Following their free mix that LA-based Nguzunguzu hooked us up with for the holidays, the world-beat and big-bass-toting duo has bestowed another gift upon the internet’s masses. A quick visit to the website for their label, Shade Business, plus a few clicks through some vintage web graphics à la GeoCities, will warrant you a free download of Nguzunguzu’s new five-track EP. Get your copy while the bandwidth lasts!
It’s been a minute since boundary-pushing dancehall outfit South Rakkas Crew have released some original new music, which is perhaps why the guys are feeling especially generous and rewarding their ever-patient fans with a free new album. Entitled The Stimulus Package, the record is available today for free download over at the Mad Decent website. Look out for guest vocals from heavy-hitting dancehall MCs like Capleton and Killa Queenz, and scratch your heads along with us when you hear—no joke—Deerhoof on a track. It may be the dead of winter, but The Stimulus Package is a nice little bundle of tropical sunshine.
Though based primarily in Rio de Janeiro, DJ/producer Maga Bo is a man of the world—not only set on delving deep into the world’s many cultures, but consistently working on combining them within in his mixes and production work. Maga Bo’s methods, which usually include using his laptop, a microphone, and some local flavor, are showcased in full on his latest mixtape, Outras Terras. As to be expected, the mix is chock full of international rhythms, foreign tongues, and all sorts of incarnations of Maga Bo’s stellar, high-energy production work. Friends of the producer’s, the likes of Poirier, Jahdan Blakkamoore, and Filastine, also make appearances throughout the mix’s 18 tracks. You can download Outras Terrashere, and check out the mixtape’s tracklist below. Super-geeks can head here to check out the full artwork and a track-by-track description of the mix.
1. Coco Raízes de Arcoverde – “Ê Boi (Maga Bo Remix)”
2. Sonar Calibrado – “E Daí feat. Speed Freaks”
3. Filastine – “B’tallah (Maga Bo Remix)”
4. Sonar Calibrado – “Alesh feat. Jawad”
5. Maga Bo – “Longa Nahawand feat. Mohammed Issa Matona”
6. Sonar Calibrado – “Se Liga feat. Mario Z”
7. Pitcho – “Boucan (Maga Bo Remix of Dr. Das Bhajni Ragga Remix)”
8. X-Pensive Nframa – “Aunty Adoley (Maga Bo vs. Sabo Remix)”
9. Maga Bo – “Maga Traz a Lenha feat. Jahdan Blakkamoore”
10. Petrona Martinez – “El Critica (Maga Bo Remix)”
11. Maga Bo – “Kizomba; A Festa das Raças feat. BNegão”
12. Fletcher Meets Maga Bo feat. Neon Don – “Alleyways”
13. Maga Bo – “Ransom (Pacheko Remix)”
14. Jahdan Blakkamoore – “Earthshaking”
15. Maga Bo – “Nqayi feat. Teba”
16. Poirier – “Wha La La Leng feat. Face-T (Maga Bo Remix)”
17. Maga Bo – “La Paix feat. Xuman”
18. Jahdan Blakkamoore – “Rise Again feat. Abena Koomson”
German purveyors of wacky electro and global bass sounds, Schlachthofbronx, handed over the pieces of forthcoming dancefloor burner “Vem Que Tem,” featuring vocals from former Bonde Do Role vocalist Marina, to fellow countryman Lorenz Rhode. Rhode stays in line with the duo’s initial vibe and uses their fiery source material to craft his own hyperactive dance tune fueled by percussive synths, bouncing beats, and stripped-down vocals. If you like the results, make sure to check out Rhode’s Something Hot EP, out next week on the Exploited label.
Unfortunately, the opening song from this British chamber-pop duo spoils the entire album. On “Death to Everyone But Us,” gently woven piano and guitar melodies blow thick espresso fumes into the air before Lucinda Chua mews the off-putting song title. While one might expect an ironic, punk counterpoint to follow, the rest of the album is basically placid, coffeehouse muzak. There are the funny moments—Chua repeatedly tells the listener she would never let YOU ride her on “I Wish I Was a Pony”—but overall, the muttering-poet routine quickly grows monotonous.
