Category: Buzz Chart

Everyone who is anyone knows about the Scratch Perverts and their turntable manipulating, party rocking skills. And with this remix, they’re showing that they have the skills on the production boards too as they turn Rusko‘s ridiculously groggy track Cockney Thug into a bouncing electro banger.

Bleeps and basslines take the already huge beat in a completely different direction from the original whilst keeping Rusko’s trademark upbeat, fast paced nature securely in place. The Perverts add some extra dialogue including the brilliant inclusion of “you fucking prat” near the end.

Remixes ride a delicate balance – sometimes they bring something amazing to the table, turning a tune on its head, moving the tune into a completely different realm and sometimes they just bollocks everything up. Thankfully, this track lies proudly in the former category.

Abjekt.

‘UK Hip Hop is LIVE‘. This may well be a rather bold statement coming from the little, sky-blue skinned creature’s mouth; but surely someone with a knighthood wouldn’t lie to you? Not a chance. Especially when one of the notorious four horseman of The Colony, Sir Smurf Lil’ is packing solid evidence that the UK Hip Hop scene is not just heating up, but boiling over uncontrollably. All that in just four minutes with his new single, Candlelight.

Don’t let the obscure pseudonym discourage you either – Sir Smurf is the real shit. When a rapper is tipped by easily-the-best-affiliate-you-can-have-in-UK-hip-hop, Jehst, to be the next-big-thing then this is most definitely not a case for claims direct. You’re paying attention, right? You should be.

Candlelight is in no way the same shade as his moniker suggests. In fact, this track steers into the dusty path of jubilance: a road less travelled by the usually-bleak, hard-time-injected hip hop lyricists from these dreary shores. Smurf’s twang still treats your ears like an entry-wound, penetrating at bullet pace with the harsh phonetics of reality – the kind of accent that not only chases cars, but robs them, subsequently chasing faster cars with a never-ceasing acceleration. Lay that on top of joyful piano loops reminiscent of that wonderful early 90s hip hop era, and the result is Smurf serving up a dish of mad oxymoronic proportions. I don’t know about you, but I’m fucking gagging for seconds.

Joesigh

True story. I was nearly the drummer in Capricorns. When guitarist Kevin was initially putting together the band he talked about me drumming in it. And when their first drummer Chris couldn’t play a couple of gigs, he asked me to fill in. Thank fuck I didn’t. If I’d been playing drums, Capricorns might not have been the epic progressive-metal monster they became and instead a chaotic hardcore punk mess!

‘River, Bear Your Bones‘ is the band’s second album and also, sadly, looks to be their last. Recorded over a long period of time when the band were starting to become fractured, it was a real test of their commitment to get the album finished. Thankfully, the end results were worth every bit of blood, sweat and stress. Opening track ‘Broken Coffin Of The Venerable King‘ encapsulates everything that is special about this album. Although largely instrumental, the endless shifting nature of the music and it’s inability to sit still for even a second more than makes up for the lack of vocal hooks. But back to the opening track. Within it’s nine minutes ‘Broken Coffin‘ covers more ground than most band’s entire back catalogues. There’s angular Shellac-style riffs, blast beats, soft guitar picking Slint-moments followed by skull-cracking intensity and heaviness. And that’s Capricorns all over. And now it’s all over. Well, kinda. The band have all now splintered all over the glove and are in a state of hiatus, resting, waiting, picking the next time to come back and strike. Just not with me on drums.

James Sherry

Supergroups are common through guitar based music. Grab a heap of musicians from seminal bands, knock out a few tunes and Bob’s your money-making uncle. But now we’ve got arguably the first ever electro-ghettotech-baile-dancehall super group in Machines Don’t Care with a line up consisting of Sinden, Hervé, Toddla T, Drop The Lime, Fake Blood, Trevor Loveys, Affie Yusuf and Detboi with Serocee giving it some vocal welly on one track.

Even before listening to the self-titled album, it is obvious that it isn’t going to suck. With a line up as good as that, you’re guaranteed bangers from top to bottom and that is exactly what you get. From Toddla’ and Hervé’s dancehall infused Badman to the groggy basslines of Hervé and Sinden’s Afro Jacker and Trouble On The Floor by Trevor Loveys and Fake Blood, you get a dance soundtrack of epic proportions.

The track you can hear by clicking above is Jugs, produced by Detboi and Sinden which a bumper bassline jumping all over the drums and a vocal sample imploring the ladies to “wave your brassiere in-a de air”. And you know what? This record is enough to make me take hormone pills, grow a set, head into Harmony, pick up a particularly racey bit of cup holding equipment just so I can take it off and wave it in the air.

What?

Abjekt.

Evoking envy from the hearts of bald men everywhere, Sebastian Rochford is back with his much loved brainchild – although, how it managed to scramble from his mind through a maze of follicles and surface that forest is still beyond me – Polar Bear.

After being nominated for a Mercury Award with the finest contemporary jazz composition to grace my speakers, ‘Held On The Tips Of Fingers‘, I’ve been eager to hear some new tunes from this eclectic bunch. While the online freebies were satisfying – the demo of ‘Isolation‘ sounding like the meandering thoughts of a man trapped in the bottom of a deep well, descending oh-so slowly into an irreversible insanity – they only further stoked my desire for a new full length.

