Review: Shlohmo @ The Fonda Theatre (5/7/15)

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May 11, 2015
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Coming off the back of the release of his first album in four years, Los Angeles-based artist and Wedidit boss Henry Laufer aka Shlohmo took over The Fonda stage last week with a retooled live set featuring a hired gun drummer and friend/label mate D33J. It’s Laufer’s first foray into the band world as Shlohmo and, coming at the tail end of a national tour, felt like a veritable homecoming celebration. With a cooky array of imagery splayed behind the stage (chains, rain drops, a spliff), the band giddily took the stage after performances from TEAMSesh rapper BONES, Purple and Nick Melons. Like Dark Red, Laufer’s new album on True Panther Sounds, the performance was rife with clattering, precision-point drums and moody, dirge-like guitar work and true to form, the band worked through most of the new album.

And with a few exceptions, the new material sounded great, drawing from both a technical metal lineage and the Southern hip hop, R&B and jungle influences that have popped up on his past several releases. Also like the album, the middle portion of the show felt a bit sludgy, Dark Red tracks like “Apathy”, “Ditch” and “Remains” didn’t quite hold the attention of Vacation effort “Rained The Whole Time” and Laid Out highlight “Later”. Nonetheless, the crowd was firmly eating out of Laufer’s hands, a young squadron of Wedidit acolytes responding enthusiastically to nearly every track in the hour long set. At his best, Shlohmo sounds like a confluence of Tim Hecker and Goldie, DJ Screw and The Album Leaf and there were enough moments of brilliance throughout the night at The Fonda to ride away from the Sunset Boulevard venue with a huge smile plastered on.

Astral Plane DJ Team w/ Patrick Brian – Radar Radio – May 4, 2015

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May 11, 2015
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RADAR RADIO 1Last Monday, our debut show on Radar Radio aired, the first of (hopefully) many two hour sessions for the London station! Every two weeks, the Astral Plane DJ Team will be taking over the first hour and bringing out some of favorite Los Angeles artists for the second hour. The show is pre-recorded, but be sure to send in dubs/tracks/releases/whatever and we’ll be sure to give them a listen and consider inclusion. Last week’s show featured Terrorhythm’s own Patrick Brian on the guest mix, tearing down everything with a selection of percussive grime, techno and everything in between. Next week, we’ll have Private Selection’s Arkitect on with an all vinyl selection of acid, techno and some exclusives from friends and label mates. As of now, our bimonthly slot will take place on the first and third Mondays of every week from 6 – 8 PM Pacific Time although that might change in the coming weeks/months. Tune in.

Premiere: Evil Streets – Times Up

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May 11, 2015
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Like most of our favorite record labels, Rushmore‘s Trax Couture has developed organically over the past few years, bringing international artists into the fold via its globally-focused World Series while also retaining a keen focus on London. April brought GROVESTREET into the fold and World Series Vol. 8 puts the focus on Evil Streets, one of London’s foremost proponents of Bmore and Jersey club. If you were lucky enough to catch GROVESTREET and Evil Streets on Just Jam 136 or at one of several House of Trax events, you’d catch classic East Coast club records, ballroom motifs and a distinct UK funky flavor, all put through an eccentric, rave culture filter. Evil Streets’ Vol. 8 comes in at four tracks and consistently features the choppy, syncopated rhythms that mark funky, as well as a good heaping of break beats and horn work that recall Baltimore’s finest. It’s an exciting debut for a nascent artist who also graces Radar Radio monthly and “Times Up” is the best of the lot, a retro-flavored, peak time burner that should be all over sets in no time. Vol. 8 is out on Wednesday May 27 and if you’re in New York that same day be sure to catch Rushmore and Evil Streets at the Purple Tape Pedigree pop up shop!

Soda Plains Mix For The Astral Plane

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May 6, 2015
Mixes
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Associations with London’s PC Music clan, soundtrack work for a Kendall Jenner feature and a debut release on Renaissance Man’s ‘No Beat Is Illegal’ Black Ocean label. That’s the bullet pointed career of Berlin-based artist Soda Plains, a slightly confusing path through fashion, place-less club music and geography. Considering that Soda Plains is originally from Hong Kong, has resided in the UK and now lives in the German capitol, his whirlwind journey over the past year or so, from the DIS Magazine feature to appearances on Endgame’s Precious Metals NTS show and the aforementioned connection with PC Music, comes into focus at least a little bit. The treasure trove of unreleased Soda Plains material, in his DIS Mag and Liminal Sounds mixes and various radio appearances, goes a bit further towards illumination. Within the Soda Plains aesthetic, there are snippets of nearly every regional sound we cover, from desultory pop to squarewave-driven beatwork and on to the snap of the dembow beat. “Rushes” puts him in cahootys with the likes of Imaabs, Murlo and Rizzla, but those comparisons are as fleeting and inconsistent as the rhythmic structure of the song.

