Weekly Beats 2012- Week 7 Round-up

Best Of The Week: (Top 5)

1. ThursdayBloom-Siberia III: Seeming to form a more epic journey each week, this week ThursdayBloom takes the strings out of the background and gives them the spotlight, form a startling set of melodies and harmonies that are as beautiful as they are genuinely full of distraught. An astonishing piece of work, and my favourite of his tracks to have entered the challenge so far.

For Fans Of: Epics, Feeling Cold, Serials. 

2. Nuro Z- Chapter Three-Tonight, She Dies: Returning after a very-much-noticed-by-me absence for a week, Nuro Z returns once again on astonishing form, this week round focusing on vocal manipulation and a wider range of sampling techniques to add weight and power to his piece. As part of the suite, this track drags you in deeper and deeper into depressed and murky smog. The mid-section spoken word section is once again delivered with astonishing skill, building tension and despair until the track stumbles out into a set of samples and slowed down chorus. 

For Fans Of: Nuro Z's other two Chapter tracks, Anything. 

3. Spaceman Fantastiques- Setting Sail WIP (Guitar Demo): For a guitar demo, this sounds outstanding. All too often, the inclusion of guitars with chiptune sounds either forced, a novelty, or both. Few have managed to successfully add the two together in a cohesive way that works. Something Hunter Quinn once said to me sums it up perfectly (and I hope he doesn’t mind me paraphrasing him here), but all too often is sounds almost as if the two mediums are playing separate songs, and as such leaves the listener with a slightly disordered and disjointed mess to take in. However, here SF manages to drag the two together like glue; you could easily swap the guitar melodies with the chip ones and with a little change in emphasis make them work just as well. That level of cohesion takes some skill, luck, or a large amount of fore thinking, and given the level of quality in SF’s other pieces of work, the two of those which it is are pretty clear. If this is a demo, I’m extremely excited to hear the final piece!

For Fans Of: Noisewaves, Mr Keenes' exploits, Roboctopus' guitar-oriented chip work.

4. Dataline-Nothing: Minimalist beats and glitches clip and clop behind a sea of synth scales to give the impression of drifting, with samples laying down a hand latter to keep the listener entranced. There are a lot of great minimalist pieces that seem to be churned out in this challenge, so it takes a lot for one to stand out from the crowd so blatantly whilst sticking to its guns throughout, making this a great piece with both an integral vibe and a perfect execution.

For Fans Of: Half of the WeeklyBeats entries, Health remixes, Glitchy things.

5. AlexOgre-Empty Words: Another week another twisting progressively structured trance/house track from new-kid-titan AlexOgre. Now with more funk. I’d list the reasons that this is good, but they are the same reasons he has been consistently stunning each week, and I dislike reiteration. So instead, just listen to it, yeah?

For Fans Of: The other half of the WeeklyBeats entries, Unce, Bleep.

Honourable Mentions.

DrumurBoy-Desfuse: Foreboding and extremely atmospheric, DrumurBoy manages to construct an entire imaginary world inside the space of a few chords and soft melodies.

Dylannau-Pizza Horse: Weird sampling mayhem which flirts with minimalism and trance without letting up its eerie and rather unsettling atmosphere for a second.

Ezkl-Elastic Black: A beautiful set of melodies that may at first seem a bit repetitive, but then flower into a strangely captivating concoction of harmonies and atmospheres that sways from bitter to sweet sounding just as luscious as the other, before finally returning to the original melody almost as affirmation that this track WILL be stuck in your head all day.

Freque-U, Robot: Crunchy LSDJ swagger shakes its boots with another great melody from the Freque’s mind.

Jiffypop23-M: Massive. (See what I did!? Though minimal would have been a better description. Minimal magic would have been the best but I’m not prepared to resort to such campness just yet)

Kedromelon- Desolate Time: A destructive set of samples arranged into a house fury with a beat hard enough to crush a skull.

Little-scale-Semi Professional Stalker (909 Samples): Hardstyle with a few claps. Just a few. Also a good amount of stunning melodies and glitchy madness.

