A 38 minute podcast of pure glitchy, downbeat music mixed by Billiondan.

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Tracklist:
Eliot Lipp - Illa Than (Earmint Mix)
Prefuse 73 - Dabrye 73.3 Megamix
Daedelus - Dumfound (edIT Remix)
J Dilla - Waves
Amon Tobin - Easy Muffin
Cyne - Automaton (Four Tet Remix)
Daedelus - Welcome Home (Prefuse 73 Danse Macabre)
Dabrye - With a Professional
Piano Overlord - Sping's Arrival
Prefuse 73 - Cultualhogasm/Whisper in my ear to tell me you hate me
Flying Lotus - 1983
Dabrye - Magic Says
Sixtoo - Incedental no.5
Dabrye feat. MF Doom - Air

Minimal is taking over the world. With ears firmly fixed on the Berlin underground, practically every House DJ you could care to mention has adopted the mantra that less is more, turning their backs on more accessible subgenres in favour of a sound that is considered more futuristic and relevant. We have now got to the stage where minimal has become overplayed and there is an urgent need for an injection of variety and inventiveness.

photo: Ashes57

Leading the backlash against sleepy minimal, Simian Mobile Disco (SMD) make quirky, upbeat house that combines an unpretentious sensibility with a jacking electro template.

SMD’s James Ford was at the centre of the rock house / nu rave sound, producing seminal Klaxons Album ‘Myths of the Near Future.’ The media latched onto this in a big way, but Ford emerged unscathed from the ensuing hype implosion.

Last Year’s Attack Sustain Decay Release confirmed SMD as the darlings of the UK dance scene, featuring instant classics such as It’s The Beat and The Hustler. A series of storming DJ sets in 2008 have confirmed that SMD are here to stay. Ashes got up close and personal at their Fabric show on June 15.

- Patrick Walsh

Fuck Bow wow/Omarion or Hov and Kellz, this album is the best of both worlds. By joining with Brazillian jazz percussionist Mamao, the innovative beatsmith Madlib has made an album that truly reps the African diaspora. I’ve always loved how Brazilian music blends African percussion with South American rhythms and apparently Madlib does too. Mamao is his favorite Brazilian drummer, so for much of this mostly instrumental gem he defers to the drummer. On most songs Madlib’s contribution appear to be limited to a few well placed synth notes (did I hear a keytar somewhere?) So what you have with Sujinho is Madlib contributing to the Brazilian aesthetic, not him jacking the sound to make beats. Next time your looking for a jazz album cop this and help keep Madlib musical journeys funded, its money well spent.

- C. Benz

The Dandy Warhols: Allow me draw the obvious comparison to their namesake. Andy Warhol was a talented smartypants who basically had one good idea, which he reiterated throughout his long, lucrative career. His idea was based in repetition and replication— fine for pop art but for pop music, not so much. The Dandy Warhols try here, on their eighth record, to replicate the shimmering heights reached by their 2000 standard Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia.
Thirteen tracks (surprise!) simmer and twist with energy but never really take flight, instead they usually level off at a mediocre overlongness. Even the most notable tracks I swear I've heard before. “Talk Radio” is a pleasant mutation of “Godless” (the opening track from Thirteen Tales) and “Mission Control” apes mega-payday hit “Bohemian Like You.” The latter has blared from TV sets internationally, as accompaniment to cultural milestones like Chevrolet ads and Monday Night Football. Wikipedia tells me that “The advertisement money was used to buy a quarter city block in Portland, Oregon (the band's hometown) for use as film and recording studios, as well as being a clubhouse for the band to throw parties and host catered dinners.” Hmm, maybe they should've held off on that real estate investment and saved the dough so they wouldn't have to (re)make another record. Where TDW don't sound like a weak echo of their older selves, they still sound familiar: “Welcome To The Third World” (Bowie, the Stones), “Valerie Yum” (the Velvet Underground). The last track (cleverly?) ends where the first begins, so listeners can seamlessly enjoy Earth to the Dandy Warhols over and over and over... if only I wanted to.

– Nena Moyen

RZA’s album Digi Snacks definitely has some tracks to feed any Wu fan, but might leave you a little hungry waiting for a real meal. The production teeters between his grimy sample based tracks and more synthy west coast style beats, a la Ghost Dog. Some tracks are weird as you would expect, some completely original, but this album doesn’t suffer from being too experimental or off the wall. It’s actually a little more accessible than some other Bobby Digital albums and feels a little more like straight hip hop than the cross over sound of some 8 Diagrams songs.

    What’s missing then? Well, there’s no guest mc’s that you actually want to hear. David Banner, on Straight up the Block? Hmmm, cool song, RZA raps in French, but no thanks. Inspector Deck, Beretta 9, Black Knights? What is this the Ghost Dog reunion sans Forest Whitaker? No wait the Ghost Dog beats were better. At least Rza’s rap game is on point, braggadocios over other mc’s and humble before God.. On “You Can’t Stop me Now”(same Whatnuaghts sample as Dooms track Anti Matter), RZA drop a little auto biography about buying his first sampler and starting the Wu, it’s kind of inspiring really, then Inspector Deck comes on with some of the most cliche “long time coming” lyrics you could dream up. But this track is so good you just keep pressing rewind at the end of RZA’s verse. The one true anthem song Up Again has piano key reminiscent of Hard Knock Life but with a better hook in my opinion. Unfortunately Bereatta 9 is the guest Mc, so the track just kinda peters out after Rza’s verse. In the end this album is good enough, it’s not a failure by any means. But RZA’s flow always sounded better to me when juxtaposed with real Wu Tang members not his second tier west coast syndicate. Maybe if I actually bought CD's’s the Rza would have enough money to pay for real rappers, well until that day.

- J Bahn