And then there’s the video for “Æthelflæd”, directed by Ivana Mladenovic, that positions dancer Christina Pucean in front a sky blue screen as she twists and turns in slow motion. The song is simultaneously too fast and too slow for Pucean’s movements, a disarming effect of the visuals that results in each and every sonic inconsistency coming to the fore. Without any other visuals to go by, it would be folly to read too much into “Æthelflæd”, but it’s probably not unfair to say that Soda Plains, like Arca & Jesse Kanda, has a fascination with body representation and tactile dance forms. His Astral Plane mix sits comfortable around 100 BPM to start, bringing Ynfynyt Scroll, Kablam, Endgame and more into the fold, as well as a few curveballs in Nava Luvu and The Sabres Of Paradise, before leaping up in tempo and intensity. A Fraxinus dub you might have heard at last night’s Her Records Boiler Room pops up as do Iglew, Last Japan and Strict Face, strafing the ever-changing rhythmic quotient with a bevy of meticulous melodic work. Definitive statements about Soda Plains have largely proven futile to date and, in this case, the path of least resistance, just going with whatever he brings to the table next seems to be the best strategy. And in the meantime, enjoying the jackhammer kicks, skipping syncopation and beatific vocal cut ups of his Astral Plane mix isn’t the most difficult task.

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Giveaway: Sinjin Hawke, Zora Jones, P. Morris & Venus X @ The Lash Pop Up

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May 4, 2015
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sinjin-and-zoraSinjin Hawke & Zora Jones‘ long awaited return to the West Coast has been a long time coming and, this Friday (5/8), we finally get to catch the two live, in the flesh. Slotting into IHC Presents’ Club IHC format, Sinjin and Zora will be accompanied by GHET20G0TH1K’s own Venus X and local fave P. Morris at The Lash Pop Up in Hollywood. We don’t make it out to that quarter of the city all too often these days, preferring our friendly confines on the Eastside, but if there ever was a time to head up the 101, Sinjin and Zora’s tour stop is it. From their respective work with Pelican Fly to the ongoing, collaborative and visually groundbreaking Fractal Fantasy series, these two have married a wildly unique digital aesthetic with brilliantly functional club forms.

With L-Vis 1990, MikeQ, DJ Taye and more involved, Fractal Fantasy has hosted some of the most multidimensional sonic adventures in the club music realm, and that’s before you even touch on the videos, all-engulfing 3D adventures into obscene dance floor negatives,  modular death stars and contortionist silver globs. It’s all stunning really. Add to that Sinjin’s recent co-production on “Wolves”, opening single from Mr. West’s new Swish LP, and the fact that the duo have already been in the studio with Sicko Mobb and a melange of Chicago legends on this tour, and this Friday is going to be unmatched in LA lore. Enter your favorite song/video from the Fractal Fantasy series in the form below for your chance at a pair of free tickets. Expect this one to sell out so get in on the contest, but also get your own ticket as a back up plan.

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Premiere: Santa Muerte – Bootlegs & Edits Vol. 2

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April 30, 2015
New Music, Remixes
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Back in February, we featured an Astral Plane mix from Houston duo Santa Muerte, comprised of Sines and Panchitron, that was absolutely packed full of disarming bootlegs, edits and reworks of hits in both English and Spanish. Snippets of grime and ballroom were splayed across the tape, as was a heavy amount of dembow and the volume immediately become a favorite in the car on hot Los Angeles days. That mix ended in fine form with an exciting blend of Murlo’s “Loyal” edit and “Cositas Raras” by Puerto Rican Reggaeton artist Farruko. Now, we’ve got that bootleg, along with six others from the Santa Muerte team, up for premiere and free download. Edits of Visionist, Dat Oven and False Witness sit alongside otherworldly, Mr. Mitch-esque Tinashe reworks and a bizarro “U.O.E.N.O” x “Sientelo” blend. Bootlegs & Edits Vol. 2 (Vol. 1 can be found here) is all over the place stylistically, but that’s the Santa Muerte way, an intelligent smash up of popular Caribbean sounds with on-the-cusp UK and East Coast sounds. It’s swaggering and imprecise, but so are modern metropolis’, where disparate micro-cultures, internalized sonic routines and dance run into each other on a daily basis. Stream and download Bootlegs & Edits Vol. 2 below and be sure to follow Santa Muerte on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, etc.

