NEW MUSIC: Rubee Rayne - Breathe

Rubee Rayne is an anomaly. To look at her tough-nut Brixton image (the girl's from Berkshire btw) you'd picture another Amplify Dot or Ms Dynamite - and there'd be nothing wrong with that. But new single "Breathe" is a pleasant surprise. It's less UK grime, and more US post-R&B, with Rayne's woozy slurred vocals and the lazy ambient synths on "Breathe" (courtesy of quirky UK producer El-Train) coming across like "Take-Care" era Drake. 

Rubee Rayne has 3 hypnotic gems available for free download on her SoundCloud, which you should snap up soon before "Breathe" finds itself A-listed on Radio 1.

FOR FANS OF: Jhene Aiko, Banks, FKA Twigs

- Joe Copplestone, 6.2.14

POPDAR: FKA Twigs - Papi Pacify

I would point out the FKA Twigs was formerly known as Twigs, but as you can see, she beat me to the punch.

Twigs' EP1 was a dark and experimental effort - disturbing and unnerving industrial R&B that still managed to be subtly sexy. Her second EP, helpfully titled EP2, concentrates a little more on that final description, with Twigs' voice breathing and floating over a much warmer trip-hoppy ambience on each track.

But on EP highlight "Papi Pacify", the nearest thing to a radio-friendly track Twigs' has produced to date, she allows herself to be more overtly sexual and as a result delivers the most arresting vocal of her output so far.

The track seductively creeps through it's choppy, sparse verses that do very little to accompany Twigs' light and airy vocal, as she clasps at every note as if gasping for air. "Never tell me no" yelps Twigs breathlessly, begging "tell me I'm the one you want" - it feels like she's unleashing two EPs worth of sexual repression. But the real payoff is the exhilarating drop into Weeknd-territory for the *gasp* chorus (!), where Twigs' gleefully unleashes her catchiest hook to date, as a crushing hip hop beat gyrates against a sexually-charged growl of a bass line.

FKA Twigs' EP2 is available to download now from iTunes.

Official Website.
Official Twitter.

FOR FANS OF: BANKS, The Weeknd, Etta Bond

MIXTAPE REVIEW - Etta Bond x Raf Riley - Meds

Click the cover above to download Meds for FREE.

Part of Etta Bond and Raf Riley's appeal as a double act lies in their ability to put their own spin on current underground trends. The duo don't so much think outside the box, as think inside the box from the outside.

On their first mixtape, Emergency Room, they took on dubstep. The duo revived the dying genre with Etta's alarmingly blunt songwriting and Raf's brutal yet melodic mix of dubstep with trip-hop and hip hop. Tracks like "Boring Bitches" and "Ask Me To Stay" were instantly timeless, and have outlived the dubstep craze. On follow up mixtape Meds, the two have set their sights on several current crazes, including Deep House, Modern R&B and Trap.

If Emergency Room felt more like Etta's mixtape, Raf makes his presence a lot more known on Meds. Whilst on Emergency Room he largely stuck with a (nevertheless effective) formula of chainsaw synths, colossal kicks and even bigger snares, on Meds he throws caution and commerciality to the wind. With the rise of "weird" producers such as Diplo and Hudson Mohawke, it's a delight that this gives wind for ultra-creative producers such as Raf Riley to let loose with ideas they perhaps couldn't have got away with before.

And let loose he does - Etta even tones down the big hooks in favour of more ponderous melodies to make room for Raf's crazy productions. The result is chicago house pianos over Trap beats and warm pads on the woozy "Fanbabe", a mesh of funky, electro and deep house on the addictive "1 More Time" (surely an underground hit waiting to happen), and schizophrenic 80s synths over a beat straight from Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation on "Big Girl's Vogue".

