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.

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

So Undead! Trailer

SO UNDEAD! trailer from so undead on Vimeo.

So Undead! is an exhibit about making connections between seemingly unrelated genres: Extreme Guitar Music ie. Punk, Metal and HC and the endless shades of Electronica. The art that will be shown at the event is wholly based on interviews conducted with artists, who in the past have dabbled in guitar distortion and are currently masters of the art of the synthetic. The interviewees include: Mary Anne Hobbs, Robot Koch (Jahcoozi)..., Cristian Vogel (Super Collider), T.Raumschmiere, Lars Kirchbach (Tolcha), Vladislav Delay (Luomo), The Foreign Beggars, CREEP, Sneaky (Fingathing), The Bug etc.

This looks pretty cool. I myself have a a strong background with punk, hardcore, grindcore, death metal and black metal. In high school I did a death metal fanzine called "Lockport Underground", and contributed to several others. Put out several tape compilations and one professionally released cassette EP by a band from the Netherlands. Years later, in college I did a punk/hardcore/extreme music fanzine called "I Hate you!" which was later changed to "I hate you! (And I hope you fucking die)" so I wasn't confused with a another 'zine that took my exact name (even though I had it first). Also a more lifestyle/story garage punk 'zine called "Fucked For Life". This was like '96-'98. I got into drum n bass in '98 and started a record label called Assassin Records around 2000. Put out two DnB 12"s before calling it quits after our European Distro closed owing us hundreds of dollars. Not to steal the thunder, and make this about me, but I'm interested in checking out this movie/ doc, as it seems to closely parallel my experience in underground music and many of my friends. I don't often get a chance to reflect on that part of my past, and this is the first I've actually blogged about it.

There's is something interesting in people on that journey searching for uniquely voiced aggressive music and taking similar paths to get there. Musicians get there one way, journalists and label owners another, and fans probably take the longest most winding trek of them all. It will be cool to examine this subject in a longer form and make the connections. I remember being floored when I first found out drum and bass producer Klute was also the drummer for U.K. skate punk band The Stupids, a band I used to listen to all the time. Mitch Harris from Napalm Death, Terrorizer, and Scorn fame; also went on to producer drum n bass and various dubstep projects. And Borgore, of course, was in the death metal band Shabira, and influenced by the band Death from their LP "Scream Bloody Gore" in taking his Dubstep moniker. "It comes from Borger, which is my family name and then Gore comes from Death's album, ‘Scream Bloody Gore’." For a music nerd like myself it will be exciting to examine those kinds of personalities, and just hear people talk about hardcore, punk, and metal; that are into bass culture as well. If you are down, support this movie, spread the trailer.

Loop StepWalker - Radio Autopsy

Loop Stepwalker - Radio Autopsy (Electrostep mix Clip) by Loop Stepwalker

Well, here we have it, the song that finally broke dubstep. This is when Fonzi jumps the shark and we have to tune into to the next episode to see if he gets devoured or not. I've been mostly ducking the glut of noise merchants that have been disguising themselves as dubstep, for the better part of the year. Occasionally I'd check in to see if there were any diamonds in the rough, but for the most part, it's been all Borgore and Funtcase derivative wanna-bes. Until now. Loop Stepwalker (sigh, that name actually pains me to say out loud) delivers the next evolutionary step of filth in this self-proclaimed "electro-step" tune. Really it's just a mash-up of bro-step, house, and gabber. I'd compare it to when breakcore emerged out of the drum n bass and gabber scenes, but that'd be a disservice to the productions quality here. While I kind of loathe the actual tune, I can't deny the superior craftsmanship or innovation that's happening. It seems like it's a natural progression of the extreme switch-up bassline style that's been churned out the past two years, but mashing genres and executing in a crisp and professional manner. Anyways give a listen, and comment below and tell me to fuck off, I'm probably way off basis.

Bassnectar- Cozza Frenzy Remix pack review

Bassnectar just dropped the Cozza Frenzy Remix pack, it's ll killer, no filler.If you order through the little shoppe at Bassnectar Labs and you get the exclusive bonus remixes of Cozza Frenzy, Boombox, and West Coast Lo Fi Rides Again by J Boogie, Amp Live, Mexican With Guns, Stylust, and SF’s own Roomate; otherwise it's just re-interpertations of Boombox and Teleport Massive by RJD2, Robot Koch, Son of Kick, DJ Vadim, and Stagga . All versions Boombox and Cozza are straight heaters, but to me, nothing gonna beat the Cozza Frenzy VIP I heard on Excision Shambala 2009 mix, sorry. That tunes just smacks it down, full stop. However there's some really sick mutations on here, well worth checking. I'm fully digging Robot Koch's glitch-hop spin on Teleport Massive, like something you'd hear as the end credit of some retarded show on Adult Swim (and I mean that as I compliment). Amp Live does a sick B-more Club workout on Boombox, that stands out as one of the really only 4 on the floor tune in the pack. For the dubstep heads there's Roommate's hyphy-ized version of Cozza, Noah D's drop bass take on Boombox, Stylust Wooble St. on Cozza, the grinding Teleport Massive Remix Dub and The Churn of the Century by Bassnectar. There's no one that doesn't bring their A-game to this pack; I can honestly say that I would rock any of these on a playlist. Check out the tunes for yourself and see what you think.

Bassnectar Labs - 2010 IDJ MIXTAPE

Fist off this morning got a hot soundclash, shifted beats mix from Bassnectar labs. It's got just about everything you can want from electronic music past, present, and future mixed, mashed and mangled to the nines. "We tore our favorite drum & bass to shreds, injected hip hop with some pogo-stick bass, amped up the tempo of dubstep, freaked out the gypsies, gave a nod to the dreamy 80’s and ended up similar to where we started off: omni-tempo maximalism strikes again." I've heard some similar mixes and mash-ups from guys like Craze, 12th Planet, Tittsworth, Girl Talk and so on... this seems more focused on the break beat, chopped beat side... less of a glitchy mess, more of a re-worked integration that flows well and just makes sense. Definitely got my attention by throwing a Pixies song in the mix. Enough blab, here it is:

Bassnectar Labs - 2010 IDJ MIXTAPE
1. Azzido Da Bass - Doom’s Night (Timo Maas vs Bassnectar)
2. Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy (Mega Bass Mix)
3. Rye Rye - Bang feat. MIA [aca]
4. S.C.A.M. - Let Me Hear You Say
5. Stagga – I Got Bass
6. Seductive Dubz - Hey!
7. Caravan Palace - Starscat
8. AAK & Double Step - (Bassnectar Edit)
9. Bassnectar - Boombox (Bassnectar Remix)
10. The Pixies - Where is My Mind? (Bassnectar Remix)
11. Nextmen - The Lion’s Den (Sigma vs Bassnectar)
12. Zen - Your Shout ft. Killabeats & Gry (Bassnectar Re-edit)
13. Bassnectar - Teleport Massive (Bassnectar Remix)
14. Bassnectar - Slam Dunk feat. Dunkelbunt
15. Bazznectar Medley - Tears for Modern English Masher
16. Damian Marley - It Was Written (Chasing Shadows Remix)
17. Kid Cudi - Day & Night (JOTS vs Crowdrock vs Bassnectar)
18. Malente & Dex - Lions (Bassnectar & iLL Gates Remix)

I got a review of their Remix Pack coming up soon too.