Broken Ted News

I've been a little removed from the musical world recently, due in part to various upheavals in life but also to excessive drinking and tearful goodbyes. Needless to say the first re-immersion in sound drew a whole plethora of new and exciting prospects, largely thanks to some friends of mine who have been keeping a weather eye on the usual channels whilst I've been out of action. Notably the Broken Ted, who's been exploring the various avenues of glitch and ephemera to recommend:

Shlohmo, who's E.P.s, Shlohofi and Schlomoshun are dancing around the periphery of my mind like esoteric pixies hellbent on stealing my thoughts. The former is a delicate arrangement of ethereal glitched out beats, definitely best listened to on a very lazy Sunday afternoon or in a state of entranced reflection. The latter is more easily reconcilable, slipping in somewhere between Ras G, Nosaj Thing and Eskmo; sort of slumped Hip Hop with skipping drum patterns and a warm afterglow of softly diffused bass.

Tokimonsta, who is coming on leaps and bounds with every mixtape. Her latest offering which takes the form of a promo for Donkey Pitch and Sonic Router can be found here, and I suggest everyone with a modicum of interest should read her interview with Sonic Router and make every effort to catch her at Donkey Pitch in Brighton on the 26/11/09.

And another Slugabed Mix (for Dummy this time around), which ticks all the disgusting boxes you could ever dream of. I've started to wonder whether my new found admiration for his music is merely a personal rebellion against the derivative, hyper processed, auto-tuned world of Pop dross, but then I listen to it again and it blows such thoughts clean out of my mind with the force of a sonic jackhammer.

All this said I haven't been completely idle, I stumbled across this new Blank Blue set on Dublab the other day and I was pleasantly surprised. They've taken on a couple of new band members and stiffened up their sound somewhat, it's basically what Blank blue would sound like if they were a blasting desert Rock ensemble instead of a psychedelic west coast Folk-Hop two piece. Not sure whether that's progress exactly but my dog likes it and that's good enough for me.

Speaking of which I put some dubstep on earlier and Facie (the dog), started growling along to the music every time the sub kicked in. In the past she's howled along to the blues and barked/whined to anything else with rhythmic guitars and keys. This latest approach is new to me and if anything is a seal of approval I'd say that this would be it. I'm tempted to contact Kryptic Minds with the news but I doubt they'd be as excited as I was when I heard her rendition of Six Degrees. It is entirely possible that staying at my parents house is driving me insane.

Finally I have a recommendation straight out of the left field for anyone that enjoys atmospheric soundscapes in the vein of Boards of Canada or Access to Arasaka. Oneohtrix Point Never produce the sort of music that evokes Alien Skies, Dystopian Cityscapes and the very limits of the known universe. It doesn't do a whole lot but then again it doesn't really have to. Go buy it here and close your eyes of a couple of hours, it's probably worth it.

New Slugabed and Dr Strangeloop Sets

Today is my last day at work so I'm doing as little as possible, which, whilst counter-productive for my employers, is an unexpected bonus for both you and me. In lieu of data logging emails I have already unearthed a new Dr Strangeloop mix and a new Slugabed mix and it's only midday.

If you heard Slugabed's Electronic Explorations mix then I'm sure you'll be salivating profusely by now. With good reason, this set is disgusting, I can actually feel it taking years off my life, like smoking irradiated cigars or swimming in the river Trent.

Anyway the mix is at the tail end of Subeena's Outland SubFM show, following mixes from DJ Planet Mu and Bok Bok, which are probably quite sound as well. The Slugabed set starts at around 1:20:00, in case, like me, you lack the patience to sit through the rest of the show.

Grab it here (right click and save as to download).

For those of you not quite so accustomed to Slugabed's brand of ugly, electro perversion I suggest you check this dead lovely set produced for Xolair by the fascinating Dr Strangeloop. It's took forever to download but it's so beautiful that it's worth the wait. It sounds similar to this podcast that he did for Brainfeeder a while ago, but this one features a whole plethora of unreleased material from a range of artists, including Shlohmo, Flying Lotus and Strangeloop himself.

Grab it here (right click and save as to download). Mix starts at 43 mins or so.

One final word on the matter, I know I have a tendency to bang on about Brainfeeder, but the praise is well deserved. New signing and piano virtuoso Austin Peralta is due to drop his debut LP on Flying Lotus's impeccable label sometime early next year. The early samples sound utterly sublime, but whilst you wait for this momentous occasion here's a Strangeloop remix & Video of his forthcoming track Cecilia for you all to enjoy.

Keysound News

I can't really do this any more justice than Blackdown has already in his own blog...

