BEAT MASTER BIG GAME UP

Give me more free shit!! I need it!! Ok, we will, oooooodles of it. Beat Master Big Game Up (Motëm's Hip Hop chopping alias) just tossed this 30 (!!) track album on the webb for free download. Done in 5 days on his SP-404 it wont be to anyone's surprise they're all shorties, the longest of the batch clocking in at 2 minutes and 18 seconds. Get it by clicking right here and while you're at it, check out the rest of the site for some neat videos and artwork. Chop In The Name Of Love.

HOVATRON remix pack april 2010

Our man Hovatron (we will be releasing an EP with the master soon) is always pushing his skills with remixes on R&B hits. Over the past few years he did some amazing floor killers that got played by a lot of dj's amongst our selves! Now a new pack on Janet J, Cassie, Jeremih and Rihanna. The Rudeboy is my personal favorite! This package was posted by the peops of Discobelle. download

LAZER SWORD FACT Mix 133

FACT is always so on point it's scary. Every time there's a great new release they seem come with a mix by those artists. We just wrote about Low Limit and Lando Kal's Golden Handshake EP on Numbers and here is the mix from them as the duo Lazer Sword. Glitchy hip hop, electro, crunk and some powerful grime. An insane tracklisting! Download here [audio: http://mp3.factmagazine.co.uk/FACT%20mix%20133%20-%20Lazer%20Sword%20(Mar%20%2710).mp3] Tracklist after the jump Tracklist: 1. Roger Troutman ”Superman” 2. Krystal Klear ”Throw It Away” 3. Inner City ”Big Fun (Lando Kal Remix)” 4. Ghosts On Tape ”Midnight Moves” 5. Zackey Force Funk ”The Split” 6. Lazer Sword ”Shot In The Nite” 7. Machinedrum ”SXLND (Demo)” 8. Maniac ”G.R.I.M.E.” 9. Rebound X ”Rhythm N’ Gash” 10. Terror Danjah ”Haunted” 11. Gucci Mane ”Stupid Wild (ft. Lil Wayne, Cam’ron)” 12. DVA ”Keep Up (4X4 VIP Mix)” 13. Slugabed ”Ultra Heat Treated” 14. Fantastic Mr. Fox ”Brandy Remix” 15. Crookers ”No Security (Rustie Remix Instrumental)” 16. Soulja Boy “All Black Everything” 17. Lone “Waves Imagination” 18. Low Limit “Trapperkeeper” 19. Salva “Wake Ups (Edit)” 20. Mr. Dibiase “Spacely Sprocketts” 21. Letherette “Track 9″ 22. Javelin “Leonard pt 6″ 23. E-40 “Show Me What You Working Wit ft. Too Short” 24. Bernard Fevre “Dali”

HOVATRON Lowriders Mixtape 003

Think Canada, lasers, fluorescent colors, synth funk, science fiction, explosions and you've roughly got an idea of what to expect. The third installment of our mixtape series comes from Montréal's Hovatron. As one of the co-initiators of the Turbo Crunk nights, Hovatron brings crunked up acid infected beats dripped in skweeeing synths with an hint of techno and pop music. Doesn't make much sense? Well... it doesn't! His sound is that unique!  The mix consists of solely his own tunes and remixes. Lots of new stuff in here which have never been heard outside of the club. Interview and Tracklist can be found after the jump. Download here Stream: [audio: http://www.lowriderscollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Lowriders-mixtape-003-Hovatron.mp3]