Not to discredit Etta's contribution to Meds at all. Etta may let Raf show off more this time round, but she's subtely matched his progressive production with a shift in lyrical concept. Whilst Etta's lyrics on Emergency Room were based in gritty reality - relationships falling apart ("Ask Me To Stay"), making out on the tube ("One Way On A Train") and, notoriously, beastly hangovers ("Resolve") - on Meds she delves head first into fantasy. Etta's previously cynical and angry characters are now blinded by their fantasies - the lovesick obsessive uber-fan on "Fanbabe", a girl sharing her wild sexual dreams on "Me First" or the girl in love who thinks she can separate love and sex in "1 More Time".

Another reason Etta and Raf are a genius double act is the way they bounce off each other. Both their presences are always felt equally - Etta never seems like a mere feature singer, and Raf never feels like an anonymous producer. There's a reason the duo haven't thought of a separate name for their collaboration - they want to support each other as solo artists as well. And it's clear they never need to compromise either's vision. This means if Etta wants to conversationally talk-rap loudly one of Raf's sickest basslines, he'll let her. If Raf wants to loop Etta saying "wobbles" whilst throwing a rock'n'roll piano solo over the top, she'll let him (That's from "Big Girl's Vogue" by the way, I'm not making it up.)

Their anything goes approach to making music is what makes them one of the most interesting underground acts in the UK today. Check out their live performance for LiteSwitch TV below to witness the duo's chemistry.

FOR FANS OF: Diplo, Elli Ingram, Katy B

@EttaBond

@TheRealRafRiley

- Joe Copplestone

5/09/13

Jake Emlyn - The Wonka Hath Landed (FREE DOWNLOAD)

Anyone who's familiar with eccentric London rapper Jake Emlyn will know that he's been rapping for several years now. It could be argued that his lack of mainstream attention is down to his androgynous and occasionally effeminate style, and his lack of interest in hip hop trends and standards. But what fans of Jake most love about him is that despite the criticism and confusion surrounding his identity, style and genre, he never changes anything about himself and his music.

"The Wonka Hath Landed", lead track and single off his Scandinavian Alien mixtape, is probably his most outlandish and controversial offering to date. Rapping over a Robyn-esque synthpop pulse, Jake Emlyn on "Wonka..." is self-deprecating, crude, tongue-in-cheek yet a lot more confident than the comparatively subdued and dark "My Name's Jake", his previous calling card track.

He paints a defiantly non-gangster image of himself, drolly referring to himself as "white trash like Kate Nash" wearing "skinny jeans so tight that my penis can't breathe". He also makes his outsider status patently clear, spitting at the climax "my spaceship crashed, I'm stranded, the wonka hath landed." It's an opaque metaphor, one that will continue to confound Jake's growing crowd of picketing nay-sayers. But the apocalyptic Vangelis synth lead and grandiose choirs that follow the statement couldn't make the message clearer - Jake's ambitions are considerable, and he's on a mission that cannot be thwarted. As the man himself says in the second verse: "just when you was about to stop listening to rap, I came back with the wickedest track."

Download Jake's brilliant (and free) Scandinavian Alien mixtape by clicking on the cover above.

FOR FANS OF: Robyn, Brooke Candy

Party Tracks of the Week!

Context - Small Town Lad Sentiments
#HipHop #House

Like Mike Skinner produced by Disclosure, Context's debut single "Small Town lad Sentiments" accompanies his london-boy bread-line dole-queue rap with a sleek and addictive deep house beat that contrasts his style so much that it couldn't be better suited.

Dorian Concept - Booth Thrust

#Wonky #2Step

Taking a typical Rustie-esque Glasgow sound, and yet hailing from Austria, Dorian Concept's bonkers "Booth Thrust" is short, sweet and confusing but it's jerky, hyperactive beats beg for a dance move to be named after this tune.

Dream McLean - Weatherman (Lynx Remix)

#Garage #2Step #Grime

Yet another huge single from Dream McLean, here getting the "what the fuck is going on!?" treatment from Lynx, with grimey hip hop beats giving way to a filthy beyond filthy drum and bass drop.

