Silkie - City Limits Vol.1

I dabble in Dubstep now and then, and there are some really fresh sounds out there if you look beyond the raft of ear bleeding basslines and synths out there. Silkie can certainly be placed in the 'artistic' group of steppers on the strength of his new LP "City Limits Vol.1" recently released on Deep Medi Musik. My only complaint is that it's a little long at 13 tracks and 75 minutes but it does contain a wide variety of sounds, styles and influences over the heavy basslines. These four tracks perfectly highlight the albums quality and variety (though of course, youtube never does Dubstep any favours).

Alan Wilkis - Pink and Purple

This new release from Brooklyn-based producer/multi-instrumentalist Alan Wilkis was one of the last promos I downloaded before being cut off from the world internet for a month after a recent house move. A crazy mixture of styles and genres (check out his influences at Owl & Bear) that somehow manage to come together to form a cohesive whole.

Starting out with the disco funk of Snuggle Up To Nail Down which is packed with catchy and infectious vocodered vocals and synth melodies layered over a bubbling bassline, lo-fi shuffling drum machines and more meaty percussion. There's even a top notch guitar solo in there; consider my interest piqued. The funk continues on N.I.C.E., this time leaning more towards the P-Funk era. The beat is thick and the bassline thicker, complimented with tight guitar licks, synth hooks and horn stabs.

Alan Wilkis - N.I.C.E.

Gotta Get You Back retains the heavy beat and bass combo but moves in a poppier direction. It reminds me of Jordan Knight's Give It To You (this is a good thing) both tracks using similar staccato rhythm patterns. Title track Pink and Purple is another catchy little pop number until 2m30s in, when we're treated to a small breakdown followed by a grin inducing synth and guitar solo climax. Dance With You manages to squeeze Gameboy sounding blips, synth-pop influences, driving rock and roll drums and guitars, a brief smattering of techno beats and the usual array of vocal and melodic hooks all into a jolly little 3 minute pop song.

Alan Wilkis - Dance With You

Closing track Time Machine is the epic 'serious' contribution to the EP. It hasn't clicked with me like the upbeat stuff but I do like the synths and I'm a sucker for those cheap sounding bossa-nova beatbox rhythms. Overall then, an impressive and varied release, so much so that it was tough to decide which tracks to post. Listen to the whole release on his Myspace page and buy the EP either direct from the artist or from itunes using the links below.

Alan Wilkis myspace
Alan Wilkis store
Alan Wilkis on itunes

Desire

Desire is the new project from Johnny Jewel of Glass Candy and Chromatics fame. They opened the show for Glass Candy and Lindstrom at the Italians Do It Better party at London's KOKO last Thursday and turned out to be the highlight of the show for me. Singer Megan Louise has a great voice, slightly reminiscent of Billie Ray Martin - she also played a bit of synth. Johnny Jewel was hunched over an array of electronic noise boxes and there was a live drummer. The backing track (and demo cd) contained more live instrumentation such as piano, saxophone and strings. The style is more melodic than Glass Candy and with an emphasis on 'song' as opposed to 'bass', although there are still a couple of nice upbeat numbers for the dancefloor, especially during the live show.

Some news from Mike Simonetti's blog: "the desire lp is done being mastered, and on it's way to the pressing plant. we should have these in the store in a little over a month." That was already 2 weeks ago so I'm not sure if the cd I bought at the show is the full album or another demo. What I do know is that it's great - I've listened to it at least once a day since the gig. For now though, show them some love at a live show or on myspace and enjoy this track from the cd.

Desire - Don't Call.mp3

Desire on Myspace

Nite Jewel

I can't stop listening to this song. And when I'm not listening to it, I'm singing it in my head. A beautiful, amazing record. I found it on the new Milky Disco 2 compilation from Lo Records (not as good as the original or the digital only Milky Disco 1.5). It also came out as a 12" on Italians Do It Better. Taken from the Good Evening LP, which is just as great from start to finish. Buy it direct from the artist for maximum satisfaction.

Nite Jewel Myspace | Nite Jewel Website

Colin McNeil - Cantina

A lost gem from my vinyl collection, the b-side to the Monsters of the Deep 12" on Ritual Recordings. A lot of Techno/Tech-House from this period (2001) hasn't aged well but I think this still has some interesting sounds, a healthy amount of funk and a slightly Detroit influenced groove to it. Can't tell you much about Colin McNeil I'm afraid, though all of the releases on Ritual Recordings were from him. So just sit back and enjoy the music with this one, pitched down slightly for your listening pleasure!

Colin McNeil - Cantina.mp3

Karin Klark - In The Night

Love the SNES sounding synth hook and the guitar solo in the third minute of Karin Klark's "In The Night". Sourced from the new Flemming Dalum mix entitled "Italo Magic". It's full of obscure tracks and as ever, it's mixed and sequenced flawlessly. Get the mix, full tracklist and some cool cover scans from a selection of the records he used over at the Robots for Robots forums here.

