On Repeat: May 2010

Juke is suddenly on the tip of everyone's tongue. A genre(and culture) that seemed entirely inaccessible to most just a few months ago is now embracing the idea of spreading their sound onto a world stage, trying to actually release some songs on vinyl in the coming months and a Dj Nate compilation in the works on Planet Mu(!!!). I envy that I can't cross the waters to see Rashad play with the Night Slugs crew but still being an outside observer it's easy to feel the heady vibes from this completely fwd>>> music.

Also spreading the good word is Chicago native Dave Quam. Our resident sage on the ghettohausmuziks of the world, his blog is quite an incredible pool of words and sounds. He featured a recent interview between Quam and Juke innovator Arpebu, it is quite the read.

words here.




Just got my copy of this from Bleep a couple of days ago and have to say as much as I loved Ramadanman's EP on Hessle Audio, these two songs are absolutely mental fusions of just about everything I love about electronic music right now. Jack 'Untold' Dunning's Hemlock imprint is unbelievably a cut above even the always righteous Hessle crew.

These songs are absolute fire.



A group I don't know much about except that I'm pretty sure they're from the US somewhere. They recently released an EP for free which is four songs of well swung tropical burners for some seriously sweaty peak-time business. Their song Got U was one of the highlights of Girl Unit's epic 2010 mix.

Download their EP here.



James Blake is unstoppable. His remix of 'Stop What You're Doing' is easily one of my top 5 songs of the last ten years and his sound keeps building and transforming. This song and three others are being dropped on May 31st on R&S records and really I can't say there's anything I've been quite so hyped on in a second.

Hesslin'

As Dubstep continues to spiral outward internationally it's sound is quickly becoming more and more fractured, splintering into what seems like dozens of 'wut u call it?' sub-genres. Summer 09' is proving to be one of the most exciting times in recent memory for new sounds and new rhythms. Much of the best tunes being wheeled right now slow things down to 130 steering ears towards Funky, Dubbage or whatever you'd like to call it; regardless it's all about the House vibes, a breath of fresh air away from the brain melting aggro dubstep that was seemingly the status quo for a good two years. Now however there is plenty of interesting music being made on the fringes of the hardcore-dubstep crowd and perhaps no label is more forward thinking at the moment than the one and only Hessle Audio.

A mere 8(and soon to be 9) releases into their existence, Hessle Audio is slowly sneaking up on Hyperdub as the go to label for tunes which push the boundaries of the whole UK Garage sound and are primed to influence a new generation of producers and DJs. Perhaps the most exciting thing about this label is the youth of its founders, Ben 'UFO' Thomson, David 'Ramadanman' Kennedy and Kevin McAuley aka Pangaea. 3 friends with great taste, great talent and limitless potential.

Back in January, Resident Advisor did a well informed piece detailing the backstory of the Hessle Audio crew(read it here) and made it apparent that the groundwork had been laid for 2009 to be a breakout year for the label. David Kennedy lays out the mission statement for the Hessle sound.

"We just want to put out stuff that you're not going to stop playing after a few months because it's been rinsed—I think that's my interpretation of what the label's about. I think there's a lot of good music out there, but not a lot of really good music, and I think that sometimes not every tune has to come out just for the sake of it."

As of late, Ben UFOs 'Ruffage Sessions' on Sub FM have been amongst some of the most exciting mixes you can find anywhere, connecting the dots between UK Funky, US House, Dubstep and a good bit of w**ky hip-hop(Get locked every Thursday from 3-5 Eastern Time Sub.FM). Ramadanman surprised a few people when he revealed himself to be the man responsible for A Pearson Sound whose track 'Wad'(forthcoming Hessle 009) is one of the most wonderfully alien sounding things around right now, a percussive beast which reminds one of a more Funky slanted take on some of Untold's more bare moments(his refix of Ramadanman's Revenue comes to mind unsurprisingly.) And speaking of Untold, Hessle released his debut 'Kingdom' last year and in 09' the absolutely essential 'I Can't Stop This Feeling/Anaconda' 12", lending no small hand in the breakout one of London's most exciting producers. All this and we haven't even gotten to Pangaea's 'Memories' yet, a gorgeous garagey track with an amazing vocal hook that just dropped on white label and is second only to Joy Orbison's 'Hyph Mngo' for anthem of 2009. Exciting times for Hessle Audio.

Here's a sick mix Pangaea did a while back

Reprise.011.Pangaea. by Reprise Music Group

Also if you lot love these sounds as much as I do don't sleep on seeing Ramadanman on his US tour. He plays Boston next Friday July 24th at BASSIC, I for one, can't wait.


Hessle Audio
Ramadanman
A Pearson Sound
Ben UFO
Pangaea
Untold
Sub.FM


Ramadanman US tour

Jul 17 2009 8:00P	Dub War @ Love	NYC, New York
Jul 18 2009 8:00P	Surefire Sound	SF, California
Jul 24 2009 8:00P	Bassic	Boston, Massachusetts
Jul 25 2009 8:00P	Bazzaar	Atlanta, Georgia
Jul 31 2009 8:00P	Gallery	Washington DC, Washington DC
Aug 1 2009 8:00P	Pure Filth	LA, California
Aug 5 2009 8:00P	Weight	Austin, Texas