Doc Daneeka Remixes BeGun’s “San Francisco”

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January 8, 2013
New Music, Remixes
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Like many other Brits of the same ilk, Swansea-born producer Mial Watkins, stagename Doc Daneeka (think Catch-22), has recently taken up residence in Berlin and incorporated several of the techno stronghold’s dark sonic signifiers into his music. Lazily classified within the general bass music sphere, Watkins’ music equally emphasizes soulful vocal samples and rich, intricately constructed low end arrangements. After working with Benjamin Damage on 2012’s highly underrated They!Live LP (out now on 50Weapons), Daneeka is primed to have his biggest year to date as both solo artist and curatorial mastermind. You see, along with producing some of the most thought provoking and amorphous low end-focused music around, Daneeka also runs the very much up-and-coming Ten Thousand Yen imprint, also primed for a huge 2013. For his/their first feast of the new year, Daneeka has reworked the unsearchable BeGun’s “San Francisco” into something that resembles the cross-section of Bristol and Chicago. The oppressively deep low end is juxtaposed with retro-sounding organ stabs and a halting garage rhythm. Like most of Daneeka’s output, the remix is nearly impossible to pin down and is clearly suited for a large system. Apparently it has been killing it in live sets so expect a release on Ten Thousand Yen sooner rather than later. Stream below.

New DJ Haus – “Thug Houz Anthem!”

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January 7, 2013
New Music
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DJ Haus has never been one to demand the spotlight. In an often crowded internet music landscape, the Hot City member and Unknown to the Unknown bossman has flown relatively under the radar while imparting superior sound design and quality throwback tunes on the masses. 2012 saw savvy releases from 5kinandbone5, Sinden and Palace on U2U and a dramatic step forward for Haus’ rave indebted sound. The early 1990’s rave era is still more of a tenuous fantasy in my mind than a concrete sound so I’m gonna have to take Haus’ word when he says that he attempts to imbibe it in his music, but I can say that “Thug Houz Anthem!” has a certain prickly, on-edge feel about it. Certainly in the banger category, the Bone Thugs sampling jawn is full of scratchy acid sounds and a busy percussion pattern. It would probably be fun to listen to at one of those mythological raves I’ve watched documentaries about. The track is part of Thug Houz Anthems Vol. 1, U2U’s upcoming compilation, which will probably be released sooner rather than later. Stream and download below and hit the jump for the accompanying druggy iTunes commercial-esque video.

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Julio Bashmore 60 Minute Boiler Room LA Mix

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January 7, 2013
Live, Mixes
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Maybe it’s just my choppy internet, but the Julio Bashmore Boiler Room LA stream came in particularly choppy, giving the whole affair a GIF-like atmosphere in my computer machine. Dancers grooved then repeated. Julio’s headnods took on an alien quality and the set gained a whole new dimension of unintentional comedy. I hope you all saw the 60 minute set in the glamorous form I did, but even if you downloaded and listened in your car, Julio’s foray across acid, funk and classic Chicago was probably equally enjoyable. The majority of the set induced visions of Bashmore’s Prince-channeling Velour side-project, including the purple one’s own “Erotic City”, but also hit darker, tech-ier points like Kowton’s “And What” and opener Funkineven’s “Dracula”. Of course he played “Au Seve”, but he also uncomfortably sang the melody at one point! That part was terrible actually. Anyways, for a more in depth take on the Bashmore live experience, check out dildo’s recap of a night at  A Club Called Rhonda. Stream/download below and hit the jump if you want to enjoy the pixelated GIF-y madness in Youtube form.

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Reading Way Too Far Into That New Skrillex EP

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January 7, 2013
Album Reviews
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There has been discussion of “the death of the music blog” and the fact that in the world of Tumblr we don’t need hipsters with English degrees writing flowery, insipid music commentary. After perusing the first few pages of Google results from the query “Leaving EP”, I see where these sentiments are coming from. People regurgitate the same quotes Skrillex gave to Rolling Stone, conclude that Skrillex is moving in a Burial-esque direction because he has cited the dude as an influence and maybe say something else about how they have secretly enjoyed his past output. Ummmm…

OK music journalists quit being a bunch of lazy fuckboys. If you spend some time actually listening to this EP, contextualizing it in a realm greater than in the scope of few quotes Sonny Moore threw at some press dude he probably didn’t know, there’s no way you can come to the “oh, look Skrillex is making English dubstep now” conclusion. Go ahead and disagree, but I see the Leaving EP as Skrillex grappling with the monster he has wrought and attempting to align the music he wants to create with the music his (obsessive, devoted) fans wants to hear. I know the masses of dirty-midrange-craving kids quite intimately and they are a scary, immovable force. Political-economic constraints on media output actually do exist outside of media studies classrooms and in this case, Sonny Moore is shackled by hundreds of thousands of kids who use his music to exorcise their angst and derive some enjoyment from the relatively miserable existence of the non-athletic kid in suburban America. I would wager my laptop that Skrillex would love to release a white label on Swamp 81 of hard-hitting, mind-fuck techno but I would make the same wager that a negligible portion of his fans would follow him over to the good side. Instead they would shift their affection over to one of his even more aggro clones (wow, yeah I hate those guys) and Sonny Moore would lose his influence over these kids that are probably a lot like him when he was growing up.

Hit the jump for the full review…

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Finding The Groove With Rhonda

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January 3, 2013
Live, Uncategorizable
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bashmoreatrhonda

On December 14, 2012, I met a Club Called Rhonda and she took me to dance music heaven.

Samo Sound Boy was there (Body High in that mothafucka), Total Freedom was there (Fade to Mind in that mothafucka), and all the way from Bristol, UK, the one and only Julio Bashmore lent us his surly face and impeccable house music (Broadwalk Records in that mothafucka).

