Mr. Scruff - "Friendly Bacteria" 2014
For those unaware of who Mr. Scruff is, he is a phenomenal British DJ and producer who has been active since the mid 90's. I would consider him to be one of the seminal artists of the Ninja Tune roster and integral to their overall sound and aesthetic as a label, historically. This is his first new LP in 6 years. Gone are the sample collage type songs from yesteryear, that I would consider one of his signature sounds, and he seems to be replacing that in his repertoire with a slight beat scene influence, which was a much needed injection into his cannon. It shows he still knows what's up with new music that's cutting edge, and he's good at producing this sound as well, evidenced by the title track. Much like his last full length, "Ninja Tuna", i'm a little less than thrilled with the abundance of songs with guest vocalists. I don't mind the singers, but my personal taste definitely wants to hear these songs instrumental. The production on this album in extremely intricate without sounding jumbled or too full. Everything has it's right place in the sound scape and the songs tend to slowly evolve over their running time and blossom into what they become. All in all, this is a tightly made album that I just have some minor gripes about, that mostly have to do with my personal preferences. I don't enjoy this album as much as "Keep It Unreal" or "Trouser Jazz", but this is probably my favorite album by him outside of those 2. Check out the video for "Render Me" (featuring Denis Jones). Also check out "Friendly Bacteria", "Where Am I?", "Feel Free", "Catch Sound" (featuring Denis Jones), and "Come Find Me" (featuring Vanessa Freeman). You can purchase the album here.
Thom Yorke - "Tomorrow's Modern Boxes" 2014
So, Thom Yorke snuck out this album, more or less unannounced, and released it through BitTorrent as a bundle, possibly as an experiment in modern music distribution. Being honest about it, I still chose to steal it instead of paying for it, or taking the free version (which is only 3 songs I think). I will buy the vinyl once I can afford it, because it is good enough, and i'm a big enough fan, but i'm too damn broke to pay money for files. Saying this is an 8 song EP is deceiving, because the final 3 songs are really just like one awesome 3 part song. This isn't going to please the ears of people who weren't on board with "King Of Limbs", "Eraser", "In Rainbows", or the Atoms For Peace albums at all, but I will say this is his best effort since "Eraser" to me. When it's over, i'm like "damn, that's it, I want more songs", which is probably what a good EP should be like.
In attempting to provide sound clips for this review, I discovered that there is numerous trolls that put up tons of bogus links to these songs, and when you listen to them, it's some mega cheesy, non-Thom Yorke music. After clicking on about 9 or 10 of these, I gave up. They could have at least put Rick Astley on there.... So, sorry I can't provide any links here. You can purchase the album here.
Kev Brown - "Brazil Dedication" 2013
This is a nice little EP of beats that he made while staying in Brazil for a couple months. Really chill instrumental hip hop, without falling anywhere near ambient territory. I enjoy the way he chops samples. One of my favorite beat makers in recent years. You can listen to and purchase this EP here.
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