Category Archives: Electronic
Rusko – Songs (Mad Decent/Downtown Recordings)
Rusko
Songs
Mad Decent/Downtown Recordings
Link: Official Site
Rusko returns after an onslaught of activity since his 2010 O.M.G. release. It seems that he has been on one long-ass roller coaster that it’s hard to conceptualize him having any time to contemplate and mature.
But looks are deceiving and Songs is a progressive step forward for the electronic artist. When we last heard Rusko on a recording, he did not pussyfoot around his Dubstep leanings and blasted the decibel with “Woo Boost.” Mixing the dub reggae freak style with dry humping Dubstep, it was the first step into a world of smoke stains and dirty beats which showed more punk leanings to the English DJ/producer, a compliment to what made the collaboration with Caspa so captivating.
Songs is different—somewhat. He addresses the basic need in “Somebody to Love,” a conglomeration of Top 40 pop, beat up by a mind-bending Dubstep chorus. It shows Rusko is pushing the envelope further in two aspects. He’s being influenced more by pop music and how he can morph it into his own twisted universe, all while trying to take Dubstep deeper and farther. And if that does not convince you of Rusko’s evolution, in comes the anthemic House sounds of “Pressure.” It’s a song that feeds off of pure electro bliss, and a clear indication that I like the way Rusko is leaning towards.
But it does not last long and Rusko snaps back to what he is famous for, Dubstep reggae. “Skanker” pretty much defines Rusko’s music career. Thick bass lines running through a strainer of Jamaican-influenced grooves, it’s a slicker approach to his Two-Tone influence that came out of O.M.G.
I think where he shines is with “Love No More,” which fuels more traditionalism in his dub reggae format while creating a freakier environment for his sampling to exist. It helps pave the way to something like “Dirty Sexy,” a song that could work just as easy in Rihanna’s world.
Then what happens is that he intertwines Dubstep with House with Top 40 ethics and rubs it all into a spice packet of Dub reggae. You have less of a distinction that this is a House song or this is a Dub song. Everything blends together so well at this point that it’s the best attribute on this album. “Roll The Beats (Old School Edition)” is righteous dirty ska blending into an island culture Hip Hop accolade that blurs in on “Mek More Green” blown up by “Asda Car Park,” and that underground grit amplifies to glass shattering levels. See that rollercoaster effect, now?
What is it that makes Songs stand out, not just to Rusko himself but in terms of the electronic music community? It’s his ability to take something accessible, flip it upside down and fuck it all up, turning it into a new interpretation of something very familiar, but also something that sounds so fresh.
Dot – Calliope (Alpha Pup)
MP3: “Desert Storm”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB)
Dot
Calliope
Alpha Pup
Link: Dot on Alpha Pup
When you think of electronic music, you don’t really picture the concept of the circus coming to life, but Dot lays down electronic music as if they just invited you to the big top in the set of Attack of the Killer Klowns.
The music is creepy and will leave you scratching your head, not knowing if you should be running or doing the zombie. The title track is an introduction of swirling Calliope sounds and estranged feelings that are produced from the nectar of childhood nightmares. It’s all kinds of a blur, until a beyond sluggish glitch hop beat puts it all into perspective.
Abandon ye hope from here on out because Dot plays dance music like a freak show of the undead. “Artichoke” blends 808 hums with drooping samples as if Lurch hit the dance floor with some mad moves.
“Freakshow” is an organ symphony like The Glitch Mob added Eric from Phantom of the Opera to join in. Dot creates music as if they were trying to attract the attention of Cirque du Soleil, that is if Tim Burton was producing the routine. When you put it all together, it’s not a bad idea after all.
Calliope goes beyond performance art, and simply creates a fun house of minimal beats and creepy sounds. It all becomes predictable after a while, but in the end, at least you know what you have gotten yourself into the next time you spin this full length.
Stripped & Chewed – Vol. 1: Livin’ for the City (Stripped & Chewed Records)
Stripped & Chewed
Vol. 1: Livin’ for the City
Stripped & Chewed Records
Link: Stripped & Chewed on Soundcloud
With an album title like this, you would expect some vicious thumpers emanate from a metropolis that is filled with bold and vivacious modern intensity. What we get from the Windy City is something less impacting and a collection of electronic smoothness.
This does not mean that Livin’ for the City is not good. In fact, this modest collection is very unique and thoughtful to how each artist plays into each other. Not that this was on purpose, it shows the community of House DJs that come out of the Chicago skyline.
SRC builds up nice grooves with “Tiger Motel.” The song builds with an upper degree of suaveness. You never feel like anything is in your face. This is a DJ who does not have to prove a point. It’s just that good.
Black Madonna’s “Exodus” moves into progressive acid jazz territory where you feel like it’s all an accentuation to the Mark Farina dynasty. While Alec Carllson is laying down french-style electro arpeggios in all of its House glory.
Call this more a celebration of House than a statement. The grooves are richly embedded and rhythms pound out etchings on the dance floor. It’s not until JNL’s “Beausejour” where you get that Chicago funk feel the way Chicago knows how to do it. If you are not up dancing to this, shame on you.
