"RBM followers have long known Spinnerty for his production work behind vocalist like Joy Jones, Miles Bonny, John Robinson and Replife. This time we find Spinnerty collaborating with Chicago-based drummer Farsheed Toosi to create lush jazzy instrumentals that stand alone as full compositions. They mark a giant step forward in Spinnerty's maturity as a producer and jazzer, letting the instrumentation do the talking.
While Spinnerty's original versions work well for home-listening, radio, and loungey dj sets - Uptempo remixes by J Boogie, lil' dave, and Mecca:83 provide some excellent choices for the dancefloor. As a special treat for the vinyl-faithful, we have included "Drumapella" versions available only on the wax itself - original drum breaks courtesy of Spinnerty and Tossi. "
We've must slept on this release from James Welsh hailing from Leeds. Air Valley EP was released in April 2012 and is (still) available on purple 12" as well as digital. Go and cop that thing.
Teoretically and pratically, we have watched this cat from Belgium since he for the first time emerged on the scene, and this was around one year ago. His phenomenal future funk tracks "Dans" and "Good Night Girl" left no doubt, that Pomrad was a producer to watch for.
This Belgian funkster is about to release a new EP on Earnest Endeavours that apparently want to carry on with releasing future funk records, after stunning EP from B.Bravo(Kiss N' Tell). The single from the forthcoming EP, entitled "Pomslap" was released around two weeks ago. This track is literally a slap in the face, totally free of charge, revealing of what's to come on April 15th when the EP drops. Keep your eyes open!
After last years massive and super limited Chips/Sweets edits on Funkineven's own Apron Records label, Mr. Even returns with the next installment packed in the big old school candy bag. The lead track Dreams is a lucid house slow-burner sampling Starchild. Ceefax on the flip incorporates some heavy bass and jazzy synth soundcapes whilst Coke is the most fun, synth driven house interlude we've heard in a while.
The 12'' is sold out almost everywhere, I still managed to snatch a copy at SOTU, but if you're not that lucky I've got some info from Funkineven that he'll have some copies at Apron's Bandcamp - it's only 250 copies, so watch out!
If you're not looking for that turn up tonight and instead want some soothing sounds to unwind to, French producer Dandy Teru and Quiet Dawn have exactly what you need. Brief, but effective, watch the OKP (Okayplayer) premiere of their new video "Waters"- check the visualizer. Video directed by GM. "Waters" will appear on Dandy's upcoming debut LP, Adventures, which will be out on April 23rd via Ubiquity Records. The LP is an eclectic mix of downtempo, Nu Jazz, beat music, soul, house, and hip-hop with contributions from Moka Only, Count Bass D, Tall Black Guy, and more.
Promise Ya was one of my favorite tracks of 2012 and We've been keeping an eye on Atu ever since. Snapped up by Soulection, the EP Pictures of Silence is out today and is classy as expected. The the 90's vocals are ridiculusly smooth, the bass is deep w/ the the gentle keys floating somewhere near slick drum patterns (not your usual over-used dull 808's). We can safely say: 'that's how you roll in 2013'. Would love to see this get properly mastered and released on vinyl (w/ that cover)!
1500 limited downloads, grab one if you still can:
New music from the man, Shafiq Husayn is always a cause to celebrate. A few days ago we got a new song from himself and his growing community of likeminded artists in Los Angeles, called The Dove Society. They all came together to form "Twelve" that landed on a new compilation for Giant Step, called Sonic Boom Vol.3 made by a lady Maiya Norton. Sonic Boom Vol.3 includes some of their favorite jams from the last couple months, and it spans a nice dose of music from artists who are not necessarily on folks' radars. Among the names that don't ring a bell, we can hear mentioned Shafiq Husayn, and MED's much loved "Burgundy Whip" with Blu and Jimetta Rose. All of this is definitely worth a free download.
Yesterday we wrote about Danish/Canadian duo, Rhye. Our focus remains on fresh new music comming out of Denmark. Some time I was invited to like Okapii fb fanpage, a name which didn't ring a bell. Simply put, a name, that I've never heard of before. Since they haven't posted any music, and maybe I was too lazy to look up their profile on souncloud, I simply forgot about them. Until about one week ago, where they put some visual and sonic dopeness on their facebook page. Mads Oustrup & Alex Rita hailing straight from Copenhagen served a beautiful piece of electronic pop, that deeply resembles Quadron vibes (yes, we are mentioning Quadron again). Video of Don't Mind The Rain was shot on gorgeous Barbados. This is a free download! We're eagerly waiting for MORE!
We've been watching the mysterious duo Rhye since the very beginning. The whole started when we first heard the seductively smooth single "Open", with breathy Sade-like vocals. It later turned out that the woman behind the vocal is not even a "she". The vocalist, in fact, is Mike Milosh who previously released three albums on well known Plug Research label based in LA.
More on the duo. It is a collaboration between Toronto native Milosh and Copenhagen descendant Robin Hannibal of Danish electro-soul duo Quadron (it's simply a must check if you don't know Quadron). Both of them live now in sunny L.A. in California and hooked up some time ago, when Milosh was asked to remix a Quadron song. One song turned into an EP, which in the end lead to Rhye's LP debut simply called "Woman", out on 4th of March on Innovative Leisure.
No doubt, this is one of our top releases since the very beginning of 2013.
Below, you can read Lauren Down speaking to Robin Hannibal, responsible for the sensual sonics of Rhye.
