Ikonika, aka UK artist aka Sara Abdel-Hamid, sports a unique style that is intricate and almost baroque with layers upon layers of detail over solid bass lines. ‘Contact, Love, Want, Have’ is her debut album and pushes the right buttons for fans of wonky Funk and sleazy electro sounds. Fans of Zomby or Joker take notice, this is right down your alley.

‘Contact, Love, Want, Have’ is a brainy album that needs you to tune into the music and engage with it. There are no obvious dancefloor rollers like Ikonika’s recent remixes of Egyptrixx’ ‘The Only Way Is Up’ on the Night Slugs imprint or Brown Acid’s ‘Bastard Kids’. Instead, the album starts with a blank page, joining the dots between Dubstep, Grime, Funky and - occasionally - the lush early synthesiser prog rock of Vangelis. The result doesn’t quite sound like anything that went before it.

Listen To Ikonika’s Remix Of ‘Bastard Kids’

Both sides of last year’s 12″ release for Hyperdub, ‘Sahara Michael’ and ‘Fish’, are featured on the album. Either are good starting points to explore the more out there tracks on ‘Contact, Love, Want, Have’. The soundscapes Ikonika creates are full of detail, conjuring up brief flashes of urban science fiction imagery with their metallic harshness and snippets of heroic themes.

There is so much happening on each of the tracks that reduction would, at times, create a possibly stronger impact on me. Altered Natives demonstrate this ably on a remix of the album track ‘Idiot’. The Altered Natives mix strips down the original, adding a rolling snare drum that anchors the track which previously floated like a helium balloon. Little quibbles aside, Ikonika’s debut is essential listening if you are interested in the development of electronic music.

‘Contact, Love, Want, Have’ is due out on 6th April 2010 on Hyperdub Records in CD and MP3 format. Instead of a straightforward vinyl release, Hyperdub plans to table a series of 12″s featuring remixes from the album. The Altered Natives mix of ‘Idiot’ kicks off the series on 12th April 2010. Unfortunately, there are no official videos or audio samples bar the Brown Acid remix available at the time of this review going live. You can preview excerpts of some of the album tracks on Ikonika’s webpage.

We say: 3.5 out of 5 stars

UK Funky is made up of a good dollop of Soca drums, a dash of Calypso and a spritzer of Antilles carnival spirit. It’s an all round Caribbean flavoured cocktail, you could say. And it’s served on the rocks, with the whole concoction resting on a bedrock of trouser shaking bass.

The best thing about UK Funky is that it sounds different straight out of the box, thanks to its heavily syncopated beats and juggernaut basslines. Tune into Mixcloud.com and crank up the mix below - I’m sure it will put a smile on your face.

With the exception of Canadian Ghislain Poirier - possibly the Godfather of UK Funky - and Detroit’s Kyle Hall, all the main artists come from the UK, particularly from Bristol and London. Some of the names to look out for are: Roska, Baobinga, RSD, Atki2, Monkey Steak, Brackles, Hanuman and Mosca.

The tracklisting features some of the big UK Funky tunes that have filled the floor at Micro Kitchen clubnights at the Village in Dublin over the past couple of weeks. Urban Species and Foul Play Productions both add mellow ‘99 oldskool Garage and Drum And Bass flavour to get the party started. Brazilian Samba maestro Nicos Jaritz contributes mad snare rolls for the proper street carnival vibe. Enjoy!

Mariokart Joyride Mix - Tracklisting
March 2010

1. Urban Species - Woman (MJ Cole 99 Mix)
2. RSD - Naked Mariokart
3. Foul Play Productions - Risk
4. Martyn - Hear Me (Zomby Mix)
5. Mosca - Square One (Roska Mix)
6. Ghosts On Tape - Predator Mode (Roska Mix)
7. Atki2 & Dub Boy - Tigerflower
8. Poirier - Marathon
9. Baobinga - Ride It
10. Nicos Jaritz - Otau E Eu
11. Monkey Steak - Hyped Up
12. Ghislain Poirier - Get Crazy (feat. Mr. Slaughter)
13. Monkey Steak - Haarlem Drift
14. RSD - Naked Mariokart (Part 2)

Vex’d did much to popularise the original Dubstep sound with their debut album ‘Degenerate’ back in 2005. Riding on a wave of critical acclaim and supported by a fast growing scene, the duo of Jamie Teasdale and Roly Porter went back to the studio in 2006 to work on the much anticipated follow-up. Only, the second album never materialised and Vex’d split up quietly with both Teasdale and Porter going their own ways.

