Lava Experiments

Antimatter Music continues to give me great leads on downtempo and ambient music. The label, based out of Glasgow, Scotland, recently released The Lava Experiments first EP - Blackbody Vol. 1. This EP is the first in a trilogy, and I'm already awaiting the second and third installments.

Blackbody is five lush tracks from The Lava Experiments. Every track contributes to a beautiful ambient listening experience, they flow nicely together but are unique enough that they can stand alone. Tracks like "Electric Garden" and "Beautiful Crystal Hall" begin with synthed soundscapes that conjure images of cascading water or...churning lava. After the ambient introduction, organic drums and beats add a surprising layer of warmth. I was taken by the ambient, and then the melodic soft rock came in and added a complementary sound that enhanced the ambient and brought surprising energy to it.

Other tracks, such as "Organize the Box" and "Wake Up" keep a true ambient feel, while still establishing deeper sounds through downtempo drum beats, guitars and pianos. They are a bit experimental, introducing electronic sounds that are reminiscent of Brian Eno - in fact, this isn't the first time Lava Experiments has been compared to Eno.

Visit http://www.antimattermusic.co.uk/lavashop.html to get a copy of this limited edition EP. There are limited copies available, or you can stream and download tracks on iTunes.

Weeks of Listening

It's been a few weeks since my last post. Work has kept me very busy - travelling, clients, late nights. On top of that I'm moving out of my apartment in the fall so I've been trying to find a new place - hence I've neglected the Downbeatscape a bit. Though, I certainly haven't stopped listening...

The past few weeks I've been listening to some great music. Here's some I recommend, and I hope to review/post more about these soon:

- WMSE 91.7 FM, Frontier Radio out of Milwaukee (http://www.wmse.org/) - travelling to my hometown is rough b/c the radio, nor the trip hop or chillout scene, are very good; but the Milwaukee School of Engineering's college radio consistently shines - check out the morning shows - always more chill and during the summers are chock full of Reggae, dub and downtempo - especially Monday Morning's Putumayo World Music Hour

- Coldplay - Viva La Vida - Brian Eno produced album, really great stuff, very inspirational, emotional, ballad type work

- The Herbaliser - Same As It Never Was, Take London, Very Mercenary - this trio of albums combines UK produced trip-hop with male and female vocalists who rap and rhyme over jass and funk beats - you may have heard "The Sensual Woman" on the Snatch soundtrack

- 9th Wonder and Buckshot - The Formula - Two Southern rappers join on this album to tell tales of struggle and formula's for success through underground hip-hop struggles, nice beats and flows, recommended to me by my friend Jay, who has quickly become my source for all underground hip hop

- Thievery Corporation - Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi - my favorite Thievery album never gets old

General Fuzz

Work has wasted the last week of my life - I truly need a chillout mood right now. The Downbeatscape email queue has been active these days, so I dont check my spam filter. But I did tonight - and among the "VI8AG9A You're A MILLION EURO BMW Price Pak Winner" emails I found a message from General Fuzz. Basically, it said "I give away music, listen some."

Bwah! His tunes are so chill. In the vein of my Brian Eno post, General Fuzz has some absolutely beautiful melodies. "Cool Aberrations" would be pure Eno ambient if you stripped the energy from Fuzz's electronica additions. Its beautiful, quirky, and heart-felt.

All of his music is available for free on his site under a Creative Commons agreement - basically his willingness to, and want, to help y'all ease into a good mood. The iciing on the cake is his descriptive and honest writing on his blog and site - he explains his creative motivations, the difficulties of the recording and distribution process, and the sincere obligation he feels to share his creations with us for free.

Summer's here, bust out the Fuzz.

Brian Eno

I'm really excited about Coldplay's new album "Viva La Vida." First reviews of it are really positive, saying it has the melodic beautiful rock and falsetto that Coldplay has made acceptable for living room loungin' or arena festivals. But what has me really excited is that it's produced by Brian Eno - the "father" of modern ambient music.

