Downtempo Canada » Instrumental

SofaLofa – Pickled Think (Deep Water)

Dewey dB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:02:23 +0000

This is one of my favourite downtempo record lables, and one of the best EP’s i’ve ever heard. only 4 tracks, but every single one is on point.
“The Sofa Buoy’s first release for Deep-Water marries the lushest dreamscapes with equal measures of breaks and glitches. The release is the labels deepest foray into electronica to date, with producer Chris Cousin confidently steering his tracks toward the melodic and the atmospheric. The EP caters for the discerning disco with the up-for-it ‘Pump da Ball’ and loafs on that deep-sea sofa bed with ‘Struth Ruth’. Hint is rising high now that Ninja Tunes have snapped him up and his brace of limited edition 10” singles are hot property. The Old-skool pastoral downbeat king digs his teeth in to the quirky neck of ‘Counts the Accular’ with his synth-ed out and Minatuar-esque remix…essential stuff for all Hint-heads”

Aphilas – Instrumentally Ill EP (Merck)

Dewey dB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:01:35 +0000

Something a bit different from Merck, the debut 7-track EP from latest signing Aphilas displaying an organic, multi-layered knack with instrumental hip hop and clever samples – all softly destined for the downtempo. Opening cut ‘Lifelong Fiction’ is gorgeous – the beats skipping effortlessly around a melange of strings, flutes, clarinets, the odd mandolin and loose vocal caresses – lovely cinematic styles painted blue. “That’s Just What It’s For” and “Collective Memory Loss” are much more Machine Drum induced, complete with more cut-ups and spannered arrangements, but head for the magnificent “Dubbed Coil of Smoke” on the flip for a smokey display of tight beats and midnight sparkling Rhodes keys, slightly reminiscent of Dj Shadow’s best, but with a different set of rules at its disposal. Very limited as per usual, some copies coming on purple/grey marble effect vinyl. Lovely.
Download for free from archive.org!

Manual – Until Tomorrow (Morr Music)

Dewey dB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:00:26 +0000

Denmark’s Jonas Munk, aka Manual, first came to our attention with his mesmerising EP for the excellent Hobby Industries label. This debut Album for the increasingly devestating Morr Music label is sure to become regarded as a bit of a classic before too long…..there seems to be a bit of a buzz about this LP……people talking. Where Manual differs from the idm fraternity is with his accoustic front. The spine that runs through almost every track accross the 9 gems on offer is an organic one…..melodica, guitars, Piano. The beats and percussive arrangements come as a definite afterburn…..almost an afterthought. Comparisons are hard to conjur up with any degree of precision, but think of Kim Hiorthoy, Boards, Mum. In fact, the overwhelming essence of this LP is in its immaculate musicianship and songwriting displays…warm, but not sickly….melancholy…but uplifting. Recognisable, but new. Essential.

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.

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.