Long-time Detroit hip-hop producer Apollo Brown (pictured above) shared the latest single from his recently released sophomore album, The Reset. The record features loads of collaborations with a lengthy list of talented MCs, and here we have “Hungry” with wordsmiths Black Milk and Little Brother‘s Rapper Big Pooh taking the mic. Through Brown’s bright and soulful beat work, the dual vocal attack assails the topic of—what else?—being awesome. Between each verse littered with organ stabs and snare cracks, Black Milk repeats ad infinitum, “I can’t sleep, I’m on the grind, I’m hungry”—reminding us exactly what it takes to break through the ever-growing rap scene: ambition and persistence.
Germany’s premiere veteran techno label Kompakt recently introduced the world to a forthcoming series focusing on extremely limited-edition CD and 12″ releases available exclusively online, called Kompakt.fm Exklusive. The label describes the venture as a chance to get back to the roots of what Kompakt was born of: “being an independent record store and label that is able to offer our fans directly a wealth of exciting new releases and lost tunes that folks aren’t able to find anywhere else.” A string of releases is already slated to launch June 25 with contributions from GusGus, Mugwump, Michael Mayer, Matias Aguayo, DJ Koze (pictured above), Wolfgang Voigt, and plenty more. More detailed information is available here.
The most recent champion for the genre commonly called post-dubstep, James Blake, shared a new and somewhat unlikely tune with the internet, called “Measurements.” We use the world unlikely because the track not only strays from the producer’s typical format of sub-bass melodies matching with shuffled rhythms and warped vocal sampling, but also primarily features Blake’s own lyrical performance front and center. The near-five-minute song pushes a particularly hushed gospel style, but trades the usual organ sounds for a bulbous synth and a proper choir for a host of dry and affected voices, all seemingly from the classically trained musician’s own mouth. It sounds like another step in Blake’s new direction, and we’d like to eventually hear these sounds mixed in with his already highly enjoyable dance tunes sometime in the near future. Stream “Measurements” below. (via FADER)
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This precious video of “old-school” Flash animations comes to us courtesy of director Simeon Tennant and Canadian analog-synth auteur Solvent. The images in the video for “Loss For Words,” taken from Solvent’s most recent album for Ghostly, Subject to Shift, feature little cartoon creatures in a futuristic cityscape growing farther and farther apart from each other. Eventually, the two are on separate planets, and one watches the other with a telescope, waving a final farewell. Not only does the style perfectly fit Solvent’s own decidedly vintage sound, but the narrative couldn’t be more appropriate.
It seems like we’ve been inundated with material from the forthcoming second HEALTH remix album, DISCO2, and we can’t say we’re upset about it. There was the announcement of the whole thing, the digitally distorted take on “Eat Flesh” from Crystal Castles, the one original track on the release, “USA Boys,” and now this bit from Black Moth Super Rainbow front-guy Tobacco (pictured above). The remix is precisely what you’d expect from the pairing: stripped-down hip-hop beats, spacey analog synth melodies, and HEALTH’s ethereal vocal track lilting above everything. The sounds feel so naturally paired, maybe the two acts should consider forming a supergroup.
Erasure frontman Andy Bell dropped a new solo album yesterday on Mute, entitled Non-Stop. It certainly prompted a “That guy is putting out an album?” moment in the XLR8R office, but then we spotted that Bell had the good sense to tap UK producer and 2-step enthusiast Deadboy (pictured above) for a remix of the first single, “Call on Me.” Give it a listen below, and hear how Deaboy has twisted and turned Bell’s vocals into a silky smooth garage melody.
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Alex Georgopoulos, the multi-tasking musician and producer best known for his work with Tussle and, more recently, Arp, recently completed work on his sophomore solo album, The Soft Wave. The new work comes nearly three years after Arp’s debut record, In Light, and will be released on the same label, Smalltown Supersound, September 7. The Soft Wave was written and recorded during Georgopoulos’ recent move from San Francisco to New York, and is said to incorporate more varied live instrumentation (guitar, flute, piano, and even vocals) than its predecessor. The press release for Arp’s new album states, “Though Georgopoulos still has a knack for creating environments in which you want to recline, hammock-style, he’s also peppered The Soft Wave with soft blasts of blissed–out fuzz. Recorded to two-inch tape, its warm glow and blown-out formalism will undoubtedly appeal to a broad, sophisticated range of tastes.” A 12″ single of the record’s lead track, “Pastoral Symphony,” will precede The Soft Wave in August, along with remixes from Sweden’s Studio, Etienne Jaumet, and Mauve Deep. Check out the album’s tracklist and artwork below.
01 Pastoral Symphony: I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room 02 White Light 03 Alfa (Dusted) 04 Catch Wave 05 High Life 06 Grapefruit 07 Summer Girl 08 From A Balcony Overlooking The Sea 09 Silver Clouds
Now in its fifth week of celebrations for its 20th year of releasing independent electronic music, Ninja Tune has offered up this free download of DJ mix history. Back in 1991 on New Year’s Eve, two young DJ/producers named Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann (who was recently featured in XLR8R‘s pages) walked into Coldcut‘s Kiss FM studios on Holloway Rd. in London to lay down a mix of now-old-school techno, ambient, house, and electronica. The duo, known best as The Orb, recorded this DJ set prior to releasing its chart-topping debut album, The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. Matt Black of Ninja Tune and Coldcut recalls, “The Orb played a lot of abstract, cool, spoken word and cutup stuff, which seemed really impressive and weird… We were like ‘fuck, how did they make that?’ It was just quite arty and clever and odd… A lot of it was just done in a one-man live mix, literally running round the studio, turning decks on and off! Raw but fun. Those were the days.” The download is available for free, with the exchange of your precious email address, here, and will be there for six days.
