Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Die Antword - Fatty Boom Boom!

This one woke me up from a deep slumber, War song. Lady gaga cameo attacks... most importantly a rich Zeff visual style and aggy proper riddim. Up front and in your face as usual, Die Antword may be able to save hip-hop electro relevance yet. I'm nut sure if it's honest, but it is pure.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Bassnectar's European Vacation Mix by Bassnectar

Bassnectar's European Vacation Mix by Bassnectar


Bassnectar doing what he does best, taking hip-hop vocals and samples, bro-step basslines and electronica errata, putting in a blender and pressing pulse. Boom!! There's a quite a few standout tunes, deconstructed and glitched-out to nth degree. No track list unforntunately, but in case you were wondering, yes the the title of the mix is a nod to the 1985 Chevy Chase classic. "Look kids there's Big Ben." Indeed.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Ikonclasta - Detained In Lisboa

I got a message from a promoter that I regularly get updates from, and he asked me to help spread the word on this situation. In his own words:
A friend of mine is a political activist in Angola, he s actively involved in the student movement which is fighting to restore democracy locally. Luaty aka Ikonoklasta spoke out against the government during one of his shows, he urged the crowd to attend an anti-government rally, and ever since he s been beaten up, arrested, his house was broken into, his girlfriend kidnapped, his whole family terrorized with anonymous death threats etc. 

On June 11 he flew into Lisboa to join the Portuguese Kuduro group Batida for their European tour. H was arrested at the airport, the Angolan secret service planted in excess of 1kg of cocaine in his luggage. It's highly improbable that he will serve any time, as it was even clear to the Portuguese customs officers that it was a set up, but he s yet to stand trial. 


Click the "CC" on the video to get the English subtitles.

Here's some of Ikonoclasta's music, it's kind of political soca/grime/electronica with a whimsical edge:


Batida - Cuka feat.Ikonoklasta (English Subtitled) from Fazuma on Vimeo.

It's not often that electronic music explore topics beyond partying, especially one promoting explicit political viewpoints. This particular tune about about many things, but the message that stands out is don't waste you time boozing, the government is using it to distract you from it's suppressive conditions. In context with the current regime in Angola it makes prefect sense.

And some background on the student protest movement in Angola.



Additional info about other detained protesters can be found here: http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/05/angola-protesters-detained-disappeared

Help do your part to spread the word and raise awareness. Like, share, tweet, and repost this article and videos among your social network. Thanks and big up to Lukasz for bringing this to my attention.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Magnetic Man NME Interview, Benga Takes the Piss Quits Dubstep



Obviously this is a joke, but these guys take some very serious stabs at the genre and actually have a good fucking point. It's obvious dubstep has become a homogenized, over-hyped, bro'd-out trend. Bandwagoners did kind of ruin the vibe. Advertising and film industries played out the most aggy, trash-produced bro-step over subjects that had absolutely nothing to do with the aesthetic. For fucks sake, The Red Tails trailer had dubstep over it. Are you serious? The Tuskegee Airmen flew in the 19 fucking 40's. So yeah, the interview is a joke, but there's some good take-away points.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Noisia - "The Devil May Cry" Melting X-Boxes Everywhere in 2013.


Got an interesting press release from the The Collective today. Apparently Noisia isn't content with murdering your home stereo equipment, there' set on melting your X-boxes too. So far these bass merchants have done no wrong and are still one of the most consistent and brutal bass acts around. I prefer their drum n bass, but this is good too! Check it!
Today Capcom announced that the popular video game series, Devil May Cry or DMC’s soundtrack will be produced by Noisia and the rock band Combichrist. Noisia recently released the “Devil May Cry Soundtrack Sample” on Soundcloud and made the almost 3 minute track available for free. They also released a statement surrounding their work on the upcoming video game, which is due out in stores January 15th 2013 on Xbox and PS3.