Interview

Who are you in daily life? I work a full-time day job as an art director in an ad firm. Sometimes I like people and parties, other times I like being a shut-in, drinking too much coffee and making music. Your sound sounds so fresh and unique to me, how would you describe it yourself? Asking someone to describe what they do can be a pretty tough question. In some ways I like to see it as a complete synthesis of all things and ideas I have been exposed to in my life. My unhealthy obsessions with old house and techno, with rap music in general and pretty much anything related to electronic music and synthesizers. I think it also has to do with the fact I consider myself really bad at making any kind of genre-specific music, and always kind of have been, so my only other option is to try to "do me". When did you start producing and what sparked your interest to do so? I started producing music when I was in a lame rock band in my early teens and had many different ideas going through my head all the time, yet didn't know how to share them with anyone else. Got an early pirated copy of a DAW, and got going. Then when I was in 8th grade my history teacher introduced me to Warp Records, rest is history. Name your musical heroes. Kraftwerk, David Byrne, Maurice Joshua, Beck, Ricardo Villalobos, Boards of Canada, Young Jeezy, The Dream and countless others.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Technology and my relationship to it, movies, old overpriced dance records, late nights, pop culture & youtube. What is your production setup? Korg MS20, Juno-60, Roland TR-707, a growing euro-rack Modular synthesizer system, Analogue Solutions TBX-303 and a DAW to record / sequence. It's funny that most of my gear seems to be analog because to be honest I really don't care about the analog vs. digital debate, however I own hardware for the same reason I buy a lot records, it's more about real vs. virtual. I have no relationship to clicking my mouse to turn a knob on a VST. I feel no connection whatsoever to what I'm making and at that point. I also don't like using things I don't understand. I can wrap my head around analog synthesis with the circuit signal path and such. I don't understand binary code and that kind of scares me I guess. Also, I make electronic music, and feel like I should use electronic instruments, if I made classical music I would want a real piano, or whatever. How is the scene in Montréal? We have quite a few extremely talented people in the city I have looked up to from various sounds and cultures. Montreal is vibrant in many ways and it's a fantastic city to be in. People at High Food, Turbo Records, Neon, Ninja Tune, Pop Montréal and others all work really hard to keep interesting and forward-thinking things moving and crowds are quite often receptive. Another thing is people like to party here, so whether it was the Turbo Crunk stuff or a techno party, there are fewer chin scratchers and lame dudes than most other places I have played, with a packed and fun dancefloor, and that makes me proud. Tell us about the whole Turbo Crunk movement. All started at the now dearly missed Zoobizarre, which was a small cave on a second floor far from the other venues and clubs, where we all did various like-minded club nights. At some point we decided to join forces, and tried to do what we thought would be the funnest party we would ever want to go to. What was great and unique about the Turbo Crunk nights was that though every single resident and guest of the party performed a live set, it was very much in a club setting, sometimes there wasn't even a way to see what the artist up there was doing and the focus was on the sound and the dancefloor. I have always hated the "guitar-solo" approach to live electronic music and though sometimes I become guilty of sitting and staring at someone doing something cool, I would much rather dance and see other people come together in the real world in a welcoming environment and dance to interesting music. Turbo Crunk wasn't a movement, it was just a family. Some of the best nights of my life and my tightest friendships have resulted from those parties.

Don't hear a whole lot from Lunice nowadays, Megasoid is making house or something and you're heavily drawing influences from skweee. Is it actually still alive? You might not be hearing a lot from Lunice because he is busy at RBMA in London and planning a whole bunch of releases that will melt faces! The homie has gone IN on the "post-hyphy" or whatever you want to call it and I must say I'm tremendously excited for him! As for Megasoid, they have some of the best rap songs recorded with some of my favorite rappers right now sitting in the vault. Don't want to say too much except that I hope they surface sooner than later in one way or another! I didn't know I was drawing heavily from Skweee, but I really like that stuff so I'll take it as a compliment! But like I said, Turbo Crunk was never a movement per se and from the get go our sounds had their own directions. Lunice and I espeically were just getting started with more club-oriented music so all that has happened in 3 years is following these directions and getting more comfortable with our sounds and what we want to do. Anything set for the future? A few releases I'm really excited about, such as a slowish hyphy acid house remix of Ghislain Poirier that should be coming out on Ninja Tune in a month or so, and some solo things. A bigger apartment for all these keyboards and gear! Some finale words? Man I can't think of anything clever to say!

