November 30th, 2009
Scottish bred bass music prodigy Rustie may or may not sleep. After all, when I was 21, I could subsist on a Lamar Odom diet of skittles and sour patch kids, three hours of sleep, and a half pack of Parliaments. But Rustie may or may not be 21. According to his bio, “Rustie is older than he looks. Rustie makes beats and is a muthafukin bowss. Rustie wrote that himself.” He also described the picture above as “getting bufffff…beefcake BEEFCAKE!!!!” Off humor alone, the guy might be my favorite within Glasgow’s ballyhooed beatmaker scene that includes Hudson Mohawke and Mike Slott.
While Rustie has a forthcoming Warp debut slated to drop at the top of the year, he took time to tweak a Keisha Cole track into an interstellar post-Timbaland odyssey, a la Hudson Mohawke’s flip of Tweet. The sort of thing that sends writers into hack descriptions of space suits with intergalactic orchestras, soulstresses, and the occasionally slutty robot. I’ll spare y’all, lest I reveal too much about the world of lascivious androids–after all, this isn’t Tank Girl. Because I am feeling charitable this afternoon, I’m also throwing in the mix that Rustie did earlier this year for Mary Anne Hobbs and his heavily hip-hop skewing Fact blend that is excellent save for the presence of Ace Hood, who is neither very ace nor very hood. Talk amongst yourselves.
Download:
MP3: Rustie-”Keesha Resmak” (Left-Click)
MP3: Rustie-”Lucky Me Mixtape (Mary Anne Hobbs Session)” (Left-Click)
MP3: Rustie-”Fact Mix 79″
Posted in Rustie, Bass, Beats | No Comments »
November 30th, 2009
Not that I’ve had to choose, but I’ve generally preferred Dubstep’s half-speed syncopation and violent bass drops to Future/instrumental Hip-Hop’s 3-minute stoner grooves this year. That said, I’ll gladly make an exception for Paul White’s Sounds from the Skylight, whose ever-so-brief first side dropped last week, threatening to wreck havoc on my end of the year list. Sounding as massive as anything produced by Hudson Mohawke, but filling the space between the cavernous drums with a mix of off-kilter sampling, melodic keys and a funky sense of rhythm, White’s music is made for rocking out. Tunes start at full blast, accelerate for two minutes (or less!) and vanish just as quickly, powered by the kind of propulsive head-nod inducing energy I gravitate towards to in electronic music.
As we exit the decade, it’s becoming increasingly clear that J Dilla is rap’s Obi Wan Kenobi: a grandmaster in his own time but more powerful than we could ever imagine in the afterlife. From Stone Throw’s Lo-fidelity grooves to the ever-evolving Alpha-Pup/Brainfeeder/Low-End Theory axis to the attics of London and basements of Detroit, Donuts has become the decade’s least-likely touchstone, freeing producers from outdated notions of structure while promoting musical ideas that have proven adaptable to a multitude of styles. While Paul White has the respect not to use James Yancey’s name in vain (who let Charles Hamilton out of his crawlspace anyways?), there’s no doubt that Detroit’s finest heavily influenced Sounds from the Skylight, an exciting album from a producer who could make some serious noise in 2010.
Download:
ZIP: Paul White-Sounds From the Skylight (Side A) (Left-Click)
Posted in Paul White, Beats | 5 Comments »
November 27th, 2009
Because if nothing else, my jangled mind is a sucker for “whoa trippy” visuals, garish coats, and a tastefully employed Smashing Pumpkins sample. Consequently, Daedelus delivers in a way his hubristic namesake could only manage to descend. Also, because I have an interview up at Pop and Hiss with the dapper dandy himself, discussing his new Brainfeeder EP, The Boxer Rebellion, and his favorite music of the year. I didn’t ask him where he gets his Edwardian wardrobe, but I imagine that can be saved for another convo. As a minor consolation, there is a Martin Van Buren reference.
Granted, I am biased in favor of the diaspora of displaced Weiss’ (his original name is Weisberg-Roberts, but since switched in favor of the more mellifluous-sounding Darlington). But Daedelus is one of the most underrated producers around and this blog has done a particularly poor job of keeping up with his labyrinthine Lil Wayne-sprawl of a catalogue. In an attempt to ameliorate that shoddiness, here are a few of his finer non-bespoke moments.
