’Lothian Buses’ is an EP of genre collisions with Proc Fiskal amalgamating his twinkling, caffeinated grime sound with the rhythms and sounds of other genres, without ever overthinking it. To kick off, ‘Thurs Jung Yout’ is a kind of shoegaze drill with strings and gentle tones swelling and dissipating against busy drill beats. ‘Baguettes’ is a more classic Proc sound, a galloping rhythm against a sparse melody that was a quick fix up for a show that turned out well. ‘Choco Frito (Calamari)’ was influenced by the good life, DJing in Portugal in the sunshine and hearing Kuduro played out. The latticing drum patterns nod to the style, dropping into a sunny accordion chorus with a plucked guitar line. ‘Scarab Aloph’ is Proc's style compressed, full of micro-glitches, tight drum fills and incidental drop-outs across a pretty melody, while ‘HopeTak2’ is his percussive, breezy take on funky house with smiley melodic stabs. Finally, ‘Mullit Madollock’ takes the sonics of airy Bukem-style atmospheric jungle, an instantly recognisable inspiration that's not been as foregrounded in Proc’s work before, refitted and updated with grime-inspired melodic bass kicks.
‘Chemz’ is hooky, rushy and loved-up - both an unhinged premonition of unleashed post-pandemic joy, and a demonic flashback to past ecstasies in a hardcore style perfected in the UK. ‘Chemz’ is a 12 minute rave monster that has ingested several tracks and incorporated them into its distended body. At the other end of the Burial bi-polar spectrum, ‘Dolphinz’ is a desolate oceanic love letter to our underwater friends.
The Bug aka Kevin Martin, and producer/vocalist Dis Fig aka Felicia Chen, refer to their style on ‘In Blue’ as “Tunnel Sound”; a foggy, melancholic meltdown of narco-dancehall-soul and dread-drenched, electronic dub. The 2018 prototype rhythms for this album were a continuation of Martin’s ongoing quest for a futuristic dancehall mutation, but more sci-fi, aquatic and smokey than before. An obsessive search for the right sultry 2AM voice to ride his syncopated walls of sub, fuzzed out white noise and infinite echoes eventually led him to Dis Fig’s torched soul-jazz glow, and 20 months of subsequent lab exchanges have resulted in the deeply sensual pulsations and lyrical long shadows of ‘In Blue’ - an album that shares shades of King Midas Sound’s wrecked lovers rock, alongside the bass immersion that The Bug has become infamously known for. Just as Martin took a stylistic swerve on ‘In Blue’, so did Chen. Previously known for experimental noise onslaughts and emotional exorcisms, she opts here for threatening intimacy and hushed confessionals, concentrating on bittersweet vocals and seductive surprises that are all the more potent for their inferred narratives and delicate delivery. Mixed during lockdown, the sense of claustrofear, escapism and tension throughout is palpable. With the bewitching croon of Dis Fig directing the flow, carnality and violence merge under the turbulent, cinematic surface of an hypnotically addictive album.
Durban gqom ambassador DJ Lag and London-based Okzharp combine over four club heavy tracks rooted in their long-term long-distance connection, the EP’s title originating from the Durban nickname for the local clubs where much early gqom-style music was played.Opener ‘Now What’ layers a wooden percussion scraper with a ticking cow bell and chants. Set at a slightly faster pace than most gqom, the track harbours a dark energy at its core generated by a low rumbling background synth and pitch shifting claps. ‘Steam One’ -inspired by DJ Lag’s set at Hyperdub’s club night Ø after he brought the heavy steam room vibe -has a slow and entrancing build up with a subtle melody layering on stabbing syncopated kicks, leading up to a woozy synth breakdown. “We were inspired by that moment in the club when things get hazy and bendy and glowy. It has South Durban via South London DNA, so inevitably there's aheavy kwai-gqom vibe with a grimey funky London twist running through it”.‘Nyusa’ opens with a grinding acidic bass line overlaid with a metallic and gravelly melody with suppressed chants. Sharp kicks drive the track leading up to a wobbly synth breakdown and back up synth stabs raising the energy. Finally, ‘Sambe’ pairs menacing strings with a steel drum melody, displaying characteristics of both funky house and gqom in a subtle meeting of the two styles.‘Steam Rooms’ is a collection of dancefloor heaters set to makethe club sweat, the amalgamation of a London / Durban link up reflecting both producers environments and sound palettes for icey cold gqom tracks with funky house shadings.
