Artist: Kevin McPhee Title: Sleep Label: Idle Hands Genre: Techno Format: 12", Digital
Let’s hope that Canadian producer Kevin McPhee can avoid falling into the trap that so many promising producers are guilty of. McPhee received a lot of praise earlier this year for his debut release, Get In With You on [Naked Lunch]. Let’s hope that he can learn a lesson from other upcoming producers, who having enjoyed a brief taste of recognition and decide to rush out a slew of identikit releases in a short space of time, effectively alienating those who had found their first few steps so endearing. It speaks in McPhee’s favour that his music could never be described as ‘big room’ or ‘peak time’.
Instead, he prefers to follow a path where subtlety and creating an atmosphere are at a premium. It certainly sounds that way on the title track: over a pared back groove, he layers atmospheric textures that are both haunting and curiously upbeat. This is the strength of McPhee’s approach - his sound is both involved and understated, complex and at the same time brilliant in its simplicity. “House 44” follows a similar path, but is more lo-fi sounding, as wave upon wave of hissing percussion is fused with stuttering vocal samples, woozy atmospherics and doubled-up beats. It’s in keeping with McPhee’s idiosyncratic seduction techniques – something that on the evidence of Sleep, will be with us for a long time to come.
Artist: Runaway Title: Indoor Pool Label: Let's Play House Genre: House Format: 12", Digital
The New York party scene is relatively small these days, and many operating within its tight-knit sphere privately lament the ongoing difficulties promoters face –strict licensing laws which hark back to the Giuliani era, small budgets and a general apathy towards the city’s rich vein of DJing and production talent. Yet within this scene there are still great nights (and days) out to be had, with promoters using the lack of suitable nightclubs as an excuse to host parties in inventive locations.
Alongside Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin’s near legendary Mister Saturday Night and Mister Sunday soirees, the roving Let’s Play House parties are now firmly established as one of the city’s best. Location-wise, they couldn’t be more diverse: from the decadent surroundings of the Le Bain hotel in lower Manhattan to abandoned Williamsburg warehouses, a club hidden behind a restaurant, a boat on New York harbour and a Chinatown karaoke bar, the two men behind the parties – Jacques Renault and Nik Mercer – have proved to be quite the hosts.
Now they have now launched a Let’s Play House record label in conjunction with established imprint Throne Of Blood, with all concerned evidently buoyed by the party’s growing reputation. Appropriately, the first release comes from Runaway, the house-centric production duo of Renault and Marcos Cabral. “Indoor Pool” is probably their best deep chugger since “Brooklyn Club Jam”, and it appears on the A-Side of this release alongside a Slow Hands version that boasts some devilish piano flourishes. Brighton duo Soft Rocks meanwhile deliver a typically squelchy, drum and arpeggio-heavy revision, while Future Times darlings Beautiful Swimmers (a serendipitous choice of remixer given the track’s name) round off a faultless release with a sleazy analogue vocal version that will only enhance their growing reputation. An auspicious debut.
Artist: Throwing Snow Title: Shadower Label: Sneaker Social Club Genre: Downtempo funk, Detroit techno wistfulness Format: 12", Digital
With just a small legacy behind him, Throwing Snow is already a firm fixture in the intergeneric hinterland of UK electronic music, and it’s not hard to see why. His first release proper for Ho Tep charmed all who heard it with a shimmering collision of downtempo funk and Detroit techno wistfulness.
Having inaugurated that label, the man known in reality as Ross Tones heralds the start of yet another imprint, Sneaker Social Club. As a personal project from one member of the Hypercolour/Glass Table team, it’s clear that all bets are off as to what kind of output we can expect in the future. Whispering to life on an ectoplasmic synth line, “Shadower” continues the Throwing Snow penchant for ghostly ambience, while the beats are positively direct and simple. A straight drum-machine-electro rhythm plays second fiddle to the gently building melodies, which dutifully blossom into soaring chimes with the pastoral quality that early Four Tet sported.
On the flip, “Sanctum” takes just as long to reveal its true colours, letting the melancholic vocal interplay ride out before an Irish-jig kind of cello signals the drop. It’s a sizable beast, driven by a fulsome bassline and a lean 2-step shuffle, which could certainly get some rumps shaking in the right setting. Really though, these tracks are anything but club bangers, opting for a more emotive and thoughtful place in your collection than the usual set fodder. The progressive and meandering nature of the tracks will leave you more than happy without the need to blast them over a loud system.
Finnish duoRenaissance Man are getting ready to unleash their debut album, entitled The Renaissance Man Project, which is an accurate title based on the above footage.
Steinberg have announced shipping of the new Elements bundle pack, which consists of Cubase Elements 6 and Wavelab Elements 7 – described by the manufacturers as “light heavyweights”.
Artist: Mosca Title: Done Me Wrong Label: Numbers Genre: Garage, 2-Step Format: 12", Digital
Jaded journalists, musicians and scene hipsters alike might make the mistake of reducing this release to the tired cliché of “not re-inventing the wheel”. While it may be true that both “Done Me Wrong” and B-Side “Bax” are modern re-imaginings of the pirate radio based 90s UK Garage/2-Step scene, they feel incredibly fresh and vital.