Tracklist

PIXELORD Feature On Far From Moscow

A full blown article on Russia's prime bleep lord. Read more after the jump.. The central figure amid the various projects listed in this article is Siberia-born DJ Aleksei Devianin, aka Pixelord, who’s perhaps best known under the pseudonym of Gultskra Artikler. That strange moniker is used to encapsulate a long-lived project described to Russian audiences as “melodic, sentimental drama for guitars.” Both Gultskra Artikler and Devianin’s other outfit, Stud, tend to be filed under similarly merged categories such as “the mysterious Siberian soul, combined with hi-tech wizardry.” Elsewhere we might find “neo-folk cyber-psychedelia” suggested as a label. Needless to say, the term Gultskra Artikler doesn’t exactly help matters, since it’s nonsensical to begin with. Devianin himself has admitted that “it’s just made from a collection of various funny-sounding words, taken from several old languages.  It doesn’t mean anything in particular: I just think it sounds pleasant.” That throwaway pleasantry helps to distract our attention from the serious energy feeding into his music. As these opening suggestions might imply, the mixing and matching of incongruous elements is a practice that lies at the very heart of Devianin’s discography. This same spirit of intense splicing underlies a brand new release, too, entitled “Lucid Freaks, Pt. 1.” That title alone speaks to the ongoing marriage of clarity and chaos. Published through the Italo-German netlabel Error Broadcast, Devianian’s 2010 compositions are undoubtedly stamped with the scrapbook or mosaic stylings of his earlier, domestic recordings. The folks at Error Broadcast call these tracks “a mixture of spliffed-out 8bit riddims, stumbling hip-hop beats and a pinch of ‘Euro Dance’ glam. The weirdo plastic Pop of Glasgow’s Hudson Mohawke is echoed in his tunes as well as bass-driven digital Reggae, Jahtari-style. The artwork of American painter Michael Dotson suits the Pixelord’s music perfectly.” We’ve used several of Dotson’s mosaic drawings in this post, for reasons explained anon. Speaking a few days ago to the Russian-language music blog Gimme5, Devianin dovetailed his domestic and foreign recordings with the following logic and timeline. “Earlier I used to make rhythmic music under the alias of Gultskra Artikler. It was a kind of avant-garde effort, a sort of ‘cinematic ambient’ sound. I produced a series of releases that came out both on CD and vinyl, too. In fact, in April [2010] the newest Gultskra album will be coming out on yellow vinyl. It has already been printed and looks very cool! I recorded it all long before the Piexlord material; to be honest, I had even started to forget about it… [Looking back, now,] that was all something of a transitional stage. I’ve left it behind me. Fans of that kind of music might find it interesting, but for the moment I – personally – don’t find all that kind of stuff appealing right now.” Hence, perhaps, the blank stare, fending off any obsessive interest with past endeavors. The interviewer at Gimme5 was keen to know why Devianin has made this move from electronic versions of folk material to electronic beats, pure and simple, or what we might term glitch-hop. The artist replied: “I’ve always been attracted by rhythms and bass lines. It’s just that I was never quite sure how they’d sound in my interpretation. It was only this year that I got a real sense of how things should be…. On top of that, it’s much harder working with beats than with ambient textures… and that means it’s more interesting, too!” Given this alleged disparity between the sounds of Gultskra Artikler and Pixelord, explained in terms of the musician’s “progress,” it was only a matter of time before the interviewer asked Devianin what comes next. And indeed he did. Speaking of the “Lucid Freaks” EP, the musician answered: “It consists entirely of remixes made by my friends such as Om Unit, Democracy And Hot Dogs, Coco Bryce, and Ability. In the near future I’m interested in doing some digital releases for Carcrashset and my own label Hyperboloid.” In short, therefore, Error Broadcast has produced two releases from Devianin, virtually back-to-back: “Lucid Freaks Pt 1.,” consisting of the original recordings, and “Lucid Freaks Pt. 2,” made of the remixes. The six tracks in this post are taken from the latter EP. From the early neo-folk or folktronica releases, then, built on the disarming simplicity of rustic refrains, Devianin’s newer output has grown increasingly elaborate, based – in his words – on the synonymy between difficulty and appeal. The harder the work, the greater his interest. In that light, let’s take a look at some of the press reactions to the first EP, prior to the remixed spin-offs. One of the most endearing was: “Okay… this is getting real serious!!! These are some of the sickest tunes I’ve heard…” (Sticky Sugar Shack). Elsewhere the link between intricacy and interest, already made by our musician, was stated in even bolder terms. The claim was made that this dance music is so interesting (i.e., so profoundly complex) that staying vertical is even a challenge: “Leftfield fans will instantly identify with all of Pixelord’s tracks, that unmistakable blend of faulty electronica with healthy, solid, drink-spilling kick bass” (The Creative Uncommons). Following this rationale to its logical extension, the best dance music of all would leave everyone flat on the floor, pint glasses thrown asunder. The new remixes from Error Broadcast travel even further down the same shaky road. Reviewers remarked: “These remixes are reaching out far more into incredible spaces and the unheard-of regions of crushing beats – and playing with sound, too. [The second EP] is much more sonic than the first one – and still with nerofunk-cyberpunk gaming oddities in its heart and soul. I have to say: [it's] a ‘must have’!”