Despite an abrasively meta online persona, 5kinAndBone5 have a penchant for crafting delicate, grounded dance tracks. The SF/LA based duo originally set out to produce for MCs, but have morphed into one of the most adaptable, innovative acts in North American bass music. Last time we were with 5kinAndBone5, they were making revivalist garage music, but it seems as if they’ve moved into the world of techno, or “Virtual Detroit” as they call it. While “Forest Nymphs” is a techno track, it has the funky feeling of classic Chicago house and is far warmer than most of the Berlin-centric techno being produced these days. This is techno for people who hate techno, more relaxed and less clomping than the standard fare. Stream “Forest Nymphs” below.

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.

I’m usually pretty against paraphrasing press releases (they usually suck) and view stenography as the lowest form of journalism. But when a press write-up defies convention and actually contributes an appropriate lens to view a release though. The accompanying write-up to Dubbel Dutch‘s new single, “Self Help Riddim” does just that: “Unmoved by the impersonal, drop-oriented focus of contemporary dance music, he challenges the listener to consider the sensual and the uplifting in an apocalypse obsessed era.” Recently signed to the riddim heavy Mixpak Records, the dancehall influences are clear in his music, but they haven’t always been. Dubbel Dutch has been churning out club tunes for a few years now, but “Self Help Riddim” has a more physical and human nature about it than any of his past releases. It also happens to be his best. Built around a simple, warm melody, the track is as infectious as they come and is a welcome departure from more machine-oriented club music. It’s interesting to listen to the Delivery song I posted earlier and “Self Help Riddim”, both club tracks in a sense, back to back. Both squarely aimed at the dancefloor, but eliciting nearly opposite emotional effects. They’ll both get your hips moving, but your mind will be in two entirely different places. Look out for “Self Help Riddim” tomorrow (October 23) and stream below.

“Ghosts Pt. 2” was the first Shlohmo song I ever listened to and marked the beginning of my fanboy-like adoration for the man some know as Henry Laufer. It’s been a treat to witness him grow as an artist and explore new territories with every release, but it all started with the twinkling piano of “Ghosts Pt. 2” off of 2009’s Shlo-Fi EP. Apparently, Groundislava remixed the track and has been rinsing it in his live sets as of late with great success. So much success that a groundswell of requests brought him to let the bootleg loose on the public. Following Groundislava’s recent inclinations towards house music, the delicate keys of the original fuses with a funky bassline and the result is really just sublime. Songs like this are the reason why I love writing about music so much. Both Shlohmo and Groundislava have soundtracked some of the best and worst moments of my adult life and for that, I thank them. A download would be great, but in the meantime, just keep the Soundcloud window open and vibe to it.

Boston’s Mood Indigo continues to churn out impressive new tunes, each with their own intriguing cover art, at an impressive pace. “Moon Hands” and “Two Times Yellow” are of the slightly off-beat vocal variety as opposed to his more Gold Panda-esque beat work. On “Moon Hands”, he (whoever he is) sings “sentiments is nothing, when I put in your head”, invoking an all-important sense of yearning that pervades Mood Indigo’s subject matter and instrumental work. It’s the type of cold dissociation found in The Weeknd’s music, minus the profuse drug and sex references. “Two Times Yellow” is another breakup song built on strained vocals and a haltering beat, replete with plenty of empty space. Both songs are unsettling and far from melodic, but still manage to be infectious in their sincerity. You can download “Two Times Yellow” now, but you’ll have to chunk up 20 cents for “Moon Hands.

Does anyone epitomize the blunted L.A. beat sound better than Ras G? Maybe Madlib, but it’s close. Apparently “Wedding Day” is just “another sumshit…..beat”, but goddamn is it some shit. Can we get Lord Quas circa 2000 on this? That would be too perfect. Stream below and use your interweb skills to find a download.

Unless you’re in labor, there’s really no point googling this song

It’s clear that Sam and Jerome, co-heads of L.A. based club label Body High are big on the TR-303. Last month, Sam’s 5 Dollar Paradise EP was largely based around the vintage synthesizer and their latest signing, L.A. duo Delivery, has a special place in their heart reserved for the machine. The duo will debut their live set at the Body High/Boiler Room takeover tomorrow, and they will presumably bring along some fun synths for the ride. “No Pain” is a tense bit of acid techno that just screams warehouse rave. At least my kind of warehouse rave. Stream below and tune into Boiler Room tomorrow to catch Delivery’s full set.

