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More hotness from Debian Blak, whose remixes alway hit a sweet-spot, blending indie R&B fuzziness with pop chic. I was a big fan of Debian's mix of Aaliyah from earlier in the year and this remix of Ellie Goulding's "Burn" comes from a similar place. Goulding hasn't sounded this good in ages.
Stream and download below via Soundcloud and be sure to check out Debian Blak on Soundcloud.
More hotness from the pretty much always brilliant DhARMA and this time it's totally free. Feyorz is Russian producer lya Bodrov and there's a clear love of hip-hop, soul, funk and r&b that comes through on this release.
The EP opens with the hypnotic looping funk of 'Need4u' featuring Gillespy. It feels like a heavy love affair with nineties r&b, a slick track full of polished guitars set against a fuzzy bass that feels like an extended take on the sort of joint J Dilla would often through away on an interlude. 'Nevaleav', featuring Boho Fau, takes a similar musical approach but lays some soulful crooning and a rap to it and this time it's actually little more than an interlude at just two-and-a-half-minutes long, but great all the same.
The title track is a lush laid-back deeply sensual with heavy funky bass patterns and a softly sung vocal lifted from the original 1973 soul track, 'Pillow Talk', by American singer Sylvia. Bodrov does a good job of updating it whilst keep a lovely dusty feel and playing up the soft-core vibes.
'Until I Luv U' drops a slightly glitchy electronic beat, a smattering of guitar and some sax that continues the oversexed atmosphere. The EP is closed with the jazzy and dreamy hip-hop of 'Wake Up, Bitch', which slots lounge piano in amongst layers of warm, dubby bass and some more soulful vocals.
This is a processor to some more hip-hop material coming soon on DhARMA - since it's free I'd thoroughly recommend you check it out.
My Dance Radio are a new electronic band from Dublin and this appears to be their first track - 'Art of Rejection'. It's a polished and slightly sullen track that sounds a little influenced by the New Romantic sound but it's simplicity is really working for me - it's all about that big vocal hook. Hit the Soundcloud player above to listen and download.
Total Folklore is the aural equivalent of licking wasp flavoured candyfloss and swigging it back with a broken glass blueberry slushy. Dan's basically playing it cutesy whilst also sticking a pen knife in your ear.
I summarised the way Friel's music made me feel back when he first put 'Valedictorian' out for your streaming pleasure last year. None of the intensity has dulled on this long-player. The resulting chaos is a cacophonous musical George's Marvellous Medicine of sounds pulled together to send you doolally.
Friel's vision is an album inspired by urban life, triggered by long walks through the Brooklyn and the world of the commute. Tracks are punctuated with sounds Friel recorded on walks through the city, brief moments representing the pauses in city journeys - moments inside a pachinko parlor or watching kids play basketball.
Friel clearly associates the city with chaos and noise - his effects pedals and noisemakers make that clear. Total Folklore is like a psychedelic-love-letter to a city, and it's shaped by abrasive punk and written like saccharin chip tune. Starting with 'Ulysses' Total Folklore slowly grinds it's gears and rises up, constantly unfurling additional scale when you always think it can't go on. At almost 13-minutes long, scale is one thing 'Ulysses' can't be accused of lacking.
That opening track makes up almost a third of the album's length, so the album's structure itself feels like an additional attempt at confrontation. Dan Friel rushes to get through the rest of the material - only two of the remaining 11 tracks extend beyond three-minutes. It feels a little bit like the boy who has unwrapped one Christmas present and just can't wait to tear them all open, too excited to slow down.
The ideas also loop back on themselves. 'Scavengers' is another take at the core melody of 'Valedictorian' but with more bass, for example. There are a series of rapid moments on this album - the grit and bubblegum of 'Thumper' and rising crescendo of 'Badlands' - but each feels like a the result of some heavily distorted Chinese-whisper of the last.
If there is one thing besides noise that Total Folklore communicates it is rapid and uncontrollable excitement, overstimulated and over-amplified. In today's world of cynicism and reservation that's a little bit refreshing. It might give you a nosebleed but one thing Total Folklore doesn't do is leave you without an impression.
Total Folklore is out on 18 February through Thrill Jockey, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP [affiliate links]. Stream and download the track 'Thumper' below:
2013 seems to be off to a promising start as I've already received several interesting débuts from unsigned artists. This self-titled release comes from LA-based dream pop artist White Blush, AKA Carol Rhyu. She cites influences across a range of media, included Japanese horror, Manga and Julie Cruise. And you can certainly hear these aspects come through in the floating melodies and 80s-influenced production.
Both 'Mirror' and 'Jolene' are particularly strong - dreamlike, spooky and full of layered, melodic vocals. It's another pay-what-you-want EP via White Blush, so download it if you like it.