The Avalanches - Since I Left You

CLASSICS WEEK 2023 comes to a close with the sampledelic gold standard.

Hanz - "Count"

Experimental dance vibes aplenty in the new single from the previously mentioned, Hanz.

Beginning with an introduction that sounds like a sample grabbed from Iggy Pop's The Idiot, and continuing into a deep, eerie synth groove that Hanz adds and takes samples away just as quickly. It's as if he wants to just tease various ways the song into a full electronic dance jam. Instead the dark vibe continues steady while these flashes of drums, vocals, and layers add atmosphere rather than full on evolution. Then there is sudden change where the base layer of the song changing to a more drum rattling variation. All new samples continue to have elements a song with brimming over the top with layers, instead there are only flashes of these and taking them away adds an extra emphasis on the stripped down nature on “Count."

Kid Smpl - "Silo Tear"

Kid Smpl has premiered the title song off of his upcoming Silo Tear EP, bringing a moody atmosphere with low humming synthesizers and white noise layered over.

"Silo Tear" has a distinct coldness to it as the song grows and progresses it builds with mechanical synths as well as some light drum samples to begin with. Even as the track flourishes with all these layers of sound it holds true to that sensation of emptiness, akin to a grey desolate building complex like the one depicted in its album artwork. The tracks greatest achievement is just how well it flows while encompassing a number of different textures never breaking its delicate atmosphere in the name of progress.

Silo Tear will be released May 5th via Hush Hush records.

Hanz- A Made Bear At Peace

Electronic producer Hanz is dishing out beats that incorporate samples in a startlingly seamless way adding to his already monstrous and unique sound.

Hanz has definitely made a name for himself in my eyes with these productions. They are so unlike anything I have ever heard in this genre and the vast array of sounds he is able to cover is nearly incomprehensible for me and my ears. These are some truly creative and appealing productions that I hope an equally talented MC gets behind and does something special with. There is a great amount of variety from song to song yet it doesn't fall into the territory of some tracks being far to dense for their own good, each has a cohesive theme that rides throughout all of the layering and progressive switches. This is truly an innovative beat maker at his best and the scary thing is he could still improve from here.

Sweet Valley- Eternal Champ

Sweet Valley is what you get when you take video game sounds and music mix them with hip-hop as well as a dash of dub just for kicks.

That strange and original creation is brought to you by Nathan Williams (Wavves) and his brother Kynan Williams. I admit that the beats themselves are not overly original, but they are solid and mixed with obscure samples they have chosen to use it gives the tape a fresh feeling. I would really like to hear them collaborate with some rappers as I am a fan of their particular use of samples and willingness to fuse whatever genres they want seemingly at random.

Warning: May bring on the urge to play NES games all day.

Matmos- "Very Large Green Triangles" (Edit)

The experimental, electronic, and sample-obsessed music duo known as Matmos has a new EP on the way via Thrill Jockey in October. A track has finally dropped from it, and it's a strange, intricate doozy.

This forthcoming EP is titled the Ganzfeld EP, and it teases toward a new full-length album that's set to be released in early 2013: The Marriage of True Minds.

"Very Large Green Triangles"--or at least this edit of it, anyway--is a pretty impressive piece of arranged instrumentation and quirky grooves. Monolithic chorus vocals and string sections soar above pulsating loops of rhythms and vocal samples. There are some great piano parts that rise amidst the chaos, too.

It's all a bit surreal, and it's got me looking forward to what inventive ideas Matmos pulls out next on their latest material. Both releases have a kind of interesting concept going for them, which isn't surprising considering the basis of the duo's last album, Supreme Balloon. This is what has been stated in the press release attached to the release of this new track:

"As previously described, the EP and album have the same conceptual basis: telepathy. For the past four years the band have been conducting parapsychological experiments based upon the classic Ganzfeld ("total field") experiment, but with a twist: instead of sending and receiving simple graphic patterns, test subjects were put into a state of sensory deprivation by covering their eyes and listening to white noise on headphones, and then Matmos member Drew Daniel attempted to transmit "the concept of the new Matmos record" directly into their minds. During videotaped psychic experiments conducted at home in Baltimore and at Oxford University, test subjects were asked to describe out loud anything they saw or heard within their minds as Drew attempted transmission. The resulting transcripts became a kind of score that was then used by Matmos to generate music. If a subject hummed something, that became a melody; passing visual images suggested arrangement ideas, instruments, or raw materials for a collage; if a subject described an action, then the band members had to act that out and make music out of the noises generated in the process of the re-enactment."

Nas- "The Don"

In the same vain as his last single "Nasty," Nas has decided to go in on another track, making the idea of a hook seem completely irrelevant. This is the kind of hard, lyrical flow Nas needs to be throwing out there if he's gonna stay relevant into this decade, and it's great that this is becoming his focus. The instrumental is built on a solid New York-style boom-bap beat, which is backed up with some nice dub sound effects. This track continues to build anticipation for the upcoming Nas album, and let’s hope it lives up to the hype.

Knxwledge- komfi.EP

Prolific beatmusic producer Knxwledge dropped a new EP on bandcamp recently. For a guy who produces tracks this regularly, he shows as high level of creativity. The tool is definitely not dulling.

Though not all the beats on this EP are amazing, most notably "Feeeedbaq," the whole EP has a nice, jazzy presentation. With dreamy synth loops and samples, Knxwledge layers all these beats with just the right amount of sounds. Complexity and originality continue to be strong points in his productions.