Margins Music: Greivous Angel redux

All that reamains is for me to gush unashamedly about what will be one of the musical highlights of this year.

The original, lovingly crafted by Dusk and Blackdown from all things London, was utterly brilliant. I could harp on about the cultural significance and the tastefully interwoven samples but others have already said more than I ever could (and it might sound incredibly pretentious), instead I'll just say that it's fucking banging and well worth your hard earned pennies (only 699 pence from boomkat if you were wondering). This redux has been hinted at for some time and I'd almost given up hope, but after hearing this little teaser I'm counting down the days until it's released. Which will be less than a month from now. Rejoice!

Anyway the original album can be purchased here (CD, Mp3 or FLAC)

Dusk and Blackdown's BBC Experimental show mix can be found here (Right click & save as)

And if you have the time read Blackdown aka Martin Clark's blog here (it's much better than mine)

Freetings

Yeah, buying stuff isn't always feasible hey? So to stop you all going and stealing those bits of lovely from some disreputable rapidshare account (underground musicians got to eat too), here are a couple of free things for you to enjoy instead.

I know I've banged on about Brainfeeder artists a lot already, but this mix from Alex B is a little bit special... Brain Food

Elsewhere the ever brilliant Electronic Explorations is showcasing Point B and Scan One this week, which is great. But as ever Rob Booth has picked some exclusive bangers to compliment his guests' music...Slugabed remixing "Simon Says" by Pharoah Monche? Loops Haunt's Rubber Sun Grenade? New tunes from Falty DL, Burial, iTAL tEK and Access to Arasaka? Shitting hell!

Electronic Explorations 85: Point B & Scan One

Dead Lovely

Do you want some pretty things?

Yeah? Three things for you today, none of them are particularly new and you'll have to buy all of them. Still interested? You should be, pretty things are all that's stopping this awful world from turning on itself and tearing pieces out of it's already ravaged flanks. Actually maybe it'll just chase it's tail for a bit, or try cutting itself with blunt aeroplane cutlery. Regardless if you don't start listening to these immediately, terrible things will probably befall you.

First up we have Lone's album Lemurian, I know nothing about this other than the fact that it sounds like taking a fishing trip in a paddle boat off the Cornish coast with Bibio, Flying Lotus and Ras G for company. It also sounds a bit like Boards of Canada, but lots of things do and it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun to describe it like that.

Anyway go here...http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=190639 and buy it, it'll only cost you a few quid, you miserly bastard.

Next up is Talkdemonic, two people from Portland who make incredibly beautiful music with drums and strings.

Lisa Molinaro caresses the Viola and Cello, spilling achingly beautiful melodies over tight beats, provided by her counterpart Kevin O'Connor who drums like a schizophrenic genius; seamlessly switching from incredibly technical, staccato breakdowns to backing beats so tranquil that you hardly realise they are there.

In the interest of giving you a taster, I found this free track on Dublab http://www.dublab.com/mp3blog?id=1634 , but I strongly recommend you go buy the album it from here. Never mind the shipping charges, when this arrives in the post it will make you dead happy, otherwise just go check them out on Last Fm or Spotify if you are so inclined.

Finally, this isn't really lovely but I'm listening to it now and I'd forgotten just how damn good it is; Ras G makes the sort of hip hop that Sun Ra would produce if he was starting out in music right now, provided he wasn't reimagining the way of the universe and communicating with off-world deities. Accordingly you could listen to this mix off the Brainfeeder site http://www.brainfeedersite.com/2009/06/28/ras_g-presents-cosmic-tones-4-mental-therapy/, but I would recommend buying his debut LP...Brotha From Anotha Planet as well

Got any money left? No? Good, you'd only spend it on booze and disposable tat otherwise.

Lone and Ras G albums can doubtless be found at the following places too, I'm just not arsed to look for them on your behalf...

Bleep

Beatport

Juno

itunes

Birthday Celebrations

Far be it from me to get all excited about two Californian birthday celebrants, but in the case of Flying Lotus and Dublab there are musical presents for all of us to enjoy so my excitement is justifiable.

At 26, Flying Lotus is one of the most highly regarded and influential figures in the West Coast Beat Music movement, continuing to release groundbreaking music whilst touring the world and fronting the incomparably brilliant Brainfeeder collective. Earlier this year, at Brainfeeder's London event, I was fortunate enough to witness an impromptu live jam featuring Flying Lotus on a Drum Machine, Dorian Concept on his Micro Korg, Gas Lamp Killer on the Turntables and Alex Bonfanti on the Bass Guitar, http://vimeo.com/5278409. Needless to say, this was an incredible experience that served as the icing on the cake for a mind blowing night out.

