broken beats

22_11

Banlieue enters 2022 with a bang courtesy of Mortimer Dubaton’s Athens VS Predator EP. Behind this monicker is Louis De La Gorce, an Athens-based French producer, notorious for his duo The Pilotwings and his solo project Eiger Drums Propaganda.

De La Gorce’s well-documented jocularity seeps through this release, right from its title to the track names and actual productions. This idea is approached through another angle with NEED FOR SPEED, a tune where car-related sounds are brilliantly used by the producer. Layering samples and building a tribal groove sprinkled with chopped up breaks, thick low-end bass, and a zest of vocal samples, this mutant track fit for a car chase in the eponymous video game finds its influence in modern hip hop vibes, but the spirit of rave music is never too far. The result is playful, forwarding thinking bass music that will elicit a response from listeners and dancers without fail.parallels with hard drum purveyors.

Words by Ed Isar
Mastering by Mathieu Berthet
Illustration by Nicol Bolas

Athens VS Predator

PREMIERE - Mortimer Dubaton - Need For Speed (BR014)

"Vari-poto"
New series initiated by Dites Safran.
Shorts release dedicated to diversity and variations.
From our hearts for your knees...

First release is a collaboration with the parisian talented duo Amor satyr, Siu Mata & Dites Safran !

Dites Safran | Frao | VARIPOTO 1

IM096 - @aroent - Say
Label: Infinite Machine
Release Date: May 27th,2022
Format: Digital
Artwork by Vojd

Following on from a release-packed 2021, Infinite Machine are back with a new 4-track offering from the relative newcomer, Aroent. Across 3 new original cuts (plus a rework by UK dance royalty, Ploy) the Berlin-based producer delivers some serious rollers crammed full of gnarly drumwork and a pervasive air of unease. Like the strange, abstract creature of the record artwork, the music of Say EP is an amorphous beast, mixing the dense arrangements/layering of 90s IDM records with the off-kilter and swung beats of UK Techno and Funky.

The EP opens with its title track; a whirl of snaps, claps and phantom samples all firmly underpinned by an acid-inflected bassline. Aroent embracing of chance and luck in his compositions is evident on this track, throwing in idiosyncratic automations and randomizers to grow and evolve the tune over its 5 minute duration. The vox samples (stolen from Breaking Bad) seem to decay and fall inwards on each other on ‘Say’, as if the song is soundtrack to a decaying and corrupted society (not dissimilar to Heisenberg’s).

On ‘Rolling Oddities’, Aroent’s love for the Bristol bass & techno scene really shines through clearly. A track that seems almost built for a spinny night that rolls on until the morning, the song really does what it says on the tin with its combination of driving, rhythmic elements and it’s smattering of pretty out-there decisions in terms of arrangement and sound processing. This is a definite must-listen tune for fans of Batu, Lurka or Hodge.

Next up, ‘Bobcat’ takes things in a slightly more buoyant and ecstatic direction with its ever-rising filters and muted percussion that seems like it’s dancing along on tip-toes. On this song especially, Aroent’s genre-agnostic approach to production is abundantly obvious with elements of techno and bass sitting alongside kick drums that wouldn’t feel out of place on some Jersey Club tracks.

Ploy brings up the rear on Say EP with a ferocious ‘Skeletal Tool remix’ of the releases’ title track. Taking a reductionist approach to his rework, the Timedance signee strips out some of the originals’ more hyperbolic or dramatic elements and reduces it to a polyrhythmic, semi-genreless heater. Seriously - you try and pin this edit down to a single ‘genre label’, I dare you!

Despite the small number of releases to his name, Say EP is a highly confident and well-realized offering from the Greek-born, Berlin-based producer. In a way, Aroent is already creating his own sonic signature that lifts and interpolates aspects across the UK Bass spectrum and turns it into something totally unique. This is music that lurks in the shadows of warehouse clubs.

Tracklist:

1. Say
2. Rolling Oddities
3. Bobcat
4. Say (Ploy's Skeletal Tool Remix)

Aroent - Say (IM096)

@SisterZo stitches UK funky, two-step and techno with a personal touch on her debut EP for Martyn’s @3024world label

More info: https://djmag.com/listen/premiere-sister-zo-afraid-2-make-move

Freak Shift

Premiere: Sister Zo ‘Afraid 2 Make a Move’

After a one-year and a half hiatus, the unidentified human machine @lowkhey is back on Comic Sans Records with a new killer album.

At the end of 2020, the first and acclaimed opus "Never Trust A Cyborg" introduced their fresh addition to the deviant dancehall movement through 10 electric tracks, showcasing a rich panel of four-to-the-floor dub infused downtempo cuts.

Walking in the footsteps of this early project but in a steadily offbeat way, Low Khey's new statement "Ten Effective Ways To Achieve Immortality" sounds like a major software update. It reveals exciting mutations of their sonic expressions across deadly clever integrations of trap, drill, post club and soundtrack elements. The result is richer and more complex yet very precise and readable owing to Low Khey's most destructive weapon : their lethal ability in sound design.