Party Tracks of the Week! (FREE DOWNLOADS)

The Knocks - Modern Hearts (feat. St Lucia)
#Dance #Euro #Indie

Gloriously uplifting indie dance from these guilty pleasure connoisseurs with the lush St Lucia adding an irresistible 80s new wave vocal.

Laidback Luke - Pogo (feat. Majestic (Congorock Edit)

#Hardstyle #Electro

The craziest mix of a lot of crazy mixes of this crazy hard electro anthem. This mix doesn't so much encourage "jumping on a Pogo" as bash you over the head with said Pogo repeatedly  with each merciless overdriven kick.

L.A. Leakers - Do It (feat. Problem & Jahlil Beats)

#HipHop #Rap #FREEDOWNLOAD

Like a slightly more eager version of "Rack City Bitch", Problem drawls his horny teenager flow over a sickeningly money-hungry beat. Download this one for free on soundcloud below:

Loadstar - Distance (feat. Lloyd Yates)

#DnB #Dubstep #Breakbeat

Taking the gravelly male vocal trend to new heights, the flat-out rabid vocal of Lloyd Yates wrenches every inch of emotion out of this unhinged and apocalyptic Drum & Bass track, a highlight from Loadstar's volcanic and brilliant "Future Perfect" album.

Party Tracks of the Week!

Avec - Disappearer (feat. Jake Shears)
#House #Disco

Two deep house DJs, Doorly & Shadow Child, come together to make something shamelessly camp and insanely addictive. 90s piano house, gibberish vocals and a whole load of glitter.




DJ Fresh vs Diplo - Earthquake (feat. Dominique Young Unique)
#HipHop #Trap

The distinct blitz sirens of "Earthquake" have made the rounds already this year. First heard as the backing track of Angel Haze's middling Azealia Banks diss, then Diplo starts dropping it as an instrumental during sets, and now the track finally officially drops with a more tribal feel, more drums, and the cheeky, energetic DYU providing MC duties without attempting to do battle with the track's unrelenting stomp.




T.E.E.D. - Your Love (Fake Blood Remix)
#House #Rave #Electro

One of the dance anthems of 2012 with a typically weird refix from electrohead Fake Blood. Vocal samples dance drunkenly around, kick drums stumble over each other and a series of filthy basslines battle it out. The track retains it's euphoria, but in an altogether darker, more apocalyptic context.

Toddla T Sound - Worst Enemy

Toddla T Sound, as you might expect, is DJ Toddla T himself, joined by R&B and UK garage royalty Shola Ama, UK hip hop artist/producer Serocee and MC DRS. Their debut track, "Worst Enemy", is breathlessly sexy, and it showcases a superb, slick merging of talents. Shola Ama's vocal has matured since her garage days and her previously R&B-honed syrupy chirpings are replaced with an aching, whispery tone, constrasting DRS' dark and heavily processed MC verses, and the boys manage to create something approaching a post-R&B track, with hints of UK urban and Trap. Altogether it sounds like the beginning of something quite brilliant.

FOR FANS OF: Roses Gabor, Jhene Aiko, The Weeknd

Azealia Banks - Yung Rapunxel.

"Yung Rapunxel" feels like Azealia Banks' true second single, her first real showstopper since she first dropped "212" about a year and a half ago. It is miles less commercial than that track, but it is also miles more ambitious, and although it's taken 18 months, it makes sense to have taken that long, given the massive controversy that she has largely put herself through. Because "Yung Rapunxel" wouldn't exist without it.

It's worth remembering that "212" stopped the underground in its tracks because it was a crossover record that didn't sound like a crossover; it was already a great dance track thanks to Lazy Jay who produced it, but Azealia Banks turned it from that, into what simply was an Azealia Banks track. Sure the notorious and frequent use of the c-word probably helped hype it up, but what was really exciting was her sheer disregard for genre. She knew what beats she liked, and she knew how to spit over them. A rapper - yes; a hip hop artist - not really.

