Kalya Scintilla is ready to beam you to a totally different dimension with the new release “Dance the Spiral Never Ending” Ever release I have heard of his as been excellent in pulling my head out of every day life and transport me to somewhere totally new. This multidimensional tranmission is no exception. Grabbing influences of dubstep, glitch hop, and sounds from his home star system,”Whomp” and blending them naturally with the seductive sounds of the middle east and traditional gypsy. Hard to believe I’m sitting here watching snow fall as I listen to the release because my mind is somewhere all together much more exotic. Pick up “Dance the Spiral Never Ending” over atKalya Scintilla’s Bandcamp!
iONik’s debut EP “Sexy Shapes” on Simplify recordings melds many diverse musical flavors together into one complex groove that is all win. I heard his mini mix a few days ago and was dying to get my hands on this release which Ian was nice enough to send my way today. Sexy Shapes quickly became the soundtrack to my day off from the mountains. What grabbed my attention first was the beats. He must have had funk on his mind when designing these beats because they are all types of sexy. The synths are layered all over with crazy complexity and detail, but keeps a clean sound without all the excess busyness. My favorite song on this release was Slightly Digital which is a straight up party destroyer. I only listened to this through headphones, but I can imagine it rocking a large sound-system with quite a punch! Pick up this release from additech.
Along with the New Year, I wanted to bring somewhat of a twist into the standard electronic approach of the blog. I thus introduce to you Colorado duo Bedrockk, comprised of producer/guitarist/vocalist Dave Marquess and live drummer/percussionist Phil Swain. Dave proclaims their composition style to embrace “a blend of r&b, dubstep, electro blues, and chopped and screwed rap”, and all of the above can undeniably be heard in Bedrockk’s debut album release, Get Born. As a consequence of their wide range of influences, the 12-track album has a lot of unique sounds and moods including swooning vocals, plunging basslines, striking drumbeats, rock-influenced guitar, lounge vibes, and chopped and screwed bits (have you ever even imagined all of that in one album?). Me being me, I personally love the mainly electronic-based tracks such as Streets are Shinin’, in which guitar, soulful vocals, and alluring frequencies intermingle effortlessly. I am also a big fan of Fuzzy Things which has a provocative feel with its incorporation of that deeper-delving yet downtempo bass. I also really enjoy Future Child. Download Get Born for free, you won’t regret it!
Bedrockk’s 1/1/12 debut release also marks the commencement of their record label/artist collective based out of Denver called Dirty//Clean, through which Dave claims they are “striving to push the bar with experimental and yet sexual/danceable music.” They have started off well as the release seems to accomplish just that with its lush sounds to move and groove to! Keep an eye out for Bedrockk – I foresee even more big things coming from them.
It hasn’t been a secret on here that I’ve relocated back to my hometown Miami. Truth is I haven’t really made it a point to tell anyone except my close friends. The music community is so vastly different here and knew I was giving up a lot moving back to this market. It’s not meant to be taken in a negative sense. Unfortunately the music I’ve been playing/pushing doesn’t really have much presence here. We all know the meccas are Colorado & California.
I was lucky enough to discover a market in Texas that allowed me to do what I’ve always wanted to do… Play glitch-hop. I became extremely involved in Texas and turned my life focus on music for the most part. I’d go out every night and actually network/talk to people. I’ve always been shy and moved to Texas only knowing my roommate. Texas was a scary move but once I got there it took me for one of the best rides of my life. I was only in Texas for a year but it feels like I was there for over five years. The amount of talented artist is overwhelming! The festival crowd is full force and plenty of homegrown events.
Now that I’m back in Miami I’ve started an entirely new lifestyle. I know that bass music popularity has reached a new height but it has also left me much to be desired. I don’t want to become that bitter old man complaining non-stop. I’ve decided to put this mix out there to target the Miami audience and nightlife but at the same time tip my hat goodbye to this sort of style. It’s fun, party, dance, and rave out music but truth is I’m burnt out and have been for some time now I’m sure. If you follow me on FB and Twitter you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m a mid range bass hater. Yes, I admit it.
