It's pretty safe to say that Digital Mystik Mala's contribution to electronic music over the past five years cannot be understated. Of the Croydon duo/trio (depending on who you chat to) his music is the most inscrutable, infused with a curious sense of place-and-timelessness that sets him apart from co-conspirators Loefah and Coki. Tracks like 'Forgive', 'Anti-War Dub' and 'Level Nine' are as warm and soulful as they are futuristic, sounding as though they could as easily have been unearthed from a hidden archive of fifty-year-old tapes as made yesterday in a modern studio.
He's the guest on Gilles Peterson's latest downloadable podcast, chatting about his origins and production, playing some of his new tracks and a set of his current favourites. The result is probably the most rewarding hour I've spent listening to music for a long time, veering from the almost unbearable emotional weight of his own 'Education' to Steve Reich's 'New York Counterpoint', via classic dub and some new tracks from the Deep Medi label roster. Surely the internet's greatest achievement so far is in making gems like this freely available.
After last week's post about Four Tet's upcoming new album and remix EP, Hebden himself made an appearance on Gilles Peterson's Radio 1 show this week to preview a new track, 'Plastic People' and Joy Orbison's remix of 'Love Cry'.
'Plastic People', a reference to his residency at the club of the same name, is of the same ilk as 'Love Cry', a gradually building and shifting 4/4 overlaid with certain Four Tet trademarks - loose-limbed, organic percussion and delicate chimes. It's also quite wonderful, playing a distinctly garagey beat that could have some straight from his collaborative work with Burial against looped diva vocals and the all-encompassing synth wash that he shares with Joy Orbison.
Chatting to Peterson, he revealed that his new record was largely influenced by his DJ residencies at The End and Plastic People, and "just changing the tempo of my music to a more house type of tempo... the combination of that and the DJing has been the biggest influence on the new record for sure".
Joy Orbison's 'Love Cry' takes the original's vocal stutter and runs with it, setting the entire thing to the same balance of euphoria and melancholy that made 'Hyph Mngo' so addictive, and manages to out-class the already brilliant original.
Roska's also put a snippet of his 'Love Cry' remix up on his Myspace - it's as expected from Roska, complete with his trademark cocky namecheck vocal sample. Both mixes are due out on a 12" in the next couple of weeks.
It's pretty safe to say that Digital Mystik Mala's contribution to electronic music over the past five years cannot be understated. Of the Croydon duo/trio (depending on who you chat to) his music is the most inscrutable, infused with a curious sense of place-and-timelessness that sets him apart from co-conspirators Loefah and Coki. Tracks like 'Forgive', 'Anti-War Dub' and 'Level Nine' are as warm and soulful as they are futuristic, sounding as though they could as easily have been unearthed from a hidden archive of fifty-year-old tapes as made yesterday in a modern studio.
