Conch Records
Africa Hitech - Blen 12" (Warp)
Get the 12" here
Africa Hitech is more than a name, it is an ideology - one that embodies its members' passions for an eclectic diaspora of electronic styles, from dub and acid to UK garage, grime, techno, house and Jamaican dancehall. Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek stand at the intersection of all these styles (and more) and the result is a bass-fuelled manifesto: the opening salvo being 'Blen'.
Created at Red Bull Music Academy in 2007, Africa Hitech forms part of Mark Pritchard’s MPP Productions collective. MPP is a banner under which all the wide-ranging productions from this prolific producer can co- exist, released through Warp, projects include Africa Hitech, Harmonic 313 and new Reload material, amongst others.
‘Blen’ is all oxygen-sucking bass kicks and razor snares, until Spacek comes in over a chorus of insect synths. This is not the smooth Steve Spacek you may know from his eponymous band, this is Steve Spacek as a rudeboy from the future.
As a counterpoint to the paranoid bounce of the title track, the ‘Blen Remix’ stretches things out for the party. Flipping the vocals over percolating Garage beats and drenching it in swelling synths, it might as well be a masterclass for those trying to regain the sound of London circa 2000.
While the B side ‘The Sound Of Tomorrow’ may seem at odds, it’s just an inkling of the range that Africa Hitech will cover in the coming months. A deep cut of synth soul full of ricocheting drum machines and vocoder choruses, its title is a fully accurate summary of the Africa Hitech aesthetic.
Tracklisting & Clips:
Related Releases:
| 01 | Blen | clip | ||||
| 02 | Blen Rmx | clip | ||||
| 03 | The Sound Of Tomorrow | clip |
New In At Conch!!
Greetings,
Here goes our weekly update of new bits in at Conch, links for more info below.
Also a heads up on the upcoming Record Store Day happening on Saturday 17th of April, details here
We will also go be on sale to celebrate the day. Be great to see you all there.
Best,
Dustin, Cian, Brent, Jim & Bobby -------------------------------------------------------------------- PODCAST: Earshot Sunday 5th April 2010 RECCOMENDED EVENTS: 7 Heaven @ Rakinos Fri 9th April with DJS B+, Solly & Chopper Reeds Record Store Day - Sat 17 April 2010 Jorge Ben Jor (BRAZIL) Sat 22nd May @ The Powerstation
NEW VINYL:
SOUL / FUNK / LATIN / JAZZ Cortex (Ft. Alain Mion) - Unreleased Versions 7" (Trad Vibe) Soul Investigators - Theme / Downtown 7" (Timmion) Sun Ra - Sleeping Beauty LP (Kindred Spirits) Black Cow - O.P. Connection / Be Mine 7" (Black Cow) Various - Funky Sex Machines LP (Soul Patrol) DOWNTEMPO: Andres - Andres II (Pt.2) LP (MAHOGANI) James Pants / Mike B - Watchawannado Vol.1 12" DJ Mischief - Flaming Chestrug / 1986 7" (My First Moth) Dibiase / P.U.D.G.E. - Los Angeles 1/10 10" (All City) Tranqill - Hidden Treasures EP 12" (One Handed Music) Debruit - Spatio Temporel 12" 12" (Civil) Pilooski - RVNG Of The NRDS Vol.10 12" (RVNG) Monkey Sequence 19 - Substantial 12 Monkeys EP 12" (Wonderful Noise) Various - Regrooved Series Vol.10 12" (Good Groove) RnB / URBAN SOUL Mayer Hawthorne - Green Eyed Love (Remixes) 12" (Stonesthrow) Bonobo - Eyes Down - Remixes 12" (Ninja Tune) HIP HOP: Whitefield Brothers - The Gift (Oh No's Ethiopium Remix) 7" (Now Again) Madlib - Medicine Show Vol.3 (Dress Jacket) 2LP (MADLIB MEDICINE SHOW) REGGAE / DUB Richie Phoe - Bumpy's Lament 7" (Balanced Records) Henry 'Junjo' Lawes - Volcano Eruption - Reggae Anthology 2LP (VP) DUBSTEP: Untold - Stop What Your Doing (RMX) 10" (Hemlock) Jose James - Warrior Rmxs 12" (Brownswood) Unknown - Blaze Dem / Find My Way 12"New In At Conch!!
Greetings,
New bits in this week for you, belows a selection with some sound clips... COMPACT DISCSMayer Hawthorne - Soul With A Hole CD (Stones Throw)
George Smallworld - Just 4 You CD (Jazzman)
Various - Harder Shade Of Black CD (Pressure Sounds)
VINYL
DJ Zinc Feat. Ms. Dynamite - Wile Out / My DJÂ 12: (Zinc Music)
King Midas Sound - Waiting For You CD (Hyperdub)
Available here from Conch
After two singles on Hyperdub, and a release on Soul Jazz, King Midas Sound's ‘Waiting For You’ is the debut album from Roger Robinson and Kevin Martin's new group.
In previous collaborations, Roger performed as a highly respected poet, but when he opened his mouth to sing in a fragile falsetto, everything changed and King Midas Sound was born. The signature intenÂsity of their previous solo projects remains, but the mood and feeling is radically different. As opposed to Roger's spoken word pronouncements and The Bug's fierce battleground dancehall, King Midas Sound is more like an opiated aftermath.
‘Waiting For You’ is all about intimacy. Roger’s falsetto is fragile and vulnerable, a sound somewhere between Gregory Issacs and Vincent Gallo, nestled inside an intimate blanket of bass and vertiginous atmosphere. On three of the album cuts, the duo becomes a trio, as the bittersweet backing vocals of Hitomi (from Dokkebi Q) add a further disorientating swirl around the mix like memories gatecrashing the present.
Two years after Hyperdub released Burial's 'Untrue' it is still rare to find albums packed with such inÂtense and honestly exposed feelings. King Midas Sound often deals with a similar strain of musical melancholia, but instead of hyperemotional haunted garage, ‘Waiting…’ is absolutely song based, and generates the spectral bliss of a jilted lovers rock, a sublime, heartbreak reggae. We learn quite quickly that the opening fresh breeze of sound system nursery rhyme 'Cool Out' was actually the back draft of an emotional apocalypse. As we move from the yearning title track, to the ital ecology of 'Earth a Kill Ya', to the elevation of the lunar 'Outer Space' and 'Miles and Miles,' the emotional geography opens out into full, dread soul glory, a wasteland populated by songs of psychic meltdown, the sweet toxicity of love, echoed lullabies to the departed and an acidic undertone of resentment -("I wish you luck with a capital F, boy").
Tracklisting : ‘Cool Out’, ‘Waiting For You’, ‘One Thing’, ‘Earth a Kill Ya’, ‘Dahlin’, ‘Meltdown’, ‘I Man’, ‘Blue’, ‘Goodbye Girl’, ‘Lost’, Sometimes’, ‘Outer Space’, ‘Miles & Miles’.
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