What happened? Teasdale, aka Jamie Vex’d, claims he and his partner fell victim to outside circumstances. ‘We had moved away from each other, to different cities in different countries. We wanted to keep writing together, but geography and work made it too hard.’

Nevertheless, Vex’d had racked up a few tracks which could pass as pretty much complete and their label Planet Mu stepped in to save this material for Dubstep and Electronica fans. Vex’d ruled out any touching up of the tracks in favour of a true snapshot of the early heydays of the Dubstep scene. ‘To change them would be to try to rewrite the moment we were in at that time,’ says Teasdale.

With electronic music moving on as fast as it does, ‘Cloud Seed’ is a clear anachronism. While today’s scene is dominated by baroque keyboard touches and heavily syncopated rhythms, ‘Cloud Seed’ is an exercise in angular, metallic soundscapes. ‘Cloud Seed’ is abstraction in a sea of organic impressionism. Or it just sounds sooo 2006/07, if you like. Have we really moved on that far in a few years? The answer is ‘yes’ and Teasdale himself is out there recording at the front of the new wave as Kuedo. Compare Kuedo’s brand new ‘Dream Sequence’ EP with ‘Cloud Seed’ and you will see that Jamie hasn’t rested on his Vex’d laurels.

If you don’t mind delving back into the past, ‘Cloud Seed’ makes a decent long lost companion piece to Burial’s classic debut ‘To The Boroughs’. Due to the unfinished nature of the material it is difficult to say whether ‘Cloud Seed’ could ever have matched the elegance of ‘Boroughs’ but Vex’d pin down that particular urban noir sound like few have done since.

On top of the ten lost Vex’d tracks, ‘Cloud Seed’ features four long out of print Vex’d remixes from that period. The re-rub of Russian classical composer Prokofiev’s ‘String Quartet No.2′ withstood the passing of time rather well and so did the Vex’d mix of Plaid’s ‘Bar Kimura’. Despite the mix and match compilation of tracks, ‘Cloud Seed’ succeeds in sounding like an album done with a purpose. Respect to the quality of the material left behind by Vex’d, which leaves the usual odds-and-sods studio outtakes compilations far behind.

‘Cloud Seed’ is due out on Planet Mu on 22 March 2010. Listen to excerpts from the album here.

We say: 3 out of 5 stars

Only last year, Dag för Dag dabbled in 80’s New Wave revival on their debut EP ‘Shooting For The Shadows’. The duo has since found a more individual style and their first full length album spans a range of genres that takes in folky Gothic and minimalistic Indie rock a la the White Stripes. Combine that with ominous references to ‘the dirty seeds you saw’ and lines like ‘I keep your biggest secret within me’ and you get a a canon of dark, brooding and ever so slightly unsettling songs.

By and large, the rockier songs are the standout tracks on ‘Boo’. Tracks like ‘Seven Stories’, ‘The Leather Of Your Boots’ and the catchy ‘Animal’ combine solid hooks with the kind of primitive rock-a-billy instrumentation of snare drum and distorted guitar that worked so well in the hands of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion or the White Stripes. ‘Wouldn’t You’ shows a different side of Dag för Dag, with the duo fusing the Velvet Undergrounds ‘Ocean’ with the brittle beauty of New Wave pioneers Young Marble Giants.

