Downtempo Canada » IDM

Lazer Sword [b.e.a.r.]

Dewey dB — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:15:35 +0000

In the heart of the mission district in SF; behind the cogs & gears of XLR8R, their web techie and licensing guru, is Bryant Rutledge {aka LL [Low Limit, Lowest Layer?]}. If we recuse one level deeper; behind Bryant Rutledge’s nine to five facade is half of the music genius of Lazer Sword. The other half being Antaeus Roy [aka Lando Kal]. Throw in Ghosts on Tape and you’ll get what peeps have been callin the Fort Knocks crew.

Lando and LL have been workin’ hard, and will be droppin’ their first release on B.E.A.R. records. They also have a tune coming out soon on a B.E.A.R. compilation. Their live show is what I would like to hear more often in the future of live glitch hop performers. Anyone can beatmatch and mix, but these guys take it to the next level. Everything they do live is 100% improvised, an all-out remix-the-fuck-out-of-everything type of affair. You never know to expect when you hear them rock the party, ’cause they don’t even know either. Think improvisational jazz circa 2010, only with dope drum machines, synths, and laptops instead of sax, bass cello, and a drum kit. They’ve blown up the spot with the likes of the glitch mob, flying lotus, mstrkrft, the cool kids, chromatics, kid 606, trackademicks, ghislain poirier, white girl lust & others…Seriously, you’re so not ready for these tunes:

LL – WHERE U BEEN 7.0 (MELTDOWN DELUXE)
Lazer Sword- $TREET $COOBY
I GET MONEY (LAZER SWORD NEON HOT POCKETS REMIX)

Nalepa, Bass Science & The FMs [Native State]

Dewey dB — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:37:42 +0000

When I look at this guy, the last thing that comes to mind is University Professor; however, to the contrary, Steve Nalepa teaches ‘Principles of Music Technology’ at Chapman University Conservatory of Music. He shows really talented classical musicians how to use ProTools, Ableton Live, Reason, etc.

To indulge his passion, he also makes his own beautiful audiovisual masterpieces, under the moniker ‘Nalepa’. On his own, he’s released a handful of tracks on various artists compilations:

‘Fresh’ on Left Coast Liquid Vol. 1 {Native State [2005]}; ‘Porcelain’ on Beneath The Surface {Native State [2006]}; ‘Pomme Granite Dub’ on Future Sound Theory {Celestial Dragon Records [2006]}; ‘Blue’ on Devil in the Detail {Interchill Records [2007]}; and ‘Flatlands’ on Visionair #53: SOUND {Visionaire [2007]}.

Thanks to some motivation from the awesome artist Bluetech [founder of Native State], we can look forward to all these tracks [as well as a handful of others] getting re-released later this summer as a full length album – ‘Flatlands’. On top of this, it comes with a DVD packed full of sexy fun times videos by Benton-C Bainbridge, Brian Kane, Brian Ziffer and Thomas Williams. Not enough? As an added bonus, this disk of goodness will feature remixes by The Glitch Mob, Ruxpin, Deru, (a)pendics.shuffle, David Last, RD, RaNDom, Slidecamp, Kero, Rena Jones, Kraddy, Aerostatic, Bluetech and the Nosaj Thing track we posted already!! For anyone into this music as much as I am, you are thinking ‘what an album’, and you are right!

Here’s an interesting side story while you regain your composure — while I was researching this article, I was told a very old friend of Steve’s came across tracks off my Nosaj Thing article that had been cross posted to pampelmoose, including the Nosaj remix of Flatlands. The mp3 was listed as ‘Nalepa’, and due to the relatively uncommon last name, he decided to check if it was the same Nalepa. Sure enough, it was… So there ya have it – downtempo.ca re-unites people!

Steve and his friend MattB [aka RaNDom] from Japan, have been bouncing incredibly wicked ideas back and forth over the ocean [man, I love the 'net]. Together they go by Bass Science. On December 7, 2007, they dropped their debut EP on Native State, ‘Transmissions from Planet Dub‘. This very unique blend of well produced glitchy-bass-heavy-electronic-dubstep will slam you like a typhoon, and before you even notice you’ll be drowning in lush layers of atmospherics and angelic symphonics. If you make it through that, you most likely will be smacked around by crisp drums and crushed by an immense bass weight. Look out for the Bass Science LP slaughtering heads across the nation, due to drop late 2008. Try ‘Imminent Threat’ on for size below.