Download:
MP3: Daedelus ft. MF Doom-”Impending Doom”
MP3: Daedelus-”Fair Weather Friends”
MP3: Daedelus-”Sundown”
Posted in Daedelus, Low End Theory | 1 Comment »
November 25th, 2009
Thanksgiving, blah, blah, blah. Inevitably, there are things that we are grateful for, but blogs are not the ideal forum to fulminate. Or maybe they are. Tucker Max had a movie made based on his sordid chicanery. Diablo Cody turned a season of stripping into stardom. Starting in January of 2010, Passion of the Weiss will turn into a Single Guy in the Big City Blog that will fill you in on my miscellaneous hijinks and tell you where to find the best red velvet cupcakes. Sach O will play my unhinged Montreal counterpart, gassed up on rum and DMT, fluent in French, English, and the ways of Shaolin. In no time at all, Showtime will option this space and we will be forcibly assigned snazzy nicknames. I will be The Grave Diggler. (On a tangential note, remember when the Rza was good at rapping?)
But I digress. It’s hard not to be thankful for the endless gravy train of archival releases that have been issued this year. My latest obsession has been Analog Africa’s Legends of Benin, that compiles four of the finest band leaders (Honoré Avolonto, Antoine Dougbé, Gnonnas Pedro, and El Rego) from the tiny West African nation. Joe Tangari’s Best New Reissue review is highly recommended if you’re into the backstory, but vinyl nerds and amateur historians would be well-served to cop the actual release with its 40 pages of color photos and biography. Suffice to say, the comp illustrates how psych rock, soul, jazz, and Latin music blended with traditional African rhythms to form some of the funkiest music you’ve ever heard. It’s even better than red velvet cupcakes.
Happy turkey day.
Download:
MP3:Honoré Avolonto & Orchestre Poly-Rythmo-”Tin Lin Non”
MP3: Honoré Avolonto & Black Santiago-”Dou Dagbe We”
Posted in African Music | No Comments »
November 24th, 2009
It’s hard not to read into the cover of the Tin Foil Hat EP– a mug shot with a serial number dangling around Ramble John Krohn’s neck– putative punishment for daring to take creative leaps off faulty footing. The Internet might be unparalleled for allowing artists to self-promote, but its punishing velocity leads to a fickleness that lends itself poorly to wrong turns. Even one-time deities The Strokes saw censure for following up two end-to-end burners with a just adequate third album. RJD2’s own third try, The Third Hand, was a similarly noble failure, an effort that seemed to point towards kicking dreary Daryl Hall solo simulacrums, opening up for the Junior Boys. Accordingly, I doubt many people are checking for this odds and sods EP slipped into a lavish RJD2 boxed set, recently released independently on RJ’s own Electrical Connections imprint.
In his review of said box set, Nate Patrin considered whether or not RJD2 was underrated, the partial result of our whittled memories of the time when Definitive Jux was still Def. I’m inclined to say yes, considering the unlikelihood that Deadringer will rank in the deluge of Decade Lists dropping next month, and how rarely his name is invoked in discussions of the top producers of the period. Granted, he really only has one gold-standard official album, but his one-off Def Jux singles, the remixes compiled on Loose Ends, and the mix Your Face or Your Kneecaps, all range from good to great and showcase his inimitable ear and ability to wring intense emotions from the carrion of dead crates. Any idiot can flip a soul sample, but it takes a sorcerer to reanimate, and at his best, whether manning four turntables at once or crafting breakbeat bricolage, RJ was on some shaggy-sleeved Fantasia shit (no Barrino).
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Posted in RJD2 | 4 Comments »
November 23rd, 2009
As though to justify my recent rave about their archival efforts, Now-Again strikes uh, again, with the announcement of the Nigerian Fuzz-Funk anthology, a compilation that promises to succeed in being both categorically awesome and sounding like the name of a rare Equatorial disease. Partnering up with Uchenna Ikonne of the phenomenal With Comb & Razor blog, the label is in the midst of ransacking attics and Lagos flea markets (I imagine) in time for a mid-2010 release. Including lesser-known notables like The Hykkers, The Hygrades, Tirogo, Faces, The Strangers, and Wrinkar Experience, according to Now-Again, the effort promises to be the first to include actual licenses from the bands themselves.
As always, the imprint is giving away free tunes, including Wrinkar’s most popular track, “Money To Burn,” which is apparently in the process of receiving a Rick Ross rendition with Khaled on the remix shouting “We Get Money.” In addition, the similarly excellent Voodoo Funk blog has made a mix entitled You Can Shake Your Bones, which will undoubtedly cause you to emulate these folk.
