picture by VivantVie

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you guys about the most kept secret, Motorlab. In just a couple of months they again managed to release around 8 new Ep’s. I wonder how they manage to keep it all free. They are all absolutely stunning productions which you can all download for free on their website. If you like some super underground techno and breakbeat. Head over there and grab your favourite releases. By the way: check out their 360 audioplayer. it rocks! Maybe on phase02 soon…

Anyway enjoy my Motorlab selection. If you like, give them some love on facebook. Only 58 people like Motorlab. That’s probably the most deepest, most incredible underground music you’ll ever hear.

Juri-jah – Darcknes

Unorace – Beta Cycle 3

Unorace – Alfa Cycle 1

Unorace – Give The Horse

Vadz – Depth

SUB – Black Sun

Gliese – Unknown place

Via Hobogestapo

Time for a new load of tracks! Every day we receive tons of new things and trying to listen to everything is not that easy, but we try! Therefore, here’s a personal selection of the things we’ve recently received. Lot’s of variation so fun for everyone!
Let’s go downtempo first, shall we! Egotomb did a rework of Daft Punk’s Tron Legacy. It’s a couple of BPM’s faster now than the original and it creates a nice vibe! Really love this one!

Daft Punk - Tron Legacy (Egotomb Rework).mp3

Jordon Saxton has produced a couple of stunning dubstep tunes again. Be aware, ’cause your ears might explode while listening to this!

Groove Armada - Wont Kneel (JSaxton Remix).mp3

JSaxton - Game Over.mp3

Time for something completely different then! Moscow Youth Cult, based in Nottingham UK, produces tracks which they call “VHS pop”. In their e-mail they also referred to Four Tet, Fuck Buttons and Boards of Canada, having more or less the same style/sound. I was intrigued by that description so I listened to their latest album.. and yep it’s good! Really reminds a bit of obscure 70′s sci-fi films! They even have a track called Phase IV, so we really couldn’t ignore that .

Moscow Youth Cult happiness machines 11 happiness machines.mp3

To finish, here’s the sickest track I’ve heard in a while! The guy calls himself Wondawulf, he’s from Budapest and he creates drumstep. Yep drumstep… take some drum&bass, add a bit of dubstep and there you have it.. moreover the following tune also has a bit of a jazzy feel.. take a listen, you’ll know what I mean! Also check out the video, hilarious! It’s a 320, let’s see if you guys dare to drop this one in public!

Wondawulf - Too Hot For Drumstep.mp3

A few of these tracks are off some albums that have come out recently. I like to feature just one track, or at most two; but really, I recommend grabbing the full albums from Brekage, Pacou, and Fluxion especially. The thought crossed my mind that I should also have some Autechre and Kyle Hall in here but, I think I’m going to review the Autechre album separately. Ramadanman also has a new album out but I haven’t had a listen yet. Too much good music, not enough time.

Lost Trax – The Sequel (Original Mix) / Lost Trax 2 / Scsi-Av
[audio:0410/01 The Sequel.mp3]

Dare & Haste – Sinister Transmission (2006 Version) / Sinister Remixes / Advanced
[audio:0410/07 Sinister Transmission.mp3]

Fluxion – Waves (Original Mix) / Perfused / Echochord
[audio:0410/fluxion - waves.mp3]

Cardopusher – It’s Yesterday Already (Original Mix) / Schematic Blocks / On The Edge
[audio:0410/02 Its Yesterday Already.mp3]

SBTRKT – Soundboy Shift (Original Mix) / Soundboy Shift bw Rundown / Young Turks
[audio:0410/01 Soundboy Shift.mp3]

The Parallel – Abyss (Original Mix) / The Parallel / Komisch
[audio:0410/01 Abyss.mp3]

Pacou – LL004 Part 3 / Acid Tracks / Cache
[audio:0410/08 LL004 Part 3.mp3]

Ortin Cam & Charles Bells – Pyramid (Original Mix) / Black / Roots Records
[audio:0410/03 Pyramid.mp3]

Breakage ft. Burial – Vial / Foundation / Digital Soundboy
[audio:0410/breakage - vial ft burial.mp3]

Apathesis – Wake Up (Original Mix) / Begin / Urban Scrumping
[audio:0410/03 Wake Up.mp3]

Flying Lotus is finished his acclaimed masterpiece and is ready to share it with the rest of us. This album is apparently one seamless piece of music, an opus, a journey through an astral landscape. It’s been described as a “space opera” amongst other things – an appropriate tittle that suggests the perplexing scale of this cosmic body of unearthly music. I’m not quite sure how he’s done it, one can only guess and make assumptions as to how he has crafted cosmogramma into a single entity, having also curated many guest appearances, including a collaboration with Thom York on the track “And The World Laughs With You.”