"Its been an awesome experience working with Ninja Theory on the game. We had great freedom but were also bound by certain criteria typical in the game world, these are challenging boundaries (for example; consistency in sonics over 180 minutes of music) but also lots of space in terms of dynamics & progression and instrumentation, being able to create soundscapes without having to worry about holding the attention of a dancefloor. Also, their music director was great to work with, good vibes. It's great when you get to play to your strengths. And the game kicks ass." - Noisia


Thursday, May 24, 2012

K Chico - Burn - Blues Beat




Here's a cool blues beat little electronica thing by K Chico. It sounds like the opening for the Sopranno's if it was remixed by a heroin addict. You know it's that Grinderman/ Nick Cave brain melting vibe coated with a syrup dripping upright and gentle wave of white noise. Southern mellow guitar plucks and pitched-down vocals channeling Tom Wait on salvia divinorum... this is the kind music that heroin kid on Treme should be making. The video is drenched with sweaty morphs, telling the story of a model and photographer on blurry whirlwind adventure to nowhere. There's a few interesting animations that are added on such as ink spills, fractal make-up flames, subtle optical flares, and basic composites. The overall effect is a slow motion drug trip exploring glamour and beauty.

some facts:
pre production - 5 Months
days of shooting photos - 2
people on set - 6
total Pictures taken - 3072
Pictures used in the Video - 256
average time of work morphing one scene - 6Hours
scenes morphed in total - 108
scenes used in the video - 42
actual videos used in video - 3

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

'Dubstep Supercut' Cyberoptics//D-Jahsta//Lifecycle


Admittedly this is full on bro-step robot madness and I would normally pass over. But where other bro-step fails, this succeeds. It's not just a bass sound collage there's actually rhythm and a proper dance-floor vibe with the tunes mashed up in here. Not to mention the video is just pure eye-candy sickness. A horror vacui super-cut blast beat montage of the biggest fx and oh-shit shots from blockbuster movies. Here's some further info on it:
'Dubstep Supercut' will be a series of videos where I work with 2-3 Dubstep Artists and create a visual representation of their audio. The visual's will all come from Trailers and public previews of films and games over the past 20 years. This will be a running series with hopefully 1 every 2-3 months. Inspired by many other editors here on YouTube. No copyright infringement intended. This is purely for fun.

This episode features Cyberoptics//D-Jahsta//Lifecycle Tracks used in order.

(1st) Cyberoptics & D-Jahsta - TX-55 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksyuWxDcDE0

(2nd) Cyberoptics - Geisha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0b2a3JNlRA

(3rd) Lifecycle - Zero X http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_JpzNWAsaw

SaladUK: http://facebook.com/saladuk http://twitter.com/saladuk

Cyberoptics: http://soundcloud.com/cyberopticsdub http://facebook.com/cyberoptics

D-Jahsta: http://soundcloud.com/d-jahsta http://www.facebook.com/pages/D-JAHSTA/118469569354 http://twitter.com/djahsta

Lifecycle: http://soundcloud.com/lifecyclednb

Monday, April 9, 2012

Benga - I will Never Change Teaser - Vinyl Soundwaves


Quick little cool an clever tease for Benga's "I will Never Change" directed by US. I'm assuming this will be a full video at some point and Ilook forward to see what kind of twist and change-ups that we'll see with this visual motif. I love the stop-motion vinyl coming on a soundwaves.
Us pressed, hand labeled, hand numbered, polished, and animated 960 unique records in their latest for Benga. - via Motiongrapher
I wonder if that bought their own dubplate lathe or vinyl cutter for it? And is there audio on it? Meanwhile you can buy Benga's track here: http://smarturl.it/Benga-IWNC

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Chase and Status - Live USA Tour Documentary - I Remember When I Used to Feel Something


Here's a little slice of tour life with Chase & Status, Mc Rage, Delilah and their drummer Andy Gangadeen. It's a bit of a pretty fluff piece, with little to no over arching story, but if you like their tunes and want to check out what they are like on tour, here's your chance.

Mostly what I got from it; it looks like they put on a hell of a live show with DJ mixed real instruments on certain tunes. How they sound, not too sure as they only put the audio from their studio tracks over most of their performance. It would have sick if you got to actually hear the live show, you know, it is a live tour documentary after all. You get a little bit of a taste at the 26 minute mark, and it sounds pretty good. The soundboard audio is obviously not the best as it's mixed down for a live show, but hey I'll take what I can get! There is a few funny Raver Parking Lot bits, ala Heavy Metal Parking Lot. And lots and lots of pretty festival footage and venues going ballistic. Without a doubt it visually reflects the energy and vibe of their tunes.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Roll Deep "Nasty" escapes from the madhouse!