It’s time to focus on a positive new attitude and something different that will brighten my spirits. 2012 will be the start of many new things. As I said my lifestyle is quite different now. I don’t go out anymore and I’m going back to my anti-social recluse ways. My nights consist of me laying around my dream apartment on the beach listening to chill out lounge music and playing video games. My roots are in trip-hop/downtempo/lounge. I’ve decided to focus on that for 2012 and create a sister site that will built around that vibe. Expect a soft beta launch around Feb 2012.
This doesn’t mean this site will be executed!!! Ed and Tara have been doing an incredible job and I’ll still be writing post but come to understand I won’t be as active. It’s time to expand the market. I’ll still be around at all the events but keep in mind Miami doesn’t offer acts that I’ve been spoiled with while living in Texas. The bass scene is very alive here but it’s very brostep/moombah oriented which truthfully I can’t vibe with. Along with the sister site launch there will be a new weekly event that will be created to support the new movement here. I’m super excited to see how this pans out.
Now about this mix. It was designed on the fly to get you moving and sing along. There are times where I need to get motivated to go out to the club or bar and these tunes get me all hyped. They are mostly top 40 remixes with me giving them an extra umphhh to them and adding my glitches live. It’s been over a month since I’ve played or even mixed since I’ve been so busy with the move. Not to mention like I said I’ve kept myself isolated in Miami so not looking actively to play out. It was fun to rock out in my new studio to this. Anxious to see what the reception of this mix will be.
“You are obviously getting paid….I have checked your blog and it sucks….you play everything safe…you are paid off by muti..
headtron and thats about it….you miss so much… your blog has become old news …..Your Part of the problem….Your the PEPSI of my industry……Living off us real producers…..YOUR BLOG SUCKS……”
I just got this message and wanted to share it with you all because you know how much I get paid to write blog post. LOL.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
Guess I’m doing something right if have my first official hater.
Sucks I can’t use this to make more cash on this post. hahahaha
Disciples of Headtron is a compilation made up by some of the members of the Headtron Agency. The roster includes: Sugarpill, Gladkill, Chris B, +verb, Russ Liquid, Goldrush, Stephan Jacobs, Jobot & Jupit3r. This past week they have recently just added a new member to the family, Griz!
The collection of artist that make up this team is lead by Alex Becket one of the best agents in the business. Headtron has only been around for merely two years or more and they’ve made such an impact in such a small amount of time that I can only imagine how busy Alex has been. The entire roster in some sort of fashion have played some of the biggest festivals and events in 2011. There isn’t a major event that you can’t find at least one or two members representing the Headtron family.
This compilation is a prime example of why they are such a driving force in the EDM community. There are even a few surprises that caught me off guard, Swordfight! I’ve heard much talk about this over the course of time but here is their debut! Another surprise is to find more Jobot tunes, especially one that features ill-esha! =O It’s great to have something unified and put together and this is only the beginning as this is Volume 1. I’m looking forward to Vol 2 already which I hope features more from them in particular More Champagne & Griz.
My favorites you ask? Sugarpill stole this one from everyone in my opinion with A Gift To. There is no question that tune is perfect to open up the release. It’s one of those moving tracks that you can listen to in any state of emotion. Russ Liquid’s Pars Lunae also blew me away. Chris B stepped up his game big time and only look forward to see what he and Boris have been cooking up. Also do I need to bring up how I’ve been dying for Jobot’s debut album?!
All in all I can’t wait for 2012 because this is just the beginning and there’s a lot more where this came from. Also big ups to Muti Music and Dov for putting this out. Be sure to grab it on release date Jaunary 2nd, 2012! Be on the look out for any of the Headtron members this year. I’ve had the pleasure of booking many of them in Texas and man do they deliver <3
Much Love & Respect to the Headtron Family!
