WHISPA – OLD HOUSE

I literally feel as though I'm melting round about now. Right about now. However you say it. This is a three month old (that's a quarter of a year) track from Whispa, a multi-instrumentalist and producer from London. It begins with a delicious tapestry of sounds in the form of some sort of crackling, or like a bag of marbles clacking against each other – a constant homely sound, like wood or outdated circuitry glowing on a fire.

And as you gently recline beside the warming flames, strums of almost-MIDI crystalline acoustic guitar fill the room, each one a hapless, heedless caress, soft skin of a hand stroking your forehead, running its fingers through your hair. The reclination is real: trip-hop flavoured beats make their oscillating way throughout the track, hi-hats ticking a 1.5x slower version of time as tambourine jangles shimmer in the half-light of the song.

Oh, of course – the track is called 'Old House'. I forgot. That, if you like to listen to music with titles in mind, would explain the comforting, heart-fuzzing peals of sound throughout – the sonic conjuration of a domestic snug.

This is not to mention the touching emotive ambience of the track, its thin washes of synth piecing together a hushed blanket of almost painful remembrance, with added decoration in the delayed bleeps, casting a mnemonic shadow in the form of a simple, childlike melody: memories of living somewhere that you can no longer call your own.

'Old House' is a beautiful tract of soul-soothing sounds, all textured with the crackly aesthetic of decades-old footage taken of somewhere long-forgotten, coupled with a foray into a transportive world of undeniable chill, sprinkled with the sparkle and promise of retro-futurism. Nice one Whispa.

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☟ Whispa Social Media Presence ☟
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BRAYDO – I THINK I SAW YOU IN MY DREAM LAST NIGHT

I stumbled upon this the other day and I was like "whaaat" so I put it on a to-write-about list like "yeahhh" then forgot about it and then I rediscovered it just now like "whaaat" again. Safe to say it's a tasty tune and one that suits the spring palette and most hopefully will delight your palate. Hm. Two different words, two different meanings, sound the same. Homophone.

So this is a track by braydo, who is a musicmaker from Washington, as far as I can tell. It's called 'i think i saw you in my dream last night' and instantly, without even having to think about it, I can feel that fleeting feeling of glimpsing a welcome human presence within a dream, fantasy love welling up from the hidden recesses of the heart, where your more rational, waking mind archives them for safe-keeping. Or maybe I'm just being melodramatic.

The constant pulmonary plume of bass in this song is a soft, exacting rumble, like it's the kind of intense ambient sound you'd hear if you were a miniaturised person floating inside a human body, like in The Magic School Bus or that film Innerspace. A very organic sound.

On top of this, plaintive synth flute sounds chime in and out of earshot, indistinct and glistening, soaked with reverb, just like the vague outlines of a beautiful dream, with a steady contemplative beat dishing out thumping kicks and lo-fi snares, a wandering hi-hat pattern split between something more simple in the song's first half and gently ornamented, busier strains in the second.

This clear twoness of the track is bridged by a subsidence in the rich rumble of the bass, linking the initial appearance of the mystery dream person in the first half of the track, to the heartmelting recognition and realisation in the second section, where plunking almost pizzicato synth mix with continual muffled vox sounds: the shard of light and love that does not physically or actually change much, but accentuates your surroundings and lightens your mind.

But at the same time, dreams are essentially mirages, and the turmoil of tumbled-down beliefs that your subconscious mind stacked up during the night, leading you to believe real, actual passages of time were passing, real emotions felt, physical people interacted with – all evaporates as you surface once again into reality.

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☟ braydo Social Media Presence ☟
SoundCloud • Bandcamp • Twitter • Instagram

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ENTHEOGENESIS – ICE WATER [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Well well well, here's something new. It's from a Sydney-based producer who goes by the name of Entheogenesis. It's an interesting name that comes from the word "entheogen" – basically a synthesised or natural drug used in a "religious, shamanic, or spiritual context" (ty Wikipedia). But uh, that aside, let's take a look at the actual music of the musicmaker – in particular, the musicmaker's latest track 'Ice Water'.

Drenched in a glaze of tare-style deliciousness, the track is wet with sounds, totally fluid to a slo-down, narcotic degree. Percussion shimmers lovingly in bristling thickets where clockwork hi-hats dance with woodblocks and sharp metallic sounds. Add to this a serious set of kicks and sub-bass boomings, and you got yourself a beat. Decorate with an amalgamation of cold electronic sounds – seemingly arrhythmic soft chords and ambient murmurs – and leave to simmer in its own slow sway. Serve.

