I've talked about Stenchman a couple times before, and his unique brand of dubstep. I've wanted to do a post on him for a long while. After salvaging some of his free EPs from the laptop fiasco I decided now would be a good time to do just that!
Now don't skip out on this one cos I mentioned dubstep, 'Ol Stenchy branches out fairly regularly and while his older dubstep may fall into that stereotypical dub format, his newer stuff is fairly solid that's very nice indeed. And as always the most amazing part of Stenchman's tracks is always the name, check this!
Speaking of branching out, the Stench recently tried his hand at hip hop, bringing his trademark sound along with it. I was skeptical at first but he actually pulls it off in a very nice fashion. My only complaint with this is it could use a bit more variation, but seeing as this is taken from a free EP I can't really complain.
I mentioned in my last drum & bass post that I wished he did some longer tracks for it. Well, it seems I need to take that back now as he in fact DID do a longer drum & bass track, and like many tracks from Commix's Call To Mind the buildup on this one is amazing.
Now I don't know much about the scene these days but I'm willing to bet there's a "Chillstep" market out there. I'm not going to call it that just because. But anyway Stench is pretty good at that too, think like that Big Trouble... track I posted and you'll get the basic idea for this one.
And finally another slow number to play us out. One of the things I like about Stenchman is his flexibility within the dubstep field. Like here the typical bassings you get from a normal dubstep track are in the background, which leads to some pretty interesting stuff, check it!
And that's about it from me today, kinda getting the hang of posting from my phone now so with any luck I'll be here to keep you awash with tunes hopefully, despite the longer time to write and code and whatnot.
I've had a pretty bad week, between final exams and my lil' laptop I post from giving up the ghost I ain't had no time to stop. That is until today. Hanging out on my twitter I was hit with inspiration, check this out.
Long time friend of us here at ilictronix, a Mr. Earl Grey hit me up with his latest with a simple note "DAT BASSLINE" and I have to agree with him on that one, give it a listen and you'll soon see.
And that got me all nostalgic for my early days of electronic exploration which was a daily diet of house. And you can't get far on the interweb looking for house before you get yourself some Crydamoure, what with Guy Manuel from Daft Punk being involved and all. So, to continue the house theme, here's my fave bits from Cryda's catalogue!
One of my favourite Le Knight Club tracks that doesn't get near enough attention as it deserves, it's short enough that it doesn't overstay it's welcome like some LKC tracks. I mean, their tracks are still quality and all, but this one just takes the cake for me.
Archigram's single sided Doggystyle EP is another overlooked release, but I just love it. The sample stays interesting for the full 6 minutes or so it lasts. It must be really something on actual vinyl. Must remember to pick that up one day.
And finally, this remix of Santa Claus is better than the original for me, just because it cuts straight to the chase and hits you with that nice trademark French House sound. Class.
B-side to the amazingly titled T.I.T.T.S! EP, this one doesn't come up on my radar often but I checked it out as I was flicking through my Cryda archive and I don't know why I've passed it up, it's another bloody good example of why Crydamoure are as highly regarded as they are.
Sorry to leave ya'll with another short post, I was planning to get some done and then my laptop died on me. Do now I'm posting from a combination of my phone and some apps, so it's taking twice as long to knock one of these out. That won't stop me from trying though, if this works I'll pump out some more!
Good news! I'm going to art university! Good news 2! Now that I no longer have to do boring things like anotations, putting together a portfolio and going to interviews I can crack out this post I've been waiting on for about a month or so now. This leads us to Good News 3! which is that I will have a massive bit of free time coming up as I leave college and wait about 4 months till Uni starts, which I plan to exploit like it's 1991! Just as soon as I get used to blogger's fancy new futuristic WEB 2.0 layout.
First up is Rex The Dog. Here's posted a couple of his remixes iirc, which got me to swipe me a copy of his album that took me way too long to find a copy of. Anyhow it's pretty sweet, it's mostly made up of tracks from EP's he'd released previously, but chopped down by a couple minutes. Now I've seen a lot of people moan about that but honestly I think his tracks work better in this format, especially when the Dog doles out quality track after quality track that're full of synthesized bliss.
Doing a bit of research I found Rex's youtube channel where he has some neat stuff, including a lot of videos of himself dropping this and other tracks live, and a sick rendition of one of the album's tracks on a circuit bent Casio VL Tone. I've never actually seen curcuit bent stuff used for conventional tracks so it was new to me, he's also got some other cool stuff so give him a peep at rexthedog1980
Rounding us off is Miss Kittin, who I've recently been diggin' as I track down a copy of her second album BatBox. I've mentioned her first offering I Com before and how it explores a bunch of atmospheres. The dancefloor stuff may be a little thin on the ground, but the entire first half is pretty much all quality dancefloor styled tracks before the more ambient/experimental second half. I figured it'd be a nice compliment to Rex's stuff if I were to drop my favourite slices from it on ya enjoy!
