Posts tagged Fact Magazine

FACT mix 297 is an ominous session of clouded-over pop by Blue Daisy. He will play at the Viral Radio Weekend in OT301 on 25 November.

From FACT Magazine website: “Hailing from North London, Blue Daisy hasn’t released much – until this year’s debut album, The Sunday Gift, he’d put his name to four singles and one split, all on Black Acre – but he’s made it count, quietly honing a smoky form of pop music that owes as much to back room ’90s icons like Portishead, Tricky and, going further back, the Cocteau Twins as it does the structural freedom of Flying Lotus and Samiyam’s twisted hip-hop.

The Sunday Gift is, frankly, the best thing Blue Daisy’s done by miles. A mostly collaborative project, it finds him assembling a small team of trusted vocalists and neatly sidestepping the beat scene or dubstep associations that some cast on him; unlike the work of many of his peers, this is genuinely dark, harsh music that barely makes sense outside the night hours, and Blue Daisy doesn’t need to sample speeches from sci-fi films to prove it.

His FACT mix, sub-titled ‘Soundtrack of the Night Sky’, doesn’t have a tracklist, but it’s in the same vein as the album: downcast pop, haunted hip-hop and tons of reverb. It’s great, basically. Download it below, and read the following Q&A with its maker while you do so.”

(via FACT mix 297: Blue Daisy – FACT magazine: music and art)

Total recall: Dabrye ‘Two/Three’ (Ghostly, 2006). Dabrye is one of the originators of early 21st century rap and beat futurism. His Two/Three album paved the way for the likes of Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke and Rustie. Dabrye has been on top of our wishlist for years now, and we hope he will make it over to Amsterdam one day.

“Dabrye’s production containing (…) a range and innovation that far outstrips anything else around.” The Guardian

“This is pretty much how you imagined rap would sound in 2006.” FACT magazine

Listen to the album on Spotify.

14 Tracks - Present: Future

“The emotive futurist rhetoric and aesthetic of Kuedo’s excellent ‘Severant’ album is the inspiration for this selection. Released on Planet Mu, the former Vex’d man’s solo debut LP is a hyper-fused celebration of classic sci-fi synth music, Footwork and modern Rap, assimilating characteristics of all three into a vivid, futurist fantasy headspace. If you’ve not already copped the album (out this week) we recommend you do so quicksharp, or at the very least check Kuedo’s definitive mix for Fact Magazine, but for comparative, contemporary listening there’s some nuggets in here which you don’t want to miss. On a Footwork and Juke bent there’s Rashad & BMT’s amazing remix of Emika and the hyper-soul of DJ Diamond, plus excellent outsider augmentations from Dam Mantle and Machinedrum. For the Crunk agenda, you’ll find butter cuts like Lunice’s ‘Juice’ and the cold, rollin’ fusions of Desto and Om Unit, next to more curious hybrids of Synth-Pop and R&B from the likes of Holy Other, Miracle, and Balam Acab. Then, of course, there’s two originals from Kuedo to whet your appetite, the heart-in-mouth calculations of ‘Ascension Phase’ and his glorious KMS remix, with a conclusion from one of the original synthesizer futurists, Tangerine Dream and Kluster co-founder, Conrad Schnitzler (RIP).” (14tracks.com)

“Every track on Glass Swords is fantastic, the soundtrack to both the most colourful sci-fi film and the best RPG never made, but this isn’t all that makes this album special. The real kicker is that you get the impression that it’s the point Rustie has been building up to for the last five years; an album made in relative isolation, with zero self-consciousness, shame or thought for trend behind it. Glass Swords is something to be enjoyed, first and foremost, but the thought process behind it, you feel, is something to be cherished.” Tam Gunn, FACT Magazine

Rustie will play live at the Radiant Frequencies stage at Rewire Festival on 5 November in the Hague. This programme is compiled by Viral Radio.

Kuedo delivers the new FACT mix, number 288.