The Shape of Things to Come

Photo Courtesy of Matt Benson

TiMZED’s six track debut EP ‘Ghost’ is a varying exploration of deep laden synths and melodic grime which fits perfectly within the colorful subsets of the vast permutations of London’s ever-evolving underground. Ghost offers us a glimpse into what we can expect to hear in the future from the North West Londoner and with the likes of Oneman already championing the newcomer alongside Radio 1 airplay, I think this could be the start of something quite considerable for TiMZED.

Over the last year we have seen Dubstep and 4×4 beats morph into a whole plethora of styles and sounds, TiMZED avoids any cliché with ‘Ghost’ and we’re not subjugated to any fleeting phenomena that often transpires into new producers.

The spatial awareness of TiMZED’s productions should be duly noted with the use of effortless rhythmic sections, weaving themselves around timely snares and dark synths. Opening with ‘Anonymous’ you become engulfed by a number of sounds and a depth to a track that really is quite something for a debut. Many could be over awed by the number of elements used, but timely intersections and sumptuous vocal samples take you from once a very narrow aperture into a formidable warehouse of subtle bass and head nodding melody.

A life effortlessly weaves throughout these tracks, ‘Alone in the Dark(‘s)’ tough drum pattern and snares are eased into a vast concourse of bass by a timely vocal sample that intercuts with a breakdown that sets the varying discourses of TiMZED’s beats into new arenas. Easily my stand out cut from a delightful record.

This is cutting edge Dubstep and Grime harking back to the formulaic years, with ‘The Potion’ invoking memories of Skream’s ‘Dutch Flowerz’. This is the type of Grime instrumental / Dubstep I’m most comfortable with, away from the wobble and over consuming bassline, dispersing into melodic sounds and colors which represent a great vibrancy, the antithesis of London’s electronic music right now. Intelligent Grime is very much at the forefront with Starkey and TiMZED, Ikonika and Swindle opening the apertures to once rugged fruity-loop products and Playstation inspired 8bit sounds to sumptuous productions of spatial significance.

DOWNLOAD HERE

This Saturday sees the return of Download This! at Plan B in Brixton.  For me this is one of the most important nights happening in London at the moment.  The apertures for UK bass music are drawn further apart and an interesting intersection of 4×4, Dancehall rhythm, dubby basslines and ragga enthused vocals is breathing life into a new space making UK club music as dynamic and exciting as it has ever been.   Download This! is seemingly at the forefront, giving a broad and varied selection of DJs the platform in which to release unheralded fusions of street music with bass at the core.  Previously Ph0t0machine opened the night with Roska headlining followed by Redlight and Seiji.  This certainly set the mantra for Download This! with quality at the forefront, while a diasporic notion of Bass underpins the narrative.

Seiji stole the show with a vigorous and technical set which tore the place down, leaving Annie Mac to proclaim on her Twitter that it was the best set she had seen this year.

For a taste of what to expect from Seiji this Saturday check his promo mix for the night.

At the last Download This! Roska seemingly transitioned from Funky, House and Techno effortlessly, but the most exciting set for me was Redlight.  Formally producing Drum & Bass records under the moniker Clipz, Redlight is carving his own distinct sound throughout his new productions and yet interweaves basslines from a whole manner of sources, pushing Plan B’s Funktion 1 soundsystem to the limits.

FACT as ever have been on the cusp of this fusion, most notably showcasing both Seiji a noth or so ago and Redlight last fortnight within their phenomenal mix series. (DOWNLOAD Redlight’s HERE & Seiji’s HERE)  Both mixes take you on an epic journey of cutting edge Bass music with Seiji providing a historical lesson while inducting you to the latest Bass cravings. Both are underlined by a conscious effort to draw on distinct UK vocals to provide a narrative and energy to their sets. Seiji and Redlight draw for a couple of the same vocal tracks, with J2K and Roses Gabor the choice cut for me, Redlight’s own tunes are a cut above and take centre stage.  ‘Stupid’ also featuring Roses Gabor is very much at the heart of the sound  that Download This! champions. The specials on show throughout his mix are of a similar vibe and Breakage’s ‘Hard’ takes D Double and Footsie’s vocals to a new realm with tribal percussion that hints at Funky’s ever growing presence at the dark end of the spectrum.

Greenmoney are renowned for both their quality radio show on Ministry of Sound and their own production offerings.  The duo recently teamed up with Female MC and vocalist Mz Bratt concocting a track that sits at the darker end of Funky and the rhythmical intersection of Grime and Dub Step.

They also know how to throw a quality bash that underpins the very essence of bass music right now and Download This! is testament to the aesthetic Alex and Leo are championing.