Macime F’s “Out of tune, Out of place” is the most intense out of the collection, as it looks towards Daft Punk to full the sample style and direction of it all. But Ridney’s “Sync Up” is powerful enough to pull a Soul Train line for the year 2100.
If the future sounds this good, I’m ready to adorn my good tie and grab my one easy piece for a night under the bright lights.
The 2 Bears – Be Strong (DFA Records)
The 2 Bears
Be Strong
DFA Records
Link: The 2 Bears on Facebook
Not to be confused with any name of an alternative lifestyle flick you might find at your local smut shop, the London duo The 2 Bears drop their first full length album entitled Be Strong.
This album comes straight from the London house scene with highly infectious beats provided by Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard and overlaying vocals by Raf Daddy (aka Raphael Rundell). This interesting duo seems to capture the sounds of the streets of London by blending a mixture of high energy house music with some steel drums, xylophones and horns.
It is evident from the first instrumental only track “The Birds & the Bees” that this album is going to be different from any other house driven joint that came before. Utilizing different instruments into this track offers an array of images of life moving in bustling streets capturing the essence of the daily lifestyle of London.
It’s not until the second track, “Be Strong” does have the high energetic bass as it becomes present with a heavy serving of vocals that makes you feel you have entered the nightclub scene. Much like a mix album, this song blends into the next track “Bear Hug” flawlessly. “Bear Hug” is an interesting combination of backbeat and techno with a vox reminiscent of Scream’s “Do you Like Scary Movies” killer voice.
With a smooth transition, “Bear Hug” leads into the first single off the album, “Work.” The album and this track especially make me think of the band Underworld. The similarities between the two are a bit uncanny in areas, but other parts of the album remind me of Orbital which makes this group interesting.
The next track “Warm & Easy” is totally different from the previous three in that you can definitely feel a specific identity. Almost as if the album rebooted itself to the beginning; however, the following tracks “Take a Look Around” and “Ghost & Zombies” take you back to the dance floor.
The most pop-inspired track of the album is “Time In Mind” which personally doesn’t seem like it fits at all on the album except maybe on a hidden track that is far removed the songs surrounding it.
‘Faith” seems to get the album back on track, offering an instrumental backbeat mixed with sounds from the street that remind me of a city on the cusp of awakening for the day ahead. The next two tracks “Heart of the Congos” and “Get Together” bring back the house flair to meet full circle with rest of the album.
The last track (personally my favorite), “Church” is an awesome mix of samples, organs, backbeat and steel drums which I have never heard before on any electronic album. Add in the haunting vocals reminiscent of a purely thick Guy Richie movie-like London accent, this song is well worth the wait.
Baring the one track that didn’t seem to quite fit the album, though that may have been the artist’s point of including it, this album comes highly recommend for a listen.
Various Artists – Kitsune Parisien II (Kitsune)
Various Artists
Kitsune Parisien II
Kitsune
Link – Kitsune
Back in 199
9, I was perusing the local record store when I stumbled upon Emperor Norton’s Pop Romantique. The compilation featured French pop songs performed by the top indie pop bands at the time. Some were covers of classic French pop, while others were specifically written just for this album.
It was a whimsical impulse buy solely for the bands who were listed: Air, Luna, Ivy, The Magnetic Fields, all singing in french and all in their own unique manner. More than any other compilation, it’s a CD I can still dig out and fully enjoy it for its delicacy, importance, and connection the ‘90s had to the ‘60s and all wrapped up in a neat little fashion statement. I feel like I have a better understanding of French pop through this album than I had before.
Flash forward to 2012, and the release of Kitsune Parisien II, the second compilation from the electronic music label. When you look at primarily United States artists exploring the french ideology, Kitsune Records is a nice perspective of a french label working hard to break through to the United States and beyond, exploring fashion through music, and music as a fashion identity.
Listen through the roster and these bands are trying so hard to stand out and punch their way through with a fierceness like the bands like Birkii and Exotica, both electronic pop bands spinning around what I could see as underground pop poshness in the Parisian landscape.
Of course the label brings in a connectedness through a person who can only bridge the gap from the ‘90s to the 2010s, and that is Jean Benoit-Dunckel from Air. His side band Tomorrow’s World invites you in with a familiarity of the song “So Long My Love” that doesn’t deviate far from what he does in Air. It’s also a fine statement of what we are about to experience. This music is tomorrow’s world.
There are a few songs that stick out beyond the electronica paradigm like Juveniles’ masterful pogo pop “Ambitions” and Nameless’ “Angelina,” but even these two bands have electronic capacities to some effect.
If Kitsune Parisien II is any indication of the direction of French pop, then expect something more charged from the youth instead of a whimsical laissez-faire approach, a style french pop is notorious for. These bands are feisty and the groups have an energy that mashes up soft punk ideology with underground electronic aesthetics. The New Wave has finally caught up with the mainstream.
I’m not sure how someone like Francois Hardy would take that, but one thing is certain, the times have changed and if you can wrap your mind into a more populous sound, then you will warm up to this compilation and respect what Kitsune is trying to do.
Bands Listed on Compilation
Tomorrow’s World, Juveniles, Owlle, Lescop, About the Girl, Nameless, Birkii, Beataucue, We Are Knights, Wolfpack Beartrack, Slowdance, Exotica, LA/KVLVD, and Pyramid
