, the folks at FWD>> + Rinse are pulling out all the stops to host an insane lineup at their long-running party. On September 10, Skream, Benga, Boy Better Know, Geeneus, Katy B, Plastician, Zinc, Joker, Elijah & Skilliam, Ben UFO, Supa D, Roska, Oneman, MA1, and many more well-known and up-and-coming DJ/producers will fill the three rooms of London’s Fabric club with brilliant dance tunes to properly celebrate Rinse’s Sweet 16. You can snag tickets for the epic party here. Happy early birthday, guys!
Earlier this month, we were pretty stoked to catch a completely new (and masteredthistime) jam from the prolific Dâm-Funk (he just delivered this sweet modern funk mix, too—seriously, does he ever stop?), “A Day at the Carnival,” and now we’re being treated to a remix of the upbeat instrumental from Proximal co-conspirator Sahy Uhns (pictured above). The young beatsmith transformed Dâm’s retro-minded boogie tune into something a bit more late-’00s, full of crunchy, crackling textures in the stereo peripherals, some Ableton-plug-in wizardry, and slow-grooving hip-hop beats that scream beat scene. You can snag more like-minded tunes from Sahy Uhns and his Proximal cohorts on the Proximity One: Narrative of a City compilation, which is out now. (via FADER)
A lot of wonderfully innovative and interesting things have been brewing over in the Planet Mu camp lately. Aside from signing loads of awesome producers to its roster, like Tropics, DJ Nate, Solar Bears (pictured above), Oriol, and plenty more, the ever-growing label has got a load of releases coming out soon, which come with high recommendations. In the queue for Planet Mu’s schedule you’ll find DJ Nate’s first LP, Da Trak Genious, coming September 6, and a couple more juke/footwork releases from DJ Rashad and DJ Roc to be released in October. Ikonika is dropping a new EP towards the end of August, new signings Optimum, Tropics, and Numan each have short releases coming this fall, and Ireland’s answer to Boards of Canada, Solar Bears, will release its debut full-length, She Was Colored In, September 20. That’s a whole lot of music to look forward to. Bring it on, Planet Mu.
Highly touted electronic-pop (or ‘chillwave,’ if you must) darling Alan Palomo unleashed a warbling, fuzzy, psychedelic beast of a debut album back in 2009 under the name Neon Indian. Lots of people, including us, got into that album pretty hard, so it’s not too surprising that nearly a year later, Psychic Chasms is getting revamped and re-released as a deluxe edition complete with an entirely new disc of remixes from indie and electronic music’s elite. Mind Ctrl: Psychic Chasms Possessed is the forthcoming companion disc to Palomo’s full-length, and features nine remixes from the likes of YACHT, Toro Y Moi, Body Language, Dntel, Javelin, Bibio, and Anoraak. The deluxe edition of Chasms will be released September 28 via Static Tongues/FADER Label/Lefse. Check out the artwork and tracklist for Mind Ctrl below.
Deadbeat Summer (Toro Y Moi Remix) Should Have Taken Acid With You (Body Language Remix) (If I knew, I’d Tell You) (Javelin Remix) Mind, Drips (Bibio Remix) Terminally Chill (YACHT Remix) Ephemeral Artery (Darby Cicci of The Antlers – Fresh Breath Remix) Psychic Chasms (Twin Shadow Cover) Local Joke (Dntel Mix) Psychic Chasms (Anoraak Remix)
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The formula makes sense; Tobacco is weird, Beck is (relatively) weird, and the song they wrote together, “Grape Aerosmith,” is kinda weird too, so yes, the video should also be weird. But what director Allen Cordell delivers is unprecedentedly strange and nonsensical. A man named James Petz—who is apparently the CEO of something—makes some calls asking for an Elaine, tidies up his workspace, talks briefly to the camera, and heads out into the world, which all happens before losing his mind and inexplicably ending up in the woods with a trio of colorful characters. Oh yeah, and then meat comes out of his face and silly string springs from his head. Trippy, bro.
There are producers aplenty that would argue one-click mixing is damaging, but there’s a niche without multimillion-dollar studio access that can appreciate chained audio processing plug-ins. Waves‘ Chris Lord-Alge Artists Signature Collection (MSRP: $830, henceforth referred to as CLA Sigs) offers some effortless impact to those who don’t want to carve individual frequencies. And yet, these aren’t casual tools.
As an engineer, Chris Lord-Alge has manned the desk for marquee modern-rock radio artists, and these plug-ins exude airplay ambition. The CLA Sigs put a chassis atop modeled versions of Lord-Alge’s favorite compressors, channel-strip EQs, reverbs, delays, pitchbenders, doublers, etc. to give tracks punch. Each of the six application-specific CLA Sigs (Bass, Drums, Vocals, Guitars, Unplugged, and Effects) is interfaced in a mini-mixing board GUI with eight sliders and six buttons, so there’s more than just hitting Insert. Project studios, however, can have modest processing power, so testing was in Logic Pro 9 on a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with 6 GB RAM. As expected, these plug-ins are resources-hungry, so don’t anticipate running more than a few instances on a slimline rig (this may require, say, affecting bussed drums instead of separate kit pieces), but the end results aren’t limited.
Applied to stems recorded by Gigantor of Evol Intent/Computer Club, the CLA Sigs could both open up and subvert. Each plug-in’s components has three cheekily named presets to cycle boosts, cuts, widening, gating, re-amping, flanges, etc. It’s intuitive, but also easily abusable, making things bright, yet with sub-bass-eclipsed mids if not properly calibrated. Used conscientiously, however, these plug-ins compellingly sit vocals, accent drums (or creatively distort them), and push stringed instrument presence.
Sure, you can shape more idiosyncratic transients, apply custom impulses, etc, but if you’re blending live band elements and time is money, these EQ curves are cash well spent.
