Tag Archives: dubstep

EP of the Week – Burial’s Truant & Rough Sleeper Joint

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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.

 

 

Mix of the Week – Seven Lions

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I would like to say that I’ve been able to listen to dozens of mixes and tunes in the last few weeks, but since a young fella from New Jersey dropped a mix of his favorite Seven Lions tracks, it has been on exceptionally heavy rotation. Seven Lions is probably one of the most unique sounding musical acts I have heard in years. The brain behind it, Jeff Montalvo, started as a drummer and, after going to his first rave in 2007, immediately began percolating on how his sound would change. Seven Lions first break out hit, a remix of “You Got To Go” by Above & Beyond, was a stunning success, sitting at #2 (under Skrillex of course) for weeks on the Beatport charts. The track features prominently in the mix, sliding into your awareness at 4:40ish in, giving you a healthy dose of trancey dub.

I want to emphasize that Trance + Dubstep isn’t a combination I’ve ever heard before, anywhere. There are only a handful of domestic artists that are producing trance non-ironically these days. To ask one of them to also be competent when it comes to the wobble that the kids are listening to these days seems almost selfish. But, Seven Lions proves capable in both of these domains. His remixes of “Still With Me” (by Tritonal featuring the wonderful vocal stylings of Cristina Soto) & “On My Way to Heaven” (another transcendent tune by Above & Beyond) add a layer of massive & ethereal beats and chords to already insanely popular tracks. At about 15:45 into the mix, one of Seven Lions’ signature breakdowns explodes into your mind, producing this absurdly good beat pushing you to get off your ass and move.

It is so bizarre to feel the “must dance” feeling one gets from uplifting trance in the middle of a dubstep breakdown. I could yammer on for paragraphs about how each track was chosen carefully, the transitions are fluid and the emotion/energy is maintained throughout, but that would be you reading and not listening to it. So get over to Synovia Futurism‘s page, put the mix into your ears and then go whore yourself out to make sure you’ve got the money to buy Seven Lions’ EP here. I certainly did.

This is Terry Gotham, see you on the dance floor.

EP of the Week – Altered States by Minnesota

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https://i0.wp.com/i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000034770472-un1aae-original.jpgTo The Floor starts out with heavy synth work giving an already gangsta-sounding sample an even harder, west-coast edge. 45 seconds in, this triumphant, sunny bass hits, adding to the modded vocals an even more interesting spin. The track is everything an Usher track aspires to be, especially when the really danceable beat ninety seconds in hit and sticks around for just long enough for you to find a deep groove. To The Floor seems to be an instant mixable hit for a number of different genres/set styles. It’s a strong leading track for the EP and definitely allows Minnesota to introduce himself and his signature sound.

Yoga Pants starts off with another LA-infused beat to bang in your car while (ostensibly) ridin’ dirty (the lack of g is important for some reason). The production value is impressive, and connects vaguely of EdiT. Not for any bad reason, but there’s a distinct nerdcore vibe that Minnesota brings to some of his work that makes me wonder if he’d ever been to an MC Frontalot, Y2Kracker or Glitch Mob show. And to emphasize, I like those artists, and have paid to see them all. I like what I hear, and this track combines a calm understanding of West Coast Hip Hop sounds and some clever usage of bass & kick drum. The vocal is used only when needed, and the final rhythms/chords after 3:30 are massive and triumphant, besides being most welcome.

Tokyo is my second favorite track on the EP. The continuing tradition of melding slick vocal samples and some chilled out bassy beats takes on an almost chiptuney vibe on this offering. There’s a sparkle to the tune that reminds me very strongly of Mega Man music, which, again, is nothing but the highest compliment. The addition of excellent bass & vocal samples of Snoop Dogg to this ethereal chippy track is something I didn’t know I wanted out of the Mega Man games I played for the NES more than a decade ago. Four minutes in, the West Coast bass comes back in and gives the chiptuney sparkle some muscle to really give the sound a little punch before it fades out.

