November 19th, 2009
My post about Robot Koch’s excellent Death Star Droid a few weeks ago drew deafening silence, save for Doc Zeus agreeing with me about how pitiful it was for Koch to switch their name to E1. Fair enough. Now the estimable Berlin-born android is passing out another pair of tracks, in addition to the pair of still available mixes. “Away From” isn’t really dubstep, lacking the heavy wobble and low BPMs. It’s probably closer to the generically named “Bass” or “Wonky,” which I suspect are labels that have wisely been crafted to avoid calling it “instrumental hip-hop.” Ah, the power of re-branding. And if that’s another way to get people to listen to the clipped vocal samples, dusty drums, and nocturnal narcotic tone, then so be it. For his second trick, he enlists 19-year old LA native, Shlohmo to slow down the pace of DSD track, “Gorom Sen” to create something entirely new: haunting, otherworldly, and filled with unintelligible gibberish. Sort of like a David Lynch film, except with less nudity, red lampshades, and non-sequiturs.
Download:
MP3: Robot Koch-”Away From”
MP3: Robot Koch-”Gorom Sen”
Posted in Bass, Robot Koch, Dubstep | No Comments »
November 19th, 2009
Montreal Dubstep ambassador Komodo knows how to have a good time. The promoter and host of the city’s best bass music night, Komodo Dubs, is an infectious whirlwind of energy behind the decks–bouncing, swaying and generally acting like a one man cheerleader for Croydon’s musical offspring in the land of plaid shirts and bad indie bands. Taking the stage at Montreal’s SAT club/art-space with a sampler full of new material, Komodo’s spaced-out take on Dubstep was more live performance than DJ set, punctuated by live subbass courtesy of the man’s trademark didgeridoo and a fantastic interpretive dance piece by an uncredited artiste seemingly ripped straight out of 19th century opium dream. If all this sounds gimmicky on paper, rest assured that when powered by government-funded subwoofers (viva la socialism) and a Redman approved-blunt full of berry-blaster, the fusion of traditional Australian instrumentation, London-dread and Holy-Ghost dancing proved that a “DJ set” could be as theatrical and visually arresting as any other live performance. By the time the dancer took her bow, the crowd was almost too mesmerized to bounce to the high-energy riddims that ended the set. Almost.
Bravely named 19-year-old London headliner Sukh Knight on the other hand went straight for the jugular, attacking the crowd with a relentless barrage of skanking, high-energy half-step for the majority of his 90+ minutes on stage. Built mostly out of his own tracks including the devastatingly heavy Ganja (twice reloaded) and the Doggystyle sampling “Beneath your Blouse”, Sukh’s set was an exemplary demonstration of 2009 Dubstep at its best. Admittedly inspired by 90’s rap alums Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, the kid’s material is equal part menace and aggression, well suited for both head nodding and bouncing. Though electronic music’s chin-stroking set occasionally bemoans Dubstep’s current direction, it’s hard to argue with a packed room full of people losing their minds to the music, particularly when at least half of those people were straight dime pieces. Besides, the night’s biggest reaction may well have gone to the delirious tune “Sweet Shop: by Doctor P, a funky mix of acid house, D&B and wobble that proves that the genre’s multiple directions can not only coexist but also recombine into something even fresher and more exciting.
Download:
MP3: Sukh Knight – “Ganja Dub”
MP3: Sukh Knight-”Knight Life”
Posted in Dubstep, Sach O | No Comments »
November 14th, 2009
I’d been meaning to write something on the very solid King Midas Sound collaboration between singer/poet Roger Robinson and British dubstep deacon Kevin Martin, or as he is more popularly known around these parts, The Bug. However, the ever-dependable Nate Patrin does my homework for me with his Pitchfork review: “every strength this record holds, draws off the symbiotic relationship between Martin’s beats and Robinson’s voice, which adapt to each other in a way that the last two people in a barren environment might. This is dub production rendered as the final reverberations of a deserted cityscape, infused with a crumbling low-end that does for bass what a single fluorescent tube in an underground concrete tunnel does for light. And the voice decorates it like a spiderweb– fragile in appearance, but structurally resilient enough to hold strong against the rhythm.”