Here's a grimey thump and grind from Roll Deep crew. Drill press bass and crispy beats carry this war anthem. It's a back street battle of megaphones rants and venomous bars, the kind that get's you hyped for an all-out brawl. The spit so fast you never see the sucker punch coming. It's a hard hitting, blood-pumping, get up and break shit kind of tune. The video is no less unsettling. It's like an updated Metallica's "One'. Black and white straight-jacket portraits of Roll Deep losing their shit and giving themselves crappy tattoos with a broken gun inside an asylum. Entertaining.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Cypress x Rusko - "Roll It, Light It" West Coast Grimestep


What a great collaboration between Cypress Hill, Rusko and director Jodeb. "Roll It, Light It" does what it says on the tin. It's a deep dubstep roller with slightly glitched-out hiccups and Cypress crew spitting slick grimey bars to the riddim. The rhymes are faster than you typical Cypress tune and seem fall into Grime-esque patterns, but that could just be because of the dubstep beats and association with it. Anyways this style doesn't always work, but here it's a freaking home run. Cypress are running ting's all up and down this tune, but they aren't making jibberish and bum-rushing the flow. Quickfire burst, then mellow chorus, let the tune breathe, then back into it. Future MC's take note, that's the way it's done. The video itself is a gorgeous train ride through collapsing monuments, broken glitch loops, Plexus vectors animations and color tearing separations. Newton-fueled down-rezzing and broken pixelization echos the grinding bit-crushed bass, harmonizing into a luscious aural and video landscape. It's edited quick and punchy but you still get a proper look at all the beautiful renders and slow destruction. Fucking aces.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Double Tiger - No Give Up - Mediative Tsunami


Here's a deep one from Double Tiger. The video is just a tease to a a forthcoming EP which in includes some dope remixes by AZZXSSS, J-Kenzo and T-AK. It's a pretty standard in terms of melancholy vocals paired with a measured and creeping beat. Not too speesh on the Medi side of things to be honest, but it's decent enough. However I really like video which uses some clever imagery of preparing sushi in reverse paired with some scary facts about the Japan tsunami that really gave me pause. I think it's worth taking a look at the whole picture, you get more out of the tune that way. And in that way, it's truly mediative.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Filastine (with Nova) - Colony Collapse



"Colony Collapse" is more on the song side of dubstep, and while it may not have the one of most original tear-out bassline ever, it makes up for with vocal melody and atmospheric riddims. This video is dirty and filthy in the literal kind of way. I like the D.I.Y. ethics of this kind of production. Here are some people that pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and made a song focusing on environmental issues.
Colony Collapse is filmed at sites of ecological friction, the fault lines of conflict between humanity and (the rest of) nature. We snuck into a gas drilling site gone awry, and performed in the midst of traffic jams in a megacity where those fossil fuels get squandered. We filmed in a landscape of garbage, and in a supermarket where all that discarded packaging originates. This is the slow-motion apocalypse, uncomfortably close and personal.

The audio EP of Colony Collapse drops February 29, 2012, and comes accompanied by some beautiful remixes made by production talent gathered from the four corners of the world: Beats Antique (US), Squeaky Lobster (BE), L'Ouef Raide (FR), and Fletcher in Dub (SA).

Colony Collapse is an early warning for £ooT, Filastine's third album, coming April 2012.
As their kickstarter page states:
...our goal for these videos is not only to make something beautiful, but to confront and indict the catastrophes that are the very fabric of our globalized economic order.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Noisia & Upbeats - Diplodocus REMIX Smashes You in to Next Week




This is the Upbeats remix of Noisia's classic 'Diplodocus' as featured on BBC Radio as a world exclusive. It will be released on Quarantine. For the total mix, check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b0194h8
Oh the ridiculous 'Diplodocus', you a sick and filthy beast now aren't you. The Upbeats absolutely smashed it with this remix. Experimental tunes like Diplodocus with beats that sway and swagger like that can be tough to remix. I gotta handed to the Upbeats for taking it further down the rabbit hole. Get lost in this tune.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Video Jacking - Real N!gg@s in Paris


Some clever Parisian vandals straight up destroyed everything in sight just for a stupid Kanye and Jay Z tune. This video is equal parts sickening and fascinating. I can't help but think that some writers are actually doing just this all the time. Get high, listen to the new joint then proceed to trash everything in sight. Bomb with lyrics, tags, paint, and scribbles. A full on attack on public property for no real reason. The point is pure destruction and thuggery. That is pretty much the only thing I see in this angst, rage, and bullshit.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Dub Phizix and Skeptical feat Strategy - Marka - There's a Wardance in East London Park


