Lunice and Orlando Higginbottom, stage name Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, are two of my favorite characters in music. Not necessarily favorite artists, but when it comes to antics and eccentric personalities, few top these dudes on the intrigue scale. It’s no surprise then that Lunice’s take on Higginbottom’s “Trouble” is also a load of fun. The remix actually falls on the low-key side of each artist’s production dichotomy, but Lunice’s airy synths and sharp drum hits are exactly what the doctor ordered for a lazy long weekend. Stream and download below.
Recently, Australian psych rockers Tame Impala released their sophomore album Lonerism and it struck a chord within me that I’ve been struggling to place ever since. While psych rock is generally based in a sort of 1960’s/70’s nostalgia, but Lonerism sounds decidedly new and fresh, far flung from the original freaks. I’m no psychologist (that’s Madeline’s forte), but when I listen to Lonerism, I feel an intense sense of familiarity, not like I’ve heard the album many times before, but as if I associate it with an indescribably calm mental state.
From an objective standpoint, Lonerism hits all the marks of a great album. It’s indebted to the past, but ignores outdated song structure. Its bubblegum sweet choruses are juxtaposed with buzzing guitar solos, all done with an impressive technical ability. Kevin Parker’s lyrics are suitably weird without falling into obsessive minutiae. Parker’s background as an engineering student is apparent throughout Lonerism and the band’s attention to detail and maturation from their debut is palpable.
I still can’t place the feeling of familiarity though. A number of hyperbolic comparisons come to mind, but that doesn’t really help. It’s not like Lonerism is homely, because it reformats the boundaries of rock music as Tame Impala see them. It’s an unsettling, ye weirdly satisfactory emotional response to have to an album and one that has kept (and will keep) songs like “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” and “Endors Toi” in rotation for weeks. I highly recommend Lonerism to anyone with that prickly sensation at the base of their cerebral cortex that you just can’t place.
I’ve been meaning to introduce y’all to Eugene Hector aka Dro Carey aka Tuff Sherm aka Fad TMB aka Pierre Magneto Menard for the past few weeks, but haven’t gotten around to it until today. Hector is a young Sydney-born producer and and artist I truly admire in both an audial and intellectual sense. Known by most as Dro Carey, Hector has been producing everything from screwed hip hop to dark minimal techno since he was 13 and stands alone in his sound and vision. I decided to bring Carey up today because he just released two full projects on his “Braincamp” that are essential listening for any and everybody who considers themselves a hip hop and/or electronic music fan.
As I mention above, Hector goes by many different pseudonyms. I’ll make it easy and lay them out concisely. Dro Carey is the persona closest to Hector’s own (but not his actual self), his most common pseudonym and the outlet for his generally hip hop oriented work. Tuff Sherm makes tunes aimed at the dancefloor, generally in the realm of techno. Fad TMB approximates juke/footwork sounds, albeit far from the Chicago sound you might anticipate. Last but not least, Pierre Magneto Menard is the “French avant-garde/tech persona”, Hector’s eldest and most visually-oriented persona. If you’re confused, just religiously follow Hector’s Tumblr and DC vampira video page for an inside look into his creative process and influences.
While most musicians who work under a pseudonym (or four) attempt to hide themselves and their intentions from the general public, Hector has engaged in multiple interviews, laying his heart on the table and speaking on everything from his creative process to struggles with depression and anxiety. He has laid out the main themes he works around in his music, loneliness and humor, and how inseparable his depression is from his creative process. Like few others in the electronic music realm, Hector has managed to put a human face and human intentions behind an often impersonal artform.
If you follow any advice I give this week, then make it this: download (yes spend $1) the tape below, then read the interview Hector did with Resident Advisor and spend a while devouring the Tumblr and video pages I link to above. I guarantee you will become enamored with Hector and it would be difficult to not like at least one of his personas. You’ll be seeing more Dro Carey here in the very near future so stay tuned.
Eleven months ago, Madeline, Austin and I began a conversation that would eventually lead to the establishment of The Astral Plane. All three of us wanted to write about music, but more importantly, we wanted to share the music that has irrevocably affected our lives with an audience outside of our immediate group of friends. In January, we created an account with WordPress, officially putting The Astral Plane in motion. Finally, we were the music aficionados we had always dreamed of being… except that we kind of sucked at it. See, we’re all competent people, solid writers and obsessive music fans, but there is a steep learning curve in an endeavor like this.
