Cosmic Times: Louderbach, Fucked Up, Chromatics

Radio Slave’s Rekids imprint just stoked out Traktor and Serato users with Rekids One, a CD compilation of the label’s twelves and exclusive remixes. Featuring tracks from Toby Tobias, Discemi, Luke Soloman, and Rekid, plus reinterpretations from Quiet Village, Prins Thomas, and Jesse Rose, this collection is midnight mass in two discs.

Louderbach

While we’re on the topic of midnight masses, Troy Pierce is in graveyard techno mode, prepping his long-awaited, tripped-out opus Gone Astray, on Minus, in addition to a second volume of Louderbach remixes featuring Ellen Alien, Magda, and others.

Pokerflat is setting out for global domination, with just about every artist on the label’s roster embarking on their own respective massive tours. Jeff Samuel, Steve Bug, Trentemøller, and a heap of other cosmic travelers may be all up in your area.

Chromatics

In other tour news, once punk, post-Italo trio Chromatics is playing a few West Coast dates before releasing the “In the City” 12” for Italians Do It Better in the States and Get Physical in Europe.

The Smalltown Supersound imprint is working overtime these days, whipping up a slew of releases from drone-experimentalists Sunburned Hand of the Man and Four Tet, Kim Hiorthøy, and Arp (who also has a stellar Lindstrøm remix on the way). Evidently, Norway is on an interdimensional trek that exceeds cosmic disco.

Fucked Up

With remixes, edits, and covers becoming all the more coveted, two particular standouts sprouted recently. Crystal Castles produced a stunning remake of the lesser-known Soho Dolls’ “Trash the Rental,” which is some of the 8-bit duo’s best work to date. Toronto-based throwback hardcore band Fucked Up recently covered Christian electro posterduo Justice’s less-abused track “Stress,” which could turn out a circle pit just as fast as the original could work up a dancefloor.

Bonjay: Rock the Party

Alana Stuart’s parents immigrated to Canada as part of the country’s Caribbean influx of the 1970s. When Stuart was a toddler, her Grenadian mother and Jamaican father threw parties that swelled to the early morning with plenty of music, food, liquor, and language from the many isles of the West Indies. “I actually have a picture of me in just a diaper and you can see people’s legs hanging off the couch, a bottle of brandy, and my mom serving breakfast,” Stuart recalls. “It was a time when all the islands mixed. It was this cool, warm vibe where partying was about getting together, meeting different people, and a sense of community.”

Despite her roots, Stuart started off making “bubblegum R&B.” “I started writing really shitty songs about boyfriends who were calling other girls on the cell phones I got them,” she admits. “By age 17 or 18 I hooked up with some producers and got some songs on the urban station in Toronto. But it was really clean, sweet pop, and I just got sick of it.”

Around that time she happened upon one of Ian Swain’s Disorganized parties–an “open concept” affair (Swain’s words) in a modest space above an Italian restaurant in Ottawa’s Chinatown. “Ian played Bugz in the Attic’s remix of ‘Hold It Down,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God! What is this music?’ I had never heard anything that was in that vein. I told him that I had to work with him.”

“Ian came up with the idea of us doing a live soundsystem but I never ever thought I would really do it,” continues Stuart, who started off singing patois reinterpretations of indie rock hits (Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps,” TV on the Radio’s “Staring at the Sun”) at the club. “I had never spoken patois growing up, much less sang it, but [Ian] really pushed hard for it and had this vision.”

“At soundclashes, they’ll do patois versions of Michael Jackson songs because it’s a big crowd-pleaser,” explains Swain, a.k.a. DJ Pho. “If people hear something that they recognize, but it’s flipped differently, then that’s always gonna make them go crazy. And we go in this weird direction that’s sort of dancehall-meets-soul-vocals-meets-this London-y kind of sound.”

That mongrel ethos shines through on Bonjay‘s first release, the mixtape Bangarang Business. Intended to recreate the feel of a live Bonjay/Disorganized gig, it features covers and original Bonjay material spliced with hip-hop, R&B, and reggae hits, and breakbeat instrumentals. Swain samples underground jams by Madlib and Seiji on the tape, but the inclusion of Jill Scott’s “Be Happy” and TLC’s “Creep” are clearly Stuart’s influence.

“We had an idea of what we felt represented us,” says Stuart. “I grew up singing gospel music but lived in a middle-class white suburb in Ottawa, so all the dances I had in my basement were to Aerosmith and Ace of Base.”

“You love Ace of Base,” interrupts Swain, laughing hard. “I’ve never seen someone love Ace of Base that much.”

Artist Chart: Telephone Jim Jesus

One third of Restiform Bodies and purveyor of the ever-evolving Anticon. sound, Telephone Jim Jesus has made quite a name for himself in the avant-garde hip-hop realm. Now the Oakland-based producer is stepping into the atmospheric limelight with Anywhere Out of the Everything, his latest ode to chiming cinematic sounds and ambient hip-hop. XLR8R caught up with the progressive composer to see what albums have been exorcising his creative demons.

Anywhere Out of the Everything is out September 25 on Anticon.

