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Review: Dre Skull Loudspeaker Riddim

Pick
Label: Mixpak

When it comes to unlikely stories, it's hard to top the notion that Dre Skull would somehow become a top dancehall producer. That's not meant as a slight to the Brooklyn-based beatmaker, but he's certainly taken a long, strange trip since he first surfaced in the mid '00s with a series of dance cuts that largely pulled from electro, B-more, and hip-hop. Most notably, he's founded his own Mixpak label and gradually worked his way into the world of dancehall, frequently traveling to Jamaica and collaborating with the likes of Sizzla, Vybz Kartel, and others. His latest offering, Loudspeaker Riddim, features vocal contributions from Beenie Man, Natalie Storm, Machel Montano, and Popcaan. It might also be the best thing he's ever done. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/25/2012

Review: Illum Sphere Illum Sphere Remixed
Label: Fat City

Manchester's Illum Sphere probably doesn't need an EP of remixes just yet. Over the past three years, he's released a handful of EPs via Fat City, but with the exception of a enthusiastic co-sign from Ikonika, who inevitably turns up here, he doesn't have the kind of catalog or visibility that usually occasions a remix record. In addition, his production style is deliberately minor, part of an intercontinental set that mines Brainfeeder's precious ore of weeded-out head-bob beats and transparent 8-bit synths. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/25/2012

Review: Chaos in the CBD Dusty Sundays EP
Label: Amadeus

Somehow, the fledgling Amadeus imprint is already on its fourth release since its launch earlier this year, and despite this rapid-fire output, the label has managed to keep its aims rather focused, showcasing burgeoning artists from the deep and more cerebral side of house music. In that vein, Chaos In the CBD—a pair of brothers from New Zealand—has delivered Amadeus' latest effort, an EP with three lengthy originals and a remix from rising Londoner (and recent XLR8R podcast contributor) Jack Dixon. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/24/2012

Review: Jon Convex Lied to Be Loved
Label: 3024

The history of production duo Instra:mental starts with some well-received drum & bass singles at the start of the millenium, and includes a fallow period of six years prior to their reemergence in 2007. Since then, Alex Green and Damon Kirkham have had a lot to say, both together (with last year's Resolution 653 album) and apart (the former as Boddika and the latter as Jon Convex, among other guises). Their collaboration mirrors the tectonic evolution of UK dance music, and their timing—knowing when to hold back and when to burst forth—has granted them an uncommon longevity. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/24/2012

Review: San Gabriel VOLFE
Label: Time No Place

It's not a new complaint, but a particularly frustrating aspect of the always-evolving electronic-music spectrum is how quickly trends can be started, initially used for good, repeated across the board by legions of copycats, and eventually become hopelessly overworked. The pace of this disheartening process has only quickened over the years, but, alas, there are always names ready to carry the torch and push the envelope just enough to find fresh, new ground. San Gabriel, the solo project of Pit Er Pat co-founder Butchy Fuego (who has also served as a notable drummer/studio man for the likes of Nite Jewel, Rainbow Arabia, Nguzunguzu, and Julia Holter), appears poised to be one of those figures, offering a debut LP that is rewardingly unexpected and consistently inventive. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/23/2012

Review: Tomas Barfod Salton Sea
Label: Friends of Friends

Tomas Barfod, better known as the drummer of Copenhagen's WhoMadeWho, is enamored with beats and solid pop hooks in equal measure. While WhoMadeWho is being sucked into an LCD Soundsystem–shaped vacuum, the market for Barfod's own productions is less clear. He aspires to the sensation of timelessness that defines pop while availing himself of production cues drawn from house and the overtly exploratory hip-hop associated with LA's Brainfeeder as well as new home Friends of Friends. Barfod's also a recent LA transplant, and calls on labelmates and locals like Shlohmo and Salva provide backup—and a new context—in the form of remixes and shared bills. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/22/2012

Review: Guido "Flow" b/w "Africa"
Label: State of Joy

Alongside Joker and Gemmy, Guido is one of the three best-known purveyors of the "purple" sound of Bristol. He's arguably the most consistent producer of that crew, exhibiting excellent quality control over a handful of singles and 2010's quietly brilliant Anidea LP. This 12-inch—the second 2012 release from Guido on his new personal label, State of Joy—is largely in keeping with his established brand of woozy, R&B-flavored dubstep. There is, however, a more brooding, ruminative wrinkle to his usually joyous sound this time out. Toning down the lush, delightfully cheap-sounding instrumental components of much of his previous work, Guido opts here for a pared-down, punchy style that goes down quite nicely. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/22/2012

Review: Shit Robot "Teenage Bass" b/w "Space Race"
Label: DFA

According to legend, Marcus Lambkin (a.k.a. Shit Robot) hooked up with the DFA crew at the very beginning, well before the imprint started throwing lavish dance parties on hotel rooftops and handily sold out arenas. The Irish-born DJ was there as the label was still just a few guys trying to make sense of NYC's rich electro, funk, disco, and house traditions with their post-punk pedigrees. And although it arrived approximately a decade after the label's genesis, in some ways Shit Robot's 2010 LP, From the Cradle to the Rave, harkened back to the diverse spirit of those early days. Guests placed a key role in the process, as DC punk Ian Svenonius served up an acid confessional on "Simple Things (Work it Out)" while Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem and The Juan Maclean assisted in creating the robust funk of "Take Em Up." Now, nearly two years later, Shit Robot has returned with "Teenage Bass" b/w "Space Race," the latest chapter in DFA's progression. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/21/2012

Review: Teen Daze All of Us, Together

Hated It
Label: Lefse

At some point toward the beginning of her musical career, Björk was quoted in an interview saying, "I find it so amazing when people tell me that electronic music has not got soul, and they blame the computers... It's like, you couldn't blame the computer. If there's no soul in the music, it's because nobody put it there." Her point was an excellent defense of a once grossly misunderstood kind of songwriting, and it certainly bears revisiting in an era where creating music electronically is the easiest and most widespread method available. Instead of using the sentiment to justify computer-made music, however, use it to consider the fact that a potential lack of human soul looms over every synth preset, drum sample, and effects patch that Ableton Live, Reason, Logic, or some such DAW offers hopeful producers. Maybe now more than ever before, it would seem that, in addition to creating compelling song structures and unique sounds, it is the job of electronic artists to infuse a bit of themselves into their musical work in order to help combat the soullessness that computer programs can foster. Someone should've reminded Teen Daze of this before he made his first "proper" album, All of Us, Together. Read more » 

  • Filed under: review
  • 05/18/2012
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