March 17th, 2010
A quick check reveals that it’s been 213 days since I last wrote about Frank Zappa for this website, which is 212 days too long by my count. Yours may vary, but while Jeff is basking in the sea of facial hair, ironic t-shirts and lo-fi bands that is SXSW, I’m instituting a strict Pro-Mothers of Invention policy around here and that’s that. “Peaches in Regalia” which opens Hot Rats, perhaps the man’s greatest work, is low hanging fruit for a busy music-writer on deadline: the track practically praises itself.
An epic virtuoso piece combining Stravinsky keyboard runs, prog-rock drumming and more melodies than Kevin Barnes on adderall, its an easy entry-point (II) for Zappa neophytes and an obvious favorite for hardcore fans. It’s fun too: the song easily switches from orchestral pomp to faux-Chinatown cheese before exploding into a euphoric blast of horns that would serve as the perfect hook for just about any other band. More than the jokey tape pieces or the second-grade toilet humor, it’s this combination of compositional mastery and pure rock-n-roll fun that keep the man’s music in College kids’ playlists everywhere. Well, that and the SXSW worth facial hair.
Fun fact: legendary recluse and all around musical enigma Shuggie Otis played bass on it too.
Download:
MP3: Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Peaches in Regalia
Posted in Frank Zappa, Sach O | 2 Comments »
March 15th, 2010
With roots stretching back from first generation Jungle through Grime, Dubstep and now Future-Garage, it’s safe to say that Montreal Producer/DJ Intoccabile doesn’t need my cosign, not that that’ll stop me. Operating as the head of Fyutchaflex Recordings since 2001, all while playing countless gigs throughout the city, he’s recently moved towards a deep dub-techno approach that keeps dubstep’s heavyweight bass while moving things uptempo. Acting as an appetizer for his forthcoming album, Future Garage Volume 1 neatly packs his music’s appeal into one 26 minute mix. Smoothly blending his recent production into a continuous track, the release is full of dark but danceable dub music that’s high on atmospheric soundscapes and low on dance-music cliches. Shotgun shells become percussion, crystal clear vocals disappear behind walls of static or fade out and heavy bass wobble fights it out with swinging drums. Though it’s terrible music to guido fist pump to, it does lend itself well to late night blunt sessions, physical exercise and “eyes down” dance nights in dark rooms. Special attention to the vocal track coming in at 11 minutes: T-Pain this ain’t.
If you ask me though, the best thing about this mix is how it keeps things dark all without pandering to its audience. For all the talk about “neon” last year, it’s good to know that there are still producers making idiosyncratic music without feeling the need to throw in a huge melody-line for trendiness’ sake. Though certainly inspired by the Garage revival currently going on in England, there’s nothing imitation brand here: you’d need to survive a Montreal winter to make this. Recommended for fans of Burial, Hyperdub and the dark and heavy side of the Four Tet/Pantha albums that have been showcased here.
Download
MP3: Intoccabile - Future Garage Volume 1 (left click)
Posted in Montreal, Garage, Dubstep, Sach O | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Sach O feels compelled to defend beat music with an undeserved bad rep and an aggressive streak. Wonder why.
In his excellent new piece for Don’t Panic, Joe Muggs contends that Dubstep’s impact has changed the game for every genre it’s come in contact with from D&B to Hip-Hop to Grime to House and Techno. He makes a strong case: our own coverage of the genre increased exponentially once it started infecting LA’s Dilla-inspired beats. Ditto for IDM aficionados once the music started influencing their own core interests. That an underdog mutt of a genre would organically develop around a dedicated community and eventually blow up isn’t surprising (or shouldn’t be). No, the odd thing about all of this is that while everybody wants a piece of Dubstep, many people seem vaguely uncomfortable with the actual genre and the listeners that love it.