On top of all this, Steve has been working with Justin Rickles [aka Brasswork Agency]. Justin’s portfolio is as impressive as Steves – a sound engineer, who’s worked with greats like Public Enemy and The Young Dubliners, releasing music on Plex Records, as well as the infamous Merck Records [a big favourite here at downtempo.ca, i love you Gabe!], and also putting out an upcoming release on LeftHouse Records. These Chicago-born, LA-based music/multimedia event producers combine powers to make the killer duo The FMs. Just recently they dropped Fabulous Morning Swim, also on Native State Records [you can buy it from Beatport]. The FMs reminds me a lot of early IDM, but with a more modern spin. The production skills of both of these talented individuals really shines through across the whole EP. I’ve had a very difficult time picking out my favourite track from this album because I like them all so much! So, I’ve chosen ‘Fancy Seeing You Here’ because it suits my current mood the best.

Nalepa – Porcelain
Nalepa – Flatlands
Nalepa – Pomme Granite Dub

Bass Science – Imminent Threat [Buy the EP]

The FMs – Fancy Seeing You Here [Buy the EP]

Nosaj Thing [Unsigned / iTunes]

Dewey dB — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:15:15 +0000

Jason Chung aka Nosaj Thing has been catching a lot of peoples attention lately. The reason is obvious. People are starved for talented electronic musicians like this. When I first listened to Jason’s promo mixtape [recorded for dublab], my brain milk was leaking all over the desk …it was disgusting. Which brings me to an interesting question – at what point do words become completely ambiguous? The other day someone told me “yo, those shoes are rude!” and I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing.

Ok! Sorry about the attention deficit influenced random tangent – listen to the mix: Nosaj Thing Live On Dublab

After I cleaned up the brain-mess, I hunted down his EP, which you can buy at Turntable Lab, iTunes and through Paypal. The release sounds like a combination of Eliot Lipp, Daedelus, edIT, Ooah, Lorn & Flying Lotus, but still has a lot of its own unique character and style to it. As I regard this as one of those pieces of art that are just an amazing journey front to back, it has been difficult for me to pick out single tracks as being my favourites. -sigh-

This is the part where I do anyways:

Nosaj Thing – Heart Entire
Nosaj Thing – Distro

In the process of searching for that EP I discovered that he’s dropped a slew of remixes, some of which have even been contest winners! Surprised? Unlikely.

Daedelus-It’s Madness (Nosaj Thing Remix)
Nalepa – Flatlands (Nosaj Thing Remix)
Health-Tabloid Sores (Nosaj Thing Remix)
Plastic Little-More Tongue Less Teeth ft. MF Doom (Nosaj Thing Remix)
Scarub from Living Ledgends (?)
Eliot Lipp (?)

Jason is planning on dropping a split 7″ with Lorn, as well as a full length LP sometime in mid 2008! Word is he’s been working pretty damn hard to get it all polished and finished up. I’m not sure who to be more excited about on that 7″ to be totally honest – Lorn and Nosaj Thing are both top notch electronic music producers.

Jason is yet to be signed to a lable, which kinda blows my mind! Hefty? Alphapup? Glitch Mob Unlimited? Seriously what are you guys waiting for? This guy is Glitch-Hop’s best kept secret!

I also recommend checking out his friend Kawata, and the Mixtape. It reminded me how much i love Ratatat. If you haven’t heard their Remixes Vol. 2 yet you really should cop that shit also.