Needless to say, if you don’t like spiderwebs and/or this record, you may be a coward. Also, recommended reading is this Fact magazine Q&A, where Martin and Robinson reveal their inspirations (Lover’s Rock, Horace Andy, Gregory Isaacs, Cornell Campbell), how living in London affects their sound, and Robinson’s rapso past (a form of rapped calypso music native to Trinidad, who knew?).
Download:
MP3: King Midas Sound-”Cool Out” (Left-Click)
MP3: King Midas Sound-”One Ting (Dabrye Remix)” (Left-Click)
Posted in Kevin Martin, Hyperdub, Dubstep | No Comments »
November 3rd, 2009
Sonic Router, arguably the best blog devoted to dubstep and its tributaries, interviews Mono/Poly about his inspirations (Timbaland, Neptunes, the Thimble), his first time at Low End Theory and his apparent love of metaphysics. They also got him to make a ridiculously good mix featuring himself, Flying Lotus, Gaslamp Killer, and others. If you don’t download, you neither pass go, nor collect $200. In fact, you probably aren’t fit to play the Monopoly game at McDonald’s.
Download:
ZIP: Mono/Poly-Sonic Router Mix (Left-Click)
Posted in Dubstep | No Comments »
October 29th, 2009
Robot Koch. The name sounds like a concept album Lupe Fiasco would conceive were he ever dropped from Atlantic and sent down to Triple A to rap for the label of choice for late-period Mobb Deep side-projects (I refuse to call it E1-it’s not a vegetable juice blend, it’s a record label). Straight out of Berlin, the android born Robert Koch, is slated to drop his first solo full-length, Death Star Droid, following his work in “critically acclaimed band Jahcoozi and post rock/hiphop outfit The Tape vs RQM” (his hyperbole, not mine.)
Originally a hardcore drummer who incubated a love of hip-hop the proper way (via Enter the 36 Chambers), the traces of Koch’s percussionist roots loom large on Death Star, with that rugged boom-bap clap blending nicely with the wobbly dubstep textures and squealing synth lines. Think a Teutonic Nosaj Thing or Hudson Mohawke if he preferred frankfurters to haggis. Koch has already received endorsements from Gaslamp Killer, Mary Anne Hobbs, and Modeselektor. Recently, Flying Lotus asking him to drop a Brainfeeder Podcast, where Koch featured some righteous Fela Kuti and rare jazz cuts, showing off the eclecticism of his bag of tricks. Follow his advice and don’t sleep, Koch is probably the best robot since Japanese Robot Santa Claus.
Download:
MP3: Robot Koch-”Robots Don’t Sleep Mix” (Left-Click)
MP3: Robot Koch-”Brainfeeder Mix”
Posted in Robot Koch, Dubstep | 2 Comments »
October 20th, 2009
In ongoing proof that the British are a superior culture contrasted to us benighted Yankees, the BBC 1Xtra station has started a new show hosted by Redlight entitled “In New 1Xtra DJ’s We Trust.” Rightfully, they entrusted Bristol bass behemoth, Joker with a slot on the first program, and midway through the three hour show he drops a mix of blistering dubstep, drum and bass, and house featuring Zinc, Toddla T, and Benga. The whole show is worth listening to though, with garage legend MJ Cole coming through dropping a similarly scorching set.
And we have…DJ Khaled.
Download:
MP3: In New 1Xtra DJs We Trust (10/19/09)– Guest mixes by Joker and MJ Cole (Left-Click)
Posted in Joker, Dubstep | No Comments »
October 15th, 2009
Jneiro Jarel, perhaps best known to PoW readers as the dude behind the intermittently excellent Khujo Goodie collabo, Georgiavania, stepped to Mary Anne Hobbs ever-essential Radio One show last night and dropped this outstanding mix, featuring tracks from King Tubby, Burial, and The Bug. Plus, a plethora of remixes and original cuts recorded under his Dr. Who Dat? alias. Unfortunately, he neglected to play instant fiddle-rap classic “The Grussle,” which I imagine would play well in the United Kingdom and any place where people are prone towards kilts.