Watch Dag för Dag Play ‘Seven Stories’ Live

Dag för Dag, or ‘day after day’ in Swedish, are the brother and sister duo of Sarah and Jacob Snavely. American-Swedish by background, the two siblings settled in Sweden a few years ago which makes for an interesting breeding ground for their Americana-in-exile excursions into North American pop and folk history. The pair make uneasy entertainers on ‘Boo’: Jacob breathless and frantic and Sarah brooding and obsessive.

Renown singer-songwriter Richard Swift kept the producer chair warm for almost half of the album, contributing his trademark crisp, acoustic sound. Swedish geezer Johannes Berglund produced seven of the 13 tracks, adding a European twist to Dag för Dag’s essentially American songwriting. ‘Boo’ doesn’t make for easy listening, but ever so often it succeeds in introducing a new take on the Americana ballad that is worth the effort.

We say: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Detroit wunderkind Kyle Hall is proof that UK Funky has truly crossed over into the US scene. Just turned 18, Kyle worked up a buzz with his remix of Darkstar’s ‘Aidy’s Girl is a Computer’ at the end of last year. His own track ‘Kaychunk’ comes across like Carl Craig jamming with a Trinidadian carnival band: It’s all about metallic, sparkling strings floating over a syncopated rhythm with that big bass drum straight out of Caribbean Soca music. Watch out for this on Hyperdub on the 15th of March. Kyle has previously released on Omar S’ well respected FHXE imprint and runs his own Wild Oats label. ‘Kaychunk’ is his first release for a UK based label.

Watch Kyle Spin His ‘Aidy’s Girl’ Mix In Paris

Grime don Terror Danjah stakes his claim in the UK Funky gold rush that sees every producer between Aberdeen and Bristol (and some across the Atlantic) dabbling in Soca drums and Caribbean rhythms. Danjah’s foray into UK Funky is the high energy burst of ‘Acid’. This killer track can only be described as UK Funky meets 8-Bit Dancehall with shards of glass flying and high energy synth stabs scorching the air. It’s a slice of total hardcore which should be out on Hyperdub by the time you read this.

Jamie Vex’d, a pioneer of the now ubiquitous Dubstep sound, has started recording under the new pseudonym Kuedo. The ‘Dream Sequence EP’ by Kuedo kicks off with ‘Starfox’, named after the vintage Nintendo game, which boasts an ace 60’s TV theme tune style melody buried under a hiccupping juggernaut of a rhythm. Jamie then shows he can still add a touch of aching urban drama, Burial stylee, on ‘Shutter Light Girl’ and ‘Glow’. The latter is the standout track here with a stunning melody and a rhythm like a dozen zombies pulling themselves through a swamp in slow motion. ‘Dream Sequence’ is due out on the 22nd of February on Planet Mu.

Slow motion is also the preferred speed setting for newcomer Slugabed from Brighton. Slugabed tables some ace 8-Bit Dancehall flavours on his ‘Ultra Heat Treated’ EP for Planet Mu. This 6-track EP brims with heavy, sluggish rhythms pierced by pinball noises and Atari sounds. If you want a comparison, it has to be Japanese maverick Akira Kiteshi. Slugabed drops massive digital Reggae rhythms on ‘Pressure’ and the pounding title track ‘Ultra Heat Treated’. Also check out ‘Titans’ for its cool melody - like an 80s cassette tape mangled in your uncle’s car stereo. ‘Ultra Heat Treated’ should be available now from your record supplier of choice.

Glamour gear and make-up replaced the Plasticines much more rock ‘n’ roll Paris street chic since they signed to the label offshoot of US fashion mag Nylon. Producer Butch Walker already propelled the supremely irritating teenie poppers Kate Perry and Pink to stardom and is in charge of the band’s new sound. The resulting power pop should be more palpable to mobile phones of 14-17 year olds than the Plasticines original brand of trashy 70’s rock.

Fair dues to Katty Besnard, Marine Neuilly, Louise Basillien and Anais Vandevyvere for showing spirit in the presence of the Anglo-American marketing machinery. The Plasticines still have that brattish charme and an ear for pop tunes that owes more to the New York Dolls than the Disney Channel.

