Stuart Howard aka Lapalux has come up with something special for his first release with Cali’s finest, Brainfeeder. Having made his name with his cassette-only “Many Faces Out Of Focus” and acclaimed bootlegs and remixes he returns with a seven track EP of such poise and beauty, one listen is enough to know you’re onto something special.
Lapalux bathes your brain in lush textures, surprising and explosive atmospheres set in unencountered, unearthly spaces, all somehow perfectly set against catchy rolling choruses informed by pop and commercial R&B. On the “When You’re Gone” EP he channels and refines his sound and shapes it into hazy, woozy emotion. Whether working with a singer like Py (on “Moments”), or deconstructing found samples and his own voice, Howard stretches, bends and warps sound to make soul – not plastic posturing but real emotion made of synthetic sound.
2012 is sure to be Lapalux’s break-through year. As well as his forthcoming releases for Brainfeeder, Howard is increasingly in demand as a remix artist (Fink, Mirrors, Bonobo, TEED, Speech Debelle). XLR8R have just included 2 Lapalux tracks in their top 100 of the year. And if the raised cameraphones at his Plastic People show with Kutmah, Flying Lotus and Martyn are anything to go by, his live set is pretty impressive too….
“Fans of Mount Kimbie, James Blake’s ‘CMYK’, Four Tet, Bibio, FlyLo, Matthewdavid, Onra, Debruit and all those guys – meet your new favourite producer.“ – Boomkat
1. 102 Hours of Introductions
2. Moments (Feat. PY)
3. Gone
4. Yellow 90′s
5. Construction Deconstruction
6. Gutter Glitter
7. Face Down, Eyes Shut
The 18th release on the constantly on point Swamp81 label. This time we have Mickey Pearce delivers a slick dancefloor 12″ with unforgettable vocal samples “you remember I was telling you about progression”, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Get’ is a firm favourite with all the big DJs at the moment and ‘I am’ continues the industrial steel drum sound palette, and high pitched scream vocal sample to great effect!
Scuba is the production and DJ alias of Paul Rose, the curator of Hotflush Recordings, a label, which having released some of the most important tracks of the formative period of dubstep, has grown into a leading player in the wider world of electronic music. A celebrated and influential DJ, Scuba was voted #25 in Resident Advisor’s 2011 poll of the world’s Top 100 DJs and has also been nominated for several categories in DJ Magazine’s Best of British 2011 Awards.
Earlier last year Scuba released his ‘Adrenalin’ EP, picking up radio plays from Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, and Rob Da Bank, illustrating how his sound has mutated into previously unexplored areas. Alongside ‘Adrenalin, Scuba also released his addition to K7!’s DJ Kicks series which has made notable appearances on several “Best of 2011″ lists.
On the 27th February, Scuba will release his third album through Hotflush. Entitled ‘Personality’ and featuring 11 brand new tracks, it takes in a wealth of genres across contemporary dance music, proving once again Scuba’s place at the cutting edge of the electronic music scene. Preceding his LP will be ‘The Hope’; pushing on from the tense atmospherics of previous Scuba material, the single fizzes with claustrophobic bass pressure and menacing narration. Backed by an exclusive non-album cut ‘Flash Addict’, ‘The Hope’ will proceed the album on the 6th February.
Scuba: ‘Personality‘ LP Hotflush Recordings Release date: 27th February 2012
CD Tracklist:
01. Ignition Key
02. Underbelly
03. The Hope
04. Dsy Chn
05. July
06. Action
07.Cognitive Dissonance
08. Gekko
09. NE1BUTU
10. Tulips
11. If U Want
A Super rare recording of one of A Tribe Called Quest’s last shows together on UK soil has been uncovered. Taking place at Subterania, London on December 2nd, 1993. It’s been billed as a ”super rare recording of one of A Tribe Called Quest’s last shows together on UK soil. The improvisation, live beat-making and freestyles are just amazing, really representing the golden era Hip-Hop.
Originally planned for the third of Objekt’s white labels hand stamped series, this was quickly snapped up by his friends, Pearson Sound, Ben UFO and Pangaea. This track is essential!