This eponymous, even on the first listen, is as moreish and stimulating as their first two efforts: resulting in a superb collection of meddled melodies, both uplifting and spirit crushing – the perfect soundtrack for an avant-garden party. Mmm… smoky. Someone pass the absinthe, I’m ready to lose my mind.

Polar Bear don’t so much as fiddle with genre boundaries, as play with them like eager and excited school children until they snap. Then looking at the broken pieces with such admiration, they fuse them together into something fresh and exciting. Take tomlovesalicelovestom as a perfect example; heart-warming bass grooves set loose into a labyrinthine forest of electronic ramblings planted by Leafcutter John with Pete and Mark guiding it along with teasing sax. Oh my.

Joe

Melee sound like Ben Folds. There’s no denying this but there’s also something different about their certain brand of catchy-as-hell poppiness and the addition of rocking guitar lines tweaks Folds’ regular drum / bass / piano formula in a way that’s most inviting. The piano is less crucial to the sound and more an embellishment of insanely good pop songs that, if they were played on the radio all day, everyone would be super happy. Except maybe metallers. ‘Frequently Baby‘ is sort of retro in its sound and its driving, ridiculously camp chorus is so smile-inducing that you may need muscle relaxants to wipe the smile away again. You’ll be singing along from the outset. There’s just no stopping the singalong with tunes like this. A vital summertime discovery, if slightly of the cheese variety.

Melee are off on tour with the old Folds-meister and Counting Crows in a couple of months. Imagine the hero worship that’ll be happening right there! It’ll be like the master and his protégés just chilling. I wonder if he’ll be giving some sort of masterclass…

Winegums

After being heavily endorsed on Justice’s BBC Essential Mix and that infamous mix that was rejected by FabricLive, Belgium’s Das Pop have already gained respect from huge heads in the ever growing Euro-Electronica community. And understandably so, as their admirable blends of guitar fused pop alongside strings and other funk elements fall easily into any DJ set, whether it’s indie, or straight up electro nonsense.

Combine this with fellow Ghent residents, Soulwax on the production front and it’s as guaranteed a success as the Williams sisters at Wimbledon, just not as shamefully arrogant and/or uptight about every bloody little thing. Oh no I diiiiidn’t.

August sees the release of feel-good number ‘Underground‘ which has all the aforementioned funk-indie jams alongside catchy choruses making this tune perfect for any summer shindig (let’s hope this unprecedented rain [yes even for England] passes by the time this comes). Cropping up on all decent mixtapes on the interwebs last year, it’s about time this track got a release in physical form and gets the playback it deserves.

Joe

Ok, so strictly speaking this is a Santogold song that Diplo has chucked a few extras on with Amanda Blank rapping the verse, but I’m going to claim it as a Blank song just because.

Santogold flew into the mainstream with a bunch of hype and those of us elite bastards who knew her from way back when knew that she had some bangers in her arsenal, only to be left a little underwhelmed by the album itself. However, I’m A Lady was one of the best songs on the track, and with my favourite potty-mouthed sexpest MC Amanda Blank on the vocals, it could only get better.

However, this is a departure from Blank’s normal upfront sass, with a less rowdy flow and more introverted lyrics. I have no idea if this is going to be released on anything, but it is a damn good version of the song. Go find it.

Abjekt.

Arizona isn’t the first place you’d think of when discussing hotbeds of hip hop. In fact, I’d struggle to name a hip hop artist from Arizona outside of DJ Z-Trip. However, KonGeror has come to change all that and his new record, Raphood & Authenticity is a great showcase of his talent.

Bringing both the beats [save the P.O.S. produced Asterisk*] and the vocals, KonGeror is clearly a man with talent and a desire to never let his audience the chance to settle down for a nice comfortable listening session. This album has music that jitters and clashes its way around your head and yet at the same time has a single-mindedness to get its message across.

Standout tracks Still 50’s, Gold Fronts and No Goons all display the variety in Kon’s production, and standing up on a track with P.O.S. and not being overshadowed shows just what an accomplished wordsmith he is. But the best track, which you can hear by clicking above, is Fees, with its brilliant drums and liquid vocal hook, it’s a winner from the very start.

The album is up for free download from August 1st, so head over to records.gahed.com and pick it up!

Abjekt.

In 2006, our ears were treated by the unpretentious disco-pop of crazily clad Brazilians CSS‘s first album: a happy-shiny disc of joy filled to the brim with the perfect mixture of guitar frolics and synth lines topped off with cute pop culture references from the oh-so sexy mouth of the impossible to ignore, Lovefoxxx.

Timed to perfection, in the midst of our somewhat short summer, they’ve scrambled together another collection of tracks as colourful as the girls’ seemingly endless collection of ridiculous (in the good sense of the word) dresses. Except this time, the fun seems slightly sub-dued.

This isn’t necessarily a flaw however; while the purposefully silly mentions of celebrities and adorable language jumbles are absent from Donkey, and the lyrics suggest that the band are genuinely ‘tired of being sexy‘, there is still a huge array of jubilance and guitar twangs that compliment the summery images it conjures. Lovefoxxx’ vocals are as irresistible as ever and there are enough funky bass lines in here to keep me satisfied, and that is saying something let me tell you. It’s not as upfront and bawdy as the eponymous, but it’s still got the funk and will surely sound wonderful live alongside the ever-colourful costumes and lost-in-dance moments. Let’s reggae all night baby.

Cansei de ser Joe