The Groove Thief

Dub Caravan and Hornsman Coyote unite forces for an inspiring dub journey. “Tribute to the Fathers,” with its skanking guitar and brooding trombone, makes Breath of Peace instantly captivating. The well-produced tunes continue from there: “Natty On Board” is mellow yet uplifting, while “Innocent Blood” and the matching instrumental is also solid. “Burning In The City” has a nicely layered and funky groove; “Make I Win,” the second vocal track, is catchy, with the right blend of roots tradition and innovation, while the Version lets the horns shine. Other standouts include “Air Raid,” which has the air of a spy film, “Spanish Town,” which mixes Latin horns and strong percussion, and “Egypt,” which is heavy in all the right heady ways. “Trail of Tears” and “Machine World,” the final two tracks, add Native American influences and crunched guitars, respectively, to lead this adventure to its close. This album is loaded up with impressive tunes - and while the groove is clearly and rightfully a priority, the quality of musicianship and attention to detail rewards multiple listens of these lush dubscapes.

2000 Tons of TNT re-imagine the vintage on Reggae Mysteria. Funky upbeat instruments like the excellent title track and the following “Cougar Communion” are sharp and well-polished, the latter featuring some wicked keys. While certainly retro-inspired, this is an updated and varied take on the past as the garage-rock of “Shot In The Dark,” the slightly-Eastern funk of “Tiger Uppercut,” and the well-passed melody on “Rabo De Toro” all show. This is dirty garage rock with ample funk and early reggae influences, but great cuts like “Electric Pyramid” don’t deserve to be pinned down by genres. “Theme For Ambu” features some nice heavy drumming and another wicked keyboard solo, before “I’m Feeling Lonely” closes with its skanking guitar. This is a unique mix of musical styles, coming out of San Diego, CA, that is pushing the past forward in all the right ways. Hopefully their follow-up, expected in 2013, will continue the inspiring trend:

01/01/13 UPDATE: Here’s two new tracks (currently available for free) as a new album preview:

Astroboter’s Beat Sutras Vol. 1 pushes instrumentals forward, deftly combining diverse source materials into surprisingly cohesive and inventive beats. Music aside, this is an interesting artistic endeavor: not only due to the limited cassette edition available in addition to the now-standard digital release, but also with pairs of tracks being released gradually (or the whole twelve in exchange for your email). As for the tunes themselves, they are heady multi-layered genre-crossing productions. “Ex Voto” is the clear standout (with 8 of 12 tracks publicly available), its hip-hop drums are funky, a nice vocal sample emerges, and then it methodically fades before rebuilding. Everything starts with the simple beauty of “Mara (Prologue),” and “Sounds of Psylence” is thankfully psy-funk not Psy. The majesty is in the details - these beats are well-crafted and deceptively simple. Eastern influences abound throughout, so the theme of Sutras is far from indulgent, and tracks like “Maester & Scholar” and “The Flood” elegantly glide through their short run-times. Latest public releases “Isca” and “Fire Sermon” are both mellower instrumentals. Get these free beats in your head now:

Eclectically-sampled beats comprise GHprodu’s freshman beat tape, Beats Overdue,  alternates between lush orchestration, digital rhythms, and various interpolations of funkiness. Some elements are hyper-futuristic, while others have been well dug for. This concoction of influences means each beat is hard to pin down… opener “Clad Myriad” crashes such genres together, while “Time To Go” is much more chilled out; standout “Take Two” features a piano alongside gritty Eastern string-work, before a flute shows up almost late for the jam; “Do It” is bombastic, perhaps awaiting a proper outro; finale “Back” is the strongest in the latter half, an alien disco of of sorts. This is an interesting collection of beats, well-worth a listen if you know no beat is too underground:

Crisp and confident, Robot Orchestra’s Amplified EP is full-on boom-bap. Mostly intrumental, these are well-polished productions made primarily from chopped, looped, and manipulated 60s & 70s guitar samples. “Malfunction” ought to have been spelled with a ‘k,’ while “Sunday At The Park” is suited for head-nodders in all locales. The rock comes through on “Studderstep (Interlude),” short and fierce, which pairs nicely with the lushness of predecessor “Beauty and the Beat.” “The Joke’s On You” is heavy and brooding, awaiting an action flick to be paired with. Wrapping up the EP are two Robot Orchestra productions  with Rob Regis feat. Akbar and M.A.R.S. on the mic respectively, putting the beats to good use. Free download:

If you enjoy this EP, check out my review of Robot Orchestra’s previous release Beat The Odds.

On The Ice Tower In Dub, the Erik Sumo Band re-explore and reinvent their 2011 album The Ice Tower, taking it to epic heights of dub and disco. The excellent track “The Ice Tower Is Melting Dub” begins with jangly guitars before a pulsating beat and drums come to dominate.  Funkiness is also emphasized, before and after moments of dub chaos, whether with late-90s era house vibes, the machine-drum siren calls of goth-pop, or oddly-captivating glitch-pop - “Love You / Hate Myself Space Disko,” “Monkey Burns Down Hollywood (Adam Meszaros Remix),” and “Chains Of My Dub,” respectively.

“Monkey (RamaxRemix)” is the quintessential track here, building up to a sweaty disco beat that keeps pounding even as melodic synths are layered on top of it. It is a definite shame that this Hungarian psych-pop band has already broken up, but at least this is a strong final musical statement. Available for stream or free download from Bandcamp:

Tensei’s brand of instrumental hip-hop is addictive, as they avoid the dangers of boring beats and instead turn out meticulously-designed and enjoyable soundscapes.  The Two EP, streaming below and available for download in exchange for an email address, is much more funk than soul, and better for it.  The tracks are engaging (one does have vocals), from the Eastern and jazzy melodies of opener “Passport,” to the well-integrated flute in “Plazzio’s Revenge,” to the uptempo amble of “Low Key.”  Go get your groove on:

As a bonus here’s the One EP as well:

Secret Archives of the Vatican produce mystical breakbeat electronic music.  With Middle Eastern melodies and nuanced high-tempo drums, this is engaging and unique.  Maybe if Beats Antique were sped up, that would be close, but this has more focus: a honed instrumental force designed to crush unsuspecting dancefloors.  Dubstep is no foe, and other funk, reggae, and drumstep influences creep in on tracks as well.  Here are their latest two albums, available courtesy of Broken Drum Records, for download or stream.  Barbary Lion is a bit more rugged and dubby, the gritty desert journey before Panjandrum’s heavy oasis party.  Cool tunes, awesome band name, this is ‘Transglobal Breakbeat Dub Science’ indeed: