REVIEW: The Blessings – Galaxy High EP

The Blessings are part of the LuckyMe family in Glasgow, Scotland. Their debut EP, Galaxy High, is due to drop imminently on the Nod Navigators imprint of Dutch label Kindred Spirits. And guess what… it’s really rather good. With elements of Hudson Mohawke, Dimlite and Machine Drum to their sound, The Blessings – comprised of Dominic Flannigan and Martyn Flyn – offer up their own unique angle on the electronic beats scene.

Galaxy High is a delightful six-track EP that manages to stay away from the generic beats format and instead offer up something more in the way of ethereal soundscapes and fresh electronic ditties with a pinch of boom-bap.

Tracklisting:

01. Arisseee Henson
02. Faberge
03. Moranis Riding Ants
04. Keith Sweats
05. Ibaseta
06. Hot Song

The EP kicks off with Arisseee Henson, a track that initially gives the impression of being a delicate keys-led song. But, don’t be fooled or taken in by this trickery, it’s a heavy, heavy track with a nasty attitude! The bass-heavy steady beat, with the piano melody and slick synths over the top, makes for a bizarre, yet brilliant track. Ethereal, but hard hitting, the combination is wicked. Faberge is a progressive track that straddles the line between 80s electro/synths and tripped out electronic chaos, ala Daedelus. Once again though, the balance is just right. Whilst some of their influences might seem immediately apparent, what is genuinely satisfying is how relevant and well constructed the tracks are.

KSNN10 The Blessings Galaxy High by LuckyMe Music.Art.Parties

Moranis Riding Ants is slightly more laid back, but gently builds layer upon layer until we’re left with something resembling what the Avalanches could have sounded like today. A short interlude in the form of Keith Sweats provides, well, what is basically a humid breakdown of hypnotic electronic stabs and beats. Ibaseta, is the biggest hint yet on the EP that The Blessings have a lot of hip-hop in their style, just bubbling away under the surface. It starts steady enough, with that boom-bap style, then gradually moves up the gears until it lands in more upbeat head-nod territory. The last track on the EP is Hot Song, and it really has that vibe of being an outro track. Outlandish, yet almost reserved synths build steadily alongside vocal samples before a broken beat kicks in like a call to arms, yet it remains steady and reserved. Teasing bass hits rumble, whilst the synths continue – the track refrains from just letting rip, and at this stage that decision feels rather appropriate and the EP comes to a close.

This is a very good EP and definitely serves to put The Blessings well and truly on the musical radar. I’m still digesting the music, even now. I’m more than aware that it’s very good on many levels; production qualities are very high, the construction of the tracks is excellent, but there’s just something about the way they’ve amalgamated all these sounds and influences that still leaves me rather intrigued. It would be too easy to just say they sound like Hudson Mohawke, or a plethora of other artists of a similar ilk, but the reality is that they genuinely have carved their own space into this arena. It might take half a dozen listens to truly appreciate the brilliance of the Galaxy High EP, but the penny will most definitely drop sooner or later. Conundrums aside, it’s a wicked listen from the first time you hit play – but, you might also find it turns out to intrigue you as much as it does me!

REVIEW: Alex B – Moments

Colorado-based beatmaker, Alex B, came to prominence last year when he provided a very popular mix for Flying Lotus‘ Brainfeeder collective. Since then, he’s teased us with more original creations, supplied mixes elsewhere, and also contributed a track to Jus Like Music & Apple Juice Break present: Oscillations. But the wait is over – Alex B‘s hotly anticipated debut full-length is out right now on his own Elm and Oak imprint, and it’s called Moments.

Moments is a collection of 17 beautifully crafted tracks, many no longer than two and a half minutes long, but all absolutely incredible. Alex B most definitely has his own distinctive sound, plus his production techniques are exquisite, but what is really pleasing about this album is how easily the sound shimmies from electronica to instrumental hip-hop to downtempo neo-soul to fully blown rap and back again. In theory, this is something that should sound chaotic and disjointed, but the reality instead sees a very complete sounding record hit the ears.

Tracklisting:

01. At Channel One
02. Pad 5
03. Hot Chop
04. You And I Both Know
05. Nothing Is Always Something
06. Kick Drones
07. Talk It Out
08. Clicking Away
09. Getting To Know You
10. Show Me
11. Drip Splatter
12. Waste
13. Hide Extension
14. Impressions
15. Standing On Me
16. Seriously Again ?!?!
17. Timing Correct

At Channel One is the perfect introduction to Alex B’s sound as it emphasises his connection with jazz, hip-hop and electronica – all in varying ways and to varying levels. Not that a comparison is particularly necessary, but it sounds like a laid back Harmonic 313 ate a Dimlite filled pie! That’s all very tenuous though really – just know that the beats are crisp and heavy, and the electronic sounds are pure. The record continues onwards with the steady head-nodder, Pad 5, and ultra-heavy Hot Chop with it’s gritty claustrophobia. Hot Chop is actually a really apt name for the track, you can almost feel the bass hits reverberating off the walls as the sweat drips off your back.