Louis-Luciana I’m Still Hot (Pukpuk Remix): Glitchy dubstep remix of a song I don’t know, though it hits like a brick and has some great ideas in it, and about 20 megatons of energetic rage.

Ok Ikumi-AS21: Rising and falling gently and giving one hell of a trip as a result, Ok Ikumi shows another stunner and another side of his compositional dice

Seagull Chainsaw-Discuss/Disgust: Noise gives way to trip hop that creeps along with a solid beat and  enough grooves to floor

cTrix of the Week:

Heaps Buzz:

Glitchy to the point of sounding schizophrenic before giving way to a pumping sped up maniacal rage and then a swaggering disjointed sway. Put together with Atari sounds, and as such sounding as hard and raw as a coconut in concrete, the more softer melodic moments (and by moments I do mean for about 3 seconds at a time) sound all the more fragile and powerful, which creates a great dynamic within the piece. Though the main drawing factor of this track has to be the catchiness; the very first section has been stuck in my head most of today. This was the type of track I’ve been waiting for cTrix to throw into the challenge, and now that he has I’m over the moon.

Tl;dr: Hard-hitting danceable Atari madness. 

Weekly Beats 2012- Week 6 Round-up

Best Of The Week: (Top 5)

1. The Industrialism-Implementation: Glitch-step. It, in all honesty, sounds like someone took Bar 9 into blender, took the fragments that remained, dissolved them in boiling water and then poured the water into a strainer made from barbed wire and razorblades. Disgusting genius that hits like a brick, and before creeps like a ghost story. More like this please!

For Fans Of: Bar 9, Monster X, Digi G Alessio

2. Little-Scale- Bandages: This track acts as another footnote in the huge line of unpredictable exploits from the Doctor of Chiptune (by more than just hyperbole, he’s legit a doctor), Little-scale once again sits astride a stead of experimental mayhem taken from the mind of someone who is either slightly disturbed, very bored, extremely intelligent, or a bit of all three. Trippy, glitch-filled madness leading through multiple ideas and phrases before setting up camp around where it begins dominate the recording, always sounding more like prose than a repetition, with a ukulele nearing the climax that, mixed with the synths, is pure gorgeousness.

For Fans Of: Flying Lotus, Ukulele's being misused, Weird shit 

3. Roboctopus-Xygloditic Wonk: Continuing his unstoppable reign of great tracks, Roboctopus this time decides to combine many more genres than should be possible with the chiptune sound, to create a dream-like wonderland of great melodies, harmonies and a cornucopia of unique and stunningly integral ideas. Each part holds and interlocks tightly to the other, forming a tight cohesion between the more traditional instrumentation and, well, the not so traditional. Another heart-stopping piece of work from Roboctopus, this guy is unstoppable.

For Fans Of: Anything that is music

4. Andarugo- Erich Zann: Improving on the already brilliant form showcased last week, Andarugo goes a step further by implementing some truly wondrous harmonies and melodies over a slowly snaking structure of downtempo bittersweet sounds ending in the definition of melancholy melody. Working outside his comfort zone, he has still managed to excel with a great deal of confidence and skill, and showing there is far more to his music than first meets the eye.

For Fans Of: HunterQuinn, Quantum Wave, aka The Cincinnati Chip Scene

5. Handcannon-Corroded: For a debut, this is outstanding. Bridging together lounge music atmosphere, 80’s electro funk and finally some nu-rave sounding glitch attacks, Handcannon has managed to craft a unique and extremely startling beast of a track. The drop, whilst not hard-hitting, is surprising enough to cause as much damage as if it were which speaks volumes of Handcannon’s compositional skill. If anything, this track has me very excited about future exploits from this artist, as with influences and genres this diverse, literally any region of music could be explored.

For Fans Of: Bebop (the nu-rave one not the dodgy rapper one), Midibyte, Lounge music.