Deep House Mix 27-04-2009

Here's a little something I put together this afternoon.
Selected and mixed LIVE using Vinyl and Serato.

acidbearboy - Deep House Mix 27-04-2009

Tracklist:

Bogdan Irkuk aka Bulgari - Everything is Changing
Trentemoller - Le Champagne
Dolle Jolle - Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terje Extra Doll Mix)
Circlesquare - Dancers (Russ Chimes vs. Anoraak Remix)
Grace Jones - Williams' Blood (Yam Who? Electric Dub)
Metro Area - Orange Alert
Andy Stott - Talk Touch
Nick Holder - Paradise '98
Model 500 - Starlight
Ame - Engoli
Brendan Moeller - Dynamo
Quantec - Circular


I realised I didn't post my last mix here, no idea why, but it's also available to download from Soundcloud so grab it if you haven't already. Lot's of synth, some chunky but funky house and a rather French influence.

acidbearboy - mélodie superbe de synth mix 27-01-2009

Tracklist:

Sebastian Tellier - Kilometer (Aeroplane's Italo '84 Remix)
Bottin - No Static (Main Mix)
Shirley Lites - Heat You Up [Melt You Down] (Gerd 4lux Edit)
Metro Area - Erodyne
Bogdan Irkuk AKA BULGARI - When I Dream Of New York
Kish Mauve - Loose Control (Fred Falke Remix)
Anoraak - Night Drive With You
C-Mos - Calling All Cars
College feat. Anoraak - Fantasy Park (Moulinex Remix)
SymbolOne - Love Juice (Danger TV Remix)
Fear of Tigers - Study Hard Drugs School
Together - Together
Fred Falke - Love Theme
Cut Copy - So Haunted (Knitelife's Sun-Soaked Reprise)
Sneak Thief - My Sullen Mistress
Professor Genius - Down There
Octogen - Influential Perfection
Entertainment - U 1988 (Kruton Remix)
Discodeine - Joystick
Amplified Orchestra - Zweap
The Beat Broker - Cactus Cooler
Michael Mayer & Reinhard Voigt - Transparenza
Blackbelt Andersen - November
Defender - Bliss

Martyn - Great Lengths

The new long player from Martyn entitled Great Lengths is out now on his own 3024 label. His stuff isn't something you can easily lump into a specific genre. It sounds new and interesting, and most importantly original. It has some great artwork too from co-label owner Erosie. The album is a mixed bag of influences, combined to create something fresh. There are Detroit-esque chords all over it. The production is top notch and the bass is huge throughout. It starts out a little dark, with the heavy rhythms of The Only Choice, Krdl-T-Grv and Right?Star! - the latter two both having an old Rave/Jungle feel to them. Seventy Four is a slow, throbbing 4/4 track with a deep techno groove which eventually builds to some lovely synth pads. Little Things lightens the mood with it's light rhythms and bobbling melody lines. Vancouver is killer - a perfect mixture of Dubstep and Dub-Techno.

The albums first vocal track These Words is next, I'm still not sure but it's growing on me. Bridge is a short piano interlude which is really quite lovely. Elden St. is basically deep House and real beautiful stuff. Had to upload this one, album hight for me at the moment - Elden St.mp3. Far Away is alright, nothing special. Hear Me has a deep organ bassline and is an update of the classic 2-Step Garage sound. Is This Insanity features rhymes from Spaceape. It's a heavy beat but probably the album low point. Brilliant Orange is some Derrick May style synth's only shit. It should close the album really but the final track is the previous single Natural Selection. Still sounds amazing, with a vibe not dissimilar to The Other People Place, so a great addition to those who don't already have it. There is also a hidden bonus track which is annoyingly familiar sounding but I've no idea what it is.

I can't find the full album online to stream. These links are the best I could do:

Stream Natural Selection and Vancouver on Boomkat
Stream Right?Star! at Dusted
Album sampler on Youtube with clips of all the tracks
There are some more sample tracks on Myspace

Parallels - Ultralight EP

Parallels, the Canadian duo of Cameron Findlay and Holly Dodson have a forthcoming EP on Thisisnotanexit Records next month. I've been listening to the promo over the last couple of weeks and it's been growing on me each time, to the point where I actually love it now. From the press release: "Cameron thrives on early eighties music – most of which could be categorised as ‘new wave’ and ‘disco.’ Whilst Holly approaches from pop music that appropriates those same electronic influences into classic pop structures, a la ABBA et al." I have described it as Italo-Pop.

Lead track Ultralight is a driving electronic track with a strong vocal performance and classic Italo arpeggio's and synth layers. Midnight Voices has a more disco feel to it, even though it has a similar bassline to Ultralight. Think Glass Candy meets Alden Tyrell and your halfway there. Final track Dry Blood is the dark dancefloor destroyer. The vocals are low in the mix and have been distorted with some heavy vocoder action. Three great tracks, available on limited edition 12” (500 copies only) from 11th May 2009 on Thisisnotanexit Records. The debut album will be released in late 2009.

Parallels - Ultralight

Mark Du Mosch

Syncom Data Records sent me the promo for the Overlord EP from Rotterdam's Mark Du Mosch, due later this month. Mark's previously released material for the Keynote and Moustache labels, but this is the first I've heard of him but it's a solid, varied EP of melodic electro/techno. Title track Overlord starts things off with a heavy thump and a menacing bassline. Genisis smooths things out with some deep bass, light percussion and warm melodic elements. Next up is the aptly titled Summer Breeze; here we get a rolling bassline, gorgeous chord patterns and a real uplifting vibe. In The Clouds continues the melodious vibe, opening with 2 minutes of ambience before a bassline and eventually a beat come in. It's a shame it takes so long to build as the last couple of minutes of the track have a really nice lazy house groove. Digital buyers get the ambient First Flight as a bonus track. Promo edits below, check out the full version of Summer Breeze, along with his previous work on his Myspace page.

Mark Du Mosch - Summer Breeze

Mark Du Mosch - In The Clouds