mp3: Alex B – Hot Chop

The track You And I Both Know has to be one of the best tracks I’ve heard all year. It comprises of, what initially seems like, such simple components, but in truth it’s a very fine blend of semi-acoustic samples, a heavy beat and precisely placed electronic cuts. Those are just the components though. Alex B then layered and arranged them all to create something with a real melody and soul. That is what I think places Alex B above many of his contemporaries at the moment, his ability to take his tracks to a level at which they become fully-fledged song creations, with all the life and soul a listener yearns for from a song. Nothing Is Always Something is born of the same cloth, yet exchanges some of the fierce bass elements for more delicate, progressive sounds.

Kick Drones suddenly hits you with an emcee, but it’s more of a pleasant surprise than a shock. It’s only 49 seconds long and acts as a precursor to the wonderful Talk It Out, with its hints of Flying Lotus set to a very soothing melody and trippy beat. It genuinely makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and to such a degree that I wonder if my words can really do it enough justice. The bass returns on Clicking Away, the track you can briefly hear on the Moments teaser trailer. Again, there’s evidence of this balance between bass and intricate sounds – like something so raw and heavy shouldn’t sound so elegant, but… it does, and it sounds amazing. This bridges into one of my favourite Alex B tracks, Getting To Know You, which showcases the only appearance of a female vocalist on the album. It’s worth noting at this point that we’ve made our way from heavy electronic beats, to hip-hop and now downtempo vocal tracks, but you wouldn’t realise it too much without first being prompted – it’s a smooth transition. Getting To Know You builds subtly and gradually, nothing is over done or forced, but instead it bides its time. Absolutely alluring, particularly towards the end when it shifts up a gear.

Breaking back into more instrumental hip-hop territory, Show Me, is a two-minute long killer of a track which lays focus on multiple electronic layers over a steady beat. Drip Splatter is tripped out with the presence of an emcee once more – slick rhymes over chords proves for mean results indeed. This then bridges into the hypnotic Waste, embedded with plenty of sinister dread before dropping into Hide Extension, a track that feels like a sort of homage to spaced out trip-hop in a way. Impressions continues the hypnotic theme, although strips things right back towards more of a dub feel – real steady, bass-heavy beats. Albeit subtle, there are a lot of emotional undertones present on this album. It’s never heavy beats for the sake of heavy beats – as melodies and feeling are never compromised, and I think to therefore get such fantastic results is totally admirable.

Standing On Me is pure filth! The bassline is ridiculous and could well strip the paint off your walls. Let me know if that does actually happen. The penultimate track is Seriously Again ?!?!, which contains a sense of eeriness amidst its off-kilter beat and string accompaniment. But just when you think that’s it, it pops up with a classy piano melody to offset the natural left-field nature of the track. Timing Correct acts as the finale to a fine, fine album. One for all you synth-heads out there!  Smooth and steady, it softly builds to a gradual crescendo on what is a brilliant array of songs.

As is plain to see, I think a lot of this album, in fact it’s definitely one of the best albums of the year. But, what really leaves me in awe is Alex B’s ability to create beautiful songs out of could easily be electronic chaos. Whether it’s alternative hip-hop or dubstep, there are a lot of producers out there who are just chucking heavy basslines over crazy electronic samples with no real consideration for their track’s construction and then putting them out there. Some of them sound ok for the first couple of listens, but there’s no longevity and that’s because they aren’t ‘complete’ songs, they lack soul. What Alex B has done is to take lots of careful consideration into every element of his tracks, devised stanzas and created melodies to give his tracks a proper purpose and life. It might take a couple of listens to Moments for the penny to drop, but I think most open-minded listeners would at some stage agree that this album is a bit special.

REVIEW: Numaads – Now EP

Project Mooncircle are one of my favourite record labels right now for a simple reason; they put out amazing music. Completely out of the blue they caught me by surprise recently with the debut EP from Numaads, which is called the Now EP. Numaads consists of Dutch producer Sense (from The Q4) and beautiful songstress Esperanzah, who combine brilliantly to create a mesmerising blend of soul and laid-back hip-hop.

The Now EP is six tracks long and spans just under 18-minutes. It also includes two remixes of the title track, Now; one by German electronic beats maestro Robot Koch and the other by the legendary American producer J Rawls.