Download: (via Core News)
ZIP: Mary Anne Hobbs Experimental Show 10.15.2009: Jneiro Jarel & DJ G
Posted in Mary Anne Hobbs, Dubstep | 1 Comment »
October 14th, 2009
The third of the Bristol purple triumvirate, Guido, nee Guy Middleton, throws a symphonic slurve across the dubstep template. While his colleagues veer towards hip-hop and video game inflected soundscapes, Guido’s tunes reflect his training in both classical and jazz piano. Not to say that the gamer and rap inclinations are absent–after all, the Punch Drunk recording artist openly touted his Final Fantasy fandom in the RA feature that ran last month. I’m unsure how that translates to English ears, but in America, that statement is roughly equivalent to owning Star Trek stationery. Inevitably, the nerds always win.
Because there is little that isn’t winning about last year’s breakthrough “Orchestral Lab/”Way U Make Me Feel” 12″ and the 29 minute mix Guido compiled earlier in ‘09. A stoned Sleestak symphony– or a vision quest for kids raised under the Reagan years. Sheets of slanting synths, mean, buzzing drums, and dive-bombing violins sliding in for a clean landing. I suppose I like this sort of music so much because it sounds stranded, marooned between modalities, styles and shapes. A bastard of Two-Step, Dub-Step, Hip-Hop, 8-Bit video game music, and classical. Not the sublimated retro-fetishism of Memory Tapes, Washed Out, and Delorean, but the fractured alchemy that bubbled in the skulls of those Nintendo and hip-hop headed 80s babies. I understand why the guy liked Final Fantasy so much–this stuff is addictive.
Download:
MP3: Guido-”Orchestral Lab”
MP3: Guido-”Way U Make Me Feel”
ZIP: Guido-29 Minute Mix (Left-Click)
Posted in Guido, Dubstep | 1 Comment »
October 6th, 2009
Bakersfield is Buck Owens and Merle Haggard territory. A dust-choked, sun-split farm town of about 300,000 people. Geographically, it is roughly 100 miles north of Los Angeles. Culturally, it is about 10,000. If you look hard enough, you can find 10 gallon-hats, spurs, rodeos, and most terrifying of all, vast hordes of people who pre-ordered Sarah Palin’s book. The most famous band to emerge from Bakersfield in the last 20 years is Korn. Not only would you not expect to find one of the brightest lights of wonky/dubstep/beat-culture in Bakersfield, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything vaguely hip-hop. Unless you count that time that Korn had Ice Cube on their album. We won’t count that.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Mono/Poly, Low End Theory, Dubstep | 8 Comments »
September 30th, 2009
Photo via RA
Gemmy’s Myspace features a YouTube clip of the introduction to the Back to the Future II Nintendo game. For this, he is the darkhorse of the bass brigade. While gawky geeky American twenty-somethings re-construct childhood via cassette noise tapes and Dan Deacon’s artery-clogging electronic twaddle, Gemmy, straight out of Bristol, takes two-step, Dre’s hydraulic funk, and 8-Bit’s right angles, and crams it into a blender with blades as sharp as Sonic the Hedgehog’s hair. This is nostalgia not for the sake of self-congratulatory winking remembrance, but to channel a child’s notion of infinity. Like all visionary music, Gemmy’s sounds limitless, both futuristic and familiar, the sort of thing that seems like a logical conclusion but one that you never could’ve predicted. He remembered the rules of “Regulate”–the rhythm is the bass (though it remains uncertain how the bass can be the treble.) Maybe he just needs to grow a beard and wear spectacles.
Download:
MP3: Gemmy-”BK 2 The Future”
MP3: Gemmy-”Bass Transmitter”
MP3: Gemmy-”FACT Mix #25″ (Left-Click)
Posted in Gemmy, Dubstep | 1 Comment »