Smutlee is on the line up and I’ve constantly drummed on about his pioneering take on Funky and Dancehall and his mix for Download This! sets the tone for what we’ve become accustomed to when he’s on the decks.  Fresh back from cutting it up in Germany, I’m looking forward to hearing what he’s got in store.

It’s difficult conveying these sounds without an overwhelming use of cliché.  However I think that experiencing these cutting edge Bass tremblings on a Funktion 1 is without a doubt one of the greatest rave experiences happening in London at the moment.  With Plan B’s newly refurbished interior giving Download This! a great bar and clean ambiance you should definitely reach.

First and foremost I have to apologize for not posting this sooner.  One of the best UK mixtapes I’ve heard in a minute, K-Nite is a talent and you really shouldn’t sleep on what’s happening in Walthamstow right now.  With K-Nite, Mentalist, Loudmouth and S’Killit flying the flag a movement is really galvanizing and gathering past in E-17.  K-Nite’s production is easily up there with any other Hip Hop producer in the UK and favors classic compositions of rare and hard to find samples, trumpets and keys to salivate over, it’s certainly set a new benchmark for Hip Hop purists in the UK.  With Pete Rock, Premier and Q-Tip all influences this is real rap without any sort of chip on it’s shoulder.  Long gone are the days when a lineage from Premo to London meant an aggy backpacker bemoaning their luck and grimacing at the thought of having to put down the spliff and start shelf-stacking or deal with whatever hand life had dealt them.

This is music to savior, 23 tracks of banging Hip Hop featuring the aforementioned alongside Black the Ripper, Smasher, Iron Braydz and others.  This has a few pieces you might of heard or had in the past like Loudmouth’s ‘Yardstick’ but don’t sweat it, plenty here we haven’t heard, a particular stand outs for me are TB’s ‘This Is How I Feel’ verse, K-Nite’s verse on ‘No Hooks’, the beat for Big Cake’s ‘Heard About It… You know what to do…

Download and tracklisting after the jump.

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The Heatwave, what is there to say? The number one champions of all things Dancehall, Bashment and Caribbean rave in the UK, a weekly radio show on the world renowned Rinse FM, production and remix duties, promoters, and bloody great DJs.  Quite simply, if you like, listen and love Dancehall in the UK, these guys have had something to do with it.  Since the early 2000’s led by Gabriel Heatwave they’ve caused a resounding raucous across the country spreading Jamaica’s gospel far and wide.

Often I refer to the musical lineage in this country and it’s roots (pardon the pun) in Dub Reggae and how this history of Soundsystems, MCs and Toasters has provided the bedrock for rave culture, particularly since the early 90s.  The obvious forms being Jungle, Garage and Dubstep.  In 2008 The Heatwave curated, compiled and unleashed this lineage on one CD.  ‘An England Story’ was released on Soul Jazz Records in 2008, a Twenty-one track compilation charting 25 years of our MC culture. Essential listening for anyone with an interest in British street culture and its musical idioms.

Dancehall raves are often only experienced once a year, Carnival comes around and everyone heads way-out West for Notting Hill’s yearly festival of Caribbean culture.  Other nights in London play a mixture of the latest Dancehall records, mixed in with a medley of Hip Hop, Garage, Grime and Funky, just to keep the vibe right.  Now I understand the need for eclectic club nights playing party vibes, but sometimes you need to delve deeper.  I am by no means a Dancehall connoisseur, but skanking to Dancehall is like nothing else.  The energy, the vibe, the daggering.

Hot Wuk is a weekly Dancehall and Bashment night promoted by the Heatwave showcasing some of the best MC’s and DJs the UK has to offer.  This can’t be replicated, no amount of Movado and Vybz Kartel records in your itunes can create the same vibe and energy that the Heatwave do every Thursday.

We’ve hooked up to bring you this live recording of the Trinidad Carnival Special from back in February.

Just a taste of what to expect when you attend the best Dancehall night in London.

Make sure you reach this Thursday!

Lady Chann’s ‘Sticky Situation’ has had the royal refix treatment by two producers at the top of their game; Seiji and Toddla T. This is the first refix I’ve heard of this record and I’m fervently awaiting the release of the ‘Sticky Situation’ EP which drops on the 12th of April. Go cop that.

Toddla was also in the building for the first Download This! at Plan B on Saturday night to see Seiji tear it up at the end of what was a great night and hopefully the first of many by Alex Phountzi.

Check out this footage of Lady Chann merkin Yo Yos a little while back. She absolutely killed it that night, providing vocals alongside Maxwell D over Sticky’s set.

