Fresh off the release of “White Noi$e,” his collab with BK Beats, Black Noi$e has given us even more cool music! XXX Remixed is Black Noi$e’s reworking of four tracks (“Blunt After Blunt,” “I Will,” “Die Like A Rockstar” and “Lie4″) from the classic XXX album and it’s some really awesome stuff. Remixing anything off XXX is no easy task since the original beats are uniquely crazy stuff. But, I can’t think of any better producer for the job than Black Noi$e.

These remixes are definitely a different sound than the original beats. “Lie4″ especially, which turns the original trapish beat into something that sounds almost like an oldschool Wu Tang type beat. And Black Noi$e changes the original “Die Like A Rockstar” beat into something psychedelic and MUCH more laid back than the original.  What’s really cool is that even though Black Noi$e’s new beats are different than the original, Danny’s raps sound right at home. Also, here’s a fun video of Zachg dancing to the “Blunt After Blunt” Remix

Download Black Noi$e’s XXX Remixes (Click Here)

Squarepusher – Ufabulum (2012) [Warp] // Grade: B

Squarepusher, the man who pretty much single-handedly popularized breakcore, and therefore godfathered dubstep, is back. Up until Ultravisitor, his music was very much rooted in British electro, straddling drum’n'bass, acid, techno and breakbeats very smoothly, and making electronic music that’s perfectly audible even if you don’t like electronic music. Then with Ultravisitor, in 2004, when everybody and their goat had embraced IDM (the I stands for “intelligent”), he decided for some reason that he should start playing a bunch of instruments on top of his so-called “abstract” instrumentals. And he stuck his face on the cover. The record also featured canned applause; my take on it? He was tired of being idolized by the twenty-somethings, he wanted to make music that’s just more: more him, more complex, more popular. And it came out adult contemporary.

I have to assume it was a real walk through the desert for him, as he released a bunch of (very) self-indulgent records culminating with Shobaleader in 2010, a weird smooth jazz version of himself that I had all but forgotten until I looked up what his last release was. With Ufabulum though, Squarepusher left his qualms at the door. Perhaps energized by the newfound popularity of techno (at least in Europe), he is back to his first love: computer music. The opening track feels like that intoxicating initial thrust when you haven’t had sex in a while (shout out to The Josh Martinez for the metaphor), it’s textbook Squarepusher, upgraded to the future of now. Unreal Square adds a little bit of chiptune melody which turns into a happy IDM nightmare in the second half of the track.

Then there’s Stadium Ice, a synth-laden cinematic track that should find its way to an AMV soon enough. You may notice that we’re only three tracks deep in this album, and I have already mentioned each and every current trend in electro. What is he going to come up with next, you ask? Eyes full of hope! Hearts transported by joy! Hands reaching to the skies! Well, not a whole lot. I mean, yes, there are 6 more tracks, but they more or less rehash the first three.

Am I complaining? Eh, I could. But I don’t think I will. Even though they re-use a lot of the same elements, and actually take a lot of his old bag of tricks, each track has a wholly distinct feel, carrying both Squarepusher’s trademark and the signs of the times in their wombs. He’s back, yall, and he’s still more talented than 90% of the suckers out there trying to make pale copies of his stuff. Maybe he was just trying to show them how it’s done. Maybe it just felt good to find his old groove. It’s a harsh album, labor intensive, and possibly only a tiny bit of a bigger story that is being told (I guess that’s the “fabulum” part in the title). As I understand it, he has a live show going along with this record that takes cues from the packaging (which glows in the dark), glimpses of which you can see in the videos for Dark Steer and Drax 2. He also has a track-by-track run-down of the album on the Warp website.

Not having all cards in hands, I stay reserved. Enthusiastic, yet unsatisfied. If you’re going into this with no expectations, this is a great entry point into Squarepusher’s discography. It’s a solid album, that is very easy to listen to in one sitting. It is deceptively simple mostly because it has all the elements that are now standard fare in electro, but it definitely deserves a few listens to get the full scope. Will it stand the test of time? I don’t expect it to. Then again I don’t think I expected Go Plastic to age as gracefully as it did.