DJ Haram is a producer & DJ who distinctively ties her New Jersey musical history with more recent involvement in the Philadelphia DIY noise scene, whilst paying homage to her Middle Eastern roots. A close affiliate of New York's Discwoman collective, she is also one half of 700 Bliss with rapper & poet Moor Mother, who features on this EP. Haram’s non-traditional understanding of Islam, paired with a nuanced perspective on folk tradition and mythology, underpins the EP, bringing fantasy and colour to this in-between place. On opener ‘No Idol’, a darbuka rhythm pairs with offbeat claps around a dark synth and a contrasting airy flute melody, illustrating the theme of duality running through the music. The melodies of ‘No Idol’ are revisited in the final track remix, sped up with a classic Baltimore club beat and energetic bedsprings samples.‘Interlude’ is a combination of the sounds and patterns from each song. ‘Gemini Rising's synth is reminiscent of John Carpenter, paired with adarbuka rhythm and war drums that transmit a religious sci -fi horror aesthetic. ‘Body Count’ is propelled by Jersey Club kicks with a distorted drum crunch and ticking rim shot in triplets, and an ethereal melody. ‘Grace (K.O.D.)’ has menacing cinematic stabs that feel like acid raining on the scattered percussion. On the 700 Bliss track ‘Candle Light’, Moor Mother's distorted and doubled up vocal chorus evokes a frantic yet solemn energy as she speaks on themes of life and death.‘Grace’ is an EP constructed through deep feeling, transmitting vital dancefloor energy. It’s music is versatile, imbued with a strong will, personality, and colour.
Audio available soon.
A1. No Idol A2. Interlude A3. Gemini Rising A4. Body Count B1. Candle Light (700 Bliss Remix) B2. Grace (K.O.D.) B3. Candle Light (Instrumental) B4. No Idol (Remix)
In late 2017 Hyperdub released ‘Diggin In The Carts’, a compilation put together by Nick Dwyer and Kode9 of pioneering and rare Japanese video game music from the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, from Sonar Festival in Barcelona to Liquid Rooms in Tokyo, Kode9 has been touring a live audio-visual set in collaboration with visuals from anime legend Koji Morimoto, who also designed the artwork for the original compilation.Finally, on this first new Kode9 EP since 2014, a handful of these remixes see the light of day. 9 rivets his 80/160bpm rhythms onto these classic 8bit and 16bit melodies, re-animating the Steve Reich-ian arpeggios of Soshi Hosoi, the grimelike horn fanfares of Yuzo Koshiro, the sour pads of Koichi Ishaibashi, and pitching Tadahiro Nitta down into a slow building, frantic low end grind.Sleeved in artwork by Konx-om-Pax, adapted from the visuals from the live A/V performance.
DJ Taye is welcomed back to Hyperdub for his second EP on the label after last year’s popular ‘Break It Down’ EP and a North American tour with Jessy Lanza. The ‘Move Out’ EP is a masterclass in a distinctly soulful, dusky footwork sound with a melancholic undercurrent that’s crossed with a precise eye for detail. ‘Burnin Ya Boa’ ft DJ Manny opens the EP with a crisp, micro-edited arrangement of tumbling piano, dubbed out chants and a heart-tugging woodwind melody playing hide and seek with racing, ever changing footwork drum and bass patterns. ‘Go 2 Sleep’ ft DJ Earl rolls with a narcoleptic woody percussion loop, and a vocal urging “Please go to sleep”, a request which is challenged with drill sounds, rave stabs, energetic footwork drums, and soft bass tones. The super minimal ‘I Need I Want‘ ft DJ Manny & DJ Spinn takes a house acapella and spins it into something more urgent and compulsive, the vocalist’s insistent, addicted pleas met with a downcast, tumbling melody. ‘Move Out’ ends the EP on a brighter note, with big Detroit techno chords and a warm Moog-like solo-cum- melody. The ‘Move Out’ EP is just a taster for the avalanche of new DJ Taye material forthcoming in 2017.