1. Sugarpill – A Gift To
2. Swordfight – We Will Never Know
3. jOBOT & ill-esha – Fossils
4. +verb – Mileage
5. Gladkill – Insomnia
6. Stephan Jacobs – Groove Around You
7. Jupit3r – Shark Bark
8. jOBOT – Bottle Of Bumpy
9. ChrisB – It’s All Good
10. Russ Liquid – Pars Lunae
11. Goldrush – Katura
Top 5 Best Releases
1. The Weeknd – House of Ballons
2. Robot Koch – The Other Side
3. Tycho – Dive
4. Thriftworks – Zen Zero
5. Tokimonsta – Creature Dreams
The way I came up with the list for this year was thinking to myself which albums did I listen to the most and can think off the top of my head as standing out. The Weeknd has been my obsession and biggest inspiration to my transformation into sexy bump n grid live sets. Tycho makes some of the greatest music to just drive/work too. Dive represents one of those timeless LPs that will never get old and pick me uppers when music seems to get dull. Robot Koch’s The Other Side is one of the most incredible albums that took me away into a dreamland and thought to myself why has no one talked about this release. I listen to it on a daily basis since I got it. Thriftworks is one of my secret weapons when playing to a crowd. Zen Zero is one of the fullest albums out there this year in my opinion. Tokimonsta stole my heart when she released Creature Dreams. I always somewhat enjoyed her music but never LOVED it but she sealed the deal on the Creature Dreams release. These are not as hype or heavy dance floor albums but encompass what I listen to on a regular basis.
Top 5 Best Songs
1. NastyNasty – Sweety Bodies
2. Kastle – Walking Away
3. The Weeknd – Wicked Games
4. Antenitas – Los Bandidos Cosmicos (Nico Luminous Remix)
5. ill-esha – Only Fair (Gladkill remix)
Top 5 Underrated Releases
1. Robot Koch – The Other Side
2. Shigeto – Full Circle Remixes
3. B. Bravo – Kiss ‘n’ Tell
4. Knowa Knowone – Sound Paintings
5. Chris B – Whats Your Fantasy
I mentioned that the Robot Koch album was rarely talked about this year and man did it go under the radar. It’s just beautiful and feel like all of you should take a listen to it. Shigeto is one of my greatest finds last year and the Full Circles release was mind blowing and just when thought it couldn’t get better it did this year with a remix version with some of the most talented in the game. B. Bravo is one of the most listened to artist in my entire library. I’ve been following his work for quite some time now and he doesn’t get enough attention in my book but I know he will over the next few years. Knowa Knowone has always been on my radar but never really put anything out that captured me till this year and take it might have been the same for many of you. His release Sound Paintings put him back on my map of an artist to keep an eye on. Chris B’s Whats Your Fantasy is one of those album I’ll never forget talking about with Simplify head hancho about before it got released and explained to him that was so glad to see Chris was finally putting out an official release. Simplify has now become one of the biggest labels in the bass scene and feel like despite the overall feel the labels puts out this was their best one.
Top 5 New Producers
1. Quitter
2. The Human Experience
3. Slidecamp
4. Guttstar
5. Lo Bounce
There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Quitter is the hottest new sound that brings back memories of that hip-hop/beats/bass mixed into a high quality product. Absolutely love the direction they’ve started with. Can’t go wrong with a NastyNasty + So What collab. The Human Experience caught my attention last year and really inspired me. His new release this year almost made it to the most underrated list but overall I feel like he’ll be making quite a stir soon as he just was in Europe doing a tour. Slidecamp is another astonishing project that Boreta and Comma have put together that blew my mind. I truly hope we’ll see more from them and not just another abandoned project from another Glitch Mob member. Guttstar is the new Joker for me. I first heard his music and thought to myself this guy is the purple king. He’s also in the SEO business and instantly connected. He’s got much ahead of him in the coming years. Lo Bounce has been working hard all year pumping out some of the biggest bangers of the year in my eyes. His Me & U remix that was exclusive to Afromonk.com always gets play time in any of my live sets since I received it.