First question: how did this song not make it onto good kid m.A.A.d. city? Second question: isn’t having the Black Hippy four headed monster trading off verses about the problems surrounding alcoholism an infinitely better than having Kendrick go on for five minutes? One of the virtues of Black Hippy is that each member complements each other so well. The formula of Kendrick as the virtuous one, Ab-Soul as paranoiac weedhead, Schoolboy Q as repentant gangster and Jay Rock as the go-to street rapper works too damn well to ignore. And that formula works perfectly on the Black Hippy version (fuck calling adding a few verses a remix) of “Swimming Pools”. The song widget is confusing and blows up my computer every time I try and post it (thanks WordPress) so you’ll have to head here to stream.

(Via)

Usually when someone compares an artist to Lana Del Rey, I immediately switch off and move on to something else that will be inevitably more worthwhile. When Adele is mentioned in the same sentence, violence may occur. But even Bago’s press release couldn’t deter me from becoming slightly obsessed with the Los Angeles based singer. There’s something about that lo-fi R&B aesthetic I just can’t get enough of and Bago fits the profile to a T. The dark, ephemeral production from Bay Area-native Alexander Spit sets the table for Bago to do the whole “born bad” (there’s literally a song called “Born Bad”) act on her debut, Sunday’s Best. It really shouldn’t work, but she has the vocal chops to pull it off and the  chemistry between her and Spit is clear enough. Start with “I Forget You”, the clear album standout, and if you can get past the somewhat contrived nature of the whole deal, then stream/download the entire album at Bago’s Soundcloud. Apparently, there’s a new EP coming in January with some big collaborations. Bago, you have my ear, but I’m still skeptical. Prove me wrong.

Disclaimer: I’ve probably listened to the various radio/mix rips and live recordings of “Billboard” over one hundred times since Rustie debuted it in April. Just sayin’.

From the opening proclamation of “oh check this out”, S-Type makes his intentions clear for the Billboard EP. He will take no prisoners. He will push the volume into the red. He will not short you on bombast. His drums will crack. His synths will be crisp. And most importantly, he is the heir apparent to the LuckyMe throne. 25-year-old Bobby Perman has been releasing music since 2005, but it wasn’t until Rustie premiered “Billboard” back in April that people really started paying attention. And I mean really as in turn your head, let your jaw drop and stare.

What S-Type does with “Billboard” is truly remarkable in its conventionalism. The Glasgow-based producer uses a tried and true mold of huge Southern hip hop and essentially does it better than anyone else and the result is a song of the year candidate. Similar to what DJ Toomp did way back in ’06 with T.I.’s “What You Know”, Perman has gone bigger, badder and better than everyone else.

Amidst all of the hysteria over the melding of hip hop and dance music, “Billboard” manages to be immensely danceable without pandering to the “EDM”/Mixmag crowd. That means no dubstep-like buildups, a cool 99 BPM, and most importantly, no moombahton synth stabs! You thought it was impossible, but with a chord progression as infectious as “Billboard”, the world might as well have been turned upside down.

Perman could have easily churned out two or three more mediocre tracks within the same format as “Billboard” and had a success EP, but he admirably didn’t rest on his laurels The remaining five songs, while all similar to “Billboard” in their bombast, , mix the melodrama of radio R&B, smooth Egyptian Lover-esque electro and modern dance tropes. The result is something like Rustie’s seminal Glass Swords, although songs like “You Da Best” and “Walrus” lack the chaotic precision of the modern day classic.

In the end, Billboard is a collection of six huge hip hop instrumentals that are just aching to be rapped over. It’s no surprise that an A$AP Mob collaboration is in the works and I would expect the masses to follow. In the meantime, pump “Billboard” and “You Da Best” the next time you’re working out and/or getting hyped for just about anything. It’s clear that S-Type is going places and while he might not have the dexterity of a Hudson Mohawke (at this point), he knows how to craft a banger and sometimes that’s all you can ask for.