Low End Lowlife: 11.07.12

Right let’s not piss about this week, I’m off to Ibiza in the morning and frankly all this listening to nice music is obstructing me getting online and finding out how much Bombay Sapphire I can bring home before some Eaton twat taxes the very soul out of my whimpering husk of a physique (answers on a postcard if you work for Customs & Exile please)

Anyway, this write up was supposed to be a review of Bloc 2012. Needless to say if you follow Bearded’s Twitter or any music press whatsoever you’ll already be aware Bloc sort of went south. All negativity and misinformation aside before things got shut down I danced on the deck of a communist fishing boat in the sunshine (not rain as certain police forces might have you believe) to a wonderful, disco heavy selections from Pinch and saw the almighty Digital Mystikz nearly tear down the Resident Advisor tent with almost nothing but sound. I also managed to cop an earful of a thoroughly poor performance from always unreliable live, amazing on record hip-hop supervillain DOOM, before plugs got pulled and tears got spilled. Still nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Besides, the following night the majority of the Hyperdub roster put on a sparkling little showcase which even featured some surprise guests in the shape of Flying Lotus & The Weeknd (who eloquently informed the crowd he was “high off his dick” if memory serves) and Bloc goers got in for cheap. As ever; nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Either way, if you are looking to drop a few quid and not be disappointed, here’s what I shelled out for this week:

Donky Pitch, Brighton’s finest equidae orientated, skwee inflected label, trot back into town dangling another carrot of bass heavy Technicolor style with their new EP disk courtesy of The Range. His Twitter says he’s from Providence, but that’s outside of Norfolk so I haven’t got a clue where he’s on about, but that’s all irrelevant, as wonderful music is universal and luckily he’s got a fine slab of that to hand. Opener ‘Tonight’ is a spaced out, luscious arrangement of those syrupy synths that are the DP stock in trade, a big thud of a bass line and a barrage of hyper active chimes something like the “special” child at school when he was first given the triangle. This is followed by the more ambient, swelling pads of ‘My DB Limit’, which initially feels much more relaxed before bloating into another bass rich, dense arrangement of pops, clicks and staccato bursts of brass. Throughout, the tracks seem to embody a very real sense of burgeoning madness, starting slow and atmospheric before shifting into a sugary overdrive, see ‘Nothing Left’s increasingly high pitched vocal clippings for another prime display of this. By the time the bouncing, dub influenced intro of ‘No Lie’ swells into an almost orchestral slice of machine gun syncopated drum rolls it’s hard to do anything other than smile inanely and hope it all makes sense later. Anyway let’s not worry about later, that’s for later. Buy this now… Ironically it’s not out ‘til July 16th, which really is later so forget about now. Save your money and buy this later... Now.

Another label out of Brighton rattling the pots and pans this week is Lovesick Recordings, as well as their tasty little ‘Free Love’ mix available here from a few months back they’ve also just dropped a new 12” courtesy of label honchos Marchmellow & Riskotheque. On the A-side is a remix of NZ duo Truth’s ‘Don’t Explain’ taken off their tremendous Puppets album of a few years back. The remix takes the atmospheric pockets of the original and winds them into a tight garage styled track which is at once both intimately paranoid and extremely danceable through a deft combination of the delayed, reverb smoked Nina Simone vocal and the warm, surging garage inflected bassline. Over on the flip is ‘1-800-Love’ which comes through on a more laidback vibe, with an almost laconic garage / house influence and a perfect number for those red eyed moments on a night out come 5am. With but two releases under their belts thus far Lovesick are already shaping up to be a label worth getting to know and are cutting a particularly unique groove for themselves with music that is “as equally at home in the bedroom as it is on the dancefloor”. Don’t sleep on these passionate Brighton loves any longer; make a move!

Rounding up this week’s little labour of love comes Glasgow’s High Sheen Records, also on their second release, in the shape of Mia Dora’s Romaticise EP. Mia Dora is a name that’s been garnering quite a good bit of hype over the past 12 months, particularly due to their inspired remixing of a certain Mr Roots Manuva recently. Luckily Dora’s new EP doesn’t rest on the laurels of that hype for a moment. Opener ‘Hypnotise’ is a marching, percussive jaunt awash with vocal clippings and a sense of urgency perfect for out on the floor, whilst ‘Freckles’ takes sparse sub hits, rolling hats & snares and handclap percussion to make for a bouncing cut awash with dreamy chimes and a slightly acid influence in its detailed little synth flourishes. Over on the flip things get a little more energetic with two heavily garage influenced pieces; ‘Random Romantics’ is definitely the most immediately infectious track of the EP, with it’s pitch bent vocal samples, warm bass lines and gentle synths whilst ‘Invisible Man’ featuring HaHaHa comes through a bit tougher and also has an awesome little percussive section to get your feet working overtime. With there now being more needless genre pigeonholes than there are records in shops it seems almost worthless to start trying to find a new one for this release so ignore what it may or may not be, just rest assured it sounds wholly unique at present and is well worth investigating. As if this wasn’t recommendation enough the EP also features that dying tradition of actually bothering to go all the way in and have some beautifully illustrated packaging just to put the proverbial cherry on top of the sonic cake… Emotional.

So that’s it. I’m off to finalise my packing, neutralize my credit rating and probably atomise my liver. It’s been a pleasure!

As ever Bearded & myself can be found in the digital recesses of Twitter promoting great music and terrible moustaches @Beardedmagazine and @Lowendlowlife respectively. It’s a lot like having a real friend, except you never have to care about them or remember their birthdays. So join in!