Label:Exit Records (7)
Catalog#: EXIT016
Format: M2T
Country:UK
Released:21 Aug 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Drum n Bass
Quality: 384kbps / 48.0 kHz

All credits go to the producer (Spectrasoul)
Buy this tune @ bm-soho.com/store/AutoKey/…

Brace yourself for Ninja Tune’s latest signing: King Cannibal aka Zilla aka Dylan Richards, because he is coming hard as hell in his forthcoming record “Let the Night Roar.” We were immediately feeling it and got goosebumps down the spine with the intro (which is exactly what Richards was going for, as stated below), and it’s the sickest album intro we’ve heard in a long time.

Starting with a movie soundtrack vibe that goes into a wild and unique dance hall beat on the second track, “Aragami Style.” You just have to experience for yourself to know what we’re talking about. Mary Anne-Hobbs knows what we’re talking about and if you listen to her regularly on Radio 1, she has already played the track multiple times, praising King Cannibal’s sound, affectionately referring to it as “too dark!”

Before we even listened to the CD, we found the cover interesting and just the artist name and album title Richards chose really are twisted. His music certainly lives up to the artist image and cover art.

Tracklisting:

1. Intro (0:59)
2. Aragami Style (6:14)
3. Murder Us (6:16)
4. Virgo (Featuring – Jahcoozi) (5:03)
5. So… Embrace The Minimum (Featuring – Face-A-Face) (5:48)
6. Dirt (Featuring – Daddy Freddy) (4:58)
7. Colder Still (6:07)
8. A Shining Force (6:12)
9. The Untitled (5:40)
10. Onwards Vultures (5:32)
11. Flower Of Flesh And Blood (6:40)

King Cannibal himself on his music:

I never really started off making music with a theme but at the half way point it really became clear that it had built its own outside of what I was consciously thinking. It is quite obviously, sonically speaking, a violent piece of work, but where as most albums who tackle this subject fall back on its links with horror films I’ve really tried to make this about real life happening outside of our windows, in our backyards and in our small lives. We get trapped into thinking a certain way, doing things we don’t want to do just so we can postpone our ambition another day. It’s about cutting through these things with a positive violence and letting ‘the night roar,’ for the night is when we finally get to do the things we really want to do. The title, Let The Night Roar, is from a speech made by Jim Jones, the man responsible for the Jonestown massacre. Whilst it was a terrible series of events I happened across a recording of part of his speech and it really shivers down my spine and the album title really jumped out at me when he spoke it.

Really interesting and articulate story behind the music, and so deliberately creepy. King Cannibal has already earned the respect and support of The Bug, Bong Ra, Jagz Kooner, Strictly Kev, Kid 606, Knifehand Chop and Ebola.

Before he was King Cannibal, Zilla was best known for a series of well-received mix tapes, including “A Friendly Game of Chess” (with Buddy Peace), “One Foot In The Fire, One Fist In The Air” and his compilation “Watch And Repeat Play” for Warp Records (also with Buddy Peace).

The King Cannibal debut album drops on October 6, 2009, so get your ears ready for the pure, raw darkness to come.

So we caught up with Libby Picken from Lazerbitch and got a chance to interview her, finding out all kinds of information about  the group and some of the East Coast music scene in the process. Even though the Lazerbitch fan base keeps growing, Picken was still friendly and down to Earth, not letting her ego get the best of her.

We’re really excited to see the forthcoming music video for the “Coquette” track and look forward to hearing more from Lazerbitch in the future. We were impressed by the duo’s musical history before forming Lazerbitch both before and after speaking to Picken. It’s always nice to get a chance to converse with artists you follow.

You’ve worked with a lot of successful producers before Lazerbitch was formed. What’s some of the story behind the sound that Lazerbitch has created?

