May look like Russian, but that right there is actually Platyπ or Platypi - plural of Platypus, using the fun pi (π) symbol to stand in for that plural inflection. In any case, what we have today is some lovely, ear friendly music from this guy called Platyπ (real name Alistair Hill, a Brighton, UK native) - the kind of music that's wonderfully suited to a gentle start on a Friday morning, where anything more intense or heavier could quite easily send you crashing down into some kind of coma (a worse coma than you may already be experiencing), whereas this song 'Lassitude' performs in quite the opposite way: it snuggles down with that comatose feeling and caresses that zombified mind of yours. Without doubt, this is hypothetical; of course if you aren't already comatose, it's an entirely relaxing tune.
With its soul sturdily rooted in the flighty church of glitch, the school of bleep, it makes measured and controlled use of clipped samples, halfway houses of electronic surges that trip their way through all 2 minutes and 22 seconds of this song. A truncated vocal sample hops teasingly in and out of earshot whilst the beat etches its fluttering hip hop pattern throughout. A veritable joy - and this song, apparently, was the first to come from Platyπ's university degree and with that in mind it's a fine start to a hopefully long and illustrious future back-catalogue.
Coming from Bristol, home to one of the UK's biggest dance music scenes, it makes sense that Julio Bashmore grew up to become a DJ and producer of music in his own right. Finding inspiration in the buzzing vibe of a night out in Bristol, and encased with a dream to deliver his love of music personally, as a DJ to ecstatic crowds, he embarked on his journey, being signed rather fortuitously by Claude VonStroke's (whom we like) label Dirtybird and from there quickly becoming one of house music's successful sons. His new song, 'Husk', kinda proves that.
He teases out a long intro filled with a globular, pulsating kick and smart, whispy hi hats. A synthy, reverberating sequence of notes dots the way towards a steadily modulating siren-type noise, and soon the snare rolls and the cleanest bassline you've ever heard drops in like a giant, groovesome boulder (in the video this part is in sync to a guy lifting some huge weight) that bounds along relentlessly.
All of it seems heavenly and ethereal: there's something otherworldly almost in the pulsing soundscape that Julio Bashmore has created here, something that builds up again and drops into that lone, get-your-teeth-around-this kind of bassline. This is the kind of song that has no regard for anything except itself: it makes no external references, all its power coming from its utter lack of pretention and instead from within where energy just pounds out. Love it love it love it.
Really loving the ultimate chill of this song. It's called 'Monochromatic World' and comes from Evil1, a recent signing to a Passive Front Records. Surprised that stuff like this isn't more well known sometimes, because not only is it good, it's also interesting - the creation of ambience with intensity is something that you don't get often, and something that Evil1 seems to be very good at.
The sound reminds me of a balloon being alternately inflated and deflated, the synths railing over the top of everything in particular grow and expand to almost infinite proportions, easing back and almost disappearing before growing once again. Overall, the sound is one of a lounge song - with teeth.
Before you know it you're blown away with this bulldozer bass that underpins the whole sound perfectly and moves in ways you don't expect it. The percussion is spot on, too, providing a lightly tribal feel in certain parts. I want the beat to be louder, for those snare claps to actually reach out of my headphones and slap me in the face - but it's still a well patterned beat. The vocal sample is nicely used as well, imbuing the song at its last parts with the spirit that truly would make up a monochromatic world.
Ambient, loud, quiet, dynamic. Looking forward to hear the progression of this artist. Oh, and if you like it you can download it for free. Isn't that lovely?
This is a pleasant surprise. To start today, we have the intriguingly named Empress Of with her very first release, the sufficiently bubbly 'Champagne' and its more moody B-side, 'Don't Tell Me'. What Empress Of, the project of Brooklyn-based musician and producer Lorely Rodriguez, has created here is a lovely old school sound, drums straight from an 80s drum machine - or so it seems - busy choruses that soar with intermingling synth patterns. For a debut release it's really good, and an extremely promising start to what could be a well-received career.
The release itself, 'Champagne' is a slow-bounce two-step, fun and bristling with little guitar sounds that seem like miniature fireworks. I like the swift change in dynamic between the relatively sparse verse, with its nonchalant vocals, and the jangling, near-psychedelic busy electric sounds of the chorus. The video for this number is below, featuring Empress Of herself, eating watermelons. Fun. Oddly fitting.
But then there's the B-side to this song: 'Don't Tell Me'. It's much more sombre, with slow-dance, epic drum sounds, long synths, a touchingly sweet vocal drenched in reverb and echo, imploring to remain in blissful ignorance. A heartbreaking ballad-style song that drips with nostalgia and the power of emotion that can be conveyed by talented artists through music: Empress Of is one such example of this, displaying feeling with her electric and wholly dreamy sound.
And good news: 'Champagne' can be downloaded below FOR FREE! Holy moly, Amaterasu-ōmikami on high, what a treat! (But hurry up about it.)
There's not much of this around, touching and understated pop songs. Not as far as I have heard anyway. If you've heard 'em, send 'em, and I'll listen to 'em. But for the moment, we have Kwes. (yes, with the full-stop apparently) with a lovely new song called 'Rollerblades'.
You heard of Kwes. before? No, neither have I. Let's discover him together. He comes originally from South East London, gaining an interest in music - and sound recording particularly - at an early age. He also has colour synesthesia, which means he sees colours when listening to music, which are associated to certain notes. Sounds cool to me, but he plays it down, saying: "it doesn't annoy me, or it doesn't amuse me, or it doesn't make me feel good, it's a normal occurrence to me." There you go.
Believe it or not, he's been quite active in the field of producing, having done work with The Xx and Micachu in the past. But, above all, he's a solo artist in his own right, and an interesting one at that, as this song 'Rollerblades' quite nicely illustrates.
It comes from the EP he released earlier in spring of this year, Meantime. But what exactly is it? It's kinda an experimental indie pop sound, but with hooks and progressions in the melody that are more pop pop than anything else. It's an altogether sparse sound, which is, the more you listen to it, actually more interesting than it first seems - there are little percussive sounds that dot the beat like simple little decorations, the bassline is on the surface quite simple but is doing a few more forward rolls and arab springs than you think, the glitchy blips that do zip in and out of earshot, and the lyrics as well are beautifully mundane (about how somebody's hair looks, going out for dinner, and above all - rollerblading).
The last minute or so of this pretty ditty are turned into an atonal mash of electro sounds and pinging percussion vague beats and only a hint of stability. This is quite exciting because it means that, alongside singing in is plaintive voice about going rollerblading set to catchy beats and melodious hooks, he can also lay down some truly experimental sounds, electric in nature and style. Good job Kwes.!