Honourable Mentions:

AlexOgre-Sorrow: Some of the best melodies brought to LSDJ ever. Honestly a ground-shaking definer that makes AlexOgre’s ability to compose shine brightly.

Cooshinator-Cosecant: Pumping LSDJ heart-throbbing progressive brilliance, delivered by someone who is more than adept at weaving in unconventional structures and ideas to an already vibrant genre.

E.S.C-Fractured Thoughts: Glitchy and aggressive with an odd sort of swagger, and above all almost indescribable. Though it is a must listen for sure.

Frauimhotel-Untitled (Memories): Creepy, chilling and downright atmospheric, this brilliant mixture of samples and off-time acoustic glitching makes for a genuine listening experience.

Fuxter-Bad Grabsta: Hard beats with vocoder vocal work reminiscent of Seal Of Quality. Bit grainy on the mix side but does nothing to hinder the impact of this great track.

HunterQuinn-The Creature From Neptune Was Thirsty…For Carnage!: Taking his progressive styled house/dance/trance combo to another stunning height this week, HunterQuinn once again takes great care in utilising melodies and counter melodies to form confusing layers of beautiful harmonies and add a great sense of atmosphere.

Matt Patrick-Murder Of Crows: Beautiful instrumentation and stunningly poetic lyrics sung with stunning conviction and great amounts of style.

Orinoco-Gift Horse: Stunning sounds and good chords mix to form an other-worldly atmosphere that is second to none.

Then, A Dinosaur!-SAINT: Infectiously playful and guaranteed to put a smile on your face, with great enough music for it to dodge the novelty bullet.

ThursdayBloom-Siberia II: The second track in the Siberian series focuses more on noise, before using empty space and distant soundscapes to paint its bleak and impressive pictures in your mind.

cTrix Of The Week

Discovery:

The real beauty of this track comes from the subtle genius hidden in the quiet arpeggios and melodic harmonies they discreetly inject into the track, and coupled with a strong leading melody that delves in and out of dissonance eclectically and without a moment of hesitation, it is another fetchingly good piece of work. There are some really nice sounds here too, the synth in question sounds brilliant and in the hands of Mr.cTrix, it stuns.  

Weekly Beats 2012- Week 5 Round-up

Best Of The Week: (Top 5)

1. Nuro Z- Chapter Two- Who Will Save Our Soul: Another outstanding track from Nuro Z this week, if it’s possible this one is even better than last weeks. Well it is possible because he has managed it. Combining better vocal hooks, a more addictive rhythm in the rapping, even more emotive delivery of the story and lyrics and an outstanding chorus, Nuro Z has nailed this stuff tight. Once again the music prevails as a stripped and open landscape for which the story and lyrics can run rampant at the forefront, whilst still managing to find a point where both anchor each other firmly with meaning and purpose. An astonishing piece.

For Fans Of: Narratives, Emotion, Hippity Hoppity

2. HunterQuinn-Henticlees The Final Journey: The second the intro is out you’re met with a full forced beat-based punch to the teeth, with progressive structures and great melodies swirling like a dancefloor typhoon in its wake, until it spirals into an extremely tense and emotive climax. Addictive and true to the title on the journey side of things, Hunter Quinn once again showcases his aptitude for epic dance tracks. Another artist I am insanely proud to have worked with on my old label, and for this EXACT reason.

For Fans Of: Cincinnati Chip Scene, IAYD, A Full Nullsleep Set In A Fifth Of The Time

3. Pocaille-Glitterstim Spice: Pumping beats that move around constantly under the sway of syncopation with some face-stomping melodies and bass; this piece is sure to get you a-grooving. I’d like to babble on indefinitely about how good it is, but I’ll just leave you with the fact it is a PERFECT dance track. Equal parts beat, melody and light experimentation.

For Fans Of: House, Daft Punk, Justice

4. George Bowles- Botanimal-Every Second: A beautifully relaxed piece with a lot going on inside itself. Some beautiful strings in non-standard time signatures help create a fully hypnotic base for the track, slowly wrapping itself into a tightly-knit and very very listenable package.