Ooah [The Glitch Mob / Muti Music / Alphapup]

Dewey dB — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:33:17 +0000

Ok, I’ll just come right out and admit it, I’m obsessed with the glitch mob and everything glitch mob, for fuck sakes I even have a glitch mob sticker on my laptop that I cherish almost more than the laptop itself. I’m tempted to say that Ooah [Joshua Mayer] is one of the most well rounded members of the Glitch Mob, at least in terms of talents. And damm, look at him, that man is sexy! (click the image for a bigger one….droool)

Ooah is a seriously amazing turntablist. Listen to some of his older mixes, and you’ll be spoiled with delightful scratching, beat juggling and mixing [do i really need to mention mixing, i mean isn't that part of the definition of a mix? I guess it depends you could be really hot on noisecore "mix" tapes]. Seriously, what ever happened to turntablism? It’s like ever since Q-bert destroyed the DMCs for a couple years in a row its been kind of a dying art. I’m sure I’m going to get heckled for saying that. I mean, don’t get me wrong here, but turntablism used to be so much more intigrated into an [electronic music] DJ’s set than it is these days. I guess turntablists have been replaced by ableton live dj’s with their armory of VSTs like buffer override, or at least this is what has happened to Ooah.

Besides being a member of the glitch mob, Josh is also one half of the Seedling Escape duo (see below for their promo mix). The other half being Kitty D, another member of the glitch mob. Ooah has a slew of mixes (complete list below) hidden on the otherwise useless glitch mob website [edit - well i guess you could be a fanboy like me and stare at their logo while you masturbate to glitch hop].
Ooah released Hacksaw and Tubstomper on Alpha Pup’s sub label Glitch Mob Unlimited. You can buy those tracks from addictech here and here. He also released Stomp The Yard on a Muti Music compilation I talked about recently, you can buy that track here. And finally the only other tune I’m aware that he’s somewhat officially released is contained within a mix, so i don’t really consider it as counting as a full release of the track. The tune, Tuesday Again, was released as track 4 on the Devil in Detail mix cd which came out on Interchill Records on Sept 27th, 2007. You can order that CD here. Although this mix cd is tight, I can’t wait for a proper release of this track for my own greedy mixing purposes, and well because its mental!
Biggup Ooah, you got nothin’ but love commin’ from me.

Mixes:
The Seedling Escape Mix
Scientific Sound
Dub(step)
Ooah Days
Ghetto Fabulous
Tastes Like Vinyl

Tunes:

Oh and just in case you weren’t already overwhelmed with good music, heres one last mix: Local Area Network
This CD was given out the last night after three nights of incredible STS9 performances @ Red Rocks and the Ogden in Denver. It was distributed at the Cervante’s Masterpiece Ballroom after party on September 8th, the bill included Ooah, edIT and Boreta of Glitch Mob and Bassnectar.

1. Ooah “Tuesday Again” (Interchill Records)
2. edIT “Straight Heat” (Alpha Pup Records)
3. Boreta & Eprom “The Good, The Bad, The Squishy” (Unreleased)
4. Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg “The Next Episode” (Kraddy Remix Instrumental) (Refiner Records)/Mr. Vegas “Under Mi Sensi” (Acapella)
5. edIT “The Sirens” (Alpha Pup Records)
6. Boreta & Eprom “Psyphy feat. Mc Epcot” (Unreleased)
7. Ooah “Stomp The Yard” (Muti Music)
8. Lupe Fiasco “I Gotcha” (Kraddy Remix) (Refiner Records)
9. Boreta “Lobegrinder” (Glitch Mob Unlimited)
10. The Grouch “Artsy (edIT Remix)” (Alpha Pup)
11. Clipse “Mr. Me Too (a.k.a. Jalapeno Body Poppers) (Ooah Remix)” (Unreleased)
12. BlackStar “Bright As The Stars (a.k.a. Mos Beautiful) (Kraddy Remix)” (Refiner Records)
*Mix by DJ Yogurt, MC Rev

Crendore Exclusive

Dewey dB — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:58:56 +0000

So I guess this should be a post all about why I haven’t written anything on any of my websites for over a year…ok, so, moving on, I have two great mixes for you to listen to, they’ve been posted over at dubstep.ca by Crendore.

The Shambhala Mix is very chill, serious downtempo, dubstepy vibes, lots of burial and even an exclusive track by Crendore, Rainy Days. The StripHop Mix is much more of a dancefloor party mix, lots of glitch hop in the first half and finishes off with some heavy whompity ragga dubstep tracks. He’s also packed in a .cue file incase you want to burn the mix as the 32 individual tracks instead of one long track.

