Some of Luciano‘s fans have been less than pleased with his upcoming album, Tribute to the Sun, but quite honestly, the haters have cloth in their ears. The record is a gorgeous, well-crafted artist statement, and while much of it might not have overt dancefloor efficacy, whining about it doesn’t do Tribute to the Sun justice. “Sun, Day and Night,” for example, is a soft-focus, polyrhythmic ride, featuring the warm intonations of Tricky collaborator Martina Topley-Bird over synthetic bells, squelches, and vocal clips. Sure, the track is more apropos of a sunny day lolling about the park than a dank night slamming in the clubs, but when the sounds are so pleasing, who cares?
In preparation for his upcoming performance at the LuckyMexCitinite parties in London and Glasgow, Florida-based Gosub (a.k.a. Shad T. Scott) has shared with XLR8R “Black Nova in G,” a new track from his forthcoming release for UK label Citinite. Gosub’s production is a deceptively mellow affair with a solid groove comprised of bouncing antique electronics and smooth melodies—elements which coalesce to give “Black Nova in G” a retro-futuristic lounge sound all its own.
Sarah Assbring (a.k.a. El Perro Del Mar) takes a break from the baroque Spectorian pop of her first two LPs on Love Is Not Pop, which was produced with assistance from Rasmus Hägg, one half of balearic duo Studio. Puffs of Ibiza air don’t do much to remedy Assbring’s permanently inconsolable mood, though the scenarios are less coded than in the past—”Gotta Get Smart” opens the album with Assbring setting up a lover for a dumping apparently long in the making. Wading through the responsibility of being the dumper rather than the dumpee means that the most fascinating moments here are the slighter ones. “Let Me In” is the album’s most sublime moment, with Assbring’s voice lurching ahead, wrapped in a zero-gravity production style that wouldn’t be out of place on Arthur Russell’s Calling out of Context.
The boys of Lazer Sword are bringing that grime-ridden electro-bass noise to Europe in the next few weeks, with nights at some of the best clubs on the continent. Along with playing some wild sets with the likes of Rustie and The Gaslamp Killer, the duo also has a new 12″ out on Innovative Leisure. Tour dates and flyer after the jump.
Lazer Sword European Tour Dates
10/23 London, UK @ Fabric w/ The Gaslamp Killer, Akira Kiteshi, Rich Furness
10/29 Vicenza, IT @ Bar Sartea w/ TBD
10/30 Gemeva, CH @ Le Zoo w/ Debruit, Subtitle, Dimlite
10/31 Bialystok, PL @ Klub Metro w/ Dizzy Trouble, Eh!Marine, Koola / European Halloween Party
11/6 Glasgow, SCT @ Sub Club w/ Rustie .. Numbers Label Launch Party
11/7 Bristol, UK @ Start the Bus w/ Murkage Cartel, Charlie XCX, Captain Magic, Snitch DJs
Berlin has minimal techno, Oslo trades in space disco, and Paris patented the French Touch house sound. But what can the Dutch lay claim to in electronic music, now that the pounding thumps of gabber techno have quieted? If you ask 26-year-old Amsterdam resident Tom Trago, his city is an electronic music crossroads where jazz, soul, and funk mingle with Detroit techno, Chicago house, and even Fly Lo-style beats. “It’s the sound of combining things together,” he says over Skype from his apartment. For the past three years, Trago has represented that fusion via releases on his hometown’s Rush Hour and Kindred Spirits labels.
A former hip-hop DJ, Trago put himself on the map with 2007’s wonky Fluor Green EP (Kindred Spirits) and appearances on DJ Cinnaman‘s and Jay Scarlett’s Beat Dimensions compilations. His Dabyre- and Prefuse-style dirty hip-hop tracks “Alle Jezus” and “Mthrfkr” caught the attention of tastemakers from London to L.A., and soon the ‘Dam became a beat-head hotbed. “Amsterdam has really changed in the past five years,” says Trago. “DJs started playing broken beat, funk, and disco and combining it with hip-hop. From that hybrid sound I discovered house and techno.”
