Month: June 2015

Hud Dreems by Knxwledge

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Knxwledge - Hud Dreams

You find yourself drifting through the Ether, the interconnected, cerebral location from which all musical ideas are plucked. Glimpses of soul, classical, hip-hop, jazz, and even good ol’ rock n roll zip through your vision, and you catch a few sights of sounds that have yet to be picked from the sonic fruit tree. It appears that most of what you witness is quite random, yet you can’t escape an inkling of a feeling that insists it all means something. You close your eyes, and every tone, beat, and melody start to weave with each other . . .

This one is for the eclectically-minded music enthusiast. Hud Dreems is the latest release from producing-addict Knxwledge, and it’s a marvelous primer for those that are unfamiliar with the artist’s enormous body of work. It feels too obvious to state that fans of Madlib and J Dilla will absolutely adore this record, but there’s something to be said about how wonderfully unique and original this album sounds despite those parallels.

Those of you that have heard of Knxwledge may know him from his stellar beat production on Kendrick Lamar’s “Momma,” from Kendrick’s recent, impeccable To Pimp A Butterfly. However, on this offering everything is instrumental, although the producer seamlessly entwines golden-oldie, soul vocal samples and modern pop fragments with his hip-hop beat tapestries. Speaking of samples, this thing is chock full of unidentifiable sonic gems from all eras and genres of music. Fans of the Avalanches, rejoice!

It’s also vital to mention that this entire album is sewn together into one, uninterrupted journey through enchanted worlds of sound. Most tracks on this thing don’t break the two-minute-mark, so they serve more as puzzle segments to the complete piece of art. Any fan of Brainfeeder or Stones Throw (Hud Dreems label) will be entranced by this one, and may find themselves at the end shaking their heads, muttering “What happened?” If you’re seeking eclectic, instrumental hip-hop from other worlds, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Hud Dreems by Knxwledge

Wild Nights by PINS

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PINS - Wild Nights

You step through the door of some dingy club in the most distant fringe of the galaxy. It’s dim and smoky, so you only spot frightening tattoos and black leather. You sense a clashing of egos, and you feel a brawl may break out at any moment. Suddenly, total darkness. Spotlights hit the stage on the back wall, and the curtains rise. Four female individuals walk on stage, take their instruments, and everyone is captivated for thirty-nine minutes.

This band kicks so much ass. PINS is Faith Holgate, Lois McDonald, Anna Donigan, and Sophie Galpin, and Wild Nights is their second full-length album. These incredibly talented ladies have crafted one of the most enjoyable collections of pop songs this year; plain and simple. They’re just a wonderful rock group making wonderful rock music and, now more than ever, that’s a true breath of fresh air.

The mesh of dreamy instrumentation and playful, punkish song structure is what really grabs and keeps my attention. This isn’t shoegaze music, but it’s hazy, warm, and intricately layered like the trademark sounds of shoegaze. It also isn’t punk rock, because punk could never be this strikingly pretty or carried out with this much grace. They’re somewhere in the same ecosystem as bands like Dum Dum Girls, the Jesus and Mary Chain, or even the Cure, but still residing in a habitat all their own.

It’s also important to note how proficient these women are with their instruments. Each member is indispensable within the overall mix. While Donigan’s sturdy bass lines and Galpin’s charming beats ground everything as a seriously rocking rhythm section, McDonald’s lush guitar and Holgate’s impeccably smooth voice send it all skyward. If you’re seeking catchy rock music with dreamy textures, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Wild Nights by PINS

Nozinja Lodge by Nozinja

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Nozinja - Nozinja Lodge

You’re a visitor aboard a water vessel quickly approaching Movement, an island where the people never cease to dance. Morning, noon, and all night long, pulsing music is endlessly pumped into the air at some tempo or another, successfully provoking the shaking of bodies. It’s an overwhelmingly-celebratory place, but you can’t help but notice a few inert bodies strewn about, still alive but collapsed in exhaustion. You barely get one foot on the shore before you notice it tapping on the sand, and your ears fill with sound . . .

Here’s a piece of music that stands as both a great album, and an innovative cultural statement. Nozinja Lodge is the debut full-length record from Nozinja, the artist credited with the creation of the Shangaan electro genre. Don’t fret if those words appear unfamiliar to you, because this opus from the Soweto native acts as a splendid introduction to the fun, quirky, and highly enjoyable sound.

