All posts by hoatie@hotmail.com

Global Bass, World Beat

Dengue Dengue Dengue! is a Tropical Bass duo from Lima-Peru. Behind the masks are Felipe Salmon and Rafael Pereira, two producers, dj’s and graphic designers. For their live performances they team up with Nadia Escalante (A.K.A. Vj Sixta) for a full Audiovisual Show. DDD was born in mid-2010 and immediately made themselves well known thanks to an impeccable audiovisual show, remixing and making mash-ups from their own tracks with old cumbias and modifying cumbia cult themes to electronic versions. All this always joined by amazing visuals and the always present masks.- Soundcloud 

Heres a great remix of Plaid feat Bjork.

https://soundcloud.com/dengue/plaid-feat-bjork-lilith-dengue?in=dengue/sets/remixes-refixes-mashups

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve

Jam Bands/Trippy Beats

https://soundcloud.com/noelgallagher/riverman-beyond-the-wizards-sleeve-re-animation?in=beyond-the-wizards-sleeve/sets/beyond-the-wizards-sleeve-re&si=31184fdc84cf4b2d90b8181d52236fe6&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve have created an epic 42-minute re-working of Sun Structures, using five re-interpreted tracks (Sand Dance, Shelter Song, A Question Isn’t Answered, Golden Throne & Move With The Season) from the original album.

Funk & Disco, House

Daniele Baldelli makes music that incorporates long synth funk jams and cosmic disco. In music, the term cosmic disco, and combinations thereof (cosmic Afro, Afro-Funky) are used somewhat interchangeably to describe various forms of synthesizer-heavy and/or African-influenced dance music and methods of DJing that were originally developed and promoted by a small number of DJs in certain clubs in Northern Italy from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. The terms slow-motion disco and Elettronica Meccanica are also associated with the genre. Italian DJs Beppe Loda and Daniele Baldelli both independently claim to have invented the genre and mixing style – extracted from Wiki

 

Jazz

Brandee Younger was a teenager — an aspiring classical harpist, growing up on Long Island — when she came across an eye-opening issue of Harp Column magazine. “There were all these teeny squares,” Ms. Younger said recently, recalling the cover illustration, a yearbook-style photo mosaic. “I saw one dark square. So I flipped through the pages to see who it was, and it was Dorothy Ashby.” This was a fateful discovery for Ms. Younger, 32, who has become a harpist of rare prominence in jazz, building on an African-American legacy largely defined by Ms. Ashby and Alice Coltrane. “Wax & Wane,” Ms. Younger’s sleek, assured new album, luxuriates in groove: It’s the latest statement from a jazz generation weaned on hip-hop producers like J Dilla. But the album is also a genuflection, featuring three songs associated with  Ashby, including the title track.  Younger came to jazz more circuitously. She latched onto Alice Coltrane’s music, with its meditative and astral dimensions, while in high school, around the time she learned of Ashby. Both figures were prized by the crate-digging hip-hop crowd: Ms. Younger recognized one Ashby tune as the main sample in a track by the producer and rapper Pete Rock. At the Hartt School, the conservatory at the University of Hartford, Younger became a scholarship student in the classical department. “It was a real culture shock,” she said. “I didn’t fit in socially.” She hadn’t attended a performing arts high school, which was one difference. Another was more glaring: “Black girl, plus harp,” she said wryly. “I stuck out like a sore thumb.” Ms. Younger quickly found a kinship with Hartt’s jazz program, run at the time by the august alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. He told her to drop by whenever she wanted. “So I did,” she said. “Even though I was studying classical music, I would show up to the master classes, the ensemble classes. I would never bring my instrument; I would just sit there. Four years of that.” Though intimidated by the prospect of improvising, she gradually began to branch out, with encouragement. She was in the graduate program at New York University in 2007 when the saxophonist Ravi Coltrane asked her to play at a memorial service for his mother. Her performance “moved me and everyone in attendance from the first glissando,” Mr. Coltrane recalled. “No harpist thus far has been more capable of combining all of the modern harp traditions — from Salzedo, through Dorothy Ashby, through Alice Coltrane — with such strength, grace and commitment.” This was effectively Ms. Younger’s public debut, and it set the terms for a spiritual succession. New York Times

Folktronica/Electro-Acoustic

Dirtwire is David Satori of Beats Antique, Evan Fraser of Stellamara and Mark Reveley of Byrth .dirtwire.net Dirtwire sits on the back porch of Americana’s future, conjuring up a gris-gris of sound with an amalgamation of traditional instrumentation, world-beat percussion, and electronic soundscapes. Comprised of multi-instrumentalist David Satori (Beats Antique) and Evan Fraser (Hamsa Lila; Stellamara), each performance brings the audience to a mysterious crossroads at an imaginative and seductive moment in time. The result is a rebirth of Americana and beacon for a post-millennial return to downhome goodness.-Soundcloud

