Recently, I've been spending some time trying to absorb the dubstep/house fusion happening all around me. While I haven't been very successful yet, I've dug enough to get a decent idea of what's going on. Though it's a fun journey to be on alone, it's always nice to see someone sharing my love for genre-crossing. When I stopped by the It's All About blog the other day, seeing Jamie Grind 's March mix made me all fuzzy. The guy has basically made a mix of every track I've loved in the past months or [...]
Cottam - 001 Side A [See post to listen to audio] How hard is it to be an anonymous producer? Well, it's probably not that hard to be anonymous, but to be anonymous and popular seems to be an accomplishment. Each week brings forward a new producer who (more or less successfully) hides behind the internet's anonymity. In some cases, the anonymity is a result of a wish to let the music speak for itself (think Burial ) or to create an even stronger non-brand (like [...]
James Blake - The Bells Sketch [See post to listen to audio] Few producers these days excite me as much as James Blake does. It's tough to pinpoint just what makes his music have that special something. I like to think it's because he makes dubstep that doesn't sound quite like anything else out their. The drum patterns and swinging hihats give him away, but everything else points in a myriad of directions. Yet his music sounds whole. You rarely hear anyone experiment this much with samples, effects, synth [...]
Brackles & Shortstuff - Pipey D [See post to listen to audio] These days, I approach new dubstep releases with zero expectations. I don't see myself as arrogant or pessimistic. It's just hard to create any expectations when you know that each release on the team of UK dubstep labels (Hessle Audio, Hemlock, Doldrums, Night Slugs, etc.) will bring something unique to the party. This post is about the latest release on Blunted Robots where Brackles & Shortstuff share a 123 with Bok Bok for the second [...]
Brackles & Shortstuff - Pipey D [See post to listen to audio] These days, I approach new dubstep releases with zero expectations. I don't see myself as arrogant or pessimistic. It's just hard to create any expectations when you know that each release on the team of UK dubstep labels (Hessle Audio, Hemlock, Doldrums, Night Slugs, etc.) will bring something unique to the party. This post is about the latest release on Blunted Robots where Brackles & Shortstuff share a 123 with Bok Bok for [...]
Floating Points - Love Me Like This (Nonsense Dub) [See post to listen to audio] I realize I may be repeating my self, but I can't help doing another Floating Points post. Admittedly, the track you're playing right now is from last year and can't be classified as new. I'm officially old and uncool. But a post from the Bicep boys inspired me to play this track once more, and I haven't regretted that at all. 8 minutes of start-stop soft synth stabs and a classic Floating Points synth [...]
Pantha du Prince - Stick To My Side (Four Tet Version)
Foals - Spanish Sahara (Mount Kimbie Remix) (download) [See post to listen to audio] If Foals made electronic music, would it be dubstep? The obvious answer would be 'no way'. They would of course continue making teens drool, tweens scream, and everybody else nod their head in admiration. If you look at tracks like Hummer and Balloons that theory sounds very plausible. But when they don't aim for dancefloor explosions, interesting things happen. When Mount Kimbie remix Foals' [...]
It's a bit strange to post an event promo mix the day after the event went down. Although this mix will not make you head to the BBQ night at Poland's Osrodek nightclub, you'll most likely still get a decent musical experience. If you had been to Osrodek yesterday, you would have bumped into Mosca behind the decks. Like with most of the dubstep mixes that pop up each week, I'm not afraid to admit that I don't know half the tracks in Mosca's mix. Listening to these mixes, I get the feeling that I [...]
I’m writing a couple of semi-late reviews of the releases that have rocked my headphones recently. If you haven’t become tired of seeing these releases turned into eloquent prose, read on. It's rare that you see electronic music with cover art this beautiful, so I want to dedicate the first part of this review to the wonderful cover for Pangaea 's self-title EP on Hessle Audio . I have no idea who made it or how it was made, but I know that this is going straight up on my wall. That is [...]
