4.3.12
DJ Taye - Studio 24
Teklife's Dj Taye the 17 year old prolific prodigy has dropped a full length on Rashad's new 'Lit City Trax' label. Taye has apparently been in the game since he was 14 and obviously shows his skills on the LP. His style is far more disposed to repeat listens as tracks each flaunts an obsessively catchy vocal hook and is teemed with a pop directed, ear-pleasing production. His songs definitely hang together with a more widely palatable eb and flow as opposed to the erratic syncopation and stop-start drops more common amongst the Ghettotekz but his sound is further distinguished by a certain cartoonish cuteness that he brings the album. I have to refer here to 'Popkorn Love' with is ecstatic bounciness and bubbly melody. Taye does loose it sometimes when his high pitched jingles just get too much but overall 'Studio 24' is a very subtle but effective album that will hook you in from first listen.
2.3.12
✞ENNI$R✡DM∆N - The Future Is Now
Rodman with his trademark wonky swagger just came out with this track for one of our favourites 'post religion'. The sloppy hashtaggy vocal clips are layed underneath an almost garage-y swing which is pinned down with Rodmans usual sticky drumwork. The net effect is a sprawling headfuck from an artist who is working the edges of the internet for that post-futuristic sound.
Jlin - EXPAND
Jlin charging in with her new track 'expand'. Its urgent tempo and ominous vibes give the tune a tweaked out pressure and is tinged with jlin's copyrighted dark psychedelia. Jlin works out some screeching sirens, rimshots, snares and elastic vocals like a sped up juggling act. Absolutely killing it
Dj Rolow - Make It
Some banging clean production from new Teklife addition Dj Rolow. Proving yet again that the Ghettotekz are on their game, Rolow hits us with some deep bangs and vocals set against a heavenly synthed backdrop. Perhaps an atypically polished and clearly realised production for the Ghettotekz but one that is equally compulsively listenable.
29.2.12
Templar Sounds
Templar Sounds is a Sydney based (big fuggin ups) record label that formed in 2011. It has produced some fantastic records of late, mostly exploring the darker sides of IDM and UK bass with a plethora of low-end presha, RnB vocals and haunting synth malfunctions. This is interesting for me, as a resident of Sydney. The city is generally associated with the shining sun and clear water, but the artists on this roster are digging deeper, and producing far more interesting music than the next whiny suburban Birthday Party rip off.
Although we have blogged about Citizen before, Dro Carey seems the break-out success of those on the label. This collaboration with Brooklyn's Andy Petr proves his ability to step up to the plate and throw a doozy. Blaring, sirenic, heavily flangered synths provide the backbone of the track while the rhythm work trips out through a field of disciplines and genre - in its last 30 seconds the song stutters into a hip-hop bounce after traversing much ground of the ardkore continuum. The track is also exemplary of the overall feel of the label - it is dark in a complex way, it is a darkness keenly aware of, and in tune with, light. In this way, Templar could be the soundtrack to a post-MDMA haze, the sadness upon realising the fact that the happiness of the weekend, of the show or the set, is over.
Skanky's 'Blind Spot EP' maintains a similar awareness of light and dark. The EP is packed to the brim with RnB vocal samples, but not in the flavour-of-the-month style of other producers - they are a consistent theme throughout the EP, constantly reminding the listener of the happy place that this deepness has emerged from. For me the highlight is the title track, with its gut-wrenching bass, immaculately arranged vocal samples, buzz-saw synths and ghostly arpeggiators.
If you're in Sydney, keep your eyes close on this label, its movements and its recently released compilation, from which the Dro Carey & Andy Petr song is taken.
Although we have blogged about Citizen before, Dro Carey seems the break-out success of those on the label. This collaboration with Brooklyn's Andy Petr proves his ability to step up to the plate and throw a doozy. Blaring, sirenic, heavily flangered synths provide the backbone of the track while the rhythm work trips out through a field of disciplines and genre - in its last 30 seconds the song stutters into a hip-hop bounce after traversing much ground of the ardkore continuum. The track is also exemplary of the overall feel of the label - it is dark in a complex way, it is a darkness keenly aware of, and in tune with, light. In this way, Templar could be the soundtrack to a post-MDMA haze, the sadness upon realising the fact that the happiness of the weekend, of the show or the set, is over.
Skanky's 'Blind Spot EP' maintains a similar awareness of light and dark. The EP is packed to the brim with RnB vocal samples, but not in the flavour-of-the-month style of other producers - they are a consistent theme throughout the EP, constantly reminding the listener of the happy place that this deepness has emerged from. For me the highlight is the title track, with its gut-wrenching bass, immaculately arranged vocal samples, buzz-saw synths and ghostly arpeggiators.
If you're in Sydney, keep your eyes close on this label, its movements and its recently released compilation, from which the Dro Carey & Andy Petr song is taken.
27.2.12
Supreme Cuts - Silkk
A wonderful, swirly new track from Supreme Cuts. Distant vocals and synth bleeps and bloops make up the intro, then the vocals fade in and clear up into one of the best drops I've heard in a while. It features bouncing garride rhythms, spacey orchestral swirls and subdued horn blares all fitted out with the effects of a Teengirl Fantasy or Blondes song, and certainly retaining a very similar vibe to the two.
Juke Roundup - Warm Chords
Last juke roundup I talked about the string sample's ability to synthesise the often harsh minimalism of juke rhythms. Today I'll have a look at some recent tracks that, instead of using strings, create their antithesis with a synthesiser.
Perhaps this is the best example of what I'm talking about, the new track from the undeniable masters of this genre. At 1:00 everything drops to just the bangs, the occasional snare and an exquisite whistle. Autotuned vocals join the song's bare bones, before a set of woozy, warm chords fill out the sonic space and elevate the song as a whole to trippy heights.
Phil's remix of Beyonce's 'End of Time' has a similar effect. It features drenched Beyonce loops, speedy, ADD horns, a fantastic marching snare line and those beautiful qualifying chords.
'Star 2k12' is a real work out, and the formula of using chords later in the song is here reversed. They start, and thus the track builds to overwhelming intensity. Heavy bangs accompany a scattered, layered vocal sample before a juke mutant joins the chorus, exhorting you to 'turn it up', which you shall inevitably do.
Perhaps this is the best example of what I'm talking about, the new track from the undeniable masters of this genre. At 1:00 everything drops to just the bangs, the occasional snare and an exquisite whistle. Autotuned vocals join the song's bare bones, before a set of woozy, warm chords fill out the sonic space and elevate the song as a whole to trippy heights.
Phil's remix of Beyonce's 'End of Time' has a similar effect. It features drenched Beyonce loops, speedy, ADD horns, a fantastic marching snare line and those beautiful qualifying chords.
'Star 2k12' is a real work out, and the formula of using chords later in the song is here reversed. They start, and thus the track builds to overwhelming intensity. Heavy bangs accompany a scattered, layered vocal sample before a juke mutant joins the chorus, exhorting you to 'turn it up', which you shall inevitably do.
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