All over my twitter this morning I have seen the good news that someone has finally picked up a piece of Stenchman's new(ish) alias Philestine for release. I've long been an advocate of this new direction he was taking, especially given the dire state of the dubstep scene as of late. I've posted this one before as part of the Vague EP back in August, and it's still just as sweet.
He's mixing it up in other areas too, his latest offering as Suspicious Stench (a duo with his long-time bud Suspect) is very refreshing to hear, I am absolutely in love with the chill intro track of this EP. That's not to say there's not plenty of harder stuff to get stuck into though, from the get go Head In A Cupboard takes things a bit darker and even flips the tempo up to drum & bass territory around 1:30. The title track also is a highlight, it's the kind of thing I can tell Stench and co just have a good time making, and I have about as good a time listening to.
Y'all remember back when, where I'd open my library and post the first 4 or so tracks that came up on shuffle? Well I noticed it has been a while since I did that, and my libary has grown a fair bit since the last one, so I figured now would be a good time to revive it. Here we go.
Loui Jover - Bam Bam
Kicking off we have one of many relics that have survived 4 or so hard drive migrations I think? I don't even own the album, I just borrowed it off a friend not long after it came out and ripped it. I don't think parts of Hold Your Colou have help up all too well, but I still love the odd track. Tarantula is probably the closest the album gets to old school drum & bass, if only thanks to the Afro-Caribbean emcee.
A revisit here to probably one of the rarest tracks I have. Taken from only EP by Walking Endustries with only 500 copies pressed. There's been rumblings of an expanded re-issue happning soon but I haven't seen anything come of it. Which is a shame 'cos from the two tracks I've heard from it, it's bloody fantastic, until then I'll have to make do with the mixed version Miss Kittin included on her compilation Radio Caroline Vol. 1.
Been a while since I touched upon anything Scruff too, this one's a bit of a standout from the rest of Keep It Unreal, there's pretty much no jazzy samples other than the titular vocal. Everything else that makes a Scruff track is here in spades though, and I do really dig it though, I always forget about that squelchy bass that is somehow a little nostalgic, but every time I fall in love all over again.
OPN has another new LP coming out, I actually heard it on the day he put it on SC but it's taken me this long to decide what I want to say about it. It should come as no surprise to you lot that OPN is one of my recent music loves, my penchant for ambient and synth sounds being the main reason. It's been a while since I first heard OPN in 2009 or so, and he's done a lot of evolution since then, and Garden Of Delete seems to be quite a big step in that regard.
I saw people mess with the MIDIs that OPN put out and as far as I knew we were in for another slice of Ambient goodness, but it seems that is not the case. I've been wracking my brain trying to describe this and the only real way I can think of is if imagine that OPN dropped all the 80's stuff that influenced him before and moved onto late 90's techno demos for inspiration instead. I do think the intro overstays its welcome a little, but the break at about 1:53 is just gorgeous, and I can't complain the track doesn't change things up enough after that.
I'm never sure exactly how to react to new OPN, I didn't like Replica as much as the rest of the blogging scene does, but then again I absolutely adored R Plus Seven. I suppose the short of it is do I like it? And the answer is yes, though I do think it may be too experimental for everyday listening and based on the MIDIs the ambient pieces may still be the best for me, but we will have to see on the 13th of November when the album comes out.
And back to our regularly scheduled programming we go. It's only fitting that hot off the heels of me retelling the story of my love for synthpop and electroclash I get this one sent to me. It's always nice to see people who have their visual style locked down for one, and for two they seem to have found the manual on how to tick my electronic boxes. Very interesting to see the similarities to old school synthpop hearing them so close together, as well as the more modern comparisons I could draw to Au Revoir Simone, Ladytron, La Roux, Goldfrapp and the like
Former writer Joe has also made it onto my list once again, his latest Netlabel project just had it's first birthday, and to celebrate he put together a lovely compilation EP that I think sums up the whole sound they're going for pretty well. Unfortunately I'd posted most of the tracks included so instead of posting the full player, have this super cute bite sized sample instead.
My man Celadon remains a powerhouse, how he comes out with so many different tunes in a small time frame to such a high standard eludes me. I was originally going to post more of his more recent ambient efforts but It was a bit of a 180 in sound given the last two, so instead, have this compilation piece that I somehow missed. It's a lot more in common with what I've posted of his before, but this time featuring a lovely chiptune-y style in addition to the usual playful tones.