Tracklisting:

01. Now
02. Wanting
03. Thankful
04. World
05. Now (Robot Koch Remix)
06. Now (J Rawls Remix)

The EP kicks off with the aforementioned title track, Now, and it’s a real smoky soul affair of a song. A Raw, hard hitting, steady beat enters, surrounded by ethereal instrumentation in the guise of subtle strings and stabs. Then of course there’s the vocal from Esperanzah. I don’t think there’s any need for comparisons, instead I would choose to approach the sound with fresh ears. Haunting, yet soothing, a sweet balance between the two provides a combination of smoothness and gritty attitude. Wanting changes the vibe slightly, with Esperanzah expressing another side to her abilities, which in this instance is her ability to rap. A down-tempo jazz-hop tune which dances gracefully between emceeing and singing. Esperanzah is like a one-lady two-piece act in this sense – providing her own vocal layers, and it works wonderfully. The third track is Thankful, which takes the vibe down a further notch, very sultry and emotive. World, brings things back up slightly, with a switch back to slick cyphers and deep rhymes.

The last two tracks are the Robot Koch and J Rawls remixes of Now. I can honestly say that both remixes are fantastic in their own ways. Often it’s very easy to determine a ‘favourite’ remix of a track when multiples are provided, but this time it feels more like being asked to name a favourite child! Robot Koch’s remix has a warped, glitched out feel to it, with a real banging, hypnotic beat, whilst J Rawls has stripped the track down in a more lo-fi manner – although at the same time he has added a close, nearly claustrophobic warmth to the track, meant in the most positive of ways of course.

Naturally at this point it’s worth mentioning what a fine job Sense has done on the production – it’s ridiculously tight, yet loose in all the right places. I’ve been a fan of his work for a few years now and was delighted when I heard that his crew The Q4 had hooked up with Project Mooncircle. His production on this Numaads material is pretty damn exquisite, it must be said. All the sounds come from the right directions with perfect spacial awareness. When you get all these things right, it more often that not means you end up with something that can be appreciated in ambient settings or played out real loud, either on headphones or through monitors. Ultimately, everything sounds great and the combination between Sense and Esperanzah is delightful.

The Now EP is available both digitally and on 12-inch vinyl from Project Mooncircle right now, but I shall leave you with a stream of the Robot Koch remix of Now, which you can actually download for free via the Project Mooncircle Bandcamp page, and also the video for said track…

REVIEW: Neil Cowley Trio @ Ronnie Scott’s

Long time readers of Jus Like Music may remember when we reviewed the album Loud… Louder… Stop! by the Neil Cowley Trio, which came out in 2008 to much critical acclaim. It was a powerful, energetic and deeply emotional contemporary jazz trio record, with Neil Cowley on piano, Richard Sadler on double bass and Evan Jenkins on drums. Well, recently a new album dropped by the Neil Cowley Trio, named Radio Silence, and I got the opportunity to see the guys perform live last week at the globally renowned Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho, London.

This was a first for Ronnie Scott’s too. The first time they’d chosen to have a performance in the ’round’. I’d only been there once previously – for the press launch for Bonobo’s new album – and ordinarily the band would be situated at the back of the room. However, and as you can probably work out, the band were moved into the middle of the room and spectators surrounded them on all sides! I think that was a good move, to be honest. Particularly for an outfit like the Neil Cowley Trio, who simply ooze energy and passion. So, to have them in the centre of the room acted as a more effective platform for their performance and allowed them to fully engage with the audience.

Given that the energy and passion in their music is already very much apparent in their studio recordings, I wondered what I might learn from the live event. Of course I expected to experience all the same wonderful things that I had from the recordings, but I was genuinely intrigued to see what else I would be offered on the night. A couple of things jumped out almost immediately; Neil Cowley is one funny guy, very much at ease with himself and able to make fun of himself, but also what was instantly noticeable was the chemistry between the three guys. There was a lot of musical sparring going on, particularly between Neil on piano and Evan on drums. Something probably more typical in jazz than any other genre, but there was the regular teasing by playing a few notes, then waiting for a few drum hits to come back in response – met with a cheeky smile between the two players here and there. Almost like a musical version of the game ‘chicken’.

Between tracks, of which they played about 70% new material and 30% old, Neil took the time to talk with the surrounding audience, briefly recounting the stories behind tracks and/or their names. But once the playing again commenced, it was like all three had entered another zone, quickly becoming very deep into the music. One thing I’ve always loved about their music is the peaks and troughs, the steady pace to the frenzied build up, and that transferred to live surroundings perfectly. To suggest that Neil becomes engrossed in his playing would be an understatement. At the furious highs of certain tracks I wondered what would breakdown first, Neil or his Piano! I mean that in an extremely positive manner, of course. But, if you play the piano like Neil Cowley, then you probably don’t need a gym membership.