I have an inkling that there will be at least a few new surprises on this album in addition to the signature Dilla-inspired beat work we’ve come to associate with his music. 3×3 featured tracks from Lotus that didn’t even have beats, and personally, I found that refreshing. Lotus recently did an interview with Gilles Peterson on Radio One where he showcased some of the new materials from the album; unfortunately, that show is no longer up on the BBC player, but someone’s taken the time to edit the tracks from that broadcast into a mini cosmogramma preview. There are more rips floating about but I didn’t want to spoil all the fun.

Tracklist:

01. Clock Catcher
02. Pickled!
03. Nose Art
04. Intro//A Cosmic Drama
05. Zodiac Shit
06. Computer Face//Pure Being
07. And The World Laughs With You ft. Thom Yorke
08. Arkestry
09. Mmmhmm ft.Thundercat
10. Do The Astral Plane
11. Satelllliiiiiteee
12. German Haircut
13. Recoiled
14. Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph
15. Drips//Auntie’s Harp
16. Table Tennis ft. Laura Darlington
17. Galaxy In Janaki

Cosmogramma marks my second “must have” albums of 2010 and will be released in early May through Warp records. Speaking of which, Pre-orders for the first edition CD’s or gatefold vinyl are avaiable now through Bleep. These limited edition copies come with some extra fancy packaging and maybe some other stuff. Read more and order it here.

Flying Lotus – Quakes
[audio:0310/04 Quakes.mp3]
Gonjasufi – Ancestors (Produced by Flying Lotus)
[audio:0310/03 Ancestors.mp3]

I’d like to get an idea of how many of our readers would support a few changes to our chart system. I’ve spoken with Tim about this and we’re gonna run a poll to get a better idea. As it stands, there is a kind of legal “grey area” when it comes to sharing mixes online. As a promotional tool, it’s become the preferred platform to share music on the Internet without disrespecting the artists, their labels, or infringing copyright laws.

The function of this blog is also to promote the music we love; however, there are many people – including some artists, label owners, lawyers, and industry professionals that disagree with file sharing. Personally, I don’t believe 10 downloads = 10 lost sales. There is sufficient evidence on both sides to support either claim. The argument becomes more of a debate centered around the ethics of file sharing as opposed to which approach is a more effective promotional tool. Without delving further into this tiring endless debate, I’d like to disregard the ethics and look at something more tangible. Let’s see if we can’t find an even playing field for the end user, the consumer, and the producer.

Re-encoding tracks to low bitrate mp3s, and honoring our promise to the labels, to have any offending content removed on request, has been our approach. Although this does nothing to stop piracy on a larger scale, it’s our own way of expressing our concerns for the artists, and their property. This has proved to be fairly effective for us, and we haven’t received many complaints; However, the main issue for me in regards to the monthly charts is that many of those tunes are usually brand new, and much of the revenue generated from sales are within the initial period of their release.

This has been very stressful for me because there are loads of tunes I purchase that are omitted because I believe artists deserve a fair chance at maximizing revenue generated in that crucial initial period of it’s release. The most important factor in deciding which tunes are going into the charts is how available they are elsewhere on the net. My efforts have been to keep the focus on sharing new quality tunes that aren’t already propagated throughout the blogosphere.

A couple of idea’s dawned on me while I was listening to my favourite radio shows and podcasts on how I could maintain my principles, without changing the way I’ve done the charts in the past. I realized that in the mixes I was listening to that I was hearing large unmixed portions of new tunes. This is obviously how many rips of unreleased material pop up on the net. No one fusses about bloggers sharing radio rips, and no one (hopefully) is stupid enough to use a radio rip in their mixes. It was finally clear to me how I could overcome the negative connotations and inevitable guilt associated with file sharing, and still share and promote the music I love. This isn’t an absolute truth or final solution, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.

I’d like to present two different idea’s to the way we can approach this. The first option would be the tried and tested mix format. This seems to be the most popular and accepted way to go about it. My second idea is approach it more like a radio rip. The changes would be made to the lengths of the tracks, shortening them to 2-3 minute preview clips. This would be easier for us than making mixes, but who knows, maybe we should just try both and see which works best. We’ll start with the clips just cause it’s easiest.

