But hold on folks--let's not mythologize the unknown! It will apparently be vinyl only, released on Text Records, and split with Dan Snaith of Caribou who'll be going by "Daphni" as a moniker for this and future projects.
For as much as bass music enthusiasts enjoy the darker side of production, it's refreshing to hear music that appeals to brighter and lighter moods. Hailing from MCR, Damu is this year's pioneer of happy, cheerful bass. His recent release, the Gargoyle EP, was released this past Valentine's Day on Silverback Recordings, and it's an overwhelming salvo of dripping neon pink cosmic synths, rock candy arpeggiation, and 8bit sun rays. Such an intense, variegated, and singularly saccharin sound can only come from the mind of someone who's in love with life and music. It's what puppy love sounds like for our generation.
“I’ve got EPs coming out through the first half of this year on Local Action, Keysound and Silverback, and a 12″ on Swing & Skip Audio. The Silverback release should be out by the start of next month and the Local Action release around March/April. Got some interesting remixers and big plans for the rest of the year so it should be a good one.”
UPDATE: Preview ISAMhere in its entirety, with a short review by us.
First off, let me just say that for me this is really exciting, as I'm sure it is for anyone who enjoys music.
For the past few months, information about this album has been eddying in a whirlpool of mystery, but legendary precedence begets anticipation, and for fans ISAM is the most anticipated album of the year. It drops May 23 on Ninja Tune.
Tobin has teamed up with artist Tessa Farmer for the album art, whose work depicts hanging miniscule humanoid fairies or sprite-like creatures in battle with the natural world. Her exhibit "Swarm" is featured in London's esteemed Saatchi Gallery.
"Made from desiccated insect remains, dried plant roots, and other organic ephemera, Tessa Farmer’s tiny sculptures give a glimpse into the world of fairies. No story book land of Tinkerbells, Farmer’s Swarm envisions the purveyors of mischief and magic as an actual species, as animalistic and Darwinian as any other. Exchanging Victorian romanticism for the darker pragmatism of science, Farmer evidences her specimens as fearsome skeletal fiends, plausible “hell’s angels” of a microscopic apocalypse. Posed in dramatic battle formations, Farmer’s menagerie wages war against garden variety pests; each figure, painstakingly hand crafted and adorned with real insect wings, stands less than 1 cm tall."
The album cover (EDIT: this is not to official album cover) captures the tiny specters defending their hive in the carcass of a dead lion's head against invading insects. Fans will be happy to know that Amon Tobin is accepting general questions about ISAM via his Facebook, Twitter, or SoundCloud page.
I suggest you all sign up for the mailing list here and *pre-order* ISAM on NinjaTune. That's right, folks, don't wait for the leak--pay money for it. Support artists.
FlyLo makes a contribution to Busy P and DJ Medhi's Let The Children Techno, out today off the Frenchmen's Ed Bangerlabel. Soft and soothing, it has a unique place in the compilation.
Tracklist: 01 Mr. Oizo: "Let the Children Techno"
02 Busy P: "Procrastinator"
03 Duke Dumont: "Hipgnosis"
04 Siriusmo: "Idiot"
05 Para One & Tacteel "Infinity Riser (Remix of Bernard Fevre's Dali)"
06 Breakbot: "Shades of Black"
07 Sebastian: "Enio"
08 Mattie Safer: "Is That Your Girl?" [ft. Telli from Ninjasonik]
09 Gesaffelstein: "The Voice"
10 Cassius: "Shark Simple (L-VIS 1990 & the Neon Dreams Remix)"
11 Djedjotronic: "The Invisible Landscape"
12 Discodeine: "Grace"
13 Feadz: "Far From Home" [ft. Claude Violante]
14 Brodinski & Tony Senghore: "Anagogue"
15 Bobmo: "Control"
16 Zombie Nation: "Relax"
17 Riton: "One Night Stand"
18 Skream: "Boat Party"
19 DJ Medhi: "TragicoMehdi" 20 Flying Lotus: "Caravan of Delight"
Producer Dave Huismans, hailing from The Hague and based in Berlin, will see a successful year in 2011 with the release of 'Fever' by his dubstep/tech-leaning 2562 (twenty-five sixty-two) project, off his new When In Doubt label this April. Huisman's fourth LP, and third as 2562 (occasionally he produces under his A Made Up Sound or Dogdaze projects), this one's bound to raise plenty of interested eyebrows--and this is what sets him apart from the heaping mass of bassmongers with touch and go production. Huismans is onnavolgbaar--inimitable.
The Fever LP sampler was released last week on the 10th, and was limited to 300 copies of blue 10" pressings with screenprinted sleeves, and the lead singles, 'Aquatic Family Affair' and 'This is Hardcore', are made completely of samples from late 70s and early 80s vinyl disco releases, as is the rest of the aptly named Fever--an exacting exhibition of future-thinking sound.
Tracklist: 1. Winamp Melodrama
2. Cheater
3. Juxtapose
4. Aquatic Family Affair
5. Intermission
6. Flavour Park Jam
7. This Is Hardcore
8. Brasil Deadwalker
9. Final Frenzy
10. Wasteland
11. Fever
Previous releases on Tectonic Recordings and 3024 (as well as Clone and Delsin a.o.)saw an orientation more house/techno-bound, but of course his style has no inherent formula, just a hint of Basic Channel and that slowly emerging fusion of techno proper, UK garage, and soulful dubstep (maybe previously oxymoronic in terminology) that names colleagues like Peverelist, T++, Shackleton, and fellow Netherlander, Martyn. Huisman's sound caught the ear of Rob Ellis at Bristol’s Tectonic label, and his debut album Aerial (2008) was quite galvanizing for his career. It was something fresh in a volley of what was becoming a hackneyed genre already; Aerial was an introduction to the Dutch dubstep scene.
