Miami-based photographer Harlan Erskine recently went out in her hometown to document a performance by DJ Feadz and his partner/mc Uffie, both stars on France’s quickly rising Ed Banger imprint.
Now playing at Peepshow: Feadz and Uffie
Air Announces Pocket Symphony
Paris, France-based Air returns to once again romance their listeners on their latest full-length Pocket Symphony. Whereas 2004’s Talkie Walkie was nearly all outerspace-like production work and angelic vocals, Symphony veers in the direction of eclecticism, adding classical Japanese instruments and sounds to the traditional ones. It certainly gives the duo’s music a more alien, yet no less appealing feel. Call it just another layer added to the ever-expanding arsenal Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoît Dunckel are stockpiling.
Pocket Symphony is out March 2, 2007 on Astralwerks.
Tracklisting
1. Space maker
2. Once Upon A Time
3. Hell Of A Party
4. Napalm Love
5. Mayfair Song
6. Left Bank
7. Photograph
8. Mer du Japon
9. Lost Message
10. Somewhere Between Walking And Sleeping
11. Redhead Girl
12. Night Sight
The XLR8R Office Top Ten Album Picks, Nov 27
The Early Years S/T 4AD
Forged from a collective love for minimal noise and the ambiance of Eno, London’s The Early Years have developed a chaotic garage-gaze sound akin to nothing. Between David Malkinson’s effects-laden guitar setup and his dreary, pop-infused vocals, this trio is first in line for world domination.
VariousThe Roots of DubstepTempa
Like all dubstep comps, particularly those on Tempa, The Roots of Dubstep kills it. Featuring a few established artists you don’t usually hear from, this comp definitely gets at the roots of dub. For those days when you want the more melodic side of the genre, listen to the Menta and Horsepower tracks and be on your way.
DAT PoliticsAre Oui Phony?Tigerbeat6
DAT Politics has come a long way over the years and Are Oui Phony? is strong proof. The band has taken their data-punk sound to new levels with feverishly filtered vocals and chirpy synth leads that could lead a legion of geeked-out party animals from coast to coast. Play this for your friends with sweaters and highwaters and feel the goosebumps.
Various8-Bit Operators: An 8-Bit Tribute to the Music of KraftwerkAstralwerks
Whether or not you cherish 8-bit Atari/NES producers, no one can deny an awesome Kraftwerk cover. This 15-track homage to the analog masters finds a slew of “8-Bit operators” putting in a lot of work to get it right. Unlike many tribute albums, 8-Bit Operators gets it right.
LullatonePlays Pajama Pop Pour VousAudio Dregs
The title says it all. This is very, very cute pop that evokes a morning at breakfast with your special lady or dude friend. Is it possible that high-pitched, whispered Japanese female vocals will ever go out of style? We don’t think so.
Cut CityExit DecadesGSL
Gothenburg, Sweden comes through yet again–this time in the form of Cut City. Even though the whole “we love Joy Division, and it shows” thing has been blown out of proportion, Cut City comes correct with driving rock songs that serve as an ode to the band, rather than some cheap imitation.
Bong-Ra vs. SickboyShotgun Wedding Volume 5Violent Turd
With two tracks clocking in at more than an hour total, SGW5 is breakcore insanity from two of the scene’s best. If machine-gun snares, glitches popping at you from every panned angle, and a whole lot of headache gets you as psyched as it does for us, then Bong-Ra and Sickboy will take you home.
Point LomaForneoAzra
The Nortec Collective’s Bostich is Point Loma. And Point Loma is one of the best offshoots from the Mexican clan since Murcof’s Utopia. Not unlike Murcof, Point Loma utilizes the dark, dubbed-out downtempo that conjures the gnarliest nights in Tijuana.
Chimp BeamsMeninaConcent
Sometimes when the deepest dub and hip-hop converge, massive things happen. In this case, Chimp Beams takes the cake. Featuring nasty basslines and slow-motion rhythms, Menina is the arty answer to traditional dub sounds.
Das BierbebenAlles FaultShitkatapult
By far one the best releases on T. Raumschmere’s Shitkatapult imprint this year, Alles Fault finds Das Bierbeben laying down a profoundly unique blend of gothy electro-post-punk that could light up a club as well as a misanthrope’s barren bedroom. This is gloomy, danceable music at its peak.
