Best Video: Slava "Girl Like Me"

Russian born Brooklyn resident Slava (Balasanov) - not to be confused with trap artist Salva - always had a knack for the weird and the challenging. He was featured on "#Seapunk Volume 1" and this year published his critically acclaimed second album "Raw Solutions"on Daniel Lopatin's label "Software". One of the tracks off that album has now received a video treatment by Eugene Kotlyarenko, a director that matches Slava's weirdness. In the video, Slava's skipping and stuttering dark beats and the manic female vocal sample accompany two siblings on their incestuous journey, giving the title a whole new meaning. The track as well as the video stutter out of control and into ecstasy and back, holding the balance between the intense and the weird. The video manages doing so without betraying its protagonists and, just like the track, has a strange allure.

Best Remix: Disclosure "You And Me" (Flume Remix)

Most artists use the tags on Soundcloud tracks very openly, making up labels or genres on the fly. But seldom has a tag been more fitting than the "OrchestralCrunkwave" Flume gave his remix of UK duo Disclosure's "You and Me". He strips away the 2-Step beat, puts some reverb on the vocals and slows the song by laying down some trap beats. But most of all he puts some strings in the low sections and a lot of crunk (or more like CRUNK) in the others, connecting them with builds and drops. There isn't a lot of Disclosure left in the track when he is finished with it, but what is lost in elegance, he more than makes up with energy and a sonic surprise that brought a smile to my face.
 

Track Love: Shigeto "Lost Songs"

The two tracks that Shigeto put up on his Soundcloud yesterday aren't the ones that were lost. They are however the only two tracks left from "an album worth of material" Zach Saginaw indeed lost when his laptop was stolen at a show in New York last year. Listening to those tracks now makes the loss that much harder, because they really are something smooth and elegant. Shigeto collaborated with the MCs Kadence (Brandon Mitchell) and L05 (Carlos Garcia), who don't rap on these tracks though, but get more of an R&B sound going. Shigeto's songs are instrumental, normally, but here he elaborately fuses the laid back, sparse and chopped vocals into the snaps, clicks and synth cascades. Imagine a whole album of those sounds while downloading them for free below.

First Listen: Ryan Hemsworth "Still Awake"

Beatsmith Ryan Hemsworth, who with Last Words had made one of my favorite records of last year, just now released his new EP "Still Awake", free to download at his website. This EP sees him being calmer and less overclipped/trapped than on his last effort, his many remixes or the productions he did for hip hop artists. It is a downright poppy, bleepy and relaxed small release that warms the heart with its melodies and cute track names like "(｡◕‿◕｡) (or, I Want To Stare At Your Face Until I Die)" or "track 5 (crashed)". The single "Perfectly" is on it too, of course - and although it might be the best track on this EP, the whole thing is just great, including the Taquwami remix of said song. If it doesn't blow you away, then that is only because you got used to the awesome sounds Hemsworth is delivering on a regular basis. Download it via the link above, or listen to it below.

First Listen: Dirty Beaches "Drifters/Love Is The Devil"

This is a record about the world and oneself. Actually, it is two distinct records that Dirty Beaches - Taiwanese born, Hawaiian and Canadian raised Alex Zhang Hungtai - will put out via Zoo Music next week. The first one, called "Drifters", is more outgoing, more about the world, while the second one, "Love Is The Devil", is more quiet, more introspective and, well - more awesome. Hungtai told Pitchfork that "Drifters" turned out to be much more of a pop record than he had intended it to be, and to some, that may sound like a pretentious statement. Because "Drifters" is definitely more experimental than Hungtai's last record "Badlands" from 2011, and that one was a Rock'n'Roll-Drone-Ambient concept album far from anything pop!

But there is some deeper truth to it, as "Drifters" has a simplicity to it - a sometimes intriguing, but too often rather boring dominance of drum computer and haunted vocals that unfortunately suffocate the other elements. "Love Is The Devil" then is a completely different thing. It is more experimental, captivating and much more personal. Hungtai's comment on Youtube: "I was crying my fucking eyes out when i wrote this and punching myself in the face. I don't give a shit about what peoples expectations are. This is why I'm doing this record. its for myself and my life."



Although style and instrumentation are similar to "Drifters", it somtimes is hard to believe that this second album is by the same musician. Synths, guitar, piano and strings are much more prominent, and it is mostly instrumental, but that isn't what sets the two records apart. The thing that makes the difference is a sense of melody, of beauty and of the feeling of belonging that "Love Is The Devil" evokes. Feelings are hard to describe, personal, and oftentimes not transferable, I know. But Dirty Beaches somehow succeeded in making a record that takes you in its arms, holds you lightly and says: "It's all gonna be alright." And I believe that feeling is universal. Dirty Beaches is on tour in Europe right now.

Best Video: Max Cooper feat. Kathrin deBoer "Numb"

The new video by German visual artist and designer Henning M. Lederer for British producer Max Cooper's "Numb" starts out with a pictogram of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. Originally a study on human proportions, the Vitruvian Man has later on been used to symbolize harmony, symmetry and wholeness. But it seems as though mankind has become too busy, too much held perpetually motion and is too closely monitored by machines to stay that way: Still and whole. The pictogram of a man in the center of the installation is standing still for one second though, but only to be jump started again, when the complex system explodes to the sound of heavy bass and dark beats. Everything is hardwired, connected and on the move, but without ever going somewhere. "Man" could be seen as to have external forces pushing him to pointless movement, but as is shown by the end of the video - he already has internalized all of it.

The video is an extension of Lederer's work "Machinatorium" from 2009, and Max Cooper said it is themed as "numbed by the capitalist machine". Watch below, and full screen equals full effect, of course.

First Listen: Valentin Stip "Angst EP"

Valentin Stip is on Nicolas Jaar's Clown&Sunset label, and that says it all. Just like the master of lush, atmospheric sounds himself, the apprentice Stip is truly adapt in bringing an analogue, bodily feel to his tunes. His claps, snaps and bass "thumps" resonate directly in the eardrums of the listener and thereby invoke a sensation of closeness that is rarely found elsewhere. The master/apprentice wording does not truely fit their reationship though, because while Stip seemed to have taken lessons from Jaar regarding electronic production techniques, Jaar got to learn the classical piano from Stip.

Parisien born Montreal resident Stip now released his second EP "Angst", a five track beauty of very careful music, on said label. The four originals do not set themselves far apart from his last EP "Anytime Will Do" from 2011. They are still  special sonic experiences. While "Hiathaikm", which has been around for a year, is still one of the highlights of the EP, the other three tracks - including the title track - don't fall far off that height. Especially "Nwia" is a beautiful, evolving, living organism of clicks, ambient noise, sax and chopped vocals - one of the best pieces of music Clown&Sunset ever put out. But as with most of Stip's tracks, you need to take care not so scare it off, as it is a shy, delicate creature. So click with care below.