 

Afrocentric, Global Bass

When Hugh Tracey (1903-1977) made 35,000 field recordings across Sub-Saharan Africa between the 1920s & 1970s, his intention was to reveal the beauty and complexity of the music to a world that saw little value in it. Today, almost 90 years later, Tracey’s bid to preserve the music of Africa for future generations’ lives on. Beating Heart has connected the archive at the International Library of African Music (ILAM) with contemporary producers, making fresh sounds for a modern audience. Building on Tracey’s vision, the income generated will be used to assist people in the areas where the music was originally recorded. This is the first instalment in the series. -Soundcloud

Funk & Disco, House

Soultourist member and co-founder of Phantom Island, Foster, steps in with a 3-track EP which will impress the sophisticated disco crowd with awe. “Tease The Cat” is a neat lurker with outlandish Arabian innuendos woven into heartwarming synth melodies but dominated by a heavy pulsating bass line. If this causes the same effect on listeners as catmint does on felines still has to be tested. You also have to take a shot at “A.E.I.O.U.” to reveal its grandeur. A track paying evident tribute to Tony Espositos 80’s productions, but using modern day arrangement techniques not a lot of producers are capable of pulling out of their hats. Foster’s mastery is displayed further on the title track of the EP and the most dancefloor orientated track of the threesome, “Neon Life”. Here we encounter a murky Japanesque melody which builds up and up driven by an insane drum programming, that makes you wanna take off your clothes and dance in neon-lit rainfall all night long. – Bandcamp

Ambient

Harpist Mary Lattimore traveled across the country with her harp.  At the Dam, the album she made on the journey, bursts with ambition and ideas. The only car that can even begin to fit Mary Lattimore’s 47-string Lyon and Healy harp is a vintage Volvo Station Wagon, with the the back seats folded all the way down. Before she was collaborating with a legendary laundry list of artists (Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore, Jarvis Cocker, and Arcade Fire to name a few) she ferried the instrument to and from the odd gig, usually weddings, playing by herself, and leaving by herself. The experience of  travelling, practicing, and performing with the harp is an undeniably solitary one. And intimate doesn’t feel like it does a good enough job of describing this relationship. Lattimore’s harp is more than just the wellspring for her art and her livelihood, but a life companion.- Pitchfork

Jazz

Guitarist Jeff Parker sees nothing unusual about his simultaneous membership in such diverse groups as Chicago post-rock kings Tortoise, current AACM heavies New Horizons Ensemble, jazz-funk experimentalists Isotope 217, as well as his frequent participation in all kinds of improvised gigs around the city. “Everybody’s always like, ‘You play with all of these different bands, but what do you really want to do?’,” Parker chuckles. “Right now, I’m doing exactly what I want to do.” -Jazz Times

Beats

MLiR is a Swedish musical collective fronted by Marco Gegenheimer and Einar Alterfix Christoffersson. Utilizing hundreds of samples and mostly old analog equipment, their releases are a dizzying foray through 60’s psychedelia, fuzzed out 70’s gangster funk, beats and disco house. Since these mixes are so long, and full of so many change ups, its best just to let it play in the background while you’re around the house.

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/mlir

House

It’s been quite a ride for Rampa over the last couple of years. When it comes to his appreciation of DJing and producing, he never solely cared about the diehard dedication to the four to the floor-aesthetic, but also about a certain attitude that communicates through his sets and original productions. An attitude that surely is informed by a spacious and varied record collection and also the ability to think and operate off the beaten path.
Most of his works meet all stylistic requirements of the current House and Techno agenda, but still, his mindset and openness will easily define them as outstanding pieces.
From 2009 on, Rampa made a name of himself through Keinemusik, his own little d.i.y.-cosmos, being not only label, but also crew of likeminded DJs, producers and friends. The teamwork within this realm has seen a serious number of premier productions and collaborations, particularly with fellow producer &ME, not to forget the rest of the bunch, Adam Port, David Mayer, Reznik and Monja.
Besides, he’s got some other collaborations under his belt. He produced a couple of singles with Nomi of Hercules & Love Affair- and Jessica 6 fame, released on Rebirth, as well as an EP featuring S.Y.F. of Azari III on Defected. And he’s got the RAR-thing going on, a joint venture with likeminded producer Re.You, which is not only their live-moniker, but also a prolific pairing in production. They released various remixes plus tracks on Keinemusik, Cocoon, Moon Harbour, Saved, Souvenir, Gigolo and Strictly Rhythm and they brought an unmistakeable analogue approach into the live-realization of this material. And talking of analogue approaches, Rampa also started his own production company for DJ-friendly effect-devices, called TEILE.
 So, if he’s not spitting out new material, be it solo or in collabos, Rampa is likely to be found behind some turntables somewhere around the world, representing his own definition of Techno and House, bridging the gap between deepness and elation. Never taking things too seriously, apart from those serious grooves he’s got in his pockets.-Resident Advisor