Yes, yes! I can't believe this anthem slipped by me, I must be listening to the wrong DJs. The biggest tune of 2011 is reminds me of the old and proper dubstep. Brings me back to a time you can go out and hear Loaefah's "Goat Stare" and Mala's "Left Leg Out". There's Indian Chiefs in the woods and firedancers prancing in the park. A wardance in East London. Catch this vibe. Get it on vinyl at Exit Records site.
We a kill dem a bloodclaat gain Got the tings on lock down again Them a tek ten shots in again Dem pon a old pan sound dem again Man a gash dem and light them again Becaa me nah hyping again Man are ready fi di war, when it comes on top, ‘ca me nah feel frightened again

DIE ANTWOORD - 'I FINK U FREEKY' Will Molest Your Eyeballs



 Die Antwoord assaults your senses with this big-room techno raver."I Fink U Freeky" is purely id-driven deviant video that looks like it was cast with a bunch of rescued miners and juvie-hall delinquents. People came down from the mountain and crawled out of the trailer park to be an extra in this. It's dirty stanking black and white and seems to be filmed on the abandoned-nuke town from the Hills Have Eyes. I can smell the stain of sweat, drugs, sex and grease-paint from here, and it's not a pleasant combo. The Zef visual style that has emerged from Die Antword videos (think Keith Harring graffiti mixed with prison tattoos and alchemy) appears to be dialed down a bit in favor of a more Joel-Peter Witkin flair. If you could film a transgressive Daguerreotype it would look like this

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Kontrol - Forcefield (Optiv & BTK Remix)

Man, this one harkens back to the heyday of tech-step. Brings back a flood of nostalgic feelings for me. Optiv & BTK work out a good re-mix of keeping elements of the original and updating it to a faster and smoother groove. It reminds of the kind of tunes that Konflict would do for Renegade Hardware. Like just a swarm of space insects on an invasion. Actually if you read the Fantastic Four (and who doesn't) it sounds to me like what an armada of the Annihilation Wave would sound like, tearing out of the Negative Zone into "the Crunch" and devastating our reality. Not even the Celestials can stop this storm. Take a listen. Check out the video a robot insect invasion is not far off.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Design Changes

Stay tuned, some design changes coming through. This look is temporary until it all get's sorted out. Hang tight.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Rusko - Somebody to Love - video

An unlikely story. Two old people meet, fall in love, and brock out a Rusko gig @ the Congress on NYE in Chicago. This of course tells a very different story from the cruel reality of a teen being raped outside of Rusko's gig after being turned aways for having no ID. To be fair Rusko did tweet about the incident after he learned of it and was shocked and horrified as any reasonable person would be.
“Shocked and Saddened by this ... if you saw ANYTHING AT ALL do the right thing & contact Chicago PD"

Still the video seems to be a bit insensitive. Perhaps if it was a montage of venues and not so clearly the Congress, I wouldn't have such a negative reaction to it. At least music-wise it delivers us some sorely needed vintage Rusko vibe. It's just a mystery to me, why anyone would want to associate their song called "Somebody to Love" with a night ended up being so tragic and brutal.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Re:Generation more like Regurgitation

Am I right? This trailer made me puke a little bit in my mouth. The last beat is actually kind of dope, but the whole idea of even making a movie about this... barf. Here's the write-up quote:
“Follow DJ Premier, Mark Ronson, Skrillex, Pretty Lights and The Crystal Method as they remix, recreate and re-imagine five traditional styles of music. From the classical perfection of the Berklee Symphony Orchestra to the bayou jams of New Orleans jazz, our five distinctive DJs collaborate with some of today’s biggest musicians to discover how our musical past is influencing the future”
That paragraph makes slightly nauseous as well. Hey producers, get over your self.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Top-Twenty Bass Tracks of 2011

Oh man here's is my obligatory 2011 top ten list. But it isn't ten, its twenty. I'm lazy and can't make decisions, sorry. Anyways here you go, I'll post up links to the tunes as I stumble across them and start rambling about how they are epic-ly brutal. Happy Belated News Years you bass freaks.