At only 1:28 it's short 'n' sweet, but it gives an idea of the kind of genreless experimental hip-hop-tilted psychoactive-substance-championing electronic stuff that Entheogenesis makes. For an even better idea, check out the debut EP, Vanity, downloadable at a name-yer-price basis on Bandcamp, released earlier this year via Brighton (UK) label Shimmy Records.

Entheogenesis (you realise it's a long, weirdly difficult-to-type name when you type it a lot) is also part of the Sydney-based 穏便 Gentle Records collective, dedicated to releasing beats from local talent. Most recently, Ethneo (that's better) also played at elsewhere in Surfers Paradise for the 3rd instalment of the very-cool-looking LILT – self-described as "Beats & electronica audio/visual adventure." You can read about LILT003 over at Raw Ink.

• Just in case you forgot or didn't know, you can download 'Ice Water' for free. I believe the little download arrow is on the player above. Peace.

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ESPRIT 空想 – VIRTUA.ZIP

It's been a long time coming but finally I am writing about ESPRIT 空想's latest (and perhaps greatest) album virtua.zip. Last time we heard from this guy it was actually in the form of his alter-ego (or is this his alter ego?), another musical project: Mirror Kisses – namely the cool video for even cooler song, 'Genius'. There's some new Mirror Kisses stuff out right now actually but let's just put that off for a second and get right into the melted-mind sounds of this collection of songs.

A key component of the slightly undefinable, nostalgia-and-sample-ridden style of vaporwave – whose sounds can reach as far back in time as any artist's musical memory will allow, and as far forward as their imagination will take them – ESPRIT 空想 has moved forward, describing his album as "distinct in that it is comprised of all original compositions. Samples are utilized as a brushstroke rather than a canvas. Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11 are entirely free of sampling." As such, the imaginary constraints of vaporwave fall away to leave nothing but its lightly distorted aesthetics and its apparent liberal-mindedness, wherein the freedom to do whatever underpins most of what has been made within the brackets of "vaporwave", which simultaneously leads to an eternal paradox: if this is the case, then what is vaporwave? A genreless genre; a community brought together by common interests.

Almost as a realisation of this kind of maturation into formlessness, ESPRIT 空想 does as he pleases: to great effect. virtua.zip – its name reflecting the cube comprising of Akira Yuki (from Sega's Virtua Fighter series) on the album art – is expansive and atmospheric yet groovesome and quirky, building these soundscapes with relatively short tracks; each one of these suffixed with the extension ".wav", the perfect accompaniment to the album's own ".zip" – as if the sights, sounds and words attached to this release are wholly indebted to all things digital.

And what a set of sounds! We go from the warm holiday sounds of opener 'whispers.wav', with its '80s-commercial glitz and two chords spacing out in 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' (Tears For Fears) fashion, and the chopped-up sounds and stammering beat of 'select.wav', as well as 'slow2014.wav', which sounds like an area on Streets Of Rage, swaggering yet calm in the post-crime-syndicate-clean-up; to the moody chillment of 'mindless.wav' – the hollowed-out skull of deadbeat intoxication – with a beat reminiscent of 'peter.wav': almost pure trip hop: spacey strings and surprising sub-bass as accoutrements to a slowed-down beat that uses the "Amen break"; 'esprit.wav', whose tropical washes of sound cloak a familiar sample and ghostly vocals, matches with 'iwillbe.wav', which finds its partner in the aching 'withyou.wav', the two essentially one track cut in two ("i will be with you"), both sufficiently equipped with steel pan stylings and epic tom drums to evoke a bepalmed beach paradise at sunset – titularly including the fantasy love-(or-lust)-of-one's-life.

Then there's 'warmjet.wav', a master-class in warm, modulating synths, focusing also a lot on empty space, syncopated bass and the loving sway of the beat, similar in a way to 'love.wav', a jaunty track with twisted, drugged-out synths, upbeat percussion, and the shadow of an angelic choir oooo-ing for extra romantic flavour, as well as the wholly retro 'gameover.wav' – staccato-chopper synths over a slow beat, with weird moo-box-style decorations; for virtua.zip, it's an ending that couldn't be more different from the romanticised glistenings of its beginning.

