This is from 18 year old Quam who hit me up with some really good stuff. Seems like he’s one of a number of producers that are floating around the world of Kuhn these days. And apparently he is in Berlin hanging out with Robert Henke, which makes me jealous. Kuhn, by the way, is in San Francisco and looking for gigs, if by some small chance someone reads this who can give him one.

My buddies LV just did the most recent podcast for XLR8R. Click on the picture above – it’s super dope. I don’t know why Will looks so glum though. Perhaps because I’m beating him at scrabble at the moment!

Project Mooncircle is turning 10! And they’re putting out a ginormous box set with all the flare and character and good art and awesome music that you’d expect. Check the sampler above.

Local hommie Benito, who is extremely cued in to all things awesome and has turned me on to many good things has his own EP coming out on Brap Dem recordings. Super awesome wobbly clean 150bpm bass stuff. This is what everyone who’s listening to sluggish glittery dubstep SHOULD be listening to.

I was also going to announce that Percussion Lab had finally gotten their act together and upgraded their servers, which was a very long time coming – but right now they’re having a server error (although it did tell me that very fast). Sigh – but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and you should check back soon to hear all the stuff I’ve posted there over the last year, as well as everyone elses’s stuff.

Been listening to a lot of Beastie Respond‘s stuff lately. If you haven’t heard Syncope, above, definitely give it a listen! I’ve heard rumblings that new things are coming from him soon!

Finally, just as a last little teaser, my pal David Gunn has gotten one of the more interesting projects I’ve heard of in the last little while of the ground by self-releasing this collaboration with Cambiodian electronic and traditional musicians. Gonna hold off on writing more because it deserves a bigger story, but click on the beautiful CD above to see the announcement.

One project I’ve been working on a little has been to put together a mix, along with Tinker, of the Autonomic/dBridge inspired sound… I was really touched by the Exit records comp that came out last year, Mosaic, and I’m surprised I left it off my year end lists – I must have just missed it in the sweeps. But it’s the thing that really got me thinking about DnB again after so many years – it shows just how creative you can be in stretching a genre while still remaining within it.

There’s a lot to explore here and I think if packaged right you could play a whole set of it to west-coast-ies and have them love it from a bouncy hip-hop emotive dance type of way, and then if you asked them what it was afterwards they wouldn’t even think it’s DnB. So I’m going to attempt to make that mix! As a little teaser for the some of the newest sounds, check out Synkro and Indigo’s Progression (sorry, I can only find a video with an MC over it). Out in a few days.

Also out yesterday is the latest from Donky Pitch, from Brighton, who’s been picking up key releases by some exciting new artists. This one though is from established heads Ghost Mutt and it’s true form digi weirdness from the man who brought you the dance floor smashing Thoroughbred. Sweat Mode pretty much rocks. Again, click below for the bandcamp page.

Also also, the Astro-Dynamics website has gotten a cool refresh (and he’s not the only one, check out the new Electronic Explorations website!). And while he’s at it, Luke Owen is introducing a new artist, 1991, for his next release, and then following that with a Samoyed remix of El Kid – which is like a match made in heaven for me. Check ‘em out below.

And finally, my top 10 list of albums, EPs and singles from 2011 is up now on Create Digital Music, although with the announcement that I’ll be contributing to that website occasionally. Check it out here!

So I’m super thankful to them for welcoming me into the family in a small way, as they did Tinker last month, by featuring me in their podcast series! This mix definitely pushes my boundaries into areas I don’t know as well (Luke Slater and Plastikman, what?!?), but it was fun to make and I hope people still hear the kameleon in there. Long mixes, lots of dub echos, best listened to in one go.

