featured releases
(Carpark) CD & LP
Toro Y Moi is producer Chaz Bundick’s solo dreamwave (or chillwave, WHATEVER!) endeavor that adds another quaint little album to the slowly building mountain of shoegaze miniatures that are seamlessly melding 80’s synthpop, post-electro &… well, Boards Of Canada songs (yeah, we said it). Much of Causers Of This sounds like Panda Bear if he went all super synthy & turned down the reverb. Tunes like “Thanks Vision” have that warbly tape vibe of Neon Indian & Washed Out, but still retain the structure of a catchy as hell modern pop tune.
soar through cyberspace to Toro Y Moi’s MySpace
17 February 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic, Pop / Rock
(Rough Trade) CD & 2LP
German Hendrik Weber has a pretty impeccable track record so far when it comes to melancholic, melodic minimal techno. His last full length effort This Bliss was one of 2008’s electronic highlights. Along with Dial label mates Sten & Efdemin, Pantha trolls an eloquent little nook of the minimal techno pantheon that focuses mores on melody & emotional gravity than bass weight & dancefloor propulsion. With Black Noise, Weber has refined the glistening sheen of his beats even more. Weber’s propensity for lilting, chiming bell-toned techno is in brilliant form here, as Black Noise artfully straddles the line separating chill-hour microhouse & sleek minimal dancefloor mastery. Features “Stick To My Side”, a great duet with Panda Bear. A great start to what promises to be a strong year of electronic full lengths.
visit Pantha Du Prince on myspace
17 February 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic
CD (Domino)
Kieren Hebden has trasversed a great deal of beatsmithery over the last few years. On top of successful forays through “folktronica” (can we now officially retire that silly term) with Rounds & Everything Ecstatic, he ventured deep into the free-music ether with jazz legend Steve Reid. Surprising perhaps, that There Is Love In You sees Hebden in a mode that renders him as accessible as he’s likely to get. Much like 2008’s teaser EP Ringer, Hebden has become well acquainted with 4/4 kick structures & cycling psychedelic techno voyages. Early single “Love Cry” has won over clubs — not a typical Four Tet thing to do — and much of There Is Love in You hovers close to the dancefloor. The grounded rhythms & thrumming grooves are a fresh respite from all that twinkling, strumming, glistening petite electronica that litters the glut of Hebden’s back catalog.
28 January 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic
CD & 3LP (Perlon)
As founder of the impressively out there Skull Disco label, Sam Shackleton has a rep as an uncompromising idealist – Three EPs sees Shack stick to his guns & the results are truly original sounding bass-experiments. Dark, swarming atmospheres are pelted with tribal percussion, tambourines & the odd clap. Most of these tracks build with a teeming paranoia or tension, with the catharsis usually broken by some heaving bass-drop that starts a strange, ghost-haunted train rolling. “Moon Over Joseph’s Burial” & “Asha In The Tabernacle” are menacing.
We’re happy to report that this lovely gentleman will be playing town, February 28 at Element. Details posted over here...
9 January 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Avant-Garde, Electronic
CD & 3LP (Tectonic)
Dutch producer Dave Huismans blew everyone away with his tech-step sketches on 2008’s Aerial. Fitting that he upped the ante with Unbalance, another vast exploration that deftly diplays the mutual benefits that surface when techno’s arpeggiation & clipped propulsion is fused with dubstep’s spatial inclinations & sub-bass weight. Delayed chords & sine waves are pinned down by thumping kick patterns & syncopated riddims for a truly fresh take on the ever-permutating strands of bass music that 2562 plays with. Wander over to his MySpace & clock “Flashback”… reeeally good.
We’re happy to report that this lovely gentleman will be playing town, February 18 at Lucky Bar. Here’s more info…
2562 on MySpace
8 January 2010 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic
Here’s our annual breakdown of what turned our cranks in 2009. An interesting year, with arguably the biggest album of the year (Merriweather Post Pavilion) released within the the first 30 days of the year’s start! Many were swooned by the Dirty Projectors’ r&b alt-pop; few could deny Grizzly Bear’s charms; and who didn’t sing along to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll”. Thanks for all the fun 2009…
Listen here...
7 December 2009 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic, Hip-Hop, Pop / Rock, Reissued / Remastered
| [8]
CD & 2LP (ATP)
Fuck Buttons pleasantly surprised everyone with their debut Street Horrrsing; obviously there was the suspicion around Pitchfork’s “pat-on-the-bum to fame”, but hey why not… let’s get more people into noisy-electronic music! The British duo return with Tarot Sport, a ramped up techno-ish take on the ultraviolet spectrums of noise that garnered all that praise for Street Horrrsing. “Surf Solar” kicks things of like a rave for witches; cackling melodic static over throbbing bass & kick drums. Equal parts shoegaze/techno/drone, Fuck Buttons are a nice respite from the throes of Animal Collective imitators & indie-popsters that dominate everyone’s attention spans.
7 December 2009 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic
CD (Thrill Jockey)
John McEntire & co. have drifted into a weird realm of “near-forgotten legend” status, but few bands considered “indie” have the virtuosity & instrumental chops that these dudes wag around. In 2009, for anyone with the time & attention span to invest in something a little deeper (2 things waning in most modern music fans), few albums offered as rich a sound world as Beacons Of Ancestorship. From glitchy permutations on modern beatsmiths like Flying Lotus (“Monument Six One Thousand”) to the classic cinematic Morricone-esque jams that we’ve some to love (“The Fall Of Seven Diamonds Plus One”), Tortoise so obviously know what the fuck they are doing. Time signatures, modulating melodicism, emotional gravity, phenomenal drum work & some fierce riffage all congeal here to take a stand for serious musicianship as a vital, relevant & under-appreciated element of indie-music culture in 2009.
Absolute masters.
7 December 2009 by Jeremy Robinson
| Avant-Garde, Electronic, Pop / Rock
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Listen here...
30 October 2009 by Jeremy Robinson
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
(Hyperdub) 2CD & 5X12”
No label has pushed the envelope as much as Hyperdub over the last 12 months. Kode9’s ear for the “next level” – be it dubstep, purple, wonky or funky – is seeming unparalleled at this point. 5 Years Of Hyperdub is a 2-disc affair that celebrates the past, present & future of the label & in fine form. Disc 1 is wrought with new exclusive heavy hitters; Flying Lotus drops “Disco Balls”, his most club friendly affair yet; Burial sneaks in with “Fostercare”, another great addition to his canon of sleek, sensually melancholic sound; but the trophy goes to the closing “Stash” from Joker & Ginz, the next definitive statement in the mandate of the Purple City sound. Disc 2 features the “hits”; Burial’s “South London Boroughs”, Kode9’s “Ghost Town”, Joker’s “Digidesign” & Rustie’s sick remix of Zomby’s “Spliff Dub” are all here. Wow, electronic music is fun AND interesting in 2009.
30 October 2009 by Chris Long
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
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