It’s been noted recently on xlr8r.com that reggae is creeping into some unlikely corners of the globe, and Germany-based Jahtari Records epitomizes this migration. The label’s releases attempt to further marry Jamaican sounds with those cold machines more often found in IDM or techno. Check label co-founder Rootah‘s track ‘Holy Mount’ for an example.
Arrebite “Skeblay”
Brazil’s Rafael and Raul from Arrebite find an apt home at Phantomnoise Records for their latest release, a strange concoction of breakcore, reggaeton, drum and bass, and some seriously dark rhythms that pound and pulverize the ears in only the best possible way. Brush up on your headbanging, kids.
Crystal Castles: Beer Money
Ethin is so pissed right now. His band, Crystal Castles, was scheduled to perform in New York, when everything went tits up at the Canada/U.S. border. “Basically, the cops took one look at us rolling up, didn’t even ask us a question. The officer just got on his walkie-talkie and said, ‘I’ve got a white Malibu that I’m bringing into the garage,'” states the multi-instrumentalist. “The garage door closes behind us, and we’re locked in there for seven hours, because they’re sure we stole [the car]. I mean yeah, I don’t have a white Malibu, obviously, but I rented one for the weekend so I could get to New York City, and now because of it, I’m locked in this fucking garage with three cops thinking that we’re criminals, assuming that we stole a car.” He sighs. “It was such a bitch.”
If only the border patrol knew what they were depriving New York of. The Toronto band–consisting of Ethin (whose real name is Claudio) and his bandmate Alice on vocals and keys–is one of the freshest electro acts of the moment, with a sold-out 7-inch (“Alice Practice” on Dalston, England’s Merok Records), remixes of Klaxons and GoodBooks under their belts, and another anxiously awaited EP in the wings. As for their sound, it takes the usual designer-sneakers-and-black-hoodie electro-banger scene and gives in a swift kick in the ass with searing punk spirit, courtesy of Alice’s gritty, raw vocals and Ethin’s pounding basslines and glitchy sampler tweaking. It’s danceable yet harsh, fiery but fun.
Crystal Castles coalesced over mutual admiration and good hair. “Alice’s best friend had a crush on me,” chuckles Ethin who, as well as Alice, uses no last name. “She would come hang out and Alice would be with her. They had a band together, so I went to check them out. I loved Alice’s lyrics and everything she was saying. And her haircut.”
Their partnership settled, Ethin gave Alice some 25 songs he had written on his computer for her to record vocals onto. “We actually recorded the mic check, and that song became the song ‘Alice Practice,'” he says. “It was the first time I had heard her sing over the instrumentals, but she wasn’t too happy about me putting it on the internet,” he says, referring to Crystal Castles’ MySpace page. “It’s funny, because after posting it without telling her, Merok Records asked if they could release ‘Alice Practice’ as a 7″. I was like, ‘It’s just her mic-checking and me setting levels. It’s not even a song.’ They were like, ‘No, it’s a song and we want to put it out.'”
He has to laugh at the irony. “We never put any thought into this band at all,” he says. “We put some songs together, got some pictures up [on MySpace]. People offer us money to play live, and it’s like, ‘Cool! Money. We can buy beer with that money.’ The most thought goes into buying alcohol with the money we’ve made.”
Hot Chip Gets Its DJ Kicks On
London’s five-piece dance outfit Hot Chip take to the mixing board for !K7’s latest release in its DJ Kicks series, which has previously seen contributions from Annie, Four Tet, Henrik Schwarz, and others.
The boys have shown us a thing or two about the kind of music they’re capable of making in the last year. With Coming on Strong, fans heard lyrical musings about Kraft dinners and Stevie Wonder laid over mellow beats and tinkling bells. The Warning gave us a far more uptempo, dancefloor friendly album that was anything but laid back, and within a mere 12 months the group found themselves playing sold-out shows and being hailed as one of the hottest bands making music.
Asked to cite the musical influences that helped make all this possible and the guys will name everyone from New Order to Ray Charles to Anti-Pop Consortium and Will Oldham. “We thought pop music should be more imaginative than it is at the moment,” they say, “that it should affect you and inspire you.”
Thus, Hot Chip delivers a mix of tracks that inspire them for the latest edition of !K7’s DJ mix series, and the most jaded of ex-ravers will be smiling at this selection of jumpy tunes that are a little disco, a little hip-hop, a little pop, and always dancefloor worthy. Should ensure the guys won’t have to resort to those aforementioned Kraft dinners anytime soon.