Top 5 Events
1. Lightning in a Bottle
2. SXSW
3. Emissions
4. Sonic Bloom
5. Art Outside
Lightning in a Bottle is one of those magical events where some of the biggest names come together and express themselves in art, music, dance, and more. It’s commonly described as the closest thing to Burning Man out of all the festivals. I know that till the end of my life I’ll be going to LIB. This past year had so many incredible memories and being backstage with some of my close friends that I only get to see during these festivals makes it that much better. SXSW this year was complete madness. Austin is where the event takes place and mainly focuses on bands and live music but this year it seems like electronic showcases were the spotlight to many. The amount of talent and people around this year made it one of the best weeks of my life. I’m quite sad that I no longer live in Texas but think I’m going to skip out on WMC this year and just fly to ATX for SXSW instead. Man too think I played at 5 different showcases last year is insane. Emissions this year was one of the best line ups of all the festivals. If you heard of that one festival that it snowed and screwed up a lot of things up that’s Emissions. It’s a shame because it was setup to be one of the best showcases all season. I assure you that next years will be one for the books. Despite the snow I had a great time and was one of those extremely intimate festivals where all the talent is walking around freely and not separated from everyone else. My favorite memory of the year was when I first arrived and was by main stage checking out the booth and having Jasper hugging me and being like hey whats up! It’s just one of those events where everyone is there just hanging out like one big family. This year I was fortunate to visit Colorado for Sonic Bloom. I hadn’t ever been since I started getting involved into the scene. Sonic Bloom was a dream becoming reality. I expected to get such a warm welcome from everyone there. I got to meet so many friends in person after communicating with them via online for years. The lineup was stellar and was able to interact with everyone with my press pass and even got invited to play on one of the side stages. Overall a wonderful experience and great community in attendance since such a large portion of the scene lives in Colorado. Art Outside is a small homegrown festival in Texas. I was proudly invited to go play at it. It was a honor to play alongside such talented people as well as a great farewell to Texas. I found out a few days before Art Outside that I would be relocating back to Miami so it was that last hoopla in Texas. I’ll be sure to make it a point to return next year and recommend you all to give it a chance if looking to try out a new festival you have never out too.
Sounduo, is the greatest act I know in the Florida region. I can say that with tremendous confidence. I was lucky enough to interview them a few months ago when I lived in Dallas and thrilled to hear of such an act had finally appeared in the Miami area.
Now that I’ve moved back to Miami everyone has been asking me how things are out here. The truth is I knew I was signing my death note for my music career moving out here. The Miami bass scene targets more of the mainstream dubstep fans and not so much of the glitch-hop west coast scene. Don’t get me wrong Miami Dubstep is alive and thriving but it’s quite different from what I’d consider myself part of. The first week-end I was in town I heard about Archnemesis playing a show, which totally blew me away because I had never heard of anyone like Archnemesis coming into town since I left the city. Turns out that Sounduo was opening for them for a few dates in FL. I was thrilled to finally hear and see these guys play live.
WOW. These guys are incredible performers and have their own unique sound which mixes their dub, reggae, and bass roots together into a great package. Zach absolutely crushes it on drums live and Will is behind many controllers playing live keys during many of their songs. They play all originals and can expect them to glitch it up just how we all love and even some massive bass drops. Needless to say I was impressed and consider them one of the best live acts with a drummer in the game.
I’ve had the pleasure of being able to become friends with these guys and man they’re totally legit. They’ve got a lot ahead of them and have a great outlook on everything all around. I’m honored anytime they come over to jam out or play live on my Glitch.fm show. They truly give me hope for the Miami local scene in regards to what I’d consider myself part of. The Archnemesis show showed me some light for this city. There was a super chill crowd and even could pick out about 5-6 Grassroots California hats in the crowd which usually is a good sign.
Overall these are guys you want to keep your eye out for. Their debut release is due out on Made in Glitch which makes me really happy to hear. I assure you everyone who fancies most of the music we post on here will love their upcoming release. Now for the real treat. They contacted me recently that they were working on a tune specifically for the site. It has been awesome getting to know them and playing beside them in my studio and we’ve gotten to discuss what sort of sound I enjoy and am trying to accomplish. The track they send over totally took me by surprise. It’s EPIC. A 7min long tune that sends chills down my body just because after hanging out with them they’ve created something so perfect that fits exactly what I would want to represent Afromonk.com.
I’ll also be working on some new stuff with them in near future, which makes me scream with excitement.
Much love to Will and Zach!
Expect that Made in Glitch release soon!
