Not being ones for reporting news lightly, yesterday's revelation that we can expect Ikonika's debut album to drop on Hyperdub on April 6th is going to have to be the exception that proves the rule. Everything she's released thus far has been compulsively brilliant, and the sound quality of her productions has been on a steady increase, from the warped mindfuck of debut 'Please' to the crystalline synth auras of recent B-side 'Fish'. Her DJ sets have also been steadily growing in stature, gradually expanding to become vibrant bursts of pure energy that manage to incorporate elements of dubstep, house, funky and garage without remaining anything for too long.
The album will be preceded by an advance 12", 'The Idiot' (a clip of which is posted below). Dostoevsky fan perhaps - although given that her recent Planet Mu debut was titled 'Smuck', it's possible she just doesn't tolerate fools lightly. Either way, expect Contact, Love, Want, Have to be as essential as they come.
Oft-overlooked Scottish dubstep head Gravious has just made his most recent podcast available for download from his website. It brings together a host of his newest productions, several of which are signed for vinyl release this year, and ranges from echo-drenched melody to moody, alien soundscaping. First to emerge on wax is his brooding remix of Erik XVI, out now (or very soon) on Highpoint Lowlife, which takes the staggered 'wonky' flex of Zomby's earlier tracks and fires it into orbit. In a good way, naturally.
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.
Yes, the man's no longer Final Fantasy, but there's a strangely appropriate side to Owen Pallett's decision to go without pseudonym. His new album Heartland is a fuller and more complete artistic experience than ever before, hugely enriched by the presence of an orchestra under his control but with his perverse sense of humour left intact. It's a marvelous collection of songs as well as a coherent listen in its own right, and will likely leave a similar impact on the rest of 2010 as Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion did on 2009.
"Happily, what hasn’t been lost is the deliciously voyeuristic slant to his lyrics. A sense of detachment from the subject, which on He Poos Clouds took the form of a computer game in which he controlled his object of desire, is more alive than ever in Owen’s self-imposed status as a deity. As ever, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that hidden beneath the surreal sheen of his wordplay lurks a cheeky album length innuendo. As if track titles like ‘Lewis Takes His Shirt Off’ weren’t enough, he throws the gauntlet down pretty clearly on ‘The Great Elsewhere’ when he invites the protagonist to “Wrestle, let’s wrestle / You can pin me to anything”. This God doesn’t just love, although he clearly does – he lusts. And better, he’s in control. Hardly the purest of role models then, but one with an impressive command of implied sexuality."
The esteemed and excellent Sonic Router blog (to which I am an occasional contributor) reaches the grand old age of one next month, and to celebrate they've put together one hell of a line-up to take over the second room of Bristol's Dissident night. It's at Lakota on the 6th February, and the Sonic Router room will be glaced with the fluorescent stylings of the Blunted Robots Brackles and Shortstuff, Jack Sparrow's ultra-percussive dubstep and a dose of purple from Gemmy - as well as Kelly Twins, Reecha and SR's own MLR. The third room boasts a similarly impressive roster, hosted by Rooted Records' Idle Hands label - with Peverelist, October, Kowton and Atki2.
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.
Not being ones for reporting news lightly, yesterday's revelation that we can expect Ikonika's debut album to drop on Hyperdub on April 6th is going to have to be the exception that proves the rule. Everything she's released thus far has been compulsively brilliant, and the sound quality of her productions has been on a steady increase, from the warped mindfuck of debut 'Please' to the crystalline synth auras of recent B-side 'Fish'. Her DJ sets have also been steadily growing in stature, gradually expanding to become vibrant bursts of pure energy that manage to incorporate elements of dubstep, house, funky and garage without remaining anything for too long.
