To say that Royal-T brought the party back into grime might be a slight reach, but the Rinse.Fm pickmaster and producer extraordinaire certainly has certainly brought grime to the party. With another EP (I Know You Want Me) coming soon (May 20) via Rinse’s label arm, it doesn’t appear that his fast and fresh roll will end any time soon. Stream a preview of the EP’s title track below and look out for a pre-order on May 6 that will include a VIP remix of 2012 hit “Inside The Ride”.
Next month, Kingdom will release the seven track Vertical XL EP on Fade To Mind, an EP that should further entrench him as one of the most innovative American club music producers. At this point, there isn’t much I can elucidate about the Brooklyn-resident expect for the fact that his latest track, “Corpse” is another huge one. Similar in sound to his remix of Fatima Al Qadiri’s “Corpcore”, “Corpse” is industrial and forboding, but retains the fun dance sound of Kingdom’s earlier ballroom material. Stream below and pre-order Vertical XL here.
At the beginning of this calendar year, a lot of buzz was generated for Ron Morelli’s Long Island Electrical Systems label (L.I.E.S.) through its contributions to what has become known as “left-field house”. And it’s true, L.I.E.S. does churn out very weird and experimental house music, but it’s so much more than that. Operating through a preferred medium of low run white label releases, the label has re instituted a sense of rarity, both through its production methods and its general sound, that has been lacking in the electronic music-sphere. Choice releases from Legowelt, Delroy Edwards and Bookworms have defined the label to this point, but no two L.I.E.S. releases sound the same beyond a general adherence to the lo-fi. Recently, Morelli dropped by Ben UFO’s Hessle Audio slot on Rinse.FM (which should be a staple on your weekly to do list) and laid down an hour of virtually unknown L.I.E.S. tracks. I can’t say I’m familiar with more than one or two of these joints (which happens often during Ben’s slot), but the mix is incredibly engaging regardless, which is easier said than done. The general mood of Morelli’s hour is upbeat, but he doesn’t stick with one sound long enough to really apply any more audial signifiers. Oh and Ben’s first hour isn’t half bad either. We’re blessed to have shows like this pop up on a weekly basis.
Leeds/London-based label/collective Goon Club Allstars have been the talk of the grime world as of late in no small part because of their willingness to the original tenets of the London-born genre with regional American club sounds. With Samename and Moleskin behind the decks, this mix for Cluster Mag is as prominent of a mission statement as one can expect from a fledgling label (think the Body High FADER mix) and features a bevy of incredible tracks from across the UK/US club spectrum. You’ll find Fade To Mind staples, veteran grime classics and forthcoming edits and originals from Goon Club artists. The mixing is impeccably scatterbrained and rough around the edges, but encapsulates Goon Club’s wide ranging influences and strict adherence to abrasive dancefloor sounds.
It was only a matter of time before DJ Sliink started entering his productions into the hip hop pool and further enhancing the connection between the club of today and the club of five years ago. Here, Atlanta duo FKi (who produced Jeremih’s “Fuck U All The Time”) wax poetic on dippin’, Gucci Mane memes and phallic projection. File under “tasteful trapEDMstylederp” if you will, but this is more in line with the ratchet tunes of Iamsu!, or the psychonautics of Danny Brown. Because, bitch we all might be.
If you weren’t already tingling at the prospect of Anticon’s remastered re-release of D33J’s Tide Songs, then this will surely get your toes curling. Jerome “LOL” Potter is back once again to add his wholly organic melancholy to D33J’s “Park” and he performs his duties with aplomb, measuring out equal doses of comfortable pop pastiche and forward-thinking melodic structure. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of this crews cross-pollinating ways. Stream below and via the above link.
We know virtually nothing about Lake Haze except for the fact that, next week, he will release a single via the always mysterious Unknown To The Unknown. For all we know, Lake Haze could be a pseudonym of label boss DJ Haus or another of the imprint’s internet savvy producers. What we do know is that “Late Night Trip” is one of the more exciting forays into the realm of experimental dance music we’ve experienced this year and should foment quite a reaction among the technophiles. The song should be taken in alongside its suitable psychedelic visual accompaniment and, as of next Monday (May 6), played out in full form at the weirdest dance party you can put together. Stream/watch below, download courtesy of XLR8R, and/or pre-order the single here.
London-resident Romare has never had a problem with taking a left-field stance on rhythm, whether it be the overt West African influence on his Meditations On Afrocentrism EP or the more Chicago-inferred style that permeates his most recent Love Songs: Part One extended player. His latest effort, a rework of The Children Of Lov’s “Fly”, falls in line with his juke fascination and features some eardrum splattering sub-bass. The fact that the remix falls into a hip hop crawl two minutes in shouldn’t surprise any longtime fans and the jarring tempo changes are more than welcome in our book considering the paint-by-the-numbers character of much of today’s dance music. With a huge set of Summer tour/festival dates coming up and new material on the way, expect Romare to come out of 2013 a major player.
At this point, Clams Casino might be the last person with the capability of saving one Daniel Dumile’s worth as a relevant cultural signifier. More interested in producing and betraying fan’s confidence in the past half-decade, [MF] DOOM has always been an enigma, but the truth is that the iron clad villain hasn’t turned out an front-to-back engaging project since 2004’s seminal Madvillainy. It’s easy to get caught up in DOOM’s “free associative” lyricism or his outdated comic book references, but the truth is that he’s lost a step in recent years and has come to rely more and more on gimmicks and outlandish production. Enter Clammy Clams. if there’s a more fitting backing for DOOM’s pedantic rambling than the molasses thick, treehouse beats churned out by New Jersey’s very own, then I don’t know what life. Matching both DOOM’s cadence and carelessness to a tee, “Bookfiend” is the best thing to come from each respective camp in the past 12 months and if you don’t recognize that, you might just need get out to the Amazon for some of that good stuff.
There’s a lot to love about the explosion of half-step dance musc that has emerged in the past five or so years. That is quote-on-quote dubstep that appeals not just to the heads and candy ravers, but to electronic music fans of all shades and stripes. Ohioan Druid Cloak is among the best and brightest when it comes to crafting this type of music and is/will be making quite a splash for the remainder of 2013 with forthcoming work on Infinite Machine and Hot ‘N’ Heavy. Lately though, the cloaked crusader has been getting his toes wet in the remix game, most recently taking a stab at the likeminded 123Mrk’s “Invisible Colors”, which will be released on May 6 via Infinite Machine. If you don’t know, now you know.
The Astral Plane 