 Top-Twenty Bass Tracks of 2011 

 1. Dub Mechanics - Propane
I first thought this dubstep tune was by Coki and posted up about this on the blog here looking for a tune ID. Some helpful soul on dubstep forum finally pointed me in the direction of a you tube video and it's by some Dub Mechanics, whom are unknown to me. Best info I can find on them is on there sound cloud page.
"The Dub Mechanics, a South London based duo who Dj & produce Dub, Dubstep and various other genres of music."
As exclusive and mysterious as this dub is, it's actually nothing compared to it's gnarly roar. This tune is devastation and mega-death. It's the gamma bomb rage virus that triggers a zombie apocalypse. Barking rabid robot dogs commanded by lord Darkseid that will devour you and all you're little twilight raver buddies. A whirlwind of comic book violence and crappy metaphors. In otherwords, sick. For that it earns my top spot on the list.

 2. Evol Intent - Hollow Earth
Neurofunk inspired drum n bass tearouts tunes never really seem to get old do they? Alot of 2011 was me rediscovering my love for drum n bass. I found the landscape had changed and everything became slower   and mixed with old school flavors. Which is great, but I was looking for tunes like this that jumped forward from where I left off.

Evol Intent delivers one mother of a payload with Hollow Earth. A twenty megaton explosion of plasma pulsing bass and wreckage. It's got that sci-fi cinematic intro similar to a Dom + Roland or Virus tune, with some very lush and over-produced flotsam and jetsam spaces sounds. They are all too familiar trimmings of a tech-step epic. It drops straight into a hardstep runner, spits you out the otherside of the blackhole into a dubstep breakdown that dissects the beats and provides lot of delicious edits for the beard-stroking massive to fawn over.

So yeah basically I'm saying it's got some straight forward banging phrases on one hand, and complex breakdowns, on the other. Makes it an interesting tune to listen to again and again. All while being kick-ass and heavy and make me want to run around and play lazer tag and shit.

 3. Phace + Mistanthrop - Energie
GAH! What a stormer! This one draws a dark sci-fi vibe from films like Alien, Bladed Runner, Terminator and maybe Hellraiser In Space and injects it into a brutally futuristic beat. A tradition set forth by godfathers of tech step such as Dom & Roland, Ed Rush & Optical and )EIB(. It's not groundbreaking by any means but the sheer bass weight and energy makes it noteworthy. It's just fun having proper tech-step back in the lime light.  4. Modeselektor feat. Nazizi & Abbas "Monkey Flip"
 5. Digital Mystikz - Animal
 6. Basher - Androids
 7. Zinc - Recovered
 8. Azealia Banks - 212
No brainer on this here. Huge bangin'track from the indy breakout artist out of Harlem, Azealia Banks. Azzy can be as soulful as she is raunchy, and the contrast between the salty and sweet styles make "212" the perfect dancefloor banger. Granted, production on this isn't on the heavy side, but it's decent bass track. The groove is funky enough to get people moving and the hard-hitting bars amp up the vibe 'till screaming takes over the breakdown and dives into the honeycomb vocals on the refrain.  9. Mosca - Bax
 10. Magnetic Man - Karma Crazy
 11. Skream - Exothermic Reaction
 12. Excision + Datsik remix of Noisia - Alpha Centauri
 13. The Aliens - Xterminate
 14. Stinkahbell - Something In Your Eyes
 15. Interface - Twister (Ft. Shahin Badar)
 16. Wickaman - Free Bea
 17. Critycal Dub Feat Level 2 - Touch The Sky
 18. Noisia Remix of Deadmau5 - Raise Your Weapon
 19. MRK1 - Cardiac Arrest
 20. ill.Gates + Dov Remix of Greg Reve - Decoy

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Buck 65 - Superstars Don’t Love Video

BUCK 65 "Superstars Don't Love" from Travis Hopkins on Vimeo.

Back after a long holiday break, thought I'd post up this lovely little typographic movie-card-title inspired video by Travis Hopkins for Buck 65. I got this one from my favorite comics blog Bleeding Cool, surprisingly enough. As Travis says in his interview on Art of The Title,:
With “Superstars Don’t Love,” I wanted to show that kinetic type animation could be more about design than just your average “see and say."
. While the beats are minimal and the rhymes flow in a easy midwest nerd-core style, I think title design style of the video really pulls it all together and puts a bow on this tune. Otherwise I would have probably just breezed past it to be honest. I get it. It's lyrically nostalgic, musically forward yet stripped-down, and visually a vintage remix. Works for me.