Crooks & Lovers // Mount Kimbie // (hotflush)

There was very little to go by to guess what this record would sound like, but the hype surrounding this release has been incredible nonetheless .Mount Kimbie have vaguely come from the disparate dubstep scene, yet they have obviously distanced themselves by incorporating a wide variety of other styles, especially minimalism. I don't want to get too hung up on pigeonholing the band or the record, for one it is boring and secondly this LP is so sparse, so formless and so natural that it stands on it's own.

Mount Kimbies' two EPs showcased a sleek production sense, a juxtaposing sparse areas of sound with areas of complex beats. The songs where highly complex and protean, swapping intense beats for blissed-out melancholia at a moments' notice. On Crooks & Lovers the two-piece has used the larger canvas the format offers to draw out this dynamic over 35 minutes, heightening the contrasts of dubstep-inspired beats and ambient soundscapes, extracting huge emotional power from minor changes. The process, surprisingly, is entirely natural and what is most striking is the bands' confidence to be so subtle and minimalistic on their first major release. It just shows that they have a clear vision of what they want to create.

Furthermore, the inclusion of live instrumentation has warmed what was some coldly electronic parts of the EPs. The first track Tunnelvision and near-identical mid-track Adriatic feature a sampled acoustic guitar over a shuffling beat, while Field acts as the antithesis of the duos defining track Maybes featuring a lofi guitar in its second half. The live instruments are fittingly modest, being mainly the acoustic guitar on nearly half of the tracks, and a broken harpsichord on the swaggering Before I Move Off, which allows the band to use them live. Not to say that the album is completely pastoral, Carbonated and Ruby both explore very electronic worlds, the latter sounding similar to Burial. Like Burials' Untrue the album flows between songs effortlessly, with the intention of creating an overarching atmosphere rather than individual songs.

Overall, the album seems like a sleeping giant, the craftsmanship and attention to detail is exquisite, yet it seems that it could rear it's at any time and get frantic. The closest it comes are on the closing tracks Field and Mayor, where the beat gets more insistent and, on the latter track, funkier. Their place in the album shows that Domonic Maker and Kai Campos are intelligent DJs, using the short time on the album to create and release tension; idea that the music could explode spontaneously. It is a shame that it never quite does, but the rhythmic and emotional journey that Mount Kimbie take the listener on is more than enough to make up for it.

Mount Kimbie - Would Know (from Crooks & Lovers) by Hotflush

myspace.com/mountkimbie

A Town Called Obsolete (Mount Kimbie Remix) // Andreya Triana // (ninja tune)

Honestly, Andreya Triana is a paradox. Her two singles, A Town Called Obsolete and Lost Where I Belong are both delicate, minimal songs, a fairly standard mix of soul and folk, yet she has garnered the attention from the opposite end of the musical spectrum: Bonobo and Flying Lotus, as well as being remixed by some of my favourite new artists Floating Points and now Mount Kimbie. Her sullen, beautiful voice is the magnet attracting these helpless dance acts, it plays so well against the often cold instrumentation of the electronic noises and rigid beats. She adds the soul to the robotic bleeps of the computers; she is the ghost in the machine.

Mount Kimbie's music, however, is densely layered and often sounds very organic: uniquely unrepetitive and emotional. But on this remix they have created an uncharacteristically rythmic beat, which drives the lonely vocal line forward amongst the swirling synth lines. Burial-like off-beat bass flares also accompany her voice, like electronic wails in reaction to the deeply melancholic vibe. Andreya works so well in this situation it is a shame that she does not work with these guys on a regular basis as an album produced by any or all of the aforementioned artists could be spectacular.

Listen to it here:

myspace.com/andreyatriana

CMYK // James Blake // (r&s)

When the beat kicks in at just after the 1:00 mark, the tune feels like it has like it has settled into comfortable, driving rhythm. But it just can't stay still, the tune leaps and flips like it is uncomfortable motionless, starting and stopping; it practically has ADHD. This is what separates Blake from many of his contemporaries, who instead set up a groove and stick with it for a track. He completely subverts this idea, twisting the song through 2Step, house and plenty other ideas within just a few bars. The mashed up samples of Aaliyah and Kelis (I had to look them up) seem so incongruous with the sleek production but they add drama to this hyperactive treat.

James Blake - Cmyk

myspace.com/jamesblakeproduction

I've got to add this awesome video of him and Mount Kimbie live:

Fields // Mount Kimbie //

Mount Kimbie have announced their début LP Crooks and Lovers is due on July 19th, and one song Fields is available to listen to now. As anything vaguely electronic and around 140 bmp is called dubstep, this duo are technically just that, but they're so different form the norm that they cause critics to come up with silly sounding alternatives: "post-dubstep" or "bass music". But nevermind the taxonomy, all that matters is how it sounds.

Fields builds round an alternating high-then-low sweeping noise. After a minute it drops out, replaced by an incongruous lo-fi acoustic guitar. As it plays, electronic noises creep round the edges and the original rhythm peaks through the gaps - ending before you can absorb it all. Mount Kimbie are just giving us a tiny peak of what could be one of the best début albums of the year.

Check out the, err, unusual cover to Crooks and Lovers here:

And listen to Fields over at the Resident Advisor

myspace.com/mountkimbie