Indie Dance

Wolf Colony is an anonymous singer-songwriter based out of New York City. Since the release of his debut EP, Welcome to the Wild Side, Wolf Colony has organically grown a global following and has performed at various NYC music venues in including Webster Hall, Baby’s Alright, Brooklyn Bowl, Mercury Lounge, Bowery Electric, and more. 

https://soundcloud.com/wolf-colony/sets/unmasked

 

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/wolf-colony/sets/ocean-ep

Beats

When Panagiotis Melidis, the Greek producer who records as Larry Gus, first began releasing music, his primary mode of expression was parroting other artists to create sample-heavy pastiche. His productions encompass everything from Afrobeat to hip-hop; after signing to DFA, his first two albums were attempts to turn bits and pieces from prototypical psych pop outfits like El Guincho and Animal Collective into a whole. His 2015 album, Years Not Living, was a more conceptually confident stew of African-influenced grooves, slathered-on samples, and his own heavily layered vocals. His latest album was June 2016’s ‘At Your Desk’. This seven-track collection features two original tracks, a cover of Bjork’s “I Miss You”, and four epic remixes from some of the album’s standout tracks by 40 Thieves, Musik Non Stop, Luke Vibert, and Daniel.T. & Cooper Saver-Pitchfork

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/larry-gus

Folk/Singer Songwriter,

Sonia Montez is New York based a songwriter/musician with a resume stretching from Full Force to The Mountain Goats and whose music has been featured in award winning indie movies and shows like NBC Nightly News w/ Brian Williams. Mutual acquaintances, happenstance, and luck brought Sonia to her new band project and album. The core band, all of whom are accomplished musicians, is comprised of Scott Chasolen (keys/piano), Sean Dixon (drums/percussion), Adam Minkoff (bass/vocals), and Nick Oddy (guitar). Their studio album, Part-Time Musings is available to stream, free, on Soundcloud- Bandpage

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/soniamontez-thehsp

Deep House/Deep Techno

Camea’s interest in techno, deep house and the space between comes from her musician roots; she is a classically and jazz trained pianist, as well as fluent in several other instruments. Her hard work and dedication has earned her a rigorous international tour schedule, and she is frequently playing in her home city at clubs like Watergate, Tresor, Panorama Bar and many other underground events. Even though DJing has stayed the forefront of Camea’s passion, when she is not out performing she spends most of her time in her studio in Berlin, and has become one of the handful of women from America to make it to the International stage for her genre. -Tailored Communication 

Psych-Rock, Rock

Causa Sui consists of Jakob Skøtt, Jonas Munk, Rasmus Rasmussen and Jess Kahr, and have released eight albums since 2005. The trilogy set Summer Sessions that saw the band move away from the heavy-psych of their two first albums to more abstract, instrumental sounds that owes as much to Can as to american stoner-rock. Causa Sui’s sound has been described as the sound of a giant wave rolling up through the last four decades of rock. The bands new album, Return to Sky, was released March 18th 2016. -El Paraiso Records

 

 

Ambient,

A single word that would describe Janek Murd as a composer would surely be ’cinematic’.
His creations are thrilling, dramatic and powerful as well as warm, gentle and dreamy.
Janek started out in an indie supergroup Borax, now he is part of a hippie pop rock band 3Pead (3Heads), yet his main line of activity is the creation of music and sounds for movies, TV-shows, exhibitions and public spaces. Great music is also born simply out of love for the wonderful world of sounds-Soundcloud

Global Bass, World Beat,

Jhon William Castaño Montoya is a Colombian violinist and composer who grew up in Pereira, a Colombian city 1700 meters high in the central part of the Andes, surrounded by mountains and coffee plantations.
His song titles are taken from the languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of Colombia, as the Muisca and Embera. So Antumià is the spirit that lives in the deep forest, and the spirit of the wild animals that are reincarnations of human souls; Jai are the shamans who learn of the teachers everything about health, naturalness, the rules of life; Quincha means hummingbird in Chibcha language and symbolizes youth and renewal, “the only creature capable of stopping while flying at a frightening speed, can thus fluctuate, advancing and retreating, going up and down.”

