Last Friday saw Fabric's launch party for their rather excellent new Elevator Music Volume One compilation, which does an impressive job of gathering together a host of unreleased tracks from new and established producers working in that grey area between dubstep, house, techno and garage. It speaks volumes that even the divisions between certain 'strains' of dubstep are beginning to crumble, leaving a bizarre and hugely exciting mutant field completely resistant to easy categorisation.
The music on Friday was ample evidence of that, from the distinctly garagey flavour to the end of Sigha's frosty techno set to Jackmaster's genre-defying end of night show, which managed to weave seamlessly between a host of different styles without losing an ounce of its addictive groove. In between, Joy Orbison played to an unsurprisingly packed room at the unseasonal time of 11:30, Mosca, Hot City, Shortstuff and Untold laid waste to the third room, and I once again managed to miss 2562. Either way, it was an appropriate way to open a year sure to be an exciting and innovative one for bass music.
I reviewed Elevator Music for Drowned In Sound here: "Elevator Music’s real success is that it vindicates the notion that the music emerging from this axis is more than just dancefloor fodder. Innovation is driven by group interactions and friendly one-upmanship, rather than by any one producer. Anyone’s only as good as their last release - a forceful creative motivation, and one which makes each track on here as rewarding in this context as in a longer mix. It’s probably a bit early to be throwing around ‘compilation of the year’ accolades in January, but Elevator Music Volume 1 has thrown down one hell of a gauntlet. It’ll take some beating."
More sad news; this time the death of Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr - better known by his stage name of Jay Reatard, who passed away on January 13th at the shocking and entirely unfair age of 29.
I'm unfamiliar with the vast majority of his music, but to hear of anyone dying so young - let alone a talented and well-respected musician - is an awful thing. R.I.P.
It's been a few weeks now since Vic Chesnutt passed away, and in between the news sinking in and realising I'm (selfishly) very gutted to never have seen him perform live, I've been obsessively re-listening to his most recent pair of albums for Constellation. In fact, they're the only two I've heard - his gorgeous collaboration with A Silver Mt. Zion, North Star Deserter acted as an introduction. Last year's At The Cut, was a sparser and more sombre affair - perhaps unsurprising given the dubious benefit of hindsight.
There have been some fantastic tributes written to him on both The Quietus and Pitchfork, both of which articulate far better than I could how unique an artist he was, but it's suffice to say that to these ears he was a singular voice, sardonic, self-depreciating and witty in equal measure. His is a sad loss - R.I.P Vic.
Kieran Hebden gave out a mix CD entitled Much Love To The Plastic People last month, at the final night of his DJ residency at the club of the same name. After circulating for a while on messageboards and blogs, he's posted the mix for download at Soundcloud. It's well worth a listen, starting on recent single 'Love Cry' and featuring a few new tracks, presumably off his upcoming There Is Love In You full length.Get it here.
There must be somethin' in the water round at the ol' Kemp family place. Brackles’ production trajectory over the past year has been quirky enough – the progression between the stop-start technoid dynamics of early track ‘Glazed’ and the dazzling neon hues of his recent remix of Crystal Fighters’ ‘I Love London’ couldn’t have been more dramatic – but if anything his brother has managed to outdo him on the dancefloor chemistry front.
And chemistry it is – ill-judged Spandau Ballet jokes aside, Martin Kemp’s production is pure gold. At this point, it's less an art than a science. There were hints in the warped aura and staggering gait of ‘No Charisma’, but the pair of tracks on his second Blunted Robots release see him do things with percussion that simply shouldn’t work in a dancefloor environment. UK funky’s commitment to tribalism is turned inside out on ‘After The Night’, each snare hit landing at precisely the opposite place than expected, lending a coarse sense of unpredictability that ramps the track’s tension to breaking point. Combined with the sinogrime-inspired minimalism of the track’s main melody it’s disorienting but relentlessly propulsive.
‘Aztec’ takes the previous track’s melodic Orientalism and runs with it; but instead of pushing ever-forward it expands laterally, building layer upon layer of bleeps and serrated hi-hats into an odd skanking rhythm. It remains almost impossibly supple though, contorting its stop-start dynamics into any number of geometric shapes over its six-minute length. Both tracks remain mysterious even after a huge number of listens (one of the main reasons this review is a few weeks late), but either way the diffuse yet hugely energetic nature of Kemp’s percussion is fast becoming a trademark.