Mosca had the first release in Square One on arguably one of the most daring of dubstep/bass music related labels, Night Slugs. This release is less innovative, but more dancefloor ready. Like most people I first heard “Bax” on a Rinse FM ripped YouTube video, and I ended up dancing and fist-pumping around my desk. A youthful, jittery skipping beat is used as a vehicle for a wickedly bouncy organ and an oft repeated main melody plus the pre-requisite chopped vocals. At one minute the bass (same melody) sits right on your head like a fat man trying to subdue you. This song is fucking heavy.
“Done Me Wrong”, with its built in rewind, chopped R&B vocals, Jamaican upstroke and chimes works as the poppier of the two. No less strong than “Bax”, it evokes kicking around London on a cloudy but warm day (even ending the song with the night time crickets chirping). Reduced, repetitive, mindful of the past, but decidedly current, this EP proves Mosca’s mettle. No sophomore slump (yes this is only his second release of original material), Done Me Wrong is a big win for both him and Numbers.
Some interesting news has emerged from the Clone camp: Untold has been commissioned for the tenth edition of the Dutch label’s Basement Series offshoot.
Those who attended last month’s Field Day Festival will have spotted some well placed posters hinting at plans for a forthcoming Bugged Out Weekender. Today the clubbing institution revealed further details along with an impressive first wave of artists who will be performing.
Actress, real name Darren Cunningham, remains of the most elusive, singular, and, well, interesting characters in contemporary electronic music. His unique brand of muggy, heavily compressed electronica has graced two much-loved albums – one on his own Werk Discs imprint, the other via West London record emporium Honest Jon’s. There have also been EPs via Instra:mental’s Nonplus and Trus’me’s Prime Numbers labels, but it has been his relationship with Honest Jon’s (who released Spazsh, and will release his next album) that has given him his widest audience. His shadowy reputation has been fostered by an (at times) aloof attitude to self-promotion and a wonderfully baffling Twitter account, through which he’s been known to give away free tracks en masse. His live performance at the recent Field Day festival in London, although not quite attaining Zomby levels of capriciousness, served only to enhance his reputation: 25 minutes late for his scheduled slot, he arrived dressed in a black cape and proceeded to put on one of the most incendiary performances of the day.
He recently took part in the DRC project – on Oxfam initiative spearheaded by former Blur frontman Damon Albarn, which saw a troupe of UK based musicians travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo to record an album with local musicians. Albarn’s close association with Honest Jon’s no doubt alerted him to Cunningham’s production prowess, and he was joined on the voyage to Central Africa by a varied cast of musicians including XL boss Richard Russell, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Dan The Automator, Jneiro Jarel, Marc Antoine, Alwest, Remi Kabaka, Rodaidh McDonald and Kwes. The album, entitled Kinshasa One Two, was recorded in Kinshasa over a five day period in July this year and will see release via UK label Warp. We spoke to Cunningham about his time in the Congo, which he discussed in vivid detail, describing it as a “life changing” experience. Typically, he chose to take a slightly different approach to his peers, spending most of his time away from the studio interacting with local families, walking through the ghettos of Kinshasa and experiencing the city’s vibrant club scene.
This week Juno Plus will be turning two in style with Will Saul, John Talabot and Ossie – and we have a pair of tickets to give away to one of you, our cherished readers.
Steinberg have announced a new series of audio interfaces, namely the desktop UR28M (pictured above) and rack mountable UR824, which have been designed in conjunction with the latest Cubase AI 6 software.
Due to popular demand, Italians Do It Better studio boff Johnny Jewel has released a WAV of the edit of the Chromatics track which features on Hollywood blockbuster Drive via his Soundcloud page.
With Mike Paradinas currently based in the outskirts of Chicago on a scouting mission for the latest juke producers, fledgling London label Pictures Music have sidled in and sweet talked the label’s production virtuouso Rudi Zygadlo into releasing a one-off 12″ with them.
EntitledAchtung, the four track EP was released yesterday and sees the exotically named Zygadlo draw further on the unique brand of electronic music first evidenced on his debut LP – last year’s Great Western Laymen. Scattergun rhythmic directions, intricate instrumentation, neon tinged synth lines and multi-layered vocal harmonies are all present and correct. Furthermore, Achtung draws a nice line between Zygadlo’s quieter sonic leanings which fill out the A Side and a more beat-driven side on the flip, with the excellent shuddering 4/4 flex of the title track and the expansive bass shimmers of “The Deaf School”.
All this is in advance of Rudi’s second album for the Planet Mu imprint, which is currently in something akin to a rich vein of form thanks to some excellent LPs this year from Machinedrum, Chrissy Murderbot, Rashad, Boxcutter and Falty DL – which will soon be joined by the equally good Kuedo and Tropics long players! Hence we thought it would be interesting to see which tracks from the label’s lengthy back catalogue resonated most with one if its most promising talents.
The crew at the Red Bull Music Academy have given us the hot tip for a glacially paced Friday afternoon: a storming live set from Bulgaria’s premiere jack revivalist, KiNK.
The Long Island Electrical Systems imprint makes a further strike for our total affection with news they are readying the release of an album from New Jersey based synth boffin Jorge Velez, aka Professor Genius.
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