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/jhon-montoya

Jazz

Growing up in Ethiopia, the musical path was not one the young Mulatu Astatke was expected to go down. Instead, in the 1950s he went to high school at Lindisfarne College in north Wales to study aeronautical engineering. While there he had the chance to pick up musical instruments, and discovered he had a natural talent. He soon moved to pursue his interest in music at Trinity College of Music in London, where he studied clarinet, piano and percussion and recorded with Guyanan singer Frank Holder.  “I went to Trinity College in London and studied classical music, and that is where I found myself. They found I had the talent. My musical experience started here.” He then moved to the United States to study music at Berklee, Boston, where he was the first African student. Here he learned about arranging and composing, worked with big bands and took up the vibraphone. “And of course there was jazz,” he adds. “At Berklee I had a very interesting teacher who said, ‘Be yourself’. So I went to Berklee and became myself, by creating the music, Ethio jazz.”

 

https://youtu.be/RrjxHiUx1ps

Folk/Singer Songwriter, Rock

Sixto Diaz Rodriguez,  (born July 10, 1942), is a US-born Mexican musician from Detroit. His career initially proved short lived, but unknown to Rodriguez his albums became extremely successful and influential in South Africa. According to the film-makers of the documentary about him, sales of his records outnumbered those of Elvis in South Africa. He was rumoured there to have committed suicide. In the 1990s, determined South African fans managed to find and contact Rodriguez, which led to an unexpected revival of his musical career. This is told in the 2012 Academy Award–winning documentary film Searching for Sugar Man, which helped give Rodriguez a measure of fame in his home country. On May 9, 2013, Rodriguez received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his alma mater,Wayne State University (WSU), in Detroit. Rodriguez lives in Detroit’s historic Woodbridge neighborhood, through which he is seen walking in Searching for Sugar Man.

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/sixto-rodriguez

 

Funk & Disco,

Fabrizio Martina, the man behind Jolly Mare, is a champion turntablist, with a master degree in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Vibration Dynamics under his belt. Nicknamed ‘the new face of Italian disco’, he’s currently a full time producer and DJ, taking part in festivals across Europe from Sonar to Harvey’s Discotheque Stage at Bestival. A graduate of Red Bull Music Academy in New York, he has opened acts from Masters at Work to Roy Ayers,worked with the likes of Soul Clap and Thundercat, and has already been featured in the likes of Pitchfork, Mixmag and Okayplayer with his dream-like brand of electro- funk, disco and house. – Bastardjazz Recordings

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/jolly-mare

World Beat

 Italian producer DJ Khalab (previously notable for a string of buzzy solo releases on Clap!Clap!’s Black Acre Records) teams up with prolific Malian master musician and Griot singer Baba Sissoko for an exploration into deep, minimal experimental African/Electronic sounds. On the “A” side “Kumu” is a dark, glitchy four to the floor track with bubbling synths, live percussion and Baba Sissoko’s unmistakeable voice, while German producer Harmonious Thelonious aka Stefan Schwander (Antonelli Electr., Repeat Orchestra, Rhythm Maker) stretches out the tracks inherent minimalism while tastefully beefing up the drums, adding synth flourishes and well timed drops. On the flip, “Kumu” is a more acoustic vocal and Xalam driven track with stuttering electronic growls and groans and minimal percussion. London based Ibibio Sound Machine (Soundway Records) brings the funk into the mix with keyboard stabs, guitars, and a super catchy bassline and plenty of synthesizer explorations- Soundcloud

Latin/South American, World Beat

Since its formation in 2001, Novalima has been breaking down boundaries, uniting seemingly irreconcilable genres, communities and generations to create an inspiring movement that has revolutionized the music scene in their native Peru. Founded by four friends from Lima with a shared passion for both traditional Afro-Peruvian music and modern DJ culture, Novalima searches for the common ground between past and future, between tradition and innovation. A few of these recording sessions were done in Colombia which has given some of the new tracks an Afro-Colombian vibe and takes their exploration of deep Afro rhythms into the future.

Afrocentric, World Beat

The original song “Soukura” gets a signature deep and entrancing Ancestral Soul remix by African house legend Boddhi Satva . Perennial Wonderwheel favorite The Spy From Cairo gives “Nuba Noutou” a dubby dancehall re-rub, and label head Nickodemus takes “Rennat” into late night house territory with his remix, letting only the slightest of vocals come through and build tension until the final moments of the tune.

