Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Rare Breed
The subject of today's post will be old news to many of you being as it's based on an album that came out the best part of a year ago and by an artist that's been putting out stuff since the back end of the 90s. However, Panda Bear only came to my attention after I noticed his Person Pitch album riding high in many of 2007's 'best of' charts.Having never heard of Panda Bear, I just assumed that Person Pitch was going to be another collection of tasty dancefloor delights but upon giving it a listen it sounded more like it had been stuck in a time warp for the last 40 years. In fact, the initial listen was akin to rummaging through your parent's record collection and finding a discarded gem from their youth. Numerous others have already made reference to the similarities with Brian Wilson's sound so I shan't harp on about it here as 60s music isn't exactly my speciality and I'd probably end up spouting even more rubbish than usual. Instead I'll simply leave you with a track from the album and a link to pick up a copy of your own.
Panda Bear - Take Pills //Paw Tracks
I'll also leave you with a tasty (unofficial) remix we were sent of the opening track from the album which juxtaposes the retro sounds with some modern day electronics. The man behind this runs Exponential records and it's well worth checking out his label over at www.antipop.net
Panda Bear - Comfortable in Nautica (Ernest Gonzales Remix)
Labels: Ernest Gonzales, Exponential Records, Panda Bear
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Radioactive Material
Some very special news for all you (Real) Electro fans out there. Radioactive Man has a brand new album! "Growl" is the third offering from Mr Keith Tenniswood following on from his sublime debut "Radioactive Man" and its hard-edged and fast-paced follow up "Booby Trap".It has been nearly 5 years since the release of "Booby Trap" but Keith has been keeping himself busy with collaborations with of course 'Sir Andrew of the Weatherall' in Two Lone Swordsmen, as well as working with David Holmes, The Aloof plus Red Snapper.
Mr Tenniswood says: “My last album was in 2003, so this album is a collection of everything I’ve been working on the last four/five years. I’ve been so busy with Two Lone Swordsmen stuff and DJing, that I haven’t had the time to put it out, so this is a real culmination of a long period of time for me. I wanted it to be pretty dancefloor, but still the kind of album you can pop on at home and enjoy on headphones. I don’t want to think about it too much – everyone gets so wrapped up in the process, the technology, the equipment, and everything else...but what about the music? People talk more about the programs than they do the music itself. That’s all I hope it will be – no hype, just good music that is as poppy as it is deep. I’ve tried to make the emphasis on actual songs, rather than just banging tracks, I could make those any day of the week. I really hope it sounds a bit aged from my last album, more matured. A build-on from where I last left off and maybe proof that I have learnt something along the way. I hope that it’s still got a lot of soul and growth in it.”
The album certainly is a mature work that utilises all of Keith's production knowledge accrued over the last 7 years of collaborations and solo releases. The album could be said to be aimed for the dancefloor but is also a great home listen. There are no abrasive 160 bpm freakouts that have characterised some of the other Control Tower output, instead the album opens with a Slow, low-slung breakbeat track "Basement Bounce". This then goes straight into classic Radioactive Man territory with "Pieces of Eight" with its minute Electro Pulses and a deep, deep bassline which really caries the track with its melodic structure. Other highlights include Dot Alison's sultry vocals on "Nothing At All", 4/4 Electro House on "Kristiina" and Andrew Weatherall's dark menacing vocals on "Double Dealings", definitely one of the album's standout tracks.Overall this is classic Radioactive Man and Growl stands up with his best work, being instantly both listenable and danceable. One of the Electronic albums of the year and it's still only February!
The only downside is that it is not due for release until 12th May! Come on guys surely if an album is ready you can go the Radiohead route and release it via the interweb much faster than this.
The only downside is that it is not due for release until 12th May! Come on guys surely if an album is ready you can go the Radiohead route and release it via the interweb much faster than this.
Tracklisting: Released 12/05/08
01. Basement Business
02. Pieces of Eight
03. Nothing At All featuring DOT ALLISON
04. Kristiina
05. Double Dealings featuring ANDREW WEATHERALL
06. 5 Armed Skeleton
07. Up in the Air
08. Dalston To Detroit
09. Growl
10. State Of That
11. Lungful of Bass
While you are waiting for the rest of this release here are a couple of classics from the back catalog. "Uranium" is the seminal release with that baseline which still puts the Dubstep boys to shame. "Fed-Ex To Munchen" from the second album has the beautiful mournful vocals of Valerie Trebeljahr from the superb Lali Puna
Radioactive Man - Uranium // Rotters Golf Club 2001
Radioactive Man - Fed-Ex To Munchen // Rotters Golf Club 2003
Labels: Andrew Weatherall, Control Tower, Electro, Electronic, Electronica, Lali Puna, Radioactive Man
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Fabric Competition - Tickets for Saturday
It's competition time again folks as Fabric have provided us with another pair of tickets to give away for this Saturday night.Highlights for this week include Tobi Neumann, A Guy Called Gerald (live), Radioactive Man, Mark Broom plus everyone's favourite food obsessives OST and Kjex (live) and a host of other quality DJs - full lineup available here.
