After the massive critical success of M.E.S.H.’s Scythians EP and Lotic‘s “Damsel In Distress” mix, Berlin’s Janus club night has been elevated to an exciting new theoretical stature. Alongside nights GHE20 GOTH1K, Janus has a purpose, a stated intention to differentiate itself from the ever-growing mass of club nights the world over. This attitude is made ever-clear in interviews with co-founders Dan Denorch and Michael Ladner, but also in the disparate sonic stylings of night’s aforementioned residents. Scythians is the best illustration of the deconstructive school of club music and Lotic’s recent signing to Fade to Mind points to a future rife with opportunity fo the Texas-born producer. “Headlock” is the latest track to appear from the latter, a seeming one-off with a distinct gunmetal sheen. For classification purposes “Headlock” follows something along the lines of a dembow rhythmic structure, while twinkling synth rotations and distant Rihanna sample lull and build anticipation in equal measure. No word yet on an official release for “Headlock” or any more news on the F2M front, but it’s easy to see that the presentation of the unknown is to Lotic’s liking.
New Music
Premiere: Know V.A. – “Prisma”
European footwork producers generally either comprehend the fine details of the genre and its culture, or they completely miss the point entirely. The hip hop and ghetto house influence isn’t always easy to grasp, and the off-kilter nature of the footwork sound cannot be replaced with simple drum programming, breakbeats, or a sped-up Lex Luger kit. For every Feloneezy and Jackie Dagger, the Continent generally conjures up ten painful misappropriations of the venerable Chicago sound. Amsterdam-based duo Know V.A. (Marijn Brussaard and Feico De Muinck Keizer) don’t exactly peddle explicit footwork, but their productions generally do reside roughly around 150-160 beats-per-minute and retain the cross-eyed fervor of the genre. Last year’s O Horizon EP, out now on Lowriders Recordings, featured manic rhythms combined with the bountiful precision of dubstep and an overarching hip hop aesthetic. DJ Earl & DJ Taye, as well as Rabit, contributed remixes to O Horizon and the duo has since opened for Evian Christ and Mssingno, and collaborated with recent RBMA inductee Torus, placing them at the forefront of Amsterdam’s growing cadre of non-traditionalists. It’s no surprise that Marijn and Feico point to Los Angeles’ beat scene as a key influence and like many of their global contemporaries, their output seem to rapidly unspool the more you rinse it. In the months since the release of O Horizon, Know V.A. haven’t released another official project, preferring to work on their live set, watch the EP percolate and spend time in the studio. “Prisma” is the result of that studio time, a sly, aggressively circular heater with more than a few footwork and jungle signifiers dug into its fabric. It’s clear that Know V.A. have a keen understanding of the past history and contemporary historicity of the music they peddle and songs like “Prisma” represent the care with which they approach dance culture.
New Clap! Clap! – “Kuj Yato”
With an imagined island as conceptual backbone and plenty of field recordings and rain sticks in tow, Italian multi-instrumentalist Clap! Clap! (née Cristiano Crisci) is preparing his full-length debut, the Tayi Bebba LP, for a September 8 release on Black Acre. Last month, we heard “The Rainstick Fable”, a fascinating footwork re-interpretation featuring clanging organic production and beatific, children’s choir singing. It goes without saying that Clap! Clap! is a different breed of Western producer reinterpreting “global” sounds and his songs rarely involve the cringe-worthy, bloviating signifiers that cloister “world music” into the disreputable “genre” it is viewed as today. “Kuj Yato” is the second taste from Tayi Bebba and features a hi-res interpretation of trans-Atlantic percussion, comfortably resting in a contemporary hip hop framework.”Kuj Yato” rolls, dives and slams like the best of Iamsu! and might just be one of the more fun-loving club songs to emerge all summer. Crisci’s combination of beyond-impressive production quality, left-field instrumentalism and comprehension of the basics of club music sub-culture point towards Tayi Bebba being a wildly enticing listen.
New Aerial – “Strut”
Los Angeles’ Private Selection crew has been making major moves in their native municipality as of late and are quickly entering the popular consciousness. Dreams, Arkitect and Aerial, the chimera that runs PS, has developed a sound that coalesces techno, electro and bits and flecks of Jersey club into a wintry stew of angular percussion and simple, hi-res synth work. With a little bit more schmaltz, it wouldn’t be difficult to view fellow Angeleno Egyptian Lover as a clear precedent (especially for Dreams), but PS certainly trends towards the frozen and austere, bringing to mind Drexciya instead. Aerial’s “Strut” is the latest track to emerge from the crew and sees the producer flex on a stomping club track that appears at once stunted and bubbling. It’s exactly the type of clean, linear aesthetic we’ve come to adore here at The Astral Plane and Private Selection is one of its premier proponents. Stream below and grab a free download of “Strut” courtesy of XLR8R.
Stream Timbah’s ‘No Bootlegs’ EP
Over the past several years, Timbah has experimented with a number of oversized sonic aesthetics, a balancing act of grime, bassline, funky and dubstep that could hardly be considered restrained. It’s this busy, sometimes overbearing sound that has seen the Nottingham-based producer draw favor from the likes of Kahn and Madam X and release on labels like Bad Taste and Tumble Audio (his latest home). The No Bootlegs EP is the latest Timbah effort and continues a stream of braggadocious lift-off riddims, replete with enough outsized effects, eski moments and raw bassline energy for a career of releases. Remixes from Checan and Sentiment top off the package, which is out now on Tumble Audio.