Producer and label founder Barclay Crenshaw (a.k.a. Claude VonStroke) takes a ride though Dirtybird history.
San Francisco house and techno label Dirtybird is a tightknit crew known for striking the bumpin’ balance between goofy and grimy. Here, we get the key players—Claude VonStroke, Worthy, Justin Martin, and Christian Martin—talking about the history of the label, their infamous Golden Gate Park parties, and how the Dirtybird sound evolved. As an extra bonus, we get a highly subjective tour of San Francisco in a sweet rented convertible. Everyone wins!
There’s something to be said for disco’s staying power. The genre is basically 30 years past its heyday, yet high-quality new disco tracks continue to worm their way on to dancefloors around the globe. Take “Final Round” from Australian producer Cassian, which marries disco beats with sleazy ’80s wah-wah synths and sound effects from Street Fighter II. Taken from the freshly released Friday Night EP, “Final Round” is something like an updated version of the Out Run soundtrack (vintage gamer nerds know what we’re talking about), the kind of breezy cut that’s perfect for an afternoon spent shut away in your bedroom while you sharpen your hand-eye coordination, periodically throw the controller against the wall, and subsequently apologize to your mom when she hears you screaming at the TV.
London upstarts Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 certainly caught our attention in 2009, but in 2010 dudes are threatening to take over. This month they’re launching the Night Slugs record label to compliment their already-off-the-hook party, and the first release comes courtesy of fellow Londoner Mosca. Get a taste with this remix from Greena, which blends up house, garage, UK funky, and old-school rave into a seriously potent T-U-N-E.
The Square One EP will be released on January 25 and also features remixes from Roska, Julio Bashmore, L-Vis 1990, and Bok Bok.
The latest album from Philly’s dance-obsessive weirdos Pink Skull initially seems to have transitioned the outfit into more accessible territory. Endless Bummer begins with “Peter Cushing,” a sugary disco-house track that could lure teens onto an all-ages dancefloor, but the rest of the record doesn’t follow suit. Frontman Julian Grefe takes his band back into familiar territory with ambient noise interludes (“Circling Bwi” and “Wheet”) and instrumental freak-funk workouts, like the loungey “Ritualistic Bug Use.” Elements of glitch, Krautrock, Balearic, and disco-indebted pop à la LCD Soundsystem show up throughout Endless Bummer, resulting in an album that trades in consistency for eclecticism and comes off sounding more like a collection of inventive singles than a cohesive LP.
Our friend Alex “Bok Bok” Sushon of London’s Night Slugs has just dropped an 18-track heater of a mix on Lower End Spasm to ring in the new year. Check the tracklist below, which includes tons of new unreleased dubs!
01 – MR MAGEEKA – Diffrent Lekstrix [Numbers]
02 – APHRODISIAX – Unfinished Business
03 – EGYPTRIXX – The Only Way Up [Night Slugs]
04 – DVA – Natty [Hyperdub]
05 – BEEZY – Dejavoodoo (GEENEUS remix)
06 – MOSCA – Nike [Night Slugs]
07 – COOLY G – Digitally Higher
08 – GIRL UNIT – I.R.L [Night Slugs]
09 – BOK BOK – Citizens Dub ft Bubbz [Blunted Robots]
10 – BOK BOK – Hands Riddim (JAHDAN vocal)
11 – ENDGAMES – Ecstasy (JAM CITY Refix) [Night Slugs]
12 – BOK BOK – Ripe Banana VIP
13 – TERROR DANJAH – Sidechain [D.O.K Remix]
14 – MOSCA – Square One (BOK BOK Remix) [Night Slugs]
15 – UNTOLD – Bad Girls
16 – KINGDOM – Mind Reader [BOK BOK Dub] (Fool’s Gold)
17 – 2562 – Love In Outer Space
18 – BAD AUTOPSY – MAG (Rare Cymbals Version)