For Fans Of: Ambient, Experimentation, Brian Eno

5. Trash80-Cascadia: I’m starting to think doing a Trash80 of the week section might be just as relevant as a cTrix one. Another killer track from the kind soul that bestowed WeeklyBeats unto us and a genuine floor-filler this time. Sounding cyberpunk to a tee (if you needed an example of this style of house this’d be the perfect diagram) Cascadia does its rounds eclectically before sparking off into a chilled and very progressive house sounding breakdown before returning with a vengeance. This shit is high.

For Fans Of: Daft Punk circa 2011, Either of Trash80's 8BP releases, Tension

Honourable Mentions.

AlexOgre-Along The Milkyway: Plodding and progressively twisting chiptune/dance/trance with a beautiful set of melodies and a fully realised space-y atmosphere, a triumph for AlexOgre for sure.

Andarugo-Randolph Carter [Space Vibrations]: Slowly leading you politely by the hand before throwing you headfirst into a dancepit, Andarugo seems to have had a coming of age musically and cocooned into one of the best chiptune dance artists about today. Horns for Cincinnati, that’s all I’m sayin’.

Analog-El Mestizo Electonico: Gorgeously minimalistic beats and sounds thrown about with playful enthusiasm and willingness to work outside usual genre specifications, brilliantly danceable piece.

BufordTannon-Be Interested: One of the best pieces of vocal and acoustic work I’ve heard for this challenge so far, simple and stripped down to its core but shines brightly regardless.

Iran Sanad-For M, Or The Manual To Properly Grate One’s Skin: Disgusting ambient sounds intertwine to form a murky atmosphere and the feeling of impending doom. If depression or fears are your thing, look no further.

Robotcopus-A Modest Country Proposal: Gorgeous country tune with what I hope is a tongue-in-cheek set of lyrical hooks. Well composed and brilliantly played.

Solarbear-WV:Become The Mayor Of Cans: Me gusta dem melodies. Once again delivering a high-octane fist-pumping floor-lowering booty shaker, Solarbear is the chiptune artist that just keeps on giving (you blisters on your heels). 

Thursdaybloom- Siberia I: Peaceful piano and strings flow insistently before giving way to a wave of noise, sounding altogether barren and haunting

Tiasu-Defenstrate: Using dissonance perfectly to bridge the gaps between soft, beautiful music and disjointed emotion, Tiasu once again uses the piano to great effect.

Zebra-Old Bleached Bones And Branches: Managing to be beautiful, soft and down-right creepy all at the same time, Zebra may be the king of the eerie.

Weekly Beats 2012- Week 4 Round-up

Best Of The Week: (Top 5)

1. Nuro Z- Chapter One-The Fire: Chilling. An astonishingly written prose with an incredibly emotive delivery which quite literally draws you into the narrative and forces lucid mental visualisation. Something like this can either come off cheesy or genius, and after the catchy Atmosphere-esque chorus and accompanying small rap verse, this stamps itself as the latter with an intense confidence. The music itself is a soft downtempo backdrop moving into a pure hip hop flavour which never shouts for attention, but when some is given it shines. Another point I HAVE to make is the siren sampling, which jumps between strictly scene-setting to beat-adding in seconds in a genuinely ingenious manner. The fact this appears to be the first in a serial of a genuinely interesting narrative delivered with such clarity, passion and precise musicianship makes me extremely excited. Quite literally the best entry to the challenge this month.

For Fans Of: Atmosphere, Spoken word, Concept work 

2. Little-scale –My Neighbour Is A Serial Killer: Little-scale getting back to his downtempo-y chilled and harmonically focused synth work with offbeat beats to supply soundtrack to city nightlife best. Astonishingly beautiful, managing to sound both soft and incredibly stark simultaneously whilst throwing enough trademark experimentation to keep anyone gagging at the bit, and I haven’t even mentioned the entire piece is apparently cowbell samples. The term mindblowing doesn’t even come close to describing the joint beauty and genius of little-scale.