I’ve been singing since I was a little kid, I would sing Broadway tunes at talent shows and such. I started going to raves back in 1994 in the Baltimore/DC metro area. A couple of the big parties back then were Fever and Buzz. I started throwing events in Baltimore in 1998. Going out and promoting for my parties allowed me to meet many different DJs and producers. While promoting my monthly party,“Go,” I met DJ Sinestro(Chis Baggett), who introduced me to and suggested I work with his friend Holmes Ives. At the time, Holmes was producing tracks under the moniker Memnon and Aurora. Holmes was also just starting to garner attention from people like Paul Oakenfold for his trance music production. Holmes then introduced me to his friend Michael Meacham; they were doing music on the Caffeine label out of New York. Holmes then used my voice in small portions on a couple of his records. Among those tunes, I was tossed in the background of a BT remix, and my resulting Caffeine release was a record called “Exit 9″. I was only 19 at the time. Since I was always going out, it was only a matter of time before I became friends and involved with the people backing Buzz. One of these people was John Tab. Whenever I knew of a DJ/producer coming through to play Buzz, I would hit John Tab up and ask him if I could pick up that person from the airport. This would enable me to get some face time with the producer I was seeking to chat with. Unfortunately, it more often than not ended up with the DJ hitting on me and not taking me seriously as a vocalist.

In August of 2000, I picked up John B as a trade off for guest-list to Buzz’s then monthly weekday Wednesday night party, Mango. I had actually met John the night before at Bar Nun in DC, and I chatted him up about getting me on one of his tracks. I mailed John a CD of mine shortly thereafter, and John emailed back that he loved my music, and very much wanted to work with me. This resulted in our 2002 release on his Beta Recordings label entitled “Electrofreek”. Somehow, Paul Oakenfold heard “Electrofreek”, and asked John B to do a trance remix for his “Great Wall” CD, which was released in 2003.

I feel you need to move forward to stay current, and I think John understood that. A lot of people either loved or hated “Electrofreek” because it was so different from what John had been doing at the time. I will acknowledge that drum and bass is still relevant, although I don’t think it’s anywhere nearly as huge as it was years ago. People are surprised to learn that I will still work on the odd drum and bass track, but it is a very rare occurrence. My only drum and bass projects are with Mark Subsonik of Subsonik Sound Recordings. I find Subsonik’s sound incredibly advanced; that was the main reason why I agreed to work with him. He also came with the John B stamp of approval, which totally worked in his favor. Subsonik’s and my track entitled, “Let You Go”, will be released on Beta Recordings as the B side to Subsonik’s “Mercury Skies”(original by John B) remix.

I’ve known Max for a long time. We met and dated briefly back in 2000. After having no contact since our breakup, I randomly ran into him in 2006 in a park party in Arlington, VA. Max told me he was back in DC, engaged, and doing really well. He had put out a few two-step garage songs on some UK labels and e-mailed me some of the songs he had done. I was really impressed by his new stuff. In the beginning of 2007 Max e-mailed me some Lazerbitch tunes and I loved them! It was everything that I had ever wanted to do with a local unsigned producer. I shot Max a response telling him how much I was into Lazerbitch, and included my phone number in the event he ever wanted to work on any side-projects. In February 2007, I got a call from Max who told me that things with their vocalist didn’t work out, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Max moved to Oakland, CA in March of 2008 and we took a break with Lazerbitch, which meant turning down a couple of major bookings, even though we had discussed having me play the gigs by myself. I turned down the first few opportunities to do this because I just didn’t feel like playing a gig as Lazerbitch would be the same without Max. When I finally realized that I could, in fact play a successful gig by myself with a DJ, I started getting booked pretty frequently. DLake of Claire Hux often does gigs with me, as well as performing our tune “Pussylips”, too. Luckily I have a varied rotation of DJs that are able to do gigs with me, cos Daren is moving to NYC in the Fall. I’m gonna miss him!

As far as the production process, Max and I get on iChat, AIM or just work over the phone. Max makes a beat and will send it over to me. I’ll then write lyrics and a melody, sing to him over the phone or via iChat, e-mail him my lyrics, and we’ll go over them together.