NastyNasty aka Jasper has finally put a release date to his highly anticipated new Poison Flavored EP! I’m not going to lie and say that this is probably the best thing he has put out since The Reef. Jasper has been touring heavily in 2011 and yet still has time to put together one of the best EPs of the year.
This release contains some of my favorite songs that he plays. I can’t tell you how excited I was when a copy of Sweaty Bodies was in my possession. Sweaty Bodies is one of those tracks that I kid you not I listen to at least 5x a day (it’s unhealthy). Another track that I absolutely love that finally has an official release is Jelly. Every single song on this EP is incredible and completely approve. The moment I got a promo copy of this I put it in my phone and listened to it non-stop since it was the only release on my cell phone at the time. This most likely be one of my top 3 releases for all of 2011. Flawless.
Over the few years I’ve been part of this community I can’t help but say that Jasper is one of the best in the game. His dynamic range, unique style, and overall personality are unmatched. He’s one of those few people that can actually drop house music or juke and actually have me grooving (that’s huge). There are so many people who try to dip into a bit of everything but NastyNasty takes 1st prize for creating the best overall sound with every genre he takes a stab at. The best part about him is the fact that he’s actually one of the best people to chill with. Overall the guy is living life up and has a smile on his face. If you ever watch him play you can see NastyNasty come alive and pour out this explosive side to him. He has openly admitted that almost all the music he writes is about women which shows quite well. Jasper is just another guy like us who happens to make incredible music that has introduced him to a culture and scene that is quite unique. He’s the guy everyone loves and knows how to please any crowd he is given. Even today someone asked me what I recommend since nothing seems to really satisfy them lately and in that list NastyNasty was on the top of it. Be on the look out for another stunning release from Quitter (NastyNasty + So What).
I can’t tell you how honored I am to call him a friend. This summer I had the luxury of seeing him a whole bunch and feels good to know he’s a friend. Never will forget that moment he found me at Emissions and just gave me a hug and had no idea who it was at first but soon realized who it was. That’s when I knew that I had to be doing something right to get this mans respect.
NastyNasty – Poison Flavored EP
01: Sweaty Bodies
02: Jelly
03: Hyda
04: Legionnaire
05: Ghost Down
Gravitas Records has just announced its second official release, Virtus in Sonus, for FREE on Addictech! The 24-track compilation is comprised of a diverse roster of producers that invite you on a gratifying musical rollercoaster ride. The album kicks off smooth and sexy for the first few tracks (my personal favorite of these being Rion King’s “Bliss”) and evolves into more funky and ethnic varieties found in Blunt Instrument’s and Govinda’s work – where the coaster is doing pleasing twists and turns. Then after enjoying the scenery for a moment comes the exhilarating peak, where you can sense a division between soul and body with One4All’s, Cryptex’s and Brede’s awe-inspiring tracks. Cryptex’s “Reset” is absolutely phenomenal; it’s drippy and melodic yet packs in some serious heat. After finding yourself again, you have a chance to reflect on the experience with some effervescent tunes including Jake Scarborough’s bouncy “Radar Junkie”, The Digital Connection’s lazerblappy “Starwalker”, and Bobby Tank’s 80’s-inspired “Good Girl Bad Girl”. The Virtus in Sonus coaster may have left you stunned, and that’s simply because it encompasses such an array of sounds that flow impeccably.
Given the fact that Gravitas Recordings has only been in the game since May 2011, the caliber of this release is exceptional. Jesse Brede, founder of Gravitas Recordings explained that he “reached out to guys that [he] knew would provide a certain type of sound so it wasn’t the same BPM or style the whole time. The compilation has just about every genre of electronic music on it – everything from downtempo to dubstep to house to electro to dnb to trip hop to glitch hop, so if you listen from start to finish you really don’t get bored.” I agree; the genre-encompassing album is brilliant for listening all the way through while on a road trip, at work, or chillin with friends. Grab it here from Addictech, give it a thorough listen, and gain the “Power of Sound”!
Afro Monk
January 22nd by Mr Ed 
Tags: Dance the Spiral Never Ending, Kalya Scintilla
No Comments »