INFINITY +1 TRACKLIST
01 Benjamin Damage & Doc Daneeka – Creeper
02 Radiohead – Good Evening Mrs Magpie (Modeselektor Rmx)
03 Presk – Mold
04 Boddika – Grand Prix
05 Nguzunguzu – Water Bass Power
06 Orphan 101 – Junker
07 Zack Christ – Koofpoin Low
08 Deadbeat – Third Quarter (The Vampire of Mumbai)
10 L.B. Dub Corp – Take it Down in (Dub)
09 T++ – Storm
11 Dadub – Metropolis
12 Sbtrk – Wildfire (Objekt Tool Mix)
13 Sbtrk – Wildfire (Objekt Remix)
14 Sbtrk – Wildfire (Objekt Dub Mix)
15 Datassette – Fallblattanzeige
16 Addison Groove – This Is It
17 Addison Groove – Work It
18 F – Full Throttle
19 Cosmic Revenge – Mind Eraser
20 Cosmic Revenge – Late Nights
21 Om Unit x Lorn – Obsidian
22 Clicks & Whistles – Radiator
23 Jaybird – What Da Funk!? (6Blocc Remix)
24 Munchi – Shottas (Nguzunguzu remix)
25 Breton – RDI (Girl Unit Remix)
26 Spooky – Bashment Woooo
27 Synkro – Tribe
28 Indigo – Primal
29 Subterra – Desecrated 909
30 Isotroph – Crossroads
31 Orphan 101 – Disemble
32 Plastikman – Helikopter
33 Vaetxh – Clipper
34 16 bit – Dinosaurs
35 16 bit – Le Hanwell Hustle
36 16 Bit – Skullcrack
37 Skrillex – Kill Everybody (Bare Noize remix)
38 Bare Noize – Twilight Zone

I am extremely fortunate that every once in a while I get an unsolicited email about music and the music actually is mindblowingly good. Doesn’t happen all that often, and in order for me to read it I have to be clued in, in some small way, that it might be something I’m interested in (so often, though not always, the word “soulful” ends up getting archived). But in this case Bambooman hit me up and I saw that he had some stuff coming on Project:Mooncircle, one of my favorite labels of last year. And the mind was blown. It’s SO hard to mix up softer, more mellow vibes with glitch and wonky and get the proportions right enough to be both interesting and unique. Bambooman’s done just that. Check out the teaser tracks from his forthcoming limited release CD, and then the stuff from his previous Lost Souls EP. I THINK he might also be responsible for the mighty Sound Healers comp from last year, and his email hinted that the 2nd installment of was on the way as well. W00t!

01. Om Unit – Naiad
02. Om Unit vs. Kromestar – Merkabah
03. Krampfhaft – I Needed You (Om Unit Remix)
04. Om Unit – Fibonnaci 10
05. Comma – Mezcal Hologram (Om Unit Remix)
06. Om Unit – An Eternal Way
07. Silent Dust – The Giant (Om Unit Remix)
08. Ital Tek – War of the Ants (Om Unit Remix)
09. Arp 101 And Om Unit – Dr Funkenstein
10. Om Unit – Cold World
11. Starkey – Lost in Space (feat. Charli XCX) (Om Unit Remix)
12. Take – Juniper (Om Unit Remix)
13. Pixelord – Cybernator (Om Unit Remix)
14. Om Unit – Prawn Cocktail
15. Om Unit – The Timps (Alternative Version)
16. Om Unit x Lorn – Obsidian

Other stuff that’s been on my mind (lots of charts and graphics) include this fascinating chart of “Influencers” on Soundcloud – Would be super interested to know how they came up with their formula.

Little study put together by Root Music. Note that only 3% of bands on facebook consider themselves electronic! And this isn’t a case of misclassification, people categorize themselves! My world is very very very small.

Finally, I’ve been meaning to do a post about PROTECT-IP / SOPA and fortunately it’s been pushed off till January but this is still an issue near and dear to my heart. Awesome letter here from the 100 or so people that basically built the internet/web/networks of today about what a bad idea it is. Check it out, brought to you by the EFF, of course.

Best of list coming tomorrow, and possible also the final mix of the year if I can get it together!

Realizing I’m going to have released 10 mixes by the time the year is out, and I think across all 10 I pretty much said all the musical things I wanted to say in 2011. Maybe  I’ll do a recap post at the end of the year.