Musically, we don’t really have one genre – so many of our songs sound quite different from one another. For example, “High School Shoot-Out” is electro-punk, “Spacebase” is disco house, “Do Me Wrong” is club, “Pussylips” is Baltimore club, “Ravest0r” is old skool breakbeats, and “Coquette” is electro. Taste the rainbow? ; )

There are a lot of factors that affect how a show will be for us. How long I’m given to perform, who’s able to perform with me, what songs we’re playing (some tunes only get played when Max performs, because it makes more sense live). Max plays guitar, bass, and the keytar live. Unfortunately, we are temporarily without a keytar, as Max smashed it on stage during the filming of the club scene for our “Coquette” music video. Even more unfortunate is that the camera man wasn’t even filming Max when he did it, so the epic smashathon will not even be featured in our video. Booooo! New keytar soon, Max is saving for a Roland.

It definitely changes frequently based on what I’m exposed to and the more I’m exposed to. One of my personal influences is Deee-Lite, but I also listened to a lot of punk music growing up, so Fugazi, Smashing Pumpkins and anything from the early 90’s definitely. I love pop, so Britney Spears, but referencing her newer creations, and not her old teeny-bopper stuff. And Lady Gaga, she’s really great. I also credit some lesser known groups such as Morphine and The The.

As far as Max’s, I couldn’t say. He’ll cringe when sees this because he doesn’t really care for pop music [laughs]. He definitely likes some off the wall shit though. It helps round out our sound from my mostly pop-influenced background.

Not that I’ve really noticed. The music I listen to is an “I like what I like,” kind of thing. But, I’ve also been told that I have trouble seeing past my likes and dislikes. I have been approached with some tunes that are said to be “good tunes”, but I will have dismissed them as garbage simply because I don’t like them.

True Blood – see that’s kind of biased too – because I don’t watch television at all and Daren(DLake of Claire Hux)told me about True Blood, and he put it on my Mac one day while fixing it for me. I finally had some free time a few weeks ago and just zoned-out and watched half of the True Blood first season. I couldn’t believe I spent over five hours sitting and watching my laptop. I’m all caught up now to Season Two! Yuh!

When I sang “Spacebase” live at The Paradox for Ultra Nate’s Deep Sugar Presents: Next Aid Benefit.

I really liked the sound system and the fact that I didn’t have that many friends in the crowd, so it was a very different experience for me. “Spacebase” just sounded so amazing on that system.

It’s not finished yet; it’s turned into quite the production. We’ve got one day left of shooting. I just saw the rough cut for the first time, and was pretty happy with it. Brian Morrison is the director, he’s so talented.

I’m vegetarian. Grapefruit, I eat grapefruit pretty frequently. Yeah, I love grapefruit. And you know what? Spinach is my hands-down all-time favorite food. I eat spinach every single day. Like Popeye, bitches!

I think that Baltimore is booming right now, and apparently I am not the only person that feels that way. I read a blurb in Rolling Stone about local artist Rye Rye(recently signed to Interscope Records), and there was a quote from M.I.A. in that interview. She said that she feels Baltimore has the counterculture that NYC once had, but doesn’t have any more.

We also have some really amazing promoters here that bring crazy talent through as well.

Funny story: I hang out with Naeem(Spank Rock)’s sister Maya, so it’s funny that I haven’t met him yet. My homegirl Holly was actually playing my song “Coquette” in the car with Naeem and Maya on their way to Island Jam this past April, and Holly told me he asked her, “Who is this, Gaga?” Hah!

Upcoming releases include “Burning Bridges” on Strictly Rhythm/Deep Sugar Music for the end of July ’09 with a Mr. V remix on the B side, and “Coquette” on Play Me Records for August ’09. Both will be available on Beatport.

Marky and Spy – “Collie Trips [Clip from Marky Podcast]:”

Thanks to Godfather Sage for this.

LAZERBITCH is not your ordinary outfit. Before they became what they are today, LAZERBITCH’s Libby Picken worked together with some respected names in electronic music such as John B (and we think he’s great, by the way), Paul Oakenfold, Donald Glaude, and T-1000. Picken also worked with drum and bass producers Tech Itch, Kraken and DJ Dara.

Having good taste in music and having the privilege of working with top producers as a foundation will certainly help to form a better final product. Not only is LAZERBITCH cranking out catchy tracks, but the subtle edits on Picken’s voice give the group the modern twist it needs to be set apart from being  just another 80′s influenced band or run-of-the-mill synth pop group. LAZERBITCH will keep you guessing on their style from one track to the next.