I'm writing a couple of semi-late reviews of the releases that have rocked my headphones recently. If you haven't become tired of seeing these releases turned into eloquent prose, read on. When Scuba releases a mix named after his Berghain night, you know you're in for a treat. For many of us, I would imagine that Berghain represents the holy land (whether that is through geographical or bouncer-related issues). So if you don't feel like joining the Easyjetset just now, this is as close as it gets. [...]
You can put a lot in a name. I've just realized how fitting the name Floating Points is. Just as the name refers to numbers that are to small or too big to be written out as integers, the music somehow places itself between techno, house, and dubstep without being either. Like the other Floating Points tracks we've enjoyed so far, People's Potential is an unpredictable amalgam of various ideas. It's part piano house, part wobbly dubstep, and part thumping techno. The beauty is that just when you think you've nailed the [...]
When DJ Sprinkles reflectively asked "What is house?", I began wondering. Although I haven't been a house music fan for long, I've seen enough to have an idea of what house music is. Terre Taemlitz answers his own question by writing off the "greeting card bullshit", and I have spent a great part of the last year unlearning most of my assumptions about house. If you had played Grosskariert to me a year ago, my reaction would have been "If this is house, I want my money back". I don't want my money [...]
I've lost track of the many dubstep offsprings by now. I've lost track of their influences, their middle grounds, their attempts to breed new genres from well-known genes. I still know one thing, though. They're one of the most exciting things in music right now. Nobody symbolizes this evolution better than Martyn . While I have not checked out his Fabric 50 mix yet (and I know I should), I've heard enough from him to know that he has reached a god-like level among dubstep, house, and techno fans alike. But what makes Martyn so great? [...]
I don't usually post promo mixes on here, simply because they always carry that "look at us, we're going somewhere" tag. That may just be my regrettable jealousy shining through, although I think mixing just for the sake of tooting your own horn becomes a little dull. Occasionally, though, people pull it off. I've made exceptions before , and now it's time for another one. My favourite Finnish act in the history of Finland have now found the time to pack together a dozen of tracks to promote their upcoming gig at Forma.t . I'm [...]
I don't know how Hudson Mohawke pulls it off. I mean, no other artists manages to be horribly uncool and remarkably cool at the same time. The recent disco revival provided plenty of moments where the edge between the impossible cool and the very possible cheesy seemed very crowded, but Hudson Mohawke pulls us in both directions while remaining quite enjoyable. To celebrate his upcoming UK tour (and why am I not surprised this is dubbed "Pegasus Rising"?), Mohawke dropped a couple of gems on the Warp site . It seems that his universe [...]
Tensnake - Coma Cat [See post to listen to audio] Yes, I just paired a track about an animal with a picture of a orangenana. Good times. Everybody loves Tensnake . I raved about him last year, when he dropped In The End (I Want You To Cry) and Congolal . Now we're only a few months into 2010, and Tensnake has already decided to let us drool over more of his deep disco goodness. [...]
Just a small heads up that I'm currently "Blogger of the Week" at BreakThru Radio . Apart from pulling in a handful of my posts, they've dedicated an hour of their time to a handful of my hand-picked tracks. Head over there to listen to some of the things I think will be big in 2010! (Navigate through the radio pane on the left, my show is called "Anatomy of a Blogger").
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Heaven Can Wait (Nosaj Thing Remix) [See post to listen to audio] I rarely post videos on here, but if I did, I would definitely had featured Beck & Charlotte Gainsbourg 's video for Heaven Can Wait . Their acoustic creation made sense in an unsettling way when paired with the video's blend of absurd footage and moody faces from the two. Ever since watching that video I've felt that the original track begs for a quirky sidekick. Just that little something [...]
Going Other Places
Two New Man of Steel Character Posters Have Arrived Featuring Henry Cavill As Kal-El & Michael Shannon As General Zod
Watch The National on Letterman