Shangaan electro is a peculiar mixture of kwaito, South African house, and local folk customs. There are bright, synthesized marimbas and flutes, nutty drum machine rhythms, and dreamy, soulful vocals abound, and everything is cranked to top speed. It’s an intriguing and amusing fact that Nozinja slowly raises the tempo of his tracks during his live performances, prompting any and all dancers into a trance of sorts.

Speaking of performing live, Nozinja tours with what he calls the Shangaan Electro Roadshow, along with dancers in flashy costumes and festive masks. We can also thank artists like the late DJ Rashad, Caribou, and Ricardo Villalobos for aiding in the spread of Shangaan electro influences throughout the UK and US electronic music scenes. If you’re seeking festive, agile dance music with a tropical touch, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Nozinja Lodge by Nozinja

Dumb Flesh by Blanck Mass

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Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh

You’re a brave/foolish worker with one of the most hazardous occupations in the galaxy: handyman on a Star Creator ship. You possess the glamorous job of astral custodian; but you get to watch. You’re gifted the opportunities to witness the birthing of stars. There could be no more awe-inspiring sight, and each one is different. Some will bear new civilizations, while another may destroy the Star Creator itself. You begin to watch the process for the first time.

This album is a strange one. It’s huge and wonderful, but strange. Dumb Flesh is the second full-length offering by producer Blanck Mass, who you may possibly know as one of the founding members of Fuck Buttons. If you’re familiar at all with the discography of that awesome group, you may already hold a hint about what this pulsing, black hole of a record contains. For those of you that aren’t, you’re in for a rhythmically-savage ride.

Ambience is the sky in these mountainous songs, and driving, tribal rhythms are the thundering Earth. Everything sounds enormous, and that’s all thanks to the producer’s many years of sound engineering experience and experimentation. Nothing is held back, and each track seems to build until they burst from the seams, before the grounded beats drop out and the listener is suspended in a glowing haze; strange, but beautiful.

Maybe the strangest thing of all, is that you can absolutely dance to this thing. The tasteful beat production spans an immense range, from quicker, electro-esque songs (“Dead Format,” “Double Cross”), to more slowed-down, French house-ish tracks (“No Lite,” “Cruel Sport”), to totally spaced-out hip hop beats reminiscent of early Flying Lotus (“Atrophies”). There’s something for everyone to move their feet to, with their heads up in the stars. If you’re looking for dance music that conquers worlds, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Dumb Flesh by Blanck Mass

Walk Dance Talk Sing by Crazy P

Justin Anastasio, 1 Comment

Crazy P - Walk Dance Talk Sing

It’s the mid-80s! You’re a patron at one of the most hip and happening clubs in New York, and the night has just begun. Your feet are just starting to warm up, when a blinding light fills the room. Your eyes adjust, and you can’t believe the sight. A container resembling a phone booth is in the middle of the room. The words “Time Warp” are on it. The door opens, and an unfathomable amount of people come piling out, some musicians, some enthusiasts. The musicians from the future take the nearby stage, and a new sound fills the air . . .

2015 is undoubtably the year of the groove revival. The body-shaking influences seem to have permeated throughout a huge portion of recent music, and I couldn’t be happier. Walk Dance Talk Sing is Crazy P’s terrific seventh album, and a prime example of groove being embraced and used for the forces of good. These guys (and one gal) are just as wonderfully celebratory as ever on this fun record. If there’s one thing that this band consistently deliver time and time again, it’s a romping good time.

Crazy P are proficient in crafting anthems primed for the dance floor, and they flesh out their music by jamming everything with a slew of live instruments. I know that DJs abroad are surely spinning these tracks, as well, because these songs also work marvelously as house gems. While pondering similar artists, Hot Chip comes to mind; both wonderful groups, but Crazy P trade that band’s humor for undeniable coolness.

