EP Review: Hold On - The Lytics

Having already made waves with their first two releases, Canadian hip hop group The Lytics are hearing up for a big 2016, culminating in their third album.

But first we get Hold On, an EP set for release in April. The Lytics wear their inspiration loud and proud, drawing from some of hip hop's greatest acts across this five-track release. The end result is a release that feels like a mix tape made by a friend covering their favourite joints... Only rather than tracks from a variety of artists, The Lytics have managed to put together a release where they sound like five different classic groups at once.

And so opener Friction sounds like classic J Dilla produced Pharcyde. Loose keys loop beneath a huge boom-bap drum loop whilst the emcees drop some raucous bars.

Title track Hold On's chunky bass and looped soul sample is pure early Slum Village, even name-checking their Fantastic joint Get Dis Money. It's a gloriously back-to-bass-ics track in contrast to modern hip-hop's paranoia.

Legendary and Tried So Hard plough similarly catholic territory - purist tracks for vintage hip hop heads.

Daydream stands out as a great moment on an already strong release. A female vocal provides a sense of mellow femininity amongst thundering snares, kick drums and hi hats. Calling to mind A Tribe Called Quest, it's like someone took the insanity of What's The Scenario? and updated in for 2016...

All in, Hold On is a confident demonstration of a group well able to draw down on some 30-years of classic hip-hop to transform it into their own thing. An impressively focused and confidently delivered release. 

Hold On is released on 8 April. Check out to Legendary below:

EP Review: For Ever More - My Favourite Robot ft Northern Lite

The spaceship rocketed towards the stars above as planets, comets and cosmic dust soared past them through hyperspace. They had been in orbit for some time now and the world sat far below their metal craft. Spacesuits on, they sat huddled in the tiny cockpit looking back on a place which they used to once call home. Who knew what adventures in the skies awaited, time would only tell as they began their quest for new life and civilisation. They would float happily through the darkness forever more, for ever more. Here is the latest release from the Be Free Camp. My Favorite Robot's 'For Ever More' is remixed by the duo of Marvin & Guy.

Teaming up for this new release on Be Free are My Favorite a Robot and indie electronic artists Northern Lite. Together they have made For Ever More, a dreamy, dubby trip of a record. 

The original version is full of spaced out vocals and piercing synths. Chugging bass throbs beneath rapid rhythmic percussion.  The result is a deliberately paced record, full of fizzing attitude and glorious melodies. The Club Mix pushes out the length and amps up a clattering drum loop whilst a No Vocal version drops out most (but not all) of the vocal. 

Rounding out the release is a remix by Marvin & Guy, known for their releases on Jon Talabot's Hivern Discs and Young Adults. Here they create a brooding climatic minimal take that you can check out in full above. 

Album Review: Jurassic Technologie - Pr0files

Pr0files have been on my radar since LA duo Lauren Pardini and Danny Sternbaum unleashed their single Forgive, a track that channels Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive to create an infectious throbbing electro ballad.

Forgive was back in October 2014, wind on a little over a year and off the back of a slew of individual singles we now have the band's first full length album, Jurassic Technologie. And it very much takes the sound we know and applies it to an album format - what we have here is a collection of songs in the trademark Pr0files sound, albeit with two additional interluds. These include the breathless Missing You Tonight, which repeats the song's title as its single vocal refrain over a slow moving electronic melody that sounds like a off-time heartbeat, and the instrumental title track. 

Aside from the shorter interludes Jurassic Technologie consists of nine tracks that could all as easily be singles, and many of them will be known to anyone who has followed the band's drip feed release of new material. There is no real concept here to tie this together, but for a band's first release that is perhaps understandable - instead we simply have a collection of storming electronic ballads, and they are all at least good, and several of them are great... The only catch being that there is a good chance you have already heard this album's highlights - Forgive and Get It Up.

Jurassic Technologie is a solid intro to Pr0files, it just doesn't add as much new material as it could have. At eleven tracks, including those interludes, it's a brief but enjoyable affair. Where Pardini and Sternbaum go from here is entirely their call...

Pr0files' Jurassic Technologie is out now and currently available to stream in full via Soundcloud below:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/6882935/pr0files-jurassic-technologie-album-premiere www.facebook.com/Pr0files twitter.com/Pr0files instagram.com/pr0files www.pr0fil.es www.straightarecords.com Written & Recorded by Pr0files Mastered by Jared Hirshland at Elysian Masters www.elysianmasters.com/

Album Review: On Vacation - CFCF

Following on from last year's Lingua Franca by Len Leise, International Feel are back with the second release in their mini-album series, this time featuring CFCF.

Real name Michael Silver, Montreal-native music producer has created a timeless slice of cool ambience in the form of album On Vacation. In it's attempts to capture places and travels the album has the whiff of a concept album.

Les Fleurs Laissés Dans Un Taxi may act in a tribute to Paris and Lighthouse On Chatham Sound depicts late afternoon by the Canadian sea, but in reality everything hear would sound at home on beaches in the Mediterranean. There is a nod to Parisian cool of Les Fleurs Laissés and Sate Padang (named after a a type of satay from Pedang) has elements of Indonesian music running through it, yet it would be as easy to enjoy On Vacation without paying attention to any of this. As a piece of left field experimental music it hangs together to create a wonderfully atmospheric experience. 

This being a mini album there are just eight tracks, but each feels like a discrete experience in a broader narrative. Pleasure Centre basks in sunny 80s groove, funky guitar licks and a cool piano melody creating the feel of a gorgeous sunset at the end of a wonderful day. The aforementioned Lighthouse On Chatham Sound is full of jazzy keys and elastic bass notes, creating a constantly shifting sense of calm and relaxation. 

Overall On Vacation is a short but perfectly formed trip - subtle but beautiful.

On Vacation is out on International Feel on Friday. Listen an album preview consisting of snippets below:

Album Review: Neon Grey - L.A. Girlfriend

Neon Grey is the latest album from L.A. Girlfriend, who first came to my attention back in 2014 when she released her EP Varsity. Inspired by the 80s sounds of New Order and Iron Maiden that she grew up with, L.A. Girlfriend is the musical project of L.A. based artist Sydney Banta. 

Whilst previous album VIVA was concerned with externalities - reactions to people, places and time - Neon Grey is a more inwardly focused. In Banta's own words, "[Neon Grey] is VIVA‘s introspective counterpart; a story of consequences, documenting an aftermath of emotions".

That album title perfectly encapsulates the L.A. Girlfriend sound, a pit of gravel topped off with a bucket of candy. Banta's vocals and lo-fi delivery create the sort of no fi anti-folk sound more akin to Courtney Barnett or Kimya Dawson, but she marries those to fuzzy, shoe-gaze aesthetic that at times boarders on abrasive. 

Little Do I Know pounds with mechanically precise harsh drum beats and raw synth sounds. XIV accelerates through a wall of scratchy guitars, seemingly unable to slow down. Closely Subliminal Fantastic is dream-like, the half-remembered snatches of a night long since past. Banta's music captures a sentiment and a sense of an emotion before she has even uttered a word.

Neon Grey is out now and can be streamed in full on Soundcloud below:

Neon Grey LP By L.A. Girlfriend Release date: February 3, 2016 http://lagirlfriendmusic.com/ http://lagirlfriend.bandcamp.com/ http://facebook.com/lagirlfriend http://twitter.com/L_A_Girlfriend https://www.instagram.com/lagirlfriend/ Available on Spotify & iTunes ©L.A. Girlfriend 2016 | Bantakat