Monday, February 15, 2010

Skream - Kinky / Assumptions (Benga Remix)


a. Kinky
b. Assumptions (Benga Remix)


Prime cuts from the dubstep dreamteam aka Skream and Benga on Transition's in-house imprint, Ringo. We're left blushing at Skream's 'Kinky' which uses samples of a girl in the middle of a particularly strenuous rave workout, while Benga revises the classic 'Assumptions' to great effect. Making up for a dearth of recent material, he adds a sinister dread tension and bubbling elastic synths to the vocals of the original making this an indispensable 12" for the tru-skool dubstep fiends...www.boomkat.com

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Reminiscin' of 2009

1. Audion - Look At The Moon
2. Mendo & Danni Serrano – Kumbha
3. Intrusion – Little Angel with Paul St. Hilaire
4. Luke Hess - Evidence Everywhere
5. Paul Brtschitsch – Three Weeks (Anja Schneider Remix)
6. Anthea & Celler - The Playmaker (Dyed Soundorom Cougar Remix)
7. Juan Sanchez – Elvis
8. Deuce – Twerp Wiz (Original Mix)
9. LD – Traumatic Times
10. Thodoris Triantafillou – Suspicious Behaviour (Nick Curly Remix)
11. Ribn – Cottbus
12. Tiga – Beep Beep Beep (Loco Dice Remix)
13. Shit Robot – Simple Things (Work It Out) (Todd Terje Version)
14. Joy Orbinson - BRKLN CLLN
15. Rob Sparx - To Be In Love
16. Roy Ayers – Tarzan (Âme Remix)
17. Martyn - Mega Drive Generation
18. Ramadanman - Revenue (Untold Remix)
19. Untold - I Can't Stop This Feeling (Pangaea Remix)
20. Motor City Drum Ensemble - Frontin
21. Steve Bug & Cle – Month Of Sip (Ben Klock Remix)
22. José James – Blackmagic (Joy Orbison's Recreation)
23. Geiom – Reminissin' (Skream's 'Time Traveller' Refix)
24. A Made Up Sound - Bounce
25. Marcel Dettmann - Apron
26. Langenberg - Even Love (edit)
27. Sebastian Lutz – Kachina
28. Levon Vincent – Six Figures
29. L-Vis 1990 – Change The Game (Starkey remix)
30. Sebo K – Spirits


wait for the links, peeps..

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Yeasayer - Odd Blood


01. The Children
02. Ambling Alp
03. Madder Red
04. I Remember
05. ONE
06. Love Me Girl
07. Rome
08. Strange Reunions
09. Mondegreen
10. Grizelda

To create Odd Blood, Yeasayer holed themselves up in the hills of Woodstock, NY, before putting the final touches on the album in New York City. Those are certainly fitting locations for a band that often moves so deftly between middle-of-nowhere experimentation and the sharp melodies of city streets. With the band promising another thickly layered set of quirky pop, and their new home at ever-consistent Secretly Canadian label, this follow up to the excellent All Hour Cymbals comes with no shortage of anticipation.

Smallpeople - Before Leaving To Paris


A1 Before Leaving To Paris
B1 A Place Called Dream
B2 Rites Of Passage

From the great success of Smallville's first label compilation "And Suddenly Its Morning" a new deephouse collective evolved: The Smallpeople aka Dionne, Steinhoff & Hammouda, Jaques le Bon and Christopher Rau. Hanging at their record store, djing together and exchanging beats and samples made the lovely Hamburg House gang around Smallville owners Julius Steinhoff and Just von Ahlefeld (aka Dionne) a new source of deepest club culture. Due to their large output Jus Ed from Bridgeport NY signed another 12" of the Smallpeople for his Underground Quality imprint to come out right after their amazing debut on Laid Recordings. Enjoy!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Henrik Schwarz, Âme, Dixon - A Critical Mass Live EP


01. Berlin-Karlsruhe-Express
02. Chicago (Live)


As a result of the 2009 “A Critical Mass” tour we are now releasing two new tracks recreated from the recorded live material. The A-side is based on the former Henrik Schwarz hit “Chicago". This new eerie bleepy techno version has a touch of an early M-Plant production and was recorded during the Flow Festival in Helsinki in August 2009. The B-side’s “Berlin-Karlsruhe Express” was the highlight of every liveshow. It is an aquatic drexciyan house inferno by Henrik Schwarz/Âme/Dixon, which helps round up the ” A Critical Mass Live EP” perfectly...www.wordandsound.de

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Seabear - We Built A Fire


01. Lion Face Boy
02. Fire Dies Down
03. I'll Build You A Fire
04. Cold Summer
05. Wooden Teeth
06. Leafmask
07. Softship
08. We Fell Of The Roof
09. Warm Blood
10. In Winters Eyes
11. Wolfboy


Defying its humble beginnings as the lo-fi solo project of Icelandic singer/ multi-instrumentalist Sindri Már Sigfússon, Seabear has morphed into a rambling experimental/ indie/ folk septet. Joining Sigfússon (whose unassisted musings are now released via his Sin Fang Bous moniker which just made the American Rolling Stone call him the "Icelandic Beck") are Guðbjörg Hlín Gudmundsdóttir, Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, Halldór Ragnarsson, Örn Ingi Ágústsson, Kjartan Bragi Bjarnason and Sóley Stefánsdóttir - all working in a wide range of solo-, band- (Kimono, Skakkamanage) and visual arts-projects in their own right. For their second full length LP, We Built A Fire, all members of the band had equal input in the writing process, thereby creating Seabear's first real collective album. Release date is set on February 26th 2010.

