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Author Archives: Gabe Meier

Groundislava Releases TV Dream EP On FoF

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June 25, 2012
New Music
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Photo by Barney Patterson

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now, we love ❤ Friends of Friends. Shlohmo, Salva, Tomas Barfod and Ernest Gonzales are some of our favorite artists and the Pop Massacre mixtapes are out of this world fiya. It’s not surprise then that their latest release, Groundislava’s TV Dream EP, is another exhibition in excellence. Eschewing much of his previous sound, largely made up of 8-bit sounds and boom bap beats, the Los Angeles-native instead embarks on a revisionist take on 80’s synth pop. TV Dream is comfortable in the realm of Summer music, while still managing to maintain enough credibility to ensure year round airtime. At only 15 minutes long, it’s a quick listen, but is quite satisfying despite its brevity. Nostalgic synths are Groundislava’s go to and he milks them to the fullest. The title track, featuring vocalist Clive Tanaka, is the clear standout and invokes the M83 sound circa 2005. It’s soaring, pensive and cinematic. The rest of the EP fails to keep up at times, falling into cliché one too many times, but it’s not like Groundislava is pretending to embark on a brand new trail. The EP will only knock you back $5 and if you’re going to pay for music, why not give your dollars to FoF. Stream and/or buy via Bandcamp below.

Massive Attack Comes Out Of Nowhere With Remix Of Nas’ “The Don”

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June 25, 2012
New Music, Remixes
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For the longest time, I ignored the vast realm of electronic music (or I thought I di) as a whole. My high school years were filled with Def Jux and Duck Down and I rarely strayed to far from the world of hip hop. I did listen to trip-hop though. DJ Shadow was a constant and Portishead was my go to when I was in a shitty mood. I never delved all that deep into the fleeting sub-genre, but the aforementioned artists had a long lasting effect on my music tastes and occasionally my psyche. More than any other act though, it was Massive Attack that had the longest lasting effect. Blue Lines is one of maybe a dozen albums that I have to listen to once a month or so. It’s a little bit of an obsession. The Bristolians have soundtracked too many sad, strange and occasionally happy moments in my life to count. As the duo progressed over the past two decades, I lost some interest, but Blue Lines never left the rotation. Even though I truly believed, with every bone in body that electronic music was a fucking waste of time, one of my favorite albums also doubled as one of the greatest electronic albums of all time. Anyways, on to the song.

When I woke up, I expected to find the usual slog of trap and four on the floor house and techno on my social media feeds/inbox. I might have let out a little yelp when I saw this track though. 3D and Daddy G reworking the best track Nas has released in a minute? Yes please. Once I saw that it was only 3D, with the help of collaborator Tim Goldsworthy, my excitement slightly dipped, but only slightly. The track is classic Massive Attack, displacing Salaam Remi, Da Internz & Heavy D’s original banger from the club to whatever dimension trip hop inhabits. The sampled vocals take on a hypnotic quality, while Nas doesn’t lose any of the vim or vigor of the original. It’s classic Massive Attack and I couldn’t be happier to hear it in 2012. You can stream below and if there is a god (I should probably stop using that one) it will be out sooner rather than later.

New Bwana – “Nami Swan”

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June 22, 2012
New Music
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Bwana aka Nathan Micay first caught out attention via the Can’t You Just EP on Jeffree’s back in March. Beautiful chord progressions, effusive vocals and engrossing percussion seem to come easy to the Leeds by way of Toronto producer. With just a few releases under his belt, he’s already solidified himself among the best in the biz at creating twinkling, garage-indebted riddims. On July 30th, Bwana will release the Baby Let Me Finish EP on Somethinksounds, sure to be another giant step forward for the 21 year old. “Nami Swan” builds and builds until it plateaus into brilliant looped vocals and pleasantly frenetic beat. Stream below and look out for the EP on July 30th.

New Freddie Gibbs & Madlib EP, Album Coming Soon

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June 22, 2012
2012, New Music
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We weren’t around to tell you, but Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s “Thuggin” was the best hip hop song of 2011. Bar none. No fucks about it. Gangsta Gibbs’ honest as fuck, true to the-streets braggadocio mixes with the Beat Kondukta’s dusty, sativa saturated beats was a match made in heaven. The ensuing EP was short, but the promise of a second  EP coming Summer 2012 made hip hop heads more than a little wet. Summer 2012 is upon us and lo and behold, the Shame EP has arrived on our doorsteps. More of a teaser than anything, Shame contains two new Gibbs/Madlib tracks along with their instrumentals/acapellas, plus two bonus beats. The two new tracks are more than enough to satiate our needs though. The title track takes Gibbs away from the streets and into the bedroom. Lib creates the perfect soul-sampling bed for Gibbs to wax poetic about his “bottom bitch” and BJ The Chicago Kid sounds smooth as hell on the hook. Best line: “Like I stepped on a banana peel then fell in that pussy/You all be spending your narcotics skrill to get in that pussy”. Gibbs got jokes. At only 1:11 long, “Terrorist” is even more of a teaser, but seeing Gibbs going stream of consciousness over another silky backdrop is still a treat. Head over to Stones throw to cop the vinyl or the MP3’s and stream “Shame” below. Most importantly, the EP release comes with news that the two are gearing up for an LP release “third quarter 2012”. That is very, very soon. Jammin!