#chart#

Exodub – It’s Alright (Original Mix) / Breath Out / Rest In Beats
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 It's Alright.mp3]

Martyn – Seventy Four (Redshape Remix) / Hear Me bw Seventy Four / 3024 Records
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Seventy Four (Redshape Mix).mp3]

Binary Sequence – Arc (Original Mix) (streaming only) / 66/31 / Dark Arx
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Arc.mp3]

Smokin Jo – Simsime (Original Mix) / Umona / Area Remote
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/01 Simsime (Original).mp3]

Frozen Border – 4.01 (Original Mix) / Frozen Border 04 / Frozen Border Records
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/01 4.01.mp3]

Loops Haunt – Joplin (Original Mix) / Impact Omnihammer bw Joplin / Black Acre
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Joplin.mp3]

Planetary Assault Systems – X Speaks To X (Al Tourettes & Appleblim Remix) / Planetary Assault System Remixes / Ostgut Ton
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/01 X Speaks To X (Al Tourettes & App.mp3]

James Fox – Put It Back (Ramadanman Refix) / Put It Back / Take Records
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Put It Back (Ramadanman Refix).mp3]

i3i3 – Rock & Groove It (Original Mix) / Explosion Mind bw Rock & Groove It / Eight:FX
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Rock & Groove It.mp3]

Tickles – Fallout (Mentalic’s Edit) / Freirausch / Ipoly Music
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/03 Fallout (Mentalic's Edit).mp3]

P.S. Please do comment and share your thoughts. These charts usually take me a fair bit of time to compile – It takes you about 5 seconds to simply say “thank you” and show appreciation.

New release from Pangaea out on Hessle Audio, the label founded by, and releasing records for Untold, TRG, Ben UFO, Rammadanman, and all his other strange aliases. This self titled 2x Disc EP marks the 10th release for their label, which started putting out records back in ’07. I was foremost drawn to the musical ethos of their label, which is to promote and put out music that has a lasting impression. This appealed to me because I’ve developed a distaste for disposable music. Tunes with a shelf life of a couple months. The one’s that you throw away, and don’t come back to, or don’t remember.

I suppose it would be fair to say that Pangaea is still largely an experimental outfit exploring different styles. I think if that is the case it’s great because there is still so much room to grow the sound. I’m really excited about all the innovation happening in dubstep right now, and I’m not gonna slate this EP for being off center, it’s simply my observations on my listening experience to this piece as a whole.

Tracklist:

1. Why
2. Sunset Yellow
3. 5-HTP
4. Neurons
5. Dead Living
6. Because Of You

I feel like this EP is a bit lacking in consistency. It’s almost as if there is a significant time span in between the production of these tracks. Are some of these tunes resuscitated old material? The first track, titled ‘Why’ is exactly the kind of pleasant surprise you would expect from Pangaea. It is also the first tune I started hearing get radio play and DJ support. It’s uplifting, and the hook is brilliant. It is simply genius how he collages recycled acapellas together.

Pangaea – Why (Original Mix)
[audio:2010/0110/01 Why.mp3]

Pangaea – Because Of You (Original Mix)
[audio:2010/0110/06 Because Of You.mp3]

There’s a one off half-step tune on here that could either be a nod to earlier permutations, or simply to lul the demands of the status quo. It sounds out of place – Which is a part of what what I describing as the ‘time span’ between the tracks, and also why I believe that this release could have also worked as a couple strong singles: ‘Why’ and ‘Because Of You’ – These tune’s could have been released separately as proper singles, and the the other tracks: ‘Sunset Yellow’, ’5-HTP’, and ‘Dead Living’ – These are the ones that are experimental and interesting. The ones that are hard to get a sense of time for, but maybe have something more to offer. They are the sounds that ought to be further explored and developed.

This release is available on wax, or digital, but it seems Boomkat is already sold out. The records have only been out for 2 days but Boomkat is notorious for keeping a low stock. It seems like if you want something you gotta stay on point with the pre-orders or pay stupid prices from re-sellers. Alternatively, you can download your favourite tracks or the whole EP through the Juno web store.

In an interview with On-Point.be Martyn shares a little insight into his early inspirations, his exposure to drum ‘n bass music, as well as some of his ideas about the definitive aspects of the new generation of ravers and music makers. Thankfully there are decent subtitles for our English speaking readers, as the entire interview is spoken in Dutch.

‘Great Lengths‘ was a strong debut album for Martyn, and one of my favorite albums of 2009. Word is that he’s already in the works with a follow up – I only hope that his new material is as good as the last. He’s been in high demand over the last year, touring all around Europe, and pushing dubstep into different directions. It came as no surprise to me that he’s been commissioned to do the latest FabricLive Mix – an eclectic selection of music blurring the line between techno, dubstep, house, and breakbeat, in a psychedelic loosely woven haze of rhythm.

I did the whole mix CD Live just because I thought that was more honest than doing an Ableton DJ Mix. It is how I would play live – Not everything on the CD is perfect, but it’s not meant to be.

The mix CD features a wide variety of tracks from artists: Hudson Mohawke, Altered Natives, Ben Klock, Zomby, and a whole slough of others artists at the forefront of experimental new music. The full track listing, audio clips, and order info available on the Fabric London website.