Showing posts with label chill out. Show all posts

Look out for the debut album from Ibeyi, released 16th February 2015 on XL Recordings

We're well used to being excited about artists never to see them again, so I'm glad that Hawk House have come back round for another visit. Easily one of the most exciting Hip-hop crews from the UK a couple of years back, and just as exciting now it seems. Their new EP is dropping later this month, catch a pre-order here.

Once was a time that nearly every exciting electronic release would find it's way to our inboxes weeks, months or sometimes even years in advance. Seems we haven't been quite as in favour of late though, as now we're impatiently waiting like kids at Christmas for 3 albums that will be dropping on 2nd June.

Taylor McFerrin - Early Riser

We already have the 3 tasty morsels already been offered up but we are very much looking forwards to the rest of this debut from the latest member of Flying Lotus' esteemed Brainfeeder family. Guests on the album include Robert Glasper, Thundercat, RYAT and Taylor's poppa, Bobby McFerrin.

Throwing Snow - Mosaic

After a string of EPs that have all found a solid place on our players, this is another stunning debut album. Ross Tones seems to be making himself right at home over at Fabric offshoot label, Houndstooth and what a great place to live.

Moody Good - Moody Good

As gash as you might think something on both OWSLA and MTA Records might be, this sounds like it's actually going to be brilliant. Moody Good used to be in 16bit but now seems to be making... well, it's on our blog so you should probably be able to figure it out. If not then listen to a couple of choice cuts below.

Fusing Indian vibes with soulful electronic excursions, this is the first we've heard from Melbourne based producer and Indian classical musician Shūnya (aka Bal Singh). By their own definition of the Buddhist concept, Shunya refers to. "the void. The opposite of existence, the ground where all life springs from. The heart of the physical world. The source, the end, the eternal self. The I am-ness of reality. The space of which love is the door and illusion cannot enter."

lovereignonus by Shūnya

Life is (feat. Aarti Jadu) by Shūnya

Long hailed as the king of Glitch by many, the elusive wonder that is Tipper returns with a beautifully crafted downtempo electronic landscape. There are no bangers here but the tracks are both tougher and more delicate than many of his contemporaries. A stunning album that deserves space to soak up.

Incidentally Tipper will be making an appearance at BoomTown Fair this year, definitely a set not to be missed.

New video from soulful electronic duo, K.Raydio and Psymun, whose beautiful debut album, LucidDreamingSkylines was a late entry for one of last year's best releases. Still fresh so if you haven't caught it yet then peep the video and head over to their Bandcamp.

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).

Suiting video for this track as it would provide the perfect soundtrack for a night time drive through the city. Why not try it out, and if you don't drive or live in the city then just sit in a friends car, play the video on an iPad and place it on the dashboard. Definitely intend to keep an eye on Tyson McVey (Neneh Cherry's daughter) and Shaun Savage aka PANES.

Chrome Kids Radio Show - October 2013 by Chrome Kids on Mixcloud

Few technical hitches but I think we managed to keep it together. Just a note as we're not very good at asking people to share things but the only reason for doing the show is for these artists to get heard by as many people as possible so if you do dig it then please pass it along for somebody else to appreciate. Once again for those commitment-phobes, here's a little taster of what you'll find in the show.

Relative new kids on the block, BLDG5 have just released a mighty fine compilation called 'Ground Floor', which includes long time Chrome Kids favourites such as Sun Glitters and Free The Robots as well as a bunch of new guys on our radar who have contributed the best selection of tracks we've heard in a long time. Below are some of our favourites but you can grab the whole album here.

We shall definitely be keeping an eye on this label in the future.

I'm not sure who was behind this mini remix album for Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi, but top marks to them because there are some stunning collaborations. The album came out this week and includes contributions from Starkey, Phaeleh, Steven Siegel and Robert Lippok. You can buy a copy here.

Also, speaking of Phaeleh, he can be found guesting on the new album from our fellow Cardiff lad Lung, which is out now on Hospital off shoot, Med School. You can stream the whole thing below.

I know this won't be popular amongst producers but I'm getting to the stage where I don't have the patience for most laid back instrumentals. Few break particularly new ground so I tend to need a vocal to bring me in a bit further so I can really feel it. Even great beats frustrate me as I can hear vocals for them in my mind generally. However, there are a few that still manage to take me by the eardrums and lead me off somewhere special. This Boperly (pronounced Bah-per-lee) is one of those tracks… although truth be told, in the back of my mind I'd still love to hear a nice jazzy female vocal on it.

Some beautiful heartfelt pop with a lovely crisp static glitch ridden beat from singer / multi instrumentalist To Be Frank from Suffolk, who comes from a long line of musicians (his great grandfather was taught to play piano by Chopin) and has been getting a fair amount of well deserved props from all over since his first track 'If You Love Her'. If you missed out on that (as we did admittedly) then it's definitely worth a play too.