Download: (Via Some Velvet Blog)
MP3: Wrinkar Experience-”Money To Burn”
MP3: Voodoo Funk’s “You Can Shake Your Bones” Mix
Posted in Now-Again, African Music | No Comments »
November 23rd, 2009
The above photo provides irrefutable evidence that in addition to Lover’s Rock, My Bloody Valentine, and Sade, the men of King Midas Sound, bear the subtle imprint of inspiration via Forsythe Pendleton “Jughead” Jones III. It is widely rumored that Kevin Martin spends all day cloistered in his London apartment reading Archie comics and eating hamburgers. The crown logo is merely his ode to Riverdale’s chief stoner. Or not. Gibberish aside, Fact Magazine have enlisted the men of Midas to drop this podcast tracing the genesis of their sound and their enmity towards Mr. Weathersbee. Better than Betty (though not Veronica). If you don’t like it, you probably are a Flutesnoot.
Download:
MP3: King Midas Sound-Fact Magazine Mix 103
Posted in King Midas Sound, Dubstep | 2 Comments »
November 23rd, 2009
How did Sach O get home last night?
Bass. How low can you go? Plenty low apparently because after two continuous nights of getting my chest caved in by pounding sub-frequencies while imbibing a pirate’s share of rum, I can assuredly say I need a slight reprieve from Dubstep and its siblings. Captain Morgan and Jack Sparrow are a dangerous team. So we move on from rum and rumbling sub-bass to cinematic Rumba,* whose languid instrumentation and swingin rhythms form a perfect tonic for the recovering writer attempting to piece together what happened during his overly refreshed night.
First, to soundtrack the action itself, I recommend The Renaldo The Ensemble, an absurdly named absurdist theater troupe/recording group, whose not so absurdly named “Rumba” delivers a high-energy take perfect for reliving the night from hell. Crooning campy lounge lizard come-ons , The Renaldos’ joyfully post-modern take on the style helps recreate the absurdity of the past evening.
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Posted in Latin, Sach O | 1 Comment »
November 21st, 2009
Thanks to some bulgogi-bloating Korean BBQ on Wednesday night, I missed sets from 12th Planet and Mary Anne Hobbs at the Scion House Party at The Roxy. Such are the consequences of $16.99 all-you-can-eat dinners. Thankfully, the Fullerton Dubstep don dropped a blistering mix on Hobbs’ BBC 1XTRA show last Wednesday, full of rarely heard material that wobbles like a 504 Boy (on another note, why hasn’t a dubstep producer remixed this yet?)
Another star in the seemingly limitless Southern Cali constellation, 12th’s music works well with a strong set of headphones, but even better live, with his sets prone to disemboweling bass, wall-rattling dub, and hip-hop (under the name Infiltrata, he’s done remixes ranging from Rass Kass to Grand Puba to Portishead.) I’ve said this before, but some enterprising sociologist needs to draw the parallels between the ever-increasing quality of chronic and the avant-garde turns our producers have taken. For those checking the pulse of hip-hop, consider that a generation ago, these guys would’ve surely ranked as Rated Rookies, but have largely abdicated the genre for more progressive pastures. And no, gimmicky compilations like this or this don’t count, even if both have their moments and score points for effort. If only this was a game of horseshoes…a game of horseshoes.
Video interviews with 12th below the jump, courtesy of Vapors.
Download:
MP3: Mary Anne Hobbs ft. 12th Planet, DJ Evol, DLX, Pawn & Emu Mixes (Left-Click)
MP3: 12th Planet Vs. Rass Kass-”West Coast Dub”
MP3: Portishead-”Hunter” (Re-Imagined By 12th Planet of The Noise Floor Crew)
MP3: 12th Planet (Infiltrata)-Dogs on Acid Infiltrata Mix
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Posted in 12th Planet, Mary Anne Hobbs, Dubstep | 1 Comment »
November 20th, 2009
Photo by Christopher Soltis
Give XLR8R credit. While the economic crash has turned most print mags into skeletal shells (shills?) of their former self or has found them unable to find an Internet niche, the San Francisco-based dance publication has survived with its integrity intact. Outside of RA, few places have covered the bass/wonky/dubstep explosion in greater depth, with their latest cover story on Joker perhaps the most extensive look at the Bristol wunderkind yet. Granted, that’s not saying much–the guy’s either shy or has the personality of cream of wheat (which has surprisingly little personality despite the jovial fellow on the box).
Now they’ve enlisted Nosaj Thing for a must-download podcast with unreleased Flying Lotus, Teebs, and Jason Chung tracks. Not to mention Samiyam, Exile, Gaslamp, Ras G, Daedelus, and Tokimonsta. Amounted together, it might as well be a Best of the Low End Theory compilation, and another reason why…I don’t need to give you another reason. Tracklist below the jump. True Train Wreck not included (there are enough of those in SoCal).
Download:
MP3: XLR8R- Nosaj Thing Podcast
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Nosaj Thing, Low End Theory | 6 Comments »