It's certainly an eye-opener, an insight into new territories of sound that paradoxically – and conversely to many "futuristic" sounds in music at the moment – are drenched with cassette-tape fuzz, imbued with nostalgia and, ultimately, could well have been made 20, 25, 30 years ago. Even though it runs the gauntlet of chillwave, retro game music, hip hop, synthpop, and yes: vaporwave – virtua.zip just effuses freshness effortlessly. And it's all condensed into around 21 minutes of music, making it a brief and blissful slice of escapism; I did, in fact, at many points find myself whisked away somewhere else. Basically, this album is like a modern version of exotica ("a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title"), itself an offshoot of lounge music, and intended to provide listeners with a synthetic, sonic experience of Pacific islands, African jungles & South American mountaintops.

What ESPRIT 空想 does is very much the same: from its very concept, as a .zip file, you have this strange, digitally tangible feeling for the music even before you've heard it; then, when you're listening, you could at certain points be in a videogame ('slow2014.wav'), in the past ('whisper.wav'), on a beach ('withyou.wav'), or – for something more descriptive – stuck at home on a rainy day during summer looking out the window ('esprit.wav'). The places it can take you depend on your imagination, of course, but to have made songs that are capable of acting in this way shows, maybe not intent, but at least a capacious and reflective imagination in the first place.

This is vaporwave's answer to lounge music – or perhaps vaporwave IS just an unknowing, modern interpretation of it – and it really is lovely.

• Download virtua.zip for just $1 (USD), or more, from ESPRIT 空想's Bandcamp page
• '空想' means 'fantasy' in Chinese
• N.B. lounge music does not mean 'bad music' – I am being complimentary, not disparaging.

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Like ESPRIT 空想 on Facebook
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STARLIT EVERGLADES – PRETTY ARCADE EP

It was many moons ago, many many moons ago, that I first encountered this particular musicmaker. In fact, I think the last time I wrote about him was back in July 2013. Since then, well – everything has been a whirlwind of uncontrollable speed. It's impossible to keep up with everything all the time. But who cares? Whatever right? RIGHT? So, anyway, this is Starlit Everglades and a long time ago I found his music, wrote about it – in particular his tune 'Mylotic' – enjoyed it. He made a kind of soaring lo-fi dreamscape, a majestic unearthly sound that seemed to gallop through your mind with all the relaxing intensity of a phantom horse.

But now, now now now – now is a different story. Fast forward for um however many months it's been and we arrive here, where Starlit Everglades is releasing a new EP that sounds gloriously different to his earlier stuff. It's quite incredible, the development that's gone on here. Hip hop influences abound, perhaps more trip hop, and the quality is higher than ever – he's clearly improved as a producer and it's really great to hear it. The EP is called Pretty Arcade and it sounds a bit like this (although I think this is just a preview).

It works as a series of three connected tracks. In title, it moves from a 'Pretty Arcade', to asking somebody 'Twirl For Me', and finally the command 'Undress' – as if on a date, the mood becomes one that is hungry for romance, if not outright lustful. In sound, too, it feels as if this is a journey from the realistic, grounded beats of 'Pretty Arcade', with its bubblesome electronics, coin-grabbing samples and recordings of real-life public places (maybe an arcade, and perhaps even a pretty one); through 'Twirl For Me' whose playful romance and dreamy sensuality – in the super-reverbing breathy vocal samples, glistening glockenspiels, tick-tocking almost urgent beat and filmic strings – echo that post-date feeling, if everything has gone well, of walking together, wandering, meandering the streets with no particular inclination or even care as to where you're heading.

And then there's the end: 'Undress'. It's a blanket of hyper nostalgia with an intro of crackles that make it seem as if the hairs on the back of your neck are sticking up, a pre-sexual out-of-body experience, a sense of wonder at what you're beholding – waves of thick synth like rose-tinted visions pulse in time with the heart-thudding catch-your-breath kicks, with breathless vocal samples whispering pleasure into the starry void of the track.

In another sense, these 3 illustrations hide as if under a haze of nostalgic memory, a set of sounds that seem to have encased heady remembrances forever behind their dreamlike mists, as if perhaps they look better – more idealised – through this fog of time and creativity, or as if memories themselves promote this hazy sound thanks to their intoxicating nature. So basically, this is Starlit Everglades, these are his sounds: a surprise EP that will whisk you away to somewhere beautiful, either imagined or real, on a cloud of hushed, lo-fi synth powered by gently intricate yet firm beats.

