shortstack : online

This one is pretty insane. Can’t wait for the release of this in just over two weeks. I heard this on BBC Radio 1 the other evening courtesy of Mistajam while driving home from dinner. I was so astounded by the sounds I immediately hit up the GrimeSpree crew to ask what the hell I was listening to. I’ve been wanting to work more grime into my 140-bpm based sets lately, if more tunes like this are available, it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Big ups to DJ Swerve on the buttons here, check it out for yourself:

Last month’s Thermal featured the wonderful dubbed sounds of Pittsburgh’s Revy. Fortunate for all those lucky enough to attend, or those unfortunate enough to have missed it he has been kind enough to make the Live PA set available for download. Thanks to our friends at InfernalTechno for the heads up on this.

Be sure to come out next Thursday, as Heat Promotions’ monthly continues at Lava Lounge with a special guest set from Helix and a my birthday celebration. Thermal at Lava Lounge happens every second Thursday. Attendance is always free before 11, music is always top-notch.

Click To Download

Lists and articles such as these always make a bunch of people angry, and to be quite honest I didn’t expect much considering it was coming from Pitchfork. Aside from Blackdown’s column I admittedly don’t pay much attention to the publication.

These transgressions aside, the list is well-roundned, and the top twenty is fairly on point. They provide good context for the tracks they have selected, and obviously brief biographical information when needed.  As someone who spent their formative music years growing up during this time period, I cannot deny the effect a lot of these selections had on me. As it was explained yesterday, having a proper understanding for of my past musical tastes does provide some insight into how I approach reviews today.

I don’t want to give any of it away, so I leave it to you to go read it and formulate your own opinions.

Pitchfork’s Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s:
200-151
150- 101
100-51
50-21
20-1

If everybody had the same taste, we wouldn’t have to experience the displeasure that comes when a music critic dislikes a band that means a lot to us. We also wouldn’t need music critics. We need criticism because we are different from one another.

I know I’m a snob. I’m picky about people, music, food, and all sorts of other irrelevant crap. I don’t do it to be an asshole, and it’s never intended to be malicious. Hell, to be honest, I don’t even really care if people agree with me. I like what I like and I’m flattered that on occasion people are interested in hearing my opinion. I always try to present things in an informative manner, and judging by the response recently, some people enjoy it. If that makes me a hater, so be it. I myself have haters, it’s excellent; they day everybody likes what I’m doing and it’s perceived I am making no mistakes is when I’ll really begin to worry.

That’s a pretty simplistic way of putting it I suppose. Good friend, and blogger SNF recently sent me an interesting article on the rise and acceptance of subjectivity as it relates to music criticism. As he is a writer for Big Up Magazine, and his own site dubstepped.net, we often times find ourselves in conversation over the relevance, and importance of our own personal slants as it relates to our writing.  It’s quite long, but is definitely worth it if you have the time.

In addition, Matt Shadetek’s Twitter account today reposted an article he contributed to his own blog earlier this month on the importance of “haters” and criticism in general, and most importantly, how to embrace the critiques as an artist as opposed to constantly treating them as a threat to individuality and creativity.

Both of these are excellent reads for anybody claims that I, or anybody else is a hater for no good reason.

Bad Subjects: Autobiography In Music Criticism

Matt Shadetek : Haters, Learn to Love Them

We need to know more than a music critic’s taste in music. We need to know where that taste in music comes from. Every person’s taste has a history.

An absolutely brilliant article from the Always Everything blog outlining the Leeds collective of Ben UFO, Ramadanman, and Pangaea that has become the ground-breaking and genre defining Hessle Audio label.  The mark these three have left on the modern bass music scene is clearly undeniable; their Sub.FM radio show, Rufage Radio was picked up recently by RinseFM for obvious reasons, Resident Advisor has featured them as label of the month, and their productions and dj sets are always top notch. Additionally, they are some of the most humble and courteous people I have encountered.

Read History of Hessle Audio, regardless of how much you already know about these guys for a wonderful look at music that never fails to defy expectations.

Hessle Audio broadcasts this evening on RinseFM at 2300GMT (6PM ET) featuring the dj work of Ben UFO, Ramadanman, and guest Shortstuff of the Blunted Robots crew.