But whilst it was hard to categorize "212", it seemed totally unnecessary. It was a total mindblowing rave track, who wanted to ask questions? Through 2012, we saw Azealia Banks lean more towards certain genres, on her House-heavy "1991" EP and then regress a bit more into Hip Hop on her impressive "Fantasea" mixtape. 

But there was no denying she had placed the bar impossibly high for herself after the sheer effortlessness of her performance on "212". How many of us were quick to wonder who actually produced "212"? Not many. Yet how many of us were instantly aware of her collaborations with Diplo and Munchi? Her good taste in beats were beginning to overshadow her talent, simply because we were all expected a crazy flow on par with her breakthrough hit.

Well now we've got it. She hyped it up, boy did she hype it up, but now we see why. First off, she's chosen low profile producer Lil Internet to provide the beat, which is a vicious variant on his own "Rhinoceropolis Anthem". Hints of old school Prodigy and 90s hardcore rave (no housey pianos here), led by a Tyrannosaurs Rex stomp of a heavily distorted kick drum, as distant screams, thunderclaps and Araabmusik-esque euro-trance leads scuttle round. It's a mindfuck of a listen, and a totally perfect choice for the category-evading Banks.

But above all this, we finally have that epic follow-up performance from Azealia herself that we've been waiting for for 18 months. When a voice warns "Danger!" at the beginning of the track, it sets the tone quite accurately. On "212" she was playful, self-assured, cocky; on "Yung Rapunxel" the 18 months of hype, drama, endless "beef" have clearly turned into a more aggressive player in the game. In a way that was first hinted with her hastily-brought-out but delicious Angel-Haze response "No Problems", "Yung Rapunxel" showcases a genuinely threatening tone to Banks' verses.

Whilst she previously taunted "you do like to slumber don't you... I'ma ruin you c**t", she now seethes "Bitch nigga, you could get bent, remov-ed and spent" and "I'ma rip your n***as head off", not to mention the utterly arresting climax, where Azealia screams "What the fuck? Dare you ta, dare you ta! Brrrrp-brrrp-brrp-brrp!" Sure, she yelled a bit on "212", but here she genuinely sounds unhinged, and dare-I-say dangerous.

And maybe she is. She seems to repel high profile artists and producers left, right and center, seemingly on purpose, and maybe that's the point. The underground is where she feels most at home, and if you have any form of ego or sell-out tendency, beware, because Ms Banks will come for you. So you could say it's a blessing that the mainstream won't touch her right now. Many artists have tried to do it over the years, but maybe Azealia Banks really is the one who's going to represent the underground in a chart-music-blinded world. She certainly seems to have no desire to sell-out any time soon, and with a fanbase growing by the second, who says she needs to?

FOR FANS OF: Who the hell cares?

SZA - Ice.Moon

Dark, eerie and seductive was the order of the day in 2011/2012 R&B, with many artists following in The Weeknd's and Drake's footsteps. Now finally it looks like the girls are taking over, and SZA has the potential to become a frontrunner. On new track "Ice.Moon", SZA's gentle, silky tones float over a thick bass drone and menacing trap beat, and on the mesmerizing chorus she borrows the "go, go, go" refrain from Delilah's "Go" and laces the sexual tension with an air of genuine menace, ending on the sneering "go to church if your scared". Equally suggestive and threatening, just like it should be.

FOR FANS OF: Delilah, Aaliyah, Lana Del Rey

Party Tracks of the Week!

Alison Valentine - Peanut Butter (Moon Boots Remix)
#NuDisco #Dance #FREEDOWNLOAD

An absolutely joyous synthpop/piano house hybrid from the ever reliable Moon Boots, as Alison Valentine's dreamy voice floats around the soundscape.

Savage Skulls & Douster - TRT

#Garage #Bass #House

Hints of 90s rave give way to a thunderous bassline. Savage Skulls' "Bass Kick" EP is a massive testament to modern garage and bass, and "TRT" is its old school heart.

