Music for post-traumatic stress decompression on a summer evening

You know how sometimes you just get bored of everything you have on your MP3 player? You've heard it all before. It all sounds the same. Why the hell have you been bothering with all this shit?! Why don't I just listen to pop music or the radio? Or maybe you have more than 8GB capacity...

I've been having this kinda existential crisis with my whole life lately. Thankfully though, after another day of suffocating in my mentally over stimulating and anxiety inducing work, I left the office to the sounds of four mixes I've recently downloaded and went to sit by the river, where I achieved a more zen-like state of glitchitation. Just what the perspective-adjusting mind doctor ordered. Enjoy.

AfroMonk runs a wicked blog right here. He's just got back from Lightning in a Bottle. Git. This is a damn tasty lovestep mixtape he's done for http://brasky.org.
  Afro Monk Presents: Left Behind - (http://www.brasky.org) by AfroMonk
Featuring music by: Gladkill, +verb, Manni Dee, Guttstar, Nico Luminous, Thriftworks, Elfkowitz, Mimi Page, Omega, Jobot, NastyNasty, Tokimonsta, B. Bravo, Epcot, The Human Experience, Chris B, & Ghetto Sexuual

kLL sMTH from Smoulder, Bollorado makes some proper synapse tweaking insertdescriptivenamehere-step tunes like Smoothstep and a journey through time and bass. This is a live set from the Ghost Ranch wherever the fuck that is
  Live at the Ghost Ranch pt. 2 (all original set) by kLL sMTH
TRACKLIST
1. Smoothstep vs. Cassie
2. Funky Crunk
3. Slamborghini
4. Gnaardvark vs. Stilettos - crime mob
5. Subsonic (kLL SMTH Remix) - Excision
6. Babylon (kLL SMTH Remix) - NiT GriT
7. Bustle Hustla
8. Rump Shakin
9. Nurrbody into Body Movement - Conquest

Simplify have simply put out some of the best glitch-hop and bass music of the last year from Stephan Jacobs, Love and Light, Chris B, Ben Samples, Elfkowitz and Blunt Instrument. Like a glitch-hop finger buffet, this mixtape by Aaron Simpson has it all and more. Fuck. Yeah.
  Simplify Mix Sessions 7 by Simplify Recordings 
TRACKLIST
01 Nero – Me & You (Danger Remix) (MTA)
02 Opiuo – Patchouli Dump Truck (Addictech)
03 Love & Light – The Light We Bring (Simplify)
04 Samples – Montauk Point (Made In Glitch)
05 Knight Riderz – Light It Up (Made In Glitch)
06 DCarls – All In (Simplify)
07 Blunt Instrument – Simmer Gently (Simplify)
08 Digital Rust – Loophole (Addictech)
09 Love & Light – Slap and Tickle (Simplify)
10 Freddy Todd – Skattabrain (Simplify
11 Kraddy – Let Go (Instrumental) (Minotaur)
12 Gramatik – The Uprising (Cold Busted)
13 DCarls – Flavorhythm (Simplify)
14 Gramatik – Who Got Juice (Cold Busted)
15 Who Cares – These Three Words (ill-esha Remix) (Simplify)
16 Pretty Lights – Hot Like Sauce (Rustified Remix) (Pretty Lights)
17 Freddy Todd featuring Unc – Homefaced (Simplify)
18 Hirshee & Tonye Aganaba – So Good (Big Fish)
19 Stephan Jacobs – In The Vortex (Simplify)

When you need to chill-the-fuck-out after that one, try Guido's latest 29 minute mixtape, which sends me floating out into a sea of twostep Light Emitting Diode twilight. It's even got some conscious grime vocals set to such beautiful minimal bassline production that it almost sounds like he's not angry. Lush.
  29 min mix 2011 - GUIDO by guido productions
TRACKLIST
Class act
Quick idea
Africa
The PL Remix Type & J B Love (Remix)
Lunar Eclipse
Micro X (Forthcoming State Of Joy)
Most wanted
Ballin' feat Baobinga (Forthcoming BUILD)
What I'm here for feat Scarz
Dust Off
Same Road feat Shadz

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)