Eno started out in a glam rock band called Roxy Music in the 70's that didn't really go anywhere. He took his synthesizer and keyboard and started releasing solo work, both artfully and commercially, releasing albums such as "Music for Airports" that, well, was a soundscape for airports and other commercial settings. Eno has produced work with Paul Simon, Devo, David Bowie, U2, and now Coldplay, among many others.

His fluid ambient wasn't just elevator music, it was, as he puts it, music that "must accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." (1978) To me that sums up the beauty of true ambient - you can fall into it as deep as you want, or you can use it as soundtrack for everyday life.

We've all heard his contributions to music, commercials, movies, even cell phones (Nokia released a limited edition Eno phone in 2007 that featured his music). One of his most famous compositions is "An Ending (Ascent)" from his 1982 "Apollo" album. This track has been sampled in countless house and techno remixes, but the original is true ambient, so beautiful...

I missed Mr. Lif but found Sincere Underground Hip Hop

I'm in a very underground hip-hop kind of mood. I was hoping to see Mr. Lif at Paradise tonight in Boston, but last minute things fell through - i'm disapointed. But I downloaded Mo' Mega, its' good but not great. If you like Lif you'll like this, but its not absolutely necessary. Anyway, definitely though check out this track and video by Sincere ft. Natty - Once Upon a Time (just watch the video - found it on Certified Banger , seriously good underground hip-hop - I enjoyed it at least, more description below)

Sincere ft. Natty - Once Upon a Time

LONDON’ featuring Dizzie Rascals signing, D Double E as well as hot property Scorcher. He’s appeared in a television series – Dubplate Drama, made a movie, and set up and administered his own label YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS RECORDS. You certainly can’t accuse him of laziness.

“It’s been a busy period but I still feel I have a lot to achieve, I’ve taken so much from the last few years plus I’ve grown up a lot too”

His experiences in everyday life coupled with those in music have definitely made an impact on this young Londoner …

“It’s so easy just to get caught up in London, the roads, politics, life, music etc, but there’s a whole world out there and I want to reflect some of that”

SINCERE’S an artist that’s definitely feeling comfortable in his own skin, and the evidence is there for all to see on ‘ONCE UPON A TIME’, the first single from the new album ‘NOW OR NEVER’, which features ATLANTIC RECORDS signing Natty.

The album, ‘NOW OR NEVER’, is due October 2008 and already features guest appearances from Skinnyman, John Blood, Natty, Sway and fellow Young Entrepreneur Mark Henry.

Production duties are being dealt with by P Nut [Dido / Amy Whinehouse / Faithless], Firstman [Hi Tek / Talib Kweli / Skinnyman / Lemar], Blak Jak, the man behind ‘THAT’S NOT GANSTER’, [Miss Dynamite, Akala, Scorcher and Nathan], Res [Akala, Miss Dynamite] and Young Entrepreneurs very own in house beatsmith Godson [Sway / Scorcher].

Also look out for the sinceremusic.co.uk download mixtape available soon and featuring the mighty King’s of Leon. There’s more remix action with fellow N2 resident Natty on the remix of Cold Town. Plus look out for the HUGE video for ‘ONCE UPON A TIME’ coming to a screen near you soon.

Check online for updates
www.myspace.com/sincererap
www.sinceremusic.co.uk

For more info please contact
management@ye-records.com

Flashbaxx - new downtempo out of Germany

I'll be the first to admit, some downtempo and chillout can get stale - much of it sounds alike, much of it is a more energetic take on soundscapes. I find the best downtempo takes a little bit from many genres and sub-styles of music. Thievery Corporation is one of the best and widely known examples of how to make downtempo stand out. You hear a Thievery track and you know its Eric Hilton and Rob Garza mixing up many influences and somehow making it work. This works best when they are going for energy. When they go for pure downtempo, its simplified, working with soulful electronica and slight jazzy backdrops.

I just received a downtempo EP from Flashbaxx - an artist out of Germany whose first release's title track, Livingroom Adventures, was featured on compilations by Tosca and Jazzanova nearly five years ago. Flashbaxx is back with The Changing Tides EP - an album that is born of acid jazz, commercial soundscapes and some signature downtempo that is reminiscent of the basic Thievery chillout that brought me into this type of music.