With the release of the lead single ‘Emotions’ out today on itunes taken from the forthcoming album ‘Special Kind of Fool’, Ty has dropped a great mixtape to wet the appetite for the release of the album this Spring. With a range of features and remixes including the likes of Falty DL, Blak Twang, Anthony Mills and Tony Allen, it’s a great way to really get to know Ty if you’ve been living in a UK Hip Hop abyss for the last decade.

Ty is one of those MC’s not confound by the parameters and boundaries that have been imposed on UK rap acts over the years. Always refreshing, his voice and style just flow effortlessly over rhythmic records which take you to a place far further afield than dreary London town. London isn’t always dreary, but if you would have listened to a lot of Ty’s “peers” over the last decade you would have struggled to rationale a city with cheer and cadence.

Ty’s back catalog speaks for itself and he released classic records on the seminal Big Dada, and his new home of BBE is more than worthy for an artist who has developed a lane all of his own in the UK music scene. A conscious effort to delve deeper than most, his production seeks lineage from Afro-Beat and Jazz, with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Camp Lo all obvious influences. Yet Ty has taken his own route, crafting a sounding distinctly British and incredibly refreshing.

Tracklisting and Download after the jump.

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Oneman has been celebrating the launch of his first and Rinse FM’s 11th CD over the last week and climaxed with a b2b set with Joy Orbison at DMZ in Brixton on Friday, which they kindly followed up live on air for everyone who missed it. *hangs head in shame*

DJ Oneman vs. Joy Orbison Live on Rinse FM (Right Click to DOWNLOAD or Click to LISTEN)

Make sure you cop Oneman’s album HERE

Greenmoney are at it again. The best DJ duo in the country right now, the selection is so on point, as we’ve become far too accustomed to over the last 9 months. It’s guys like Alex and Leo who make me feel incredibly lazy, yes, I do dig out great mixes, hunt for interesting sounds, but as a non-DJin blogger I find that the endless search for something news falls at the first hurdle, which tends to be people like Greenmoney. They have a far better ear to whats happening and it helps that they get stuff before anyone else does! Really enjoying this mix and if you can, make sure you reach Alex’s night ‘Download This!’ at Plan B in Brixton this Saturday.

Performing on the night will be Greenmoney (Fools Gold NYC) man of the moment; Roska (Rinse) Seiji, Redlight (1xtra/Lobster Boy) Photomachine and Kobe 1 (yOyO). It’s going to be an absolute banger. Hope I can make it!

You can cop tickets HERE

Tracklisting after the jump

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Stones Throw Records have sanctioned leaks from the forthcoming Madlib ‘Beat Konducta in Africa’ album which drops on the 23rd of March. It’s sounding incredibly nice as I’m sure you can imagine, can’t wait to cop this, Stones Throw is easily the best Independent label in the World. I defy anyone to say otherwise.

DOWNLOAD HERE

The West London Bass Heavyweights Greenmoney have put together a wicked remix of New York group Cubic Zirconia’s latest offering ‘Josephine‘.

They’ve classed this one as Trancestep, a brilliant tongue-n-cheek subgenre. with so many spawned and morpherd osmosis’ happening in Music right now, it’s only right that those blurring the boundaries have a bit of fun with the title.

I know very little about Cubic Zirconia, other than the odd track that Alex & Leo have been playing on their wonderful radio show.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned that once or twice on the Twitter or here before, if I haven’t then you should head on over to the Ministry of Sound Radio Station on a Sunday evening for your weekly fix.

This is probably my favorite remix of the year thus far. The infectious vocals of the lead singer and the rhythmic, hypnotic drum loop and psychedelic feel, aided by the husky voiced hook, this is a cracker.

You can listen and download HERE.

Another fantastic XLR8R City Guide, this release focuses on Boston and the pretty damn awesome Soul Clap. I featured the series before, you should check that post out.

Download and Tracklisting after the jump.

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New music from the one and only Project Pat. 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Tribute to Augustus Pablo | Extra Stout Sound System by ExtraStoutSound

This is courtesy of the fantastic Get Me! blog.

Jamangle has come through with an absolute banger of a mix. A good friend and an ally of the White Horse bass and beers massive, has put together an incredibly dirty and dark mix for your mash-up pleasure. A monster on the decks, this one is pure filth. The tracklisting is testament to that. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I am.

Cooly G, she’s just dropped her own online TV show (see above) and a rather banging XLR8R podcast. You can download that with the tracklisting after the jump. So Cooly G, probably the most exciting thing happening in London’s underground world of hybrid Funky-esque, Techy, Minimal, Vocally Great, Running Out Of Superlatives Awesomeness. Gotta catch her playing out sooner rather than later.

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