Footcrab, Footcrab, Footcrab, Footcrab and so on and so forth….
Big news this month is that Headhunter is prepping his debut album as Addison Groove for Modeselektor’s ever reliable and forward-thinking 50 Weapons imprint. Following on from the famed Footcrab track Addison’s album Transistor Rhythm is highly anticipated and I’m making an early call that it will be one of the best of the year. Featuring all unreleased tunes the album will also be available on triple LP coloured vinyl. It’s out Friday March 30. Meet you on the dancefloor for more footcrab madness…
Sonic wizard and experimental beatsmith Christopher Clark returns to Warp for his new album Iradelphic this March. Known for his strange time signatures and sprawling electronics, Clark’s new record will feature Martina Topley-Bird on vocals. In the press release Clark states that the album is “looming, ambiguous, radiant. Glowing, whole, invincible, complete.”
Cambridge duo Commix have been quiet lately but news has just broken that they’re set to release an album of older works written between 2003-2008 entitled Dusted. Rumours have it that this album will clear the cache of old Commix material and signal an end to their D&B sound as they evolve and change. Audio has surfaced of newer Commix material being more in vein of recent Instra:Mental/Boddika work. Dusted will be out early March on Metalheadz.
Scratcha DVA has been at the forefront of cutting edge grime and funk since the genre’s inception and is now finally ready to release his debut album statement. Entitled Pretty Ugly, the LP will showcase his innovative shuffling dancefloor manoeuvres alongside vocal turns from the likes of Fatima, Vikter Duplaix, Zaki and Musinah. It comes courtesy of the always dope Hyperdub label who in turn are set to have a massive 2012 with albums also due from Hype Williams and Cooly G.
Ramp Recordings will be dropping a CD compilation of tunes previously only available on vinyl from its sister label Brainmath. The tracks are circa 2008-2010 from artists such as Airhead, Zomby, Bakongo (aka Roska), Sbtrkt, Untold, James Blake and Brackles. Make sure you snap up a copy on Monday February 27 this year.
Stones Throw has again teamed up with Minimal Wave’s Veronica Vasicka to release Minimal Waves Vol. 2 – an exploration of weird, hard-to-find and obscure synth bands who were recording around the ‘70s and ‘80s. The compilation drops late Feb and will feature a bunch of acts I’ve never heard of but are sure to be excellent – Hard Corps, In Trance 95, Antonym, Class Info, Runis, Geneva Jacuzzi and many more. Expect plenty of cold waves and headtrips.
Looking to local hip-hop, 2012 should be a big year for local artists and Mr Hill & Rahjonkas are leading the charge with their new album The Feedback which is out now through Born Fresh/Obese Records. From Brisbane and Wagga Wagga respectively, the duo have collaborated with the likes of Joyride, Hau, Trials, Phatchance, 4th and Jeswon.
Looking to Canberra, promoters of all good things bass music Treehouse have now officially split from the confines of The Clubhouse and are immediately getting busy. They’ve teamed up with Blahnket to bring the almighty duo of Hudson Mohawke and Ras G to Transit Bar on Thursday March 1. They’re also slanging the wears of glitch badman Ill.Gates from the USA at Trinity Bar on Thursday February 2. Both big shows to add to your social calendar.
Under new control The Clubhouse is continuing to roll on with a slew of great bass music gigs giving local artists a chance to spin their wares. They’ve got Haters from Sydney on Saturday February 4, the J-Nitrous EP launch on Saturday February 11 and a big surprise coming on Friday February 17 from City Kid. Those D&B/dubstep trooper True Jungle Souljahs are going to be taking over The Clubhouse confines on Friday March 2 for a big one too – more on this later.
To hear music from all these artists, releases and much more tune to The Antidote every Tuesday night from 9:30pm on 2XX 98.3FM. Webcats can stream the show at www.2xxfm.org.au .
