Basically this is like jamming with Enya in the Caribbean. Get ready for some next level R&B shit.
Video: Blood Orange drops the video for new song "Chamakay"
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EP Review: Mayfly - Kiwi
The latest release from Needwant is a slab of electronic blues crafted by South London producer Alex Warren under the name Kiwi. Featuring Amy Skippings on vocals "Mayfly" gently bubbles with a stark and stripped back disco sound and featured on the recent Poolside Sounds Volume II compilation.
The original mix is a laid back track with sophisticated, well paced percussion, loads of space and some perfectly applied strings. Skippings' vocals are needy yet classy and irresistible - wanting to open up yet casually aloof. Kiwi's sound takes in a variety of styles across disco, funk and house but this track is soul and blues more than anything else. It is also pretty brilliant.
Mixes come from Compuphonic and Urulu. Compuphonic's version stays true to the atmosphere of the original, playing maudlin organs over a multi-layered mix. Urulu's mix is much deeper, a techy dub with a robotic bass line - it's built to move the crowd and stands as a dark and twisted track in its own right, but loses much of what I love about the original. Compuphonic also serves up a lush instrumental 'Stringapella' that keeps all of the sweat and tears of the original.
Mayfly is out now on Needwant, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link] or to stream on Spotify below:
EP Review: Road Less Travelled - Tiedye
Tiedye first came to my attention when they remixed the excellent Feist featuring "I Feel Electric" by Rubies, a silky Balearic dream of a record that came out all the way back in 2008 but has stood the test of time. Road Less Travelled is the Swedish duo's first release for Gomma - it follows up on their debut, which came out (home of that Rubies release) Italians Do It Better last year, though I have to confess I missed that.
"Road Less Travelled" has a steely soulful disco-meets-west-coast sound that feels timely in this post-Random Access Memories world. It's a little more grizzled than I was expecting - distorted bass rubbing up against fuzzy clattering drums, a jazzy organ freak-out and echoey vocals… Nothing like the laid back noodly cosmic disco of the Rubies remix. It all sounds a little bit like Adam Freeland got his hands on some new material by Still Going: expect something that feels like disco fed on sunshine and ecstasy then wrapped in plastic. It's good, but you're not sure if you should really like it.
The label clearly thought the same thing because American duo Still Going actually provide one of the two remixes. It's a nighttime LA cruise of a record, dark buzzing synths saw through the vocals whilst the drums are pulled back just a notch to create a something deeper. It's still pretty pop but not anywhere near the daytime radio of the original. Sadly it doesn't quite hit the highs of Still Going's own material - the best bits are where the duo let the melodies of come through and the beat drops out, both at the bridge and at the track's close, to create something golden and dreamy. I can't help but suspect they are saving their best work for themselves, but it's been so long since we heard anything new it's hard not to be disappointed.
DJ Kaos & Sonns provides the other remix, which actually takes the middle slot on the release. It is a little tighter than both the original and Still Going's take - not as dark as the latter but restrained in comparison. There's a warm, jacking feel to this treatment with a heavenly synth that gradually fights its way through a baseline that bubbles with acidic charm. The vocal is used sparingly but Kaos & Sonns seem more interested in drum rolls and echo, and I can't say I blame them.
According to the press release Road Less Travelled is out now on Gomma. That's probably just the vinyl release - the digital release on Amazon.co.uk currently has a posted release date of 20 September [affiliate link]. Stream the DJ Kaos & Sonns Remix below:
Stream / Download: Burn (Debian Blak Remix) - Ellie Goulding
More hotness from Debian Blak, whose remixes alway hit a sweet-spot, blending indie R&B fuzziness with pop chic. I was a big fan of Debian's mix of Aaliyah from earlier in the year and this remix of Ellie Goulding's "Burn" comes from a similar place. Goulding hasn't sounded this good in ages.
Stream and download below via Soundcloud and be sure to check out Debian Blak on Soundcloud.
EP Review: Hey! - The Emperor Machine
Following on from his rather filthy Like A Machine EP earlier in the year Andy Meecham is cued to drop this new release Hey! on Monday and if anything it only builds on the scuzzy sound of that last release.
This new EP precedes a return to DJing in 2014 and a planned full-length album and new live show. Michelle Bee is shaping up to be a key partner in the forthcoming plans for The Emperor Machine, lending vocals to not only "Hey!" but a number of tracks on the new album. Much like on "Like A Machine" the vocals here provide a dramatic sense of sultry humanity to the jacking robotic rhythms. An extended vocal and extended dub provide two flavours of the original, a track built around a stripped back 80s house inspired hook that borrows a little from Adonis' "No Way Back" and gives it a strutting punk-funk rhythm embellished with scratchy snatches of guitar and some heavily arpeggiated synths.
Three remixes come from Ewan Pearson. The first, the "Skronk Disco Mix", features sleazy jazzy brass getting rough with a some seriously elastic bass and clattering drum rolls. In combination with Michelle Bee's vocals it results in a heavily layered and busy track but the sax, played by a guest musician from The Rapture, gives this a real backstreet New York vibe that's intensely depraved and slightly psychotic. A "Skronk Dub" does it all again but without those vocals, and with such excellent production it's better for a modicum of restraint. The final remix is Pearson's "Dubstramental" and it's slightly tighter still, reigning in the disco flourishes of the "Skronk" but amping the dark psychedelic acid feel in their place.
Finally the EP also includes a second original track, "Mandy Mutron", which comes complete with a low slung bassline and greasy guitars. It's another track that will go down a treat in the more twisted establishments and it has me excited for the forthcoming album.
Hey! is released through Southern Fried Records on Monday, available to pre-order on MP3 and 12" from Amazon.co.uk, though the latter is currently posting a later release date [affiliate links].