atmospheric

DJ /rupture – Uproot

/ David James / 13 Comments

DJ /rupture is a flat-out musical genius. Preternaturally adept at crafting singularly pure mood explorations whole-cloth out of disparate samples, producer Jace Clayton is nearly as well known for his insightful writing on music.  He’s one of my favorite electronic artists working today.  One of my favorites of all time, in fact.  He’s often lumped in with the humble ‘mash-up dj’ category, which is a grave disservice to the prodigious talent he displays, especially on this album.

dj-rupture-uproot

First things first:  just put the album on now, with a set of headphones (or good stereo with some bass presence).  Press play.  Absorb.  This way, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Uproot is an album which feels so cohesively unified, hypnotically of-a-piece that one could be forgiven for assuming it’s not sample-based upon first listen.  Every single moment has so much attention paid to the connections and frictions between beats and vocals, synths and strings, pacing and flow, there are simply no seams in the production.  That fact alone places this lp miles above anything traditionally recognized as ‘mash-up’ – this resides on a level closer to Endtroducing or Avalanches than Girl Talk.

Conjuring the ghosts of reggae, dub, afropop, techno, grimy hip hop, dubstep, idm, and even post rock precedents/outliers like Dif Juz or Seefeel, Uproot is a smoky mix of pulsing, impulsively grounded head-nodding beats and extraterrestrial atmospheres.  Vocals and orchestral phrases shift in and out of the mix while a constant bed of low-end throb envelops perception.  The deeply narcotic sense of comfortable oblivion is overwhelming.

By the final withering reverberation Clayton has taken a journey from flute-peppered break beats through modern avant composers to melancholy post-apocalyptic ambience, conveyed en route by dub ideals and echo-laden empathy.  This is an evolution of the soul.  A journey of the mind.  A fucking incredible mix.

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Note:  when you obtain Uproot the tags may be crazy – a predictable result with complicated artists like this.  For the proper version check (strangely enough) the last.fm page and simply copy what they’ve got.  This will help you know the prominent sample(s) on each track as well as the proper names.

Be sure to read his blog as well:  mudd up!

[purchase this, as Clayton himself offers:  at iTunes or amazon]

Shogun Kunitoki – Vinonaamakasio

/ David James / 5 Comments

vinonaamakasio

With a name like Shogun Kunitoki, you’d be forgiven for assuming the band is Japanese in origin.  Fittingly, they’re scandinavian.  These Finnish fellows create a sound which I first described as “Steve Reich using Black Moth Super Rainbow‘s instruments, scoring a Miyazaki film” upon hearing the debut, Tasankokaiku.  And truthfully, my silly description still stands tall if you’re familiar with the references.  If not, then read on.

This band takes elements of the strain of minimalism exemplefied by Terry Riley and later, Steve Reich – but the influence is exactly that:  an element of the sound.  The album is full of defiantly  fleshed-out songs with structure and mood shifts, beginnings and endings.  The instrumentation is refreshingly lived-in, with warm analog synths and the unprogrammed appeal of live percussion.  The atmosphere is pure 60’s sci-fi and lounge wrung through a modern sensibility which betrays the artists’ hindsight and ingenuity; in other words, this music doesn’t simply coast on the preconditioned atmosphere moog tones and synth squeals conjure – it’s pulsing with the (seeming) foreknowledge of punk zeal, bulging fuzzy psychedelic rock acoustics, and a post-rock ache for reinvention of the comfortable and pedestrian.

If you are familiar with the debut album, then you know what to expect when I say it’s more of the same and beyond.  In other words, there are no game-changing shifts in approach;  this is an update and expansion on the unique slice of sound Shogun Kunitoki have previously carved out for themselves.

And if you’re truly lacking in inspiration, do yourself and the world a favor:  go watch Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Dimlite – This Is Embracing

/ David James / 5 Comments

dimlite-thisisembracing

So I’ve been on somewhat of an instrumental hip-hop kick this year, and Dimlite has been one of the unequivocal gems I’ve discovered. He is Swiss producer extraordinaire, Dimitri Grimm. And here’s a little blurb I found on the label website: “During the week that he was allowed to toy around with this first piece of real gear, he filled a whole tape with all kinds of circling noises and atmospheres with the purpose to make «music to smoke to».” I Like how they put it.

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