New Video: "I'll Take Care of U" Jamie xx and Gil Scott-Heron

Nobody can watch the iconic jabs and swings of a boxer without feeling somehow that flashbacks of the Rocky movies--whether you've seen them or not--are flooding in. Jamie xx and Gil Scott-Heron bring the ring to their "I'll Take Care of U" video, a mini-movie-style narrative video directed by photographer Jaime-James Medina, which opens on a woman stating simply, "This is not cut out for everybody. It takes a lot of sacrifice and dedication. You're literally fighting. You get into a fight. Who wants to fight all the time, unless there's something wrong with you?" We don't know, but the bitch sure looks foxy in them gloves.

M.I.A. - Zig Zag

M.I.A. - Zig Zag

M.I.A, like Nicki Minaj, does it best when she's exposing her wacky, playground cheekiness. The very schizophrenic /\/\ /\ Y /\ dropped last year, dovetailing with her very embarrassing NYT profile, and it was around this time that a popular consensus formed that we were Done with Maya Arulpragasam. That said, the internet rang the New Year in with a collective party whoop at the showing of her free Vicki Leekx mixtape (cut after the jump if you haven't heard it yet, tsk tsk), and the PR recovery machine has not stopped spitting out bangers since. "Zig Zag," a /\/\ /\ Y /\  castoff, is just the sort of hiccupy, sing-song, nonsense insult anthem that made Arular and Kala contemporary classics. The jumprope song of a chorus, "You kiss me and I kiss you back, you zig me and I'll zag you back, you tic me and I'll tac you back," is just the kind of high-powered rhythmic pop that we were expecting from /\/\ /\ Y /\ . Were Barthes on the scene today, he might cite "Zig Zag" as an alarming incentive to explore the counterfactual--which would constitue, in this case, the realm of possibilities that were closed when /\/\ /\ Y /\ 's tracks were chosen--all the other possible tracks comprise a shadow world, a counterfactual that is now coming to light, hit-by-hit. The album we wanted is arriving piecemeal every month--methinks 2011 is looking up, folks.

M.I.A. - VICKI LEEKX MIXTAPE

Hwhat a bitch--and that's the way we love her best.

Edit: According to an anonymous commenter, "Zig Zag is a record that was made back in '03 and was cast out because Maya didn't really favour it. It was never made for /\/\ /\ Y /\."

Four Tet - Pinnacles

New Four Tet showcased on Gilles Peterson Worldwide last Wednesday, uploaded to his SoundCloud just a few hours ago.

Pinnacles by Four Tet

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.

Daphni - Ye Ye by Caribouband

Damu

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.

Damu - Gargoyle (SIL005) from Silverback Rec. on Vimeo.

The Gargoyle EP features remixes by Nguzunguzu, Jim-E Stack and Jack Dixon.

Here are some of my personal favorites of his, the first a clip from his minimix for FACT's Top 10 Producers to Watch 2011 interview, "Mermaid":



After Indigo by Damu

Bubblejet by Damu

Blissard by Damu


Martian juke:

Juooaahhke by Damu

She's Liquid by Damu




My bfriend and I are big fans.

Via FACT:

What do you have in the pipeline for this year?

“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.”

Buy the Gargoyle EP on Bookmat.

Twat him on Twitter.

Follow him on Soundcloud.

Damu, please come to NYC.

Amon Tobin 'ISAM' Preview

UPDATE: Preview ISAM here 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.

'ISAM' Preview by Amon Tobin



Tracklist:

01 Journeyman

02 Piece Of Paper

03 Goto 10

04 Surge

05 Lost & Found

06 Wooden Toy

07 Mass & Spring

08 Calculate

09 Kitty Cat

10 Bedtime Stories

11 Night Swim

12 Dropped From The Sky

Here's what we know:


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.

Here are some images:

From her website:

"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.

Flying Lotus - Caravan of Delight

FlyLo makes a contribution to Busy P and DJ Medhi's Let The Children Techno, out today off the Frenchmen's Ed Banger label.

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"


Buy it on iTunes or Beatport.

2562

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. 


"[It's] a thorough reinterpretation of underground disco music from the mid-seventies to the early eighties, with his own birth year 1979 as the gravitational point.” (via FACT)
  
2562 - Aquatic Family Affair (doubt000 A) by 2562 / A Made Up Sound


2562 - This Is Hardcore (doubt000 AA) by 2562 / A Made Up 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

UDPATE: Stream Fever in full over at FACT!

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.








Check out his recent podcast for XLR8R and mix for Wax Treatment.

Twat him on twitter.

Follow him on SoundCloud.


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