Stand-out tracks on the album include the bubbly, bouncy and deceptively gritty “That’s So Cali“, and the beautifully evocative bass-ballad “The One“, a combination of stunning vocal sampling, excellent drums, and enough energy and emotion to utterly captivate the most discerning audience.

Artist: Love and Light & Stephan Jacobs
Album: 143
Label: Muti Music
Release Date: July 11, 2011
Genre Influences: Glitch-Hop, Dubstep, Mid-Tempo Funk
Rating (0-5): 5
Buy: Addictech

Dominating sales charts and featured in innumerable DJ performances across the globe, Opiuo’s debut LP “Slurp and Giggle” showcases the highly innovative and organic bass-tones that have earned him widespread acclaim alongside artists such as Heyoka, Tipper, and the other pioneers of the psychedelic, organic bass movement. Unfortunately, the heavy emphasis placed on his funky, genre-dissolving bass leaves a lot to be desired in terms of versatility. Although many of the tracks on the album possess that wild, funky groove that is so well received on the dance floor, the beats are quite repetitive and appeal of the album as a whole is certainly hurt by this. While nearly all of the tracks have unique and interesting introductions, they all inevitably descend into the same chunky, wobbly, and over-used breaks.

Despite the often repetitive theme dominating much of the album, I really enjoyed the song “Water Mouth” featuring a collaboration with Sunmonx. Much softer and of a far more gentle nature, “Water Mouth” is complete where many of the other tracks feel unfinished. A relaxing lead melody accompanied by a squishy, squelching-wet bass-line guides the listener through a lush, dynamic sound-scape miles ahead of the typical Opiuo break-fest. The album certainly represents a distinct innovation among organic-bass connoisseurs, however there is also significant room for improvement in his future releases.

Artist: Opiuo
Album: Slurp and Giggle
Label: Addictech
Release Date: July 1, 2010
Genre Influences: Glitch, Breaks
Rating (0-5): 3
Buy: Addictech

Knowa Knowone is no stranger to the glitch hop community. He has been around putting in hard work. Knowa has always had a unique take that always stood out. The production quality has matured quite a bit and his most recent EP on Muti shows off how much his sound has grown and still stands out from the rest.

Sound Paintings is a great array of Knowa’s diversity in styles. The opening track The Quari brings should a beautiful opening to this gallery of music. The entrance to this path is a sexy hypnotic downtempo chill vibe. Naked On Acid grabs you by the hand and feeds you a trip filled of bass, sullen synths, and eerie sounds. Let Me Tell You A Story picks you up from this journey and takes you into a land of deep bass, piano lines, and lasers. Fire On The Roof is the heavy climax point of this EP. The sample “Let me clear my throat” and “drooooop” bring back those old school dance parties where everyone going nuts. The vibe on this one will help you take control of the dance floor. The last of Knowa’s originals on this EP is Ra (the sun). The track has an upbeat vibe with a worldly feel to it with the violins guiding the tune build. The track has fantastic female and male vocals, which give the extra punch to all the drum hits. It’s incredible what energy all the vocals give compared to the instrumental. The Human Experience gives his take on this gorgeous song. He gives much more of a downtempo feel using the vocals version. You can hear the new piano lines and rolling bass, which vary a bit with glitches and efx manipulating the sounds. Quade also remixes one of the songs on the EP, The Quari. The interpretation of the song is a bit more upbeat with more humph behind the claps and kicks. If the original was a bit to slow for you this one adds that same sound with a fatter organic bassline that will surely get your heart beating.

This release has my vote. It’s not very often you run into more of the chill downtempo worldly predominate releases. The biggest track on this is Fire On The Roof and that doesn’t venture into such an in your face attitude. Overall I’m a big fan and happy to see this style gaining such light. Big up to Knowa on this one!

Artist: Knowa Knowone
Album: Sound Paintings
Label: Muti Music
Release Date: 8/1/2011
Genre Influences: Downtempo, World, Chill
Rating (0-5): 4
Buy: Beatport

Pantyraid – Superior EP Review

Artist: Elfkowitz
Title: Psychodelic Dropout
Genre: Glitch-hop / Dubstep
Label: Simplify Recordings
Rating: 5 out of 5
Buy

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