Opiuo: Monkey Crunk from down under

Opiuo is bar far the biggest and funkiest thing to happen to glitch-hop in 2010. With a prolific flurry of releases throughout the year, his funky, chunky, beautifully produced beats, squelchy synths and elastic bass have taken a genre that's recently become bogged down in dubstep-inspired bass swamps and simply put the good times bounce back in it. And it's infectious - almost every music head I know seems to have Opiuo, whether one of the two EPs or the album! The kiwi's got there first of course...

Just listen to this:

  OPIUO Triple J Mix January 2010 128kbps by opiuo

I first came across Opiuo last year via the killa tune King Prawn on An-ten-nae's seminal Acid Crunk Vol.2 compliation (Acid Crunk Vol.3 is just out btw) and it's been in my playlist ever since. I somehow missed the Boganus Proteinius EP, but picked up the awesome Slurp and Giggle album that came out in July a few months ago.

ESSENTIAL FREE DOWNLOAD:

Physical Symptoms EP

 Recently Empanthy Recordings have release a series of mixes of another early classic, Monkey Crunk, from the brilliant Physical Symptoms EP. For my money it's all about this collaboration between bass heavyweights Ben Samples and ill.gates, which properly puts the crunk bass bombs back in the mix alongside some sick amen breaks, while keeping all the original Opiuo funk! Good monkey samples too.
   [EMPD018, PART 2] Opiuo - Monkey Crunk (ill.Gates & Samples Remix) by Empathy Recordings 

Check Opiou's website to LISTEN TO HIS WHOLE BACK CATALOGUE!

Neurodriver, Om Bongo & Wotchamacallit?

Rae from the Wobbly Squadron is off to India for the winter, so we all had a bon voyage knees up last night. As you'd expect round Rae and Ade Om Bongo's Guildford house (which now houses Dan Agent Smith and Dom Neurodriver too) there was a healthy percentage of music geeks present (Chris IP Cress and Dennis Subsource making up the numbers).

Dom's just released a cracking new tune on his Broken Robot label, Snakecharmer, a classic twister of a psy-breaks monster. I'd thoroughly recommend the Broken Eye remix as well, there's some definite Far Too Loud influence going on there (whether it's actually Dom or Oli under another alias a totally forgot to ask).

SAMPLES:
  BRR011 - NEURODRIVER: SNAKE CHARMER + REMIXES by BrokenRobot

For a full flavour of the latest releases on Broken Robot by the like of Hedflux, download Dom's latest mixtape below.

DOWNLOAD:
  Neurodriver DJ mix - Autumn 2010 by BrokenRobot

Dom also showed us this video of himself playing the awesome Root Society stage at Burning Man this year. It looks mind-blowing and he swears it's the best stage he's ever played on. I can't embed the video but click through for the Facebook page:

VIDEO:

Neurodriver plays Root Society, Burning Man 2010

Now's also the time for the first plug of Ade's next night, the Om Bongo Christmas Party. If you like anywhere near Guildford come on down on Christmas Eve for some proper heavy partying with some of the best DJs and live acts in the UK including Slackbaba, Ade, Dan and Musical Man favourite Mary Miss Fairy!

Flyer by Agent Smith :-)
















One of the two acts I hadn't seen until last week is Wotchamacallit? whose live downtempalisms were sounding pretty lush on the pub system. There's whisperings of a first release on the way soon.

  .....On A Spinning Planet by Wotchamacallit?

Nasty Ways: The Good, The Bad and The Squishy

I downloaded the Nasty Ways remix of Lollipop a little while back, purely from a stumble on Soundcloud. It fitted in with some Tron/Mimosa/Marty Party that I was playing around with, and wasn't even too cheesy or club stylee (for Lil' Wayne that is). I had no idea at the time that it was Eprom and Boreta (of The Glitch Mob) together though. I did find out after looking into this new (old) tune though. Tasty squelchy glitch-hop with a nice wilds style sample dropping over the top. Gonna work nicely with Subvert, Ill Gates et al. Schweet...


DOWNLOAD:

  Nasty Ways - The Good The Bad and The Squishy (Free DL) by boreta

DOWNLOAD:
XLR8R: Lil Wayne - Lollipop (Nasty Ways remix)

Purple Wow: Joker, Gemmy and Guido

In the last few years Joker has fast become of my favourite (post-)dubstep producers. This is mainly because he dosn't make straight dubstep, but what's been called 'purple wow' - a g-funk inspired sound that seems to have more in common with the Californian whomp of Mimosa and LA future-hop of Nosaj Thing than the rest of the UK scene. Lots of computer game type noises, heavy warm bass and g-funk high end, within the framework of a dubstep two-step beat.

DOWNLOAD: Joker – Purple Wow Sound Mix (Jan 2009) (Rick click and save as)

  Joker "TRON" + VIP Mix by Multiverse

He's not alone in digging this vein though, and is often cited alongside fellow young Bristol producers Guido and Gemmy as 'The Purple Trinity' (above left-right: Gemmy, Joker, Guido).

  Gemmy "Maroon Chant / Last 3 Digits" by Multiverse
(ignore Maroon Chant and go for Last 3 Digits)

DOWNLOAD: Gemmy – The 1987 Bounce

  Guido 'Orchestral Lab' by Punch Drunk Records

DOWNLOAD: Guido - Orchestral Lab (right click save as)

ALBUM REVIEW:
I picked up Orchestral Lab Guido's first single on Punch Drunk (Pervelist's Bristol label) a while ago, but I only recently bought his full length album Anidea and can thoroughly recommend it. It's a chilled out and organic album, lots of MIDI strings, guitar, piano and saxaphone interlinked with lush synths and bass. As such it has a laid back jazzy feel at times (Mad Sax, Take Me Higher). Apparently he's a jazz pianist so that might explain something. I've read somewhere else that he also grew up playing Final Fantasy VII, so that probably has a lot to answer in the computer game soundtrack type melodies (Woke up Early, Cat in the window, Tantalized). There's also more traditional feeling dubstep (Tango) and cinematic moody soundscapes (Shades of Blue). Meanwhile the two vocal tracks (Beautiful Complication feat Aarya and Way You Make Me Feel feat Yolanda) manage not to come across to hackneyed or cheesy. Kinda like wonky R&B, but good. So all in all it's a beautifully melodic multi-layered album, described elsewhere as incandescent, which I'd have to agree with.

If yo want a taster before you go out and buy, try these two mixtapes first. They're a bit more moody and  traditionally dubsteppy than the album, but the XLR8R one has plenty of choice cuts on there.

DOWNLOAD:
XLR8R Podcast 155: Guido (2010 mixtape)
FACT mix 108: Guido (2009 mixtape)

4 Monkey-o-Philes - DJ Peachimpy-Ra

Well its not pretty but its a sort of a silly monkey mix. Well not much mixing involved but a fun first attempt. Struggled with tracks with speeds ranging from 60 to 160 BPM!! Enjoy... especially the Funky Gibbon - classic ;)

For some reason Soundcloud wouldn't let me upload it (its too hot for them!?!) - copyright issues I guess.... if you do want a copy let me know. I will sort it ;)

What With The Price Of Bananas And All by Peachira on Mixcloud