Daniel Gray Kontar is a multi-dimensional guy, having excelled in music, journalism, poetry, and teaching, so it’s fitting his debut album under his Replife guise turns out to be much more a straightforward hip-hop release. With help from producers like Dego, Bugz in the Attic’s Kaidi Tatham, Mark de Clive-Lowe, and others, Kontar manages to turn the release into a compelling hybrid of nu-jazz, broken-beat, and soul that’s a combination of sunny rhythms and serious lyrics.
Time for another eccentric offering from the Ed Banger family. Quentin Depieux, otherwise known as the inimitable Mr. Oizo, has announced the release of his third solo full-length, Lamb’s Anger.
If initial buzz is anything to go by, we can expect more heavily distorted electronics and electro rhythms on the 17 tracks that make up the new album. Depieux himself has said that some songs “are good, some are bad, some are just OK.” He’s also put together this teaser for you to mull over in the days leading up to the album’s January 26 release date.
Lamb’s Anger
1. Hun
2. Pourriture 2
3. Z
4. Cut Dick
5. Two Takes It feat. Carmen Castro
6. Rank
7. Bruce Willis Is Dead
8. Jo
9. Positif
10. Lamb’s Anger
11. Erreur Jean feat. Errorsmith
12. Steroids feat. Uffie
13. Gay Dentists
14. Pourriture 7
15. W
16. Lars Von Sen
17. Blind Concerto
Martyn‘s going to Texas? Though the venues have yet to be announced, it seems the Dutch man born Martijn Deykers, who now resides in the U.S., is indeed heading to the Lone Star state this month, taking his drum and bass-turned dubstep sound along for the ride. More predictably, he’ll appear at both the Los Angeles and San Francisco editions of Flying Lotus’ much-hyped Brainfeeder festival, alongside Gaslamp Killer, Kode9, Daedelus, Samiyam, and FlyLo himself, before heading East for a couple New York shows. Stay tuned for those Texas dates, the venue info of which should be announced soon.
In other Martyn news, a posting last month on his 3024 website stated that he’s still at work on his debut album, though he’ll take some time off work in early 2009 to tour Europe.
11/07 Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex (Brainfeeder Festival)
11/08 San Francisco, CA – 103 Harriet (Brainfeeder Festival)
11/14 TBA, Texas
11/21 New York, NY – Love
11/28 TBA, Texas
12/01 New York, NY – Deepspace
Photo by Josh Sisk.
Beat-bender Mochipet released his wobbly, warped hip-hop album, Microphonepet, back in the spring of this year. Then he went and announced a remix companion to the album, slated for a December 2 release via his own Daly City imprint. Jahcoozi, Darko, and Boreta all hold spots on the tracklisting, as does London’s Fliami Vice, who did this track. As was the case on the original cut, Oakland’s E Da Boss and Bicasso (of Living Legends fame) show up for guest spots.
Microphonepet Remixed
01 Get Your Whistle Wet (CLP Remix)
02 Banana Split (Fliami Vice Remix)
03 Get Your Whistle Wet (DJ C Remix)
04 Lazy Day (Starting Teeth Remix)
05 Rambunktion (Mochipet’s Audio Graffiti Remix)
06 Rambunktion (Boreta Remix)
07 Rambunktion (Jahcoozi Remix)
08 Vnecks (Darko Remix)
What exactly Nightmares on Wax–or George Evelyn, the project‘s main force–“thought” never gets brought up on this, the project‘s sixth album. But the downtempo cuts here, derived from reggae, jazz, ambient, and breakbeat, are all about not thinking, about letting yourself into a deep groove and staying there for a while. At that point, the problem isn‘t so much the production quality, which is consistently excellent, so much as the sleepy factor. Some tracks avoid that handily, like the funky “Moretime,” which oozes a playful sexiness. Thought So… is all too easy to treat as background music–not quite up to Evelyn’s typically high bar, but with enough beauty to show NOW isn‘t over yet.
King Street Sounds has never parsed words concerning its origins. Named for the street upon which the Paradise Garage stood, the label’s email list reads like a Garage-head’s who’s-who. And they all show up here, on 15 Years of the label’s house-music catalog, each selected by a leading light: Joey Negro, Joe Claussell, Danny Krivit. The tracks traverse the narrow landscape of house, from roof-raisers like Blaze’s “Most Precious Love” to more spiritual stuff like Ananda Project’s “Cascades of Colour.” The irony is that such a vibrant and iconoclastic scene has provided the impetus for decades of slavish replication. Still, 15 Years is cream-of-the-crop.
