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Kraddy-Labyrinth EP

Kraddy is one of the people responsible for shaping the west coast bass music scene. Glitch music has been around since the 90s, but it wasn’t until artists like Kraddy came along and started hitting the underground hard with glitched up electronic beats that it really started to spread and grow into the massive scene that it is today. Kraddy, born Matthew Kratz in New York, had been DJing and making music for years when he finally released his first full album Truth Has No Path in 2003. The album was met by the underground San Francisco electronic music scene with huge success. It brought to the community an album that fully encompassed their need for breakbeat, techno, and hip-hop all in one precisely chopped, sampled and rearranged package. This album was different than anything that had even been released and the people were dancing their asses off to it.

Kraddy continued to DJ around San Francisco for awhile until he eventually decided to move to LA.  It was there that The Glitch Mob was formed in 2006.  While touring with the Glitch Mob, Kraddy released his second full length album The Illegal Album in 2007, and his single “Android Porn” in 2008.  Kraddy spent a couple more years touring around as a member of the Glitch Mob before he decided to focus more on his solo career in 2009.

He kicked off the summer with the Westside Manifesto mixtape.  His fan base kept growing and he continued to play gigs all over the country.  To start 2010, his single “Android Porn” was used to kick off the season of “America’s Best Dance Crew” which he gained some mainstream exposure from.  We got to see Kraddy on MTV?!  He also made some music for a commercial for the Scion xD Explosion.  The glitch genre was growing fast and Kraddy was still at the top.

The rumor that another Kraddy release was coming out soon kept his fans anxiously awaiting its arrival until two weeks ago when he released his Dirt Got Soul mixtape, and last week when he finally dropped Labyrinth with several remixes on the digital version.

Kraddy’s sound is distinctly his own, a sound which he describes as “hybridized hip-hop, dubstep and dancehall with face-melting panache and rock and roll bravado”.  This uniquely Kraddy sound is one of the reasons he has continued to be such a huge player in the glitch-hop bass-drop scene here in California.  He consistently pushes the boundaries and shape the direction of this revolutionary music that we all love so much.  This album joins his others as being a masterpiece, as well as a snapshot of what the bassheads were listening to in 2010.

Thank you, Kraddy, for being such an amazing artist and human being…keep doing what you do.

Buy Labyrinth here!
Follow Kraddy on Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud.

NiT GriT-This Old Heart

NiT GriT is a 24 year old Dubstep/Grime producer from San Jose, CA. A quick look at his Soundcloud page gives an idea of the talent that lies within. In the last year, he has posted 33 songs (most of them with downloads enabled), has almost 9,000 followers and each song has around 30,000 plays with hundreds- sometimes thousands of comments and people favoriting the song.

When NiT GriT said he had a song to give away, never did the thought enter my head that the song would include samples from a song by The Isley Brothers, which Rod Stewart also covered. NiT GriT shatters all boundaries and expectations and makes music for the love of it. If the music calls for Rod Stewart samples, he’s not going to shy away from what is necessary. He has a way with dubstep that makes it interesting and complex enough to intrigue listeners with a huge variety of musical preferences. I wonder if my mom would like NiT GriT’s take on “This Old Heart” better than the original… I know that I do!

Download “This Old Heart” here (right click, save as…)

Follow NiT GriT on Facebook, Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

Crunk in Public- Rasta Ferrari EP

Crunk in Public is BassObese and RaSoul of Ashland, Oregon.  The duo has been mashing and remixing top 40, hip-hop and rap with the fat bass since early this year and the dancefloors have loved it from the very beginning.  Their mashups take these songs that most DJs let sit on the shelf collecting dust and turn them into bangin’ tracks that get people rushing to the floor.  This EP is just FUN!  If you get a chance to see Crunk In Public live, I absolutely recommend it!  These guys get the crowd rowdy!

Download the Rasta Ferrari EP here!
Follow them on Facebook, Soundcloud, and find more music by BassObese here and RaSoul here!

Adham Shaikh- Universal Frequencies

Adham Shaikh is a world beat electronic music producer from BC, Canada.  He has been making music and DJing for 25 years, releasing 12 albums and countless singles and guest appearances in that time.  He has produced and engineered albums, and scored original soundtracks for numerous film and television productions.  Adham has been nominated for awards for his film scores as well as his albums. This newest effort will surely be nominated for a Juno, as it is his best album to date.

Universal Frequencies has a more modern and funky feel to it than his previous release Collectivity.  There are sounds of swing, gypsy, and balkan beats.  The grooves had me and everyone else in the room dancing as soon as the first notes of each song started playing.  It doesn’t take long for this music to get inside your head and body.  The first song is appropriately titled “Crossroads- Part 1” and sounds like the Adham Shaikh songs from Collectivity.  The second and third songs are two different versions of “Water Prayer”, each with a nice groove that gets you warming up to the fact that you will be dancing soon.  The fourth song on the album is called “Carpet Breaker” and the fifth is “Rug Ripper” and yes, by the fifth song, you are ripping up the carpet… this is a funky dance album!  The unique world music sounds combined with the high energy beats make for an amazing musical experience.  Adham Shaikh is a true musical master who, with much thought and intention, takes you on an incredible journey from the first song to the last.

