It's the Supersound

picture by VivantVie

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you guys about the most kept secret, Motorlab. In just a couple of months they again managed to release around 8 new Ep’s. I wonder how they manage to keep it all free. They are all absolutely stunning productions which you can all download for free on their website. If you like some super underground techno and breakbeat. Head over there and grab your favourite releases. By the way: check out their 360 audioplayer. it rocks! Maybe on phase02 soon…

Anyway enjoy my Motorlab selection. If you like, give them some love on facebook. Only 58 people like Motorlab. That’s probably the most deepest, most incredible underground music you’ll ever hear.

Juri-jah – Darcknes

Unorace – Beta Cycle 3

Unorace – Alfa Cycle 1

Unorace – Give The Horse

Vadz – Depth

SUB – Black Sun

Gliese – Unknown place

Via Hobogestapo

Time for a new load of tracks! Every day we receive tons of new things and trying to listen to everything is not that easy, but we try! Therefore, here’s a personal selection of the things we’ve recently received. Lot’s of variation so fun for everyone!
Let’s go downtempo first, shall we! Egotomb did a rework of Daft Punk’s Tron Legacy. It’s a couple of BPM’s faster now than the original and it creates a nice vibe! Really love this one!

Daft Punk - Tron Legacy (Egotomb Rework).mp3

Jordon Saxton has produced a couple of stunning dubstep tunes again. Be aware, ’cause your ears might explode while listening to this!

Groove Armada - Wont Kneel (JSaxton Remix).mp3

JSaxton - Game Over.mp3

Time for something completely different then! Moscow Youth Cult, based in Nottingham UK, produces tracks which they call “VHS pop”. In their e-mail they also referred to Four Tet, Fuck Buttons and Boards of Canada, having more or less the same style/sound. I was intrigued by that description so I listened to their latest album.. and yep it’s good! Really reminds a bit of obscure 70′s sci-fi films! They even have a track called Phase IV, so we really couldn’t ignore that .

Moscow Youth Cult happiness machines 11 happiness machines.mp3

To finish, here’s the sickest track I’ve heard in a while! The guy calls himself Wondawulf, he’s from Budapest and he creates drumstep. Yep drumstep… take some drum&bass, add a bit of dubstep and there you have it.. moreover the following tune also has a bit of a jazzy feel.. take a listen, you’ll know what I mean! Also check out the video, hilarious! It’s a 320, let’s see if you guys dare to drop this one in public!

Wondawulf - Too Hot For Drumstep.mp3

A few of these tracks are off some albums that have come out recently. I like to feature just one track, or at most two; but really, I recommend grabbing the full albums from Brekage, Pacou, and Fluxion especially. The thought crossed my mind that I should also have some Autechre and Kyle Hall in here but, I think I’m going to review the Autechre album separately. Ramadanman also has a new album out but I haven’t had a listen yet. Too much good music, not enough time.

Lost Trax – The Sequel (Original Mix) / Lost Trax 2 / Scsi-Av

Dare & Haste – Sinister Transmission (2006 Version) / Sinister Remixes / Advanced

Fluxion – Waves (Original Mix) / Perfused / Echochord

Cardopusher – It’s Yesterday Already (Original Mix) / Schematic Blocks / On The Edge

SBTRKT – Soundboy Shift (Original Mix) / Soundboy Shift bw Rundown / Young Turks

The Parallel – Abyss (Original Mix) / The Parallel / Komisch

Pacou – LL004 Part 3 / Acid Tracks / Cache

Ortin Cam & Charles Bells – Pyramid (Original Mix) / Black / Roots Records

Breakage ft. Burial – Vial / Foundation / Digital Soundboy

Apathesis – Wake Up (Original Mix) / Begin / Urban Scrumping

Flying Lotus is finished his acclaimed masterpiece and is ready to share it with the rest of us. This album is apparently one seamless piece of music, an opus, a journey through an astral landscape. It’s been described as a “space opera” amongst other things – an appropriate tittle that suggests the perplexing scale of this cosmic body of unearthly music. I’m not quite sure how he’s done it, one can only guess and make assumptions as to how he has crafted cosmogramma into a single entity, having also curated many guest appearances, including a collaboration with Thom York on the track “And The World Laughs With You.”

I have an inkling that there will be at least a few new surprises on this album in addition to the signature Dilla-inspired beat work we’ve come to associate with his music. 3×3 featured tracks from Lotus that didn’t even have beats, and personally, I found that refreshing. Lotus recently did an interview with Gilles Peterson on Radio One where he showcased some of the new materials from the album; unfortunately, that show is no longer up on the BBC player, but someone’s taken the time to edit the tracks from that broadcast into a mini cosmogramma preview. There are more rips floating about but I didn’t want to spoil all the fun.