Tinker’s awesome Sunrise set is up thanks to Bloodman and Orphan101 of DecaRhythm. One of my favorite things of the year by far.

Also have put up my mix that I did for the BBC on my soundcloud – so there will be a higher quality version of it around.

Now they’ve got a full length coming out on the always awesome Project Mooncircle, who basically can do no wrong and is a paragon of the way a digital label should be run. The 1000names album is called Invisible Architect and is due out tomorrow and is beguiling and beautiful and, as their press photo suggests, a little off kilter and funny.

You can get it from the PMC bandcamp page, and they made a little promo video for it below, and you can check out more of their stuff on their soundcloud.

Also one other release of note that’s been keeping me humming is a new EP from Masmod on his own Nueva Forma label (another super awesome, well kept, well run net label). It’s called Conscious Automata and it’s a real advance in Masmod’s sound, with each track branching out into different directions and tempos – all held together by gossamer spider threads glistening with dew, but each a unique creation. Powerful stuff. Click below to get it for free(!) from their bandcamp, and check out the label’s gorgeous site and latest podcast “Listening Pleasures” here.

Loops Haunt – Ark (Black Acre)
Danny Drive Thru – Eclipsemoonsun [Trevino's Front Remix] (forthcoming on Fat City)
Abjo – Stereocity (unreleased VIP)
Zack Christ – Iced Out (self released)
Sepalcure – Fleur [Sun Hammer Remix] (forthcoming self release)
Fedbymachines – The Place That Never Was (forthcoming on Falk Phonic)
Woulg – Elephant (enig’matik)
Recue and Jolea – We’re Not Like The Most (unreleased VIP)

In other news, my first article for Google Music came out a couple day. It’s on Sepalcure.

Oh, and one list thing, saw Africa Hitech last night at Public Works… my faith in many things is restored.

This is LAMA – they’re a super group from Japan and their album came out today! My connection to them is Mr. Kensuke Ushio otherwise known as Agraph, who’s all the way to the right in the above photo. The other members apparently have incredible pedigree, but I’m nowhere near as versed in that world as I could be, so the only previous groups I recognized the names of were Number Girl and Supercar. It’s not available in the US yet, but hopefully the internets will somehow overcome that gap. Here they are performing “One Day” – with I think Agraph possibly appearing live from his bedroom!

A second group of music makers on my mind recent have been Recue and Jolea from Helsinki. Riku and I have struck up a lively conversation in advance of my mix coming out on the BBC on Friday – It contains a world premier of a new song by the duo called “We’re Not Like The Most” that is truly stellar. They’re both producers in their own right, together they run the Audiobaum label, and Jolea is blessed with a truly incredible, shiver-inducing voice. Links to a couple of their albums below, and the track that got me into Recue below that.

Also, I’ve been working on, and just finished, a little 20 minute mix for Tom Ravenscroft’s show on BBC6. Totally psyched to do it, Tom’s got good tastes (last week’s guest was Plastikman!) and I was put up to it by Alex from One-Handed Music. It’s short so I used it as an opportunity to reach out to some artists I hadn’t had before and collect some good new tracks. I got so many I’m considering doing an alternate take mix after the original one comes out!

Finally, always a happy day when I get something new in my inbox from PK who runs King Deluxe records. They not only have great music but have the best art of any label ou there right now. It’s an EP by a new-to-me artist Muta, and it’s called Runner. Seems like it’s out now so check it out! Heady stuff…

The latest release on DFRNT’s label Echodub is out. Super stellar release from a relatively new French producer named Isotroph. Lots of variation, with one track in the skippy nu-garage vein, two it the slightly more house/drummy mode, and one totally excellent joint (Fission) in that weird netherworld between hip-hop and dnb – the syncopated Autonomic sound of people like Indigo and Synkro.

