&mdash; The Astral Plane

Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet just recently released his fantastic Pink LP and is now following it up with a remix of Ultraista’s “Smalltalk”. A little background on Ultraista: the band consists of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker (produced for Beck, Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M, Elliot Smith and others) and London artist Laura Bettinson. Needless to say, with a cadre like that, the original is phenomenal. Bettinson’s subtle vocals are accentuated by delicate synths, which Four Tet then blows out into his most dancefloor oriented track in a while Breaking the song down to Bettinson’s eerie vocals, he then continues to add on intricate layers of his now recognizable percussion. Catch the original here and stream Four Tet’s remix below.

Bicep’s “Vision Of Love” Marks Launch Of Feel My Bicep

To mark the launch of their brand new label, Feel My Bicep, the UK duo let loose this “cheeky 90s piano houser” on the unsuspecting public. The UK duo has built quite an internet presence and have become known for their excellent garage and house riddims as well as their tongue in cheek blogging. “Vision Of Love” will be released on vinyl on September 24, but you can stream it now.

Mood Indigo and the Midnight Children

Mood Indigo has been all the rage in our “office” the past week and just days after releasing the People EP, the Boston producer/vocalist is back with “Midnight Children”. Like People, “Midnight Children” is all booming 808’s and distant love-sick vocals, this time with some accompanying swelling sub-bass. Only a matter of time, before the lamestream media catches onto this one. Stream and download below.

Purveyors: Car Crash Set

Purveyors

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In this day and age, just about anyone can run a record label. WordPress and Blogger allow for the creation of a snazzy website in minutes, while Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Mixcloud, etc. allow for the free (or reasonably cheap) proliferation of music. Digital music distribution is as easy as ever. This also means that the market is completely flooded with underdeveloped concepts, both in the music itself and in the pseudo-labels that distribute it. When a label does succeed at bridging the gap between functionality, aesthetic and sonic quality, it makes it that much more impressive. Heavy hitters like Warp, XL and 4AD have the established distribution networks and fan backing to take chances on artists, allowing them the freedom to pick and choose an eclectic roster of both old and new talent. Newer labels like Body High, Friends of Friends and Night Slugs appeal to more niche audiences and often prefer to release music digitally. To celebrate the labels we love, we bring you Purveyors. With every feature, you will find a behind-the-scenes look into the inner-workings of the most innovative, eclectic labels from across the globe. You will get to know the people pulling the strings and delivering exciting new sounds straight to your cerebral cortex. Without further ado…

The digital only label is a fairly common occurrence these days as Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Beatport have made online distribution relatively easy. These labels usually rely on email subscription lists, social media and online advertisements for promotion and can be quite obnoxious in their methods. This is going to come off as a little bit of a humble-brag, but I get a lot of badly written emails every week from labels pimping their latest release. These usually fall on a scale of unobtrusive to the obnoxious “HEY LOOK AT ______ NEW POST-TRAP&B SINGLE” variety. Anyways, digital labels walk a fine line between promotion and spam is all I’m saying.

Seattle’s Car Crash Set, helmed by man of many talents Will Creason aka Ill Cosby, eschews online promotion and allows the label’s reputation to function as its sole promotion tool. With releases from risers like Cedaa, Mike G and Mak and Pasteman, many of you are probably surprised you’ve never heard of C/C/S. The truth is that there aren’t many people outside of the Northwest who are familiar with Cosby and/or C/C/S. This is because Cosby intentionally throws a veil around the label’s proceedings, giving listeners a chance to put in some good old fashioned legwork to find out about artists and releases. I exchanged emails over the past few weeks with Creason, who recently moved to Washington D.C. (Seattle will miss him), to get the inside scoop on C/C/S. Hit the jump for the full interview…

100s’ Pimp Revivalism

We fucked up on the Bay Bridge

100s is a 19 year old Berkeley rapper with a whole lot of nostalgia for 90’s West Coast gangster rap. Unlike many nostalgists who pick either LA or the Bay, 100s combines the two for his own 2012 take. There’s nothing revolutionary here. G-funk, hyphy and beats lay the brickwork for raps about pimpin’ and slangin’, Newports and 22’s, perms and brick phones. With its Doggfather-inspired art, Ice Cold Perm doesn’t try to hide its nostalgia either, instead opting for really good rapping and diverse production. In some ways, the tape is the West Coast parallel to Joey Bada$$’ 1999, both MC’s unabashedly embracing their forefathers. Oh and Main Attrakionz and Ryan Hemsworth make appearances. Stream below and grab the tape for free here.

New Star Slinger, Shows In Seattle and LA

Live, New Music

At the end of September, Star Slinger is hitting the West Coast for a pair of shows that just happen to take place in our two homes. The first show is Star Slinger’s own Jet Jam Showcase at Seattle’s Decibel Festival on the 27th at Neumos. Slinger will perform alongside Shlohmo and Baths. Having seen all three, you would be remiss to miss this one. He will also be performing at the Decibel and Dimensions Boat Party alongside Jimmy Edgar and Appleblim. On the 28th, Slinger heads South to LA for a show at The Echoplex alongside Jim-E Stack and Silky Johnson. Again, not one to miss. To celebrate the two shows the Mancunian brings us “Take This Up”, a sunny track reminiscent of Volume 1. Stream and download “Take This Up” below and hit up one of the West Coast dates if you’re in Seattle or LA.

Groundislava Shuts Down H8RS In The Boiler Room

September 10, 2012

Live, Mixes

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I remember seeing Groundislava (along with Shlohmo, Salva and Tomas Barfod) at The Echoplex in LA back in May and the dude just owns the stage. Besides being a fairly large human and dressing in what I assume pimps in the suburbs wore, Jasper Peterson just has a huge personality and is having as much fun as anyone up on stage. If you haven’t had a chance to see him or can’t foreseen one in the near future, then his recent set at Friends of Friends’ recent Boiler Room takeover is the next best thing. You can stream the full set below and download here.

New Freddie Gibbs – “Hard” Feat. Dana Williams

September 10, 2012

Earlier this morning, I was lamenting the lack of quality hip hop releases over the past few weeks to a friend when I realized something. Despite the ASAP Mob tape largely flopping, the omnipresent fact that Lady Gaga will be on Kendrick Lamar’s album and a general glut of well, shitty hip hop, we just got a new Freddie Gibbs track with an album coming soon. Let me repeat: new Gangsta Gibbs. Rejoice. Coming correct over a glossy Feb.9 beat, Gibbs shows he doesn’t need Madlib’s exothermic backing (although a full length should problem happen sooner rather than later) and can coexist with a vocalist like Dana Williams. Even if everything else goes to shit, at least we have Gangsta Gibbs. Stream and download below.

Jacques Greene Readies Vase Compilation, Gets Faded

September 10, 2012