Ten and a half months later and I’d like to think we don’t suck anymore. Today marks my 500th post and I’m going to use the occasion to offer a HUGE thank you to my fellow writer and all of the artists who have participated in interviews and contributed mixes, but most importantly to every single one of you who has responded to our writing positively or negatively and those of you who follow us on a regular basis. I am also going to use the occasion to discuss the role of context in music journalism and what motivates myself to do this damn thing.
First off, thank you to Madeline, Austin and Will for entertaining my absurd ramblings, supporting me at every turn and turning in some of the best music on the series of tubes some might call the internet. Sam, you’ve only been with us for a few weeks, but your artwork and writing are already an integral part of the operation. The Astral Plane would not be what it is without you guys.
Thank you to all of the artists who have graciously committed their time and energy to interviews. I’m looking at you The Philosofist, Awesome Tapes From Africa, Stavrogin, Skips, Hobo D, Room E, Baauer, Rick from Beat Cinema, Ryan Hemsworth, Co. Fee, Haleek Maul, Aaron Meola and DJAO, Cedaa, Dane and Preston of TeamSupreme and Devonwho. Alex Ruder from Hush Hush Records and Ill Cosby from Car Crash Set. It means the world to me that I am able to talk with the people that drive me on a personal level like these incredible human beings.
It is something of a dream come true to have the musicians I adore actually to compile mixes for me. Well maybe not specifically for me, but having Yesh, Riley Lake (our own Dildo Shaggins), DVMSTR, Kong, Boeboe, Stavrogin and Rap Class to flex their collective muscle behind the decks, providing us with some of the best mixes you will hear all year, is a privilege I never believed would be within reach. We have big things in the works on this front so stay tuned in.
Over the past few years, Brooklyn-based Mixpak Records have melded the worlds of American club music, hip hop and Caribbean sounds (specifically dancehall), not exactly breaking new ground, but few have been as successful as Dre Skull and his cohorts in our protean music society. Last week, the label released the first volume of Mixpak Pressure, a “series of riddim collections” aimed at paying homage to various dance music sub-genres. Volume One is squarely focused on Southern hip hop, featuring a crew of au courant producers like Melé, Krueger and Sam Tiba (of Club Cheval). I’m sure you can imagine how much of the compilation sounds, but its most inspired moments come from artists working outside of the Trap paradigm. As easy as it would be for Mixpak to compile 12 “Mercy” and “Harlem Shake” soundalikes, what with their domineering synths and such, the compilation doesn’t settle for the known. The highlight comes from Grime producer Mr. Mitch, whose horror house vocals on “Badman Wheel” and subtle wobble bass offer the most unique moments of the compilation. Even at its least inspired the compilation still knocks and if you’re into the big synths and 808’s as much as every dick ridin’ Dubstep DJ in America, it won’t leave your Subaru’s stereo for a long time. Stream the full tape and download Sleepyhead’s “Hit ‘Em” below.
My apologies on being AWOL from this URL for the past month and change, hopefully you’ll hear a thing or two about what I’ve been working on recently in the next few months.
Anyways, full disclosure, barring possibly my middle school obsession with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, James Blake is the most influential musician to ever reach my eardrums. I keep coming back to his work. Thus, I was tickled pink to find that he released a single and b-side under the old Harmonimix moniker (he released these with rapper Trim, who I won’t focus on here, but still deserves a lot of recognition for his vocal contributions). If I may, I’m gonna take the opportunity to say a few things about JB, his new tune, and how he has changed the way I think about music.
Music these days seems to be splintering into a camp making tunes meant for big speakers and disorienting dancefloors and one making the tunes you wake up to, walk around to, and fall asleep to at night. Although this is far more of a spectrum than a dichotomy, it is difficult for a musician to place him or herself firmly in both of these camps.
Although he isn’t the only one to do so (cough cough Mount Kimbie, Disclosure, Probably Countless Unheard But Incredibly Talented Producers Toiling In The Depths Of Soundcloud), James Blake has created a characteristic sound that feels equally at home in your laptop speakers/headphones and the most absurd soundsystem at a festival headline stage. I’ve spent a lot of time dissecting the music he makes, so oblige me sharing a few of the observations I’ve made.
Confidence Boost (which you oughtta be listening to by now via the attached youtube video) opens with reverb-soaked drums that possess two important qualities: they are both ambiguous and engaging. The sound is amorphous, but nuanced, as bursts of condensed white noise that will continue permeate the song flit among the cloudy drums. Suddenly, Trim’s voice comes to your attention. “Look”.