“Mocked as boring music for boys & bloggers” reads the aforementioned story’s byline. “Dubstep gets a bad rep, mostly due to its popularity,” writes Tom Lea at Fact. “To describe Dubstep as all good would be misleading,” wrote veteran chronicler Martin “Blackdown” Clarke way back in 2007. And that’s from eminent writers who LOVE the music and have been around it from the beginning. From its troubled birth (too dark), to its unexpected success (too aggressive), there’s always been someone with something bad to say about it. Or rather, there’s always someone with something bad to say about its audience. Unsophisticated. Ravy. Not enough girls*. Once the figurative boogieman of Grime lost its danger; the sullen, aggressive, dubstep raver havin’ it became an ideal target: so unsophisticated, so damn ladish…why can’t they listen to something proper and take off those damn hoodies!
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Posted in Dubstep, Sach O | 9 Comments »
March 9th, 2010
OK, first thing’s first: who the fuck is Son Raw?
That would be me, the artist/hack formerly known as DJ Sach. The story goes like this, many moons ago when I was a young pup getting behind my first pair of 1200s, I needed a DJ name. In the folly of youth, I thought about the matter for all of 3 seconds, chose an abridged version of my government and went on with my life. The name has served me well so far, probably because most of my bookings have been for local house parties and dive bars in South-East Asian countries that don’t use the roman alphabet anyways, but nowadays, it feels a bit limited and stifling. Besides, it’s a new decade, who still puts “DJ” in front of their name? Hence Son Raw: a combined tribute to Sun Ra (duh) and Son House that looks good on a flyer to boot.
Second: what the fuck is “All Your Bass are Belong to Us” aside from an old internet meme?
All Your Bass are Belong to Us is the first in an on-going series of Ableton mixes highlighting 140BPM bass music that’s fun, aggressive and equally indebted to UK dance and North-American Hip-Hop traditions. All tunes used in the mix are either available for purchase at Boomkat or Juno Records or were given out by individual artists over at the Dubstep forum. Questions and comments are appreciated as usual, either in the comment section below or via e-mail. Download at will and lemme know what you think.
Download/Stream: Soundcloud
Tracklist
1. Engine Earz - Kaliyuga/Matty G - The Scratch, The Bass
2. David Nada - Drummer’s Rock/Havocndeed - Im Nin’Alu (Ofra Haza)
3. David Nada - Drummer’s Rock/Debruit - Nigeria What!?
4. Debruit - Nigeria What?!/Ikonika - Smuck
5. Ikonika - Smuck/Taz Buckfaster - Half Man Half Trout
6. Taz Buckfaster - Half Man Half Trout/Royal T - Beat Fighter
7. Royal T - Beat Fighter/Actraiser - Sky Palace
8. Skream - No Future (intro)
9. Joker - City Hopper
10. Rox - No Going Back (Guido Remix)/Hyetal & Shortstuff - Ice Cream
11. Hyetal & Shortstuff - Ice Cream/LD - The King of Kong
12. LD - The King of Kong/Skream - Burning Up
13. Skream - Burning Up/James Blake - AIr & The Lack Thereof
14. James Blake - AIr & The Lack Thereof/Unknown CM3 Skank
15. Living~Stone - Flying Stones/LD - Derailment
16. LD - Derailment/ M.I.A - Boys (Dub & Run Remix)
17. RSD - Forward Youth/Invasion Vs Shackleton - Wizards of Dub Pt 1
18.Invasion Vs Shackleton - Wizards of Dub Pt 1/501 - The Beginning of the End
19. 501 - The Beginning of the End/Doctor P - Sweet Shop
20. Outkast - B.O.B (Stenchman Remix)
21. Flux Pavilion - Voscilate (intro)
22. Bobby Caldwell - What You won’t do for Love (DZ remix)
23. Four Tet - Pablo’s Heart (echoplex outro)
Posted in Son Raw, Dubstep, Sach O | 1 Comment »
March 6th, 2010
David Lee Roth once opined that music critics like Elvis Costello because they look like Elvis Costello. Perhaps that explains why the pale, skinny Dubstep massive has chosen badman DJ Skream as their avatar of choice (no Pandora), but it’s more likely that they’re drawn to the amazingly dark and forward-thinking beats that man’s been releasing since he was in middle-school. The return of his acclaimed Stella Sessions radio-show to pirate station Rinse.FM after a short hiatus is cause to celebrate: with back-to-back mixes by Chef and Skream himself along with emceeing by the ever-hilarious Sgt. Pokes, this is what radio sounds like back when you’re allowed to have fun on the airwaves. Seriously England, you’ve got government funded shows by the likes of Mary-Anne Hobbs, Gilles Peterson and Benji B. You’d think that’d be enough but no, you just gotta rub it in.