a1. Burnin Ya Boa (feat. DJ Manny) a2. Go 2 Sleep (feat. DJ Earl) b1. I Need I Want (feat. DJ Manny & DJ Spinn) b2. Move Out
DVA’s new album ‘NOTU_URONLINEU’ marks a strong and brave turning point for his music. Made with the [Hi:Emotions] moniker that DVA has used for a number of remixes in the past, ‘NOTU_URONLINEU’ is very different from what you might know him for, both in its darkness and its abstract ambitions, but the detail and quality of the music is primed to win over new fans. The rhythmic brilliance and use of space that have given his dance floor recordings their distinct character have mutated and undergone re-assembly into deeper and darker shades. A more pronounced ‘off grid’, improvised character has seeped in, lending the record a looser feel to previous work, as if intuition guides it rather than club practicalities.The album was made under some new self-imposed conditions; of the recording process, DVA says ‘I realised before making this album I was most happy when listening to music in the dark like I did when I was at school. So I decided to record the whole album in the dark too’. Along with this, the album hints at themes of online alienation, confusion, control and domination, and is peppered with hints of faux-therapeutic advertising and psychotic jingles - a reflection of the stress of online life. Of the themes, DVA says ‘The album project comes from a short visual story set in a time where a mega corporation named H:E / Hi:Emotions is slowly taking control of everything, and planning to eventually make all people live life under one brand in virtual reality. ‘NOTU_URONLINEU’ puts you at the start of that journey.
CD Edition Zomby returns with a new album called Ultra. The 14-track collection serves as the British producer’s fourth overall and follows 2013’s With Love full-length and last year’s Let’s Jam EPs.
Zomby returns with a new album called Ultra. The 14-track collection serves as the British producer’s fourth overall and follows 2013’s With Love full-length and last year’s Let’s Jam EPs.
Londoner Endgame is a new addition to the Hyperdub roster after releases on Lisbon’s Golden Mist Records, and NYC-based Purple Tapes Pedigree. Endgame hosts an excellent monthly show ‘Precious Metals’ on NTS and produces and DJs as part of the Bala Club crew (also featuring Uli K, Kamixlo and Rules) who are regulars at Lexxi’s occasional club night ‘Endless’. He already has mixes and features with the likes of the Fader, Fact, Dazed and Confused and ID under his belt in the short time he’s been releasing music. In his ice-cold productions, Drill, Grime and most notably South American dance riddims are threaded and mutated into tracks that he describes as an ever-evolving vision of the dystopian underbelly of London. ‘Felony Riddim’ is an icy introduction to the EP, an explosive club jam with a menacing and stabbing chime melody leading up to a pounding kick drum. It’s all out war, but you can definitely roll your hips to it. ‘Sittin’ Here Redux’ recasts Dizzie Rascal’s ‘Boy In Da Corner’ opener into a tense anthem, with police sirens wailing in the background, dogs barking, and rolling 808 snares that bring a vibe somewhere between reggaeton and drill. Next up is ‘Fallen’ featuring the MC Organ Tapes - a slow burner that works both as a moody headphone track or a club slow jam. Organ Tapes’ slurred autotuned vocals flow perfectly with Endgame’s blend of grime drums and chiming rap production. The EP finishes as it began, going out with the explosive and high-energy ‘Toxic Riddim’. It’s a mix of reggaeton and futurist dancehall, with a menacing melody and relentless electric shock-like hi hats across a deep sub. Endgame takes you all around the world - but the ice-cold tone unmistakably brings you right back to winding in a dark club in London's culture clash.
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Long time mutual admirers, Zomby and Burial get together for this one-sided white label taken from Zomby’s forthcoming album 'Ultra’, with probably the most toxic track from either of their back catalogues to date.
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