Track: Malachai – Let ‘Em Fall (Nosaj Thing Remix)

If you visit Nosaj Thing’s website, all that you will find on the homepage is his name and a line of text stating “currently recording new album”. If you’re familiar with Drift and his small body of surrounding work, this will most likely be exciting to you, and an out-of-left-field remix of a left field band could lead to the assumption that he’s beginning to build steam towards the release. Jason Chung’s remix portfolio boasts some interesting and diverse names: from the obligatory (Flying Lotus, Drake) to the trendy (Radiohead, the XX) to the challenging (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Boris). Unlike many of his peers, his approach always leaves recognizable fragments intact to keep the  artists’ work audible as he plays lasertag around it, and this is certainly no exception. The vocals are left almost untouched and atmosphere is built around them, piece by stuttering piece. This is definitely one of the more restrained edits I’ve heard from the man and fits nicely into his distinctive catalog.

Everybody should watch this.

Interlude: Happy Monday!

Been a little light on posts as of recently due to a realities such as work schedules, a desire to not flood the blog with meaningless shit, and Biltmore-induced hangovers. Speaking of the latter, Mount Kimbie was delicious and they brought the heat like I knew they would, but what was less expected was the stellar performance by Babe Rainbow. The dude blew me away with a mix of all things chopped and screwed, abysmal dubs and other things that might rhyme with “twitch mouse”. Despite a fairly unreceptive and, let’s be honest, confused crowd, the mix was pretty stunning and I doubt you’ll find much like it in our fair city. Check out Babe Rainbow here. He gives away lots of remixes and original productions, and his Warp-released Shaved EP is up there streaming away.

Album: iL – apollo1ne3hree

iL

apollo1ne3hree

Error Broadcast

March 2011

Listen for free at Error Broadcast

Despite the frigid rain and thrusting wind outside my window, things are blooming, birds are singing and spring is here. Spring equals change and I couldn’t have been granted a more effective way to shift from the upper vertebrae workout of headbanging bass beats I’ve been indulging as of late. True to form, Error Broadcast offers up another dose of thought provoking alt-jams for those brave enough to partake. This time around we’re treated to iL’s apollo1ne3hree, a fascinating and mesmerizing journey through divergent echoes and medicated soul. Space, both empty and outer, is an almost ubiquitous theme all over as samples drift, linger and gyrate in anti-gravity. Many of the tracks offer almost no skeletal structure whatsoever, allowing sounds to float about, creating bouncing ambiance in droves. It’s actually quite astounding how many elements are left to bleed out without causing a flood of soupy mess. Instead it’s more of a tie-dye affair, with trickling colours converging everywhere to create a psychadelic collage.

iL wears his heart on his sleeve here. A love of smooth 90′s-style RnB and Vaseline-slick slow jams is obvious after a listen through the album, and let me be clear, this is an album and begs to be listened to as such. Vocal tracks are pitched and distorted then let loose to be shrouded by filters and blanketing static, allowing loose ends to emerge and be joined by other wandering textures (peep the Burial-nodding “And I love Her”). The kicker is that, in application, it isn’t always snippets, and complete songs are strategically perforated to allow desired pieces entry at just the right moment. Drums can be scarce and often only show up in the form of things that aren’t drums at all. Thumps and claps are placed in the most intricate of places, and are often only included to add structure to the more gelatinous segments, like “She Does”. The real order in these songs is created by wave upon wave of cascading samples and layered synthesizers. On paper it seems like a lot, but everything is carefully orchestrated and, in matter of fifteen short minutes, it takes you on a ride that starts out at “where the fuck am I?” and ends up at “I wanna go again”. My best recommendation would be to throw it on repeat, turn it up loud, and attend to some much needed spring cleaning.

Event: Gaslamp Killer and A-Trak in Vancouver

Just got the word on this one through the Facebook feed. This is a serious match up of world class DJs, and I hope people don’t sleep. April and May are shaping up pretty well here on the west coast (words of RJD2 and Kode9 are also afloat), let’s hope things continue through the much anticipated summer months. Full list of tour dates and cities here.