Kotchy, Deastro, Minotaur Shock, Violett
Kotchy – Falling in Love
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Last week, I met up with Jakub in Brooklyn and ended up DJ’ing with him at Brooklyn Bowl. While we were there, I met Kotchy, an experimental hip-hop/pop producer who mentioned an upcoming DJ night with him, Mike Slott and Machine Drum…details to come, I’m excited to find out more about this! His latest album came out in early May on Civil Music, it’s called 89 (on iTunes here), and it’s an eclectic and sociable release. I feel the artwork (above), which is by Joerael Elliott really does a great job of visualizing this sound. His tracks feature vocals, a unique addition to the music that pairs soul/pop with a hazy, faded sort of tone. I have grown to really like anything with xylophone or vibraphone-sounding instruments, and I love the two-step structure of this beat.
Deastro – Red Summer
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Deastro has been powering through the year 2009 as if he were already in the future, sending back memories of things to come. It’s been a busy year with his recent full-length release of Moondagger and a number of performances across the country, including this one in Chicago I designed the poster for. He has also been surprising fans with free music, twice so far this year. In May, he released Grower for free on RCRD.LBL, and now earlier this week, he surprised listeners again with Orange Swimmer Red Summer. This half of the title track is wildly catchy. The vocals here vary in emotion, but seem to have context in the days of our youth, a summer anthem dreamed up years ago only to hatch over a decade later, perhaps?
Minotaur Shock – Six Foolish Fishermen
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Speaking of Deastro, just got down with him, bringing a fresh remix to his newest single Toxic Crusaders. I grabbed the remix quick snap– it bumps along, melding the poignance of Deastro’s vocals with David Edwards’ rich, textured composition styles. It got me thinking about how much I’d like to post the one song I always go on about that has the power to put me in a good mood no matter what. It’s the first track I ever heard of his, and it instantly made me a fan.
Marco Zenker – Lamas In My Garden (Violett Remix)
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Finally, I’d like to finish with a perfect example of a 4/4 track that I think is more appropriate off the dance floor than on it (except in Germany), but equally suitable for both…this remix by Violett of the Marco Zenker track Lamas In My Garden has a really chilled out synth stab and a beat that, while admittedly repetitive, provides a really relaxing atmosphere if played in the background while doing work or working out. (Via Ryan at Lucid Transport)
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