The UK’s Throwing Snow (pictured above) put together this hard-hitting remix for fellow countryman Greymatter and his “Mind Over Matter” track. After a brief intro, the remix’s elements are slowly introduced one at a time; beats, synths, sound effects, and bass all step into view at their own leisure, and eventually work out the best way to lead Greymatter’s original number into new territories. It’s an understandably typical build into a well-produced dubstep tune, one which is bolstered more so by the sounds chosen by Throwing Snow than the directions they head.
The Mind Over Matter Remixes Part 2 EP is out July 12.
Honey Owens is no music newbie—she’s spent years in genre-bending outfits like Jackie-O Motherfucker, Nudge, and more recently with ambient/experimental solo project Valet. But The Miracles Club marks a new direction for Owens: house music. Teaming up with drum-machine-obsessed painter/artist Rafael Fauria, Owens is making uplifting dance music inspired by classic Chicago sounds. The duo has even enlisted the services of performance artist/dancer Ryan Boyle for their live show. The group’s debut EP, Light of Love, was released earlier this year on their own Ecstasy imprint.
It’s starting to seem that Dâm-Funk releasing a two-disc/five-LP/24-track debut album last year really wasn’t that big of a deal for the SoCal funkster. Judging by the extended run of new music Dâm’s been doling out at will, dude could probably deliver us a few more Toeachizowns before the Mayan calendar expires. Luckily, each tune added to his repertoire is as consistently rad as those before it, and this one for the Proximal label compilation, Proximity One: A Narrative of a City (out August 10), is no different. “A Day at the Carnival” rocks a particularly high-tempo and upbeat rhythm that are somewhat uncharacteristic for Dâm-Funk, but his standard collection of vintage synth tones and G-funk basslines are as warm and groovy as ever. Dâm-Funk may not be trying out new hats, but at least the one he’s got on won’t go out of style any time soon. (via Pitchfork)
Stockholm skwee-man Rigas den Andre shared this self-proclaimed “no-budget video” for the rework of his Guilty Feet, No Rhythm number “W.A.S.P. (What’s Your Poison?).” The bouncing track kicks into full-gear from the onset, and doesn’t let up the smooth grooves until its three minutes are up. For the video, bandleader Henrik von Euler corralled his friends (a.k.a. The Rigettes) into a nondescript park, and asked them to dance about onstage while pretending to play instruments amusingly incongruous with the track itself. It’s playful and lighthearted, to be sure, and pretty refreshing to just see a good group of friends drop the usual ‘we’re in a band’ seriousness and just be silly. What makes the whole thing even sweeter is that you can download the remix for free, here.
Lots of bands and producers seem to use the whole ‘elusive artist’ schtick as a crutch, trying to add an element of mystery to music that’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Hidden faces, uncertain origins, and poorly defined band line-up aside, ceo makes music that is actually unfamiliar and blurry enough to be called mysterious. “Everything Is Gonna Be Alright,” a bonus track not found on the outfit’s debut, White Magic, carries a mixed bag of influences—dubstep bass and rhythms, Balearic fuzz and buoyance, tropical instrumentation, simple pop harmonies, and club-inspired vocal sampling—that mesh into a sound as ambiguous as it is inviting. The song is a standard length, but feels like an all-too-brief glimpse into a realm of new musical possibilities.
Globe-trotting MC/DJ/producer/party starter/graf artist Kid Acne (pictured above) teamed with Spain’s Slick Dixxx and UK label Lex to hook us all up with a free compilation of music directly connected to South Yorkshire—an idea that permeates Acne’s quarterly parties in Sheffield, as well. The mixtape hosts a good number of notable music makers, like Roots Manuva, Zombie Disco Squad, Mu, Squarepusher, and many other UK-centric artists, and boasts some pretty cool artwork, to boot. You can head over here to download your copy of South Yorks Vol. 1 for free, and check out the cover and tracklist below.
Joe Cocker – Woman to Woman Kid Acne – South Yorks I Monster – Sucker for Sound (Toddla T & Ross Orton Remix) DJ Mink – Hey Hey! Can You Relate? (Hard Rap) Forgemasters – The Track With No Name Altern8 – Infiltrate 202 (Altern8 vs Astrix & Space remix) Roots Manuva – Let The Spirit (Ross Orton & Toddla T remix) Duck Beats – Pull The Other One Zombie Disco Squad – Twang Bozzwell – Siren Fitzroy North – Xibeca Olive – You’re Not Alone Squire of Gothos – Bounty Ice Cream Rogue State – Brain Cell Explosion Human League – Being Boiled Fat Truckers – Superbike Mu – Paris Hilton Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car Oris Jay – Trippin’ Pink Grease – Solid ABC – Poison Arrow Jarvis Cocker feat. Beth Ditto – Temptation (live)
Brooklyn’s Black Dice directed this lo-fi psychedelic video for fellow NY-based weird-groove makers !!!. The directing band’s warped, cluttered aesthetic shines bright throughout “AM/FM”; chopped-and-screwed VHS footage of !!! performing its new number is ran through hyperactive iMovie effect presets, quick editing, and enough ocular-confusing colors and patterns to get the video banned in Japan. It’s overstimulation at its most DIY, but the slick shimmy of “AM/FM” gives the whole thing a calmer sheen while remaining wholly appropriate for the dancefloor. You can also download “AM/FM” now from !!!’s website before the new album, Strange Weather, Isn’t It?, drops August 24 via Warp.
