Posts Tagged ‘Finest Ego’
Bands We Like: The Multi Format Virtuosity of Berlin's Comfort Fit
Photo credit: Comfort Fit/Last.FM
You’ve heard about him from the tags on your new jeans, and now it’s time to get better acquainted with Berlin’s Comfort Fit.
As the legend goes, Comfort Fit learned the art of sampling at age four. He DJed his first gig at age 12, and he released his first record at age 18. Wow. Either his parents were incredibly supportive of his endeavors, or they’re failed musicians living vicariously through him.
Whatever their technique of child rearing, Mr. and Mrs. Fit reared themselves a damn virtuoso.
Over several albums, Comfort Fit has forged a sound that borrows from soul, hip hop, funk, and glitch formats. While any one track might fall into one of these categories, it will never do so neatly.
These records are better defined by clean, nuanced production than by any genre title.
Comfort Fit collaborates like crazy, so his record liner notes are packed with obscure gems of rap and song from all languages.
Hear a preview for his upcoming record via a quote from Soderbergh’s Schizopolis and a little background funk.
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F10006495 Comfort Fit – World’s Falling Apart – LP – Announcement by Comfort Fit
Japan's BudaMunk Has a Focus Known to Kill Focus
Photo credit: BudaMunk/Bandcamp
The great thing about Japanese hip hop producers is that they produce instrumentals like it’s still 1995. BudaMunk keeps it jazzy like Pete Rock and bass-heavy with a stutter like J Dilla. And just like in the old days, he themed his newest record with that favorite hip hop pastime: smoking.
The fully instrumental EP Smoke Deep dropped a couple of weeks ago with track titles like “Killa Kush,” “Chronic Funk,” and “Get Blunted.” Wonder where he finds his inspiration…
Smoke Deep is equal parts jazz, funk, and dub. There’s a vocal feature on there, but BudaMunk dices it good and embeds it deep in the track.
Hear the title track below. You might recognize that “Trees burnin’ heads bouncin’” vocal sample from the Beatnuts’ “Do You Believe.”
Check out the full EP here.
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F12522406 Smoke Deep by BUDAMUNK
German (and One Italian) DJs Compete for the Finest Ego Title in Berlin
Playpad Circus performing at Pante in Berlin Image credit: Equinox Records
A week ago, a number of DJs converged in Berlin for the first in a series of beatmaker competitions held by Finest Ego.
The bulk of the performers were Germans, including Berlin’s own Playpad Circus, winner of the first Finest Ego Beatmaker Challenge. The odd man out was Italian producer Johnny Boy who came all the way from Florence, Italy to strut his stuff against the Germans.
The table on stage was littered with brightly lit control devices strung together with a mess of wires, making Playpad Circus’s upright bass the only traditional instrument in the room.
The night started with the acts that lean more toward bass music like Hazeem, D-Fekt and Mr. Beef, and ended on a mellow note with Trier’s Flowtec on the 1s and 2s and Figub Brazlevic closing out the set with his Pete Rock style instrumentals.
Check out the video below for live clips and mini-interviews with each of the performers.
FINEST EGO | WEEKEND DOCUMENTATION #01 – BEATMAKER CHALLENGE from Project Mooncircle on Vimeo.
Finest Ego Compiles the Best Beatmakers from Australia and New Zealand
There are beatmakers everywhere.
Image credit: Finest Ego
We know that Australia has been smashing it up with bands reviving disco and new wave, but Finest Ego is showing us another side of the South Pacific.
As part of their Beatmaker series, which has covered Japan and Russia, the collective has compiled an album of tracks from Australia and New Zealand’s instrumental hip hop community.
If you thought that the ambient, textured sounds of abstract boom bap was limited to LA’s Brainfeeder, check out these tracks from down under. You may not have heard any of the names on this list, but any of these guys could be the next Flying Lotus.
You can hear that Australian affinity for cheesy vocoded voice and disco-y synth through out this comp, but keep in mind that this ain’t the sugary good-time dance stuff you’re used to from Australia. It’s eerie. It’s wonky. It’s bouncy. Had no idea things sounded this good on the world’s underside.
Download the comp in full for free here.
Check out more from Project: Mooncircle.
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1155200320/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//
