The Unearthed Sounds crew members have compiled their weekly picks containing collectively, in no particular order, our favourite tracks/releases of the week.
Here are the selections individually from the crew
Cue up your sound system! The second chapter of Sentry's compilation series is reaching the long-awaited light of day and furthers the notoriety of its lauded artist congregation in the typical high-grade style. Moving into the last quarter of 2020 and from strength to strength with each release, the imprint welcomes plenty of fresh faces to the revered artist roster, such as Arkham Sound, Karnage and Muttley among others. Bridling amid the commotion, returning champions like Cimm, LSN and Substance, as well as the label boss Youngsta himself untether their respective supreme vibrations. To be released as a digital long-player alongside a four-track vinyl sampler - 'Part 2' forms a comprehensive listening journey, truly taking bass music enthusiasts for an extensive and stylistically varied ride. Smoothly fusing meditative soundscapes with its apocalyptic counterparts, the result forms a select composite of some of the scene's brightest talents encapsulated within the heavyweight LP.
Featuring a meticulously curated assortment of bass music flavours, it kicks off with Dub Techno inclinations, ephemeral chords and mesmeric soundscapes in Cimm's 'Glider' - laying it down on a foundation bassline. 'Shottah Kush' by the LSN collective conjures an as electric as industrial mammoth, running things with head-nodding swing and scattered outbursts of otherworldly distortion.
Wandering through the hypnotic temple sounds of 'The Fallen' by Saraphim, 'Tupi' by Japan's CITY1 returns to a full-frontal flute assault, loaded with murderous low-frequency excursions, primed for the dance. More infernal overtones and glitches await in Kali & Senncoria's 'Dragon Shape' - taking listeners on an epic sound design journey.
Sirens from afar, silky strings and high-grade 808's fire through 'Magie' by Muttley, followed up by off-kilter Dubstep at its finest - 'Nug' by Substance & Youngsta, teeming of sonic intricacies. With militant and gripping percussion, Arkham Sound's 'So Jaded' guides through its forceful but evanescent atmosphere.
Taking on the torch, Karnage immolates musing melodies on larger-than-life drums in 'Magitek' - closely tailed by the highly inflammatory contents of Confusious' 'Octane' - radiating shut-down vibes. Wrapped up by spheric harmonies and top-notch 2-Step tendencies in Rednote's 'Albion' - the LP concludes its beautiful journey with a captivating, ruminative meditation of 'Genesis' by Boston's Saltus. Sourced from some of the world's finest artists, both established and new - the mighty Sentry Records syndicate strikes again.
Tristan Da Cunha dons his Freakenstein alias and debuts on UTTU with a special split release! the Hot Haus Side shows show off his sought after House prowess before flipping over to the UTTU side for Freakenstein’s Electro flare to shine over 2 red-hot-elektro-werk-outs.
‘Voids’ is in a few ways markedly different than previous Martyn records; it features no guest appearances or collaborations and at 9 tracks, is musically stripped down to the essentials. It’s also a highly personal take on forging new paths forward in genres where the Berghain/Panorama Bar resident has long been known for his production wizardry and innovation: post-dubstep and UK garage.
The LP is roughly split between these musical foundations, recontextualized with elements of Nyabinghi, drum ‘n‘ bass, and gqom to form snarling, bass-driven hybrids. The direction was hinted at last November on his ‘GL Outtakes’ – reworks of his landmark 2009 album ‘Great Lengths’. In contrast however, ‘Voids’ is also an attempt to work through personal trauma and loss, including recovering from a heart attack and dealing with the passing of close friend and fellow producer Marcus Intalex aka Trevino, to whom the track “Manchester” is dedicated.
The sound of ‘Voids’ is big and unapologetically rough around the edges. It is music as therapy, drawing on the healing elements of music past, but is far from retrospective. Indeed, Martyn is no stranger to electronic futurism, as his numerous solo productions for Ostgut Ton, Dolly, Hyperdub, Brainfeeder, Ninja Tune, Warp and his own 3024 label (run together with visual collaborator Jeroen Erosie) have shown. On ‘Voids’, however, these futuristic sonic qualities coalesce into something darker, more biographical and untethered from expectations.
a1. Voids One
a2. Manchester
a3. Mind Rain
b1. Nya
b2. Why
c1. Try To Love You
c2. Cutting Tone
d1. World Gate
d2. Voids Two
El Michels Affair - Enter The 37th Chamber [Gold Vinyl LP]
After his hugely successful “Unite EP” in 2019, we are excited to present Fracture’s second EP on 1985 Music - the “Velocity EP”. It features the awe inspiring Nah Eeto on Shada Shada.
Lost City Archives is back with a massive 4 track EP from Japan’s own Stones Taro. Delivering a trifecta of quality Garage, Breaks and Jungle, certain to peak the interest of any serious underground aficionado.
Gil Evans to Miles Davis…. Holger Czukay to the ensemble known as Can….Jean Claude Vannier to Serge Gainsbourg on Histoire de Melody Nelson. That’s the only way to explain the specificity of Four Tet and Madlib’s collaboration, in this special album that showcases a two-decade long friendship that has resulted in an album that follows Madlib’s classics like Quasimoto’s The Unseen, Madvillainy and his Pinata and Bandana albums with Freddie Gibbs.
“A few months ago I completed work on an album with my friend Madlib that we’d been making for the last few years. He is always making loads of music in all sorts of styles and I was listening to some of his new beats and studio sessions when I had the idea that it would be great to hear some of these ideas made into a Madlib solo album. Not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. I put this concept to him when we were hanging out eating some nice food one day and we decided to work on this together with him sending me tracks, loops, ideas and experiments that I would arrange, edit, manipulate and combine. I was sent hundreds of pieces of music over a couple of years stretch and during that time I put together this album with all the parts that fitted with my vision.” Kieren Hebden AKA Four Tet
a1. There Is No Time (Prelude) a2. The Call a3. Theme De Crabtree a4. Road Of The Lonely Ones a5. Loose Goose a6. Dirtknock a7. Hopprock a8. Riddim Chant b1. Sound Ancestors b2. One For Quartabê/Right Now b3. Hang Out (Phone Off) b4. Two for 2 -For Dilla b5. Latino Negro b6. The New Normal b7. Chino b8. Duumbiyay
