Nov 12 2013

[Audio] Kosheen’s ‘Harder They Fall’

Of the many many thing to be proud about the city of Bristol, near the top sits Kosheen. ElectroPop, Drum & Bass, Electro, Breakbeat, Trip-Hop chameleons, Kosheen have left a stunning back catalogue behind them over the last fifteen years with Sian, Mark and Darren consistently delivering quality, intelligent Dance music with soul. Cue their forthcoming fifth studio album, Solitude, and it’s lead single, Harder They Fall. Released at the end of November, Harder They Fall comes equipped with three storming reMixes, have a listen to the Radio Edit and one of the mixes right now.

Harder They Fall is both dark & haunting and a post-Rave, UK House floorfiller. It’s like Kosheen of old, driven by Sian’s smokey vocals, with a twist that would see them fitting in perfectly in summer 2013 clubland. Musically, the track is a selection of tough beats, thought House basslines and tough leads, all tempered by silky smooth production and morphed into a noir Pop song by Sian’s croon. Most of the reMixes come straight out of the Kosheen camp. Well, if you’ve got that many alter egos, why not? Mark and Darren in their guise as Kosheen DJs deliver a rugged UK House track the loads itself with abrasive riffs swirling, spacious, synth growls but overall eschews a gritty sound in favour of bringing a hypnotic tone to the track. The alter-ego that first brought Mark and Darren to our attention, that of Drum & Bass legends Decoder & Substance lend the single a distorted, bass heavy, Dubby vibe, with hints of Experimental and Industrial leanings. Their reMix draws you in with it’s relentless cloud of noise, pulsating synths and hammered purcussion. We would kinda’ say that Harder They Fall is a return to form for Kosheen, but honestly, they have never wavered from excellence. It is, however, an awesome single.

♫ Kosheen – Harder They Fall (Radio Edit)

♫ Kosheen – Harder They Fall (Kosheen DJs reMix)

♫ Kosheen – Harder They Fall (Decoder & Substance reMix)

Kosheen’s Harder They Fall is released 25th November.

Buy Kosheen’s music from:

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Jul 2 2012

Toddla T & Shola Ama’s ‘Alive’

Alive sees Toddla T teaming up once again with songstress Shola Ama for another huge summer anthem.

Whist it’s not quite Take It Back, Alive is still going to be soundtracking some festival moments this summer.

Alive is released 13th August.

Buy Toddla T’s music from:

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May 1 2012

Big C reMixes Blac Swan

Blac Swan

Fresh from his reworking of Wheel Wells ’Morning Light’ London nomad Big C has dropped another bombshell mix. this time taking on New York genre chameleons Blac Swan and their ‘Night Drive’.

In all honestly, the original version of this track is pretty lame. It’s got a nice crunchy production but it’s based around a really simplistic riff that never goes anywhere, enter Big C to sort shit out, take that riff and add it to intricate layers of melody. With a pounding rhythm, and enough elements, both gritty and sparkling, to carry the riff along to somewhere emotionally resonant and build the whole track up to it’s Drum ‘N’ Bass finale. Big C’s reMix is a strange and complicated beast, but one that would rock the dancefloor.

♫ Blac Swan – Night Drive (Big C reMix)

Check out more from Blac Swan on SoundCloud.

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Apr 13 2012

Squarepusher’s new single

Glitch superstar Squarepusher is back with a new album, ‘Ufabulum’ and this new single and video for it’s lead track ‘Dark Steering’.

I’ll admit I’ve been quite partial to Squarepusher’s IDM in the past, when he’s not getting too Drill & Bass and I found ‘Dark Steering’ pleasantly surprising for three reasons. 1) It exists 2) The video is slick as all hell 3) It’s wonderfully melodic.

‘Ufabulum’ is released 14th May on Warp, natch.

Buy Squarepusher’s music from:

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Aug 19 2011

Little Jinder’s new video

So it looks like Swedish ElectroPop firecracker Little Jinder has given up on trying to be called just ‘Jinder’ and we can all breathe a sigh of relief and call her Little Jinder again.

Here’s her new single ‘Without You’, it’s a impressive mix of ElectroPop, Dubstep and a hint of Drum & Bass.

‘Without You’ is out this week on Trouble & Bass

Buy Little Jinder’s music from:

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Aug 4 2011

Katy B’s new video

This is the new video for ‘Witches Brew’, the Zinc produced next single from Katy B.

