Under The Influence

I overlooked the release of this album a couple of months ago (I was at sea at the time) and I've been feeling like I missed out on something special. Never mind though, relief comes in the form of Burial overdose. Back in June when I was completely blown away by his eponymous debut LP I had no idea that his second album was so near, nor that it would be met with such widespread acclaim; it's even taken the prize for album of 2007 on metacritics list!

There's plenty of stuff out there on the ol' inteweb saying the same thing, it sounds like South London in the dark; it sounds like a post-rave come-down; it sounds like the remnants of the dance culture that we've almost lost. But there's something else that nobody seems to have picked up on, Archangel is ambient pop gold. Those cut to shed vocals just couldn't get any more appetizing.

One gripe. Why isn't this stuff being nominated for the Mercury Prize? I mean, I fail to see the difference between what's happening here and what Roni Size was doing in the 90s. Maybe there's a slight conflict of interest going on these days?

Another Berlin outfit - though I think the vocalists are from all over the place. Fell in love with their sound after hearing their Fight Club mix on a trip to Berlin.

The vocalists are great. RQM features again on this album (as he does on the last Tolcha masterpiece) which I couldn't be happier about - he pulls out such interesting lyrics.

I believe this is a digital only release (it's on emusic) - making a point of sticking it to the record labels. I also read somewhere that they're planning to do several small releases of the work they're doing at the moment instead of a single long album.

I actually tried to see these cats several times when I was in Berlin one weekend but my efforts were continually thwarted. Who the hell holds a party at 7 in the morning?

Stumbled upon this little gem whilst pillaging Tolcha related material from emusic. It features Dallas (from Fat Freddy's Drop), one of my favourite vocalists. There are 3 versions on the album (um yeah, it's a single.... duh!), the original, Soulphiction mix and Tolcha mix. To be honest I've barely stopped to give anything other than the Tolcha remix a chance - I'm all about the Berlin grime.

As usual Dallas delivers a beautiful performance, and coupled with Tolcha's dark and dirty remix skills you get something quite special. A crescendo of broken beats and pulsing bass. I've been listening to it far too loud for altogether too many days now.

Would love to witness a Tolcha / Dallas jam session. In fact, I'd love to see Dallas jamming with lots of European musicians. A match made in heaven.

These cats are set to make a bit of an impact. It sounds like a whole bunch of really cool old bands; Stone Roses, Cure, Joy Division, Velvet Underground etc all mixed up and put together in a new way. In fact, that's what makes this stuff cool. It's the nostalgia kick. It's much like how Wolfmother burst onto the scene to remind us about all the great Sabbath era music.

The production is rather lo-fi, far more so than one is used to these days - not that that worries me, I get sick of everything sounding polished and shiny.

I really hope these guys get a chance to show what they can do.

Nice chilled out bit of work, this one. I guess the basis is dub flavoured, space-dub even. Smooth, ambient space-dub. Reminds me slightly of a New Zealand band, Pitch Black, though it has a lot more background noise going on.

Lots of padded synths, acid synths and drum machines. There's not a single track on the album that I'd call upbeat in any way. Not that that's a problem, just don't put this one on when you're getting ready to go out clubbing.

This one is getting the prize for most enjoyed album I've given to other people recently. There are a handful of people that I've shown this one to that seem to have fallen in love with it. I haven't listened to it enough to get to this stage but I can see why. I put it down to the super slick dubbed out hip hop production work.

There's plenty of variation in pace from soul vibes in Talk to Me to head nodding use of Beastie Boys samples in Got To Rock. The two city named tracks, Manchester and Milwaukee feel like abstract Shadow/RJD2 productions.

There are guest vocalists all over the place here (a different one on each track). We even get treated to the current favourite in my house of residence, Skinny Man.

If you're off to go chill out in the sunshine anytime soon put this one on the top of the playlist. You really won't regret it.

In case you missed her last time round M.I.A. is a UK treasure to be cherished. When the vast majority of the UK music scene was flooded with similar sounding indie bands (similar sounding everything for that matter - and not much has changed since) she released Arular to dropped jaws. It was responsible for introducing Baile Funk to most of the western world (thanks to the work of Diplo at the helm) - an all new addictive dance vibe.

Kala builds on her debut sound without becoming an imitation. Although we still get to enjoy her mighty 808 sine waves the beats feel somehow more advanced. There's a bit of Bollywood influence thrown in the mix this time which works really well with her sound. There's a lot more influence going on all over the place for that matter including more old jungle/rave sounds.

20 Dollar may very well rip your sound-system apart - it starts off sounding like it's going to be a cover of Blue Monday but quickly deviates.

There's less politically loaded commentary on here - probably for the best if she wants to get the Mercury Prize for this one.

There are some things in this world that you wish would never end. Goldmund festival was just such an event. It's really impossible to go about describing the atmosphere of the weekend. 500 people all intent on enjoying original music and having a chilled weekend. The Location was perfect - set in the trees beside a beautiful lake just north of Berlin. Food/organisation/atmosphere wise I've not seen a festival that's come even close to it.

While I was there I got to thinking. If I were going to hold a festival, who would I want playing? If I could take a couple of acts from Goldmund I'd certainly poach Rose Kemp and Golden Disko Ship. Paul The Girl, one of the UK's most innovative unknowns (with one of the best voices), immediately springs to mind. I wonder if Efterklang would pop over for a visit.

You know, if it turned out to be half as enjoyable as Goldmund I'd be the happiest man in the world.

At the outset this felt like typical female fronted pop-rock, the more I listened the more I realised that there's actually some really interesting work going on here. Second listen and I'm finding myself rather intrigued.

Kind of punky. It would be easy to drop the PJ Harvey label on this because of the rawness that comes through - it doesn't really sound like PJ Harvey (well, Pause/Off does a bit). Killed By The Telephone has interesting almost found sounding patterns towards the end.

You know what, this is almost prog. They use those classic keyboards and the vocals have an 80s Debbie Harry vibe.

That's it, prog it is.

Again with the Berlin goodness. Another Goldmund related project I believe - though I'm pretty sure they're not playing at the upcoming festival (shame, though there are plenty of other great artists to keep things interesting).

Really cool mixture of all sorts of stuff - damn near impossible to describe really. Bits an pieces of foundish sounds, lots of bits draw towards an electro vibe but then again there are some acoustic pearls on here too.

Wrong Track! jumped out at me straight away. It almost feels like the point where the album decides it's going to allow it's electro under belly to poke it's head through. Very upbeat and rocky. After that it felt like it was happy to let the electro joy shine - some tracks (like Blair is in the Air) almost sound like old Fischerspooner productions.

Seems to be a good dollop of humour here too. Hopefully I'll get to catch these cats live soon enough.