He transitioned from the “sloppy hip-hop” of his Fluor Green era to making soulful house tracks inspired by U.S. producers Ron Trent, Theo Parrish, and Moodymann. That led to his phenomenal ’09 album, Voyage Direct, which incorporates MPC and SP1200 sampling techniques refined from his hip-hop days with moody synths and smooth, layered arrangements. The album was borne of his new-found love for house and disco, but also served a practical aim; Trago’s downtempo material was not well suited to his frequent club DJ sets, so he switched to making danceable beats that were “still a bit experimental.”
There’s an interesting artistic tension in Trago’s music that comes from his still-developing palette. He’s no Euro-techno hack recycling his hit sound over and over. “I’m really looking for who I am inside,” he admits. “I do that by discovering music, and finding out what I like and what I don’t like.” Voyage Direct tracks like “Use Me” and “Lost in the Streets of New York” illustrate that journey with simple melodies and mysterious loops.
He recently paired with former flatmate Cinnaman in the purely techno project YuroTrago and started a live new-wave band with friend San Proper. There’s also plans to set up his own label and release white-label disco edits on Moxie, while Voyage Direct Part II is set for release in 2010. That might sound like a lot of work, but Trago takes a different attitude toward his projects. “I try and have fun and see what I’m good at,” he says, adding dryly, “Always try something new, because doing new stuff is fun!”
For our third installment of our occasional Tune in an Afternoon series, we challenged Seattle producers Dave Pezzner (a.k.a. Pezzner) and Jeff McIlwain (a.k.a. Lusine) to record a track using mainly sounds collected on a light-rail trip to the waterfront. Watch as they talk to birds, use secret microphones, and ponder bpms, and then download the track here!
One of the more high-profile European electronic festivals, Poland’s Unsound Festival will premiere a New York edition in February. Though the Kraków edition begins tomorrow, it is worth looking forward to the New York installment: it will mark the US debut of the Moritz von Oswald Trio, as well as bring a host of other European and North American artists into the fold. Perhaps most interesting is the special festival focus entitled “Eastern Promise,” a massive undertaking to bring techno and electronic acts from former Soviet bloc countries Stateside for the first time, including the inimitable Jacek Sienkiewicz and Marcin Czubala, two of tech-house’s brightest young producers. Along with the dancier moments, lectures, screenings, and other less frenetic cultural offerings will be offered at the Goethe Institut’s Wyoming Building.
Unsound in New York will take place February 4-14 in New York City. Keep checking the official site for updates.
Montreal-based symphonic group Bell Orchestre are given the remix treatment from Tim Hecker, who manages to turn a rousing chamber-pop romp into a murky, washed-out, drowned piece of ambient music. High-pitched flute tones, soaring string repetitions, and snippets of bells are saturated by hiss reminiscent of Echospace or Burial, allowing for a melancholy, ineffable feeling that is quietly effective.
Brooklyn-via-Turkey artisan Deniz Kurtel has applied her classically trained music knowledge and years of experience working with sculpture to one of her first forays into electronic music production—a 10-minute epic of minimal techno set amongst a bubbling, ambient soundscape. Sounding something like The Field re-imagining Eno’s Music for Airports, “Fall” is taken from her first solo release for the Wolf + Lamb camp, an EP entitled Whisper, and precedes a debut album to be seen next year on Crosstown Rebels.
A decade after two young Oakland transplants came together as Themselves, the now-seasoned artists, MC Doseone and producer Jel, have returned from their many projects to reinvigorate the seminal collaboration. The resulting album is a digestibly eclectic piece of psychedelic hip-hop that easily rivals their past work. Doseone’s rhymes rarely sound more vehement and clearheaded than they do on vocal workouts “Oversleeping” and “You Ain’t It,” while “Roman is as Roman Does” and “Skinning the Drum” exhibit Jel’s skill in fashioning both traditional beats and leftfield productions. Those who couldn’t navigate the dense experimentation of the duo’s debut, Them, but enjoyed traversing the more “accessible,” atmospheric beats of Anticon supergroup Subtle, should find CrownsDown a greatly rewarding listen.
