Happy Birthday Jay Dee!

The music world will never stop lamenting the loss of one of the best beat makers / producers hip hop has ever known. A stellar musician loved by all, and one even now recognized by the Smithsonian Institute. His MPC will be on display soon.

Happy Dilla Day!

New Album Coming from One of My Favorite Artists on My Favorite Record Label.

As you may know, I have a Modern Love addiction. The Manchester label has been running my life for the past few years, and I've just come to accept it. Their somewhat commercially successful artist is Andy Stott. His last album, "Luxury Problems" was my favorite album of 2012.

The new album (Nov. 17) is to be a similar outing in aesthetic, but will include some vocal pop structure more traditional than on the last record. The press release states: “straddles analogue club music and vocal pop songs, somewhere between Ron Hardy, Prefab Sprout, Dome, Actress, Cocteau Twins and Arthur Russell.”

I'm enjoying the sample track. See what you think:

Merryl / Flex 1000 - Split CS (New Body, 2014)

Merryl's (Asheville) side begins with a deep warbling that deconstructs / constructs / reconstructs into some sort of slow viscous pulse. The scab is scratched off to reveal a narcotic four on the floor beat . For lucid ketamine dreaming on the dance floor.

Flex 1000's (Baltimore) side starts off with chaotic loops and noisy stabs that gives way to a rough punkish techno beat reminiscent of some of the intense late 90's Belgian dance scene with a hint of Empire's digital hardcore. There are vocals in there somewhere, buried in this beautiful muck. The second piece is a creepy low end slow burner. A synth loop base with horrifically inane vocals with a sudden shift, resulting in a bright Conrad Schnitzleresque high frequency finale.

This release is from the relatively new tape label called New Body out of Boone, NC.
New Body tapes can be ordered HERE

HTRK - Psychic 9-5 Club (Ghostly International, 2014)

So I'm a longtime fan of this band. I adore them. I can't praise them enough except to say that their new record exceeds my expectations. The aesthetic hasn't changed much but the drum programming and overall recording techniques have drastically improved. This is a seductive, sensual, and gnarly record of bass, synth, guitar and beats, mixed with equal parts heartache and longing. I absolutely love it.

You can read my review of a previous album as well as my in depth description of them HERE  and stream a playlist of this record here:

HTRK - Work (Ghostly International, 2011)

One of my favorite musical scenes was created by the Mancunian crew of the 90's in Bristol UK. "The Wild Bunch", consisting most importantly of Massive Attack and Tricky, were highly influential with their groovy 80 bpm breaks and blunted rock meets dub aesthetic. Tricky took things down an increasingly darker path with his albums 'Maxinquaye' and one of my favorite albums, 'Pre-Millenium Tension'. The vibe is so spliffed on the latter that paranoia gets the best of the protagonist. Hallucinations or even actual acts of aggression and fear ensue, charting territory that, given his particular musical production, was unparalleled in pitch black narrative.

HTRK is similar to Tricky in many ways. Their delivery system just happens to be narcotic in nature. The dub basslines are there, backed by tastefully subtle 808 beats, various synthesizers and swirling ambient guitar. The concept is an original pastiche of Lynchian imagery, proto-punk and post-industrial.

The now duo (bassist Sean Stewart having committed suicide in 2010), intentionally blur all lines. Jonnine Standish's vocals are subdued, to the point of lyrical irrelevance (which I admire). The music itself is an existential road to nowhere. There aren't even really songs, merely moods of doubt and doom, sensually shared by a deceptively charming junkie siren.

To be quite frank, albums don't matter here. Any place is a good place to start. Again, its all a seductive coldwave psychosis. I'd gladly follow her down into the sea.

The Stranger - Watching Dead Empires in Decay (Modern Love, 2013)

James Leyland Kirby is, without question, one of my most listened to artists of the past few years. His work as The Caretaker is akin to the static background music of my mind. Whereas that work invokes the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel ballroom, with its chopped and screwed 78's, his new work as The Stranger has a different cinematic feel.

This is like the bleakest scenes from Eraserhead. This is what it would sound like if Raime and Demdike Stare were proles working in a  factory at night. The graveyard shift crew haggard and miserable, overworked and delirious. The ambience is their hallucinations, horrors fit for the dungeon they're in. The percussive elements are the proverbial whips to the back demanding the completion of this sixteen hour task. There is also a bit of Lustmord's "Metavoid" record, like plodding through a marsh knee deep in the muck, as in a nightmare when you have trouble walking. If you find beauty in masochistic doom and gloom, you'll love this one.

Adam Forkner - Infinity Beat Tape (Self-released, 2012))

Ever feel down and out? Lose your job? Lose your girlfriend? Overdose on smack? Get elected to political office? Didn't get financial aid? Break a condom? Burn your pizza?

Well, do i have a solution for you. Take a psychedelic audio pizza party vacation with my man Adam Forkner, aka White Rainbow. This shit is a band-aid for yer soul. Ambient synths and beats to warm your heart and belly laugh to. Oh, and a hell of a lot of Zapp and Prince worship toward the end. And there for damn sure ain't no parking on the dancefloor. This is...well, its Adam Forkner. Dig it, Honeydip. Especially from "New Toyz" on.