Dub/Reggae

In the heyday of Dubstep taking over America, Zeb decided to make his own version of steppers dub & wobbly bass that had more Soul, Dub & World influence rather than edgy techy vibes. Here you have the missing tapes of “ZEBSTEP” by ZEB aka The Spy from Cairo who has had over 5 studio albums to date as well as remixes for hundreds of artists including Bob Marley, Billy Holiday, Tosca, Nickodemus & Quantic, Mr Scruff, Bet.E & Stef, See-I & many more.

House

Bastard Jazz is proud to present another volume of our sporadic “Hear No Evil” compilations featuring unreleased tracks, B-Sides, Rarities and Remixes from the label. This time around we’re offering up a killer dancefloor remix of Potatohead People’s “Blossoms” by Montreal producer Nick Wisdom, Lord Echo’s unreleased dub of “Digital Haircut” from his Curiosities album, the instrumental of Captain Planet’s dancefloor burner “Poquito Mas”, and a beautiful samba-esque remix of the Elder Statesman’s “Montreux Sunrise” by Cali-cum-Rio DJ and remixer Tee Cardaci.

Afrocentric, World Beat

Alsarah is a Sudanese born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. Born in the capital city of Khartoum, where she spent the first 8 years of her life, she relocated to Taez, Yemen with her family to escape the ever stifling regime in her native country. She abruptly moved to the US in 1994, when a brief civil war broke out in Yemen. Now residing in Brooklyn, NY, she is a self-proclaimed practitioner of East-African retro-pop. Working on various projects, she most recently has been working with The Nile Project and was featured on their debut release, Aswan

Dub/Reggae, World Beat

The Spy from Cairo is Moreno Visini, the artist formerly known as Zeb. He has written hundreds of songs & has produced over 10 albums over the past 12 years including 5 ORGANIC GROOVES albums, 3 ZEB albums, 2 THE SPY FROM CAIRO albums. He has contributed to Turntables on the Hudson Compilations as well as Buddha Bar & countless others! Furthermore, this talented musician & studio wizard has done around 80-100 remixes for artists as diverse as Tosca, Billy Holiday, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Baba Maal, Astor Piazolla, Nickodemus, Novalima & many more…

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/zebda-the-spy-from-egypt

Gypsy Beats, World Beat,

The Brooklyn Gypsies are a group of NYC based musicians/ producers whose creative influences draw from the constant shifting of an ever changing urban sociopolitical landscape while retaining their unique cultural backgrounds through what has come to be recognized as “Gypsy” music. Originating from Spain, Japan, Russia, Italy & U.S.A. BK Gypsies truly represents Brooklyn’s diverse ethnic heritage and style. The gypsies came to be in 2012 within Williamsburg Brooklyn’s Studio BPM music scene. Members include: Carmen Estevez, Takuya Nakamura, Tina Kristina, Brandon Lewis, Troy “Mobius” Simms & Zeb “The Spy From Cairo”. After a number of collaborative projects between the artist were explored the opportunity to form a band that incorporated elements from each project arose. The groups sound is an infusion of Mediterranean, North African, Arabic Themes with Electronic, Dancehall and Dub Reggae. The term “Gypsy” was incorporated into the band name representing the nomadic spirit & way of life within this musical journey.

Afrocentric, World Beat

Born in the northern woodlands of Sweden, his Cypriot mother and Swedish father encouraged Thor Partridges leanings at a young age. Partridge grew up in a household filled with traditional Greek, African and Caribbean music and in early childhood his family relocated to New York, a city whose cultural diversity further influenced his style and taste. Thor added to his rich musical palette by studying classical piano, jazz guitar and bluegrass banjo. He showed a penchant for the ‘art of remix’ at an early age when he couldn’t help tinkering with classical piano arrangements. Thornato’s track “Gaita Gaita” was featured in Shambhala’s “A Journey Home” 2014 Afterstory movie. His musical style is generally referred to as Global Bass.

Electronica

The Greatest Hoax is the pseudonym used by Taylor Jordan — a young climate scientist living amongst the political backdrop of Washington, D.C. — who is also a classically trained pianist and composer exploring the crossroads of classical and electronic music. The compositions on his self-released debut album Enso last year were the culmination of melding traditional instrumentation, contemporary soundscapes, and modern song structures — and also undoubtedly informed by the perspective of his day to day work.

On Special Cases, Jordan steps away from his somber piano melodies and focuses on the electronic elements that underpin his work. The resulting sound is spattered with vibrant synths, syncopated rhythms, and ambient noises.