Many more people think they can rhyme over a bassline than actually can these days. Zion I can. Float allows the very hip hop friendly beats that Minnesota drops to feature some excellent vocal work by his partner on their recently completed Shadow Boxing tour (that I reported on a while back). This very well made match takes the camera off of the beats and lets Minnesota’s work compliment the good flow & lyrical choices that Zion I makes, which, is hard to come by these days, especially if you’re getting your rap from the radio or some chucklehead rhyming over a drum & bass DJ.\

I’m not really sure how else to emphasize how much I like Indian Summer. Any single usage of anything remotely connected to Chrono Trigger (the SNES RPG masterpiece for those of us that don’t have “Video Game Nerd” stamped on their foreheads), whether it’s a sample, a game mechanic, the characters, or  the music make something a thousand times better in my mind. The soundtrack to this game was absolutely breathtaking, and the track that was chosen is the theme of the tragic sorceress you meet super late in the game in the Kingdom of Magic (OMG SPOILERS!), Schala. This is my favorite track off the EP, but let’s be real, this would’ve been my favorite track if the four previous tracks drove me to work in the morning. The production value on the sounds, bass, kick drums and ambient sounds is fantastic, and IT JUST KEEPS HAVING CHRONO TRIGGER IN IT. I’d say more about it, but then you’d be reading this and not pressing the button the soundcloud widget below this paragraph. Which you should do. Right now.

Minnesota Bumps Bass at Brooklyn Bowl

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My social media feeds exploded with joy at the return of the L train Thursday afternoon. This lifeline to Brooklyn, which had been out of commission since Sandy sucker-punched Gotham, started running limited service in time for the Thursday night party cycle. When the trains aren’t running, people are just not going to party. At all. And there’s not a damn thing a promoter in the city can do about it. The return also allowed me to check out a DJ I’d been watching for about a year now, who was set to drop absurd beats at Brooklyn Bowl.

Brooklyn Bowl has carved out a nice little niche off of Bedford Avenue over the last several years. The combination bowling alley, bar, restaurant and open assembly stage has a lovely Thursday night party called Bowl Train curated by DJ ?uestlove (of The Roots), brings in consistently quality talent from out of town, and is also the world’s first LEED certified bowling alley. Because yes, in Brooklyn, even the bowling alleys are environmentally friendly. That means 100% wind power, a stage floor made of recycled goods, HVAC efficiency controls and locally sourced/brewed beers. The last point is super important. The best way to deflate the gigantic “eat locally” argument is when it is being delivered by someone who is drinking beer from Germany or whiskey from Scotland. “Drink Locally” is far more important than we give it credit, a thought I pondered as I picked up my glass of Brooklyn Weisse. The service was prompt and the dance floor was slowly coalescing. The crowd of flannel rockers, stoners, IDM geeks, ravers and the people that (somehow, you just knew, you didn’t know why but you did) only listened to dubstep all day, every day. Minnesota had taken the stage, and the bass was building.

The sound that Minnesota creates is one that requires the DJ to walk a very fine line. Few performers have really gotten this right in the past. EdiT, MC Front-a lot, MC Chris and YTCracker are a few of the handful of artists who are able to use hip hop lyrics, samples, beats, styles and atmosphere without coming off cheesy or as the sad little stereotype Fred Durst was. The ability to flow through the different sounds and keep the beat feeling vaguely menacing, while enticing at the same time is difficult to develop because if you fuck up, you look kind of like the biggest nerd ever. The thick rim glasses & t-shirt are a stark reminder that you’re listening to West Coast beats being performed by someone who’s name isn’t 50 Cent, or Tupac Shakur. It’s a bit like having your suspension of disbelief broken when you’re watching a movie. Interestingly, DJ Minnesota did not have any of these moments, something that made me so very happy, especially considering the gangsta-ness of his beats.

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