Horsebladder is Elaine Kahn, a poet & musician currently living in Northampton, Massachusetts. She creates brave minimalistic primitive pop music, (brave cause she doesn’t need to hide behind thick production) using minimalistic loops and naïve musical lines. While listening to “Not I’ll Not”, her latest creation, the mood she created and the color of tone made me think of Tricky. I never really pay attention to the lyrics cause the sounds always interfere, but this time, maybe because everything is out there and naked, when I have reached the 3rd track, ‘Fountains’ (which is my favorite track by the way), words just sank in, these words;

“the sky in your eyeballs, is going white

fight from your muscle is not as bright

the gray moon glitters your growing hair

time takes you nowhere

and then leaves you there.”

Buy the record

Again with grave diggers. ‘Grave dreams’ is the title track of Tyler Newbold‘s new Boas album, an updated version of Tricky meets Slim Twig, although those comparisons should not take the originality of this unique electronic musician. Tyler sounds as hallucinatory and trippy yet imaginative and creative as Tricky sounded in his darker and more off the wall projects ‘Nearly god’ and ‘Pre millennium tension’. Sonically this album is full of surprises, highly recommended with your headphones on after smoking something strong. All those great sounding samples, this project sounding so rich considering it`s been mixed real dry without long reverb tails you would expect from a dreamy venture like this one.

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No-Wonder

I have been a Tricky fan since day one, always loved the Trip hop scene that emerged out of Bristol, all those extremely talented focused musicians (Massive attack, Tricky, Portishead…) bringing this fresh sound – dark, ragged, minimalistic productions and arrangements based on slippery oldschool hip hop beats. Tricky went through all these changes, I am talking musically, but at first, he was the master of trip hop, inventing the sound and scene, and then I guess he felt the need of challenging himself and his audience, and was doing harsher less communicative music (check out Nearly god, Pre millennium tension ), and he was experimenting with the use of live drums and instruments, but then he had released a record I really love, Juxtapose with our friend DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill, kinda back to basics, and went on to release 4 other albums, amongst ‘Knowle west boy’, that sounded too produced and polished for me. Now nearly god is back with Mixed race with the first single titled ‘Murder weapon’ and a VIDEO . Check it out…

Murder weapon

I have downloaded this amazing double mixtape of Slim Twig called “Spit it Twig” recommended by friends at Bighassle. His unique style is a mixture of hiphop based groove with ragged samples, twisted pop, rock, the funkiest out there theatrical vocals you have heard. its like a collaboration of Tricky, Public Enemy and Outkast. He says he is committed to the free mixtape format he admires so much in artists like Lil Wayne.The first volume is more Hiphop based material while the second one is wilder and more abstract and is featuring collaborations with David Lynch, Dirty Beaches, Onakabazien and more…I love this project a lot and very exited to discover an inspiring artist like Slim Twig, coming from Paper Bag records,.
this wonderful label who brought us Sally Shapiro, CFCF, Woodhands, Plastikman, Tokyo police club, and many more. I have chosen to play you a favorite track from both parts. Thank you Brooke for this gift

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