Cheers to Dubstepforum members Dubmilo for the rip and Focal for the tracklist, which can be found after the jump as per tradition.
Download
MP3: Skream ft Chef & Sgt Pokes - Stella Sessions (left click)
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Posted in Radio, Dubstep, Sach O | No Comments »
March 4th, 2010
More on the Gorillaz’ outstanding Plastic Beach if I ever dig myself out from under the giant pile of “real work” that’s been consuming my life for the past few weeks, but until then consider “Sweepstakes”. Mos Def’s return from the shores of insanity (aka: Kool Keith land) has been one of the more pleasant surprises in recent memory, particularly because he’s kept the eccentric streak but abandoned the inconsistency that’s made most of his last decade a wash.
If The Ecstatic made anything clear it’s that the man needs strong collaborators with the same progressive itch to make sure his creative impulses are pointed in the right direction. Damon Albarn more than qualifies for the position here, dropping an off-kilter slab of wonky madness that ranks up there with anything released by the new generation of Glasgow dro-puffers. Mos tackles it admirably considering the unwieldy rhythm, but things get REALLY interesting once the whole thing shifts into an entirely new beat around the guy’s voice. Then, just when you think you have a handle on it, the track explodes into a Miami bass marching rhythm courtesy of The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The end results sounds like Dilla and Andre 3000 sharing a blunt in England while the aforementioned mighty Mos spazzes out in the background and if that’s not enough to warrant a download, I don’t know what does. Necessary listening and a lock for any reputable end of the year list.
Download
MP3: The Gorillaz - Sweepstakes ft Mos Def & The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (left click)
Posted in Sach O | 5 Comments »
March 4th, 2010
Sach O endorses ONE indie band a year. This is that band. Listen.
Before carpet bagging, indie-rocking Leafs fans that wouldn’t know a Smoked Meat sandwich from a proper bagel invaded Montreal*, my city already had a vibrant, self-sufficient music scene en francais. Content to move units among the Province’s 6 million Francophones, local musicians were certainly influenced by the outside world, but for the most part there was little dialogue between those aiming for the local market and those hoping to strike it big elsewhere. The last decade’s indie boom changed that to an extent, but there’s still a fairly evident divide between say, Sunset Rubdown and Malajube. The future is bright, however, and increasing cross-pollination between Montreal’s twin scenes is only furthering the cause of good music as acts like bedroom duo Eli et Papillon prove.
Splitting the difference between Franco-folk tradition and international indie pop appeal, singer Elise Larouche and instrumentalist Marc Papillon’s recorded output feels like a demo in name only. The recording’s a little rough, but in the honest way that bedroom pop is supposed to sound rather than the critic-baiting, artificially lo-fi approach currently rocking the blogs. Besides, robust production would be superfluous — with their strong songs, charismatic and gifted lead singer and attention to arrangement, Eli & Papillon’s music doesn’t need to hide behind production parlor tricks, it speaks for itself. Recalling a young Belle & Sebastian (a loaded comparison I admit) with Scottish irony replaced by Gallic Romance, the group’s lyrical concerns fall squarely upon longing, love and loss. Such earnestness could be a fatal flaw but singer Elise’s vocals propel the songs past any clichés, pulling heartstrings with uncommon clarity. With all due respect to punk’s idea that anyone can sing, it’s nice to hear a contemporary indie record by someone who can actually sing.
