The U.S. is getting a dose of some good, hard electronic music this fall and winter. DJ Destructo, aka Gary Richards, created HARD in 2007 to showcase the best in new electronic music. Destructo worked with Rick Rubin in the 90s, helping to launch The Lords of Acid, Basement Jaxx, Messiah, David Holmes, Dub Pistols and God Lives Underwater. Now HARD is coming to Los Angeles and New York for 4 nights of crunchy electronic madness.

HARD NYC is the first show on the list with a good blend of dubstep, electro and breakbeat artists. Crookers, Major Lazer, Rusko, Jack Beats and Destructo will be performing at Terminal 5 in NYC on 10/10/09.

The second event, HARD Haunted Mansion, is a 2-day festival in Los Angeles at The Shrine on October 30th and 31st. Artists include: Basement Jaxx, Crookers, Major Lazer, Modeselektor, Steve Aoki, Danger, Destructo, Deadmau5, 2 Many DJs, A-Trak, The Bloody Beetroots, Don Rimini, Mixhell, Harvard Bass, Staccato, Justice, Buraka Som Sistema, Shinichi Osawa, Zombie Nation, Classixx, and more!

The final event is HARD New Years Eve at the Palladium in Los Angeles on December 31st. Boys Noize is heading the event. I couldn’t find a list of other artists so be sure to check hardfest.com frequently for more info.  ~ tom

MP3: Basement Jaxx – Don’t Give Up

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Since we typically review new music at Sawtooth, I wanted to honor some electronic music of the past with occasional Sawtooth mixes. This first mix is a collection of tracks from the past 15 years encompassing trip-hop, breaks, electro, ambient, tech-house, industrial, downtempo, future jazz, glitch, post-punk, trance and some mixed styles. Among these selections are some tracks that I feel never got the credit they deserved such as FFWD and the Nine Inch Nails remix track “The Downward Spiral (The Bottom),” which was remixed by members of Coil—an experimental industrial group who helped shape the genre. The remixes on Further Down the Spiral include some of the best remixes I’ve ever heard. If you’re only familiar with the major NIN releases, you’re in for a surprise. They’re incredible works of sound manipulation, dynamics and composition. FFWD was an ambient supergroup made up of Thomas Fehlmann (Sun Electric), Robert Fripp, and Kris Weston & Dr. Alex Paterson of The Orb. This 1994 release was their only collaboration. Another highlight is Funki Porcini’s “16 Megatons.” This track comes from Fast Asleep, which is my all-time favorite downtempo album.

If you like any particular styles, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to incorporate more of it in my future posts. I’d like to get more reader participation on Sawtooth so if there’s something you’d like to see us do differently, please share. Enjoy the tunes!  ~ tom

Sawtooth.fm Mix 01

01. The Herbaliser – Goldrush
02. Rabbit in the Moon – Timebomb
03. Amon Tobin – At Work
04. FFWD – Hidden
05. Funki Porcini – 16 Megatons
06. Noisia – Seven Stitches
07. Kilowatts – Snakewinds
08. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral (The Bottom)
09. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Rivers of Congo
10. Splattercell (with Charlie Clouser) – Multisplat
11. edIT – Laundry
12. Telefon Tel Aviv – Helen of Troy
13. The Tear Garden – Shelia Liked the Rodeo
14. The Future Sound of London – Quagmire / In a State of Permanent Abyss
15. Mr. Oizo – Erreurjean (Arveen and Misk Remix)
16. Font Line Assembly – Colombian Necktie (Grit Your Teeth Mix by Cydonia)

*Use the right and left arrows to navigate between tracks.

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Make no mistakes, in the world of dubstep, this track will be remembered alongside “Anti War Dub,” “Purple City” and “Midnight Request Line” as another track that helped move the underground genre ever closer to the mass audience that it inevitably will succumb to.

Though, it must be said, this is not selling out or watering down to sell records or to gain popularity. Joy Orbison, aka Peter O’Grady, claims to have written this track in a spate of boredom. Clearly there was no extensive studio time or laboring of love doted upon this creation. However, love will most certainly be doted upon it by those lucky enough within hearing distance.

Musically, the track fuses a dubstep half step rhythm with subtle hints of techno through it’s leaning synths and steadily introduced female vocals. When I first heard this track I expected just another run of the mill dubstep track. How wrong was I?  I now believe that this could be the crossover. It has been featured in the NME’s ‘Top Ten Tracks’ and has been heavily plugged on BBC 1Xtra and Pitchfork Media. This is not just another track. This may have a silly name, but this is “Hyph Mngo.”  ~ Andy Hill

MP3: Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo

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Dave Tipper is one of the most influential producers in the breakbeat, and underground hip-hop scene, known best for his signature wobbly bass and twisted soundscapes. He’s been cranking out mind blowing tunes since the late 90’s and has produced, remixed and mastered material for countless other influential artists. Tipper was one of the first DJs to mix and spin in 5.1 surround sound and he used to hold the record for the loudest car in the world. Sub frequencies have always been a huge part of his music as he loves the way it makes people feel “all warm and wobbly.”

