MEDLAR UNVEILS DEBUT ALBUM ‘SLEEP’

STREAM MEDLAR’S DEBUT, SLEEP

Crack Magazine has an exclusive stream of the brand new Medlar LP. As one of WOLF Music’s residents, the young, UK DJ and producer doesn’t stray too far from the deep house template, but he’s carved a niche for himself by peppering his tracks with a jazz aesthetic – smokey hiss, mellow keys, loose percussion all harking back to a day when deep house meant just that, deep. That’s not to say he’s all about underground whiskey dens with foot tappers rather than rump shakers, the low end groove of his productions sees that he’s never that far from an appreciative dancefloor. But his work has a dustiness which is equally comfortable on a home stereo as a soundsystem.

On Sleep however, he has taken his work to the next level, with found sounds, crunchier and more complex arrangements and the jazz turned up a notch and a half. Tracks like ‘Tides’ or ‘Tap Spring’ are structured and solid house productions but it’s on tracks like ‘Listen’ where things get interesting – a real confidence and composure in deconstructing the playful opening chimes into nothingness via vocal incantations before slowly bringing the track back to life, a reincarnation almost, into something not resembling its initial form. Stunning.

‘1516’ does much the same in more dramatic fashion, breaking down the early deep house exchanges into a collage of spoken samples, Marvin Gaye cries, floating synths and live, reverb-heavy percussion that you just don’t see coming. The whole album in some ways feels like a collage with found sound samples in abundance, from phone rings to gulls to chattering conversations. It sounds like a city in flux, morphing, changing, busy, loud, vibrant, interesting, arresting and beguiling.

His first release ‘Terell‘ was for WOLF so it seems fitting that he should produce the labels first artist LP and what a fine way to start.

NEW MUSIC – MUMDANCE & LOGOS

MUMDANCE & LOGOS – WUT IT DO

Exploring similar aural territory as Paul Woolford in his Special Request guise, Mumdance & Logos smack us up sharp with the ferocious pirate radio breaks of ‘Wut It Do.’ The frantic beats eventually pave way for a crunked-out breakbeat roller in the second half of this clip and you can only imagine the pair’s Genesis EP

ANTHONY NAPLES REMIXES CHK CHK CHK (!!!)

!!! – CALIFORNIYEAH (ANTHONY NAPLES REMIX)

Takes from the R!M!X!S EP, this tearing remix of ‘Californiyeah’ by Anthony Naples uses the original punkish vocal to great effect creating a 7 minute rumpus of thudding kick, punctuated synth and old school percussion. Grows from simple beginnings into a giant redwood of a track. Too good.

MIX OF THE DAY – ROCKETNUMBERNINE

DUMMY MIX 185 // ROCKETNUMBERNINE

With a tracklist which includes Theo Parrish, Autechre, Can and Elektro Guzzi you know this isn’t the usual, whack a few tunes together and fudge it online kinda deal. This has the spectre of Kosmische Musik hanging over it but it’s not a bad spectre. Far from it. It’s a kind of jolly spectre with excellent taste in music. RocketNumberNine, of course, collaborated with Four Tet on the epic ‘Roseland‘ and released their second album MeYouWeYou back in July. This mix is a joy.

 

SHLOHMO TURNS YOUR LOVE OUT

SAMO SOUND BOY – YOUR LOVE (SHLOHMO REMIX)

Considering the kind of weird output in Shlohmo’s back catalogue it’s almost surprising to hear such a straight up and direct remix of a track but, oh my god, if it isn’t an absolute gem. A big steaming pile of wow. Breath taking. Those crescendo synths building and building, the vocals, THEM ACID LICKS. It;s out now and it’s that good I typed a semi colon instead of an apostrophe. Do something about it.

SAPPHIRE SLOWS SETS NEW RULES

SAPPHIRE SLOWS – RULES

If Not Not Fun was a person, they’d invite you back to their house, roll you a fat joint and proceed to delve into their obscure vinyl collection, pulling out gem after gem of, I dunno, Luxembourg’s finest avant garde castanet artist or the previously unheard Aboriginal acid house classics. And you’d enjoy every minute. Which is to say they’re somewhat eclectic. For example, ‘Rules,’ taken from Sapphire’s forthcoming Allegoria album (due date, Nov 5) which just sounds like nothing else out there. Ethereal vocals atop surging and frantic electronics which is pop, techno, electronica, industrial and coldwave all in one. It’s also incredible.

SINDEN, SALVA & NADASTROM MAKE MUSIC 4 ALL

NSS – 4 ALL POSSE CUT

Dark and bashy stuff from the three producers who share a combined love for electro bangers and dancefloor destroyers, this has all the subtlety of slapping a grieving widow and telling her to get a grip. It’s not quite what I was expecting from them though, the drops are reasonably restrained and there’s an urgency which leaves you with the feeling of Major Lazer does techno. This is the first of many posse cuts, be interesting to see where they go from here. I wouldn’t count on acoustic ballads though.

PALMS TRAX CASUALLY UPLOADS EP IN FULL

PALMS TRAX – EQUATION EP

I featured the first track off this EP, ‘Late Jam’ on the site a few days back but now the Berlin-based producer has uploaded the whole EP – all driving Detroit and Chicago indebted house music – to Soundcloud. Worthy of a repost in anyone’s book.

 

NEW MUSIC – 8prn

HEARTBEAT(S) – (WE) KNEW ALL ALONG (8prn REMIX)

Walking the tightrope between house, bass and a whole load of everything, this remix from the talented 8prn is hard to define. What is clear though is the calibre of the production work – all crisp and precise beats, perfectly judged synths and malimba-esque percussion. Tremendous. Look out for the pair’s forthcoming joint EP Wait too. That’ll be out on their new joint label ASL Singles Club on Oct 15.

DOCUMENTARY – PUMP UP THE VOLUME

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

This is a stunningly comprehensive history of house music, A few years old now so the inclusion of ATB as the intro music might seem a little jarring but the stories and footage from the early days of Warehouse and the Music Box is unrivalled. Superb.