soulful space mammal refuge
September 1st, 2010
Time for another Dank Morass Top 5 courtesy of Rave Magazine – check it in this week’s hardcopy on the streets of Brisbane, or on their site. This time aroound: Fresh beats from El-P, Lorn, Samiyam, Blue Daisy, TOKiMONSTA and an old classic from Vex’d.
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July 31st, 2010
For a few months now, the good folks at Brisbane’s Rave Magazine have been giving the Morass space to list our favourite new beats in their Basement Raver column. We thought it only fair to share the love after the fact, so here’s last week’s installment. Stay tuned for more.
Lorn – ‘Tomorrow’ (Brainfeeder) – The B-side wins again with the Brainfeeder alumni’s crackling dirge from the (digital) flip of ‘Cherry Moon’. (Buy Nothing Else LP at Bleep or Boomkat)
Still Philosophy & Qman1 – ‘Rollin In My…’ (Planet? remix) (CDR) – Aqueous bass and mermaid whispers make this the jam to bump in your Lowrider submarine. Up periscope! (Free EP download via Bandcamp)
Robot Koch – ‘Gorom Sen’ (Loops Haunt remix) (Project Mooncircle) – Two android samurai size each other up and tersely draw swords in Mr Haunt’s fearsome mechanical take on Robot’s original. (Buy Death Star Droid remix EP at Bleep)
Soul Litchfield – ‘Dice Toss’ (Saturn Never Sleeps) – Philly mainstay (and former Digable Planets member) King Britt turns two decades of experience to new school beat business with a sprinkling of old school soul. (Buy Headnod Acrobatics Vol 1 from Saturn Never Sleeps)
Downliners Sekt – ‘U Gumbu’ (Disboot) – Did you ever wonder what early Autechre being slowly and tenderly suffocated by Burial in a damp closet would sound like? Us neither, but turns out it’s pretty dope. (Buy Hello Lonely, Hold the Nation on Boomkat).
BONUS BEAT: Justin Bieber – ‘Baby’ (El-P Death mix) (CDR) – This actually exists.
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January 11th, 2010
Dank Morass returns to the fray in 2010 with Dial ‘M’ For Morass, a night of eclectic bass mayhem upstairs at the Step Inn on Friday 29th January. The cream of local selectors will join the Morass to dish out hardboiled servings of beats, dubstep and hip hop. Most importantly, Dial ‘M’ will be FREE before midnight!
The guest line-up features Brisbane’s best that have recently kept their crates to themselves:
Frosty is the man behind the Hard Graft brand that introduced Brisbane to the nascent dubstep sound. He has toured countless artists, including Kode 9, and has supported big names like Loefah and Vex’d. His cool and collected mixing coaxes the dance into a bass-driven frenzy.
British expat Duble E has made carefully selected appearances in Brisbane and Sydney (including premier Australian dubstep night VOID) over the last year, and is currently masterminding diverse bass and beats label Amecca Records.
Dr Dom has a decade of DJing under his belt across more genres than you can name, and has crates of vinyl for days. We’re only giving him an hour, so expect the finest cuts from that extensive library.
For the Morass, Walrii will be getting the razor tusk out in a blaze of backspins and bass, covering post-Dilla, big rims electro and soul loops. Whatever your flavour, the Walrus has it covered. Swob, the man with the sinister dubs, has some of the best ears in the town for all things brooding and soulful and will represent the legacy of dark dancefloor music. Danck skirts the territory between dubstep and dusty downtempo beats in an effects-heavy mix.
For the last two years, the Morass crew has scratched its collective head over the name of the genre which forms its basis. The slow motion collision of post-Dilla hip hop beats and dubstep bassweight has opened up a whole new realm of sound, as well a burgeoning lexicon as journalists and bloggers attempt to pin it down. Tags like future beats, wonky, purple and lazerbass have all been applied to different strands of the rapidly evolving milieu. From the Morass’ point of view, it’s all good. It’s been a long time since a musical movement has so adamantly defied labels. We’ll call it ‘beats’, which is just as confusing, but at least avoids flavour-of-the-month misconceptions.
Categories: dm presents, image, list, show | Tags: local, party, shows | No Comments
December 21st, 2008
Ayo.
2008 was certainly a land mark year in electronic music. it saw undreamt of electronic sounds sprouting all over the globe, and all of it being absorbed into a forever swirling sub-gumbo heated by this increasingly uni-cultured, post-pacman, internet age.
