Looptroop Rockers: Professional Dreamers

These swedish bastards are good at almost everything. They have a producer called Embee, who creates touching, soulful hiphop music you never heard before. He is also famous for forming Looptroop Rockers with Supreme, Cosmic and Promoe. Their proper swedish names are in order Magnus Bergkvist, Matias Lundh, Tommy Isacsson and Marten Edh.

The group was formed two decades ago, but they’ve been supporting themselves solely through music since they formed their label DVSG. Their secret is a strong work ethic made possible through the conviction that your business is your pleasure, and that the two perhaps shouldn’t be separated.

And that as a tight group, believing in and loving each other, no stumbling block can stop you, only make you stronger. With that strength comes the independence that makes you realize your worth and not sell yourself short in the cut throat music industry. And with maturity comes the humbleness that makes you realize your limitations and search for good partners and strong bonds in that same industry. Through the social sacrifices that have been the result of that lifestyle they have still never lost the ability to dream. The group's fifth release, Professional Dreamers has a lot of fantastic tracks imbued with this kind of spirituality. All of the songs got beautiful, high quality videos.

Embee's hard hitting beats, laced with deeply reflective melodies create an enchanting universe for the listener to explore. Lyrically, they’ve rarely wanted to waste people’s precious time with nonsense rhymes.

The messages, of politics, independence, love, life and death have appealed to people all over the world. With an incredible ability to recreate themselves, fans sometimes fear what will come next, but the Looptroop Rockers has always needed that constant evolution not to stagnate or get tired of themselves.

The album is independently spirited, colourful and musically individual, just as we got used to it from their older works. Also, I can feel the influence of new trends, especially on the beats. The instrumental intro, Don't Wanna Wake Up leads up perfectly the entirely release as well as the title track, Professional Dreamers. The whole album stays by this dreamy, extremely soulful and rhytmic vein with an intense electro impression. I fell in love with the vocals of Any Day. This Music Sounds Better At Night and Do are perfect examples of how simple beats can absorb the listener. El Clasico has a perfect symbiosis of cymbals and careful construction of drums which then make place for a wave of sampled vocals, really cool. However, my favourite tracks are Magic and Joseph, which give me an inredibly meditative, joyful affection. I think these are tracks I'll never get tired of. Professional Dreamers is an ode to everyone living their dream, and dreaming their lives.

Tracklist:

Don't Wanna Wake Up
Professional Dreamers
Any Day
This Music Sounds Better At Night
Do
On Repeat
Sweep Me Away
Blow Me Away
Darkness
El Clasico
Magic
Late Nights Early Mornings
Joseph

Sources:
Ezinearticles
Wikipedia
Discobelle

Phutureprimitive: Kinetik

Addictive beats, heavy bass, sensual vocals, total immersion, all of these can be found in the newest, extraordinary album of Phutureprimitive, called Kinetik. This is a long awaited second release of the artist. The older one, Sub Conscious is less bass-centric and operates with longer tracks. Kinetik has a completely different, more ambient atmosphere, which opens a whole new dimension for the artist.

He has updated his sound in line with current musical trends, and expertly fuses heavy doses of dubstep and his trademark, melodic tendencies. Kinetik uses all the knacks of the new dubstep wave, but not the primitive way. His work demonstrates an influence from professional downtempo too.

As someone who only recently discovered Phutureprimitive, it will be a great adventure through a whole new world of dark, heavy electronic music. Perfectly timed beats and symphonic sounds are creating a great harmony, this music manages to be relaxing and motivating at the same time. Listening to this album was a really interesting experience, there weren't any tracks which I didn't like.

Here’s what Phutureprimitive has to say about the album: “This album is a reflection of the times we are living in, hard and aggressive, lush and beautiful, kinetic, frenetic, distorted, ever changing, but with each passing moment, a chance to move through life and make it a better place than we found it.”