Tracklist:

01. Clock Catcher
02. Pickled!
03. Nose Art
04. Intro//A Cosmic Drama
05. Zodiac Shit
06. Computer Face//Pure Being
07. And The World Laughs With You ft. Thom Yorke
08. Arkestry
09. Mmmhmm ft.Thundercat
10. Do The Astral Plane
11. Satelllliiiiiteee
12. German Haircut
13. Recoiled
14. Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph
15. Drips//Auntie’s Harp
16. Table Tennis ft. Laura Darlington
17. Galaxy In Janaki

Cosmogramma marks my second “must have” albums of 2010 and will be released in early May through Warp records. Speaking of which, Pre-orders for the first edition CD’s or gatefold vinyl are avaiable now through Bleep. These limited edition copies come with some extra fancy packaging and maybe some other stuff. Read more and order it here.

Flying Lotus – Quakes

Gonjasufi – Ancestors (Produced by Flying Lotus)

I’d like to get an idea of how many of our readers would support a few changes to our chart system. I’ve spoken with Tim about this and we’re gonna run a poll to get a better idea. As it stands, there is a kind of legal “grey area” when it comes to sharing mixes online. As a promotional tool, it’s become the preferred platform to share music on the Internet without disrespecting the artists, their labels, or infringing copyright laws.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

The function of this blog is also to promote the music we love; however, there are many people – including some artists, label owners, lawyers, and industry professionals that disagree with file sharing. Personally, I don’t believe 10 downloads = 10 lost sales. There is sufficient evidence on both sides to support either claim. The argument becomes more of a debate centered around the ethics of file sharing as opposed to which approach is a more effective promotional tool. Without delving further into this tiring endless debate, I’d like to disregard the ethics and look at something more tangible. Let’s see if we can’t find an even playing field for the end user, the consumer, and the producer.

Re-encoding tracks to low bitrate mp3s, and honoring our promise to the labels, to have any offending content removed on request, has been our approach. Although this does nothing to stop piracy on a larger scale, it’s our own way of expressing our concerns for the artists, and their property. This has proved to be fairly effective for us, and we haven’t received many complaints; However, the main issue for me in regards to the monthly charts is that many of those tunes are usually brand new, and much of the revenue generated from sales are within the initial period of their release.

This has been very stressful for me because there are loads of tunes I purchase that are omitted because I believe artists deserve a fair chance at maximizing revenue generated in that crucial initial period of it’s release. The most important factor in deciding which tunes are going into the charts is how available they are elsewhere on the net. My efforts have been to keep the focus on sharing new quality tunes that aren’t already propagated throughout the blogosphere.

A couple of idea’s dawned on me while I was listening to my favourite radio shows and podcasts on how I could maintain my principles, without changing the way I’ve done the charts in the past. I realized that in the mixes I was listening to that I was hearing large unmixed portions of new tunes. This is obviously how many rips of unreleased material pop up on the net. No one fusses about bloggers sharing radio rips, and no one (hopefully) is stupid enough to use a radio rip in their mixes. It was finally clear to me how I could overcome the negative connotations and inevitable guilt associated with file sharing, and still share and promote the music I love. This isn’t an absolute truth or final solution, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.

I’d like to present two different idea’s to the way we can approach this. The first option would be the tried and tested mix format. This seems to be the most popular and accepted way to go about it. My second idea is approach it more like a radio rip. The changes would be made to the lengths of the tracks, shortening them to 2-3 minute preview clips. This would be easier for us than making mixes, but who knows, maybe we should just try both and see which works best. We’ll start with the clips just cause it’s easiest.

#chart#

Exodub – It’s Alright (Original Mix) / Breath Out / Rest In Beats

Martyn – Seventy Four (Redshape Remix) / Hear Me bw Seventy Four / 3024 Records

Binary Sequence – Arc (Original Mix) / 66/31 / Dark Arx

Smokin Jo – Simsime (Original Mix) / Umona / Area Remote

Frozen Border – 4.01 (Original Mix) / Frozen Border 04 / Frozen Border Records

Loops Haunt – Joplin (Original Mix) / Impact Omnihammer bw Joplin / Black Acre

Planetary Assault Systems – X Speaks To X (Al Tourettes & Appleblim Remix) / Planetary Assault System Remixes / Ostgut Ton

James Fox – Put It Back (Ramadanman Refix) / Put It Back / Take Records

i3i3 – Rock & Groove It (Original Mix) / Explosion Mind bw Rock & Groove It / Eight:FX

Tickles – Fallout (Mentalic’s Edit) / Freirausch / Ipoly Music

P.S. Please do comment and share your thoughts. These charts usually take me a fair bit of time to compile – It takes you about 5 seconds to simply say “thank you” and show appreciation.

