EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Flying Lotus Remix)
Steve Ellison never seems to stop working. Hot on the heels of Kanye's much-discussed SNL appearance he has put together a murky, tweaked Burial-esque remix of "Love Lockdown" that leaves Kanye's autotuned vox swimming in reverb and under clattering rainy-day percussion. As is becoming his hallmark, the Lotus remix turns the original upside-down and casts it in a new atmosphere, making it hard not to perk up your ears and say "whoah".
With praise coming from every direction it would seem easy for Flying Lotus to rest on the strength of his accomplishments, however he’s doing no such thing. In the wake of Los Angeles release, he was hard at work in the lab putting the finishing touches on a series of LA EPs as well as remixes for Stereolab, Blank Blue and the aforementioned Radiohead. LA EP 1X3 reprised a pair of album tracks alongside mind-blowing new jams like “Rickshaw” and “Paper Crane Gang” while LA EP 2X3 sees tracks being remixed by Martyn, Samiyam, Nosaj Thing, Ras G and others. The third EP in the series remains a mystery, but rest assured it will be an excellent prelude to Flying Lotus’ installment in the seminal DJ-Kicks mix series next year.
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Bug Lung Baby - Trilobite Trash EP
Bug Lung Baby is Jonathan Visger--lead singer and songwriter of Michigan indie group Mason Proper--and Trilobite Trash is the second EP of solo compositions he's put out this year, available for free exclusively here on RCRD LBL. While MP's slept on September disc Olly Oxen Free (Dovecote) saw the band messing with tighter, beat-heavy passages, Trilobite dives headfirst into that pool, a fifteen-minute opus of modern laptop music that has its fingers submerged in pop, hip-hop, funk, dubstep and ambient sounds. It's a pretty remarkable and focused record for a side project, loaded with inventive melodies (sunny opener "This Life") and rhythmic heft (the midnight dub funk of closer "Paper Crane") and, honestly, sounds incredibly human for being written, recorded, produced, arranged, mixed, and mastered entirely by one dude (Visger). Get into it below, and if you like what you hear, go pick up Jon's first 2008 EP North South Part I at Secret Tunnel Group and Mason Proper's Olly Oxen Free over at Insound.
Sounds like: Mason Proper, Why?, N.A.S.A.
DOWNLOAD: El Guincho - Palmitos Park
Just when our chapped selves needed a burst of Vitamin D and sunshine, Barcelona's sampler maestro El Guincho is touching down stateside to tour with another RCRD LBL featured artist Lemonade (in NYC November 29th (El Guincho DJ set) and December 2nd with Lemonade). El Guincho (i.e. classically-trained musician Pablo Diaz-Reixa) mixes sunny Tropicala, dub, afro-beat, and a smorgasbord of samples into the sonic equivalent of a mojito: light and refreshing compared other heavier tropical concoctions while still potent enough to induce a flamboyant dance-off.
Sounds Like: Os Mutantes, Mexican Institute of Sound, Manu Chao, Animal Collective, Lemonade
DOWNLOAD: Mahjongg - Free Grooverider + Selector Dub Narcotic Remix
Over two albums of unbridled rhythmic genius, Chicago's Mahjongg have become the percussive weirdos of their city's post-rock lineage, masters of Afro-beat poly-rhythms and Latin hand drum fills that sound like mating insects on No-Doze. Earlier this year the band put out their first album for K Records called Kontpab and just got back from a pretty extensive tour of Europe, but somewhere amidst all that shred found some time to put out a seven-inch through K called "Free Grooverider," one of their more artificial sounding tunes with thin electronic beat blasts under some thin vocoder. On the flip is a remix of the tune from Selector Dub Narcotic aka K label boss Calvin Johnson aka Beat Happening guy aka Olympia's indie rock Jesus, who does a good dub job by removing some things, adding a lot of echo, and just generally making the track sound weirder. Both sides are below.
Sounds like: Tussle, Professor Murder, Black Dice
Mahjongg - Free Grooverider (Selector Dub Narcotic Remix)
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Santogold - Shove It (Switch Remix)
"Shove It" is one of the dubbier cuts from Santogold's debut album, a track weighted with sighing reggae horns and ghettotech pulses from late producer Disco D and sporting a great, laidbback cameo from Naeem of Spank Rock. For our anniversary, the folks at Downtown have graciously hooked us up with an exclusive remix of the song from Switch, a guy who had his paws all over Santi's album but does little here to one-up D's perfect work. By opting for some more crystalline hi-hats and a soupier kick sound, Switch has kept the track at a turtle-crawl pace, drawing the island vibes out even more but never dulling Santi or Naeem's performances. Say Happy Birthday by downloading below.
