Review: Magnetic Man - Magnetic Man (Sampler)

Magnetic Man Magnetic Man (Sampler)

Dubstep, Electronic, Drum and Bass

1. I Need Air (Feat. Angela Hunte)

2. Boiling Water (Feat. Sam Frank)

3. Getting Nowhere (Feat. John Legend)

4. Perfect Stranger (Feat. Katy B)

5. Mad

8/10

Magnetic Man is Skream, Benga, and Artwork. It seems like anyone who cares at all about dubstep loves them or hates them. Given the fact that Benga & Skream's Rinse show basically sit at the top of my essential-listening list, my stance should be no mystery. "Pop-step" or not, Magnetic Man tunes accomplish what dance music ultimately exists for--they get people moving. How do you reconcile that with a recent post praising Burial and all that dark, atmospheric artists have done for the genre? Er...you don't think about it, and move along.

Anyways, "I Need Air" was a chart topper in the UK and the forthcoming album (Oct 11) will certainly be no different. This little sampler was leaked a little while ago with two new songs from the group, "Boiling Water" and "Getting Nowhere" (featuring John Legend, somewhat unfortunately). Unfortunately, these are probably the two weakest songs they've put out so far. "Boiling Water" is basically "Perfect Stranger" redux, with less attractive vocals. The drum loop is almost identical as well, and how they managed this (on a sampler, no less) is kind of baffling. "Getting Nowhere" fares better, a little more spacey than the rest of the songs, but John Legend's vocals are a bit distracting and don't mesh well with the rest of the track. You've probably heard the other songs, but in case you haven't they're all good. When Mary Anne Hobbs dropped "Mad" in Tokyo, I was grinning from ear to ear.

The full album is out October 11. If you want to preorder it or just peek at the tracklist, it's listed on itunes here.

Magnetic Man - Perfect Stranger (f/ Katy B) (Video) from Adrien Picard on Vimeo.

Review: The Walkmen - Lisbon

The Walkmen Lisbon (2010)

Indie, Rock

1. Juveniles

2. Angela Surf City

3. Follow The Leader

4. Blue As Your Blood

5. Stranded

6. Victory

7. All My Great Designs

8. Woe Is Me

9. Torch Song

10. While I Shovel The Snow

11. Lisbon

7.5/10

The Walkmen's "The Rat" is one of my guilty pleasure songs. If I found it at a karaoke bar, you can bet it'd be near the top of my list. It's got tons of energy, it's fun to sing, and it's just as fun to watch it performed. "Angela Surf City" impresses for the same reasons, and kicks Lisbon off to a great start. It's quite obvious, though, that if I judged Lisbon that way I'd be missing the point by quite a large margin. Lisbon is a good album because it's timeless. Hamilton Leithauser has a great voice, and the production is top-notch. The album has it's energetic moments, but what's important is the refinement that's heard from start to finish. The melodies are stripped down to their essentials--perhaps too much at times, but generally to great effect. These songs may not catch you at first, but they'll never fail to provide a good listen. "Angela Surf City" may stand out, but it's "Torch Song" that really reflects the simple and mature song-writing that lies at the heart of Lisbon.

Mixtape Download: ATMOSPHERIC RE-ENTRY

Atmospheric Re-entry Mixtape

24:05

1. Arbol & Fibla - Last Screening

2. Vaccine - Wishful Thinking

3. D1 - Sorrow

4. Silkie - Beauty

5. Pariah - Railroad

6. Zomby - Test Me For A Reason

7. Jose James - Blackmagic (Joy Orbison's Recreation)

8. D1 - Paradox

9. Skream - Organic

10. Darkstar - Videotape

11. Shuttle - Tunnel

12. Skream - Burnin Up (A Jungle Tribute)

DOWNLOAD HERE

I said I'd try my hand at mixing some songs together, and here's the promised result. After quite a bit of trial-and-error, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and the process was a lot more fun than I expected. I took a mix I made a while back that was taken down by the RIAA (!) and updated it a bit--the songs have a lot more in common this time around and the mix has it's title for a reason! Anyways, as I'm still in the learning process, feedback is definitely appreciated about anything, mixing technique, song choices, etc. Enjoy!

Burial/Kode9 Farewell Mix for Mary Anne Hobbs' Final Show

After 14 years at BBC Radio 1, Mary Anne Hobbs performed her last show earlier tonight with a guest mix from Burial & Kode9, capping a few weeks of farewell mixes from incredible guest artists (Skream, Joker, Digital Mystikz, Ramadanman and Shackleton). Having Burial come out of his trademark radio silence was the most memorable and appropriate ending she could have given her show, given that Burial (on Kode9's Hyperdub) and Mary Anne Hobbs are arguably the two most responsible for dubstep's rise in popularity over the years.

