Vinyl and Digital reviews: Lifecycle, Layo & Bushwacka, Rowdent & Mario Basanov

Like the previous post, the following are reviews originally written for Clash magazine in 2010.

Lifecycle - The Altruist Cookbook EP (Ricochet Records)
... many genres baked in there!

There is something of LFO about the title track, with acidic thrust, broken beat techno, and unnerving jangles, but Lory D’s remix adds cohesion despite further beat splintering. ‘Truly’ works best as a mixing tool for its’ crisp, tribal techno, but the 8 bit noises on Sync24’s remix had me worried the computer corrupted.

Release date: 29 November 2010

Rowdent - The Rowdent EP (Wonk)

... wonk, wonk, wonk

Wonky tech-house and melting synths, ‘Get a Bet On’ keeps the feet tapping but does let the mind wander, while ‘Rushin’ Roulette’ engages with its’ curious speded-up dub wonk. Tribal drums have been readily embraced by dance this century and ‘Um Bongo’ self-fulfills with taught, driving beats to work up a sweat .

Release date: 6 December 2010

 

Layo & Bushwacka! - Endangered EP (Plus 8)
... imaginative but slightly misses the mark

Each track represents an endangered animal, and they certainly nail that on ‘Black Jack Rabbit’ - a restrained techno thumper, bouncing and squelching towards the clicky claw-like percussion of ‘Grey Wolf’. Incessant one-note keys sound alarm as swarms of noise gather like human encroachment. Accomplished, but not spine-tingling.

Release date: December 2010
 

 

Mario Basanov - Up (Needwant)
... mmm, house

Mario’s low-slung house keeps the movement subtle for ‘Up’ - nicely layered yet simple, playing on the melodic drones and most non-offensive siren-esque noise to adorn a house track, and ‘Sheiker’s warm and wooden, hazy house brings the release to a chilled end.

Release date: 18 December 2010

New digital release from Texture - Synaesthesia EP

I have to admit to being down on some elements of Scottish hip-hop in the past - sometimes the guttural and clipped Scottish accent distracts rather than flows with the beats - but I felt ashamed after listening to Texture’s ‘Non-Sequitr’, debunking the idea that Scotland and hip-hop as married concepts do not follow. The track kicks off Texture’s new EP ‘Synaesthesia’, available for a donation (or free) on Black Lantern Music, a netlabel offering DRM-free mp3s from independent musicians.

It’s the second part of Texture’s trilogy of EPs, and follows January 2010’s ‘Asphasia’ release which tipped reviewers to declare him a “bookworm emcee” - a title which holds true on the chemical-compound, philosophical quipping ‘Synaesthesia’.

As Texture says: “Synaesthesia is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. Synaesthetes may experience smells as colours, or sounds as flavours - they may mistake indie for house music, or rap for dubstep.”

The latter part sounds like a condition which can commonly effect reviewers - after the 30th release of the day beats start morph into other genres and the definitions become so blurred you do start to become hazy about what makes a genre.

Through this haze comes four tracks which have visited Earth in some format or another in previous months; ‘Non-Sequitr’, ‘Silver Age’, ‘Echo Boomers’ and ‘The Dawn View’. If you’re a listener to Vic Galloway’s Radio 1 show, you might have caught ‘Echo Boomers’ when Texture performed it live, and followers of Texture’s previous work may notice that ‘The Dawn View’ is a reincarnation of a track on Texture and Morphamish’s collaborative LP, ‘Future Proof’, released under the Double Helix alias.