Although every member of this tight-knit act is integral, it’s the beautifully-balanced voice of Dannielle Moore that truly takes these stellar instrumentals and makes them soaring dance odysseys. She shines on all the dance tracks, but she really works wonders when the band slows everything down during “Something More” and “The Way.” It’s always a great time to listen to this group, because it’s always a great time to feel good. If you’re seeking pristine dance anthems, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Walk Dance Talk Sing by Crazy P

A Shapeless Pool of Lovely Pale Colours Suspended in the Darkness by Smurphy

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ASPOLPCSITD - Smurphy

You’re walking down your normal neighborhood sidewalk, just like any normal day. The normal birds are chirping, the normal breeze blowing. Suddenly, a small wormhole opens beneath you, and you are plunged into utter darkness. Everything is moving fast and slow at the same time. Hopefully, you can eventually find a way back to your normal home so you can tell your normal family and normal friends about this. There are truly no words in any human language for what you are witnessing. And the sounds . . .

Yes I know, that album title is quite a mouthful, but I still believe it to be too short to encompass the expansive magnitude of this record. Smurphy is producer (/warlock?) Jessica Smurphy, and ASPOLPCSITD is her new, experimentally-astounding album. It’s not an easy task to accurately describe what is contained in this Pandora’s box, so please, bear with me and dive into this weirdly-awesome, hauntingly-gorgeous piece of music.

The gifted producer utilizes a unique fusion of murky ambience and propulsive footwork beats. The blend is marginally reminiscent of Machinedrum and JLin (both absolutely worth checking out), but Smurphy’s sounds are still galaxies away from either of those two artists’ productions. She plunges the listener deep into unfamiliar worlds of bizarre, rhythmic instrumentation, providing only her ghostly singing voice as a navigator.

It’s clear that sample-enthusiasts will be smitten with this album. It’s plump with tasteful chops and cuts of otherworldly voices and sounds. However, my favorite of this album’s attributes has to be the beat production. The rhythms present on this record are mind-blowing, and that’s coming from the mouth of a percussionist. If you’re seeking rhythmically-experimental music with magnificent ambience, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

A Shapeless Pool of Lovely Pale Colours Suspended in the Darkness by Smurphy

Nature by Valet

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Valet - Nature

You’re alive and aware during the Great Peace. It’s been a century since the last war between humans; since fear, hatred, and suffering existed among the living. Those unnecessary things are all gone now. Death has lost, and Life has won. You find yourself committed to a leisurely stroll along a serene river. You stop, turn, and fall softly onto the grass behind you. You lift your eyes skyward and zone out into the clouds. A warm sound begins to fill your ears . . .

I feel a slight giddiness while writing this, because of the incredible warmth contained in this record. Honey Owens and her partner, Rafael Fauria, make up the duo known as Valet, and Nature is their first album in seven years. The group’s overarching sound falls somewhere under the umbrella genre of Shoegaze, but they possess a distinct, joyous beauty that sets them apart from other shoegazers.

Where Valet’s previous albums tend to navigate through the songwriting process by way of more experimental waters, this new one is completely content to sit back and revel in comfortable clouds of washed-out bliss. The songs are still quite brilliant, but they sneak up on you slowly, rather than throw everything in your face instantly. It begs to be heard in a relaxed environment, with feet up and eyes closed. This is zone out music, and that’s completely and wonderfully okay.

However, the guitar tones are truly what put this record over the top. Every strum is a wave of sonic euphoria. I just want to hang out forever in the world this record has created. Some tracks seem to reach the outro halfway in, and ride it till it seems to fade out into eternity; and you know what? It still sounds like these songs could go on for much longer. If you’re seeking warm, joyful shoegaze music, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Nature by Valet

Tundra by Lakker

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Lakker - Tundra

You find yourself stumbling through a forest, confused about how you arrived there. Through a clearing in the trees, you lay eyes on what appears to be a large metal building. There is a single door on one side. You open it. Inside is a factory, stretching for as far as you can see. You take a few steps before it dawns on you: this factory is dedicated to creating robots, and every single one looks exactly like you. What are you going to do with this information?

Suspense and tension. Lakker are masters of these two things, and their second album Tundra is one of the most suspenseful, most tense, most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. Techno is this duo’s game, but this is no typical techno record. These songs are huge and cavernous, like empty factories that continue to run and produce in an efficient way, long after the consumers have gone extinct. It’s dark, but it’s fascinating.

