One of Grime's true originators, DVA , has announced he will be releasing his debut vocal-heavy album 'Pretty Ugly' through Hyperdub Records . The album - which is to be released March 20 - features a bewildering array of vocal contributions, including Fatima, Vikter Duplaix and Zaki Ibrahim among others. It should go without saying that this will not be a straightforward Grime record. In fact, it may not have a single trace of Grime, it could be literally anything as DVA prides himself on his seemingly effortless ability to shock the [...]
Following on from the squelchy synths and psychedelic bleeps explored on his first single, Funkineven is returning to his first sound with this new remix of Bonobo's beautiful 'Kiara' single, taken from the 2010 LP 'Black Sands'. The already exquisite 'Kiara' has been reworked by Apron Records head Funkineven into a "synth boogie" number, amping up the beat and readying it for the dancefloor. Sadly, however, chances are this won't be released on a wide scale, rather it should be quietly made available on limited edition vinyl. You [...]
Bridging the gaps between Techno, Dubstep, Grime and House, Addison Groove has been on a constant ascendancy pretty much since he started. The new album for Modeselektor's 50Weapons imprint, 'Transistor Rhythm', promises all new, previously unheard material. The debut full length from Antony Williams, otherwise known as Headhunter, is sure to feature deep, bass-driven Techno and lots of minimalist bleeps and whistles, though that's purely conjecture at this point. The LP has been slated for a March 9 release and will be committed to limited triple-coloured vinyl as well as [...]
Rock It Science Labs have announced they will be releasing the debut EP from Eric Sharp . Drawing influences from Tropical House, Juke, Drumstep and Grime, label boss Eric Sharp's debut, 'The Explorer', sees him exploring a wide variety of soundscapes and production techniques, as well as donating his own vocals alongside Louisahhh! on 'The End Of Mankind'. An impressively massive list of DJs have already made plain their support of the record, including Mustard Pimp, Switch, Joachim Garraud, Feadz, Malente, Murderbot, Plump DJs, Freq Nasty, Laurent Garnier, Adam F and a [...]
For the past couple of years R&S have been building up an impeccable reputation for groundbreaking electronica that defies description. So it should come as no real surprise that their next release will be the new single from the enigmatic Londoner, Bullion . Building on the runaway success of last year's 'Drive Me To Plastic' LP, Bullion has been tucked away in his studio concocting his latest batch of tunes. Since writing the album, Bullion's approach to production has changed slightly, dropping the sample-heavy concentrate in favour of singing and playing [...]
Objekt will be releasing their new single on the brilliantly conceived Hessle Audio . There isn't a huge amount of information out there about this release, but if the flurry of kind words on the Hessle Facebook page are anything to go by, this should be good solid slab of Techno-infused Dubstep. The new single will contain two tracks, 'Cactus' and 'Porcupine' and promises "a convoluted mess of dubstep, 3-step, garage, techno and bass-core", among other things. The whole thing will be available February 6 both digitally and on 123 vinyl. While [...]
Montreal's favourite beatsmith and occasional ragga dabbler, Poirier , has announced he will be releasing his latest EP, 'Soca Road', on Mixpak come January 17. The new EP marks the beginning of the build up to carnival season, despite it being absolutely Baltic anywhere north of the equator. For all those lucky buggers living a bit closer to the sun than Newcastle (which last saw the sun in 870 AD when King Ethelred earned his suffix by drawing the sun closer to Earth with a campaign of violence and strongly worded [...]
20112s answer to La Roux, Lana Del Rey is back with yet another stunning reworking of one of her tracks, 'Born To Die'. Taken from the album of the same name, it features UK Funky percussion-nut Lil Silva taking to the 1s and 2s for a murky, four-to-the-floor Tech House rumbler with fast-paced snares that knowingly allude to a Jungle break. While it may sound dismissive to call her the new La Roux, it must be noted this relates only to her (or her label's) knack for roping in the [...]
Iconic post-punk pioneers Dead Can Dance have finally committed to a followup to 19962s 'Spiritchaser'. Adding Folk, Middle Eastern influences and Medieval music into the Post Punk/Goth movement, Dead Can Dance marked themselves out as being a cut above the narrow horizons of contemporaries Having reached their pinnacle with 'Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun' in 1989, the band were under considerable pressure to meet these heights, ultimately leaving the band stale and with a bad taste in their mouths before slowly imploding in the late nineties. Since then, however, the [...]
Moving yet further away from his Dubstep roots, XI (or one half of Loetech alongside Bombaman) recently released his new 123, 'Immunity' b/w 'Squeeze' for the nascent Orca imprint. The two tracks featured on the release focus on the darker end of the disjointed Garage/Funky sounds, spacing the production out to let things breathe a bit. Having said that, 'Squeeze' does jack the tempo up a notch with staccato vocal stabs and pronounced synths. 'Immunity' / 'Squeeze' is out now via Orca. Tagged: [...]