(Digital Tools). These “odd,” if not “incredible spaces,” though born of tangible dancefloor experiences, have already left the physical world altogether. The legs have given up, yet the head keeps going: “This sh*t is bleep bloop twists and spasms… at times it’s overwhelming, but mostly it’s sheer-layered goodness. I love this music when I’m in the right state of mind for it. Hope you all enjoy… this stuff is killer!” (All Fer Teh Lulz). “Bleep boop twists and spasms”: these are reactions to an ostensible reality, to its solid forms that are “twisted” beyond all recognition. Those same reactions speak to the audible potential of that reality, yet they do so by eventually being removed from it. They are, in a word, virtual forms of dance music, designed for “the right state of mind.” Just as the PR-term or title used to gather and promote them, these tracks – plus all the mental reactions they produce – are indeed a form of “lucid freaking.” They offer a distanced sense of clarity or lucidity that comes from passing “spasmodically” through certain norms and conventions. Having reached a physical limit – of what can be realistically danced to – only the mental remains. A new form of idm, perhaps, emerges: no so much “intelligent” as “intense” or “involved.” The visual artist chosen to contextualize these extreme, fractured textures is Washington-based Michael Dotson. As we can see from the images in this post, his portfolio uses angular, jarringly contrasted building blocks (a visual counterpart to bleeps and boops, perhaps) in order to refashion actuality in bright, chromatically “spasmodic” forms. It has a certain wholeness, yet we cannot rid ourselves of the impression that any such integrity is overcome by the striking gaps, fissures, or holes between the blocks themselves. There’s no sense of enduring, calm mass. In an interview not long ago, he said:  “We have reached a point in technology where it is possible to make any fantasy a complete virtual reality.  These realities are navigable, and can be experienced on a limited sensory level, but always with a sense of remove.  You cannot breathe the air, feel the temperature, taste or smell.  Most importantly, you cannot touch anything.  In essence, you are always just a viewer, and any sense of participation is illusory.  This relationship is similar to the way we experience paintings which are also not to be touched.” Paintings not to be touched, dance music not for dancing; instead of movement with physical people in tangible spaces, we’re offered a “supra-physical,” predominantly mental picture of dance music’s spasmodic potential. A picture of what it might or could do in virtual terms. Devianin has told us on many occasions that the most complex dance music is the most intriguing; increased complexity, therefore, leads to movement away from the dancefloor. The sensations conjured by these very(!) complex remixes are longer conceivable as a choreographer’s patterns to be etched on the floor of a club; instead the experience is “interestingly,” wholly mental. We’re dancing in our head, so to speak, in a social state that – as Dotson remarks – comes “with a sense of remove.” Devianin’s “neo-folk cyber-psychedelia” doesn’t seem that far away, all of a sudden. These are digitally “remixed,” remade forms of social expression. They evoke a better place to be – a location unreachable with one’s legs. Pixelord uses computers to get there; his earlier muses, out in the Russian countryside, no doubt used moonshine or samogon. The effect was the same. Everyone’s flat on their back with their head spinning – from an experience of the virtual. As we might surmise from Devianin’s image above and Dotson’s collage below, movement towards these “interesting,” virtual, and sensually spasmodic states occurs in two stages. Hard work and struggle (above) is required in order to wring the most from one’s medium. Then, once the “freakishness” of the music acquires a certain “lucidity,” it runs according to a logic of its own, which – in the words of one of our reviewers – can be “at times overwhelming” (below). It’s the same thin line between control and chaos that we see throughout Devianin’s discography, no matter how many monikers he uses. It’s an ongoing, empirical passage made against the backdrop of a Russian maximalism. That degree of “ever-interesting” effort is inspired, one might say, by the sweep of the surrounding landscape in his folktronica, or the new virtual depths of his more recent output. They both offers the constant chance or challenge to go further, “into incredible spaces and unheard-of regions.”