So, take some cool synth pop sounds, 80′s influence, solid electronic instrumentals then add Picken’s charming and melodic voice, and you’re getting closer to the LAZERBITCH sound. The group doesn’t stop at that, though. We hear some punk sound in “High School Shootout,” and then if you visit the LAZERBITCH Myspace page and give a listen to the “Pussylips” track, you’ll see they also have an electro/hip-hop feel as well.

Big up to LAZERBITCH and we’re looking forward to future releases.

If asked to pick three favorites from all the tracks, we’d choose, Frankmusik – “Confusion Girl (Don Diablo loves to slowdance remix),” Dragonette – “Fixing to Thrill (Don Diablo Dub),” and Don Diablo & Example – “Hooligans (Spor Remix).”

Click here to download all songs.

Velapene Screen – “Chop Suey:”

Breaktheory: One member of the Dominion duo is known for writing catchy basslines, as well as sound design, and mixing/mastering capabilities. It was his involvement that made the use of Machine Head Studios in Los Angeles possible for both the early and final stages of the compilation’s production. You’d be hard-pressed to find sound processing and manipulation or samples quite like Breaktheory’s with any other artist. BKY drops it like it’s hot, exploring new, creative areas in sound. Currently, Breaktheory is working on a dark ambient record that’s atonal, esoteric and of course: beatless. Watch for the forthcoming release.

Clay Nyse: The other mind behind Dominion. Recognized for his excellent beat programming in the tracks, Nyse’s beats are water tight and will leave you nodding to the precision. Clay Nyse has good taste in drum and bass–classic and new–which surely affects the flavor of any track or beat pattern he writes. Clay Nyse also happens to be a professional graphic designer, designing the fliers in his spare time for lots of big name shows on the East Coast. If you’re active in the East Coast rave scene, you’ve probably seen Nyse’s artwork.

Godfather Sage: The man himself. If you know GFS’ sound, you’ll hear it in everything he has touched in the compilation. With such an eclectic taste in different styles and genres, and countless hours spent in the studio, Godfather Sage has really nailed a sound that is truly his and his alone. Soulful, jazzy, international vibes: say hello to drum and bass and hip hop. Give him any sound and a studio and Godfather Sage will own it before the day is done.

Squarepusher, or Tom Jenkinson, is an British electronic music artist signed to Warp Records. He writes experimental electronic music, drawing a lot of influence from drum and bass and jazz. Jenkinson was born in Chelmsford, Essex in 1975 and studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design. At shows, Jenkinson often uses a fretted bass guitar, a laptop, and various other hardware. He has appeared twice on BBC Radio 1′s The Breezeblock show.

Squarepusher sequenced his pre-2000 work on a BOSS DR-660 drum machine. He uses hardware for his electronic music such as Akai samplers, (S950 for early work, S6000 for later work), a Roland SH-101 synthesizer, a Roland TB-303 bassline synthesizer, and a reel-to-reel tape machine. Around the year 2000, Squarepusher bought a computer with Reaktor and an Eventide Orville for digital processing. According to a list of gear from the official website, Squarepusher owns the following:

“Bass guitars: Music Man / Rickenbacker 4001 / Custom built 6 string.
Guitars: Classical and Baritone classical / custom electric guitar.
Software: Reaktor custom algorithms.
Electronic Hardware: Eventide “Orville” + “DSP4000″ using only homemade algorithms/ Yamaha sequencer / 16 track tape machine / MackieDesk / Sine wave generator / Roland SH101 / Octave “Cat” synth / AKG414 mics / Home made + AKG analogue reverb units / DAT recorder.
Percussion: Ludwig drum kit / Balinese percussion / xylophone.
Other: some wires, mains leads, a room to put it all in, cooperative neighbors, etc. ”

He has been known to play Fender, Ernie Ball, and Warwick basses.

Squarepusher is known for using the Amen break in his most famous songs.

He is currently performing live with drummer Alex Thomas.

Albums:

Feed Me Weird Things (June 3, 1996)

Hard Normal Daddy (April 28, 1997) #115 UK

Burningn’n Tree (November 10, 1997)

Buzz Caner (May 25, 1998) (as Chaos A.D.)