Lakker utilize a particular concoction of rhythmic, percussive techno instrumentation, and tastefully chosen field samples seamlessly integrated together. The end result is quite intense, but it isn’t abrasive or dissonant. A few choice songs contain heart-wrenching, operatic vocal samples that contrast with the heavy rhythms in a superb way. Every song is a ritual that takes time to evolve, but the process of each progression is a sight (or sound, rather) to behold.

This is one of those albums that conveys an incredible amount of emotion without requiring any lyrics. The somber melodies hit hard, and they hit deep. These songs might knock you over; these songs might make you weep; these songs might even make you dance. The point is that they will make you feel something, and that’s the most important thing in my opinion. If you’re seeking suspenseful, melodious, and rhythmic techno, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Tundra by Lakker

In Colour by Jamie xx

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Jamie xx - In Colour

Welcome to Spectrum Land! You’ve just entered the front gates of the newly-opened amusement park. The sun is warm on your face, and you hear the faint sound of waves crashing on a nearby beach. The main draw of Spectrum Land are its many “Spectrum Coasters,” which are essentially roller-coasters for different colors in the color spectrum, and they each have their own unique soundtrack. How could you pass that up? Enjoy your day!

This has to be another one of those universally-loved records. It’s just too damn pleasant on the ears. You may know Jamie xx, or Jamie Smith, as one of the three members that make up The xx, or maybe from his work with the late legendary soul singer Gil Scott-Heron. The fact is, Smith has been deep in the scene creating wonderful music since he attended the legendary Elliott School in London (other notable alumni include Burial, Four Tet, and Hot Chip). In Colour is the talented producer’s debut album, and what an absolutely gorgeous debut it is.

At its core, this is dance music, but not the skyward-hands/pogo-jumping dance music you’ll find at most modern, exclusively electronic festivals. These sounds are for the wallflowers, often found propped up against the back wall, eyes closed, head lowered and nodding with the beat. It’s a bit reminiscent of Flying Lotus’ minimal opus, Until The Quiet Comes. There are a myriad of moving parts in each of these songs, and it requires a committed headspace in order to effectively absorb everything presented. These are intricate songs, but they sound completely seamless and fluid.

Just as the title suggests, each of these songs seem to reside in a different color. Many of them fall within darker shades, but it’s during vocal tracks “SeeSaw,” “Stranger In A Room,” and “Loud Places” (featuring Romy, Oliver Sim, and Romy once more, respectively) that this album really glows with beauty. Jamie xx has created something truly special here, something with a whole lot of both heart and soul infused. If you’re seeking music to groove to, but also to think to, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

In Colour by Jamie xx

Hairless Toys by Róisín Murphy

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Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys

You are a patron in the galaxy’s premiere mobile spa and bath house, located inside a large whale on a planet made up entirely of water. The facilities are designed to heat and filter the water consumed by the large beast. You grab your towel and recline in a chair surrounding one of the large bodies of water. The ripples reflect onto every surface. Your ears start to adjust, and you hear music coming from somewhere, slowly growing louder . . .

Gorgeous. It’s the ideal word to describe this pretty little album. Róisín Murphy is an Irish singer-songwriter that has been creating music in some form or another for over two decades (one of those with her previous band, Moloko), and Hairless Toys is her third solo album. This thing is ripe with stellar songwriting, and I can’t say enough good things about the instrumentation and marvelous singing present in every one of these songs.

Murphy’s style is reminiscent of theatrical groove-pop in the vein of Mr. Twin Sister and Sébastien Tellier. Murphy’s biggest asset may not even be her vocal skill, but rather her patience. Each track contains various movements that grow and evolve at a wonderful pace, and many times she allows the soaring instrumentation to carry everything from point A to point B. Most of these songs hang around the six-minute mark, but each one sounds as if it could be two (or even three) separate tracks on a less-adept artist’s album. It’s a nice breath of fresh air.

And the layers. Oh, the layers. These aren’t your typical pop song productions, but instrumental tapestries woven with sound ornamentations of every type and timbre. It’s a deep dive in a sonic ocean, containing glimpses of any sights and sounds you can imagine, and many that are completely unique. If you’re seeking intricate groove-pop with watery textures, this album is for you.

– stasi (@stasisphere)

Hairless Toys by Róisín Murphy