Shambhala Mix Tracklist:
01.Kode 9 – Find My Way
02.Scuba – Dream
03.Matty G – Bitter Love
04.Fat Freddy’s Drop – Cays Crays (DMZ Remix)
05.Digital Mystikz Feat Spen G – Anti War Dub
06.Tom Burbank – Slab
07.Boxcutter – Tauhid
08.Vaccine – Wishful Thinking
09.L Wiz – Girl from Codeine City
10.Rusko – Action Dread
11.Burial – Unite
12.Djunya – Rooted
13.Martyn – Broken
14.Crendore – Rainy Days
15.Scuba – Harpoon
16.Various Productions – Lost
17.Plasticman – Japan
18.Tom Burbank – Riding Off
19.Burial – Wayfaring Stranger
20.Burial – Gutted
21.Burial – Southern Comfort
22.Mala – Bury the Bwoy
23.Scuba – Frisco
24.Jawbone – Duppy Conqueror

StripHop Mix Tracklist:
01.Boreta – Bubblin in The Cut
02.Health – Tabloid Sores (Nosaj Thing)
03.Vibesquad – Biggie Shortie
04.Vibesquad – Funk Iz
05.Ooah – The Seedling Escape
06.Markus Wormstorm – J.O.T.D.
07.EdIT – Straight Heat
08.Nosaj Thing – Heart Entire
09.EdIT – Arty
10.Lazer Sword – Stuntin Like My Daddy (RMX)
11.Ooah – Hacksaw
12.Tipper – Learning Is Remembering
13.Breakbeat Budah – Endurance
14.Eprom – Scratchedizzle
15.Lazer Sword – Last Level
16.Unknown – Good Bad Squishy
17.PRGz – Rollin
18.Crendore – Rollin (Mashup)
19.Matty G – One Step
20.Skream – Pass the Redstripe
21.Crendore – Living in Love (Mashup)
22.The Black Ghost – Some Way Through This (Skream & Plastician RMX)
23.Burial – Block Party Where is Home (RMX)
24.Marlow – Machine
25.Rusko – Jahova
26.Skream & Cluekid – Sandsnake
27.Marlow – Convoy
28.Quark Rukspin and Planas – Miserere
29.Unknown – Intercom
30.Babylon System – Everyday Hustle
31.Coki vs. lil jon – act a fool
32.Crendore – Cockney Thug (Mashup)

A Brief Exploration of Aphex Twin & Squarepusher

Dewey dB — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 02:55:55 +0000

Hello, and thank you all for your continued support of my music blog. I’m glad that many people frequent it because I really love sharing music with everyone in my life. One of the questions I get asked on a consistant basis is to recommend some “good” Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) and Squarepusher (Thomas Jenkinson) songs. I would like to take a moment to emphasize the point that this is by no means an exhaustive journey into either of these creative geniuses. Rather these six songs I have selected, three from each artist, are meant as a sampling of a few of my favourite songs by each artist. If you know of similar songs by these artists, we would love to hear about it, just leave a comment! Without any further rambling lets begin:
Aphex Twin – Girl/Boy Song sample taken from his 1996 LP “Richard D. James”
Squarepusher – Port Rhombus taken from his 1996 EP “Port Rhombus”
Aphex Twin – Flim sample taken from his 1997 LP “Come to Daddy”
Aphex Twin – Window Licker sample taken from his 1999 EP “Windowlicker”
Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car taken from his 2001 LP “Go Plastic”
Squarepusher – Do You Know Squarepusher taken from his 2002 LP “Do You Know Squarepusher”

Honourable mention also go to the following songs, which are also very good, but I am not comfortable posting that many “sample” songs on here, so look them up, and buy the cd’s/lp’s to support these guys!
Squarepusher – Iambic 5 Poetry (Budakhan Mindphone EP, 1999)
Squarepusher – Iambic 9 Poetry (Ultravisitor LP, 2004)
Squarepusher – Come on my selector (Big Loada EP, 1997)
Aphex Twin – Vordhosbn (DrukQs LP, 2001)
Aphex Twin – Avril 15th (DrukQs LP, 2001)
Aphex Twin – Mt Saint Michel Mix St. Michaels Mount (DrukQs LP, 2001)