As before, we don't want you to break out into too much of a sweat over the question so here goes:
Q) Which legendary acid house group did Gerald Simpson co-found prior to launching his solo career as A Guy Called Gerald?
Send your answer to us at illectronic.blogATgmail.com and the lucky winner will be chosen at random and notified on Friday.
Labels: A Guy Called Gerald, Fabric, Mark Broom, OST and Kjex, Radioactive Man, Tobi Neumann
Jah Rule.
Having just watched the DVD of Control, the story of Ian Curtis and Joy Division by Anton Corbijn, I thought I’d post up these cover versions. They follow on very nicely from RAW’s Electronic Dub post in that they are Dub Reggae versions of ‘Transmission’ and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.Reggae has a tradition of doing cover versions of classic tracks that goes back to the sixties and early Ska recordings. No track is too important and no track too sacred that it can’t get the Dub Reggae treatment.
The artists involved here are the amusingly monikered Jah Division. This EP came out a few years ago in 2004 On The Social Registry label. Selassi I!
Jah Division – Transmission Dub // The Social Registry
Jah Division – Dub Will Tear Us Apart // The Social Registry
Jah Division – Dub Will Tear Us Apart // The Social Registry
Labels: Cover Versions, Jah Division, Joy Division, Reggae
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Digital Laptop Reggae
As regular visitors to Boomkat will know, they are without doubt one of the best online record stores but also have a tendency to bestow slightly over the top praise on certain artists. I always try to make a point of checking out their 'releases of the week' but upon reading such reviews when I'm not familiar with the subject matter in question I find myself approaching my investigations with equal parts excitement and scepticism. However when checking out Disrupt's debut long player, Foundation Bit, which was first brought to my attention through one such review in Autumn last year, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the sounds that were soon coming out my speakers and I ordered myself a copy quick-sharp.For those of you not familiar with Disrupt’s work, it takes equal parts inspiration from classic dub reggae and the soundtracks to early computer games and while this might not sound instantly appealing to many of you I can assure you that the results are a true musical delight. Disrupt is the founder of the Jahtari netlabel where a whole host of free downloads are available from Disrupt and a bunch of other like-minded souls. For those of you still not quite sure what this is all going to sound like, Jahtari categorise their music as Digital Laptop Reggae and as well as free downloads there’s various articles on the ethos behind their productions. Anyway, as ever, I think it’s best to let the music speak for itself and once you start getting into these grooves you’re gonna be hooked. At first listen, some of the tracks you’ll find might seem a bit bleepy or lacking some of the production sheen of many commercial releases but this is all part of the appeal and you’ll soon be skankin’ along in a haze of 8-bit wonder.
The offerings below are just a selection of the freebies available to download from Jahtari and I‘ve purposely avoided putting up anything from Foundation Bit as it’s well worth you shelling out for a copy of your own. Many of the usual retailers appear to have sold out but you can still pick one up at Amazon and if you like what’s below you ain’t gonna be disappointed!
Disrupt - Jah Bit Invasion //iD.023
Disrupt - Argument //Phoke24
Blue Vitriol - Cryovolcano //JTREP03
Volfoniq vs. Trema - Recreadub //JTRNET07
Labels: Computer Music, Disrupt, Dub, Jahtari, Reggae
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Dirty Dancing
D*I*R*T*Y Sound system are releasing some more expertly crafted re-edits fusing together Sixties Pop, Psyche and Disco to create more alternative party anthems. The new EP, Dirty Edits 09 features two brand new Pilooski edits of Del Shannon (Pictured) and Danny Gold. Plus the excellent refix of The Pointer Sisters "Send Him Back" which appeared on their superb Dirty Edits Vol 1 CD from last year.The Del Shannon track "Gemini" is my favourite with it's Sixties Pop vibe underpinned with a heavy 4/4 beat added masterfully by Pilooski.
The EP is again limited to 1000 numbered copies and is released in Mid March so snap them up when you can.
Del Shannon - Gemini (Pilooski Edit) // DLL 009
Labels: Del Shannon, Dirty Crew, Pointer Sisters
Friday, February 08, 2008
A Bleeping Good Tune
Check this slab of bleeping good madness from Dubstep's dancefloor master, Skream. This sounds like a mad Aphex Twin style slice of Electro designed with one thing in mind. Moving bodies.2-D has an instantly catchy hook which which breaks down into some mad sonic glitch territory (aka Windowlicker) and then reverses the sounds from the melody which makes you want to move your body backwards just to keep up! Genius.
Skream - 2-D // Tempa
This track is taken from The new double pack, Skreamizm Vol 4 out now on Tempa records. Pick up a copy from Boomkat
Labels: Dubstep, Skream, Tempa