Music Is Rotted One Note (October 12, 1998)

Budakhan Mindphone (March 1, 1999) #183 UK

Selection Sixteen (November 8, 1999)

Go Plastic (June 25, 2001) #100 UK

Do You Know Squarepusher (September 30, 2002) #192 UK

Ultravisitor (March 8, 2004) #90 UK

Hello Everything (October 16, 2006) #89 UK

Just a Souvenir (October 27, 2008)

Top Ten:

1. “Tundra:” Often referred to as the track that all boys should listen to before becoming men. It’s “Tundra.” We first heard the song in 1996, when it was released on Feed Me Weird Things. One of the greatest things about this track is the fact that you can listen to it over and over again and it never gets old the way most songs do. We’ve even heard tell of people being completely obsessed with the song, to the point of listening to it thousands of times.

2. “Come On My Selector:” Released in 1999. Not only is this one of Squarepusher’s best songs, from one of his all-time best records (Big Loada), but it was released with a cool music video to boot. We’re fans of it. Jenkinson is actually in the video. Can you find him?

3. “Port Rhombus:” Like the #2 song, also from Big Loada. Jenkinson really kept it real on that record. The acoustic guitar in this has that Spanish / Latin vibe going for it. Combine that with those spacey synths and unique Amen breaks and you’re on to something interesting.

4. “I Wish You Could Talk:” Love the name. Love the track progression. Love how many elements are combined in the track as a working whole. Great for first dates and break-ups!

5. “Massif (Stay Strong):” Straight from the beginning: it’s good. Distorted beats and high-pitched synths aren’t for everyone, but this is a classic for us. The only reason this falls to fifth in the ranking is because once you listen to it enough times it loses some of its freshness. Also, you should note that Squarepusher plays all of his synth melodies with a midi controller bass guitar. Meaning, it’s not a traditional guitar, but one that you can bind synthesizer sounds to. That’s just what he’s most comfortable with.

6. “Iambic 5 Poetry:” Relax with this one. Fond of the bells and the bass.

7. “A Journey To Reedham (7am Mix):” It’s hard to deny the 8-bit, video game feel to this. So, yeah, it brings out the inner 8-bit nerd, which we admit: not everyone has that as a part of them. However, we think that both former Nintendo lovers and anti-video game people alike can like this. There are lots of reasons for why this track wouldn’t be enjoyable for some people, but that could probably be said about Squarepusher’s music in general.

8. “Last Ap Roach:” Stylewise, this is arguably the most different from every other song in the 10. The droning nature of this one not only creates a sort of trance state, but also has a sort of creepy vibe to it. It must be the eerie sirens sound. The irony is, though, are you really creeped out if you’re in a trance? By the way, music in the actual trance genre sucks for the fact that it’s so utterly cheesy, yet is still classifiable as electronic music. There are some genres of electronic music that give electronic music as a whole a bad name. What’s funny is that all music these days is edited and then finalized with computers. Last time we checked computers won’t work without electricity. Maybe that’s knit-picking, but there’s also lots more electronic influence in music than ever before. Take hip-hop, for instance: T-Pain and the autotuner/vocoder obsession. That’s all electronic. Did you realize T-Pain was born in 1985? That means he was 11 when “Tundra” dropped. How many 11 year olds do you know who listen to good music? Seriously.

9. “Theme from Ernest Borgnine:” Actor Ernest Borgnine is an interesting character. We don’t know much about him, aside from the fact that he was in Airwolf. Just look at his photo below as you listen to this song and try and figure out why Squarepusher decided this should be his theme. Just because this is #9 doesn’t mean it’s not great. It just wouldn’t be a ranking without an order. Mr. Borgnine turned 92 in January.

10. “Tommib:” Featured in the soundtrack of the movie Lost In Translation, this is our definition of short and sweet from Jenkinson. The song was released two years before the film. Why wouldn’t there be a lag in the amount of time it took a mainstream director like Sofia Coppola to discover an experimental music song? Of course, who knows who actually picked the song for the movie. Could’ve been the Music Supervisor Brian Reitzell, or any of a handful of people behind the film.