James Blake is a student of pop music as well as an accomplished practitioner of sound design. This double degree manifests itself in how well his music translates to different contexts. I have spent days slaving over logic pro as well as enjoying music as a casual listener, and both of these sensibilities are appeased with the opening of “Confidence Boost”. All of a sudden, the soundscape is subjected to a sort of vaccuum. Only the clearest, most salient elements remain, and sitting directly in the center of the mix is a rather unprocessed human voice. Like much of Blake’s vocal work, Trim’s lyrics speak to a personal pain that has a universally applicable quality. JB keeps the voice a lucid center of the piece, but by adding pitch shifted wisps and subtle manipulations of timing, the lyricist becomes less any particular person and more a unorganized chorus of empathetic listeners. The third time around, the vocal has sunk into a cacophony of emotion and energy that gradually recedes, leaving the listener with one last clear “strike a pose”. A similar balancing act of vocal and feeling-soaked instrumental made me tear up while listening to the Wilhelm Scream live, and it works again.
As far as Blake’s work with the instrumental, if I told you everything I wanted to about how perfect I think the construction is, how finely tuned and polished each element is, how well all the elements complement each other, how the arrangement manages to be utterly left field and yet as familiar and listenable to the acclimated listener to any pop song, this article would move just way too far into tl;dr status. Instead I’ll tell you this. I don’t think I would even listen for qualities like this in music if it wasn’t for James Blake’s pop tunes drawing me into their complexities.
Thank you for reading this far, I’ll leave you with this. One time I smoked way too much DMT, thought I was developing rapid onset multiple personality disorder, and felt like the world was closing in around me. Then all of sudden, inexplicably, the opening chords to the Wilhelm Scream started playing in my mental stereo and the psychedelic purgatory quickly faded into a warm light blue color, and after about a minute of the song playing out in my imagination, I opened my eyes and everything was fine. Why this happened is beyond me but what i do know is this: I’ve listened to James Blake’s album enough that I could basically recited the Wilhelm Scream to myself, arrangement and all, while utterly incapacitated, and just the thought of that song was one of the most incredible musical moments I’ve ever had.
In a bittersweet turn of events, internet friends LOL Boys announced earlier that they are going on hiatus. Jerome and Markus will each embark on their own solo careers, an exciting and probably inevitable result. The fact that the two never worked together in the studio, instead opting to send tracks back and forth between LA and Montreal, makes this development less surprising. Luckily for fans, the breakup has commenced a flurry of new material. Jerome jumpstarted his solo career, releasing a two part track called “Happy/Sad”. He also let loose a pack of edits that appeared in the duo’s FADER mix back in July. It’s disappointing to see a duo just coming into their own come to such an abrupt end. The Changes EP was undoubtedly their best work as they seemed to be justifying their place on the Friends of Friends roster alongside the likes of Shlohmo and Salva. Their final release will be a Changes Remix EP, coming out soon, presumable on FoF. We can only hope that Jerome and Markus will embark on their solo careers in the same lighthearted manner that they carried out the LOL Boys project in. Thank you for the fun times guys. Stream and download Jerome’s new sounds below and grab the edits pack right here.
Since our inception back in January, London phenom Stavrogin has been making major moves within the world of UK Bass and House music. Think Disclosure. Think Addison Groove. Think Julio Bashmore. That’s high company for a young man with only a few releases under his belt, but don’t be surprised if you hear the next buzz act being compared to Stavrogin in a few months. We were lucky enough to pull the Lewes native in for an exclusive mix that has not and will not leave the rotation for a long while.
Like so many niche forums on the internet, the debate about electronic music has taken a nasty and acerbic turn as of late. I’m curious, do y’all like getting into senseless, roundabout arguments about DJ’s and buttons and whatnot? I didn’t think so. As a result, the newest contribution to our Guest Mix series transcends the debate. That’s right, vinyl. Wax. You feel that well of happiness opening up in the deepest recessions of your body? That’s nostalgia right there. No one can argue with vinyl.
If you like piano crescendos, soaring falsettos or Calvin Harris, this mix probably isn’t for you. If you tend to go for stripped down bass music from the likes of Untold, Ben Klock and Stickman, jump on the party bus. It might get a little smoky. If anything, this mix should make some Stavrogin vinyl seem like a really, really good idea. Record labels, the ball is in your court. Like always, stream and download below and don’t be afraid to gives us some feedback.