Telephone Jim Jesus Top Ten Chart
1. PixiesBossanova (Elektra)
2. GravediggazSix Feet Deep (V2)
3. Aphex TwinRichard D. James Album (Rhino)
4. Tim Hecker Harmony In Ultraviolet (Kranky)
5. Animal Collective Sung Tongs (Fat Cat)
6. DJ Muggs Soul Assassins Take Aim (Angeles)
7. GZA Liquid Swords (Fontana Geffen)
8. Bauhaus The Sky’s Gone Out (Fontana A&M)
9. JusticeWaters of Nazareth (Ed Banger)
10. Mr. OizoMoustache (Half a Scissor) Mute

XLR8R TV Episode 20: My Sing-A-Ling

Matthew Curry, better known as Safety Scissors, turns the karaoke mic over to Owen Ashworth, better known as Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, for an evening of song appreciation, motorboat videos, and Kris Kristofferson tunes.

Watch This Episode

Previous Episodes
Episode 16: No Age
Episode 17: Klaxons
Episode 18: Mars-1
Episode 19: Chromeo

All Episodes

Daily Download: Cloudland Canyon “Dambala”

Featuring one member of screamo band The Red Scare and one instrumentally-inclined German dude, Cloudland Canyon is the new face of Kraut-experimentation. Fusing textured guitar delays akin to Brooklyn-based duo Growing and hazy atmospherics, “Damballa” is the band’s reintroduction into the blossoming sound art scene.

Download this song as an MP3, or preview a week’s worth of tracks at the XLR8R Podcast. Subscribe using iTunes, or with an RSS reader of your choice.

Cloudland Canyon “Dambala (Excerpt)”

Featuring one member of screamo band The Red Scare and one instrumentally-inclined German dude, Cloudland Canyon is the new face of Kraut-experimentation. Taken from the duo’s forthcoming Silver Tongued Sisyphus EP, this excerpt of “Dambala” displays just how magnetizing the duo’s blend of textured guitar delays and strings can be.

Cloudland Canyon – Dambala

The XLR8R Office Top Ten Album Picks, August 6

Various Home Schooled: The ABCs of Kid SoulNumero Group
Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” may be this summer’s bubblegum-electro anthem, but if you want the real deal, look to the Numero Group’s latest compilation of ’60s and ’70s kid soul and R&B. Every cut here is a digger’s dream–loose, funky, raw, and hard to find. What were you doing when you were ten years old?

Madlib Beat Konducta In India (Vol. 3-4)Stones Throw
While Madlib certainly isn’t the first to explore India’s plethora of popular and classical music for inspiration and/or samples, he does so with an air of simplicity that is unparalleled. It’s no news that the dude is one of the most prolific producers around, but 34 tracks of Bollywood hip-hop? Damn, son.

VariousThe Brit Box: UK Indie, Shoegaze, And Brit-Pop Gems of The Last MillenniumRhino
When this four-disc box set arrived here at XLR8R, it had some of us jumping up and down, screaming like sixteen-year-old girls at a Justin Timberlake concert. OK, maybe only Managing Editor Ken “Brit-Papa” Taylor was screaming, but seriously, this compilation is near perfect. Just look at the title and try not to be stoked.

SupermayerSave The World Kompakt
This debut long-player from production icons Michael Mayer and Superpitcher throws techno expectations to the wayside. Sounding at turns like Cake, or even The Gorillaz, the duo has crafted an LP that fuses pop and funk with their trademark synth stabs and four-to-the-floor kicks. This album is first-rate.

Simian Mobile DiscoI Believe 12” Wichita
SMD have lent their remix talent to just about every “it” band by now (Klaxons, The Rapture, The Presets), so it’s about time the tables turned. This 12” finds the one and only Switch transforming the stand-out “I Believe” into a rollercoaster of hypnotic, popping bass lines, B-more club snares, and Chicago house vocals.

Lil Wayne Da Drought 3Young Money
Da Drought 3 is the best mixtape Wayne has dropped yet. This 27-track stroke of brilliance has Weezy rapping over hits like Jay-Z’s “Show Me What You Got,” Jeezy’s “I Luv It,” and “Go Getta,” and a bunch more. There are so many different synonyms for weed on this album, it’ll make anyone feel way high. This is another triumph for the MC who likes his Sprite Easter pink.

Force of NatureThe Force Behind the PowerMule
Tokyo-based duo Force of Nature is officially the new cosmic authority of the East. On The Force Behind the Power, DJ Kent and KZA mix up some mind-altering prog-disco for the LSD-inclined. Featuring tracks from Chelonis R. Jones, Abe Doque, and Blackbelt Anderson, this collection makes Prins Thomas and Lindstrøm sound like tame house producers.

Dirty ProjectorsRise AboveDead Oceans
Any band that sounds like mid-’90s Chicago emo (Joan of Arc, Braid), has an album with the same title as a Black Flag song, and tours with Kranky Records’ newest psych-phenom White Rainbow will obviously make the top ten. This band does it all–feedback, intricate guitar arpeggios, and hypnotic vocal choruses. All hail the new indie rock.