Electronica

Sheffield talent Pedram returns with his second EP next month, a cross-section of his many-pronged approach to the dancefloor that leads with a luscious downtempo cut, the dreamy and ornate ‘Lex’. The Iran-via-Yorkshire producer has recruited xxxy to remix the lead track, with the Berlin ex-pat breaking out the heavy machinery for a pneumatic and delirious ‘Warehouse Jam’ remix.The rest of the Lex EP touches on slow-mo euphoria (‘Ernstige’) and off-kilter deep house (‘Walked In’) with another remix of ‘Lex’ by Cardopusher

Deep House/Deep Techno, Techno
It took Etapp Kyle just a short time to make a giant leap from a stay-at-home audiophile to a status as hero on the decks. By now it’s clear he made the right moves – this young Ukranian artist is developing rapidly.
Today Etapp Kyle is on the threshold of a new level of creativity, alongside Techno music’s key artists. His studio work is being met with critical acclaim by respected artists and labels. Thus, his debut four tracker EP got released on Ben Klock’s label Klockworks, finally reaching the attention he deserves, channeling his music through sound systems of festivals and clubs worldwide. Having enlisted the support and interest of Russia’s Techno institution ARMA17, he made his first appearance in Moscow a couple of years ago. These days he is travelling across the world and also made camp with the Ostgut team.
With the most sophisticated combinations of Techno sounds of the dance floor, Etapp Kyle invites us to explore the depths of a piercing cold canyon, now and then carrying fleetingly to a textural and hardly tangible landscape of a forest at night, with softness and smooth motion of warm air. His love for dark and dynamic sounds finds its expression in the mixing with soft melodies and powerful grooves creating transparent, disembodied imprints of an illusory atmosphere.

Deep House/Deep Techno, Techno
This Etapp Kyle 12″ contains two magnificent, boundless excursions into reduced minimalism, without losing dance floor appeal or venturing two far into the abstract. The outer cuts are both sublime, and the B2 is a nice bonus which you’ll like if you’ve fancied any one of the two previously mentioned ones. Steady, focused, gently evolving minimal techno bliss.-Discogs

https://soundcloud.com/etappkyle/sets/kw10-etapp-kyle

Beats,

 Laband had, as he puts it, “a big fall from grace” where he could barely take care of himself, let alone write music. Before all that, though, Laband was one of South Africa’s bright young things, a gifted and troubled musician that got his start in a thrash punk band as a guitarist and screamer.
Soon, though, Laband fell in love with electronic music generally and Kid Loco specifically. Acid trips with A Grand Love Story led to his own sample-laden soundscapes that made him a star in his home country and, eventually, a deal with Compost Records in Europe to release his third album, Dark Days Exit in 2005. Laband has an uncommon touch with mellow sounds—a way of creating downtempo that never treads near cliché.
Things went quiet release-wise after Dark Days, but recently Laband has re-emerged with a new DJ name (Snakehips) and the promise of a new album with Compost. He also has plenty of opinions about music and his beloved—and fragile—homeland. Indeed, as RA’s Richard Marshall found out earlier this year, even as he makes noise about leaving South Africa, Laband can’t help but speak to how much he still has to learn from it.

 

Indie Dance

WHY?’s Yoni Wolf and Serengeti teamed up half a decade ago on Serengeti’s album Family & Friends, a conceptual song cycle couched in off-kilter experimental rap. The duo is back together under the name Yoni & Geti, and they’re about to release another dense, artful, outré conceptual hip-hop opus based on a script they wrote together on tour.

Testarossa tells the story of a star-crossed couple named Maddy and Davy, who get pregnant, get married, and watch their relationship fall under duress when Davy’s once-promising music career stalls out. He’s traveling the world playing garage rock for paltry crowds while she’s back home working as a cocktail waitress and fending off advances from would-be lovers including Davy’s former best friend. It’s an intriguing story, and lead single “Lunchline” graces it with equally intriguing sonics, with churning bass and swirling strings backing understated vocals about the stress of touring when you have a family at home

 

https://soundcloud.com/danshargel/sets/yoni-geti-testarossa

Funk & Disco, Video

This edit of Yves Simon ‘Au Pays Des Merveilles De Juliet’ first appeared as a free download for a super limited time via the Psychemagik soundcloud page. 
Now, after a long wait and many licensing delays the edit sees an official release on limited edition vinyl (500) via Leng Records. Played by many over the last year the edit takes all the elements of Yves Simon’s original, stretching it out from two minutes to over seven making it an instant classic. Cool vid to go with it.

