One of the younger groups from Lisbon’s burgeoning kuduro movement, Octa Push has crafted a sound that makes most other bass producers look like 98-pound weaklings. With a ragga underpinning and some lyrical fire from MC Zulu, “Baila Mundo” features some gut-rumbling low-end, a bit of acid squelch, and an infectious chorus. If there’s one way to get asses shaking, it’s playing this track loud.
Ghent’s Beni gets remixed by Southern California’s Harvard Bass, who takes a rather par-for-the-course French electro piece and turns it into a veritable minimal electro club banger. While the original’s sexy vocal clips are kept intact, the kicks are made monstrous, the main melodic line is pushed to the brink, and rim-shots are brought to the fore. Culled from the upcoming Kitsuné Maison 8, Harvard Bass’ remix gives indication that the French label might have its groove back after a string of so-so releases.
Glasgow wunderkind Hudson Mohawke may have titled his debut full-length Butter, but that doesn’t mean that the music from this LuckyMe affiliate goes down smooth. That’s not to say the music and production isn’t on point—it’s just that HudMo’s ADD cutting and splicing gives his 21st-century digital R&B a hyperactive feel that borders on overwhelming. That said, Butter‘s playful spirit and choppy crunk bounce are a real breath of fresh air, a sensation only heightened by soulful guest turns from Olivier Daysoul and Dam-Funk. And when he calms down a bit, the results are absolutely sublime—”FUSE” is in the running for song of the year and “Star Crackout” sounds like DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing updated for Generation Twitter.
Sheffield’s Grievous Angel has been tapped to re-work the entirety of Dusk + Blackdown‘s Margins Music album. Margins Music Redux will reflect the style found on Grievous Angel’s Ableton dubstep mixes, which blur the lines between remixes, dubs, and entirely new tracks. Seeing the original album as a “travelogue through London’s postcodes and timezones, I wanted to bring out the mythical, narrative element of the songs,” says the Angel. Though the record doesn’t come out for a bit, Keysound Recordings has put up a preview video of the album on YouTube to whet fans’ appetites.
XLR8R��s Inbox takes it to the house with London natives Lucas Hunter and Nat Self of Zombie Disco Squad. The electro duo says “Yay!” to Biggie Smalls, Fabric, Berlin’s Panorama Bar, and black Vans Authentics; and “Nay!” to Tiesto, klutzy supermarket cake handling, drilling, and the death of fans during shows. ZDS’s two-disc mix, Playing Around Again is out today on Jesse Rose’s Made to Play label.
XLR8R: What are you listening to right now?
Lucas Hunter: The sound of drilling—it wakes me up almost every morning. Aside from that, I will also be listening to the new Fabric compilations this weekend whilst I am traveling.
Nat Self: A loop of the remix we are doing for Black Box’s “Ride on Time.”
What’s the weirdest story you have ever heard about yourself?
That we were Tiesto.
What band did you want to be in when you were 15?
LH: I was in a band; we were called Endorphin. We sounded somewhere between a terrible Nirvana cover band and a terrible Smashing Pumpkins cover band—but with added keyboards.
NS: I have always wanted to be Biggie Smalls.
Worst live show experience?
A close call between someone dying in the crowd whilst we were playing, and meeting the head of the National Front party in Moscow.
Favorite city in which to play?
Berlin—Panorama Bar—it still gives us those “special moments.”
Favorite studio toy?
Nat’s keyboard armrest looks like a double-ended black PVC dildo—perfect for scaring girls with.
What is one thing you couldn’t live without (excluding the obvious essential, i.e. air, water, etc.)?
LH: Would it be cheesy to say music? If so, I have to go with a pair of all-black, UK 11, Vans Authentics.
NS: Curb Your Enthusiasm, my laptop, and the sweet smell of a sweaty dance floor.
What is your favorite item of clothing?
LH: All-black, size UK 11 Vans Authentics.
NS: My vintage 1980s Gucci loafers.
If you could reduce your music to a single word, what would it be?
Spank.
Which horror movie are you the most like: Suspiria, The Bride of Chucky, Freddy vs. Jason, or Shaun of the Dead?
Shaun of the Dead.
For what did you always get in trouble when you were little?
LH: Stealing spray paint and using spray paint.
NS: I never got caught doing anything in my life (not that I’m any saint). ?
With which other artist would you most like to work next?
DJ Assault.
What’s the last thing you read?
LH: My emails?
NS: 50 Cent’s business book that looks like a bible.
Complete this sentence: In the future…
There will not be hoverboards, which is also one of life’s biggest disappointments.
Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?
LH: I do stupid things pretty much everyday. Most involve bikes, computers, and my girlfriend.
NS: Hit myself in the nuts with a birthday cake in the supermarket.
What’s next?
ALL.
On the revisited version of the title-track from The Prodigy’s latest album, Invaders Must Die, producer Liam Howlett has taken the original’s distorted sensibilities and run wild with the group’s updated ’90s rave sound. The seminal UK group, which we featured on our cover back in April, has reworked its last record for the Invaders Must Die: Special Edition—a release we expect to start parties (maybe fires?) when it hits stores this week.
Is it possible to cuddle an album? Because the new album from Swedes Stefan Engblom and Olle Corneér (a.k.a. Dada Life) is kind of adorable. The tongue-in-cheek house here combines acid, electro, and a certain mischievousness, with results that are simultaneously kitschy and polished. In the wrong hands, first single “Happy Hands & Happy Feet” could have devolved into saccharine tweaker-fest, but Dada Life uses darkly driving synths to keep the sugar in check. “Don’t Snort the Yellow Snow” features slabs of thick distortion and “Cheap Thrills for a Lost Generation” is stutteringly implacable. One could even say that the music is actually good enough to forgive the wretchedly cheesy album title.
Manchester’s Trus’me has teamed up with an all-star cast of producers and musicians for his sophomore effort, In the Red, which arrives in December. Really, it seems the young Mancunian has gone Detroit, as the record features the Motor City’s jazzy neo-soul stylist Amp Fiddler, Jazzanova bandleader Paul Randolph, and Mahogani Music favorite Pirahnahead. And as if that amazing cast of soulful house luminaries isn’t enough to make other producers jealous, Trus’me has also collaborated with LA’s boogie king Dam-Funk for a low-slung cover of WasNotWas’ “Wheel Me Out.” The sense of anticipation is palpable here at the XLR8R offices, so you should be sweating it out waiting for this one, too.
In the Red comes out on December 7 from Fat City and Prime Numbers.
As an exclusive for XLR8R and in celebration of their European tour kicking off today at London’s massive Fabric club, San Francisco’s dons of space-bass and electro-blap, Lazer Sword, have handed over their glitched-up homage to that classic Nintendo nemesis King Koopa. “Koopa Boss Mode” borrows from the original 8-bit soundtrack, but the duo also revamp those sinister melodies with their trademark crunchy basslines dropped amongst a slow-grooving beat littered with intergalactic transmissions.
On “Kilometer,” another cut taken from Waking Heat, the debut album by San Francisco post-punk trio Tempo No Tempo, a synthesizer takes center-stage, although it’s flanked by jangly guitar riffs and a bouncing drum beat. Soaked in lead singer (and occasional XLR8R scribe) Tyler McCauley’s fervent vocal delivery, the track is a prime example of the group’s penchant for rhythmic tension and terse melodic assaults. Tempo No Tempo just finished an East Coast tour and slew of dates at CMJ, and Waking Heat is available now.