Before Make-Over After Make-Over

With an average age of barely 21 these kids shouldn’t really be that well versed in the Bermuda triangle formed by 70’s rockers like Suzy Quattro, Sweet and Johnny Thunders. But after four years of bashing out chords the Plasticines have this proto-Punk-meets-glam-rock thing down to a fine art. Walker’s production largely gels with the band’s own formula and songs like ‘Another Kiss’, ‘Pas Avec Toi’ and a high octane cover of Betty Everett’s 60’s Soul scorcher ‘You’re No Good’ sound straight and direct.

‘Bitch’ is probably the most blatant stab at pop TV stardom - Ooh, they’re cool, they’re using the b-word! But even in their most obviously mainstream moment, the Plasticines have a grain of something that’s more fun than the Perry/Pink dollies.

Watch The ‘Bitch’ Video!

We say: 3 out of 5 stars

‘Lay In A Shimmer’ sets the scene, opening up your ears with an infeasibly spacious ringing tone. ‘Abglanz’ manages to increase that feeling of utter spaciousness and leaves you floating before ‘The Splendour’ introduces a new, instantly touching melodic theme and underpins it with a megalithic bass.

But ‘Black Noise’ offers more than ambient bliss. With the dancers in mind, Pantha steps up the beats on’Behind The Stars’and builds up the anticipation during the muted drama that is ‘Bohemian Forest’ to explode gently into the shimmering minimal groove of ‘Welt Am Draht’. Awesome as a sequence and in isolation as indvidual tracks. I can play ‘Welt Am Draht’ (World On The Wire) two, three times a night and always pack the floor.

Throughout all of its eleven tracks ‘Black Noise’ possesses a sense of near infinite space and almost earpiercing clarity. Delve in deeper and you will note a wistful, almost melancholic note. The source material for this album certainly lends itself to speculation of subconscious vibes influencing the finished tracks.

‘Black Noise’ is based on field recordings made in the Schuttwald, literally ‘forest of rubble’, that was created when a landslide wiped out the entire Swiss alpine village of Atzmaennig in 1816. Hendrik Weber and his partners in crime, Joachim Schuetz and Stephan Abry, played and recorded various prepared instruments on location which, judging by the photos that grace the album’s packaging, is an impressive testament to nature’s force and rather spooky.

Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise album trailer from Rough Trade Records on Vimeo.

Weber’s experience as a musician, he played bass in celebrated Hamburg indie band Stella before catching the Techno bug, brings a vivid, ‘live’ feeling to the album which goes beyond standard Techno or electronic fare. As a result, ‘Black Noise’ achieves a sense of grace in its juxtaposition of delicate acoustic sounds and computerised foundation - or ‘Bells and Bass’. You just couldn’t do that on a laptop, mate.

Fans of Minimal Techno or the Berghain sound will love ‘Black Noise’. But even if you have mixed feelings on electronic music in general or Techno in particular it’s an album that is well worth a listen because of its genre-defying grace. In my opinion, ‘Black Noise’ is clearly one of the key albums of 2010.

We say: 5 out of 5 stars

The Blues numbers are sweating like a burlesque dancer and the Sixties style Soul and Funk samples vamp up that sleazy cabaret atmosphere. Add to that a few head-nodding Hip Hop flavours and you are on a roll. Think of a more playful, trashier version of Nick Cave’s latest Album ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig’ and you get an idea of what’s in store here.

‘Amsterdam Showdown’ is at its swingingest on the trilogy of ‘R Is For Ring-A-Ding’, ‘Dog Hit’ and ‘Dirty’. All three combine mellow Hip Hop beats, bubblegum pop and 70’s sleaze into alluring little numbers that will put a silly grin on your face. Does anybody remember the Fun Loving Criminals? Well it’s like that only more over the top. Boys/girls, get your loud shirt/high heels on and party.