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Posted in Diggin' in the Digital Crates, Sach O | 7 Comments »
March 1st, 2010
You’ve probably heard about legendary Gang Starr emcee Guru’s recent cardiac arrest and subsequent coma and sadly we have no new information to offer. Bottom line is that this is a truly awful blow to Hip-Hop and we at the Passion are all keeping Guru in our hearts and minds and wishing him a speedy recovery. I won’t bore you with a long-winded synopsis of the man’s career, if you don’t know the story, start here and then cop the catalog. To briefly put his impact in perspective however, Guru picked up where Rakim left off and his cool calculated flow and jazzman demeanor can be felt in every emcee to ever put a premium on restraint over energy from mush mouthed stoners to hyper-lyrical battle-rappers. Oft overshadowed by his equally legendary DJ, Baby Pa was a dope producer on the low as well and this cut with Lil Dap is a perfect example of the East Coast boom-bap vibe he exemplified. Get well soon my man.
Download
MP3: Guru ft. Lil Dap & Kai Bee - The Way it Iz (Prod Guru)
Posted in Sach O | 1 Comment »
February 26th, 2010
2009 was a huge year for Anti-Social Entertainment with “Silkie’s City Limits Volume 1” dropping to critical acclaim on Mala’s Deep Medi records and Kromestar’s “My Sound” making a heavy impact in London’s streets. Last week, Sach O spoke to crew representative, badman DJ and all around nice guy Razor Rekta about Anti-Social’s origins, the crew’s forthcoming releases, Dubstep and UK Funky, Canadian donut houses and just what is up with that crew name.
First up, who in the world is Razor Rekta and what kind of sounds are you bringing to the table?
I’m a 28-year-old underground DJ from Ealing in West London whose origin lies in Garage music, which has now evolved into my main forte Dubstep. I’m someone who’s always looking to push the boundaries as well as discovering new music, across the globe.
I generally play everything from the harder stuff such as Benny Page and Skream to the mellow sounds of Silkie and Quest, which is home to me. I mix it up, touching on every style and each side of the spectrum in my sets.
For a lot of listeners in North America, Anti Social is still pretty low profile: tell us a little about how the crew came together and how you came to DJing personally?
I started off working in Razor Records just buying records as a hobby and mixing in my bedroom really. Then I started working with [seminal UK Garage MC collective] So Solid on their radio station back in 2002. Since then I’ve been concentrating on pushing my own people’s music and spinning at radio stations where I could push all styles of forthcoming garage music and break new artists and talent.
Anti-Social started off as a collective just having a similar taste in music and direction in what we wanted to do. We produced together and did radio showcases pushing our own music and started from there really, we are all trying to push the boundaries, try new things and hopefully make a change somehow by bringing about ‘good’ music or stuff that is generally outside the box as opposed to the other forms of dubstep which are ‘ahem’ “commercially known”!
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Posted in Razor Rekta, Bass, Sach O | No Comments »
February 22nd, 2010
Sach O feels sorry for you bloggers.
The Stimulus Package comes in a fancy collectors edition with a money clip. It’s a collaboration between a guy who once worked with Jay-Z and a guy who was last seen working with MF DOOM. It’s also released on (OMFG!) Rhymesayers, an indie label best known for, ahem, white people Hip-Hop. None of this is remotely important unless you’re a music writer trying to position the album into a predetermined critical worldview. In fact, all of the above should be completely and utterly irrelevant to 99% of the listening population.
What IS important is that The Stimulus Package is a very good rap record regardless of the circumstances that birthed it. Freeway’s flow is more agile and interesting than nearly all of his contemporaries, growling and bouncing off the beat with fierceness reminiscent of the golden era. At a time where rappers either want to be dead serious or constantly goofy, Free is at his best when he’s so fired up his high pitched voice is as propulsive as the beat he’s spitting on.
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Posted in Freeway, Rhymesayers, Reviews, Sach O | 3 Comments »
