London ultra-club and DJ-mix haven Fabric is readying the release of the debut album for U.K. dubstep producer Caspa. Better known for his DJ sets, singles output, and assorted remixes for the likes of Deadmau5 and Kid Sister, Caspa has crafted his first LP, Everybody’s Talking, Nobody’s Listening, for release on November 24, which comes complete with his latest dancefloor hit, “The Takeover (feat. MC Dynamite).” The album’s tracklist is below.
01. Intro 02. Low Blow 03. The Takeover (feat. MC Dynamite) 04. Marmite 05. Riot Powder Intro (feat. Rod Azlan) 06. Riot Powder 07. Lon-Don City (feat. Uncle Sam) 08. The Terminator 09. Rat-A-Tat-Tat (feat. MC Dynamite) 10. Victoria’s Secret (feat. D1) 11. I Beat My Robot 12. Disco Jaws (feat. Beezy) 13. Back To ’93
About halfway through CFCF‘s latest track “Monolith,” taken from his forthcoming longplayer Continent, you accept that the soft percussion you’ve heard since the get-go is the only beat you’re gonna get. Then, about 30 seconds after you’ve come to terms with it, the Montreal-based, cinema-inspired Italo and house producer throws you a curveball, bringing in the high-hats that lead into the synthetic drum beat which drives the high point of his piece. The experience is short lived, but framed by a jazzy piano suite and bouncing bass synth, it’s definitely worth the wait.
Even as the ’80s revival has dubiously morphed from a passing fad into what seems like permanent status, every once in a while an artist proves that the neon decade still has some ore worth mining. Don’t You Remember the Future is the debut album from U.K. retro-futurist Jamie Jones, and although it portends to be a concept album set in 2116, the music sounds a lot more like 1986, from the Prince-biting proto-rave of “Summertime” to the jackin’ diva-disco of “Half Human.” The Alison Mars-voiced “Absolute Zero” is a bit of a creative detour into sultry mid-’90s electronic pop—think Olive or Lamb—but then The Egyptian Lover shows up on “Galactic Space Bar” to add some electro-funk legitimacy to the proceedings. Yet Don’t You Remember the Future is no exercise in nostalgic hackery—Jones’ production sounds fresh, and taking musical cues from Cybotron is certainly no crime.
Two young labels vie for the hearts and minds of today’s tastemakers.
Everyone knows that if you want to be cool, the last thing you should do is admit it. So it’s really no surprise that the folks behind True Panther Sounds and IAMSOUND, two of today’s hottest up-and-coming indie labels, would never cop to actually trying to win over the hipster set. “I don’t want [IAMSOUND] to become a fad label,” says label founder Niki Roberton. “Finding artists who are making different music and breaking boundaries is what I want the label to be known for.” True Panther founder Dean Bein sings a similar tune. “I don’t follow trends or genres when deciding on [what] record to release. The only set criteria I follow is that the music is honorable, honest, adventurous, and makes me want to blast out of [my] seat into space when I hear it.” Noble intentions aside, it’s undeniable that these two labels are soundtracking the exploits of the cool crowd—IAMSOUND is home to acts like Telepathe, Little Boots, and The Black Ghosts, while the True Panther roster includes artists like Girls, Lemonade, and Glasser.?
It certainly doesn’t hurt that IAMSOUND and True Panther are currently situated in the United States’ two cultural epicenters—Los Angeles and Brooklyn, respectively. Yet neither label was borne of some petty desire to impress the big-city art-rock vanguard. Roberton grew up in England, where she idolized labels like Warp, Fierce Panda, Rough Trade, XL, and Domino. As a teenager she scouted bands for Parlophone, and only moved to L.A. after college, where she began hunting down bands via MySpace and offering to direct their music videos. All that networking eventually led to the release of a few singles, and IAMSOUND was born.?
True Panther’s roots trace back to San Francisco, where Bein grew up, went to high school with members of Lemonade and Glasser, and basically came of age in the Bay Area punk and hardcore scene. The label began on a lark when Bein and a couple of friends started an impromptu band and cobbled together the funds to press up a single before they hit the road. The record actually sold, inspiring Bein to continue the self-described “Ponzi scheme” and keep releasing music. Although the label has grown and subsequently relocated to Brooklyn, True Panther continues to fly the banner for the San Francisco DIY scene. “When we first started the label, we only released limited-edition, handmade-artwork, vinyl records,” he recalls. “As pressing sizes have gradually increased, I can’t always make everything by hand anymore, but I still want every person that buys a record to feel an intimate connection has been made between them and the band and the label.”?
