The fantastically whimsical UK-based Gold Panda has graced us with a brand new single called “Mountain,” backed with a great track titled “Financial District.” These two tracks include familiar elements from previous Gold Panda material, such as Middle Eastern and Asian-influenced instruments and samples, paired with noisy percussion and head-bobbing beats. At about two and a half minutes in, “Mountain” morphs almost entirely from an ethereal, low-key musing to a full-on glitchy celebration. The B-side, “Financial District,” balances upon warped horns and chopped-up vocal samples, sounding like something shiny swimming around at the bottom of the ocean. Listen below.
Over the past few weeks, several track I was blown away by at the Groundislava/Salva/Tomas Barfod/Shlohmo show at the Echoplex have surfaced in some format or another. First, it was Girl Unit’s “Ensemble (Club Mix)”. Next up, RL Grime let loose “Trap On Acid”. Well, I’m a little late on this one, but if you saw me incoherently stomping my feet when Salva played it out, you’d want to hear it immediately. If you don’t know, Salva is the head of Frite Nite and Grenier, under the DJG moniker, has been making some of the best Dubstep and Drum & Bass this side of the Atlantic since 2006. “Wake The Dead” is the A-Side of the FTNT014 and the out and out banger while B-Side “Forest Floor” is far deeper. “Wake The Dead” features brash claps and synth stabs, occasionally interrupted by some classic soulful Garage vocals. Both artists signature styles are readily apparent, and the track transitions effortlessly between half-step and two-step, bringing London, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco together. “Forest Floor” brings Grenier’s Jungle roots to mind with a tribal beat spurring warm synth washes accentuated by chopped R&B vocals. Whereas “Wake The Dead” aims straight for a driving club atmosphere, “Forest Floor” brings the listener to the same atmosphere before they even realize it. Overall, a short, but promising debut collaboration from the two California residents. Stream the tracks below and head over to Frite Nite to cop FTN014.
Back in June, we interviewed British up-and-comer Stavrogin aka Theo Darton-Moore. The 20 year old producer’s tunes have been on slow burn ever since. Theo and his mates are also some of the premier taste makers in blog world, selecting rare cuts on their website Stray Landings. 2011’s Halves and Reflections EP’s were some of the most successful efforts at blending the structures of Garage, Dubstep and House into a cohesive, cinematic product. “Slip Collision” is a slow burner in every sense of the word. Judiciously placed crackling snares bring the track along as echoing vocals occasionally erupt out of the depths of the percussion. Even in the crowded London scene, this guy continues to make a name for himself. Stream below.
It’s been difficult keeping up Dipset’s output this month as Cam’ron’s #UNLostFiles series has released a track every weekday. We’ll have the full mixtape/series when This one was too hard to pass to up though. For many, araabMUZIK (is it just me or does he change the way his name is stylized every other week?) is the MPC wizard known for smashing Skrillex and Flux Pavilion tracks to pieces and resurrecting them in festival tents. Others know him as a panty dropping trance-hop wizard. Contrary to popular belief, the diminutive Harlem resident is actually a hip hop producer and has run with Dipset for years. More recently, araab has associated himself with the A$AP Mob, contributing to the upcoming album. I have one question for you though: have you heard “Salute”? It’s the track that arguably brought araab into the hip hop consciousness. It also explains why his signature screams and effects are a little bit stale. “What Lies Beneath” isn’t nearly as menacing, or hardbody as “Salute”. It would also be difficult for Vado to match the lyrical prowess of Jim, Cam and Juelz. Even a 2010 Jim. Despite this, the Slime Flu mixtapes certified Vado as a more than capable Dipset capo. Compared to araab’s more recent output, “What Lies Beneath” is understated as hell. It probably won’t please his newer fans either and certainly not the dilated music festival crowds he’s garnered over the past six months. IT DOES prove that he can still make gully shit behind the boards though. Usually, that’s enough for me. Download “What Lies Beneath” here and stream below.
Continuing the trend of talented MC’s working with even more talented producers, we bring you the latest effort from Harlem spitter Azealia Banks. Banks has been spending a little (a lot) too much time fighting with Lil’ Kim’s fans on Twitter over the past few weeks, but we’ll excuse that if she can continue turning out bangers like this. She’s shown a penchant for working with talented producers (she likes them LuckyMe cats) and “Jumanji” plays along with the script she’s written over the past year. She’s brash, vile and obnoxious. She’s still fascinated by the female anatomy. She can still ride a wonky beat better than any other MC on the planet right now. As for the beat, it initially comes off as some silly circus shit, but on further listen, I see it as more an extension of HudMo’s recent remix of Battles and the wonky new TNGHT track. After making a tuba sound harder than Lex Luger’s drum rolls ever could, the traditional boundaries of hip hop beat making disappeared for the Glaswegian. I’m not too familiar with the Brighton-based Hook, but after some quick research (a Youtube search), it appears that the man makes some decent 128 BPM tunes. Azealia has already worked with Lunice, Machinedrum, and now HudMo, so who’s next in the LuckyMe camp to hit the studio with that Uptown Bitch. Rustie? Please be Rustie. Azealia on some “City Star” shit would far too grimy. Stream “Jumanji” below and hopefully Azealia really is buckling down in the studio and we’ll get 1991 or a full length by Fall.