The Jealous Guys – Love and Other Drugs

—–

Drop The Lime - Bandit Blues

—–

DJ Swerve feat. OGz – Comeback Riddim

I get a lot of music in my inbox these days. Every once in a while something stands out for one reason or another, and given how picky I am I usually post it the bloglin to share. A.Chal is a dude who I know nothing about—beyond what I read in a PR email—but there’s something really interesting happening on this track.

To me at least. I hear a lot of the familiar signifiers from rowdy club music, but this track is incredibly reserved. I’m a sucker for opposites resting together. Some hype ass chill shit.

$ludgehammer aka DJ Yung Naked Goku aka Turbo Slime has been on my radar for the past year or so with his unique sound and the kid stays pushing boundary’s with his sounds.

He’s got crazy juke tracks that are everywhere yet he also has some killer hip hop beats with heavy bass with rappers such as Ethelwulf, Yung Simmie, Himself the Majestic, Blam Lord, and even Joeybagadonutz and myself.

The two Raiderklan songs he recently posted on his soundcloud are some of my favorites so far. On “Florida Ni$$@ Mentality” Simmie goes all the way in on Naked Goku’s most trap beat I’ve heard from him so far and it sure does work.

Then you have the Ethelwulf track “Unknown ” which is an insane banger laced with some ill samples that range from laughs, some guy yelling “YOU FUCKING BITCH!!”, and “They’re here” from the movie Poltergeist.

Ethelwulf straight murders it too with some schitzo rhymes and the end winds down with him repeating “I had to do what I had to do” over and over again, FLAWLESS. ”Slime Journey” is more along the lines of the bulk of his songs on soundcloud.

It’s more of a juke track with tons of sound effects and samples perfect for zoning out or twerking to.

Merchandise – Children of Desire (2012) [Katorga Works] // Grade: B

Children of Desire, the second effort from Merchandise is a reviewers nightmare.  Its polished post-post-punk can easily be dismissed as shallow, and in a lot of ways this album does suffer from “heard it all before syndrome.”  Still, there is something intriguing about the sheer amount of influences on this album, and how they are fairly effortlessly amalgamated that makes it pretty obvious that this Floridian duo have much more to offer.  “Children of Desire” begs the listener to figure out whether it is the culmination of decades of  rock rebellion or just mere facsimile.  Unfortunately, the answer is painfully unclear.

This album is not merely the next step in a legacy of music that has travelled from the garages of America in the late sixties to London in the 1980’s and back again.  From early the early Los Angeles scene to the retro swag of artists like Interpol, edgy and dark psychedelia has always been a staple in rock’s underground.  This albums is fairly successful at tying all of these eras together, and in a fairly cohesive matter.  From an opener that screams Badly Drawn Boy to  dreamy Happy Mondays psychedelic (“Time”) to big Ray Manzarek keyboards (“Become What You Are”) this album almost seems like a yearbook of shaggy haired and heavy.  There are times when it doesn’t work.  The verbed drums of “In Nightmare Room” a reminiscent of some of the worst experiments of Siouxsie and The Creatures beater Budgie.

Still, for the most part Carson Cox and David Vassalotti weave together such a wide variety of sound that it can’t help but be impressive.  What’s best though is a deep Will Oldham influence that saturates most of the albums vocals and is most evident on the albums standout track “Satelite.” While writing this review, it becomes obvious that Children of Desire actually is a very solid LP, one that probably shouldn’t be downgraded due to a comprehensive set of influences.  Still, as any music reviewer knows, something the seems too good often leaves itself open to further scrutiny.

We already told you about tonight’s party in Philly, but you don’t really believe that Trouble & Bass would leave out New York, do you? Silly rabbit, bass is for everyone. This Friday NYC will be host to a low-frequency showdown between Trouble & Bass and Body High, with each label/collective/whatever bringing the best of their best. It’ll be the perfect thing to go to after checking out the new art show, Stolen Souls, at 350 Broadway

Body High is the new label started by Samo Sound Boy, and he’s taking along DJ Slink and DJ Nadus to introduce Body High to the Big Apple right proper. Not to be outdone, T&B is squadded up with Star Eyes and The Captain. No matter who comes out on top, we win. Reverse Alien Vs. Predator.