Buy Universal Frequencies here.
Follow Adham on Twitter and Facebook.

EPROM- Bay Area EP

How much really needs to be said about EPROM?  We all know him and we all love him.  The Bay area lazer blap producer has been tearing up  dance floors with cutting edge beats for as long as I can remember.  He just released his 2010 mixtape, Robot Sex Tape and got thousands of downloads in the first week. I guess that let him know that we love him and need more music from him because today, EPROM released a pay what you can EP on Bandcamp called The Bay Area EP.

Get the newest EPROM here!

Follow EPROM on Twitter and Facebook.

Blunt Instrument- GlitchHop vs The Machine MiniMix

Blunt Instrument is quickly becoming one of my favorite glitch-hop DJ/Producer groups.  Based in Brisbane, Australia, Luke Latimer and Rocco Mico can make real magic happen with their broken beats and glitched up vocals.  They take their time with their creations to give everything a nice complete and polished sound, but somehow are able to get new songs finished posted on Soundcloud regularly, including their latest remix of Radiohead’s Street Spirit (Fade Out) and Dillinja’s classic Twist ’em Out.

Today, Blunt Instrument have made me happy again with the release of their new promo mix, GlitchHop vs The Machine MiniMix.  It includes some of their new tunes all dubbed with some sci-fi samples they dug up from a story called The Machine.  This mix has been on my must have list since they told me about it and it does not disappoint.  I am impressed with the huge strides they take at making their sound even better with every new release.

Grab the GlitchHop vs The Machine MiniMix here!

Follow Blunt Instrument on Twitter and Facebook.

Eprom-Robot Sex Tape 2010

Eprom is a San Francisco based DJ and producer responsible for some of the craziest sounding lazer filled glitch-hop in existence.  He is a pioneer in this style of music we all love so much but can’t agree on what to call it- crunkstep, lazerblap, whompsauce…. basically it’s bass heavy electronic music that rattles your bones till it gets inside your brain and makes you completely insane on a music high.  EPROM has played alongside artists like Flying Lotus, The Glitch Mob, Skream, Lazer Sword, Kode9, Mochipet, Rustie, and many others.

His 2009 mixtape was Simple named 2009 Mixtape and in 2007 he released the mixtape Enter the Psyphy and his debut EP 64 Bytes the Dust.  After a summer of festivals, gigs and a European tour, Eprom still had the time to give us a mix for 2010! Robot Sex Tape is a collection of news songs and beats from Eprom and can be downloaded here!

Follow Eprom on Twitter and Facebook.

Lazer Sword-808 Mix

Lazer Sword is Lando Kal and Low Limit and they have been making the rounds of clubs from LA to New York City to Europe for years with their glitchy vocals and deep basslines. They have several EPs and singles out, have done guest mixes on various podcasts, and have two very successful mixtapes, Blap to the Future Megamix, and Sweatpants Money Mixtape.
Lazer Sword has released another mixtape and this time it’s all about the 808. The mix comes in advance of their much anticipated self-titled debut album set for release November 2 on Innovative Leisure. Thanks to International Tapes for hosting this awesome mix!

Grab the mix here!

Follow Lazer Sword on Twitter and Facebook.

Beats Antique-Blind Threshold

Beats Antique is an electronic melting pot of dubstep, gypsy folk music and Middle Eastern melodies and anything in between. Zoe Jakes, David Satori, and Tommy Cappel have been performing together as Beats Antique since 2007. Their live shows often feature the violin, horns, accordions and many other instruments you wouldn’t even know the name of much less expect to see being played by band members wearing horse masks while belly dancing. Beats Antique’s tour schedule is rigorous and they are headliners of many festivals around the world including this weekend’s summer festival closer, Earthdance.
Blind Threshold is their fifth release and features glitchy, laser-guided harmonica provided by Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, vocals from Lynx, Swan Palermo and Eva Salina, and was mastered by the electronic music producer Dave Tipper. It is an amazing release that is even more complex and interesting in its layering of unique sounds and rhythms than their previous albums. Each new release sets the bar higher and higher and Beats Antique continues to amaze. Blind Threshold is most definitely my number one pick for Album of the Year. Be prepared to have your minds blown!

Download Blind Threshold here or their previous albums The Trunk Archives, Contraption EP Vol. 1, Collide , and Tribal Derivations.

Follow Beats Antique on Twitter and Facebook.
Album artwork by Andrew Jones.