So, this has been out a while now. Like a while-while. Like 4 or 5 months. Better late than never though, right? Goddamn we’re relevant. Anyway, we first heard Max Petrek & Erin Ross, a.k.a. Joseph Stallion, back when they sent us the ghostly ballad ”New England” off of their “White Lodge” EP. Check it out:

Pretty freaky, right? Its like Kate Bush got her hands on an 808 and went off to find a cave to write some songs in. In fact, the whole EP has this bizzare ethereal atmosphere to it, almost as if it were recorded underwater. In a sunken ship. Like a proper spooky one.

The beats take a boldly minimalistic approach, rarely straying from the central components of scattered 808 drums and crystaline synths. Elsewhere, this might come over as tedious repetition, but instead this understated approach only serves to emphasize the most interesting facet of their sound: Erin Ross’ vocals. Whereas many vocalists seem content to settle in an archetypal style, Ross continually explores the boundaries of her voice on the EP (both naturally and electronically) in the way that one would expect of any good instrumentalist. One minute she’ll be doing a kind of 1940’s singing-for-the-troops before effortlessly segueing into unsettlingly deep, pitched vocals or shrill cries. Her versatility is clearer nowhere than on “Holidae”.

Aside from having what is essentially a very unique style, what keeps bringing us back to Joesph Stallion is that their entire sound is a balancing act. The drums are as far off-meter as they can be without collapsing into rythmic nonsense, Ross’ vocal wandering occationally takes her into uneasy territory and the production style often distorts and muddies the sounds to an almost unpleasant extent. But “almost” is the operative word here; across the “White Lodge” EP Joseph Stallion walk the boundary of what you expect and are willing to accept from their music. Almost, it seems, just to see if you can keep up. Can you? It only took us four months.

You can buy Joseph Stallion’s “White Lodge” EP here, at their bandcamp page.

We don’t usually re-blog, but you should definitely read this is piece from our pals over at straylandings. This is an issue that people really ought to start recognising… and also… “MenUFO” made us chuckle:

Recently, a track from one of our contributors, Stavrogin, was posted onto youtube, with the picture of a man strangling a woman. Needless to say the uploader was asked to take the track down. Unfortunately this is far from an isolated incident. Several corners of Youtube are rife with videos…

Yet again, the desire to blog has overcome the need to revise… ah well, its only a degree. Anyway, on with the procrastination: ”Don’t Pigeonhole Anything” is new EP from Wolverhampton beat-smith Polkadot, and as debuts go its a pretty tidy release. To keep in the spirit of things we’ve decided to knock up a cheat sheet of its vital facts and figures:

• It’s just come out on Leed’s very own 97sides imprint.
• Its really fucking good.
• Its really fucking free.
• He’s 17, which fills me with unbridled rage.
• For us, ”Southbank” is the standout track and if you’ve ever been able to sit through a Wideboys track it will be for you too (no, Sambuca doesn’t count).

Now, read it, cover it, write it, check it and repeat. Or instead, just go hit up his soundcloud give him some love.

You can get a free download of Pokladot’s “Don’t Pigeonhole Anything” on 97Sides’ Bandcamp.

While we’re technically on an exam based hiatus at the moment, we’ve decided to crawl out of hiding to gush about how much you need Jai Paul’s new track in your life. This shit is just too damn funky to pass unacknowledged. Its kinda 2 parts Prince, 1 part Jamie Woon and 1 part “Drive” (if you haven’t seen Drive then A) go see it immediately and B) fuck you*).

Those who are hoping for another “BTSTU” are out of luck, “Jasmine” has more of a Two Inch Punch sound going on. To be fair, a big switch like that only serves to showcase Jai’s versatility and it probably wont get sampled by Drake so, y’know, win-win. Anyway, its absolutely everywhere else at the moment, so we reasoned it may as well be here too. Right… back to the books. Fucking yay.

*seriously.

Future-garage virtuoso (and all-round badman) Synkro is switching up the tempo as he returns to his liquid funk roots in latest his outing “Progression”. We’re pretty excited since this is slated to be the first of a slew of Synkro’s unreleased tracks in the 170bmp zone that’ll be seeing daylight in 2012 (“Dwelling” is already confirmed to be forthcoming on Med School, plus remixes for Sabre, Tokyo Prose and others are getting released elsehwhere!).

For the jungle-phobes among you, have no fear- this is neither the jazz-cringe/chill-out of 30-something graphic designers desperately clinging onto their youth, nor is it the sort of lairy bollocks that helped get all this bro-step nonsense going (I’m looking at you, Noisia) and its not even remotely similar to that faux-ragga shit those white guys with dreads are probably into.* No, its none of that- it’s crisp, modern -almost clinical in its precision. This is some 2012 shit, yo. In spite of its cutting-edge sound  (which is mainly derived from it’s tight percussion), “Progression” still adheres to Synkro’s signature feel: melodramatically grief-stricken vocal samples, super-deep organic subs and a shit-ton o’ reverb. Think along the lines of Burial meets Instra:mental.

The techy remix on the flipside takes “Progression” to another level. By contrasting explosive breaks and and a sharply mechanized rhythm pattern against Synkro’s delicate atmospherics, Indigo turns what is already a standout track into something truly exceptional. Bit cheeky to go and steal the limelight like that, but they’re long-time collaborators, so I’m sure all will be forgiven. In fact, in many ways it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; the pair have produced some of their best stuff when teaming up and Indigo’s remix is so similar it almost feels like a “part II”. Anyway, whichever you prefer doesn’t matter too much- it’s a cracking release all the same and a stellar start to the year for Synkro. 

*Ugh- proper D&B fans are just the worst, right?

You can get Synkro’s “Progression” here at Boomkat.