It's time I talk about the album I can't stop listening at the moment, Surkin - USA Club Mixes.
This album is a gathering of clubby remixes and live edits of tracks from his album USA, the simple sight of the tracklist makes you know it's gonna be great. Let's detail these tracks now.
Canblaster, one of the members of Club Cheval, starts the album with a 5 minutes mix of every track from USA, great mix structure, I like the fact that they started the album with this, it feels liks it's a reminder of track you're going to hear.
Quattro was one of my fav from USA, and Feadz can make great things as much as seriously weird things so I was excited and worried at the same time. Well, after a few seconds I totally stopped worrying, Feadz KILLS it right here, the progression is so great I can't decide if I prefer this version or the original...
03 Surkin – Love Shot (Djedjotronic & Noob Remix)
A duo that is used to work together, they slowed down a bit the very fast and oldschool track that Love Shot is, clearly not the best thing they could have done with the track in my opinion. It works, it's a great and very different remix, the alteration they did on the voice is pretty neat, but not what I was expecting from Noob & Djedjotrnic.
It's no secret that Rustie is a crowd killer, last three concerts I went to I heard his stuff during DJ sets and no one could resist it. Let's sum up this track in three words, Clap, Clap and Clap. The clapping in this remix added to the hip hop style Rustie has makes a mind blowing club mix of what already was one of the best tracks from USA.
05 Surkin – Gold island (Bok Bok & L-vis 1990 Remix)
Bok Bok isn't someone I'm familiar with, heard of the guy but that's about it, in this collab with L-Vis 1990 they went for a very minimalistic approach of Gold Island, very similar to what L-Vis usually makes, so it's really a matter of taste, I for one think this track isn't bad but lacks of a little something that would make it a major song on the album. The track feels too long for the lack of evolution.
Club Cheval (Canlbaster, Myd, Panteros666 and Sam Tiba) outdid therselves on this one, the synth and the voices are a perfect match. They blend a lot of different aspects of electro in this remix, and it works very well, the original was really calm, this is the complete opposite, things happen every 3 seconds.
First live mix on the album, for one of the most "Surkinesque" track on the original one. This live mix is emblematic of what Surkin is live, a man full of energy, whose hands and head never stop moving, always adding something to the track he plays. The only downside here is that it's far too short, not even 4 minutes sadly...
08 Surkin – Harry feat. Bobmo (Strip Steve Remix)
Stip Steve is one of the best thing that happened to Boys Noize records. This remix is emblematic of the artists I like at Boys Noize, very dark and progressive club music. It has nothing in common with the original Harry, a good alternative.
09 Surkin – Silver island (Para One Remix)
The track I'm always dying to hear, the Para One remix, especially when it's a remix of Silver Island. Well sadly, as much as I like Para One, this remix was disapointing in a few ways, I would have expected something in the way of Nevrosis, he went for a remix that's more the kind of thing you like to hear in the lounge, not bad but not mind blowing either.
10 Surkin – End Morning (Das Glow Remix)
Das Glow releases another "creepy" remix as usual. Distorted voices in the back, weird noises almost all the time and agonizing synth, if you like his style, you're in for a treet.
Broskinski aka the guy that remixes everything is obviously here, playing a lot with the vocals as he always does then going for his very recognizable style on the synths and drums. That's one of my favs on the album the progression of the track is just brilliant.
12 Surkin – Never Let Go feat. Kevin irving (A-Trak Remix)
Another man that remixes a lot of things, A-Trak made something really cool here, definitely something I'm sure I'll hear a lot this year. His objective was obviously to make something you'll hear in clubs more than the original track that wouldn't fit very well, he succeded.
13 Surkin – Silver Springs Anthem (Bobmo Remix)
Really not that much to say about Bobmo's remix, I find it very average, it's not bad in any way, but it doesn't bring anything to the album which is a shame when you see what he did with Surking on the two original tracks he worked on.
The other live mix almost sounds like a brand new track, it's so different from the original one. This sounds like the prefect way to finish a live sadly I didn't see Surkin live since the release of USA so I don't know if that's how he uses it, might as well be an opener. Anyway, point is, that track gives great justice to Surkin's live skills, he's an amazing entertainer, go to one of his gig if you have the chance.
Jackson gives us here an organic/wonky/orchestral reprise of White Knight Two, this man lives in another world, a world where he makes anything he wants, such as 10 minutes long remixes that will blow your mind or crazy things to what is probably the greatest track Surkin ever released. It was a very bold move, but what a GREAT move, hats off Jackson.
To sum up, even though the album has a few tracks that aren't amazing, the whole thing is just great, a must buy. 9/10
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