Latin/South American,

Singer, composer, arranger, choir director and band leader, Daymé Arocena is a skilful, charismatic presence in Cuban music. Dressed always in white, it’s a visible reminder of her induction into the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria: its chants and repertoires are just as important to her as jazz and Cuban neo-soul. Aged 24, Daymé’s family background is typically packed with music. Her grandmother, she says, “sings better than she does” and her father has stacks of CDs – littered with the likes of George Benson’s smooth jazz classic ‘Breezin’ – which have trickled into his daughter’s tastes over the years.

She often immerses fragments of rumba rhythms and outbursts of scatting into her songs and performances. “Even though I’m a classical musician,” she explains, “at school I also sang Santeria songs, which is the official Cuban religion for me. I studied its beautiful energy and all the elements from the sea, to the wind and the earth. My saint is Yemaya, saint of the sea.”

Daymé experimented with a series of instruments – violin, trumpet, piano and guitar – before she found that Choir Directing, a route popular with Cuban children, was her niche. Her talent was spotted at a young age, with her winning the prestigious Marti y el Arte award in 2007 and becoming principal singer with big band Los Primos at age 14. With marks of approval soon to follow from the likes of the Lincoln Centre’s teacher and trumpet player Wynton Marsalis and much-lauded saxophonist Jane Bunnett, it wasn’t long before Daymé came to the attention of François Renié.

Communications Director at Cuban rum maker Havana Club and founder of the Havana Cultura* platform, which co-produced the Havana Cultura album series with Brownswood Recordings, he took an immediate shine to her. “Gilles and I met Dayme for the first time on Gilles’ first trip to Cuba,” he recalls, “with Edrey [from Grammy nominated Cuba band Ogguere] improvising a rumba session at a friend’s place. She started to sing and we were amazed. She was just a teenager.” She already knew and listened to the singers, rappers and musicians involved in the Havana Cultura project but was considered too young to join in.

But her time came a few years down the line with the Havana Cultura Mix project, which saw Gilles Peterson mentoring selected producers from around the world to make a record in Cuba with local musicians. Following her audition, all of the producers to decided they wanted to work with her: she sung on three tracks on the album, including the massive “U Knew Before”. Seeing huge potential in her, Gilles invited her to London to perform at the album launch event to enchant a packed out audience and seal plans for a solo record with Brownswood Recordings and Havana Cultura.

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/dayme-arocena

Experimental

Before Gavin Russom was building instruments for Black Dice and James Murphy and performing in LCD Soundsystem, there was Paper Eyes. Taking jagged tape-loops and beat-up synthesizers, Russom bashed together industrial music, house, no wave, disco and noise and still ended up with music that sounded fun. Russom’s work will get a second life next month when he releases Source Cognitive Drive – Transmissions 1996-1998a compilation on Not Waving’s Ecstatic Recordings- Fact Magazine

https://soundcloud.com/paper-eyes/sets/blue-tang

Ambient, ,

DIGISEEDS is the first chapter in a series of Ultimae compilations conceptualized by Czech artist Lubos Cvrk aka Ambientium. As an electronic music stakhanovite, Lubos brought together composers from all around the world to create a story which slowly enwraps the listener in a soft and eerie ambient reverie.

World Beat

‘Ines’ is a Nicolas Jaar compilation through his Clown and Sunset label, featuring himself alongside fledgling producers Nikita Quasim and Soul Keita.
The full-length follows two mini-compilations on Clown and Sunset, both of which exclusively showcase the aforementioned three artists. Much like Jaar, Soul Keita and Quasim are unusually young producers: the former was 17 year old, the latter 20 when this was released in 2010.  Musically, Soul Keita limits himself to Ethiopian traditional instruments and an 808 drum machine. As for Quasim, her interest in music composition supposedly began at the age of 11, when she made a field recording of various sounds from around her house as a birthday present to her mother.Ines features ten new productions in total from the trio of artists, including one that shoes all three collaborating for the first time as the Clown n’ Sunset Collective-Resident Advisor

World Beat,

Nicola Cruz’s music invokes the landscapes and rituals of his homeland, Ecuador, a country that is home both to the Andes mountains and the Amazon jungle. His music is an exploration of ancient mythologies and folkloric traditions in a modern setting. Nicola was born in Limoges, France, to Ecuadorian parents. His upbringing was surrounded by a rich musical education in both indigenous traditions and Western theories and from a young age he took to percussion.

