Geneva-based Koogah Sound has offered up this fresh pair of vocal tracks from singers Nello B as well as Mowgly & Propa on the new Big Boa Riddim, produced by Koogah Sound’s Kano. Listen to a promo mix of the two tracks below, buy the single here from iTunes, & keep up with Koogah Sound on their website, facebook & soundcloud.
Jamaica’s Nello B also released a single “I’n’I A Soldier” last year on another Geneva-based record label, Addis Records, which was one of my favorites to drop over this past summer, check it out below. With several fresh artists busting on to the scene recently, it looks like there is a burgeoning dub & reggae community happening in Switzerland..
Jungle legend Congo Natty has a forthcoming full-length album, Jungle Revolution, on the UK-based Big Dada label, due out July 1st. From the write-up linked there, there are apparently 10 tracks and a slew of guest performances from both producers like Benny Page, Serial Killaz & Vital Elements, as well as vocalists, including usual Congo Natty collaborators like Top Cat, Tenor Fly, Daddy Freddy & Sweetie Irie, but also those not as known amongst this crew like Lady Chann & Buggsy. The brand new music video for the Benny Page-produced ‘UK All Stars’ dropped today via Vice Magazine’s Noisey website, receiving support from Ninja Tune‘s blog amongst many others.
Today, our good friend Bevvy Swift‘s remix project from his debut LP, Monochrome, sees its release via California-based record label, Muti Music. It contains remixes from label owner Dov, Humboldt-based & Muti-affiliated Hypha, as well as mixes from fellow BC-based artists HxdB & the Philthkids. The EP is available for purchase here on Beatport, or here on JunoDownload, previews immediately below.
I think my favorite of the bunch is Hypha’s future bass/garage influenced remix of Bevvy’s collab with Vancouver’s Frank Grimes, “Auntie Swag.” The rest of the pack is only a step or two behind, in my opinion – HxdB offering up a smooth 4/4 reworking of “The Tide,” Philthkids twerkin’ my favorite tune of the original album into a juke/footwork experience while Dov comes in with a tidy, stripped-down jungle remix of the album’s title track.
Bevan’s 3-part Feelings mix series has been receiving lots of love lately, along with a feature & in-depth interview published recently by Seattle-based blog, Ganjaology – read it here.
Keep up with Bevvy on his soundcloud, fan page & Muti Music profile page. Watch for a new full-length album on Muti by the end of the year, and another free LP release is in the pipeline as well.
The first full length album from Vancouver’s Self Evident is set to drop March 22nd on South Fork Sound, a label curated out of Long Island by producer & DJ Blind Prophet. The album is a sprawling 12-track affair, drawing from a myriad of influences & sounds including footwork, garage, dubstep, dancehall, house & everything in between. Off the top, my favorites are the first track “Go Down Low,” and “Birth Of Light” – the juxtaposition of ragga samples & stripped-down footwork really makes it stand out.
Self Evident also dropped an exclusive mix for American blog The Dankles last week, packed with tunes from the forthcoming album & other exclusives including a collaborative remix with Bevvy Swift, collabs with HxdB, Dan Solo & more.
This album is South Fork Sound’s first full-length release, though they’ve released a few singles that have been popping up in my sets quite often, including tunes by label owner Blind Prophet, UK-based newcomer Wen & the Archie Pelago remix of Aoim & Muveo‘s “The BDA.”
Self Evident can be seen at The Astoria on April 6th for a special B2B vs. set with fellow Lighta! Sound crew member, Taal Mala – click the poster for full info..
Kastle has now debuted two new tracks from his forthcoming LP, which he will support with a large-scale tour, where he will introduce the world to his brand new live performance set. The first track is a collaboration with Miami-based vocalist Austin Paul, which has been on Kastle’s soundcloud for a couple months now. No album release date yet, or title, but it is confirmed to be coming in the next couple months via his own label, Symbols Recordings – for more details, check out last week’s article from Canada’s own Beatroute Magazine.
The second album cut we’ve heard, “Insatiable,” was unveiled to the world via BC-native B.Traits‘ BBC Radio1 show just yesterday, a track that features UK-based singer Ayah Marar. You can listen back to her show here for the next week, Kastle’s guest mix starts at the 1h 10m mark, and you can here the tune in question at 1h 18m – I’m really loving the drum fills in this track!
He’s also shared a non-album track as a free download last month, the K-Ci & Jojo sampling “Baby, Keep It Real” – head over to his fanpage to download the track in exchange for a Like. Kastle is also known for crafting excellent mixtapes, including his most recent throwback “Classic Garage & 2-Step Mix,” and he promises that Vol. 4 of his popular “Coffee Shop at the End of the Universe” is set to be dropped any moment.
I’ll be opening up the Vancouver show alongside Max Ulis (check out his fresh Slowcast above), 8prn & Okibi, and we’ve got a pair of tickets up for grabs – just shoot me an email here at dailydreadbass@gmail.com & tell me which city Kastle calls his homebase these days. Entries will be accepted until 8pm on Wednesday January 30th, & the winner will be notified Thursday morning – good luck! Either way, don’t miss this show – ticket sales are available directly from me, online here, or at High Life Records, Red Cat Records & DIPT.
UPDATE: Kastle just uploaded his remix of Miguel’s “..All” to his soundcloud and has made it available as free download! Listen below, and click thru to download.
We’ll see three music videos from Dre Skull‘s Kling Klang Riddim this year, the first of which is Popcaan’s “So We Do It,” shot in Kingston with a local stunt bike crew.
Hard to say what which track will be given the video treatment next, my personal favorite on the riddim is Tifa‘s “Champion Bubbler.” Popcaan & Mavado are also rumored to be collaborating with Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Lion), as several photos of them all together have been circulating.