We’ve been reporting bits and pieces about the ongoing celebrationNinja Tune is having for its 20th year as a wonderfully eclectic and forward-thinking label. Ninja’s been giving out exclusive MP3s, revisiting old-school DJ mixes, and basically proving why they’ve remained a relevant entity in electronic music through two decades, and now we’ve got news of the latest addition to its ever-growing goodie bag. The Ninja Tune XX Box Set is a massive and ornate item full of more audio/visual content than one could possibly hope to conquer with days of free time. Six CDs of new and exclusive music, along with some Ninja Tune classics, six 7″ singles of material available only in the box set, a hardback edition of Ninja Tune: 20 Years of Beats & Pieces, and tastefully designed posters, stickers, and packaging make up the extent of the hulking release. Artists included in the long-stretching tracklist are Amon Tobin, Roots Manuva, Kid Koala, The Bug, Zomby, Jaga Jazzist, Bonobo, Toddla T, Daedelus, Dorian Concept, Eskmo, Floating Points, Wagon Christ, cLOUDDEAD, among many others. Only one week is left to pre-order this box set at a special “early bird” price from the Ninja Tune shop (it’s about $130). Get the full info on the release below.
CD1 Two Fingers ‘Fools’ * Roots Manuva ‘Its On’ * Toddla T ‘Want U Now’ (feat. Miss Dynamite) * Dorian Concept ‘Her Tears Taste Like Pears’ * Zomby ‘The Forest’ * Offshore ‘Jen At The Station’ * Emika ‘Double Edge’ Dels ‘Eating Clouds’ * Big Dada Sound ‘Signs’ * Eric B & Rakim ‘Paid In Full’ (Switch meets Coldcut Remix) * Andreya Triana ‘Lost Where I Belong’ (Flying Lotus Remix) The Bug ‘Catch A Fire’ * Eskmo ‘Cloudlight’ * Daedelus ‘LA Nocturn’
CD2 Roots Manuva ‘Dub Styles’ (Micachu Remix) * Diplo ‘Summers Gonna Hurt You’ (Diplo 2010 Remix) * The Heavy ‘How You Like Me Now’ (Joker mix) Stateless ‘Ariel’ (Rustie Remix) * Diplo ‘Newsflash’ (Metronomy Remix) * PRDCTV ‘Metropolis’ (Dan Le Sac Remix) * Darksky ‘Leave’ * The Long Lost ‘Woebegone’ (Flying Lotus’ Like Woe Mix) Spank Rock ‘Tell It What It Look Like’ (Todd Edwards Remix) * Shuttle ‘Lion’ * Poirier ‘Get Crazy’ (Mark Pritchard Remix) * Jammer ‘One Over Me’ * Fink ‘This Is The Thing’ (EL-B Remix) * Amon Tobin ‘Lost & Found’ *
CD3 Lou Rhodes & The Cinematic Orchestra ‘One Good Thing’ (version) * Bonobo & Speech Debelle ‘Sun Will Rise’ * Grasscut ‘Blink In The Night’ * Bonobo & Andreya Triana ‘Wonder When’ Quincy & Xen Cuts Allstars ‘I Hear The Drummer’ (Tunng edit) * Yppah ‘Never Mess With Sunday’ * DJ Food (title tbc) * Jaga Jazzist ‘Endless Galaxy’ * Cougar ‘$64k Rainbow’ * Amon Tobin ‘Eight Sum’ * DJ Vadim ‘Terrorist’ (Gaslamp Computer Killer Remix) * Roots Manuva ‘Witness’ (Slugabed Remix) * Andreya Triana ‘A Town Called Obsolete’ (Mala Remix) * Coldcut ‘Man In A Garage’ (King Jammy Dub) * Jono McCleery ‘Tomorrow’ (edit) Floating Points Ensemble ‘Post Suite’ *
CD4 Eskamon ‘Fine Objects’ The Bug ‘Skeng’ (Autechre Remix) * King Cannibal ‘The Grind & Crawl’ * Emika ‘Drop The Other’ (Daedelus Remix) * Amon Tobin ‘Foley Versions’ (Kronos Quartet Interpretation) * Antipop Consortium ‘Volcano’ (Four Tet Remix) Mr Scruff ‘Pickled Spider’ Jaga Jazzist ‘Toccata’ (Grasscut Remix) * The Death Set ‘Impossible’ (Shuttle Remix) Daedelus ‘Trouble With A Capital D’ * Roots Manuva ‘Let The Spirit’ (Hot Chip Remix) Mr Scruff ‘Believe’ * Bonobo ‘Eyesdown’ (Floating Points Remix) Shuttle ‘Tunnel’
