Psilodump - Memory Loss

Band / Artist: Psilodump
Year: 2004
Genre: Chiptune, Breakbeat, Electronica

My Review:
"Memories may become corrupted but beauty remains. Still, that is no excuse for acting blind … or maybe it is … what you have lost might not just be your memory."
I know I posted this before.. but I loved this one so much, as it was the quintessential chiptune album to really get me into the genre overall. I know I always loved music from my genesis games, but this just represented a new way to see that music, as not just a nostalgia for a game, but as an instrument being used, as bit compression midi representing a boundary box to work in. Its only 4 tracks, but even today it holds up as a flagpost for the rest of the chiptune music I enjoy.

Psilodump - Memory Loss

And because of the 10 year anniversary, here is a celebration single.

Psilodump - Jag Minns Inte Remixes (10 year anniversary)

And another one, because I love you.

Psilodump - Låtsades Krama Remixes (10 year anniversary)

Taiga - Re:Wireless

Band / Artist: Taiga
Year: 2010
Genre: Dub, Dubstep, Breaks, Downtempo

My Review:
Weird, Chill, and a great way to enjoy a few minutes of an evening. Actually, this is the music I'd imagine in a scene moment of japan at night in the rain. I'm happy to find some good stuff from Russia though, because I always wish I had more of that region to share.

Anyway, i'm pretty sure the netlabel that originally posted this one is dead, and I haven't found much about the band, other than it's name is referencing a Russian forest.

Here is a little blurb about the music.

The new album of Denis Taiga from Saint-Petersburg is a collection of electro-dubstep, sampladelica with a fresh ethnic melodies.

Taiga - Re:Wireless

Mishka - Surf & Turf

Band / Artist: Various Artists
Year: 2014
Genre: Hip-Hop Beats, Trap, Dubstep, Chillstep, Trip Hop, Chillout

My Review:
Miska can be really hit or miss for me. This time around, I'm pretty happy with what they offered to the world. It's a great mix. Mishka is a New York fashion/anti-fashion label, that supports some really varied sets of music. This is their self description;

A New York City fixture since 2003, Мишка (“Mishka,” or “bear cub” in Russian) clawed their own path through the often homogenous streetwear world, beginning humbly as a small t-shirt upstart and maturing into a full blown cut & sew powerhouse.

Find them here.


Surf & Turf are hiphop/trap/dubstep/triphop blends that work really well as the music for your chill tent at a party, or as something to play in the background during that fancy soiree that you put on, so you can prove that you're hip, and know a lot of cool underground shit out of new york. That sounds like a total jerk description, but I've been driving around listening to these, and its really a good set mixes.

Mishka - Surf 

Mishka - Turf
 

Cosby Sweater - Hey, Girl, Hey

Band / Artist: Cosby Sweater
Year: 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop Beats, Dubstep, Electro, Jazz Rock

My Review:
Did you watch old 90s anime movies, and find yourself enjoying the tackiness of the synths they used for the background music? Do you ever find yourself walking at night and wishing that somewhere off in the distance, there was a guy soulfully playing a saxophone? Did you fall in love with the wobble base noise the second you first heard of this mythical thing called "Dub of the Steppe"?

Well if you didn't answer any of those questions with a yes, then fuck you. Enjoy this band anyways.

Cosby sweater popped up in a random music search about 6 months ago. I was REALLY enjoying them, but somehow they fell off my radar and into my collection of tracks I needed to review one day. I found them again recently, and remembered why they made me so happy. There is so much going on here, that I'll let someone else try to explain it.

Everything about Cosby Sweater is catchy. From their witty moniker and humorous album covers, to the abounding funk they unleash. The burgeoning trio has established a knack for composing spellbinding numbers in the field of live electronica, fusing slick production with head-turning instrumentation on each robust release. This results is something so effervescent, so hair-raising, that even their most docile efforts could turn a dance-floor upside down

So if that doesn't tell you whats up, then I'll say a pinch more. David Embry on synth and vocals, Nicholas Gerlach on Tenor Saxophone and EWI, and Richard “Sleepy” Floyd on drums.

 

 They remind me a little of Pretty Lights,  but with these parts that remind me of old synthy anime soundtracks, glitchy triphop/dubstep grooves, and then layers of saxphone and warm flourishes over all of it.

If you don't bob your head to this, then you hate freedom.