There are other comparisons I could make (Bonobo, Lemongrass, others) but I want to stick with Thievery. Flashbaxx's Voodoo Therapy is a true chillout track that builds on intermittent piano and guitar bursts with bongos that hint at Brazilian Jazz. "Stainless" and Sand Bank continue the chillout with even more lounge-like groove. These are sit back and relax tracks that employ echo effects and interesting electronic sounds to add to any lounge ambiance.

Another side of Flasbhaxx's EP is the funk-infused Jack of all Trades The name may imply that Flashbaxx is promoting its various styles (or I may just be thinking too hard), and it certainly showcases another type of music that Flashbaxx can manipulate (for our listening delight). However, as funk guitar chops along with horns, high hats, and soulful ladies humming in the background, this is as eclectic as we're going to get. Flashbaxx's Changing Tides is a true downtempo EP that is lovely to listen to, but don't expect too much beyond the chillout and a taste of funk. This is a very promising EP for Flashbaxx, I'm going to listen to this for many moons, and await what is next to come.

Don Imuze (aka Jeff Bennett) - Great Illusions on Phunctional Loungin

Don Imuze hunted me down. Not to scare me or play italian mobster, but to share his latest dub creation. Jeff Bennett, under his dub guise Don Imuze, releases some beautifully chill tracks at the end of May. Probably better known for his techno and house beats such as Smoke In the Shadow or Raindance, Jeff breaks out of the deep house on his Phunctional Loungin label.

Currently out on Beatsource.com (Beatport's alternative music source), Don Imuze's dub creations will be available digitally throughout many other digital stores on May 30.

Here are some of my favorite tracks from Don Imuze's upcoming release (click the title link above to listen to the entire album - I'm still working out kinks to embed music directly in my posts):

"Mahla" is a very simple downtempo groove that pulls no strings. It has slight slight undertones of dub but is more a chillout tune at heart. Twanging thumps that sound like an acoustic base provide the dub foundation and a sitar comes in to change it up and give it a borderline bhangra vibe. Its a very smooth chill tune.

"Bazzif" is the dub club tune, ready to mix. This track comes with a ready made, chilled dub foundation that is so solid yet subdued that you can throw something very cool on top of this to Frankenstein your own hip-hop dub creation. I smell Remix.

"Feverz" is my favorite dub on the album, its the purest as far as I can tell. Honestly, this track is straight fun. Sit under the trees and add this to your summer jammin' playlist. The relaxed funk guitar, choppy organ and flutish woodwind adding some lovely light flavor - making you think only of rum drinks and your hashish of choice. (Ok, I know hashish is Indian, but I'm in a hookah mood lately!)

All in all, check out Don Imuze. With the summer months cresting for many of us, this provides the midday or late evening downtempo that is best accompanied with a lounge chair and cold drink.

RJD2 Live

Back in Nov/Dec of 2007 I wrote some commentary panning RJD2's "The Third Hand" - his latest installment. I kind of rescind my comments - I saw him live at Paradise in Boston on May 3 and "The Third Hand" came to life for me that night - and I actually had a chance to tell him quickly after the show. It all makes sense to me now too - I did some more digging and realized his first albums (progressive and fairly experimental trip-hop) were released on the Definitive Jux label which hosts more independent hip-hop artists such as Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif and C-Rayz Walz (heard of em? let me know if you haven't and I'll hook you up with some music - they're great).

So anyway, RJ is now with XL Recordings which releases the likes of Beck, Vampire Weekend, Tapes 'n' Tapes and the Raconteurs. This is a HUGE departure from Def Jux, and "The Third Hand" is a HUGE departure from RJD2's previous albums. I still like "Deadringer" and "Since We Last Spoke" more than Third Hand, but RJ did rock out on stage in between classics such as The Horror and Chicken Bone, and some improv Mario Bros soundtracks. He really showed some versatility, and he brought his creativity on the turntables to his guitar playing and general stage presence.

It was very cool too - at the end of the show he sat at the front of the stage and shook hands with his fans, I've seen few and far between do something like that, very classy, and made me like his beats even more.