There were beautiful women, there were beautiful men, beautiful men dressed as women, beautiful women dressed as men, and beautiful people that escape such silly classifications.  I was sweating (woo!), and so was the ceiling.  I think Rhonda, Samo, and Julio changed my life, so hit the jump and let me tell you about it.

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Boddika Is A Very Interesting Person

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January 3, 2013
New Music, Remixes
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boddikaTo say everyone and their mother’s dog has been waiting for Boddika’s “Mercy VIP” on pins and needles is something of an understatement. After floating around the internet for eight months, Boddika’s revamped take on his Joy Orbison collaboration has finally reached daylight in an acceptable form. You’ve probably heard the track at this point, so I’ll keep it short and sweet, but just know that this one falls in the outright banger section of techno so, like, if you’ve been wondering why there are bodies under your garage then this is probably for you. All overplayed references aside, look out for the “Mercy VIP” on the Think & Change compilation via Nonplus Records.

Things That Happen At Day With Milo & Riley Lake

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January 3, 2013
New Music
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It’s easy to say that Milo’s take on hip hop is not for everybody. It lacks the bravado, (traditional) punchlines and self-congratulatory tone of the majority of the rappity rap realm. The references are somewhat academic and the tone is self-deprecating. Some might call Milo an arthouse rapper, but placing him in the Digable Planets/Brand Nubian lineage would be a mistake. The deadpan flow and highly referential nature might bring up Das Racist comparisons, but Milo’s lyrical arrangements aren’t as populist stream-of-consciousness as the deceased Brooklyn trio. Milo is also probably smarter than you, a point that is emphasized throughout his recently released double EP Things That Happen At Day/Things That Happen At Night (out now on Hellfyre Club). The Riley Lake-helmed former is the focus of this post, partially because it’s my favorite of the two and partially because there is entirely too much to take in and comment on across the span of both projects. Before listening to the EP, I highly recommend reading Milo’s “addendum” on duality, Schopenhauer and his father:

this record is about (false) dichotomies and the transcendence of them through genuine expression, and the exploration of things that make me, personally, uncomfortable. it’s about olde-tyme notions of heroism, quests and being in the search of. it is about action for the sake of action without regards to consequence. it is about verbs and not nouns.

Milo is both an astute media critic and a philosophy student and Things That Happen At Day is as dense a work as you’ll come across in contemporary music. It’s easy to get lost in the Hegel talk or whatnot, but like most self-aware lyricists, Milo is mostly just attempting to find a justifiable truth in his personal relationships. He admits that much on EP standout “folk-metaphysics”, a track rife with an immensely relatable insecurity. What’s more relatable after all? The illusions of exorbitant wealth and grandeur in more radio ready rap or the existential worry that you might not matter after all? Milo’s rap might not be for everybody, but it should be. Expect to hear much more about this Riley Lake guy tomorrow as we’ve got some big things (think LOL Boys x Fader mix, but better) in line, but just know that the production on Things That Happen At Day is like no other hip hop release you’ll hear all year. Kombucha bottle percussion, Wallflowers covers and jazz guitar are the new norm so, like, get with the program. I can’t do this EP proper justice in a condensed writeup unfortunately, but just give Things That Happen At Day a listen. And then another one, because while Milo isn’t quite as incomprehensible as Hegel, this shit is packed with meaning. I certainly haven’t begun to grasp the majority of it yet. Stream below and show some love to two immensely talented artists. Also catch Things That Happen At Night after the jump.

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New Ryan Hemsworth – “BasedWorld”

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January 2, 2013
New Music
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ryan-hemsworthI don’t need to tell you that Ryan Hemsworth was one of 2012’s most apogeic performers. The rest of blog world has that covered I think. Not to toot our own horn or anything, but we did interview Ryan back in April. Just sayin’. Anyways, “BasedWorld”, right. Sounding as triumphant as he ever has, Hemsworth’s “BasedWorld” falls somewhere between video game proportions super hero music and an “I’m God” approximation. There a few points last year that Hemsworth’s glut of remixes began to sound a little verbose and mechanical, but “BasedWorld” certainly bucks that, proving that despite a propinquity for remixes, his best work comes in the form of originals. Stream below and download here.

Update: Commenter ei8htzer0 pointed out that sample in “BasedWorld” is M83’s “Moon Child”.

New Velour – “Speedway”

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January 2, 2013
New Music
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I would be lying if I said I didn’t love the populist direction Julio Bashmore has taken his sound over the past 12 months. Not every release has to further the critical conversation and Bashmore has pretty clearly opted for straight-up fun times over any sort of challenging project. For his latest trick, the Bristolian has linked up with Hyetal to once again form Velour, the neonic duo that debuted on Night Slugs back in 2010. The Prince is strong in “Speedway” and while not as initially intruiging as say “Booty Slammer”, the song is certainly a grower and has a way of weaseling its way into your ear canal. Fuck NASCAR tho. Stream below.

New Happa – “Freak”

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January 2, 2013
New Music
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Happa, the prodigal son of everything good and holy in the techno-verse, got in the holiday spirit last week to give away the unremittingly dark “Freak”. 2012 was the year that the once ubiquitous TR-303 came roaring back and while it didn’t quite permeate the mainstream, the machine was utilized far and wide. On “Freak”, the 15-year old wunderkind buries traditional acid under a mound of dirt, forcing the relatively traditional sounds to squelch out from deep within a cave. It’s not Happa’s biggest or best effort, but it offers a side of the producer we haven’t seen yet and, well, it’s free. Stream and download below.