• This is out on UK label Slime Recordings 21st April (& you can probably get it from their site)
• Here's an interview with Starlit Everglades exclusively for YES/NO (mmmhmmmmmmmmmm)

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Like Starlit Everglades on Facebook
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LES BICYCLETTES DE BELSIZE SEBASTIAN (NAITSABES) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I'm a little confused about where this song is coming from. But I did my best and I think I can explain it. So. Originally there was a song by a duo called Charlie and Paisley called 'Sebastian' in which they were backed by the band, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize Park. Les Bicyclettes de Belsize then practically remixed the song, which consisted of setting it to reverse and putting in some nice samples in the form of snippets of dialogue from classic British films.

I suppose it wasn't really that confusing in the end. But still, it's a lot easier to get your head around things when you write them down, don't you find? Well, for me, it helps.

The reverse quality to the song is what gives it an equal dosage of beauty and strangeness - the latter mainly in the reverse vocals that now say "Na-it-sabes..." instead of "Sebastian" as they do in the original. The beat, now in reverse, takes on the mantle of an off-beat trip-hop rhythm and, together with the winsome lilts of the instruments of the song, the whole thing turns into quite a life-affirming piece that - for me at least - calls to mind the Baz Luhrmann song 'Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)'. Although that song used to leave me a little depressed because it was literally taking you through the future of your life.

Thankfully, 'Sebastian (Naitsabes)' isn't quite as polemic as that "feel-good" diatribe. It's much more subtle, mainly heard in the resulting effect of the ambient backwards sounds and the samples. For instance, the samples I most connected were from Billy Liar - a Keith Waterhouse novel, play, then film: "It's the town. It's the people we know. I don't like knowing everybody - or becoming a part of things. Do you see what I mean?" Being from the homely-homely suburbs of Surrey, I can understand that.

Anyway, it's a well chosen set of samples, all from the old British "kitchen sink" dramas of the 1960s. Gives it an Englishness that makes me feel nostalgic. Nice, whimsically winsome (I've used that before and I'll used it again), unique sound. BTW their name comes from a 1968 British musical film of the same name.

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Like Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Facebook
Listen to Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Soundcloud
Hear more Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Myspace
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Watch Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on YouTube

FKA TWIGS HOW'S THAT [VIDEO]

Oh man, don't you just hate it when you can't find out anything on an artist you want to write about? Gah, it just makes me crazy! But that's ok. I don't mind too much. After a while searching, it's kinda just clear that it's gonna be hard to find even a shred of info or links to any of their stuff on any kind of sharing site that's ever been made in the history of the internets. OH WELL. I'll live, don't worry.

It happens a lot of the time when an artist or band or whatever doesn't have a very googleable name, when it's the same name as some other word that exists in the world, like Twigs for example. Twigs are little bits that come off of trees. Right? RIGHT? But Twigs is also the name of - from what I have found out - an artist from London. And what music they have made. Woweee. Trip-hoppy chill, smooth and fluid and sexy and late-night...

Almost a bit lost for words so just listen for yourself yo and oh enjoy the video cause it's nice too.

Aiya this song is just so... well it's good. It's very good. I love the drugged sound of it, the slow cyclical repetition and what seems to be a loving, lingering touch on every element; the clip-clopping glass-filling-up percussion, the hard rebounding snare, the glowering bass blanket like a deep bath overflowing and I get this image of pitch black sweaty sexful nights, utterly lost in the totality of the moment. It's beautiful.

The voice is honest and soulful, falling on the whole expanse of the song like heady perfume that seems to flood the room it explodes into, a water balloon exploding in super slow motion, noir sex scenes. And the lyrics... "How's that feel"... answered by the spine-tingling "That feels good in my... so so amazing..." - the noises in this song drip like luscious flowers that you've never seen and maybe never will see. You'll have to listen to this song just to relive the uniqueness of the unnameable unknown that slow walks its hips right out of the glorious smoke which is this music.

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Check Twigs on Tumblr
Watch Twigs on YouTube

GANG COLOURS TO REPEL GHOSTS

Early on a Monday morning, you don't want anything heavy really, do you? You don't want a heavy breakfast. You don't want a heavy... rain. And you don't want heavy music. That's why it's wonderful to go with something beautifully delicate, yet differing enough to keep you awake. This is Gang Colours wonderful new song 'To Repel Ghosts' (I'm a month late, whatever).

It's a great combination of aching vocals (a little like Sampha's), new-age lounge chill, electronic glitch and trip hop. The drum sounds are fragile and breathy, keeping time with a vibe that is too good not to be affected by. The piano chords that come in every now and again are perfect - resounding notes that herald relaxation with every new gentle touch on the keyboard. It is stunning. I love electronica like this. Absolute chillment.

Here's a remix by George FitzGerald.



Energetic, plus works perfectly. Nice isn't it? Not good for my head this time in the morning but - at other times, yes please.