Even as their notoriety has grown, both labels have stuck to their guns when it comes to guiding principles. Roberton and Bein both claim to be consumed by music, and are constantly digging for new sounds. Yet that doesn’t mean they’re hunting for the proverbial next big thing. “I don’t feel like True Panther has a built-in audience,” says Bein. “Some of the music is too weird for some people, some is not raw or weird enough for garage or punk audiences. The dance stuff isn’t traditional dance music, the punk stuff isn’t traditional punk music. Every record is its own journey that eventually finds a surprising audience.” Recent True Panther releases include the noisy garage-punk of Ty Segall, Hunx and His Punx‘s bratty rollerskate rock, and the underage rap stylings of NYC foursome The Fly Girlz, so it’s clear that Bein isn’t following any sort of genre-specific road map. IAMSOUND is similarly schizophrenic, with records on tap from U.K. hip-popper thecocknbullkid and L.A. band Fool’s Gold. “They make African-influenced music and sing in Hebrew,” says Roberton. “That alone made me say yes.”
In an era when labels (even the majors) are constantly chasing the latest flash-in-the-pan sound or scene, IAMSOUND and True Panther take a different approach and follow their passion. “Music is not trash, it is not disposable, offhand, an afterthought, or a hobby. It’s one of the most incredible, special and eternal things that a human being can create,” says Bein. “I don’t want to put out records that are forgotten or gather dust on someone’s shelf. I want records that are so passionate and compelling that they lose their grooves on a person’s turntable.” Given this attitude, it’s no surprise that True Panther has passed on some pretty commercial projects that Bein simply wasn’t feeling. “Just as I expect a group or musician to be honest about their own music and intentions, I have to be honest about my own taste and about whether or not I feel like I can invest a big part of myself in releasing and promoting the music,” he says. “I want records that can sound fresh and exciting forever.”
??thecocknbullkid’s Querelle EP is out now and Fools Gold’s self-titled debut ?will be released in September on IAMSOUND. ?Girls’ full-length debut, Album, will be released in September on True Panther ?Sounds.
Interesting news on the dubstep front. By some wonderful twist of fate, Shackleton, Appleblim, and Komonazmuk were given access to every piece of every track from early Krautrock legends Harmonia’s Brian Eno-produced Tracks and Traces. The project brings Shackleton and Appleblim back in the studio together for the first time since their Skull Disco collaboration. Allez Allez’s new label Amazing Sounds will put out a 12″ of the remixes as its first release, and future productions slated for heavy-hitters Dan Deacon and Hudson Mohawke, to name a couple, are in the works. Check out the whole article up on Fact Magazine‘s website here.
London’s melodic MC Speech Debelle was awarded last night with the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for Album of the Year for her debut album on Big Dada, the poignant and original Speech Therapy. Surpassing albums by Florence + The Machine, Friendly Fires, and Bat For Lashes, to name a few, Speech accepted the award with the same confidence and grace she exhibits in her music. Make sure to catch the talented artist on her next trip to the US.
Oct 21 – New York, NY @ Cake Shop Oct 24 – New York, NY @ Santo’s Oct 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Club NME
In the deep Australian outback, deep chasms are being dug out and expertly filled with cosmic synth lines, syncopated bass and percussion work, and disco divas crying out into the night. The duo responsible for these sounds, Canyons, has been spreading their tunes via releases on Hole in the Sky and DFA, but will unveil their official debut album on Modular in early 2010. If future-disco classics “Fire Eyes” and “Dancing on Silk” are any indication, Canyons are poised to be the next decade’s dancefloor darlings.
Listen: “Fire Eyes (Jacques Renault’s Living In the Jungle Mix)”
For years now, Jeff McIlwain has guided his Lusine moniker to the coldest of dimensions, subsisting in the tech-house underground where the chilled mist gives life to the bleakest of atmospheres. Now back on Ghostly International after a brief layover on the Hymen imprint, the Seattle native has cracked that realm wide open on his latest, A Certain Distance, and the view is breathtaking. Veering into pop territory, the warm synths and slinky melodies of this track are some of McIlwain’s most buoyant offerings to date.
