Victor Malloy makes strange & beautiful music whilst overlooking the sea. He’s recorded two Albums under the pseudonym Victor Malloy, collaborating with singer/songwriters Kenny McCracken and Fionn Regan, along with lots of other musicians. Malloy collects sounds, and can sometimes be spotted roaming the streets, snatching soundbytes to twist and use later in his music. He once recorded an over excited prostitute who had left her window open in the flat above him. She ended up featuring on his first album. No one is safe. He likes to do music for films finding it nice having something visual to write to. You can buy victor malloy at itunes.com if you do so wish. Malloy also records under his Cuban alter ego ‘Hugo Maldoro’. Maldoro means Bad Gold (Last.fm, 2010).
“There are musical elitists in every genre who boast in their embittered obscurity, underrated talent, and find little complacency lurking in the shadows of their betters. Most are pretentious, some are just ambitious, and few are true artists. Opgave is arguably the latter. Opgave’s tracks are moody and dark, but lightly decorated with a humble, hopeful melody. For the technically acute ears, the backdrop of drumbeats comparable to few (a steady march with a fluid groove that you can’t help but bop your head to), the horns, strings, and other subtle samples pervade a rare mirage of hidden gems. Aesthetically, Opgave is hauntingly beautiful. Their music is indefinable, but it doesn’t reek of the forced effort to be so. Opgave is original by nature. Whether you can appreciate it or not is of course, subjective. But the facts are stubborn things” (Last.fm, 2010)
Jazz sensibility with future dancefloor orientated grooves, deep funk, tough drums and tropical rhythms.
Will Holland is one of the most talented and prolific artists in the world of alternative dance music today. Recording under various guises, Will first found acclaim as Quantic. As well as Quantic and the Quantic Soul Orchestra Will is one half of The Limp Twins, a duo he formed with Russell Porter. Initially a deejay partnership, it wasn’t long before they started recording, with Russell taking on the vocal duties and Will adding the magic with his savvy production.
He has enjoyed consistent success with his Quantic moniker, releasing his first album, The 5th Exotic in the summer of 2001. It was picked up on by some of the most respected names in underground music. Richard Dorfmiester, Mr Scruff and LTJ Bukem all rated it very highly, not surprising when tunes like “Common Knowledge” and the near classic “Life in the Rain” had blazed across dance floors all over Europe. With elements of Jazz, Funk and Afro blended with tight breaks and Will’s distinctive production, ‘The 5th Exotic’ proved irresistible and won him many plaudits.
He built on this acclaim with the release of Apricot Morning less than a year later, dispelling any talk of “the difficult second album”. His sound seemed to expand in every direction on ‘Apricot Morning’ and he became the first Tru Thoughts artist to collaborate with Alice Russell as well as recording with MC EQ and Bristol’s freshest hip hop crew, Aspects. ‘Apricot Morning’ is a perfect snapshot of everything happening at the jazzier end of underground music in 2002, as proved by Gilles Peterson who ranked it amongst his albums of the year.
The release of the album Mishaps Happening in 2004 saw Quantic continuing to work with Alice Russell as well as recording two tracks with the legendary Spanky Wilson (with whom he went on to collaborate on a tour and an electrifying album for his Quantic Soul Orchestra…but that’s another story). Quantic released a two-disc One Offs, Remixes and B Sides album in 2005, which featured a collaboration with Mr Scruff and remixes by Pilooski and Seiji; and his fifth long player, ‘An Announcement To Answer’ followed in 2006, cementing his reputation as a 21st Century Quincy Jones.
Quantic regularly DJs across the world (and we mean the World not just America, Europe and Japan) spreading the unique Quantic sound with each set. His music has been featured on countless compilations and appeared in TV soundtracks, and as ever he has a busy schedule of remixes from respected labels across the board. His track, “Mi Swing Es Tropical” with Nickodemus soundtracked Apple’s worldwide summer iPod advert. In 2007 he relocated to Cali, Colombia, where he has had a studio built and is continuing to create exciting music at a characteristically prolific rate, taking inspiration from the heady mix of rhythms and sounds on his doorstep.
2008 saw a new project come to life, under the moniker Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno, a summery dub and reggae-inspired affair with an authentic tropical vibe. The album, ‘Death Of The Revolution’ came out in July 2008 and features Will Holland on various instruments with contributions from a host of Latin American musicians, including the legendary Peruvian pianist Alfredo Linares. This album pricked up the ears of many tastemakers and fans alike, including Gilles Peterson and Mark Lamarr (BBC Radio 2), who were excited and curious about the new progression in Quantic’s music – and impressed that it sounded as stunning and original as any Quantic album to date.
The big story for 2009 is Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro, a handpicked band of internationally renowned musicians (several of whom featured on the “Flowering Inferno” project) set to take over from The Quantic Soul Orchestra in realising the next stage of Holland’s musical vision, starting with the summer release of the highly anticipated album, Tradition In Transition (Tru Thoughts, 2010).