But back to the creeping feeling of shame and ‘Non-Sequitr’! The track looks at not so much the ‘plight’ of Scottish hip-hop but of a realistic view that it’s sidelined in some way by the over-hyped US dominance and bling culture - something which very much does not exist in Scotland. He name-checks other Scottish artists who have helped carved the way for Scottish hip-hop, but there is a slightly sombre note to this when considering they have all yet to make breakthroughs on a multi-national scale. Texture’s lyrics make reference to the stark differences in US / Scottish culture; working night-shifts; spitting rhymes in over-crowded basements; being told by people like Kayne to dress in diamonds, “when all we can afford is costume jewellery”; and drinking cheap mind-numbing substances like Buckfast. It’s a slow swagger of hip-hop to a 6/8 beat, decorated by acoustic guitar - composed and produced by Salem Anders and will definitely hold appeal for Scottish hip-hop fans, but will the rest be ready for a rebuke at popular culture hip-hop, bling and all?

Kid Ritalin, co-manager of Glasgow’s Little Rock net-label and artist, joins Texture for ‘Silver Age’, featuring bassy glitch-hop, broken beat and sparks of wonk, and encompasses the ‘bookworm’ title with its digs at TV and ‘cultural’ distractions. The beats help to impose the feeling of urgency in the message, so the track works well in a holistic sense. Long-time Texture collaborator, Morphamish, steps in to do beats and production on this track and the following two.

Previously performed on Radio 1, ‘Echo Boomers (Generation Why)’, is warped electro hip-hop spitting you questions on Generation Y; questioning whether you’re “human or consumer”, just as I try to surreptitiously slide my new android phone under a cushion. The ironies of smoking cigarettes while driving through Bhopal (site of serious chemical disaster); bank balances growing and swelling like tumours; Starbucks authors; romanticised Woodstock; we are all “wikipediphiles”; and living out the carcinogenic inheritance of Baby Boomers - from chemical-laden technologies to surviving on celebrity gossip. This song has the potential to chip away at international boundaries given that it nails issues which stretch into lots of different cultures.

‘Synaesthesia’ closes with the revamped ‘The Dawn View’, taken from ‘Future Proof’, and taking an optimistic view of what I prefer to call ‘the walk of shame’ - that walk home from the club while still bedraggled from the night’s partying on MDMA, just as the milkmen appear. It’s an upbeat fusion of indie and jazzy cumbia tinges with added guitar by Richard Lindsay that would have you dancing home ‘Singing In the Rain’ style rather than the obligatory hood up, eyes down, shuffle quickly routine!

The trilogy will be completed with ‘Parasomnia’ due for release on Black Lantern in January 2011.


If you're stuck for a gift for your nearest and dearest hip-hop-lovin' friends, download the EP here and watch the video (filmed in Edinburgh) for ‘Non-Sequitr’ below:

Free Tunes: Sedge Warbler free track and mixtape

 

Ahead of their 'Welcome to the Universe' LP release in January 2011 on Skanky Panky Records, Lo-Quality has two free Sedge Warbler giveaways to whet your whistle. A mixture of glitch-hop, wonk, and electronica, the duo of Dank and Disko want to take you to the limits of outer space.

Sedge Warbler - Paranormal Ox Man

• Free track from the new LP, titled 'Octopus Lover’- click here to download.

• Sedge Warbler DJ mixtape- I Eatz Ribs on Tyhe First Date

I EATz RIBS ON TYHE FIRST DATE MIXTAPE! by DANk

Tracklist
1.Slugabed – Skyfire
2.Nasty Nasty – Knife Play
3.Mix N Blend – Get Crunk Wit Jesus
3.Mux Mool – Skulltaste
4.Eprom – Bubble
5.Sedge Warbler – Pretty Hop
6.ODB – Brooklyn Zoo / Harmonic 313 – Cyclotron
7.Nasty Ways – (LiL Wayne Lollipop Remix)
8.Mix N Blend+Narch – I got Bitches
9.Gramatik – Don't Get Weary
10.Pretty Lights – Total Fascination
11.VibeSquad – Aristocratic Static
12.Skanky Panky Allstars – (DJ Shadow Walki talkie REMIX)
13.Sedge Warbler – Paranormal Ox Man
14.Dank – The Game Needs Me


Full review of the LP will be available on the site soon, stay tuned