Well I've been stupidly busy and hot recently, which is the norm for an EF employee in China during the summer, so I've not been getting much of a chance to post. Just a quick one then to talk about what I've been listening to of late. My music collection was beginning to stagnate so it was with great joy that I recently remembered to start checking Soundcloud.com again and that I started to check out my workmate's music that he kindly gave to me. You may remember I mentioned a chap called Ethan who definitely has more than a passing interest in garage, punk and various other kinds of mainly guitar related stuff. I've continued to explore the plethora of things he gave me, so here's a few. I really like The Cruel Sea, an Australian band with an eclectic sound which is definitely tinged with blues, funk and soul influences. Some of their tracks have some great piano work and every track has varied percussion, the track I'm currently listening to, "The Right Time", actually has an African sound. I'm not really sure that they fall under any definite genre and every track is quite different, but it's all really catchy and really well produced and difficulty in pigeon holing is a selling point for me. On a similar tip, but with a more defined blues influence are The Shadows of Knight, a band from the USA hailing from the 1960s. Their music has a hard rhythm and blues sound and is certainly something to get your groove on to. I've also been enjoying The Razors of late, much more on the thrashy punk side of things and definitely to my tastes, but a little elusive. I shall have to ask Ethan for more information and report back.
The Cruel Sea with "Black Stick"
The Shadows of Knight with "Bad Little Woman"
And I foud The Razors for you! A track called "Dope Maniacs". It turns out they are a German punk band from the early 80s.
On Soundcloud I've been somewhat addicted to a certain Derrick May mix, a great soundtrack to lesson planning: https://soundcloud.com/clubbonsoir/sets/derrick-may-club-bonsoir-29-09 It's got the real soulful and jacking funk that I see as the hallmark of Derrick May, and his clean as anything eq manipulation that keeps bringing me back to his mixes. I've been loving Fat Hop records, the hip-hop imprint which Jerome Hill is involved in, himself an excellent hip-hop, techno, electro, old skool and, well, anything with groove DJ. In particular I listened to "Stand Up" by The Criminal Minds , prior to this known to me for their track "Baptised By Dub", a classic piece of old-skool hardcore excellence. I also really enjoyed "Skorpio Dope Jam" by Itsu Uno, a top quality fast paced slice of party breakbeat with some catchy horn samples. To be honest I've enjoyed all of the Fat Hop releases I've heard, but I don't have time to talk about all of them just now. Suffice it to say Fat Hop earns it's name, whilst delivering a pretty eclectic sound it's all based around big fat hunks of juicy breakbeat, making you want to get up and dance every time you listen. I've also been catching up on some mixes by The Black Dog, techno artists who have been around since the first days of IDM in the early nineties - you can see a review of one of their releases in an earlier post. The particular mix I've been listening to is named "Darkwave Vol. 13" and is an atmospheric mix of techno and electro, at times a little cheesy for my tastes (vocal techno - no, just no), it is for the most part a good soundtrack to working on the computer, so nothing too earth shattering but also pretty solid. I've been enjoying the sounds of Mark Hawkins, a very well established techno artist known for his Chan 'n' Mikes label. The particular track I've enjoyed recently is called Sudeikiai Dub 3 and is actually a remix by Orpha Castles. It's a driving track built on foundations of gorgeously smooth string pads and a wobbling bass line. No link for this one as it's a private one on Soundcloud, but it might be available if you search around.
Blackmass Plastics has been offering up a slice of shuffled up grimey four to the floor action, a slice of dark garage funk, spiced up with a growling bass line and the occasional fearsome synth stab. The track is called "Itchitup" and I think it's an old tune, it's age shows - but in a good way, with some of that pounding garage funk that seems to have all but disappeared in today's world of wobbly dubstep. There are so many more tracks I want to talk about, but unfortunately I do not have all the time in the world, so just a final one from the mighty Boards of Canada, ambient legends who have well deserved international fame, hailing from the IDM side of things, what one might be tempted to call "ambient techno", although I always thought that something of a contradiction in terms. The track I recently heard is called "Reach for the Dead", a medley of haunting arpeggios and a slow rise of light break beats, extremely well produced and providing a luscious cinematic atmosphere.
Right, that's it for now, hope you enjoy the tracks, much more to come soon from The Four Matters, Scheme Boy, Dawn Penn and many more besides.
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