‘Cactus’ also appeared on Ben UFO’s Rinse FM mix CD, in the autumn of 2011.
Multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, and vocalist, Jonti, began assembling music after his departure from South Africa to Australia. Spending countless hours studying records like they were books, processing each song, this became Jonti’s music school, testing his theories on a 4-track recorder. Jonti has now recorded with Mark Ronson and Santigold, to name but a few and the release of his debut album ‘Twirligig’ in October of last year saw him produce a beautiful album with summery and floaty styles. My favourite song from the album ‘Hornet’s Nest’ features a live version of this track in the music video, fans of Stones Throw Records and Eglo Records must check!
The ‘Sine & Moon’ album comes courtesy as a free download as a result of his popular appearance on the Stones Throw Podcast, a collection of earlier songs he’d recorded on 4-track. In the months since the mixtape, he’s been hit up with requests for the individual tracks, and so Sine & Moon came about.
Track taken from his forthcoming album, Personality, as well as being released as a single in its own right on 6th February. For full details on release schedule read Scuba’s interview with Resident Advisor, which will tell you everything you need to know.
10. With Glastonbury taking its scheduled year off in 2012, other festivals will be competing to assemble a line up capable of replacing the highlight of Britain’s festival calendar. This should make for some diverse and refreshing line ups, and a slight change to what we are used to.
9. Early in 2012 Hyperdub will put out the debut album of one of my favourite producers, Merrisa Campbell aka Cooly G. Not many details have been announced so far but you can expect dub-infected house and garage tracks, potentially featuring her own vocals. If her releases so far this year (Landscapes/It’s Serious) are anything to go by, this could be one of the albums of the year for bass music fans.
8. One of my favourite tracks produced this year will finally hit the shelves in January. Boddika and Joy Orbison‘s ‘Swims,’ set to become SWAMP017, has gone off pretty much every time I’ve been out in the past few months, leaving me humming ‘walk for me, walk for me, serve’ all the way home. Stream the track below.
7. I’m not even a huge Drake fan but I have to admit his recent album ‘Take Care’ was pretty sick. The Canadian hip-hop artist who worked with the likes of Rihanna, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, Jamie XX and Nicki Minaj on the album, has announced eight UK tour dates for 2012. The tour starts in London on March 26 and will be a certain highlight of the year for hip-hop fanatics.
6. It just wouldn’t be right to compile a list of reasons to be excited for 2012 and leave out Hinge Finger. Without any releases to date, I can’t comment on the quality of the music put out by Joy Orbison and Will Bankhead‘s new venture, but you can be pretty sure it will be on point right from the first release. Stream and download Joy O‘s promotional mix below.
5. In November this year Pariah and his R&S labelmate Blawan issued the first release on their joint label She Works. The untitled vinyl-only EP, produced by the pair under collaborative alias Karenn, is just a taste of what’s to come with a full-length album set to drop early next year.
4. The FabricLive series will obviously be something else to watch out for next year. Pinch, head of Bristol based label Tectonic, is in charge of FabricLive:61; launching it on January 13 backed by a huge line up. Hessle Audio are responsible for room one, whilst the album launch takes place in room two, and forward-thinking bass label Hoya Hoya come down from Manchester to take over room three. If you haven’t got a ticket yet, get on it ASAP! And if that wasn’t enough to get you excited about what FabricLive have in store, it was mentioned in an interview recently that Oneman will take the reins on a FabricLive mix soon. Listen to the whole interview with Oneman and Jackmasterhere, courtesy of Dollop.
3. From their new-ish website, The XX have announced a new album is on its way. They haven’t confirmed an exact date for its release but suggested it will be in time for the 2012 festival season. After the first, self-entitled album received such praise on a global scale, the expectations for the second will undoubtedly be high. In an interview for Clash, Jamie XX said that the second album will have ‘more dance influence in there’ and that it ‘gets slightly darker.’ An album which is set to bridge the gap between popular and underground music fans all over again. Read the full interview here.
