S.F.’s very own All Teeth and Knuckles has stolen the soul of all things club. This deadly duo manages to produce electro hip-hop that’s as punk as it is pop, pissed as it is fun. Taken from the forthcoming album Club Hits to Hit the Clubs With, “Let’s Undress” is another drunken sex jam that’s got the ladies forming a line and wallflowers ready for any dance party.
Aesop Rock All Day: Nike + Original Run
Aesop Rock built this 45-minute track to entertain joggers and inspire them to buy lots and lots of Nikes. The track has most of the right elements, but the potholes tend to wear out the music’s momentum. Aesop hires an acid-rock band to play some downer blues, and there are moments when everything clicks, but his stress-rap rhymes are too fragmented and he overindulges in bugged-out synth wanks. This iTunes exclusive serves as better listening for the couch during drowsy, unemployed days than it does a morning run.
Must Be the Moon
In the Studio: Asphodel and Recombinant Media Labs
In part one of a series, XLR8R Technology editor Ken Taylor takes you on a tour of one of electronic art’s finest facilities, Asphodel and Recombinant Media Labs. Comprised of an unprecedented 16.8.2 -channel, 10-screen surround-cinema performance environment with an external control room, a suite full of new and old synthesizers (all in mint condition), a DVD- and CD-mastering studio and a recording studio with top-of-the-line equipment spanning nearly every era of electronic music, Asphodel and RML is a sound artist’s dream come to life. While the technology is impressive, it’s only one aspect of what makes these studios special. We’ll explore the facility further in future episodes.
Simian Mobile Disco Preps Debut LP
The English and French have been busy cultivating a scene that has been embraced by the next generation of dance fanatics. Jas Shaw and James Ford (a.k.a Simian Mobile Disco) have been at the head of the pack and after a stint of immaculately successful 12”s and remixes, the electro-house duo is unleashing its first long-player. Slated for release on Wichita (Bloc Party, The Blood Brothers), Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release is going to go completely insane for the duo’s gritty analog magic.
This full-length is an interesting venture for the production kingpins, considering the fact that not all of the major names involved with the blossoming “new rave” circuit have released long-players. With blog downloads across the board, MySpace plays that outnumber those of many major-label acts, and producing bands like Klaxons, SMD has become far more than a household name even when pitted against the boys’ hyped contemporaries.
The UK-based duo has already amassed a resume comparable to many legendary electronic producers. Releasing singles for Kitsuné and remixing artists from Muse to The Rapture to The Go! Team, SMD has garnered a following similar to the Ed Banger crew. Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release will no doubt have kids on their feet, from France to the US.
Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release is out June 18 on Wichita.
Tracklisting
01. Sleep Deprivation
02. I Got This Down
03. It’s The Beat
04. Hustler
05. Tits & Acid
06. I Believe
07. Hotdog
08. Wooden
09. Love
10. Scott
XLR8R TV Episode 10: Asphodel and Recombinant Media Labs
In part one of a series, XLR8R Technology editor Ken Taylor takes you on a tour of one of electronic art’s finest facilities, Asphodel and Recombinant Media Labs. Comprised of an unprecedented 16.8.2 -channel, 10-screen surround-cinema performance environment with an external control room, a suite full of new and old synthesizers (all in mint condition), a DVD- and CD-mastering studio, and a recording studio with top-of-the-line equipment spanning nearly every era of electronic music, Asphodel and RML is a sound artist’s dream come to life. While the technology is impressive, it’s only one aspect of what makes these studios special. We’ll explore the facility further in future episodes.
Previous Episodes
Episode 1: DAT Politics, Zion I
Episode 2: Carl Craig
Episode 3: SXSW Part One
Episode 4: SXSW Part Two
Episode 5: Busdriver
Episode 6: Psychedelic Videos
Episode 7: Beth Ditto and Yo Majesty
Episode 8: Digitalism
Episode 9: Joakim
Daily Download: Dolby-Anol “Heather, I’m Dry”
Dolby-Anol is the chip right off of the electro-psych block. This Glasgow-based duo composes the most righteous analog-house, sample-shuffling dance tracks this side of Simian Mobile Disco. Taken from the boys’ Tigerbass debut Dolby & Gabbana, “Heather, I’m Dry” is imbued with layers of colorful synth-dirge and bleeping chaos from the cosmos.
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.
Dolby-Anol “Heather, I’m Dry”
Dolby-Anol is the chip right off of the electro-psych block. This Glasgow-based duo composes the most righteous analog-house, sample-shuffling dance tracks this side of Simian Mobile Disco. Taken from the boys’ Tigerbass debut Dolby & Gabbana, “Heather, I’m Dry” is imbued with layers of colorful synth-dirge and bleeping chaos from the cosmos.