  1. Dat Oven – Icy Lake (Santa Muerte Bootleg)
  2. Santa Muerte – Dimelo Ft Sir Speedy And Lumidee (Bootleg)
  3. False Witness – Makina (Santa Muerte Edit)
  4. Nicki Minaj – Only (Santa Muerte Bootleg)
  5. Santa Muerte – 24hrs (Bootleg)
  6. Santa Muerte – Cositas Rara x Lo (Edit)
  7. Tinashe – Vunerable (ft. Travis $cott) (Santa Muerte Bootleg)
  8. Visionist – Eye Try (Santa Muerte Retool)

Spokes Mix For The Astral Plane

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April 29, 2015
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As editor for Mixmag and head of Coyote Records, Tomas Fraser’s curatorial skills have never really been in question, but, as FACT notes, the “conveyor belt”-like nature of the label is continuously surprising. A few weeks ago, the label held their three year anniversary party featuring Dark0, Last Japan w/ Trim and a who’s who of label favorites. Spooky showed up with USBs on hand and, by all accounts, the party was an unabated success, both highlighting the label’s heavy hitters (Last Japan) and younger go getters (Forever Forever, Chemist). On June 1, Coyote will release the debut EP, Green Eyes, from London’s Spokes and a vinyl pressing will follow on June 28. Having already featured mixes from Coyote representatives Chemist and OH91, it was only fitting for Spokes to cook up a mix for the site and the volume he produced is a testament to the eclectic nature of contemporary instrumental grime.

With a remix from E.M.M.A on the tail end, Spokes’ Green Eyes is an effervescent take on a collection of grime’s classic tropes, from an obsession with minor chords to the carefully constructed sub frequencies. “Lo Pan Strikes” and “Mutations” are available to stream now courtesy of Boiler Room and FACT respectively and each has garnered attention from Blackdown, Slackk and other on-the-cusp selectors. Spokes’ Astral Plane mix reads like a roll call of his contemporaries and potential experimental influences, from Yamaneko, Iglew and Sharp Veins to Steve Reich, Bill Kouligas and Lee Gamble. The mix twists and turns from brilliant melody to brilliant melody, blasts of percussive noise entering the picture periodically, but unlike the steady, predictable groove of house and techno, Spokes’ work is deliciously non-linear. And with Green Eyes on the not-so-far horizon and Tom E. Vercetti seemingly in the Coyote staple, the label won’t be running out of starry eyed grime releases any time soon.

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Astral Plane DJ Team – KCHUNG – April 27, 2015 (DJ Rashad Special)

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April 28, 2015
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A year after his passing, it’s still extremely difficult to grapple DJ Rashad’s sudden death, but it has become increasingly important to celebrate his life, legacy and importance to footwork and contemporary music at large. It’s neither our place or within our skill set to eulogize Rashad, but with anniversary of his passing taking place this past Sunday (April 26) and our monthly slot on KCHUNG going down the next day, there wasn’t a better time to lay down some of our favorite tracks from the legend. Double Cup features heavily of course, but so does Teklife Vol. 1: Welcome To The Chi, DJ Spinn’s Teklife Vol. 2: What You Need and the dozens of other collaborative projects he helped out with and/or co-produced. DJ Earl, DJ Manny, DJ Phil, Taso and more pop up here and there and Rashad’s influence, both in terms of the raw musical inspiration he imbued and his own oversized personality, is palpable among Teklife’s younger generation. Hyperdub’s Rashad-inspired Next Life compilation is still available here and there are still so many artists from Chicago putting on for footwork and furthering the legend of Rashad Harden.

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Premiere: Stabber – Ready To Kill

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April 27, 2015
New Music
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While Lucky Beards Records calls Italy home, the hardworking label helmed by Stabber has released a good deal of quality club music over the past several years, looking to Baltimore for inspiration more often than not. The label’s latest release comes from Stabber himself and comes with collaborations with Starkey and Kozee. The Back 2 Basic EP will be released on Tuesday, April 28 (tomorrow) and we’ve got a sneak peak of “Ready To Kill”, a horn-led, hi res Bmore piece that, like much of the label’s output, toes the line between the big room and niche realms. Pre-order Back 2 Basic via iTunes here and check out “FMN”, also from the EP, here.

Premiere: Korma – Dismantle (Spurz Remix)

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April 24, 2015
New Music, Remixes
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Montreal-based label Infinite Machine has made a name for itself by working harder than the rest of the field and implementing an omnivorous approach that ignores both traditional genre barriers and geography. Next up on the docket for the label is an EP from Seattle grime provocateur Korma, titled ZGMF-X19A (a sly Gundam reference) and set for a May 11 release date. The EP, including remixes from Liar and Tomas Urquieta, can be previewed here and is thoroughly excellent, another step forward for a producer whose talents have never been in question. We’ve got an outtake from the EP, a remix from Vancouver-resident Spurz, on premiere today and having run through this rework a dozen or so times, it’s baffling it didn’t make the cut. Wobbly in terms of both production aesthetic and intended result, Spurz’s take on “Dismantle” is another cross-denominational work that doesn’t skimp on the bass weight. Whereas most “grime-meets-ballroom-meets-whatever” tracks are far more interesting in theory than they are in practice, Spurz has the wherewithal and restraint to allow the sped-up “Ha Dance” sample lay dormant until the end where it hits hardest. Grab Spurz’s “Dismantle” rework below and be sure to buy ZGMF-X19A on May 19.