EP Review: Chasing Paper / Beautiful Things - Blacksmif

Chasing Paper / Beautiful Things is the latest release from producer Blacksmif, real name Yemi.

Blacksmif's music is the result of a youth spent growing up in South London surrounded my a melting pot of music - from jazz, R&B and gospel initially through to garage, drum & bass and dubstep in his teens. Having previously focused on a producer role, on Chasing Paper and Beautiful Things Blacksmif provides vocals for the first time. 

Both songs are surprisingly heartfelt. Chasing Paper is a collage of warm US House and IDM inspired sounds. A soft drum beat propels the track whilst layered synths create a warm duvet of sound. Blacksmif's vocals are delicately and honestly delivered, creating a dreamy soundscape. 

Beautiful Things is more angular in feel. Slow dubstep-style rhythms punctuate the track as steel drums and oversized synth patterns create a contrasting sense of the clinical and organic. 

Blacksmif has lots of talent on show on this focused release and it sounds like we can expect more in the coming months.

Chasing Paper / Beautiful Things is released through Shining Path on 13 July. Listen to Chasing Paper below:

EP Review: In The Woods - Maxxi Soundsystem

Back on Futureboogie for the first time since his label debut in 2012, Maxxi Soundsystem is well known for his productions and remixes across labels including Defected, Hypercolour, Vellum Audio and Culprit LA. 

Near Me is a gently shimmying track featuring deep basslines and lots of space to create the backdrop for vocals from Crazy P's Danielle Moore. There is an understated yet highly atmospheric aesthetic at play, dark synthesizers and multi-layered rhythms creating a near tangible edge to the track.

The Barbarellas version of Near Me is deeper, melancholic synths sewing the seeds of something more sinister whilst Moore's vocals continue to act as the song's gravity. 

Finally the EP's title track, In The Woods, is an instrumental house cut that uses rapid-fire breakbeat snare rolls to create a stand-out sense of velocity. The heaving melodies and percussive detail are exactly the kind of thing Maxxi Soundsystem excels at.

In The Woods is released through Futuireboogie on Monday, check out the title track below:

EP Review: Icebergs / Water Song - Typesun

Icebergs is the new release from Bristolian producer Typesun, real name Luke Harney. Typesun first featured on these pages more than two years ago when he released single The PL and things have been relatively quiet since then, with the occasional release and remix. 

On this new release Typesun collaborates with Alison Garner of The Fauns and Alex Rita of Danish duo Okapii on two new tracks.

View fullsize

Icebergs / Water Song - Typesun

Harney's collaboration with Garner on Icebergs comes after he was asked to step in and play drums with Garner's band The Fauns last minute back in 2013. The resulting song is a shattered piece of music with Garner delivering a terrifyingly intimate vocal performance. It is an incredibly exposed track - synth melodies stand like the discarded ruins of a relationship the song describes. It is a haunting track to the point where listening to it just might infect your mood. Brutal, and beautiful. 

Water Song features vocals from Alex Rita, and is more rhythmic than Icebergs. Latin infused percussion and rolling keys create a momentum yet Harney still cuts through it all with a sense of menace. Rita's vocals are a touch threatening, creating the sense that the catchy sounds here are the calm before some dreaded storm... You almost worry what might come when it stops.

The digital release is rounded out with an exclusive remix of the title track by Typesun's alter-ego 7 Arrows. On this alternative version he gives the track a harder sound with distorted bass lines and tough urban rhythms. It is a significant departure from the original, but Harney manages to hit a minimal, funky tone.

Icebergs / Water Song is out now - listen and buy below, available as a digital or vinyl release through Bandcamp.

EP Review: Hold It Like I Own It - Horixon feat. Maya

One of a clutch of tracks Eskimo have released from their recent Orange Collection compilation, Hold It Like I Own It is the new release from Horixon, featuring vocals from Maya.

Back when I reviewed The Orange Collection I described Hold It Like I Own It as "a glittering moment of electronic pop - a powerful vocal hook riding a deep sine wave bassline”… That still stands, but here the track is given a number of re-imaginings that build on the it.

The original (and its accompanying extended version) retains a sun blushed innocence, soft keys and husky melodic vocals soaring over clean percussion. First up on the remixes, label mates This Soft Machine give the track a slightly more cosmic and progressive sound, with a staggered building bassline and reverberating whooshing effects. The same act also provide an extended dub, which gives a deeper, druggier feel to the other mix and extends it out to a full ten-minutes.

Hermigervill’s remix is more Balearic - almost garage-influenced with swinging rhythms and loose, hollow bass. It’s a natural fit to the original and just as delicately played. Hermigervill’s dub is a deeper version of the same style, but with the extra space giving it a more minimal tech feel, albeit one that still feels drenched in sun and would be perfect for that post-sunset-on-the-beach moment.

Finally an additional original track rounds out the package - Burnt Orange is a deeper instrumental cut, the sound of hot weather and long evenings, the music warping like a mirage in the midday sun or vinyl left outside.

Hold It Like I Own It is out on Monday through Eskimo Recordings. Listen to the original below:

EP Review: Synesthesiac - Jack Garratt

Jack Garratt is rapidly sizing up to be one of this year's most exciting artists, with lots of blog love and radio hype. As such it is with some excitement that I greeted his latest EP, his sophomore release Synesthesiac.

The release opens with the experimental-ambient-post-garage of Synesthesia Pt. 1, a track that sounds unlike almost anything I've heard before. A lounge piano loop rubs up against elephant-sized slobbering bass before dissolving into thin air, eventual re-materialising as the haunting intro to The Love You're Given, and the scene is set.

That lead single The Love You're Given remains Garratt's greatest track is no backhanded compliment - it is such an incredible piece of music and here it stands tall within it's carefully crafted surroundings. That it is so careful intertwined within Synesthesiac is almost cause for disappointment - it suggests that the song is unlikely to make a reappearance on Garratt's debut, when we inevitably get one, and boy does it deserve wider repeated listening. At turns delicately weeping and then gut-churningly heavy, this song feels like three different artist's best records all at once - shimmering falsetto soul, Earth-shattering bass and cut-up folk tangled up into one five-minute long masterpiece.

Chemical is similar in exhibiting Garratt's willingness to cut 'n' shut disparate genres, ferocious beats lending his vocals a sinister and determined edge. It never quite achieves the same sheer intensity of emotion but it remains an incredible track.  Finally Lonesome Valley delivers slowly looping blues, full of fuzzy kick drums and distorted bass, and gradually builds towards the EP's epic release.

Synesthesiac is an EP that reaches beyond the four songs it contains to create something far more significant than the format can normally deliver. If you want to hear the sound of the future, Garratt is a safe bet.

Synesthesiac is out now on Duly Noted Records. Listen to All The Love You're Given and Chemical below, or purchase the EP on iTunes [affiliate link].