Sorry folks, it’s been a little quiet over here recently and Robin Pecknold has been at the top of the page for far too long.
Ghostly International rep Gold Panda released a new track to his Soundcloud a few hours ago and while most likely not an album or EP cut, it’s always a treat to get new Panda tunes. “Thailand Chord Droner” starts with a crunchy bassline and builds over the tracks two minutes into a nice dance riddim. Gold Panda has been slowly releasing tunes over the last year or so, but what we really need is a followup to 2010’s Lucky Shiner. If you haven’t been ensnared by his the music yet, please see him live. I have never seen a DJ so masterfully build on his own tracks into a cacophony of sound before smoothing everything out and creating pure bliss. Stream “Thailand Chord Droner” below and be sure to look out for live dates in your city.
Anything with a half-step beat, or any resemblance of UK garage is immediately given some ridiculous post, neo, or future label. The sound recently reinvented by Jamie XX and James Blake, but pioneered over a decade ago, has been replicated by dozens upon dozens of bedroom producers at varying levels of success. Beyond the aforementioned artists, Mount Kimbie and Wolfey are two of my favorites. Marseille-based 123Mrk is another. I’m not too familiar with 123Mrk, but based on his Soundcloud, he already has a wealth of great tracks and plenty of potential. It’s hard to differentiate yourself from the masses, but he has managed to mix in some LA beat scene-esque 8-bit sounds, and based on interviews, has quite the obsession with video games. Check out standout track “Untroubled” below and be sure to check out more tunes on his Soundcloud.
One might assume that because James Blake utilizes silence and empty space so well in his music, there would be a abundance of remixes, refixes, edits, etc. of his tracks. That is not the case. There are obviously a wealth of bedroom produced remixes, but most boil down to attempting to mash Blake’s vocals, rhythm’s, breaks, etc. into a separate genre in an entirely incompatible way. Just listen (or don’t) to Benny Benassi’s awful dubstep remix of “Limit To Your Love.” Pretty unbearable. Even as a huge fan of instrumental hip hop, I am extremely wary of any producer, obscure or world-famous, to take on a Blake track.
M-Phazes‘ “James Blake never learnt to make drums smack like this” has made me do a complete 180 on how I feel about Blake remixes. Those drums are just too good. The song title is just too apt. And his looping of the original drop just works too well. M-Phazes is from Australia, far from a hip hop hot spot, and has produced for the likes of Pharoahe Monch, Redman and Talib Kweli. The track is available for stream and download (!) below, and if my fantasy goes as planned, the three aforementioned MC’s will jump on the beat as soon as possible. One can dream, right?
Three weeks ago, the Sasquatch Music Festival lineup was released to much fanfare. Like all festivals, some hated the lineup while others loved it. For the more levelheaded, it appears to be a very balanced lineup with a deep undercard. From here on out we will be underscoring how great the undercard is by writing about a new Sasquatch artist every week. Beyond delving into each artist’s bio, sound, etc., we will attempt to give some insight into what will make their performance at Sasquatch, a truly unique festival, so amazing.
So far in our Sasquatch artist previews, we have unintentionally covered solely artists that will be performing in the Banana Shack aka the Dance Tent. While this blog does trend towards the electronic and hip hop side of the musical spectrum, our goal is not to hem ourselves into any genre boundaries. Again, this week, we are covering an artist performing in the Banana Shack. Also again, this week’s artist, Little People, does not fit into the traditional confines of a dance act. Our first two artists, Com Truise and Tycho, plie their trade for Ghostly International, but our love affair for the label ends here.
Little People aka Laurent Clerc is a Swiss artist by way of London. Clerc is one of the few artists who have managed to stay under the radar, although he has built a following through untraditional means. Clerc released his first album in 2006, titled Mickey Mouse Operation, but has stayed relatively silent since its release. Rarely agreeing to participating in interviews (I only managed to unearth one) and only sporadically releasing material, Clerc has instead gained a following through listeners discovering his music on iTunes and internet-radio station Pandora. Since Mickey Mouse Operation‘s release, the album has steadily risen up the iTunes electronic charts and Clerc’s profile has risen accordingly.
Over the past year or so, Clerc has began to tour, most recently supporting Emancipator on his Winter tour, as well a stops at Re:Generation Festival and several other US tour dates. Clerc’s slow acceptance of the spotlight, along with the rise in popularity of his debut album, appears to be in anticipation of his second album, set to drop this Spring.
It is difficult to judge Clerc’s sound, as he has stated that he wants to move away from the sample based trip-hop sound that dominated his debut and move towards a more organic sound. Mickey Mouse Operation ranged from Emancipator-esque orchestral pieces dominated by strings and dusty percussion to more repetitive, hip hop oriented beats. Emancipator is a good comparison for Little People’s debut, but so is Endtroducing era DJ Shadow. In my opinion, no instrumental album will ever touch Endtroducing in terms of innovation and technical proficiency, but Shadow’s fingers are all over Clerc’s debut.
