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

Bands We Like: Vienna's The Clonious Does Soul Music for Robots

Photo credit: Affine Records

The Clonious is an Austrian making soul music, but it’s been warped beyond recognition. The elements of ‘soul’ have been turned into their robotic equivalent; electronic clones gone haywire. No wonder it takes a helmet made of six headphone cups to make the stuff.

From bouncing two-step beats to slow grooving beats and vocals that experiment one step beyond Jamie Lidell, The Clonious’ tracks are varied. When he’s working with labelmate Cid Rim, the tracks are way upbeat and playful. His most recent tracks are featured on Affine Records What A Fine Mess We’ve Made compilation, but the label’s Souncloud page is littered with gems by The Clonious and other Austrians making this kind of noise, including one Dorian Concept.

Hear some samples from Full Nelson EP below, a collaborative record between The Clonious and Cid Rim that dropped at the end of last year on Affine.

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F7060505 Cid Rim vs. The Clonious – Full Nelson EP Preview by affine records

iL Wants You To Remember That Movie apoLLo1ne3hree

iL stands for Illinois

Image credit: Error Broadcast

That’s the homestate of this young producer with large hair and an affiliation with Error Broadcast, who largely comprised our list of favorite producers from Russia. How they wound up releasing iL’s work, no one knows. Error Broadcast doesn’t even know. They have zero info on the kid. And his personal Soundcloud page is completely empty.

Seriously, who is this guy.

Who cares though, his new release apoLLo1ne3hree is crazy awesome.

apoLLo1ne3hree is what happens when you take an R&B album, break it into seperate R and B components, beat those each one to a static-y pulp, and then put them back together. Some of the tracks take this to such a length that they can be kind of hard to listen to, but it all adds to the intrigue. iL is clearly doing this on purpose to mess with your head.

Download the album here.

Hear a sampling below.

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F659562&color=802275&show_playcount=false&show_comments=true&show_artwork=falseiL – apoLLo1ne3hree by Error Broadcast

New Track from Parisian Beat Maker Mr. Bibal and Chiky B

Awesome!

Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Photo credit: Chiky Bibal/Bandcamp

When French beat maker Mr. Bibal dropped his Ra EP at the end of last year, we especially dug the soulful R&B croon on “The Past.” Chiky B, the fine lady vocalist on the track, is back on with Bibal.

They just released a short EP called Awesome, featuring the original track and a little remix. On both versions, Bibal has retained his Dilla-esque beat style that stays sexy and smooth despite the jitters and stutters.

The two Parisians make a great team. The title track “Awesome” lives up to its name, but the less-than-two-minute runtime leaves you wanting more! Here’s hoping they put this new soul sound on a full-length.

Download the tracks for free right here.

“Awesome”

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=693199126/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//

Debut Release from British-Congolese Soul Singer Miss Baby Sol

Miss Baby Sol spent the actual Baby part of her life in Zaire (now known as the DR Congo) before coming to the UK and exploring her vocalism. Her early work can be heard on the hooks of some of the UK’s more soulful hip hop acts, but she found her way to the crackling sounds of garage that seemed to permeate every vein of independent music there not long ago. When she worked her pop muscle, it was to back up the likes of Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse. Now she’s following her own format of choice with straight up soul.

Miss Baby Sol's debut is out now

Her debut EP Before I Begin (The Journey) just dropped a couple of days ago, and it’s a nice refresher of the style coined by Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, etc. The pint-sized diva has some power behind her voice, and that smooth smooth production brings it out. It might not be anything earth-shatteringly new, but it’s plenty original in it’s combination of reggae style vocals with jazzy instrumentals. Just more evidence that the best parts of the hip-hop/R&B category that keeps getting worse in its birthplace are alive and well just across the pond from it.

Before I Begin (The Journey) is out now.

Hear a few tracks from Miss Baby Sol’s new EP

http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/15/widgetPlayer.swf