DJ Kicks: Hot Chip is out May 21, 2007 on !K7.
Tracklisting
1. Grovesnor “Nitemoves”
2. Positive K “I Got A Man”
3. Gramme “Like You”
4. Subway “Persuasion”
5. Soundhack “B1”
6. Tom Zé “Cademar”
7. Hot Chip “My Piano (DJ-Kicks)”
8. Wax Stag “Short Road”
9. New Order “Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone Extended Remix)”
10. Young Leek -“Jiggle It”
11. Etta James & Sugar Pie DeSanto “In The Basement, Part One”
12. Black Devil Disco Club “On Just Foot”
13. Dominik Eulberg “Der Buchdrucker”
14. Grauzone “Film 2”
15. This Heat “Radio Prague”
16. Wookie “Far East”
17. Gabriel Ananda “Doppelwhipper (Live)”
18. Marek Bois “You Got Good Ash”
19. Lanark “The Stone That The Builder Rejected”
20. Pete Um “The Man’s Got Me Beat”
21. Nôze “Love Affair”
22. Audion “Just Fucking (Roman Flügel’s 23 Positions In A One-Night Stand Remix)”
23. Joe Jackson “Steppin’ Out”
24. Ray Charles “Mess Around”
New At INCITE Online, March 13
If you’d like to receive a sample mix and weekly updates when new tracks are posted, please subscribe to our podcast. Subscribe using iTunes (recommended) or with the RSS reader of your choice, by clicking here.
Tomboy – Though Tomas Barfod, drummer of Copenhagen’s disco-grunge-funk outfit WhoMadeWho, has only just stepped into solo territory, dancefloor remixes of his work, like this track, are already making their way around the music circuit.
Bukue One – Released just last week, Intromission is this Bay Area MC’s first full-length, and on it he revisits the five elements he considers integral to hip-hop: rapping, DJing, breaking, graffiti, and skate boarding. In other words, having fun at all costs.
Mark Templeton – Fans of all things experimental and minimal will delight in Anticipate’s inaugural release from Templeton, whose bend is towards acoustic instruments manipulated digitally and accompanied by carefully arranged layers of field recordings.
Rootah – Germany-based Jahtari Records attempts to further marry Jamaican sounds with those cold machines more often found in IDM or techno, and label co-founder Rootah epitomizes this on his track “Holy Mount.”
Arrebite – Brazil’s Rafael and Raul’s latest release is a strange concoction of breakcore, reggaeton, drum and bass, and some seriously dark rhythms that pound and pulverize the ears in only the best possible way. Brush up on your headbanging, kids.
Modeselektor Releases First Mix
Crafty conspirators Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary (a.k.a. Modeselektor) are famous for packing dancefloors with their blend of IDM, glitch, electro, and hip-hop generated from homemade or tweeked electronics. Vol. 3 marks the duo’s first-ever mix CD, and the third in BPitch Control’s Boogy Bytes series.
Newcomers to the duo’s fanbase would say the mix lacks a musical focus, but those in the know are aware formulaic consistency was never Mokeselektor’s mission. From Detroit techno to Border Community’s progressive take on techno, to dirty Bmore boys Spank Rock and whiny rockers Radiohead, Vol. 3 will keep you guessing, not to mention dancing, and remains consistent with the duo’s desire to mash disparate sounds together and see what results surface.
Bronsert and Szary are currently in the studio recording their next full-length album, working on a Thom Yorke remix, and playing all over Europe until the end of May. Boogie Bytes Vol. 3 is just a few sleepless minutes of their hectic lives.
Boogy Bytes Volume 3 is out April 23, 2007 on BPitch Control.
