Bout fucking time too. XLR8R posted up this sampler of the 3 track EP that Numbers will be putting out in April apparently. Keeps his style of RnB vocals with the heartbreaking tones and massive bass intact, with maybe a little bone thrown towards wider appeal. Be interesting to see what this will do for his career and if he achieves the success he really deserves. On another note, id like to see what he can do with other types of vocals. His remix of Foals Spanish Sahara is really something special. He leaves it alone in the track, and it feels almost lonely in a track of cavernous bass and sparse keys. The guy has so much potential, can't wait to see where he goes in the future. Deadboy - HERE (Preview clips of NMBRS15) by Numbers
Cudos to The Fader for rubbing it in how much I missed out on when I was too sick to make it out to Deadboy the other week. By all accounts I missed an amazing show. But I’m not too worried, there are plenty more events from Don’t Sleep coming in the future.
I could write something about how the bassey house and ghostly R&B are so hot right now and this is the cutting edge blah, blah, blah, wank. This is one of those tracks that goes beyond genre exercises and hangups. The simple truth is that what Deadboy has done with this edit is cut away all the excess from the Drake original to get to the heart of what he was trying to express. Problem with a lot of Drake songs isn’t necessarily the emotion he’s trying to convey, it’s that he fumbles around with how to present it and so the sentiment is lost. Couple that with his annoying rhyme pattern and a weird sense of stature and entitlement and what should be resonant winds up being grating (cheese).
This edit just works for me really. Combines my appetite for forward thinking dance music with the fact that right now I just feel like music that isn’t the usual pump up and get ravey stuff. Sometimes people like dance music but don’t feel happy. And what better artist to express inexplicable and unreasonable melancholy with than Drake? Part of me would love to drop this in the middle of a huge set at a club, just to see what happens…
This is coming out sometime soon on a limited edition vinyl pressing called Cash Antics Vol 2. You better believe I’ll be buying it.
"Cause she left in the morning, took her suitcase, left without warning, I messed up but I'm alright cause, I know shes coming back, well I hope so..."
My, my, my, what do we have here? Got sent this gem of an EP the other day from the homie Dan at Don’t Sleep. He’s getting him to voice a radio ad for the new ICSSC club night (also called Don’t Sleep), which has bass maven Deadboy headlining. I can see why Dan hit him up for it, the mans got a well geezer accent, with a ghostly tinge to it, perfect voice to entice the punters into some bass adventures in the Bakery.
Ghostpoet’s Sound of Strangers EP exists very much in the linage of UK trip-hop, and is a direct descendant of Massive Attack, circa Blue Lines. This is especially evident on the lead of track of Gone, a masterful story telling exercise concerning drunken infidelity and the false confidence that his girl will forgive him, over a dubbed out beat and meandering bassline.
The beats split the difference between the plodding trip-hop of yesteryear and the skittering drums that characterise garage and bass music today, and Ghostpoet sounds well at home over them. However when the EP closes on Love Confusion, the initial shock of hearing his Electric Relaxation remake almost made me hit the mute key on the laptop to avoid the train wreck I was certain was coming. Yet as soon as Ghostpoet starts rapping, all my fears were confirmed to be unfounded, it’s clear he was born to rap on laidback boom bap tracks like this.
Don’t sleep on Ghostpoet, he’s almost guaranteed to be a major force in the UK in no time at all. Reminiscent of Daddy G, Roots Manuva, Mike Skinner and Jamie T, he’s no doubt going to be your new Local City Poet. Just in case you geezers didn’t know it……
Dubstep changed a lot of things. Its still unbelievable popularity on dancefloors worldwide has altered many things in the world of electronic music and as a result what’s getting produced for the dancefloor. Its so starkly different in both tempo, rhythm and sound from anything else, that it has captured the attention of DJ’s the world over, meaning even on the most superficial level, most sets will have at least a few dubstep tracks in it. More importantly though, it’s having an impact on a wide range of genres, from electro and house, to the California beat scene, and the original UK bass staples of Garage and Two-step.
This is where the badman Deadboy fits in. Coming to Perth really soon for DON’T SLEEP at the newly revamped Bakery venue, hes bringing his brand of future garage and bass music to unsuspecting punters and dance floors here in on the best coast. Yet despite what my opening paragraph may have you believe, his style has more in common with the forward thinking R&B of Timbaland than the wobbles of conventional dubstep. Rather, I mean to argue that the popularity of dubstep has opened doors on dance floors for other styles of music that have similar low-end aesthetics and focus. So while Deadboy may not have the crazy wobbles audiences are used to, he’s just as important and relevant now as a Rusko, Magnetic Man or Joy Orbison.
Deadboy wears his R&B cred on his sleeve, doing garage refixes for Cassie and others. You can hear what sounds like chopped up Usher vocals on ravey anthem U Cheated over that very, very low bass and skittering drums, while downtempo garage tune If You Want Me, has clattering diva samples while keeping the mood sounding more like a traditional R&B tearjearking ballard. His resulting catalogue is dripping with heart and bass, and will get the club going ham.
As a result we have music that sounds more like Timbaland in his prime, when he was making forward thinking R&B for Missy Elliot, Jay Z and others, instead of his far more insipid recent work with people like One Republic and Katy Perry. Its music which no matter which audience its aimed at or for what purpose sounds like the future and despite its weirdness compared to its contemporarys still strikes a chord with the average punter.
This influence can also be heard in fellow British bass merchants The XX who wrap themselves firmly in the twin influences of R&B and bass music, yet have managed to peddle this music to the indie kids. With Jaime XX on the MPCs and decks, the group have grounded what are essentially R&B tracks with heavy bass music or in the case of their Florence and the Machine remix, garage. (Also for more dubstep cred, check out his fantastic mix for Collette). The only real difference between them and Deadboy is that Islands wasn’t made for the dance floor.
Hey, whats up, I'm 72. This blog started as me posting while I was away in North America, but now I'm back in Perth, looking for gigs (I DJ under the name Sleepyhead, will play a set for food...) and generally ranting about music in a somewhat schizophrenic manner. If you want to send me music, or get me to take a link down,hit me on 72seventytwo72@gmail.com. oh yeah and i suck at dancing
