Video trailer for the Fantastic Planet Album from La Fine Equipe, Mattic, Astrid Engberg and A State Of Mind

Fantastic Planet is the follow up album to La Fine Equipe's fantastic La Boulangerie set, which if your a fan of instrumental hip hop is a must own. Here the France's finist beat makers are joined by Anglo German positive rap crew ASM, heavyweight American underground emcee Mattic and Danish female vocalist Astrid Engberg. The album should be on shelves somewhere this week.

www.nowadaysrecords.com | Myspace

A.S.M - Platypus Funk (video trailer)

As well as recent guest vocals on Berry Weight's album (see below) and La Fine Equipe's (see above) A State Of Mind drop their own long player Platypus Funk this month. The album features a slew of guests includng Wax Tailor (who has a conection with all the acts featured here), DJ Vadim, Sadat X, Bonobo, Mattic and others.

Blog | MySpace | Twitter

Berry Weight "Music For Imaginary Movies" - trailer

Ok so Berry Weight's Music for Imaginary Movies has been out for a little while, but Apewok & Stab's début is worth mentioning again. It's a stunning album and deserves a bit of hype.

www.berryweight.com | MySpace | Twitter | SoundCloud

Instrumentalists/producers/DJs: Apewok & Stab from Canada and Switzerland respectivly combine to form Berry Weight. They came to prominence after winning a remix competition held by Downtempo heavyweight Wax Tailor. Their remix of his track Positively Inclined was featured on the track's release. With a sound that they describe as "electro-organic-space-jazz" Berry Weight's debut long player is a thing of beauty. 

As the music industry continues it's unstoppable shift to a digital only culture (not something they are happy with I'm sure) its going to become increasingly harder for artists to use filler tracks to justify the price of a full album. No problems here though, "Music for Imaginary Movies" works in it's entirety; it feels like an album not just a random collection of songs. A perfect set to chill or work to. The only issue (which would be more from a promotion point than the listeners) is that its greatest strength may be it's only weakness, a balanced set like this unsurprisingly has no stand out track. 

Music for Imaginary Movies is mostly instrumental, but vocalist Astrid Engberg makes an appearance on 3 tracks, one of which she's also joined by ASM (best known for their appearance on the aforementioned "Positively Inclined"). It's also nice to hear decks being used at points throughout the album which instantly reminded me of Downtempo legends Fingathing and gives a nod to the genre's original roots. Keldsy Jy on clarinet which blends perfectly with the production serves to give many of the tracks their signature soft "space jazz" sound.

Like most forward thinking artists, Berry Weight have made the entire album available to listen to online, and I really can't suggest enough that you click over and do just that.

... and now for some superlatives: Music for Imaginary Movies is the aural equivalent of frost on a spring morning. Beautiful, crystalline, fragile and rather lovely all round really.

www.berryweight.com | MySpace | Twitter | SoundCloud

You can listen to the full LP here

Listen to "Sky Below (Feat. Astrid Engberg)" below and watch the video for Equations here.

Video for Berry Weight's "Equations" which features vocalist Astrid Engberg.

The track is featured on their album Music for Imaginary Movies which is out now.

www.berryweight.com | MySpace | Twitter | SoundCloud

You can listen to the full LP here

Slow Songs Vol 1 is a really nice collection of downtempo tracks from London based "Ending In Ing". If your a fan of lush soulful downtempo electronica from the likes of Aim, Tycho etc. your more than likely going to find a lot to love here.

Download: Slow Songs Vol 1 from Ending In Ing

MySpace | Soundcloud

Emika's Ninja Tune debut EP 'Drop The Other' is released on 18th January.

www.myspace.com/emikamyspace

Seven is the 4th music video from Fever Ray's self title album. You can listen to the full album over at Fever Ray's Website (though really you should own it buy now).

www.feverray.com | www.myspace.com/feverray

Music video for This Train which appears on Wax Tailor's album In The Mood For Life (Out Now). The track features teh vocal talents of New Orleans based emcee Voice and singer Ali Harter.

The first video from the Album was Say Yes which featured rap crew with positive inclinations A State of Mind (ASM).

www.myspace.com/waxtailor | www.waxtailor.com

Music video for Hyperstory (a.k.a. los angeles based musician Scott Blevins)'s  "A Happening". If you like the tune you can download the 192kbps MP3 for free by signing up to their newsletter here.

www.hyperstory.com

Via: YouTube - thecheesefeed

I took the beat of a long-overdue unreleased tune called “Stretch Reflex” and melted it together with the synths and melodies from another song that was supposed to be on Underground Communication, but ended up getting saved for later. It was written as a pensive homage to the dead, the original melodics sound like a black metal song but in this version they have kind of a nice 1990’s Orb or FSOL feel to them…that sound will never get old for me! Then i took some of the prettier melodies from that song and mixed them with a Lupe Fiasco acapella (i looooove his voice) and it became one of my favorite tunes to close a party with.

www.bassnectar.net follow Bassnectar on twitter @bassnectar

Listen to it below or download Land Of The Lupes.

Via: New Free Music: Land of The Lupes!