Chicago has been the center for innovation in American electronic music for the better part of three decades at this point. From the origins of house in the early 80’s to the emergence of juke in the 90’s, the Windy City has more often than not been the hub of the newest dance craze. More recently though, the city has been known for its hip hop megastars. Whether you prefer Yeezy, The Cool Kids, or more recently, Chief Keef (oof), the city has consistently churned out notable MC’s over the past decade. Over the past year, Chicago production duo Supreme Cuts (Austin Kjeultes and Mike Perry) have managed to bring the old and the new together. The duo broke out with the Trouble EP late last year on Small Plates and have been making headlines ever since. Comparisons to Mount Kimbie and Clams Casino have been abundant and Austin and Mike have noted influences ranging from the local noise scene to post-rock mavens Godspeed You! Black Emperor to UK Garage vocals. When it comes down to it though, Supreme Cuts make hip hop beats (Mike cites 90% of their influence comes comes from the genre). That much is apparent while listening to their latest effort, “Gully”, featuring Brooklyn by way of Barbados MC Haleek Maul (only 15 years old!). Cascading drum patterns allow faint, haunting vocals to weave in and out of the track, creating the perfect canvass for Maul to spill his guts in impressive fashion for such a green artist. Think RVIDXR KLVN meets Lee Bannon (a great idea by the way). This set of artists is not one to sleep on and we can only hope this collaboration is not the end of their relationship. The track is off of both Haleek’s upcoming Oxyconteen EP and the Supreme Cuts debut full length, Whispers in the Dark, set for a June 12 release. The duo also has a mixtape slated for a summer release. Stream and download “Gully” via Mishka below.
Update: “Gully” is off of Oxyconteen, due June 14, and an upcoming Supreme Cuts/Haleek Maul mixtape called Chrome Lips via Mishka.
Three months 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 the lesser-known Sasquatch artists by highlighting a different artist each 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 so amazing.
The story is synonymous with the band. Hannah Hooper, Christian Zucconi, Sean Gadd, Ryan Rabin and Andrew Wessen met at a commune in Crete, an Mediterranean island off of Greece. The five immediately became friends. A year went by without any developments; then, the five reunited in Los Angeles and the rest is history. In 2010, Grouplove performed for the first time. It would be easy to dub the band a flash in the pan in the mold of The Ting Tings, what with their effusive pop ballads, but they have more staying power than one would immediately assume. Sure, they went the iPod commercial route, but hey, you gotta paid, right?
After such fabled beginnings, it would be easy to wash away into the muck of contemporary “indie” music. 2011’s Never Trust A Happy Song was far from the mushy filler surrounding a few solid singles we’ve come to expect from similar releases. Despite its pitfalls (falls into singer/songwriter cliche a little too often, song arrangements are often scatterbrained, too much ukulele for my liking), the album is through and through a cohesive product, and more importantly, a downright enjoyable listen. It’s difficult to deem whether a band enjoys each others presence, but I’m going to go ahead and make that assumption.
With an early Monday time slot (1:05) on the Sasquatch Stage, I can imagine the five-some having a similar effect to Chromeo’s early Monday set in 2011, bringing out the revelers in grand fashion and starting a lawn dance party like no other. Despite sound issues, they smashed their early day set at Coachella last month and I would expect nothing less at Sasquatch.
Kohoutek Music & Arts Festival is a 39-year musical tradition at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Named after an anti-climactic, significantly over-hyped comet, Kohoutek was predicted in 1973 to display spectacular “outgassing” as it entered the inner Solar system. However, it fell short of expectations, failing to display the levels of light that were predicted. Somewhat predictably, at Pitzer College, this sequence of events made Kohoutek a particularly endearing concept, spurring the first ever Kohoutek Music & Arts festival in 1975. Check out our previous Kohoutek post for some of the most popular headliners from years past.
Fast forward to 2012: the Kohoutek tradition continued this past weekend, celebrating its 39th year, and drawing from a particularly eclectic selection of artists to create a lineup sure to please the wide variety of musical tastes at the Claremont Colleges. With headliners like Vetiver and The Juan Maclean, and appearances from talented performers hailing from the realms of jazz, hip-hop, bluegrass, electronica, and everything in between, Kohoutek 2012 was destined to be a success before the festival even began. Everything seemed to fall into place effortlessly; the weather was perfect, attendance was impressive, the vendors were unique and enjoyable, and the music was undeniably excellent. After the jump, we’ll attempt to give you an overview of some of the most enjoyable performances throughout the weekend, as well as photographic coverage of several of the performers. Check out some additional photos from the weekend here.