Tracklisting
1. The Panacea “Intro”
2. Siriusmo “Wow”
3. Detroit Experiment “Vernors”
4. Flying Lotus “1983”
5. Spank Rock “Rick Rubin”
6. Paul Kalkbrenner “Gia2000 (Modeselektor Rmx)”
7. James Holden “Idiot”
8. Bobby Peru “Erotic Discourse/Audiojack RMX (Xtremely Touched by MDSLKTR)”
9. C’hantal “The Realm (Acapella)”
10. Nathan Fake “Charlie’s House (Apparat Rmx)”
11. Errorsmith “Free For All” vs. Robag Wruhme “Papp Tonikk” vs. Female “Cally2” vs. Krause Duo “Tigerbett”
12. Skream “Midnight Request Line” vs. Angelo Battilani “Empty”
13. Rhythm & Sound W/Bobbo Shanti “Poor People Must Work (Carl Craig Rmx)”
14. Burial “Southern Comfort”
15. Jean Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert “Moog Acid (Plasticman Rmx)” vs. Philipe Cam “Karine”
16. Various Production “Lost”
17. “Fillin # 1”
18. Siriusmo “Discosau”
19. “Fillin # 2 (feat. Teki Latex)”
20. Modeselektor feat. TTC “Une Bande De Mec Sympa”
21. Clatterbox “Collision Detection”
22. Mr. Oizo “Half a Scissor”
23. Marcel Dettmann “Just Do It” vs. Errorsmith “A1/ERR001”
24. u-Ziq “u-Ziq Theme”
25. Phon.o “Ridin Dirty”
26. Radiohead “Idioteque”
27. Modeselektor “Outro”
Various Artists Modeselektor: Boogybytes Vol 3
B-Pitch darlings Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary scare up a whole slew of strange techno and glitch tracks and hammer them together into one of the weirder mixes I’ve heard in a long time. Still, it manages to hang together and be as goofy and enjoyable as their original productions. New stuff from Flying Lotus, Phon.o, Spank Rock, and Skream jostles up against oldies but goodies from Mr. Oizo, Mu-Ziq, and even Radiohead. The Modeselektor-produced TTC track “Une Bande de Mec Sympa” takes the cake, but the whole thing comes across as wonderfully uncaring of public opinion, much like Modeselektor themselves.
Lanu This Is My Home
Aussie funksters The Bamboos made a worldwide splash last year with Step It Up. Now bandleader Lance Ferguson has his own thing going with the solo effort This Is My Home. His life-long love of playing music yields a remarkable depth and versatility that’s all too rare; the production is hotter than the sun beaming on Ayers Rock in the outback. Choice collabs include homies Cherie Mathieson and No Comply on broken groover “Runaway,” as well as Quantic and Aloe Blacc on the Afrobeat-tinged “Mother Earth.” Throw this mutha on your barbie, mate!
Laub Deinetwegen
It’s been five years since we heard from the post-techno duo Laub. Meanwhile, producer and poet/vocalist Antye Greie recorded a string of albums as AGF, guitarist and producer Jotka launched his own web-design firm, and both started families. And, oh yeah, they became blues musicians. Strange as that might seem, Jotka’s weary, stripped-down licks á la John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters (no samples here) slouch perfectly over crackling and popping minimal techno beats. And though she sings only in German, Greie’s tough-edged voice nicely rounds out this great, slow-burning return.
DJ Vadim Preps Album, Makes BBE Debut
Russian-born, London-based Vadim Peare (a.k.a. DJ Vadim) has been sampling and mixing for over a decade and a half, and in April we will once again reap the benefits of his production experience with another album of his trademark soul, dark dub, and hip-hop infusion, aptly titled The Sound Catcher.
The prolific DJ and producer signed to Ninja Tune in 1992, then started his own label, Jazz Fudge, in 1995. He has also collaborated with a who’s-who list of artists, including DJ Krush, Public Enemy, and even Kraftwerk. The Sound Catcher sees Vadim switching things up once again, not only with a move to hip-hop mainstay imprint BBE, but also in the huge musical diversity on the album, as seen in both the production and lineup of guest artists.
The Sound Catcher is out April 3, 2007 on BBE.
Tracklisting
1. Intro
2. Fear Feats feat. Emo and Syrus
3. Talk To Me feat. Sena
4. Them Say feat. Diane
5. Soundcatchers feat. Abstract Rude
6. Manchester
7. Kill Kill Kill feat. Big Red
8. Milwakee
9. Like the Wind feat. Deuce Eclipse
10. Black is the Night feat. Katherin deBoer
11. Got to Rock feat. Zion
12. Theme to Big Willy Dee
13. Balistic Affairs feat. skinny Man, Singa Blinga, and Killa Kela
14. Sufferin Blues feat. Lil Green
15. Bath in Bleach feat. Monte Smith
16. SD4
17. Watch That Sound feat. Emo