Little People will most likely have a late afternoon set in the Banana Shack after the house DJ performs (DJ Anjali was great last year), and barring a massive popular breakthrough in the coming months, will be playing for a pretty sparse crowd. Despite this, Clerc will undoubtedly put on an excellent show, and will serve as a nice break to the ravey-er dance acts that will dominate the Shack.
In anticipation of the upcoming Low End Theory Japan tour, resident spitter Nocando threw down a quick bilingual acapella in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. I can’t imagine many MC’s that have the dexterity on the mic to pull this type of verse off. The LET Japan tour hits Sapporo, Himeji, Osaka and Tokyo. Along with all of the residents, Nosaj Thing and Samiyam will be in tow for the entirety of the tour. Find out more info about the tour here, and download Nocando’s freEP here.
We don’t usually feature content from other blogs/magazines/etc., but this is too good to pass up on. The latest issue of The Fader magazine features Danny Brown and Kendrick Lamar, as well as two of the better articles/interviews with the aforementioned artists I’ve managed to dig up. While Lamar graces the cover, the article is really about Black Hippy as a whole, juxtaposing its members drastically different personalities, quirks, and skill-sets. The Brown article is a deep contrast to the Black Hippy one, showcasing a manic, grotesque figure, who at one point states “People think my life is just non-stop orgies with crackheads… and it kind of is.” Brown and the Black Hippy cohort are two of the most respected artists/crews in the modern rap game, and these articles showcase how, despite their hugely different attitudes and lifestyles, they both came up from the bottom and share a common hip hop ethos.
The Shlohmo remixes just keep coming. Earlier, Pitchfork debuted Chilean-American minimal artist Nicolas Jaar’s remix of “Rained The Whole Time” off of the Vacation EP. Removing Shlohmo’s sense of organized clutter from the track, Jaar manages to maintain the underwater feel of the track. The latin sounding guitar is still there, while the addition of stuttering drums transforms the track into a more dance-floor oriented house affair. Jaar, who is also a Comparative Lit student at Brown University, released one of last year’s most widely acclaimed minimal projects in his Space Is Only Noise album, and is poised for another big year in 2012. Unfortunately, “Rained The Whole Time” is only up for stream at the moment, but you can buy the entire Vacation 12″ at FriendsOfFriends, which also includes remixes from Groundislava, Salva and Teebs.
It’s a well-known fact that we love the big homie Jonwayne here at The Astral Plane. His upcoming beat tape/double LP, Oodles of Doodles, is one of our most anticipated releases of 2012, and if all goes as planned, will be one of the best instrumental hip hop albums of the year. Oodles will be Jonwayne’s last instrumental work of 2012, although he will also be releasing an entirely self-produced hip hop album on Stones Throw. This isn’t much, but earlier Stones Throw posted short, lo-fi snippets of Oodles, and while it serves largely as something to briefly salivate on before the album’s impending release, it does give the listener a small bit of insight into the tape’s sound. Stream the samples on the Stones Throw website and be on the lookout for Oodles in the coming weeks.
For The Astal Plane’s second live review, we’re stepping our game up a little bit. Unlike our last review, we managed to bring a camera (fully charged!) and got some nice shots. Last time it was Tokimonsta’s b-day set at Low End Theory. This time, we caught Jonwayne and Main Attrakionz at Pomona College. Like last time, we hit a few bumps in the road though. We planned on doing a video interview with Mondre and Squadda B of Main Attrakionz, and in fact, we did interview the Oakland “cloud rap” duo. We also forgot to turn on the mic. As a result, instead of a five minute interview with Mondre and Squadda, we have five silent minutes of me looking awkward and them looking inebriated. In fact, it was actually a pretty decent interview covering topics ranging from how they met Clams Casino (through Keyboard Kid), coining the term “cloud rap,” and wanting to create their own legacy among Bay Area legends. Mondre and Squadda were more than willing to do the interview and were amiable throughout it. Read the rest of the review after the jump and check out photos from the show here.
I’ve been avoiding Valentines Day themed music all day, but this is too good to pass up. Everyone’s favorite maximalist, Hudson Mohawke, tones it down for one day to bring you Slow Jams Chapter V. For five years now, The Glaswegian native has brought the masses the best in slow jams and general love-making music. I haven’t had the chance to give the mix a spin, so I’ll let LuckyMe take it away:
5 years deep, the kid Hudson Mohawke returns with the definitive soundtrack to Valentines. Look, cancel that reservation. Put the money into good pizza and champagne. You’re getting this shit for free so buy your spiritual counterpoint something: the Heathers DVD. A single rose. Some salted caramels. Whatever. You got all the other magic you need right here. And if you’re alone tonight that’s okay; being into shit like this you’re gonna be fine. Trust us. Buy yourself those caramels. Get naked enough. Let a lil Mo get inside you… Happy Valentines everybody.
The Astral Plane 