“It was really funny and for just a moment we thought, let’s see how far we can take this,” Rhye’s Robin Hannibal confesses over a crackling phone line when I ask him how he reacted to people mistaking the vocals on their new record ‘Woman’ for a woman’s.“We’re not that gimmicky though” he continues, “it was more a beautiful coincidence that emerged from the fact we wanted to keep things anonymous. I actually miss the time when you wouldn’t get the whole story surrounding a project. The internet has ruined things a little. Everyone is so over exposed. We weren’t really interested in selling our music based on our identities, we were very much interested in showing the music for what it was. We knew you could find out who we were in two minutes if you wanted to, but by not over exposing ourselves we were able to create imagery and a fantasy through the music, which can be music’s strongest ingredient.” The vocalist in question is actually of course the other half of Rhye, LA based producer Mike Milosh. “I think the way he approaches lyrics, the way they are stressed, the intent and the sentiment behind them is something you hear more from female singers. Not necessarily his actual vocals, but then I’ve always known it was him.” We of course have not had the same luxury, and listening to the soulful, pleading “oooh make love to me” vocals of ‘Open’ or ‘The Fall’ (the first track the two ever wrote together) you could totally be forgiven for thinking it was a woman singing. The smoky, sensual, husky manner in which they wrap themselves around the minimalist percussion and wonderfully simple piano refrains reinforcing that fallacy with every listen. “We wanted to highlight what the music was about through the songs, the videos and artwork. It’s titled ‘Woman’, it’s about women, the album art is abstracts of the female body and people thought it was a woman so I guess we succeeded on some level!” Delving a little deeper into the record’s core Robin explains “it is very much an homage or an ode to women in general but it is taken from personal experiences because we wanted to make something honest. Mike’s wife was definitely the lyrical muse, but through collaboration the sonics are imbued emotions that will resonate with everyone. I mean it’s love. It’s basically love. Without sounding too corny, hopefully!” A man with clear hankering for the past Robin talks about the artistic vision behind Rhye. “We may not be buying records the way we were maybe 20 years ago but I think that people still crave a full idea, one complete thought. That is what an album should be: A full conceptional idea that you put on to reveal more than any one track could. It’s just like any novel, and I think a lot of people forget or miss that. I would definitely say soundtracks and original movie scores were a big inspiration for the way I approach music. It’s the marriage of image and sentiment through a particular melodic theme, the fullness of the music and the emotional intensity they create through classical instruments and space.” “We talked a lot about making the record something that was relatable right now but that also had a classic and timeless feel. The way we went about that was to make sure there were elements of today’s landscape in that kind of minimalist electronic sound combined with classic instruments, orchestration and arrangements. I feel that that art of arrangement is a little bit lost in todays music because things have to happen so quickly and a lot people don’t spent that much time on a song. We spent over a year and a half on 10 songs. We only made those 10 songs so it was very important for us that they had enough ingredients for you to want to keep sitting through them.” I reassure him that there definitely are. Source: Planet Notion
Remix of Open by JT Donaldson (worth checking out as well)
A collaboration between Montreal-based producer Jacques Greene and Londoner Joe Coghill, who was involved with Glasgow's LuckyMe events, Vase is a cross-media platform for the creative arts whose only requirement is expression and innovation.
Music for the clip is taken from 'Minnow', a track by Samoyed, that featured on the previous Vase release (VSE07).
After 2 great EP's on MadTech and All City, Kleezy will releasing a pure 80's boogie burner on rinse.fm's label. Jenna G sings over the killer beat providing the perfect combination. If you need to fill the dancefloor it's a no brainer what you should spin.
We've been witnesses of several good releases from the Astronautico family. It is not different this time for once more we are witnessing a fresh LP drop, this time from Dane Chadwick. If you listened to Atlantics Vol.2 compilation, this was probably the first time you heard about him. His first full release on the label made me put this LP on a "repeat" mode. The remix of vowelS by Dap Hound that closes the release is like a cherry on a cake. Worth to have a listen, the LP is for free.
We're just about the release of Mo Kolours'Tusk Dance EP, which is the missing piece in his trilogy for One-Handed Music. If you follow Mo Kolours' fb fanpage, it might be that you have probably heard and donloaded the original version of Bomptious before. Two days ago it also got the remix treatment by the one and only Shafiq Husayn representing Sa-Ra. Tusk Dance drops tomorrow and will be out on vinyl (already sold out from his Bandcamp page) and digital that can be pre-oredered HERE.
Female beatmistresses are a rare breed so it's always nice to see some fresh faces. This applies to Alpha Pup's new singing - Astronautica from (ofc) LA. Lush, hazy-like soundscapes smoothly float on intricate drum patterns and gentle guitar riffs. Replay Last Night drops on February 26th, keep it in your calendars or we'll keep you posted on our facebook.
With a danish connection in Robin Hannibal, we've been closely following Rhye since their first releases. Their debut LP Woman will be out on March 4th and to sooth the painful wait, Rhye asked Jeff Samuel for a remix. The original is a great source material for remix and the Faded Mix is a truly magnificent cut.
It was the first time since I came across the work of this Canadian producer by name Ryan Hemsworth. This WEDIDIT affiliate delivered another reminder that hip-hop and electronic dance continue to flirt with each other sharply. The EP "Last Words" was released through West Coast collective Wedidit august last year.
We've been sending our blog-love for Yosi on every occasion and this time it's no different. This little EP released on First Word features Jesse Boykins on the vocals (must see live if you haven't had the pleasure) in the title track - glad to hear more live instruments, gives a really pleasing new dimension to the track. Dots starts just where Wandering EP left, signature Yosi Horikawa sound palette and craft. And to top it all there's the magnificent Anemon remix, so damn good. 300 copies pressed only, don't sleep...
No, we are not asking for the track ID here. Track ID Anyone?is a title of a single from German veteran DJ Koze's first album in eight years, Amygdala. I guess we are all familiar or at least got used to read to the milions of cries that pop up in a Soundcloud comments section, desperately seeking the title of a song while listening to a mix without any tracklist provided. Whether you are or are not one of them, this one is for you.