A couple of hours and an encore later, things had come to a close. What a night. Live music is a funny thing – when people aren’t particularly impressive, it’s easy to make that judgement more or less instantly, but when people are ridiculously amazing, it’s harder to comprehend because it’s almost so good that you can forget it’s a live performance and not just a recording you are hearing! Naturally the stark reminder, that it was indeed a live performance, was that the band were playing literally ten feet in front of me, but I did have to pinch myself a few times!

The Neil Cowley Trio continue to expand on the sub-genre of contemporary piano-trio jazz, with their high energy performances and beautifully crafted songs. To see them perform live was a real privilege and something I would urge everyone to try and do if the guys ever come to your town or city. The new album, Radio Silence, is a brilliant collection of nine songs spanning just shy of an hour, and it’s out right now through Naim Jazz, so give it a listen.

mp3: Neil Cowley Trio – Gerald

REVIEW: Oscillations Launch Party @ The CAMP, London

Any regular readers will know that we were very excited in the build up to the Oscillations Launch Party presented by Bridging The Gap and Man Make Music, which was held a couple of Saturdays ago (15/5) at The City Arts & Music Project in London. Well, I’m pleased to be able to report that all in attendance (and there were a lot of them!) had a wicked time as Slugabed, Om Unit, Kidkanevil, Mr Beatnick and the BTG & MMM DJs did their thing and kept the dancefloor moving until 4am!

The limited edition posters, of which there were only 150, seemed to be pretty popular, so I doubt there are any of those left – however, I am in possession of some copies of the limited edition Oscillations Mix CD (mixed by Mr Beatnick). A helluva lot of the 500 hand-numbered CDs were snapped up on the night, but if you didn’t manage to grab one or couldn’t come along, drop me an email to jeejATjuslikemusic.com with the subject line “Oscillations Mix CD” and tell me what your favourite tune from Oscillations was. Don’t forget to provide a name and postal address too! First lucky ten to hit me up will get a copy of the CD sent to them.

Thanks to all of those who came down to show support, it was a great night indeed. I shall leave you now with a pretty dark (literally) video of Om Unit in the mix…

If you don’t have both parts of the Oscillations compilation then you can still grab both parts absolutely free from the Jus Like Music Records Bandcamp page.

mp3: Om Unit – Neptune

REVIEW: Onra – Long Distance

Out this month on All City Records is Long Distance, the latest album from Parisian native Onra. Long Distance is Onra’s third solo album following 2007’s Chinoiseries and 2009’s 1.0.8 and marks a distinct progression for Onra as a musician and beat-maker into producing tracks which feel very much like complete songs.

21 tracks deep, the album encapsulates the sounds of 80s soul and disco classics, late 90s hip-hop and the modern electro beats scene, all fused together to create Long Distance. Imagine a soundclash between Mtume, The Hitmen and Hudson Mohawke inside the Pyramide du Louvre, and you’re not too far from Onra’s future funk!

Tracklisting:

01. Intro
02. My Comet
03. My Mind Is Gone feat. Olivier Daysoul
04. Rock On
05. Sitting Back
06. High Hopes feat. Reggie B
07. Girl
08. Send Me Your Love
09. We Out feat. Buddy Sativa
10. Moving
11. Mechanical
12. Don’t Stop
13. The One feat. T3 from Slum Village
14. Oper8tor
15. Long Distance feat. Olivier Daysoul
16. Tape This
17. To The Beat feat. Walter Mecca
18. Wonderland
19. Jeeps
20. L.I.A.B.
21. Cherry (Outro)

Long Distance is a very good album, although honestly speaking, it’s not massively inventive and Onra has clearly been particularly inspired by Dam-Funk’s groove renaissance, substituting Dam-Funk’s live approach for a greater reliance on samples. 80s funk-boogie aficionados will notice the incorporation of lots of classic jams into Long Distance; the album’s lead singles High Hopes (featuring Reggie B) and Long Distance (featuring Olivier Daysoul) are essentially modern interpretations of S.O.S. Band’s track High Hopes and Carol Williams’ track Have You For My Love, respectively.

In addition to those features, there are guest appearances from Satvia on We Out Buddy, Walter Mecca on To The Beat and T3 from Slum Village on The One, amidst what is predominantly an instrumental album. Onra fans may recognise My Comet from the All City 7X7 Beat Series released in 2008. Don’t Stop is definitely another one of the standout tracks for me, with banging drums, squelchy guitar licks and celestial synthesizers executed to perfection – this one ticks all of the boxes!

Overall, the music is simple but remarkably effective – punchy kicks and obnoxiously reverb-heavy snares and hand claps form banging catchy drum loops. The bass grooves are repetitive, always funky and precisely in-the-pocket, and the head-nodding rhythms are flawlessly laced with suitable sample chops, warm pads and silky synth lines. Long Distance is absolutely jam-packed with good vibes and is definitely an essential for the clubs and parties!

mp3: Onra – Don’t Stop