New York’s Blip Invasion
If hearing the Castlevania theme song remixed in the style of MegaMan is enough to get your joystick jumping, then hightail it to New York City’s Blip Festival (December 1-3, 2006). Nerds and n00bs alike will find something to appreciate at this three-day event, where a cast of international 8-bit artists will rip the guts out of old game consoles in the name of creative expression. Artists on the bill range from stateside scene leaders Bit Shifter and Nullsleep (whose wicked Game Boy cover of Depeche Mode works hard for the term “megamix”) to the insanely cute three-piece Japanese pop band YMCK. Throw in workshops about reverse engineering on NES cartridges and pixelated art installations–including Corey Arcangel’s “Super Mario Movie”–and you have a proper congregation of art-minded geeks. “I’m not gonna lie. [Our audience] is a lot of dorky guys who look like they’ll soon be returning to their parents’ basement,” admits Mike Rosenthal, the festival’s artistic director. “But it’s fun! They want to hear shit that makes them groove, but they want to know something techy is going into it.” Rosenthal, who runs a packed chiptune monthly at alt-performance space The Tank, attributes the scene’s growing popularity to his generation’s shared pop-culture nostalgia. “People grew up immersed in this stuff–that 8-bit, blippy sound speaks to them on a deep level. It’s taking back a pure and total part of our childhood, and turning it into something crazy and new.”
Elements: Accessorize Yo’self
Each issue, XLR8R unearths the hottest new styles and designers in its Elements section. Here, from Issue 103 (December), we bring together some of the best accessories of the season.
Paul Frank TV watch
Triple 5 Soul snowflake mitten
Lost Mish Mash belt
Vanishing Video On xlr8r.com
Vanishing’s video for the track “Cuckoo Split” comes straight off Gold Standard Lab’s first-ever DVD compilation as the label treks through its archives. Best of all, the Region-free DVD will play anywhere!
Lab Results Volume One is out now on Gold Standard Labs.
Lutan Fyah: Rasta Ambassador
Jamaican singer Lutan Fyah has a reputation for succinct, spiritually charged language, which lifts the artist (born Anthony Martin) above the pack of just-arrived cultural reggae singers. His third album, Phantom War (Greensleeves), is populated by rich, memorable songs, all imbued with forthright Rasta ethics.
Martin’s strength and piousness are partially the result of tests he endured as a player in Jamaica’s Premier League football association. Coaches were outright hostile when the talented midfielder would not trim his locks. As a result, Martin left football in 1996 for musical pursuits. He recorded his first material at Buju Banton’s Gargamel Studios before collaborating and touring with Jah Mason and linking up with Bay Area producers Lustre Kings for his 2005 album, Time and Place.
When I reach Martin on his mobile phone in Jamaica, he’s bouncing down a potholed road en route to his new Tsahai Music studio headquarters. He’s keen to explain the inspiration for Phantom War: “[The album] means that I-and-I can come across with a message of Rastafari so people can understand Lutan Fyah on a different level. [I-and-I] choose to teach the youth dem about the ghetto runnings in Jamaica and worldwide. The album speaks of how we go about our day-to-day lives.”
Primarily a collection of tracks on recent modern roots riddims like Black Shade, Blaze, and Triumphant, Phantom War maintains a cohesive vibe borne of its conscious messages. Songs like “Mother Earth’s Healing” and “Screaming For The Poor” underscore Martin’s moral convictions. “We’re living in a shituation where anything can happen,” he remarks, “and the community have to be uplifted for the youth to see a better way. The children of the ghetto should get better education; governments of the world should find a way to let them get it free, or at least affordable.”
Martin literally wears his message on his sleeves. Adorning the singer’s crisp khaki suit are Rastafarian icons and medallions, including a large letter R and number 7. “I-and-I a Bobo Ashanti,” he explains. “The ‘R’ stands for the righteousness government; we don’t deal with the ‘X’ government. [Ours is] a theocratic government with which we can reach out to the people of the world. We say Haile Selassie [unleashed] the seven seals, the seven elements of creation, which manifest on a spiritual level through humankind. When you see the people stand up for their own self and them a’ own opinion, it’s ’cause Haile Selassie manifest the seventh seal.”
As we conclude our interview, Martin breaks into a spontaneous five-minute acapella verse. His spiritual message is as unwavering as his voice is clear, underscoring the point that music is this artist’s form of activism. “We try and declare ourselves through music cause music is what we have,” he says. “We got nothing else.”
Elements: Field Day Clothing
Each issue XLR8R unearths the hottest new styles and designers in its Elements section. For the December issue (#103), we showcased pieces from Oakland, CA-based designer Trinity Cross.
Elements: Bag This
Each issue XLR8R unearths the hottest new styles and designers in its Elements section. For the December issue (#103), we got our hands on a couple of purses that will make excellent Christmas presents-even if you’re just giving them to yourself.
Geoff McFettridge Small Problem tote bag for 2K
El Sloucho bag by Ryan Green Designs
Foreign Islands Release Restart Now!
If you live in New York you’ve likely heard of Foreign Islands, the musical foresome known around the city for their own style of the electronic-spiced-rock formula oozing from every pore of the music world these days. Having carved out a reputation in one of the toughest cities to crack, the boys take their music to further parts of the country now, with Restart Now!, their full-length follow-up to 2005’s EP. Tide yourself over in the meantime by snagging a copy of their single “We Know You Know It” and stay tuned for more details on the band.
Restart Now! is out February 20, 2007 on Deaf Dumb & Blind Recordings.