2. In an interview earlier this month Jay-Z suggested 2012 may see a sequel to his huge collaborative album with Kanye West, Watch The Throne. Jay-Z said ‘it depends on how this thing finishes up. We,” I say ‘we’ because I’m in Throne mode — we’re in a great place creatively. You might see a Jay, then Kanye and a Throne album next year. You know, we’re really in a great place creatively. We really found our zone.” Even though this is yet to be confirmed, the possibility alone is enough for second spot!
1. Choosing what I am most excited about next year was an easy decision. Burial has a forthcoming EP on the Hyperdub, entitled ‘Kindred.’ You can preview a clip of one of the tracks, ‘Ashtray Wasp,’ by downloading Hyperdub‘s latest Rinse show with Scratcha DVA and guest Ikonika here. The clip is 56 minutes in and is well worth waiting for. There’s more to look forward to; there is a chance that, Burial, aka William Bevan, will release a third album on the same label. It will have been five years since the elusive South London based producer’s second album ‘Untrue.’ The Guardian labelled ‘Untrue’ as the tenth best album of the decade, The Wire named it album of the year, Mixmag placed it at fifth best album of the year; the list goes on, so if another album drops you can expect similar heights.
Joy Orbison has once again teamed up with designer Will Bankhead to start new label Hinge Finger. The pair, who worked together on previous imprint Doldrums, have typically not yet released many details of the new project. We do know any forthcoming releases will be distributed via Honest Jon’s, and going by the promo mix recently dropped by Joy Orbison we can presume the label’s focus will be on deep house and garage sounds. Hinge Finger is definitely one to follow closely in 2012.
You can stream and download Joy Orbison‘s promo mix here via The Trilogy Tapes.
It’s probably about time we did a post on the incredible Found series made up of 13 electronic music nights in London. Found has managed to lockdown some of London’s best people and put them all under one awesomely well designed banner.
The line ups are too big, and often too awesome, to explain in the mere form of language. So instead, here are the flyers of the events I have been most excited about (this is an understatement, I have been in a nervous frenzy).
First to mention was the Heritage night which was awesome..
Then there’s this, Butterz this Friday at Hidden.. Bamm!
And finally (this one’s big) we have our freinds’, Audio Donuts’ 1st Birthday.
And they have booked our friend, M.I.K, repping the GET SOME family.
And finally, our friend Crypt is repping GET SOME on Friday 9th December right hurr..
Friends, this is just a sample, head yourself over to http://www.facebook.com/foundseries to stay in the loop for all the other nights.
Love him or hate him, Zomby creates more division in underground music than there is between the Red and Blue sides of Liverpool and Manchester but one thing is for sure, the lad can make a tune. Here is a freebie, Eski influenced, ‘Ice Lake’. Download it now!
It’s a name you might not recognize – but you’ll certainly know his music… James Dewitt Yancey, Jay Dee or more commonly known as J Dilla, is one of hip hop’s most influential producers and artists, but his genius was cut short at 32 after battling the incurable blood disease, lupus.
As part of the Gone Too Soon series, Benji B and 1Xtra present the story celebrating the incredible music J Dilla created during his lifetime which includes tracks for Janet Jackson, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, The Pharcyde and De La Soul to name but a few.
Through interviews with Plug 2 from De La Soul, Mos Def, Questlove from The Roots, Common, Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes, J.Rocc, Slum Village members T3 and Wajeed, his brother Illa J and his incredible mum, Ma Dukes, we learn about how he made those beats, what he was like as a person and the legacy he left behind. Benji also pays his own tribute to the man he knew for almost ten years and is his favourite producer of all time.
Also make sure you check out the other documentaries in the series, including: Jam Master Jay, Biggie & Tupac, Lisa Left Eye Lopez, and Aaliyah.
Freddie Gibbs has dropped his highly anticipated new album, completely for free, through a collaboration with skate and graffiti clothing brand LRG. Fans won’t be disappointment, Gibbs hasn’t watered his style down at all, using a trusted combination of bangers and street stories. It’s that black heavy metal rap, with features from Young Jeezy and Dom Kennedy and beats from J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, Beatnick and K-Salaam amongst others. Cop that.
And we don’t stop there, make sure you check out this amazing collab between the UK’s Joker and Jessie Ware and Freddie Gibbs entitled Let Me Breath. BIG! (We will cover Joker’s album in another post.)