Rabit Remixes Chemist’s “Defiance”
Houston grime provocateur Rabit has a special way of tearing apart an original and rearranging and reorienting it in his own, oft vicious, more often beatific style. The man has seemingly had his hand in every new mutation that grime has endured in recent months and the latest recipient of the Rabit treatment is Coyote Records representative Chemist. Rabit’s gurning square waves take center stage while uncomfortably harsh snares play the propulsion role and bare 808 blips prove a necessary respite from the blaring sub bass. Grime can often function on a level of extreme poles with oft-sickly sweet melodic content on one end juxtaposed with unremitting inside-the-box masculinity and aggression on the other, but Rabit consistently manages to draw the two apart and smash them back together as one. Chemist’s Defiance EP is out via Coyote in digital form on July 29 and physical August 11.
Celestial Trax Remixes Makonnen’s “I Don’t Sell Molly No More”
Coming off the jagged success of the Paroxysm EP on Rinse in April, New York by-way-of London resident Celestial Trax has let loose an unceasing stream of one-offs and edits that highlight a fascinating willingness to experiment as well as an adept hip hop sensibility that is all too rare among producers who deal mostly in ‘nuum genres. Most recently, he took on Makonnen’s millenially-reticent hit “I Don’t Sell Molly No More”, imparting melodrama on the rapper’s Strawberrita-drenched rhymes and yearning boasts. Makonnen’s decision to let loose the song’s acapella has proven a wonderful experiment and CT’s remix is only one of dozens of intriguing re-interpretations to hit the Soundcloud/Bandcamp-verse in recent weeks.
Download Shlohmo & Jeremih’s ‘No More’ EP
After an episode of self-described “major label bullshit” supposedly sidelined Shlohmo and Jeremih‘s highly touted collaborative project, it appears that the former’s Wedidit camp has taken to grassroots methods to disseminate the No More EP. The six track effort features “Bo Peep”, “No More”, an extended, Jeremih-assisted version of Shlohmo’s “Fuck You All The Time” remix that jumpstarted the whole project, and two brand new originals. The original project was slated for a Def Jam/Wedidit release, but while nothing final has been announced all logic points to a formal end to that relationship. While the circumstances surrounding No More are more than a little acerbic, the EP offers an intoxicating blend of Jeremih’s knack for wispy melodic work and songsmanship combined with Shlohmo’s elegiac approach to 808 percussion and ululating textural accompaniments. Chance The Rapper guests on the sharp-witted “The End”, a venomous Chicago collaboration that falls somewhere among the hills of the drill realm. Head to the No More website to grab your copy of the EP in exchange for an email.
New Aïsha Devi – “Hakken Dub”
Aïsha Devi is a new name in these parts, but the Swiss-born producer who used to go by Kate Wax has immediately captured our collective imagination through her vivid re-interpretations of pop fare and and brutal retrograde persuasions. On first listen, it might difficult to draw a correlation between the pristine, clutter-free sound of “Jesus & The Math” and the near-beatless drone of her LX Sweat remix, but an attention to complex percussive textures, left-field vocal manipulation and a deep seated understanding of propulsion all find place in her myriad productions. Devi’s newest project comes in the form of her second EP for Danse Noire, a release centered around the Dutch gabber referencing “Hakken Dub”, a track that sees her driving a dark, jagged stake into her former Kate Wax persona. It’s not difficult to imagine the hakken dance as Devi’s reverb-drenched wrecking balls brutalize your cerebral cortex and your previous mental stasis is replaced by a taut rubber band of anxiety. The appeal and affect of gabber has been rightly lost to time, but its intense linearity and seeming technological infallibility make it an interesting topic of revitalization. For her part, Devi has drawn the most of gabber’s pneumatic explosivity. Hakken Dub/Throat Dub is set for a July 21 release date and will feature remixes from Hieroglyphic Being and IVVVO.
Rabit Remixes BeatKing’s “Throw Dat Ahh”
BeatKing begins “Throw Dat Ahh” with a short prayer: “Club God, thank you for blessing us with this beat, praise his name.”
The track appeared on Club God 2 last November and with help from DJ Chose making an appearance as Club Devil and quick remix featuring BeatKing’s stable of cohorts (Kstylis, Lil Ronny, Fat Pimp, Chalie Boy, and T-Wayne) it became the next in the Club God’s continually growing list of Houston strip club bangers.
Yesterday, Houston’s grime ambassador Rabit dropped all sense of delightful debauchery that the original flaunted, and reinvented BeatKing’s bendova’ orders into threats. Over the growling subline Dj Chose becomes second-in-command to the don and what was an underlying chant is left to be recognized as the tortured cry of those who looked the wrong way at the Club God. While it doesn’t take much for me to love any sort of combination of heavyweights Rabit and BeatKing this track is wild.
“Rabit, thank you for blessing us with this beat, praise his name.”









