The UK’s Deadpoole has really been honing his beat-making abilities.
His latest EP, done in collaboration with ThinkZebra Apparel, is half-parts chill half-parts wonky and absolutely perfect for those late night moods. I also love the little bits of sampling he peppers throughout his tracks. Check out the free 6-track EP, Underwater Skies, and head on over to his bandcamp page for more releases.
A smooth downtempo rhythm alongside almost indiscernable vocals makes for a slow burning and mesmerizing track.
I love the spooky and somewhat tribal lead Antwerp creates into the fluid beat laid down slightly before the 1 minute mark in his single, “Maze.” His manipulation and overall control is mind-melting and a beautiful thing.
Head on over to his Soundcloud page to listen to more as you await his upcoming EP release, Myriad Shapes (via Noise Praise).
I thoroughly enjoy Moon Bounce’s electronic approach. Downtempo glitch-hop with heavy layers, plenty of automation, and enough effects and samples to make my head spin. He keeps everything tight and bound together, no fray ends will lead your attention stray.
His latest EP drop, Wheelhouse, is a monster collection of tracks. “Flood Gate” hits you quite hard as an opening track with a lot of future R&B influence. I was particularly fond of the lushness that was immediately apparent in the third track, “Arcade,” which dropped the beat multiple times over comic space ship sounds. It’s really hard to envision what’s going on in Corey Regensburg’s mind to create this eclectic form of electronic music.
Stream Wheelhouse in its entirety below and be sure to grab the ultra neat cassette here.
THE-DRUM is back with a spankin’ new mix for SSENSE. This is 39 minutes (and 34 seconds) of madness. So so so so tight. It builds and builds and cools off and then builds. Wow wow wow. Check it out below and be on the lookout for their full length album debut this June!!! Ahhhh I’m HYPE!!!!
How could you not love this man?
As we’re all anxiously awaiting Bibio’s upcoming album, Silver Wilkinson (due out May 14th) – we recently have been greeted with his fabulous new single, “You.” For more about the track and from the man himself, read below on his thoughts.
‘You’ has the longest history on this album because an early version of it was actually made around 5 or 6 years ago. At that time I was making a lot of cut-up sampled hip hop type stuff on my MPC. I always liked the track but it felt unfinished at the time and I didn’t want to just put out short beat type tracks on my albums. Tracks like ‘Fire Ant’ (from the album Ambivalence Avenue) started in a similar way, until I worked more sections into it and fleshed it out. A similar situation happened with ‘You’ but this time it was partly prompted by the positive response I had from early versions of the track. I did quite a few shows between 2009-2011 around the world, mostly Europe, and an early version of ‘You’ got played at most shows. It always seemed to get a good response, people reacting like they already knew it… then people started asking what it was. It brought my attention back to the track when I was in my studio – thankfully I had saved all the original samples on my MPC so I ‘produced’ it again, pretty much from scratch, upping the tempo and making it bounce more and getting the groove to sit right. I still felt that it needed fleshing out, so I revisited the record where I got the original samples from and sampled more parts to create the outro as well as adding more of my own instruments and drums. The intro was made with live instruments, me playing bass, guitar, a sitar-like string instrument and rhodes piano as well as drum machine sounds. I referenced the melodies I had created in the main sampled section of the track by highlighting them in the instrumental intro section. Finally the track felt complete so it was then added to the ‘potential album’ playlists which had been growing over the last two years. Tracks in the playlists got added and taken off on a regular basis, but ‘You’, despite being one of the older tracks, always remained there – it felt right and I never tired of it. It’s also the only track on the album that relies more on samples as opposed to multi-tracked live instruments, so I think for this reason it kind of stands out.
If you can’t wait until next week, grab your pre-order here. Happy Monday y’all.
Otherwise known as Jason Drake (or Cassettes Won’t Listen), Dfalt has been moving with tremendous pace pushing his upcoming release, Helsinki Beat Tape (Part One).
Dropping June 11th via the label Daylight Curfew, this first installment of the trilogy that will be available online as well as limited signed/colored cassettes. His last album, Greyscale, featured a lot more electronic modulation while Helsinki is already sounding gritty and raw. I’m super excited to see how this 3-part album release will sound.
Check out the first single, “Moon Milkshake,” below which integrates that old early 90′s hip hop sound with some impressive production.
With a total population of under half a million over an area of about 40,000 sq mi, Iceland is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. This fact alone intrigues me greatly.
Iceland Music Export is back with the sixth edition of their compilation series that showcases a diverse collection of artists from all over the country. A sampler of contemporary Icelandic music, listen to a handful of some of my favorite tracks and be sure to read up more on the project here.
Enjoy.
I can’t believe I made myself wait this long to share this album but, Sunday is so absolutely fitting of a day to enjoy the collection of smooth beat-driven tunes I’m about to unleash on your ears. Melodic keys, heavy jazz influences, and a simple yet calming hip-hop beat just make everything about your day of rest that much better.
Hailing from the Ukraine, stay posted to the duo via Soundcloud or their Facebook page. Listen to their clean-cut 14-track release, Daybreak, below.
BONUS: Even newer..
There’s always something so lush and soulful coming off the fingertips of the English beat-maestro, Mecca:83. Mean on the raw drum machine with stacks of old vinyl just waiting to be sampled, this Manchester-based artist has such a great flow going on.
It’s been awhile since I’ve wandered over to his Soundcloud page, so here’s some of my recent favorites to smooth out your mid-week. Throw the headphones on and enjoy.
Also be sure to check out his newer project, Alexis Davis, which just dropped an incredibly fluid track dedicated to the master, Roy Ayers.
This is pretty much perfect Sunday Listening if I do say so myself. A larger reach than just your typical beat maker, Bay Blue goes above and beyond the act of sampling.
A Bay-area based instrumental group led by Matt Chang, the tracks are thoughtfully composed then chopped into soulful beats and rhythms that reminds your ears of early 20th century jazz and the Louisiana street musicians. What this artist can do with just a sampler is something hard to wrap your mind around, especially when you give the album a complete and full listen. Hit play below and do a bit more reading on the release here.