While his 2009 release Unbalance gives Aerial a run for its money, it is further proof of his attention to design and texture. Much more than the sum of addends, it created a space for like-minded music to thrive, and fleshed out a meaning for "experimental" dubstep.
2562 North American Tour Dates 16-Feb - Boston, MA (Bassic) - Goodlife 18-Feb - Atlanta, GA - The Sound Table 19-Feb - San Juan, PR - Red Shield 25-Feb - Los Angeles, CA (Muse vs Smog) - Medusa Lounge 27-Feb - San Francisco, CA (Bionic) - Club 222 01-Mar - Santa Cruz, CA - Cafe Mare 02-Mar - Seattle, WA (Decibel Presents) - Baltic Room 04-Mar - Brooklyn, NY (Blkmkt Membership) - Underground Event 06-Mar - Montreal, QC - Salon Daome
As you may have inevitably read everywhere, Scottish producer and Hyperdub label head (and philosophy doctorate holder) Steve Goodman aka Kode9, along with frequently collaborating MC the Spaceape, are putting out a follow-up to their 2006 release, Memories of the Future, this April. Our bladders are weak with excitement, yes.
Black Sun is expected to be an exhibition of the unfettered stylistic range the brothers-in-collaboration are known for, often leg-dangling on a fence between genres--but always proving ambilateral mastery.
The lead single 'Otherman' is a precursive number: Spaceape's streamlined dub-minded rhyming through interference behind vacillating synth drone-built broken cords. Massive.
The b-side, 'Love is the Drug', features Shanghai vocalist Cha Cha, who appears on 4 tracks on the LP.
Black Sun drops April 4th (UK) and April 5th (US). Pre-order it on cargorecords.
Tracklist:
01 Black Smoke [ft. Cha Cha]
02 Promises
03 Am I
04 Love Is the Drug [ft. Cha Cha]
05 Neon Red Sign [ft. Cha Cha]
06 The Cure [ft. Cha Cha]
07 Black Sun (Partial Eclipse Mix)
08 Hole in the Sky
09 Otherman
10 Green Sun
11 Bullet Against Bone
12 Kryon [ft. Flying Lotus]
And because producers in academia should always be applauded, check Dr. Goodman's book on psychoacoustics and his idea of "politics of frequency", Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear, published in 2009 by MIT Press.
New year, new blog--we're all new here. Now for new music ::
Jamie xx's full-length remix album of soul God/ spoken word legend/ poet Gil Scott-Heron's last February release, I'm New Here, is available to stream in its entirety. A singular voice reinterpreted by a singular producer.
Ahem. Someone should check that faucet (hint hint)!
The album drops February 22 in the U.S. and February 21 in the UK on the XL/Young Turks label.
Tracklist :: 1. I’m New Here 2. Home
3. I’ve Been Me (Interlude)
4. Running
5. My Cloud
6. Certain Things (Interlude)
7. The Crutch
8. Ur Soul and Mine
9. Parents (Interlude) 10. Piano Player
11. NY Is Killing Me
12. Jazz (Interlude)
13. I’ll Take Care Of U
Here's my fave track which doubles as a take on Scott-Heron's "Your Soul and Mine" and Rui Da Silva's classic "Touch Me" ::
NY is Killing Me and I'll Take Care of U, for virgin ears (should there be any left) ::
Those that know me personally will be happy to see I found a (somewhat trite) way to marry my two passions in life: music and linguistics; I put out my first mix under a new handle--Semiotics. By "put out" I mean that I hope more than 4 people will listen to it! If you've heard earlier versions of the mix, you'll find I've made many edits--this is the final version! I'm still learning how to use Ableton and tried to let my taste speak louder than my execution ::
I predict favorites will be my remixes of Koreless' M.T.I. and Nicki Minaj's Did It On Em.
Listen to it, favorite it, comment on it, dl it--it's good music and it's free. I'm an amateur, but one with good taste.
"The amateur, a role defined much more by a style than by a technical imperfection, is no longer anywhere to be found; the professionals, pure specialists whose training remains entirely esoteric for the public...never offer that style of the perfect amateur...touching off in us not satisfaction but desire, the desire to make that music."
- Roland Barthes, "Musica Practica", Image, Music, Text
"Made from desiccated insect remains, dried plant roots, and other organic ephemera, Tessa Farmer’s tiny sculptures give a glimpse into the world of fairies. No story book land of Tinkerbells, Farmer’s Swarm envisions the purveyors of mischief and magic as an actual species, as animalistic and Darwinian as any other. Exchanging Victorian romanticism for the darker pragmatism of science, Farmer evidences her specimens as fearsome skeletal fiends, plausible “hell’s angels” of a microscopic apocalypse. Posed in dramatic battle formations, Farmer’s menagerie wages war against garden variety pests; each figure, painstakingly hand crafted and adorned with real insect wings, stands less than 1 cm tall."
I suggest you all sign up for the mailing list here and *pre-order* ISAM on NinjaTune.