Amon Tobin Foley Room
Advancing far beyond his sound-manipulation past, Amon Tobin has created an experimental masterpiece of cinematic proportions. Foley Room (the space where sound effects are recorded for films) sequences source material (wasps buzzing, tigers roaring, chickpeas falling) and then distorts and manipulates it into epic piano-driven scores. Tobin’s strength as a composer is best illustrated on the track “Straight Psyche,” a drone-heavy Krautrocker that moves from arpeggio guitars through densely reverberated drums and into schizophrenic vocal whispers-all while keeping a loose groove that rekindles the trippiest moments of Can.
The XLR8R Office Top Ten Album Picks, May 28
Odd NosdamLevel Live WiresAnticon.
Odd Nosdam is to experimental hip-hop what Herbert is to disco. Although samples abound, it’s the field recordings (exploding SUVs, gang shootings) in his latest LP that make it a truly intriguing (and often moving) collection of cinematic, fuzzy bricolage. Put this on your headphones, look at the people sitting around you on the bus at night, and enjoy.
No AgeWeirdo Rippers Fat Cat
What’s not to love about LA’s art-skate-punk scene? Unpretentious and DIY, No Age epitomizes Ed Templeton’s underground. While also known for its work as visual and performance artists, this young noise-punk duo pumps out an assaulting blend of lo-fi rock, wall-of-sound shoegaze, and gritty warehouse thrash.
The Budos BandThe Budos Band IIDaptone
In a world where soul and funk are too often muddled by jam-band tomfoolery or hip-hop blasé, Daptone Records has become a precious resource. While referencing everything from Mingus to Fela to spy-thriller psych, this Staten Island 11-piece lays down 10 cuts of enormous Afrobeat soul-funk burners. This is the best thing out of Staten Island since Christina Aguilera. Seriously.
Kathy DiamondMiss Diamond To YouPermanent Vacation
Not to jump the gun or anything, but when Maurice Fulton produces an album, you know it’s going to be impressive. With Ms. Diamond’s debut, Fulton creates just the right mixture of analog and synthetic, nostalgia and futurism, pop and underground. This is pure slap-bass, disco-diva gold.
Various Rumble in the JungleSoul Jazz
It’s no secret that we at XLR8R are huge Soul Jazz fans, and comps like Rumble in the Jungle are the prime reason. Surveying London’s incredibly hot jungle scene of the early- to mid-’90s, Rumble features classic killer cuts from Ragga Twins, UK Apachi & Shy FX, and Shut Up and Dance–and it’s just what we needed to transport us back to the heyday, and give us a renewed perspective on dubstep.
Ova LoovenGravity Has ExpiredArtikal
This 12″ sorta came out of left field and turned into Managing Editor Ken Taylor’s favorite EP of the last six months. Moev, L’Altra, New Wave, and post-rock tonality all show their sides in equal measure over the course of four airy, beat-drenched, Cure-imbued vocal-and-glitch tracks. Weightless (like the title might suggest) yet weightier than anything we’ve come across in a while.
VariousDisco DeutschlandMarina
Our most recent print issue provides a brief outline of Neue Deutsche Welle–obscure pop music sung in German rather than English. But don’t hate on all of the slick disco productions that predate that. Disco Deutschland showcases work from Amanda Lear and Munich Machine.
SwayzakSome Other Country!K7
After taking a breather for the last couple years, as evidenced by releasing only an album of remixes in recent memory, Swayzak is back with a few new tricks. Rather than aiming at the disco (see 2004’s Loops From the Bergerie), Some Other Country is a dubby reaction to the popularization of minimal techno. If that means the duo is getting old and moody, then it’s working for them.
Simian Mobile DiscoAttack, Decay, Sustain, ReleaseUniversal
It’s been difficult for Simian Mobile Disco to take a wrong turn during the last year, and their first full-length does little to change that. Any reference to the duo’s 12”s or remixes is points in the right direction, but the album offers a few mellower digressions. This collection of glitched-out, rave-inspired electro will have no problem invading dancefloors and iPods alike.
Hot ChipDJ Kicks: Hot Chip!K7
The coy Englishmen in Hot Chip have released their DJ Kicks mix collection. Those familiar with their work will find little shocking, but plenty of tracks reinforce that they are nerds first and musicians second. The boys keep it lighthearted and fun, from Tom Zé all the way to Grauzone (they even resist the popular temptation to play “Eisbaer”).
