2010 is getting crazy now. Midrange in dubstep drove it out of from its dark origins and we’re seeing Garage make a come back. Early oo’s instrumental hip-hop which was largely bass-driven and menacing is heavily influenced by electro and dubstep. The IDM of our time should be a label for the likes of Mount Kimbie and Mike Slott. shit is intelligent. I can’t categorise bass driven music anymore without there being ambiguity.

Listen to Mike Slott – Sun Tan:

Mike Slott – Sun Tan

Buy Mike slott’s  music or visit his Myspace

First up is a remix of Amon Tobin ‘Kitchen Sink’ which you can hear on his latest album, The Foley Room (which I highly recommend if you are a fan of this deep ambient breakbeat style). This is a remix by Clark that was posted over at AG

Amon Tobin – Kitchen Sink (Clark rmx)

Next up is the new Gescom – A1 D1 12″, comprising of 6 tracks. This is a very interesting and unpredictable record, and some of it is unexpected when you compare to earlier Gescom stuff. It kind of reminds me of the Envane EP which is in my opinion underrated. A1-D1 has clear Jazz and Funk influence. A1 just totally changes about half way through and it somehow works, while C1 sounds like something that would happen if Daedelus did a collaboration with Autechre, and it works well!

Gescom – A1

Gescom – C1

Sadahnmo, wow! This guy is producing some cool Indian IDM/Electronica and his stuff can be heard for free over at the Last.fm page. I particularly like the track ‘Sadahnmo stays in a palace‘

Finally, and for good measure, here is a little sample from Daft Punk‘s sick Alive 2007 live album. Wouldn’t it be great to be in that stadium when this beat dropped?!

Daft Punk – HBFS Alive 2007

Peace

Visit their myspace

Just a Lil’ Lovin’ (download)

Waiting in Line (download)

Buy the album, ‘Our Lives Are Too Short’

Jazz Fusion is a genre that a man can easily lose his mind in. There are only so many absurd break downs, odd time signatures and improvisational sections that anyone can take before breaking down and having to listen to Nickelback for three solid days, just to cleanse your palette in preparation for the next listening. It’s a trait that goes right the way through the experimental genre in any category of music; you spend a lot of time thinking “This is really clever”, to the extent that you can forget what a brilliant but entirely conventional can do. You find yourself listening to Nirvana, the epitome of intentionally simple rock, and longing for a 5/4 break down or some fancy effects, and you lose track of the fact that something can still be awesome music without necessarily being obscenely complex. Because the real trouble is that, beyond being obscenely clever, many highly experimental artists aren’t that great to just sit and listen to in a ‘normal’ state of mind.

That’s what really marks the Mahavishnu Orchestra out as very different. Yes, the emphasis on experimental sounds and time signatures is there, and yes, there are a vast amount of influences taken from all over (hence the Jazz Fusion label), but it is first and foremost absolutely incredible music. It’s easy to accuse any band which experiments with time and structure of simply being pretentious for pretentions’ sake, but when the results are this startling then all you can do is sit back and enjoy the layer upon layer of gentle funk they bring to the table. The Indian influence is tangible throughout the whole record, and the varied instrumentation really brings out every part of the music. Violins are obscenely underused in rock music, and their use here adds massively to the recording

I would almost go as far as to say that this is the kind of band that led later to groups like Godspeed You Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion, but that’s a comparison that’s easy to make. Epic, instrumental tracks and clever use of unorthodox instruments, plus a predelictation for improvisation means the comparisons are there to make, although it’s a bit of a cop-out because post-rock has roots nigh on everywhere. Instead, take this record in its own right. From the alternating guitar to moog synth solos on One Word to the careful funk of Miles Beyond, it’s an incredible coherent record, and one which everyone should hear at some point.