Beyond just being a good solid, full release, it’s definitely a credit to Alex/DFRNT for what he does with both Echodub and his “other” label Cut for being able to do that thing of making and putting out sweeping, big, synth-heavy tunes that tweak emotions but don’t come across as cheesy or over the top, or calling on tropes and signals that miss the mark. It’s VERY hard to do that, and most people fail at it – and Echodub isn’t flawless, there are some things that aren’t for me on there. But on the whole it’s super impressive undertaking. Plus it’s just well run and well presented as a label/experience – and DFRNT even does all the art. Who knows how he has the time!

*It takes a lot to impress me when anything “Soulful” comes across my radar – only a few people do it well. Afta-1 is one of them. And now so is Abjo. Seriously amazing Sankofa EP from this cat from San Diego, hits that verrrrry difficult balance between smooth without being cheesy, chill crisp beats without being limp, and interesting from first note to last. Apparently he’s got 10 other albums to check out! From the Soulection label, who are giving away a gigantic comp packed with awesomeness that you should check out.

*My man Henry in Portland who goes by the name The Plain Ensemble has a whole EP worth of beats that he’s shopping around and that really needs a home. This guy is young and seriously talented, and he ends up making whatever he touches turn gold. He has me listening to Disco, a rare feat. Check out his tunes at his myspace page and help them find a home (I’m thinking maybe Top Billin’?)

*New-to-me Russian DnB producer Oak released his single Otaku this week. Totally beautiful beguiling stuff for fans of Bop – he and Oak run the Microfunk.ru blog, which is a the heart of this sound at the moment. Otaku has a killer remix by ASC as well.

*Super quality beautiful stuff from the Dewtone label coming at a rate of one per month. Another group of artists that I hadn’t heard before but are also doing a balancing act of ambient house and techno (and straight up ambient), drawing you in and not being cheesy at the same time. I like everything about their presentation too, their artwork is particularly nice. Personal favorites are Nadia Popoff, nikosf., and Recue, but check out their Foundations Compilation for the full range of flavors.

*I’ve been rediscovering Alva Noto’s Xerrox Vol 1. and 2. You should too.

*The eLan album is out on Monkeytown and totally overflowing with tons of quality tracks and remixes. It’s pretty hard to keep up with all that’s going on here, but eLan’s definitely nailed his sound and come into his own on this release. And the supporting cast of remixers is stellar.

*The Brokenchord remix of Fulgeance‘s “London Falling” is off the hook! Look out for it when it’s released on the Fulgance album.

*Finally, my partner Tinker has a new mix out, part of the big up magazine podcast series. It’s excellent, all flash and zazzle. Go fan her on facebook here.

*Producers in Chicago ever since the 90s have been making raunchy, funny, over the top dance music. With very simple drum and bassline programming. Like this. People called it Juke.
*In the 2nd half of the ’00s, other Chicago producers took that template, sped it up even more, took out some kicks, threw in A LOT of toms all over the place, and started both cutting up and weirdly detuning vocal snippits. Like this.
*Lots of this stuff was played for dance-off battles at places like rec centers in South Side Chicago. They look like this. Hense the genre name: Footwork. As in music for footwork battles.
*Mike Paradinas of Planet Mu, always a pioneer listener, picked up on it (with a little help from my hommie Staypuft and others) and put out a ton of this stuff, which in turn reached a broad community of international electronic music producers that might have otherwise missed it.
*Those producers, including lots of white people, realized that it was the craziest, weirdest dance music out there and started to incorporate the production technics of Footwork into their tracks.
*(Bang and Works Vol 2 out Nov 7th! It’s huge!)

I made a mix of all my favorite stuff of the last couple years – both from the original Chicago footwork stuff and the folks that have taken it and run with it. The result is up on Percussion Lab. Mixed fast because that’s how this stuff is meant to be presented (I once had a DJ Funk mixtape that had 99 tracks on it – I always guessed because that was the max # of divisions you could put on a CD). 47 tracks in 59 mins and 59 secs. Enjoy – click my feet above for the link (Percussion Lab is sometimes a little slow, if it doesn’t load, try again soon)