I would be astounded if there was anyone out there who hadn't at least dipped into Machinedrum 's stunning debut LP for Planet Mu last year. If you haven't heard it, and for some reason need convincing about this latest underground superstar, then for the love of god listen to this new EP. Performing as Machinedrum and as one half of Sepalcure, Travis Stewart is the hottest thing since that really difficult curry we've all tried to conquer. His ability to blend influences like Chillwave, Chicago Footwork and IDM with the [...]
Sister to Seclusiasis , with largely the same personnel, Slit Jockey has been running parallel to its cohort with releases by a lot of the same artists and with little difference in their ethos. For fans of either (or both, of course), the latter are about to release SDUK 's debut album 'Anything Could Happen'. If you were expecting a collection of tit bits and off cuts from the popular Saturday morning TV show CDUK, then you will be disappointed. There are no "wonky donkeys", no dwarf launching himself headlong [...]
Christian Bonori returns with a modest two-track single 'Jump On It'. While the title may suggest disposable party music a la Kissy Sell Out, it actually belies a much more subtle and carefully crafted piece of electronica. Containing little more than the original and a Techno mix, the new single is a considered and well-informed take on the current resurgence in bass-fuelled Techno. Drawing from all aspects of the Techno spectrum, the b-side of 'Jump On It' advances the minimal side of things with lots of percussive stabs and staccato synths put to [...]
Planet Mu badman and all-round good chap Tropics has announced he will be releasing a followup to an outstanding EP and LP for Planet Mu last year. The 10-track collection will feature a mixture of new productions, b-sides and unreleased tracks. The new album, entitled 'Nautical Clamor', is out now and can be purchased through his own resplendent Bandcamp page for the princely sum of £3 sterling. You can listen to 'Black Hole Surf' below, you can even download it if you want - but only if your promise [...]
Following on from a hugely successful 2011, Joe Goddard and Raf Rundell's The 2 Bears are kicking 2012 off in the usual fashion, releasing their latest EP for Southern Fried entitled 'Work'. The new EP features the original and five remixes from, among others, Toddla T and Oliver $. In addition to reading that delightful news you can also listen to the new single in its entirety. Here. Now. 'Work' is out now on Southern Fried/ DFA and is to be followed by their debut full length [...]
Creator of some of 20112s most brilliant melodies and understated electronica, Jacques Greene has returned with new material and a new imprint all of his own. The new label, Vase, will be his chief beat distributor from hereon out, having already rocked our tiny minds with stunning releases for Night Slugs and LuckyMe ('Another Girl' being a prime example). His jaw-dropping remix for Radiohead late last year turned more than a few heads. Having been lumped in with MikeQ under the "ballroom" umbrella, Jacques Greene has fought hard to stay ahead of [...]
Your roots are grounded in the breakcore/experimental side of things. Does that inform your approach to Dubstep and Bass music? Knowing those people and doing those sort of shows - even though I'm not wholly breakcore - if you hang around with those guys, they never took what they did that seriously. So I just got used to existing on the very fringes of things. It opens you to doing different things. I couldn't exist in a scene where you can suddenly make a track one day and people be like "what the hell are you doing?!" [...]
Paul Rose (aka Scuba ) has spent much of the latter half of 2011 tweaking and perfecting his latest batch of new tracks for his new album 'Personality'. The new album is to be released February 27 via his own Hotflush Recordings . As one of Dubstep's pioneers and an early champion of the convergence between Dubstep and Techno, a lot rests on Scuba's third LP. Still, the public opinion surrounding the new release seems to point toward good things. You may have already heard 'The Hope' on his [...]
Brixton's own Visionist has well and truly got into the spirit of giving by giving away a free track every week leading up to Christmas. Having kicked off with the XlR8R exclusive 'Firstsight', he's back with 'Energy'. Also known as Mr. 67, Visionist is a longstanding member of 92 Points , a collective of like-minded musicians operating from Brixton. Their tumblr account has long been a key stop off for fans of something darker, with loyalists numbering in their 1000s, Oneman and Aphex Twin count themselves as fans - [...]
In light of the recent catastrophes faced by Japan - a devastating tsunami and earthquake while battling the ongoing nuclear crisis caused by the natural disaster - Blonde Redhead frontwoman Kazu Makino has put together a compilation of forward-thinking musicians. Among others, Four Tet chipped in a new track 'Moma'. The collection features fourteen original tracks from quite a disparate range of artists. Pantha Du Prince, Nosaj Thing, Karin Andersson (of Fever Ray and The Knife), Interpol and Deerhunter among others have all contributed exclusive tracks for the compilation. [...]
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