Trackiist
WNCL – Coming on Strong [WNCL Recordings]
Gerry Read – Legs [Fourth Wave]
Throwing Snow – Shadower [Sneaker Social Slub]
Tommy Four Seven – Ratu [CLR (2)]
Untold – Little Things Like That [Clone Basement Series]
Stickman – If You Stay [Mindset Records]
Martyn feat. Spaceape – Is This Insanity? (Ben Klock Remix) [3024]
Untold – Bones (Rockwell Remix) [SSSSS]
Wax – No. 30303 (Shed ø San Remix) [Wax (4)]
The Chain – Suffer For Your Art [R&S Records]
Shlohmo is one of those musicians that has always held this sort of magnetism over me; his dark, moody productions are satisfying without fail. He manages to keep a pop sensibility in his melodies, harmonic progressions, and percussive elements while creating a thoroughly otherworldly vibe on the whole. His latest effort, which exists only as youtube rip (embedded below) from Benji B’s radio show the other day possesses all the aforementioned characteristics while still feeling fresh and new, a clear progression from his Vacation EP era material. The drums are really what get me here, skittering tuned percussion that maintains the energy of hip-hop while swinging like a UK garage cut and staying weird and non-quantized enough to keep a beat scene kid breaking his/(her?) neck to it. No word on a release yet, I’m hoping to hear this on a sophomore Friends of Friends LP (or underneath Abel Tesyafe’s beautiful, demonic crooning).
Speaking of that wonderful LA label, check out a stream of a cut from the upcoming FoF debut LP from that fool on the left, Groundislava, right here. It’s some real trap shit, but without biting anybody’s style. I see big things in Mr. Lava’s future.
So the TNGHT (Hudson Mohawke + Lunice for those living under a rock) EP saw its American release today. Instead of an album review (words don’t do it justice), we’ve decided to compile a little retrospective on British producers lending their talents to American hip hop. In an interview with FACT last month, Lunice had this to say:
We’ve been doing this shit for years, and it’s not like we’re new or anything, it’s not like we’re new money shit, it’s not like we came out of the blue and we blew up like crazy. We’ve built a whole foundation of our work. So it’s about that time. I feel like that sort of movement is backed with all of our homies together, like: “This is us! You can’t do this shit! You can’t just take our ideas and come up with it all after all these years. We’re coming for you!
Clearly, Lunice believes that American hip hop producers have been misappropriating hip hop-indebted UK bass for a minute now and are taking a stand. While I don’t think Toomp and Hit-Boy are listening to too much Mount Kimbie, I get it: Lunice has a persecution complex… just kidding. With the EP set to take the States by storm and the duo’s remix of Flocka’s “Rooster In My Rari” igniting the interwebz, it’s easy to see where Lunice’s frustration is coming from. As the UK sound constantly progresses into exciting new territories via labels like LuckyMe and Night Slugs, American producers are often too content to find a sound and stick with it. As a result, some of the best interpretations of American, especially Southern, hip hop have come from British producers. TNGHT might be the apex of the trend (yes we know Lunice is Candian), but many other (mostly) pasty perpetrators have attempted to freshen up Stateside hip hop tropes, both new and old. This is not meant to a comprehensive review, because that would be impossible. It’s just a list of a lot of really fucking good producers remixing a lot of really ignorant hip hop music.
Dubbed by some as the “British Diplo”, it made all too much sense for Sinden to host volume two of Mad Decent’s Free Gucci series. The Burrrtish Edition features 16 remixes of Mr. Radric Davis’s trap anthems, courtesy of a coterie of revered Brits: HudMo, Rustie, Melé, Mosca and Toddla T just to name a few. Predictably weirder than the Diplo hosted Volume One (with the exception of the Flying Lotus contribution), the tape is an exhibition in low end sounds with varying levels of success. HudMo’s take on “Party Animal” essentially spawned TNGHT, is utterly playable to this day and should probably soundtrack your next night of drunken shenanigans. Melé also wins big with his wonky reinterpretation of “Missing” from The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted (a largely overlooked Gucci project). Stripped down and menacing, “Missing” is a precursor to some of Melé’s more recent Soundcloud uploads. Burrrtish isn’t much of a cohesive project drawing from every realm of bass music, but who cares when HudMo, Melé, Rustie and Sinden bring the collective heat?
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