Shabazz Palaces have added a little (or a lot) of their crazy magic to a track off Philadelphia rapper and producer Lushlife’s recent Plateau Vision release. The track, “Hale-Bopp Was The Bedouins,” features Das Racist’s Heems along with Fly Guy Dai and Thadillac. Shabazz Palaces’ own Palaceer throws down a verse in the remixed version as well. Check out the remix (and the original below) right here:
Eleven 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 the lesser-known Sasquatch artists by highlighting a different artist each 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 so amazing.
tUnE-yArDs is the creatively-capitalized alias of musician Merril Garbus. (Hey, at least she didn’t leave out the vowels, right?) Hailing from Connecticut and currently based in Oakland, Garbus is full of surprises, musically and otherwise. She’s unlike anything we’ve ever heard before, and it works. Garbus possesses an incredibly powerful and unique voice, and this gift provides the pedestal on which she constructs her musical skyscraper. The vocals in her music have been compared to a cross between Aretha Franklin and Yoko Ono. Her range is unbelievable, varying from a deep, almost masculine grumble to a high soprano wail; she can sound convincingly assertive, angry, carefree, peaceful, contemplative, and celebratory all in one album. Her influences are drawn from Afro-pop, funk, R&B and folk, but there’s something else there. Garbus throws in a stylistic dexterity that is irreproducible and astounding.
The components that comprise her music-making technique are simple, but they merge to create something elaborate, almost labyrinthine. In addition to providing her one-of-a-kind voice, Garbus also plays the ukulele and dabbles in a variety of percussion. She uses a loop pedal to overlap the different elements of a track as she builds the instrumentation. As she told NPR’s All Things Considered back in April 2011:
“[The loop pedal] is this really wonderfully simple device that is somewhat of a limitation. I love to see how I can stretch using that limitation to its farthest reaches of musicality.”
tUnE-yArDs also throws in snippets of recordings of ambient sound, conversation and spoken statements. It is the amazing variety that makes Garbus’ music so incredible. From track to track, her style progresses through stages of emotion and musical form, like a long walk through many distinctive neighborhoods, all housing entirely different groups of people, but together comprising a diverse and vibrant city.
In June 2009, Garbus self-released tUnE-yArDs’ first album, BiRd-BrAiNs, on recycled cassette tapes. BiRd-BrAiNs was recorded using a handheld voice recorder and mastered somewhat crudely by Garbus using Audacity mixing software. In July of the same year, tUnE-yArDs signed to 4AD, and re-released a remastered version of BiRd-BrAiNs in November 2009 containing two new bonus tracks.
In April of 2011, Garbus released tUnE-yArDs’ second album, w h o k i l l. The album was produced by Garbus, but engineered in a professional studio. For this album, Garbus added bassist Nate Brenner to her lineup, and this change played a central role in the progression of tUnE-yArDs’ sound in their second release. w h o k i l l is the perfect departure from the lo-fi quality of BiRd-BrAiNs, while continuing to surprise us with incredibly elaborate sound. This newfound clarity in Garbus’ work makes the album an entirely different type of experience, but her style certainly benefits from the added professionalism present in w h o k i l l.
Aside from her recordings, there has been quite a bit of focus in the blogosphere upon Garbus’ talents as a live performer. Again drawing from her chat with NPR back in 2011, Garbus describes her incredible stage presence, self-confidence, and passion for performance:
“I’m confident enough to grab people’s attention and say, ‘Hey, I’m up here. Don’t be chattin’ into your beer. I’m right here, and this is what you want to be looking at.'”
We eagerly await her Sasquatch set. As an artist who based so much of her origin and style upon the ability to function as an individual in a live setting, creating a multitude of layers all stemming from the simple functions of a few instruments, tUnE-yArDs will surely put on a fantastic show. Chances are, it will be unlike anything else you see at Sasquatch, and that is a draw in and of itself. tUnE-yArDs will be performing at the Bigfoot stage on Saturday at 7:30; don’t miss out.
Over the past few weeks, several track I was blown away by at the Groundislava/Salva/Tomas Barfod/Shlohmo show at the Echoplex have surfaced in some format or another. First, it was Girl Unit’s “Ensemble (Club Mix)”. Next up, RL Grime let loose “Trap On Acid”. Well, I’m a little late on this one, but if you saw me incoherently stomping my feet when Salva played it out, you’d want to hear it immediately. If you don’t know, Salva is the head of Frite Nite and Grenier, under the DJG moniker, has been making some of the best Dubstep and Drum & Bass this side of the Atlantic since 2006. “Wake The Dead” is the A-Side of the FTNT014 and the out and out banger while B-Side “Forest Floor” is far deeper. “Wake The Dead” features brash claps and synth stabs, occasionally interrupted by some classic soulful Garage vocals. Both artists signature styles are readily apparent, and the track transitions effortlessly between half-step and two-step, bringing London, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco together. “Forest Floor” brings Grenier’s Jungle roots to mind with a tribal beat spurring warm synth washes accentuated by chopped R&B vocals. Whereas “Wake The Dead” aims straight for a driving club atmosphere, “Forest Floor” brings the listener to the same atmosphere before they even realize it. Overall, a short, but promising debut collaboration from the two California residents. Stream the tracks below and 
The Astral Plane 