The Alchemist spins the barrel with his innovative new project
J Dilla. Madlib. Pete Rock. Famed and visionary MC/producers who have dared to look outside the scope of the traditional hip hop ‘beats and rhymes’ structure for albums and beat-tapes. You can now add The Alchemist to that list. Always close to the top of my fave producers list, Al has spent over a decade making classic and highly original sounds for a host of artists, from underground legends Dilated Peoples to heavy-hitting Queens rappers Mobb Deep and Capone-n-Noreaga. Lately The Alchemist has moved into muddier, psychedelic territory with Oh No and Gangrene and has now turned his attention to his most realised vision yet, Russian Roulette. The album intersperses swampy beat sketches and instrumentals with short, intense verses from a variety of vocalists, such as Meyhem Lauren, Action Bronson, Evidence, Guilty Simpson and more. It’s an ambitious yet cohesive record and utterly compelling. Get it.
Swim was a fave of many when Caribou released it a few years ago. Since then he’s been busy with a number of remix projects and releasing under his Daphni alias. It’s under this alias that he’ll release his new album Jiaolong. Using this moniker for his housier, more dub-oriented productions, the album will include material he’s unveiled over the past 12 months alongside new works. It’s out early October.
Martin Clark’s Keysound imprint is always on point. Under his Blackdown alias, he’s teamed up with Dusk for an album of new material entitled Dasaflex. Their previous album Margins Music is a personal classic and the new material looks set to see them further explore the murky ever-shifting ground of London bass music. Dasaflex is due September.
Friends Of Friends is another excellent emerging imprint that has become synonymous with quality. Groundislava is one of their star producers and he returns in August with a brand new album entitled Feel Me. Regular collaborators Clive Tanaka and Jake Weary turn up on vocal duty, but this time Groundislava has also collaborated with label-mate Shlohmo and Anticon’s Baths on production collaborations. Expect plenty of ‘80s slow-mo lo-fi fuzzy electronica.
Warp has unveiled details of the forthcoming new album from prolific LA producer-genius Flying Lotus. Until The Quiet Comes is due early October and features a collaboration with some dude called Thom Yorke. It’ll be a classic, right? It is FlyLo after all…
Also returning to the fold is much-loved Ninja Tune soldier Kid Koala. His new album 12-Bit Blues was created entirely on the E-mu SP-1200 sampler. Will it be hyperactive? Sure. Bugged out? You betcha. The koala is back in your gum tree in September.
Tri Angle just keep on bringing us that fresh new music. Their next release is the debut album from Bristol’s Vessel. Following releases on Left Bank, Immerse and Astro:Dynamics, his new album Order Of Noise is due in late September and will showcase his style of slowed, chopped, dubbed-out house music – if you can pigeonhole his sound at all.
Finally, that crazy-haired bassweight goon The Gaslamp Killer is readying his debut album on Brainfeeder in September. Equal parts grinding bass and ethereal psychedelia, the album features collaborations with Gonjasufi, Computer Jay, Daedelus, Samiyam and more.
To hear music from all these artists and more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM every Tuesday night from 9.30pm. Stream at www.2xxfm.org.au
ROSHAMBO AKA CED NADA
roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au
