I’m going to try and make an honest effort to push at least one mix out into the universe from my various repositories/basins of tunes, because sometimes people want a bit more than one track at a time. So, I’m happy to inaugurate this attempt with the 5th & newly expanded edition of the series I’ve been a fan of since its inception (if you’re a fan of the series you know why that’s a terrible joke). The combination of hip hop, movie vocals, chillstep, drum & bass, UK garage, lovetrap r&b and whatever else they want to throw in there makes for a wonderful & romantic two hours. Listen to it with someone you’re sweet on.
Tag Archives: chillstep
Midnight Music: ViLLAGE’s Soulful Remix of Lullabies by Adventure Club ft. Luna
ViLLAGE was one of a smattering of artists that have gotten me through a very tough time. This track & the Takeover EP listed below have this tragic but beautiful feel to them. Lullabies was one of the gems that came out of the collaboration between Adventure Club & Yuna. If you haven’t heard Gold by the two of them, change that.
The muffled nature of the vocal samples implies that night when you saw your ex after long enough. Or, you thought it had been long enough. Get at both the track & the EP, and show Origami Sound, ViLLAGE’s bleeding-edge label, some love as well.
EP of the Week – Burial’s Truant & Rough Sleeper Joint
Burial is one of those artists that finds you at a certain point in your listening history and shakes up your worldview. The ethereal, melancholy beats, haunting melodies and astonishing compositions first showed up in 2006, when his debut album off Hyperdub records completely shook up what 2-step, future garage & dubstep could sound like. The sounds just weren’t comparable to what others were sounding like at the time. A personal favorite of mine, Archangel off of his second album released in 2007 is a track that everyone needs to hear before they die:
However, this post isn’t about Burial’s previous (mind-blowing) work. Burial released a two single EP this week, to the glee and adulation of anyone who listens to UK garage, chillstep or downtempo. Whenever Burial puts something out, it gets swarmed immediately. People might’ve been disappointed that it was only a 2 track EP, but the two tracks total over 25min of sound. This is a treat in time for the holidays, almost perfectly timed to totally fuck with everyone’s “Best of 2012” lists. Truant continues the storied tradition of Burial tracks approximating a stylized walk through the rain wearing a hoodie. This quiet backbeat melts into the frayed vocals and silky samples. As always, the production value is through the roof. The track, 11:45 in length, feels like the first half of an EP, especially with the oscillating beats, the melodic progressions and the continued focus on inducing dreamlike states.
Rough Sleeper definitely breaks past that melodic quiet chillstep and pushes some more uptempo beats and jarring sounds into your awareness. Nothing abrasive, buzz-sawy or brosteppy, but there is a strength behind the bluesy & ethereal track that Truant just didn’t have. It provides an excellent compliment to the previous feel. Almost a wake up call from a dream. The speed kicks up, and while still scratchy and ethereal, there’s a groove to them that you can really get into, especially if you’re into where he’s going with it.
I mean, there’s really not that much that needs to or even should be said about the work. This is one of the artists that changed a sound a lot of us take for granted now, doing what he does best. I’ve gotta say I like the long-form track format, as it makes it a lot easier to get in deep with a track, and not have to keep switching up basslines 10 times in 5 minutes. Great stuff, but, of course, it couldn’t have been anything else.
Terry Gotham 