recently i have lost contact with the stuff one of my fave labels, ninja tune, have been releasing.
this doesn’t mean the music isn’t worthy, but it’s just not for me. for a start, there is a lot of love for the new wiley single/album. sorry, but i just don’t get grime.
i have tried, and failed.
same with the last infinite livez, art brut fe de yoot, album, that was just a little too out there for my middle of the road ears. then again conversely, the latest cinematic orchestra release, ma fleur, was too downtempo, too stripped back to become a solid playlister. gorgeous ? oh yes. special ? oh yes. but i found it to be an album that i will return to rarely, as it requires a certain mood to totally get it.
thankfully however, things have come back around with the 2 singles in the current pile.
firstly, the qemists get things off to a flying start, with the long awaited release, stompbox. a proper release following a few remixes here and there, and the limited 12″ of iron shirt. this time, the lads just let rip with this monster of drum and bass beats, and in-yer-face guitars. the results are big, loud and certainly very proud, as is the flip track, when ur lonely that straps a heartfelt vocal loop to the sonic frenzy, meaning that both tracks are going to devastate dance floors whenever these are dropped.
next up, is the return of the audio-visual pranksters, hexstatic. or this new set of tracks,in extended forms from their album versions, they have dug into their electro roots and totally fallen into the sparkly electropop groove making it lazy, but obvious that they have listened to goldfrapp over the last few years. featuring sabirajade on the excellent lead track, roll over, they line up the best schaffel groove, thin beats, analogue synth riffs and a ear pleasing melody. red laser beam takes away the human element, and instead had a drop kick beat surrounded by video game sound effects, and a vocoder loop, before a compressed and fucked up guitar sample riff kicks in. while it may not be anything too original, (after all the chemical brothers have this electro’d up big beat noise wrapped up now dont they?) this is great stuff.
the ep package is then completed with 2 extended album tracks, tokyo traffic, and the wonderfully stuffed to the max with bleeps, bust, that prove the album is definitely going to be one to check out.
more detail : here