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

Party Tracks of the Week! (FREE DOWNLOADS)

Etta Bond x Raf Riley - 1 More Time (FREE DOWNLOAD)
#House #Electro

Etta x Raf always manage to put their own spin on a done to death current dance trend, and "1 More Time" totally subverts the art of a deep house anthem. Starting woozily with lazy synths and a simmering kick, Raf drops not one but two swaggering synth basslines as Etta reels off an awkward white girl rap. The EP itself is full of weird and wonderful fucked-up-dance anthems, and as with their previous EP, Emergency Room, it's totally free. DOWNLOAD HERE.



Lakim - Don't Need You (FREE DOWNLOAD)
#ChicagoHouse

Taken from the latest of Fat! Records increasingly quality free mini-compilations, US house DJ Lakim offers a clean slice of Chicago House - the ricocheting chords and hiccuping vocal hook are straight from 1992. In a saturated house scene, it's impressive that a track ticking so many standard boxes still manages to carry some real energy. DOWNLOAD FOR FREE FROM SOUNDCLOUD BELOW.




Wave Racer - Rock U Tonite
#Wonky #Chiptune

Hailing from Australia, Wave Racer's "Rock U Tonite" is a chip-tune flecked wonky tune that could easily be a collboration between the rough jittery beats of Hudson Mohawke and the druggy, euphoric synths of Unicorn Kid. It's joyous, even when sober.

Popdar: Best New Music - 30/07

Sadly, this week is almost entirely a no-show week for exciting releases, but there are some recent releases that may have slipped under the radar for some of you.


ANGEL HAZE - RESERVATION (MIXTAPE)
FREE DOWNLOAD.


Although they're all getting at each others throats, it is nothing short of a delight (for me anyway) that in the wake of Princess Azealia's rise and rise, so many young female rappers, mainly from NY admittedly, are receiving widespread attention in 2012. Whilst some of them are all attitude with little to say (I'm looking at you Kreayshawn and Dominique Young Unique), others, like Angel Haze, have a bit more than skimpy underwear, a diss dictionary and monopoly money in their suitcase. 


The Reservation mixtape is decidedly old school in its productions, but 20 year old rapper is Ms Haze's flow is not cheap and flashy, but intelligent, sharp and compelling. She comfortably sings "I run New York" in "New York", and the relaxed but focused verse rapping is much more convincing than a louder, more obnoxious rapper. Unlike other NY rap divas, she doesn't focus all her attention on her peers, but on colossal bass highlight "Werkin' Girls" she sums her position in one fell swoop: "You can cut the fake shit, I'm not a motherfuckin' actor". Low key cuts like "This is Me" and "Sufferings First" could not be further from fake, the perception in her lyrics exceeding her 20 years of age.


If Azealia Banks' frills and fun approach doesn't win you over to female hip hop, Angel Haze gives you something deeper to get your teeth into. 


For fans of: Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, Azealia Banks,



ETTA BOND/RAF RILEY - EMERGENCY ROOM (EP)
FREE DOWNLOAD

If you thought Etta Bond displayed a satisfying bite when she calls her ex a "bitch" in "Ask Me To Stay", then brace yourself for her first EP, produced by future bass/post dubstep producer Raf Riley, who gives every track a broken glass edge with merciless shuddering beats leading the way beneath uncomfortable but addictive electronics, jagged and sharp as broken glass. And placing a saxophone solo on "Baddy" has surely never proved to be a sound so gloriously out of place, and yet still somehow perfectly placed, in dubstep before.

Not that Etta's performances are any less jagged and sharp than her productions. "Ask Me To Stay" seems endlessly tame in comparison to the hedonistic, 'crazy bitch' persona she displays everywhere else on this EP. She's got the hangover from hell in "Resolve", in which beats and bass churn like a alcohol-poisoned stomach as Etta moans about "cold pizza for breakfast", whilst the alarming but brilliant "Boring Bitches" pays tribute to girls who don't dance for fear their "fake tan's gonna run and shit", but the insane drop, courtesy of Riley, could surely even get the Queen on her feet. 


Hopes of further exposure are high, with even Jessie J championing her, having tweeted that "Boring Bitches" is 'her tune'. Maybe she's right, although perhaps not in the way she thinks. And that's why we need Etta Bond in 2012. There are too many of these boring bitches dominating the charts of late, and what we need is a girl who in no way wants to "sit down and act like a lady".

For fans of: Benga, Lily Allen, Katy B



DELILAH - FROM THE ROOTS UP (LP)
OUT NOW

It seems unlikely that anyone reading this is unfamiliar with creamy voiced Paloma Ayana, aka Delilah, but in case there was any confusion, she killed it on Chase & Status' "Time", and her debut record "From The Roots Up" is out today.

Whilst her voice is undoubtedly an acquired taste, Delilah's performance on her debut is all the more enjoyable due to its limitations. Her sparse trip-hoppy/post dub productions leave her voice completely uncovered 95% of the time. On recent single "Inside My Love", Delilah strains the top of her range to hit sky high head voice notes, and as a result her voice sounds vulnerable and desperate, perfect for the misty and lustful tones of the track.

"From The Roots Up" has its share of distinctly 'pleasant' love songs, but compared to the more seductive material there is no contest; Delilah has a voice to seduce and entrance rather than to preach, and there is nothing wrong with that. "Go" is still the album's stroke of genius, with a bassline that rumbles like distant thunder and a genius reinterpretation of the verse in Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody", and the floating, beautiful "Breathe" still manages to be sexy despite its lyrics flirting with suffocation and suicide. It's a shame that elsewhere, she sounds uncomfortable on tracks like "Shades of Grey" and "Only You", on which her thin, wispy voice struggles to sound warm and inviting.


Delilah might have a distinct, inimitable voice, but material wise, she is still finding her feet. But there is still enough on her debut to suggest she can work beyond her soulful roots in its follow up, and hopefully play on her infinitely more satisfying underground dance flirtations, which fit her like a glove.


For fans of: Portishead, Katy B




TNGHT - TNGHT (EP)
OUT NOW ON ITUNES

Two incredibly forward thinking, massively creative and unfairly unknown producers, Lunice and Hudson Mohawke, collaborate here to make an EP which is already twice as hyped as their original projects.


Not without good reason. Hudson Mohawke's playful and startling melodies and quirky sounds are tamed yet enhanced by Lunice's sparse but dynamic beats, and the result is an EP of genre-bending bass music that repels trends as much as it sets them. Expect all 5 of these tracks to feature on a good deal of mixtapes in the future.

I personally hear Azealia Banks snapping up "Bugg'n". What about you?


For fans of: Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, SBTRKT