Graeme Sinden aka Sinden, is a British DJ and Producer. He’s connected with A-Trak and probably as a result Kid Sister. We found a few of his tracks and remixes notable. All different styles and flavors.

The Count & Sinden – “Beeper (Radio Edit Clean):”

Crystal Castles – “Crimewave (Sinden Remix):”

A-Trak, Kanye, Sinden:

The Count & Sinden – “Beeper (A-Trak Remix):”

“Beeper (Jonny L Remix):”

Real Justice:

Fake Justice:

All your ignorance of music history belongs to us.

At any rate, here are a selected tracks that were released before the French Justice even began releasing music. Really, we don’t think it’d be fair game for, say, a hip-hop act to just name themselves “The Strokes,” and have that be fine with the existing rock band. In every legal sense, Tony Justice has grounds to sue the French Justice, even if their music is good and worth listening to!

“Class of 73 Bells – Featuring ‘School of Seven Bells’:”

“Radio Attack:”

“Point To B:”

“Living Life:”

“Eve of Dextruct:”

“Back In Time:”

Ben Gibbard – Complicated (Avril Lavigne cover):

Ben Gibbard – All Apologies (Nirvana cover):

Ben Gibbard – Thriller (Michael Jackson Cover):

Ben Gibbard & Colin Meloy cover Blur’s “End Of The Century:”

Ben Gibbard rants about the Black Eyed Peas:

Death Cab For Cutie – All Is Full Of Love (Björk Cover):

Soulfire Sessions – Chris Su – All Is Full Of Love (Björk Cover) (just figured we’d throw this one in here even though it’s clearly not Ben Gibbard. Ravecore!):

“Chris Su – All Is Full Of Love (Björk Cover):”

Ben Gibbard and Red Bull for the win:

Check out Chris Ghiraldi’s work, art and more here.

New song: added to this post on June 22, 2009:
“Seventeen” by Casxio (“17 Ways Out” Remix by Velapene Screen)

“Chop Suey:”

“Something Is Movable In This Room:”

Here’s a tidbit you might not have known about Ghiraldi. He actually went to college with both Regina Spektor and artist Only Son (singer and songwriter Jack Dishel).

“Damn Random State Shapes:”

Regina Spektor:

Only Son:

“Three Way Call Detroit Cali New York:”

At any rate, first off, here is the Velapene remix of “Untitled,” for you to check out. Interpol actually liked the remix so much that they were hosting it on their official site for quite a while. Although I’m not a huge Interpol fan, I like the “Untitled” track they wrote, but I like the Velapene remix even more. Great tune.

Interpol:

“Untitled (Interpool Swimwear Remix):”

“Our Zone:”

Velapene Screen wrote the music for a Miller Genuine Draft Commercial as well. Observe (love it):

As for the Regina Spektor remix, Velapene chose to morph Spektor’s track “Fidelity,” into another song that is arguably better than the original. Even die-hard Regina Spektor fans shared this sentiment about the remix, which we think speaks for itself. Ghiraldi received lots of attention from Spektor’s fans both as they heard his Fidelity remix and as they learned that he is actually close friends with Spektor. Of course, Velapene was happy to receive the attention and to have Spektor’s fan-base listening to his music. Below is a video for the Fidelity remix that was prepared without Velapene even asking.

“Biting Is For People Too:”

Another Velapene song that had a subsequent YouTube video creation crop up as a result is “ReDhaiRCut,” which is an original of Ghiraldi’s using a handful of samples of Regina Spektor vocals:

And last, but not least, is another artistic video using Velapene’s music. This video actually features one of my favorite tracks by Velapene, although I have many, entitled “Something Is Movable In This Room,” from his Medical Breaths record.

“My Plot Is Askew:”

The first official release for the Velapene Screen moniker – Velatision EP (available from Amazon.com while supply lasts!

Dominion is Jon Lipman (Breaktheory, left) and Clayton Jones (Clay Nyse, right).
Jon and Clayton both come from a DJ background in Philly, often playing the same late-nineties parties and club nights… it wasn’t until 2004 in NYC that they actually met and started making tunes.

Jon works as a sound editor & mixer for film in LA and Clayton is a commercial graphic designer in NYC.