“Plastic, hollow shells that focus only on the in-the-now grooves or keeping in line with trends.” This is how Martyn would describe some of today’s DJs. He isn’t necessarily finger-pointing particular individuals, the Internet can take care of that — just look at the polemic Skrillex. But his general view is that DJ superstar culture coupled with rock star marketing has created a host of vacuous producers for whom he has rubbed shoulders with during his own travels. For Martyn, they lack in any culture or history of the foundations in the music they promote and create, and easily jump on the nearest development with a brash ignorance. On Ghost People the Dutch producer would like to invoke not only nostalgic memories, but the rapport of Paradise Garage DJs and hedonistic club nights of the past.

It’s not the first time the once drum and bass DJ has taken a side look at the social and cultural aspects of his work. Great Lengths although not explicit in its delivery, had a very sombre and melancholic feeling. This release “has definitely a lot more drive, from being on the road, from being unhappy with a situation perhaps.” Martyn certainly seems to have an acute perception of the “scene” and the ebbs and flows of DJ life, and as one critic has commented on the landmark Fabric 50 mix: despite being a “temporary moment”, it nonetheless could not “taste fresher, […] unifying house, techno, dubstep and UK funky to such a glorious extent; the first to portend the possibilities for coexistence between disparate scenes and sounds.”

Ghost People essentially transcends “House music’s nomadic memory”, a deep influence that remains throughout a multitude of artists in recent years, springing up in the futuristic and dystopian techno of Gatekeeper, or to take a huge step back, an album complete of House music’s earliest influences in the shape of 2562′s Fever LP. Every sound on the latter had to originate from a 70s or 80s disco record.

This album doesn’t put such a self-imposed limit onto itself, but just as 2562 is keen to delve amongst the building blocks of house, Martyn is equally willing to explore the melodies and emotions; the fizzing 808s and the cold synth stabs, passing through Detroit and Chicago on ‘Masks’ and ‘Horror Vacui’. It is heavy on the 4/4 beats and somewhat more aggressive than Great Lengths. “It’s similar to how Erosie’s album artwork is intense, an overload of thoughts, instead of an easily digestible image” comments Martyn, who insisted on the elaborate installation piece for the secret album release launch in east London late last month.

Notably, this reaffirms Martyn’s break with the confounds of two-step, and as his mind wanders through the worldwide scene once more, just where will he go next.

[Originally published for TLOBF]

Anyone heard of Chicago’s ‘Footwork’  scene? Yes? Wow. No? Well, that’s OK, because I am told it is still a small and localised scene of abstract dance music, and er, interesting dancing. If you are now a little curious then Planet Mu will be releasing a compilation album later in the year covering some of artists that represent this community.

Some of this music has travelled through various social networking sites, and thankfully, if you wanted to, you could probably pick up a few records here and there across the web. It still astounds me how quickly movements such as this can spread across the globe, and today you don’t have to wait for that retrospective quadruple LP release, you can simultaneously dive in and keep up with the latest music as it happens.

Anyway, that is just a way of demonstrating how the long tail of trends can again manage to reach your ears. Whilst sitting down in this chair a few thousand miles away from the epicentre of such musical communities it is hard to really get an idea of how ‘big’ these artists are. Not that it matters of course, but when there are so many splinter groups it is good to know the perceived dominant sectors — just for reference. The artists who form the current Brainfeeder roster are perhaps one the more principal groups within future beats, and they all explore the different uses of samplers and sequences in their Low End Theory club nights, and have staged a few celebratory nights in London warehouses with the backing of labels such as Warp Records.

Ardour is the latest lengthy release for the L.A based label. It comes after the cinematic Nothing Else by Lorn and the dense and somewhat off-putting Cosmogramma by label chief Flying Lotus. Ardour was created over a period of two years by Teebs, and a difficult time in his life at that. The personal issues which affected the work on the album (financial issues, and his father’s death) is certainly evident through the 18 tracks of the album. Ardour was created using a SP404 sampler, Fruity Loops and a load of borrowed equipment. The spacial sound-scapes and synths majestically flow within an almost melancholy overcast, particularly towards the latter part of the album. Despite the lengthy playlist, the album isn’t overtly long, with most tracks being somewhat too linear and short. However, that shouldn’t discourage from just how interesting is the amount of live instruments embedded within the music — what is real and what is sampled?. The production of glistening bells and chimes, flowing water, acoustic guitar juxtaposed the deep sub bass  and crisp percussion leaves just enough space for some flowing melodic patterns and abstract keys. Two years well spent.

[Originally published on thelineofbestfit]

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The transition from 12”s and EPs to long players can certainly expose an artist to their weaknesses in production and repetitive nature of live techniques, in what should be seen as a full representation of their creativity rather than just a collection of dj-orientated tracks. I am not suggesting that every producer out there who releases 12”s are destined to be used and abused by their peers, but within today’s future beats collective it is plain to hear those who rely too heavily on the same manufactured loops and tired synths, or even drenching their set with as much organic based sounds as possible, and those who spend more time to gather, analyse and reflect on source material before using it within their work.

Thankfully there are artists such as Flying Lotus, Starkey et al who can maintain an album’s worth of material and with this self-titled album, Ninja Tune’s latest audio gymnast Eskmo can help himself to a piece of that action.

Maybe it is because San Francisco based Brendan Angelides, aka Eskmo, isn’t or hasn’t really been a DJ. He is a musician, and started playing the bass at an early age, then drums, then keys, whilst simultaneously working his way through the back catalogue of 1990s electronica. Eskmo spans current genres within beatmaking and at time sounds similar to Brainfeeder glitch-hop, and at others new-age synth-funk. It is a loose hybrid downtempo style that is although deep into the LA low-end scene has hints of UK based artist Joker and fellow experimenter Nosaj Thing.

Throughout the building block beats and deep soothing bass notes is a much laid back vibe that oozes through the album. ‘Cloudlight’ floats up and down with its wafting and bubble pop samples, which sound like a constant stream of Facebook chat messages. ‘Become Matter Soon, For You’ sounds similar to 2009’s ‘Hypercolour’, again a loose feel with subtle spacey synths. Although next to each other in the play list, ‘Siblings’ and ‘Gold & Stone’ feel quite different, one a mixture of strangulated piano samples working its way through your ears, and the other being an almost Bonobo sounding powerhouse. Any vocals on this album reflect track titles and are spliced between wafting basslines and a mixed case of field music and sampled beats. The samples for much of the album are intended to be interwoven with the lush melodies and transfixing synths. On ‘We Have Invisible Friends’ and ‘My Gears Are Starting To Tremble’, this approach is ethereal and very poetic in nature, and very representative of the whole listening experience.

[Buy from Amazon]

[Originally published on thelineofbestfit]