Sounds like: Damian Marley, Spank Rock, 77Klash
Exclusive Download: Santogold - Shove It (Switch Remix)
Exclusive Download: Santogold - Your Voice
Stream: Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes (XXXChange Remix)
Stream: Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Harmonic 313 - Dirtbox
Fans of heavy bass and dancehall flavors take note: our always-tastemaking friends at Warp have unloaded a new track from Mark Pritchard's Harmonic 313 project called "Dirtbox," a quaking blast of bass-to-the-face that will see the light of day on December 9 as part of an EP of the same name (us Americans have a chance to grab it on a limited-to-300 run of 12" wax.) It's a preview to Harmonic's first full-length album When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence, currently slated to drop in February of '09. Tune in and dub out.
Sounds like: The Bug, Mr. Scruff, Rusko
Exclusive Download: Harmonic 313 - Dirtbox
Previously:
Download: Harmonic 313 - Mary Anne Hobbs Breezeblock
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Monareta - Me Voy Pal Mar
Since Monareta is named after a type of BMX street bike, it's no surprise this exclusive could double as slick soundbite for a bike race or computer game. It begins with layers of calypso-esque drums and a minimalistic funk beat. It climaxes with energy once female Spanish vocals kick in mid-way along with a dubtronic beat. The Columbian-born team Andres Martinez and Camilo Sanabria have been churning out their style of "danceable electro-cumbia and breakbeat" since 2000, influenced both by their home country and Brookyln's electro scene; thier new album proves just as cutting edge. Groove to the exclusive jam "Me Voy Pal Mar" below.
Sounds like: Pacha Massive, Nortec Collective
Exclusive New Download: Monareta - Me_Voy_Pal_Mar
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Mr. Scruff - Hold The Dub
Mr. Scruff might’ve made his name spinning cross-genre sets at Manchester clubs like Manumission and his (still going!) party Keep It Unreal, but in addition to music, DUDE MAKES TEA! In an era of clothing lines and energy drinks being hawked by anyone with an Interscope deal, it’s great to see an artist proudly put their name on a soothing morning (or mid-afternoon) beverage. “Hold The Dub” (from Mr. Scruff's debut album Ninja Tuna) has been steeped into murky underwater funk, centering around a riff that sounds like a fingernail scratching away at neoprene and taping it together with chain-dragging drums, some droopy synths burps and the voice of a coffee house diva. Brew yourself some black chai or whatever and use this tune to explore the cobwebs up in your mindgrapes.
Sounds like: Nightmares On Wax, Flying Lotus, Thievery Corporation
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Nancy - Keep Cooler (Born Ruffians Remix)
Nancy's optimistic tropicalia twang—more South East U.S. than South America—has been hogging our Sunday morning listening since we told you about them back in January. Almost ten months later, in a bit of RCRD LBL synergy, the Brazilian five-piece have sent over the very first remix completed by our good bros Born Ruffians, who have versioned the Nancy tune “Keep Cooler” into a spare, stoned slice of pinging bongos and washy background swells. The most striking thing about the remix is what’s not there—gone are the original’s James Bond horns, electric guitars, and brisk tempo—so we’re more inclined to call this a “dub,” throw it on repeat and venture off to find the psychedelic palm tree paradise from whence it came.
Sounds like: Lissy Truillie, Os Mutantes, Camera Obscura
Exclusive Download: Nancy - Keep Cooler (Born Ruffians)
Previously:
Download: Nancy - Glicerina Dreaming
Download: Born Ruffians - Hummingbird
Download: Born Ruffians - I Need A Life (Four Tet Remix)
Stream: Born Ruffians - Red Yellow & Blue (White Williams Remix)
Download: Born Ruffians - Badonkadonkey
DOWNLOAD: Federico Aubele - En El Desierto
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Federico Aubele is a young Argentinian singer and songwriter with an old musical soul. This track from his new album "Panamericana" was produced by D.C.'s Thievery Corporation and released on their ESL Records label. Aubele's classical guitar meshes surprisingly well with the track's dub bass and insistent ska riff to create a sound that sits nicely in the back of your head, but reveals greater depths on repeat listens. It all adds up to a choice spot on your next dinner party playlist.
Sounds Like: Thievery Corporation, Bebel Gilberto, Manu Chao
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