I have compiled a list of my top 10 beats of 2008. ive probably left some shit out but all of this is dope…
harmonic 313 – cyclotron (warp)
i think this beat is officially getting released on pritchards album early next year on warp. i first heard it on the harmonic mix on mary anne hobbs. Techno/BassHipHop done to perfection. A sureshot dancefloor slammer.
clark – violenl (warp)
Released on the rewarding Turning Dragon LP early this year. Clark has beautifully concise sound but hes got the dancefloor locked for sure. this is a fine example.
zomby – strange fruit (ramp)
Brilliant dancefloor material on one of the finest new labels, ramp recordings. Zomby is absolutely killing it right now as he leads a revival of early ninties rave through dubstep. But he still remains a nintendo warrior, and classical 8bit arpeggiation runs rife on this beat. next level.
king midas sound - cool out (fly lo remix) (HPB)
One of the more recent 12’s, released on the ever so consistent bass imprint, Hyperdub. Sloppy, live sounding and broken, the haunting vocals resonate with overriding dub stylings. Futurebeats at their finest.
flying lotus – roberta flack feat dolly (martyn rmx) (warp)
Beautiful, 2steppy remix by a tasteful producer. Deep sub-bass and a chugging rhythm accompanied by ahu’s subtle ambient vocals. Release on the 2×3 lotus ep, with the stunning mike slott remix of the same track.
rustie – zig zag (wireblock)
Vinyl only limited press single sided lazer etched fire. Amazing halftime/doubletime baltimore/electro arpeggiated ravemusic. aquacrunk done by a master, live pad drums and bubbling bleeps. need i say more?
hudson mohawke – star crackout (all city)
This is a stunning piece of electronic music. clipped vocals skip their way through a twisted pop melody, emerging from a swarm of digital crackle, which strips back to unleash fleeting moments of improvised brilliance. Ill shit.
samiyam – return (HPB)
A soulful producer for sure. Raw as fuck, melodic dancefloor hiphop done in realtime. Sureshot.
Joker – Gully Brook Lane (kapsize)
Deep, razor sharp dubstep tempo stuff. Its slouched beat is certainly phat and likely to bounce any large mammal.
Free The Robots – Unknown
This beat was released on a limited compilation done by stussy and turntable lab. Really sick organic psychedelic hiphop. fast, chopped up and soulful. a sound in and of itself. really great music.
much love to you all!
Walrii/Isaac
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December 19th, 2008
what up?!
so many dope tunes of real high quality were released across a spectrum of musical stylings in 2008. a top ten you say? i had to narrow it down to my favourite ten dubstep plates of wax that i bought and played out at parties over the year – straight off the top of my dome. mad respect to everyone who came to a morass show in 08!
ten dubstep plates that rocked swob’s shack in 2008
lone wolf – zombies (nozl)
i love dark beats and i make no excuses for it. no shit, this tune from lone wolf is pure evil manifest as bass frequencies. one of the scariest records i put on my turntable in 2008! um…
end.user – interruption 4 (hymen)
chopped-up yet still really beautiful dubstep tune taken from the incredible ‘left’ lp which really impressed me this year
taz buckfaster – quack (ramp)
crazy synth work, huge beats and no one makes a dancefloor bassline like taz – my only gripe is he needs to release more dammit!
zomby – spliff dub rustie remix (hyperdub)
certified heater that got well-rinsed this year and i still can’t get enough
king cannibal – flower of flesh and blood (ninja tune)
super snare! i can’t tell u how much i’m anticipating the king cannibal lp in 2009
starkey – marsh (planet mu)
moody, understated biz from the Philly beatsmith’s wikkid lp – dying to see him in the flesh
western synthetics – 80808 (subcontinental dub)
this is the first piece of all-australian dubstep wax that i just absolutely had to get. all the cuts are dope but the vibe of this tune complete with the subtle guitar is awesome
the bug – ganja (ninja tune)
post-apocalyptic, pro-weed, thunder-stormin bass romp
cakebuilder – mohyla (ad noiseam)
excision along with a few other cats have really put canada on the dubstep map, but i was hella surprised to hear these ominous beats coming out of Winnipeg
portishead – strangers vaccine remix (white)
i love portishead and their new album was one of a heap of non-dubstep highlights for me this year, but vaccine’s re-edit of this tune from their first lp is ill and goes down a treat in the dance. big up christine for sending it out in the post!
Categories: list | Tags: best of 2008 | No Comments
December 17th, 2008
Ten 2008-vintage jams that got plenty toast.
flying lotus ft gaslamp killer – GNGBNG (warp): Forced to pick a highlight from Los Angeles, I’m swayed by overexposure to GLK’s I Spit On Your Grave mix.
john robinson – don king (fat city) – Two dope EPs with instrumentals to boot – pick a cut at random. The storytelling on “Don King” gets extra props.
ital tek – archaic (planet mu) – I’m sure the rest of Mary-Anne Hobbs’ Evangeline compilation is incredible, but I never listened past the sublimely minimal tech hop of track one.
hermitude – 44 gallons (elefant traks) – Threads is the Sydney duo’s most nuanced album to date, and while there may not be anything as immediate as “Alter Ego” from their last EP, this one shows their production chops are only getting slicker.
rustie & joker – play doe (kapsize) – Glasgow (G) + Bristol (B) = Fiyah (F).
slugabed – return of the mack (unreleased) – Instant dancefloor gratification. Not ashamed either.
ghislain poirier – no more blood ft face-t – megasoid remix (ninja tune) – Party joints with a positive message – so necessary in the 08.
asup – chiffre (audiac) – Slick little picture 7″ that I stumbled across in the local. Proper dusty Duetschland styles. More please?
scuba – twitch jamie vex’d mix (hotflush) - Is this wonky?
lv ft dandelion – cctv (hyperdub) – Another stroke of HDB genius. Another song for the times.
Categories: list | Tags: best of 2008 | No Comments