CD5 The Cinematic Orchestra (title tbc) * Coldcut ‘Autumn Leaves’ (2010 Budapest Mix) * Floating Points Ensemble (no.2 title tbc) (to be released on 12″ single also) * Jaga Jazzist ‘Synchronise Your Watches’ * Coldcut ‘True Skool’ (Zomby Remix) * Bonobo ‘Eyesdown’ (feat Dels) * Clifford Gilberto ‘Deliver The Weird’ (Dorian Concept Remix) * The Bug ‘Poison Dart’ (Prefuse 73 Broke Moog Version) * Fink ‘See It All’ (Scuba Remix) * Roots Manuva ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ * cLOUDEAD vs Fat Possum (title tbc) * The Heavy (title tbc) * Blockhead ‘Ugly Brown’ *
CD6 Roots Manuva ‘Witness’ (Modeselektor Remix) * Toddla T ‘Sky Surfing’ (Benga Remix) (to be released on 12″ single also) * Roots Manuva ‘Join The Dots’ (Cut Chemist Remix) * Kid Koala ‘3 Bit Blues’ * Pop Levi ‘Blue Honey’ (Amorphous Androgenous Remix Edit) * Blockhead ‘The Music Scene’ (EL-P Remix) * Coldcut & Hexstatic ‘Timber’ (The Orb Remix) * DJ Kentaro ‘Paid In Full’ * Coldcut ‘This Island Earth’ (Joe Goddard Remix) * Qemists ‘Don’t Lose It’ * DJ Food ‘African Rhythms’ (Tom Middleton Remix) * DJ Food ‘Dark Lady’ (808 State Remix) * Herbaliser ‘Something Wicked’ (Roots Manuva Dub) *
6 x 7″ single: 1. Bogus Order ‘Chillin With My Zen’ Bogus Order ‘Zen Bones’ 2. Mr Scruff ‘Wriggle’ * Coldcut ‘Boogieman’ (King Jammy Dub) * 3. King Geedorah ‘Snakecharmer’ (feat. Kurious as Biolante) * Daedelus ‘Impending Doom’ (Rustie Remix) * 4. Two Fingers ‘Bad Girl’ (The Bug Dub) * Spank Rock ‘Sweet Talk’ (Matthew Herbert Remix) * 5. DJ Vadim ‘Bang it Out’ * Toddla T ‘Pum Pum’ * 6. Wagon Christ ‘Sloth Gets Paid’ * Shuttle ‘Rotten Guts’ (Gold Panda Remix)
It probably goes without saying, but MIA‘s upcoming quasi-self-titled third album, // / Y /, is sure to be oddly accessible, completely meta, and predictably off-center; so it’s no surprise that those three phrases go a long way toward describing this extended version of “Tekquilla,” the latest cut to creep out from the tightly guarded new record. The track features rap star Nicki Minaj for a quick verse, which, despite being totally tacked on at random, proves a solid wingman for Maya’s sing-song vocals. And though they were never mentioned as possible production contributors, we wouldn’t be entirely shocked if Basement Jaxx were credited with the instrumental, as it’s overwrought with innumerable micro-samples, blaring synths and sound effects from the repertoire of the re-emerging rave era, and an all-around air of bombastic noise pollution. Still, this is pop music at its most modern and innovative form. (via FADER)
While producer/label manager Alex B (né Botwin) might often get lumped in with Low End Theory’s abstract beat cats of Los Angeles, he’s a Colorado boy through and through. In this episode of XLR8R TV, he takes us for a trip through the kissing-cousin locales of Denver and Boulder to show us the region’s vegetarian delights, its vinyl havens, and its other unique wonders (Mexican-restaurant jazz clubs, anyone?).
Since 2002, XLR8R has produced in-depth city guides by talking to the people who know cities best: the musicians and artists responsible for creating vibrant local scenes. This episode also coincides with the release of the Denver edition of XLR8R‘s City Guide iPhone application. To download the City Guide app, go to xlr8r.com/cityguide or type in “XLR8R Scion City Guide” in the iTunes app store.