COCO BRYCE La Mixette 27

So here we go again with some more shameless self promotion. Another Coco Bryce mixtape, this time for our beloved French pals over at Musique Large. Click this linky here to go to the ML blog,  download this baby and read some kind words from mr Fulgeance himself. Tracklist after the jump. 01.Dizz1 - Somewhat (Nod Navigators). 02.Bob Villain - Sun Spots (cdr). 03.Clause Four - Version #1 (D.C. Recordings). 04.Elan - Magnificent Mistakes (cdr). 05.Coco Bryce - Bit Crushing (Myor). 06.Rekordah - Butternut (Lo Fi Funk). 07.AK Kids - Klitzing (cdr). 08.Shlomo - Hot Boxing The Cockpit (Friends Of Friends). 09.Coco Bryce - Synth Supreme (cdr). 10.Pixelord - Fish Touch (cdr). 11.Tapes - Hackney Dub (Jahtari). 12.Loops Haunt - Joplin (Black Acre). 13.Nasty Nasty - Doperunner (cdr). 14.Niño - S.T.A.R.S. (cdr). 15.Boss Kite - Dotch Clogs (cdr).

PIXELORD Lucid Freaks Remix Ep

No less than 11 remixes of Pixelord's Lucid Freaks Ep. And they're free! Just click here to go to the Error Broadcast site, register and download. Hot on the heels of Pixelord's "Lucid Freaks pt. 1" comes this eleven-track remix compilation. "Lucid Freaks pt. 2 - The Remixes" features a couple of Russia's hottest producers, including RBMA -participant DZA, Demokracy, OL and Miracle Libido (the latter two as known from their Monday Jazz tape). The Lord himself reworked a tune exclusively for this record. From the US, we got AshTreJinkins and Chocolate Girl with their bass-heavy interpretations of Steppa styles. Netherland knob twiddlers Jameszoo and Coco Bryce re-crunk the Pixelord funk, and finally Austria-based producer Abby Lee Tee is dropping in for a mix. One hell of a line-up, you bet. Art comes from Michael Dotson, once again.

NINJASONIK Strictly for the Hipstaz mix

Ninjasonik are music wise related to people like Major Lazer and the inimitable Spank Rock. Their ruff cut, bouncy hip hop beats are immersed in noise and madness, is hilarious and irresistible.  Click download TRACKLIST, after 1. Duck Sauce - aNYway (Ninjasonik's Boosted Hot Sauce Mix) 2. Udachi & Jubilee - Paypur (Ninjasonik Remix) 3. Major Lazer VS Ninjasonik - Pon De Floor vs Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant 4. Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (Ninjasonik Remix feat. Tasleems and MNDR) 5. Johnny Nelson & Ease Da Man - Watch Yo Girl 6. Theophilus London - Humdrum Town 7. Ninjasonik - She's My Pharmacist 8. Q Lazarus - Goodbye Horses 9. Abstract Truth - (We Had) A Thing (Matty's Body & Soul Remix) 10. Kenna - Say Goodbye To Love (Ninjasonik Remix) 11. Treasure Fingers - Cross The Dancefloor (Ninjasonik Remix) 12. AC Slater feat Ninjasonik - Take You 13. Ninjasonik & Kicks Like A Mule - It's Ok (Extended Mix) 14. Mr. Starcity - Welcome To Starcity 15. Ninjasonik feat Ease Da Man - NOFUNFORUGLYGIRLS 16. Memberz Only - Fuck Outta Here 17. Johnny Nelson feat Ninjasonik - Put Em In A Bodybag

HOVATRON Let’s get wet

Our man Hovatron just dropped his Lo-fi Funk release. We already reported you the first with HYBAKUSHA and the second with Rekordah just the other day! Hovatron was at lowriders early last year and he was back with Lunice at Raw Rhythm. If you were there you might remember the energetic show the both of them pulled off! Hovatron makes a wild one with Let's get wet. Your slammed all over the dancefloor with this amazing track, imagine skweed crunk,  that builts up to a heavy climax and then brings it subtle back! You'll hear heavy tweaks dirty voices, claps twirling basslines. With Gold Star Radiation you have to be prepared for the massive synth pulsing bass (like you know from early electro) covered with nice claps, as simple as effective! It takes you on the dancefloor and makes you do things you wasn't supposed to do in public (popping Travoltas, please....!!!) Another skweee wonder! Lets get wet [audio: http://www.lowriderscollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Lets-get-wet-snippet.mp3] Gold Star Radiation [audio: http://www.lowriderscollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Gold-Star-Radiation-snippet.mp3]

MONEY TO BLOW curious version

[youtube agAdm9gn-w4] This is a mad mad curious version of the track by Birdman (featuring Lil Wayne)! Just for the fun. Through the dutty artz. download the remix of the track by Chief Boima or listen [audio: http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/04%20Money%20To%20Blow%20feat.%20Drake%20and%20Lil%27%20Wayne%20%28Chief%20Boima%20Remix%29.mp3] On Chief Boima's website you can download some cool tracks, check his free download EP African By The Bay. Full of amazing remixes.