The first track prepares you for the rest of the album, Cryogenic Dreams is simultaneously melodic and energetic, afterwards comes Kinetik and Xotica, both full of power due to their motion and fluidity of sound. They're very motivational, absolutely perfect for sports like running. Some of the tracks like The Changeling has heavy, powerful bass booming and deep, weighty vibes. In my opinion, there are two more notable songs, Ripple Effect and High Rez both have interesting human and digitally altered robotic vocals. These vocals on High Rez bring contrast to the heavy tone of the album with a more upbeat feel, still connecting to the rest of Kinetik with its choppy bass undertones. Synthy base lines overlay an irresistible rhythm created by digital percussion and intense melodic diversity in his work.
I think this is an album which can't be ignored.

Tracklist:

Cryogenic Dreams
Kinetik
Xotica
The Changeling
Rapid Cognition
Ripple Effect
High Rez
Predatory Instincts
Center Of Gravity
Disappear

Sources:
The Untz
Splendid Beats
Inrevu

Bassnectar: Vava Voom

Lorin Ashton, better known by his stage name Bassnectar, is a freeform electronic music artist and producer based in San Francisco, California. He is best known for his live performances, light shows and community engagement.

Bassnectar was originally influenced by rock and grunge groups such as Metallica, Megadeth and Nirvana, bringing these influences with him into his own musical career. He released album after album, while pioneering creative approaches to electronica and house music, along with his exceptional style of dubstep.

The title of Lorin's lastest release is Vava Voom. The album explores new sounds but still highlights Bassnectar’s creative spontaneity, resulting in an intensely energetic album, which has its tiny handicaps as well. Here is a link to his website.

The title track of Vava Voom features Lupe Fiasco, which in my opinion wasn't a well timed move. Let's note that old school Lupe was my childhood's favourite artist. Sadly, he gave up too much of his best virtues for fame. There are some great rapping on this track, however, after a few seconds the beats are getting a little monotonous and boring, just like in Ugly. Between the two mentioned hides an interesting song caught somewhere between chillout and aggressive dubstep. Its addictively fine female voices are perfectly synchronized with the rest of the track. Empathy is a hypnotic, refreshing part of the album.

Ping Pong features very innovative and imaginative samples, the sound of a table tennis match. Its genius is in its simplicity, and it’s really nice to hear some of these strange hollow noises that don’t come out of a synthesizer easily. These noises quickly transform to an escalating bass-heavy audio affair. After the encouraging starting of What, the track falls into the same trap as Vava Voom and Ugly, but climbs out of it. Reggae influenced vocals, screeching, bassy halftime sections and brief snatches do their work. Pennywise Tribute is a straightforward tribute to the rock music that Bassnectar is clearly influenced by. A song that refuses to stop your feet from moving. Butterfly has a slow, booming bass, it's technically dubstep, but actually more atmosphere generating than anything. Mimi Page's stunning vocals give me an undefinable, sensational feeling. She's one of my personal favourites. Nothing Has Been Broken is very similar, it evokes a feeling of relaxation, mixed in with a dash of dance. Bassnectar has a particular talent for sculpting basslines that lift a song from the ground-up instead of simply weighing it down. Vava Voom was a two-faced album for me, which had a lot of unique traits and specialties, but a recurring, boring effect too. Still, Lorin brings creativity and musicality to bass.

Tracklist:

Vava Voom
Empathy
Ugly
Ping Pong
What
Pennywise Tribute
Do It Like This
Laughter Crescendo
Butterfly
Nothing Has Been Broken
Chronological Outtakes

Sources:
Salacious Sound
Having Sad That
Sputnik Music

Beat Culture: Tokyo Dreamer

A ridiculously young korean guy called Sunik Kim creates experimental electronic music, incorporating sampled pianos, pitch-shifted vocals and synths under the name Beat Culture. Kim came from Hong Kong, but now he is attending a boarding school in the USA. There isn't too much further information about the artist himself on the web, so let's just judge him based on his music. The sound of water is a widely used effect in his art, which makes you feel peaceful and relaxed, however this kind of sound overflows a little bit in his work. You can hear a slight influence of Fourtet, Gold Panda and of course Burial. Beat Culture creates pieces that consist of catchy phrases and atmospheric beats that invoke a wide range of emotions.