New release from Pangea out on Hessle Audio, the label founded by, and releasing records for Untold, TRG, Ben UFO, Rammadanman, and all his other strange aliases. This self titled 2x Disc EP marks the 10th release for their label, which started putting out records back in ‘07. I was foremost drawn to the musical ethos of their label, which is to promote and put out music that has a lasting impression. This appealed to me because I’ve developed a distaste for disposable music. Tunes with a shelf life of a couple months. The one’s that you throw away, and don’t come back to, or don’t remember.

I suppose it would be fair to say that Pangaea is still largely an experimental outfit exploring different styles. I think if that is the case it’s great because there is still so much room to grow the sound. I’m really excited about all the innovation happening in dubstep right now, and I’m not gonna slate this EP for being off center, it’s simply my observations on my listening experience to this piece as a whole.

Tracklist:

1. Why
2. Sunset Yellow
3. 5-HTP
4. Neurons
5. Dead Living
6. Because Of You

I feel like this EP is a bit lacking in consistency. It’s almost as if there is a significant time span in the production between these tracks. Are some of these tunes resuscitated old material? The first track, titled ‘Why’ is exactly the kind of pleasant surprise you would expect from Pangaea. It is also the first tune I started hearing get radio play and DJ support. It’s uplifting, and the hook is brilliant. It is simply genius how he collages recycled acapellas together.

Pangaea – Why (Original Mix)

Pangaea – Because Of You (Original Mix)

There’s a one off half step tune on here that jars this EP for me. It sounds out of place – which is why I believe that it could have also worked as a couple strong singles: ‘Why’ and ‘Because Of You’ – These tune’s could have been released separately as proper singles, and the the other tracks: ‘Sunset Yellow’, ‘5-HTP’, and ‘Dead Living’ – these are the ones that are experimental and interesting. The ones that are hard to get a sense of time for, bu have something more to offer. Those 3 tunes could have worked as individual concepts that could be further explored and developed with their own respective B-sides.

This release is available on wax, or digital, but it seems Boomkat is already sold out. The records have only been out for 2 days but Boomkat is notorious for keeping a low stock. It seems like if you want something you gotta stay on point with the pre-orders or pay stupid prices from re-sellers. Alternatively, you can download your favourite tracks or the whole EP on the Juno web store.

In an interview with On-Point.be Martyn shares a little insight into his early inspirations, his exposure to drum ‘n bass music, as well as some of his ideas about the definitive aspects of the new generation of ravers and music makers. Thankfully there are decent subtitles for our English speaking readers, as the entire interview is spoken in Dutch.

‘Great Lengths‘ was a strong debut album for Martyn, and one of my favorite albums of 2009. Word is that he’s already in the works with a follow up – I only hope that his new material is as good as the last. He’s been in high demand over the last year, touring all around Europe, and pushing dubstep into different directions. It came as no surprise to me that he’s been commissioned to do the latest FabricLive Mix, an eclectic selection of music blurring the line between techno, dubstep, house, and breakbeat, in a psychedelic loosely woven haze of rhythm.

I did the whole mix CD Live just because I thought that was more honest than doing an Ableton DJ Mix. It is how I would play live – Not everything on the CD is perfect, but it’s not meant to be.

The mix CD features a wide variety tracks from artists: Hudson Mohawke, Altered Natives, Ben Klock, Zomby, and a whole slough of others artists at the forefront of experimental new music. The full track listing, audio clips, and order info available on the Fabric London website.

i’ve had the privileged opportunity to share some of my own thoughts with recording artist, dj, and formant records label owner, Leroy Bella aka SINES. you might recall the name from a track i posted a few months back in a little article i wrote called: future sounds of the underground.

this is a man of many faces, a jack-of-all trades sort. i’m really impressed at his ability to juggle all these different roles and still keep it tight and rolling. obviously this is no walk in the park, and i have much respect for people out there making an impression in the mold with their own cutters. what i’ve realized is true in the saying “the hardest way to make an easy living” is that it is the reality for many artists and musicians today. if you’re doing this to make money, or to be famous in the dj circuit, you’re in the wrong business.

Sines – Test One (Original Mix)
(buy)

Sines – Memories Are Here (Original Mix)
(buy)

more new releases available for purchase through boomkat.

T: what are your thoughts on ‘future garage’ and what does it mean to you?

L: The way I see the whole future garage thing is that it’s pretty much a whole new movement of garage and 2 step. Back in the days it was all about soulful RnB sounds, diva vocals, and the dark bass lines. Now it’s like a whole different twist up with out of this world synthesizers and crazy vocals. I love garage and all the new stuff that’s coming from it. Pretty much takes us into the now…the future.

