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.

Design Changes

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

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.

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

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.

Bashy feat Giggs - Backhand P.R.I.C.K.S

Bangers and Smash tipped me off to another hot one. Bashy kills it with this rather even-handed but thugged-out tune about haters and envious fanboys. Seem's to be alot of that going around at the moment with D Double E doing a similar tune called "Never Be Like Me" or some shit. Anyways I prefer the Bashy one as the beats are way more aggy with military snares layer with white noise claps and big slapping sub.

"You know why I got white gold and platinum? - Why's that? Because I wasn't born with a silver spoon and I grind for that money, fam. I grind for it." Motion graphics are on the crude side for this video with brightly colored late 90's styled vector art that's a bit on the sloppy side. Kinetic type treatment, jump cuts, twitches and crude transitions actually make this very watchable. The animations are a bit rough and visual themes are obvious but that's the point. It unifies it in a raw aesthetic that vibes well the sonic growl of Bashy and Giggs. The video ends with a great quote form Honore De Balzac "Envy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it."