From this musical connection between past and present, traditional and modern, an ongoing South American movement has arisen, exploring the local indigenous and Afro-cosmologies through a carefully crafted analogue sound.

https://soundcloud.com/nicolacruz/sets/prender-el-alma

Afrocentric, World Beat,

For more than a decade, the Berlin-based Daniel Haaksman has put out urban sounds from Brazil via his compilations and releases on his label, Man Recordings. In 2012, he traveled to Angola for a DJ gig and plunged into the world of Kuduro, that specific Angolan high-speed dance style that originated in the late 1980s from hybridization of Euro house, American rap and Angolan semba. He then encountered various musical concepts for the future that are far from the nostalgic look of pop and club music in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, on a trip through the former Portuguese speaking colony Mozambique, as well as numerous visits to Lisbon.

Throughout and after those trips, Haaksman tells us, he found himself wondering, “What kind of sounds are associated with the African continent? How does Africa sound in the 21st century? What is ‘African’ music in the age of digital media and a frenzied globalization?”

He attempts to provide answers in his new album, African Fabrics.-Sound and Colours

Funk & Disco

The Heard is a funk machine venerated for its deep pocket, authentic grooves, and reverence for legendary funk.In The Heard’s hometown of Chicago, the group cut its teeth delivering hard hitting performances at some of the city’s top venues – the beloved aliveOne, Metro Chicago, Lincoln Hall, Concord Music Hall, and Congress Theater. The band has backed hip hop artist Lyrics Born, former Galactic vocalist Theryl “Houseman” DeClouet, and has shared stages across the U.S. with The New Mastersounds, Lettuce, The Nth Power, Dumpstaphunk, Orgone, The Motet, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Slightly Stoopid, The Funky Meters, and George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. The Heard’s music features powerful horn melodies delivered with precision and swagger by Parris Fleming (trumpet), Bryant Smith (trombone) and Lucas Ellman (saxophone), the driving rhythm guitar playing of Taras Horalewskyj, tasteful keyboard work and soulful vocals by Cole DeGenova, and a slamming foundation provided by drummer PJ Howard and bassist Mike Starr.

World Beat

Andi Otto is a composer and performer of electronic music from Hamburg, Germany. He has released three Electronica records as Springintgut on international labels and performs live with a combination of cello, computer and sensors which he calls Fello. The Fello development has been supported by STEIM in Amsterdam, a studio and research institute dedicated to the instrumental in electronic live music. Andi Otto currently writes his PhD on the history of STEIM’s electronic musical instruments since 1969. In autumn 2011 he received the Villa Kamogawa scholarship from the Goethe Institut in Kyoto, Japan and tours internationally, often as duo with a DJ.

https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/andi-otto

Jam Bands/Trippy Beats, Jazz

Darkside drum machine jazz from Berceuse Heroique, Nous and Bedouin regular Healing Force Project. Sounding like early 23 Skidoo replayed on drum machines and samplers, there’s much to admire about the hectic rhythms, foreboding textures and dusty samples at the heart of Gravitational Lensing. It’s all pretty out there, paranoid and intense, with the fizzing drums, mangled horns and metallic percussion hits of “Random Walks” just edging out the experimental jungle-jazz madness of “Apophenia” in the “top tracks” stakes. It might take a few plays to really sink in, but there’s no doubt it’s worth the effort-(Juno Records Review)

 

Hip-Hop,

Introducing Intalekt, the south East London based producer & songwriter with the first single from his debut EP IIWII , “It Is What It Is”. ‘Get By’ sees Intalekt’s soulful instrumental blend effortlessly with good friend and fellow artist Jay Prince’s story-telling style of lyrical flow, a refreshing stance on UK underground Hip-Hop. The resulting composure ultimately speaks of urban survival, combining funk-infused summer themes layering over a down to earth narrative which sets a consistent theme for the entire IIWII project

Video, World Beat

The Very Best features Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio, Vaccines guitarist Freddie Cowan, and EDM newcomer Jutty Ranx. On ‘Makes a King’ they move away from the  Afro dance pop of their last effort for something that feels much closer to the earth.

House, World Beat,

The Alma Negra collective consists with four Swiss based friends and musical kindred spirits. Crossing many musical traditions their eclectic sound is perhaps a result of their varied and cross cultural backgrounds. The Figuiera Brothers Dersu & Diego who have their roots in Cape Verde, Dario is half Italian, half Portuguese and finally Mario who has has Spanish roots. Collectively the foursome’s influences and skills are wide ranging, bringing of course DJing and production prowess and pooling a vast musical knowledge from jazz to African and Latin-music, Donald Byrd to Fela Kuti to Theo Parrish to name a few respected musicians.