Unless my calender lies to me, it is a Saturday. Therefore, as is the tradition on Saturdays, it's time for another groins to the groyne awesome Audio Flare entry.
Not pictured: Groin.
Today's Audio Flare might literally burst your groynes with goodness, I warn you now. Longshore drift may well occur rapidly after this blog is done.
Firstly, just over a Gregorian calendar month ago I brought SBTRKT to your attention (Audio Flare's Bonus). His illumination in this blog created a lot of love from various people, all of whom took greatly to his style of music. I promised that I would illuminate more of his music in future entries simply because it seems so many of you are fans of his work. Including myself, I must add.
And I am never one to break a promise, well, that's a filthy lie. But I'm not one to break this individual promise. Here's two tracks by him, the first being his own material 'Rekorda' as well as his remix of Modeselektor's (also covered in Audio Flare) 'Art & Cash'. Both tracks show perfectly just why I love his stuff, the first 'Rekorda' is a cool, laid back, garage-house piece with a cheeky bassline and 2 step beat. This is suave, lounge/club music but with a bit of edge. As for his remix of 'Art & Cash' (the original is here), the tone of the song is radically changed, the electro-edge is softer and it carries with it a much more serene tone, almost sounding like Chemical Brothers at times.
Both damn good tracks and a perfect illustration as to why I, and others, are fans of his work.
I will lead you now to the Bristol Dubstep scene. You can thank me later.
We're on the lookout for Bristol based MC turned producer turned dubstep DJ Jakes, nowadays known as the father of renowned dubstep crew H.E.N.C.H.
Before working with H.E.N.C.H, Jakes was MCing for artists like TC on songs such as 'Drink' as well as collaborations with Tech Itch for drum and bass anthems including 'Darkheart', this collaboration was well known for being some of the darkest DnB released.
Tech Itch broke through to a more popular audience and took Jakes with him for further collaborations. After some world touring he settled back into Bristol and formed with controversial DnB duo Distorted Minds and the three of them released 'T-10' on the Breakbeat Kaos label.
Nowadays, he and the H.E.N.C.H crew have released all manner of dirty dubstep into the Bristol scene, tracks like 'Warp 9', 'Titan' and 'Comply' all show off a heavy, deep dubstep bassline and wobble. However, all the tracks seem to be quite slow and deliberate, instead of busting ears with a brutal bpm they tend to like notching up the atmosphere with a slow beat.
As promised last week when I covered Rollo Tomassi, Chicago based rockers, I bring to you now Rolo Tomassi. Sheffield based, 5 person, electro mathcore metal.
Much like Rollo Tomassi earlier this week, Rolo Tomassi are named after the fictional character that appears in L.A Confidential. They've released one album so far under the ultra-trendy Hassle Records, 2008's Hysterics.
To give an idea of just how misleading the first few songs into the album are, I'm going to link the first two tracks in album order so you can hear how the style shifts rapidly and possibly Hysterically. The album opens with 'Oh, Hello Ghost', a very groove driven, keyboard filled track that only gets heavy with it's guitars and vocals after the two minute mark. From there we move on to 'I Love Turbulence', a track that starts so heavy it's like Enter Shikari on speed. From there it falls into it's mathcore territory, complete with bizarre rhythms and time signatures. The vocals go all shouty and it's here that we find Rolo Tomassi's signature sound, soft vocals with subtly bass, guitar and strong keyboards and then 'Boom!', everything goes to 11.
The reason that they are making an appearance on this blog (apart from my promise that they would) is that they've been working on a new album, entitled Cosmology and set for an April/May release date, and produced by American DJ/Producer Diplo. Singles set to be released from the album include 'Party Wounds' and 'French Motel'. I'll be keeping a rather close 'Audio Flare eye' on these folks for new videos from their upcoming album.
Audio Flare Eye.
Anyway. That brings us to the end of another Audio Flare entry, number 43 at last count. Tune in Tuesday the XX of March where I shall be bringing you, among other things, The Black Keys and Motorhead.
I will leave you now (as is the custom) with a tune. In this case the tune 'de jour' is 60s mania. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich with 'Hold Tight', a performance from Blue Peter in 1965, a year so long ago in history that I'm surprised that flying hoards of pterodactyls didn't interrupt the performance and the band had to fend them off with makeshift spears of flint.
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