Onra's latest album dropped a little while ago, but I forgot to mention it so here's a link to amazon for those who want to check out the previews and maybe purchase it. (It's an affiliate link obviously and we will earn a few cents / pence if you do)

Onra previously contributed to the brilliant French beats compilation La Boulangerie (A LateMag favorite). His last album was the excellent Chinoiseries which produced the standout track The Anthem.

www.myspace.com/onra

Download 1.0.8 from amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

Triangle Walks is the third music video from Fever Ray's self title album. You can listen to the full album over at Fever Ray's Website (though really you should own it buy now).

www.feverray.com | www.myspace.com/feverray

Un Canto A Mi Tierra is taken from Quantic's (Will Holland) latest album and incarnation. Quantic and his Combo Barbaro - Tradition in Transition. The video was shot on location in Quantic's hometown in Cali, Columbia.

www.quantic.org | www.myspace.com/quanticmusic

www.tru-thoughts.co.uk

The Sunflower EP from Newcastle based IDM outfit Die On Spectrum. Combining haunting atmospheric pads and complex drum patterns. DOS takes the listener on an head nodding aural journey through floating lush sounscapes.

www.myspace.com/dieonspectrum

Download the Sunflower EP

It feels like ages since the pre-album Feel Like A King EP was released (I think it's been a year). Finally the master bassist from cult downtempo duo Fingathing releases his first solo album. Feel Like A King...Pluck A String. The LP contains all 4 tracks from the EP including the excellent Beduija which was my ringtone for months (probably still is, but I keep my phone on vibrate of late). The albums been well worth the wait (if your into downtempo music), but you don't have to take my word for it you can listen to the full thing over at Sneakys Myspace (in the player further down the page).

The download is available from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk (or whichever MP3 store you prefer) You can pick up the physical disc from Sneaky's own webstore.

www.thisissneaky.co.uk | www.myspace.com/sneakytunes

New video from Wax Tailor featuring A State of Mind (ASM), who are probably best known for their previous collaboration with the French beatmaker 'Positively Inclined'.

www.myspace.com/waxtailor | www.myspace.com/astateofmindproductionz

www.waxtailor.com

Via: Analog Giant

Nosaj Thing has gained a strong reputation with his remixes of Flying Lotus etc. (check his MySpace profile). His new LP title "Drift" is available for digital download from today (26th of May), the CD hits shelves June 9th. These days I've pretty much dispensed with CD except for the occasional mix CD, prefering digital or Vinyl depending on what I'm buying. Drift features Nosaj Thing's stunning beat driven ambient electronic soundscapes.

Listen to the full tracks "Quest" over at Analog Giant and 'Coat of Arms' at spinner.com.

You can also listen to previews of all the tracks at amazon.com and boomkat (UK)

"For Corners is the first full length album from Diego Bernal, a civil rights attorney and beatsmith, located in San Antonio, TX. For Corners is Diego Bernal's love letter to the music, cultures, era and people that nurtured him.

The music is dusty and layered with Latin soul, from the triumphant blasts of horns to the laid back groove of lowrider melodies. It is a call to return to the simplicity and integrity of hip-hop's best moment and an invitation to enjoy a slightly different kind of southern comfort. Not so much dirty south as directly south. The full album is a completely free download."

www.myspace.com/diegobernalmusic

When I Grow Up is the second music video from Fever Ray's self title album. You can listen to the full album over at Fever Ray's Website.

www.feverray.com | www.myspace.com/feverray

If I Had A Heart was the first video from Swedish down-tempo pop artist Fever Ray (Karin Dreijer Andersson). The track is taken from the self titled album, which was released at the end of March.

www.feverray.com

Analog Giant highlights new electronica, hip hop (mostly of the indie variety), reggae, funk and down-tempo tunes

Now and again I wander over to Myspace Music and see if any artists have posted any tracks that catch my interest. This weekend I have found myself listening to stuff from Sneaky, Boca 45, DJ B.Cause and X Clan (but I'll mention them in another post).

Sneaky is an artist I've mentioned before, when his album sampler / EP featuring four tracks from his forthcoming LP "feel like a king ... pluck a string"dropped. I still think "Beduija" is a massive tune, the bass drop is simply sublime. The album is due next month but in teh meantime I have been listening to "Grind The Coffee", which while I'm not normally a huge fan of breakbeats at that tempo, I'm loving this.

Bristol based Boca 45 states on his myspace "I'm trying to make beats how they might sound if they were recorded in 1968 in massive studios with real musicians". Currently I am kind of enamored by "Crime De La Creme" from his 2006 LP 'Vertigo Sounds".

DJ B.Cause is someone I know nothing whatsoever about, I ended up on his Myspace via a post on Analog Giant.The dub edit was cool, but I found myself more drown to his cool "Let It Whip" remix and even more to "Annie's Plane Break" which is a cool little mash-up, though its got a sound in it which kept making me think someone had sent me a message on Skype.

*You can listen to "Crime De La Creme" on Boca 45's Myspace

*You can listen to "Grind The Coffee" on Sneaky's Myspace

*You Can listen To "Annie's Plane Break" on DJ B.Cause's Myspace

*Tracks where available at teh time of posting

Video for Blanka's track "Brioche" from La Fine Equipe's album "La Boulangerie".

www.myspace.com/laboulangeriealbum |  www.lafineequipe.com