"IF YOU WANT A VISION OF THE FUTURE, IMAGINE CRAP 808 SAMPLES STAMPING ON A HUMAN FACE- FOREVER"
There’s been a fair amount of suspicion surrounding Hype Williams over the last few months, as if people aren’t quite sure how to take their scattershot approach to the official signifiers of high and lowbrow culture. The fact that they’re happy to meld trashy YouTube virals with the sort of exquisite, dreamy synthscapes usually peddled by people who wear too much hemp, combined with their vaguely dismissive attitude towards press attention appears to have worried certain listeners. It certainly makes it easy to think of them as a homegrown equivalent to James Ferraro, who displays the same deadpan tendencies and whose more astrally inclined music (Last American Hero; Marble Surf; Pixarni) is probably their closest sonic bedfellow.
But if their live show in Plastic People last night - taking over the crucible that nurtured dubstep and transforming it into a low-lit devotional space - proved anything, it’s that US lo-fi comparisons are simplistic in the extreme. What many of their contemporaries across the pond lack, and what Hype Williams carry an excess of, is weight. On the Plastic People soundsystem (worshipping at the temple of sub-bass, if you like; there’s an interesting comparison to be made there) their airier-sounding tracks take on overwhelmingly hefty, physically overwhelming form. It’s as if the lairy swagger of grime had, even just for a moment, allowed vulnerability and insecurity to take hold, then extrapolated that few seconds outward. In essence and attitude, they’re far closer to the experimental ends of the UK bass scene than to any genre beginning with H.
Their new album One Nation is further proof of that connection; over thirteen songs and forty-five minutes, they pretty accurately manage to capture that contradictory mix of satisfaction and misery that accompanies a particularly virulent comedown. All served with fuckloads of sub and their usual slightly-too-cool detachment. It makes sense that they’ve recently signed to Hyperdub for a single and album, and while they shouldn’t need it, hopefully that endorsement will help to validate them in the eyes of unconvinced parties.
I reviewed the record for The Quietus in more detail, specifically with reference to Hype Williams’ interesting engagement with the boundary-blurred information age. You can read it here.
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Hype Williams are playing at the Croft, Bristol, tomorrow night (26th March) alongside Raime. If you’re in Bristol and not heading down to this, slap yourself and swiftly reconsider your options.
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Rory
Clams Casino // Motivation
If you’ve had even cursory interaction with the unassailable amount of material coming from the camps of Lil B and Main Attrakionz there’s a good chance you’ve heard a Clams Casino beat. Living up to the Based philosophy via hopeful and strikingly sparse vocal cut ups, Clams has been behind the cream of Lil B’s back catalogue including the amazing “Im God” and “Motivation”.
On this mixape, Clams Casino collects 12 of his hottest beats: from the mighty Illest Ever piecing a swag call to arms out of Bjork’s Bachellorette to the cavernous She’s Hot, the breadth on display is incredible. Clams’ instrumentals are amazingly emotive, juxtaposing ethereal serenity with satisfying lo fi grit. If that description didn’t make it clear, the tape will definitely do things for people into recent abstract work by the likes of Hype Williams*, Dro Carey and the Olde English Spelling Bee contingent. Legendary stuff.
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Simon
*For the sake of the ambiguous context (and so it doesn’t sound like I think the 6”7” video is “abstract work” or some such) this is the increasingly excellent London/Berlin not-hypnagogic duo Hype Williams, not the increasingly lame hip hop video director Hype Williams
James offers his thoughts on the latest 12” from Detroit house maestro Omar-S, released on FXHE.
Well I couldn’t have put it better myself Omar: ‘Here’s Your Trance Now Dance’. It’s the first 12” from FXHE for 2011 and the title says it all. Omar-S does his thing with another slab of raw, vibey techno. He’s let loose another slightly electro infused number, not unlike a happy-go-lucky cousin of the pretty sublime ‘Solely Supported’ from late last year. It’s looser, it’s less ashamed to reach grin inducing heights. It’s not as intense and doesn’t brood; in fact this has to be the most epic, uplifting Omar-S track since ‘Strider’s World’ or the moodier ‘Psychotic Photosynthesis’. It’s almost like a mid-point between the two. We’ve got plenty of bleeps and that uplifting energy, but it doesn’t have the menace, those low down urgent chords and beats that move the track along against those Game Boy melodies. It has that hypnotic edge though, just like ‘Psychotic Photosynthesis’.