He is inexperienced, but deserves credit for making such art with so few years behind him. I think his coolest virtue is having a very unique style. Despite the whole album quite sounds the same, believe me when I say, this is one of the best sampled, chilling electronic music out there.

Kim is a very ambitious musician who is trying to put his own stamp on the scene. He is currently unsigned and releasing his music to the masses on Bandcamp for an arbitrary price. If you have a few unwanted dollars, throw them Sunik’s way to help fund his journey into the depths of the electronic music industry.

Every song of Tokyo Dreamer is an intelligent mix of intricately placed beats and samples across a wide range of sources and sounds. This album suggests that Beat Culture will be one to keep an eye out for in the future. I think his former work, Goldenbacked Weaver offers the same quality, but with less outstanding tracks.

Starting with sound effects of crashing waves, Shoreline is a perfectly balanced track with exciting sounds telling you to continue your trip. A special mention for You’re Hard To Resist with ethereal sounds, catchy beats and ever surprising progression, this track definitely stands out. Coastal Sentiment starts off with classic drums which then roll back to make place for a wave of remixed vocals, that gently break over the listener. Stars bears it’s name righteously starting off with chopped up high-pitched notes that dazzle the listener, before letting him glide into zero gravity with Midori and Complete Me. The penultimate pleasure maker, Before You Go is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Highly recommended. I have nothing more to say.

Tracklist:

Shoreline
You're Hard To Resist
Stars
Memory
Coastal Sentiment
If Only
Midori
Complete Me
Before You Go
Tokyo Dreamer

Sources:
Cafe Maroon
Music Liberation
Cool Thanks

Andreya Triana: Lost Where I Belong

An experimental singer and songwriter, a mysterious, angelic voice, that you can easily fall in love with. Andreya Triana began singing at the age of 7, taking influence from the sights and sounds of London. This extraordinary girl was clearly a music addict as a little one, and she hasn't changed a lot since then. She has a beautiful, deadly weapon, that was mentioned above, her voice. It's addictive. One more thing, she's really pretty. Check out her website.

A collaboration with worldwide famous triphop producer, Flying Lotus brought her success a few years ago. After gaining some reputation, she went touring America with Simon Green's Bonobo Live Band, played on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury, and signed a three album deal with Ninja Tune Records.

After taking part in Bonobo's highly recommended album, Black Sands, Andreya finally breaked out on her own with an album entitled Lost Where I Belong. The album was produced by Simon, with label mate artist Fink also stepping up to co-write two tracks. With these names on the list, my expectations became very high. Luckily she didn't disappoint me.

I have a strange feeling while listening that much of the album sounds like songs you’ve always known and loved. It's also intellectually impressive, her lyrics are highly gentle and fragile. Andreya's live performances also have what it takes.

The carefully constructed running order ensures that Lost Where I Belong doesn’t get too harrowing. The opening song, Draw The Stars truly transports the listener to the realm of imagination, as if the notes are raining down from the twinkling stars themselves. The whole album stays by this dreamy, extremely soulful vein. Darker Than Blue and Daydreamer are both flooded with a fantastic, indescribable atmosphere. The horns add a whimsical jazz flavour that beefs up Up In Fire, while Far Closer has a warm, organic feeling that's bolstered by all manner of different instrumentation, from harps to violins. The closing song, X is filled with so much sorrowful emotion, that you can't even handle anymore. The painful goodbye of this nostalgic and relatively simple song ensures that even after the last note sounds, the remnants of a twinge of heartache is left resounding in your chest. The album needs more than a few plays for listeners to really get comfortable with it, but once that work is put in, you won't be able to put it down.

Tracklist:

Draw The Stars
Lost Where I Belong
A Town Called Obsolete
Darker Than Blue
Daydreamers
Far Closer
Something In The Silence
Up In Fire
X

Sources:
Drowned In Sound
Hifi Cartel
Wikipedia