Director Colin Tilley brings out Katy’s dark side in this clip.

‘Witches Brew’ comes from Katy B’s album ‘On A Mission’, out now. The single is out 29th August.

Buy Katy B’s music from:

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Jul 15 2011

Substatic; they’ve been up to stuff

substatic

So, “what’s been going on in the world of Substatic?” I hear you ask. Gather ‘round, I’ll tell you.

Well, mostly the Bristol based Indie-Electro trio have been chained to the mixing desk. Spending their time slaving away in Substatic HQ, the guys and gal have been preparing a brand new live show and tracks for a forthcoming release. If you’ve been keeping an eye on their SoundCloud page you’ll have been treated to a stream of demo versions coming straight out the studio. The most prominent of these is a new version of ‘Bloodlust’. It was back in April that the first demo of Bloodlust surfaced but this new upload is cleaner, more refined. Instruments are given more space within the mix to make themselves heard, which compliments Colleen’s croon better and more emphasis on the Acid build lends and new level of excitement to the tune. ‘Drawn In Chalk’, the most recent track to emerge, eases you in with an atmospheric opening and some really nice lyrical imagery. It’s definitely epic in scope and sound. Powerful too, with Alex and Steve conveying just as much of an emotional narrative with the shifting moods of the tune as the layered, emotive, vocals. ‘Inside These Walls’ brings together influences from Drum & Bass, Electro-House and ElectroPop in that way only Substatic can. The most Poppy and catchy of the new batch, ‘Inside These Walls’ show Colleen on top form in Pop chanteuse mode while the guys mix up deep basses and broken beats but never let them run amok and cause chaos.

♫ Substatic – Bloodlust (Demo.)

♫ Substatic – Drawn In Chalk (Demo.)

♫ Substatic – Inside These Walls (Demo.)

So now you know what’s going on!

Substatic are just starting to announce some new shows for this year including 26th August at our very own Start The Bus in Bristol and 14th September at one of my favourite London venues, The Dublin Castle in Camden, London.

Buy Substatic’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Apr 15 2011

What have Substatic been up to?

Well…holed up in some kind of Substatic bunker writing tunes, that’s what.

After extensive gigging their highly recommended début EP for the past year (and, I presume, taking a couple of months to get over making it into electronic rumors’ top 5 tracks of 2011!) it was time for Bristol’s finest Electro trio to get their groove on and look to their next release. They have let two demos form their next release into the wild via their SoundCloud page. The first to see the light of day was ‘Bloodlust’, a laidback, slightly Dubsteppy, tune with an air of tension running throughout, but in instrumentation and Colleen’s borderline lamentation vocal delivery. Then there is ‘Gold’, a track that deserves to be played loud. ‘Gold’ is an in-your-face Electro beast, Substatic have assimilated both Dubstep and Electro-House’s synth work and sprinkled it with an ElectroPop sheen. ‘Gold’ will defiantly be one of this summers anthems.

Bearing in mind that these are both still works-in-progress, it seems Substatic’s next release will be something to get excited about.

♫ Substatic – Gold (Demo.)

♫ Substatic – Bloodlust (Demo.)

Substatic’s ‘Days Go On’ EP and ‘Days Go On: the_reMixes’ are both available now.

Substatic @ Juno

Substatic @ 7Digital

Substatic @ Amazon

Mar 4 2011

The new Katy B video; ‘Broken Record’

Katy B is REALLY growing on me! I’ve said before I have a big soft spot for female vocals with a bit of a uniqueness, a quirkiness to them and Katy totally fits the bill. There’s some awesome tunes there too. Her new single ‘Broken Record’ has been on repeat here most of the morning and luckily enough the video has just been premiered.

So have a gander:

Broken Record” drops on 27th March with remixes from Zinc, DJ Fresh, Jacques Greene and Todd Edwards.

Aug 4 2010

Roni Size’s first reMix in three years; Lauren Pritchard’s ‘Painkillers’

I’ve been a big fan of Roni Size for years, both with Reprazent and Breakbreat Era, so I was pretty hyped to hear this, his first reMix in three years.

London based American Singer/songwriter Lauren Pritchard is the lucky subject of the reMix treatment with the title track from her ‘Painkillers EP’, released this week. Featuring guest MCing from Taleb Kweli, it turns the soulful, gospel vocals of the original into a temporary reprieve from the frantic beats and bass. Excellent stuff.