Death By Music

Skream's Lets Get Ravey mix of La Roux, Kissy Sell Out's DataRock remix, '1000 Cigarettes' off MSTRKRFT's new album... the whole of MSTRKRFT's new album (I picked it up on promo last week and it is awesome)...

It's difficult to tell what I love more - so to avoid the problem of choosing between them I'm going to post some other, unrelated songs instead. Which hopefully won't seem like a total cop-out, considering that most of the tracks I've just mentioned are readily available all over the net anyway, and considering also that the tracks I am just about to mention (and post, obviously) are completely immense.
High Rankin is someone I've been listening too pretty much non-stop since ...oh, friday, when I heard one of his tunes on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show (god bless her). Anyway, apart from the insane bounciness of 'Bubble and Squeak', featured on the show, Mr Rankin brings a particularly demonic and aggressive form of dubstep to the table. 'No Money For Guns' samples what sounds suspiciously like a distorted scream, as well as the phrase given in the song's title, and combines both with unusually heavy and crashing, almost rock-ish, drums and the (now-compulsory) stomach-punching bass we've all come to know and appreciate as the whole point of good dubstep. 'Sulfur Tears' does pretty much exactly the same, in a slightly more intense - if that's possible - way, and with different samples (naturally). Both songs demand a skanking related response.

The (kind of) hilariously named Nosaj Thing uses samples in a similarly eerie way, but there all similarities end. Between him and High Rankin at least. And obviously ecluding the one similarity I've just mentioned.

Ahem.

'Coat of Arms' is a really cool tune, I'm pretty sure Pete Tong played it just before Annie Mac took over, and provides a more chilled vibe. If you think Flying Lotus with added synth and a less funk-type beat than you're probably on the right track.* Lots of reverb and a general feeling of being in slow-motion are the key to Nosaj Thing's success.

'Maybes' by Mount Kimbie, taken from a 4-song EP of the same title, is also quite heavily reverbed, although the drums are kept crisp and the tempo is increased slightly - without leaving the general genre of relaxing electronoic tunes. The samples are handed beautifully, the keyboard (sounds like a Rhodes) is quietly epic, and the song as a whole has a gorgeous Caribbean/African vibe which for some reason makes me thing of the monsoon season. Although, of course, England doesn't have a monsoon season. Unless you count the whole year as a season. Regardless, it's a great song and a great EP - heavily atmospheric and just interesting enough to avoid the almost derogatory label of 'easy-listening'. (Although it is easy to listen to).

Finally, I had to put up some electro just because I love it. Russ Chimes is as good an ambassador for the scene as anyone, and 'She's Got The Heat' is a synth-tastic, upbeat track that has pretty much everything I would want in an electro song, apart from some truly epic Designer Drugs style vocals (a shame). Like Bag Raiders on crack. Hooray for Mr Chimes: he's doing good things for London.

Shockingly, I've put up no remixes at all. I'll have to sort that out next time I post.

(Can't wait for the new SMD album, especially after MSTRKRFT's reassuringly strong recent release.)

High Rankin - No Money For Guns (Preview) Myspace
High Rankin - Sulfur Tears Buy
Nosaj Thing - Coat of Arms Buy
Mount Kimbie - Maybes Buy
Russ Chimes - She's Got The Heat Myspace

*Nosaj has actually done a remix of Lotus's 'Camel' which is worth getting hold of.