For Fans Of: IQTU, Error Repeat, Downtempo, 

3. Pulselooper: Azad’s Kiosk: Beautifully sweet chip with some brilliant harmonies and touching melodies, with a constant melodic bar to keep the piece anchored tightly to the floor, this track takes all the stylistic features of post-rock and transfers them perfectly, without fault, to the medium of chiptune. Astonishingly inventive, this piece is nothing short of perfect in its own right, and if Pulselooper’s mission statement was as it looks on the outside, he has succeeded magnificently.

For Fans Of: Noisewaves, Kanagawa, Post-Rock

4. Protman-115wb4: Inexplicably jumping between atmospheres and sounds like a restless snarling dog, Protman takes some shaky bass, determined drum beats and forceful hooks and lodges them behind your eyes with a less than slightly sinister demeanour. This artist's impressive aptitude to meld glitchy unpredictability of the extremes and memorable hooks is a sight to behold, and an extremely unique one at that.  

For Fans Of: Tep, Thaiz Itch, Wonky basslines 

5. Julioso-Say Yes: Melodic house with a funky twist a menacing atmosphere interspersed with memorable hooks and a retro shout-out. The 80s vibe is palpable and the groove fits the oddly bittersweet atmosphere perfectly, giving this track a standing difference between the countless other house tracks with a retro vibe entered into this challenge (not that they’re a bad thing!) The real dealbreaker is the totally surprising wobble breakdown near the end, which helps round the piece off fantastically before leading into a more emotive and intense repeat of the chorus. Brilliant first entry!

For Fans Of: Daft Punk, Nostalgia, Killer debuts

Honourable Mentions:

Billy-Born In The Sea: Brilliant acoustic work with some equally nice vocal work over the top, subtle and lo-fi sounds envelop the piece to create something very charming.

Dkstr-Sharm: Spastic sample work laid out in a patchwork fashion with enough beat and drive to hold the piece together cohesively. Glitchy and very original, a great listen.

Lien-2Note Blue: Maybe I’ve been listening to far too much Sigur Ros recently, but something about this track really connected with me. Patient and gorgeously soft, this DESERVES your time.

NekoTheory-Takamachi Trigger: Big build-up in a retro way to a floor-stomping bass party with some lush harmonies added for good measure.

NWSPR-Mitt Robot: The best way to describe this song has already been done so by R.Domain: “Almost like and electro Sonic Youth”. Could not be more spot on. Great melodies, some infectiously catchy vocals and killer bass.

Ok Ikumi-Collect: Soft trip-hop from what seems to be the emerging king of the genre on this site. And that’s not throwaway hyperbole, just listen to this track and that statement has all the factual evidence you need.

Roboctopus-Lighter Than Air, Briefly: Tight composition with a memorable set of melodies and a nice dose of non-standard chiptune atmosphere. Songs like this make it hard for me to believe this guy was on my old label. Stunning stuff!

Skycstls-Simple Moves: Simplicity defined but in a very loveable and cute way, distilling chiptune down to its basic ingredients. Whether this was the mission statement or not, this track is still a fantastic piece of work.

Solarbear-Daisuki: Sounding like the kings of chiptune from back when they were still exciting (oh snap). Overly chirpy chip beats and melodies catch it.

Zebra-Dead Roots: I was so happy to see Zebra had joined the fray, and I have not been disappointed. Creepy chip synths intertwine with guitars to form an eerie soundscape.

cTrix of the week.

Festival Jam:

Once again spitting in the face of anyone who tries hard to write good songs, cTrix’s track this time comes from the down time at a festival. Some real house and tek influences rage through this track, whilst the music jumps around between trance build ups with guitar overlays back into a dance-driven groove-fest. The beats are relentless, if this was played live you’d be shattered by the end, and the none-stop onslaught does wonders for the guitar breakdown near the songs’ climax, creating a stark dynamic asymmetry before once again building up into its previous flurry.