Once again the artificial anthropoid chooses to deliver their message through 10 murky tracks juggling between downtempo club cuts, epic choirs, cutting-edge trap and pre-apocalyptic soundscapes. This album sees them team up with humans for the first time on 3 tracks : the neck breaking post-trap cut ""Good Like It Should"" featuring Berlin-based producer and singer Catnapp, the drill inspired ambient track ""Nostalgia"" made in collaboration with Enae and finally ""Citral"", the electrifying chiaroscuro acoustic metal outro cosigned by guitarist Stencil d'A.

Those collaborations seal the deal with humanity. Perched on a faraway planet, Low Khey's artificial intelligence reached its final form and looks at Earth with benevolence. Through a puzzling cyber noir storytelling they teach us how to overtake our inevitable programmed death. The machine learning process is complete, it's now time for Human learning. 
credits
releases July 6, 2022

Written and mixed by Low Khey
Vocal by Catnapp on A2
Additional synth & FX by Enae on B3
Guitars by Stencil d’A on B5
Mastering by Lorenzo Targhetta
Original Photography by Lucy Owen Jones
Front Artwork by Camille Petit

Tome 2

Low Khey - Ten Effective Ways To Achieve Immortality (ALBUM PREVIEW)

https://soundcloud.com/jumboclat
https://soundcloud.com/egreg-re
🛒 https://egregorecollective.bandcamp.com/album/egr011ep-cloverleaf-ep
🔊 https://youtu.be/TjyWM-NiiZ8

For the second release of the year, we’re delighted to welcome Paris-based Jumboclat, member of SeekSickSound and Exploration Music (RIP).

Author of a first solo release on Flore’s POLAAR imprint and producing the acclaimed ‘Tell Me’ released on Vernacular Records, he is also well versed in footwork, as demonstrated by his tunes on Le French Work.

His ‘Cloverleaf EP’ is a concentrate of everything he does best : from the emotional an deep 2-step ‘B With U’ to the razor sharp breakbeats of ‘Timeslip’, the prouction is meticulous, deep and melancholic, an ode to the carribean sounds and cultures blended with futuristic sound design. To round off the EP, Stacktrace delivers a psychedelic and oppressive dub remix of the title track.

Tracklist: 

01 - B With U
02 - Timeslip
03 - Cloverleaf Dub
04 - Cloverleaf Dub (Stacktrace Remix)

PREMIERE: Jumboclat - Timeslip [Egregore Collective]

The Snake, Ghost, and Demon reconvene for Samurai Hannya II, a supercharged sequel to the 2019 inaugural collection of Samurai Music’s current finest outer edge constructions.

Alongside the established Samurai family of producers, Hannya II ushers in some notable names to the Hannya series in Mako, Eusebeia, and introduces some future ascendants - RDG (with Gaze Ill and Øjeblik), Hoji, & Dailiv.

The cryptic Hannya concept is elevated for Vol II with an exclusive luminous illustration by David Paul Seymour (https://www.instagram.com/davidpaulseymour/) as we step further into our exploration with colours.

Samurai Hannya II comes on 3 individual marbled 12”s in Full Artwork Sleeve and Digital. Released on 05.11.2022

https://soundcloud.com/the-untouchables

Samurai Hannya II

The Untouchables - Twelve Cycles (Samurai Hannya II)

Pre Order here: https://lnk.to/EiraHaul_StarVertigo_EditionAkasha

We’d spent our whole life in a dance of fear.
And when we examine that, we realise
that very often the thing we were frightened of
wasn’t nearly as frightening as the fear.

Eira Haul returns to Edition Akasha to launch us into the ether by way of the “Star Vertigo” EP. Moving across a luminous range of otherworldly atmospheres, five tantalising original cuts strike a spellbinding balance between body-shaking euphoria and meditative mind-healing.

On the A-side, the garage shuffle and ultra-deep bass wobbles of “Ceramics” corrode beneath its hypnotic strings, while the fast-paced acid lines of “Anthracite” bubble and squeak over a choir of fallen angles. “Memory Rush” captures a similar tension as the engulfing dub chords at its centre ebb and flow on-top a muscular four-to-the-floor pulse to illuminate the darkest of nights.

The B-side is equally captivating: Like a gravitational collapse, the stellar melodies of “Incense Trip” break down into a void of razor-sharp percussion only to shine again in full effect thereafter. Lastly, Eira Haul sheds the black holes to ascend to catharsis with “Star Vertigo”: “We wanted to try to understand what the fear is [...] and whether that energy is something we can transform – is it our friend, is it our foe?” muses the voice on-top the tender bounce of the title-track’s lush framework, leaving us with a lofty sense of hope transcending this exceptional sophomore EP.

B1. Incense Trip [Preview]

Throne of Blood continues the anniversary onslaught with the third of four EPs of new and exclusive jams from friends new and old. Following on from the first two Anniversary EPs which featured contributions from Joakim, Chloé, Justin Cudmore, Curses, Hardway Bros and more we deliver more dancefloor material from Pleasure Planet, Man Power, Danse Alice and Teleseen.

