POW! // Mosca
London based DJ and producer Mosca is a bold music maker. Described by Mary Anne Hobbs as “one of the UKs most important and most thrilling young producers”, his productions have driven packed dance floors across the globe with a bold mixture of dubstep, house and UK funky. This track ‘Bax’ from 2011′s Done Me Wrong EP typifies Mosca at his most jump up.
Mosca – Bax
Mosca came blazing into most people’s musical consciousness with ‘Square One EP’ – one of the establishing releases on the brilliant UK label Night Slugs. Tracks like ‘Nike’ show the darker dubbier side to Mosca’s production – its an awesome bit of glitchy dubstep with short dashes of jungle and vocal breaks.
Mosca – Nike
On the flipside to output like that, Mosca’s remix of T. Williams track ‘Heartbeats’ shows off Mosca’s ability to deliver a soulful funky sound. You can also hear this smoother laid back vibe on his own track ‘The Way We Were’.
T. Williams ft Terri Walker – Heartbeats (Mosca Remix)
Mosca is a true music lover, and one of the things I admire the most about him as a producer and DJ is his championing of up and coming artists. His Under The Radar mix for Mary Anne Hobbs shows not only a DJ with eclectic tastes, but one who is passionate about getting the spot light on those producers that deserve it – even if they are relative unknowns. Big up Mosca.
Mosca’s Under The Radar Mix for Mary Anne Hobbs on XFM.
POW! // Martyn
Its a slightly offbeat time to pick Martyn as our Producer of the Week. He hasn’t got any new releases on the cards. But when perusing through the Brainfeeder artist roster the other day, I was reminded of his 2011 album ‘Ghost People’. It’s a bold album, and several tracks from it became synonymous with last years sound, particularly this brutally infectious track ‘Masks’. The sticcato synth and tech hard bassline build up unbearably; working crowds into a frenetic mob.
Martyn – Masks
Martyn’s current output has foundations in European techno – roots that make some sense as he is originally from Holland. The techno melancholy of the track below ‘We Are You In The Future’ almost has echoes of trance in it. Trance is an almost dirty word in most music circles, but don’t let that put you off. This is a glorious use of synths.
Martyn – We Are You In The Future
Martyn has been DJing and producing music for over 6 years, releasing a host of EPs before his first LP ‘Great Lengths’. This earlier album had a much more noticeable dubstep and garage influence. ‘These Words’ – a track created with producer d-Bridge – mixes plaintive vocals with a jump up beat and a pretty piano riff.
Martyn feat d-Bridge – These Words.
On the flip side, on earlier tracks like ‘Vancouver’ Martyn tended to use a more classically dubstep beat. Although his latest releases have been more textured and more vibrant, I still hold a torch for Martyn when he is in this territory. It’s satisfyingly warped dark stuff.
Martyn – Vancouver
POW! // John Talabot
I don’t think there has been an electronic release I’ve been more excited to finally get my hands on than the debut LP from Spanish producer John Talabot. All of his EPs and singles to date have been mesmerising – diverse and subtle, sometimes with bold crescendos and creepy vocals, at other times smooth and soulful like the track ‘So Will Be Now…’ that we posted a few weeks ago. On general release this week, his album ‘Fin’ has lived up to every bit of hype that has surrounded it.
John Talabot – When The Past Was Present
John Talabot – Last Land
The first track I heard from Talabot was the 2010 release ‘Sunshine’. Its a track that starts off as a hypnotic deep techy drone, and is suddenly broken through with summery melodies from acoustic guitars. It was a bold track that mixed all sorts of influence, and his subsequent releases have shown a similarly fearless blending of genres and sounds.
John Talabot – Sunshine
Even on remix duties Talabot manages to consistently create a fresh sound. His remix of The xx’s ‘Shelter’ is sublime – and one of the most effective re-workings of The xx’s subtle music that I’ve heard.
The xx – Shelter (John Talabot’s Feel It Too Remix)
POW! // Ifan Dafydd
Ifan Dafydd is still something of an enigma in producer and DJ circles. Although his output has got him some top level praise from his contemporaries, not a huge amount is known about the man himself. As such this will probably be one of the more copy light POW posts we’ve ever had.
Ifan Dafydd – No Good
The first we heard of Ifan was with the lauded release of ‘No Good’ – a track that sampled the late great Amy Winehouse with a subtlety and originality that many have tried to foster and could not. You could place him somewhere between garage and dubstep, but Ifan has a sparse, cool sound all his own. That garage inspiration can be heard to full effect on his track ‘Miranda’ – a moody two-step mash up of Usher’s ‘You Remind Me’.
Ifan Dafydd – Miranda
Ifan’s remix of rising star Emelie Sande takes her story of forbidden love from commercial soul anthem into James Blake down-pitched vocal territory. The Blake comparison is regularly made (Ifan apparently lived with him for a time) and although clearly there are similarities in the two artist’s output, Ifan’s tinkering with vocals and melody seems a little less self-indulgent.
Emelie Sande – Daddy (Ifan Dafydd Remix)
Ifan’s latest release uses sparse vocals and sweeping moody instrumentals to great effect. The double A-side ‘Treehouse / To Me’ is released digitally on February 6th. Although Ifan Dafydd is still currently a bit of a mystery, if this EP release is anything to go by 2012 feels like the year when he will step out of James Blake’s shadow and carve his own niche.