T: yes, you’re right – we are living right here, right now. where garage used to be confined to london and perhaps even further restricted to certain communities, certain peoples, certain producers, etc. These limitations aren’t that imposing anymore. The cross pollination of music, culture, and advancements in technology, have re-defined all aspects of how people listen to, consume, and make music.

There certainly was a kind of “gel” that perhaps included a flagrant attitude and champagne bottles or whatever – but now we see these barriers completely broken with really different producers all around the world contributing to this music.

I don’t exactly agree on the name ‘Future garage’ personally, only because as time goes on it will certainly prove to sound dated; but at that time there will be new permutations, a new name, new producers, and so let’s not bother ourselves over what title fit’s the check box. it is such a square-minded way of thinking.

John the 3rd – Sexin (Sines 69 Ways Mix)

T: Where are you living right now?

L: I’m currently based in Houston, TX.

T: Do you feel detached from the UK scene, living out there? Obviously in light of what we’re discussing here it’s not necessary to be living in london to have exposure to this music, but anyone who really loves it obviously has a certain affinity to london.

L: Yeah, totally…But being around good electronic music for 10 years plus here in Texas has made it a lot easier to not feel that way. We have some very good artist here in Texas and 2010 will be a promising year for them.

T: what is the social atmosphere like in Houston? How are people there responding to your music on the dance floor?

L: There is a mixture of everything here in Houston. We have killed the dance in so many ways (laughs) good and bad. All the older “heads” who were into garage dig it. Some of the new ones too. Houston is a diverse city with many sounds. Some want that harder aggro stuff, and some want the chilled stuff. We mix it up every so often to try and match the right vibe.

T: let’s talk a bit about your record label. besides yourself, who else is involved with formant recordings?

L: Well basically it’s myself and the other half of Sines – Jae Swope (yes there are 2 of us) I handle more of the footwork while he pretty much scouts for artist. Then you have distribution which is handled by Z-Audio.

T: ah, i see! i knew there was a connection between formant and z. how about night audio?

L: We had a release on a various artists compilation EP that came out on Night Audio. The Submerse fellas and Kingthing run that label. Night Audio is still young but I’m sure they are set to blow in 2010. They got El-B next for release which should be wicked!

T: yeah i’ve been bugging kingthing about that el-b release for days! could you describe your a & r process, how do you decide what is right for your label?

L: Basically stuff that is fresh and new. I’m very keen on getting artist that are new faces to music. Someone that has alot of potential – for instance Hyetal from Bristol. His music is blowing up right now as we speak. There are so many artist out there that get overlooked.

T: why is bristol so damn radiant with seriously inspiring people? I’m a avid fan of portishead, and have also recently fell in love with the new King Midas Sound album. what is it about that place? radioactive drinking water? the air of inspiration floating in the ether? I can get quite romantic about Bristol. I recently heard hyetal featured on rob booth’s electronic exploration podcast. the mix he done was so on point i’m loving all his tunes right now!

L: Yeah man Bristol is something else. Its like the mecca of the UK. Dave (Hyetal) is such a great producer. I hope to be able to work with him again in the future.

T: can you touch on what you’ve got lined up in 2010?

L: In January we have XI from Toronto set to release his 2 new lush tracks Light Fm bw Glass. You can check them out here: soundcloud.com/formant-recordings
(our readers got the glass promo exclusive before the drop!)

Then in Feburary through March we will have a release for Daega Sound System from Vancouver. These 2 brothers are the ones to watch next year. You can check them at myspace.com/daega

Afterwards we have a Various EP planned with 3 tracks from artists: HxdB, Phaeleh, and Psychonaught. After that vvv’s joins Formant and it will be big! I have a few more tricks up my sleeves…For now, you can check out their tunes on myspace.

myspace.com/hxdb
myspace.com/phaeleh
myspace.com/unwino
myspace.com/vvvdubz

Thank you Bella for your time and big up Formant in 2010!

big thank you to all our supporters, your readership is much appreciated! watch this space throughout 2010 we’ve got some exciting content lined up. in the meanwhile, vibe on these tunes as we countdown the new year!

Broombeck – The Clapper (Dolphins Remix) / The Clapper Reclapped / Opossum Rec

Kid Kaio & Lucky Charms – This Sound Is (Homework Sound Bootcut) / NA / Whitelabel

Royal T – 1 Up (Martin Kemp Remix) / 1UP Or Shatap EP / No Hats No Hoods

Xi – Glass (Original Mix) / (Forthcomming) / Formant Records

Sa Bat’ Machines – Evry (Original Mix) / Evry bw Sylvia / Kiosk Records