Just a short little lighthearted post this morning. A tiny bit of audio stimulation, and a series of fantastic visuals done for the EF language school, directed by Gustav Johansson, with typography by the talented Albin Holmqvist.
Toronto is boiling hot these days. Following The Weeknd/Abel Tesfaye's meteoric rise to fame, and his XO crew's affiliation with Drake's OVO (October's Very Own) collective, people have been paying a lot of attention to Canada's biggest metropolis. Not only is Drake absolutely killing it lately, but a lot of the r&b and electronic music coming from Toronto is of the highest quality.
I have personally played The Weeknds's debut mixtape House of Balloons more than any other release this year, but I was a bit dissapointed by the muddled follow-up Thursday. Regardless, I'm willing to give his future releases a chance, based on the strength of his debut mixtape.
Two days ago, Tesfaye dropped a new song, his most drugged-out and distorted piece to date, called Initiation.
The release of Initiation introduces us to DROPXLIFE, a mysterious producer from Toronto who is part of the OVOXO umbrella group. For many, this is our first introduction to this new talent. He specializes in chopped-up, dropped-out, bass-heavy jams, which is the perfect complement to The Weeknd's syruppy serenades to debauchery.
I've included the title track of his debut mixtape ALLXLEGENDS, as well as a download link so you can jam it on your ipods and stereos. Between this and Rustie's album (OMFG so good), fans of dope instrumental vibes have been pretty spoiled recently.
DROPXLIFE's debut is pretty sweet, to be quite honest. Mellow, trippy and heavy at the same time, a few songs are reminiscent of a mix of Portishead and a really strong MDMA trip.
My work schedule is a bit ridiculous these days, but I have several great posts lined up for you in the coming days. I've really missed posting, so I'm trying to put expotentially more effort into the site. We'll see how that goes.
Anyways, today's post will be a double-whammy of awesomeness. We have a great deep tune by Dutch producer Peter Horrevorts and a several weeks old BBC Radio 1 Essential mix, mixed by none other than the rising star himself, Jamie xx.
To be honest, my introduction to this tune came from listening to the Essential Mix posted below. It is an extremely solid mix, filled with amazing tunes, but this was one of the tunes that caught my attention and made me do a double-take. Of course, I had to click through the mix to locate it in the lengthy tracklist.
Peter Horrevorts, a producer from the south of Holland, has been releasing sublime techno for the better part of a decade. I had personally never heard of him until a few weeks ago, but the few tracks that I have heard so far are admittedly great.
Siren is a hypnotic slow-burner of a track, a magical piece of very deep house. It starts with a dreamy buildup of enchanting rhythm, then the bass and vocal sample are dropped into the mix, which leads to gape-jawed wonder for the rest of the nearly 10 minute adventure. I'm not a connoisseur of deep house, unfortunately, but this one is most definitely one of the prime cuts of the year.
The xx's production whiz and much-hyped DJ, Jamie Smith, aka Jamie xx, has had a great year. His Gil Scott-Heron rework is one of my favorite remixes of 2010, his steel drum opus Far Nearer was one of the summer's best tunes, and his edits have been rinsed by many an influential DJ.
I was pretty stoked when I heard that he had done an Essential Mix, which is always a great platform for up-and-coming producers to show off their skills. I won't say too much about the mix today.
Just put it on the stereo and let yourself be transported and moved by the vibes. Anything goes with this one: disco, UK Bass, soul, and more.
What was your reaction to the mix? Personally, I cleaned up my whole appartment whilst two-stepping to it, and it was the perfect soundtrack. That might not be the most flattering or preferable way to review a mix, but I'm a fan. He was pretty great at Osheaga this summer, too.
Anyways, enough chatter. ENJOY.
TRACKLIST:
01 Orbital – “Belfast” 02 Phanes – “Lucky Woman” 03 Ifan Dafydd – “No Good” 04Harvey Mandel – “Christo Redentor” 05 Koreless – “Lost In Tokyo” 06 Floating Points – “Sais” 07 Wiley – “Colder (Instrumental)” 08 Fantastic Mr. Fox – “Untitled” 09 Pearson Sound – “Untitled” 10 DJ Deeon – “Fine Hoes” 11 Luke Vibert – “Analord” 12 New Look – “Janet” 13 John Tejada – “Unstable Condition” 14 Univac – “Untitled (Track 1)” 15 Aardvarck – “Nosestep (Original Mix)” 16 Jean Jacques Smoothie – “2 People” 17 Instra:mental – “Pyramid” 18 Grimm Limbo – “Fortune Favours the Brave” 19 R A G – “Rage (Spaventi & Aroy Raw Mix)” 20 Ronnie Dyson – “All Over Your Face” 21 Jamie xx – “Far Nearer (Bootleg)” 22 Axel Boman – “Purple Drank” 23 Loosse – “About You” (Feat. Yolanda) 24 Anette Party – “Moreno” (Feat. Anita Coke) 25 Gino Soccio – “Dancer” 26 Mr Beatnick – “Synthetes” 27 Sacha Funke vs. Nina Kraviz – “Moses (Stimming Remix)” 28 Jamie xx & Gil Scott Heron – “I’ll Take Care Of U (Special DJ Version)” 29 Genius Of Time – “Houston We Have A Problem” 30 Austin Eterno/The xx – “I Remember Shelter” 31 James Blake – “Libra (Edit)” 32 Pangaea – “Bear Witness” 33 Holly Miranda – “Slow Burn Treason” 34 Peter Horrevorts – “Siren” 35 Chuck Roberts – “My House (Acappella)” 36 Virgo Four – “Do You Know Who You Are?” 37 Morning Factory – “Diane’s Love” 38 Karen Pollack – “You Can’t Touch Me (Roc & Kato Vocal Beat Trip Mix)” 39 War – “The World Is A Ghetto (Special Disco Mix)” 40 Marshall Jefferson – “Mushrooms (Justin Martin Mix)” 41 Radiohead – “Bloom (Jamie xx Rework)”
The songs featured on this blog are for promotional use only. Our goal is to promote the artists we feature, to expose great talent to a wider audience, and not to steal money from their pockets. If you would like a song removed, just get at us in the comments and we'll be more than happy to oblige. If you like the music we feature, then support the artists next time they roll through your city, either by going to a show, or by buying merchandise!