Love & Light live at Lightning In A Bottle, photo by Grounded.TV
Love & Light are now in the midst of a sprawling western Canadian tour, including stops here in Vancouver at Fortune Sound Club this Thursday January 10th (event), in Victoria at Hush on the following Friday January 11th (event) & at the Spiritbar in Nelson on Saturday January 19th (event). Their new album Level Up was released a couple months ago & is packed full of that high-energy, midtempo glitchy funk that they’ve become known so well for – check out the preview below.
On this tour, they will be running a special contest in conjunction with Envision Festival in Costa Rica – at each tour stop there will be a registration ballot, and at the end of the tour two lucky winners will receive a full 5-day pass to Envision – flights not included. There, Love & Light will perform alongside an impressive roster of talent, including BC’s own The Librarian, Adham Shaikh, JPOD, & ill-Esha.
Love & Light make their Vancouver debut at Fortune this Thursday, where they will be supported by locals dj Dubconscious, Syductive the Crowd Conductor, & Victoria’s Neon Steve. We are giving away two single guestlist spots for this show, to enter shoot me an email here at dailydreadbass@gmail.com by 8pm on Wednesday January 9th & tell me where Love & Light are from – at which point I’ll randomly select two correct answers as winners. I’ll finish off with mixes from each supporting act, & below that you can check out the entire, updated tour itinerary.
Last month, Philadelphia-based producer, DJ & music theory professor at the University Of Philadelphia – Starkey – dropped his third album, Orbits, via Civil Music. It’s a bit of a concept album, highly inspired by science fiction films – incorporating cinematic influences as much as musical influences, which is a quality that has always been present in much of Starkey’s output.
In comparison to his previous full-length efforts that came out on Planet Mu, Pitchfork‘s review states that with Orbits, Starkey “manages to draw all his influences together into something more consistent, an actual streamlined signature sound that makes perfect sense given the records that preceded it.” Mixmag also featured it as album of the month for January, & gave it a 9/10.
The single “Command” included remixes from UK-dubstep king Plastician & rising young producer Pedro123, and is a great example of the sci-fi inspired, synth’d out stutter funk sound that he’s perfected with this release. Other favorites from the album include “Lzr,” “Thugs,” & “G V Star (Pt 2)” – his sound design really has reached a sublime level, each track bending your mind distinctively, transporting you to different dimensions of outer space.
Starkey returns to Canada this week for two shows, Thursday January 10th at TEN Nightclub in Calgary alongside Megalodon (event page) & the following Friday January 11th at The Waldorf Hotel in Vancouver with Max Ulis, Michael Red & dj Dubconscious (event page). We’ve got two pairs of guestlist spots for both Vancouver & Calgary shows up for grabs – all you have to do is email me at dailydreadbass@gmail.com & tell me the name of one of Starkey’s previous two albums that came out on Planet Mu – also please specify which city you are in. For the Calgary show, the contest will be open until Wednesday January 9th at 8pm, at which point I will randomly select two correct answers as the winners & notify them by email. For the Vancouver show, the contest will be open one day longer, entries accepted until Thursday January 10th, at 8pm.
As part of W2’s Lights New Year’s Eve celebration, Colombian-born & Toronto-based singer/songwriter Lido Pimienta will make her Vancouver debut alongside a star-studded cast of the finest artists in the city, & beyond. Though she defies all labels by a mile, ‘Colombian psychedelic pop’ seems to be a term that works – sometimes referred to as a ‘Colombian darling,’ she makes a point of letting you know that her music hits on a much deeper & more intense level than a label like that might suggest.
Lido Pimienta – “La Rata” shot in Bogota, Colombia
Her first record, Color, saw a full vinyl release via LA-based label KU DE TA in 2010 to high praise across the board – from indie blogs to ABC News. Cleverly combining afro-Latin percussion & songwriting with contemporary & experimental production styles she’s clearly defined a sound that is singularly her own.
She has a wealth of new material in the works for her next album with different producers from across the globe, including Atropolis & Thornato from NYC & Vancouver’s own WEPA! crew members, Self Evident & Gameboy, both of whom will be performing at the W2 Lights NYE party as well. Keep up with her on her fan page, band camp, soundcloud & twitter. This last track is my personal favorite so far, a collaboration with Javier Alerta.
New Zealand’s 9 times platinum, 7 member dub super group, Fat Freddy’s Drop, has a new album Blackbird dropping in 2013, and the first single “Silver & Gold” has been made available as a free download along with a New Zealand 12″ vinyl pressing, that’s already completely sold out – though they may do a European pressing when the album is released. Download the track for free via their soundcloud below.
Back in November, they did a 2-show run of an ‘animated & illustrated’ live preview of the new album at the Sydney Opera House – they’ve offered up a bit of a video recap including interview clips and live footage, check it out here inna hi-fi, or via YouTube below. Keeping things current, here is an interview with Fat Freddy’s saxophonist Scott Towers that dropped earlier today via Stuff.co.nz, discussing the new album & other random things.
The band also recently released a set of remixes done by DJ Vadim featuring the vocalists from his band The Electric – Pugz Atomz & Sabira Jade. They’re all available for free download on their soundcloud, you might recognize the “Flashback” remix from my 2011 Shambhala promo mix, Fractured Sentiments. Check for them after the drop. Continue reading →
Geneva-based Koogah Sound has offered up this fresh pair of vocal tracks from singers Nello B as well as Mowgly & Propa on the new Big Boa Riddim, produced by Koogah Sound’s Kano. Listen to a promo mix of the two tracks below, buy the single here from iTunes, & keep up with Koogah Sound on their website, facebook & soundcloud.
The Daily Dread 