SINCERIOUS

From his epic debut Anidea, “Tantilized” shows Bristol producer Guido in top form. A harder, more dancefloor focused tune that the album’s other R&B flavoured slow jams , the song manages to seamlessly blend a hypnotic Dubstep wobble, unabashedly digital orchestration and an overdriven synth so epic and emotional it could be straight out of any 80’s power metal ballad.

Unafraid of melody in a genre in love with droning, metallic leads and gangsta dick-grabbing, Guido’s work seems to exist in a timeless limbo: cheesy MIDI strings play off of icily digital electronics, Purple synths harmonize with pornographic Saxophones and booming 808’s battle robotic basslines in the bottom end to create a sound at once both retro and revolutionary. By charting his own course and bringing real songwriting skill to Dubstep, Anidea stands out as one of the years most rewarding listens and is essential listening for anyone into the more Sincerious side of electronic music. 

Check out Guido on Myspace.com

Buy Anidea on JunoDownload.com

3 selections of sublime Techno from London’s Semtek. Fusing the cold gloss of Detroit with elements of Jazz, Dub and classic Roland 303 basslines, Semtek’s “Are you Here?” (Dont’ Be Afraid) is a evolving, hypnotic release available for free from Bandcamp.

A swamp-thick bottom end anchors the beat while proccessed samples and an eerie sense of dread permate the track. Heavily processed horns and snatches of dialog keep the listener on edge as the tune becomes a darker, more driving affair. Flipside ‘Are you?’ begins as a re-edit of “Are You Here?” before drifting away into a more laidback, mechanical reworking. 

Are You Here? / Are You?

It’s the third song featured here, ‘Idiotland’, that caught my ear initially. Released back in July, this has grown to one of my summers favourite tracks. A hazy, synth soaked intro gives way to some glassy pads, sulty vocal edits and a bumping bassline thats infectious in it’s simplicty. Channeling the style of Swayazk and MRI, but with his own spin, Semtek’s latest work for Don’t Be Afriad is classy, classic techno and a promising start for this otherwise unknown Producer.

Idiotland

For more on Semtek, check out his MySpace

So Sincerious - August 12th 2010 - Dixie Flatline by Sincerious on Mixcloud

Special Guest Dixie Flatline throws down some bittersweet tech-house flavors with 14 tracks of off-kilter electronics from Femme En Fourrure, Zombie Nation, Julio Bashmore and the classic “King of My Castle” - Perfect Berlin-at-three-am driving music. 

Tracklisting (43:18)

1. Morgan Geist - Detroit
2. MRI - Schnellbahn
3. Zombie Nation - Filter Jerks
4. Edu K - Jumpin n Pumpin (Femme En Fourrure Remix)
5. Remute -Medea Glub
6. Udachi & Jubilee - Paypur (Grahamzilla Remix) 
7. ARA - Monte Negro (ARA Soundsystem Mix)
8. Wamdue - Project King of My Castle (Roy Malones King Mix)
9. Sebastien Leger - The Rhythm (Format B Remix) 
10. Julio Bashmore - Um Bongos Revenge 
11. Crystal Fighters - I Love London (Femme En Fourrure Remix)
12. Lucio Aquilina - I Got You
13. Sidekick - Deep Fear (Andrea Roma Remix)  
14. Style of Eye- Road Race (Original Mix)

UK crossover queen Kyla channels an Auto-Tuned Aaliyah on her single “Don’t Play With My Heart” and scores a darkly rolling remix from Roska, courtesy of the fine people at FACT. 

Avoiding the snare heavy hyperactive Soca side of the genre, Roska pitches this one closer to Dubstep territory with a stripped down approach: Guido style Casio synths and a bouncing 808 bassline do the work, letting a simple, shuffling riddim play off of the track instead of dominating. Deep, Dark and Tribal, this one is a great example of UK Funky done right: If Top 40 R&B was fed a steady diet of grime rap and dancehall this is the result. 

