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Electronic Explorations #196 - Clubroot
http://soundcloud.com/clubrootRob Booth
[01] - Lazer Sword - Missed A Spot - [Forthcoming ‘Monkey Town’]
[02] - EVS - The Twin Paradox - [Lowriders]
[03] - Paul Blackford - Dream Sequence (Tudor Acid Remix) - [Forthcoming ‘Tudor Beats’]
[04] - Kuedo - Work Live Sleep In Collapsing Space - [Forthcoming ‘Planet Mu’]
[05] - Addison Groove - Starluck - [50 Weapons]
[06] - Ital Tek - The Planet - [Atom River]
___________________________________Clubroot - In the mix exclusive for EE
01 - Clubroot - Demon Drum
02 - Sunchase - Mountain Top
03 - Delete - M8
04 - Fruity Loops - No One
05 - Irrelevant - Feel The Same Way
06 - Clubroot - Chamber
07 - Clubroot - Inviolable
08 - Sunchase - Botsad
09 - Clubroot - Tempt Fate
10 - Clubroot - Summons
11 - Clubroot - My Kingdom
12 - Clubroot - Restraint
13 - Ghostek - My Lady
14 - Klatu - Unlock Heal
15 - Clubroot - Talisman___________________________________
Rob Booth (cont’d)
[07] - Brendon Moeller - Shuttle to Oblivion - ‘Works’ - [Forthcoming ‘Electric Deluxe’]
[08] - Xenia Beliayeva - XTC (Greg Grajek Remix) - [Forthcoming ‘Afro Acid’]
[09] - Lorn - Everything Is Violence - [Forthcoming ‘Ninja Tune’]
[10] - Shackleton - Music For The Quiet Hour Part One - [Woe To The Septic Heart!]
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Carl Sagan, Marihuana Reconsidered (1971)
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M357
Rusko
Songs [2012]
Right, well I might as well call this an album review…I feel like Rusko had a lot to do with this one. Up to this point, he’s laid seeds in a diverse range of genres (read: skweee). Songs tries to take several of these seeds to root. Intro sets up the dub reggae influence, and mentality. Though played at this point, Somebody to Love is midrange modcandy deserving of single status. Pressure gets into the disco-funk update, but feels like filler to me. Then we hit the reggae.
I appreciate the traditional dub influences-some of Rusko’s reggae heavy mixes work. Love No More doesn’t have much longevity, but it’s catchy and proves Rusko can work in his way in the genre. It’s paired with Mek More Green, which feels more genuine and relaxed-probably due to the melodic vocals. Roll Da Beats, and Skanker to some extent, are the blends. They throw Rusko’s characteristic midrange goofiness against a backdrop of solid, if standard, dub reggae. Roll Da Beats is a gem and hits it down to the fucking brilliant crunch sample, though Ratpack’s lyrics tend to fluctuate in quality.
Then there’s the trance. This is as heavy as fluffy stuff gets. Rusko’s tuned the songs down to the desperately breathy female vocals. Opium throws Rusko’s wobble in with some clever samples, against a chorus of pulsing synth. Thunder is a dead-ringer Euro-dance anthem. It’s currently making me miss the Dutch.
There are a couple oddballs, appropriately at the end. Asda Car Park mashes darker almost Americanized dubstep elements against 8-bit, then strangely melodic trance. I don’t mind it, but I can’t place it. Whistle Crew feels like a throwback, the DnB piano, repeated “whoop”. But the empty space recalls Jamie XX. I hate the term post-dubstep, so I’m not going to say it.
M357 (cheeky reference) deserves it’s own little paragraph. Harp, trance-pulse, operatic male vocals, and it all gives way to a clean, crushing 2-step behind the slow rise and fall a more reserved but certainly Rusko bass. Mt. Eden gets a lot of flak, deservedly, for throwing a poorly mixed yet “totally dubstep” bass behind another artist’s largely untouched song, and calling it original music. That said, there’s a reason he’s tubefamous, it’s because he found a compelling sound. Rusko manages to capture whatever that sound is here, without the negatives, as original music. Now I’m comparing apples and oranges-just wish to point out that this may be the most innovative song on the album.
He may be trying to do too much. That said, I don’t think there are any failures here, even tracks that seem off the mark seem so because they reach. Where Pressure feels like filler, it isn’t boring. It serves the man right to be touring relentlessly as he is, because this album will draw a wide audience. Maybe, some who come for the trance will find a door to dub reggae. Or maybe everyone’ll candyflip and fall in love.
Either way, May 10th @ HOB Boston.
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Summer of ‘86
QuarterPound
Sticky Licks EP [Unreleased, 2012]
I don’t just write about this shit. Demo track, the finished product heads to Massachusetts North Shore rapper/producer CFG. More music to follow, working towards a presentable dubstep track. I’m actually quite shy.
Not really.
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LSD
Hallucinogen
Twisted
Simon Posford ain’t my favorite, a good friend told me he’s a narcissistic jerk - but it might be the constant bombardment by psychedelics. He’s also cancelled more gigs than Amy Winehouse’s agent (Too soon? Too soon.) He’s best recognized these days by his stage name Shpongle, and both monikers ride the same psy-trance inspired train. However, where Shpongle absorbs tribal influences and emits an organic, living mix, Hallucinogen creates noises meant to effect the organic. The music itself ought to be a controlled substance, just as long as I can keep getting my hands on it. Just a relevancy check for you, Twisted was released 17 years ago.
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Sonidas De La Cabeza
Heyoka
Gate Code [2009]
The Bay Area sound has attracted many to the stranger sides of bass music. From super dubby tracks (see the B.A.D. compilations) to innovative experiments in sound, the region is hyper charged with creativity. From this mind soup comes Andrei Olenev known as the auditory psychonaut Heyoka. Psychedelic trance bred with hip hop beats, having an affair with dubstep; but better described as plumbing the low frequency mumblings of alien minds. Enjoy you heady kids you.
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Bionic Commando Theme
Rusko
2006-2010 Remix Collection [2011]
I’m biased, the red-hawk’d Englishman can do no wrong in my ears. But truth be told this “remix” (such liberties are taken with the 8-bit original that the term barely applies) should be in the same boat as tracks like “Jahova” and “Cockney Thug”, anthem bangers that every bass head better get behind. You feel the change coming on, Rusko’s gradual (nowadays, less gradual) move towards increasingly accessible dance/trance, but that almost awkward groove is still there. Album available for free download from the artist, and it’s worth it. Other notable tracks are the classic remix of Kid Sister’s “Pro Nails”, a little electro on HK119’s “C’est La Vie”, and an expansion of the “Girl from Codeine City” L-Wiz remix featured on the notorious FabricLive.37. Get on it.
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Plug Me In
Squarepusher
d’Demonstrator [2010]
Those who know Squarepusher expect frantic D&B explosions, but the producer takes a veering turn to the other end of the musical spectrum with his 2010 effort d’Demonstrator. The album features heavy, R&B (yes, the R isn’t a typo) style robot-make-love grooves that are a far cry from hectic 175 BPM breaks. Not all of ‘pusher’s fans appreciated the experiment, but the cyborg orgy goers of next-er-year will.
