Finally this album is out…. someone I went to university with and DJ’ed alongside has his debut album drop on Alpha Pup. Exhilarating hip-hop instrumentals and hyperactive odd-tronica from one of the UK’s most promising beat-crafters. Already lauded by Gaslamp Killer, Pitchfork and Mary Anne Hobbs (who singled him out as her ‘Favourite Unsigned Artist of 2010′), Young Montana has now found a home with Alpha Pup. Most artists take a few years in the spotlight to develop, but this wee fella – apparently only 20 years old – feels already like the finished article, his debut full-length a dazzlingly ambitious and fully-realized affair.
Hailing from sunny Coventry, his abundant musicality and kinetically edited style brings to mind vintage Prefuse 73, splicing and dicing fragments of steamy soul, techno, grime, folk and On The Corner-style freak jazz into lurching, luminescent beat patterns that make even Mike Slott’s junkyard-falling-off-a-cliff beat style sound static. It’s tough to pick favourites, but the way the looped lovers’ vocals and breezy horns of ‘Bad.day’ dissolve dramatically into a sea of undulating, echo-plexed techno-dub is one of the album’s most arresting moments. ‘Mynnd’ is the sound of YM’s imagination in overdrive, climaxing in a heads-down groove fashioned out of sawing, distorted bass and twitchy drum edits that nudge us into almost avant-garage territory. ‘Hot Heathrr’ shows just what can be achieved with genuine talent and some decent cracked software these days, with what feels like a million different melodious samples and drum clusters battling for supremacy.
Yes, there are moments where you wish he’d stop fiddling and just let the groove do the talking, but it’s churlish to complain; that really ain’t the game he’s playing. And while there’s a hell of a lot going in every track, it’s arranged and spliced with great discipline; even the busiest compositions are coherent and balanced and that’s exactly what makes it such a mind-boggling trip to listen to. Honestly, if this was Hudson Mohawke’s new album then everyone at the planet would be hailing it as a masterpiece; don’t let the fact that Young Montana is less well-known obscure the magnitude of his achievement.
These two gems popped up on my Soundcloud feed this morning and I couldn’t help but share them with you. ‘Outline To Cross‘ is from a Mary Anne HobbsRadio One clip which sounds like it might be from a while back as MAH had never heard of Roof Light, interesting. ‘Gathering The Apples‘ is lifted straight from Giles Peterson‘s show, ‘Worldwide Radio One‘. Both really melodic, ambient and hypnotic pieces of electronic music, beautiful. Enjoy.
As a little follow up to SSG‘s farewell to Mary Anne Hobbs, she has also made a website with some thank you’s and a really cool PDF of an email that Apex twin (aka Richard D James) sent to her in 1999. Pretty cool. Here’s the email and this is the website: http://www.maryannehobbs.com/.
Ending a 14 year legacy MAH, celebrated in true pioneer style with a send off show featuring two of the biggest artists in Dubstep. Burial and Kode 9 drop a send off mix to remember featuring heavy basslines and reminiscent vocals from the Old Skool.
Burial & Kode 9 Mix
01. Speedy J – Tesla
02. Zomby – Natalia’s Song
03. Brandy – Never Say Never (El-B version 1)
04. Brandy – Never Say Never (El-B version 2)
05. Brandy – Angel (X-Men vocal mix)
06. Laurie Spiegel – Voices Within – A Requiem
07. Alena – Turn It Around (Hard House Bantons)
08. Cooly G – He Da Biz
09. Theo Parrish – Soul Control feat. Alena Waters
10. KMFH aka Kyle Hall – Girl U So Strong (Wild Oats)
11. Terror Danjah – S.O.S.
12. Darkstar – 2 Chords
13. Prince – Condition of the Heart
14. Erykah Badu – Telephone
15. Foul Play – Being With U Rmx
16. A Guy called Gerald – Silent Cry
The departure of Mary Anne Hobbs from her Radio 1 slot has prompted much gnashing of teeth from the experimental electronic music community. The Bass scene in particular is understandably concerned that the sound has lost its most visible proponent.
She did a lot to popularise the music which, without her support, would surely have seen fewer column inches in broadsheet culture sections, fewer LP sales for the crossover artists, less appreciation and recognition on the wider cultural agenda.
Apparently, she’s passing up the show to devote more time to a career in education, lecturing at Sheffield Uni in practical media skills. This leaves an experimental music-sized hole in the programming of Radio 1, to add to the yawning chasm opened up when we lost John Peel.
Looking for someone to fill those shoes, John Peel is a fine reference point. Both of the DJs’ shows were about the cutting-edge but somehow you couldn’t imagine Mary Anne Hobbs pursuing her agenda for another 20 years. John Peel on the other hand seemed licensed to go on for ever, largely because underlying his confrontational approach to new music was real historical context.
That’s what electronic music needs now at the Beeb. At the ripe age of at least 40-years-old (nerds, we can argue this point in the comments) it’s time to stop treating the music like some weird, leftfield quirk that mutates hourly and has the shelf life of a bunch of flowers from your local petrol station. Can’t we see dance music accorded the historical weight of rock? And listen to the latest sounds with context?
Fetishization of ‘newness’ in dance music is a mixed blessing. Of course, we love that its nimble and challenging but there’s very little middle ground between pure pastiche of the past (say, current deep house productions) and the aggressively new. Wouldn’t we see a more complex relationship between past and present surfacing in the music if we let dance music grow up?
Remixes for The XX and Ellie Goulding have been followed up with a solid debut release on legendary dance music label R&S. Fresh from recording his debut mix for Mary Anne Hobbs’ experimental show on Radio 1 we caught up with Pariah for a quick interview. This kid is on a tear right now, make sure you catch him at GET SOME on June 19 and big up MAH for the shout out!
Who are you and what do you do?
My name’s Arthur, I’m 22 and I produce music under the name Pariah.
Where are you from and where are you now?
I’m originally from Scotland but I moved down to London about 4 years ago.
When did you first get involved with music and what were you doing?
I guess I’ve always been involved with music from a very young age but I started producing about a year and a half ago. I’d messed about on Logic before when I was about 16 or 17 but I never really learnt how to do anything.
First record you bought? Last record you bought?
I know that the first tape I was given was either a Gloria Estefan or Michael Jackson album and that was when I was about 7 or 8. God knows what the first record I bought was. The last one I bought was the new Oneohtrix Point Never album, “Returnal”. Its amazing!
What is your most memorable moment in music?
Mixing for Mary Anne Hobbs’ show.
Where/Who do you get you inspiration from?
Burial, Brian Eno, Boards of Canada, Move D, early Aphex Twin, Garage, Jungle.
What’s next for you/your label?
My next release is a 2×12″ on R&S which is called “Safehouses EP”. Hopefully gonna get the masters finished in the next week or so.
If your career in music never was, what would you be doing now?
Well, I’m still at uni at the moment so I guess I’d probably just be doing that…. not hugely exciting haha.
Who should we be watching in 2010?
There’s so much good stuff around at the moment. Hessle and Hemlock are killing it at the moment. R&S has some truly amazing music coming in the next few months too.
And finally, please complete the following sentence…
