ISSUE #5
Brown Lounge, Vol. 5 - Leatherette
The UK-based electronic duo, Leatherette, just released Brown Lounge, Vol. 5 and if you want to start the weekend properly, queue this up and thank us later.
Taking a hard swerve from the clubby tunes from last year’s Mander House, Vol. 1, Leatherette’s latest LP is another beautiful installment of 20 tracks of instrumental hip-hop gold. It takes your mind, body, and soul on an excursion through reflection, self-analysis, and euphoria. It’s short and sweet, and we recommend playing the 39-minute long continuous mix that they graciously included at the end of the album.
Letherette soundcheck at Camp, London 2011 from Flickr user: Tinyflare
I’ve always thought that there is a fine line between instrumental hip-hop genius (I’m looking at DJ Krush, MF Doom, J Dilla, DJ Cam, DJ Shadow, Nujabes, and so on), and the type of muzak you would hear in the waiting room of a dentist’s office. Brown Lounge, Vol. 5 easily fits the mould of the former. It is a smooth-yet-bold mélange of hip-hop beats, guitars, vocal samples, brass, strings, and synth that come together to melt in your anxieties away. It’s got a little bit of everything.
Grab a coffee (or your preferred beverage of choice) and listen to Brown Lounge, Vol. 5 below!
♥ Mando
MONOTOMIC - Mono/Poly
One of our favorite Brainfeeder alumni unleashes forced sonic metamorphosis and flexes his musical range on this new LP.
If you ever stayed up late watching cartoons in the mid 2000’s, you almost were almost certainly subjected to the musical experimentation of Steven Ellison, AKA Flying Lotus. Abstract layered beats and cosmic instrumentation are trademarks oft associated with Ellison’s record label, Brainfeeder, and if you’re a fan, you’ll love the controlled chaos of Mono/Poly.
Coming up in the same scene that birthed a decades-long tradition of sonic exploration, Charles E. Dickens harkens back to the early days of Low End Theory whilst pushing things ever forward on MONOTOMIC. This album contains some of the best work Dickens has released - let us take you through a few of our favorites.
The opening track, When I’m Comin For Ya, is relentlessly energetic and filter swept dance floor number that gives one the feeling they’re chasing (or escaping) their nemesis, riding parallel magical escalators that shift and warp beneath your very feet.
Easy Living is a spacious RnB number with Kimbra’s satin vocals accompanying vaporized pads and Thundercat bass. Just when the track achieves its critical mass, Mono/Poly takes all the pieces off the board and resets things with a sensuous rewound vocal hook.
Things kick into a higher gear on Hell Is In - breakbeats and a bitcrushed klaxon fracture time and space in this threatening journey through wormholes and picked locks.
Low End Theory - A callback to the Los Angeles venue that birthed acts like Mono and Flying Lotus - is a twisted trap number featuring booming sub bass and an accelerating lead that swerves between traffic at a breakneck pace. Chopped and pitched vocal samples remind us of another Mono/Poly song, Crypto Bell.
Things calm down on Dive Out as Disco vibes suffuse the air, and you can almost feel the top coming down as your convertible merges onto a moonlit highway. Flubby Thundercat-esque bass and some lightly filtered rhodes ensure the ride is smooth.
Image courtest of XLR8R
If you’re looking for a soundtrack to your night out, night in, psychedelic inwards contemplation, or just to stirfry a friend’s braincells for a laugh, MONOTOMIC has you covered.
Let us know what your favorite tracks are!
♥ Zach