Follow the Hessle Audio crew on Twitter: BenUFO, Ramadanman, Pangaea

Always Everything : A History of Hessle

Little White Earbuds cotinues its podcast series with an exciting installment from Dutch-based 2562; who has been constantly blurring the lines between techno and dubstep with two amazing full legnth releases ‘Aerial’ and ‘Unbalance’ both on the Tectonic label. I have been fortunate enough to catch Huisman’s DJ work once before when the Atlanta Dubstep crew brought him through Atlanta a little over a year ago. Hands down one of the most mind-blowing DJ sets I have had the chance to see, and since then have made a concerted effort to try and keep and ear out for any new output.

Glance over to LWE now and check out the interview and download the mix

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Scuba expounds on this years ‘Triangulation’ release with a forthcoming 12″ on his own HotFlush label.

Side A of the release is ‘Three Sided Shape,’ originally released as the third track of ‘Triangulation.’ A deeply melodic tune featuring a slowly sweeping atmosphere over filtered drums before dropping into hefty and ringed-out kick that marks what is easily one of my favorite drops of the year. Marked with dense vocal layers and panning rhythmic effects. As to be expected by anything coming from Scuba’s studio, ‘Three Sided Shape’ pays strict attention to detail creating a tune that is deep both for the soundsystem and the psyché alike.

The flip side of the release sees a remix of ‘Latch’, the preceding tune to ‘Three Sided Shape’ on the ‘Triangulation’ release. Scuba has tapped the efforts of Aus Music label head Will Saul, and house/techno producer Mike Monday who describes his sound as ‘a bit like Prince getting drunk with Mr Scruff in Royksopps house.’ While devoid of Prince’s trademark blistering guitar speed, Saul and Monday combine to give ‘Latch’ a fresh rework, preserving the smooth pads that marked the selection’s ambience while reworking the percussion and arrangement to give the tune an upbeat house vibe one expects from the Aus Music family of releases. A completely new aesthetic is given to the track, while still feeling distant at times like the original, the strong emphasis on booming house percussion here keep the track high-energy throughout the entire track.

Markedly less minimal than what most critics give credit for, this release re-emphasizes the producer’s current explorations of melody in modern bass music under his the ‘Scuba’ moniker. This release is slated for release both vinyl and digital on Sept 27.

For those in the Atlanta area, be sure to keep your schedule free as Atlanta Dubstep presents  Scuba at King Plow Arts Center on September 9/23

(Reprinted from http://dubstepped.net/2010/09/01/review-tri002)

While I do enjoy writing about current, and forthcoming releases through this site, at times I feel like I neglect to touch on some of the earlier releases that formulated the opinions, and expectations I have for today’s music, and those as we look forward. Hopefully through this weekly series, I’ll touch on something you may have forgotten, or better yet something you are completely unfamiliar with. For the first installment of this series I am covering the 1998 release ‘Form & Function’ by drum and bass legend Photek.

‘Form & Function’ was released September 14, 1998 as a digital compilation of six essential Photek singles previously only available on wax – oddly twelve years later, waiting months for the digital release of vinyl only tracks is still a common occurrence.  As a companion to the six originals by Photek, the release begins with six remixes featuring the studio work of J Magik, Doc Scott, and Peshay.

Photek’s sound is unique, and defining, and it’s clearly evident with each release picked for ‘Form & Function.’ It’s easy to comment on the legacy of tracks such as ‘UFO’ and ‘Rings Around Saturn’ this far into the future, where it is easy to see the legacy they have left behind. The stripped down minimal sounds created by Photek and the sheer complexity of his drum programming became his trademark, and still today, listening to the breakdowns in UFO are as awe-inspiring today as they were upon it’s initial release.

With a mind for a deep minimalist approach, its clear to see how listening and reviewing releases from artists such as Compound One, Icicle, and Shackleton are appealing to me currently.

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From the always interesting FlowingData blog, following their recent visualizations of sorting methodologies, comes a visual/audio representation of the same concept. Bizarre sounding stuff for sure, thanks to Rudy Andrut for making this available.

I have been waiting a long time for this to happen in Atlanta, and the word is out now that Atlanta Dubstep will be presenting Scuba performing on an amazing combination of soundsystems at King Plow Arts Center, a stunning factory turned art gallery that has played host to some of the most exciting events in Atlanta throughout the past year. I have not shied away from the fact I am a huge supporter of Scuba, and his HotFlush family of labels on this blog, so I will spare you additional details I assume you have already seen here.

Attendance it this is highly recommended for anybody in the area, obviously – local support from Justin Bright, and Mayhem

Full information regarding the event available beneath the fold.

King Plow Arts Center
887 West Marietta St NW
Sound provided by Atlanta Dubstep!

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