Released Albums:
Quantic - The 5th Exotic
Quantic - Apricot Morning
Quantic - Mishaps Happening
Quantic - An Announcement to Answer
Quantic - Primate Boogaloo Ep
Quantic - Dog With a Rope
Quantic - Death of the Revolution
Reference:
(2010). Quantic. Tru Thoughts. Retrieved from http://www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/artists/quantic
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With their latest full-length album, Cinescope, Washington, DC-based trio, Thunderball return from their Fort Knox duties in full form. Cinescope features 12 vivid soundscapes that fuse Latin funk, Afro rhythms, Indian dub and Mediterranean soul. With this release, Thunderball broaden their scope pushing the boundaries of their music both sonically and vocally. On Cinescope they teamed up with long time collaborator Mustafa Akbar on the jazz funk thriller, "Return of the Panther" and on the soulfully introspective, "Elevated States." Mustafa teams up with Miss Johnna M to rock the party on the '60s rave-up track, "Get Up with the Get Down." Thunderball also enlisted the talents of Thievery Corporation's MC's Roots and Zeebo of See-I to create the dub ragga, "Strictly Rudeboy," and the godfather of hip hop, Afrika Bambaataa, for the electro-pop anthem, "Electric Shaka."
Thunderball are globally renowned purveyors of sophisticated, stereophonic-thrillers, and cinematic dub. Since 1997 their productions have shifted effortlessly between the genres of drum & bass, breakbeat and downtempo, building a strong following for their signature sound. The former duo of Sid Barcelona & Steve Raskin are now officially joined by long-time collaborator, Rob Myers. Rob, a fellow ESL Music compatriot, records & tours with Thievery Corporation playing sitar & guitar, most notably on the Thievery classic, "Lebanese Blonde."
As one of the first artists signed to ESL Music, Thunderball released their first album, Ambassadors of Style, (1999) to critical acclaim. Rolling Stone lauded the album with 3 1/2 stars for its "smooth, cosmopolitan drum and bass." Drawing from their love of '60s and '70s soundtracks, Brazilian beats and Afro-funk rhythms, Thunderball creates multi-faceted soundscapes designed for modern spy chases and late-night encounters. Thunderball's seminal second recording, Scorpio Rising, (2001) was a downtempo classic, hailed by All Music Guide as "blaxploitation funk, cinematic soul, bossa nova lounge, downtempo dub, and downtown drum'n'bass [that] all come together to create a hipster vibe few other groups could even aspire to, let alone create." Scorpio Rising's integration of live instrumentation helped establish the organic sound that shaped the future of Thunderball.
After Scorpio Rising, Steve, Sid and Rob joined forces with Jon "JonH" Horvath to found Fort Knox Recordings and the DC-based mega-group Fort Knox Five. As the Fort Knox Five the group has released six highly successful singles and completed many high-profile remixes for the likes of A Skillz & Krafty Kuts, Skeewiff, Tito Puente, and Louis Armstrong. They also produced 4 tracks on Afrika Bambaataa's latest album. Their efforts culminated this year with the release of the Fort Knox Recordings debut CD, The New Gold Standard.
Thunderball actively perform their music worldwide as DJs; as the Thunderball Sound System (featuring Mustafa Akbar and Rex Riddem), and as an 8-piece live band. Thunderball have brought their explosive performances to jet-set destinations like Australia, Bangkok and Moscow, to the warm beaches of Playa Del Carmen, Mexico (Artist Direct, 2010).
Released Albums:
Thunderball - Scorpio Rising
Thunderball - Ambassadors of Style
Thunderball - Cinescope
Reference:
(2010). Thunderball. Artist Direct. Retrieved from http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/bio/thunderball/856557
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Los Angeles Producer / DJ / Volunteer Monkey Ranger SARU spends one month each year trekking through the mountains of Nepal searching for rare herbs. Are they in between a baboon's brow, under a long forgotten trading card, or possibly in the folds of a sequined prayer robe? Who knows. He seeks these rare and mystical plants for a magic elixir that will one day wash away the woes of the world. Someday he'll find the elusive ingredients. In the meantime he settles for twisting vinyl discs into eighty-minute mandalas and brewing his special tincture of throat-soothing beats (Downtempo Dojo, 2009) .
Released Albums: Saru - Downtempo Dojo Saru - Tsunami Saru - Machine Saru - Reboot EP Saru - Trap EP Saru - The Pearl
Reference:
(2009). Saru. Downtempo Dojo. Retrieved from http://www.downtempodojo.com/bio.html
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Hailing from Southern California, Dayeve Xienze, real name Dayeve Masangcay is a skilled underground hip hop and trip hop disc jockey, who loves to make sample-based music with a touch of acoustic guitar and keyboard, ever since 1998. His music can be considered abstract, experimental, distinctive, eccentric, weird and wonderful. It can be categorize as trip hop, underground hip hop, turntablism, breakbeats, electronica, cinematic, avant garde, film score, and space age.
This blog is dedicated to my Trip-Hop, Downtempo, Electronica, Dubstep, and Underground Hip-Hop Instrumental Addicts.In this blog, I will be spotlighting a beat innovator from around the world each day. I will also provide the artist's bio, album releases, music videos and more.
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