Fender Telecaster
Bruce Springsteen in the house! I can’t afford one of these, but I pick them up at the guitar store all the time and play them. Boy, does it play smooth! The texture is just so sweet-sounding and I’d like to get into adding some of that into my songs, so I’m hoping to get one at some point in the future.
Gibson SG Double Neck
Truth be told, all of my guitars are falling apart. I have a Gibson SG Double Neck that’s a 12-string on the bottom and six on top. I love the grit and punchiness of this guitar, and it is just badass in general, but I rarely play it out because it is so damn heavy. It literally pulls all of my body weight backwards and forwards, and I have fallen over a couple of times. In terms of writing, the 12-string helps me find melodic guitar lines really easily.
Danelectro
The Danelectro I have is really more nostalgic for me than anything else. It was the first electric I ever bought; I got it for a couple hundred bucks. It’s a Japanese reissue and I haven’t changed the strings in years, but it seems to fit with the style and sound. I mainly use it when I am recording single-note lines that are more chirpy-sounding.
Fender Jazzmaster
This is the guitar I have been using ad nauseum for six years or so. I love its clean tones for certain kinds of tapping parts, and I also love it hooked up to different distortion pedals. The neck is nice and long–that helps me go way up on the neck for tapping and not have to worry about my arm getting stuck on the body. But since I have used it into the ground, it’s definitely on its way out. The guitar is bowed, so in certain places the strings are muted, and it’s a real bummer to me.
Ibanez JEM (with LED)
I want the LED Ibanez that lights up like a laser light show. [Hella’s] Zach Hill and I saw one at the music store in Sacramento, and it was just calling out my name. It was $5,000, so it was sad leaving the store that day without it.
Marnie Stern’s This Is It… is out now on Kill Rock Stars.
MP3: “Transformer”
Our latest chapter of the XLR8R Podcast comes to us from Serge Santiago, a British boy with a little thing for Italo-disco. The Brighton native (who now resides in London) re-edits the classics with his own sassy edge. He has gained attention from the likes of Damian Lazarus, Trevor Jackson, and DFA for his own label, Arcobaleno (which translates to “rainbow” in Italian), and continues to play throughout Europe and Australia, all while maintaining his residency at We Love in Ibiza. This exclusive, hour-long mix showcases the various faces of disco, past and present, tripping through the newer rhythms of Boytronic to the classic sounds of Kebekelektrik and speed funk of Patrick Cowley’s “Mindwarp.” It’s a musical journey into the future, from somewhere deep in disco’s past. Lulu McAllister
XLR8R Presents Serge Santiago
01 Intro
02 Boytronic “Bryllyant”
03 Ruede Hagelstein “The Modest Theme”
04 Kebekelektrik “Journey into Love (Disco Mix)”
05 Patrick Cowley “Mindwarp”
06 Rinder & Lewis “Wiles and the Hand Jive (Serge Santiago Edit)”
07 Droid “The Force (Serge Santiago Mix)”
08 Boo Williams “Snare Tappin”
09 Kebekelektrik “War Dance”
10 Mr. Flagio “Take a Chance”
11 Ray Connection “Replay (Hampus Drake Edit)”
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He’s a found sound fanatic, and for his third full-length, avant-experimentalist producer Ethan Rose reels in the sounds of Oaks Park Roller Rink in his hometown of Portland, OR, manipulating the strains coming from the rink’s 1920s Wurlitzer Theater Organ. Rose himself assisted with organ repairs from time to time over the last year, an activity that no doubt provided plenty of inspiration for Oaks, which seems to be, at it’s heart, a meeting place for modern technology and antiquated machinery. For the truly inspired, read about Rose’s studio secrets while taking a listen to this track.
Oaks
01 On Wheels Rotating
02 Rising Waters
03 Grand Marcher
04 The Floor Released
05 Fortunate
06 Scenes From When
07 Mighty Mighty
08 Bottom
Steve Bug and his Poker Flat crew will celebrate the label’s 100th release this month by stepping backwards in time and refurbishing Dimensional Holofonic Sound’s 1990 track, “House of God.”
The acid-house inspired jam was made by S.F-based producer Ben Stokes, who can be found these days working as a video director for artists like Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow. “House of God” has been championed by U.K. ravers, DJs like Sven Väth, and, more recently, Phonique, who originated the concept for the commemorative release. Three remixes of the track will be available November 21 in 12-inch format, though it appears you’ll have to go digging for the original version yourself.
House of God (The Poker Flat Mixes)
A1 “House of God (Phonique Remix)”
B1 “House of God (Martin Landsky Remix)”
B2 “House of God (20 Years DHS Remix)”
Photo of Phonique by Gene Glover.