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• Gang Colours on SoundCloud
• Gang Colours on Facebook
• Gang Colours on Myspace
• Follow Gang Colours on Twitter
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DAISUKE TANABE GHOST & CUCULUS CANORUS

Always up for something new; here is something new. For me anyway. For you perhaps not. If it is new, all the better. These are the lovely jazztronic glitchive triphopular sounds of Japanese producer, Daisuke Tanabe. Hailing from Chiba with an art degree and a pretty clear vision of the sound he would be crafting, Daisuke Tanabe has been going for a while, living and working in London for a while before settling back in Japan - Tokyo to be exact - to make beautiful beautiful music. He comes from a background working especially in the techno and breakbeat genre, explaining why his forays into the now with music taking elements of jazz, hiphop, folk and electronica have that hard dancey edge. You start with something, you can't get away from it. But in Daisuke's case, it doesn't seem to be a problem whatsoever.

Let's start with the irreverently chilled 'Ghost' (below). It's a handsome shard of a song, containing all the parts of Four Tet glitchdom you've ever loved. This edgy throwing out and pulling back of sounds, as if constantly casting out a line, as in fishing line - the fluidity of the song and the nearly wind-shook electro bells running through give a totally nature-inspired feel to the sound.

Add this with some cute major scale synth sounds and you have yourself a pretty trippy number with a slow nearly-disappeared beat. To beef the song up, he adds some thin cymbals to crash lightly over everything, as the ongoing ringing clacking twisting ghost beat grasshoppers staccato to the end.



See what I mean?

But you get something a little different with the much more offbeat trip-hop tripstyles of the jazz-electro-glitchfunk of 'Cuculus Canorus' (below). It starts with a totally stripped down beat, bitcrushed moderately to give it an 8bit feel in all its swagger-inducing glory. Here, everything gets a bit loungey, though with a killer clean bass foundation to stop you the chill from being just pure lounge and pure sit back. Again, we have a near-trademark cutesy melody in some high-pitched synth blips, and a breakdown featuring open-hi-hat sounds. Nothing wrong with sticking to your guns.



That SUB BASS at the end! Shudderingly ice cold.

So that is Daisuke Tanabe - no doubt you'll hear more from him one day. Hopefully he will be gracing the world with some new stuff very soon. But at the moment, there's so much on his SoundCloud that we're not exactly wanting. I urge you to listen to this man's creations whenever you feel like you need to. At work, walking places, or during an afternoon's worth of chill.

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• Please listen to more Daisuke Tanabe on his SoundCloud
• And here is his profile at Discogs
• But you may be more interested in following him on Twitter
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BEAK> BEAK>

I had no idea that this band even existed, the UK-based BEAK>, until a couple of days ago. More to the point, I had no idea that it was formed and is fronted by Geoff Barrow from Portishead. Why? I have no idea - I guess if you don't look you don't find.

So I had a wee listen to their 2009 self-titled debut album and was super impressed at the way everything sounded - raw and energetic, but well-produced and polished at the same time. It's a kind of minimal mix of strong bass mixed with erratic beats that all provide foundations for washed-out vocals, harsh effect-laden whipped-up guitars and other ambient sounds that all provide for a pretty majestic experience, I've gotta say.

It runs through all sorts of genres, from the wonderful pure synthtastic electro of opener 'Backwell' to the psyched-out ambient dub of 'Ears Have Ears'. The psychedelic grunge post-rock spook-fest that is 'Ham Green' comes out of nowhere and fills the air with real crunchy bass some ethereal just-in-earshot yelling and a lovely bit of heavily phased guitar solo madness towards the end. It's that sound that you can't get away from though, that triumphantly energetic atmosphere that seems too good to be true.

But it is true. Geoff Barrow and bandmates Billy Fuller and Matt Williams recorded the album "live in one room with no overdubs or repair, only using edits to create arrangements." So that's how they get that amazing sound, like you're listening to a live take - BECAUSE IT IS ONE. All the songs were also written in Bristol during a 12 day period, meaning that this band just goes up and up in my estimation - there's a lot of talent here. Even the pure noise of 'Barrow Gurney' is cool to listen to, acting as a scuzzy introduction to the chilled and gentle lounge chants of 'The Cornubia'; yes, they sure know how to create a dynamic.

The album ends on strangely dystopian tribal electro vibe, it becoming the final echo you hear before the music fizzles out - its first half cries with beats and bass, the second is bristling with harsh experimental electronic noise, reverb and distortion flying around until the last second.