It’s pure Detroit: the melodies and sound palette reek of techno’s past, but Omar-S brings it all alive with a keen ear and bright synth lines. The key has to be the loose tribal percussion though, drawing it all together. An irresistible bongo loop sets it all off, raw bumping kicks punch at the floor and claps splash with intent, with a crisp halfstepping joyous burst that swings against tight threadbare strings. That’s what does it. But it keeps on… Bubbling arpeggio basslines play off its strings of life, like a modern take on the vibes E-Dancer’s remix of Octave One’s ‘Blackwater’ give off, but minus the seeping Reece tones and diva - a more restrained ‘Night of the Jaguar’, or closer still, a cheeky shapeshifting play on Derrick May’s ‘R-Theme’. It’s almost cheesy and a tad cliché in its execution, but it doesn’t matter much, there’s an underlying melancholic energy that keeps drawing you back in. In the mix it’s deadly and pretty moving, with its honest heart on-its-sleeve dancefloor motion it touches on something… Something breezy…
Midi horns, sharp pressured synth strings and a structure that teases. Beats drop out leaving nowt but strings, synths fall back and let beats take over, hi-hats skit and shake with urgent energy while tablas bounce beneath. Melody builds. Bass lines get the hips moving, with a raw driving funk. What more do you want!? ‘Here’s Your Trance Now Dance’.
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James
Just a heads up for Bristol people, this Friday 25th I’ll be joining the very excellent bill of Darkstar [Hyperdub/Warp] and John Roberts [Dial] at Start The Bus. Its gonna be a live show for the two of them, but its still 10pm-Late. I’ll be spinning records inbetween and afterwards. Facebook Event.
Always Everything 001: Flex Mentallo by Always Everything on Mixcloud
So after our shouts about Swamp81’s dissolution of the boundaries of tempo and style (while still remaining at heart in thrall to dubstep’s heady combination of sub-bass and wide open, sprawling space), Pinch’s new mix for RA today furthers what we heard in his Boiler Room set, beginning with a heartbeat house thud and escalating to his usual 140bpm pace. And it’s unsurprisingly great - there are few that manage to balance weight and subtlety like Pinch, and if anything this widening tempo range serves to emphasise that fact. His ‘Croydon House’ single from last year and Boddika’s neo-acid workout ‘Basement’ are both fire in the mix, and the opening salvo of FaltyDL’s jungle-infused ‘Hard’ bursts from an opening swell of ambience with vicious, feral energy. Combined with a host of Tectonic and Swamp81-related dubplates, it makes for a pretty intoxicating cocktail.
Check it out here.
Brian Eno & Jon Hassell - Delta Rain Dream [E.G. Recordings]
Rhythm & Sound - Distance [Rhythm & Sound]
FaltyDL - Hard [Forthcoming Swamp 81]
2562 - This Is Hardcore [When In Doubt]
Instra:mental - Basement [Dubplate]
Photek - UFO (Addison Groove remix) [Dubplate]
Pinch - Croydon House [Swamp 81]
J.O. - Knock Knock [Dubplate]
Distal - Booyant [Dubplate]
Rau - Herbstens [Giegling]
WAX - WAX10001_2 [WAX]
Pinch & Loefah - Broken [Forthcoming on Tectonic]
WAX - WAX20202 (Pinch remix) [WAX]
Goth Trad - Air Breaker [Dubplate]
Addison Groove - This Is It [Forthcoming on Tectonic]
Mala & SGT Pokes - Answer Me [Dubplate]
Joker - 80s No. 2 [Dubplate]
Clue Kid - Spydamonkey [Dubplate]
Illum Sphere - Dreamstealin [Tectonic]
Distal - Angry Acid [Forthcoming on Tectonic]
Anthony “Shake” Shakir - Space Probes [Morphine Recordings]
Laraaji - Meditation II [E.G. Records]
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Rory
Zomby // †
Another brief glimpse into the fruits of Zomby’s extended absence; its pretty mighty. As per usual with each of Zomby’s reinventions, there’s a tunnel vision at work that sidesteps basically every current trend of the UK bass scene that has nurtured his ascent. And thank God for that. Whilst there’s (obviously) always lots of great dance music coming out of the UK, there’s been an increasing deluge of uninspiring, tepid politeness, descending what should be raw, sonically uncompromising music into indentikit tech house and grooveless, synth pad garage. Unfortunately these conventions are by and large stuck now, solidified by twin banners of embarrassment ”Post-Dubstep” and “Future Garage”. Defining things by their negatives is for suckers, but I am one so who cares; this is everything that that junk isn’t.
Simon
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