Really liking this one. A much housier feel here: 909 snare rolls, filtered vocal echoes and punchy deep-house stabs all joined together with conga-led skippy beats. Effective breakdown. Excellent!
Agent X Vintage EP
A fantastic four-tracker from the makers of the infamous “Decoy.” My fave track is “Hustler,” an energetic blend of crisp 4×4 beats, vocal snips and savage bass. This vinyl has something for all garage heads!
Roche What’s Left?
Ben Winans launches this SF-based label with eight tracks of various lengths and approaches to downtempo. Between the distorted electronics of “Intro Fo Show,” the ghostly orchestrations and babbling vocal samples of “Back Again Da Monk Stylee” and the manipulated tripmospheres over the breaks of “Breaks Down,” you’re gonna find what you need as far as bong-hit soundtracks and DJ tools.
Stigmato Inc. Strive To Be Happy Remixes
Barcelona boys Tito Rosell and Carles Sanchez celebrate the domestic release of their debut album with thumping re-rubs of this celebratory jam. San Francisco boy Kaskade nicely chops up singer Danna Leese’s vocals into a stew of boosted beats and filtered effects, Rithma seizes the flute bit and trounces off to a psychotropic rainforest and Supreme Beings of Leisure land you in a breakbeat lounge. Great takes.
Nectar The Other
San Francisco DJ Garth’s erstwhile deep house label goes a bit outside, in top Frisco style. On the flipside of producer Adam Tenenbaum’s chunk of dubby soul-techno lies a cut of opaque yet chugging ’80s house groove (“Say Something”) and some haunted, percussive broke-beat action (“What’s Happening?”). Tight.
Blaq Poet A Message From Poet
This newest MC on DJ Premier’s Year Round Records roster delivers a powerful verse (stemming from the Chuck D tree) about all the MCs that’s beefing today, over another Premier classic. A rare positive track that’s much needed!
Sandy Shores
The L.A. Issue
Every year we choose one thriving metropolis to shower with love. This year, we pay homage to Los Angeles, featuring the city’s hottest producers, record labels, artists, and clothing designers, including John Tejada, Dublab, Junglist Platoon, Languis, Medusa, Mush, Plug Research, Nobody, Rory Wilson, Showpony, Six Space, Tony Watson, R.A.W. , Slowrider, Florencio Zavala, Buffmonster, Bizzart, the Stones Throw crew, and Aceyalone.
Zip Dimbiman
If you are into minimal techno, you know Perlon. The saga continues with the label’s 33rd release by Zip-a funky, clicky, groove thang replete with dissonant chord pulses. With his finger firmly pressed on the g-spot of dance, Zip continues on with the b-side, “Planet Curry,” a barrage of offbeat blippiness that still maintains that amazing drive to make us dance. Anomalous!
Jon Keneddy Take My Drum to England
Stockport native Kennedy makes it clear that his heart remains with his drum kit on this debut album. The mix of rock-style hi-hats and snares, as well as the funky tom-toms show off his musical background and bring a complex, intelligent rhythm to each track. How fortunate, then, that the drum is only one small piece of this musical collage, which exceeds the boundaries of predictable songwriting. An added bonus are the layers of guitars, flutes and pianos that sound like Layo and Bushwacka and the members of Zero 7 locked in a closet together with an acoustic guitar. And that makes for an album definitely worth checking out.
