Last month the annual Sonar Festival took place in Barcelona, Spain, bringing another lineup of wonderful artists to a country that also found itself in the midst of protests and political turmoil during this year's festival. Attempting to smooth things over in the background was LA's own Teebs, whose set was heralded as one this year's best by critics. His original tracks are known to induce personal moments of deep tranquility and introspection, which the restless crowd was apparently quite receptive to, and the method he uses to tie them together in his live sets only seems to be getting [...]
When I saw the preview links go up on Boomkat the other day, I knew it was only a matter of time before we'd be hearing this first edition of the Radiohead Remix series. The first two come to us courtesy of Jacques Greene and Caribou, and both are very nice departures from the originals. The vinyl 123 is available now through select retailers and we can expect more Radiohead remixes throughout the summer, the next one featuring Nathan Fake taking on "Morning Mr. Magpie" and Mark Pritchard on "Bloom", the latter of which reported to come in the form [...]
With major labels continuing to tank left and right and cutting promotion budgets as a result, I've previously mentioned here how great it is to see indie labels picking up the slack and continuing on the tradition of music videos. And while many critics have argued that they don't even have a place in the industry anymore, music videos like this one for Africa Hi-Tech's "Out In The Streets" do indeed attract attention, and should the concept be as great as this one, will more than likely go viral. Featuring LA as the main shooting location, the "Out In The [...]
After streaming the album early and building a nice buzz for Zomby's new album, 4AD has let loose another free download from Dedication titled "A Devil Lay Here", and to call it one of the better tracks on the album would be a bit disingenuous, seeing as the entire thing is pretty incredible and no doubt Zomby's best release to date. Traditionalists might want to argue that, but when it comes down to it, he's really helping to push electronic music forward this release by not adhering to any particular genres. On "A Devil Lay Here" in particular [...]
Two weeks ago I was privileged enough to see Shlohmo live at the FoF anniversary party here in LA, where he debuted a handful of tracks off his upcoming Bad Vibes LP. The first part of his set was a mish-mash of beat music and LCD rap, but the tone had clearly changed once he announced he'd previewing new material. What followed was a hazy plethora of new songs that defined a clear lineage to artists from Low End Theory, but also featured a new tinge of R&B-infused, experimental tunes that left most of the crowd speechless and [...]
On their debut album, British rockers Bombay Bicycle Club seamlessly intertwined their appreciation for post-punk, acoustic folk, and pop music in to a project inevitably appealing to a broad range of listeners, from older curmudgeons to naive teenagers probably closer to their own age at the time. Several years later and after an acoustic album released to varying success, we find the group returning to those roots and finishing up their third proper LP, A Different Kind of Fix, in Atlanta, GA, and promptly releasing this new single "Shuffle". The track titles applies nicely to the jaunty feel [...]
UK newcomer Ossie released his Set the Tone EP on Hyperdub this week, and with the release of this impressive, heavy three-song single also came a new video for the lead track. "Set The Tone" is rooted in UK funky, but fans and critics have also talked up the unique, almost Latin Jazz-influenced drums, which are prevalent throughout the rest of his EP, but no more so than on "Set The Tone," which should continue to be a summer staple in DJ sets for the next couple months. The video encapsulates the upbeat feel of the song, with a small [...]
Continuing his summer swarm on the internet after releasing two mixes and a free EP, How To Dress Well released this new track "Us In The Sense of Forever" earlier in the week, as part of the latest in the Adult Swim 2011 Singles program. The track sounds like it could've fit pretty well on the Love Remains LP, which makes me think this was probably recorded around the same time. But with all the buzz surrounding How To Dress Well's live shows, he's definitely one of the artists I'm most looking forward to seeing at Pitchfork this [...]
While 2011 has already proved to be a great year for new music, at the same time I've been a little surprised at the lack of solid remixes. With a couple new Radiohead remixes on the way though, and this new one from reggae legend Lee "Scratch" Perry of Gang Gang Dance's "Mindkilla" arriving today, it appears as if we still have plenty to look forward to. This "Mindkilla" remix is definitely one of the best I can recall in recent memory though, with Perry slowing down the original melody and completely turning the track on its head with his [...]
