Our love for all things Turbo has never been something we’ve attempted to hide here at electroTO. The fact is that they consistently put out some of the best releases in the league from some of the most talented producers in the league and never stray from their vision. This, and the fact that it’s run by Canadian boys Tiga and TVP make it really top notch year after year. Continuing the in trend of super star duos that The Vamp talked about last week, Turbo jumped on the band wagon so to speak with their own take in house collaboration of Jori Hulkkonen and Jesper Dahlback under the moniker Kebacid. In their latest, the Party Hat EP, Kebacid delivers exactly what it promises on the tin with three acid smashers titled Jack the Potato, Bandy Party and Journey of Life.
In fitting with the acid theme of the EP, the boys over at Turbo edited the short film Love & Theft by Andreas Hykade to the soundtrack of Jack The Potato (see above.) Listen to the whole EP at the Turbo website pretty cheap and get your hands on it before most become wise to how wonderful it is. While this may not float everyone’s boat, Kebacid is a really exciting concept to some people and we are most definitely looking forward to hearing what else the lads churn out. This, along with Brodinski’s Arnold Classics which you absolutely have to get a hold of if you have not done so already ranks in the top three releases of May. June is going to hard a hard time topping this.
I must admit I had absolutely no idea who Santos was before a few weeks ago but I sure am glad I found out via his extremely exhaustive myspace bio. That’s the beauty of music isn’t it? Everyone has equal opportunity to create a song that will blow people out of the water regardless of fame, production style etc. Anyways, Santos’ That Juice EP which dropped at the top of this month has been getting steady play time around here and would probably be one the top EPs of the month for me if it weren’t for May being saturated with such huge and long awaited releases and some unfortunately placed cheesy piano stabs in the two tracks.
Selector, the tune we present to you today, isn’t exactly long enough to please Diddy (it’s 5 minutes shy of his preferences) but those into long musical journeys will appreciate it all the same. I guess it falls into the tech house category but there’s no real climax, a white noise build up or two but nothing else much to speak of making it right down my alley and a useful tool in opening sets. Enjoy this one and see everyone tonight at The Social!
Santos – The Selector
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Swedish producers Marcus Price and Carli have recently put together one of the most appealing tracks of all time. The title of the track is Mat Bira Kvinnor Weed, or Food Beer Women Weed in English, and if the name alone isn’t enough to sell you, than the actual song itself is sure to blow you out of the water. We were lucky enough to get a preview of this one when Douster touched down in Toronto and tore apart the Social with his set chalked full of songs in this exact vein. That should suffice to say that this one absolutely bangs out with the big drums. Something quite interesting to me though is the way that this sounds like a harder version of Dinosaurs With Guns. Yes, I did just say that.
The original, clocking in at just under three minutes, uses a vocoder repeating the title of the track backed by exciting, hard pumping sweat inducing drums to really throw a curve ball at the dance floor. The release, which dropped this past week on Palms Out, comes accompanied with remixes from Kingdom (the version which Douster dropped), Double Dutch, Bok Bok, Girl Unit, and more so, it’s definitely worth checking out regardless of your specific musical taste. You can check out previews and purchase the whole thing here.
Marcus Price & Carli – Mat Bira Kvinnor Weed (Original Mix)
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It’s my birthday and, as the saying goes, I’ll cry if I want to. Opting out of that path, I’ve decided instead to post whatever music I want which is probably a little gift to you guys. When I’m not listening to the music that finds its way to my blog posts, my music of choice is sub 129 bpm techno, which isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea but is something truly spectacular when it’s done right.
All the way from 2007, the tune I bring to you today is one of the very first major releases from the Donk Boys, who have been killing it in 2010 on Riva Starr’s Snatch Label and the dominant Dirtybird. While that’s about a decade in blog years, Accelerate is a seven minute slow rumble, progressively building and beeping to the tune of a creative synth pattern. The unorthodox structure, unfamiliar sound and perfectly constructed swing has kept this one at the top of my most played list recently so give it a shot and see how it makes you feel. Let me know how you feel about the techno.
Donk Boys – Accelerate
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Malente & Dex are a duo that have been doing their thing together for a while now, each time with really pleasing results. The unassuming duo of the established Malente and Exploited artist Daniel Dex come together to consistently produce absolute smashers – the latest of which come back to back on their Habibi EP.
Their lastest output comes by way of a remix for Femme En Fourrure and their track Dirty Blonde. Although it comes alongside the Drop the Lime remix which could really be useful in a set or two, the Malente & Dex remix gets the top spot for its masterful use of brass instruments. While horn/sax samples are beginning to overstay their welcome, this effective transformation of Dirty Blonde using the deep, bassy big band instruments is a real treat. This is one of our favorite releases of late, so do yourself a favor and check out the rest of the release here (don’t sleep on that Drop The Lime Remix).
