#3: Redshape — "The Dance Paradox" (Delsin, 2009)

Seems my review of Redshape for Junkmedia is up.

Masks have a long and distinguished history in the arts, from Japanese kabuki and the Commedia dell'Arte right through to DOOM, and, um, Slipknot. The latest beau of the masked ball is techno producer Redshape, behind whose slightly unnerving red plastic visage allegedly hides a Famous Techno Producer In Disguise.

Whether this is true or not, it'd seem to be a win-win situation for the artist. If indeed it is a big-shot name, he gets to go back underground and under cover, to separate the music from the weight of reputation (with the added bonus that a lot of critics will hold back on criticising the music overly harshly, lest they are left with egg on their faces when the game's up); if it's an unknown, he gets to start a buzz most label marketing departments nowadays could only dream of, as fans and critics alike line up to explain why the mysterious figure is/isn't Carl Craig or a moonlighting Underground Resistance member...

[continues]

mp3: Redshape – "Rorschach's Game"

#1: Buddy Peace — "Late Model Sedan" (Strange Famous, 2009)

Nick Budd loves American stuff. The 28-year-old Londoner's obsession with the States began with him listening to rap on a jenky radio, and his fixation soon broadened to include "the music, the films, the landscapes, the people – everything. And the cars... wood paneled sedans, Chevys, Buicks, Cadillacs, the whole deal." After serving as resident DJ for Lex Records, supplying live backing for Organised Konfusion’s Prince Po and continually honing his themed mixtapes, Budd joined up with Sage Francis’ Strange Famous Records label. On Late Model Sedan, his first full-length for SFR, Nick (or Buddy Peace to the world at large) meticulously weaves fragments of his beloved Americana into an elaborate sonic tapestry (I want to say "an American quilt", but... oh wait.)

If you listened without knowing differently, you could easily assume the composer was American himself, but it's his outsider-looking-in status that affords Buddy such a compelling vantage point. Using turntables alongside intricate MPC micro-edits, he collages snippets of speech like overheard conversations over finely-cut beats, instrumental drones, and found-sound audio vérité into a forward-looking whole...

Originally written for/published on Junkmedia, where you can read the rest.

mp3: Buddy Peace — "Austin Funeral Stress Tapes" (YSI)
mp3: Buddy Peace — "Obituary Medicine" mix (tracklist)