Cosby Sweater - Hey, Girl, Hey

The Queenstons - Figurehead Remastered

Band / Artist: The Queenstons
Year: 2011
Genre: Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Electronica, Breakbeat, Jungle

My Review:
Ok, so the label is called Lapfox, or Lapfox Trax. And I guess its one guy (Renard Queenston) doing many different styles under different aliases? I don't really know. I couldn't give two shits though, because its some really decent music. He even made a little promo video for it coming out.



The first version of this album came out a few years ago, a drum & bass anthem album for the most part. Some very game-y sounding moments here and there. The Original was not available for free, but the remastered version, which sounds more clean and full, is. This has a pretty huge number of additional tracks, and it really pleased me to find it.

Fairly tuned voices, sound like they were recording on shitty mics but they did a very good job of masking it and presenting something that comes together as solid as a marble. A pretty professional sounding album that makes for a great listen,  especially if you like Dieselboy, BT, and AK1200, or Paul Oakenfold and DJ Keoki vocals. It feels like stepping back toward 2004 and getting a nostalgic look. There are definitely dubsteppy moments here and there, but they don't undermine the strength of this album overall.


I'd rank this at a rate high enough that it may be in my top 10 DnB albums now (yes I really do have more than that many, I really love techno). So give this a chance, and expect to see me sharing more from Lapfox in the future.

The Queenstons - Figurehead Remastered

Blake Market - Polynesia-town

Band / Artist: Blake Market
Year: 2009
Genre: Dubstep, Breaks, Dub, Downtempo, Trip Hop

My Review:

This one is very close to dubstep, just not your skrillex kind (pretty sure that one is known as Brostep now. Fitting.). Dubstep is such a bitch to pin down, like IDM was back in the early 2000s, because it has such a loose definition. 

Blake Market is also known by Anti-Man, Black Market, Blake Markle, Blakkar Noir, and Zark Behida, But I'll be damned if I couldn't find his REAL name. He has no website, and nearly every moniker he goes by has only one release. From hunting I did figure out that he has been releasing music since at least 2006.

Anyhow, I liked this one enough to keep, and it has had a few return rotations in the year I’ve had it. A lot more focus on the melody in this than the baseline, so it isn't quite as dance oriented, but it was still enjoyable.

Blake Market - Polynesia-town

Lastrapink - Portals

Band/Artist: Lastrapink
Year: 2009
Genre: IDM, Acid, Dubstep, Chillstep, Electro, Breaks

My Review:
This album is nice for all the reasons I love IDM. Its unnassuming, quirky, inventive, and humble in what it presents, a simple album for you to listen to and enjoy. No grandeur, no overcomplicating the beats. It brings a unique flavors and approaches to the fold, but you could just as easily ignore that and enjoy a simple jam session.

So just to give the in depth review of it, I'd say this. An album grabbing up the old flag of Acid IDM from the mid 00's (Such as some modern AFX albums) and blending it with the structural layout of more chill breakbeat tracks. The artists wasn't satisfied to leave it there, taking the chances with elements of dubstep, dub, drum n bass, more emotive ambient, and some tech house as a way to cohesively bring all of the album progressively along its path.

A good album to relate this to would be "Wicklow house" by Vertical67. I always feel like I'm referencing that one. Either way, give this one a listen.

Lastrapink - Portals

Somatic Responses - Mercury

Band / Artist: Somatic Responses
Year: 2009
Genre: Dubstep,  Dark Techno, Electronica, Breakcore

My Review:
This one is a band that was starting out doing breakcore with Venetian Snares back in early 2000s. The release is on Acroplane records. This sounds like something a dubstep fan would enjoy, though I wouldn't call it that. I've had it in my collection for about 3 years, and I've been following the group since early '04.

I love when I can get a chance to support those dark horse guys who were in the background since the beginning of a music era, and this would be an example of one of those bands.

Somatic Responses - Mercury

Max Grin - I Luvstep

Band / Artist: Max Grin
Year: 2012
Genre: Dubstep, Lovestep, Electrostep, Brostep

My Review:

So apparently dubstep has already spawned like 40 subgenres, including girlstep, drillstep, lovestep, brostep, etc.. This one is a set of dubstep remixes, but it isn't normal dubstep stuff, except that last track, which sounds pretty much like what you'd expect to hear at a frat party.

Max Grin isn't a name I had heard yet, but he also goes by the moniker "Brown Noise", so I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for that name in case it's promising.

It's short, but overall worth keeping on my playlist.

Max Grin - I Luvstep