While the trend of stretching vocal samples over UK Funky-inspired instrumentals is clearly hitting its peak, Dam Mantle's take on the particular approach is anything but ordinary. On "Not A Word", the native Glaswegian gradually manipulates the pitch of the vocals from their original state down to a screwed-up tempo, sprawling out across an uptempo instrumental with some amazing drum patterns. Dam Mantle came to my attention a few months ago through his US tour with Gold Panda, and recently released this new single and video to promote his upcoming WE EP, which is out July 25th on [...]
A few weeks back, I posted "She Don't Want A Man" , the first leak from Curren$y's upcoming Def Jam LP Weekend At Burnie's, which featured some soulful production from up-and-comer Monsta Beatz. Monsta Beatz also produced this new track for Curren$y "This Is The Life", and it appears as if he'll be handling the majority of the production on this album. Seeing as Curren$y currently has one of the best ears for beats right now, and has a history of collaborating solely with people like Alchemist and Ski Beatz on previous projects, it'll be interesting [...]
After releasing their stellar second LP Burst Apart several weeks ago, New York trio the Antlers followed up today with a new video for "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out". The dark theme of the video goes along well with the band's aesthetic, dower enough to be goth without the bad music, while the actual song itself puts frontman Peter Silberman's impressive vocal range on full display. Burst Apart is out now on Frenchkiss Records, and is already ranking pretty high as one my favorite albums of the year so far. via Pitchfork
If I had to pick a favorite record label for this year, it's by far the new London upstart Tri Angle Records, who is also likely responsible for about a quarter of the content here since I started posting in April. They're responsible for the two recent releases from Holy Other and How To Dress Well, and following along in the labels' lineage of inspired, hazed out instrumentals is Clams Casino, who is releasing his debut Rainforest EP on June 27th. The EP was released today on Soundcloud for streaming, and just like the Holy Other's Touch [...]
After previewing several new tracks on his Domino Radio mix last week, it was quite obvious that How To Dress Well was up to something and possibly anxious to release some new material. Clearly he was more anxious than we originally thought though, surprising us today with a new four-track EP released on his Bandcamp page. The Just Once EP features a sprawling three part orchestral version of the "Suicide Dream" series, followed by another orchestral version of "Decisions", a track from last year's Love Remains LP. You can find more information on how to purchase [...]
Flying Lotus just brought it to my attention on Twitter that he has started a Soundcloud page, consequently putting everyone else's to shame for at least the next month. He's uploaded some great remixes of Stereolab, Massive Attack, Bjork, and Bilal, which are all impressive in their own right, but he's also uploaded an unreleased track called "Tell Tales" and a couple re-works of classics like "Caravan of Delight". I'm already on my third listen of the Massive Attack remix, and it still amazes me how the sounds of Bristol and LA and can mesh together so perfectly. [...]
As you may have noticed, I'm not big on posting on videos over here at Frank N Beats, except when it comes to more conceptual low-budget directors making the most of what little gear they might have, or occasionally the flashy, more expensive, show-off videos like Metronomy's "The Bay". It's sort of rare we even see labels and bands investing the kind of money and time that probably went in to making a video like this anymore, but as far as I'm concerned Metronomy is two for two on new videos for their latest album. I'm pretty certain I recall [...]
On this new jazz-fusion inspired jam from Thundercat, we can hear Flying Lotus' electronic roots creep through in the production a little bit more than on the first leak "For Love I Come." The tempo is sped up a little bit and the drum patterns evoke the feel of a early 80s R&B track, as do the spaced-out keyboard parts near the end. The vocals seem to play a larger part as well, guiding the rhythm of the track and keeping a bit more stable, worlds apart from "For Love I Come," which breaks down in to more of [...]
Ever since Surfing on Steam introduced me to up-and-coming UK producer Tropics last year, I've been paying a little bit closer attention to his updates, this most recent one regarding the release of his new EP Mouves being one of the most surprising. This is after-all his first track to feature vocals as the centerpiece and also signifies a pretty distinct change in production style, opting for more live instrumentation than on his previous releases like his Soft Vision EP. The result is a solid combination of his ambient electronic work and more modern [...]
Here's another track from Washed Out's upcoming Sub-Pop debut, out July 12th. The title of the track fits well considering all the vocals on "Echoes" are processed through some pretty deep echo filters that eventually help build up the rhythm of the song. The spaced out vocals and drums make it sound like a bonus cut from Panda Bear's Tomboy at the beginning but as things get moving, "Echoes" develops in to a blissful, relaxed dance track towards the end. I'm not sure if this is the same radio rip from Gilles Peterson's show that's been passed around, but the [...]
FRANK N BEATS
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