Ifan Dafydd – Treehouse / To Me
POW! // Crazy P
Arguably, Crazy P (formerly the more risque Crazy Penis) are more of a live act than a producer duo these days, but with roots so firmly laid on disco and house dancefloors and as they’re signed to electronic label 2020 Vision, we reckon their output still make them a firm contender for our POW! feature.
Crazy P – Stop, Space, Return
Crazy P have been around in various guises since 1996, initially started by friends Chris Todd and Jon Baron, but arguably the P have really come into their own with the addition of a live band and the vocals of Danielle Moore. Sitting somewhere between classic disco and modern day house and techno, ‘Stop, Space, Return’ and the more recently released groove ‘Heartbreaker’ typify the contemporary Crazy P vibe: upbeat, soulful danceable music.
Crazy P – Heartbreaker (DJ Edit)
Although traditional electronic production is less the focus of the Crazy P crew these days, they still regularly produce remixes alongside their own albums. This heavy remix of Empire of the Sun is a brilliant example of how Crazy P can perfectly rework pop to create darker electro beats.
Empire of The Sun – We Are The People (Crazy P Remix)
Crazy P’s melodic catchy tracks also lend themselves well to reworking by other producers. The two remixes below are two of our favourites from Breach and Lukas respectively.
Crazy P – Beatbox (Breach Remix)
Crazy P – Changes (Lukas Remix)
POW! // Scuba
Scuba – aka Paul Rose, aka SCB, aka boss man at Hotflush recordings – first came on to our radar in early 2007 with a track called ‘Harpoon’. Back then Scuba’s sound sat squarely in the underground dubstep scene, but stood out from the rest with an impenetrable moody depth, more subtle use of bass and wave after wave of unearthly melody.
Scuba – Harpoon
Scuba has always had a unique sound capable of sending you into spiralling thought with just a few beats. As a producer his earlier work resulted in a string of pioneering dubstep productions, and a clutch of brilliant remixes such as his epic eerie reworking of Fever Ray’s ‘When I Grow Up’.
Fever Ray – When I Grow Up (Scuba’s Straight Down Mix)
In more recent years, Scuba’s sound has taken on more influences from the wider electronic music scene around him. Under his monika SCB, Scuba has released some compelling techno driven house tracks that shake off the more melancholy introspective mood of his earlier work. 2011′s ‘Loss’ is a driving track that shows off an increasingly dance floor orientated style in his music.
SCB – Loss
‘Adrenalin’, released towards the end of 2011, is a natural progression for a producer clearly influenced by the ever merging worlds of dubstep, house, techno and garage. Scuba’s range as a DJ and producer is an evolving one, and it will be interesting to see what the next release from this versatile producer will deliver.
Scuba – Adrenalin
Scuba’s 3rd LP ‘Personality’ is out this year, with the first single ‘The Hope’ out on the 6th Feb.
POW! // Steffi
Our first Producer of the Week of 2012 is no newcomer to the electronic music scene, Steffi has been building her stella reputation as a talented producer and supremo DJ for years alongside promoting parties in Amsterdam and Berlin and being the boss of record label Klakson. But Steffi has had such a particularly glowing 2011 that it seemed only right to tip our hats to her.
Very few clubbers could have missed the storming brilliance of her 2011 hit ‘Yours’ – an infectious piece of vocal house that was played by all and sundry and defined many a party across Europe and beyond.
Steffi – Yours feat Virginia (original mix)
Steffi often has a classic European house sound in her productions and DJ sets, but always with hints of detroit house, electro and darker techno laced throughout. A resident at Berlin’s legendary Panorama Bar, Steffi has impeccable skills in the mix – which her residency, guest sets and all her deep cutting edge mixes testify to.
In ‘Nightspacer’ you can hear that techno and electro sound coming through.
Steffi – Nightspacer (original mix)
However, her productions can also take on a softer more sombre tone, and some of our favourite tracks are those with a more sedate pace. Tracks like ‘Sadness’ take classic vocal house and make it a more pensive moody affair. Whatever she is turning her hand to, Steffi handles her musical output with total class.
Steffi – Sadness (vinyl version)
Steffi – Kill Me (Crushed Soul Mix)
Lets hope she has an equally brilliant 2012.
POW! // Jack Steadman
Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman is a man of many talents, and no doubt a man with not much spare time.
He’s written almost every song of BBC’s three critically acclaimed LPs since 2009 and toured every corner of the globe for which he’s become a leading figure in UK music, yet his passions go beyond the conventional and last year he began releasing his own studio productions as free downloads.
Cheating
There’s no doubt his tracks have a distinctly unique style, from chopped and screwed beats, to 2-step and heavily tweaked vocal editing and the two productions created whilst in Hong Kong recently not only demonstrate the styles but also how influenced he was by the city-state.
Tsim Sha Tsui
Mong Kok
Remixes are also a big part for Steadman and this Mobb Deep is as refreshing as it is sublime.
Mobb Deep – Shook Ones (Jack Steadman Remix)
What I like best about Jack Steadman is his consistency and diversity – he’s a melting pot of creativity and whilst he’ll continue creating great music with Bombay Bicycle Club via a large major record label deal, he’ll always have his own independent platform to release whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and every track so far has been top quality.
There will be a few artists successful today, who will be prominent in the shaping of music in the next twenty or more years and Steadman is likely to be one of them
Bombay Bicycle Club – Dust on the Ground (Watch, Listen, Tell)
