Cologne-based brothers Sebastian and Henrik Wild have been a production duo since 2002, promoting the D&B splinter sect of “neurofunk.” The resulting sonic assault on the brain is not for everyone, but everyone should give the duo’s debut a listen. N.Phect & Dizplay dominate the dancefloor here, presenting both crunching collabos (with DJ Phace, The Green Man, and Starke & Gorterer) and solo sessions. N.Phect goes ambient-orchestral while Dizplay dabbles in pop vox. Check out “My Velvet Morning,” “Motor,” and “Don‘t You See” first.
Various Osunlade: Cinco Anos Despue
Fittingly, this two-CD set, comprised of 20 tracks culled from Osunlade’s Yoruba Records catalog, opens with “Ochun’s Arrival,” an invocation to the Orisha representing the spiritual side of the essence of womanhood. The sexy, flirty track bounces along over an uptempo, flute-infused beat. This is deep house, alright, but deep in the sense that it seeks to connect Afro-Cuban religious tradition with extra-sensual electronic music-cheesy disco divas and stock 4/4 beats need not apply. Other Orishas are invoked, along with seductive Latin grooves and funky percussion-fueled sweat fests, resulting in rapturous dancefloor bliss that might just heal your mind, body, and soul.
Glue Catch As Catch Can
Any real hip-hoppers in the place? Cardboard-spinning, beatbox-busting, freestyle fanatics more at home with a can of Krylon than a case of Pimp Juice? If you‘ve stubbornly managed to avoid the trendy temptations of snap, crunk, or hyphy and would gladly trade a Jacob the Jeweler timepiece for a pristine copy of “It‘s Just Begun,” then Midwestern hip-hop heroes Glue are your flavor, kid. “We‘ve got a lot to say and even more to do,” MC Adeem proclaims as their manifesto unfolds over old-schoolish breaks (think Run-DMC‘s “Here We Go”), courtesy of producer Maker, while DJDQ mans the turntables. Glue‘s sound explodes out of the speakers with excessive amounts of energy (raising expectations for their live show) and, for all its retro style, bristles with original lyrical statements. This is no mere angsty backpacker album, but an indication that the battle between hip-hop and rap is far from over.
Presto Magic
Those born after ‘85 may not remember Presto Magix, but there couldn‘t be a more appropriate metaphor for Culver City producer Presto’s new LP. Like those bygone rub-on transfer kits, Presto’s tracks can be applied to myriad environments, fitting just as crisply on a hip-hop mixtape as they would at the winding down of an extended after-hours party. Known for his patient, jazz-tinged solo instrumentals, Presto recruits a solid squad of guests (Lowd, J Medeiros, and Raashan Ahmad among them), to bridge the old school with the new.
Life Force Trio Living Room
Stuffing fistfuls of eclectic musical influences into his mouth at once, Ammoncontact’s Carlos Nino has discovered a whole new flavor. Spaced-out jazz, old-school funk, and indeterminate psychedelia resonate beneath the surface of this superb eight-track offering as it wanders through deep vibraphonic moods and playful, analog daydreams. Along with his partner Dexter Story, Nino brings in a host of instrumentalists to enrich the flow with woodwinds and strings, raising the emotive grandeur of the album to a level that shrugs off any need for classification. Living Room is simply a delight to take in.
Various Magda: She’s a Dancing Machine
Nobody has ever accused Minus of not giving us our money’s worth, and that continues to be the case with the newest hyper-mixed project from the label’s second-hardest-working DJ. Seventy-one tracks in 78 minutes? It can be done. Well, it’s kinda been done already, but that’s beside the point. Surgical selections from the works of Marc Houle, Plastikman, Louderbach, and Magda herself (to name a fraction) are integrated in a snappy, linear flow that, by its very constitution, cannot help but be enticingly dynamic. Oodles of subliminal treats to be re-discovered with each listen.
Various Peanut Butter Wolf: Chrome Children
Can Stones Throw do no wrong? Their latest release, Chrome Mix, features choice tracks from an upcoming joint venture with Adult Swim entitled Chrome Children. Showcasing Oh No, Jaylib, Aloe Blacc, Quasimoto, and more, PB Wolf perfectly patches charming snippets into a concise, 25-minute blend. Standouts include a melodic remix of Madvillain’s “Meat Grinder” along with multi-syllabic madness from Percee P on “Rapper’s Flee.” Although the mix isn’t without lulls-notably Georgia Anne Muldrow and Roc C’s dull cuts-Chrome Mix is thoughtfully assorted, well paced and, simply put, a very colorful listen. Recommended.
BOLA Shapes
Originally released in 2000 on a criminally rare triple-pack of 12″s, Shapes was pressed with a label including nothing more than geometric forms superimposed on a black background. With this CD reissue, Bola finally takes credit for crafting a foreboding soundtrack to a streamlined future lifted straight out of the pages of a William Gibson novel. While still musically relevant, this futurist tack almost seems quaint when compared to the present-a world in which pandemic flu, dirty nukes, and ever-encroaching government surveillance seem much more plausible than any dystopian technopolis that Bola could dream up.
Various FabricLive 29: Cut Copy
The DJ-mix CD is tough to pull off. In an effort to capture marathon club sets within 75 destined-for-home-stereo minutes, many of today’s best mixmasters get stuck, uninspired, in no man‘s land. Not so Australian rockers Cut Copy. With ears for melody, finely tuned to the dancefloor, the trio purveys an infectious party vibe while deftly genre-skipping behind the decks: sun-kissed keys cascade into punky reverb and steely guitar rock power-slides into filtered French house. But despite boasting an array of styles, FabricLive 29 never feels campy, forced, or anything else short of just plain fun.
Chromeo Releases Ce Soir on Danse
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new release from the French Canadian Pee Thug and Dave 1, also known as the Arab/Jew duo Chromeo, and it will be a while still until a follow-up to 2004’s She’s In Control drops. Fans, you’ll have to satiate your funk-loving palettes with another mix CD instead. On Ce Soir on Danse the guys delve deep into the long-forgotten corridors of the 80s and come up with 25 obscure goodies dripping with r&b, synth fun, vocoders, and sex. As the site states, it’s “more fun that being forced to smoke crack at gunpoint by Rick James.”
Ce Soir on Danse is out now on Vice.