And so this morning, when I saw this posted on the brainfeeder site, I might have actually squealed like a little girl.... http://www.brainfeedersite.com/2009/10/16/birthday-jam-in-echo-park/

I haven't even listened to this yet but in light of this list of participating artists it will undoubtedly be one of the most inspirational jam sessions you'll hear for a very long time...

"Featuring: Flying Lotus, Exile, Shafiq Husayn, Stephen Thundercat Bruner, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Computer Jay, Isaac Smith, Jim Lang, Alla Koi, Andres Renteria, Matthew David & The Gaslamp Killer" Utter madness.

Not that this should overshadow the fact that Dublab have just celebrated 10 years of non-profit promotion and awe inspiring music production with a week of unique special events. After a range of innovative exhibitions, including a screening of sad films backed with morose music and an exclusive evening of folksy loveliness with Linda Perhacs, their final party on the 10th (http://www.dublab.com/?id=2219) featured none other than Flying Lotus, Gas Lamp Killer and Daedalus to name a few. Although we can only lament the fact that we missed out on this one off event, we do get to enjoy an awesome set from Daedalus, which can be found here, http://music.vtechphones.com/2009/10/daedelus-live-from-a-labrat-matinee-vii-the-dublab-10th-anniversary-special/#fbid:j7wXpOJyDzf

It's rare to hear such a beautifully fractured arrangement of so many wicked tunes and I'm still struggling to comprehend the brilliance required to put it all together. Just check it out for yourself get ready to enjoy the same state of tongue-tied astonishment that I'm in at the moment.

Finally, as a special extra treat for those who might have missed this first time round, here is a Flying Lotus KPFK/Dublab set from earlier this year...http://dublab.com/content/?p=1976

A lovely way to unite the aforementioned topics, as well as showcasing more work from these inspirational mainstays of future roots music.

Dr Strangeloop

It isn't that often that I hear a single track from an artist and become instantly obsessed, in the case of Dr Strangeloop however, this is exactly what happened. The track in question is his first release on the Brainfeeder label, and as far as I can tell, his first commercial release altogether.

Weighing in at an epic 17 mins 43 seconds, Are we Lost Mammals of an Approaching Transcendental Epoch, is a sprawling, mesmerising opus combining post rock aesthetics with incredibly sophisticated electronic production. I can't stress enough how badly you need this in your life, not only is it minblowingly intricate and sonically devastating, but it's also an invaluable time killer (that 20 minute train/bus journey will fly by).

The piece can be split into three distinct stanzas but it is best appreciated as a whole; tensions rise and fall, drums suddenly appear from nowhere before skittering away just as quickly into nonexistence, and the whole track is imbued with a lo-fi distortion that only adds to it's sense of drama. Anyone who has been to a Brainfeeder night in the last few years might already be acquainted with Dr Strangeloop's work; his VJ'ing performances for the likes of Flying Lotus and The Gaslamp Killer have been utterly astonishing and, if you have been lucky enough to catch one, I'm sure you'll be more than happy to lend an ear to his audio tinkerings as well.

Thankfully there is a wealth of material demonstrating his considerable talents here... http://www.nuopsys.com/nmrl/home.html and as a gesture of incredible goodwill, Dr Strangeloop (aka Nuopsys aka David Wexler) has made his entire back catologue of work prior to "Are we lost mammals..."free to download; particular highlights being Collected Works Vol.1 and the Datafunk E.P (a ten minute face melter constructed from a scratchy copy of a Bollywood classic). If you were also so fortunate as to hear his Mary Anne Hobbs mix, with it's Ennio Morricone samples and insane, brain crushing drums, I'm sure there'll be no stopping you. Whilst you're there check his visual work and his deviant art page, http://naturalmediaresearch.deviantart.com/ .

And that's not all, according to his posts on the Brainfeeder website (http://www.brainfeedersite.com/ ), he's got more in the pipeline with the Balance E.P arriving January 2010, Are We Lost Mammals... Remix Compilation (remixed by friends of Brainfeeder no less) coming soon and Easy Listening for our Future Children (http://www.brainfeedersite.com/2009/09/20/easy-listening/ ) an audio visual LP dropping in 2010.

Look, just go here and watch this http://www.vimeo.com/5102477 , that should give you some idea of just how incredible this guy is.

Are We Lost Mammals of an Approaching Transcendental Epoch is available on Boomkat, Beatport, Bleep and itunes.

http://boomkat.com/
www.beatport.com/
www.apple.com/itunes/
http://bleep.com/