Download -> Kyla - Don’t Play With My Heart (Roska Remix) (320kbps) 

Via (FACT)

On this edition of So Sincerious we’re gettin’ real dark, with 19 cuts from the likes of Kingdom, Martyn, Fis-T, Marcus Visionary and a few certified throwbacks from A Guy Called Gerald and Hardrive. Play this one after the after party. 

So Sincerious - August 5th 2010 (39:04)

• Kastle - You got the Love
• Maddslinky - Ruled by your motions 
• Fis-T - Night Hunter 
• Supra1 ft. Amy Douglas - Still Beleive (Brackles remix) 
• Egyptrixx - Everybody Bleeding (Kingdom Remix ft. Shyvonne) 
• Jack Dixon - We Had A Better Life 
• Burial - Archangel (Boy 8Bit Remix) 
• Ikonika - Idiot 
• Si Young - Contra 
• Kingdom - Fogs 
• Flore - Raw ft. Shunda K (Hackman Remix) 
• Martyn - Krdl-T-Grv 
• A Guy Called Gerald - Fever (Ninjaboy’s Locked On Remix) 
• Hardrive - Deep Inside 
• Marcus Visionary - Left Foot Skank 
• A Made Up Sound - Closer 
• Mosca - Square One (Greena Remix) 
• RQM - U She Me (Octapush RMXXX) 
• Delphic - Doubt (Doc Daneeka’s All For Space Grime)

Check more episodes out at So Sincerious’s Soundcloud.

French producer Flore has the title track from her forthcoming album “Raw” reworked by UK Funky producer Hackman into a slinky, shuffling, 3am anthem thats both dancefloor ready and tinged with post-rave nostalgia. 

Anthemic pianos build along side swelling synths only to drop into a deep, dark and propulsive percussion workout, as one expects from Hackman’s work, before the ironically retro refrain of “We gonna make you feel this groove” builds and builds to the tune’s inevitable second drop.

Pairing clever Vocal edits and metallic sub-bass, “Raw”, stands along side the work of Kingdom and L-Vis1990 in re-imagining a style R&B thats mixes soul with a sound of post-millennial, dub heavy dread. And that is a very, very good look. 

Download -> Flore - Raw ft. Shunda K (Hackman Remix) (320KBps)

Via (XLR8R.com)

A strangely hypnotizing video from NYC’s Post-Garage maestro Falty DL. Some seriously deep vibes on this one. Forthcoming on the always reliable Planet Mu, “Endeavour” lands September 12th.

Moscow’s mysterious Lokiboi graces Sincerious today with a selection of House & Garage as deep as it gets. Dark and dystopian soundscapes anchor his work, a blend of dubbed out house and skeletal garage thick with atmosphere and crystalline melodies.

Now making London his home, he follows in the footsteps of Burial and VVV by willfully embracing obscurity; almost no information exists about him but for what he himself publishes. In a contest entry unearthed online he says his creativity comes from “(the) edge of love, soul, abstractness of dark sound, digitalism.”, and his sound stays true to that ethos. 

With “Like U” Lokiboy lands halfway between Burial’s claustrophobic longing and Deadboy’s playful nods to UKG’s R&B fueled heyday. An Akon sample from “Locked Up” bounces over a bed of brooding bass and tentative, low resolution riddims thick with nostalgia.

“Time & Destination” builds a dark, UK Funky styled backbeat before rewinding into a selection of samples from “Waking Life” discussing the nature of dreams. Suddenly a siren sounds and we’re on the floor with Tropical percussion propelling the song back to the dancefloor.

Finally Future Garage go-to’s Foals get yet another reworking, this time having their cut “2 Trees” stripped down by Lokiboy in the vein of SBTRKT or Scuba into a wash of white noise, robotic drum work and bittersweet vocal edits at once showcasing Lokiboi’s versatility and his singular style. 

With his unique blend of warehouse sized bass and off-kilter soul fans of everything from Boy 8-Bit to Caribou could discover his sound, and with cuts (apparently) forthcoming on Subdepth and Lutetia Dubz, we may yet have more to hear from the spectral sounds of Lokiboi. 

Lokiboi on Soundcloud
Follow Lokiboy on Twitter