Download the mix here

1. Speedy J – Tesla
2. Zomby – Natalia’s Song
3. Brandy – Never Say Never (El-B version 1)
4. Brandy – Never Say Never (El-B version 2)
5. Brandy – Angel (X-Men vocal mix)
6. Laurie Spiegel – Voices Within – A Requiem
7. Alena – Turn It Around (Hard House Bantons
8. Cooly G – He Da Biz
9. Theo Parrish – Soul Control feat. Alena Waters
10. KMFH aka Kyle Hall – Girl U So Strong (Wild Oats)
11. Terror Danjah – S.O.S.
12. Darkstar – 2 Chords
13. Prince – Condition of the Heart
14. Erykah Badu – Telephone
15. Foul Play – Being With U Rmx
16. A Guy called Gerald – Silent Cry

I won't talk too much about the mix, because it needs to be heard for itself. I just finished listening to it and all I can say is it's incredible. It is every bit as atmospheric as one would expect from Burial, and even though it doesn't feature any new tunes by the artist his trademark ambience and haunting samples tie the entire thing together. This is definitely late-night listening material, to be enjoyed in the solitude of one's home.

If you have even a passing interest in the genre and you haven't listened to Burial's "Untrue," or Mary Anne Hobb's "Dubstep Warz" show, don't miss out. They are undoubtedly the sounds of a genre coming into it's own, and tonight the two came together to mark, and celebrate, the end of an era.

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Skream - Outside the Box

Skream Outside the Box (2010)

Electronic, Dubstep, UK Garage, 2 Step

1. Perferated

2. 8 Bit Baby (Feat. Murs)

3. CPU

4. Where You Should Be (Feat. Samn Frank)

5. How Real (Feat. Freckles)

6. Field Of Emotion

7. I Love The Way

8. Listenin' To The Records On My Wall

9. Wibbler

10. Metamorphosis

11. Finally (Feat. La Roux)

12. Reflections (Feat Dbridge & Instra:mental)

13. A Song For Lenny

14. The Epic Last Song

Bonus

1. Give You Everything (Feat. Freckles)

2. Do U Know

3. Amity Step

4. Organic

5. Stand Up

6. WTF

9/10

If you haven't picked this up yet, do so immediately. Like every other producer, there are some people out there who don't particularly like Skream, but the popularity of "Midnight Request Line" can't be ignored and the guy's output is huge. "Skream!" isn't a perfect album by any means, but that and Skream's Rinse CD played a huge part in selling me on dubstep as a genre. Not to mention, his show with Benga is one of the best things on Rinse and pretty funny as well...

Anyways, unlike the other originators of dubstep who find themselves labeled "brostep" these days (Rusko, Caspa, etc.), Skream seems to have attracted the "popstep" or simply "mainstream" label with both his latest album and his Magnetic Man project w/ Benga and Artwork. That's not too far off the mark, actually, but for the first time (and it was long due) dubstep can be called "catchy" and there's nothing wrong with that. Some of the backing vocals and melodies are so well done, in fact, that the more old-school Skream tracks like Widdler and Metamorphosis seem almost bare in comparison. On the flip-side, the collaborations with huge artists don't seem to bode well for the future of dubstep. Katy B and Freckles, fine. But Murs and La Roux...?

Despite his place as one of the founders of dubstep, Skream's latest album is probably best categorized as Electronic music, and left at that. It might not appeal to everyone, but hey--to each his own. Personally, this is one of the best-produced albums I've heard all year, even if the vocals are a little much.

Salem - King Night

Salem King Night (2010)

Witch House / Goth Juke / Drag / ??? / Triangles and Shit

1 King Night
2 Asia
3 Frost
4 Sick
5 Release Da Boar
6 Trapdoor
7 Redlights
8 Hound
9 Traxx
10 Tair
11 Killer

8/10

Depending on who you ask, this is either one of the most original albums of the year or a bad joke that's gone too far. It's hard to write about Salem or the genre without sounding ridiculous, so I won't bother. If you haven't been introduced to them yet, give it a try. You'll either find yourself having a blast, or turning them off pretty quickly. Personally, my favorite thing about Salem is that they're not afraid to show off their influences, from techno, shoegaze, the dirty south, and everything in between. Actually, scratch that, my favorite thing about them is their infamous live performances, which I really hope to catch one day. Anyways, this album is mostly previously released/leaked songs, and some of the new ones have yet to grow on me. It does seem like all of the songs received some much-needed professional mastering, though, which makes them all worth a re-listen. "Redlights" is always the favorite, but I'm quite happy/surprised that "Trapdoor" made the cut as well. Now where's the White Ring album?

Mixtape Download: MATHBLASTER MIX

Mathblaster Mix

34:53

1. Submerse - One More Day

2. Baths - Nordic Laurel

3. Swarms - I Gave You Everything ft. Holly Prothman

4. Cop Magnet - Benched

5. Hard-Fi - We Need Love (Joker Remix)

6. Teen Daze - Driving Home From The Beach (The Feeling Of)

7. Erykah Badu - On and On (Pariah Remix)

8. Snowden - Don't Really Know Me

9. DJ Fresh - Gold Dust

10. TOKiMONSTA - Gamble

11. Benga - Slaughter ft. Youngman

12. Rubix Qube - Ride Round Town

13. Killa Kela - Everyday (Q-Bik Remix)

14. Starkey - Stars ft. Anneka

I made this mixtape for superfuture's mix-trading thread, which I am horribly late to. I tried mixing the songs together for the first time, but since I am a total amateur don't expect any fancy beatmatching or crazy effects or anything. Maybe next time! There's no real theme here either, just a few songs that I really like listening to (mostly new, some old). I tried not to overlap too much with the other mixes, and mixed up the genres as best I could. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD HERE

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For more mixes:

Second Floor of Corso Como) (sup lab)

You Knew Pac (Pop) (sup DÜM)