The album flaunts attitude and comes with bags of street cred. After all, ‘Amsterdam Showdown’ features US-based Sleaze Rock legends Cristina Martinez of Boss Hog and Jon Spencer of Pussy Galore and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion fame. Arguably, Sleaze Rock or Trash Blues or whatever ODed sometime in the noughties, but Dutch artist Elisabeth Esselink, aka Solex, administered the saving adrenaline shot in form of her funky beats and samples. The results speak for themselves.

‘Amsterdam Showdown, King Street Throwdown’ is due out on UK label Bronzerat on 1st March 2010. The US release is scheduled for 20th April.

We say: 4 out of 5 stars

If you like ‘Amsterdam Showdown, Kingstreet Throwdown’ you may also like:

Jookabox

New York band Vampire Weekend became an overnight success in 2008 with their debut album ‘Vampire Weekend’ which was strongly flavoured by African style rhythm guitar and polyrhythmic percussion. The album spawned a couple of Indie hits like ‘Mansard Roof’, ‘A-Punk’ and ‘Oxford Comma’. The follow up album ‘Contra’ was released this month and pretty much continues what ‘Vampire Weekend’ began with some minor extensions to the band’s original sound.

‘Contra’ introduces new flavours, such as electronic rhythms and some more rocking guitars but at first listen it lacks the melodic immediacy of its predecessor. If you are listening casually, the ten tracks on offer are pretty same-ish. The variations are subtle, so it took me a while to tag ‘Giving Up The Gun’ as the hands-in-the-air anthem and ‘Taxi Cab’ as the ambient track. I actually really like these two now. Also growing on me at the moment are ‘California English’ and ‘Diplomat’s Son’.

You can listen to the entire album on Vampire Weekend’s official website.

‘Horchata’, the first single off the album, is available for free download. It’s the closest track on the album to the sound that established Vampire Weekend in the first place: Gentle, intellectual pop music mixing relationship themes with obscure references (Horchata is a kind of Mexican milk shake) and a touch of African rhythms. Listen to ‘Horchata’ on the MP3 player below:

All in all, ‘Contra’ is an Easy Listening album in the best sense of the word. Are Vampire Weekend just taking five here to catch their breath and will they surprise us with their next move? Watch this space.

The full tracklisting for ‘Contra’ is:

1. Horchata
2. White Sky
3. Holiday
4. California English
5. Taxi Cab
6. Run
7. Cousins
8. Giving Up The Gun
9. Diplomat’s Son
10. I Think UR A Contra

If you like Vampire Weekend, you may also like:
Animal Collective

We say: 3 out of 5 stars

The music you’ll hear is calm like an Alpine lake in January, complete with icy, tinkling bells and ominous, deep drones rumbling among the ravines far away. The smooth surface is deceptive, however, and there’s more lurking underneath the pleasant snippets of melody.

In fact, what you hear is the very mellowest tip of the output by some of greats of modern Electronic music and avantgarde. Brian Eno is on here as well as Industrial extremists Robert Rental and Thomas Leer and sound reductionists Bitstream. In other words, it’s music for pretty darn cool elevators.

Let us take you on a journey through 30 years of music history, from 70’s Electronic music to brand new tracks by Techno artist Pantha Du Prince and Brooklyn preppy pop band Vampire Weekend. Relax & enjoy.

Full Tracklisting For Detox Mix II - The Son Of Detox

Bitstream - Decontamination Chamber
Brian Eno - Discreet Music
Efdemin - Acid Bells (Martyn’s Bittersweet Mix)
Luke Abbott - Quincunx
Robert Rental & Thomas Leer - Interferon
Falty DL - Meta-Cognist
Mikel Rouse & Blaine L. Reininger - Colorado Suite
Dusted - Childhood
Pantha Du Prince - The Splendour
Indian Ocean - Tree House/School Bell (Walter Gibbons Mix)
Vampire Weekend - Taxi Cab
Brian Eno - Discreet Music

I took the photo that goes with this post at the 18th century formal gardens of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham, Dublin. Chilled music and old style formal gardens go extremely well together. Try it.