I’ve been fortunate enough to have had some new music filling my ears over the last few weeks.
There are a few pieces I should tell you about but to keep it under a thousand words I’m only going to mention two of them. This may or may not come as a shock to you. I’m also going to go out on a limb and say there is a good chance at least one of the genres will be new to you.
What am I talking about? Well, let’s start with something that dropped today on one of my favourite labels, IM:LTD. It’s a dubstep EP from a Frenchman who goes by the name of Kuantum. Now, I’ll be honest, dubstep isn’t something I’ll rush to listen to these days but I can appreciate why people like it in it’s current guise.
All that said, regular visitors will know I’m a fan of most of IM:LTD’s offerings so I thought I’d gave it a whirl and I’m glad I did. It’s pure, honest-to-goodness 140bpm pleasure. It’s thinking back to one of IM:LTD’s earlier releases, The Aftermath, that I started to wonder if there was an apocalyptic vibe going around given that the title of this release is Wasteland.
As soon as you hear the first 30 seconds of the title track, Wasteland, you realise this isn’t that Skrillex style dubstep you dread hearing when someone tells you they love dubstep.
There’s a positive waste land visual straight away that leads into some tribal drumming before things take off around the minute mark.
The title may be gloomy but the visual imagery I got from the track was a positive one, although someone at the 2min 45sec mark might disagree. Innervision on the other hand is a different beast with a classic slow tempo and thumping bass which provided more of a night feel as opposed to Wasteland’s daylight.
Have a listen to Wasteland on SoundCloud, perhaps you disagree? Tell me in the comments. There are also 2 other tracks on this EP; Majora and Distracted which is a collaboration between Kuantum and fellow producer Mataba. Wasteland dropped digitally today with the vinyl scheduled for release next week from Triple Vision.
Okay, so earlier I said there was a chance you’d hear a genre that was most probably going to be new for you and if you already listen to dubstep you’re possibly wondering if you’re going to get the chance to do an inner fist pump when I tell you the next genre is pop, or folk or something else you already know.
The genre of the second set of tunes is hard to pin down but if you asked me for a 3 word answer I’d say it’s sorta ambient mixed with electronica and stirred up with a generous glug of nu-jazz.
OK, tell me who has heard something like that before? Hopefully very few of you!
My description may not make much sense but once you hear Pocustone, an absolutely stonking album from Czech producer / instrumentalist Floex (his mum and dad call him Tomáš Dvořák) I like to think you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
It’s very possible that once you listen to it you think, Hmmm..that sounds familiar and that would be because this album is actually a re-release. Pocustone was first put out in 2001. I wonder how many of you were listening to electronic music back then?
I have to say I love this album, it is such an nice vibe. I can sorta see why it may not have got the recognition it deserves 12 years ago, a clarinet opener is not what most people expect on an electronic music track but trust me this works.
The re-issue is nicely timed in my opinion, should we have a Summer fit for barbecues I can imagine this been on more than a few sound systems as it effortlessly marries tranquillity with an energising effect.
Pocustone is re-released on vinyl, CD and digital on 20 May 2013 on the Quazi Delict label and is 13 tracks of goodness. If you get the digital version of the re-release you get a cheeky little trio of remixes done by Stonedhigh, Mimoň and Ema Tomatucha.
Thanks to those hamsters that keep powering the internet you don’t have to wait until next week as the entire album, excluding the remixes, is currently streaming on Floex’s Band Camp page, but you don’t have to go there as I’ve embedded it below, saving you a click. Don’t say I’m not good to you!