Much like the cover for the record this track is taken from, Shlohmo‘s (pictured above) forthcoming Camping EP, Shigeto‘s remix is a colorful cut-and-paste affair. However, unlike the EP’s artwork, its serrated edges are smoothed to a fine sheen and made to fit together like a seamless puzzle of intricate beat music. The fresh-faced Ghostly artist snagged the lo-fi bass-synth rumbles and warbled rhythmic noises from Shlomoshun Deluxe track “Spoons,” and adorned those original sounds with his style of preciously crafted micro-sample beats and atmosphere. Aside from loving the song, it makes us even more excited to hear Shlohmo’s latest originals alongside new remixes from LA beat kids Baths and Asura when the Camping EP is released on June 15.
The Blunted Robots catalog only runs three releases deep, yet label founders and former university mates Shortstuff (a.k.a. Richard Attley) and Brackles (a.k.a. Rob Kemp) have already left an impressive mark on London’s hyperactive bass music scene. Curious about exactly what makes these boys tick and how things operate at Blunted Robots HQ, we let Shortstuff corral his partner out of bed and pepper him with questions about what goes on behind the scenes at their blossoming imprint.
Shortstuff: Hello, Brackles. How are you doing? Brackles: All good, thanks.
Did you get in okay [from your flight]? This isn’t going in the interview, is it?
Yeah, this is it. Okay.
So, Brackles, you’re one half of the team behind Blunted Robots. Talk me through your role in the label. I do considerably less than Shortstuff. I’m the ideas man. Robot Dance, that was me.
Are they all pun-based ideas? Yes. This has become a bit like a job interview.
I know all the readers are dying to know, which one of you writes the beats and who makes the little noises with their mouth? I think they’re samples. Aren’t they?
What inspired you to start your own label? Having tunes that we thought were good, mainly. We wanted to take the credit for them.
Is Shortstuff as inspiring as he sounds? There’s nothing more inspiring than Richard’s bedroom at 1 a.m…. That sounded a bit gay.
Bok Bok‘s “Citizens Dub” was an inspired choice for the third record. Did you purposefully choose an inferior record [Brackles’ and Shortstuff’s “Pipey D”] for the b-side to make his seem better? It does seem like that, if you read the reviews.
Bok Bok Feat. Bubbz – “Citizens Dub”
If you could choose any record ever to release on Blunted Robots, what would it be? Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator.”
Okay, why? It’s just nice and camp, isn’t it?
Is that the criteria for a Blunted Robots release then? Yeah, nice and quirky and camp.
Any plans to let Martin Kemp release his music elsewhere? Someone asked me that the other day, and I said no. It’s all got to come out on Robots. I don’t care if it holds him back.
Do you feel as though you groomed him for 22 years of his life? Don’t say “groomed”…
…You’ve groomed him up all nice, and now someone else might come along and take a piece of the pie… Exactly… without tickling the balls. This shouldn’t go in.
Any hot new property with similarly silly names? No, I think all the names on the label are alright. My answers are a bit Spinal Tap, aren’t they? I sound like that guy with the hats… Just not as funny.
The label seems to have an extremely strong brand. Do you make any money with such fancy-pants sleeves? I think we always intended for it to be a strong brand. We knew Spam Chop was a talented designer, and I like the artwork. That’s what we’re all about…
What, doing stuff that you like? No, cartoony stuff. We’re not too serious.
They’re all quite camp aren’t they, the robots? Yeah, like The Bash Street Kids [comic strip].
I don’t think The Bash Street Kids were anywhere near as camp… They’re not that camp, are they?
Your robot is quite flattering, whereas Shortstuff’s looks like a fat little baby. Do you seek to undermine him at every turn? I had no input, so that must just be how Spam Chop perceives things.
Do you have any plans to release yours and Shortstuff’s solo stuff? Yeah, we do. But it’s got to be shit-hot, though, and fit with the label.
The stuff you shop to other labels isn’t really cutting it, is it? No, I wouldn’t put that shit out.
What else do you have planned for Blunted Robots in the next few months? Martin Kemp is coming with another one of those things he does, with the weird noises…
So it’ll be hard to mix, with little uuurrgh sounds in the background, right? Yeah, tribal men. Probably enough of that actually. Cut that out after that release, Mart! After that there’s our absolute club anthem, “Good Foundations,” with Terrible Shock on the vocal. And then after that we’ve got a DJ Dom record.
You’ve been grooming him too? No, Dom’s a good lad. We knew him in Nottingham. He lives in New York now and makes really interesting, housey house music. We’ve got nothing planned after that just yet, but it’ll probably take us a year and a half to get that lot out.
Where’s the hold-up? Who’s the weak link in the chain? Well, it’d probably help if I got out of bed before 1 p.m. Although I’ve started getting up at 10 a.m. now. That’s my goal.
What are your strengths as a human and as a label owner? As a human, I have a good stride.
Like [Footballer] Ryan Giggs? Do you pull your weight? I think I pull my weight.
But you don’t weigh that much, for a man of your height? No, I don’t. Less than 11 stone in fact.
That’s a pretty low BMI. I think that’s good, innit? I’m less likely to get heart disease.
…and you don’t eat a lot of meat. I don’t eat any meat.
You eat the meat of fish though, don’t you? Fish meat, tofu meat.
That’s not meat. Last question… Which terms annoy you most when used in relation to Blunted Robots? Future Garage.
Not Future Bass or Tropical Bass? No, I don’t mind that so much. It sounds fun… like you could have a cocktail or something.