Friday May 18th, 2012, 11:30
Glasslands Gallery
289 Kent
Brooklyn, NYC
$10 Tix/ 21+

Craft Spells – Gallery EP (2012) [Captured Tracks] // Grade: C

“Would you like to get away? Let’s get away,” sings Justin Vallesteros on “Burst,” the halfway point of his latest EP, Gallery. Perfect in that when I last visited the young, retro-relevant bedroom project, Craft Spells, unpacking his Idle Labor debut, I decided that though, decently appealing, he’d recently moved from Stockton, CA to Seattle, WA (he’s now in San Francisco) and I’d hoped he’d find a way to hinge some of that surrounding “rusty gloominess” into the mix. I hoped his skimming, retro-reverie would find its own way because for Vallesteros’ blurry buzzers, his candor for C86 felt drowsy in its own release. The debut just lacked a dazzle. Well, a year later, the baby-faced leader and his mates may have moved around, and even toured the world, but their brand new 5-song release finds them crafting many of the same spells as before.

You know it’s true, most of our lives lack any sort of pliable dazzle in our early 20s, so for that, Craft Spells gets some points, because as it stands, Gallery, again recorded at his parent’s house solo, plays with the same youthful innocence and bounding charm, but proves uniform in its underpinnings. For Idle Labor, I imagined this “dainty checklist” where its maker would cross off things he needed to hit, things like “afternoon dance appeal” and “twinkly release;” Gallery proves that he’s kept the thing in his back pocket since. Five songs at 25 minutes, Craft Spells pond-skip along again, feeling sourced and much too immediate in its crisp little package: “Sun Trails” feels like an waft over New Order’s “Temptation” and “Burst” is a song Vallesteros’ genre has plenty of; In press photos Vallesteros even does his best Morrissey, clutching a bouquet of pink flowers under an arm. Getting something to linger like rookie cards “After the Moment” and “Party Talk” are Craft Spells’ entire narrative and Gallery’s stab at this resonance is one of its longest, the prefab disco bob of “Leave My Shadow.” With something new to the mix, title-track “Gallery” is fronted with piano rather than guitar and rolls along with a myriad of percussive techniques.

This EP is fully an addendum, a comma to Idle Labor and for the hardcores there’s not much wrong with it- a fansite, Fuck Yeah Craft Spells exists if that means anything here- as this style of impacted and carefree sulk has come and moved in, rightfully fit to stay a while. Like the Instragram haze spread over the Craft Spells’ blog, the band may seem like a passing moment but for the music Vallesteros is making at such a ripe age, I’m going to round it all up on those points above for effort, the way that though glaringly sourced, Craft Spells package quite a pile of endearing moments under the relatively thin skin of theirs.

“Lookin at my mishka and can’t tell the time,” is a good philosophy for life. We can thank MondreM..A.N. for that observation. On this remix for Lo-Fi-Fink’s Kissing Taste, the best duo ever basically renders the abstractly-colored negative image of the original shimmering electro-pop ditty.

It basically gets run through the standard torture of chambers legion of doom green ova pink routine and comes out the other side sounding like just that. A new Squadda B beat is always a great thing, but a new Squadda B beat on Squadda’s birthday?! Amazing. Wish the dude plenty congratulations on another successful trip around the sun.

Trouble & Bass have been really bringing the noise with their monthly partys recently, not only in NYC but also down in Philly too. Philly is down from New York right? My East Coast geography is really pear shaped. This pear. Anyway, this Thursday Philly will be host to a low-frequency showdown between Trouble & Bass and Body High, with each label/collective/whatever bringing the best of their best.

Body High is the new label started by Samo Sound Boy, and he’s taking along DJ Slink and DJ Nadus to introduce Body High to the City of Brotherly Love right proper. Not to be outdone, T&B is squadded up with Star Eyes and The Captain. No matter who comes out on top, we win. Reverse Alien Vs. Predator.

Thursday May 17th, 2012, 10PM
The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave
Philadelphia, PA
$5 Tix/21+