While Sigfússon's unmistakable voice remains the centerpiece on We Built A Fire, the new joint approach is reflected in songs like "I build you a fire" where the whole band joins in on vocals. While retaining their signature simplistic and addictive naive indie folk ("Wooden Teeth", "Lion Face Boy"), the band have branched out stylistically to include elements of straight up indie rock ("Softship"), intense balladry ("Cold Summer") and even some country twang ("Leafmask").

There is something instantly familiar about Seabear's songs that resonates with fans and critics alike. Despite scant promotion and airplay behind their debut album release, 2007's The Ghost That Carried Us Away, their songs and animated videos were a social media hit generating millions of plays. It's a very Icelandic DIY setup - their music is recorded by the band in their basement studio with its apple carton covered walls. All artwork and videos are hand made by Sindri's partner and band mate Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir...www.icelandmusic.is

Homewreckers - Not My Business


A Not My Business
B1 Chicago Urban Blues
B2 Not My Business (Dave Aju Remix)


Amid the usual suspects on Circus Company's Snuggle & Slap were a few label newbies. Chief among them were the Ruhr Valley's Homewreckers, a trio that announced themselves with the silky smooth lament "Chicago Urban Blues." The version on S & S was "live at Café Bohemia." The one on their debut single for Circus Company isn't. No matter: The rolling bassline is buffeted by what sounds like a live bass and sweet chords. With merely a sturdy beat and a delicate vocal added in otherwise, there's not much to "Blues" to speak of, but as with Joy Division (which this track's backing recalls in a strange way), minimalism is exactly the reason it has so much power.

A-side "Not My Business" would be similarly powerful, but the monologue detailing music industry shenanigans will take you immediately out of the moment. It's done by the three minute mark, leaving more than six minutes unmolested, but it's hard not to have been caught in the middle of what amounts to a few minutes of inside baseball talk about the biz. Good information, powerful topic, but unlike DJ Sprinkles, it seems too dance floor-driven to make it worthwhile for home listening, and too complex for clubbers to engage with on the dance floor. That's, of course, thinking that they want people to engage with it at all. For dancing purposes, it's highly recommended. Dave Aju seems to understand this, providing a powerful dub techno remix that largely leaves the vocals by the wayside...www.residentadvisor.net

Julio Bashmore - Um Bongo's Revenge


A Um Bongo's Revenge
B World Peace

From the lazer flares to the not-quite congo house meets Funky tabla riddim, by way of the '90s kid's fruit juice-referencing title, Julio Bashmore's "Um Bongo's Revenge" wears its British heart on its gravy-stained sleeve. More than that though, the release marks a seminal moment of sorts: It's the first major Funky release on a traditional house and techno label.

Dirtybird has made its name with a barmy, Bay Area brand of tech house, but Claude VonStroke's A&R ear clearly extends much further, as UK Funky arriviste Bashmore's debut rips that template to shreds, not so much desecrating past glories, but pointing the way toward richer, more innovative sonic pastures. "Um Bongo's Revenge" is without a doubt the standout track here, and seems almost to have anthem status written into its molecular structure, but its success should remind how useful such generic/scenic miscegenation can be. The oft-repeated "Um Bongo" refrain should be annoying, but isn't. The various illogical breakdowns, usually the hallmark of a producer with either ADD or a severe lack of discipline, should grate, but somehow arrive like manna from heaven, while the lazers and sirens fuse organically with the track's more Teutonic elements.

"World Peace" cannot help but come up short in comparison, a whirling organ ride that sets its cross hairs more intently on Berlin than London, replete with Rhodes and tambourine tropes. Nonetheless, with San Francisco, London and Berlin all in the mix on this EP, you get the sense that this globalisation thing might just work...www.residentadvisor.net

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Knife with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock - Tomorrow, In A Year


01. Intro
02. Epochs
03. Geology
04. Upheaved
05. Minerals
06. Ebb Tide Explorer
07. Variation of Birds
08. Letter to Henslow
09. Schoal Swarm Orchestra
10. Annie's Box
11. Tumult
12. Colouring of Pigeons
13. Seeds
14. Tomorrow in a Year
15. The Height of Summer
16. Annie's Box (Alt. Vocal / Bonus Track)


Commissioned by Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma to write the music for their opera based on Charles Darwin and his book ‘On the Origin of the Species’, The Knife decided to make this a collaborative process, working with artists Mt. Sims and Planningtorock for the first time, to capture the huge width of the Darwin and evolution theme...www.fairtilizer.com

Tony Lionni -Sky's The Limit


1. Sky's The Limit (Original Mix)
2. My Shadow (Original Mix)


Tony Lionni can do no wrong at the moment. Having given us one of the biggest tracks of the year with "Found A Place", the Macunian-cum-Berliner does not rest on his laurels and brings us another two killer techno tracks, for Len Faki's Figure imprint. "Sky's The Limit" is a relentless techno banger of the old school days, whilst "My Shadow" is deeper and ever so slightly more laid back...www.phonicarecords.com