Jacques Greene To Release EP On Martyn’s 3024 Records

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June 22, 2012
New Music
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So Jacques Greene is releasing an EP on Martyn’s record label 3024. It’s due out July 16, but you can preview it now. It’s called Ready and no surprise, it’s really, really good. From the Soundcloud description:

From early releases with LuckyMe and Night Slugs via high profile remixes and on to the recent formation of his own Vase imprint the Montreal native has been at the front of his home town’s rapidly snowballing acclaim as a creative incubator of unusual quality, fusing R&B’s raw emoting to House and Techno’s sleek propulsion. The Ready EP is a further refinement of the sound he’s made his own, going further down the rabbit hole than before but always balancing aerodynamic efficiency with the unusually organic emotion.

That sounds about right. “Prism” and “Dakou” have that sexy late night sound that Greene has perfected on his past few releases and while there’s no “Another Girl” here, why try and recreate that magic. “Ready” takes Greene in a more techno-oriented direction, not my favorite, but it’s quite fitting for a release on Martyn’s label. Stream below.

Azizi Gibson and Jeremiah Jae Pray For The Important Things In Life

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June 20, 2012
2012, New Music
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2012 has been a good year for Brainfeeder. Flying Lotus’s label and purveyor of everything good and holy have only released two traditional full lengths, Ryat’s and Lapalux’s (both excellent by the way), but their longest strides have come in the hip hop arena. Now if you follow us, you’re probably familiar with the label’s stable of MC’s, namely the Maryland-bred Azizi Gibson and Chicago’s Jeremiah Jae. The two have been making some of the most unfiltered, dynamic hip hop this year, which is quite a statement considering Black Hippy and Danny Brown’s output alone. Luckily for us, the two have joined together for a concept tape of sorts. Ignorant Prayers is an ode to all those who pray for the important things in life i.e. a lot of fellatio. Money too. If you’re looking for grimy, unadulterated rhymes over the wonky beats we’ve come to love from Jae and the Brainfeeder clique in general, do not sleep on this tape. It’s shocking without striving for shock value and has some of the gulliest production this side of FlyLo himself. Grab the full tape below and grab the instrumentals right here.

Download: Azizi Gibson x Jeremiah Jae – Ignorant Prayers

Clams Casino Lets Loose #BSIDES Of Instrumental 2

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June 20, 2012
New Music
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Last week, I was delighted to find Clams Casino’s Instrumental 2 sitting tantalizing in my inbox. While not quite as earth shattering as the original instrumentals tape, the mastered copies of “Wassup”, “Palace” and “I’m God” have not and will not leave the rotation for months. Like the gentleman that he is, Clams let loose seven “BSIDES” earlier, made up of instrumentals of Squadda B, Sha Stimuli, Lil B, Mac Miller and Havoc tracks. While not as well known as the tracks off Instrumental 2, each and every instrumental demonstrates just how dexterous the New Jersey-bred producer is behind the boards. I personally hadn’t heard the Sha Stimuli tracks so that was quite a treat. Don’t know how “Never Understand” didn’t make it onto the “A Side”. Easily one of my favorite beats of the year. You can head over to Clams’ Twitter to grab each individual track or snag the easy to consume Zip file below.

Download: Clams Casino – #BSIDES

New Viette – “DÅMELO” (Astral Plane Exclusive)

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June 19, 2012
2012, New Music
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Oh yes. Today, we are lucky enough to premier the brand new Viette banger, “DÅMELO” and initiate some ratchet techno frenzy. Taking a generous sample from Ri Ri’s ode to Jamaican badmen, Viette gets real grimy with the water droplets and whatever those sucking noises are. This is the shit Bangladesh would churn out if he got locked in a Berlin dungeon and was forced to make techno. 2 Ratchet. Stream and download “DÅMELO” below.

RuddyP Makes Breakup Montage Music (And Other Stuff Too)

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June 19, 2012
New Music
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RuddyP is 19 years old and from Manassas, Virginia. His government name is Ruddy Paniagua. Back in February, he released the Split EP with XXYYXX. He’s been making (or at least releasing) music for at least one year and also works under the Heavy Deer moniker. His tracks range from Star Slinger-esque Summer hip hop to dismal synth pop numbers. The Split EP is representative of the former. His newest track, “Wait4Me”, is indicative of the latter. Molasses thick and sublimely slow, the track aches along through wavy synths and skittering hi hats resulting in a dreamlike trance. It’s a beautiful Summer song, but not the happy go lucky brand. Perfect for one of those half-way corny, but still touching breakup montages. RuddyP’s free downloads have run out so you’ll have to wait until the first of the month to grab this track for yourself, but give it a listen below.

Monday Mix Roundup Pt. 2 Feat. Eats Everything, DJ Spinn & DJ Rashad and Sines

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June 18, 2012
Mixes, New Music
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So earlier, we posted a roundup of mixes from the likes of Baauer, Hudson Mohawke and Nguzunguzu. Well it looks like we spoke/posted too soon. It’s been quite a day for mixes (check out Mixes From The Astral Plane, Vol. 2) and we’ve got three more for your listening pleasure. We’ll make this quick so you get to it.

Dirtybird representative Eats Everything is featured in Resident Adviser Podcast 316 and said the mix was the best he’s ever done. Check it out over at RA. I’m pretty sure everyone besides us was at Sónar 2012 in Barcelona over the weekend, but in case you weren’t, relive Chicago legends DJ Spinn and DJ Rashad play out some classic juke over at Red Bull Music Academy. Houston beatsmith Sines has made quite a name for himself via his own tunes and his recently formed imprint Freshmore. Don’t miss out on his mix for Keep On Repeat.