EP 3 kicks off with Sisters, all big rave energy owing a big debt to Pleasure Planet’s Kim Ann Foxman, Andrew Potter, and Brian Hersey’s memories of countless pilled-out 90’s era nights. In contrast, Danse Alice, a new project from dear friend and collaborator Remain (Meant Records) come with a slow motion groover, an emotional score for the comedown. Look for more music from this Marseilles-based duo coming soon on Lumiere Noire and Ombra Intl.

Rounding things out is an absolutely monstrous breakbeat banger from Newcastle’s Man Power, an homage to everything awesome about Chemical Brothers and the beautifully groovy “Sacambu” from our friend and long-time champion of the label, Teleseen. 

It's an EP of contrasts, another way to resist pigeonholing what Throne of Blood has stood for over the past sixteen years and a refusal to chase any single sound, scene or trend as we look to the future…

Artwork by Gordon Harrison Hull (co-founder of Surface To Air and Phoenix Rising)

Pleasure Planet - Sisters (Snippet)

💳 Buy: https://hypnic-jerks.bandcamp.com/album/rosefinch

📓 Info:
Artist: https://soundcloud.com/toumbaa
Label: https://soundcloud.com/hypnicjerksrecs
Release Date: November 8, 2022
Format: Vinyl/Digital

Amman-based Toumba announces Rosefinch, his first EP on wax, and the debut release from London-based record label Hypnic Jerks. The Jordanian DJ, producer and sound designer integrates elements from Jordanian and Levantine folk music into his left-leaning, low-end heavy club sounds. The EP is named after the national bird of Jordan.

Toumba is a curator at MNFA, a club and arts space in Jordan’s capital Amman. It has become a haven for the country’s artistic community in the face of a conservative establishment that often harbours a hostile attitude towards the types of cultural expression that MNFA champions.

A nationally respected artist, Toumba also holds a residency at the MMAG Foundation in Amman. The foundation works with a selection of the most gifted artists in the Levant (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine), providing a space for artistic research, production and critical discourse.

Multipack of Limes is a percussive workout dotted through with zesty keys, building up to a driving lead that recalls the keyboard players of Jordanian weddings. Shurooq and Sa7rawi are both representative of Jordan's beautiful pink-tinted deserts. Shurooq, meaning 'sunrise', is a slow burner, which builds anticipation through its synth and percussive elements before a huge weighty sub-bass ties the track together. Sa7rawi, an aggressive peak-time chugger, evocatively conveys the beauty and harsh ruggedness of the desert's terrain. Lil Amam Sir, a term used in the army meaning "march forward", is one for the DJs: a four to the flour banger complete with microtonal polyrhythm synth hits that are sure to get the crowd two-stepping like clockwork. 

👀 Want more music?
Bass, Breaks & Garage: https://bit.ly/3SqQc1D
Progressive & Tech House: https://bit.ly/3QlxQNB

➡️ Submissions: hurfyd@gmail.com

💾 Pssst...
Do you ever find yourself wanting to download a bunch of your purchases at once on Bandcamp? I developed a Chrome Extension to add bulk download functionality to Bandcamp. Install Batchcamp here https://bit.ly/3vFXUeb — hope you enjoy! 🥰

Ten Eight Seven Digitals

Toumba - Lil Amam Sir [Hypnic Jerks]

Release date: November 25th
Plus One @plus-one1
We Out Here
FSL013
All tracks by Matt Finnegan
Artwork by Rachael Kaye Mellor & DC FSLMan
We Out Here is the highly anticipated debut EP from Dublin’s Plus One on First Second Label. The prolific musical polymath lays down 4 sub-wrenching club tracks indebted to hardcore futurism with a canny pop sensibility.
Plus One is an alias of cultishly adored producer Matt Finnegan, a veteran beatsmith behind multiple productions for Irish rapper Kojaque, amongst other impressive credits on an expansive CV. He concurrently eyed up the dancefloor, stocking an impressive hard drive of unreleased club tracks that were subsequently rinsed heavily by the likes of Ben UFO, re:ni and EMA to name but a few. 
This is his solo debut proper, and comes impressively fully formed from the off. We Out Here starts the engines with a deliciously sub-y stepper of epic big room potential, with a fittingly large bassline to boot. Hood Up Head Down is suspended in an aqueous ambient-drowned RnB bath before unfurling into lush 2-step in romantic fashion. Kiki bobs assuredly along a breaks-y techno pulse amongst a twinkling twilight melody and an emotive reese-bass stunner of a line. Me concludes the EP on a necessary 160 tip, flexing a modern jungle rinse out with sharp amens and soaring melodic subs to round off this statement of intent. - Nevan Jio

ORDER HERE

FSL013 - Plus One - We Out Here (Clips) OUT NOW

Hybrid, relentless, hallucinogenic.

2015 – 2024 †

PREMIERE - Mortimer Dubaton - Need For Speed (BR014)

Banlieue Records