At 16, he got into rave and drum & bass but eventually grew bored of the fast repetitive beats. After much experimentation in 2000, he slowed things down for his debut full length release, The Critical Path. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard. It’s a dark electronic album full of morphing synths, beats and tempos. It has beautiful pads blended with crunchy stuttering drums and soft female vocals—glitchy alien synths, haunting atmospheres and loads of ridiculously cool sounds.

In 2001, Tipper released his second full length, Holding Pattern. This album is slightly cold compared to The Critical Path, but took sound and tempo manipulation to a new level. The 2003 release, Surrounded, was one of the first electronic albums to be mixed in 5.1 surround sound. Where it lacked in dancefloor breaks, it made up in thick haunting atmospheres and chilled out downtempo beats. The ability to change up one’s styles effectively on every release is a sign of a true artist and Tipper has no interest in spending too much time in one genre.

In 2005, Tipper released Tip Hop, his first hip-hop album. He told Clash Magazine that he had offered all he could to the breaks genre and wanted to focus on new styles. The 2006 album, The Seamless Unspeakable Something, dug deeper into sound design and quirky melodies. By 2008, Tipper’s releases had surpassed categorization. Wobble Factor transcends all previous conventions of electronic music. It’s an incredibly fun ride through sub bass anarchy and sonic manipulation. Tipper confesses that he just loves to make strange noises, regardless of their lack of chart success. He makes music solely for himself. The fact that so many of us can’t get enough is beside the point.

A new downtempo album called Broken Soul Jamboree was supposedly coming out at the end of 2008 but I haven’t been able to find out any more information on it. I would love to post Tipper’s entire discography here for those that haven’t heard his music yet, but unfortunately, I can’t do that. Since one track isn’t nearly enough to encompass his wide range of styles, I’ve included five.  ~ tom

MP3 1: Rare and Plentiful – Relish the Trough (2005)
MP3 2: outsideinsideout – The Seemless Unspeakable Something (2006)
MP3 3: Sort Code – The Critical Path (2000)
MP3 4: Paperthinreality – Tip Hop (2005)
MP3 5: Over the Coals – Surrounded (2003)

*Use the right and left arrows to scroll back and forth through tracks.

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Much hyped London foursome, The XX, released their self titled debut album on August 16 through Rough Trade records. The band is made up of four 19 year old friends from the famous London based Elliott School, whose alumni includes Four Tet, Burial and part of Hot Chip. It must be something they serve in the dinners, as here lies yet another brilliant musical group to come from the establishment.

At just 11 tracks and clocking in just under 40 minutes, the LP does seem to pass a bit too quickly. However, after repeated listens it becomes obvious that the band used these songs as they fit together with such adhesion that it’s hard to imagine anything different.

Lyrically this album is impressive for such inexperienced song writers; however it seems that these young songwriters find it hard to avoid speaking on feelings of relationship and sex. Their self awareness and subtleness on the subject is to be respected as verses like, “I can’t give in/ to someone else’s touch/ because I care so much,” show these young lyricists know their way around a deep relationship. The male and female vocalists, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, seem to find it hard not to release any verse without it sounding like a come-on or heartfelt apology. Though don’t get me wrong, I am not claiming this is a weakness. The way in which the pair read off each other recalls ‘Funeral’ era Arcade Fire.

Musically, this album is certainly a grower. Initially it seems too minimal – ‘not enough substance.’ But as your ears adjust, the long gestated bass tones, metallic drum machine beats and xylophone melodies make you realise that you have certainly been rewarded for the time consumed.

The stand out track of the album is “Shelter,” with minimal beats and echoing vocals juxtaposed with a crashing high-hat that really lingers in your memory. Also, this is The XX at their lyrical best and seemingly most personal. Verses such as, “I want to drown, whenever you leave,” are fantastic metaphors for a missing lover and could have easily been written by Turner, Morrisey or Yorke.

The first single “Basic Space” is one of the least commercially sounding tracks, and initially does appear to be an odd choice to use as a calling card. However, despite the subtle guitar lines and spacey vocals, it is hard not to feel like you’ve heard this track before. For further listening pleasure find the Pariah remix of the track, where extra layers are created through dubstep beats that really manage to improve the track.

The XX do appear to be an odd band to have been given so much press. Their claustrophobic music does appear to be the type of music that a part-time music enthusiast would ignore, though they really have set the blogosphere alight. In conclusion, The XX have released an album of true quality and have definitely served to prove the hype.  ~ Andy Hill

MP3: The XX – Shelter

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