Shir KhanMaximize!Exploited
This double-CD mix from Berlin-based DJ Shir Khan is every bit as fun as the gigantic yellow press book that accompanied it. Shit Robot, Riot in Belgium, Justice, and every other hot dance act of the moment make appearances on this collection of tracks that have Larry the office dog doing 360-degree turns in the air (really).

Thief SunchildSonar Kollectiv
Traditional songwriting meets improv-jazz on this collaborative project between Sascha Gottschalk and Jazzanova members Stefan Leisering and Axel Reinemer. No one track sounds the same here–a rare surprise in the indie-folk world–which makes for a soothing palate of pop, ambient, and jazz. Definitely made for more than downtempo fans.

Manhunt 2: Thrill of the Hunt

Kill. Or be killed. It’s an extreme choice for extreme circumstances. And, at the moment, no videogame is quite as extreme as Rockstar Games’ Manhunt 2, recently banned in the U.K. and New Zealand, and assigned the Adults Only rating in the U.S. alongside games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The first Manhunt was released four years ago to much fanfare, confusion, and, in true Rockstar fashion, controversy. The game, modeled after such films as 8MM, A Clockwork Orange, and The Running Man, revolved around a death-row inmate forced to sneak his way to freedom and brutally execute anyone who got in his way, all for the pleasure of a demented snuff-film Svengali who taped the whole horrifying episode. Playing out like an even more demented Chris Cunningham video, with an amazing digital hardcore soundtrack to match, it was a reality show that thrust a spotlight on the murkiest depths of human behavior. Complaints from concerned parents, lawsuits, and commercial success followed, as did similarly themed flicks like Saw and Hostel.

Manhunt 2 presents an all-new storyline, tight, stealth-action gameplay, and, naturally, even more faces of death as the game carries down the original’s gruesome path of twisted violence on the PlayStation 2, PSP, and most interestingly, the motion-sensitive Wii. XLR8R takes an inside look at what could be the most shocking game ever. Oh, and if we aren’t back in 10 minutes, call the President.

Daniel Lamb
One-time scientist and current guinea pig, the bespectacled Daniel Lamb awakens from a drug-induced stupor to find himself part of a demented government experiment to create unwitting assassins known as the Pickman Project. (Think Naked Gun with fewer laughs and more shanking.) A freak electrical storm knocks out power to the facility, presenting Daniel the opportunity to escape from his frenzied captors and uncover the truth.

Leo Kasper
A highly trained government assassin thrust into captivity by the Pickman Project, Leo finds himself assisting in Daniel’s escape and subsequently training him in the finer points of murder. But aside from being a sociopathic killer, something just ain’t right about old Leo.

Doctors Pickman and Whyte
Dr. Whyte carries out wild mind-control experiments on Daniel and his fellow test subjects at the Dixmor Hospital for the Criminally Insane as instructed by the mysterious Dr. Pickman, head of the Pickman Project (duh). We have a feeling these guys may be due for some comeuppance.

Finish Him
Executions are the, erm, meat of the Manhunt series. Here are some of the latest ways to do in your captors.

Guns
Anyone can shoot a dude from 20 feet away. But only a true badass could sneak up on him and blow a hole through the back of his dome.

Wire Cutters
In addition to removing a few very necessary vertebrae, this little devil can also relieve your hunters of their family jewels. Yowza!

Environment
You may not always have a weapon handy so just use whatever your surroundings present: Fry your captor’s face in a fuse box or drown him in a feces-filled toilet. You know, dignified ways to meet your maker.

Fun Facts!
The Wii version of Manhunt 2 allows you to physically carry out the onscreen executions in your very own living room! Need to strangle a guy with a phone cord? Get those arm muscles a-twistin’!

James Urbaniak, the voice of Dr. Thaddeus Venture on Adult Swim’s amazing Venture Brothers, has long been rumored to have a part in Manhunt 2.

Manhunt 2 is available from Rockstar Games for use on the Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP.

Kieran Hebden Produces Sunburned Hand of Man

After The Wire deemed Sunburned Hand of the Man the leaders of the “New Weird America” in 2003, Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden knew he had to be involved with the experimental collective. Thus, Fire Escape, the newest prog-addition to the Sunburned catalog. Recorded in about four hours in Hebden’s London-based studio The Exchange, Fire Escape then became a massive project for Four Tet’s jazz-minded producer. Hebden took all of the samples and remixed them into a bizarre, post-punk collection that’s more akin to Cabaret Voltaire than a drone-heavy tape-label band.

Performed by a total of ten members, Sunburned’s newest offering finds Casio synths brushing against jazzy live drums, violas and trumpets competing with noisy samples, and heavy percussion all over the place. In addition, the band enlisted Boredoms’ Yamatsuka Eye for the artwork duties, making for one colorful, albeit paranoia-inducing, package. You don’t have to be a diehard experimental fan to appreciate the creative juices flowing here. 

Fire Escape is out in October, 2007 on Smalltown Supersound.

Tracklisting
1. Words To Live By
2. Nice Butterfly Mask
3. What Color Is The Sky In The World You Live In?
4. The Parakeet Beat
5. Captain Knowhere
6. Fire Escape
7. The Wind Has Ears
8. Triple, Double, Everything
9. Raw Backwards 

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