Edit – Crying Over Pros For No Reason (Planet Mu)

Dewey dB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 05:59:17 +0000

Edward Ma from Los Angeles is edIT. “Ed Ma’s first album as edIT features tracks that have been painstakingly sequenced, hiphop that takes glitchiness to the extreme. The style of the album takes cues from Prefuse 73, but taken to another level. Yet it is not really the tricky programming that really pops out at you – it’s the soulfulness and smoothness with which each track is glued together from extremely small snippets of sound. The opener features an electric piano first noodling then exploding into a shower of digital particles, it’s all put together with the ear of an expert artist. Guitars peek around the edge of many of the pieces, and there is homage to both underground beats and more g-oriented swissbeatz styles going on. Perhaps the album’s only shortcoming is its relentless pace of all things digital and beautiful, that can be almost too much to bear. Crying over pros for no reason is emotional, instrumental hiphop at its finest – looking forward with its digital edge but also beating with a warm analog heart.”

I’m Not a Gun – Our Lives On Wednesday (City Centre Offices)

Dewey dB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 05:58:23 +0000

“It’s a busy life being John Tejada, a man who has graced some of the world’s most highly regarded independent labels with his signature presence — from the mighty Playhouse to Detroit’s 7th City and onto Ferox, Jazzanova, Plug Research, Scape and even Sub Pop — all the way to his own Palette recordings imprint. But it’s together with Japanese multi-instrumentalist Takeshi Nishimoto, however, that John has produced perhaps his most remarkable work — an acoustic overflow of ideas and post-rock configurations known as I’m Not a Gun — a project that has already delighted with a debut album for CCO entitled Everything at Once. For the last 5 years, almost without fail, John Tejada and Takeshi Nishimoto have swept aside their busy schedules every Wednesday to record material for their I’m Not a Gun project. John plays the drums, the guitar and his trusted laptop, while Takeshi completes the equation with his signature guitar and bass padding. Their music is not only a homage to the post-rock soundscaping that Chicago has become so well known for, it’s an advancement of its sound.

Deceptikon – Lost Subject (Merck)

Dewey dB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 05:57:34 +0000

Lost Subject is the chilled out debut of a Portland based producer Deceptikon. Creating smooth jazzy downtempo beats, his music is evocative and atmospheric, equally drawing upon hip hop and jazz elements for his gorgeously produced carefully crafted grooves. Utilising numerous techniques, yet regularly arriving at a similar funky location, Deceptikon effortlessly creates the kind of highly composed beat orientated instrumental hip hop pieces championed in recent times by Ninja Tune via the likes of Sixtoo or Blockhead. Whilst not necessarily pushing the sonic envelope, Deceptikon is peerless in his ability to get a groove on, though he is at his best on cuts like /treeghost/ where he doesn’t rely solely on the beats, utilising acoustic guitar and synthesizer to create an intimate sense of longing. Composed over the last few years, Lost Subject is a journey that fits perfectly into the lounge room – funky basslines, crackling trip hop beats and lush gentle atmospheres that act as a relaxing tonic to all the stressors of daily life.

Little Plastic Pilots – Little Plastic Pilots (Kanpai Records)

Dewey dB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 05:56:59 +0000

Sam Nelson doesn’t use a single truly novel sound or effect on his first album as Little Plastic Pilots. Every sample and tone you hear has been used by one electronic auteur or another, and most have been done half to death. What’s most remarkable about Little Plastic Pilots, then, is the fact that an absolutely unmistakable personality and musical vision arises from the arrangement and interplay of these utterly familiar elements. Nelson doesn’t attempt to redefine or reinvigorate his genre (as have some of his biggest influences, including Aphex Twin, Autechre, and Boards of Canada); rather, he’s the sort of artist who, finding a complete set of tools and genre parameters available to him, exploits one corner of that established framework to the utmost. More often than not, it’s artists of Nelson’s temperament who create most of a given genre’s most memorable statements.