Next week, North Carolina production duo Clicks & Whistles will release the Serious Bidness EP via Distal’s Embassy Recordings. The EP is a collection of synth-heavy hip hop bangers that, if all goes right, should find their way into some enterprising MC’s ears. Before the EP drops on the 17th, you can download the triumphant “Adventure Time” over at XLR8R. Reminds me of some just defeated the final boss, walking out of a burning building shit. Stream the EP preview below and grab it next week.
British duo AlunaGeorge have been getting the remix treatment a lot lately and to be honest, a lot of them have been pretty off-base. Granted, it’s difficult to improve on a lot of their tracks due to the incredible chemistry that Aluna Francis and George Reid posses, but still, you’d expect some quality material. Lil Silva is one of the few producers who has come through. Applying his refreshing take on Funky, Silva somehow makes “Your Drums, Your Love” even bouncier with some bright synths. I predict this one will have a spot in club sets for months to come. Stream below.
And once again, Machinedrum proves why is among the vanguard of outside of the box producers pushing electronic music into the future. Here he takes a rare recording of a Boards of Canada performance from 1999 and, using a bootleg recording, recreates the untitled jam. There are very, very few artists who could take on something like this and Machinedrum is definitely one of them. From the mouth of Mr. Stewart:
“Using the recording I laid new drums over the existing drum patterns (almost 100% accurate to original), replayed some synth parts and the bassline. The only thing I didn’t try to re-create was the original vocoder parts and some random samples so I used the original bootleg recording for that.”
You can stream the original bootleg here. This is the type of endeavor that keeps me engaged in listening to and sharing music with all of you beautiful people. Enjoy.
Update: Free downloads have run out, but you can grab the track here.
First off, I think “Clique” blows. Neither Hova or Ye really perform and I clearly don’t need to delve into Mr. Anderson’s fallacies. This Gil Cool guy though? I can fuck with it. Stripping the verses from the original, Groundislava mutates the original into a thumping ride-along anthem. I get the same feeling listening to this remix that I did when I first heard “Big Spender”. Who wouldn’t want to ride around with their whoadies vibin’ to this? Stream below.
The brilliance of the Night Bus sound (more on Night Bus here) is the tension it evokes out of the urban environment. Simultaneously dense, intimate and dishearteningly cold, it forces the listener to answer difficult questions that don’t always have comfortable answers. Seattleite Kid Smpl aka Joey Butler is at the forefront of the Night Bus sub-genre. His teetering pop remixes (see here) flip convention on its head, forcing Rihanna, Drake, or whoever (does it really matter) into an icy haze of clipped vocals and reverb. His latest, of Jhene Aiko’s “3:16”, might just be his most uncomfortably tense rework yet. Aiko’s vocals are completely unrecognizable and the track comes dangerously close to falling into a witch-house like malaise. Butler walks the line like the experienced producer that he is though, throwing the original into the abyss without acquiescing one bit of distraught sentiment. Stream and download below.
In our ‘Purveyors’ feature on Car Crash Set, label head Ill Cosby spoke about a new Mak & Pasteman EP on the horizon and like magic, previews of the upcoming The Throwback EP appeared on Soundcloud today. Instead of Mak & Pasteman though, it’s Mak vs. Pasteman as the two will each contribute two solo tracks to the project. In typical fashion, the British duo flex their collective muscle, with their throbbing bass-heavy take on Garage. Stream the EP below and catch it on C/C/S on October 2nd.
Earlier I wrote that “Blu has taken on so many side projects and dropped countless unannounced albums that there isn’t really much he can do at this point to surprise his fans.” Well in the same day that the Danny Johnson project was announced, “Lemonade” appeared on German label Jakarta Records’ Bandcamp. A tribute to the late Guru, “Lemonade’ features Blu in peak form on the mic, Beat Make Jake behind the boards and some Exile scratches for good measure. The track is a pure throwback and Jake comes proper with the Premier referencing beatwork. What will Blu come up with next? We will never know. Stream and download below.
I’ve had a lot of fun posting videos of Groundislava and RL Grime from the FoF takeover at Boiler Room LA over the past few days, but this Young Adults mix might just be the best of the bunch (and we still have Shlohmo and Salva to go). Young Adults is the perfect antithesis to the fist pumping shit show that most people in the US call house music these music. His mixing and song selection is sunny and subtle. There’s almost always a 4×4 kick going, but the music doesn’t drive as much as from meanders from place to place, exhorting your hips to move before you even realize it. Stream the set below and look out for the podcast in the coming days.
Blu + Mainframe = Johnson & Jonson, Johnson & Jonson + Danny Brown = Danny Johnson. Got it? Good. Blu has taken on so many side projects and dropped countless unannounced albums that there isn’t really much he can do at this point to surprise his fans. Danny Brown also has a penchant for random release dates although no one in contemporary hip hop can really match the scattershot thought process of Johnson Barnes. Danny Johnson will involve Blu and Mainframe handling production with Danny on the mic. “Change” sees Brown completely out of his element, spitting in a restrained flow over the relaxed production. Is it just me or does his voice sound a little like Young Buck’s when he’s not yelling? Probably just me. Anyways, a full Danny Johnson LP is coming soon on New World Color. Stream “Change” below.
Seattle’s Cloud Nice collective has been responsible for some of the best left-field hip hop of the past few years. Nacho Picasso and Blue Sky Black Death’s acrimonious punch-line rap has receive the most national press, but Helluvastate (Tay Sean and TH of State of the Artist), producer 10.4 Rog and Nacho’s BadAzzYellowBoyz associates Jarv Dee and Steezie Nasa have also made quite a splash at various points over the past two years. Kingdom Crumbs, the most recent group to emerge out of the Cloud Nice coterie is a sci-fi leaning, boogie funk obsessed foursome made up of Tay Sean, Mikey Nice, Jarv Dee and Jerm D. The crew’s self-titled debut is an exploration of each member’s diverse talents, all wrangled together by Tay Sean, who handles most of the production, raps and sings. Heavily influenced by Shabazz Palaces (Ish gave the crew his blessing), especially on album opener “Evoking Spirits…”, the production work is futuristic, but not lofty, often evoking late 90’s Organized Noize. You would be remiss to sleep on this project and if you’re questioning downloading the album for the exorbitant price of free.99, peep the #trippy Ori Toor (who also helmed Animal Collective’s “Lion In A Coma”) directed video for “Evoking Spirits…” below. Download Kingdom Crumbs over at the Cloud Nice Bandcamp and stream the aforementioned video below.
The Astral Plane 