Showing posts with label future soul. Show all posts

Very much excited at the prospect of a Mo Kolours album. His tracks are little slices of sunshine that keep pulling me in. Just pre-ordered a digital copy, though love the artwork (by Miju Lee) so sorely tempted to go back for the vinyl / tshirt option. Order yourself a copy here, it drops on 24th March.

Well 2014 and we're still here. I'm not sure if there's any of our original readers left but we massively salute you if you've grown along with us. Certainly we've lost a few along the way: after we no longer became inspired by what was happening in Dubstep; after we no longer saw the progression in many of the Glitch hop artists, after we craved soul over aggression, quality over quantity and being fresh over being first. After we nearly lost hope, but realised we could never lose our passion for this music that breathes so much heart, humanity and feeling into the machines that even a Blade Runner would have to admit they were very much alive.

To be honest, we don't care if there are fewer of you out there paying attention over here, so long as there's beautiful electronic music that needs better exposure, we'll be here. We've no doubt this year's going to be great for music and we hope to se you all in 2015.

Here's a few releases from the end of last year that we feel you should hear. We'll post a few more tomorrow.

Pugs Atomz - Bama Pi

Perhaps this Chicago rapper's most accomplished release yet. As smooth, intelligent and thoughtful as ever with the rhymes, whilst the production is first rate with names such as Bobby Tank, Mr Dibiase, SoulParlor and long time sparring partner DJ Vadim. It also credits Moodyman though I think this might be a mistake as one track has Pugs and Cerebral Vortex rhyming over Oliver $'s 'Doing Ya Thang' which samples Moodyman's butter like vocals. If there is a genuine Moodyman production on there though I'd love to know which one it is. As well as that particular foray into the much missed world of Hip-House, the production leans heavily on the Future Funk, as you might expect coming from the Tokyo Dawn label.

K.Raydio & Psymun - LucidDreaming Skylines

Great album for this time of year, complimenting both sunset and sunrise, with lush lullaby vocals, as full of Jazz and dreamlike Soul as the crisp production. Just beautiful.

Goofy Foot - Goofy Foot EP

In my other life I often dip into the world of Electro Blues and this wouldn't be out of place there, though with fantastic forward thinking production, it definitely has a place by the fire here also.

Evan Geesman - Lengua

There's also something of a Blues edge to these decidedly more Indie vocals which never the less massage the beats into soulful submission, after they seem to desire breaking free into a Juke frenzy at times (but never quite do).

We've been running round like a bunch of mad March hares for the last month or so and we've taken our eye off the ball a few times. One particular ball just hit us in the face when we realised that the March mix we had off our amgio Don Leisure has slipped into April. We're not the most respectful of rules or time however and this mix will remain fresh for many moons to come so for your listening pleasure...

Just had this warm and fun little festive EP to help ease the ever decreasing temperature around Chrome Mansions. It's from the Black Power Arrangers, what appears to be a collaboration between THEE Satisfaction and erm, other people. It's essentially a beats snippets album of the Madlib kind with a lush blend of jazz, Hip-hop and electronic beats but using Christmas classics for the large part and the spirit of Christmas for the rest. You can download / listen at Bandcamp and we've included a couple of choice cuts below.

Download: Black Power Arrangers - Christmas On The Moon (Album) via Bandcamp

Download: Black Power Arrangers - Christmas On The Moon (Track) / alt link

Download: Black Power Arrangers - World Peace
/ alt link

Flying Lotus lends his golden touch to this hauntingly sultry track from Future-soul songstress Muhsinah from the second half of her stunning album The Oscillations: The Triangle, which also features production from Mike Slott, Exile and Oddisee.

Download: Muhsinah - Lose My Fuse / alt link via XLR8R

Our Monday mixtape selections this week are from a great new mix resource that goes live today. Mixcloud have

Oneman certainly captures that warm Autumn feeling perfectly in his soulful, jazzed up Dubstep mix; Legendary UK Hip-hop pusher Disorda offers up a beautiful slice of off-key Hip-hop and future soul; whilst Bok Bok hypes it up with some Tropically tinted rhythms and filthy basslines.