And as if any more evidence was required, his remix of Royal T’s ‘1 Up’ is positively labyrinthine. Stabs of the original’s harsh motif burst out of the mix, shrouded in a whirl of elastic drum hits that combine to give the dizzying impression that you’ve either lost your marbles or ended up on a seriously perverse mind trip – and one that finds its resolution in dancing like your nerves are on fire. As far as these ears are concerned, the four tracks he’s officially released have already eclipsed his brother’s back catalogue (and that’s no mean feat). If there’s any justice, 2010 will be his year. http://www.myspace.com/themartinkemp
In typically generous form, FACT Magazine have seen fit to start the new year with a massive bang, giving away a pair of free tracks and a particularly mindblowing mix. Greena's remix of Mosca's 'Square One' follows on where his recent Apple Pips debut left off: all asymmetric percussive patterns that borrow equally from house, garage and dubstep, and a cheeky sense of euphoric bounce nicked from Buraka Som Sistema's neon-tinted kuduro. My only qualm is that it doesn't last that little bit longer. It's available for seven days, here.
Meanwhile, Werk Discs head honcho Actress' collaboration with labelmate Disrupt is a lumbering beast of a track, a woozy, smoked-out synth line and Zomby-esque bleeps coalescing to form an odd, wonky form of techno. It's perverse, creepy and wierdly addictive, and available for seven days here.
Finally, Deadboy has delivered the latest in FACT's pretty-damn-essential mix series, turning in a neatly mixed blend of garage, funky and 'what-you-call-it' sounds to dazzling effect. His 'U Cheated' was a contender for one of my favourite tracks of 2009, welding melancholy vocal stabs to an absolutely killer bass breakdown that I've still not managed to hear on a dancefloor. He's got a new one, 'If U Want Me', coming out in the next month or so and it's even better, closing the mix in full-on party style.
Download it here, and catch him in Room 1 of Fabric this Friday, where he appears as part of the Numbers label's showcase alongside Todd Edwards, Rustie, Hudson Mohawke and Jackmaster. It's going to be massive.
Erased Tapes has just released Olafur Arnalds' quite brilliant score for Wayne McGregor's recent ballet Dyad 1909 - great news by itself, but while digging around doing some research for the review, I stumbled across a fascinating set of articles and information about McGregor himself. I don't know a lot about contemporary dance at all, bar the projects that have formed a cross over with the music world (Merce Cunningham's Split Sides with Radiohead and Sigur Ros, Peter Broderick scoring Adrienne Hart's Falling From Trees), but as a biology graduate it's interesting to see that McGregor's been involved in a series of research projects about the cognitive and biological aspects of creativity.
At the end of every year when the 'best of' lists come out, there's always a discussion around the subjectivity and individuality of artistic creation and appreciation, and it always seems that there's precious little talk about what we do know about the science behind the creative process. There's a great article by Euan Ferguson, writing for the Observer, that discusses the projects with McGregor and some of the scientists involved in these research projects. It's well worth reading. There's also a lot more about his R-Research on McGregor's home page.
Arnalds' score itself is wonderful, further developing the subtle electronic elements of his earlier compositions. Both understated and openly dramatic, it seems to fit perfectly with the themes running through Dyad 1909 - the chill elemental power of the Antarctic, and a tough balletic delicacy of touch. '3326' is particularly striking, a sparse solo violin arrangement that builds to a furious and heartfelt crescendo. Quite aside from being my favourite thing he's yet written, this score suggests that his forthcoming third album will be his most fully realised statement yet.
Happy new year! After a bit of a break from normal service and with the reserves of Christmas spirit(s) more or less depleted at this point, here's a final shout from 2009 - a new mix of mine, made up almost entirely of tunes released over the last year. The aim was to try and cobble together fragments of my favourite tracks from the past twelve months, as well as working in lieu of a slightly predictable year-end list of CB/OB's 'Favourite ...'s of the year'. Usual agenda - Ableton-based, recorded live.
Tracklist Kowton – Stasis (G Mix) Julio Bashmore – Um Bongo Hackman – Funky Tune > Spherix – Lesser People Shackleton – Death Is Not Final Greena – Tenzado > Hard House Banton – Reign Martin Kemp – After The Night J. Kenzo - Conqueror Kode9 – Black Sun Crazy Cousinz – Inflation Doc Daneeka – Funky Bit Geiom – Eyl Booty L-Vis 1990 - Run Hot City – No More Martin Kemp – No Charisma Scuba – Aesaunic Pinch – Get Up (Guido Remix) Ike Release – Jenova > Joy Orbison – J. Doe Ikonika – Fish Untold – Dante Pangaea – Memories Naphta/Grievous Angel – Soundclash VIP Guido – Beautiful Complication
Last Friday saw Fabric's launch party for their rather excellent new Elevator Music Volume One compilation, which does an impressive job of gathering together a host of unreleased tracks from new and established producers working in that grey area between dubstep, house, techno and garage. It speaks volumes that even the divisions between certain 'strains' of dubstep are beginning to crumble, leaving a bizarre and hugely exciting mutant field completely resistant to easy categorisation.