Normally, Zero 7‘s music is just a bit too, shall we say, Starbucks-y for us, but we just couldn’t pass on posting this remix from U.K. funky DJ/producer Cooly G. Eska‘s golden pipes take center stage atop Cooly’s shuffling backbeat while a chorus of angelic back-up singers help lift her melodies above the otherwise darkened production work. Cooly G’s rework provides a sinister, minimal backdrop for the original vocal, twisting it into something better fit for Starbucks’ back alleys.
Every day this month we’re rolling out a new feature on XLR8R‘s Labels We Love of 2009. Whether it’s the eye-catching aesthetics of Type or the model-for-the-future approach of Interdependent Media, these cut-making selections of the best in underground electronic, indie, hip-hop, and experimental imprints punch way above their weight. Feast your eyes on the features and then download many of the labels’ related podcasts here.
The crown jewel of Boomkat’s in-house label stable gets us to the church on time.
There’s an evolutionary psycho-geographic groove thing going on in Manchester, where the act of turning inspiration into sonic art has a habit of rippling around the world again and again. Maybe it’s because the bedrock of manufacturing and labor is firmly planted in this historically grimy place, which became the first industrialized city in Europe in the 1850s. Maybe it’s because of its cool northern British soul vibe. Whatever it is, there is some kind of wonderful shape-shifting atmospheric density going on, enabling a varied group of artists and kingmakers like The Buzzcocks, Joy Division/New Order, Mark E. Smith and Morrissey, Ian Brown and A Guy Called Gerald, Noel and Liam Gallagher, Tony Wilson and Paul Morley (spotlighting only a fraction of the pop-cultural trailblazers from the region; curiosity seekers are advised to dig for more) to communicate their distinctive musical passions to the rest of the planet.
Even without knowing all that, the Modern Love label would no doubt still have impact, especially among fans of deliciously deep dub-techno. But to see it as a module inside a greater regional creative machine based in Manchester makes the project all the more compelling. Artists like Andy Stott, MLZ, Pendle Coven, and Claro Intelecto—all scorching hot on the down low since the latter’s (real name: Mark Stewart) Warehouse Sessions 12s began dropping in 2006—form a tight family that has its roots in the record shop Pelicanneck. That business opened in 1998 in Afflecks Palace, described by founder Shlom Sviri as “a sort of indoor arts, crafts, and clothes market that was pretty central to the whole ‘Madchester’ thing a few years earlier, but which had turned quite unfashionably hippie by the time we ended up there.”
The same year, Sviri also co-founded City Centre Offices with chum Thaddi Herrmann, though Sviri is no longer associated with the Berlin-based label. Pelicanneck eventually morphed into Boomkat, an online record store that is as much curatorial as it is commercial. You want to know who is producing of-the-moment, forward-looking dubs in Bristol or Leeds, Bucharest or St. Petersburg? The editors of the web-based newsletter will steer you there with unflinching authority. The shop and its sister website, 14tracks.com, and labels—Modern Love, Daphne, and the mysterious U.K. rave/jungle imprint Hate—are all gorgeously packaged in a user-friendly, dance-ready aesthetic.
Modern Love’s roster includes German acid-house vet Move D and Echospace (Michigan’s Rod Modell and Chicago’s Steve Hitchell), whose 2007 release, The Coldest Season, is perhaps the best full-length exemplar of the elegant, celestial, punchy-in-the-midrange and low-and-dirty in the sub-bass Modern Love sound we, umm, love. Monika Herodotou at Kabegami and Radu Prepeleac at Punct are responsible for the label’s simple and clean eye-grabbing graphics in warm shades of yellow, green, and blue on grainy grayscale backgrounds, while Hate’s anonymously submitted productions (an archive to be released on CD is in the works) are branded in hardcore high-contrast black and white. The word “stunning” comes to mind to summarize it all.
“Modern Love grew out of basically having these producers hang out at our shop and getting to hear a lot of material I really liked,” Sviri says. “With very few exceptions the label has always really focused on music made by friends… It’s funny how often people refer to Manchester’s legacy as a great music city in respect to the influence it exerts on new music, but really, for us, the key thing about the location is that most of us live within 30 minutes of each other. So there’s a constant thread of communication and exchange of ideas.”
Claro Intelecto’s Chadderton EP is out soon on Modern Love.