But the stand-out track, for me, is the understated buzzing fly presence of 'I Know'. Carried through to its end by a galloping skiffly sped-up hip-hop beat, this is the perfect song to put you in a daze and keep you there - it's very easy to lose track of time listening to this song. There are some wonderful Ian Curtis-esque vocals skulking in the background that drop quietly with the bass that provides the beef for this brilliant song.

So, as you can tell, this is definitely worth a listen. And being the nice guy that I am, I've shared the album below, along with the track listing. Enjoy these sultry sounds.

1. Backwell - 06:14
2. Pill - 05:34
3. Ham Green - 06:27
4. I Know - 05:01 (could've been 0:30 - could've been 10:43)
5. Battery Point - 07:10
6. Ears Have Ears - 04:22
7. Iron Acton - 05:00
8. Blagdon Lake - 04:43
9. Barrow Gurney - 02:01
10. The Cornubia - 04:00
11. Dundry Hill - 07:37
12. Flax Bourton - 02:49



• Check BEAK> on Bandcamp
• And also on Myspace
• And here's their little Wikipedia page

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MELLOWHYPE 64

Hip-hop for a Tuesday night. Listened to it on the train. I'd never heard of MellowHype before Pictureplane tweeted about - and I'm glad he did. This is a little alternative hip-hop duo, made up of Hodgy Beats and Left Brain, both members OFWGKTA - the hip-hop/rap collective headed by Tyler, The Creator.

Better known as simply Odd Future (or if you want it all, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), this group of talented young producers, rappers, and singers (numbering over 60, according to Tyler) is characterised by a love of making music. Generally populated by dark lyrics - as emphasised by Tyler, The Creator's 'Bastard' if I was going to recommend one - these young guys may be going over the top for the sake of it, but if the name of the collective is anything to go by, they have a 'fuck you' attitude. In the nicest possible way.

Here's a song from MellowHype called 'CopKiller' - it features another Odd Future rapper, 17-year-old Earl Sweatshirt (real name Thebe Kgositstile) who is currently being held back in his music career by his mother. No joke. Have a listen. The bass is unreal, supporting the unusual start stop flanging synth, and overall sounding like not much rap that's floating around at the moment. Earl's 'fuck you' (or 'fuck school'?) attitude is heard in his section, starting around two thirds of the way through; lines like "Now I'm transitioning from class clown to cash cow" give you an idea of that mindset.

CopKiller (feat. Earl Sweatshirt) - MellowHype

The image above left is is taken from the video for CopKiller. Is it really that wrong to discover things through Twitter? Eugh. Anyway.

Here are two other songs to top it all off. One commentator on the YT page put it so well that I won't even bother trying to top it.

That's basically it. And that's exactly what you get below. '65' is so chilled, a complete lean back number. The beats, courtesy of Left Brain, are nothing short of sheer genius. It's sounds like this that redeem hip-hop, and put it securely back in its place as one of the most creative genres out there at the moment, allowing for influences from everywhere, and allowing - perhaps even moreso - a perfect outlet for venting any frustrations with words. But yes, "listen to this, and then 64 in order."



And here is the fantastically visceral '64', filled with spooky saw wave synth sounds, vicious vocals, and some mean beats. There's anger and intelligence, but at the same time there's the same feeling of tongue-in-cheek in this as there is in grime - it's finally all coming together.

Only released online (uploaded to YT basically) on Sunday, 12th June, this is pushing over 200k views already - but that's superficial.

The video itself is a bit odd, and this added with the nature of the video, the nature of the sounds, and of the dark lyrics, add up to almost encompass a small part of the spirit of witch house. Witch-hop? Is that allowed? Listen for yourself.



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BENJI BOKO FEATURING MAXI JAZZ

A short post.

This is the sound of Benji Boko.

Chilled, dynamic, and utterly fluid, the beats and melody of 'Where My Heart Is' unwind in your ear, eased along by the more-than-auxiliary voice of Maxi Jazz, frontman of Faithless. It's a perfect marriage of smooth and smooth; smooth beats, smooth words. It's inoffensive, not highly energetic, but certainly not boring either.

'Where My Heart Is' comes from Benji Boko's debut album Beats, Treats & All Things Unique, released 21st June, which can be preordered from Amazon.

I'll write more on Benji himself when I get more of a chance, but he's certainly an interesting chap. Live, he challenges himself to make live mixes in front of a hungry audience, calling these feats of improvised mastery 'Can I Mix It?'

Watch this space.

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