Femme en Fourrure – Dirty Blonde (Malente & Dex Remix)
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Today’s selection is one that has been stuck on repeat since its release on Monday which comes by way of Southern Fried and Montreal producer Panton. One half of NROTB, Panton is very familiar with producing techno but stretches the creative comfort zone a bit for his Southern Fried release. The Someday EP features two electro tunes and two beautiful little works of sampling magic – a horn in Do It (my personal favorite) and a flute in Problem which ranks in a close second. The track below, Favela, has been on the ears of many since it was featured in Discobelle’s first mystery mix. Check out the previews of the rest of the tracks and purchase them here. I highly recommend you add this to your collection, you won’t regret it.
Feel free to disagree with me, but I feel as if Rusko is to dubstep as the Crookers are to electro. He’s the gateway to the mainstream – the sneak peek that causes people to become inquisitive about and then become more actively involved in a certain genre. You’d have to be blind not to see the infiltration of dubstep on the mainstream. Knowing the craziest dubstep remix of Brittany Spears has quickly become the mainstream equivalent of hipsters listening to bands who are six years before their prime. My point is that this stuff is becoming seriously big and Rusko, the producer out of California by way of the UK, is one of the many ambassadors helping dubstep womp and wobble its way to the masses. Dubstep purists, of which there are many in our city, may not like it but this is the face of dubstep to most, regardless of how good or bad it may be.
Rusko’s debut O.M.G! dropped today on Mad Decent – a compilation of 13 tunes which basically solidify the point made above. To point how mainstream this is he even did a collaboration with Gucci Mane. The track most familiar to people will probably be Woo Boost, the tune which propelled Rusko into the spotlight a year or so back (although it was only released in Feb). The track we bring to you today is the last on the album entitled District Line which gives a nod to the reggae roots of dubstep. Aside from having so much room that it literally feels like it can almost only be played at festivals, this one was definitely up there with the Crookers collaboration as my favorite track on the album. Check out the previews of the rest of the tracks here.
P.S. There should be some really big tunes coming your way this week, so keep your eyes and ears locked to this space.
Rusko – District Line
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We’ve spoken at length on this blog about the city of London, Ontario and the huge amounts of electronic talent that calls it home. Milt Mortez is a producer that was kind enough to do an exclusive winter mix for us and heads up Basics Radio with Gingy. In a tweet today Top Billin’ (the Helsinki based record label) said that if you don’t already know Milt Mortez then you will soon which, as you may have guessed, means that MM is about to get the kind of recognition that his talent warrants.
Milt Mortez’s monster of a track Pluto is dropping next month – it was delayed – alongside Gingy’s record Thermite and a track by another friend of ours that you may be very familiar with on Discobelle. To hold you over until some of his official releases, MM was kind enough to grace the blog world with a tribal work entitled Rhino Run – a showcase of his incredible ability to manipulate samples in an uncontrollable-spontaneous-pack the dance floor sort of way. Milt didn’t simply jump on the tribal band wagon, he created a whole new mode of transportation instead of conforming to the usual formula. Driven by a powerful, deep synth, this’ll probably be the first of many Milt Mortez records in your collection.
BOK BOK & L-VIS 1990, heads of the club and record label Night Slugs, have put together a tidy resume of releases in their label’s short history. The collection of artists and remix artists have been impressive (Roska, Julio Bashmore, Cubic Zirconia, Egyptrixx etc.) and has caused a progressively larger interest in the label as the catalogue grows. The label finally reached new heights today with the release of the IRL EP.
The latest Night Slugs release features Girl Unit, a UK producer that makes some high bpm breaks music. Given that fact and that fact alone, French Fries is probably the last guy we’d expect to find on the list of remixers. Having followed the 18 year old producer for over a year now, we here at electroTO know a thing or two about his Youngunz releases and let us say that his remix is unlike anything the Parisian has done before. While it still has the immense drums that are a definitive element of any French Fries track, the combination with the escalating synth element of the original track is a deadly combination that we would be more than eager to hear happen again in the future. LVIS & BOK BOK knew exactly what kind of monster they were creating when they commissioned this one and in the process they’ve definitely gained a new fan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the release here.
GIRL UNIT – IRL (French Fries Remix)
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Worthy’s Anabatic label is easily one of my favorites in both the content and artists that they release. The label bills itself as being a provider of “tech house, funk, and soul to move you”, which doesn’t quite grasp my favorite aspect of the label. The fact that, for me, Anabatic seems to constantly combine some of my favorite elements of dance music and in turn creating their own genre of music really. The music that Anabatic releases could be described best in the words of The Vamp as “latin percussion house” and is most easily characterized by their masterful uses of congas and bongos.
Anabatic’s latest release, which dropped yesterday, features two characteristic Anabatic tracks from Loose Village titled Kamuela and Mandela which, of course, come accompanied by a remix from label head Worthy. Kamuela has a remarkable resemblance to early Camel releases on Deadfish – a smooth flow and never over produced so as to let the drums speak for themselves. The 26 year old producer has effectively created the illusion that these tracks were produced in some obscure Kenyan village (or South African as the title of the B side suggests) rather than his studio in California. Don’t expect any big drops here though, this exotic forest soundtrack is a consistently powerful jungle-tech wonder the whole way through.
Loose Village – Kamuela
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