DJ Snake - Bird Machine (feat. Alesia)

#Trap #HipHop #FREEDOWNLOAD

First heard on Flosstradamus' Banned 2 Mixtape, "Bird Machine" is hands down one of the most bizarre tracks to come out of the Trap craze, with one of the most surprising drops ever, a menacing kick chasing after eerie chopped up bird tweets, quite literally. Yet this is, somehow, ridiculously addictive.

AlunaGeorge - Attracting Flies

AlunaGeorge continue to elude genres whilst sounding effortlessly cool and current, and the crumbling beats and battering ram synths of "Attracting Flies" are no exception. Finding a comfortable middle ground between the silky sweet Post R&B of Purity Ring and the schizophrenic hip hop beats of Hudson Mohawke, this is their most confident offering since the goliath "You Know You Like It".

Their debut record Body Music is out on July 1st.

FOR FANS OF: Purity Ring, Hudson Mohawke, Niki & The Dove

Dream McClean - Sloe Gin

If anyone feels a little embarrassed for still liking J-Kwon's "Tipsy" in 2013, but also feels Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools" is too pro/con on the subject matter to replace it, there's a new shameless booze anthem to enjoy, and this time it's homegrown in the UK. Over a stumbling, drunken beat and head-swirling synth line, Essex rapper Dream McLean woozily tells partially-blacked out tales of "drinking sloe gin too fast". Dangerously more-ish.

FOR FANS OF: Wiley, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar

Brooke Candy - Everybody Does

After a fairly anonymous feature on Charli XCX's Super Ultra mixtape, Brooke Candy's latest single does nothing if not demand your attention. A shuddering trap beat and a delirious arabian vocal loop carry Brooke's brattish flow. The swagger-ridden chorus is pure Kreayshawn, as are the fashion references, but unlike said sub-par hip hop doll, Brooke sounds like she means business. Rather than taunt and tease, she drops lines like "while you were trying on your Louboutins, I was grooving on your man's cock" and "while I'm on another planet, god damn I'm booking shows". It might be a beast of a beat, but Brooke Candy is at least 50% of the attraction here.

FOR FANS OF: Kreayshawn, Iggy Azalea

Destiny's Child - Say My Name (Cyril Hahn Remix)

A novelty, but a gorgeous one. Up and coming producer Cyril Hahn mutates the Destiny's Child's voices into mournful, androgynous croons over a dark, minimal house beat. Cyril Hahn's material consists of all remixes at the time of posting, but they are all worth listening to, check out his tumblr, and especially his remix of Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" as well. They aren't so much remixes as reinterpretations, sucking the swag and attitude out of hip hop and R&B hits, and replacing it with an eerieness, sparseness and sense of melancholy.

FOR FANS OF: Disclosure, The Weeknd, SBTRKT

Pop Comment: Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools"

It's been a while since I posted about a track, mainly because I've been listening to music recently that is dominated by its rhythms, its bass, designed to make you dance, not discuss.

Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools", with its jittery beats, binge drinking topic, and earworm hook "I got a swimming pool full of liquor, then they dive in it", could indeed pass as another drunk hip hop swag-them to make the students fuck themselves up and dance to. But if they took a moment to listen, as in listen, they would hear a sadness, a hopelessness in the words, even in the dark opening chords that put any non-drunk listener on edge with their gorgeous, tingling unease.

Lamar sings of people "living their life in bottles" because they want to "fit in like "what's my problem?"". Whilst the dangerously addictive chorus seems to shamelessly glorify alcohol abuse, the verses sound doubtful, scared even; "if I take another one down, Imma drowning some poison, abusing my limit" he rants nervously. Most tellingly however, is the way the song ends abruptly with a second of white noise.

So yes, this track is heavy and addictive, possibly one of the most perfectly written of the year, but the subject matter itself is also very addictive. It won't change any attitudes, fans will still drink too much to this tune, but the fact Lamar seems to realize this when rapping the futile warnings makes it all the more bleak.

I think I'll put this on my "going out" playlist. Sad isn't it?